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The Secret Formula Behind Fantasy WR & TE Breakouts | Fantasy Football 2026

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The Secret Formula Behind Fantasy WR & TE Breakouts | Fantasy Football 2026

The transcription discusses Ryan Heath’s article on identifying fantasy football’s next wide receiver breakout in 2026, using Jaxon Smith-Njigba (JSN) as a model. Heath emphasizes that heavy personnel usage (e.g., 12 or 21 formations) reduces target competition, boosting efficiency and opportunity for top receivers. Play callers from the McVay-Shanahan and Ben Johnson coaching trees are highlighted as key factors, as they consistently produce league winners. Slot usage is also critical, as it often leads to easier coverage and higher target shares, particularly under coaches like Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen. Condensed target trees in heavy personnel offenses further funnel targets to elite receivers. Heath identifies Ladd McConkey as a prime breakout candidate for 2026, citing his strong efficiency metrics and the Chargers’ shift toward heavy personnel under Mike McDaniel. Other potential breakouts include Marvin Harrison Jr., who may benefit from increased slot usage under new coach Michael Flora. The article is free and has gained significant attention on social media for its actionable insights. Overall, the key to finding breakouts lies in targeting receivers in offenses with heavy personnel, elite play callers, and favorable slot usage, which historically leads to league-winning fantasy production.

