The HARDEST Players to Rank for Week 1 | Fantasy Focus 🏈

Summary

Fantasy Focus Football – The HARDEST Players to Rank for Week 1

Podcast: Fantasy Focus Football
Date: September 3, 2025
Hosts: Field Yates, Mike Clay, Daniel Dopp
Summary by: Fantasy Focus Podcast Summarizer

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Episode Overview

The Fantasy Focus crew kicks off NFL Week 1 with a deep dive into one of the most critical topics for fantasy managers: the hardest players to rank for the opening slate. Field Yates, Mike Clay, and Daniel Dopp debate the uncertainty swirling around key players, highlight trending under-the-radar options, and share candid, sometimes comedic, insights about their own draft experiences. The episode’s backbone is an in-depth discussion of complex fantasy situations, ranging from changing quarterback landscapes to murky wide receiver pecking orders, and tricky running back committees. In the latter half, the team unveils sleeper starters who went undrafted or were late picks, drawing lines between preseason narratives and Week 1 start/sit realities.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Fantasy Draft Anxieties and Last-Minute Moves

• Draft Season Reflections: Field shares anxieties about missing out on high-end picks (Jamar Chase, Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs) due to draft slot luck, highlighting the randomness many drafters face.
• Draft Prep Styles: The three reflect on the merits of knowing your draft position in advance—a luxury for some, a shrug for others, especially in leagues with complex setups.
• Fantasy Scheduling: The window for drafting extends up until kickoff of Sunday games, which prompts strategy questions about drafting after Thursday and Friday games.

Notable Quote:
"Chips will fall wherever they fall." – Field Yates (05:25)

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2. The HARDEST Players to Rank: Crowd-Sourced Headaches

Chris Olave & Rashid Shaheed (New Orleans Saints)

• QB Uncertainty: Both WRs see target upside but have big question marks attached due to Spencer Rattler at QB and a possibly anemic offense.
• Fantasy Ceiling: Olave has WR1 pedigree but is buried in the WR4/WR5 tier for Week 1 due to team context.
• Trade Candidacy: If the Saints spiral, Olave could be an intriguing deadline name.

"If Chris Olave gets back to the form that we have seen earlier in his career, that's the kind of guy you'd want to extend… What an intriguing trade candidate Chris Olave would be."
– Field Yates (10:45)

Travis Hunter (Jacksonville Jaguars)

• Role Volatility: Uncertainty looms over how much Hunter will play on offense versus defense.
• Ceiling/Range of Outcomes: Could be a WR2, could be flex-only, or even less. The new OC (Liam Coen) fuels optimism, but snap counts and usage are guesswork for Week 1.

"He has the single toughest player to rank slash project in my time at ESPN."
– Field Yates (14:53)

Calvin Ridley (Tennessee Titans)

• Matchup Hell: Faces Pat Surtain, reigning DPOY, likely to shadow Ridley all game. Trepidation about starting Ridley in Week 1 given the elite cornerback matchup.
• Depth Chart Talk: Titans release an unofficial depth chart; Ridley is listed as a top WR, but usage and upside capped by the matchup.

Stefon Diggs (New England Patriots)

• Injury Recovery: First game post-ACL at age 30+ with rookie Drake Maye at QB. The uncertainty is balanced by a juicy Las Vegas matchup, but managers are wary about workload and explosiveness.
• Ranked as Flex: "I ranked him 42. I think 12 team leagues maybe as a flex option despite all the, you know, the great matchup. I think it's best to avoid in week one." – Daniel Dopp (23:58)

Breece Hall (New York Jets)

• Committee Concerns: Hall faces touch competition from Brayan Allen and Isaiah Davis, with a mobile QB (Justin Fields) also siphoning attempts.
• Low Confidence: Once an RB2 staple, now falling into RB3/flex range, even in large leagues.
• Steelers in Week 1: The matchup does no favors.

"You drafted him probably to be a starter for my team, but I don't want to start him in week one against Pittsburgh."
– Mike Clay (25:14)

Keon Coleman (Buffalo Bills)

• Potential Breakout: With Josh Allen potentially due for another MVP-level effort, is Coleman the WR to emerge? The team’s lack of established pecking order presents upside and risk; Field ranks him as WR45 in Week 1 but names him a potential league-winning pick if opportunity knocks.
• Draft Capital Debates: The psychological value between the 32nd and 33rd pick.

Cooper Kupp (Seattle Seahawks)

• Age & Wear: After flashing early last season, Kupp faded hard. New team, new system, age concerns lead to managers leaving him outside starting lineups, even though 8th-9th round cost is minimal.
• Post-hype Sell High: If he starts fast, cash out early.

"There were some snaps last year that looked sort of like burnt toast for Cooper Cup."
– Field Yates (37:28)

RJ Harvey (Denver Broncos)

• Depth Chart Noise: Listed behind J.K. Dobbins; hosts speculate about a slow start but eventual takeover. Week 1 projection is a wide touch-range (between 8–18 touches).

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3. Undrafted/Late Picks – Surprise Week 1 Starters

• The second segment focuses on "players drafted late or not at all who are viable Week 1 starters." Some of these targets:
  • Jerry Jeudy (Cleveland Browns): Now Joe Flacco’s go-to, solid matchup versus Bengals’ thin secondary. (44:32)
  • Emeka Egbuka (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): Steps directly into WR2 role with Chris Godwin out, poised for heavy involvement. (45:50)
  • Michael Pittman Jr. (Indianapolis Colts): Support from Daniel Jones (new QB) and against a historically bad Miami secondary. (48:05)
  • Jerome Ford (Cleveland Browns): Lead RB by default until/if Quinshon Judkins signs; efficient track record as a starter. (52:31)
  • Ricky Pearsall & Jauan Jennings (San Francisco 49ers): Forced into large roles due to injuries; weekly WR3/4 value. (55:52)
  • Daniel Jones (New York Giants): Attractive streaming QB, thanks to offensive upgrades and dual-threat potential. (50:22)
  • Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys): Despite expectations of a shootout with the Eagles and doubts about Dallas’s defense, Dak’s volume should be sky-high. (53:10)
  • Drake Maye (New England Patriots): Rookie set up for a soft landing against the Raiders.
  • Garrett Wilson (New York Jets): Despite low vibes, talent prompts flex-start consideration in Week 1, but with reluctance.

Notable Streaming/Deep Targets:

• Tyler Warren (TE, Indianapolis), Hollywood Brown (Chiefs), Taekwon Thornton (Patriots), Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars)

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4. Game Theory and the Importance of Matchups

• Streaming Defenses: Field targets the Arizona Cardinals defense—not for season-long dominance, but for a plum Week 1 matchup against the inexperienced Saints.
• Matchup Swings: Consensus "good" defenses often have brutal Week 1 opponents, pushing managers to stream less sexy units.

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5. Fantasy Philosophy & Upcoming Games Segment

• The group invents a new ultra-long shot touchdown prediction game: Each picks a sub–5% rostered player to score a Week 1 TD—think "Yahtzee" but for fantasy deep cuts. They agree to finalize picks next episode.

"Each week we bring to the table a player that is rostered in under 5% of leagues. ...and we nominate that player to score a touchdown."
– Field Yates (62:24)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Mike Clay ranks Travis Hunter as the hardest player to project in his ESPN tenure: (14:53)
• On Cooper Kupp fading fast:
  "He looked washed at the end of the season…" – Mike Clay (35:29)
• On Breece Hall:
  "I've got him ranked in week one as running back 25, and I would rather not play him if I don't have to." – Mike Clay (25:14)
• On Daniel Jones streaming appeal:
  "Top 12 quarterback for me this week." – Field Yates (50:22)
• On the uncertainty of preseason narratives:
  "There are a handful of players ... where I just want to get to the season because I'm so sick of ... imagine[ing] 19 different scenarios of how this could play out." – Field Yates (27:06)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps (MM:SS)

• "He's like a wide receiver four or five in week one in my rankings, but a player who has way more pedigree than a lot of the guys that we were talking about in that same rank." – Field Yates on Chris Olave (08:34)
• "He has the single toughest player to rank slash project in my time at espn." – Field Yates on Travis Hunter (14:53)
• "If you drafted him in the fourth round ... most likely. Maybe. I don't know, man." – Field Yates on Breece Hall (26:15)
• "It felt like the Rams were just like, all right, you know what, we're going to let Puka do our thing. And we don't think that Cooper could. Cup really has it anymore." – Mike Clay (36:14)
• "You're going to have to close your eyes, just hit, hit, submit, and you're probably going to have to live with it." – Mike Clay on Breece Hall (26:58)
• "If you told me right now you're from the future and he [Keon Coleman] finished wide receiver nine or something, I'd be like, okay, you know that does, that makes sense in this offense..." – Daniel Dopp (31:12)
• "My idea is each week we bring to the table a player that is rostered in under 5% of leagues. ...and we nominate that player to score a touchdown." – Field Yates (62:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Hardest Players to Rank (Main Roundtable): 07:03–41:00

  • Olave/Shaheed: 07:03–11:00
  • Travis Hunter: 12:18–15:50
  • Calvin Ridley: 19:19–21:41
  • Stefon Diggs: 21:51–24:04
  • Breece Hall: 24:23–27:06
  • Keon Coleman: 29:04–32:09
  • Cooper Kupp: 35:01–39:41
  • RJ Harvey: 33:40–34:50

• Sleepers & Late Picks You Can Start: 41:47–57:31

  • Jerry Jeudy: 41:48–44:32
  • Emeka Egbuka: 44:42–45:50
  • Michael Pittman Jr.: 48:05–49:48
  • Daniel Jones: 50:22–51:11
  • Jerome Ford: 51:12–53:01
  • Dak Prescott: 53:02–54:45
  • Ricky Pearsall & Juwan Jennings: 55:52–57:14

• Fantasy Philosophy and Long-Shot Game: 61:47–64:16

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Tone & Language

• Conversational and Candid: The hosts alternate between analysis, playful ribbing, and ideal league-mate banter.
• Analytical but Relatable: Deep, nerdy stats balanced with admissions of uncertainty, frustration, and changing opinions.
• Viewer-inclusive: The team welcomes questions, encourages interacting with the chat, and illustrates that even experts agonize over lineup decisions.

