Grading the 2025 Rotoworld Mock Draft

Summary

Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry

Episode: Grading the 2025 Rotoworld Mock Draft
Date: August 15, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Matthew Berry and co-hosts Jay Croucher, Connor Hubbard, and Matthew Rogers break down the 2025 Rotoworld Mock Draft, dissecting surprising first-round picks, positional debates, injury risk analysis, and emerging player values as draft season heats up. The crew delivers an in-depth, spirited analysis of every major development, key draft strategy questions, and their favorite teams from the mock, all with the signature humor and chemistry fans expect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. First-Round Surprises & “Get Your Guys” Philosophy

Timestamps: 05:00 – 09:15

• Lawrence Jackson’s Bold Pick: Lawrence Jackson goes against consensus, taking Jameer Gibbs as the number one overall pick.
  • Matthew Berry: “He is truly a get your guys kind of guy. He doesn’t care about ADP…him being the number one player in fantasy football is certainly within the range of outcomes.” [05:23]
  • The hosts debate whether Gibbs over Bijan Robinson, a heavy favorite of Lawrence as a Falcons fan, is justified.
• Arguments for Gibbs: 11 weeks as a top 12 RB last season, only player with 70+ yards every game, explosive offense, increased red zone looks expected.
• ADP vs. Player Conviction:
  • Berry: “If you want Jameer Gibbs this year, that’s where you gotta take him. I’m a big believer in this—take your guys.” [08:06]
  • Emphasis on the importance of drafting for upside and conviction, not just consensus rankings.

2. Running Backs vs. Wide Receivers at the Top

Timestamps: 09:23 – 11:30

• RB Injury Risk Debate:
  • Comment: “I don’t like taking running back with my first pick because they are more likely to get injured…” [09:23]
  • Berry/Crew: Acknowledge slightly increased RB attrition but argue that the difference isn’t deal-breaking, especially among young, versatile RBs.
• Other Players with Injury Questions: The hosts note that risk exists at all positions—citing injuries to players like Nico Collins, Puka Nacua, and Malik Nabers.

3. Christian McCaffrey’s Value and Risk

Timestamps: 11:11 – 13:38

• McCaffrey Slides to 7th Overall: Crew calls it a steal if he stays healthy.
  • Berry: “If I could guarantee you today that Christian McCaffrey plays every game this season, he’s the number one overall pick.” [11:11]
• Injury Concerns: Discussion of McCaffrey’s injury history vs. “randomness” of most RB injuries.
  • Jay Croucher: “With the way he takes care of his body… I don’t think McCaffrey’s injury risk is materially higher than, like, Saquon.” [11:49]
• Workload Management Myth: Coaches will run superstars ‘into the ground’ until performance drops.

4. Wide Receiver Volatility & Puka Nacua as an Example

Timestamps: 14:26 – 17:38

• Puka's Upside and Risks:
  • Concerns about durability, potential for QB instability, and red zone role with Devante Adams and Kyren Williams in the fold.
  • Jay Croucher: “He plays the most violent wide receiver style in the league…even the pro-Puka notes have to have these health qualifiers.” [16:07]
• Memorable Moment: Light-hearted roast about Jay cropping himself with Puka in a photo, foreshadowing ‘betrayal’ with current fantasy doubts. [16:16 – 17:41]

5. Round 2/3 Notables and WR1 Uncertainty

Timestamps: 18:24 – 21:33

• Brian Thomas Jr., Drake London, and More:
  • Debating if BTJ is truly the WR1 on his own team (Travis Hunter impact).
• Jonathan Taylor’s Range of Outcomes: Elite ceiling, but concerns about TD vulturing by QB (Richardson/Daniel Jones) and limited pass-game role.
  • Matthew Rogers: “There is also a side to [Taylor]: Some sneaky touchdown equity problems there…” [21:33]

6. Elite Quarterback Run in Round 3

Timestamps: 29:55 – 32:37

• Allen, Jackson, Daniels Go in Tight Cluster
  • Connor Hubbard: “I don't think there's a round of difference between those [top four] guys…The fact you can get Jalen Hurts a round later is really interesting.” [29:42]
• Audience Question: On best QB draft range—Crew argues Round 3 is where you need to pounce if you want an elite dual-threat.

7. Mid-Round Variance & Suspended Players

Timestamps: 36:22 – 39:47

• Round 4 ‘Boom-or-Bust’: Rashee Rice’s legal/suspension situation impacts value; consensus that DJ Moore, Kamara may be safer picks at ADP.
• High-Variance RBs: Jameson Williams, Ken Walker, Xavier Worthy. Potential league-winners or busts.

8. Endorsements for Favorite Mock Drafts

Timestamps: 41:22 – 43:29

• Each analyst picks a favorite team:
  • Jay: Erik Lindbergh’s “high upside” build: McCaffrey, Achan, T. McMillan, Pollard.
  • Rogers/Hubbard: Rotopat’s balanced, high-volume core with Amon-Ra, Irving, Hampton, and Hunter as a late-round gem.

9. Quinshon Judkins Legal Update & Fantasy Outlook

Timestamps: 47:07 – 52:46

• NFL Won’t Charge for Now, But Investigation Continues:
  • League precedent: Even if criminal charges dropped, potential for suspension (Ezekiel Elliott case).
  • Berry: “But it does mean that Judkins is now in camp…He’s a pretty pro-ready prospect…If you're asking me if he's a starting running back by October—I say absolutely yes.” [49:52]
• RB Depth Chart: Hosts slot Judkins as RB35 (value), with Sampson RB41 and Ford RB52.
  • Consensus: Value increases with return to camp; a possible draft sleeper depending on resolution timeline.

10. Last Call – Who Leads NFL in Passing Touchdowns?

Timestamps: 55:00 – 56:10

• Each host picks their ‘sleeper’ or chalk for most passing TDs:
  • Jay Croucher: “Joe Burrow…had 43 touchdowns last year, led the league…” [55:11]
  • Matthew Rogers: “I’ll take Patrick Mahomes 12-1…passing offense is due for a really big rebound.” [55:29]
  • Connor Hubbard: “Lamar Jackson at 10-1…He led the NFL in touchdown rate twice.” [55:41]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Take your guys. I’m a big believer in this.”
  Matthew Berry [08:06]

• “I think that Puka is a bigger injury risk than Bijan Robinson or Jameer Gibbs…He plays the most violent wide receiver style in the league.”
  Jay Croucher [16:07]

• On Rotopat:
  “He wins our Guillotine League… I may not want Rotopat in this competition. Why do I want more smoke?”
  Connor Hubbard [33:13]

• “Quinshon Judkins…There’s really no history of him ever being somewhere and not being that dude right away.”
  Matthew Rogers [49:52]

• “I think Joe Burrow is just going to be 4,500 passing yards, 45 passing touchdowns and just the same deal as last year.”
  Jay Croucher [39:15]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Lawrence’s #1 Pick & Gibbs Debate: 05:00 – 09:15
• Injury & Position Analysis (RB vs. WR, McCaffrey): 09:23 – 13:38
• Wide Receiver Volatility (focus on Puka): 14:26 – 17:38
• Elite QB Run in Round 3: 29:55 – 32:37
• Favorite Mock Drafts Analyzed: 41:22 – 43:29
• Judkins Legal Status & Fantasy Value: 47:07 – 52:46
• Last Call (Passing TD Leader Picks): 55:00 – 56:10

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Tone & Style

The episode maintains a quick-paced, humorous, and insightful tone true to Matthew Berry’s brand and the “Happy Hour” vibe. The cast is loose and self-referential—roasting each other, recalling inside jokes, and engaging directly with live audience comments.

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Takeaways for Fantasy Players

• Draft with conviction—don’t be afraid to grab “your guy” early if you believe in their ceiling.
• Running backs at the top aren’t as risky as the narrative; young, versatile backs offer strong potential.
• Monitor off-field legal developments for players; know when to see value in “controversial” picks.
• Be wary of mid-round “boom-bust” picks; have a plan for variance.
• If you want an elite dual-threat QB, be prepared to pull the trigger in Round 3.
• Don’t overlook high-floor, volume-driven players, even if the consensus is skeptical.

