FFT Dynasty - 2025 Rookie Class Breakdown: Sanders vs Ward, Jeanty, & More! (1/17 Dynasty Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today – Episode: FFT Dynasty - 2025 Rookie Class Breakdown: Sanders vs Ward, Jeanty, & More! (1/17)
Release Date: January 17, 2025
Hosts: Heath Cummings, Matt Cooper, Matthew Rupert
Guests: Matt Cooper (@CouchScoutsFF), Matthew Rupert (@MatthewRupertFF) from Couch Scouts Fantasy Football

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Introduction

In the inaugural episode of the FFT Dynasty series, Heath Cummings welcomes Matt Cooper and Matthew Rupert from Couch Scouts Fantasy Football to dissect the highly anticipated 2025 rookie class. The discussion centers around key prospects, positional depth, draft strategies, and insights tailored for dynasty league enthusiasts aiming to elevate their teams.

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Overview of the 2025 Rookie Class

Matthew Rupert opens the conversation by contrasting the 2025 class with the previous year's, highlighting a significant depth surge, especially at the running back (RB) position.

[07:05] Matthew Rupert: “I do think it's deeper and it's deeper in different ways... this year it's going to be much more deep in running back.”

Rupert emphasizes that while the elite tier may not be as pronounced as 2024, the overall depth provides managers with valuable options in the middle rounds, fostering robust team-building opportunities.

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Evaluation Criteria and Undervalued Aspects

The duo delves into their scouting philosophy, stressing the importance of understanding how a player achieves success on the field rather than merely celebrating athletic prowess.

[08:18] Matthew Rupert: “You have to really look at and examine like how did they get to this win?”

This approach ensures that selected rookies possess skills and techniques that translate effectively to the NFL, providing sustained value in dynasty formats.

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Position-Specific Analysis

Running Backs: A Top-Heavy and Deep Class

Matt Cooper and Matthew Rupert concur that the 2025 RB class is both top-heavy and deep, offering several high-potential picks beyond the first few slots.

[12:38] Matt Cooper: “It's a deep and top heavy running back class... Ashton Genti is going to be a full 10 points ahead of my RB1 in last year's class.”

Key Prospects:

• Ashton Genti: Seen as the premier RB prospect, Rupert justifies his top-tier ranking, especially if he lands with a team needing a workhorse back.

  [14:10] Matthew Rupert: “If he goes somewhere where I just don't like it, then I can see putting them outside the top five... But if he goes to a spot like Minnesota or the Cowboys, I can totally justify put them in the top five.”

• Omarion Hampton: Valued for his power and explosiveness.

  [15:19] Matt Cooper: “He sheds so many tackles. He's so much fun to watch... his run style... really fun to watch.”

• Cam Scatibo: Identified as a sleeper with strong contact balance and vision.

  [15:19] Matt Cooper: “Cam Scatibo out of Arizona State... really in love with what we saw.”

Quarterbacks: Limited Depth with High Stakes

The conversation pivots to quarterbacks (QBs), where depth remains scarce despite the high impact on dynasty teams.

[20:35] Matthew Rupert: “to me, it's still Cam Ward.”

Top QB Prospects:

• Cam Ward: Offers significant upside, especially if paired with a strong coaching staff.

  [21:12] Matthew Rupert: “He showed me the ability to do that... he has a lot of intriguing aspects to his game.”

• Shador Sanders: Viewed as a game manager with limited mobility and arm strength.

  [24:26] Matt Cooper: “Shador Sanders is not that mobile... he's kind of looking to escape to throw."

Other QBs like Jackson Dart show potential but are not deemed significant for most fantasy purposes.

Wide Receivers: Emerging Talent and Strategic Value

The WR class features several players poised to break into top dynasty rankings.

[26:36] Matt Cooper: “Travis Hunter, Ted McMillan, and Luther Burden all have a pretty good shot at that.”

Notable Wide Receivers:

• Travis Hunter: High-grade prospect with explosive play potential.
• Ted McMillan & Luther Burden: Dependent on landing spots but carry substantial upside.
• Isaiah Bond: Fast and explosive, could insert into top-tier with the right team.

Sleeper Picks:

• Jalen Noel (Iowa State): Praised for route-running and versatility.

  [30:12] Matt Cooper: “He plays bigger than he is... really like this game.”

• Kyron Lacey (LSU): Combines height and athleticism, offering deep route-running skills.

[31:05] Matt Cooper: “He's worthy of a top 10 pick in the NFL draft... he started playing wide receiver in 2022.”

Tight Ends: Awaiting the Next Brock Bowers

While the class lacks a Brock Bowers equivalent, top TE prospects present solid value.

[32:09] Matthew Rupert: “the top two guys, Colson Loveland from Michigan and Tower Warren from Penn State... really need to reload our rosters.”

Key Tight Ends:

• Colston Loveland (Michigan): Exceptional route runner with contested catch capabilities.
• Tower Warren (Penn State): Versatile with skills akin to T.J. Hockenson.

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Roster Building and Draft Strategies

Heath Cummings and his guests discuss optimal timing and methods for integrating rookies into new dynasty leagues.

[35:06] Matthew Rupert: “I want to do the rookie draft like literally the next day after the actual NFL draft wraps up.”

Matt Cooper suggests innovative approaches like using kicker slots as placeholders to add flexibility in rookie trading.

[36:05] Matt Cooper: “If you wanted to take a rookie pick, you would take a kicker as a placeholder... it creates some fun because you can trade up and down later in the rookie draft.”

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Trade and League Dynamics

The episode addresses trade strategies tailored to team competitiveness, distinguishing between contenders and rebuilders.

[39:30] Matthew Rupert: “If you're a contender, then maybe someone like a TJ Hawkinson... If you're a rebuilder, I would be looking for a top 15 pick.”

Discussions include evaluating player value based on team strategy, and how to leverage high-potential rookies in trades.

