Fantasy Football League Winners To Target (Ep. 1673)

Summary

FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode: Fantasy Football League Winners To Target (Ep. 1673)

Date: August 28, 2025
Host: Ryan Wormley
Analyst: Andrew Erickson

---

Main Theme & Overview

This episode is one of the most vital and anticipated of the preseason: the annual "League Winners" show. Hosts Ryan Wormley and Andrew Erickson break down the players—primarily drafted outside the first two rounds—who can become fantasy football difference-makers, either by vastly outperforming their average draft position (ADP) or by dominating when it matters most during the fantasy playoffs.

The discussion covers early and mid-round targets, late-round stashes, risky upside picks, and listener responses. The hosts aim to help listeners cut through buzzwords like "sleeper" and "breakout" and focus on identifying true “league winners” for the 2025 season.

---

Defining a "League Winner"

• The hosts clarify the often-blurred terminology between “sleeper,” “breakout,” and "league winner” ([02:57]).
• League Winner: Generally, a player drafted after the first couple rounds who dramatically outperforms their ADP—especially those who shape the playoff landscape in December ([01:38], [02:57]).
• The “Who will go in Round 1 next year?” test: A fun way to forecast the type of breakout required for someone to enter elite fantasy status ([04:20]).

Quote:
"League winners, like the guys who literally do reshape the fantasy season, are what it is about at the end of the day." — Ryan ([00:35])

---

Key Targets: Early/Mid-Round League Winners

(Rounds 3-6, and some standout values even later)

1. Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers

• Tremendous value as a top-10 draft pick currently being undervalued in home leagues ([06:18]).
• ECR around WR20 but ADP as low as WR26 in home leagues ([08:19]).
• Projected to be Bryce Young’s clear WR1 under Dave Canales, drawing Mike Evans comps for usage ([06:18]).
• "This is the cheapest I believe he will ever be going in drafts. I am really confident that this guy is going to be a top 15 wide receiver next year, if not even higher." — Ryan ([08:19])
• Noted for strong endorsements from college peers (e.g., Travis Hunter) ([10:28]).

Memorable Moment:
"If I could plant my flag on one player this year, it’s I think that Tetairoa McMillan is going to be a top 12 receiver in drafts a year from now." — Ryan ([10:50])

2. Kenneth Walker, RB, Seattle Seahawks

• Slipping into Rounds 4–5 due to injury fears and committee speculation with Zach Charbonnet ([11:29]).
• Walker poised for RB1 volume in a run-heavy Kubiak scheme that elevated Alvin Kamara to #1 in expected fantasy ppg last year ([11:29]).
• "The upside case with Kenneth Walker is that he is the RB one and bell cow of the Seahawks offense ... you have the recipe... for a top five fantasy football running back." — Andrew ([11:29])
• Concern strictly about durability, but upside justifies risk at current price ([14:08]).

---

Packers Passing Game: Where Is the League Winner?

(Discussed across [21:50]–[32:49])

Jaden Reed, WR, Green Bay Packers

• Falling well past WR40 due to a foot injury ([21:50], [22:27]).
• Asserted as a value for his efficiency and target share, but health/usage remains uncertain ([22:29], [24:28]).
• Slot role and motion looks offer high-efficiency upside ([23:28]).
• "This is just a bet on talent, right? He ... led the Packers in receptions and yards for two straight seasons." — Andrew ([22:29])

Matthew Golden, WR, Green Bay Packers

• First-round rookie with great camp buzz, climbing swiftly in ADP ([24:28]), with a “top-15 overall prospect” profile per film analysts.
• Hosts increasingly view him as the most likely breakout among Packers WRs, especially given Jaden Reed's health ([26:10]).
• "I don’t think he should be outside the top 40 receivers and I think the upside is significant.” — Ryan ([27:39])

Tucker Kraft, TE, Green Bay Packers

• Top late-round tight end option; yards after catch leader; drawing George Kittle/Smith breakout comparisons ([29:21]).
• Potential to lead Green Bay in red zone targets and capitalize as best TE talent on the roster ([31:19]).
• "If I get Tucker Kraft to be this year’s Brock Bowers or Jonnu Smith, that's such a significantly better hit for my fantasy team..." — Andrew ([29:21])

---

Other Mid-Round League Winners

Jordan Mason, RB, Minnesota Vikings

([32:49])

• Expected to be the lead rusher for Minnesota, even with Aaron Jones healthy; goal-line role likely, plus standalone value and RB1 upside if Jones misses time ([33:07]).
• "I’m just way more confident in his role in the Vikings offense." — Andrew ([33:07])

Drake Maye, QB, New England Patriots

([37:19])

• Dual-threat skillset, floor/ceiling combo; week 1–2 schedule sets up immediate usability ([37:19], [38:45]).
• Compared to a poor man’s Josh Allen; high rushing output gives built-in safety net ([38:45]).
• "If he hits [his] ceiling ... Maye could be the league winner and I think there is a difference there." — Ryan ([39:59])

---

Late-Round/Bench League Winners (“Lottery Tickets”)

(Targets going after round 10 with massive upside, should opportunity arise)

Bashel Tootin, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars ([42:27])

• Day 3 rookie; flashed elite speed and tackle-breaking ability.
• Getting drafted in the 12th round+ ([44:42]).
• Investment by new coaching regime suggests possible in-season emergence as top option.

Marvin Mims, WR, Denver Broncos ([45:52])

• Uber-efficient in limited 2024 usage; will week 1 snap share finally arrive?
• Clear pivot: “If Sean Payton decides nope, Marvin Mims back to your 27% snap share, then you can cut him ... but if he comes out and has a full-time role ... you're looking at a potential WR3 that you can start.” — Andrew ([45:52])

Braylon Allen, RB, New York Jets ([48:35])

• 240-lb battering ram, flashing in Jets camp. Could have a standalone TD-driven role, plus contingent upside ([48:35]).
• “I think that there’s a real opportunity that he’s going to see goal line touches in the Jets’ backfield.” — Andrew ([48:35])

Dylan Sampson, RB, Cleveland Browns ([52:16])

• High-upside rookie with major runway after Quintean Judkins’ off-field issues ([52:36]).
• "I genuinely think there’s a non-zero chance he is the best draft pick you can make this season." — Ryan ([54:49])

Luther Burden, WR, Chicago Bears ([56:57])

• Second-rounder drafted by new regime; quietly slides to WR59 after injury-plagued summer ([56:57]).
• “If he’s end up playing the slot role in a Ben Johnson offense ... I think that he could provide a lot of upside.” — Andrew ([56:57])

Josh Palmer, WR, Buffalo Bills ([58:43])

• “Fifth-year WR breakout” candidate, attached to Josh Allen and unique as a separator among Bills’ weapons ([58:43]).
• “Palmer is going to have a full-time starting role and is free across every single draft. So worth taking the shot in week one.” — Andrew ([58:43])

---

Listener League Winners and Rapid Reactions ([60:31]–[63:32])

• Listeners suggest: Bashel Tootin, Ricky Pearsall, TreVeyon Henderson, Jameson Williams, Calvin Ridley, DJ Moore, Omarion Hampton, Courtland Sutton and others.
• Rookie RBs (Henderson, Hampton) called out by Andrew as the class that could truly redefine leagues this year:
  "This rookie running back class is special, and I think that we’re going to see it from week one … as hyped as we think we may be on them, we may not be high enough." — Andrew ([61:07])
• Ricky Pearsall spotlighted by Ryan as a potential surprise top-10 WR if the opportunity opens up ([62:32]).

