WR & TE Rookie Preview + Diggs Blockbuster! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/4

giant red flag was dominant. I mean, he was so powerful, so fast. His hands were good. His athleticism is, he might be the best athlete in this entire draft class, sub 4-4 at 221 pounds. He makes no sense because there's no way that the guy who did what he did in 2023 could have been so non-existent for the four previous years, but that's, that's what you get. So I tell everybody don't draft Xavier Leggett. because of all the red flags, I will be drafting him because I'm a glutton for punishment here. Jason and I pretty much had the exact same experience with Leggett of watching his most recent film and then going back and looking at the stats and going, how is this possible to go from absolute nothingness? I think it was like 150 yards. Jam, I remember that right? I think it was 160. I think it might have got to 160. And then to a guy who is,

The opposite of Brian Thomas of high-pointing every ball perfectly. His tape this year is absolutely incredible. This last year, he was 71 for 1,255 and was dominant. Here are his yards, not in a game. These are yards in the seasons prior. 80 total yards in a season, 113 total yards in a whole season, 167 yards. He should be really happy for his most recent season. Don't draft them. It's not going to work. It is so wild. And just a deeper name that analytically is, it's exciting to me. It's Jermaine Burton out of Alabama. And this guy, it's another explosive athlete, but it's just huge monster catch after monster catch. 20 and a half yards per completion. His A-DOT.

So average depth of target was almost 18 yards. What? Yeah, dude. Everything he got was fully downfield. And his, you know, like, production-wise, touchdowns is actually a good market share percentage, and his dominator is good as well because of the touchdowns. But it's like this is an Alabama wide receiver who, I mean, he played two years also at Georgia, then went to Alabama. is this a dot huge yards per completion guy. He won't, I don't see a path where, you know, we're excited about this. Germain Burton's turned into a superstar, but someone who should go in the middle rounds that has already proven that he can be a huge catch player. I've got my eye on him. All right, there's one tied in we'll talk about at length because he has the greatest fantasy implications and relevance, and that's how we roll.

Did you guys talk about a lot more than one tight end on the Dynasty show? We sure did. Well, that must have been fun. Brock Bowers. We'll talk about Brock Bowers because he is a weapon. He is a force, really. He was the best weapon at Georgia as a freshman and just multifaceted skill set. He's the only two-time John Mackey Award winner since the title was awarded that's best tight end in the country. 6-3-243 broke out at 18 years old, 30% dominator ranking. Only 21 years old right now. So why do you want to, you know, kind of probably poo-poo on him, Jason? Because I know that's what you're known for is just kind of squashing the potential and the hopes of young tight ends. And luckily some tight ends like Sam LaPorteur, they say, you know, they double middle finger and throw the birds at you. And they just say, you know, what you say is kind of stupid. But.

Why do you think Brock Bowers is going to suck? Because I know you do. I think Brock Bowers is an exceptional talent, clearly the best tight end in this draft class. Coming in the pre-NFL draft period of scouting, I would say he's probably the second best tight-in that we've scouted over the last several years. I would personally put him behind the appearance and production of what we saw in Kyle Pitts. People could put him ahead. Brock Bowers is absolutely sensational. He will. The top 10 pick most likely. I can't imagine him drop him past the Jets at 10. I've seen plenty of mocks where he does. He goes to the bangles. I mean, there's also great landing spots here that from a fantasy perspective could be really, really valuable for even his rookie year outlook. For me, you want to talk about the poo-pooh, because I will. I'll fall all over here. No, we know. Is from a game theory perspective, drafting first-round rookie tight-ins.

is a losing proposition. It just is. How many tight ends in the league, in fantasy, are your league winners? There's Travis Kelsey. You're forgetting? There's, uh, there's, I mean, there was a year of George Kittle. Yeah. Leporto was really good last year. Yeah, he was. Yeah, he was a league. Mark Andrews had a year. Mark Andrews had a year. Jimmy Graham had years. Right. This is my point. Like, there's, I mean, we've done the show like nine years and that's like, nine years. Nine years. And I named fewer than nine. Exactly. So it's just like, it almost always happens, but not always. You're, you know, it's like Brock Bowers is a great talent, but whether he will pay off on, you know, what you're giving up at the fifth or sixth spot in a rookie draft to take that shot on that tight end. This is going to be the one. Well, no, you're not taking that shot on it for him to be the one if you're in a dynasty rookie draft. You are.

Those players work out over time. There's a different discussion because you always point out year one might be a problem for a talented tight end. I was not talking about rookie years. I was talking about total career. Actual difference making fantasy titles. Yeah, there's just not a bunch. There's usually two or three every season. Which is why they're so valuable. And why I think much like quarterbacks in a super flux, you take your shots because the value to your team is so exceptionally great. And you saw it. whether it was Gronkowski leading people to titles for multiple years or Kelsey for multiple years or Andrews for multiple years or LaPorte of this last year. Like it does make such a difference to the team that I think it's a philosophical decision that you can make. If you knew that Brock Bowers was going to be Kelsey, absolutely. If you're talking about the difference he makes to a team, you can't replace it. It's humongous. That difference of having Travis Kelsey.

dominating year after year after year. If you had Antonio Gates dominating year after year after year, if you can get that guy, it is worth it. But my point is only in the hit rate. The hit rate of all these prospects. I mean, it doesn't every, every draft season. There are the best tight ends in the draft. And it's, you know, it's O.J. Howard and it's Kyle Pitts and it's David Adjoku finally broke out in year seven. And it's Evan Ingram who had a great rookie year, but has not been a difference maker for fantasy. It's every single year. I mean, it was like when was the last? Sam LaPort. Let me ask you a different question. Let me rephrase it. Okay. Which titan from this year's draft has the best chance of potentially being the next Kelsey. For sure, Brock Powell. And that's all I'm saying. I'm saying like.