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Useful Takeaways for Week 1

• Don’t be afraid to bench a fourth-round pick like Breece Hall if the situation (committee, matchup) is murky.
• Streaming options—especially defense and QB—are plentiful due to bad matchups for traditional “lock” defenses.
• Pay close attention to mid-week injury news and actual roster moves (not just coach-speak) to maximize IR and waiver wire flexibility.
• If you’re desperate at WR, look to Jerry Jeudy, Emeka Egbuka, Michael Pittman Jr., or even deeper names like Ricky Pearsall.
• The fantasy landscape is especially volatile in Week 1. Accept the unknowns and be ready to pivot—often, the hardest players to rank can swing your opening week.

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Closing Thoughts

The pod delivers classic Fantasy Focus: banter, a little Eagles optimism (Go Birds!), and a healthy dose of nuance about player uncertainty that sets up listeners for strong, flexible Week 1 management. Whether you’re streaming, sweating over ambiguous wideouts, or gambling on a post-hype sleeper, this episode arms you with both strategy and empathy for every tough call ahead.

Transcript

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[Field Yates]

Focus fantasy.

[Mike Clay]

Fantasy Focus. What's good, friends? Welcome into Fantasy Focus Football Along Mike Clay. Ooh, did I just swear there? Sorry about that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Watch your mouth.

[Mike Clay]

My bad.

[Field Yates]

Apparently, Mike Clay family show. Two words that you can't say on live Internet tv.

[Daniel Dopp]

They gave me the button here. I have a button.

[Mike Clay]

I hope everyone else heard that. And it wasn't just in our ears.

[Field Yates]

I think it was just in our own.

[Mike Clay]

But Mike Clay and Field Gates, very excited to be here with you guys. We have only one more sleep until football. How exciting is that?

[Daniel Dopp]

It's very exciting, especially because the Philadelphia Eagles are at home hosting. And what does that mean, by the way? If the Eagles are at home Thursday night, week one.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, that means they won the Super Bowl. Got it. I knew what he was doing there.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's going to be a tough battle, though, against Micah Parsons in the cap. Oh, wait a minute.

[Field Yates]

That's my joke.

[Daniel Dopp]

Just for the record. That's your joke? Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Remember I mention the fact that he's been traded to the packers, like, oh, yeah, you did.

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, you know, I just steal your material. That's how I make comedy gold. Okay.

[Mike Clay]

That's right.

[Field Yates]

I am. It's a little bit bittersweet for me. It's. I can't wait for football. I'm obviously so pumped for tomorrow night and Friday night and of course, another Saturday slate of college football. Then Sunday, Monday for the NFL, we have four. I have four drafts left. @ least one, which includes you guys. Tomorrow for the we're going to be doing the FF now league. I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I am unlikely to have any teams in which I drafted Jamar Chase, Bajan Robinson, or Jameer Gibbs. And that's because I've only had one top three pick. I don't know the order of a couple of the drafts that are left over, so I'll find out an hour before the drafts begin. But there's a chance, obviously there's a stronger chance that I don't have a top three pick than I do have a top three pick. And so yeah, I am ruining the possibility of having none of those guys on my roster to begin the season.

[Daniel Dopp]

I want to know like this is a, I mentioned this last week, interesting case study. I want to know if you have like the best year or worst year of your life in terms of fantasy and if you have the best year. I want to study that.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I don't know the answer. I made a mistake probably. I had a top three pick and I thought just based off of the way that that league works that it's a little bit. It's heavier wide receiver. So I felt like Justin Jefferson at 3 was the pragmatic player. But I ended up taking, I could have taken Jameer Gibbs there. He was available. But yes, bittersweet. But I'm ready to roll. And we have a huge show today because rankings are back. They're now available on ESPN.com not just final draft rankings. If you're doing a draft either tonight or tomorrow, you can draft by the way all the way until Sunday slate begins. Like you're allowed to do that. Obviously you already know the outcome of both the Eagles Cowboys and the Chiefs Chargers game on Friday night as well. But you can do it all the way until week one begins. But most drafts taking place or have taken place already or will take place tonight again. I've got two tonight. I've got one during the day and two tonight. With three drafts in total.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is always a fun week because we're doing. We're like finishing up our draft, still updating season long rankings and projections. But also I just submitted names for talking points for FF now on Sunday because we're on a week one as well doing. I keep going back and forth between season long and week one. By the way, before we get started I got you guys a little. I got the fantasy focus a little gift here. Is that my brother's wedding this weekend. It was an awesome weekend but took the kids to the Crayola factory which is just minutes away from the no way facilitate or the the venue there in Pennsylvania. And you can make own crayon here. Made a little.

[Mike Clay]

That crayon says ESPN Fantasy focus on.

[Daniel Dopp]

It with a little football right next to it. See that? You can see that. But yeah got us a little, a little souvenir for a set. Our lovely new set here we're building.

[Field Yates]

How awesome is that?

[Mike Clay]

Does that happen to be Kelly green? Is that what color that is?

[Daniel Dopp]

I did, I went with green because that's like our logo is green. Sure.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Nothing to do with the Fact, you're an Eagles fan.

[Daniel Dopp]

We'll find a good spot for that. But anyway, yeah, shout out to crayons.

[Mike Clay]

And to your brother and beautiful new wife.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Of dancing.

[Field Yates]

Kidding. I asked you that last week.

[Daniel Dopp]

I told her that story at the show. Kept asking me if I actually liked you.

[Mike Clay]

Well, on today's show, Field already kind of alluded to it. We're talking about the hardest players to rank heading into week one and then Mike kind of brought another segment to the table that we'll dive into a little bit later on in the show. But just talking about a couple of players that we have ranked as starters that potentially went undrafted in fantasy league.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, yeah. Like late round picks who we feel comfortable starting in week one, which I don't think every year this is a necessary topic, but I feel like we have a whole bunch of guys like that that have a lot of curly.

[Field Yates]

Ball for a living.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. No doubt. A lot of early season value, especially here in week one.

[Mike Clay]

I want to ask this question before we move on. You just mentioned that you had your, your couple drafts and you won't know where you're picking yet. Would you rather do the draft randomized one hour before or do you want to know where you're picking so you can start preparing when you head into drafts? Which one do you like?

[Field Yates]

Well, I have found a lot of people that I play with like to have an idea of where they're picking because it might be the only drafts they do. Like they might just play in one league, they might play in two at maximum worst it goes and I'm playing in like, you know, 15 leagues this year. So I'm sort of like, yeah, the chips will fall wherever they fall.

[Mike Clay]

We've mocked draft from literally every single position multiple times.

[Field Yates]

So I've done a couple practice drafts. I love that new feature on the ESPN app. I have a we have the 16 team war room league tonight. I have picked nine so I'm certainly open to suggestions in the chat. Maybe our production team can can see what they're thinking. But I got to figure by the time I get around to pick number nine, the big five plus CD Lam and Christian McCaffrey are gone. So could this be a Malik Neighbors, Puka Nukua, Ashton Genti, you know, Amon Ross, St. Brown. Like certainly a lot of good options there at number nine, but a critical decision to make.

[Mike Clay]

Well, if you are hanging out in chat, our buddy Eric Moody is hanging out with you right now. Eric's going to be in the chat chilling with all of our friends for the entirety of the show. So make sure you give him a little bit of love. And one more person that I want to give a little bit of love to is Trophy Smack. They've been able to outfit us with a bunch of really fun stuff. Go to trophy smack.com use the promo code focus10 for 10% off your order. Whether you want a trophy or a turnover chain or a belt or a loser punishment like a toilet seat, there's a lot of different things to be able to get over at trophy smack.com so go check them out in order to get something fun for your league.

[Field Yates]

Let's do it.

[Mike Clay]

Let's dive into the hardest players to rank heading into Week one. Pretty self explanatory guys. We know exactly what this one is. Field, I'm going to start with you. Who was your hardest player to rank? Are they in order or just have three names you brought to the table?

[Field Yates]

I came with three names and I think they fit into different criteria for me. Like they are hard to rank, but the reasons why they're hard to rank are a little bit different and I also felt like this is one of our last chances to discuss players we haven't talked that much about so far this month.

[Mike Clay]

Fair.

[Field Yates]

If I had told you at this time last year or the year prior that we would hardly talk about Chris Olave until September 3rd on the show, you'd probably be like, how is that possible? We have hardly talked about Chris Olave, which I think is almost exclusively a reflection of the fact that the Saints do profile as easily one of the worst teams in the NFL this year. Wouldn't surprise any of us if they are picking number one overall in 2026 on April 23rd. Also, the fact that Chris Olave had that very scary situation last year with his concussion. But I think Chris Olave is just a flat good player. Very good player. But how much confidence can you have in him when Spencer Rattler is okay? He's by no means a great starting quarterback. He's probably one of the bottom six or seven in terms of confidence that we have going into Week one right now. But he did sling it a little bit last year with Chris Olave and they had some huge games together where olave was seen 14 targets in a game and that's good enough, right? If you get that volume from Chris Olava, you're going to take it. But but it feels like a guy who, you know, there's a very small glimmer of hope that just like. Like this is be. Not to the level that he was at last year, but like, it's not like Malik Neighbors had a whole lot going for him offensively last year. It was a terrible team with awful quarterback play, and he was a stellar fantasy wideout. I'm not banking on Chris Olave getting there, but I wanted to mention him in that construct because if you see a lot of targets and you're really good, it can lead to much better things than we have talked about during the preseason. So Chris Olave was tough for me. He's like a wide receiver four or five in week one in my rankings, but a player who has way more pedigree than a lot of the guys that we were talking about in that same rank.

