Loading summary
Transcript168 lines
- [00:00]
Podcast Host
It's important for your wardrobe to last and of course you want to look good and you want to love your clothes. So go to quince.com fftpod and start shopping on quints. Check out the super soft fleece pullover hoodie that's my new go to. I also love their sweaters and their T shirts and they have a cashmere polo that I can wear all the time. It looks good, it feels expensive, but it's actually affordable. The cashmere is 100% Mongolian, the same stuff luxury brands use. But Quince works directly with top factories and cuts out the middlemen. You're not paying for brand markup or fancy retail stores, just quality clothing. So right now go to quince.com fftpod for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to build your wardrobe and love it. And you will now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to q u I-N-E.com fftpod for free shipping and and 365 day returns. Quince.com fftpod life insurance it is such an important thing to have. I carry a lot of responsibility in my household and if something happened to me, there are real consequences like mortgage payments and everyday bills that don't just disappear. That's why I recommend life insurance through Ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy and 100% online.
- [01:28]
Jamie Eisenberg
You can.
- [01:29]
Podcast Host
You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes and get same day coverage. And there's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions. You can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month. As of March 2025, Business Insider named Ethos the number one no medical exam instant life insurance provider. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos now by going to ethos.comfft in as little as 10 minutes you can get your free quote and up to $3,000,000 in coverage at ethos.comfft that is ethos.comfft ethos.comfft Application times and rates may vary.
- [02:15]
Heath Cummings
This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
- [02:18]
Dave Richards
What a play.
- [02:19]
Jamie Eisenberg
Can you believe this?
- [02:21]
Heath Cummings
No, I can't.
- [02:22]
Dave Richards
It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is going to go the dist.
- [02:30]
Heath Cummings
Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and heath.
- [02:36]
Jamie Eisenberg
The worst second half performances of the 2025 season. That's our topic for today on Fantasy Football today. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave Richards. That's Heath Cummings. As you can see, no Adam Azer. Or here, no Adam Azer. As the show will get going, he is taking the day off to hopefully get himself healthy. Not feeling very well. So I'm expecting him back on Wednesday. Hopefully be back on Wednesday. We hope that Adam's feeling better. My guess is he's just out playing in the snow with the big storm that's hitting the northeast. But we know how Adam is. He's, you know, afraid to leave his house. So you never know if he's gonna be outside playing in the snow or not. But he'll be back on Wednesday. Anyway, guys, before we get to the negative and all the poor performances of the second half of 2025, how was your weekend and did you happen to catch the gold medal winning game for the United States in men's hockey?
- [03:24]
Dave Richards
Saw the end of the game. I thought it was awesome. I did not know that overtime hockey in the Olympics was three on three. And that made it really, really fun. And I wonder, is that that way in the NHL too? If somebody could let me know. Sorry to be ignorant to it. I don't think it is. But three on three hockey looks like a really good time and a hell of a game by the Canadians. Hell of a game by the Americans. It was very exciting. Otherwise, it was a really boring weekend. I miss football, guys. I. I know that the season just ended and it's a grind every single year for us, but I miss it. I miss the games. I miss the action.
- [04:06]
Heath Cummings
0% of the hockey game. I was, I was coaching basketball, winning a gold medal of our own. Played some good team basketball yesterday and some bad team basketball on Saturday. So it was all basketball for me, as usual.
- [04:24]
Jamie Eisenberg
All right.
- [04:24]
Dave Richards
But you got some gold medals, huh? That sounds.
- [04:26]
Heath Cummings
And I got to watch the Celtics beat the Lakers last night, so that was great.
- [04:29]
Dave Richards
That is funny. Claire is letting us know in our chat that the regular season, three on three for five minutes, playoffs, five on five for 20 minutes. I guess that's how hockey goes. I can't believe we're taught this is how. You know, Jamie, that it's the off season because we've talked more hockey to start this show than at any point in our lives on this show.
- [04:49]
Heath Cummings
I've seen a lot of people like Dave refer to it as three on three. But it's four on four. Right?
- [04:56]
Dave Richards
Right. It doesn't include the goalies.
- [04:58]
Jamie Eisenberg
Right.
- [04:58]
Heath Cummings
The goalies don't like the most Important player doesn't count.
- [05:02]
Jamie Eisenberg
I think they refer to it as three on three.
- [05:04]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, no, I think they do, but it's actually four on four.
- [05:07]
Dave Richards
Right. You've got three dudes plus a goalie and that's four people. Heath is basically saying that the hockey community is bad at counting or that
- [05:17]
Jamie Eisenberg
goalies are being disrespected.
- [05:19]
Heath Cummings
Sure.
- [05:20]
Jamie Eisenberg
First off, congratulations again to the U.S. men's hockey team and congratulations to the Heath 8th grade breakers team. So he give us your 30 second breakdown of how the team performed.
- [05:32]
Heath Cummings
You know, it's, it's the funniest thing. If you just share the basketball and pass more than you dribble, you win games.
- [05:41]
Jamie Eisenberg
That's, I mean, listen, you don't need
- [05:42]
Heath Cummings
any more than that.
- [05:43]
Dave Richards
You coach the Chicago Bulls, Heath, please. Yeah, they, they need, they need you.
- [05:48]
Heath Cummings
I, I've, I've, I've learned that kids and people generally stop listening to me around the age of 13. So that's why I've limited my basketball coaching to that age and below.
- [06:00]
Jamie Eisenberg
So I, I, I lost a eight and under soccer championship on Saturday. We were undefeated when everybody was like our whole team was there. We had one game where we missed a bunch of kids. We lost. So first time that we actually lost, which was, you know, frustrating to go that far. Felt like the 2007 Patriots and then two and two and four baseball games on Sunday. So it was a long, long sports weekend, you know, but good to hear that he allowed my son to win a championship. So I appreciate that. All right, let's get to the football. So we'll start with some news and notes. One of the guys that we're going to talk about from a news perspective is one of the topics of today's conversation, which his worst second half performance. Last week we talked about the best second half performers of 2025. That's weeks 10 through 18. And I'm working off the list from Adam. He was expected to be on the show again. He's not feeling well so he gave me the list of players. Guys, we're going to talk about quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts, Bo Nicks, Baker Mayfield. Running backs are Saquon Barkley, Javante Williams and Breece Hall. We'll talk about Javante in a second. With his new contract, wide receivers are CD Lamb, Courtland Sutton and Lad McConkey. And the three tight ends that he gave were Brock Bowers, Tyler Warren and Arande Gatson ii. But let's start with the news and notes and we' start with Javante. So we can sort of wrap in the topic and today's conversation and what happened to him over the weekend, which is that he signed a three year contract extension with the Cowboys for 20 million, $24 million, which includes $16 million guaranteed. So Heath, I know you were, I think, excited about Javante last year. If I'm not mistaken, you know, going to the Cowboys and had a very solid season overall again, did not finish the season strong. What are your thoughts on him now staying with the Cowboys? And this might be the first of, you know, several dominoes to fall in terms of where these guys are going to end up or maybe not go anywhere at all that Javante now stays with the Cowboys.
- [07:47]
Heath Cummings
So I think this was, this is the opposite of the Breeze hall situation. We've all been sitting around lighting candles hoping the jets decide not to put a tag on Breeze hall so he can go play football somewhere else. I'm very excited for Javante Williams that he gets to stay in Dallas and what should be, if not a complete workhorse role, definitely a feature role on a good offense. I think you can view him as an RB2 for next year. We can have plenty of arguments about whether he's a high end RB2 or a mid range RB2 or a low end RB2. I'm probably somewhere in the middle on that. Probably the biggest thing, and I tweeted this over the weekend is like this is fantastic news for dynasty managers who have Javante Williams because if you're a contender, it gives you an RB2 for next year and quite possibly for the next two years. And if you're ready to head into a rebuild, this is a great time to sell Javante Williams on the seeming certainty that he's going to have a starting role.
