Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the podcast. We're still the Fantasy Footballers Podcast If you're nasty It's me Mike And it's me Jason We're just Just two cool dudes Just two best friends Just two healthy men Yeah Are you throwing up? No You got the diarrhea? Sometimes Right now? A lot of times I mean I can't Actively? My point is Andy is sick Andy is sick Give me 10 minutes. I'll let you know. His weak body. Right. He doesn't have a strong man body like us. Right, yes. His weak body is failing him. So soft. But we're here. We are here. We are recording this a little bit early just for everyone's information. He can't screw up our mock draft today. That's right. Yeah. And it's not a full mock draft, but, I mean, we're going to go first round. Let's talk about some heavy hitters at the top. how are we feeling about these guys because honestly i mean these are not statistical projections these are vibes well yeah i mean that this time of year looking at how the top of the draft is going to go still can make a lot of sense most of the players at that level aren't going to have drastic things happen to change a a rookie pick a veteran coming in it's not going to really change the lay of the land for these guys yeah i'm very excited for jeremiah love to sneak into the first round oh man not hey not impossible i've got the second pick so we'll see don't don't tempt me with a good time the udk pre-order and dynasty pass access it is live it is going on this is the cheapest possible price should you want to set the foundation to dominate your fantasy football draft or if you're in dynasty leagues and you want to get the udk plus the first release of the Dynasty Pass is out there. We're talking rookie ranks, the class overview, our Dynasty startup ranks are in there, production profiles, which the amount of fellers in there has increased as we have the official combine invite list. So we know everyone that we really need to pay attention to. Not that there's, there'll be a couple stragglers who are not invited to the combine that we'll probably have to, you know, clean up on and make sure we know who they are. but that's in there a rookie mock draft the first one the team opportunity pages where we let you know players who are leaving teams how what target share and rush share are they leaving behind best destination spots for rookies at different positions it's trade targets i mean all that stuff's out a lot of really good stuff in their ultimate graph kit.com also this is your truly this is your easiest way for a chance to be in the listener league with us because it's just Hey, if you pick that up, then you get a chance. And the ultimate subscribers, if you're an Ultimate Foot Clan member, you have access to everything right now. And, of course, you are in that giveaway as well. And you are beautiful. Yes. We did a study recently. Yes, we did. Showed that 99 out of 100 Ultimate Foot Clan members are gorgeous. We pulled this entire office and every employee here, we asked, do you think ultimate members are more attractive? And the only reason it's not. And Papa Josh was the only one who said no. Right. Well, because he knows, Papa Josh knows that the Falcon has an ultimate Foot Clan membership. Oh, I saw. It can't be. You judo threw my insult. I threw Josh at the Falcon. It's a twofer. Got them both. All right. Quick question of the day. Before we get into that, I can't help but notice you forgot one introduction at the top of the show. Oh. Oh. Yes. Shame on me. Jay Griss, the cardboard bear extraordinaire, co-host, always reliable, always filling in. Honestly, never had a sick day in his life. No. Always here. Never leaves the studio. I mean, he doesn't even have a lower half of his body, and he still shows up to work. And he makes it to work. You can't have diarrhea. When all of your insides have fallen out, you can't have bowel problems because you've got no bowels. It's dynasty season, so I actually like this one because we're talking – the best part about dynasty in the offseason is nasty, boys. It's calling your shot on guys who aren't superstars. And a guy who – let's see what can happen. Tyler Algier, who before B. John Robinson was drafted to the Atlanta Falcons, he broke the rookie rushing record for that team. I believe B. John took it away from him. Oh, yeah. But like Algier is a good player, good friend of the show. Ian Harditz tweeted about this, that Algier is currently the all time NFL leader for most career touches without a single fumble at 737 touches. So coaches will like that. he has been obnoxious in the green zone for us who love B. John Robinson so much because Algier is honestly, he's a good player. So Jason, we don't know the landing spot. What is your perception? Would you, you like a, a low speculative ad of Tyler Algier? Are you holding him? How are you really? So, so the situation here, um, if you get a lay of the land of incoming rookies and free agent running backs you can kind of see that there might be a place for Algier to go and get a starting contract or at least get a more guaranteed workload now if I had to predict where he's going to go I think the odds are still that he's back in Atlanta okay that's probably the number one spot but my second place pick for him he is going to be someone that is better than his name like he is a better player than the than the hype no one's gonna be like selling tickets to season ticket holders because they went and got tyler algier he's just the put on the the hard hat and go go to work type of player so i think a smart franchise is the type of franchise it would be like instead of going and getting breeze hall a sexy