Fantasy Football - Breakout Picks + MEGALABOWL is BACK! - Podcast for 8/19

9:34Mike Wright:Josh Reynolds is right no it's look Mason Taylor's good he's a really really good player and people need to pay attention to him and so for me that is that is one of those players if you're going to end up streaming tight ends or you have a tight end injury that happens or you just want to throw somebody at the back of your bench right before sunday morning when the when the jets play and you just want to see what you know 90 to 100 of snaps looks like for mason taylor on this offense you know you talk about justin feels likes to check the ball down well tight ends are very good for that as well he was did you say he was a second round pick i mean no i didn't mention it

10:12Andy Holloway:but he's a second round pick we love colston loveland tyler warren for good reason but mason taylor went in the second i wish he had the dog oh you don't think he has the dog oh no i know he doesn't he's been through the machine and there is nothing in there but just a tiny little kitty cat

10:29Jason Moore:that's a dog debate i know there's go watch the tape i so here here's meow i'm in the middle between you guys.

10:36Andy Holloway:Meowson Taylor.

10:37Jason Moore:I agree that he's not like your Ben Sinnott type of guy that's looking to deliver the pain and run over guys every single play. Oh, yeah, he's not like a third-string tight end. Got it. But he is a very good player. He's son of a Hall of Famer. He's a pro as a rookie. So I really like the bringing Meowson Taylor up. I think it is worth knowing. Jason, who's your guy? let's move it let's move it forward just became a thing okay okay i hope you guys haven't seen my guy because my guy is an undrafted gym i feel like it's you cheating on another one of your guys it's it's an undrafted gym what if i told you that three of the last five games he played last year he was a top six wide receiver on the week my wallet knows that oh yeah oh you know i had a little bit about this player um but he plays no snaps it's marvin mims jr marvin mims is a really talented player who i will you know i've been pretty out on you don't go into year three not you know having ever played snaps looking talented showing flashes of brilliance and then still never getting you know he's a gadget player he's a guy who's been used he's literally never played more than 47 % of snaps in a game ever.

11:57Jason Moore:And so you, that's why he's undrafted. You know, he'll, you can be in a deep league. He won't go drafted. However, what we saw last week in preseason is at least a, a glimmer of light that maybe just maybe the words Sean Payton has said before of like, we've got to get this guy on the field more could happen, which Payton, you can, um, In preseason week two, he played 16 of the 19 snaps with the starters. He left at the same time as Bo Nix. In 11 personnel, both Sutton and Mims played 11 of the 13 snaps. In 12 personnel, the Broncos used Sutton and Mims. Every single play except for one when my dude came in for one.

12:42Jason Moore:Here's another undrafted joke. But, I mean, if – I don't know. This is preseason. This is just trying things out. see what works well. And so maybe this coming week, it'll be Franklin in for every play. But if this is what happens and Mims grabs a hold of the wide receiver to roll, I believe he is good enough to be very successful in fantasy football. He is a fast, big play machine, highly productive, collegiate profile, young breakout age, has pretty much every single thing that we look for across the board other than opportunity. So if this opportunity comes, Marvin Mims will be an important player this year.

13:21Andy Holloway:All right, Mike, what do you got? So I'm going to throw this out. This wasn't the player I'm going with this week. We talked about the Colts quarterback situation, which that'll be in the news. If you didn't hear, Daniel Jones is the starter. And I was looking through ADP of just guys were going real late. I was like, man, Michael Pittman, as much as we love Josh Downs, that's all fine and well. But it's like Michael Pittman is a good player, and he's just really being forgotten about. But I really thought it would be Richardson. So just want to throw that out that Michael Pittman paid attention.

13:55Jason Moore:And Pittman, he's a squeaky wheel. He really is. He's got a little bit of the diva wide receiver in him that I want.

14:01Andy Holloway:Because he's paid like one.

14:01Jason Moore:Oh, for sure. He's paid as a true number one alpha wide receiver, and he demands the ball. I mean, there were quotes earlier this offseason. I think it was Daniel Jones who was being quoted. Correct me if I'm wrong, Kyle. where he was saying, basically, Pittman, make sure I always know where he is. That's what I want. Not if I'm the coach of the team, but for fantasy football. We play a different game.

14:25Andy Holloway:We sure do. But the player I'm going to bring up is because of a different quarterback situation that got settled. For the Cleveland Browns, I want to talk about Cedric Tillman. Just don't forget what happened in that stretch. It was only three games, so it is the smallest of small samples. but Amari Cooper gets traded mid-season last year and Jameis comes in and Cedric Tillman just goes nuclear for three games eight for 81 seven for 99 and two six for 75 and a touchdown and then unfortunately he had a concussion in week 12 and then he was just out for the regular season so this is a just pay attention to the Cleveland Browns of we're excited that Joe Flacco has named the starting quarterback.

15:09Andy Holloway:How long will he be the guy? We don't know, but at least at the beginning of the season, the wide receivers will have more value than...

15:17Jason Moore:He's Winston Light. I mean, Flacco is Winston Light right now. Andy, this is a... You weren't in the office when I was showing this to Mike. I don't know if you remember, but two years ago, Flacco started three games for... The Jets. No, for the Browns. Oh, you're saying, oh, okay. Two years ago. Yes, yes. Two years ago, he started three games for the Browns. And I was like, I wonder what his pace is. I remember he threw the ball a lot. I was like, because he had a couple starts last year.

15:43Mike Wright:That was the time that I won the championship because of Najoku, because of Joe Flacco.

