The Biggest Fantasy Football Breakouts to Watch in 2026 | Fantasy Focus

♪ Fantasy, you and the whole sick, so one oh ♪ ♪ Focus, fantasy, fantasy, focus ♪ - What's up friends, welcome into fantasy focus. - Football alongside field yates and beef and cheese clay. My name is Daniel Dopp, excited to be here today. - Beef and cheese. - Yeah, people told us that you smelled, they thought you smelled like Valvita cheddar cheese, right? - You're right, but I don't know where the beef comes in that seems insulting or is it 'cause some beefed up a little bit? - Yeah, I've been under the weather and traveling, so I'm a little slack in the last two weeks, but guys, I got my clone back yesterday. - Oh, great. - Did you? - Yes, so I got it back from, you know, the checked luggage on our vacation, so yeah, it should be smelling better, not beef and cheese anymore. - Maybe you'll finally have a good fantasy take. - No, maybe. - Old smell, good, analyze, good mantra. - That's it. - That's real. - That's right. A fun show on tap for you guys today, diving into a little prognostication, headlines from the future. We're gonna have some fun with that, maybe some bull predictions, just looking ahead and having a little bit of fun with it. But first and foremost, before we dive into that, couple of real quick, logistical things, head on over to fantasyfocuslive.com for our live show. You can grab tickets there, August 20th, in New York City, fantasyfocuslive.com, the entire crew is gonna be there, like we always are, having a good time, doing a podcast and hanging out with you guys afterward. So one more time, fantasyfocuslive.com, on August 20th. Also, fax versus feelings comes out today. Shout out to Liz Loza. We did a big mock draft on there. Go check that out available here, right now on the NFL on ESPN YouTube page. And shout out to our buddy Eric Moody. Follow him on social media at Eric and Moody and jump in our chat. We love the community that we have in our fantasy focus, YouTube chat and Eric does an unbelievable job of hanging out with you guys, answering all your questions and speaking of our buddy Eric Moody. We're gonna have a second screen experience on fantasyfocus countdown this year. Used to be fantasy football now on Sunday mornings. It is now called fantasyfocus countdown. And Eric Moody is gonna be doing a YouTube show during that in case that you guys do not have. Excuse me, FFC, you can go on there and get your questions answered on Sunday morning. So keep your ear to the ground for more news about that. But you liked Eric in our chat so much. We thought, why not bring him to this Sunday show as well? Fantasy on all screens, right? That's right. Maybe you have your laptop or your tablet with Eric Moody. You have FFC on your main TV. You have your, you're in the app, the fantasy app here, setting your line up. You can do all the things. That's right. We do all the things now. I like breaking news there on the name change for the Sunday menu. That's right. Fantasy football now, what a run it was. But fantasyfocus countdown, it's kind of like the meeting of what we do Monday through Friday. That's right. We call many Sunday morning shows. Of course, Sunday NFL countdown over on ESPN. We have a great team over there. But for those of you that like the fantasy stuff, hang out with us over on the do's where we get news. That's right. Fantasy focus counts. All right. So what a which thing are we going to say wrong most often this year? We're going to say each and each and areas issue or FF now versus FFC. I will say FF now, we need to have an FF now jar. I think the firm that we have to pay into as a part of it and an HN jar. I think I see what something big jar. Yeah. For everything we do wrong. Like every time you do something, it's like, yeah, Mike doesn't get paid enough. Yeah, it's like a curse jar or something like that. But it's just like a mistake jar. Fantasy sins jar. We could we could each have one like next to our name tags here. And then we that's right. Every time we make every time you mention Christian Watson. And then all right. Let's talk about some news. Oh, wait. You are going to mention Christian Watson. Someone's going to mention Christian Watson later. Oh, are they? I'm not going to be. Packers receivers. I'm not allowed. Before we dive into that, our headlines from the future, we got a little bit of news. We want to get into. Yeah. Unfortunately, a mecca. A book a limped off the field yesterday. Guys, it has been we're all in on this kid being the number one wide receiver. Chris Godwin has fallen way down in our rankings, coming off the board in the mid 30s. No longer the same guy that he was. Yeah. How you feeling about what you're hearing with this a book issue? It sounds minor and we are all in. I am all into the max. He's my wide receiver. Eleven is a mecca. A book a well ahead of ESPN consensus, which I think is wide receiver 17. So I'm heavily invested in a mecca, a book and all things pertaining to him. Good for you. Here's what I thought. Here's what I thought we should take this though, because the early indications are it's not serious. Yep. And by the way, we still have a month before the buck and ears play a game. So we've got a lot of time for him to get right from a minor toe injury. Here's what I thought I'd take it though, and I'll toss it out to the two of you. If a mecca, a book or unavailable, and I'm not talking about because of this toe injury specifically, but given the number of players in this wide receiver room, if he was unavailable for a stretch right now, which wide receiver is most appealing to you amongst the other bucks? I would say, certainly, Chris Godwin is the guy I would draft first. I'm going to I still think he has something left in the tank, even if we've knocked him down. The rankings quite a bit because of a buka mostly, but Jalen McMillan's not far behind. I mean, he has shown really well so far when he's played. I don't I don't know if I'm going Ted hers just yet. I think they're going to try to work him in the buzz player. He has been the buzz player and you may have somewhat of a role. But I think honestly, he might be a guy who were trapped and late, and then he plays like 12 snaps in week one because their test Johnson's there too. Like they're going to work all these receivers into some extent. So I would. Yeah, I think that's your order for me. A buka Godwin, Jalen McMillan, then probably Ted Hurst and then Ted Johnson. I would rather have, but one of my most drafted players during our mock draft exercise was Jalen McMillan because he's free at the end of drafts. We've seen him be really good before when he's gotten a run. I thought he was going to be good last year until they drafted a mecca, a buka unfortunately to be the guy there. But if anything happens to Chris Godwin, I like him as a wide receiver to either one of these wide receivers. Yeah. I think he is a clear shot to be a wide receiver to in this offense for a number of weeks given either Chris Godwin and where he's at or up and potentially a mecca, a buka injury. If Godwin does slip a little bit, remember, he kind of fell off last year if he's just kind of injury last year. Yeah. I know. But if he's really not the same guy anymore, like McMillan could just become the more targeted player. He'd be their number two pretty. He's free. Like super. Yeah. The one that I, one of the reasons here's a reason for optimism on Chris Godwin is, and this is going back to last year and this may prove to be grasping at a straw. I think the buka nearest front office is very good. I think they're very fundamentally sound as well. Buckeniers have a really good grasp on when to make a play for a player, when to hold tight on a player, when to part ways with the player, they just do a good job of assessing where guys are at. Remember last year when Chris Godwin was a free agent, he got a huge deal, right? I think the Patriots were the team that was even more aggressively pursuing Chris Godwin. They ended up with Stefan Diggs. The buka nearest faith in Chris Godwin last year gives me faith that there's still a good player in there. But I, I, I understand if you guys are not as convinced on that argument. I just, I want to believe in the upside that I saw from Jalen McMillan when he had some of the run and where Chris Godwin has been. I, part of out what I want to see is given that draft capital investment, what do I think the ceiling is? Because Jalen McMillan, I think his ceiling potentially could be higher, especially with where I'm getting him based on where I am grabbing Chris Godwin, although Chris Godwin, where do I, where's he at? Yeah. And don't forget to, let's, let's find out. Baker, this is, you know, Baker may feel it's not a guy that runs a lot. I mean, this, and he's a good passer. So this is an, and certainly when he's healthy and he wasn't all for a chunk of last season, there's one for multiple receivers. So if, if, if a buka were to miss time, make, I think McMillan, he would have a role. Exactly. I think we have them both ranked as a starter. But again, I think we, we're getting deep into it here, but I think at