2026 NFL Draft Preview + Rookie Analysis + Dynasty Rookie Draft | Shane Hallam

to that. Before I bring him on, I want to remind everybody too, if you are looking to parlay some of the advice and some of the thoughts player of owls and strategy that you'll hear on the show tonight, don't be afraid to go to my FFPC dot com. Especially for you Dynasty players or if you're thinking about getting into Dynasty Fantasy football, now's a really good time to do it. We have a lot of orphans listed anywhere from one dollar up well, I mean the normal

entry fee is seventy seven to five thousand dollars. Some of those are down to one dollar right now, so you're basically managing the team for free the first year and trying to get it into greatness. So check that out my ffpc dot com for all the Dynasty orphans we have available. We also have a pair of Bestball tournaments, the Never Too Early Best Ball Tournament and the Never Too Early Superflex Bestball Tournament, both live right now. Forty

thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars grand prizes respectively. Just one hundred and twenty five bucks to get in, thirty five bucks to get into the super Flex version as well. And the Big Gorilla is back a million dollar grand prize, three hundred and fifty dollars entry fee. Seven Bananas promo is live. The Early Rampage Promotion is live. I want a shout out to and I forgot who was Paul de Siegmann. I want to say, pointed that out on X that I was pronouncing rampage wrong. I kept calling

it rampage. It is rampage. The Early Rampage Tournament going on right now, So it's two tournaments for the price of one entry fee if you enter the Big Gorilla now you're automatically in the Early Rampage tournament as well, one hundred and twenty five bucks to enter the Baby Gorilla and one hundred thousand dollars grand prize there as well. Remember you can manage all those teams from the FFPC app. You can also purchase, load your account, register for leagues,

perform waivers. Whatever you want to do, you can all do it from the comfort of your phone on the app, the mobile app, without further ado, Ladies and gentlemen, let's bring in our guests tonight. You know him, you love him. NFL Draft expert. He's probably got a seven round mock point somewhere listed on the internet right now for like the twenty forty two NFL Draft. That'd be my guess. Maybe he's just on twenty forty one. He loves the draft, he knows the prospects, and he's here to share some

knowledge with us tonight. Longtime FFPC player and even longer time NFL draft guru, You know him on X Shane P. Hallum, the Hammer himself, Please welcome in from Draft Sharks. Shane Hallam, Shane.

gonna you know, we're gonna do everything cold. We're gonna focus on the veterans here in the first hour, but the second hour I'm gonna offer my opinions on these guys and hopefully we get some good disc going in. Rather than saying, Shane, you're a genius, I totally agree with you. You're the man. So I wanted to go in fresh and clean on this. We're gonna try it this year. I don't know if it's going to be

any better, but we'll see. So that's gonna be a lot of fun before we get going at Shane P. Hallum on X, what are you focusing on right now over at Draft Sharks.

for these rookies. And I started diving into some film on the backup Wyoming running back who ran like a four to four at his pro day. So trying to dig deep, and I'll probably have I've watched over five hundred and six hundred skilled players by the draft.

before they could drive. Even I've watched some of them.

You play dynasty, Is that a practice that you would encourage people to do right now, which try is try to get rid of your first round twenty twenty six picks and try to get twenty twenty seven first rounders.

In the startup just move down, move down, click twenty twenty seven firsts, because I do think that class is going to be excellent, even if you have some guys go back to school, even if you have some guys drop off. You know, this twenty twenty six class I've kind of been preaching for a while it's not as strong, and I think some of the you know, we'll talk about it. Some of the receivers came through, but I'm still not as impressed as I want to be, Like I want to kind of buy in, and I just

can't at this point. And you know, it's a lot of it was because hey, the quarterbacks went back to school and maybe had some extra guys go back to school. That means twenty twenty seven is going to be better. So I don't think you have to just sell them off for nothing. But you know, we have it reflected on Draft Sharks on our trade value chart for Dynasty that twenty twenty seven first is is more valuable than you know, the one O eight or one O nine and one quarterback this year.

So I was like love and life. And then the more I looked at this class, I'm like, geez, you know, maybe this is not the gold mine that I thought was going to be when I acquired that pick. But now I got to focus on trying to see what I can do for twenty twenty seven. That'll be the goal and we'll see what happens with that. We got a little bit a month or so to go until the NFL Draft, when we know where these players are going to be playing football in the NFL this year.

So coming up on tonight show, like I said at the top, Shane and I are going to go around the NFL in the first segment. Second segment that will bring up will be a rookie pass catcher analysis from Shane Hallen. We'll get into the big three at wide receiver. I also want to talk about Casey Concepcion. We'll talk about the Indiana guys. We'll get into Chris Brazil as well, obviously, the two big tight ends. I want to get changed thoughts on those guys. And then the final segment we

will look to the backfield, the running backs. Obviously, Jeremiah Love, But who's the number two? Is it? Jonah Coleman is a jendarian, Price, Emma Johnson, Mike Washington. We'll get into all those players, and then obviously Mendoza and Ty Simpson will touch on too as well. As long as I don't ramble too much and we leave enough time to talk quarterbacks on this program without further ado, Shane, let's

