Biggest Fantasy Football Takeaways For EVERY AFC South Team (Ep. 1928)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode: Biggest Fantasy Football Takeaways For EVERY AFC South Team (Ep. 1928)

Date: January 8, 2026
Host: Ryan Wormley
Guests: Andrew Erickson, Jake Seeley

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Overview

In this episode, the FantasyPros team explores the most important fantasy football lessons from the 2025 NFL season for every AFC South team: Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, and Tennessee Titans. Hosts Ryan Wormley, Andrew Erickson, and Jake Seeley dive deep into player performances (breakouts and disappointments), coaching changes, rookie evaluations, and how team circumstances (like quarterback styles and offensive lines) dramatically shape fantasy outcomes. The discussion emphasizes avoiding rookie hype traps, recognizing veteran value, and heedfully tracking QB-WR connections going into future drafts.

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Jacksonville Jaguars

Key Takeaways

• Stylistic QB/WR Pairings Matter

  • Trevor Lawrence found offensive success in 2025, but not all receivers benefited equally.
  • Lawrence’s best connections are generally with vertical slot WRs (Christian Kirk), tight ends underneath (Evan Engram, Brenton Strange), and lately, slot-man Parker Washington—not traditional outside receivers like Brian Thomas Jr.
  • “It’s all about the stylistic personality of the quarterback and how they fit with certain receivers… If you can nail the right type of pairing… then you have those really high ceiling outcomes. But if you don’t get that fit… that analysis didn’t work.” — Andrew Erickson, 01:43

• Overvaluing Rookie Running Backs Behind Starters

  • Many analysts and fantasy players fell into the trap of overvaluing rookies like Bashal Tooten, believing they’d quickly supplant established starters like Travis Etienne.
  • This year’s draft class was stacked at RB, but “look at how many of them ended up backups or actually afterthoughts the entire season.” — Jake Seeley, 05:04
  • Lesson: “Don’t go crazy with rookies… The fresher, younger running back is not always taking the job.” — Jake Seeley, 06:46

• Veteran Value is Often Overlooked

  • Overemphasis on shiny new rookies made veterans (e.g., Travis Etienne, Kenneth Gainwell, Javonte Williams) undervalued and potential fantasy league winners.

Memorable Quotes

• “Trying to avoid situations like Brian Thomas Jr. with Trevor Lawrence… Focus more on finding those fit-specific pairings instead.” — Andrew Erickson, 01:52
• “One of [Ryan] Worm’s favorite values, Javonte Williams, this year. Perfect example.” — Jake Seeley, 09:03

Notable Segment

• Styles make fights: QB/WR archetype analysis — 00:28 to 02:46
• Rookie vs. veteran RB valuations — 04:22 to 09:03

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Houston Texans

Key Takeaways

• Changing Offensive Line ≠ Immediate Improvement

  • Despite significant personnel changes, Houston’s offensive line woes persisted and arguably hampered the system—impacting C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins, and the run game.
  • “Just because the offensive line changes doesn’t mean it necessarily gets better... if it’s really bad, just because they change up personnel doesn’t mean it’s going to necessarily get better. And in like the. I don’t know if it’s a cliche but oh, it can’t get much worse. It can sometimes.” — Andrew Erickson, 10:37

• Don’t Over-Chase the WR2 in Crowded Rooms

  • With Tank Dell returning, and a rotation of Jalen Noel, Christian Kirk, and others, predicting a WR2 after Nico Collins is almost impossible.
  • “I don’t want to chase these WR situations where the 2 is actually three people. And that’s where I’m going to stay away. Outside of Nico Collins.” — Jake Seeley, 14:23
  • Only consider late-round darts like Jaden Higgins if the value is extreme.

Memorable Quotes

• “Look at how long it took RJ Harvey, Trayvon Henderson… injuries and other situations, and it's not that they can't be back half difference makers. The entire point… is just to dive deeper into these situations and not just say, ‘Oh, he's a rookie, he's taking over.’” — Jake Seeley, 06:46
• “At least Higgins started to carve out that number two role alongside Nico Collins… whereas Noel never really seemed like he had a consistent role.” — Andrew Erickson, 15:02

Notable Segments

• Offensive Line vs. Skill Player Impact — 09:15 to 12:22
• Texans WR room analysis — 12:51 to 15:22

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Indianapolis Colts

Key Takeaways

• Alec Pierce (Breakout & Contract Year)