the bottom lines, we're not really worried about a buka. We do expect to go and we, if you're drafting right now, perhaps a touch of a bump for Chris Godwin. And I was just extrapolating this out into the season just because unlike other wide receiver rooms, like Indianapolis right now, the buccaneers kind of have a lot of options. Yes. A lot of guys you like. Yeah. All right. Just put some numbers on it really quickly. Chris Godwin coming off the board, 147. Yeah. Free. So that's also free. I didn't realize he was that low. So that gives me a little bit more love from Chris Godwin because of his cost. Another bit of news. I really quickly want to talk about, I read in the athletic a little piece yesterday that made me wonder, do we need to rethink everything we're thinking about the Chicago Bears? Yesterday, Ben Johnson, again, there's a piece in the athletic, please go check it out. Said this. You've got 31 other teams coming to training camps saying our goal is to win the Super Bowl. I want more than that though. I want to have the highest scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos. I know how many points per game they scored 37.9 and I want us to pass them. I want shootouts. I want blowouts. Shutouts. What did I say? Oh, shootouts. Yeah. It's going to hard to have shootouts. Yeah. It's going to be hard to do that when you're putting that pressure on your defense. Guys, what is this? It doesn't mean anything. At the end of the day, there's still a defense on the other side. I mean, maybe makes him a little more aggressive where other coaches, maybe wouldn't be as aggressive, but we expect that from him. Anyway, this is already one of the best offensive play callers in the NFL, so it's a fun headline for sure. He's my favorite coach in the NFL. Yeah. Ben Johnson. Period. Full stop. I love this guy. He's awesome. I love it from as an NFL fan. I just don't think of it. I love it. I love it. We already have the Ben Johnson bump in the projections. Right. He's going to say like not enough though. I got Caleb. I'm the only one with Caleb Williams inside the top 10. This makes me want to put him top five. I know. Well, here's Johnson. Say it, man. I think we all kind of agree. Like, there's no real fantasy impact on him. You're right. You're right. What I do believe, though, is I think it, I love it if I'm a Bears fan because you got to actually execute, but I love the confidence that Ben Johnson instills in his play. I love the confidence he feels of it himself. And if I'm a bears fan, how are you not ready to run through a brick wall, which I would advise against because I ran through a plastic wall one time and I shattered my shoulder. So don't do it to a brick wall, but I don't know, I've been jostling my favorite coach in the NFL. Yeah. And we have five, we have five guys in this office. We're going to start basically every week. Yes. So we're already, you know, we're in. We don't need to be more in. I don't think on the bears offense like they're we're going to start all these guys. I am very for what it's worth Liz Lose a shouldn't run through a brick wall, but would like the cool aid man, if she had a chance for Ben Johnson, I know she'd be like, oh yeah, we are anti brick wall running through. We are on this podcast. All right. Let's dive into some headlines from the future. My friends prognosticating a little bit, maybe some bold predictions here, a little loose on the guidelines. It's headlines from the future field. That means anything you want it to be, each brought three to the table, I'm going to start with you. I use my first headline as a lesson in emotion management early in the season. Okay. Headline from the future. This comes the day after the first Sunday of the NFL regular season. Yep. Why did I use a second round pick on Josh Allen? Who are the bale's playing week one? Do you got your call? They used in Texans field eight. They used in Texans who when they played against Josh Allen last year held him to a grand total of eight point one fantasy points. Wow. Four days after he scored, by the way, 42.7 fantasy points against the Buccaneers. This just in competition matters, right? This Texans defense is going to be nasty. If the Texans defense did nothing this off season, except keep the guys that were under contract. I'd be like, they might be the best defense in the NFL. Instead, they were like, okay, we're going to side read blank and ship really good player from your Eagles, Mike. Good. A good turn of second slash third safety. They drafted the best run stuffing defensive tackle in the draft in Kate and McDonald. They brought back your dev and clowny just for kicks. Just for fun. They completely devastated the Bills offense last year. They completely owned Josh Allen specifically in that game. I don't think Josh Allen's going to have eight point one fantasy points, but I think there's a real chance that Josh Allen might be quarterback seven in my week one rankings. Maybe quarter, maybe quarterback who knows, but the point is not quarterback one. And the lesson is just remember that while it is a weekly game, you're drafted setting the table for a full season. Patients need to be exercised. Josh Allen may have a tough go of it in week one. I don't even know. Actually, they play your Lions week two, right? They do. They play their first. I think the first game at the Bills news stadium is against the Lions on Thursday night football. I'm not sure when it is, but I'll tell you what. I think it is because Bills fans were sort of frustrated because yeah, yeah, Lions defense, all sorts of question marks there. Obviously they've released Terry on Arnold because of off field stuff and then their safety room is banged up. Yes. Kirby Joseph and Ryan branch. Patients young grasshopper. Josh Allen may struggle coming out of the gates in week one. I would not advise using a second round pick on Josh Allen because I love the depth of quarterback this year. But Josh Allen's going to go ahead of where I have him ranked at 28th overall. And I understand why people are invested in the safest thing in all of fantasy football. It just won't be safe in week one. I agree. Start that emotional hedge now because if you draft Josh Allen, you're going to start in week one and you just need to expect not having top tier Josh Allen like normal because of that. Yes. Yes, Mike. All right. I turn. I'm actually looking. I might have messed mine up already. So where's the jar? I need a jar because I think the I have. Well, I'll tell you what I have first. I'll tell you what I did rock. The point stands. Regardless. Well, we'll just tweak it a little bit here. Let field tonight. All right. This is Wednesday, September 30th. 2026. Okay. So when this report drops, following his hot start to the season, Jackson. Star is ESPN fantasies top ranked quarterback against the Titans in week four. Oh, looks like the Titans play in week three against the Giants. Okay. What I meant was the Cardinals, the Cardinals in week four, I think is what I meant to write here. So put a coin in the jar. That's. Honestly, like in the paper, do we need to consider removing Mike from the podcast entirely going forward? I think so. And these kind of errors matter to you because they matter to me then miss the entire first week. Six, three days into the show, at least he showed up. So I appreciate that. I made it. I wasn't looking good last evening, but I got here. There was an old bill par cells quote, one wrong, all wrong. And basically, it was like, if I can't trust you to do everything right and how am I going to be able to, if you're going to mess up one thing, how do I know that anything you do? I'm embarrassed for my family and everything. So it's, it's, it's pain. You know, why won't be embarrassed for is Jackson Dart in week four against the Cardinals. Mike. I guess the Cardinals bring us back. Yeah. That actually makes more sense, not that we expect the Titans defense to be lights up. But look, the Giants come out against Dallas in week one. That's a defense that I think is going to be better this year. They're in the right direction, but still not in a elite unit. Then they get the Rams, which is a good defense, but that's one where teams are going to be trying to move the ball. Darts can be busy in that game playing from behind most likely against the Rams. I think we're going to get good play out of him early on. He's going to keep delivering with his legs. Any puts together a good game against the Titans in week three and then he gets the Cardinals. And Dart is going to play well enough that we're going to rank him consensus. You'll be won for week four. This is the season of Jackson Darts breakout. Hot take to your head left from the future. I don't buy it. No. So full take. Yeah. I have a high hot take is your take is. Yeah. I'm buying the Rams defense. I'm buying the Titans defense to. Oh, yeah. They have a nasty front seven. John Franklin Myers, obviously Jeffrey Simmons. And they're right. Across the board. Right. They reinvested in the quarterback, Groomalante, Taylor and Cordell Flaud not dominant, perhaps. But Robert Salah is he can coach defense now. That's for sure. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It took a little time with the Jets, but yeah, he can certainly turn, turn things around. But a little bit less. I think he's going to play well enough like absolutely like quarterbacks and make a leap and our standout quarterbacks. It's going to start to show up regardless of the opposite the competition. They get Arizona week four. I think he's going to be a consensus top five guy most weeks. I agree with that. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I like Jackson a lot too. I just, I like the Titans defense. All right. Yeah. Interesting. I think I'm more in on Jackson, dar than the Titans defense, but I, my bull prediction or my headline from the future is also a little bull prediction. He kind of like Mike's was a good stab here, right? I listened to that Ben Johnson statement and I thought, how do I not bring this to the table? Kyle Menungai. There are four weeks of first month of the season leads all running backs with six rushing touchdowns. This dude is going to take over as the number two running back in this offense. We watched him last year as a rookie number two or number one. I think he is as the number two, like the David Montgomery role in this offense, even if Deandre Swift is still doing things there as a rookie. He had nine hundred and forty seven yards from scrimmage. He's good. He had five touchdowns, even with Swift doing the things they're like, they're going to use this kid right now. And I hear all the stuff that Ben Johnson is saying. I'm just, if they do score and they score a lot, I think there could be a lot of touchdown equity for Kyle Menungai in the situation. But maybe most importantly, the reason why I wanted to bring him up, I'm not really sure about the six touchdowns, but I wanted to bring him up to talk about him because Deandre Swift being running back 23 and Kyle Menungai being running back 38. I don't believe at the end of the season, there's going to be a 15 spot gap between these two running backs. I think Kyle Menungai is going to have enough run. Yes, that the gap will be much smaller than where they're being drafted at right now. So I'm not sure that means that I'm out on Deandre Swift. It just means that I am really in on buying Kyle Menungai at this price running back 38. I will be shocked if he finishes the season as running back 38 with all the things that we expect from this bear's offense and a second year potential leap from him as well. Okay. A couple of things here. That's my headline from the future. In the future here, ABC originally aired or errors the new shark take episodes, right? Yes. So there's a chance that we could probably clip off one of the shark saying, and for those reasons, I'm out. JJ Watts soon to be a shark. We can get JJ's voice because I think that would be a good sounder, rather than us saying for those reasons I'm out, just having JJ do it, have JJ do it for a favor. It's like ways, right? Yeah. Soon to be hall-famous for JJ. That's right. Right. I think Minon guy is the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Uh-oh. It's fair. It's fair. I, I am right back 34. So my gap, my gap is already a little bit narrower than the 14 or 15 spot ranking difference that you're talking about right now. You got to decide where that gap is. I just don't think it should be 15 running fast between them. So do you think it should be more like RB 23 and RB 28 to think it should be more like RB 20, like a little downgrade for Swift and a little upgrade from Minon guy? Really closer to like RB 25, RB 30 to 32 from Minon guy. I would feel better about your take if Swift struggle last year, but he was really good. I mean, he was very good. He's still 27 years old, he probably is another year to have good play left, uh, and he was effective as a runner, uh, especially which he's always been, but in the passing game as well, which is where he holds an edge over Minon guy. So I think if they're both healthy, they'll use both of these guys often like they did last year and actually in terms of carry workload, I have them close between the two. You can see on the screen, I've been on guy almost 200 carries this year and 26 catches. So I just don't think and all six touchdowns in the first four weeks of the set it is. That's it. So, but here's the thing. I think when you were setting your line, but especially into 10 teamer and probably into 12 teamer, I don't know if you're going to think Minon guy, I don't, I don't, I don't know if you're going to want him in your flex. I think you're just going to have better options wide receiver. I don't even think he's an RB two. So I don't know. I think he has to, he's going to have to take the one job, I think, to be a weekly starter in fantasy. fair and to you guys's point, Ben Johnson has struggled. to get the second running back in his offense involved in. Oh wait, no, he has a very easy. No, let's just start six bears and let's just start them all like they're everyone's going to eat. All right. You guys are kind of at the point though. Like you're kind of highlighting one of the realities of fantasy football is that when you're setting your lineup during the week. Yeah, championship winning teams are off, especially in 10 team leagues where rosters, you know, there's there's just more talent to go around. Yeah, you have players in each of your spots where you're like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Some 10 team leagues and definitely leagues that are larger than that. You kind of have two categories of players. It's like the guys that you are starting because you want to and the guys you're starting because you have to. Yeah. I think Monongai fits more into the you probably have to start him. I agree with you. Because if he gets to the point that you're starting it because you want to, I think it means that Deandre Swift no longer has been in a 10 team league. Yeah, 12 team, 14 team. I think Monongai can have more flex value just because of the depth of the, you know, the entire roster. But I think that there's this comp. There's like a little bit of this, this almost like dissonance because I think Monongai is a good player. There are a lot of like good football players that may not be good fantasy football players, right? And Monongai, I think is already a better football player than he is fantasy football asset. This year, I think he's going to become a better football player. I'm not convinced he's going to become an appreciably better fantasy football player. Yeah, and keep this in my last year in the games that Swift also played the average 7.7 fantasy points per game. Yep. The one game Swift missed. He had 29 touches and 198 yards in that game. So he's an outstanding insurance running back. But the problem is he's costing you a draft pick in the single digit rounds. Like in 12 teamers, he's going to ninth round right now. So is he maybe in an ESPN drafts? Maybe he's going a little bit later if you're talking, you know, smaller, smaller leagues. But yeah, I mean, he's put it this way as far as number two running backs go, especially ones that most are in Valley, most of their value is insurance related. He's expensive. He's very expensive relative to those guys. So that's kind of the problem with him that I see is he's kind of a guy that's on your bench. And I've nothing. Look, I like, I like high ceiling insurance running backs. Don't get me wrong, but I like to take them later in the draft. I mean, Ray Davis, like, I think that 10 things. So I think right now it looks like and it may have just been since you last looked at it. He's coming off the board in the 14th round. So I think my he was talking about. Yeah. Yeah, we should, we should, I feel like you should address this for a second. Sometimes the, I have ADPs on my board, right? Obviously, I have an idea where they're going in ESPN leagues, but you like to have a good feel for the industry as well. So I'll look at our friends of draft kings, best ball drafts. I'll look at our friends of draft sharks. They've a good ADP tool, which I could look at and see where they're going on other, other platforms as well and mixed in with ESPN to see like a consensus. And I'll, I look at it from both of those ADPs in 12 team leagues, just to kind of give us an idea. So that'll be my perspective when we're talking ADP is like the industry wide 12 teamers. And then you could be like, no, you're wrong. It's 10 teamers at ESPN. So got it, got it, got it. Say it's the more time you say that I'm allowed to tell you you're wrong, the better. So I'm fine with that. I'm telling you, I'm not, I'm more right than you are. So what I'm saying, him and Blake Corum right next to each other. It's two valuable insurance running backs. I think where to happen to the guys. Yep. Yes. By the way, Corum very similar. I think he's going to eat more into the carry workload of Kyron Williams, but Kyron's still more trusted in past protection and passing situations. So he still has the edge. But yeah, Corum very similar. All right. We think of a couple questions before we dive into our next few from