Fantasy Favorites for the 2024 Season! | Fantasy Focus 🏈

Intro [Music] [Music] Welcome to Fantasy Focus! in the1 Focus fantasy fantasy [Music] Focus hello and welcome into fantasy Focus football presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV my name is Daniel do here with field jates and Stefan Bell guys it's Friday and the next time we get to Friday a football game will have happened oh with another one that night too that's right more to come on Sunday and then the best of all coming on it's like right on our doorstep guys how pumped are you for this I can't wait by the way I'm writing this down we're doing pck skin pick amongst the people in this in this show and there's going to be repercussions like we can decide whether we want to reward the winner or just punish the loser but we need to do picks can pick him we've gotten away from that couple of seasons and I will not stand for it anymore no I I'm with you bring it back bring it back I found a uh an ice bath at Ocean State jobot that I took a picture of just so that when when Mike Clay comes in last place that's what it's going to be his worst fair I would love an ice P that would be great for you right now yeah I know it's his worst fair so really we have to find a way to have we got to do something to do the ice back we're also in the old studio today and I think you took I took for granted just how small it is now I'm like I'm I'm like am I spitting on you guys when I speak that or our news studio is just gigantic it is pretty big doing some work on it today so if you're wondering why we have not been demoted at least not to my knowledge they told us they working of opinion all right we got a very big show today lined up we're talking about our fantasy favorites at every single position quarterback running back wide receiver tight end and kicker and defense you guys probably your favorite kickers and defenses right I know Stefan you brought her favorite kicker I'm I'm on the ready to go with that one I have a favorite defense but it's specific to week one because I'm telling you so many good teams play each other early in the season that drafting one of those premium defenses might not be your best friend might not be all right well well if we get if we have time we will talk about that a little bit more right love that all right let's get things kicked off with the opening What Aiyuk's extension mean for fantasy managers? drive the wait is over Stefan you can Rejoice Brandon auk has signed a contract for the record if you would like to go back in my Twitter feed or X feed whatever you'd like to call it go find the one where I said a long time ago before it was cool to say it that somehow you know call me crazy but I think this is all going to work out at the end of the day Brandon iuk will be with the 49ers we're not done you guys are going to talk about all the news I'm going to sit here and tell you that I still want Trent Williams in the building oh we all still want Trent Williams in the building this was uh and and field you've talked about this knowing the deals of the contract but just as a fan of the team you just felt like this was something that both sides really wanted to get done it just when wide receivers started to get paid it made it more difficult for that initial offer with the Niners and Brandon iuk it just didn't look as appealing so it was one of those where I want to go out and shop around I want to window shop and then maybe maybe it wasn't as pretty you know on the outside as what we had in the building and they sweetened the deal four years 120 million bucks uh congratulations he is you know generationally wealthy now and specific to Grand the nuk's fantasy value to 2024 and we can have a conversation about 2025 and Beyond because I think one of the undercurrents of this and this is a we'll let tomorrow's problems happen take be taken care of tomorrow is that like they're going to have to figure out some finances next year but for 2024 Brandon auk is in the best spot for his fantasy value amongst the realistic locations right this is the best case scenario and let's talk about this if you've already drafted great if you drafted Brandon iuk you probably got him in a bit of a discount because people were scared of the uncertainty surrounding his situation uh he has been hovering right around my wide receiver 20 throughout the off season and up to this point that hasn't moved much for Brandon I maybe a spot here or there as the uncertainty continued to grow now not only do you have certainty he will be back but it's in the best spot this is better for him than being in Cleveland Pittsburgh or New England if you drafted Brandon iuk in a draft prior to yesterday you ended up getting a value congratulations to you his ADP at 4 3.8 where do you think that moves after all the drafts that are leading into the final week I could see it creeping into the back end of the 30s yeah same I could see that as well I I moved him up in my rankings because I did have him a little bit lower in case I mean when you were doing this I wanted to be a little more risk averse and there were so many good wide receivers this year that it made sense if a lot of people were like you know what I it's this is not about Brandon auk's Talent it's about just the uncertainty of where he lands because like you said if he went to any of those other three places it would not have been near the value I feel like or the ceiling on his potential fantasy London in Pittsburgh by Arthur Smith oh it would have been it would have been tough so very thrilled to have Brandon auk back I just moved him back inside my top 20 as well I do feel compelled to say he hasn't practiced so you know we talk about these players who have not been in Camp practicing and the risk of injury does go up somewhat because they haven't been acclimated to football so uh fingers crossed double crossed if you're like me or 49ers fan you don't want to see anything happen but the the injury risk bumps up a tiny bit F let me ask you this question real quick I've got Brandon auk just ahead of Debo Samuel do you have auk ahead of Debo or are they back toback where they at I do but it's really close I mean I know that Brandon auk feels like he has more stock right now than Debo Samuel but it was just two years ago that we were discussing dbo Samuel as perhaps the most unique offensive player in the entire league D Debo certainly feels primed for a big season this year don't forget