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “[On Kenneth Walker] … If you guaranteed me health, I think this is a first-round pick. Honestly.” — Ryan ([14:08])
• “When in doubt, click the button on one of these [rookie RBs]. I feel you’re gonna benefit in the long run for it.” — Andrew ([62:32])
• “Draft all of [the Packers pass-catchers] when you have the opportunity to do so.” — Andrew ([27:39])
• “Don’t waste your bench—these are the types of guys… Don't waste your bench, draft these sort of players because we’re only caring about the upside and guys that could end up, if [the] situation breaks right, becoming league winners for you.” — Ryan ([40:24])

---

Quick Reference: Timestamps for Core Segments

| Segment | Topic | Timestamp (MM:SS) | |---------|-------|------------------| | Defining League Winners | [00:35]–[04:52] | | Tetairoa McMillan Deep Dive | [06:18]–[10:50] | | Kenneth Walker Deep Dive | [11:29]–[17:28] | | Packers mid/late round breakdown (Golden, Reed, Kraft) | [21:50]–[32:49] | | Jordan Mason RB profile | [32:49]–[36:36] | | Drake Maye QB upside | [37:19]–[40:24] | | Late-round stashes section | [42:27]–[55:39] | | WR lottery tickets: Burden, Palmer | [56:57]–[60:30] | | Listener submissions discussion | [60:31]–[63:32] |

---

Overall Tone & Takeaways

The hosts deliver energetic, knowledgeable, and actionable advice. They emphasize the importance of upside in the late rounds, the value of being aggressive on rookies and first-year starters, and knowing when to bet on ambiguous situations (like the Packers’ pass catchers). The spirit is fun yet competitive—reminding listeners, “We’re not here to finish in third place. We’re here to win our fantasy championships.” ([63:52])

---

Summary prepared for listeners seeking a comprehensive but concise gameplan for targeting league-winning value in their 2025 fantasy drafts.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[B]

I'm Jake Hofer and this is Back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access? Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand. Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[A]

Hello everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football podcast. I'm Ryan, warmly joined by Andrew Erickson. We are talking league winners. We were supposed to have a guest on the show. He is feeling under the weather. So we are rolling with a two man show here today, Erickson, which is kind of a preview for what the in season show is going to be on Tuesdays this year. Our trade show is just going to be a Worm and Ericsson happy hour every single week. So we get an early preview of that here on on our league winners episode. What we're going to do is we're just going to run through a bunch of league winners that you have provided here. I will agree or disagree. We are also going to throw out some league winners that the listeners shared with us on social media and we'll kind of react to them, see what we think. I might throw in a few of mine as well, but this is really one of the most fun and really one of the most important episodes of the year because you look at the course of the season and getting value on draft day feels good and it's something you can brag about and it's something that's important. But league winners, like the guys who literally do reshape the fantasy season are what it is about at the end of the day. And that's really where we're trying to own in on in this episode.

[B]

Yeah, I think too it goes hand in hand with league winners. It really does depend where you draft them. They're not necessarily always the players in the first couple of rounds because those players are being drafted at that highly for a reason. Everybody kind of agrees that these are the top players that you should be taking and it's really this guy versus this guy. I like both of them. Whereas it's the players that drastically beat their ADP that are the big league winners. And just thinking about last year, Chase Brown, right, He was a massive hit because he was a guy going in the double digit rounds, ended up being An RB one down the stretch. And really when it mattered most, that's when Chase Brown really broke out. Same thing with Brian Thomas Jr. Again, a rookie wide receiver that was drafted way after a lot of the other guys that were selected in round one. And he ended up having a monster second half of the season and helped a lot of people win their league. So although on the other side of the coin you can look at Rashi Rice and Chris Godwin, those guys weren't necessarily league winners because they got hurt, but to start the year, those guys were on fire and they were good picks until obviously they got injured. So it's finding that kind of balance to guys that could start the season out really hot while also looking for players that could finish the season very strong. Which we're going to talk about a lot during the trade show this year, is trying to find second half league winners even after your draft has concluded.

[A]

You know, it's interesting, I wanted to sort of talk about defining what a league winner is because you always these terms become kind of nebulous over time like sleeper versus breakout versus league winner. It's kind of hard to make a distinction between those. We for the purposes of this episode, when we are actually going to be highlighting names, are talking about guys that are really like round three is about the earliest we're looking at. We're kind of not looking in those top 24 to 30 picks. But I think you can make the case that those guys still can be league winners. Like last year if you took Saquon in the late first or early second, that was a league winner for you, even if he wasn't the single best value you could have drafted. Same with Jamar Chase. Those were the two most important players to have in fantasy last season, regardless of the fact that they weren't like, oh, this mid round breakout who, who you know returned so much value for you. They just were the guys that were important to have to be in the best position to win your league. And you are. I do think there's a clear distinction between like season long league winners and then those guys who are like they win in the league for you in December because literally during the playoffs they have, you know, a really hot final month. But I think those are early round guys. Again, not that we're really going to be focusing on them today. I think they do fit the category of league winner though.

[B]

I agree with you. I think that the one thing that makes it a little bit different for me and maybe Jamar Chase isn't the best example, but they're not going where they should have gone, right? Even last year, Jamar Chase should have been, again, using hindsight, should have been everyone's wide receiver.

[A]

1.

[B]

Saquon Barkley should have been everybody's RB1, you know, based on hindsight. And the thing I think was Saquon was anyone could have drafted him last year just based on where his ADP was at the beginning of round two. So it's almost like guys outside round one. And I think that a fun way to think about this is when we're drafting players in 2026, the first round. 2026. Who are we drafting inside the top three? Who's inside the top five of the 2026 draft? Because if they're being drafted that highly next year, it means they were probably a league winner this season.

[A]

I do that is one of my favorite like ways to frame thinking about any kind of player debate in August is who do I expect to be going higher next August. I think that's a good way to, to look at things. Quick reminder for everybody that all of our 2025 consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros.com/ Rankings. Erickson, let's dive right in. So we've got a couple of sort of like, you know, these are the league winners that are going earlier, not in the first two rounds, but they're in that kind of rounds three to six range like guys that people are aggressively trying to get but that we think could take another step forward, be going a lot higher a year from now as league winners. Then we've got a few more names in kind of the mid round and we've got a lot of kind of lottery tickets late guys that we think are worth spending on late in your drafts that could take a really big step forward, return that value and and also serve as league winners either early or late in the season. Let's start with the guys going earlier in the draft though. A couple names for us. We're going to start with like maybe the player of the Fantasy Pros podcast this summer, Tetaroa McMillan. I feel like we've talked about him every episode, but I don't want to stop talking about him because I just, I think the value is still there. I think he has extremely high upside. I think assuming health, he has a pretty high floor. Honestly. You were saying before the show, since we don't have a third person on the episode that like, oh, oh, maybe like if I really believe it, not to fake it, but if I really believe It I should play a little devil's advocate and push back. I will not be pushing back on this one because I am in strong agreement with you on Teoa McMillan. Why for you, Erickson, is he a league winner this year?

[B]

Well, I think part of it has to just do with the price. I don't understand why he's going so low. He's going outside the top 24 in a lot of home league ADP. I know that. I believe all the fantasy pros analysts have him inside their top 20 overall wide receivers. So he's someone that's not only do I want to wait for, but I'm more than happy just pull up the board. Especially after that round three, round four crop of wide receivers. Some of the veteran guys that maybe I don't love being super aggressive on Tetra villains kind of in that next tier where once all those guys are off the board I'm like, all right, I'm ready to pull up T Mac and grab him as my wide receiver 2 or wide receiver 3, depending on what I did in the first couple rounds. I just think that. Don't overthink it. It's a top 10 draft pick. He's going into a situation where he can clearly be the number one target for Bryce Young, who despite his up and downs as an NFL quarterback, has shown that he can support fantasy viable weapons. And most notably, it's been Adam Thielen, who's a much older wide receiver who's been able to be productive when on the field and when healthy. Adam Thielen's last six games as the Panthers number one wide receiver last year, almost 15 fantasy points per game. That would have been eighth among all wide receivers. And he was 34 years old and he was producing that way with Bryce Young as his quarterback. Dave Canales knows exactly what he's doing with Tetro McMillan. He drafted him for a reason. He had a lot of success in Tampa Bay with Mike Evans. That's been one of the comps for Tetro McMillan coming out of Arizona. I just think that he's being drafted at his floor just based on him being a top 10 NFL draft pick. And he's one of the most under discussed, kind of underrated top 10 wide receiver draft picks that I can remember. And the fact that he's going in the same range as Malik Nabors. Again, I don't think that he's the same talent as neighbors, but I think it's a similar bet to make as drop this guy into an offense without any established pass catchers, maybe like Jalen Coker, but I mean he was an undrafted guy who's also been banged up a little bit throughout the off season. So for me, Tetra McMillan is one of the easiest clicks you can make for all the reasons we've already talked about.