chat. We got this one. Rick Agro wants to know I had CMC fall to me at night in the draft last night. Well, I'm not high in him, but thought I had to take him there. Do you have any thoughts? I want to ask the highest guy. No, Mike. Your thoughts on CMC. I would take him there every single time. No, but Daniel, you were in this situation last night actually a little later than that, right? I put my money where my mouth is. I'm in a superflex. I'm going to league with a friend of ours named Matthew and we are in a superflex league. So things changed a little bit because of that. But yeah, in the second round, I had a shot between either CMC or James Cook. And I decided to go with James Cook, put my money where my mouth is because I'm out on CMC. I can't draft CMC with where I have him ranked unless I just don't really believe in my ranking. Exactly. If you took CMC there, you would have to adjust your ranking. Exactly. We went up to like five or six. So I took James Cook over him. Yeah. And again, we had a long discussion about this topic yesterday. If you want to check that out, that being said, like ninth pick for CMC based on what like most drafts are, that is incredible value on Christian McCaffer. Even though I am out, I understand like that's a great spot to be able to grab an amazing value for CMC. I take it every single game. I think, you know, personally, for me, if it's six, that's as low as I think I could justify seeing him go. And it might be five, given what we talked about yesterday with Puka. Like for me, my top 160, the first six players are number one B. John, number two Jamir Gibbs, number three CMC. So for me, his third overall, four, fifth, six is Jamar chase, Puka, Nakua and JSN. So if you get McCaffer at nine, that to me is a dramatic value. Great job. All right. Next question we have from our chat. This one comes from Brian Gould. Am I crazy to like DJ more over T Higgins, given his new circumstances, wide receiver one in Buffalo with Josh Allen or the wide receiver two in Cincinnati. Oh, I don't think so. I don't think it's crazy. It would not shock me if more bounce back in at a good year and beat to Higgins. But I don't think you need to do this just because we we did see DJ more dip last year for short. He followed me to 35th. His target share was a career low. Obviously, he's going to Buffalo situation should be better there for him and open up more targets. But at the same time, you're comparing him to T Higgins. So when that guy is active, he's an elite touchdown score and in one of the best offenses in the NFL, not an offense that says pass heavy as it was a couple of years ago. They bounced it a little bit, but they still like the lean pretty heavily on the passing game. So for me, I have a pretty big gap actually. F T Higgins. Where do I have T Higgins? 22 and DJ more 28. So that's a gap of six. It's not a huge gap, obviously, but it's not a huge gap. I don't think it's. I mean, I would I feel more comfortable with Higgins. I think I agree with field. The part that gives me the hang up is again, just looking at our ESPN ADP. When I see DJ more, you just I wouldn't draft DJ more where I would be drafting T Higgins because I'm about around and a half late. I'm not going to reach that much on DJ more. So I think between these two, I would have to go with T Higgins because I just don't think DJ more is worth that investment that early unless T Higgins falls. And then I'm T Higgins false. Then I'm fine with that. Brian, I don't think it's crazy. I think these guys are comparable level talents. I think T Higgins is a slightly more talented player, but DJ more is a very talented guy going to familiar offense with Joe Brady. This guy's obviously both have elite elite passing quarterbacks. The difference is DJ more maybe not as talented, but maybe has more of a chance to be wide receiver one. T Higgins, the clear wide receiver too. So I don't think it's crazy, but I have T Higgins ahead of DJ more. Do I think you're in saying what I laugh at you? I would not laugh at you. Which one at just if you had to say, Hey, one of these wide receivers has it is going to have a 30% target share at the end of the season. Do you think it would be more T Higgins in that Bengals offense in these schemes, neither? And what's high in this in these schemes? I think Higgins could get to like 23 or 24. And honestly, I think that's probably the same for more. To be honest, really, the bill's offense works and they use, you know, they're going to use got you. You can't, when you're doing projections for offenses, you can't just look at the headline or fantasy guys, you have to consider how often do they throw to Dawson Knox or Jackson Haas or the fullback or what's the target share going to be to the running back position? Do they like to spread it around to wide receivers? All those things are important. So I think with those two guys, that's probably they're sealing barring him in jury to like a judge chase. And honestly, Higgins will probably be at like 20 and DJ more probably at like 2021 somewhere in that range. Okay. We got one more question here from chat. This one comes from three of L. Who should I keep? Teterola McMillan for a fifth round pick. Javante Williams for an eighth round pick or Travis H. Chan for a ninth round. I would have said it wrong again. I have to fix my brain. It just feels easy to me though. HM for a ninth. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I have H and Javante right next to each other. So you get a full round discount. I'd go HN. Yep. Yeah. I think those those two are close because it's one round apart. I do have Javante ahead, but it's close enough that I'm going to take the cheapest one. And honestly, where's Teterola going? He's going around with that. Yeah. Yeah. So if they got if the keeper you would give up as identical to where they're going or very close to it, that's almost never the answer. And let you have just bad option. So yeah, take that take the big running back. Where's he going? It's going to be confusing. Same. HN. It's going to be. Where's Teterola? Where's Teterola going? But it's good to know where you want to go. Yes. You would go HN as well. Yes. Teterola McMillan coming off the board, 41st. So top of the third, fourth round and 12 teamers. Yeah. Javante at 38. It's going to be confusing to talk about to say HN. We're talking about HN and Javante Williams, but we're talking about Travis HN. Yeah. Yeah. That's going to be a thing we're going to have to get used to for sure. What if Trevor HN becomes a stop at Carolina? Did he come out and say I want you to call me Trevor HN or did he say I would still like to be Trevor ETN? I'm assuming that Travis took on their behalf, but I could be wrong. Okay. Yeah. He's a guy. I would. There was a point this off season where I was like, should we be talking about him a little bit because there's so much uncertainty in the Carolina backfield. Everyone's going right to Jonathan Brooks, but I loved Trevor HN and college. He was super effective, but there's been no hype there at all. It doesn't sound like he's making much noise in that running back room. But fourth round pick, a couple of you know, last year or so. All right. Let's keep this train moving, feel the yates, headlines from the future back to you. Derek Henry eventually realizes that history cannot repeat itself. As Derek Henry bucks recent trends and finishes as the NFL's leading Russia. Wow. This is a decent trivia. You guys probably already know the answer because I put it on social media yesterday, but over each of the past four seasons, Derek Henry has finished as the second leading Russia. sure. Exactly second in each of the last four seasons. Second, second, second, second. I'll take that again. And then I think five years ago, he finished like six and the year prior to that, he finished first. Did you say here's a trivia question? And then give just give us the answer. Okay. Okay. I didn't see you post that. I want to make sure I did. Not good. Not good by me, but whatever. Um, damn it. Uh, Derek Henry is going to finish as the NFL's leading Russia. Uh, I love it in the jar. Yeah. Sorry. I am higher than everybody here on Derek Henry, both in an hour. I'm higher than everybody here. Uh, on Derek Henry, both in terms of my running back rankings. I have him as RB seven. And my overall rank is I have him as the 11th ranked player in fantasy this season. Overall, not talking just running backs. I'm talking quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends included. I'm very optimistic on this Ravens offense, very optimistic on Derek Henry. I've mentioned this factor a few times now. I love their schedule coming out of the gates. Mike has an amazing. And I mean, amazing tool that slays out the players projected schedule by position, right? So who has the toughest matchup for quarterbacks this year, running backs, wide receivers and the inverse who has the easiest one. Um, you can rely on data like that. And it's very valuable. I like the schedule for Derek Henry. And I know that he's going to have the same limitations this year as every other year, which is