Mock Draft Monday: Risers and fallers at QB, RB, WR and TE this month | Yahoo Fantasy Forecast

Intro [Music] it's Monday August 26th I'm Dan Titus it's a hell of a day to talk ball and joining me is Tara Roberts welcome Tara hey how's it going it's going great and I understand you just came back from La I haven't been able to visit the pla Vista office yet but how was your first Studio appearance it was beautiful um on the Pod I said I was happy to be in California um and not in Texas and for the record everybody it's because I live in Texas and it's like unnecessarily hot hotter than it should be physically anywhere and so California was the was the happiest um weather break I've had in a long time yeah as a California Native now um I can agree with you it's probably scorching hot in Texas so we we'll welcome you to the California family whenever you're around say what's up we we welcome you with open arms um and if you guys haven't had a chance make sure you go back it was convictions week last week her and Andy Baron broke down their favorite breakouts of 2024 really good episode so make sure you go back and check that out and unfortunately this is the final mock draft Monday why because real drafts are actually getting underway this week I have my first auction draft in one of my favorite home leagues this week so I'm really excited for it um but I know most of you guys will have your upcoming drafts this holiday weekend so on this pod we're going to do everything to get you prepared for those drafts we could consider the this the official cram week for all those people that haven't had chance to look at the rankings do mock drafts listen to all the podcast this is what this is culminating to all of this in one week we're going to get you ready um Tara I know schools are just starting to open up around the country but for Fantasy managers this is the final exam all right so for today we're going to round out a 10 team half-point PPR mock draft and essentially it's the most common format for the Yahoo fantasy app so we want to make sure that we're going to give you guys the best information before you get ready for your draft so we're going to go through four of our top takeaways trends that we saw that we want to make sure that you're prepared for but as a point of emphasis I think it's always important as a fantasy manager I'm always looking at these things to prepare for your draft you got to know when people are going and terra's done a phenomenal job over the last month tracking where these adps are moving moving are they falling so Tara I kind of want to know where what movement are you seeing up up and down draft boards like let's start with the risers who's some of the people that you've seen kind of go up over the last month little spoiler alert we're going to talk about some of these guys I'm sure but um Who's trending up and down this month? the rookie quarterbacks are essentially sailing through ADP it'll be fun to see how it matches up with arach draft to how um the overall ADP is going but guys like janen Daniels and Caleb Williams they're looking fantastic in preseason they're out there just looking incredibly Mobile in the pocket finding the big name receivers and their adps are absolutely shooting through the roof with their rushing upside so those are two fun ones um guys like again more rookies Malik neighbors surprisingly is going up in the rankings um we're seeing some wide receivers falling that one's kind of interesting um a guy like Chris olve is falling a little bit which I get um because he's not in the most amazing quarterback situation so these Trends um have been going on all throughout the off season um preseason has been affecting them a ton and it's just been really fun to track them and see kind of how the how the drafters are viewing these guys especially the new ones and how they're moving them up and adjusting them all right so that's part of the tips and tricks guys you got to know when to draft certain players and if make sure you're not missing the boat on other ones that could be rising so I think that's really good advice from Taran if you haven't make sure you go back check out all her work on the Yahoo fantasy app on the Yahoo and on Yahoo fantasy.com she does great work there but Tera I to pull that threat a little QB takeaways from mock draft: Elite QBs are gone by round 5 bit more let's just talk about the quarterbacks and what we saw in this mock draft here um top tier QBs all seem to go in rounds four and five what's your preferred draft strategy there with the position so deep like are you trying to spend up in the rounds four and five for those top tier quarterbacks or are you okay with waiting so this has been a really weird one for me because I'm very Pro um this season especially um very Pro you don't have to grab one of the elite guys you can weight it's extremely deep you can take risk as well and maybe draft a guy that you're not sure about because when you hit the Waiver Wires especially in 10 team leagues like this one um there's going to be plenty of startable um streaming options every single week so you don't have to kind of panic and you can wait it out you don't have to jump it guys but ironically for me as I'm doing mock drafts as I'm doing my redraft leagues I've been oddly enough taking quarterbacks early it's not intentional um again it's just kind of how the boards are falling like um in this for instance I took Kyler Murray in the fifth round it was right after Anthony Richardson went off the board um and right before CJ Stouts I was kind of like smack dab in the middle of that end of the quarterback runs there in that fifth round and it's just been really for me kind of relaxing drafting quarterback because you don't really feel pressure I've been leaning into the early guys but you don't have to I don't feel like I'm panicked and like saying okay I don't like the value on this guy but I have to take him and um it's just it's been really interesting seeing how all of that is Flowing oddly enough I have been taking uh a qb1 I'm not going to lie uh I'm going against you know what I've been saying but it's really about how the board is falling and how you want to how you want to take it because these quarterbacks can go literally anywhere throughout the draft there's so much depth you're right I I think it's it's really about playing playing how the board comes to you um because I was uh I think I had the second pick in the draft and I drafted Jaylen Herz in this and it was right after Josh Allen and you'll see throughout round four all of those main players Josh Allen jayen Jaylen Herz Patrick Mahomes Lamar Jackson all those guys went in the fourth round so you could jump on the bandwagon and try to jump into that QB race QB arms race but in certain situations if you don't have a good draft position like if you're kind of sitting on the outskirts there kind of like how you were just describing like I'm okay with taking a Kyler Murray you know or potentially a Jaden Daniels someone