name that'll sell tickets and cost a lot of money who is clearly a better running back than tyler algier let's save some cash put it to more important positions and go get a quality back and if i'm looking at teams that are well built with the general manager who's doing great work it's got to be seattle yeah i was going to throw out kenneth walker costs a lot of money the gap between what the seattle seahawks and how they play and what they want to do if you swap them i mean they don't have charbs right now right currently injured and um i i could see a team like that going out and making to play. If that were to happen and you basically swap Ken Bone Walker with Tyler Algier, he becomes very interesting for fantasy. Yeah, I did think about that as a potential landing spot. I just want to throw out some teams. Our dynasty pass, our opportunity grades for an incoming running back where things are currently because of contracts and free agents and projected guys moving on. Teams that have an A minus to an A plus from us, we got the Chiefs, the Jets, the Seahawks, the Manders, the Cowboys, the Jags, Saints, and Titans. Now, not every single one of those teams is exciting, but there is opportunity there 100%. The Seahawks, I thought about it. It's interesting where would they want to do that? where because it's like Algier is kind of like a Charbs. He is more of a Charbs clone. So you won't have a different dynamic. But if they could have six Zach Charbonnets, they would. That is a good point. Because they know how much better he is than Ken Walker. And then would Charbonnet get a taste of his own medicine where he gets to be the main guy? He's pulled off of the goal line. And then it's Algier getting all the touchdowns. He's like, what the heck, dude? But there's a lot of teams where there's space right now. Honestly, the best part of Tyler Algier testing the open market and maybe getting a job somewhere else, I would love it if he goes to the – Which is a reminder, he was a – was he a fourth rounder? I believe he was a day three pick. So he needs to get money. He's an NFL running back. He was a fifth round pick. Fifth round pick. This is his chance. I don't know what the appetite is for a guy like Algier, but this is his one chance to go really make his money. There's the odds of a player like Algier getting a second contract extension that is anything more than just like, hey, you're a vet. We'll give you the minimum. I'm not saying that that's not good money, but the money money where you have that short window in your NFL career, this is it. If he can go get $10, $12 million somewhere, he needs to take that. I think there's a good chance, and the best part about that is actually Bijan Robinson. Because if you take the eight touchdowns that Tyler Algier had, and maybe two of them go to someone else and six of them go to Bijan, Bijan is the clear 101 in fantasy. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm saying last year. Not in today's mock draft. We don't know yet, Mike. We're all trying to figure out who's going to go 101. I do have the first pick. I won't spoil it just yet. Thank goodness. Yeah, people got to stay tuned. Stay tuned for the 101, for the guy that we have been saying for a couple weeks is the 101. Like I said, we are recording a bit early, so I don't want to do a whole news section, but there was an exciting hype train piece of David Blau. Blau, Blau, Blau, Blau. The new OC for Washington. Quote, the Washington offense will be built around getting Terry McLaurin 10 targets a game. We do like to hear that Wait, we're reporting that Mike Evans is expected to continue playing? Brooks, what are you doing to me? Of course he's going to keep playing Yeah, because he's pretty far away from a first ballot, Mike It can't I mean, now that After the fiasco of Bill Belichick And Larry doesn't count because Larry is the second or third best wide receiver of all time. And no, I will not be taking comments about this. He's probably number two in my opinion. No, Randy Moss. He's number three, yeah. It's Randy Moss. Rice, Moss, Nits, check out. And then we know that George is going to get franchised, but we'll see. We'll see if the trades are going to come through. That's George Pickens of the Dallas Cowboys? Yeah, we just call him George. All right. It's George. On this show, it's George. Go to the fantasy football. Have you ever listened to this show before? I have, but some people haven't. Yeah, well, they've got to figure it out. Sometimes inside jokes need to be learned over time. Welcome, Foot Clan. Apologies. It's George. George. Carry on. Which, a joke that appeared because Jason Moore, professional fantasy football analyst, can never remember George Pickett's last name. It was a real problem. Kenny Pickett. I was just reminding Jason. Yeah, thank you. I had no idea who he was talking about. but they are the rumor was that they're willing to basically trade him for a second round pick i saw that reported so buffalo buffalo if george pickens is available for awesome if you can get george pickens i know you have to pay him but imagine that game against the denver broncos in the playoffs and you have george pickens as your number one weapon that would be very I think we have a different outcome. Yesterday we were going to talk about Brian Thomas Jr. and where we want him to go. And I was thinking about if he were to be traded. Obviously he's under contract right now with the Jaguars. It doesn't seem like he's going anywhere. But the comment of like, oh, just put him on the bills because they need an alpha wide receiver one so bad. But is he? But that was like. Is he? Exactly. When you talk