Debo a contract year this year exactly lot of motivation for Debo to ball out and get a contract that maybe mirrors or even exceeds Brandon iuk yeah both of these both both of these wide receivers should do very well this year very excited the Brandon iuga is under contract all right when we come back we are talking about our favorite quarterbacks in fantasy for 20124 we'll see you in a Favorite QBs minute back here on fantasy Focus Daniel do field Jason Stefan Bell guys we're talking about our favorite favorite fantasy players from each position we're going to start at the quarterback spot there's a bunch of guys Stef I'm going to start with you we'll work our way down and then we'll go backwards all right so we'll kind of do a snake draft while we do these if that's all right with you we're going to teach our friend Brian wior for those that listen to the he doesn't quite understand the snake draft concept so Wendy this is for you right now snake all right all right Stefania this is favorite quarterback doesn't necessarily mean like we could all just pick Josh Allen like he might be our favorite quarterback in fantasy but you're talking about value you're talking about where you can get someone in the draft who's your favorite quarterback this year in fantas secret big surprise I'm going to go with Anthony Richardson and I've been talking about it throughout the preseason and probably dropped the note that I spent a little time with him where he trains in the offseason in Jacksonville but I wanted to see for myself how he looked coming off of this AC joint surgery which is not that common in quarterbacks and even when they do have it sometimes there are difficulties in terms of the rehab which you know field can appreciate shoulder injuries and Rehab so I wanted to see how he was throwing the ball let me tell you the ball was not only coming out of his hands beautifully but it was the follow through you know a lot of times they're stiff they don't come across their body so the ability to place the ball everywhere that he needed to place it when I was watching him was fantastic zip on the ball not a problem this guy throws so hard that he in fact has to sometimes scale it back a little bit but then you look at just the athlete that he is and when you're standing next to him you are reminded what an athlete he is and what an athlete you are not so this is a guy who is going to run the football throw the football and really presents that dual threat we've talked about so much the running quarterback provides you with so much extra in terms of Fantasy Point opportunity and with a healthy Jonathan Taylor and a threat in Anthony Richardson I I just I just love what he's going to be able to do and he's got great receiving weapons as well the only thing I want to reiterate because I can already see the discourse taking place is that for our purposes if Anthony Richardson plays great real life football he will be excellent in fantasy he can also play pretty average real life football and be excellent in fantasy if you come back at me and you're like well that pick 63 I don't care I as long as he gets 20 fantasy points in the game he can have five turnovers I just don't care so I just want to make that very clear because while I think it's fair to wonder exactly what kind of real life quarterback Anthony Richardson is going to be in the NFL given the inexperience I mean he was an inexperienced player coming into last season and then played 12 quarters the jury is still out but for Fantasy purposes he has really every tool in the in the box that you need to be the next great fantasy football Court yeah two-year point field yes uh yesterday last year I was I was a little frustrated at times that Josh Allen led the league in turnovers but still in leading the league in turnovers guess what he was like a top three quarterback he was the number one quarter he was the highest scoring player in all of fantasy football so this is one of those things even if you have that situation like you're still in a spot with Anthony Richardson given a skill set given the fact that he's got that goal line usage and the ability to run uh I think I think I'm with you Stefano the only question is have we yeah I was going to say have we talked about him so much is the so much that you're going to have to take him ahead of some of the other guys that you've already seen it happen on the field probably because if people listen to us they might be drafting him a little bit higher I think initially when we started our mock draft project I I think you could get him in the sixth round May and then it started pushing up to even at one point late third and I know our colleague Mike Clay was very upset that uh he was going ahead of Lamar Jackson he thought that was nonsense but I I think there's real possibility to Anthony Richardson could end up in the top three I don't think that would be a surprise to any of us if that happens so uh you're still getting him at I think a reasonable rate he's still in most drafts going behind Josh Allen behind Jaylen Herz and then sort of If he if he goes three four five or six with CJ strad back there somewhere in there yeah that makes a lot of sense all right field jates you've got a quarterback as well that is your favorite this year yeah it's Dak Prescott Anthony Richardson obviously you know would I would have been one of my picks as well my stance there is well documented Dak you've heard my stance as well many times already so far this season this preseason I should say but Dak you know money in the bank for Fantasy Football purposes Dak Prescott one of the most prolific passing quarterbacks in the NFL with enough rushing upside we got great news this week that CD Lamb's contract was done as well so you have no concerns about Dak not having his number one passing game option and the reality is that he had that same cast of weapons last year for the most part and what happened he dominated he was quarterback three so if you're sitting there and you're saying to yourself like you know Dak doesn't have the same wide outs as insert other quarterback X it's like it do matter he does need them right so Dak has been so good the ceiling is very high um he has he has been more prone to slower stretches than some of the other quarterbacks that are being ranked that are being drafted ahead of him and that's the reason why Dak is now going at least as of right now in the seventh round but a great value and he