Fantasy Focus 12-Team PPR Superflex Mock Draft 🏈

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Fantasy Focus Football – 12-Team PPR Superflex Mock Draft 🏈"

Release Date: August 11, 2025

In this engaging episode of ESPN's Fantasy Focus Football, hosts Field Yates, Daniel Dopp, and Stefania Bell delve deep into a 12-Team PPR Superflex Mock Draft. They share their strategies, player evaluations, and mock draft experiences, providing listeners with valuable insights to optimize their fantasy football teams.

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1. Live Show Recap and Upcoming Events [00:32 - 03:53]

Before diving into the mock draft, the hosts reminisce about their recent live show in New York City, highlighting the vibrant energy and successful interactions with fans and celebrity guests. They also announce the upcoming ESPN Fantasy Football Ultimate Draft Weekend in the Bahamas, emphasizing exclusive events like the beach combine and live draft parties with NFL stars such as Todd Gurley and Kyle Rudolph.

Notable Quote:

• Field Yates [02:05]: "Shout out to the Gramercy Theater and the entire staff there, everybody that was in attendance, it was elite."

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2. Introduction to the Superflex Mock Draft [03:53 - 08:13]

Daniel Dopp introduces the main segment: a live 12-team PPR Superflex mock draft. He explains the nuances of a Superflex league, where participants can draft two quarterbacks, enhancing the value and strategy around selecting top-tier QB talent early.

Notable Quote:

• Daniel Dopp [03:55]: "Today on the show, we've got a live mock draft 12 team super flex mock draft. Yeah. We're going to dive into that in just a minute."

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3. Round-by-Round Mock Draft Analysis

Round 1 [08:13 - 12:35]

Field Yates secures the first overall pick, choosing Lamar Jackson, emphasizing his consistent QB ranking in Superflex formats. Stefania Bell takes the fifth pick, navigating through a quarterback-heavy first round and opting for running back Derek Henry to secure a strong positional foundation.

Notable Quotes:

• Field Yates [08:14]: "He's my number one ranked quarterback in a super flex league."
• Stefania Bell [16:37]: "I do think the wide receivers were much deeper and I had only a couple running backs. I wanted that position, so I took Derek."

Round 2 to 5 [12:35 - 27:05]

Daniel Dopp selects Dak Prescott as his second QB, reflecting confidence in his choice despite others' reservations. The hosts discuss the burgeoning values of emerging players like Trayvon Henderson and the strategic importance of balancing QB selections with strong RB and WR picks.

Notable Quotes:

• Daniel Dopp [21:10]: "I'm going to go with the guy that I have been hyping. I have been big on this guy all season, and that is Dak Prescott."
• Stefania Bell [19:42]: "I went down the board to Derek Henry because I had a choice of a couple of running backs."

Rounds 6 to 8 [27:05 - 56:22]

The discussion intensifies as the draft progresses. Stefania Bell opts for DeAndre Swift, valuing his versatility despite concerns about the Bears' offense. Field Yates focuses on building depth with wide receivers like Devonte Adams and Rasheed Rice, while Daniel Dopp emphasizes securing valuable WRs and tight ends, highlighting players like Terry McLaurin and Marvin Harrison Jr.

Notable Quotes:

• Stefania Bell [40:29]: "I took DeAndre Swift. He was in that group there."
• Field Yates [30:17]: "I'm taking Devonte Adams and Omarion Hampton here. So I end up filling out my squad."

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4. Strategic Insights and Player Evaluations

Throughout the mock draft, the hosts provide in-depth analysis of player potentials, injury concerns, and positional strengths. They debate the merits of stacking players from the same team, the importance of depth in Superflex leagues, and the risks associated with high-upside but injury-prone players.

Notable Quotes:

• Stefania Bell [34:02]: "I have to take him a little further down. That's why I like myself. Keon Coleman is a 11th round flyer."
• Daniel Dopp [35:08]: "Stefania, you are on the clock. Your squad least favorite spot to draft. But yet I still ended up with Jaden Daniels, which I was super happy about because I thought in a super flex league it'd go 1, 2, 3, 4, Bing Bing Ming quarterbacks."

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5. Team Overviews and Final Picks [56:22 - 71:14]

As the mock draft nears completion, each host reviews their drafted team, discussing strengths, potential weaknesses, and key decisions. They reflect on their draft strategies, the importance of flexibility, and the value of mock drafts in preparing for the real draft day.

Notable Quotes:

• Stefania Bell [63:05]: "He was killed on New Year's Eve where. And he's basically dedicated everything going forward in his life to the memory of his brother."
• Daniel Dopp [66:27]: "Stefania, you are rolling it. Go ahead."

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6. Best Ball and Draft Strategies Explanation [50:04 - 51:09]

Towards the end of the episode, hosts provide a brief explanation of the Best Ball format, emphasizing its differences from traditional redraft leagues. They highlight strategies specific to Best Ball, such as focusing on high-upside players who can maximize weekly scores without the need for active roster management.

Notable Quotes:

• Field Yates [50:25]: "Best ball is a great question."
• Stefania Bell [50:37]: "Like you might have Caleb Williams, pretty interesting, best ball player."

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7. Conclusion and Final Thoughts [71:11 - End]

Wrapping up the mock draft, the hosts encourage listeners to participate in as many mock drafts as possible to refine their strategies. They emphasize the importance of adaptability, continuous player evaluation, and proactive team management throughout the fantasy football season.

Notable Quote:

• Daniel Dopp [71:06]: "Dream you should be doing as many mock drafts as you possibly can to be able to understand how the board is going to break, understand when someone snipes you, how you need to be able to pivot, not get flustered in the moment."

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Key Takeaways:

• Superflex Advantage: Emphasizing the strategic importance of drafting multiple quarterbacks early to capitalize on the Superflex format.

• Positional Depth: Highlighting the deeper pool of wide receivers compared to running backs and tight ends, encouraging a balanced draft approach.

• Player Evaluation: Balancing high-upside players with consistent performers to mitigate risks associated with injuries and performance variability.

• Flexibility in Strategy: Adapting draft strategies based on real-time draft dynamics, such as sniper picks and positional runs.

This comprehensive mock draft session offers listeners actionable strategies and a deeper understanding of navigating a 12-team PPR Superflex league, setting them up for a successful fantasy football season.

Transcript

[Daniel Dopp]

Are you feeling more fulfilled now that you're back to work this Friday?

[Field Yates]

No, I need a vacation. See the movie that critics are saying is an awesome. Look at that crowd pleasing, fist pumping.

[Stefania Bell]

All out brawl of a film.

[Field Yates]

You're right about that.

[Daniel Dopp]

They're coming after our family.

[Stefania Bell]

Go fix this.

[Field Yates]

Oh, my. Nobody 2, rated R. Only in theaters Friday.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're in the 6 010. Fantasy. Fantasy Focus. What's good, friends? Welcome into Fantasy Focus Football alongside Field Yates Field. You're here with me every single week. But we got an upgrade today.

[Field Yates]

Hey.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, we had to do the entire show with Mike Clay last week. Nobody liked that. But now the incomparable Stefania Bell back from her camp tour. Stefania, it's so great to see you.

[Stefania Bell]

Thank you for having me back. I thought maybe, you know, I got Wally Pipped.

[Daniel Dopp]

We were going to change the locks on the door. You weren't going to be able to get in.

[Field Yates]

What's the opposite of Wally Pip? Like, the person who comes in like, holy crap, like, this is our backup quarterback. You know what? I made a pledge to myself after the Thursday Night live show in New York City, which was tremendous, that I would be a little nicer to Mike because everybody knows we're being, you know, we're being funny. Sarcastic, facetiously.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

And yet sometimes you still feel just a little. Just a little bit.

[Stefania Bell]

I mean, don't go being too nice. Let's. Boring, right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Exactly. I do want to say this. Today on the show, we've got a live mock draft 12 team super flex mock draft. Yeah. We're going to dive into that in just a minute. But first and foremost, I just want to say New York City. We did a live show this last weekend.

[Stefania Bell]

So fun.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was so much fun. First show back since the live show. Anything stand out to you about that show?

[Field Yates]

Everything.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, other than everything.

[Stefania Bell]

The energy was fantastic.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was great.

[Stefania Bell]

Like, it was super energy. And Gramercy Theater, like, Like, what a fun thing to be on the stage.

[Field Yates]

I know, it was wild that they were like, you know, like, we wanted obviously Taylor to perform, but we decided you guys were a bigger part of that.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's it.

[Field Yates]

I mean, again, I maybe would have gone the other direction, but humbled that they would consider us a bigger draw than her. So, yeah, shout out to the Gramercy Theater and the entire staff there, everybody that was in attendance, it was elite.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was unbelievable. And shout out to Chris Milhouse, our, our favorite comedian came by to be able to open the show for us, which was fantastic. It was a blast.

[Stefania Bell]

Somebody who's actually funny.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it was a ton of fun being able to do that. That's not the only live show that we've got planned though, my friends, because we also have the ultimate draft weekend coming up in just a few weeks. ESPN Fantasy Football Ultimate Draft Weekend is back for year two Stefania in the Bahamas. From August 21st through the 24th, enjoy an oceanfront stay at the luxurious Bahamar Resort and exclusive events like our one of a kind beach combine. You get to mingle with celebrity guests and NFL players throughout the weekend including Todd Gurley Golden, Kyle Rudolph and Stefania Bell will be there as well. Then get some insights from your favorite ESPN fantasy football experts before drafting your squad at our epic live draft party.

[Field Yates]

Let's go.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's going to be so much fun.

[Field Yates]

One last thing and then we're going to get into our 2 minute drill from the weekend. You'll figure out what that means in just a moment. The fantasy football marathon starts today.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, it does.

[Field Yates]

We totally undersold how important this is. We cannot wait for it to signature for event event for us every August. You guys know the drill. It starts tonight at 8 o' clock with fantasy football now. You guys know all about fantasy football now, but between then and Tomorrow night at 10pm, that's 26 hours fantasy content basically across every hour of ESPN programming, sports platform. Get up. Yeah, you name it.

[Stefania Bell]

It's radio.