talk about what's going on in the NFL. And my god, what a massive, massive deal that we saw earlier this week that kind of, quite frankly, came out of nowhere when you consider that the Miami Dolphins had said they were not looking to trade Jalen Waddle, and yet that's exactly what they did. Diana Rassini reported it that Denver acquired Jalen Waddle in exchange for twenty twenty six first third and a fourth round draft pick swap. The Dolphins now have a receiver room that's really bereft of any

kind of talent. With apologies to two two at Well and Malik Washington, but let's talk about the Denver side. First twenty two catches sixteen hundred yards over the past two years for Wattle, who's obviously spent a lot of time in the training room. But now he joins a team that was fourth in the NFL and pass attempts

eleventh in the league in passing yards last year. And you don't really think of Denver as this team that's slinging the ball all over the field, but they kind of were last year despite really only having Courtland Sutton and then the you know, the rotating number two turnstile of Marvin Mims, Pat Bryant, and Troy Franklin in no particular order. This is this is huge for Wattle, This is huge for the Broncos. This is really big for

bo Nicks. What's the impact. What do you think of Jalen Waddle's prospects now compared to what you were thinking of them before this trade when he was still in South Beach.

just didn't do much. I'm really interested in his fit in Sean Payton's system because because this is a system that typically you have your ex receiver, who is Courtland Sutton we saw last year doesn't leave the field as the number one guy, and then Peyton has always kind of rotated the other receivers, like you talked about, he had that rotating, you know, Mims be in for a play, Franklin to be in for a little bit. Injuries maybe forced you know, guys like Franklin and Pap Briant to

play a little bit more. And I don't think he could take Jamealen Wattle off the field, especially after that compensation and the contract. So to me, this is good news even if Watta wasn't the quote unquote number one guy in Peyton's system and how he likes to work it. We saw Troy Franklin break out in a couple of games. I think Jaylen Watta could have done that to the extreme. So I'm excited. I have a plenty of Dynasty teams of Jamelen Watta. I think this is you know, maybe

not best case scenario where he could have gone. But it's much better than what was gonna be the tanking Dolphins with Malik Willist just running around at quarterback back there.

compliment each other really well. You get the big body, possession guy that's a threat in the red zone and the end zone with Sutton, and then you get a guy who not only could catch the stuff over the middle, do the intermediate stuff, but he's got the speed to be a field flipper as well. So I like the combination here with these two. That said, Sutton did not play next to a guy that's going to command as many targets as Wattle will this year, so it has

to hurt him in a certain regard. How have you changed what you thought about Sutton as far as what his production's going to look like. Now.

Wattle that really helps him. I mean, if you watch the film and I two years ago so it would have been the twenty four season had a big film article and draft sharks about Jayla Wattle and just his role in the Micro Daniel offense was like doing the hard stuff. They were setting him down the field and making them run all these routes, and Tyreek Hill was the slot guy doing the easy stuff getting easy catches.

To me, it's like Sean Payton's gonna Sutton's gonna do the hard stuff and this offense and Jayla Wattle is gonna finally for the first time in his career. I feel like, get to do some of the slot and easy work to just get them easy targets. So I think, you know someting maybe it hurts the target share for sure, but you know, I don't I wasn't super high on Courtland Sutton coming into the year to begin with Shane.

fill in that role. I think Pat Bryant, you know they drafted in top one hundred last year, is kind of the backup to Courtland Sutton, right, and so you know, I think when you start looking at number three, number four receivers on teams. You gave the stats of the passing numbers for Denver last year, I feel like it's

kind of underrated. People don't expect this to be a passing volume team, but an injury to one of those top two I think Bryant and Franklin I like sticking on the end of rosters, and I'll certainly hold maybe even trade for in Dynasty if the price gets super cheap, I can, you know, move a third round rookie pick for one of those guys, A guy who was I.

nasty ankle injury last year. He said his speed is at about seventy five percent as of you know, mid March is what we're looking at right now. He has not really exploded when he's been running yet, but he's focusing on jogging. He's focusing on striding right now, which I guess is kind of what you have to do and you're coming off a serious ankle injury. Here's what I want to do. I want to pick your brain

on whether I'm reading too much inside the lines. Cam Scataboo and Tyrone Tracy were a pretty good tandem last year. In fact, Skataboo looked like he was a pretty good like potential bellcop on this team last year for a few weeks. Then he gets hurt, and yet we hear that the Giants are poking around the Kenneth Walker market before he ultimately signed with the Chiefs, which caught me

off guard. And now I'm hearing, not hearing, I'm not an insider, but I'm reading other people who are insiders and hearing from them that they might be in the Jeremiah Love business at the number five pick. Now, maybe Love doesn't get picked there by the Giants, and maybe obviously Walker is going to be in Kansas City. But the fact that not only is are the Giants looking to free agency as well as the draft to potentially get a big time running back. Does this give you

pause on how the recovery? How you think the Giants are treating this recovery and maybe it's not going as well as we perhaps wanted to and that's why there in the market here. Or is this simply the Giants doing their due diligence, doing some homework and trying to add talented players onto their offense. I haven't made up my mind on this, but I am skeptical about this Scatabow injury.

