THE UNOFFICIALFOOTBALLERSFAN ARCHIVE↗Transcript links use the exact YouTube video’s clock. Machine transcripts can contain errors.
A heroic produced voice says the UDK stands ready, waiting, watching, and protecting, promises a magnificently hot roster beside stupid, dumb, dumb opponents, and answers its own sales question with probably yes. The desk later says Optimus primed and more than meets the eye. Direct video shows a normal product feature reel, not Transformers imagery.
The hosts say a fourth-round-quarterback comment instantly reveals common ground between strangers, like bruises identifying Fight Club members. Jason says fantasy talk can pierce even his small-talk aversion, although his first response is to judge the analysis and listen without joining.
Jason calls his wager with Mike over Taysom Hill and Adam Trautman a really stupid and silly Water Bet and says he already regrets it. Direct video holds on Jason and never displays a Water Bet graphic.
Mike says finding a late-round tight-end diamond is fun even when the rough contains no diamond that year and the search ends empty. The line supplies a direct statement of the player-loyalty mechanism later attached to Adam Trautman and other speculative tight ends.
Jason says Kyle Pitts hurts his soul and nearly became one of his My Guys for the next day's annual episode, but the third-round cost keeps the commitment unresolved. Pitts is a short-list near-miss here, not a completed My Guy selection.
The desk contrasts George Kittle with Dalton Schultz by saying Kittle can go nuclear, break four tackles, carry twelve men on his back, add his own quarterback to the pile, and walk into the end zone.
Amon-Ra St. Brown's ability to recite every receiver drafted before him reminds the desk of an angry Steve Buscemi list. They first place the image in Armageddon, then correct themselves to Billy Madison and its lipstick list.
Pat Freiermuth's second season produces a rapid desk chain: could the Muth get Luth again, the Muth could get Luth, and he is entering year tooth. No graphic or sound bumper accompanies the wording.
The hosts first insist that a groin should be monitored only from a distance. Near the close, they formally announce a GroinIndex.com update for Mecole Hardman's groin injury and trigger the familiar groin reaction, without showing a website or bumper.
A solo Mike cold open leads into a heroic Ultimate Draft Kit voiceover that watches over Earth, promises to make opponents look like stupid, dumb, dumb idiots beside a magnificently hot roster, and answers its own sales question with an emphatic probably yes. Direct video shows that the speech plays over an ordinary UDK feature reel rather than Transformers imagery; the desk later makes the intended reference explicit with Optimus primed and more than meets the eye. Andy, Jason, and Mike then describe fantasy football as instant common ground between strangers: fourth-round quarterback value in an elevator becomes a Fight Club signal. Jason says even his ears perk up despite treating small talk like the bubonic plague; he first judges the strangers harshly, then listens without joining. The show also announces its Friday UDK-for-Life livestream. During the Taysom Hill question, Jason calls his wager with Mike over Taysom Hill and Adam Trautman a really stupid and silly Water Bet that he already regrets. Mike later defines his preferred tight-end process as hunting for a diamond in the rough even though some years the rough contains no diamond at all. Jason says Kyle Pitts nearly became one of his My Guys, but the third-round cost keeps him from pushing all his chips in. George Kittle's ceiling becomes a nuclear run in which he breaks four tackles and carries twelve defenders plus his own quarterback into the end zone. A Darren Waller prompt triggers Mike's walrus-style Googoochum line, Amon-Ra St. Brown's remembered receiver list triggers an Armageddon/Billy Madison correction, and Pat Freiermuth produces Muth get Luth and year tooth wordplay. An earlier instruction to monitor an injured groin only from a distance pays off at the close when the desk delivers a GroinIndex.com update and the familiar groin reaction. Complete direct review shows only the three regular hosts at the live desk, with no producer cut or voice.
