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We Can't Agree on These Player Rankings! (with Chris Harris)
01:03:41
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- [00:00]
Chris Harris
Before we had AT&T business wireless coverage, our delivery GPS wasn't the most reliable. Once our driver had to do a 14 point turn to get back on route. A 14 point turn. An influencer even livestreamed the whole thing. Not good for business. Now with AT&T business wireless, routes are updating on the fly and deliveries are on time. And the influencer did get us 53 new followers though. AT&T business wireless connecting changes everything.
- [00:32]
Jeff Bell
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show. Hey, everyone. Check out this guy and his bird. What is this your first date? Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [00:52]
Chris Harris
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [00:54]
Jeff Bell
Anyways, get a quote@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
- [00:57]
Chris Harris
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
- [01:10]
Jeff Bell
Chris Harris and I do not care about consensus rankings. We each have our own process and we trust that process. And we aren't afraid to go against the grain. Today we are going to look at Chris's rankings and my rankings and some of the biggest dissensions we have. Chris, I'm going to start with a player that, again, you know, went through your rankings. Went through my rankings. There's a player that I've been very bullish on this offseason, Omarion Hampton. I have him as my RB6. You have him ranked closer to RB20, a little bit lower on him. So I think the purpose of this show today when we have these big dissensions isn't to tell the audience I'm right or you are right. I think it's just kind of to talk about the upside and the downside case here. The upside case that I see for Omarion Hampton, you know, behind a better offensive line and a Mike McDaniel offense, I can sell myself on that. But you are recommending the drafters that maybe temper expectations a little bit.
- [02:02]
Chris Harris
It's unfortunate that you started with him. I didn't know who you're. You know, we start.
- [02:05]
Jeff Bell
We.
- [02:05]
Chris Harris
We decided not to talk about who we were going to talk about because it makes it fresher, you know, makes it more fun to, like, be surprised. And I'm so close to doing my full rewatch of film on a Marian Hampton. I just did Quin Chan Judkins right before. I'm not kidding, like, right before we started recording. I feel like I've Got a really solid quince on Judkins case now because I just did, you know, whatever half hour to an hour of watching his film. And I. I didn't do that yet. As of our talk, by the time people are hearing this, they're probably. I will have done it. So I definitely accept that I'm kind of starting from a position of low, but I should talk maybe just for people who. Who are listening. Football guys, listeners, but don't know me. I don't really have a lot of, like, really entrenched takes in mid May. I just don't. So the ranks that you and I are talking about right now, I definitely put tons of time into figuring out the order that I think I would like them. But I write this, this document called the Harrisleball Almanac, that I do it every summer, and it requires me to rewatch film. I wouldn't say on everybody, because, you know, Matthew Stafford tape isn't going to teach me much at this point, but for sure, players like Judkins, Hampton, you know, one year in the league, I really look forward to getting more informed takes based on what I see. So what I can really talk about is not so much like my super informed. Having redone all the work on Hampton yet, because that's coming quite literally the next couple days. But I can say just like, what my initial resistance was to him. That was a long preamble. Sorry about that.
- [03:49]
Jeff Bell
No, and I think that's good because some of the audience might not be familiar with you. And I think knowing your process is important and also knowing that rankings are fluid throughout the season, what I say in May, what my ranking is, might not be the same in August. I'm constantly moving players up and down. I say all the time, my rankings are a living and breathing document all off season. And I know yours are as well.
- [04:10]
Chris Harris
Yeah, I mean, they're really living and breathing as I go through the almanac, because I go player by player, I write, I watch film, I write what I see, see, and sometimes they go a lot higher and a lot lower. I mean, I don't know. I don't mean to. I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but Caleb Williams, upon film rewatch, went from like 7 to 10 in my quarterback ranks. Sorry. Sorry about that. But, yeah, there's just a lot of red flags that I'm a little worried about. So I haven't done that for Hampton yet. But as I was saying, what my initial hesitation with Hampton is that it was last year was hell, man. Like, if you're not getting some Trey Benson vibe. Maybe not as bad as Trey Benson, but do you, you know, what if he just isn't ever going to play? What if he's, you know, just can't, can't stay healthy? It's only been one year. I'm not saying that, but just, you know, the knee jerk feeling about drafting Omari Hampton to be an RB1, take him in the second round of a fantasy draft. Major commitment based on what just happened. There were some kind of good stuff here and there, as I recall on film. But like, mostly what I remember is, oh, he's still not playing again. Cool. Yeah, you know, so I think that's probably where my initial rant comes from. Just like hesitation over availability, which absolutely
- [05:27]
Jeff Bell
is reason to have some caution here. And I think I just keep going back to that game against the Giants in week four where he just like looked like a true RB one, like doing everything we want to see. Breakaway runs, breaking tackles inside and outside. And to me, I mean, this really is more of a projection ranking than anything else. Like last year we saw there was no Joe Alt, there was no Rashawn Slater. Having those guys back should help Year two in a John Harbaugh system should help Justin Herbert be a little bit more comfortable. And then of course, some of the creative run schemes that we see from Mike McDaniel. All of those things have me excited. But yeah, like I said, this is very much so a projection based on what I think the ceiling could be here. There's really nothing from Hampton's rookie season that says we should be drafting this guy as a top six player. But I'm still buying into the first round pedigree, the system, the hopeful workload and all that sort of stuff. But before we talk about the next player, if you're watching on YouTube, do us a favor, give this video a thumbs up. It helps the show grow a lot. And if for whatever reason you are not subscribed here on the football Guys Fantasy Show YouTube page, go ahead and do that. We see a ton of people watching every single week that aren't subscribed to this channel, so please make that change. And if you have any questions, let us know in the comments. We respond to every single question that we get here. So if there's a player that we discussed today that you want to add some context to let us know, and if there's a player that we didn't discuss that you'd like to hear about, let us know and we will talk about them next week. And of course, if you are listening on Apple Podcasts, the best way to show your support for the show is to leave a review. Just takes a couple of minutes. Go down to where it says leave a review, click 5 stars and let us know what you like about the show. If there's something that you don't like, give us one star and let us know. We look at all feedback as a gift. Let's go ahead and talk about another player, Chris, and this is one that I know you are going to have a strong take on. This has been one of your guys for years, Josh Jacobs, and you're still holding it down. You've got him at RB8, so inside of the top 10. I'm not way far off here. I'm not going to say that I hate Josh Jacobs or anything like that, but I do have met RB14 a few spots below there. So you know what I see is a guy getting a little bit older dealing with the first major injury of his career last year. My, my sirens start going off here and I see an aging running back coming off of some injured season or coming off of an injury season. And maybe I'm just overreacting here to things not going great in 2025. But I want to ask you, like, why should fantasy managers still have faith in Josh Jacobs? Because I think you probably have the right rating here and I'm probably just a little bit scared.
- [07:53]
Chris Harris
I'm. I mean, what are you scared about? He. As of week 15, he was the RB7. I mean, he was. He had. I disagree that it was a bad year. It was a bad December. If you, if you had him, you probably listen to my show, so you probably have him. So that's my fault. But you probably made the fantasy playoffs, but then you didn't win them because December was an absolute.
- [08:14]
Jeff Bell
Unless you picked up Emmanuel Wilson, who Emmanuel Wilson filled in great in relief for Josh Jacobs. So if you had that handcuff, you were still at least able to kind of get through it.
