Fantasy Football - Ice & Fire Show + We're Baaaaaaack! - Podcast for 8/3

gets the ball, because he demands the ball, because he gets open. Per Ryan Heath, over the last four years, Waddle was targeted on 29% of his routes and average 2.85 yards per route run when Tyree Kill was not on the field. So this is a player that he can be a true number one. The beginning of Jalen Waddle's career was he was banished to Siberia, aka the Miami Dolphins, only to give us a...

wide receiver 16 season as a rookie and then a wide receiver 7 and we thought man the wheels are absolutely up but then they bring in Tyree kill and you it's understandable that Tyree kill is going to come in and take over and be the true wide receiver one on the team but now he gets to be the wide receiver one for the Denver Broncos Davis Webb the new play caller for the Broncos a

We will get low A dots. We will get screens to Jalen Waddle, and I think he will absolutely succeed. Nix led the NFL in screen attempts over the last two years. If you're going to do him a bunch, you might as well go get yourself a player who can be elite and give you production with those things. So I'm very in on Jalen Wadle being barely priced as a wide receiver too. I think that he can, I mean, we always want sure.

known target volume. You know, when we're taking these players, Jay, we always like, man, I just want someone who's going to, I need 150 targets. Yeah. And it's like, Jaylen Waddle can 100% do that for you. So, you know, I don't have extreme numbers for him, but I think he can get over 1,100 yards around six touchdowns. And I think there's even a, a ceiling that I do not have projected into my numbers. And my numbers still put him way ahead of the market.

I, uh, there's, there's two things that get me a little hot and bothered for Waddle because when the trade happened, I was like pretty much out on one. I'm like, okay, he's coming to a team with Cortland Sutton that spreads the ball around. They have a great defense. They don't need to get in shootouts. So I was pretty out on Waddle just like, hey, it's good for the, the Broncos. The more time has gone on, two things have happened. One, and I've, I've mentioned this before. I went back and I watched.

the tape on Bo Nix again, especially all of his deep shots. And it just was a screaming need. He didn't have a weapon to utilize how he wants to play ball. And then you combine that with the fact that, well, they saw that. They went out and got him. But recently, you talk about what Sean Payton has said and, you know, cute little sound bites like he walks on water. Right. But I saw an interview yesterday with Sean Peyton where he was genuinely talking to these people about...

You have no idea how much we're going to use Jalen Waddle. You can use them long. You can use them short. I can move them in the slot. I can move them out wide. And he talked about fantasy football. Specifically, he said it's easier to project. Use them in the rain. It's easier to project a running back or a tight in because you can manufacture those touches. It's hard with a wide receiver because you don't know where the ball's going. And then he's like, but not with Waddle. Like we are going to be.

getting Waddle the ball a ton. And so that's made me update my belief in the target share. I still don't think this is an offense that's going to be in the top 10 in total points. Not that they couldn't be, but because of their defense. I don't think they will actually end up there. However, I do think that the slice of Pye Waddle gets from this offense is far larger than I thought early this offseason.

Yeah, I mean, Peyton always gives me a little bit. I mean, I like the pick. I like I like Waddle. He's moved up in my rankings. I like the idea that this is a superstar that we finally have where all the other receivers sort of blend together, don't they? They kind of blend into this. You just have wide receivers. That's what you have with Mims and Pat Bryant and Sutton and, you know, Franklin. Hey, yeah, thank you. I know. That's the, you know, Jason likes Franklin. I like Pat Bryant, but it's like they have been searching.

They've been searching and not finding. Because, like, Waddle, Waddle's best season was in 2022. Yes. And we are, we're a few years away from that. Like, I won't, will you be happy with 10.1 fancy points for game in Denver? Probably not for Jalen Wattel. No, I don't think so. And I was trying to look up where that would put him as a wide receiver. That's where he was last year. Obviously, it seems like he's more hurt than his numbers saying. Yeah, that part is true.

It looks like he plays about 15, 16 games, but he only plays like half of half of them. But, no, I like the pick. I think he needs to come up in my rankings. I like all the comments from Peyton about high expectations. He said, I don't follow fancy football, but shoot, I'd try to have him. I think he's going to do well. But I also think that Sean Peyton is kind of a very, he's one of the least predictable head coaches because he's willing to throw the ball to anybody anytime, hand the ball to anybody anytime.

That would be the back of my head fear. Remember back in the day, though, when Michael Thomas was part of the Sean Payton says, I mean, they had that guy who could win on both areas of the field. And that's what the hope is. Get him the ball every play. All right. We'll take a break. We'll come back with three more picks. What's up, Foot Clan? You are confident and disciplined and focused on details, just like everyone here at the fancy footballers, right? Those are words you used 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 width 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. You know, Jason's a comfort guy. We like the comfort. Comfort rains 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. Football season is back. And whether you're tracking your lineups or cheering on your favorite team, Direct TV makes it easy to catch all your pro and college football action.

in one place. With DirecTV, you don't have to bounce between apps and channels to find the action, and when game day gets busy, Multivue lets you watch up to four games at once. And whether you're keeping an eye on one team or several sports central makes it easy to stay up to date with the latest stats and scores, while game time notifications help ensure you never miss kickoff.

or a big play. Plus, with the DirecTV app, you can stream on the go, and eligible packages include the ESPN Unlimited Plan. Sign up now. Games not included with DirecTV requires separate paid app subscriptions. Service renews monthly and less canceled. Local channels vary by market, blackouts, and other terms apply. All right, ice and fire continues. I'm not going to leave you in suspense here. My fire pick is a Mecca Abuka. Fire. Yes.

