Fantasy Focus 12-Team PPR Mock Draft 🏈

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fantasy Focus Football – “12-Team PPR Mock Draft 🏈”

Episode Details:

• Title: Fantasy Focus 12-Team PPR Mock Draft 🏈
• Hosts: Field Yates, Daniel Dopp, Mike Clay, Stephania Bell, and Jack Welch
• Release Date: August 4, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Fantasy Focus Football, ESPN's seasoned fantasy analysts—Field Yates, Daniel Dopp, and Mike Clay—dive into a comprehensive 12-team PPR mock draft. The session is lively, filled with strategic discussions, player evaluations, and the hosts' signature humor. The episode kicks off around the [00:30] mark, quickly establishing the camaraderie among the hosts as they prepare to navigate through the complexities of drafting a competitive fantasy football team.

Early Rounds (Picks 1-6)

The mock draft begins with Mike Clay securing the first overall pick. Early discussions revolve around the decision between selecting premier running backs versus elite wide receivers.

• Mike Clay’s Pick: “We gave you the first pick in the mock twaft,” he jokes [02:58] as he takes Jamar Chase with the first overall pick. This opens the debate on whether Jamar Chase or Bijan Robinson should be the top selection.

• Daniel Dopp’s Perspective: “Jamar Chase is the clear cut wide receiver,” Daniel states [06:15], emphasizing Chase’s reliability over Robinson, who, despite his potential, carries more uncertainty [06:21].

• Field Yates’ Decision: Field opts for Christian McCaffrey with the fifth pick [08:19], prioritizing a running back to anchor his backfield despite concerns about McCaffrey’s injury history.

Mid Rounds (Picks 7-12)

As the draft progresses, the hosts discuss the balance between securing top-tier talent and maintaining positional flexibility.

• Mike Clay’s Strategy: After selecting Khalil Shakir and others, Mike remarks on his pragmatic approach: “Wide out and the projection get you down to a territory that is very different,” highlighting his focus on breadth and depth in his roster [14:24].

• Field Yates’ Tight End Focus: By pick 11, Field emphasizes the importance of securing a top-tier tight end, choosing George Kittle to complement Joe Burrow in his lineup [12:28]. He explains, “He is in a tier of his own,” indicating the scarcity of elite options at the position [23:28].

• Daniel Dopp’s Tight End Choice: Daniel opts for Brock Bowers, citing his exceptional athletic ability: “Bowers just raw talent, athletic ability, just, you know, a game changer,” positioning him as a unicorn in fantasy football [18:42].

Later Rounds (Picks 13-20)

The later rounds focus on depth, sleepers, and potential breakout players, with hosts weighing the risks and rewards of their selections.

• Mike Clay’s Picks: Mike continues to build his team with high-upside players like Timur Cook and Amari Hampton, balancing his roster with both proven talents and speculative picks [25:18].

• Field Yates’ Receivers: Field selects Jalen Waddle and Keon Coleman, aiming to bolster his wide receiver corps with consistent performers and upside candidates [61:49].

• Daniel Dopp’s Running Backs: Daniel rounds out his team with players like Jerome Ford and Rasheed Rice, focusing on solidifying his running back group despite some early-season uncertainties [68:38].

Key Insights and Strategies

1. Balancing Risk and Reward:

   • Mike Clay emphasizes the importance of selecting players who offer both high upside and reliability. “Sometimes, you have to be a little aggressive relative to where the projections are,” he advises [06:10].

2. Positional Scarcity:

   • The discussion around tight ends illustrates the strategic depth required in PPR leagues. “I can decide that I want to do that,” Field asserts when justifying his early selection of George Kittle [12:28].

3. Navigating Injuries and Player Availability:

   • Concerns about players like Matthew Stafford and James Cook’s availability are addressed bluntly. “It has to,” Mike states about Cook’s situation [25:18], highlighting the need for backup plans in draft strategy.

4. Adaptability in Drafting:

   • The hosts stress the importance of staying adaptable. “Wide receiver is deep enough that I can wait and attack wide receiver a little bit later in the draft,” Field notes [32:23], showcasing flexibility in approach.

Notable Discussions and Debates

• CMC vs. Saquon Barkley: The decision to draft Christian McCaffrey over Saquon Barkley sparks a debate on injury risks versus undeniable talent. “It's odd that you, the guy who's concerned about Saquon, are okay with CMC,” Mike observes [12:13].

• Joe Burrow’s Value: Daniel Dopp defends Joe Burrow’s selection despite lingering doubts about his consistency. “...he has a legit shot to lead the position fantasy points,” he argues [30:01].

• Travis Hunter’s Dual Role: The potential dual role of Travis Hunter as both a wide receiver and cornerback is scrutinized. “How high would he be ranked if he’s playing 75% of the offensive snaps,” Mike queries [39:44], indicating the complexities of multi-role players in fantasy drafts.

Conclusions

As the mock draft concludes with the 20th pick, the hosts reflect on their strategies and final team compositions.

• Mike Clay’s Team: Mike praises his aggressive yet balanced approach, combining top-tier talent like Jamar Chase and Jaden Daniels with depth players ready to outperform expectations [70:21].

• Field Yates’ Team: Field highlights his commitment to securing elite tight ends and wide receivers, alongside versatile running backs to navigate the competitive 12-team league [69:54].

• Daniel Dopp’s Team: Daniel emphasizes his strategic balance between star players and high-upside sleepers, aiming for a championship-contending squad despite some early risks [72:22].

The episode wraps up with the hosts teasing future discussions and potential head-to-head matchups, underscoring the collaborative and competitive spirit that defines Fantasy Focus Football.

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Notable Quotes:

• “If you do 10 drafts, how many times are you taking Jamar Chase eight times? Nine times? 10 times?” – Mike Clay [07:19]
• “Wide receiver 40... he could have a better season than any of those guys,” – Mike Clay discussing Travis Hunter [39:49]
• “I can wait and attack wide receiver a little bit later in the draft,” – Field Yates [32:23]
• “No one’s going to touch me,” – Daniel Dopp on the strength of his draft strategy [70:43]

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This episode offers a deep dive into fantasy football drafting strategies, highlighting the nuances of player selection, risk management, and positional prioritization crucial for building a winning team. Whether you're a seasoned manager or new to the game, the insights shared by Field, Daniel, and Mike provide valuable guidance for navigating your own fantasy drafts.

Transcript

[Jack Welch]

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[Mike Clay]

You're in the whole six.

[Field Yates]

010 Focus Fantasy. Fantasy Focus. What's good friends? Welcome into Fantasy Focus football alongside field G8s and Margarita. Mike, my name is Daniel Dopp here with a mock draft Monday. Field, I'm so happy that you're here because I got to see your beautiful face all week last week. I know how much you care about this show. I know how much you care about me because you decided to show up. So I'm excited to do another week with you. Mike. It's great to see you.

[Mike Clay]

I guess you are Mike, by the way.

[Daniel Dopp]

Field.

[Mike Clay]

Nice to meet you.

[Daniel Dopp]

I am. Hey, good to see you guys. Last name Clay. Clay, got it. Junior. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Lester is your middle name.

[Daniel Dopp]

You know, I, I want to say Lester. That's right. I want to say I'm happy to be here. And in some ways I am. You know, it's good to see you guys in other ways. I mean, you know, was it Friday night I woke up or Saturday night I was just, you know, relaxing in, in the Atlantic Ocean. Just, just, you know, 10 o' clock at night. You woke up watching the stars, watching the airplanes in Miami Beach. And, you know, it's, it's a little different here. A little different.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Wow, this is hot. But, you know, I, it was a good time. So it was hard to. It was hard to fly home from Miami, but your arms are tired.

[Mike Clay]

Hey.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, yeah. Oh, okay.

[Field Yates]

Jokes.

[Daniel Dopp]

I didn't even get. I didn't even get one in yet.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. So, you know, Mike, they do say that 90 of life is showing up. So thank you for doing that today after taking an extra week off. Yeah, we're mildly happy to see you here.

[Field Yates]

What's it like to have, like, the, like, cojones to take the first week of the season off and leave us to have to.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was strategic. That's that what it was, honestly.

[Mike Clay]

Like, I was waiting for a chef. An Adam Schefter news story. Like, hey, notably absent from the beginning of work. Mike, Clay, Trey Hendrickson, Terry McLaurin. And now James Cook. We'll get into all that.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm not sorry at all.

[Mike Clay]

I don't think you are one bit, Mike. But welcome back. It is great to have you for all the. The grief that we love to give Mike. He is indispensable to everything we do here at ESPN Fantasy. You are the engine behind of the projections and the projections, of course, fuel. The mock drafts which we are doing today. 12 team variety.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that.

[Field Yates]

I also love the way that you said Mike is the engine and the fuel. Just like leading into the NASCAR side of what Mike is as well. I don't know if you did that on purpose.

[Mike Clay]

Can you be the engine and the fuel?

[Daniel Dopp]

That's what I am.

[Field Yates]

Engine and the fuel. So that's what it's worth.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm not a car guy now I feel good. You know, once Field says something nice about me, I feel good about.

[Field Yates]

Now you're feeling good.

[Mike Clay]

And by the way, I feel so good about. We gave you the first pick in the mock twaft.

[Field Yates]

We did mock twaft.

[Mike Clay]

It's not like my kids say, daddy.

[Field Yates]

Can we do mock twaft today we're going to do a ton. We're going to have a ton. Obviously, with this mock draft, Mike's got the first overall pick. I have the fifth pick. Field does a 10th pick. But before we dive into the mock draft really quickly, we just want to let you guys know, Mike, I think you're going to be here for this, right? Our New York City live show this week, Thursday, August 7th, at the Gramercy Theater in New York. Go to fantasyfocuslive.com for the final few tickets that are available. They are $35. You get free food. You get drinks, you get merch. You get a meet and greet. You get to meet Mike or you have to meet Mike. It's one of those two. I don't know if you get to or if you have to.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, it's half to. Most people are like, right to feel. Stefania, you and I are, like, off to the side with Liz.

[Mike Clay]

What I will say, though, is Mike probably spent more than $35 on each margarita that he consumed. So you know how much that golden.

[Field Yates]

Margarita was at the versatility?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, a lot. $49, to be precise. But yes. And then we're also. I think we're going later on to a beach location.

[Field Yates]

I believe so. Yeah. Miami, the best beach in town. Baja. Mar. That's right. The ESPN Fantasy Football Ultimate Draft Weekend is back for year two. From August 21st through the 24th, in the Bahamas. Enjoy an oceanfront stay at the luxurious Bahamar Resort and exclusive events like our one of a kind beach combine.

[Mike Clay]

Hey, hey, hey.

[Field Yates]

Mingle with some celebrity guests and NFL players throughout the weekend, including Todd freaking Gurley. That is his middle name. Golden Tate. And Kyle Rudol. Then get some insights from your favorite ESPN fantasy football experts before drafting your squad at the epic live draft party. We had a ton of fun doing this last year, Mike. You and I dominated not only the putt putt golf version of it, but as well the free throw. And I don't know if we dominated the 3.0 the free throw, though. We definitely crushed the free throw competition.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we did. Do you remember, like, Field hurt his arm or something?

[Mike Clay]

Remember that? Vaguely remember.

[Daniel Dopp]

I remember something like that happened.

