Fantasy Football - Sleeper Picks + Late Round Steals - Podcast for 8/18

12:26Mike Wright:The second name, Terrence Ferguson. If you don't know him, tight end, second-year guy for the Los Angeles Rams. somebody that I think we hoped would have success in a bigger way for fantasy last year this is a tight end room I know there's excitement around Ferguson but it does have Colby Parkinson who is the starter on the depth chart Tyler Higbee is still there Davis Allen who is flashed is still there I believe Max Clare was the draft pick right yeah it's a very very busy like I don't know what 12 personnel is if you start four tight ends at the same time I don't know what that becomes number wise but um let's talk about terrence ferguson because his he's up about around i think some people are excited puka's dealing with the groin i i guess i feel a little bit like uh sean mcveigh has fooled me a few times he certainly has i mean even going back to like gerald everett gerald everett like i feel like they are like almost willing to just throw the ball to any

13:24Andy Holloway:tight end that's open ever they're they're willing to throw everybody off the scent yeah we will draft this player in the second just to trick you yeah i think that the part of the reason that we

13:34Jason Moore:feel fooled by mcveigh um with different players whether it's alan robinson or or gerald everett it's actually in part because sean mcveigh has gotten so much fantasy value out of so many different people cooper cup was a sensational superstar you're chasing um a best case scenario puka a fifth rounder all of a sudden is literally maybe the the best wide receiver in football and So you're saying if you have talent and you put him on this offense, maybe something truly special could happen. And that's the argument for Ferguson is you look at how many, you know, Colby Parkinson was a touchdown machine.

14:11Jason Moore:Now he's in front of him right now on the depth chart, but at the same time, this is a player in Ferguson that is very different than the others. and what's happened this offseason and in preseason shows that a utilization of Ferguson as a much more full-time player, the way that McVay has been talking about him as completely understanding every part of the system now. He's on the field in preseason for the starters. He was on the field in all formations. In camp, he's been making play after play after play, and they really need a third option. and you know as Devontae Adams is is you know your number two option behind Devontae you have no idea of any kind of solid piece that can really step up and then obviously at that age if Devontae Adams falls off drops off deals with an injury and can't get back there's an opportunity for someone to be a really talented pass catcher he was he dealt with injuries his rookie year he didn't get on the field that much towards the end of the season he started to finally get on the field he was like up to 70 snaps then he got injured in the playoffs he was he was back up to some higher snap percentages so we really haven't seen him but on the limited snaps he had he was over 20 yards of reception this is a really like good pass catching weapon so I think the argument for Ferguson is should he actually get 80 of the snaps which I think is reasonable because of how many tight ends they use he has the opportunity to do something for fantasy that's special

15:46Mike Wright:that's my argument for him yeah 11 receptions last year like you said 231 yards on those receptions you know you you didn't get to see a lot what you saw was explosive and like you know we were kind of saying they must believe in davante adams because they didn't add more pass catchers maybe they do have more confidence in the tight end room marshawn lloyd is the last name here in performance climbers and he's appropriately gone up a round and a half in draft uh in adp because we can actually talk about him this time of year because he's actually healthy right now i i mean marshawn lloyd is a very talented player the nice thing in preseason was that he was very clearly the backup to josh jacobs there was a news report today that jacobs is returning to practice he was

16:31Jason Moore:with an ah yeah they all are butterfly my friends butterfly but yeah i mean marshawn lloyd is very similar to jonathan brooks in the very yes he's very talented explosive running back who was young and like could be something special and just we haven't seen them they've been injured their entire short young careers but it's like one more injury in marshawn lloyd is the kindred miller route of like yes he's see you later we're never gonna see you again kindred miller is the ultimate comp for Marshawn Lloyd talented back that you know it's like you when they're on the practice field usually it's like whoa explosive play you hear some news and then too explosive exploded some part of his leg uh I I think there's more forgiveness for Jonathan Brooks because Jonathan Brooks tore his ACL twice you know and it's like okay it's a big injury Marshawn Lloyd's broke just like stubbed his toe everything he's he's now on his thumb with it remember when he He hit his thumb with the nail.

17:26Jason Moore:Oh, that was just bad aim. It was bad aim. You've got to use a wooden mallet if you're Marshawn Lloyd. This is a player who's on a 72nd injury, so you don't expect him to actually be out there. But if he is. There's a world where Lloyd and LG are just week one starters.

17:44Mike Wright:Because Josh Jacobs, either he could re-injure the groin, he has missed some time, or he could be suspended. We do not have conclusive Jacobs-Nakua suspension news yet. So it's like there is a world where like the draft pick, if you're drafting this week and you get Marshawn Lloyd with your last pick, which you can like that. Ferguson and Lloyd are last pick or free agency. And if you get Lloyd, there's a chance he's literally starting for the Green Bay Packers in week one. Yeah, yeah, that's not impossible.

