Mike Clay's Playbook: Planning a Winning Draft Strategy | Fantasy Focus 🏈

Summary

Fantasy Focus Football: Mike Clay's Playbook – Planning a Winning Draft Strategy

Episode Overview: In this episode of Fantasy Focus Football, hosted by ESPN experts Daniel Dopp, Field Yates, and Mike Clay, the team delves into Mike Clay's Playbook—a comprehensive guide designed to help fantasy football enthusiasts craft a winning draft strategy for the upcoming season. Released on August 5, 2025, this episode focuses on breaking down the playbook's key components, offering actionable insights on drafting quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends.

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1. Introduction and Playbook Breakdown

Daniel Dopp kicks off the episode by introducing the topic, highlighting the significance of Mike Clay's Playbook in aiding fantasy managers:

"[10:35] Mike Clay: One more question."

The playbook is divided into three parts:

• Part One: Draft strategy, focusing on how to approach each position.
• Part Two: Strategies for different league types, including Dynasty and Best Ball.
• Part Three: In-season management, covering waivers and trades.

Field Yates emphasizes the modular structure to make the extensive content more digestible:

"[11:13] Field Yates: Yeah, break it up into pieces."

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2. Quarterback Strategy

The discussion begins with quarterbacks, a crucial position in fantasy drafts.

Field Yates outlines his approach to tiering quarterbacks, identifying the "Big Four" as the primary targets:

"[13:05] Field Yates: The Big Four this year are Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, and Jaden Daniels."

He explains his skepticism towards Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield, citing their limited rushing floors compared to the top tier:

"[13:06] Field Yates: The big four averaged 741 yards and nine touchdowns from the ground last year... So what are the odds Burrow and Mayfield are going to do it again?"

Mike Clay adds to the conversation by analyzing team defenses and their impact on quarterback performance:

"[14:19] Mike Clay: The defense looks absolutely terrible on paper."

Key Takeaway: Target the top-tier quarterbacks early in the draft, prioritizing those with strong rushing capabilities to ensure a higher floor.

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3. Running Back Strategy

The running back position is dissected next, with a focus on balancing proven veterans with emerging young talents.

Field Yates highlights the average age of top running backs and the associated risks:

"[25:16] Field Yates: The average age of a top 15 fantasy running back the last five years is 25.1."

He discusses the dilemma of choosing between aging stars like Christian McCaffrey and younger prospects such as Bijan Robinson and Chase Brown:

"[28:21] Field Yates: I want to focus on the young, breakout running backs."

Mike Clay emphasizes the importance of depth and the potential of "insurance" running backs:

"[31:21] Mike Clay: Do you feel as though they are worthwhile investments if you don't have that starting running back on your roster?"

Field Yates concurs, advocating for securing backup running backs to safeguard against injuries:

"[31:43] Field Yates: Yes, absolutely. In fact, I think that's perhaps the better way to win a championship."

Key Takeaway: Invest in a mix of elite young running backs and reliable backups to maintain flexibility and depth throughout the season.

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4. Wide Receiver Insights

Wide receivers offer a wealth of options, making drafting strategies varied and position-specific.

Field Yates identifies a clear top tier consisting of players like Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson, but notes a significant drop-off after:

"[35:04] Field Yates: There's a clear top tier, and then it becomes a lot more grouped together."

He underscores the importance of targeting receivers drafted within the first three rounds, citing historical data:

"[42:05] Field Yates: 86% of the top 50 receivers were picked in the first three rounds of the draft."

Mike Clay and Daniel Dopp discuss the value of rookies and the rarity of late-round wide receivers breaking into the top ranks:

"[43:38] Mike Clay: Only five receivers who were outside the top 90 as rookies ended up having top 30 seasons."

Key Takeaway: Prioritize wide receivers selected in the early rounds to maximize performance potential, while being cautious with late-round picks based on historical success rates.

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5. Tight End Strategy

Tight ends can provide a significant positional advantage but require strategic drafting due to limited elite options.

Field Yates highlights Brock Bowers and Trey McBride as top tight end targets:

"[48:35] Field Yates: Brock Bowers and Trey McBride were elite options last year."

He recommends George Kittle as the best value tight end, arguing his consistency makes him a worthy investment:

"[49:29] Field Yates: The best value overall at tight end this year is George Kittle."

Mike Clay discusses Travis Kelce, suggesting that waiting to draft him can still be advantageous given his role as Patrick Mahomes' primary target:

"[52:03] Field Yates: Travis Kelce is still Patrick Mahomes' biggest safety blanket."

Key Takeaway: Secure one of the elite tight ends early if possible, but prioritize top-tier performance and consistency over positional scarcity.

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6. Listener Q&A and Interactive Segment

The episode features a lively Q&A segment where listeners pose specific draft-related questions.

Question from Jamar: "Is Brock Bowers worth spending an early second-round pick on in a 10 to 12 team league?"

Mike Clay and Field Yates debate the value of Brock Bowers, ultimately agreeing that while he is a strong candidate, managers must weigh positional needs and draft flow before committing early:

"[58:16] Mike Clay: Yes, I would bet that Brock Bowers would go end of round one in a 16 team league."

Question from Matthias: "Which 49ers wide receiver is the one to target? Are you going after Juwan Jennings or Ricky Pearsall?"

The hosts discuss the potential of both players, leaning slightly towards Jennings due to his established track record, while acknowledging Pearsall's value based on draft positioning and opportunity:

"[63:27] Mike Clay: I'm going with Jwan Jennings."

Key Takeaway: Tailor your draft strategy to specific league formats and player potential, utilizing expert opinions to guide critical drafting decisions.

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7. Final Takeaways and Closing Remarks

As the episode concludes, the hosts summarize the core strategies outlined in Mike Clay's Playbook:

• Prioritize elite quarterbacks and running backs early to build a strong foundation.
• Invest in top-tier wide receivers within the first three rounds to maximize scoring potential.
• Secure a reliable tight end to gain positional advantage, but don't overcommit if higher value picks are available.
• Flexibility and depth are crucial; be prepared to adjust strategies based on draft flow and the availability of players.

Field Yates encourages listeners to "go with the flow" and "follow the value" during drafts, emphasizing the importance of adaptability:

"[34:05] Field Yates: Don’t panic... follow the board and take the values."

Mike Clay and Daniel Dopp reinforce the significance of mock drafts to practice and refine strategies ahead of the actual draft day.

Closing Quote:

"[36:26] Daniel Dopp: This is why we mock draft. Don't wait until your actual draft to implement a strategy."

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Final Note: For a comprehensive understanding and detailed strategies, fans are encouraged to read Mike Clay's Playbook and stay tuned for forthcoming parts focusing on various league types and in-season management tactics. The collaborative insights from ESPN's fantasy experts provide a robust framework to navigate the complexities of fantasy football drafts effectively.

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This summary captures the essence and key discussions from the podcast episode, providing valuable insights for both seasoned fantasy managers and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Daniel Dopp]

The Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University helps you go from I know the way to I've arrived with our top 10 ranked online MBA. Gain skills you can learn today and apply tomorrow. Get ready to go from make it happen to made it happen and keep striving. Visit strayer.edu Jack Welchmba to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Chev and has many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street north in Arlington, Virginia. Hello and welcome to Fantasy Focus Football alongside Michael Clay and Phil Jates. My name is Daniel Dopp. Excited to bring you another day diving into the fantasy streets. But first and foremost, I just want to say hi to my two friends. How you guys doing?

[Mike Clay]

Excellent, Michael.

[Field Yates]

I'm good. You know, I woke up this morning, got ready to go, came to campus, and I see this friendly face on. Get up this morning talking fantasy football and NFL coverage. And you know that means we're right around the corner. I mean, it doesn't mean that because he's always on tv.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, that is sort of the thing.

[Field Yates]

I think around coverage, that's a compliment.

[Daniel Dopp]

Did you get an invite to that as well, or.

[Field Yates]

I did not get it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Must have got lost in the Ethernet email.

[Field Yates]

I don't think so.

[Mike Clay]

Ethernet, Ethernet email?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, in the ethers of the email.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Question for you guys.

[Mike Clay]

You guys still adjusting? And this is probably a question to like the majority, many people listening to this right now. I can't figure out Microsoft Teams. So if anybody out there right now, which is a new thing in espn, if anybody out there knows a thing about Microsoft Teams and wants to get me up to speed, please let me know. Because when you were talking about Ethernet email, I was like, is that a Microsoft Teams?

[Daniel Dopp]

Is that a Microsoft Teams?

[Mike Clay]

I can't figure out a freaking thing about this stuff.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we made the switch over and so it's definitely a little bit of something to get used to. I definitely feel like, Mike, you should be good at it. I feel like you're good at all things technology seen as how you're half computer anyway.

[Field Yates]

I mean, we're just, it's just a messaging thing. So I don't, It's. It's pretty intuitive. I don't. Oh, got a field at this guy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

Like, if you need some Excel tips, I got you. You know, we consulted on that in the past. I'm happy to help you with that. But teams, I mean, man, all you got to do is like type messages in to people and press Enter. That's all you gotta Do.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, well, that seems.

[Mike Clay]

Here's Mike Clay talking about how the fact that he does those 30 ounce margaritas one weekend and then he can. What the heck is aim?

[Field Yates]

Do you not have AIM back in the day? AOL messenger.

[Daniel Dopp]

Aol.

[Field Yates]

Are you too young for that?

[Mike Clay]

Of course I did. I put away messages up.

[Field Yates]

What was your. What was your.

[Daniel Dopp]

Nope.

[Field Yates]

Handle. No.fmy5osu.

[Mike Clay]

I was a big Ohio State fan growing up.

[Field Yates]

Okay. Wow. Mine was just McLay8823, which I use for like my email and everything.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think mine was DOP238. 238 is one of my favorite bands.

[Field Yates]

It sounds like. That's not true. I think that's your.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was. Well, you know, your burner. That was not my burner. That was my actual one. My burner was the other one. Obviously.