- [08:42]
Jamie Eisenberg
Dave Javante went in round five of our most recent mock draft, which is the one we did post Super Bowl. He went after other running backs that were Trevion Henderson in round four. He was the first running back taken around five, second pick around five.
- [08:56]
Dave Richards
Yeah, he went ahead of Swift. He went ahead of Ramondre.
- [09:00]
Jamie Eisenberg
Well here, here's the the running backs that were taken just before him. Trevion Henderson end around four, Travis Etn, middle of round four, Breeze Hall, Quinshawn Judkins. I think this is probably where he starts to come into play. And then the guys that went after him were Deandre Swift, Ramandre Stevenson. Scroll down a little bit to round six.
- [09:20]
Dave Richards
Facial Tootin is who I took in round six. I think he was.
- [09:23]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, so there was a pretty big gap from where Javante went, then Jalen Warren in round seven, Kyle Manangai. So he sort of was like the, almost like the end of a tier. Is round five the right spot for him?
- [09:35]
Dave Richards
It might end up being just where he goes and we'll probably, I won't say we. I'll probably end up calling him the last best RB2 and this is probably going to be that range because what running back in the draft are we going to love more than him? It's going to be Jeremiah Love. I don't know if there's going to be another one that lands in a great spot where we're going to be inclined to take him. And while I don't think this signing precludes the Cowboys from taking another running back at some point in the draft, I do think it means that Javante will be the lead back to start the year. And he, he can easily handle the same roles that we thought he would handle this year. And he did handle this year. Short yardage, goal line, passing downs. So it's a valuable role in a really good offense with a lot of continuity. I don't think there's any question that he's a top 60 pick and he might end up being a top 50 pick if things break right for him. Slash break wrong for other running backs in the league.
- [10:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
So currently 25 years old, in 2025 he had 252 carries, 1201 yards, 11 touchdowns, 35 catches on 51 targets, 137 yards and two touchdowns over 16 games. He got off to a great start, as we know. First game was touchdown dependent, had the two touchdowns against the Eagles, 24 fantasy points against the Giants in week two, he was basically over 18 PPR points in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of his first nine games. Then we get to week 10 and he starts to struggle a little bit. He finished the season averaging 12.2 PPR points per game. Excuse me, 12.4 PPR points per game, RB22 so Dave, what went wrong for him in the second half?
- [11:10]
Dave Richards
He stopped scoring touchdowns and that's really all I can see. I mean, the Cowboys offense obviously changed a little bit in the second half of the year too. But in the first half of the year, first eight games for Gervonta Williams, he had nine total touchdowns. He had four in the back half. His touches didn't really go down. His yards per game went down a little bit too. He went from 91 total yards per game in his first eight to 76.5. So obviously that type of a drop off stinks, but it's the touchdowns and the fact that he's still going to be in Dallas. Still, I just said all this high powered offense, all that fun stuff, it's going to open the door for him to having double digit touchdowns again. That's why we're drafting them. Should be the lead back. Hopefully he gets north of 15 touches per game like he did last year.
- [11:53]
Jamie Eisenberg
Other news and notes that we're looking at from the weekend and I'm sure we're going to get a lot this week. So as the week goes on, it's the start of the NFL combine. So as teams are meeting with the media and we're finding out a little bit more about the prospects, we'll get into that as we go. We know Fernando Mendoza for example is not going to throw, so we'll find out a little bit more about the rookies, whatever workouts they're able to do. But a lot of news and notes coming this week, but Zach Charbonnet reportedly had his ACL surgery on Friday. Timeline right now is undetermined. He posted this on social media so this is not coming from any of the NFL insiders. Again, I'm sure when Seattle's front office and coaching staff meets with the media we'll find out a little bit more about Charbonnet's timeline. But Heath, we've said this a lot about if Ken Walker returns to Seattle. If he doesn't, what if Charbonne is ready to go and Walker's gone. So let's say it's a day two, day three rookie and we know this class isn't that impressive, at least right now coming into the draft process how much we like Zach Charbonnet on drafting.
- [12:50]
Heath Cummings
It's kind of hard for me to like buy into the premise that he's going to be a full go by week one, but if we get to that point then I think he's right there in the Javante Williams conversation, depending on who else they've added. I I was just while you guys were talking trying to update my Javante Williams projection now that he's back with Dallas and I've got him looks like right around RB20 I think a low end RB2 with low end RB1 upside for Zach Sharpity.
- [13:17]
Jamie Eisenberg
It'll be interesting to see. You know, clearly he finished the season pre injury on a on a nice
- [13:22]
Dave Richards
run and it's on fire.
- [13:24]
Jamie Eisenberg
Who knows what his playoffs would have looked like for him if he did not get hurt in that game against San Francisco without him, Ken Walker was an absolute beast in four games last year, 18 PPR points or more in all four, averaged over 23 PPR points per game and was would have been in just those four games alone, would have been the number three overall player. So we'll see what happens with Ken Walker. But again, this devonte Williams news may lead to a good contract for Walker staying with the Seahawks. Dave, sounds like you want to jump in on there.
- [13:48]
Dave Richards
Yeah. Can you name another running back besides Adrian Peterson that had a late season ACL and came back strong?
- [13:56]
Jamie Eisenberg
Came back strong, yeah. And it's got to be late season, right?
- [14:00]
Dave Richards
Well, if I remember correctly, I think it was New Year's Eve. It was either Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve when Adrian Peterson tore his and he made it back before the nine month timeline that we always lay out for ACL injuries. Zach Charbonnet suffered his in mid January. So for him to come back in eight months would mean that he'd be
- [14:20]
Jamie Eisenberg
able to participate in something. I guess, let me, let me rephrase the question and we don't need a different answer, but I guess the, the way to look at it would be is if he's back early in the season and there is no addition of significance, you know, so we're talking about him expected to be the lead guy by let's say late September, early October with a committee prior to that. I think that would make us moderately excited and I think the range that Heath laid out is probably where we would be. Cam Ward, we know got hurt in Week 17 for the Titans, injured his shoulder, reportedly an AC joint sprain on a touchdown run against the Jaguars. NFL Network is reporting that Ward, who hasn't thrown yet, is on track to resume throwing in March. So a quarterback I think we'll be keeping an eye on there. And then just the sad news. Over the weekend we found out that Rondell Moore, former Vikings or Vikings wide receiver, spent time with the Cardinals and the Falcons as well, unfortunately passed away on Saturday. So our thoughts and prayers with his family and see if we'll find out any more information about that. But sad news that a 25 year old person in Rondell Moore, you know, no longer with us and a former NFL player as well. All right, so let's take a quick break right now. When we get back, we'll get into the second half. Performers, worst performers again, we'll talk about some of the quarterbacks like Bo Nix, Jalen Hurts, Baker Mayfield, Saquon Barkley, Javante Williams or Saquon Barkley, Breece hall and a few wide receivers and tight ends. Well, come back after break avoiding your
- [15:46]
Dave Richards
unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app Download today.
