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FFT Express - 2026 AFC Fantasy Preview: New Teams, Breakouts & Biggest Questions Answered! (07/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)
00:10:15
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- [00:00]
Adam Azer
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- [00:51]
Jamie
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- [02:16]
Adam Azer
Yeah, I think two. Two major additions at the wide receiver position to this division. You have A.J. brown going to the Patri, which I think keeps him in the conversation to be a top 10 fantasy wide receiver. Drake May was fantastic in his sophomore campaign, helping the Patriots reach the Super Bowl. He did that with Stefan Diggs at 30 years old, coming off an ACL tear as his best receiver. So I think A.J. brown has an opportunity here to. Which was a pretty surprising season for him last year given how much we think he struggled. He still had a pretty good campaign and during the middle of the year was averaging over 19 PPR points per game. So AJ Brown can get back to being an elite fantasy option. So I like him in round two. And then let's not forget DJ Moore going to Buffalo. I think that's going to be a great opportunity for him. I don't know if he can ever get back to that 2023 season that he had or 2024 season that he had with the Bears. Pushing 30 years old here, but with Josh Allen as his quarterback and we know a pretty suspect receiving core around him, I think DJ Moore can lead the team in targets by a significant margin and pushed to be a top 20, if not potentially top 15 wide receiver. So I like him in that round. 4ish, 5ish range as well. Rest of the division is pretty much what you think of with the Jets. Hopefully Geno Smith is going to make that passing game a little bit better. And then for the Dolphins, good luck with that offense there. That receiving core is pretty miserable.
- [03:38]
Jamie
Yeah, it's a tough one with the Dolphins and Luke Willis will be an interesting player. Devon Hn is going to be a tough one for people because we all know he's great. Can he do well on a. On a bad offense? And I think based on history, yeah, there's. There are definitely examples, but he's probably gonna have to catch a lot of passes to make that happen. All right, how about the AFC North? With Baltimore's got a new offensive coordinator, Cincinnati's basically running it back. A lot of changes in Cleveland and yeah, some changes. New head coach Michael Pittman in Pittsburgh, new running back. Pittsburgh looks a lot different. But what stands out to you in Baltimore?
- [04:13]
Adam Azer
Yeah, I was going to go coaching staffs. Aside from Cincinnati, all of. Of other three teams have new coaches, new head coaches. So a lot of changes in this division. For Pittsburgh, I think, or for Baltimore. Excuse me. I think it's, you know, hopefully we, we get the continued excellence of production from Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry. Can we get a step forward for Zay Flowers? A lot of people excited about him, you know, coming off a top 10 fantasy finish last year. But as we've noted time and time again, you've done great job at, you know, showing that the receiving production last year, 2025, was much different than previous years. And so can Zay Flowers really be a top 10 wide receiver? I don't think you have to draft in that way, but I think he's got a chance to have a breakout campaign, especially if his touchdowns increase. And then you look at no Isaiah likely. Does that make Mark Andrews back? Does that put Mark Andrews back in the starting mix? I don't think so, but he's a borderline starter. So if you are inclined to take two tight ends, I think at the end of your draft, take a chance on Mark Andrews. You mentioned Michael Pittman. Going from the Colts to the Steelers would not shock me at all. I think you kind of share the same sentiment if Pittman is better than DK Metcalf because the type of routes that Pittman runs, the way that Aaron Rodgers wants to get the ball out of his hands, we can see Michael Pittman having a little bit of resurgence. And if you look at the start of last season when Dan Jones is healthy, he was actually having a pretty solid fantasy campaign. So I think Michael Pittman's a little undervalued for where he is now with the Steelers. They also add Rico Dowdle, keep an eye on that backfield with Jalen Waddle now and then the rest of the division. Really I think it's since now you know you're getting just stay healthy, you know, their top quarterback, two wide receivers, running back. So four players are all elite. All have the chance to be top 5 to 10 at their respective positions. You know, T. Higgins could still be a borderline top 10 wide receiver, but Cleveland really is a big story. Deshaun Watson is healthy, so it looks like he's going to be the starter there. And they add two rookie wide receivers who could sort of change what this passing game looks like and impact. Harold Fannin, who was great as a rookie last year, so a Fannin still should be considered a top 10 fantasy tight end, but I think his ceiling is a little bit capped. Last year there was nobody really to take targets away, especially in the second half of the season when Jerry Judy was struggling. Now you have Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston. Both could have been first round rookies. Concepcion was Boston wasn't really second round pick in the NFL draft. I think both rookies are worth drafting late in your seasonal leagues.
- [06:29]
Jamie
We'll look at the AFC south and AFC west when we return on Fantasy Football Today Express.
- [06:36]
Guest/Advertiser
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- [07:51]
Jamie
the AFC south is a little bit of a boring division.
- [07:55]
Adam Azer
Is it?
- [07:57]
Jamie
Well, from a fantasy standpoint, I'm thinking about it. How many players in this division are being drafted in the first four rounds? I can only think of two. I'm probably wrong, but Jonathan.
- [08:10]
Adam Azer
Four rounds for sure.
- [08:11]
Jamie
Jonathan Taylor and Nico Collins.
- [08:14]
Adam Azer
Yeah, Tyler Warren will be close.
- [08:18]
Guest/Advertiser
That's right.
- [08:18]
Jamie
It's pretty.