[Mike Clay]

Last thing before we tell people about. About the upcoming things.

[Daniel Dopp]

Ye.

[Mike Clay]

When you said one of my favorite bands is 230. I swear to God, Daniel, you could literally say any three words of succession. Is one of my favorite bands. And I'd believe you.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. If I said and they will know you by the Trail of the Dead is one of my favorite bands. Right. Like that's.

[Mike Clay]

I loved their third album.

[Field Yates]

They're so good.

[Mike Clay]

Their third album was amazing.

[Field Yates]

Dumpster Fire Explosion. That was my favorite back in the day. Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

Drive By Truckers. Of course. Yeah. Like, I would love to do a game where I just give you four random names and you tell me which one isn't a band because it's the.

[Field Yates]

Last name of a. An offensive lineman or a band or something.

[Daniel Dopp]

That would be good. That would be a lot of fun.

[Mike Clay]

Beatles. Name of a band. Yes or no?

[Field Yates]

Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

Confirmed. Steve Beetle. That's what it is. Carolina Panthers.

[Daniel Dopp]

Is that. I would love it if that was actually true. If you pulled that out of your head, like we could.

[Field Yates]

We could do this.

[Daniel Dopp]

We got to bring the coal father.

[Field Yates]

In at the wrong time. Yes, we are.

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, let's tell the people about New York City. Because just in case you do not have plans for Thursday, last minute tickets are still available Thursday, August 7th at the Gramercy Theater in New York city. Go to fantasyfocuslive.com for info and tickets. You get free food. You get drinks. You get some merch. You get to hang out with us. There's a Q and A at the end. We'll do a big meet and greet. You can get some photos. It's only $35. So come hang out with us in New York City is going to be a ton of fun. But Mike Clay, that's not the only place that we are going this year.

[Field Yates]

No, it's not. We're going to the Bahamas. Bahamar again. That was the greatest couple days we had last summer.

[Daniel Dopp]

Unbelievable.

[Field Yates]

I don't know, like, obviously you're going to. Are you reading this? Sure.

[Daniel Dopp]

The ESPN Fantasy Football ult draft weekend back for year two from August 21st to the 24th in the Bahamas. Enjoy an oceanfront stay at the luxurious Bahama Resort and exclusive events like our one of a kind beach combine. Mingle with celebrity guests and NFL players throughout the weekend, including Todd Gurley, Golden Tate. Golden Tate made it into the playbook I saw when you were writing it. So he's going to be there as well. Kyle Rudolph as well as the Nice Man League. In case you want to get a hold of them. They're going to be there to hang out with us again. Then get insights from your favorite ESPN fantasy football experts before drafting your squad at our epic live draft party.

[Field Yates]

I just wanted to say, you know what was really fun about this? And I don't know if everyone realizes this coming to this is like, we are mostly just hanging out. Like, while I own the pool, we're around to dinner, like, so if you come, we'll just hang out. We're just.

[Mike Clay]

Whether you want what you did last year. Yeah, mostly.

[Field Yates]

That's mostly what we did. I mean, yeah, you were only gone for a few hours.

[Mike Clay]

My arm was hanging out. Yes.

[Field Yates]

And still you came back and you hung out, made a great time with everyone. It was awesome to meet everyone, just talk ball and just, you know, have some drinks, eat dinner. It was great. So that was the best part for me, just mingling and making new friends.

[Mike Clay]

Probably not a good idea. Probably a terrible idea as a matter of fact. So I'm not guaranteeing anything there here, but if there was ever a time where like, I made an absolutely, like, dramatic call and it came to fruition, like, if I was like, I think that, I don't know, Jalen Naylor is going to lead all Vikings wide receivers, catches, reception, receiving yards and touchdowns this year. And then it actually came to be as like in a moment of excitement where I felt like I was on top of the world, I might drop some of the content from when I was coming out from having my shoulder.

[Field Yates]

Relocated because then you have an excuse. Some of the stuff was still in the system.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, the stuff that they give you to put you to sleep because, God, there is some gold in There, there.

[Daniel Dopp]

Is some good clips.

[Field Yates]

Come back from the hospital and go right to that Q and A. And I believe someone asked us about Dante Miller, the like fifth string running back for the Giants. I believe Field said he was going to lead the NFL in rushing. Right?

[Daniel Dopp]

It was probably something like that. We were all a little tipsy, I believe at that. But maybe something, something, something was going on. Well, listen, we're gonna have a ton of fun. Go check it out. And by the way, you don't have to bring your entire league. Just bring yourself. We'll put you in a league, we'll find a bunch of people for you to be able to draft with. We'll go through, have a ton of fun with you. Like Mike said, we're just hanging out the whole time. Come up, mingle with us. We'll find some, some fun things to do down there.

[Field Yates]

Can't wait. Cannot wait.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, we are going to dive into Mike Clay's playbook. But first before we do that, and I'm going to have you explain everything that the playbook is. Mike, we're going to take a quick break from for a word from our new sponsor. It starts with a clean scalp and ends with something more.

[Field Yates]

Oh, that's so bad.

[Daniel Dopp]

Because fantasy greatness isn't rinsed off, it's restored. Even when the season gets messy, your hair stays nourished.

[Mike Clay]

Run those fingers through your hair.

[Daniel Dopp]

Powered by our patented fantasy formula to promote strength, stamina and follicular dominance. Field and shoulders. Because moisture is the essence of wetness and wetness is the essence of beauty.

[Mike Clay]

Beauty. Beauty.

[Field Yates]

What?

[Daniel Dopp]

Shout out to Field and Shoulders for sponsoring today's show. We needed that money.

[Field Yates]

We'll take any money we can get. So we'll take.

[Mike Clay]

It's incredible. Where's that retail at?

[Daniel Dopp]

That was so much fun. You can get it anywhere that you find normal shampoo. Field. Honestly, people were saying in the chat, I just want to say this. When Field came back with his hair, he just loves running his fingers through his hair. Those are all different cuts of you just playing with your hair.

[Field Yates]

Why would he not?

[Daniel Dopp]

When you got a mane like this, you got to touch it.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, maybe I am just like playing with my hair, not realizing it, but I'm always, I always feel like there's a couple flyers that are starting to fall off.

[Daniel Dopp]

So I ended up just gotta put them back, right?

[Mike Clay]

Listen, I cut my hair like five days before the show returned and I took off a couple of inches prior to that haircut. Hair was not flying. I could Just. It was long enough and it was just folding back. Now with Halloween less than three months around the corner, it will be growing back because I got a lot of inspiration for Halloween.

[Field Yates]

Ooh. So some.

[Mike Clay]

Some say that I may have had the best Halloween costume in the history of Fantasy Focus when I dressed up as Gardner Minshew a few years ago.

[Daniel Dopp]

Some have said.

[Mike Clay]

Others also made fun of me because I have hairy legs, but that's neither here nor there. I'm trying to up the ante this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

I like it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Wow. All right. I'm glad the bar set now because I got to start thinking about it.

[Daniel Dopp]

I know. Now we got to get on our A game. For what it's worth, when we. That's not the same clip, like run three times. Those were three different times that you did that. It just looked the same. Every time we need a counter, we.

[Field Yates]

Hire someone just to count.

[Daniel Dopp]

I had a ton of fun with our producer Tyler, just being able to put that together. So hopefully you guys had a little bit of fun with that. Go check out Field and Shoulders. Anywhere that you buy shampoo.

[Mike Clay]

You know what happens now, though, right? Is because it's been planted into my.

[Field Yates]

Brain, you're going to think about it.

[Mike Clay]

All the time, and I'm going to do it non stop.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's right.

[Mike Clay]

So, hey, welcome into Fantasy Focus along with Mike Clay and Daniel Dopp on field Yates. And Here we go, 58 minutes later. Thanks for watching us here on Fantasy Football. Now.

[Field Yates]

Now it's going to get in your head. You're going to go like this and you're going, oh.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, shoot.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that's like when people. You know what that is for me? That's when people point out my word. Like, weird words I say from growing up in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. There's like used guys, stuff like that. People point that stuff out and then I'm. I become self aware of it and then it's catch myself.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, you're not allowed to say Yinzer anymore, Mike. That's how that works.

[Mike Clay]

You're not Yinzer, are you, though? Yinzer's Pittsburgh, right?

[Field Yates]

Yeah. That's not one that's in my vocabulary. Yeah, mine's just worse. I just say dumb words that don't make sense.

[Mike Clay]

Use guys.

[Field Yates]

Use guys is the.

[Daniel Dopp]

Is the big.

[Field Yates]

That's the main one. When I went to college where people were like, what are you saying? Like, yeah, stop it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Like, you're not. What are you doing here, Mike?

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

You guys want to go check out the frat party. Use guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

You guys?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, party.

[Daniel Dopp]

I feel like that gets you an instant invite to the frat party when you say use guys. All right, that was a ton of fun. Hope you had a fun with that. We may bring it back at the end of the episode. We'll see. But Mike Clay. We are delivering the Claybook as we call it. It is affectionately known though as the Playbook. Give me a rundown on all the things that the Playbook is because you wrote it and I read it last night and it took me like 45 minutes because there's a lot of words.

[Field Yates]

Don'T tell people that no one's gonna read. No one has the attention span for 45 minutes.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm a slow reader. I'm a slow reader.

[Mike Clay]

Hold on. Now listen, Daniel, like me, hasn't read a book in a decade.

[Daniel Dopp]

Exactly.

[Mike Clay]

We go through them at a glacial pace.