18:13Jason Moore:And when you look around the league at the players who are really, really good insurance options, until Marshawn Lloyd is injured, he is a great insurance. Blake Corum, Marshawn Lloyd, Tank Bigsby, these are the players to me that are the best of the best. And I don't really include Jonathan Brooks in that because I think he will actually be playing, not just an insurance back.

18:39Mike Wright:All right, that was Performance Climbers brought to you by GMC. we are professional grade. We'll take a break and come back with some news.

18:48Andy Holloway:No matter what triumphs are in store this season, legendary game days start with a Miller Lite. Miller Lite is a true American pilsner and the original light beer brewed since 1975. Made with simple ingredients including malted barley for rich, balanced toffee notes and its iconic golden color. It delivers the dependable taste beer lovers have trusted for 50 years, and with just 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs per 12-ounce serving, Miller time is always a good time. Game days are upon us. Fantasy football season is upon us. When I'm hooting and hollering, I build up a mighty thirst, and nothing satisfies that thirst.

19:30Andy Holloway:Like a Miller light on a Sunday, It goes down smooth. It's refreshing. It never lets me down. Make game day legendary. Go to MillerLight.com slash footballers to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Game time is Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

19:57Mike Wright:What's up, Foot Clan? Man, you are confident and disciplined and focused on details, just like everyone here at the Fancy Footballers, right? Those are words you'd use to describe us. In other words, you were made to drive the 2026 Sierra 1500 Denali, a full-size pickup combining capability with elevated design and advanced technology. You can seek out the exceptional with the Denali, their standard 5.3 liter V8 engine and 10-speed automatic transmission. it's got a bold design we like bold designs they got the signature denali grill papa josh you know the signature grill the chrome header patterned aluminum trim inside you've got all that comfort uh you know jason's a comfort guy we like the comfort comfort reigns with leather seating surfaces and 12-way power front seats with power lumbar you can learn more right now at gmc.com slash Sierra 1500.

20:58All right, let's do it. News and notes from around the league.

21:07Mike Wright:All right, Jason broke the news to us last night. The Colts signed wide receiver Keenan Allen to a one-year$8.32 million contract. Oh, boy. Keenan is 32 years young, entering year 14, played seven seasons with Shane Steichen, by the way. That was seven seasons with him in Los Angeles. You remember Steichen brought back Phillip Rivers last year. The wildest thing to me is that Keenan Allen was the leading. He had the most receptions for the Chargers last year.

21:42Jason Moore:Yeah, nobody remembers that. You say that and you're like, that's not true. That's true. yeah it's um also kyle has like kyle is the ultimate keenan allen truther which i mean to have a player of of his caliber and be that uh a truther for him it that that works out right now keenan allen has the 10th most receptions of all time kyle are we 100 sure because that is... Come on, Mike. Come on. Hey, come on. I am just protecting myself from giving an incorrect stat. So he's currently at 10th.

22:23Andy Holloway:48 catches will take him into the third most receptions of all time.

22:29Mike Wright:He would pass T.O. and Tim Brown and Chris Carter and Marvin Harrison. How is that possible?

22:34Jason Moore:Volume machine, man.

22:36Mike Wright:It's really an interesting signing.

22:39Jason Moore:um seems like a seems like a pretty necessary signing for the colts he's we literally made

22:44Mike Wright:an ashton doolin joke yesterday about and they heard us and they're like yeah okay i don't like

22:49Jason Moore:the sound of that we'll we'll bring him on board the interesting question to me is how is he going to be utilized i will say this there was a part of me that wanted to pivot from josh downs on my sleeper pick today to keenan allen today because obviously in drafts he's gonna go his adp will never catch up he's going to be super duper late um you know he's so old he's getting to the long sleep yeah yeah so he's way past rem he's like the the real deep way past rim yeah he's way past rem but he's he's getting towards rip it's been a long he's getting towards he's getting towards rip sleep and um this is this is a guy who's going to come out if you remember last year the first four weeks of the season he was like the best wide receiver in fantasy he was so good the first four weeks it was like oh man he's eating lad mcconkey's lunch and to start the year you've got alec pierce working back from an ankle injury if he's even ready for week one the question has been about josh downs whether he could play outside he's always been their slot guy and now this year with the absence of michael pittman it was like he's gonna get the opportunity to play outside he's had that in camp that's part of why I was really excited to to to bring him in because the opportunities for him are the Colts were too enormous and then you know it's like now with Keenan there I don't know who plays where but Keenan is not signing this deal to be on the bench and they need him he will be involved so I think uh you know if you're drafting a guy maybe like Malik neighbors who you know maybe there's a chance he still does you know he's not there week one or something and you just need a late round guy you can start for the first month i think keenan gets

24:31Mike Wright:off to a rope he was at his career he's at his career lowest yards per catch last year in los angeles so that's something worth noting it was at 9.6 inside outside you know where he'll be on

24:42Andy Holloway:the field which is inside that first 15 yards oh kyle snuck in a all-time among wide receivers among wide receivers for the total reception yes okay i'll tell you what i'll tell you who's catching 50 passes minimum this year is Keenan Allen. Yeah, he – You're going to have to drag him off the field.