catching passes. But I don't know, man, I just feel like every year we get excited about the shiny objects and then we forget about things that are damn good. He is built forward tough. Yeah. A couple of things. First of all, I had strength, the schedule chart. We're going to knew this year. We're going to have this PDF on the side where it's going to be by the week. So I'll show the past like each week who they played and how hard that was. So you can see if like a player had a hard schedule so far. And then you're going to be able to look at the future as well. Well, that for each position, defense, kicker, everything. So I'm really pumped to do. Kicker, kicker as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Um, and also I'm looking at I've this, you know, this PDF where I have like all the projections for the entire NFL. You can get that over to ESPN.com. I'm looking at my projected rushing leaders for the season. And guess where Derek Henry is first, say it again, John Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, just a then Henry James Cook, Sean Robinson, Jamira Gibbs are the top. By the way, this is a man. It's like a great glimpse behind a peak behind the curtain here. Prior to the show, Daniel and I were talking about things like pressure washers. That's true. And Mike is sitting there updating his PDF about things down while they're signed with the panthers. Like we had to get it in there. Kicker for a schedule, strength of schedule stuff. And we're sitting there and I'm like, Daniel, like about how far off the ground, like what solution do you use? You know, like, like, look, I had a whole engine. You had a machine. I moved in some capacity three off seasons in a row, working on the new house this, this year, like I've done all that stuff. I'm on. You're done. You're done. You're done. You're done. You're hired for now. All summer of sweating and getting dirty outside, working on the yard and fixing sheds and everything. So anyway, anyways, I'm very optimistic on Derek Henry. I want to continue to say that he'll be one of my guys. When it feels favorite drops out, I've said, you said fixing sheds, like with a really, you emphasize, I got nervous. I don't know. I'm just fixing stuff. Don't worry about it. Just keep going. You're tired. Don't worry. All right. No, no, don't you take Mike. My take is, all right. Here's the headline Monday. We're going to January, right? Christmas has passed us. New years has passed. It's January fourth, 2027, a regular, a regular season star. Jalen Hertz, third consecutive dud sinks fantasy teams in the playoffs. And here's where we're going to get into strength of schedule because Jalen Hertz is one of the most fascinating, regular fantasy leagues versus best ball fantasy leagues, especially it's especially where this matters. Players, I've seen in a long time, because here's the, here's the thing. Eagles quarterbacks. You were just talking about strength to schedule. They have the easiest Eagles quarterbacks have the easiest schedule this season for for quarterbacks in fantasy weeks, weeks, weeks, one through 14. It is easiest. Okay. Weeks, 15 through 17. It is fourth hardest, arguably hardest, because here's the schedule. Again, and this is after as light as it gets through the fantasy regular season, weeks, week 15 Seattle. That's the first week of the fantasy playoffs. That's that's at home. That's still tough. Roodle next week to play your Texans. Also at home already or like out. But let's just say you survive. You get to the last week of the season. They go all the way out to San Francisco, which that's not as elite of a defense, but that is still a tough situation to be in. You got to get to the fine. So worry about the fight. I have, I mean, I have been best by crossing off. Like I'm not even if I get to the playoffs. I can't, that can't be my quarterback. Yeah. Yeah. And it's going to be tough for the whole Eagles offense, obviously. So I think that hurts. If you draft him, you're going to feel pretty good during the regular season in this new look, Sean Manion offense, but come play off time. You better have another option because it's going to be, you have a good chance to have a couple of duds in there because I thought you're going to say like the teams that I thought you might pick from like, I think there's a world in which the Ravens are really good defense. Like the Patriots are really good defense. But I could also see a world in which they're both closer to average, right? Yeah. Like Seattle and Houston are going to be elite. Yeah. Like there's major injury issues. Like if half the roster retires, maybe they won't be elite, but otherwise are going to be elite. So that is, this is one of the most, the wildest splits I've ever seen between regular season and playoffs. I mean, the Eagles earn a tough spot. Just a quick pain, Mike, for those that don't know because I do realize that, you know, we've been doing the show for a long time. They're probably jokes that sometimes people are like, I always hear them say that, but I don't know what it means. I think probably a lot of our audience knows what best ball means, but there are probably some people that are watching and they say they hear us mention best ball. We'll eventually reference the Scott fish bowl. What is best ball? Yeah. So best ball is means you draft your team. Yep. And then you can't touch it the rest of the season. So what happens is you feel it's a deeper pool of players you draft. So you'll draft like 20 players instead of our normal like 16. And then each week, if you have say three quarterbacks on your roster and one quarterbacks plot, one quarterbacks plot on your team, the highest score of those three gets plugged in and start a win. You don't say your lineup. It's just automatically they send your high scores later. Yeah. So the problem is if you, if the fantasy playoffs roll around like and you're getting duds from jail and hurts and you only have one other quarterback who may not even be healthy at that point because that's a big issue and best ball is you can't make transactions. So no waivers. Yeah. No waivers. Yeah. So you, uh, you're just got to deal with him as your quarterback and no trade. You're trying to break it. No trading. No waivers. No anything. Actually good timing on that because yesterday, we published part two of the playbook and in there, I'd go through all the different types of formats, be playing and how you should adjust, of course, best ball is addressed in there. Actually, I believe I specifically mentioned this example as a difference between best ball and our knockout leagues as well because knockout, it's the opposite. Yeah. You should be more invested in the Eagles because if you keep surviving through the regular season, you're going to be able to pick up. You might get Joe burrow off waivers or Jayden Daniels off waivers at some point if that team's eliminated. So it's less of a concern. So it's funny how, you know, no, you're format. All these formats are different and you have to know these things before you go into a draft. If you hear people in the industry, I think Daniels talked about this where he's like, yeah, I did 32 best ball draft this summer. The reason why is there's no maintenance once the drafts are over, right? Like you've done this and like you just let the chips fall. However, they fall. That's why like we, we are sickos, but you're less of a sicko if you do 32 best ball drafts. Yeah. It's, it's, well, it's, it's a one stop shop to get your team. And then you see how it goes. I love best ball drafts because I also look at them as market research in the off season just to see where people are at. Who's, who are people really high on? Who's the, the vibes that people are drafting early and kind of where does everyone fall, which is very different than season long, but I just like having it as like another tool in the back of my, it's similar. I mean, I use very similar draft board for those, but you're right. That's where I find kind of found out I was like, wow, I'm really high. I'm Michael Pittman, Jr. The guy's the top of my queue for certain, like every draft that I do. So he's my most draft to player. You could kind of figure out. That's really, really interesting. Yeah, really high or like really, really, extremely high. Well, I am also quite, I am Michael Pittman, Jr. Because I've got a headline from the future about Michael Pittman, Jr. I'm stealing my Michael Pittman at the halfway point of the season. Michael Pittman, Jr. Top 20 wide receiver besides despite being drafted outside the top 30 of the position. Here's the thing. I'm just going to, this is anecdotal. Guys just give me out. Okay. Aaron Rodgers has been in the NFL for 20 years, 21 years, right? A lot of years. Something like that came into the league in 2005. It's 2026. Last year, he averaged to 5.8 air yards per target. That was the lowest of his career. And that's not even close. That was awful. He does not throw the ball down field. Kenny Gainwell has gone. Kenny Gainwell, his favorite wide receiver. You know what Kenny Gainwell has averaged that target was last year? Negative 