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For deeper rankings and regularly updated cheat sheets, check Rotoworld and Fantasy Life, and tune in to the daily show for news and live breakdowns.

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Transcript

[Matthew Berry]

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[Jay Croucher]

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[Connor Hubbard]

Selection varies by location while supplies last. More terms and restrictions apply.

[Jay Croucher]

Seeloes.com rebates for details I don't know.

[Connor Hubbard]

If Marvin Harrison Jr needs to be ahead of AJ Brown or CD Lamb. Like I I feel like what about.

[Jay Croucher]

Barry, 29.

[Connor Hubbard]

What his number's looking like.

[Jay Croucher]

Right on cue after that question. Comment from stuntman Chuck85 question for Jerry Lawrence Is this the year to get off the Berry bandwagon before it breaks down for good? Or is he aging like James Connor and Derrick Henry and we should asking is this it? Yeah, Matthew Barry's some big Todd Gurley potential.

[Connor Hubbard]

You gotta make that trade, you know, in your dynasties. Get get off of Matthew Berry. Get on a young stud like Lawrence Jackson Jr. Jay Croucher Connor Rogers.

[Matthew Berry]

Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry.

[Matthew Rogers]

Happy Friday. Welcome to the Fantasy Football Happy Hour. Rogers. Matthew Berry Jay Croucher. That's right. What a Friday it is. Boy, did our show call start with a bang.

[Jay Croucher]

Unbelievable. Yeah, there's a lot going on this morning. Are you trying to discover the founder youth with all the ice in the streets?

[Connor Hubbard]

What's going on in it?

[Matthew Rogers]

It's like a slushie.

[Connor Hubbard]

I talk a lot on the show, you know. God, someone has to carry YouTube. You know what Jack holes.

[Matthew Rogers]

There we go.

[Connor Hubbard]

And we're live on YouTube. So I'm trying to like, try not to get my bosses upset. But yeah, so I like water. So sue me. It's one of the reasons why I'm able to, much like James Conner and Derrick Henry, stay so fit and be able to continue to perform at a high level.

[Jay Croucher]

Good yards after contact for Matthew Berry.

[Matthew Rogers]

Big news day.

[Connor Hubbard]

Any yards after contact are good yards for me, candidly.

[Matthew Rogers]

We're going to talk Quinshon Judkins, Chris Godwin, A.J. brown. But for the first time this season, we are going to break down a mock draft. Our colleagues at Rotterworld, our friends at Fantasy Life have their latest mock up. It's on NBCSports.com Take a look at who participated in this.

[Connor Hubbard]

We didn't.

[Matthew Rogers]

So we actually just get to analyze this mock draft without bias. Believe it or not, of course. Member of the show, Lord Don't Lose. Lawrence Jackson was in this draft. He had the number one pick, followed by Denny Carter. Frequent, frequent guest cameos on this show.

[Connor Hubbard]

A friend of the show. What the mainstream media doesn't want you to know. He's all about the conspiracy theories, of course. D.J. short, analyst. And he sort of runs the show here content wise at Rotor World. Nobody has to. Christopher Crawford.

[Matthew Rogers]

Eric, you like Eric Lindbergh's description?

[Connor Hubbard]

Super fan. Yeah. Like how did he get in?

[Matthew Rogers]

He just snuck in the giraffe.

[Connor Hubbard]

He just snuck in a lot of.

[Jay Croucher]

Fake names in this draft board, let me tell you.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah.

[Jay Croucher]

Eric Lindbergh was one of the scientists on Oppenheimer.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah. There's no question now he does fantasy football. One of our social media content creators and writers for Fantasy Life, Cooterdoodle. Cooterdoodle is, by the way, she's an amazing follow on social media. And I don't, I have said this many times and I haven't figured it out yet. Cooterdoodle is either the best hire ever made or the worst. And we still haven't figured it out.

[Matthew Rogers]

Goes day by day.

[Connor Hubbard]

Goes day by day. But I love her. Ian Hartitz also just absolutely crushes for us. So we love to see Ann and Cooterdoodle. Never thought, I betcha Amanda. And that's her name. I don't think Amanda ever thought that the name Cooterdoodle would ever be uttered on national television. But there you go. Coot. Thanks for. Yeah, Coot. That's her nickname at the, you know, at Fantasy Life hq. Yeah.

[Matthew Rogers]

Well now her real name is out there.

[Connor Hubbard]

No, she's probably her last name Isn't like people. Her people know, you know, she's not precious about that.

[Matthew Rogers]

So this was a full PPR Snake draft. Let's take a look at round one because we had a surprise at number one. Nothing egregious or anything, but when Lawrence is making the number one overall pick, he goes by not consensus. He goes by what he believes and he took Jameer Gibbs number one overall. Matthew.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah, you know what, what's surprising to me, just specific to Lawrence real quickly, is that you know that he didn't take Kyle Pitts or Bijan or Anthony Richardson, all of his, all of his guys. But in all seriousness, he is. Well, but he is a Falcons fan. So the fact that he did not take Bijon Robinson, who is a legit consideration at one versus Jameer Gibbs, I will say this, having done a number of drafts with Lawrence, he is truly a get your guys kind of guy. He doesn't care about adp. And I don't think there's any argument like I don't have Jameer Gibbs at number one, but I also don't hate it. There's no him being the number one player in fantasy football is certainly within the range of outcomes. He's played 32 NFL games in his career. He has 31 touchdowns. He was awesome down the stretch last year. You expect them to use him more. He was happy and excited at the hall of Fame game. When I talked to him before the show, before the game, like I was on the field, I was like, hey, how we feeling about this year? He's like, you know, I'm excited. Like, so is his quarterback. His quarterback was. When I talked to Goff, he's like, yeah, we've got a few more, you know, red zone looks for Gibbs as well. Montgomery's still going to be involved, but it's such an explosive offense, such a good offensive line and he's such a special talent. I don't hate the pick.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, better than Lawrence's previous number one picks that we've been around for drafts. Certainly pushing the Anthony Richardson agenda. But look, I don't mind like taking the guy that you want at number one when he's in that range of guys. And you're not going to get Jameer Gibbs on the way back. So he wants to get Jameer Gibbs. I just think that the thing with Jameer Gibbs is like, where do we set the over, under how many carries per game Dave Montgomery is going to get? Because if it's like eight and a half, sure. But if it's 13 and a half, then he's probably not going to be the number one guy.

[Connor Hubbard]

Right. Although the counter to that is how many touches does Jameer Gibbs need?

[Matthew Rogers]

Right, Right.

[Connor Hubbard]

Like, he's not a guy whose game is based on volume the way some other players are. Connor.

[Matthew Rogers]

No, he is so effective in the pass game that that also gives you a giant boost out of the game. He's one of the reason why he warrants going number one in my opinion. If I wanted to go running back with the number one overall pick, this is probably the direction I would go. And I would go.

[Connor Hubbard]

I'm going to Bijon.

[Matthew Rogers]

One of the two.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah.

[Matthew Rogers]

I like the correction, by the way.

[Connor Hubbard]

Bijan Bichon.

[Matthew Rogers]

It's really settling in.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yes, it is. Yeah. I have Bajan at 1. I have Gibbs at 2. So obviously, like, I'm pro Gibbs this year.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah. No, I don't think this is crazy at all because he's explosive talent with. I'm fine with the volume. I'm not really worried about David Montgomery at this stage. I just think Gibbs is so effective with the touches he gets.

[Jay Croucher]

Thing with Montgomery is they gave him an extension and he's going to be around for a while. And I think he's just a big part of this offense. They have a brutal schedule as well. They're not good. They won 15 games last year. They're probably not going to do that again. I get it with Gibbs. Like, I get that he's clearly a top three running back. It's just that I'd be more partial to Bijan.