25:00Mike Wright:So Michael Pittman is not there. Alec Pierce, the recovery is – I think it's fair to say it's slower than the team expected. He's been out on the practice field, walking around, stretching, blah, blah, blah. Pierce will come back and make an impact.

25:13Jason Moore:What's the difference between Michael Pittman and this version of Keenan Allen? Probably nothing. Like this version of Keenan Allen and last year's version of Michael Pittman,

25:22Mike Wright:pretty pretty close yeah they're probably not that different in terms of what this team needs now you know is it different for keenan in los angeles last year where like maybe not maybe you know lad was a is a slot receiver and tyler warren is going to be in the intermediate short area targets to compete with keenan but it's a pretty significant signing in terms of like the volume equation especially for josh downs i think josh downs they paid all the money to Tyler Warren's getting all the targets. And when you fade back to pass, you're going to throw it to Keenan over downs. Do you have more interest in Keenan Allen or Stephon Diggs?

26:01Diggs.

26:02Jason Moore:Yeah, I think Diggs has more long-term value for the season.

26:06Mike Wright:So there you go. A new lay of the land. Our updated rankings for Keenan Allen and the Colts are in the UDK at ultimatedraftkit.com. But he keeps going, and he will help them, and he knows the system. him so jordan tyson all right here here i'm gonna try to give you some good news with the bad the bad news he's gonna miss two months that's pretty bad yeah the good news i've been told it was the other hamstring really than the one that was injured that's what that's what i was told that was a different hamstring good i mean it's just systematically weakening his entire body what i

26:45Jason Moore:Kyle said that is the case as well. All right. Well, I mean, yeah, I guess. I guess it's better. Maybe it's better.

26:53Mike Wright:He just shows his capacity to injure both.

26:56Jason Moore:This does mean that he's not there at the beginning of the season. It makes him a brutal pick. A two-month timeline says I would not be surprised if they just put him on the pup, guaranteeing that he misses the first four weeks of the season. That's what I would expect. It's probably the smart thing to do. you've got to protect himself from himself i think on pup though he actually if it if you're going to get that news that's probably the best case scenario for if you're talking for your draft if you have an ir spot like people are going to be itching you know i kyle what's his adp like

27:31Mike Wright:sixth round or so so he'll probably that's mid to late october return i'm around like probably around the eighth or the ninth round, I'm going to guess people will start getting a little sweaty and be like, hmm, Jordan Tyson, just put him on my IR and I get him when he comes back. So it's, it really, really sucks. It, it takes the, the ceiling case that I've been making for, for Tyler Shuck. It really damages that. I still believe in Shuck as a fantasy quarterback. He was on pace for over 4 ,200 yards without Jordan Tyson when he took over as the sleeper. the conversation of we were talking George Kittle and saying if Kittle doesn't play the first couple weeks Tonjes is a great backup Juwan Johnson overtakes that now of someone who just another name to add to the late tight end list and you really should be paying attention like Juwan Johnson I might not draft any early tight ends I'm starting to fall in love with all the late guys You can bring Kincaid, Goddard, Likely, Juwan Johnson.

28:40Mike Wright:I mean, and there's more.

28:42Andy Holloway:Ferguson. There's a lot. I will remind you, there is almost, when we hit this point in the year, there almost is always a ton of guys. We're like, they're kind of interesting. They're pretty interesting. And then we get into week two and we're like, they all stink. Yeah, I mean, it's true. But the process does work. But Juwan Johnson has, he has been making tons of plays in training camp. The drumbeat for Tyson was extremely loud. It has been loud for Juwan Johnson, but it felt like, okay, if we have Olave and if you have two top ten wide receivers on the field, how was there enough for Juwan Johnson?

29:20But now there definitely is.

29:22Mike Wright:They have Barry and Brown as well who's been making a ton of deep sleepers. I would imagine Vele will be the one who comes in and is the starter. opposite and and i mean if you're talking bryce lance was a fourth round wide receiver as well yeah and you you're familiar with the i'm familiar with the lance boys and their work or lack of work uh breeze hall groin injury out two to three weeks according to aaron come on man matt lafleur said josh jacobs with his uh started doing butterfly stretching and will return to practice today yes thank you jason's been trying to tell you guys i had to dm uh josh about this How far do you get in your butterfly?

29:59Jason Moore:I don't get as far as I want. I'm not knees on the ground. No worries. Yeah, but you know who doesn't have a groin injury right now?

