Transcript of Fantasy Time Machine + Rashee Rice Suspended! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/27

Great, Scott. If my calculations are correct, you were listening to this before your fantasy football draughts have taken place.

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The fantasy footballer studio is sponsored by Walmart. Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Hollowway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. The fantasy footballers, Wednesday, August 27th. Mike, the fantasy hitman, Jason Moore. I'm Andy Holloway. Great, Scott. We have...

I'm all correct.

We've got a fantasy time machine. Fantasy time machine episode.

Speaking of a time machine, I had an awful experience last night.

Okay.

Last night-With a time machine? With a time machine. It was Tuesday night, and I realized-Oh, I like story time. We are two days away from hearing It's football time. I was like, Football's in due the day after tomorrow. Then I quickly was like, What Wait a minute. I'm a week early. No.

We're week zero, Jason.

I know. There's literally no football. It's opposite of football time. It's football break. That's not fun.

I wish we could put you in a time machine and bring you forward a week, and you could have football, but you have to wait.

Yeah, then you'd miss the draft.

That's true. Yeah.

You guys would draft for me, though? No.

You would wake up and have no players. It's worse than the dream you're... I'm at high I didn't prepare for the test. I got no clothes on. No. How about your dream is you show up Thursday. You didn't draft. You have no players.

I got to build a team off the wire. Oh, man. That's way worse. That's a nightmare.

Oh, my goodness. So, yeah, our League of Record draft coming up. Did I mention on the show that I unloaded Joe Mixon?

Yeah, I think we talked about it.

I'm feeling really good about that right now. I'm feeling really good. We got more rumblings this morning. The general manager, I think, coming out and just saying like- People We're not trusting the vibes. Just basically, we'll see if he's back this season. I mean, some people saying that... Let's see if I can find the exact quote because I want to give credit for it. But John McClane was talking about, I don't think many will be surprised if Joe Mixon does not play at all this season. So much mystery about the injury, rehab situation, timetable. I've never seen anything like it. I mean, it's getting to the point where, I guess, if you want to spend the final pick in your draft to put him on IR and then sign somebody, that makes sense. But I don't know. Re-evaluated in four weeks. You got to remember, this guy has not been on a field. It's not like he was on the field in training camp and then had a setback and got off. He could not run at all. I'm hearing big things about feet and runningbacks this year, and I think you need them.

Yeah, it's really sucky situation.

See, Isiah Pacheco.

We talked about this.

Did you see him flying to the wall, by the way?

Sorry. Yes, in preseason. That guy practices hard.

Yeah, the general manager, nick Casario. Once we get through four weeks, we'll evaluate it at that time, ask if he anticipates him playing. We'll see. We'll take it one day at a time. So there you go. Did we get an official... Is this breaking news? Yeah, it is.

Breaking news. I didn't hit it because we are not into the news section.

No, we do what we want, Mike. Okay. All right, we got there.

It's from Pelicero.

Rashi Rice is accepting and will serve a six-game suspension to start the 2025 regular season. Why did I chuckle? I chuckled because moments ago- Oh, it's so good. Mike, the fantasy hitman, in our... We started up an office chopped league. It's a guillotine-style league where the lowest score of the week gets chopped. Mike was like, I'm on a big brain this thing. I want to pick up some Rashi rice because- Because you get the first four weeks before his trial.

In the moment, it was an elite play of I don't care. I will get four weeks of rice production, and I'll be able to figure it out.

So you don't get chopped?

Yeah, well.

So six games. Look, this is- You got chopped.

I'm about to get chop-suied.

We finally have an answer. It's been a long- Wake up. Yeah, we got an answer. Six weeks, Rashi Rice off the field. I mean, initial, immediate, in the moment reactions. How does that change your perspective on somebody like Travis Kelsey to start the year? On Xavier worthy, who has looked outstanding.

They have talked a lot.

Who I also just bypassed.

Talk is cheap. They've been talking about downfield passing. It's perfect for Xavier worthy. I do believe, I mean, I've made this very clear that Travis Kelsey and Rashi Rice, they They are fighting over those same area of the field first read targets, where the play pre-snapped, they go, Okay, I see the coverage. They're going to get open, and just give them the little slant. And Kelsey's going to get off to a much, much strong or start this year. He becomes someone that I think would be a much better pick, Mike, in a chopped league.

Yeah, yeah. No, he would. Overall- Mike is tilting over here.

Yeah, yeah. Passed on Xavier-worthy, drafted Rashe Rice.

Boom. Suspended.

Yeah. Whoops-a-doozle. Overall, I think that for fantasy players, this is better. It's not the shadow monster waiting just to come and take rice off of your roster. If you draft him, you know what... Now, if you draft him, you know what you're getting into, which is these first six games.

Where does that put him in the draft in your mind? If you're missing six weeks, you know what it is. You don't get to put When you come on IR. You lose a bench spot. It's a bench deletion that you're drafting.

I'm still good with him in the sixth or the seventh because I think he will be so good.

Jason had a reaction to that. I would not be taking him in the six or seventh, personally. I believe that he has the true impact potential. Six weeks is a long time to miss.

Let me go make sure. Let me go look at names.

When does playoff start?