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Viewer Questions and Mailbag

Heath engages with audience queries, offering personalized advice on topics like:

• Rookie Draft Timing: Preferences for linear vs. snake drafts based on league objectives.

• Player Trades: Evaluating when to trade seasoned players like Marvin Harrison Jr. or A.J. Brown for future assets.

  [45:06] James in D.C.: "Would you just take Genty or consider McMillan with the first pick?"

Heath advises prioritizing generational talents like Ashton Genti for immediate impact over depth options.

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Conclusion and Additional Resources

The episode wraps with Matt Cooper promoting Couch Scouts' resources, including their website, all 22 film room, rookie guides, bonus podcasts, and a free Discord community for ongoing support and discussions.

[38:04] Matt Cooper: “We have a free discord... it'd be a good community.”

Heath encourages listeners to subscribe and engage with Couch Scouts to maximize their dynasty league success.

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Notable Quotes

• Matthew Rupert [07:05]: “There’s a lot of guys that you can get in the third round of this draft or the back end of the second round that you're going to be very happy with.”

• Matt Cooper [12:38]: “It's a deep and top heavy running back class... Ashton Genti is going to be a full 10 points ahead of my RB1 in last year's class.”

• Matthew Rupert [08:18]: “You have to really look at and examine like how did they get to this win?”

• Matt Cooper [32:09]: “Somebody else, Jared McBride... I think tower Warren is a big play.”

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Resources

• Couch Scouts Fantasy Football
  Website: couchscouts.com
  Discord: Link available in show notes
  Promotion: Use code FFT for 50% off annual packages (first 50 subscribers)

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For dynasty managers looking to harness the depth of the 2025 rookie class and refine their draft strategies, this episode of Fantasy Football Today offers invaluable insights and actionable advice.

Transcript

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[Heath Cummings]

Welcome back to Fantasy Football today, Dynasty. I am your host, Heath Cummings. I am joined today by the Mats. Matt Cooper at Couch Scouts Fantasy Football. Matthew Rupert at Matthew Rupert ff. Those are their Twitter handles. Both of these guys a part of Couch Scouts Fantasy Football? You've seen Matt Cooper on the show before and I just want to give you guys a chance to start. First off, thank you for being here. We've been on a little bit of a hiatus. I think it's been 10 days since we last had FFT Dynasty. And so it's good to have you guys here to get the show going again. Just tell everybody. And Matt, I'll start with you. Tell everybody you know what they can find at Couch Scouts.

[Matt Cooper]

Yeah. Thank you so much for having us. It's one of my favorite shows to be a guest on and appreciate you continuing to invite me back. So, yeah, Couch Scouts, we launched our website in September of this year and really our philosophy at Couch Scouts, we think scouting is kind of the key to Dynasty Fantasy Football. If you can scout really well, you're going to dominate your rookie draft. And if you dominate your rookie draft year after year after year, you're going to continue to accrue value on your roster and you're going to end up creating that dynasty that everybody's after. So that's our philosophy and on the website we want to provide a bunch of tools and resources to help you do that. So some of the things that we offer, we have a all 22 film room that is, it's devi if you play that format. So we have some underclassmen, offensive players, freshmen and sophomores and then idp. So I, I didn't know of anywhere else where you could go scout all 22 on IDP players. And so if you're listening and you play in an IDP league, we have an IDP film room. On our website we also put together a rookie guide. So last year was our first year doing it and we scouted, I think it was about 70 prospects and put film grades on each guy, you know, in depth, trait by trait, breakdown, strengths and weaknesses, where we would rank them, where we would draft them. So it's kind of meant to be the ultimate cheat sheet to your rookie draft. And we're going to be doing that again this year. So members on the website, on the the scout potato package will get access to our rookie guide. When we release that, we do some one on one consultation. So you can go on there, book a 30 minute meeting with, with one of our site owners to kind of just get some advice on your dynasty roster. We'll pull up your roster, we'll talk strategy and yeah, so, so those are some of the things we offer. We also have a bonus podcast. So we have a main podcast that's public for everybody that we do every single week. And then we have a bonus show that's just for, for site members. And right now we're working, we're going through what we're calling our Inside the Prospect series. So we're breaking down film on the podcast for a lot of these rookies and we're kind of doing some of the big names on the main show and then covering a lot of the sleepers for our site members. So the Juicy names, the sleepers, the Bucky Irvings, we hold that back for people who are subscribed to the site. And actually right now, because you've been so generous to ask us on the show a bunch of different times and Heath is one of my favorite people and we want to give you guys a chance to check this out. We're actually running a promotion right now. So if you use the code FFT on the couchscouts.com website, the first 50 people that use that code are going to get 50% off so you can sign up for this is for our annual packages so you can sign up for a whole year with couch scouts. For 50 off use the code FFT.

[Heath Cummings]

But you got to be awesome. Appreciate you guys doing that. First 50 people go do that. Miguel is in the YouTube chat and says let's do two episodes a week. And yes, Miguel, that's a great idea. You know what, I think we'll start next week, Tuesdays and Fridays. Next week you're going to get FFT Dynasty here on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcast. Thank you guys for your support of the show. I would ask that you continue that support with some five star reviews over on Spotify. And if you have a question and you have a five star review, I will be answering those at the end of the month. We've got a one man mailbag coming up at the end of the month. That's enough about what's coming up. What's on today's show, we're talking 2025 rookies. I talk about this a lot. I watch more college football in January and February than I do the entirety of the college football season just because of my job watching so much NFL football. So I'm going to be digging into the tape myself a lot. But these guys are ahead of me. I'll just be honest. I've got some questions for them as we get, as I get started digging into this class. Hopefully get you guys prepared for, for your rookie drafts. And then at the very end of the show, we'll do about 40 minutes of rookies. And the very end of the show, I've got some of your email questions. A lot of you have been sending in Dynasty email questions. I will answer a few of those at the end of today's show. I want to start with three questions. We usually do three questions for our guest. We've got two guests. I've asked Matt Cooper enough questions on this podcast. Let's get three questions for Matthew Rupert.