30:06Mike Wright:Jason Moore. That's right. I don't. Rams head coach Sean McVay said Puka is still dealing with soreness in his groin.

30:12Jason Moore:I'll DM him.

30:13Mike Wright:By the way, I want to apologize to everybody. Groinindex.com has not been what we've made. It's not our fault. These have not been officially reported groin injuries. These are just on the lowdown.

30:27Andy Holloway:I don't know. These are unofficially official.

30:31Mike Wright:The groin index is tied into the official reports on the injury report, unfortunately. Yeah, a week before the season. We don't have the groin rumor index.com.

30:39Jason Moore:We should look into that. I will say it's very good news because should these have been official, I can't imagine groin index could have handled this amount of work. It probably would have. It's just like too much data. Would have broken the site. Yeah. Our hard drive is not large enough.

30:56Mike Wright:Two million groins doing butterfly stretches.

30:59Andy Holloway:The Giants are signing. Can we just put a picture of how-to on there for the time being?

31:05Mike Wright:Yeah, we can try. Let's get that done. Get the devs on it. I want an instructional diagram for butterfly stretching. The Giants are signing former Steelers and Chargers running back Najee Harris to a one-year contract. It's so courteous of them calling him a former Chargers running back, isn't it? I

31:24Jason Moore:That's really how it's being reported I mean it's true But former Chargers

31:31Andy Holloway:So some depth here I think there might be more to it What say you Naji's a great pass protector And Tyrone Tracy did his very best To get Jackson Dart Murdered In a preseason game I think they might be also concerned about Is Scadaboo ready 100 % I think there is there could be something to this

31:56Jason Moore:when I look at this running back core I thought one of the best in the league like without without Najee you're talking about a young stud in Scadaboo you know Tracy a capable backup Tracy is very capable and Devin Singletary he's still he's still fine as a veteran as your third back I looked at this group like wow what a good core the fact that they went out and signed Najee said they don't think they they feel that they have a need and so that yes that makes me concerned

32:27Mike Wright:with scataboo a little kicking the tires i mean naji's coming off an achilles injury at an older age yes i feel like maybe it was i don't know if it will work for the giants i'm just saying like this this is a signal to me that they're concerned about some things and on a it's g-row man yeah G-Row apparently loves Najee Harris. He's familiar with his work, or lack thereof. He's like, if he had been healthy, my whole season would have been better. It makes me a little more hesitant on the Scadaboo ADD.

32:59Jason Moore:You'd be surprised if Scadaboo was dominating and doing everything. He's just taking over practice that they would go out and sign him. Now, I will say this.

33:07Mike Wright:I think the name is bigger than maybe the real signing. Could be. Like if Nick Chubb got signed right now, that's how I look at it maybe. Does he make the team? Well, that's what I was just about to say. I don't know if he makes the team. That's what I was about to say. It's a one-year deal.

33:24Jason Moore:Exactly right, Andy. If he makes the final roster, then I'm a little bit concerned with Scadaboo's ADP right now.

33:32Mike Wright:We're getting the butterfly stretch up there. All right. Let's jump into sleepers.

33:43Mike Wright:I want you to get up on this desk and kind of demonstrate what they're... Sleepers! We have a bunch of consensus sleepers in the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com. These are our individual picks and some of these kind of deeper sleepers today. We define sleepers as players who are drafted later that... Or maybe not drafted. Or not drafted. Players you might not know about but could have an impact. Three names. I went with a wide receiver, Jason, a running back. Mike, you went with a wide receiver. Why don't you start because I'm sure your energy is very high for this gentleman. It is, and this is a deeper sleeper where perhaps this is not a draft situation.

34:27But, you know, larger leagues, I'll be interested in this player. I'm talking about Pat Bryant, second-year wide receiver of the Denver Broncos. the the drumbeat of camp is deafening about pat bryant every like i've seen so many interviews of just of teammates they're saying okay who's the guy who's the guy in this year's pat bryant all of them are saying pat bryant coach payton is infatuated with pat bryant he's talking about him all the time of you know like how he k adams how you're gonna keep him off the field we're not is the answer from Coach Payton. Even Vance Joseph, the DC, is talking up Pat Bryant.

35:11And so just a couple of stats here. It was slow for him, but it's always round three or later wide receivers. They don't make noise at the beginning of the year, historically. When you look at the gigantic sample size. But towards the end of the year, he really was starting to do some stuff From week 11 on, he was averaging six targets, targeted on 22 % of his routes. If you remember the playoff games, there was some unfortunate injuries, but you had the game against Buffalo. Pat Bryant took three offensive snaps in that game. Pat Bryant had three receptions for 32 yards on three snaps. He was really becoming a part of the offense.