- [16:08]
Commercial Announcer
Spring always gets me in the mood to redo everything. New season, new vibe. But every time I start browsing furniture, I'm reminded how fast those redesign costs can stack up. That is, except at Bob's Discount Furniture. If I'm going to refresh my space, I want style and quality without draining my bank account. And Bob's just gets that. Take the Play Day sectional. It's a total space saver with built in bookshelves and charging ports. Perfect for long lazy weekends. There's even a pop up sleeper for overnight guests that's a lot of bells and whistles. And for less than the competition or Bob's best selling lush mattress. It's got high density Bob O Pedic memory foam and a cooling cover just like the competition. But Bob's cost only $999 and the warranty is 10 years longer. Don't even get me started on the modular Bob Sectional. Buttery soft upholstery, family proof construction, multiple colors, built in storage, wireless charging, even the Bob Opedic memory foam. At only 250 per piece, it's easy to build your dream sectional for hundreds less than the competition. So when you're ready to get going on that long awaited home makeover, know there's a better way to score wow worthy pieces at everyday low prices. Stop into your local Bob store or shop online and see for yourself.
- [17:26]
Jamie Eisenberg
All right, so let's get into the the worst second half performers. Here again, our topic for the show provided by Adam Azer. So we'll start with the quarterbacks and Heath, you took Jalen Hurts in our last mock draft in round nine, he finished the second half. And again, this is defined from weeks 10 through 18 as quarterback 15 at 18.2 fantasy points per game. How do we feel about Jalen Hurts? Looking at that spectrum of that that period of time, is he going to return to the guy that we know that he's capable of being as a top five caliber fantasy quarterback? And I know there's still moving parts. Is A.J. brown going to still be there in Philadelphia? Is it going to be with Dallas Goddard on the roster? Offensive line seems like it's going to be relatively intact. Lane Johnson says he's going to return, which is great. 35 year old right tackle saying he's going to play in 2026. So what do we think about Jalen Hurts and what do we think about why he struggled in the end of the 2025 season?
- [18:21]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I think that those are two different questions because for me at least these second half performances and how much we care about them is really determined by how long is the track record for what the guy is. So if it's, if it's a first year player or a second year player, I might be a little bit more concerned. With Jalen Hurts, we've got basically five years of him being a borderline elite fantasy quarterback and we all know the offensive system in Philadelphia was at best controversial. A lot of hit shouts, a lot of A.J. brown being mad. They really struggled to run the ball as efficiently as efficiently and maybe that's why they didn't do as much play action passing, but we didn't see much of that either. And so I think with a new offensive coordinator you should be optimistic. With Jalen Hurts track record, you should be optimistic. And some of it was just the fact that he didn't score as many touchdowns, both rushing or passing as he did in the first half. And that's probably a little bit of randomness. I still view Jalen Hurts as one of those tier two quarterbacks who really once Josh Allen and probably Lamar Jackson are gone, you can consider just about any of them. But he's right in the same tier for me with Drake Mage, Aiden Daniels, Joe Burrow, and maybe even Dak Prescott.
- [19:41]
Dave Richards
Dave, I like where your head's at with it, Heathen. And I'm kind of excited about Sean Manion as the new play caller there. I'd probably be more excited about like a raw stake being the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia after what we saw with Kevin Petullo, a controversial at best offense. I think Keith is actually like being kind by saying that. There is something I do want to point out though about Jalen Hurt. So we're talking about the second half of the season. In his first eight games last year, 25.5. No one's going to scoff at that. That's awesome for fantasy. 18.2 in the eight games following. His numbers weren't necessarily great with Lane Johnson either. When he was out that offensive Line has to come back and has to stay healthy itself. But Hertz last year, great start, terrible finish. 2024, 25.6 fantasy points per game in his first nine and then 23.1 in his last five. And that doesn't include a game where he got concussed and left early. So a drop off two years in a row. Make it three years in a row. 20, 23, 26.7 in his first 12 and then 16.4 in his final five. We have not seen Jalen Hurts finish strong in a long time and that might be something that rattles around in the back of your head when you go to draft him. It's going to be great if he, if he follows his track record, you know, your team's going to be good with him for the first half of the year. What about the second half? Does he wear down? Is it other elements of the offense? Is it an older offensive line wearing down and that's why his numbers back off? Is it because of the run game taking a step up in the second half of the year? All these things matter. And it makes me wonder if, if I draft Jalen Hurts, do I want to get a quarterback at some point during the year to have on my bench in case we get a December swoon from him and the rest of the Eagles?
- [21:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
Does this change dramatically? Slightly? Not at all. With or without A.J. brown?
- [21:37]
Dave Richards
Oh, yeah.
- [21:37]
Heath Cummings
I'm assuming A.J. brown will be there and it would be a drastic change.
- [21:42]
Jamie Eisenberg
Agree. If he's not agreed, I just wonder. I'm totally with you, but I just wonder like a. What the replacement is. You know, clearly that matters, you know, do. Is it a rookie? Is it a retread wide receiver? You know, is it somebody like maybe on the high end in terms of the free agents of a Mike Evans, George Pickens, one of those guys. And we probably don't feel any different. Is it a mid tier guy, let's say like an Alec Pierce? Is it a lower tier guy? And I'm not trying to be disrespectful anybody but like a Wando Robinson, you know, somebody who's, you know, out there that's, you know, just gonna fill a role or you know, kind of be a replacement option type player and we see maybe Jalen Hurts run a little bit more or have to carry the offense a little bit more in that regard and that changes just the way we view him as a fantasy quarterback. So clearly there's still a lot to be determined here with what happens to Jalen Hurts But a lot of high end bounce back potential, especially if the wide receiver one is still on A.J. brown's level for sure.
- [22:34]
Dave Richards
And, and he went in round eight in our most recent mock and I think he went later than that in, in the mock before that. So if we're drafting a guy like this, you know, pick 90, that's awesome.
- [22:46]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. You know, and again our, our drafts are hard to necessarily say this is where quarterbacks will go, but let's say that's round five. I think that's still pretty fair given that he's going to be somewhere between QB6 and QB10 most likely the way that drafts are going to go. Bo Nix is another guy that had a poor second half. He finished as quarterback 18 per game at 17.6 fantasy points per game. And we know, we're still waiting to find out the timeline for him with the ankle injury. I'm gonna guess he's going to be ready for week one, but still to be determined. And when you look at it, you know Dave, you talked about this with Javante Williams, lack of touchdowns. For Bo Nicks, it really was a lack of touchdowns. So Starting in week 10 he had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 games with one passing touchdown or less. He had a four touchdown game in week 15 against Green Bay. We get to the playoffs, they have the buy in the wild card round in the divisional round against Buffalo which is where he got injured. He has a three touchdown game there, but the lack of touchdowns I think really hurt him. So I don't know if there's really much to say about Bo Nix. Is he going to be somebody that I, anybody wants to draft as a second quarterback. So Dave, you make the point and I know it's probably not the best to say, hey, we're going to take a guy who had a bad second half in Jalen Hurts and pair him with another guy on a bad second half in Bo Nix. And Heath. You sort of alluded to this with the, the sample size. Like this is the type of player we don't know really I think who he is yet fully because only been the league for two years. So do you guys look at Bo Nicks who last year we were drafting as a starter, at least the fantasy community was drafting as a low end starter. Do you have any interest in drafting him as a starter assuming he's healthy and if not, do you have any interest in making him one of these high end backups that you want to draft? Heath, I'll start with you.
- [24:24]
Heath Cummings
I probably not for me. I think like the touchdowns are definitely the reason that the production fell off in the second half. Now whether the touchdown rate in the first half or the touchdown rate in the second half is more indicative, I think we really don't know yet. But the bigger problem for me is the passing efficiency just did not really improve last year. He had several high volume games and maybe the real story was the difference between the two halves was the fact that he had some crazy comeback wins in the first half and didn't need as many of those in the second half. But he's now thrown 1100 passes in the NFL and he's averaging six and a half yards per attempt. That's just pretty mediocre. So I, I'd view him as a mid QB2 maybe you'll start him against high powered offenses, but probably not somebody I'm targeting and definitely not somebody I'm ranking as a starter.