that I I want to talk about a little bit more and that you touched on as one of your risers but I think in this in this QB in a with the QB position so deep this year it's really a choice of whether you want a dual threat quarterback or whether you're okay with a pocket passer and more often than not I find myself drafting those dual threats with a pocket passing backup but that doesn't always unfold especially in the 10 Team league so I think you could just play the board if the value is there and you see a good dual threat quarterback available for you go ahead and grab them if they're flying off the board and you see a better valuable wide receiver running back I think you can go that way too because they just going to be so many options available for you especially in a 10 Team league but um let's go back to Jaden Daniels for a second because what is your take on him and is he one of those guys that you're going to be definitely targeting if you miss out on say these top tier QBs or are you okay with like say a Dak Prescott so I still love Dak um it's and it's funny because Dak is one of the guys that's kind of like that borderline do I take a guy like Dak or do I do I reach and go for Jaden Daniels and the more and more we go through this preseason the more comfortable I get with reaching on Jaden Daniels because and we've talked about this um in the podcast a lot and I talked about it with Andy Barons last week on our breakouts podcast where of course Jaden Daniels was on there I talked about him he's everywhere right you can't do a podcast at this point and not talk about Jaden Daniels um but he is right at the end of that qb1 for me you know around qb1 qb2 and he's the last guy that I feel inclined to reach for and that I want to snag and then after that you know I'm uncomfortable with waiting for um some of the guys I don't mind like a Jared Goff and skipping over your to a tu of aloa your Brock pie if you want to wait just a little bit further and push it back there's guys like Trevor Lawrence but I mean Jaden Daniels has just sailed right past all these guys right in ADP and we saw it in this draft where um we had a nice little Gap there uh after that kind of Kyler Murray CJ St Anthony Richardson range we had a little bit of a two round Gap um and then we had Joe burrow then we had Jordan love and then in round nine remember 10 team League round nine we had Jaden Daniels go off the board um and I I feel like that was a beautiful spot to take him because um I mean if if I hadn't taken a quarterback um 100% And he was available I would have done it because other guys that you're looking at in that round there was Brian Robinson that went um Titans went that round Evan Ingram David and joku they're all fine options Tony Pard as well um so they're fine options but you kind of get out of that high-end wide receiver range and I feel like that's a great time to jump and take a risk on a guy like Jaden Daniels who again was um and the number one guy in my risers column this week uh just sailing really he's been so impressive um again this preseason this last start that he had he had um two series uh 10 completions 12 attempts 78 yards had some rushing yards on the ground as well he's just absolutely been just been thriving all off season and uh it's crazy he lost Johan doson in that trade we've got that big news that came through and now the primary target will be Terry mclen I'm sure we'll talk about that later when we go to receivers but um even with the loss of Jan Dodson I feel like this receiving core can step up for him and really help him Thrive I was waiting for you to mention it that was the big news the Hot Topic last late last week when Jan Dodson was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles um kind of a guy that you know unfortunately just didn't amass any of the production that he had his rookie season but you know he's got a new home per perhaps Kell Moore can unlock something a little bit more out of him but yeah that was a gave me a little bit of concern or maybe a little bit of hesitancy on janen Daniels that he was losing um a pass catcher of his caliber um but I I think terara is telling you guys to get ahead of the curve because if you look at you know cures a four for four their ADP data right now jayen Jaden Daniels is going in the 10th round and she's she spent up round earlier for him so this could be the trend we see going into the holiday weekend of Jaden Daniels kind of climbing up uh draft boards so after the break we will get to the running backs the wide receivers and the tight ends from our latest mock draft okay we are back terara we just touched on the quarterbacks running backs pretty standard I would say through the first round I think one RB takeaways from mock draft: WR drama is pushing RBs up the 1st round point of emphasis was that bejan Robinson leaped Jamar Chase in in this mock draft is that something that you're that you're anticipating that we'll see as we get closer to uh this week of drafts um just given the fact that you know Jamar Chase and some other wide receivers um potentially could be holding out here yeah I've been doing a lot of live q&as on the Yahoo social channels and that is one of the most common questions that I am getting around those two running backs around Bree and beon I mean they're kind of interchangeable I have Bree as my rb2 but really they're both fantastic and a lot of questions coming in asking just how far we're pushing him up because both of these running backs up because everyone we tell them okay you know Christian mcaffrey 101 right Tyreek Hill you can't go wrong with that CD lamb um but again you've got CD lamb with this contract situation we'll notice that um Tyreek Hill went second overall in this draft surpass CD lamb I don't think that's super controversial but it's something to note um with him dealing with the contract issues then we also have Jamar Chase dealing with the contract issue as well so um these these wide receivers are kind of getting flip-flopped here we had Justin Jefferson that was an interesting one we have Justin Jefferson as well falling back no contract issue got the big payday but he has Sam darnold at quarterback yeah um I know people either feel one way about it or complete opposite way I I'm not um too happy about it but um him falling back as well is just kind of pushing these running backs up so we had bejon go fourth and Bree fifth I think it's fine I it really just comes down to personal preference in terms of you know how risk adverse you want to be I don't think that CD lamb is going to sit out for any reason I think Jamar Chase is maybe a little bit more controversial because we've heard some strange rumors about that but I would anticipate again you know he'll be ready for the season but if you want to it's not the worst thing in the world because these are our top three tier guys right there's that little break right there between them and um a guy like you know Jonathan Taylor and Jamir Gibbs in terms of either sharing