- [08:23]
Chris Harris
But unfortunately, Jacobs played those games. So you had Emmanuel Wilson, but you probably didn't use them because as soon as Jacobs was active, you probably used Jacobs. It was just bad. It was bad. But like, I don't agree that it was a bad season. I agree that it was a very good. I mean, you know, Jacobs isn't electric. He's not, you know, a long, long speed guy. He's not a huge like outside zone quick twitch. But like, you know, there's just been a lot, a long history of people Thinking Jacob stinks for some reason. And I think it's just weird. The, you know, the injury was a bone bruise. So this, you know, quinchon Judkins leg came unattached. That seems like more important to me than Josh Jacobs. The bone bruise and aging running back. What are we, we already have Christian McCaffrey. Where do you have Derek Henry?
- [09:26]
Jeff Bell
I've got both of them a little bit below consensus as well. I mean, Chris McCaffrey is one of those guys. Like, I'll take him late in the first round, but I can't help feel like, like last year. I don't think Christian McCaffrey looked all that good last year. I don't know how much you've watched Christian McCaffrey film.
- [09:40]
Chris Harris
Yeah, I watched. I think he was, I think he
- [09:43]
Jeff Bell
was kind of maybe the product of a broken offense where it's just like none of the receivers stepped up. George Kittle blew out his Achilles and they just kind of said like, hey, you are the primary receiver now. And I think that that helped him get there in PPR. But like Christian McCaffrey to me last year did not look like the Christian McCaffrey of old. And I think that's the hope is when you're drafting Christian McCaffrey is that he can just continue eating up those targets as that receiver. But Christian McCaffrey, I mean, didn't look
- [10:08]
Chris Harris
like you're going on a big. Hold on, you're going on a big Christian McCaffrey speech. And this is. We're talking about Jacob.
- [10:12]
Jeff Bell
We're talking Jacobs. Yes.
- [10:14]
Chris Harris
I'm pretty sure he's significantly younger than Christian McCaffrey. And like, what is he, six, seven years younger than Derek Henry? And I don't know what consensus is. I don't really look at adp, but I don't think Josh Jacobs qualifies as an old running back. He has had a lot of touches, no question about it. But I'm, I'm, I don't. Yeah, I don't, I don't. I don't think what happened to Jacobs last year really informs much of what you can expect this year. I just, I think that dude is sort of truth in advertising. He's definitely a high volume player. And I know that's a dirty word for the spreadsheet bros who manage fantasy by, you know, depth chart and stat projections, but that's built into what he is. You know, there's. I call him the jacked gerbil on my show because he reminds me of the muscle hamster rip Doug Martin, where they, they aren't, you know, electrically quick, cutting off a one foot necessarily. And they aren't definitely not long, long speed type burners, but they just have that ability, vision cut off two feet, move really well for a guy his size. Create glancing contact out of what should be direct contact. Makes him awesome near the end zone. Like, I just, I don't think it's hard to imagine another double digit touchdown season. I think, you know, all the times people have tried to give away the Green Bay running back job, maybe we're done with that now. Like are people still out there pimping Marshawn Lloyd? I don't know if you know this, but Malaflor never ever uses a number one running back except for when he has Josh Jacobs. So, you know, it's all by way of saying he just feels really idiot proof to me and not at all an injury prone player. And so like this notion that he's a declining, you know, I don't, I think it's really, really the height of hubris to, to say that we know who a declining player is. And I don't think either, I don't think McCaffrey looked like a declining player either. I think McCaffrey looked like a dude who had serious, serious offensive line problems. And Mac Jones is his quarterback for half the year. Like he faced a lot of stacked boxes and it's real tough for me for a guy to look that good in the receiving game. For me to think, you know, makes all these big plays and makes all these guys miss in the receiving game, but somehow he's incapable, you know, reason not doing it in the running game is because there's 7,000 guys in his way. Anyway, I'm filibustering, sorry.
- [12:54]
Jeff Bell
Well, looking at your ranks and I think this is the difference here. Like you know, not just comparing the player to the player. When I'm looking at like the players that I have ahead of Josh Jacobs and you have behind Josh Jacobs. I think that is just kind of the difference here is that I do have younger guys and I think that's it is guys who could be ascending into bigger and better roles. You know, Javante Williams, 25 years old in Dallas, I prefer him to Josh Jacobs. Ken Walker, 25 years old in Kansas City, I prefer him. And then I think, you know, Devon H. And Saquon Barkley, those guys were obviously both going to have ahead of Josh Jacobs. But even this, like, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some emotion that bled through in my fantasy rankings. And maybe this is the talk that I needed to have. Chris was like hearing that Josh Jacobs is still a good player who can have double digit touchdowns because there is still that memory of him like burning my teams that I spent a second round pick on and he wasn't there in December and I'd be lying like I'm an emotional person. Like that bleeds through into my rankings sometimes more than it should.
- [13:52]
Chris Harris
Yeah, was I had him everywhere. He was the most consistent player on all my teams. Second round. Hell, I got him in the third round a couple of times early third because, because again, I think it's going to happen again. I don't really, again, I don't think ADP means anything at this time of year. But I just, you know, the pushback I always get is why are you still considering Josh Jacobs a top 10 running back? And my thing is like he always is one. But you know, there's going to come a time where he's not, you know, we're going to be right on these players until we're not. Like, I, I, I feel like I was down that road with Aaron Rodgers for those MVP years where everybody's like, ah, he's totally cooked. And I was like, okay, cool, you're letting me get him in the 10th round. And then eventually I was wrong. Or you know, maybe not on him. Or like Tom Brady 10 years before he retired. People were like, he's done. He stinks. You know. And I was like, okay, I'm just going to take my.
- [14:45]
Jeff Bell
So I think Derek Henry is probably the most being a running back. Like we have been projecting the demise of Derek Henry for six years now and he's just top. Where do you have every scene?
- [14:54]
Chris Harris
Where do you have him like it say in a. I know ppr, he's going to suffer a little bit. Although I don't know, should he? Because are there that many receivers who get that many receptions anymore, you know, to differentiate themselves? I have Henry outside my top 10 and I feel terrible about it because really he's done. That's where I haven't too.
- [15:12]
Jeff Bell
Yeah, so that was one of the players that were.
- [15:14]
Chris Harris
Yeah, it does, it does.
- [15:16]
Jeff Bell
And it's one of the, like Jeff and I just talked about him. I wrote about him at length in an article recently. Like, everything tells us that we shouldn't be drafting Derek Henry, but like everything's been saying that for the last three years and he just continues to outperform his projection. So he's one of those where I'm just Andrew Cooper. I don't know if you listen to a lot of his stuff. One of my good buddies, he works over a fantasy alarm and he talks about, you know, we see these age curves all the time and we get so tied to age curves. But if you look, hall of Famers just destroy those age curves. Like we see Jerry rice still getting 1,000 yards at 40 years old. We see Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates still performing late into their 30s. And I think that's Derek Henry. We shouldn't look at him. On the history of every running back in every like to ever play the game. Like it's just silly to say well, well because this guy fell off at age 28 means that Derrick Henry is assuredly going to like his longevity is what makes him such a good player. And then something Jeff Bell and I just recently talked about, he's like two, three years away from setting the all time rushing record. So I think that's on his sights now too where like he has one more good season and he is very well within Emmett Smith's all time record. So I think that's something that he's chasing now at this point. So yeah, like I want to bet against Derek Henry but at the same time we have no reason to because he just keeps producing year after year.
- [16:31]
Chris Harris
You did you, you bet against him. Having him 11 is an insult.
- [16:35]
Jeff Bell
I guess it is technically, yes.