just kind of is to me sort of like the metaphor for all the second tier quarterbacks that are excellent excellent value values if you are not looking to spend big at quarterback with kind of that core five or six that I would categorize as Jaylen Herz Josh Allen the mar Jackson Patrick Mahomes and then it's Anthony Richardson CJ strad kind of like five six sort of depending on how you want to draw the line there I'm I'm with you on that our buddy Matt Bowen loved being able to grab Dak Prescott in our mock draft exercise and he was one of the guys that he always had he to this strategy you can wait at the quarterback position and grab somebody like this because of how good he was last year Stefania when you look at this Cowboys team like field said they're returning basically everybody from a weapon standpoint I mean there's no reason to not think the deck can't repeat what he did last year in spite of the fact he's coming off the board much later than a lot of these guys I think most notably for me is there's an evolution of the person Dak Prescott the athlete because this everybody's been talking about contracts in Dallas and Dak is part of that conversation and he came out with a quote the other day that said basically he's not listening to anything that Jerry Jones is saying to the media like it's now like it's water rolling off his back that shows me a confidence in the player and a comfort in his own skin as who he is as a player that's what you want going into the season you want that confidence that nothing is going to bother him nothing's going to disrupt him and I I think he he carries that and that leads that team yeah I am going to say something that I might regret in nine days sure we're recording we recording I think the Dak deal gets done I say this I think you can put aside a lot of factors and I think Dak wants to be the Dallas Cowboys quarterback I think that Dak um understands that he has we're talking about unprecedented leverage Monumental leverage he plays this season yes he would be the best quarterback on the free agent Market by a million times next year the Cowboys have very very serious concerns about being able to extend him beond this season because of various things they have to deal with Micah Parson's extension the dead money involved for Dak there's a lot of reasons to believe that Dak um is going to win this negotiation in the court of public opinion and it could probably benefit him to stringing things out I just this is like I Haven talk to Adam shefer on this or anything like s my my my sick sense is like maybe Dak just says you know what the grass ain't always greener like meaning being the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys means a ton to me this is a guy who stands for all the right things recently be he's got a family he dropped his roots in Dallas even further like I don't know spider sense I like it I like it that because all that bodess well for you know performance and that bodess well for right ex exactly yeah exactly all right my quarterback my favorite quarterback this year it hurts to be able to say this but it's Jordan love no this is really Noble by you to say I got to be honest as a lions fan it's going to be tough here but Jordan love looked fantastic last season right now ADP is 81.6 coming off in the ninth round ninth quarterback off the board but last year in his first year as a starter fifth in fantasy points second in passing touchdowns fifth in pass attempts he was top five in area yards per Target which helps when you have a guy named Christian Watson to help stretch the field out like that he also had 247 rushing yards and four touchdowns he has all of his young pass catchers coming back do you know how old his oldest wide receiver is f8 like yeah basically yes uh Davian Wix is 23 Jaden Reed is 24 Romeo dobs is 24 Christian Watson is 25 and Boon is 25 loves this team he loves the and of course they cut Aaron Jones who again Mike thinks literally needs to be sent out to pass true right so but I think what that tell you they're all growing together and we saw that develop in the chemistry across the wide receiver core to the point where there's some debate about remember Christian Watson was by far the leader in the room and then had those hamstring injuries which he has worked on in the off season but it's given the others a chance to rise to the point where you're like any of them could strike any weekend and that makes Jordan love that much more valuable whenever people ask me which Packers wide receiver should I be drafting this year how soon my answer is just draft your because exactly what it means is that he's got just this ridiculous amount of weapons and on top of the four receivers they've got two tight ends who they think are going to be studs and Tucker craft and Luke musgrav so uh I not that I have either of those guys inside my top 10 tight ends it's more to illustrate that like all of the talent surrounding Jordan love suggest that a monster season that might be charged more by throwing the football as opposed to you know adding value with his legs which he has some but we're not talking about Jackson here right um that he the real answer to which Packers receiver could I should I be drafting is maybe just draft Jordan love instead that's I'm totally throw dart on one of the four of them because there is value there I mean especially at I know people are sick of saying this I've got a tattooed to my back now at cost right that's right at Cost that's the whole thing grabbing this guy in the ninth round as the ninth quarterback I think is such unbelievable value and it's just another reason like you said with Dak Prescott why you can wait at the quarterback position snake draft would say snake dra I'm going to start it up and listen if I love Jordan love you already led me to it field this because I also enjoy some of those pass Favorite WRs catchers Jaden Reed is my guy at the wide receiver spot it hurts really bad actually picking two Green Bay Packers one was hard two is even tougher test you right now but I do love I do love Jaden Reed you look at everything he did seven of his final eight games he had at least 15 fantasy points he was wide receiver 10 over that stretch averaging 17.4 fantasy points per game even when Christian Watson was healthy in their nine games together Jaden Reed 101.8 fantasy points Christian Watson 101.3 a lot of this oh by the way he was also third amongst running back in wide