[A]

Yeah, I, I don't. We don't need to rehash it too much because we've talked about him a lot. I. I will do. I've made this point a bunch of times this summer, so for those who haven't heard it yet, here it is. If you have heard it yet, sorry. This will be the last time I make this point. I have made that comparison to Neighbors a ton. He is not as talented as Neighbors, but he is this year's neighbors in terms of where he is going in drafts. Just simply does not line up with where he will be next year. To our point that we led this show with like, this is the cheapest I believe he will ever be going in drafts. I am really confident that this guy is going to be a top 15 wide receiver next year, if not even higher. Honestly, like I just, I can't understand ranking where he is. What is really surprising me to me Erickson about him is Te McMillan is 23rd in our half PPR expert consensus rankings ADP. His real time ADP, which is a new feature that fantasy pros has everybody should check out, is wide receiver 26. This is a top 10 pick, a rookie who's really talented that a lot of people like us have been talking up for a long time this summer. And the ADP is lower than his ranking. That's uncommon. Usually it's flipped. So he is still very attainable. I just had a salary cap draft over the weekend and I got him for like seven bucks in a 200, you know, dollar budget format. I'm like this is more of a home league format that that league was in, but if you are in one of those leagues, the interest is not quite, I think matching what we think the upside is. So yes, he's very easily inside my top 20 at the position. Again, real time ADP is wide receiver 26. He's behind Xavier Worthy, Cortland Sutton, who I really like. D.J. moore, Devonte Smith, George Pickens, D.K. metcalf. Those are a lot of guys either in questionable offenses or who are not the number one target in their offense like we saw last year. Dave Canales worked his magic second half on Bryce Young. Bryce Young doesn't need to take step forward. He just needs to be what he was in the second half and he could easily support a very talented top 10 draft pick at the position. And I think some of the reason that people are a little, maybe not like forgetting about McMillan, but just like not completely over the moon is because his best college season wasn't his last college season, but his 2023 was insanely good. And his 2024 wasn't so terrible that it's like, oh, this dude fell off boards. He was still the eighth pick. So, yeah, I mean, again, we've, we've talked about it a ton. We can move on because I know we're, we're in agreement and I do.

[B]

Want to say one last thing on him. You can take it from me, when we were at the combine, you know, with all the prospects, this is before they were all drafted. Somebody asked Travis Hunter who the best wide receiver he faced in college football was, and he said it was Tetra McMillan actually said it was TMac. That's what he said. Because that's what you have to call him. He's either TMAC or Tetra McMillan. It is not Tet. Do not call that man Ted. His mom will find you.

[A]

I want to call him Ted because I just want to give that. I, I like, I want a one syllable nickname. It's not even that. It's Ted. The first part of his name. It's just like TMAC is two syllables. Tet A ROA is, you know, it's three syllables or four, I can count. But I, I like the Tet just because it's so simple. But yeah, we'll try and respect, respect her wishes. Yeah, like I, I genuine. I'm really like, if I could plant my flag on one player this year, it's. I think that Teo McMillan is going to be a top 12 receiver in drafts a year from now. Like that's, I just feel really confident about that. Cause I think it's really good and the situation is literally perfect for him. Let's go to your other kind of round three to six guy, your certified league winner.

[B]

Here you go with Kenneth Walker, running back for the Seattle Seahawks. And I know that the discourse with Kenneth Walker is he's going to stay healthy, he's going to get hurt. Zach Charbonnet is taking over the backfield. Understand those concerns. I think that it's baked into his ADP now where you're seeing him fall into round four going outside of the top three rounds. But the upside case with Kenneth Walker is that he is the RB one and Bell Cow of the Seahawks offense. And in Kubiak's scheme last year we saw Alvin Kamara be number one expected fantasy points per game. So when you marry the role in this offense at running back with Ken Walker and how explosive he is, that is a pass catcher like he showed last season, a tackle breaking machine like he showed last season, then you have the recipe and all the ingredients for a top five fantasy football running back. If everything hits. It's a contract year for Kenneth Walker. Like he has to ball out this season. And I think the Seahawks are prepping him by playing him, being very conservative, not playing in the preseason because they're ready to unleash him down the stretch. I know sometimes with backfields we fall in love with the guy that's behind them because the other guys can deal with injuries. Sometimes that's what happens, right? Maybe it is going to be Charbonnet. And that's no reason you can't draft both players. Like you can draft both players. Like no one's stopping you if you want to get Walker and Charbonnet as the handcuff. But a lot of times we also get this wrong where, no, the second running back actually doesn't get involved as much as we are all projecting as the coach speak is indicating. So we, for me, I'm just looking back at the last two years, what we've seen of these two guys. And when Walker's been healthy, Walker's always been the guy. And I would feel different. It was a new head coach in Seattle, it's a new offensive play caller. But Mike McDonald is still calling the shots. He's still the head coach. And I still think that he believes that Ken Walker is their best running back. And I actually found a quote from last season from head coach Mike McDonald and it was talking to his running backs coach for the Seahawks, Kennedy Palamalu. And they were looking at the roster, basically said, every time we go over the roster, Kennedy Palamalu gives me a little hint like, let's feed this guy. He could be special with Ken in reference to Ken Walker. So obviously last year he was that when he was on the field, he was a top 12 fantasy running back when he was healthy. So we're making bets on Christian McCaffrey to stay healthy. Saquon Barkley, I mean, those guys are going in round one. We know what their upside is if they can stay healthy through all 17 weeks. Ken Walker, again, not to that extent. But now you have to just make that risk in round four versus round one. I'm willing to take that shot because I think that if he is healthy on the field, he's going to vastly outproduce it and be a top 10 fantasy running back just based on this new scheme that he's in and the talent that Ken Walker is.

[A]

Real time ADPs 37th pick. So basically the first pick of round four. I, I think the most important point you make about Walker is that the ADP hasn't risen despite the fact that, you know, you can paint a pretty clear picture of what the upside is. He's still going around 4. Because I was really high on Walker early in the off season, I have come off it a little for literally only one reason. And that reason is I am just tired of seeing like, you know, foot pain and not practicing. Like it just, it just makes me that nervous enough to not be like, like as gung ho as I am about Tedro and McMillan, I still really like Walker. I'm just not as like I am planting my flag. I feel really confident about this in the same way. But, but it is strictly an injury concern thing because he's had some injury stuff in the last couple of seasons and has been dealing some, some of that foot stuff in practice this August. If you guaranteed me health, I think this is a first round pick. Honestly, like, like I am totally with you on what the upside is. I, I don't have any doubts about the usage when healthy. Even though I really like Charbonnet. I love the way this running game I expect it to look with Kubiak and just the general kind of talk around this team in camp. Uh, Gray Zabel was like one of my favorite draft picks of the entire draft in April and he has looked every bit the part so far in ARG in August in terms of just improving the offensive line at guard. So like I, I love literally he checks every box for me, especially as a fourth round pick. I would take him to third probably just to make sure I get him, you know, late third rather than wait for the fourth. But the injury does concern me a little. But that's still kind of baked into the price to your point.

[B]

I guess for me it's just about looking at the potential bell cows in his range. There are really none. I mean Breece hall is going to probably be in a committee. James Cook, we is not a bell cow. Then you have some of the rookie running backs, Henderson and Harvey. Again, those guys aren't profiling as straight up bell cows. Now they have appealing upside cases. But when you're looking at the best Case, scenario, outcome. I think Ken Walker has the case to be the highest ranked running back in that situation. So that's why I'm. I'm bullish on Ken Walker and I think too there was something else I was thinking about with him. The thought has escaped me though.

[A]

Well, the three names just while you're thinking about that, the three names going after him in real time ADP before you get to like Holland Henderson are Camara, Hubbard and Connor. That feels like more of a floor play versus ceiling guys like Connor and Hubbard like because they could have, you know the usage that we're looking for in those offenses. I mean those are some of the more popular like boring picks that people are like. Yeah, these guys are probably going to be value at the end of the day but the ceiling is just different with Walker.

[B]

Yeah. So I actually remember what I was thinking after week one. If we had to re put like we had to rearrange all the guys again. We do. In our rest of season rankings, Ken Walker is not going to be in this range anymore. Like he's going to be either significantly higher if he ends up being the BellCo week one or he's going to drop significantly because oh no full blown committee. Charbonnet's the RB1 run for the hills. Like I think it's really more that scenario. So I think this round four price is really more of a hedging our bets because we aren't 100% sure and it is a position where you got to pick a side and there are people that are on the Charbonnet side. He's taken over. That's the bet you want to make. That's fine. But I want to bet on the guy that I think is the more talented guy in the backfield and I think that it is Kenneth Walker. So that's the bet that I will make. And hopefully when we're talking about him and entering week two we can talk about Ken Walker maybe as a by candidate for those that maybe still don't believe even if he balls out in week one.

[A]

I think it's the ringer guys who kind of coin like the Week 1 test, like the eyeball test. Like we could be sitting there 2:30 Eastern Week 1 on that first Sunday and it's just like yeah, this was a mistake to rank Kenneth Walker. Like you see two long plays, you see the off the running game look great for Seattle and you're just immediately like yes, this was clearly done by us all. August, what were you.

[B]

When you see the. When you See them line up in the eye formation with the fullback. Oh man, you.