about George Pickens. He is. He is. And I'm very confident if he went there, he would just dominate. If he were to be traded right now, would he go in this first round? Honestly, I was staring him down. I can't put him in the first because we just don't know. Even if he stays in Dallas, he's probably a second-round pick. If he goes to Buffalo I don know if he can sneak into the first I think he would probably stay around the same range I would think I bet he I mean to me it like him or Justin Jefferson Oh, I would – Yeah, exactly. You start to answer quicker than you go. Oh, there's a lot to think through there. Yeah, I don't want to. I think it's George. Let's get into the mock. The Fantasy Footballers Mock Draft. All right, some fun February fun. Who put that R in there? Some stupid Englishman. February. It's ridiculous. But some fun February fun here as we're looking at the high end, the top guys that we're thinking about. The 101, I will not let you wait any longer. I will break the suspense. It's B. John Robinson. Oh, man. I thought I'd get him. bjohn robinson atlanta falcons we got we already touched on it at the top he was just he was on on the field the best running back in the nfl i don't think it's even close and that's not a disrespect to you know like gibbs and and company of guys who are truly elite bjohn is just different and the fact that Algier might be moving on is exciting. If we can truly get Bijan all of those touches in the green zone, he would end up lapping the field, I believe. So I'm taking him confidently with the first pick. Good luck now. Yeah, I know. Now it gets much more dicey when you actually have to put some of these guys in the same tier in order. You've got the three-pack of wide receivers we've talked about recently. puka nakua jsn and jamar chase um i i'm probably going to take one of them you've got another tier of running backs um i'm curious where the running backs what the order they go in here obviously christian mccaffrey was the number one fantasy asset this last year but now a lot of workload another year older whatever we'll see how strong you are mike since you're the cmc yeah um gibbs who obviously can be super explosive. Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor, I think, at this moment in time, he's the hardest one to evaluate because up until the Daniel Jones injury, he was the number one guy by points per game. So I guess when I'm saying how great Bijon was, Jonathan Taylor, go ahead, take offense to that. But it really fizzled out in the second half because they didn't have a quarterback. Meanwhile, Bijon's getting it done with the likes of Michael Penix and this version of Kirk Cousins. So that's what I'm saying. That's why Bichon's at the top for me. But Taylor is like, where will he go in this first round? Well, he will not go at number two. Okay. Because at number two, I'm going to take Jamar Chase. That's the three-pack. A wise man. That's exactly what I would have done. Puka is awesome. So consistent. but his play style gets himself injured. JSN, they're coming off of a Super Bowl season. They're going to be playing a number one schedule. I mean, these are splitting hairs, but when you've got Jamar Chase is, I think, the most talented of those three, and I think his quarterback is the best of those three, so you've got to swing for the fences, even though things tend to always go wrong for the Bengals. Sure. I mean, they went pretty right for Jamar Chase, the wide receiver four on the season, even with a catastrophic first month. If you don't remember how bad it was in the first month, week one, Jamar Chase scored 3.6 points and a half PPR. Week two, electric, he's the wide receiver three. Unfortunately, though, Joe Burrow gets hurt in that game, which leads to 6.4 points in week three against Minnesota, 4.8 points against Denver, and then the magic that was Joe Flacco, number one, being traded interdivision. Yeah. Number two, it's Joe Flacco. As much as we praise Joe Flacco for fantasy football purposes on this show because in his elder years, he really has come through. But him showing up. Oh, yeah, he did. He did the thing that we've always said. Why don't you just throw it to your best player every play? How about 23 times? He threw the ball to Jamar Chase 23 times in one game. Some quarterbacks don't throw the ball. They don't drop back 23 times in a game. Unfortunately, very, very lazy. Yet, co-champ of the League of Records, Kyle's not here. Because I would ask, what is the most targets anyone's ever gotten in a game? I don't know if we have anyone who could be a crack researcher. Oh, gosh. Matt is so sweaty right now. Do you even know how to research, Matt? He doesn't know how to spell reason. I'm going to ask chat GPT real quick. Oh, gosh. Oh, that's going to work. It looks like 71 targets in a game once. But keep us posted if it sounds remotely good, and we definitely won't report it. Yeah, I would have taken Jamar Chase at number two. And here's the thing. Puka has, I mean, he has his touchdown situation with Devontae Adams. Adams will be back. Oh, Matt is saying Brandon Marshall with 28 targets. Sounds reasonable. That's awesome. It sounds reasonable. Sounds like him with the Jets. Oh, yeah. Was that Jets or Bears? Broncos. Broncos. I mean, you got it totally wrong. Puka has the touchdown situation with Devontae Adams, and I can't imagine Adams is not back. And then Puka has a new OC. I'm sorry, JSN. Jason is going to be one of these first four picks, but we're just saying for things that have changed, Jamar Chase and company, they're running it back, and we love that. We want them to run back that defense as well. So you