[Mike Clay]

You know, like, do you like, go up to your Chiefs fans, friends in your life and be like, hey, remember that time you guys got smoked in the Super Bowl? That.

[Daniel Dopp]

I do that all the time.

[Field Yates]

He does that.

[Mike Clay]

You're a jerk friend.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was at that game.

[Mike Clay]

Wow. Wow, look at me. I'm Mike. I go to Super Bowls and I go hang out, you know, on the beach in Miami. I did Versace work and I'm so valuable that I can take off whenever I want.

[Daniel Dopp]

This all sounds like good things you're saying to me. Am I supposed to be upset about this? This is all great.

[Mike Clay]

No, I'm just saying I'm doing my impersonation of you. And hey, like, I probably like playing a fantasy league with LeBron.

[Field Yates]

That's not you. The impersonation is usually a little bit more robotic than that.

[Mike Clay]

My name is Mike and I first pick in that draft.

[Field Yates]

I love it. All right, let's just dive in, guys.

[Mike Clay]

We got.

[Field Yates]

It's a 12 team mock draft. For what it's worth, we had a lot of people ask many, please do some 12 team mock drafts. We're going to get through as many picks, like you just said, field, as we can. The mo. The roster, one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, a flex and three bench spots is what we're going to fill out. We're punting on kickers and defenses just for the sake of the time of.

[Mike Clay]

The show, but Tyler Loop is available to Mike at night.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, well, look, I. This, like you guys said, isn't the first time I'm looking at any of these guys since what, the January, probably. When was the week? 18January. So I don't even know. I gotta do some research here. I guess I'll take The first guy in the queue. Who sets this order of players?

[Field Yates]

I don't know.

[Mike Clay]

But I want to ask you a question. Make the pick. And I want to ask you.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm going to take Jamar Chase. Okay, so you're taking Jamar Chase number one all year.

[Mike Clay]

But let me ask you this question, Mike, because I had this debate with Daniel last week. How close is it between Jamar Chase and presumably Bijan Robbins?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I think it is close. I think he could go either way. If you prefer a running back out of the gate. That's just your philosophy, which sometimes it is for me, depending on where I am in the draft. I have no issue with that whatsoever. I think he is the clear cut number one running back, whereas Jamar Chase is the clear cut wide receiver. You can go either way. Just look. You look at the other running backs. They have question marks. You know, I think you could pick them apart. It's really hard to pick Robinson apart after what he did after, say, week six last.

[Mike Clay]

You know, what's interesting is two things, and I'm getting better about not reading the replies, but I posted a video last week after our mock draft, and it was Daniel and I debating, like, Jamar versus Bijan. And sort of the conceit that I gave was, if you did 10 drafts, how many, and you have the number one pick 10 times, are you taking Jamar Chase eight times? Nine times? 10 times? Five times? Daniel landed at 50. 50, which is about where I am as well. And somebody's hurt. The first response was, Bijan's the most overrated. Bijan, excuse me, his most overrated player in the NFL. And I'm trying to think, why would you say that? I don't know. Like, there are players that I could understand.

[Daniel Dopp]

Really not true.

[Mike Clay]

I was gonna say, like, I can't figure out, like, what the argument for Bijan being overrated is. That's neither here nor there. The other thing that I want to say quickly, because Daniel's on the clocker, he can make his pick momentarily, is that, I got to be honest with you, like, we. Mike is so much more pragmatic than I think Daniel and I are when it comes to decision making. But sometimes, like, recency bias creeps in. And last year, I remember being stubborn to the point that if I had the number one pick in a draft and I was like, it's Christian McCaffrey, and I was just keeping my eyes closed to other players. I think it's just healthy in general to have a mindset that, like, even if you think a guy is a deserving favor to go number one overall, you're allowed to argue for somebody else because you know how hard it is to go back to back as the number one player in fantasy. The answer is extremely.

[Field Yates]

I don't know how hard it is, but some of these guys know how hard it is. Yeah, I've never been number one overall.

[Mike Clay]

So I think Bijan going number one overall is like a lukewarm take. Like, it's a cold take, truthfully. So I think that Jamar, I don't have an issue with Mike's pick, but if he had Bijan had taken Bichon instead, I would have been like, I totally get as well.

[Daniel Dopp]

And that's how probability works. Because he might be the most likely. Let's just say Jamar Chase might be the most likely player to be the most valuable player in fantasy.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

But that might mean he has an 8% chance of being the top player.

[Mike Clay]

That's just how probably 7.95.

[Daniel Dopp]

Exactly right. Exactly right.

[Mike Clay]

Daniel, you're on the clock at pick five. No surprises up here to this point. Bijan, Jameer Gibbs, Justin Jefferson after Jamar Chase.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. And that puts me in a hot spot here because Fields, you know that I am not as in on Saquon Barkley as some of our other analysts. And if I had to take the. The next running back off the board, which in a 12 team league, I really want to make sure that I grab like a guy, a running back to like anchor my running back room. I am actually going to take Christian McCaffrey here.

[Mike Clay]

Ooh. You know what's so. Okay, so a couple of thoughts here on this one is. First of all, I listened to Saquon on part of my take this morning. He was great. And I'm just so confident that this guy is like a physical rarity, then I'm less concerned about the wear and tear from last year than you are. And I think a lot of people are fair. But what's interesting is that you're like, I'm not going to take the guy who might regress who's getting older.

[Field Yates]

I'm going to take the guy coming.

[Mike Clay]

Out of injury was a walking injury risk last year. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

And this is one of those things. I totally understand that. Right. Where it's like I'm making one concession for this player, but I don't make it for the other player. And I want to say this. I was talking to one of our bosses, Scott Clark, at all Biz, obviously, great win the war room I mean he's a very good fantasy football player. We were having a conversation about whether or not we've gone too far. Especially with guys like Saquon and Derrick Henry on the older running back in today's game, when you're talking about 29 year old running backs, guys like Emmett Smith and Barry Sanders and Priest Holmes and Sean Alexander, they didn't put I don't believe $250,000 into their body during the off season like someone like Derrick Henry does on a consistent basis. Technology has just changed and I wonder if to the point of what you're talking about, are you arguing against your. I'm saying like is this one of those things where it's like even though you see this heavy workload and historically it's something that you want to be, you know, a little bit fearful of, Is it just different now with the way that players approach their body and the medicines that they have available to them?

[Daniel Dopp]

I think we'll see. But also the average age of a top 10 scoring running back over the last five years is 24. I mean it's still a thing. These guys still disappear. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. I'm on the clock here at number 10. Just a quick recap from that pick that Daniel made. CMC Saquon goes next. He goes sixth overall. Buka Nakua seventh, Devon Achan eighth. I'm on Ross St. Brown ninth which puts me on the clock at 10 with two players. I'm going to be choosing between CD Lamb and Ashton Genti. Two options.

[Field Yates]

Are you surprised that HN win above Ashton Genti?

[Mike Clay]

I am but remember Tierra Toss can't fight.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Just once not going to fight somebody.

[Mike Clay]

I wanted to bring this up now because like let's just, I don't know but get ahead of it. But let's just acknowledge it. Matthew Stafford's back injury seems to get worse by the day. Like it was like he's not going to practice for a few days. He's not going to practice this week to like he's doing static throwing. Listen, I'm 38, I might be eight but Matthew Stafford's, he's 37 so he's, he might be agent as well. I feel like Mark Schler used to always say this. Nobody used to have a bad back.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Mike Clay]

It's like once you have a bad back forever.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Are we at the point yet where we are thinking about updating Puka Nuku's outlook because of Matthew Stafford's question mark health?

[Daniel Dopp]

I am not yet I would say I'm still in the mild concern, very mild concern with Stafford because I don't see like major alarms being raised by anyone yet. It's just. So are you? Are you?

[Mike Clay]

It's just on my brain. I'm thinking about it right now. I'm taking CD Lamb, by the way.

[Daniel Dopp]

Who. Yeah, that's a great value.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, yeah. Pick number 10. I get the sixth player in Mike's overall rankings, which is about where I have him as well. We had this conversation like who if it's not Jamar Chase, who is going to end up being wide receiver one this year. CD Lamb's got a pretty compelling case to sure does have at worst the third best. He sets up for a gigantic year of the season. And here we are. We're back. Almost to me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Pick 11 comes off and it is Ashton Genty. We'll see where we're at at the turn here in the first round. Anything crazy other than me taking CMC over Saquon, that really catches your eye?

[Mike Clay]

So CMC over Saquon's not crazy in general. It's just odd that you, the guy who's concerned about Saquon, are okay with cmc.

[Field Yates]

With cmc, yeah. I totally get that. It's where I decide to draw my line. And you know what, it's my fantasy football team, not anyone else's, so I can decide that I want to do that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. I think going into. It's so funny because we think about this like the full season for these players. Right. But if you think on a week to week basis it might be week two and we clearly a McCaffrey RB one.

[Mike Clay]

Sure.

[Daniel Dopp]

Because something else you don't think about with Barkley last year. He needed a ton of rushing efficiency, a ton of touchdowns to be very good, obviously a lot of volume, but didn't do a lot as a pass catcher.

[Mike Clay]

He won't this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right. So I don't think that's going to change. So whereas McCaffrey, you know, you're going to get big time receiving production when he's on the field. So I don't think that's wild at all.

[Mike Clay]

You are the wrong person to have this conversation with because you again, are so calculated and able to like, you know, detach yourself from emotion. But I posted, I said this story last week. Like I retweeted a clip of CMC making a great play at San Francisco 49ers camp. And I put some, whatever, some I thought harmless comment about like how, you know, there's a case for him as the best player in fantasy when he's healthy. But that's obviously a gigantic if the number of people that were just basically like radioactive, I'll never touch him again. Was, was, was resounding. So you are correct. If we get to week one and the rankings drop and CMC is healthy, he'll probably be at worst like RBTuing your projections for week one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

And yet nobody or not nobody, many people are like, I ain't touching CMC this week. I'm back on the clock, by the way.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Rounding out the first round, we had Malik neighbors go up, pick 12 and then turn Brian Thomas. So that 12 team took two high end wide receivers back to back. Waiting on the Running back number 11 was Jonathan Taylor Field. Grab another run back off the board. And where did you decide to go?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, so I'm going to take a. I am going to take Bucky Irving here over Derek Henry, which is a close call. I'm sort of just get a little bit of exposure in a few different spots. And here's the reason why is if I were picking more middle of the pack, I would feel comfortable taking an elite wide receiver. I am just concerned about the potential for just a gnarly running back run if I go wide out. Wide out and I don't pick again for 20 selections.

[Daniel Dopp]

Fair.

[Mike Clay]

Just go down the board and all of a sudden you're taking yourself to a territory that is like very different value.

[Field Yates]

You know, one of the things that I love about our ESPN app is that you can actually scroll down that player list and see about where a player is going to come off the board when your next pick is. So it helps you be able to visualize. Ooh, these are the running backs that might be available by the time I'm on the clock. Yeah, I think maybe I should grab someone now rather than wait.

[Mike Clay]

And by the way, digging Bucky Irving over Derrick Henry is kind of a YOLO call. Like there's a pretty good case for Derrick Henry to go ahead of Bucky Irving. He is higher than him in my rankings. I don't know. Bucky's just fun.

