Fantasy Football - Rookie Review + Worrisome Wideouts - Podcast for 2/17

You come out of the by week, and I know we said that coaching change happened, but also the by week and getting into the speed of the league. You realize from the by week on, he threw two, four, six, eight, ten touchdowns and one pick. I didn't realize the interception. He threw one interception from week 10 on. If the entire season on a team that was constantly losing ball games and had to throw the football, I think that that is what you, we all said, well, he looks better. I think that was a big part of the equation was like you're now running the offense. They were coming back in some of these games. So, I mean, I didn't know that either. I didn't know the touchdown interception ratio was that good in the second half of the year. I don't think people should be out on Cam Ward. He needs to have some time to develop, have competent coaches around him. It's just the, he's more of a pocket passer.

You know what those, after the by week, he had right out the gate two games with 30 plus rushing yards. Okay. That's like, we would definitely take that. That's really solid. But then the remaining, what, six games? He surpassed 10 rushing, or he hit and surpassed 10 rushing yards twice. Like, so it's just, it doesn't, it won't be there for fantasy because he'll be a pocket passer. What pick do they have? Four or five? Yeah. Around there. I mean, they're probably the top, at least one of the highly, highly mocked teams to go, Jordan Tyson, Mackay Lemon, Carnell Tate. Like, if they get one of those guys, that'll be exciting. They need to give him one of those guys. As the archetype of the pocket passer, he'll have, he'll just, he'll fluctuate. Oh, for sure. So the, you know, dart and shuck, because they're running more, it's just better for our game. All right, let's look at the running back position.

Over the last decade, on average, we have had three rookies finish as top 24 running backs, either looking at points per game or total points. So rookie running backs, at least three on average. So you look at this year, and this is perfect timing because we just on the Thursday show last week talked about how there were five rookie running backs that finished in the top 24 in fantasy points per game. And that's, I mean, we've only seen that in 2020. But only points per game because they didn't play all their games, basically. This is a weird season. Trayvion, Hampton, Harvey, Judkins. But we also talked about how they were the literal five lowest efficiency running backs as well. So from a yards per carry standpoint, I thought that that was kind of interesting. But we got five. We got five of those names, but I don't necessarily think that any of them felt like that Bucky Irving level.

team addition because of the injuries, because of the inconsistency of when you knew you were going to get it from them. I think Trayvion had his nice window for sure and Gentie did too at the end of the season. Judkins seemed really impressive. Yeah, I think all these rookies showed enough in their rookie season in bursts and stretches for extreme excitement for most all of them going forward. TBD on the Judkins injury recovery process outside of that. then it's really... Harvey's at the bottom of my list of those five. Is he at the bottom of the list for you guys? Probably at the bottom of the list. I fully expect J.K. Dobbins to resign and be back with the Broncos, and that'll be a full-time share. You're hoping that there is a year to leap in workload and trust for, you know, now a somewhat of a veteran running back. Hampton, they shouldn't have Najee there.

anymore i think hampton is very very exciting going forward he showed enough and will be the guy from day one it's um it'll be interesting that you want to see the efficiency get better for all of them but uh here's the numbers behind the numbers here among the running backs who were top 24 in year one so there's five of those guys this year 79 percent 79 percent of them were top 12 the next year. Yes, it is a incredibly good bet to make. But it's like so the examples, you know, McCaffrey, Camara, Jamir Gibbs, pass catchers. Like you have, you have to be a pass catcher to get into the top 12 unless you're Derek Henry and you're getting, you know, 12 plus touchdowns. Sort of feels like Judkins is the only one not in that category of these five. Which is not fair to Judkins. Like Jenkins had, Judkins can catch.

You know, like in college, he caught at least my memory. Can he like Ken Walker catch? I mean, it's just, can you, can you be reliable in that part of the game? And it's like, Judkins, you know, his last two years in college, 22 receptions in both of them. It feels like he's the one. It's part of his profile. There's using him wrong. Yeah, and it's also what else do you have around? Like, Trayvion is going to be. Yeah, I know, the Cleveland Browns exactly. What else do they have around them? Dylan Samson was a very capable pass catcher for them. Sure. I'm just saying like Harvey's the pass catcher. Trayvion's the pass catcher. No, Trayvon should be the pass catcher. Unfortunately, Romandre caught a ton of passes. That's true. Yeah, that's true. But that's a really good. Trayvon is the most interesting to me.

because what he showed is that when he was all alone, he was a dominant force that made the offense better. Right. Genti was already alone. And then when Ramandre came back, they still said, Ramandre's our starter. Remandre, and then you go into the playoffs and you had team, you had games where, yeah. Him and Harvey feel the same, Mish, except for more explosive for Trayvion. I agree. I mean. Yeah, what's the ADP? Like, I see, Genties at 11. Hampton's at 15 or 16. Where are the other names? Like you're going to have Scataboo coming back who we don't get to talk about, but really Scataboo is being drafted in front of Hendo Harvey and Judkins. And that's the order, Hindo Harvey Judkins? Yeah, yes. I think we do. That's a tough one. We will need health information on Scataboo and Judkins before we know where we should be drafting them. I mean, if I knew Cam Scataboo was fully healthy, he'd be right up there with Hampton to me.