Mika a big big boo. Let me get you there. I'd be so sick if it was on the back of his jersey. We have spent a lot of time this offseason talking about Abuka about the end of the season and the bad scars and taste in your mouth because he was so terrible at the end of the year. If you want to know part of that equation, it was the fact that 27% of his targets were inaccurate at the end of the year.

That's the worst of any player in the National Football League. So do we hold Abuka to be the only one to blame for that? I think if your targets that are inaccurate, they're harder to catch. That's my analysis of the situation. I'm not a professional. Right. But that sounds pretty good. Did you ever catch any of my targets in flag football when they weren't near you? No. No. See, that's where my market research was. The uncatchable targets are.

Very difficult to catch. Right. Nearly. Almost. Because of the un. Yeah. So he had 127 targets last year. Only 81 of those targets were catchable. So he was heavily targeted. We had such the, you know, so much excitement over the first half of the year. This is the second most fancy points scored ever to start a career by a wide receiver. So everybody got on board. Everybody's excited for the Hall of Fame career commencing. And then we got a really, really bad end of the season. Reasons being he hurt his hamstring in week six. That lingered.

Mike Evans got knocked out. He got moved to the ex position, which was tougher for him to execute on. I think that's what went into some of the uncatchable targets. And then we know that Baker Mayfield was absolutely damaged. You know, injury was the right word for Baker Mayfield, a couple of them. This offseason, you're going to see Emeka Abuka with the absence of Mike Evans blossom into the...

Do everything wide receiver that this team needs. I think they have a top tier quarterback in Baker Mayfield. His skill set, he's going to be the Z receiver. He's lining up off the line. He's being moved all over the place. Zach Robinson is coming in. Last year, like I said, lined up at the X for the majority of the snaps. He is much more versatile. You're going to have Chris Godwin in the slot. You're going to have McMillan and Ted Hurst at the X spot. And then Abuk is going to be your go-to player all over the field.

And so I'm just so excited for the upside and potential for Abuka to really solidify himself as a top 12 receiver all year long. Yep, not impossible. We've seen enough from him in those games to see what kind of a route runner he is. He understands everything about this offense. He knows how to track the ball. I'm just very, very excited for the future of a Mecca Abuk. And I think you do.

inherit in fantasy. One of the reasons I pivoted to him, I was thinking about going AJ Brown here. I like AJ Brown in New England. But I wanted to go with Abuka because I think you have a little bit of a discount here. You have a discount and it's the, you know, I don't know what he is discount. And so I think you should draw your conclusions from.

half a year of being one of the most successful rookies in the history of the game, that's a tremendously difficult thing to do. You'll listen to this show the last 12 years. Most of the time we say, hey, watch out for the second half of the year for rookie wide receivers to get acclimated. This is what took place for a lot of players. What we meant for Abuka was, oh, watch out. In this situation, it's going to get you. Watch out for the second half of the year. You're going to start him a bunch of times that you wish you hadn't. But I don't think this guy stopped being a talented wide receiver. Everything from camp, Healthy Baker.

I'm really in on Abuka. I think this is an opportunity being drafted as the wide receiver 19 where you have top seven potential for a Mecca Abuka this year. So I want to jump back on that bandwagon, forgive the second half, and expect big things from an offense. I actually like. I mean, the offensive line's going to be a little bit better. Bucky is going to be back. Play action. I think Abuka could come out and be a dominator to start the year. His, I'm trying to remember where he was being drafted last year. Like,

I don't think we're that far off. You know, where you weren't sure. You know he's the first round and the pedigree and all that. He was, I think, like a six-round pick, and now you have at least some proof of concept. No, he could be that player we thought he was, and he's still going in the fourth. I like the 80. It just seems like, I don't think that ADP is going to change much. I don't, it shouldn't. And what was it? You know, the first.

Half of the year last year, this was up over 15 fantasy points a game. Yeah, and the changes that happened midseason with the injuries around him, shifted him around. He's coming in this year being placed in the role that he is supposed to be playing, that they drafted him to play and that he was really special. We all love the talent. I think we all forgive the injuries and expect the offense to be much better. And you mentioned it, Andy, but I think it bears mentioning again.

The offensive line for the Buccaneers are one of the fantasy storylines that really needs to be thought of more because this is a good NFL offensive line that had so many injuries last year that they were a bad. You only really look at the outliers. Middle of the pack is whatever. This is a top offensive line that was a bottom offensive line, very similar to what we've been talking about with the Chargers.

And so that changes things for a fantasy offense. All right, Mike, why don't you go next and Jason can round us out. All right. You already got my fire pick. I think this is the one that has Andy a little bit flustered. Ice. My ice player for 2026 is Quinn Sean Judkins. Hmm. I haven't. What are you trying to do over there, Jay?

You're just hitting a lot of buttons with getting no sound, huh? Is he trying to cheer, or is he trying to bow? I don't know. He's just, oh, the people hate it. Well, that's all right, like John Snow against the horde. I will. Jason is booing it too, or is he just shit? He's booing me. I am booing, Mike. I think that I am much more on your side here, Andy. Oh, my gosh.