- [25:15]
Dave Richards
Yeah, I'm almost positive I can name 16 quarterbacks I would take ahead of Bo Nicks at minimum and I might even be able to name three or four more on top of it. So probably somebody that could go undrafted in one QB leagues makes sense.
- [25:29]
Jamie Eisenberg
You know, I guess we'll see. You know, in terms of off season, any additions, you know, what the Broncos decide to do. But you know, this is one of those I think scenarios where you could say great defense, run game did improve slightly I think from 20245 to 2020, from 2024 to 2025. So he had to do a little bit less, he ran a little bit less and then now you factor in the injury. Offensive line is still great, obviously play caller is still great. You got an aging Cortland Sutton. We'll see. You know, if guys like Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant, some of these other young wide receivers take a step forward. Marvin Mims as well. But it feels like you just kind of know who Bo Nixon is. Be some great weeks and unfortunately just a stretch of games that we saw in the end of the second half last year, not great. This next quarterback was somebody that we thought was going to be great. He had a great 2024 campaign, struggled down the stretch in 2025 and now a lot of things still up in the air with Baker Mayfield for 2026 because his receiving core could be different, especially if Mike Evans leaves first time that he would not be a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is expected to play in 2026 but could test the market and a new offensive coordinator. They have Zach Robinson now as the play caller there in Tampa Bay. So Dave, is Mayfield somebody, Is he one of those guys in the top 16 quarterbacks for you and someone that you would be looking to draft as a high end backup or maybe a
- [26:41]
Dave Richards
low end starter, more so than Bo Nix. And it's because I believe that the receiving corps in Tampa will be still strong whether or not Mike Evans is there or not. It'd be weird seeing Mike Evans in another uniform, but we'll, we'll see how it goes. But I felt like Baker Mayfield season did a, did a hard U turn when he got hurt and then when the offensive line got hurt and a little bit about when a Mecca Buca got hurt too. And those three things started, I want to say like in that Lions game. And it kind of snowballed all the way through till the end of the year. So I don't think we got the healthy Baker and a beat up Baker with a beat up breakout receiver behind a bad offensive line led to some really bad numbers. And so now we're going to have the opportunity to take Baker Mayfield with a late pick, see how his season starts and maybe he does put together a year like he did to start 2025 and like he ended up having in 2024. And it's going to be great value. He's going to be a name that I target in two QB drafts for sure.
- [27:47]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I've got him just ahead of Bonix in the projections. And I think the, the thing that makes him more complicated is if you remember when at the start of the season, his first three games he wasn't actually particularly good. He just threw a lot of touchdowns and was averaging almost 40 rushing game. Those first three games he was averaging 205 passing yards per game and 6.2 yards per attempt. But he threw six touchdowns in the first three games and he ran for 40 yards a game. He only had two games the rest of the season where he ran for 40 yards. And then you had the other things. And I think the other thing that makes it more complicated is like there's been some inconsistency with Jalen Hurts, but it hasn't been to the degree of Baker Mayfield. We've seen him soar to great heights and just completely fall apart in the past. So I think he's, I'm, I agree with Dave. I like him more than Bo Nix, but I'm not, I'm not targeting him
- [28:42]
Jamie Eisenberg
as a starter for sure. It's pretty, it's pretty remarkable on one hand and frustrating on the other. That he's had to go through so many different offensive coordinators in his career and this is now his fourth and his last four years in Tampa Bay. So he goes from Canales to Liam Cohen to Josh Grizzard. Grizzard to now Zach Robinson. And look, two of those guys have become head coaches and it's understandable why they were good because Baker was good. And then last season, you know, they, they have to move on from Grizzard and hopefully we'll see if Zach Robinson can, you know, sort of work the Rams magic that didn't necessarily materialize from a quarterback perspective, at least for the Falcons. We'll see if that materializes for, for Baker Mayfield. But still a lot to like, especially if Evans does return because that receiving court could be amazing. Abuka taking a step forward, Godwin two years removed from the injury and you know, still Jalen McMillan as well. But I don't think anybody's going to necessarily target him as a number one fantasy quarterback. All right, let's transition to the running backs. We already talked about Javante Williams again signing the three year contract extension. We talked about that at the beginning of the show. If you missed that, you can go back and listen to it then. But another guy that Adam has as a poor second half performer is Saquon Barkley, who we know had a lot of high expectations coming into the 2025 campaign. Finished 2024 as one of the best fantasy options. Ran for 2, 000 yards and was just amazing. Finishes weeks 10 through 18 as RB19 and average 13.1 fan is. I'm assuming it's PPR points per game. Dave, when you look at Barkley and the struggles that he had and we kind of just you know, touched on this a little bit with Jalen hurts offensive line was a concern, offense in general, play caller, all those things. Is Barkley somebody you're targeting as a bounce back candidate in 2026? Knowing that he's now a year older, thankfully did not deal with any significant injuries in 2025. But can he get back to being that running back that we saw in 2024? At least close to that as a fantasy option?
- [30:39]
Dave Richards
Can I get him in late round two? Is he, is he somebody who I can pair with a stud receiver or even if I want to go RBRB to begin my drafts, assuming I'm picking in the first, let's say three or four picks in the draft. So if I'm in slot one through four and I can get Saquon, then I'll do it. I'm assuming that the offensive line in Philly will at least begin the season healthy. Their depth will be addressed again. The new play caller. I think it makes a difference. I think it's important. Will the receiving core still be dangerous enough to force the safety to play back and will Saquon Barkley somehow get a good target share which we've been kind of wish casting for a while. I really like to see that develop even further. I just don't know if we will. If that's the spot for me. James, if I can get him in late round two, I'd feel pretty good about it.
- [31:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
So he went, he just before you jump and he went with the eighth pick in round two, so 20th overall. Again, the running backs just ahead of him were Ashton Genty, Omari Hampton, James Cook and the running backs who went after him were Josh Jacobs, Bucky Irving, Derrick Henry. So I think that's the probably the range we're looking at for him. Just a matter of does he go ahead of receivers like Rashi Rice, Justin Jefferson, league neighbors Trey McBride also went ahead of him. So Heath, is that the spot you're looking to target him as well?
- [31:58]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, and I, I think that the new offensive coordinator complicates it a little bit because Dave mentioned the target share and I, I wonder how much of the need to throw the ball to AJ More AJ Brown more cut into Saquan Barclays targets because he had a catch at least one in every game through week 12 and was averaging like three and a half catches per game. Last five games of the season he had four games with zero catches like and again new offensive coordinator. So that doesn't necessarily show us any sort of trend going into this year. Maybe it was just that hey, we got to throw the ball to A.J. brown enough to where he stops complaining while we try to go be a playoff team. And so they had fewer design targets for, for Barkley. But I think that will be a big key. He's not going to be the pass catching threat that he was once upon a time, but there's a big difference between three catches per game and zero.
- [32:57]
Jamie Eisenberg
It's also if you look at the way that the season unfolded for him once we got to week 14. It's just in terms of touches and I, I'm totally agreement with you that the catches matter for him. But it was 20 carries against the Chargers in week 14, 22 carries against the Raiders in week 15, 21 carries against the Commanders in week 16, seven 19 carries against the Bills in week 17. Like if you say going into it, he's going to get you 19 plus touches week to week, like you're signing up for saquon Barkley. In three of those games he was 16 PPR points or more. It's just that he's not helping you the way that you're used to Saquon Barkley helping you since he's been a rookie when he had 90 plus catches that rookie season. Gets the playoff game in the loss against San Francisco, it's 26 for 106 and three catches, 25. Like that's the Saquon Barclay I think we all want to see because he did that without a touchdown.