  • Pierce had a career-best season, surpassing 1,000 yards, and showcased an expanded skill set beyond just being a deep threat.
  • Poised to get one of the top free-agent contracts at WR after Higgins and Pickens—could be re-signed by the Colts or become featured elsewhere.
  • “It was comical looking at where his ADP was and where versus his finish. I mean he was like wide receiver, like 75 receiver, 70. So I just think he's going to get paid and he's going to be a guy that we're talking about in fantasy.” — Andrew Erickson, 17:19

• QB Changes Dramatically Influence WR Value

  • The type of quarterback (e.g., Anthony Richardson’s tendencies vs. Daniel Jones’s deep ball) can transform a WR’s fantasy relevance overnight.
  • “Quarterbacks are going to determine a lot on who's seeing the targets, who's seen the valuable targets that we want in fantasy.” — Jake Seeley, 19:57

Memorable Quotes

• “You’re going to get some weeks where you only get you five points. That’s just the nature of these kind of wide receivers. But he’s going to be somebody that as long as you’re willing to take that roller coaster ride… you can live with it.” — Jake Seeley, 19:03
• “Quarterback situations as a whole and their impact… can change what happens for a receiver—Alec Pierce, Brian Thomas prime examples.” — Jake Seeley, 19:57

Notable Segments

• Alec Pierce’s breakout and 2026 outlook — 16:04 to 17:43
• QB influence on WR performance — 17:48 to 20:26

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Tennessee Titans

Key Takeaways

• Cam Ward Year 2: Potential for a Big Leap

  • Both hosts agree: Ward showed flashes despite a brutal schedule and minimal support. With improved coaching and another year, he could lift the fantasy prospects of Tennessee’s entire offense.
  • “Cam Ward, I think in year two… can be the tide that rises all the boats in 2026, grow around this young nucleus of wide receivers and tight ends now… He was not put in a position to succeed and he didn’t look like he was completely underwater, especially in the second half of the year.” — Andrew Erickson, 22:11 & 23:56
  • “I’m more likely to take my shot on a Cam Ward because he has the rushing upside to boot than to take somebody that I just know needs to throw 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns.” — Jake Seeley, 25:35

• Don’t Assume Rookie or New QBs Make Things Instantly Better

  • Not every new QB fixes a broken offense—sometimes things get worse, sometimes they click with a less-hyped WR instead of the one we expect.

• Late-Round QB2s With Upside

  • Cam Ward (as late-round QB2 or QB3) could be a league-winner archetype (think Caleb Williams, Drake May, Daniel Jones in recent years)—players with mobility and untapped ceiling.

Memorable Quotes

• “If Cam Ward, okay, worst case scenario, he just starts all the games and this is like a mediocre QB2 in superflex. But if he hits, takes a big step like Williams or Drake May did then, okay, now you have a top five quarterback that you drafted as QB 18 off the board.” — Andrew Erickson, 26:53
• (On the pronunciation of “archetype”) “We should just stop using it because I’m afraid to use it… I always mess it up anyway.” — Andrew Erickson & Jake Seeley, 27:36

Notable Segments

• Cam Ward’s rookie year & outlook — 20:26 to 25:35
• QB value discussion for superflex — 24:44 to 26:53

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Notable Quotes & Fun Moments

• “Trying to avoid situations like Brian Thomas Jr. with Trevor Lawrence… Focus more on finding those fit-specific pairings instead.” — Andrew Erickson, 01:52
• “Quarterbacks are going to determine a lot on who's seeing the targets, who's seen the valuable targets that we want in fantasy.” — Jake Seeley, 19:57
• “We get so caught up in the shiny new toy… but sometimes the veteran is the better value.” — Andrew Erickson, 08:00
• Running joke: Dissecting the pronunciation of “archetype” and commiserating about fantasy football’s trickiest vocab. — 27:27–28:05

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Jaguars Takeaways (QB/WR fits, rookie RB hype trap): 00:28–09:03
• Texans Takeaways (offensive line struggles, WR depth chart headaches): 09:15–15:22
• Colts Takeaways (Alec Pierce breakout, QB effect on WRs): 16:04–20:26
• Titans Takeaways (Cam Ward outlook, QB value, archetype hijinks): 20:26–28:05

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Summary Table: Team-by-Team Lessons

| Team | Key Lesson(s) | Fantasy Implication | |--------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------| | Jaguars | QB/WR fit trumps player “talent”; don’t overrate rookie RBs | Draft based on fit, not just skill | | Texans | O-line “upgrades” don’t always translate; avoid 3-way WR2 rooms | Fade RBs behind bad O-lines; avoid WR logjams | | Colts | Alec Pierce’s ADP vs. finish; QB type shifts WR value | Track contract years + QB tendencies | | Titans | Don’t expect rookie QBs to fix all; Cam Ward’s upside in year 2 | Target late QBs with rushing stacks/unknown ceilings |

