Fantasy Football - QB & RB Rookie Preview + Height Fight! - Podcast for 3/31

10:33Mike Wright:But that's why you hear us talk about it because it's good to have information on what's happening right now.

10:38Andy Holloway:Yeah.

10:39Mike Wright:Anything else there? No. Talk some news.

10:45Jason Moore:News and notes from around the league.

10:49Mike Wright:The cartoon characters at the New York Jets continue to give us a good episode every week. The Jets head coach Aaron Glenn says, quote, there is no doubt about it. Geno Smith is the Jets' starting quarterback. If I were him, I would have said, there is a lot of doubt about this, but Geno Smith is my quarterback.

11:09Jason Moore:It is just... What if he does it again? What if he gets... If he were to achieve the number one overall pick, does that guarantee that the next year someone that's looking to get... I know the way. We've got to sign Geno.

11:24Andy Holloway:I mean, your odds are very good. Geno's... I can't believe teams keep believing in me.

11:30Mike Wright:so Gino as the starting quarterback yeah because a year ago I will say I'll say this a year ago we would have heard this news it would have been an amazing full circle moment for the Jets yeah Gino was coming off a pretty competent good year we were surprised they couldn't come to an agreement with him in Seattle obviously Seattle made an amazing choice the Raiders it didn't work out whatsoever but a year ago we would have been like wow you know what Garrett Wilson's got a

11:55Jason Moore:quarterback yeah i mean i mean uh two years ago geno smith threw for 4 300 yards looked pretty good 70 completion percentage um changing teams wasn't the only reason that it got worse for him he looked really bad i mean his interceptions were worst quarterback i saw last year other than max bros across the board just terrible and jake brownie i was gonna throw out justin fields

12:23Mike Wright:and Justin Fields.

12:24Andy Holloway:Okay, so bottom five quarterback Andy saw last year. But it's just having said all these things, we can say the phrase, Garrett Wilson may have the best quarterback of his career. It could have been much worse for the Jets. Jason, if the Jets were starting Ty Simpson next year,

12:46Mike Wright:I'd feel worse than Geno Smith. Oh, man.

12:48Andy Holloway:I don't have the list of quarterbacks. Yeah, you don't have the –

12:50Jason Moore:It's like Zach Wilson. Okay. Mike White. Mike White. Okay, there we go. So not the best. Mike White. He had Mike White.

12:57Andy Holloway:Mike White never got to be a real starter.

12:58Mike Wright:Flacco for a minute was the best he's had. Sure. That was the best run.

13:02Andy Holloway:But at that time, Flacco was.

13:03Mike Wright:I'm not optimistic about anything with the Jets. I'm not. I just am not. Yeah. The Steelers. We get to watch this situation transpire. Art Rooney said he expects Aaron Rodgers to decide whether he wants to re-sign with Pittsburgh before the 2026 NFL Draft. Cool.

13:20Jason Moore:I would hope. Yeah, I mean, you would hope that they know what's going on. Right now, do you think Aaron Rodgers will be the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2026?

13:31Mike Wright:Yes. I do as well. There was a time in the offseason I would have probably said maybe not, but right now it feels that way, and they don't have a lot of good options, so he's there.

13:42Jason Moore:Aaron Rodgers was so annoyed early in his career with the late game shenanigans of Brett Favre. Oh, is he going to retire? Is he going to walk away? Oh, at the last minute, he's going to sign and hold his franchise hostage. And it's like, that's just what he learned. That's what dad did. You know, it's like, I learned it from you, dad. This isn't Aaron Rodgers' fault. I learned it from you. This is, you know, the scars of upbringing just coming back full circle. Look what I can do now.

14:13Mike Wright:Yeah, man, you got to break the cycle. 49ers general manager John Lynch says he's, quote, hopeful tight end George Kittle with the Achilles injury will play in week one. Wow. Hopeful feels like a wishful thing to say.

14:26Jason Moore:I would agree with this specific injury his age. And I saw some amazing workout videos. He's doing great stuff on the upper body. But the Achilles is quite the injury to come back from. And I am very skeptical for week one. that'll man if he's if it looks like he's going to play in week one get dude you need to prepare

14:49Andy Holloway:your analysis as if all the the buzz is going to be he's going to make it George Kittle's going to be ready week one see Jason's caught between a rock and a hard place because he's a big Kittle

15:00Mike Wright:fan yes but he's a big fan of not drafting injured players yes and he's sitting there going like do I I know. Do I break up my rules?

15:08Jason Moore:No, I think I will be out on George Kittle. He's also older. Yeah, he's older. And even if George Kittle ends up getting healthy at some point this season, I do think drafting him – I mean, if he's in the 10th round, okay, sure. Yeah, what about a – I'll take two tight ends and just see if he can come out and surprise. But if he ends up being a, you know, fifth, sixth, seventh rounder. Oh, he won't come there. Yeah, no way.

15:32Mike Wright:I mean, Mike Evans has an impact in the red zone. Sure. in a way that they haven't had a receiver in that department since probably IU two years ago. That would factor into my thoughts too. Cameron Wolfe saying the Falcons think Michael Pennix will be healthy at some point in training camp. That's good. There you go.