[Connor Hubbard]

No running back had more weeks as a top 12 running back. That is an RB1. No running back had more weeks as a top 12 running back last year than Jameer Gibbs. He had 11 different weeks where he was an RB1 for the week, and a lot of that was with David Montgomery in the lineup. So, I mean, obviously the, you know, the last couple of weeks down the stretch, but he was the only player in the NFL last year. I gave this stat out on Football night in America, but he was the only player in the NFL last year to have at least 70 yards every single game of the season last year. Right. And so, I don't know, 10 different games with 18 or more fantasy points tied for most among running backs. I just, again, I have Jamar Chase at number one. If I'd gone running back at number one, I'm taking Bajan Robinson. But having been in a lot of drafts and seen a lot of crazy picks from Lawrence, this one, I don't hate at all. I got no issue with this. And to your point, Jay, I'll just say this very quickly. I get that question a lot. I've got pick four, but I really love Puka. Or is this too early for this guy? Right, you, hey Matthew, you've got Gibbs at 4. Is it too early for me to take Gibbs at 1 overall? And the answer is it's like no. Like he's never coming back around to you. So if you want Jameer Gibbs this, this year, that's where you got to take him. And like I don't know how Lawrence would if Lawrence wins or loses this leg, but he's not going to lose this league because Jameer Gibbs is his first running back. You know what I mean? Like, so take your guys like I'm a big believer in this.

[Matthew Rogers]

We got a comment from Juan Vertis. I don't like taking running back with my first pick because they are more likely to get injured than other positions and it can sink your season.

[Connor Hubbard]

Sure, but it's a violent game like that. That's true with any player. I mean like, like that would be the argument for not taking Derek Henry last year or James Connor or something. Like they all stayed healthy relatively. Like other than McCaffrey, most of the big name running backs stayed pretty healthy last year.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, I think on average running back, just the attrition rate is the average starting running back will miss a meaning like two games per season, which is material. But also it's not like they on average miss, you know, more than a month. So wide receivers generally more stable in terms of projecting production in terms of health. But it's like the gap is that significant. And when you're talking as well about guys like Jameer Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, like these are young guys who have less injury risk than say a sake one or a Christian McCaffrey.

[Connor Hubbard]

The other thing I will say is like if you're going to take a running back to your point, Juan, about like you, if you are going to take a running back early, like those running backs that are involved in the passing game that aren't going up the middle off tackle 18 times a game. So you know guys like Gibbs or Bajan or McCaffrey that can get in space where a lot of their touches are going to be targets. And we always talk about this, targets more valuable than carries.

[Matthew Rogers]

Let's look at round one one more time because back to that point. And yes, running backs are more likely to get hurt. But guys, Nikol Collins had a hamstring last year from multiple games. Puka Niku has been banged up in his young career already. Malik Nabors right now has been missing a ton of time in camp. It's some kind of foot or toe injury. He's been banged up. He was banged up as a Rookie as well. McCaffrey, obviously, that's a running back, but we know his injury history. And then Justin Jefferson has missed time in camp. So I just think players get hurt in the NFL if you think a guy's a great talent and warrants the pick. I wouldn't get too tied up in not taking a running back, but super.

[Connor Hubbard]

Fan erik Lindbergh taking McCaffrey at seven, I think that's a steal. I'm surprised he lasts that long. I get the injury concerns of McCaffrey, but again, it's true with any player in the NFL. If McCaffrey's right, if I could guarantee you today that Christian McCaffrey plays every game this season, he's the number one overall pick.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, I would take McCaffrey three.

[Connor Hubbard]

That's where I have him.

[Jay Croucher]

Bijan and Jamal Chase, I just think.

[Matthew Rogers]

You guys are not afraid of the injury risk at his. Not necessarily age, but the career touches. I am. I really want nothing to do with McCaffrey at that cost. Just because he could sink your season very easily.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, the thing with McCaffrey is that the injuries that he dealt with last year, it's like Achilles tendonitis. And then he did his pcl, which is kind of a isolated incident. It's not so much that he has a degenerative condition like Todd Gurley had. And I think that McCaffrey, with the way that he takes care of his body, with the way that he trains, by all accounts, he looks incredible in training camp, so he's back to normal. So I just think. I think that for the most part, running back injuries, when you don't have a degenerative condition, it's more just about randomness. Like, is your foot going to get stuck under alignment or whatever. And so I don't think McCaffrey's injury risk is materially higher than, like, sacred.

[Connor Hubbard]

And this is going to sound insane, but one of the reasons why he didn't come back, you know, remember last year he was supposed to. And so again, talking to a team source, the same, though, and said, oh, by the way, don't be surprised if Jordan Maiden gets traced. And then he did. Yeah, it was, you know, my. Some of the things from my combine asked him about McCaffrey and he said, One of the issues last year was actually McCaffrey tried too hard to come back. He actually did too much. Like, he was so desperate to come back and pushed it too hard that it actually sort of set him back a little bit. And so you sort of love that, you know, wish it hadn't happened. But you do love that attitude. And so obviously he's gotten on the right schedule, he's gotten the right people around him, and they are fully confident. Like, the 49ers have Super bowl aspirations, and if you have super bowl aspirations and you're worried at all about McCaffrey's health, you don't trade Jordan Mason, who's been so much better than any other backups that they've had.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah. And also, I know there's some, like, speculation, oh, maybe they'll manage McCaffrey a little bit off of the injuries. And he's like, when does that ever happen? When does superstar running backs get managed? Like, they just run them into the ground until they break or they don't break. Like, what Kyle Shanahan, games on the line. Oh, McCaffrey, sorry, you're due to sit out for this series. Like, no, he's going to play him. He's just going to get a lot of touches, particularly early in the season where it's like, there's not with Brandon Aiyuk being out with not much depth at running back in terms of guys that you feel super confident about. Like, I think he's just going to get the work.

[Connor Hubbard]

But by the way, Stephen, throw the first round up on the screen here real quickly. I just want to show you something, like, to your point about, like, there's always risk. I can pick apart every single one of these picks just very quickly. Like we talked about Gibbs with Montgomery. We love Jamar Chase, but you know what? Number one wide receiver, shout out to Mike Clay, who pointed this out like, number one wide receivers have had trouble repeating. Right. Jefferson's got a rookie quarterback. We don't know what that looks like. Bijan. Bijan Robinson again. You know, suddenly Tyler Algier is going to wind up with 1,000 yards. Right. And you know, we don't know what this offense looks like a full season with Penix, Ceedee Lamb, like, again, Stack right Saquon with all the touches. McCaffrey, you mentioned neighbors, Monroe, St. Brown. Does Jameson Williams take more touches away from him? Ashton Jensen, he's a rookie. We haven't seen him. Nico Collins has had issue, injury issues. And then you get to Puka, Nakua and I want to talk about.

[Matthew Rogers]

Let's talk about that situation.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah. At 11 here because with Puka, not only has he been injured but now you're dealing with Stafford. And if I told you that oh by the way, Jimmy Garoppolo is going to play six games this year, I'm making up a number. If I told you right now that Stafford's missing six games this year, how confident are you in Puka Nkua who has to deal with his own injury history? He's missed games every year of his NFL career. And oh by the way, you know Devonte Adams who is basically throughout his career earned a 30% target share. Like that's it's something like 29.7 or something insane. Like Devonte Adams career target share is massive and we always talk about how you earn targets. Like if Devonte Adams is on the field, he's going to get open, he's going to earn targets. So how confident do you feel about Puka at 11?

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah. Particularly if it's Jimmy Jay at quarterback. Devonte doesn't get targets or Jimmy Jay is going to kill him in the locker room based on.

[Matthew Rogers]

Or he gets hospital balls.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, indeed.

[Matthew Rogers]

Practice already.

[Jay Croucher]

I think going back to like the wide receiver.

[Connor Hubbard]

I think you can nitpick anyone. Like I feel safer about CD Lamb, maybe a couple others. But there's. Right, there's always questions about what Dallas is going to look like this year. Does Pickens take stuff away from Lamb?

[Jay Croucher]

You know, I think with the running back, like I think that Pugin the Cur is a bigger injury risk than Bijan Robinson or Jimmy Gibbs. Just with the fact that he has been banged up in the NFL. And also he plays like a running back. Like he plays the most violent wide receiver style in the league. I do think that in terms of his immunity to Stafford being hurt, like he does get a lot of design touches, a lot of screen, a lot of short stuff. But still it's a concern with Stafford. It's a huge drop off to Jimmy G if that's the case. And also even so, I thought Stafford showed signs of decline last year as well even without the injury stuff this year. So some red flags around Puka. Certainly he's got a huge upside but there is. He's lower floor than other guys in.