- [16:38]
Chris Harris
I mean so three years ago we were right. The last year in Tennessee was horrible and, and like I was writing the eulogy, you know and then now he's been in Baltimore two years. It's been fricking awesome both times. And last year he did it with no Lamar half the time. You know, he's still leading the NFL every year in 20 plus yard carries. Did he do 17 of them last year? I think it's wild. Every other week he's doing a 20 plus yard carry. It's crazy. A true reckoning where you're not listening to the actuary in your head who's going now, now, now 32 year old running back. I think if we could get that guy out of our heads, we both would put Derek Henry top five. I had Henry top five last year and he didn't do anything to change my mind. But I'm just here I am absolutely chickening out, putting him at 11. It feels terrible. Like there's nothing on film that he, that says he should be RB11 feels terrible. Yeah.
- [17:41]
Jeff Bell
And that's constantly what we have to do is like weigh the upside and the Downside. And I think that's why, like, if we knew Derek Henry was going to be healthy and maintain his role and, you know, look like the player did last year, yeah, we'd be drafting him in round one. But you want to try to find those ascending guys that feel a little bit safer and try not. But at a certain point, you just have to say, enough is enough. And when Derrick Henry's sitting there late in round two, you got to take him.
- [18:02]
Chris Harris
Yeah. But again, I think we're both. I mean, we agree. We're not. We didn't pick a guy that we disagree on. We picked a guy that we absolutely agree on. We have ranked the same way. But the idea that the younger players who've never done it before are safer is absolute galaxy brain lunacy. Omarion Hampton being safer than Derek Henry is galaxy brained lunacy. Now, you. I can't. I can't say that it's. You're wrong and stupid to have Hampton ahead of Henry, because I understand that Henry has scary downside, too, and they all. They all can get hurt, but there's absolutely no way you can tell me that Omarion Hampton, coming off a ruined rookie year who's never been good in the NFL is safer than Derek Henry. Come on. You want to say he has more upside. Okay.
- [18:51]
Jeff Bell
And I think the fear here is like, yeah, I mean, every player can get hurt, but I think there's always that in the back of your head every time you draft an older player, whether, like, devonte Adams still look great. Last year had, like, almost twice as many red zone looks as anybody else in the NFL. But there's still just that chirping in the back of your head that he's getting up there in the 80s. He.
- [19:09]
Chris Harris
Did he hurt his hamstring? Yeah.
- [19:11]
Jeff Bell
Right, right.
- [19:12]
Chris Harris
So we're talking about the brick house. We're talking about Derek Henry. You know, he doesn't get hurt. He's been hurt once in his. He hurt his toe one time. And believe me, I'm not. I'm not. This is not me going. Your opinion's wrong. I'm. I'm. I'm castigating us both.
- [19:26]
Jeff Bell
Yeah. And that's what you have to do. Like, every time I'm looking through my rankings, especially this year, because it does feel like the league is starting to trend towards more workhorse running back. Where it was like, 10 years ago, everybody was doing the running back by committee. Now we do see there's, like, 15, 20 running backs in the league now that are getting big Significant workloads. So when you look at one of these guys.
- [19:46]
Chris Harris
Can I, can I ask you a question about that? I don't agree with that statement.
- [19:51]
Jeff Bell
All right.
- [19:51]
Chris Harris
You know, how many running backs got three quarters of their team's carries last year?
- [19:57]
Jeff Bell
I mean, three quarters of the carries, I'd guess a pretty small amount, but maybe that's it. Maybe we've just changed the goalpost. I think getting 60% of the carries or more is something that we weren't even seeing. All.
- [20:08]
Chris Harris
You changed the goalposts. You changed the goalposts, buddy. The answer is five. Five guys. It was Genti Taylor, Henry, Barkley, McCaffrey. So, so, I mean, you changed, you changed the goalposts, but I'd still see
- [20:22]
Jeff Bell
like Javante Williams, Breeze hall, maybe not Kyron with the way things trended over the second half of the year. But, you know, Travis etn, David Montgomery, those are guys that I still expect to be what we deem workhorses in today's NFL. Like, sure, you know, we might see some Devin Neal and Alvin Camara, but I think that ETN is probably going to be close to a workhorse. And again, we're all guessing here.
- [20:45]
Chris Harris
But the problem with defining workhorse that way is then you get into the season and you get the random week five game in London where Tyler Algier steals all the, you know, all the close in work for Bijan Robinson and the next week people are like setting their house on fire, freaking out. The fact is that if, if your running back is a 70% workload guy, you're going to have two or three weeks where he does, you know, 13 touches for 37 yards and no touchdowns. And you're gonna be like, oh, nice workhorse. You know that, right? For me, workhorse is not, you know, 66%. I think that leaves too much. That leaves a lot of room for, you know, Malik Taylor touchdowns or whatever.
- [21:35]
Jeff Bell
And maybe that's it. Maybe I've just reinvented or like reshaped what I see at workhorse as in today's NFL. But let's go talk about another player and this, we're going to get a little bit deeper down the rankings here and I think this opens up more of a conversation about just the, the changes for the New York Giants, what we expect Cam Scatter Boo to look like when he returns. I see you're a little bit down and we could have talked about Cam Scatter or Tyrone Tracy, you are ahead on Tyrone or ahead on Camp Scatter Boo. And behind me on Tyrone Tracy, you talk about Quinton John Judkins, you know, it looked like his foot fell off. I mean, Camp Scatterboo suffered a similar and even worse injury. I have a ton of fear about Camp Scatterboo coming back. I also happen to be a big fan of Tyrone Tracy, the player. You know, this guy who can catch passes, has some good burst vision, leaves a little bit to be desired. I'm not going to completely ignore that, but I think the athletic upside is there. And I also think the path to an early workload is as I expect Cam Scatter Boo to recover. But in your rankings, you're expecting Scatterboo to be back this year and back to the player he was last year, I'd assume.
- [22:38]
Chris Harris
You know, I'm just exhausted by having to defend. Sorry. I mean, I don't know the workloads on May 21st when we're recording this. You know, you're right. If we get to mid August and people are like, yeah, Scatterboat can't even practice well, yeah, I'm not going to have him RB21 anymore. He's going to be. He's gonna be lower. But, yeah, I. I don't know.
- [23:04]
Jeff Bell
I think we got this in a hypothetical, though, and let's keep it more on, like, the player talent and just the player himself. Cam Scatterable. Let's just say we're living in this hypothetical world where Camp Scatter Boo isn't going to be ready week one. He doesn't look like himself, still struggling to come back from this injury that would set Tyrone Tracy to be the presumed RB one there. Is that a player that you could tell fantasy managers like, yes, you can draft this guy as your RB2 if the path for workload is there or you don't think that he has that sort of upside.
- [23:38]
Chris Harris
You know, we're playing. We're playing. I'm not a. I'm sorry that I'm. I don't really like to play these games in May. You know, I get it.
- [23:46]
Jeff Bell
I get it.
- [23:46]
Chris Harris
If Cam's got to be. Wasn't on the Giants at all if he, like, wasn't going to play this year, do I think enough of Tyrone Tracy to rank him in my top 24? The answer is probably no. I don't think he stinks. But I think if you give him the ball 7 yards downfield with a defensive back running at him and have him guess whether he needs to go left or go right, I think he's probably going to fumble because he's that's fair.
- [24:17]
Jeff Bell
Yeah, he's.
- [24:18]
Chris Harris
He's a mess in the open field. He's a physically imposing guy, and I like some of the things that he does, but I kind of feel like the Giants had a chance to decide that he was their guy. And I grant you, it was a different coaching administration, but it feels like they maybe saw some of the same things that you and I saw. I think our differences in the Giant ranks right now are really totally about, you know, the anxiety over Scatter.