want Jamar. That's who I would have taken at number two. So at number three, I'm going to go with Puka Nakua in this spot. Oh, Jeremy is saying Chase's 23 targets were tied for third most in a game. Chris Chambers had 26 back in 2005 23's still pretty good alright I'm going with Puka Nakua here at the third overall pick yes I everything we said about wide receivers how scoring was down especially in that wide receiver 2 range but the elite of the elite were still difference makers so I'm going to go ahead and jump on board here with Puka he's just as we as you said in the office jason thank goodness puka found football yeah because because yeah what would that that puka crazy guy be doing he'd be can we get this man a handler i think he would we need a pr handler to just annoying all the other construction workers you know what i mean he'd be like oh puka come down just put next brick it is he's ridiculously good at football i love him that's where that's where i'm gonna go before we get into your next pick jason we're gonna take a quick break all right we're back wait josh puka puka's he just he just said that he likes skydiving that's that was the response i like skydiving puka's shooting his shot publicly on social media yeah yeah it was pretty funny oh my gosh puka all right anyways he's good at football he's good for fancy football jason he's a fun time um this makes it very easy to me i to me it goes bison robinson and then the three pack of wide receivers that's how i had it too before questioning whether it's the next wide receiver up or the next running back up so i'll take jsn i don't have a lot of fears here um he is gonna have 30 percent of the targets and if you get 30 percent or more of the targets you're pretty much a guaranteed wide receiver one he's great around the end zone somehow is always open and obviously had the breakout super bowl champs easy there i don't think there's much to explain there all right it does get a bit more difficult here i want to you know like there's the the loyalty bump the the pay for what you did for me but we can't do that in fantasy football and so no i will not be taking christian mccaffrey at this spot not yet no i think no picking mccaffrey right here how i feel about the the 2026 that would be the coward move is just be like no i'm just going to take Christian McCaffrey. Interesting. Who is in my list. He will go in this first round. But for me with what I'm projecting to happen for the Detroit Lions and the seeming to be phased out David Montgomery, lots of rumors abound of will he even be on this team? Now I know it's the devil you know is if Montgomery's on the team it's Gibbs and Monty and Gibbs took over. You know, Monty despite Guns Mahoney, a.k.a. Dan Campbell's insistence that we're going to get David Montgomery more involved in the game plan, he was just misspeaking because he meant Jameer Gibbs because that's what they actually did. A guy who can rattle off multiple games of three or more touchdowns, and it was unfortunately if you had Gibbs, there was the collapse at the worst possible time in championship week. But if you had Gibbs, there's a good chance you snuck into the fantasy playoffs and he got you to the championship game. So I'm going to take Gibbs here as my RB2. Yeah, that makes sense. Personally, I would take the guy that I'm going to take now over him. And it is, again, not Christian McCaffrey. It's actually Jonathan Taylor. Okay. I think that when the Colts get reset this offseason, They dealt with so many just terrible injuries down the stretch, obviously none bigger than the one to Daniel Jones. But it's hard to remember how good they were, how dominant they were. They were beating the crap out of everybody. They needed three quarters to pretty much shut down their offense every game. And injuries piled up, and it made Jonathan Taylor into a very consistent, good fantasy option. But it took him away from being, I can't lose in fantasy football because I've got Jonathan Taylor. His first 10 games, Jonathan Taylor hit the 30-point marker five times. Oh, my gosh. It was so good. Me, he was. Donnie, it was so good when I had you and you were healthy. He was outrageous, and that included, what, three? No, I'm sorry, four number one overall finishes, including week two against the Denver Broncos, who, as we learned throughout the season, they were in elite defense. And then the masterpiece before everything, and honestly, it didn't collapse for Jonathan Taylor over the second half after the bye week because you had 13.6 against Houston, 11.4, 11.6, 15.4. Yeah, that's what I said. He was a really good option, but he wasn't a dominant. Right, but the masterpiece was right before the bye week against the Atlanta Falcons. 32 carries, 244 yards on the ground, three touchdowns, three for 42 through the air. Almost 50 fantasy points. I mean, you won that week. Yes, I did. Yes, I did, Mike. That's the part where you probably went all in. Yeah, that is exactly what happened. I was like, I'm going to live forever. Nothing bad can happen. Yeah, and then you won the championship and I didn't. That's where the luck portion of fantasy football shows up and can really derail and disenfranchise people. But Taylor is difficult for me because the second half numbers are good. But the second half numbers, those are not first-round running back numbers, and I just don't know what do they – I mean, number one, Daniel Jones is not technically under contract. I think he gets a big payday from the Colts. But he will have to rehab and recover. And how much Anthony Richardson do you get at the beginning of the year? Because Jonathan Taylor with Anthony Richardson