We saw with Tracy, we saw with Bucky Irving. Right, it just happened last year, and I think I think Skataboo was already at that point where it's like we should be skeptical as fantasy players. I think one thing we underrate as fantasy players is that coaching change and the power structure of NFL teams. John Harbaugh's now in charge. He has personnel decisions. He has no tie to camp Scattaboo. He's going to walk into a guy that is had a major, you know, leg injury. Maybe camp Scattaboo gets

up to up the stuff. He has no ties to either of these players. So we may have looked at Scatum and so, wow, this guy's good. You know, the combo was great, and John Harbaugh is going to come in and say, when we've really had an dynamic offense in Baltimore, we had Derrick Henry. I want Derrick Henry, right like, I want that kind of player, And that seems to be the way. And I think looking at how these free agent contracts lined up. You mentioned Walker

to the Chiefs, Travis Etn signs with the Saints. It looks to me like those are two teams that were in that Jeremiah Love market that signed big time running backs because they knew Jeremiah Love wasn't gonna be there. So that to me, that says he's going four to the Titans or five to the Giants. I mean, that's that's where he's gonna go, maybe worst case to the Commanders. So uh, you know, I think we really is time and dynasty to try to move scat of it before

something happens. There's so many possibilities of bad things that can happen. Report that he's set back with the injury, or they draft Love, or they draft a running back even Day two or even another fourth round run. You know, any of that, he's gonna lose value. You almost have to sell out now. And I'd be really skeptical to take Scatubu and redraft until we know what this situation looks like.

and I feel like there's another one I'm missing. I feel like they got like three or four guys in there right now, which to me, and they let Chris Rodriguez go too, So to me, that was kind of like the commanders. I think can see the writing on the wall a little bit as well, that Listen Love

is probably going for. I thought I was saying Titans this whole time, but now with this Giant stuff, I don't know, maybe there's a decent chance that the Giants take him there, And you know what better way to have your offense going in the right direction with Likely and Theo Johnson at tight end, with Malik Neighbors on the perimeter, with Jackson Dart under center, and with Jeremiah Love and your backfield, if you can make it happen. Now, the next thing I want to lead into on this

is Malik Neighbors. Here's how I want to frame it. Darnell Mooney signs a one year, ten million dollar deal with the Giants. They also signed Calvin Austin. They also they let Wandelle Robinson go to the Titans, but they also extended Darius Slayton to keep him under contract for another two years. Now, I know they need pass catchers, right, which makes perfect sense that you would add these guys.

But the skeptic in me also wonders, we're not hearing super positive praise and reporting coming out about Malik neighbors knee injury recovery. I'm a little bit nervous about that. And then when I see the Giants in all these pass catchers, including Isaiah Likely, my spider sense kind of goes up a little bit and Shane. I don't know if this is something where you take ninety cents on

the dollar for neighbors, but definitely in redraft leagues. I'm kind of thinking, you know, with all the talent where neighbors is going in drafts right now, maybe I'm better

off picking somebody else. I think Matt Schoff was actually talking about this on the last Draft Sharks podcast, where like, it kind of makes sense to it, kind of makes sense to fade neighbors a little bit, and Jared Smaller might have been saying the same thing, makes sense to fade neighbors a little bit considering where he's going and who else is going around him in redraft leagues because we just don't know about this, and it's been very

nebulous stuff, you know, reporting from the Giants beat writers coming out or lack of reporting coming out from Giants beat writers about how this recovery is going for neighbors. I don't know, man, I'm getting a little bit nervous about neighbors for twenty twenty six.

have maybe another report and that ADP drops more. You know, But like this, this offense for the Giants to me, looks like Harbaugh's offense in Baltimore. Right, you got the one receiver. If they draft an elite running back, they have the rushing quarterback, and then a bunch of you know, pieces like Mooney and Austin Slayton, deep guys and kind of you know, these these guys on the on the periphery. But it wouldn't surprise me. There's just no reason to

rush Neighbors back if there's any issue. I'm not touching him in redraft at this moment.

Early Best Ball Tournament ADP, Neighbors has fallen Shane. He's going at the two ten right now. This is over the course of the last week for the ADP that I'm looking at, so more than a half dozen drafts here in the books. Neighbors Wide Receiver eight, he's fallen behind Ceedee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, and Drake London. He is still going ahead of Nico Collins, George Pickens, Rashie Rice, and Chris o'lobby, and quite frankly, there's some warts on

all four of those guys as well. But I do think that that's we're getting sorted to an area right now where I still think I'm I'm picking those other guys, but I think you can make a much stronger case for taking Neighbors over those four rather than Neighbors over you know, London Lamb and whoever.

that's gonna happen. So there's still enough downside for me to take those other players.

Smith if you wanted. But the great thing about drafting Smith right now, and I've been saying this the last few weeks, the great thing about drafting him is if you draft him in the fifth round, which is where he's going in the Never Too Early Best Ball Tournament at wide receiver nineteen, great, he's gonna pay that off.

