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Rankings Disputes! Matthew Stafford, Quinshon Judkins, Mike Evans and More (05/04 Fantasy Football Podcast)
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C
This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports.
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A
What a play.
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D
Can you believe this?
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A
No, I can't.
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B
It's time to dominate your fantasy league.
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A
Off to the races and he stays at his feet. Chris is gonna go the distance.
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C
Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and.
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A
Oh, what's up? Welcome to the show. It is Monday, May 4th. It's Star wars day. This is fantasy football. Today we are talking about some rankings disputes. Eight rankings disputes. Heath versus Dave Darth Vader. Dave Vader versus Heath Skywalker. Yes. Okay. I tried.
- [02:23]
D
You had to think about that.
- [02:25]
A
I did. I was gonna say Heath solo. That probably would have been better, but I guess it wouldn't have made as much sense in the Star Wars. Star World. Wars world. Oh, God, I'm dying over here.
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B
I'm Just glad you didn't call me Daba the Hut.
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D
Thank you.
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A
Jamie, what's your favorite Star wars movie?
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D
My favorite Star wars movie, Rogue One.
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B
That's the correct answer.
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A
Heath, what's your correct answer?
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C
I am the wrong person to ask.
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A
What's your Star wars, you know, catalog status?
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C
I watched the first three when I was a kid.
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A
Wow.
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C
I tried to introduce, I thought, you know, when they started coming out and I had kids, I was like, well, if I can get them to watch the ones that I enjoyed as a kid, then maybe we'll watch the, the new ones. And they made about eight minutes and had no interest. And I didn't really have any interest.
- [03:23]
A
Okay. My favorite one is the first, the original, A New Hope. Because I've only seen those original three as well. But I saw them about 10 years ago, which is. I like them. When I was a kid, I hate. I thought they were so boring, but they were good.
- [03:36]
C
I think my favorite one as a kid was the Empire Strikes Back.
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A
Yeah, most people, but you know me, I never going to do it. Most people like. I think they're solid movies. I think they, they, you know, people will probably like them. They'll be popular. Anyway. We do have some news and notes about George Kittle, about Patrick Mahomes, these injured guys who are making some progress. The rankings disputes are about Matthew Stafford, Brock Purdy, Kyron Williams. Actually three Rams in our eight rankings disputes. Quince on Judkins, Travis etn. I'm still calling him ETN for now. Devonte Adams, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. And by the way, guys, I am so tired of talking about rookies. I am really excited for today's show. So let's get to it. Dave. George Kittle has a chance to play week one according to Kyle Shanahan. If Kittle played week one, where would he be in your tight end rankings?
- [04:22]
B
He would probably be somewhere between 4th and 6th. He would still be a tight end to target. You'd have good expectations for him. I would hope that being ready to play in week one would also mean him having a couple weeks of work in training camp. As long as that's the case, then we should expect a good version of KD, but not the best version of KD.
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A
Jamie, Patrick Mahomes is on track to participate in OTAs. Not necessarily as a full participant. OTAs are later this month for the Chiefs, some somewhere around the 25th of May and their GM, Brett Veach. I think it was on the Pat McAfee Show. He said that they you know, they're very excited to have Ken Walker. They're going to try to play defense and establish the run early in the season. And then he kind of said maybe kind of get Mahomes going a little bit and then loosen up the, the reins, I guess. What'd you make of all that with Mahomes and his, his progress?
- [05:20]
D
I mean, I think it's encouraging. Obviously, you know, he, he wanted to, the minute he had the injury, you know, have the surgery right away to try and make sure that he's on the field for week one. I'm still a little bit nervous to get overexcited about him as a fantasy quarterback. From what we've seen from him for the latter part of the last three years or a better part of last year, excuse me. You know, last year was more encouraging. And I think, as we've, you know, said time and time again, a lot of it had to do with some of his rushing production, which is hard to expect coming off an Achilles injury with the backfield, you know, getting two, I think, significant additions, not just Ken Walker, but also Emmett Johnson, you know, so they have an opportunity to, to be better at running the ball. And I think my home is going to be good. I just don't want to expect greatness as a fantasy quarterback. So he will be outside my top 12 for the season.
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A
All right. And Red Veach also talked about Eric B. Enemy being back as the offensive coordinator, and he said that Eric B. Enemy is one of the best running back coaches in the NFL and he has coached eight running backs who have had 100 or more carries in a season. Six of them averaged at least 4.3 yards per carry, which is good, not great. And Darrell Williams and Brian Robinson Jr. Were the exceptions there.
- [06:31]
B
Damien?
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A
No, Daryl. Damien actually did average 4, 4.3 or more yards per carry. Daryl did not.
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D
Okay.
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A
Nate Atkins of the Athletic expects Kyron Williams and Blake Corum to be in more of a 5050 split. It's pretty. It wasn't that far from that last year. You know, once Corum got involved, Williams would be the primary third down back. Nate Atkins also said he thinks the Rams want Terence Ferguson to take the lead in the tight end group. They have a lot of tight ends. They use them all Heath. John Shipley of Sports Illustrated says his early gut feeling is that Chris Rodriguez will lead the Jaguars in carries but will be pretty close with Basil Tutin and La Quint Allen will be the top passing downs back again. But man, do we have the, the wrong Jaguars Running back ranked the highest.
- [07:19]
C
Heath, I possibly, I don't really think that we do, but I think I had them separated by like 40 carries for the year. I think Tutin will catch more passes than Chris Rodriguez. What it probably comes down to is Tooton was used in a short yardage role a little bit last year. And who gets those carries inside the 5 and 10 yard line? Who scores the touchdowns? Right now I'd bet on it being Tooton. I think the idea, though, that he's going to share with both Rodriguez and with Allen makes it difficult to rank or draft Basil Tootin as a top 24 running back. He should be drafted as a flexibility.
- [07:54]
A
Okay. Cleveland head coach Todd Monkin would not name a starting quarterback yet. He said he'd love to know it before training camp. Remember, we had the report last week that Deshaun Watson was in the lead there. The Ravens are signing Calais Campbell. He is almost 40.
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D
I believe he is 40.
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A
Easy for, oh, the only college, the only professional athlete I've ever hung out with, Calais Campbell. The Colts declined Anthony Richards. That's not true. I'm a little bit cooler, I guess, than I thought. The Colts declined Anthony Richardson's fifth year option. The Steelers declined Broderick Jones, their offensive tackles, fifth year option, their left tackle. And this. So Broderick Jones, their left tackle who has a neck injury, he's out indefinitely. They drafted a an offensive tackle in the first round. They are declining his fifth year option. So I hope that's not a sign of his progress. But it could be that, that Broderick Jones isn't close to returning yet. Hoping for the best there. Mary Kay Cabot is reporting that the Browns are hoping for a rebound from Jerry Judy. All right. David Najoku is visiting the Chargers. Miami rookie offensive lineman Kaden Proctor is going to play left guard. They drafted him, I believe, 13th overall. 12th or 13th. And the Ravens, they drafted Jacoby Lane, a tall receiver, in round three. They want to use him in the red zone. And rookie wide receiver Elijah Surratt will reportedly play in the slot. Those are your news and notes for today.
- [09:20]
B
Surat in the slot?
- [09:22]
A
Yes. Contest winners. Congratulations to our NFL draft contest winner. I don't know your name, but I know your email address, so I'll just call you Date one nc. You win. That's not his email address, by the way, so don't you know it's close. But don't go emailing him. He had six correct picks. They were all spelled correctly, formatted properly, and he got the bonus Question, which was. Which was kind of screwed up by Schaefer, to be quite honest. He wrote what was Adam's minor in college, but what he really meant was what was Adam's double major? His second major in college. And guys, what's the answer?
- [10:03]
D
Theater.
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A
Theater, that's right. So congratulations.
- [10:06]
B
I thought it was driving chicks around South Beach.
- [10:09]
C
I thought it was setting Dynasty draft orders.
- [10:12]
B
No, no, no. He wouldn't have graduated if it was setting Dynasty draft orders.