the back field or sharing it with a rushing quarterback as well so looking at those running backs I completely understand taking them in the top half of that first yeah it seems like there's only going to be a consensus in 10 team leagues three running backs going that's CMC Breeze Hall and bejan Robinson but it gets really fun in the second round because that's when the running backs really fly off the board that second tier of running backs as you're just talking about starting with Jonathan Taylor jir Gibbs you know he had the preseason injury it kind of impacted his ADP but I think we're starting to see it climb back up now that he's getting closer to the season perhaps he's healthier then you have Derrick Henry you have Kiren Williams who always carries a large workload does have some injury concerns um and then you got Pacho but the guy that I want to talk about is Squan Barkley this guy had a first round grade in 12 team leagues and you know he was going right around that number 12 spot he dropped to 18 in this recent mock draft is that something that you think will continue will he continue to slide with news that in Camp that he's a little nicked up already and we know you know saquin has a history of injuries I mean that's the concern right that's that's that trigger thing where you get these certain players that have an history of injury and with a guy you know like if you were to say Hey you know Bean's got you know a little tweak you don't panic right because there's not that history there but with Sequon you do get a little bit nervous because an ankle has been known to take him out for a few games here and there uh so yeah I I get it I do I understand why it's falling um it's it's not affecting me that much because while while I'm not big on avoiding saquin by no means is he's someone that I'm saying we be a bust or we're pushing away from him um we need to avoid him I I haven't really found myself taking a ton of saquan quite frankly when I'm you know because it's coming in an area where you can say Okay I want the the stable young running back and Jonathan Taylor uh maybe I want to go with the massive touchdown upside um ironically I feel like when people think about Derrik Henry and and that Ravens offense they're like well you know Lamar Jackson runs Lamar really doesn't run that much at the goal line compared to a guy like Jaylen Herz so um Derrick Henry you know with the huge touchdown opportunities there I took Kiron Williams in the second round uh it's a controversial pick people feel a certain type of way about it but I have been I've been very Pro kir um this offseason but I feel like people are coming around just a tiny bit because um there was the whole fear of Blake Corum coming in there and all of a sudden that he's going to force this to be a committee and then you know kirn's touches are just going to go down so much and he's the smaller back and he's got the injury issues and whatnot but when I look at um Kiren Williams and the safety of him uh it's it's interesting because I feel like Sean McVey specifically told us that drafted Korum because he's so much like Kiren Williams like a replacement when he goes down for an injury not somebody that's going to overtake him or be a complimentary back so um I've been super comfortable with taking that high upside pick but just the second round in general for these running backs these are all high upside guys right these are all it's it's crazy because they're not the first round but these are all guys when I'm looking across the board uh maybe with the exception of Isaiah Pacho I feel like all of these guys could would realistically finish as top top three top five at the least backs if you know things go a certain way for them so the value that you mentioned here um for the second round running back saquan dropping here um lean into it him at the beginning of the second has been a little frustrating for me but if he's dropping take advantage of it that's the point I I was going to make if you didn't because I was just a week ago I was saying oh me and Harmon were agreeing that saquin looked like the bus of the first round just given where you were drafting him if you're telling me saquon's going to fall to 18 I could get with that like that's that's the right price to pay for someone that you're you're banking on you're already inherently um banking on that risk of him getting hurt but the upside at that cost I mean Devon Anan was the next running back to go off the board and you know what I'm saying he's in a a time share and he's had some injury concerns as well so I think if you can get saquin as a late second like that's really good value for a guy that's going to have the best offensive line he's ever seen sure you he will lose out on some of that red zone work because Jaylen Herz is one of the best running quarterbacks we've ever seen and efficient in the goal line area but I don't know I I think I would take saquin if he fell to me that way um but then you mentioned some upside there and I was kind of surprised to see Devon Anan um go right after him is that someone that you've seen kind of get pushed up draft boards I think he was more of a third round pick early he probably a fourth round pick and he's kind of been steamed up to a third but but like to see him go into second I'm like are we going to continue to see this steam going forward as we approach uh this weekend yeah I'm with you that one surprised me a little bit um but you know hey get your guy uh no I hav I I haven't seen Ann moving up ironically I have seen mostard moving up um which makes sense right because I feel like mostard is the Forgotten guy right you you sit there and you're get everyone gets so hype about hn and everything and the upside that he offers but but mostart was literally a top five back last year in half PPR literally in all formats really but I get that he's 32 I get that he's an older running back last year was ironically the highest workload he's had of his entire career but at the same time he's not going to get phased out of this offense so if you're fading him it's literally only for age and injury risk not because he is no longer going to be a part of this committee um um so yeah I've seen I feel like people are starting to remember oh yeah Raheem moard wow the value that's pretty good that's excellent value for a guy who had who led the league in a rushing touchdowns last year I think I I think I'll jump on that so it's crazy yeah it's and you know I was just looking at moard and you know he's po four per four for four he's going he's an eighth round value in 10 team leagues he went in round seven in this one so hey your your analysis is is spot on here he's moving up draft boards I think you know as we get into these home practice what I preach exactly exactly see see that um but I think it more so speaks to the fact that I think we're going to start to see as we start to see the cat the the people that don't pay attention as much as we do to this stuff remember the fact that