But if Brown gets moved and the Eagles sign, you know, a lesser player to take his place, and are trotting out a three wide receiver set of DeVonta Smith, whatever receiver they're gonna get, you know, like Diggs or Juwan Jennings or somebody like that, and then Hollywood, all of a sudden, Smith looks a lot better than a fifth round pick. So that's a great thing about drafting Devon to Smith right now, all right, I want to move on here, unless you had another point.

dollar contract. This is coming off a year where he caught seventy plus passes for just under five hundred yards and got in the end zone three times via the air as well. I look at Gainwell and what he does in the passing game, and I can't help but think that that is a hit to Bucky Irving. I look at and you could probably tell me a little bit better the prospect that Sean Tucker would have been had they not found this heart condition or whatever at

the combine when he went undrafted. This is a player that had the chops coming out of Syracuse if I remember correctly, and now he's in the backfield. All this considered, you know, this is not really Bucky Irving's doing, but because of what they have in the backfield and the fact that they're paying game well seven million a year now, I don't know, man like for what you have to pay to get Bucky Irving. I'm looking up his ADP right now. He is going as running back. He's falling

the running back eighteen. So he's in the fourth round. So maybe that's a little bit more patable palatable. He's actually going right ahead of Skataboo right now. But I'm a little bit down on Irving, maybe not as much as I thought I was now that he's a fourth round pick. But I don't know what your take is on this backfield, specifically the impact of Gainwell and Tucker on Bucky Irving this year.

Right Then last year we see maybe what the upside is. I don't think he's as bad of a pass catcher as he was in Philly. I don't think he's as good as we saw in Pittsburgh. But I do like Gainwell in that Rashad White role. And I think Gainwell is a better rusher than Rashad White was, So you have more leeway to have Gainwell on the field, you know, be a pass blocker, be able to take some carries, be able to take some of these catches. So I agree. I think for me, Bucky Irving RB eighteen is fine.

Probably maybe I still probably wouldn't take him. There is still probably some running backs that I you know, I'll take the DeAndre Swifts and Karen Williams and Javonte's those kind of guys over Bucky. But it's probably around the wheelhouse. You just can't expect a Bell Cow role. I'm not a Sean Tucker guy. I got cut a lot of flak last year after his big game. I put out an article on Draft Sharks going over his film, and you know just that he really wasn't as great as

the numbers indicated. But you know he's still gonna get on the field. He's talented enough, like you said, having that the hard issue coming out of college made him fall in the draft. He probably would have been around for pick had he not had that issue, maybe snuck in around three. I certainly had some of the explosive tendencies, has some of the acceleration that works for him when the blocking's there. He's gonna get on the field too.

And I think we're seeing a lot of run games that are gonna be kind of three different players, and that you know that hurts everyone. It hurts us for fantasy. So yeah, Bucky a little down on him. I think Gainwell I'm interested to see where he kind of settles. He might be the one that's worth targeting in this backfield for the value.

from last year, Quinn, Shawn Judkins, Trevian Henderson. Would you take either of those guys over Irving right now, Shane.

the end zone four times. Graft said, quote, Dobbs can play on the outside. He can make up for a lot of the production over the middle that Stefan Diggs brought last season. He should help the offense's red zone woes. He can pull down deep balls, which may thrives at now.

If you go back to last season when Dobbs was with the Packers, five N zone targets, seventeen inside the twenty targets, I do remember, as a Packers fan, a Packers honk, that he was a guy that Jordan Love looked to quite a bit inside the ten, inside the five, and I would imagine that that would be the case with Dobbs again. If New England stands pat which is the million dollar question, Shane, certainly, I think New England is more than willing to go to battle with what

they have in that wide receiver room right now. But I got to believe the wheels are turning h that they're they're that they're still working on this Aj Brown trade. You still have Deebo Samuel Juwan Jennings out there in free agency if they want to add another piece there, or they could simply draft a receiver in the second

round too, or maybe even the late first round. I don't know what they're what what they're thinking is, but this all reflects on you know, all these kind of like question marks with a lot of people, a lot of pundits believing the wide receiver room in New England is still a work in process. So how do we handle Romeo Dobbs right now? Would you consider if you want to invest in him in the Never too Early best FFPC Bestball Tournament? It is an eleventh round pick,

He's going as wide receiver forty seven. Does that seem palatable to you? Does that seem like a target for you? Shane? How do we handle Romeo Dobbs knowing that his role as it stands in mid March could be very different than what it is in early September.

you could probably tell me Bulky if you agree. But you know, watching Romeo Dobbs, I think, I think he's a really good NFL player, But I don't see a target hog that's going to be, you know, the number one for a team and turn into this, you know, top guy that's going to get a ton of targets. You know, yeah, you can target him in the red zone or to help you get down the field. I think I think he's good at those jump balls, could

test the catches. But when I watch Dobbs, I don't see a player that's gaining separation every play and and running all these different you know, route combinations. It feels a lot like Green Bay, where there's gonna be a lot of options for the Patriots even if they don't, you know, just add a free agent instead of trading for ay J. Brown that Drake May's gonna spread the ball around. Kishon Boudi is still gonna get his. They're still gonna want to filter in Kyle Williams onto the

field and have some deep shots. You know, Dobbas I think will be a fine best ball selection in the eleventh round, but if he starts creeping up higher than I'm probably out. And can we please not let the Patriots draft the receiver anymore? Can we just like ban them from drafting just to just check bus next to the name if if they do it, like trade for a J. Brown please so you know that you have a guy that can play.