- [10:15]
A
Yeah, no, it was economics that was too hard because I'm not smart enough for that. So I dropped it and changed it to theater. That's the full story. Heath, what's coming up on fft Dynasty?
- [10:26]
C
We had a one man mailbag. We've got a startup mock draft. It's going to be. We'll talk a little bit about the rookies still. And we're not, we're not tired of talking about them like Adam is. But we, we will have one man mailbag tomorrow.
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A
Do you think, do you like doing one man shows?
- [10:46]
C
There's benefits to both.
- [10:48]
A
Yeah.
- [10:49]
C
Why?
- [10:49]
A
It's fun. It's a fun challenge. Yeah, I really bring it. You gotta really be prepared.
- [10:54]
C
I really like getting to answer, you know, 30, 40, 50 questions on a single show. That, that part's really good.
- [11:02]
A
Oh, that's cool.
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C
But I also like talking to people from around the industry about the dynasty landscape.
- [11:08]
A
Not me though. Never on that show. All right, rankings disputes, here we go. Matthew Stafford is 9th for Dave and 15th for Heath. Whereas Brock Purdy is 15th for Dave and 9th for Heath. Jamie is just going to sort of be the judge today, but we'll start with Stafford. Dave, you have him ninth. Heath, you have him 15th. And Dave, he was QB1 overall and per game last year and six point per passing touchdown leagues. That was the only the second time he's finished higher than could be 17 per game in his five seasons with the Rams. But you're buying. I mean look, you don't have him ranked first but ninth. So you're excited I guess for Stafford.
- [11:44]
B
Well, if I'm taking a quarterback later this year, I want one with huge upside. And I can probably find a quarterback with that 20 to 22 point range that Purdy's been averaging for the better part of his entire career. Even further than than Stafford. But Stafford has the upside.
- [12:01]
A
Take a look.
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B
26 fantasy points per game and six point. He had 11 games with 21 plus, 10 with 24 plus. He had 28 plus in two of his three games in the postseason. I think this Rams offense isn't changing one bit. It's going to be very Stafford centric. The offensive line is in great shape. We know what Puka can do. We know what devonte Adams is still capable of doing. The tight ends are going to further help Stafford giving him other options and the run game is what it is. I think it's going to be all about Stafford and when I'm looking at quarterbacks late in drafts, yeah, give me the upside, give me Stafford.
- [12:37]
C
I I think the biggest thing with that connects all three of the Rams ranking disputes is that I project significant regression from devonte Adams goal line wide receiver. It's just that they did something really kind of crazy last year. I think he may have had as many touchdowns inside the five as Kyron Williams did. Like they just loved throwing the ball inside the 5 to Devonte Adams. It wasn't something we'd really seen a lot in the past. Adams is another year older and wasn't great outside of that role. And then it is also just a reflection of like when we were back in January. It's like look what Matthew Stafford did. Why can't he just keep doing that nine months? And generally when I go through my projections process and I get to the fact that he had a 7.7% touchdown rate last year, which was three points higher than his career norm and he's 37 years old and the past three years had been 3.3%, 4.6%, 3.9% the math says is probably going to be a lot fewer touchdowns for Matthew Stafford in 2026.
- [13:47]
B
This was his first year with Devonte Adams and so it makes sense that Adams, who was unguardable on those fade throws inside the red zone and inside the 10 would help boost that touchdown rate for Stafford. I don't think it's going to 7.7 again, but I don't think it's going down under 4% either. I think 5, 6% is is where he'll live. That's going to lead to good numbers. Still, I still think he's going to throw the hell out of the football. He's, he's got that type of upside that we love targeting with late round quarterback picks.
- [14:20]
C
Just for reference, if he had a 5% touchdown rate which is above average and I think probably about I probably have my projected higher than that but I don't think people know like what that matter means. The difference between that last year it was 7.7, that was 46 touchdown passes on 597 attempts, 597 attempts at 5% is 30 touchdowns. That's an enormous. I got six points per game. Fantasy football.
- [14:47]
A
Yeah, that's.
- [14:49]
B
Yeah, I don't think it's gonna be 5%.
- [14:51]
A
I think it'll be higher point per game. Okay, so, so that would have dropped him. So you're saying he would have lost six points per game.
- [14:58]
C
He would have lost six points per game.
- [15:01]
B
20 point per game range. He would be 20 points per game. Exactly.
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A
That's a lot. All right, Jamie, how are you feeling about Stafford? 9th for Dave, 15th for Heath.
- [15:09]
D
Yeah, he's 12 for me. So this is pretty. I, I agree with, I think both guys, you know, I think what Dave said about late round pick, you know, in the drafts that we've done, he's, he's the perfect sort of weight on quarterback or quarterback to wait on just based on what he's still capable of doing. But I also agree with Heath that there's going to be a regression and I think, you know, just when you, when you sort of think about the group of quarterbacks that he's in, at least for me. So I would rather take the chance on what the upside could be this year of Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams. I like those guys better. He's closer to Purdy and Mahomes and you know, even Kyler Murray for me, just in terms of like late round guys that could hit and hit at a, at a high level. But I do fear the age, I do fear the regression. I do fear the, you know, step back obviously of Devonte Adams as well. And so, you know, this was, this was such a, interesting draft. I know you don't want to talk about rookies, Adam, but you know, they were such strong rumors of Makai Lemon to the Rams at 13 and I think if that had happened and then you're looking at this receiving core like, okay, they have this now, you know, infusion of youth to, you know, mix and match with their 13 personnel and you know, you know, Puka and, and Adams and, and Lemon working together and, and they didn't really do much to I think enhance their offense. Not that that's a bad thing, you know, getting another tight end, whatever, but, you know, not that that's a bad thing, but I do think that we'll see some more rushing production. So that's the one thing I'd probably disagree with Dave. Like, I think the running game is going to be a little bit better as a whole just, just from, I think even, just from a touchdown standpoint as Heath alluded to. So I think Stafford is, you know, just one of those borderline number one quarterbacks. So I guess if I had a side with somebody, I'd probably side with Heath because that where I have him ranked.
- [16:51]
A
Okay. Stafford has been on the Rams for five seasons and he's had two seasons that were a lot like this. In 2021 he actually threw for more yards. 4,886 yards and 41 touchdowns. But he had 17 interceptions. In 2025 it was 4,707 yards. So some about 180 more yards. In 2021, five fewer touchdowns but nine more interceptions. He averaged 24 fantasy points per game that year, which only made him QB 8 per game in 6 point passing touchdown leagues. But if he had done that in 2025, it would have been QB3 per game. So basically out of five seasons with the Rams, he's had two amazing seasons but he kind of has to have an amazing. Gives you nothing with his legs. So it needs to be amazing to really be a big fantasy difference maker. Reminds me a lot of the golf conversation. Yeah, someone said something about golf actually in the chat. Yeah, like golf last year went nuts or two years ago, like the second half of the year. And he had a really good year again in 2025, but he was only QB 9 or 10 per game. All right, that's, that's Matthew Stafford. We'll get to Brock Purdy, but we'll do that after we take this break because Purdy is 15th for Dave and ninth for Heath. And in the last three season as San Francisco starter, he's been QB6, QB11 and QB4 per game. So maybe he should be even higher than ninth or we'll be right back on fantasy football today. Furniture shopping can be overwhelming. There are so many options and it's hard to know what's actually worth it. That's why I always turn to reviews to guide my decisions. If something has hundreds of five star reviews, I'm paying attention. And Bob's Discount Furniture has tons of highly rated pieces that make choosing a whole lot easier. Like their Elm dining set, which has over 700 five star reviews. It's a gorgeous setup with a real marble table and comfortable Boba pedic seating that instantly upgrades your dining space. And at 999, it's a super approachable way to get that high end look. Or check out Bob's Copper Radiance Queen Extra firm mattress. Over 4005 star reviews and recommended by Consumer Reports. It's designed with a copper infused cover and high density Bobapedic foam for support. Plus it comes with a 20 year warranty. And if you're looking for a sofa Upgrade, the Modular Bob Sectional is a customer favorite with over 1,500 five star reviews. It's got soft, durable upholstery storage, wireless charging and starts at just 250 per piece so you can customize it without overthinking it. For quality furniture and everyday low prices, shop at Bob's. It's where America shops for furniture.