15:51Andy Holloway:At some point in 2026.

15:54Mike Wright:Dalton Kincaid's fifth-year option has been picked up by the Bills.

15:57Andy Holloway:Makes sense.

15:59Mike Wright:And Kellen Moore says the team and Chris Olave have had discussions about an extension. He's in the final year of his rookie contract. Boy, why does Olave feel simultaneously like he's in the final year of his rookie contract and also that he's a 16-year veteran? It feels like he certainly had the concussions of a 16-year-old veteran.

16:17Jason Moore:Yes, he came in playing like a veteran. He was just the perfect veteran wide receiver. And then the amount of injuries he's had. You feel like he's been close to retirement multiple years in a row, so you feel like he's older than he is. But you put his numbers up against Garrett Wilson, and they're better.

16:39Mike Wright:All right, that is going to do it for news today. We want to jump into that rookie rundown. Let's take a quick break, and we'll hop right in.

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19:02Mike Wright:All right, it's time.

19:05Jason Moore:Hey, rookie. Welcome to the NFL.

19:10Mike Wright:Okay, we're jumping in the 2026 rookie class quarterbacks and running backs on today's show. If you can't get enough, we have lots of resources out there. The Dynasty Pass, it's where so much time, effort, all of our rankings, you can go check that out at ultimatedraftkit.com. We have the Dynasty Podcast. All of these prospects have had very in-depth overviews over there on that show. But we want to give all the redraft players, all the players just coming back to fantasy, a general overview about the names you need to pay attention to. Now, you alluded to it. It might just be quarterback. quarterback, Fernando Mendoza's going to be the first pick in this draft.

19:54Now, the Raiders are

19:56Mike Wright:not the only team that needs a quarterback. The Jets, yes, Geno Smith is the answer now, I guess, but not the future. The Browns, Deshaun Watson, probably not the future. The Cardinals desperately need a quarterback for the future. The Steelers, we just talked about what they're figuring out with Aaron Rodgers, and many other teams would love to pick up a talented quarterback. Now, are there talented quarterbacks available? You know, Mendoza's going to the Raiders. That's going to be a foregone conclusion.

20:23Andy Holloway:Mendoza had a very strong year. I mean, you know, takes Indiana and wins the national championship. Unbelievable. 72 % of his passes, 3 ,500 yards, 41 touchdowns. You know, not a nothing burger on the ground. We got, you know, 276 yards and seven rushing touchdowns. but that is definitely not his superpower. If we're going to get there for Mendoza, it's going to be on the strength of being a pocket passer, and can he have enough weapons around him? With the Raiders, I don't think they are not there yet. Mendoza would be a very surprising top 12 quarterback. Oh, for fantasy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. for this first year.

21:15Mike Wright:Yeah, I think that would be – I think if he can do a good job learning the game, starting early, his strengths in college, processing defenses. They've said – He's not an overwhelming athlete. Right. He's a good – he was really good in the clutch, which throughout the entire season. In the clutch?

21:35Jason Moore:What clutch has he ever even done? What big game? What big game? Yeah.

21:39Andy Holloway:It's the biggest game of the year. the Raiders have said they want to start someone else over Mendoza for a while well they're not saying Mendoza because they don't give it up don't say who the first pick is going to be so that is built into it of do the Raiders want to play someone else what did I say Andy and I were real synced up in our mug drink it was just a little weird so Mendoza he's interesting because he's the guy. He's the number one quarterback. For redraft, I don't think people should be expecting much. And then Dynasty, it comes down to super flex leagues. Do you have to take Mendoza 101 because of the value of the quarterback when a prospect like Jeremiah Love will be there?

22:34Andy Holloway:I am on the side of, I'm probably going to take Jeremiah Love over Mendoza, even a super flex. But he, I don't know, this is weird. He's the best that we have right now.

22:47Mike Wright:Kukubiak is coming in to deal with a team that was dead last in yards per game and points per game last season. The fact that it's Kubis is a very strong

22:56Andy Holloway:checkmark for some development of Mendoza.

22:59Jason Moore:Mendoza appears to be a really solid NFL prototypical quarterback he could be very good for the Raiders and not really great for fantasy he's not a super mobile you know player that's going to go up out there and rush for 500 800 yards that breaks fantasy and just because a player is drafted with the first overall pick in the NFL draft at quarterback that does not guarantee success we don't know about Cam Ward But you look back at who, you know, Bryce Young, was that the best? You know, Baker Mayfield flamed out from, you know, his first team. You've got Jameis Winston. As many, far more mid-picks at the 101 than the Andrew Lux and, you know, Cam Newtons and the successes.

23:52Jason Moore:At least 50-50 if you look back at like the last 20 years.

23:56Mike Wright:Well, even if you take the Trevor Lawrence path, that's a long wait to fantasy relevance. He was.

24:01Andy Holloway:Mendoza over the last two seasons has been perfect in the red zone, 39 touchdowns, no interceptions. We do love that. That's amazing. It's just the Raiders team.

