BONUS! Introducing Fantasy Football | with Matthew Berry

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Casuals with Katie Nolan

BONUS! Introducing Fantasy Football | with Matthew Berry

Release date: August 29, 2025
Host: Katie Nolan
Guests: Isabella, Brady, and special guest Matthew Berry

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Overview

This special bonus episode of Casuals is aimed at demystifying fantasy football for beginners, specifically by walking Isabella—a self-confessed fantasy newbie—through all the essential concepts, strategy, and tips she’ll need to draft and manage a fantasy football team for the show's upcoming league. The episode covers the basics of how fantasy football works, roster construction, scoring systems, positions, draft strategy, common rookie mistakes, and ends with expert guidance from the legendary Matthew Berry.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fantasy Football Basics (01:16–12:27)

• Fantasy Football Structure: A weekly competition where participants draft real NFL players to create their own "fantasy" teams and compete against others in their league.
  • "Every week you're going to set a lineup based off of the people that you have drafted...and then have that lineup face up against somebody else's lineup." — Katie Nolan (03:27)
• Roster & Drafting: Each team drafts 15 players and selects a starting lineup each week.
  • Starters: 1 QB, 2 WRs, 2 RBs, 1 TE, 1 Flex (WR/RB/TE), 1 Kicker, 1 Defense.
  • The rest are bench spots.
  • "Every week you get to choose which guys are gonna start, but you'll still possess the people that you drafted." — Katie (05:58)
• Flex Position: Allows for creative lineups by starting your choice of WR, RB, or TE.
  • "It's scary 'cuz it's like, what is this? But it's actually more freedom." — Katie (12:14)

2. Positions Explained (06:51–12:16)

• Quarterbacks (QB): Most famous names, score by throwing and sometimes running in touchdowns.
• Wide Receivers (WR): Catch the ball; examples given include DK Metcalf, Stefan Diggs, and Tyreek Hill.
• Running Backs (RB): Run the ball after handoffs or short passes.
  • "A lot of times running backs will be good for, like, three years at a time, and then they kind of fall off. It's a more volatile group." — Brady (09:10)
• Tight Ends (TE): Hybrid blockers/receivers, typically less valuable in fantasy unless they're elite.
  • "In terms of fantasy, they are like a receiver. And there's like maybe three that are el[ite]." — Katie (10:34)

3. Scoring System Breakdown (18:01–27:54)

• Passing Yards: QBs get 1 point every 25 yards passed.
• Rushing Yards (For all positions): 1 point per 10 yards.
• Touchdowns: QBs get 4 points per passing TD, 6 for rushing/receiving. WRs/RBs/TEs get 6 per TD.
• Receptions: In a PPR (Points Per Reception) league, any player gets 1 point per catch.
• Negative Points: Turnovers (interceptions, fumbles lost) and, for defenses, big plays against them can cost you points.
  • "You can also lose points as a quarterback if you lose a fumble...minus two points." — Katie (23:01)
• Defensive/Special Teams Scoring: Points for safeties, touchdowns, interceptions, fumble recoveries.

4. Draft Strategy & Logistics (30:18–44:28)

• Filling Bench Spots: Focus on WRs and RBs for bench, as they're more volatile and frequently injured.
  • "Most people choose to pick wide receivers or running backs so that...you've got backups." — Katie (29:16)
• Draft Format: Snake draft (order reverses each round). Each participant gets 1 minute per pick.
  • "Someone's gonna pick, right?...How long's our clock?...A minute clock." — Katie (37:29)
• Position Prioritization: Don’t overvalue kickers or team defenses; save those choices for last.
  • "No offense, the best kicker is not that much worse than the worst kicker. It's like pumpkin pie." — Brady (14:28)
• Average Draft Position (ADP): A tool to help you avoid overreaching for players.

5. Team Names and Bye Weeks (41:41–44:24)

• Team Names: Creative, usually punny, and often reference a player, but no restrictions.
• Bye Weeks: Each NFL team has one week off; be mindful when drafting and setting lineups.
  • "I'm just speaking as somebody who once drafted guys with all the same bye week and didn't notice." — Katie (43:47)

6. The Waiver Wire – In-Season Management (44:24–45:50)

• Brief introduction to waivers: how to add new players (like free agents) after the draft, especially when unexpected opportunities arise.
  • "If somebody that's on no one's team has three touchdowns in a week, everybody's going to want them." — Brady (44:51)

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Expert Segment: Matthew Berry (49:08–70:24)

Fantasy Football Draft Advice

• Beginner Comfort: The draft is only the beginning; don't panic or overthink.
  • "If you do no research...and you just take the highest ranked player that's available...I promise you, you will not embarrass yourself." — Matthew Berry (52:16)
• First Pick Guidance:
  • If Jamar Chase (WR) is gone, take Bijan Robinson (RB, Atlanta Falcons), because he gets a lot of carries and pass targets.
  • "He was the only running back in the NFL to be top five in both targets… and carries." — Matthew Berry (50:24)
• Roster Construction:
  • Only draft one QB, one defense, one kicker. Use bench spots for WRs and RBs (possibly a backup TE only if you get a weaker one).
  • "I go with one quarterback, one tight end, one kicker, one defense, and the rest are all running backs and wide receivers." — Matthew Berry (55:57)
• Draft Flexibility: No strict rules—let the draft come to you, don’t get locked into a plan.
  • "I kind of let the draft come to me." — Matthew Berry (57:15)
  • If you don’t get an elite QB or TE early, wait till later; mid-range QBs/TEs are similar.

Avoiding Rookie Mistakes

• Common Pitfalls:

  1. Drafting extra kickers, defenses, QBs, or TEs. (Only need backups for RB/WR.)
  2. Accidentally drafting injured players—watch for injury tags.
  3. Overvaluing the draft—season outcomes often come down to management, luck, and in-season moves, not a “perfect” draft.

• Reassurance & Favorite Story:

  • Even NFL QBs make the wrong choices in fantasy!
  • "[Seahawks QB] Matt Hasselbeck knew the game plan...had more control over an NFL game than any fantasy football player ever in the history of the sport, and still got it wrong." — Matthew Berry (64:52)
  • "If Hasselbeck can’t get it right, what chance do any of us have, Isabella?" — Matthew Berry (66:22)

Late-Round Sleeper Picks

• RB Zach Charbonnet (Seattle): May be undervalued and could "go off" if given a chance due to injuries ahead of him.
  • "When he gets the opportunity to start, he's been nothing short of fantastic." — Matthew Berry (68:08)
• TE Tyler Warren (Indianapolis): Rookie, could outperform his ADP.
  • "I think he's just gonna have a monster year." — Matthew Berry (68:39)

Draft Prep Tips (69:11)

• Keep it simple: ranking sheet + pen/pencil.
• Don’t bring too much clutter; less is more.
  • "The less you have, the less cluttered it is." — Matthew Berry (69:19)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the value of fantasy for new fans:
  "I got so into football within one season of playing fantasy because you just pay attention to everything across the league." — Katie Nolan (12:24)

• On rookie panic:
  "Literally, as you go through the draft, you just draft the highest ranked available player...you will not embarrass yourself." — Matthew Berry (52:16)

• On fantasy unpredictability:
  "It's a game with 11 people and a leather ball and an oblong shape. Weird, weird stuff happens every week." — Matthew Berry (66:22)

• On not overvaluing kickers:
  "Best kicker is not that much worse than the worst kicker. It's like pumpkin pie." — Brady (14:28)

  • Isabella: "I've never really been that unhappy with a pumpkin pie." (14:45)

• On mental ease for beginners:
  "If Hasselbeck can’t get it right, what chance do any of us have, Isabella?" — Matthew Berry (66:22)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Fantasy Basics & Structure: 01:16–12:27
• Positions Breakdowns: 06:51–12:16
• Scoring Explained: 18:01–27:54
• Draft Strategy/Logistics: 30:18–44:28
• Team Names & Bye Weeks: 41:41–44:24
• Waiver Wire Basics: 44:24–45:50
• Matthew Berry (Main Interview & Q&A): 49:08–70:24
  • Strategy and beginner advice: 49:37–57:00
  • Avoiding rookie mistakes: 59:46–66:22
  • Sleeper picks and Q&A: 66:45–69:45
• Episode wrap-up & Isabella’s feelings: 70:40–72:05

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Final Notes

• The episode provides an accessible, friendly, and humorous introduction to fantasy football, ideal for first-timers but sprinkled with enough insights for returning players.
• The tone is supportive and light, emphasizing fun, learning, and low stakes.
• Meta: The episode sets Isabella (and listeners) up to draft confidently and enjoy the fantasy football season.

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Transcript

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[Katie Nolan]

Hey Isabella, have you ever heard of fantasy football?

[Isabella]

I have but it scares me so never looked deeper.

[Katie Nolan]

Don't be scared.

[Isabella]

I won't do you. Are you ready now I have to be so yeah to learn all about it. I'm so happy guys. I have so many, so much information in front of me and we're going.

[Katie Nolan]

To tell you what it all means.

[Isabella]

Okay? Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

It's going to be fun.