- [19:46]
B
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D
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- [20:19]
C
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A
If I'm grilling, chilling and watching hoops, my outdoor patio setup better be ready to play. That's where Wayfair wins. From patio seating and umbrellas to grills and grilling accessories, Wayfair's got it all and it shows up fast. I'm talking championship level fast and easy delivery. So level up your grill game and your outdoor chill game and head to Wayfair.com now to get your outdoor space ready for the season. Heath, you can start on Brock Purdy. You have him ninth, Dave has him 15th.
- [20:51]
C
Yeah, and I think like the difference between Brock Purdy and Matthew Stafford and my projections is the rushing. Brock Purdy, generally speaking, is going to run the ball about four times per game. Matthew Stafford's going to run the ball for less than four yards per game and you you get somewhere around three to four rushing touchdowns per game. I thought that Dave was a little bit unfair to Purdy when talking about upside, just because he did average 23.9 points per game in half of a season last year when he was healthy and three of those nine games were against the Seahawks or the Browns. Like he when you he's gonna play the Seahawks twice again, but hopefully it's 2 out of 17 games so it's not quite as big of a negative on his value. He also, if you'll remember, the wide receiver room was an absolute disaster last year. Not just not because Juwan Jennings and Ricky Pierce all are bad because it was rare that he had healthy wide receivers on the field. There's positive reports coming out about George Kittle. He's still got Christian McCaffrey. He's been one of the most efficient passers in the NFL since he entered the league. Andy gives you a little bit with his legs.
- [21:59]
B
Before last year, he was averaging. Well, I have it 20.5, 22.4, 21.9. The 21.9 year was from week 13 on. It's safe. It's not spectacular. It's what the floor is for Matthew Stafford. And he did have a monster year. Think about what last year was like for the 49ers. Their defense completely bottomed out. Purdy was forced to throw a lot and run a lot, especially in the second half of the year where you kind of shorted him. Heath, his last seven games, 25 fantasy points per game, which was really awesome. The run game was inefficient. There were a ton of games where Christian McCaffrey was averaging under three yards per carry. I. I feel like the Niners are going to work at trying to improve on those things, and they already have with the defense. So I, I worry a little bit about just how much Purdy is going to have to throw. I don't have it in front of me. Just how many attempts per game he had last year compared to years prior. Maybe it's the same and he was
- [22:51]
A
just hyper a little more. 31.6 the year before. So their defense actually wasn't that bad. It was 13th overall. Now, I don't know what it was in the games Purdy played. Maybe it got worse as the year went on.
- [23:04]
B
It definitely was worse as the year went on.
- [23:06]
A
31.6 pass attempts per game. The year before that, 30.33 we had.
- [23:11]
B
Okay, so it was really flat, but they had not that different.
- [23:13]
A
No, that's actually like 1.3 pass times per game is kind of a big difference. Their defense was really bad two years ago when he averaged 30.3. And I just. There is a little bit of a trend that the Niners are becoming more pass heavy. And I don't know if it's because of defense or not, but the last two years have been different for Kyle
- [23:32]
C
Shanahan because their running backs only been good when catching the ball. Like they. They didn't have a good rushing game. The other thing, just one quick rebuttal because I. I think Dave's still being unfair to Brock Purdy. He said that he read those numbers off Brock Purdy. I think it was 21.9, 22.4, 20.7, whatever, and said that's the floor for Matthew Stafford. Matthew Stafford, the three years before last year did not crack 20 points per game and he was below 17 fantasy points per game in two of those three seasons. It's in no way is Brock Purdy's last three seasons before last year the floor for Matthew Stafford.
- [24:06]
A
The floor.
- [24:08]
B
I, I thought we established that if Stafford's touchdown rate regresses significantly that he would be around, he would lose six points per game from where he was at last year.
- [24:18]
C
If he's as awesome at everything else as he was last year, it was also a big uptick in passing efficiency, passing yards, like everything was a lot better.
- [24:26]
B
You can make the case that they're both going to regress then if, if we're going to just talk about regression back and forth. Listen, I think Purdy's fine. He's a great quarterback to target late as well. I just don't think he has the same type of upside as Matthew Stafford.
- [24:39]
A
Okay, Jamie, go ahead.
- [24:41]
D
I think he has just as much upside as Stafford, so I would disagree with that. But I, I do think he's. He is a great quarterback to wait for. He is currently 15th in my rankings as well. But I think there's, you know, 15 quarterbacks and you can mix up the last seven or eight in whatever order you want and come out with, you know, Purdy over Dak or Purdy over Stafford or however you want to, you know, sort of look at it. I'm a little bit, you know, he said something there about the wide receiver room being a mess last year. And yeah, this is the part that I get a little stuck on because you have Mike Evans at 33 years old who missed a lot of time last year. You have George Kittle coming off an Achilles injury, Ricky Pierce all had a hard time staying healthy. Like, we could get to a point in the season where his receiving core is Christian Kirk Stribling, Jake tongas, and hopefully McCaffrey. Like, it could be bad. It really could. And you know, Trent Williams missing time last year. I know they gave him the contract extension. I hope he's going to be healthy. He's arguably in the. Been the best left tackle of his generation. Like, if that offensive line starts to struggle again, like, this could really go bad for Purdy. And that's my concern is like, I have a lot of faith in Kyle Shanahan. Obviously, everybody should. I have a lot of faith in Brock 30, because it's been very solid since he took over as the starting quarterback for the 49ers. Like the floor has been, I think as Heath illustrated, very solid. Like if you're getting 20 fantasy points where you're drafting Brock Purdy, you should be okay with that. But I'm just a little bit worried that we could be looking at a very bad receiving core for San Francisco at some point. There's a lot of ifs if this guy stays does this, if this guy, you know. And that's just kind of where I come out with, with, with Purdy. Mostly it's just last year may end up looking better than this year at some points during the season.
- [26:17]
A
So where do you have him, Jamie?
- [26:19]
D
Right now he's 15. But again, like that's the. That kind of group for me is I have Dak at 9 after Dak and I don't remember the worst time. I'm sorry, but it's Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams, Stafford, Mahomes and Purdy. Like that's the next group for me. And in any order on any given day, I'd be fine with it. Yep.
- [26:40]
B
I think you, I think the case can be made to have Purdy. Like I've got pretty one spot behind Kyler Murray. I don't know if I can keep that. I've got him two spots behind Patrick Mahomes. As great as what you said at the beginning of the show about Mahomes, Adam, I don't know if I can keep it that way either. He's absolutely in the thick of this late round QB mix. It's why it's the best strategy this year in drafting. Don't take a quarterback early. Don't be one of those people that takes one with your first two picks. Wait and feel like you're stealing the position. You're going to hear that from me a hundred times between now and September.
- [27:10]
A
7% touchdown rate or higher in three of four seasons for Brock Purdy. I don't know how to really come to grips with that, Heath, other than to say the one year where he didn't have we had a 4.4% touchdown rate. He was still a top 12 quarterback per game, which is good.
- [27:27]
C
No, he has like when we talk about Matthew Stafford having to regress because the efficiency was so good. His efficiency was like as good as what Brock. Because it's not just touchdown percentage. Last year his yards per attempt were 7.6, which is awesome for a quarterback. And it was a full yard lower than his career average.
- [27:48]
A
This is Purdy we're talking about.
- [27:50]
C
Yes, yeah, it's just. It's Shanahan.
- [27:52]
B
Yeah.
- [27:52]
C
Like, Jimmy G's efficiency looked like a. A good NFL starting quarterback when he was there.
- [27:57]
D
Yeah.
- [27:58]
A
All right, well, let's move on to the running backs here and stay in the NFC West. To Kyron Williams. Last three years, Kyron has been RB2 per game, RB10 per game, and RB11 per game.
- [28:09]
C
No.