[Field Yates]

So he's just having fun with it.

[Mike Clay]

I don't know. It's a mock draft. You got some rules.

[Field Yates]

There a law?

[Mike Clay]

I don't know. The sheriff, Mike Clay, Is there a law?

[Daniel Dopp]

Isn't that the funny thing about fantasy is you're like, should I take the biggest running back in the NFL or the smallest running back? I don't know what to do here.

[Mike Clay]

In the second early Second Sheriff Mike Clay is a good nickname for you, by the way.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, it's not bad.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm picking up a lot of. A lot of nicknames. Miami Mike, Margarita Mike.

[Field Yates]

That's true.

[Daniel Dopp]

Mike Sheriff Mike.

[Mike Clay]

Sheriff Sheriff.

[Daniel Dopp]

One of the infamous Peyton Manning.

[Field Yates]

That's true. Yeah, that's true. All right, after Field took Bucky Irving came off the board, it was Drake London, Nico Collins, Josh Jacobs, and Derrick Henry. I am back on the clock. I've already got CMC on the squad, basically looking at a wide receiver here. And I've got A.J. brown, T. Higgins, Lad McConkey, Jameson Williams. They're all staring me in the face. Honestly though, even though it's not a super pass heavy offense, I don't know how I can go against A.J. brown, because when that guy dominates, he just dominates at such a high level.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't a super pass heavy offense in 2022 or 2023, and he had over 1400 yards.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, he's the.

[Daniel Dopp]

He is a balanced offense. They just run so much because they're winning all the time and defense way tougher. This year though, the schedule is tougher and they lost some piece. They lost some major pieces on the defensive side of the football. So it could be more competitive games. Yeah, look at that.

[Mike Clay]

Like Mike last year, like the Eagles who play in the giants in week 14, they're like 19 and a half point favorites. Mike would be like, have you seen the. The Giants third linebacker? Like, that guy's legit.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is what happens when you do fantasy football prognostication and NFL prognostication for over, you know, whatever, 15 years now. You just get humbled all the time because this game is nonstop.

[Field Yates]

Oh, man.

[Mike Clay]

Like, that could be a close game. Going into the fourth quarter, the Eagles might be up 31 to 6. Like, you just don't know. Like a 25 point lead is not. Not sacred.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, there wasn't anyone else. I really considered there was another wide receiver. If you were in my spot looking at those wide receivers, would you have potentially gone with anyone else or was AJ Brown clearly the highest rated wide receiver?

[Mike Clay]

My highest rated wide receiver and only guy left in that tier.

[Field Yates]

Agreed.

[Mike Clay]

Tier 2 for me last week. So I have no issue with AJ Going in the middle of the second round.

[Field Yates]

All right. The next couple picks after AJ Brown, we had Kyron Williams come off the board, then T. Higgins, then Chase Brown. Rats. Chase Brown has been moving up draft boards.

[Mike Clay]

I sort of wonder why. Like, is the Zach Moss release that surprising to people?

[Field Yates]

It's not surprising to me. I've been, I'm, I think consensus higher on Chase Brown than any of the other rankers at ESPN Fantasy and it feels like people are just catching up to where I've been all off season. This guy I really believe is Austin Eckler Light. I think he's going to continue to be that guy in this offense and this offense is going to be a top five offense again.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I was good.

[Mike Clay]

No, I think the two. It seems like the two question marks for Chase Brown is one. Like they do have to be a little bit mindful of his workload. This is not Derek Henry in terms of size 2. The Russian deficiency, if memory is totally accurate, last year wasn't great. This isn't like a 6 yard per carry or 5 yard per cart carry back. There was just so much volume. But he's awesome. I mean end of round two in a 20 in a 12 team league, that's. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Earlier in the off season I was lower on him because I thought they were going to add a legit complimentary running back. Yeah. Or yeah, something like that. They never did that. So now he moved well up my rankings too. So I'm with you. Yeah, no doubt. He could finish RB4 and I wouldn't be shocked.

[Mike Clay]

A little bit of the third down.

[Field Yates]

Samaj P. Ryan. That's part of the reason why I feel I like him in this spot because Zach Moss didn't scare me. But even behind him is Samaj P. Ryan and Taj Brooks and neither of those guys scare me from a fantasy person perspective.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, no doubt about it. Yeah. One of the clearest paths to a big workload in a great offense too, by the way. All right, I'm on the clock here for two picks and I kind of like what I'm looking at. I took Jamar Chase in the first round, so you might think running back, but I'm not going to force it. I'm just never going to do that. I'd rather fade running back and get a couple superstar players here. So I am actually this is, this is probably my.

[Mike Clay]

You won't take seconds?

[Daniel Dopp]

No, I'm not going to do that. This is probably my second favorite area to get a tight end in the draft. Well, I'll talk more about that later, but I'm going to take one here. I'm going to go. Brock Bowers, he's just too much for you.

[Mike Clay]

Is it clear and obvious Brock Bowers versus Trey McBride?

[Daniel Dopp]

No, it's a complete toss up. I wrote about Trey McBride and he, he's been very unlucky in the touchdown department. I think some of it is the way Kyler Murray is utilized. But I think it's bad luck too. It would not shock me if he scored eight, nine touchdowns this season on top of the massive workload. So I think Bowers is the reason I go Bowers over McBride. First of all, they do project very similarly we saw Bowers did last year.

[Mike Clay]

Better quarterback catch apart, by the way.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, but Bowers, you just said better quarterback.

[Field Yates]

Geno Smith you think is a better quarterback.

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean better, better quarterback.

[Field Yates]

Got it. Okay. Okay, thank you.

[Daniel Dopp]

But he's not a lot on this podcast. But I'm just saying, like Bowers just raw talent, athletic ability, just, you know, a game changer. The unicorn. I mean that's, that's a difference maker.

[Field Yates]

And field and I had this conversation on Friday when we were talking about where would you take this top tier of tight ends. I said at the 2, 3 turn. I think you agreed with me. That's right where we're at, Mike. So this is right in line with sort of what we were thinking.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, my. No doubt about it. So I'll gladly take Bowers there and I'm going to stick with wide receiver because I see some really good wide receiver options here, lad. McConkey is who I went with. Tyreek Hill certainly a fine option here as well. I think maybe Hill has more, a little bit of a higher ceiling, more likely if you're going to line up who's more likely to finish top three or lead the position in fantasy points. Hill's done it before, lad obviously more of a short range target, but I think he's the real deal. Young, in his prime on the way up and certainly could catch 100 passes. So I feel great about him here.

[Field Yates]

The vibes weird with Tyree Kill in Miami right now.

[Mike Clay]

We're going to do a show soon about like players that can break.

[Daniel Dopp]

Seen their defense and like.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, yes, that's true 100%.

[Field Yates]

But yeah, I didn't love the shot there. I didn't love the shot at Devon Hn.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's weird because it was sounding tongue in cheek. Right.

[Mike Clay]

But I mean I think that, I think the organization's probably tired of the tongue in cheek. Tyreek Hill, he might be.

[Daniel Dopp]

But let me ask you a quick, really quick question. Do you think they're, let's say they start one in six or something. Do you think he gets traded?

[Mike Clay]

The promise he's owed so much money, like who's going to take on that contract.

[Field Yates]

I think he'll talk about wanting to get traded whether he does or not.

[Daniel Dopp]

It just seemed like it would be a no brainer by Miami to do that if they're struggling.

[Mike Clay]

Daniel's on the clock.

[Field Yates]

All right, Mike, you ended up going brock Bowers then lad McConkey. Tyreek Hill comes off the board next, then Devonte Adams, then Trey McBride. I was thinking about Trey McBride if he made it to me here as.

[Mike Clay]

That next shockers here.

[Field Yates]

Tight end. No, so far this is pretty, pretty chalky is what it feels like surprising.

[Mike Clay]

Thing and I'll save it until it actually happens. But go ahead Daniel.

[Field Yates]

You know the hard part is I've sort of reached that point. Can I just say this? I'm at a point where I don't feel like any of these wide receivers that are left really reach like a high end tier for me and I don't feel like the running backs are super high end at that point. The top two tight ends just came off the board. So now you know we talked during the quarterback show. I actually like waiting at tight end just at quarterback. Excuse me a little bit to get farther.

[Mike Clay]

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[Field Yates]

They're down my tier one.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

So when I'm looking at these guys, quarterback is where I want to go because I think they're the best guys that are on the board. But I want to wait a little bit because I think the value is still good there. So I'm going to pause and go with someone like at the two at the tight end spot. I think I'm probably going to go with George Kittle here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Wow.

[Field Yates]

I'm going to go down the board just a little bit and grab my tight end. He is the end of my top tier guys field and I said we had tight end 12 and Brock Bowers and Trey McBride. He is in a tier of his own but I think there's a drop off between him and that next group of guys.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

And that's the guy who is my favorite value at tight end. The problem, the thing is I usually last longer than this seventh in our last round.

[Field Yates]

I don't think that I will be able to get him midway through the fourth. I think if I don't take him here he will probably come off the board by the time we're back. I'm back on the floor.

[Mike Clay]

The conundrum that I think Daniel was facing at the the quarterback spot again, for those that haven't followed closely, Daniel's right in the middle of the order. Well, basically the middle of the order.

[Field Yates]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

But so if, if you start the quarterback run, you're paying the premium because.

[Daniel Dopp]

Exactly.

[Mike Clay]

Like the difference between QB1, Lamar and QB4, for example. Whether that's whoever that is for Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Jaden Daniels is so minimal that why bother pay the 12 to 15 pick premium that probably will exist between quarterback one and quarterback.

[Field Yates]

I can wait.

[Mike Clay]

But you also don't like the next. Let's talk about the next running back here who's going to go off the board any minute now. Maybe I'll influence the pick a little bit but James Cook right now is not practicing for the Buffalo Bills. Hold in. So a lot of time to go between now and the beginning of the season. It's August 4th, but that's one month until the Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys. Brandon Bean, the GM from the Buffalo Bills has never had a player miss practice because of a contract issue prior to this. Never nine years. He's just. He said he described the situation as disappointing yesterday. It's precarious and I think the Bills feel as though they've made very fair and generous offers and I think that The, I think the James Cook side doesn't feel that way. Do I think this has an end in sight? I think it has to. I think it would be extremely costly for James Cook to not be available for week one of the season. I would just say this, whoever does take James Cook, you better be ready for somebody else to snipe Ray Davis prior to you taking Ray Davis. Because right now he's one of the most important insurance policies in the entire league.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, what's really fascinating about this is Cook was not a feature back last season.

[Mike Clay]

He was in a three man committee, 1,007 rushing yards.

[Daniel Dopp]

He was not in the top 20 in touches or yards among running backs last season. And he wants to be paid like presumably a top five running back. And he might be. I mean maybe, you know, he's super talented but they don't utilize him that way. So it's a tricky situation where he feels I have the talent to be paid like this.

[Mike Clay]

I'm.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm this guy. But they're like, well, we're using a committee so why would we pay a running back?