[Connor Hubbard]

This range by the way. Amazing Connor, to hear Jay Croucher just completely throw Puka under the bus. After the picture. Again, Jay Croucher's. The four of us did an interview with Puka.

[Matthew Rogers]

Great interview.

[Connor Hubbard]

But the way it laid out is Puka was next to Jay on the table. And so his Twitter profile picture for, like, I don't know, six months was just. Was just Jay and Puka cut us out. Like, apparently Connor and I didn't even exist there as well.

[Jay Croucher]

You still don't.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah, I'm sure we don't. But the other thing about Puka here, anyway, we love Puka. Obviously, he's gonna have a monster year. Friend of the podcast. But to your point about risk, if you think about, okay, Kyron Williams just got paid and we know that when they get in close, they like to run. You know, Kyron Williams gets like all these touchdowns and there may not be a better red zone wide receiver over the last five years than Devonte Adams. Right. And if there is, it's a very short list. So now I think there's a very easy argument to be made that, like, when they're inside the 20, Puka is at best the third option to score on that team this year. Now you're dealing with the injuries, so I've got notes. I'll just show you. I got notes in my little sheet here about Puka Nakua. Let me read you the two notes that I have here for Puka. 21.8 points per game and 37% target share in his completed games last season. 17 or more fantasy points in 88% of his healthy games. Like, even the pro Puka notes have to have these health qualifiers to them. I just, you know, anyway, we love Puka. I'm more.

[Matthew Rogers]

There it is.

[Connor Hubbard]

There it is. Yeah.

[Matthew Rogers]

You really wouldn't think Matthew and I exist, right?

[Connor Hubbard]

And you wouldn't think that Jay Croucher, just mere months after this picture would be sitting on national TV trashing him. Not slandering. I just don't want my boy getting hurt. I don't want my boy to have.

[Jay Croucher]

A quarterback, which I'm not sure he.

[Connor Hubbard]

Does if it's beautiful.

[Jay Croucher]

Jimmy Gay.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah.

[Matthew Rogers]

You can't trust him.

[Connor Hubbard]

He's soulless.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah. Backup producer Pete's words were godless.

[Connor Hubbard]

Godless. He is godless and soulless.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yes.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yes.

[Jay Croucher]

Unbelievable.

[Connor Hubbard]

He's everything else.

[Jay Croucher]

Vicious terms.

[Connor Hubbard]

He is godless. He is soulless. And thanks to Joe Flacco, he is moneyless.

[Matthew Rogers]

Sure, that's right.

[Jay Croucher]

I don't have much.

[Matthew Rogers]

What do you have?

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, the kids. Three kids.

[Connor Hubbard]

The kids and used WNBA jerseys.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yes. Secondhand WNBA jersey.

[Jay Croucher]

Piles of New York Liberty Brianna Stewart.

[Matthew Rogers]

Here's round two, by the way. So if you're wondering the options, if you did not want to take Puka nakua there at 11. Brian Thomas Jr. Kicks off round two to Kyle Dvorczyk. Then you have Derek Henry, Brock Bowers, Bucky Irving, Drake London. I think the combo is would you take both BTJ and Drake London if you wanted a receiver over Puka at this point? Because we know the volume. Both of those guys are guaranteed for sure.

[Connor Hubbard]

You know, listen, the, the anti Brian Thomas Jr. Argument and they're all again, you're nitpicking at this high level. The argument against him is merely like a lot of the production last year came with Matt Jones and we don't know the impact Travis Hunter is going to have on this. But like I think he, but certainly there is absolutely an argument to be made for Nico Collins over Puka, for, for BTJ over him and you know, even Drake London again like they're all right there. They're all alpha wide receiver ones.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, Mike. And so Brian Thomas Jrs, he's the only guy in this mix where like I'm not 100% sure he's the wide receiver one on his own team. Like that's the concern just with the variance around Travis. Look, BTJ's going to be fine. You know, throw a lot, they'll get volume. But just do worry that there are worlds where Travis hunter gets, you know, 12 receiving yard.

[Matthew Rogers]

Absolutely.

[Jay Croucher]

And he's playing 80% of the snaps which Liam Cohen said that he would. So that would be the concern there. Your man Ian Harditz on Twitter a while ago he tweeted about just Jonathan Taylor and the fact that like if anyone is in line to have the season that sake one did last year where it's like oh yeah, of course he had this incredible season where he floated 2000 yards. Like if you look at Jonathan Taylor's past 17 games when he's been healthy, it's like almost 1800 rushing yards, 15 total touchdowns. He was a monster down the end of last season. I wonder if we just get to the end of say it's like oh yeah, of course Jonathan Taylor was a top.

[Connor Hubbard]

Well here's a couple of things. First off, Ian Hartitz is an amazing follow on social media at I heart it. At I heart it. Unbelievable follow and obviously we love him at fantasy life. He does a great job for us. To me it's both sides of that coin though, right? That Jonathan there's absolutely like amazing talent, breakaway speed, run heavy offense, play indoors, not a tough division. There's no scenario if we, we've seen it before, right? I mean like if we a year from now, if we're sitting here like, wow, Jonathan Taylor, number one, running out of fantasy, that's not crazy. That's certainly within the range of outcomes. The concern here is the same concern that we had with Saquon last year, which is that he's not really been involved in the passing game. They don't, they don't throw to the running back all that much and that he does have competition at the goal line from his quarterback, whether it's Richardson or Daniel Jones. That's, they're obviously they're not Jalen Hurts, but both those guys, I think last year were top five in terms of design quarterback runs, you know, inside the five yard line. They're both goal line threats. So then the answer is that was the issue with Saquon last year that we talked about. And oh, by the way, we were right. He did get vultured to the goal line by Jalen Hurts. They didn't throw to him that much. It ended up not mattering because he kept breaking off these 60 yard runs that make your weekend, that make your week on one play. And Jonathan Taylor has that kind of upside. He can. But that's what you're banking on and that's why it's a narrow, you know, it's a narrow thread that you got to hit there.

[Matthew Rogers]

I'll add to that. Don't forget too, Tyler Warren can actually eat into Jonathan Taylor's touchdown equity. Yes, he caught eight last year and that's a different conversation. He also ran for four. So is there a world where, hey, we're actually going to try the tush push at the 1 yard line with Tyler Warren, even if you're like, okay, now Anthony Richardson's out, Daniel Jones is in, who's a viable runner, but he's not Richardson's body type to move the, oh, now it's Tyler Warren time. So I get it, the argument Jonathan Taylor, and it's totally valid, but there is also a side to it. Is this offense effective enough that he's great? And then two, is there some sneaky touchdown equity problems there? To be number one, not a top five running back, but to be number.

[Connor Hubbard]

One or two, I think he's going to have a monster year and it's certainly within the range of outcomes. But it could also be, we could look up and he's just like he's running back 12. Right.

[Jay Croucher]

You know, he's also like, he has dealt with injuries the past three years and it's not like there's a single one, but it's like all these little things like, you know, ankle broke his stomach. Like just a lot of random stuff which you don't love. I do think that like a big kind of push pull with these running back elite running backs who have running quarterbacks is that, yeah, they get touchdowns stolen from them. But like who are the two best running backs in football last year? Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. The quarterbacks both run. That's fair. I think it is so valuable to, to have a guy who can run to drag a man out of the box. The issue with the Colts is, is that like Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson, they can throw down the field.

[Connor Hubbard]

Sure. Anyone on the call that that's exactly right. There's a, there's a threat that we have to pay play back. And so I mean we've done studies over the years in terms of fantasy and generally speaking, running backs that have mobile quarterbacks, quarterbacks that run tend to do better. Right. Because they do the RPOs and you got to keep a linebacker spy and you can just, you can open up more, more running lanes. And to your point, whether it's Lamar or Hertz, you have to respect Zay Flowers or AJ Brown or that passing attack. So you're going to see empty boxes a lot of the time. They are going to have to. Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones is going to have to be enough of a threat down the field that there's some empty boxes for Jonathan Taylor. But. Or lighter boxes, I should say. But yeah, I mean, like, listen, I do think it's good value where he got him. Speaking of end of round two.