receivers in rushing yards I mean he is a find the football type of player he was like a Debo like a not not full Debo like a little mini Debo I thought there was like a little bit of like uh I've used this analogy before and don't think of this player in terms of how we view him at this moment but remember Curtis Samuel's final season in Carolina he was a monster in the second half of the Season he was incredible for Fantasy he ends up in Washington and it was up and down and we'll see in Buffalo but that was what I saw in Jaden Reed at the end of last season and that's part of what I I actually have that written down here like one of the things we look for is rookies who come on strong in the second half of the season right establishing that chemistry with their quarterback Jaden Reed absolutely did that I think even with Christian Watson and all these other pass catchers I've said it a couple times on this program I think that this is going to be like a mini 49ers offense where Jaden Jordan love has so many different options to be able to go to Jaden Reed especially because of that low a DOT it's going to be different than Christian Watson but should be heavily targeted and be a really nice safety blanket so I'm all in on Jaden Reed this year I have him as wide receiver 32 highest amongst all ESPN rankers all righty I'm up next so uh again these are kind of all over the board right some of these players we're talking about with an 0 99 and a half uh and my pick is Marvin Harrison Jr believe it or not right one of the players that I've been talking about along with Anthony Richardson all offseason here is the reality about Marv you're going to have to make a decision early in your drafts because if you're sitting in the middle of the order you've got a chance getting Marv at like current ADP right if you have the fifth pick you do the math that would get you to pick 25 in the third round right there you go however if you're picking like second Marvin Harrison Jr you're going to have to take him in a 10 Team league in the second round because he's not making it back to you at the end of the third round uh or excuse me the like it's third round it's possible he's gone by pick 22 so I'm all going to Marv I I I don't think there's anything I need to add to this player um I'm a little bit wary of the idea of drafting a player close to his ceiling but when you you get this high in the rankings almost all of these players are being drafted very close to their ceiling I've talked about how there's nothing I'm more excited about to begin the season and watching Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels play not too far behind would be Marvin Harrison Jr and Malik neor special special talents to you absolutely well one of the things that I admire about Marvin Harrison Jr was when he declined to do his workouts at the combine it was because he was focused on a training schedule that would prepare him to start the season I don't think people realize how many guys get hurt after they train for a combine then they get hurt when they start doing football activity to me that was a smart business decision and it reflects sort of the maturity and the Forward Thinking of a Marvin Harrison Jr ready to play at the NFL level and produce immediately and your pick stefia you've also got I also have a rookie wide receiver on my list and I went for the value play as well uh Roma adun who uh I think his story is great just in terms of how he made his way to Chicago Caleb Williams and he worked out you know Caleb Williams called him up and had him come join them in the workouts in Southern California so he had a chance to work out with Caleb and with Kenan Allen and now Keenan Allen is helping not only Mentor Caleb to the quarterback position but Mentor romad dun to the wide receiver position so a guy who I think most people assumed like oh with all this talent in the wide receiver room in Chicago nothing's going to happen for Roman dun in the first year I don't think that's true and I think if you've seen you know if you've watched any of the Hard Knocks and you've seen he he has some mistakes that he's making early but he's also learning and he's got he's a little quieter in terms of how aggressively he wants to be good early but he's working with a quarterback who has the same goals and I mean I think these two are clicking I also spent time with Caleb Williams in the off season and he talked to me about what he saw in romadin and why he wanted him there in Chicago so badly this is a chemistry that's I think we're going to see develop in the year and where you can get him right now what's his DP 110 so just think of where you're getting him and potentially he could end up with wide receiver two value I think he's my highest exposure player I've still got a handful of drafts left but currently he is my highest exposure player of all the redrafts that I have done this year uh just because we talked yesterday about how like you're looking for players in the later rounds that can go nuclear now does that mean they have a lower floor yes it does in the case of radun he might be buried behind those two receivers but if he's got a couple of different Pathways to becoming a fantasy Superstar an injury to DJ Moore an injury to Keenan Allen don't want to wish those things obviously or romad D just being that darn good this was the sixth rated player overall my 2024 NFL draft board the Bears got a very very good player let me ask you this do you think that it is a win when does romes dun take over as the wide receiver spot or do you think that there is still a possibility that he's the wide receiver three in this offense the possible yeah I mean Kean listen I know it's like become a little invogue this this summer to be like well you know Kean all getting close to the end maybe that's true the guy was awesome Keenan Allen is one of the best route runners in the league and that's where radun is learning and I think that is why he's going to be so good for back half of the season for sure yeah great mentor for him being able to be there in Chicago all right that's our quarterbacks and wide receivers when we come back here on fantasy Focus football we're going to be talking about our favorite running backs in 2024 stick around Favorite RBs back here on fantasy Focus Daniel do field G just breaking his micophone usually we only break the microphones in the news Studio this one I thought he only broke his shoulder but yeah what's