24:10Mike Wright:That's Rodgers-Brady stuff.

24:12Andy Holloway:And the Raiders can change this in the draft, certainly, but it's like the team, the depth chart as it stands right now, Brock Bowers, elite stud. Right now, the slotted starting wide receivers are the new addition of Jalen Naylor, Trey Tucker, and Jack Besh.

24:29Mike Wright:no it would fall in line if there's a big wide receiver name that goes there it would certainly make things look a lot better but maybe that's a year away too right ty simpson is the other name that will profile today really i mean he's got one year he's got at alabama 15 starts that that is

24:51Jason Moore:an a for loyalty right he didn't in in the nil era where you're not getting to start you transfer for I mean he's been playing behind other NFL drafted quarterbacks and he Bryce Young Jalen Milrow yeah exactly and so he he waited his turn which is not usually the smart thing to do in today's modern NFL but my goodness it is very difficult to imagine putting the future of a franchise in the NFL based on 15 starts we've seen about that one tweet though we've seen this happened tweet about him being the best oh uh you know tweets got a lot of authority mitchell trubisky didn't have a ton of starts uh anthony richardson didn't have a ton of start i don't

25:36Andy Holloway:think ty's going in the top five though like people will start spreading the stories of well the cardinals take him at three i don't think that happens i think he is a second round no i think he'll go in the first but it's going to be like dart where maybe the the stealers where they're picking they do slot at a point in the draft where it might be worth it but i don't know if they want to can he pick it can you pick it 2.0 but or the cardinals trading back into the first if they actually believe in ty simpson that wouldn't be a shocking thing for me but 15 starts

26:07Mike Wright:is joe burrow didn't have a lot of starts he had very much the exception and not yeah yeah and he

26:16Andy Holloway:Ty Simpson is not Burrow as a prospect. For fantasy football specifically, last year, what, 93 rushing yards? Now, college is different. You can lose yards for sacks and things like that. But the rushing game, you will not get the superpower of the extra points.

26:38Mike Wright:Let me put it this way. If there was a team out of those five, we know Mendoza is going to go to the Raiders, so out of the four, Jets, Cardinals, Browns, and Steelers, it seems like the Cardinals and Steelers would be at the top of the list of teams that you'd want to have the opportunity if you were Ty Simpson from a weapons standpoint. Yeah. I mean, Pittsburgh, Pittman, Metcalf, that's good enough. Cardinals with Marv, Trey McBride, Michael Wilson. Those seem like better cores than the other two teams.

27:07Andy Holloway:So far, the only known top 30 visits for Ty Simpson are the Cleveland Browns. The two that I didn't want. And the New York Jets.

27:16Jason Moore:Okay. okay yeah we hope not um actually maybe we hope so because if if there's a player you're not very excited about um which i both of these quarterbacks i think are they they show enough skill to be successful at the nfl level but from a fantasy football perspective you know we we talk about mendoza is not this prolific runner on the ground but he's significantly better than ty simpson so So Ty Simpson to me is not that important for fantasy. He will be a streaming option at best in his career, even if he's good. If he's good and has a good NFL career, there's plenty of guys like that. Derek Carr had a very long NFL career.

28:04Jason Moore:He was a streaming option. This is not a guy you're going to go out and win a fantasy football championship with. I think the only, you know, you've got little bitty baby Diego Pavia, who is probably going to be a day three pick, so he'll be irrelevant. And second in Heisman voting. Yeah, second in Heisman voting, prolific on the ground, 800 rushing yards, good through the air.

28:25Mike Wright:I think Nussmeyer is probably the most slept on prospect because this was a 4 ,000-yard passer who I think the expectations were very high this year, and then he got hurt and played through the injury and missed some games. probably the next on the list of who's going to get drafted in terms of more you know he's worked out i think for the jets um i think he's worked out for the rams the colts so that would be the other name worth mentioning but these are all flyers in the dark that'll probably emerge never

28:55Andy Holloway:and it's just not an exciting quarterback yeah yeah well and uh taylon green was he broke the combine right am i thinking of the right guy yes yes yeah uh they fixed it though well yeah i mean you gotta you have to put it back together oh it just takes all the king's horses and all the king's men uh out of arkansas tail and green what are you what are you groaning about yeah the the

29:17Jason Moore:the grandpa joke over here oh you're one to speed you're one i didn't hit my boo button i just felt it in my soul you should feel more of them in your soul uh let's talk

29:31Mike Wright:running backs let's turn the page all right we have teams that are running back

29:38Jason Moore:no no we know there are there are a handful of people we like but but it feels similar to the quarterback where it's like this is extremely top heavy there is a dude and this is a weaker running back class especially coming off of last year where we had um some high end talent i mean

29:54Mike Wright:i feel like it's quarterback quarterback is like maybe some impact and then no impact is how it feels running back is like big impact probably a lot of impact behind him even though it's top heavy um which we're talking about jeremiah love who's going to go very very high in this draft let's let's start let's back off of that for a second and just talk about teams that have desperate needs at the running back position that we've identified that we know about and how we feel about landing spots right now because you know at the top of the draft the Titans, they stick out as a team that could definitely take Jeremiah Love, could be the next team to rework the backfield.