Playoff would be 15, 16, 17. So week 15. Okay.

Okay, so you would get minus a buy week in there, you get Rashi Rice from weeks seven to 14. Correct. So six weeks?

Right. But you- Six weeks of Rice? If you start 'O' and '06, it's going to be tough sledding. I don't think you're going to start '08.

You're not going to start '08 and '06 just because you're 6: 00.

But my point is, if you're taking him as one of your primary starting spots and then clogging a bench spot, additionally, it's going to be tough sledding.

I'd probably be more eighth, ninth. Yeah, that's exactly the word. Maybe later than that.

I'm looking right now, sixth sixth, no, because you got George. George and Jameson are in Travis Hunter.

Where's worthy going right now?

Fifth? Let me double check.

Because he's got to be the pickover.

He's at the back of the fifth.

People need to understand, Rashi Rice is great. I'm not saying he's not a great player, but the little sample size of excitement was three games last year, and it was really one big game. Sure.

But that was just last year. You saw it the year before, too. The end of the season, Rice was really showing up.

Let me finish the thought here. Xavier Horthy was a brand new rookie who came on in a huge way over the back half of the season. Hollywood Brown was not healthy or active on this roster either. Sure. I'm just saying, let's not solidify him into the Hall of Fame of producers.

Let me put that to the test then, and I'm going to go down and say, Would you take this wide receiver over R ushy Rice? And then we'll know where we land round-wise. All right, Mike, you and I.

Here we go.

Would you rather have Chris Olave or R ushy Rice?

I'll take Olave.

That's already really close to me.

I would take Olave as well.

Because we're talking seventh round?

That would be in the seventh.

There's a world where I take Rice over Olave.

What about Calvin I'll take Ridley. Same.

I'll take Ridley.

Same. When we're at this point-Okay, let's go deeper.

Let's go deeper and see. Would you rather have Debo Samuel?

No, for sure not.

Andy?

Yes.

Yeah, I would as well.

You and I are lockstep right now. Mike looking at Rice with more league-winning potential in mind.

Ricky Pearsall.

Oh, Pearsall.

Ironically, he is later than all those other guys that I named.

Matthew Golden, rookie.

I'll take Richie Rice. Golden.

I think I'm still on the golden side there. Igbuka, he'll be higher than this in your draft, but I would definitely go with Igbuka.

Name somebody where I can choose Rice.

What about Khalil Shaq here?

I think it's Shaq here.

See, that's where I would go with Rice, because I don't think Shaq here is a difference maker for your roster. I'm fine missing out on a Khalil Shaq here. For me, it looks like for Mike, it's seventh round. For me, it's ninth round. For you, it's even later.

Ninth or 10th, yeah. All right. We'll have all these updates into the ultimate draft kit immediately after the show. Tier-based rankings, premium stat projections, 100 plus player profile videos, including some updates. We're going to add a Tyler Warren video. Custom cheat sheets, sleepers breakouts, bus values, and all of the new features this year, like the value scout, custom player marking. If you're drafting this weekend, you need the UDK. I've been getting a lot of the screenshots of the teams that people have been drafting with the UDK lately from friends and family. It's working out. So you want to check that out, ultimatedraftkit. Com. And one of your final invitations to the Megalable as well, which is our 20,000 plus person league. All the details are at meglable. Com, but it's going to be very, very fun this year. Draft times are coming up soon. All right. I'm going to detour us into a quick question, and then we'll head back to some other news. Okay. But I've been wanting to ask this question because we talk about staying water, about reacting to what's in front of you, not just your preconceived notions and ideas about players and situations.

Sometimes you do need to have a quick trigger. You got to adjust. Maybe that's Jivante Williams, for example, in Dallas, where it's like, Jaden Blue is banged up and Miles Sanders is nothing, and you just have to accept, Here's a starter, whatever. What player right now that everybody else is really down on, so you're talking about a consensus negative opinion about a player, has the best chance in your mind to just completely flip the script, just be The opposite of what everybody expects.

I think I've been more and more realizing that Jalen Waddle is a good pick. He's fallen down from a disappointing year last year, wide receiver 46. Oh, he sucked. No, he didn't. I mean, it's shocking, but he really didn't suck. Last year, he comes out week one. He's five for 109 with Tua, and then Tua gets injured. Then when Tua gets back, he's got five games together with him before Waddle gets injured. In those five games, he was on pace for 1,300 yards. It was like he didn't suck. It just Tua got injured. The injuries were a catastrophe for the Dolphins and for Waddle, but he's a good player. Honestly, another year older, another But Tyreek Hill, maybe he's back to his old self. Probably not. Maybe he's even worse. I think at the end of this year, it will be clear that Jalen Waddle is the number one wide receiver for Tua. If you look, even dynasty-wise, I just talked about this on the dynasty show, contract-wise, They can get out of Tyreek at the end of this year. Even if the whole regime changes, if the Dolphins collapse and it's all new, Waddle is under contract, big boy contract for many years.

I think he's the wide receiver one going forward.

I have said that monolog into the mirror.

Yeah, you're not allowed.

So many times, Jalen Waddle was the my guy, and I'm like, It wasn't that bad. It wasn't as bad.