rohem moer was so good and if you're talking about a cost hey this guy saw a significant workload and you're getting him in round seven round eight you don't have to spend up for Devon H and and the risk that that that provides yeah you may limit some upside but if you're going to save floor you want to go for a high-end wide receiver in the second round I understand why you would and then you can maybe fall back on on a Raheem moard so super interesting and and on Raheem moard I think he's right around that time where you know if you missed out on a top tier running back or even you know running backs in rounds four and five you start to approach that dead zone around round seven round eight I think the dead zone in this one was really round eight um you know some of the names that I saw come off the board in round eight were uh Chase Brown third pick of the eighth round javante Williams um and then you have DeAndre Swift so how are you really approaching the dead zone or and what is your strategy this season in general are you trying to get um the top Centric RBS first and then kind of settle in with an rb2 in those mid to late rounds or how are you kind of approaching that I always enjoy a good hero RB strategy and it's so easy easy to do we talked about the second round this year it's so easy to get your hero in round two and then just call it day call it a day until you get to round 789 um it's I feel like the dead zone I'm not completely avoiding because there are some guys I like in there I like Chase Brown in there um this was maybe potentially a little bit higher than I would have taken him in this draft going early round one uh 10 Team league but um he's definitely a guy that I you know like leaning into um DeAndre Swift is interesting um then you can dip into the Tennessee backfield if your preference is Tony paard or Taj Spears that is Taj Spears is my preference I took him in the ninth round as my third running back off the board uh guys like Jonathan Brooks so there's there's Dead Zone value here with these guys but I think I I prefer to at least at the very least snag one before you get to that let's call it the javante Williams level right there I feel like that's a good place to say like um I feel like that's a good little start to saying this is the portion of the Dead Zone where I start to look at it a little bit sideways and say would I have preferred around earlier to get a zamir white would I prefer preferred to get a James Connor um who were not quite in The Dead Zone they're just right before then the nice stable running backs that we think are going to have those three down roles um I feel like you dip in right there maybe cut it off at Naji Harris and um say everything after that you you can dive into it but don't don't let that be your first running back off the board because a lot of these guys have have shaky roles yeah they do they have shaky roles and you know someone I've never been high on is Naji Harris but with the in Wake of Jaylen Warren's injury and his hamstring those hamstring things can can linger I would never feel comfortable with Naj Harris as my rb1 so I think your strategy is sound like make sure you get a top tier running back and then the rb2 you can kind of pick your choosing you're aming whoever you kind of feel like uh might be the best fit for your team um you know one of the names that's popped up here for me is uh Tony Pard and I'm like I didn't understand why T Tony Pard went before Taj spear so when you said you scooped up Taj I was like oh that's that's great value because I haven't found a situation where I've really been been prioritizing Tony Pard uh just based off what we saw in his workload last year and the way Taj Spears was actively involved with Derrik Henry next to him who was a by far better running back I think people may be discounting how effective Taj Spears could be especially in a half PPR League where he's going to be catching a lot of balls um yeah I I think that this dead zone to me I'm just really trying to avoid it as best I can there are there are some people that may be valuable zamir white I know isn't a popular name in fantasy don't really love the fact that his um his Advanced metrics don't look great but I do like that Antonio Pierce is going to make a concerted effort to run the ball you get a starting running back you know in round seven round eight that's pretty good thought was also pretty interesting that Alvin chimra went in the seventh round I don't know if this is this may be just people watching the New Orleans Saint and being like yo this offensive line is trash uh Derek Carr he's the dump off King but like you know tesm Hill there's been a lot of conversation and fantasy circles here and shout out to our customer success or customer care team who made a point to make sure that you know ta Hill has his QB and tight end eligibility we're like everybody else but this guy is going to be mad not only for the New Orleans Saints Alan CRA Jamal Williams but also for Fantasy managers so yeah are you buying the do you think that Alvin chra should fall as a result of how we're seeing ton Hill constantly be utilized in the red zone and as pretty much a deao running back HB back fullback tight end whatever like he's the Swiss army knife I I think he nailed it there with Alvin CRA it's it's weird just the flashy news like preseason and offseason news can um greatly affect how people view certain running backs and or wide receivers as well certain players in general if you get those those Malik neighbors hype videos you love Malik neighbors if you hear the tweets about Tamm Hill is going to be used as a dra he's so talented he can be used this way and that way we're GNA he's just going to be a focal point of our offense then the result is is that you get an Alvin CRA dipping in um dipping in ADP and so I think that's the issue there is that people feel maybe a little bit uncomfortable um with him because of the issues with and I don't think it's it's Derek Carr because I think Derek Carr kind of benefits Alvin CRA not CIS LA but Alvin CRA um and so maybe it's just giving people the illusion but I think that value right there for Alvin Chima is excellent if he had fallen um I Pi took Raheem moster six picks later after that I would have um taken Alvin CRA at that value it's just he's one of those guys where it is a pure value play here because he is going so late and we've got this perception that he's no longer an elite running back but he put up fantasy numbers last year it's frustrating because you know you can get more out of him and I think that's the issue if those numbers had come out of like let's say those were zamir Whit's numbers this season we would call that a win we call that a huge win yay we did it but you get that out of Alvin CRA and you're disappointed because you know that he can be so much more so I think that's kind of the issue there yeah I think that that's fair and and to the your point yeah I would I would certainly scoop up Alvin CH if he fell to me