- [28:09]
A
1. Dave doesn't have him that high. Dave has him 15th, Heath has Kyron Williams eighth. You know what? Why don't I let Jamie start on this one? Jamie, where do you have Kyron Williams? Then we'll let Dave and Heath debate, because Dave, again is lower at 15th, and Heath is eighth on Chiron, he's 14th for me.
- [28:26]
D
You know, and again, when you start to look at that group of running backs with probably as early as, like, Hampton and Genti at 7 and 8, you know, you. I'm sorry, 8, 9. Barkley Jacobs, Jeremiah Love, Ken Walker, Derek Henry Williams is at the back end of that group. But, you know, you started the show with the news and notes about wanting to see more Blake Corum. It's. It's obviously something that I think they're comfortable with, is taking some work away from Kyron Williams. It's a matter of will he once again prove us wrong and prove the Rams wrong and continue to be a very solid fantasy option. And I think if you're betting on Kyron Williams and you're probably taking him in round three at this point, if you're betting on Kyron Williams, you're betting on that to continue. And so Quorum was very good at times last year, and still, Kyron Williams had a very excellent season. And so can these two work together? You know, going back to the Stafford argument, I think the run game as a whole will be better for the Rams to ask Matthew Stafford at 37 to have to sort of rescue them again, I don't think it's something Sean McVeigh necessarily wants to do. Not that he can't do it because he proved to be able to handle that very well. But, you know, take some pressure off your quarterback is always something head coaches try to accomplish. And so, you know, if the run game is successful, I think it's going to be because Kyron Williams has another solid season. So I'm curious here what the arguments, you know, for and against Kyron Williams are. But for me, he's just one of those. Like, that's. To me, he's the bridge, you know, so you get past. I think there's 13 guys that are top 12 worthy and then he's the first real number two running back.
- [29:52]
A
In my mind, I wish I had done this before. Basically, our website, the fantasy site, what do we say kind of launched last week for 2026.
- [30:05]
D
The ability to start your leagues. Lost. Launched last week.
- [30:08]
A
Yeah. But in that I have lost the ability to go back and run a custom report of where Kyron Williams ranked from week seven.
- [30:18]
C
I got you.
- [30:19]
B
I've got it.
- [30:20]
A
Okay. Because I, I think he'd be about 14.7 PPR points per game from weeks.
- [30:28]
B
I've got him a little higher than that, but it includes the postseason. I can run it for you on true media.
- [30:32]
A
Where? Well, if he is from week seven through 18, that's when Blake Corum really got going.
- [30:38]
B
Right.
- [30:38]
A
I got him at 14.7 points per game, which I just did with my calculator here. So I might be a little off. Which would be about RB15 for the full season, which is where Dave has him. But Heath, what do you got?
- [30:49]
C
Well, no, I had him at 14.7 per game. So you're right. And it was tied for RB11 over that stretch. Okay, so. But maybe over the full season it was RB15. I, I think like the, the big thing is I just think he's going to score one or two more touchdowns and he wasn't that far from being a top eight running back. The bigger thing is I have Saquon Barclay and Derek Hen rejected for more points than Kyron Williams, but I would rather draft the younger guy.
- [31:19]
A
So you have Kyron ranked ahead of Barkley and Henry.
- [31:22]
C
Right.
- [31:24]
A
What do you make of this 5050 report? And let me just real quick, before you get into that, it was like 174 carries for, for Kyron and 116 for Corum in that 11 game stretch. So not quite 50 50, but what, you know, what do you make of that?
- [31:43]
C
That would be bad if that happens. I don't, I don't really believe it will be 50, 50 other than. Yes, maybe 5050 on drives. Except two minute drills are going to Kyron and if Blake Coram gets stuffed at the 1, Kyron's probably coming in to finish off the drive. They gave Quorum chances sometimes, but then when it didn't work out, here comes Kyron Williams and I think more passing downs are probably going to kyron. So yeah, 50, 50 for who's on the field at the start of a drive.
- [32:15]
B
I believe that Kyron was 11th among running backs from Week 7 to Week 18. That's in PPR points per game, 14.7. So there's your number when you add the postseason three games. He had a monster game against Chicago in the postseason that helped pushed up his numbers. But I, I think he's one of those running backs that you look at and you go, I'd settle for him as my RB1. I'd love for him to be my RB2. And so when Jamie said he's the bridge running back, it made all the sense in the world. I think you can make a case for a bunch of other guys that have more upside than Kyron Williams, who averaged around 15 and a half PPR points per game. You just heard that he was close to that last year when we saw Blake Corum start to get more work and he was playing about a third of the snapshot. I, I dig him right in this spot. I think that he is a third round pick. I think he's an early third round pick and absolutely a safe running back, but not somebody who's going to take a big spike unless something happens to Corum and frankly, unless something happens to Stafford where he throws less and, and I just think I see the Rams a little differently than Jamie and Heath. I think, I think the Rams are still going to lean on Stafford. I've already said that. I think the Simpson pick might even fire Stafford up and be like, oh, you're already trying to replace me? Because McVeigh was acting kind of weird about it all after the draft and Stafford still wants to prove it. He still wants to win a ring. I don't think they're going to do it on the back of Kyron Williams and Blake Corum. I think they're going to do it off of Stafford's arm.
- [33:39]
A
Okay. By the way, from week seven through 18, both running backs had eight goal line carries. Kyron scored five touchdowns. Corum scored three touchdowns on those eight goal line carries.
- [33:50]
B
That's a ton of goal line carries. Yeah.
- [33:52]
A
I mean it was a great, it was a great offense.
- [33:55]
D
Right.
- [33:56]
C
Jamie does it scored more than anybody else.
- [33:58]
A
Yeah. It doesn't how it works.
- [33:59]
B
Right.
- [34:00]
A
Seem like, seem like every year we get reports about maybe less work for Chiron or some he's gonna return punts or something like that. And, and it just ends up that he's just, he's just their guy and maybe he's, he's doubted too much.
- [34:17]
D
We had that last year, remember, until they got the contract extension. You know, it was, Corum's gonna get more work and you know what's going to happen with Kyron going into contract here, and then they rewarded him, and I think a lot of people felt a lot better about that. But yes, we had the two special two years in a row of the special teams work, and that sort of scared some people off. Then, you know, well, one was drafting Quorum and he didn't play in his rookie season, then getting more work for Quorum last year. So, yeah, it just feels like the narrative is he's not that good. And I think that kind of speaks to and. And Heath is, you know, at least had some good data on this or good reporting on this, good coverage on this. Is that when you get these day two, day three running backs, if they stay in the same system with the same coach, that tends to be when they work out. When you see these guys get new coaching staffs or, you know, they switch teams, it's when they tend to, you know, struggle. And Kyron, you know, coming out of Notre Dame was sort of viewed as this, you know, past catching running back, not necessarily a featured guy. And all he's done is had success with it since his rookie campaign. So I think until he does let you down, you continue to draft him. And. And I think we have the right range for him. You know, maybe Houston round two, but, you know, late round two, early round three, depending on where, you know, your running backs come off the board. I think you're still looking at him. As Dave said, you know, love to have him as your RB2, still a good RB1. If you go wide receiver, wide receiver or wide receiver, tight end in your first two picks, like, Kyron's just solid and. And hopefully he doesn't have a letdown season in 2026.
- [35:40]
A
All right, moving on. Next guy is quinch on Judkins. 25th for Dave and 10th for Heath. Oh, Dave's like, oh, what? Oh, wait. Actually, I don't know how to interpret that face. Dave gave a kind of a. Shook his head no and did something there. I don't know.
- [35:56]
C
He dissed me.
- [35:58]
A
Did he?
- [35:58]
B
Or.
- [35:59]
A
Or is this one where.
- [36:00]
C
I'm just joking.
- [36:01]
A
He might say he's too low on Quint Judkins. It might have been one of those faces. So, Dave, what? You're 25th on Judkins and Heath is 10th. What was that face?