- [24:48]
Jeff Bell
We don't know anything about.
- [24:48]
Chris Harris
Yeah, right. Yeah. And. And it's fair because I don't know anything you don't know, that's for sure. Like, I. When I first put out my, like, super initial ranks, I only do them, like, in April after the draft. I don't bother with ranks before then because, again, I just. What are obsessing over ranks. And, you know, when we're four months away from anything mattering, seems. Seems rough to me. But when I first put him out there, I put Daniel Jones, like, inside the top 20 quarterbacks or so. But then since then, I'm, you know, I'm paying attention to the news, and it seems like the Colts are having a really hard time having anything good leak out about Daniel Jones's recovery. So I was like, all right, well, now, you know, they're talking about Riley Leonard way too much for me to feel comfortable. Daniel Jones needs to go lower. So if. If that happens with the Giants and we get through minicamp, or probably not even minicap, probably, like, early August is when we really start to believe it. If they're like, yes, Scatterboot just can't get on the field, of course we have to pay attention. You come on my show all the time in July, and we always say, like, what are the stories that you'll pay attention to and will mean something to you? And every time you come on, you're always like, yeah, it's the negative ones. It's the ones where, you know, it's not sunshine, where, you know, the. The guy isn't. Isn't on pace to recover or doesn't look good or doesn't have good chemistry. Those are always the thing I'm paying most attention to. And that, I think, I agree with you, that will be the case with Scatterboo.
- [26:19]
Jeff Bell
Yeah, it's the best shape of their life. Those are the stories that we just ignore. Those are just pieces that are coming out from every single agent and every single tv. It's the negative ones. Those are the ones that we want to pay attention to. And we haven't gotten a lot of news about Scatter Boo yet. But I think that, you know, if Scatter Boo isn't ready, Tyrone Tracy is an interesting player to discuss. I will say though, you talk about like the fumbling and it's not just fumbling, it's also like dropping the ball. Like he had a ball that was placed in his hands that was somehow an interception two years ago. And there is this mindset often that like well this guy, he was an ex receiver so he's going to be really good at catching passes. Maybe he's an X receiver because his ball skills suck and that's why they just hand the ball off to him now and they don't utilize him as a receiver. And I do think, you know, like running routes, Tyrone Tracy can do that, but the ball skills are a very, very big issue whether it's catching the ball or holding onto it while running. But let's talk about some receivers here and this is one of my big flag plans. So I should probably be the one defending this more than you should, Chris. You've got Drake London at wide receiver 7, wide receiver 8 depending on standard or PPR. I have moved Drake London way up my rankings. I've got him as my wide receiver four, which that means I'm drafting him ahead of Justin Jefferson, ahead of CD Lamb. And this is just a player that we've seen since coming into the league has proven capable of pulling targets at an elite rate like 30 plus percent target share every single year. Big bodied guy comes down with contested balls in the end zone. And now I'm hoping that too. We talk about loa, whether it's him or we saw some life last year with Michael Penix. I think that now we could be looking at a year where that ceiling for Drake London can finally realize itself. Also in that, you know, having him ahead of CD Lamb, CD Lamb now has George Pickens there who is going to take some targets. As we saw last year, Justin Jefferson, we found out last year is not quarterback proof after all. So I have some like I'm not saying to fade these guys and not draft CD Lamb or Justin Jefferson Jefferson, but if I'm sitting there at the end of round one, early round two and all three receivers are available, I prefer Drake London to those guys. Tell me why I'm crazy, Chris.
- [28:23]
Chris Harris
I don't, I don't do that. I don't do the you're crazy for I ranked a guy 7 and you ranked them for. I don't I don't, I don't do. You're crazy.
- [28:30]
Jeff Bell
But, but this is a pivotal decision that drafters have to make. And like, you know, if, yeah, take
- [28:35]
Chris Harris
a running back scoring. My answer is take a run. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My answer, honestly, if you told me that you had London three, I might, like, I might, you know, be able to get some dander up and really, like, try to have an argument with you because it. You, you know me well enough to know that I don't really do tears. I just think it's such a foolish, arbitrary thing, like, oh, no, no, no, no, you don't understand. I may have this guy wide receiver 27 and this guy wide receiver 28, but you wouldn't believe the chasm that exists between them. I don't, I don't really believe in that. So I'll just tell you. My receivers have two tiers. It's the top three guys and everyone else. And I'm sure you're. You have the same top three. We're all going to have the same top.
- [29:19]
Jeff Bell
So now instead of the wide receiver three, the infinite sadness, it is the literal wide receiver four and infinite sadness beyond that, four through 98, just lump them all together.
- [29:30]
Chris Harris
It's. I mean, I, you know, tell me you have a really strong take between a Mecca Abuka and Cortland Sutton. Like, you know, there's, I don't know, there could be 20 spots between them. But to have like a really definite take is tough because it's the NFL now. There's a lot of unbelievably talented receivers and they're all on the field at the same time. And week to week, most of them get you five for 53, you know, and so it's really tough to find anybody who is, you know, consistently better than that. So I'm not mad at all by you saying that you have London at 4. I think, you know, to say Justin Jefferson is not quarterback proof and therefore I love Drake London when it's Tua and Michael Penix throwing it to him like, well, I don't know that I find that to be a huge, compelling difference, but London's really good player if it comes down to it. I'm almost always going to take a running back over him, I would guess, for exactly the reason that we're talking about. And it just seems like it gets more intense every year where running back is, is simply the scarcest position. It's the only scarce position unless you're in a super flex. And I need to be trying to lock down solutions at the scarce positions and finding solutions elsewhere. I think you're right though. If London's ready to take a leap into that one tier, you know, the super league guys, which I could see it, I think you have a compelling case just talent wise. He's really, really good. He's big, he's fast enough. He and Nico Collins to me are real similar. Like I. If it works out that we look back on the season and actually it turned out to be, oh, it wasn't as dire. It turned out to be a tier of like six or seven super elite, trustable, like you know, 1500 yard type receivers and London was one of them. I think I would buy that because he's pretty special talent.
- [31:26]
Jeff Bell
And I think that's where I'm at is like, I feel like we saw the upside last year before that injury, There was a six week stretch where he was averaging 110 yards and a touchdown every single week. And it was like he is here. Like Drake London has finally ascended into that elite tier. And then of course the PCL injury and then the rest of the year was just kind of sad after that. But even this, like you could see some of the hypocrisy in my rankings right now. Like I'm penalizing Josh Jacobs for not being around in December. But then Drake London, you know, he's a young shiny toy that I get excited about and I'm like, no big deal, it's fine, just coming, I'll draft even higher next year. So yes, you know, we do have some emotional bias that bleeds into our rankings and I'm not too proud to admit that. Another receiver I want to talk about though. And I know this guy just gets lumped in with all of the other wide receivers, but I saw George Pickett. There was a pretty big chasm between where I had him ranked and where you had him ranked. I've got him at wide receiver 8, you have him at wide receiver 15. So I mean that ends up being about a two round difference between where I'd be willing to take him and where you would be willing to take him. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today day. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
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Chris Harris
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Jeff Bell
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Chris Harris
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Jeff Bell
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Jeff Bell
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Chris Harris
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- [33:25]
Jeff Bell
Apply this again like I truthfully and this goes against so much that I believe about like I want to evaluate the talent and I do have some questions about George Pickens talent. I know he is a freak athlete and he is an emotional player and he can do a lot of fun things after the catch but he still does struggle to separate at times. You know, a lot of his best plays come on highlights, not doing the things that you want to see from receivers, which is like consistent play game in and game out. Like we see his effort waning every single week it seems like. But I still saw this guy giving us elite like top two production even when CD Lamb was out there for a chunk of the season. So I see his role in this offense just being so valuable as that field stretcher that can give you a huge ceiling every single week. I am taking him like in round four of drafts and you're exercising a little bit more caution. Is there a reason for that?