[Matthew Rupert]

Sounds good.

[Heath Cummings]

Let's, let's, let's start with this. Just kind of an overview of the 2025 class and I don't want you to compare it to how 2024 performed. But more, how do you feel about this class now in January compared to, if you can remember, how you felt about the 2024 class last January?

[Matthew Rupert]

Yeah, it's hard to really compare any class to the 2024 class. To me it's an outlier class, kind of like 2014 was with the amount of just a wheat prospects at this point, I don't think it's. And it's very fair to say that there's not as much elite, elite talent as we had last year, but I do think it's deeper and it's deeper in different ways. Last year it was very deep in wide receiver. This year it's going to be much more deep in running back. I think there's a lot of guys that you can get in the third round of this draft or the back end of the second round that you're going to be very happy with. Whereas last year I felt like there was two or three guys that I was like excited to get in in that kind of range. This year I think there's going to be a handful more guys that you're going to be excited to add to your roster there.

[Heath Cummings]

I like the extra depth. I've got a couple of teams that fell apart this year and so I have like 6, 20, 25 picks and 3 or 4 20, 26 picks and. And so I'm. I'm excited to dig a little bit deeper into this class. What I want to know second is what would you say when you're evaluating prospects, what's the thing that you think is most generally undervalued by the community?

[Matthew Rupert]

I think that how I kind of frame scouting is looking at how this prospect wins and then evaluating from there. How does that translate to the NFL? Like if he's just winning on athleticism, just being a better athlete, running a deep cross and being faster than the other guy because he's playing in college, like that's not going to translate to the NFL. You have to really look at and examine like how did they get to this win? Did they win with a really nuanced route, like a good head fake, really good quickness to really break it off and then catch that deep touchdown? Or was he just running faster than the other guy? To me, I'm going to value the guy that used nuances routes because that's something that's going to translate a lot better than to the NFL. Once you get to the NFL, you can't just run a deep cross and always be faster than the other guy because the NFL just has too much talent on the field. So really examining like how this player wins and similar to like with quarterback, like is he winning because he has guys running wide open down the field and he threw for five touchdowns in this game. You have to look at it and see like was he really going through progressions was he thrown in with anticipation and the tight windows. That's the kind of things I look for and just examining how they win, not just looking at the end result.

[Heath Cummings]

Of each play, the, the context around the production. I love that nosta's in the YouTube chat says signed up for Couch Scouts. Thanks you guys for the discount code. Thank you for, for both for supporting our guests and for supporting the podcast. Third question, Matthew. In a super Flex dynasty league, what is the lowest rookie pick you would accept for Marvin Harrison Jr.

[Matthew Rupert]

I just want to get this out front. I won't be buying a bunch of Marvin Harrison this offseason. I feel like people soured so much on him and it's just crazy to me. Like he had over 800 yards and eight touchdowns in his rookie season. Like a couple years ago. We'd be ecstatic about that. But with the way that some rookies have exploded lately, it's kind of looked at as a disappointing season, which I feel like it's still really good rookie season and I still saw a lot right on tape where I'm excited about them. So with that being said this year, like if it's not the 102 or 101, like I'm, I'm gonna hold on to Marvin Harrison.

[Heath Cummings]

I think you're happy giving up 103 for him.

[Matthew Rupert]

No, no, I would only give up 101 or 102. If it's 103, I'm going to keep Harrison.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, so you would accept 101 or 102 if you had Harrison on your roster and if you were dealing for him, you'd be happy to give up 103. Is that accurate?

[Matthew Rupert]

Yep.

[Heath Cummings]

Good answer. Good answer. Let's take a first break and when we come back, we're going to dive into the 2025 draft class.

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[Heath Cummings]

Matt Cooper, I feel like I made you sit there and just listen for a couple minutes so I'll get you answered the next question. We know we all need a little bit of practice at just sitting and listening on occasion, myself definitely included. So I wanted to ask you. I want to start with running back and this first question kind of gets to the reason I'm starting with running back. Most of the people I've talked to about the 2025 class and I think Matthew kind of indicated that in his earlier answer about the depth at the running back position. Do we all agree that this is relatively speaking the best position in this class?

[Matt Cooper]

Yeah, I do. I've already graded three guys with my film grade that would have been my RB one last year. And there's still a number of intriguing names I haven't even studied yet. So it's a deep and top heavy running back class. You know, the elite, you know, probably the 101 is going to be Ashton Genti in super Flex, even in super flex leagues. And I've got him like a full 10 points ahead of, of my RB1 in last year's class. And in terms of my film grade, I think he's a pretty elite running back prospect. My comp for him was Marshawn lynch, which, you know, he had a pretty good NFL career, I'd say. So yeah, it's, it's a really strong class and I'm excited about it. I, I think the dynasty landscape kind of needs it because outside of the top five guys there's a lot of question marks.

[Heath Cummings]

Well, it's the way I look at it is I think you said five and that's probably about right. And then you have elite old backs and unproven young backs and we need, we need a few more elite young backs and some guys that we thought were maybe aren't. You know, he mentioned the name Ashton Genty like Matthew. That's been the guy that I've heard talked about as 101 since really the last four months. So I guess my question is let's assume that the NFL agrees. We go through the entire process and he gets round one draft capital, which doesn't happen for running backs anymore. How high should he rank in dynasty running back ranks?

[Matthew Rupert]

If that's the case, I can totally justify putting him in the top five from the get go. He's probably the highest graded guy that I've ever scouted fully. It I will say like one thing I've kind of kept on coming back to especially with the running backs. Like it's really going to depend on landing spot. If he goes somewhere where I just don't like it, then I can see putting them outside the top five like top seven, top nine. But if he goes to a spot like let's say Minnesota or the Cowboys, something like that, where there's a queer need, there's no absolute workhorse. I I I can totally justify put them in the top five.

