2026 Top 12, Week 18 Thoughts, Fantasy Superlatives and Coaching News (01/05 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today – January 5, 2026

Episode: "2026 Top 12, Week 18 Thoughts, Fantasy Superlatives and Coaching News"

Hosts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg
Date: January 5, 2026

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Overview

This episode blends deep-dive analysis and laid-back debate around the 2026 fantasy football landscape, focusing on:

• The unpredictability of this season’s NFL playoffs and Super Bowl outlooks
• Coaching changes, team news, and their fantasy implications
• A recap of Week 18 and rookie QB performances
• Detailed debate around consensus top 12 fantasy players for 2026
• Early superlative awards for MVP, biggest bust, best waiver pickup, and comeback player of the year

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Episode Breakdown

1. Wild Card Playoff Picture & Super Bowl Predictions

(02:11 – 06:14)

Main Points:

• The hosts marvel at the wide-open playoff picture and the difficulty of making confident Super Bowl picks.
• The unpredictability adds excitement and challenge to playoff fantasy formats.
• Specific game lines and favorites are discussed, including doubts about the 4-seeds and questions surrounding team strengths and weaknesses.

Notable Quotes:

• Adam (03:09): "I have no idea who’s going to win the Super Bowl. That’s what makes football great. The unpredictability of it all is amazing."
• Jamie (05:17): "You could say any combination of these teams and everybody would just nod. It’s going to be fun—and probably disappointing when we see who actually makes it."

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2. Coaching News, Team Rumors & Offseason Outlook

(07:51 – 12:06)

Main Points:

• Updates on injured players (Cam Ward, J.J. McCarthy, Taysom Hill, etc.) and early offseason storylines.
• Coaching carousel: Steichen & Ballard stay with Colts; openings in Cleveland, Atlanta, Giants, Browns, Titans—potential surprise firings loom.
• Discussion of how incoming or outgoing coaches could impact fantasy values (e.g., Kevin Stefanski to the Giants or Jets).

Notable Quotes:

• Adam (09:43): "As a Giants fan, I want Kevin Stefanski. This guy’s had garbage quarterbacks and kept the team competitive."
• Dave (10:10): "Atlanta or Vegas could be intriguing jobs—with loads of offensive talent but some big holes."

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3. Week 18 Recap & Rookie QB Analysis

(13:22 – 16:48)

Main Points:

• Ravens-Steelers was called out as a highlight (13:26); disappointment in Lamar Jackson missing the playoffs.
• Rookie QBs: Noted how Cam Ward, Jackson Dart, and Tyler Shough all had encouraging finishes despite overall class doubts.
• Breakdown of Parker Washington’s surge and Travis Hunter’s shifting role (toward defense), with fantasy implications for Dynasty leagues.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave (14:07): "Look at how [Shock] did without Chris Olave—that’s a team rising. They’ve got the right coach, talent is stockpiled."
• Jamie (15:31): "If Travis Hunter is full-time defense next year, it could be one of the worst Dynasty picks. His value might never match expectations."

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4. 2026 NFL Draft Top 10 Preview

(18:18 – 20:02)

Main Points:

• Review of draft order; Jets, Cardinals, Titans, Giants, Browns, Commanders, Saints, Bengals, Chiefs in the top 10.
• Quarterback prospects and how many will go in the top five—consensus seems to be “two, maybe one.”
• Carson Beck called out as a likely late pick, not a first rounder.

Notable Quotes:

• Adam (19:36): "I think it’s more likely Carson Beck goes undrafted than in the first round—just not really a pro prospect to me."
• Dave (19:53): "Even if he wins the Natty, I don’t think he’s shown enough over the balance of the year."

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5. Top 12 Players for 2026 Fantasy Football

(20:14 – 41:45)

Overall Process

• Each panelist reveals early top 12 PPR rankings for 2026, sparking nuanced debate around each slot.
• Discussion covers rationale, usage trends, target shares, supporting casts, coaching outlooks, and historical fantasy trends.

Consensus Top 6 (in some order):

• Bijan Robinson
• Jahmyr Gibbs
• Puka Nacua
• Ja’Marr Chase
• Jackson Smith-Njigba (JSN)
• Devon Achane

Notable Quotes:

• Adam (21:24): "Puka’s an insane player… he averaged 23.6 PPR points per game. He’s just too good.”
• Jamie (23:01): "JSN had the best season for a WR on a bottom-5 pass attempt team in at least 13 years."
• Dave (23:51): "JSN led the NFL in passing yards on a team bottom-third in pass rate. Are we worried about that next year?"

Subsequent Picks Vary

• Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, James Cook, Omariyon Hampton, Trey McBride enter the conversation.
• Debates around McCaffrey’s workload/age, Taylor’s offense, Cook’s role, WR vs. RB risk, and breakout candidates.
• Panelists raise injury and offensive context points for each pick.
• McCaffrey's risk: workload, age (30 by next season), and risk of a workload-reducing tandem approach by 49ers (34:16).

Memorable Segment:

• Adam (28:42): "I talked about resolutions—I just don’t want to draft a player that might be on a bad offense, you know? Seventh, eighth overall. The only guy whose offense really scares me is Jonathan Taylor’s."

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6. NFL Superlatives – Fantasy Awards Discussion

(45:29 – 63:36)

Categories:

• Fantasy MVP
• Biggest Bust
• Best Waiver Wire Pickup
• Comeback Player of the Year

MVP Nominees (Consensus):

• Christian McCaffrey
• Puka Nacua
• JSN (Jackson Smith-Njigba)
• Trey McBride (Bijan Robinson was considered, but cut)

Notable MVP Quote:

Jamie (47:41): "Puka was amazing, JSN dominated for the majority of the season, McBride's position advantage was incredible, and McCaffrey speaks for himself."

Biggest Bust Candidates:

• Justin Jefferson
• Saquon Barkley
• Ashton Genti
• Brian Thomas Jr.

Waiver Wire Pickup Candidates:

• Matthew Stafford (QB)
• Michael Wilson (WR)
• Wondale Robinson (WR)
• Rico Dowdle (RB) OR Kenny Gainwell (RB) (final spot debated)
• Jacoby Brissett (QB) received consideration for late-season QB heroics

Comeback Player of the Year Nominees:

• Javonte Williams
• Chris Olave
• Travis Etienne
• Trevor Lawrence

Lively banter as they weigh what constitutes “comeback”—injury, previous underperformance, or both?

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7. Final Notes, Listener Interaction, and Season Preview

• Reminders about social voting on awards via Facebook (see 47:13/58:44).
• Hype for upcoming offseason content and regular Dynasty/Express shows.
• Hosts briefly reminisce on their January 2025 rankings, pat themselves on the back for a solid early list.

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

On playoff unpredictability:
Jamie (03:21): "I could see it going any way except… maybe the Panthers making a run. You can make a case for and against almost everyone."

On Travis Hunter’s Dynasty future:
Adam (16:09): "Could be one of the worst dynasty picks if he’s just a defensive player now.”

On Christian McCaffrey risk:
Jamie (32:27): "He's hitting a lot of red flags right now—workload, age, and if he misses time, it’s not just a game or two, it’s season-ending."

On the historical trends in fantasy RBs:
Adam (37:13): "I think the last RB to repeat as RB1 was Priest Holmes in 2002 and 2003. It’s rare.”

On James Cook potentially being Round 1-worthy:
Jamie (44:40): "He should have been a Round 1 player each of the last two years—just nobody actually took him there.”

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Suggested Listening Segments and Timestamps

• Playoff predictions & line debates: 02:11 – 06:14
• Coaching carousel and offseason news: 07:51 – 12:06
• Top 12 picks debate and deep-dive: 20:14 – 41:45
• MVP/Bust/Waiver/Comeback awards segment: 45:29 – 63:36

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Tone & Style

• Engaging, lively, and good-natured banter.
• Analytical but approachable—you feel like you’re overhearing a smart but passionate conversation among friends.
• Lots of data, anecdotes, and candid “gut-check” moments (“I have no idea why I put those WRs ahead of Gibbs”).
• Approachable for both die-hards and intermediate players—technical concepts are explained contextually.

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Summary

This episode is a must-listen for dynasty and redraft fantasy managers prepping for 2026:

• Get a snapshot of top-tier player value, with context for why analysts believe the “youth movement” of running backs and wide receivers are consensus early picks.
• Hear early debates on player risk, offensive context, historical track records, and the shifting RB/WR landscape.
• Valuable discussion of best and worst 2025 picks, plus who won the waiver wire.
• The episode serves as a springboard into offseason speculation, draft prep, and spirited awards chatter.