[Mike Clay]

He just went off the board, by the way. I just like last year, really fascinating. And I'm only bringing this up because I do think it matters a touch. How many teams have been more aggressive this offseason than locking up their own players and the Buffalo Bills? The answer is not many. Josh Allen, Khalil, Shakir, Terrell Bernard. Was it Greg Rousseau or one of their pass rushers? They drafted a handful in succession there. They got a lot of Christian Benford. They got a lot of business done. It's very notable to me that they got all that business done. All of it. Most of it done many months ago early and most of it to our knowledge, pretty seamlessly. Right. Here's our proposal. Here's your proposal. Bam. We make a deal. So James Cook is an interesting one to say the least.

[Daniel Dopp]

If he gets traded to the Bengals.

[Field Yates]

Mike, how are you looking just really quickly to close the loop on James Cook. Field mentioned it. He had 16 rushing touchdowns, another two receiving touchdowns, 18 touchdowns last year. That's not going to happen again. Do you know what you have your projections for him as far as regression this year? Because it feels like the touchdown regression. Do you still see double digit touchdowns this season?

[Daniel Dopp]

I think he'll be near that. Certainly that offense will generate a lot of scores.

[Field Yates]

I'm trying to high scoring offense.

[Daniel Dopp]

I have projection wise one week and comes back with a. I don't remember. I don't remember the exact I just.

[Mike Clay]

Took a Martin Hampton, by the way, at 34th overall, which I have a little bit ahead of projection. What's the answer?

[Daniel Dopp]

12 rushing touchdowns.

[Field Yates]

Okay, that's a good number.

[Daniel Dopp]

14 total.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that's a good number.

[Mike Clay]

I took a Marian Hampton here. We did our running back tier show last week, Mike, and I think we agreed, but I. My statement of projection on Amarian Hampton was basically like, if there's a guy who's like, has screams, like, might just go and become a top 10 running back this year. It's Amari and Hampton. Hampton, first round pick, plenty of pedigree. 4, 4140 or 4 for 40 at 221 pounds. Huge, huge college skill set goes to, you know, this team that's got to have this great power rushing attack. He's a power back. The X factor is how much of a role Najee Harris has. Najee could return tomorrow and he would still have a massive Runway to the season. But Najee is still not practicing with minimal clarity on what the return for him to the field is. And then the other question is, Najee is good enough to have a role, but is he good enough to have a role that legitimately takes away from Amarian Hampton's value?

[Daniel Dopp]

Anaji Harris could have eight to 10 touches a game.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

And Hampton could finish RB4. I mean, no doubt about it. Especially if that team is competitive and as we expect they will be with. With Jim Harbaugh. I mean, the FC's tough. I think they're more of a wild card team than winning that division. But they could do it with Harbaugh leading. But no doubt about it. I agree. He has a lead upside.

[Mike Clay]

All right, so I'm going back here. And so we did just see a quarterback go off the board. So Josh Allen went off. Let's just talk about it. Because I'm picking, excuse me, Lamar and Josh Allen win. So if I want an elite quarterback, it's now or never. Because they're not getting back to me. 20.

[Daniel Dopp]

You probably don't. I would probably pass on that.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

So like 10 picks away.

[Mike Clay]

I'm taking Jaden Daniels because it's now or never. Jaden, I don't think we need to belabor at this point much, but I just am going to reiterate that when you're picking on the extremes, you know, beginning or the end of the round.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

These are the kind of strategic things that you have to be more mindful of. It may mean that you have to be like, you may have to be aggressive relative to where the projections are when you're right in the middle of the order and you're only 10 picks away. If a guy is, you know, the eighth highest projected player remaining on the board, there's a decent a reasonable chance he will get there. Meanwhile, if you're 20 picks away, a guy could be 28 slots down the board and he might not be there or he could still be there and you'll have no issue waiting on him. So be a little bit more selective when you're picking on the extremes. We are now into the fourth round, middle of the fourth rocking and heck.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, all right field. So since you're a Marian Hampton pick, Garrett Wilson came off the board, plus Lamar Jackson and Breece Hall. Then you mentioned Josh Allen. You took Jaden Daniels.

[Mike Clay]

Yes, I did.

[Field Yates]

Then we had DK Metcalf, Jalen Hurts, Kenneth Walker and Chuba Hubbard. So a little mini quarterback run here of that top tier of QBs.

[Mike Clay]

We expect it to happen in draft a lot, right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we do. I mean I really do want one of the big four quarterbacks this year, but that's one of the tricky parts about picking first is I couldn't do it over lad McConkey and Brock Bowers, by the way. I can't.

[Mike Clay]

Are you calling it a big four? Yeah, yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Big four for me.

[Mike Clay]

So is it like a four and a half or is Joe Burrow clearly a different.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think it. I'm totally fine with four and a half. I just think it's very hard for a non running quarterback to put up that elite season to be that top score like what we're talking about, the big, let's just say the big four, whoever you want off the board, all of those. Have a legit shot, a real legit shot to lead the position fantasy points. Joe Burrow, it's a lot tougher. He's going to have to put enormous passing numbers up, which could happen, but it's hard to repeat. It's just the thing what hit what he and Baker Mayfield did last year, the amount of passing production they needed to hang with these guys is in NFL history almost unrepeatable, I think. What's the number 40 passing touchdowns they both had last year? There's only been a handful of quarterbacks in NFL history that have done that twice and they would have to do it twice to hang in that conversation. So for me, I do think it's hard enough for him that he's a tear down.

[Mike Clay]

For me the only, probably like the strongest argument against your Joe Burrow putting up that kind of passing yardage thing is. And sorry to our producer Tyler Daniels already knows, like, where we're going here. So I did, I did Google and I looked up the Bengals defensive depth chart and nothing showed up.

[Field Yates]

There was nobody.

[Mike Clay]

There just wasn't anybody there.

[Daniel Dopp]

Just an error.

[Mike Clay]

It was just an error.

[Field Yates]

We got four.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, yeah, they just, it was just a big wide open field, 100 yards and 53 and a third wide. So.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I hear you.

[Field Yates]

I will not be shocked if they score 30 points again.

[Mike Clay]

But the only thing I will say about Joe Burrow is it feels like there are some guys that could, like the Caleb Williams, Drake Mays who are superb athletes who could really take a leap in that regard. I do feel like there is a discount. There's two discount Joe Burrows staring us in the face, right? One's a mini discount. One's a big discount. Mini discount is Baker Mayfield, right? Like Baker Mayfield's going to go in some, some drafts like, you know, five rounds later and Baker could lead the NFL in passing yards. I think it's within his bag is.

[Field Yates]

The other one, Dak Prescott.

[Mike Clay]

Other one's Zach Prescott, who could easily lead with.

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean, he could, he's. There's so many though. I mean, like you, you said Caleb. I mean, you could throw Jordan Love his top five upside. I mean, you.

[Mike Clay]

I think the archetype though, for Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield and Dak Prescott's more similar than, than Caleb Williams just because I think Jordan Love gets there. I think Jordan Love gets there. I'm sorry. If Caleb Williams gets there because he has a big passing year and runs for like 550.

[Field Yates]

I just. All I'm gonna say is when Caleb Williams is under pressure, he's gonna have a hard time throwing balls into those pockets in that net and it's going to be tough.

[Mike Clay]

Lions fans are feasting on that.

[Field Yates]

I know, I know.

[Mike Clay]

If Kirk Cousins plays the Bucks every week, he'd be a good bet to be.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's fair.

[Field Yates]

That's the next one up. So I'm gonna say this. I disagree with Mike. I, I think that Joe Burrow was in a tear with those other guys and he was the guy that I was hoping was going to make it back to me, especially because we are in a 12 team league. One of the things that I wanted to do is at those island position have guys that I feel like give me an advantage over most of the rest of the league and getting both Joe Burrow and George Kittle. I think Wide receiver is deep enough that I can wait and attack wide receiver a little bit later in the draft. So I started Joe Burrow, Christian McCaffrey, A.J. brown and George Kittle and I will fill in the rest of the squad as we go from there. But that's why I decided I wanted to go with Joe Burrow.

[Mike Clay]

I have an idea. I think that the two of you should concoct some sort of board better or like at least a cousin of a board bet surrounding Joe Burrow. And the loser has to take a bath in Skyline chili.

[Field Yates]

Ooh, I had Skyline chili for the first time this last week.

[Mike Clay]

Our producer Tyler, who's from Cincinnati, I think would suggest that that is the single most disgusting idea ever created in humankind.

[Field Yates]

Oh, I love it.

[Daniel Dopp]

I like how he had this ready to go so we had to do it.

[Mike Clay]

He wasn't part of it. Right?

[Field Yates]

He's not going to be part of it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I have. I am. I am Switzerland on Joe Burrow.

[Field Yates]

That's what it is.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't know. I mean, I think about that. I was just reading about how there's flesh eating amoeba in Miami beach ocean. So I'm not feeling good about swimming in foreign objects at the moment.

[Mike Clay]

So I'm Mike Clay and after I got my workout in at Gold's Gym to pump the muscles up a little.

[Daniel Dopp]

I didn't do that.

[Mike Clay]

I was, I was taking a nap on the beach in Miami that I was in the ocean and I was no big deal.

[Daniel Dopp]

But I don't have regrets. But also I don't deal.

[Mike Clay]

But my speedo is fitting, you know, extra snug because I'm so jacked after.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I hear that.

[Daniel Dopp]

I hear that.

[Field Yates]

It was a big, big shift there. All right. After I took Joe Burrow, Alvin Camara came off the board. Then Marvin Harrison Jr. And then Xavier Worthy. Mike Clay, you are now back on the clock with the last pick of the fourth round and first pick of the fifth round.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to show some serious discipline here. First of all, with those five quarterbacks on, I'm not taking a quarterback here. No doubt about that. Obviously I have a tight end. I have two receivers. I am going to take one running back here though. I'm not going to force both of them. I'm going to take James Conner. I know that Trey Benson is going to have a larger workload this season.

[Mike Clay]

But that feels like news or noise. Do you guys hear it?

[Daniel Dopp]

I think it's news to a little bit of an extent, but I'm not going all the way. I don't think this is a 50 50, but I do think he will play a larger role and could share some more of the carries. However, you know, James Connor, since he entered the league, has the best catch rate among running backs in the league. He's very effective in that area. So he's not, you know, he's still going to have a role there and he's still very good football player and I still think he is something left in the tank. So I feel comfortable with him. At the turn here.

[Mike Clay]

Just to remind people that maybe don't sit around on Twitter all day while they're in the ocean in Miami like Mike does. I think it was James Connor himself who said, yeah, Trey Benson is going to have a big role. It's kind of like, you know, RB1 and RB1AMike.

[Daniel Dopp]

What? Back to you. Oh, I thought you were finishing your thoughts. I was waiting for the.

[Field Yates]

I listened to either the offensive coordinator or the run game coordinator earlier on. I feel like in the week and they said James Conner's clearly still our guy. It feels like James Conner was being nice to Trey Benson a little bit.

[Mike Clay]

He's got some veteran savvy days.

[Field Yates]

He's. Yes, I agree with that.

[Daniel Dopp]

We hear that all the time too. You know, sometimes they'll talk about the coaches too. Someone will ask about the fourth string running back. Yeah, we expect them to play a big role for us this season. I mean, that could be a special team.

