The Fantasy Focus Awards: Crowning the Best of the 2025 Season! | Fantasy Focus 🏈

Summary

Fantasy Focus Football: The Fantasy Focus Awards – Crowning the Best of the 2025 Season!

Podcast: Fantasy Focus Football
Hosts: Field Yates, Daniel Dopp, Mike Clay, Stefania Bell
Date: January 2, 2026

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Episode Overview

This special episode of Fantasy Focus Football celebrates the end of the 2025 fantasy season with the annual Fantasy Focus Awards. The hosts reunite in-studio to crown the best (and worst) fantasy performers, debate breakout stars and waiver pickups, recognize comeback and rookie achievements, and share fun moments from the show and community throughout the year. The team brings plenty of stats, signature banter, and personal memories—making it an engaging wrap-up for fantasy managers looking back or planning ahead.

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Key Segments, Discussions & Insights

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1. Warmup, Gifts & Holiday Recap (00:31–07:26)

• The crew is back together in the studio after the holidays, sharing gift exchanges and inside jokes (dad joke calendars, Field’s “bed-making” story, team pride bracelets).
• Opening laughs and digs: Mike Clay mourns Miami’s football fate, Stefania shares a leadership anecdote, and the team sets a lighthearted tone for the episode.

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2. Rookie of the Year (07:26–15:16)

Nominees:

• Tetaroa McMillan (WR, CAR) – 12.6 PPG, WR15
• Harold Fannin (TE, CLE) – 11.7 PPG, TE8
• Jackson Dart (QB, NYG) – 17 PPG (20.1 PPG as starter), QB16
• Ashton Genty (RB, LV) – 14.5 PPG

Debate Highlights:

• Field Yates: “There is no obvious winner at Rookie of the Year this year, which is a testament to how generally bad the rookie class was this year.” (08:44)
• Mike argues for McMillan: productive despite Carolina’s QB play, regularly in starting fantasy lineups.
• Stefania praises Jackson Dart’s grit, rushing upside, but details how injury risk curtailed his late-season value.
• Daniel and Stefania both note Ashton Genty’s post-contact yardage and multi-threat potential—let down more by coaching/OL than talent.
• Field argues Harold Fannin’s appeal as an undrafted tight end who emerged during fantasy playoffs.

Winner:

Jackson Dart (QB, NYG)

“He had a month plus where he carried you… He was awesome for a month plus, he had nine rushing touchdowns this season. That's right near the top of quarterbacks.” – Field Yates (15:15)

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3. Breakout Player of the Year (15:30–21:14)

Nominees:

• Jackson Smith-Njigba (WR, SEA) – 21.6 PPG, overall WR1
• Drake Maye (QB, NE) – 21 PPG, QB3
• George Pickens (PIT) – 18.1 PPG
• Javonte Williams (DAL) – 15.2 PPG

Discussion Points:

• Field, Dan, and Stefania hotly debate JSN vs. Maye.
• Field: JSN should win, “wide receiver one overall hopes” were not expected; “He had 16 and a half fantasy points in 14 of his 16 games.”
• Dan/Stefania: Drake Maye’s floor: never under 12 points, consistent production with limited support; argue JSN “already broke out” end of last year.
• Mike says both JSN and Maye are legit, leans JSN for dynasty due to his leap, but says “It just depends how you look at it.”
• Stefania calls JSN’s breakout more of an MVP argument.

Winner:

Drake Maye (QB, NE)

“I was surprised by how well he did, finishing as QB3 on the year. None of us had him ranked as QB3 going into the season.” – Stefania Bell (18:17)

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4. Flop of the Year (27:01–36:12)

Nominees:

• Saquon Barkley (PHI): 14.5 PPG
• Justin Jefferson (MIN): 11.4 PPG
• Lamar Jackson (BAL): 16.2 PPG
• Brian Thomas Jr. (JAX): 10.1 PPG

Discussion Highlights:

• Flops are more competitive than Rookie of the Year due to volume of underperformers.
• Field’s moment: Jefferson’s downfall was obvious post-injury return of J.J. McCarthy and declining targets.
• Mike: Brian Thomas Jr. “was a bench player cut in smaller leagues...worst case scenario. Two games over 12 fantasy points.”
• Stefania notes injuries and team context crushed Lamar and Jefferson, specifically citing Lamar’s loss of rushing ability post-hamstring.
• The crew acknowledges all nominees had crushing ADPs but Thomas Jr. combined investment with complete lack of utility.

Winner:

Brian Thomas Jr. (WR, JAX)

“To invest that much and have two games over 12 fantasy points… worst case scenario.” – Mike Clay (33:02)

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5. Waiver Wire Wonder (50:20–54:22)

Nominees:

• Rico Dowdle (DAL): RB, back-to-back 32-point games
• Michael Wilson (ARI): WR, 21.4 PPG from Week 11 on, WR3 in that span
• Matthew Stafford (LAR): QB3, 4,448 yards, 42 TDs
• Trevor Lawrence (JAX): Led all players in playoff points

Highlights:

• Michael Wilson barely featured until mid-season, then exploded (“from Week 11 until your championship, he was the number 3 wide receiver in the game.” – Daniel, 52:32).
• Stefania highlights how Wilson + Jacoby Brissette combo was playoff gold.
• Field observes this year lacked true season-long breakout waiver guys like Puka Nacua last year.

Winner:

Michael Wilson (ARI, WR)

“Wilson was a league-winning player. I know he didn't help you much the first half of the season, but… he helped me win some championships.” – Mike Clay (53:08)

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6. Comeback Player of the Year (42:13–48:56)

Nominees:

• Dak Prescott (DAL): 19.6 PPG, great post-injury season
• Chris Olave (NO): 16.8 PPG, overcame concussions
• Christian McCaffrey (SF): 25.3 PPG, best in football, no missed games
• Javonte Williams (DAL): 15.2 PPG, strong post-injury season

Notable Moments:

• Field says it’s a “very straightforward” choice due to McCaffrey’s unquestioned dominance and volume.
• Stefania gives medical context for each: Dak’s hamstring reattachment, Olave’s concussions, Williams’ complex knee reconstruction, McCaffrey’s recovery from Achilles tendinopathy and elite endurance all year.

Winner:

Christian McCaffrey (SF, RB)

“He was remarkable during championship weeks… had just one dud game all season. He's got an outside shot at 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards. We should not waste time on this.” — Field Yates (43:51)

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7. Most Valuable Player (MVP) (57:03–64:44)

Nominees:

• Christian McCaffrey (SF): 25.3 PPG, RB1
• Jackson Smith-Njigba (SEA): 21.6 PPG, WR1
• Puka Nacua (LAR): 23.3 PPG (WR2 in total points)
• Drake Maye (NE): 21 PPG, QB3

Insights & Dynasty Banter:

• Debate: In dynasty, Puka and JSN are top choices. “JSN is about a year [younger] than Nakua… maybe that points you the other direction if you’re trying to break the tie.” – Mike Clay (58:35)
• Stefania: “Christian McCaffrey is aged out for me. For dynasty, it makes sense—rarely do you see any player replicate a career year back to back.”
• Mike/Field debate Stafford’s future impact on Puka, recognize the depth of both the RB and WR positions for dynasty.
• Honorable dynasty mentions: Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Devon Achane among others.

Winner:

Christian McCaffrey (SF, RB)

“The dude was unbelievable this year. Best player in fantasy football. You had to start him from week one and he was unbelievable for your squad.” – Daniel Dopp (61:46)

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8. Fun & Community Segments

Show Recaps:

• “Wheel of Punishment” and “Raheem Sanders Monopoly” segments brought humor and spice to the show (24:14–57:01).
• Shout-out to Fan of the Year (Terry), and thanks to Eric Moody for leading the ESPN Fantasy community chat.

Memorable Quotes:

• “I actually forgot where [the studio] was.” – Field Yates (00:56)
• “It’s the last pod of this season… but I’m pumped to do awards.” – Mike Clay (01:22)
• “You can’t stop authenticity. Booyah!” – Field Yates, Stewart Scott homage (00:02)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Field Yates [08:44]: “There is no obvious winner at Rookie of the Year this year, which is a testament to how generally bad the rookie class was this year.”
• Mike Clay [33:02]: “To invest that much and have two games over 12 fantasy points… worst case scenario.”
• Stefania Bell [45:36]: “There’s a lot of fear and apprehension that we forget about that comes along with coming back from an injury that significant.”
• Field Yates [43:51]: “He was remarkable during championship weeks… had just one dud game all season.”

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Timestamps for Key Sections

• 00:31 – Hosts reunite, gifts & banter
• 07:26 – Rookie of the Year nominees & debate
• 15:30 – Breakout Player of the Year
• 27:01 – Flop of the Year nominees & field-level discussion
• 50:20 – Waiver Wire Wonder
• 42:13 – Comeback Player of the Year discussion & winner
• 57:03 – Most Valuable Player (MVP) nominees, debate, and award
• 24:14 to 57:01 – Fun nonsense: Wheel of Punishment, “Check This Out,” Monopoly segment, community chat awards

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Closing Thoughts & Forward Look

The Fantasy Focus Awards capped off a wild fantasy season with laughter, stats, and reflection. The crew highlighted how the most universal truths of fantasy—health, volume, and unpredictability—continue to reign and reminded the community to stay connected and supportive in the offseason.
Final note: “Don’t forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. Enjoy the playoffs and we’ll see you somewhere down the road.” – Daniel Dopp (64:44)

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For anyone who missed it, this summary brings you through every crucial award, the spirited debates, sharp insights, and memorable moments—all in the original, warm, and witty Fantasy Focus tone.

