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The Herd with Colin Cowherd
FantasyPros - Must-Have Fantasy Football Draft Targets | Expert Picks For EVERY ROUND! (Ep. 1663)
01:06:58
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- [00:00]
A
This is an iHeart podcast. You could have shown up to game day with a basic seven layer dip, but you didn't.
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B
You called an audible and swapped the sour cream layer for Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
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A
Now words like creamy and delicious are flying around the room. And your dip so good is getting more looks than a top fantasy whiteout. You don't follow a recipe, you philly.
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C
It whenever you Philly like it.
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A
Philadelphia Cream Cheese hello everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football podcast. I'm Ryan Wormley, joined by Andrew Erickson and by Tom Strachan. Guys we are talking must have expert picks for every round. This is a jam packed episode. We are going through our top targets through rounds one through ten. We are also doing a more rapid fire version, rounds 11 through 15. We're going to hit on kind of like our favorite guy overall. A lot of names to get through so we're going to do no like preamble how you do it. No pleasantries at the top. We all know each other. We're diving right in here. Round one I do want to remind everybody though that all of our 2025 consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasyprose.com/ Rankings. Round number one. Like I said, we're going all the way through round 15. Erickson, who is your top must have expert pick target in round one.
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B
Well assuming that you're not picking inside the top five because I feel pretty strong about that. I went for a player that goes outside the top five that with out with a pick once six through 12 you can get this guy I think almost every time. Nico Collins Wide Receiver, the Houston Texans if you look at the betting markets, Jamar Chase, surprising no one is the favorite to lead the NFL in receiving yards right next to him according to the betting pros odds that we have listed second shortest odds to lead the NFL in receiving yards. It's one Mr. Nico Collins. So I think that his ceiling as the clear cut alpha in this Texans passing offense is immense. Last two years with C.J. stroud he's top five in receiving yards per game, wide receiver six last year. In terms of points per game I think that he's going to see a boatload of targets. He's been super efficient. So I think that when in doubt if you're kind of nervous about maybe some of the running backs at the back end of round one, you just want to lock and load with an alpha stud wide receiver who's going to put up 1500 yards this season if he stays healthy. Nico Collins is The guy for me.
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A
Nico, is my wide receiver for this year. The reason that I basically have. I have no neighbors, I have no Amra, I have no Puka, I have like no Derrick, Henry, Ash and Genti this year is because every time I'm on the board in the second half of the first, Nico is there and I'm like, if you take out that elite group of six guys, the three receivers, three running backs that I think we all agree our tier one overall, like, like Nico is my seventh pick and he's usually available a couple spots later. Some leagues maybe not, but he usually is. And I disagree with everything you said. The only thing I am worried about is did they do enough to fix the offensive line and will that kind of hamstring the passing offense.
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B
But it's been bad the last two years.
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A
I agree. Yes, that's. We've seen that he can produce with it being bad.
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C
But just for going the Bengals route, you don't care about your offensive line and you just pass the ball in the middle.
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A
Yeah. And, and I like if you. If they are doing I like Jaden Higgins, I like Jaylen Noel, but like they will be throwing to. To Nico Collins and there's. There's still rookies and, and no, no part of me is worried about like, oh, Stroud took a step back in year two. Like, I think that was offensive line related. I still think he's really good. Certainly good enough to support a guy who, like all the experts who know what they're talking about with receivers. Like, like Matt Harmon is like, Nico Collins is like the fourth best receiver in football. Like, like, like he is really, really good. He's paired with a great young quarterback. I think they've done at least just enough to make the offensive line better. And even if they didn't, I don't think it matters. Like, I love Nico this year and I'm so happy to get him late in the first. Every single time, Tom, you went in a different direction where you didn't limit it to like, oh, who can most people get that's available for your pick? You got to have the number one pick.
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C
Look, right? This is the favorite picks in each round. So, like, if I have to choose the favorite pick, then it's Jamar Chase. And look, getting the 101 is a treat. I've done almost 300 drafts this offseason and the amount of times I've got the 101 has been disappointingly small. So of course I want to talk about Jamar Chase because There is good reason why he is the consensus. Like last year he had almost 200 yards more than anyone else. He tied with Justin Jefferson at 18 end zone targets. He just became a red zone monster. That's something that Andrew was talking about last year about how you know, when you lead the league in red zone targets it becomes much easier to have the chance to become the wide receiver one overall. And and last year was the first year where it felt like T. Higgins wasn't hampering Jamar Chase's upside whatsoever. Chase actually averaged more points with T. Higgins out there, 24.7 PPR points compared to when Higgins was missing at 21.3. And yes, it is quite rare for one on one players to repeat. But I just don't doubt him at all because last year the Bengals Pass defense ranked 28th in DVOA and you can make the argument that it looks so much worse this year. So yeah, I think this one it's definitely a layup. But like I don't get enough chances to talk about Jamar Chase because it's just been assumed since like March that he is the consensus 101 and we don't need to talk about it. And Jamar Chase deserves to be talked about.
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A
I love Bijan Robinson. I think he's a really, really really strong second overall pick. But to me, even as much as I love a guy like that at number two, I don't think there's any question every time somebody asks me who should I take one on one like I don't care what the scoring format, I don't care any Jamar Chase because unlike Saquon Barkley, there's not this built in fear of taking this injury related step back at this position like we have with Barkley. And those were the two guys who had these historic seasons last year. Barring a fluky, not predictable fluky injury for Chase or Burrow, I don't understand what the case is against Chase being the number one player in fantasy again this year. I really don't like he. It's such a, it's like maybe the most perfect position situation. I should say that a a fantasy wide receiver has ever been in like marrying talent, the quarterback, the defense, just all of it. Like I I Chase is such an easy one to one for me. Having said that, I really like picking late in the first round because I love love love doubling up on receiver. My favorite two receivers to double up on. It's rare that I can pull this off but it is doable. Nico Collins and Drake London which leads us to.
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C
That's exactly who I was going to say.
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A
That leads us right into Erickson's pick here in round two. Erickson, you are laying out my perfect draft here.
- [06:42]
B
It's worms for perfect draft. It's Erickson's perfect draft we're hand holding here. Yeah, Drake London, that's the guy for me in round two and I would take him in round one if you force me to. If Nico Collins just got taken I would easily take Drake London in the first round. Again talking about the red zone targets and how that's a signal For Wide Receiver 1 Overall seasons that are coming. Well Drake London since he's entered the NFL is number one in wide receiver red zone target rate. Last year he was top five in red zone targets and the thing is he's putting up the yardage. It's been there. So he's one of three receivers over the last two seasons to have at least 2,000 receiving yards but he only has 11 touchdowns. So could he put up a Terry McLaurin like touchdown total attached to Michael Pennix who I think is is a wide receiver elevator. We saw him do it at the college level where guys like Jalen Polk, Roma Dunze, Jalen McMillan were getting drafted inside the top three rounds of the real NFL draft because Michael Penix helped boost their numbers. So again the right tackle injury is concerning for the falcons losing Caleb McGarry especially when he is the blind side protector for Michael Penix. Like the Falcons really couldn't afford to lose a right tackle more like other teams because Michael Penix is a left handed quarterback. But besides that, I mean everything else is wheels up for Drake London to be a top five wide receiver. If not put his hat in the ring for wide receiver 1 overall if Jamar Chase is unable to repeat.
- [08:05]
A
Nico Collins is my wide receiver 4. Drake Leonard is my wide receiver 5. And you can come out of drafts getting both of them. I it's my favorite start that you could possibly have for every. I mean I have really nothing to add Erickson. Every. All the reasons you laid out Michael Panicks, just the talent, everything we've seen. I can't understand why he is currently the 16th overall player in our expert consensus.
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B
His ADP is the same as it was last year.