If you want to know the players, trends, and narratives that will drive 2026 fantasy football debates, this episode is your cheat sheet.

Transcript

[Adam]

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[Dave]

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

[Adam]

Wanna play? Can. No, I can't.

[Dave]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Adam]

Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is gonna go the distance.

[Dave]

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Adam]

Well, it is finally over. It was a long time. It felt like years, felt like decades at times. But stranger things is over. Also, playoffs are here. That's right. I just want to talk about stranger Things. Basically, I finished it, but we welcome you to Fantasy Football today presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. We're going to talk a little bit about the playoffs. We have three episodes every week for you, so Thursday will be our wild card round preview. We'll give you some DFS tips and if you're in some playoff challenges, I got to tell you, I don't even know. I mean, I guess it makes it fun, but you do those playoff challenges where you can only pick, you know, a certain amount of players on each team and you can't change your lineup. So you have to pick the teams that are going to win. I don't know who's going to win, Dave. Richard I have no idea who's going to win the Super Bowl. I do know it's not going to be the four seeds. They're going to get probably the Steelers are going to get smashed on Monday. I would say the same about the Panthers, but they just beat the Rams a few weeks ago. But they're probably going to get smashed. But Dave, I had no idea who's going to win the Super Bowl.

[Dave]

That's what makes football great. It's what makes the season great. The unpredictability of it all is amazing. And I've got a Super bowl pick, but I've got no confidence in it coming through.

[Adam]

Stranger Jamie I look at the matchups. I feel good about picking the fives to beat the fours. Other than that, I feel good about the. I think the Eagles and the Eagles are going to win.

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Adam]

I don't know how much confidence I have in any other pick, including Bill's Jaguars. I'm sure everyone's going to be on the Bills. How are you feeling?

[Jamie]

I mapped it out because I have to write the playoff challenge rankings and I have the Bills winning the afc. It's, it's just, it's hard to. Wow. It's hard to bet against Josh Allen in my mind. I, I mean, I, I agree with you, though. I could see it going any way except for probably the. Although I could see the Steelers actually beating the Texans just because the Texans could Texan but wouldn't surprise me, honestly, if anybody. But really the Panthers make a run because you can make a case for and against. You know, I mean, with, with all these teams, you know, it's, it's just, it's a very wide open playoffs.

[Adam]

The spreads right now. The Rams are 10 point favorites at the Panthers. That's wild.

[Dave]

It's a lot.

[Adam]

The packers are one and a half point favorites at the Bears.

[Jamie]

Wow.

[Adam]

Wow. The Bills are one and a half point favorites at the Jaguars. The Eagles are three And a half point favorites against the Niners. The Patriots are three and a half point favorites against the Chargers. And the Texans are three and a half point favorites at the Steelers. Kind of feel like the Patriots are really good and they're going to win the super bowl, lose the Eagles. I have to sit through another Eagles, Patriot, Super Bowl. I already don't want to do it. I already don't want to do this.

[Dave]

Have you, do you have a Super bowl prediction, Adam?

[Adam]

I think I just made it.

[Dave]

Eagles, Patriots.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And Jamie, you've got the Bills and who?

[Jamie]

Rams.

[Dave]

Okay, I've got Eagles, Texans. But again, like, it could go a hundred different ways.

[Jamie]

Yeah, it's beautiful.

[Adam]

I love.

[Jamie]

I was, I was talking about this with, you know, some people watching games yesterday. Like you could say any combination of these teams and I think everybody be like, oh, oh, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Okay. You know, it's like, it really, it really is. It's going to be fun. Probably disappointing in the end, you know, from, oh, I can't believe these are the two teams that, that made it in certain cases outside of probably their fan bases. But I mean, like, you can nitpick all the schedules and how some of these teams got there. You can nitpick some of the injuries that have been fortunate and unfortunate in, in some cases for these teams and where they're at right now. Like, it's true. Wouldn't. Wouldn't shock me if the Bears made a run. Wouldn't shock me if the Jaguars made a run. It wouldn't shock me in any way with all these teams, you know, these, these first year coaches that have done fantastic jobs, you know, can they, can they finish it out? What's going to be, it's gonna be interesting.

[Adam]

And neither of us, none of us picked the one seeds and you know, the thing about the one seeds is I don't really believe that much in home field advantage. I think it's pretty overrated. But those two venues are tough. You've got the altitude in Denver and they historically are very good home playoff team. And obviously Seattle is a mad house, just a tough place to play. But usually the, the one seeds have a pretty good chance to make the super bowl and I don't know how many people are going to pick them.

[Dave]

If Seattle had any other quarterback, would it be easier to pick them? Oh, yeah. If you could take the quarterback off of any other team in the playoffs right now and replace Darnold with that quarterback, that would probably be the consensus pick. They, they're the consensus Pick anyway, right? They're the betting favorite. But I feel like that's what holds people back on Seattle is that Darnold could go out there and see ghosts, get nervous, throw three picks, etc. And it costs Seattle the game.

[Jamie]

That is a Packers upset in the first round because then they get Green Bay in their building. If it's the Bears winning and the Rams winning, then the Rams go in there. I think the Rams beat them.

[Adam]

The futures right now Seahawks are plus 400 on BET. MGM Rams plus 4 25. Broncos plus 6 50. Eagles plus 900. Bills plus a thousand Patriots plus a thousand Texans plus 1300 and so on. All right, let's get to some news and notes here. Cam Ward left with a shoulder injury. You guys, anybody worried about that going into the off season? If you need surgery or anything like that?

[Jamie]

If it's that bad, I think you got to be a little bit concerned. But really the biggest concern would be is who's the coach and what off season moves that they make. Because that's going to really determine, I think, how we feel about Cam Ward. He needs a number one receiver. That's the most important thing. And he needs a coach that's going to bring out the best of him. So if you, if you follow what's most likely going to happen, if it's Matt Nagy, I don't know how much that's going to instill confidence in anybody drafting Cam Ward. But again, can they go out and add pieces to make his receiving core better? Because he definitely played better down stretch. I mean he was terrible to start the season and then you saw a confidence level in him and just the comfort level in his performance, but needs a lot more help. Okay.

[Adam]

J.J. mcCarthy took himself out of the game with the re aggravation of his hand injury. The jets went the entire season without an interception. But they do have their number two pick in the draft. Taysom Hill hurt his shoulder. Houston running back to our Jordan left with an ankle injury. He actually got the first two carries for the Texans. When he left the game, he had five carries. Woody Marks had seven carries. Patriots got Will Campbell, their left tackle, rookie left tackle back. That's huge. Travis Kelsey undecided about his future. And now let's talk about the hirings and firings or not the non firings and firings. The Colts are going to bring back their GM Chris Ballard and their head coach Shane Steichen and the so the two coaches who've been fired right now, Cleveland's Kevin Stefanski and Atlanta's Raheem Morris. He and the gm, Terry Fontenot were fired. Matt Ryan could apparently be named the president of football operations. But Cleveland, Dave, and Atlanta, they have openings. I think that gives us four or five openings right now.

[Dave]

Four. It's four.

[Adam]

Could be more. We'll see. But.

[Dave]

Right.

[Jamie]

I got a GM news just now.

[Adam]

Oh, what do we got?

[Jamie]

Your guy staying.

[Dave]

Here we go.

[Adam]

Okay, great. So anyway, I'll tell you as a Giants fan, I want Kevin Stefanski. I think that would be a great hire. This guy has had garbage quarterback.

[Jamie]

I think it's going to happen.

[Adam]

Basically he had Baker Mayfield in his first year and you know, and his second year for 14 games. And it's just been bad quarterbacks ever since. I like Stefan. I mean, I think he'd be a good hire. But Dave, what do you think right now of the coaching cycle?

[Dave]

It's going to continue on. And I think the Atlanta, I think the Atlanta job is going to be attractive because of all the, the talent that they have on both sides of the ball. Not having a first round pick this year obviously stings. I thought about whether or not a new regime would try and trade off one of those big stud offensive players to try and get into the back end of round one. I don't even know if you could get a late first for. For Bees. You probably could for Bijan, for London maybe, but I don't know if they're going to do that. I think they're just going to take the lumps of the previous regime and try and build around that moving forward. But for now I feel like either Atlanta or, well, Vegas, the job isn't open yet, but that those two jobs are interesting. The Giants job is interesting. We'll see. We'll see how things shake out.