[Field Yates]

Okay, well, it used to be longer. I'll start with that. We used to do this gigantic article, but this year we broke into three pieces. So part one of the Playbook is the draft. How to attack the draft. I go through each of the four positions, which we'll do here shortly with general draft strategy. Part two is going to be out in a few days actually, which is going to be different types of leagues. And this is mostly like your normal season long leagues. But then we're going to do like if you're in Dynasty, if you have a rookie draft, idp, whatever it may be, best ball. And then part three will be out later this month, which is in season. So waivers, trades, like how to attack, that kind of stuff. So we broke into three this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

For you so that it wasn't quite so long.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, break it up into pieces. But yeah, part one has been out for a few days and this is the attack in the draft.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was really great being able to read through it. You kind of went through position by position and then also talked about some strategy in there. So let's just sort of start at the top, if you don't mind, Mike, because we kind of mentioned this a little bit yesterday when we were talking about quarterbacks. Field and I were tearing them. We had five guys in our tier one. But you were pretty definitive that you have four tier one quarterbacks. Talk to me about how you are approaching those big four.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, so I talked about this a little bit yesterday. But if you look at, you know, in the article, I kind of comp the top six quarterbacks from last season because you had Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Jaden Daniels, of course, who I view as the Big Four this year, but also Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield in terms of points per game, they were all at 20.9 or higher last year. So the question this year is then, okay, so you have the Big Four. Why do we not include. Why do I not feel as good about Burrow and Mayfield? And you guys tend to agree certainly about Mayfield. And it really comes down to the floor you get from rushing last year. The big four, or excuse me, Burrow and Mayfield combined, combined for 579 yards and five touchdowns rushing last year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Combined.

[Field Yates]

The. The big four averaged 741 yards and nine touchdowns. They average. They were all at 5:31 on the ground and six touchdowns minimum. So that just shows you kind of the floor you get from, from that rushing ability with those guys. The reason last year that Mayfield and Burrow were able to hang was because they both threw 40 passing touchdowns. And here's a stat I was referring to. I was trying to pull from the back of my brain yesterday. Only seven quarterbacks in league history have reached 40 passing touchdowns more than once. None have done it more than three times. So what are the odds Burrow and Mayfield are going to do it again? Even if you think there's a good chance for Burrow to get close, I mean, he has to get there. He has to get there to hang with these guys.

[Mike Clay]

So 16.94888 rep the percentage.

[Field Yates]

Oh, that's right.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's what it is.

[Field Yates]

That's.

[Mike Clay]

I don't need a computer. I just do click math.

[Field Yates]

It's my, it's much lower than that. But that, I mean, that's kind of the justification. Yeah. And that's why we, you know, even a guy like Justin Fields, who maybe we'll mention here in a second is appealing as a, as a back end QB1, he might not have quite the, the passing ability or just the passing skill or the overall ability that the Big Four has, but what just what you can do with your legs is such a difference maker. And that's why I feel like it's a Big Four this year. And then a tear down to the other guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

Interesting.

[Mike Clay]

We talked about this with tears. Is that like one of the reasons why I believe firmly in tears is not just because like we think the guys represent relatively close value, but it also means for me that like I have Lamar Jackson as quarterback one, you have Josh Allen as quarterback one. Like if you put me in court and made me argue for Josh Allen, it would be a very easy case to take on. So I'm not going to dispute this majorly. My, my, my belief in Joe Burrow is that he's a Joe Burrow and B the defense looks absolutely terrible on paper. Once again with their best player. Really their only established star player on defense, Trey Hedge Hendrickson, currently waiting for a new contract. That might be a situation that lingers into the season. Script should be. And by the way Mike, you remind us all the time pass heaviest team in the league.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

And I wanted to mention that too because we have seen teams and I think the Chiefs are a great example of this or the Bills that were recently extremely pass heavy offenses and we're like this isn't cutting it for our chances to win a Super bowl we have to protect our defense and slow the game down and maybe avoid some of that too high and run the ball. The Bengals could do that. I mean that's something that is in the back of my mind. So you think a little bit. I mean I'm not saying a massive swing, but enough that it brings down that passing a little bit. A couple pass attempts a game. Fair enough. So it's just something to think about when it's often like if you're projecting the extreme, that's usually, it's usually doesn't work out right. You usually want to avoid the extreme. So if you're betting on them being the past heaviest offense in the NFL, you know you have to at least in the back of your mind rein it in a little bit because that could change. That kind of stuff changes. We never thought that with the Chiefs, we never thought that with the Bills and that. And that's exactly what happened.

[Daniel Dopp]

There's a big difference between Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield. When you're talking about those two guys just want to look at the offenses like over the off season. Obviously Joe Burrow got T. Higgins back, still has Jamar Chase, Chase Brown is a great pass catching running back. Offense basically stays intact and field. You mentioned the defenses. It just feels like they're have to throw a lot. Feels like Baker just has more question marks if you draft him that high.

[Field Yates]

Maybe. I mean I think the skill guys they might have the best receiver room in the NFL. I think those two are the teams. Actually I just filed an article about this. Who is the best receiver room in the NFL? Certainly a. With a healthy Chris Godwin. I think you can make a strong case for the Buccaneers with Evans.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do we know when that will be though?

[Field Yates]

JLM McMillan. Well, I, that's why. That's why I didn't put them first. I put them in the show.

[Mike Clay]

I would say this about Tampa though, is that I don't believe Cincinnati has a clear and obvious pathway to a capable enough defense that they start to play a bunch of lower scoring games. Tampa could get there. It's a much weaker division they play in. On top of that, they did spend a lot this offseason to try to get that defense right. Can I ask two questions and if either of the questions is going to appear in a subsequent portion of the playbook, you can say pass.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

I think the fund.

[Field Yates]

Oh, sorry.

[Mike Clay]

I think the big question with the quarterbacks, whether you think it's a four man tier or a five man tier, when are you taking them? That to me is, is back end of round. Let's, let's talk 10 team leagues here. Back end of round two too early.

[Field Yates]

Back end of round two is and we saw that yesterday we did that mock draft. It was a 12 teamer yesterday. I was at the 23 turnout. Brock Bauer somehow got to me so I had to pounce in him and I took Clyde McConkey over. One of the big four. Yep, you can make the case certainly I want one of the big four. I think that's kind of the problem with picking it early in the draft is it's hard to pull the trigger on one of those quarterbacks at the 23 turn. But once we get midway into the.

[Mike Clay]

Third round, five is where I start to feel a little more comfortable personally. 25th overall. And for me, by the way, like so my rankings, my top 100 will be out soon which will rank across positions, not just hey quarterback one, etc. I think my, like my ranking of Lamar Jackson, who is my quarterback one will be a little bit lower than 25th overall. But when you're ranking players overall, you're not accounting for draft position. So if you're picking fifth in a 10 team league and you have that 25th pick and you're concerned that if I don't take Lamar and he's your preferred QB one at 25, he probably won't be there at 35. So I understand if he goes a little bit higher than my own overall.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I have them ranked 28 through 31, the big four because I don't really care about the order. I have found myself at times finding my way to Jalen hurts like at the end or maybe even early in the fourth, sometimes late in the third because he's generally the one that Goes fourth out of the four, which I'm fine with. But yeah, that's, that's usually. I usually want to be in a position where you guys were yesterday where you're just like okay, there goes Lamar, there goes Alan. Oh, I'm up. I'm gonna take Jaden.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Field Yates]

You know, like I. That's the position I would be really comfortable being in. Watch one or two go and then.

[Daniel Dopp]

Someone else started the run and then I get to take on you jump on, on the back end. So Mike, if you had like one big. Do you have anything else you want to add?

[Mike Clay]

One more question.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, go ahead.

[Mike Clay]

I feel like every year we kind of like the quarterback depth in part because you only play one of them. So if there are 17 reasonable quarterback options going into the season, that's seven more than you need to start in a 10 team league. If you agree with the idea that there are predictions pretty good quarterback options beyond the first, maybe even second tier. Are there two guys that maybe are going round 10 or beyond or just a little bit lower on your quarterback rankings that you still see a pretty good pathway for?

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I think when I mentioned Justin Fields when he's out there, what was he? QB6 last year when he played before he got benched. So I think he's one. I have him, I have his ADP right now across at the industry about the 10th round.

[Mike Clay]

So quarterback play in New York jets training camp has been pretty interesting so far. Yeah, sounds like. Yeah, the passing attack is.

[Field Yates]

It might be, it might be much.

[Mike Clay]

More of a Garrett Wilson conversation than is Justin Fields conversation because to Rod Taylor is the backup. I don't think he's like this major threat because if you're the Jets I think you need to see through whether Justin Fields can be a medium term answer whereas to Rod Taylor is just a solid backup. But it does not sound like the passing offense is inspiring much confidence right now.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, his and I'll say this, this is why the rushing matters. So I'm looking at last year, those six games he played. He threw for 1100 yards and five touchdowns through the air and he was QB8. Yeah. Or his points per game would have ranked QB80 the full season. So that shows you what he can do. I mean he might be the best, let's say the most statistically productive running quarterback on a per game basis in the league right now. I mean when he's up there, I mean his numbers are doing clay math right now. I mean he is, he has missed a lot of games whether it's been benching or injury. And he. His three years in the league, he was top five in rushing yards all those years.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's incredible.

[Field Yates]

All that missed time, which is unreal. So I think he's one. I hear what you're saying though. I am worried about the passing attack being good, but I don't know if it matters for him to be.

[Mike Clay]

That's the question is, is there a leash this year?

[Field Yates]

Oh yeah. Oh that's. I mean that's the risk with him. But where you're taking him, it's fine. I mean you just want him on a per game basis. So that's the reason I'm not even higher on him. If I knew he was going to play every game, I would have him higher in my rankings.

[Daniel Dopp]

Mike, when you're looking at these just to. To put a bow on the quarterback situation, do you have like a main takeaway from the playbook that you're specifically saying? Like when I'm looking at the big four, this is how I feel about it.

