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Welcome in everybody to the Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy Football podcast. This is me, Joey P, Joe P. Zeppia and are you ready to be shocked? That's right. It's a shocking episode that we're going to put ahead of you right now because we're going to be talking about the shocking potential of some of the rookies that just got drafted in 2026. And if that doesn't scare you into subscribing to the podcast feed and the YouTube feed, I don't know what will. But I don't want to scare you into it. I want to ask you, go, go subscribe to the feed. It'd be nice for you to do that. It's fun. We have good times here. We talk football and the boys here. Andrew Erickson, Debro, Derek Brown, the king of bros are going to help me out today, give some rookie insights to some guys who might be able to really change the landscape. And I know we talked a lot about rookies, but this is a little condensed version here. So let's chat here in the short version. This is the Cliff Notes for those of you who don't want to read the entire book. So Andrew Erickson, let's start with you. I want you to give me a high level rookie that has league winning potential in 2026. Who would that be?
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A healthy Jordan Tyson, wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints. I think that was the biggest knock on Tyson during the pre draft process was can this guy stay healthy? Is he going to miss games? That's still in his range of outcomes. We don't know if he's going to play a full 17 game slate here in 2026, but when he's on the, when he's on the field and playing, I think that he's going to be very productive. You look at his fit with Tyler Shuck in this Kellen Moore offense, I think there's immense upside here and even if he is the number two to Chris Olave's number one last year, before the team traded away Rashid Shahid, both guys were seeing a ton of volume. Rashid Shahid was 15th in the NFL among wide receivers and targets, Weeks 1 through 9, and that was with Spencer Rattler as his quarterback for most of those games. Olave and Shahid combined for 17 targets per game. So even as a number two, quote unquote, on the offense, I still think there's plenty of volume for Jordan Tyson here. He was also a top 10 pick, selected eighth overall over the last five drafts. The average for a top 10 selected wide receiver is 78 catches for 1045 yards and 6.4 touchdowns. I talked about that stat when I was Talking about Tetaro McMillan last year when we were like, guys, we got to vote for this guy for offensive rookie of the year. You got to bet this 16 to 1.
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Yeah.
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And what did he do? His numbers were basically right in line with that average of a top 10 guy. He had 70 catches for over a thousand yards and seven touchdowns. So I think that this range, which would be a fantasy wide receiver too, is well within Jordan Tyson's reach. And the thing that I like him for a league winner potential is he's going to be significantly cheaper than the other top 10 wide receiver that was selected, Cardinal Tate, because Tate is just going to be drafted as his team's number one. Tyson will not. He's going to always be drafted behind Chris Olave, which I think when you look at the final production, maybe he's a little bit closer, but the price is going to be very, very stark. So I love Jordan Tyson and drafts and redraft this year.
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The cost effectiveness of Jordan Tyson is very intriguing to me. I agree. The theme of the show is about shocking everybody. So I'm going to ask you, Derek Brown, would it shock you to see a healthy season from Jordan Tyson?
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Wouldn't shock me at all, boys. And I love the. I love the average and all the statistics that. That Erickson pointed out there, because that perfectly just leads me right into Carnell Tate, like, take those averages and let's go. And Derrickson's point, I mean, yeah, Jordan Tyson going to right now in rankings. I mean, adp, like we're talking about all this. So there is no ADP right now. So like with Jordan Tyson in rankings, he's wide receiver 35 right now. Cornell Tate, wide receiver 30. So not a huge discrepancy. Now again, we'll could see that change as we go through the Summer and stuff. But Carnell Tate, I want to be investing guys like we talked about. Erickson talked about the law of averages for guys selected top 10. Again, like, let's talk about the talent of Cornell. Tate, please do not talk about the fact that he wasn't the number one on his own offense in college. That is a bun. That is a crap narrative. Just get away from it. Let's not talk about. Also about how he's not fast enough. Please, can we debunk all of this crap? Like, Carnell Tate is really freaking good at football. You're telling me.
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He.
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He ranked 10th in yards per out run last year. He's a deep threat attached to Cam Ward. You look at the context of this passing offense with Brian Dabel, you know, controlling everything. What do we get from Calvin Ridley this year? What.
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What.
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What is that? Do we get anything? Because he can't seem seemingly stay healthy. Guys like last year, the fibula fracture, hamstring issues.