[Adam]

So yeah, it's Giants, Browns, Titans, Falcons, those are the openings. Right now we've got the Raiders as a possibility, the Ravens possibility. Anything else? The Steelers, maybe Bengals.

[Jamie]

They now that they made the playoffs, so that would be a surprise. But unless Tomlin wants to go somewhere.

[Adam]

Dolphins.

[Jamie]

There is some talk that Stefanski being let go maybe opens the door for the jets if Stefanski is interested in going there. But I would be surprised if they do move on from Aaron Glenn. The Dolphins is still a possibility, although it'd be surprised at this point. And then you gotta wonder if there's a one and done situation In Buffalo, if McDermott is in trouble, I mean.

[Dave]

Oh, meaning if in the playoffs. One and done. Meaning what?

[Jamie]

Meaning they lose the wild card.

[Dave]

I see.

[Adam]

Well, they finally don't have to deal with Patrick Mahomes if they can't get to the super bowl this year. I think. I don't even know if it's one and done for them. We'll see what happens. Yeah, I think he's. It would almost be justified at this point. Like they've just.

[Jamie]

And you said Tampa Bay, right?

[Adam]

I didn't say Tampa Bay. No.

[Jamie]

Yeah, that's another one that could be open. Yeah. Oh, man.

[Adam]

But they won't. It won a huge win for them. All right, so we don't really have a ton of coaching news right now, but as the hirings are made, obviously we'll be able to react to them. We've got three offseason episodes. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. Most weeks, FFT Dynasty is Tuesday and Friday. We have so many other great podcasts. I'm sure you want to listen to some college football podcasts right now, right? Got the COVID three podcasts. That podcast is huge. But go to CBSSports.com podcast. See everything we have. You know, soccer, combat sports, college basketball, cbsports.com podcast we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll give some thoughts on week 18. We'll give you our top 12 for 2026 after this. Good morning crust. It's a great day to be a bread brother. Mornings are not my jam or jelly. Oh, come on. Stop loafing around. I just woke up feeling hollow inside. Just grab one of the new morning uncrustable sandwiches like Bright Eyed Berry or up an apple filled with 12 grams of protein and tons of deliciousness crust. What are you eating? It's just granola.

[Dave]

Not even yogurt. No crust, no fuss. Uncrust your mornings.

[Adam]

All right, welcome back, Everybody. Any week 18 thoughts, Dave?

[Dave]

Richard, I thought the end of the Raven Steelers game was as entertaining as it gets. Tons of fun. A little disappointed that Lamar Jackson isn't going to be in the playoffs. I thought he looked good and played well. Obviously an amazing fourth quarter and we got a little bit of vintage Rogers at the end. That was pretty sick. And I don't know. I don't know where else to go with that. Yeah, well, wildly open question that you threw at me.

[Adam]

There was some weird performance. I'm like, Bijan Robinson was horrible.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Had a touchdown taken away. He scored, but it got called back.

[Adam]

Yeah. Even with that, it wouldn't have been a good game for him.

[Jamie]

I thought. Defense is good, man. They're. They're going to be a tough, tough.

[Dave]

I agree. Shock is someone we could talk about. And not that we're going to call him a top 12 quarterback, but look at how he did yesterday without Chris Olave. That should tell you everything that you need to know about how talented he is and that that's a team that's absolutely on the rise. They've got the right coach, they've got a lot of good talent on the offensive line. They're going to get better.

[Jamie]

That's.

[Dave]

That's a team that I'm kind of excited about too.

[Adam]

I was going to say the rookie quarterbacks in general, not Shadow Sanders, but Cam Ward only played one drive but he obviously finished strong.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

And Jackson Dart had a. Had a really good game. Granted was an easy matchup, but he had no Wando Robinson touchdown pass. He threw to Tyrone Tracy was terrific and. And Tyler Shuck and this is supposed to be a pretty bad quarterback class and the. The was shock. The third one drafted was right.

[Jamie]

Chuck was the third one draft.

[Adam]

Yeah. The top three have had very encouraging rookie seasons. So that was good. Certainly this Parker Washington surge is something. Something pretty. Pretty awesome. Pretty awesome right now.

[Jamie]

So.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

So I asked, you know, you know, Pete Prisco is obviously very tied to the team. I asked him. They keep all four guys, meaning Brian Thomas comes back because there's some talk that he might be on the trading block. They bring all four guys back with Travis Hunter. What's their opening three receivers? They got to pay Park, Washington, so keep that in mind. He's free. So assuming he's back.

[Dave]

He already paid Jacoby.

[Jamie]

They already paid Jacoby. Travis Hunter may be a full time defensive player next year. Yeah.

[Dave]

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

[Adam]

You think so? Yeah.

[Jamie]

I mean it makes sense if these are your three receivers because while he certainly makes them better by playing offense to a degree, it makes your team better. If those are your three receivers and he's playing defense now, I'm sure he'll get offensive snaps because he'll want those and I'm sure they'll want to use him. But I think from a fantasy perspective, his value is probably never going to match up to what we expected.

[Adam]

It could be one of the worst dynasty picks.

[Jamie]

Oh, man.

[Adam]

If he's just.

[Jamie]

Yeah. I mean especially when you look at what Abuka and McMillan did because he was, I'm going to guess, going ahead of them in rookie drafts or at least in the conversation and what Luther Burden has looked like and then what hopefully Matthew golden can be. I'm just thinking about the receivers. You know, not even think, you know, bringing in Jaden Higgins or Trey Harris or Kyle Williams or what those guys could be, just from a receiver perspective. And then we know it was a, you know, generational running back class, you know, whatever that materializes into. And he was taken ahead a lot of the running backs, too. So, yeah, it's. It's a tough one.

[Adam]

Another thing, an interesting development, I think has been this surge from Ramandre. Stevenson scored 35.3 PPR fantasy points in Week 18. This is one we'll be able to watch throughout the playoffs. Forever long their run lasts. But I don't know what the future is going to hold for Stevenson and for Travion Henderson. But right now, Stevenson kind of looks like they're RB1, so. Yeah, didn't see that coming necessarily. All right, well, that's enough about week 18. Let's get to our top. Oh, actually just want to run through the NFL Draft top 10. But before we do that, picture this, football fans. You bet on your favorite player to score the first touchdown in the game. His teammate scores instead. Ah, terrible. But not with Bet mgm. If this happens, BET MGM wants to give you another chance at the end zone. With BetMGM's second chance promotion, you'll get your stake back if your first touchdown scorer scores second instead. That's right. Bet on any pro football player to score the first touchdown of the game, and if you're right, you win. And if your player scores second, you get your stake back in cash. With BetMGM's second chance offer, you have a chance to keep the fun going after the first player crosses the goal line, try a first touchdown scorer wager with confidence today. Bet MGM. Make it legendary. Okay. Top 10 in the NFL draft. The Raiders, they did win yesterday, but they had lost 10 in a row before that. The jets, their second. They also have the 16th pick, and they lost five straight to end the season. The car.

[Jamie]

There was talk that once they saw the Giants won that they were going to activate Max Crosby.

[Adam]

Is that right?

[Jamie]

Kidding.

[Adam]

Oh, okay. Oh, no, he's not for the year.

[Jamie]

Yeah, okay.

[Adam]

Yeah, right. The Cardinals have the third pick. They lost nine straight. The Titans have the fourth pick, the Giants fifth, and the Brown six. Both of those teams won each of their last two games. The Commanders have the seventh pick. They won two of their last four. The Saints pick eighth. They won four of their last five. Bengals are ninth and Kansas City is 10th. And there you go. There's your top 10. How many quarterbacks do you think are going to Go in the top five this year?

[Jamie]

Did more declare or not?

[Adam]

I don't know. I don't think so.

[Dave]

I don't think he has yet.

[Jamie]

Yeah. So if he's out, I think two. If he's not out, I think one. Okay.

[Adam]

All right. Good stuff.

[Jamie]

Unless somebody just wows during the pre draft process.

[Adam]

Yeah, it happens sometimes. For sure.

[Jamie]

I saw Carson Beck took in a couple mock drafts in the first round in the way.

[Adam]

Who did those?

[Jamie]

I don't want to say. I don't want embarrassment.