[Field Yates]

Radio, obviously. Focus. We're back tomorrow there so we're pumped for the fantasy football marathon. Check us out. Tonight, 8 o' clock fantasy football now. The entire crew as you know it each and every year is back. We can't wait.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's going to be so much fun.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. So draft coming soon, right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, but field first. I think you know, coming out of the first weekend of real football, we decided why not put field on the tee and give him a fields 2 minute drill. Field. Jades, you get 2 minutes to talk about what you noticed from the weekend.

[Field Yates]

Two minutes and I'm going to operate like Tom Brady. Down by six points in the fourth quarter. Got to have a situation. The timer is going to populate here in just a moment and when it does, I'm going to start talking. And here we go. Go Patriots running back Trayvon Henderson. Welcome to the NFL. If you were looking to get a value on Henderson, goodbye. It's gone. Did you see him run 100 yards on the opening play of Patriots preseason action? He is fast. That's confirmed. Ramandre Stevenson, you Probably will have a role especially early on in the season, maybe even as the starter. But I continue to believe this is like Bucky Irving last year. It's just a matter of time before Trayvon Henderson takes over. Tedro McMillan. I see. You see loud and clear, my friend. Excellent early season chemistry between you and Bryce Young. The most important thing I saw between those two players was Bryce Young. Just saying. I'm going to throw it up to the guy who's 6 foot 4 and 219 pounds. Two great catches from T. Mac in their opening game against the Cleveland Browns. Travis Etienne might have the early edge in the Jaguars backfield race. Now I'm not sure that it will matter. Throughout the course of the season we could see a variety of backs play a role. But when the Jaguars had their starting offensive players on the field on Friday night, it was Travis Etn who was running with Trevor Lawrence and the guys that we would call the starters. By the way, big boom From Cam Little 70 yard field goal. Are you kidding me? Crush was an absolute monster shot from the Jaguars kicker. I think it should count in the NFL record book. Tony Pollard, you remain a very boring but useful value in fantasy football. Especially because Tajie Spears has a high ankle sprain that was suffered over the weekend. He's probably going to miss the next few weeks of preseason. The backfield behind Tony Pollard was already thin. Even with Tajie Spears. It's thinner right now. Tony Pollard in line for a lot of work. He was top 10 in touches last season. Last but not least. We've been waiting for some sort of update from the Rams themselves on Matthew Stafford that was anything other than vague and perhaps disappointing good news through a lot yesterday or a couple days ago. According to Sean McVay. He he's expected to practice later on today. Monday. The Rams have always been amongst the most transparent teams in the NFL. They have cautioned things look okay. It seems like seems like we are trending in a decent direction for Matthew Stafford. Good news for Puka Nukua, Devonte Adams and Kyren Williams. Wow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right on the clock.

[Stefania Bell]

How about that?

[Daniel Dopp]

Unbelievable. You didn't even give the offense the chance to come back and score again.

[Field Yates]

Field Tom Brady, baby. We're setting up.

[Stefania Bell]

Are we allowed to have a little overtime of a few seconds?

[Daniel Dopp]

Please to find give us a little.

[Stefania Bell]

Overtime camp where the Rams were practicing.

[Daniel Dopp]

Did you hear anything about Matthew Stafford?

[Stefania Bell]

I watched him.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay. You didn't touch him though, right?

[Stefania Bell]

I did not touch him. But I gleaned a few extra things about Matthew Stafford. So first of all, this is a disc problem that Matthew Stafford has dealt with in the past. And when you have an acute episode on a chronic problem, you can get a flare up. And what are the Rams gonna do? They're not gonna start him during the preseason. They don't like to start their starters anyway. And not having in practice makes total sense, people. It's been reported he had an epidural. That's an injection to calm inflammation. That's totally normal for this kind of thing.

[Daniel Dopp]

Sure.

[Stefania Bell]

The fact that he traveled to Oxnard from where the Rams are so that they could have this joint practice and the fact that he stood at practice and was communicating with Jimmy G the whole time also for the PT and me is like, that is a very good sign. They weren't worried about him traveling, weren't worried about him standing around. It was always planned that he would come back and do drills. Today it will be just drills, not a full practice. But I think everything is the goal is week one and I doesn't matter to me what he does between now and then. I think he'll be ready.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love that we want that to happen. Obviously the Rams would be a very different team without Matthew Stafford. Only thing I'll say very quickly is all my best ball squads were really excited that Keaton Mitchell had nine carries for 68 yards and a touchdown. Just seeing him come back from injury, like I said, it's best ball. It's not redraft. We're not going to mention him today when we do our Super Flex draft.

[Field Yates]

But it wasn't Keaton. No. It was Justice Hill, who John Harbaugh infamously called the co starter last year with Derrick Henry. They're both starters.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I don't know about that. One of these starters is not like the other is what I would say to Mr. Harbaugh there. All right, we got a mock draft Monday 12 team PPR super flex mock draft field. Yates, you've got the first overall pick. Stefania, you've got the fifth pick. I've got the 10th pick. We're just going to unveil this thing and get things rolling right now.

[Field Yates]

Let's do it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Now the first pick in the draft and again, it's Super Flex or just a reminder that essentially functions as a two quarterback league draft. It does not literally function as a two quarterback league draft. But that offensive player position has me leaning towards Lamar Jackson. Number one overall. I've been consistent. He is my number one ranked quarterback in a super flex league. I am Always looking to leave with at least one quarterback in my first two selections, ideally two, when I have the number one overall pick in the draft. No issue taking Lamar Jackson here. And I would not be surprised if the first round is filled with quarterbacks.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, you're going to probably have a big run at the quarterback spot, at least at the top of the draft. Right. Because it feels like we've got. And we talked about these quarterback tiers. That first tier is probably going to come off the board really quickly. And then you start to see where does everyone else value these players. First three so far, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and then Jamar Chase comes off the board at pick number three. Surprised a little bit there. Although again, just because it's a super flex draft, you know, quarterback's a little bit deeper. If you decided you wanted to wait and grab one in the second and third round, you know, especially with where you're at, I don't think you're going to get bad value there either.

[Field Yates]

I think Stefania benefits. I mean, I don't want to make her pick for her, but we've been talking about how there are at least four quarterbacks at the very top and.

[Daniel Dopp]

You'Re picking at five.

[Stefania Bell]

Wonder who I'm going to take.

[Daniel Dopp]

Brock Purdy still on the board.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah. Super flex. Like I could have two.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, you're right.

[Stefania Bell]

Quarterbacks. Like I went with Jaden Daniels. I have. I think I feel like Jaden Daniels little polarizing among some people in terms of top quarterbacks. I've seen some chatter on the Internet and I've been doing a few drafts where people are like, oh, I don't know about taking Jaden Daniels that high. I think we've. We talked about tears. We talked about quarterbacks in that tier and we know that we had Joe Burrow. Always is kind of like the last one on that bubble of the first year. Yeah, I love Jaden Daniels. I would choose to take him over Jalen. Hurts me personally. I think Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, I could flip either way. Number one on them. But I'm super thrilled that somebody decided Jamar Chase should go right there in the first.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I was thinking about those people that maybe have some skepticism about Jaden Daniels, which I haven't seen as much of, but they're morons. Just for the record, they're idiots.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm not.

[Field Yates]

I want to congratulate you on being some of the dumbest people I've ever heard in the entire world of fantasy football. So if you're one of those People. I'm sorry, they maybe didn't get to see enough.

[Stefania Bell]

Like, just. They'll be watching this year when they don't have him, and they'll be rethinking their position.

[Field Yates]

They. They just. They actually went into hibernation from July until the end of January last year.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's what it is. Okay, I.

[Field Yates]

You're up, Daniel.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I'm at a spot now I don't really love. So all the top quarterbacks came off the board after Stefania. We ended up having.

[Stefania Bell]

Patrick Mahomes is still on there.

[Daniel Dopp]

Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, and Jameer Gibbs. Yeah, I mean, Patrick Mahomes just hasn't. If I'm drafting Patrick Mahomes, I'm drafting name value. Right.

[Stefania Bell]

I couldn't look at Baker laughing because that's what we're saying. All the top quarterbacks are off the board, and then this guy.

[Daniel Dopp]

I feel like I'm at a spot now where I would almost rather take the best positional player. Now. I'm going to pick again here in five picks and just let one of these quarterbacks come back to me. So I actually think I'm going to go at the running back spot here.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

You guys know that I'm not a Saquon Barkley believer this year as much as everyone else, so I'm going to go with my guy because everyone knows that I'm a Niners fan, and that's Christian McCaffrey.

[Field Yates]

This is the second time you've done this in the mob.

[Daniel Dopp]

I've been very consistent. You can disagree with me, but, like, I feel very confident with the way that I am approaching my drafts, and I am anything but.

[Field Yates]

It's your team, man. You do whatever you want. I just think there are going to be people who are like, wait, so you're worried about Saquon Barkley, who's younger and healthier, but cmc, I guess I don't know about. He's healthier. They're both equally healthy right now, but not worried about cmc.

[Stefania Bell]

Saquon ridden a scooter across the field with no shirt on.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, I don't.

[Field Yates]

I, you know, haven't been tracking the scooters that closely, but it's. I'm gonna go.

[Stefania Bell]

We talked about this at the live show. I did see that at the 49ers camp. So if you're just. If that was a consideration in terms of who should go first.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, Sake one does come off the board right after my pickup to player 11. And then CD Lamb goes there. So now we're at the turn. So all the quarterbacks that we thought would come off the board in the first round basically did Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Jaden Daniels and Joe Burrow.

[Field Yates]

No one reaches no major surprise in the first round because obviously it's just the guys that we normally see plus the quarterbacks.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Field Yates]

And there are obviously some players that escaped the first round. We see a lot of Ashton Genti in round one, Malik Neighbors. I'm on Ross St. Brown in round one because we had what, half a dozen or so quarterbacks taken? So no major surprises here. A lot of quarterbacks early.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

Ooh.

[Daniel Dopp]

Coming after Saquon was CD Lamb, then Puka Nukua, then Baker Mayfield. I'm on the clock and I am going to take a quarterback here because it's going to be an eternity until the clock gets back to me in the fourth round.

[Field Yates]

Hold on. Before you. You can make your pick. But as you make your pick, were you disappointed that Baker went off the board?