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a goldmine for both strategy-minded fantasy players and those eager to learn from recent misses—emphasizing fit, patience with rookies, and never underestimating veteran values or the unpredictable impact of QB changes. Above all, the advice is future-facing: track team and coaching changes, think deeply about how QBs mesh with weapons, and grab value where the crowd glosses over last year’s “boring” names.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human hello everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan, warmly joined today by Andrew Erickson and by Jake Seeley from the Athletic and we are talking fantasy takeaways from the AFC South. We are doing every division this week. This is our AFC south episode. So let's go ahead and dive right in here guys. We're going to start at the top of the division from this year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Arson, let's start with you. What's your fantasy takeaway from the Jags this year?

[B]

Old saying styles make fights and the reason that this is my takeaway for the Jacksonville Jaguars is because Trevor Lawrence as the quarterback, seeing what made him click in this offense they go out and acquire Jacoby Myers. You're seeing Parker Washington, a slot receiver, thrive with Trevor Lawrence. Brenton Strange, a tight end, a late round guy, have success attached to Trevor Lawrence. And who doesn't really have that much success with Trevor Lawrence this season despite him playing at the highest level we've seen him arguably at the NFL level is Brian Thomas Jr. You know someone that I was really, really high on his rookie year, obviously high on entering his second season and it has not panned out in any way, shape or form. And this doesn't even have to do necessarily when they drafted Travis Hunter and him playing a role in this offense, it's to me an overarching thought about this, just quarterbacks in general and how when you go from a starter to a backup it's not always well, is this quarterback better or worse? Is the offense just worse now? And the reason I did styles make fights is because it's all about the stylistic personality of the quarterback and how they fit with certain receivers. And the sample size of Trevor Lawrence has been well, who was his go to guy A couple years ago it was Christian Kirk, a vertical slot wide receiver, had a ton of success who had a monster year in Jacksonville for a couple seasons. Evan Ingram, a tight end underneath option. It wasn't ever really The Brian Thomas Jr. Type of player that had a lot of success with Trevor Lawrence. So that's something that I'm trying to think more about entering 2026 whenever we get new quarterback wide receiver pairings. Because if you can nail the right type of pairing where you hit on a Sam Darnold, Jack Smith and Jigba like Jake did, basically okay, this fit is going to work in this specific, specific offense, then you have those really high ceiling outcomes. But at the same time if you don't get that fit and people are ignoring, okay, well, Trevor Lawrence, oh well, he should be better than Mac Jones. He should be good for Brian Thomas Jr. That analysis didn't work. And so trying to avoid those situations while trying to find the JSN Sam Darnold situations, I think is a really big point of analysis that we have to do a better job or is speaking for me personally, I want to try to do a better job of analyzing as we head into 2026.

[A]

Is there anybody, Ericson, and I'm sorry to put you on the spot here, but is there anybody that comes to mind as a player that you will be keeping a close eye on them this off season to see maybe what new style of offense they are in next year, whether it's a coaching change or a new quarterback like, because obviously we don't know what those, all those changes are going to be yet. But is there anybody that comes to mind for you is like I'd be really interested to see this player in a different. Whether it's like I said, quarterback, head coach, whatever.

[B]

I know we're going to talk about him next anyway, so I can just kind of drop his name here. Alec Pierce put this man with Drake May on the Patriots. I think he'd be a really good fit with Drake May.

[A]

Yeah, that's. That's a fun one. Yeah. Jake, what about you?

[C]