[Adam]

Okay. No, I. That's not gonna happen.

[Dave]

It wasn't.

[Jamie]

I. I saw one where he was going to the jets and like that's the first thing that like my eyes popped out. Not. Not with their first pick. With their second pick.

[Adam]

I think it's more likely. Geez, this could be insane. I think it's more likely that Carson Beck does not get drafted than he gets drafted in the first round. That's. I just.

[Dave]

He's going to get drafted.

[Adam]

He's just not pro prospect. Really, to me, kind of.

[Dave]

I don't think he did enough to. To prove it. Even if he goes on and, and wins the Natty, I don't think he's shown enough over the balance of the year to warrant a first round pick.

[Adam]

No, I agree. It's just no mobility and average arm, I'd say. All right, let's talk about our top 12 players for 2026. How about we unveil our top six?

[Jamie]

Okay. I don't have it in front of me. I'm sorry.

[Adam]

You could give you a little bit of time. Can you get it?

[Jamie]

It's on my computer. It's downstairs.

[Adam]

Oh, do you remember it?

[Jamie]

I'll do the best I can. It'll be on site by the end of the week.

[Adam]

Okay. Yeah, it's fluid anyway. All right, who's number 1B?

[Jamie]

John for me.

[Dave]

I've already gone back and forth twice between Bijan and Gibbs and for now I've got Bijan.

[Adam]

You're assuming David Montgomery is off the team, right?

[Dave]

Well, it doesn't matter if Montgomery's off the team or not. Someone will be there to help Jameer Gibbs with the Russian workload. And this year Jameer Gibbs had a monster season. Even with Montgomery on the team, Montgomery didn't miss a game. Gibbs still averaged over 20 points per game.

[Adam]

Neither of these guys were RB1. Christian McCaffrey was RB1 by a lot. By two and a half points ahead of in PPR over Bijan Robinson. All right, so we got a running Back number one. Who's two?

[Dave]

Whoever isn't Bijan or Gibbs.

[Adam]

Okay, I went Puka number two and Chase three and Gibbs four. What's your top four?

[Jamie]

Wow. Bijan, Gibbs, Puka, Chase.

[Dave]

That's mine.

[Adam]

Okay, so it's the same four guys. Adam, why did you put the two wide receivers ahead of Gibbs? I have no idea. I just think. Okay, Puka's an insane. He's so good. And he averaged 23.6 PPR points per game. That's 2.3 more than Jackson, Smith and Jigba. What about in the. In Puka's healthy games and Devonte Adams? Healthy games? That would be weeks one through five and nine through 15. He averaged 23.5 PPR fantasy points per game, almost identical to his full season. So I think Adams would, you know, you know, it's worse for Puko, and Adams is healthy, but he did enough. He's just. He's just too good. And then Chase. Chase was the number one pick. Was he number one in ADP this year? Yes, and there's a reason for it. You know, last year, 2024, he had 175 targets. He had 127 catches on pace for over 1700 yards. If you look at the last five games of the season, he had a. He was on pace for 193 targets. This is when Joe Burrow came back. 193 target pace. 131 catch pace, 1561 yards. Only nine touchdown pace for Chase. But I feel like that would be higher over full season with Burrow. So that's just why I. I went with those guys ahead of Gibbs, who's also terrific. But. All right, so it's in some order. Bijan, Gibbs, Puka, and Chase, who's five?

[Dave]

I have a Chan, fifth.

[Jamie]

Jason.

[Adam]

I have a Chan, who's six.

[Dave]

Jsn.

[Adam]

Okay, so it's the same top six for everyone in some order. Bijan, Gibbs, Puka, Chase, jsn, Devon, hn. So if you all remember, I. This was a stat that I really. I don't want to say I obsessed over it, but I really bought into it. It's hard to finish top 12 on a team that's bottom five in past attempts in full PPR. Really hard to finish top five. JSN finished second. He has had. Since I've been looking at it now the last 13 years, JSN had the best season for any wide receiver on a team that finished bottom five in pass attempts. Dave, what do you.

[Jamie]

What do you think Jamie, was the NFL site tweeted out or sent out, whatever we're saying now, he's the first wide receiver to lead the NFL in passing yards on a team that finished bottom third and pass rate.

[Adam]

Yeah. And. And does that scare you? A little bit going into. Going into 20, 26?

[Jamie]

I mean, a little bit. You know, we got to see what they do with the rest of their receiving core because it'd be surprising if Cooper cup and Rashid Shahid are both back. I'm sure they're going to try and get younger at that position. So maybe it's just Torrey Horton and, you know, that's a different kind of player, clearly. But, you know, Kubiak also. Is he going to get a head coaching job? And so do they have a coordinator change? That's something to keep an eye on too, because he'll be in the cycle. There are not many. You know, just go back to the coaching stuff. There's not many offensive candidates, which is why guys like Matt Nagy and Mike McCarthy and Cliff Kingsbury and Clint Kubiak and some of these guys that you think, oh, my God, these are going to be potential coaches. Well, because they're the only good offensive minds that are in the cycle right now. And for, you know, for. For what that's worth. So I think Kubiak stays. I think that helps. I think Darnold has shown now over two seasons that he can help elevate his number one wide receiver to the heights that we need. He did great things with Jefferson with better talent around him from a receiving standpoint because of Addison and TJ Hawkinson. JSN doesn't have that type of competition for targets. And so I think what JSN showed you in year three, which is typically when you see the huge jump for guys, like, there's a lot to like about where he is. So I don't want to take him first at the position. I don't want to take him first overall. But I think if you're talking about top five wide receivers, he's for sure there. And I think he belongs in the top three. I do think he's third.

[Adam]

I'm seeing now Jackson Smith and Jig, but had a 36% target share. I think it was 35.8 based on what I'm looking at, if that's the highest for any wide receiver. Highest target share since Brandon Marshall had a 40% target share with the Bears in 2012. It's a lot of things that are maybe not repeatable, but they also could just throw more next year. They may not have an incredible defense. You know, get some injuries on that side of the ball and they could just throw more next year. Obviously, JSN has taken a step into the elite of at the receiver position. All right, so top six is in some order. Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Puka Nkua, Jamar, Chase, Devon, Achan, Jackson, Smith and Jigba. Seven and eight, Dave.

[Dave]

My seventh is Jonathan Taylor and my eighth for now is Christian McCaffrey, but I'm definitely not committing to McCaffrey that high.

[Jamie]

Jamie McCaffrey, seven. I think I might have Taylor, eight. I'm not sure.

[Adam]

Oh, wow. Okay. I'm very different. So who we got? I have CD Lamb and I'm on Ross St. Brown. This is a. Oh, I'm sorry.

[Jamie]

I have the receivers ahead of the running backs. Yes. So I think I bomb on Raw and then CD Lamb.

[Adam]

All right, this is. We're doing full ppr, by the way.

[Jamie]

And.

[Adam]

All right, Dave, you're stick. You're sticking with Taylor McCaffrey.

[Dave]

Yep.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Dave]

I just, I, I love what Jonathan Taylor did with Daniel Jones. He averaged almost 25 PPR points per game in 12 full games with Daniel Jones saved the game. When Daniel Jones got hurt. That was pretty early on when he left the game. And he's just. He proved that he can handle a small receiving workload. He averaged just north of three targets per game both with and without Daniel Jones got fed a ton of touchdowns. Absolute genesis of that Colts offense. I don't see that changing whatsoever. And it's a good offensive line. Coaching staff is staying. He's. He's 27, so you have to worry a little bit about age and obviously you have to worry a little bit about him repeating north of 20 ppr points. Last time he got north of 20 ppr points on a per game basis. He came crashing down the year after. But I just love the fit that he has right now in that Indianapolis offense. Hopefully Anthony Richardson stays far away from the starting lineup and we've got a decent passing game to bounce off of Jonathan Taylor and he goes on to still be a catalyst for the Colts.

[Jamie]

You asked week 18 thoughts? I wonder if what Riley Leonard did and a lot of it came against some backups for the Texans, but I wonder if what he did gives them confidence to resign Daniel Jones at a prove it deal and that's their quarterback duo coming back next year. So Leonard as the here's, you know, bridge until Jones is ready, maybe takes the job. Who knows? You Know, they had an open competition last year, and, and clearly Daniel Jones beat out Anthony Richardson and it worked out well for them. So I wonder if they have something similar and maybe give Riley Leonard the chance to win the job, but bring Daniel Jones back. Make. Make him comfortable until he's ready and Riley Leonard's your, your starter maybe to open the season. Because I thought he played well.