[Daniel Dopp]

Baker would have probably been the guy that I. It would have been between Baker and the guy that I'm going to draft right now, which is bonix.

[Field Yates]

Okay, so both. So you're passing on Patrick Mahomes for both?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. Mahomes would be behind both of those players for me.

[Field Yates]

It's hot. Take now, like, where do we think that is? Because the scary part about. About downplaying the potential for Patrick Mahomes and not downplaying it, but like taking other players a little bit ahead of him is this Patrick Mahomes goes absolutely nuclear this season. Which he's Patrick Mahomes. He's certainly capable of doing it. Like, look like a big dummy. Right. Because it sucks now. Like, if Bo Nix wins NFL mvp, is anybody going to be sitting there saying like, I can't believe you morons didn't have Bo Nicks on your MVP ballot before the season began. Probably not. Right? Like it would be unlikely for Beau to explode and take over the NFL in a way in which we have seen big Patrick Holmes take over the NFL. Yeah, but is that the right way to approach your fantasy analysis? Like, hey, I'm basically protecting against sort of the best case scenario of one player who has more of a known quantity nature to him, like Mahomes.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, the known quantity, like we would have said a couple years ago, but now in fantasy football, it doesn't feel like he's a known quantity field. He hasn't even averaged 18 fantasy points in two straight years. He had as many 20 point games last year as cover your ears. Anthony Richardson did. Anthony Richardson had as many 20 point fantasy games as Patrick Mahomes. And we're talking about how he's still up at the top here.

[Field Yates]

There are going to be some people that are mad at you for yelling, which is. Okay. What I would say is this is. I think if you're sitting there and you're saying this is a bombastic thought to have Patrick Mahomes behind Bo Nix and Baker Mayfield.

[Daniel Dopp]

I just think they're close.

[Field Yates]

Just. You just got to remember that, like, it's not just the ceiling, it's the floor. And I think it's. And I would argue that it's inarguable that Bose floor or Baker. Baker Mayfield's floor is at least comparable, if not better to Patrick.

[Daniel Dopp]

Mom, I would. I absolutely agree. I. Patrick Mahomes, I think you kind of. I was just going to roll over it. I didn't want to. I don't want to land on that. But I will just say this. Everything that you said about Patrick Mahomes, if there's one player that's going to make you look silly or has the potential, we know that Pat can do it. I mean, the dude is unbelievable. Yeah, we're. We're throwing a bunch of different names. Yeah, we're. We're buds. So regardless, though, here's the deal. When I draft, I know what my board looks like. I want to draft with conviction. I want to draft the players that I want to take. I'm not worried about what all the other teams. You guys manage your own team. I'll worry about managing my team. So I'm very good with drafting Bonix or Baker Mayfield ahead of Patrick Mahomes this year. He did end up coming off the board. Stefania, you are on the clock.

[Field Yates]

I'm on the clock, actually.

[Stefania Bell]

Actually, I actually. You guys just glossed right over me.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, so let me catch up here. So after Bo Nicks, it was Malik Neighbors, then Devon Achan, then Patrick Mahomes, Ashton Genty and Stefania. You were on the clock. Where did you decide to go?

[Stefania Bell]

I went down the board. If you go by just strictly what the rankings were for all players, I went down the board to Derek Henry because I had a choice of a couple of running backs. There we were. Now Ashton Genti, I was eyeing. Right. But he got sniped right before me. I was so psyched to have him. But I'm not going to complain about Derek Henry. You guys know how I feel about him. I was a huge Advocate for him last year when he went over to Baltimore and he had basically a career year. I think there's plenty more of that left in the tank. So I went to Derek Henry. I feel like running backs are a little. I had to look at my position and go. And you guys know I don't love drafting at the five spot. Like, this is like the middle of the pack.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

I believe that's Italian for heartburn.

[Stefania Bell]

No, it's the word I use all the time, and it is very stressful for me. I don't love it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Stefania Bell]

But I felt like the wide receivers were much deeper and I had only a couple running backs. I wanted that position, so I took Derek.

[Field Yates]

I remember it was like 10 days after the season ended for the Ravens last year, and Derrick Henry posted some insane workout video on Instagram. And I was like, dude, I gotta check that out. I checked it out and I was like, I gotta do that at some point. I never actually did it, but I told myself I was gonna do it.

[Stefania Bell]

The lengths of chains that are usually like, to boat anchors. Yeah. They're like tied to.

[Daniel Dopp]

They're bigger my thigh and I'm supposed to, like, pull them around. Come on now.

[Field Yates]

I had two picks at the turn. And because you're picking at the turn, a reminder, people, like, when you're picking at the turn and you've got 25 picks between you or 23 picks between you, if you have someone you want, you need to plan on that player not being there on the other side. And so for me, it wasn't that. And I took Brock Purdy, who I'm totally thrilled with Brock, as my second.

[Daniel Dopp]

Quarterback here, who came off the board just so that people know. Who else who came off that you couldn't draft?

[Field Yates]

Field players I couldn't draft were Kyler Murray. You mentioned Amon Ra and Nico.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, so they came off after Stefania.

[Field Yates]

But I'm saying to myself, if I don't take a quarterback here, I'm staring at the possibility, maybe not the guarantee, but the possibility of my second quarterback being one of, like, Cam or Bryce young, Michael Pennix Jr. Geno Smith, who are all okay options in two quarterback leagues. But I'm looking for better than okay. I do believe the driving force between a lot of super flex teams that are successful is two elite quarterbacks. So I feel really good about my quarterback room. And then I got to be honest with you, I actually was going to hit Q on Josh Jacobs and I instead hit draft on Josh Jacobs. But I'm okay with it. Like, what's wrong with Josh Jacobs now? I was going to go with a running back. I was debating between him, Bucky Irving and Jonathan Taylor. I don't really have, I didn't say to myself like, can I time out, pause the draft.

[Daniel Dopp]

Hold on, let's roll it back.

[Stefania Bell]

You did want to be that guy who said that.

[Field Yates]

You know the problem with like that guy? We did the mock draft project this summer, so we probably drafted together what, 40 times this summer?

[Daniel Dopp]

Sounds like it.

[Field Yates]

And when someone would roll it back and it'd always be like July at 1pm and a lot of us would be like, you know, hey, like I'm at the beach or I'm like, you know, whatever, like I'm out to lunch. But I'm doing the mock draft, which is a very fun thing to do. And it's an important project we do. But someone's like, hold on. Hey, Keith, can you roll back nine picks? I accidentally took someone in the 14th round. I'm like, oh my God.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm like, I didn't need to draft Mike Kosicki. I was honestly looking at, I forgot.

[Field Yates]

The no offhand news. So like, you know, I'm like, that's funny.

[Daniel Dopp]

You should have like a number of roll for what it's worth. Like if you are doing a draft, there should only be a finite number of rollbacks that you do before you're like, no more.

[Field Yates]

At this point it's like golf. You get one Mulligan.

[Stefania Bell]

I was gonna say everybody should get one and that's fair.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay. All right. So since that pick, for what it's worth, Field, you took Brock Purdy coming up the board. Since then, Jonathan Taylor, who you talked about, Brock Bowers, Chase Brown and then Stefania, you were on the clock. Where did you decide to go?

[Stefania Bell]

I went with Brian Thomas Jr. I wanted a top wide receiver. I, I, I was listening to Field's argument about my second quarterback, but I'm pretty comfortable with as long as my second guy can put up close to double digit points every week. And I'm going to assume that I'm going to have that option still available to me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I like that call. Stefania. I'm now on the clock. So once you took Brian Thomas, Justin Fields, Drake London, AJ Brown and Kyron Williams came off the clock. As a reminder, my roster right now is just Bo nicks and Christian McCaffrey.

[Field Yates]

So I want to give Daniel some credit on something that because I was having a conversation with someone over the weekend about Chase Brown and Daniel said something once, and I'm like, now that I can never unsee it or unhear it, I guess. Unsee or hear. Yeah. Chase Brown, Austin Eckler. Like, it's the number. It's the way they play. It's. It's the size. You're just like. Every time you watch them, you're like, oh, my God. Did you guys see Sidney Brown, the twin brother of Chase Brown.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Tackle Chase Brown in the game over the weekend or Friday. Whatever.

[Daniel Dopp]

Very cool.

[Field Yates]

Good moments.

[Stefania Bell]

I didn't.

[Daniel Dopp]

I didn't notice that you were doing. You probably had a lot of stuff you were still working on. Fun. You're working the phones.

[Field Yates]

Anyways. Yeah. So Chase Brown goes high here. Chase Brown continues to move up. He's climbing and up in rankings. For whatever it's worth, I've been checking out the ADP changes over on ESPN.com and again, this is a super Flex leak, so everything needs to be accounted for accordingly. But the biggest risers right now in adp, two Patriots, Drake May and Trayvon Henderson.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, Henderson makes sense because after you saw what he. I mean, just. That opening kickoff return was electric. I mean, come on.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

I got to say this really quickly. I'm on the clock right now at pick 10. One of the reasons why I like picking here is because it lets me look ahead a little bit to what the other two teams are drafting at the turn are doing. Team 11 already has one quarterback, and they've got Saquon BARKLEY.

[Field Yates]

But player 12, that team's trash.

[Daniel Dopp]

They got two wide receivers in Puka and CD Lamb. So I'm almost guaranteed that they're going to draft one, if not two, quarterbacks, which means I'd have to take a quarterback here. I feel like rather than wait until my next pick in five picks. So I'm going to go with the guy that I have been hyping. I have been big on this guy all season, and that's Dak Prescott buying this Cowboys passing game. I am not bought in on their running game. This is not something that I feel like Dak now getting George Pickens. I still love Jake Ferguson. There's a lot of options I think, that we could see. We've seen Dak do it before, so grabbing him as my number two quarterback. I wanted to grab him here at the tail end of the third.

[Stefania Bell]

We talked about Dak being in a higher tier than where he seems to be valued in terms of position.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Stefania Bell]

Looks good. Just saw him too. Saw him out at camp. By the way, I posted a picture of him. I think it was in my story, so it's gone, but I might post it up again. And I was standing right behind him, and I took a picture. You know, they're in shorts because they're practicing. And I said, which hamstring do you think was the one that was torn off the bone? And for the people that guessed, they all guessed the wrong one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Really?