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And he's older. Older too, on top of it.
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Exactly. Another year older entering his age 32 season. Like. Like we know who wand Robinson is and who he isn't. A true number one wide receiver. He is not. Carnell Tate is. And I will be paying up for Cornel Tate in drafts.
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Erickson, aren't you entering your 32 age season pretty soon? I feel like we're close to that.
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Oh, already Dusty, I hear.
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Dusty as hell, bro. Yeah, Just like we're just days away from too coming.
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Really? Hand holding.
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Eric said. Oh, poor you noticed something this time last year. Remember how sour Debro was on everything New Orleans, right? He hated the draft. He hated Tyler Shaw, he hate all this. You know, I feel like he put. I feel like he put all of his sane stuff into, like, a trunk and they, like, put it in the attic. And I feel like. I don't know, in the last, like, couple weeks, I feel like he's kind of like went into the attic, you know, dusted some of the trunk off. He's got Clark Griswold up there getting smacked in the face with the floorboards. And then he gets his little Saints hat out and gets a little. Little pennant. And maybe he's putting it back in his office. You getting that feeling like he's starting to get excited about the Saints again? Because I feel like he is.
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Andrew.
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The Saints are making a lot of great moves, and that continued in the NFL draft. The roster looks like it's in a area where it can compete. Kellen Moore, I think, showed out with rookie quarterback last year showed flashes. So I think that and NFC south, anyone can win that division. They're all going to have eight, nine wins. But it's all said and done and wouldn't surprise me at all to see the Saints take out in that division.
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All right. By the way, tomorrow we're recording an amazing show. Actually, it's a series of shows on the Tailgate, our new channel, Tailgate NFL. Make sure you subscribe to it because the guys are gonna tear me apart for whatever my power rankings are in the AFC and the nfc. I just completed for the black book all the team previews and the rehashes of the off season. So I am ready to officially release into the wild all of those power rankings and I'm sure the guys are ready to absolutely try to obliterate me, but I'll be ready for their arguments. So make sure you go subscribe we
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know what number one team is. We know the first team in the afc.
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It is not the Patriots. How many times I gotta tell everybody you make it to a Super bowl and you lose, you do not make it back to the Super Bowl. Okay? So it's gonna be the litmus test
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of homerdom if the Patriots are top. Top two, bro.
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I I I'm a businessman, okay? I'm all business here. Let's stay business and let's talk about the sleepers here because everybody loves a good sleeper. Debro, why don't you take this one first. Who who is a sleeper in the rookie class? It could shock everyone in 2026.
A
Right now people are not projecting Kevin Coleman Jr. To be a starter for the Miami Dolphins and they are wrong. I He's going to light it up in camp. I think when we get to Week one, I think he is going to be a starting wide receiver for this team. I'm not worried about Jalen Tolbert. I'm not worried about Malik Washington. I don't think he's worried about any other random name that we're going to talk about. I'm not worried about Caleb Douglas and Kevin Coleman Jr. Like the talent is real. Like the the NFL lets these slot archetype wide receivers drop. We see this year after year a lot of these guys do not get drafted unless they run like a blazing 40 and then the NFL pushes them up into round two. But Kevin Coleman Jr. Over the last two years 17th and fifth and missed tackles forced, he leaves college with a 74th percentile collegiate target share. He plays bigger than his size. He had a 53.7% collegiate contested catch rate that there is some verticality to his game. Guys, if he could be this year, and I'm going Green Bay south here, if he could be the Jaden Reed of South Beach, I'm not going to be shocked by it at all.
B
That's actually, I, I like, I like that. I think that that would be a very, very useful sleeper because I feel like Jaden Reed was a guy too. That kind of really snuck up on people his rookie season too, when people were not prepared. And then it happened, if you recall, and people still didn't want to pick him up. Remember, they're like, I don't know, I don't want to chase week one. And they're like two weeks. That feels very fluky. It was hilarious. We almost had to like browbeat people from the waiver wire show to get them in on Jaden Reed. So. All right, let's talk Andrew Erickson. Sleepers on your end. Who do you think could shock everybody in 2026?
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Jonah Coleman, running back for the Denver Broncos, selected 108th overall by Denver in round four. Now, we all know this rookie running back class outside the top two guys, there was not a lot of shock in terms of, okay, we're really excited about this running back still, my bid.