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The secret formula behind identifying fantasy football's receiver breakouts in 2026. Join today by Ryan Heath. Ryan just dropped an incredible article where he researched how to identify this year's Jackson Smith and Jigba and Ryan you used a bunch of identifying factors which we are going to cover. Why don't you let everybody know where they can find that article and sort of what led up to it? Yeah you can find it on fantasypoints.com right now it is finding the next Jackson Smith and Jigba play collar tendencies so yeah free read you can go read it. What basically led to it is that not drafting a bunch of JSN last year was one of my biggest regrets from the 2025 season so I wanted to basically never make that mistake again so it led me to just kind of research into what all these factors were that led to his breakout and the one that really just kind of kept hitting me in the face especially with the way the NFL is trending right now is the increased heavy personnel usage. A lot of JSN's production last year came from these heavier sets with two or a few wide receivers on the field that had never really existed before in the first two years of his career when he was pretty much a slot only player playing in an 11 personnel heavy offense and yeah having Clint Kubiak just having more of those heavy wide receiver sets to wide receivers on the field just really led to that bump in efficiency all that additional opportunity for JSN so the article is really just going through looking around the league and seeing what other teams, what other play callers, what other wide receivers and tight ends we can make that similar kind of case for going into 2026. Ryan I'm sorry did you say that this article was free that that must have been some sort of a mistake. That's right. Yeah it is totally free everybody who is listening right now can go read the entire article and yeah highly recommend you do so it's a it's a nice little read. Yeah make sure you go check it out. You're kind of underselling it here Theo this is like maybe the biggest fantasy article of the 2026 offseason it just went nuclear on social media it was front page of Reddit over 100 retweets 700 views 2000 favorites people love this article and it was you know just yet another masterpiece from Ryan Heath who is quickly becoming one of the best one of the most skilled fantasy writers in the game. 100% it was absolute fire and we're going to break it down but make sure you go and read it because we're sort of giving you some of the cliff notes and we're going to identify some of the receivers that fit the bill for Ryan Scott before we kick it back to Ryan Ryan talked about sort of and this has been a real talking point sort of in the month of May sort of like the heavy personnel use we saw all these tight ends drafted in the NFL draft is this something you think is going to continue do you think defenses can quickly adjust where you add on this Scott and sort of your takes for fantasy. Yeah I definitely think this is going to continue I mean it's it we know the NFL is a copycat league and then what did you see you saw a bunch of teams overdraft tight ends in the 2026 NFL draft even Sean McVey who popularized 13 personnel added yet another tight end Max Claire I want people to know that we're not this isn't shade on JSM I guess not as as simple as you know you go so 12 and 22 and 21 personnel heavy like the sea hawks but you have a bad quarterback that wide receiver one's going to be JSN it doesn't work like that JSN stop forget in my rookie prospect articles I said this was the best slot wide receiver prospect I can ever remember I said he was keen and Alan re incarnated and so he was a really high level prospect who then was saddled with like totally incompetent play callers and OCs and then he got an absolute genius and clink kubiak who was used he went from like the worst like the stupidest usage to like the most ideal and yeah this is very ideal usage heavy personnel if you're competing for targets against full backs against tight ends that's much softer target competition then going up against even like mediocre wide receivers is the big max to scano thing it's like if T Higgins were a tight end he would be like the best tight end of all time by a mile and like incomparable in terms of you know route running prowess and ability to get open and so like even if you have really high end tight ends it's still a matter of it's it's still you know much softer target competition so certainly the case if you're the only wide receiver on the field which was the case for JSN or Pukka Nikua at times it's just a much softer setup a much easier pathway to getting targets and scoring fantasy points yeah and make sure you also check out the previous school of Scott episode where we're Scott nice sort of identified some players we think could be league winners guys who could sort of break through and finish tops at their position in in in fantasy scoring but it's interesting because some people will look we'll think of like Ryan's article and some of the players are going to test today and they're going to say well you know it's really hard to thread the needle especially when you're talking about 80p discounts that could end up punching well above their weight class and being league winners but Ryan if we just go back in time like you talked about JSN last year what a advantage he was for drafters who got him inside of the third round Scott and I discussed briefly Cooper Cup 2021 who was like a third and fourth round pick going behind Robert Woods on the same offense the year before that Stefan Diggs was like wide receiver 26 and 80p ended up finishing close to wide receiver one overall and then at the tight end position we don't have to go back very far 2024 Brock Bauer finishes tight end one overall 2023 Sam LaPorta finishes tight end one overall both those guys were going somewhere in the tight end 11 through tight end 14 range and 80p so we're going to attempt to do that today Ryan another thing you talked about at length in your article was play callers and how play callers often repeat their tendencies how is that an edge that we can exploit in fantasy yeah the they're every single year there are a bunch of play callers moving around the league right and I think your casual fantasy gamer who maybe doesn't tune in until August is isn't always going to be that familiar with how differently some of these offences run the with the JSN example last year Ryan grub was one of the most 11 personnel heavy like dropback heavy offenses in the league that's what he's always done it's what he did at Washington it's what he did in Seattle with Gino Smith kubiak comes in watch more of a run heavy coach but also yeah uses these heavy personnel sets increases the per-out efficiency of every single wide receiver that actually remains on the field as we saw for JSN and there are other examples of that this year we can get into whichever ones you would like but yeah we have so many play callers moving around the league that are just going to radically change what the offensive style of each of these teams looked like and Scott you've always talked about and Ryan as well at length about sort of the McVey Shanahan coaching tree where you talk about a copycat league people are have been attacking that one this year you're going to start to see a little bit more of like the Ben Johnson coaching tree at play so really you can identify a large portion at this point in the NFL offences that are McVey Shanahan or Ben Johnson influence talk about that a little bit Scott and how that's been a cheat code for us over the years yeah that's that's something we've always talked about and Ryan did great work in anatomy of a league when are really showing that you know where do league winners reside and fantasy football and bear in mind there's like a lot fewer really truly impact players players who determine whether or not you winner lose your league very few in any given season then people would I don't know kind of think or expect really let's say there's only three to six in any given year and we look back over the last six years where do these league winners reside and more than anyone else it's Sean McVey offences and second it's a Kyle Shanahan offense and then it's a Mike McTay and so we we Ryan coined the term Mick Shanahan offense and that's really something we want to chase in our drafts you know I always talk about the quarterback position is seeker in quidditch levels of broken in terms of its positional importance quarterback is everything well maybe not everything because yeah play callers are seriously underrated and can be really impactful you know like I was a big Trevor Lawrence skeptic I was a big Caleb William skeptic but we saw what Liam Cohen and Ben Johnson did with them last year and so yeah not only is it these are the best play callers you throw Ben Johnson in the mix we know he's elite but it's these elite play callers who are also going very 13 heavy you're very heavy personnel I love what the bears did they have They have some killer tight ends and Colston, Loveland, Colcomette, Sam Rausch. That just opens up the pathway for a Luther burden or a Colston, Loveland to be an absolute league winner this year. Like a face melting, vomit inducing, league winner, where it's just like, if you don't have them on your team, your chances of winning your championship are a lot lower. So yeah, I think that's really one of the most important things here. Yeah, very, very important stuff. And again, make sure you check out Ryan's article on fantasy points and make sure if you are watching us on YouTube, know that we are going to start streaming live 9/30 in the morning, Eastern time, every single day, from here on out, starting next week. So not sure what day this is going to drop, but we've been doing a lot of uploaded shows that you've been watching heavily edited, but we're also going to be dropping a ton of live coverage. They're going to help you win in fantasy. Look for Scott, look for Ryan, Brett Whitefield, John Hanson, and many more to be joining me here live on fantasy points YouTube, fantasy football daily podcast all summer long. It's going to be an absolute blast. Scott and I are also going to reveal how we're drafting early on. We are in the middle of a slow draft over with our friends at the FFPC, a bit of $350 big gorilla. We're going to identify some targets of ours early on. We're going to get you ready to crush your leagues this season. Let's keep talking about a little bit more of your research. And one thing that sort of gets thrown out there a lot this time of year, Ryan is slot usage. A lot of times you'll hear different fantasy analysts sort of talk about slot usage. This player could see some time in the slot. Just how important is that for us for getting like max value out of some of these targets at ADP? It is pretty important. Just on average, the coverage that you're going to face in the slot is going to be less like difficult than the coverage you're going to face out wide as an X wide receiver, right? So there is an advantage to determining what some of these offenses that maybe aren't going to