has not been good for fantasy I will say this If it turns out that Jonathan Taylor has an opposite season to what he just had where he gets off to a decent but slow start and as the team gets healthy and Daniel Jones comes back in the playoffs, you get this monster, you win the championship. Yeah, you absolutely could. I will not be scared off of his situation. He's too good of a running back too special of a human. We always bring up Derrick Henry when it comes to the outlier human being. Personally, I think Jonathan Taylor is in that boat. I know he doesn't weigh 250 pounds, but he is and always has been a different breed. He dealt with injuries. We forget that his second year in the league, he was the running back one overall in fantasy. Then he dealt with injuries for a while. Bad quarterback play, bad team. As soon as he's back to a good team, it was the running back one and then quarterback injury it it hasn't been a uh pretty ride but he is just too special all right so that puts me up yes sir took jonathan taylor there are two players who i think that they're really really close in tier and this this is where i would take mccaffrey uh there if you don't take my next guy with your next pick that that'll make it easy for me but and who would that be why don't you pick it up i already know who i'm taking so okay but christian mccaffrey the workload was just absolutely outrageous so that definitely is a red flag 440 opportunities for christian mccaffrey i mean 100 receptions 102 for 924 yards he was the focal point of the offense i think he will remain the focal point of the offense. They have a lot to decide with Brandon Ayuk speeding his way out of San Francisco. We still aren't sure if Ricky Pearsall is an answer. I think Jennings is up for... I mean, Jennings always wants more money. Jennings. So, I mean, there's a lot to find out. And then the biggest piece of all is George Kittle with his Achilles tear right in the postseason, right? Yeah. Yeah. So George Kittle will be really up against it to be back to start the year. And, like, there's a difference. There's a huge difference in the 49ers offense. So I'm curious what you're calling for here because last year you were Mr. I'm taking Christian McCaffrey every single mock draft. I'm taking him way over his ADP because if he's healthy, if he plays the season, he's the number one running back. He was healthy. He played the season. He was the number one running back. So correct on all accounts. Now the thing is, is that should still be true. I realized that the Kittle injury is actually probably harmful to Christian McCaffrey, but it's not harmful in the sense that now he's going to be, you know, the running back 10. Christian McCaffrey is usually either the running back one or two, or he was injured. Like that's, that's his entire career after, you know, his like sophomore season. So what are you actually calling for? because we've had some off-the-air Christian McCaffrey conversations, and you seem very not bullish on him this year the way you were last year. You seem very worried. I would say, I mean, what did I just take him? Where are we? What pick is this? Pick seven. I took him as the seventh player for a fantasy football draft. I'm not bullish to the point of him where I felt just very convicted that if he's healthy, he'll be the number one guy. But you took Gibbs over him, and you would have taken Jonathan Taylor over him. Jonathan, I would not have. Okay, but you think Gibbs over McCaffrey, is it because of what you think they do if they both play 17, or is it risk aversion because that's what I'm asking. Do you think Gibbs is a better scoring asset if they are both healthy? No. Okay, so then it is you are afraid that Christian McCaffrey won't play. I am afraid of the – I do buy into the when a player touches the ball and gets hit that many times. And that's just the regular season. Look at Saquon. Exactly. And McCaffrey is – McCaffrey will be 30, right? I believe so. Because he is 29.7 right now. So that should put him on pace to be 30 before the year starts. Massive workload over the last – And it's hard to know the efficiency for sure because in 2024 he was at four yards per carry, but he played four games. He carried the ball 50 times. But he was at 3.9 this past year. I mean, he had 102 receptions. That will be everything. And he hadn't been over 100 receptions since his year three in 2019 back in Carolina. Will he continue to get that level of targets? Because if he has 100-plus catches, then he's easily a top-three running back. And Christian McCaffrey is one of the guys, to me, he is different, where he's past the age cliff. The age cliff for running backs where things really start to go south is about 27 years old, and yet here he was at 29 being the number one fantasy running back. I have a little bit more concerns where I'm not at the point, like last year it was at least seemingly perception. Maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong of how I remember it. You either were in on McCaffrey or you're just like, I'm not drafting him in the first round. Yeah, that's pretty much. McCaffrey went to a McCaffrey truther. He didn't just fall to a spot where people are like. McCaffrey? He went to a McCaffrey. Oh, man, a McCaffrey. That's painful. Yeah, last year it was people were in or out on him. So it's like this is – I'm in. I'm just not as in as I was last year. So do not hear what I'm not saying. I'm not afraid of Christian McCaffrey. I'm going for a repeat in our Dynasty League. I'm super pumped that Christian McCaffrey is on that squad. I'm not trying to dump him. I'm not trying to collect a check before it all