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I don't get it like and, and I was fantastic. I remember doing it like again like there's it's. He's the reason I love Brian Thomas Jr. This year. Right. Like I want to take swings on Christian McCaffrey. I love Derek Henry. I, I don't understand why people aren't more excited about we just saw this fit in Baltimore. He didn't slow down at all. I love Ashton Genty as a rookie running back but I want to come away with Nico and London because I, I like they are just that much better. Tom, you said that you kind of knew that's the name I was going to throw out there. Do you agree with that as London is just like this ideal early second round target.
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C
Yeah, absolutely. In late. Unlike Ericsson, I was in on the Drake London hype last year so this year I assumed that he'd be into round one for all the reasons we saw down the back end last year. The fact that Michael Penix with an off season catered to him can take another step forward and it's been surprising that there's still this little bit of hesitation. I think it links back to what Eriksen said about the touchdowns there biggest surprise for me has been the fact that we're heading into year four for Drake London and the Falcons haven't locked him up with a contract already because that's only going to get more expensive and this time next year you know you could be looking at like a market second contract if I don't take.
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A
London, if I'm not, if I don't have like this early second round pick where I'm getting one of those like London Genti, Henry Thomas, like whichever of those guys is falling there. My next favorite pick in round two is actually the guy that you're going with here tomorrow.
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C
Again like this is one which might seem a bit of a layup but round two is so stacked this year. There were several players that I really like, there's several players that I think are going to outplay their ADP significantly but Brock Bowers and I thought Brock Powers was going to be firmly part of round one when drafts open like kind of like we saw with Travis kelsey because the 153 targets he got last year that's only been bettered once. ZACH Ertz had 156 targets. I mean only Evan Ingram wins and Zachert have beaten the 112 tight end receptions that Brock Bowers got in his rookie year and now we're talking about just huge upgrades across the board. You've got Chip Kelly who likes to run fast paced offense. The Raiders last year they ranked fourth in pass attempts but in completion rate over expected. Minshu ranked 27th. Aiden O' Connell ranked 39th out of 46 quarterbacks with 100 plus attempts. So he was getting attempts, they were targeting him but they weren't that value much like Malik Neighbors. But Geno in completions over expected ranked fourth last year so the value in the targets this year is going to be so much better yards per attempt. Gino ranked 13th last year and the two Raiders quarterbacks were back to back at 33rd and 34th. Even if Bowers doesn't hit this kind of like 112, 120 receptions, there's room for him to grow with more touchdowns because he only started scoring touchdowns later on in the season. I just think the offense is going to be more more efficient, able to stay on the field much more often and we are looking at a true superstar for the next seven or eight years.
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A
He is 18th in overall ECR. I have him 15th overall and I'm much closer to moving him higher than I am moving him lower. I have a very clear top 15. I'm happy if I get any two guys in that group. Bowers is in that group for me. I a generationally good tight end prospect coming out of college who had a record setting rookie season. Like we have never seen any evidence that he is not going to be an elite tight end. I don't know why we would talk ourselves out of that continuing and the reason I don't like taking taking Titan early historically is because I'm worried about them repeating and being correct. Like Sam Laporta. You know, maybe more of a fluky rookie season just relative to prospect pedigree. He was really good. I don't want to diminish what Laporta did Bowers. I have full faith he is going to repeat if not maybe even add on to what he did last year in year two with a quarterback upgrade. So I like I have anybody who's like ah tight end second round. Is that okay? Yes, I, I would take him and run if those other 14 guys that I really like in that top group are off the board early. Second, I love him.
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C
Yeah and Laporte always looked that little bit more fragile, didn't it? Because he scored nine touchdowns as a rookie. Nobody else that year had scored more than six so it was easy to write in with Bowers. I just don't know what argument you can make for regressing him.
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A
Yeah, Eric said we'll go a little quicker on some of the later rounds but I do want to get your opinion on Bowers here as like that second round tight end guy.
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B
Well I think that the reason we sometimes get concerned about taking Titans this High is because they're usually coming off like the Laporta seasons where they score a lot of touchdowns. I mean go back to the Jimmy Graham Gronkowski years where they're scoring 15, 16, 17 touchdowns and then they don't repeat because they don't score as many touchdowns. But. And again, we haven't talked about him, but Trey McBride and Brock Bowers, like they didn't score touchdowns last year. Like what if they actually do score touchdowns while also seeing the same amount of volume? So that's where you get concerned about if I don't take one of these top tier tight ends and they end up scoring 8, 9, 10 touchdowns with Brock Bowers now getting a quarterback upgrade with Geno Smith, like that's. I think that's under discussed too. I know Tom mentioned it here a little bit, but Geno Smith is a massive upgrade over Aiden o' Connell as the quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders. They're scoring more points, playing in more high paced games. They play in a dome, man. Brock Bowers, yes he plays tight end but he's really more of a slot receiver. Like just look at his routes run last year. He's running from the slot, so not a traditional inline tight end. And although the preseason usage hasn't necessarily been great, they also haven't been running a lot of 12 personnel which I think is going to be something that they're going to be playing more of. And that means Brock Bowers is competing for targets with Michael Mayer, Jacoby Myers who is very good but I still think not an alpha player, and Dante Thornton who is a fourth round pick that didn't command a target share at Tennessee. So I think that Brock Bowers is going to be fine and if he scores the touchdowns, well that's when you see him being around one pick next.
- [14:09]
A
Season, elite prospect who had an elite rookie season who upgraded his quarterback and his play caller and the offensive situation around him but without overly upgrading the pass catchers around him. Like what could be more perfect than this? So yeah, I'm all in on Bowers in that elite group of players. Let's go to round three, Erickson. This is the first one where I do start to look a little bit of a different direction than you. But I get it. Everybody is very much on the hype with the guy you're about to say here.
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B
Yeah, well I'll admit, I'll be the first to admit. Round three, this is the last round that I picked when I was doing my picks because I think that there are so many different directions you can go in. So I went with o' Marin Hampton, running back for the Los Angeles Chargers because I just want to make a bet on a first round rookie running back with elite draft pedigree where he should see as many opportunities as Ashton Genti. Potentially with Najee Harris just a non factor in this offense. Like I don't know what Najee Harris's role is going to be. I don't know when he's coming back. And that's why I was first hesitant about really buying into a Marion Hampton. But the more time Najee has missed under a new coaching staff, the more optimistic I am about o'. Marion. Hampton is going to be the guy here. So I just think that when you zoom out first round rookie running backs tend to be really productive from the get go because they see immediate opportunities. And Mary Hampton was an immediate producer at the college level. He can catch passes out of the back but he's a four down skill set. That's what Harbaugh talked about. This guy can play on every single down and I'm just not convinced that Kamani Vidal is going to force his way onto the field. Like after what they saw last year from J.K. dobbins who started out good but then sputtered out Gus Edwards, I think they're going to see o' Marian Hampton shot out of a cannon and be yeah, I think we're going to continue to use this guy as our bell cow. So for me it's Omarion Hampton. But I'll admit I thought about Trey McBride here. I think that the elite quarterbacks in this round are also just the safest picks that you can make. You want to go Lamar, Josh Allen and not try to take a risk on a running back or receiver. I think that's totally fine as well. So this was a round that I struggled with, but based on my build here, where I went wide receiver, wide receiver, I wanted to get a rookie running back. So I went with Hampton there.
- [16:06]
A
There also are a lot of running backs in this round three and round four. And you, you have a guy in round four that I really like too that I would maybe even consider in round three. There's a lot of running backs in what is historically the RB dead zone that I am just buying into. Like I don't care about what history says about running backs in this range. I like a lot of the guys here. Hampton, like I hope you're right because I love the player. Like he was so good at North Carolina. I have him on like a campus to Canton league team. So I've been watching him closely for a while. A great player and the idea of the fit is so strong. But just because Greg Rowan likes to run the ball doesn't mean he likes to have a bell cow. Historically, he does not give too many carries to any one individual running back and I don't know if Hampton will be the guy to break that streak. Now the fact that Najee is dealing with the eye stuff helps Omarion Hampton in that regard, but the offensive line takes a hit without Slater, I'm not sure what kind of bellcat usage there's going to be. Greg Roman offenses typically don't throw to the running back a lot, so I don't know how many passes passes he's going to catch. So there's just enough for me to say like in the third round. That's too aggressive for my blood. I like the player, I like the idea of the fit and I would be really thrilled to be proven wrong. But I'm just looking elsewhere in this round. Erickson Now, Tom, you do pick one of these elite quarterbacks here instead of looking at running back or receiver.
