2026 Fantasy Football Rookies + Breakout Candidates | Fantasy Focus

Summary

Fantasy Focus Football: 2026 Fantasy Football Rookies + Breakout Candidates | Post-NFL Draft Special

Date: April 29, 2026
Hosts: Field Yates, Stephania Bell, Mike Clay
Episode Theme: In-depth post-2026 NFL Draft analysis for fantasy football rookie rankings, breakout candidate discussion, and key injury updates for fantasy players.

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Episode Overview

Field Yates, Stephania Bell, and Mike Clay break down the 2026 NFL rookie draft class from a fantasy football perspective. The trio assesses fantasy-relevant players, conducts a mock rookie draft, debates breakout and veteran winners post-draft, and provides injury analysis for several key fantasy options.

This episode's main focus is on managing fantasy expectations in what the hosts repeatedly describe as an unusually weak rookie class, detailing the top rookie picks, their paths to fantasy impact, and lingering injury questions as dynasty and redraft leagues prepare for the new season.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Overall Strength of the 2026 Rookie Class

• Mike Clay (02:58): "D minus... This was very close to an F. It was rough for a lot of reasons."

  • Very few impact running backs, “more tight ends than ever” at the combine.
  • Landing spots for key players not ideal—many rookies face uphill battles for fantasy relevance.
  • “Updating my rankings post draft, it was like, I don’t need to do a lot here… there wasn’t much to do.”

• Field Yates (04:05):

  • Context: Sometimes highly-hyped incoming rookies—like Marvin Harrison Jr. last year—flame out, while others surprise.
  • Warns against overbidding for pre-draft hype, given the class’s lack of depth and elite talent.

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2. Top Rookie Prospects & Fantasy Mock Draft

1. Jeremiah Love (RB, Arizona Cardinals)

• Drafted Third Overall.
• Mike Clay (06:31): "The last nine running backs that have been picked in the top 12 of the draft, the last nine, nine straight, all finished top 12 in fantasy points as a rookie. All of them, no exceptions."
• Stefania Bell (07:12): Cardinals RB room is in flux. James Conner has massive foot injury, coming off surgery; Trey Benson's status is mysterious after a knee scope. “Jeremiah left me, he’s got the run of that room.”
• Caution: Tyler Allgeier and James Conner may siphon high-value touches.
• Stat (Mike Clay): Pass-catching skill set gives him PPR upside, but “volume adds up even if it’s not efficient.”
• Fantasy Pick Order: Love is consensus #1 rookie.

2. Jadarian Price (RB, Seattle Seahawks)

• Stefania Bell (12:48): “I think he is going to have an immediate impact.”
  • Kenneth Walker is gone, Charbonnet tore ACL late (February surgery). “If you look at the typical 9-12 month return… nine months is November 20th.”
  • Could open the door for Price to seize feature-back duties early.
• Receiving Question: Only 12 college catches in 2 years, low receiving projection (Mike Clay).
• Upside: Little early competition; “Probably the only other running back with real immediate fantasy benefit.”

3. Carnell Tate (WR, Tennessee Titans)

• Field Yates (16:07): “Number one wide receiver on my real life big board… He had just one drop this past season at Ohio State. I think he’s very pro ready."
  • Faces target competition (Ridley, W. Robinson), but 4th overall draft capital = big role.
  • Comped to other top-10 pick WRs: “They’re going to be used a lot… will be among that gigantic pool of WR3 category.”

4. Jordan Tyson (WR, New Orleans Saints)

• Injury Concerns: ACL, collarbone, hamstring, but cleared medically by NFL teams.
• Stefania Bell (19:18): “A lot of the discussion around his injuries… was more of a talking point than an actual medical concern.”
• Role: Projected WR2 behind Olave—“more explosive than Carnell Tate… movement skills that remind you of Odell Beckham Jr.” (Field Yates, 17:42)
• Volume Note (Mike Clay, 23:27): “Wide receivers picked in the top 10 usually get 25% target share as rookies, floor is top 30 production.”

5. Omar Cooper Jr. (WR, New York Jets)

• Stefania Bell (25:50): “Garrett Wilson is there, but that takes some pressure off. Some opportunity for him to thrive opposite Wilson.”

6. Makai Lemon (WR, Philadelphia Eagles)

• Mike Clay (27:34): “Not an AJ Brown target share, but talented future No.1/2. A mid-round fantasy flyer; not a must-start early.”
  • Eagles have crowded target room: Brown, Smith, Goddard, Hollywood Brown, Wicks.

7. Casey Concepcion (WR, Cleveland Browns)

• Mike Clay (29:02): “A little trickier to figure out. Browns just drafted two WRs (Concepcion, Boston), and hit at TE with Harold Fannin. Will be a rotation and tough for rookie WRs to break out fast.”

8-12. Deep Dart Throws

• Kenyon Sadiq (TE, Jets): Stefania Bell: “He could be second in targets there sooner than later. Betting on the talent.”
• Jonah Coleman (RB, Broncos); Mike Washington Jr. (RB, Raiders); Carson Beck (QB, Cardinals); Fernando Mendoza (QB, Raiders). These are mainly “end-of-bench upside” or superflex rookie flyers—highlighting “how weak this rookie class is” (Field Yates).

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3. Biggest Fantasy Winners and Veterans Helped by the Draft

• Rashad White (RB, Commanders) — Field Yates (38:54):

  • “Volumes can be way too good in the passing game. No Jeremiah Love to the Commanders makes him my winner.”
  • Even if Bill Crosby emerges, White could own passing-downs.

• Cam Ward (QB, Miami Dolphins) — Stefania Bell (39:14):

  • “He just didn’t have anyone around him, now has big supporting cast… huge year-two breakout chance.”

• Tyler Schuck (QB, Saints) — Mike Clay (41:23):

  • “Good finish last year, much better support now: Tyson, Olave, Fant, Edwards… definitely a potential breakout.”

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4. Way-Too-Early Predictions

• Jadarian Price 1000+ Yards (43:04)

  • Stefania Bell: “Price is going to finish with over 1000 yards rushing in his first season.”
  • Seattle appears committed to ground game with a new OC.

• Jackson Dart, #1 Fantasy QB (43:29)

  • Mike Clay: “The number one scoring fantasy quarterback of this season will be… Jackson Dart.”
  • Improved weapons, dual threat, track record of big fantasy weeks as a rookie.

• Brock Bowers leads NFL in receptions (45:18)

  • Field Yates: “Bowers is amazing. He has better quarterback play and a much better offensive system. No reason he can’t challenge for TE catch record.”

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5. Quick-Hit Injury Roundup with Stefania Bell

Patrick Mahomes (ACL; Kansas City Chiefs)

• Video shows good progress, “just shy of nine months when the season begins… but not a running back, so rehab progression less concerning than RB.” Stefania expects Week 1 readiness (46:29).