[A]

You can get in the game. Best Ball is live at DraftKings. $15 million is on the line with real stakes and real excitement. Best Ball is the biggest fantasy contest at DraftKings. We're talking a $15 million guaranteed prize pool with two millionaires being crowned for first and second place. Play season long fantasy football the DraftKings way. With best Ball, there's no waiver wires and no roster management. You get bigger rosters so injuries won't end your season. Just draft your team and you're set. If a shot at winning a share of $15 million isn't enough to get you excited, check this out. DraftKings is offering everyone a draft one get one special. Your $20 entry fee scores you a bonus ticket. Download the DraftKings app and use code Fantasy Pros. That's Code Fantasy Pros for all customers who enter the NFL. Best Ball 15 Million Dollar Millionaire contestants to get a bonus ticket and get a shot at being crowned one of two millionaires only on DraftKings. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York. Call 877-8-HOPE and WHY or text Hopeny at 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org 18 and over in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. One per customer. Enter the Best Ball 15 million headliner contest by 9425 to get one bonus entry. $20 entry fee required. Reward expires in 30 days. See [e-mail] NFL Best Ball I'm Jake.

[B]

Hofer and this is Back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access? Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand. Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Dan. He's Ty. Hello. And we're the Solid Verbal College football podcast. College football season is here and you know what that means. Your team is going to break your heart three times probably before Halloween. Uh huh. But fear not. The solid verbal will be right there with you through every soul crushing loss and impossible comeback. Join us all season long, all year long as we ride the rollercoaster of this ridiculous sport. Whether you're a diehard fan or a casual observer, we'll help you make sense of all the chaos and of course, celebrate the madness. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. We don't just love college football, Ty, we live it. Listen to the solid verbal college football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[A]

Football is back. That's right, the new NFL season is here and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. This is a show for sickos like me. NFL Daily is your kind of show. It's in the name NFL Daily. You'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Myself, Greg Rosenthal and an all star cast of co hosts will preview and recap every game all season long. Josh Allen coming off an MVP season.

[B]

And now lateral to Allen and reaching for the pylon. Are you kidding me? It's a touchdown. Have you ever seen that one before?

[A]

Rookies making a name for themselves.

[B]

Run again. Ejected. That's a bulldozer. He is bouncing off defenders and dragged down.

[A]

And of course the Eagles trying to win another Lombardi. What a game.

[B]

What a season, what a team.

[A]

Eagles fans savor it and rejoice. Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Erickson, let's move to our sort of mid round league winners here. Starting off with a wide receiver from the Packers.

[B]

Yeah, so I'm not even sure he even qualifies for middle rounds anymore because he's ADP has continued to fall and fall so he's probably more of a late round guy. And it's Jaden Reed. He's dealing with a foot injury. It's reached a point where and we were drafting in the fantasy pros league today he fell outside the hot top 120 overall picks. It's just too far for Jaden Reed, a player that the last two seasons as a rookie and second year receiver has been wide receiver 26 and wide receiver 23. And now he's going clearly outside the top 45 wide receivers. I believe the last time I checked real time ADP and this he's wide.

[A]

Receiver 46 by the way. In real time.

[B]

Yeah. So this is just a bet on talent, right? He I believe in his quarterback. I mean how many guys are you can you find attached to a quarterback that we think is good that can support fantasy viable weapons. And Jaden Reed last year, still super efficient. He was 19 in the NFL in yards per outrun. He's led the packers in receptions and yards for two straight seasons, weeks one through 13. Last year for Jaden Reed he was wide receiver 8 overall top 10 wide receiver. He was wide receiver 18 in points per game. I know that the qualm with him again this was also before the foot injury which we still are trying to gather more information about. But the hesitancy with him is the usage. But if you just look at a lot of guys that primarily operate out of the slot, they see a lot of motion. Those are usually guys that we want to draft in fantasy because they're getting layup targets where they can be super efficient. Like Jaden Reed has been through the first two years of his career and we just look at his operation and how well he's performed from the slot. Just looking at leaders in receiving yards per EPA or receptions per EPA from the slot last year the top guys in that category were Lad McConkey, Jackson, Smith and Jigba, Amon, Ross, St. Brown and Jaden Reed. So everyone else except Reed was a wide receiver one last season. So again, going back to are the ingredients of a wide receiver breakout here with this player and I think they are from a talent perspective. I think that he has shown through two years the flashes that this guy can be a potential league winner. And now given the price where you're drafting him as your wide receiver six or even like wide receiver seven because he's just absolutely buried. And even if he misses week one with his foot injury, he becomes an IR stash player where you can just pick him up, draft him late, put him on your IR and then add someone else like a defense or kicker for your roster. So I just a believer in the packers passing game again, Tucker Kraft, who we'll also talk about a little bit later on, he's still my number one target in this packers offense from the receivers. But Jaden Reed, as he just continues to fall, I'm just scooping him up because I believe in the talent.

[A]

So I said I was going to agree with you a lot in this episode. This is one where I did not feel this way early on. I have really come around on I think the league winner in this receiving room. You actually picked two guys in this receiving room. We'll get to the other one in a second. I actually think it's neither. I think it might be Matthew Golden I've really come around on first round pick. He's looked very good in camp supposedly according to the reports and everything. They really liked what they've seen. He's getting good usage it sounds like. And I know that the college production profile isn't necessarily what we were looking for but of a lot of the guys that like watch film, you know like Dane Brugler, Daniel Jeremiah, like Fitz even mentions this in his write up on the site about golden. They had him as like a top 15 overall prospect and he goes to an offense that I think like I'm a big believer in Matt Leflore. I know they spread the ball around but they've never had this first round receiver type in the offense to target heavily before. I'm really high on Jordan Love this year now that I expect him to be fully healthy coming off of like an injury riddled last season. I I just think golden is the guy that because he's going he's wide receiver 41 in real time ADP. So a very similar range to Jaden Reed, just a little bit higher by round. It's maybe about two rounds higher even though it's only about five spots amongst the position. Golden has moved up a lot in the last week. He's jumped up 13 spots actually on real time ADP. But I just think the upside is maybe higher there given what we've seen some of the limited usage from Reed in the past and I like investing in this offense which, which is really at the end of the day why I am investing a lot in Jordan Love because then I don't have to pick where the ball is going. I'm just picking the guy that is distributing the ball. But I think golden is a great investment too.

[B]

I agree with that. I mean I have golden ranked over Jaden Reed or if I don't need to update my rankings because I was in again in that fantasy pros draft I was doing. I pulled Matthew golden up because I I recognize the upside that he has as a first round pick. Jaden Reed, again, he's hurt right now so I'm not going to feel comfortable drafting Reed over Matthew golden when golden is the healthier receiver and he's probably a better bet to just lead the packers in routes run this season. And I think the thing that stands the most out about golden is whenever he was asked to step up with Texas last year when Isaiah Bond was out, just disappointing left and right and not delivering on expectations, Matthew golden did like that. That was his like calling card coming out was he had low expectations and he just continued to smash them every single time. And the, the perfect example of that was at the combine was a Bond comes out and talks about, yeah, I'm going to break the record. I'm so fast, I'm going to do this or that. Matthew Golden's like, you know, I'm just going to run, do the best I can. You guys will see. I think I'm going to run pretty well, but we'll see how things shake out. And who's the one that just runs the blazing 40 and who disappoints? You know, Matthew Goldman is the one that shines, Bond disappoints and then obviously you see where the draft capital ended up and Matthew Golden's is definitely set up for success in the packers offense. So again, you just want to invest in this packers offense because I think that when you're attached to Jordan Love, we're going to see a league winner come from. That's probably my most confident take is someone in the packers receiving game is going to be a league winner. So draft all of them when you have the opportunity to do so.

[A]

It's a good point. And also like, like Christian Watson's gonna miss most of the year, right? Like I'm not, I'm not as a first round receiver. If you're investing in Matthew golden, you're not worried about like Romeo Dobbs or Don Tavian Wicks, even though I like those players fine. It's basically golden or Reed and Reed is dealing with his own injury stuff and his own history of maybe not the usage we're exactly looking for. So I'm like, like, why wouldn't it be the first round pick who is impressing in camp and who a lot of film guys had as this elite prospect in the class? I like again, I did not feel this way early. This is something I have come around on throughout July and August. But I'm just like, I just think Golden's going way too. I don't think he should be outside the top 40 receivers and I think the upside is like significant. Like I like there's a lot of rookie receivers I like this year we don't have them on the list. But like Emeka Ibuka I think could have been on this, this conversation today again, we already talked about Tedro McMillan. I think golden deserves to be in that conversation as a guy that's going too low amongst the rookie receivers. Now go ahead.