[Mike Clay]

Consensus ranking wide receiver 37 at ESPN Fantasy.

[Daniel Dopp]

And I feel like he and Rasheed Shahid were hard to rank all offseason long, which is why both of those were on my list. So I feel we should go next because I had. I just put. I cheated a little bit. I said Chris Olave and Rashid Sheed, because I've all off season, you know, both of them have also played very little with Spencer Rattler so far. Chris alava actually caught four or five targets from him for 54 yards last year, which isn't bad. But Rashid, Rashid Shahid, seven targets, one catch for 11 yards.

[Field Yates]

The game that I referenced were a lobby had 14 targets. Rattler, it was a game where they played multiple quarterbacks. So that's. That's my apologies.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. So. But yeah, what's also interesting here is who's the number one receiver for the Saints? Because last year through week six, it was Rashid pretty clearly. He was getting carries 6.8 targets per game as well. Had 15 points in four of his six games. So that's why he's tricky for me because I don't know where he really falls. Is he first or second on that depth chart or are they going to spread it between the two guys who also they. They traded for signed and Brandon. Brandon Cooks. Yeah. So Captain Brandon Cooks. Yeah, no doubt. So all these guys are going to be involved. And obviously the big question mark is the quarterback situation. Is Spencer Rattler actually going to play better this season? We don't know. It could be the worst quarterback situation in the NFL as well. He could be benched by week three for Taylor Tyler Shuck. So it's going to be really fascinating to watch this workout. I have Chris Olavi, by the way, ranked 37th this week. I have Shahida 52. So I do think a lot Alavi kind of reestablishes himself as the, the preferred guy there, but this is a really, really tricky situation because it could be very bad.

[Field Yates]

So there, there's an obvious case and I think a lot of Saints fans would, would probably be happy with this, that, like, hey, if Chris Olave gets back to the form that we have seen earlier in his career, that he's the kind of guy you'd want to extend, keep around for a long time. If the Saints are fully committed to like a total blow it up situation, what an intriguing trade candidate Chris Olave would be.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, no, no doubt. By the way, we. Now that we're in week one, I feel like we should mention the opposition because I think Arizona is one of the fascinating sleeper teams in the NFL this season. But their defense, especially the front, the defensive line, edge rush, defensive interior is fantastic. So. And, and their secondary is very young. I mean, the safeties we know are terrific. One of the best duos with Thompson and Baker for sure. But the corners are very young and that could be a breakout group this year as well. So this could be kind of quietly a tough matchup for a New Orleans offense that needs an easy matchup in week one.

[Field Yates]

I think the player that I drafted so far the most this year in real drafts, not mock draft, is the Arizona Cardinals defense.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, really?

[Field Yates]

Because if you think about some of the heavy hitting matchups that we have in week one, like are you drafting the Bills defense then just not play them in week one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, exactly.

[Field Yates]

Or same thing, the Ravens defense to not play them in week one. Like the Chiefs draw the Chargers, Chargers draw the Chiefs. Like these are all good defenses that draw terrible matchups in week one.

[Daniel Dopp]

I did the same thing.

[Field Yates]

The Eagles draw the Cowboys. Right. Like there are a lot of. Of super legit defenses that face super legit offenses in week one. So I do love myself the Cardinals against the Saints.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm going to be streaming the Bengals this week too.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, it's another good option. Yeah, I know. Talk about them.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Well, guys, I brought a wide receiver to the table as well for my first player and field, you kind of mentioned him a little bit yesterday, but I don't want to make this feel like we're going back to the well, however, one of the hardest players for me to rank in week one is Travis Hunter. The uncertainty here is just like super unknown. That's the killer. We got a bunch of positives, right? Liam Cohen Field, you mentioned this yesterday and there's a lot of reasons to be excited about it. The Bucks were fourth in points per game last year, Jaguars were 27th. So we're really hoping that some of that kind of transitions over into this Jaguars offense. He's clearly, the number two wide receiver in this offense, which I actually think is a positive. Him coming in going to be playing both sides of the ball, not having to also feel like he's the number one alpha wide receiver. He's going to get that T. Higgins kind of set up right where double teams are going to be on, on Brian Thomas Jr. Or Jamar Chase in this scenario. And then he's going to get the hopefully single cover or guys that are not quite as focused on him, which I think is also a positive. And then the options behind him are just super thin. They don't have a lot of wide receivers, Diami Brown, Parker, Washington. They just traded for Tim Patrick. I mean it doesn't feel like there is a lot of options there. So on top of that, I feel like this could be a really good matchup. Panthers are projected and Mike, this came from your season prediction and power rankings, which is, you know, plug your ears. But it was a really good article. I read through a bunch of stuff.

[Field Yates]

On that first time for everything.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, it was really good.

[Mike Clay]

But Panthers are projected to give up the third most points this season. Like this, this is a spot where it feels like, okay, if, if we realize that this offense is going to take the jump that we think it's going to, we're projecting the Jaguars to get better. That's one of the uncertainties. What if they don't? What if Trevor Lawrence doesn't take the step that we think he is going to take, Especially here, just in week one alone, there's a lot that we think this team is going to be better. So not knowing how much he's going to play on offense, not knowing how much he's going to play on defense, all of these uncertainties, even though it's a really great matchup, kind of leads him to be a low end flex play for me here in week one rather than like a high end flex or maybe even a wide receiver too.

[Field Yates]

So he probably is the poster child for this exercise. Like it's the reason why we had this conversation is probably because of Travis Hunter.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, right.

[Field Yates]

And we, what we hope for, like I think where I've landed is this is what we hope for is that we get some level of clarity about a month into the season for Travis Hunter. We have a baseline that we think is going to be consistent going forward. And then we can just sort of say like, all right, hey, he's playing approximately this number of snaps per game on offense. Let's rank him as a maybe wide receiver two, maybe wide receiver three, maybe a flex option, maybe a wide receiver four going forward. That's where I kind of hope we get to for Travis Hunter. But it's why he has been the biggest moving target in all of fantasy football this year. I've been saying he has the single toughest player to rank slash project in my time at espn.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I think that's totally fair. I think we're kind of hoping he plays a new and accepting that he will play some defense. Kind of hoping he plays 2/3 on offense, one third on defense. Like that I think would make a lot.

[Field Yates]

Did you see the depth chart?

[Daniel Dopp]

I did.

[Field Yates]

He's a starting wide receiver and a backup corner.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. Which is what we expected. I mean, the day they drafted him, you could look at their roster and say that's probably the scenario. Right. He's going to be their number two receiver and they're pretty good at corner. So he's. And you know, offensively it looks like he's primarily going to play inside, I would think. You know, Diamond Brown and Brian Thomas on the outside and then, you know, out on the outside defensively because they have Jordan Lewis, who's one of the better nickel corners, slot corners in the NFL. So that's what I kind of expect. I think we'll see some defense, but a lot of offense this season. And by the way, the other variable here is he hasn't played in a little while. He's a little beat up.

[Field Yates]

So how much upper body injury.

[Daniel Dopp]

We're talking specifically week one ranking. So is he going to be a full go even in week one after missing some time? That's another factor here as well.

[Mike Clay]

This is one of those teams that I think we've all just projected to take a step forward and that ideally, like Trevor Lawrence is going to become a better quarterback. Obviously he didn't play almost half the season. If you're running a business, you know that every time you miss a call, you're leaving money on the table. When every customer conversation matters, you need a phone system that keeps up and helps you stay connected 24 7. That's why you need OpenPhone. OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communications. It works through an app on your phone or computer. So no more carrying two phones or having to use a landline. With OpenPhone, your team can share one number and collaborate on customer calls and texts like a shared inbox. That way any teammate can pick up right where the last person left off, keeping response times faster than ever. Plus say goodbye to voicemail. Their AI agent can help set up in minutes to handle calls after hours, answer questions and capture leads so you never miss a customer. So whether you're a one person operation drowning in calls and texts, or you have a large team that needs better collaboration tools, OpenPhone is a no brainer. See why over 60,000 businesses trust OpenPhone? OpenPhone is offering listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com fantasy that's O P E N P-H O-N-E.com fantasy and if you have an existing number with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge. OpenPhone no missed calls, no missed customers out here.

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Mike Clay]

Yeah, but, but what if that doesn't happen like can can the Jaguars if Trevor Lawrence doesn't take that step, will they be able to sustain two top 25 fantasy wide receivers for us?

[Field Yates]

I think, I think that there's actually some evidence that like average to below average quarterback play can sustain top wide receiver production. Oh yeah, I'm not as worried about it but I am worried about like the Jaguars. Who's that?

[Mike Clay]

Blake Bortles?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, he's not in that same offense. Right.

[Field Yates]

I always think about Jay Cutler back in the day he was not fant relevant but Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey are always for a while they were dominating. Last thing I'll say on this is and I know that we don't do too much best ball content. Diamond Brown's one of my favorite like last round of your best ball.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah babies 100%.

[Field Yates]

He's just a speed demon. He got $10 million this off season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, guys like that are so it's odd. It's like it's. I feel like he's gonna be better for the team than in fantasy. Like, are you ever gonna actually start him in fantasy?

[Mike Clay]

And that's why we're talking. That's why it's best ball. 100%.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, best ball. Yes.

[Field Yates]

Best ball. Last round pick, in case others misinterpret.

[Mike Clay]

The lineup is wide receiver, too. Every now and then when you know Travis Hunter has got to take a breather after playing some defense. So that's part of the late round. Best ball.

[Field Yates]

All right, my next pick, staying in the AFC south, staying at wide receiver. Calvin Ridley. I don't think this is going to be a hard player to rank in most weeks, but Mike Clay does, I believe one of the best columns in all of fantasy football that many, many people have tried to replicate and candidly have struggled to come anywhere close to Mike's quality. It is his wide receiver, cornerback match.