30:32Mike Wright:Tony Pollard, it's a temporary plan there. You talked about the Giants at five. They want to be in the conversation. But that's one that's going to get messy, right? You don't necessarily want a running back to go there not named Jeremiah Love because they're lost in a sea of committee backfield situations.

30:50Jason Moore:And they don't have a third-round pick either. So if you spend... Oh my gosh, you can't do it. You can't do it. We're declaring it. Yes, that's not happening.

30:58Mike Wright:You're not going to New York.

31:00Andy Holloway:The Titans will be drafting Jeremiah Love.

31:02Mike Wright:That's what you believe? I do. I think the predominant leader in the clubhouse for a lot of people right now is Washington at seven for Jeremiah Love. Washington desperately needs a fix at the position. We worked through a lot of different names last year. Some of them are gone now. I mean, he's still there, but Eckler's gone. who played for them and then Chris Rodriguez who getting a lot of opportunity is gone the Bengals would throw a wrench in the Chase Brown situation I feel like they would be forced to take love if he dropped there that's all I'm saying

31:38Jason Moore:because that would be a drop oh yeah if he gets to 10 that will be pressure to drop

31:43Mike Wright:and then kind of going beyond Jeremiah Love you'd be starting to look at like Minnesota for the future with Aaron Jones you'd be looking at Seattle with the absence of Ken Walker.

31:51Jason Moore:Seattle is the landing spot of the NFL right now. That's the bell of the ball for running backs, not Jeremiah Love. Jeremiah Love won't go there, but you look at when you've got a Super Bowl champion team that really, really has a great defense and wants to run the ball, who just lost Kenneth Walker, and then Charbonnet is going to be coming off of an ACL injury, it is the number one landing spot. Like some, one of these relevant running backs is going to go there, And it might be at pick 32, which is a first-round pick. And if not, pick 64 to the second-rounder, that's a perfect spot for high draft capital to a running back.

32:27Jason Moore:And whichever running back they take, I think, will end up, I really believe. Leapfogging a name ahead of it in terms of fantasy? I think that'll be the number two drafted running back. They'll probably take someone at 32 or 64, and that will be the number two running back after the NFL draft in fantasy rankings.

32:45Mike Wright:It's very, very possible. So let's start with the number one running back in the class, bar none, Jeremiah Love, out of Notre Dame, a junior, unbelievable player, 18 touchdowns following a 17-touchdown sophomore season, one fumble across his collegiate career, prolific numbers, can catch the football.

33:06Andy Holloway:He hits all of our thresholds in terms of percentage of production for the team. like it's green everywhere and especially and it's green in the receiving game which is like for fantasy almost more important uh for like can you can this player become a superstar for our purposes in fantasy football jeremy love is he's really really really good

33:32Jason Moore:the draft one yes the draft capital you know is going to be good as you know we're just talking about if he gets to 10 it'll be a surprise and then the pressure to take him so whatever team drafts him we'll be giving him three down workloads he's 220 pounds ran a 4-3-6 40 yard dash there's it's it's just the next tier one type of you know Bijan Jameer Gibbs yeah you know the the guys that come out and you're just expecting them to be superstars that's Jeremiah Love the film backs up the the metrics there's really no hole in the game and I don't look at him and say I would have personally put him behind B.

34:11Jason Moore:John as a prospect. What about Gentry, though? I would put Love ahead of Gentry. Because Gentry still had the problem of being a Boise State guy. Yeah. That was my only big worry at the time. But as a prospect, there's no holes. So you're talking about a guy who's probably going to sneak into the back of the first round in startup drafts. or in redraft. Yeah.

34:41Mike Wright:Yeah, is there a higher likelihood of that with the Titans or with the Commanders?

34:47Andy Holloway:Commanders, I think. Commanders is far more exciting.

34:50Mike Wright:I am so in on the Titans becoming a great team. Really? I believe in Cam Ward already. You know this.

34:57Jason Moore:I think it's because you have all of their wide receivers on your dynasty team. No, no, no.

35:01Mike Wright:The funny thing is I don't think any of those guys will be relevant for the future. I think they've got to fix that position through the draft. with additional wide receivers. No, but I believe in Cam Ward and then Brian Dable being there. I like Robert Sala. Maybe I like the new uniforms too much. I don't know what it is. The new shine. Think how exciting that team is if it's Cam Ward, Jeremiah Love.

35:24Jason Moore:For the future, that's a new identity. There's a lot of hope there. If Jeremiah Love goes there, the hopium will be off the charts. I'm worried about Washington. I'm worried about... Give me Jaden Daniels over Cam Ward.

35:38Mike Wright:sure if he's on the field that's true but what i'm worried about is the head coach because dan quinn is like a doug peterson it is just it wears it goes worse worse worse is how i feel and you get rid of cliff kingsbury so now the offense is in the hands of uh the blob fish i just feel like the direction of that team like it's make a break to me this year if washington goes down again after the high of the first jay daniels year which was a really nice schedule

36:05Andy Holloway:Wait, did you just call Blau the, is that the Blau fish?