Transcript

[Mike Clay]

Hi there.

[Stefania Bell]

Surprise.

[Field Yates]

30 for 30 presents. Booyah. Can I get a witness from the congregation? You can't stop authenticity. Booyah. Stewart was exactly like you saw him.

[Mike Clay]

On camera, off camera. He dialed it up 10%. Can you imagine the impact of young black boys and girls looking at that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Going, I feel seen.

[Mike Clay]

He changed the culture.

[Daniel Dopp]

He changed sports stream.

[Field Yates]

Booyah. Presented by Modelo right now on the ESPN app.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're in the six zero one zero focus Fantasy. Fantasy Focus. What's good, friends? Welcome into Fantasy Focus Football presented by Wingstop alongside Mike Clay, Stefania Bell and Phil Jacques. My name is Daniel dopp. We're going 4 wide today in our old studio. It's been a minute since we've been in the studio.

[Field Yates]

I actually forgot where it was.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we were. They're like, just go to studio just right around the corner from each other. But it's great to be able to see all your faces after the holidays. How were your holidays, Stefania?

[Stefania Bell]

They were lovely. Thank you. Rico made out like a bandit.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, I'll bet he did. I'll bet that he did.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

That makes a lot of sense. Mike, what about you? How are you doing over there?

[Mike Clay]

Oh, I'm still not recovered from trying to stay up.

[Field Yates]

You are looking a little lethargic this week.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I'm a little off here.

[Field Yates]

One too many spicy burgies.

[Mike Clay]

I'm feeling it. It's the last pot of this season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Correct.

[Mike Clay]

Obviously we'll start looking forward, but. Yeah, I'm still a little exhausted. Maybe an extra New Year's marg or something the other night.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, maybe that's what did it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I'm good. I'm pumped to do awards.

[Stefania Bell]

Maybe you were celebrating the fact that Miami is.

[Mike Clay]

I was.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was.

[Stefania Bell]

That's it. That was a great gift from.

[Mike Clay]

We don't talk about it much, but you and I are big Canes fans.

[Stefania Bell]

We are big.

[Mike Clay]

This is the most optimistic I've felt about them since the last time they. They. They beat Ohio State and then the refs decided they didn't beat Ohio State.

[Daniel Dopp]

Wow.

[Field Yates]

Petty.

[Stefania Bell]

Mike knows.

[Mike Clay]

Craig Krenzel, Ken Dorsey era. Miami Hurricane.

[Daniel Dopp]

Correct, baby.

[Mike Clay]

Okay, I'm still mad a little bit.

[Stefania Bell]

There's a reason.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God.

[Field Yates]

I spilled water.

[Daniel Dopp]

It already happened. All right, we're off to a great start.

[Mike Clay]

Let's start with the flop of the year Field. The eighth is the first nominee.

[Daniel Dopp]

Very excited to be able to be here for today's show. Obviously. Mike, you said it. It is unfortunately our last show of the Year. That's not why we're excited. We're excited because we get to look back on an entire season and give out a bunch of awards for players that helped us make it to, hopefully, the championship. We at least had a lot of fun. We're real. We're straight up doing cleanup over here.

[Field Yates]

Well, see, the difference between me and Mike is that when Mike does something dumb like spills water on the set, he just. He whistles somebody in grab his assistance.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not you.

[Mike Clay]

He says, come on in. I whistle you to handle it.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was mean.

[Stefania Bell]

Your job. That was mean. Well played.

[Field Yates]

Rude.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. With that being said, we got a whole bunch that.

[Field Yates]

We're going to finish that by the end today.

[Daniel Dopp]

We got a bunch of different awards we're going to hand out. Going to be a lot of fun to look back on the season and talk about who helped us get to championships, who helped people be able to win their leagues. On top of that, we had a bunch of fun moments this season. We're going to look back on, which is always fun for us to be able to take a moment and just reflect on what was the season.

[Field Yates]

Also going to highlight some of the players that helped help Mike win consolation championships this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's right.

[Field Yates]

We cover a lot of ground and.

[Daniel Dopp]

Shout out to our.

[Field Yates]

Weird.

[Mike Clay]

You say that. Isn't that my.

[Daniel Dopp]

That is. In fact.

[Field Yates]

Thank you.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is where I was going. If you want to get a belt just like Mike Clay, head on over to trophysmac.com use the promo code FOCUS10. To be able to get something for your league to give out to your league champion. Like, excuse me. Like we get to do with Mike Clay. But with that being said.

[Mike Clay]

Wait, hold on, though. That was one of my presents this year, but I have another present right here. Can I open this right now?

[Field Yates]

Oh, yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Let's open it. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Van Den Bell just handed it to me. Handed this to me right before the show. Can we open this?

[Daniel Dopp]

Let's see what it is.

[Field Yates]

Open it up. Please be a new external hard drive. Please be a new.

[Daniel Dopp]

He does.

[Mike Clay]

Newest edition of Excel, please. Nope, it's even better. Dad joke.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Stefania Bell]

It's a calendar so that he can practice every day of the year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Every day can be a practice.

[Stefania Bell]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

I have a. I have a whole bunch of these, which is perfect. The more the better because then I can pick out the best ones for fantasy football now. And I have them all lined up.

[Stefania Bell]

I'm always. I feel like now everybody's onto the dad joke thing. Like, how am I going to find something.

[Mike Clay]

I don't have this one.

[Stefania Bell]

You don't?

[Mike Clay]

I do not.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's perfect.

[Mike Clay]

This is the one I had last year, though, and I did not get the new one. So let's see. What day is it? It's Friday. Oh, here's yesterday's. I'm not impressed with the organizers of the New Year's Eve celebration at Times Square. They always drop the ball.

[Stefania Bell]

That's a good one.

[Mike Clay]

That is it. That's really good, Omar. Today's the ski trip started off great, but it was all downhill from there.

[Field Yates]

That awesome. Good. Mine.

[Mike Clay]

They are good.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's not bad.

[Mike Clay]

They're good.

[Field Yates]

I'm already imagining you parlaying that into a joke on Sunday.

[Mike Clay]

Yes. And we have a very special guest speaking of dad jokes on Sundays. Fantasy football now. It's a good one, so you're not gonna want to miss that one.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's a tease.

[Stefania Bell]

You want to open yours?

[Field Yates]

I would love to use Stefania.

[Stefania Bell]

Thank you so much, because there's a little story that longtime POD listeners might.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, I like it. The old Minister Yates gets a book.

[Mike Clay]

Aw.

[Field Yates]

This is called make youe Little Things that can Change your Life and maybe the World by Admiral William H. McRaven. That is awesome story.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is a great story for those that have been a podcast listener for a long time, they would know from way back in the day fields, you didn't used to live here.

[Field Yates]

I did not. I used to live in Massachusetts, in Boston specifically. And I would come down here and stay in a hotel for 150 nights out of, like, 180 nights. And because I care about the people that work at the hotel, and because I like to start my day on the right note, I would often make my bed in the morning at the hotel, and people were like, whoa.

[Daniel Dopp]

Matthew. Stefania and I at the time were like, what? Matthew specifically was like, what? You're making your own bed in a hotel.

[Field Yates]

Show a little respect. It is helpful.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. He's never made a bed a day in his life. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

It also was, like, a great way to start my morning with a routine. I missed the days of having, like, even 30 seconds when you wake up in the morning to yourself before.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Where I had gremlins running around with me. So I actually kind of, kind of long for the days where I was at a hotel making my bed. But, Stefania, this is so cool.

[Stefania Bell]

And that's why this book fits so well. By the way, just a sidebar. Admiral McRaven. I met him because he is friends With Jason Garrett. Jason Garrett, who I went to Princeton with, does a annual event where it's football, but it's also leadership council, et cetera. And Admiral McRaven spoke one year and it was. You could hear a pin drop. It was by far one of the most amazing listens. And he's quiet and soft spoken like some of the best leaders are. And one thing he talked about was the importance of the details and the little things and starting your day right. Because how you started your day would be how you're, you know, emblematic of how your day would go. Hence his book make youe Bed, which I thought he and Field.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's perfectly so much in common.

[Field Yates]

I love that. Yes. Other than like the incredible like mental toughness and fortitude that he brought to his life on a day to day basis. I like, you know, get hit by like a gust of wind. Ow. But anyways, thank you, Stefania.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was very great. I have a lion's bracelet here, Stefania and I have Friendship Lions bracelets to be able to have, which is pretty fantastic.

[Stefania Bell]

So Daniel shares a ridiculous passion for his NFC North. That I do.

[Daniel Dopp]

My NFC west team and so very cool, very fun. We're all going to go over to.

[Field Yates]

Stefan cassette tomorrow night to watch the NFC west championship be decided and the number one seed in the nfc.

[Stefania Bell]

You might not want to watch that with me.

[Field Yates]

I'll bring the wine.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, with that.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Then we. Everyone's around. With that being said, let's get into our rookie of the year nominees. Talking about the potential rookies of the year. We've got four of them we're bringing to the table as nominees. Nominee number one, Tedroa McMillan, averaged 12.6 fantasy points per game, finished as wide receiver, 15 in total points. Nominee number two, Harold Fannin, finished with 11.7 points per game and was tight end eight in total points at the end of the season. Nominee number three, Jackson Dart, averaged 17 fantasy points per game over the entire season. Most importantly just over 20.1 points per game as a starter and finishes QB16 in total points over the season. And nominee number four, Ashton Genty, who averaged 14 and a half points per game this year. All right, we are going to do a segment called Embrace Debate.

[Stefania Bell]

I've never heard of that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Which one of us do you want to hug while you yell at us, Stefania? That's going to be the question. All right, here. What are we going to do? I'm going to hand out cards.