that worked out pretty nicely for him. Over the years, they have not had a whole lot of hits there, with Jalen Polk and Nikhil Harry coming to mind, and got it feel like I got to scrape off my tongue after saying those just awful stuff. Yeah, so, Dobbs, I think for me, he's almost a target in the eleventh round because the value is so good and the upside. It's not like traditional fantasy upside. I look at the upside that you have with Dobbs is if they don't

sign anybody else. This is a guy that's gonna threaten to get a thousand yards like Diggs did last year. He's a guy that I think does a lot of things very well.

fighting for targets from Watson and Tucker Craft. You know, two dynamic players there, and I don't I know, he's still fighting for competent tiger competition in New England, but I don't think it's as fears. So I do think we see a step up for him and the eleventh round, man, I'm with you, like this, this is this is the spot where you probably gotta grab him. Speaking of the Commanders, Bucky Eccually not Bucky Irving. Rashad White has left Bucky

Irving in Tampa to sign with the Washington Commanders. It is a one year deal. I think it was only for like two million bucks or something like that. It was not a significant investment. We all talk, not we all, but plenty of people have been talking about potentially Brandon Iuk and Jaden Daniels reuniting in our nation's capital because

they were teammates with Arizona for the Arizona State Sun Devils. Well, Rashad White was a teammate of Jaden Daniels in Arizona State as well, and now they are back together again. Forty two carries eight catches in twenty twenty for Arizona State, and then certainly in twenty twenty one took a massive step forward both rushing and catching the ball. One hundred and eighty two carries forty three catches. The Commanders are collecting running backs. I mentioned your own fordger Cory Krofsky

merrit Obviously they're still as well. I don't know if if this is a situation, Shane, where we should target White because he's probably the biggest fish in a small pond there, right, Or do we just kind of fade the Commanders in general, because this is gonna be crazy, mash them ups, mix them ups with the depth chart on a week to week basis, and we're never going

to know the right guy to go with. Certainly, you don't have to pay up for any of these guys, but if you could let me know who the Commander's running back is to have on your fantasy team this year, I certainly welcome that knowledge.

guys out of a hat. Yeah, the Commanders still could add a running back. We talked about love, but even day two, I think they have a shot to draft one. You know, the Jerome Ford contract, the Rashad White contract are not guys they have to lock in. Jakoy Krofsky. Merritt probably is the big winner from this free agency that they we didn't get Travis a Chan which I

said incorrectly last time. It was my first time trying that since since the announcement, But you know, because he didn't get that eb Jacory Krasky, Merrick gets another shot to be kind of the lead, you know, first two down running back if they don't draft another one. But I like Rashad White in PPR leagues just from a past catching perspective. I think for Jane Daniels, you have the experience with him, you know he's gonna block well

for you. I think that veteran kind of leadership to have on the field, even if White's a little bit inefficient as a runner, might win out and despite the contract.

locker there. So McNichols is there as well, or perhaps sham they gave McNichols the locker that used to belong to Chris Rodriguez Junior, who is taking his talents from DC to duvall As. Liam Cohen would say, point two million dollars in fully guaranteed money on this contract. Now, let's unpack this a little bit. Four million dollars signing ponents. So obviously you know that that he's not just going to be a guy on this team. They want to

be able to utilize him. When I found out that a Chan had moved from Jacksonville over to New Orleans, immediately wheels up bashall toot. They believe in Tuton they want to let him go this year. He was hyped up, talked about by a lot of pundits last year as a guy that maybe could even have taken the backfield away from a Chan and twenty twenty five that now that didn't happen, but there's a lot of people at

least allowing for the possibility for that. So now obviously that a Chan moves on and you have Tuton here, we should be doing everything in our power. And I'm saying we as in me, this is my reaction, we should be doing everything in our power. I'm going through my dynasty league, Shane. I'm saying, Okay, which leagues do I have Tuton on? This is great. It's like a free running back. It's like a free starting running back.

And then I started thinking about it more rationally. Chris rod rea Is played college football at Kentucky when Liam Cohen was there. Rodriguez left a situation in Washington where they were bereft and he could have been the lead guy there potentially, and maybe they didn't want him back. I don't know, but he leaves to go sign with Jacksonville.

James Gladstone quote from him, the GM from Jacksonville. What he'll able to, what he'll be able to do is provide the complimentary skill set, in particular when it comes to the inside running, the hidden yards that come with his style of play. You know, the tough demeanor. You know, that's a real thing, and when given a higher workload, it can wear out those that have to stop it from going forward. He also mentioned something about Rodriguez having

superpowers or being a superhero. I don't know what they're doing in Jacksonville, but some of the press conferences with Gladstone and Cohen have been nothing short of amazing. But Rodriguez, now, dude, I'm looking at this. I'm almost thinking like I might be going one to eighty. Like I think Rodriguez might be the guy I want at least a redraft this year.

If I could share with you, Chris Rodriguez running back fifty three at the fifteen to oh four Bacial Tuton right now is going as running back twenty four at the five h nine. To me, it's not close. If I have to pick the better value of those two, it's unequivocally Rodriguez unless I'm missing something.