36:08Mike Wright:Oh, Dave Blau. The Blau fish. Yes. That's not fair. That's exactly what I said. Don't do that to David. He's David Blau. Blau, Blau. It's the Blau fish. It's something we always say here on the show.

36:20Andy Holloway:We're making a vampire joke about David Blau.

36:22Mike Wright:The Blau fish. Yeah. Like I've always said. I apologize. Detroit has the Blau fish. Washington has the Blau fish.

36:29Jason Moore:Yeah. The thing is, is Dan Quinn, part of the reason that Cliff left is they wanted to run less of a college high passing offense, get under center, run the ball more, which you bring Jeremiah Love into a team that wants to run the ball more with a better quarterback. Jayden Daniels is better than Cam Ward. I'm really hoping he makes it to Washington. Consider me a secret Titans fan.

36:55Mike Wright:All right. And not so secret because I said it into the microphone. Yeah, you just told hundreds of thousands of people. So shall we move on from the best running back into a –

37:07Jason Moore:Now into the question mark. Yeah, a murky group of more players. We are going – the order that we're talking about them is not necessarily our order right now. Don't even say not necessarily.

37:19Andy Holloway:This is not our order. This is definitely not our order.

37:21Jason Moore:We are going based on current mock draft database order of expected draft capital. So currently the most mocked running back to go second and very well could be the guy taken first after Jeremiah Love is his own teammate.

37:40Mike Wright:Jadarian Price, Notre Dame, played alongside Jeremiah Love. I'm curious, you guys, when you went through the film, were there ups and downs to Price's game? Was this a – you know, whenever there's a committee of backs that are both highly, highly –

37:59Andy Holloway:This was not a committee, though. Sure. It was – there was a starter and there was a backup.

38:04Mike Wright:Right. But same backfield. Yes. Can – Teammates. It can mitigate, obviously, production. Mm-hmm. Right? I mean, that's the number one thing. If he's a backup to the number four pick in the draft and the number seven pick in the draft, he certainly wasn't going to get the kind of workload if he had been the bell cow on another team. so the question is can he be that bell cow for an NFL franchise and is there parts of his game because we didn't get all the production you would have wanted that we haven't seen yet yeah I I am

38:30Jason Moore:more skeptical on Jardians as I refer to as I refer to you call him Jardians yes I am from day one every time I saw his name I'm just like Jardians um but Jadarian Price aka Jardians um I like it. I have a really hard time with him. When you watch the film, he is extremely explosive. I mean, he can run away from guys, has a big play potential, and big plays on the film all the time. If you just watch the highlights, you're like, oh, this guy is a missile. However, he is the guy who comes in when Jeremiah Love is off the field. The defense is taking a breath, and they're going, okay, Jeremiah Love's off the field.

39:15Jason Moore:They're not stacking the box and trying to stop the run quite the same. And so I feel like you come in, you get a little bit of easier pickings. It's kind of similar to what we've seen in the NFL and fantasy football where a guy could be really, really efficient as a backup. But if he then turns around and says, OK, now you're a three down guy that the defense is focused on. Oh, lo and behold, you don't just stay that efficient and that good. You add that with the fact that this is a guy who doesn't have like a little bit of pass catching in his production profile. He's got borderline none. I mean, his receptions by year were five, four, and six total receptions.

39:55Jason Moore:So there's no receiving profile. He was a backup who came in, did well, was really efficient on the ground, and he might be the second guy drafted. This would be a perfect guy who could go to the Seattle Seahawks at pick 32, sneak into the first round. We saw that with one of –

40:11Mike Wright:And then you fall in love with the opportunity.

40:13Jason Moore:Yeah, and then I reserve the right to change my opinion, but currently he is much lower to me on my personal rankings than a lot of the other running backs that have more of a production profile, had to be the dude, and kind of proved more.

40:30Andy Holloway:Yeah, he is propped up in my rankings right now with the anticipation of draft capital. Because in draft capital, you don't want to say, when you're evaluating these rookies, you can't just put everything at the feet of draft capital. But it's the foundational building block of... If you did put everything at the feet of draft capital... You would do better than a lot of... Yes, exactly. It matters because that's the investment. The coaches, when you have a running back who is drafted in the second round, you're going to want to get that guy in. There's going to be heat from ownership. Get our new kid in.

41:14Andy Holloway:I'm with Jason of the film. Maybe he is the second-best running back, and this is not his fault at all. It's just the B. John, Roshon Johnson. Roshan Johnson had his fans back at Texas. And like, hey, no, I think Roshan Johnson can come into his own just because he was B. John. But watch his film. He's good. Then he ends up being a day three pick, and he's gone. Like, Roshan Johnson's career is already done.