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah. And I'll leave it at that. But I'm gonna. I think I'll repose that.

[Field Yates]

Was there some atrophy involved?

[Stefania Bell]

Atrophy is a word that would be, you know, something that you might think of.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay. All right.

[Stefania Bell]

But I'll. You know what? I'll post it again.

[Daniel Dopp]

I like it. Yes.

[Stefania Bell]

And then I'll give you the answer when we have this podcast.

[Field Yates]

My new homepage is WebMD, so I treated upon atrophy.

[Stefania Bell]

Good luck with that.

[Field Yates]

Things like that gastrointestinal, like, little.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't know what that is. Feel that feel. That's your. That's what you're searching on.

[Stefania Bell]

It feels like your hot sauce thing.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's why.

[Stefania Bell]

That's why you were searching.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right.

[Field Yates]

My diet right now is strictly made. I'm like, it's. It's so bad. It is chicken nuggets.

[Daniel Dopp]

Chicken nuggets.

[Field Yates]

It's grilled cheese.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

I was gonna say it's bland. It's bland.

[Daniel Dopp]

What is so bad about that?

[Stefania Bell]

He couldn't handle the hot sauce. That's why. Because he was on, you know, kid food.

[Field Yates]

It never stops. It's unbelievable.

[Daniel Dopp]

You used to put a little Frank's hot sauce on the Mac and cheese, but now you're like, I've sworn off hot sauce all together.

[Field Yates]

It's so. It's like it's bedtime last night. It's like 7:45. And my 2 year old who wakes up early, so sometimes we try to make. We make sure she goes to bed with a full belly, like 7:45. Like she had just finished brushing her teeth and like, bedtime. And she's like, I want waffles.

[Stefania Bell]

Oh, my God.

[Field Yates]

You freaking kidding me? I'm like, it's 7:45. I'm like, you're not getting a goddamn waffle.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's hilarious. You do not get to dictate that. But it's.

[Field Yates]

But if I do. If I do cave, however, I get the leftovers.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's right. That's fair. All right. For what it's worth, I feel like I called this. It seemed very obvious.

[Stefania Bell]

It's going to be fun as an adult.

[Daniel Dopp]

Forget about it.

[Field Yates]

I know she's going to be like, I want to finish last in my fantasy league so I can go do 24 hours in waffle House.

[Stefania Bell]

I was thinking of something different, but okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Since I took Dak Prescott, that came off the board. It was Trey McBride, then Team 12, who had no quarterbacks, did in fact take two Justin Herbert and Drake May, who has been rising up draft boards like you just said, field. And then Jared Goff comes off the board. I don't need a third quarterback, so I'm pivoting to what I just think is best player available right now. I don't have any wide receivers. Wide receivers available to me are T. Higgins, Tyreek Hill, Lad McConkey, Devonte Adams. That's probably the range that I would look at. But Bucky Irving is still here, and I don't think that I'm going to be able to get another guy surprised. That's. That's good.

[Stefania Bell]

That's fascinating.

[Daniel Dopp]

I feel like that's just too good a value. Even though I'd love to grab a pass catcher, I just. I think that I have to go with Bucky, given the fact that he fell to me. So I've got Bo Nicks, CMC, Bucky Irving and Dak Prescott as my starting four in this 12 team super flex.

[Field Yates]

I tell you what, though, we're nearly, what, three and a half rounds in and there's really no major surprise picks.

[Daniel Dopp]

Nothing.

[Field Yates]

There's no one that I'm sitting there saying to myself like, oh, my God, someone already took whatever Mark Andrews.

[Stefania Bell]

Let's see what happens.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

On the clock.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. Since I took Bucky Irving, you had Caleb Williams came off the board and then Trevor Lawrence. Here's that run on these, like QB2s, right? And this, you couldn't wait field because it's just. By the time that you were able to get it, it would be really tough.

[Field Yates]

Here.

[Daniel Dopp]

At the end of the fourth, James Cook also comes off the board.

[Stefania Bell]

Interesting, because there's. There's what we call uncertainty around James Cook. I think there. There was conversation about the fact that it was like he was given the option to play. He declined to play. That didn't really surprise me. It sounded like they had a conversation before based on the way it was reported. But yeah, the point being he is still not playing.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, of course. James Cook looking for that. That new.

[Stefania Bell]

It's starting to get interesting.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, Stefania got snip six. Who took George Kittle? We're not letting you draft any 49ers. This draft Stefania, I know well that.

[Stefania Bell]

You know what, I like seeing the 49ers get some love, so I am okay with that. I was eyeing Caleb, Caleb Williams. I would have been very happy with him as my second quarterback. I went with J.J. mcCarthy, my second quarterback. I thought he looked really good moving around. This, this is what we wanted to see. Right. He had a lateral meniscus repair last year, cost him the season. So here he is. Even though, you know, he kind of did the rookie training camp thing until he got hurt. Yeah, we haven't seen him play other than the few snaps he played before he got hurt. And so to see him come out moving the way he did. Kevin o' Connell talked about it. Like he said he even stole one. Like he advanced it for a first down. So you like to see him move with the legs. He was throwing. Well, I think J.J. mcCarthy could be sneaky, productive.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Mike has talked about him a little bit this offseason. Being a guy that he likes if he waits at the position. And obviously we saw last year field in this Kevin O' Connell offense. Sam Darnold put up over 300 fantasy points and was quarterback nine.

[Field Yates]

He was awesome.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, like, I mean this is. And I don't want to take a shot at Sam Darnold. I was pumped for him. I hope that he does really well in Seattle. But if Sam Darnold can do that, it gives us some excitement as to what JJ McCarthy can do because it feels like Kevin O' Connell just. Just knows how to run an offense.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, totally. And he, he's an elite offensive mind. He's great with like quarterback emotional intelligence. I'll say this, and I'm just reminding people, I'm not trying to cause concern here. Just a reminder. Justin Jefferson not yet back on the practice field. He continues to say the right things. The Vikings are always very good about being transparent. Kevin o' Connell is about where they think things are at. We know Jordan Addison will miss the first three games, but we hope slash expect Jetta is back on the field. We have what, nearly four weeks until the regular season.

[Stefania Bell]

I always say this. I like to know, like who are the people who are caring for these athletes and so on. Tyler Williams in Minnesota came from the Rams who have literally the best staff in terms of medical training, performance and team players off the injury report during the year. I am sure they have a very, very good plan for Justin Jefferson. So I feel good about him.

[Daniel Dopp]

Since you took J.J. mcCarthy off the board. Was C.J. stroud Jordan love and then T. Higgins field and you're on the clock for two.

[Field Yates]

I am going to do something fun right now. I'm going to take Devonte Adams. I don't know why that's fun but I'm taking Devonte Adams and I'm taking Omarion Hampton here. So I end up filling out my.

[Daniel Dopp]

Another guy that's been rising up two running back.

[Field Yates]

Yeah he is amongst the. He had a Hampton ha. Actually like an earlier August push up the boards.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Like he's already made that jump. Other it's, it's. It's kind of steadied right now. Again the uncertainty surrounding Najee Harris persists. He's still on the non football injury list. So Hampton and Devonte Adams. I go double dip on the Los Angeles front there. Devonte Adams feels like this is for as to the extent that a fit can be perfect when a player is 30, 31 years old, 32 years old. This feels like it's perfect.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Field Yates]

I mean the Rams during the Sean McVeigh tenure have ranked in the top five in cumulative wide receiver target share. Like basically every season as we know the offense, the passing game runs through the wide receivers.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

We talk about teams that don't throw the football to their lead running back a lot and one of the common threads is running quarterbacks. Right. Saquon Barkley now in Philadelphia, Jonathan Taylor when Anthony Richardson is on the field in Indianapolis. Guys like that. Right. The difference in. In who talking about oh the Rams is good right there is that Matthew Stafford doesn't run and he still doesn't throw the football to the backs all that much because they're too busy peppering their wide receivers with targets. So Hampton and Devonte Adams rocking and rolling here.

[Daniel Dopp]

So who do you got now through five rounds field you had the number one overall pick. When you look at your squad through five rounds, who did you start with here?

[Field Yates]

Yep. So Lamar was my first pick. I technically took Josh Jaco with my end of round two pick but obviously he and Brock Purdy went back to back so unimportant in the grand scheme. So I have my two quarterbacks filled up with Lamar and Brock Purdy. My two running backs with Josh Jacobs and Amari and Hampton to what I think potential workhorses. Certainly one in Josh Jacobs and then Devonte Adams who should be getting I could see 140 targets this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

I like that. That's a good looking squad to start.

[Field Yates]

Adams has held up well health wise throughout his career. He's obviously a remarkably tough guy. Last year, remember he was hamstring. Injuried. That was one hamstrung.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, he was hamstring.

[Field Yates]

And then he got, he got traded and like, you know, like six hours later, he was like full participant in practice.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was something.

[Field Yates]

Those things were always.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, well, coming out of that Omarion Hampton pick, we had Tua then lad McConkey, Alvin Camara. And then speaking of guys coming off of injuries, Stefania Bell, you grabbed a wide receiver here.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, I took Tyree Kill, supposedly dealing with an oblique injury. I'm not that worried about preseason. Remember, you got to remember some of these injuries, some are significant. And I'm not saying they're not real, but if there's a hint of something, the thing you worry about the most. Here's one of your favorite words, Daniel.

[Daniel Dopp]

Recidivism.

[Stefania Bell]

Oh, my gosh. I love you so much for saying. I pay attention when you speak much for saying that. Yes, you're worried about recidivism. You're worried about things with soft tissue injuries. Hamstring, oblique. Is this something that's going to come back? Because the biggest concern is if you have a recurrence, that second injury is usually worse. Just ask Mike Evans. Hamstring injury last year. So with that in mind, I, I expect players to wrestle off their stars. They know the offense, they know what they're doing. I'm not worried about it. And Tyree Kill, last I checked, is pretty good player. Some people might be worried. Based on last year, I understand that there were issues with the offense that were much bigger. We know all about them. He also had a wrist injury that while, you know, people might be, you know, speculating what was going on there. He ultimately had a surgery to repair a ligament in your wrist, which, if it's torn, leaves your wrist unstable and does make it difficult to bend certain ways to get it jammed, to block, to catch. So, yeah, that was at least part of the issue for him.