in the seventh round um what are your thoughts on Gus Edwards and like that whole Chargers backfield like is that something that you've prioritized I know he's one of the Prime dead zone running backs there do you have confidence in him um obviously he's familiar with uh Roman system and you know Jim uh harball is now in there um what are your thoughts on that on approaching that that backfield I have a lot of confidence in his ADP the value is just it's so right uh if he's there I'm taking him there's no reason it he goes in such a nice range uh it's a weird situation because I don't know we know that the Chargers are going to be run heavy we know that more than likely he's not going to be the only running back but there's just so much of an unknown in terms of everybody else does just did JK Dobbins finally stay healthy or even healthyish and play like even half a season does all um step up and you know we were thinking he we were pushing him up and thinking that he was going to be the rookie darling that breaks through and then we kind of tempered a little bit but now it seems like he's getting a little you know positive feedback of you know possibly pushing up a little bit more so there's so many different directions that that backfield could go but at Gus Edwards ADP I mean I'm I'm leaning in it's one of those like free it's it's a free free space in Bingo right if it hits fantastic if it doesn't you didn't make a big investment so it's okay and that that's where I'm at with it too and that that round 11 is like dead zone gold here you got Gus Edwards Austin Eckler Nick chub Jerome Ford I mean if you want to go the RICO dles and the Trey bensons you know what I'm saying so like at that point you're really it's just really a crapshoot and I would take at least the guy that I know is the top of the depth chart which is Gus Edwards um I think that that's extremely valuable there if if you miss out you know on on these running backs in the middle round rounds of drafts um let's pivot to the wide WR takeaways from mock draft: There are some polarizing mid round WRs receivers though because wide receivers are holding out at least the main ones you don't seem at least I haven't seen too much of an impact in terms of ADP on CD lamb Jamar Chase but Brandon auk though what are your thoughts there because I feel like he slipped in this draft I think he went in the fifth round if I'm not mistaken he's usually around a fourth rounder and uh I mean is he getting traded or what this is the most frustrating one you're right like when it comes to the contracts I'm like you know it's it's been a while like I feel like Jonathan Taylor was a very unique situation last year because he had the injury issue that could afford him the ability to sit out and not really have a major issue um but when it comes to CD Lim and Jamar chase the likelihood of them just sitting out massive games just it's just so so slim but Brandon iuk is such a weird situation because I mean any team at any time like what if what if Pittsburgh pops up andd decides you know what never mind we're actually going to offer you more we're gonna up the antie we're going to make it more appealing we're gonna you know really give you know Brandon I we're going to throw some more money at you say Yes um the deal is good you know that the problem is is that we know that San Francisco will and is perfectly fine with trading him and it comes down to the money situation for Brandon iuk so there's about 5,000 different directions that this could head for all we know Washington has a reverse change of heart and says um hey Brandon iuk we we want you here and we'll make it happen and we'll pay what we need to so this one has been very frustrating me in mock drafts and I and I hope that it gets changed before I get into some of my redraft um real drafts next week and the week after that because it doesn't just affect him right it Debo Samuel too like imagine you know Brandon I goes I mean Debo Samuel is just going to be pushed up draft boards ahead of these guys like that have little bit shakier situations like you know a Devonte Adams a Chris olve he can jump all of those guys if all of a sudden Brandon iuk is gone so I feel like we're just kind of in no man's land waiting for this because it's just it's happening H not happening we don't know Brandon iuk it could be a you know the situation he goes to could be so much worse and then you've suffered in terms of value if you drafted him in round four five so I can't stand this specific situation Brandon iuk is the one that I struggle with um I I did draft Deo Samuel here in the fourth round um you can lean into him a little bit because the value was still pretty good on him uh but taking that risk on iuk is just I struggle to get there yeah I think it's an avoid for me at this point there's just too much going on behind behind the scenes that I don't know when he's going to actually show up even if he does wind up signing with the ners as you said there could be some mystery team that's trying to get into the sweep sticks that we don't know about we've seen what the Steelers offense looks like it's not that great so I I could see them kind of pushing their chips in or up in the Annie a little bit more to kind of secure getting him over there that's too much of a headache don't bother just take Debo Samuel like you did exactly see wonderfully wonderfully put you know he's going around that third round anyway in 10 team Le but I think it's totally fair that we see Debo's stock kind of rising um now with auk situation just kind of in Peril right now like we don't know what's going to happen and I don't think as a fantasy manager you can honestly trust going into your draft rooms spending that fourth rounder form when we don't know what that outcome's going to look like wanted to touch on next person um just in general Michael Pitman I feel like is very polarizing right now um Harmon had him as a potential bust at at at cost right now he wion the third round of our draft that's kind of where he's going do you have confidence in drafting him this year being that you know AR-15 is coming back I think that they're his last preseason game they looked really good together um but Josh D seems to like being a guy that's uh definitely creeping up draft boards as well so uh do you have confidence in in Michael Pitman I I love Michael Pitman I'm a Michael Pitman Stan um but it was easier to be a Michael Pitman stand last year when you were getting him at that extreme depressed value than it is now pushed up draft boards I feel like this this one was a little bit too high for me I mean even as somebody who just um has stood done business for Michael Pitman for ever since you know for his rookie year H going before a guy like Nico Collins I don't I don't know about that um Mike Evans I just I I can't I can't get there I can't get there I'll push him over a guy like Chris olve for sure because it's a you know a strange situation there but um this one was just a little bit too high