[Field Yates]

I mean the main takeaway is target one of the big four. If you don't get them, I'm okay. Maybe around later on Burrow. And then after that I'm probably waiting because kind of to finish answering your question as well as it's a lot of the same after that. I think from Mahomes and Baker down, when you get into Purdy, Caleb's obviously a breakout. Herbert, Prescott, Drake. May we like as a potential breakout this year. I love J.J. mcCarthy. That would be my other answer. I think just based on what we've seen from Kevin o' Connell offenses and the supporting cast he has, I think he's an outstanding late round flyer. But you can go, I mean outside my top 20 at CJ Stroud, Trevor Lawrence, Cam Ward. Cameron Ward, excuse me. Michael Penix, Bryce Young, I mean Geno Smith.

[Daniel Dopp]

Hold on now. Wait a minute.

[Mike Clay]

Does he not like Cam?

[Field Yates]

His name's Cameron Ward. He. That was an official NFL press release. Cameron Ward. They changed his name officially to Cameron.

[Daniel Dopp]

Ward rather than came.

[Mike Clay]

I can't call him Cam.

[Field Yates]

I mean, I'm sure you can but I mean there's a reason that was. Oh, there's a reason that was on the. You read the transaction wire, right? That was on there.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, but.

[Field Yates]

Okay, I mean I'm sure it's fine but I, I don't know. That's why we. That's why we call him Cameron.

[Mike Clay]

And I'm getting ahead as I think Cam still plays. We don't call him Tet McMillan. It's Tet. Okay, that's Mrs. McMillan does not like Tet. So if mom doesn't like it and we stay away from Tet so we're calling him Ted.

[Field Yates]

I haven't seen Mr. Ward say like that he doesn't like Cam, but I did notice that there was an official NFL change to his name. Not Cam Ord. He's Cameron Ward. So that's what I've been. That's what I list him as in.

[Daniel Dopp]

Our it's kind of like, it's kind of like the same thing that we had with Bajan. Right. Obviously learned that we got to say it a little bit different.

[Mike Clay]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

Close your eyes. Exhale.

[Mike Clay]

Feel your body relax, and let go.

[Field Yates]

Of whatever you're carrying today.

[Mike Clay]

Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts.

[Field Yates]

In time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, sorry.

[Field Yates]

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

[Daniel Dopp]

Definitely Mike. Speaking of Bijan Robinson, though, let's talk about some running backs. Hey, next position up here. When you're looking in the playbook, what was the big thing, the big takeaway here in the playbook you want to make sure we know about?

[Field Yates]

Yeah, so I think it's the. I feel like this has been going on for a couple of years now, but it's that kind of battle of. Do you go with these proven veteran running backs? Some got it done last year, some didn't. Or do you pivot to these young guys that are. They're coming coming up, especially the rookie class this year. I mean, you could fade running back and go RJ Harvey and Caleb Johnson and maybe you end up fine. Or Treveon Anderson, you can go on and on. Amari and Hampton. So that's kind of the tricky thing. You know, I did mention this yesterday. The average age of a top 15 fantasy running back the last five years is 25.1. Only seven of the 75 running backs were 29 or older to begin the season. Christian McCaffrey's 29 or older, Joe Mixon, James Conner, Derek Henry, Alvin Camara, Aaron Jones, Saquon Barkley's 28 coming off the highest touch count we've seen in the league since DeMarco Murray.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

And he obviously wasn't very good the year later. So that's kind of the battle we have at the top of draft. So you go with a McCaffrey or Barkley or do you go with. With some of these younger guys?

[Daniel Dopp]

Felt like last year we saw a bunch of these old running backs kind of outdo Father Time based on the expectation of what you're talking about.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, some of over half of the exceptions of the last. Over the last five years were last season, including Derek Henry. So.

[Mike Clay]

So do you think this last year was a sort of a trend or do you think last year was just the outlier?

[Field Yates]

I think it's probably an outlier. I think some of it maybe is just we had a really good core of running backs in the league, like Aaron Jones and Camara and Joe Mixon, Derek Henry, and they're nearing the end, but they're. They're so good that they're just kind of hanging on a little longer. But once they go too, like, that's.

[Mike Clay]

Part of it as well. Like, we look watching right now, there's a full screen that has four running backs that really performed above age expectation last year. Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, James Conner, Aaron Jones, who are all top 14 running backs last year with Henry all the way up as RB4, like, Henry, to me, feels far less vulnerable than some of the other guys on this list. Like, Alvin makes me way more nervous not to begin the season, but, like, midway through the season or down into the season. It's like I said this yesterday, and you guys seem to agree. Like, does the Saints team inspire much confidence whatsoever?

[Field Yates]

I have major concerns.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. So not to the point that you're fading these players. I just think that it's important to note that part of roster management during the season is being willing to get ahead of things a little bit. And if Camara comes out red hot, like sort of where he was at the beginning of last season, as difficult as it would be, and there would be some risk in selling high. Sometimes selling high or selling early can be a very, very valuable strategy. We, of course, will talk about players that maybe fit that category as we get to the beginning of the season. If somebody comes out and it's just.

[Daniel Dopp]

Unbelievably good, can I ask you then, Mike, if we're talking about older running backs and just being wary of them, and you said so many of that, you know, where the top guys finished and their age, are there a bunch of young guys that you feel like you're targeting in this year's draft because of that?

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that's what I wanted to say. Like, so last year, a couple of the older guys hung on and were okay. They had their issues. Camara's late, you know, slow finish. Joe Mixon obviously missed a bunch of time with injury. You can go on and on, but the young guys, for the most part, like, if you're looking, I want this young guy. I'm going to just focus on the young, breakout running backs. It worked out pretty well. I mean, Breeze hall was an obvious exception, but Bijon Robinson worked out Kyron Williams, Jameer Gibbs, James Cook, Devon H. And I didn't like him last year, but I was wrong on that one. He was terrific as well. But this year you can have Bucky Irving, Ken, Kenneth Walker, Chase Brown, Breeze hall. They're all 25 or younger running backs, not to mention all the rookies that we just talked about. Running back, I mean, you can just say, look, I'm out on all these guys. You can add Henry to that list if you want. All the, all the older guys I missed, you can or mention, you can pass on all them and still come away with a pretty darn good group. And history has been pretty kind to these young running backs as well, especially last year. So I, I think you can go either way on this one.

[Daniel Dopp]

When you look at that. Mike, you kind of talked a little bit about the strategy at the running back spot while you're going through this article. Definitely this is worth the read. It promise. It doesn't actually take 45 minutes. It's a really good read. But one of the things that you talked about was, one of the things that you talked about was the potential to either do maybe a hero running back or zero running back build. Because if you decide to wait these young guys, based on where their ADP is at, you could grab two of them. Like you just mentioned an RJ Harvey or you know, someone else a little bit farther down that list, A Travian Henderson, Caleb Johnson. Do you have a strategy that when you're going into this draft this year that like, are you trying to get one of those top running backs or do you like the idea of. Because you're trying to target some of those younger guys and their ADP is farther in the draft, do you employ a 0 RB strategy? More often than not.

[Field Yates]

It's funny, this is one of the hardest years to answer this question. And I was just working on my ultimate draft guide, which will come out next week for the during the marathon, which is where I say my kind of my favorite targets each round. And like last year, Bichon Robinson, that's a guy I wanted in the first round no matter what. And this year I, that's who I would love to get that. But that's the first overall or first or second overall pick to get him. Otherwise, if you pick in the middle of the round, you're probably taking a wide receiver this year. That's really where the heart of that position is. We'll get to those in a second. So I don't like I had a hard time picking someone for that first round because it's. It just depends where you are. ADP is not leaning toward one position. It's six running Backs and six receivers. So it just kind of depends where you are in the draft. So I don't have a clear answer for you, but the fact is it depends who the best player is on the board. When I'm picking in the first round, I'm going to take that guy. And then round two, I'm going to do the same thing and then I'm just going to see where I am in the draft. And if I need, if I don't need to attack, you know, fourth, fifth, sixth round running backs, fine. If I do, because I didn't, I went receiver heavy and took Brock Bowers or whatever it may be, then I'll, then I'll go that direction and take some chances on these younger running backs. So again, that's kind of a cop out answer. But I don't, I think you just have to go with the flow. You can't. Who'd you get a 10 yesterday? CD Lamb. That was ridiculous. You can't force a running back. You can't say, I need a running back. I'm taking Derek Henry. If CD Lamb sitting there, you have to be ready to follow the board and take the values.

[Mike Clay]

Can I ask two questions again?

[Field Yates]

Sure.

[Mike Clay]

I get two per segment.

[Field Yates]

There you go.

[Mike Clay]

First of all, how important is a third running back right away for you? Like say you get, I'm making this up. Ashton Genti, round one, Derek Henry or Josh Jacobs, round two. How valuable does that third running back for you become?

[Field Yates]

Right?

[Mike Clay]

Like, do you always feel like you need to have three good ones to come out of the draft?

[Field Yates]

No, I don't think so. If one is jumping out at me sometimes I'll even take one for my flex if they're really standing out. I mean, we agree, yeah, we, we agree that we generally want a receiver in the flex. You're just going to get more points out of that. But if there's a running back that's plummeting, you're like, I'm going to get more out of that guy because he fell too far. I'm going to, I'm going to pounce on him. Not to mention, like you said, you get that, that depth for the running back position. So it kind of again, copping out, but depends on the flow of the draft. But I don't, I don't force it. If, if there's a good receiver there and I can fill out my flex that way. I'm not going to force it just to have running back down.

[Mike Clay]

Mike hopping out Clay has a nice ring to it.

[Field Yates]

Just for the record. I have so many nicknames. Question.

[Mike Clay]

I know I've got a list somewhere. Don't worry, it's in my Excel sheet. Other question is you didn't like that one?

[Field Yates]

No, I don't care.

[Mike Clay]

So we talk about insurance running backs sometimes. Guys like Zach Charbonnet, Jordan Mason, amongst others. Do you feel as though they are worthwhile investments if you don't have that starting running back on your roster?

[Field Yates]

If you don't have that starting running.