[Dave]

Yeah, he did. It was a little surprising. I don't remember him playing. I mean, he played well at Notre Dame, but I, I thought he played way better than expectations were. Quarterback. He's good.

[Jamie]

He. He also did a good job. And, and I'm sure this is a lot of chatter from. From Colts fans. He did a good job when he replaced Daniel Jones in the game against Jacksonville. And then they go and they signed Philip Rivers at 44 with no, you know.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Would Leonard have been a better option at the time? Now, if you recall, he was also injured, you know, coming off the Jacksonville game, so they didn't know what his status was. But, you know, you play the what if game, would Riley Leonard have maybe won one of those games?

[Adam]

So I, I think I might be too low on Jonathan Taylor, but I talked about our resolutions, and I just. I just don't want to draft a player that might be on a bad offense, you know, seventh, eighth overall. I have him 12th. And I just look at all the other guys here. CD Lamb. I'm on Marissa Brown, Christian McCaffrey. I have James Cook in my top 12. I have one other guy that I'm not going to say yet. And the only guy whose offense really scares me is Jonathan Taylor's. You know, you've got Daniel Jones. If they resign him, he's coming off a torn Achilles, you know, how mobile is he going to be? And I think the wheels were starting to fall off for Daniel Jones anyway, personally. So, look, I'm 12. I'm not saying I'm super low on Taylor, but I think when you look at the top 12 and every single player you could make the case for, the Dolphins might have the worst offense. And Devon HN's top six for everyone. I get that, but I just don't want to. I just don't. I don't know. I don't want to. I don't want to draft someone on the Colts before I draft the number one receiver for the Lions, before I draft the number one receiver for the Cowboys. It's kind of where I'm at there.

[Jamie]

And, and look, for what it's worth, the Jaguars run defense was fantastic this year. Better than anybody expected. The Titans run defense when they're healthy is fantastic. The Texans defense as a whole is fantastic. That six games, clearly one of them will be week 18, but that's six games that he's got to face those defenses. And that was part of when he started to struggles when he got into his, his. His division schedule.

[Adam]

Oh, totally. Okay, so seven and eight for Dave is Taylor and McCaffrey. For Jamie, it's St. Brown and CD Lamb. I think we might hear the same names here. For me it was Lamb and St. Brown. Let's go to 9 and 10. Dave.

[Dave]

I've got a Monroe, St. Brown at 9 and James Cook at 10.

[Adam]

Okay. Monroe, St. Brown, James Cook, Jamie.

[Jamie]

Yeah, this would be none of them recalling it. It would be McCaffrey next and then James Cook and I Cook had a Taylor.

[Adam]

So.

[Jamie]

Okay, so that would be 9, 10, 11 for me and then McBride's 12, Jonathan Taylor.

[Adam]

All right, skipping ahead on the test here, I have Omarion Hampton, 9. Christian McCaffrey, 10. Obviously the Hampton thing is contingent on what do they do they sign like another running back. It's actually going to get work. But I think we're all probably. Maybe not Heath, but just the way he's talked about Herbert. I don't know. But we're all probably going to be pretty bullish on the Chargers offense. They're going to have both of their tackles next year and they could be really elite offense. And he catches passes. He's had games with like eight catches. Omarion Hampton. So I know the rush average wasn't great, but I think that could definitely improve. Just make sure I'm not. He's had a five. He had a six catch game, a five catch game, a six catch game and an eight catch game. That's four games. He only played nine in four of them, Amari. And Hampton had five or more catches, so he'd be kind of my sneaky pick. And then I went with McCaffrey 10. And why are we so low on McCaffrey who is, you know, maybe the fantasy MVP? Jamie.

[Jamie]

I mean age and workload, you know, this is the same concern we had with Saquon Barkley. They have a playoff run still in front of them. So if they make another deep playoff run, it was the same thing that happened to him coming off the 2023 season when he had all the work and then all the work in the postseason. So a year older, a lot of mileage on his body. We'll see what happens because I Think we all saw a Trent Williams less offense and what that looks like against a really good defense, and it wasn't pretty. So McCaffrey is still elite. I think if you're still going to buy into him staying healthy, the hope would be is that if he misses any time due to injury, it's not 2024. You know, he only plays four games and that's unfortunately been his track record. When he misses time, he misses a lot of time. It's not like, you know, a game here, two weeks, there's, you know, it's not season ending in a lot of cases, but in a lot of situations it's majority of season. So I think you're going to have a lot of risk built in and depending on who the backup is, if it's Brian Robinson, if it's Isaac Garendo, if it's somebody else that they bring in, you know, that person's probably going to be hyped up a lot by us with the thought of, okay, if McCaffrey misses time. You know what this running back system has been. So that player may get overdrafted if McCaffrey plays the majority of the year. But I think you just got to build in some, you know, level of buffer of, okay, who's trending up? Bijan was great, Gibbs was great, McCaffrey was great. He was better than them. But can you do it again? And then do you like James Cook and Jonathan Taylor in the same, you know, range of McCaffrey? But, you know, the, the, the way that these numbers tell us and what these numbers tell us, you know, with the workload plus age, like he's just hitting a lot of red flags. Unfortunately, at a time when a lot of people should still be excited about him, just the, the risk you have to take, the hope would be is that he's Derrick Henry esque and he just continues to last until, you know, we, we finally decide that he's done.

[Dave]

What's the track record of running backs that finish first overall the following year?

[Adam]

Oh, I think he's the last. Oh, no. Who's the last one to repeat?

[Dave]

I'm asking.

[Adam]

Todd Gurley, maybe?

[Dave]

Might be Todd Gurley.

[Jamie]

That sounds Repeat is back to back number one in fantasy leagues. Yeah.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

I think you got to go back like Jamal Charles or Ladanian Thompson. I think it's been that long. Wow.

[Dave]

Okay.

[Jamie]

What about.

[Adam]

But it's, but it's a. Finishes first.

[Dave]

Overall, then he repeats top five the following year. Does that happen frequently? All right, well, then that's A good thing for McCaffrey. But I, I. All those issues that Jamie talked about.413 touches and he still has games to play. 30 years old when he enters the season. The 49ers would be wise to pull back on how much they use him and find somebody else that they could use in tandem with him. And I don't think you could rule that out.

[Adam]

Last year, Jamir Gibbs was number one overall and he finished top five.

[Dave]

Okay, so that's a tremendous example. Yeah.

[Adam]

But actually it's not as, not as common as you think now that I'm just going back. Kind of scary, but I don't know, it's. You could probably make the same case at wide receiver too. There aren't a lot of guys that. That's true.

[Dave]

Repeat at number one last two years. Any wide receiver that averaged 20 PPR points per game had a downtick the following year.

[Jamie]

So we're going to have all of our top 12s and top 24 overall on the site this week. So I'm writing quarterbacks for today and like to go back to your Herbert thought on Hampton. Only three people at Herbert in their top 12 of the six of us who did it, I'm if I remember correctly because I, I put the running back list together, I think only Dan may have had McCaffrey in his top three. I could be wrong. Maybe Jacob did too. But we're for the most part in a very similar range and we all did this independently. Very similar range of a lot of players. So like for the quarterbacks for example, I know I'm going off topic here, but for the quarterbacks, you were the only one that had my homes.

[Adam]

Who's you? Me.

[Jamie]

Adam was the only one that had my homes in top 12. Heath is just anti Chiefs against this one. Dave was the highest on dart. Jacob was the lowest. Because I just recalling because I writing what stood out of the list. Jacob was the lowest on Burrow. He had him at 10. Everybody else had him in the top six. Heath was the highest on Stafford. You know, just looking at the quarterback who led the NFL and passing yards had an amazing season and Jacob and I were the only ones that had Lawrence ranked in the top 12.

[Adam]

Yeah, I'd burrow two and everybody had.

[Jamie]

Him in the top six except for, except for Jacob. So.

[Adam]

Okay, yeah, that by the way I'm looking now. I think the last running back to repeat as RB1 was Priest Holmes in 22,002 and 2003.

[Dave]

Okay.

[Adam]

And boy did he destroy 2002.

[Jamie]

Oh, I got the Chiefs running back wrong. I'm sorry. Yeah.