15:47Jason Moore:Yeah, so his pace through the first three weeks that season of attempts. You want to take a guess? How many attempts?

15:56Mike Wright:I mean, it's got to be like 700.

16:00Jason Moore:Yeah, that would be outrageous. It would have been 878. I mean, he's just throwing the ball over 50 times a game.

16:08Mike Wright:Yeah, he is. I would say that like the new we're going to talk about the news and different quarterback situations. We got the news we wanted for fantasy. Yeah, we got the news we wanted for fantasy in multiple situations. We're not rolling the dice with unproven passers. They're going to run too much for these receivers to get targets. We got guys that are going to chuck it.

16:28Andy Holloway:So it just kind of the closing argument for where Tillman is like Jerry Judy is the player who's being drafted. Jerry Judy, you know, for how long his career has been, it's been okay-ish. And then we had the second half of last year. And for three of those games, Cedric Tillman was also doing those things. So it's a, you know, depending on your lead format. Judy makes you nervous. Right. It makes you nervous. But Jerry Judy's like, what, sixth or seventh round pick? Where Cedric Tillman, it could be Tillman.

16:59Mike Wright:All the camp news about Tillman has been positive. Yes. it was the opposite like he's the perfect player to pay attention to the news because the depth chart does Deontay Johnson take over an opportunity from him those type of questions I think they've been answered Deontay Johnson was playing in this most recent game yeah so it's

17:15Andy Holloway:just Tillman has not been Tillman is going late he will be starting on the outside and if this team has to end up doing a Joe Flacco let's chuck the ball in like Tillman might be the guy the only

17:26Jason Moore:problem is the Browns have a good defense I wish they didn't that's a shame yeah but with Deontay Johnson we don't even know what team he plays for come week three yeah I mean the the Browns

17:36Mike Wright:schedule wise they might win a game or two it's if you look if you look at their schedule I think

17:45Jason Moore:you can give them between one and three wins on the beginning what no no for the year for the year

17:52Mike Wright:that is for the year I think I think if I look at that and I'm generous to the Browns I see one to three wins.

17:58Jason Moore:I think they've got too good of a defense and the NFL has too much parity for it to be that low, but they do have a very, very rough schedule.

18:05Mike Wright:Alright, that was Undrafted Gyms presented by Walmart. Who knew that you could get what you need in as fast as an hour? Get free delivery on your first express delivery order with the code EXPRESS. Valid for first express delivery order,$50 minimum, subject to availability. Restrictions apply. It's time for news.

18:23Jason Moore:News and notes from around the league. presented by Progressive Insurance.

18:29Mike Wright:The Colts have named Daniel Jones as their starting quarterback. Head coach Shane Steichen came out and said he's not planning on it being a short-term arrangement. His quote was, he's the starting quarterback for the season, Steichen said. I don't want to have a short leash on that.

18:46Andy Holloway:Like the length of Steichen's season.

18:51Mike Wright:Steichen's season could be shorter than a full 17. seen. But one, I think it's the right move. We talked about this on the show yesterday. I thought they might go Richardson because the path of the change is clean that way. If you bench Richardson now, we didn't really talk about if they made this decision. If you bench Richardson now, to me, it's a full forever. You're done. You're done with Anthony Richardson. You should trade him. The experiment, it's over. And so I think that decision was made. I think this is Daniel Jones is our starter. um you can debate it i i think he's a better passer i think he's a much better quarterback

19:28Andy Holloway:i don't think that's fully debatable it's just could anthony richardson have gotten there because he he needs reps he needs practice and completely fair and this coaching staff is like we don't have

19:40Mike Wright:time right why draft him in the top five then that's the question it's weird you can throw that on the indianapolis like if you if you draft a player that has almost no college experience and needs reps and you don't give him reps. Now he's been injury prone. He's been inaccurate. They obviously made a decision that goes beyond the preseason games where they were pretty even and said Daniel Jones is our guy. But my goodness, am I happy about this decision. Yeah, Tyler Warren's a my guy for you. Of course you're happy about this decision. And Josh Downs, we like Josh Downs, whether he's there week one or not.

20:10Mike Wright:Michael Pittman, Jonathan Taylor. I love Jonathan Taylor. It's a huge deal for Jonathan Taylor.

20:16Jason Moore:It's great for everybody other than Anthony Richardson. He had standalone upside magma potential for fantasy. But here's the thing. Daniel Jones is not, in and of himself, he's not a terrible fantasy option. If he's going to start the season, like if you're in a super flex league, because he was named the starter later, I mean, this is a guy that is not, you know, he's one of the last players drafted, but he runs the ball. He's got good weapons.

20:44Mike Wright:Believe it or not, Daniel Jones played 10 games last year. and at four of those games he was a top 12 quarterback including a top five finish because of what you're saying he he runs the football uh i would say he definitely has more talent around him right now than he had in new york in the receiving room and on the offensive line yeah and with a with a running back i mean they didn't have saquon last year so it was devin singletary to start the year when daniel jones was quarterback so it's not to say he's the savior of the franchise it's going to be an uphill battle for indianapolis but it's very good for fantasy unless, of course, you're a dynasty manager of Anthony Richardson, in which case he may be on the Trey Lance path at this point.

21:23Andy Holloway:Yep, feels like it.

21:24Mike Wright:We did mention the breaking news yesterday. We just talked about it. Joe Flacco is going to be the week one starter. He had a bit of a different quote around the longevity as being the starter.