41:43Mike Wright:Yeah, it's funny because another situation that he ended up having one year to prove himself was when Saquon left Penn State and Miles Sanders took over. And Miles Sanders hadn't gotten almost any work, got one season to prove it, put out big numbers, didn't really work out in the NFL either, really, to the degree that people expected for Miles Sanders. Sonny Michel and Nick Chubb were another combo that played together. It's really hard. I mean, I think whenever a player has limited production, these teams, they don't have a choice, right? They don't get to see another season at the college level, and they could be the smart ones or the dumb ones.

42:16Mike Wright:But they could see, you know, they have to evaluate on a smaller sample.

42:20Jason Moore:And if I was Jardians, I would be coming out for sure. Yeah? Oh, yeah. You don't want to go back and be the dude? No. No, right now, in a week draft class, you might be the second running back taken. You might go on the first round. And you don't have to prove nothing. That would be your style. Oh, yeah. Guardians.

42:37Mike Wright:Easy. We're going to take another break. We'll come back with some more running back names.

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44:25Mike Wright:okay the next name we're going to bring up again we are not talking about them in our specific order but in the order like you said lock draft database is going into mike washington

44:34Andy Holloway:junior combine extraordinaire a senior at arkansas don't yeah do not say the combine doesn't matter. Because the reason Mike Washington is here as the running back three is 100 % because of his performance at the combine. Because he was not here in mock drafts.

45:01Mike Wright:Are you talking about his 4 '3", 340 yard dash and 99th percentile speed score?

45:05Andy Holloway:It is extremely impressive.

45:08Mike Wright:96th percentile explosiveness.

45:09Andy Holloway:He ran a what? A 4 '3". He's 223 pounds.

45:13Jason Moore:He ran what Jameer Gibbs ran with another little person on him. Like the combine measurables, he is an athletic freak. His production profile.

45:26Mike Wright:Producer Matt was actually on his shoulders while he ran. Yeah.

45:29Jason Moore:The production profile is pretty good. I mean, you had his final year over 1 ,000 yards on the ground. This is in the SEC. He had 28 receptions. That's a great number for college. I mean, those are all very good. The issue is that came after five years. You know, sometimes when these older running backs and older athletic people. He had 10 years worth of fumbles. Yes. Yeah, definitely a fumbling problem. 11 fumbles in the last two seasons. This is a player who sometimes you just go, well, when you are older and a super athlete like this, and that's when you start beating up on these young. You better.

46:09Jason Moore:Yeah, you better. Beat the crap out of them. beat these 18 year olds out there um the the thing is is now because of that combine it looks like he is going to have decent draft capital and if he's a day two pick that matters you've also got the ability to catch the ability to be um a larger body uh he's five yeah he's he's basically six

46:31Mike Wright:feet okay six foot basically like you're basically six feet or basically like actually six feet i

46:37Jason Moore:I don't ever say I'm six. I am exactly 5 '11". And everybody that's 5 '11 says they're six feet. I don't. I'm actually 5 '11". And you take pride in that and then not saying that? Yes. Because it ruins us 5 '11ers because you all think we're faking six feet. Nobody pays attention to you guys. I know.

46:54Andy Holloway:Are you 5 '11"? I am 5 '11". Oh, my gosh. Shoes off 5 '11". If he was 5 '10", I'd love it. Oh, no. Wait another decade. That's what I'm saying. The ultimate Jason Moore.

47:06Mike Wright:If I was 5 '10 and I took that line, that would be an amazing misdirection.

47:09Andy Holloway:Just soapboxing. I don't ever round up to six feet. I'm 5 '11".

47:13Mike Wright:No one would ever doubt you being 5 '11".

47:16Andy Holloway:Yeah, and you shouldn't because I'm 5 '11".

47:19Mike Wright:Don't check. He will never check again. Listen, there's a couple things here with Mike Washington and I guess any of these running backs at this point in the draft that it gets more and more complicated, right? Where if there's not a – like in our minds, there's not a clear-cut number two, right?

47:33Jason Moore:Oh, there is in mine. Okay. We haven't talked about him yet. Just say who yours is. Jonah Coleman I really, really like.

47:38Andy Holloway:Jonah Coleman is my number two as well.

47:40Mike Wright:Okay, so you guys both have him there.

47:43Andy Holloway:We independently got Jonah Coleman. When our process starts, we say, hey, did you watch this player? And I say, no, I haven't watched him. That's the end of the conversation. We don't share notes. Because I don't want to influence at all. I'll be like, hey, look for this, look for this. So we both ended up on Jonah Coleman. That's who you have at number two. And watch, like, my notes on Mike Washington are, they're not good. My film evaluation, I thought, this is, he's a fine player. When I got his combine numbers, it blew me away. I'm like, really? How? Yeah. I'm like, this is not the player that I was seeing when I was watching him actually play football.

48:30Jason Moore:1 ,000 yards and 28 receptions is really good. But at 220 pounds, running 4-3-3, you should be having this absurd. What's his age? He's got to be older because he played five years.