[Mike Clay]

You know, like, honestly, like back in like April, we were doing some early focus planning meetings. We're like, yeah, Mike would be great if he was on the show more. Right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I play a role here. Okay. It might be special teams part time, but I'm doing it. Wow. A guy that's only going to be contributing for me part time this season, I would imagine is Rasheed Rice. That was my next pick here. I do expect him to be suspended for a few games this season. However, when he plays, I expect him to be a fantasy powerhouse. One of your favorite guys last season and that was a great pick. I mean, he was crushing that he was going to be a potential league winner. And you know, I. There's more competition in this offense this season, but I think they're going to shake it up. I think they're going to be more explosive play base. I think they're going to pass it.

[Field Yates]

A little bit more.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. And the way they built their team suggests they'll do that as well. If you think about them focusing on wide receiver and pass catcher over the backfield. So I'm fine in this format to hold down the fort for a few weeks if he's out. Because I'm going to have a guy like Rasheed Rice the rest of the season.

[Field Yates]

And I was going to say this is where I like Rasheed Rice. I think his ADP is appropriately dropped based on what we believe a suspension will be. Not sure how many games games it's going to be obviously, but at the wide receiver spot, it's so much easier than any of these other positions to grab a guy and fill in how many ever weeks you need. With Rashee Rice out, it's so deep. Right. That if you know that you're going to get 12 weeks of Rasheed Rice at full volume, that's what you're looking for. I can like stand not having him for the first month of the season with somebody else that I can plug into my phone.

[Mike Clay]

By all accounts, the injury is in a pretty good spot right now for Rashid Rice.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I'm not worried about that at all.

[Mike Clay]

Health concerns are pretty minimal.

[Field Yates]

All right. Since then. All right, just a quick recap.

[Mike Clay]

I love the last pick.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Absolutely Love it. From Player 4, Travis Hunter. Player 4, shout out to you.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I don't know who that was.

[Mike Clay]

If they can whisper it into our ear who it was. Shout out. Brian, Good job. I think I might be shape shifting my mentality on Travis Hunter.

[Field Yates]

Really?

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

I do. And this is a bit of an about face. So I'm only going to do it like when I finally make my decision, I'm going to like stamp my approval and just leave it be and see where the chips fall. You think about it more and more, this guy. And I thought. And this is not. Go back, check all the receipts here. Like I thought this was clearly the best player in the past draft. And I thought that I said this because I was asked it 950 times. So I said it 950 times in response. I think the upside is even higher at wide receiver than it is at cornerback, which is take nothing away from Travis Hunter's cornerback ability. Liam Cohen. They're off their head coach going to call plays. Offensive guy. I think it's incredibly difficult for a team that is A coached by an offensive minded head coach and B needs its quarterback to get right to be like, you know what, we really gotta rein in Travis's offensive snaps because we kind of need him on defense too. I think they're going to have a hard time resisting that temptation. And I'm. I understand that like I don't expect Travis Hunter to play 0% of the defensive snaps or 100% of the offensive snaps, but I'm starting to think more and more that we lean towards a significant offensive role for Travis Hunter. And if I told you, and nobody can tell you this with certainty other than, I guess, the Jaguars themselves, Travis Hunter was going to play between 72 and 80% of the offensive snaps, how high would he be ranked in your wide receiver rankings?

[Daniel Dopp]

Maybe a little bit higher.

[Mike Clay]

But I'm like wide receiver 40.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, a little higher than wide receiver 40. The problem is we have these guys who only focus on offense, who are topics that are clear receivers and good offenses that are like, like wide receiver threes or flexes or. Look at Marvin Harrison last year.

[Mike Clay]

Look how we perceive talent of, of Travis Hunter is like superior to most of the guys that we're talking about.

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean Harrison was viewed as like the next superstar. I mean, you have to consider that it's. If he is playing, you don't know.

[Mike Clay]

Versus the like actually as an advantage. Right. We haven't seen the bad film yet from Travis Hunter. It's possible it exists. You're just banking on the projection.

[Daniel Dopp]

So.

[Mike Clay]

I don't know, I think I might be. I think I might be a Travis Hunter optimism guy now.

[Field Yates]

Silly question here field, but I like all things like you, the draft guy here, like, he seemed to just have a stellar reputation. He seems to be a kid that just gets it right coming out of college. But he also made this statement and I'm not, I'm not trying to play both sides here. If I can't play both offense and defense, I don't want to play football. Was that taken out of context?

[Mike Clay]

I think it was more like, hey, you know, like, don't. I wouldn't, I wouldn't make your plan to only utilize me on one side.

[Field Yates]

So at what point do you think does he get upset with the team being like, I want to be on the field more. You drafted me to also be like our def.

[Mike Clay]

Sucks. I mean he's on both sides. I think as long as he's playing well, he'll be happy. Like they're not going to play him, you know?

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Also, do you think Jacksonville has it in him to have two top 20 receivers? I mean, we love Brian Thomas. I mean he's. Yeah, I, I don't know. I think it's gonna be tough play.

[Mike Clay]

The point is this, is that like right now he's goading is like going in some cases like wide receiver 40. I just think the upside for Travis Hunter if he's playing 75% of the offensive snaps is superior to so many of the guys that are going ahead of him. Him I think wide receiver 25 to wide receiver.

[Daniel Dopp]

Look, I think where he's got, where he went here is fine. Like I would I take him over Rasheed Rice or you know, I, I.

[Field Yates]

Mean there's still some guys on the board I would take over.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I mean I, I have them ranked higher. I'm just saying I don't think it's a massive stretch at this point but I agree.

[Mike Clay]

Having a better season than a few.

[Daniel Dopp]

Picks earlier though, it gets tough.

[Mike Clay]

Next receivers, here we go. Zay Flowers, DJ Moore, Calvin Ridley, Monte Smith, Jalen Waddle, Jerry Judy, Jameson Williams, George Pickens. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Travis Hunter could have a better season than any of those guys. Daily. You're on the clock.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't think that's a stretch.

[Field Yates]

It's not a stretch but I also don't think it's going to happen. For what it's worth. Yeah, we got to get moving here. I'm going to go with another running back. When I look at this spot, I feel like we get to a point where I'm worried about the drop off by the time that I get picked to get back to me at pick 68. So I've got a ways to go. I'm gonna go with DeAndre Swift here. Another hopefully good pass catching running back. I just made a joke about Caleb Williams not throwing footballs into a net. I do hope that he can find DeAndre Swift. It was just a joke.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

It's the Internet.

[Mike Clay]

You're alliance but should make that I would.

[Field Yates]

No, that's not true. I don't. I want Caleb Williams to be good this season. For what it's worth.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, you don't.

[Field Yates]

I. For fantasies. I talked about him as one of my CS as an analyst. I want him to be good, Mike.

[Mike Clay]

So I took Jackson dirt Giants this year. Okay. Right now my team feels like the next Bill Belichick.

[Daniel Dopp]

I do like Swift though. I feel like much like Chase Brown, he's a guy that we thought they'd had a competition for. They never did. He's still what, 25, maybe 26 now. I mean.

[Mike Clay]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

He's the only one that was added over the draft. It doesn't feel like Roshan Johnson is scaring anyone at this Point. So I got Joe Burrow, CMC DeAndre Swift, AJ Brown, and George Kittle as the start of my lineup.

[Mike Clay]

I don't know who six is, but we're ripping, right?

[Field Yates]

Coming up, Calvin Ridley comes off the board next. We're kind of in that spot now where people start to say, ugh, you're always. Whenever you do your home draft, someone says, I don't like anyone on the board here.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't know any of these guys.

[Field Yates]

It's like, you still got so many good names. I get it. They're not superstars. But you just listed a bunch of wide receivers that are still going to be like, almost set up and forget a wide receiver.

[Daniel Dopp]

The larger issue is that it's just a giant. The tears become larger so big the deeper you go into the draft. Like, who do I take from all these similar players, especially a wide receiver.

[Mike Clay]

My seat here was like 15 wide receivers.

[Field Yates]

Agree.

[Mike Clay]

I'm on the clock next year, and I'm just telling you, like DJ Moore, Jalen Waddle, Jerry Judy, Jameson Williams, George Pickens feel quite comparable to me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

So I will wait. And I will wait.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. After my pick of DeAndre Swift, we had Calvin Ridley come off the board, then Zay Flowers, then Devonte Smith. A little bit of that wide receiver run that we were just talking about with those top wide receivers on the board.

[Mike Clay]

Joe Mixon's gonna hang around.

[Field Yates]

I was just gonna say he's staring at. Staring us in the face right now. George Pickens comes out.

[Mike Clay]

George Pickens again. That, like, Joe George was ranked lower than guys like DJ Moore, Jalen, Jerry, Judy, Jameson Williams. I'm a response to him going first was. I have no response. It's a totally reasonable call. I'm going with you on Waddle. We talked earlier about, you know, Tyree Kill and some of the vibes being a little bit off there. Like, on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being not crazy and 10 being very crazy. Like, how crazy would it be for Jalen Waddle to be the Dolphins best receiver?

[Field Yates]

This not crazy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not at all.

[Mike Clay]

You're like a three, right? So you're getting him whatever. Three and a half rounds later, I am good with it.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's been a couple of years since he's had a big season. It's really two years in a row now. Cause I believe the year before he was injured quite a bit, so.

[Field Yates]

But he has three.

[Daniel Dopp]

That bothers me a little bit. But also, like, this is, we believe, one of the better top 20, 25 receivers in the NFL and it's a good situation where they're gonna have to throw a lot. The defense, you know, struggle last season also. They are. I think Tyree Kill said something else is of interest to me, which is that they need to run the ball more. That's something we've seen the Chiefs do the last couple years when they're facing so much too high. When they had Tyree Kill on the team, they adjusted. Miami has to do that. Maybe that's a Jalen.

[Mike Clay]

Right.

[Daniel Dopp]

Maybe that's. This is a Jalen Wright comment.

[Mike Clay]

Molly Gordon, too.

[Daniel Dopp]

And yeah, I think they need to adjust because they faced too high the most last year and we saw John O and Hn have big seasons. We. We saw Tyreek and Jalen Waddle struggle. So it's going to be interesting to see how they adjust. And I think if Mike Bedaniel wants to stick around, he's going to have to do that.

[Mike Clay]

God damn it.

[Field Yates]

You get sniped.

[Mike Clay]

I was so positive this player wouldn't go off.

[Field Yates]

Who was it? Tell me what happened.

[Mike Clay]

Henderson. What a great pick by team 12. Do you guys see what happened in the Patriots scrimmage a couple nights ago?

[Daniel Dopp]

Tell me more.

[Mike Clay]

I did Andre Stevenson, did he fumble the ball a lot last year?

[Daniel Dopp]

He sure did.

[Field Yates]

Some problems.

[Mike Clay]

Scrimmage. He fumbled the ball as well. Like, are we positive or Maunder Stevenson's even the starter week one.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, we. You don't draft a guy in round two to be a backup. I mean, or just not play. That's too much of a premium pick.

[Mike Clay]

Pick.

[Daniel Dopp]

Correct.

[Mike Clay]

So I think, you know, Henderson's one of the great, great values on the board right now. Amongst any worries about.

[Daniel Dopp]

Worries about size or anything, I think.