[Daniel Dopp]

Going great for me.

[Field Yates]

You know what, Mike? The regular season is here. We're about to be serious.

[Mike Clay]

That's right. That's right.

[Field Yates]

Wide receiver, cornerback matchup. It is an invaluable resource. There is always something in there that intrigues me that I mean, I think it has opened people's eyes. There was a time on FF now where it was like everybody was banging the DK Metcalf gavel and Mike was like, I'm nervous about the guy this week. Like, I'm really nervous. And he had one catch. Everybody was like, holy crap, that guy. Mike Clay knows exactly what he is talking about. He does, people. But is what if you were to make a list of the corner you would least like to see? Opposite. There we go. Opposite of wide receiver.

[Daniel Dopp]

He just Pat Sartan foreshadowing tomorrow's show.

[Field Yates]

By the way, reigning defensive player of the year in the NFL who I imagine will see will be opposite of Calvin Ridley most all of the snaps in week one. Ridley, it is not a deep group behind him. Right. The starters. And we were talking about this before the show. Every NFL team released its unofficial depth chart yesterday and we are not putting much stock collectively into when a rookie running back is listed as fourth or third in the depth chart. We're talking about you, Bill Crosky, Merritt and Treveon Henderson. But we are noting when a rookie gets the bump up to the first team. Right. And the starting wide receiver. So Tennessee Titans Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett and Ellock A. O'. Manor.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, your boy.

[Field Yates]

My deep sleeper right there. So.

[Daniel Dopp]

And if Sir Tan's on really? This week. Maybe he's one of those dfs or, you know, stop it.

[Mike Clay]

Talk about giving you a puka nukua Week one type right out the gate.

[Field Yates]

That would be amazing. It would be awesome. So, yeah, so for me, it's like you drafted. This is always the conundrum. Like you draft a player and there are probably people that went heavy at running back or grab one of the big four quarterbacks and a tight end, one of the top two tight ends or maybe three if you include George Kittle. And it's like, bam, we've got ourselves Calvin Ridley is our second wide receiver. And then all of a sudden, like in week one, you're like, damn it, can I even play the guy? He is going to be outside my top 25 of wide receivers this weekend.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Tough matchup for sure. And again, I'll. I won't say much more because we're going to talk about the tomorrow as well. So we don't want to double down too much. But yeah, good pick by. More on that tomorrow.

[Mike Clay]

Go ahead, Mike.

[Daniel Dopp]

Next one for me, another wide receiver. We're talking a lot of wide receivers here today. Svundakes. Yeah, for New England, first game at the Patriots, obviously, last year in Houston. He was terrific out of the gate at at least six targets in all eight games, averaged over 15 fantasy points per game. But at that torn ACL. And we didn't think throughout a lot of the offseason that he was going to play in week one. We thought he might start on pub, which is common. But you also wonder if coming back this quickly means it'll be a bit of a slow start. Oftentimes guys come back and the first full season takes them a while to get going. So it is good that he got his legs under him. He was ready to go well before the season started. You like that. But he's obviously, you know, around age 30 now. You wonder coming off an ACL at this age, what level he's going to be at this season. You have obviously, Drake may. We like him a lot. But the part of it is, it's like, okay, so all these variables, all the negatives I just laid out, you're like, do we just bench them? Like, it's just easy to say, let's just bench them in week one and see what happens. Which is probably still the best strategy. But the matchup is very freaking here. They're at home, the Raiders traveling all the way in from Las Vegas and they have serious question marks at corner.

[Field Yates]

They do.

[Daniel Dopp]

They're Going to start Eric Stokes, who didn't work out as a first round pick in Green Bay. He's probably their number one corner. Darien Porter's the third round rookie. And then Darnay Holmes has been like bouncing around between occasionally a starting nickel in the NFL. That's probably their top three guys this week. So.

[Field Yates]

I thought Darion Porter was one of the ultimate developmental guys in the draft. He's like 6 foot 4 0, 40 at the combine. He is super raw. He played one year of corner in college. He was a wide receiver and special team of five seasons.

[Daniel Dopp]

He's going to have to cover Stefan Diggs a little bit this week. So.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I mean, by the way, Diggs could see 12 targets this week.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, totally. No doubt about it.

[Field Yates]

There's. Who else is competing for targets in that offense.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Or he's limited because he's not, you know, all the way there yet. Or he doesn't have the same explosion because he tore his ACL last year. There's. That's why it makes it so hard to rank. And I believe that's the name of the segment. Right? It is nice. So I ranked him 42. I think 12 team leagues maybe is a flex option despite all the, you know, the great matchup. I think it's best to avoid in week one. But if you, if you have him and you need someone or you took Rasheed Rice or Chris Godwin or something.

[Mike Clay]

Like that and you need Jordan Addison.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, Jordan Addison. You need to fill him in to your flex. I think you can do it. Gosh, that feels scary though.

[Mike Clay]

I mean anytime you have a 30 year old coming off an ACL injury to start him week one when we haven't really seen a lot of preseason action that, I mean, it's the reason why he's so difficult to rank. I'm going to switch it over to running back. Do you guys mind? We talked about a lot of pass catchers so far.

[Field Yates]

I always appreciate that you asked for permission on the show.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

No. No.

[Field Yates]

The answer is always yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay. Someone else.

[Mike Clay]

Thank you for being a nice guy. I said nice things about you earlier.

[Field Yates]

Will you Clay?

[Daniel Dopp]

I just wanted to try. See if I say no.

[Mike Clay]

Just try it on for size. See how it feels. No big deal. At running back. I think this is pretty obvious, but my running back that is hardest to rank for me. Is Bree hall on the list. Vibes are just not great. Obviously coming out of that team you got a rushing quarterback and this is a bunch of stuff you guys probably already know. But rushing quarterback and Justin Fields, we're going to see what he looks like under center in week one for a full game. We also have Brayan Allen and Isaiah Davis, who have both gotten a lot of pump so far. This offseason is about being involved in that backfield a little bit of a committee. I do believe that he's still going to be the starting running back. I just don't know what that's going to mean for this squad and how much they're going to rotate guys through. We were drafting them in the running back 15 to.

[Daniel Dopp]

Wow.

[Mike Clay]

Vibes started getting bad. Maybe down to running back 20, 22. I've got him ranked in week one as running back 25, and I would rather not play him if I don't have to. Part of the reason for that is they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. So it's not like it's a great matchup right out of the gate either with all the uncertainty going on in that backfield and with that squad. It was just. He was one of the toughest running backs for me to be able to figure out. Okay. I drafted him probably to be a starter for my team, but I don't want to start him in week one against Pittsburgh. So really difficult situation for me there.

[Field Yates]

I think that's fair.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Well, Mike, you and Ticket.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, no, you're exactly right. He's one of the guys that, when I did initially that ran the projections for week one, he came in really low and I was like, oh, boy, this is a fourth round pick. And I just, you know, I'll file the playbook tonight and that'll go out on Thursdays every week, Thursday mornings. And in there I, you know, I include lineup blocks for each game. And I was on the fence with him because I don't think you can.

[Field Yates]

Call him a lineup block.

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean, but you draft. That's the thing about week one. We've had this conversation years past, like, you drafted him in the fourth round? Most likely.

[Field Yates]

Maybe. I don't know, man.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're telling me you're going to bench your fourth round pick and one.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, potentially. I've also not drafted Breeze hall because of the uncertainty.

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean, me too. Yeah. I have him In a Diet 1 dynasty league, I think the one we're all in. And that's it. You know, I, I was out on the Jets. Yeah. Let's talk. Talk about after week one. Yeah, it's. It's a tough one for sure. So I'm. I'm with you for sure. He's he's one of those guys. It's kind of the opposite of the segment we're doing later. Guys you took, you know, late, late round picture, willing to start in week one. He's kind of the opposite.

[Mike Clay]

Starters drafted but don't want to play in week one.

[Daniel Dopp]

So I, I, I, I'm with you. I don't. But again, I did leave him as a lineup block just because I think worst case, based on the team you drafted, he's probably going to be in your lineup at least a flex in 12 team leagues.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, it just doesn't feel good. Nothing about it feels great. It's just one of those close your eyes, just hit, hit, submit, and you're probably going to have to live with it. At least here in week one.

[Field Yates]

I'm just there are a handful of players that are on this list like Breeze Hall, Tyree Kill fits into this category for me where I just want to get to the season because I'm so sick of or I'm so like, tired of like, gosh, do I have to really imagine 19 different scenarios of how this could play out? I just hope that we get to the season and things settle in a particular manner, whatever that manner is, and we can just, you know, plan and rank and set lineups or not set lineups accordingly. I'm just, I've been agonizing over Breece Hall's upside for quite that's why the.

[Mike Clay]

Off season's so great, because we can all bring a different narrative to the table on how we think things are going to play out. And none of us are wrong yet. We're all able to be able to.

[Daniel Dopp]

Have, we're all perfect, have perfect records so far.

[Mike Clay]

Absolutely.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. But it is funny, like, especially guys like Tyree Kill and Waddle. It's a funny example because day you're like, man, they're just such good players and to they're going to have to throw the defense isn't good. Like we, we have, we've seen enough of them to know that they're going to bounce back. But then you're like, what even happened last year? Like, like, why? What changed this year to last year that's going to make it better? And every day we just go back and forth and it's like, okay, we just need the games.

[Mike Clay]

The only thing that changed is that the team decided not to vote him as a captain for this squad.

[Field Yates]

I'm just telling you, man, like, that the vibes are just so remarkably low. Tyree killing the team right now. It Just feels like Mike split proposal of him to the Broncos. Yeah, Steelers, but Broncos concept of a trade I think makes a lot of sense. Question for you guys. Is it possible that a player could maybe win MVP this year and maybe be the highest scoring quarterback in all of fantasy football?