[Adam]

2002 he played only 14 games and he scored about 60 more points than Ladanian Tomlinson. He averaged 31.6 fantasy points per game in PPR. And 2003, he averaged 27.9 fantasy points per game in PPR. Only scored 27 touchdowns that year, though. All right, so back to the top 12 overall. Top six was for everybody was the same six, slightly different order. Bijan Gibbs, Puka Chase, Achan. JSN For Dave, 7, 8, 9, 10 was Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey. I'm on Ross St. Brown, James Cook. For Jamie 7, 8, 9, 10 Was Aman Ross, St. Brown, CD Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, James Cook. So we haven't gotten to Taylor yet for Jamie. Although he's 11. Taylor has Taylor's 11th for Jamie McBride is 12. We haven't gotten a lamb yet for Dave. I imagine he'll be 11 or 12 for me. 7, 8, 9, 10 was Lamb, St. Brown, Omari and Hampton. Christian McCaffrey. Dave. Who's for Jamie? It's Taylor McBride 11 12. Who's 1112 for you?

[Dave]

Hampton and Lamb.

[Adam]

Hampton and Lamb. And for me it is James Cook and Jonathan Taylor. So that means in our top 12 the only difference is in terms of names. Dave and I have a Marian Hampton. I have him ninth, you have him 11th and Jamie has McBride 12th and no Hampton. I don't remember. Let me see where I have McBride. I have McBride. Oh, I don't even.

[Dave]

I have McBride. 15.

[Jamie]

I have both.

[Adam]

I'm 13th. Okay. Where do you have Hampton, Jamie?

[Jamie]

I don't remember.

[Adam]

Okay. You think he's going to be pretty close to top 12.

[Jamie]

He's round two. I'm not sure.

[Adam]

So no, we don't have did. Do you think you have Genti or Hampton hire because obviously Dave and I have Hampton.

[Jamie]

Hampton.

[Adam]

And did anyone give any consideration to RJ Harvey or any other sophomore running backs in the top 12?

[Dave]

No.

[Jamie]

No. There are several of the. Several. There are a few of the six people who did I remember what it was that had Trevion Henderson in the top 12 and not RJ Harvey.

[Adam]

Yeah. For Madre is not there. I could see that happening. All right.

[Dave]

Yes, that's true.

[Jamie]

And there are somebody just put in the chat. There are a couple people that have camp Scatter in their top 12.

[Adam]

No chance for me. No scatter. Boo. I don't know. He'd have to real. I mean he's coming off a pretty serious injury and he'd have to regain that starting job. I think he'll be sharing originally. He'll probably get it at some point. I'm not really a big Tracy guy, but I don't know. That seems like a stretch.

[Dave]

Yeah, he's.

[Jamie]

He did lead all rookies in points per game.

[Dave]

Yeah, he's awesome. I just don't know if he's worth taking the round one. Capital is too rich to take. Scatter.

[Jamie]

Boo. No, no, no. Not round one. Top 12 running backs. Sorry.

[Dave]

Oh, oh, that's different.

[Adam]

Oh, top 12 running backs.

[Jamie]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Dave]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He can make that.

[Adam]

That'd be interesting. Top 12. So that would be. I think I had seven running backs in the first round. After that, for me it's Chase Brown eight. No, I had eight running. I had eight running backs in the first round. Whatever.

[Jamie]

I could tell you if you want to have your. I have yours.

[Adam]

Oh, no, I had seven and then I have Jacobs, eight, Chase Brown nine, Barkley 10, RJ Harvey, 11, Ashton Genti, 12. Dave's at similar list for my running.

[Dave]

Backs in the top 12.

[Adam]

I don't know if you have it.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Pretty close.

[Dave]

Yeah, I've got it.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Jamie]

It's funny the way Chase Brown finished. He would have been top three.

[Adam]

Yeah, it's going to be hard. I mean, it was exactly what I loved about what we all liked about him.

[Jamie]

Go.

[Adam]

Chase Brown with Joe Burrow is just an animal. He's great and he showed it again. We got to take a break, come back and we'll do some superlatives. But that's your top 12 for 20, 26. I don't know how much it'll change. I bet it's going to be mostly the same. I have one more. One follow up.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Well, I was going to say I think what happens to Malik Neighbors, Justin Jefferson, Garrett Wilson could change who's at the bottom of the top 12. At least for me.

[Jamie]

Like if.

[Dave]

If those guys get upgrades and in the case of Neighbors, just if he gets healthy, he's ready to go for the start of training camp. You could definitely build the case that they're late, round one type guys in full ppr.

[Jamie]

Yeah. And again, I don't have in front of me. I know Neighbors is close for me. I might have had him in over Taylor for what I probably know. I do think if any of the free agent running backs lands in a great spot, Breeze hall, for example, that's a guy that could skyrocket up draft boards as well. So I don't know if any of the rookies. Crack. Crack the top 12. You know, love will be the most interesting one. Yeah, there you go. If he ends up in the right spot. But I think we may have learned our lesson from it.

[Adam]

Yeah, I gotta. We gotta take a break. We'll take a break and we'll talk about this in a minute here. And Jeremiah Love, Notre Dame running back, could be a top five pick. We'll be right back to talk about that and some other things after this. Okay, I'm going to ask you this. I'm going to give you the top 10 in the NFL Draft. If Jeremiah Love goes to any of these teams, will he be a top? Will he be a first round pick in fantasy drafts? Not going to go to Las Vegas. If he goes to the jets, will Jeremiah Love be a top 12 pick if he goes to the Cardinals?

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

If he goes to the Titans?

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

Giants?

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

Browns? No.

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

Washington.

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

Saints.

[Jamie]

I don't hear you at all.

[Dave]

No, Jamie talk.

[Adam]

But Jamie is talking. You don't hear us, Dave?

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Dave]

I have no idea what's going on.

[Adam]

Get out of here. Get the hell out of here. Bengals. No, I got a good one for you. 10th overall to the Kansas City Chiefs.

[Jamie]

Maybe.

[Adam]

There we go.

[Jamie]

But we fell for this before when they took a running back in the first round.

[Adam]

He is so much better than Clyde Edwards Elair. And he was the last.

[Jamie]

It's also top 10 capital versus yeah, 30 seconds. Whatever it was.

[Adam]

30 was 30 second.

[Jamie]

Can you imagine if they had taken Jonathan Taylor?

[Adam]

That'd be pretty good. Chiefs don't know anything. All right. Oh, James Cook. It was the last guy I wanted to ask you about. So any. Is there any? Are you nervous at all with James Cook? You only have 33 cat. Oh, he had 33 catches in 17 games. We've never thought of him as a round one type of player. You're cool with that? Just round one?

[Jamie]

I mean, he should have been around one player each of the last two years.

[Adam]

Why that? He wasn't even close to that. We were talking about him. I had to make the. I had to justify him in the third round.

[Jamie]

No, no, I'm not saying we were going to take him. I'm saying post season we should have taken him round one each of last years.

[Adam]

What do you think, Dave?

[Dave]

About?

[Adam]

I don't know. Can you hear anything?

[Dave]

I now I can. No idea what happened. Sorry about that, you guys.

[Adam]

If Jeremiah Love goes to the Chiefs at 10.

[Dave]

Oh, that's sexy. I would definitely be tempted to take him in round Two.

[Adam]

Okay. All right. Superlatives. So here's how the superlatives. Oh, wait, before we superlatives, I found my document with my top 12 overall for 2025 from a year ago. Should we see how I probably have.

[Dave]

One of those January.

[Jamie]

Yeah, we do. It's called our preseason rankings. We have those.

[Adam]

No, but this is January.

[Dave]

But you want it from January.

[Adam]

Yeah, our first look. So my, my January top 12 was Bijan Chase, Justin Jefferson. But I change on that Puka, Nico Collins, Saquon Barkley, Jameer Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey, CD Lamb. I'm on Ross St. Brown. I don't really think we need to get into the next two Malik neighbors, Brian Thomas Jr. Not bad. Not bad.

[Jamie]

You did well.