You're in a dynasty league. Kelsey's going to age out, right? There are a handful of difference making tight ends. If you want to take a shot at getting a difference maker, Brock's the guy. I would love, do not hear what I'm not saying. I would love to have Brock Bowers on my fantasy team. I would not sacrifice the opportunity of a higher hit rate at a wide receiver. If you're staring down Brock Bowers and Brian Thomas, you can't be saying that Brian Thomas is, you know. I think that's an equal risk, Brian Thomas is, to Brock Bowers. The reason why that hit rate is so repulsive to you is because there's very few tight-ins that go in the first round ever. There's piles of first-round wide receivers that don't do stuff. Jalen Rager and, you know, the Darius Hayward Bay, like we talked about earlier, Justin Blackman, or, you know, all these guys that get drafted, Corey Davis, like there are a billion failures, but there's a billion successes at wide receiver tight-ins.

They're very much on a pedestal of observation where it's like when they fail, the world watches. And when they succeed, the world watches. Yeah, I mean, I get it. You would take Brian Thomas Jr. over Brock Bowers. I mean, landing spot. Without knowing landing spot, yes. With knowing landing spot, maybe not. Mike, where are you out with that? I lean more on Jason's side of feeling that the percentage of that the wide receiver will hit. You're at the sniff that farty dropped earlier than. I have. Drink it in. Enjoy. That's not the best. Someone smell of popcorn? There you go. There you go. I'm on Jason's side of the hit, not just first round, or first round tight ends. It's just tight ends that they often don't come through and you have to wait on them. Unless you don't. Right? Like if you get a Sam Laporte. Yes, of course. You don't. I'm just.

Right, but everyone who drafted, Sam LaPorteur was the consolation prize. Oh, I get it. Third round. I get it. I'm just saying, like, I like looking at guys on a case-by-case basis because there's not been that many of them over a long span of time drafted in the top 10, I think you do a disservice to it. Now, if you individually look at Brock Bowers' destination and talent and you say, well, he's probably not going to do well, that's fine. But Brock Bowers is his own thing, man. And as a prospect, he's incorrect. If he lands in the right place, I'm not going to not draft him because Kyle Pitts didn't work out with Arthur Smith. That's not going to be my reasoning because they have no bearing on each other. Yeah. They don't affect each other in any real way. I agree with that. But there is also the just factoring in the history of everything. And if it hits, like, I mean, it's the difference that it makes if it hits and you get that one.

guy that does hit is like it changes the whole future of your team for quite a while. These things are always very interesting because there is a front end to every trend, right? There is the beginning of the undersized wide receiver having excellent production at the NFL level and then you observe it four years later. Are you saying Sam Laporte is the beginning of getting tight in rookies involved? It is possible. It is possible that in an evolving NFL that doesn't let you touch the defensive player, you know, Brock Bowers is next level elite. We're talking top five potential in the draft. So there's a reason we're only talking about him, though. He's the one that jumps out. The names, so here, Kyle assembled us, the names. I assume these are just like the highest rookie picked tight end. So Kyle Pitts, if you spent the 103 on Kyle Pitts, are you disappointed? Probably. So far, yeah.

O.J. Howard, didn't work out. Dalton Kincaid, you're feeling okay with that. T.J. Hawkinson at the 110. I don't remember who else was there, but I'll say it's good. I'll say his career has worked out more than it hasn't. Njoku, this year aside, very, very disappointing. Noah Fant didn't work. Evan Engram. Michael, Michael Mayor, Hunter Henry, Mike Gisicki, Hayden Hurst, Pat Fryermuth, and Sam Leporta. That is a much larger list of... misses. Now, there are only six of them. No, five total. That were drafted in the first round of one QB drafts, right? Is that what that says? In terms of, like, recent memory, yeah. So that's five names as your history lesson. Yeah. And out of those five names, you were disappointed. You were disappointed twice. You're kind of happy twice. So very small sample. I lean on the side to just view it in a vacuum one-time situation, but I understand.

if you're on the other side of that. Let me ask you this because I think what people are in their drafts, this is the decision they're going to come to. Wherever you are, where you're past the wide receivers you're in love with, and there probably isn't a running back you're in love with. Would you rather have Brock Bowers or Caleb Williams? One quarterback? Yeah, because of two QB, it's obviously. Brock Bowers. He's my four. You're saying in a single quarterback, you go with the top three wide receivers and then Brock Bowers. Yes, because I genuinely think all four of those guys are not going to fail. If Ladd McCarthy goes to the bills? Don't care. No, I would still take Bowers. Yeah, I think all four of those guys are not, they don't have a chance to fail. I really do. I believe that. I think you have three Jamar chases and then one tight end that your worst situation is he's a solid top six guy and your best situation is maybe you get to.

But look, I'm not saying people didn't talk about Kyle Pitts that way. So are there ways things can go wrong? Yeah, Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith is the way everything can go wrong in the whole world. So if Pittsburgh draft. Do they still ship like people to like different countries? Like didn't a lot of prisoners get dropped off in Australia a long time ago? Oh, yeah, by the Brits. Just asking. Who's going? Are you trying to ship off? I just think Arthur Smith might. Oh. I think he has the funds to get back. Like a long time ago, people used to get, instead of being killed, they'd get banished. Exiled? They'd get exiled from a land. And you don't, you know, we're not talking capital punishment here. You just go get to enjoy the beaches. Check out this. You got an island. Yeah. You've got this really cool island you live on now. Yeah. See you later. But instead of that, he got another job. Oh, and then he brought in Cordero Paterson. Okay. Not how I wanted to put an, you know, exclamation point on the show, but.

That'll do it for today's episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back very, very soon. Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.