[B]

I just want to say the thing that's interesting is golden has not seen this like this crazy rise like Ibuka has.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where you like the next thing you look, you're like, oh well, Agmuka, round four, like that's what you're expecting to see. But Matthew golden does not have that around him. And you can say you thought Egbuka was a better prospect. I think I would agree with that. I had him higher in my rookie rankings, but just given the opportunity, I mean we saw a booker raise because guys are hurt on the Buccaneers. Well, we just talked about Jaden Reed's injury. John Taming Wicks is banged up. Romeo Dobbs, the coach is asking is he going to get cut from the team. Which, which I was a ridiculous question that for them to ask.

[A]

Well, so let's, let's skip ahead and with this conversation. And so I apologize to the editors, we're going a little bit out of order from the show sheet, but one of the other mid round guys you have is Tucker Kraft who's also in this offense. So how does he fit into this whole conversation for you?

[B]

Well, I think that he's probably my number one. Right. If you're, hey, you can only pick one Packer receiver tight end to be the league winner. It's Tucker Craft for me and I think I just like making this bet based on if golden or Jaden Reed hit. Okay, great. I have another wide receiver that I can kind of add to my stable. But if I get Tucker Craft to be this year's Brock Bowers or Johnu Smith, that I feel like is such a significantly better hit for my fantasy team in the way that I built things out, like hitting on that late round tight end is going to be a bigger win for my team than necessarily hitting on a wide receiver. So that's why Kraft is a guy I want to invest in priority numero uno. And it just goes back to he's really good at football yards after the catch. Last year he was number one in yards after the catch per reception. And what do we see in this category in 2023? The top two guys, George Kittle, Jonah Smith, both were top four tight ends the following season after leading the NFL in yards after the catch per reception. So, you know, going back to my old scouting days in terms of looking at prospects and just kind of find the next tight end. Breakout yards out to the catch tends to be kind of sticky. And it's because when guys get the ball in their hand, if they can make plays at tight end, they score points, they score fantasy points and they break out. And I think Tuck Kraft is on the trajectory to break out here, especially without the packers receivers getting. Guys are banged up and as fun as Matthew golden might be, he doesn't necessarily profile as an alpha receiver in terms of he's going to command like a 30% target share. Like that was not his game at Texas. Like he can be really efficient, he can catch touchdowns, he can be used downfield. But is he going to be seeing double digit targets every single week? I would probably say I'm a little suspect of that. So that being said, it opens up opportunities for Kraft to see high value opportunities in the red zone downfield. So that's for me like all the reasons why just you want to be in on Tucker Kraft because I think the, I think that he's the best bet to lead this team in red zone targets. And if Jordan Love tosses 30 touchdowns again, Ben Kraft is going to be on the receiving end of a lot of them.

[A]

Yeah, and I mean to, to the conversation we've just had about this offense as a whole, like re dealing with injury. Golden maybe not the highest target earner. We're not worried about guys like Dobbs and, and Wicks. If we're comparing to real breakouts here, like the only, the only knock against Kraft is like what kind of volume is he going to get if the opportunity is there to get real volume. We, we love the efficiency, we love the player overall talent. He's the best tight end on this team. Like yeah, I think it's a great pick. And we don't. He. Is he the only tight end we're talking about today? He might be. I think, I don't think we picked any others. But he's been your favorite.

[B]

He's the strategy late run tight end. It's him and then Tyler Warren and.

[A]

Those two are back to back in real time adp and it's like just get one. If you're not getting one of the elite tier one guys, just get one of those two and like it's the easiest position to give strategy advice for this year. And everybody, what's your approach to the position? One of the top three or if they go too early, either either Craft or Warren. Done. Don't even think about it.

[B]

Like the amount of how bullish I am on Tucker Kraft is. I could draft a tight end among the big three between Kittle McBride or Brock Bowers and I'm still drafting Tucker Craft on those teams just because I'm so high on this particular player. And I just think that he can be such a big Hit that. Yeah, I'm not looking to necessarily draft two tight ends, but I'm just such a believer in him accruing value over the season that maybe it'll give me an opportunity to flip one of them for a running back or a wide receiver. If Tucker Craft really hits in the big way that I think he can.

[A]

Let's go to Jordan Mason, your next mid round league winner here. This is somebody who, I'm curious what you think about the opportunity if this is somebody that needs an injury or if you think can be a big, you know, outperformer of their current cost. Even with Aaron Jones staying healthy, I.

[B]

Think that he can be because we've seen this kind of script before with these number two running backs that run really hot on touchdowns and that's kind of how they find their fantasy success. We saw with Jamal Williams a couple years ago. Two years ago it was Raheem Mostert, right? It wasn't just a Chan that was good as a rookie like Raheem Mostert scored over 20 touchdowns in that Dolphins offense and he wasn't the number one running back on that team. So we've seen time and time again a couple backfields every year produce multiple running backs for fantasy. Every indication has been that Jordan Mason is going to have a standalone role in this backfield, specifically at the goal line and in the red zone. And he was really efficient and great last year behind Christian McCaffrey filling in. He was second in the NFL in rushing yards before his injury in Week 8. I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying that the leading rusher for the Minnesota Vikings in 2025 if he stays healthy, is going to be Jordan Mason. That doesn't mean he's going to see the most touches because I think that Aaron Jones is still going to be used more in the passing game. But in games where the Vikings are up and they're trying to run out the clock or do things in the second half, I think Jordan Mason is going to see a lot of touches. And the Vikings revamped the interior of their offensive line this offseason. They have a young quarterback who I don't think that they just want to have, hey, let's drop back the. Let's drop back and throw 40 times a game with J.J. mcCarthy. When you look at the situation, there's going to be no Jordan Addison for the first three weeks of the season. Justin Jefferson has missed like all of training camp with a hamstring injury. Jalen Naylor is hurt they're trying to trade for Adam Thielen, who has never played with J.J. mcCarthy. So I'm not picturing this like high flying passing attack coming out of the gates. Week one. It's going to be a lot of Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones. So just given where they go in drafts, Jordan Mason is in round eight. He's kind of where I've talked about. You know, we get a lot of questions about where do I draft Jakory, Crosby, Merritt, where do I draft him? Jordan Mason is the cutoff. For me. It's like as long as Jordan Mason is on the board, I am drafting him over Crosby Merrick because I'm just way more confident in his role in the Vikings offense. But once Jordan Mason is off the board, feel free to go get Bill to do whatever you want to go get him. So like, he's a. He's kind of where I draw the line because he's definitely my favorite late round running back.

[A]

There's always a couple examples every year of guys that I don't have a lot of on my team, but that's not a reflection of how I feel about them. I just haven't gotten a lot of Jordan Mason because there's always somebody else that kind of beats me to the punch. But I do really like him. I think he's a good fit for this. Because if, first of all, if Jones does go down, then this is a, this is a, a top eight running back week in and week out, any week that Aaron Jones, who is an older running back, is not playing. But even if he does, he's, I always call like a flex. Plus, he's like, he's like a guy that you can still start like a handcuff plus two, however you want to phrase it, like he's a guy that there is contingent upside. But there is also right now upside. There is also like you are going to probably get a value. He's RB 29, real time ADP. Like there, there's a lot of names around him that I just feel better about Jordan Mason or at the very least like, just as good about Jordan Mason to the point where I can wait on him and maybe focus on other positions elsewhere, knowing that Jordan Mason is kind of sitting there in my back pocket. So I don't really have anything to add to what you said. Like, I, I agree with the case you laid out here.

[B]

Yeah. And I think too, especially in standard half PPR formats where touchdowns are felt much more significantly, I think PPR is probably where maybe you don't need to be as aggressive trying to go after Jordan Mason. But no, I think that he's a, again a long shot, a good bet to lead the NFL in touchdowns like at his odds. I think it was. I think I got it like 75 to 1. I mean if this Vikings offense is a top 10 offense then he's going to be live.

[A]

I think, I think our former colleague Thor Nystrom has been tweeting about that he is a Vikings fan but he's been tweeting about this like not enough people are talking about Jordan Mason is about to lead the NFL in time this year. Yeah, it'd be awesome to see. We got one more mid round league winner here. We wanted to squeeze in a quarterback. This is one where again I don't have much to say just because we've talked about him a lot but holy cow do I agree if there is one quarterback that is outside tier one right now that I had to bet to finish his QB1, not as a Tier 1 QB because I think the floor is lower for him than other guys. Like I'm not saying he is the single best layer on QB pick you can make, but if I had to pick one guy to finish as literally the QB one overall it's Drake May, other guys outside tier one.