Malik Nabers (ACL/Meniscus; NY Giants)

• “Week 1 is a loose target… but he’s made it clear he won’t return until he’s truly ready—smart, long-term approach.” (48:03)

Cam Skattebo (Ankle; Arizona Cardinals)

• Open dislocation “violent injury… power back needs confidence in ankle.” Stefania expects return soon, but “caution for coming back to pre-injury form right away.” (49:17)

Lamar Jackson (Hamstring; Baltimore Ravens)

• “I think Lamar's days of running the way he used to are done… even if healthy, we’ll see less in the way of rushing yards. Design run days going down.” (51:07)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Class Depth (Mike Clay, 02:58): "This was very close to an F. It was rough for a lot of reasons. Barely enough qualifying running backs."
• On Rookie RB Trends (Mike Clay, 06:31): “Nine straight top-12 rookie RBs who got top-12 draft capital.”
• On Seahawks’ Backfield (Stefania Bell, 12:48): “If you take that and you make him [Price] more of a feature back than either of those two were, there’s a chance there.”
• On Medical Red Flags (Stefania Bell, 19:18): “I think a lot of the discussion around [Tyson’s] injuries… was more a talking point than an actual medical concern.”
• On Lamar Jackson (Stefania Bell, 51:46): “I think Lamar Jackson’s days of running the way he used to are done. Even if he’s healthy… I am going to expect less in the way of rushing yards.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:02: Mike Clay's scathing draft class grade ("D minus")
• 05:46: Detailed analysis of Jeremiah Love
• 07:12: Cardinals’ RB room breakdown; Love’s path to feature-back role
• 12:48: Stefania Bell advocates for Jadarian Price as immediate impact RB
• 16:07-18:51: Carnell Tate and Jordan Tyson receiver debates; target volume projections
• 23:27: Mike Clay explains why top-10 rookie WRs usually deliver, but maybe not league-winners
• 27:34-29:38: Makai Lemon and Casey Concepcion as mid-round flyers
• 38:54: Post-draft veteran fantasy winners (Rashad White, Cam Ward, Tyler Schuck)
• 43:04: Stefania’s bold rookie RB prediction (Price 1,000+ yards)
• 43:29: Mike Clay’s prediction: Jackson Dart top fantasy QB
• 45:18: Field Yates' bold take: Brock Bowers to lead NFL in receptions
• 46:29-52:41: Stefania’s injury analysis: Mahomes, Nabers, Skattebo, Lamar Jackson

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Tone and Style

• Conversational, analytical, occasionally self-deprecating: The hosts acknowledge draft confusion and past mistakes (“Regrets?” jokes), debate picks respectfully, and weave personal anecdotes into the discussion.
• Light and humorous but data-driven: Frequent use of stats, historical precedent, and references to medical evaluations, balanced by banter and quips.

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Final Notes

• 2026 rookie class is widely considered "weak" for fantasy impact, especially beyond the top 4-5 picks.
• Jeremiah Love is consensus top rookie; Price a strong #2, then a mix of WRs with high opportunity but uncertain ceilings.
• Injury updates are crucial for evaluating post-draft value, especially in ambiguous backfields or for offensive cornerstones.
• Veterans like Rashad White, and young QBs (Cam Ward, Tyler Schuck) could see significant post-draft value boosts given lack of immediate rookie competition.

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For more detailed fantasy breakdowns, check out ESPN.com, Daniel Dopp's YouTube content, and Liz Loza’s “Facts vs. Feelings” for extended post-draft takes.

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Transcript

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[Field Yates]

Fantasy Fantasy Focus folks. We are back. Welcome in to the fantasy Focused post NFL Draft special. I'm Field DH joined by two very special guests today. Stefania Bell is here. How are you? It's been a while.

[Stefania Bell]

I'm good. I feel like I've seen you because I've seen you all over the television doing draft but I much more enjoy

[Field Yates]

my time with you as opposed to hearing from you over text message or something like that.

[Stefania Bell]

Nice to have you here and a belated happy birthday.

[Field Yates]

Thank you, thank you. I'm feeling older but no wiser unfortunately. Michael Clay. What's happening buddy?

[Mike Clay]

A lot. You know, I feel like we're kind of starting off football now. We have the draft so we have a good feel for the roster. So this morning I woke up and I went and had my annual physical because it's time, you know. Oh, now we start grinding, you know. So I had to make sure I'm healthy and ready to go for another year of ball. So the verdict is I'm healthy.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

I'm hanging in there. You are healthy. The haters fully cleared blood pressure.

[Field Yates]

Thinking about Mike Clay having more in him. A couple of notes before we get started. We are going to of course cover some of the most notable fantasy relevant players from the 2026 NFL Draft. A big shout out to the city of Pittsburgh and all those that make the draft spot possible. And Mother Nature because the weather was unreal. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the cool temperature was like 71. I was sweating by the time I got to the broadcast each night. We're back starting in August with our usual five day week cadence. But until then, if you like the YouTube shorts, go check out some of Daniel Dopp's squirrel report left. Plenty of preseason content and facts versus feelings is back. The great Liz Loza. Check out her feed or check out the feed for that show as she has dropped a post draft episode and of course, keep it locked in on the NFL on ESPN YouTube channel for more off season conversations. We're currently doing our rookie dynasty draft. We're doing mock drafts. We'll be doing magazine content. You know it. We're going to be ready once the season rolls around. The big question coming into today is how would you guys grade? And I'll turn to you first here, Mike. This draft for what it means for fantasy football.

[Mike Clay]

Okay, so is this like relative to all drafts previously?

[Field Yates]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Future drafts. D minus.

[Field Yates]

Thank you.

[Mike Clay]

Okay, right.

[Field Yates]

To establish that earlier, which one was worse?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I don't know if you go lower than that. Right. You don't want to say an F because there's going to be some guys. Some guys will slide through the cracks, relatively speaking. This was very close to an F. It was rough for a lot of reasons. First of all, we knew kind of coming. We knew when the combine invitations went out that we were in a bit of trouble here. There was barely enough qualifying running backs to fill out a draft. First of all, just that were invited to the combine. We were loaded with tight ends, more tight ends than I've ever seen invited to the combine. So immediately you're like, oh, boy. And then you start reading the mock drafts and fields rankings and then you're like, this is not great. And then we watched the draft and landing spots were not ideal for some of these players, which we'll get to here shortly. And when all is said and done, it doesn't look super impactful. There'll be a handful of players, we'll talk about them, but overall it feels pretty weak. And honestly, updating my rankings post draft, it was like, I don't need to do a lot here. Day three especially, there wasn't much to do there. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Right. So, yeah, it was, it was not the best. But again, some of these guys are going to make some noise and you know, we'll probably have maybe a Hall of Famer or two on this. On this list. Right. So we'll. We'll break it down.

[Field Yates]

Well, it's important to acknowledge too that like part of the conversation is where do these players rank going into their rookie season? Like a. Marvin Harrison Jr. For back to back years has been a massive disappointment. But the year that he came out, we were talking about Marv as a potential top 12 wide receiver. Ashton Genty last year, should he go ahead of Christian McCaffrey? He did in a lot of drafts. That was one that Gave a lot of us some regret about, I don't know, a week into the season. So there is kind of like the pre draft established value once these guys play. Maybe there are some hidden gems but Stefania, this was a weak, weak class. I know your Niners took a running back in the third round that didn't even go to the combine.

[Stefania Bell]

I didn't know we were going to bring the Niners draft into this conversation.

[Field Yates]

Do you have thoughts on it or no?

[Stefania Bell]

I'm going to reserve my thoughts.

[Field Yates]

You're going to trust the judgment of

[Stefania Bell]

the Niners because you know we've done well with our mid level round running back picks in the past and I'm just going to leave it at that for now.

[Field Yates]

Reserve further judgment. The Niners are amongst the teams and the Jaguars fit into this category that definitely march to the beat of their own drum. They're not bothered by how the league may view the player. They are convicted in their own beliefs. So we're going to go through a dozen rookies that were taken over the weekend. We'll then go through some of the biggest winners of the weekend, some predictions and we're going to wrap things up with the latest on four major injuries that Stefania has been covering all off season. So this draft was bad but Mike, there's a crown jewel player in this class. Jeremiah Love, third overall pick to the Arizona Cardinals. Use Ashton Genty in his pre draft value or sorry, his preseason value last year as a data point. Are we talking similar territory for Jeremiah?

