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

9:34Andy Holloway:Sure. But that was just last year. I mean, you saw it the year before, too. Like, the end of the season, Rice was really showing up. Let me finish the thought here.

9:41Mike Wright:Xavier Worthy 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, like, let's not solidify him into the Hall of Fame of producers.

9:55Jason Moore:Let me put that to the test then, and I'm going to go down and say, would you take this wide receiver over Rushy Rice? and then we'll know where we land round-wise.

10:04Mike Wright:All right, Mike, you and I, here we go.

10:06Jason Moore:Would you rather have Chris Olave or Rushy Rice? I'll take Olave.

10:11Andy Holloway: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, yeah.

10:23Andy Holloway:There's a world where I take Rice over Olave. What about Calvin Ridley? I'll take Ridley. Same. When we're at this point... Okay, let's go deeper.

10:34Jason Moore:Let's go deeper and see. Would you rather have Debo Samuel?

10:37Andy Holloway:No, for sure not.

10:38Mike Wright:Andy? Yes. Yeah, I would as well. So you and I are lockstep right now. Mike looking at Rice with more league-winning potential in mind. Ricky Pearsall.

10:48Andy Holloway:Oh, Pearsall. Okay, I like Pearsall. Ironically, he is later than all those other guys that I named. Matthew Golden, rookie. I'll take Rishi Rice. Golden.

10:57Jason Moore:I think I'm still on the golden side there. Buka, he'll be higher than this in your drafts, but I would definitely

11:03Mike Wright:name somebody where I can choose Rice

11:05Jason Moore:what about Khalil Shakir? I think it's Shakir that's where I would go, because I don't think Shakir's a difference maker for your roster, I'd find missing out on a Khalil Shakir, so for me it's it looks like for Mike it's 7th round, for me it's 9th round, for you it's even later

11:21Mike Wright:9th or 10th, yeah, alright we'll have all these updates into the Ultimate Draft Kit immediately after the show So 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, busts, 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.

11:56Mike Wright:and one of your final invitations to the Megalobowl as well, which is our 20 ,000-plus person league. All the details are at Megalobowl.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. 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. You need to, sometimes you do need to have a quick trigger, right? You got to adjust.

12:35Mike Wright:Maybe that's Javante Williams, for example, in Dallas, where it's like Jaden Blue's 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.

12:59Jason Moore:I think I've been more and more realizing that Jalen Waddell 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 5 for 109 with Tua, and then Tua gets injured. and then when Tua gets back he's got like five games together with him before Waddle gets injured and in those five games he was on pace for 1300 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 and honestly another year older another you know Tyree Kill maybe he's back to his old self probably not maybe he's even worse and I think at the end of this year it will be clear that Jalen Waddle's the number one wide receiver for Tua.

13:51Jason Moore:And 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. So I think he's the wide receiver one going forward.

14:09Andy Holloway:I have said that monologue into the mirror. Yeah, you're not allowed. So many times, Jalen Waddle was my guy, and I'm like, it wasn't that bad.

14:19Mike Wright:It wasn't as bad. From what I understand, when Ken Walker misses 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. I mean, Waddle mixes his unavailability with also limping off the field regularly.

14:47Jason Moore:Waddle plays in the games. He just leaves each game 12 times.

14:51Mike Wright:How many games did he play in? He played in 15.

14:54Jason Moore:He only missed two games. No, he didn't. Liar. Exactly.

14:58Mike Wright:He had someone put the jersey on for him.

15:00Jason Moore:15, 14, 17, and 16, and I believe the 16 was a full season.

15:04Mike Wright:What are the snap counts? Oh, don't worry about whether he was on the field.

15:08Jason Moore:No, that's a good pick.