From what I understand, when Ken Walker missed his time for Seattle, First person he calls to see if they're available to hang out, Jalen Waddle. They are the mirror of each other. None of us on the planet doubt the extra special ability of either player. Availability has not been an ability either of them have had. But when they're on the field, they're elite. Waddle mixes his unavailability with also limping off the field regularly.

Waddle plays in the games. He just leaves each game 12 times.

How many games did he play in?

Because this distance- He played in 15. He only missed two games.

Oh, my gosh. No, he didn't. Liar.

Exactly.

He had someone put the jersey on for him.

15, 14, 17, and 16. I believe the 16 was a full season.

What are the snap counts?

Don't worry about whether he was on the field.

No, that's a good pick. Miami needs a plan. Just They need the rest plan.

Right. Oh, a plan. Yeah, like Ken Walker.

Because that's working for Ken Bohn.

They've never had a plan until this year, Jason. We'll find out.

I'm going to say Breese Hall. I think Breese Hall is the answer to the question. You can subvert a lot of negativity. You can work around a lot of opportunity issues, team issues, by just catching the ball a bunch. You just catch the ball a ton of times on a bad team, even if they are bad. And it works out. I mean, that is Brees Hall's secret weapon. That's where Brees Hall has been relevant with bad quarterbacks for his entire career when he's had them. So when I look at an easy way to flip the script, it's not like people weren't I was thinking about Braille and Allen last year. They were. They were excited about them. Braille and Allen came out, had a couple splash games, then fated away. So if you want to say, Look, everybody in the world, which I know, nobody wants to draft Brees Hall. He drops in every draft until somebody finally goes, Oh, I guess I got to do it. But there's a world where Brees Hall just catches a bunch of passes. We joke about the fact that Wilson will have a million targets, and there's no one around him, right?

So what happens when you have abandoned targets at wide receiver?

A lot of the times, I go to the running back position.

Historically, that's been the case. He's one of a very few select running backs that have average five plus targets and 13 plus rush attempts per game. It might be gross. You might hold your nose when you make the pick, but I can see that flipping to the point where somebody's like, Oh, gosh, shoot.

Why do we do that? Yeah, I just need him to drop a little bit. I'm going to go with a late ninth round pick. It's Jaden Reid of the Green Bay Packers, who is good. He is a good player, produces when he's on the field, generally speaking, but the team to keep him off of the field when they go into two wide receiver sets. It's just Matthew Golden, very exciting first-round rookie pick. But do we make anything of the meetings that Jaden Reid had with the brass of like, Hey, I'm still the number one wide receiver for this team. I like Jordan Love in the passing attack to rebound from what it was last year. And there's a chance that Jaden Reid in the ninth, we're all just... We're all so upset by how it started compared to how it finished. Like a nuclear beginning. Here, two of the first four weeks, he was over 23 points. I'm just saying maybe I'll leave a little space for him to be truly the number one guy and actually get more snaps.

It makes sense. I do love that offense. Like you said, bouncing back. Josh Jacobs is the muscle, but they're going to get the passing game going. All right, let's circle back into some news.

News and notes from Around the League, presented by Progressive Insurance.

In case you skipped ahead to this news segment, we did talk about the entire Rashi Rice suspension at the top of the show. If you want to listen to the analysis there. Here we go. We got it. Adam Thelen. We tried hard. We worked hard. Purple. The background was purple, Mike. I'm going home. Adam Thelen traded to the Vikings from the Panthers. We did it. The Panthers also cut Hunter Renfro. So their situation, I think... Jalen Coker. Please, please, please pay attention to Jalen Coker.

It was interesting that they cut Renfro yesterday only to do the Adam Thielen trade today. I wonder if they...

We're slimming down.

It's possible they do the whole waiver process, and then they bring Renfro back. But yes, as of right now, Jalen Coker, for deep league, is someone to pay attention to.

I think he is a better player than Xavier Laguette.

He could be.

Would you draft him over Laguette?

I would absolutely draft Coker.

Because that just happened in one of my leads.

I would also draft him over Cedric Tillman. People like Cedric Tillman this year with a couple of other wide receiver situations there. I think Jalen Coker is very interesting. If you like If you like, Bryce Young, it's also like wheels up for Teteroa and McMillan. Not that we weren't already all in, but you take a target hog like Adam Thelen off a roster?

It sounds funny to say, but Adam Thelen was probably my biggest worry in the receiving core for Teteroa.

You said it all off-season.

For Teteroa and McMillan, they had a really good sync between Adam Thelen and Bryce Young. You saw it in the second half of last year, and it's one of those things where it's just like, I don't want that to be the first read. I want it to be Tet. So this is great news for Tet.

All right, Tim Patrick jettisoned away from the lions for a six-round pick. He heads to Jacksonville.

What does that mean?

That means that Isaac- I'm never going back to the past That mic is... Oh, okay.

Oh, Tesla.

Isaac Tesla.

We got a new... That is electric.

I'm going to be honest. That's on par with the train, the original train.

How did that start on you? The volume level. It was a little bit loud. Let me check it again.

Oh, that's so loud. That's way too... I love it.

That's way too... I love it. Brooks said, I thought my computer was freaking out.

Don't you touch a thing.