up with that all right all right so uh we've been starting with with Stefania and I have we started with you I'm going to give you some some flowers so you I was goingon to say I know how snake drafts work so it's my turn but but I'm I'm good you're good with do should he should be able to start sooner or later yeah field your favorite running back in fantasy football this year yeah so actually all of us um are I guess no I was going to say all of us are taking non top 25 guys but there's one in there which is totally understandable fair I would have probably drafted that person if somebody yes yes and it's good to like hit different tiers of players as well but gonte Williams I've mentioned him a lot recently and this was one where it was like I really didn't have super strong feelings about javante Williams until I realized how in congruent my ranking was with his ADP I have him ranked his running back 23 his ADP is closer to RB 29 or rb30 was a bigger Gap so it wasn't like I had him as rb23 and I'm sitting there thinking to myself like this is undervalued It's that I think ADP and the masses have undervalued Javonte Williams when you're taking these running backs outside the top 20 I am looking for players that I think have the most likely path not to a top five season because I don't think there's that many guys outside the top 20 that have a legitimate top five season in them I'm looking for players that I think have the most likely path to a top 15 season right which is solid not spectacular so you think about guys like zamir white or James Conor or gavon Williams that's the territory that we are talking about in this conversation I think javante is being disrespected and not mentioned in that same breath of players because RB 29 and 30 I mean you're talking about guys like Jaylen Warren who's a good player obviously Taj Spears but like those guys are clearly at best like onea with their counterpart in the backfield so gavant say I do believe will lead the Broncos backfield in touches once again this season it was a high volume season last year 15th in the NFL in touches and while we know that it's a really tough thing for beat reporters to accurately assess exactly how back fields are going to shake out or how many targets each wide receiver is going to get I think we all can agree that the reports in Denver seem to indicate that jante is probably going to be the lead back y yeah probably I don't want to not holding these reporters too because they're not the ones calling the plays that that's the responsibility of Shawn Payton but some excellent reporters with their eyes on the ground seem to think that javante is the lead guy right now feels like there's a little trepidation from drafters because when you saw him last year coming back from that injury stfa he didn't come back to his full rookie self but this is part of what some of the stuff we we talk about this all the time on the show I feel like a broken record you know so I I think sometimes I'm like am I going to say this again because it's the eenth time I've said it but that first year coming back from a major uh knee reconstructive surgery and his was not just an isolated ACL tear it was a multi- ligament knee injury a very very difficult one if you want to go back and look at the injury he suffered you can tell just how bad it was and not only did he get hurt but then somebody fell on him right after he he took the injury and so him making it back and playing the entire season was remarkable to me just the fact that he was able to get out there but sometimes you wish the players had an additional few months because you feel like if they could have re-entered the football season at the point where they were a little closer to what they were pre-injury people would feel differently about them and I think that's where we are with Javonte Williams part of last season was him getting back to himself and imagine if he comes out of the gate strong and then Fields going to look so smart here because people who are reluctant to draft him because they're hanging on the the last thing they saw are going to miss out on a player who might be entirely different when he starts this year all right so stepania you've also got a running back that I wanted to talk about but you took him as well so let's talk about Derek freaking Henry sniped just like in a draft that's right just like in a draft Yeah Yeah Derrick Henry I love Derrick Henry this season I just love him in his new location with the Ravens and I I bet he loves it too because the opportunity for Derrick Henry to find the end zone I think is terrific uh he is going to be the Back Field is going to be Derk Henry and Lamar Jackson right these are these are the running backs you have to worry about presenting totally different types of threats but that's what's going to give Derrick Henry the opportunity never had when he was alone in Tennessee I mean all eyes were on him now everybody has to be accounted for he's got a better front line I think in that red zone Derrick Henry is going to be just a barrel totally dangerous and by the way if any you know I feel like I we got to shout out Mike Clay you with the age thing even Mike Clay with the age thing acknowledges that D Henry he thinks we still have a strong season but do you know that Derrick Henry has played at least 15 games every year of his career except for the one year where he had the foot injury so even since coming back from that which he was able to get back that year he has played in more than 15 games this guy is tough as nails and I a rejuvenated Derrick Henry is one you love to see double digit touchdowns in six straight Seasons which includes That season in which he missed half of it exactly yes which is unreal and if Gus Edwards I've been saying this all off season if Gus Edwards and this is not a shot at Gus Edwards can score 13 touchdowns in the Ravens offense then Derrick Henry I feel like legitimately could hit 20 I mean this could be a guy that you could get to uh Lamar Jackson does not steal goal line touches like the Josh Allen and the Jaylen Herz does so this is I'm totally with you on Derrick Henry the only thing I would love to see would be a little bit more passing game work we kind of started to see a little bit of that but I don't know if you're going to need it and the other thing I'll say is just in terms of where you can get him in fantasy we we all know the top three running backs that we've talked about