15:09Andy Holloway:Miami needs a plan. just like they need the rest plan um right oh a plan yeah like ken walker because that's working

15:16Mike Wright:for ken bone uh they've never had a plan until this year jason we'll find out i'm gonna say breeze hall i think breeze hall is is the answer to the question and you can 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 like 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 breeze hall's secret weapon that's where breeze hall has been relevant with bad quarterbacks for his entire career when he's had them so um when i look at an easy way to flip the script you know it's not like people weren't talking about braylon allen last year they were they were excited about him braylon allen came out had a couple splash games then kind of faded away so if you if you want to say look everybody in the world which i know nobody wants to draft breeze hall he drops in every draft until somebody finally goes oh i guess i gotta do it but there's there's a world where breeze hall just catches a bunch of passes we joke about the fact garrett wilson will have a million targets and there's no one around him right so you know 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 so um you know he's he's one of a very few select running backs that have average five-plus targets and 13-plus rush attempts per game.

16:39Mike Wright:It might be gross. You know, 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?

16:51Andy Holloway:Yeah, I just need them to drop a little bit. I'm going to go with a late ninth-round pick. It's Jaden Reed of the Green Bay Packers, who is good yeah he is a good player produces when he's on the field generally speaking uh but the the team decides to keep him off of the field when they go into two wide receiver sets and it's just you know matthew golden very exciting first round rookie pick but do we make anything of the you know the meetings that jayden reed had with the brass of like hey i'm still the number one wide receiver for this team and just you know I like Jordan Love and the passing attack to rebound from what it was last year and there's a chance that Jayden Reed in the ninth we're all just we're all we're all so upset by how it started compared to how it finished like a nuclear beginning here where two of the first four weeks he was over 23 points and just saying you know maybe I'll leave a little space for him being to or for him to be truly the number one guy and actually get more snaps.

17:58Mike Wright:It makes sense. I mean, 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.

18:12Jason Moore:News and notes from around the league. Presented by Progressive Insurance.

18:18Mike Wright:In case you skipped ahead to this news segment, we did talk about the entire Rashi Rice suspension at the top of the show. So if you want to listen to the analysis there, here we go. We got it. Adam Thielen. We tried hard. We worked hard. Purple. The background was purple, Mike. I'm going home. Adam Thielen 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.

18:48Andy Holloway:It was interesting that they cut Renfro yesterday only to do the Adam Thielen trade today. I wonder if they like we're slimming down. I mean, 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 leagues is someone to pay attention to.

19:05Mike Wright:I think he is a better player than Xavier Leguette. He could be. And I think you draft him over. Leguette, I would absolutely draft Coker.

19:13Jason Moore:Because that just happened in one of my leagues.

19:15Mike Wright:I would also draft him over like Cedric Tillman, like people like Cedric Tillman this year with a couple other wide receiver situations there. I think Jalen Coker is very interesting. If you like Bryce Young, and it's also wheels up for Ted Arroa and McMillan. Not that we weren't already all in, but you take a target hog like Adam Thielen off a roster.

19:36Jason Moore:It sounds funny to say, but Adam Thielen was probably my biggest worry in the receiving core for Ted Arroa. You said it all offseason. For Ted Arroa and McMillan, they had a really good sync between Adam Thielen 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 Ted. So this is great news for Ted.

19:59Mike Wright:All right. Tim Patrick jettisoned away from the Lions for a sixth round pick. He heads to Jacksonville. And that means that Isaac.

20:12Mike Wright:Mike is. 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.

20:25Andy Holloway:Did that startle you? The volume level. It was a little bit loud. Let me check it again. Oh, that's so loud. I love it. Brooks said I thought my computer was freaking out.

20:34Mike Wright:Don't you touch a thing. That is, yeah, if you're in the car, you thought like an EMP just hit or something. Isaac Tesla is ready to rumble for the Lions. And the big thing there, too, is if an injury were to happen, Amon Ra's been banged up before. Jameson 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 Amon Ra or Jameson. One of those guys goes down. Tesla is not just kind of relevant. He might be really good.

21:07Andy Holloway:Right. Both of these pieces of news, like my confidence in J.J.

21:12Mike Wright:I'm scared of that sound effect, man.