He started 12 games, but if you recall that his last game, he played 10% of the snap. So essentially 11 games. He threw the ball 382 times. So four fewer games, six extra passing attempts. Like the Ravens were crazy last year compared to where they were historically. So that's the concern with Mark Andrews is that his numbers were really juiced last year because of the passing volume that The team has told us that they don't want to be that. Now, will they have to do it again? That's TBD and that's up to you as the drafter to what are your projections for the team. But that's my only red flag for him. But the player is great. Travis Kelsey comes in at number two in our rankings. Being drafted as the tight-in one right now at the top of the second round. And, you know, we know his role in the offense. He.
Let all tight ends and third down receptions. He's a go-to receiver, 92 for 11009. I don't need to give you the resume of Travis Kelsey. So let's spend our time with Travis Kelsey just talking about draft cost, whether he'll return value this year and whether he's just kind of off your bore. He's going to be good this year, obviously. He is first belt Hall of Famer, the tight end 1-1-1-1-1. two last year. So he's great. So he's falling off. Got it. Now he becomes the primary target with Tyreek Hill gone. There is no doubt he, barring injury, will be very good for fantasy this year. I do think that he does not get better with the absence of Tyree Kill and another year on the old life meter.
I think that Travis Kelsey, as they say, almost 33. Yeah, he will be playing football this year at age 33. And even the greats of the greats, Tony Gonzalez, who played very well, even later into his career, you saw just such a massive drop off from that age 32 to age 33 season. Now if you are the primary focal point and you're not having to worry. defensive scheming about Tyree Kill, and you're like, okay, we've got to lock down Travis Kelsey. He's 33 years old. He's going to get his. You can't stop Zeus, but you can stop him from having a otherworldly breakout year for him. He's not going to have his career best numbers at 33. It's just not going to happen. So he will be great. I think the draft costs is too much. I love your idea, Andy, of just trading for him. If he has a down week or two,
You know, if... Oh, you can sell that narrative. Old, no, Tyreek. If you want to acquire him at that point, it'll be easy sell. If he has a bad week one, oh, I'll go after him because it won't cost you anything near what a first round draft pick is. And I see on Sleeper ADPs drop to the top of the second, but most of the drafts I've been and I see him at the end of the first. This is where things get a little more interesting. Dalton Schultz at number three. He's the tight-in six by ADP, finishes the tight-in three last year. This is just how it ended up with the way the three of us ranked him. And when the averages came together, I will not have any Dalton Schultz. Not because I don't think he will be solid, but because of the way I approach the tight-in position, like I, if I'm going to spend a draft pick in the middle rounds on a tight end, I want a player that has the ability.
And the athleticism to give me, you know, the Kyle Pitts 7 for 163, 9 for 119. Dalton Schultz is not an athletic specimen. He's not bad. He's just not anywhere. Middle tier. He's not Waller, Kittle, Pitts level athleticism. So all I'm saying is I think you will get such a solid week-to-week performance from Dalton Schultz. They're going to need him. But. the way I look at the tight-in position, I don't think I'm going to jump. I mean, it's a sixth round pick, so maybe I get more tempted when I'm in the thick of it. That's the problem is I love Dalton Schultz. His opportunity is incredible. He's the number two passing option on this team for the foreseeable future until Michael Gallup recovers from that ACL injury and proves that he should be the number two target. Dak, we just featured Dak of like,
Prescott's one of those guys that he just figures it out and he runs a really strong offense. So all of those things point to me of saying, I want Dalton Schultz on my team. I don't have to pay top tier price for him. But these tight ends, I know we said, you know, the tight ends in the first five rounds, they return on their ADP or whatever, but that's not necessarily fantastic. And these guys in the sixth round, historically, have just been such a trap. of you get, it's not the worst. So you're not having to hit the wire to stream players over him. But you're stuck with him too. But you're just like, I got to play him again. So it is a very, I am stuck in a very conflicted place here of opportunity, great offense versus what I know about these tight ends who go in the middle rounds. Yeah. Do you want to take your six round pick and say, I am signing up for this to be guaranteed?