[Isabella]

Okay. I believe you. Yay.

[Katie Nolan]

Hello. Welcome to a very special special edition of Casuals, the sports podcast that is for people that are new fans or you can be old fans but just want to be entertained while they talk about sports. I'm Katie Nolan. I'm your host. This is a special bonus episode today. Today is very special to me. Isabella has been chosen as say hi first actually. Hi.

[Isabella]

Hi.

[Katie Nolan]

Isabelle's here. Brady's also bonus. Brady's also here. Chris is editing the real episode that we had to do today. The point of today is to teach Isabell, a new football fan, about fantasy football and how it works so that she can draft the team that will represent our podcast in our fantasy league on Monday. Now, Isabella, coming into this, where are what's your starting Point. How much, how much do you feel like you do? You want me to start at the.

[Isabella]

My understanding and then we can go from there.

[Katie Nolan]

Great.

[Isabella]

My understanding is that you pick players. You essentially assemble a team based off players and it doesn't matter what team they're on. It could be from a bunch of different teams and stuff to create your own fantasy team and then you like compete with other people in the same league. But I just don't understand that's long or what that means.

[Katie Nolan]

That's a great starting point.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

I feel good about you knowing that already. That's good. This is good.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

You don't have to go all the way back. So fantasy football is going to be a weekly competition.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Every week you're going to set a lineup based off of the people that you have drafted and you're going to then have that lineup face up against somebody else's lineup. This league that you're in is 10 people. So 10 people will have drafted teams. And then let's just as an example, week one comes around. You pick your players, you face off against team number one and they've picked their players. Your players will accumulate points. I'll explain how the points work, but you don't have to do any of that math. The app that you do is going to do all the math for you.

[Isabella]

Thank God.

[Katie Nolan]

But I'll explain them to you. So you just know where the points are coming from. Whoever gets the most points in that head to head matchup between you and the team you're facing off against gets a win. Then the next week you'll set your lineup again because maybe somebody got hurt and they can't play and you have to take them out. Or maybe there's a bye week. That a bye week is when the A team gets the week off. They don't play. Every NFL team gets one week in the season that they don't play. Okay, so let's say your quarterback plays for the Lions and the Lions are on a bye week. You would have to put somebody else in your quarterback spot. So you reset your lineup and then you face off against team number two and they get their points. And at the end of the weekend, so Monday night you find out who got the most points and that person wins.

[Isabella]

Gotcha.

[Katie Nolan]

So you set your lineups before Thursday Night football. So you can do it any day, but usually you do it like Thursday day. Then the weekend starts, which is one Thursday. Well, these change throughout the year, but assume it's one Thursday night game, mostly Sunday Games and then a Monday night game, and then that's. That week is over.

[Isabella]

Oh, so the week starts on Thursday.

[Katie Nolan]

Starts on Thursday, ends on Monday.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Does it. Are there any notable exceptions to that? Brady? That's. That's it, right?

[T-Mobile Representative]

No, I don't think there's not a scheduled Wednesday game.

[Katie Nolan]

Right. So. So just in the habit of. You set your lineup on Thursday and you'll know if you've won by Monday night.

[Isabella]

So you're creating a new lineup every week.

[Katie Nolan]

What you're going to do in the draft is take your team and you'll have your starters. The guys that are like, yeah, I took this guy with my first pick, I want him to play every week, but shit happens. Things can happen. Also guys that are like, you know that you get that you don't love. You can make decisions about who to start. You're basically picking from a. You'll have a roster of. How many picks did you say Brady total? 15.

[T-Mobile Representative]

15.

[Katie Nolan]

You'll have 15 people and something like eight or nine places to slot them into. And every week you get to choose which guys are gonna start, but you'll still have possess the people that you drafted.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

It's like.

[Isabella]

So once you have your 15 people locked in, you can't go back and pick.

[Katie Nolan]

You can, but we can hold off on getting to that. For the sake of right now, let's assume you're going to draft this team and then every week you'll look at your pool of guys you drafted and you'll go, who's getting the start today?

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

And you'll start your different guys and then face off against somebody and then you'll win.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Good news is you do. We do not care really about the defense. So you're going to mostly be focused on offensive players. So the people who score the points. So like quarterback we know, right? The guy who throws the ball.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

That is names you may know who do this.

[Isabella]

Josh Allen.

[Katie Nolan]

That's right. Tom Brady was one of these. Aaron Rodgers, allegedly still is one of these. Dak Prescott. Jalen. Jalen hurts. Patrick Mahomes. These are like the most famous. You'll know the most names in a quarterback.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, we can. We're going to get into Brady, make a note. We're going to tell her about draft strategy, about like when to take certain. So you're going to. These are the positions we're focusing on. Quarterback, wide receiver, which is the guy who catches the ball.

[Isabella]

And I'm assuming they're on the wide part of the lineup. Like when they're in the center.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, sure, if you want to.

[Isabella]

It's.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, you didn't even need to know that.

[Isabella]

Oh, okay.

[Katie Nolan]

I like that you did. Wide receivers that you may know. DK Metcalf, friend of the show. Ooh, who else would you know? Stefan Diggs. CD Lamb, maybe?

[T-Mobile Representative]

We've made fun of Stefan Diggs a lot. Stefan Diggs was the one that nobody wants their sister.

[Isabella]

Is that the one dating Cardi B?

[Katie Nolan]

Well, he was, and I don't know if he still is. Are they still. Have they confirmed or denied?

[T-Mobile Representative]

Love is a complicated thing.

[Katie Nolan]

Wow, you're so right. And you think love is what the two of them had? It's at least what they made.

[Isabella]

Tyree Kill. Is that the one who wanted to race a track star?

[Katie Nolan]

Yes, that's the one who did a lot of things.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

And that's one of the things.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Got arrested on his way to week one last year.

[Katie Nolan]

And then other things as well. So we've got quarterback and wide receiver, running back. This is the guy who gets the ball handed to him, and then he runs.

[Isabella]

Oh, okay, wait. Okay, okay, okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Assume this is. And this is a good time to remind everybody listening, if you know more than this, this is 101 level. So, like, don't poke holes in what I'm about to say. But, like, the quarterback gets the ball, right? And then he's either going to throw it to someone or he's going to hand it off to someone and they're going to run. So it's either a run play or a pass play.

[Isabella]

Oh, so the person he would pass it to is the running back.

[Katie Nolan]

Pass it to would be the wide receiver.

[Isabella]

Would be the. Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Would be the running back. Running backs that you would know. Saquon Barkley.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

Christian McCaffrey.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

Others Brady that Isabella might know.

[T-Mobile Representative]

The more I look over it, it's not a terribly famous group.

[Katie Nolan]

I know.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Change a lot more. Like some. A lot of times running backs will be good for, like, three years at a time, and then they kind of fall off. It's a more volatile group.

[Katie Nolan]

It's very, very physical here.

[Isabella]

I'm like. I'm trying to see if there's a lot of years. Names that I'm, like, remembering. But.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, but you get the concept.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

All right, so quarterback, wide receiver, running back. Damn.

[Isabella]

I don't get to pick a long snapper.

[Katie Nolan]

No. I'm really sorry. We should have made a special rule.

[Isabella]

I know.

[Katie Nolan]

And we all know you would have taken Demi Lovato's Dad.

[Isabella]

Yeah, I was already. Rick Lovato.

[Katie Nolan]

That's right.

[Isabella]

My guy.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay. Last one is a tight end. This has been so nice and clean so far, being like, oh, you throw them to him, you catch to him. Tight end is like. You know I just said Chelsea, right? Yes, yes, yes. Great. You know how I just said there's pass plays and there's run plays?

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

When it's a run play, the tight end does stuff that's very important. Football wise, not important at all. Fantasy football wise. When it's a pass play, he's a. Technically could be a receiver. So think of tight ends as like receivers, but less important.

[Isabella]

Brady, like a backup receiver, kind of.

[T-Mobile Representative]

No, they're receivers, but they're bigger bodied. They tend to be bigger guys. And sometimes on run plays they come in close to the ball and they block, they push the defense.

[Katie Nolan]

We weren't going to talk about that because that doesn't have.

[Isabella]

So they're kind of like. Like a defensive receiver almost.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, great.

[Isabella]

Sure.

[Katie Nolan]

Um, but that. You don't get points for anything except when they catch and they, and they score. So the skill set that they have. I'm just trying to say in terms of. I don't want her to want a tight end more than they merit. In terms of fantasy, they are like a. They're like a receiver. And there's like maybe three that are el. But other than that I would say you can go to like lower. You can get them in later rounds.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Which we'll get into all that strategy later. But those are the main positions. Quarterback, wide receiver, running back, tight end. Then you're going to have a spot on your roster. Should I keep going or do you have any questions?

[Isabella]

No, you can keep going.