[Daniel Dopp]

There was a lot better, a lot of instability in that Dolphins offense Last year.

[Field Yates]

He feels like one of the swing players in fantasy.

[Daniel Dopp]

This year he does.

[Field Yates]

When I say swing player, I mean a guy who, like, could determine leagues because the good, the best case scenario and worst case scenario are just so far apart. I'm with you, Stefania. Like, we can't ignore some of the circumstances from last year. I'm not worried about the health right now at Tyreek Hill. I'm worried about. This is kind of a, like sort of a maybe a little bit of a cop out, turn the vibes right. It Just feels like that entire organization is on edge right now, especially on the offensive side of the ball, defensive. And they're just like.

[Stefania Bell]

It feels like if they click, it could be great. And if things fall apart, if Tua gets hurt. We've seen what happens to the offense when he's not available. So, yeah, it is a bit of a swing, so. But I don't think football.

[Field Yates]

You don't get points for middle. Right.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Stefania Bell]

And he's also my second wide receiver. Like, there's a. There's a place where Tyree could finish as a wide receiver. One.

[Daniel Dopp]

Absolutely.

[Field Yates]

Sure. Yeah. That's the swing. He could be the highest scoring receiver or, you know, top five in fantasy.

[Stefania Bell]

Value pick for me there. I'm fine with it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep. All right. So since you took Tyreek Hill, jsn came off the board, then Garrett Wilson, Bryce Young and Matthew Stafford. I don't. This is not a bad thing for team eight and team nine, Player eight and player nine. But these are the quarterbacks that I don't want to have as my QB2s if I can help it. It's why I try to target some of those early. It's just being honest. I love Matthew Stafford for what it's worth. Right.

[Stefania Bell]

But just want to make sure.

[Field Yates]

Not that much.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I do like Dak Prescott a little bit more. All right, so for my squad right now, this is the last for me, the last pick of the fifth round. We got two more coming up after me. I got Bo Nix and Dak Prescott maining the quarterback spot. I got Christian McCaffrey and Bucky Irving, and I think I'm just getting good value here. People are nervous that Terry McLaurin is not in practice, that there's not like a resolution to what's going on.

[Field Yates]

I'm like, probably, I'd say two and a half weeks away from being worried about that one.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, then for another two and a half weeks, I'm going to draft Terry McLaurin and I'll buy the dip that he's had in his adp, because it does feel like there is a little bit of people being like, well, what happens if Terry McLaurin doesn't play football this year? Is he maybe going to get traded? Like, I look at a guy last year that had over 80 catches, almost 1100 yards, had had 13 touchdowns, still going to be the wide receiver, one of that offense. I think I just got more value on McLaren here than I would have if we were drafting a month ago.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I would agree on you're getting. You're definitely getting value. People are scared off a little bit right now on McLaurin because of the fact that there's some level of uncertainty. It feels, feels a little bit different to me than James Cook for this. This is the only reason why I say it is the cost for Terry McLaurin to miss a game, a missed game. Check. I think he makes $18 million this year. It's over a million. It's a million bucks a week. Right?

[Daniel Dopp]

It's a good amount of money.

[Field Yates]

James Cook is at. This is still in like an unbelievable amount of money, but he's making like a third of what he does where it's like if you're going to stand on, on, on. On business and potentially miss games, it hurts a little more to miss a million bucks even when you've made a whole lot more money. I wouldn't know, like term. Same, all of us, correct? Yes, same. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

You know, thank you, Stefania, for speaking the truth. I still feel like McLaren is going to be out there. I mean, I listen and mind you, it's my wide receiver one because I attacked the running back and quarterback position with it being a super flex league. So for me, I'm all right with this. I understand the uncertainty that happens here, but I believe that I'm going to get a really good wide receiver and I'm back on the clock since I took TM. TMC, Terry McLaurin. I don't think that's a nickname. I think I just made that up in the spot. Mike Evans came off the board, then Kenneth Walker iii, Chuba Hubbard and Breeze Hall. So I'm back on the clock again. I don't need another running back here. The top wide receivers that I'm looking at, Marvin Harrison Jr.

[Field Yates]

I've got a very specific target in mind, but keep going.

[Daniel Dopp]

DK Metcalf and for me, it's Rashi Rice.

[Field Yates]

Like it?

[Daniel Dopp]

I love Rashi Rice and I've talked about this a bunch. I believe that you can still. You're drafting him as a wide receiver. Two or three, but on a per game basis, I think you're basically getting low end wide receiver one value. But I got to buy because I already have one wide receiver with some question marks. I can't do two.

[Stefania Bell]

I was like, wow, you are really rolling it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can't do Terry McLaren and Rasheed Rice. That's too much. That's too much uncertainty for my wide receiver spot. So I'm going to go with the other guy that still has some uncertainty. But It's Marvin Harrison Jr. I'm going to buy the second year jump here for this guy in an offense that just feels like they need to get him involved. His rookie season did not turn out the way that we had hoped. But you can't draft a guy 4th overall and not utilize him in this offense. I'm still going to buy Marvin Harrison Jr. For one more year.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. I mean, you mean you have to see it through this year, right? I mean we can't give up.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm not giving up already.

[Field Yates]

On, on, on Marvin Harrison Jr. No way. But we certainly hope two things. One, that the team makes it a priority.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

And that two, he, he shows better separation skills this year. Mina talked about this in her pod recently too. Like a lot of what they did last year with Marvin Harrison Jr. Is just like bombs away down the field. That's lower efficiency targets. And also like sometimes a receiver. It's also like sometimes a receiver getting a couple of screens or short passes is along the lines of a basketball player like hitting a couple of layups or short shots early in the game.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

You need to see the ball go through the basket.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's a great point.

[Field Yates]

And I'm wondering if like Marv, if you're like a bit more intentional with him, if it sort of breeds more confidence in all the stuff that you're asking him to do last year. If it just basically like, hey Marv, like first opportunity you get is a 40 yard bomb and if you don't convert it, you're going to be tired, gassed and you're going to be bummed about missing out on the completion.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

So I'm hoping that the Cardinals just find a much different plan for him this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that cross sport comparison in basketball. Every once in a while it's like, you know what, I'm over six. Let me just get to the line and shoot a couple of freebies. Right. Let me watch the ball go through the hoop. And now all of a sudden I'm starting to feel better about myself.

[Field Yates]

I believe Doc Rivers used to famously back in the day when he was coaching the Celtics. And Kendrick Perkins is on the roster. Perky.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, that's right.

[Field Yates]

Did a lot of dirty work for the team. Set a lot of screens, defense, rebounds. Early in the game they'd like always run the first set play for Perk because it was like we know for the next X number of minutes he plays, we're probably not going to design a lot of plays for him. So let's get it out early, get him feeling good.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love that.

[Field Yates]

All right, I am on the clock in one pick. We are about round six.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, let me run through who we've had so far then. After I took Marvin Harrison Jr. James Conner came off the board and then Sam Laporta, Travion Henderson, huge jump from where he just went in our last mock draft to where he went now.

[Field Yates]

Big jump. I like it, though.

[Daniel Dopp]

Courtland Sutton came off the board and then Stefania, you were on the clock here in the sixth round. Where did you decide to go?

[Stefania Bell]

Well, I knew I wanted a running back. It's funny because I was looking at DeAndre Swift and I was looking at Trayvon Henderson. I was looking at James Conner. James Conner went a few snaps earlier, so I. I took DeAndre Swift. He was in that group there.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that you said James Conner went a few snaps earlier. You're still in training camp.

[Stefania Bell]

I say a few snaps.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. You're out there on the practice field with everyone right now. Stefania, that was cute. That was cute.

[Stefania Bell]

Snaps.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. DeAndre Swift, though. You buying DeAndre Swift in this Bears.

[Stefania Bell]

Offense as much as them buying a rookie back. I'm just going to stop talking now. I know we only have, what, 15 more hours to go.

[Daniel Dopp]

No big deal.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah. Because of what he can do, versatility wise, he's my second running back. I. I would prefer not to have waited on running back because I do think it gets a little dicey if you get too low. You know, we talked about the zero running back strategy. Yep. But as a second running back. Yes. Because in the pass catching, you know, I think the pass catching provides more fantasy.

[Daniel Dopp]

DeAndre Swift is an RB2 that I have been targeting with a lot of upside in this potential. You know what could be a very nice Ben Johnson led offense with Caleb Williams. We'll see. Even if it's not nice. Hopefully they're playing a lot of garbage time because they're losing to the Detroit Lions at least twice this year. All right, field. Where did you end up going?

[Field Yates]

Afterbacks, picks and reminder that I have been kind of going sequentially here. So I've already filled out my quarterbacks with Lamar Jackson and Brian Brock Purdy, Josh Jacobs and Amari Hampton. So two receivers back to back for me. Again, the order is inconsequential. But Rasheed Rice, who we just had a conversation about, there is some uncertainty. Could be that we don't see Rasheed Rice until week five of the season, perhaps later. But Jalen Waddle, who on the Heels of the conversation we were having about Tyreek Hill. He's a swing player. One of the scenarios to consider is that if things don't go well with Tyreek Hill, it might be that there's a different force that emerges in this Miami offense. Jalen Waddle is an incredible talent. Like Jalen Waddle, having a big season this year would not be a surprise in the sense that he now makes $28 million a year. He's got three 1,000 yard seasons. Like he's a very, very talented player. It's just a matter of if Tyree Kale feasts. Can Jalen Waddle feast enough to pay off as one of my starting wide receivers? Because Rasheed Rice could miss time to.

[Daniel Dopp]

Begin the year 100%. Yeah, there was definitely some uncertainty there. All right, Stefania, you took Deandre Swift. I'll just say this really quickly. Right before field went DK Metcalf, Zay Flowers and Calvin Ridley came off the board. So those were three wide receivers came off the board. Were you thinking about them field when you went Rasheed Rice or Jalen Waddle, would you have taken DK Zay Flowers with Calvin Ridley because you teased us saying there was a guy that you were hoping to be able to grab.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that was Trayvon Henderson.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was Trayvon Henderson. Okay, well, there you go. There you go.