[Matthew Rogers]

Speaking of round two, running backs Chase Brown, Matthew recently moved ahead of both Jonathan Taylor and Josh Jacobs in your rankings.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yes, sir.

[Matthew Rogers]

Eric Samolski takes him here at pick 20 right after we saw Bucky Irving and Devon A. Chan go in front of him.

[Connor Hubbard]

Love, love the value of Chase Brown. I think there's an argument to be made that at the end of the first round you can take Chase Brown, right. He saw 95% once he became the starter in week nine. 95% of the touches, 95% as well. And produced at a massive level. Produced at a top four fantasy running back level. And so no competition for touches, no competition in the goal line. They're not running Joe Burrow, you know, they're not running the tush push with Joe Burrow. So when they get in close, it is going to be Chase Brown. He's a good pass catcher as well. It's an explosive offense. It's an offense that's going to be in scoring position quite a bit. And so massive volume talent on a good offense. Like I feel better about him than Jonathan Taylor, I feel better about him than Josh Jacobs in terms of just pace of play and explosiveness. Yep.

[Jay Croucher]

The one thing with Chase Brown, I don't have any aversion to Chase Brown going where he's going. The one thing is that the three offenses last year that had the highest pass rate over expectation in the red zone. So when you're getting close, are you over indexing on running or throwing? The teams that threw the most, the teams that had Patrick Mahomes, the team that had Joe Burrow and Aaron Rodgers who kept on checking into pass plays at the goal line, which that was hilarious. But they throw the ball a lot when they get in the red zone. Because you got Jamar Chase and T. Higgins at the same time, wouldn't you? Right, exactly. So that is the one pushback against Chase Brown. He's probably not going to get the ton of red zone work that you would hope that you know, a top 10 running back would get. But again, very high floor, no real playing time threat whatsoever on the back end.

[Matthew Rogers]

Around to Denny Carter takes lad McConkey wide receiver 12 for you, Matthew. Does Kenan Allen landing there do anything to lad McConkey's value?

[Connor Hubbard]

I was going to ask you the same question. My take is that he does not. I agree that again they love McConkey. He's taken that over to me. Kenan Allen re signing there is more about like we have Quinton Johnston who has struggled so far in the NFL. We've got Trey Harris who is unproven. We've got KLS fifth round pick that we think we found something but also unproven like Mike Williams retired. Mike Williams retired. Josh Palmer is now in Buffalo and we have Justin Herbert. And so by the way, even McConkey, as much as we like McConkey second year player. So hey, here's a guy that knows the organization, that knows the city, that's a veteran player, that can be a veteran leader in that room and help move the chains, obviously has a connection with Justin Herbert. There's no like hey, nice to meet you. Like you know, they played together for years and years and years and so I think it's more about the rest of the depth on the team than it is about lad McConkey.

[Matthew Rogers]

It feels like comfort food for them where it's like we know we have in lad McConkey, we're excited about him but after that, they're kind of high variance. Right. Like QJ is a very high variance player. Trey Harris, I love Trey Harris in college. He was hurt a lot of last year. He'll make a spectacular play for Jackson Dart and then he's a guy also that doesn't always separate all the time. So it just feels like Jay, this was more of a let's increase the floor of this room, especially after a veteran retired on us.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, I think the concern for the Chargers pass game overall is just that like they want to run the ball a ton and everything they did in the offseason spoke to that. Take a Marin Hampton in the first round. You sign a name running back in Naji Harrison. Free agency, obviously Rashan Slater going down hurts their ability to run the ball, but that's what they want to do. That's what Greg Rome and Jim harbor want to do. I just don't think it matters because Lad Monkey is going to get all the passing game work. I just think it means that, yeah, there's probably only going to be one Chargers receiver that tops 800 receiving yards, but it's going to be lad McConkey.

[Connor Hubbard]

Real quickly on McConkey. I'm just curious because coming out of college we all liked him out of Georgia, but this was a guy that was not a full time player. And I think the thought was like, well, he's going to be a nice role player in the NFL, but like we never saw it at Georgia. Are you surprised at how much McConkey I remember you liked I'm on my Dynasty team because you talked me into him. And so thank you for that, by the way, because I do these Dynasty leagues, right? We do it before the NFL draft, which is insane. My Dynasty League, we do it before the draft. And so I haven't had a chance to study all these guys. So when I go to that specific Dynasty League draft, I'm literally just like, yo, Connor. And so. And we've done well the last two years.

[Matthew Rogers]

I was going to say a couple good guys.

[Connor Hubbard]

Tyrone Tracy is yours. Aladdin McConkey. So we've had some good hits. But my question to you is on McConkey, are you surprised at how much he's become a superstar? Because I thought, I think the thinking out of college was this is going to be a nice slot player, a nice role player.

[Matthew Rogers]

It's a little fast for anyone, right? I mean, this is somebody that was an excellent separator inside and outside of college. You don't see a lot of guys that size that also consistently went outside. Obviously you prefer him to be in the slot, but also it was Georgia. Georgia's a powerhouse on defense. They can always run the football. They also had Brock Bowers there at the same time. He didn't need to be Superman in that offense. He just kind of was more of a timely plays kind of player. So it feels like somebody where it's actually his best football is ahead of him at the NFL, which is not very common.

[Connor Hubbard]

So my last question is he's a great talent. He's a great. So you don't think last year was a fluke?

[Matthew Rogers]

Not at all.

[Connor Hubbard]

That he was the only guy in town so that it was just, you know. But he's a legitimate.

[Matthew Rogers]

When you're a high end athlete, you're a top line separator and you always catch the ball. You will succeed at the NFL level. Like it's.

[Connor Hubbard]

Especially when you have a quarterback like.

[Matthew Rogers]

Justin Herman and you're in the right offense where the quarterback can get the ball to you. So he's obviously got a big boost going from Georgia's pass game to an NFL passing game. And we're seeing him kind of reap those rewards. Let's move over to round three, guys, which was kicked off with Lawrence back on the board here. He took Tyree Kill at the end of round two and then kept the wide receiver trend going by taking Garrett Wilson at the top of round three right there and then Matthew. I think that the bigger trend here though, with this round as a whole, it's just the elite quarterbacks all come off the board in a really, really tight window. Eric Samolski takes Josh Allen in the middle of this round. Lamar Jackson and Jaden Daniels go back to back. Superfan Erik Lindbergh took Lamar Jackson. Cooter Doodle took Jaden Daniels. So all three the elite quarterbacks come.

[Connor Hubbard]

Up the board here. When do you.

[Matthew Rogers]

When do you take one and do you want one this year?

[Connor Hubbard]

I do. I mean, I, I want one of those guys. And I will say, I wonder if, you know, no one's a bigger Jaden Daniels fan than me, but like, I do wonder weirdly if Jalen Hurts is actually a value this year because I don't know that there's a massive difference between Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jaden Daniels and Jalen Hurts from a fantasy perspective, right? Everything that has lined up for Hurts is still there. The tush push is still legal. They still have a very good offensive line. They still got AJ Brown, Devontae Smith, Dallas Goddard, Saquon out of the backfield. And so I have seen this scenario play out quite a bit which in the third round those three quarterbacks go and then Hertz goes in the next round. And it's always just like, I don't think there's a round of difference. I have Hertz fourth. I mean, I have ranked my quarterbacks the way they got drafted here, which is Allen Jackson, Jaden and Hertz. But like, I don't think there's a round of difference between those four guys. And so the fact that you can get Jalen hurts around later is I think really interesting. I literally was, I'm in a draft, a slow draft right now where I just, it's. And it's, I took hurts in the second round. But it's a Super Flex. It's a 12 team Super Flex. And the fact that that's actually surprising.

[Matthew Rogers]

That he's not a first round pick in that super flex.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah, it's a weird, it's a, it's a weird league where you play a lot. But anyway, it doesn't matter. The fact is that I've consistently seen Hertz go basically around later than those top three guys and I'm not convinced that's correct.