be very heavy personnel. They might go more 11 personnel, three wide receivers on the field. So you have a slot receiver with some of these offenses. It makes sense to try to game out. Well, who's going to see the most time in the slot is the X receiver going to rotate into the slot periodically? That's what we saw with Jamar Chase several years back now. That was kind of what took his fantasy game, at least to the next level when he started getting kind of the more versatile usage moving to the slot to the outside. Probably the most interesting example of this that I've kind of theorized is with Marvin Harris and Junior this year. We have Michael Flora coming in with the Cardinals, of course, a Sean McVeigh disciple, where McVeigh historically has been a very 11 personnel heavy coach, even aside from their foray into three tight ends last year, has always been kind of an 11 personnel heavy guy. We have comments this off season from Michael Flora saying that his system is very much that he's going to be rotating all three wide receivers into different positions. It's a positionless offense. We had Tremac Bride just kind of soaking up all the slot snaps last year in those two tight end sets. That likely isn't going to be the case this year. So I like Marvin Harris and Junior from the standpoint. Of course, this is a McVeigh tree coach. It's the right coaching tree that we want a breakout fantasy league winner to be in. Scott just got done talking about. And just the chance that he sees more slot usage kind of more diversity. He's not just always on the outside being told to go win against the opposing number one corner. I think this could be like Marvin Harris and Junior's best chance at taking that next step forward in fantasy football. I'm not as attached to him and his breakout as some of the other receivers that we're going to talk about today and that I discuss in the article. But that's just one example of why slot usage can matter and a player that could kind of low key benefit from that this year. Yeah. I mean, Scott, we all talk about sort of the opposite last year with JSN where he was sort of moved around the formation a little bit. But if you look at Tremac Bride, Tremac Bride was, I believe number one in slot snap is among all tight ends last year. And we get those valuable design targets going to the slot as well. Talk about that a little bit, Scott, because you've talked about it over the years when you've identified players you've really liked. I know you've talked about Parker Washington early on this season. But I know years before you were sort of on that massive keen and Allen year when he was in the Kellan Moore offense. He was predominantly in the slot. Talk about slot usage, how important it is to you in identifying the players you want to draft. I think in a vacuum, it doesn't really mean anything. I think it really depends on the specific play collar. You mentioned Parker Washington. Yeah, it's just Liam Cohen's track record with the slot wide receiver position dating back to college with Juan Dale Robinson and then Cooper Cup. And then that Chris Godwin season, which really is not something to overlook because it wasn't just he finished second behind only Jamar Chase and fantasy points per game. And it's like he was really the alpha over Mike Evans and it's hard to be an alpha over Mike Evans like that. So that's one example. Another example is Ben Johnson, who he's come right out and say it, said it in these press conferences is I have an offense that runs through the slot receiver. It's a lot more difficult to set up to stop a slot receiver. You don't have a lead shadow cornerbacks following slot receivers. And he was saying, yeah, dating back to my start in this league with Jarvis Landry leading the position and catches. My offense is a very, the offense has always been associated with always have a very productive slot wide receiver. And yeah, you saw that with on Ross St Brown as well, who wasn't a highly drafted player. But at the tail end of his rookie season had like six straight 100 yard games. And so in that Ben Johnson offense, yeah, I'm going to place a premium on slot receivers. In a Liam Cohen offense, I want to place a premium on slot receivers. But I think you could be tethered to an elite play call or he's just like such an absolute cheat code. But if you're, if you have a 55% 60% route share, it's still really, really hard, if not impossible to be a true fantasy difference maker. So ideally, you get both. But ideally, you get, you get the best of both possible worlds like we saw with JSN who let's not forget, you know, a year ago, two years ago, he's like, ah, he's slot only. No, he's not. He could be a true alpha wide receiver one. Ryan, another big factor that we often see and Scott and I often talk about on school of Scott is a condensed target tree. Being able to know that the majority of the targets are going to predominantly go to two players has been a huge cheat code. But how many times did we discuss the condensed target tree in Cincinnati when you had the shared Jamar chase and T Higgins overlap? How many times did we talk about it with the Matthew Stafford feeding Devonte Adams and Pukinakua and both of those guys run in Ryan. How important is that to you to identify these condensed target trees? It's very important. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to look at some of these heavier personnel offenses that are going to put either a blocking tight end or even a fullback on the field in the case of these Shanahan might make Daniel offenses. They love using the fullback. Just taking another eligible receiver off the field goes a long way toward condensing those targets to the remaining good pass catchers on the field. We can just get into Latin Maconky if you want. But this is part of the reason why I'm so bullish on Latin Maconky. We have gotten all of these Mike McDaniel signings, Allick and Gold. They've signed David and Joku, Charlie Colar, a blocking specialist tight end. It really seems like the chargers in their moves this off season are like walking the walk of a very heavy personnel offense. We have plenty of history of McDaniel always utilizing at least a fullback. We've never really seen him with actual good blocking tight ends. So that could be another huge X factor. And then you're just kind of left with Aladdin Maconky, who his rookie season was one of the more efficient ones we've ever seen on a per out basis. Was an incredible separator as a rookie. Roll over into his sophomore season. The offense was just much more spread out. We have Keenan Allen there. The chargers were, which is absurd for a Greg Roman offense, but the chargers were near the top of the league just in rate of dropbacks with three or more wide receivers on the field. They were running four wide receiver sets a lot, even with Trey Harris. So that was kind of the opposite of what we wanted with the chargers last year, where there's just all these receivers on the field, more target competition for Latin Maconky. And now I think it's the opposite. We don't have Keenan Allen on the team so far, fingers crossed. We've got Ladd and then you've got what Quentin Johnston, Trey Harris, round four rookie, Brendan Thompson, Aronde Gadson, who is maybe a move tight end, maybe you're going to play as a pseudo wide receiver. It really is just in heavy personnel. Why would you not want Lad Maconky to. always be the wide receiver that's on the field. He's the one that can win one-on-one and give you that advantage if you're bringing all these other blockers onto the field. That is one of the biggest things in terms of the RAM success with heavier personnel is the reason it works so well is because Pukinakua Devante Adams are just incredible one-on-one receivers. They can just go win on an island when they're causing all these other match-up issues and getting all of this additional blocking elsewhere. It can just fall on their shoulders to go and win. I think Lademakonki can do that exact same thing and that's why I think he is the best version or the best example of a J.S. N quote unquote entering year three has better overall stats for both Per out and total through his first two years of his career than J.S. N actually did. So yeah all of these factors are just aligning for me on Lademakonki and I'm really excited about him. He is going to be one of my biggest stands of this offseason. The only thing that can ruin this really is Keenan Allen signing in August which I'm terrified of I fully admit but where I'm at right now Makonki is just one of the biggest beneficiaries of everything I talk about in this article. You know he's strongly disagrees with this take. Theo Greminger is a bit of a Lademakonki hater. I'll let you do that. I do want to just point out what I think is like most important about this piece is you're nailing the best thing we could be doing right now. The most important thing we could be doing right now. So everyone wants to know who are the league winners? Who are my exodia plays? Who are the players? You need to draft to win a fantasy championship but to get there we have to ask the right questions and the right question to be asking in May is like what are the best offenses? What are the most important offense? And I think you've nailed that here where it's yet another one where even if it's even if they go 11 percent which they're not it's the chargers you know I told the story on one of the last episodes is I got off the plane in New Jersey where bedding's legal the first thing I did was I bet on Herbert to win MVP I bet on the chargers to win the Super Bowl. It's Mike McDaniel who you know is always has maybe the most efficient running game in football and like Devon H. I was the first running back he had it wasn't drafted in round seven or UDFA. We saw what that offense did three years ago is one of the best yards per play seasons ever and now he has a way better supporting cast a way better quarterback this team looks stacked you know I know Herbert I mean Herbert was playing like a top one level when he when he had just Joe Alton the field and he also had his his other tackle get hurt in August and so yeah I think if everyone stays healthy that can really be one of the most deadly offenses in football so it's it's yeah the chargers are an example of this could could there be a JSN on the chargers and then it's the Bears or another example you know Ben Johnson is could there be an Ammon Raw a a JSN on the Bears yeah I think there absolutely could be the Jaguars the same thing and so you know at a minimum I really think you this article in particular nailed down you know the most important questions we wanted the assi like if we're if we're like a truffle pig looking for league winners these are the offenses you want to be looking in and yeah maybe theos bear case argument on lad mcconkey is right but at the end of the day like Ryan did an amazing job of identifying outsized league winning potential for a lad mcconkey who let's not forget this time last year was going in round three of drafts yes so lad was going in round two Scott because we argued about that one a lot that was the that was the argument and Ryan and I had this argument