[Field Yates]

But yeah, no, I mean all good options here.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right.

[Field Yates]

This is why tears talk matters to me.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's right.

[Field Yates]

And guys who are very, very similar values right now.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, after Jalen Waddle with the first pick of the seventh round by field Jates, we had Caleb Johnson come off the board and then another rookie.

[Field Yates]

Running back view for Caleb Johnson.

[Daniel Dopp]

RJ Harvey. You're right. You're right.

[Field Yates]

And RJ Harvey as well for that matter.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep. And we did not played a lot. We, we did not see Joe Mix and he was the last one to come off the board. Did you see anything that like made you pause from either of those performances?

[Field Yates]

Caleb Johnson, you know, Caleb Johns, I thought he was kind of as advertised. I think people are just forgetting that like part of the advertisement in the pre draft process is that he's not a particularly explosive player. He ran a 4, 5, 7, I think it was at the 40. Did Caleb Johnson coming out of Iowa. There were some runs where it kind of felt like he was, you know, at times like, you know, powering through quicksand first. He's going to be a volume guy. It's going to. That's going to be how he has success in fantasy. I think the ceiling. He has some Najee Harris to him. Right. Like volume should be good. A little bit of utility in the passing game. Not sure there's a bunch of explosive plays there. Not sure there's a bunch of 20 plus fantasy point games there. But sometimes you need a third running back or a fourth running back for your roster, right? Tony Pollard types, Caleb Johnson types, where you're getting a player who in a bye week he's going to get 15 opportunities, maybe gets 12 fantasy points. That keeps you afloat.

[Daniel Dopp]

Honestly, this is where, I mean, I'm, I'm glad that I've got two running backs already. Running back starts to get real thin here at this point. Not a lot of big guys left on the board. Aaron Jones, David Montgomery, Tony Pollard, sort of the end of that. Isaiah Pacheco, starting running back tier if you're looking at it. I've already got two running backs. I've got two wide receivers as well as in Terry McClure and Marvin Harrison Jr. I am on the clock since Stefania Bell took Stefania after Joe Mixon, you ended up going with a tight end, T.J. hawkinson doppelganger. I am going to be talking about him a bunch during the fantasy marathon. I'm buying the dip on TJ Hawkinson this year. What do you like about him and why did you grab him here in the seventh?

[Stefania Bell]

Well, we always talk about how players are better when you're removed from coming back from ACL surgery and TJ Hawkinson already got his feet wet. So the fact that he came back and played is really good sign because it does help players with their confidence when they come back the next year. Like they know I've already played football, I've done this. They feel much more normal, for lack of a better word, when they come into training camp because they've been there and done it. And so I like TJ Hawkinson out of the gate. I think he's going to have a bigger role in the offense. Remember, it had to be sort of calculated and ramped up when he was coming back last year. I think J.J. mcCarthy is going to be looking for him at times. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, you drafted J.J. mcCarthy. You got a little stack here between.

[Stefania Bell]

Your quarterback, little Vikings like that.

[Field Yates]

How intentional or unintentional are you guys with stacking in drafts? Do you care about it? Do you not care? Do you avoid it? Do you aim for it?

[Daniel Dopp]

I, I, I do all of the things that you mentioned field. It sort of depends on my roster construction. As the draft comes to me, there are times like, for what it's worth right now, I had already drafted Dak Prescott. With this pick in either the seventh or eighth round, I was looking at potentially grabbing George Pickens. I like him as, I mean, he's already a guy that I like. I've already got that White, the quarterback there. He ended up coming off the board before it could get to me. He just came off after Stefania took T.J. hawkinson. But I don't avoid stacking if I can help it.

[Field Yates]

It's just targeted either.

[Daniel Dopp]

I fight this, continually fight this thing, because I do. I mean, I'm probably of 75 best ball drafts deep right now, so I do a lot of best ball as well.

[Field Yates]

Let's have a conversation.

[Daniel Dopp]

Roster construction is very different between best ball and redraft.

[Field Yates]

Okay, so let's have a conversation.

[Daniel Dopp]

75, 75.

[Field Yates]

Even us, the fantasy experts agree that like, that might be like a bridge too far, that too many. So by the way, going forward, and this is a dynamic that I think loyal viewers and listeners are aware of. But like, when I ask the questions along those lines, sometimes I do have to remind myself that, like, if you were just playing in a very select number of leagues, it's kind of how I'm viewing it through. Right. Like when you play in that many leagues, you're going to do a lot of different things because it's human nature. Right. I personally do not find myself like, there's not a big. There's not a big part of my heart that is like, I have to go in and stack. If it happens, I'm not going to avoid it. It's kind of like where I met with bi weeks. Like, there are people who will be more meticulous with their bi week construction during the draft than I am.

[Stefania Bell]

Do not care about bye week.

[Field Yates]

I like good players. Right. I like good players. And if they happen to both play for the Baltimore Ravens and I have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, so be it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I'm with you on that.

[Stefania Bell]

I do feel like in best ball I might target it a little.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I definitely.

[Stefania Bell]

Because it's like, if one's having like a fantastic game, probably means the other one is I don't do it so much in. In these.

[Daniel Dopp]

In standard best ball, you're betting for upside. That's a big part of it. But in redraft, I don't go out and try to target it, but I don't fight it. If it happens either field, I will embrace the stack. If it falls to me more often.

[Stefania Bell]

At is it a good offense? Right. Because if it's an offense that clicks fires on all cylinders, then I'm happy to have multiple players from one team.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. Since you took T.J. hawkins and Stefania, Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelsey, George Pickens and DJ Moore came off the board, I really wanted either George Pickens or Xavier Worthy to make it down to me.

[Field Yates]

Can we make it through, what, five, four more?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we got this. We'll go pretty quick here. I'm gonna go with devonte Smith. He's gonna be my flex. Just another guy in a good offense I believe is going to continue to be the guy that he was a little bit boom, bust at times. It's just part of the Eagles offense when you're looking at that passing game, especially with A.J. brown there. But as a third wide receiver, you've.

[Field Yates]

Seen the headlines, heard the debates. The three point ball has created a.

[Stefania Bell]

Monotonous rhythm to the game.

[Field Yates]

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.

[Daniel Dopp]

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

[Field Yates]

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

[Stefania Bell]

This isn't just another ESPN Fantasy football season. It's your shot at greatness. With a refreshed design, the ESPN Fantasy app is sharper than ever, so you can draft like a pro and dominate your league. And introducing Gridiron Gauntlet, a new game mode where the best compete to be crowned the number, number one fantasy football player of 2025. One app, one shot, one champion. Download the ESPN Fantasy app and sign up to play ESPN Fantasy Football today.

[Field Yates]

ESPN Fantasy Football is more than just a game.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's thousands of stories in the making.

[Field Yates]

Like that one league that hasn't missed a draft since the 20th century. Or the one that decides their draft order by competing in a legit athletic combine.

[Daniel Dopp]

Or the league where if you come.

[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

Puzzle in the dark.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that stuff really actually happened. The football may be fantasy, but the stories are 100% real. So download the ESPN fantasy app, sign up and start your story today.

[Daniel Dopp]

Insights with IBM WatsonX got no problem grabbing DeVonta Smith here in the seventh.

[Field Yates]

Good best ball option. You think everybody who's listening or watching is acutely aware of what best ball means?

[Daniel Dopp]

Best ball That's a great question.

[Field Yates]

Phil James, 30 second explainer best ball. The way you do it, you draft the team, you don't set a lineup right. You have more than whatever 10 players in your roster and at the end of the week the highest scoring players at your respective positions score or count for you.

[Daniel Dopp]

They're automatically slotted into your starting ball.

[Stefania Bell]

And if they are listed on your bench, if a player listed on the bench outscores a player listed on the active roster, the one with the highest score is where it defaults to.

[Field Yates]

So you might have players, if you're playing in best ball, you might say to yourself, like Caleb Williams, pretty interesting, best ball player. Whereas guys, I'm just, you know, maybe, maybe by the end of this season, Caleb Williams, this is maybe not a perfect example, scores fewer fantasy points than TUA or Matthew Stafford. Stafford probably not going to have as many gigantic weeks, but he might have a healthy number of like 14 to 17 point weeks. Caleb might have a couple of duds, but he also might have five 25 point explosions. Oh, you know, he's a great best ball player. If he gets to me, he'll tell you.

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, I was going to say Jameson Williams because he came off the clock and I was hoping he was going to make it back to me. No big deal. A lot of these wide receivers that we're talking about right here are best ball targets for me. George Pickens, Devonte Smith, Jameson Williams. You got a couple of guys in there that are just big play guys. Also came off the board since I made that last pick, Tet McMillan who we just talked about at the start of the show and two tight ends, David and Joku and Colston Loveland. I'm at a spot now where the best tight end on the board and I have not taken one is Mark Andrews and I don't like that. So I'm going to not take a tight end here. I'm going to continue to wait and I'm just going to go with best player available for me, that's going to be Roma dunes.

[Stefania Bell]

Well, thanks a lot, Daniel.

[Daniel Dopp]

So sorry about that.

[Stefania Bell]

That's who I was looking at. Officially sniped.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm just going to take another high what I believe is a guy that should continue to get better second year in an offense. I'm going to buy what the Bears are doing. I know I have made jokes as a Lions fan about how you know some inconsistencies in training camp. It's training camp. We're installing a new offense. We got a Whole bunch of new stuff going on. As much as I make jokes as a Lions fan, I still believe that this offense, whether or not they're in games or not, has a chance to be a garbage time, like unbelievably good offense to just garbage score points. I just, you know, it's there in the best division in football field, they're going to have to be able to find ways to be able to put points on the board. So yeah, I went with, I went with wow, Roma Dunes. And then after that we had Chris Godwin, David Montgomery, Travis Hunter, who saw some action this weekend, and Aaron Jones, senior off the board. Stefania Bell, you are back on the clock.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, I know I'm not.