21:33Jason Moore:Yeah, he was asked, are you the starter for the season or until further notice, and his answer was, we all know how that works. Dude, Joe Flacco's quotes at this age, he's 60. 45, something like that. He's 40 on the dot. 40 on the dot. I don't know when it was. I think like three years ago, he turned into the old man, I don't care, and I love it. His quotes, he is. He's cool. He's so cool. He's so cool. Joe Flacco's cool. I love him.

22:03Mike Wright:You see David Njoku's joy in Flacco being the starter?

22:06Jason Moore:I felt so much happiness and relief. I felt the weight off David Njoku's shoulders. He was clearly so afraid it was going to be Kenny Pickett, and he couldn't say that because it could have been Kenny Pickett and that would have been his quarterback and he would support him, of course. But when Flacco got in the starter, he's like, Flacco, yes!

22:25Mike Wright:They're going to keep four on the roster, supposedly. Which I don't think a team has done in a really, really long time.

22:30Jason Moore:That does go a little bit towards your prediction of not winning a lot of games because those quarterbacks don't help them on the roster. They take up roster spots from other players who it seems like they need.

22:43Mike Wright:their weird situation is they didn't spend top draft capital on Gabriel or Sanders. And then Kenny Pickett's certainly not the future. So if you end up with one to three wins or their Vegas line, five and a half, you're in the running for the number one, number two, number three pick again. And that should be on the table for you. If you didn't spend high draft capital on a quarterback, it's going to be tough for Cleveland, but they do have a great defense. The commanders, Terry McLaurin, Brian Robinson Jr. They were not in attendance to last night's game. So not only not playing, but not even in attendance.

23:12Mike Wright:Brian Robinson is counting down the days, hanging up the for sale sign on this house. Yeah. He does not seem like he will be a piece of the commander's offense.

23:21Jason Moore:He will be a piece of someone's offense. He's a good enough running back. I'm afraid of him right now. Right.

23:26Mike Wright:He could ruin a lot of situations. You hear the Texans, right? Yeah, that would be. If he goes to the Texans, it is a death knell for Mixon.

23:34Jason Moore:It is basically saying. I feel like for everyone. I wouldn't want Robinson. I wouldn't want Mixon, Chubb. No one.

23:38Mike Wright:But it would be like saying Mixon's injury is.

23:40Jason Moore:Yeah, they would be admitting it.

23:41Mike Wright:And then, you know, Chicago, it gets brought up, right? And then, like, what in the world do you do in Chicago with that ensemble?

23:47Jason Moore:That would be awful.

23:48Mike Wright:I think the best – Cincinnati's been brought up. I mean, that would be a – Oh, man.

23:53Andy Holloway:That would be a problem. It would, I think, serve as level. But overall, I wouldn't be – honestly, I wouldn't be overly concerned about Chase Brown.

24:01Jason Moore:It would certainly hurt Chase Brown's total volume without a doubt. I think the best landing spot where a team needs him is the Dolphins. They desperately need a larger back, a goal line guy, a short yardage back to mix it with Devon H. And I'm kind of the same way that you are with Chase. If he were to go there, I don't think that kills Devon H. It certainly eats into his opportunities, but it doesn't make him a terrible fantasy asset.

24:34Mike Wright:So because of the absence of Brian Robinson, We got Chris Rodriguez starting for Washington. We need to talk about it. But everybody was paying attention to.

24:46Andy Holloway:Bill. Twitter. Kroski. Lost its mind. They're watching the game last night and the snaps and the running backs. So it's Ja 'Cory Kroski-Merritt who we're talking about, the seventh-round rookie for the Washington Commanders. Goes by Bill. He goes by Bill. Now, what can we take away from last night's game? you know, Jaden Daniels played four snaps. Chris Rodriguez played those four snaps. So as of that moment in time, Rodriguez is ahead of Bill on the depth chart. And my biggest takeaway watching that game last night was Jerome Ford is in play in week one for the Cleveland Browns.

25:30Jason Moore:Yeah, you're saying because of...

25:31Andy Holloway:Because they're playing the Cincinnati Bengals. And there was a point where the Bengals were giving up like 20 yards per rush to the team.

25:42Mike Wright:When you talk about Ja 'Cory Krosky-Meritt, who's the player that everybody's all excited about, final running back taken in the draft, first of all, his story's insane. Because if you know the actual, like he didn't play in Power 4, Power 5 conferences until he played in New Mexico, which was a bad team, was amazing for that team. But if you know what happened is he transferred to Arizona, he played one game, dominated his old team and then was ruled ineligible to play because he had a sixth year of eligibility that was taken away it came down to some controversy about him like giving his jersey to a different player and and losing eligibility because that player played with his jersey all this crazy stuff but his his actual numbers his metrics were high percentile numbers for the new mexico year for new mexico in just terms of like some of the raw talent and ability but here here's my bigger point is that you can buy into the hype.

26:32Mike Wright:You cannot buy into the hype. You can talk about how many seventh-round running backs succeed, how many don't. The point is Chris Rodriguez and Austin Eckler or Jeremy McNichols are not the reason Brian Robinson is going to be let go. They don't make that decision because of those players. They make that decision because of Bill. Who? Bill. That is an actual... We held a microphone up to Twitter. That is what it sounds like on Twitter.