36:01It's a little bit more murky now. you have Jalen Waddell and Cortland Sutton, but just all reports talking about Pat Bryant being the guy, maybe he even overtakes Cortland Sutton this year. It's like, is there enough volume? Well, last year, Bo Nix led the NFL in pass attempts. I don't know if the Denver Broncos are going to lead the NFL in pass attempts again, but it's there. The coaches are willing to go that route if they feel like this is how we have to win games. And this stat in particular is very interesting to me of he is one of five round three wide receivers over the last decade to average six or more targets from week 11 on and I'm telling you round three guys really don't do anything from in the first half of the year but from week 11 on to average six or more targets here are the rookies who did it Terry McLaurin Deontay Johnson Cooper Cup here's here's a here's clunk lynn bowden jr if you remember him but terry deontay cooper cup and pat bryant like it's the volume was starting to increase you saw it in the playoff games he got knocked out early from both of them but he looks like he's the real deal and he's just he's a great route runner you know what you well you had uh uh coach payton when they drafted him saying kind of see a little bit of Michael Thomas.

37:26Now, maybe that's just hyperbolic coach pumping him up, but the way that it has transformed to this offseason, the Denver Broncos seem like they are all in on Pat Bryant taking a huge step for their offense.

37:37Mike Wright:I think the interesting thing about Denver in the wide receiver room and the running back room is that there isn't a consolidation that is obvious to us in terms of the utilization of – you've got three running backs that are going to get a bunch of snaps, and then I my biggest worry about brian is just the existence of like the sutton of course franklin universe can we get consolidation in your opinion to the point where I do where pat brian you know takes over I I do think that watching courtland sutton over the last couple years he is still a he like he's still a starter like he deserves to be out there on the nfl field but we're towards the end for courtland sutton and if you have a new emerging wide receiver who if you play him all the time all your offense is better payton strikes me as someone who

38:28Jason Moore:will make that change there are few to perhaps none uh of any players this offseason who i who i've read more constant positive news about than pat bryant he is really truly like every time that there's an open practice there's tons of different reporters it's not just the guys from denver everyone everywhere any kind there's you know uh interteam scrimmage it's like he has been the big leap forward guy and i think it's important to realize those day two day three picks they do get off to slow starts in their rookie year that is that is you know when you bring up the second half of the year for Pat Bryant and how good he was, that's pretty much all you are asking.

39:18Jason Moore:That's what you can look at. That's what you can look at to see success in future years. And so I don't know what you do. I mean, to me, this is more of a dynasty take. I don't know if I'm drafting him in redraft at the end of drafts or not just to hope that he's on the field. You can, and perhaps he starts week one and overtakes Cortland Sutton in target order, if not in snaps. But in a dynasty league, he's got a much brighter future than what his rookie year looked like. So the value should be under what, you know. Sure. I am also bringing him up. Like I said, I don't know if this is a draft, Pat Bryant, but this is a, in the first few weeks, if like the auxiliaries, you know, so the amount of routes he's running, and maybe the production doesn't match it, he is a player that if he starts making noise, I will be aggressive on the waiver wire.

40:16And sometimes you just have to be – we bring these names up so that you are ready when we're like, hey, the number one waiver pickup this week.

40:23Mike Wright:If there's smoke and the fire starts to go, pick them up. You want to go next or you want me to go, Jay? I'll hop in.

40:29Jason Moore:I'll hop in since you guys both have wide receivers. I'll go with a running back. My sleeper this year is Jordan Mason. I've brought him up on pretty much every mock draft. He's the guy in the later rounds that I am looking for to fill out. Running back for the Vikings. Yes, running back for the Minnesota Vikings, for Kevin O 'Connell, and for the new running game for the Vikings. I don't know if you guys are aware we're not in Minnesota, but the biggest news outside of the quarterback battle is all about the change of scheme. Kevin O 'Connell has talked about it in every single interview across the board that their big takeaway lesson from last year is that they need to rely on their defense and run the ball better.

41:15Jason Moore:So starting the day after their last game last year, they got together and they changed their scheme. They're going to a vertical wide zone scheme. The entire reason is to fit their personnel, they said. that that's the san francisco jordan mason that's the san francisco uh you know design that's that's their scheme they're implementing that because it fits their personnel and their personnel is really jordan mason now jordan mason is a guy that's not going to catch a ton of passes he's that's not his profile but i do think he will be a very very dominant running game player uh he'll be the goal line back.

41:59Jason Moore:This offense should be significantly better without nine running into the ground. Even if you look last year without that scheme in the games without nine at quarterback, you had him scoring 10.6 fantasy points per game. That's not like, oh my gosh, you, you've got to put them in, but that's like quality for a team that was really struggling on offense. And, and keep in mind when JJ McCarthy wasn't, there wasn't like they had the answer, you know, and, and they, They had some other great quarterback playing. It was Carson Wentz and issues. Jordan Mason is perfect for this scheme. If you look at him versus Aaron Jones, especially this version of Aaron Jones, and you look at head-to-head outside zone scheme, Jordan Mason has averaged 5.86 yards per carry, one of the best in the entire league, versus Jones 4.3.