[Katie Nolan]

Then you're going to have a spot called the Flex. And all that means. All that means, I know is that it's flexible. It's like, well, pick another player. Who do you want to go here? It can be either a wide receiver, a running back or a tight end. It can be anybody but the quarterback basically of these big positions. So you're, let's say that week, every week. It's going to show you what projections your players have. So it's going to be like, they're obviously not based in. They're based in like research and guessing, but they're not. They don't know for sure, but they'll be like, this guy's playing against a really bad defense, so he's going to. He might get a ton of points and you'll See that compared to your other guys. And then you'll be like, oh, well, I'll slot this guy into there because he has the most favorable matchup and is most likely to make the most points for my team. But the point of that flex is that, like, you're not married to starting a running back there. Maybe you have a running back who's got a great matchup, maybe you have a wide receiver. You can do whatever you want with that. It's scary cuz it's like, what is this? But it's actually more freedom.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

It's where you can get really creative.

[Isabella]

Okay. Cute.

[Katie Nolan]

Also the thing that's going to cause you the most anguish because you're going to start somebody and then you're going to go, I should have started a different guy here.

[Isabella]

But we'll get so excited.

[Katie Nolan]

We have so much time to get to the pain it's going to cause you.

[T-Mobile Representative]

When you, you see highlights of a guy running for like three touchdowns and you're like, I recognize him because he's on my bench and not playing this week.

[Isabella]

Watch. I could see myself becoming so obsessed that I'm like in the middle of a date with my boyfriend. Like, shut the.

[Katie Nolan]

This is not doing well. I mean, I. This, it's the premise of the podcast. But I do just want to emphasize, like, this is how to get into football. I didn't know that much about football. I wasn't like, in a football. The Patriots used to suck. I got so into football within one season of playing fantasy because you just pay attention to everything across the league and you get to like, be invested in it for yourself. It's like your own little team, you know?

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

And if you're like me, which I know you are in ways, you're going to get attached to the guys you draft in your first ever fantasy football season. And then next season you'll be like, oh, I love him, I'll pick him. But it's just because of what he did for you this year. So every week you're going to have to start one quarterback.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Two wide receivers.

[Isabella]

Oh, wait, actually, let me write this down.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Okay. One quarterback, two wide receivers. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Two running backs, Two running backs, one tight end.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

One flex.

[Isabella]

I gotta write that in.

[Katie Nolan]

So they often write it W, R slash T to remind you of, like, it's wide receiver.

[Isabella]

What is it?

[Katie Nolan]

W slash R slash T. So it's either a wide receiver, a running back, or a tight end.

[Isabella]

Okay. Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

A kicker. One kicker and one team defense.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

These are the kicker in the team. Defense are not that important when it comes to the draft. We're going to do those at the end because, okay, while a kicker can earn a lot of points for you, it's less reliable or important to like draft a kicker. It's just like they can all kind of do the same thing.

[T-Mobile Representative]

No offense, the best kicker is not that much worse than the worst kicker. It's like pumpkin pie. Like, the best one scores like three points more per week than the worst one.

[Isabella]

Right.

[Katie Nolan]

So it's not as valuable. Whereas, like the discrepancy between.

[Isabella]

A great analogy. Because I've never really been that unhappy with a pumpkin pie. Right. Anyone? I've had. Okay, go ahead.

[Katie Nolan]

Team defense. We also leave till the end. Some people, I mean, I've always streamed my defenses.

[Isabella]

Streamed.

[Katie Nolan]

Look at me, I got you. So the way that defense works, Remember I told you we don't have to worry about defense? The only way you do is you're going to start a defense every week and then anything that defense does that earns points for the offense can get you points. So, like, if there's a safety, that's usually the defense. You get two points for that. If they intercept a pass, if they recover a fumble, it's basically you're just picking one team's entire defense. Streaming, that is, means that you don't pick something in the draft that's going to be your defense for the rest of the season. It means every week you're going to look at who's available left to be picked up. Because there's only 10 people in the league. So there's still going to be 22 defenses available. You know what I mean? Like, you couldn't possibly have taken every defense in every of every team. So you could pick up a team that has a favorable matchup. Let's say they're playing against a quarterback who throws a lot of interceptions. You'd be like, oh, in this defense, up against this team, they're going to have a good game. Wait, so do you want to pick.

[Isabella]

Like a team that has a bad.

[Katie Nolan]

Defense, you want a good defense or you want to every week look at what defense has the best matchup so that they might make the most points. You can either commit to a great defense, which is who this year? Brady, who are the best defenses this year?

[T-Mobile Representative]

Denver was number one last year. The Ravens and Steelers are always really good.

[Katie Nolan]

So you could in later rounds be like, I really don't want to ever think about my defense. I'm just going to Draft the Denver defense and leave it all year. Or you can go like, I'm not going to draft a defense till the last round. I'm going to pick whoever has the best week one matchup and then week two, I'm gonna hit the waiver wire. I'll explain that later. Or not even the waiver wire. It would just be available. You could just pick them up. They're just be available and you'll pick up a available defense.

[Isabella]

Okay, you know what? For some reason in my head, I was interpreting this as like, when you pick a defense, you're picking your opponent. And I was like, well, I would want a bad opponent, right? But I didn't. I didn't realize. But I'm picking my team's defense.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, you're picking. Okay, yes. That, like, will represent the defense of your team. You're just not picking them individually by player. It's. That's would be too complicated. You're just going like, I'll take Denver's defense. I think they're going to have a good week.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

It again, could matter and couldn't matter. The most frustrating thing about defense is they can get negative points and then you start to lose points because of your defense, and that is another crash out. I'm looking forward to you having this season that in some way you were winning and then your defense got negative four points and now you are losing. So those are your positions. Do those make sense? Do you understand? We've got the offensive positions and then we've got a kicker and a defense.

[Isabella]

Yep, I got it. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Points. Now, again, don't worry, you don't have to keep track of these. You don't have to add these up. These are going to automatically be calculated for you.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

But just this is how you're going to earn points.

[Isabella]

Okay. I kind of want to write this down. Okay. If you want to.

[Katie Nolan]

It's also available in your league settings to consult at any time.

[Isabella]

But it'll tell me, like, how, like the meaning of each point and how you obtain a point.

[Katie Nolan]

I think so.

[T-Mobile Representative]

The spreadsheet at the. The chart I sent you that you thought looked like a hemoglobin test that is showing where the points come from.

[Katie Nolan]

Scoring works. But let me walk you through it so that it will make more sense.

[Isabella]

Hold on, let me pull it up.

[Katie Nolan]

Great.

[Isabella]

And look at it while you're describing it so it will look less like a blood test result. Yeah. Okay, go ahead.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, great.

[Isabella]

Tell me about these passing yards.

[Katie Nolan]

So in our league, okay, quarterbacks earn one point for every 25 passing yards. So easy example, I look at me, easy example. I drop back. I have the ball on the quarterback. I throw a 25 yard pass to my receiver. Who catches it. You, Isabella, get one point.

[Isabella]

Okay. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Throughout the game. You know when a game is over and they say he was give me a reasonable set, 13 of 15 for 200. I don't want to say numbers that sound crazy. I never.

[T-Mobile Representative]

250 yards for 250 yards.

[Katie Nolan]

Right. Then they would just take 250 yards. That's how many passing yards he had. So you would multiply that by whatever I just said. It's 25 by 25 divided by 25. So you would get.

[Isabella]

Oh.

[Katie Nolan]

So it's like a cumulative throughout the game. Basically you're rooting for your quarterback to throw the ball.

[Isabella]

But let's say like he in one like one pass was like more than 25 yards. So that means you would get like one. Like you could get like one and a half points or like two point. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

So that makes sense, right?

[Isabella]

Yep. And that's okay. That's for the quarterback.

[Katie Nolan]

Yes. Also for the quarterback. If you rush. Right. Those rushing yards numbers apply to the quarterback as well.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Yep.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

If you rush 10 yards, you get one point. So a rush is just a run instead of throwing if the quarterback holds onto the ball and runs. Some quarterbacks are very good at this. Other quarterbacks don't do this at all. You get a point for every 10 yards they run.

[Isabella]

Okay, I need a dictionary. Hold on. So rush means run.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Rush is run run while holding the ball.

[Isabella]

QB run, QB run. I don't know what that means. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, great. This is really warming my heart. Quarterbacks also get four points for every touchdown they throw. Every passing touchdown, they get four points.

[Isabella]

That's cool.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, it's a nice chunk of points.

[Isabella]

Yeah, that is. Yeah. I want that. Yeah. Who's good at doing that?

[T-Mobile Representative]

Some Joe Burrow.

[Isabella]

Yeah. Really Sorry.

[Katie Nolan]

A bunch of them are good at it. Just. You don't like Joe Burrow? You anti.

[Isabella]

No, it's just, it's like there's all these other quarterbacks that you know, I may want to pick.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, so true.

[Isabella]

And he wasn't.

[Katie Nolan]

He gets enough attention.

[Isabella]

Right.

[Katie Nolan]

I saw somebody say on a tick tock today that they liked him better before he knew he was hot.

[Isabella]

And I like.

[Katie Nolan]

That's funny.

[Isabella]

That's so funny.

[Katie Nolan]

Very, very funny. Okay. The you important to note that. Oh. They also get six points for every rushing touchdown. So if they keep the ball themselves and they carry it into the end zone, six points for that.