who are in the most elite tier but in that next grouping Derrick Henry is my favorite yeah derck hen CN category you lean towards there yeah which that's it's like the the two others are excellent and and you can make a a credible case for any of them but it just is weird you're on the clock and you're like Derek Henry is sitting there like that's hard to buy that feels pretty good that feels pretty good is adps climb this off season only question I have real fast Stef Keaton Mitchell is out not going to be there who who else is behind him just just Justice excuse me just Justice Hill it feels like justice Hill is the only one that's on my radar some who could spot him but you literally can't see Justice hill behind Derrick Derrick is massive and Justice I don't think we're really thinking about that yeah it's going to be the Derrik Henry show that's another thing actually which he'll have the entire workload yep by the way um two things uh like Witnesses have confirmed that Justice Hill is in the running backer I just haven't seen it with my own eyes and a plug the great Eric carabel has his column out today it's called the don't be surprised if column that's right and it's some bold predictions including including Daniel Do's idea of Derrick Henry having a massive season don't be surprised if Derrick Henry has 20 rushing touchdowns I'm with you on that I'm very go check out Eric's work as always on ESPN um and hello Eric we miss you love that guy fantastic uh all right my favorite running back David Montgomery I thought you were gonna say Josh Jacobs I was noticing a trend stop it stop it we've hardly talked about David Montgomery this offseason to be honest this is one of those things I think he is a really great rb2 given the value of his eighth round price tag coming off the board as the 22nd running back over 1100 scrimmage yards last year 13 touchdowns that was fourth amongst running backs 17 carries inside the 5 yard line that was fifth most in the NFL he averaged 4.6 yards per carry that was eighth amongst running backs for what it's worth jir Gibbs was third that just showcases how good this Detroit Lions offensive line is they were top he was excuse me he was top 12 in yards after first Contact I mean there are so many things to love I think about David Montgomery if you decide to grab him as your rb2 he is in a spot where double digit touchdowns is absolutely not out of the question um the Lions have supported two top 20 running backs for two consecutive Seasons with how much they run the football and I don't think anything is going to change here that offensive line looks almost exactly the same they replaced one guy a pro bowler uh we signed Kevin zitler from the Baltimore Ravens so I don't feel any trepidation about David Montgomery not only that if there was somebody that you said all right I'm going to draft this guy uh you know between running back 17 and running back 25 I don't know if there's anyone that has the potential upside of David Montgomery because if anything happens to Jamir Gibbs he immediately vaults into a top 10 running back for us on a weekly basis I was just going to say that and not you know just a little note that you know jir Gibbs has had a hamstring issue in the preseason which I don't think the lions are worried about in terms of him starting but we do know anybody who's had a hamstring you're kind of watching that it bubbles up potentially again during the season there's David Montgomery ready to step in yeah I think the big question with Monty is just how sticky you think the touchdowns are and you could probably argue that if there is a running back that you can count on great goal line opportunities and the chance for 10 more rushing touchdowns it would be David Montgomery because he is a minimal factor in the passing game he had just 16 catches last season on 24 targets those targets are likely to go to jir Gibbs but given what you just mentioned like that you're getting a player who has Standalone value but also as an insurance running back yes not too many of those exist in the entire NFL at least in in 2024 so uh Monty um an easy player to understand why there is plenty of value where's your touchdown line how many do you think he gets this year um you know I think the Mike clayy would be like you know you got to said it like eight and a half yeah all right I was going to go eight eight a good number wow all right I'll take I be honest I'll take eight and a half rushing touchdowns take the over under that's right all right which one over under I would go over I think he's going to be at 10 okay maybe we do a Bo bet later on this season great we'll find out all right when we come back we're going to talk about our favorite tight ends in 2024 stick Favorite TEs around back here on fantasy Focus football Daniel do field J Stefan Bell and who do you want to start this one um I say you because you hav start yet yeah I feel bad about well I started with Jaden Reed but we can do this again I've been talking about this guy a bunch guys dton Kade I loveon Kade as one of my tight end Kade saw 94 targets last year including six or more Targets in nine of his final 11 games in those nine games he averaged 13.3 fantasy points that would have been tight end six at the end of the season now both H we said it yesterday Stefan digs and also Gabe Davis but 240 targets have been vacated from that team there are question marks everywhere honestly in this offense like that's the thing Samuel and Coleman are both new to this offense Curtis Samuel's best season was 851 receiving yards he only has seven games with 20 or more fantasy points in his seven-year career Curtis Samuel I think like all of them came during the stretch one season it was crazy he had and that's it like I it's not that I'm out on Curtis Samuel it's just like we haven't seen him be a wide receiver one Keon Coleman as a rookie we have reasons to believe it's going to take a little bit for him to be able to get used to this offense in the NFL game and then there's so much hype on Khalil Shak Shakir khil Shakir but it's more hype than production say I mean is it me hyping him too much because ADP tells you there's not nearly enough hype in my opinion he's going undrafted so is he seriously well I think that's a mistake Cleo I think should at least be drafted only 46 targets last season but I think that when you look at this dton K Kade should lead this team in targets I think he's going to push for a 100 