26:58Andy Holloway:Twitter was very fun

26:59Mike Wright:last night that is that is why it can be you know you can pick up a chris rodriguez in in a dynasty league you can pick up some other players and hope that it works out rodriguez numbers last year like his advanced analytics are good they they they could perform but i don't think your upside exists for those guys the same way it would with bill so take it for what you will i think this is an indictment on brian robinson is not needed right because they have these other players i'm i'm

27:25Jason Moore:guessing behind the scenes this hasn't come out yet but I'm sure it will um that Brian Robinson is kind of spearheading a lot of this he wants more work he wants you know more respect within that room they don't need him they're not going to give him bell cow usage they're not going to pay him you know an extension and so it's as much him as it is the team it's not just a team being like we hate we hate Brian Robinson because we've got Bill he doesn't want a little role on the team

27:50Mike Wright:Exactly.

27:51Jason Moore:And so it's like, well, we don't need you. I will say I don't disagree with what you're saying. Bill is the reason that maybe you now have a running back room that really does not need Brian Robinson. But as of right now, Bill is third on the depth chart. And while he did have a very nice 29-yard rushing touchdown last night, I mean, I couldn't have scored that. Yeah, but that was a – You would have gotten 15. I would have gotten 15. Austin Eckler is, to me, the value here. He was good last year. He was really good on a per-touch basis. Had a lot of fantasy finishes. Per-tusses. As a top 24 back.

28:32Jason Moore:Watch out for him. Got hurt. Whooping call. That's not good. But he is – he's the starter here, and I think he's still talented. And he'll be drafted so much behind. The crazy thing is right now on the depth chart, Bill's third. Would you agree with that?

28:49Mike Wright:um currently yeah just week one week one yeah i view him second but go ahead so week one i think

28:55Jason Moore:officially he will run behind chris rodriguez behind austin eckler he will be drafted first in fantasy drafts next weekend heckler oh yeah he will well that's stupid dude he i think he will that's that's my point is i think it's gonna i think he's gonna be drafted at a stupid spot

29:10Mike Wright:well we've got uh we got more news to talk about we're gonna have to take a break uh we'll talk about the rest of the news and then get into breakouts football season is back and whether

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30:00Andy Holloway:Sign up now. Games not included with DirecTV requires separate paid app subscriptions. Service renews monthly unless canceled. Local channels vary by market, blackouts, and other terms apply. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Old Spice with the Old Spice NFL Collection. You may not be able to play in the NFL. I know, I'm sorry, but you can smell like you do with an Old Spice NFL Collection bringing you 24-7 game day freshness. Smell like an entire Pro Bowl roster with deodorant, body wash, two-in-one shampoo and conditioner, body spray, and lotion, all in new scents inspired by NFL legends.

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31:23Mike Wright:head coach mike mcdaniel talking about devon hn we got it revealed it was a calf so he's unlikely to practice next week you don't want calf you don't want hammy no you're okay with the groin because you can get back a little quicker but the calf man there was another i don't like it

31:40Jason Moore:last year with a calf issue yeah who was that yeah yeah christian mccaffrey i i i really hated when i heard it was calf i was like no for for a small speedy guy would you have preferred calf

31:53Andy Holloway:or hamstring because we already knew it was a soft tissue lower body well i would have preferred groin doesn't groin still count there yeah okay okay it does uh i mean that's the groin

32:04Mike Wright:That's the top of the lower body.

32:06Andy Holloway:Yeah, it's the top of the lower body.

32:08Mike Wright:For sure. It's mid. No. It's the low part of the mid. No, mid would be like oblique. It's the low part of the mid. No.

32:14Jason Moore:The mid has got to be near abs. Once you get to the hip bones, you're in lower body.

32:17Mike Wright:Yeah. You're almost adjacent to hip bones.

32:20Jason Moore:You're adjacent lower. I mean, you're at the top of the bottom. It's definitely a lower body. I'd rather have groin. You're saying your groin isn't lower body.

32:28Mike Wright:I'm saying your groin is low to mid. Wait 10 years. okay oh i don't have to wait long all right um but this is bad this is bad and you start to put ollie gordon into kind of a sleeper category for the dolphins and you also have to up the risk rating and worry a little bit about hn who has top five potential but you don't want him to miss time and you don't want him to battle um you know what was it like his rookie season how many didn't he missed multiple he did so he only played 11 games in 2023 his rookie season but the problem

33:04Jason Moore:was missing three separate times different injuries knee that was always the worry i mean it is always the worry with an undersized back like there's a smidge of bucky irving worry for me when when you've got a guy who's actually getting massive workload if you're if you've got you know a 200 pound sub 200 pound running back that is going to try to go out there and touch the ball 300 times 275 times it's it's physically difficult to do that over the course of 17 games

33:35Mike Wright:yeah so um not not exciting news heading into the season ted aroa mcmillan a my guy for mike ted aroa mcmillan uh hamstring injury don't love it might not play in the preseason game hopefully can get back jaylen mcmillan it's a severely sprained neck he will miss some time not going to be ready for the season opener. You have Godwin on the pup. McMillan with a neck injury.

34:01Jason Moore:Likely to be on the pup, but yes.

34:02Mike Wright:You have Cade Otten, who's just returning with a hamstring injury. Now, that's a beneficiary, right? If you don't have Godwin and McMillan. Cade Otten was a phenom for several weeks last year. Rashad White still dealing with the groin injury, and they don't have their left tackle. Injuries, not great situation for Tampa. Sean McVay said they'll continue to take things a day at a time with Stafford. Tell us more. Actually, I can. Because one of the quotes, it made no sense to me. You can explain it. They said something about his back being upright for week one. That's what the hope was. They're hoping his back was upright.