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C
Yeah, I mean, it would have been very easy for me to pick our guy, Lamar, but like I thought, I'm.
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A
A little insulted you didn't, honestly, given that you and I are on the show together.
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C
We do have a habit of staying away from Ravens when we're both on the show, but I went with Jane Daniels and it's more because I think that there's still some meat left on the bone there. I think that he can still ascend to another level. Like, there's only three quarterbacks who across the course of their career average over 50 Russian yards per game. It is Lamar, Justin Fields and Jaden Daniels. Now, obviously Jayden Daniels has done that on a much smaller sample size for Lamar and even Justin Fields, but last year he led the league in yards per attempt on froze outside the pocket, which was something I wasn't expecting to see from him. It just showed a level of calmness that I didn't necessarily expect to see because, look, I got things wrong last year on Jayden Daniels. Not to the point where I wasn't drafting him, but I was out there cutting up all these videos of him getting absolutely sandwiched by linebackers and taking these monstrous big hits. And I just thought this guy is not going to survive. And then you see him in the NFL under pressure and just looking so incredibly calm and so good with it that I think that he really, well, he proved me wrong and he proved a lot of doubters wrong. And now you throw in Deebo Samuel. Yes, there was that moment where it was like, oh look at fat Debo who can't run very fast and everybody had a great time for a couple of weeks on the Internet, but now he seems good. Like we saw only a snippet of him in preseason, but he looked like he had some burst to him. And Jayne Daniels, this kind of goes back to the Brock Bowers point about touch touchdowns. He didn't get there last year on touchdowns. It was only six Russian touchdowns, which isn't an unsustainable amount there. Like the numbers that Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts get every year where you're talking double digits. It's easy to make arguments year on year that those numbers might regress even though they don't. But Jayne Daniels did it with just rushing the ball at reasonable rates, six Russian touchdowns and passing the ball really damn well. And now he gets Deebo Samuel as an upgrade. I would really like to see Terry McLaren out there soon but but it's just so hard to ignore that only Lamar Jackson had more top 12 weekly finish than Jaden Daniels 12 last year.
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A
I so for me, if I'm taking a tier one quarterback and I agree that Daniels belongs in tier one, I'm not trying to make the point that people should be fading him in general. I would just rather reach a little earlier and get the guys who have done it multiple years in Allen and Lamar. Or I would rather wait a half round or a round and take Jalen Hurts because they didn't get rid of the tush push right? Like he's still going to be his usual self. Like we've only seen it once for Daniels and the other guys are so strong around him in this tier. Like I would take him well ahead of like Joe Burrow for example, but of that elite 4 he is the one I am targeting least because I would rather wait and get Hurts or I'd rather reach and say like Alan and Lamar are just a different kind of animal when it comes to fantasy production and just get one of them. Erickson, I'm curious, when you approach an elite quarterback build, is Daniel somebody that you're getting?
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I think that I kind of agree with what you said where I kind of just pay a little bit more to get Lamar, Josh Allen or wait to get hurts a little bit because he seems to always kind of fall into that round four territory and it's just about this Tara McLaurin thing right? Like the guy's still not there and he was their number one wide receiver. So how. I mean, look, we've been proven wrong. But before this guys have lost their number one receivers. Patrick Bohems lost Terry Kill and threw for 5,000 yards the next year. Josh Allen lost all of his receivers. Last year didn't matter. He won the MVP. So maybe we're reading too much into the McLaren thing, but I would feel much better about taking my elite quarterback in round three if his number one wide receiver was actually on the field and not getting ramped up for week one. So that's my only hesitance on Jane Daniels.
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C
They'll sort it out, they'll figure it out. They've got to get it done before the season. It's just not. They can't treat Terry McLaren like that.
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A
By the way, I want to highlight something so Marion Hanton, if you look at the rankings that mentioned at the top of the show, is more of like a mid 4th round pick. The reason Ericsson has him in round 3 is because he's basing his off of real time ADP which is this really awesome feature that fantasy pros added literally earlier this week. It is brand new. ADP is like a bit of a lagging indicator in terms of like there's a lot of noise built in from earlier drafts on in the season. So guys like a Marian Hampton who have a lot of helium, guys like Bill Crosby, Merritt who might come up later, those guys, their ADP that you might look at on a pre existing sheet is not going to be reflective of where they're actually going in drafts. Omarion Hampton in real time ADP is RB13 right smack in the middle of the third round. So I wanted to highlight that difference between the rankings and, and where these guys are actually going in drafts. I also want to highlight DraftKings. Get in the game. Best ball is live at DraftKings. $15 million is on the line with real stakes and real, real excitement. Best ball is the biggest fantasy contest at DraftKings. We're talking a 15 million dollar guaranteed prize pool with two millionaires being crowned for first and second place play season long Fantasy football the Draft Kings way. With best ball, there's no waiver wires and no roster management. You get bigger rosters so injuries won't end your season. Just draft your team and you're set. If a shot at winning a share of $15 million isn't enough to get you excited, check this out. DraftKings is offering everyone a draft one get one special. Your $20 entry fee scores you a bonus ticket. Download the DraftKings app and use code fantasy pros. That's code fantasy pros for all customers who enter the NFL Best Ball $15 million millionaire contest to get a bonus ticket and get a shot at being crowned one of two millionaires only on DraftKings gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York, call 877-8-HOPE&WY or text HOPE&WHY at 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org 18 and over in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. One per customer. Enter the Best Ball 15 million headliner contest by 9425 to get one bonus entry. $20 entry fee required. Reward expires in 30 days.
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Also, everybody who's listening to that should also listen to Erickson and Tom, who draft best ball stuff all the time and it's available on our audio feeds and on video as well. So be sure to check out those streams that they've been doing for how many months at this point it's been going on for you guys are drafted a lot of teams together.
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C
A lot of teams.
- [25:57]
A
Let's go to round four here. Erickson, I know I didn't agree with you in round three. We're back to our round one and two love because this is my favorite pick in round four you could possibly make.
- [26:06]
B
Well, I did open round three saying that it was the toughest round for me to pick a player. So I Homer Hampton's probably not my most confident pick, but here I feel much more confident and it's Kenneth Walker as my pick in round four. I just think the upside case for him in this Clint Kubiak offense is a top five fantasy running back we saw last year. Alvin Kamara was number one in expected fantasy points per game in this Clint Kubiak offensive scheme. And I know that Zach Charbonnet has looked pretty good. I still think that he's going to be just the backup to Ken Walker. I think that he has will have opportunities if Walker misses time to smash as that backup in full Dalvin Cook, Alexander Madison fashion. I think that's what this is and Kubiak was with Minnesota during that Dalvin Cook, Alexander Madison during those heydays and they had one guy that was the bell cow and then when he missed time they had someone else be the bell cow. So that's what I think it's going to be like with Ken Walker and he's been out. He's following the script of what McDonald has talked about in terms of their resting him, making sure that he's maintenance and he's ready to go for week one for the season because once he's ready and out there playing, I think that he's going to be their bell cow. He showed last year the pass catching chops that we were waiting to see if he still had bet on guys that are explosive, that catch passes and favorable offensive schemes. And that is Ken Walker to a T. So he showed no signs last year besides the injury and the guy's a missed tackle, broken tackle machine. That's all he does. So if he stays healthy, he's going to be a top five fantasy running back. I'm very convinced of that. And we're making bets about Christian McCaffrey. What if he stays healthy? Devon Hin, what if he stays healthy? Well, Ken Walker is available around 4. I think he has a ton of upside. So that's who I'm circling as my running back, one of the guys I'm drafting.