21:14Andy Holloway:What, this one? It's in my brain. My hair is standing out. It's in my brain. I talked about J.J. McCarthy. I made a bold proclamation about him yesterday. The Adam Thielen news just makes me a little bit more confident and secure of that crazy thing happening. And 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 three. Solid, yeah. Tesla is upside.

21:45Mike Wright: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. I got a snake, man. Spencer Rattler is the week one starter. Tyler Shuck, oh, my gosh.

22:11Andy Holloway:Yeah, really? Really, man?

22:13Jason Moore:I mean, if you played that many years of college and you come in and can't beat Spencer Rattler. Really? They are. They are playing for that number one pick.

22:21Mike Wright: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 kind of felt like, you know.

22:36Jason Moore:You brought it up on the show earlier that there was 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 and so that was overblown a little bit and i just give massive credit to that guy because i assume he's drafting a chance everywhere you know what i mean i gotta start i gotta start this method little market manipulation yes yeah all right the chargers

23:04Mike Wright:there's no regulation here the wild west yeah the sec ain't coming after you um Najee Harris activated from the reserve non-football injury list the team waived Kamani Vidal Sassoon I noted Vidal Sassoon and Audrick Estame Lauder both cut this weekend they got shaved okay

23:27Andy Holloway:Estame did you guys see the little blurb on Estame of the practice squad no they're saying he's not expected he will not be expected to be back to Denver Like if this isn't the cut, it's he I'm not saying he's a special player, but he could go wreck a couple situations. Like he could go to me. Yeah. As terms of like a goal line, he could go to Dallas. He could go to Chicago and make things a little messier.

23:53Jason Moore:I believe so. I don't think estimate you always liked estimate more than I did. I didn't love his his college film. But I will say that some of the reports from basically he was like pouting, you know, like his his workload, his opportunity. He was just kind of a bad attitude about it. Right. More than just he's so untalented 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.

24:18Mike Wright:Isaiah likely avoided opening the season on IR.

24:22Jason Moore:That doesn't mean he'll play week one, but it means he doesn't have to miss four weeks. Like Godwin. Yeah, exactly.

24:28Mike Wright:Darnell Mooney also avoided starting the season on IR. That's like likely. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no, we're going to have more of those, aren't we? Chris Godwin avoided being on. Oh, just like Mooney. Hey, this is news right here. Kate Otten's going to miss time with a leg injury after we had the discussion about him. They are hurting. Yeah. You know, Godwin, Otten, McMillan. Not going to be available to this team. I don't know how you feel about Baker to start the 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 like that's the path is he becomes a pass catcher

25:23Jason Moore:do you have any interest in uh Tez Johnson I mean at this point Tez Johnson's looked pretty good um as you know he will have a role to start the season no question you know what I you know what I did not I did not know this until like a week or so ago which apparently Tez Johnson says a lot of people are unaware of this in in his did you know he is uh Bo Nix's brother yes I did actually he is Bo Nix's brother they adopted him their family adopted uh Tez Johnson I think when he 14 or so, and so they grew up together.

25:58Mike Wright:I did not know that. 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. The couch, the chair. Brandon Ayuk also on the PUP, and MVS was released by the Seahawks. red alert Torrey Horton has won the wide receiver three job and only has the aged Cooper cup to compete with so MBS is gone which was a kind of a big deal Torrey Horton uh been on the nasty 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 Pearsall and Sky Moore right now so MBS joins the 49ers so cmc george kittle probably gonna be pretty good to start the year hopefully this is

26:57Jason Moore:like really exciting for both of their opportunities and really scary for both of their workloads

27:02Mike Wright:because they will be inundated with targets i i made the joke on on x the other day that people don't know but they want they want christian mccaffrey 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 you have if he 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 gonna mean no we want the running back one we want him

27:32Jason Moore:overworked and uninjured it can happen it's very low on any play any play i would say it's about 40 % odds. That's what I would put it at. Two of the last five years.