34:36Mike Wright:I've never heard that expression before. As opposed to laying down. They don't want him laying down in week one, Mike.

34:42Jason Moore:I don't think any football player wants that. Like a pre-sack? Yeah.

34:47Andy Holloway:He's just on the bench. He's taking a step. He lays down. That's how he takes the snap.

34:51Mike Wright:He can still throw it. He's got great arm strength. There are people out there, and I'm not one of them now, but there are people out there that think that the Matthew Stafford back injury is more severe than the Rams even knew, and there are people taking Puka and Devontae Adams basically off their draft board because moving them down means you don't get them, right? So it's like if you're not willing to take them anywhere near their ADP, they're off the board. If I take Puka in the third, well, you can't. Right. So that is – it did make me nervous. I was in a draft yesterday. Second round. Late second round.

35:26Mike Wright:Puka's sitting there.

35:27Jason Moore:Late second. I took him.

35:28Mike Wright:Oh, okay. I was going to say late seconds where. I took him, but it did make me like my finger held above the mouse. I'd pull the trigger there. I would. I did. And it feels like it could be a trap. Yeah. I mean, it's not like he will be not productive if Stafford misses, but he won't be Puka. Right. He'll be Puka-like. That will make me sad. and then quinch on judkins still hasn't reached a deal with the browns they are there's a chance that like we need to see the disciplinary process in the nfl take place before judkins signs a deal with the browns which could happen so you know there's leverage being played there but judkins

36:06Andy Holloway:not gonna be on the field yeah it wouldn't surprise me i mean there's there has to be contractual implications of this of like if you go before you've even signed and you're suspended for a character issue, I'm sure that then the Browns lawyers are going to put a whole bunch of things in that to protect the team.

36:23Mike Wright:Groins, groin muscles and adductors, both considered lower body muscles. Yeah, because I agree that they're lower body, obviously. If a boxer hits someone in the groin, they have gone low. Lower body.

36:33Andy Holloway:They're not like, oh, we hit him in the mid-body.

36:37Mike Wright:No, no, you're right. I'm arguing to argue. All right, 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 covered subject to policy terms limits and conditions it's time breakouts all right how would you define a breakout to a fantasy football player out there what do you what is your definition i think the

37:12Jason Moore:easiest way to understand a breakout is that next year this player will be drafted many rounds ahead of where they're being drafted this year i mean you can draft it to be a starter yeah exactly a starter or a star depending on where they're currently being drafted but breakout means they will not be anywhere near where you're drafting them next year so we have uh consensus

37:33Mike Wright:breakouts sleepers values bus all in the udk players that we've agreed upon we have our my guys we've mentioned them recently but a breakout candidate individually that we both see with a path forward uh that's the opportunity today to share share those names i i'm gonna let jason kick us off if he if he's willing and able i am not okay yeah go for it pass by the way both of you no i'm good your recovery counts oh yeah your recoveries you're you're present yeah i feel

38:07Jason Moore:like a human today yesterday off the back of that travel weekend and wedding time uh i was hollow inside and so today i'm i'm back um my mine is a second year wide receiver a first round nfl draft pick those are usually things that automatically mean the next year the players drafted very high i'm talking about 49ers wide receiver ricky pierce all this is a player that i liked as a prospect coming in. I think he's got exceptional hands. He's got enough speed, good route running. Now, we don't know how his rookie season would have gone if he didn't get shot in the chest. He shouldn't be alive. He was an inch away from death.

38:51Jason Moore:He was a beast. He still got back on the field in week seven. Didn't do a ton last year, but he did have a few flashes. Week 10, four for 73 and a touchdown at the end of the year he really flashed the exciting upside eight for 141 and one on 10 targets against Detroit and six for a nice 69 and one on eight targets in week 18 at Arizona so this is a guy who it's like okay we we saw some examples on the field of him being able to dominate an NFL game as a rookie who's a first-round draft pick is what he's supposed to supposed to do and then you look around the team and you're like okay well Brandon Ayuk is not ready Debo Samuel is gone which we didn't bring Debo up but he actually looked last I mean it's you know very little to see but he looked like Debo to me last night anyways um we'll see how

39:45Mike Wright:long that gas tank lasts I do I think Debo's being stupidly ignored I'm starting to believe

39:52Jason Moore:that as well. But you have Jennings currently injured. The whole wide receiver team, other than Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Ricky Pearsall, are injured. So get those three players. This is a team that is projected to score, I think, the third most points, according to Vegas, in the league. They're a 10.5 win expectation. Their schedule is super easy. Brock Purdy's good. Brock Purdy got paid, and Ricky Pearsall should be the number one wide receiver for this team, and he doesn't cost you that much.

40:29Mike Wright:It's one thing to say that a player has opportunity and is being underdrafted or undervalued. It's another to have the talent level that Pearsall has, and still, like, not every player with opportunity has ceiling, and Pearsall has ceiling. Yes. He can be the most dominant player on that roster for years to come.