mediocrity because that's that's what you're doing with shultz it's not bad he's not going to be bad but he's not going to be a world beaters very similar to austin hooper when he was a falcon had back-to-back tight-in six seasons he was very good but if you actually look at did he help you win in fantasy football no the tight-in six the tight-in at the end of the year they're they're usually pretty worthless uh you know t j hawkinson was a top five tied in a couple years ago Like nobody liked that season. Right. And you had bad stretches last year with Schultz. So it's too high a draft. Here's the four players going behind Dalton Schultz when you're on the clock. Brandon Cooks, A.J. Dillon, Clyde Edwards, Aller, and Jalen, Jalen Hertz. Those are potential difference makers for a roster. I think Dalton Schultz will stat his way, stat accumulate his way to an end of season good ranking, but he's not going to help you win. He's not winning games for you in fantasy football.
Yeah, and, you know, last year you had some injuries that put him at three, right? George Kittle was better points per game. Rob Grancowski was better points for game. Dawson Knox was very close. Waller was beat up all year. Yeah, so you just need to, I didn't realize we'd have that shared of an opinion of the Dalton Schultz situation. But because he's a, what, 73rd percentile quickness score, he's not a player that's going to take a middle of the field ball and, you know, break a couple tackles and go down the sideline. He's going to be a. very trustworthy target, but much more later, you know, much more Jason Witten. Yeah, Mike had a great tip of arbitrage. And there are plenty of arbitrage options for Dalton Schultz where you say, okay, Dalton Schultz is not this supreme athlete. He's just got to be so involved in the offense. Well, so is Cole Komet. Yeah. Cole Komet is just a cheaper version of Dalton Schultz where you can add A.J. Dillon to your roster. You're not adding A.J. Dillon in the 10th round. Kyle Pitts comes in at number four.
110 targets last year, one touchdown. Finishes the tight in seven as a rookie. Difficult to go out there and make a difference as a rookie. Went over the 1,000 yard mark. But, you know, this season, it's going to be very, very interesting for Kyle Pitts because you're talking about it in the office the other day, Jason. He's just a wide receiver. Oh, man. He's not. Kyle Pitts is hurting my soul, man. I almost made him a my guy. I almost went all the way in. What? Yeah. By the way, my guy episode tomorrow. Oh, baby. He was on my short list. Is Kyle Pitts on the show tomorrow? I mean, TBD, we'll see. Maybe I go back. But the cost is a ton. The cost is a third rounder. And, you know, we just talked about the players you can get behind Dalton Schultz. Obviously, the difference between Dalton Schultz and Kyle Pitts is Kyle Pitts could finish us the tight end one.
He has the ability, the physical ability to just dominate. If he ended up with 1,400 yards and six touchdowns, that's in his range of outcomes where he is just an every week must start, wins you a couple weeks outright, a physical freak. You watch the tape and you're just blown away by what he can do. That being said. I'm reading this before you give me the negative. I'm reading this tweet from Scott Barrett at front of the show. saying who was the best outside wide receiver technically last year in the NFL, and it was Kyle Pitts, the head of Devo, Jefferson, and Devante Adams. Interesting. Does he cite what metric he's talking about? Yeah, yards per route run, routes out wide. Kyle Pitts was the most effective outside wide receiver in the game of football above all of those names. And there's nothing in camp that dissuades you from that reality. So good. There's so good. There's nothing that, you know, and the time will come.
That's the other storyline, and I'll get back to you, Jason. But the other storyline with Pitts is it's win, not if. Yes. With Kyle Pitts. So you don't want to be on the wrong side of win. Yeah. I mean, when I stat out the Atlanta Falcons, I have them being a slow-paced team that runs far more than they should, just like they did last year, who now adds, you know, they lost. all their wide receivers last year. And so then Kyle Pitts was it. They added Drake London. And they go from Matt Ryan, a very good quarterback to Marcus Marietta, a, you know, a mostly washed flame out backup. And so to have enough passing volume, you're going to have 1,500 fewer passing yards as a team this year than they did last year going from Matt Ryan to Marcus Mariotta.