That is... Yeah, if you're in the car, you thought an EMP just hit or something. Isaac Tesla is ready to rumble for the lions. The big thing there, too, is if an injury were to happen, Amunra has been banged up before. Jamieson Williams has been suspended before. If something happens and there's one more... That's what I think it is to me. One shoe drops, right? Laporta, or Gibbs, or Amun Ra, or Jamieson. One of those guys goes down. Tisla is not just relevant. He might be really good.

Right. Both of these pieces of news, my confidence in JJ- Still scared of that sound effect, man. What, this one?

It's in my brain. It's in my brain.

I talked about JJ McCarthy. I made a bold proclamation about him yesterday. The Adam Thelen news just makes me a little bit more confident and secure of that crazy thing happening. This is great news for Jared Goff. Tim Patrick, a. K. A. Fireball Jones. I think he's back to being... He's a fine wide receiver 3.

Solid, yeah.

Tesla is upside. Yep.

Yeah, no. And can really win at the goal line, deep passes, competitive catches. You love it. Spencer Rattler was named the week one starter Go ahead. Go ahead, Al. Just hit me with another sound effect on our funky DJ radio DJ morning. But Spencer Rattler is the week one starter. Tyler Shuck. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, Really? You can't. Really, man?

I mean, if you played that many years of college and you come in and can't beat Spencer Rattler- Really? That's bad. They are playing for that number one pick.

Maybe I'll change my Chris Olave choice with Rashi Rice. I don't know. Devon Achan will be ready for week one against the Colts. Took a shot on him in a late second round yesterday, just betting that he'd be back. I felt like- You brought it up on the show earlier that there was- Overreactions.

Reports going on that he might miss the first three weeks, but it was literally just one person's, really, opinion. It wasn't an insider with specific knowledge. That was overblown a little bit. I just give massive credit to that guy because I assume he's drafting Achan everywhere. You know what I mean? Yeah, that dude. I got to start this method.

Little market manipulation.

Yes.

All right, the chargers-There's no regulation here.

It's the Wild West.

Yeah, the SEC ain't coming after you. Najee Harris, activated from the reserve non-football injury list, the team waived Kamani Vidal-Sassun. I noted Vidal-Sassun and Audric Estimey-Lotter, both cut this weekend.

They got shaved.

Okay. All right.

Estimey, did you guys see the little blurb on Estimé?

Is he Practice Squad?

No, they're saying he's not expected. He will not be expected to be back to Denver. If this isn't the cut, I'm not He's saying he's a special player, but he could go wreck a couple of situations. He could go to Dallas. Estimé? Yeah. In terms of a goal line. He could go to Dallas, he could go to Chicago and make things a little messier.

I believe... I don't think Estimé... You always liked Esdame more than I did. I didn't love his college film. But I will say that some of the reports from... Basically, he was pouting. His workload, his opportunity, he was just a bad attitude about it. More than just he's so untalent talented that we won't even bring him back to the practice squad. And so, yeah, maybe he does find another spot and vulture some goal lines.

Isiah likely avoided opening the season on IR.

That doesn't mean he'll play week one, but it means he doesn't have to miss four weeks.

It's like Godwin.

Yeah, exactly.

Darnell Mooney also avoided starting the season on IR. That's like likely. Yeah. Thank you. No, we're going to have more of those, aren't we? Chris Godwin And then he avoided being on-Oh, just like Mooney. Hey, this is news right here. Kate Otton is going to miss time with a leg injury after we had the discussion about him. They are hurting. Godwin Otton, McMillan, not going to be available to this team. I don't know how you feel about Baker to start this season, but it gives me some hesitation. I think he needs another piece back because I think the team can succeed running the football, and I think there's going to be a heavy dose of Bucky Irving, maybe even in the passing game. I loved what I saw in the preseason from Bucky in the passing game in training camp. That's the magic way that Bucky becomes a top five running back. That's the path, is he becomes a pass catcher.

Do you have any interest in Taz Johnson? At this point, Tez Johnson's looked pretty good as- He will have a role to start the season, no question, right away. You know what I did not know this until a week or so ago, which apparently, Tez Johnson says a lot of people are unaware of this. Did you know he is Bo Nix's brother?

Yes, I did, actually.

He is Bo Nix's brother. They adopted him. Their family adopted Tess Johnson, I think, when he was 14 or so, and so they grew up together.

I did not know that. His younger adopted brother. Fun fact. Yeah. All right. Kristen Watson is on the reserve PUP list, as was Marshawn Lloyd.

Goodness gracious.

Because he lives there. He has a whole setup. He's got the couch, the chair. Brandon Ayuk, also on the pop. And MVS was released by the Seahawks. Red alert, Tori Horton. Has won the wide receiver three job and only has the aging Cooper Cup to compete with. So MBS is gone, which was a big deal. Tori Horton, been a nasty boy in the dynasty show, but also mentioned here. And MBS ends up signing with the depleted 49ers who literally have nobody but Pierre Saul and Sky more right now. So MBS joins the 49ers. So CMC, George Kittle, probably going to be pretty good to start the year.

Hopefully, they don't- This is really exciting for both of their opportunities and really scary for both of their workloads because they will be inundated with targets.