Basil Tuten's the guy want to draft. So But I think the positive for Tutin out of this is the Jaguars can't draft a running back to make the roster, right. Roriguez isn't getting cut Tuton's not getting cut and I don't think you can put la Quinn Allen on a practice squad without him getting picked up. I think they like his past catching skills. Like I think this is the unit and it's going to be a three headed monster.

I'm with you, I think value wise, like I'll take the shot on Rodriguez that late RB fifty three all day. It could be a touchdown thing. With his experience with Cohen, he knows the offense. I think all that works out. It's just hard for me to see a player who was inactive on the Commanders who they're terrible running back room. I mean, couldn't crack it until injuries happened. Now is there's a lead back, and like that jump to me is a lot just the explosion. Isn't there for Rodriguez

to be. I think a consistent three down running back. You know he breaks tackles well, But when you're you know, smacking into the defenders every time, you're gonna you're gonna break some tackles. You know you're you're a big guy. So I think Tutan's gonna be the lead back. I think Rodriguez will get a lot of the short yardage work, maybe get Snake those touchdowns and us to managers will

all get mad. I think Luken Allen will do some of the past catching work and we'll be frustrated by the backfield for sure.

like Tutin. If he, you know, shows that full hour, well rounded skill set, I think it'll be tough to take him off the field.

FFPC never two early Best Ball Tournament viewers. That's a shameless plug. The Minnesota Vikings have inked Kyler Murray to a one year deal. Tom Pellisero from the NFL Network has reported that the Arizona Cardinals are paying thirty I believe, what was it, thirty five million, and then one point eight million is being paid by the Vikings. So what's wild to me is is the hate for Kyler Murray. Shane every I mean, everybody and their mother is just

like that this guy is. I mean, it's like like Will Levis stuff, Like we're we're saying stuff about Will Will Levis, Like these these slurs that we are being hurled at Kyler Murray right now, we're the same stuff that people were saying about Levis and some of the and Josh Rosen and I don't think he's at that level. And now he gets into a situation in Minnesota where he's throwing to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ. Hockins, and Aaron Jones and and certainly we'll see what they do

in the draft. They gotta replace Jalen Naylor. I think this is a good situation for Murray. And you do have, I believe, a pretty talented coach there who has worked wonders with sort of rehabbing these these veteran young veteran quarterbacks and and and squeezing more goodness out of them.

I couldn't do it with McCarthy, but I'm not gonna hold that against him, given what he's been able to do with, you know, Donald and some of these other guys that had no been Nick Mullins and these other guys that had no business being under center in the NFL. I'm kind of in on Kyler Murray when you consider that he still has his legs under him, he's still fresh, he's still young. He's going to use those two his advantage.

I think Minnesota's offensive line has gotten a little bit better here this year, at least healthier for twenty twenty six. I don't know. I think Murray is, as Matthew Berry would say, the hate has gone too far. On him. I think people need to start waking up and understanding that Murray might be maybe not the greatest NFL quarterback, but there's some fantasy goodness to mine here.

career except last last year. And like you said, weapons are better best he's had, you know, just about a system best he's had. If he wins that job, I think that's the only downside is you think, well, maybe

they stick with JJ McCarthy. I don't think they would have made this signing out of the Carson Wentz is winning the job, Like yeah, this is kind of a Russell Wilson Steelers situation where you don't have to pay him anything, but you're getting you know, the quarterback that you plan on starting for for almost nothing, and you can let McCarthy sit. I'm in the rushing for fantasy is just is so good. I think he's gonna be able to get the ball Justin Jefferson a lot better

than we saw JJ McCarthy last year. I'm in a Kyler Murray.

But would you draft Shane any of those four quarterbacks over Murray, Willis, Shook, Mayfield, Love.

done it here with Hollywood Brown. It's one year, it's six and a half million. Jordan Schultz, NFL Insider Jordan Schultz reporting on this Chane, Is there anything here with Hollywood Brown in bestball leagues? Is this a player that we want to be in business with or have we just sort of seen like kind of what he is and what he's going to be for the remainder of his career. He gets another year older every single year. I would imagine that you know, at least a half

a step. Probably that's what you lose over the course of a year year a year to year basis. Now at his age in the league, I'm not terribly excited about I think the only thing that would get me excited is if Smith or Brown were to go down, or if Brown gets traded, then I think we might

have something there. But as it stands right now, I don't have a whole lot of excitement over this signing, even though it was formerly a big name in fantasy football, going to an offense that should rebound this year.

see huge production. So I'm pretty much out, but I'll probably sprinkle a little bit in a couple of my basketball teams just in case.

off with the wide receiver. I have a thought on which of the big three receivers is standing out most to me, and it might be different for you, So I definitely want to get into that. We'll get into the tight end conversation as well. Shane P. Hallum on X he writes for Draft Sharks. You can hear him on several of the Draft Sharks podcasts there as well. You are watching f FPC Insider Access, Eric Walkman, Shane

hallm coming back right after this, don't go anywhere. We've got a baller second hour of the show coming up of FPC Insider Access this evening. We will be right back. If you've ever wanted to play high stakes fantasy football, but the entry fee was the barrier for you entering, check out the Baby Gorilla. One hundred and twenty five bucks. That's it, and you can win one hundred thousand dollars great stuff with the Baby Guerilla this year. Check it out.