27:47Mike Wright:No. Two of the last five years he's been good. Yeah. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying to get hurt because that would be 60%.

27:53Jason Moore:No, I'm a glass half full kind of guy.

27:57Mike Wright: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 and 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.

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30:39Mike Wright:All right, it's time.

30:46Andy Holloway:Marty, you've got to come back with me. Where?

30:49Mike Wright:Back to the future.

31:02Mike Wright: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 McLaurin was a revelation. He was drafted after the top 30 wideouts last year, finished at wide receiver five on the back of 13 touchdowns. 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.

31:44What do you got?

31:45Jason Moore: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, and we've talked about over the years, a rookie quarterback doesn't usually support a ton of touchdowns and high-end fantasy finishes, but also over the more recent history, things have been changing with that. These rookies are coming in better, and Cam Ward, the number one overall pick in the NFL draft, could just very well make Calvin Ridley a great fantasy asset. Calvin Ridley hasn't really lost anything. I mean, he was disappointing last year, but he had over 1 ,000 yards.

32:28Jason Moore:He just had Will Levis targets. You know, he had really, really bad. He had 24 % target share.

32:33Mike Wright:Stank targets.

32:34Jason Moore: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 Cam Ward targets and he's looked really good through camp through preseason I think Cam Ward will work and so to me Calvin Ridley he's an older guy being drafted outside the wide receiver you know he's right now the wide receiver 32.

32:57Mike Wright:That's exactly where McLaurin was drafted last year the exact same wide receiver number.

33:01Jason Moore:Yeah they're they're both good wide receivers who dealt with bad quarterback play who are alone like last Last year, the biggest target competition for Terry McLaurin was like Zach Ertz. And yeah, Calvin Ridley, the Titans drafted a bajillion, you know, rookie wide receivers. They caught one of them yesterday.

33:18Mike Wright:Right. Mr. Trepo. So sad.

33:21Jason Moore:But Calvin Ridley is the clear primary target in this offense. So if Cam Ward comes out and has a good season and throws enough touchdowns as a rookie, it will be Calvin Ridley having a great fantasy finish.

33:36Mike Wright:All right. this year's Terry McLaurin Mike who do you have

33:39Andy Holloway: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 finally have that year you know and things are stacked against him right now because of the calf injury but the ADP is going down and Juwan Jennings they just signed MVS I mean like that 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've I am curious if he ends up back with the the 49ers that would certainly put a damper in this but Jawan Jennings like he's he's older he's 28 uh but among wide receivers with 75 or more targets he was 12th in yards per route run in 14th in fantasy points per route run.

34:33Andy Holloway:What's your face? What's your face, Doug? What?

34:36Jason Moore:I'm sitting here so excited for Andy's answer, and he just goes and deletes it in the doc. He just removes it and changes it. I saw you. I saw you change, you coward. But that's fine. That's fine.

34:49Andy Holloway:I was like, what? I'm like, John Jennings is like a 10th, 11th round pick. What are we so upset about over here?

34:55Mike Wright:I just made a decision between two names,

35:00Andy Holloway:which is my right yes you're right just a bad call we go on mike mike was talking joan 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 which answer are you going with look i'll go with

35:20Mike Wright:two but um what's great is kyle so my original answer was keenan allen because i i do wonder I find myself passing on Ladd McConkie a little bit because what Keenan does great, what they replaced Keenan with was Ladd McConkie. 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 I do think Keenan, Ladd McConkie, Keenan entirely undrafted, not cared about, wide receiver, whatever, wherever he was. Where was he? Where's his current ADP? 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 McLaurin.

36:09Mike Wright: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 McLaurin last year. And I don't think he's lost a step. So 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 Ladd McConkie. I think people just want to say, well, McConkie's 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 Ladd McConkie had to be there for the entire year, I don't know if he has to be that anymore.

36:45Jason Moore: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.

37:04Mike Wright:Oh, that's why it was my pick. I totally –

37:07Jason Moore: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.