falls apart. Christian McCaffrey to me in Dynasty if you're a rebuilding team you should definitely trade Christian McCaffrey and do what you can if you're a contending team I will hold the bag I will let it I will let it turn into a flaming bag of poop in my hands because with him I feel like it's not over until it's over that's what we've done with Derrick Henry when like 5 years ago we were supposed to sell him. It's like, no, he's different. We're just going to keep getting fantasy points until he is done. Here's the spot to take CMC because I do think he represents kind of the end of a tier. The next running backs up, James Cook, Devon Achan, what do you believe about Gentry or Hampton? It feels like a step down. So I'm going to look at the wide receiver position here. I'm currently taking the fourth wide receiver off the board because we had the big three-pack go two, three, and four. Well, why take the fourth wide receiver off the board when I can still take the third wide receiver off the board? I'm talking about the guy who finished his wide receiver three last year, wide receiver three the year before, and wide receiver three the year before that. He is the perennial wide receiver three. I'm taking Almond Ross A. Brown. I think that he is. So are you just making a funny joke here about why not take the wide receiver three? As in you don't? Yes, I'm just calling him the wide receiver three because that's what he's finished for three years in a row. The statement kind of sounded like, oh man, I'm glad I didn't get one of those other guys because Amon Ra is actually the number three. I don't know which one of those guys will fall behind him, but mathematically it has to happen. By the end of the season. But we know he won't pass two of them. Oh, no way. No way. So you've got to take the other two. you you've got to take those three ahead 66 chance but yes 66 percent of the time it works every time um Amon Ross St. Brown is and and still like I feel like forever won't be the sexiest pick you don't see him as somehow able to finish as the wide receiver one overall even though he's been pretty close every single year but if you want a consistent guaranteed target monster on a very good offense and just there's no questions right like to me that I don't worry about anything I just know he's going to be targeted around the goal line he's going to be targeted between the 20s he's going to play through injury there's really no downside to Amin Ra he's still in the middle of his prime and he does six celebrations where the balance is on his head has a good podcast is it good i don't know he does a podcast i was trying to give the man some props i don't know i don't listen but it's fake that was phony baloney praise people say he's got a good podcast who i just did see oh man facts the i've never thought of that source says never thought of that as a defense the people are saying uh-huh that it's good right and it can be yourself yeah because now i'm telling the truth i am my own source i have a source just i feel like the snake ate itself of your circular logic there my friend yeah uh amon raw i don't i don't so was that so you that was not that was not so it was not can i guess who the other sure cd nope oh wow James Cook. Okay. All right. James Cook, who somehow throughout the process of his career, I've never had the pleasure of having James Cook on my roster. I have had the pain of, okay, next week's matchup. Who am I? Oh, my God. I have to play against James Cook this week. And it is terrifying. every single time. He can't hit... I'm sorry. He hasn't hit the high end of the running back finishes, the super high end because 21 receptions, 44, 32, 33. At this point, this is just... This is what the offense is. I don't know that it's who he is. It's who Josh Allen is. It's who he is in this offense, at least. Yes. The player, I mean, put him on a Shanahan team I bet James Cook is catching 80 plus passes on that often but he is he was the rushing leader he didn't even play the final game of of the year he has been historically a very healthy running back and I mean snaps be darned like this dude was on the field 56 percent of the snaps for Buffalo it does not matter it was crazy when he's on the field he's getting the ball The issue with him is he was so touchdown dependent, and his touchdown rate was outlier high, but he wasn't getting volume. This was a player who literally the year prior had 207 carries. That is such a low number to be a reliable RB1. To be the running back eight. Yeah, that just doesn't happen. That only happens if somehow you get 16 rushing touchdowns. Oh, he did. And that's why he kind of fell in drafts because it's like you can see the writing on the wall. This is a platoon situation where you need those touchdowns. He's not a prolific pass catcher in this offense. And then they're like, ah, how about we just give him the ball over 300 times and make him the leading rusher in the NFL. And the team has – they're going through some changes. They got rid of their head coach. They said McDermott hit the bricks. But they took their OC and made him the head coach. And so things are the same. With Joe Brady in charge, he's still the mastermind of the offense. The offense is Josh Allen and James Cook until otherwise noted. I mean, we'll just go through the hypothetical because that's where we're living right now. George Pickens is traded to Buffalo. What is your opinion of James Cook? Up, neutral, or down? It would be pretty neutral because I am bullish on James Cook already. I think that this is a player that they're going to try to give 300 rushing attempts to this season as well. He has