[Mike Clay]

Back Aaron Jones, would you still consider adding Jordan Mason?

[Field Yates]

Yes, absolutely. In fact, I think that's perhaps the better way to win a championship. I mean having your own insurance running backs might help you like make the playoffs. But if you have, let's say Zach Charbonnet or Trey Benson sitting there and you don't have the starter and you do, let's say you have James Conner and he goes down and I have Trey Benson, my team just got a lot better. Your team just got a lot worse and now I have a much better edge. So there are no doubts often.

[Daniel Dopp]

Why isn't my team often? Why couldn't you say Fields team Ed? I mean Field had such a good draft. We are like he's already, he's on cloud nine with all these drafts. Why don't you say he has the best.

[Field Yates]

A lot of field votes?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we don't need a lot of field votes anymore. But you're. So you're saying you would rather have the insurance running back from someone else's squad than necessarily.

[Field Yates]

Definitely. You're playing to win the championship. There's nothing wrong if it's a clear cut. One, two. I used to, I had a dynasty team years ago that had James Cook and Alex Madison and I love that. I felt great because if Cook was going to. Cook always missed random games and Madison would be. What did I say?

[Mike Clay]

James.

[Field Yates]

Oh, James, of course, yeah. Dalvin Cook. It's funny, the wrong in my head that quick. Dalvin Cook and Alex Madison. So for years that was a great setup but it's very rare to be in that situation where it's that clear cut. But yeah, I mean if you, if you have Connor and you want to take Benson and just feel good about that because he, he's had a good spot in the draft, that's fine. But I'm also not going to reach for insurance backs. But I do, I do love those high upside insurance guys in the late rounds regardless of who I have on my roster.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, just to put a bow on this altogether, Mike, if you were to take Everything that you just said and put it into one or two sentences as a final takeaway. The running back position takeaway from Mike.

[Field Yates]

Clay is, yeah, I would say, I would love. I feel great if I get one of these elite running backs in the first round. If I can get Robinson, I feel like I'm off and running. Then I can just relax. I don't have to force any running backs that I don't like. And just. If I fade the second one, that's fine with me. I'll get one later on in the draft. But if not, I'm just going to follow the board and. And find value. I. It can go wrong sometimes. I didn't love how yesterday's turned out with Mix. I waited a long time. The rest of my team was very good, but I waited too long, ended up with Connor and Mixon didn't love that. So it's not going to work every time, but sometimes that's the way the board goes.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is why we mock draft. Don't wait until your actual draft to be able to try to implement a strategy. Go in and do a couple of mock drafts and try to do. If you want to say, I want to grab this guy. See how it plays out when you're mocking. To be able to know how, you need to be able to pivot just in case the draft plays out in a way that you want to.

[Field Yates]

And if it does, if you feel like, look it like yesterday it didn't go great and I had, you know, I still got, you know, Brock Bowers, my loaded receiver. Yeah. You know, it just means I'm going to have to work at running back. And if I keep working and I hit on a. A late flyer or something, my team is going to be in great shape. So don't panic if that happens. Don't. The worst thing you could do is be like, I'm in the fifth round. I don't have a running back because I've been following value. I have to panic and just start reaching our running backs. Don't do that, or you're just going to end up with a bad team.

[Mike Clay]

I feel like you should be prepared to work after a week off in Miami. So you got a lot of life, a lot of gas in the tank.

[Field Yates]

No, I'm out of here today. I'm going away again. I can do two days with you guys and I'm back out of here again. You.

[Mike Clay]

Is that breaking news?

[Field Yates]

I don't. I was gonna say I'm joking to the cool stuff.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, no, you Got you guys might, but I don't. Let's move ahead. Wide receivers. Mike Clay. Here's the thing about the wide receiver spot. I mean I would love to know what you think, but it just feels like the position is absolutely loaded. At the top.

[Field Yates]

I would say at the top. I would ask you guys a question because when I am ranking these guys and and, and kind of working on an overall ranking and kind of researching, you know, I want to attack receiver here and then go to running back and then receiver ideally. I feel like it is a little top heavy. I feel like there is a tier, you know, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, CD Lam Puka Nuku Malik Neighbors, Amanra St. Brown. I think that's like a clear top tier. And then it becomes a little bit more. A lot of guys bunched together and it's not, it's like a drop off to me, you know, I don't know.

[Mike Clay]

28 target share.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I mean I think he's borderline there. And obviously Brian Thomas. But you know, you could start picking these guys apart. Like Brian Thomas, for example. Travis Hunter. Well, there's Travis Hunter. But also he was fine until the backup quarterback was under center with Trevor Lawrence. Brian Thomas was not nearly as productive. So I. No, I'm just like.

[Mike Clay]

They don't like each other.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that's it. That's what I'm saying.

[Daniel Dopp]

We're starting something right now. Yeah, yeah. So I love that.

[Field Yates]

I just think there's like that, that, that clear like first round. Like those six guys I mentioned are all first round picks and there's a reason they're first round picks. You, you have to spend that. But after that it's like we, you know, you can start picking these guys apart to a larger extent. I just feel like. And again, I'm getting a little picky. But those guys feel like a core six. And then it feels like a teardown for me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Interesting.

[Mike Clay]

For one week and comes back. Hey, hey. Brian Thomas Jr. You know, he's okay.

[Field Yates]

All right, let's pick them all.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't even. Drake. I don't know Drake London's name. You didn't even mention lad McConkey, one of our favorite.

[Field Yates]

I like him. But they're talking to Keenan Allen. I mean, does he sign there? I hope that's concerning. That would. I think probably too. And that makes me a little nervous as well. T. Higgins, he's missed a lot of time. Drake London as a new quarterback.

[Mike Clay]

So I feel, so, I think, I feel you, Mike, with the fact that There is a little bit of a, like, there is a drop off, like, for as great as these players are, like, individual skill and accomplishment, like, the difference between. And I will include Brian Thomas Jr. Nico Collins in that top conversation versus like a Terry McLaurin, DK Metcalf, Mike Evans is to me pretty clearly and obviously different the big area. And I know you're going to talk about this, I'm sure, Mike, is that, like, you get to wide receiver 35 and you're like, I kind of like Roma Dunes A. This guy could have like a legit breakout season. Meanwhile, running back 35 is like, I don't know, like the guy who.

[Daniel Dopp]

Jalen Warren.

[Field Yates]

Oh, I was going to say like.

[Mike Clay]

A guy who retired eight years ago. You're like, wait, what? Like, how is. You know, whatever. Insert your random house. Darren sprouls, running back 35 again in rankings this year. Right. It's a good point. It just feels like the pathway or the chance of some of the guys that are ranked way low in wide receiver rankings getting to top 15 or 20 or 25. Upside is way, way higher than the running backs. Yeah, but there's like, very few running back options that kind of excite me.

[Field Yates]

I hear you. And that might make you say, well, then I should just wait at wide receiver. But I do feel like getting one of those big six is appealing to me too. So I want to. I, you know, I keep battling against myself here. Like, I want to get a top running back in the first round, but I also want these top six receivers too. And that's why I'm just going to take whoever's highest on my board, regardless of position. But after that, I mean, once you. After that, I just feel like they're all so close and lined up and you can just say, like, whenever I'm on the clock, I'm just going to take that top guy at receiver because it's just. It's just so progressive. I don't know. It's a hard thing for me to explain because you're right. There's guys outside our top 30 or wide receiver 40 who could finish 15th timeout.

[Mike Clay]

In case anybody is watching the stream and they just noticed me do something, have this strange reaction to something that you were saying. I got something in my eye. It was not, it wasn't like, what the hell is Mike saying? It was just like I had like a piece of dust or something.

[Field Yates]

Oh, no, he saw me. He caught me. It was like the signal. Rolling his eyes. He was like, oh, something in my.

[Mike Clay]

Eye I was like trying to clear.

[Field Yates]

It was weird.

[Mike Clay]

It was bizarre.

[Daniel Dopp]

I've watched you do this though, Mike, in drafts that we've done before where it's just like, you just keep taking basically the best player that's available. And if that's a wide receiver, you're like, I want to load my team up with as much talent as I can. And if there's a position that you need to address after the draft, you have the entirety of the season to hit the waiver wire. Work some trades, like the team that you draft is not the team that you're going to finish the season with, right?

[Field Yates]

Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I mean, that's something. I challenge all of you out there. The next time you win a league championship, compare that team to your team you drafted. It's always substantially different. I remember at one time in an industry league that I won, I had zero running backs on that team in my lineup. You know, on my roster. The championship week that I drafted, none. It was like Elijah McGuire was like one of my running backs. I think it was. I can't remember who else. It was just complete disaster at running back and won the championship just by like working waivers all year long.

[Mike Clay]

Maybe. I mean, just that time last year on Fantasy Football Now. 10:00am Eastern Time to 1:00pm Eastern Time, ESPN2. This season on Sunday is no big deal. Where perhaps fortunately, perhaps unfortunately, I drafted the greatest team I've ever had in fantasy football. And I'll never be able to recapture that magic.

[Field Yates]

My team was good too. I'm still mad about that.

[Mike Clay]

By the way, didn't I beat you by like 40 points in the playoffs?

[Field Yates]

Probably, yeah. My team. I don't even want to talk about it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Don't get me started.

[Field Yates]

I had Bowers, I had Jefferson, I had McLaurin, I had Saquon, March, Neighbors. I was stacked. Yeah. I had the Drake, London. Sometimes you have.

[Daniel Dopp]

Those could have been years that you just like can't let go of. I can't believe that team didn't bring home.

[Field Yates]

And then there's other teams, right? That it's a complete disaster and you somehow win the championship, you're like, I just manufactured this all year.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was like a back door. You definitely didn't deserve that one. Right?