[Heath Cummings]

I, I like it. I, I I think I wrote earlier this year that I, I think it's possible that he'd get all the way to three. I can't imagine ranking him ahead of Bijan or ahead of Gibbs, but other than that anything is possible. In the words of Kevin Garnett. Matt, we'll start with you on this but I want both of you to answer and Matt Cooper gets the first answer. So Matthew, Rupert, you're gon are your favorite backs in this class besides Genty?

[Matt Cooper]

Yeah. So I'll go with, you know, as far as a top guy like the guy that's probably my number two is Omarion Hampton. I think just an elite power back. He, he sheds so many tackles. He's so much fun to watch and you know, enough explosiveness to his game. He's not the most elusive back in the world but he can change directions pretty well for being a 220 pounder and you know, but he doesn't look to, he's not looking to make people miss. He's looking to smash him in the mouth. That's his run style which is why I said he's really fun to watch. So Omarion Hampton right now is probably my number two guy. And then my favorite sleeper is Cam Scatibo out of Arizona State. We, we did him on our bonus show for the subscribers a couple weeks ago and all three of us on our podcast we're just in love with what we saw from Cams Cativo. Just really, really high level contact balance, more burst than I was expecting to see from him and great vision and patience can catch passes. So I, I think right now the ADP on him, I mean January ADP doesn't mean Anything but people, you third or fourth round, you could probably still get Scativo. I think by the time all is said and done, he's not going to be a sleeper anymore. I think people are going to round on him. I can't see him going into later than the second round of a rookie draft, but right now he's a my guy and I'm super high on cams.

[Heath Cummings]

Kativo, Matthew, let's take those names out of the equation then. Who's your favorite back left?

[Matthew Rupert]

I'd say Trayvon Henderson. To me he just fits the NFL today so well. He's so explosive. He can do so much in the passing game as well. He breaks off the long runs. It's very elusive and I feel like people just forget that. He was clearly the consensus RB1 last year before he decided to go back to Ohio State and then he had to split time with Jenkins this year. So he's, you know, not the shiny new object. But to me he's still such a talent and he fits today's NFL so well. If he has a really good landing spot, I, I can totally see him ended up being RB2 at the end of the process.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, speaking of RB2 and I don't think the RB2 is probably going to be the 102 in most rookie drafts, but we did a question from the chat. Zippy and Samuel says would you rather have the 102 or JSN?

[Matthew Rupert]

I'm a big JSN guy. I absolutely love this tape and I felt like I knew he was going to break out in year two because we kind of expected with the situation that it wouldn't be a stellar year one. That after our scouting last week I'm still going to keep the 102 and Matt Cooper.

[Matt Cooper]

Do you agree it's really close. I agree with everything he said. I love Jackson, Smith and Jigba as a prospect and we saw the breakout the player he's alluding to. We scouted Travis Hunter this past week and there's, you know, I don't think most people are considering him102 right now partially because of the question mark of how much wide receivers he going to play. But and we were blown away. I, I had him graded higher than Malik Neighbors in my film grades as a wide receiver. So I hope he plays a lot of wide receiver in the NFL and I'm pretty bullish on him as a prospect. I think it's, it's a really hard call for me between Jason or spending the 102 on Travis Hunter. At this point, I was still writing.

[Heath Cummings]

About baseball a little bit back when Shohei Otani came to be. And we had this huge crisis in fantasy baseball with how are we going to score this guy who's racking up points or categories as both a hitter or and a pitcher? And in most leagues, that's not going to matter. But you did mention earlier that you guys put together some IDP stuff. He's an elite prospect as a defensive back as well. And I've been in some, like, I remember when J.J. watt was playing a little bit of tight end or variable, and we were kind of having some discussions, can we count these touchdowns? And I've always been like, yes, anything they do on the field should count. So if you guys are commissioner of some IDP leagues, are you going to find a way to make sure that Travis Hunter is getting points for both what he does on offense and what he does on defense?

[Matt Cooper]

Yes. And he would be a very clear 101.

[Matthew Rupert]

Agreed.

[Heath Cummings]

I love it. Absolutely love it. And I, I think, like, people worry about. I think the kids say op about him being too OV because of that, but I like, he should be if he's good enough to do that. That's kind of the point of this game, is rewarding greatness, and he's going to bring a greatness possibly that we've not ever seen. I hope that he doesn't go to a team that runs fun and says, no, we're going to play him. Five plays a game on offense and he's going to play defensive back the whole game. But that's possible. Let's. Let's go. His teammate at Colorado will move to the quarterback position. And we'll just start with probably an easy question. Matthew Rupert, Cam Ward or Shador Sanders?

[Matthew Rupert]

I'm still early on in the process. I haven't scouted my full eight to 10 games, but from what I've seen so far, to me, it's clearly Cam Ward. It's funny, too, because when I was scouting Travis Hunter and scouting Xavier Restrepo, the Miami wide receiver, and obviously Travis Hunter of Colorado, I. I kind of came away with the opposite because, you know, you get to see the quarterback some when you're scouting the wide receivers. I thought I like standards a little bit more, but when I got into it more, I really liked Cam Ward. Plays too much hero ball for me.

[Heath Cummings]

Right.

[Matthew Rupert]

And that, that was the thing that kept on coming up when I was watching Xavier Restrepo. But when he plays, you know, within the system and on time, I thought he had really good touch. A lot of guys that have that rocket arm really struggle to kind of throttle down, you know, not throw a laser to the running back on a check down or, you know, not being able to throw it over the middle linebacker over the middle of the field, like they just don't know how to throw a change up, basically.

[Heath Cummings]

Right.