and Ryan I were were and Ryan and I are usually in lockstep this time a year where like last year lot Ryan and I were like the fantasy points guys like sort of pounded the table for like Drake London when it was London head to head with like AJ Brown but then they had lad mcconkey in there lad mcconkey I remember I'm in Vegas live drafting at the main event and I had Jamar chase at the one and then it comes to like the the the the the the turn and like 24th pick I end up passing on lad taking Jackson Smith and jigba and the dude who's picking 26 was like so freaking happy as soon as it comes to his pick he just snap takes lad and I get it and I think like Ryan is super super sharp on this kind of stuff and you make so many great arguments but Ryan the fact that the 34 year old guy on his couch scares you to death for your big league winner argument like that sort of says it all to me where lad mcconkey got like usurped by Keenan Allen and you could call it veterans deference you could call it like Justin Herbert's thing but we saw what the downside looks like for lad mcconkey and I'll say I'm okay taking him at 80 p Scott we're in a 350 right now and we took him at the 411 I feel like when I'm at the 4 5 turn getting lad mcconkey and like an FFPC draft it's fine but maybe I don't see sort of the ceiling case that that Ryan does so I'll say like I'm okay drafting him at cost he's not a player I'm willing to reach for I don't hate lad I my dynasty bags are completely packed full of lad mcconkey but it scares me a little when a guy can regress that much and I know that there is the race on Slater Joe all the offense regressing and Ryan and I are also going to reveal our top five breakout offenses this week on fantasy football daily we're recording that one and spoiler alert we both have the chargers there so I'm bullish on the offense love Mike McDaniel but Ryan like talk about that a little bit like the the fear you have for the 34 year old could knock you off of this take this is what I'd say Keenan Allen if he gets signed by any team that suggests that they are going to have a slot receiver on the field a lot right that was what we saw from Keenan's out at Keenan Allen's usage last year he would come on the field as a third receiver usually on obvious passing downs on third down and such and that is enough just his target earning gravity in those specific situations at this point in his career to kind of nuke the upside of everybody that's around him but it's not just him it's also the fact that now there are three or four wide receivers on the field so the part two of this take for me is I don't think the chargers are going to sign Keenan Allen in August because of this they've are at least suggesting to us right now with their moves that they want to have a much more heavy personnel based offense I think Keenan Allen just kind of makes that really weird it just kind of gunks everything up in terms of what it seems like their plan is yeah I could be eating my words in August for sure but that's why I feel good about clicking lad right now just kind of reading the tea leaves of what does this offense want to be and I just don't know that a Keenan Allen fits into that necessarily he could into other offenses I'm not saying he's going to retire or not be in the league or anything like that but yeah I would just be pretty surprised and it would kind of go counter to all the other signals we've seen from the chargers this offseason to me yeah I just want to you know I think that was really disrespectful Theo what you're saying about Keenan Allen Keenan Allen is an all-time legend he's you know a borderline hall of famer yeah he's 33 years old but look at what a 34 it's got 34 okay but look at what a 32 through 35-year-old Larry Fitzgerald did from the slot where you can get by and this is a guy who you know never had the best athleticism was always more of a route running technician and literally every year of his 13-year career he had a target per route run of 0.25 or better he had a target share over 20% like this is just a guy who commands targets and he has that familiarity and rapport with Justin Herbert so to me the whole lad Maconkey thing really comes down to this and so right now I'm kind of I want to you know avoid him just on the the chance that Keenan Allen signs and then Chris has to nuke him in his projections but if it's you know if if Keenan Allen signs somewhere else or he retires then I'm way more in in Ryan's camp and excited to draft Lad Maconkey yeah and I think another way to sort of profit off of the chargers right now if you're unsure about taking Omari and Hampton it with like the 13th overall pick or Lad Maconkey why do we see where 20 feels okay chance he steams up a little bit this summer just draft Justin Herbert because I think the three of us are going to be in lockstep that we love the chargers this year we love what they've done and we love Mike McDaniel let's talk about another player that is even cheaper so we talked about Lad Maconkey and shout out to Darren Armani fantasy mojo dot com I'm pulling FFPC 80Ps off of there in real time check out a fantasy mojo dot com if you want to look at it yourself lad is wide receiver 20 you go down a little bit you're going to find Mike Evans and Mike Evans also like and Ryan it feels weird because we're talking about a lot of young guys and then there is Mike Evans who seems mispriced to me right now as the wide receiver 25 overall that's about the five nine so about the ninth pick in the fifth round if you're trying to figure that one out a little bit higher up in NFFC 80p but Mike Evans everything sort of setting up well for him Ryan it feels like he's this years version of Devonte Adams, um, 20, 25 Devonte Adams, with maybe a chance for even more targets in a higher target share. And I think there's a lot of optimism out there among George Kittle bag holders that he's going to come back ready to go a little earlier than anticipated 49ers lie to us all the time about injuries. So talk about Mike Evans, how he could step on to the field as really the clear lead dog of this offense outside a Christian McCaffery. Yeah. So Mike Evans, historically over his career, has been amazing from two wide receiver sets. He just hasn't played in very many of them with the Buccaneers. A lot of these offenses have been very 11 personnel heavy. Uh, but if you just look over the past since 2022, 34% target per out run from two wide receiver sets, he've led the league in that stat. Even last year, nearly three yards per out run from those sets. He just sees a massive efficiency boost when he only has to compete with one other wide receiver. And that's likely to be the case a lot more in San Francisco than it was in Tampa. Thinking about this offense, just gaming it out. George Kittle very likely not going to be on the field in a meaningful capacity, at least for the early part of the season. Kyle Shanahan has always been near the top of the league in 21 personnel. So using a fullback instead of a wide receiver. So just thinking about this, if the offense looks like a tight end who isn't George Kittle, if it's Jake Tungister, whoever, not a giant target earner on the field, a fullback, maybe even Dejon Stribbling as the blocking F wide receiver role that we saw, Jawan Jennings have, if it's just Mike Evans and Ricky Pierce all on the field as actual wide receivers a lot of the time. Then the only conclusion I can come to is that Evans is going to break fantasy football. This is just what we've seen from him. He has like every single year of his career just massively overperformed in the touchdowns column. I think that's how fantasy gamers think of him. I think that can continue to happen. It's Shanahan has just been responsible for some of the most efficient offenses. He can turn any wide receiver he feels like into a fantasy relevant one. We have seen that with Jawan Jennings. We've seen it in different years when he's chosen to make Brandon Iyuk, the focal point or Debo Samuel. And it was alternating for a couple of years. Shanahan more than anyone else can just pick a guy and have him be a superstar. And that just obviously seems like it should be Mike Evans here. I, the only like downside argument and it's a big one. I will admit is that Mike Evans is in his 30s has a history of hamstring injuries and he's going to be playing next to the electrical substation in this year. So that like speaks to it in itself. Yeah. This is a very big risk reward swing. But at his current cost, I think that that's tilted a lot more toward the reward right now. But yeah, I like the Devont Adams comparison you made to last year. It's very similar. I just an older wide receiver who had I would say Evans has had slightly more injury issues than Adams has. But Evans, when he was on the field, his game was not really diminished. This is the guy that has been like a top three and average separation score the last couple of seasons as well. I don't think Evans is washed or that we have seen evidence of that on the field to this point. So yeah, I really like Evans. He's another one of my like favorite kind of mid-round wide receiver targets this year. Yeah, not only is he not washed, but he's like still elite. Yeah, he's been top three and ass in three straight years over that span. He leads in ass versus man coverage, ass versus zone coverage. He's still got it, man. And you know, he's still producing at a really high level despite 11 personnel despite some really tough target competition. And yeah, you know, I'm talking about the Ben Johnson slot and the Liam Cohen slot, but like the original fantasy cheat code dating back a really long time to the days of Pierre Garçon. I remember talking about was the Kyle Shanahan wide receiver one fantasy cheat code. And yeah, I think even a in his 30s Mike Evans is the best wide receiver. Kyle Shanahan has had since prime Julio Jones who you remember what he had 1800 1900 yards with Kyle Shanahan. And that's like one of my hot takes. Honestly is Debo Samuel is massively overrated. Like he is a an elite after the catch receiver. The in his prime, the best in football. He's not a good route runner. Every year, he's like, I don't know, 33rd percentile and ass. And then even Brandon I you guy, you know, I don't I don't he's like a little bit better than Z flowers to me. Well, that's another controversial take. So just ignore it. Ignore that. It is. I know, I know. But it's just like I don't I don't think those guys were really anything special. I think a lot of that is just Kyle Shanahan. And now you add a Mike Evans, which is like a full step or two above that. Yeah, I think I think this could absolutely break leagues. Ryan, I thought you put it perfectly to me though in DMs. What was it? You were like, I think I think either way it's going to seem so post hindsight obvious where yeah, he tears his hamstring in week three. And you know, grows grows another eyeball because of the electrical substation. Or you know, he just has 18 receiving touchdowns and we're like, Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, I mean, I'm on the I'm on the Mike Evans is this year's version of Vante Adams. I've heard a high stakes guy that I respect