Yeah, I think that actually ties into, we're talking about the Alec Pierce situation is that, you know, the difference in the quarterbacks. There was one like we all expected Anthony Richardson to be the quarterback for the season and then his style versus Daniel Jones is actually what unlocked Alec Pierce and went away from Michael Pittman and Josh Downs. So that's a really good thing to watch. In general, I was wrong on Brian Thomas. Similar to what he's saying is the fact that I thought Trevor Lawrence unlocking because let's be honest, to this point of his career, actually till the midpoint of 2025, he was a massive bust for what he was supposed to be. He was supposed to be a generational talent and it's the unlocking of everybody, including Jacoby Myers that has brought up Parker. Washington be his best target at the end of the season because he got comfortable. But he also got comfortable with his weapons, plural. And Brian Thomas just ended up being kind of an afterthought because he's going downfield but sticking with the Jaguars. I think there's something else that kind of got overlooked. Whether you were a Bashal Tooten fan or you weren't Like I was. No matter which way you cut it. I think the trap that people fall into with rookie running backs is not just overvaluing them in general, but overvaluing them behind proven running backs. I know that Travis Etienne was coming off being a quote unquote disappointment, let's be honest about that. But everybody just immediately is like, tutin's taking the job. The other we talked about the Steelers episode, that Caleb Johnson, he's not only taking part of the timeshare, he's taking the lead job. Like all these running backs, there was a lot because it was the best running back draft class of the last decade. And look at how many of them ended up backups or actually afterthoughts the entire season. And one of the biggest ones was Tutin, who barely got involved. I mean, Jaden Blue, everybody wanted Jaden Blue to be the lead running back for the Cowboys. And I know we're not talking about them today, but I just. There's multiple examples from the best draft class in a decade at running back position. And I just want to remind people as we go into next year, there's Jeremiah Love.

[A]

Cool.

[C]

But let's look at the rest of this draft class of the running backs that's not as good as this draft class we just had. And not immediately just say, oh, he's stepping in behind blank. He's taking the job. And I think the part that we got trapped with, let's say we as the industry was there Bucky Irving taking over for Rashad White. The difference there is that Rashad White was already, like, basically inefficient and we knew what Bucky Irving could do, and that's why that opportunity presented itself. And like, maybe again, some people want to make that argument for Travis Etienne, but that's not. It's more of like 1 out of 10 happens. It's not like 9 out of 10. And I think that's the trap. Like, you look at how many rookie running backs, according to their draft cost this year, ended up being wasted draft picks.

[A]

Yeah, it's interesting because, like, it feels so situation dependent. I mean, like, the next thing we're going to talk about and why don't we just go there is the Texans. You know, we're not talking about Woody Marks necessarily on this episode, but he did kind of. Now he wasn't like, amazing. He didn't turn into a league winner or anything, but he did kind of, you know, at a certain point, you know, relatively quickly usurp the existing hierarchy for that backfield part. Of that was Joe Mixon not being there all season and opening it up for, you know, guys like Chubb and Marks. But, you know, he, he kind of did take advantage of that opportunity, but he also wasn't one of the running backs that was overly hyped. There was interest in Woody Marks given the opportunity, but it wasn't, it wasn't the same as it was with who's like, oh, he's going to come in and be a league winner.

[C]

Look at how long it took R.J. harvey. Look at how long it took Trayvon Henderson. Look at how long it took a Marion Hampton like injuries and other situations and it's not that they can't be back half difference makers. The entire point that I'm making here is just to dive deeper into these situations and not just say, oh he's a rookie, he's taking over. Like, I think that's the. It's the easy way out that a lot of people took. Is just like the fresher, younger running back is going to take the job because he's the fresher, younger running back. Woody Marks is like I was pretty high on winning Marks and even he took time to get away from Nick Chubb. Like, like, it's just like how is Nick Chubb holding off Woody Marks? And he continued to do so. So that's my entire point with that is just like don't, don't go crazy with rookies. You could honestly pull it into wide receivers too. Is that too often people get caught up with the. It's the shiny new toy Synd Pedro.

[B]

I do want to spin more just one thing on. On the Jaguars as well with ETN and 2 and so I was big on 2 in but I also acknowledge that I thought ETN was also kind of like a value in drafts too. So I had a lot of situations where I drafted both guys and that ended up being a plus EV move because well ETN just ended up being the guy the entire season for the spot.

[C]

Right now there weren't neither of them.

[B]

Or it looked like Tootin was going to take over but then he got injured or had a fumble. So I just ended up holding both guys for most of the season and that ended up working out. So I think too to your point Jake, about like overvaluing the rookies. Well then look at the other side of the coin. Is there some value here with some of these veterans that oh well this guy's dust. And going back to we talked about on the AFC north show but I used to love Kenneth Gainwell, I thought he was so underrated on the Eagles and I thought, but then it just, it never happened for him and I given up. But if I had been more optimistic about whoa, what could he do in this like Steelers office, well, what if it isn't Caleb John? Kenneth Gainwell was free like, like you'd have to pay anything to get him. And he was probably one of the better waiver wire picks. And even on the waiver wire, I don't think I was aggressive enough in recommending oh go after Kenneth Gamble because I thought, oh well, Caleb Johnson's gonna take over eventually. And that ended up never being the case. So that's another way to spin it too. Well, everyone is kind of really focused on oh, this rookie, this rookie, this rookie. Well, what about the vets? Like are they going to be actually the values you want in these particular backfields?