[Stefania Bell]

Are you shuffling the deck?

[Daniel Dopp]

I am shuffling the deck. We're each going to get one of these. We're going to argue about why this player, and we have not seen these before. The show is the player that we believe should get the nominee for Rookie of the Year. Mike, I'm going to start with you all the way down there on the end.

[Field Yates]

Can I give one premise before we start with this award? Sure.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

There's an argument that this is the award we should not have started with because it's an incredibly weak.

[Mike Clay]

This is a tough one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

There is no obvious winner at Rookie of the Year this year, which is a testament to how generally bad the rookie class was this year. Especially when you juxtapose it to some of the recent rookies that we have had. Malik Nabors in that unbelievable season with Brock Bowers last year and Jaden Daniels years prior to that. Jamar Chase and Puka Nukua and Justin Jefferson. So you guys have your work cut out for you. The 2025 class to pay off in future years.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not wrong. Not wrong.

[Field Yates]

Anyways, let's do it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. This is awkward because the guy I got, Ted, Ron McMillan, is actually was my. Was fourth in line for me. Like we all voted for these and I had 1, 2, 3 and McMillan would have been 4. But like you said Field, it's very close. Like you could certainly make a case for McMillan just in terms of, you know, sustaining his play all year long. Being a heavily targeted part of this Carolina offense. Had a few big games, 16 plus fantasy points five times this season, 12th in targets among receivers as a rookie, is an impressive mark just to get there. The efficiency wasn't great, the catch rate wasn't great, but I think we blame a lot of that on the quarterback play in Carolina. It hasn't really gotten to the level that we wanted at, but still found the end zone seven times and was often in fantasy lineups throughout the season, which is not something you could say about a lot of these guys. Consistently throughout the year. It was a lot of borderline guys in and out. They're a backup, they're a starter. You know, was all over the map. But Tetaroa was generally a guy Certainly in 12 team leagues that we had in lineups and impressive passes. The eye test for sure. So we feel like long term gets more consistent, good quarterback play. This is a guy that can be a superstar in the NFL. So I think that's the, that's the strongest case for McNolen.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think so too. 11 of his 16 games, he had at least 10 fantasy points if you can get double digits, you know, it wasn't as high of a floor as what you would want. But he didn't crush you as much as some of the other rookies did this year. Stefania, who's the rookie you're bringing to the table?

[Stefania Bell]

Jackson Dart. And I find it funny that I get this card because he's the one I had to talk about every week because of injury risk. But I would say it's hard to argue that any rookie put himself more on the line for his team than Jackson Dart. And that was both the blessing and the curse for him. When he became the starter after week four, he was out there inspiring his team. You know, the Giants didn't have a lot to root for. They lost Malik Neighbors shortly after that. They lost Cam Scatterboo. But Jackson Dart never lost his energy or his faith. So he put up rushing yards every single week. And I think that's what everybody was counting on. You saw that. You knew you were going to get fantasy productivity from his legs every week until the head injuries started coming. And then what happened was you saw the rushing yards go away essentially. And so I think that's why none of these players are easy to put out there as something they did every single week. That amazed us. Part of the appeal of Jackson Dart was lost in the later games because of that injury risk. I'll be really interested to see how he takes his game forward next year, how the Giants look in total next year. But can he run smarter and still be a runner, still be fantasy productive for you without compromising his health for his team?

[Mike Clay]

I'm curious to see if we get a discount on him in drafts because of the fear of the injuries because I'm going to be in if we get a discount on him for that. I mean I mentioned this on Wednesday. 20.1 fantasy points per game this season, fourth best among rookie quarterbacks over the past decade. Last year we talked about how great Jaden Daniel season was. He was at 20.9 less than a point difference between Dart when he was a full gun. Well, even games he left injured versus Daniels when. When he was just dominating last year. So yeah, I think you were just going to Play. It's a 17.0 on the screen. That includes some games where he just played a couple snaps. But it was 20.1 when he was the starter this season. He was fantastic from a fantasy perspective and if we can get that, that discount. And again, I mentioned this too, he only threw three passes to Malik Neighbors the whole season One partial game. I mean, the sky's the limit for this guy. I'm fired up for next year for him.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, very excited since week four when he took over. He was quarterback six in fantasy points per game for the rest of the season. The dude was unbelievable. I have Ashton Genty that I'm bringing to the table. Ashton Genty, seven games of 15 or more fantasy points and you saw some of the good things that he did. Mike, you talked about it a little bit on Wednesday. Yards before first contact was not good. That's not an Ashton Genty stat. Yards after first contact, he was unbelievably good. Fourth in the NFL in yards after first contact. To be honest, he was hampered by the quarterback, offensive coordinator, the head coach, basically the entire Raiders organization.

[Mike Clay]

Offensive line.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, honestly, everything. The whole thing, it was a problem for Ashton Genty and you were still able to see the things that he brings to the table in these pockets, these windows of him being able to show that explosive, big playability not just as a runner, but also as a pass catcher a number of times. So Ashton Genty, even though it wasn't all the things that we wanted and we did have higher expectations coming into the season, he finished his quarterback, excuse me, finished his running back 13 on the year. So not as high as we wanted. But it wasn't terrible for you when you're looking at it. I say that running back 13 in.

[Stefania Bell]

Fantasy points per game and he played every week.

[Field Yates]

Yep.

[Stefania Bell]

I mean, that's really remarkable at the running back position that he played every single week. He only had one week with no catches. And you know what? He wasn't targeted in that week either.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not his fault.

[Stefania Bell]

So a lot of the things that he didn't do were not necessarily ashton.

[Daniel Dopp]

Genti's fault, 100% on that.

[Field Yates]

Last but not least is Harold Fannin Jr. For the Browns. Who the strongest case for Harold Fanning Jr. Is, I think threefold. One is he was free, he was undrafted, so this was a waiver wire pickup. You don't have to use draft capital to acquire him in the first place. Two, he plays the position that we had the hardest time finding stability week in and week out. That's tight end. If you didn't have a George Kittle or of course a Trey McBride or it's kind of it. Right? I mean, Brock Bowers was so in and out of the lineup and Tyler Warren really faded. Jake Ferguson faded. The list goes on and on and on. Fannin had a lot of appeal and three is he finished strong he got hurt in week 17, but he still had 11 fantasy points by that time. He had a two game stretch in the playoffs with 25 targets. So fan, in a guy who kind of found his best football late in the season, very optimistic about what this player is going to be in future years.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, field Minister Yates, you get to announce the winner after we put forth those arguments for each one of them. Yeah, Rookie of the year.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I was going to say, like our arguments are kind of in vain because we've already voted on these players.

[Daniel Dopp]

We have.

[Field Yates]

Without further ado, a 2025 fantasy. Focus Rookie of the Year goes to Jackson Dart. Yeah, New York City.

[Mike Clay]

He got my vote.

[Field Yates]

He got my vote as well. With Jackson. I think the case is pretty straightforward. Beyond what Stefania discussed is that he had a month plus where he carried you. Yeah, he was awesome for a month plus he had nine rushing touchdowns this season. That's right near the top of quarterbacks. Let's get to the breakout players. Daniel.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, let's dive into it. Breakout player of the year. This is also very fun because we're looking at really exciting players that maybe delivered something we were not expecting.

[Field Yates]

These guys, there's like, this is really good candidates top to bottom across the board here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Nominee number one, Jackson, Smith and Jigba finished with 21.6 fantasy points per game. Nominee number two, Drake May finished with 21 fantasy points per game at the quarterback position. Nominee number three, George Pickens finished with 18.1 fantasy points per game and Javante Williams, his teammate. Two Dallas Cowboys, who finished with 15.2 fantasy points per per game. All right, here's what we're going to do here. We're going to give one breakout and one fake out. One player that we believe should be winning this player, this award. One player that shouldn't win this award. Field, I'm going to start with you.

[Field Yates]

So a player that should win the award and player that should not win the award.

[Daniel Dopp]

Correct.

[Field Yates]

The player that should win the award is pretty straightforward. It's Jackson, Smith and Jigba. I mean wide receiver one. We came into the season with high hopes for JSN, but not wide receiver one. Overall hopes for him. He had 16 and a half fantasy points in 14 of his 16 games. The player that should not win this award, in my opinion is Javante Williams. He was amazing. Unbelievable draft value just wasn't as dominant at his position as JSN was.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, I am going to go next if that's all right with you guys. We'll just make our way down the list?

[Mike Clay]

No, I don't think so.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, go ahead, Mike, why don't you go next?

[Mike Clay]

Oh, God.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think the player that should win this award is Drake May. Actually scored 18 fantasy points in 11 of his 16 games. 16 or more fantasy points in 13 of those 16 games. He never scored under 12, which I realize 12 is not a number that's going to win you a week, but he also didn't get you. Listen, Jalen Hurts and Jaden Daniels and a number of us, we had a couple of single digit games in there where you score six fantasy points and it really crushes your squad. Drake May didn't have any of that happen. 4,200 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, another 400 yards on the ground and a couple of touchdowns there. I think Drake May, with everything he did, just took a major step moving forward. The player that shouldn't win this award is Jackson Smith. Injury play. Wow. I don't think Jackson Smith should win it.

[Stefania Bell]

I just gotta jump in now because our picks are identical. So everything you say I can't help. I'm sitting on my hands here because I can't wait to hear why you say he didn't. He wasn't deserving.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think we already saw Jackson Smith break out. That's the thing. So here's last year. 2024, week 11, 21.8 points. Week 12, 19.7, week 14, 19.6, week 15, 18.3, week 16, 24 fantasy points. We already saw it at the end of last year. We knew that he was going to be this guy coming on at the end of the season, finish as wide receiver nine in 2024. So I think even though he was unbelievable, we didn't have wide receiver one in the bag. I would say that's why he doesn't deserve the award this year.