You're going to have fewer passing touchdowns. When you then divvy up a much smaller pie, the stats don't look great for me for Kyle Pitts. I don't have a problem if you want to call your shot. If you want to take a swing for the fences in the third and say, I believe he's a 1,500 yard, six touchdown machine this year. You can do it. I can't do it. Now, I don't know if it matters. But when Marcus Marietta had Delaney Walker, it was pretty, pretty pretty. Good. Yeah, he had a season with 133 targets. Delaney Walker did. 94 for 1088 and 6. And that's Delaney Walker. Oh, my God, shut up. That was an aged Delaney Walker, who was, Walker was a great athlete in his time. The biggest difference between that and what we're talking about is at that time, you would draft Delaney Walker in from the waiver wire? Like, you weren't paying a third round pick saying this. If he slides to the fourth, are you in?
Probably. I'm with Jason that my stats don't have him there. But I fully recognize he can play to win. You play to win. And Kyle Pitts is a league winning type of a player that in the third round, if it's like I have, I have some best ball drafts where I've taken Kyle Pitts. Like, because you want, I want some exposure to this. I don't want. I think that's the best way to put it. Yeah, no, that is a good way to put it. I want in on Kyle Pitts, but I'm not pushing all the chips in because with Marcus Mario and it will be very surprising to me if at some point the Atlanta Falcons don't put Desmond Ritter in and just to see what they have because this is not a team that projects to win. The only way Marcus Marioita keeps his job the full season is if they're in playoff contention.
That would be a pretty shocking thing. Crazy stuff happens in the NFL, so I'm not saying that's impossible, but that put the probability of that very low. So you're going to have a quarterback change. You have what Jason laid out of just an overall production drop because of the way that these quarterbacks play. So it's very scary, but the upside is the tight end one. This is funny. So you asked, would you draft him if he falls to the... to the back of the third. So I pulled up one of my drafts to the fourth, yeah. To the fourth. I pulled up one of my random drafts just to have a draft board that was live. And I wanted to see where that break was for me. And I got through the third round and I thought, okay, I would take all those players over pits. And then I looked at the next player. And I was like, that's where I would take pits at this top of the fourth. Top of the fourth. And then I looked.
And that is where I took pits in this trial. That was me that took them there. 401. So you follow your own advice. Yeah. Incredible. Darren Walther at five, George Kittle at six. Two names with a lot of history in fantasy football. Big performances, big years. We know what the potential is. The question is, are we going to get it? And the draft costs right now, they're both mid to late fourth round picks. Waller and Kittle. It's tough. We want to know what the impact is of Devante Adams on the target chair for Darren Waller. We know he's a freak. I mean, he's great. But last year was an injury play campaign. And then Kittles, that's been his narrative too. He has the potential to be the focus of an offense on any given week. Trey Lance. Kittle to me, if I, these guys are going around the same spot.
and one of them I'm willing to take and one of them I'm not. The only middle round tied in that I'm willing to take is George Kittle. And the reason is because when he booms, he goes nuclear. Bada booms. He bada booms. And he has just the ability to, like you said, he's the anti-Dalton Schultz. He can catch the ball in the middle of the field, break four tackles, carry. somehow 12 men on his back, his own quarterback added to the pile and walk it into the end zone. You now have a stronger arm in Trey Lance. It's a question mark. It's a worry. You could say, look, this could be really bad for Trey Lance. It could be good too. We don't know. And sometimes those unknown situations is where fantasy glory arises from. He's also the younger player in George Kittle over Darren Waller.