[C]

One of worms favorites values, Javante Williams this year. That's a perfect example.

[A]

I couldn't stop talking about him playing out. Well, let's go to the Texans here. Erickson, what's your fantasy takeaway for Houston?

[B]

Just because the offensive line changes doesn't mean it necessarily gets better. That's kind of the thing with Texans was they basically had a terrible offensive line last year. They decided, okay, we're going to rip it down to the studs and hope that it's better. And it really wasn't much better. And if anything I felt like the offense took a step back from last year. Stroud didn't go back to his rookie form and he missed time with some injuries. Davis Mills came in, but Nico Collins wasn't who I thought he was going to be. I thought he had a chance to be the wide receiver one overall know he had a couple injuries but the offense overall just never really seemed to be in this cohesive unit. Now towards the end of the season they started cooking a little bit more. But the inconsistencies with the run game, I mean Woody Marks and Nick Chubb both had bottom six rushing success rates this season just because the running game could not really ever get going. And it was also very weird to look and see Jawar Jordan just kind of pop up randomly. He's the guy that has the 100 rushing yard game for the Texans this year. Not Nick Chubb, not Woody Marks. Despite a billion touches, it was Gerard Jordan that had the first 100 yard rushing game. Again, it was against the Arizona Cardinals. So Marks probably would have gotten there but he got hurt in that game. So I just thought that the Texans in the offensive line and we've talked about this with a lot of teams where this offensive line looks really, really bad and maybe it's not being factor enough into teams ADPs. This is what can crumble an offense is the offensive line. And if it's really bad, just because they change up personnel doesn't mean it's going to necessarily get better. And in like the. I don't know if it's a cliche but oh, it can't get much worse. It can sometimes.

[A]

So I, I wanna, we haven't gotten to our AFC west section yet but I do want to ask you Erickson, you do have something in there when it comes to the Chargers about maybe not holding the offensive line so much against the skilled players. So do a difference between those two situations?

[B]

Well, one of them is clearly because of injuries that happened this year. I mean the Chargers lost two stud tackles so there's no way that a team's gonna be able to overcome that. And we also don't know that heading into the season. Right. We're not going into the season being oh well the Chargers are going to lose four starters on their offensive line this year. Like that's like that's going to be a given. Whereas the Texans, we knew what they were putting out there. Like Laramie Tunnel's gone. Like he's not on the team anymore. Like Trent Brown is going to be a significant contributor. They revamped the entire interior offensive line. So those are risks that you take and sometimes it works out for the better. Again going back to the Seattle Seahawks, they look like an offensive line that was still kind of shaky drafting Gray's able that looked like an upgrade and obviously it ended up being a major hit. But even in the season's totality, the Seahawks still really to the last couple games couldn't really run the ball effectively. But the pass protection held up. Darnold was really, really efficient for the most part. So yeah I think that offensive line, I think that offensive line analysis is really critical when it comes to fantasy. If you're an H VAC technician and.

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[A]

Jake, what's your Texans takeaway?

[C]

Yeah, I think the big one here for me is that I'm just staying away outside of Nico Collins next year at wide receiver. And it comes down to this is somebody that I say, somebody myself as one that was high on Jaden Higgins. And I thought that Jaden Higgins could take the number two role. My comparison for him was Marvin Jones. I was like, hell, Marvin Jones. Multiple seasons of 1,000 yards, five, six, seven touchdowns. That's great. Wide receiver three or four. Sign me up. And it's not the fact that like, I'm not saying this for next year as in like, oh, Jaden Higg has never secured that role, is that the Texans never really needed him to because you saw Jalen Noel at times playing the Christian Kirk role and Christian Kirk when he came back. And it's just the fact that like, let's even, let's take Kirk out of the equation. It's just Higgins and Noel. Well, that's not actually the end of it. That Tank Dell dude is coming back next year and whether he's a shell of his former self, it's just this is one of those teams similar to go back to your Ravens, it's Zay Flowers. And after Zay Flowers, you don't want anyone like none of them even blip on the radar. And I don't think it'll necessarily be that bad. But it's trying to chase these guys who might at best case be wide receiver fours. But then you're trying to figure out what games do you play them. And 8 out of 10 times it's a game that you don't want to play them. So instead of trying to chase these options, I'd rather look for teams like we just saw this past year with the Cowboys. And I know George Pickens is a much better talent than Jamie Higgins, but where it's a clear two funnel target situation, like whether it's Marvin Harrison or Michael Wilson, it was Trey McBride and one riders, there's two, there's two, there's 2, there's 2. I don't want to chase these wide receiver situations where the two is actually three people. And that's where I'm going to stay away. Outside of Nico Collins Erickson, are you.