There were big time flops in that same category, only 33% of them. But in year two, losing about 2.6 fantasy points per game, Damien Pierce, Giovante Williams, Bucky Irving, Clyde Edwards Allaire, who was a top 25 back as a rookie. By the way, that was the other five running back year. You ready for the names? So 2020. John the Taylor? Yes. Yeah, you're still good. James Robinson. Oh, yeah. Antonio. Draft Capital Matters. Gibson. Yep. DeAndre Swift hanging around and then CEH. Whoops. So let's take a break and we'll talk wide outs and tight ends. Today's show is brought to you by your friends over at prize picks. Shoot your shot on prize picks and get $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. That's right. Prize Picks is now giving you $50 in lineups when you sign up and play your first $5.

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In a later. Why'd you raise your hand then? Well, no, I'm just, I'm excited to say something at the end of the show. Call on me in about, hold on. Stop to show. Three to five minutes. Yeah, I need to say something in about. Well, I can, I can essentially lay this out since we're between running back and wide receivers. I think it is worth looking at the overarching view of how the draft class was expected to play out. versus how it did play out and how that compares from 2025 to this incoming class of 2026 because they are inverse. Last year was a running back heavy draft class where everyone was like, man, it's so deep. There are so many great running backs. There's super high in talent. And then the next tier are guys that can be real difference makers. Wide receivers, there's like a guy or two we like and then it's pretty weak.

And that totally played out. It was just true. And we'll talk about that in a second when we look at what usually happens with wide receivers versus what actually happened with wide receivers. But this year, the expectation going in is the exact opposite. It's a very deep wide receiver draft class. There isn't a definite Malik neighbors. Jamar Chase. You don't feel that way? I love Tyson. I think he is. Is he your, he's my number one? He is currently right now. Yeah. Right now. I didn't know he was your one. Yeah. I love it. But the wide receivers, there's a lot. There could be five or six wide receivers drafted in the first round this year. That's great. Running backs. Yeah, you've got love who you'll, if, if you don't know the, the rookies yet, you know, you'll know him. And then.

there's a guy or two you can like. And then it's pretty weak, man. So I expect this year to play out opposite of last year. I think you want to invest in rookie wide receivers and probably avoid the middle tier rookie running backs. Probably, yeah, definitely a good thing to mention as we get towards this next crop of, you know, you're in the dynasty past. You're looking at where we have our pre-draft rookie rankings. You know, it changes. Ebs and flows year to year. And a lot of, you know, We were talking about this with the NIL and with the collegiate level. A lot of players are going back. You know, we had some quarterbacks. We thought we were coming out. They're not going to come out. You might have a one or two year delay until you start getting maybe even better draft classes than ever before because you've stayed in college for a couple more years. It's just you got to catch up to that if guys are going back and taking the NIL money, right? Yeah. It is worth noting. I mean, we don't know how many guys are going to go back to college in 2028. But right now, I know it's early, but, you know, for the dynasty players out there, 2027 draft class looks.

Really good. All right, wide receivers. Since 2019, we've had at least four rookie wide receivers finish inside the top 36 every single year. Last year, it was BTJ and Neighbors and McConkey and Marv and Xavier Worthy. In 2025, we had two. Exactly. And one of them sucked. And they weren't big fantasy. Like one was the rookie of the year. Tedderall McMillan and his fantasy finish was 17. And the other was a Mecca Abuka, and he finished at 20. And then Luther Burden is sitting there, and he didn't contribute over a long enough period of time to matter. He was hurt at the beginning. And it's exciting. But yeah, it was definitely, I mean, Brian Thomas was the number four wide receiver last year. Malik Neighbors was seven. Mokonki was 12. We had three top 12. This year we had two top 20, and they were barely in there. This was the fewest receiving yards of any wide receiver rookie class since 2018.