- [36:08]
B
The. The face is that I can't believe Heath has Quinshon Juggins 10th. So, yeah, 12.1 PPR points per game. Last year. The touches were outrageous. 18.3 touches per game, 2.6 targets per game. That was in 14 games. Now he's coming back from a fractured fibula and dislocated ankle, but I don't think I I can discount that. Eventually it looked like he was rehabbing with the team in OTAs. Man, if he gets a training camp and he's working in full, then we can pretty much look past that and say that he's going to be back to being the RB1 in this offense and he'll eventually be the RB1. Will he be as good and will it matter? Because this offense is not that great. We know that there's some serious quarterback issues. I do like that they've completely retooled the offensive line. But last year is the the issue for me. He had a ton of work and he didn't have a ton of fantasy production and expecting that to change in a Cleveland offense that just hasn't been good. I don't think it will be good. Makes me nervous about having them anywhere close to what we were talking about with Kyron Williams, which is a running back that you'd love to have as an RB2. I'm not sure I want to have Quinn shot Judkins as my RB2. And then you think about Monkin and his track record and oh, is this going to be the next Derrick Henry? He's going to use them like Derek Henry. Well, there were eight times last year in Baltimore when a running back had 15 plus PPR points. Some of them were way past 15 PPR. That's because it's Derrick Henry. 2024. It was a lot bigger than that. 13 times. 2023, six times. And that was before Derrick Henry. A lot of Gus Edwards in that mix. And then there really isn't a great track record of Monk and turning running backs into monsters. And so asking Monkin to go and turn Quinshot Judkins into something close to Derrick Henry on a Browns offense that has huge question marks at quarterback and at wide receiver. I I can't buy into that. This is somebody that I would like to settle for as an RB2.
- [38:05]
C
Yeah, tin's a little high. I think this is one of those, like a lot of times when you go through another ranking debates during the season on Wednesday or so, we're like, oh, I'm that far out of line on where Judkins is.
- [38:17]
A
Someone's going like at the same time.
- [38:18]
D
I think so too.
- [38:19]
C
I do. I don't think like nobody's Derrick Henry and the Browns offense is not good. But I do think the Browns offense is going to be better than it was last year. I think the offensive line is going to be better than it was last year. I think Judkins is a very talented rusher. I was really, really encouraged by the fact that he was there even at OTAs and like moving around on the field. So I'm not that concerned about the injury. I think he is one of those running. We've been talking and the chat's really been going through like all of these running back committee that we have in the NFL and I think Judkins is one of those guys that if he's fully healthy for 17 games, might be in the top five or six in the NFL in total rush attempts. So I, I'm, I'm going to be more optimistic. I'm going to be the high guy on them. I'll have him outside of the top 12 running backs when I do my next update. It might be 13th though.
- [39:10]
A
Jamie, before we get to you, Dave said I think 18 touches per game in the 14 games. Well, he left three of. Well, he left two of them early. And week two he kind of barely played as it was his first game in his games where he played like a normal snapshare. 19.8 touches per game.
- [39:29]
B
Yeah. But he had 11 games with 40 or more of the snaps and that was the number 19.8.
- [39:34]
A
Yeah.
- [39:34]
D
And you want to know what his
- [39:35]
B
fantasy average was in those games?
- [39:36]
A
Yeah, well, it wasn't great. But only, but only on pace for 23 catches. That like that's gotta change, I think. But anyway, Jamie, your thoughts on Judkins again, he is 25th for Dave and 10th for Heath.
- [39:49]
D
Yeah, I think he's a good, you know, number two running back. I think you're talking about a guy that should be a featured option on his team. You know, the fact that his main competition is Dylan Sampson, those guys, you know, are polar opposites essentially. So I think Judkins has a chance to, you know, be, as he said, among the league leaders in carries. And I would guess just knowing that the Browns quarterback situation being what it is, they're going to try and be a run heavy team and let their defense do as much work as they possibly need to, you know, stay in games and maybe win some low scoring games. But it's, it's interesting for me with two guys that had very, you know, I think solid rookie campaigns coming off significant injuries was Cam Scatter Boo and Quinton Judkins. And looking at how their seasons went and looking who the competition is and looking what the changes were made in the off seasons for both. And to get so excited about Scatterboo and not as excited about Judkins, I don't. To me there's a little bit of a disconnect there. So I like Scatterboo better, but they're about four or five spots apart. So Judkins, I was trying to pull it up just to have it from. Judkins is rb. Sorry for the delay. Didn't show up. So he is, it was a drum roll. He's, he's, he's about, he's about RB19, RB20. No, I think he's a guy that you can settle, not settle for as an RB2. Sort of get to that group of, of running backs, you know, in that, you know, DeAndre Swift, Breece hall, you know that, that, that type of range of running backs where, you know you're, you can see the upside, you can see the path to success, you could see some pitfalls. Obviously. You know, I think you're right. Adam, he's got to be a little bit more involved in the passing game. But if this is a run centric offense like you expect it to be, at least I expect it to be. I think Judkins has the, the ability to be a double digit touchdown guy and hopefully get to that 1200 yard rushing range.
- [41:43]
A
I'll leave you this statistic for those of you as we go into break here, but thinking about Kyron Williams versus Quinshon Judkins, well, just just to take a couple of sample sizes. The last 11 games of the regular season for Kyron Williams, which is again when Blake Corum started getting involved, and the full 17 game pace in the games that Dave mentioned where Quinchon Judkins played more than 40% of the snap. So 11 of those games they were on pace for 28 catches only for Kyron Williams, but 23 for Judkins. But Judkins averaged three and a half more carries per game. He was on pace for 314 carries whereas Kyron was on pace for 254. So if I told you that and I said they were going to have basically the same amount of catches, but one of them is getting three and a half more carries per game. But that guy plays with the Browns. The other guy plays for the Rams. You think about it during the break, who would you take first? We'll be back to talk about Travis Etienne after this.
- [42:41]
B
It's time to refresh your yard during
- [42:43]
A
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B
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- [43:11]
C
No one goes to Hank's for spreadsheets. They go for a darn good pizza. Lately though, the shop's been quiet, so Hank decides to bring back the $1 slice. He asks Co pilot in Microsoft Excel to look at his sales and costs. Help him see if he can afford it. Copilot shows Hank where the money's going and which little extras make the dollar slice work.
- [43:32]
A
Now Hanks has a line out the door.
- [43:34]
C
Hank makes the pizza copilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more@m365copilot.com Work we're back to talk
- [43:42]
A
about Travis Etn, who is 16th for Dave and 24th for Heath. Last year he was RB14 per game. Dave, first word on Etn. You have him 16th and Heath 24th.
- [43:54]
B
I've got him ranked this high. Assuming that Alvin Camara is either on another team, retired or in a very limited role with the Saints and that New Orleans added Travis H.N. to reinvent their run game, give it some serious life and use him as a three dimensional back, meaning out of the backfield as a pass catcher won't be to the same degree that you might like because that's Kellen Moore's track record. But still, he'll get a couple of targets per game designed to him from Tyler Shock. He'll also be able to benefit from both Olave and Jordan Tyson drawing coverage and forcing the safeties to play back. I think defenses are going to be very eventually they're going to be very aware of what those two guys can do. That'll make lighter boxes for Travis Hn and he'll be able to take advantage of that. I also like the idea HN has 14.9 plus PPR points per game in two of his past three years. Those are obviously on different teams. He's going to a squad now that has a good offensive line and a good play caller in Kellen Moore. I want to buy into that. 16th might be a little rich, but I still think that he's one of those running backs that you're going to look at and say easy decision to use as a number two rb.
- [45:02]
C
Can I just say that Dave's right. If Alvin Camara is not on the team, and this is where I'm ranking him because Alvin Camara is still on the team.
- [45:10]
A
Fair. So, yeah, okay. If Camara's off the team, you're gonna move ETN. Dave has him 16th. You put him in that range.
- [45:15]
C
And, and actually this is where I had Travis ETN ranked, but when I found out it was Travis Hn, I moved him way up.
- [45:22]
A
I don't really know what to say this. I, I don't know that all of our listeners even know about that whole thing. They probably do, or most of them probably.
- [45:29]
B
Last name. Yeah.
