The 2026 “My Guys” Episode! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/26

To me, this is, you know, Jason's talked a little bit about the context for the offense in Los Angeles. This is a team favorite to win the division. It's got Mike McDaniel. You know, Mike McDaniel himself came out and said, essentially, I think it's reasonable as an expectation to exceed whatever career highs the wide receiver room has had across the board. There's untapped potential. We've seen great things from Ladd-McConkie. But to me, he jumps off the page this year as sort of.

the JSN story that we got from last year. JSN was not, if you remember, he was not drafted anywhere near where he was finished or where he finished. And, like, Ladd had a very disappointing sophomore season. And you look at the numbers, and it's like six fewer targets year to year. What actually happened was the catch rate plummeted because Justin Herbert was under fire all the time. And they had different injuries and struggles throughout this team, including Herbert's.

you know, is Herbert elite? You know, that's a question that we need to answer. But the situation there with the offensive line improvements, you know, Ladd is one of seven wide receivers over the last decade with 200 plus targets, 1900 receiving yards, 13 touchdowns through two seasons. The other names Michael Thomas, Justin Jefferson, Waddle, Chase, good company, and all of those players. Anybody that's ever done that in the history of the league were all top 24 picks the next year.

Well, that's not the, you know, that's a tough situation where you're like, hey, Ladd-McConkie has the potential to do what JSN does. There were doubts about JSN being able to play outside. There's no more Keenan Allen soaking up that league. I mean, he was the team's leading receiver last year is gone. And Ladd-McConkie, I don't think any of us has had doubt about his talent inability. But, you know, last year Keenan Allen cost Ladd, a ton of numbers, a ton of production. This team.

has a lot of potential. And the biggest problem with the charges is just what will go wrong narrative. What's going to happen? I mean, that's the same thing I think about with Hampton. It's like, I traded Hampton. Do I want to? Not really. We loved him coming out of college. But I'm afraid of what's going to go wrong on this team. Ladd McConkey is more than a slot receiver. His horizontal breaking routes, that's the bread and butter. But he can go deep. Last year, best yards per route run on go routes. Puka, Jaden Reed, AJ Brown, Ladd, Ladd McKonkey. He was number four. And the draft cost is a

round discount from last year. Yes, he was overdrafted last year. People expected that rookie season to continue and him to finish as a top 12 guy again. It didn't happen, but now you get a discount. So for me, I think this is one of those ones that seems really obvious. Mike McDaniel, Justin Herbert, a loss of their leading receiver last year. You're not going to have volume production out of Trey Harris. You're not going to have volume production out of Quentin Johnston. You're going to have Ladd McConkey be the key cog in the receiving game. So,

And that's why he's my guy. Ladd McConkey is going to crush this year. He is going to be so good. Keenan Allen was the wide receiver eight a couple years ago. Keenan being gone, Lad being the clear best white. I mean, I like Trey Harris. You know, there's a place for Q's huge down the field.

The ball is moving through Ladd and Hampton on a great offense. I mean, they move Tyreek and Waddle around all the time under Mike McDaniel. They're going to move Ladd around. He's not just going to play in the slot. He's going to be outside. He's going to be moved around and focused on. And he wins. He wins down the field. My concerns early in the off season, again, Andy, it's never been talent. It was, man, how do you have the rookie season that McConkey had? And then you bring in Keenan Allen and you're just like,

feels like you've replaced a second-year player who looks like he was about to be a superstar? Like, that felt really bad. It was weird. It took some time to get over that of, are they going to do the right thing? Of our opinion, would they do the right thing and make sure that Ladd-McConkie is the focal piece of the passing offense? And over the off-season, my concerns have lowered.

Yeah, McDaniel will do that. Yes. It feels it's always funky and funny when you get to like the end result and you're like, I can't believe I had some concerns about it. But last year was like that was so weird. But we're washing that away. Just like they washed away Gero and then they bring in Mike McDaniel. So far, I mean, my read on lad.

rookie year i was all in that was great yeah sophomore year i was out i was out in his draft i am so in and so jealous that the andy got lad he's he's going to he's so good at football um did you guys see the latest breaking news really smart work no it's not that important but it's just really really smart work from michael pinnox he will not play in preseason week three so i can only assume he will be the starter he's going to let to a

Give him the job. Is that like skipping a political debate? Yeah. Yeah. And then if you know that your opponents are going to fail on that stage, let them do work. Skip the debate. Just a quick blurb. Luther Burden returned to practice. That seems good. Good for your, my guy. Yeah. We love it. Yeah, we do need those weapons there. Thursday, mock draft episode Friday, Fantasy Time Machine, Friday night.

We will be live at the Van Buren for our Megalus show. Bold Predictions episode. That means everybody out there listening, watching that isn't going to be there, gets a bonus episode of the show released on Saturday, which is super exciting. You get an extra episode this week. The Ultimate Draft Kit for the weekend, Ultimate DraftKit.com. If you want to play in the Megalobole, that's megalobole.com, and we are saying goodbye. But only till tomorrow, folks. Hopefully you'll share your comments with us. I'm sure you will for all of those my guys.

Whether you're surprised, ashamed, we'll see what happens. 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. Football is officially going down under. Division rivals, Rams, and 49ers will be facing off in Melbourne for the NFL's first ever regular season game.

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