- [27:44]
A
Yeah. Tom, I'm curious what you think about Walker because like if you guaranteed me health, I'd say like Erickson. But yeah, this dude's top six running back in fantasy for sure. But he's not going in the top six. That the health risk which to me is the only risk. I am not overly concerned about Charbonnet. The health is the only risk and that is baked it. He's RB15 in real time ADP and he's closer to moving down. He's very close to RB16 and 17. There's a gap between RB14 and RB15. Like he is not in that range. I don't agree with that. Like I'm very happy to take him there if he gets to the fourth round. I am taking him 100% of the time because the upside is a guy that produces like a first round pick.
- [28:24]
C
Yeah, I think the kind of the knock on him has always been that we haven't really seen as much of a receiving role. But I don't think it's because he can't do it. I just think it's like Zach Shabnay is probably a little bit better so why not split that workload. And as Ericsson kind of touched on briefly, like all offseason, everything the Seahawks have done have made us convinced that this is going to be a ground and pound offense. They've, you know, got rid of DK Metcalf, moved on from Tyler Lockett, they moved on from Gino and taken a cheaper option in Sam. Well, sorry, a younger option in Sam Darnold, but I would say not necessarily as good a passer of a ball. And it all just feels like they're doing this as a big reaction to Ryan Grubb, who was the offensive coordinator last year. There seemed to be a few occasions where Mike McDonald seemed annoyed that they hadn't run the ball more in games, particularly against the Giants. Was one that stands out that reports suggested he was particularly annoyed about. So I'm very much in on Kenneth Walker. I like both these Seahawks, Seahawks running backs at costs, I take either of them.
- [29:24]
A
I promise that I want to disagree with Erickson more. I'm looking ahead at some of his picks. I'm like he really did lay out like my perfect, perfect draft, which is kind of discouraging and I should say scary to me. Tom, who's your Pick in round four?
- [29:40]
C
It's Devonte Adams, wide receiver 18 overall and I would have taken him in wide in round three. To be honest, I feel really good about him. I just think that he is the perfect kind of piece to not only unlock Pukinakua, unlock Matthew Stafford again, but unlock this Rams offense. Last year it felt like they had to rely on the ground game perhaps a little bit more than they like. And what Devonte Adams brings is the fact that he can get open whereas Cooper cup just couldn't get open. Last year Devonte Adams ranked 58th in ESPN's Open Score metric compared to Kupp who ranked 108th out of 116 qualifying wide receivers. Last year, Adams like it was obviously a slow start to the season, but once he got out of Vegas he averaged 2.2 yards per outrun, 76.6 yards per game even with like the ghost of Adam Aaron Rodgers. And I think the Rams need somebody like Devonte Adams who has been a red zone threat for years because Pukinakua on 266 targets across the last two years has nine receiving touchdowns which is just that's inefficient and like I'm not putting all of the blame on Pukinakua, but you need somebody who can be a reliable red zone weapon and I think Devonte Adams can be that and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he hit double digit touchdowns this year.
- [30:52]
A
You're not worried about Stafford's back? I guess. I mean if you're saying that you would even take Devonte as high as round three.
- [30:59]
C
Yeah, I mean the fact that he's out there Now, I mean, we've got a good couple of weeks. Matthew Stafford is one of those guys who's been banged up for his whole career, hasn't he? Like, it just felt like the whole time he was in Detroit he was constantly dealing with stuff. It's not the first time that we've done this kind of thing with Matthew Stafford. And when the games start being played, unless it's really drastic, then I'm okay taking that risk. And I think that it's a significant upside swing.
- [31:23]
A
He has an argument as like the toughest player in football. He plays through a lot for sure. Round 5. Erickson. Make me happy again.
- [31:32]
B
McMillan wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. I just think that he's being drafted closer to his floor than his ceiling, which I mean, he could be a fantasy wide receiver one this year. That would not surprise me at all. Just based on what we've seen from Dave Canales offense over the last two seasons, the wide receiver one in his offense just absolutely eats. We've seen it with Adam Thielen be really productive even with Bryce Young struggling at times over the last two seasons. So I just love this opportunity for Tetron McMillan. They went out, drafted him inside the top 10. And you just look at the average production of a wide receiver drafted in the top 10 over the last four seasons. Eighty catches, over 1,000 yards, just shy of six and a half touchdowns. That's fantasy wide receiver to production. So that's where you're getting catcher McMillan. But then you get all this potential upside based on the talent, the fit. If Bryce Young takes a step forward in year three as a quarterback and the Carolina Panthers again, the defense is still bad. Like yes, it can't be worse than it was last year. But I don't think the Panthers are in a situation well, oh yeah, we'll just run the ball in the second half will be great. I just think that it's all kind of set up for Tetra McMillan, who I just think has been undervalued, underspoken and under talked about in this draft class because he's not Travis Hunter, because he wasn't taking second overall because he doesn't play defense. But hey, it's not going to matter because against the Jaguars he's going to get the face Travis Hunter, who's going to be playing defense and he's going to catch touchdown. It's going to be a lot of fun.
- [32:51]
A
I, I anybody who's been listening to show this summer has heard my Spiel about Tedro McMillan a lot so apologies if you've heard this before, but this time of year we get a lot of listeners that weren't listening early in the summer. So I'm going to do it again. I think he's not as good a player as Malik Nabors, but I think the best comp is Malik Neighbors in terms of where he was going last year and where he'll be going a year from now. This is the cheapest that Tedro McMillan will be available in fantasy drafts in his entire career, at least for the next, you know, eight to ten years. Like, I, I feel really strongly that, you know, again, top 10 receivers tend to be really good, especially in the current era. He is the clear number one in this offense. He's in a offense, you know, designed by a play caller who can take advantage of a clear number one. And the other thing is Bryce Young doesn't need to take a step forward compared to what he was in the second half of last year. He just needs to be what he was in the second half of last year. And that is more than good enough to support an elite talent, which I think Tetaroa McMillan is. I think a year from now. This guy's like an early second round pick at worst. Like, I genuinely believe that. I just think he's really, really good. And the offense, the situation is so good and the defense is bad. Like they're going to need to throw a lot. So he is one of my favorite picks you could possibly make. I don't understand why he's available in round five. I don't understand why his real time ADP is wide rece 26, like not even inside the top 24. For, for me, he's inside the top 20, probably inside the top 18. Honestly, like, I want to be aggressive. I want to be over my skis on Teteroa McMillan because I think he will work out for it. He is somebody that I want to come away with in every single draft. Especially if his, his capital state, you know, his, you know, cost stays where it is right now. And now, Tom, I know I keep talking of Ericsson's picks. I do really like your pick here as well.
- [34:29]
C
Well, I mean, I've got to point out Ericsson beat me to the show sheet and there's definitely a lot of crossover and players I would have chose, including Tetrao. But yeah, Xavier Worthy. I just think that it's all setting up to be another good season for Xavier Worthy. Now Rashi Rice is going to serve a suspension at some point. That is TBC but it seems hard to imagine it's going to be less than what, five games at a bare minimum. And by that point you're talking it's been a good run of games where Xavier Worthy has been able to integrate himself into the offense we know down the stage stretch last year, but he really came along. He averaged 15.6 PPR points from week 11 which was good for wide receiver 19 across that time. The one area where you can put sort of like pull holes in the process last year was that he only had three receptions on passes of 20 plus yards last year. They really try to get that going. He was targeted on 17 of them and ranked 61st among wide receivers with 10 deep targets in catchable target rate. So Mahomes wasn't able to get in the ball deep downfield. But Mahomes has talked extensively about being better in the deep game this year. So if a couple of those two, three turn into touchdowns, it's very easy to see Xavier Worthy paying off like that. It's easy to see him having a really good run of games where Rashi Rice is out and he becomes a volume hog. And I think at this cost we still seem to be getting a discount based on the fact that we don't know how many games Rashi Rice is suspended for. So I'd be very comfortable taking him here and I'd be comfortable pushing him even a couple of picks higher among wide receivers.