[Matthew Rupert]

He showed me the ability to do that. And then he also, he can throw at any arm angle off platform. You know, if he's got a defensive tackle coming to his lap, like he doesn't have to step into throw and he can side arm it around him. I saw that multiple times on tape. So he has a lot of intriguing aspects to his game to where his ceiling is just going to be so much higher. And if he gets paired up with a really good offensive coordinator and coaching staff, like if Ben Johnson does go to the Raiders, right, and they end up taking Cam Ward, I'm gonna be a lot higher on him than I am even right now. I. But with all that being said, I, I do like Sanders a little bit more than I was expecting.

[Heath Cummings]

Right.

[Matthew Rupert]

He, he, he has to go to a specific system. He can't be, you know, play action deep shots down the field. Like he can't build that kind of offense around him. But like a west coast system where he's throwing a bunch of intermediate passes on time, I think that's the kind of game that he can thrive in.

[Heath Cummings]

So, Matt Cooper, I want to ask you and I. This may just sound dumb and you can tell me, Heath, that's a dumb question, but is there, Is there? I've heard a lot of people talk about Cam Ward in this upside sense. These types of plays that he can make that make you dream about who he could be. We've really been burnt as a community, I feel like over the last three or four years, chasing upside at this position and ending up with guys who are no longer starting quarterbacks, is there a possibility that Shador Sanders is a better NFL quarterback and we're drafting Cam Ward because I think Cam Ward over Sanders at this point is going to be pretty close to consensus for fantasy football purposes. But is that just a fantasy football thing?

[Matt Cooper]

You know, I. Again, like Rupert said, we're kind of, you know, we started scouting prospects December 1st, and so we're a month and a half in, but still have three and a half months to go before the draft. And so I have not dug into these quarterbacks yet with, with the all 22. So I'm gonna withhold judgment there on that. But I, I think from what I saw live watch and I do play Devi so I've kind of had eyes on these guys for a few years now. I think a lot of people assume Shador Sanders is really mobile because of his dad and his name. He's not that mobile. He's got some escapability in the pocket but he's kind of looking to escape to throw. He's not really going to run so there's not a lot of upside there as far as like a Konami code. I also his arm is not that strong so he's he kind of profiles more as like a game manager type.

[Heath Cummings]

Right.

[Matt Cooper]

And, and he holds the ball way too long. That's my concern. If you're a game manager type but you're not processing the field quickly enough I've got concerns. So I don't think Shador Sanders is going to be like it's not an exciting quarterback class overall. These are the top two prospects and they both have some pretty major warts.

[Heath Cummings]

And that's I guess that's where I was going to go next is and I'll stay with you like Michael Pinnock's over both of these guys.

[Matt Cooper]

I maybe still lean Ward. We'll see when I dig into the all 22 I reserve the right to change my mind about that but I think because of the upside like you said because Penix is basically a statue back there I might, I might be more interested in what Cam Ward could be but I could change my mind on that pretty quick.

[Heath Cummings]

Matthew Rupert, does anybody. Are there any other quarterbacks in this class that matter for fantasy football?

[Matthew Rupert]

I don't think so. Maybe Jackson Dart potentially. I've, I haven't studied him yet but I've seen some intriguing things from him. But from everything else I've seen I, I just don't see much outside of the top two.

[Heath Cummings]

I, I that's a perfectly good answer. And I mean it really. If you're in a super flex league and you need a quarterback it really kind of lends itself to maybe you should be trying to trade back and pick up a 2026 pick or I mean definitely a 2027 pick. Now we've said that type of thing before about positions and it's turned out to look foolish. So we'll see how we feel about it after the NFL draft. They may just draft four quarterbacks in the first 10 picks.

[Matthew Rupert]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

Or something. So I want to move over to wide receiver and Matt Cooper. I'll start with you. You can both answer this question though. I've got Malik, Neighbors, Brian Thomas, Lad McConkey, Marvin Harrison Jr. Xavier Worthy, Roma Dunze. They're all inside of my top 21 dynasty wide receivers. This was an exceptional class. My question is how many wide receivers from this class, 20, 25 should are going to end up in my top 20 in the dynasty wide receiver rankings?

[Matt Cooper]

Yeah, I think Travis Hunter, Ted McMillan and Luther Burden all have a pretty good shot at that. Being first round picks going to a good team. I think they have traits that should translate to fantasy points. Abuka has a shot if he gets to the right landing spot and is kind of a high volume PPR guy and then I guess my outside deep sleeper to join that group. I wouldn't say that this is likely to happen, but it could. Is Isaiah Bond out of Texas, you know, Worthy you just mentioned snuck into that group. Bond is a similar player, slight frame but so, so fast and explosive. Great after the catch. So if he lands with the right team, gets the right draft capital, I could see him inserting himself into that conversation. Those are the guys at this point. Now there's more that I haven't studied in the class yet, but those are the ones this point that I think at least have an outside shot to get there.

[Heath Cummings]

Matthew, would you mostly agree with that list anybody he missed or anybody you think that doesn't belong?

[Matthew Rupert]

I totally agree. I think Travis Hunter just absolutely gets into that list. I think Ted McMillan, Luther Burden are going to be very location dependent. I, I think Burden in particular has to go to the right spot and then Ted McMillan out of Arizona State.

[Heath Cummings]

So you guys, you guys, Arizona, like you can't stop saying his name. So. Yeah. Are you getting a higher degree of confidence that he's going to be a wide receiver in the NFL?

[Matthew Rupert]

I'm putting my, I, I put down my flag on it. I think he's going to play full time wide receiver and then my, my prediction is he'll play more partial cornerback. You know, obvious passing situations in a game when the other team's trying to come back. That's my prediction. I think he's just too talented. The game revolves around the offense and scoring points. All the money's there. So I think that's where he's going to end up.

[Heath Cummings]

I wonder if it's as simple as does an offensive head coach or a defensive head coach draft him? I guess one of those defensive coaches.