- [33:43]
Heath Cummings
The ironic thing about putting him on this list is that he probably had his best stretch of the season in the fantasy playoffs, like or 14 through 16 at least. Yeah, like he was 18 fantasy points per game in those three weeks. So it was just a really uneven season for the Eagles.
- [34:02]
Jamie Eisenberg
And sparkly last running back on this list is Breece hall, who ended the 2025 campaign weeks 10 through 18 as RB25, averaging 12.1 PPR points per game. It feels like that's kind of just who he was all season.
- [34:15]
Dave Richards
Yeah.
- [34:16]
Jamie Eisenberg
So I don't know. Second half, first half. You know, I'm sure Adam has a rhyme or reason to this, but we spent a lot of time on Bristol. So Dave just, you know, sort of wrap up the pre free agency Breeze hall conversation. Like if he comes back to the jets, how discouraged would you be and, and where would you be targeting him? Assuming, you know, new quarterback. We know they have a new coordinator. Things are changing for the jets, but are they changing that much more than you'll be saying? I have to have Breece hall, who is somebody that I think we're all excited about and hoping to see him maybe, you know, change franchises for 2026.
- [34:48]
Dave Richards
Yeah, I think we need to see him change franchises. I think the, the driving, the driving force of the jets using multiple running backs was Aaron Glenn and not Tanner Angstrand, their offensive coordinator from last year. And I'm pretty sure that Aaron Glenn's going to want to do the exact same thing this year. And he. The drop off from his first eight games to his last eight games really wasn't that big. It was 14.1 in his first eight games, 12.1 in his last eight. And he needed some huge games just to get that average. Jamie, he had four games under nine and a half PPR points in his first eight games and he had Four games under, eight and a half in his second. That offensive line needs to stay healthy. I'm sure the offense will be a little bit better coordinated under Frank Reich, but we've still got questions about everything else in that offense and how they're going to go. And I would expect Res hall to still split reps to some degree with Isaiah Davis and Braylon Allen there in New York. And that makes me worry about him getting back over the 15 PPR point per game hump. I feel dumb for having him ranked as high as I did last year. I don't want to. I don't want to come close to having them ranked anywhere near. I don't think I even want him to be like a top 24 pick. I don't. I don't think he's worthy of that. If I'm worried that he's not even going to average 15 PPR points per game.
- [36:12]
Heath Cummings
The quarterback will matter a lot there probably as well. Is that, like, how many targets is Breeze hall going to get? He's not probably going to be an efficient rusher behind this offensive line and on this offense, he's probably not going to score a lot of touchdowns, but we know he has the ability to catch 50 or 60 passes. Is he playing with a quarterback who might give him that opportunity?
- [36:29]
Jamie Eisenberg
And to Dave's point, Braylon Allen got injured early in the season. This was a guy that they expected to be a factor throughout the course of the year, whether it's going to be short line, short yardage situations, goal line opportunities, like he was somebody that was going to be getting touches for them and then suffer the knee injury. So see what happens to Braylon Allen coming back. But, yeah, I mean, at this point, like either complete overhaul of personnel or just, you know, changing teams. And we talked about this one of the shows last week, like our preferred destinations. I know for me, Breeze hall was Jacksonville. To see him go to a team like that and replace Travis etn, I think that would be fun. Are we taking another break when we come back? Sorry.
- [37:06]
Dave Richards
How about almost anywhere in the National Football League?
- [37:09]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, certain teams have running backs already played.
- [37:11]
Dave Richards
Yeah, yeah. Like, I don't want to go to Atlanta or Detroit, but.
- [37:14]
Jamie Eisenberg
Right.
- [37:15]
Dave Richards
Any place that's got even like a chance of an opening to be a usable workhorse would be a lot better than the Jets.
- [37:24]
Jamie Eisenberg
Absolutely. All right, we take a break. We're gonna come back and talk about some wide receivers and tight ends who had some terrible second halfs in 2025.
- [37:31]
Commercial Announcer
Toogood and co Coffee Creamers are made with farm fresh cream, real milk and contain 3 grams of sugar per serving. That's 40% less than the 5 grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich, delicious experience. Whether you enjoy your coffee hot, cold, bold or frothy, two good coffee creamers make every sip a good one. Two good coffee creamers Real goodness in every sip. Find them at your local Kroger in the creamer aisle. My dad taught me a lot, including how easy it is to forget to cancel things. So I downloaded Experian, my bff. Big Financial Friend Experian could help me cancel my unused subscriptions and lower my bills, saving me hundreds a year. Get started with the Experian app today. Your big financial friends here to help you save smarter. Results will vary. Not all bills are subscriptions eligible. Savings not guaranteed $631 a year Average savings with one negotiations and one cancellations paid Membership with Connected Payment Account free wiredseexperian.com for details Experian
- [38:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
first wide receiver on this list that Adam gave us is CD Lamb, who finished the second half of the season, weeks 10 through 18 as wide receiver 19, averaging 13.8 PPR points per game. Again, it feels kind of similar to Breeze Hall. Like this was just kind of who CD Lamb was for the majority of the season except for the first couple of games before he got hurt and then George Pickens sort of took off and we had just the lack of touchdowns for CD Lamb to close the year. So Heath, when you look at CD Lamb and let's assume that George Pickens comes back because it seems like everybody in Dallas, except for Jerry Jones at least as of now, has said he will be back with the Cowboys. Are you worried about CD Lamb at all? Are we expecting just him to get back to being this elite fantasy option and somebody we should be targeting around one?
- [39:12]
Heath Cummings
I I am definitely worried about CD Lamb being a top two or three wide receiver in fantasy. I'm def. I'm. I'm a little bit worried about taking CD Lamb in round one if George Pickens is back. I also think that the second half numbers are a little bit too impacted by, as you said, the lack of the touchdowns, which is probably a little bit of randomness, and the fact that two of the games that he played in the second half of the season he played less than half of the offensive snaps. Don't think he was fully healthy at that in that stretch either. And those in one of those games he had one catch for four yards against the Giants. So I, I think you should expect him to definitely bounce back to be better than what he was in the second half last year. I still expect him to be a number one wide receiver for fantasy purposes, but I don't think if Pickens is there, he's competing to be the number one wide receiver.
- [40:07]
Jamie Eisenberg
Dave, let me ask you a question about CD Lamb, because we have, for the most part, a very balanced career in fantasy production of somewhere between 14.1 and 17.2 PPR points, except for 2023, where we get this spike year of 22.9. Are we chasing that year?
- [40:31]
Dave Richards
Yep.
- [40:31]
Jamie Eisenberg
And really he's just more of a very good borderline number one wide receiver who could be great, but kind of just needs to A, stay healthy, B, have every target going in his direction. I mean, that year he goes from basically around 150 targets per game, which is what he was in 2022 and 2024, to 181. And we know Dak Prescott's been injured throughout this time as well. But are we chasing the wrong type of player here? Is he just really good and not elite, or at least consistently elite?
- [41:00]
Dave Richards
No, he's the right type of player. He's not getting enough targets to warrant being a top three wide receiver or a top five pick in a fantasy football draft. His situations change. He's got George Pickens to compete with for targets and what the Cowboys can do now in short yardage situations. That also works a little bit against CD Lamb. But you mentioned 2023 and what he did after the buy then it was like 12 targets per game. I think it was more than that for that stretch. And that's why he averaged 23 fantasy points per game. And, and I think we chased that for sure in 2024 and to a degree going into 2025. And we didn't really think that George Pickens was going to take away a ton of targets from him. But here's what it was. In 2025, CD Lam averaged 10.1 targets per game. When we draft CD Lam, we sign up for that, no questions asked. That's awesome. Last year was 8.4. And so losing one and a half targets per game, you know, almost two targets per game, that's rough. And you throw the injury on top of it. I think he nailed it. I don't know if CD Lamb was exactly. I, I don't think he was a hundred percent after his injury to start the year because. Right. He started the year playing great. He got a Lot of targets did well. I'm looking right at it. 18 PPR points and 20 PPR points first two games of the year. Yeah, that's what we signed up for when we took him with a top three pick. Are we ever going to see that again? As long as George Pickens is there, I don't know if we'll see it consistently and that's why I'm worried about even having him as my wide receiver.
- [42:37]
Jamie Eisenberg
5.
- [42:38]
Dave Richards
Like if Malik Neighbors makes the full comeback and the Giants put him in a position to get 10 targets per game, I probably will take Malik Neighbors ahead of CD Lam. With George Pickens in Dallas, I think
- [42:50]
Jamie Eisenberg
it's going to be pretty close to consensus of whatever order for the three of Pukinakua, Jamar Chase and Jackson Smith. Najigba.
- [43:00]
Dave Richards
Yep.
- [43:01]
Jamie Eisenberg
Wide receiver four is probably going to come down to three to five guys of CD Lamb, Amanra, Saint Brown, healthy Malik Neighbors and depending on the quarterback, Drake London. Am I off on that?
- [43:15]
Dave Richards
How about the core but depending on the quarterback Justin Jefferson.
- [43:18]
Jamie Eisenberg
Certainly depending on the quarterback Justin Jefferson, I guess he belongs in that, in that discussion as well.
- [43:22]
Heath Cummings
Maybe depending on the suspension, Rashi Rice
- [43:25]
Jamie Eisenberg
and maybe depending on the suspension and health.
- [43:26]
Dave Richards
There you go. That's fair.
- [43:27]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
- [43:31]
Dave Richards
Off the board and drafts this year.
- [43:33]
Jamie Eisenberg
Is, is there really. Is there an argument to be made that only three wide receivers should go in round one?
- [43:43]
Heath Cummings
I think you have to throw him on Ryan there as well. So I think at least four.
- [43:47]
Jamie Eisenberg
So four wide receivers in round one. So no question, concern, issue with, let's see what name we use Stephen Petzing for the new office alliance and how that changes things for, for what that means for Saint Brown because right, we're all excited about Sam Laporta.
- [44:05]
Dave Richards
Right. We're not all excited about.
- [44:08]
Heath Cummings
I'd be more worried about what that means for Jameson Williams.
- [44:12]
Jamie Eisenberg
Fair. Just it's, it's, it feels like once you get past those three wide receivers. Question for St. Brown, question for CD Lamb. Question from a league neighbors, question for Rashi Rice, question for like just questions. And then you start to look at these running backs and it's okay, Jonathan Taylor should be a first round pick and I'm, you know, I'm skipping past Devon HN and Christian McCaffrey obviously. Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs. But like you look at James Cook, I think easy argument for him to be a first round pick. You look at Amarian Hampton situation, Chris Chase, Brown situation. Like are those guys just better than the wide receivers there? Trey McBride better than wide receivers there.
- [44:53]
Dave Richards
I think you'll gravitate toward the running backs based on what might be left when you get to rounds three and four.
- [45:00]
Heath Cummings
I I think that by the time we get to July, one or two of these other guys are going to be solidified enough to where we feel good about. It's probably a six and six split most likely. I think we'll get six wide receivers, whether it's Jefferson or London or Rice or whoever happens to fill those last couple spots.
- [45:22]
Jamie Eisenberg
And look, Lamb is easily in round one if George Pickens leaves, there's no question about it, right? I think we're all all back to being gung ho about CD Lamb without any issues, man, I think again, just nitpicking here, but you know, addition of George Pickens, first time that he has since I think it was Amari Cooper, some strong running mate that is taking targets away from him and he had a disappointing season. I just feel like every time you look at CD Lamb, it's like that 2023 season just really stands out on its own and everything else is kind of maybe that's just who he is and we're chasing just a a season that will never be replicated, especially as he continues to get older. But again, if Pickens leaves, then it's easy to say he is a first round pick. All right, next wide receiver on this list from Adam is Cortland Sutton, who I know Adam drafted because he drafts him in every league that we do. He took him in round five. So Cortland Sutton finishes weeks 10 through 18 as wide receiver. 26 12.4 PPR points per game. So let's assume Bo Nix is healthy. Let's assume no significant changes for the Broncos receiving core. Drafting Pat Bryant last year, Troy Franklin the year before, those guys having some good performances throughout the season maybe took away a little bit from Cortland Sutton. Maybe they address the tight end position and get somebody younger and more explosive than what Evan Ingram gave them last year. Heath, how do you feel about Cortland Sutton going into 2026?
- [46:36]
Heath Cummings
I think probably the safest way is just to view what he did in the second half as pretty close to what you're going hit and view him as a borderline wide receiver too. We know Sean Payton loves to use a bunch of different guys, and I think maybe in the past he's been forced to use Cortland Sutton and Denver a little more than he wanted to because he didn't have a lot of wide receivers that he trusted. Seems to have some More guys that he trusts now. Although really Sutton's targets per game didn't go down in the second half. The touchdown rate went down with Bo Nixes. But I just think the borderline wide receiver 2 tag is. Is a better way to view him, especially the fact that he's aging out. He's not too old yet, but he's definitely getting up there and he's. All of his target competition is five plus years younger than him and developing.
- [47:20]
Jamie Eisenberg
So there's a.
- [47:21]
Heath Cummings
There's a risk that more of those targets go to Bryant or Franklin next year.
- [47:25]
Jamie Eisenberg
Dave, let's look at round five in the wide receivers, and I'll start with the end of round four. Just because a couple wide receivers went in this range. And you tell me, Cortland Sutton or this guy. So we'll start with devonte Smith. Would you have Sutton or Smith?
- [47:37]
Dave Richards
Smith.
- [47:38]
Jamie Eisenberg
Jalen Waddle or Courtland's led Waddle. Jameson Williams or Cortland?
- [47:42]
Dave Richards
Said as of now, Jamo.
- [47:44]
Jamie Eisenberg
Luther Burden or Cortland?
- [47:45]
Dave Richards
Sudden as of now, Luther Burden.
- [47:48]
Jamie Eisenberg
DK Metcalf or Cortland Son.
- [47:51]
Dave Richards
I might go Sutton there.
- [47:52]
Heath Cummings
I'll go.
- [47:53]
Jamie Eisenberg
I'll go DK Cortland Sutton or Cortland Sutton? Terry McLaurin or Cortland Sutton McLaren.
- [48:00]
Heath Cummings
Yep.
- [48:01]
Jamie Eisenberg
And Marvin Harrison or Cortland Sutton?
- [48:04]
Dave Richards
I think Marvin.
- [48:08]
Heath Cummings
I've got those guys projected almost exactly the same. I think there's more. There still feels like there's more upside with Harrison than there is with Sutton and Heath.
- [48:17]
Jamie Eisenberg
I. I guess I'll just let you chime in. Smith or sudden devonte Smith or son.
- [48:21]
Heath Cummings
I agreed with. I. I have everybody that you listed over Sutton.