[Mike Clay]

I think it's same vicinity of drafts but I think we like glove a little more.

[Field Yates]

I think this is a prospect.

[Mike Clay]

Yes. Yeah, yeah, exactly right. Goes to Arizona. You think about the depth chart there? I don't think they're done making moves on that depth chart at the moment in terms of departures because you have, of course they signed Tyler Algier, they have James Connor there. I don't think he's going to stand around and hold a clipboard next year on the sideline because he's not going to play. So. And then of course you have Trey Benson. So not really worried about those two guys. I don't think their influences here at all. I think you'll have some Tyler Algier playing a similar role to what he played in Atlanta. But you take a running back third overall to be the clear feature back and that is what we have seen. In fact, I looked this up again. I know I used this a little bit last year, but just reinforcing that. Yes, this guy hasn't played down in the NFL.

[Field Yates]

I get that.

[Mike Clay]

However, the last nine running backs that have been picked in the top 12 of the draft, the last nine, nine straight, all finished top 12 in fantasy points as a rookie. All of them, no exceptions.

[Field Yates]

Including Ashton Genti.

[Mike Clay]

Including Ashton Genty.

[Field Yates]

And I know he just sneak in there.

[Mike Clay]

He did just. He was at the lowest of the nine at 11. And I know it was rough at times during the year, but the volume adds up, these guys. Yeah, it was boosted by that and some big game strategy. Like the three touchdown game was like

[Field Yates]

against the Bears or something.

[Mike Clay]

Right. So it might not be the most efficient all the time, but it's going to be heavy, heavy volume and he has a path to that in Arizona. So no doubt about it. Jeremiah Love is a guy I view as at that 1, 2 turn. He's going to be featured and he's in a good spot here.

[Stefania Bell]

I actually thought there was a bit of a referendum on the running back room there with them taking him because as you mentioned, James Conner is there, but he's coming off a massive foot injury. This requires surgery. He was out after week three. So we really didn't see James Conner who prior to that had 2000 yard back to back seasons for the first time in his career. And part of the reason we liked him so much in fantasy was he came in as a huge value because you could draft him in the middle rounds but you felt like he was going to get volume. He restructured his contract. He's there but he's. You can't expect him to take the volume, especially coming off an injury like that. Trey Benson got injured in week four and never came back. I don't know if you guys remember, there was a lot of chatter. Well, you remember he never came back, but do you remember that it was a scope, a meniscal injury. He should be back. He, they even opened up his practice window to the point where you thought he was going to play and then he didn't play. So when he left at the end of the season, there's a lot of mystery there about what Trey Benson can and will be going forward. So Jeremiah left me, he's got the run of that room.

[Mike Clay]

You know, it'd be terrible if like week four or so last year when Connor went on ir, if like you were in a dynasty league and you're like I need some running back help and you traded a second and third round rookie pick for Trey Benson.

[Field Yates]

So you have regret ever doing that. Like hypothetically you would have Regrets?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Hypothetically, if I made that trade, I would probably have some regrets. And we're doing that rookie draft right now and I might be down a second and third round pick. I don't know what I did with them.

[Field Yates]

But let's hash out the good and the bad here a little bit further for Jeremiah Love. You guys talked about the good. It's the skill set. I think he's a better prospect than Ashton Genti. He's also more dynamic as a receiver and for our purposes, PPR scoring. The better you are as a receiver, the higher floor you tend to have and higher ceiling for that matter. The bad is that unlike Ashton Genti, Genty went to the worst running back room in the league last year. This would be like a wide receiver who got taken by the Dolphins this year by default. You have piqued our interest a little bit. It's not a terrible running back room in Arizona. Right. You mentioned both Trey Benson and James Conner, who he did restructure his contract. He is coming off of an injury. He's also the heart and soul of that team. So if they do eventually move on from James Conner, it's one of those that has to be done delicately. I think it will in the right way.

[Mike Clay]

I think it will.

[Bucked Up Advertiser]

Right?

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Do you think he's going to be okay playing four snaps a game? Like it's just not going to happen.

[Field Yates]

He's not going to play. But if he, if he is on the team, he is going to have more than like a four snap per game role. And then here we are again, a highly touted rookie running back goes in the first three picks. It was previously the eighth overall pick and Tyler Algier is there. Right.

[Stefania Bell]

Tyler Algier who's like yes, I've got a chance with this new team and then maybe not. So I mean his role is immediately relegated to.

[Field Yates]

Well and Algier got $7 million guaranteed this past off season. We know Tyler Algier is a service. He had a thousand yards as a rookie. Right. He's not a total bum. He just got or he just was usurped by Bijan Robinson and now here it happens all over again with the Cardinals. And so the fear would be that to the extent that the Cardinals are going to be in scoring range from the 5 yard line and in that Tyler Argier could take up a. This could be like David Montgomery to Jameer Gibbs. And then there's also the sort of sticker shock from last year of how bad that Raiders offensive line was and how much it impacted Ashton Genti, especially early on in the season. There are going to be people that have a similar level of discomfidence in the Cardinals offense.

[Mike Clay]

I disagree with that though.

[Field Yates]

You like their offense a lot more?

[Mike Clay]

I think it's a lot better. They drafted who they drafted.

[Field Yates]

They drafted Chase Passantis and he'll probably

[Mike Clay]

win the right guard job. And I'm only worried about the right side of the line. The left side's good. I mean, left side I think is solid to good. Right side's a concern. They address that at least with the guard. So I think it's okay. I think it's at least like, let's just say worst case. It's like 20th 20.

[Field Yates]

That's fine. Better than 32nd overall, but yes, I

[Mike Clay]

think it'll be okay.

[Field Yates]

I also know that we have shiny object syndrome of fantasy football, so we're going to take Jeremiah Love really high. But there are some reasons to be a bit cautious here given not just what we saw from Ashton Genti last year, but some of the infrastructure.

[Mike Clay]

One more quick note though on that. Just remember Robinson as a rookie when Algier was there. Algier played quite a bit. He was frustrated, right?

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Robinson only handled about 40, 45% of the carries, but had a big role in the passing game and was very efficient. And again, as I mentioned earlier, finished top 12 in fantasy points. He's in the top 10 even. And Christian McCaffrey very similar as a rookie. Only handled 25% of the carries in San Francisco, but a big role in the passing game. Very efficient. Finished top 10 or Carolina.

[Field Yates]

Excuse me, I don't even. Was it Jonathan Stewart who was there at that time?

[Mike Clay]

That sounds right. I can't remember what.

[Field Yates]

Here's what I would say is the season long finish is notable to me in one way about the floor. I think the ceiling last year for Ashton Genti was disappointing. Yes, I think the ceiling for Bijon Robinson was disappointing. We all had frustration. One of our big talking points after that year was like, is Arthur Smith going to get his act together and stop giving the football to Tyler Algiers? So much so that's worth noting for Jeremiah Love, but clearly he'll be the highest drafted rookie in drafts this year and it may not be close. So how long until Carnell Tate comes off the board next to Funya?

[Stefania Bell]

Well, I have a question. Are we doing a draft or are we going. Are we going to. Are we doing no draft right now?

[Field Yates]

No, we're just going through the players.

