FantasyPros - The Extra Point: Expert League Draft Breakdown, Keeper Discussions, and Chat Q&A (Ep. 1656)

Summary

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The Herd with Colin Cowherd (FantasyPros Extra Point): "Expert League Draft Breakdown, Keeper Discussions, and Chat Q&A"

Episode 1656 | August 17, 2025
Hosts: Chris Welsh & Andrew Erickson

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Episode Overview

This action-packed episode is a live Discord recording of FantasyPros’ Extra Point, with Chris Welsh and Andrew Erickson leading a community-driven breakdown of expert fantasy football drafts, the latest on keeper discussions, running back news, and an extended Q&A with listeners. The show is all about preparing for the upcoming fantasy season, sharing deep insights on strategy, and crowd-sourcing draft dilemmas—just as real league drafts get underway.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Expert League Draft Breakdown

[02:40 - 12:10]

• Welsh breaks down his FLEX League draft, a 14-team half-PPR industry league. Key takeaways:

  • Roster Construction:
    • QBs: Justin Fields, Dak Prescott
    • RBs: Breece Hall, RJ Harvey, Brian Robinson, Garendo Giddens, Nick Chubb
    • WRs: Justin Jefferson, Travis Hunter, Jaxon Smith-Njigba (JSN), Emeka Egbuka, Jalen Coker
    • WR/TE Flex: Jake Ferguson
  • Welsh notes: “I really wanted Jameer Gibbs bad. Did not happen.” [04:08]
  • On team’s dynasty/upsides flavor: “It’s a little dynasty-ish with Harvey, Hunter, and Egbuka, but it’s also upside in the industry league with some other core players. Like, it’s okay. I’m not in love with the team.” [07:17]

• Erickson’s feedback:

  • Contextualizes the difficulty of 14-team leagues: “It’s always like, wow, this team sucks. But then you have to step back—there’s going to be holes, because it’s a 14-team league.” [06:12]
  • On punting TE: “If you don’t have to have one on your team, just don’t draft one and just do the other positions.” [07:47]

• Draft software tip:

  • Welsh lauds the Draft Wizard dashboard: “Even after your draft is done, you can check out analytics on your team, waivers, the trade stuff, and get insights up the wazoo.” [09:30]

• Draft oddities:

  • Notable picks: Jalen Waddle went in Round 2 (by Joe Dolan), prompting discussion on strategic overreaches.
    • “Dolan did. He had the number one overall pick and he took Waddle with the last pick in the second round.” [11:38]
  • Industry rumors fuel speculation: “Tyreek Hill trade to the Chiefs already drawn up—Jaylen Waddle to the moon.” [11:51]

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2. Listener Keeper & Running Back Questions

[13:10 - 29:54]

A. Judkins/Sampson/Ford Conundrum

• Live Q&A on Browns RB situation given Judkins' legal uncertainty.
• Erickson: “If Judkins is coming back sooner rather than later, that definitely throws some cold water on Sampson… the Browns offense, I’m not exactly sure there will be a league-winning RB emerging if it’s a bottom-10 scoring unit… I wouldn’t rule Sampson out completely, but the fact that Ford is still involved makes it less clear.” [13:51]
• Draft position analysis for Judkins, Sampson, and Ford in Welsh’s league: Judkins = late 6th, Ford = late 10th, Sampson = 11th round (160s overall). [17:01-17:43]
• Consensus: Sampson is once again a value for late drafts, especially with Cleveland’s RB room in flux.

B. Keeper Dilemma: Rashi Rice or Mike Evans?

[20:27 - 26:52]

• Listener is choosing between keeping Rashi Rice (7th round cost) or Mike Evans (3rd) in a 10-man Superflex, TE premium league.
• Erickson: “The Rice price is palatable… If he’s healthy and playing for a certain amount of weeks, he should be able to return that… Evans is the safer pick. I would just embrace the risk with Rice personally just for round seven, but if you want to lock in the points, Evans is the pick.” [21:51]
• Welsh: “You’re inheriting a team. Goff and Kittle aren’t the best keepers; you might be in a rebuilding year, so having Rice for cheap as a long-term keeper makes sense.” [23:12]
• Discussion on Rice’s likely suspension and his long-term keeper appeal; expectation is 2026 could be his breakout.
  • “I do think 2026 will be the year where Rice actually does live up to all of the hype.” – Erickson [24:15]

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3. Dynasty and Redraft Trade Analysis

[34:01-37:17]

• Caller considers a blockbuster dynasty deal:

  • TRADE: Ja’Marr Chase, Hockenson, 2027 first
  • GET: Brock Bowers, Drake London, Garrett Wilson

• Welsh: “It’s a very fair trade… you’re getting WRs that could easily be top-5 and the best TE in there, which is a huge upgrade.” [37:17]

• Erickson: “I think that’s enough…Bowers could be the TE1 for the next 10 years… you know Garrett Wilson is good… you could see the London/Penix connection take off.” [36:43]

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4. Drafting/Ranking Top RBs: Fading Saquon?

[38:26 - 46:35]

• Discord user asks why, despite general skepticism, Saquon Barkley is still a consensus top-3 RB and where Erickson would draft him.
• Erickson: “I’d take him at the back of the first round, but he’s never going to be there… I have him as RB5. I’d take him over Malik Nabers.” [39:52, 41:21]
• Welsh: Clarifies positional ranking: “So 11 or 12 is truly the spot where you are comfortable taking Saquon?” [41:40]
• Follow-up: Concerns that Christian McCaffrey could be this year’s cautionary veteran RB pick.
  • “With him it’s always tied to injury. So I guess the answer’s gotta be yes. If he’s not hurt, he could be this year’s Saquon.” – Welsh [43:07]

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5. Rookie RB Class and Draft Strategy

[43:30 - 48:50]

• Erickson pivots to the 2025 rookie class:
  • “Last year, veteran RBs smashed because the rookie class was poor. This year’s class is better, and I think that’s going to be the story of the season.” [45:27]
  • “If I’m projecting out, I think the RB1 next year could be Ashton Jeanty, Gibbs, or Bijan—not Barkley or McCaffrey.” [45:43]
• Deep dive on undervalued/upside veterans like Kenneth Walker in new, run-heavy systems.
  • “This is the first time Ken Walker is playing in a run-first offense that wants to feature him.” [47:04]

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6. Lightning Round: Rookie Rankings & Start/Sit/Draft Questions

[50:46 - 56:55]

• Judkins rookie ranking: Erickson sees him likely back at “the end of the tier” after RBs like Hampton, Henderson, Harvey, “probably in that Burden/Higgins tier.” [51:08]
• Ashton Jeanty or Achane as a hero RB in full PPR? Both are “good options,” but lean Achane. [52:06]
• Puka Nacua vs. other top talents: “I believe in the talent… yes, the Stafford thing is concerning, but Jimmy Garoppolo is competent enough to get the ball to Puka.” – Erickson [52:49]
• Breakfast burrito sauce tangent: Salsa, not cheese, is the consensus.
• If Tyreek Hill returns to the Chiefs, what happens to Xavier Worthy?: “It would just make it a fantasy mess, to be honest.” – Erickson [54:33]
• Tet McMillan draft round expectations: Target late Round 4 in 12-teamers; expect his value to rise quickly. “I think he’s gonna be consensus top 20 by week two.” [55:46]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “If you don’t have to have [a tight end] on your team, just don’t draft one and just do the other positions.”
  — Andrew Erickson, [07:47]
• “Dolan did. He had the number one overall pick and he took Waddle with the last pick in the second round.”
  — Chris Welsh, [11:38]
• “I would embrace the risk with Rice personally just for round seven.… Upside wins championships and Rice has a ton of upside, especially for a round seven keeper.”
  — Andrew Erickson, [21:51]
• “I do think 2026 will be the year where Rice actually does kind of live up to all of the hype, per se.”
  — Andrew Erickson, [24:15]
• “Can McCaffrey be it [this year’s Barkley]? Absolutely… If McCaffrey’s healthy, absolutely can be. But his cost is rising more than Barclays is.”
  — Chris Welsh, [46:35]
• “This rookie running back class is going to be the story of this season.”
  — Andrew Erickson, [45:27]
• “I'm a menace on defense... that's where I get a lot of stuff done.”
  — Chris Welsh on playing Madden, [33:10]

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Notable Timestamps

• 02:40: FLEX League Draft breakdown and construction discussion
• 09:30: Draft Wizard/draft tools tips post-draft
• 13:10: Listener Q&A begins — keeping Sampson/Judkins, Browns’ RB mess
• 20:27: Keeper dilemma: Rashi Rice vs. Mike Evans in value context
• 24:15: Rice suspension/keeper long-term outlook
• 34:01: Blockbuster dynasty trade—Chase for Bowers & youth
• 38:26: Advanced RB strategy—Should you still take Barkley or McCaffrey high?
• 43:30: The rookie RB class vs. the veteran RB fade
• 50:46: Lightning round (Judkins’ rookie ranking, Puka, Jeanty v. Achane, sauce debate, McMillan value)
• 55:46: Tet McMillan round expectation and breakout talk

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Tone & Community Vibe

• Language/Tone: Conversational, humorous, occasionally irreverent, always candid and loaded with first-hand strategy insights.
• Listener engagement: Strong theme of communal learning, live Q&A, and Discord chat interplay.
• Pacing: Fast-moving, strongly content-driven, with virtually no filler or off-topic drift during content sections.