0.2. Well, that's a normal for running back. For a running back. Yes. Yes. John is their negative. John was Smith, the number three, not including DK Metcalf because we know what DK Metcalf's air yards per target. We know his A dot is down the field. Everybody else was like four and a half were on all those tight ends. It was terrible. No Washington. And so I'm in a spot now where Aaron Rodgers isn't going to push the ball down field that much more. Michael Pittman, Jr. has shown how good of a safety valve he is in the middle of the field. I believe that he is in a massive spot just to crush early from a volume perspective. So again, this is a bull prediction, having fun with it because I also love Michael Pittman, Jr. I don't think it's bold. I don't. It's going to be tough for him to be a top 20 wide receiver because there's so many good wide receivers. But I believe the volume he's going to get. He may not have some like really sexy, deep games, but he could have a lot, a lot to eat. Yeah, a lot of targets. It's just like he got an Indianapolis and he's been a top. What is it? A top 30 fantasy or top 25 fantasy receiver for the last five years? Kind of quietly. Yeah, I expect a lot of target volume. The knock on him is he doesn't score touchdowns. It's been the problem. And that might not change with still a good Group of tight ends there, you know, two good backs, obviously, of DK Medcalfe is one of the premier and zone target leaders in the NFL. So that might be tricky. You might get five touchdowns out of them, but I think you get a lot of catches. - A wide receiver 38. So quite a bit lower than you. - 38. - Yep, you're at 29, Mike is at wide receiver 30. If I'm reading this or I am, big right. I think there's a decent chance that Michael Pittman Jr. is consistently ranking ahead of wide receiver 38 for me during the weeks of the season, right? The reason why I'm lower though is that there are players that are somewhere between 29 and 30, in 38 that I think just have a higher market share of like top 15 or top 20 upside than him, right? So it's, heat to me is much more of a floor play than it is a ceiling play. And I'm just less invested in the floor plays than I am the ceiling. - It's tough to be a ceiling play if you're not scoring a lot of touchdowns. - I guess so, but he's finished top 24, four times already. And I believe that's four times in the last five years. - Four of the last five years, he's been a top one. - Yeah, he's been a little consumer. 800 plus yards and five straight seasons now. - I think he's more of a floor than a ceiling. I'll give you that, but he does end up top 20 because he just keeps, he's one of them just like solid guy. And where he's going in drafts again, 8th round, like give me that all day. - Yeah, I'm a little concerned. I mean, I'm just not as optimistic. I like ceiling plays, right? I mean, for those reasons, there's a time and a place for all these guys. For that reason, my final headline from the future, bring it. - And no, I am not my clay junior, right? Junior or the third, where are you? - No, I'm junior. I'm like Michael, that's why I have claim over Michael Pittman, Juniors, where are the Michael juniors? - Here we go. I have not been hacked by my clay junior. For the first time in his career, Packers, wide receiver, Christian Watson, his surpasses, 1000 receiving yards. My clay shakes his head and disbelief. And for those reasons, I'm out. I should have stayed the course. I was talking about this guy for years. I was talking about this guy before it was cool. I was talking about this guy before I'm on Ross, same brown that a headstand. - It's true. - That was awesome t-shirt he is wearing right now. - That's right. - That happened against the Packers, by the way. I think it happens. I've got him as wide receiver, 29. Daniels got him as wide receiver, 39. Mike as a wide receiver, 37. This is the perfect encapsulation of what I just described. Right, you guys are higher on Michael Pittman, Juniors. I'm higher on Christian Watson. You could tell me, hey, Field, why don't we worry about breaking like 700 receiving yards before we break 1000 receiving yards in this season? I hear you, that's fine. I thought he was awesome. Down the stretch last year. Flat, out, awesome. - I know that there's gonna be a couple lemons mixed in there because Jayden Reed's gonna have a week or Matthew Golden or Tucker Kraft. I feel that I'm buying the Christian Watson breakout. - I didn't see much difference in him last season from a fantasy output perspective because the guy was extremely boom bus, 18 plus fantasy points four times. Average under eight fantasy points for game in his other six games. Definitely worried about that, not necessarily changing. And here's the healthy idea for you guys. How many career top 40 fantasy seasons does Christian Watson have? - How many years has he played? - Four. - Four. - Four. - Now he's zero. - Zero. - Yeah. He hasn't even finished top 40. We all have him rank top four. Let's get him there first. - Is that stat when you say that? Is that stat total points or per game? - I think it's, it's probably, yeah, I think it's, it's a capsule I wrote many months ago, but yeah, I think it's probably total points. But it can't be much better than that. - No, no, I agree with you. - I'm, I'm buying. - Yeah, I don't know why. - That's a good one here. - I think there's, you know what, I like it. I got a little board bet here. By the way, Kristina producer, producer in the show is a great job in the control room today. Are we tracking the board bet? - Oh, we are. - Okay, they are tracking the board bet. - Good, good, good, good. All right, here we go. May I propose a board bet? Me versus the two of you. - Always. - I say that Christian Watson, outscores Mike Clay Pittman Jr. this year. - Wow. - Wow. - Yeah. - Okay. - I'll take pitman. - Yeah. - Great. - All right, give it to us, start us off. - I say Christian Watson, outscores Mike Clay Pittman Jr. in fantasy points this season. - And I say Michael Pittman Jr. outscores Christian Watson in fantasy points this year. - Put it on the board. - Let's pull that up too. I wonder if the, the pole would, I mean, listen, if you guys want to win, you'll side with me. If you want to finish in six place, you guys will finish with like a day. - I gotta be honest guys. - I know 197 to 186, so it's not like this big gap by any means, but. - Just saying, where you're nine spots apart in rankings, that's pretty beautiful. - I want to challenge everyone else out there. I just had an oddly intimate moment with my friend, Mike Clay, where we stared deep into each other's eyes and said the exact same words for a full sentence and a half, like it was a long time. You should do that with someone at work because I, I feel some things now that I didn't feel like 15 seconds ago. - Yeah, the special connection. - We really do. - Get back in rhythm here. - I'm feeling it. - It's the season. - I really do. - I love you. - I think it's the best. - Wow, all right. - Well, then maybe my next future headlines should be about Jeremiah Love. - How about that? - How did you know? - I didn't. That's just how our best friends and his are in sync. - Right now. - Well, let's go to one week later than my prior regular season or my future headline. Monday, January 11th, 2027. Jeremiah Love cements a top five fantasy campaign by reeling off his fourth straight 100 plus yard game for the Arizona Cardinals. I've talked about him basically every day. I've been on the pod so far this season. I expect a big season from him. And just to put a little bit more on this. The reason why I think he's going to finish so strong is the schedule. Arizona does have a very hard overall season. - Yeah, as they do. - But they've a bind week 13, then they get the jets, the Saints and the Raiders, those before they play the Ford. That's the fantasy playoffs and they have the 49ers in week 18, which, who knows, teams are resting players. I don't think Love will be resting at that point, but the 49ers very well could be. So good, I think he gets a really strong finish to the season. Could be a league winner absolutely in fantasy. And I love this guy. - Yeah, we do and I hear you, Mike. And I love Jeremiah Love. I've pressed my skepticism before. I'm just a little worried that it may not matter. If you make this heavy investment in Jeremiah Love, like this is not exactly what you were describing with with Jalen Hartz, but you got to get to the playoff for the playoffs really matter. The opening of the season does scare me a little bit. - That's tough schedule. - Chargers on the road. Seahawks don't like that one there. Ford and Niners not totally spooked by that one. The giant is not totally spooked by that one, but just in the first seven games, you've got the Seahawks, Chargers, Rams, Broncos. That's not easy right there. You don't want to see tough, but he's going to be busy. One of the hardest parts about this conversation, I think for me, and I'm projecting a little bit as to what I think others in the industry and just fantasy players think. Part of why I feel the way I feel about Jeremiah