[Stefania Bell]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

I thought we were going to draft and then that was going to be

[Field Yates]

our talking about, oh, we can do that too. Oh, we are doing okay.

[Mike Clay]

Got it.

[Field Yates]

I screwed this up.

[Mike Clay]

You know what field I was going through there.

[Stefania Bell]

I mean, I didn't want to like you.

[Field Yates]

You go next, please. Thank you.

[Stefania Bell]

But if we were drafting, I thought we were going to do that order.

[Field Yates]

Fire away.

[Mike Clay]

The second overall pick.

[Field Yates]

Details. Not my specialty.

[Stefania Bell]

I'm sorry. It's okay. It's okay. We could do it any way you like, but I was going to go out of order.

[Field Yates]

Okay, good. Take it.

[Stefania Bell]

The person I was going to take is running back to Jerrion Price at the Seahawks. And the reason being that I think he is going to have an immediate impact. And yes, Jeremiah Love is the name that everybody knows from Notre Dame, but Jadarin Price is the name that we're going to know at the end of this season because remember, Kenneth Walker has now gone to the Chiefs and we have Zach Charbonnet who tore his ACL so late. I don't think people realize his surgery was not until February. So if you look at the typical nine to 12 month return and that's again typical coming off an ACL but not a lock by any means. Nine months is November 20th. So think that's the early side of coming back from an ACL injury. Now Mike McDonald said he is going to be back. He is not going to miss the entire year. Everything's optimism now, but we don't really know. It's so early in the process. You have no way of knowing. That opens the door for Jadarian Price to come and attack and get a lot of work done. And who knows, even if Charbonnet does come back in late November, early December, they might decide they want to ease him in because they love Zach Charbonnet. You know, this is not anything against him. It's more about protecting him. So I like Jadarian Price and the Seahawks. I think he's going to have an opportunity to be productive for fantasy purposes. And he's probably the only other running back I've really got an eye on as serving immediate fantasy benefit for your team.

[Field Yates]

So you'll hear this stat a lot between now and the start of the season. I think there's some context that's important. Jadarian Price had six catches last year

[Mike Clay]

for Notre Dame and six the year before as well.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, he is. He was a non factor in college. Now he was also playing behind Jeremiah Love, who was the best running back in college football this Past season. The best pass catching running back in college football the past two seasons. So it wasn't like Notre Dame was scheming up a bunch of opportunities for Jadarian Price. He's going to have to prove, however, that he can be a better receiver. Mike's projection for Jarian Price shows a relatively small amount of receiving production. 27 total.

[Mike Clay]

Also not an offensive feature is the running back in the passing game. As we saw last season with Charbonnet wasn't used a lot in that area and Ken Walker was a little bit more than that, but not much either. So that's part of the factor is where you know the offense, the scheme. You're not going to have a 25, 30% running back target share. It might be 15%. So. Especially because we think they're going to funnel probably a little more to the receiver position to get Rashid Shahid. You paid Rashid Jahid. Like you have to involve him. Also paid.

[Field Yates]

Also paid.

[Mike Clay]

Who's that guy? He has three names, I think. Is he good? I don't know.

[Field Yates]

Jackson also paid.

[Mike Clay]

Jackson Smith and Jake.

[Field Yates]

Jake Bobo. They also paid Jake Bobo. Thank you. Jeez, CG up on a silver platter there, Mike.

[Mike Clay]

JSN joke, but preseason for Mike Clay.

[Stefania Bell]

Remember all of our discussion last year during the season of Charbonnet Walker, like who's going to be the feature back? And we saw that rotate during. Exactly. But Kenneth Walker still had over 1,000 rushing yards.

[Field Yates]

He came on strong down the stretch for sure.

[Stefania Bell]

He definitely did. And he piled some more on there later. But my point is Jadarian may not have a lot of competition early on. So if you take that and you make him more of a feature back than either of those two were, there's a chance there. I'm not saying it's a lock, but I'm certainly willing to take a look at it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. By the way, money where your mouth is. Second overall pick of our rookie draft. Love goes first. Darian Price goes number two.

[Field Yates]

That's right.

[Mike Clay]

There you go.

[Field Yates]

All right, I'll make my pick here and I'll keep things moving with Carnell Tate. The Titans first of two first round picks, fourth overall, number one wide receiver on my real life. Overall big board, really solid college football player. The biggest, I would say, demerit against Carnell Tate was the idea that he doesn't necessarily have the goods to be a wide receiver. One, just like there's context behind Jidari and Price's modest passing game production. Carnell Tate also, during his Ohio State career Played alongside Jeremiah Smith, who may be the closest thing we have seen to Julio Jones since Prime Julio Jones in terms of physical stature and capabilities.

[Stefania Bell]

So does that mean he doesn't score touchdowns? That's a Mike Clay question. Not me.

[Field Yates]

We'll leave that one there. Mike can ask that question if he wants. I'm not going to actually oblige his but Cardinal Tate, he enters a good situation. The team does have Calvin Ridley back for one more season. They did sign Wanda Robinson to a big money contract. But take a fourth overall. Like, if he wasn't going to be a big factor, this would not be the player they would have taken fourth overall. He had just one drop this past season at Ohio State. I think he's very pro ready. So I'm in on Carnell Tate as, and this is my first time saying this, so it almost feels. It's like, you know, it's like knocking the rust off a little bit. He's like, you know, wide receiver 3ish category. Right. We'll have a big gigantic pool of guys that could fit into that wide receiver three category. I think Carnell Tate will be amongst those. Are you going to snake this?

[Stefania Bell]

Let's snake this.

[Field Yates]

I'm back on the clock here and I'm going to go somewhat chalky because he was the next receiver taken.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, this is perfect, but I'm going Thoughts on this?

[Field Yates]

Jordan Tyson to the Saints who all of a sudden the Saints team is sort of like the Everybody's in on the Saints being a surprise team this upcoming year. They finished last season strong. I think it was four out of their last five games they won. Tyler Schuck playing well opposite of Chris Olave. There is Jordan Tyson as, now their presumptive second wide receiver. The team did sort of hammer away at pass catchers throughout the draft. They did also trade for Devon Vale a couple last off season, Jalen Polk last training camp. So I'm not sure any of those guys besides Olave and Tyson are good bets to pan out, but the Saints kind of have a fun offensive nucleus now. Tyson, though, the biggest demerit for him was just the availability during his college career. Had an AC out there, had a collarbone break, had a hamstring injury this past year. He's more explosive than Carnell Tate. Faster, better athlete overall. He can do sort of everything on the football field. He has some movement skills that remind you of Odell Beckham Jr. So this guy may end up by the time we get to the end of the preseason if he's flashing during Training camp wouldn't surprise me if he is the third or even second rookie off the board.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Oh, go ahead, go ahead. You go first. I have some thoughts here.

[Stefania Bell]

Okay. Well my thoughts are.