- [34:19]
Chris Harris
I. I don't know if I'm where I'm taking them relative to. I. I don't, I don't really do blended ranks yet this time of year because I just, I don't want people
- [34:28]
Jeff Bell
drafting this time of year totally guesstimating that there's going to be.
- [34:32]
Chris Harris
Yeah, you're guessing probably, yeah, 25 running
- [34:34]
Jeff Bell
backs, maybe a quarterback or two, maybe a few tight ends and then obviously 14 wide receivers ahead. That probably means that you're comfortable with Pickens in like round five or six would be my guess.
- [34:46]
Chris Harris
Yeah, I think if so I had the running gag on my show last year that the, the George Pickens that we knew from Pittsburgh had been replaced by his cousin Bernie. And Bernie Pickens was like super dedicated and like did everything for the team and you know, just he shed his old identity and it was Bernie Pickens and man that was until about week 14.
- [35:09]
Jeff Bell
Right. And then week 14, George showed back
- [35:11]
Chris Harris
up, and we all saw it. We all saw it happen on national tv where he just grew disinterested or frustrated or whatever. And that's the dude I really don't trust at all. I just don't. I. You know, I. I guess they're saying he's going to sign the franchise tag. I think we've gotten some mixed signals about that. I won't be shocked if we get to August and he's holding, holding in.
- [35:35]
Jeff Bell
They said that before the draft. It was like, hours before the draft kicked off. We got that Adam Schefter report saying George Pickens is about to sign his tag. And then the draft came and went, and four days later, they said, well, he still hasn't, but he's going to. Don't you? Don't you?
- [35:47]
Chris Harris
Yeah. Yeah. And. And let's also be honest that CD Lamb may never. We don't really know for sure, but he may never have been right the entire year because hurt real early. High ankle sprain toughed it out. He himself was. Seemed like he was pissed. It's funny how the Eagle, everybody. Everybody's like, all those Eagles all hate each other. And meanwhile, the Cowboys just. Those two receivers just did not seem happy all year. My. Yeah, there's a. There's definitely all. All that needs to go right for George Pickens is for everything to kind of just be what it was last year. Like, he plays a lot. He doesn't hold out. He's happy. He, you know, thinks about the contract that he needs to earn the next year. He, you know, I can see why your. Your rank winds up being right, because it just happened. I'm approaching it with a little more skepticism because of all the things that could go wrong with this particular player. But, yeah, that might be bad. That might be bad logic because, you know, we don't really know them as people. We think we do, you know, like, maybe just pay attention to what they're doing on the field. And it really worked last year. It's clear that both Cowboy receivers can be obvious fantasy starters in the same week. And that's great because that, you know, a lot of times can't happen, you know, and so, like, we just saw it be able to happen. Yeah, I mean, you know, you laid out my hesitations before I even got to them. It's about the space between Pickens ears, and it's also about CD Lamb's health. You know, like, if he's all the way healthy, I think he's A better player and probably more essential to that franchise. And, like, he'll be there a lot when George Pickens is gone, you know, and they need to make sure he doesn't feel as angry as he seemed to feel last year.
- [37:41]
Jeff Bell
And also consistent and a professional. And that's why he got a monster mega extension, because he doesn't cause problems and he's not giving up in the middle of games and things like that. So totally putting you on the spot. You got George Pickens as wide receiver 15. If we knew we were getting a full season from Bernie Pickens, could. Could you get him up to wide receiver eight
- [38:00]
Chris Harris
to have and then have two cowboy receivers in the top eight? I don't think.
- [38:04]
Jeff Bell
Which is crazy. But, like, you know, we were doing that for. I mean, Jabar Chase and T. Higgins just did it last year. So we see, like, there aren't a lot of offenses, but we do see every year there's like, one or two that are just, like, hyper condensed to two guys. It was Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. We could do it with them. Jamar Chase and. And T. Higgin. I feel like now CD Lamb and George Pickens are kind of reaching that rarefied era where we can put two guys inside the top 15.
- [38:28]
Chris Harris
They did Vonte Adams.
- [38:31]
Jeff Bell
Yeah. Another one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [38:34]
Chris Harris
But it's. It's really hard to predict those beforehand. We didn't predict it for any of those guys last year. You know, Higgins was coming off a disastrous season. You know, Devonte Adams was, you know, who knew how that was all going to work out? You know, I am reluctant to go in with both feet and say I'm positive which offense is worthy of, you know, that. That level of, like, investment. And, you know, if I. It seems like I should have Dak Prescott higher if I were so convinced, you know, and I have Prescott nine, and he's ahead of Caleb Williams now. Sorry, but. But I'm not. But I don't put him five. You know, I actually have Stafford five. Because I kind of do still trust the Ram offense, maybe above all others. I don't know.
- [39:24]
Jeff Bell
Talking about this, you know, we talk about, like, building this mind palace too, that, like, you can talk yourself into just the entire Cowboys offense regressing in a major way because they had the worst defense in the NFL by far last year, which forced them into these situations where they had to throw and they could keep two guys. But now if you look at what they did in free agency, you look at what they did in the draft. I mean, it might not work. Like, everybody could be a bus, certainly, but this might be a better off or a better defense. And then all of a sudden, we're looking at the same volume on offense. And then we're asking ourselves at the midway point of the season, why in the world were we drafting two Dallas receivers so highly when they can't support either of them?
- [40:00]
Chris Harris
And I think that's why you and I vibe on this stuff so well, is because we both will talk about our biases and what we think of these teams and stuff, but we just. We try. I know from having you on my show for so many years, like, we both try to not be utterly convinced that this team is super elite and this team is dead in the water, has no chance. You know, in fact, we try to make those be sources of value in the other direction. Like, oh, everybody's convinced this team sucks. Well, I think this player on this team that everybody thinks sucks is pretty good. And if I can get him cheap, I would like to do that, you know, so. So I'm, if anything, almost trying to see the other side, like you said of the cowboy offense, like, huh, Is it really going to be like that again? Or do we really think all those players are that good? Do we think George Pickens is really that good? Or did he have the absolute harmonic convergence for one year, you know, when. When he'd never, ever done it before? I. I obviously don't. I. You know, I still ranked him 15among receivers, so I write, obviously don't believe he's nothing, but it just feels. I mean, I. Yeah, I took the pipe so bad on George Pickens last year. I remember going on all these other shows, your show and other people's shows, and saying, he's a dumb, dumb. I don't want any part of him. And then he goes crazy. Like, I'm not into, but I'm not bought in.
- [41:29]
Jeff Bell
Yeah. And, you know, Jeff Bell and I, we do a show right before kickoff every single year. Our what if we're wrong? Show, where we kind of do this, like, cathartic exercise where we go through, like, all of our biggest flag plants and we're like, so, yes, like, we really like Player X, but here's why we could end up looking like idiots halfway through the season. And it is kind of this, like, you know, we want to do our best to, like, help the audience and say, this is what you should be doing in fantasy football. But I think shows like this are especially important to the audience because we can kind of paint the Upside and the downside for these players and then allow the audience to make the informed decision there. I think that's a perfect segue to the next guy. I want to talk about, Chris. You had to imagine I was going to bring up DJ Moore on today's show. It feels like you and I end up talking about the little badass on every single show that we do together. And this is one where I 100% see the downside. Now, I know you don't get like, you know, super plugged into the ADP and the best ball bros this time,
- [42:22]
Chris Harris
but I don't know.