established himself as the leader, not a committee back. They paid him a lot of money He going into year five He in the perfect age So I think he going to be great You could say arrow up because the offense should be even better with George on it But he could end up taking drives away. When George Pickens has a 60-yard touchdown bomb, that kind of nukes a little bit of James Cook's points. So I think it'll be pretty neutral if that were to happen. James Cook, to me, if you're trying to zoom out in longer term, I don't know yet if James Cook can be one of those guys that hits 28, 29, and he's still dominating for fantasy football. Agreed. But the juice is still there right now at a very, very high level. What age did Dalvin James Cook? Because, I mean, they're literally genetic. They are. They're brothers. But, I mean, Cook was more beat up. I mean, Cook tore his ACL his rookie year. He had to wear the device all the time, even though somehow the device powered him up. But the point being, James Cook, he still has it. He is one of, you know, it's like, so we got B. Bijan, Gibbs, Taylor, and James Cook. Is there anyone I'm not remembering where it's like every single time, if they're on your opponent's roster, every time they touch the ball, you go tackle, tackle, tackle. A-chan? Oh, yeah, A-chan. A-chan is definitely like, don't let him touch the ball. Because they can rip off 50-yard touchdowns. I thought those happen every week or anything. Those are terrifying, and you're 100% right. If you play fantasy, you know exactly what the feeling is. You're watching against this guy, and you just – Or you're up 35 points going into Monday night and James Cook is on the other side. You're not sleeping well. You're not counting your W because you know what can happen. Yeah. Before you go into yours, Jason, we've got one more break. One more break. All right, Jay. First round of our earliest mock draft. Three players left. We'll make it to the first. In the history of 2026, we have three picks. You have two of them. I only have one left, and I think mine's pretty spicy. Oh, interesting. So let's see what you do with your picks. Well, then it probably won't be my pick because I think mine is, at this point, a layup. I believe that there will be people who think it's the beginning of the end for C.D. Lamb. I will not be one of those people in the slightest. Good, because I will not stand for any C.D. Lamb slander. I mean, he is. Or slaughter, if you want to do a Lamb joke. Oh, nice. Swish. Thank you. Yeah, CeeDee Lamb was hurt this year. Obviously, George Pickens was awesome. And things did not go well for the Dallas Cowboys. But he is the number one target. He is in his prime. He is one of the top six wide receivers in the NFL just by talent. If you trade him to another team, he's that team's one immediately. If you trade him to another team, he is that team's one immediately. He's a dominant player who has been the wide receiver one overall in fantasy in the past already with Dak. So I have no fears about CeeDee Lamb. And I feel like there is you go from CeeDee Lamb to huge question marks up next. Justin Jefferson, he just had a whole season where he sucked. and we don't know the quarterback situation. Maybe they get Kyler and then Justin Jefferson's going to fly up. Malik Nabors? Oh, man, so good. How's his recovery? Is he healthy? Is he healthy week one? I don't know. Drake London, George Piggins, you enter a tier where I think there's a lot more questions than on CeeDee. So I'm going to take CeeDee off the board here, and if you want to go wide receiver, you've got to do more calculus. okay uh cd would is i believe the appropriate pick i actually i would despite almond ross and brown always being the wide receiver three i would take cd over him as of right now so now i'm gonna pickle because my list is i i believe at this point i would just gamble and i would take malik neighbors right here because i think malik neighbors can be the overall number one wide receiver so i'll just throw that out but i but i want i'm gonna put my spicy pick in here because let's have some fun it's chase brown i knew you're gonna do something stupid it is chase brown and the or what what i hope i'm doing here for people is chase brown will not be drafted in the first round of fantasy football drafts no he will not his production by the end of the year will yet again be that of someone who should have been taken in the first round so hopefully i'm like i'm not trying to blow up adp or anything right here i'm just letting people know that that my confidence in chase brown especially with the it's rumors and speculation right now of an extension because if an extension comes through especially before the we do i would say we're early nfl draft could still ruin things for Chase Brown. I fully admit that, but I think that the extension is coming for him, and that will squelch. Is that a real word? I don't know. Yeah, that's a real word, and it was a perfect utilization. Would I use it right? You nailed that. Chase Brown is going to dominate for fantasy football yet again. Just like Jamar Chase, the beginning of the year was awful for Chase Brown. And yet, once Joe Burrow was back and the offense was who they actually are, Chase Brown carried people to titles. Yeah. He was awesome. Chase Brown will be a good value in fantasy drafts because he won't go here. He doesn't have a big enough name, big enough NFL draft capital, an early enough start to his fantasy success in his NFL career. a slow start to last season when people drafted him and got just completely burned out. I mean, he was a My Guy for you last year. Right. And you felt like you