[Mike Clay]

No, no, I don't, I don't. Quite the opposite I think.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah. And my thoughts relate to the injury history which I think is really interesting because I talk to a lot of people who are involved in evaluating players on the medical side before they're drafted by teams. And the injuries that cause the greatest concern are the ones where you think there's a chance that either a the player won't make it through the first contract, that's a big flag or a degenerative condition. Usually those two come hand in hand and to some degree availability. But it really depends on what the nature of the injuries are. And with Jordan Tyson he had a multi ligament knee injury that was the most serious one. But he did come back and play from that some in 2023. So that means on top of that he had two more seasons and even though he missed games in both those seasons, he was back for a couple years following a multi ligament knee injury. So that's a good established like we feel good that he's come back to his pre injury performance level from the most serious injury, the one that could potentially cause the most problems. Not a lot of red flag around that. He broke his collarbone. Very common injury for a wide receiver. Mike Evans did that this year. It's because they go up, they land, they break their collarbone and then unfortunately it's a big chunk of time. But people don't view that as like oh, that's a worrisome injury. Like it's usually it happens once, might happen on the other side, but it's not a real big deal. And the hamstring was a timing thing. Find me a wide receiver who hasn't had a hamstring injury at some point and the fact that he was able to come back and run. I, I talk to people with teams who are like, like as far as when they score teams, like he was clean. So you know, I think a lot of the discussion around his injuries, if you want to relate it to the missed time and you didn't get to see enough of him in college. But I think it was more of a talking point than it actually was A medical concern from the people would ultimately have to take care.

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[Field Yates]

Always consult your doctor to determine if

[Mike Clay]

this product is right for you. We have the scouting report the injury, so I'll go into the numbers here and I'm going to actually apply this to both Tyson and Tate because sometimes with like putting projections together and expectations, certainly in year one, you want to look at a little bit of historical context and I just did that of course with Jeremiah Love. But I also looked at wide receivers picked in the top 10 because sometimes we see whereas like it's all running backs that are picked that early seem to get huge volume and produce. It's not always as consistent with wide receivers, but it is for guys picked in the top 10. I look back at since 2012. So a little over the past decade, 13 receivers picked in the top 10 and played at least 14 games as a rookie. Right. So there's some guys that got hurt. We're going to focus on the guys that actually played out, drafted high and play a lot. Drafted high, played out the season. Those 13 receivers averaged a 25% target share and the lowest was 19% Roma Dunes two years ago. So the floor again for volume to your point about Tate, he was picked fourth overall. Same thing with Tyson. These guys were picked early. They're going to be used a lot. The average fantasy Finish of those 13 receivers, 22nd, only two top twelves. So maybe a limited ceiling in terms of getting to that elite level. But only Roma Dunse was not top 30. So all, all but one 12 of 13 top 30 friendly offensive points.

[Field Yates]

They play extremely fast, a ton of plays coordinator that knows what he's doing. That's showing some promise here.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I'm historically like when I post my projections or someone else takes them and I post them and someone puts them up, people reply and say that's too low, that's too low. This guy's too low, that's too low. I usually get criticized for being conservative, but there are spots where I'm not. Or well, I guess I am in a way. I'm realistic with them. So guys picked in the top 10 though, you will see optimistic targets. There's for a reason because historically that is what we see. You get drafted that early with all that draft capital, coaches are going to use you right away. And even with Ridley there, even with Wondale There Gunner Helm going into year two, Taji Spears in the passing, like they're going to use Tate. He should be their number one receiver. And again, I know Chris Olave is there in New Orleans, but before the draft, I was giving a bunch of targets to Devon Vale and Mason Tipton and all these other guys. Like those targets we knew had to go somewhere. There's plenty for Jordan Tyson to play a substantial role.

[Field Yates]

They did also draft Bryce Lance, younger brother Trey Lance in the fourth round on day three. Three, finally, you're up next with love, Tate Tyson and Price off the board.

[Stefania Bell]

And I'm going to take Omar Cooper Jr. Who went to the Jets. I. I really like him and I know that the argument immediately might be Garrett Wilson is there, but that probably takes some pressure off, Right? Garrett Wilson's going to get a lot of attention. Omar Cooper Jr. Has a chance to potentially sign Shine. I should say he plays a lot on the outside, but I think that Kenyon Siddiq will stretch the field for them. So I think that there's an opportunity for him to actually kind of thrive in the way they structure that offense. So I like Omar Cooper Jr. Man,

[Field Yates]

everybody has made this joke already, but it's like two of the top, I don't know, 7 to 8 ish, fantasy relevant rookies, both landing with the jets and then two more landing with the Browns. Not exactly what we were looking for as far as fantasy upside is concerned. I kind of had like a little bit of a fall off after those first five picks. Personally, I'm sitting here and I'm like, you know, I don't know, Stefania, Really? Omar Cooper Jr. Then I'm also like. But really, who am I taking to be? So my.

[Stefania Bell]

I think I get excited about whoever I take. Just like all the teams in the NFL.

[Field Yates]

I have my. They're all really good real life players. Just, you know, not exactly getting royal flush outcomes as far as where they land. Mike, who is number six? We have six and seven here.

[Mike Clay]

This is tough.

[Field Yates]

I have my six and seven. I don't know what order I.

[Mike Clay]

That's exactly what I was going to say.

[Field Yates]

But I'm assuming that it's players that were taken four spots apart in the real draft.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Were they four part? It's Concepcion and Makai Lemon.

[Stefania Bell]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

They're four spots apart.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, exactly. Okay, so look, I think they're very close. So I'll go with the Eagle. Because.

[Stefania Bell]

Because. Why not?

[Mike Clay]

Why not Homer. Go Birds. Right? Yeah, I'll go. Makai Lemon. This is a Tricky one here. I don't know that he's going to come in and be, you know, first of all, he's not getting an A.J. brown Target chair. Let's forget about that. I mean, you traded some picks for Dontavian Wicks. He'll have somewhat of a role. Hollywood Brown is still on the roster. He's going to have a role. Hopefully Dallas Goddard is healthy for a full season. He's going to have a substantial role. Saquon Barclay to the backfield. Devontae Smith, they're already hyping him up as a guy that can see a little bit of a boost. I don't think a big target boost, but there's room for a little bit more. Maybe he gets where A.J. brown was. So there's not a huge funnel of targets there to give him. And also keep this in mind. Devontae Smith has been viable in fantasy for quite a while, but he hasn't been a guy that's been like a rock star in fantasy. Right. He's generally been in that like 20 to 30 range in points per game while AJ Brown has been there. So if you figure, okay, he's going to step into a similar target share to that, probably a little less as a rookie, where does that leave him? Does that leave him as a starter in fantasy? Not necessarily. I think it's going to take a little time for him to get going and I think those other guys are going to play. I think you're going to see more of a rotation behind the number one receiver than we've seen in years past. Whereas like John Dotson was unusable. Now you might see more Wicks and Brown. So just something to keep in mind out of the gate. But super talented player went in the first round of the draft. He's our future number one or number two receiver. Like him a lot, but he is a mid round flyer to me. Not a guy that's a must start week one.

[Field Yates]

I feel the same way about Concepcion.

[Mike Clay]

I'm a. I feel similar there. We have some things to learn because I'm a little bit of a Jerry Judy apologist. Right. I mean he's a really good player and I don't think he's going to disappear. And also, are we sure Concepcion is better than Boston? Right.

[Field Yates]

They drafted the two of them 15 spots apart.

[Mike Clay]

We don't know that. Like sometimes the second guy's better and they're like you said, they're basically similar. The same draft capital. So what if he out targets him? Not to mention they Hit on a tight end with Harold Fannin who's going to be super busy. So there's a lot to figure out there. But yeah, I agree with you. I think there's a tier drop off after those first four we talked about. Now it gets a little, a little trickier in terms of figure out.

[Stefania Bell]

So who are you drafting?

[Mike Clay]

I do.

[Field Yates]

Concepcion and I took, I took, I took.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, I'm thinking twice.

[Stefania Bell]

That's what I picked.