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and for iOS users as well. Register now at m y f f pc dot com getting an early start on our number two for FFPC insider access. My name is Eric Balkman. He is Shane Hallam from Draft Sharks at Shane P. Hallum on the X as well. Let's get into the rookies. This is, by the way, Shane, what kind of attracted to you, because you've been such a draft guru for I mean years now, probably decades

might be more accurate. What originally attracted to you? What is it about these rookies every single year that has you hooked and wanting to do so much work and critique on their games as well as how it translates to fantasy football.

I like to do that type of stuff. And so it's always been, you know, been a thing that I've enjoyed and I've always said, you know, I can, I really do it. But with volume, I'm the first to have seven round mock drafts every single year for two years in advance, three years in advance, and you know, I'll just continue trying to be the first to watch these guys and do it.

And that's what I'm doing now, is going back and watching things already have notes on to see you know, what changes, what I missed and see if I agree with consensus, if things are different than what I say.

for him. Do you have a hat hagar for a hit for a player that you were really telling everybody, listen, this guy is gonna be awesome. I don't care what you say, and you were proved right.

and just like that, this guy's really good. And then he didn't get drafted a like, wow, I look awful, drafted a ton of bestball leagues and early best ball leagues and then uh that that rookie year man he hit and and the injuries ended up doing them in. But that's always one that I know. It's not like a Puka Nakua who's gonna be this like ever lasting player. But you know, he didn't even get drafted and hit as a rookie.

you know, this ruins James Robbins. I was so ticked up. Again, if if I remember correctly, I think a Chan had like a knee problem like a that knocked him out, So you got another bonus year or at least bonus part of the year with James Robinson until as you said, injuries ultimately did him in. But certainly you saw something in Robinson and and you were proved right. What was it about him? Was he Illinois State Robinson? I remember? What was it about him that you really liked? Was

it tackle breaking ability, contact balance? What was it?

with the wind, like James Robinson was that type of player, and I think that's what really made him successful early in his NFL career.

them pulling away significantly than the others. I have my favorite out of the three, but I could probably be convinced to go a different way. I'm not going to reveal who it is. But if you are assessing this, and I know you put on a bunch of stuff on X and with draft Sharks about this. If you're assessing this, how are you assessing these three in relation to each other? Obviously landing spot is going to be huge.

But as it stands right now, Shane, do you have one of these guys separating more so than the other two? And how would you rank them right now?

a number one wide receiver for an NFL team. I think a Lemon, Tate Tyson all really good number two options. So I want to put that out there first because I think sometimes you see the draft capital it's a week class as a whole, the entire class, not just the fantasy guys, so they're getting propped up a little bit. My favorite, I think it's close. I think they all do different things well, aren't going to fit different systems. Well,

mkaile Lemon is my favorite receiver of the three. I think he will be the third one drafted, maybe even fourth receiver. I could even see him falling further because mackay Lemon is an elite slot wide receiver, and we saw last year the trend really kick up was already trending that way of less teams using the slot wide receiver, more twelve personnel tight ends. So it's going to be

a specific system that's going to want McKay Lemon. Whereas Cornel, Tat and Jordan Tyson, I think will fit more teams, so there'll be more teams that have them on their boards. I think McKay lemon, to me, you know, flashed them outside ability in twenty twenty four. Really the slot stuff is what worked for him in twenty twenty five, but really reminds me of Ceedee Lamb as a prospect. You remember Ceedee Lamb fell further than most people thought because

it was a slot wide receiver. Mike McCarthy ends up drafting him, who needs needs a slot receiver as well, again for Pittsburgh. But I think Lemon, you know, is an elite after the catch, really hard to bring down, really savviot, looking not just at the guy in front of him, kind of the old Barry Sanders of looking at the next level and knowing, how can I beat

that guy? I'll beat this one. And I think McKay lemon does that so well after the catch, you know, really quick off the snap and his footwork's so sharp. But he's not you know, he's a four or five speed player that's on the smaller side and a slot receiver. But I think the shiftiness, you know, I think mclemon's going to be more of the target hog of these three, whereas I think like Tate, I think talent wise, you could argue he's the most talented and probably why he'll

be the first one off the board. You know, he's big, he's tough, he's these long, he makes those tough catches. You know, he has kind of the power after the catch that that makes them hard to bring down. Is gonna pick up extra yardage, But I just fear the fantasy upside. I don't see him as a player who you know, he has like a good slant. He can

get some separation, but it's not always consistent. I think Tate's an elite, you know, downfield kind of contested catcher George Pickens like which we've seen some of the upside for Pickens. I think that that was my compent in the draft, Sharks rookie guy for Tate, you know. But it's gonna be a lot of deeper throws to Tate that I think he's gonna win. I think that can have some big games and some disappearing games, and and then Tyson is probably the hardest for me to peg like.