[Mike Clay]

What he needs to be is they need to have somebody, whether it's Ramandre Stevenson or Antonio Gibson, play like. Like what we were describing from Najee. Eight to ten touches per game. He's more the Lightning than the Thunder. Quinshaw, Judkins and him worked really well at Ohio State together last year, but he's. I think he's just way, way better.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think I'm coming around more to guys that are like a hair under 200 pounds because the NFL running back position is just different. There's so few feature backs. So these guys that can't do 25 touches don't need to anymore because. No, there's so few guys getting that. And we're seeing a list of players like Achan and Bucky Irving that are able.

[Mike Clay]

Of this year's class.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Clay]

I think because of the size, he's bigger than Bucky. But I just, like, I think I.

[Daniel Dopp]

Mentioned that in his profile.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, you know, he's the backup running back. I don't think it would be last for long. I have. Would not last for long. Let me ask you guys a question. On a scale of 1 to 10, how crazy would it be if Roma Dunes A takes over as the Bears wide receiver? 1 this year?

[Daniel Dopp]

I would be surprised just because DJ Moore is so good, but I would not be surprised if it's close.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Field Yates]

I would say that similar things. DJ Moore didn't show always great body language and wasn't able to maybe keep his emotions in check last year. If things. If there's a struggle this year, I could potentially see something like that happen.

[Mike Clay]

So it's possible.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. I'd put it in like a four or a five.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. I mean, of course, I asked the same question about Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill, and that's why I took Roma Dunze. I took him next.

[Field Yates]

So for what it's worth, Field Yates, you took Jalen Waddle. Just to recap some of the recent picks for those listening at home, after Field took Jalen waddle with the 10th pick of the fifth round came Jameson Williams, Trevion Henderson, Tet McMillan, DJ Moore, and then Field took Roma Dunes A there doubling up on the wide receiver spot.

[Daniel Dopp]

Field Yates.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Let's try to chat, all of us, me included.

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[Mike Clay]

And let go of whatever you're carrying today.

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[Mike Clay]

That I wouldn't get my new contacts.

[Jack Welch]

In time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry.

[Mike Clay]

I almost couldn't breathe when I saw.

[Jack Welch]

The discount they gave me on my first order.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, sorry.

[Jack Welch]

Namaste.

[Mike Clay]

Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

[Daniel Dopp]

1-800-Contacts.

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[Mike Clay]

Gatorade is the number one proven electrolyte blend.

[Daniel Dopp]

Designed to hydrate better than water.

[Mike Clay]

So you can lose more sweat and raise your gain. Gatorade is it in you. We're gonna try to get through these last four rounds here. We can do it. I have confidence.

[Field Yates]

TJ Hawkinson comes off the board before Sam Laporta. That's not how I have them. Ranked him. Do you guys have. Would you put them in the same tier? TJ Hackington and Sam Laporta. And is that crazy? Are you good with that?

[Mike Clay]

No. Same tier for me. Remember, I had Travis Kelsey ranked both.

[Field Yates]

Oh, that's.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, really? I have laporta over Hawkinson. I do think there's a little bit of a tear gap there.

[Field Yates]

And then after that, we had Patrick Mahomes come off the board and Jacoby freaking Myers.

[Daniel Dopp]

Whoa.

[Field Yates]

While I'm recapping, you take Jacoby Myers.

[Mike Clay]

Wow. Which one of you did this?

[Daniel Dopp]

Of all people to get furious about.

[Field Yates]

I love Jacoby Myers.

[Mike Clay]

Your thoughts on Jacoby Myers.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love him, but that's like, he's like the boring guy that everyone's like, all right, I guess I'll settle.

[Field Yates]

But I waited a wide receiver. I filled out all of my other spots. It's either him or Jerry Judy. And you know what? I think Jacoby Myers is a much safer bet at wide receiver this year than Jerry Judy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Safer. But Jody outscored him last year.

[Field Yates]

Oh, I'm so. Yeah, Judy. But that Browns quarterback situation.

[Daniel Dopp]

So many good receivers. Like, I don't think I'm going to get mad about missing out on a receiver this year ever.

[Mike Clay]

How to pronounce the last name of the Browns projected starting quarterback?

[Daniel Dopp]

No, no, Joe. No, I didn't pick it. Joe Pickett.

[Mike Clay]

No, no, I'm not doing it.

[Field Yates]

If I. If I had waited on Deandre Swift. The running backs that are on the board here are Aaron Jones, David Montgomery, Caleb Johnson and RJ Harvey. Still some nice running backs. I just don't need a third one. I really need a second wide receiver here.

[Mike Clay]

The trade or make the draft to trade the player.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I think you do have some options. I don't dislike Jerry Judy. Chris Godwin still on the board, but I get nervous about the injury history. I love Chris Olave wide the quarterback spot.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is what I mean. There's so many guys in this area. I think I wrote about this for the 192 where, like, there's a bunch of guys here who could finish top 15 at receiver and would not surprise us at all. Some of them probably will.

[Field Yates]

All right. I guess because of that, I'm going to go with Jerry Judy. I'm going to hope that everything that we saw from him Last year that continues here this year that the Cleveland Browns saw too much of what Judy can do when they put the ball in their hands for them to be like, you know what, we got to go another direction.

[Mike Clay]

No surprise there.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. Speaking of receivers who could finish top 15 and wouldn't shock us, Cooper cup next pick, that's one of the guys I was thinking about. Would not shock me.

[Field Yates]

Really.

[Mike Clay]

You know what's interesting is that Cooper cup went ahead of. And I get it, Chris Godwin's got a little bit of an injury thing that maybe not a little bit legitimate injury monitoring, but Stefan Diggs versus Cooper Cup.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, Close call.

[Field Yates]

Close call.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think it's a very close call. Remember, Diggs is still. I know he's back now, but he is still coming off a season at his age in which he tore his acl. I mean, is he going to be the same guy this year?

[Mike Clay]

That's hard to say. Yeah. He didn't end. He did not begin the season on pup, which was encouraging. So by all accounts, he's trending in the right direction health wise. But interesting.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Vaughn digs Cooper Cup.

[Daniel Dopp]

See, I can get mad about running backs going. Both Harvey and Caleb Johnson back to back here. I was hoping to get one of those guys at the turn here. All I have is James Connor. Yeah. So I'm going to. I'm on a clock here. I'm going to take a shot here on a guy who very well could be ready for week one in a clear feature back. And I don't know that Nick Chubb or Woody Marks are guys I'm too afraid of. So I'm going to take a chance here that Joe Mixon is going to be good to go this year. A little risky. I'm a little old at the running back position. I don't love that. But there's still room for me to.

[Mike Clay]

So the most interesting part about the Joe Mixon situation is that, like, they just don't have a good option behind him. Like, they just don't like Nick Chubb. It's funny. Like. And there's all this uncertainty surrounding Joe Mixon and yet d' Amico Ryan's the head coach for the Texans, also talked very openly and honestly about Nick Chubb. Oh, here's Daniel.

[Daniel Dopp]

Look at this.

[Field Yates]

I saved it for. Because I wanted to talk about it on today's show.

[Mike Clay]

Okay. Just read it.

[Field Yates]

You're better he d' Amigo Ryan on Nick Chubb said, guy's age, he's been through a lot. It's not always going to be the same as his early years in the NFL. But what I hang my hat on with him is that this guy loves football. He is physical. He plays and prepares the right way. Really sharp guy in the protection scheme. Those honestly aren't things that I want to hear from the coach when I'm drafting Woody Mars.

[Mike Clay]

Mike is all those things and he stinks. It's a joke, guys. Mike is a dominant fantasy football player.

[Field Yates]

I know that. There you go. That's for the. We did put that for you.

[Daniel Dopp]

Should I just hang on to this here? Says, please be patient. I suck at fantasy football playing with.

[Mike Clay]

You guys because we have annoyingly good fantasy football players in this.

[Daniel Dopp]

You know, don't tell field I said this, but his team looks good.

[Field Yates]

All right, coming off the board.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Clay]

10.

[Field Yates]

All right. Joe Mixon. Mike took Joe Mixon. After that, it was Chris Godwin who we just talked about Isaiah Pacheco. Big discount on Isaiah Pacheco this year. We just mentioned that he was hurt and that he was going to be as part of the conversation. And then Travis Kelce and Bo Nix.

[Mike Clay]

Comes off the Mike, let me ask you this, Bo, great value there, quarterback. And Daniel, you're up. So you can make your pick as well, but easy. In a world in which Chris Godwin's back on the field by week four, do you think there's a chance by, like, week six? You're like, top 12 wide receivers.

[Daniel Dopp]

Chris Godwin, look, last year he was a top two receiver when he was healthy. And this isn't. I know this was a serious injury. It wasn't your traditional, like, torn ACL or Achilles or something like that. So I am hopeful he can get back in an offense like you talked about. That's going to be so. There's gonna be so much volume through the air, so many scoring opportunities. So at this point in the draft, and by the way, I did move him way down because of the injury concerns, but at this point in the draft, I'm still fine throwing the lottery ticket or taking it. I won the lottery ticket.

[Field Yates]

I would have taken Chris Godwin if he made it here, back to me because I only had one starting wide receiver. I didn't want to take him as my second starter just given the injury history. However, he didn't make it back to me, Mike, because you took him. I'm on the board and I ended up going with David Montgomery. I think he's the highest running back available to me. It gives me a third running back to be able to have a 12 team league.

[Mike Clay]

I don't mind this year running back available to you.

[Field Yates]

Like he is the most. He is the most highest ranked. Yes, that's what it is, the highest ranked running back. Did I say most high running back?

[Mike Clay]

No, you said he's the highest.

[Field Yates]

Highest running back. That's.

[Mike Clay]

What are the implications there?

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that's a great question. Him and Calvin Johnson have been hanging out. All right, so after that, David and Joku comes off the board. If you're a Detroit fan, you maybe know where that comes from. Mark Andrews. Yeah, as well. Right after that back to back tight ends feel Jake. So you had Travis Kelce, David and Joku and Mark Andrews come off the board here recently.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, they have. So I actually really like this tier of tight ends, by the way, because I just think that there are two and a half players that have really strong upside at times.

[Daniel Dopp]

Every year. Every year this tier gets us. We're always like, it's no, no, no, no. These guys, they always get us.

[Mike Clay]

This is Kevin Ingram, by the way.

[Daniel Dopp]

I give. I've given up on it. I've given up on. Tight end is deep this year.

[Mike Clay]

Every year we said this. I mean, we owned it on Friday. We're like, this position sucks. What I, what I do feel like is that I don't expect tight end seven to finish as tight end like three. I just think that like tight end seven has like a. You know, if you look at all of the ranges for tight end seven, it feels like 70% very narrow. Like tight end five to tight end.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

So I would agree with that. In the league in which we have to pick a tight end because we're filling out a mock draft, I'm cool.

[Daniel Dopp]

But that's kind of why I want one of those top three and then some. If I miss on the top three, sometimes I'll settle on laporta as well if he's in the right range. But after that I just don't feel great.

[Mike Clay]

Let me throw something your way, Mike. As we continue through these picks right here. If you take a tight end early like a Brock Bowers or Trey McBride, are you also willing to get quarterback early? Because I can thin the.