- [42:23]
Jeff Bell
There is a huge fade against DJ because you look at the spreadsheets, Chris, and he is an aging player who has trended down each of the last three seasons. You look at the history of players who have been traded from one team to another. It's not always great in the twilight of a player's career. And this is one where I just see it the complete opposite. Like, I think that DJ Moore was just an awful fit in Ben Johnson's offense. Now you get to pair him up with a guy like Josh Allen who does a lot of the off script, just making plays out of nothing. And we saw that's where DJ Moore had his best year ever was with Justin Fields, who was all off script, scrambling, running around with his hair on fire. So there seems to be this huge chasm him anywhere I look in rankings, I've seen DJ Moore very high, like up as like a top 15 wide receiver. I've seen him outside of the top 40 in other rankings. I've got him up at wide receiver 15. I'm sorry, wide receiver 17. So a lot higher than most people.
- [43:17]
Chris Harris
You're.
- [43:17]
Jeff Bell
I mean, and you're pretty high on him too, at wide receiver 24. So this is. I think you and I are both probably ahead of consensus here, but are you expecting more of like the good from DJ Moore or do you think that this could end up being bad for his career, moving over to Buffalo?
- [43:33]
Chris Harris
Well, it's not going to be. I don't think he needed to leave Chicago. You're a Bears fan. You know this. You. You know that it wasn't working. The very last play of the season in the playoff loss would be the poster child example. I'm sure you're still seeing that in your nightmares, which is the same thing
- [43:47]
Jeff Bell
we saw week one, right? Like we're DJ Moore wide open for a touchdown in week one and he runs the wrong route. He tries going off script. Caleb Williams, sales and I mean, that was just an ongoing problem for the last two years.
- [43:58]
Chris Harris
Yeah. Yeah. So. So no, I think the. Him leaving is. Is the best thing for him. No question about that. I. I'm, you know, again, I, I just don't think there's really any difference between having somebody, what you. You have him 17 have him 21. We have the same. You know, as far as I'm concerned, we're both in on him as a wide receiver, too, as, you know, someone. I'm it. Obviously we get to August, if average draft position is he's going in the seventh round, we're not going to be like, take him in the fourth. You know, we're going to say wait, but we're going to say get him before everybody else wants them. You know, it's funny how he was absolutely dead in the water with the Bears through a little more than half the season, but they started to need him and he started play really well and they've kind of figured it out and suddenly he's the only one who's producing among all of them. Dunze, I don't think we think was healthy all year, maybe. And like, I'm not using that as evidence against Adunze, but there just became a moment in that Bears magical season when they suddenly really needed DJ Moore and he kind of did like, figure it out and work well enough. And again, we're all. We're all aging. To consider DJ more like over the hill by NFL standards would be wrong. I don't think you. You don either. So this comes down to the fit in Buffalo. It feels like exactly the kind of receiver Josh Allen should want and hasn't had, but it's so who Joe Brady
- [45:39]
Jeff Bell
has the familiarity from their time in Carolina.
- [45:42]
Chris Harris
Right. But it is so specific. Like, it's all well and good for us to like, sort of wax rhapsodic about, oh, this is an improvisational quarterback. And therefore any improvisational wide receiver will do. In fact, the reason that you could be right that changing team, this kind of receiver, changing teams doesn't work right away can be because they just don't have the man hours put into. They need to know specifically, like, all right, when the defender is. His body position is this way and he's leaning that way. I need you to run over there. I need you to break your route there. And. And it's all well and good for DJ Moore to be this jazz, you know, this. This guy who's, you know, bebopping out there to his own tune, but he, Josh Allen needs to know where he's going, you know, and you and I obviously have some faith that they'll figure it out. But if something goes wrong and the negative outlooks wind up being, you know, we're wrong and the negative outlooks are right, it's going to be that. It's going to be that. That eventually Alan is just like, yeah, I can't trust you. I don't know. Sure, I want to run around, but I still need to know where you're going. And. And like, they. Maybe they just wind up not having enough time to figure that out.
- [46:56]
Jeff Bell
So I want to say Matt Harmon, you know, he's a friend of your show, a friend of my show. We both talk with Matt a bit and I don't know if you read his reaction article after that trade went through, but he'd kind of been connecting these dots for the last couple of years. And Matt is in this unique position where, you know, he gets to go to Radio Row and interview players and have players on his podcast and stuff all the time. And he had kind of la talking to both Josh Allen and DJ Moore separately about how they might be able to play with each other over the last couple of years. And Josh Allen flat out said, like, I don't care about what's on the playbook. He's like, I just want a receiver that can get open and then I trust my arm to get the ball to him. So I think that's again, where some of this excitement is kind of brewing from. And the last thing I'll say about DJ Moore and why I'm buying in is, yes, there is a history of receivers trading teams and just kind of face planning with their new teams. But I think there's this archetype of like. And George Pickens fits this mold who we just talked about, like, very emotional receivers, right? Like, where they get traded and they kind of get a chip on their shoulder where they want to, like, prove that they were more valuable than they were. And like, we saw that Brandon Marshall getting traded to the jets and having 15 touchdowns, like, to every time he got traded, had a breakout year. AJ Brown's best year came the first time traded out Randy Moss. Example. Exactly. And I think that DJ Moore kind of of fits that mold of, like, I don't think he's going to Buffalo. Just saying, like, I'm going to hear to collect a paycheck. Like, he's got a chip on his shoulder this year. And I don't. It's a dangerous game trying to get in the psyche of an NFL player. But based on what we've seen from D.J. moore, I think he's going to be playing a little bit motivated this year.
- [48:26]
Chris Harris
I think they're all motivated. It's really hard to play and not be motivated.
- [48:29]
Jeff Bell
I. I don't think it's in week 15.
- [48:33]
Chris Harris
Well, then he didn't play, you know.
- [48:35]
Jeff Bell
Right.
- [48:36]
Chris Harris
They took it. They took his helmet away. I think you said you gave so many good examples of exceptions to this supposed rule that I didn't know about until 10 minutes ago about how receivers who change teams don't do well. I think that's absolutely crazy because there's so many examples of guys who did and you just nailed so many of them that I don't need to worry about. I. I think DJ Moore was always motivated. I think he was motivated with Chicago. I think he was trying really hard. He just didn't. I think mostly he didn't vibe with Ben Johnson. I think Ben Johnson lost confidence 100%.
- [49:14]
Jeff Bell
I can tell you that as somebody who pays extra close attention to the Bears beat, I think that's exactly what it was.
- [49:19]
Chris Harris
Yeah. And we. This can go wrong. This can go bad. I think Josh Allen is not without blame for the lack of development of the receivers that Brandon Bean thought were going to be good. I think Allen is a bit of a pill about, you know, he's kind of not since. Since Diggs left. And I think Diggs probably had maybe a little bit of an outsized influence in what that offense is going to look like, because he's a loud, boisterous dude. He was the leader of that offense. I would venture to say since then, it doesn't feel like Josh Allen has, like, gone out of his way to. To ensure the success of any receiver. Khalil Shakir, maybe, but that's just such a. It's almost like a different animal that
- [50:05]
Jeff Bell
DJ Moore had Achilles surgery like.