[Matthew Rogers]

We got a comment here from Michael who says reaching for me is before seventh to eighth round quarterback pick in round three is bonkers to me, but I'm on the fence this year. I figured about round three is where I'll have to reach if I want a top five guy.

[Connor Hubbard]

Isn't his picture Lamar Jackson?

[Matthew Rogers]

Michael's going through a roller coaster of emotions. He thinks it's insane to take quarterback in round three.

[Connor Hubbard]

But he wants a top, top five guy, right? You gotta choose. And literally his avatar is Lamar Jackson.

[Matthew Rogers]

You're not getting him.

[Connor Hubbard]

Clearly an LJ fan and that's like, what are we doing here?

[Matthew Rogers]

Let's talk you through this, Michael.

[Jay Croucher]

All right, so I think. So the thing with Jalen hurts and as it pertains to this, in terms of where you do want to top three guys, I do think there is a big drop off between the top four and then, you know, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, those type of guys. So I do think that we're probably in the world now where you really do want to get one of those guys in round three because of that drop off and with Hertz and why I agree, I do think that he's in that tier and there's not much differentiation is that they cannot run the ball any more than they did last Year with Sequoia, like, he's just not going to get 480 touches again. It's just not going to happen. And I think we forget what Jalen Hurts is that 2022, he had enough passing volume to be the MVP favorite with like a month left in the season. 2023, halfway through the season, he was the MVP favorite again for the wheels came off Philadelphia. And then last year, they have this new offense. By the way, the offensive coordinator is gone, so it's a new. At least a new coordinator now. So I just don't think that they're going to run the ball as much. I think that this is going to be more of a passing offense than it was last year, is going to be more AJ Brown, more Devontae Smith. He's still got those elite weapons. So, yeah, I think we see a statistical bounce back for Hertz in the.

[Connor Hubbard]

Passing in my overall top 200 ranks, which you can see on rotoworld.com for free. I'm a company man. Josh Allen is 27, Lamar Jackson's 28, Jaden Daniels 29. Jalen Hurts is 34. I mean, so, like, I have them all right there. I have only five spots. So the fact that. And we'll get to the. Jalen Hurts ends up going to Ian Harditz in the next round, in the fourth round, 38th versus, you know, it's just. It's pretty interesting. I will say shout out to Rotopat, picking my ride or die Omarion Hampton, who goes as the number 12 running back. So starting to creep up there. Let's go.

[Matthew Rogers]

I fear Rotopact cooked in this draft.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah, he really did.

[Matthew Rogers]

We'll pick our favorite drafts at the.

[Connor Hubbard]

End of this and real quickly. It's interesting seeing Roto because Rotopat had a great draft. There's no question about it. And so we have a decision in the League of Assholes this year. We have a decision in the League of Assholes. So our dear friend Big Show. Big show, no longer with our show. Big show is. Is working elsewhere in the building. And so we have to replace Big show in the League of Assholes. Not in our hearts, of course. We love Big show, but. But we are, you know, it is a show league. He's not on the show this year.

[Matthew Rogers]

Is he finding that out now?

[Connor Hubbard]

I don't know. I. I don't know. It's not my job to, you know, handle this.

[Matthew Rogers]

You're not. The commissioner, to be fair, screwed it up.

[Jay Croucher]

Hey, Big Show's still in the league, but we're talking about bringing in Medium Show.

[Connor Hubbard]

Big show is not in the league.

[Jay Croucher]

Big Show's in the league, isn't he?

[Connor Hubbard]

Big show was in the league last year, but he's not on the show this year.

[Jay Croucher]

Steven was telling me he's in the league.

[Matthew Rogers]

I don't know if he's in the league anymore.

[Connor Hubbard]

No, he's not in the league.

[Matthew Rogers]

Usually, typically, you have to be actively working on this capacity of the show to this league. Because that's the whole banter.

[Connor Hubbard]

It's all how much we talk about.

[Jay Croucher]

I'll let you get to your point.

[Connor Hubbard]

My point is that we have an opening in the league. And so we have a new researcher, Medium show that we've called them Zach, but Medium Show. And so does Medium show get in or Rotopat? There's been a lot of clamor for Rotopat, who's obviously, you know, our friend and colleague here at Rotoworld and appears on the show occasionally. Not as much as Denny, but then he is in the league.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yes. Tell us how we solved this. I'd like some suggestions.

[Connor Hubbard]

Can we get some votes? Can we. Would you guys. Do you guys want Rotopat? Who. You guys know who might be a ringer, by the way, because he crushed this mock draft and he wins our Guillotine League. He won our show Guillotine League each of the last two years. I may not want Rotopad in this competition. Defending champion. Why do I want more smoke? No, no. I would rather just crush you guys. I would rather just.

[Matthew Rogers]

No respect for Medium show at all.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah.

[Matthew Rogers]

To be fair, he's a total wild card.

[Connor Hubbard]

He is a wild card. He tells. He told me, though. He's a big fantasy player. He's super excited.

[Matthew Rogers]

I think he's working on a bunch.

[Connor Hubbard]

Of different stuff at NBC, but this is his favorite thing because he gets to talk.

[Jay Croucher]

Medium show has a little kind of. It could be a fantasy Rain man type operation. Comes in here and just crushes Matthew Barris.

[Matthew Rogers]

Here's round four, by the way.

[Connor Hubbard]

Listen, Big show had never played fantasy before last year and made the semis, right? Yeah. So those shows makes you think the.

[Jay Croucher]

Whole league was a fluke.

[Connor Hubbard]

It does make it all the league, yes. He's a researcher who spent six weeks listening to us talk about fantasy players. You know, he's a hardcore sports and NFL fan. He just had never played fantasy before. But like, after listening to us, just shows you how good the show is because he spent six weeks listening to us talk about it and then he Came in and beat you two assholes. I just. The truth of the matter is, is like, I don't think it's. Maybe it's not about luck. Maybe you two need to up your game. You ever think about that?

[Jay Croucher]

Let's get back to the draft.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah, that was round five.

[Connor Hubbard]

Godless, soulless, title less.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah, maybe friendless now that Puka Nakua is no longer your friend.

[Connor Hubbard]

Moneyless. Yeah. Childless. He's going to New York City tonight. He's seeing the kids at home.

[Matthew Rogers]

That's right.

[Connor Hubbard]

Big New York City. Poor Sophia once again stuck at home with the kids by herself. Oh, God.

[Jay Croucher]

Getting ravaged today. Ravaged.

[Matthew Rogers]

All right, back to round four.

[Connor Hubbard]

Where? Round four.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah, it's amazing. That's all the only round we're at right now. Round four. What you notice here is Rasheed Rice and Xavier Worthy. Go back to. Back to. Back where? I mean, the question is now, Matthew, does anything change with the. The latest news around Rice?

[Connor Hubbard]

I. I think it does. I think it does. Because you. You sort of think about this. Right? All right. So the hearing set for September. September 30th. September 30th.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah, there it is.

[Connor Hubbard]

September 30th, which is after week four. Right. But we're not certain how long after the hearing we get a ruling. Does he appeal it? So we've talked about this. Let's say it takes two weeks. Cause we've seen this. It's not necessarily that there's immediately. Because whatever the result of the court case is. Right, sorry. Whatever the ruling hearing is and whether there's some negotiation and we don't know. But let's say it doesn't start until week six. Right. And there's a week 10 buy. Right. So now you're going to be without him for seven games. What if it doesn't start until week eight? What if, you know, like there's appeal and like, what if you miss him for the playoffs? You know, the first week of the fantasy playoffs. So I just. If you sort of look at some of the other wide receivers that are here, like, I think I'd rather have George Kittle. I love Kittle. DJ Moore. I think DJ Moore. I think we're all sleeping on DJ Moore if we think Caleb Williams is going to improve in a big way. And I do like DJ Moore has been quarterback proof his entire career. And now, you know, upgrade.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah, play caller. I should say better play caller.