- [45:30]
A
But ETN apparently truly pronounces his name hn. So it is weird to have two running backs in the NFL whose last name is pronounced HN and neither of them are really spelled that way. But Heath, that's the bump you'd give him close to the 16 range.
- [45:45]
C
I think he'd be right in that. Like, right now he's a low end RB2 because Camara is still there. And it's not like, it's not quite like the A.J. brown situation where we've gotten all but confirmation but that he's going to be gone if I, if I took him out of the projections because, like, what Dave said about Kellen Moore in the passing, like, Moore doesn't refuse to throw to his running backs. He just doesn't do it quite as much as we would like. And if Camara is going to play, I think that's probably the role that he's going to fill.
- [46:15]
A
Jamie, how do you feel about etn?
- [46:18]
D
I, I think it comes down to Camaro. I mean, kind of, you know, cut and dry at this point. If he's, if he's there, he's going to have a role. And he made it very clear prior to the NFL draft, prior to free agency, like, he doesn't want to go anywhere. You know, he. And, you know, I think that's where Dave's retirement, you know, comment comes into play. Like, if they decide to trade him, he may just call it quits because this is where he wants to be. And, you know, look, we, we've seen situations where it didn't seem like, you know, two running backs with good resumes can work together and, and have success in some capacity. They can make it work. But I think it's going to come at the detriment of where you're expecting to draft, you know, Travis Hn and still what Camara can offer. So this is a guy that I probably will end up avoiding if Camara's on the team in the range that I expect is ADP to be.
- [47:12]
A
You know, I'm seeing a. Something in the chat here about the Saints and listening to some of the beyond the box score stuff and I think Kellen Moore has had a really good career as an offensive coordinator and he coached Dallas and he coached the Chargers and he coached the Eagles and he had a lot of talent. But last year when he made the Saints look good, I think people are really buying into the Saints are really buying into Kellen Moore and want a piece of the offense. Alvin Camara last year was the first running back. Well, the first lead running back that did not finish at least 20th per game for Kellen Moore. His lead running backs have finished as RB 5, 16, 19, 10, 21. That was Barkley and 37 per game. So he just has a. I mean he just has a great track record as a coordinator or a head coach. And I don't know. I mean is. Are we. Are we feeling that? Are you guys feeling that? Like, let's just get The Saints. Dave.
- [48:12]
B
Five of six seasons he's had a running back get at least 14.2 PPR points per game. And.
- [48:18]
A
And let's go through because that's your
- [48:20]
B
floor for Travis each hand.
- [48:22]
C
We were almost all elite before he got there.
- [48:23]
A
Right. Like Eckler. Sorry. Elliot. 3. Zeke three times. Tony Pollard in 2022 where Zeke was still. Zeke still had 231 carries that year, but Pollard was better. Eckler, Barkley.
- [48:35]
B
And then last year was crazy.
- [48:37]
A
Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. I. Are you. Is this a better situation for him than Jacksonville? Put it out. Let me ask you that. Is, is this a better situation than last year for Travis A. Chan?
- [48:49]
C
Every question you ask about him. Exactly. Every question you ask about him the same way. Yeah.
- [48:54]
A
If Camara's out, is this a better situation for him?
- [48:56]
D
Yes.
- [48:57]
C
Yes, probably.
- [48:58]
B
Okay. And. And I still think Camaro will have a significantly reduced role.
- [49:02]
D
They're.
- [49:03]
B
You don't go and make a play in free agency for a running back and then use him 50 of the time with a 31 year old running back. Yeah. In his last year.
- [49:14]
A
I just wonder who the goal line is.
- [49:15]
D
Find out with the Saints and the Cardinals.
- [49:17]
A
This is a thing that for. For Hn Etnh. He has not been a good goal line back in his career and he has been taken out of that by Bigsby by two. Not. Not exclude. Not like completely taken out, but he's at least had to share. And I don't know if that player exists on the Saints. Yeah, could be Neil. Let's go to Devonte Adams. 21st for Dave, 29th for Heath. So I know he's just the touchdown regression. By the way, if he finishes 21st, it would be the worst year of his career since he broke out in his third year. And that's where Dave has him. Heath has him 29th. Jamie, do you know where you have Devonte Adams?
- [49:55]
D
25th.
- [49:56]
A
Okay, right in the middle. All right, Jamie, I'll give you the first word there. What are just your overall thoughts on devonte Adams?
- [50:03]
D
I mean, look, he, you know, we, we sort of touched on this with the Stafford conversation. Like he was so touchdown dependent last season and missed time due to injury. You know, they sort of made the switch mid season where he was the guy on the field when they were in three tight end sets. And then it went to Puka and it seemed like their offense picked up understandably so, because Puka at this point in his career is a better receiver. So devonte is going to have to score a lot of touchdowns again, you know, and look, they entertain the idea of, of maybe trading him. That was the conversation that came up this off season. They clearly entertained the idea of replacing him with the Makai lemon talk at 13, and they didn't. So there's still clearly faith in what devonte Adams can do and hopefully continue to produce or how will continue to produce. It's just a matter of like, will he still find the end zone 14 times? And that's hard to wrap your head around for a guy at his age. So I'm guessing just based on the staffer conversation, as Dave alluded to, he's expecting Matthew Stafford to continue to play at a high level and devonte to be a big part of that. And as he said, he's expecting Adams to regress. So it's understandable where these rankings, you know, come into play. I just think for me, as, you know, anybody that's listened to our show for, you know, years, older players scare me. And you know, again, missing time last season with the hamstring injury now coming off this year where he was so touchdown dependent, like, it's hard to expect him to turn back the clock and get the opportunities that he's, you know, used to getting, which I think could be a little bit reduced because again, the way that the Rams seemingly want to operate, which is maybe feature their tight ends a little bit more maybe. Well, not maybe continue to feature, you know, Puka to the level that he's used to getting. It's just hard to expect Devonte Adams if he doesn't score 10 plus touchdowns to be a solid, you know, high end number two, fantasy wide receiver.
- [51:45]
A
Dave, you're the high guy at 21. Jamie 25th, Heath 29th.
- [51:49]
B
Part of this is me not liking a lot of wide receivers in the middle to back end of wide receiver two land. And there's just too many guys that I look at and I go, all right, these are wide receiver threes that might get you 13 PPR points per game, and they're. They're just going to be okay. I think we've got a ton of those wide receivers available. I don't think Adams is one of them. I think he's can. I think he'll be better than 13 PPR points per game. He was old last year. He was a secondary option last year. He was banged up last year, and he still averaged almost 16 PPR points per game. And he averaged 8.1 targets per game, and he was dominant in the red zone, and he caught a lot of touchdowns. I think. I think we can pencil him in not for 14, but for 9 or 10. I think he can get there. I really do. And I still think he's still going to have games where he's going to have a lot of targets. And I'm just going back to what I said earlier in the show. I see the Rams differently than how Heath and Jamie do. They see them being a little bit more balanced offensively. I think Stafford slings it, and when he does that, that's good for all the receivers. This is still going to be the number two target getter, and it's still going to be a high number. Do I love him at 21st? No. But I have a hard time ranking some other wide receivers ahead of him. I could possibly do that with burden and more. Right now, both of those guys are behind devonte Adams. I think there's a chance that both of those guys could be really close in terms of targets per game to devonte Adams. I don't know if they'll be anywhere near as close in terms of touchdowns.
- [53:24]
D
Yeah.
- [53:25]
A
All right. And Heath, you're the low guy. Not by much. 29th on Devonte Adams. Yeah, he's.
- [53:31]
C
I mean, he's 33 years old, and he just was not very good last year, except for the fact that he scored touchdowns. And touchdowns are awesome. They're also the least sticky and least predictive thing about fantasy football. So, like 4.3 catches per game, 56 receiving yards per game. Those are wide receiver three numbers. Kind of mid wide receiver three numbers. And he's old enough to where a. A legitimate fall off the cliff scenario is in play.