receptions this season at the tight end spot with where you're able to grab him seventh tight end off the board in the seventh round love me some dton conade this year yeah that we've we've said this so many times the the quarterback and the tight end approach mirrors this year right because while there's I'm not going to sit here and tell you like oh my God you took Mark Andrews how dare you yeah there's nothing wrong with that I could also tell you that you could get Mark Andrews light or maybe even Mark Andrews equal yep four rounds later or three rounds later in a guy like dton conade I feel like that's where we all landed with these tight end picks too is that we're we're looking we know the Travis Kelce the Sam laapa the Mark Andrews and then it seems like there's guys who are going unrecognized just below that who could provide um at least close to if not comparable production you're not going to lose your fantasy league if you draft one of those early tight ends like they're still going to be awesome this year but you just don't we don't think you need to use an early round pick on I me Stefania you got another tight end that you can grab in the middle rounds that we love I Evan Ingram and I've sort of came around on this one because I was one of the people ignoring him in the mock drafts and failing to recognize just how valuable he is in that Jacksonville offense 143 targets last year I mean Trevor Lawrence definitely looking his way there's a bond there and I was looking back to see when was his most productive in terms of receiving yards and last year I mean he almost hit a th yards receiving that's a ton for a tight end so I I really like Evan Ingram he's also been fairly durable after his early years in the league he's played consistently I think all 17 games last year as well you like to see that because obviously tight end a very physical position I mean these guys are to me they're like just behind the running back in terms of their exposure to injury because of the physical nature of their position both when you know on Ball and off so um I just like Evan Ingram for the value that you can get him he is ranked as our tight end six his average ADP going around 61 so you know if you want to wait on tight end but still be in the tier where we're saying Yep this is a tight end that you want on your roster you don't want to go beyond this group Evan Ingram is one you said 143 targets that's first among tight ends field where did it rank just in the entire NFL do you remember uh I'm going to go with 13th I'm pretty sure he was fourth in the NFL uh there were 10 guys who had 150 what 10 but that includ receivers we're look it up we're gonna see this all right check the over number uh Evan Ingram is the PPR King by the way I know the volume stuff sorry not targets I was I meant receptions re receptions yeah second most by tight end ever in a single season uh Zack her want out 117 so um we focus the majority of our content on PPR formats yep if you play non PPR uh I would not say ignore what we're talking about here but um becomes a decidedly less valuable player which is the case for most tight ends to be fair fourth in the NFL in receptions amongst wide receivers and tight ends flip side of that is I find myself in a lot of leagues where there are tight end bonuses for receptions and that's where somebody like Evan Ingram really sh that perspective yeah he's going to be awesome in this offense again field who do you got where are you going at the tight end position I'm going with David and joku who be talking about yeah you know again there's okay that's right um and joku was awesome last season was a factor with multiple quarterbacks the Browns uh do did invest more in the receiving room this off season with the trade of Jerry Judy obviously uh if you know me you know I'm not totally certain what Jerry Judy is as a player uh but this guy just keeps falling and falling and falling in draft we were talking about our Mock Draft recap yesterday stfa on the show he won 112 and this is just one mock draft it's not like every draft goes this way but Jake Ferguson who I think you could argue is less valuable going into the season than David andok who won 78th so I went 34 SS yeah that's that's surprising I don't exactly know why there isn't a little bit more appreciation for David and joku he's a good player in a I hope a functioning offense this year maybe that's the exactly I think you just answer the question Full Tilt last year either like Joe Flaco obviously had that run there but like he after week five of last season en joku became a very consistent player with multiple quarterbacks so um I'm more optimistic than it would appear the masses are on David and joku uh and shout out to uh I did a draft last night with my wife and some of our friends um actually before I say that shout out my wife japen it's her birthday today she turns 23 happy Happ birthday we can't sing to you sweetie because uh I think it's illegal uh but I love you and uh the girls are so incredibly lucky to have you as we know he loves you I learned that in the Bahamas the hospital that was one of the things I was telling the doctor when I was uh she's great laughing gas um but yes uh it was interesting to hear some of the names being pronounced in a draft that we were on andoku safe to say gave some people some struggles uh nooku then yes how do you say it give it a shot now now I'm G now I'm G to up David and joku there you go yeah David and joku for what it's worth had 81 receptions last year Amari Cooper for what the number one wide receiver for this team had 72 receptions so uh you like more receptions right this not like golf scoring you prefer yeah in the only time that 72 is better than 81 is in golf not that I would know that unless you're talking nine hole scoring but going say who are you golfing with they were basically they were 25 fantasy points apart at the end of the year that's crazy yeah now Mari Cooper missed games the last three games of the season but he also had that 51.1 point explosion did Amari so that's right yeah I'm just thinking joku is is under appreciated as all are as are all of these tight ends last night I was in a draft where I missed on the tight end run I people were d double dipping it's um a 12 team league and so I was having this this debate last night who is your favorite non type top 10 tight end hard to find a definitive answer yeah yeah dton Schult uh you you can make the case for