And he did not add Devante Adams to his team to soak up target share. So I'm, for me, my tight-in strategy this year is if Mark Andrews gets to the back of the second, now I will add Kittle in the fourth or George Kittle in the fifth, that's it. At end of my list, all the guys we're about to talk about from here until we get to the fun ones at the end of the draft, I'm going super late round or those three guys at value. Darren Waller, Mike, give a quick summation of your thoughts on The Waller's. I am the Walsh and the Googoochum. Is Devante Adams is very scary for Darren Waller. When we saw him be elite, you know, the breakout campaign was a 24% target share that skyrocketed at 28. And then in games played last year, it was down at 23%. Now, I know he was, you know, it was a weird year for him.
because he was banged up. But even in the games where he was playing, we all, aside from, you know, week one, when it was holy freaking crap, 19 targets for Darren Waller, he's going to do it again. And then it was just kind of, even with those targets, it just wasn't turning into production. Only four double digit games in 11 played. Yeah, it was, it was very, last year's production was very scary. considering, you know, the age of the breakout for Darren Waller, can he really keep it going? Has the NFL figured something out here of how they can possibly stop him after multiple years of film? So he's, but Jason, that he's a very scary player. And I, even though, even with the projections of I have him, you know, high, I think I would prefer the draft cost and going in on George Kittle.
Seven is T.J. Hopkinson. Eight is Zach Erds. Nine, Dallas Goddert. Ten, Cole Comet. So... Did you guys catch hard knocks last night? I haven't watched it yet. Oh, I forgot. Yeah, I heard it was Swift-centric. Yeah, it was. Which I'm excited about. The stuff on Swift was very interesting. But the... And I know these are very anecdotal things, but... Amun Ross St. Brown. They were, they're talking to him. And, you know, incredible rookie year breaks the Lions records for receptions and yardage. And there's, it's a sit down interview. And he's talking about, he's like, oh, I know all 16 wide receivers who were drafted in front of me. I know their names. I know where they went to college. And he just started, then he just starts rattling them all off. And you can see in his face. Like, the determination. This man is not like happy about what happened last year. He wants to bury.
those other wide receivers. And he, like, unironically, it's like, Jamar Chase, LSU, LSU, Jalen Waddle, Alabama. And he's like, the way he's just talking about these guys is he is 1,000% sure he is better than they are. It was just, it was interesting to see that fire in that sit down. Steve Buscemi from, yeah, it was just Armageddon. Yeah, I'm sure other people have a similar takeaway when you see it. Oh, holy crap. This guy. This guy is still furious. I don't think you've been Armageddon. No, that's a different. He went crazy in Armageddon. That's why. What was that? Billy Madison. Yeah, thank you. With the lipstick list. Yeah. I bring that up because of Hawkinson. I have been a T.J. Hawkinson supporter in the past. He's, he, you know, who still looks like a lion. Yeah. Oh, for sure. He is well cast in the Detroit team. Um.
The problem is with T.J. Hawkinson, it's similar to Dalton Schultz and that he's been a volume guy, except he has less touchdown opportunity. Now you have Ammoneross St. Brown. Now you have DJ Chark, eventually Jamison Williams. T.J. Hawkinson isn't going to be Mr. Necessary at tight end. He costs a six-round pick. I'm out. Zach Ertz, after Hawkinson, opportunity for Ertz is really in the first six weeks when you will not have the Hopkins target share. I'm just not that excited anymore. He costs you an eight, which is where it starts to be okay. But if he drops in a draft, when you're an eighth round pick, it's very easy to drop to the 10th. It's really when you get these guys after their ADP that you can get value. He should soak up targets in the beginning of the year. Yes. You saw that when Hopkins was gone last year. Obviously, now they add Hollywood Brown. He's, again, a guy that doesn't have the athleticism anymore to break tackles. You're just going to get what you get.
So when it comes to tight in, it's just a matter of what are you giving up to draft this player? Zacherts is fine to begin the season, but I would rather give up a 10th rounder. And Colcomet is like the standard to me. Colquette's in the 10th round. Sure. I would rather grab Colquette in the 10th than most all these guys were cost me. He's in the 11th. Even better in the 11th. I'd still take him in 10th. Well, right, because a 10th rounder, you know. Yeah, what's the difference? Yeah, the eighth, ninth, seventh round players there, I would rather grab one of those wide receivers or running backs and grab Cole Commet in the 10th or 11th, then be like, oh, instead of Cole Commit, I really need Zach Ertz or T.J. Hawkinson. Just these guys aren't good enough. Yeah, Andrews, Kelsey Schultz, Pitts, Waller, Kittle, Hawkinson, Ertz, Goddert, and Commet.