Love has nothing to do with him and it's straight up scar tissue from another rookie running back last season. - Yeah, for sure. - If Ashton Gentie had finished as a top seven running back in the offense that we knew was gonna be bad, I think we would all just have more optimism on like we just watched this kid do it. - I think Jeremiah Love can also do it. - Yeah, but my counter to that is we've seen, like-- - They won, Barclays, I mentioned it. - I mentioned it. - Halfway for-- - I'm just gonna use, yeah, I'm gonna use this stat again, just because I want to reinforce something, which is that the last nine running backs selected in the top 12 of the draft finished top 12 as a rookie, nine straight did that. And if you're picking in the top 12, usually your team's not that good. And that was the case for a lot of these running backs who finished top 12, and all of them have, including Gentie. So, and again, I expect, Gentie's worst case scenario, I expect it to be better, which is why I'm higher on love than where Gentie finished last year. So, I know Gentie was boom bus, but he did pick it up after that slow start last year and had plenty of big games. I think Love is just, he's a really good talent. We've seen these high pedigree, heavily invested running backs, get huge workloads and be highly effective as rookies. And again, the guy can pass protect, he can catch the football, he can run. I'm just, I think he's having a huge season. - I think you got a lot of people that may be doing some emotional hedging, not because of Jeremiah Love, but because of what happened last year. You're just going to have to work through it. You're going to have to help the people see the things that you see, Mike Clay. - And by the way, that where he's going in drafts to helps his cause. - It does, right. - Again, across the industry, he's at that two, three turn. And for me, that's an auto click. - Gentie was much higher of a draft here. - Gentie was like six over all. - Yes, yes. - So, that part is fair. - I'm just trying to get you guys emotionally prepared for when Christian Watson has two thousand. - Stop it. - Two. - I hope he does because I'm taking all the W's if that happens. I was right. - All along. Matthew Golden too. - Yeah, you remember. - Never wrong. - Just early. - Exactly right. - That's right, yeah. - All right, my last one here and this one hurts my heart. But after our heated Matthew Stafford conversation yesterday, I wanted to bring this to the table as a highlight. Despite Jared Goff being the only quarterback with four straight seasons of 4,500 passing yards and 30 passing touchdowns, he still finishes outside the top 12 in fantasy highlighting. How unbelievably difficult it is to be a lead at quarterback when you don't use your legs. You have a straight seasons of 4,500 passing yards and 30 touchdowns. He's done that three years in a row and he's still barely been a top 12 quarterback. The thing that's most infuriating, he'll have these like splash weeks where yeah, he'll put up 25, 27, 28 points because they do that. But then the weeks he's unstoppable, he is just unstartable. So this is one of those things just like we talked about with Matthew Stafford. I talked about this with Jared Goff a little bit. Stafford's in a better position than Goff, but it is so hard to be a good fan. Fantasy quarterback, even when you are an elite passer, because if you don't utilize your legs, you're just leaving so much on the table for us. Let me give you. God, Mike. I was just going to say to your point in fantasy points per game, those three seasons. You've finished 15th, 7th and 12th. Okay. So that's one of them. He got up to 7th, but he just doesn't. His ceiling is seven or eight. Yeah. - He's not going higher than that. - Yeah, so reasons for optimism here. Let me do a little bit of math, 'cause this is actually insane. - By the way, the schedule, the reason for-- - I have a little bit of the easiest schedule. - Oh, oh, oh, oh. The books agree that I think sports book has the lions is, I mean, just do some math here on. You guys talk for a little bit. - We'll talk a little bit. - This might be one, two, four. - It's not always a good thing to have an easy schedule 'cause you want those shootouts, right? For especially for Tarradgop, you want them to be throwing four touchdowns. If they're just crushing everyone every week, they're gonna run in the fourth quarter. - Oh yeah. - So that could be-- - There's a lot of-- - Something that limits this passing upside, but their schedule, he's, he's got to do a lot of damage in the first half. Put it that way. It's possible 'cause the schedule's late. - This is freaking wild. - Yeah. - The lions are favored in 14 of their first 15 games. - That's-- - They play both the bears and the packers to conclude the season on the road, and their small underdogs in both those games. - On the road. - Let me just give you some of the early season match-ups that would allow us to see a gigantic start for Jared Goff and Omron and company. Home to the Saints, at the bills, there's a night football, home to the jets, at the panthers, at the Cardinals. - Jets, panthers, cardinals. - Home to the packers, that'll be tough. Home to the lions, that'll be tough. - No, we are the lions. - Sorry, home to the Vikings, that'll be tough. - Vikings, got it. - At the dolphins, in Germany against the Patriots, home to the Buccaneers, home to the bears, at the Falcons, they play some good defense, home to the Titans. I mean, this is insane. This is what happens. - 14 to 15 games. - This Detroit Lions offense scored 481 points last season, most in the NFC North, and they finished with the fourth place schedule. Their offense is in a spot to smash. And like you're saying, if we're talking about Jared Goff needing to do his damage in the first half, like Jamir Gibbs, should we be more in on Isaiah Pacheco as like a down the stretch guy, guys, come on. - I know, I know. - All right, we'll get there. - I'm working on it, guys. - I don't think it's gonna be blunt. There are some bad defenses in there, but not bad teams. Including maybe our own. - Fair clients might have some struggles. - I think their defense on paper should be good, but the problem is they have those injuries in the secondary. We don't both safeties. Are they a play week one at this point? - I don't know. - Yeah, it doesn't look good. So between those two things and then obviously losing your part of the fantasy, though, if they're getting lit up in the secondary early on. - Part of why I love sports is the stories that, well, I mean, I guess all of why you love sports. - I love the unexpected stories or like the things that feel like they're too good to be true. Just thinking about this, the Lions have this very easy schedule. We'll set up for them to have a major bounce back season. Where's the Super Bowl being played this year? - LA. - Los Angeles. - Oh, of course, broadcast for the first time ever on ESPN. - Yeah, that's right. - 60 Super Bowl 61. We're pumped about that. The whole company is. Wouldn't it be this Hollywood script if the Lions, wouldn't the Super Bowl this year? And Jared Goff goes back to the stadium that he briefly called home? - Yes. - That would be something. - In a year in which I think the Rams are the bedding favorites to where the Super Bowl at home. - Yes. - That would be amazing sports right there. - Yeah, I'm kind of rooting for the Rams. I mean, obviously, I'm an Eagles fan, so number one. But I just, it's just such a perfect set up for the Rams, too. And sometimes the team is so well built. And I mean, to have Garrett and Stafford now in this team, it's so good. It just feels like it's all set up for them to be at home. It's in a lot of people we love. - Do you like the stories that are predictable? We like the unpredictable, but I mean, usually I'm an underdog guy, but I kind of, I'm going to be disciplined. I think I'm just going to feel disappointed for them, you know, after what they did to build that team. I mean, for them to bring in Garrett, too, under this team, it's just, look, I'm an underdog guy for sure. But I don't even know you right now. You want the Rams to win, like, I don't like it. - It's so boring. - I'm right there, the bad guys, like what? - I didn't say the bad guys, but that's so boring. - I don't know, you guys hate Sean McVag. - I love Sean McVag. - Is it true that if Aaron Donald signs the team median age is 38.7? Is that true? - No, it's not. - 'Cause it seems like they've got, no, they've got a lot of old guys. - They're older, they've got a lot of old guys. - They've got a lot of old guys. - That's so boring. - No one. - Are they winning? - I don't know. That team is just so good. I don't know. It's just, I know they're good. It's a respect thing. It's one of the best rocks I've seen. And maybe him ever. - You can respect them. But we started this conversation talking about the best part of sports is like the unlikely things that take place. And you're talking about the Rams. One of the Super Bowl is awesome. - I like some chalk stuff happens, guys. - Yeah, I do this year. - When the book wins, it's my