[Field Yates]

Interesting.

[Stefania Bell]

It's so funny. That's why I said Field said this straightforward and I'm like oh wow. My arguments are completely different but my arguments are 100% where yours are. I thought that Drake May would be good. I didn't know he'd be great and be so dominant at the position. The other thing to about Drake May is he was consistently productive in both elements. Passing the ball, still good with his legs. And I felt like this is something where it's going to grow. Like we thought we'd see growth in Drake May, but I was surprised by how well he did. Finishing his quarterback three on the year. None of us had him ranked as quarterback three going into the season. And jsn, it was really the same argument as you. I remember making a bold prediction. I wish we had tape. I'm sure we do somewhere. But it was that Jackson, Smith and Jigba would finish ahead of DK Metcalf by the end of last season, that he would become the wide receiver one over DK Metcalf, which happened. So I felt like that breakout, that train got rolling last year, even though this year it was the entire season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, agree.

[Mike Clay]

All right, Mike. I'm a little bit more on the field side of this. I know this can be subjective.

[Field Yates]

Not my side. It's the correct side.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, I agree. I agree obviously. I mean I had Smith and Drake May one two, so I think they.

[Daniel Dopp]

We all had it one, two, probably.

[Mike Clay]

It just depends how you look at it. And Jigba basically at a third round, ADP jumped up to maybe the best, one of the most valuable players in fantasy for sure. Spoiler alert. He'll be in the conversation at least later when we talk about that award. But Drake May was a late round flyer and he leapt all the way up to being worth, you know, right up there with the top fantasy quarterbacks. But I think at the end of the day when you're talking about a guy that dominated like in every category at wide receiver and was putting up massive points and as you know, I know you had him in some leagues. I sure did. Yep. He was just winning you week after week. And I feel like Drake May was good. Like he's getting you 22, 19, 23. Like he's still, you know, you got great value on him. You certainly did. But I feel like Smith and Jigba going from pretty good player to now a maybe the best player in dynasty, like the number one dynasty player. I feel like he deserves the award for that.

[Field Yates]

I agree. I love Drake May. Freaking love Drake May.

[Daniel Dopp]

You do?

[Mike Clay]

I hit him on a ton of teams.

[Field Yates]

I love him in life like I love him in fantasy. You name it. This wasn't some off the charts fantasy season for a quarterback. No, like this wasn't Lamar last year. This wasn't what we've seen from Josh Allen in recent years. Like really, really solid. This is a dominant jsn, no doubt. Like for a while he was flirting with the pace to break Calvin Johnson's all time receiving record.

[Stefania Bell]

So maybe he was ranked too low coming into the season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Maybe we should have had him a little bit higher. Maybe we should have had him a little higher.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, we should have May hire too. You can make for all these guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's true.

[Stefania Bell]

That's right. Okay, so let's see if the right people were right. I believe I have.

[Daniel Dopp]

You do have the award, Stefania. Go ahead and give it to us.

[Stefania Bell]

Oh, look, we got two cards stuck together. Or is it supposed to be that way? Like I'm opening an envelope. Oh, I see. I don't know. I didn't know how the. The breakout player of the year, Drake May.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, Drake. Drake May.

[Stefania Bell]

I know. Jsn. You know, I think feel like the arguments that you made in particular for JSN are MVP arguments. Really? Because he did do so much for your team every week. But I don't know.

[Mike Clay]

I'm sorry. Yeah. If you're in the MVP conversation, I feel like that's more evidence that you should win a secondary award like this potentially.

[Daniel Dopp]

There was a small part of it for me, too, that we talked about this before with Harold Fannin, but wide receiver is a deep enough position that you could kind of have a couple of people to be able to fill you in. Like if you had Drake May and there were a number of problems at the quarterback position this year with Joe Burrow getting hurt, Jaden Daniels going down. A lot of the guys that we'd looked at, Lamar Jackson was not all the things that we had hoped for. It just felt like in an island position, he maybe gave you a lot of that floor that you didn't expect coming into the season. But I don't think either one of these is a wrong choice.

[Field Yates]

Okay, two questions really quickly.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

How old is Drake May?

[Daniel Dopp]

23.

[Field Yates]

23. Which is ridiculous. It's absurd. Second of all, Mike, you're the dynasty ranker. Number one Dynasty quarterback is the number.

[Mike Clay]

I still think he's a very strong case for Jaden.

[Field Yates]

Daniel, you have Jaden, but it's him and Drake, I'm assuming.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, they're up there. Yeah. I mean, obviously someone like Josh Allen still there. Lamar Jackson's still there.

[Field Yates]

I think at this point you'd be trading, like if someone offered you Josh 29.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Yeah. You'd probably take. Yeah, I'm fine with that. I mean, they're all. They're all certainly in the top 5%. That's it.

[Daniel Dopp]

And imagine if Drake May got some more pass catchers to be able to.

[Mike Clay]

He doesn't need them.

[Daniel Dopp]

I know, but imagine if he did.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. I mean, honestly, when you look at the efficiency, I've followed a lot of the spirited debate surrounding the MVP over the past couple of days, and Drake May's numbers are like 30 passing touchdowns. That's not some gigantic number. The Guy's got nearly 90 fewer passing attempts than Matthew Stafford.

[Mike Clay]

He's at 40.

[Field Yates]

So like if Drake May was just throwing the football a little bit more, not getting yanked from games, maybe he'd be sitting there with 40 passing touchdowns and we'd be having a different story about his case. Anyways, I think he wins MVP in real life too.

[Mike Clay]

Hope so. By the way, really quick like the way we voted for these was 1, 2, 3. We submitted our votes. There was other. What's that?

[Field Yates]

Ranked choice voting is how we just have that.

[Mike Clay]

Yes, but there were a couple of guys like I made long lists and then cut them down to short lists. So like randomly I'll just mention a couple other names. I think guys we should just give a mention to Rico Dowdle and Kenny Gainwell too. I feel like he deserves especially the way down the stretch leading into the playoffs and the playoffs just two, you know, just two guys. Honorable mentions if you will. Still a ridiculous receiving not vote jsnpr I'm with you. I agree.

[Stefania Bell]

Also the voters like it was bigger than just the four of us.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, it was the entirety ESPN fantasy crew.

[Stefania Bell]

That's how we got winner. There weren't just four votes and then we drew.

[Mike Clay]

I'm curious what the results were. I'd like to see the voter wins. I bet that while we're here I'll.

[Field Yates]

Send the teams thing and notifications.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, we'll see.

[Daniel Dopp]

Phil's going to send a strongly worded email right now. But speaking of breakouts, we broke out the wheel of punishment this year for a couple of fun things and things got weird. My friends, I set my lineup.

[Mike Clay]

Stacked team, ready to destroy. Lost again.

[Daniel Dopp]

I do wonder though what do you guys think? Mike Klalake's watching more. Is it actually the football game or is it just waiting until the game is over to update cell K38 with his wide receiver cornerback matchups, you know what I mean? Yeah, like ha ha ha. I got this one right.

[Stefania Bell]

That's hilarious.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, that's great.

[Field Yates]

Disgusting.

[Daniel Dopp]

That looks good.

[Mike Clay]

Disgusting.

[Field Yates]

I start to weak garb.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. I love this field.

[Field Yates]

Number one, the Mars Jackson. It's so sour. It's when you get the liquid.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

How sour is that feel? You want to go spit it out in the cup over there? Yeah, that's probably not a bad idea.

[Mike Clay]

Michael Pittman Jr. We got there. It's okay, don't worry.

[Field Yates]

Nice fellow. Zach Erdt.

[Mike Clay]

I hated this one. I would like at the quarterback Position. I would love some Jordan love. Excuse me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

I would love Jordan love. We talked about earlier in the program. I'm getting so bad at that. Where are you?

[Field Yates]

Keep going.

[Mike Clay]

Now, tight end. I will go with Travis Kelsey because his quarterback has a 6, 7 completion percentage.

[Field Yates]

Jordan Addison. What on earth is that?

[Mike Clay]

That's a good matchup he had. Oh, sorry.

[Field Yates]

I know, but what. What is the practical use of it?

[Mike Clay]

Why do you have that.

[Field Yates]

To make noises?

[Mike Clay]

Only practical.

[Stefania Bell]

Stu.

[Field Yates]

God, he's so good.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was fun.

[Stefania Bell]

That is so funny.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was very fun. Yeah. Shout out to.

[Mike Clay]

Are we doing your mini golfing? You ever do?

[Field Yates]

No, I gotta pay that off.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, we still gotta pay off mini golf.

[Mike Clay]

Till next year. Now you have till next year.

[Field Yates]

I guess I do, right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

I'd also like for it to be more than six degrees out.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

We need golf.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's fair. We'll allow it. Quite chilly up here in the northeast. It's quite bad. Yeah. All right. Well, that was a lot of fun. That was always a good time. Stefania, you got exempt from the wheel of punishment, which is pretty nice.

[Field Yates]

Do you want to roll just for fun one time? You're good.

[Daniel Dopp]

No good.

[Mike Clay]

Spinning the wheel to.

[Daniel Dopp]

We also did starts of the week every single week. We should do some final standings as to how that played out. We had some good starts of the week. We actually don't know how things played out either.

[Mike Clay]

I have no idea.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is going to be revealed to us live. Starts at the week goes to field Yates.

[Field Yates]

Seven.

[Daniel Dopp]

Seven wins this season. Way to go, my friend. That's a dominant year.