So, to your point. What we thought was going to happen happened. And I know that there was more excitement when the Packers stupidly took Matthew Golden in the first round because it's like, oh, good, another first round wide receiver. But the expectation. Did he end up not doing much? He didn't do first round caliber. I think he did exactly what most people thought he would do, but not the Packers. You mean scoring the playoffs? Yeah, for the first time. That was too funny. Yeah, I mean, fewest wide receiver yards of any classes 2018. So, you know, Travis Hunter, it seemed like there was an emergence about to happen. There was like one game, right? Yeah. It was that big game. And now, London. And now all of a sudden, because the emergence of the other wide receivers, Parker Washington looking good. Yeah, he had the 14 targets, eight catches, 101, and a touchdown. And then it's like,

Went into the buy, we got hurt over the buy. Yeah, and but now it's, there's talk about maybe they focus him more on cornerback since they kind of don't need him at wide receiver. Which, yeah, yeah, that could delete. Yeah, you just delete a player. And Jaden Higgins, you know, he had his moments, but he's mixed in with Jalen Knoll and some of it was injury to Nico Collins. Hated. Like, Jaden Higgins was a name I thought about talking about for our opening segment, but it's like, he doesn't have the. Not important enough. He doesn't carry the weight with the name. The fact that as games got more important, the rookies played less for the Houston Texans was very concerning. That is the complete opposite of what should happen if a team is confident that this. Can I make a counter? Can I make a counter argument to that? Yes. In 15 minutes. Yeah. Talk to me later. I'm preparing it right now. What Higgins did when he was on the field.

was very good. He wasn't on the field as much. And I think that that is more coaching rather than him not stepping up and just taking it over. Right. But the question is. But going into next year, he's not a rookie anymore. And I think the coaches are going to say, okay, now is the time to trust and blah, blah, blah. I guess my only counter counterpoint would be that I didn't. You're making it now? I saw a solid receiver play from Higgins, but not. Not the stuff I saw from Tett or Abuka at his peak. Oh, certainly. So he just seemed like, is this guy going to be kind of locked into like wide receivers, two, three territory? Receivers should get stronger as the season goes. You should not see less playing time. That's a red flag. Maybe it goes away because Higgins was an interesting prospect of what a second round pick. I'm okay with the player, but hate.

the ending. I think you're more likely to see one of these names emerge than Jaden Higgins as a fantasy value in the next three years, which is, I'm going to give you some names. You pick your favorite. Just give me your favorite. They're all Mike's favorite. They actually might all be his favorite. Kyle Williams, Isaac to Slaw, Pat Bryant, Jalen K, Jim Ray D.K., do not forget, for goodness sakes about Torrey Horton. Sure. Because Cooper Cup's time, it's ending in Torrey Horton. was flashing five touchdowns and then forgotten about because he had a Super Bowl champ he had 13 receptions and five and then Tess Johnson kind of opportunistically but is there a name in there that you think like if you had to bet on one of those guys being you know a wide receiver two perennially is there a name the the one I would expect to be the most productive next year is Pat Bryant but it's a because of the the opportunity like

The way I saw it anyways playing out was that Pat Bryant was kind of solidifying himself as the as the number two guy behind Cortland Sutton. But then he just got hurt like every single game. You know, Williams, it's tough. He had 10 catches. He had three touchdowns. He showed the big playability. I don't know what Vrabel's plan will be for Kyle Williams. Well, he just continued to be that type of a... a field stretching gadget player, and then Tesla is, oh gosh, if we ever got to unleash Tesla, it would be incredibly fun, but Amon Ross St. Brown and Jameson Williams in front of you. And Sam Leporta. It's like you, he needs the runway to clear before he even gets a chance. Better make your big plays. Yes. Horton is the one that I think is going to be, it's pretty interesting to me and maybe more forgotten about. Yeah, and I would throw Chimre D.K. out there as.

Interesting because he probably did the most this year of all of these wide receivers that you just named. And then if you look at how good he was on special teams, it just showed when he was on the NFL field against NFL defenders. Yeah, he belongs. He is good. He is electric. And so if he gets more involved as a wide receiver, obviously the new coaching staff and all that, he showed enough to break out. And then I will not stand for, despite him playing every game and doing nothing for the entire season. I still love Troy Harris. Oh, dude, I'm in. I'm in on Trey Harris is a perfect sleeper candidate. You're going to have Mike, Mick, Dan, Yoll. Nice. First try. I thought we were going to Mickey D's. Oh, you don't want to put the D's on there. But it's how it's what you do? It's like a wholesome. You know, anyways. Well, yeah, Trey Harris is definitely interesting. At the tight end position looking at the rookie review.