I made the joke on X the other day that people don't know, but they want They want Christian McCaffee to be the Rb5. That's what you really want. That's what you want, because that means he's not overworked and injured. If he'd go out and he's got 30 plus touches in week one, you may be singing in the streets, Mike, but I know in the back of your head, you know what that's going to mean.

No, we want the running back one. We want them overworked and uninjured.

It can happen.

It's very low on any play.

I would say it's about 40% odds. What can happen? Being injured? 40% odds. That's what I would put it at. Two of the last five years.

No. Two of the last five years has been good. Yeah. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying to get hurt because that would be 60%.

No, I'm a glass half full guy.

I'm curious. I wonder if Brian Robinson sees more time. I'd be blown away at this age with that history that Christian McCaffrey is getting the workload that he used to get. But we'll find out very soon. But not this week, Jason. That was News & Notes, sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at progressive. Com, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers. Not available in all states or situations, coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. We're taking a break, and we're jumping in the time machine. All right, it's time. Marty, you've got to come back with me.

Where?

Back to the future.

All right. Welcome in, one and all. We're entering the time machine. We're looking to travel forward in time and talk about who we think will be this year's version of a player we saw on the field last year. So we are starting with journeying to find the 2025 Terry McLaurin. Obviously, Terry McLaren was a revelation. He was drafted after the top 30 wideouts last year, finished at wide receiver five on the back of 13 TDs. So we are traveling forward in time, looking to find an older wide receiver drafted later who could have an outlier season, thanks to a new offensive system or quarterback. What do you got?

I'll go first because this, to me, seems so similar. You have a brand new top of the NFL draft, quarterback, rookie coming in. We've talked about over the years, a rookie quarterback doesn't usually support a ton of touch downs and high-end fan as he finishes. But also over the more recent history, things have been changing with that. These rookies are coming in better. And Kam Ward, the number one overall pick in the NFL draft, could just very well make Calvin Ridley a A great fantasy asset. Calvin Ridley hasn't really lost anything. I mean, he was disappointing last year, but he had over a thousand yards. He just had Will Levis targets. He had really, really bad. He had 24% target share. Stank targets. But it's like, how much of that was catchable? Right now, we still have him projected for a 24% market share, which is a great number. But you're going from Will Levis targets up to Kam Ward targets. He's looked really good through camp, through preseason. I think Kam Ward will work. To me, Calvin Ridley, he's an older guy being drafted outside the wide receiver. He's right now the wide receiver 32.

That's exactly where McLaren was drafted last year, the exact same wide receiver numbers.

Yeah, they're both good wide receivers who dealt with bad quarterback play, who are alone. Last year, the biggest target competition for Terry McLaren was like, Zackerts. And yeah, Calvin Ridley, the Titans, drafted a bazillion rookie wide receiver.

They cut one of them yesterday. Right.

So sad. But Calvin Ridley is the clear primary target in this offense. So if Kam Ward comes out and has a good season and throws enough touch downs as a rookie, it will be Calvin Ridley having a great fantasy finish.

All right. This year's Terry McLaurin, Mike. Who do you have?

So I will start by... I missed our note of change of offensive system or quarterback. I just went with an older wide receiver who I think could They finally have that year. Things are stacked against him right now because of the calf injury. But the ADP is going down. And Juan Jennings, they just signed MVS. They signed MVS. That tells you where the San Francisco 49ers are currently with their wide receiver room. We did get news that the Patriots have let Kendrick Bourne go. So I am curious if he ends up back with the 49ers. That would certainly put a damper in this. But Juan Jennings, he's older, he's 28. But among wide receivers with 75 or more targets, he was 12th in yards per route run and 14th in fancy points per route run. What's your face? What's your face, Doug? What?

I'm sitting here so excited for Andy's answer, and he just goes and deletes it in the dark. He just removes it and changes it. I saw you. I saw you change, you coward. But that's fine. That's fine. I was like, What?

I'm like, Johan Jennings is just a 10th, 11th-round pick. What are we so upset about over here?

I just made a decision between two names, which is my right.

Yes, it's your right. Just a bad call. We're going? Go on, Mike.

Mike was talking.

Johan Jennings hate the calf injury, but as things kick off, I think there's a chance that he still has to be very important to the wide receiver room. All right, Eddie, which What's your answer are you going with?

Look, I'll go with two. But what's great is Kyle... So my original answer was Keenan Allen. Because I do wonder, I find myself passing on Lad McConkey a little bit because what Keenan does great, what they replaced Keenan with was Lad McConkey. And Keenan was still great last year. Now, he's 33 years old, which to some is old. Now, to Kyle, his quote was, he's entering his Jesus year, which is a different perspective on 33. But But I do think Keenan, Lad McConkey, Keenan, entirely undrafted, not cared about, wide receiver, wherever he was. Where was he? Where's his current ADP?

Wide receiver 56.

But the other name I wanted to throw out that fits the mold is a player on the same exact team being drafted in the same exact spot as last year's Terry McLaren. So that's why I was going to pivot to Debo Samuel. Now, we've talked about him. You know I believe in him, but he's the wide receiver 36 off the board. He's playing for the same quarterback that did it for Terry McLaren last year, and I don't think he's lost a step. Those would be two answers. I think Keenan is definitely worth a flyer. We've talked about that. I just wonder how much he does negatively impact Lad McConkey. I think people just want to say, Well, McConkey is good, so he can't impact him. I just don't find that to be true. I don't think that that makes sense to me. The amount of targets and the fact that Lad McConkey had to be there everything for the entire year, I don't know if he has to be that anymore.