42:53Jason Moore:Missed tackles for 0.29 versus 0.1. explosive rush rate nine to three like this scheme is made for jordan mason all the camp reports are saying every day he breaks one long one long run every day and um you know he's got that in his bag in fact you know since since coming in the league as an undrafted free agent in 2022 there's devon achan and jameer gibbs there's only two players with a higher yards per carry than jordan Mason. It's, yeah, it's hard to, it's hard to even think about Jordan Mason that way of like, it's, it's not, it has not been a ton, a ton of, of opportunity for him. He had the year where, you know, he took over for, uh, cause Christian McCaffrey was going to be totally fine until he missed 10 weeks.

43:43And it was like, Jordan Mason was awesome during that period for San Francisco. and you you think back in your head I'm like man I like Jordan Mason last year I don't think he was really that good it didn't work out he ran for 4.8 yards of carry like on a terrible team if you get this offense fixed up and I think Kevin I'll still believe in Kevin O 'Connell even though I'm not a huge Kyler Murray guy even if he's not catching passes but he is the primary runner and the goal line running back where he's being drafted to give you running back two numbers would be

44:18Jason Moore:just outrageous at that point we talk about at the end of drafts try to target teams that look like they might have a good offense and you're not sure sure who the running back is so like washington and and jacori cross cross camara that's that's one of those guys where it's like you're targeting him because you think he's the lead guy and you think that washington could have a good offense i think that with kevin o 'connell and kyler murray minnesota could have a good offense and then it's just a question of well who is it because right now adp wise aaron jones i believe is still going above him uh double check that they're pretty close there's been some talk

44:51Mike Wright:about uh claiborne too right yes i will say he's just a deep sleeper to keep an eye on a very

44:55Jason Moore:explosive rookie he's very small he was a rookie last year though right no this year yeah he's a rookie coming in this year and kyle just pulled this up mason had more 10 plus yard runs than Travion Henderson last year. Mason was doing things very quietly because it wasn't frequently turning into his build.

45:17Mike Wright:I like the idea of focusing on the scheme change because I feel like that's what benefited him in San Francisco. I think in certain schemes or situations, he doesn't look that explosive. He doesn't look that special, but if they're moving things to be more forgiving for him.

45:30Jason Moore:Speaking of the build, here's a quote from Kevin O 'Connell from this month. He was talking of the pressure says you guys could probably even tell just the way he looks he's an unbelievable shape right now i think the things that he thrives at we're emphasizing in some aspects of our different run game schemes and he's he's reportedly down about 15 pounds which we've talked about you know that when i was just gonna say and he's like a big boy yeah and you don't he's like jordan mason i don't think we have him listed at 230 yeah so if he's down to 215 get that explosive speed up. All right.

46:02Mike Wright:All right. We'll take a break and come back. I'm going to share my final sleeper with you.

46:09Jason Moore:Ready to make a play for your future? Southern New Hampshire University has over 200 online degree programs and no set class times means you never have to miss a game. Plus low online tuition rates means you can still dominate a few leagues on the side. No wonder more than 200 ,000 people have made Southern New Hampshire University their first pick. Visit snhu.edu slash footballers to get started. That's snhu.edu slash footballers.

46:40Mike Wright:All right, Foot Clan, whether you are on the go or at home, T-Mobile, well, they're built to keep you connected wherever you're scouting your fantasy team. And that on-the-go part, that is important. With America's Best Network, you'll be connected to the latest news and player projections so when you're on the clock, you can draft a winning team. I can think of so many situations where that element of being connected while you're on the go is fundamental to fantasy football success. I'm in the midst of multiple leagues right now where I am responding to trade offers. We are massaging the trade offer.

47:10Mike Wright:We want to make sure that I'm the one that gets the player, not another player manager in our league. So trade offers when you're on the go, all the news that's breaking so you don't make a mistake. And my favorite thing, maybe I'll mention it. Look, you're sitting and you have a quiet moment somewhere out and about. You want to jump in the UDK. We've got the player profiles. You can watch all of those in there with T-Mobile. You can jump in on the player projections and our stat projections and all the 130 ,000 words of content. Again, T-Mobile making that easy to do. Every bit of news. Things are changing all the time.

47:43Mike Wright:New player contracts, all that good stuff. So from off-season to game day, every play is better with T-Mobile. What you got to do is visit T-Mobile.com slash network. Fastest is based on analysis by UCLA of Speed Test Intelligence Data of National Speed Score results for the second half of 2025. The best mobile network in the U.S. is based on analysis by UCLA of Speed Test Intelligence Data, second half of 2025.