[Isabella]

Okay. What fully counts, though, as. Like. As a rush? Like, at what point is it a rush? And not just like, oh, they're running with the ball, and then they immediately.

[Katie Nolan]

Get tackled once they pass the line of scrimmage. So the line of scrimmage is where just. It's okay. It's okay. It's just. It's just a phrase.

[Isabella]

You're right.

[Katie Nolan]

It's just a phrase. We can just call it the line.

[Isabella]

Oh, is that the colorful line on the tv?

[Katie Nolan]

It is the line that they're lined up at. So it's like the quarterback will drop back, so he'll be a little bit away from the line of scrimmage. So there's usually, like, I don't know, five yards between where he is and the. And then running forward progress is you go past the line of scrimmage that.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Counts, and then the second line is the line for a first down. That's the line you have to get to to get a new set of plays, which is.

[Katie Nolan]

If we were teaching you football, we could talk about. But it's not really going to matter for fantasy. So for the sa of your brain, we'll just put that somewhere else for now.

[Isabella]

Gotcha.

[Katie Nolan]

For the sake of the episode being a digestible amount of time, we'll just put that somewhere else for now.

[Isabella]

Gotcha. Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

So if they gain yards past the line of scrimmage, that's like zero. Line of scrimmage is zero. Anything that happens behind that line is like a loss of yards, which can get you negative points, but it's past the past. That line is if they're holding the ball and running with it, that's when they'll gain.

[Isabella]

Gotcha.

[Katie Nolan]

That makes sense.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

You can also lose points as a quarterback if you lose a fumble. If they fumble the ball and the other team recovers it. So if I drop it and I pick it up, I don't think I lose any points in this league.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Correct.

[Katie Nolan]

If I drop it and they pick it up and it's a turnover, minus two points.

[Isabella]

Okay, good.

[Katie Nolan]

Any loss of points for sacks in this league? I don't think so, no.

[T-Mobile Representative]

But there is a loss of points for interception. That's the one you. That's the one left.

[Isabella]

Oh, yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

How many? It's.

[T-Mobile Representative]

That's a minus one for an interception.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[T-Mobile Representative]

So some quarterbacks throw the ball a lot, and it goes to the wrong team. That's a minus one each time okay.

[Katie Nolan]

And that's it for quarterbacks. It's all the points.

[Isabella]

What's a two point conversion?

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Oh, good one.

[T-Mobile Representative]

After a touchdown, you have the opportunity to get an extra point. So if you kick, if you just kick it through the uprights like a field goal after the touchdown, that's one. But then you also have the opportunity.

[Isabella]

This is after you score a touchdown.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[T-Mobile Representative]

You get to do another point after that.

[Isabella]

You get. So that's when you kick the ball into the.

[Katie Nolan]

Yep, yep, exactly.

[T-Mobile Representative]

But if you really need like an eight point, like you're trying to come, you're down a bunch of. You can basically try to take the ball from that spot and score again. So like you would have to run.

[Katie Nolan]

It into the end instead of a kick or.

[T-Mobile Representative]

And that's much harder. But it's worth two points and that's a two point conversion.

[Katie Nolan]

They're very strategic, these coaches, about when they do that, there's like very specific situations. I liken it to like blackjack. You know, everybody's always like, you know what you're supposed to do when you've got such and such. You always hit on that. It's like there's like math for when you do it and when you don't.

[Isabella]

Gotcha.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, so that covers the quarterbacks. I was in a league once where you lost a point anytime your quarterback got sacked. And it was a nightmare.

[Isabella]

I do not recommend is sack just when you get like tackled, knocked down.

[Katie Nolan]

Behind the line of scrimmage.

[Isabella]

Oh, yeah. Okay. So when someone's like, oh, I'm really like, I have so many sacks. Like, they're good at doing it.

[Katie Nolan]

They're good at getting the guy down on the ground.

[Isabella]

Gotcha. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Wide receiver points. Receivers in our league, this is a PPR league, which means point per reception. So anytime a receiver catches the ball, they get. You get one point. Which is like, okay, it used to be standard, I think even if they get tackled afterwards.

[Isabella]

But as long as they catch it.

[Katie Nolan]

If they catch it and the catch is a completed catch, they don't have to gain any yards. You get a full point just because they caught it.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Pretty cute.

[Isabella]

I like that.

[Katie Nolan]

So one point for every catch. One point for every 10 receiving yards.

[Isabella]

One point for every 10 receiving Yards I catch.

[Katie Nolan]

Remember before we said the quarterback throws a 25 yard pass and I catch it?

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

The quarterback in that play would get one point. The receiver in that play would get two and a half points.

[Isabella]

Okay, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Which is really a statement about who's Doing the real work in that relationship, the guy running down there and catching it and getting tackled. You get more points for running with the ball or running and catching.

[Isabella]

Are you trying to say the quarterback doesn't really do.

[Katie Nolan]

In fantasy, they're not as valuable is what we're learning all together. You also get six points for catching a touchdown pass. So again, quarterback throws it, they get four points. Receiver catches it, they get six.

[Isabella]

So in total, you'll get like 10.

[Katie Nolan]

Points if you had the quarterback and wide receiver on the same team. But some people do that, some people don't. You can. You don't have to. And that's it for what? Oh, and you also lose points if you fumble and the other team picks it up. Okay, same thing.

[T-Mobile Representative]

That's for everybody.

[Katie Nolan]

For anybody who fumbles, anybody who fumbles. If the other team gets it, you lose points. So fumbles are bad. And then running back, it's one point for every 10 rush yards, six points for every rushing touchdown. And if they catch passes, some running backs catch the ball, like little passes more than other running backs. They also get a point per reception.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

So it's. Maybe if I were you, I would consider looking for a running back that does that because they're very valuable to. Given our scoring system. Okay, that makes sense. So all of this makes sense to you? It is tight end, same thing. They catch it, they get the same amount of points, they. You get it. These are all the same.

[Isabella]

It's the same offensive fumble return, td.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, so how. Who would get the. I guess if you somehow.

[Isabella]

What's a T? Is that touchdown?

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Yeah. If your guy picks up a fumble and runs it for. This shit never happens.

[Katie Nolan]

Never. That's why I was like, I don't.

[T-Mobile Representative]

And runs for a touchdown, he gets the six.

[Katie Nolan]

The. The rules have to cover everything. We don't have to. These are the important ones. And again, you don't have to do any of this math. It's just so that you don't go, where are these fucking points even coming from? This is where they're coming from. Okay, so you have a better sense now, right, of what makes up a fantasy team.

[Isabella]

Yep.

[Katie Nolan]

You know that you're going to have to, every week, have a quarterback, two wide receivers, two running backs, a tight end, a flex, a kicker, and a defense. How many positions is that? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 6, 7, 8, 9. So you're gonna have nine starters plus the flex, and you have no. That's total.

[Isabella]

I think 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Yeah. Right?

[Katie Nolan]

Yes. So you're gonna start nine people, but you will have 15 people. And when I say people, I also mean defenses. It's just like slots. You have 15 slots, so you're gonna have bench slots where you'll keep the people who aren't starting for you that week, where the people who score the most points will inevitably be. When your day is over, you look and go like, great, my bench outscored my starting lineup. That's sick. And then you'll quit. You'll never play again. No, you'll get through it. You'll get through it, and then the next week, you'll have the best time. So when it comes to this draft, you're basically picking 15 people. Now, I'm going to ask Matthew Berry about this for you when he gets here of where we should focus your energy in terms of drafting, because once you fill those slots that are like your starting slots, you could, if you wanted to, the rest of your picks you could take all wide receivers, you could take. All running back, you could take. Please don't take all kickers, you can do. You have free will, and you can do whatever you want. As long as you're meeting the requirements of those things you'll need for your lineup, you can spend them however you want. Most people choose to pick wide receivers or running backs so that if, like Brady mentioned running backs, kind of a volatile position. If an injury happens to one of your running backs, you've got backups. If they're on that bye week we talked about where they're not playing that week, you have somebody to slot in for them. It basically just gives you. You're looking to have a bench of guys that are maybe. Maybe not expected to do as well, but they. You like them for whatever reason, which is what I think you'll spend your weekend doing, which is just like finding football players that you feel good about. I'm also gonna have Matthew Barry give you some. So, like jumping off points for names to start with.

[Isabella]

Going back though the 15 slots. Mm. Is that the nine that we just mentioned? And then six more. Six more. And the six more are the ones that you were saying people usually do are like running backs or wide receivers.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Okay. And are the six more. Is that the bench?

[Katie Nolan]

Yes.

[Isabella]

Okay. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

So it's basically just like a pool of guys you're allowed to in your draft pick anybody you want, but it's going to make you satisfy the rules of at least one quarterback, at least two running, but you're going to want to mostly Focus your extra picks on, like, other running backs and wide receivers you could take. If you take a tight end late. So if you don't get one of the best tight ends, you could take like two. Okay. Tight ends. And play that every week if you feel like it. A lot of it is strategy. I don't know how much of that you want to do, but I think we should figure it out. Brady, should we lay out a strategy for how she should be spending her picks? Should we walk her through the rounds of the draft? Do we know what pick she has in the draft?