[Field Yates]

You sound so enthused, but it's just.

[Stefania Bell]

I'm just looking at what I'm looking.

[Daniel Dopp]

Four spots left, eighth round, pick 92. For what it's worth, for those listening.

[Stefania Bell]

At home, I'm gonna go with Tony Pollard. Oh, he's got the job all to himself.

[Daniel Dopp]

He does.

[Stefania Bell]

And we'll see. It may not be for very long. Tajie Spears is hurt.

[Daniel Dopp]

It just got banged up.

[Field Yates]

It's a pretty thin back.

[Stefania Bell]

It is a thin backfield and I do feel like Tony Pollard, you know, proved his metal, proved he came back from the injury, had a solid year in Tennessee. It'll be interesting with Cam Ward. I kind of want to see how this Titans offense evolves. Really. But Tony Pollard's gonna get a lot of work in practice with Cam Ward and so let's, let's say I think as a backup running back.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, like good with that. As a backup.

[Field Yates]

Yep. I agree that I, I think he is the ideal of running back three. I said this earlier when I was. Was that before the show?

[Daniel Dopp]

That was pre tapes.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I was talking about sizzle versus steak. You know, sometimes you need to sizzle, right. Like the sizzle would be like Travis Hunter, who might be a huge high scoring wide receiver. Sometimes you eat the steak. Right. And that's just like my, my starting running backs on a buy. Who can I play that should handle the ball? This was Caleb Johnson too. And that to me. Oh, dang it. Which one of you jerks took Evan Ingram?

[Stefania Bell]

That's. Yes. Yes. Evan Ingram gets sniped in this range because they're. It's such a great value pick and so you think, oh, nobody's noticing and then some one other person's paying attention.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm at the spot field.

[Field Yates]

I'm taking a couple wide receivers. I'm taking a wide Receiver, I like this Devon Diggs and then Tyrone Tracy, who's kind of part of that, like, steak versus sizzle here. So back to Tony Pollard. Like, if you look at the top 10 running backs and touches last season, you go through the first eight and it's basically like eight of the 12 highest ranked running backs in our rankings this year, nine and 10, are Tony Pollard and Najee Harris. For obvious reasons. Najee Harris is being drafted way later. He's not even healthy right now. Plus he's got a guy ahead of him probably in a Mario Hampton, Tony Pollard, nothing's changed, right? Like, they drafted Khalil Mullings in the sixth round out of Michigan, did Tennessee. But it's not like Tony Pollard changed teams, change offenses, or somebody was brought aboard, which again, he's. He's boring. And you can get a little bit burned by guys like this, like Devin Singletary last year, but the cost is so low that, like, if they're your RB3 or RB4, to me, it's a totally reasonable spot to be at.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I'm with you on that.

[Field Yates]

What do you got? You just gave me a look.

[Daniel Dopp]

Coming.

[Field Yates]

You.

[Stefania Bell]

No, I was saying you said boring. You called somebody boring.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was like, there's nothing wrong with that. Coming out of Tony Pollard, we ended up having Matthew Golden, Isaiah Pacheco, then Evan Ingram. Unfortunately for Field, so he took Stefan Diggs and Tyrone tracy. After that, J.K. dobbins, Dalton Kincaid, Mark Andrews and Stefania finally grabbed.

[Stefania Bell]

You cannot take all my 49ers. Not possible. And listen, I'll put my money where my mouth is. I. I said something in the New York Live show about Ricky Pierce on how far I think he could finish above not only his adp, but where he's projected to finish. And it has a lot to do. Look, 49ers injury list is long. I'm hoping that this is a preseason thing. We're just going to get it all out of the way.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I thought it was long in 2024 and then 2020 to turn the page kind of.

[Stefania Bell]

Well, you know, we're doing it earlier.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Stefania Bell]

And hopefully to a lesser degree of severity. But right now, Ricky Piercel is just stacking days, as they say out there with him and Brock Purdy getting more and more on the same page. And the wide receiver room is thin. It is thin right now.

[Field Yates]

I mean, it's not as thin as the running back room. They signed Garrison Hurst over the weekend.

[Stefania Bell]

Stop it.

[Daniel Dopp]

I haven't heard that name.

[Field Yates]

Daniel was like, I pulled One of his. I pulled a rookie card back from like his nineteen 1992 season. Now he's getting resigned by the team in 2025.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, they've been adding running backs on the daily. Amir Abdullah came while I was there. Yeah, like he joined the squad.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

You know, when you come off, you come off the bench.

[Field Yates]

They literally signed Jeff Wilson. That. No, I'm kidding. On Garrison Hearst.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's so funny. That's incredible.

[Field Yates]

Do you have a Cardiff's?

[Daniel Dopp]

Probably. I. You know what? I probably do. Somewhere in all of my cards, I'm sure that I have a Garrison Hurst one. All right. Since you took Ricky Pierce all. Stefania came off the board before Juwan Jennings. For what it's worth, that is the move that I would make. Not everyone here at ESPN Fantasy would do that. So I'm gonna go Juwan Jennings. First you had Jerry Judy, then Jacoby Myers, then Brian Robinson Jr. And Jordan Addison. I am on the clock and I'm gonna take my other favorite 49er and that is Juwan Jennings. I think both of these guys are just gonna be able to have a very large role in this passing game. Obviously, no. Debo Samuel, we talked about that with Brandon Ayuk, Brock Potters. I. Brock Purdy, I believe, is still going to be able to find. I know I probably put some respect on it.

[Field Yates]

You just like you caught yourself saying Brock Bowers as.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's exactly what happened. That's it. I was going to say I think Brock Powers.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, Brock Austin Powers.

[Daniel Dopp]

But I like him again as a fourth or fifth wide receiver. Juwan Jennings. I think he's just going to be good value.

[Stefania Bell]

Tiny bit nervous about the calf thing, are you? And maybe. Maybe I'm just a little scarred from a calf injury in the 49ers last year.

[Field Yates]

I'm not familiar with what you're talking about, so I'm going to pretend like you didn't say it.

[Stefania Bell]

Javon Jennings had a calf issue and OTAS comes back, starts camp calf aggravated. So. So I just. When we get closer, if I'm drafting and we're closer to the start, this is where my draft board will shuffle. I may have a little more confidence right now. He would. I'd have to take him a little further down.

[Field Yates]

I'd feel better if it was 80% calf and 20% contractitis. Keeping him off the field. Does I think want a new deal or at least that's some.

[Stefania Bell]

That's in the.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

In this case, there's the holding. If it. If it were A holding in situation doesn't really help him.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

So.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. Since I took Juwan Jennings, Cooper Cup, Cam Scatter. Boo Austin.

[Stefania Bell]

Keenan Allen's available.

[Daniel Dopp]

He just signed Travis etn. Keenan Allen is there. I think I'm gonna go with a quarter or a running back though because I already have taken a bunch of wide receivers. The guys I'm looking at, they're not super sexy. Jalen Warren, Javante Williams and Ramon Dre Stevenson. I'm probably out on Ramon Dre and the only other one I would maybe consider here would be Jerome Ford. But he was just going to be more, you know, early season work. I'm probably going to go with Jalen Warren here.

[Field Yates]

Sorry, go ahead.

[Stefania Bell]

I was just gonna say like Devonte Williams, I think is great value here. Like Devonte Williams is the starting quarterback. Starting. What is my.

[Daniel Dopp]

What's going on with you, Stefania?

[Stefania Bell]

I know I need more coffee. J. Williams, the starting running back for the Cowboy. And I know, I get it because backfield everybody thinks like it's going to be divvied up. We got Miles Sanders, we got Jaden Blue and he could emerge and. But right now Javante Williams getting a lot of reps and very much looking looks like who they are going to lean on.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think there is a fear. I don't disagree with anything you said. There's a fear that we said the exact same thing last year. He is the starting running back here in Denver and he still didn't really look the way that we had hoped. So there is a hope that maybe changes scenery. Right.

[Stefania Bell]

It was a real thing. I did speak with him about it and it's still unproven. Like he may not regain the explosiveness back. We shall see. But opportunity and cost at this position. Yeah, I think it's worth it.

[Field Yates]

A lot of ways to win your league, obviously in fantasy football, a lot of ways to approach your roster. One thing I will say is did you hear the names that you were rattling through?

[Daniel Dopp]

Didn't feel great.

[Field Yates]

Running back juxtapose those. And again, these guys are imperfect themselves. But there were some decent wide receivers who had good years last year. That you're like Keon Coleman, Michael Pittman Jr. Not with Anthony Richardson, Keenan Allen, Darnell Mooney, Josh Downs, Rashid Shahid.

[Daniel Dopp]

Like Debo was still on the board. Yep.

[Field Yates]

Guys who, you know, maybe Debo. Yes. Like a reminder that like this, this wide receiver position is just decidedly deeper.

[Daniel Dopp]

Way deeper. 100%. All right. Since I took Jalen Warren, we had Chris Olave, Khalil Shakir, Debo Samuel, A Mecca Auka and then Stefania. You ended up going with Javante Williams and you probably already told us why.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, I told you. I already.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. One of my favorite though late round running backs just went off the board not long after after Stefania that's short of Mason and it's not that I think he is. We talked about this at the live show. I believe you are the one that thinks he's going to take a lot of work. Right.

[Daniel Dopp]

Liz was the one that brought it up. But I agree with Liz that I think it's going to be a a serious committee and Mason is going to definitely get a bunch of goal line touches. It's going to make him a flex.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah. But I agree with Mike Clay that's just, you know, repping my Clay was not here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not as someone's got to say something nice.

[Stefania Bell]

Not as much work in the past. I think Aaron Jones is still going to get get significantly more work at least early.

[Field Yates]

The reason why I like them late is because if something happens to Aaron Jones I have a baseline of him being a good player. Jordan Mason. Whereas there are other guys that like I think Jerome Ford's fine. If from Ford's a starting running back for the Browns. I think he has less value than Jordan Mason is a starting running back for the Minnesota.

[Daniel Dopp]

There's a lot more value in a Vikings led offense.

[Field Yates]

All right, my last two picks here, I have to take a tight end with one of them and one of my favorite targets targets is still available. So I'll take Jake Ferguson.