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It's my bid. You can steal my bid.
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I'm going, I'm going.
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He kind of already stole the cho I'm going to.
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That's a problem.
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I think Coleman fits exactly what the Broncos need for a backup to J.K. dobbins, who, look, at this point, J.K. dobbins is never going to play a full season. We've seen him play year, year, year out, and he never finishes the season. Even if he's efficient when he does actually play and he's on the field. Like, I think Dobbins is going to probably be a decent draft pick this year, but it's just a matter of, well, for how long can he be the early down running back for the Denver Broncos if he misses time? Well, I think Jonah Coleman, bowling ball, 5 foot 9, 229 pounds. This guy is built to take on tacklers. Last year was hit on the line of scrimmage 36% of his rushes, which was the most among running backs in this class. I think that he offers a lot of juice as both a rusher or as a receiver and a pass pucker. He had the second most pass pro reps in the class last year, 2.3 yards per out run. And the stat that I keep gravitating towards in terms of, well, they're going to trust him in pass protection, which RJ Harvey. We still don't know if they trust him in those types of situations. They didn't trust him as a rookie last year. So Coleman averaged nearly 30 receiving yards per game in his final season at 29.5. He was also playing through injuries last year, which is why he didn't do basically any testing why his numbers overall were down from years prior and why he fell in the draft. Reminds me a little bit of Cam Scatterboo right when Scatterboo fell in the draft because he didn't run a 40. He's really slow. Well, he caught passes out of the backfield, and that matters to me. You look at the running backs drafted on day two or earlier that average at least 30 receiving yards per game in their final season. Now, Jonah Coleman doesn't technically qualify for this because he wasn't drafted on day two, but if he was drafted eight slots earlier, he would join a list of Saquon Barkley, David Johnson, Joe Mixon, Antonio Gibson, Najee Harris, Travis Achan, Rashad White, Zach Charbonnet, Jameer Gibbs, and o' Marian Hampton. And last year, Scatterboo just missed this list as well because he was drafted four slots after round three. So Coleman has a lot to his profile that you like, and Sean Payton likes to use multiple running backs. I think we could see Coleman at some point during this year leading the Broncos and potentially carries Liberty Mutual customizes
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Help. Somebody please.
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Have you. Actually, I should say, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to retire from trying to figure out the Denver Broncos backfield. I feel like this is a good time to do that before the season starts. Do you want to take my. Take me up on it. Good.
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Okay.
C
Yeah.
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Put me out to pasture. I'm ready for the glue factory.
B
I want you to. I want you. I want you to let Andrew handle the Denver Broncos backfield from now on. It's all Andrew, everybody. When you see.
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As long as we're not talking about Broncos receivers, I think we're good right now.
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Well, let's not do that. All right. Let's talk about one more thing here out of town today. Let's talk about some guys that might have that potential to not just to shock the world, but also like let's do bold prediction kind of stuff. Let's really put it out there for somebody. Andrew Erickson put it out there. Give me a bold prediction here for one of these rookies and something they could possibly amaze us all in 2026
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with former Clemson wide receiver and Commander's third round draft pick, Antonio Williams leads the team in receptions, so he projects
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to be the under that scenario.
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No, McLaurin is not hurt. But you look at Antonio Williams in this offense, I think that he can be the starting slot receiver from day one. You know who had one of the most high slot rates in the NFL last year in terms of routes from the slot? Devo Samuel. He's gone. He's not coming back to the Washington commanders. So there is a built for role for Williams to be this underneath option they talked about in a lot of these pressers after they drafted Williams that yeah, McLaren's still going to be our stretch the field type of ex boundary wide receiver, whereas Antonio Williams is going to be the underneath guy who has been seeing almost as just as much volume as Terry McLaren over the last two seasons. Zach Ertz, if he's taking on that type of volume last two years when they've played together, Zachary and Terry McLaurin, they've averaged both around four and four and a half receptions per game. But the other guy was healthy. So McLaren, I get that he is a number one wide receiver, but he. If you look at his target shares every year, he's not an alpha target earner. There are other guys that eat in this offense. Even last year when he was healthy, Deebo Samuel ended up having a decent amount of volume in some of these games. So David Blau, the new offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders, where does he come from? Detroit. Ben Johnson. Offense maybe known for heavily featuring a slot wide receiver. So Antonio Williams, again, very key here with receptions. McLaren, probably still going to have more yards, probably gonna have more touchdowns, probably gonna have more fantasy points, but full ppr, Antonio Williams, unless they make a big splashy veteran signing. I mean, at this point, Brandon Ayuk, like, what state is he in?