40:47Jason Moore:ironically despite missing half of his year and not being that involved he had three games of 15 or more fantasy points the the list of rookie wide receivers with three games of 15 plus fantasy point games that in the second half of the season it's it's all great other than Christian Watson I mean it's Tyree Kill, Juju, Debo, AJ Brown, Justin Jefferson, Brandon Ayuk, Amon Ross St. Brown, Jalen Waddell, Jamar Chase and then Christian Watson so Pearsall's in good company with what he was able to do in limited action and his his opportunity is like it's gonna it's gonna be really telling if he doesn't do good maybe he's you know maybe he's no he he's

41:26Mike Wright:he's gonna be great and uh there's huge opportunity there that team was being ignored you didn't see those performances because they were a bad team so the end of the year they were not relevant so you missed pierce saul's breakout that that is why his adp is where it's at now mike's his adp His ADP right now is the wide receiver 43 in the ninth round. Oh, baby. Tenth round on ESPN, ninth round on Yahoo. And so definitely undervalued, definitely a great breakout pick, a perfect breakout pick.

41:55Jason Moore:I feel like I want to play on ESPN again. Because every player that I like, their ADP on ESPN is just ruinedly low. That's not a word. I'm sticking with it. I like it. I knew what you meant. Yeah.

42:09Mike Wright:Mike didn't even blink. All right, Mike, you've got a breakout candidate. What's his name?

42:14Andy Holloway:I'm going with Tucker Craft, tight end for the Green Bay Packers, as my personal breakout pick. Last year, you have to remember the whole story of Luke Musgrave drafted before Tucker Craft. He felt like, okay, well, draft order says he's supposed to be the guy for the Green Bay Packers, and Luke was the guy. the rookie year. And then he gets hurt going into year two, and Tucker Craft kind of just takes over. But it was, snap count-wise, immediately apparent, no, Tucker Craft has played his way into being the receiving tight end for the Green Bay Packers. Last year, 700 yards, seven touchdowns.

42:59Andy Holloway:And in year two, I've talked about an ADP study I've done where tight ends who break out in year two they return on a high percentage of their ADP in year three. And right now, Tucker Craft, going into this year, he's the only one who fits that criteria for me. So I already liked him because of that. Historically, the percentage chance is there. And I put this in here, and Kyle's helping dig up some goodness. And it's like, okay, tight ends since the year 2000 that put up 707 in year two. And the list is Antonio Gates, Chris Cooley, Jimmy Graham, Mark Andrews. All these guys who hit those numbers, and look, a lot of them massively outplayed what Tucker Craft did, not comparing him to Graham or Gronk, but just saying the trajectory.

43:57Andy Holloway:The players who did that, the 707 the next year, all of them were at least top six in year three. and Tucker Craft watching him be just a yards-after-catch machine. Last year, 8.8 yards after catch. Two yards higher than the next qualified tight end. And we had some fun debates about Tucker Craft, about how easy were they, and then we went back and watched those big touchdowns. It's like, oh, Tucker Craft is putting bodies in the ground, and he's fast, he's big, he's tough. We look at the wide receiver room for the Green Bay Packers, Yeah, they spent a first on Matthew Golden. There's some draft Twitter had huge debates of does Matthew Golden belong there because where his profile is, is he just more of a better help for Jordan Love, can Matthew Golden make that jump?

44:47Andy Holloway:But then the wide receiver room is just talked about all the time because there's no true standout yet. We all have our favorite guys in the room, but I don't think any of us look at it and go, yep, that's a number one fantasy football option. If Jaden Reed's your guy, that's a great player. But fantasy-wise, Jaden Reed, other than a couple weeks last year, was actually harmful for your fantasy football team. And I think that there is a chance that Tucker Craft takes the role of being maybe the number two option in this. Double-digit touchdowns are in the range of outcome for the way that Matt LaFleur and Jordan Leff have played historically.

45:25Andy Holloway:I think he is a great upside shot towards the double-digit rounds. He's outside of that range where we don't like to spend the draft capital on the tight end because they just – historically, rounds five through seven, they just don't pay off. But I like Tucker Craft as someone who can break into the top six and maybe even make a little bit more noise.

45:46Mike Wright:I think his talent is undeniable. I think he's a really good tight end. I did notice in the preseason when Jordan Love was out there getting reps, a really nice – it was an incompletion, but a deep seam route to Luke Musgrave in the middle of that game. So just remembering that he's back there out on the field, Musgrave will not take Kraft's, you know, the majority of his passing game work. But it was a reminder that there's some other players in the mix. I think Kraft is undervalued. He's in that tier of tight end, though, where I think, you know, five touchdowns, you're not happy. Eight touchdowns, you're super happy.

46:19Mike Wright:I think, sadly, you know, there are certain tight ends that just fit that role of, like, if the touchdowns go their way, you're going to be thrilled with the season. There's a bunch of guys in that four or five, you're not happy. Seven or eight, you're super happy.

46:31Jason Moore:To be honest, that's the vast majority of all tight ends. I mean, once you're past the top three, it's like, who's going to be good? Well, who ends up getting eight touchdowns? And if you want to make a bet on that, Kraft seems like a decent bet. I've come around quite a bit because I know to start this offseason, I was not bullish on Kraft. I felt like this, too many wide receivers, too many other ways to score, another tight end but I think as I've dug deeper watched film again Kraft himself is a really good weapon and this is a good offense so if you want to say who could get seven or eight touchdowns you look at Sam Laporta he's a good player on a good offense he's not the number one target you know you've got Amon Ross St.

47:16Jason Moore:Brown there you've got Jamison Williams you've got Jameer Gibbs out of the backfield it's it's not easy for Laporta to go out there and be the number one tight end again but we know he could because he could get a bunch of touchdowns i i see that somewhat similarly for a you know when i'm doing my late round targets i just want who could be good who could have upside there and there's not a lot of them all right we will take a quick break by the way i've

47:42Mike Wright:got my breakout candidate still to reveal and then we pulled the foot clan over on our foot clan discord and got some of their favorite breakout picks we'll share with you as well

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48:36Mike Wright:Inside you've got all that comfort. You know Jason's a comfort guy. We like the comfort. comfort reins with leather seating surfaces and 12-way power front seats with power lumbar. You can learn more right now at gmc.com slash Sierra 1500.