[T-Mobile Representative]

Isabella has pick number two.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, congratulations.

[Isabella]

That's good.

[T-Mobile Representative]

It's a lot of pressure.

[Isabella]

Yay.

[Katie Nolan]

But not as much pressure as number one.

[T-Mobile Representative]

You may fall in love with one guy and there's still a chance that he's going to go number one. So.

[Katie Nolan]

So going into the draft knowing you have the second pick, I'm so sorry if this is disjointed, but you are picking it up yet this is helping.

[Isabella]

Yes. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

ADP is something that it's not. It's okay. You don't have to know. I just want you to know what it is so when you see it, you don't go, what is.

[Isabella]

That's not like the company, right?

[Katie Nolan]

No.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Adp, ADT is average draft position. Basically, all it's saying is this guy tends to get picked around this part of the draft. It's there so that you can't make that big of a mistake. Every draft will have a basically draft board while you're drafting. Once your draft is active, there's going to be, you know the list I gave you printed out.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Of everybody in order from projected first pick to the end of the draft.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

It will basically have that loaded into your app. And so at any moment, once somebody gets drafted. Who's the top of that list you have there?

[Isabella]

Jamar.

[Katie Nolan]

Jamar Chase. So Jamar Chase, let's say you have the second pick. The draft starts, the first person takes Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase will come off the board. And then whoever's second on your list, Bijan Robinson. Great. Will then be at the top. You can as Isabella with the second pick. You could scroll all the way down to the bottom and pick a guy just letting you reminding you you have free will. That being said.

[Isabella]

So it's not necessarily like I have to pick number two.

[Katie Nolan]

You don't have to.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

You. What I would do as the girl with the second pick is I would go. Let me look at the top 10 guys and see which of these guys I like the most.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

And then you get to pick one. As long as it's not the guy that the person in front of you picked. You only have one person before you. Who's going to pick. Yeah, they might pick Jamar Chase, but they might pick. Pick a quarterback. They might do whatever they want to. They might have their own weird free will.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

But you will most likely get your first pick, and so you can really choose whatever you want to.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Brady, would you recommend specifically? I think this year, wide receiver or running back tend to be. I don't think it's leaning either way.

[T-Mobile Representative]

I think it's preference. Either one. There. There's a lot of people have opinions on who the best running back is. Jamar Chase. Is Roundley kind of like the best wide receiver? He's definitely. He's with the Bengals. He's young. He's already successful. He was the best one last year. He's Joe Burrow's best wide receiver. Joe Burrow throws the most touchdowns. The Bengals throw the most passes. He's the best guy. Joe Burrow throws to. It's kind of like he's in a position to have the most productive season of any wide receiver. He will score the most. But there's also a lot of wide receivers out there.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[T-Mobile Representative]

So, like, you think about, like, in the NFL, every team's got, like, three that they use, so that's 96 wide receivers. And in a fantasy league, like, every team uses two. So you only need 20 running backs. Every team has one, and you need to find two. So that's like 20 slots in the fantasy league versus 32 total. So, again, like, it's harder to find running backs than it is to find wide receivers. And that's the same reason, like, nobody takes quarterbacks first overall or tight ends kind of go later. Because your fantasy team needs one quarterback, and there are 32 that play every week. So if, like, you don't get one early, it's still pretty easy to find a guy. Like, there are always kind of guys available and tight ends. The same way every team has a tight end they use.

[Isabella]

Yes. Out of everything you just said, you're saying that I don't necessarily like. So for the first pick that I get, you don't suggest that it's a quarterback. No, that I pick. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

I think first pick, to Brady's point, running back or.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Wide receiver. I think it's. I would say, if I were you, if Jamar Chase is available, I'd take him and if not, I'd take your favorite running back.

[Isabella]

Okay, so pick running back.

[Katie Nolan]

But again, you have free will. These are not rules. I'm just trying to help that if at some point you go, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, you just go. Katie said, take a running back, I'll just take a running back. It'll be fine.

[Isabella]

She said running back or wide receiver.

[Katie Nolan]

Initially, I think for the first two or three rounds I'd be comfortable saying running back, wide receiver. You want to spend those high value picks on high value guys that can really provide for you.

[Isabella]

Gotcha.

[Katie Nolan]

So I'd say first three rounds, running back, wide receiver. When we get into the fourth and fifth rounds, you can start thinking, if you wanted to, about taking a quarterback or a tight end. But if you take a quarterback, I wouldn't take a tight end till later. And if you took a tight end, I wouldn't take a quarterback.

[Isabella]

Is the reason because you said that the quarterback doesn't matter as much.

[Katie Nolan]

Doesn't matter as much.

[T-Mobile Representative]

And there's so many of them, it's so much easier to find one later.

[Katie Nolan]

The difference between the best one and the worst one isn't they're all going to have to throw the ball. You know what I mean? Like, they're all. You don't. It's not as valuable. Whereas it's a lot more valuable to get a reliable. Like, look how many wide receivers and running backs you have to start. You have to do two of each, plus a flex. So it's like you've got a lot of space to fill and anything could happen to these guys. They could have.

[Isabella]

When do you draft the flex? When did you do that?

[Katie Nolan]

So you'll just draft a wide receiver or a running back or a tight end. They'll stay on your bench. They're just an extra. And then flex is just the position that you have to slot it into is not as strict as the others. The other one's like, you can only start a quarterback in your quarterback position. But your flex position, you can start any of those three.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

But you won't draft them as a flex. You'll just draft a wide receiver or running back or a tight end.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Cute.

[Katie Nolan]

A snake draft.

[Isabella]

Oh, that's what we did with the couples.

[Katie Nolan]

Yes. Okay, so here's how the draft will work as having the second pick, someone's gonna pick, right? They are on the clock. How long's our car?

[Isabella]

Are we doing this at the same time?

[T-Mobile Representative]

Minute.

[Katie Nolan]

It's a minute clock. Oh, I know.

[Isabella]

Okay. That's why we're doing this on the podcast.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

I'm gonna get you. I'm gonna give you a link so.

[Isabella]

That I'm gonna be studying all weekend.

[Katie Nolan]

You don't have to, but I will give you a link to. We'll figure out how to get you set up for a mock draft so that in the app, you can practice doing this before you do it for the first time, just to get the rhythm of the. Because I remember my first draft. The timer fucked me up. That minute goes fast, but the more you get used to that, it'll be.

[Isabella]

But it's a minute to choose one person.

[Katie Nolan]

To choose one person. That's it.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

See, she's. It's. These are. She's not. She just meets stress differently than me.

[Isabella]

This is like, I'm just. I'm always stressed immediately. And then you could top them down.

[Katie Nolan]

You go, yeah, that's fine. That's so easy.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

So the first.

[T-Mobile Representative]

I think I'm not going to be stressed. I didn't get to, like, the third round, and it's like the clock starts going off.

[Katie Nolan]

I'm like, all these guys suck. I don't. They all suck. How are we this deep already? Oh, did I ever finish saying what average draft position is? It's basically so that you don't. It's mostly valuable in the first, like, six or seven, eight rounds.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

And it's so that you don't grab a guy that, like, wow, you could have gotten him two rounds from now. Like, these are the guys who are usually getting drafted around this pick.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

So that's. If you see anything that says adp, it's just trying to say, like, hey, are we on pick seven? And you're picking a guy whose ADP is like, 50, then it's probably you're reaching for a guy that you could get later.

[Isabella]

Gotcha.

[Katie Nolan]

So it's just there to help you as a guardrail. So the first guy will go. He's on the clock. He gets one minute. When he's done with his pick, you're on the clock.

[Isabella]

Okay?

[Katie Nolan]

You'll make your pick, whoever it is, and then it'll go to the next person. So then we'll do 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. So you will have all of that time before you pick again. But then, oh, my God.

[Isabella]

We're picking every single position, like, in this timed manner. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

So it's gonna go. Everybody gets their minute. You're gonna get a nice break after your first pick and after your third pick and after your fifth pick. But what I want you to be mindful of Matthew Stafford.

[Isabella]

We talked about him.

[Katie Nolan]

We did. He went into that big tanning bit.

[Isabella]

Oh, that's where I was like, where do I know him from? Okay, sorry. Go ahead.

[Katie Nolan]

After. So your first pick and then all those people, and then it's gonna be your second pick. Then it's gonna be the guy who had the first pick and then me again, him again, and then you. So it's gonna be. Your picks are gonna be very close together, then a long pause, and then very close together.

[Isabella]

So, like, by the time it comes back to me after the long pause, I should already kind of know what my next one is right after that.

[Katie Nolan]

Yes. But also, don't get too attached because you might be like, okay, I'm gonna take these two guys. You take one of them. It goes to the guy after you. He takes the guy you wanted for your second guy, and you're like, why would he do that to me? And then you have nothing. So it's like, have a general idea of who you might. You've got all that time. I would get a couple pics ready and I'll show you in the app. But there is a way, if you want, because we're going to be doing a podcast while you do this. There's a way to cue guys up to be like, okay, this guy is a name. I've recognized that I like. This guy I like. And you can add them to a queue so that God forbid something happens to you, it'll auto draft guys you like. But it also keeps you a little bank of like. Instead of being overwhelmed by all of the guys.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

You can make yourself a little bank of like, these are the guys.