Brock Bowers Pat fouth um but Pickin are slim after the first 10 yeah don't love it agree don't don't don't miss out on the top I was gonna say this is one of those where there's like a very definitive line at the tight end spot we want to gra going into the season people going into that's right that's right all right when we come back we're going to recap our fantasy favorites for 2024 we'll see on the other side Favorite players recap back here on fantasy Focus football daniel. field jates and Stefan Bell guys we just went through our favorite players at each position stefia if we were going to say very quickly who's your favorite kicker just to make sure that everyone understands who it is let's just get it out there again Brandon Aubrey Brandon Aubrey all right go go check out his story I mean never played professional football until he was with well never played NFL football until he signed with the Cowboys didn't play football in college was a professional soccer player he's got a boot that's all you need to know that's all you need to know my favorite kicker made a 66 Yer in the preseason I'm just saying did uh my favorite kicker is Jake Bates who has also kicked some very long field goals before in his life especially in the UFL if you watched the show yesterday you saw that field you teased the defense really quickly we're going to go back and look at all the four players that we just talked about but who's the defense you were teasing just a reminder so we one week one but also week one we got the Chiefs playing the Ravens do you want that defense not so much you have the Ravens playing the Chiefs you don't want that one right got the 49ers playing the Jets and the Jets playing the 49ers I feel fine about the 49ers in that case and I I do feel certified about the Jets because of the 49ers offensive line concerns right now um but still like ideally you're not starting your defense against the elite offenses Eagles play the Packers Packers play the Eagles Bengals play the Patriots oh hi okay like that yeah and um it's going to be more difficult to just always stream the team that plays against like the Patriots or the Panthers or the commanders perhaps but I am much more willing to stream this year based off the fact that some of the highest ranked defenses Browns they get the Cowboys in week one Cowboys get the Browns in week one which the Cowboys might be okay there because I do have some question marks about Cleveland's offense in general and their offensive tackles have been very unhealthy this preseason jetri will is still not a factor um I think Jack Conlin will be fine but anyways we're diving way deeper into defense than we normally do but my big point is that streaming could be the way this season especially in week one you do not need to grab that Premier defense that you think is going to be great cuz you might know you want to play in week well it's just tough if you pay a four round premium on your defense then week one you're like wait am I actually going to play the Ravens against the Chiefs like you want to Temp fate with Patrick Mahomes be my guest all right so just a quick recap of this my favorite players for 2024 Jordan love Jaden Reed if you love the quarterback or you love the wide receiver you're probably going to like one of the other positions as well so I love both of those guys there also love me some David Montgomery at the running back spot coming off the board super late and Dalton concade all of these guys you're getting after the seventh round of your draft it's just value that's part of why I love these guys that you can get so deep and I think they're really good value there St you got a lion in there you know you had to balance it out with two Packers I mean you know we had to make it right I think we had a companywide email that went out a couple of days ago when Jimmy patara was updating the bylaws I think he did mention something about like Daniel must talk about one obligatory OCT that's actually not the case I'm sure there have been companywide emails in recent days but we do not get one from Jimmy that like updates the bylaws like just to be clear just so that people know well you know I uh my my my fantasy faves for purpose of this exercise and I'm sorry Christian mcaffry didn't make it as my running back because like of course but I have I love my picks here Anthony Richardson is quarterback we've been talking about him all through the preseason Roman dun I think kind of climbing up uh should be climbing up fantasy boards because I think he has an opportunity to really make himself potential wide receiver too in that offense Derrik Henry gets a fresh start with the Ravens and uh he's just going to bulldoze his way into the end zone and Evan Ingram a value pick with his volume work as tight in so great field give us your four one more time yeah one more uh one more time uh Dak Prescott is my quarterback we talked about him extensively uh earlier today and really throughout this preseason Marvin Harrison Jr probably the player that has the most elite like draft altering upside here uh Marvin Harrison Jr checks all the boxes and then javante Williams this is my I'm in like with this player gavon Williams and then David and joku the chief who just talked about who Again part of that group of tight ends that can just be so so valuable in that second tier as opposed to paying a more expensive Freight on some of the top ranked tight ends this season hopefully some of those names can help you heading into the heaviest draft weekend of the year I got four drafts coming up this weekend I don't even know like my calendar needs to be more like defined than it is I feel bad I'm going to have to tell Rosie and it's not even just the weekend for us because it wraps into next I feel like have drafts every single day leading up to great we have we have our show League our Sunday show and our Focus League draft right yeah hopefully you guys enjoyed that if you're drafting this weekend make sure you have a ton of fun uh if you drink adult beverages also drink a lot of water with it just to be safe you don't want to be that person that makes very bad pull hamstring on your way theft board make sure you are doing that as well we love you don't forget to love each other be kind to yourself and don't ever forget fantasy Focus football is presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV we love you guys we will see you next week never forget that part [Music] [Music]