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, I just wanted to try saying no again. Go ahead, sorry.

[Mike Clay]

Win MVP and be the highest scoring quarterback in fantasy football. Yes, it's possible those things could happen.

[Field Yates]

And not have a single pass catcher, be a weekly starter in fantasy.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, now that's.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm trying to. Oh, I know we're talking about. Okay, you said top fantasy quarterback wins mvp, doesn't have a fantasy relevant start. I mean I think this guy will have one, but I know you're talking about.

[Field Yates]

So I'm talking about Josh Allen.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

For the Buffalo Bills, who of course is the NFL's reigning MVP. He was not the highest scoring quarterback in fantasy last year, but he came darn close. Hard charge at the end where he had back to back weeks with 95 points combined in two weeks. That was super nuclear. Including the game against Daniels Lions plus the game against the Rams. So my hardest player to rank is not Josh Allen. He is one of the quarterbacks top four quarterbacks I have ranked even in a tough matchup against Baltimore. But his teammate, Keon Coleman, who. There is a world that exists in which no Bill's wide receiver is inside our top 30 week in and week out. There's also a world that I think exists, which I think is probably the most popular sentiment right now, where one of them hovers around a top 30 wide receiver, maybe a little bit lower, when there are no buys. And that player is Khalil Shakir, Mr. Reliable 4 year, $60 million extension this off season. Homegrown player, yada yada yada. What if there's a world in which there is an explosion between a Bill's wide receiver or amongst or from one Bill's wide receiver?

[Daniel Dopp]

There's only one guy on that list that would do it.

[Field Yates]

That would do it. And that would be Keon Coleman. So Coleman for me is wide receiver 45 this week. It's not like I am expecting that break got to take place right away. But I have noted that the Bills have spoken very openly and glowingly about Coleman's development this offseason. He also was the 33rd pick in the draft. It's amazing to think what would happen if the Bills had not traded down from 32 to 33, which they did with Carolina and took Coleman where the Panthers took Xavier Leggett, we'd probably be talking about Keon Coleman a little bit more. It's a first versus second round pedigree really does matter in football lexicon. Again, I know we're talking about week one and I am telling you that like in week one I am not starting Keon Coleman, but again, it's kind of a jumping off point to the full season. Like he would be one of my favorite, second best ball reference, but one of my favorite best ball like you know, later round picks, not last round pick, but later round picks. Because I do think there's a chance that we just see a monster season from Keon Coleman because could Josh Allen throw 40 touchdowns this year? Of course he could.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

And if he does, it means somebody is going to have probably eight or ten of those. Keon Coleman would seem a good bet.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. This is kind of similar to the packers situation where it's easy to say, well, they spread the ball around well, they haven't had an established number one receiver. So Keon Coleman was drafted with the expectation that in year one or two he would be their number one receiver. And he almost got there last year he started to trend that way and then he got hurt and then it never happened. So maybe this is the year and there's no doubt if you, if you told me right now you're from the future and he finished wide receiver nine or something, I'd be like, okay, you know that does that makes sense in this offense with his talent level and Josh Allen there. So no doubt about it, he has a high ceiling. And you're right though, he is tricky to rank here in week one.

[Mike Clay]

I can't think about Keon Coleman without thinking about the fact that actually I'll always remember draft day when the Bills traded with the Chiefs to move back to 32 and the Chiefs drafted Xavier Worth and then they traded back from 32 to 33 to be able to do that. And so I feel like in Bill's fans it's like we could have had Xavier Worthy, who we've seen be really good, or we could have Keon Coleman, who there's still some uncertainty on.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was a funny, you know, both teams are very good. The fan base is kind of going at each other last year and early on it was like, well, Keon Coleman's clearly better than Xavier Worthy. And then it flip flopped. It was very quiet in the second half of the season.

[Field Yates]

Remember the first game of the season though?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Bills versus Chiefs. Xavier Worthy scored two touchdowns.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's What? I mean, so worthy of the big start. Then it flip flopped and Keon was the better one.

[Field Yates]

And then Worthy came on strong. Yeah, it was like, like, of course, Xavier Worthy's first touch is like a 20. I mean, it was like a 28 yard reverse where, like, I could have probably scored the touchdown, you know, but like, this is what makes sports talk fun. Let's be clear. I probably could have.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't think you could have seen.

[Field Yates]

It would have been like a negative 8 yard gain if I had the ball. But Worthy, like, you know, sprints to the end zone.

[Mike Clay]

That was one of my favorite questions when we were. When we were at Baja Mar. You had asked a bunch of.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was just thinking that it was.

[Mike Clay]

A bunch of the running backs. Right. But it was like, do you think. Was it you or was it. It was Arda Ocal.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Arda asked the question, like, do you think that one of us could get one yard behind a real offensive line? And all of them pretty definitively were like, yes, just hit the hole.

[Field Yates]

Yes. If the Eagles are blocking for you, all you got to do is get out of your, you know, your, your two point stance, take the football. You got to know how to. You have to know how to receive a handoff. And the trick in football, you know, the first thing you learn if you're a running back is elbow high. You're going to elbow your quarterback in the face. When you take the football, you get the ball, you fall forward and you'll get a yard.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's the way.

[Field Yates]

Can we get five yards?

[Daniel Dopp]

Probably not.

[Mike Clay]

Probably not. Could you get a 28 yard reverse? I don't think so.

[Daniel Dopp]

Don't get confident and try to kick it outside. Don't it.

[Field Yates]

Don't do it. Any other picks? You have more?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, Mike and I both have one more.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you guys think it's okay, just with your permission, if I. No, Michael, I go running back here.

[Mike Clay]

You do not have permission.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, I'll allow it. All right, I'll go. You know, speaking of depth charts being released that this guy was number two on Denver's running back depth chart, RJ Harvey. And again, I think this is another one where it could be just kind of veteran deference to put J.K. dobbins up top. I do expect this to be a split back for you, and it might look. Could it be 15 touches for Dobbins, 13 for Harvey in week one? Yeah, but I think that'll flip at some point this season. I think he drafted Harvey in the second round for a reason and at some point he's going to take control. He's a little bit of it. He's an older back, a little undersized, but was effective at the college level and had a terrific combine 44 speed as well. So very explosive. A lot of.

[Field Yates]

A lot of.

[Daniel Dopp]

He had the highest rate of 10 plus yard runs in this class, which it obviously was a great group running back. So I like him. I think it's going to might take a week or two, but he is a guy that we're kind of uncertain on in week one in terms of what exactly his workload will be. Could it be 18 touches or eight? It could be anywhere in that range. So he's a tricky one.

[Field Yates]

And of course to note, J.K. dobbins has missed a ton of time in his career. That's why JK Dobbins is now playing with one though.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's why that's true.

[Field Yates]

But it's a valuable player to have on your roster because by week four he could be the guy by himself with like Jolio McLaughlin is his only backup that's healthy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep, no doubt.

[Mike Clay]

Especially in that Broncos offense have big expectations. All right. Last player I'm going to bring to the table is a veteran. I know how much Mike loves older players, so I'm going to dive into Cooper Cup. Hey, who the heck is this guy going to be in 2025? I just want to make sure that we weren't like banking too much on recency bias. So I wanted to look back at some of the stats that we saw from last year. First six healthy games. He got hurt in week two. Right. So we're going to throw week two out. First six healthy games. He averaged 22 and a half fantasy points per game last year.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, he was awesome.

[Mike Clay]

He looked unbelievable. And then his final five games he had one game in which he reached 20. You love to see that. But the other four games he didn't top five and a half fantasy points in a single one of them, including a three target zero catch zero fantasy point performance in week 15 in which if you tried to start him in the playoff, it absolutely crushed you. He just looked washed at the end of the season. He didn't have over those five games. I just mentioned that he closed the season out with. He didn't have a single game where he saw more than 27 routes. When you're supposed to be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL but you're only running 27 routes a game, you're not on the field enough to be able to do damage. It felt like the Rams were just like, all right, you know what, we're going to let Puka do our thing. And we don't think that Cooper could. Cup really has it anymore. In part, that's why they left him to be able to go to Seattle. So now that he turned 32 years old, there's a part of me that is wondering, man, am I doing this thing where it's like, this is just recency bias. It's just how we ended the season. Things didn't end great. Maybe it was banged up and he's actually better than what we thought. Or is this appropriate because he's going to an offense that has a ton of uncertainty? New head coach, new offensive coordinator, new quarterback. Everything's going to be completely different. He's playing with a new quarterback for the first time in his career. He's got drafted by that.

[Daniel Dopp]

The.

[Mike Clay]

By the Los Angeles Rams. So it feels like Cooper cup again. He's not someone that you probably drafted really high. But I wonder if we're doing this thing where it's like this Cooper cup really still have something left in the bag? Or is he as washed as he looked last year? Just given the depth of the wide receiver position? I have him outside my starting top 40 spots, that wide receiver, but I just wonder if there's still some left in the tank here.

[Field Yates]

If he has a strong first week, first three weeks, first month, whatever it is, is he's one of my favorite sell high candidates. I think the Rams felt like this is a player who the gas tank begins the season maybe closer to like 3/4 full or halfway full, as opposed to Devonte Adams, who you guys recall last year, finished with a bang.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

Like, Devonte was awesome down the stretch for the Jets. Now, devonte was also banged up for part of the season last year when he had like that. That hamstring that was really, really bothersome that eventually led to him being traded from the Raiders to the Jets. Good call. Yeah, he's. I mean, he's a clear wide receiver, too. There were some snaps last year that looked sort of like burnt toast for Cooper Cup. I think the other reason, and this will apply more when we talk in our next segment, that Cooper cup is really low is the reality that there are just so many receivers, a lot of receivers, so many receivers.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. I will say this. I feel like Cooper Cup's exit from the rams and Sean McVay kind of reminds me of Jared Goff's exit from the Rams where it was just like they, he, McPhay's had enough and it's just we'll do anything to move on, make a change here. And it went pretty well for Jared.