- [35:59]
A
Erickson, I want to go to round six and this is maybe the name that I've heard you say on the show that since we have started doing shows together most often I think it's Jaylen Waddle.
- [36:11]
B
Round six Jam the Waddle every single time. Jonah Smith is gone. Terry Kill may not be on this roster by the time week four, week five rolls around and Devon Hn is already banged up like this is all they got left is Jalen Waddle. As the focal point of this office. They have no choice but to feature Jalen Waddle unlike last year where they just totally forgot about him. So Waddle to me, yes, I know that last year and even the year before that, just not exactly what we wanted to get from him. But I just can't Forget the first two years that he did in the NFL where he was I believe top 10 and then top 13 three 1000 yard seasons start his career. He's shown that he can win in multiple ways whether it be a ton of volume as a rookie or high end efficiency years two and three. So I'm just not willing to write off Jalen Waddle as this guy is not a talented player. He's 26 years old. I think that if we're expecting Tyreek Hill, which I do, to take a step back or if the Dolphins decide to move on from him because clearly the chemistry with Tua is not there. There's no chemistry issues with Jaylen Waddle and Tua. Like these guys have been playing together since Alabama. So that's what I'm banking on. If this defense is horrible, they have a major question marks in their secondary, they're playing in shootouts. I think Waddle is going to be the main benefactor and I think that his cost and value is just going to increase as the season goes on. So Jalen Waddle, for me, this, maybe this is my last year backing Jaylen Water.
- [37:34]
A
I was gonna say like at a certain point, you know you need to.
- [37:37]
B
But I'm gonna go down with the ship because I've done this before where I've hopped off the bandwagon too early or I was too early on a player. Cortland Sutton comes to mind after he's had a couple of really great seasons after I went too aggressive on him earlier in my fantasy analyst career. So I'm trying to learn from that. And yeah, I'm not backing off Jalen Waddle yet.
- [37:54]
A
Waddle is a sneaky Kyle Pitts all star. Like how many times do you go back to this well and keep getting, you know, burned by it? We'll see. I do like the pick. I like Round six I think is a. It's a very good, good pick. To me this is actually probably the single round where I liked outside of the early rounds where you like everybody. I think this is the round where your guys's picks like I don't know that I could pick between them. I really like both of them. I think they're both very, very strong and pretty like dead even in my eyes in terms of where they should be ranked. So Tom, you have Calvin Ridley here and why do you like him?
- [38:26]
C
Yeah, I mean much like Ericsson, Kevin Ridley's been my guy all offseason. I think he's just been undervalued compared away should be. There's only seven teams who have the wide receiver one drafted later that than Calvin Ridley right now. And I don't think that reflects how good of a player Calvin Ridley is. Last year will Levis absolutely killed his fancy value among wide receivers with 50 plus targets. Last year, Kelvin Ridley ranked 78th in catchable target rate. That was out of 85 players like the ball was just it was coming his way but it wasn't particularly useful. But when he did have the ball, he ranked 15th in missed tackles forced, 8th in yards per reception. Camp reports have been positive about Camward all summer. It looks like the offensive line is going to be better. And Ridley, he's been over a thousand yards in each of his last three healthy seasons, including last year with Will Levis. I just can't imagine that he's not more productive this year when his main source of competition is Elikayamana, Tyler Lockett and Chigozi McConquo.
- [39:21]
A
Yeah, like he's still he's wide receiver 30 in real time ADP by the way, Waddle is wide receiver 29 in real time ADP so they're back to back at the position. But I'm just like, like he should be in the 20s. Like I'd rather have him than Zay Flowers. I'd rather have him than Jameson Williams. I might rather have him than Cortland Sutton. I'd rather have him than DK Metcalf. I just like I don't it should not be in the 30s. His His ADP of amongst people are.
- [39:44]
B
Afraid of the week one matchup. They know the sharp plays. Don't draft him. Trade.
- [39:49]
A
Trade for him after week one. Yeah, he will be a value this season assuming health like I I'm extremely confident on that. Weekly Draft Fantasy Football is here welcome to Draft Battle the only fantasy football platform where the draft is king. What's the best fantasy football? The draft. So why do we only do it at the beginning of the season? At Draft Battle you can enter Snake draft contests every week all season long. You heard that right. Draft Battle contests last one week only and have no season long commitment. No salary caps, better odds, eight teams per contest with the best ball format which means no roster management plus super flex scoring and weekly payouts injuries derail your season long league will stay in the game all season long with Draft Battle high stakes Weekly Draft Fantasy Football use promo code fantasypros or visit DraftBattle.com fantasypros and receive $5 in bonus cash towards your first contest. That's DraftBattle.com fantasypros or redeem promo code fantasypros in your account page. Bonus cash is non withdrawable only available in select states. Visit draftbattle.com for details. All right, let's go to round seven here. Erickson. Another good pick by you. Ricky Piersol. Talk us through it.
- [41:06]
B
Yeah. San Francisco 49ers. I think he's going to be the number one wide receiver on this team, at least out of the gates. Look, showed out at the end of last year, week 17 and 18 and this 49ers team just needs wide receiver. Bodies out there, everybody is banged up. Rand Nyuk is not going to return until at least week six. We know Javon Jennings is dealing with a calf and contract injury dispute. Deebo Samuel is no longer on the roster. Now on the Commanders. So Ricky Pierceall again. We see a lot of receivers take a step going from year one to year two. And I can't get it out of my mind where in 2023, the talk of 49ers training camp was Brandon Ayuk. Oh my God, Brandon Ayuk. He's gonna break out. He's gonna smash. And that's exactly what he did. He was an absolute monster. And this year the talk of training camp out for the 49ers has been Ricky Piersol. So the fact that he's actually had a full offseason where he's not recovering from a gunshot wound, he's not a rookie anymore. He's more familiar with Brock Purdy actually getting reps with his quarterback. I think that matters so much and why I like buying into Pierce Saw here in round seven is I don't have any concerns about his quarterback. I know Brock Purdy can support offensive receivers in this Kyle Shanahan scheme. I have no issues with that. So getting someone that's attached to Brock Purdy in round seven. As a former first round pick from just one season ago, I think Ricky Piersol is just one of the easiest clicks that you can make.
- [42:25]
A
We Erickson, we did the segment on Fantasy Fest which if anybody missed, they should go and check out. It's still available on YouTube. You can go rewatch, you know, pick and choose whichever segments you want. Out of the several hours we were streaming, we did a segment with Andy Barrons and he picked Pure Saw as his favorite wide receiver. Breakout. I think he said he had him. Correct me if I'm misremembering inside his top 24 receivers. Is that. Isn't that what he said?
- [42:45]
B
Yeah, he had him very aggressive.
- [42:47]
A
Yeah.
- [42:47]
B
I think that he was in the conversation of do I want DJ Moore or do I want to Ricky Piercel. So that's where he was at with Piersol. Just. But I mean if he is the 49ers wide receiver, one goes at week one, sees 10 targets, he's going to be ranked. I mean it's in the top 20.
- [43:02]
A
It's like Calvin Ridley where it's like the ADP is just raw, like he's just flat out wrong. He's wide receiver 35 in real time, ADP going in the 80s and that's jumped up a lot. He's moved up 14 spots in the overall ADP inside the last week, but that's not high enough, Tom no, it's not.
- [43:17]
C
And like last year was so abbreviated for him because of a gunshot and all that went into it. And obviously the Niners just weren't particularly great last year. But in the nine games he played, he had 28 receptions for 376 yards. If he'd held that pace across the entire season, he'd have pushed Marvin Harrison for the fourth most receiving yards among rookies. He was on track for a good season. It just, you know, didn't work out. And I think that yes, you could point holes slightly and say maybe he didn't earn targets at as higher level as we might have liked across some of the games early on. But look, I'm not going to pull holes in anything to do with Ricky Pearsall. He was a former round one pick for the Niners and they've been pretty good at drafting wide receivers.
- [44:02]
A
Who's your guy in this round and would you have considered Pierce all here if he wasn't already taken by Erickson?