[Daniel Dopp]

I have some content coming out the 192 and also my ultimate draft book, which comes out for next year. No, the ultimate draft guide is. Which is where I go round by round and I talk about exactly that topic. This is a unique year. And yes, and yes, I will go early on both positions. I did not do it here, but had I Been drafting somewhere else in the order. I would have taken one of the big four. I did quarterbacks as well as the tight end. I did that often during our mock draft project. Totally fine with that.

[Mike Clay]

I'm one pick away and I have the potential to get one of my like kind of like low key favorite targets. It's really boring, but like at certain points of the draft, it's okay to draft boring.

[Field Yates]

It just like you took Evan Ingram field and then after that, Javante Williams, Chris Olave and Tyrone Tracy's coming off the board.

[Mike Clay]

Mike, what do you think it is right there? By the way, Cam Scatterboo has missed the past few days of practice. We'll keep an eye on when he returns. I keep saying this about Tyrone Tracy. I think Scatterboo probably has a higher ceiling as a player, but Tracy's a totally reasonable player to have a decent role for the.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think Tracy in that mock draft project was my most drafted player. So I'm with you. No doubt where he goes in drafts, he's totally worth the cost.

[Mike Clay]

Tony Power was the player that I was talking about. He's just boring. Solid third running back, over 300 total touches last year. Not much has changed in that backfield. The offensive offensive line should be better.

[Daniel Dopp]

On paper, that's the eighth round.

[Mike Clay]

He really held up well last year in a 12 team league.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I think he'll play a little less. I think we actually will see more Spears. I think there's kind of fire where there's smoke with that one this year with all those reports, but he can afford less of a workload. And by the way, the offense should be better. You would think. I mean if Cam Ward's not terrible, the offense should be better.

[Mike Clay]

Like running back 11 by the end of the season. In terms of our weekly rankings. It was like, oh, he's right on the fringe of.

[Daniel Dopp]

He's one of the boring guys, you know. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Right before you was J.K. dobbins coming off the board.

[Mike Clay]

I. I would prefer Tony Pollard kind of clearly to jk.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, JK Dobbins clearly splitting time in that backfield. Not in the same way with Pollard and Taj.

[Mike Clay]

Now, that being said, one of the things about J.K. dobbins that I think he has going that I don't believe Tony Pollard has going is like, I think there's a chance. Not saying it's a great chance, but like J.K. dobbins could get 15 rushing touchdowns this season because it's an elite offensive line. Like the fact that the running game stunk last year was such a running back stat and such a not offensive line set. They actually led ESPN's run block win rate as an offensive line did the.

[Daniel Dopp]

Broncos last year passing and running, if I'm not mistaken.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, they led the league in both and yet they protected Bo Nicks very well and they passed the ball well and they just. Well, it's Javante Williams and whatever like Audrey Estimate and just. That's actually why.

[Field Yates]

Guys, I'm so sorry. I did not mean to scream internally. I wanted Deebo Samuel so badly here.

[Mike Clay]

You have quite a taste.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. What is happening?

[Field Yates]

What do you mean? I just like this is. I'm at a spot where I've got to figure out where it is that I want guys to come off the board. Debo was like a little bit farther down this list. There's a couple other wide receivers. I don't love Stefan Diggs as much as you guys do. I just think I'm out.

[Mike Clay]

Love is a strong word. I just think it's.

[Field Yates]

I. Okay, that's fair. He should be the clear cut number one in that offense. Drake may should be looking for him. Not the same to me. Jordan Addison. I like Jordan Addison. It's actually probably where I'm going to go here. There was also Khalil Shakir that I was considering, but Debo, I mean, just with all the Terry McLaurin stuff, like if there is a shot, if there's even a chance that Terry McLaurin gets traded, Debo would get drafted two rounds earlier than this thing about. Would you not move him at all?

[Daniel Dopp]

Are they really going to feature him if. If McLaren wasn't there? I mean, how much more do you give a guy that cannot. I mean, he's literally never played a. A full season. I mean, at this point, is he.

[Mike Clay]

Kind of maxed out the latest rumors that the offer is something to the effect of Terry McLaren in exchange for Saquon. Jalen Hurts.

[Daniel Dopp]

A.J.

[Mike Clay]

Brown. Jalen Carter.

[Daniel Dopp]

So I pass on that.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, we'll see.

[Field Yates]

I think I'm gonna go with. I changed my mind. I said Jordan Addison, but I think Khalil Shakir is going to be my guy.

[Mike Clay]

Shakir, by the way, is going to miss sounds like maybe up to like five weeks.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Got a high ankle sprain.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep. Yeah, he's tough. For me, he's one of the tougher guys to rank because he's like a boring rank. But also he has no ceiling.

[Mike Clay]

Like he just seven touchdowns in three years for Khalil Shakir.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I think he's going to catch close to 100 balls again in an offense that's going to be close to a top five offense. And right now it's just me being able to, especially with a guy like A.J. brown. I just want a nice floor. Kalushkir is a floor guy.

[Mike Clay]

We're into sleepers and I think bus at some point, but sleepers for sure. And there will be a bill that makes the list not named Kalushakir.

[Field Yates]

Oh, all right. Excited to see who that is since I took Khalil Shakir, Juwan Jennings and then Jordan Addison came off the board back to back. I looked at both of these 49ers wide receivers but because of the build that I have where I also have CMC and George Kittle, I just couldn't go this isn't best ball. I couldn't like go all in on the 49ers like that.

[Mike Clay]

So Mike, you're down to your last what I am.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm. I'll take my quarterback here, Kyler Murray. I don't need to. I could have waited. There's a lot of similar options but I'll pounce on him and get a guy if I'll be a weak starter.

[Field Yates]

If you weren't drafting right now and with a shortened league that we're drafting, would you have continued to wait for a number of rounds at the quarterback.

[Daniel Dopp]

Spot or would you have pulled the trigger pretty quickly? Maybe. I think Kyler, I feel comfortable enough with him as a QB one. I'm fine to take him here but all right, you know some of these other guys away and then otherwise I thought about a wide receiver here but I am going to throw a dart at a young running back because I need some youth at that position. I'm going to go came Scatterbo. I just hope he's a real deal and takes that job.

[Mike Clay]

I think he's a real deal and I just again I think the question is that like last year I should have been like way more sensible about this. Like Tyrone Tracy taking over for Devin Singletary as soon as he did should have been like the most obvious, likeliest path it felt. But during training game it was like yeah, there goes Devin Singletary once again toting the rock with the number ones. Right. Like feels like Tyrone Tracy will not fade in the way that Devin Singletary faded to the point where he's sitting like three carries a game.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's tough for them day three running backs because they almost never pan out and Tracy wasn't like great last year, but he was, you know, he's a weekly starter in 12 team leagues. So you're you. No doubt. That's why the construction of a depth chart matters. And that's why we're talking up guys like, you know, Chase Brown or even Trayvon Henderson. Same kind of situation there. R.J. harvey and Denver. There's a lot of guys like that.

[Field Yates]

I'm on the clock again. Since you are a pick, Mike, you took Cam Scatterbo, then Brock Purdy, Ricky Pierce all and Travis ETN came off the board. I'm gonna go with another wide receiver because I already have Khalil Shakir. I don't want to double up on wide receivers. Although Keon Coleman might be there might be an option Michael Pittman, Jaden Reed. I don't really need another quarterback for tight end just given how good my quarterback and tight end are and Joe Burrow and George Kittle. So boy, the question is, do I do that? Do I just. Maybe I just take Keon Coleman and I'm going to have one of them.

[Daniel Dopp]

The over your boy better than Reed.

[Field Yates]

It's a tough one because Jaden Reed is a guy that I do love. But I think I'm gonna go with Keon Coleman and kind of play that upside game maybe I like the floor.

[Daniel Dopp]

You took a floor guy and now.

[Field Yates]

I get a ceiling guy.

[Mike Clay]

I also come to appreciate stuff in the Daniel does. I feel like when Mike around the clock it's like, all right, here we go. I'm taking Jaden Higgins. I like you. You exhaust.

[Field Yates]

I try to go through. Yeah. I just. This is. I've thought about these guys just so that you guys knew where my.

[Daniel Dopp]

We know the right answers though.

[Field Yates]

Oh, that's what it is. I need to show my work. You guys can just put the answer down.

[Mike Clay]

All right, so we have entered. We have really entered a fascinating time of the draft. Right. Because a lot of the players just look very similar. It's going to just be matter of preference here, but I'm hoping and praying that I get the guy that I.

[Field Yates]

Want after I took Cam Pullman.

[Daniel Dopp]

Top guy in the queue is one of my. My favorite deep sleep. I don't want to say deep sleepers. One of my favorite sleepers this year, Michael Pittman. Just so much so talented.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

He was top of 23 years in a row before last year and now he's still sitting here as a double digit round target.

[Mike Clay]

I bypassed him for Rashid Shahid. Yes. Who was excellent last year for the Saints before he got Hurt.

[Field Yates]

So good.

[Mike Clay]

I mentioned this to somebody yesterday and I got some feedback. All right. I'm going to stop short of declaring this as like the clear favorites, but if you had to pick a team that picks number one next year in.

[Daniel Dopp]

The draft, The Saints and Browns. Yeah, those are the two.

[Mike Clay]

Okay. So, yeah, I am. The biggest concern for Rashid Shahid is just like, is he playing in a low function winning offense?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

And the answer is probably.

[Field Yates]

Probably yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

The odds are very good that they're going to struggle badly this year, but.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, maybe they won't. Just, I want to get ahead of this. I want to just, I don't know, I just slam the table rather than like do it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we heard. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Playing flag. Play the flag. How serendipitous would it be if the Saints had the number one pick in the draft? And the Saints, who have not picked a quarterback in the first round longer than anybody else in the entire NFL. I mean, it's 50 plus year. 50 years.

[Field Yates]

Is there a. Is there a former quarterback that played for that team that maybe could have a tie?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, perhaps. So maybe there's this kid named Arch Man. Yes. Who by the way is from New Orleans, played his high school ball there and is the grandson of Archie Manning, who was the last first round quarterback. The Saints have taken that. Wild.

[Field Yates]

That'd be a cool story.

[Mike Clay]

Wild.

[Field Yates]

That would be cool. All right. Since that pick, for what it's worth, Field took, I'm gonna go back. I took Keon Coleman. After that, Tank Bigsby, then Jaden Reed, then Jordan Mason and Austin Eckler. Field takes Rashid Shahid, then Tucker Kraft, Colston Loveland. These tight ends are not like the ones that we took earlier on Loveland.

[Daniel Dopp]

Maybe. I mean, a rookie tight end has led the position of fantasy points the last two seasons. Who's the most likely to do it this year? It would probably Loveland.

[Field Yates]

It could be probably Elijah Arroyo.

[Mike Clay]

The rest of the chat doesn't respect Mike, but I do. So I took Michael Pittman Jr. Who was still after Mike hyped up.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was hoping he. I shouldn't have talked about him. He wouldn't. He would have not made it back to me.

[Field Yates]

Doug Crap, Colton Loveland, Rashad White, Ameca Abuka, then took Michael Pittman.

[Daniel Dopp]

I like this book, is interesting to me. I think if Godwin Evans and McMillan are healthy, it's going to be really tough for him to be consistent fantasy starter. However, 2026, stock up. Yeah, if he made it, I mean if that runs out, maybe he's fine.

[Mike Clay]

But what stocks are doing well these days? Bitcoin's still doing well.