a lot sort of make some parallels to Julio in Tennessee. It does feel like this is influenced by the Devonte Adam success though. Like this is the NFC West arms race. I think it's a bad comp. I think I think the I think he's more pooka than than Devonte. There we go. I think that the I'll just say that it's an arms race. Seattle LA. He's healthy and they're not worried about keeping him healthy. Like if they just want to unleash him. Yeah, I see I think Devonte Adams, you know, you're kind of selling him short there a little bit. It's really the fun old guy tier in ADP. Terri McClaur and wide receiver 24 Mike Evans wide receiver 25 Devonte Adams wide receiver 26. But as Scott and I found out the hard way, Terri McClaur and starting to have some people steam him up a little bit. We got sniped. We'll talk about that a little bit later this week when we review our draft. Let's we're talking about this year's JSN. Why don't we talk about the the player that's under clink kubiak right now. And this is the really easy one and it's Brock Bowers and FFPC managers watching this. They'll probably roll their eyes and say, what are you guys talking about? He's already going to the middle of the first round. But if you look at NFFC ADP and underdog ADP Brock Bowers is still a late second rounder. I in May NFFC drafts that's $350 entry start three wide receiver PPR non tight end premium. Bowers is going off the board at 23 overall. Ryan, I would argue that that could end up being like the steal of drafts right now. I'm over over the moon on Brock Bowers potential under clink kubiak, especially when you consider the the competition for targets he has with the wide receivers on this team where the three of us could pull our hair out trying to identify if Jalen nail or or Tucker or Jack Besh is going to even be fantasy relevant. Brock Bowers can end up dominating all of those guys in every single metric. And we've already seen it from him. This is a player capable of putting up 30 point weeks. It's a player that we saw break Pukinakua's record for the most receptions by a rookie just two seasons ago. So talk about Bowers what a screaming value he is. So listeners might remember from last year that I was anti Bowers and anti early tight ends in 2025, right? With Bowers specifically, I thought people were underestimating the potential for the Raiders to just be a disaster offense for the past rate to go down with Chip Kelly. All of that was keeping me off of Bowers last year. But then what did we learn? Right? It was a total disaster offense complete worst case scenario. One of the worst offensive line performances that we've seen from a team in the past five years. And yet if you just remove the three games after Bowers heard his PCL was playing with a brace, if you take out those three games he was playing very, very hurt 16.4 fantasy points per game. That would rank as a top 10 wide receiver. He effectively lived up to that ADP about evenly last year. Now we flip the calendar over. He has Clint Kubiak, one of the best play callers in the NFL. We just saw him succeed and effectively hit that cost in a much worse situation last year. And he's going in the exact same spot on underdog in all of these formats that he was last season. And I don't get that at all. Why? We have seen him actually succeed in a much worse situation. We have seen what Clint Kubiak can do with his heavy personnel in terms of creating so much more efficiency for his receivers. I don't think Bowers to JSN is a perfect one to one comp in terms of just literally what they do on a football field. But from the personnel and schematic angle, yeah, there are no other wide receivers on this team that hold a candle to Bowers. Trey Tucker, Jalen Ailer, Jack Besh, like the fact that the Raiders didn't invest in wide receiver in the draft or beyond giving Jalen Nailer like a discounted Rashid Jihid contract in free agency should tell you yeah this is going to be a 12 personnel heavy team Brock Bowers is going to be the focal point even Michael Mayer could end up being like a high-end fantasy tight end to he's my favorite final round best ball pick right now just because he has scored as a borderline tight end one whenever he has been on the field for anything close to a full-time route chair he's pretty likely to get that this year why would he not he and Bowers are two of the most productive tight ends ever at the college level mayor was also an excellent prospect not nearly as good as Brock Bowers but this could really be like the return to the drawn Hernandez true to tight end offense with the Raiders this year so yeah I don't know what I'm missing on Bowers I don't get why he's not going at like the one two turn because that's what I just would have expected based on last year's results and what the Raiders have done this offseason 153 targets in 2024 for Brock Bowers Scott if he gets 153 targets in a clink Kubiak scheme how could he be a 20 point per game tight end yeah absolutely I mean he could just absolutely wreck leagues and and something bread and I have been talking about he he kind of is like wish casting a Chris O'Lavetray to the Raiders or just like anyone to the Raiders just because you know as elite of a play caller is as Kubiak is it's like they really don't have anyone else I mean Michael mayor you know I liked his college profile but he's really done nothing at the pro level and so it's like as good as Kubiak is he's trying to win games he's not trying to pad Bowers fantasy box score so if defense is sell out to stop him the only guy really you need to stop they might be successful doing that and so you just mentioned bestball and Ryan please don't ever come on this podcast and talk to me about a team's tight end two who you're drafting as you're tight end three and bestful I can't think of anything more boring or relevant as that but I if I were drafting bestball teams right now I would be really interested in Jalen Nailer just the way the team has talked about him the way Kubiak has talked about him the negative things I'm hearing in the streets about Jack Betch and you know he this is a former ask God you know we we talked about Jalen Nailer last year as a bestball pick because of his ass his average separation score but I think the bottom line here is yet again I think you you and this article are talking about the most important questions that we need to get right this year and I think this is this is the most under the radar offense of any you you've covered but one of them the ones on the most bullish on like I you and I were major Clint Kubiak truthers last year we wound up with more Kenneth Walker than JSN unfortunately but you look at his track record last year was really one of the most impressive play calling seasons I can never remember where he just really destroyed defenses he with heavy personnel he forced defenses to play base defense against them and then he would throw all over them because that's a mismatch and then in the running game you know when he's in heavy person you match that with sub defense not base then he's gonna run all over you and it was just really brilliant play calling in a way to elevate a play calling cast that I don't think was Super Bowl caliber this was you know everyone heading into the year was like this is a bottom five offensive line it played at an above average level but I think a lot of that was was Kubiak's play calling and you know they really didn't have any receivers outside of JSM but that was enough to make it work and then 2024 we remember with the Saints they put up like back to back 40 burgers and then literally the entire offense got hurt like it was it was the left guard the right guard the left tackle the starting tight end four wide receivers it was really just Alvin Camara as the only offense and so and the year before that 2023 it was one of the best offenses in NFL history and then his dad Gary Kubiak was an all-time play calling legend so this is my pick to be the 2023 Texans I think you need a couple of things to go right but like yeah I wouldn't say like Nico Collins was free that year if you guys don't remember take Del was free that year that's right and so I think this is my favorite offense that no one else is as excited about but there's certainly concerns you know it's a bad offensive line it's gonna be much better than last year but it's still not great we don't really know if there's a guy outside of the hours and I think there needs to be but but nonetheless still still very bullish on the Raiders relative to consensus so I'll say that but when we saw Kubiak taking over as Seattle's offense coordinator we also heard about how that offensive line was going to have some issues and the the pick of gray Zable and the NFL draft was really really sharp Zable looks like a future future pro bowl or maybe a future all pro but this offseason the Raiders went out and signed Tyler Lindon bomb from the Baltimore Ravens yeah I think this was the the biggest contract ever given to a center so like we talk about scheme matters and the sharp offensive offensive coordinator types can elevate an offensive line and turn around quickly last year Seattle went from being a team that gave up they were top five and most sacks allowed and they could quickly turn it around and last year I believe they gave up the third few sacks in the NFL so Kulinkubiak is a is a magician and to Scott's argument like yes we want you to draft Brock Bower's draft him all you can on underdog and an NFFC FFPC I think he's fine in the first round but you can double tap jail and nailer and tray Tucker right now wide receiver 62 and wide receiver 63 on underdog I have a bunch of underdog builds where I take bowers then maybe I get Mendoza's like my QB3 and I've tried to take one or two of those wide receivers I think they can both hit and they're so so so cheap and they'll be on the field a ton stay at the tight end position a player that we're all really really excited about is colston loveland now loved ones going to cost you a two three turn type pick in FFPC but if you look at underdog he's the tight end three but he's still affordable and if you look at NFFC so your classic start three wide receiver PPR format but high stakes you're able to get colston loveland at the four five turn Ryan we just saw the guy have 15 targets in an NFL playoff game where they beat the green bay packers and he had like four straight games of double digit targets and he's unbelievably talented where you out on colston loveland insanely insanely bullish bill barnwell had a really interesting article out last week as did Jacob Sanderson both kind of talking about the trend of 13 personnel in the NFL right so three tight ends on the field and both of them expressed like some skepticism in terms of can every team actually just do what the shomic bay Rams did three tight ends on the field getting absurd efficiency from it those are both great pieces to read lots of interesting things to think about but what it boils down to for me is that the bears maybe the only team other than the Rams that actually have three good tight ends where they could make a serious 13 personnel package and have that be a major part of their offense right