- [44:06]
C
Yeah, I mean it's probably not. It's not an easy one for me, but I like both Pearsall and Juwan Jennings so if I can leave drafts with either of those, I tend to be happy, but I don't have a massive lean to one or the other. My guy is Jalen Warren, RB 29 in real time ADP and somebody that spent a lot of time talking about last year. And I've been surprised at how many people were on board for Jalen Warren Express last year and have completely jumped off and it's slowly starting to take hold again now. But look, Naji Harris averaged 319 carries per year in his time in Pittsburgh. Last year he had 250. Now Jalen Warren's never had more than 150, but he said this off season that he focused on training differently to be ready for more carries. We know that Caleb Johnson is doing awful in pass protection, so it seems like there's a chance for Jalen Warren to really not necessarily become a bell cow or VRB1 consistently for the entire season. But if he's able to average more touches per game, then we know that he can be explosive. We know he can be fantasy relevant. He's averaged 51 receptions per year in his three years in the NFL. Now Breeze hall just at 57 with Aaron Rodgers last year. Aaron Jones in Rogers last healthy season in Green Bay had 59. So I think he's going to be bolstered by receptions. And I just think when you're talking about a player this late in the the draft, it's very easy buying what Jaylen Warren brings.
- [45:31]
A
Erickson, what do you think about Warren in round seven?
- [45:34]
B
I think it's fair value there. I think that he's a bet on early season production while Caleb Johnson gets up to speed. But I'm just, I'm in love with the Caleb Johnson fit and Arthur Smith's offense. So I'm not as concerned about the pass protection in the long term because they didn't draft him to go out there on pass pro and catch pass out of the backfield. They drafted him so he could be the hammer in the second half to win games 107 or 1710 in the AFC North. Like that's why they drafted Caleb Johnson. So I agree that Jalen Warren probably goes too late based on the value can offer, especially in full PPR where he's going to catch passes from Aaron Rodgers. And when I draft Caleb Johnson, I'm looking at Jalen Warren too because I can acknowledge I may not be able to start Caleb Johnson out of the gates and I might have to rely on Warren until Caleb Johnson gets caught up to speed. But I still think that the upside play for the rest of the season is Caleb Johnson. But I do see Warren as a value where he goes.
- [46:25]
A
It's interesting to me that they're only two spots apart in real time ADP at the position, but they're 14 spots, just 14 and a half spots apart in terms of the overall real time adp. So even though they're very close amongst the RB rankings, people are taking Caleb Johnson, you know, around ish a round plus earlier than than Jalen Warren despite, you know, the level of uncertainty there. Let's go to round eight. Eric, this is another round where I love both of your picks. By the way. I want more dis disagreement here but you guys made good picks and it's. It's bothering me.
- [46:55]
B
Sorry, did you want me come on here and make. These are all the my best picks that are actually terrible.
- [46:59]
A
I want. I wanted your hottest takes that were terrible.
- [47:01]
B
I just.
- [47:02]
A
Yeah.
- [47:03]
B
Spoiler for next week. Next week is gonna be the worst picks of every round.
- [47:06]
A
Yeah, yeah. Next week. Yeah, it's the first take episode where we just make stupid arguments for me.
- [47:12]
C
And Ericson on Monday where we talk about our highest exposed basketball players.
- [47:16]
A
Oh yeah, that'll be, that'll be a fun.
- [47:17]
B
What do we regret right before the season even started? You're my exposures. So for, for me, round eight. And I think too, just to be transparent, I think with round eight, I think this is where you can start to reach a little bit and just get your guys. It's kind of, this is where the beginning of my guys list kind of starts. And that's going to be with Jordan Mason, running back for the Minnesota Vikings. I, I think that I've been on the Mason train. I think ever since he landed in Minnesota, I just always assumed like, yeah, he's going to have a big role in this offense. He's going to be the early down grinder. He's going to see red zone opportunities. And I think the Vikings showed what they did in the offseason by improving the interior offensive line. They want to play a little bit more bully ball with a younger, more inexperienced quarterback. Let J.J. mcCarthy get accustomed to the offense, let him come back from the injury a little bit slowly. Don't have him, don't put everything on his shoulders right away and have to drop back the throw 45 times per game. You have two talented running backs there. I don't think that Aaron Jones is dust by any means, but in terms of offering a lot of value from a touchdown perspective, especially in half ppr, Jordan Mason is going to have some big weeks behind this Vikings offensive line. So for me, he's an auto pick. Every time I'm drafting, I'm always looking for late round running backs and Jordan Mason is usually the first guy that I'm looking for.
- [48:29]
A
I really like I said I like this one a lot. He feels like, like he's, he's obviously way more than a handcuff. You think of as like a backup. Like there's a world where he's just flat out more productive than Aaron Jones and in a world where Aaron Jones gets hurt or anything, he becomes like a weekly top 10 running back. So I, I really, really like this pick. Strongly favor of it. Nothing to add here, Tommy. You can add to it if you want or you can go to your player.
- [48:52]
C
Yeah, I mean forced missed tackles at the sixth highest rate among running backs last year. And he was also really good on zone concept runs, some of which the Vikings do a lot of. So it's an easy pick for me. And look, another easy pick for me in this range was a Mecha Red Buka. Somebody like I'd be willing to pull ahead of this. I half expected, I refreshed the Real Time ADP just before we came on and he'd only moved from wide receiver 37 to wide receiver 36. I will be pulling a Mechareg Buka much higher than that. So if you're in my home league, please do not listen to this. But like, it's just a reminder and not sweat landing spots. Year after year, we get to the draft and people like, oh, I loved that player but now I can't draft him because I don't feel good about this. But now we're short of a good clean run for a Mecha Buka to start the season. Jalen McMillan sadly heading to Irga. Sprained neck could be out as long as like week 10 or so. Some reports saying Chris Godwin, that injury is nasty that he had last year. Dislocated and fractured ankle. They're not putting him on IR to start the season, but he's unlikely to practice even till week two. And now we're talking about an incredibly talented wide receiver who has the potential to go in and be the slot receiver from day one. Playing on a team which we know can pass the ball well with Baker Mayfield, like, this one just seems really easy and I would definitely be willing to put him like I moved him up to my wide receiver 30 yesterday. So I'd take him six spots ahead of this.
- [50:11]
A
Yeah. You know, Ibuko is really interesting. Erickson, I'm curious where you have him ranked because I feel like, like being in the mid-30s, there are so many just talented receivers in football that it's hard for me to say, like, these are the names that he should be moving ahead of specifically, but I just feel like he should be moving up like 10 spots. Like, like it would not shock me in the slightest given what's going on in that receiver room. If He's a top 24 receiver this year, I'm not going to rank him that way because I don't know who I would move down because again, there's a lot of good options, but I just really think that is in his range of outcomes. And it's a great point by Tom about not sweating, you know, the landing spots and everything. This is a player we all really liked. He got middle of the first round draft capital. Like even setting a side landing spot. That's great news for somebody like him. He's somebody that everybody's really confident is just a capable, going to be a very good NFL receiver for a long time. He gets a gunslinger and Baker, like this is an offense that has thrown the ball. I mean, it's a new play caller, so we'll see. But there's just a lot to really like here. And what I'm really curious about Ericsson, the Real Time ADP is where it is right now. I'm curious what it's going to look like after this weekend. Because this is our second to last weekend of drafts. We have even more news, you know, about Jalen McMillan and Chris Godwin. So it's. It started to move a bit already. He's jumped up about nine spots in the last week. I think this weekend this might jump up even more. Maybe not amongst the receiver ranking, but the overall ranking. I think it will.