37:15Andy Holloway: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 starred Keenan Allen and realize I have to if I want Keenan I have to find my place and where I just take him and it's no matter when you take him it will be multiple rounds ahead of ADP yeah

37:36Jason Moore:so are you like the the ninth the tenth I'm looking so I 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 that's interesting

37:50Mike Wright:what do we do with finding the 2025 version of bucky irving uh he was undrafted last year he finished his rb 15 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 does anybody but Mike

38:20Jason Moore:well Bucky was Bucky was talented I think that there were the issues were obviously first and foremost his draft capital right you when when you're a day three pick you just pretty much presume failure from a fantasy football perspective but he was a talented player you know 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 Scadaboo. We brought him up through the offseason. He's outstanding. Fourth round pick, went 105th overall. He's in third in yards after contact behind only Jinty and Omari and Hampton in this draft class and this is an excellent draft class.

39:01Jason Moore: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, Cam Scadaboo, Jameer Gibbs, Tony Pollard. The list of these guys is really, really good players. I believe Cam Scadaboo 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. Wow. Because nobody believes it.

39:39Mike Wright: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 Dowdle situation in Dallas where you kind of persist with Javante.

40:01Andy Holloway:They keep playing the worst option until halfway through.

40:04Mike Wright:for a little while until you give in and say, wow, I would like some juice versus no juice. And Dowdle, compared to Zeke, looks like Adrian Peterson. So I think Javante is not far off of that comparison. I think Jaden Blue is somebody to pay attention to. You could tuck him 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.

40:30Andy Holloway: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 Monongai, or as Jason calls him, Monongai. Monongai. He was a seventh rounder. we like bears 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 he had or mononga had back-to-back 1200 plus rushing yards at rutgers the same school as pacheco oh hey seventh round seventh rounder if these trends continue i like like i said this literally is not a bet on mononga this is a bet on ben johnson and the bears and a bet against deandre swift and i rest my case okay what about

41:31Mike Wright:finding 2025's johnny smith so basically undrafted last year ends up tight end 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 oh yeah i can't i can do what i want um but i'm not pivoting here tight end left for dead who could be top five that's a high bar it is a high you gotta get up into top five I think

41:56Jason Moore:all three of ours actually could happen um Dalton Kincaid is my pick a guy who is so I mean this you want to talk about a disappointment um 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 like to me I 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 you know tight ends take several years sometimes to develop so he's a young guy entering year three the former first round pick and he's still on a team where okay Keon Coleman maybe he steps up but if he doesn't Khalil Shakir you know who's who's really going to take over there's no one so the ball's going to spread around unless someone steps up levels up and I think that his opportunity to do so still exists you want a guy on a good offense who has touchdown scoring opportunities so Dalton Kincaid I mean right now he's undrafted he's the

43:03Andy Holloway:the tight end 14 we have bailed like oh yeah this was every eject button on Dalton Kincaid was

43:12Jason Moore:pressed you want to know why kyle pitts we we because some people didn't eject after after year two they were like is an unkind setup to my answer yeah anyways go on andy what's yeah who's

43:26Andy Holloway:your guy that's definitely going to be a top five tight end it's kyle pitts do you realize he was

43:31Mike Wright: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

43:41Jason Moore:changes like the oh he got the quarterback that he's going to play with all year now

43:45Mike Wright:no oh no because i mean obviously kurt cousins started he changed right he changed to kurt cousins uh rip version right and so kyle pitts they don't have options there you just picked him yeah see you're attacking me on yesterday's show you picked him as a top 10 tight end i

44:05Jason Moore:actually genuinely you're like don't remember that no no no i'm i am wanting to dunk on you or mike or anyone i can whenever i can and it's not popular but i actually do think how pitts is going to be very involved this year and and has as good a chance to be a top 10 tight end as any does this help if i say hey that's kyle pitts senior his dad's playing he no he had a baby so now he is kyle pitts senior and i'll just say has he grown up well he's looked like kyle pitts senior for a couple years. I'm going to be honest.