[Mike Clay]

Well, okay, I forgot I was picking twice.

[Stefania Bell]

He was. I knew he took Lemon.

[Mike Clay]

All right, but. Well, okay, I get two picks here so I could pick the order. Who, who picked at the end of the draft. Denver. Right. They got to pick Mr. Irrelevant.

[Field Yates]

Yes. They were at the back.

[Mike Clay]

I was like, how are they going to decide? Like this guy seems friendlier. We'll give him the pick or something. So I'll go Lemon first because. Go Birds.

[Field Yates]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

That's six and then seven. We'll go Concepcion and we just talk through that Brown situation.

[Field Yates]

All right, so we can wrap up with four more picks here. Stefania, you're on the clock for number, I guess five more in total. You're on the clock for number eight. And again the pickings are slim but some of the names. Kenyon Siddiq, Fernando Mendoza. And then it's kind of like round three, four, five running backs. Jonah Coleman, Mike Washington, your Kaylin Black in San Francisco. Who is it for you?

[Stefania Bell]

I can't believe I'm going to do this. I'm going to take another jet. I'm going to take Kenyon.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, all right, all right.

[Stefania Bell]

But I, but I really like him. You know, he could be the second in targets there ultimately. So I think everybody knows enough about him. Athletic kid. The only concern to me, I feel like the jets draft tight ends a lot, you know, and they just had Mason Taylor, second round pick last year. What happens to Mason Taylor? What's the role for Kenyon City? I guess is the question. You know, I don't know. I don't feature them running a bunch of two tight end sets, but I think they, they are going to. Maybe, maybe they will. But they've had multiple tight ends before and not really done that of course, obviously coaching staff differences and so on. But I'm betting on the talent.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that pick again, it is really tough to find a pick that you actually feel great about at this point here. So with the 9th and 10th pick, I'm going to take two running backs that might actually be at best RB2 on their own team. Jonah Coleman, first goes to the Broncos in round four.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

Feels like kind of a signal like I don't know that the Broncos are as bullish on Joan, on RJ Harvey as they were at this time last year. They took him 61st or something overall. I don't have a lot of like resounding passion for, for Jonah Coleman at this point other than I like the player. I thought he was a fourth round running back. He goes in the fourth round, he'll probably be a part time player at best. He could handle some receptions as well. But this is more of a reflection of the draft class itself. There's an obvious name and the number one overall pick in the real life draft that I could have taken here. Just don't feel like he's going to be a top 12 quarterback this season with minimal rushing upside compared to some of the guys that are going to go ahead of him and but his teammate though, Mike Washington Jr. The presumptive backup to Ashton Genty. Here's your insurance policy. He's a big look the part 4, 3, 3 speed, over a thousand rushing yards in the SEC last year type of prospect. But if there's no better way to, if there's a better way to describe just how weak this rookie class is than the lack of enthusiasm we had after about six, seven of them being taken, let me know what that way is.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Do you have somebody like, do you have any flyers that you would prefer over those guys?

[Mike Clay]

I mean I think more dart throws at wide receivers. You know some of these wide receivers we just talked about, Denzel, Boston and the two Miami receivers, they could.

[Field Yates]

Oh, did I not take Denzel? He's on the board. I would've taken him.

[Mike Clay]

The top receivers for Miami, Bell or Douglas, you know, they could be the 1, 2 in targets on that team. And by the way, Malik Willis, one of the biggest wild cards in fantasy and in the NFL this year because he has played like on a per play basis was like the best receipt best quarterback in the NFL last season which again sample extremely small. But when he's drops back to pass, he's been electric the last couple years as the backup there in Ring Bea. So kind of fascinating to see what he does. But what if he is.

[Stefania Bell]

I thought about Bell for that reason.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. So what if he.

[Stefania Bell]

I think that's going to be really

[Mike Clay]

interesting and he's coming off an injury as well. But just quick comments on the running backs. I mean Coleman could be a healthy scratch early in the season. Don't forget Tyler Bidet there too With Harvey, with Dobbins like this year, the

[Field Yates]

running back, that jaden blue the Cowboys

[Mike Clay]

took in the field. Yeah, exactly.

[Field Yates]

Like he looks amazing. And it's like we sure is going to play.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. We just don't have a spot. They just don't have a spot for him at the moment. But 20, 27, maybe he's their, their Dobbins replacement, which would be very fascinating. And then Washington. I love him as a prospect. Right. But you know, he's a guy that's like your end of bench player where if something happens to Genty suddenly this guy has tremendous insurance value and could be a breakout player. But you know, it's kind of like Tyler Algier in a way where it's just like he has no path for a while to lead back a job. But you know what he's going to be? He's going to be that guy. If you have Genti in your fantasy team that you're cursing at because he's stealing too many touches because they were. They've already said Clint Kubiak wants to

[Field Yates]

use a little bit more of a split.

[Mike Clay]

More of a split like he did in Seattle. I don't think it'll be to that extent but you know, it'll be less Gen T than last year probably.

[Stefania Bell]

That's what they say they don't always do, at least not initially.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, but he wasn't the one that was responsible for draft the National Genti 6 overall he doesn't feel quite the same level.

[Mike Clay]

Fair point.

[Field Yates]

As I think the staff last year did to playing him 85% of the snaps. Let's wrap things up with a P a pick each. Stefania, do you want to make one? And Mike, you want to make one? And then we can move on to biggest winners of the day.

[Mike Clay]

Is it back to me or are we going the other way?

[Stefania Bell]

I know I'm already lost.

[Mike Clay]

I'm confused.

[Stefania Bell]

I'm going to go off the board. I'm going to take Carson back at the Arizona Cardinals over Fernanda Mendoza.

[Mike Clay]

Wow. Okay.

[Field Yates]

Yes. Okay.

[Stefania Bell]

And I think that there's a chance we'll see what happens when they get into training camp. But I think Carson Beck is going to mind meld with Mike LaFleur and I think this is actually a great landing spot for him. Carson Beck has played a lot of college football. Carson Beck can run a pro offense and I think that what he showed you last year coming in off, I mean, I think people forget he had a UCL repair. Something that no one in college has ever come back from. The only person to ever have it that we know about playing football regularly as a starter is Brock Purdy. And Brock Purdy had a great rehab and, and people forgot that he was injured too. Carson Beck, when he went to Miami, they were gambling on him having a successful outcome. But you know, he never threw a ball before the summer. He couldn't throw it all during spring practice. He comes to a new team, new offense, new coaches, new teammates, coming off a major elbow surgery and has the season that he had. So I think he was over 72% completion percentage or something like that. And I know people have talked about the long ball and him not slinging it enough, but he was still recovering a bit during the early part of his season. Few turnovers, that could be a thing. But he had three really bad games where he turned the ball over a lot. And then the rest of the games, 13 games, he only had five turnovers. So I think in Arizona, let's see who he's got around him. Jeremiah Love, Marvin Harrison Jr. Trey McBride, I think this Michael Wilson and Michael Wilson. So, you know, I know Jacoby Brissett is there, but Jacoby Brissett, I don't think his financial situation is unhappy with his contract currently. So let Carson Beck get into camp and let's see what happens. But don't be surprised if at the end of the year Carson Beck is the biggest surprise in terms of what he's able to produce in the first year.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, Cardinals, brutal schedule this year and playing in that division, that just tells me that at some point they're going to be eliminated and they're going to be looking to the future and Carson Beck will get some starts this year. So that's my favorite. Wrap things up, Mike, and give me Mendoza. I think that the Raiders have been loud enough about not rushing him that we will probably see Kirk Cousins in week one and maybe week two and week three and then that's about it. I'd say maybe three and a half games sounds right to me. Just enough so they could say, yeah, we didn't force him out there. But also you got to get him on the field. He took him first overall. And history tells a story about what happens to quarterbacks picked in the top 10. They play right away and throughout most of their rookie season. You can talk about Mahomes and maybe one Jordan Love, that's about it. I mean, not Ty Simpson. I mean that was prepared and he went later in the first. But Mendoza is going to play a lot of games this year. So I'll take a shot here. We'll pretend it's Super Flex for a minute and I'll draft him.