for me around Pitman it's not that I have any worries about him I don't think he's going to be a bust but I feel like it's just like slightly above where he should be in terms of 0p um because we could get you know lowend wide receiver one Michael fitman or we could get high-end wide receiver too Michael Pitman it's not a drastic difference but when you're looking at some of these other guys on the draft board that have that kind of top five um potential like Nico Collins we saw it last year you've got that top um five potential and I don't know if Pitman has that so it's I would prefer him just a little bit further down but but that is still my guy I still love him yeah and and the other guy who I had on my you know for talking about wide receiver bus I think it was right around the same area was Malik neighbors and are you a fan of neighbors because I'm not it's Daniel Jones for me like that guy just kind of ruins the upside and appeal like I don't Target sharers side I get it I'm just saying that like that guy won't be able to sustain you know wide receiver to upside with Daniel Jones throwing him the ball like the game script definitely favors him because the Giants aren't going to be good but I'm just like he just doesn't look that great at quarterback so why are you going to hit your fantasy season on a rookie with a quarterback that hasn't shown any pure competency and been able to sustain a wide receiver one ever like they haven't had a wide receiver one since Odell Beckham was there in 2018 so um yeah I'm just out on Malik neighbors fourth round fifth round I'm just not really drafting a few Falls okay maybe we get to like round six but I'm not he's not going to go that far I think he's consistently been a round four round five guy and that's where he went in this draft round five so where do you stand on neighbors uh I I get your concerns I do um because it's it is Daniel Jones and a great year for Daniel Jones in the past has been like liter like statistically the worst year for Jared Goff so I mean it's it's difficult to to think that Daniel Jones is really going to push forward and be able to um support Malik neighbors but I'm I'm I'm on the other side I'm leaning into it I I'm I'm keeping the faith alive here with Malik neighbors just based off that pure talent and I'm not I'm not going to lie um Kate took him in round five a pick before me um she sniped me snip she sniped me right there um I pivoted to Kyla Murray again we're playing the draft board here we talked about that with the quarterbacks here um you just play the board as it happened so I was sniped on Malik neighbors and instead of like saying because next receiver off the board was George pickings and again that's kind of a weird situation there with the quarterbacks and I just it doesn't inspire me um so instead of that I I said you know what I'm not going to I'm not going to reach here I already got my tight end so I'm just gonna I'm just going to go ahead and get my quarterback here and suffer the consequences of missing out on my Malik neighbor pick there cuz I I I get that you know I get that the upside could be he does not have that Marvin Harrison Jr upside purely based off the offensive situation but he is so so incredibly talented and I feel like the range for him is fine I don't know if it's a draft at your ceiling kind of situation or you know cross your fingers that there's a little bit more but at that point I feel comfortable with him because we start to get into um a range of guys that are you know have a little bit shaky situations as well like let's say maybe a Rashid rice who doesn't have a a shaky quarterback situation but maybe like you know we don't know 100% yeah off the field we don't know 100% what's going on right there a t Higgins he's the wide receiver too we don't know you know and he's been God love him he's my Clemson guy but he's been very unreliable in terms of health and consistency so I I'm okay with going with neighbors before them because everybody's got their problems in that range they've all got their problems and I'm going to lean into the talent of neighbors over some of those other guys am I crazy for saying that I think in Wake of Jan Dodson getting moved I would rather have Terry McClaren than Malik neighbors you are not crazy um I agree with you on that one as soon as I um get the free time and update my rankings fingers crossed here what is free time come on we got no free time it's been a busy week I was in California was like I'm playing catch up here yeah I'm G to be moving Terry mclen up and I've seen some or some other people are saying like it doesn't really affect Terry mclen because what was Jan Dodson really doing and I get that but we also have to remember that Curtis Samuel is not there as well so there is a lot of stuff being um pushed out of that offense so when we're looking at um how this affects Terry mclen he could finally be in that perfect situation where he has his quarterback that he has been waiting for we've been waiting for his entire career um a guy that can air the ball out he can be the Deep threat he can be everything in that offense and I think it's finally time where we say um Terry McClaren May no longer be capped at you know wide rece you know wide receiver two wide receiver 3 range at best and may push into that higher wide receiver one territory because of this trade of Johan doson and the other vacated Targets in the offense it'll be interesting to see um which one of these guys Step Up um I I want to believe in dami brown stepping up really truly I I want to believe in that the dynasty guy in me would love for that to happen he's been buried on the bench never seeing the light of day like I would love to see that guy happen um but instead of taking the late round stab at him um or Luke mcaffrey I just just lean into Terry McLaren and raise him up in you know your draft board and take advantage of the extra targets that he's going to see I love that yeah so what are what are so if people are in cram mode right now they're looking at this Houston Texans wide receiver group and they're like what the hell do I do like I got Nico Collins is the third rounder I got Stefan Diggs in the fifth and then you got tank Dell in the sixth or seventh at cost like which one are you kind of targeting and what would you recommend or do you avoid the situation allog together is this going to be a by committee like how do how do you how do you how do you see this kind of playing out uh you know I have it somewhat how we have it ranked I trust I think everyone's kind of in agreement that Nico Collins is the one that you take first off the board Al and then um you know I I don't like um Stefon digs to be the second guy that I would to take in this offense I like I like tank Dell that I um want to lean into the big play the upside there it is a little bit riskier but we are getting a nice discount there I don't feel like we're getting enough of a discount on Stefon digs unfortunately uh um Nico Collins it's fine you're