48:45Mike Wright:Yeah, he had five years in college. Arkansas this year before it was New Mexico State. It's tough because all of these guys, depending on the draft capital, you also have to now look at the team and say, will they give this guy I might believe in or who was a combine breakout an opportunity sufficient? for fantasy. That's the discussion and the evaluation we have to make. And not to pick on one player, but like Caleb Johnson's a good example of like, it wasn't bad draft capital, but then you have to win the lottery twice, right? You got to get through the draft capital lottery. Then you got to get through the backfield ensemble.

49:19Mike Wright:And will a team give you an opportunity or will you be part of a committee? And that's where a lot of our rankings are going to change. You guys have Jonah Coleman in right now. Number two, we're all ahead of the draft. if a team you mentioned seattle takes jenarian price at 32 and coleman goes at the back of the

49:36Jason Moore:front of the third round you're probably changing your rankings absolutely the rankings will this year more than most years because you kind of have this nebulous rb2 no one knows who the second running back is going to be drafted after jeremiah love and it could really be one of like five different players and it wouldn't shock anyone isn't price pretty much been there though he has

50:00Mike Wright:been there from the beginning i think that other than him i don't know who's going next yeah but i feel like price is probably two or three at worst yeah i mean he'll he'll i mean probably yeah maybe maybe we'll get surprised maybe mike washington will go out there with his darius hayward bay

50:16Andy Holloway:impression and get himself a top spot and so back to mike washington of just reviewing the film he was in the 40th percent I did hear it too whatever he's done with us I'm trying to give numbers guys he was in the 40th percentile for forced missed tackle rate as in this is not good this is a big strong athletic player who's not making defenders miss he graded out as the low he's the lowest graded pass blocker per pro football focus of this running back class and yeah fumbles a lot and he fumbles a lot like yeah i don't want my running back pass blocking i want him out there catching passes but i want my running back to be able to get on the field and part of that is you got to be able to do all these other things so i when the combine numbers hit i got i got real pumped i was real excited okay we got it we have a standout here so i moved him up the ranks and then went back into everything and i said no i'm not gonna i'm not gonna extra count this athleticism when all the other metrics that I care about and my film evaluation are not

51:28Mike Wright:matching up what do you guys want to talk about your number two yes sir Jonah Coleman Jonah Coleman is both of your number two he's four on my rankings right now um tell me why you love

51:41Jason Moore:him so Jonah Coleman he passes the eye test to me breaks a lot of tackles had um breakaway plays over and over and over for a player who is not a I mean he didn't run he didn't do any testing even at the pro day like wasn't going to run a 40 which I think will hurt his draft capital that's why he's been um falling a little bit in mock drafts and but he's got enough active burst and speed to make plays happen his pass catching to me is in is a incredible gift it's what I love to see his hands are made of glue you he can be in the middle of a pile of players and the quarterback can rifle the ball to him five feet away and it just sticks and it's it's unconscious so I love that as a pass catcher he's not doing the thing where he's got to think about catching the ball it's just second nature to him so I love him as a pass catcher he's also kind of a bowling ball type of player and even though he's got a ton of touchdowns in his profile which is one of the stickiest stats to translate to fantasy football success is running backs having rushing touchdowns in college he had 25 rushing touchdowns the last two years so you've got someone that can score around the goal line and catch the ball he is a very very intelligent player his pass blocking grade is great he talks about how he wants to be on the field all three downs it's just that he checks the boxes that matter for fantasy football to me

53:15Mike Wright:what about the rushing production because i mean you look at like you compare what price did as a backup certifiable backup to jeremiah love price had 11 touchdowns price had almost 700 rushing yards jonah coleman did have a dip in his efficiency in the last three years on the ground

53:30Andy Holloway:and other players on the team were taking work six eight to five five to four nine though if If you're dipping in work, just to go back to the argument about efficiency,

53:42Mike Wright:it doesn't quite add up for Jonah Coleman on the ground there where we like to see overwhelming effectiveness and efficiency in that final year. I mean, he played 12 games.

53:51Jason Moore:Two years ago, it was better for him, over 1 ,000 rushing yards, 23 receptions. He got more involved in the passing game this year, less so on the ground. I went game by game through the game log, and it was kind of a situation where there were some games he really took over and then some games where I don't know if he got injured in the game or whatnot, but a little bit disappeared. But on the film and most of the metrics, he's good enough to me to at least have a shot. Now, if he ends up being a day three pick, poof, vanished.

54:23Mike Wright:I feel like the reception profile is something that's really drawing you to him.

54:27Jason Moore:Yes, the receptions, the rushing touchdowns, and the film. Those three things. I really liked what I saw on film. And his scheme fit is perfect for Seattle. He is playing in Washington. So that franchise is very familiar with Jonah Coleman over the last couple years. And the 32 or 64 pick, if they take Jonah Coleman, I will be freaking excited.

54:49Mike Wright:He's 5 '8", 220, by the way, if we didn't say it.

54:51Andy Holloway:And he has – That's something. That is a bowling ball. That's a bowling ball. A thing I really look for is a player's contact balance, and he has it. I mean, there's guys who are 5 '8", 220, who get knocked over. Guys bounce off of him, and he really remains just grounded. And so the fact that he has such high marks in that with the pass catching for me keeps him at number two until the draft. Further noticed. Yeah.