[Field Yates]

There we go. So the order for our draft was Mike Stefania, me. The order of the players was Jeremiah Love, Jadarian Price, Carnell Tate, Jordan Tyson. Stefania then took Omar Cooper Jr. Mike then took Makai Lemon and then Casey Concepcion. Stefania then took Kenyon Sadiq. I took the two running backs. Jonah Coleman, Mike Washington, Stefania Carson back. Mike wraps things up with Fernando Mendoza. We're going to reverse the order here for the biggest fantasy football winner from the draft, veteran style. And I'm going to go with Rashad White, Commander's running back. You say to yourself, is he even the running back one in that offense? Maybe Bill Crosby. Merritt certainly could be it. I just feel like Rashad White is one of those players that will. The volumes can be way too good in the passing game. No, Jeremiah loved the Commanders. At number seven overall, he's kind of an ordinary level of runner. The contract was extremely minimal. One year is $2 million. This wasn't some gigantic bag for him. I think Bill will play a role, but it wouldn't surprise me if Rashad White is within two to three carries per game of Bill and way outpaces him as a receiver. And the fact that they didn't take Jeremiah Love because he wasn't available there makes him my winner.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, I think that's a good one because I was really surprised that they didn't do more like the running back room confidence.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

They took, what, Allen, right. From 10 state in the sixth round. So you're right. Not much there.

[Stefania Bell]

Not much going on there. Well, mine was probably more obvious one, but I'm taking Cam Ward as the winner because Ken Ward, I think he just didn't have anyone around him, no supporting cast. Now he's got a big supporting cast. He had a wad Dale Robinson in the off season.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Michael, we need a Miami Hurricane quarterback to be like a superstar. Right. Because we had what Vinnie TestaVerde might have.

[Stefania Bell]

Two.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Now.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. I was thinking that because you had back and now Cam Ward. Year two Cam Ord. That's what I was. Every year I talk about the year two quarterback.

[Field Yates]

So Darian Manson next year as well.

[Mike Clay]

What's up?

[Field Yates]

They got Darian Menson, the transfer portal. He got some gigantic money to come down.

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[Mike Clay]

So my big winner. Again, very obvious. It's quarterback Tyler Schuck in New Orleans. We just talked about offense. A guy that had a good finish down the stretch. 17 plus fantasy points in seven of his nine full games. Didn't have a high floor. We didn't have any huge games at him. But remember, his sporting cast was rough. I mean, even when they got Devon Bailey going, he got hurt again. So like it was just, it was Chris Olave and that was about it. They were a mess. They're much better now.

[Stefania Bell]

Chris Lave needed help.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, he needed help. And now they bring in Tyson and they also added some depth at tight end Noah Fance. There is just like a, you know, situational target. Travis Ctn out of the backfield.

[Field Yates]

Like hn.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

Oh, that's right.

[Field Yates]

We have that conversation.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, we called Devon H. Han was a chain at first. We fixed that to each hand. Now we have another A chan with Travis, I'm gonna. Yeah, we're have to do that for a while here. That's all I can say. So anyway, I'm going. Tyler Schuck, definitely a potential breakout. By the way, we talked about O lines before. Their whole O line is back from last year. The whole starting O line, so.

[Field Yates]

And David Edwards as well.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, and David Edwards. Yeah. But they returned that whole group, so definitely a guy. Quarterbacks deep. That's where it's going to be tough with like Cam Ward and Chuck. Where do you draft them? They're just. They're still like late flyers to me because of all of the options you have at quarterback. But definitely, he definitely gets a boost from this draft.

[Field Yates]

All right, next up, we're going to do our way too early prediction that our producers absolutely, unequivocally will not bring up later if we are right or wrong. So, Stefania, I'll let you go first off the tee here.

[Mike Clay]

What's yours?

[Stefania Bell]

Well, I kind of already hinted at it when I took him with my first pick in our fantasy draft, but I'm going to say Jerry and Price is going to finish with over 1000 yards rushing in his first season.

[Field Yates]

I like it. Okay, Seahawks are going to be dedicated to the running game with a new offensive coordinator in tow. Mike, you're next. What do you got?

[Mike Clay]

Okay, so week 18 of FF. Now, we played the same game.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

And I had a prediction and I'm going to do it again because I think the odds of this increase during the off season. Speaking of an off season winner, the number one scoring fantasy quarterback of this season will be. Remember, this is a.

[Field Yates]

This is a prediction.

[Mike Clay]

A deep, bold prediction. Jackson dart. Ooh, I like it. Remember, 20.1 fantasy points per game as a rookie. That trails only to Sean Watson, Justin Herbert and Jaden Daniels among rookie quarterbacks over the last decade. And if we remember that game, that random game against Minnesota where he had zero other. If you get rid of that he had 22.0. That's more than a point higher than what Jaden Daniels had during his rookie season. Dart was a very good in fantasy. A ton of big games, eight top 10 weeks. That was fifth most. And he missed. He didn't play a chunk of the season. So he was outstanding. And then you talk about what happens in the offseason. First of all, you get healthy Malik Neighbors. He only threw three passes to Malik Neighbors as a rookie. Hopefully you bring in Darnell Mooney, just a veteran number two option. We just talked about Malachi Fields, Isaiah likely A tight end. Even Francis Mauinoa. He'll probably play guard because they're good at tackle. So you have a better O line. Jim. John Harbaugh head coach Matt Nagy calling plays now. I mean it's a rebound.

[Field Yates]

I did not agree with that last one.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, well fair enough. But you have John Harbaugh leading that team and I think the, I think the dual threat quarterback under John Harbaugh at his last stop was good in fantasy. Yeah, Tyler Huntley made the Pro bowl. You're right. He was the backup guys. He was the backup. So anyway, Jackson dart. I think he's a sleeper to be that top scoring. No doubt about it. But when he is active we will think about week one, week two, week three when we're ranking quarterbacks on FF now. Right. Or on focus like we're going to dart like 5, 6 like if he's healthy, the guy with what he can do with his legs, what do you have? Nine rushing touchdowns last year in about as many games. The guy.

[Stefania Bell]

It's a double edged sword.

[Mike Clay]

I'm scared as an Eagles fan about what's happening in the division around them. Yeah, Dallas is much better.

[Field Yates]

J.D.

[Mike Clay]

daniels is back. The Giants are getting better. It's. It's getting, it's getting tough.

[Field Yates]

All right. My prediction is that Brock Bowers leads the NFL and catches next year.

[Mike Clay]

All right.