48:12Mike Wright:All right, we got Pat Bryant, we got Jordan Mason, and then I'm going to bring up a name that I will not be surprised if he has five receptions or more in week one of the NFL season. I don't think Mike likes it, but I'm going to go. No, no, I was going to say the drumbeat of hype is like off the top of my head where I just, okay, what's been going on? Pat Bryant, Parker Washington, and this guy are like, those are the big three of who have been getting the publicity. It's Cyrus Allen, rookie wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs. It's time we talked about him more in depth. Fifth-round pick, a lot of people out there surprised he made it that long.

48:55He was not invited to the combine.

48:58Mike Wright:Yeah, what's wild about him, too, is that he had the third-most touchdowns in the FBS last year. This is a player that, like you said, it has been a solid drumbeat throughout the entire preseason. Patrick Mahomes is healthy and back. taekwondo thornton is out with a hamstring rashi rice hasn't looked himself travis kelsey is old

49:23Andy Holloway:xavier is kelsey route up xavier yeah i did yesterday with the slowest oh i missed that

49:28Mike Wright:yeah it was a lumbering cut and then he just was faster rashi rice or travis kelsey right now rice yeah right uh but xavier worthy also hurt on this team the thornton news came out today like literally before we did the show he got carted off of practice it's a hamstring injury cyrus Allen has been, and this is a quote, undoubtedly Patrick Mahomes' favorite target in the preseason. Played with the starters. If you go, I watched every route that he ran in the preseason game. I watched every senior bowl practice. If you go watch the senior bowl practice, which, by the way, that was one of the places where Ladd McConkie stuck out the most to me when he came into the NFL.

50:08Mike Wright:You're talking about a player that is extremely versatile. He played out wide almost exclusively as an underclassman. Then he played in the slot almost exclusively with Cincinnati last year. He's a fifth-round pick. The team has talked about, not us, the team has talked about similarities to Stephon Diggs. He made plays in the first preseason game, climbed the ladder. They targeted him frequently. He took an end around, kind of the Andy Reid style, like get him a screen pass and let him run. It looked really fast. so right now you have the combination of preseason hype with tons of injury and depth concerns at wide receiver on this team and a player that i think is slowly but surely emerging you know there there are great opportunities and his best ball adp is something you can pay attention to he was undrafted it's climbed all the way to the 15th round they're favored in their first six games of the year i think cyrus allen is one of those situations where i'm trying my best not to just dismiss a preseason hype candidate for Patrick Mahomes because other different players with different skills and different opportunities didn't succeed on the same hype train.

51:19Mike Wright:And that's the big thing is like, can I go watch the film and say this player has something or doesn't? I think he'll especially be very good against zone defenses. I think those are the routes where like he, you know, he talked about like his biggest pet peeve is not being open on every play. like this is a player that seems really dedicated to his craft and the fact that the league's best quarterback already has this level of trust in a rookie is something to pay attention to it doesn't mean that it could be like pat bryant where you're he goes undrafted right but you're paying such close attention to week one or maybe you've drafted a player that belongs on ir you flip him to ir and then you sign cyrus allen just to watch what happens in week one of the nfl season is worthy going to be there is thornton going to be there do those guys even impact the kind of targets that Cyrus Allen is going to receive for the Chiefs.

52:05Mike Wright:That's TBD. But I think he's one of those guys we have to say out loud. We are in it 24-7 all offseason. There are people that have come back to this show. We had comments on yesterday's show. It was like, oh, you guys just have new screens on the back wall? People are coming back to fantasy right this moment and have not heard Cyrus Allen's name ever because it wasn't a combine name. It wasn't a draft day name. And today's the day they hear the name.

52:29Jason Moore:so here are a couple arguments against that that i think people are going to make mike has said this around the office all the time every year there's a kansas city guy yeah oh it's this guy

52:41Andy Holloway:it's this guy we have hopes and dreams we know who mahomes is yeah and so you you have hopes

52:45Jason Moore:and dreams and and mike says you know it just it never works out he's not buying in there's also i just did the just the tips for this last saturday um on on youtube you could check that out one of those things was talking about if you're not a first-round wide receiver day two day three um you know those drafted wide receivers don't usually get off to a strong start the snap percentages is low so those are the arguments against them i am in on cyrus allen and here's why andy is completely correct that you can't just say because other things didn't work out it can't work out that was when i was super in on rashi rice as a rookie yeah that was the same narrative everything i heard was no more there was a bunch of them yeah there were i can't even remember them because they all fizzled out and were worthless but yes sky more and and there last year a little bit of jalen royals hope yeah i mean there's it's just always those guys here's why i'm in on saris allen the snap percentages for later round rookie drafts wide receivers is extraordinarily extraordinarily low to start the year they don't get on the field that's why it's a bad pick I

53:57Mike Wright:think he's going to be on the field I think he might start week one that's what I'm saying yeah

54:01Jason Moore:yeah that he's been running with the ones exclusively yeah he he was on you know every snap with Patrick Mahomes and granted it's preseason so maybe they're just getting him some expectation and week one comes out and he doesn't play he's 27 percent of snaps 46 percent of snaps Okay, cut bait and bail immediately if that happens. But I do think there's a world where week one he is 80 % plus snaps, and that doesn't happen for these guys. And the other reason I like him is because he's good. I love watching his routes. I think he's a really good player. I really do. I mean, his crispness, his sharpness of his routes is like, I mean, I think it's going to match up well for this team.