they've got colston loveland who of course just looks like a superstar yeah his efficiency last year whenever he was on the field which especially was happening in these 12 and 13 personnel tight end sets was just incredible 4.6 yards for outrun 53% of the bears receiving yards when they were in 13 personnel and also you've got colcomette who is a service serviceable blocker and receiver and they draft Sam Rausch who is certainly has a blocking future in the NFL he's 267 pounds I thought his analytics profile from a receiving perspective was underrated as well so all three of these guys can kind of do both things to some extent the blocking and the receiving that just makes it really really hard for defenses to match up against them and it can lead to these just insane efficiency gains like we saw from the Rams in their three tight end sets and both pukka and davantay Adams averaging like five or six yards for outrun or something absurd like that whenever they went there a lot of times we go back and we look at sort of draft targets and draft planning and the guys we like an ADP and we get in big trouble when we start gravitating towards that tight end three through seven range there's always been sort of a draft tight end super early or draft tight end late mentality but this year drafting tight end three feels like a huge edge. Loveland feels like the one that maybe Tramack bride gets Carson Becht and maybe the clink kubiak scheme isn't quite as good as we thought and then then Colston Loveland ends up just lapping the field this year. Like, Colston Loveland to me feels like one of the biggest swing plays you can draft in fantasy football because the ceiling is incredibly scary and the floor seems pretty safe and I'm able to get him at a considerable discount versus those other two guys. Yeah, this is one of the most important decisions, questions of the 2026 season. This is one of the ones I've struggled the most with. I am such a Ben, I'm a Caleb Williams hater, but I am such a Ben Johnson truth or I think we laid this out perfectly on the last recording we did Theo where it's like, look at what the Bears offense accomplished last year with Caleb Williams ranking bottom five in catchable throw rate. If he's just average like this offense can light the world on fire and I love this supporting cast. You look at you look at Luther, you let's start with Roma doons a right like people are kind of treating him as dead. I don't know that that's the case. So his final year of college, he had a punctured lung and three broken ribs and he only missed a quarter of football. He played another nine games with broken ribs. Like the dude might just be a warrior who plays through everything because then in his rookie season in another serious injury, I think it was like a sprained MCL that he picked up in week one or week two and then he played the entire season with it. And then last year, he got off to a really hot start. He was what wide receiver three through the first four weeks wide receiver 10 through the first eight weeks and then he picked up this injury somewhere around the midseason point. If not earlier, we don't really know. And then he really kind of fell off a cliff. He asked back set up. He was at a really high level and so maybe he could there's something there and he's just had really bad luck and he's been hurt. And then you have Luther Burton who had the best rookie season yards for route run since OBJ that's one of the most predictive stats. I tweeted about how that's kind of misleading. And it's a little bit of a small sample bias, but nonetheless, we talk about the Ben Johnson slot role being an absolute cheat code. You know, he was used predominantly as a slot in college. Probably a better fit there than Roma Dune's a you worry about potentially maybe this heavy personnel, but I don't know that you do because looking into the numbers, Luther Burton was top three in yards for route run with two tight ends on the field. And you know, sure, maybe he has that slot background, but he was top three in yards for route run from the outside. And so even if you take away that one leaf like a trick play, which I critiqued when bringing up his yards for route run, he's still like top five, top seven and both stats. So I don't know, I think there's like really a really good chance he breaks fantasy football, but my lean right now is to kind of place my chips on Colson Lovelins. I think I would take him above Tramick bride right now. You know, if we know Joe Jacobi Bersetta starting week one, I think that really any signs and extension or whatever, I think that really changes the equation. But Luther Burton, you know, we're talking about 13 personnel stat from Ryan's article was he ever is like eight yards for route run from 13 personnel. And you look at over the last, what was it four or five games last season, you know, the offense really ran through Colson Lovelin. It did not run through Roma Dunze or DJ Moore or Luther Burton. It was Colson Lovelin who had four straight games of double digit targets was averaging like 28 yards per game, 98 or 98 yards per game, 23 fantasy points per game. He's just like an elite talent. I have a lot of belief in you could talk about the Ben Johnson slap and you could also talk about the Ben Johnson tight end. This is a guy I think is a lot more talented than Sam Laporta and I think Sam Laporta is really talented. And so yeah, it's just it's just kind of maneuvering those three options, but like I'm pretty sure one of them is going to wind up being one of the most important players in fantasy a year from now. That feels like a big year for the tight end position. Ryan, why don't we talk about a couple of other, a couple of players that I threw on the sheet here, not in your article, but a player that I'm looking at as could be a potentially huge ADP target of mine. And that's Zay flowers who's going off the board at wide receiver 19 when it comes to Zay flowers, we've got a coordinator change there. And I think it's going to be a very positive one. We get Declan Doyle coming over from Chicago. It's like 29 years old as an offensive coordinator. And for me, it's a pretty simple equation where I think the past volume is going to trend up. And it doesn't have to trend up that much. But Baltimore over the last couple of years, we've seen them finish near the very bottom, if not at the bottom of past attempts and the run to pass ratio could just be a little bit cleaner this year. When we look at Zay flowers, the guy never scored touchdowns in the past. So I have that potential for some positive touchdown regression back to back years with 14 yards per reception back to back seasons of over 1000 receiving yards. Last year got up to 1211 receiving yards 86 receptions average 14.3 points per game. Now we get this coordinator change. If we see just a little bit more past volume and I mean, like Derek Henry superhuman, but the guy keeps getting older like Zay flowers. Could this be a player that could benefit from some of your research here and could end up hitting it a big way or am I a little too over over the moon for today? This is a bit of a confusing one for me. So when I look at Declan Doyle, yes, I want to be optimistic. I get like the bull argument you just laid out. But then I think back to what Zay flowers has had going for him over the past couple of years. I think just pound for pound your chance of having a better OC than a Todd Monkin. It is not like that high. Like this is one of the better play callers in terms of fantasy football that we've seen was the architect of effectively back to back MVP level seasons for Lamar Jackson. I definitely hear you on the pass rate stuff. The biggest thing to me for that though and what we've seen historically from the Ravens is just how good is their defense? Whenever their defense has been completely injured and awful, yeah, the pass rate goes up. Zay flowers start scoring a lot more fantasy points. That's really more of the key variable to me is what does their defense look like? What types of game scripts are they forced into? Because yeah, when Lamar has to drop back in those obvious situations, flowers massively benefits. They are more than capable of putting up amazing fantasy production. I'd also just say from the schematic angle that it's pretty unlikely for flowers to be in more heavy sets this year than he was last year. He benefited from these two wide receiver sets more than almost any other wide receiver. I believe he led the league in targets per game from heavy sets among wide receivers. So I don't know that we're getting the per route efficiency boost necessarily either. Now the Ravens, they could be a more 11 person L heavy offense that could correlate with more drop backs as you're saying. But yeah, I don't think it's super clear that like everything is pointing in Zay flowers direction just from an environmental perspective this year for me. Scott, your early lean on Zay. Are you bullish as I am or a little bit skeptical like Ryan? Yeah, I'm probably more in Ryan's camp to be honest. All right. Well, that was short and sweet from Scott. Obviously not a big Zay bull here. I let us know in the in the chat Lad McConkey or Zay flowers. They're back to back in ADP over at FFPC. I'll continue to talk about Zay flowers all off season long. I've talked about them as a dynasty trade target. And if you want access to all of my dynasty content as well as Ryan's and Scott's, make sure you're also subscribed to fantasy points, dynasty YouTube. We're going to get access to my podcast dynasty life and Ryan's podcast dynasty points. And we drag Scott Barrett on both of those shows as often as we can. Let's talk about another wide receiver who Scott not to bullish on your initial lean on Jalen Waddle Ryan because we've seen this trend of traded wide receivers hit in a major way. We saw it last year with George Pickens going to Dallas the year before that Jerry Judy had this out of nowhere like low end wide receiver one high end wide receiver to finish. Then we saw DJ more the year before every single year. There's a traded wide receiver who hits in a major way. Jalen Waddle Denver gave up a first round pick, a third round pick and a fourth round pick to acquire. He's had previous success in Miami. Your thoughts on how he looks for you in Denver. I like him at his current ADP cost. Yeah, I'm also pretty intrigued by Jalen Waddle to me just looking at what Sean Payton has done recently in terms of how he has utilized his wide receivers. There in any given game there is one receiver that runs a full time route chair and is far in a way the wide receiver one just in terms of pure playing time, right? All of 2024 Courland Sutton was the only guy to run over a 70% route chair in like any game. That was Sutton for part of last year, but then he kind of seemed to fall out of favor. We saw Troy Franklin take on that role and then Sutton kind of fall back into a rotational roll with the three other guys that Sean Payton likes to rotate around and give like half the routes to right Pat Ryan ascended into that role for like two games that this is like a Sean Payton thing where there just is one Wide receiver that will be fantasy viable