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Conclusion

This episode is a masterclass in timely draft preparation and nuanced strategy for both redraft and dynasty fantasy football leagues, especially as the NFL season approaches. Welsh and Erickson combine elite, applied analytical takes with interactive listener problem-solving, making the episode a can't-miss primer for serious fantasy players facing draft-day dilemmas.

For next-level preparation, recap their takeaways on RB volatility, rookie upside, and draft tool wizardry, and be ready to zig when the industry zags—whether it’s on Saquon Barkley, Rashi Rice, or Tet McMillan.

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Transcript

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[Chris Welsh]

What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros Extra Point, the live Discord podcast. I'm Chris Welsh. We got Andrew Erickson in the house and we are live on the Fantasy Pros Discord. As mentioned, with a studio audience where people can raise their hand, they can be on the podcast, they can become super, super famous. And you can as well by joining up on the Fantasy Pros Discord. Join the community [e-mail] chat chat with other fans, get access to exclusive AMAs that can wind up on our podcast feed. We got a little schedule for you. We got Boggs and Fitz at 5pm Eastern every Tuesday through the end of August, Worm and Fitz at 5pm Eastern on the first Tuesday of every month, and Mr. Andrew Erickson and myself, 2pm Eastern on Thursdays. Except this week when we didn't and we did it a day later. But we still got you and we'll let you know ahead of time. Check out all the amazing stuff, the cool people, the community, and be a part of the [e-mail] chat where this room is free. You just got to have a free FP account. That's all that you got to do. But there are some locked premium things. Like last week was you want to get into the mock draft rooms. Those are premium. Just sign up on the premium. But if not, don't worry, we got some free offerings. Check out the links and do it today. Andrew Erickson, missed you, my friend. How are we?

[Andrew Erickson]

I'm doing good, man. Doing good. We are just under three weeks away from NFL kickoff. I believe it's 20 days away from the Eagles kicking things off. So I'm, I'm super excited, man. And I'm just trying to. It kind of seems like right now is the time where everyone's trying to get out their final takes there. Okay, these are my guys for this year. These are the final busts. So just kind of what is it crossing the T's.in the eyes on everything. Your perfect draft strategy. That's what I'm trying to do. Updating everything in the draft kit to make sure that. Because I know that are going to get people start drafting as soon as this weekend, as early as this weekend. So I want to make sure that I'm available, everything's updated, the rankings are good to go and that you're ready to what do they say, dominate your league in 2025? Welsh.

[Chris Welsh]

Well, and also it is like real draft time. I know there's crazies obviously, like you know, best balls and stuff like that have been going on. But the real drafts are starting to go on. You next week have got your flex league. I just completed my flex league. Our dear friend Jake Seeley industry leagues. I got some ringers in mine. Would you like to hear the team real quick to see how it went? Okay. And then we can reference this too, by the way, because there's some stuff. By the way, what an unsatisfactory. Sure. What was that? You're like, sure. Like let's hear some.

[Andrew Erickson]

Well, I mean do the people want to hear Welsh's team? I mean it was good. I mean you. Because when you came on first you said I don't love the team but that's what I want to hear.

[Chris Welsh]

That's the point. We're going to see if people are going to tell me they're going to be like, oh, this is. This sucks, you did a bad job or this is a good team. But also there is two applicable pieces. The Rishi Rice stuff and the Judkins news came out before this. Rice is man can be interpreted both ways. You know, with the he's going to play the four games. I think some people are out there speculating that, you know, it could happen way, way later in the season. Some people know or expect that it's going to happen mid So I think the valuations prime example was our fantasy pro Slack channel of talking about it. But also Judkins, you know, now with him not having any legal recourse we have to wait what the NFL is going to do and it might not be anything and he definitely went higher. So we can talk about that. All right, so here's a team real quick. I drafted five wanted Jameer Gibbs bad. Did not happen. This is the flex league. 2 running back, 3 wide receiver. A flex and then a wide receiver tight end flex. You don't have to start tight ends in this league. Single quarterback like Joe Dolan was in there. Steve Gardner, Jody Smith, just a bunch of, bunch of people, just ringers. So my team, my two quarterbacks, I'm not going to give you by round. I'll just give you the team construction. I took Justin Fields and Dak Prescott. That's pretty chalk for me. Running backs Breeze Hall, RJ Harvey, Brian Robinson and that's one of the flexes. And then on the bench I got Garendo Giddens and Chubb. My wide receivers, Justin Jefferson, Travis Hunter, Jackson Smith and Jigba Egbuca. And then I got Jalen Coker. And then I also did take Jake Ferguson as like a wide receiver, tight end spot. So Jefferson fell to me at 5. The league kind of balances quarterbacks out a little bit more. I really wanted Lamar and I screwed up not taking him in the second round for jsn. Had a couple other spots where I just got really sniped to hell. But Breece Hall, Harvey Jefferson, JSN Hunter, that's the core built around some upside plays like Buka, you know, I took Justin Fields. What do you think about the construction in a 14 team? Half PPR with even touchdowns for passing quarterbacks and normal touchdowns. What do you think?

[Andrew Erickson]

Sorry, did you say this was super flexible?

[Chris Welsh]

No, this is single quarterback.

[Andrew Erickson]

Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay.

[Chris Welsh]

Now I was the one and I was the one that went multiple teams went to quarterback, but I went quicker to quarterback in taking Fields and then taking Dak Prescott to have two bigger options, which is kind of if I don't get the higher end quarterback. That's what I'm looking to do here. I'm looking to have two guys that I can interchange and it's 14 team leagues. I think people forget, like it's more scarcity at quarterback. So I wanted to make sure I had two important guys in a deeper league.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, it's, it's always interesting because I think that for the majority of the time when we're looking at leagues and teams, we're kind of entering with like a 12 team mindset. Like we know what like on paper a 12 team roster looks like and then what a 10 team Ross looks like and then a 14 team roster, what that looks like. And it's always like, wow, this team sucks. But then you have to like, oh wait, step back, there's going to be holes because it's a 14 team league. So I think that's a really good point to bring up. So I like, let's see. I'm just trying to think back to the important parts that I remember about the roster. So you said Travis Hunter was your wide receiver. Two.

[Chris Welsh]

Three. No, he's three. I have. I, I listed him as three. It's a. Jeff.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah. So my draft order essentially went. I went Jefferson, jsn, third round, Breeze hall, fourth round, RJ Harvey, fifth round, Travis Hunter, sixth round, Egbuca. That was like my top six. So four wideouts, two running backs.

[Andrew Erickson]

I like the construction pretty well.

[Chris Welsh]

It's a little dynasty ish with like Harvey, Hunter and Egbuca, but it's also upside in the industry league with some other core players. Like, it's okay. I'm not, I'm not in love with the team.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah. Who is your starting tight end, did you say?

[Chris Welsh]

Well, we don't have to have a starting tight end in this league. It's a wide receiver tight end. So essentially Egbuka is my wide receiver slash, tight end flex.

[Andrew Erickson]

Okay, well, because you did you. Is Ferguson the only tight end you actually have?

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I just took him at the end because wide receivers are really kind of crappy. So. Yeah, a little stack there.