[Mike Clay]

That's part of the concern because I watched that happen and like I know where they felt like Jared Goff was, they were ready to be done with him. And I like, obviously I have a huge tie to that because you know, Jared Goff's good enough for Detroit. Question is, is Cooper cup going to be good enough for Seattle?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I will say this. I have drafted Cooper Cup a lot because you don't have to draft him as a starter, but I think very well could be a starter. I went in the eighth round of 12 team leagues, much later in 10 team leagues. So. So I feel like he's, it's, it's not like he has a substantial competition for that job. It's JSN and then it's Cooper Cup. It should be Cooper cup next in line for target. So we could see seven, eight, nine targets a game. And I think he's going to be a starting caliber fantasy receiver this year. So I took him a lot and if he doesn't work out, it cost me an eighth, ninth round pick. So it's not that, yeah, not that big a deal.

[Mike Clay]

Part of it for me and then we can move on. It's not like it's, it's both Cooper cup and the idea that when you're trying to at least in week one, quantify the way that we're approaching these offenses, some of them have a bigger gap of uncertainty than others. Right. We know for a fact that there are some offenses that return to the majority of their offensive line. They return their, their head coach, their offensive coordinator, their skill positions are intact. That's not the situation in Seattle.

[Field Yates]

Only because Seahawks fans are going to get mad. They do have the same head coach from last year.

[Mike Clay]

You're correct. That's correct. But they replaced Ryan Grub obviously with. Things did not work out that way. And so they, there's, there's a lot that I feel like is going to be different in this offense that we're trying to figure out what Seattle looks like after the first couple weeks.

[Daniel Dopp]

They want to run the ball. But I think, I think JSN and Cooper cup have gonna have pretty big targets here.

[Field Yates]

So that'll be a fun one, Mike. Because one of the players that there seems to be whispers. That's it. Whispers, yeah. That this could be far more equitable in the backfield than Just the Kenneth Walker. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

So we talked about this. I moved Ken Walker down in my rank rankings a couple weeks ago because he's missed a lot of time. And Zach Charbonnet's, like you said, there's been like. All right, Charbonnet's been healthy and he's been effective and this might be a little more even than we thought. So I did. I'm with you. I made that adjustment.

[Field Yates]

So, yeah, I just would note that, like, they may want to run the crap out of the ball, but it may not necessarily mean that you should be going up on Kenneth Walker iii, perhaps maybe just like holding steady or.

[Daniel Dopp]

I will say this, they did leave Ken Walker pretty clearly. You know, he's number one on Seattle's depth chart. That has not changed at all. I think he is viewed as the better player there, the better back.

[Field Yates]

Yep.

[Daniel Dopp]

It is a new coordinator, but. Yeah, and I agree with that. But when you miss a lot of time and Zach Charbonnet was the second round pick, he's a good player.

[Field Yates]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

All right, let's dive into some players that went undrafted in leagues that we have as potential starters here in week one.

[Field Yates]

Okay, so let me just clarify that a little bit. Players that were not drafted as high or to be an immediate starter who are going as they're not guys who are undrafted.

[Mike Clay]

Correct. This came out of the premise that when we did the fantasy focus league, we got done with the league and Mike said, oh, this is interesting. Adam Thielen is literally going to be a starter in week one. He's going to be the number two wide receiver in Minnesota and he didn't get drafted. So it kind of spurned this idea. It's going to be tough to find nine players that were outside the top 160 that were ranking as starters. So these are some mid to low end draft picks or potentially undrafted guys that we now have ranked as starters in week of.

[Field Yates]

If you've been undrafted player, that would be.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, exactly right. Most of these guys were drafted in most fantasy leagues. We ranked them as draftable, like maybe 10th round, 11th round, 9th round, whatever. But you already had your starting lineup filled out when you picked them. But here in week one, whether it's matchup or it's due to circumstances, these guys are viable fantasy starters in week one.

[Mike Clay]

Absolutely.

[Field Yates]

I'll get things rolling here. This guy was probably drafted as most people have their flex or wide receiver 3, slash 4. Or who I think is a wide receiver too in week one. That's Jerry Judy, Cleveland Browns. Who you guys may recall at Baja Mara he was like my must draft player because I think perhaps Joe Flacco's leash is a whole lot longer than the public sort of perceives it to be right now. Like, I think Cleveland's in no rush to get those young bucks on the field because I do think that Joe Flacco has a a lot of reference and b a lot of experience. Like we've seen Joe operate this offense in a prolific manner. By the way, just two years ago Joe Flacco was was really good. This team is really going to struggle until further notice running the football. We'll see whether Quinshon Judkins is available at any point early on this season. And the defense is good. It's very good on paper for Cleveland, but this team still might fall behind very often. In Week one they play against the Bengals. Now the Bengals are like a UFL team. Is UFL even still around?

[Mike Clay]

It is still around, yes.

[Field Yates]

UFL team is the Cincinnati Bengals. In the first two weeks of the season, they are one in nine with Joe Burrow as our starting quarterback in weeks one and week two.

[Mike Clay]

That being said, you said one in nine. Yes.

[Field Yates]

Remember they always wreck your survival pool. And I'm still going back to the well this week with the Bengals.

[Daniel Dopp]

I can't believe over the Browns.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I'm doing it too. This episode is brought to you by Amazon. Sometimes the most painful part of getting sick is the getting better part. Waiting on hold for an appointment, sitting in crowded waiting rooms, standing in line at the pharmacy. That's painful. Amazon One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy remove those painful parts of getting better with things like 24. 7 virtual visits and prescriptions delivered to your door thanks to Amazon Pharmacy and Amazon One Medical Healthcare just got less painful.

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[Field Yates]

But Jerry Judy has an incredible matchup, right. Like the Browns could very well be trailing by a lot. And the Bengals as we know, excellent on offense. The opposite of excellent on defense.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I like it. Good call Judy. 16. So I'm with you for sure. Still, obvious question marks a corner for the Bengals. I'm surprised they didn't do more to address that in the off season. The first one on my list is basically the poster boy for this Second for this segment. Excuse me, Mecca Buca, one of my picks in Tampa Bay. No doubt. No Chris Godwin. Yep, for a while, at least. At least four games this year. Well, it doesn't necessarily need to be four games. He's not on the the PUP list, but he'll be out for a few games. Jaylen McMillan's out for about half the season, so he's Mike Evans and then Mecca Buka. He should be the number two receiver. The competition for him, Sterling Shepherd. Tez Johnson was a seventh round rookie, Ryan Miller and Cam Johnson who's mostly a returner. So I mean he has, he's a first round pick. He should be an every down player here in week one. They're playing Atlanta again. A little foreshadowing. Shadowing to tomorrow. I expect AJ Terrell to shout out Mike Mike Evans as he does, which presents a pretty good matchup here for Abuka on the other side of the field. So set up very well. This is a guy you probably took with a, you know, mid round pick but you'd be hard pressed to bench him in week one in this situation.

[Field Yates]

I have a PSA and hopefully our team later can cut this specific clip. So I'm going to restart one more time psa which this one right here. This one. I'm looking at this one here for a second PSA because a lot of people are always getting mad about this online. There are times in which a head coach or a GM or a reporter makes a comment that suggests a player is going to miss a specific amount of time. People then say, well if the Bucks are saying that Chris Godwin is probably going to miss a month, why is he not IR eligible right away? Here's the deal. Chris Godwin is on the 53 man roster. He is not on injured reserve. He was not left on pup. The Bucks have not yet ruled him out for week one. If every time a coach or a GM or a reporter suggested a player's timeline was about how long he'd be out for an injury. We in turn said, all right, this guy is automatically out. We'd have situations where guys go from unlikely to play in a week to playing that week. Ben Roethlisberger was literally ruled out one week and still played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I just want people to know that there is a reason why we are always following what rotor wire did. They do a great job for us, by the way, how they categorize players. And presuming the Bucs rule Chris Godwin out Friday, probably around 4pm Eastern time, he will then become IR eligible. I know we talk about this often on the show, but people every single year get all bent out of shape and up in arms and saying, why can't you guys fix this? Here is the reason why. Please be patient. Chris Godwin, when he is ruled out this weekend, will become Meyer eligible and you can add that extra player to your roster.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's weird to feel to just throw. Throw other people under the bus when we know he decides.

[Mike Clay]

I was. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Field.

[Mike Clay]

Field definitively is the guy that decides whether players are in or out or Q or IR eligible. Obviously here, just do that.

[Field Yates]

Right.

[Mike Clay]

I. Well, you kind of mentioned that. I mean, that happened a little bit last year with Michael Pittman Jr. Because we were like, we literally thought he was going to go on IR because the team talked about it.

[Field Yates]

Correct.

[Mike Clay]

And then he played the next day.

[Field Yates]

It was reported like he's a candidate to go on ir and then it was like, no, he never misses.

[Mike Clay]

Just kidding.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. It has to be team official because then if you put a guy in IR and that happens and it's going to make your roster terrible, it's going to cause issues for your roster all.

[Mike Clay]

Well, speaking of players that potentially went undrafted and are starters in week one, or at least lower end players, Michael Pittman Jr. Hey, wait.

[Field Yates]

What a transition.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, Nailed it.

[Mike Clay]

Gives us a little bit. I mean, Daniel Jones under center gives us a little reason for excitement. I don't feel super comfortable putting that on tape for the Internet to hear for the rest of time. I don't want people to think I'm in on Daniel Jones.

[Field Yates]

We're on ESPN1 today, right?