[B]

Yeah, I, I think that the bet is pretty simple. You're just looking for a quarterback with a dual threat skill set. Drake May as a Rookie average over 30 rushing yards per game and that was in a terrible situation. You just look at the seven quarterbacks last year that had at least 30 rushing yards per game. Five of them were inside the top six in terms of fantasy points scored per drop back. So essentially it's the cheat code. We know that Rich Rebar coined it, the Konami code. It exists with Drake May and he's still super, super cheap in fantasy drafts. So I think that this is also a great bet in redraft or essentially any format. Because what I always try to talk about with late round quarterbacks is you got to make sure that you can start them to open the year. Like if you draft a late round quarterback and you look at the week one, week two matchups and you're oh no, like this is really bad. Like I got to stream the position now or already not the case with Drake May because he's playing the Raiders at home week one and the Dolphins in week two, two matchups I feel really good about. Again, defenses will change, but based on the information we have at our disposal, I think those are Good matches for him. I think he can be a top 12 quarterback both of those weeks. And Drake May also his bye week isn't until week 14. So I know that you were talking about Worm earlier about how you really like Jordan Love. Well, something that Jordan Love managers need to keep in mind is he's a week five bye week. So like you have to hit waivers early on because your quarterback, if you only draft one, is on a bye week very early in the season. So that's something. Again, these are very minute points here, but they're tied that I use.

[A]

When you're going in a 1 QB league, those guys are going as backup. So you could theoretically have like, you could take Love and, and May and I would love that as a, as a duo in a 1 QB league for sure. I, I think like the thing with May is like people always talk about rushing as a ceiling. It's also a floor. Like even if the offense is bad around him, if he rushes the way he did last season and I think he will probably run more this year, frankly, when it's not like, hey, why waste him in this lost season? Like we don't care about wins last year. This year the Patriots could take a step forward. So I think he'll run more. Obviously. We think it's a much stronger coaching staff. We know it's a much stronger coaching staff around him. Even if it's not the best supporting, you know, system around him on the field. It is certainly improved from what it was last year. Like the floor I just think is really high from a fantasy production standpoint. And the ceiling is also there. Like I, I'm not the first person to make this comparison, but it just really feels like a poor man's Josh Allen in terms of fantasy production and what he can give you with the rushing and I like it will surprise me 0% if he is a Tier 1 quarterback in next year's drafts. And I don't know that that's the case for everybody. There's a lot, there's a lot of guys in this range. The reason I don't have more Jake May is because there are so many quarterbacks range that I like and I think it's worth investing in all of them. But a lot of the other ones the guys like love, Caleb Williams, Stroud, Dak, Prescott going a little earlier, Trevor Lawrence, these are all guys that I think are going too low. May is the one that I think is going like multiple tiers too low like that. If he hits a ceiling and, and these other. Those other guys could be values, May could be the league winner and I think there is a difference there.

[B]

Agreed. I mean second year quarterbacks take massive leaps all the time and he just has. Again, going back to who's got the ingredients to be a league winner. Drake May's got it at quarterback.

[A]

Before we get to the rest of the show, I want to take a quick second to talk to everyone about Fan Tracks. Guys, if you want customization in your fantasy platform, look no further than Fan Tracks, offering the greatest fantasy experience for your dynasty keeper redraft and best ball leagues. Their free NFL Fantasy Football League Manager is the most customizable game, easy to use, feature rich platform in the industry. They can easily import any current leagues you have on other platforms and begin customizing your settings immediately. Personally, I use fan tracks for my college football fantasy league, my Dynasty baseball league, my dynasty college basketball fantasy league. Yes, that's a real thing. And of course my longtime dynasty NFL league made the switch as well. Whether it's devi leagues, IDP leagues, decimal scoring, tight end, premium, unique matchup settings like weekly double headers, there's a reason why fantasy players who try fantracks make it the permanent home for all their fantasy leagues. Because they have it all. And I haven't even mentioned the best part yet. Sign up for free today and you will be entered to win a signed Jamar Chase Jersey. Head to fantracks.com fantasypros and sign up today. That's F A n t r a x.com fantasypros for your chance at a signed Jamar Chase Jersey Fan tracks, the home of fantasy sports, let's go to our sort of like final roster spot. Last few round lottery ticket types. These are guys really like rounds 11 and beyond. We can go a little bit faster here because we don't really need to hit as much on the downside because these are guys going late anyway. We're really just kind of focusing purely on upside and like you know Jake Seeley who's been on a bunch of shows with us this offseason and will be into the season as well. It talks a lot about like don't waste your bench, right? Like these are the types of guys. Don't waste your bunch of bench draft these sorts of players because we are only caring about the upside and guys that could end up if situation breaks right becoming league winners for you. First name off the bat here for you is Bashel Tutin.

[B]

Love Bashal Tutin. Since the scouting process, getting to meet him at the NFL Combine was blown away. He thought that he was being slept on and then he just absolutely blew up the NFL combine testing and then everyone knew his name and then it kind of cooled. He had one fumble in OTAs and everyone was like, well, we got to write this guy off. He's terrible. He's never going to have a role in this backfield. But I think that's still firmly in play. I don't know what the leash is with ETN and Tank Bigsby, where those guys clearly look like they're going to be operating as the one two to start the year, but how long will that last? I think that there's reasons to be skeptical of how involved they're going to be throughout the season. But what we know is true is the Jaguars new regime invested draft capital into Bashal Tutin. Like that's the running back that they won in a completely stacked, loaded running back class. That's who they decided to pick. And I think earlier in the season there was a lot of steam for him being this year's Bucky Irving. I still think that's firmly in play. Again, not just making the connecting dots between Cohen and he's the guy that drafted Bucky Irving the year before in Tampa Bay. But when you just look at what Tutin can offer, he just has absolutely killer speed. I think that he has better speed than both ETN and Tank Bigsby. He can be used in the passing game. He's a broken tackle machine. Sports Info Solutions records broken tackle rate number one in 2023 out of that draft class was Bucky Irving. Number one in last year's or this year's draft class was Bashal Tutin. So it sounded like it's by accident that Liam Cohen decided to pick Tutin out of the crop after seeing how successful Bucky Irving was in his offense in 2024. So I'm just chasing the upside here with him. Yes, it may not happen in week one for him, but the fact that he's probably going to be used also as a kick returner, I think we're going to start to see his explosiveness on display. And the Jaguars are going to find out and realize that, hey, we got to get this guy on the field somehow some way. And there's still a possibility that one of these Jaguars running backs gets traded, whether it's Bigsby or Travis Etn who's playing in the last year of his contract. That's not to say I don't like etn. I think that he can still be like a decent value in drafts, as someone, if you're going late at the position, he can fill in some of those earlier weeks. But I think down the stretch, especially when we're talking about second half league winners, I think Bayshelten could end up being that guy emerging from this backfield.

[A]

You took the words out of my mouth. I was going to say like maybe not the season long league winner, but the second half league winner type. Feels like I said from the beginning with this backfield, like I just want the guy who's going cheapest. I kind of anticipated that to be Tootin, maybe Tank Bigsby. It's Tootin by a pretty wide margin in real time. ADP ETN is about the 97th pick, Tank Bigsby is about the 104th pick and Tutin is the 132nd pick. So there's like a multiple round gap between him and those other two in this backfield. I want the guy who's cheapest and who also has pretty obvious upside. If he does end up getting the opportunity and taking advantage of it. We can go on to the next player here, Marvin Mim. Somebody who we've talked about, we talked about last year, who other people have talked about on this show, who I am hesitant to fully trust, Sean Payton, even when he, you know, Mims is the reason why the only case to make against RJ Harvey is, well, he kind of did this with Mims and we saw what happened there. But I do think like when he's on the field and he's been on the field a lot this, this preseason, when he's on the field, he's his per touch, you know, fantasy productions through the roof. So I think it's a pretty obvious case to make.

[B]

Yeah. Week 1 Denver Broncos, Tennessee Titans all eyes are going to be on Marvin Mims and whether he's on the field or not, like that's really like the big thing we're going to be watching for because that's what we're trying to figure out if the preseason usage carries over, which is not necessarily always the case with Sean Payton, like you just kind of alluded to. But if Marvin Mims does have a full time role in this offense, it's really easy to paint the case where, okay, this is a third year wide receiver breakout because last season he showed how efficient he could be. He averaged 62 receiving yards per game. Let all wide receivers in yards per route run in the second half of the season. From week 11 onward, 28% target rate. That was 13th in the NFL. Super young player he's only 23 years old. Again, we were expecting this Broncos offense to be really good this season. Corton Sutton is there as the established Alpha wide receiver 1, but behind him you have Evan Ingram. He's more of the underneath target. Troy Franklin has gotten some buzz as well as a second year guy, but the trade away Devon Vale. So you would think, okay, at least that's a, that's got to be some indication that, hey, they feel good at least about their young wide receivers. Maybe it's more about Pat Bryant, the rookie they drafted this year. But I liked Marvin Mins a lot coming out of college and he's flashed so much at the NFL level that I can't help but just I got to take a chance. I need to know if this is going to stick and I'm willing to take it as a draft pick, putting him on my bench for week one and seeing if this plays out. Because we're gonna know. Because once week one comes along and if Sean Payton decides nope. Marvin Mims back to your 27 snap share, then you can cut him and just move on. And week two comes and you're done with Marvin Mims. The experiment is over. But if he comes out and has a full time role in this offense, I think that he's going to drastically beat his ADP outside the top 50 wide receivers. So I mean last year Mims was number one in yards out to the catch per reception and he played 27% of the snaps on offense. Last year 27. That is so astronomically low that I think there's only nowhere to go but up here. And if he's in that 70 75% range, I think you're looking at a potential wide receiver three that you can start potentially on a weekly basis.