48:52Andy Holloway:Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Old Spice with the Old Spice NFL Collection. You may not be able to play in the NFL. I know. I'm sorry. But you can smell like you do with an Old Spice NFL Collection bringing you 24 7 game day freshness smell like an entire pro bowl roster with deodorant body wash two-in-one shampoo and conditioner body spray and lotion all in new scents inspired by nfl legends old spice they have you covered are you feeling clutch matthew stafford brings the cedarwood or channel cd lamb scoring a winning touchdown with deep sea and dimes look we have a bunch of this stuff at my house.

49:32Andy Holloway:I'm not joking. All of this Old Spice NFL collection. I, I'm an MVP guy. I guess I like smelling like Matthew Stafford. That's cedar wood. I put it on. I put on the deodorant and this is, this is true. Give the, the wife a hug goodbye. And she's like, what, what are you, what's going on? You smell great. I was like, that's because I smell like an MVP. I smell like Matthew Stafford looking for the greatest smell in the NFL. Go get the entire Old Spice NFL collection exclusively at Walmart.

50:05All right.

50:06Mike Wright:Well, we found a spot for this guy. I think he has received a lot of buzz and optimism and excitement.

50:13Andy Holloway:I think he's such an interesting player, especially with the ADP. I think he's still slightly depressed, as in this was a player I figured people would just be guns blazing. You're just real hot and bothered to get him, and the ADP is not it.

50:33Mike Wright:And you still don't know who that player is out there, so I'm never going to tell you, but you should get him. Get him based off of this.

50:39Jason Moore:Here's a hint. He's the wide receiver 35 by ADP on sleeper. There you go.

50:44Mike Wright:Yeah, go look it up. All right, that's it for today's show. No, it's Roma Dunse, second-year sophomore wide receiver for the Chicago Bears. You just mentioned it, wide receiver 35 off the board, eighth round pick in all leagues pretty much, maybe seventh round in sleeper. Last year, this was, I think the focal point here, part of the argument for Roman Duns is he might have done the best he could do in light of the circumstances around him. With the performance of Caleb Williams, the fact that this was one of the worst offenses by way of play calling in the entire NFL. I mean, they were dead last in EPA on first downs, constantly put themselves into horrible down and distance situations.

51:29Mike Wright:Rome did not have the season that people hoped from a top 10 pick. He was the wide receiver 47. He was kind of like Marvin Harrison light in terms of like he was out there a lot. He had over a hundred targets. That's very rare for a rookie to do, but it was 54 for seven 34 and three and Keenan Allen dominated targets. DJ Moore was there. You had, you know, just so many problems on the offensive side of the football. So he was a disappointment last year. But I think this is the year that Roma Dunze makes it happen. And part of that is, you know, Ben Johnson's coming in. Yes, the Bears have won the preseason again.

52:01Mike Wright:It's great. And they looked good in the last preseason game. But, you know, Keenan Allen has departed. He was a target monster for this roster. And this is a perfect situation for Caleb Williams and Roma Dunze to grow up together with this Ben Johnson situation. And one of the things that has stood out to me this offseason, when you pay attention to what's happening at camp these two are uh it's a it's a dynamic connection every day in camp like these two players the red zone roma dunze is a true alpha type of wide receiver and you know a lot of the talk from the beat writers out there in chicago uh greg braggs came out and talked about this basically saying look they're trying to figure out how dj more even fits in the system right now like mike has been vocal about luther burden that's a player picked by you know this head coach second round pick you know they they have roma dunze who their head coach ben johnson has come out and talked so much about and dj moore is sitting here getting backfield carries all the time and we talked about dj moore in the short area targets like he does not necessarily fit this offense the way that roma dunze does you know braggs also came out and said it's becoming very clear that caleb williams and roma dunze are going to be a deadly duo in their second season those are the players making the headlines all the time honestly we have not talked about dj Moore that much.

53:15Mike Wright:There have not been a lot of camp reports around DJ Moore. We know he's a great player, but I don't think that the future of this team is going to be built around DJ Moore. It's around Loveland, Burden, and Adunze. There is no Keenan Allen. I think you can see a significant tear jump for him. And when you look at, if you're a top 10 pick at wide receiver and you get over 100 targets as a rookie, 75 % of those guys historically end up top 24 in year two. So been a couple i think it was like drake london and garrett wilson actually that didn't do it in the last like decade and those are still players that eventually did it so it's like 100 targets top 10 pick very good recipe for bounce back very good recipe for success and a good player

53:58Jason Moore:and a really good player he is he is legitimately good there was nothing on film of his doing that you were like oh man i'm not sure about that rookie season so yeah i think i

54:08Mike Wright:I think Rome is set up for a tremendous amount of success this year. If this offense moves the needle at all, if it gets to the middle of the pack, I'm really excited. Come on, Caleb. We need you.