Harbaugh is a good coach who wins NFL football games. He is not exactly the guy that you want necessarily for fantasy purposes, because he's going to want the ball spread around. He's going to want to run it well. He's going to want to play good defense. So I think Keenan will be very relevant. And I love Keenan as a pick.

He's been- That's why it was my pick. I totally- He's just so absurdly late, and the ADP can't really update quick enough for him because he spent the whole offseason not on a roster.

But it does- So where are you going to take him? Because the ADP won't update He is going to be a wild card that there's going to be a handful of people in the league who have starved Keenan Allen and realize, if I want Keenan, I have to find my place and where I just take him. No matter when you take him, it will be multiple rounds ahead of ADP. So are you the ninth, the 10th?

I'm looking. So this is a super flex league, but I just took him in an experts league in the 12th. Okay. And he got there. I was thrilled.

It's interesting.

What do we do with finding the 2025 version of Bucky Irving? He was undrafted last year. He finished his Rb15. So we're looking for a day three running back. So Bucky was a late draft pick as well. A day three running back that could overtake an inefficient incumbent starting running back. The names will not sound good because Bucky did not sound good last year. Anybody but Mike?

Well, Bucky was talented. I think that the issues were, obviously, first and foremost, his draft capital. When you're a day three pick, you just pretty much presume failure from a fantasy football perspective. But he was a talented player in Oregon, and that's what I'm focused on here. I'm focused on who's the most talented day three running back, and to me, that's Cam Skatebu. We brought him up through the offseason. He's outstanding. Fourth-round pick, went on 105th overall. He's in third in yards after contact behind only Genti and Omarian Hampton in this draft class, and this is an excellent draft class. The only running backs drafted with 50 plus targets and 1. 75 yards per route run in their final collegiate season. Over the last decade, this is Curtis Samuel, Saquon Barkley, Kam Skatebu, Jamir Gibbs, Tony Pollard. The list of these guys is Really, really good players. I believe Kam Skatebu is talented enough to just come onto the scene and say, Wow, I can catch the ball. I can break tackles. I can do this in the NFL.

I hope he says that actually.

Like, Wow, I can catch the ball. I think he has to. I think he's got to look in the mirror and hype himself up because nobody believes it.

All right, I'm going to go with Jaden Blue. Dallas Cowboy running back. He was very productive in terms of efficiency at Texas, Big 12, SEC football. Can catch the football. I do think we're going to get stuck in the similar Zeke Daudell situation in Dallas, where you persist with Givante.

They keep playing the worst option until halfway through.

For a little while until you give in and say, Wow, I would like some juice versus no juice. Daudell, compared to Zeke, looks like Adrian Peterson. I think Givante is not far off of that comparison. I think Jaden Blue is somebody to pay attention to. You could tuck them on your bench. You could just wait in the waiver wire to see what... If you get a bad week from Javante, start to circle Jaden Blue on the waiver wire.

I went the opposite direction you went, Jason, because you went best day three running back. I went, I just want to bet against DeAndre Swift. Right.

Worst starting running back.

Whenever I can bet against Swift, I'm going to do it. So I will take Kyle Monungai, or as Jason calls him, Monunga guy. Monunga guy. He was a seventh rounder. Bear's head coach, Ben Johnson, quote, I'm very pleased with where he's at. I think he's a guy we're going to be able to trust this fall. Monungai had back to back 1,200 plus rushing yards at Rutgers, the same school as Pacheco.

Seventh rounder.

Seventh rounder. If these trends continue, like I said, this is literally This is not a bet on Monunga. This is a bet on Ben Johnson and the Bears and a bet against DeAndre Swift. I rest my case.

Okay. What about finding 2025's Janu Smith. So basically undrafted last year, ends up tight in four, seven top five finishes. Basically a tight-end left for dead.

It's not Andy. You can pivot your pick. I've seen you do it already.

No. Yeah, I can do what I want, but I'm pivoting here. Tied-end left for dead. Who could be top five? That's a high bar.

It is a high bar.

You got to get up into top five.

I think all three of ours actually could happen. Dalton Kincaid is my pick, a guy who is so... You want to talk about a disappointment. There was so much excitement for second year, Dalton Kincaid. They needed him so bad. His opportunity was great. And in truth, he just didn't look that good. To me, I talked about it throughout the season last year. I don't think he's got it. However, there were reports of injuries and all these things that hampered him. His opportunity is still there. Tight ends take several years sometimes to develop. So he's a young guy entering year three, a former first-round pick, and he's still on a team where, okay, Keion Coleman, maybe he steps up. But if he doesn't, Khalil Shaqir, who's really going to take over? There's no one. So the ball is going to spread around unless someone steps up, levels up. I think that his opportunity to do so still exists. You want a guy on a good offense who has scoring opportunities. Dalton Kakeh. I mean, right now, he's undrafted. He's the tight-end 14.