[Field Yates]

Take a look at the Raiders pass catching depth chart beyond the draft and it's pretty thin. The biggest move they made this offseason amongst the pass catchers was signing Jalen Naylor. A solid player, to be clear, was probably underutilized in Minnesota. We do. He'll be one of the trendier, sort of like late round values in fantasy this year. But $11 million per season in NFL wide receiver parlance is like yeah, wide receiver three type stuff, right? Jack Besch and Trey Tucker, the top two incumbent guys that return. And I do think the Raiders sort of feel like Brock Bowers is their wide receiver one, which is why they didn't have quite the same urge to draft a wide receiver. They took Malik Benson in the fifth round. I believe it was out of Oregon. He can flat out fly. But still a later day three pick is not reflective of a player that a team normally expects to have a big role right away. Brock Bowers is healthy. Brock Bowers is amazing. He has better quarterback play this year, a much better offensive system. No reason for me to believe he can't challenge for the single season record for most catches by a tight end. Heck, he almost did it as a rookie. Let's get to four injuries. Stefania, in quickfire fashion, what do we need to know on Patrick Mahomes? Of course, the biggest off season injury recovery that we are following, right?

[Stefania Bell]

And we've seen one video clip and everybody got really excited about it. He was doing some drop backs and stepping up and throwing, which is a great sign. And I think that was put out to let us know that he is progressing well at this point in his rehab. He will be just shy of nine months when the season begins. So that's an aggressive timeline for ACL rehab. But you know, he's not a running back like we were talking about the case with Zach Charbonnet and a running back at nine months, you need a lot more confidence to be able to, you know, stop, start, dodge, dash, whatever. Running back. Does Patrick Mahomes dodge something like that?

[Mike Clay]

Dodgeball. All the D words,

[Stefania Bell]

dodgeball. Patrick Mahomes does those things to a degree when he has to scramble. But one thing Andy Reid's really good about, do you remember when he dislocated his kneecap? We never saw another quarterback sneak and we will never see another one for Patrick Mahomes likely again. He also just the way he has trained, he's kept his body. He's very good at absorbing contact and very good at being elusive at the same time. He's got his physical therapist there with the Chiefs, Julie Freimire. You see her in the commercials with him. He's been traveling with her when he goes back to Texas from the chief's facility. And I think everything points to him being ready for week one even though no one will say it out loud.

[Field Yates]

Got it. I can't imagine they will say it until much closer to week one. Malik Neighbors tore his ACL early last season. Stefania, he's been doing draft analysis recently. Thoughts on Malik Neighbors recovery?

[Stefania Bell]

I did not see his draft analysis. I missed out on that sort of

[Field Yates]

tepid enthusiasm for the Carnell Tate pick is what I would say.

[Stefania Bell]

Oh, is really. Is that it? I have to get my notes on him. So he had ACL and a meniscus repair. So he had. He was injured in week four, but it was about a month later that he did his surgery and he's been rehabbing ever since. He's present at spring workouts and I think everybody is loosely saying around week one, but I thought it was really interesting. One thing I actually really liked that blink Neighbors emphasized was that he would not return before he was ready. He made it clear this is really Important because every year, and you guys know me well enough to know this, I get frustrated by this week 1. So many players feel like I have to be out there week one. And even if just a couple more weeks, sometimes another month would be enough to get them over a hurdle that would make them much more efficient when they actually do return. They're trying to make that deadline. He's made it clear that he's not establishing that for sure. He's going to. He's been working with the Giants throughout this with their rehab team. I feel very good about where he is, but training camp is going to tell us a lot. So hopefully week one do not set it in stone.

[Field Yates]

Cam Scatterboo, his teammate had an ankle injury last year. Will he be ready for week one?

[Stefania Bell]

Well, if you talk to Cam Scatterboo, he will be ready for week one. But the thing about his injury ankle, an open dislocation which means that the bone went through the skin. It was a very violent injury. He had to stay in Philly and have the surgery because it becomes a medical emergency at that point. As far as the recovery from the surgery, great. But he talked about having to work on getting his ankle motion back. How often have we seen running backs with a fracture dislocation struggle with their early mobility? When they first come back that first, first season, they're not as good coming off of that. I'm trying to think of now immediately name escaping me, Dallas running Tony Pollard. Yeah, and there are many more examples. But a lot of times it's initially when they're coming back, they just don't have it. Cam is a power back. He needs confidence in that ankle. We'll see. He might be the surprise. He's never going to be a totally sprint up the field kind of guy, so maybe ready week one. But as far as fantasy expectations, I'm not sure that I'm going to be confident that it's not going to take a while for him to get back to the form he was.

[Mike Clay]

No, I would say no major concerns from them just because they didn't address running back as a lot of injury

[Field Yates]

is kind of a winner, right?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, yeah, no doubt. Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary still on the roster, but they didn't add otherwise. Anyone influential?

[Stefania Bell]

You know, I don't think. I don't think there's any doubt that he'll be. He'll check the boxes. But you know, in fantasy we're always looking at what's the productivity going to be like. And. And I would just say caution for coming back from that injury. It's rare to see a guy who comes back and out of the gate. They're exactly what they were before.

[Field Yates]

Last one Sofanya Lamar Jackson, who of course had a difficult 2025 season, but vibes are higher. New coaching staff in Baltimore, new OC and Declan Doyle. What's the latest on his knee?

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, so here's the thing. It was the hamstring injury that Lamar Jackson had last year was, is the thing that caused him to miss three games and then left an impact when he came back. We didn't see him run as much as he did before. Lamar Jackson in his first game back threw for over 200 yards and four touchdowns, but he only had five carries for 14 yards in each of the four games before he strained his hamstring, he averaged at least 5 yards per carry, but he only reached that number twice in nine games after he came back. I think that Lamar Jackson's days of running the way he used to are done. And I think that is even if

[Mike Clay]

he's healthy, even if he's back healthy,

[Stefania Bell]

even if he's healthy, I think that the reason being, I think, you know, Lamar Jackson is not young and he wants to stay on the field. And it's not just about taking contact. It's about if you're starting to get soft tissue injuries that are going to limit you and slow you down and that's what you feel as a runner with a hamstring, but it also can affect your throwing. It's also going to make you more tentative about doing things on the field. And I think that you're going to see Lamar Jackson be more, you know, we've seen his pass efficiency improve. He's certainly improved as pocket passer and he will do that. I think he will run when he needs to, scramble when he needs to. But I think the designed run days for Lamar Jackson are going down. So for fantasy purposes, I am going to expect less in the way of rushing yards from Lamar.

[Mike Clay]

That makes me think it's like makes Josh Allen more appealing as a QB oem. The projections reflect this, but way ahead of everyone else. I mean there's a tear down to Lamar, especially if we don't expect to bounce back. Jaden Daniels, Jalen Ertz, Drake May Alan,

[Field Yates]

clearly size of the number of years, the fact that he never misses time. He's got the longest active starting streak in the NFL. He's a great runner.

[Mike Clay]

He's the only one he can't pick apart right now. He's just it's all there.

[Field Yates]

Totally. Well, that would be incredibly consequential if Lamar's days of being a design runner changed dramatically going forward. That's the latest. We'll have much more updates as they become available throughout the off season, but remember to go to ESPN.com and check out all of the awesome post draft articles. And don't forget to keep it locked on the NFL on ESPN YouTube channel as Daniel Dopp releases more of his YouTube shorts. And of course, Liz Loza has her show Facts versus Feelings. Also in the feed for Mike, for Stefania, and for Stanya, whatever that is.

[Mike Clay]

You're rusty. It's all right.

[Field Yates]

And for our production crew hanging out with us today, we will talk to you guys again sometime soon. Enjoy your week.

[Stefania Bell]

You're in the whole 6010 stay focused fantasy

[Mike Clay]

fantasy Focus.

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