[Matt Cooper]

I think what we were talking about the other night on our show was he's just so Good. How do you not use him at wide receiver? I mean, I don't know how to evaluate defensive back, so I can't speak to that.

[Matthew Rupert]

Right.

[Matt Cooper]

But when we watch the wide receiver tape, I think he's worthy of a top 10 pick in the NFL draft. Even if all he did was play wide receiver, he's that good. I mentioned I had a higher grade on him than Malik Neighbors, so that's where it's like I can't imagine him not being used at wide receiver. It would just be such an egregious miss by whatever team drafted him. Yeah. So that, that's kind of, I think, the upside too, because he's only been playing the position for two years. You know, he, he started playing wide receiver in 2022 at a D1 football school and he went for like 800 yards and five touchdowns in his first year playing the position. So in this year he went for almost 1300 yards and 15 touchdowns in his second year at the position. And he's still learning how to run routes and stuff, so. So like he's just such a freak athlete and he's more polished already than I would expect from a second year player. But we definitely haven't seen his ceiling at that position.

[Heath Cummings]

Jeff is just reading my mind. I just. Chop. I'm sorry. The next question is asking you guys your favorite sleeper wide receivers and he's in the chat, in the YouTube chat giving us his Tori Horton, Jack Beck and Jalen Royals. You guys looked at any of these guys and who, who are your favorite sleepers? We'll start with you, Matthew Rupert.

[Matthew Rupert]

I have not studied those three yet, so now I'm excited to really dive into them. I do have a favorite sleeper that I studied actually this morning. Graded out. Jalen Noel from Iowa State. Really, really love his game. He plays bigger than than he is. He's quite nuanced in his route running. He can win contested catches. He tracks the ball very well. Just really, really like this game particularly. We really put a heavy emphasis on route running and being able to get open because that's how you really earn targets and especially get a lot of points in PPR leagues. And I feel like he did that very well. And they did that at three different positions. Inside, outside, slot. Didn't matter where he was, he could win. So that's a sleeper that I'm really going to target this year.

[Heath Cummings]

Matt Cooper.

[Matt Cooper]

Yeah, if I had to call out a different name, I would say maybe kyron Lacey from LSU. He is 6 foot 2, 200 plus pounds profiles as an X receiver. Was a pretty good route runner and you know, pretty good athlete, good ball skills, loved like he did so many sideline toe taps and you know, wide catch radius. So there was a lot that I liked. He's an older prospect, was a fifth year senior, but Kyron Lacey, who I think is gonna, if I'm remembering correctly, I think he's accepted a Senior bowl invite, don't quote me on that. But I think he has a chance to, to rise throughout the draft process and be a pretty good sleeper name.

[Heath Cummings]

I want to move over to the tight end position. Matthew Rupert and I put in the notes. I don't know what to say about these guys. No, there's obviously not a Brock Bowers in this class, but I do see a lot of mocks with tight ends going in the first round. So are there some guys that you can get excited about from a fantasy football perspective at the tight end position?

[Matthew Rupert]

Yeah, I think the top two guys, Colson Loveland from Michigan and Tower Warren from Penn State, you know, like you said. And there probably never will be another Brock Bowers, right? Absolutely. Generational guy. But I do think that these top two guys, I haven't, you know, giving them film grade yet, but from, from what I've studied, I really like, you know, they kind of, I think Tower Warren kind of profiles kind of similar to TJ Hawkinson. You know, not the fastest guy but you know, can just do everything. And I'm really excited. And because of how good this running back class is and how scarce it seems like that position is, we really need to reload our rosters. I think, you know, those two guys could be at the end of the first round or top of the second round. So I think there's a really good value there, potentially.

[Heath Cummings]

Any other thoughts you have on the tight end position this year, Matt?

[Matt Cooper]

Yeah, I mean like you said, no Brock Bowers it, but it's deeper, you know, like after Brock Bowers last year, you're not looking at another tight end until Ben Senate in the third. He went second round in the NFL draft but was going third round. Rookie drafts. And then Jatavian Sanders we thought might be an intriguing prospect, but he went day three and didn't really do much as a rookie. So I think this year there's probably three or four guys that, that are interesting to me. He mentioned Loveland and Warren and Loveland really stood out to me as I was cutting up film for the Dynasty nerds. And I just think as a route runner there's so much that he did that was masked by how bad Michigan's offense was this year. I mean, he's everything that you're looking for from a receiving tight end. He's got great ability to go up and get these contested catches. He can run routes. He's fast for his position, expected to get the draft capital. So I like Colston Loveland out of Michigan some that he didn't mention. Harold Fannin Jr. Out of bowling Green. He is also a Senior bowl guy, I believe, and very athletic. A little undersized, but very athletic. My friend Mike Anthony, he texted me the other day he's got on the Dynasty Dogs podcast, said he reminded him of Delaney Walker. A little undersized but athletic. And I could see that comp. And Mason Taylor, who actually I believe is related to Miami Dolphins great defensive end Jason Taylor. He's out of LSU and he is an intriguing, I mean athletic, moved around the formation, not much of a blocker. Also a little undersized I think. But Mason Taylor is a name to monitor as well in this class.

[Heath Cummings]

We had a good question from the chat from Joe says, if you were starting a dynasty league today so I assume let's, let's assume you're doing a startup draft right now. When would you do your rookie draft? Matthew Rupert, I'll let you answer that one.

[Matthew Rupert]

I used to be a do it as close to the season as possible so you get more information. And the last couple years I've completely flipped on that and I want to do the rookie draft like literally the next day after the actual NFL draft wraps up.