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

I want to ask you anyway, Mike, in talking about younger running backs, the previous position, like, there's someone that you want to tart, obviously looking at those young running backs and what they've been able to do, is the wide receiver position similar or do you feel like you know, we're looking more at like, veterans in this. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

So I think that there are some tricks to find because we talk about deep receiver is. So you need, I think, some principles and rules and I kind of studied receivers that work out and some don't in the past to kind of help us work through all of these options we have at the position. So, you know, I, again, I do my research, I come prepared, I find some, you know, these stats for you guys, I bring knowledge. And because of that, the producers, you know, wanted to set something up here for a new segment we're calling Check this out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yo, check this out. Check this out.

[Mike Clay]

Check this out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Check this out. Check this out.

[Mike Clay]

It's time to check this out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Is that you on the beach in Miami? Is that what that final shot was?

[Field Yates]

What?

[Mike Clay]

That was amazing.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. So we're going to do this.

[Daniel Dopp]

So good.

[Field Yates]

Apparently I say check this out a lot. So we're going to check this out throughout the season. And I have a nugget for you guys. All right. Because I did the research, I'm trying to help you guys draft better wide receivers over the past five seasons. 86%. So this is 43 out of 50 receivers at the top 50 receivers in fantasy points per game. We're selecting the first three rounds of the NFL Draft.

[Mike Clay]

First 43 rounds of three of the NFL draft. Okay.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, so think about that. You know, that, that high value pedigree, whatever you want to call it, the draft capital. You know, people often make fun of like GMs, like, oh, they missed on this player. They took Jalen Rager over Justin Jefferson. I don't know who would do something like that, but, you know, people will pick that apart. But the fact is these guys know what they're doing. Like those guys drafted on day one and two. Pan out. So 86% of the top 50 receivers were picked in the first three rounds of the draft.

[Mike Clay]

Guess the exception. Exceptions. Puka Naku was an obvious one.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Yes. Naku is one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Amon Ross St. Brown was a fourth rounder.

[Mike Clay]

Yep. That would be a good one.

[Field Yates]

I don't even know if I have the minor, but I, I, there's one of them.

[Daniel Dopp]

Was Nico a third rounder?

[Mike Clay]

Nico's a third rounder? Yes, that's correct.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, he was. I can give you one if you want.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, yeah, give us one.

[Field Yates]

The only one that, there's only one that was drafted in round six or seven. So it's really interesting. Juan Jennings last year. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, pedigree matters. That matters for sure. What else do I got here? Since 2000, 30 of 42 receivers who finished in the top 30 in fantasy points as a rookie repeated the next year. So again, rookies, you know, this applies to rookies as well. If they have a big season and.

[Mike Clay]

You'Re going to be good the following.

[Field Yates]

Year, probably going to be very good the next season. However, if they're horrendous in year one, they're probably not going to pan out. I looked at the exceptions. If you look at all the receivers, even the ones taking and taken in rounds one through three who were not top 90 as rookies, I guess one.

[Mike Clay]

Actually Devonte Adams was okay as a rookie, but he like really blossom.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, he was not seasons. Yeah, there was only. Well, of all these guys, of all the ones that were worse than 90th as a rookie, only five ended up going on to have a top 30 season.

[Daniel Dopp]

That guy's one of them right behind me.

[Field Yates]

And his was very unique. He was, he had the major injury first and then he was suspended. The other ones are Nelson Aguilar, Curtis Samuel and Michael Ames and DJ Chark. None ever had a top 10 fantasy season.

[Mike Clay]

Wow, what a list right there.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's not a whole list.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I mean those guys aren't, those are the ones that panned out after having a bad rookie season. So if you're thinking about like, you know, Even someone like A.D. mitchell, like I'm just like, man, now I don't feel good about taking that post high flyer on him because what are the, I mean even the best case scenarios are these guys who can't even get to the top 10. I mean, what's his ceiling now? So I think, you know, again, I, I, I don't want to go too into the data. I already did a little bit, but it's all in here. And there's just some ground rules for like which kind of guys you should target in the late rounds if you want to have hits at the wide receiver position.

[Daniel Dopp]

Where Does Marvin Harrison Jr. Fall into that after his rookie season?

[Field Yates]

For years. Yeah. So he fits the bill of a guy who's okay. So Harrison, Brian Thomas, Malik, Neighbors, Lad McConkey were top 30 last year. Xavier Worthy was 33rd and like I said, guys that finished top 35 as rookies 30 out of 42 have delivered the same the next season. They've repeated. So Harrison, the bar was set so high for him, we feel like he disappointed, which he did relative to adp, but he still was as far as rookie receivers. Go. He was still above average. I mean, he was. It's just the reality of this reality.

[Mike Clay]

That'S the problem is that no one is grading him relative to what you'd expect out of the reality. I think for players and expectations is if you have, let's call it like top 20ish overall hype and you end up settling in as like position, like 20th at your own position during the course of that season, it's just a flat out disappointment. It just is.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Because assuming you play almost every game that year, which I don't think Marv is any time, maybe he had that concussion and missed one game last year and assuming that like, hey, you don't lose your good quarterback and replaced by like the worst quarterback in the league.

[Field Yates]

League.

[Mike Clay]

So yeah.

[Field Yates]

But at least statistically, yeah, he's fine. Yeah. It would not be shocking if he made a leap forward this season. But guys like A.D. mitchell, Luke McCaffrey, Jalen Polk, Jermaine Burton, Malachi Corley, Roman Wilson, they were all top three round picks last year who were outside the top, not 90 as rookies. And there's only a few guys in league history that have panned out after that.

[Mike Clay]

So how many of those guys will make the roster this year?

[Field Yates]

Yeah, a couple of these guys, Corley.

[Mike Clay]

And Jalen Polk are very much on ice.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, Burton will make it. There's good reports there. But Roman Wilson's had some good reports as well.

[Daniel Dopp]

But again, did Roman Wilson have good reports? Because there's just not any other wide receivers practicing and he's the only guy they can talk about.

[Field Yates]

Sometimes there's positive reports on a player and you're like, oh man, this guy can make an impact this season. But that might actually mean they're going to make the 53, they're going to play.

[Mike Clay]

I made a dynasty trade for Roman Wilson like a day later. It was like, Roman Wilson looks slow and that's unathletic. I was like, yeah, nice job.

[Field Yates]

Nailed it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I think for a fifth round.

[Daniel Dopp]

Pick or fourth, oh, there's nothing wrong with that.

[Mike Clay]

It was just somebody else who had. Roman Wilson was trying to, to clear a roster spot and I was like, yeah, what the heck.

[Daniel Dopp]

When you mentioned Jermaine Burton, like I expectations I thought were a little bit higher with his rookie season vibes were.

[Field Yates]

Just bad the whole season.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, someone else can count on Jermaine Burton.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, they're better now, but I mean, again, in 12 team leagues, we're not really targeting most of these guys anyway. But the, the general story Here is like, yes, you can buy into these guys that have big rookie seasons for sure. It's almost, you know, it's almost a cheat code. They will pan out. And if guys are really horrendous as rookies, even if they're. They were early round picks, they're probably not going to be good.

[Daniel Dopp]

So if you look at the wide receiver position as a whole, Mike, just to put a bow on it like we've been doing, your main takeaway when you're targeting wide receivers is.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. So aside of the strategies I just laid out for finding sleepers, I, you know, again, I think it's very much a kind of go with the flow of your draft position this year. I would love to get one of the top six, but again, I, I want a running back too. So I'm just going to take the top guy on my board, whether it's Bijan or CD Lam or whoever's atop my, my board in the first round. And then after that I'm just going to keep value chasing. I'm going to be. We've already talked about how I like a top tight end and a lot a top quarterback this year. So the other two positions, I'm just chipping away the best guy available throughout.

[Daniel Dopp]

If you just. This is more of a strategy question, I guess, but like if you decide to just follow top guy on your board and it happens to be two wide receivers, you don't get a running back that you want. Are you still thinking about targeting a quarterback or tight end early, knowing that you're passing again on that running back sp.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Waiting even deeper. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

And the reason for that is I do think the, the top guys at quarterback we already talked about in tight ends, who we'll talk about in a second, give you a sizable edge this year over the rest of the position. I just think that they give you such an edge because by the way, at that point in the draft, the running backs are the top running backs that you feel great about are already. Then you're more into the dead zone area, getting to the dead zone. And there's a lot of. There's a lot of guys with major question marks and at that point, you're throwing darts anyway. Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, let's talk about tight ends then. Mike Clay closes thing out with some tight ends. If we got some time at the very end of this, we may take a couple of questions. It depends honestly on how long Mike Clay talks.

[Field Yates]

All right, well, we have a little.

[Mike Clay]

Time moving on to the YouTube chat then.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, we can make this quick, though. Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and then. Yeah, I mean, really, for me, it's this. I'll keep this super quick. I mean, last year, if you combine receivers and tight ends, last year, Brock Bowers was ninth and Trey McBride 12th. I mean, those guys were elite options overall last year. I would love to get one of those two on my team. I think the best value overall at tight end this year is actually George Kittle, because you can get him, unless you're Daniel yesterday in the mock draft, you can get him around or two later. Really love that value. And then if I miss there on those three, I'll pounce on Sam laporter. If the value is right after that, I don't really care at that point. There's just so many similar options. I can wait quite a while and take a tight end. Like even a Njoko or an Ingram or someone like that.

[Mike Clay]

Can we flash that graphic back one more time of the two tight ends?

[Field Yates]

I didn't even see it. I was.

[Daniel Dopp]

Are you going to look at the. The tattoo on.

[Mike Clay]

We got to work on my guy, Trey McBride here. Awesome player. The photographer's got to crop out the pit sweat there.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Right.

[Daniel Dopp]

Let's throw on a new jersey. You know what I'm saying?

[Mike Clay]

We can just fix that in post. Right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Is that a. Do you think that might be a shadow or do you think that's pit sweat?

[Mike Clay]

Oh, that's pit sweat.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. It kind of looks like.

[Field Yates]

Remind me not to show.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, we're live right now.

[Daniel Dopp]

Nervous.