What tight-in ranked outside the top 10 has the best chance to be a difference maker in your mind? I will go with Dawson Knox. That's fair. I think you're attached to the best quarterback in football for fantasy purposes. You had a nice season last year. And a lot of the reasons why, you know, we talk about Cole Beasley leaving, right? And one of the reasons why Jason likes James Cook and his opportunity out of the backfield. Look, there are targets to go around. Like Gabe Davis is probably, he's not the Cole Beasley role. He's going to be a field stretcher, a touchdown guy. There are opportunities. I think Dawson Knox is pretty safe. And then you get those games that will boom. Outside of him, what other names do you, are you interested in?
I was interested in Irv Smith, and I think on the season, you take a look at him, but right now he's got the broken thumb and we're hopeful he's back for week one. So I'm not really drafting him in redraft leagues right now. There is an opportunity there for him to be the number three in targets on this team for a better offense. I would throw out Hunter Henry. Hunter Henry is a guy who has been fantasy relevant many seasons in his career. If Mack Jones takes a step forward, He's obviously looked to in the red zone where when you're looking at these later round tight ends, usually their season goes as well as the amount of touchdowns they receive. And Hunter Henry has a knack for that. So he would be one of those late, late round guys that I like. The two I want to highlight, I'll start here. Hold your grimaces, ladies and gentlemen, but it is Evan Engram who got essentially a $10 million one-year deal from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Doug Peterson, at least historically, multiple years of Doug Peterson being in the offensive mind of the Philadelphia Eagles, his tight ends see a massive target share. And the depth chart, I know that Christian Kirk got a huge amount of money, but is Zay Jones really an answer? That's to be determined. Marvin Jones, we all love Marvin Jones, but that guy has passed his prime. Absolutely. This is more of also a PPR thing, but I think Evan Engram could be very, very surprising as a 70 plus 80 plus reception player. And then I think a guy that we more agree on would be David and Joku from the Cleveland Browns. He fits a lot of the checkboxes that you want from your late round tight end. It's just a athleticism that's off the chart. If we knew that Watson were...
playing the entire year, Watson would be drafted very highly. And Joku looks like he could become the number one target for that team. I know they have Cooper, but there's a chance that Injoku is actually the main guy for that team. I'm in on that, not the Ingram one. There are so many tight ends that are completely undrafted that could break out this year. Could the Mewth get Luth again? Oh, the Muth could get Luth. He's going into year tooth. his talent from year one looked great so pat friarmouth you want to take a shot on him leveling up because rookie tight ends aren't good and he was good as a rookie so i got no problem with that you can you can either shoot your shot on huge upside which i think i would put pat friar muth in that category i don't like his uh you know offense around him in the touchdown upside
But he has upside in himself. Gerald Ever has the touchdown upside of Big Erb throwing on the ball. If you want to go more the safe route, you're like, I'm grabbing a late round tight end. Maybe Cole commit got grabbed in the 10th. Wait for your last pick and take Austin Hooper. Austin Hooper profiles to possibly be the number two target in this offense. At worst, the number three has probably a better quarterback at throwing touchdowns than Justin Fields anyways. You know, he's undrafted. So you don't need to worry and tilt about, oh, no, what tight-in am I going to get? I do have a groin index.com update. McColl Hardman's injury was a groin injury. Oh, my groin. Also, Derek McKinnon mispractice with a hamstring injury. So there you go. That's it. That's it for the tight end episode. If you want to see all of the rankings in order, the other names we mentioned Knox and Friamuth and Henry.
You can check that out in the ultimate draft kit. You can check out the regular rankings on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. News break in every minute. That's why we do a show every single day. My guys tomorrow. My guys episode tomorrow. People are asking, when's it coming? Well, it's tomorrow. So don't miss it. Make sure you follow, subscribe to the show, and we'll catch you then. Goodbye. 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 theFF ballers.