because he's on the field all the time and the rest maybe won't be right just because of the rotation of it all To me for the Broncos to go out and give up what they did for Jalen Waddle a receiver that has Ranked hot five in every per-route stat for basically his entire career He's just been either in awful low-passing volume offenses like last season or has been next to Tyree kill since his Rookie year so it's never fully translated just into the box score into the fantasy points per game But I do see the potential for that to happen this year With Waddle just being the guy the wide receiver one all the other guys behind him kind of Rotating and we know that Payton is not afraid to bump up the pass rate Especially when there are injuries in the backfield JK Dobbins still the RB1 here still the most injury prone running back in the league You can definitely paint a case to where this turns into a very dropback heavy offense Jalen Waddle Yeah, it just gets more routes is clearly the only guy playing a full-time route chair and Becomes like that kind of borderline wide receiver one wide receiver two like top 12 fringe type of receiver That's what I kind of see his ceiling as or like his likely ceiling. So yeah, I really don't mind him where he's going I think he's pretty solid this year. I'm with you. He's going 50 second overall. He's wide receiver 23 in FFPC drafts Scott Barrett the Denver Broncos had 13 pass attempts last year the third most in the NFL and you want to fade the wide receiver who they gave up a first Third and fourth four and last year you were on Jalen Waddle I remember reading the everything report over the second half of the year You're positively writing about Jalen Waddle now the ADP comes up maybe like around and a half and you don't want to pay that cost in a better Situation with Bo Nick's at quarterback. I think you're just in love with Jalen Waddle You you were you forced me to draft him in every league last off season I wasn't high on him until the second half of the year from a DFS perspective where he was a per route superstar Where he was benefiting from heavier personnel from elite play calling from Mike McDaniel and from a DFS perspective every week I was just like hey if they just You know are Perfectly average and pass rate over expectation in plays per game He should score like 23 fantasy points as we based on his recent usage and know they just went stupidly Suburantly run heavy and slow paced and whatnot, but yeah That might be more of a Lad Mcconkey argument I'm Mike McDaniel argument is maybe he gets that role which I think is what Ryan alluded to earlier But for this year I loved that trade. I loved it more from an NFL perspective where I think Cortland Sutton and Jalen Waddle complement each other perfectly, but I'm struggling to really see What is fantasy upside is here like do you unless you're like all in on Bo Nick's and the Broncos You know, maybe he's Brandon Cooke's but you know that was a year where Drew breeze had you know 5200 Passing yards and 37 touchdowns and so yeah, I just you know you have Cortland Sutton there who's He's gonna get a lot of the short area targets gonna score a lot of touchdowns can can this offense Feed both of them at their current ADP with you know other players around Like Terry McCloren Around bottle and ADP that I like more. I don't know. I'm Luke Warren. I wouldn't say I'm a hater I will say you're probably too bullish for the second year in a row though Well, you know, I was I was a little bit failed out. We had some good win rates for some of those Jalen Waddle teams I'll throw that out there. What's interesting to me Ryan is DJ Moore has has moved ahead of him In terms of ADP and some of these sites. Yeah, and I feel like watch better better on Waddle. Yeah, I'm a 100% on Waddle over more I think the argument against Waddle probably will end up coming down to an opportunity cost where we'll we'll kind of look at this because I think Throughout the summer make sure you subscribe to this channel Ryan Scott and I are gonna dive deep into fantasy football draft theory and Strategy and ways to like maximize the fifth round the sixth round The rounds that you really need to win in where you've got you covered this summer and one of the players I'm sure we're gonna talk about because it's like the siren song. It's like draft me draft me draft me I'm healthy now. What could possibly go wrong? Christian Watson last year came back and sort of looked like Christian Watson rookie year and we're like This was the player that was sort of taken from us When year two Christian Watson explosion was supposed to happen Now it sort of looks like this could be it and Christian Watson could be over his injuries Ryan where are you out on Christian Watson and his potential to be an edge pick in fantasy football drafts this year? I'm incredibly bullish. I'm so excited that this is finally the year I just get to go all in on Christian Watson I've wanted to do this for his entire career He's just one of my favorite players in the NFL very close to my heart Just in terms of guys. I loved outing as a fantasy analyst But yeah, everything lines up perfectly for him this year I the injuries. Yes, seems like hopefully he's passed them But even beyond that just the changes the packers have made to this offense all line up perfectly for him They lose Romeo dobs. They lose Don Tavian wicks. So now we're looking at in a two receiver set. It's almost certainly Christian Watson based on him being the only guy to Really play in those consistently last year at all and then one of Matthew golden or jayden read Read has almost never played in two receivers sets over his career So we could have in 12 personnel Watson competing across from Matthew golden who has never had a significant target per outrun or target share or target earning profile At any level of football at least since college. Maybe he was amazing in high school that I guess that would make sense But yeah, the point is Watson is clearly the best target earner Remaining on this team They don't have these four or five wide receivers that La Flore can just rotate through anymore Which was kind of what was limiting his playing time and his upside over a lot of his career even more so than the injuries If you just look every game of his career above a 75% route share which is Basically like the baseline minimum for like a starting wide receiver on most teams average is 17 and a half fantasy points per game in those 13 career games above a 75% route share That would have been a top six wide receiver last year He has always been absurdly efficient whenever he's been on the field Amazing downfield threat. He was top eight in yards per outrun in two receiver sets last year I think he just fits so perfectly into this offense where he's almost never going to come off the field Even if they do go 11 personnel that's still like a massive upgrade Compared to having to share route 60 40 with Don Tavian Wix Like he had to do over the last couple of seasons. So yeah Insanely bullish on Watson. They're just really aren't many obstacles in his way at this point And he's a player whose talent I've always been a believer in so that's the type of bet that I want to make in the middle rounds is Just a wide receiver that I think is incredibly talented that kind of finally Situationally has everything cleared out of his way so that he can go succeed This is definitely one of my guys one of your guys if we're Just going to be irrationally too high on him every year this career so be it Theo and I are splitting a $750 buy-in Dynasty league Theo is like hey, what do you think about James and Williams here? And I'm like he feels like expensive Christian Watson to me Theo made me Tramada's trade-up micro trade-up Ryan this wasn't like some We have the 808 the 810 the 811 the 905 Christian Watson might be there at the 905 Christian Watson we might have to take at the 808 because I'm so excited about him too Christian Watson it's sort of like When we look at green bay they've been so josh Jacob centric the last two seasons and it's worked very well in the regular season But they've they've gone out in hugely disappointing fashion They get completely blown out by the Philadelphia Philadelphia was on their way to winning a Super Bowl But that was like a dark moment in Packard's fans history Then this past year they lose to their rivals the Chicago Bears So if there's a little bit of self-scouting going on in that building It's let's use this player Christian Watson and they stuck by Christian Watson throughout his injuries And they give him the contract extension I think they could get rewarded in a major major way It feels like he could end up having a I mean dare I say it when we look at like sort of big alpha Like a super athletic wide receivers he could end up having like a semi-pickens like Scoring outburst this year and be looked at as a guy who ends up the year with like a no-brainer pick at 80p Who gets double digit touchdown catches and it's those spike weeks where Christian Watson can win you a week So I think we're all in on him wide receiver 29 right now in ADP, Dynasty, he's a target. And if he stays healthy for an entire season, he could be a really, really fun one. This was also a really, really fun one to record. Make sure you're sticking with us right here on this channel. We're going live every single day, right after the Memorial Day holiday. And this week we're gonna drop a number of episodes. Make sure you're checking out Scott Barrett and I. We dropped our Dark Horse League winners. You can find that in the School of Scott podcast feed. You can find that right here on Fantasy Points YouTube. Ryan Heath and I were dropping a ton of content over on Fantasy Points Dynasty YouTube. And if you want access to Ryan Heath's amazing article, you can get it for free. If you want to read one article this month on Fantasy Football, this is the one for you, you can get it right over at fantasypoints.com. Stick with us here at Fantasy Points. We're gonna help you crush your leagues this season. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Ryan Heath’s article on fantasypoints.com identifies factors for finding the next Jaxon Smith-Njigba (JSN) breakout in 2026, focusing on heavy personnel usage and play caller tendencies.
  2. Heavy personnel sets (e.g., 12, 21, 22) reduce target competition, boosting efficiency and opportunity for wide receivers like JSN, who thrived under Clint Kubiak.
  3. Play callers from the McVay-Shanahan and Ben Johnson coaching trees consistently produce league-winning receivers; their schemes often use heavy personnel and slot advantages.
  4. Slot usage is valuable as it leads to easier coverage and increased targets, especially under specific play callers like Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen.
  5. Condensed target trees in heavy personnel offenses (e.g., with few pass catchers) funnel targets to top receivers, as seen with Ladd McConkey’s potential in 202
  6. Key breakout candidates include Ladd McConkey (Chargers), Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals), and others who benefit from coaching changes, heavy personnel, and reduced target competition.