- [50:07]
Chris Harris
Or.
- [50:07]
Jeff Bell
I'm sorry, not DJ More Khalil Shkier. Like, that just kind of lost the shuffle of off season. NFL News comes out yesterday that Khalil Shakir had to undergo tightrope procedure on his Achilles. Like, not feeling right about that.
- [50:19]
Chris Harris
No, not great.
- [50:20]
Jeff Bell
All the more reason to bump DJ Moore up.
- [50:23]
Chris Harris
Yeah, I mean, I think Alan needs to make this work, but, like, they always have motivation to make this stuff work. And. And like, Alan has spent a couple of years in what he considers to be the wilderness once Stefan Diggs wasn't there. And frankly, Diggs's last year, he wasn't throwing it to Diggs anyway for whatever. We never really got the bump to the bottom of why he wouldn't throw it to him because he was open a lot of the time. But so I think I would argue for three years running, Allen has not effectively used his wide receiver core. And that window is closing a little bit. Like not on Josh Allen's entire career, but this generation of Bill's team, like they keep signing 80 year old defensive linemen. You know, they're really trying to extend that window. Buddy, you know this, you got to make this work with this guy. And so like I'm not like you, you said it right. I'm not positive they can do it but like I suspect they can and that, you know, you're, you're at least with, with this generation of Bill's team, you're kind of running out of chances.
- [51:27]
Jeff Bell
Next guy we're going to talk about Chris and I know you hate talking tight ends, but I've got to bring this one up here because this is like the biggest gap that we have. If Kyle Pitts can't sell you coming off of a season where he was second in scoring among tight ends, I see you've got to be tight end 14. I am holding it down. I've got Kyle Pitts as my tight end four in rankings this year. So I am saying that like, you know, he's just outside of that elite crop of tight ends and you're saying don't even take him as a top 12 tight end. Come on. Like I thought late in the year, you know, he suffered that MCL injury in 2023 and has not looked like himself since. But I saw some flashes late in the year where it's like, that is the Kyle Pitts that I watched at Florida. That's the Kyle Pitts. I saw his rookie season and I'm wondering if maybe it just took him a couple of years to get that injury behind him.
- [52:15]
Chris Harris
We are never going to know the truth about that. I think, you know, you're, you're, I think you're, you're inventing a story that could be true. But you know, you don't know one way or the other because you saw, you know, you're retrofitting the results. You know what I saw was the Falcons no longer having any receivers. Like he became the wide receiver one.
- [52:38]
Jeff Bell
Right.
- [52:38]
Chris Harris
Because Jake Lennon wasn't playing and he had like two. Was it two good weeks, three good weeks and then everybody for the fantasy finals was like, you're going to win with Kyle Pitts. And he does 2 for 16. I was like, that's, that's so Kyle Pitts.
- [52:51]
Jeff Bell
That's the Kyle Pitts experience right there. I mean, that's just the tight end experience in general in fantasy football, like you've got Brock Bowers, Trey McBride or you are just scraping the barrel and I feel like, you know, at least you don't have to scrape quite as hard with Kyle Pitts.
- [53:07]
Chris Harris
The point would be like, I don't want to pay the price for McBride, I don't want to pay the price for Bowers. It's too much. It's not good strategy. They simply do not. They look like they're killing the other tight ends, but the margin between them, the actual raw points margin between them and their, you know, the people after them is just much smaller than running backs and much smaller than wide receivers. The tight ends just simply. This is, this is value based drafting. This is VBD. Like, don't pay for the. If I could get McBride cheap, great, but I can't. He's going to be a third round pick. Like, no, don't do that. And my point after that is you're never going to get me be mad about who you have at tight end for. I don't care. You know, I'm just, I'm taking tight end 10, you know, I'm taking whoever is in the 11th round because it just doesn't matter that much.
- [53:56]
Jeff Bell
And I think where you and I are aligned on our rankings and both very ahead of where Consent is currently at would be Sam Laporta and Tyler Warren. Those are players that you and I both are pretty aligned on that we both prefer ahead of their current adp. So maybe that would be the advice. Like if you're not waiting for a tight end, you might still be able to get some good value on a Sam Laporta or a Tyler Warren in the middle rounds.
- [54:18]
Chris Harris
Yeah, I just don't want to take a tight in the middle rounds. I just, I'm going to keep firing at running back and if I've fired a bunch at running back, I'm going to fire at a bunch of wide receivers because they're all part of the same tier. What do I care who I get? It's Alec Pierce. It's. I'm just looking at my list. It's. Yeah, you know, I think John Fair
- [54:38]
Jeff Bell
to just wait because they are like every year, every single year, like a handful of guys in the top 10 were guys that you picked up off of waivers in the middle of the season and I think we could see that this year. I don't know who it's going to be like maybe it's going to be Chigaconquo. Maybe he gets all the Debo Samuel looks in Washington and ends up just smashing having kind of a John who Smith in Miami type of season. Maybe it's Theo Johnson just like stepping up in this Harbaugh offense and you know, doing something crazy. I mean, I don't know who it's going to be, but the reality is every single year guys pop up on waivers that give you top 10 production.
- [55:10]
Chris Harris
But also top 10 production at tight end isn't actually worth very much.
- [55:15]
Jeff Bell
Right.
- [55:15]
Chris Harris
It's just not like in terms of raw fantasy points difference making fantasy points is just not top two is. But again, you have to pay too much for it. The genius of McBride last year was that he wasn't the number one tight end. You know, he's fallen in around three
- [55:32]
Jeff Bell
and four and then gave you game changing upside, which I think the only guy this year that you're probably getting that from is Brock Bowers. But you got to pay up for him with like the 15th overall pick if you want him this year. So not doing it. So let's talk about a couple anyways here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [55:47]
Chris Harris
I just want to on Kyle Pitts, I think it's hilarious. We're like, yeah, George Pickens might not show up and Pitts is like, I'll sign. What do I sign? Franchise tag. Sure, I'm in.
- [56:00]
Jeff Bell
Yeah. And I think, you know, I don't, I, I, I'm not a big believer in the contract year thing. You know, everyone says that like players get a boost in the contract year but you know, this isn't like a one year. I, I mean it is technically a one year prove it deal for Kyle Pitts, but like if he has a good year, this guy is still 25 years old. Like it's not like, you know, he's going to get some two, three, like if he has a good season and can entrench himself as one of the better ends in the NFL, he's going to get 80, $100 million after this offseason. So again, I don't think that's going to impact his play. I think players are motivated regardless. But like he could get a massive extension out of this season given that he is still very, very young. Now let's talk about a couple quarterbacks here, Chris. And the first one, I know what the dissension is going to be here. You don't care about rushing the way that I do. But Jackson Dart, I saw last year put up 18 plus fantasy points in 10 of his 12 starts. You know, the day Harbaugh signed with the Giants, I said I like this because we know Harbaugh has his offense where he likes to have these jumbo sets and a lot of rpo, a lot of designed rushing for the quarterbacks. And I think that plays well to Jackson Dart's skill set. So I might be being a little bit too presumptuous here, but is your, you know, being a little bit lower on Jackson Dart, is that just fear that he's going to go out and just ring his bell when week one and end up on concussion protocol?
- [57:20]
Chris Harris
I mean, so it's got some of that, right. Yeah. Andy Barrons and I, we, we. We're doing a show together in the office, you know, once, once a week in the off season. And one thing we're carrying over from my main show is that that segment, Film Futures or whatever it's called that we always do. And so I've never done these before with someone else. It's always just been me. And I do like a 10 minute monologue about what I saw on film from a player and now I'm doing it with someone else for the first time. And Jackson Dart is one of the ones Andy and I did and we both came out of that experience just absolutely terrified for his, for his health and well being for, for his. You know, I don't know if he's the giants quarterback in 2027. I. Yeah.