you're drafting him a little bit high but he has proven to be the guy that can be um the wide receiver one finish on him and maybe you're even getting like a slight discount on him because of perception as well so I'm okay with t drafting Nico Collins I skip right over Stefon digs I'm sorry um I got to do it and then I um am okay with going with tank Dell as well so you heard here first St Collins bench Stefan Diggs and uh or sorry cut Stefan digs and bench tank Dell there we go um so who who are some of your value picks of this of the draft and in just in general like as you've been assessing the adps and the way this mock draft kind of unfolded it looks like Calvin Ridley was a guy that you think probably fell a little bit further than he should um what are your thoughts on him and how fantasy marriage should approach him yeah I like where Ridley was he was in um so round early round eight of this draft right behind Chris Godwin before um Deontay Johnson which the draft results told me that I reached on that I did I did Yahoo's correct I reached on him U but Calvin Ridley right there and I I would have loved to take him right there I absolutely would have if he was on the board I feel like for some reason um people are kind of looking at last year and taking it as a failure and I don't know that last year was really a failure for him it was a fine year I think we had higher expectations of him in that Jags offense being the the wide receiver one high expectations for Trevor Lawrence and just everything as a whole just like was lukewarm in terms of what we were looking at but if you just isolate the season as a whole and look at Calvin Ridley and then transition him over to this Tennessee offense which to their credit um they did a fantastic job of just overhauling so much in general the offensive lineing they added U wide receiver Port uh wide receiver support in addition to Calvin Ridley with Tyler um the addition of Tony Pard there uh the defense was upgraded as well so they hit every single aspect of where they needed to improve and I think that all of these guys especially Ridley are good candidates to overperform their ADP so when I look at Kelvin Ridley and his ADP I'll take it every single time and if I need to you know draft up a little and reach on it I'm okay with that as well because we're talking about a guy who has wide receiver one potential and we're drafting him as a wide receiver three at best um he's just getting overlooked and I love the value for him here yeah I'd also throwing a name in there um Jackson Smith and jiga I think with Tyler lockett's injury right now he should be going a little bit higher than that round nine they're still viewing him as a wide receiver three but in actuality with this new offensive coordinator and system in place I don't know I think jsn um value is really going up here so he's going to be a late round guy that I'm going to be for sure targeting what are your thoughts on Brian Brian Thomas oh Brian Thomas this is one that I have come around to um throughout preseason I was I'm not gonna lie I was um worried around uh when he was drafted and even a little bit before then uh I just kind of was worried that we were getting Terrace Marshall 2.0 here I feel like we've been burned yeah we've we've been burned a little on this wide receiver too from LSU before U brings back some bad memories and so I I was just kind of you know no I mean I like Christian Kirk I'll take Christian Kirk I don't you know think he'll lead this offense and the more that I look at it and the more that we've looked at these preseason games I think that Brian Thomas is the guy that we're going to want at the end of the day obviously behind a guy like Travis CN and even Evan Ingram but um I think that Brian Thomas from the receiving Corp is going to be the one that we want um feel like Christian Kirk was a little bit higher in this draft he went right behind our guy Terry McClaren and before um Chris Godwin and Calvin Ridley and then uh Brian Thomas just the the value that you're getting um in terms of discount he rent he went round 10 after Curtis Samuel before Kanan Allen just wedged in there right for a guy who could legitimately be the wide receiver one on his tap a big play threat um deep touchdown Red Zone I just there's so much potential there um and the ADP is very appropriate I was worried that we were going to start seeing his ADP shoot up draft boards and it was going to be a little bit um cost prohibitive but where you're getting him right now um that was another one that I got sniped on right there and then took Kanan Allen um there was some sharp drafting going on in this draft here um sharks in the water for sure like I was actually so I was the one I drafted Christian Kirk in round seven and to be honest with you I was eyeing Brian Thomas as a late rounder if I didn't get Christian Kirk and I want up going Curtis Samuel so yeah we would have I even though I was drafting a little bit ahead of you I probably would have scooped him if if if I hadn't scooped Christian Kirk before so I love that call out um CU I do think there are some vacated targets that you know the rookie could easily come in and Command right TE takeaways from mock draft: Is Kyle Pitts falling? now and we know that Trevor Lawrence loves to spread the ball but you know I think Christian Kirk definitely could have a solid number two right there um going to be pretty quick with the tight ends because I think this was a pretty standard right I mean the top tight ends went through rounds three and rounds six one thing that stood out to me I thought Kyle pitts's slide was pretty interesting he went in round eight um Matt and I were about it on the bus pod last week and convictions week that you know Kyle Pitt was carrying a round five grade which was just that seemed way too rich for me I would never buy it at that cost but round eight I'm back in on Kyle pittz where where you at with him oh I'm with you on that one I mean tit end just feels as standard as you could physically get this year it's funny I was looking across this draft board trying to find some kind of anomaly I couldn't find anything um all of us just like dead on with tight ends um very very appropriate and Kyle pit slid a little bit um Kate snagged him there in round eight and I think that's a very appropriate spot for him uh you know the potential there in that Atlanta offense I've talked about this um on the podcast before it sometimes the Atlanta offense makes me a little uncomfortable because I want to lean into every single one of them and you start to think like how can this how can all you start to do the math like like can carry the three I don't I'm not entirely sure I can get a first round running back and a second well I'm pushing Drake lundon up to the second round but a third round Drake lundon um then we got Kyle Pitts I love darnal Mooney as a late Target I mean there's just there's so much here um that we're asking of this Atlanta offense but they play in the NFC South one