[Isabella]

Will the cue, like, eliminate a person that got picked?

[Katie Nolan]

Yes. You can't ever pick somebody that's already been picked. It won't let you do it.

[Isabella]

Nice. I think that visual.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Gone.

[Katie Nolan]

That's what I think. The mock drafts will really help with you being like, oh, I can set this up how I like it.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Which I think will be really helpful. Okay, so we have the excited, right? Yes. It's working. I feel like I'm missing a lot of. Oh, wait. I have a question, please.

[Isabella]

How do I pick my team name? Like, what is everyone. Is it like, I have. It has to be a person on my team.

[Katie Nolan]

It doesn't have to. There's again, free will. You can do whatever you want. A Common thing people do is they take a player that they like or a player that's on their team or a player that's not on their team. Sorry, Brady. And they, like, make a pun about it and name their team that you can name it anything.

[Isabella]

Okay. Because like, someone's. Here is Caleb Williams's nail salon, and I'm like, oh, you picked Caleb Williams.

[Katie Nolan]

But they did.

[Isabella]

We didn't. We didn't. We didn't.

[Katie Nolan]

And actually, wouldn't it be funny if you did and then that guy.

[Isabella]

Or maybe not, because I don't want people to think that I'm picking him and then they pick him to be mean to me.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, good point. Are you saying because, like, you don't want someone to listen to this and think of. Yeah, yeah. Don't reveal any of your strategy. That's very smart.

[Isabella]

Mm.

[Katie Nolan]

It's very, very smart. That's my girl. Bye weeks, they don't really matter.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

But they usually are listed next to guys names in your app when you're drafting. So that if you're drafting a bench guy, let's say you've already got your two starting wide receivers and you're drafting a wide receiver for maybe a day that they're not there. If this guy has the same bye week as this guy, he can't.

[Isabella]

Let me. Remind me what a bye week is again.

[Katie Nolan]

The week they don't play.

[Isabella]

Oh.

[Katie Nolan]

Every team gets a week off during the season. They're random, but we know what they are. So, like, I don't have them in front of me, but if I were to make it up, the Tennessee Titans bye week, week seven. So it's like the seventh week of the season. Nobody who plays for the Titans will be playing. So if you have a Titans wide receiver, they. And you started them would be a big mistake because they will have 00 points. So you would want to move them out of your lineup and you'd want to start somebody else.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

So it does. I don't want you to put too much energy towards consulting by weeks when you're doing your drafting. But I'm just speaking as somebody who once drafted guys with all the same bye week and didn't notice. And then we got to week seven and I didn't have anybody on my team because everybody had the week off. Just keep them in mind.

[Isabella]

Once you like them in on like that Thursday or whatever, you can't change it. Anything, right?

[Katie Nolan]

No, yeah.

[T-Mobile Representative]

You can change them up until their game.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, good point. Yeah, yeah, sorry.

[T-Mobile Representative]

So like, like your Thursday Guys, if they play Thursday night, like, that's your guy. You can't take them out after their own game has started. But you can switch up everybody. You can put anybody in until their game starts that week.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Which is mostly in. As soon as they. As they play.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

And it's mostly Sundays. And you don't want to wait till, like, Monday to pick the guy who's playing in the Monday game because it's like, well, if he. If he doesn't, there's nobody else for you to put in that position. Unless you've got two guys in the Monday night game.

[Isabella]

Yeah. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

We did bi weeks. We did. Oh, okay. The waiver wire, Brady. I don't even know where to start.

[Isabella]

With the wavy wire.

[Katie Nolan]

Waiver. The waiver wire.

[T-Mobile Representative]

The carnival game. The wavy.

[Katie Nolan]

You know what this is post draft. Maybe we should get her to the draft and then we can expect. Explain the waiver wire.

[T-Mobile Representative]

But it's how you pick up new players during the season so that it's not. So there's some organization to it. Like, if you want a new. If somebody that's on no one's team has three touchdowns in a week, everybody's going to want them.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[T-Mobile Representative]

There's a system for, like, how to decide who gets them, but we can do that later. Like, that's how you pick up players after the season starts. There's also a guy up, drop them.

[Katie Nolan]

There's also gonna be a lot of guys who don't get drafted that maybe go off, maybe don't go off, but like defenses and stuff that if nobody else wants them, you can just pick them up and add them to your team. It's when, like, a running back goes down and so his backup goes in for a team that runs the ball a lot. And all of a sudden this guy who was a backup and was never going to play is now playing all the time. Everyone's going to go to the waiver wire and want that guy because he's like, suddenly very valuable. So there's going to be a ranking that Brady will explain later where it's like, you're like fourth in line on the waiver wire, and if nobody before you wants this guy, you get him. But if you. If somebody in front of you wants him, you don't get him. So it's like a whole added element, but it doesn't affect your draft. It's just for guys that don't get drafted. If everybody kind of descends upon them and wants them.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Man, life can get packed, huh? Just so much stuff to do all the time. You gotta clean the bathrooms, you gotta read the news, you gotta watch the sports. You got to drop your kids off at school. Not me. But I'm sure that's something that takes up a lot of time. Life just gets in the way. Well, when life is full and time is tight, Instacart helps you stay on track. Instacart is more than a grocery app. It's a care company that works around your schedule. Get groceries and household essentials delivered in as fast as 30 minutes, whether you're hosting a barbecue or getting back from a trip or just juggling back to school chaos. It helps save so much time to open your phone and scroll through and pick out the things you that's why I love Instacart. Download the Instacart app and use code CASUITS20 to get $20 off your first order of $80 or more. That's code CASUITS20 to get twenty dollars off your first order of eighty dollars or more. Which is great because that means you can add that to the tip offer. Valid for a limited time, excludes restaurants and additional terms apply. Hey, I don't know about you guys, but I love learning. I love, in my old age, gathering information in any way that I can. There's just nothing like gaining a fresh pers when it comes from experts who've seen it all and have the wisdom to prove it. And that's why I love Masterclass. With Masterclass, you can learn from the best to become your best. Apply improv to your daily life with Amy Poehler, develop your singular voice with Mindy Kaling, and learn to tell a story that persuades people. With Michael Lewis, with plans starting at $10 a month billed annually, you get unlimited access to over 200 classes taught by the world's best business leaders, writers, chefs, and more. I just started a masterclass with Helen Mirren. She's teaching acting, and I assume by the end of it I'm going to be able to act like Helen Mirren, which is pretty exciting. Right now, our listeners get an additional 15% off of any annual [e-mail] casuals. That's 15% off. @masterclass.com casuals, they say if you want.

[Isabella]

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[Katie Nolan]

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[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Yeah, I mean, listen, I do. I do my show, Fantasy football Happy hour Monday through Friday on Peacock. And it's also live on YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm on Football Night in America, which is the pregame show for Sunday Night Football. And I'm the founder of FantasyLife.com, which is a website that gives.

[Katie Nolan]

Gives.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

We have all sorts of tools and advice for people like yourself, Isabella, that want to dominate their fantasy football draft. So check out FantasyLife.com where you can sign up for our free newsletter. I send out a newsletter every single day. So those are the plugs, Katie.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, good plugs. Thank you for doing them. It's Matthew Berry. He's my favorite. Thank you so much for being here. Of course. I'm gonna make this very quick because I imagine you have 70,000 things to do over the next few days. Um, let's start here. Isabella has the number 2 pick in our 10 team league PPR draft. If Jamar Chase is gone, what should she be doing with that number two pick?

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Now, I'm going to ask a couple of questions here. And Isabel, this is important. The first thing you need to figure out is like, what's your scoring system? Katie just said it's ppr. So it means you got a point per reception and there's 10 teams. But is it a one quarterback league or a two quarterback league?

[Isabella]

It's one.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Okay.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

So that is important. So knowing what your lineup is and what your roster construction looks like, that's important as you sort of get into it. I would go with Bijon Robinson. He's a running back for the Atlanta Falcons. One of the things I like about Bijon Robinson is last year he was the only running back in the NFL to be top five in both targets, which are passes that are thrown to a player and carries. So he was somebody that, in essence, Isabella got the ball a lot, running the ball, and they also threw the ball a lot to him. And so the idea here is that you want to. You want to. The more players touch the ball, the more opportunities they have to score fantasy points. And Katie, as I'm talking out loud, I need your help on this, because one of the things I love about you, Katie, you and I have been friends for a long while. One of the things I love about you is you. You suffer no fools. You call like you see it. And as I'm sitting here doing this, because as we talk, you're like, hey, Isabel's never played fantasy, but we gotta help her. But I'm like, holy. Am I, like, just totally mansplaining here?

[Katie Nolan]

No.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Like, just an a hole, like.

[Katie Nolan]

No.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

No, we asked you. We. First of all, I specifically asked you to come here and do this so that I could never turn around and say that you were mansplaining. And also, I just spent the last, like, 45 minutes. Woman. Explaining it to her. So. So it's.