[A]

Draft Assistant is the tool you need to land these guys when it matters. Draft Assistant connects directly to your draft and provides both real time pick suggestions and estimations on which players might get taken before your next pick. Draft Assistant fully integrates your customized cheat sheets and suggests picks based on your rankings, team build, ADP and other factors, allowing it to highlight your must have targets before you get sniped. Dominate your draft in real time without the guesswork with draft [e-mail] assistant or on the Fantasy Pros app. Try it for free during your draft by claiming your three day trial of fantasy pros [e-mail] premium premium all right Ericson, next kind of lottery ticket league winner type you got for us going.

[B]

With Braylon Allen running back for the New York Jets. He's been kind of the human hype piece out of jets training camp where they're talking about how unstoppable he looks. He's a 240 pound running back that just turned 21 years old. It's an absolute monster. He's going to be splitting carries in usage and touches with Bree hall and I'm buying it a little bit here. I think that he fits pretty, pretty well when you're talking about, okay, the jets want to be ground and pound. Why would you not want to feed this £240 running back? You look at how efficient he was last year when converting short yardage. He was the best short yardage running back from 20, 21, 2024 just based on how well he was converting. He converted 11 of his 12 third and ones last season. That's over 91%. So I think there's a real opportunity that he's going to see goal line touches in the jets backfield. And Breece hall, we know that his appeal is in the passing game. Yes, they don't have a lot of targets behind Garrett Wilson, so we do expect Breeze hall to see some action there. But how often are the jets really going to throw if it's, hey, we're dropping back to throw to Garrett Wilson if he's not open, maybe Justin Fields scramble. I, I just think that he fits exactly what the jets are telling us that they want to do in describing to run the football. And the thing I can't forget about Braylon Allen is last year, you know, before we saw Breeze hall kind of disappoint, we all view Breeze hall again. I know I had him as my highest ranked running back last season and that was obviously a big disappointment, big miss on my part. But part of the reason why I did miss was Braylon Allen was way more involved than I ever thought. I didn't think for once that a fourth round rookie draft pick was going to take away touches from Breece hall, who I thought could have been the again the highest scoring running back entering last year. But for over the first month of the season, you see Braylon Allen out there on the field earning touches from a healthy Breeze Hall. So I think that's a pretty strong indicator that hey, Braylon Allen's got some real talent here. That again, at least one coaching staff. Maybe that wasn't the greatest coaching staff that decided to put him on the field, but I think it shows a little bit of something and it reminds me of Chase Brown his rookie year where he got himself on the field even though Joe Mixon was still healthy and it was only a limited sample. Kind of what we saw with Braylon Allen last year where he kind of fizzled out in the second half of the season. But that those first couple of games, man, as a 20 year old running back, you know, forcing his way onto the field, that was pretty impressive and I don't want to completely write that off. And he's going late enough. One now where I'm willing to buy into this hype a little bit.

[A]

Would you rather draft Braylon Allen or Bill Crosby Merritt?

[B]

I would rather draft Bill Crosby Merritt.

[A]

Allen is technically two spots ahead of him and in fact I don't think there's a way for me to throw this trivia question at you without giving away the answer. So I'm just going to tell you because it shocked me. So again on Real Time adp, which you've referenced a lot on the show, you can see players trends in the last 24 hours. You can also see their trend in the last seven days. So in the last week, in the last week, Jakory Crosby Merritt is only the second biggest riser amongst running backs and it's a massive rise. Third place is like 30 spots lower than him in terms of like the degree to which they've risen in the last week, but he's only second. Braylon Allen has risen more in the last week in real time ADP than Crosby. Merit has cross merit's at almost 39 spots. Allen is at almost 40 spots up in the last seven days. So the hype, you mentioned the hype there like literally more hype for him than cross camera right now.

[B]

Yeah. But the reason I do lean towards Bill as my pick is who could be a top five offense in Santa Fe. It's not, probably not the Jets. Like it's, it's probably not going to be the jets like the Commanders. I don't think anyone would be surprised if there are top five offenses with Jaden Daniels.

[A]

I'm kind of worried about the Commander's offense this year. I, I feeling a lot of like.

[B]

Do you think the jets can outscore the Commanders?

[A]

I think the jets can have a better running game than the Commanders. I, I won't go further than that.

[B]

That's fair.

[A]

Speaking of running games, I love your next pick here, Dylan Sampson. I was in on him during the draft process. I was in on him even when he went to the same team as Quintean Judkins. That's looked better as the Summer's gone on for obviously for some off the field reasons too. But I was very high on Sampson, like from day one and I only feel better about that now. I love him as a late round pick.

[B]

His ADP is just not adjusted to Judkin's ADP continuing to decline. Like you'd think that they'd just be kind of like ships passing in the night where you see Judkins falling and falling and falling, rightfully so, and Dylan Sampson cruising up the boards. But he's not and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me because he's a very talented prospect in his own right. The Browns invested good draft capital in him round four after they already drafted Quincha Judkins. But Judkins is nowhere to be found. We don't know when this guy's ever going to come back and then how long he's going to be suspended for. He's only really spent the OTAs with the team. He missed the entire training camp. So I think that Dylan Sampson with Jerome Ford, who had to take a pay cut to stay with the Cleveland Browns, like that's the. That's his competition. Jerome Ford, who never really got a chance to start until Nick Chubb got injured. And even when Nick Chubb came back and did not look good, he took away the starting job from Jerome Ford. So I don't think that the Browns view Jerome Ford as this. Oh, invested so much in this guy. We think that he's an uber talented player. If they thought that, then why would they draft two running backs in this year's draft? So I think that this is Dylan Sampson's job to win. And if he does win it, Judkins have to come back and take the job away from him. And just given all the time that he's lost, I don't think that's going to happen. So I think Sampson is just the ultimate. You get some early season upside with him with just Jerome Ford is the only guy in his way. And then if he shows out, I think he might actually hold this job depending on when and if Judkins ever comes back. I think that Sampson, again, he's not even 21 years old yet and he had this monster season last year at Tennessee. He broke out 34% dominator rating. I think that he fits the scheme really well with the Browns are doing outside zone. A lot of people talked about at Tennessee how good that he would project in that type of offense moving forward. And also he's a pass catcher like another player that they really talked about during the pre draft process. Very good hands. He can catch pass out of the backfield and we know that Joe Flacco is not running around so we know he's going to be able to provide receptions and targets to his running backs. Especially if the Browns are playing in more, you know, back and forth contests. If they're giving up a lot of points again they have to face the Bengals. They got to face the Ravens. So I think Jalen Sampson just checks off all the boxes of a rookie running back that you have to be all over no matter what.

[A]

RB46 in real time ADP is going as a late 12th round pick. I genuinely think I'm not betting on this to happen. You don't need to draft him like it's going to happen. I genuinely think there's a non zero chance he is the best draft pick he can make this season because if he, if he does get this early Runway and then just takes the job because he's that good, which I think is possible, then you're talking about the lead running back on a run heavy offense that if Flacco starts for a lot of the season I think is going to be. It's not going to be the best offensive football but I think it's going to score more than maybe we're giving credit to it scoring this year. So like again like I'm not saying reach four rounds to make sure you come away with Dylan Sampson, right. But in this range that he's going, I think the upside is as high as literally anybody going where he is or later.

[B]

I could not agree more. Just kind of think about what if Judkins doesn't come. What if he's a non factor all year and we were able to get a. Where would we be drafting Dylan Sampson as a fourth round rookie with Jerome Ford as his only competition? We would not be drafting him outside the top 45 running backs, that's for sure.

[A]

Where, where would we be drafting? That's actually that's a great question. I mean like, I mean where's been.

[B]

Where's Cam Scatterbo been drafted all season long before he got injured? Like that's probably in the range.