- [48:26]
Jamie Eisenberg
Okay. So there he is, you know, sort of kind of where he finished. About wide receiver 25. My guess is that when we. Or 26. Excuse me. My guess is when we get to drafts, we'll go a little bit sooner than that, depending on what some of these guys are dealing with. Metcalf's got a quarterback, you know, issue. If A.J. brown's back in Philadelphia and Dallas Goddard's back, maybe Sutton goes ahead of devonte Smith. Quarterback situation. Miami could be awful, you know, so some of these guys, you know, may not necessarily be in great spots as well, but I think we just kind of know at this point what Cortland Sutton is, you know, kind of going back to what he said about Jalen. Hurts. Like you kind of just know what you're getting. You're getting a guy that can be a borderline top 20 wide receiver, probably not going to be a top 10 caliber guy unless he has a double digit touchdown season. I'm going to combine this next wide receiver and one of the tight ends on Adam Adam's list because they play on the same team. So we have lad McConkey and Orande Gadsden. McConkey finished weeks 10 through 18 as wide receiver 43. Gadsden finished that same stretch as tight end 35. Is it just easy to say offensive line fell apart for the Chargers? Justin Herbert struggled for the Chargers and things are going to be dramatically different for that team in 2026 because of Mike McDaniel?
- [49:36]
Dave Richards
Sure, I think that that's, I think that's fair to say. But to me it's all about target volume for lad McConkey and that's the biggest difference for me between 2024 and 2025 was that his he saw his targets drop and then it the combination of that and the surrounding offense, atmosphere, situation, whatever you want to call it is, is what made lad McConkey very undesirable for Fantasy. Every game that he had at least seven targets in, he had at least 14.9 PPR points. Can we get back there? That's something that I'm not sure will definitely happen. He was close to there to begin with. I think it was like six and a half targets per game last year. But if they've got even if they'd move on from Keenan Allen, Quinn Johnson's still there. They have two rookie wide receivers. They'll be second year guys. They'll be competing for time around the Gadson will be competing for time. Amarin Hampton will be a better running back and a better pass catcher. It does make me worried about overrating lad McConkey who's a great talent, but there's a lot of mouths to feed and when that happens there's usually a fantasy decline. I would try and take a cautious approach with McConkey, especially in half and non PPR.
- [50:55]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I think like he only had six fewer targets last year in the same number of games that he had in his rookie year.
- [51:01]
Dave Richards
Is that really true? That's unbelievable.
- [51:03]
Heath Cummings
It's just that he was. He caught 73% of his targets as a rookie and he got 63 last year and averaged two fewer yards per catch.
- [51:13]
Dave Richards
That's why.
- [51:14]
Heath Cummings
And he wasn't like he had a huge target volume in the first half of the season. He was on pace for 144 targets but he was also on pace for 994 yards. So we've got this rookie year where he was just incredibly efficient on a maybe mediocre for a good wide receiver, number of targets. And then last year where he was actually slightly below average in terms of efficiency. And we got to figure out which is the real lad McConkey because it's not like in the first half of the year before the injuries to the offensive line, he was producing efficiently. He was averaging 6.9 yards per target in the first half and I didn't have a touchdown in the first month. So I think he's a wide receiver too. I like him better than Sutton, but I'm not, I'm not expecting him to get back to his rookie year efficiency.
- [52:07]
Dave Richards
Heath, do you have the ADOTs for
- [52:08]
Heath Cummings
20, 29.9 both years?
- [52:13]
Dave Richards
All right, I'm okay. So it really does come down to the catch rate, touchdowns and, and all that other stuff.
- [52:20]
Jamie Eisenberg
Just so this is the type of player that I'm generally very interested in because you're going to get what could be borderline. I don't say superstar, but you know, superstar caliber production at a discounted price. Because anytime you get these players that are coming off down seasons and then at least for me, I don't want to speak for anybody else but like, I'm very excited about the Chargers changes. You know, I think offensive line, healthy, Mike McDaniel there, I think those are two significant upgrades. Obviously the offensive line is easy to point to, But I like McDaniel as the play caller. I think that's going to be great for Justin Herbert. I think it'll be more creative and open up some things and allow him to, you know, get back to being an elitist level quarterback and his receivers should benefit. Keenan Allen, I'm expecting to be gone. We'll see. If you know, Trey Harris and as they mentioned, you know, Lambert Smith, for example, you know, these other young wide receivers, if they step up and fill roles, Quinn Johnson, somebody I'm going to be excited about as well. And the same thing for Rhonda Gatson, obviously looking at what McDaniel's done with his tight ends at times, Johnny Smith and even Darren Waller in the small sample size, like, I think there's just a lot to like about these, these the players on this team. And So I drafted McConkey, I think let's see where I got him. It was the end of round three. Like to me that's great ups, that's a lot of upside there. And he was really after a tear break. So, you know, as I'm watching the. I was at the end of the round. So I'm watching it unfold. It goes Garrett Wilson, T. Higgins, A.J. brown. Obviously I take all three of those guys right now over lad McConkey. I think there's more upside, especially if the quarterback situation for Wilson is right. But then the wide receivers who went after him, Devonte Adams. I'll take McConkey Abuka depending on Mike Evans right now, I'll take McConkey. Flowers. I'll take McConkey. You know, so Smith waddle that whole group that starts to go where Cortland Sutton. To me I think McConkey's got more upside than all of them. And I know it's debatable, but I just love the situation for him and for Gadsden. Look, last year was I I think somewhat fluky with how he started to perform. It was almost directly tied to Quentin Johnson when Johnson was out. Gaston was great when Johnson was in. We didn't see the best of Gaston, but again we're looking at just a retooling of this offense. I think Gaston's just the type of tight end you wait for. Certainly going to go after the. The tops. What we say seven. It's the. The two at the top of Bowers and. Or McBride and Bowers, then the younger tight ends of Colson Loveland, Harold Fannin, Tyler, Warren Tucker crafts in that group and then Sam Laporta. So I think after that range of that, that that group of tight ends comes off, then I think you can make an argument Gaston belongs in that second or third tier after those guys. But certainly a good tight end to wait for again, depending on what the Chargers do with the rest of their personnel. All right, let's wrap it up with the last two tight ends we're looking at here. Two that I just mentioned. Brock Bowers finished as tight end five, which is just awful. I mean, how could he only finish his Titan 5 and then Tyler Warren and finished as tight end 17. So we'll start with Bowers. I think it's kind of easy to. To say what happened there. The knee injury, quarterback play, offensive line. Everything. Everything is changing for the. For the Raiders. Do we like Bowers enough? And it's not about, I think, calling him tight end too, because I think everybody's gonna draft him as tight end too. I don't think anybody's gonna take the younger tight ends ahead of him yet unless you're just really in love with Loveland or Fan. And those are probably the next two guys. Do we like the situation Enough for Bowers with the coaching changes of Clint Kubiak, now the head coach, and again, Fernando Mendoza expected to be the quarterback there. Any interest in maybe taking Bowers tight end one ahead of time? McBride
- [55:45]
Dave Richards
can't do it in PPR.
- [55:47]
Heath Cummings
I've got Bowers ahead of McBride right now in my projections, but I will probably. The advice will probably just be like, you just wait until Trey McBride's taken in round two. I guess if you have to make that choice, I'm probably taking a wide receiver or a running back that early in round two. But Bowers is usually there in round two, late round two and McBride's not.
- [56:08]
Jamie Eisenberg
So what's the earliest you would take Brock Bowers?
- [56:12]
Dave Richards
20.
- [56:15]
Jamie Eisenberg
Not bad. I mean, that's certainly, you know, if you want to guarantee him, he's probably right there early round three, so.
- [56:21]
Heath Cummings
Right, right. I mean, yeah, it's, it's that point where you look at your pick at the end of round two and you're probably not going to get him in round three. So you have to decide if you want him or not.
- [56:29]
Jamie Eisenberg
Right.