We have bailed. Oh, yeah. Every eject button on Dalton Kinkade was pressed.

You want to know why? Kyle Pitz. Because some people didn't eject after After year two, they were like- It's an unkind set up to my answer. Yeah. Anyways, go on, Andy.

Who's your guy that's definitely going to be a top five tight-end? It's Kyle Pitz.

Do you realize he was five of seven weeks in the top 12 last year to start the year before the quarterback changes happened?

I did not.

Five of seven weeks. He was actually relevant last year.

Wait, the quarterback changes? Oh, he got the quarterback that he's going to play with all year now?

No.

Oh.

No. I mean, obviously, Actually, Kirk Cousins started... He changed. He changed to Kirk Cousins' RIP version.

Right.

And so Kyle Pitz, they don't have options there. You just picked him. See, you're attacking me. In yesterday's show, you picked him Who is a top 10 tight end.

I actually, genuinely- You're like, Don't remember that. No, I am wanting to dunk on you or Mike or anyone I can whenever I can. It's not popular, but I actually do think Kyle Pitz is going to be very involved this year and has as good a chance to be a top 10 tight-end as anyone else.

Hey, does this help if I say, Hey, that's Kyle Pitz senior?

His dad's playing?

No. He had a baby, so now he is Kyle Pitz senior. And I'll just say- Has he grown up? Well, he's looked like Kyle Pitz senior for a couple of years. I'm going to be honest.

Is he still 20 years old?

Yeah, he's 24 years old right now.

The problem, by the way, you brought out Dalton Kincaid. What's the problem with Dalton Kincaid? Two touch downs each year. I mean, that is not going to get it done. Kyle Pitz, you need red zone touch downs. You need that to change. But you do have the opportunity for that to happen and to build that rapport that he's been building with Michael Penny Jr.

He should get five touch downs this year. If I'm looking at his career, one, touch down rookie season, two, sophomore, Three the next year, four the next year. It's funny because- He plays a decade.

Kincaid was the tight end 11 with two touch downs in his rookie season. Kyle Pitz was the tight end seven with one touch down in his rookie season. They really are parallel to one another. But you look at talent, like athleticism, snap count, both of those guys, if things go the right way, I could see being a surprise to show up. I mean, Johnny Smith, late in his career, got it done. Mike, your answer?

I'm going with a tight-end who just got paid a big bag of money. A four-Colcomat? No, recently. Oh, okay. Four-year, $50 million extension, $28 million guaranteed. It's the sixth highest average salary among the tight-end position is Jake Ferguson of the Dallas Cowboys. And he's being drafted as the tight-end 16. He is being completely left off of people's boards. And got to remember what happened last year. Week one, he comes out, he gets hurt. He misses week two. And then after that, he only has six games with Dak Prescott, which he hits the 10-point threshold in three of those six games, all without a countdown. He literally had zero touch downs last year. I'm saying that as a good thing of if you can get 10 points in a half-point scoring format at the tight-end position without a countdown, that's great. It means that You're primed. Dak Prescott, historically, loves throwing seam routes to the tight-end position. Jake Ferguson is a good player. He was rewarded, and he is being completely forgotten by people. If we get a full season of Dak, it would shock me if Jake is not in the top 10. Not always the most helpful position to have tight in 8 through 10.

He needs somebody, though.

To me, he easily beats his ADP.

All right, let's take another We'll take a quick break, and we'll come back and find 2025 Sam Darnold. All right, hopping into the time machine, we're looking at discovering the 2025 version of Sam Darnold. What are we talking about? A player undrafted, new offense, could finish inside the top 10. I will say this, Sam Darnold qualifies.

Yeah, it could be Sam Darnal.

It could be this year's Sam Darnal. That might be the best answer, legit. I think this year's Sam Darnal could be last year's Sam Darnal.

Do you want to know why it could be the best answer is because last year, the answer would never have been... We didn't want Sam Darnal. We didn't believe in Sam Darnal because he's Sam Darnal. And this year, none of us took him as the answer. He was like, No way.

You know what? I'm pivoting to Sam Darnal. Are you Yeah, I am.

I think it's Sam Darnal. I like it.

I think Sam Darnal is the answer. You have a team that people don't know for sure if this offensive line is going to hold up. You like the running game. Tori Horton, Cooper Cup, Jackson Smith, and Jigba, that could be a Very powerful wide receiver room. Could be. You've got Arroyo, and you've got AJ Barner at tight in, and he's looked good. I think this year's Sam Darnal is going to be also last year's Sam Darnal.

He will definitely need to be efficient.

4,335 last year.

People- He was excellent.

People are- He was really good. That system was great, and also Justin Jefferson was pretty good.

It's weird that we expect Gino to leave Seattle and be great in Las Vegas, but we don't expect Darnal to leave Minnesota and be able to be great in Seattle.

I think we expect Gino to continue being what Gino was.

But that is an upgrade for Las Vegas.

And he's back with Pete.

Yeah, he's back with Pete. He's got Brock Bowers. If you really believe JSN is going to become elite, that's helpful. I'll just throw real quick for that because you were talking about the run game, Andy.