54:21Andy Holloway:Please be good. I was, like I said, I was very surprised that the ADP has held for Rome. I was pretty prepared going through the offseason process to just be 100 % out on Rome. of not that I don't see the path for it, just of with all in that path, there's so many options for everything to go. But with the way the news trended on DJ Moore and the ADP, the upside case is tremendous. And when you're in the seventh, dude, I don't want safety in the seventh round. I want a player who could, if things break right, that guy could end up in the top 20. And so I'm still behind ADP on my projection, but I have no problem with that with with with the draft pick I thought he was going to go like in the fifth and I was going to be super out but this is fine so he's Roma Duse is 23 years old

55:15Mike Wright:Colson Loveland's 21 years old Luther Burden who looks great I love this college years old uh he's not he's actually 21 as well okay but next year like you think about the transition of this team

55:25Andy Holloway:next year DJ Moore will be 29 I don't know how they he'll be 29 years old they have to trade him because his contract is very lucrative.

55:34Mike Wright:It's going to make some complications.

55:36Andy Holloway:He signed at the right time.

55:38Mike Wright:Yeah, I mean, there may be a way out. Maybe it's to be a trade. We did pull the Foot Clan over at Foot Clan Discord on the Discord channel, which Papa Josh, he helps run the Discord. He's over here in Deucer's Alley. And we've got, what, 50, 60 ,000 folks? We're over 60K now. Nice. So you can go join. It's free. You can join the Discord server. But we got the most popular breakout answers to hear from the Foot Clan. Number one by far was Ricky Pearsall. Smart people. Marvin Harrison Jr. was another big name. Okay. That one is, I think that's fair. It's like the Rome conversation.

56:11Jason Moore:It's like the Caleb conversation. Please, Marvin, be good.

56:14Mike Wright:Yeah, come on, Kyler. Drake May.

56:17Jason Moore:Yeah, I agree with that a lot.

56:19Mike Wright:I'm a Meka Egbuka, of course, and Omari and Hampton. A couple more rookie breakout picks. In fact, more and more this offseason, I just, you know, when you look back on 2025 and you say, what's the lesson we learned? I do think it will be a tale of rookies this year. Like some people were, some people I saw were making comments about like, we had more rookies than normal in our, my guys. And it's like, we did. We've had a hundred, my guys in 11 years. And this was the most rookies we've ever had in there. There's a reason for that. We're trying to give you the best players to draft. Like we're not paying attention to how many years they've played.

56:52Mike Wright:It's the best player for this year in accordance to draft position and rookies get discounted this year in particular there's talent we believe in at the right in the

57:01Jason Moore:position and and the rookie running back class this year was especially good I mean we we knew that about that two years ago that last year was a weak rookie running back class and this year would be good and then they ended up going to situations that are advantageous you know in the ultimate draft kit we've got so you know our breakouts a lot of them are rookie running backs and it's like we were we had the conversation like can we can we have another rookie it's like well, we just want to get it right. We want to give you the best picks. And it seems like this year, I agree with you, Andy, it's going to be a lot of the rookies.

57:35Mike Wright:Yeah, there's some rookies we just really believe in, the opportunity, the talent, the draft capital, all of the math equations, and they get discounted in drafts sometimes. And we'll see how that looks on draft day with Travion Henderson and some of these players shooting up the board. But there's still some guys that are going to stay really, really low in drafts. So we've got sleepers, values, bus shows coming up. We've got a Superflex mock draft episode. Oh, man. For the Superflex people. Mike, I'm looking at Mike. He's like. Bros are so excited. I can't wait. He's like, are we doing that?

58:04Andy Holloway:I can't wait. See how late I can take my quarterbacks.

58:06Mike Wright:Oh, baby. He's only going to take one. He still takes one.

58:09Andy Holloway:Yeah, it's just because it's not too quarterbacks. It's not too quarterbacks.

58:12Mike Wright:We've got a bold predictions episode coming up. We've got an MVP episode coming up. And let's make sure we make that announcement again, Jason. Go ahead. The Mergala Bowl is here, baby.

58:23Jason Moore:It's back, baby. Megalobowl.com. Go sign up right now. Pick your draft slot. And we're playing. We'll be in there. I'm absolutely playing. I'm not telling you which time slot I'm in, but I'm already signed up.

58:34Mike Wright:Yeah, so please join. Maybe you'll be in our league. The Megalobowl this year. All the details at Megalobowl.com. That'll do it for today's show, but we'll be back tomorrow. Thank you for tuning in, for listening. Make sure you follow, subscribe. This is the time of year to get ready to rumble. Your draft's around the corner this upcoming weekend. Biggest draft weekend of them all. goodbye

58:57Jason Moore: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 at the ffballers

59:14Andy Holloway:today's show is brought to you by our friends at Old Spice with the Old Spice NFL collection you may not be able to play in the NFL I know, I'm sorry But you can smell like you do with an Old Spice NFL collection bringing you 24-7 game day freshness. Smell like an entire Pro Bowl roster with deodorant, body wash, 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner, body spray, and lotion, all in new scents inspired by NFL legends. Old Spice, they have you covered. Are you feeling clutch? Matthew Stafford brings the Cedarwood. Or channel CeeDee Lamb scoring a winning touchdown with Deep Sea and Dimes. Look, we have a bunch of this stuff at my house I'm not joking All of this Old Spice NFL collection I, look, I'm an MVP guy I guess I like smelling like Matthew Stafford That's cedar wood I put it on I put on the deodorant And this is true Gave the wife a hug goodbye And she's like, what's going on?

1:00:11Andy Holloway:You smell great I was like, that's because I smell like an MVP I smell like Matthew Stafford Looking for the greatest smell in the NFL? Go get the entire Old Spice NFL collection exclusively at Walmart.

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