[A]

Interested in any of these receivers besides Nico, or are you kind of just staying away? Also.

[C]

If Jaden Higgins was a 14th rounder, 12th rounder, I'm gonna buy in. So like, that was kind of like a layup question to be like, do you are interested in any of them? Let me make that clear.

[B]

I still like Jalen Noel, especially because Christian Kirk is going to be I think he's going to be gone from this team, right? So I think that that opens up where he's a full time starting slot receiver as opposed to this rotation of players that they were using three different guys, Braxton, Barrios, Christian Kirk. At least Higgins started to carve out that number two role alongside Nico Collins where at least the playing time was a little bit more consistent, whereas Noel never really seemed like he had a consistent role, just snaps just playing on the field. So I think that I would probably be a little bit more optimistic about him just playing more next year.

[A]

The NFL playoffs start on Saturday, January 10, and betting pros is going live for it. Join Joe Pia and Scott Bogman at 4:15pm Eastern this Saturday for a first half betting live stream as the Panthers host the Rams. We're tracking line movement in real time, breaking down live odds and calling out bets as the game unfolds. Get in before kickoff and catch us live on The Betting Pros YouTube channel or on the Fantasy Pros Twitch channel at Twitch TV fantasypros. All right, let's go to the Colts. Erickson, I'll start with you again because you had already mentioned Alex Pierce or Alec Pierce typo there. Alec Pierce is going to get paid. You'd like to see it going to New England singing paired with Drake May, but your big takeaway is about Pierce.

[B]

Yeah, he's just going to get paid by somebody. Whether it's the Colts, whether it's another team that needs wide receiver help. I mean besides George Pickens, it wouldn't surprise me if he is the next highest paid player in free agency among the wide receiver crop. Career high catches 47 yard, 47 yards over a thousand. And how he got to a thousand yards with Riley Leonard just at the end of the season with a Monster Week 18 game after putting up a dud in Week 17. It's also not impossible that he returns to the Colts. Michael Pittman, Josh Downs and Jonathan Taylor are all entering the final year of their deal in 2026. So if they decide, hey, Pittman's not going to be our long term guy, we want Alec Pierce to be our, you know, future wide receiver one, then I could see a scenario where he actually does return to Indianapolis. So I think that he has shown an ability to be more than just a vertical field stretcher. Like that's obviously what he's Done very effectively. But in terms of yards per reception, leaving the NFL, excuse me, second in the NFL in yards per reception. I think, I think that he has a untapped kind of ceiling fantasy wise where it's always been kind of hard to project with him because the Colts have so many mouths to feed and the quarterback has always kind of been in question. But I think if a team commits to him, has like, hey, this guy can be our strong number two receiver, maybe even like a low key number one, I think that he's going to be, I mean it was comical looking at where his ADP was and where versus his finish. I mean he was like wide receiver, like 75 receiver, 70. So I just think he's going to get paid and he's going to be a guy that we're talking about in fantasy.

[A]

What do you think, Jake, about Pierce as a free agent target for teams?

[C]