Summary:

The transcription discusses Ryan Heath’s article on identifying fantasy football’s next wide receiver breakout in 2026, using Jaxon Smith-Njigba (JSN) as a model. , 12 or 21 formations) reduces target competition, boosting efficiency and opportunity for top receivers. Play callers from the McVay-Shanahan and Ben Johnson coaching trees are highlighted as key factors, as they consistently produce league winners.

Slot usage is also critical, as it often leads to easier coverage and higher target shares, particularly under coaches like Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen. Condensed target trees in heavy personnel offenses further funnel targets to elite receivers. Heath identifies Ladd McConkey as a prime breakout candidate for 2026, citing his strong efficiency metrics and the Chargers’ shift toward heavy personnel under Mike McDaniel.

, who may benefit from increased slot usage under new coach Michael Flora. The article is free and has gained significant attention on social media for its actionable insights. Overall, the key to finding breakouts lies in targeting receivers in offenses with heavy personnel, elite play callers, and favorable slot usage, which historically leads to league-winning fantasy production.

FAQs

You can find it for free on fantasypoints.com. It's titled 'Finding the Next Jackson Smith-Njigba: Play Caller Tendencies'.

Increased heavy personnel usage (sets with two or few wide receivers) under play caller Clint Kubiak boosted JSN's efficiency and opportunity, unlike his earlier slot-only role in 11 personnel.

It reduces target competition by putting more blockers or tight ends on the field, leaving fewer pass catchers. This allows elite receivers to dominate softer matchups and score more fantasy points.

Play callers often repeat their offensive styles when they move teams. Knowing which coaches favor heavy personnel or specific slot usage helps identify receivers who will benefit from increased targets and efficiency.

Slot receivers face less difficult coverage than outside receivers. When a play caller like Ben Johnson or Liam Cohen emphasizes the slot, it can lead to high-volume, productive fantasy seasons.

A condensed target tree means most passes go to a few key players. Heavy personnel offenses that remove extra receivers funnel targets to the top pass catchers, boosting their fantasy value.

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