[Isabella]

This is just a. I need any kind of splaining.

[Katie Nolan]

I'm trying to arm her with all possible information so that when the draft comes, she doesn't panic.

[Isabella]

Wait, quick question, though, for. With that guy, what if the first pick picks that guy?

[Katie Nolan]

Then you would take, I think, German Chase.

[Isabella]

Oh. Oh, okay. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

He'll still be there.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

And honestly, Isabella, this goes to sort of a basic strategy for somebody like yourself that doesn't watch a lot of football and has never played fantasy football before. I think there's a panic that sits in, like, oh, my God, I don't know enough. I'm going to be in this. It's going to be this test that I'm going to have to fail. And literally, I think if you do no research from here until the time that you draft and you go to. You go to NBCSports.com and you print out my rankings, or you go to fantasylife.com and print out our rankings that we have there, or even if you just. Even if you just go through sort of the default rankings, whatever platform that you're playing on will have sort of default rankings. And literally all you do is just take the highest ranked player that's available. Like, as you sit there and you go, okay, Jamar Chase goes 1. You cross up Ja' Mar Chase on The list, who's the next player ranked? You draft. Okay, I've got Bajan Robinson. Great. You take him, whatever it is, if that's all you do, is you literally, as you go through the draft, you just draft the highest ranked available player with whatever list you use. I promise you, you will not embarrass yourself.

[Isabella]

Ok, good.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

And you may not win the league, but you will have a competent team. And then as you, as you play the game and you start to sort of learn and you're watching football and you learn a little bit more, you're able to make adjustments. I liken it to, you know, if you're thrown into a foreign country where you don't speak the language and like for two weeks you'll be like, what the hell is going on? But like as you're immersed in that world for two weeks, eventually you'll be like, oh, I can now I know how to order food at a restaurant. I can ask where the bathroom is, I can get directions to my hotel, whatever it is. Like, you will, within a couple of weeks you will be able to start speaking the language and you'll, you'll have more of a solid footing.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, the draft is important, but it's not the be all, end all and we'll get you there no matter what and you'll be fine.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Matthew, is there any good guidance to give her in terms of. She's got the nine positions that will, she'll have to start and then she's got bench spots to make a total of 15 players. Is there any guidance on how best to split up her bench? Should she be aiming for like three wide receivers? And like, is there a commonly known math to what to do with your bench or is it kind of up to you?

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

There isn't a commonly known math. But I have a couple questions here. Is this, does this league have kickers and defense? Yes, as positions. Okay. So Isabella, because it's a 10, 10 team league, in essence, the available players for you to put on your fantasy team, there's a lot. And so it's what is known as a deep waiver pool. And so what I would say is you only need to draft one kicker, you only need to draft one defense, and honestly I think you only need to draft one quarterback. Oftentimes what will happen is players that are for the first, they'll be like, oh, I need a backup kicker and I need a backup defense and a backup quarterback. Not realizing that because there's only 10 teams and because you're only starting, one kicker, one defense, one quarterback. So in theory, you know, there's 32 NFL teams, right? So there's 32 defenses, there are 32 kickers, there's 32 starting quarterbacks. Only 10 of them are going to start in any given week in your league. Which means obviously, you know, whatever, stupid, easy math. There's, in theory, there's at least, there's potentially 22 that'll be available, but likely it'll be somewhere in the 15 range. Right? So my point is, is that in a given week, if you have an injury or it's a bye week and you need to replace your quarterback, your kicker, your defense, you'll be able to go to the waiver wire and pick up a player that's considered a free agent and put them into your lineup of the week. So to answer your question, Katie, what I would want to do with the bench if I was Isabella is all running backs and wide receivers. It doesn't really matter if it's 3 versus 4, 4 versus 3, 2 versus 5. Like, it's just sort of like again, you're going sort of through the list.

[Isabella]

Let me write this down. Matthew, hold on. Ben is all, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep going. Yeah.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

If you want to do a backup tight end, I don't hate that. But I also, I will tell you, when I do 10 team leagues that are constructed the way yours is, I go with one quarterback, one tight end, one kicker, one defense, and the rest are all the, the rest are all running backs and wide receivers. The only scenario in which I draft a second tight end is if I don't get a very good one. And so you'll, you'll have rankings that'll show you sort of the tight ends. Right. So the number one titan in fantasy this year is Brock Bowers. Number for the Raiders, number two is Trey McBride of the Cardinals. Number three is George Kittle, the 49ers. So if you don't get one of those guys, you know, Travis Kelsey is up there, Sam laporta, you know, if you don't get one of those guys, you're getting one of the later ones, then you might want to draft a second one in case, you know that one doesn't produce for you. But generally speaking, I tend to, in a 10 team league, I'll also go with one tight end. I want to maximize those bench spots with players that can, that can potentially pop in a big way.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, so this is very helpful. Right? This is really helping. If we're in the first, would you say four Picks, we're focused. Running back, wide receiver.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

No, I mean I generally, honestly, you know, this sounds sort of zen, but like I kind of let the draft come to me.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, beautiful.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

You don't really know what, don't know what people are going to do, right. So you just sort of, like I said, when you're going down your rankings, like if, if I'm in the third round and Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson are there and they're the highest players and I follow my own rankings, right? So I'll draft Josh allen in the third round. I'll. I've taken George Kittle in the third or fourth round or Trey McBride in the third or fourth round because sometimes I like having an elite tight end. So generally speaking, I'll say one rule that I've been given this year in terms of looking at the player pool is especially in a 10 team league, I want to be one of the first people in my league to draft a quarterback or one of the last. Because if you don't get one of the first four players, which are Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels and Jalen.

[Katie Nolan]

Hurts, isn't that crazy? You just nailed a list that you're looking at.

[Isabella]

You did. I'm like, how do you know that it's already. That's. Wow, you're awesome.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Okay, so if you don't get one of those four running quarterbacks, then I would be the last person to draft a quarterback because after that they're all sort of the same. I like Joe Burrow, he's like, I think in a tier by himself. But for these purposes, like you don't get one of those four quarterbacks, wait. Because the rest of them are all the same and it doesn't help you to draft the quarterback six or seven because they're about the same as quarterback 12. There's a lot of sameness there. And same with a tight end. If I don't get Bowers, McBride or Kittle, I'm willing to wait. I love Tyler Warren. He's a rookie tight end in Minneapolis this year. Circle that David Njoku in Cleveland is somebody that goes, tends to go late, but I think he'll have a nice year. So again, those are two positions, quarterback and tight end that if on your ranking sheet they're available in the first three rounds, feel free to grab them, but if not, then you can wait and just fill up on running backs and wide receivers. So to answer your question, Katie, there's no, I don't really go in saying I've got to have two running backs in the first two rounds or running back, wide receiver. It's sort of let the draft come to you. The one thing I will say, Isabella, though, given your experience, what I would do is sometimes the ranking sheets are positional. Right. You know, here's all the quarterbacks, here's all the running backs.

[Katie Nolan]

You have that.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

I think what you want is a. Is a top 200, which puts you.

[Isabella]

All over, which I have.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Let's go. Cover up the logo.

[Katie Nolan]

Cover up the logo so he doesn't see it. It's yours. It came from you. It came from you. I swear. I printed out your list. I just printed it out really quick. I will get her your list. It's the better list anyway.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

It's totally fine. It's all good, Katie. There's a lot of good people out there doing what I do.

[Katie Nolan]

It's very sweet. It's very diplomatic of you. What is like a big rookie mistake that we can warn Isabella about so she does not make it? Is there a common thing you run into where rookies go, whether it's being too married to a plan or what? But if there's something rookies do that they tend to later go, like, that was stupid.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Well, no, we. We already. I mean, first off, there's. Look, it's fake football that, you know, we're talking about fake football here.

[Isabella]

So there's no such thing as true, right?