[Heath Cummings]

I I like doing it the week after we usually start ours because I'm producing content that first week we usually start ours like the Monday eight days after the draft or something. But Matt Cooper, I want to kind of a different question. Do you like let's say you're starting a dynasty league in in July. How do you feel about when you're doing including rookies in the startup or if you have one of these where you have the startup and I like to have the startup and the rookie draft separate just because you get to do more drafting, how do you how do you go about determining who gets what pick in what draft? Because obviously the first person in the startup draft shouldn't get the first pick in the in the redraft or in the rookie draft. So how do you kind of how do you feel about that?

[Matt Cooper]

So my favorite two ways of doing it. One, if it's in July and you already the NFL draft has happened and you've got landing spots and people have had time to do their scouting and all that. I'm totally fine with just including rookies in the startup draft at that point. That's probably how I would do it, just to keep it simple. But if you really wanted to have that second draft and have, you know, create some more fun for yourself and maybe some more trading opportunities and you wanted to do it that way, I would include. I would basically have people. If you wanted to take a rookie pick, you would take a kicker as a placeholder. And so the first kicker that goes in the startup draft is the rookie 101. Second kicker that gets taken in the startup is the 102, so on and so forth. And that, that creates some fun because you can trade up and down later in the rookie draft. And it provides a little bit of flexibility too, when you're building your team because you're, you're going, okay, well, I just took the rookie 102. That could either be this person or this person. And so I'm not locked into like, okay, I just took a running back. It's like, it's a mystery box. You know, it could be a running back, it could be a wide receiver. And so it gives you some flexibility in how you're building your team. And that, that can be a fun way to approach it as well.

[Heath Cummings]

I, I like that a lot. I've definitely done it that way. Matt B. In the chat says no, including rookies one week following. If late in the season, do it the opposite order. As for the rookie as a startup for the rookies, and I've done it that way as well. I think, I think I prefer the drafting your draft slot as a part of the startup, but there's lots of good ways to do it and it's.

[Matt Cooper]

Really work for the commission, but it's, it's extra fun.

[Heath Cummings]

And as long as Azer's the commission, we really don't care if it's more worthless. And you guys have been fantastic Today on the 2025 rookie class, Matt Cooper. I wanted to give you one more chance. Just tell everybody what they can find at Couch Scouts, where they can find your podcast. Everything they need to know.

[Matt Cooper]

Yeah. So if you want to find the podcast, search Couch Scouts. All one word. Couch. Like you sit on Scout, like you're scouting prospects. Couch Scouts. And we're on YouTube, we're on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, all the platforms for the website. It's couchscouts.com. pretty simple. Couchscouts.com and if you missed it at the beginning of the show, we are offering 50 off for the first 50 people that use the promo code FFT. So we want to give you guys a chance to check out our website. We got a lot of great tools there and all 22 film room, a rookie guide that's going to come out closer to the draft. That'll be the ultimate cheat sheet for you for your rookie drafts. Some bonus podcasts that are for members only and definitely would love for you guys to get in there and check it out. We also, I didn't mention this earlier on the show, we have a free discord. So this is just a place we want to get to know the people that listen to our show. So it's a good community. There's over a hundred people in there talking Dynasty all the time. People post their trades for reactions and advice. We react to news. We chat in there on game day as the games are happening live. It's a really great community. It's totally free. So that link, I believe is going to be in the show notes on this show and you can, we would love to have you come join our community Discord as well.

[Heath Cummings]

He's Matt Cooper. I also also Matthew, Rupert, thank you for being here today.

[Matthew Rupert]

Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having us eat.

[Heath Cummings]

We are not done yet. I'm going to let these guys go. We're going to take our second break and I'll be answering your emails after the break.

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[Heath Cummings]

From the director of the Greatest Showman comes the most original musical ever. I want to prove I can make it.

[Matt Cooper]

Prove to who?

[Heath Cummings]