of the easiest schedules in the league so when you're looking at them yeah every single one of these guys could overperform their 80P I totally agree with you NFC South is trash so yeah I'm totally on board but if you miss out on all of the round three through six tight ends I'm over Jake Ferguson guy David N joku there are some guys you can still get if you don't strike in those mid rounds mid to early rounds so after the break we're going to get to your fancy mailbag question so continue to tap in welcome back we know for everyone listening to this pod that you're likely going to have your most important drafts in the coming weeks we're here to help welcome to the fantasy mailbag You've Got Mail Fantasy mailbag goodbye for our first submission Eric sends a voice memo hey guys love the show been listening all throughout the offseason just had a question about the onesie positions in a 10 team full PPR League wanted to know your strategy when it comes to the quarterback and tight end position if you had to prioritize taking one or the other early which would it be thank you I love this question um because I feel like when you're looking at like we talked about round three round four um and going with those Elite tight ends it's an either or situation it is tough to you can't you know it's tough to get a Patrick Mahomes and a Travis KY because of the way they're all bunched together so you kind of got to pick and choose uh which direction you're going here and again I think it kind of depends on how you want to shape up your draft but I oddly enough find myself leaning a little bit more into the tight ends um just because when I like I know you're I know you're a late tight end guy and I get it um I mean Jake Ferguson I mean he could be the second leading Target getter again on that Dallas Cowboys team but when I'm looking at the ability for me to get Travis Kelce in the third round a guy that we used to have to draft in the first round to get him I it's tough for me to pass up that value so I'm preferring going with the tight end early in the draft versus getting one of the elite quarterbacks if I have to pick and choose between the two how about you that's fair that's fair I'm G to go the other way because I'm just a huge dual threat QB guy I think you have the the advantage against your league mates if you get these Konami Code type quarterbacks I'm not a tight end guy just never have been why prioritize a position that's going to be so volatile you could spend a second third round pick and honestly Travis Kelce I love him he's great he's one wonderful but this guy is aging he's in Decline the Chiefs decided to invest in their wide receiver room for a reason I'm just saying just lock in that stud quarterback and you don't and worry about tight end down the line you'll be fine I get it we'll we'll talk off the pot I'll convince you to come over to my side our second submission comes from Joe from DC what's up Joe love DC Love Chocolate City he sends his voice memo I'm in a league uh that's very custom 14 team two QBs Point per first Down Auction draft so off-the-shelf rankings don't really work and I'm curious how do you think about translating things like rankings into auction values um obviously you can use projections and do something really complicated but you know some some to some extent that's not applicable so really appreciate any advice you have thanks a lot bye good question I love you want to take a stab at that one first yeah I this is the perfect situation to look at rankings and ignore the numbers and look at tiar in the rankings that's what I that yeah this is the this is the time where you need to look at the tiers and try and predict because when you're in a 14 team like like like when I'm in a 10 Team league I can kind of predict who's going to come around to me I can say uh I don't need to take Z flowers right here because I can get Z flowers next round I'm pretty sure he's going to make it back to me but when you're in a team like a 14 Team league that's when things predicting out and kind of trying to um figure out where the draft is going to head and if a guy if your guy is going to be there it's going to be kind of difficult even multiple ranges so uh I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to look at um tears and the easiest one for me to use an example of I I to keep us on the tight end train here but is the it's the easiest example to do off the top of your head um tight end tears are so clear-cut this year and it makes it so easy for you decide if am I am I an elite tight end kind of person I know that I can you know say hey I'm taking Kelsey through McBride and I'm taking it in this range and if I miss out on that I'm not going to reach on a George KD right because he's in the next tier so when you've got these teams and you can uh 14 team leagues and you can figure out these tiers you can understand like if I miss out on this the next tier that I'm interested in is the tier with the Jake Ferguson is the tier with the Brock Bowers I want to grab right there and feel comfortable with that so that's the best way for meter especially an auction right um I feel like tear are a great way to approach it so yeah throw the you keep the rankings but you just kind of put your hand over the numbers and use TI and say this is like these are the guys that I'm comfortable with and here's where I won't reach yeah I think that that's spoton no notes this is about tearing this is not a traditional League you can't do traditional things bucket the guys as you see them and as you value them if there's runs when I participate in 14 team leagues you'll see the run on quarterbacks go that's an opportunity for you to Pivot so you know I would just say poent well actually this is an auction draft so you don't have to worry about that um but I would say yeah look at the tears that's that's sound advice from terara there just a reminder to everyone the fantasy mailbag is open for business for the rest of August you can tweet at me you can tweet at Matt terara the rest of the fantasy football crew um and you'll get bumped to the front of the line by submitting your questions via a voice memo or video to the fantasy mailbag at yahoosports.com our goal is to get to the most questions as many questions as possible so hit us up fantasy mailbag yahoosports.com also week one is less than two weeks away y'all and as you know through all the countless live reads we've got a little thing going on with NBC this year if you sign up for a fantasy league on Yahoo fantasy you'll automatically be enter to win $1 million that's right A Millie $1 million if any of the players you start score a touchdown in week one of the games on NBC and peacock you'll earn bonus entries into the sweep Stakes the deadline to start a team is September 5th so make sure you do that ASAP if you want a chance to take home $1 million that's going to do it for us today on Tuesday we're going to continue to cram this week by recapping the entire preseason until then we are out