[Andrew Erickson]

I get that. So I think that was probably smart. Just a punting. I, I really think that when, if, if they don't force you to draft a tight end, I. Then you shouldn't draft one. Yeah, I'm always kind of like, if you don't have to have one on your team, just don't draft one and just do the other positions. Like we just see it. I mean, those other positions, the best receivers usually outscore the best wide receiver or the best tight ends. And the reason that we draft tight ends sometimes earlier is because of the positional advantage. But in this case, in this league, there is no positional advantage because there's no tight end slot. So I, I do agree with you basically punting off the tight end position because I think that's always a question people run into, oh, like Bowers is falling or McBride is falling. But you don't have to start a tight end. And there's a reason why those guys don't score as many points as some of the running backs and receivers that go in their range. So it's something that you have to kind of readjust. So, I mean, I don't think the team's that.

[Chris Welsh]

That bad.

[Andrew Erickson]

I, I'm definitely cooling on Breeze Hall. I don't know, man. I think that he's the archetype of player that you do want to bet on. Contract year, running back, explosive catches, passes. But then his specific situation. I just, I don't know, man. The jets just like come out every single, every single time. Aaron Glenn talks, he's, he just talks about IH money's committee. It's just like he's obsessed with using these running back by committees. And we'll see what happens when week one comes around. The Braylon Allen hype train seems to gain steam every single time or every single, every single week. Every single report that we get from Braylon Allen. And not to say that Breeze hall is bad. I don't think that he's bad. Again, I like him betting on him. I do think though like and I don't know if you had to make this decision but I've thought About Breece hall vs. Ken Walker A lot and I'm like firmly on like the Ken Walker side of things.

[Chris Welsh]

I'm pretty firmly on the Breeze side but I know, I know what you're going. And Ken Walker was gone I believe when I, when I ended up taking him. I know what you're going with but I love the touchdown equity that's still going on. Fields absolutely loves him. I'm, I'm a war now. I'm worried about Braylon Allen taking some of that short yardage stuff but I also think Breece is going to be spread out a lot more. Here's a really cool feature can kind of let you guys know about which is awesome as well. When I was doing this I was not able to be at a, you know, a computer so I could have the draft assistant going on. But something that's kind of forgotten about is you can be done with your league and that doesn't mean you have to be done with the draft wizard because you can go because we've talked about like at nauseum in the best ways by the way. The draft assistant mock draft lobbies draft intel telling you about your league. But I have insights up the wazoo once I synced my league and you can go to your dashboard and I can just tell you right now I'm given a 62% chance to make the playoffs. Projected numbers by the way, way better on here too than what this is done on Sleeper. What Sleeper was giving me as far as projected points in the week with a 58% potential for winning in the first week. And I was given a projected 8 and 6 record being top five in the league. So that's a pretty cool thing. So you know, going in and checking the dashboard, even if your draft is done, you, you can go and check out from waivers to top available. You can use the trade stuff that's in there. And you can just get some analytics on your own team. So go and do that. Sync up your leagues today. I'm taking a look here. It's actually making me feel a little bit better about my team since I wasn't able to do that. We can also, as we go here, because I don't want to take everybody else's time here because we've got an audience with hands raised. But if anyone is curious as we go, feel free because we can take a look at where Judkins went. Uh, we can also take a look at any of the oddity. We had some stuff. We had some crazy stuff that happened in this league. Jalen Waddle went in the second round, which was a. Which was a really big one by a very prominent person.

[Andrew Erickson]

Judd, who did that? Who did that? Who took Waddle?

[Chris Welsh]

Dolan. Dolan did. He had the very. He had the number one overall pick.

[Andrew Erickson]

Dolan knows.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, he had the number one overall pick and he took Waddle with the last pick in the second round, which.

[Andrew Erickson]

Dolan probably knows that. The Tyree Kill trade of the Chiefs has already been drawn up. It's going to happen. The Rice thing, dude, it just. It makes all sense now, right? Rice is going to be gone for the majority of the season. They're going to need someone for the playoffs. They trade for Tyreek Hill at the trade deadline. It's Jalen Waddle to the moon. And we're back. Yeah, Betting Jaylen Waddle overs.

[Chris Welsh]

Jayla. Just wait for the prop show for me. And Erickson. We're back with it. So I got my flex league. We can talk about any of those things and some of the references. I definitely do feel better now, actually looking because I had not been able to look at the insights of any of my stuff when we were going on, but makes me feel a little bit better about it because you can go to. There's the league analyzer, which is breaking it all down, which I'm looking at here. Projected standings. I'm in the playoffs, 8 and 6 record. It shows playoff odds. It's just championship odds, which is really, really cool. And I am projected to finish better than Joe Dolan. So that's all that I'm looking for. At the end of the day, that's all that anyone is really looking for is to finish higher than Joe Dolan, who. We did a killer show on the Fantasy Pros channel, so check that out soon. All right, we got a bunch of hands raised. Let's get to it. Stop talking about my team. And let's talk about your team. Up is who you keep this. You've kept this name, my friend. Who TF is Welsh on the line. What's up, brother?

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, man.

[Andrew Erickson]

So I'm in a slow draft and Joey P's black book league right now. I have the chance to take Samson, but I'm a little kind of put.

[Caller/Listener]

Off by doing that. Considering the Judkins news, is it still.

[Chris Welsh]

Worth grabbing him or no? Okay, that's a good question. You always sound like, right now you sound like tired Debro to me, but you always sound like a variant of Debro every time he's come on in the season, which always kills me. Someone's gonna love that. What do you think, Erickson? Are you still pro? Dylan Sampson, who's had some running with the ones we were briefly talking about, the Judkins thing, what's your take on Sampson now that Judkins is going to be back?

[Andrew Erickson]

I think it's probably cool a little bit. I think that the Sampson, the excitement around Sampson was okay. He can really establish himself to start the year and make it hard for the Browns to take him off the field, essentially. And even when Judkins comes back because Judkins as a second round pick, what does that mean? That means, okay, he's going to get opportunities in this offense, but if the Browns decide, well, we're already getting good production from our fourth round pick, we don't need, we don't have the need anymore to put Judkins onto the field. Now if he's going to be coming back sooner rather than later, I think that that definitely throws some cold water on Sampson. Also you have the Browns offense where I'm not exactly sure that there will be a league winning running back emerging from this team if It's a bottom 10 scoring unit. That's always a concern. Now with Joe Flacco kind of anything can happen, you know, if they're running fast paced. And the Browns offense at least last year wasn't like worst for fantasy football purposes just because they threw a ton. They were playing in shootouts and a lot of that had to do with Jameis Winston. But Joe Flacco does bring some of that type of Jameis Winston ability to some games that they're going to. And they also played the Bengals in week one, so that could be a game that could be pretty high scoring. I wouldn't rule Samson out completely off my draft board because I think that Judkins will still probably get suspended at some point and that's going to give Sampson more opportunities. But the fact that Jerome Ford has also still been involved in is kind of viewed as the main guy. I think that if you're playing for the back end, I'm not so sure that Samson will be the guy then, because I think that's when they could look at Judkins as an opportunity, when he does finally come back. So during those money weeks, I'm not necessarily. I'm not necessarily sold on the fact that it will be Samson be as the running back for the Browns. It could be Judkins. So I guess for me, it's a little bit more about roster construction. Right. If you were really hurting on some of this early season production, I think that Sampson is probably worth it a little bit more. So it's kind of counterintuitive where we usually bet on rookie running backs to hit in the second half of the season. So Judge or Samson could have that type of value as well. But I think that Judge kins potentially coming back does, you know, make that a harder bet to make. So if I do need early season production from running backs, I think that's probably what I would do.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, so let's play this game, then we'll just do it. Where do you think Judkins and where do you think Samson went in my flex draft last night?

[Andrew Erickson]

Just go by overall because I'm not going to try to guess the rounds because it's 14 teams, so it's going to get all messed up for me.

[Chris Welsh]

Oh, okay. Then I'll try to translate it because I was going to. I actually wanted to do rounds by the.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, I don't know. The rounds. That's fine.

[Chris Welsh]

So we can do the math.

[Andrew Erickson]

Okay. So for me, I would say that both guys probably went inside watchy. I don't know. I'm gonna say that. So let me guess. Did Judkins go first?

[Chris Welsh]

Well, just guess that. I don't want to tell you who went first.

[Andrew Erickson]

Well, I think Judkins went first.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, so you think junk. Okay, so keep going.

[Andrew Erickson]

Okay, so I'll say that Judkins went somewhere between like pick 70 and 80.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay. Okay.

[Andrew Erickson]

And then I'll say that Samson went, you know, around like 100, 110.

[Chris Welsh]

And then where do you think Jerome Ford fit in that mix?

[Andrew Erickson]

Probably like 1:30.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, so you're saying last.

[Andrew Erickson]

Last.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, so Judkins did go first.

[Andrew Erickson]

Okay.

[Chris Welsh]

And I think based on the math, you're right. Ish. He was the second to last pick in the sixth round. So he ended up being an RB2 for that team.

[Andrew Erickson]

That's aggressive.

[Chris Welsh]

Does it? Yeah. Sampson. Sampson went with the 10th pick in the 11th round in the 14 team. So that's like.

[Andrew Erickson]

So I was over 60.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, yeah. 160 range. Jerome Ford third to last pick in the 10th round. So Sampson was last in this. In this industry league. Ford went again. Trying to do the stupid math here is like 150 something. Sampson was like 160, 70. And Judkins was a top six round pick in that which probably makes him closer to a seventh or eighth round pick in a basic 12 team. But that's the translation math for you for Judkins versus Sampson. Okay.

[Andrew Erickson]

And I know that we're getting a question here too from who TF is Welsh. So he's asking in the chat when I draft Kyle Williams instead. And this kind of wanted to ask to like who else was on the board at the time he was drafting. I would still take Sampson over Kyle Williams. Kyle Williams is still a round three rookie wide receiver who is still working his way up the depth chart. And just I think that if Sampson hits, it'll probably be in a similar way that Kyle Williams hits. And I'd rather have that hit at running back than wide receiver. So I would still go with Samson. So I know I had a kind of long winded answer when we first opened up the. Because it. There's a lot of ambiguity with it. But I do think that Sampson is. He's a talented running back and I don't think that it's not nothing that the Browns took him in round four. Jerome Ford has been a replaceable level running back. He's fine as a stopgap, but he's not the future that the Browns are investing in. Remember, he took a pay cut to stay on the Browns. Right. So the Browns were like ready to move on from Jerome Ford pretty clearly then. Obviously this judge can stuff happen so. And yeah, still chance the judge can get suspended and that puts Sampson in the driver's seat to just, you know, get the coaches trust.

[Chris Welsh]

I think Sampson's a value at this point now. Like he was starting to move up to an uncomfortable level. Now we have a complete other direction correction. So I think he is someone you can take at the end of your drafts and you should just based off of the probabilities of the uncertainty at that running back position and what could happen to Judkins and the, you know what you said about Jerome Ford and Sampson have been running with the ones so that comfortability is Starting to build. So I think he is a. He's a really good bet at the end of drafts right now. Let's go talk to Jay. Jay, what up? What do you have for us here today.

[Andrew Erickson]

With the book? So what that is?

[Chris Welsh]

There we go. Yeah, it's like a book on your head. Yeah, it's like someone with a. You got to unmute the mic, though, Jay. I wish I could unmute for people, but. All right, you can re. Raise your hand. Going in three, two, one. Sold. J. Sold. But just raise your hand, figure out your thing and. All right, let's see you did it again. Let's see if we can get you. Oh, no, Jay, we're gonna put the book over your eyes. All right? You don't have it figured out, you come back when you have it figured out. Bryce.

[Andrew Erickson]

Or throw a question in the chat too.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, exactly. What's up, Bryce?

[Andrew Erickson]

Hey, guys.

[Caller/Listener]

How we doing?

[Chris Welsh]

Doing good, dude. What you got?

[Caller/Listener]

So I just inherited a team in a 10 man half PPR super flex with tight end premium scoring. We get three keepers, and I think I've figured out two of them. I got Jared Goff for my 11th round pick and Kittle for my fourth. I feel relatively good about those two. The last one is Rashi Rice in the seventh, and I don't. That's like the only other one that would make sense to keep. And I really just not sure how I feel about him.

[Chris Welsh]

You gotta. You gotta give us a couple. Even if it doesn't make sense. Like, like, if that's. That's the only one we're going to say.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yes.

[Chris Welsh]

Like, who would even be like, perceivably another option or two?

[Caller/Listener]

The only other person that I would. Other than the two I mentioned, the only other person that I would consider keeping is maybe Mike Evans, but I'd have to give up my third round for him.

[Andrew Erickson]

Okay.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay. So the question is. Is like, are we comfortable with keeping this is just. This has to turn into a Rice versus Evans question then, because what round.

[Caller/Listener]

Was Rice Rice would I give up? Round seven.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, seven. All right. So Evans, round three Rice, round seven with potential looming suspension. What do you think?

[Andrew Erickson]

I think that the rice price is palatable. I think if it was higher, I'd probably be more bearish on it around seven. I mean, if he's healthy on the field and playing for a certain amount of weeks, like, he should be able to return that. I think that Evans is definitely the safer pick. I think that. I mean, that's. I don't think that's really up for debate. Mike Evans basically goes in round three of most drafts anyway in a normal 12 team league. And I'm expecting him to. We talked about on the wide receiver tier show, I just said Mike Evans locked and loaded, wide receiver too. Really don't have any reservations. Yeah, he's a little bit older and they brought in some other guys like Buka. But Godwin still coming off the injury. McMillan up and down rookie season. We'll see how much he eats and do Mike Evans. We still got Baker Mayfield and you know, Mike Evans has weeks where he absolutely explodes. So I think it's a risk reward type of. You have to kind of weigh that and ask yourselves that question. I would just, I would embrace the risk with Rice personally just for round seven. I think it was more expensive. I'd probably shy away. But if you just want to lock in the points with Mike Evans and not deal with Rice, which is going to be, you know, probably a headache throughout the season. Also a chance that it could work out in your favor. It's swing for the swing for the fences with Rashi Rice, which I usually try to encourage people to do in fantasy. You know, upside wins championships and Rice has a ton of upside, especially for a round seven keeper.

[Chris Welsh]

Also, not to like be cold, watery about this, but like I'm going to get, I mean you are inheriting a team. I'm going to guess Jared Goff and George Kittle aren't exactly the best keepers that people are going to be keeping. So they're is a scenario where you might be stepping into a situation where your team isn't exactly built to win this year. So a having a guy like Rashid Rice, assuming you get to keep him for the following season is fantastic because you, you know, suspension would be gone and taking a guy at a lower cost for a team that might not be massively competitive. You want as many picks at the top as you can to try to hit on some, you know, to hit on some guys, you know. So like the third round to me doesn't make sense. Again, I'm not trying to say that this is definitely a rebuilding, not going to win team, but I'm going to guess it's probably in the lower because that's. He said it was a 10 team league, 10 team league and you're keeping Goff and Kittle. That's not the best. So give yourself as many opportunities to get great players later and keep Rice and Rice will be a great keeper the following season. You know, as long as all Is good.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, I do, I do think that Rice, when it comes to just like what his projection is this year, I know we never really talked about him specifically with his situation, but I do think it's going to be 2026 will be the year where Rice actually does kind of like live up to all of the hype, per se. I know I was getting kind of concerned about his ADP when it was rising. I think like a month or two ago before all of the. Before he thought he wasn't going to get suspended at all. And then Chef drops the bomb, he's going to get suspended and now he's not going to get suspended for the first four weeks. But now the concern maybe it's going to be a longer suspension, more to six to eight games. I was reading some reports that suggested that the NFL is getting tired of these speeding violations and they're going to try to set Rice as an example in terms of, okay, well we're not messing around going, you know, related to what happened with Henry Ruggs and that situation was obviously terrible and what happened with Rice, also a very terrible situation. So I think that they may try to lay down the hammer here with him and knock him for a significant five years.

[Chris Welsh]

Like five years probation. Like, yeah, it's severe enough that the NFL isn't just going to be like, you know, like Jordan Addison. That's why I have always believed whenever it was going to be it wasn't going to be four games, it's six to eight in my mind. And that's what worries me. So it's like everyone's like, oh, hey, I'm going to get Rashid Rice for the first four weeks. This is awesome. It's like, well, it's not if he's going to be then suspended for eight, you know, and then it's like, maybe you'll get him for the playoffs if you're lucky. It's like taking an injured player that's going to be out for two months.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah. When I, I posted a video about this for on The Fantasy Pros YouTube channel, just kind of talking about there is like a very fine best case scenario with him where it's plays the first four weeks, immediately gets suspended after that and then he's back for you during your playoff run. And then you also hope that, okay, he took some time off, he was able to kind of get back to where he was because you also have to remember he is coming off a season ending injury. Like that's another thing too that I think during training camp, it seemed like he was all fine, but then all the suspension. Cub kind of took over that discourse when it came to Rashi Rice. So yeah, a very confusing player overall. And I think you really need to weigh where he goes in your drafts. I think that there's an opportunity cost with him where it does make sense, but you kind of have to have a plan with him. It's actually interesting somebody recommended you draft Ricey Rice and Jordan Addison at the same time and you have Addison fill in once Rice gets suspended when he comes off of his suspension. So there are a couple ways where you can fill in that hole that Rice is going to leave on your roster if you do it in the correct way, if he falls significantly enough. But I would say Round seven, I think that that is a fair price.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to do that. I mean, maybe a bunch of suspended guys. Yeah, like a bunch of suspended. Like hey, by the way, I also took Chris Godwin. That was cool. And it's just like, nah, like I'm good with all of that.

[Andrew Erickson]

No, no, no. And I, I totally get that. It's, it's.

[Chris Welsh]

But you could do it at 4 and 5. Your wide receiver, 4 and 5. That makes it interesting if they were bench guys.

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[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, but. But it goes back to the point that I made, I think, a few minutes ago, where I think that the Rice season that we all want him to have statistically is probably going to happen in 2026, not this year, even if he does have flashes again. And you're hoping if you draft him, that it is during the fantasy postseason when he comes back. And the other thing I want to point out as well with Rice, because I think it's worth the discussion, is when you draft him, you're not going to be able to probably trade him, right? Because who's gonna like, well, it's like, who's gonna go approach you and be like, hey, I'll buy Rashi Rice? Me, Knowing he's gonna get suspended for like, eight games, and if they try to trade for him, it's going to be for nothing. So once you draft Rashi Rice, like, you're. You're kind of, like, locked in. I feel like. I don't know if you disagree with that, but that's something that I was also thinking about where you have to commit to. Okay, he's gonna be part of my draft plan and my draft team this year. And I totally understand if you decide. Yeah, no, this seems like a headache because, yeah, there's going to be hurdles you're going to have to overcome when you put them on your team.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, that's a you made your bed, you're going to lie in it situation. The only thing that's going to happen is, like, he plays four games, he gets suspended six. And then around, like, week eight or nine, some teams try to start coming around being like, hey, I'll get you Rishi Rice for you, and I'll eat a week or two. And it's like, no, thanks. Like, that's what it's going to end up looking like. So you make your bed, you lie in it. Friends, get ready for the ultimate fantasy football event. Fantasy Pros Fantasy Fest is back. Join us live on YouTube. Tuesday, August 19th at 2:00pm Eastern. For five hours of rankings sleepers. We got top experts like JJ Zacharias, Andy Barrons, and many, many more. You can catch me and Bogman as well. We're actually doing a test on this because when the five hour event is over. The event's not over. We're going to cap it off at the end with a mock draft but then we're moving over to Twitch for the after party. So that'll be at 7pm Eastern. Bogman and I are going to be battling it out with some Madden 26 live 7pm Eastern Twitch TV fantasypros. So really it's six plus hours of chaos. We're going to be talking fantasy while we are attempting to keep it PC while battling each other out. Bogman and I playing mad has never gone super well because we're very, very competitive. But we'll be hanging out with people. We might even get two games in. Talking fantasy. But five hours starting at 2pm Eastern August 19th. Make sure to put a pin in it. Go to our YouTube channel, YouTube.com fantasypros and make sure you got notifications on because we are going to be live for five ever. Ericsson's on there, Pat's on there. Piece of all the fantasy pros people are there plus a huge, huge, huge set of guests that are going to be joining us. So get your fantasy prep done right on Tuesday, August 19th for fantasy pros Fantasy Fest and then a little after party on our Twitch Twitch TV fantasypros. Very excited about that. Early. You've never seen us play early indications, Bogman or me. Who do you have in Madden?

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, Bachmann.

[Chris Welsh]

So it's fair because I, I probably haven't touched like a video game in a long time but I have bought, I've always had Bogman's number. I'm, I'm a, I'm a menace in Madden but I haven't played it in two years so just putting that out there. So this is like me coming out of retirement. This is like I'm coming out of retirement to get back out there, kick the field. But Bogman get your early vote.

[Andrew Erickson]

Is Bogman one of those Madden players where you just have to beat him once or twice and on a couple plays and then he starts to spiral because that's how I am. I'll be really, I'll be focused on trying to move the ball methodically down the field but the minute that I throw an interception or make a mistake it just becomes full out. Engage eight every single play on defense, four verts every single play on offense. I just get really frustrated and that's why I get really aggressive and that's why I start doing really dumb things.

[Chris Welsh]

You know, I would actually say that's probably closer to me, to be honest.

[Andrew Erickson]

Okay.

[Chris Welsh]

But I'm a menace on defense. That's the big problem. Like, I'm really difficult on defense.

[Andrew Erickson]

I hate defense and Madden.

[Chris Welsh]

So yeah, when you try to like everyone tries to do their same thing. They're like, okay, you know, you didn't get my wide receiver deep. Let me go. My tight end middle. Like, I'm good with linebacker coverage, so defense is where I get a lot of stuff done. Bachmann is more of a cool cucumber, but he, you know, he plays MLB the show. He's got more video games. Well, guess what, you guys can come and hang out. You can probably use like channel points to vote. We'll have some fun with it. We'll see who wins and maybe we'll do some more Madden content. But it's gonna be an awesome day of just nothing but fantasy stuff. So make sure you are locked in with all of us. All right, let's go to ribs and cheese Premium. Member on the fantasy pros Discord.

[Andrew Erickson]

Ribs and cheese.

[Chris Welsh]

What's up with the dog pictures? I always love the dog pictures but you do have to unmute your microphone. Psa. Unmute your microphones to everybody moving forward. But what's up? What's up? No, no, you're all good, dude.

[Caller/Listener]

So I've got a dynasty trade question, but it really acts more as a redraft question.

[Andrew Erickson]

Shoot.

[Caller/Listener]

So potential trade that I would be giving up tomorrow Chase, which is the big problem. Hang up. I'm having in the deal and trying to decide if it would be worth it. So it'd be giving up Chase Hawkinson and a 27 first which should be late since I'm contender. But the other side of the deal would be getting Brock Bowers, Drake London and Garrett Wilson. So I know Chase is pretty clear the 11 receiver this year. So kind of just trying to figure out how big of a drop from Chase to London. I know a lot of people are high on London, especially at fantasy pros this year as with his potential upside. So it's a 10 team league and half point tight end premium. So does that make it worth going to Brock Bowers to give up?

[Chris Welsh]

Only other question real quick, what is your other wide receiver depth?

[Caller/Listener]

It's really good. I have Nico, A.J. brown, Olave, Addison.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, all right. But okay, so this is interesting. I'm like him and Han here because that's a situation where he's already got demons at wide receiver and you're just going to add more depth of them? I mean, tight end premium. Are you willing to give up? You mean you're not like getting nothing back? You're getting London.

[Andrew Erickson]

I mean you're getting Brock.

[Chris Welsh]

No, no, I understand. I totally understand that. Like, are you willing to give up Chase to get those other two guys in pursuit of Brock Bowers when he has that type of wide receiver depth or no?

[Andrew Erickson]

I think so. I think that that's probably. I mean is Chase going to be the Triple Crown winner again this year? I mean maybe, maybe based on how that Bangles. I mean, I still think Chase can be the wide receiver one again. But I also do love Drake London. He's also 25 years old, still super young and if Michael Penix hits in a big way, well then the London Penix connection is going to be something that's happening every single year between these two guys. So you could see them taking that leap. Garrett Wilson has established a high floor. We're still waiting for him to potentially hit the ceiling with some quarterback. Maybe it's with Fields, maybe it's not. Maybe it's still another quarterback to me to be named later by. But you know that he's good. We know Gary Wilson is good and.

[Chris Welsh]

He'S got Nico and AJ Brown so like we got to assume ribs. Type in the comments. Can four wide receivers start? Is this like three wide receivers and a flex? That's pretty important here I think as well because not to be dismissive of it, but it's like if he's like, hey, it's two wide receivers and no flex, then it's like, I mean you're always going to not start one of those guys. It's really becoming about Chase for Bowers.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking too.

[Chris Welsh]

Two wide receiver, three flex. Okay, so you can start all those wide receivers then.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, I think that, I think that that's, I think that's enough. I know it's always tough to try to when you're thinking about trading Chase in any capacity because he's one of the highest, if not the number one dynasty asset, an individual player. But you're getting Brock Bowers in a tight end premium and Brock Bowers could be the tight end one for the next 10 years. And would that, would that shock you Welsh? No. I mean, no, definitely not. I think it's, that's you're getting back for Chase.

[Chris Welsh]

It's a very fair trade. It's a very fair trade and like you I personally, I'm always never the biggest fan of these, like, quantity for the quality. But this is one of those scenarios where it's not like the dudes like, hey, I'll give you Jaden Reed, Juwan Jennings, a second rounder, and Brock Bowers. I mean, still, Brock Bowers is great. He's giving you like, great stuff. Like you're getting wide receivers that could be easily top five and the best tight end in there, which is a huge upgrade. So, yeah, I think you can do it. It's tough to give up Chase, but I really do think you can do it. So, yeah, good question. Axel. Axel in the house. What you got, dude? With an unmuted microphone. Pretty please. There we go.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, Walsh, sounds like you got that user man on Madden.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, there's a little bit of a bogman will attest to it. I'm a menace with the user stick. So we'll see if that end up playing out. Who do you got, Bogman or me?

[Caller/Listener]

I got you, man.

[Andrew Erickson]

Come on.

[Chris Welsh]

My dude, My dude. All right, what do you. But what do you got here?

[Caller/Listener]

So it's clear that everyone's fading Saquon. So if that's the case, why is he still a top three running back? And at what point are you willing to take them? How far does you have to drop?

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I love that, by the way. And great question, brother. Very, very funny tweet. The hat tip to that Drake may account you. I think it was you or mayor put it in our slack and this dude is going viral hat tip to him. And we love it personally. Fantasy pros, but if you haven't seen the tweet, it's. It's like a sleeper draft and it show and he circles. Saquon Barkley going three, and it was Jamar Chase going two, but Drake London is the first pick and he goes, can you believe this idiot took Saquon Barkley at three or something like that. And Drake London going, the one one is sitting there. One of my. I think mayor said it like a hall of fame tweet. It was pretty dang good. Pretty dang good where everybody's doing the same jokes. This was very creative and I know you had to like it. So this is more of a question for you because I got saquon at RB3. You are the. The Saquon hater. What is the. What is the limit? Where's the spot where you actually pull the trigger on Saquon? Because what do you have him at RB 42, 75?

[Andrew Erickson]

No, I don't have an RB 42. I mean, I still have him as a first round pick.

[Chris Welsh]

Quintean Judkins, or Saquon Barkley? All right, no, but where do you have him? And like, what. What would be the point where you would take him?

[Andrew Erickson]

I mean, I'd take him at the back of the first round, but he's never going to be there. So that's. Look, I've said what I've said. I have. That's how I feel about Barkley. Just. I'm trusting the process. Yeah, it worked last year with McCaffrey. It worked. And then the year before that, people forget Josh Jacobs. Same exact type of thing. Same exact bet.

[Chris Welsh]

What RB do you have them at? What is it, six?

[Andrew Erickson]

He's five. Still have some top five running back. I mean, I just, I basically have to be in a room with a bunch of other people that also feel the same way about Saquon for me to take him. So I am. I am always kind of interested if that were to happen where it's me, it's Joe and other people that aren't that are lower on Saquon versus consensus. If we were all in a room together, drafting together now, where would Saquon actually be drafted in that particular case? Because eventually somebody that is, quote unquote not high on Saquon would eventually have to take him. Because I have to acknowledge that. Okay, I still think that I would. I'm still going to draft him probably over Derrick Henry, even though I think Henry probably has a higher floor than Saquon does.

[Chris Welsh]

But, like, compared to the wide receiver. Let's get like, I. And I know you're. You're not incorrect when you say, like, it's not going to happen, but let's play the world where it does. Like, you're kind of alluding to what's the wide receiver that you would pass to take Barkley. So we already know there's four running backs are going to go. We know Chase, we know Jefferson. I'm going to assume it's easy to say Lamb and Puka, Brian, Tom, like Drake, Lennon. Like, what's the wide receiver where you say, okay, I won't take the wide receiver. I'll now take Saquon.

[Andrew Erickson]

I'll take Saquon over Malik. Neighbors.

[Chris Welsh]

Oh, you. Oh, you will Over Malik. What do you have Malik at 5? 6.

[Andrew Erickson]

He's at 12. 7. Wide receiver. 7. Okay, so like, and half PPR.

[Chris Welsh]

We're saying. We're saying 11. Like 11 or 12 is truly the spot where you are comfortable taking Saquon?

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah. Back end of round one. Okay.

[Chris Welsh]

I just want to get like, I'll never.

[Andrew Erickson]

But he'll never be there.

[Chris Welsh]

No, you're not wrong about that. Axel, did you have a follow up? Your hand came back up. What was your follow up to?

[Andrew Erickson]

This is Christian McGrath.

[Caller/Listener]

Is Christian McCaffrey this year. SAQUON Barkley.

[Chris Welsh]

You know, the best bet I had last year, it was the. It was so easy. I had. I had done a combo bet of Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley to just both go over a thousand yards. Dude, that thing cashed, I think, in like week 11. I don't know if you remember me talking about that. It was the. I don't.

[Andrew Erickson]

I don't remember that. But yeah, that, that's.

[Chris Welsh]

And I got great odds because it was like injuries and all that type of stuff. What do you.

[Andrew Erickson]

You gonna double down this year?

[Chris Welsh]

Well, I'm not gonna get. I'm not gonna get as good.

[Andrew Erickson]

Minus 600. Yeah.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, exactly. If I want to make the real big bet, S would, like, what does it take? Like, can McCaffrey play that? I guess just getting back to Axel's question, like, are you, like, could you at all feel comfortable that McCaffrey could be this year Saquon? And what he means is like, a back that's going, you know, wheel ish and ends up being just, you know, absolute beast and number one overall guy. It's. With him, it's always tied to injury. So I guess it's like, I don't hear anybody talking about the. His, his ability. It's just the injury. So it's like, I guess the answer's got to be yes. Right, Erickson? Like, if he's not hurt, he could be this year. Saquon.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah. I don't think that anyone would be, like, totally shocked if, Especially if you're measuring his success on a points per game basis. You know, if McCaffrey just runs back similar to what he did in 2023. I mean, I have McCaffrey as a top five running back. Actually, I have cycle barking. So I, I sorry, I misspoke.

[Chris Welsh]

So wait, you broke up. You had Saquon where he's my RB4.

[Andrew Erickson]

Sorry.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay. And what, McCaffrey is five.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yep. Yeah. So the other issue, though is when we do this a lot in fantasy, where we're trying to copy and paste what happened last year. Right. Okay. Who's going to be this year's Bucky Irving? Right. Totally get that. But the year before that, what were we trying to find, well, this year's Pukinakua. And who was it? Nobody there. There was no Puka Nuku. There was no, you know, day three wide receiver that totally, you know, exploded. Just because these trends don't always happen year after year, it's actually, you know, years apart that these things start to happen. So last year it was the running back, running back, veteran renaissance. Right? There's all these veteran running backs and even Bunting was pointing out in the chat, you know, talking about how usually it's the process, the fade. Veteran running backs on a new team, obviously Derek Henry, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, all were very successful in their first years with these new teams. And it also coincided with a really bad rookie running back class. You know, last year's rookie running back class was when we looked at top to bottom, not a very strong class. I mean, Jonathan Brooks was the first guy drafted and he barely played. Trey Benson, Blake Corum, guys that barely played. And the two hits really from day three were Bucky Irving, who was underdrafted and obviously was a big hit, and then Tyrone Tracy, who was able to beat out Devin Singletary and become the giant starting running back. So when we're talking about and reflecting on this year, you know, the story of the running back this year, is it just going to be exactly what happened last year? Oh, well, veteran running backs just smashed again. I mean, maybe, maybe it's just a repeat. The sequel is exactly like the original. They just try to run back the hits. But I'm more in the camp of thinking about, well, this rookie running back class is way different than last year's. And I think that this rookie running back class is going to be the story of this season. And that's why when I'm looking at the round one, am I chasing last year and the year before that with Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey, or am I trying to chase who I could be? Who could be the number one pick next year with Ashton Genti? Like when we're talking about 2026, who's going to be the number one running back off the board? Is it going to be Barkley, McCaffrey or Ashton Genti? And I think it might be Gibbs. Excuse me, Bijan. But yeah, again, I have Bijan and Gibson in a separate tier ahead of those guys. So that's why I just didn't bring him up.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, no, I was just being stupid.

[Andrew Erickson]

No, no, no, no. You're based. You were. You're keeping me accountable. Welsh, that's what we do in the discord as we keep each other accountable. But that's just kind of how I'm kind of thinking about this potential season and I, I wouldn't surprise me. Barkley and McCaffrey start out hot, you know, as older players. They're fresh right now. But as the season wanes, you know, are those going to be the guys that are there in week 15, 16, 17 that are winning you the championships, or is it going to be Ashton Genti, you know, this uber talented prospect, nearly perfect prospect profile where he should see 300, 350 touches for the Las Vegas Raiders, who I think is an underrated team overall from top to bottom. Upgraded the quarterback position with Geno Smith. So that's something that I'm thinking about when we're projecting out this season, you know, what will be the story for the running backs. And I'm just not convinced that it's going to be the exact same thing we saw last year.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah. And I would just come back to say back to the question of like, can McCaffrey be it? Absolutely. Because there's a similarity in that McCaffrey Barkley's talent was never really in question. He was now going to a better situation and you're hoping to avoid injury. Same thing with McCaffrey. So McCaffrey's healthy. He absolutely can be. But his cost is rising more than Barclays is. You never saw Barkley go in the first round really last year or I didn't a ton. I think McCaffrey went eight in my league last night. The industry league. No, he went. Sorry, he went 10. He went 10 last night.

[Andrew Erickson]

I will say too that if we're trying to make a comparison, and I talked about him a little bit earlier, he was someone that I just did some more research on today. So with Saquon, obviously he was on a new team, but there was no debate on, okay, he's in a much better situation that he's been in in previous years and if he's healthy, he should be able to smash. And we obviously saw the talent with Seiko Barkley as a rookie and when I think about those type of optics, I honestly think about Ken Walker a little bit where. Well, what's kind of stopped him? Well, he's been injured and the Seahawks haven't really been the greatest situation for him. And now you could debate, you know, well, they have Sam Darnold, like, how great of a quarterback is he? I think that, you know, I'm not going to post him up on this pedestal and it's not a, oh, he's playing for the he's running behind the Eagles offensive line anymore. Not the case. But you know, out of Seahawks camp, they've talked about how this is the first time that Ken Walker is playing in a run first offense, an offense that wants to feature him more than previous regimes. And McDonnell has talked about featuring Ken Walker. And yes, I know that he's been banged up and they're really trying to maintenance his workload. But I mean we're always talking about, well, McCaffrey stays healthy if Barkley stays healthy. Well, what if Round four Ken Walker stays healthy in this offense that last year with Clint Kubiak, Alvin Kamara was number one among all running backs and expected fantasy points per game. So his role as the RB1 in Clint Kubiak's offense was better than anyone else in terms of scoring fantasy points. So when you then consider where Ken Walker is going round four versus all these other running backs were trying to make the upside cases, that's what I'm making my bet on is Ken Walker. So that's another player I wanted to throw out as someone that maybe we're not talking about as an upgraded situation and why they could thrive if they end up staying healthy.

[Chris Welsh]

This yeah, yeah. I mean I see it. I think there's a little, I mean, offensive line. Charbonnet's there. There's some questions. I don't want to keep hashing on this, but it's really good conversation. Great breakdown stuff. It's very good. Joe Joseph, premium member on the Fantasy Pros Discord. Joe hasn't been up yet. Let's get Joe's Josephs. Unless you don't like being called Joe. And then we're gonna do a lightning round on some of the questions in the chat. I see a couple of our guys who have already been up. We usually don't bring guys back up. So if you have drop in the chat what's going on but Joseph hit unmute, drop the question and let's roll Fernando Tati's picture. You unmuted but we can't hear you. Your mic not might be set. All right, you figured that out. There's an audio settings thing here on Discord that you can test. You figured that out, baby. Let's do a little bit of a lightning round in the chat before we get out of here, but we want to remind you guys we mentioned we got the after party on Fantasy Pros over on Twitch, but if you're not aware, we Got shows on Twitch every single day. That's right. The team here at Fantasy Pros are taking your questions all week, every week on Twitch. Erickson and Tom Strachan talking best balls on Monday at 4pm Eastern. I've already mentioned this. Coming Tuesday at 7pm Eastern. Good Lord. Can't talk. Bogman and Welsh. We're going to be playing Madden 26 live. We've got Seth Wilcock and Debro answering question on Wednesday at 2pm Eastern and then we have got some Q&As on Thursdays and Fridays at 5pm Eastern. We got a regular schedule on Twitch and that's not going to go away in season as well. So make sure head over to Twitch TV FantasyPros, give us a follow so you never miss any of those awesome streams and you can interact and ask questions live. So make sure that you are doing it. All right, I am scrolling back up to see if I can find some of these questions. Need more cowbell. Judkins, where does he fall in a rookie draft rankings relative to Tet, RJ and Caleb? So lightning round, where do you think is he? Is Judkins kind of back to his original cost value?

[Andrew Erickson]

I kind of think so. I mean, I think that he's just going to go at the end of the tier. I mean Hampton's gonna go in front of him, Henderson, Harvey, obviously. I mean maybe people will now take him over Caleb Johnson. I personally wouldn't do that. I would still take Caleb Johnson over him and then I still think the first round tight ends will go ahead of him. Cam Ward will go ahead of him probably. And I mean definitely in Super Flex. I think that that's not really up for debate. And yeah, all the receivers, McMillan, Hunter, Agbuca, Golden. I think that he's probably going to end up being in that burden Higgins tier. And then I think that he'll probably go ahead of like Trey Harris for example. Like, I think that's probably where someone would stay. All right, all right, he's back. I'm gonna take him now because I think that before this, all of this stuff happened, he was clearly ahead of these second round wide receivers. Now probably, he's probably in the mix there and I don't know, I mean some people have been disappointed with Caleb Johnson after preseason week one. I, I personally don't really care that much about it.

[Chris Welsh]

I don't care about one game.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not, I'm not.

[Chris Welsh]

Everyone's like, oh, he's a bust. One preseason game and they're just like we got it wrong. All right, let's give it a little bit. All right. All right, let's keep going. Remember lightning round. Would you rather Genti or HN as your hero running back and full PPR? Super close. I might go HN on that. Full PPR.

[Andrew Erickson]

Both good options.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, yeah they are good options. 12 man PPR starting, two running backs, two wide outs, three flexes. Oh, I think that was just the answer to the thing before. What is the best choice between CMC Nico Puka or Genti? A full PPR3 wide receiver format and a 10 team. That's from J. Roney. This is probably for you going to go back to Genty full PPR though.

[Andrew Erickson]

Where is this? Is this question in the chat? Yeah, it's in the chat again.

[Chris Welsh]

It's right above the Michael Scott meme. That's what the chat in these do by the way. People are dropping memes and answering each other's questions. It's very fun during these shows. But CMC Nico, Puka or Genti full PPR 3 wide receivers in the 10 team.

[Andrew Erickson]

I still think I'm going with puga man.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, Puka's.