Yeah, I was actually looking at. I want to be surprised if he's second, maybe third. Depends on like what Mike Evans does, if he does a one year huge value contract. But like he's in that conversation behind Higgins or Pickens, as he said, and whether it's the Patriots or somebody else, I think the biggest thing is that whoever signs them for that kind of money, because he is going to be the second, third at worst, are going to treat him as the number two. And you think back to like desean Jackson and like the Sean Jackson and Alec Pierce. I think for us in fantasy and production on the field, the big plays, but also understanding like you're going to get some weeks where you only get you five points. That's just the nature of these kind of wide receivers. But he's going to be somebody that as long as you're willing to take that roller coaster ride and understand those bad weeks are just going to happen, you can live with it. Actually, we could do an entire show on how much wide receiver 2 just the group fell off as a whole in 2025 and how inconsistent they became is that Alec Pierce in the right spot could be top 25 for the entire season next year and it wouldn't shock me. So I think to Erickson's point where he says laughable of where I'm just going to jump into mine is where is laughable where he went. I think this is, I alluded to it earlier when I brought up the Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones situation is like quarterbacks schematically can change what happens. Like the reason Alec Pierce was an afterthought is because he was Maybe fourth option on this team. And you can look at it like we were assuming Anthony Richardson. Anthony Richardson connections with a healthy Michael Pittman, but also did a lot with Josh Downs and he took an occasional shot to Alec Pierce. But it wasn't like with Daniel Jones. It wasn't as frequent. I mean we're talking about multiple times a game Daniel Jones was taking shots. And then if also you look at the quarterback situation with Daniel Jones, how much Tyler Warren was in excitement the first half of the season and then Daniel Jones gets hurt and it's like you might as well just bury Tyler Warren. And I think that's something we talked about it on the other show as well. But quarterback situations as a whole and the impact that they can have when there is a schematic difference in the way that the quarterback plays and who they target. Go back to Trevor Lawrence as Erickson brought up, is Trevor Lawrence liking his slot options? It was part of the reason we all got trapped by Brian Thomas. Of course nobody saw Parker Washington happening. But also understanding like we might, we should have been a little bit more aware of the risk of Brian Thomas understanding what quarterbacks do. So as a deep dive, as a whole, Eric said, he said he's going to be paying attention to that. I will especially more even as somebody if you know, you mentioned the JSN thing, victory, lapdad, whatever is like I obviously wasn't 100% because I missed Brian Thomas just like everybody else. But that quarterbacks are going to determine a lot on who's seeing the targets, who's seen the valuable targets that we want in fantasy.

[A]

Speaking of quarterbacks, let's go to the Titans. You guys both have takeaways here relating to Cam Ward. Jake, I'll start with you on this one. What do you think about Cam Ward and this situation in general as a takeaway for the Titans?

[C]

Yeah, we kind of played this game last year with Cam Ward and the fact for Kylvan Ridley specifically, it was the year before that where Terry McLaurin was the benefit of Jane and Daniels. I just spaced on the other one that had a huge season because of the rookie quarterback. But point. Thank you. The Cortland Sutton with that situation with Bo Nix. Thank you so much on that, Andrew. I don't know. Just my brain went. But we all like I did at least. I was like, oh well. Like we just saw these two perfect examples. Cam Ward is better than anything the Titans have had for a while. Calvin Ridley is going to be the beneficiary there. Now Calvin Ridley had his own issues, but Cam Ward had his issues too. It was a rocky start for the season. Got better towards the end of the year for sure. By that point, Calvin really didn't matter because he was done for the year. But I brought up the earlier thing about Bashaw too. And then it comes down to rookies in general. Also the new quarterback, whether rookie or not and honestly ties into what we were just talking about with the Colts is it doesn't always mean that things just are going to get better. You joked about at Worm, but the first thing I thought about when I said like, oh, it can't get any worse. Remember when we were joking about can't get any worse than J.J. mcCarthy? Oh wait, Max Brosmer can be and can be significantly worse. So like it can't be worse doesn't also mean that it's significantly going to always be better. Sometimes these situations are what they are and I'll pause there because I was going to talk more to what Erickson's going to talk about. So I'll let him take it because I'm passing the baton because I kind of agree where he's going with this and say year two is the look.

[A]

Yeah, take it Erickson.

[B]

Yeah. Cam Ward, I think in year two, and Jake thinks this too based on his introduction and pass to me is that he can be the tide that rises. All the boats in 2026 grow around this young nucleus of wide receivers and tight ends now. Shamiri, dk, Elikaya Manor, Gunner Helm. These weren't household names by any means. They were kind of like more draft darlings. They were all a little bit late around picks, but I think based on where they were drafted, they all kind of exceeded expectations. And I think with a more cohesive system, whatever the Titans decide to do with their offensive play caller with their head coach, again, it's all about building around Cam Ward. I think what he showed in the second half of the season, last seven games, he had 11 total touchdowns, two rushing, nine passing. He threw one interception and this is something that, pff. Tweeted out. His schedule that he faced was absolutely brutal. He had to face the Texans twice, Broncos, Rams, Chargers, Seahawks, Jaguars twice, Browns and the Chiefs. They tweeted out a graph where in the high right bar. It's basically facing good offenses and good defenses. The Titans are alone there. And then on the verse side of it, if you can all guess, it's the Patriots and their cupcake schedule. So a lot of what determines statistics for quarterbacks is, well, who are you Playing if you're facing the Texans and the Chargers and the Seahawks, like your numbers are just going to be significantly worse versus when, oh, the Titans get to play the jets this year. Nope. They can play the Dolphins. Nope. And again, they play in AFC south, so they're going to have to play the Texans twice every single year. So that's not going to change. But I think it just goes back to give credit to Cam Ward where this season he was not put in a position to succeed and he didn't look like he was completely underwater, especially in the second half of the year. So they were saying on the broadcast last week in week 18, oh, he's played all the snaps and of course it's the game that he gets injured in. Nothing too serious with his shoulder, so he should be fine in the off season. But I'm really looking forward to see what they do at head coach, what they do at Play Caller. And maybe they add another veteran weapon here where Calvin Ridley clearly has fallen off. He's not the guy. Maybe it's Al Pierce. Maybe they bring in him from the Colts as a veteran to kind of take these younger players under their wing. George Pickens. You want a billion targets, Go to Tennessee. You'll see them all there. So that's where I'm really interested about because I don't think that Cam Ward is. I don't think the NFL is too big for him. I think that he can succeed. We just got to get a couple more pieces in place for him.