55:24Mike Wright:Yeah, last name we'll mention at running back is Emmitt Johnson. He's a player that I really liked on film.

55:29Andy Holloway:Production monster.

55:31Mike Wright:Yeah, I mean, he was 1 ,451 rushing yards last year, 12 touchdowns, 46 receptions. He was my, you know, outside of love, on film he was my favorite running back.

55:44Jason Moore:He has the most fun running style. Like, like his, my notes on him are just how every, he's got one move. He could do it in both directions, but it's like this little herky jerky, little jump cut to the left or to the right. And it works every single time.

56:03Andy Holloway:He has a weird, like, it reminds me a little bit of the Adrian Peterson run of, he's really using that upper body to make himself go faster. He's like, I run with my arms. Yes. Totally.

56:18Mike Wright:And I'll be honest, he's at three for me on my rankings, right? Right now, my rankings are Love, Price, Emmett. Okay. Emmett. So he's at, now he's four because you said that. No, he's at three for me because of the combine performance. To me, and it betrayed the things you saw in film. You just talked about the herky-jerky, the move that always works. And here he comes out at the combine. Not only is he slower than he expected to be at the combine, 28th percentile speed score, 4.56. but he was 6 % in quickness and 3-cone drill and 28-yard shuttle. So I don't know if this was a bad day.

56:51Andy Holloway:That's got to be a bad day.

56:53Mike Wright:I mean, it just feels like he hurt himself a lot at the combine. Yeah, he did. Which, look, if you do that, your opportunities are going to dwindle in terms of draft capital opportunities and teams that are going to count on you to be the dude. That's my biggest worry right now. I feel like the arrow's pointing down, despite on film alone, me being the most impressed with Emmitt Johnson at Nebraska. Like you said, the production was out of control, and he can catch the football. I love that. I don't know what happened at the combine.

57:21Jason Moore:Yeah, I like this. It's ironic because my notes on him, I really, really liked watching him play. It was fun. But I wasn't sure if his athleticism was good enough to allow this move that he has that gets these college guys every time. I didn't know if that was going to translate and be successful in the NFL. So then you combine that with the poor combine performance, and that was some of my fear. He's a guy that basically touched the ball. How far down is he for you guys? He's my number four. Four? Yeah. I still like him, and I've got Jardians currently at eight, which is low. You have him at eight?

58:01Jason Moore:Yeah. He will, without a doubt, go up. There's a couple other guys that maybe we won't get into specifically. Yeah, just throw a couple names. I really like Nick Singleton. You did. For fantasy football.

58:13Mike Wright:Boy, he's boring to me. Sure. Mike doesn't like him at all either. He would love to grow up and become Charbonnet.

58:20Andy Holloway:I didn't love either of the Penn State guys, but I preferred Allen over Singleton when I watched.

58:25Jason Moore:Yeah, for me, this is a matter of if you're telling me that there's a guy out there who, I mean, 45 rushing touchdowns and over 100 receptions in college who is 220 pounds. Like, okay, a big body back who gets touchdowns and catches passes. I'm just a sucker for fantasy football things.

58:49Mike Wright:He doesn't – yeah, it's not flashy, but his production is there. And that's Nick Singleton. Nicholas.

58:55Andy Holloway:Yeah, and being a sucker is Adam Randall for me. Oh, yeah. Out of Clemson. He – I mean, he had a good breakout age. Well, an okay breakout age. But he's – He was subpar. No. He is a – He's weird. He's a unique prospect because for three years at Clemson, he was a wide receiver. Who did nothing. And he could not really get anything sustained on the field. And then they move him to running back for his last year. So he's brand new to the position. What's the size? He's a monster. He's 6 '3", 232.

59:31Mike Wright:What was he doing out there, a wide receiver?

59:33Andy Holloway:What's he doing at running back? You know a lot of 6 '3", 232. I guess the 6 '3 part is the tight end it is. And he ran a 4 '5", but because of his size, that puts him in the 91st percentile for speed score. And because he's a converted wide receiver, you know that he at least has solid hands for a running back. Caught 36 passes this last year. 36 passes the last year, 168 carries, 814 yards on the ground. I don't know if he'll make any type of noise in the NFL draft, but when a player makes the move to running back from the wide receiver position, and they get drafted. And he's gigantic. You almost always get at least a couple years of something pretty good for fans.

1:00:19Jason Moore:I'm completely with you on him. He is the current sleeper pick that I'm most excited about.

1:00:25Mike Wright:That'll do it for today's episode of the show. On Thursday, we'll jump into the most exciting position, I think, in the draft, top to bottom, the wide receivers. And we'll talk some tight ends as well. Looking forward to it. This was fun. it's nice to have these names out there they're gonna be household names before you know it very soon and we'll have to decide where we pick them and what we believe thanks for joining us everybody check out ultimate draft kit.com goodbye thank you for listening to another episode of the

1:00:56Jason Moore:fantasy footballers podcast join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on twitter at the ff ballers

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