Everyone, sir. The story starts Better Man Rated R. Now playing. All right, we are back. We had a bunch of emails that came in right after the season. I really appreciate you guys being so engaged. I wanted to make it sure. I took a chance to answer a couple of those. Looks like Thomas has also flagged a couple of chat questions. We'll see if I've got time to run through those in Kind of a rapid fire fashion as well. First, an email From James in D.C. maybe more of a suggestion, but he asked if I'd changed my rankings process for 2025. And I've mentioned this before, I put together a trade chart and one of the most difficult things is putting together rankings, especially top 150s or trade charts that reflect value for both contenders and rebuilders. And he said what he would really like to have is rankings for both contenders and rebuilders. And yeah, I would like to do that. It also sounds like twice as much work. I'm going to try to find a way to better incorporate that. But I think also the thing that you have to remember is most trades that are happening in dynasty leagues are not happening between contenders and contenders. In fact, a lot of contenders won't even trade with another contender. Most of them are happening between contenders and rebuilders. So we do need something that compares the value for those two groups of people. But maybe I'll find some way to highlight the players who are more valuable to rebuilders than they are in my rankings or contenders. I generally like to say, like if you're a contender, then the running backs are more valuable than they are listed here. The old players are more valuable than they are listed here. And if you are not, then those guys should not be on your roster in the first place. I'm considering one. One area I have changed my rankings in 2025 is just the longevity of the running back and wide receiver position. We'd already adjusted a couple of years ago. That quarterback seemed to be able to play this game longer than they used to be able to. We saw this year some older running backs really excel. I mean, Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley made me look like an idiot. And I, I think the question that we have to ask is is that a, a sports science thing? Is that a medicine thing? Or is that just Derek Henry and Saquon Barkley thing? And so that's kind of what I'm trying to evaluate. But I'll probably extend the age curves a little bit for the running back position and maybe even the wide receiver position. We had Simon sent a message from Canada. Thank you Simon. Thank you. To everybody who's listening from Canada says, do you have any thoughts? And this is a summary because it was a long message. Any thoughts on unique ways to determine rookie order? And then he asked if I like snake or linear for rookie draft? I think one of the things that Simon said in his message was what's the purpose of a rookie draft? Distributing Talent with the most talent going to the worst teams or fun and engagement because he has a hundred yard dash that's partially determined by a luck ranking that determines his rookie draft order. And I think it really is just dependent on your league. For me, I'm a pretty competitive guy and I would get pretty irritated if I tried to tank and then I got the sixth pick in the draft. I guess that would drive away tanking for me. I just like to go by record. I don't really. I'm okay if you want to use total points available, especially if it's a best bowl league. I think that makes a lot of, a lot of sense. I'm okay if you want to do it however you want to, but for me personally, I don't really want to be in a league where it's just random what the draft order is going to be next year. I find my fun in actually playing the game of fantasy football and I do prefer a linear order for rookie drafts. Azer is the commissioner of one of our leagues and he changed it, I believe to where round four goes in snake order. I still haven't figured out why he did that, but again, it's whatever your league prefers. I would just go linear throughout the order of the draft. We had a message from Steve here. He has the 101 and the 107 in this year's draft. He has three firsts in 2026. That's exciting, man. I love rebuilding. Looking at the roster, would you just take Genty or consider McMillan with the first pick? What about the 107? I have an early 2025 second as well. He was thinking maybe take the wide receiver because he has three first next year and maybe he'll just play for 2026. And I think it really comes down to how competitive do you think that you can be this year. It also comes down to how big do you think the difference is between Ashton Genti and everyone else? Because in a coin flip situation I'm probably just, I'm going to take the wide receiver. There's no probably about it. If Ashton Genti is a top 15 pick in the NFL draft and gets a great landing spot and we think this is a generational fantasy football running back for the next eight years, then I don't. Or seven years or whatever it is, I don't really care that the wide receiver might play three more years. I'm gonna go ahead and take Ashton Genti unless there's just absolutely no chance, like if I'm on a 2027 timeline then I think you probably try to trade down and accumulate even more picks. But I wouldn't want to pass up on that talent without getting any sort of bonus for it. We had Rich with a rapid fire. He had to send me three questions. So let's see how quick we can get through these. There's a bunch of 2024 rookies that did not make much of an impact this year. He highlights Keon Coleman, J.J. mcCarthy, Ben Sennett, Troy Franklin. Which ones do you think have the most potential for 2025 and beyond in a Super Flex league? I think the answer is still JJ McCarthy. I was really excited about him coming into the league. I think we saw that Kevin O'Connell's system can kind of make just about anybody good. And I kind of wonder if maybe what Sam Darnold did at the end of the year makes it more likely that we're going to see J.J. mcCarthy early. And then I. I generally lean towards if guys were not productive as rookies. Give me a good reason. Is it because they had terrible quarterback play? Is it because they were injured? It was because in JSN's case they were just kind of stuck behind somebody on the depth chart. I think that would probably lend itself more towards a Ben Senate because he just didn't really get the opportunity. And we saw that with Trey McBride, ironically enough, behind Zachary. It's like Vincent was this year. So. And also I think you should be a little more patient with tight ends. Something I've said for a few years now is with rookie tight ends, I'd almost rather just wait and trade for them in year two. That didn't work out very well with Brock Bowers this year would have worked out great with Trey McBride a couple years ago. Now, second question from Rich. We know receivers generally have longer careers than running backs. How much should you factor this in for rookie drafts? It's. I just talked about this, I guess. But it's more than a tiebreaker. It's. It's not everything. And it really depends on how competitive you think you are this year. If you're a true competitive team, then maybe it is only just a tiebreaker. If you are a true rebuilder, then it's a huge difference. I'd much rather have the wide receivers and the quarterbacks. And then do you have any general rules for deciding if your team is a contender? Man, I do this with Twitter a lot and I don't like to do this with guests, but I don't remember who said this. Somebody said on this podcast just earlier this year. If you have three top 30 players, then you can consider yourself a contender. That's. That sounds good enough to me. Like, I, I'd like to have some elite talent and I need to look around the rest of the league and say like, how, how many really truly elite teams are like some of the, some of these leagues I'm in, there's one or two or three teams that have just built up so much talent that their biggest problem is who to start at three different positions every week. And so then I'm going to have to feel much, much better about my team in that type of league than a league where it kind of looks wide open going into the year. We had a couple questions left from the chat that were stored. Miguel Tyrone Tracy, 1 QB, half PPR. What can we trade him away for? I like, I like the instinct here, Miguel, because Tyrone Tracy is exactly the type of running back who has been known to get replaced. Now, I think I'm a little bit lower than consensus on him, but I'll just kind of tell you, if you're a contender, then maybe someone like a TJ Hawkinson, possibly someone like, oh boy, a Ramandre Stevenson. If you're a rebuilder, I, I would be looking for a. I don't think you're going to get a first, but if I could get a top 15 pick, maybe a pick with the first three picks of round two, I would be willing to do that for Tyrone Tracy. And then we had Jamie also in the chat, says he's got a dynasty PPR1QB league, 10 teams. Oh wow. He's got a lot of really great wide receivers. Chase Nico Drake, London Marvin Harris and A.J. brown. He's got a lot of really good running backs. Gibbs Taylor, Chase Brown and Kyron Williams. No picks this year. Thinking about trading A.J. brown and I guess my question would be, what are you trading him for? This looks like a team that should be a, a true contender. You get a lot of great players. I don't really want to trade AJ Brown for picks if I've got a chance to win a championship this year. So I, I might be okay not having any picks in this year's draft. I do think that Brown, at 28 years old, is the kind of guy that you might start thinking about moving away from. But I, I'm not, I'm not. I'm not really feeling. Trading a top 12 wide receiver in a league where I have a chance to win it all, that's going to do it for your questions. It's kind of a mini mailbag. At the end of today's show, Again, thanks to the mats, go get you a subscription to Couch Scouts. Thanks to Thomas. Thanks to all you who are active in the chat. We will talk to you next Tuesday and Friday. Paramount Podcast what do you know about the Lioness program?

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