- [51:34]
B
I think he's gonna move up both categories. I think that he's, you know, someone that someone was asking me about and I think that was a decision me and Tom had to make. Was Piersol vs Egbuca on the DraftKings best ball draft that we did a couple days ago and now this was before we got more information about McMillan and Chris Godwin and they're not going to be there. And definitely for the first month we know McMillan's going to miss at least half of the season. So at the time it was already kind of close. But now is Agmuka now going ahead of Pearsall in round seven? I mean, if you want. If I saw him go ahead of Jalen Waddle, am I like surprised by that? I don't think so. I mean, right now they're both number two wide receivers for week one on their respective teams. I think that the Piersol comparison is the best because they're both going to have to fend off guys coming back from injuries at a later point down the year. So where Egbuca was at first a bet on, okay, he's going to be more productive in the second half of the season. Evans God, when these guys are older, they get banged up and now it's okay, well, he needs to hit right away or else we're now more concerned about, well, Chris Godwin's coming back and Igbuka still hasn't fired yet like we thought he would. Now are we getting concerned about him? And the same thing with Piercel. Like Pearsall has to fire right away because I don't think it's just going to get easier for him if Jennings is back now. Oh, and now Brandon Ayuk is back in the line. They're trying to get him back and going. So it's kind of weird because it's kind of flipped. It flipped on its head a little bit in terms of we like rookie receivers to produce in the second half of seasons, but Egbuca now has the path to produce right away and is he ready for it. But I mean with all the training camp reports, his profile, it seems like he's going to probably hit the ground.
- [53:03]
A
Running the names immediately ahead of him besides Pierce hall, who is the one spot ahead of him on real time? Adp, Roma, Dunes A Chris Olave, Rashid Rice, Travis Hunter. I would take a buko over all four of those guys right now.
- [53:14]
C
That's what I mean.
- [53:15]
B
Seems like a pretty clean sweep.
- [53:16]
A
Yeah, yeah, I, I might even again we always talk about me fading Zay Flowers on the channel. I might say I would probably take a book over Flowers. Honestly, I just think the ceiling's higher and I think they both have similar floors. Honestly, like I just think IBUCA is really good and you don't have to take him that early. Although again, I want to see what the real ADP does and everybody should be checking that out after this weekend. If you have a draft the following weekend to kind of see what it looks like updated. But I think he's a screaming value right now. Let's go to round nine. Erickson, who do you have for us?
- [53:45]
B
My favorite late round tight end, Tucker Kraft. I think that he could be a top five titan when we're drafting next year. He's a yards after the Caster Monster and a lot of the packers receivers are banged up. I think that he could step up and be the alpha in this packers passing game. And I think that Tucker Kraft, I think Jordan Love overall is just being underrated as a quarterback. That can fuel fantasy success. I mean, two years ago in 2023, in his first year as a starter, he threw for over 30 touchdowns and 4,200 passing yards. If he's healthy, look out for Tucker crowd. Look out for this packers passing offense.
- [54:17]
A
Seriously, There are only two tight ends within a 35 pick range in real time. ADP in this range that craft is in. It's craft and Tyler Warren. If I don't get one of the elite tight ends this year, which is kind of my preference and then maybe I take like I do think Andrews is a little undervalued, but if I'm not getting one of those guys, I'm really sure about when one of Craft or Warren goes, I'm taking the other. Like I think they are both really excellent picks.
- [54:44]
B
Tucker Craft's the only reason I don't have more.
- [54:46]
A
Tyler1 yeah, they go four spots apart in real time. ADP Warren's moved up a lot to kind of catch up there. But again, like in Joku is way ahead of Craft in real time. ADP Ferguson is way behind Warren. Like these two are kind of back to back in their own little little pocket. If one of them goes, I'm just immediately taking the other if I don't have an elite tight end already. So I really like that one. Tom, I know that you really like Kraft. We're going to get to why you like him later. Who is your pick in round nine?
- [55:12]
C
Yeah, it's Justin Fields. And look, I'm not sure he's ever cracked the mental side of the game in the same way that guys who took the league like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts have as they've developed. But then he's not had the stability that they've had. This is for a different team now. Last year it felt like he was really done dirty by the Steelers, like they were playing to an okay standard, but it just seemed Mike Tomlin being Mike Tomlin, we know how incredibly headstrong he can be when he's made up his mind. He had it in his head he wanted Russell Wilson to be the starter. So Russell Wilson was the starter. Now, in those six games that Fields played, he averaged 38 Russian yards per game. He averages 50.2 across his career. Since the Detroit Lions bye week in 2022, they've allowed a player to reach 100 plus rushing yards against them just six times in 46 games. And three of those six games were just in Fields. And Aaron Glenn was the defensive coordinator for all of those games. Now obviously the camp reports haven't been great. The stuff in the preseason hasn't been great. But we don't really need Justin Fields to be great like that because in 2022 he completed 12.8 passes per game for Bears and he was still QB5 in points per game. So yeah, I think that at this point, if you're looking for a massive upside swing at quarterback Justin Fields, it's hard to go past him.
- [56:29]
A
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- [58:31]
B
Skies out, thighs out baby.
- [58:33]
A
Skies out, thighs out. Round 10 Erickson, who do you have?
- [58:38]
B
The only reason I'm not higher on Justin Fields is because I want Drake May. That's who I want as my quarterback in round 10. I think that he is the elite combination of what you're looking for in a late round quarterback. He offers the rushing upside 30 rushing yards per game last season and I think that he has a higher ceiling as a passer than Justin Fields does. Again what we saw last year, he threw one touchdown pass in every single game that he fully completed last season and he was in a garbage situation. Now it's not great in terms of relative to other NFL teams, but compared to the 2024 New England Patriots oh, it's night and day difference for Drake May so throwing the ball to Fton Chisholm Stefan Diggs how can you not be obsessed with Drake May as the best late round Corvette you can draft? And I think that gives me so much confidence in Drake. May is week one, Week two Raiders Dolphins, two matchups that I feel confident that he can win in. So you're feeling good about not just drafting Drake May late but also plugging him into your Week 1 lineup?
- [59:38]
A
I believe we agreed it's effed in hism not Chisholm so please get that right. Show some respect to our breakout favorite of the summer. Yeah, Drake makes QB15. That's like crept up a bit throughout the off season. He is my favorite late late round qb. Like yeah, we've talked a ton about him. Ericsson Tom, where does May rank for you amongst the late round QB options? Because there is a lot of depth here. You already mentioned Fields in the previous round, Caleb Williams, CJ Stroud, Jordan Love, JJ McCarthy, Trevor Lawrence, Michael Penix Jr. Bryce Young. All I think really reasonable values who are all going after May. So there's a lot of good names here but May is my favorite. Like if I had to pick one guy outside the top 10 to finish as QB1 overall this season, I'm not saying I would bet on it, but he would be my pick.
- [60:22]
C
Yeah, there's two paths to consistently being a top end quarterback in fantasy. It's either passing for 2.7 touchdowns and average in like 240 passing yards or more or it's rushing for about 35 Russian yards per game. Like consistently. You go back over years and you look at the majority of the players who make up the weekly high scorers or the guys at the end of the season and they come down to one of those factors by a rate of about 60% and Drake mate is going to give us the Russian yards. He's got significant other upgrades as pass catcher this year and yeah, it's very hard for me not to click Drake May if I don't have a quarterback by the time I get to him.
- [61:01]
A
Tom, who is your Pick in round.
- [61:03]
C
10, it's Zach Charbonnet. So you know, I kept my bit my tongue earlier whilst Andrew was singing Kenneth Walker's praise. But like Charbonnet at cost at RB35, four games last year where he touched ball 15 or more times. In three of those he finished as a top eight running back. That included scores of 18 points, 25 and 38 points. Like he is a really good player. And it's just one of those situations like Tyler Algier where you just get stuck behind perhaps just a slightly better running back or a much better running back in case of algier be ranked 12th in yards per target among running backs at the fourth highest catch rate as well. And I think that's something that Sam Donald's gonna love. Like Sam Darnold gave Aaron Jones 59 targets last year and I think he's going to be checking down to Chardonnay plenty. And we know the contingent upside with Charbonnet is about as high as any backup running back in the league.