[Mike Clay]

That's right. We are on E1 today. Yeah, but you look at everything that we know from Daniel Jones, he was able to support Malik Neighbors to the nth degree. As far as a fantasy wide receiver, that's all that matters to me right now. So I realize there are a lot of different mouths in this offense that it could be. You could replace Michael Pittman Jr. If you like Josh Downs with Josh Downs or Tyler Warren at the tight end spot. In part because this week and another shout out Mike to your not only the power rankings but the unit grades that you put out. The Miami Dolphins might not have a single starting cornerback on defense right now.

[Field Yates]

No shout out. Storm, Duck.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, it is. Best name for sure.

[Mike Clay]

Best name for sure. But on a, on a scale of 0 to 10, you gave them a 2 at the cornerback spot.

[Daniel Dopp]

Be optimistic.

[Field Yates]

Generous.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

They had the, the 31st ranked secondary. The only secondary that was worse than them in your unit rankings was the Las Vegas Raiders.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think they're tied actually. I do it by like a scale of 10. They're both too. Yeah. Wow.

[Mike Clay]

So it was awful. And when you look at this, it's like this should be the situation in which this team with Daniel Jones under center, these pass catchers should come out and feast on the Dolphins. Not literally. We obviously are big supporters of Dolphins.

[Field Yates]

Peter Friendly here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

However, if they don't go out this week and show us what they can do from a passing game perspective, I'm going to be nervous. But in week one, given the situation with Daniel Jones being their quarterback and the matchup that they have, I'm actually in on these Colts passing catchers being some low end starters for your squad, especially in 12 team leagues if you need it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. That if the Colts offense gets off to a slow start against this defense, you're going to remember that the commercial of we're just warming up my arms. That's right. It's going to be Anthony Richardson on the sideline. The place going to be getting ready to go.

[Mike Clay]

That little kid.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, they better.

[Field Yates]

Two things can be true at once, people. Daniel Jones can be a below average quarterback and he can also really help the wide receivers. Compared to what? Anthony Brown. Richardson.

[Mike Clay]

I mean this is the, this is the Trevor Lawrence question that I just asked you to start the show. Could Trevor Lawrence, if he's not good, support two top 25 wide receivers like Daniel Jones could do that same thing?

[Field Yates]

He could. Yeah. So speaking of Daniel Jones.

[Daniel Dopp]

Stop it.

[Field Yates]

One of my options right here, top 12 quarterback for me this week is Danny Dimes. Yeah. He is quarterback 12. I mentioned this previously. He played in 10 games last year. Did Daniel Jones, he was a top, he was a top 11 quarterback in five of those 10 games. He was 22nd or worse in the other five. So it was a very much feast or famine nature to Danny Dimes. Game, but we know about him. You mentioned the great matchup he has as a passer this upcoming weekend is the Dimes has an inflated ceiling when he runs the football and they should be running him at least a little bit this week. Not to the point that we saw from Anthony Richardson. I don't think Jonathan Taylor is in great peril of losing goal line carries to Daniel Dimes, but definitely enough rushing upside to help boost the potential ceiling here for Daniel Jones in what is a very, very tasty Week one matchup. Love that DFS play, right.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm trying to think how I could transition that to my next one. I don't.

[Field Yates]

Let's see if we can find something.

[Daniel Dopp]

Danny Dimes is like, it sounds like a May. I don't know. I got nothing. But you got Jerome Ford. Drum Ford. I was going to try to make a car reference. Ford. I don't know. Brown.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, I got nothing there.

[Daniel Dopp]

I got nothing.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I got nothing.

[Daniel Dopp]

But I'm going to go with Drum Ford. This is a guy that was a late round flyer throughout pretty much the entire offseason because of the uncertainty of Quinchon Judkins, who you know could sign in an hour, still remains on. We're doing a pot. He could be signed right now or he might not sign for a few weeks. But either way, even if he signed today, he's. He's not going to make an impact in Week one. Jerome Ford should be the lead back. And here's the thing, kind of quietly, he's been effective in fantasy and overall in terms of efficiency in this role. Six games without Nick Chubb last year, 14 touches, 78 yards and 14 fantasy points per game. And remember in 2023 with Nick Chubb about basically the whole season, he was RB16 that year, 25th in points per game, but was over 1100 yards and nine touchdowns that season as well. Last year he averaged 5.4 yards per carry, one of the best in the NFL. He could catch it, he could run it. They're playing Cincinnati, who we just talked about has a suspect defense. So Jerome Ford. I have ranked what I have him this week, 19 in my rankings. This is a guy that's borderline, I would say line of block because you might be strong at running back considering you, you know, drafted a couple early round running backs. But this is a guy that you very, very much can start and feel good about him.

[Field Yates]

Looking forward to seeing how much they lean into Dylan Sampson early on this season. Their fourth round pick, super fast running back out of Tennessee but it does feel like Jerome Ford is the guy to start the season for the. Brown to the backfield. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

In line to run it back again. And I am very interested to figure out how this Quinton Judkin situation is going to work out. Have we ever had a rookie draft pick not be signed yet at this point?

[Field Yates]

Yes. They're like old day for us in fantasy football, but it's been a while.

[Mike Clay]

It's been a long time.

[Field Yates]

Not to get too much into the nuance and nitty gritty here, but it's a unique one for sure.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

All right. Well, another quarterback for me that I'm going to bring to the table, Dak Prescott. I don't know if you guys heard that their defense has been impacted over the last couple of days.

[Field Yates]

The Ron Bland just got a new.

[Mike Clay]

He did get a new contract.

[Daniel Dopp]

Field and Lupke today, the fullback.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. So they're taking care of their own. You know, that's what everybody says about Cowboys, what they. They do.

[Mike Clay]

Dallas takes care of their own.

[Field Yates]

Ron Bland, Tyler Smith soon at one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Side of the mouth, Jerry Jones is like, no, we're, you know, we want. He's like, every single time I'll take more players than one player. And then he's resigning guys left and right, other guys that aren't. Ica Parsons. It makes no sense.

[Field Yates]

Oh, baby.

[Mike Clay]

I got Dak Prescott. They're taking on the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia is pretty good. I expect them to score a lot of points. I don't think the Dallas defense is going to be very good if we called them the Bengals of the nfc. Does that seem crazy?

[Field Yates]

I do not think it seems crazy. And I actually think that while the Eagles will be excellent in some ways on defense, they're very young in the secondary. Very young. A lot of new faces. So it's at the very least a good test for Philadelphia tomorrow night. On top of that, it's easily the best wide receiver duo the Dallas has had since. What? I don't even know.

[Mike Clay]

I'm trying to think, you know, Dak had Amari Cooper and I guess Brandon. Did Brandon Cooks have a couple of nice weeks.

[Daniel Dopp]

But I don't think it was probably that.

[Field Yates]

That Mario Cooper and CD Lamb, when.

[Daniel Dopp]

They gallop like as the three.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, maybe at the beginning. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

But the bottom line is this is a really, really good wide receiver.

[Mike Clay]

CD Lamb and George Pickens love what Dick Ferguson is going to do as well.

[Field Yates]

So pumped that I haven't heard or read one story about George Pickens during the preseason that sort of reminds you of a lot of the stuff we were dealing with in George Pickens. Like no play that I saw. Like there was no throwing his helmet after a rep in practice or, you know, jawing at somebody. It just seems, seem like George Pickens had a very business like training camp.

[Mike Clay]

Well, people often say that stability is one of the marks of the Dallas Cowboys. And so that's going to be one of the things that we'll hang our hat on. But I mean everything that we've, we've talked about though, there's a ton of reasons why it makes a lot of sense. The defense, I expect to suck, right. We think they're going to have to throw the ball a lot. Don't have a lot of optimism in that running game.

[Field Yates]

Pickens in a contract here too, like this is like we're talking about. If he plays at a very high level, I think there's reason to believe that he could sign a deal around $30 million.

[Daniel Dopp]

By the way, you know, Pickens agent.

[Field Yates]

Is same one as Micah Parsons. Yes, that's right.

[Mike Clay]

That is going to be an interesting situation. Each of the last three years that Dak has been healthy, he's hit 4,400 passing yards and 30 passing touchdowns. He's got a receiving core. To be able to do that, especially now, they're probably going to have to throw the ball a ton.

[Daniel Dopp]

Question is, if it's a dumpster fire for the Dallas. Just going into Philly playing against this team, you know, we've seen it happen many times and Eagles did that to how many quarterbacks last year? It could just be bad for Dallas.

[Field Yates]

It also feels tomorrow like a game where Philly jumps out early. Like, you know, it's 216 before you blink. And then it's. It's like fourth quarter and the Cowboys have made an eight point game somehow.

[Daniel Dopp]

I hope so.

[Field Yates]

Calling that right now.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I hope not. Yeah, you know, you know me, who's ever the Eagles optimist, you know. No, everything out. They're going 50 to nothing. It's fine.

[Field Yates]

All right, last pick for me. And this is way more a testament to the number of wide receivers and it is I think the caliber of these players. But Ricky Pearsall and Juwan Jennings, right, Guys who were both being drafted at times as like wide receiver 40 Jennings ADP kind of went up and down because of his calf slash. Maybe not calf injury thing. We talked about him a bit yesterday. The news returning of him returning to practice and a sign that perhaps a contract is Getting a little bit closer there for Juwan Jennings, but I like both of these players. The matchup against Seattle I don't necessarily love. I think Seattle's going to be really good on defense this year. Devin Witherspoon is a stone cold baller at corner. Reek Wolin is up and down for Seattle, but there's enough talent. And again, right now it's like San Francisco needs everybody they've got. They need George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Ricky Pearsall and Juwan Jennings because after that it is paper thin among skill players.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I'll put a name is on that. Brandon Iukes out. DeMarcus Robinson's out. Jacob Cowing's out. Joanne Jennings, we'll see. Jordan Watkins also out. So, I mean, and Russell Gage did his cut. They're going to bring him back for this game. But it's. It's Sky Moore and Russell Gage behind Paper thinner. You know, that's it. I mean those guys are lucky to be on a 53 at this point. So it's going to be Pierce and Jennings at receiver.