[Field Yates]

Bitcoin's still doing very well. It's not a stock, but yes, it's doing well.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, Bitcoin. How about. Wasn't Abercrombie and Fitch red hot recently too?

[Field Yates]

Probably. I don't know. I'm not.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, that's a great money throwing money around in the stock market. I don't.

[Mike Clay]

I'm sorry, I don't drink. Drink. $38 margarita.

[Daniel Dopp]

I spent all my money because he spent. I don't need to retire. I'm doing this until I die.

[Field Yates]

I'm retiring now. Oh, that's amazing. All right. After that we ended up having Justin Fields, Luther Burden, Jack Besh and Justin Herbert.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can we get some Besh? Yeah, come on.

[Field Yates]

Give me a little bit of love here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Deontay Thornton is like getting all the hype out there.

[Mike Clay]

I want some Dante Thortine, who is. Who was round pick out of Oregon and Tennessee. All right. I don't. I don't want to eat all my words. A little bit of a note of caution though is that Thorton is the kind of guy who's like tailor made to shine in these sorts of settings. He's huge and he freaking flies like, he's like rare speed for a player of that size. The problem was in college he would do it like 20 catches a year and then you'd be like, where is he the rest of the time? Right. Both at Oregon and Tennessee. He's one of those guys that constantly went left. You wanting more now? All the training camp reports have been excellent. I just thought that Jack Besh was a clearly superior prospect who was maybe the best route runner in the class, at least on the very short list. Guy caught everything that came in his way. So instinctive after the catch. He led LSU in receptions back as a true freshman when he was a hybrid wide receiver tight end. With guys like, like Brian Thomas Jr. And Malik neighbors also on the team, I am a just a Jack Besh guy. You just have to be patient because it might take a little while.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you think he even like prepped for the draft?

[Field Yates]

It doesn't seem like.

[Daniel Dopp]

Does he even know anything about any of these rookies?

[Field Yates]

Nah, not really. I'm thinking about taking a rookie here for what it's worth. For what I'm looking at my team, I don't believe that I need to grab either a wide receiver or running back. I'm pretty good at both spots, but I'm just going to keep building Depth. For me, it's either Jaden Higgins or it's deciding that Quinchon Judkins has just fallen too far. And even though obviously we think his suspension is going to happen, at what point do you say you have to consider.

[Daniel Dopp]

If you guys talked about that. But I'd be. I can't imagine he plays the beginning of the season. And even if he's active and signed, how much of a role does he play?

[Mike Clay]

I mean, there's, you know, I think let's. I'll.

[Field Yates]

It's a tough situation to even talk about.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

On behalf of the show, let's just say that there's not a whole lot that we can talk about until there's more clarity there surrounding a disturbing situation. So for sure, if you take him.

[Daniel Dopp]

There'S a reason he's moved way down the line.

[Field Yates]

Correct.

[Mike Clay]

This guy could be available week one, he might not be available until week seven. So let's just leave it there.

[Field Yates]

I'm going to go with Jaden Higgins and take another wide receiver here, someone that's going to be a potential high upside guy. Nico Collins missed a bunch of time last year, unfortunately. Hopefully that doesn't happen this year. But if he does, Jaden Higgins feels like he would be the number one X in that offense.

[Daniel Dopp]

We talked last year about them being a potential offense that could support three fantasy relevant receivers. Still C.J. stroud there, but after Nico Collins, who is it?

[Mike Clay]

It?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. No one. There's no tank Dell this season. Christian Kirk maybe, but he's getting a little older. I don't know where the ceiling is.

[Mike Clay]

There, but saying like the only part about the Christian Kirk trade that I'm having a hard time understanding is they paid him $16 million this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

It's a lot of money for him to just be like a very much third wide receiver.

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, but then again, Higgins was drafted to be an impact player. You don't spend that capital on a guy. I mean, he. If he's the real deal, which so far reports are good, he could very much be number two in the pecking order. And if that's the case, he'll be.

[Mike Clay]

Last two picture, by the way, Mike.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, sure are.

[Field Yates]

Especially in that offense. I'm not sure. I'm not loving either Joe Mixon or any of the other running backs. If you told me they had to throw the ball a ton, I am in on getting someone from this offense really quickly come in after that Jaden Higgins pick. Trey Harris comes off the board, then Tajie Spears, then Dallas Goddard and Mike Clay. Where did you go with the I.

[Daniel Dopp]

Went with the guy I think will be Cleveland as a lead back for at least the first half of the season, Jerome Ford. Especially since I went James Conner who I'm fine with are out of the gate. But Joe Mixon, what if he doesn't play? I need a another option there. Jerome Ford I think will be a guy we rank as an RB2 early in this.

[Field Yates]

Why don't we talk about your whole squad then we'll quickly go through each of our drafts and Mike, we'll start with yours. You had the number one overall pick. Let's throw yours draft back up on the screen and then go and talk through why you made some of the decisions that you made.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, this team's fine. I mean this will probably be my best team because it's not my favorite team. Sure, it's fine. I usually like picking from the one spot and I really got a good core out of the gate with Chase McConkey and Bowers. I feel really good about that.

[Field Yates]

That's great.

[Daniel Dopp]

Rasheed Rice a lot of upside but I did I take. I took some risks risks here just the way the draft went. Obviously Joe Mixon, Rasheed Rice and Chris Godwin commits time early in the season. So you know this is a. I'm playing to win it all. You know this is like a first or last team. I might have some problems early in the season or throughout the season if these guys don't play a lot like a Mixon or Godwin, but if they're out there and effective for a good chunk of the season, this team will be really good.

[Field Yates]

Your pass catchers are legit. I mean Jamar, Chase, Lad McConkey, Brock Bowers, Rashi Rice when he's back in healthy. Chris Godwin when he's back and healthy. You got to figure out the running back spot potentially but you've got yourself.

[Mike Clay]

Some really if they do their normal.

[Daniel Dopp]

If Connor and Mixon do their normal usual thing and Kyler finishes QB7, this team will be a contender.

[Field Yates]

And by the way you waiting at the running back spot and being able to get a guy in Jerome Ford that likely will start at least a number of games to start the season gives you really good starting value towards the end of the draft when you.

[Daniel Dopp]

Be like our RB 19 or 21 in week one probably and he was.

[Field Yates]

Drafted as running back 30 right now feel let's throw your draft up next. You had the number 10 overall pick.

[Mike Clay]

And I think I like it. Here we go. Quarterback Jaden Daniels, running backs from Arian Hampton and Bucky Irving. CD Lamb was my first pick. Good value there at number 10 to go along with Jalen Waddle. Evan Ingram is my tight end with Roma Dunze as my current flex backup. Options include Michael Pittman Jr. Rasheed Shahid and Tony Pollard.

[Daniel Dopp]

So.

[Mike Clay]

So it feels like I've insulated myself with some good wide receiver depth. Running back, not bad there as well. And I mean I just think I went for a lot of upside type players, right? Jaden Daniels could be quarterback one, CD Lamb could easily be wide receiver one. Amara Hampton could be a top 10 running back. So I am digging this team.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I like it.

[Mike Clay]

I do like this team.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's a fun team.

[Mike Clay]

Have we voted yet on whose team has the best?

[Field Yates]

We have field. I haven't even given out my team yet and we already know where the people are landing. I'm going to give out my team first though. But I believe that a good majority like you, maybe 58% or so like your squad. All right, my team, I had Joe Burrow had the quarterback spot, then Christian McCaffrey, DeAndre Swift, AJ Brown, Jerry Judy and George Kittle with David Montgomery as my flex, my starters. I wanted to go out and give this a shot, right. This is why we do mock drafts. I wanted to try something in a 12 team league. Let me grab a top tier tight end and a top tier quarterback and see how the rest of the squad plays out. I got a little bit of wide receiver work that I maybe have to do. I do have Khalil Shakir, Kian Coleman and Jaden Higgins. I got some high upside guys there as well as a decent floor option in Khalil Shakir. So I like this squad. For what it's worth, I'm not taking Joe Burrow or George Kittle out 17 weeks out of the season or 8, 16 of the 17 weeks they're going to be set it and forget it for me. So being able to make a couple of moves here potentially as well, having some nice running back depth. I like having Deemo and Swift and McCaffrey.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't, I don't know how these are determined but the top five power rankings after the draft in five, the five spot Daniel Dobbs team, the four spot Field Yates, third spot Player 4, second spot Player 7 and first spot Mike Clay, whoever that is.

[Mike Clay]

I wonder who comes up with those. Let me ask you a question. Do you care about some AI my Clay projections or AI is having a.

[Field Yates]

Couple too many margaritas? Is what I'm.

[Mike Clay]

What do the YouTube chat think?

[Field Yates]

YouTube chat said 58% field Yates for a draft. I mean, you got a good draft.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was a good team. I. I like field scene. I mean, mine's just, you know, wow. It's just solid. It gets the job done and it won championship.

[Field Yates]

So 25% went with Mike Clay. Only 15% went with me. For what it' worth. That's tough.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm not scared.

[Field Yates]

Honestly, I'd love to play this out. I think I could put my squad up against you guys any day of the week. This was a ton of fun, though. We got to run it back again next Monday. You guys down to do that?

[Daniel Dopp]

I will maybe do it.

[Mike Clay]

I don't know.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm not. I'm not here.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, Saint Tropez is next week.

[Field Yates]

Oh, that's right.

[Daniel Dopp]

But I'll be here all this week.

[Field Yates]

That's right. We're going to bring it back tomorrow. All three of us are going to be back to dive more into whatever we're going to talk about. I'll have to figure out what Mike wants to talk about.

[Daniel Dopp]

My clay.

[Field Yates]

Is it the clay book?

[Daniel Dopp]

Sure. Let's do it.

[Field Yates]

That's going to be.

[Mike Clay]

I got to break some news. That will be the first book that I have read in a decade.

[Daniel Dopp]

In a decade.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, do you count books at night for my.

[Field Yates]

I was going to say, do you not read to your children?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, last week I read two books. I mean, I was, you know, just on the beach, relaxing. I don't know if you guys know that I was away.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, you know, guys, people read books on the beach.

[Mike Clay]

Why do you. Why do you.

[Field Yates]

Why do people do that?

[Mike Clay]

I read. I read the labels of beer cans.

[Field Yates]

To find exactly where they're from. I read the back of my sunglasses and my eyes are closing. That's what I do.

[Daniel Dopp]

I just were busy, though. I mean, I just had the whole entire day.

[Field Yates]

Oh, we were busy, huh?

[Daniel Dopp]

Beach.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Thanks for that invite, Guild and I really appreciate it. That's going to do it for us today. Don't forget to love each other, even people like Mike Le. And be kind to yourself. You deserve it. We love you guys. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Three, two.

[Mike Clay]

You've seen the headlines, heard the debates. The three point ball has created a.

[Field Yates]

Monotonous rhythm to the game.

[Mike Clay]

Has the three pointer ruined basketball? And how did we get here? The rise of the three point shot can be partially traced to an eccentric Kansas genius named Martin Manley, whose story didn't turn out quite the way he imagined.

[Field Yates]

I decided I wanted to have one of the most organized goodbyes in history.

[Mike Clay]

30 for 30 podcast presents Chasing Basketball Heaven. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.