[Connor Hubbard]

More time for Caleb wounds. With that improved offensive line, I think he'll be better in year two. So, yeah, I think I'd rather, you know, I'd rather Kenneth Walker. I'd rather Alvin Kamara here with some of these other, some of the guys here.

[Matthew Rogers]

I like this comment from Jackson Kendrick. Round four is what's going to decide who wins and who loses. Boom or bust territory. If you look at the names here, that's spot on analysis. There's so much hype besides George Kittle, which maybe injuries would include this. It's really high variance players from start.

[Connor Hubbard]

To finish for sure. Jameson Williams could explode this year again. Jared Goff. When I asked Jared Goff give me a sleeper, he was just like, Jameson is killing it. Just killing it.

[Jay Croucher]

I mean, friend Jared Goff, my friend.

[Connor Hubbard]

Jared Goff, my buddy jg.

[Matthew Rogers]

What do they call him?

[Connor Hubbard]

Jg.

[Matthew Rogers]

Jg.

[Connor Hubbard]

Jg. I call him jg.

[Matthew Rogers]

Oh, no one else does.

[Connor Hubbard]

No.

[Matthew Rogers]

Only his friends.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yes. Might only be me and I'm not convinced we're friends, but he was nice to me when I. I'm convinced you not might be right. Might be right. But yeah, there's definitely some high variance players here. Ken Walker. Ken Walker could be a monster, but Ken Walker could also mishap the season like he does. Most likely like he does. James Cook. We've talked about this. Is he closer to the 16 rushing touchdown guy that he was last year or closer to the, you know, the two touchdowns that he had the year before that? Like, does he get more involved in the passing game? He just got paid. That's helpful. So there's a lot of. And Xavier Worthy in some ways, like we like Xavier Worthy, but in some ways, depending on how long the Rice suspension is and when it misses, impacts Worthy's fantasy value for sure.

[Jay Croucher]

Also, I know there's some skepticism around taking Joe Burrow as the fifth guy because he, you know, he doesn't run and he's been hurt before. I have no skepticism about Joe Burrow. He's giving him the exact same deal as last year. Defense is still bad. They didn't upgrade at all. It's going to be a bad defense. He's going to have on average T. Higgins healthier as well. He missed time last year. I think Joe Burrow is just going to be 4,500 passing yards, 45 passing touchdowns and just the same deal as last year.

[Connor Hubbard]

Proud fantasy life investor Joe Burrow.

[Matthew Rogers]

Let's close this out by looking at round five here where Lawrence is back on the board. To kick things off, he goes with Isaiah Pacheco and then you do early.

[Jay Croucher]

For Pacheco a little bit.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yeah, but I mean We.

[Connor Hubbard]

I just feel like Connor, looking at some of the other running backs here. Connor Hubbard feels safer to me. Treveon, Henderson, even RJ Harvey. As much as I love Cooter, that's a little early for RJ Harvey. Coot. I gotta be honest with you.

[Jay Croucher]

Wow.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah. For me dejected Fauldo just, you know, I just. I think Dobbins is gonna get to touch the ball more than people think is my take on that.

[Matthew Rogers]

You got the posse, the veteran. Yeah. And Bonix runs a little bit in the red zone.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think Harvey's great but like you know, he's like a young Jakory Crosky. Merit.

[Matthew Rogers]

That's right. Some people have said Bill is better than him.

[Connor Hubbard]

Bill is better than him. I just. I don't know. Sean Payton uses multiple running backs. He always does. And I just wouldn't discount. Right to your point. He's got a quarterback that's a little bit of a threat at the, at the goal line. They've got J.K. dobbins who might be, you know, sort of the, the power back and they like Jalil McLaughlin in the, in the passing game. Like does R.J. harvey get what you need from Harvey? That's right. That's my point. And your boy Audrey estimate is there still kicking around.

[Matthew Rogers]

Yes, yes.

[Connor Hubbard]

So hey, don't forget Harvey. I'm sure will be great. I just. That strikes me like looking at the rest of this like I'd rather Jaylen Waddle. I'd love Zay Flowers. Yeah. I mean Travan Henderson just. There's people that I like I prefer to R.J. harvey.

[Matthew Rogers]

It's amazing. This happens to James Conner every year by the way. Every year. I mean there's always guys that goes.

[Connor Hubbard]

His Running Back 19 and we talked about this yesterday on the 100 Fact Show. I mean like he's. When he's been in Arizona he's never been less than running back 15 on points per game basis.

[Matthew Rogers]

Jay, who had your favorite draft?

[Jay Croucher]

The scientist from Oppenheimer guy. Eric Lindbergh thought he had a great draft start and I like it because it's really high upside. You know Christian McCaffrey at seven who I think should go three. Devon Achan who again another guy with top three running back in fantasy potential. Also really like the picks of Teteroa McMillan at 55. Tony Pollard at 66. Think T Mac is going to be. You know he's a wide receiver one for a common quarterback and Tony Pollard I think he's going to Get a ton of work in that Titans offense behind an improved offensive line.

[Matthew Rogers]

It was Rotopat for me who's making a charge to enter the league of assholes. Amon Ross, St. Brown, Bucky Irving, Amarrion Hampton. I really like that star. It's just a lot to like there from a volume perspective. And you got Travis Hunter later on. The value of the Travis Hunter selection, unbelievable. I mean Evan Ingram and Rashid Shahid dart throw. I like Josh Palmer as one of my favorite late round dart throws.

[Connor Hubbard]

Brenton Strange is one of my favorite kind of late round tight ends.

[Jay Croucher]

Really good draft.

[Matthew Rogers]

Really, really good draft.

[Connor Hubbard]

Rotopat did a really, really nice job. Travion Henderson is. Yeah, he really did a. This is a really well done draft. Well done. Roto. Rotopat is too good. He's not gonna be in the league of assholes. Sorry Rotopat, we love you. But you know I like Cooterdoodle's draft here. I actually probably would have picked Rotopat but you picked him. So just to give another team like before me stop with the make some stuff up league. Neighbors like obviously love the start here with Malik Neighbors and Drake London going back to back with wide receivers really, really strong. I think both, you know, easily number one wide receivers. Easily could be top five. Obviously I have faith in five. Jaden Daniels Kittle very easily could be the number one tight end in fantasy. We've talked about that quite a bit. A little early for me on Harvey but again because she blew off running back until the fifth round she has to be a little. I like Montgomery and Jordan Mason. I think Jordan Mason takes over that backfield. So your boy Najee Harris there at 113 but like just some late round picks I think. You know Torrey Horton is really interesting. I like Drake May some nice, you know, trade bait there as well. Shakir is a good value in round eight. So yeah, give me some. Give me Cootadoul's team.

[Matthew Rogers]

We're gonna take our first break. When we're back, plenty of Rotor World player news. Quint Shot Judkins notably right after this.

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[Connor Hubbard]

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[Matthew Rogers]

Draft order season. The Blue Jays, unbelievable way to do this. They essentially dropped parachute off the top of the Rogers Center.

[Connor Hubbard]

This is great.

[Matthew Rogers]

Closest, I guess, to the bucket, essentially gets the pick. So they have like the action figure parachutes. That's pretty damn close.

[Connor Hubbard]

Pretty damn good. Yeah.

[Matthew Rogers]

This is it. I mean, if you have the means to do this, the resources to do this, I highly recommend this option. I don't know, but awesome job by the boys.

[Connor Hubbard]

I mean, you don't need a baseball seat and go to the top of a building or something like that or just somewhere high up, you know, whatever. Go like go, go, you know. By the way, here's Drake May. These guys, this is on TikTok. Drake May came by and they were holding a sign with all the, all the names of their fantasy league. And so they asked him to pick his draft order. Just write down, you know, 1 through 10 or whatever it is randomly. And so he did it. He just, he sat there and just, you know, picked their draft order. So that's, that's good for Drake May. Good for those guys. Really clever. We had Drake May make our draft order training camp. You see it right there. Apparently Antonio has picked seven. So well done there.

[Matthew Rogers]

We need help deciding our draft order. Join the conversation live and tell us what we should do. Tune in daily to the NFL on NBC YouTube channel, of course, at noon eastern for our livestream of fantasy football happy hour. And you can still catch us on peacock at 5 Eastern. And because of that, Drake May drinks for free.