[Field Yates]

That's where I'm at as well.

[Mike Clay]

By the way, Reek Woolen, when did he change his name from Reek? After coming out of.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I think he's come by.

[Mike Clay]

He's been going by Reek couple years.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

It seems like sometimes what happens is when the guys get drafted, they go by like their government name and then they get to the locale place. The local. Local place. Well, and thassis on the wrong one. They're the local place that they play and they go by their, you know, preferred.

[Mike Clay]

They choose what they want to be called. Kind of like Bill.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Bill Crosby, Bill Krosky, Merritt.

[Field Yates]

That's right. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Are we allowed to pick our own names? Can I pick my own name if I don't want to go by Daniel anymore?

[Field Yates]

I mean, if you want to go by Dan.

[Mike Clay]

No, I'd like to go by Mike Clay, NFL.

[Daniel Dopp]

Wow, that works. Michael, I think you should just go like completely change it. Like Dak Prescott is Rain Prescott.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Field Yates]

Dakota Rain Prescott. Great name, right?

[Mike Clay]

It is a great name.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't know why he doesn't go with that full name. All right, last one for me is another streaming quarterback. You did a streaming quarterback? How about Drake May this week? You know, he drafted him as a two as a breakout candidate. But I mentioned the matchup before. He's at home against the Raiders. He, you know, even. Even if the passing numbers aren't there, we expect him to add value with his legs this week as well or this season as well. Has Stefan Diggs there now he's going to be good to go. So I think May is set up for a good start to the. Not just week one, but the season. He has Pittsburgh in there, but otherwise I think it's four of his first five games are very attractive matchups. So I expect a hot start and I think he could stream them.

[Field Yates]

To me, it's all about something. It's all about how Drake May is utilized here. Because last year the coaching staff completely, utterly overmatched. As we talked about a million times, he didn't have a design run until week 16. His new offensive coordinators, of course, Josh McDaniels. McDaniels has coached for a long time, had a ton of successful quarterbacks for fantasy and real life. He also has hardly coached a quarterback who's athletic. Right. Drake May is way more athletic than basically any quarterback that Josh McDaniels coached for a sustained, sustained period of time.

[Mike Clay]

Do you think we've talked to go ahead.

[Field Yates]

Are you guys working on stat or something right now?

[Mike Clay]

No, no, no.

[Daniel Dopp]

Are we missing something right now, do you think?

[Mike Clay]

No, you're not missing anything. I was texting our producer. Do you think that when we, when we look back at the things you've had two stats that I feel like we've utilized a couple of times this offseason.

[Field Yates]

I can't wait to get rid of those stats.

[Mike Clay]

One of them is drake may. Almost zero designed rushes.

[Field Yates]

Week 16.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

And Marvin Harrison Jr. No, that comes from Mike. Right. Which one of those do you think we get more of this year? Do you think we get more designed runs from Drake May or do you.

[Field Yates]

Probably get more design runs from Drake Maybe May.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's.

[Mike Clay]

It's hard to have to have that many layups.

[Field Yates]

Like, you know, like if, if Marvin Harris Jr gets 15 wide receiver screens this year, that would be a lot. If Drake May like he could have 40 design rushes, do you think they.

[Mike Clay]

Both get rectified in 2025?

[Field Yates]

I would hope so.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. So when I looked up, I was just as we were talking about Drake May, I was like, which I was trying to remember the list of the 10 teams that voted in favor of the Tush push back in May. And the New England Patriots were on that list coaching staff this year. So maybe they utilize it a little bit. There's probably a reason they voted in favor there. It could just be Mike Frable's mindset for sure. But I thought that was that's interesting. I wonder if they'll utilize that a little bit at the goal line.

[Mike Clay]

All right, Well, I kind of fudged the rules in this last one a little bit. I mean, a little bit. Because my last player is Garrett Wilson. Garrett Wilson was very clearly drafted, but.

[Daniel Dopp]

In fairness, we didn't like him.

[Field Yates]

You didn't draft him?

[Mike Clay]

I did not draft him. And hardly any leagues, if any at all, other than some best ball leagues that I had in order to diversify my portfolio. But Garrett Wilson is a guy that I do not have a lot of confidence in. He was coming off the board.

[Daniel Dopp]

ADP in the opposite here you're saying you would bench him even though he was.

[Mike Clay]

I would start him. I would start him, but I. He went undrafted and I think he's still startable for me. But he was coming off the board as wide receiver 17 with his ADP here in week one. The though I've got him outside my top 25, I still think he is a flex play. I don't think that he is so far down the list that you can't start Garrett Wilson, but kind of like Breeze hall, who I mentioned in the previous segment, it's kind of those same kind of vibes for me where I still love Garrett Wilson. I still think he's worth being started.

[Daniel Dopp]

The.

[Mike Clay]

The player, the skill is unbelievable. He is a really good wide receiver. It's just figuring out what this offense is going to look like. So he went undrafted for my squad odds, but I still have him ranked as a starter. Just not as high of a starter as I would have liked given the fact that Justin Fields is under center.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, fair enough. Good list. I have a couple others here. I'll just mention super quick. Tyler Warren, he gets stream them drafted mostly. He's a tight end too, borderline. But I think you could start him against Miami. We talked about that matchup. I did have Ricky Pierce hall on my list, so good call. Hollywood Brown. No Rashi Rights. Hollywood Brown should play a sizable role. Jalen Royals also out as well. I'm kind of curious. Like you're talking deep sleepers for like a random touchdown this week in week one. Taekwond Thornton.

[Field Yates]

Oh, my gosh.

[Mike Clay]

Don't lie. Don't do that.

[Daniel Dopp]

A lot of hype.

[Field Yates]

We got three minutes. I want to explain something that I'm.

[Daniel Dopp]

Trevor Lawrence is my last one, but go ahead. Okay.

[Field Yates]

Because this is an idea that I've been pitching on a couple of.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I want to do this.

[Field Yates]

Okay. So this is my idea. And we're calling it, like, ultra long shot. I don't know. We obviously do long shots on fantasy football now. So this is my idea. On Friday, Mike, Daniel and I come to the table, and this is sort of an adaptation of a bar game that you see people sometimes where we call it, like, six die. Basically, you get six die, and you have three rolls. You roll. And if you are able to get the same number after three rolls and all six die, you win whatever amount of money is in the cup. You pay, like, $3 to play or a dollar. But whatever it might be, right?

[Mike Clay]

That's Yahtzee. You're basically trying to get a Yahtzee.

[Field Yates]

It's sort of like Yahtzee. Yeah, exactly. But. But so, like, if you roll, let's say on the first roll, you get three threes, a two, a one, and a six. You pick up the remaining three, and you try to get three. So, you know, there are times in which it goes for a long time, you pick up, you know, a couple hundred bucks out of the pot. My idea is, each week we bring to the table a player that is rostered in under 5% of leagues. So we're talking deep cuts here, and we nominate that player to score a touchdown.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

And I don't know if we're allowed to put money into a pot specifically, but the idea is to, like, I call you your deepest of long shots. Tyquan Thornton is probably available in 100% of leagues, Mike. But it's a great idea. Maybe we make the number under 3%, because there's a better chance than not that we have, like, at most, one correct prediction all season. But, man, how sweet would that be when you make your long shot at some point during the year? Of course.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, of course.

[Field Yates]

Like Taekwond Thornton, you're like, yeah, he might score a touchdown. Watch him have, like, one offensive.

[Daniel Dopp]

We should name this game, like, after lottery. Either Alan Lazard or Nick Westbrook. That was gonna be my guy. Michael. We can name it after.

[Mike Clay]

I was looking through people that are under 5% rostered on ESPN fantasy. Are we gonna save this for Friday?

[Daniel Dopp]

Give me some thresholds and then decide on a threshold, and then let's do it Friday.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, tomorrow. I mean, that's tomorrow. It's. No, it's Friday. Nevermind.

[Daniel Dopp]

Sorry. Yeah, okay.

[Field Yates]

Tomorrow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we can do it Friday. Because if I go with Thornton, which I'll look, but I'm pretty confident I'll go with him. That's. They play Friday nights.

[Field Yates]

Like it. Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. All Right. I'm in. I love this game.

[Mike Clay]

I am. I am very much in. I got a couple of guys I'm already thinking about.

[Field Yates]

Don't know if we're allowed to put money. We have to talk to the powers to be there. Like, you put whatever we come up with.

[Daniel Dopp]

Like, yeah, if we're allowed. If not, we can find some sort of. Yeah, but we can do cookies.

[Mike Clay]

You want to do cookies? I'll give you cookies.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, we'll do two cookies.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not allowed to do money, we're told.

[Field Yates]

All right. No mind.

[Daniel Dopp]

We'll find some way.

[Field Yates]

We'll find some way to do it. Yeah. Well, I can borrow Mike's car for a month if I get.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Done. Sold. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

You're going to sell. You're going to. You sold the car?

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, yeah. I'll sell it to you. Okay, that's time for a new one.

[Mike Clay]

That's going to do it. For our show to say today, thank you for hanging out with us. Thank you for hanging with our buddy Eric Moody. The YouTube chat as well. Make sure you come back and hang out with him every single week. We'll get more questions from our YouTube chat a little bit later on this week, but that's going to do it for us today. Don't forget to love each other. Be kind to yourself. And we'll see you guys back here on Thursday, which is our first game of the season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Go birds.

[Mike Clay]

We'll see you guys tomorrow. Talk about stepping up. It's time to level up your game. Introducing the all new ESPN app. All of ESPN all in one place. Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments.

[Daniel Dopp]

The electricity is palpable.

[Mike Clay]

Step up your game with no annual contract required. It's the ultimate fan experience.

[Field Yates]

Level up.

[Mike Clay]

For more on the ESPN app or at stream espn.com Sign up now.