[Mike Clay]

We're live. This is not a.

[Field Yates]

Still someone who struggles with that a little bit. I don't perspire. Yeah, I do. Just from this pod.

[Mike Clay]

You guys are Mighty Betty, huh?

[Field Yates]

You keep asking me all these questions on the fly. I'm not prepared for him. I'm sweating through my shirt here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Nothing wrong with it.

[Field Yates]

Listen, I'm not. Look, I'm. I'm. Yeah, that's. That's my big off season news. I'm 40 now. Here's what I am.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, congratulations about that. Listen, if you get a little sweaty after the show, just use a little bit of field and shoulders and you'll be able to drive. You'll be good to go, man.

[Field Yates]

That's what I need.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's right.

[Mike Clay]

That anti dandruff shampoo as well.

[Field Yates]

It is.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Amazing.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. It actually makes the video the more.

[Field Yates]

You use it, so I need to get me some of that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, you and me both.

[Mike Clay]

What's it like being a man?

[Field Yates]

It feels good. Feels, Feels like I am. Everyone's young now and I'm in charge. You know what it is? Every year you go, go get older. I think people will be able to relate to this watching you just care less about everyone, you know, everyone else's opinions. Right.

[Mike Clay]

But now you see a guy who looks younger than you, do you call him son? Hey, son.

[Daniel Dopp]

What's up?

[Field Yates]

Kid. Kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Clay]

No, you know when you're a man.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Like people call. I mean, kids kind of used, you know.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. I don't know. My kids call me bro, so I don't know. Do they really? Yeah, Bruh. Bro.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's amazing.

[Field Yates]

Oh yeah.

[Mike Clay]

That's what I have to look.

[Field Yates]

That's what kids do now. Oh, yeah. Oh, you'll get there.

[Daniel Dopp]

I try to call myself not having. I'll give him like a fist bump and he's just like, no, I'm not doing that with you.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, kids are. Kids are funny.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. All right, so then at the tight end spot, I do want to ask you this. You mentioned basically like, I want to grab one of these guys or maybe, you know, if not him, then maybe Laporta, and if not him, do you have a line where you're like, ideally this is the end of my tight end tier that I want to leave?

[Field Yates]

Yes, I think I just answered that.

[Mike Clay]

Three guys.

[Field Yates]

Four, probably those four guys. I could. By the way, I think I just want to say this super quick. I'm sure we'll talk about it more at some point this offseason. But Sam Laporta had that terrible start, but he was back to his prior year self for the most part.

[Daniel Dopp]

He was banged up to start the season.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. And then he. But he was back to normal. But sometimes that start we forget all about the rest of the season. He was fine. So I do feel good about him. Maybe T.J. hawkinson there. I think Jordan Addison's probably looking at a multi game suspension, which helps Hawkinson early in the season.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're buying McCarthy. Right. So you might have to like that a little.

[Mike Clay]

So how low on Travis Kelsey?

[Field Yates]

I have Kelsey at 6, so after Hawkinson, but I shouldn't keep us in that tier. Like.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, that's the thing is like, I think with Kelsey, one of the things that's being overlooked as well is that like Marvin Harrison when you're drafting him is a top two round player. It's super duper disappointing if you get Marvin. I don't know, maybe like the fifth or sixth round this year, like the expectations are implicitly Lower. I feel like that's where we're at right now with Travis Kelsey as, as well. Is that like, yeah, Travis Kelsey is no longer worth a top 15 selection or maybe a top 20 selection. But if you're getting Travis Kelsey 58th overall, like to me that's a totally solid value. The guy had 97 catches last year.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I mean I, I do have him lower than that overall. I just. There were, there was a chunk of the season like right in the middle.

[Mike Clay]

We get it.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Like in the middle of the season he had the bunch of a game, you know, a bunch of good games in a row, a big boost in targets, but otherwise it wasn't really there and it was a clear drop off. And this year now you have Rasheed Rice once he's on the field, which I think again probably looking at a multi game suspension. But Xavier Worthy really exploded late last season and became the number one target for Patrick moments. Frankly, Kelsey wasn't Marquise Brown. I mean you can go on and on.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, sure, sure.

[Daniel Dopp]

So Travis Kelsey had as many single point games as he did double digit point games last year.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I don't know. I, I don't think he's.

[Mike Clay]

That's pretty popular amongst tight ends. I think Mike is being a hater because he thinks he's the, the best citizen from the state of Pennsylvania and he thinks Taylor Swift is overrated.

[Field Yates]

That's right. Yeah. We, when we were young kids at the Jersey shore, we used to hold hands on the beach.

[Daniel Dopp]

You and Tay?

[Field Yates]

Tay. Oh yeah, yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Of course.

[Mike Clay]

You fought her for her songs.

[Field Yates]

Probably an album roundabout.

[Daniel Dopp]

Probably.

[Field Yates]

I mean, whatever helps my brand. We'll go with this. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. I like that.

[Mike Clay]

I learned something new.

[Daniel Dopp]

Pretty sure Dear John is about Mike. She just couldn't rhyme anything with Mike.

[Field Yates]

So she decided, yeah, there's no rhymes with that.

[Daniel Dopp]

One of the things, I just want to say this. I know that Travis Kelsey. How many targets or catches did you say he had last year? Okay. Rasheed Rice missed how much of the season?

[Mike Clay]

A lot.

[Daniel Dopp]

And Hollywood Brown missed most of the season and Isaiah Pacheco sucked and their efficiency at the running back spot was bad. It felt like, like that was kind of like the resurgence of Travis Kelce that we had seen previous in his career. I just wonder this year when Patrick Mahomes has a plethora of people to give the football to, how that's going to be different. But that can be baked into the idea that right now ADP is tight end six, not tight end two. Like he had been.

[Mike Clay]

Well, two things I would respond with is that yes, it's important because you're getting him in like the sixth or seventh round. That helps. Maybe even the eighth round, depending on how your league is approaching that draft. But on top of that is it also takes a lot of the pressure off of Travis Keller. There's going to be so many more players drawing attention away from him and he's still like Patrick Mahomes biggest safety blanket. Like Mahomes, when in doubt, is going to look for number 87.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, he. Well, he.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think it's three.

[Field Yates]

Last year. That was Rasheed Rice for sure. Where is that? What was I going to say? I lost my train of thought? I don't know.

[Mike Clay]

Okay, cool. I don't know.

[Field Yates]

I nailed it. I totally forgot what I was going to say now. But. But you have a.

[Daniel Dopp]

You have miss tight end six.

[Field Yates]

Oh, I know what I was going to say. He was featured in the touchdown regression articles too, because he actually was very unlucky in touchdowns last year. To your point, should. Should score a few more times.

[Daniel Dopp]

How dare you. Whose friend are you, Mine or his?

[Field Yates]

I'm only my own friend, which I.

[Daniel Dopp]

Don'T care about anyone's opinion anymore.

[Field Yates]

I don't care, bro.

[Mike Clay]

Come on.

[Field Yates]

I'm a man, bro.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, so then give me Mike. Just like the rest of the positions. Your takeaway at the tight end spot is.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, it's. I want one of the. Ideally, I want one of the big two. I will. I'll be okay settling for George Kittle. I'll be lesser. Okay. Settling for Sam Laporter. After that, I'm fine to wait and just focus on other positions.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay. You just load up on good players at other positions until you have to.

[Field Yates]

Take a tight end draft. Good players is my strategy every year. Yeah. And you are innovative.

[Mike Clay]

Thank you for that.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. Hashtag draft good players. Are you feeling more fulfilled now that.

[Daniel Dopp]

You'Re back to work on August 15th?

[Mike Clay]

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

[Field Yates]

All out brawl of a film. You're right about that.

[Daniel Dopp]

They're coming after our family. Go fix this.

[Field Yates]

Oh my.

[Mike Clay]

Nobody 2, rated R, holding in theaters August 15th.

[Field Yates]

Hey, guys, it's Ceedee Lamb, wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. I'm partnering with Abercrombie this season to tell you all about their viral dinner. All you need to know is denim should fit like this. My jeans need to check a lot of boxes. Fit first, trend second. They need to go with whatever I'm feeling. And Abercrombie Denim has it down whether I'm throwing on a tee or putting a whole fit together. Shop Abercrombie Denim in the app, online and in store.

[Daniel Dopp]

On WhatsApp, no one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this. So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat or trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone. All right, let's dive into a couple of YouTube questions if you guys don't mind. We can dive into the chat here. Very first question from from our mailbag today.

[Field Yates]

Mind if I want to? Mine is.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, sorry, I thought that was it. We were waiting. Yeah, I was waiting for it to show up on the monitor.

[Field Yates]

Sorry, guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is from Jamar. Probably Jamar Chase playing fantasy football. Is Brock Bowers worth spending an early second round pick on? Let's assume it's a 10, 10 to 12 team league, right?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. And let's talk through this then. So if it's a 10 or 12 team league and you're picking, let's just say ninth in either league, that would give you pick nine and then pick 12 and a 12 team league, it would give you pick nine and then it would again give you pick number what, 16. Right. You're not getting Brock Bowers in the third round.

[Field Yates]

Nope.

[Mike Clay]

So you have a choice you have to make is that you either feel strongly enough about him that you do it now or you're just bypassing him at all entirely. So yeah, And I think two things so worthy of an early second round pick. Yes. I also believe as the league gets larger and larger, like if you play in a 16 team league, the edge you're gaining at both quarterback and tight end is so dramatic.

[Daniel Dopp]

Agreed.

[Mike Clay]

Not to make everything about, you know, leagues that we play in, but in the war room league, which is a 16 team league that a lot of people talk about here at espn, I would bet that Brock Bowers goes end of round one.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I would not be shocked at all by that. I think the problem is if you're picking early in that second round, you're talking about Jonathan Taylor, Josh Jacobs, Nico Collins, Brian Thomas, maybe a Monroe like guys like that. And I have him a little bit lower than that. Some of it's positional scarcity, some of it is that I think the best value of tight end, again, the best overall value is George Kittle. So I say I would not do it. There he is. But I also don't have any.