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Like, like, literally.
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Yeah, like, like legitimately. What location?
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I don't know.
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Like, where is his location?
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I think he's in California somewhere.
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Somebody needs to turn on the Find me app.
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It's interesting because John lynch keeps talking about they can't get in contact with this guy. Doesn't. Does Jaden Daniels not have him on the phone? Like, doesn't he have a cell phone number? Like, why would. Yeah, I think Williams can be a starter here and see a lot of volume. I. I think that he's pretty intriguing from a prospect profile standpoint. Broke out an early age, dealt with some injuries last year, but when he was healthy last year, averaging over six catches per game, basically one of the only positive things that worked in Clemson offense when he was actually healthy. So that's my bold prediction.
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All right, dbro, shock me with a bold prediction of the rookie class. Go.
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Okay, I'm drinking the Saints kool Aid here, boys. I'm back on the bandwagon. I'm here for it. And on we're going to tie this all together. We're going to go back to originally Erickson's first player you talked about, but I'll. I'll cast the net wider if Jordan Tyson and Chris Olave, one of them is not able to stay healthy. Oscar Delp will be the wide receiver too, by the end of the season, supplanting Juwan Johnson. I'm not worried about Noah Fant as the starting tight end for the New Orleans Saints and be the wide receiver two of this passing attack. Oscar Delta dude, like, everybody is sleeping on the fact this dude is an athletic monster. It's not my fault George is too stupid to throw him the ball. It's not my fault that the Georgia quarterback is horrible. This guy is a 9.86 raz. He is 4.49 speed. He did that. Oh, by the way, running on a bum foot. He walked out away from the athletic testing with a 96 percentile vert and bra jump. It all shows up on his film. The Saints put respect on his name by drafting him in the third round. Juwan Johnson is somebody that look until every other wide receiver talent has either been traded away or fallen on their face, has never commanded consistent playing time and targets in the Saints passing attack. Delp can do that this year. And again going back to the analytics, 10th and 23rd amongst FBS tight ends over the last two years in Yak per reception. Also, he can block 74% in line last year. So this is not like a slot guy or adult and kid K type where it's oh, he's out there for passing downs, but good lord, he can't block for crap. So Oscar Delp could be a massive winner this year.
B
You know what's funny, D? I, I think that, you know, you go back and always look at these Georgia prospects too over time. I remember a big knock on lad McConkey was, you know, he didn't put up a lot of numbers in college, you know, and then I remember George Pickens, like statistically didn't really put up a lot. You had some big splash plays and he had some issues and things. But we love the profile of these guys. We love the profile. It feels like you're just telling me the same thing. It's like, hey everybody, this is an NFL talent that profiles really well for the NFL. So you can kind of ignore a little bit of the lack of statistical production because I think Georgia just chooses to do Georgia things sometimes and the way they choose to run their offense and you know, back in those days too, where they were just dominating everybody too, they didn't have to push things, they were just crushing teams. So they would sit back and run the football because they were winning games by 20, 30 points a lot. So you got the context sometimes for some of these college stats too. If the knock on Delp is the college stats and lack thereof sometimes, sometimes you got a little, you know, dig a little deeper than the surface of some of those conversations. So that's what we did today. We dug a little deeper. So if you like this video, like it, subscribe to the channel and of course. Make sure you head over to tailgate. NFL 2 on YouTube channel. Check out our new channel. Is it fantasy? No. Is it betting? No. You know what it is? It's football. It's football. With these three goofs talking football and some of our friends as well. It's a great time. Again, if you love NFL, this is the channel for you. And also, don't forget all these rookies we're talking about. Right now, our Dynasty Draft simulator is available for you to crush all of your drafts. You can mock a bunch in just minutes. If you're an MVP or Hall of Fame subscriber over here at Fantasy Pros, you can even test the trade scenarios, right? So you can put all the different, I traded this, you know, 2026 first rounder for this player. All this. You could put all that stuff in there and then do your mock. So this is the way to crush everything. And you can grab a three day free trial of the premium subscription right now at fantasypros.com dynasty26 that's fantasypros.com dynasty26. So go to fantasybros.com simulator, check out the mock draft software and of course, sync all of your leagues for free. Use the tools. Don't be a tool. Use all the Fantasy Pros tools there. That'll do it for us. These three tools right here. For Andrew Erickson, Derek Brown, I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids.