favorite. - Like if the Dodgers win the World Series this year, you're going to go, man, I just, now we're, yeah, the roster is just so good. It is one of the best rocksters I've ever seen. - Yeah. - Tarks Scoobal is like, yeah, maybe better, huh? - I know that. - Stop talking about it. - When the 76ers win this season, oh, there you go. - See? - Yeah, I'm on board with that one. - You're a Philly fan now, right? You've always been a 76er. - I'm a lifetime. - I'm two years fan. - I'm two years fan. - All right. We're going to do some mail back stuff. - Yeah. - Because I'm saying again, I'm getting crushed here for, I'll tell you why. - It will be cool if like the Browns won the Super Bowl. Like that would be amazing. - Yeah, that'd be a great, that'd be a cool story in a lot of ways. But I don't know. - I just have respect for what the Rams-- - I need-- - I can respect them too. - I need the Lions. I'm always rooting for, I mean, I'm a Lions fan. - They need one. - Lions versus Bills would be insane. - That would be wild. - I would love it. - All right. We've got some-- - Sorry about that. - We've got some mail back questions as Daniel continues to break his mic. It's now-- Okay. We have poll results first. - Wow. All right. Some poll results here that we do not like. I would like a recount. - It sounds like-- - People haven't knowledge me. - The people are saying they would rather have Christian Watson for more fantasy points this season than Michael Pittman, 57 to 43%. - There's gonna be games for women as seven catches and Watson as six points. So, I mean, I'm-- - Christian Watson will be lucky to play 43% of the game. - Great point. - That's another thing with Watson, yeah. I mean, if you were to list injury, just like how concerned you are about injury, about all receivers and line them up, he'd be near the top of that. - Yeah. - Whatever the highest number is. - It's a tough thing to predict, but he has had his massive share of injuries. All right. Let's do a couple of questions. We'll close it out here with a few questions from chat. This one comes from Jordan Olsen wants to know, is it more important to have an elite tight end or a quarterback in a 10% full PPR league? - He was a great question. - He gave it to me. - But he also says in all caps, please answer on the show. - Please. We got you, baby. - All caps, do we think it's well mannered or do we think it's like, I'm telling you to do that. - No, I don't think they're telling. I think it's just a man. I really love the show. I would love for you guys to be a part of Mike. - Well, like sometimes if my kids are being complete turd, which is quite often. That happens. - And they'll say like, Cheerios, you say please, and they go, please cheerios, that wasn't better. Okay. So I couldn't tell if it was one of those from Jordan right there. - Well, I'm not going to listen to him that. I'm just going to write my answer here. - I've got a, I think, I wonder if you guys feel the same way as me because I've thought about this a bunch. I would much rather have an elite tight end because I just think the position is deeper in. It's much easier to get a quarterback later in the draft. - Easy answer. - Easy. - Simple. There you go, Jordan. All right. Next one. This one's from sports analytics. Check wants to know who's the biggest regression candidate or bust in wide receivers. Mike, do we have any big regression candidates off the top of your head? - I forget. - I forget. - Christian Watson, out of it. - That's it. Yes, for sure. - Luther Burton's efficiency. Definitely. Definitely. - We know the press. We know that. Man, let's see. I wrote, you have to read this column. - Yes. - All the touchdown regression column at ESPN.com, we have the guys who are going to score more touchdowns. - I'll give you one that I think people, you were total bans or none. It's not going to be reflected in our ADP or our rankings for that matter, but there are some people that are a little concerned about, I mean, obviously Devonte Adams is probably a natural one, right? - Yeah, a little bit. I mean, he is a premier touchdown for intros of violence. His end known targets were enormous last year. - Rashi Rice would be one. The thought process behind Rashi Rice is that the chief can actually run the football now and that's so much of what he's done. I believe our friend Ian Harkt had said that Rashi Rice has one career completion on a ball thrown 25 plus area yards. - Seriously? - He's a PPR fiend, not so much so if the team can run the football. He'd be one. - Wow. - He's been interesting candidate. - I'm looking at this list here. Obviously, Mike, oh, this is not a wide receiver, never mind that we were asking for wide receivers. I don't know. You've got T Higgins with a touchdown regression here. - Yeah, T Higgins. - Yeah. - Yep. Good one. - And then Williams fits the bill. - All right, calm down. - Calm down. - Waitin' Johnston. - John Jennings, definitely after having nine touchdowns last year, he's going to be the number three in Minnesota. - Yeah, definitely. That guy. - Yeah. How about going the other direction? This is the ultimate one, Justin Jefferson, for sure. I talked about how high he was in end zone targets last year at 15 of the melee score two touchdowns. This expected touchdown total was 8.1. - Wow. - So if he just had like average quarterback efficiency, he would have had eight touchdowns last year. - You know who the number two player in this list is for Mike Clay? - Positive regression. - I do. I'm sorry. - Luther Burton the third, going from two touchdowns to six touchdowns. - No doubt. Yeah. Look, I saw if I'm ranked as a starter, it's just the, come on. It's just fun, Mike. - Come on. The statistical efficiency is going down the touchdown. - I think he just touched down. He should go up. - This is called covering your bases. - That's right. That's called being objective. I'm covered all the categories. - I love it. - I love it. - Like you're the most objective person I've met. - I try to walk across. - I try to be. - J-E-F-C-1999, big in chat. We love this person. I'm not saying it'll happen, but doesn't a jaw challenge slow down? Get more probable every year. - I mean. - Yeah, but I'm going to see anywhere close to like, what's he 30 years old now? - Yeah. Yeah. Like, we're seeing quarterbacks play at a high high level. I would say this to the Jeffs. point or Jeff's question. There is a little bit of me that is nervous that like it won't be a slow drip in Josh's regression. It's just going to be one of those years where physically he doesn't hold up the same level. That year is not this year. It doesn't feel like it. Do you have a year? I mean, we haven't seen, it's been in our lifetime that mobile rushing quarterbacks have been a thing. So like for fantasy football, like when do you feel like that mobility or you start to be concerned, do you have an age or is it really just about every player is different? I'm going to turn to the objective guy. Yeah, the interesting thing about this is that we saw Lamar Jackson's rushing slip a little last year. And he's 29. He's actually younger. And the same thing with Jalen Hertz, who what is he now? He's 28 is efficient. And his rushing really dropped last year. So you don't kind of don't know when it's coming. But I think when something like what happens with Hertz last year where his rushing went way down, I think that's the signal with Josh Allen, because Allen through the air has been kind of up and down. You know, at times he's throwing the ball. Well, often he's that hasn't been his strength, right? He's been inconsistent in that area. So that's what I'll be watching for is if there's a big drop in rushing, that's when the red flags will start to go up. I think have you taken Josh Allen in any of your drafts or do you think that you will box? Yes. But not that was more real research purposes. I've only had one. One drafts are the perfect place to be able to draft Josh Allen to be like, do I? Is it, yeah, is it worth it for me to invest this early in this guy? Yeah. I have a project out of mattress. Yeah. Do you do people, do you get to try out mattresses? Oh, yeah. That's big in that industry now. Of course. We bought one this spring when they gave us four months to try it out. Four months. Yeah. Wow. Did he keep it? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I've, uh, Allen projected way ahead of all the other quarterbacks, but it's just very, the opportunity cost around two or three is so much. It's, it's hard to, it's all hard to do that. Agreed. Tomorrow, it's going to be another good show. Hardest players drink. Oh, it's always fun because it's just about, I mean, sometimes we just have feelings and guys. Yeah. So many ways. It is so difficult. All right. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. We love you guys. Go back and watch the beginning of this week. Mike lays first week here on the show. Pumpties made it four straight days. We'll see if you can do the full week. We love you guys. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. You guys deserve it. We love you. We'll see you tomorrow. Hasta mañana.