- [56:29]
Dave Richards
And the later you get into round two, the more likely he'll go. So I think if he's even on the board when you get to, let's call it 22nd overall, you're. You might be surprised.
- [56:42]
Jamie Eisenberg
So for Heath, I, I think it's a, it's an interesting question. You love Brock Bowers. You loved him last year and, and you know, again, injuries sort of derailed what could have been. Because he looked like he was great in week one and comes back in that game against Jacksonville, has a 45 point game, you know, looks every bit the superstar that we saw his rookie season. You love Harold Fannin too, and Fannin may go two rounds later than, than Bowers. Which player at that cost would you take Bowers end of round two Fan in round four, Whatever part of round four it may be.
- [57:13]
Dave Richards
Yeah.
- [57:13]
Heath Cummings
Like assuming you're looking at pick 20 and pick 44 or whatever, I'm. I'd probably say if Fanon turns into a round five pick, then I prefer Fanon. But if fan ends around 4 pick, then I'm probably taking Bowers.
- [57:25]
Jamie Eisenberg
Okay. But it's.
- [57:26]
Heath Cummings
That's close. I think the two rounds make sense.
- [57:28]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yep. And, and again, you know, there'll be a lot of Bowers hype. Mendoza. I can't believe I get to throw this guy. Clint Kubiak. I can't believe I get to coach this guy. He's healthy. He looks like his rookie season again, like there's going to be all those things that come out about Bowers unless something goes wrong. But that's, you know, we're, we're hoping from an optimistic perspective and I think
- [57:45]
Heath Cummings
also like the court, the upgraded offensive coordinator or play caller is fantastic. The upgraded quarterback we hope is good. But just they ran 948 offensive plays last year that was dead last in the NFL and league median was about 1052. So just the fact of running four or five more plays per game per game is going to be a boost for Brock Bowers next year.
- [58:13]
Jamie Eisenberg
Very true. And Dave, a guy that you were very high on last year and materialized for the majority of the first half of the season, fell apart in the second half the season was Tyler Warren who got off to a great start with Daniel Jones. Jones suffers the Achilles injury. It's almost, it's like a week before where Tyler Warren started to start to struggle a little bit and yep, just did not finish the season on a high level. Finished this tight end 17 8.8 PPR points per game over that span, weeks 10 through 18. Is he kind of getting overlooked at this point because of all the hype for Loveland and Fan and against early hype. But the way that those two guys finished the season and Warren struggles, it feels like we almost forget how good Warren was early in the season. Now how much of this is tied to because it sounds like they're going to be committed to Daniel Jones. I think there was a report last week that it's going to be Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard. They're going to try and shop Anthony Richardson. So knowing that Jones is coming off a pretty significant injury tearing his Achilles, Riley Leonard actually I thought looked good in week 18. But still it's not a proven quarterback. Is Warren just the almost perfect upper echelon tight end to wait for? Because he's going to go after, you know, potentially even Tucker Craft as well. And maybe if there's a lot of hype for Sam Laporta, like he could be tight end six or seven, he's,
- [59:21]
Dave Richards
he's going to end up being tight end five off the board in every single draft. I don't think there's going to be a mad rush of people.
- [59:26]
Jamie Eisenberg
You think that's the case though, if Daniel Jones is not ready?
- [59:28]
Dave Richards
Yeah. Yes. Because I, I think that Warren is an easy short area target for everybody, for anybody who's the quarterback there. And I don't think it'll be Anthony Richardson. That would be bad if it's Anthony Richardson. But If Daniel Jones makes it back on time, he's probably not going to run as much. That means more pass attempts. That'll help Tyler Warren. That'll help Tyler Warren in the red zone a little bit, too. And his numbers were great with Daniel Jones. He averaged 13.1 PPR points per game. And we can easily say, well, he got off to a hot start and he had that great first half of the season. And then like you said, Jamie, he did start to tail off toward the end when Daniel Jones was starting to struggle a little bit. I wonder if Jones was beat up a little and he was banged up. He was on the injury report. He had a broken leg. Yeah. And then. Right. It ended up. Yeah, he had a fracture in his leg and then he ended up tearing his Achilles. So he's got a lot to come back from. I think he's a good fit with Daniel Jones because he's a good short area target. And there's talk that Michael Pittman might not be on the Colts next year. They move on from him and that means Alec Pierce gets the bag from Indy, Josh Downs gets a souped up role and Tyler Warren gets a big role. Maybe that could be enough to push him closer to Fannin and Loveland on that second tier of tight ends. But I don't think it'll be enough to put him over the top of either of those guys unless there's major changes in Cleveland and or Chicago. That means he's going to be the fifth tight end off the board. That means you can, you can put your radar up for him. As soon as one of those two tight ends Fanning or Loveland gets picked up, then you know that Warren's going to be coming soon after the other one. But he's going to be the fifth
- [61:03]
Jamie Eisenberg
tight end off the board.
- [61:04]
Dave Richards
He's going to be drafted as tight end five and he's got a chance to finish the year's tight end five. Still absolutely love the profile and the situation for him. Could get better in Indianapolis.
- [61:14]
Heath Cummings
No, I was gonna say I'm just gonna take whoever goes sixth or seventh, I think out of that group just because I, I've got Kraft in the Florida close enough to those guys that I just like, I think all five of them have a good chance at being tight end three and so we'll just take the last one.
- [61:29]
Jamie Eisenberg
Just, just to, to let everybody know, again, our latest mock draft. You can see the results. I keep referencing this draft. It's on cbsports.com so McBride went with the third pick of round two. Bowers went with the last pick of round two, 24th overall. No tight end went in round three. Then we get to round four where Colston Loveland comes off with the seventh pick pick of round four to Johnny Airport in round five is when we see the other two guys come back to back. Dave takes Harold Fannin with the seventh pick of Round five. Tyler Warren goes with the eighth pick of Round five. And then just to give Heath's two other guys that he referenced, he took Sam Laporta with the second pick of Round six. And Tucker Kraft was the next tight end that went off with the eighth pick of Round six. Follow not far behind from Mark Andrews, which we don't like that pick and Kyle Pitts right after that as well. So I think if you're getting those seven tight ends in the first six rounds, which is probably going to be, let's just say we'll stretch it out to Round seven because we'll see if, you know, laporta with the back and Tucker Craft with the ACL and some other things that are moving parts. I think most likely you see top two guys in the first two rounds and around one maybe for McBride and around two for Bowers. I think you see probably a pretty close, not too much of a separation between Loveland and Fanon in that Round four five range. I think end of Round five beginning Round six is kind of where we'll maybe see Tyler Warren settle. And then Round six, Round seven is where we start to see laporta and Tucker Kraft come off the board. But hopefully better second half for Bowers where, oh my God, he can finish in the top four tight ends. Adam will take him off this list. And then for Tyler Warren and Arande Gadsden as well. Well, that'll do it for us. Good job, Dave. Good job, Heath. Thank you, Claire, for producing our show today. Thomas is also taking the week off. We'll be back on Wednesday. Hopefully Adam will be joining us and we'll be in better health. And we'll give you some more fantasy football off season storylines to follow heading into the 2026 campaign. For Dave, for Heath, for Claire, I'm Jamie. Thanks for watching. Listening to Fantasy football.
- [63:43]
Commercial Announcer
This week, the pga tour's best players
- [63:45]
Jamie Eisenberg
go prime time with tgl presented by
- [63:47]
Commercial Announcer
sofi in doubleheader action, atlanta drive takes on both boston common golf and los angeles golf club, plus two primetime matchups on Tuesday. Keep up it's golf. Tune in Monday and Tuesday at 5pm and 9pm eastern only on espn espn2 and the espn app.