[Adam]

Yeah, not bad. Okay. Superlatives. So this is how we do it every year. We will come up. I think we are going to have four categories and we're going to let you vote on our Facebook page. So if you go to Facebook to search for fantasy football today, ask to join. Our guy Rob Thomas will let you in our moderator. Very helpful, dude. And you can vote on it. So I have to remember to change that setting. That doesn't allow people to write in their own candidates. Is that makes things very distracting. But we'll do fantasy mvp. We'll do biggest bust. We will do best waiver wire player and comeback player of the year. So we'll come up with the four nominees right now and you all can vote on it and we will reveal the results either later this week or next week. All right, Fantasy mvp. This is not highest score necessarily. This is a combination of great season and great draft value. So Jamie, you've already done this. So where do you want to start? We're gonna have to come up. Who would you suggest the four MVP candidates would be?

[Jamie]

I think I made a case for five. And so you referenced I've already done this. So it's on the site. I have the all fantasy teams which are three teams worth of players and the mvp. If you don't want me to reveal the mvp, I won't.

[Adam]

Yeah, don't.

[Jamie]

But the five guys that I made the case for would be Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson, Puka Nakua, Jackson Smith, Najigba and Trey McBride.

[Adam]

We have to take one of them out.

[Jamie]

So if you're going to take somebody out, I would take out Bijan just because the reason I included him was based on his finish. His fantasy playoffs were absolutely ridiculous. Where he aver he scored 29 PPR points or more in all three games.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And so his finishing kick was just ridiculous. Insane. But I think if you're gonna take somebody out, you take him out because Puka was amazing. JSN was the MVP for the majority of the season. McBride, what he did at his position is incredible and just dominated that tight end spot. And then McCaffrey think he speaks for himself.

[Adam]

And the thing about Puka, just from.

[Jamie]

An NFL perspective, may be the offensive player of the year, getting to over 2400 total yards from scrimmage.

[Adam]

Who, Bijan?

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Think about Puka. Was that because of the Stafford injury, he fell to the second round. His fantasy pros ADP is. Is 13th.

[Dave]

Ours was 16.8.

[Adam]

Yeah. So he's a. And he had a great fantasy playoffs too, although not so much. Week 17, not that it was bad.

[Jamie]

Almost did if that touchdown kind. Right.

[Adam]

What was this? So week 17 scored 15.7 points. The week before that, 46.5. Ooh, man. All right, Dave, if we were. Are there any other names you Want to mention? McCaffrey, Bijan, Puka, JSN, Trey, McBride. Maybe we have to eliminate Bijan. Anyone else?

[Dave]

I think it's easy to make a case for a quarterback just because so many of them have late adp. So they've got to do something really special to make this list. And I think Stafford is deserving. He finishes the number one QB on a per game basis. It was north of 26. It might have been right at 26 fantasy points per game. His ADP was in the 150s. Just an unbelievable value for someone that in some leagues he wasn't even drafted and he went on to be the best quarterback in fantasy. That makes him pretty damn valuable. I think he should be on the list. Drake, maybe he was drafted about 30 picks sooner and he didn't have quite the same average as Matthew Stafford. And I get why Jamie didn't have a quarterback on his fantasy MVP list. Because as good as Stafford was, Drake May was maybe a couple points per game lower. Josh Allen was maybe one point per game lower. So it's. It's got to be like a really great year from a quarterback to. To be a part of the fantasy MVP conversation. I just think Stafford warrants it because he finished as the number one guy and his ADP was outside of the first 12 rounds.

[Jamie]

So just. Just one thing for context. I did this through week 17 and through week 17, Allen was better than Stafford points per game. So. Right. I think if you're going to make a case for a quarterback for Me, it would have had to be a 30 point per game season to be the fantasy MVP, especially with what McCaffrey did and McBride did and Bijan's finish and Puka's season and JSN season.

[Adam]

So I'm seeing some James Cook support in the chat. By the way, it's a really good draft pick.

[Jamie]

You know, fantastic draft pick.

[Adam]

I. I think I'm with Jamie eliminating Bijan. Yeah. All right, so McCaffrey, Puka, JSN, Trey McBride. All right, biggest bust. You did that one too.

[Dave]

Justin Jefferson Next.

[Adam]

Brian Thomas Jr.

[Dave]

Done.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I didn't. I didn't categorize anybody for this. It was Jefferson. There's the list on the. You want me to give you guys that I put on the. On the list?

[Adam]

Yeah. Who. Who are four gonna be? I think Jefferson to me, Barkley.

[Jamie]

The. The quarterback I had was Lamar. And the. I eliminated a lot of the injuries, you know, so anybody that missed.

[Dave]

So, like Jay and Daniels, Malik, Neighbors, you're just taking them off the list.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Lamar played enough games to make the list. So for me, it was. I mean, my four would be Jefferson, Thomas, Genty, and Barkley.

[Adam]

I completely agree with those.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Barkley was RB Overall. He was RB15. No per game. He was RB15.

[Jamie]

Genti was RB7 at the end of week. Well, he didn't play Week 18, so at the end of Week 17, he had lost just shy of eight PPR points per game from the previous year.

[Adam]

And people thought we were crazy for not having him, you know, number one overall, basically. So. Okay. And then Dave, you good with that four?

[Dave]

Yes.

[Adam]

Okay. Justin Jefferson, Saquon Barkley, Ashton genti, Brian Thomas Jr. Oh, that's gonna be fun.

[Dave]

I mean, I was thinking about. Hold on. Just one other name to throw in. There was lad McConkey because he was early round three pick, and I don't think he even averaged 12 PPR points per game. But those other guys sucked more than McConkey did.

[Jamie]

The toughest one I had to come up because I did. I did it just as a fantasy lineup. So I had Lamar, quarterback, Genti, and Barkley at running back. The receivers were easy with McConkey as the third one, joining JJ and. And Thomas, the tight end I struggle with. And I just went based on ADP was Hawkinson. He was so bad by comparison to the field where he was drafted. And then the flex. I did Camaro because of still being a borderline round two, round three pick and just awful.

[Adam]

I actually think you could make a bus case For Trey Mc. For, for Brock Bowers.

[Jamie]

Yeah, but I, you know, when you look at his points per game, clearly he did not live up to the expectations. He still was third. And so, you know, depending on where you drafted him, I think by the time we got to the draft process, he wasn't going in the first round. He was going more towards the 2, 3 turn. And so it was just like Hawkinson was so bad.

[Adam]

Yeah, Hawkinson was ridiculous. I had Bowers fourth. I don't know if you have Tucker Craft in there. So it's McBride, Kittle, Kraft, Bowers, but Bowers, like just barely behind. He's almost, he's practically tied for second, basically. So in that sense, yeah, he's. He scored a respectable 14.5 PPR points per game. So minor bust, but not terrible. Seven touchdowns for, for how many touchdowns did that team throw? He had seven of them.

[Jamie]

That's pretty good.

[Adam]

All right. Best waiver wire pickup of the year. I think Dave, you probably named it with Stafford is going to be the winner. Who else we're looking at?

[Jamie]

So I think there were, there were three. And if you really want to, you know, expand it, you could throw in two more quarterbacks because what Stafford did was incredible. What Jacoby Brissette did was incredible for a time when fantasy managers were desperate for some quarterbacks given some injuries and whatnot. But really I think the, the, the top guys would be Stafford, Michael Wilson and Rico Doddle. And if you want to throw. And, and I struggle with the tight ends too because Kyle Pitts and Harold Fanon actually made Pitts the tight end and Fan in the flex for what they were able to accomplish given their draft capital too, in the case of Fan and not drafted at all.

[Adam]

Okay, I have got a name that I'm, I think needs to be on this list. Finally, we have a little debate.

[Dave]

I have one too.

[Adam]

Wandale Robinson.

[Jamie]

Wanda was on the list as well. It was on the story.

[Adam]

Wide receiver, 17 per game. Who do you got, Dave?

[Dave]

Kenny Gainwell.

[Jamie]

Yep. The. The. It's funny. The two running backs were Rico and Gainwell. The. The receivers were Wandale Wilson. I struggled with the third one I did Quentin Johnson because of what he did at the start of the season and how we were starting him at points during the year. The tight end was pits. The flex was, was Fannin. And it's funny, like if you really look at the quarterbacks like you can make an argument for Joe Burrow.

[Adam]

Sure.

[Jamie]

Because of when he was dropped in many leagues and then picked up and won A lot of people fantasy championships. He was 23 points or more in four of his final five games going into week 18.

[Adam]

Oh, man. So do we have. Okay, do we have a final five of Stafford, Dowdle, Michael Wilson, Gainwell, Wandell, Robinson?