[Connor Hubbard]

Is that.

[Matthew Rogers]

Talk about just getting it. First off, great job by those guys. Way better than asking for an autograph.

[Connor Hubbard]

Oh, yeah.

[Matthew Rogers]

That's a much more memorable experience that's gone viral. That'll live with you. Like, oh, Drake May decided our draft order.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah. Now here's the question. If you're in that league, how early did it take Drake May? So we love Drake May. Drake May drinks for free. Friend of fantasy. But how early did it take Drake May if you're in that league?

[Matthew Rogers]

No biases at all, right? Where ADP is. Yeah. He doesn't get a bump because no.

[Connor Hubbard]

One on one take him 101.

[Matthew Rogers]

He does not get a bump like that. Follow the spreadsheets.

[Connor Hubbard]

There you go.

[Matthew Rogers]

All right, let's get into the Roto world. Player news, guys. In a pretty big, you know, bit of news yesterday. This is from Mike Garofolo on Twitter, of course, the full memo from the Florida State Attorney's office declining charges on Brown's running back, Quinshon Judkins. That is via Clayton Holloway. And then Garrett Folo tweeted over this, the NFL will continue its own investigation. League spokesman's statement. We've been following developments in the matter which remains under review. And for more on this, our very own Mike Florio broke down the latest around Quinshawn Judkins. It doesn't mean he didn't do it. All it means is the prosecutors decided we're not going to risk taking an L on this one. We're not going to charge him. And so that's going to pave the way for the Browns to sign him. But Michael Hawley, the league will still investigate. If it behaves now as it has in other cases, it will investigate. If the alleged victim cooperates, they could still suspend him. Ezekiel Elliott, all those years ago got suspended six games even though he was never arrested. He was never even sued. He still got suspended six games because the alleged victim cooperated extensively with the league in its investigation. So, I mean, long story short, we're not in the clear here.

[Connor Hubbard]

We're not in the clear. But I will. But the Ezekiel Elliott example is the only one I can think of. Right. There have been other times where, where if charges have been decided not to been. If, if law enforcement doesn't decide to bring charges that often, the league will not. They'll investigate it. But, you know, anyway, whatever. I'm not a lawyer, but you have to figure that for whatever reasons the charges weren't brought, that may hinder the NFL's investigation as well. Either way, we're not out of the woods yet specific to that. I'm sure the NFL will be thorough in their investigation of Judkins. But it does mean that Judkins is now in camp. And so we're a fantasy football show. We're gonna break down this situation that we're not trying to make any kind.

[Matthew Rogers]

Of, not make a light of seriousness.

[Connor Hubbard]

The accusations are incredibly serious and we are not in any way trying to be dismissive of them or not sensitive to them. But we're a fantasy football show, so we gotta talk about fantasy football. And so my question to you, Connor Quincean. Judkins missed all the, all the early stuff. He hasn't been in camp. It's not like he hasn't been able to practice while like he hasn't even been in the facility. He hasn't met the trainer. Right. You know, like he hasn't seen all kind of the early install stuff. He hasn't done kind of the basic stuff that you do when you get to training camp. How far behind is Judkins do you think of Dylan Sampson? And of course you got the veteran Jerome Ford there.

[Matthew Rogers]

For some guys this would be a big deal in this scenario. It might not be and maybe week one, week two, yes, but they took him in the top 40. This is someone that when he was a freshman and got to Ole Miss, was the guy and was one of the most impressive freshmen we have seen in a long time at that position in college football. Obviously finished his career winning a national title at Ohio State where he also had a massive role on a national title team after he transferred right away. So there's really no history of Quinshon Judkins ever being somewhere and just not being that dude right away. So if the Browns like they don't, there's no getting him up to speed. He's a pretty pro ready prospect. It's just a matter of do they want to be slow, ramping him up in terms of conditioning and things like that. But if you're asking me if he's a starting running back by October, I say absolutely yes. And somebody that. It's going to sound weird to say, but he is now a value in drafts depending how much this offense struggles. But he's that talented. Kevin Stefanski is a good run game play caller.

[Connor Hubbard]

He is. And it's a part of his offense. He loves play action. That's a big part of what he does. Jay, I don't know if you're aware of this, but Kevin Szafanski, two time coach of the year.

[Jay Croucher]

He won it twice.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah, he won it twice. A lot of people aren't aware of that, but he actually did.

[Jay Croucher]

I'll tell Kevin next time I see him.

[Connor Hubbard]

Yeah, you should. You should mention that as well. But what I will tell you and thank him for, because his coaching was what allowed Joe Flacco to be comeback player of the year. I currently have Judkins at running back 35, 104 overall.

[Matthew Rogers]

Sounds about right.

[Connor Hubbard]

And I have Sampson at running back 41, 33 overall. So in essence, I have Sampson about two rounds behind Judkins. Jerome Ford, running back 52, 163 overall. If they thought Jerome Ford's going to be a change of pace guy, but this offense is going to be Judkins and Sampson. I agree with you. I actually think Judkins might be a value here. My suspicion is, again, like, we don't know how much the witness is going to cooperate and everything like that, but it feels like if a suspension is coming, it might not be until next year because these investigations take a long time and then they rule and they meet with the agent, the player. A lot going on and I'm on record as saying I don't think they're going to be great. But the Browns offense is not going to be horrific. It's going to be a competent offense that produces fantasy value. You know, whether it's Judy, whether it's Njoku, whether it's the running backs. You and I love Cedric Tillman. It's not going to be great, but it's not going to be a disaster.

[Jay Croucher]

Yeah, healthier offensive line and you've got four, maybe five dart throws at quarterback to see if any of them can.

[Connor Hubbard]

Well, but that's the point, right? It's like we're all laughing because they don't have a direction franchise wise. But like, whoever they're not going to. If somebody can't throw, if one of those guys is like terrible, the next guy, like there's going to be at least one guy that can run offensive. Sure, there's going to be at least one guy that can run an offense like Joe Flacco. Kenny Pickett started a number of games in the NFL. It's going to be a competent offense and I believe that means there's fantasy value to be had on the Browns.

[Matthew Rogers]

We're going to take our last break when we're back. Last call courtesy of DraftKings. We're looking at the most regular season passing touchdowns. Board right after this.

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[Connor Hubbard]

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[Connor Hubbard]

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[Jay Croucher]

Yo yo yo yo yo.

[Matthew Rogers]

It's time for last call. Here's the odds board for most regular season passing touchdowns. Jay Any sleeper here? Or Sometimes it's just smart to go with the chalk.

[Jay Croucher]

Sometimes it is smart to go with the chalk. If I was going to take a long shot, it'd probably be Jordan Love at 21. But I'm going to take Joe Burrow as the chalk pick. Plus550 had 43 touchdowns last year, led the league and also he got unlucky with his red zone throwing last year, so he could have had even two to three more touchdowns if that normalizes. So I'll take Joe Burrow plus 550.

[Matthew Rogers]

I'll take Patrick Mahomes 12 1, because he's done it twice before. Now, if the odds were not as good as this, and obviously you stay away, but 12 to 1 for a guy that's already done this twice, I think that passing offense is due for a really big rebound this year.

[Connor Hubbard]

How about Lamar Jackson at 10 to 1, right? He led the NFL in touchdown rate twice, right? 20, 19, 2024. Had 41 passing touchdowns last year. Only Burrow had more. And maybe if Mark Andrews catches a few more, maybe he gets over there again. They're going to pass more because you've already put Derek Henry in the grave. Wow. Zach came in just to talk about this whole followers name situation. It's not even up to date. We're the slot merchants. Come on now. That's right. Oh boy, that's strong.

[Jay Croucher]

That might be the best one. Yeah, that's actually good.

[Connor Hubbard]

Well, think about that one.

[Matthew Rogers]

Thank you Zach.

[Jay Croucher]

You saved the week. Time.

[Connor Hubbard]

You don't have to go home, but you can stay here for Jay and Connor. I'm Matthew. We're back on Monday. Have a great weekend. We love you. Peace out.

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