- [08:19]
Adam Azer
I mean, maybe bashful Tootin gets there if there's a lot of hype this off season, but right seems too rich.
- [08:24]
Jamie
And that's an interesting thing for Jacksonville is like we expect them to be a pretty good offense, but there's so many mouths to feed. It's it's unclear who's going to really stand out, but you're probably going to get some value somewhere anyway. What stands out to you with the Texans, Colts, Jags and Titans?
- [08:38]
Adam Azer
A lot of high upside players like you said that you can get middle to late in your draft. So you know, Lawrence to me is the best quarterback in this division unless I'm missing somebody. But I think just looking at his potential and what he should be able to accomplish better than CJ Stroud, better than Cam Ward, better than Daniel Jones. So love the upside for Trevor Lawrence. He's one of my favorite breakout players this year. The running backs in this division, you know, it's Jonathan Taylor and then a lot of question marks. I think, you know, Tony Pollard, Basil Tootin will sort of and Dave Montgomery, I think all go in a very similar range. I think Montgomery's move to Houston is huge. You know, so leaving Detroit and you know, forget about the end of the season last year with the, with the Lions he was kind of getting phased out a little bit. Understandably so because Jameer Gibbs is awesome. Montgomery, I don't think he's Joe Mixon when Mixon went there in 2024. But he can have that type of fantasy impact where still very good at the goal line, still a good rusher. Probably surprised you a little bit as a pass catcher and they lean on him quite a bit. Basil Tootin and and Chris Rodriguez. Rodriguez coming over to the Jaguars this offseason. They will compete for the starting running back job there. Whoever wins that role I think it's going to be. Tootin is probably worth taking no later than round six. The later you get him the better. But don't forget about Rodriguez if he loses the job. He has a connection to Liam Cohen from their time when they were both in Kentucky. And then Pollard last five games of the season averaging over 100 yards rushing per game. Could have a resurgence a little bit with the. The addition of Brian Dable as the head coach there. And they're receiving changes that they made for the, for the Titans. But really it comes down to the high upside players being Parker Washington could be fantastic in Jacksonville as we saw at the end of last year. Josh Downs with Pittman now gone could be great for the Colts. Average over 12 PPR points per game in 2024. And then don't forget about, you know, Wandell Robinson for the Titans. You know he was great last last two years for the Giants. So it's, it's some players that could still win you fantasy weeks. We'll see if they can win you fantasy seasons.
- [10:45]
Jamie
Yeah, man. Let's get to the west. The wild, wild AFC west. Hopefully a little bit more fun. Here are the Chiefs, the third best offense in this division behind the Chargers and Broncos.
- [10:57]
Adam Azer
I would probably still take the Chiefs over the Broncos, but to me the Chargers have the chance to be the best offense in the division, you know, so addition of Mike McDaniel is the biggest thing and then just hopefully a lot of health. You know, you get a healthy lad McConkey, you get a healthy Omari Hampton. Biggest thing is you get a healthy Rashan Slater and Joe Alt and that offense could be amazing. As you know, I'm a big fan of so love taking Chargers in fantasy drafts this year. Herbert Hampton, McConkey, Quinn Johnston, you know, even still Ronda Gaston with the addition of David Najoku. So I think it's going to be a fun offense to have pieces of the Chiefs. The biggest thing is are they going to shift maybe to a little bit more of a run focused, you know, offense here with the addition of Ken Walker, Marty Ricado, Emmett Johnson, plus Mahomes coming off the ACL tear. Now the good news is it seems like he's gonna be ready for Week one. And the good news as well is that Rashi Rice looks like he's going to be on the field for Week one. So Rice is a borderline first round pick for me. Certainly somebody should consider taking the top 15 overall picks as long as there's no off field slash injury concerns. Travis Kelsey's back and now married if you missed that this off season. So that's going to be interesting to see there if that changes anything.
- [12:06]
Jamie
That was the off season story. We should have led with that.
- [12:08]
Adam Azer
Yeah, that's true. But the Broncos now have Jalen Waddle, so we'll see how this passing game looks. Bo Nicks should be ready for Week one after suffering that gruesome ankle injury in the AFC divisional round. And then we'll see how the running backs look for the Broncos with the addition of Jonah Coleman in the draft, plus the return of J.K. dobbins. And the Raiders are going to be an interesting team. You know, they add Jalen Naylor, who could be their number one wide receiver. They draft Fernando Mendoza, we'll see at what point he gets a starting job. It sounds like her cousin's going to be the starter there, but you get a lot more. I think people excited about Brock Bowers this year and that's going to be fun to see how good he can be. So Bower is going to be a fun tight end to draft in the middle of the end of Round two.
- [12:50]
Jamie
Yeah, it's an awesome division in terms of the offseason and stuff getting Jalen Waddle, Getting Ken walker, getting Mike McDaniel, getting Fernando Mendoza. It's really good stuff. Getting Eric B. Enemy, maybe to keep that Chiefs run game going. Thank you, Kelsey and Taylor Kelce.
- [13:05]
Guest/Advertiser
Yes.
- [13:05]
Jamie
Thank you to Jamie for for his time. Thank you to all of you for watching and listening. I'm Adam Azer. We'll talk to you tomorrow on fantasy football. Today,
- [13:18]
Adam Azer
Paramount podcasts.