[Jamie]

I would say the. The three that I would advocate for would be Wilson, Rico, and Wandell. And then I would probably put Stafford fourth just because we picked him up so early in the season.

[Adam]

Yeah, but that's kind of. He's exactly like Baker Mayfield. I feel like Baker Mayfield was this guy last year. I think Stafford is the winner. To me, I would put him on there. Dave, if you were going to eliminate one, who would it be?

[Dave]

Dowdle. He didn't average as many PPR points per game as gain. Well, he was an absolute bust after he had his run of huge games. And I. If I've got to pick four, I've got to narrow it down. I thought Gainwell helped fantasy managers more.

[Jamie]

I agree. I don't disagree with that. I. The way that I kind of approached it was like, who are we starting of the guys that we picked up consistently? And Gainwell for the. As great as he was down the stretch, and maybe this is a format thing that it was ppr. He was being started half and non. He wasn't. But it was always like 50 or 60 at most in terms of a start percent. Like, Rico Doddle was a 90 start guy once he became a thing.

[Adam]

But he's.

[Jamie]

And even when we said not to start him, like, it barely dipped below 70%.

[Adam]

But he'd hurt people.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

You know, he's. He really let people down. Raised my hand here, you know, he let me down from week 12 on.

[Dave]

He was brutal. It's best 12.4 PPR points.

[Adam]

I don't want to make it sound like I think you're crazy or anything. Just this is. We have to make a tough cut here. I think I'm gonna leave it up to the chat. So Stafford's in. Michael Wilson's in. You think Wanda's in?

[Dave]

Yes.

[Adam]

So it's Gainwell or Dowdle. All right, who stays? That's why I want to know from the chat, who should be on the.

[Jamie]

Unless you want to do two quarterbacks.

[Adam]

I don't know. With Burrow.

[Jamie]

No, Brissette.

[Adam]

Oh, Brissette.

[Jamie]

I mean, Brissette for Brissette. When he became the starter, from week six on, he had one game under 20 fantasy.

[Adam]

Yeah, you're right. He should be on there, too. Crap.

[Jamie]

I think he did two quarterbacks.

[Dave]

I mean, Two quarterbacks, two receivers.

[Adam]

Yeah, okay, that's fine.

[Dave]

But if you put the two quarterbacks on the list, does Brissette get any votes? Everyone will vote for Stafford before Brissette.

[Adam]

It's true. But it doesn't matter.

[Jamie]

I mean, I think the people are going to vote for who they started, do they used, you know, sure.

[Dave]

Look, I think it's going to come, honestly. Maybe this is one where we only have three options, where it's Stafford, Wondale, and Wilson.

[Adam]

Never.

[Dave]

Those are the three that I think people would like, seriously vote for. I don't think anybody. I think no matter which running back we put on that list, they're going to finish fourth. And I don't think anybody's going to vote for Brissette when they can vote.

[Adam]

For Stafford deserves it. Dave, like, look Brissette and look Jacoby Brissette in the eye. You know how much this means to him, and you tell him that he shouldn't be on this list. All right, I like what we're doing. I like Stafford, Brissette, Michael Wilson, Wanda Robinson.

[Dave]

We're just throwing away. The fourth place is going to go to Brissette.

[Adam]

I don't know if I agree with that. I mean, he's definitely not going to win, but I think Rwanda might get fourth place.

[Jamie]

I think Wilson might win just because of.

[Dave]

I think Wilson might win, too.

[Jamie]

What he. What he did, it was like, hey, Marvin Harris is out. Okay.

[Dave]

Yeah, maybe Brissette will be. Maybe he'll crack a smile if Wilson wins.

[Adam]

All right, who's comeback player of the year?

[Dave]

Javante next.

[Adam]

Oh, I like that.

[Jamie]

McCaffrey.

[Adam]

Oh.

[Dave]

Oh, yeah. I guess McCaffrey makes a lot of sense, too.

[Adam]

Yeah, he'll probably win. Christian McCaffrey, Javante Williams. Who else? George Pickens.

[Jamie]

So what's. What's the criteria? Injury?

[Adam]

I don't think it has to be.

[Dave]

I think it should be coming back from a sucker. Yeah.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

I think George Pickens last year. Now you're good.

[Adam]

Oh, this is.

[Dave]

What did Olave do last year? And cow pits bits isn't bad.

[Adam]

Oh, lobby.

[Dave]

Olave went from Sing, 9.6 PPR points per game in 2024 to 16.8 in 2025. He should be on the list.

[Jamie]

So you're right.

[Dave]

Like, if McCaffrey's gonna be on here, then no other running back should be on.

[Jamie]

I think. I think it's a good point. In the chat, Everybody was drafting McCaffrey, so let's take McCaffrey out. Okay, that's so. So if we're going fantasy and fantasy comeback player of the year. So somebody that we were completely writing off or not really excited about. And maybe that takes Pickens out of the conversation too because we were excited about picking.

[Dave]

That's fair.

[Jamie]

So maybe it's Olave, it's Javante. Pitts.

[Adam]

Pits. Pits didn't even really have that good of a year.

[Jamie]

No. But that stretch he had was. Was awesome.

[Adam]

I wish.

[Dave]

If we're gonna do stretches, then do we consider this isn't a great candidate. But Christian Watson had some.

[Jamie]

I would say Pittman. Pittman started the season was amazing and he was an afterthought on draft day.

[Dave]

What about Alec Pierce then?

[Adam]

I don't know. I mean the thing is, don't you have to be like to be the comeback player of the year, don't you have to have been good before you were bad? You know what I mean? Like, like Javante, at least was. Was briefly good then.

[Jamie]

Oh, that's a good mention. Etienne.

[Adam]

Oh, that's a lot.

[Dave]

That's a good one.

[Jamie]

So Olave, Javante, etn, I think.

[Adam]

How about Jonathan Taylor?

[Jamie]

No, again I think we're saying everybody was drafting these guys.

[Dave]

Yeah, but dude, ETN, his. His ADP was 92.93. ETN's great. He belongs on this list.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Alec Pierce doesn't belong on the waiver wire list.

[Jamie]

He just did so.

[Dave]

He didn't do enough.

[Jamie]

It was him, Quinn Johnston. I forget the other receiver that I had as the third option. But Pierce, when he had that start of the season wasn't as good as. As Quentin. And again I went by who were people starting.

[Dave]

Right.

[Jamie]

Nobody was ever starting out.

[Dave]

Yeah, no one's going to vote for Pierce when they can vote for Wilson or Wanda.

[Adam]

How about now? I was going to say Bree hall, but that doesn't even make sense. He had a worse season this year, believe it or not.

[Dave]

That's unbelievable.

[Adam]

Is there a quarterback? I mean Trevor Lawrence, sure. Oh, Trevor Lawrence is a good one. He's QB4, I think I gotta put. Okay. All right. We have five finalists.

[Dave]

You can make the case for Drake May, who averaged 18.6 in his last 11 from.

[Jamie]

Nah, it's gotta be like a veteran.

[Adam]

Yeah, I think like Lawrence follows the arc of comeback play. Like he, he was hyped.

[Dave]

Yeah, he was at 16.7 last year.

[Jamie]

So Lawrence, Olave, Javante and I, I.

[Adam]

Would say ETN over pits.

[Jamie]

Yeah, that's fine. Etn, etn, Javante, Olave and Lawrence I think makes sense. Yeah.

[Adam]

Okay, cool. All right. These will be up on Facebook probably later today, if not tomorrow. Please vote and thank you all very much. We also have. Oh, Matthew Stafford. Is that. Yeah, Matthew Stafford's a pretty good one, too. Crap.

[Dave]

But he's in the MVP conversation.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Like, to me, he's. Well, I, I actually, we're not voting for Stafford for mvp, I think.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Dave]

He didn't make the top four.

[Adam]

No, he is. Well, he's not.

[Jamie]

Oh, yes.

[Adam]

Oh, no, no. He's waiver wire pickup of the year.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

Maybe fired up for these results. Okay. Thank you all for very much. We have FFT Express twice a week. Jamie and I are about to record that. So a lot of content for you throughout the upcoming months. Have a great day. Speak to you on Wednesday on Fantasy football.

[Jamie]

Paramount Podcasts. Everything you've done has come to this.

[Dave]

The biggest and wildest mission yet is now streaming.

[Jamie]

I think need you to trust me one last time. Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible, the final reckoning.

[Adam]

Rated VG13, now streaming on Paramount Plus.