[Mike Clay]

We do 15 weeks or something like that.

[Field Yates]

Nearly a 50% hit rate.

[Mike Clay]

Wow. Well done.

[Daniel Dopp]

That means we did poorly. Mike.

[Stefania Bell]

Doing that math.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

NBD 7 divided by 15 is 32.

[Mike Clay]

But who got. We need the full standings. I need to know who got punished the most. Do you think? I had nothing at the beginning and then a lot right in the middle and then a nothing at the end. I don't even know where I got.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was pretty evenly distributed throughout the whole season, so I think it was me.

[Field Yates]

I'm pretty sure. Consistency.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, speaking of some fun things, even though punishments was not a flop, we do have flops that we need to be able to look at. Unfortunately. Fantasy flop of the Year. Probably our least favorite award we had to vote on this season. Unfortunately. We're going to start with this nominee. Number one, Saquon Barkley. Averaged 14 and a half fantasy points per game. Number two, Field talked about him ad nauseam this season, Justin Jefferson, 11.4 fantasy points per game nominee number three, Lamar Jackson finished with 16.2 fantasy points per game and number four, Brian Thomas Jr. With a mere 10.1 fantasy points per game. Let's talk about when you guys felt like you knew that these guys were going to be in trouble for this season.

[Stefania Bell]

You know what the sad thing is? This category, way more competitive than Rookie of the Year.

[Daniel Dopp]

It is. It is much more competitive. A lot of good options competitive because.

[Stefania Bell]

There were so many options. It's.

[Mike Clay]

My long list is really long, so I'll save it for later. I have a lot. I had a lot of candidates for this one. It was hard to cut it down.

[Field Yates]

The moment that I knew. So we were sitting here, I was down in the Bahamas and Mike was, he claims only half of one glass of savvy bn, but he was going on this long winded thing about how Will Shipley was actually the best running back on the Eagles.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, Tank Bigsby. I knew it. No, no, they hadn't traded for him yet.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was in it.

[Mike Clay]

Well, I mean, you were calling yourself.

[Field Yates]

You know, will Shipley is just like a difference maker and Saquon's a bum and the Eagles are kind of a bum franchise anyways. Like, I don't even like them. Like me, I'm much more of a Saints fan. Everybody knows that. And so, yeah, I am fading Saquon. And I was like, you know what, Mike? One half a glass of savvy BN is a very good prognosticator.

[Mike Clay]

Nailed it.

[Field Yates]

I agree.

[Mike Clay]

Thanks. That was how I knew that felt like a backhanded way to compliment me, but I'll take it. I mean, it turned out right.

[Daniel Dopp]

So honestly, I, I want to, like, I'll piggyback off of that. I, you guys know in the preseason, I was very in on people other than Saquon Barkley. You had talked about the historical regression when it comes up from a workload like saquon had in 2024. And because of that, I think going into the season, I just lowered my expectations. So I don't want to say that I knew ahead of time that this is the way the season was going to play out. But I did know with a lot of the stuff you brought to the table, Mike, with the way that that historical regression has looked for running backs with that kind of workload, felt like it for me.

[Field Yates]

It felt, I mean, to be serious here, it did feel like the moment I think I sort of felt like we knew was when Carson Wentz got hurt and was out for the year. And J.J. mcCarthy came back.

[Daniel Dopp]

Justin Jefferson. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Having had time to get his ankle correct. Yes. And get some confidence back. And then it was just like a month straight of absolute purge.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah. What happened just there was Field said when Carson Wentz came back after we'd been talking about the Eagles.

[Daniel Dopp]

The Eagles, yeah. I needed to make sure that we.

[Stefania Bell]

Knew we had to do little gymnastics. I was like, when Carson Wentz came back, you knew back then, back then.

[Daniel Dopp]

That'S what it was going to be.

[Field Yates]

No Jim Harbaugh, but I can't see the future.

[Stefania Bell]

So. Yes. For J.J. mcCarthy, it's interesting. I basically said the same thing, that when J.J. mcCarthy came back, it was bad. He had a lot of targets early. When he went 5 for 79 on 10 targets, that's when I think I realized most of the balls thrown his way are not actually going to. Not because of him, to be clear, but just because the ball might not be in the vicinity of him. And it just got worse from there on out. The first few weeks you could sort of make the excuses, but then it got progressively worse to the point where it was like two catches.

[Daniel Dopp]

We were trying so hard down that stretch once it felt like we were seeing single digit outing after single digit outing, but we kept saying, man, but these matchups are actually pretty good to take advantage of. It felt really tough to not be able to do that. The two things about Saquon and Justin Jefferson. Saquon's ADP was 3.9. Justin Jefferson's ADP was 4.5. Much higher than the other two guys. Lamar Jackson was in the 20s as well as Brian Thomas Jr. Not that they weren't all self lops unfortunately, but those two, you absolutely put a top five pick on. So Mike, what about you? When were some of the places that you knew?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, so my vote, I'll tell you right now went to and this is no surprise if you saw Wednesday's show, is Brian Thomas Jr. I think that like last season, Thomas was good. You thought, okay, this is a good player. First round pick. He has a role in the, the, the Jags offense. But we didn't see him really get to that next level and become a top five fantasy receiver until Mac Jones was the team's quarterback. So in the offseason there was a little bit in the back of our mind like is he going to do this again with Lawrence? We didn't talk a lot about it, but it was something that we mentioned here or there. Week one it was just like, oh, boy. And then week two, it was like again, like. Remember he had a rushing touchdown in week one.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was.

[Mike Clay]

But he caught like one of seven targets. So within a couple weeks, there was a concern. And. And this is as good a time as any for the final time this season to check this out. Or not. Maybe we won't.

[Stefania Bell]

Maybe we won't.

[Daniel Dopp]

Check it out.

[Stefania Bell]

Yo, check this out.

[Mike Clay]

Check this out.

[Field Yates]

Check this out.

[Stefania Bell]

Check this out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Check this out.

[Field Yates]

It's time to check this out.

[Stefania Bell]

Check this out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Dropping the football is always gonna be the best part.

[Mike Clay]

It was so good.

[Field Yates]

The best part.

[Daniel Dopp]

And it was great because you didn't even have to do that by accident. Like, that was just you trying to.

[Mike Clay]

Play with a. I was trying to spin it around. I was trying to look cool. And it didn't. It looked like it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Jeff Darlington tried a little cool.

[Field Yates]

Mike.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Not going great. Not going great. All right, check this out. And I did again. I used this stat on Wednesday, but maybe not everyone was watching. Stefania, I know you weren't watching because I was on, so it's okay. But in 22, 22 full games with Trevor Lawrence.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

Ryan Thomas is averaging 11.9 fantasy points per game. He's hit 17 five times, 22 games. It has not been good. The Lawrence to Brian Thomas Jr. Connection. And for a guy that had a second round ADP to have two games over 12 fantasy points a season, that, to me, is the amount you invested. To be that poor in fantasy, to be a bench player cut in. In smaller leagues, that's the worst spot, worst case scenario. Two games over 12 fantasy points two times.

[Stefania Bell]

You saw it when it really went off the cliff to me. So he had three catches for 31 yards on seven targets early. Then he leaves because of injury. And when he came back, he was essentially written out of the script for the team. So you saw hints of it. But once he was injured, like, you knew he was probably never reclaiming that space.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

Because then we started to see the emergence of other pass catchers.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

And we didn't even need to wait until the trade deadline. Although once they traded for Jacoby Myers, it was like, okay, it's no more writing down the wall. It's already been written. Like this is.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. They also extended Myers contract. I mean, they know. And then Parker Washington breaks out after that.

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean, that was tough. We didn't really talk about Lamar Jackson. I do think part of Lamar was just the injury that happened. You saw, once he got hurt, he lost the Rushing ability that really made him Lamar Jackson.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, I said that. For me, I was worried in week nine when I saw how he looked after he came back from the hamstring. But I knew in Week 11 when he was four rushes for 10 yards. And the thing is, I think he scored a touchdown. He was scoring rushing touchdowns, and then he wasn't, and he scored one in the last five, six games. I can't remember where it was, but. But it was the hesitation before he ran it in. It was the way he wasn't running. I mean, it was reluctant. Right? It was. If he had to do it and there was nothing else, he would. He still, you know, now he's got a back injury. Obviously, fantasy's over. But I feel badly for Lamar because I know how much he wants to be out there. He's expressed it multiple times. And this is where you're reminded players are players. There was a quote from Lamar Jackson. I don't know if you guys saw it this week in one of his speaking to the press and everybody asking him about these same questions that we have. And he said, you know, sometimes I think people think I'm a robot and I'm a human being, too. Like saying why he couldn't play through the back injury. He just couldn't be out there. So it is a reminder sometimes injuries are hampering these guys. And we definitely saw it with Lamar.

[Daniel Dopp]

I know we don't play into week 18. Huge game for the Ravens this week. He has said that he is going to play.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. He can erase the flop conversation immediately by making a long playoff run or winning his first super bowl mvp. Who knows?

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, well. Well, we gave the flop nominee to our flop, Mike Clay.

[Mike Clay]

So, yeah, I mean, I walked in here today and I didn't know what we were doing, obviously, because I don't prepare. And I just looked at my seat and there was just a piece of paper that said flop Mike Clay.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's it.

[Mike Clay]

I don't know that. I don't know what that's about.

[Field Yates]

Just read that and we're done.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, that's it.

[Mike Clay]

That's it. Flop my Clay. That's it. I win this award. By the way, a couple other names. We mentioned this. I should mention these names because we said there's a long list. Alvin Kamara, Marvin Harrison, Jr. Chuba Hubbard, G.J. hawkinson, Evan Ingram. There's a lot of hype for going to Denver. Tyler Murray, Xavier Worthy. Remember where he was going in drafts? Lad McConkey. I mean, we can go on and on.