44:36Mike Wright:Is he still like 20 years old? Yeah, yeah. He's 24 years old right now. The problem, by the way, you brought up Dalton Kincaid. What's the problem with Dalton Kincaid? Two touchdowns each year. I mean, that is not going to get it done. Kyle Pitts, you need red zone touchdowns. 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 Penn.

44:57Jason Moore:He should get five touchdowns this year. If I'm looking at his career, you know, one touchdown rookie season, two sophomore, three the next year four the next year it's funny because he plays a decade Kinkade was the tight

45:09Mike Wright:end 11 with two touchdowns in his rookie season Kyle Pitts was the tight end seven with one with one touchdown in his rookie season they really are parallel to one another but you look at talent like athleticism snap count like all the both of those guys if they get if things go the right way I could see being you know a surprise to show up I mean Johnny Smith late in his career got it done Mike, your answer?

45:35Andy Holloway:I'm going with the tight end who just got paid a big bag of money. Cole Comet? Four-year, no, recently. Oh, okay. Four-year,$50 million extension,$28 million guaranteed. It's the sixth highest average salary among the tight end position. It's 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 is he hits the 10 point threshold in three of those six games all without a touchdown he literally had zero touchdowns last year and 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 touchdown that's great it means that like 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 a in the top 10 not always the most helpful position to have you know tight end 8 through 10 he needs somebody though like he will to me he he easily beats his adp all right let's uh take another quick break and we'll come back and find 2025 sam darnold today's episode is brought to you by your friends at ridge you never realize how much you need a power bank until you actually have one especially with the new iphone 18 coming out your phone isn't the only thing that deserves an upgrade upgrade your charging game with Ridge's five-in-one travel power bank.

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48:06Andy Holloway:You can find Ridge's power bank at Best Buy, or our listeners can get 10 % off at ridge.com by using code FOOTBALLERS at checkout. Just head to Ridge.com, use code footballers, and you're all set. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them, and please support our show and tell them our show sent you. Let's talk about Angie.

48:26Mike Wright:Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for over 30 years, and they've made it easier than ever to tackle home projects. Their nationwide network has experts in everything from plumbing and landscaping to roofing remodels and more. You can read verified reviews and request and compare quotes to find your best price. So join the millions of homeowners who use Angie to get the job done well. Download the Angie app today or visit angi.com. 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.

49:07Mike Wright:I will say this Sam Darnold qualifies yeah it could be Sam Darnold this year Sam Darnold could that might be the best answer legit like I think this year Sam Darnold could be last year Sam Darnold

49:17Jason Moore:do you want to know why it could be the best answer is because last year the answer would never have been like we didn't want Sam Darnold we didn't believe in Sam Darnold because he's Sam Darnold and this year none of us took him as the answer he's like no way you know what I'm pivoting to Sam Darnold are you really yeah I am

49:33Mike Wright:I think it's Sam Darnold I think Sam Darnold's 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. Torrey 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 A.J. Barner at tight end. And he's looked good. So I think this year's Sam Darnold is going to be also last year's Sam Darnold.

49:58Andy Holloway:He will definitely need to be efficient.

50:00Mike Wright:4 ,335 last year. People.

50:03Andy Holloway:He was excellent.

50:04Mike Wright:He was really good.

50:05Jason Moore:That system was great, and also Justin Jefferson was pretty good.

50:08Mike Wright:It's weird that we expect Gino to leave Seattle and be great in Las Vegas, but we don't expect Donald to leave Minnesota and be able to be great in Seattle.

50:18Jason Moore:I think we expect Gino to continue being what Gino was. But that is an upgrade for Las Vegas.

50:25Andy Holloway:And he's back with Pete.

50:26Jason Moore:Yeah, he's back with Pete. He's got Brock Bowers. If you really believe JSN is going to become elite, that's helpful.