[A]

Probably inside the top multiple multiple rounds higher. Yeah, yeah. I love Samson. If you've drafted already though, you can sync your league instantly to my playbook. To get custom advice on how to manage your team throughout the season, see your league's top available players, power rankings and more for free. Check the are they playing tool each week to get the latest game day availability odds for all injured players. We revamped that tool over the off season. We're really excited about it for this year. If you're premium, you unlock all kinds of helpful waiver trade lineup and league analysis tools. You can even auto start your team's upgrade optimal lineup each week with autopilot. Seek your league and dominate every week of the season with my [e-mail] myplaybook or on the Fantasy Pros app. Try all the My Playbook for free after your draft by claiming your three day trial of fantasy pros [e-mail] premium all right guys, let's wrap up here. Erickson, with a couple of wide receivers here, who do you got?

[B]

So I've got Bears wide receiver Luther Burden. I think that his ADP has just kind of fallen a little bit too far after missing a lot of training camp and some of the OTAs with an injury. Drafted by the Bears in the second round and right now currently on the depth chart he's behind Alameda Zacchaeus, which is definitely not good, but I think that we all know that that's not going to last. I think that eventually he's going to take over the starting slot role in this Bears offense and I think that makes him kind of the perfect stash type of wide receiver even if you don't draft him. I think that he could probably get dropped after week one or week two because I don't expect him to do a lot during the opening part of the season. But if he's end up playing the slot role in a Ben Johnson offense, which has traditionally been the best that you can have for fantasy football purposes, I think that he could provide a lot of upside, especially if one of these Bears receivers or one of the tight ends goes down with an injury and Luther Burton has to be stepping into a larger role. Ben Johnson knows exactly how to use Burden in the right way out of the slot, putting him in space. He was a missed tackle machine at Missouri, so I think Luther Burton, just based on his ADP wide receiver 59 he was wide receiver 46 before all this injury stuff started happening with him during the off season. So I think you're getting severe discount for a player that I think is pretty boom or bust that I think is worth stashing, kind of see how things play out for the first month of the year.

[A]

Burden is kind of similar to golden in that he was somebody I was actually not that high on early in the summer, but have have really Come I just like that an offensive mind that we respect as much as we do. Ben Johnson was like, this guy's a stud and I want to go get him with an early second legit.

[B]

Like the first thing.

[A]

He carries a lot of it.

[B]

Yeah, there's a stud.

[A]

Yeah, I'm like that just car carries a lot of weight for me and I'm buying into this offense. So yeah, I like the burden pick. Give me your last receiver here. This, this is. I know your favorite 5th round receiver break or 5th year receiver breakout dude.

[B]

I refuse to miss the Josh Palmer breakout season. So that's how I'm going with here as my last sleeper at the wide receiver position. I just think that this is a good way to spend your draft capital drafting wide receivers attached to Josh Allen that go outside the top 70 wide receivers or wherever he's going. Especially when the number one wide receiver on the Bills is currently dealing with an injury. Khalil Shakir has missed a lot of the offseason with a high ankle sprain, which means he hasn't been practicing. Which means you've been seeing Josh Palmer be able to develop chemistry with his quarterback in Josh Allen. Josh Palmer is going to have a full time starting role in this Bill's offense and is free across every single draft. I think that he's so worth taking the shot on in week one to see if he actually has that rapport with Josh Allen. I think that he could be one of the best separators on the Bills. And even last year, again, a disappointing season for him. But this is from DBro. Last year he was 16th in separation rate, 12th in route win rate. So I think that he actually fills a void for the Bills of a receiver that, hey, he's different from Keon Coleman where Keon Coleman doesn't really separate. He's winning with contestant catches as a big red zone threat. Josh Palmer is actually winning with separation, which the Bills have not had as part of their offense. I think that he can fill in the role they wanted to get from Mari Cooper last year. That did not end up happening. He's only 25 years old and like you alluded to at the top. Worm, you're teasing it. The fifth year wide receiver breakout. Look, these guys get undervalued every single year. Last year was Jerry Judy. Again, why did this team pay all this money to get Jerry Judy? Why did the brows trade for Jerry Judy? You look up. Oh, Jerry Judy. Fantasy wide receiver one Darnell Mooney, another guy that maybe got overpaid in free agency and what happens? He balls out Jacoby Myers a couple years before that, balls out with the Las Vegas Raiders in his first season with them. So I think Josh Palmer and people are sleeping on him. I think that it's going to be the year he finally breaks out.

[A]

I want to throw out some names that we kind of solicited on Twitter to see what our listeners thought were going to be some of the league winners this season. We got to get out of here to go tape another show, so we'll go quickly, but I want to read through them here and get your opinion here, Ericsson, on which of these guys you agree with. I think they're all pretty good picks. Honestly, we got some really good responses here. So quickly. Some of the responses BAE Shaw Tutin, who we already talked about, Ricky Piersol, Travion Henderson, Jameson Williams, Calvin Ridley, DJ Moore and Omarion Hampton, Courtland Sutton, who I think we have not talked nearly enough about on shows this summer, but I think has a ton of upside too. Which of those stands out to you? Because I think they're all great picks, honestly.

[B]

I think it's the rookie running backs, the guys that you listed off, whether it's Trayvon Henderson, Omarion Hampton. This rookie running back class is special and I think that we're going to see it from Week one that as as hyped as we think that we may be on them, we may not be high enough on these rookie running backs once we finally see them hit the field because some of these guys have just runways where Trayvon Henderson, he looks like a superstar and I get so upset at myself because I think we did a show a couple maybe like a month or so ago. Worm and I talked about how he was overvalued at that time, which couldn't have been more wrong of a take that I feel so bad about putting out into the ether because he was appropriately valued now and maybe he's a little bit overvalued now, but he just looks like a superstar in the making. He's the best player on the Patriots offense. And you know, despite how the Patriots may try to limit his touches in some way, shape or form if they want to win football games like they got to get the ball to their best player on offense and it clearly seems like that guy's Henderson and Omarion Hampton. I mean, we were all concerned about Najee Harris at the beginning of the offseason thinking, man, Najee is going to be a thorn on the side of Hampton and Najee has been a zero Non factor the entire offseason program because of this eye injury. So Hampton again. Now another running back where we're excited about. He's got the Runway to be the RB1 in this offense and we'll see if Greg Roman holds him back. But these rookie running backs, I think that when in doubt, click, click the button on one of these guys. I feel you're gonna benefit in the long run for it.

[A]

I think guys like Ridley and Sutton are definitely good values amongst the submissions that we got here. I think if I'm defining it like as a true, like league defining league winner, like season defining type of player, I think the two that stand out to me are actually Trevor Henderson is an obvious one. I think Ricky Piersoll too. I think there is a world where Pierce all is just like a top eight receiver this year if. If the volume is available because of other injuries and opportunity in what is typically a very good offense when healthy. He's a very good player. Year two. You know, like obviously last year started off crazy with getting shot in the chest. Like a very different start to this season for him. Like, I think there's a world where Piersol takes a step forward and is just like a clear number one receiver this season.

[B]

If I had to. If I had to comp the season for Ricky Piersall compared to the guy I would say that Ricky Pierce could be this year's jsn, Jackson, Smith and Jigba. Whereas yeah, his rookie year, not really what we wanted to see out of him again. People forget that JSN hurt his wrist last offseason as a rookie and then enter the year. There's a bunch of other receivers. It was a big kind of total mess, but pure salt. Yeah, man. I think that he's. He's slated to tee up here.

[A]

Yeah, I love it. I love all these picks. Great picks by the listeners. Great picks by you, Erickson. We got through it all. Thanks everybody.

[B]

For Jane Reed. It's okay.

[A]

Well, listen, you know, I. I just like Matthew Golden a lot. You know. I know you like. Yeah. And you like golden better than Reed too. So even. Even when we disagree, you know you're giving me credit here.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, those are our league winners here. So go out and win your leagues. Hopefully, hopefully this, this episode can help. Help. That's what it's all here for, right? We're not here to finish in third place. We're here to win our fantasy championships. For Erickson, I'm Ryan Warmley. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you again next time.

[B]

Go make or go home.

[A]

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 foreign.

[B]

And this is Back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access? Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand. Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[A]

Football is back. That's right, the new NFL season is here and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60.

[B]

It's in the name NFL Daily so.

[A]

You'Ll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, in an all star cast of co hosts for previews and recaps of every single game. NFL Daily will keep you up to date with everything you need to know so you can sound smarter than all your friends. Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

I'm Dan, he's Ty. Hello. And we're the Solid Verbal College Football Podcast. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. Join us all season long as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport. Listen to the solid verbal College football podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We don't just love college football, Ty, we live it.

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast.