Transcript of Best Offenses Mock Draft + Draft Day Regrets - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/1

I have long watched the people of Earth, and I have witnessed their capacity for greatness. They know that in any draft, there are calms between storms. There are days when their league mates turn against them, but the day will never come when they forsake their fantasy draft and the quest for ultimate glory. Rankings, sleepers, breakouts, values. Together at last. United within the Ultimate Draft Kit. The Ultimate Draft Kit stands ready. Waiting. Watching. Protecting. And making your opponents look like stupid dumb-dumb idiots compared to you and your magnificently hot roster. Will you use it to build your team and win a championship? I do not know. But yes, you probably should. The time for courage and world domination is now at ultimatedraftkit.com.

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Oh, welcome in. Welcome to September. It is the first.

Do you remember?

Of September. Mike, RyJ, Samori, Andy Holloway, the Fantasy Footballers.

It's the month of football. Yay. Counting down the days.

It is football. It's spooky season is here. It's a great day.

8 days. 8 days. A week from tomorrow. Real NFL football.

Yeah. The fantasy stats will start accumulating and we'll decide how right or wrong we are by the first week.

Week, brother.

Couple snaps.

No, it is. It's always amazing to us how impactful week 1 is on the psychology of every human being. in the fantasy football world because I don't know. It's like it just bears a lot more weight, right? I mean, you see, ah, busts. That picks a home run. A lot of things change between week 1 and week 2.

Yes, they do.

So just breathe a little bit. Hopefully everything works out, but I'm guessing not all of it will. But, you know, trust the process is what I'm saying. Speaking of trusting the process, a lot of people drafting this weekend. Labor Day weekend, our League of Record is on Monday on Labor Day. And if you need help getting prepared, getting ready to go, both of my boys just had a big— they're in an 18-team league.

Whoa, serious.

It's a church league. And they jumped in the UDK.

Oof.

There's going to be a lot of prayer in that league.

Yeah.

18?

18.

They're going to need it.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Here's, here's my 2nd round pick, AKA my 3rd rounder.

My middle boy who he drafted 16 of 18 and ended up with Jeremiah Love or Derrick Henry and then Jeremiah Love with those 2 picks at the turn. So, and then he waits, I think, 3 years to draft the wide receiver.

It is. We're obviously in an 18-team league ourselves around the office for that chopped league.

Yeah.

I'm just looking at like my 5th round pick. I just took Jordan Mason after Blake Corum. It's like, right.

It's disgusting already. I was on the clock this morning and I'm like, nope. That was what I feel like my answer is. It's like, no, I'm good.

I think that's partly why some people go crazy and you don't know how to predict the free agency in a chop league is because we all look at our teams when it's over with, with 18 teams and we're like, oh gosh, we're doomed. We just don't remember everybody else is doomed.

Yeah.

But if you need help, pick up the Ultimate Draft Kit, ultimatedraftkit.com. The time is now. Grab that. You also have the draft analyzer inside the UDK, which will, you know, if you've already drafted, make sure you plug your teams in there. It'll break down your strengths, weaknesses, what to watch out for, and which of us most aligns with your roster.

Gosh darn it, Betz.

Wait, who did he take?

He took Josh Downs. It sounds like it's for sure coming back to me.

Well, we're in the middle of drafts right now, apparently. We've got news to catch you up on. We got the Megalobowl draft spots from the 4th through the 8th still available at megalobowl.com. A free entry for every single Foot Clan member. You can check that out. Lots going on, but we got a, we got a fun quick question today. What is the worst I should have known better draft day decision? that still haunts you? So drafts gone by, some kind of this player over that player that you can still remember that is kind of cemented into your brain. We asked, we asked the Deucers this as well. Matt, what was, Matt, what was your biggest draft day regret?

Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Right off the bat.

Just, that's not a tough one, Matt.

Let me just say this. I was either going to say there's Fortham or I was going to go to the Deucers.

That was—

you made the wrong choice. The problem is you started at the wrong side of Deucers Alley. You should have started over with Alley.

I think we did the right thing.

Oh yeah.

Not only could he not speak, but he was half as loud as he needed to be.

That's true. Hey, you know what?

Watch this.

Deucer of the day.

Always. Josh, do you have a— I don't know if anybody even heard you. You took CEH and Miles Sanders over Tyreek Hill. Brooks had said he took Cordarrelle Patterson in the 2nd round after the rookie year hype and regretted it. Josh, what'd you do?

2018 had Lev Bell on our team. Last pick of the draft, pick somebody else besides James Conner. That was when Bell held out. James Conner popped off that year.

I actually remember that one. I remember you had Lev Bell and I remember Conner having that great start to the year and the look on your face every week when it happened.

That one, that one was tough because that was like every single week. Every week was, oh, Lev Bell's coming back. He's coming back this week. Don't even worry about it. And then he did not.

Is Kyle on with us? Kyle, do you have a draft day regret? I drafted Montee Ball in 2014. Oh, no, you can end it there. And he was out of the league by the next year. Yeah.

Hey, the Denver Broncos drafted him too.

My, my worst draft day decision. I remember this one. We were drafting remotely for whatever reason in our league of record, or I was. And I took Lawrence Maroney in the 2nd round over the little-known Calvin Johnson.

I've heard of him.

Who went with the next pick.

Megatron. Yeah. You know what's funny is I could think of a billion trades that I have massive, unbelievable regret, like the Austin Ekeler, Saquon Barkley trade. The one that came to mind for me back when I was, I think Jalen Hurts was a my guy, popped off, was great that year and I loved him. And then I took Russell Wilson over him. Oh wait, no, that was Papa Josh. And then I won a championship with Jalen Hurts. Thank you, Papa Josh. We were waiting and we're like, oh, we're going to end up with Russ because he's clearly going to take Hurts. And then he took the wrong guy. Made me so happy.

So your mistake was a second Josh mistake.

Correct.

Yes. I don't think you know what a mistake is.

I couldn't remember one. That's why I said I remember. Oh yeah. I'm not saying I don't have— I've never gotten a pick wrong in my life.

I'm pretty sure.

I have tons of them. I just, my brain— I'm in the Hall of Fame. This is why I started by saying I can remember all sorts of bad trades I did and didn't do. For some reason on the draft pick side, I don't have that one that sticks out to me. Of like, I'm sure I've made a billion bad picks, but I, that one is the one that I genuinely always remember because we were sweating how bad we wanted him and we couldn't, we, there's no way we could get him because Josh clearly was taking quarterback and then he just took the wrong guy.

I'm going to find this for you.

Oh, you're going to find my regret?

Yeah, I'll find it.

Oh dude, I've got my regret.

I remember it.

The, I took the 49ers.

Everybody being too good looking.

No, no, no. I took, I can't even remember his name now, the running back for the 49ers in the, in the back of the first.

Trey Sermon.

Trey Sermon.

Oh yeah. That was a rookie draft. Yes.

Oh yeah. Whoops.

Yeah. Speaking of rookie drafts, mine is Clyde, the first round running back drafted by Kansas City.

Over a little known Jonathan Taylor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Whoops. What was his name, Matt? CH.

CH was his name. Oh, get deucer of the day.

This guy is getting married in February and has to go up in front of people and do his vows.

You better have a proxy.

She's not showing up.

There will be booze involved.

It shouldn't be a problem.

There will be booze involved in your—

that was B-O-O-S or B-O-O-Z-E. No, B-O-O-S. Al.

Headphones are off.

He's out of here.

Al, do you have a regret? Yeah, I took Josh Jacobs a few days ago.

Oh yes, you did.

Outside of that, my biggest one's probably just more strategy-based. My first dynasty startup, I took a bunch of guys that were like hot at the moment, but they all retired. It was like Jamal Charles and Jordy Nelson. I actually remember that. Yeah. I remember thinking you might grab a few titles real quick and— I didn't.

And then I had a team that all retired at the same time within a year.

Yeah. I mean, the lesson here is that, you know, not everything's going to go according to plan, go perfectly. You're going to have regrets. Don't freak out. Stay vigilant. Stay water. Pay attention all year long. We say it every year. You don't win your league at the draft, right? You set the foundation for the season. But yeah, you're not the only one who's going to mess up. 24% of the top 24 running backs completed a season last year. You're going to have to make moves and make adjustments. It's, it's all going to be okay. Let's talk some news.

News and notes from around the league.

You know, the only time that the Falcon doesn't have any problem speaking is when he is insulting Papa Josh around the office.

Oh, he's so eloquent.

He's eloquent and loud and clear with his words and degradation of the bald man.

He just makes fart sounds.

Yeah. Zay Flowers expected to return to a full practice next week.

Well, I told you, man.

Next week.

That's awfully close to the season.

Next week is when we're playing football.

You found one more Jason mistake?

Yeah. Oh.

You just didn't remember that.

No, I didn't, I didn't remember that. I remember it very closely now. I took Isaiah Pacheco over Derrick Henry. And that was when— This was a couple years ago before the, before the broken leg. It looked great for a week and then he got injured for the season.

Malik Nabers. If you saw the interview, he remains pretty noncommittal about his week 1 status.

What's that all about?

Well, he said, he said a lot in that interview, but One of the things he said was he'll be ready whenever he can be ready. The other thing was that people can watch video and think he looks good, but that, you know, maybe he can't do this route the right way or that route the right way without hesitation. Maybe he's not ready to be hit. You know, he wants to go out there and be free. I, I would say that based on that conversation and where we've been with him mostly working to the side in a lot of practice, I would doubt we'd see him week 1.

Yeah, I mean, this is a player who is too important to the franchise and this is not a team that I doubt they are going into the season really truly believing they have Super Bowl aspirations. And so you got to keep him healthy, make sure he's completely ready before he gets on the field. And I think it's a good reminder that when you watch the film and this is why I've kind of been, I know people break the mold, right? Adrian Peterson coming off of the ACL right off the bat week 1 was amazing.

Yeah.

But usually buying the injury dip is not a valuable thing. This is why I've been a little lower on George Kittle and Tucker Kraft, guys I love. But when you come back from a serious injury, it isn't always easy. And even though it looks like, oh, I see him running this route, it looks good, or he's at practice and look how fast he is, they're not truly 100%. We've got the timelines for these things. And I'm going to do it anyways. You can.

Well, like Tank Dell. Oh, look how good he looks and then he's on PUP. Jeremiah Love progressing really well towards playing in week 1. The Cardinals did, you know, it'll be Allgeier and maybe Jeremiah Love in week 1.

Do you, man, is Allgeier like almost a must draft now at this point if you take Love?

I think he's, oh, you mean if you take the Love side?

Yeah.

I just worry that maybe some people will snag him higher.

They might.

I mean, I think he's definitely a must-draft if you can wait until the 11th or beyond. For sure. That's the smartest thing you can do because there's reinjury risk with a high ankle sprain.

If you— I, I thought after everything that they've done, that Love would be fine, but you don't like hearing 50-50.

No. Ashton Jeanty not practicing with the team on Tuesday, doing individual work. He will be a Wait and see for week 1 as well. We got great news. The Colts are coming back to practice. The Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, Tyler Warren trio.

Nice.

That would be the calf ankle groin trio. All back at practice on Tuesday and all expected to be playing in week 1.

Yeah. You, you told me that this morning that Alec Pierce is expected to play week 1. And I was like, whoa, that came out of nowhere.

DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman expected to be ready for week 1. JCM, Ja'Korey Crosby Merritt. Hey, dressed for today's practice.

All right.

Like he looked so fancy.

Yeah.

He just really—

what are we going on?

Wore his practice suit. Keaton Mitchell did not practice on Monday and the, there's a bit of red alert there. I think we have not got the disclosure of how severe the Keaton Mitchell injury is, but I am not sure he's ready for the first week. So we'll see.

And keep in mind, this is a guy like Because he's always been a backup or even really a backup to the backup, just kind of a gadget player, great on a per-touch basis. He's never been healthy. Like all 3 seasons, he's missed significant time. So this is not a player that is easy to rely on.

Yeah, there, you know, he was, he was always hurt. Jayden Blue to the practice squad of the Eagles. Amari DeMarcato to the practice squad for the Cowboys.

Well, he was claimed.

Yeah, he was claimed to the roster.

He'll be, I bet he's just the RB3 because they only had—

That's right.

They let 2 guys go. They cleaned house.

And then they had to, in order to make that transaction, they had to cut Joe Milton. Sad.

That one was interesting.

Well, they kept Sam Howell.

The cannon.

Yeah. That's where it's weird. You're like, oh, Sam Howell over Milton, really? Okay.

I was a bit surprised. I don't know if Milton even got claimed.

Well, he was cut. Or was he cut? I think he was a later cut.

We'll take a break and we're doing something special today. We got a different kind of mock draft for you coming up.

The Fantasy Footballers Mock Draft.

Cowboys do plan to add Milton to the practice squad if he cleared waivers. That was a tweet 20 hours ago. So we will find out later today.

All right. We are drafting the top 12 offenses for fantasy football in 2026. You know, you want to be a part of these specific teams, pieces on these teams. We thought we'd have a little bit of fun and do a quick 4-round mock draft. of where our heads are at with these offenses. You know, you're not necessarily a perfect repeat from last year. Who are you targeting? Who are you not? I don't know if Jason's going to take Jacksonville in this draft.

They are, they are in my top 12. I've got my list together. And obviously we're going to draft 12 here. We'll put a poll up. You could put a vote between our 3 teams of who you think had the best offenses. But this is This is really a valuable exercise in really determining your own thought process of which offenses do you think are going to score the most? Not just like what's the best team. This is for fantasy, not like which, which kickers, but the environment, right? We like certain teams because their defenses are bad and they're going to have to score 35 points a game to win. I'm also curious where some of the new hotness teams are. end up on your guys' list?

Yeah, we randomized it. Jason's going to pick first. Then I guess it's Mike.

Huzzah.

And then it's me.

Perfect.

So we'll have a really good time counterclockwising here.

All right. So I'm first.

Chilting the 1-0-1, huh?

A little bit because there's 2 teams I really, really, really want. But I think that the number 1 team for environment for 2026. I do want the Bengals. I think Joe Burrow—

I don't know if you heard.

Yes.

What's about to happen?

Your bold prediction. I think the Bengals are in a perfect situation where you look at the, all the skill positions are good. Chase Brown is better than say Javonte Williams. I think as far as explosiveness, the defense is As in you're comparing with Dallas right now? Yes. If I was to compare those 2, the defense is better with Dexter Lawrence, but I still expect them to be bad. Right now Vegas has them on average projected for 25.6 points per game. And I think when I look at the, the environments of teams that I want pieces of, they are the number one. It's really close because there's There's, it's between, well, I mean, for what it's worth, that's 4th on your list.

No, no, that's 4th on the Vegas list of points per game. Yes, correct. That's not going to be the only thing determining our picks, obviously.

Yeah.

But I am going to share with you a couple of things as we go through this. One of them is the, what they did last year and what Vegas projects them for this year, because I think that some teams Vegas has a built-in regression and some teams you have the inverse. Cincinnati was the 12th highest scoring team last year.

Right. Because Burrow was injured for a lot of the season. I also think when you look at scoring from Vegas, they're including really like the kicking game, right? You know, I want to focus on teams that are going to get down there and punch in for touchdowns.

Mike.

I'll take the Cincinnati Bengals light. I will take the Dallas Cowboys.

Interesting.

Look, they were 3rd on my list.

Oh, really?

I feel like I get number 1 and 2.

I think you might get number 1.

I mean, this is great. So you're taking Dallas. Obviously Dallas last year, 7th in points per game. This year projected 6th in terms of points per game from Vegas.

Since 2019, if Dak Prescott is healthy, he's throwing for at least 4,500 yards and 30-something touchdowns. I like that you have Yeah, man. I was thinking of like Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr versus CeeDee Lamb and George. I think, I think I would rank George and CeeDee as the higher overall duo because I think that they're both true, true alpha number one wide receivers. Ferguson built in, if one of those guys misses time, he just shoots right up to being like a top 5 type of a tight end on a weekly basis. So they're protected from injuries a little bit. So I'll take the Cowboys. Okay.

I will say that I'm thrilled. Yeah. I don't blame you. I think you were in the best spot because there are to me 4 real, real, real, actually I would say 5, 5 super great offenses.

Well, I'm going to take the Detroit Lions with my first pick here in the first round and swing around and grab the Rams with the second pick.

Okay.

Last year Rams were number 1 in points per game. Detroit was 4. They are 1-2 in the Vegas projections. Detroit for fantasy, Goff, Amon-Ra, LaPorta, Jameson Williams, potentially a number 1 in Gibbs. To me, they are— both teams represent exactly what I want from a fantasy offense, which is predictability in terms of the structure, the quarterback. You know, there's a world where, and I know maybe this doesn't seem realistic, but I think it is. There's a world where the Rams tandem at wide receiver outperforms every other tandem in football. I think Puka has the highest potential to be the number one before all of this legal stuff. That's where I had him ranked. But I think when you look at Dallas, Pickens and CeeDee, you look at Cincinnati with Higgins and Chase, I think Puka and Adams will be right there.

We don't consider them that way because of Adams's age. But obviously he also—

the inconsistencies of Stafford. He, yeah, he threw, he threw 40,000 touchdowns last year. He had not done that. And adding Davante Adams certainly helps. But I mean, that's just an absolute monster season where—

Yeah, they are projected for the most points. They scored the most points last year. The Rams did.

And they are projected for the most this year, which is still a 4-point regression in that projection for what it's worth. They were at 30.5. And projected at 26.6 from the numbers I got.

I still, I still worry about just if their defense is too good that they won't be needing to, you know, that they'll, they'll basically spend a quarter and a half just trying to wind the clock out.

Like the, those Eagles teams.

Yes, exactly. The first half. Oh, here we go again.

Third quarter, we'll pull them out.

Yeah, that's, that's my only fear of the Rams. They were 5th on my list.

Mike, you are back on the clock.

Yeah. The Rams were 5th on my list as well. I'll take the team that at least says they want to score the most points. I'll take the Chicago Bears.

Oh, that's—

I feel like that is a— that's a huge surprise pick-wise.

Yeah.

But for fantasy, you've got Burton, Loveland, Odunze, Caleb Swift. We've talked about it. I obviously love their offense this year. Just giving you the numbers last year, 9th in points per game. This year projected 10th. So that's surprising, but probably the biggest upside, I think, of any team on the list. When you talk projected 10th year 2, Ben Johnson plus all those guys. Yeah, they're projected 10th, 24.6 points per game. Some teams ahead of them, Green Bay, Seattle, San Francisco, obviously Dallas. So, all right, something to pay attention to.

Well, look, the reason they're projected for fewer points per game is Clearly obvious. And I'm going to take the team that got the, the massive loss of their offense, DJ Moore. Clearly without DJ Moore, the Bears can't possibly score as much. He's going to the Bills and I'll take the Bills. The Bills were my number 4. So I said that there's 5 absolutely like A-tier teams.

I think there would have been my 3.

Yeah.

I mean, like that would have been the next after Detroit, LA.

Yeah.

So I think that the Bengals, Lions, Cowboys, Bills, and Rams, those are the teams that I am absolutely, you know, I'm targeting in all drafts.

They are, you know, like if the Bears have the upside, the Bills are the safest, in my opinion, elite offensive floor with Josh Allen. Like you get it year after year. Sure. That makes sense. The offensive line is unbelievable. James Cook, unbelievable. To me, like you can't really have Like barring injury, the Bills are not outside the top 10.

It really is crazy because you look at the last couple of years and they haven't even needed skill position players to be one of the top offenses in football.

I mean, they were the 5th highest scoring team last year.

Crazy.

You add DJ Moore and maybe a healthy Dalton Kincaid who you like.

So now I get to the point where after those top 5 teams plus the Bears, that's, this is where it becomes like, There's a handful of teams that I'm very excited about. I am targeting them in fantasy football drafts because I believe that they can have, like the Bears, they have the potential to go nuclear and score a kajillion points.

That's a lot.

I'm going to go, man, between these 2, I'm going to go with the Chargers. I think that The new system there.

They made it on my list.

Yeah. With Mike. Oh, they're lower on your list?

They're not in my top 12.

They're not in your top 12?

It just, it takes a lot of projecting. But Mike McDaniel could launch them.

That's all it is to me. It's Mike McDaniel coming in here, the offensive line being better and using like a modern—

Us Herbert Bros can't stop themselves.

No, we can't.

I think they've probably been projected to be a top 5 offense for all of his years.

I agree. However, this is the year.

Right. Yeah.

I'm calling it. I do. I think that the Chargers— I mean, obviously I—

Would you like to know where they're at in the Vegas projected points game?

I made Hampton a my guy. No. Yeah.

Never tell me the odds. They're at 12.

Okay.

All right. I will take them at— what is this?

Yeah.

7?

They're at 12. Yep. But that doesn't— I mean, that means very little. I mean, teams fluctuate all the time. To give you context, I mean, Mike, you're back on the clock, but like New England, just for people so they understand, New England is the team with the highest projected regression in Vegas. They were the number 2 highest scoring team last year. And they are down at, let me see, this list here has them at 13.

I would credit the schedule for that. Last year they had, we've talked about how easy a schedule it was last year for New England, what a difficult schedule it's going to be this year. The question is just, does— is Drake Maye that dude that just overcomes? You don't look at a schedule with Josh Allen and go, oh, he's going to score a lot less because it's tough.

All right. Chargers go to Jason. Buffalo-Chargers combo. He's got Cincinnati, Buffalo, and LA. Mike with Dallas and Chicago so far. You're picking at number 8 right now.

This is kind of— it's like Buffalo. You're just betting on the quarterback to take you there. I will take Baltimore.

That would have been my next pick.

I will take the Baltimore Ravens.

That would have been my next pick. And it—

I, I look, I get you brought up the offensive line and some things. It won't be nearly as strong. It's still Lamar though. I will still bet on him.

Yeah.

And Derrick Henry.

His health is always the swing factor.

Like Derrick Henry is just— I'll bet until I'm wrong. You know what I mean? Like I'm willing to, to just keep going in and have the one year where it finally blows up in my face. Well, shoot.

Well, my son was so fun, right? He picked Henry last night. He's like, should I pick Chase Brown? And I said, yeah. That was where, that's where I was.

Well, look, I think I'm betting on Henry, but yes, I'll take Chase Brown.

I think I'm scared of the coaching change. Whenever I feel like in recent history, when you've gone from an all-time coach for a franchise, you have like a down year or two until you figure it out. But I don't know. Hopefully, hopefully the combination of Declan Doyle and Jesse Minter are awesome and they're the, they're the next ones.

Doyle rules.

Nice.

He certainly does.

All right. I got my final 2 picks. Yes, you do. I didn't misappropriate my spot in the draft to accidentally take somebody that I shouldn't. I'm going to go in. I think, I think people might find this one interesting. I'm going to start by telling you who I'm not taking. I'm not going to take the 49ers even though they're projected 7th in points per game. I'm worried about the age. It's not just CMC's age, right? It's It's Evans and it's Kittle and it's, you know, they have had a tough offseason, you know, so I'm not going there.

Cleveland.

Cleveland is obviously in contention. No, I'm going to take one team that maybe you're not surprised with and one that I think you will be. Maybe both. Seattle is going to be my pick. No, I mean, Seattle.

It makes sense based off of last year.

Yeah.

They're the one where it's like the— I'm curious what's going to happen with the offensive coordinator.

They're the largest drop for me in projected. When I did this exercise and honestly, you're a lot of elite running back.

Yeah.

No, see, I might— that's part of it. I'm a huge fan of Jadarrius Price.

Yeah.

So I think he'll be able to hold them up.

Yeah. And that's going to be a huge component of it. I think that the loss of— He's getting Polanied for sure. The loss of their, you know, of the Charbonnet-Ken Walker combo that got them to the Super Bowl mixed with the loss of Kubiak and the offensive system that just designed guys open so well last year. I worry about that kind of regression. And so they—

Well, they are a regression candidate according to Vegas. They were number 3 in the league last year, projected down to 8 this year, 4-point-per-game loss in their Vegas projections. But the team that I think is going to surprise that I'm going to take above New England, that I'm going to take above Jacksonville.

I'm going to write it down.

You want to try to guess it?

Yeah. Okay.

You didn't write enough letters. I'm taking the Green Bay Packers.

Ooh, I did not write that.

He could have had 2 letters and—

Well, I know. I mean, I could tell from what he wrote. It was one word. I could tell it wasn't 2 words. I could tell it wasn't 2 words. Who did you write down?

I wrote the Broncos because I know that you, uh, you're a believer in Nick's.

I don't think we've said enough about Green Bay and Matt LaFleur. We've said a lot of negatives about the Jacobs situation.

I love it because it means Jordan Love and Christian Watson are going Hamburglar if you believe in that.

Well, this was a team, they were number 16 last year. So this was not where they wanted to be. Their Vegas projection for points per game this year is up at 9. They were extremely efficient. I love Matt LaFleur in the play calling. I love the consolidation of targets for fantasy predict— predictive, you know, benefit with Kraft, with, you know, Golden having an opportunity on the outside consistently. And obviously we like Watson while he's upright. Jayden Reed. Jayden Reed's the kind of guy that you might not be able to start him in fantasy, but will always, always help this roster get into the end zone.

So perfect.

I'm taking Green Bay.

I will say this. I think that there is a world where the Green Bay Packers offense is better without Josh Jacobs. They, they can and have relied on Josh Jacobs to just keep handing him the ball and defense and running game and just chunk, you know, you, you get enough to keep drives alive, which is obviously great and it's good for scoring, but the pace of play, the speed, the explosive plays, they're not there with Jacobs. And I think if you put the ball, if you're forced to put the ball to the Yeet Cannon, Jason, as we have found out.

Yes.

Who's the nickname?

the Yeet Cannon.

And you, this is something that brings tears to my eyes.

That's his real nickname.

That is hilarious.

But genuinely, like Yeet, the explosive opportunities will go up. That doesn't guarantee that they will connect, you know, that Jordan Love will find Matthew Golden down the sideline more often because he's throwing the ball more often. But it is an opportunity that probably wouldn't be there if you are constantly giving Josh Jacobs the ball right up the middle for, you know, another 4 yards, which is a good enough play. But as far as you're looking for high-end explosiveness, I do think it's better with, without Jacobs.

All right, perfect. I'll take Jacksonville. Jason, you're up. All right.

All right. So you're taking Jacksonville.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jason's bowl prediction is dumb.

To be fair, I wasn't out on Jacksonville's offense being good. I'm out on thinking that there will be a consolidation.

There's going to be so many points. It won't matter.

They are projected to be the largest regression candidates along with New England. Number 6 last year in scoring, number 15 this year in Vegas projection.

That's fine for Jacksonville.

Obviously going to play a harder schedule. Obviously they too, like Seattle, have to deal with a complete change at the running back position, which is always interesting when like a high-scoring elite team has a massive change But if it's, if it goes to Tuton, they have a better running back.

You're saying then?

Yes, is what I'm saying. I'm not a, I've never been an Achane Jr. fan.

I know you weren't even an ETN fan.

Oh, that is also correct. So yeah, I will just bet on Tuton being better. I've seen multiple years of Cohen with different personnel and Cohen's offense just works.

Now, if Jason does not take this team with his final pick, well, I will be a huge shock to me.

I feel backed into this team. To be honest, I thought the team I was going to take last here was the Packers because I agree with you, Andy. I think that they're going to be a higher scoring offense than most. And it's not the Seahawks. To me, I feel backed into taking— look, Even when I disagree, I moved them down from where they were in Vegas, but they are super high and Vegas isn't wrong too often and they scored a lot last year. The Shanahan, Brock Purdy, CMC combo is enough to score a lot. At this point, I got to pull the trigger on the Niners.

I thought you were going to be backed into the New England Patriots. That's what I thought you were going to say.

Oh shoot, they're still available. I'm definitely taking Patriots. I was between the Chargers and Patriots. You guys left the Patriots out there.

Yeah, we did.

Oh, you know what, Mike? Let's give them the Patriots for sure.

The Patriots are 7 on my next—

on our next draft. You're stuck with the 49ers.

Dude, the Patriots are going to score a kajillion D points. I know that they are a regression candidate because of the schedule. But like I was saying earlier, I believe that Drake Maye will overcome, especially now that he's got AJ Brown. I am all in on that combination of Maye and Brown. Succeeding.

That's one where it's like, that's one where I—

oh yeah, I got blown.

This was supposed to be a line through.

It does.

The strikethrough doesn't really show up, but yeah, that's an A for effort. There's no way Matt did that.

I get a little bit nervous when I see a huge— like, I don't care about the Vegas projection differentials very much if it's small. I do get nervous when I, you know, we get into the week and we see projections for certain players and when something really doesn't align. I'm like, they're pretty smart.

Yeah.

And when I, when I look at New England, I'm like, it wasn't just the schedule. It was also probably like Drake May's seasons are not going to always be so efficient. The touchdowns. It's weird that they're like, I brought this up when we were talking about the wide receiver room. Like you lose Diggs and you lose Booty. You add AJ Brown.

And Dobbs.

And Dobbs. But, you know, turning over a number scoring offense and the main pass catchers. To me, that is not an easy thing to do from a rapport standpoint, whether, you know, if you want to do it, I'd like to try to do it with AJ Brown. It's just not the easiest thing to do to have people switch teams, go into a more difficult start to the season. So we'll see. I mean, I, I would have been shocked if they weren't in the top 12, which they almost accidentally weren't. But I see that our strikethrough has gotten thicker up there.

That's good work.

make it more clear. It doesn't really.

Do you have a bottom team that you're like, I'll call it, they'll sneak into the top 10?

Oh, like you're not talking about like somebody that's horrible. You're talking about somebody sneaky.

Yeah.

Someone who maybe people might have to plug their nose when you say it. You may not have one.

No, I think that's a great question.

Because you don't have to force it.

I mean, I think, I think the one Jason brought up Denver. Now Denver is projected 20th in Vegas points per game, which would qualify them as sneaky in terms of getting in there.

Yeah.

Their schedule is brutal.

I do have my— I have the perfect hold your nose that I think is going to work out.

All right.

The Houston Texans.

Oh man, that is so stinky.

The Houston Texans are going to be much better.

I need the whole nose plug so I can be hands-free.

Well, now the strikethrough is red.

What are we doing?

What are we doing? He's just working on this. We're done with production.

We're just— Just onto this back wall graphic.

I think this is the final product. We got there.

Oh, we got a different strikethrough graphic. Oh, that looks great.

A team that I find myself really kind of like a wild card because I could see it imploding and I could see them being like a top 5 offense is the Colts. You know, what we saw that last year, you know, the beginning of the season, they were outrageously good. Maybe lucky. Jonathan Taylor was so dominant. No one could stop him. with Daniel Jones there. You know, now you've got the team is back. Daniel Jones appears healthy. Keenan Allen added to the mix. Alec Pierce, the breakout. Tyler Warren year 2. There's a lot of ways it could go right. Their schedule to open the season is pretty tough. And I could see wheels falling off there if it doesn't go well. But they're like my wildcard team. Do you have one? I mean, other than the Saints?

What do you mean other than?

Well, just everybody knows that you think the Saints are going to be the number one scoring team in the league.

The, yeah, I like the Saints a lot. I mean, if anyone, the most realistic jump, I just, I'm looking at the bottom 16 in points per game last year. Like it's Minnesota.

Yeah.

Well, they're 29. They were the only team. I was going to tell you this. The only team that went from a top 5 defense or a top 5 offense to a bottom 10 offense. bottom or sorry, a top 10 offense to a bottom 10 offense. There was only one team that did that last year from 2024 to 2025. And it was the Minnesota Vikings.

I wonder why.

We're all trying to find the guy.

How many teams do you think went from bottom 10 to top 10 last year?

Were that, what if they were, oh, just last year?

Yep. I'm just saying from 2024 to 20, because that's what we're looking at.

Right. Right.

How many teams make that move?

There were the Colts, bottom 10, the Colts.

Colts were not one of them.

Colts weren't bottom 10? No.

The Bears, the Patriots. I mean, again, it's too— it's going from the bottom 10 to the top 10.

Bears, Patriots, Jaguars come to mind. I don't know.

Who'd you say?

Oh yeah.

Bears.

Those are the 3.

Oh, all right.

Yeah. Bears, Patriots. So in 2024, New England was 30th. Jacksonville is 26th. Chicago is 28th. They went to 2, 6, and 9.

It's wild to think about. Like the Patriots 2 years ago, they were down bad. It was like, oh, you losers, enjoy your time at the— no. Okay. Well, welcome back to the top.

Yeah.

New England.

All right. Well, we'll see what happens this year. I think it might be, might be a little tough for New England.

It's going to be harder sledding and the Super Bowl hangover is real.

And the head coaches probably got some hangovers from the offseason as well. Hey, hey, we'll take a break. We'll do some mailbag. All right. Jumping into the mailbag. H. Pierce writing in on Instagram.

No, no. What? You got to hit the button.

I did hit it.

No, that was mailbag. Mailbag presented by Paramount Plus.

Trying to stop me, Andrew.

Yeah, it was the back-to-back break.

I'll say this. Andy's, he's pushing through. He's sick right now and he's still here.

H. Pierce writing in. How many leagues is too many leagues?

As soon as you're annoyed by fantasy football. If it's annoying, you know, Mike brings this up a lot of times. Like if waiver day comes around and it's a burden, something that's just like, oh, Oh, I've got to do waivers, then you're probably in too many leagues.

Yeah.

We've all been there before, you know, doing this full time. We get invited to a lot of leagues, a lot of whatever celebrity or industry leagues. And it's like tempting to say yes. And then you do and then you regret it. I like having 3 or 4 leagues that you care about the most. A couple of dynasty, your main league. And then, and then maybe a couple that I don't care about that much. But how many leagues is too? If you could play in 10 leagues and you are enjoying all of them, then do it. Do 20. Who cares?

Instagram question from MCJ. Emeka Ibuka or Tee Higgins?

I'm going Tee Higgins right now. I took Emeka Ibuka in our chopped league and I've regretted it ever since then.

We don't know for sure that it's turf toe, correct?

Correct.

We just know there is a toe.

We just know for sure that it's turf toe.

Yes.

Also correct.

Well, I'm saying officially it has never been turf toe. It's just your big toe.

Correct.

So there's an 8 out of 10 chance that it's not.

Not by weight.

Well, yeah, your big toe probably weighs the most.

Yeah. So if you're just talking by volume, there's a larger percentage chance. It's probably more like a 33% chance that it's turf toe.

Do they even let you? I mean, can you even strain or sprain your other toes?

Of course.

You wouldn't admit it publicly though, right?

No.

I feel like those just break because turf toe is already bad enough to—

man, they got to rebrand that thing.

Based? Yeah, I know. It sounds so minor.

What about like a toe explosion?

Okay. That's, that's far better.

How about a power toe break?

But it's not a break.

Toe tear. Just a toe tear.

Yeah.

Okay.

That doesn't—

I mean, you think tear is enough?

Oh, a tear is terrible. Swish.

Yeah. Okay.

He did say swish. Otherwise I would be blasting.

I mean, a toe tear is definitely better than saying turf toe. Turf toe is—

I'm going to go long view here. I will take Ibuka. I'm not going to panic about the beginning of the season. I'm going to look for league winner.

I'll still, still, I'm going to go with Tee Higgins.

It's funny because Tee Higgins is also always hurt. So it's a cool combo. Yeah.

But not his toes.

Not currently.

Yeah.

How far would you reach for Joe Burrow to compete, to complete the slat? I can't talk. Hold on. Let's, let's have, let's have the Falcon read it out loud.

Falcon, you're deucer of the day. So why don't you read this question for us?

Yeah. Let's go ahead. I'll paste it in there for you so you don't have to look for it.

It's from Ari Cotter.

Ari Cotter. How far would you reach? Oh, how far would you reach for Joe Burrow to complete the stack with Chase?

I'm so proud of you.

There you go. There you go.

That's all I had to do. Oh man, the people.

They're so proud.

Still half as loud as he needs to be, but that's okay.

They're so proud.

The audience was way louder.

What's the answer?

I mean, Joe Burrow's what, usually going in the 5th round right now?

Yeah, look.

I'm going to let him fall to me. I'm not going to take him in the 4th, I don't think.

4th, if you're going to reach, 4th is where I would do it.

Okay. Tony in New York, would you trade Marshawn Lloyd for Christian Watson or Alec Pierce in a PPR?

For Watson, for sure. Pierce, man. I don't know. I think I'd let the dice, like I'm just going to keep rolling them.

I think I would. I think I would just because of the contract. Alec Pierce is going to be an important part of this team for several years. And we know that he's a wide receiver. He's got a massive bag of money. And, you know, I haven't been as bullish. Andy has been very bullish that he'll be the wide receiver 1 for this team hands down. If that happens, I mean, this would be a home run. Marshawn Lloyd is a very exciting prospect right now. But if you're telling me that a month into the season we go, oh yeah, why did we ever think we could rely on Marshawn Lloyd? Who has never been able to stay healthy. You know, we're going into— is this year 3 or is this year 4?

This is year 3.

So year 3 of Marshawn Lloyd. He hasn't been able to—

He ain't Cannon, Jason.

I mean, I'll tell you what, man. If, if, if Kendre Miller and Marshawn Lloyd— oh dude, do something this year. I mean, that'll be great because we waited so long that we were like, it can't be done.

Instagram question from DJ Hookem. How are we handling Kenyan Sadiq this season? Have we— I feel like we've had no words about Kenyan Sadiq.

It's an important question.

It feels like what happened— I mean, I can give you a perfect comp. Harold Fannon Jr.

Complete.

I mean, the case for Harold Fannon Jr. is worse than the case for Kenyan Sadiq because you had David Njoku there, no offense you had trust in, and a team you absolutely despise.

Yeah. So I agree there.

Talent wins and comes out on top.

And the difference I think is just what did you think of the prospect? Obviously being a top 15 draft pick, you have to pay attention to Sadiq. Just like Fannon last year. When Fannon went off in week 1, everyone went to the waiver wire and scooped him up and he was a great pick if you did. So that's how I'm approaching Sadiq. There's no team where I am taking him. Like my last round pick, I've got other guys I prefer to take shots on than Sadiq.

There was no argument for Fannon at this time last year regardless of how much you liked him in college. The problem with Sadiq though is how long he's been out.

has been hurt in this offseason. And I mean, you know, we have, he missed a bunch of time. Then he had a setback at the beginning of August. Let's see, I'm seeing a report from August 24th-ish, like the Jets were still targeting week 1, but they're going to work Sadiq in slowly, like a tight end with how much they have to learn. Combined with the, with the team Like the Harold Fannon, it, it makes sense except the Jets to me, the difference would be the Jets have Garrett Wilson. Like the Cleveland Browns didn't have, you're going into last year, the number one would have been Jerry Jeudy and Garrett Wilson is much better than Jerry Jeudy. So I just, I know that that target share will go there. I'm, I'm out on Sadiq until something actually happens.

Yeah. You know, let's say how many targets would it take week 1 for you to go and put in a, at least $10 waiver bid on Sadiq? If he gets 8 targets in week 1, it looks great.

Yeah. If I get 8 targets, but I just don't think that's going to happen.

Yeah.

I think that's how you, you, you play your hand with Sadiq is you, you wait until he shows something and then you go hard on the waiver wire if he does. But when I'm at the back of a draft, I'm looking at where he's going. I'd rather take Terrence Ferguson.

I'd rather take Juwanson.

Yeah.

And I, I, well, I'm saying even as like a number 2 for a true breakout or even a different position. Tyler Shook is right next to Sadiq in drafts. And then Sadiq is a waiver guy that you run to get.

That was the mailbag presented by Paramount Plus. Paramount Plus is the streaming home to the NFL on CBS all season long. We'll see you on Sunday. That is going to do it for today's show. We've got players we're afraid to be wrong about tomorrow, a final mock draft on Thursday, and our fantasy MVP episode with many a special guest coming on Friday. Jump in the Megalobowl at megalobowl.com. And if you still have a draft, head to the UDK, ultimatedraftkit.com. We'll catch you tomorrow.

Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter @theFFballers.