- [53:59]
A
Devonte Adams had 28 end zone targets and he missed three games. The data I have on true media only goes back to 2009, but the 28 end zone targets are the most for a wide receiver since 2009. And if I had to guess, probably ever. And he missed three games. It was insane. He had. And the next guy we talk about too. This is a discouraging Stat. Adams Average 1.9 Yak per catch yards after a catch per reception. That was 77th out of 78 wide receivers with 50 or more targets. Mike Evans, the next guy we're talking about 1.2 yak per catch. Those are horrible numbers. And concerning, I would say given the age. But there was one thing because I always felt like, man, I don't understand how, how he's not catching more balls. The catch rate was really low for him. It's like 56%, 52, 52.6%. Well, this is weird considering the year that Stafford had. But Devonte Adams, again, there were 78 wide receivers with 50 or more targets. He ranked 70th in catchable target rate. Puka Nukua ranked ninth. There just were times when the connection. I just remember watching it like the connection. He's open the connection between Stafford and Adams, but in a season where he had 14 touchdowns in 14 games was a little off sometimes. So I happen to believe that unless he's just old and it's like this is the year where he just can't play football that well anymore. I really think everything's going to get better, the touchdowns get worse, but I really think he's going to have a better year in terms of catches and yards. Personally. Is anyone else feeling that?
- [55:36]
D
I don't think it gets worse, but I also think it better that the touchdowns probably come down and balances out a little bit.
- [55:42]
A
Yeah, I do think it'll balance it out, but I think, I mean he was on pace for, for 73 catches, 958 yards on 138 targets. That's horrible. I don't see him like that kind of player, but I don't know.
- [55:55]
D
Slightly better, but not much.
- [55:58]
A
All right, well, I'd love for him to play, you know, more than 14 games. Let's talk about Mike Evans here. Boy, Heath, you were low on devonte Adams.
- [56:06]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [56:07]
C
This is again, I Think this early in the off season and it's still pretty early. I think it's mostly based on what the projections say. I've. I've adjusted some guys and I'll probably get Evans up to inside the top 40. But I think it's also instructive to, to understand why the projections just absolutely hate it. And it's because he's a going to be a 33 year old wide receiver who was like missed half of last year and we can't even say the thing we said with Devonte Adams. It's not like he was bad except for the touchdown. It was just a disaster. In terms of receiving efficiency for Mike Evans last year. He's battled injuries the last couple of years. He's old, he wasn't good last year. And the, the icing on the top is he's going to a team that throws half of their passes to Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle.
- [57:02]
A
Okay.
- [57:03]
C
Like they, they consistently have a lower than average wide receiver target rate. So the projections hate him.
- [57:11]
A
So just so you know, Heath right now has Mike Evans 44th and Dave has him 24th.
- [57:18]
B
Dave, I'm too high on Mike Evans and he needs to come down. He is not the 24th best wide receiver. You know the arrested development meme where David Cross goes. But it might work for us. It didn't work before. Maybe the sore like that's the argument for Mike Evans at this point is well, he's been hurt for like parts of each of the last six years and he had a really bad year in terms of efficiency last year. But he's going to a Kyle Shannon offense and maybe this year, this is the year that he finally works out and he goes off with a bang. I, I think that that's a bad case to take him. I don't think he's going 24th off the board in any fantasy draft. As far as wide receivers go. I think the case is much better for guys. Here's who I've ranked behind them. This is not going to stay this way. DJ Moore. I'd rather have him. Terry McLaurin. Even if IU goes to Washington, I'd rather have him. JMO More upside with him.
- [58:12]
A
All right.
- [58:13]
B
I start to cringe a little bit at Marvin Harrison Jr. I think Mike Evans is a wide receiver three because I do think there will be portions of the year where things will work out. He's still a good route runner when he's on the field and I think that you look at the Niners offense and Kittle's a question mark. Pierce all is a question mark. Christian McCaffrey catches a lot of passes. I'm kind of. I'm starting to get cold feet on Christian McCaffrey and I'm thinking about moving them down considerably. I'm starting to get cold feet about this entire offense in San Francisco, so I shouldn't have warm feet or warm anything for Mike Evans. He's ranked too high for me at 24, but 40th seems a little egregious. I think he's going to be somewhere between. He's going to be in the wide receiver three range, just like 20 other wide receivers.
- [58:54]
A
Hold on. You're getting cold feet about the 49ers offense. You're getting cold feet about their fantasy pieces because there are a lot of mouths to feed.
- [59:03]
B
I, I've certainly the fantasy offense because there's a lot of mouse to feed, but there's a lot of older components to this offense. You've got Evans, who's been banged up. We've already addressed that. Kittle, everybody knows he's coming back from a bad injury. McCaffrey's coming off of a year where he's had a ton of work. He's an older player. Trent Williams is an older player. There's a lot that needs to go right for that offense to be as good as we're used to seeing it.
- [59:25]
A
Jamie, I'm going to give you a list of noteworthy wide receivers who average 13 or more PPR fantasy points per game in their age 33 season since 1990. Antonio Brown. What's that? Jerry Rice. Yes. Antonio Brown is the most recent example. Terrell Owens. Marvin Harrison. Chris Carter, Julian Edelman, Jimmy Smith, Steve Smith. Jerry Rice. It. It does happen sometimes. All right, where do you so. 24th for Dave, but we'll be moving down 44th for Heath. Where are you on Mike Evans?
- [59:58]
D
24. And I'm perfectly fine with him there. You know, I, you know, some of the names that Dave said. I already had DJ Moore ahead of him, so that's, you know, fine. I would rather have him than Jameson Williams, given the potential tight end friendly offense in. In Detroit. I think he's better than Marvin Harrison on paper. And I know Adam, you know, the last draft we did, you took him like wide receiver 20. So I, I think Evans comes into play as early as that range. But, you know, Dave said almost everything I said about, you know, purdy. Like you have these older components to the San Francisco offense. Like it could go completely south quickly when you're looking at not just their ages, but the time that they've missed, you know, in the two past two seasons, Evans last year, Kittle coming off the injury, and McCaffrey two years ago. Like, their. Their main guys are, you know, in. In a potentially different. In a scary situation, you know, just because of how this could all go, you know. So that's kind of where, like I was saying, where I'm at with Purdy. But I do think in the case of Evans, like, if he's healthy and, you know, the last two years, it's hard to say if he's healthy because he battled hamstring injuries for two years in a row, had the collarbone injury. Like, there's been some reasons to be concerned about this, but I'm probably more concerned. Even the. The report that you gave today, not including that. I'm concerned about Kittle being a significant factor this season, I'm concerned about, as Dave just alluded to, McCaffrey at 30, holding up after all the work that he had. And so Evans, you know, he could have easily just said, I'm staying in Tampa Bay and I'm going to finish out my hall of Fame career here and still have a chance to win a ring. I think the. The odds are probably in San Francisco's favor, but Tampa Bay could easily have a 2024 season and be the division leader and have a chance to, you know, make up. Make a Super bowl run or at least a good. A comparable super bowl run. Again, I take San Francisco, but comparable super bowl run to the 49ers. He decided I wanted a new challenge and a new opportunity. And so hopefully that, you know, encourages him and ignites, you know, a. A fire in him to have a big season. But it's a lot of ifs, and I think that's just, you know, hard to, you know, bank on when you're talking about that range of wide receivers and the upside versus the downside. So I think he's a borderline 2, 3. You just want to not reach for him. I thought in the. In the draft. Adam, you reached for him. I think he sort of alluded to that, too, when we were reviewing the draft.
- [62:15]
A
Was I on that show?
- [62:17]
D
Yeah, yeah. It's. When you took him ahead of Burden and Loveland.
- [62:20]
B
Oh.
- [62:21]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [62:24]
D
I mean, at the. I believe it was back in around four.
- [62:29]
A
Loveland. I understand Burden. Like Burden there With Mike Evans, we have 13 seasons of him being really good. With Luther Burden, we have. Same thing that you said that three games, right? Yeah.
- [62:39]
D
You forgot Doing you.
- [62:40]
A
I don't think it's 13 though, because he came in and I think it's 12.
- [62:45]
C
I think it's 11 because he wasn't good last year.