[Andrew Erickson]

I just. I believe in the talent and yes, the Stafford thing is there fully concerning but they have Jimmy Garoppolo there as a backup and he is competent enough to get the ball to Puka who just gets so many schemed looks in this offensive environment. And Puka's just a beast man. Dude, he's so. He's so good. I'm gonna feel like an idiot if I decide well I'm not gonna play him because Stafford made me miss a game or two. And again remember Stafford is a warrior. This guy will play through basically anything except for his teammates. So I think that, that I think maybe we're overblowing it just a tad. I'm willing to scoop up Puka if he falls.

[Chris Welsh]

J. Roni also asks best sauce to dip a breakfast burrito in. I feel like some cheese based sauce.

[Andrew Erickson]

Really? I'm. I would mother someone in the comments said or who TF as well. Faraday. Salsa. Salsa. Salsa. I agree. I like some salsa with burritos.

[Chris Welsh]

I'm just. I'm not a big breakfast burrito person or.

[Andrew Erickson]

Or not. Avocado, guacamole.

[Chris Welsh]

Well it's like a breakfast burrito though is rocking like the guacamole would be good but it's like eggs and stuff in there, right? You're not doing like a traditional.

[Andrew Erickson]

You could put salsa on eggs.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I guess Yeah, I guess people do. I just some cheese based thing sounds really good. But Dick said hypothetically, if Hill did return to the Chiefs, does that significantly decrease Worthy's value? Make this quick. I don't want to go too crazy on that because that's a big hypothetical. I know that's been rumored. I just don't see how that's going to happen in any capacity. I know there's the weird stuff with Tyreek Hill and two and all that, but like the easy answer is yes. Like if any big wide receiver were returned, like it's going to affect everybody's value.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, I think it would just make it a fantasy mess, to be honest. It would just make it a nightmare especially. But you can see the clear need for the Chiefs to add another wide receiver right now. Worthy is healthy. Rice is. We don't know what he's going to play, when he's going to play. And the guy they were expecting to be, that third receiver, Marquis Brown is already hurt again. So I know this is a hypothetical scenario, but if Hill does gets traded, it takes two to tango. Who wants to trade for him. The Chiefs make sense especially based on their current wide receiver needs potentially. Obviously they drafted Jalen Royals so maybe he can step up. But I again, I wouldn't be shocked.

[Chris Welsh]

V. Lundine, in what round would you be targeting McMillan in drafts? 12 team three wide receiver, half PPR with pick 11.

[Andrew Erickson]

That's.

[Chris Welsh]

You'd probably have to do it probably.

[Andrew Erickson]

Four, four or five round four, I think where everyone.

[Chris Welsh]

It's almost a wheel. He's pick 11. So like if you wanted to risk it. But I'd probably take him with that, that pick in the. Well, hold on. One, two, three. Well, no, because four and five have the big turn. So yeah, you'd have to do it at four.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah, I think that McMillan's gonna be such a beast.

[Chris Welsh]

He's such a beast.

[Andrew Erickson]

I think that when we pull out the week two rankings he's going to be. I think he's going to be consensus top 20.

[Chris Welsh]

Dude, I was so. I was so pissed. I wanted him in that flex league and he went. I took Breeze hall in the third and then he went three picks later in the third pick or I'm sorry, the second to last. No, no, I'm screwing this up. Second pick in the third round. So I didn't even get a chance before my third round pick to take him. He went high.

[Andrew Erickson]

He went before Marvin Harrison Jr.

[Chris Welsh]

Check out who he went before. He went before T. Higgins.

[Andrew Erickson]

Oh wow.

[Chris Welsh]

Garrett Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison, Mike Evans, DJ Moore, Terry McLaurin and Devonte Adams.

[Andrew Erickson]

Whoa.

[Chris Welsh]

Going, baby. We.

[Andrew Erickson]

All right. Well, just the listeners. You're not going to have to do that.

[Chris Welsh]

No, you're going to be able to.

[Andrew Erickson]

Get him, but even if you still reach around OR two where his ADP is listed on some of these sites, you're going to get him at a great value and you don't necessarily be that aggressive. But round four, I think is, hey, let's pull up Tet. Let's snag him here.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, well, they did in the third round there.

[Andrew Erickson]

Very, very sorry. Tetrah McMillan.

[Chris Welsh]

He doesn't like to call Ted Ted. His mom doesn't like it to be. It's Ted a ROA. I'm comfortable with that.

[Andrew Erickson]

Or Team or TMac. He says T Mac is good too.

[Chris Welsh]

So many TMax though, isn't there?

[Andrew Erickson]

Who. Who's the other T Mac?

[Chris Welsh]

Is it Terry McLaurin?

[Andrew Erickson]

I don't know. He's TMC or F1.

[Chris Welsh]

I feel like there's another TMAC and there's a basketball like McGrady.

[Andrew Erickson]

What is basketball?

[Chris Welsh]

What is basketball? That is it. That is the show, though. We can answer that question next week. Great stuff in here. A bunch of you guys hanging out. Love that you guys were hanging out with us and I want you to do it more because remember, you can do it for free all year long. This isn't just a draft show. We are here all year long where Ericson and I are chopping it up with you guys. It's an opportunity to chat in season. It's like trade stuff, lineup, questions, dynasty, whatever it is, come and bring it to us. Be a podcast personality as well. It's kind of like old school radio where you get callers that come in. You got an opportunity to be that. All you have to do is literally have a free Fantasy Pros account when you sign into the Discord and it's free. You don't have to pay anything if you don't want. And if you want the premium side, that's you get access to, you know, all the other premium channels, AMAs and stuff like that. But make sure you are locked into it. We'll put out all the notices, but go to fantasypros.com chat and make sure you have it pinned for this Tuesday. Erickson, you're doing. You're going to be, aren't you, in like three or four segments during the Fantasy Fest. You're going to probably be in the chat and stuff, right?

[Andrew Erickson]

I'M going to be dialed in to all things Fantasy Fest. So I think we kick off at 2pm Eastern till midnight. It's probably not that long, but we're gonna be. We're gonna be getting you guys everything you need to get ready for your drafts. Having a ton of fun. I love the myriad of guests that we have set up. So shout out to the team for bringing all this talent, but it's going to be really fun.

[Chris Welsh]

So are you gonna come watch me over on Twitch? Are you gonna watch me in Bogman.

[Andrew Erickson]

Game a little bit After Dark? I'm gonna have to come in. I'm gonna have to do some heckling. Of course.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah.

[Andrew Erickson]

It's a little.

[Chris Welsh]

It's a little late. It's gonna be five straight hours. I'm in the middle. I'm gonna be hosting an hour of the Fantasy Fest. So whether that's good or bad for the listeners, whether you avoid it or you're in, I'll be an hour. And I got hooked up with some huge guests as well. And then I will be a part of the draft party. But we're going to be talking ranks and sleepers, mock drafts. And we'll move after the five hours on Tuesday at 2pm to 7pm Eastern, we'll move over to Twitch. Twitch TV fantasypros Bachman and I. I know we'll have the producer in there. Hopefully we'll have some of the guys hanging in here. We'll be battling it out in Madden, so that should be a ton of fun. Oh, last thing Banshee said. This is a great question. Who had a faster mock draft fill yesterday? Less than two seconds for each. I think I did. I did some mock drafts on the Discord. I literally had one that filled instantly. I don't know if you've experienced that.

[Andrew Erickson]

No, it's basically like they're. They're ready to get in.

[Chris Welsh]

There wasn't even a trickle effect. Like, I looked at the draft room and it instantly filled. It's craziest thing I've ever seen. So. Another reason to check out the Discord. Erickson's in here. I did some impromptu. I'm going to be doing some AMAs and some more mock drafts, so make sure you do that. But again, Fantasy Fest on Tuesday, please come and hang out with us. We're going to have a ton of fun. Want to get everybody in there and just hang and talk fantasy. What more could you ask for that is it for the show. Extra point. We're done for Erickson. I'm Welsh. Thank you to everybody that hung out with us and we will talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.

[Andrew Erickson]

If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple [e-mail] review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and TikTok at fantasyprose and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 26th, it's back to Deals time where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Kettle, Haagen, Dazs, M&M's Ritz, Chips Ahoy, Arrowhead, All Poppy Charman and Red Bull. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pick up or delivery subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

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[Andrew Erickson]

Ugh. Come on.

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This thing is ancient.

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[Andrew Erickson]

Whoa.

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