54:42Jason Moore:I'm optimistic. Yeah, so here's average for day three wide receivers, snap counts for weeks one through six, 24 % snaps. That is a bad bet. You don't get the opportunity. I wanted to talk about Caleb Douglas. He's another rookie wide receiver. The later round rookie wide receivers, they do not usually work to draft them. Pick them up off of waiver wires. Get that second half of the year. I make an exception here solely because I think he's just been exclusively running with the ones.

55:10Mike Wright:So please don't get hurt before we get to C. that is the message Cyrus you've already licked off once or twice in practice don't get hurt before we get to find out if we're wrong please injuries every day by the way we have 10 tips and tricks coming up tomorrow and a huge announcement on tomorrow's show by the way Tyreek Hill 5th round pick so I mean it's pretty much set

55:34Andy Holloway:Tyreek Hill 510 191 Cyrus Hill 511 180 Cyrus Hill?

55:42Jason Moore:Cypress Hill? Is that his nickname? Cypress Hill? We got Fred Durst at Cypress Hill. This rookie class is going to get the band together. Oh my gosh.

55:54Mike Wright:I can do them too. Yeah, we got 10 tips and tricks. A huge announcement on tomorrow's show. You don't want to miss it. Trust me. It's something you've been asking for for a while. On Thursday, we'll get into the bust and value picks. On Friday, we'll do Mock Draft Mayhem as well. I do have one thing I wanted to touch on. yesterday's show was absolutely crazy what did he say yes thank you yesterday's show was nuts um but uh at the end of the show jason and i were talking about like ramondre and we were going back with ramondre and uh yeah and travion and it got like thick i i don't even want to tell you what happened after the show people ask us people ask us all the time fisty cuffs yeah we fought we fought in the street.

56:34Jason Moore:We didn't or you'd see he'd be. I'd be dead.

56:38Andy Holloway:It was body shots only. Right. That's yeah. No. For the show we can't go face. It's a Hollywood gentleman's

56:43Mike Wright:agreement. We'd both butterfly stretch before we fought by the way. Of course. And our groins? No fine. Feeling good. So we had that whole discussion. And by the way people ask us all the time. It's one of the questions they ask in the discord. They're like you know you guys have been doing this for 12. This is I think our 12th, 13th season.

57:00Jason Moore:And we've worked together for 20

57:01Mike Wright:years now well yeah and so they're like do you fight do you guys argue what what's your biggest disagreements and it's been it's been like a couple of football things before right which is which is amazing i looked this up this morning jason okay i have known you for 28 years 28 years i met jason as a freshman in high school i met andy as a senior yes yeah in the same class but I want to say something though. Um, basically I think one of the reasons we haven't fought for all those years is because Jason is a tremendously gracious, forgiving person. And if he wasn't, maybe we would have fought more because I don't think I'm the one that probably stopped us from fighting.

57:47Mike Wright:So I want to just say that. And I want to say that sometimes when I host the show, I miss the mark a little bit. Yesterday was one of those days. So I just wanted to apologize to Jason for letting disagreement become a little bit disrespectful. On behalf of Jason. I know. I don't. I know. I don't accept the apology. Jason can turtle shirt. But my job as a host, I really want to do a good job of letting people breathe and say something. And as opposed to disrespecting somebody. So I feel like I kind of did that yesterday. So I just wanted to apologize.

58:18Jason Moore:Jake, he's just saying, just make out already. So if you're in, we can wrap this show up. Let me wrap this show up.

58:24Andy Holloway:I was going to say, that just proves that Jason's very passionate about his Travion Henderson take. It does.

58:30Mike Wright:If he's willing to put 10 toes down. All right, see y 'all. Goodbye.

58:39Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.

59:20Transcription by CastingWords $250 on your first campaign and get a$250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. When you invest with Fidelity Go, it does all the work for you. So while Fidelity Go monitors the markets, rebalances your portfolio, and tracks your progress to keep your investments aligned with your goal, you can invest your time however you want, all while paying no advisory fees under$25 ,000. Invest your money, not your time, with Fidelity Go. Get started at Fidelity.com slash go. Advisory services offered by Strategic Advisors, LLC, a registered investment advisor.

59:51Brokerage services provided by Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Member NYSE and SIPC.