Seattle, everyone's cutting down. Excuse me. Everyone's cutting down to the 53. This team has four tight ends and two fullbacks. This team is going to be running the ball. Darnal could do it. He'll have to do it through efficiency because the volume, I think, goes the other way. But just If you're not in a walker, you really should be drafting Charvin A.

Okay, that's my answer. Sam Darnold is the answer for the Sam Darnold. Jason, 2025, Sam Darnold will be?

I think it could be Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence, sophomore year comes out, was already a top 10 fantasy quarterback, so we know he could do it, had a down year, and then got injured last year, gets the change at coordinator, gets the added piece of Travis Hunter, has year two, Brian Thomas. I think the weapons there- Tim Patrick. Yeah, I mean, Tim Patrick is a nice wide receiver three.

He's probably five. I mean, Diamy Brown and Parker Washington will be above him. Sure.

My point is he's not one of the top two wide receivers because you have two stud wide receiving options here. This is surprising. Fourth most passing touch downs over the last three seasons that traveled more than 20 yards in the air. You put Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr. With a good hopeful upgrade coordinator in the system. I think they have a lot of weapons there. If you look at Jacksonville as one of those teams that could take that leap forward, offensively speaking. Warren Sharp's sixth easiest ranked strength of schedule for 2025. You could see how it won't be shocking if the Jaguars come out put up a boatload of points.

Yeah, I think the story of Trevor Lawrence has always been, can you go from Jay Cutler to something consistent and reliable and week to week? Because he's flashed. He's had big games. He's got talented receivers. But can you suddenly... Can you go Baker? Can you resurrect? Can you be a big time passer without the turnovers every week?

It's funny because obviously, he got injured, missed a chunk of this last season, but If you compare his consistency to Mahomes, who ranks F in consistency, he's a C in consistency. He hasn't been great, but he's shown enough where I do think he can get it.

Then average.

Yeah. It's a passing grade, Mike.

You say Trevor Lawrence. I'll raise you even nastier. I'm going… It's Daniel Jones. It's Daniel Jones, the new starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. He has averaged 31 rushing yards per game in his career, which is actually the seventh most of any quarterback since 2000. This is a tweet from Scott Barrett who said, Daniel Jones' offensive line, rank by year, 32nd, 30th, 28, 32nd, 31st, and now, seventh. The weapons, while you're not like, Oh, my gosh, just an abundance of riches. But he has players that by next year, by By next year, Tyler Warren could jump into being drafted as a top three tight-in. Josh Downs, I think, he could make a jump to be a top 24 drafted wide receiver. Of course, checking it down to Johnny Taylor.

Okay, go ahead. It's a legit philosophical question here for both of you. If you are the quarterback, you are a professional quarterback, would you rather have Malik Nabors and nothing? Forget the other situation. Just as a wide receiver core, would you rather have a Malik Nabors with no other great options to throw the ball to? Or would you rather have a Pitman, a Downs, a Tyler Warren?

I lean the way of having multiple good weapons over one just elite player. Can I pick the offensive line? And then throw in the offensive line.

No, the offensive line is average in both situations.

I'll go the neighbor's side because I think Slate and Wanddale are probably fine alongside Millie Chambers.

I would definitely go the neighbor's way because I'm going to be one read and get the ball out every time. So my second, if I'm the We saw what happened.

They did that last year with neighbors, and then Nabors was gone.

Yeah. I will murder Nabors with my inaccuracy.

It's disgusting, but I honestly believe it will not shock me if in week two, we're like, Hey, stream of the week, guys. Daniel Jones, he's still running, and the Colts' offense is a little bit better than we thought.

It will be interesting to watch in Indianapolis because that team could be surprising. They have the talent.

But Shane Steiken- They've got a division that they could win.

Sure. Yeah, the matchups.

Or it could just go so- Or Richardson is starting by week four.

Yeah, it could go downhill fast. So there you go. That's the fantasy time machine for 2025. And we've got football in a week and a day. So that's pretty exciting. We have fantasy MVP episode tomorrow. Is that right? Is that tomorrow? That is tomorrow. The fantasy MVP show. So not only will we bring our fantasy MVP pics to the table, but we will have, I think, seven special guests on the show tomorrow. Is that the right number, Mike? Seven?

Several.

Seventy. Anywhere from 1: 00 to 15: 00.

We will have several special guests on the show tomorrow sharing their fantasy MVP pics and their perspective on how they're going get it done. So that's tomorrow. We'll do another mock draft, the final mock draft before a big draft weekend, so that you guys can see the lay of the land before you go and draft Saturday, Sunday, Monday, as we head into the 2025 fantasy football season. So head over to ultimatedraftkit. Com. If you still need the UDK, make sure you use the draft analyzer. If you've already drafted, use the draft analyzer. We grade your team and the rest of your league mates and their teams. We give you perspective on where you can improve on your team, things to watch for, pay attention to, and give you basically a game plan to go into the season with. Because you don't win your league at the draft, you set the foundation, and then you head into the season, and you've got to continue to make improvements and moves. That's why we give you the tools to do that throughout the season to equip you to make the best decisions for your league. So ultimatedraftkit. Com, check that out.

Otherwise, we will catch you tomorrow on the fantasy MVP episode. Take care, everybody.

Goodbye.

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