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

I mean, like. Like the whole exercise is stupid. My career is stupid. Like, it's all. It's all silly, right? But. But in terms of mistakes that I think you want to try to avoid, we already talked about one of them, which is like, I wouldn't draft a second kicker, a second defense, or even a second quarterback or tight end. So that's one. The other thing is, is just. And you know, this will be tough just given your lack of knowledge of football, but trying not to draft injured players sometimes. So you just pay attention when you're in the draft room. They'll usually be a little designation that says like. Like INJ or like a little red mark or, you know, so, like, Brandon Iuk is probably going to miss. He's a wide receiver for the 49ers. He's probably going to miss the first six games of the season. There's a running back in Cleveland named Quinton Judkins who hasn't signed yet. And so I think eventually he'll be their starter. But so it's just. So sometimes that's what happens is that people aren't necessarily paying attention or they make a mistake because they don't. They're not looking at the sort of the news, the most recent news of a player, right, Jalen McMillan, who's the second year wide receiver of Tampa Bay. He's going to miss about half the year. So that's, that's one, that's one mistake. And the second thing, the second mistake that I think beyond what we've already talked about here is I think there's just that too, too many times, like, people just panic again, like, I think Katie's dead right here. Whereas, like, the draft is literally the first step, right? It's not the end all, be all. I have left drafts where I'm like, boy, I just crushed that. And my season has been terrible and I've got, I've left drafts where I was like, well, I just screwed the pooch on that one and I've ended up winning the league. So again, it's a game that's played with a leather ball that's in an oblong shape. Like, weird stuff happens week in, week out. And, and so that's the other thing is that we can't predict it. Katie, I'll tell you this story because I think your audience will enjoy this and Isabel will enjoy this, and maybe this will help ease kind of any pressure that you have. It's my favorite fantasy football story of all time, and it's not mine, by the way, but it is Matt Hasselbeck's. So Matt Hasselbeck, Isabella, is a former quarterback, a very good one. He was with the Seattle Seahawks for a long time. He was also a colleague of Katie Zai's at ASPN for a number of years. Lovely guy, great guy. And so Matt Hasselbeck, when he was quarterbacking for the Seattle Seahawks in the 2009 season, he was playing fantasy football. So he had a draft and he drafted as his starting quarterbacks himself and his former, his former teammate in Green Bay, Brett Favreau. Matt Hasselbeck started his career as a backup to Brett Favre in Green Bay. That particular year, 2009, Brett Favre was the starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings his first year in Minnesota, and he actually ended up having a monster year, fantasy wise, in Minnesota that first year. So it was week five of the 2009 season and Matt Hasselbeck had a decision to make. Brett Favre was playing at home against the Rams, and that year the Rams were one of the worst teams in the NFL. Meanwhile, Seattle was playing the Jaguars, which was one of the better defenses in the NFL that year, and they had one two straight. Hasselbeck was coming off a back injury. He'd missed the previous two games. And so heading into week five of the NFL season of 2009, Matt Hasselbeck benched himself and started Brett Favre against the Rams because he was nervous about this game. You know, would it back, hold up, get it, you know, what was going to happen against these, you know, the Jaguars had one two straight and we're coming in with a good defense. Well, I will save you the trouble of looking it up. In Week 5 of the 2009 season, the Vikings absolutely destroyed the Rams. Adrian Peterson had a big game. Brett Favre threw one touchdown pass, one interception and finished as the 18th best quarterback in fantasy football that week. He did not have a good game, fantasy wise. Meanwhile, Matt Hasselbeck throws four touchdown passes, 256 yards, and finishes the week as the number one quarterback in fantasy football. That week, the Seahawks wax the Jacks. So I want you to think about this, Isabella. Matt Hasselbeck knew the game plan. He had studied the film. He, he could call an audible at any time. Matt Hasselbeck literally touched the ball on every offensive play. Matt Hasselbeck had more control over an NFL game than any fantasy football player ever in the history of the sport and still got it wrong.

[Isabella]

Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better. Yeah, I feel more comfortable and excited.

[Katie Nolan]

At least you don't have to decide if you should start yourself.

[Isabella]

Yeah, that would be. That's a lot of pressure.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

That's right. He was just like Farb, had a great matchup. He'd been red hot. He's off. You know, he didn't know if his back was going to hold up. Like it all makes sense why Matt made the decision he did. But again, it was completely the wrong decision. You know, he, he had all these points sitting on his own bench for him, whereas Favre just didn't have a good game because they didn't. He didn't need to throw. Peterson went nuts, and the Rams were bad and they got it, you know, and they didn't score very many points. And so my point is, is that if Hasselbeck can't get it right, what, what chance to any of us have, Isabella? So as you go through this season playing your first year, don't beat yourself. That's the mistake, Katie, is that too often fantasy football managers beat themselves up. Why didn't I see that? Why did I make that trade? Why did I drop that player? Why didn't I start this person and we beat ourselves up and we get to in our head and it's like again, like, like I've had coaches point blank tell me this guy's going to go off this week and then they do nothing or, you know, or we think this person's going to stop and we, you know, it just, it. It's a game with 11 people and a leather ball and an oblock shape. Weird, weird stuff happens every week.

[Katie Nolan]

All right, now, I don't know if this last question I want to ask you is proprietary. If it is, tell me to shut up. But is there a possibility you could give Isabella a name in a late round wide receiver, running back, that if she sees it, it's like, oh, that guy is being underestimated and may actually go off. He might not do anything, but boy, does Matthew Berry think he's really intriguing?

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Yeah, I mean, I think there's, I think there's a lot of guys. What, What? Katie? Because Katie is a Isabel. I don't know if you're aware of this. Katie's a hardcore fantasy player.

[Katie Nolan]

I took a couple years off after I won, I won a league and I was like, I'm gonna take a break from this and go out on top, so I'm coming back in. But he's not entirely wrong.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

But yeah, I will tell you, a fun watch is Katie's Instagram stories as she's sitting there trying to watch her fantasy football team and desperately rooting them on and getting both either happy or sad or miserable. The point of me bringing that up is, so, Katie, you are an experienced fantasy football player, so help me out here. Are you thinking mid rounds? Are you thinking late rounds? Give me a range here to, to give a name here for Isabella.

[Katie Nolan]

I feel like when we get off of being able to go by adp, once we reach like a round where she can't as much just go like, guy at the top is the guy to take, which I know, like we said you can always do, but like, if, when we're in, like really towards the bottom and she's just grabbing at and, and maybe doesn't know as much about these names, like, they're not going to jump out as recognizable. If there's one that you're like, oh, if this guy, if you see this guy around this round, that's a great pick.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

There's a, there's a running back in Seattle named Zach Charbonnet. Oh, that I like. He's. He's currently going as like running back 38 and when he gets the opportunity to start, he's been nothing short of fantastic. He's behind a guy named Ken Walker, but Walker's banged up, and I'm secretly nervous that Walker's a little bit more hurt than. Than he's letting on. And we talked earlier in the show about Tyler Warren, who's a rookie tight end for the Colts, who I think is just gonna have a monster year.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

He's going like his tight end 14, and I think I'm a tight end. 7. Gonna have a monster year.

[Katie Nolan]

I cannot tell you how valuable this has been for us, watching Isabella take notes and get excited.

[Isabella]

I got notes.

[Katie Nolan]

I. And again, those are the Matthew Berry rankings that she has there. Do you have any questions for him? It's overwhelming that there's, like. You could probably ask a million. I don't know. I don't want to put you on the spot, but if there's anything that you want to ask before we let Matthew get back.

[Isabella]

Matthew, do you feel like there's any particular. Are there things I should have in front of me in the middle of the draft? There's things I should have with me at hand. You think?

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

You know what I think, Honestly? Just this. You know, the ranking sheet that you have that you've decided and, you know, ranking sheet and something to mark stuff off. But I actually think the less you have, the less cluttered it is. You know, I see some people come and they've got. They've got calculators and magazines, and it's. It's too much like, you know, you've got to. Like, you've got to. You've got a minute on the clock, generally speaking, between picks. Like, just keep it simple. Be able to. Be able to, you know, just be able to focus.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Matthew Barry. This has been incredibly valuable. I'm so grateful to you and also just, like, personally very happy to see you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming and helping us out. Best of luck this season. I know you're going to be so busy. I'll talk to you when it's over. But you're the greatest, and we love you and thank you again.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

My pleasure. Katie. Congrats on the podcast. And I don't think we've seen each other since you've gotten married, so that's awesome.

[Katie Nolan]

I didn't even get married yet. You still have time. You still have time. It's just the engagement.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Just the engagement.

[Katie Nolan]

I've put it off. It's more important that I prepare for a draft. I think than to get all that guest list and stuff. I got stuff to do, you know, I understand.

[T-Mobile Representative / Matthew Berry]

Priority. Let's get priority.

[Katie Nolan]

Exactly. But thank you. I appreciate it. The sentiment stands, for sure. Matthew Barry. We got a lot of good information. How are you feeling and is it overwhelmed?

[Isabella]

I definitely feel a lot better.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Isabella]

At the end of this than at the beginning of this episode. Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

You learn the positions.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

You know what is required of you in the draft. You have a couple names to use as a jumping off point for guys that you might like.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

But you have a big name, big list of all the names. So you can look at that this weekend if you want to. Like Matthew said, you don't have to over prep. Don't worry too much. But if you want to, if you're like, hey, maybe I want to find a guy that nobody really knows about. Plenty of resources. We'll get you signed up on. On Fantasy Life and you can browse through and. And then when you come in, you know what you need to take. You know generally how to take it and. And any questions.

[Isabella]

And everyone else in this league is getting crushed. That's right.

[Katie Nolan]

That's right. It's warrior spirit. She's coming for you. All right. Hopefully you at home also benefited from this in some way. It was a bonus. So if you didn't, we can just probably keep that to yourself. If you are one of the lucky nine that are in this league with us, we will see you on Monday for the draft and everybody else again, thank you for emailing in and for wanting to join. Hopefully in the future we can do something with you and we will see you all on Tuesday when you get to listen to how Isabella did in the draft.

[Isabella]

Yay.

[Katie Nolan]

Yay. All right. We love you. We mean it. Good luck this season.

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[Isabella]

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[Katie Nolan]

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[Katie Nolan]

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