And we're getting a photo of the old school Michael McDonald. Okay. Oh, forget. Oh, my. I'm not in love anymore. Oh, we should just play that. And Michael McDonald rips. Yacht rock. Dude, he rips, man. Yacht rock. Yeah, even if that's that what that's called. It makes so much sense. Um. Apparently Brooks was hoping you'd do an impression of Michael McDonald. It's rock for. Rockford uppity rich people. We were definitely jamming on that in the office at one point. I remember that. I mean, it's regulators, dude. That's how much it rips. Warren G was like, dude, Michael McDonald rips. Let's go. Oh, my goodness. All right, tight in position as we close out our rookie review. Thank you. I was hoping.

2025 gave us the most targets, receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns by rookie tight ends ever. Makes sense. Targets, receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, Loveland, Fanon, Warren, let's go. Yeah, and I believe it's bright futures for all three of them. And then there are still behind those three excellent wide receivers. There are still guys that could, I mean, I don't think Terrence Ferguson is, is done. They use. Miaoson Taylor. Oh, I thought you were saying Ferguson is sorry. No, no, no. Oh, I was just saying another rookie. But my favorite of the of all the tight ends behind is Aranda Gadsden, who looked outstanding in, in stretches this season. What a great tight end draft class. This year, not a very deep tight end. Not very deep, but you could still have, I mean, Sadiq is going to go very, very high. Sadiq will be interesting. And then some people are more, I mean,

More in on, what, Stowers? Yeah, there's some. Claire? Yeah, there's some names. And if you want to hear more about the rookie tight end class, we kind of previewed the guys at the top on this week, or last week's Dynasty Pod. And I dropped, I already got it. It's not going to surprise you, Andy. There's already a tight end who I really, really like. Oh my gosh. Benson, it's brothers in this class. Yeah, Mike has a tight. Yes, I do. He wants a big tight end that just mows people down. Punish. Punish people. We're like, what crime am I guilty of? I am bigger than you. That is the crime and you will be punished. And that's why he did not like Miaoson Taylor. Correct. Still waiting to break a tackle? Is that what we're? Oh, we are still waiting.

Although, can we get rid of the old refrain that rookie tight ends take a while to develop? Considering the last four years, three years, they didn't need to develop anymore? I think that the only thing that you still hold on to is you don't assume that when a rookie tight end doesn't have a breakout season, that it can't still happen. I hear what you're saying. That's a Gadsden. No, no, no. No, the new started for Washington. year three oh yeah break out i'm not going to doubt mike until this year is definitively over with something horrible happening yes to one of his predictions unleashed the senator oh we got to get this show over so we can just blast some michael mcdonald that's that is correct um but yeah lovelin warren you talked about some of the other names i think ferguson's interesting yes um so you two as is gunner helm

Oh, Gunner Helm is sneaky, dude. Literally, everyone, very sneaky. Everyone, Loveland, Warren, Ferguson, Arroyo. Not so much. Okay, not all of them. Maybe. There's two Arroyo and Mason Taylor. I am not very interested in, but everybody else. Because you're a Barner man. Everyone else has a place on a dynasty roster. And I know we've, we've talked about the trifecta several times already this off season, but I just want to confirm for fantasy purposes. um you guys do you both have loveland as the one you would draft first of the yeah of the three yeah and i have i won't have to draft him though you know what i mean yeah he'll already be on my team right because it'd be a keeper yeah but for my future title team right i just want to remind the but i would if our keeper situation is you're not keeping them out of pick you're keeping your best three players so he will be one of your keepers yeah okay cool

So it's like drafted him in the first three rounds. Would you do that? He's trying to make this bad for, he's trying to make this bad for me. Sir, he's trying to make this bad. Lovelland's not going to the first three rounds. How many picks? How many how many picks do you have in the first three rounds? You can't let go of your hatred of Loveland. No. I don't hate Loveland. Yes, you do. I'm mocking, keeping him. He's not going to go in the top three rounds. Where would he go? Fourth round. I think Lovelin will be a fourth or fifth rounder. Yeah. He won't be in the fifth. Our, our situation is positional.

We force positional diversity as well. So it's not like we just keep our best players. We have some like rule sets in there. But I like you trying to shame my picks. It's what I would do if I didn't have any picks. I would try to make other people's players seem worse. Keep again. Hit it. Hit that button. All right. We're going to say goodbye. Yeah, we're out of here. Mock draft first round next episode. Don't miss it. UltimateDraftKit.com. If you just need more good rookie chat, check it out. 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 theFF ballers.