- [58:05]
Jeff Bell
Oh yeah.
- [58:06]
Chris Harris
I don't think he was very good throwing the ball. And there's no question he, he had some magic and he is a good runner, but he absolutely wouldn't protect himself. Even after he missed time with concussions, he would come back and not protect himself. This is how I play.
- [58:22]
Jeff Bell
That was like the number one story in the NFL for that entire week was like Jackson Dart's reckless play style and then he comes out on the first drive and had that hit where he got blown up on the sideline.
- [58:32]
Chris Harris
Like it's like you can't Patriots.
- [58:34]
Jeff Bell
He's going to play the way that he wants. Yes. He's going to play the way that he wants to play. Like you can't coach that out.
- [58:40]
Chris Harris
Yeah. And so on the one hand, you go in a single quarterback league, scarcity is not an issue at quarterback. So why not shoot the moon and hope you get some throwing improvement and then all the same running and, and like, if he gets hurt, I don't care because I'll just pick up, you know, Sam Darnold, whatever, but I'm. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not. One thing that you said about how John Harbaugh likes to establish a RPO type offense. I don't think John Harbaugh has anything to do with anything. I think he's like a tone setter. I don't think he's out there writing plays or telling everybody like this is our philosophy. Like, I think if anything, if the Giants really believe Jackson, they found their guy in the second round or late first round, same thing. They have to reinvent his game. They have to make him last. You know, they, he, he has to. Harbaugh's message has to be he's the adult in the room that says Jackson, it's all well and good to walk all over interim coaches and do whatever you want, but we're not giving you a second contract if you can't sign it. You know, like you, you have to keep your wits about you. You're, you have to protect yourself better. And I just think that's like a inverse. Exactly. Inversely proportional to what he needs to do to be good and for fans
- [60:02]
Jeff Bell
and what I'll say about like Harbaugh, obviously not a play caller, he's a defensive minded coach, but I still look at like the first things he did. Like he came to New York and he signed Isaiah Likely and he signed Pat Ricard. Like he brought in two guys from Baltimore that you know, know the system. And regardless of whether it was Greg Roman or Todd Monken, whoever the offensive coordinator was, it was still always like there was that DNA. Like it still always felt like a Harbaugh team.
- [60:26]
Chris Harris
I mean the DNA was you had Lamar Jackson, the greatest running quarterback in the history of the game who knows how to protect himself, you know, who, who has made it through some would argue three MVP seasons.
- [60:39]
Jeff Bell
Right.
- [60:40]
Chris Harris
Yeah, I think, I just don't think Jackson Dart is a starting level quarterback, I have to admit. And putting him, I put him 16 and, and I'm, and even that is like I haven't had a Jordan Love and I think Jordan Love is a really good NFL quarterback. I think Jackson Dart is a flavor of the month. Sam Howell, who can run sort of player who isn't going to be a starter. Gardner Minshew type type, you know, better, better athlete, but not going to be a starter in a league for a second contract is where I am right now. But it's one year and I Don't want to be say, I'm like, positive and definitive. And I also don't mind you taking chances on higher upside guys at quarterback because they're replaceable.
- [61:21]
Jeff Bell
And that's exactly what I was just about to say, is that like. Like, I have a big fate on Jackson Dart in my Dynasty rankings. So a lot of people could look at this and say, like, why do you have Jackson Dart as a top 10 quarterback in redraft, but outside of your top 15 in dynasty when he is a young player? And it's like, well, because I don't think he's that good. But like you said, it can be replaceable. So, like, if I can draft Jackson Dart, then let's say come week 12, they say, yeah, we're just going to give the keys to Jameis. You're done here. I'm pretty confident in my ability to just look at the waiver wire and find somebody else that I can get in there. And that's the funny thing is, like, I opened up the Jackson Dart discussion, so saying 18 plus point and 10 of his 12 starts. Well, why did he only have 12 starts? Oh, yeah, that's right. Because he was on concussion protocol and he couldn't win the starting job in training camp. Like, there is context to that stat as well. But, Chris, thank you so much for being a good sport. I know this is tough to do, to come on in May and talk about, like, having really strong player takes this time of year, but again, that's not what I'm looking for. Like, this show is talking about the upside, talking about the downside, talking about theory. And I really appreciate you being a good sport about it. Let everyone know where they can find one, the almanac that's going to be coming out too soon, and then two podcasts, all that good stuff that you're working on.
- [62:32]
Chris Harris
First of all, you called me a good sport twice, which makes me think I was truly an a hole in this conversation. So I apologize for that if I was.
- [62:39]
Jeff Bell
Well, I know it's not an easy thing to do. And, you know, there's a lot of people that are just like, plugged in, you know, doing 100 drafts by the end of May. And I know right now you are very much so building out the almanac and don't have, like, fully formalized player takes on everyone. So coming on here is, you know, it's a tough show to do this time of year, is what I'm saying.
- [62:59]
Chris Harris
It's not. I mean, it's not tough because it's you. I'm not going to say yes to everybody, but it's you. So I would obviously always say yes. And it was really super fun and I'm. It's cool to know I especially in particularly DJ Moore. I feel like we're exactly on the same side of history with DJ Moore. We'll see if we both go down with the ship. But the fact that you coming out of the Bears experience with him still could stay positive on him, makes me feel a little more entrenched in my take. So that makes me feel good. No, it's a blast to get to talk to you about these guys. I always appreciate being asked. Yeah, harrisfootball.com is where everything is and not really making shows this time of year except for the yacht club. People are getting, they're getting one a week. But the, the main show starts back up again in July and by then I'll have written all of the whatever240player profiles that you know, the. Do you know the origin? I used to write the magazine for espn, that print magazine. I used to write all those like when, when you'd buy that print magazine, that was me writing all those profiles and but of course it was a print magazine, so you had a very limited amount of ink space. You know, you had to write 200 words. And this is a PDF so I can write whatever I want. So it's pretty fun. And I sometimes consider it to be kind of a joke delivery mechanism where mostly I'm just trying to try to make, make people laugh, hopefully impart a little bit of football wisdom as well. But I appreciate having me on.
- [64:27]
Jeff Bell
Yeah, the magazines are fun. We did a magazine last year for the 25 year anniversary of Football guys. And then I remember that, lucky enough, yeah, one FSWA's best publication. So now we are running it back in 2026, doing it again. And Chris, I've been an Internet writer my entire life. Like you said, you know, I can go into an article and before I know it I've got 5,000 words done and whatever pop. Publish writing for magazines is a very different experience where you have to just be like brutal with cutting words. The words that you have written and love aren't going to make it into a magazine. So it's been a fun learning experience for me. But you mentioned Andy Barron's on the show. I'm going to be reaching out to him soon, trying to get him to come here as well. So Chris, always a pleasure. When you and I get to talk, hopefully we'll have Andy Barrons on the show within the next couple of weeks. Be sure to check out what Chris is doing@HarrisFootball.com and check out the podcast. It's one of the few that I listen to. It's a really fun show with a unique perspective on the game of fantasy football. But I will be back next week with Joey Wright, next week with Jeff Bell, and then of course always a new rotating chair here on this Friday episode. Thank you so much for taking the time to tune in and I'll see you soon. Save on family Essentials at Safeway and
- [65:44]
Chris Harris
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