[Daniel Dopp]

You son of a gun.

[Field Yates]

Whoa. Second yell.

[Daniel Dopp]

I wanted to get him as my stack with Dak Prescott. I specifically waited. I was at a spot where it's like why do it? Why take a tight end if you don't like any of them? I was just waiting.

[Field Yates]

Yes. Okay. I like that. And then my final pick here. Let's take some time and figure it out and go with for what it's worth seeing Coleman.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, I like that pick too.

[Field Yates]

You know someone I was talking with, Eric Wood, who's awesome, longtime Bill center, great guy, great player who's now doing good things, great things in the media. He's part of their radio team and podcast that he had me on which is very cool. And we were talking about the the Bill's pass catchers and like they have strength in numbers. So it's not a guarantee that anybody emerges like the go to guy. But if you were to ask me if one Bill's receiver could break out who has like a special skill set to get there? I think the answer is Keon Coleman. I still. It's a low percentage, but I think there's a chance it happens. He was the 33rd pick in the draft last year. Super explosive athlete. Not particularly. He's not elite speed, but like he's powerful. He's explosive with the ball in his hands. He's instinctive, good in the red zone. So I do like myself. Keon Coleman is a. Is an 11th round flyer.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I love that pick. Field Yates for you. I don't love it for us because I think it just rounds out your team really nicely after you took Keon Coleman. Pop Douglas, Keenan Allen, who has been flying up draft boards after getting signed with the Chargers. And then Adam Thielen comes off the board. Stefania Lee is on the clock.

[Stefania Bell]

All right. I'm in trouble. My mother would be calling me. I'm gonna. I'm gonna take Jack Besh.

[Field Yates]

Hey. Oh.

[Daniel Dopp]

Like it.

[Stefania Bell]

You know, such a great story and not a great story in the fact that his brother was lost. He was killed on New Year's Eve where. And he's basically dedicated everything going forward in his life to the memory of his brother. But Jack also just shined at Senior bowl and I think showed showcase some of the talent that caused him to move up a little bit from where I think people were projecting him to potentially be drafted. He's with the Raiders. I think he's got an opportunity to be a really solid player for them. And getting him right here just like having no. You know how sometimes there's players you und draft. We talk about this like, don't be afraid to take players you want, you want or you like. And it's not necessarily a bad thing to also be rooting for the guy that is going to score you fantasy points. So I have no issue with that.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that Stefania. All right, so since you took Jack Besh, Cam. Cameron Ward. No longer Cam Ward, we found out came off the board. Josh downs, Michael Panck Jr. And Kyle Panick, Pitts senior. I've got to take a tight end and the best tight ends it looks like available on the board are Brock Wright, Drew Sample and Payne Durham, actually.

[Field Yates]

Or no, no.

[Daniel Dopp]

But it feels like that when I look at these names.

[Field Yates]

Field say you might have waited too long.

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, here's the thing. I didn't want to wait this long. The draft ended. I didn't. I wasn't able to approach the position.

[Stefania Bell]

And so I thought sniped on Kyle Pitts.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Stefania Bell]

Thank you. About this.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, I know. So now it's the guys I'm really looking at. Tucker Craft, Dallas Goddard, or Tyler Warren. I think I'm just gonna go all in and take the rookie. Give me Tyler Warren. Give me the upside on what he can be.

[Field Yates]

Okay, there you go.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't really feel. Listen, those other guys will be fine, but like, I don't feel super strongly about it.

[Stefania Bell]

Said Tyler Warren.

[Daniel Dopp]

Tyler Warren. Yeah. At the tight end spot. All right, so let's do a quick re of our teams. Here's where I'm at. My two quarterbacks, Bo Nixon and Dak Prescott. My running backs, Christian McCaffrey, Bucky Irving and Jalen Warren. As my third RB. My wide receivers, Terry McCluren, Marvin Harrison Jr, Devonte Smith, Roma Dunze, and Juwan Jennings. Holy cow. Wide receiver is just such a deeper position than all of the rest of the positions in football. It's ridiculous. I like my wide receivers so much more. 12 Team Super Flex. Really threw some things at you here. So this team does not feel as deep as I would want. Not super thrilled coming out of this one, but it does feel like some good, some good information for my. My brain going into my next 12 team mock draft field.

[Field Yates]

Did you ever work in sales, Daniel?

[Daniel Dopp]

I did a couple times.

[Field Yates]

Oh, really?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Oh, okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Should I.

[Field Yates]

We got. We got to work on the sales pitch here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, I'm not trying to confidence. Here's the thing. I was trying to figure out whether or not am I drafting to get a good draft grade from the YouTube chat or am I drafting based on the team that I think is going to be a good football team this season?

[Field Yates]

A good grade from the YouTube chat.

[Daniel Dopp]

You know, I thought about it. I thought about it.

[Field Yates]

What else would you aspire for?

[Daniel Dopp]

What did you end up doing?

[Stefania Bell]

I would just remind you that in several leagues that I have drafted it. Like when I've done Scott Fishbowl, there's always somebody who puts out projections. Your draft grades made it to the finals last year. I had a war room league. I was rated. I got some terrible grade in the war room league. Ended up winning that year. I've had other years where I've had higher grades. I don't remember Mike Clay ever giving me a good grade at our actual marathon draft. So that didn't happen. But I've had good grades and. And because, remember, drafting is just the beginning.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's right.

[Stefania Bell]

It's how you work the waiver wire. Which field will talk about all season. It's how you navigate injuries, how you acquire players to trades that you make. It's a whole season.

[Daniel Dopp]

It is a whole season.

[Stefania Bell]

Get too caught up when you leave your draft in feeling bummed or thrilled.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, field, I might take 10.

[Field Yates]

You picked at one pick in the draft, so got things rolling here with Lamar Jackson. My offensive player, slash second quarterback is Brock Purdy. My running backs are Josh Jacobs and Amari and Hampton. My wide receivers are Devonte Adams and Rasheed Rice, slash Jalen Waddle. Obviously, if Rice is suspended, he will have to move to the bench. So players to replace him include Stefan Diggs, Keon Coleman and Tyrone Tracy. And my tight end is Jake Ferguson there. So I like this squad.

[Stefania Bell]

I just like that next to Brock Purdy's name, it says super.

[Field Yates]

Oh, wow. Super Brock Purdy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Super Brock Purdy.

[Field Yates]

Bonnie would argue it's an accurate statement.

[Stefania Bell]

It is.

[Field Yates]

He might be super this year.

[Stefania Bell]

Year. Yeah. I love the Omarion Hampton pick. I. I just, you know, now seeing him, I think in that offense, I mean, they've got a. There's a lot to like about him.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

He's in a really good spot.

[Field Yates]

It is comforting too. Like, I'll just say this, it's comforting to get your quarterback picks out early and then feel like the rest of the draft you can just attack as you normally would. I've said many times, I think we're kind of in lockstep here is, is that if you have the opportunity to be the fourth out of the four people taking one of those elite four quarterbacks, it's cool. But there's nothing wrong with starting the train also. And I got Lamar like the first pick. Like, I can't wait until pick 24.

[Daniel Dopp]

So Lamar, in a super flex league, it's a little different. Yeah, love that. All right. And Stefania, you had pick number five. And at pick number five, give us.

[Stefania Bell]

Your squad least favorite spot to draft. But yet I still ended up with Jaden Daniels, which I was super happy about because I thought in a super flex league it'd go 1, 2, 3, 4, Bing Bing Ming quarterbacks. And so this again, pleasant surprise in round one. But then you see what happens when you're in the middle. And I always feel like I have to adjust to how the draft is shifting. It's constantly changing direction and I don't get to declare or drive picks as much as I like to do. I'm happy with my. Derek Henry is my top running back and DeAndre Swift is my second. I love Brian Thomas Jr. I feel like people were so psyched about him at the end of last season, is so psyched about what this season would bring and then like less so all of a sudden because they feel like there's too many potential people who can score points. But I still think Brian Thomas Jr. Gonna have an amazing season. Tyree Kill is a value pick for me and TJ Hawkinson, you know, waiting on tight end and still getting somebody who I think think is a solid tight end. Not our elite tight ends, but a solid one. And then J.J. mcCarthy is my super. He is my. He is my second quarterback and I think I'm rooting for the rookie to have a great season. Took a couple other rookies on my bench, Ricky Pierce, all Jack Besh, Javante Williams, who again I think could be a really good value coming so late to me and appears to be the starting running back for the Cowboys boys right now.

[Daniel Dopp]

54 of our YouTube chat believes that field Yates had the best draft here 25 goes to Stefania Bell and 19 of you know, ball and thought that I had the best drafts. So shout out. Yeah Lions fans, I gotta be honest. I really believe that me passing on Saquon and taking Christian McCaffrey has something to do with. I think that I just am. I feel differently than other people do and I'm fine with that.

[Field Yates]

Let me tell you what though. Like, there's no two ways about it. No player is going to generate more divisive opinions than Christian McCaffrey. I've said this before. You're either in or you're out, right? There's no gray air. There's no in between. There's no, like, oh, I get it, man. Like it picks seven, it's worth it. I'm a little rich for me at five, but seven, eight, like, I'm cool with it. No, it's either you're out or you're in.

[Daniel Dopp]

He burned me last year. I've trusted him too many times. I'm not doing it again. Like, that's. Yeah, I don't feel that way. I'm buying Christian McCaffrey. This is fun. As always. This is. You should be doing as many mock drafts as you possibly can to be able to understand how the board is going to break break to understand when someone snipes you, how you need to be able to pivot, not get flustered in the moment. It's why mock drafting is so important. So go out there, get into some ESPN mock drafts with either your league mates or just a bunch of random people to see how the board is going to fall to you. They're both really valuable. That's going to do it for us today here on focus, but not here at espn because as Fields, you mentioned, the fantasy football marathon taking place Monday and Tuesday all day long. We're going to bring a ton of fantasy content to you you across all of our ESPN platforms. Make sure you check us out. Fantasy Football now, 8pm to 11pm Eastern Time. Come check us out there. It's going to be a ton of fun. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. And we will see you guys a.

[Field Yates]

Little bit later today. Later.

[Stefania Bell]

You're in the.