[Daniel Dopp]

Ever hit 20 fantasy points.

[Field Yates]

He did not.

[Daniel Dopp]

He did not.

[Field Yates]

He had zero yards.

[Stefania Bell]

Evan Ingram one killed me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Field was saying. He's like, are we going to get to the end of the season where Xavier Worthy actually doesn't score 20 points a single time this season? And it added donkey bad McDonkey should be on there.

[Mike Clay]

By his correct name.

[Daniel Dopp]

He should be on there.

[Mike Clay]

Yep.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. Government ready.

[Mike Clay]

Ready for the answer. The winner. The winner is for Fantasy Flop of the year in 2025. Really? 2026.

[Daniel Dopp]

Now.

[Mike Clay]

Brian Thomas Jr. Wow. Thomas Jr. Well earned. Unfortunately.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Yes or no? Trade it in the off season. Yes or no?

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean, yes.

[Mike Clay]

I think yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

I would like to see him go somewhere else. They've already. They just gave Jacoby Myers a ton of money. They still think probably a lot of good things about Travis Hunter. Parker Washington came on and looked really great.

[Mike Clay]

I think that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep. Yeah. All right. From Flop of the Year to Fan of the Year, we're gonna bring in our buddy Eric Moody, who has spent more time with our community than anybody else in our YouTube chat. Not named Mama Dop, for what it's worth. Cause she's in there every single week as well. Eric, so great to be able to see you. Look at you dressed up. Natalie clad. Eric, tell me how you're doing, bud. What's it like, Ben, being in the chat, being able to meet all of the people and hang out with everyone that is interested in Fantasy Focus this year? You.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, there we go.

[Stefania Bell]

There it is.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that. When you're talking about, like, movie talk, I want to know, like, what kind of movie talk do we get in the chat? Because I'm glad that it's some pop culture and not just fantasy football as well. Eric. Oh, yeah, that's fair. Especially over the holiday weekend. I feel like you get hit with a lot of them. It's like, are you a Christmas vacation? Are you an elf person? Are you a Home alone? Yeah. There's a lot, right, that you can dive into.

[Field Yates]

Things were better in the day compared to where they are now. Like, I've always said, Led Zeppelin's the greatest band of all time.

[Daniel Dopp]

Always said that. Always said that.

[Field Yates]

Example of things that have gotten better or I've gotten worse, I guess, over time.

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, Eric, you spent more time in chat with these people than the rest of us have. We would love to be able to give out an award for Fan of the Year. Who are you going to give this award to? My friend?

[Stefania Bell]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Thank you, Terry.

[Daniel Dopp]

I know, Terry. Love it.

[Field Yates]

Is that not to be confused with the NBC rules analyst?

[Daniel Dopp]

I do not believe that's so good.

[Mike Clay]

ESPN fantasy analyst.

[Field Yates]

Well, tell us about Terry.

[Stefania Bell]

Wow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love that. Heck, yeah. We are so grateful. Thank you, Eric. You've done an unbelievable job, too, of helping us be able to continually cultivate the community and be a part of all of this. So thank you so much for everything. Being able to be in there on a daily basis. Oh, this came in from Terry.

[Field Yates]

Hey, thanks.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love that.

[Stefania Bell]

Chiefs fan, huh?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, for now, until they move to Missouri. We'll see how that one works out. But very exciting. Eric, thank you so much for all of this. Not only are we excited to have all of the fans that were hanging out with you back next year, but we're excited to bring you back next year as well and continue to do this for us here on Fantasy Focus.

[Mike Clay]

Daniel, you didn't. Your favorite guy didn't get a vote there. He didn't get a.

[Daniel Dopp]

He did not. No. Mai did not make it. Mai did not make it.

[Mike Clay]

Did you want to give a shout.

[Daniel Dopp]

Out or not or.

[Mike Clay]

No? No, no.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think we're good to go. I think we're good to go. Let's talk about comeback player of the year, though, my friends. Next award on tap. We got four great comeback players to be able to discuss. Dak Prescott, nominee number one, averaged 19.6 fantasy points per game. Number two, Chris Olave, averaged 16.8 fantasy points per game and was the only non quarterback with at least 20 fantasy points in all three playoff weeks. Nominee number three, Christian McCaffrey, averaged 25.3 fantasy points per game. And nominee number four, Javante Williams, with 15.2 fantasy points per game. All right, we're gonna do this courtroom style. Everyone's gonna get a gavel. You get to be able to put your verdict down. Smash it. By the way, head on over to trophysmac.com if you want to be able to get one of these for your league.

[Field Yates]

That is awesome.

[Daniel Dopp]

Field.

[Field Yates]

It's super dense.

[Daniel Dopp]

It is quite dense.

[Field Yates]

You could take out a kneecap if you're not careful with it.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're gonna go first. I will hold this for you. Who are you nominating?

[Field Yates]

I. Listen, I thought that. Well, I'm being thoughtful of Daniel Smith.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

My hand is underneath there.

[Field Yates]

I thought the first topic was a fairly straightforward decision with Jackson, Smith and Jigba. This one is definitely very straightforward. Okay. It's Christian McCaffrey, 25.3 fantasy points per game. The most fantasy points per game of any player in all of Fantasy football. Oh, by the way, he was there every single week as well. He was remarkable during championship weeks, especially in that. That Sunday night showdown. Like that helps you even more. He brought you Sunday night miracles. He had just one dud game all season. He's got an outside shot at 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards. We should not waste time on this.

[Daniel Dopp]

I am also going to say Christian McCaffrey very clearly. Chris Olave would have been my guess for number two or my vote for number two with everything that he did. However, CMC was just so above and beyond that. It's ridiculous.

[Mike Clay]

It's amazing.

[Daniel Dopp]

Agreed.

[Stefania Bell]

I'm going to have Mike go third because I'm going to bring him.

[Mike Clay]

You're going to bring it? I'm doing it. I think totally fair. What? I did it wrong again.

[Stefania Bell]

You guys are all terrible.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're like. You bang.

[Stefania Bell]

Have you been to a courtroom?

[Daniel Dopp]

No, I have not.

[Mike Clay]

This is not the exact setup. You want to be slamming your hand. How bad is this going to hurt?

[Stefania Bell]

Like you're ringing a triangle.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, but I do, you know, I think there's Chris Alave. I agree. I think is worth a shout out because this is a guy who I remember even in the off season. You and I run a team together, dynasty team. And we have Chris Alave. And we were trying to do anything to get running back help in that league and quarterback help as well. We needed. But we were so strong a receiver, so we were floating alive. And I remember that specifically because no one wanted to touch him. He was, you know, because all the concussion issues. As young as he was and as good as he is, no one was interested in him.

[Daniel Dopp]

No one knew the quarterback situation either.

[Mike Clay]

That as well. But it was mostly people thinking this guy might not have a career in the NFL. So he held up for the most part. I know he's going to sit out week 18 for something completely unrelated, but he held up and showed that he is an elite player with some suspect quarterback play for at least the first half of the season. So shout out to Chris Olave, who came back and finished. Where'd he finish? Fifth or I think in fantasy. Like he was sixth, I think. Was it eight? Was it eight in total points? Yeah. So. But he was fantastic. So shout out to him. But Chris, obviously, Christian McCaffrey very well deserved.

[Stefania Bell]

Okay, this is better. It's better.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. Show us how it's done. Stefania.

[Stefania Bell]

Watch me miss and hit me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, that was. That was. That was good.

[Stefania Bell]

But it was. Yeah, it did. It echoed. You know, like, you gotta firm.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm worried about hitting my thumb when I do that. Goodness.

[Mike Clay]

Why?

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you know how to do this best?

[Stefania Bell]

Yes. I don't know. Great question, but I feel like I should bring up the rear because I will give you a little case for each of them. I think it's only fair to explain for some people who might forget, like, why is Dak Prescott in here? I think the fact that most people forgot that Dak Prescott had an injury that cost him half of last season and people wondered, can he be that productive as a quarterback coming back into this year? That is part of the reason that he was nominated for this award. And it's funny because as these awards not only happen in fantasy, you know, they happen in real, real life. You guys know this. NFL honors. The Comeback Player of the Year comes out. I start hearing from people around the league who are telling me why players they've either worked with or they've spent time with or rehabbed with deserve comeback player of the year. Dak Prescott, just to remind you, tore his hamstring off the bone up high near the pelvis, had to be rewired to his pelvis and then had to be able to play with that. And he was in phenomenal shape before the season ever began. So people forgot that he was injured when he came into the season. Had a great year. So hooray for Dak Prescott for making us forget that he had an injury. Chris Olave, you already referenced all the concussion issues. Our thoughts go out to Chris Olave right now, who is recovering from a blood clot that they found in his lung. Now shut down for the rest of this season. He has had some really difficult injuries, obviously a phenomenal year. Javante Williams, let me remind people that they wondered, what's Dallas going to get out of him? They thought all the juice was gone from Javante Williams, who had one of the more horrific knee injuries you'll see in the NFL, had an ACL LCL tear, tore a lot of the structures in the back corner of his knee and really lacked explosiveness when he came back as a running back for Denver, and I feel like his confidence wasn't really there. He wasn't able to burst through tackles like he had been known for prior to that injury. I talked to him at training camp and he talked about it taking a couple years to really get back to feeling like himself, felt like he had a new opportunity in Dallas, loved the change of scene and felt like he was going to prove to people that he was really back, and I think he did that, and I give him a ton of credit for that. There's a lot of fear and apprehension that we forget about that comes along with coming back from an injury that significant. Christian McCaffrey. It's funny because where I get challenged on why should Carisha McCaffrey get it was Achilles tendonitis or tendinopathy. It's because of the uncertainty. Nobody knew what he could do this year. And not only did people not know how he'd look when he came back, nobody expected the volume of work. I mean, Field already referenced it. He was on the field all the time. In order to be able to approach this thousand, thousand record, you have to be present on the field for the majority of the snaps. He did that. They were not worried about workload. They didn't hold back. Christian McCaffrey was always there, and he showed no signs of letting up. In fact, he produced at the highest level in your fantasy championship. So I think that, to me, ultimately sealed the case for why he should be the winner. And now I have the honor of presenting the comeback player of the year. The official vote is in. Comeback player of the year, 2025. No surprise, Christian McCaffrey.