50:35Andy Holloway: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 Darnold could do it, he'll have to do it through efficiency because the volume I think goes the other way if you're not in on Walker you really should be drafting Charbonnet.

51:08Mike Wright:Okay, that's my answer. Sam Darnold is the answer for the Sam Darnold. Jason, 2025 Sam Darnold will be?

51:15Jason Moore: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 i think the weapons there tim patrick the yeah i mean tim patrick's a nice wide receiver three so he's probably five i mean diami brown and parker washington will be above sure my point is he's not one of the top two wide receivers because you have two kind of stud wide receiving options here and this is a guy you know this is surprising fourth most passing touchdowns over the last three seasons that traveled more than 20 yards in the air and you put you know Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr.

52:06Jason Moore:with a good you know hopeful upgrade at coordinator and the system I think they have a lot of weapons there and if you look at Jacksonville as one of those teams that could take that leap forward offensively speaking Warren Sharpe's sixth easiest ranked strength of schedule for 2025. You could see how it won't be shocking if the Jaguars come out and put up a boatload of points.

52:34Mike Wright:Yeah, I think the story with 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?

52:57Jason Moore:It's funny because, you know, obviously he got injured, missed a chunk of this last season. But if you compare his consistency to, like, Mahomes, you know, who ranks, like, 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.

53:12Andy Holloway:Ben average.

53:13Jason Moore:Yeah. It's a passing grade, Mike.

53:16Andy Holloway:So you say Trevor Lawrence. I'll raise you even nastier. I'm going 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. And this is a tweet from Scott Barrett who said, Daniel Jones' offensive line rank by year, 32nd, 30th, 28th, 32nd, 31st, and now seventh. and the the weapons wow you're not like oh my gosh it's just an abundance of riches but he has players that by next year like by next year tyler warren could jump into being drafted as a top three tight end josh downs i think could be draft he could make a jump to be a top 24 drafted wide receiver and of course checking it down to johnny taylor okay okay Okay, go ahead.

54:17Jason Moore:Legit philosophical question here for both of you. If you are the quarterback, you are a professional quarterback, would you rather have Malik neighbors and nothing? Forget the other situation. Just as a wide receiver core, would you rather have a Malik neighbors with no other great options to throw the ball to, or would you rather have a Pittman, a Downs, a Tyler Warren?

54:39Andy Holloway:I lean the way of having multiple good weapons over one just elite player. Can I pick the offensive line? And then throwing the offensive line is average in both situations.

54:50Mike Wright:I'll go the neighbor's side because I think Slayton, Wondale are probably, you know, fine alongside Millie.

54:56Jason Moore: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 quarterback.

55:03Andy Holloway:We saw what happened. They did that last year with neighbors and then neighbors was gone. Yeah, I will murder neighbors 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

55:28Mike Wright:interesting to watch in Indianapolis because that team could be surprising they have the talent but Shane Steichen a division that they could win the matchups or it could just go

55:40Andy Holloway:so Richardson is starting by

55:43Mike Wright:week four yeah yeah it could go downhill fast so there you go that's the fantasy time machine for 2025 and we've got football in like a week and a day so that's pretty exciting we have fantasy MVP episode tomorrow is that right is that tomorrow that is the fantasy MVP show so not only will we bring for that one our fantasy MVP picks to the table but we will have i think seven special guests on the show tomorrow is that the right number mike seven several 70 anywhere from one to 15 we will have several special guests on the show tomorrow sharing their fantasy mvp picks and their perspective on uh how they're going to 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.

56:46Mike Wright:So head over to ultimate draft kit.com. If you still need the UDK, make sure you use the draft analyzer. If you've already drafted, use a draft analyzer. We grade your team and your, uh, 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 which you know that's why we give you the tools to do that throughout this season to equip you to make the best decisions for your league so ultimatedraftkit.com to check that out otherwise we will catch you tomorrow on the fantasy mvp episode.

57:29Mike Wright:Take care, everybody. Goodbye.

57:37Jason 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.

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