[A]

How will you feel, Erickson, if next year in a super flex league, Cam Ward is your, your second starter? Like, obviously, I think a lot of us would be pretty happy if he's our backup in that format. It's kind of like a high upside QB3. But if he's your QB2, how will you be feeling about that?

[B]

I think he's gonna be really cheap probably. So I think I'd probably feel pretty good about it. You're not worried about him losing his job or in any capacity now? I say that now. We'll see how things kind of shake out. I think that the excitement will be about, you know, who the office of play caller is. Right. And if it's someone that we're excited about, Kevin Stefanski, please love to see that. But if it's Cliff Kingsbury, maybe I'm not as optimistic about Cam Ward.

[C]

So why not look at what he's there with Jaden Daniels, like the freaking no huddle in his. I actually would be excited for fantasy purposes.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I think he could definitely go sideways as a team for fantasy purposes. Sideways, Sideways me up to your point. Your question there, Worm, is like I would feel, look, I'm not going to feel happy, like I'm not going to be like, oh my God, I'm in a great spot. But taking Cam Ward over, whatever happens to KYLER Murray or C.J. stroud, a pure passer, Sam Darnold, a pure passer, like these kind of names where it's like all I just need is a few things to break right? More like they did the end of the season in the new year with a new coach and potentially like Erickson said, a nice number one or a number two of the ilk of like Alec Pierce is that hey, you know what? Nobody wanted Daniel Jones, nobody wanted Tyler Schuck. And then like all of a sudden Tyler Schuck's out there producing like a top 16 quarterback in fantasy towards the end of the season. Nobody wanted Jacoby freaking Brissette who was a QB one for more games than not Actually only a two non QB one games. So like we see quarterbacks pop up every single year. But that's the thing is I'm more likely to take my shot on a Cam Ward because he has the rushing upside to boot than to take somebody that I just know needs to throw 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. I'd rather take a shot on a Cam Ward.

[B]

I think too from a ceiling perspective, you look at who are the two of the best late run quarterbacks you could have drafted this year. Caleb Williams and Drake May, two second year quarterbacks, new offensive play callers coming in. So just kind of.

[C]

Or Daniel Jones for free.

[B]

Daniel Jones for free. Chasing that type of archetype where it doesn't work for all of them. Getting McCarthy didn't hit, panics didn't hit. But you bet on a second year quarterback, you know, sometimes you can have these outlier type of seasons where they really hit in a big way and you're searching for ceiling, right? If Cam Ward, okay, worst case scenario, he just starts all the games and this is like a mediocre QB2 and super flex. But if he hits, takes a big step like Williams or Drake May did then, okay, now you have a top five quarterback that you drafted as QB 18 off the board before we get out of here.

[C]

You realize we both pronounced that wrong. It's arc type. It's actually three syllables. I know, like I get hate for that and I always default to archetype. And you said arch type and archetype it's actually archetype. It's three syllables.

[B]

So there you go.

[C]

Everybody come for us in the comments.

[B]

I'm so self conscious of that word for that exact reason.

[C]

We should just stop using.

[B]

I'm afraid to use it because I'm like I'm going to say it the wrong way and I like practice trying to say it the right way and then I always mess it up anyway.

[C]

It's like oku buon bunom. I know I'm going to do it wrong.

[A]

I said archetype like archetype my whole life. And then I started hearing people say archetype and I was like very much second guessing myself. Like did I have. I was saying it wrong my whole life and so that's validating to say.

[C]

No, I Gumbawali There we go.

[A]

All right, well wrap up the AFC south there. Be sure to check out all our other division takeaways episodes that we have coming out for you this week in the afc. NFC is coming up next week. For Erickson and Jake, I'm Ryan Wormley. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple [e-mail] review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and TikTok at fantasypros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.