- [61:52]
A
We're into our rounds 11 to 15. This is going to be more rapid fire and I think because we're running long, what I actually want to do is have you guys do these guys as a group for each of your picks here. The exception is because I think we do need to talk about Ericsson's first pick here. Just given what has been going on in the last week in terms of the helium this guy has in the space. I'll pull up his real time ADP to see what it is right now. But Erickson, who is your pick in round 11 and then we'll speed through all the others.
- [62:17]
B
Bill Crosby, Merritt, running back for the Washington commanders. So maybe, maybe you've heard of him.
- [62:23]
A
I don't know, maybe you've seen a highlight here or there. Some, some tweets about him. He is, he's RB41 in real time ADP that has jumped up in the last week, 27 spots. So there's still more to go. I don't think he's going to end there, but it's obviously moved up a ton already.
- [62:38]
B
Yeah, I just think that the play on him, I think the upside case for him is pretty clear. Just he could take over that Brian Robinson maybe get a little bit more and be the more explosive version, which is why the commanders think that Brian Robinson is expendable. And right now he's still on the commanders, but all indications are if he's not traded, he's getting cut from this team. So somebody in this commander's backfield showed out enough during training camp in all indications where it was Bill that was doing it, that made the team look and see Brian Robinson and say we don't need this guy on the team. And Brian Robinson again, we talked about him throughout the off season. He's an average running back. He's not terrible, but he's an average running back. And they saw something in Bill where this guy can be more than average. And I want to buy into that upside again. There's obviously risk involved, but as long as you're not drafting him in round five or getting out of control, I think that round eight is probably the most aggressive. I would push him up because that's kind of where Brian Robinson was going. And if he is in that role then I think he can pay off that Round 8 ADP while working in tandem with an Austin Eckler. So I think it's a matter of just trying to play the ADP game with your Cory Crosky merit. Try to get him on your roster, find out where he is going using the real time adp. This is why this app was made like why this tool exists so that you can have an edge and understand where crossy merit is being valued to your specific platform. Trying to figure out okay, when can I pull the trigger on him and don't feel like I'm overextending. So I don't know if round eight is too rich for you guys. I feel like that's probably where I push him up the most.
- [64:02]
A
But I was going to ask Tom what's the right round?
- [64:05]
C
Yeah, well, so like I said, I had Matthew Berry on with me yesterday and being a Commanders fan, the first thing I had to ask him was about Bill and he said that the feel he gets from sources he knows with the team and we all know that Matthew Berry knows a lot of people around the league is that they really love Chris Rodriguez as well and that they're gonna really be okay if this is a three headed committee. So I think that Chris Rodriguez later in drafts in deeper leagues is definitely, definitely worth it. But I'd absolutely be fine taking Krosky Merritt in this kind of range. And I have taken him in a bunch of drafts over the last few days in this kind of like round 11 to 12 range.
- [64:43]
A
All right, Erickson, speed through your rounds 12 through 15 that you're interested in.
- [64:47]
B
Yeah. So round 12 is Bishell Toot running back for the Jaguars. Round 13 is Braylon Allen running back for the New York Jets. Round 14 Marvin Mims Wide receiver for the Denver Broncos with a full time role now Devon Bailey season is over. Marvin Mims is about to take over the world and round 15 my bet on a fifth year wide receiver breakout. The annual tradition like no other. Josh Palmer, wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills.
- [65:13]
A
Tom, run through your rounds 11 through 15.
- [65:15]
C
Yeah, so I got Colston Loveland, Austin Eckler, then Tyler Algier, Cam Ward, and have I missed one one Dale Robinson.
- [65:26]
A
This month. If you want a chance to win a signed AJ Brown Eagles salute to service helmet for free courtesy of our friends@pristineauction.com all you have to do is subscribe to The Fantasy Pros YouTube channel right now, drop a comment below on any video and that is it. We will be announcing a winner right here on the channel. So make sure to turn on those notifications so you can know when new videos are up and to claim your prize. Guys, last question here. If you could leave with one player from every single draft at cost, you know where they're going, who would it be? Tom, I'll let you go first because Erickson stole this guy from you in the, in the main part of the show.
- [66:00]
C
Yeah. And it's a good job that we've drafted him a whole boatload on our best ball Drafts. Every Monday, 4pm Eastern on Twitch. Tucker Craft like just such a good player and I can't understand why he's going outside the top 12 tight ends like he was a lead in yards after the catch last year. Year he had 9.38. No other tight end had more than seven. He also got there in touchdowns with seven. The only guys who had more touchdowns than him were George kittle who had eight and Mark Andrews had 10. He's shown us everything we need to see and I think if the packers lean more pass heavy, which feels like something they want to do now, we've added Matthew golden, their first round one wide receiver in 20 plus years, then Tucker Craft is absolutely going to benefit as well.
- [66:40]
A
Erickson, obviously you like Kraft a lot because you picked him there, but who is your number one player you want to leave every draft with?
- [66:46]
B
So can I steal one from Tom? Can I just pick Jamar Chase? No, no, no, no, no. Because you only get Jamar Chase. You have the 1011 out of 12 chance. So for me it's obvious. Drake bang strap Drake May. Guys, fantasy football doesn't have to be hard strap Drake.
- [67:00]
A
Man, I know we're talking about this from a snake draft perspective and you're making a joke about Chase. Would it be somebody like Chase if the, if this was a salary cap draft where you're like, you can choose to spend your, I mean it's a lot of money to spend of your draft budget, but would it be somebody like Chase like I just want to get the best player in fantasy or would it still be like, like I'd rather get like a two dollar Drake May or something.
- [67:21]
B
I think I still just want Jamar Chase. I just think that he has, he has the situation where yes, we don't see a lot of wide receiver ones repeat but I mean his situation a lot of that's because there's always things that are changing, right? Like quarterback injuries and offensive coordinator changes and head coaches. But there's nothing different about the Bengals than last year except their defense might be worse. Like that's the thing, the defense might be worse. So yeah, just continue to draft Jamar Chase and just be happy. Yeah, there you go.
- [67:51]
A
When you're on the clock, these decisions come fast. Draft Assistant connects directly to your draft and provides both real time pick suggestions and estimations on which players might get taken before your next pick. Draft Assistant fully integrates your custom cheat sheets and suggest picks based on your rankings, team build, ADP and other factors dominate your draft in real time without the guesswork with Draft Assistant a fan fantasypros.com assistant or on the Fantasy Football Draft wizard app. Try it for free during your draft by claiming your three day trial of fantasy pros premium@fantasypros.com premium. Guys, we got through a whole lot of names. I didn't count them all but it was a bunch of them on that episode. Thanks everybody for tuning in. No, it would have been like 32.
- [68:30]
B
Yeah, it was 30 because we caught we copied names. 31.
- [68:34]
A
We we also definitely named, we threw out other names like in the process of discussing asking it like who we would take these guys over. Like Zay Flowers wasn't picked but we mentioned him a couple times so he was alive.
- [68:43]
B
Two Ravens fans. Of course we're going to talk about Zay Flowers.
- [68:47]
A
It was a lot of names. Shout out, shout out to the chubby.
- [68:50]
B
We talked about, say Flowers, even though no one's targeting, including us.
- [68:55]
A
All right, we'll go ahead and get out of out of here on that for Tom and Erickson. Thanks everybody for tuning in. We'll see you again next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple podcasts@fantasypros.com review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and TikTok Antasypros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros Every business has an ambition. PayPal Open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide. And your customer customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo, pay later and all major cards so you can focus on scaling up when it's time to get growing. There's one platform for all business PayPal open grow today at paypalopen.com loans subject to approval in available locations.
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B
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A
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B
A retiree on a cross country drive?
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C
Someone with new long term goals?
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A student getting their start with over 450 ETFs.
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B
IShares gives you access to countless market opportunities.
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IShares by BlackRock the market is yours.
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Visit www.ishares.com Viewer Perspectives, which includes investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other information that you should read and consider carefully before investing. Risk includes principal laws.
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A
Prepared by BlackRock Investments, LLC.
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B
Member Finraw.
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A
This is an iHeart podcast.