took the biggest L. Oh, it sucked. It felt so stupid and bad. And then, you know, five weeks in, all of a sudden, he became exactly who you thought he would be. I mean, Chase Brown, you have – so through six weeks, he did not finish inside the top 20. Week one, he was running back 21. Week six, he was running back 20. So I'm saying that's how bad the start was for Chase Brown, running back 34, 49, 37, 28. He started the year like that, six weeks, and yet he still finished as the running back eight over the course of the season because the second half was so good. And I don't think – I'm not saying Chase Brown could be, like, a top three running back. But he can be a top six, maybe even a top five type of a guy that you don't have to pay up for yet again. And I will be very excited to take him in drafts. Yeah, I hope he drops much further than this. Get him near the two, three turn. Also, Jeremy has let me know, squelch usually means to forcibly suppress unwanted expression. That's basically exactly what you meant. what am I a word of the day vocab calendar? I mean, we're helping people out here. Please, ladies and gentlemen, find a way to use the word squelch in your life today. That is a fun word to say. All right, so I got the pressure of the last pick. This is really big. The issue is there's too many people that deserve to be in the first round that obviously are not going to be there because there's only one more, and you put Chase Brown in there. That's right. So I want an apology to one of these guys from you, but here are the players in consideration. Devon Achan and Josh Jacobs at running back are awesome. I will apologize to Devon Achan. Sure. Then I will not be putting him in so that you may apologize to him. Okay. So now it's between, and honestly, when I look at. Which is that here, please hear what I'm not saying. Okay. I'm not apologizing to Josh Jacobs. for not putting him in the first round. Okay. Then I will select Josh Jacobs. I actually am going to take Josh Jacobs. Okay. Josh Jacobs super banged up towards the end of the year. It was a bad finish, and it kind of got in the way of you realizing how – He was great. How dominant he was. I mean, you look before his injury. He got injured in week 11. From that point on, it was really rough. He's trying to play through it. some games he played through it while injured and was awesome other games it was like oh I think he fumbled early and so then was basically benched the rest of the game kind of due to the injury kind of to save himself but you you ended up starting him and he got nothing so it was just this trepidatious end to the season that from weeks one through ten Josh Jacobs was the running back five. He was a couple points ahead of Bijan. He was a couple points ahead of James Cook. His pace would have been 20 rushing touchdowns through that stretch while getting over 50 receptions, basically 500 receiving yards, 1,200 yards on the ground. He was a dominant force, and they're not going away from him right now. I think the offense, they dealt with so many injuries, obviously the quarterback himself and Jacobs himself going into next season Josh Jacobs is a running back one and he should be there now it's it's tough because Malik Nabors should be here but the injury I think Hampton honestly is the next running back on my on my list when when we go through the UDK rankings and stat these guys out and look at the team projections look at the schedule dive as deep as we do i will not be surprised at all if hampton is way ahead of josh jacobs in my rankings i had a devon h and um or or you know other other running backs i mean maybe even definitely chase brown yeah um why is it definitely i'm i'm i'm just kidding because chase brown is a good enough fantasy asset to be taken here it is one of those things where he's not viewed that way in which case you want the value like the the greatest part of chase brown is that if you're smart enough to get him where he's being drafted you're getting a great value if you reach yeah because i took him as what like the fifth running back yeah like that's egregiously high for adp yeah he won't he won't go anywhere near there so um just let this be you know a little signal to let him drop to you and be more excited about it but he will he definitely will not be in the first round of adp all right i'm going to list some names after you give an apology well this is what i'm going to list some names and do we need to apologize all right devon hn yes yes we apologize sorry my man there's just there's too much there's too much i don't know about the miami dolphins right now to put you in the first round ashton jenty no he he He earned his second round pick with his rookie season. Saquon Barkley. Mm-mm. No apologies. No apologies. None. Derek Henry. Like an honorary apology. Okay, so just like a head nod? Yeah, like we get it. We get it. But you get it. I'm not going to say I'm sorry, but you know that I'm sorry. Derek, you know. You know. You know how we feel, but you get it. Yeah. You're awesome. can I do a first round pick of Derrick Henry in the month of November? For sure yes, yes the snow is falling in Vermont unfortunately there's the warm months alright, that's going to do it for today's show hope y'all had a good time listening the fun, the February fun mock draft, the first round that's going to do it for us reminder, ultimatedraftkit.com get in early, lowest possible Price Dynasty Pass is up right now. There's going to be another drop after the combine, and then after the NFL Draft, get you ready for those rookie drafts. We'll see you next time. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.