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Episode Title: Fantasy Football Rookie BREAKOUTS to Draft | First-Year Players Who Can SHOCK the NFL in 2026 (Ep. 2011)
Date: May 7, 2026
Hosts: Joe Pisapia ("Joey P"), Andrew Erickson, Derek Brown ("Debro")
In this high-energy episode, the FantasyPros crew identifies rookie NFL players with breakout potential for the 2026 fantasy football season. The hosts spotlight high-upside prospects, deep sleepers, and make bold predictions about first-year impact players who could shake up league standings and the NFL landscape. With plenty of stats, friendly ribbing, contrarian takes, and actionable advice, this is a must-listen for anyone prepping for drafts or looking to gain an edge in rookie evaluations.
Jordan Tyson – WR, New Orleans Saints
Speaker: Andrew Erickson [01:33–03:25]
“I love Jordan Tyson in drafts and redraft this year. Even as the ‘number two’ on the offense, there’s plenty of volume.” — Andrew Erickson [02:48]
Carnell Tate – WR, New York Giants
Speaker: Derek Brown [03:37–05:14]
“Please do not talk about the fact that he wasn’t the number one on his own offense in college. That is a crap narrative. Carnell Tate is really freaking good at football.” — Derek Brown [03:48]
Kevin Coleman Jr. – WR, Miami Dolphins
Speaker: Derek Brown [07:29–08:33]
Jonah Coleman – RB, Denver Broncos
Speaker: Andrew Erickson [09:04–11:26]
“If [J.K. Dobbins] misses time…we could see Coleman at some point during this year leading the Broncos, potentially, in carries.” — Andrew Erickson [11:19]
Antonio Williams – WR, Washington Commanders
Speaker: Andrew Erickson [13:42–16:01]
“Antonio Williams…will lead the team in receptions. McLaurin is not hurt…there is a built for role for Williams to be this underneath option.” — Andrew Erickson [13:52]
Oscar Delp – TE, New Orleans Saints
Speaker: Derek Brown [16:05–17:46]
“Oscar Delp could be a massive winner this year…not my fault Georgia’s too stupid to throw him the ball.” — Derek Brown [16:47]
On rookie draft value:
“He’s going to be significantly cheaper than the other top 10 wide receiver that was selected, Carnell Tate…maybe [Tyson] is a little bit closer [in production], but the price is going to be very, very stark.” – Andrew Erickson [03:13]
Breaking the age wall:
“Exactly. Another year older entering his age 32 season. We know who Wan’Dale Robinson is and who he isn’t. A true number one wide receiver he is not. Carnell Tate is.” – Derek Brown [05:01]
Debro’s sleeper WR call:
“Kevin Coleman Jr….He leaves college with a 74th percentile collegiate target share. He plays bigger than his size. He had a 53.7% collegiate contested catch rate. There’s some verticality to his game. If he could be the Jaden Reed of South Beach, I’m not going to be shocked by it at all.” – Derek Brown [08:06]
Andrew’s RB sleeper context:
“Sean Payton likes to use multiple running backs. I think we could see Coleman at some point during this year leading the Broncos potentially in carries.” — Andrew Erickson [11:24]
Commanders' WR1(ish) boldness:
“McLaurin, I get that he is a number one wide receiver, but if you look at his target shares every year, he’s not an alpha target earner. There are other guys that eat in this offense…So that’s my bold prediction.” — Andrew Erickson [15:04]
Oscars for Delp:
“Not my fault Georgia is too stupid to throw him the ball…Oscar Delp could be a massive winner this year.” — Derek Brown [16:10]
For anyone looking to get ahead in 2026 drafts or dynasty leagues, these prospects and insights from the FantasyPros crew offer both fun debate and actionable strategy.