[Mike Clay]

Any.

[Field Yates]

I don't have anything against it Right. Either. I really don't. If you want to take him at 16 or whatever or 12, 14, I think it could definitely work out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Shout out to Rita Oak for getting us this. For what it's worth, the rest of the tight ends on that list. Mike doesn't really like TJ Hawkinson maybe, but Mark Andrews. Hey, we didn't even talk about Mark Andrews. Can you believe that? That's where we're at on Mark Andrews now. By the way, he's not 35 or 36 like Travis Kelce. He's 29 years old.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, it's interesting. I think that this may be his last year with Baltimore. I'd be kind of surprised. I think Isaiah likely maybe the future there but also likely might miss a game or two and that would help Andrews early in the season. But I did you see and again I referenced this in that NFL piece I have coming out. I'll keep this super quick. But they I think it's Jeremy Fowler does that thing where he interviews all the GMs and coaches and everything and they kind of rank the each position. Awesome series. Very. Just kind of get a good feel for where, you know, the league's head is at on players. They were both top eight tight ends in the entire NFL. Likely and Andrews were in the top eight. I cannot believe Likely was eighth at the that's how the league views him. So I don't know if Baltimore is going to be able to resign him. If he hits the open market he might get a big payday. So I'm kind of curious to see what the plan is for them. But it sounds like all the tea leaves suggest he's going to play a role. Not to mention they brought in DeAndre Hopkins to go with Rashad Bateman and Zay Flowers. There's a lot of mouths to feed and Andrews is perhaps the poster boy for touchdown regression this year. He just his touchdown real estate was triple his career rate. He just cannot not keep that up. The targets dropped considerably. So he's not a guy I'm targeting.

[Mike Clay]

Brenton Strange.

[Field Yates]

Yes. That's just very strange.

[Mike Clay]

No, sorry, I'm saying Brenton Strange.

[Field Yates]

Oh, Brendan Strange.

[Mike Clay]

Like it's very hard for me to find a late round tight end target that I sort of am intrigued by. He's on my list.

[Field Yates]

Is that right?

[Mike Clay]

He is my.

[Field Yates]

I thought, I thought him coming into the league was more of like a blocking tight end. I never thought he'd have much of a ceiling, but do you think he could be, like.

[Mike Clay]

He could be a decent pass sketcher?

[Field Yates]

Yeah, you think so? Like a, Like a Jake Ferguson type?

[Mike Clay]

Sure.

[Field Yates]

Statistical producer. Like a back end, tight end.

[Mike Clay]

One that's comy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

All right, Fair enough. There's just a lot of guys like that.

[Mike Clay]

That's kind of Liam Cohen talking up the idea about playing Travis Hunter even more on offense.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, I didn't see that.

[Mike Clay]

Nervous?

[Field Yates]

No.

[Mike Clay]

Rich Eisenhower.

[Daniel Dopp]

And that'll change some things if that, If I know that that's going to.

[Field Yates]

Be a. I don't know. I'm a 34 in him. And I was thinking about that question yesterday because you had talked about it. I'm like, I don't know if I can move him up much further and feel good about it. I mean, there are so many. I mean, 34 is just outside. I mean, there's one number one in each team that's already 32 receivers. I mean, he's basically right in that conversation. So I'm comfortable with where I have.

[Mike Clay]

And I'm comfortable having him hire.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm sure we will have. Where? Do you have a million questions about Travis Hunter?

[Field Yates]

Top 25.

[Daniel Dopp]

We'll dive into that.

[Field Yates]

Wow. Top 25.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, we got one more question. We may have another one. We'll see how long this takes, but this one comes from Jay Green. Are you taking Alvin Kamara or Amarian Hampton? This is season.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I have them very close. Same tier. I want. My instincts say Hampton, you just default.

[Daniel Dopp]

To the youth because of the things that you talked about.

[Mike Clay]

Yes. Who has a better chance to establish himself and remain a top 10 running back for the full season?

[Field Yates]

For the full say I, Yeah, I, I, I have a hard time arguing with you. It's just Camara keeps doing it and he's not, like, overly expensive, but that team is in rough state. But he also doesn't have a lot of competition. He's one of the tough ones. I've been back and forth.

[Daniel Dopp]

We mentioned this when we were talking about running backs that I just thought, I thought it was a really good point. I think you made it. If I made it. And I just said it's a really good point. I'm really sorry, but the idea that Alvin Camara, you know, with the age that he is, the team is not good. If you get to the end of the season, and it's like, you know what? We're just going to shut him down for next year. Like, I think that's a. There's a bigger chance that you shut down a veteran like that than you would a rookie like Omarion Hampton. Because I expect the Chargers to be in the playoff hunt. I don't expect the Saints to be in a playoff hunt at the end of the year. Kamara. If there's anything about him being banged up and just wanting to save his body, I could just see the Saints shutting them down.

[Mike Clay]

It's a strong quarterback class. We'll never get to the NBA where it's like all of a sudden you'll open up like the Utah Jazz injury report, and It'll be like, nine of the 15 players on their roster all have a tooth injury. How's that possible? Amazing what is going on here, right? But, yes, I wouldn't be surprised if some teams are judicious with how they utilize players late in the season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can we just go back to the days when Pop would just list Tim Duncan as old and that was just okay?

[Mike Clay]

Who cared?

[Daniel Dopp]

I wish we could just do that. That was a guy that was over 40 that didn't care what anyone thought. All right, let's do another question here from our YouTube chat. Next one up we have is from Matthias, and that says which 49ers wide receiver is the one to target? Are you going after Juwan Jennings or Ricky Pearsall?

[Mike Clay]

Pro move right there by Daniel, by the way. He saw Matthias and then he saw the last name and he paused and he was like, I will probably screw that up. So I'm not.

[Daniel Dopp]

Keep on moving.

[Mike Clay]

I'm gonna go with Anaya was the last.

[Daniel Dopp]

It looked like Anaya.

[Mike Clay]

So Matthias, if I screwed that up, I apologize.

[Daniel Dopp]

Don Field.

[Mike Clay]

A lot of recent hype for Ricky Pierce, all in part because Juwan Jennings has been hurt. Juwan Jennings obviously has a far more established track record, even if he does not have a full season of dominating as a wide receiver for the 49ers. To me, it's pretty close. I think Juwan Jennings, just a hashtag, good football player. So I have him ranked a little higher than Pierce Hall.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I think they're. I. They're two rounds apart in adp, so Pierce hall is maybe the slightly better value, but Jennings has also done it at the NFL level, so I think he's probably the.

[Daniel Dopp]

Don't you guys. Probably better numbers. Wide receivers drafted in the first round versus wide receivers drafted in the sixth round. I just Learned I'd rather have the first round wide receiver. I've been on Piersall this entire time, although I have them back to back for what it's worth. It's not like I love Ricky Pearsall that much more than Joann Jennings, but I would go with Ricky Pearsall, what he did as a first round rookie last year. Three games, at least 17 fantasy points in spite of the fact that he was shot and missed a bunch of games to start the season. I believe that again, with the lack of pass catchers there, both these guys honestly are going to be pretty well involved and I think their ADP right now is probably close to outside the top 40.

[Field Yates]

45, maybe seventh round for Jennings, ninth for Piersol and 12 team leagues. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

So, I mean, I think you're getting good value regardless of where you grab either one of those two. I would take Pierce, although you guys want to do a board bet. Do you feel strongly about this or do you not feel strongly between these two?

[Field Yates]

I think Jennings straight up. I'm just saying Pearsall is going later, so. So you like value?

[Mike Clay]

I like. I mean, I'm good with the content side of the board bet of Jennings vs. Piersall. Well, I think we need to.

[Field Yates]

To.

[Mike Clay]

Not to throw this conversation off the rails, but.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right.

[Mike Clay]

We got to figure out board beds a little more this year. Like, I don't know how we integrate them a little bit more, but I feel like, and I'm certainly in part, if not largely guilty for. For doing this, for like we make a board bed and then it's just like, it's just there. It's just floating.

[Daniel Dopp]

We'll have a board. I think we're going to bring back more this year to be able to see. But also I thought the way that we did it last year. Yeah, like, I think that we bring up board bets whenever Mike loses and whenever you or I lose, we just sort of like let it go.

[Field Yates]

So the same as last year though, that's pretty similar.

[Mike Clay]

Or there's like repercussions for losing a board. Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that.

[Mike Clay]

A tick on the board. It's like, oh, Mike lost a board bet last week. He has to drink an entire bottle of hot sauce.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm down with that. A half a gallon.

[Field Yates]

I mean, one of us live on the hot sauce. Fine. Last year, I don't. And we bring it back.

[Daniel Dopp]

Hot takes this year, my friends.

[Mike Clay]

No, not when I'm here.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't know.

[Field Yates]

I don't know.

[Daniel Dopp]

I've heard the crowd is asking for it.

[Field Yates]

Fields calling off pre sick that day.

[Daniel Dopp]

Hey, make sure you go check out Mike Clay's playbook.

[Mike Clay]

Unbelievable article from like Bubble Guts.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm feeling was a really good article. Go check that out. There's going to be two more versions of it coming out a little bit later on this month. You want to read both of those as well. But that's going to do it for us today. The three of us will be back tomorrow again. Oh, Wednesday. That's right. So it'll be a ton of fun. Don't forget to love each other, be kind to yourself, and we'll see you guys on Wednesday.

[Mike Clay]

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

[Daniel Dopp]

Monotonous rhythm to the game.

[Field Yates]

Has the three pointer ruined basketball?

[Mike Clay]

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 history.

[Mike Clay]

30 for 30 podcast presents Chasing Basketball Heaven.

[Field Yates]

Available now wherever you get your podcasts.