[Mike Clay]

Well deserved, well earned.

[Daniel Dopp]

Absolutely.

[Mike Clay]

Good to have him back.

[Daniel Dopp]

He was unbelievable. Yes.

[Stefania Bell]

Please stay healthy. And that going for.

[Daniel Dopp]

Absolutely. I did wonder when they traded for Brian Robinson, if they were going to try to limit him just a little bit. Spoiler alert. They didn't try to limit Christian McCaffrey at all. So. All right, let's move ahead and talk about some of the board bets that.

[Mike Clay]

We had this year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do we have to? I'm not sure. Who won a lot of these board bets?

[Field Yates]

I'm going to guess.

[Mike Clay]

I have no idea.

[Field Yates]

I don't know.

[Daniel Dopp]

We got to make sure that we at least pay them off. We want to make sure that we pay off the board bets. If we look at who won the most board Bets here in 2025, the answer is there is standby, full screen of.

[Mike Clay]

Ooh.

[Daniel Dopp]

I made 13 and lost nine. Field made 10 and lost six.

[Mike Clay]

Wait, how is this possible?

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, so Mike Clay.

[Mike Clay]

Wait, how is that possible?

[Daniel Dopp]

Won 7.

[Field Yates]

Because they weren't all involving each other, right? Correct.

[Daniel Dopp]

Some of them were with you, some of them were with Field. Some were with Stefania. So we were all different there. Mike made a total of five bets.

[Mike Clay]

No, no, no. I know. Yeah, but how's 1 500? Everyone else is under 500.

[Daniel Dopp]

Mike, I don't have an answer for you.

[Stefania Bell]

Yeah, we don't it's not.

[Mike Clay]

How did we do this?

[Stefania Bell]

Not our thing.

[Field Yates]

Well, some of them were like three way bets and we're. Whatever. Don't.

[Mike Clay]

All right, so basically whatever board bets we make just faded them somehow. I don't know. Like.

[Field Yates]

Yes, Mike won the board.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think that's fair. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

You were at 500. I don't feel like a winner, but I'll take it.

[Field Yates]

Listen, congratulations. You're the NFL South.

[Mike Clay]

I was just. Oh, my joke.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

I feel like the Buccaneers over here.

[Daniel Dopp]

No way. Yeah. Yes, maybe.

[Mike Clay]

Or the others.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we'll find out. We'll find out there. All right, let's dive into our next award, which is the Waver Wire Wonder. This is a really great award because of what it means for people, obviously having huge performances from guys they picked up off of the waiver wire. Our four nominees are Rico Dowdle, who had back to back games of 32 fantasy points in Week 5 and 6, topping both 230 yards and a touchdown in both of those games. Michael Wilson, who averaged 12 and a half fantasy points per game. Matthew Stafford, nominee number three, quarterback three on the season, 4,448 passing yards and 42 total touchdowns. Unbelievable. And nominee number four is Trevor Lawrence, who led not just quarterbacks, but all players in points scored during the fantasy playoffs. All right, friends, did you hit or miss on any of these guys? I do want to say I hit on one of them and I know, Stefania, you did as well. But Michael Wilson was unbelievable. So much. And I would love to be able, if you guys could take a moment here, I would love to have you.

[Field Yates]

When you say hit or miss, do you mean like you guys were calling for Michael Wilson in the preseason?

[Daniel Dopp]

No, no, no, no. Like, did you hit.

[Stefania Bell]

Oh, no. Did you hit him on the waiver while I did come up and it helped you?

[Field Yates]

Yes.

[Stefania Bell]

During the pants.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's the conversation. So if you guys don't mind, it'd be great if you could check out this.

[Field Yates]

Check out this.

[Mike Clay]

Hey, man, check out this.

[Field Yates]

Hey, yo, check out this. Check out this. It's time to check out this. It's the saxophone.

[Daniel Dopp]

The saxophone does it.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

The hair at the very end. At the very end. Yeah. I look a little bit like Nicolas Cage and Con Air. Yes, you do. I know what comes out. Yeah, so that's.

[Stefania Bell]

Anyways, somewhere between Kenny G and Nick Cage.

[Daniel Dopp]

And Nick Cage. Yeah, I'm somewhere in between that. Michael Wilson did not top 10 fantasy points until week 11 in a single game. Did not have 10 fantasy points once from week 11 on, he averaged 21.4 fantasy points per game, which was wide receiver 3. From week 11 until your championship, he was the number 3 wide receiver in the game. The dude was unbelievable.

[Field Yates]

But the weird part about this category is it's kind of like the Rookie of the year. We did not really have a guy that you added early on in the year that you carried or carried your team at that position for the rest of the season. No Puka Nukua types this year, so these guys were all more pocket players. Probably the strongest case for season long value was Matthew Stafford. Wilson was amazing though. And we have to remind ourselves that not every player is a Christian McCaffrey or a Bijan Robinson or a Puka Nukua. Sometimes the champion is decided by who manages the roster best during the season. These guys definitely helped people manage their roster during the season.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, no doubt. Rico Dowdle, I think could seem like he was going to be that guy where you got him early on in the season and then he would just be an RB one the rest of the season. And it kind of leveled off with Chuba Hubbard coming along. So my vote actually did go to Wilson. I felt like he was a league winning player. I know he didn't help you much the first half of the season, but like you Stefani, I was fortunate to pick him up in a couple leagues and he helped me win some championships. Had Marvin Harrison come back strong might not even be on this list because his production was all over the map when Harrison or was poor when Harrison was a full go, but he never really did and Wilson just kept rolling. And by the way, one of his biggest games was 37 points against the Rams. That's how they play in week 18. He's not done. I know fantasy for a lot of people is over, but he's going to potentially pile up more points.

[Stefania Bell]

Harrison's out. So Harrison is out. One of those Michael Wilson weeks. And interestingly, Michael Wilson was phenomenal. I obviously benefited from him personally and a bunch of my leads. But also one of my nominees because we did that ranked voting was Jacoby Brissette. Because Jacoby Brissette was a waiver wire quarterback for me who went along with Michael Wilson and the two of them together were just amazing down the stretch.

[Field Yates]

All right, here it goes. Without further ado, the 2025 Fantasy Focus waiver wire wonder of the year is Michael Wilson.

[Mike Clay]

There we go.

[Field Yates]

Congratulations to Michael Wilson.

[Daniel Dopp]

Thanks a lot. And congratulations to all the managers that picked him up. Hopefully rode him to a champion Championship.

[Mike Clay]

He'll be fascinating next year, depending on the quarterback situation in Arizona.

[Field Yates]

They have a lot of decisions to make this year.

[Mike Clay]

Marvin Harrison. Yeah, no doubt.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, there's a lot to figure out there. All right, that's going to do it for waiver wire Wonders of the year. But you know what was a wonder is how well we did during our. What is a Raheem Sanders Monopoly Fun?

[Stefania Bell]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

I loved this game.

[Daniel Dopp]

This was so much fun. This came along. Honestly, this segment came up because in week one, Mike came to the table and said, one of the segments I have is what is a Raheem Sanders? Because he scored a touchdown in week one. And that's where all this sort of came from was the idea of can we pick players that are rostered in under 1% of leagues? And then we got too good at picking guys under 1%.

[Field Yates]

Why does Mike get credit for this? This was definitely my idea. Mike, give me this.

[Mike Clay]

It was. It was 100% Field's idea, but I won.

[Daniel Dopp]

I thought it was just the Raheem Sanders name came from Raheem Sanders.

[Field Yates]

Yes, but this was a great going.

[Daniel Dopp]

On with that hat, Mike. I don't know, Mr.

[Field Yates]

Monopoly Man.

[Mike Clay]

This is a broken top hat, but I'm the Monopoly guy. It's from my daughter's magician set, and it's very broken inside, falling apart, but appropriate.

[Daniel Dopp]

Let's take a look.

[Mike Clay]

Look at all this money.

[Daniel Dopp]

Look at all that Monopoly money. We're gonna take a look at all the players that we got right here from this. What is the Raheem Sanders Monopoly for?

[Field Yates]

Oh, making it rain over there.

[Daniel Dopp]

Mike, you're actually feel like you know.

[Mike Clay]

How to do that, too?

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, yeah, I don't. I'm not sure you should keep doing that. I know, but a bunch of players here that we were able to get right this week. Tyquan Thornton in week two, Mike got right Cole Comet by the producers in week three, Xavier Hutchinson Field, you had back to back weeks, Xavier Hutchinson and Tez Johnson in five and six. Mike, you nailed Kanata Mumfield in week seven. That was a really good one. That one was really fun to be able to grab. And then even from there, we had more Tyler in week eight, Tyler Johnson. Excuse me, Our producer, Mitchell Tinsley. Michael in week 12, Colby Parkinson and David Sills by our producers going back to back in week 12 and 13. And then, Michael, you hitting Rasheen Ali in week.