- [62:47]
A
Oh, true, true.
- [62:48]
B
He really. Yeah.
- [62:49]
A
But actually there's another guy where I watched a lot of his tape last year because the Bucks was just a team where on beyond the Box Score on Mondays we talked about them so much because what the hell is wrong with them? And I don't know, I really didn't think he looked bad or slow or anything like that. Just in the beginning of the year, he had some really tough matchups with Derek Stingley and Sauce Gardner and A.J. terrell and then he got hurt. At the end of the year, everyone was healthy. Godwin was healthy, Evans was healthy, McMillan was healthy, Abuka was healthy, and Baker was playing like crap. So I think he's better than what he showed. Significantly better than what he showed last year. Again, there's always the question of, well, that. Yeah, I think if he were still 32, he's better than what he was last year. Is he just going to be bad now? It's 100 possible. I don't really think I took. I think Luther Burden could score four touchdowns. It wouldn't shock me. I think Evans is the, the. He is the Devonte 3 last year in how many games?
- [63:40]
D
Eight.
- [63:41]
A
Yeah, so which to me is a fluke. He's the best. He and Devonte Adams are the best, most reliable touchdown scorers in football. They are goal line wide receivers and Purdy's gonna fall in love with him in that area.
- [63:55]
D
So he certainly could start the season right.
- [63:59]
A
Kittle's not going to be right all season. Like Kittle's coming off a torn Achilles in the playoffs. You know, I, I mean, look, what's his stupid name? Jason Tatum was great and that matters, but I don't know, I can't really bank on Kittle being himself.
- [64:13]
B
Right. You're talking about a younger player in a different sport.
- [64:16]
D
Would you say, Jamie, Jason Tatum's not also a 32 year old football player? Right?
- [64:20]
B
Exactly.
- [64:21]
A
Exactly the same. Okay. So anyway, let's go to Chris Godwin, our last one. We'll do this one in a few minutes and just give me a three to five minutes on Chris Godwin. Dave has him 34th, Heath has him 43rd. Jamie, I think they both are too low on Chris Godwin. We are discounting Chris Godwin. Why isn't he getting a big boost from Mike Evans leaving? Chris Godwin was hurt last year The Bucks stunk last year. Like, this is a big deal. We know what Chris Godwin can do. He's going to be great. He's, he should be a top 30 wide receiver.
- [64:47]
D
Jamie, I'm so much higher on him at 32. I, I, I think there's a lot of reason to be optimistic about it. But again, you look at what the Bucks were last year, I think everybody, understandably so, maybe to a fault, but is going to be excited about a Mecca Bukos much more so than Chris Godwin. And so you look at what Abuca was able to do at the start of last season. Granted, there were, you know, multiple injuries there, as you said, but I think the thing with Godwin is, is like you have this, you know, you know, potential star coming into a sophomore season in a Buca. You have what was a, a solid finish to his rookie campaign. And Jalen McMillan, who he didn't really get to see last year because of the neck injury until the end. You have the addition of Ted Hurst, you have the addition of a pass catching running back. So those easy targets that may have gone to Godwin in the past maybe go to Kenneth Gainwell now. And so there's just a lot of mouths to feed. So I think when you look at Godwin, you know, for me, he's in the mix with the rookies. You know, Tate Lemon, Tyson, all those guys, they're all ranked right around each other. Alec Pierce and what his upside could be. Christian Watson and what his upside could be like. I think Godwin is, is going to probably surprise us again if he stays healthy and plays a full season and Baker sort of bounces back as well. But I don't want to reach for Chris Godwin. No, I don't think he's a top 30 receiver just outside that for me.
- [66:02]
A
Heath, why am I wrong about Chris Goblin?
- [66:05]
C
I mean, it's kind of the same argument as Mike Evans. He's, he's 30 years old. He's played 16 games in the last seasons combined. He was not good last year and I'm not as confident in the Bucks offense as I think I'm lower on Baker Mayfield than everybody else is. I'm not as confident in the Bucks offense bouncing all the way back with yet another new offensive coordinator. He's only played more than 15 games twice in the last seven years and he hasn't scored more than five touchdowns in a season since 2020.
- [66:35]
A
Well, look, he, he broke his, he had a gruesome ankle fracture in week eight. Ish. Of, of 2024, and that's why I was very nervous about him in 2025. I didn't expect him to play that well coming off of it. But in 2024 he averaged 80 yards per game, 82.3 yards per game. So this guy has he is shown. I'm worried that they move him more outside without Evans. I don't want that. But when he's a slot receiver and he's healthy, he's really, really good. I think I'm going to be taking a lot of Chris Godwin, Dave.
- [67:10]
B
He gets a lot of targets, or at least that's the track record. And with Mike Evans gone, we can talk all day long about Jalen McMillan and Ted Hurst and Kate Otten and all these other players that are in Tampa's offense. I think that there's a very clear path to Godwin being second on the team in targets per game. And just taking a look back, he's had one, two, three, six seasons in his career where he's had at least seven targets per game and he's averaged north of 15 PPR points in. Well, he had one year with 14.9, so we can say 14.9 or higher in five of those six seasons. I don't think he's going to be anywhere close to 14.9 this year, even on seven targets per game. I don't think his efficiency bounces back, but I don't know who takes his role in the slot. I think that that's exactly where they should keep him. I think he can be effective there. I think he'll see a lot of targets there and I think he'll still be a good number three wide receiver, not necessarily a great one. Kind of one of those receivers that you settle for and not necessarily target unless you're Adam Mazer and then you're targeting Chris Godwin and you're taking him closer to 25th among wide receivers instead of 35th, which is pretty close to where I have them.
- [68:19]
A
I don't have rankings, but I would assume he'd be closer to 30. For me, I do not think he would be a 20 top 25 wide receiver, but I also think you say second on the team in targets. It really wouldn't surprise me if he were first on the team in targets.
- [68:33]
B
Yeah, I agree.
- [68:34]
A
And I don't know that how many. I don't know there are that many guys that you're taking in that range that fit that description.
- [68:40]
D
Even at their when they were at their best. There were a couple of years where Godwin was out targeting Evans, but Evans is still scoring more touchdowns.
- [68:47]
C
Yeah, I'm just afraid neither one of them's at the rest anymore.
- [68:51]
D
Yeah, fair.
- [68:53]
A
And it's easier to gamble on an older, you know, an older wide receiver in round seven or wherever Chris Godwin's going to go than having to do it around probably four with. With Evans.
- [69:02]
B
With Evans.
- [69:03]
A
So I get that. But looking at Dave's rankings, He has Godwin 34th. That's Alec Pierce, Cortland Sutton, Wandale Robinson, Chris Godwin, Brian Thomas Jr. Ricky Pierce. All Carnell Tate, DK Metcalf. Yeah, I think I like him better than all of them, except for maybe Carnell Tate. Who's the lowest?
- [69:26]
D
I have it. I have Tate Godwin, Lemon Tyson.
- [69:31]
A
Yeah. All right. Well, I guess I'm a Chris Godwin guy.
- [69:35]
C
You're a Chris Godwin guy. I'm glad we found your guy.
- [69:38]
A
Didn't know that until 10 minutes ago. Fun show, guys. Thank you very much.
- [69:42]
D
Nick's going to the championship.
- [69:44]
A
The Sixers are really good. I mean, I don't. I don't get this seven and a half point spread tonight. Are you kidding me? The way the Sixers have Embiid and Paul George is playing great and Maxi, I don't get that at all.
- [69:56]
C
They, they are, as I can painfully attest, they are really, really good when those top three guys are healthy. Yeah, like, those are great players.
- [70:05]
A
The Knicks last three games have been probably the best three games they played all year. So I think it's going to be really good series. I'm not willing to predict that they are going to the championship, but I'll take them in seven over the Sixers. Let's go, Knicks. Okay, have a great day, everybody. We'll talk about to you on Wednesday. Fantasy football today.
- [70:31]
D
Paramount podcasts.
- [70:35]
B
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C
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A
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C
crypto's trillion dollar science swings. There's a money side to every story.
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A
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C
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