[Mike Clay]

That was a great line. That was crazy. Like one touch, dude.

[Daniel Dopp]

Unbelievable. It did get to a point where we had a number of people reaching out to us saying like I've gotta start trailing these half head on over.

[Mike Clay]

To the sportsbook they were.

[Daniel Dopp]

Which was very fun to be able to do. So we'll have to see if we can bring that back next year and have some fun.

[Field Yates]

We should do it now.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was very cool.

[Stefania Bell]

How come you do all the games on the day when I'm not there?

[Daniel Dopp]

Because it allows me to be the loser and not anyone else. You never have to carry the loser category, Stefania. I carry that for the show, for all of us.

[Stefania Bell]

Well, we got it. Mike Clay seems to be winning a lot over here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we don't need all the winning.

[Mike Clay]

Here from Gotta workshop some new ideas.

[Daniel Dopp]

In the off season.

[Mike Clay]

All right.

[Daniel Dopp]

With that being said, my friends, we are at the point of the show where we're talking about the most valuable play.

[Mike Clay]

There we are.

[Field Yates]

Righty.

[Mike Clay]

Big one.

[Daniel Dopp]

The big the big award for the Fantasy focus awards in 2025. The nominees are Christian McCaffrey finishes RB1 with 25.3 fantasy points per game. Jackson Smith and Jigba finish as wide receiver one with 21.6 fantasy points per game. Pukinakua, who finished as wide receiver two in total points but averaged 23.3 fantasy points per game. And number four, Drake May, who was QB3 on the season, averaging 21 fantasy points per game. Guys, all of these people were absolutely unbelievable. If you were going to start like we have a dynasty draft right now, which one of these players would be your pick in a dynasty league moving forward?

[Field Yates]

I'm assuming not a super flex.

[Mike Clay]

Right.

[Field Yates]

We're just playing a regular.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that you said that because in my note, I specifically said it's different if it's a one quarterback or a super flexi k. If it was super flex, I think we would all.

[Field Yates]

Say Drake May, probably him or Jaden Daniels. To Mike's point earlier, if we're going non super flex, I'm going to go with Puka Nakua. And the argument for him is that he's got a larger sample size than jsn.

[Mike Clay]

Sure.

[Field Yates]

And in Los Angeles, like, like it doesn't matter who he's had around him. He's had Devonte Adams with 14 receiving touchdowns and he scored the most fantasy points per game in the NFL. He had Cooper Cup. Absolutely. Well, not always, but he had Cooper cup who was a big factor for the Rams during Puka's first couple of seasons and he was still that good. So I go Puka Nukua. It's been a bit More injury prone than jsn and I lean towards Puka.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I think it's a close call. The one thing I will say is JSN is about a year on Nakua age wise. So maybe that point you the other direction if you're trying to break the tie. But Bijan's also cannot go. Yeah, yeah. No doubt not on our. He's. I think he's on a long list for sure of. Of nominees. Jir Gibbs, Devon Hin, Jonathan Taylor. All guys we could have had a conversation about. But yeah, I think. I think it's close between JSN and Nakua for that top spot. I. I might lean toward JSN just because of the.

[Daniel Dopp]

The age.

[Mike Clay]

And also I don't know if Matthew Stafford's the quarterback next year. Does he retire? Is he not? I mean. Cheese. One more year.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'd like to think he gets one.

[Field Yates]

More top two MVP candidate. You gotta think he's back for.

[Mike Clay]

At least I hope so. Me too.

[Daniel Dopp]

I traded for him in Dynasty. So I hope I get one more year out of him.

[Mike Clay]

I'm in a lot like almost all of my Dynasty leagues. So I hope so.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think. And you guys had both said it. If I had to pick someone in Dynasty moving forward, he's not on the list because Christian McCaffrey was better. But Bajan Robinson I think would be my number one guy. However, of the guys that we have listed, I would take JSN because it's him. I mean it's 1A and 1Aminus for him and Pukinakum.

[Field Yates]

Well, side.

[Daniel Dopp]

So Stefania, what about you?

[Stefania Bell]

So I would go Drake May and it. Yeah, it's just because. So Chris McCaffrey is aged out for me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

Wow.

[Daniel Dopp]

I can't believe you just said that. Is that on tape?

[Stefania Bell]

No, it's just for Dynasty.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's fair for Dynasty. It makes sense.

[Stefania Bell]

And this, when you have a year like this, like who thinks he's reproducing this year, next year? Nobody gavere. Yeah, you can.

[Daniel Dopp]

You can.

[Field Yates]

Haters.

[Mike Clay]

It's nice to be on this side of this argument.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Stefania Bell]

For once no one's better or no one's more of a 49er a apologist than me and Christian McCaffrey. I was the one beating the drum. All you're telling you to have confidence in him going into this season. It's just that rarely do you see any player replicate a career year back to back. And I just don't think when you're at Christian McCaffrey's number of years in the league that you're likely going to see that exact same performance again. Plus everything has to hit the same way and I don't think that happens. So it's not Christian McCaffrey. I just think there's the depth of the wide receiver position. Just the fact that you can have a conversation between JSN and Puka. I feel like Drake May's so young and that I'm going to get so much value out of him for so many years. And what I have experienced in our dynasty league, which I will admit I have been terrible in, although I'm building my franchise.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, you are, Stefania.

[Stefania Bell]

And I've got Caleb Williams now and you're seeing the growth of the quarterback. But I had Anthony Richardson, I had Kyle Pitts. Like I have been trauma scarred by some of the picks that I've made and Drake May. At least I know what I'm getting now. I've seen it. He's not going to be benched. He's not going to be traded. He is growing and this is his team going forward. So I feel like I have a number of years to capitalize on it. So that for me would be the reason I would take him. But Bijan, if he were on the list, would be my number one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Agreed. I love that we got a Kyle Pitts mention in here, by the way. We didn't really get to talk about.

[Mike Clay]

Him a whole lot on the three boys.

[Stefania Bell]

Talk about going from zero to hero.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, that was a thing.

[Stefania Bell]

If we had a season where it was like unlikeliest name you thought would be in contention for any award at all.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, Kyle Pitts would be on that list for sure. You would be on the short list. All right. And for the 2025 Fantasy Focus MVP, the award goes to Christian McCaffrey.

[Mike Clay]

Of course.

[Daniel Dopp]

Of course it does. The dude was unbelievable this year. Best player in fantasy football. You got him at a little bit of a discount because some people were a little bit nervous. They did not want to be able to grab him because they were worried about what he would look like this year year if you grabbed him. You had to start him from week one and he was unbelievable for your squad.

[Field Yates]

He's amazing.

[Mike Clay]

Huge year, well earned. He's going to be a tricky one in the offseason because your point, it's going to be like, well, 30 year old running back coming off this workload again.

[Daniel Dopp]

Again, it's scary.

[Mike Clay]

But also, how do you not project him like for an enormous number? It was the same conversation we had last year, it's like, yeah, there's the risk in there that he's not the same guy, but if you project him for a normal workload, even like 50, 55% of the carries, but that massive target share and good offense, he's going to be a league winner. It's the same next year too.

[Stefania Bell]

You know, it's going to be so interesting. One of the fun stats about Christian McCaffrey is when he's had down years. So across the years he's been in the league, every time he'd had a down year due to injury, he had a career year the year after. And I, I can't believe that he had.

[Daniel Dopp]

Now he's another career year.

[Field Yates]

Unfortunately, the inverse is true as well. So you might want to be careful next year.

[Stefania Bell]

I wasn't going to put that out there because we're not done with this year yet. I don't want any of that negative juju out there. But he has not missed a game. Like this is really his most remarkable season in that regard. And they have not laid off the workload. They have incorporated Brian Robinson Jr. A little bit more, but never to the point of threatening his fantasy value. You know, it's only been extremely late and games are. McCaffrey will raise his hand. I think that's the other thing he sort of learned. Like if he feels something come out for a play, sometimes it's one play, sometimes a series. Brian Robinson Jr goes and he's a great fit for that offense as well, by the way. So don't give me 49ers.

[Mike Clay]

And by the way, he had what, his first 20 yard run of the season last week. So it's just a really good example. Not that he. I'm not saying he played poorly, but his rushing efficiency numbers were not good. It was just the best possible example of volume as king. He just soaked up all them carries and of course the massive target share touchdown started slow and then he picked up basically scored a touchdown a week the rest of the season. So. So again, that's going to be the conversation in the offseason.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, it will.

[Mike Clay]

Even if he's inefficient, is he going to have the volume again to be an elite fantasy option?

[Daniel Dopp]

I can't wait to see the way too early rankings for 2026. It's always fun to be able to have Mike. Whenever you drop your early rankings field, I know you're the same. Right now you're ranking some college players a little bit more than fantasy prospects. Make sure if you are still interested in football, go check out the First Draft podcast field and Mel Kuiper Jr. And Greeny are getting you all with the rookies that you need to know heading into next year's potential fantasy draft. But that's going to do it for us today. On behalf of Wingstop, our presenter, thank you so much for being there as well as our friends over at Trophy Smack and all the beautiful people that we get to work with, including Liz Loza and Eric Moody and everyone else as a part of ESPN Fantasy and everyone up in the control room that you don't get to see.

[Field Yates]

Directorial staff, production staff, you guys are off the charts. What you do every single day should not go unnoticed. You are the engine behind this operation.

[Mike Clay]

So big, big thanks to Absolutely.

[Daniel Dopp]

We love you guys. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. Have fun watching the rest of football here in 2026. Enjoy the playoffs and we'll see you somewhere down the road. Sam.