I think his upside and downside are a lot more extreme than the other two. There are some incredible plays. I mean, if you watch Jordan tyson highlight film, you will think Jordan Tyson is like to be a top five pick in this draft. Like the highlights are that good, but the separation is so inconsistent. I mean, there are halves of games where Jordan Tyson isn't getting open, isn't getting you know, a target that he's able to break away and make make a good catch on, where the

defenders getting you know, disrupting him. So I worry about some early struggles for Tyson. I think he's gonna need some manufacturer touches. I think the screen stuff, some of the the you know, sideline work is really good, but it's gonna take the right system. You know, he dropped a lot of passes, especially two years ago. He's a little his footwork's a little bit messy. You can get

too impatient and waste some movement. Like I just think there's some refinement that Tyson needs that Tat and Lemon don't. And that combined with the injury issues. He's never played a full college season, you know, hamstring issues last year, fracture claviical two years ago, a c O M c l PCL three years ago, you know, in twenty twenty two. Excuse me, So I think Tyson has that downside that scared me off a little more.

are all number two guys. I don't think there's an alpha among them, at least in the NFL level. But I'm willing to say that if there is one out of these three, I think it's Tyson. I think he has the biggest upside. And because I feel like if I if I whiff on Tyson, at least I went big Tate, I think it was a fine polished receiver. Same thing with Lemon. Polish is another good thing to bring up because I think Lemon and Tate are more polished, and Tyson well can't get the right coaching and the

right seasoning to get there right. At least that's that's what I believe, and I'm sure you would agree that certainly that's in the realm of possibilities. And then the injury thing, I think people are really I think that's usually you brought it up last, but I think a lot of people bring up Tyson's injury history first, and I look at it and I'm like, Okay, well, it was the shredded knee which happened four years ago, that could happen to anyone. The fractured collar bone, I mean,

I don't. I don't think that's a I think that's kind of a freak thing as well. And then the hamstring issues I do. I mean, that is bad, and he missed basically the second half of his last year, But I'm also willing to say that's the only injury I'm necessarily concerned about over the course of his career, and if it's just a half season, I'm kind of willing to look the other way when I see the

upside is as high as it is now. Brett Whitefield from Fantasy Points brought this up like a month or so ago about Tyson, and I didn't crunch the film,

you could probably speak to this as well. He said that Tyson was being schemed open so much like they would design all these plays for him and he would catch the ball and there would just be nobody around him because everybody or they wanted to make sure that Tyson had as much space to operate in as possible, which you're probably not going to get at the next level. Is that something that you noticed on film too, when you watch Tyson?

about getting him. You know a lot of screen stuff, a lot of mid screens from him, so you know, you have to man him up, you have to have a corner. There a lot of times you're shading his safety over and if he runs a mid screen, now those two dbs are out of the play. You have blockers for.

off the bat. So yeah, I think all three are good. Like I'm happy getting any of the three in a rookie draft. I'd rather have the you know one oh five than the the or the one O four and said than the one of two.

talk about Casey Conceptsione here. I think it was Pat Forman. I could be wrong on this, but he posted something on X about this knee up scope that Conceptsion had. Earlier this week, Mike Garafalo said he's expected to be one hundred percent for rookie camp. The report was that this was a routine and preventative surgery, and I think it was Pat that said, there's nothing anytime you have surgery on your knee, it's not routine and it's not preventative.

So I think that he had his eyebrows raised on that. Do you have your eyebrows raised not only in the surgery but Conceptsion in general, as it seems like he's probably gonna be like a coin flip whether he goes in the first round or early second round. Shane, your thoughts on Casey Conceptsion as it pertains to the knee surgery and sort of what he's going to be at the next level.

Uh exception, that's tough for me. I think he's going to be a better NFL player than fantasy player, which feels so pass to say, I guess about a prospect, but it's my compent. In our Rookie Guide was Percy Harvin as kind of an upside comp where where you're gonna use him in a ton of different ways, you know, concepts.

He owns so athletic, so fast that you're you're gonna want to run, get the ball in his hands and and do you know, do a bunch of different stuff with him, do reversus, do you know, do some of that kind of thing. I mean, watching Concepts, he is always open because he is so fast and quick. If you try to man him up, he's he's really good at getting open. But he's small. I mean, there's not much strength there. Teams kind of figured out that if they had a bigger slot, they could knock him off

a route early and that timing would be off. So if you see some of the bad games or poor production from concept in some games, that was kind of what was happening. A lot of drops on his hands are among the worst, you know, among the receivers that were probably the worst of the receivers that will talk about on the show. You know, So I to me, it's hard to see a position even in today's NFL where Conceptsion you know, gets one hundred plus targets in

a season. Uh, but I think you could have some big games, big runs, you know, the rushing upside, you know, it can be a little bit helpful, but again it's you know, it's another number two that that's that's to me, just just not going to get the volume that you want.

of years. Fifty six catches, seven hundred and fifty five yards and ten touchdowns two point four to four yards per route run in the twenty twenty five season. Boston has the size I think field Yates was saying that he could be a big slot type guy in the NFL, which I think is exciting when you I think that's another reason I like Tyson too, where he can play inside, he can play outside. Maybe Boston is the type of player that could do that, could do that as well.

He might be a late first round pick. I did draft him late in some best balls already, and obviously, if I'm doing that, Shane, I'm of the belief that he's going to contribute to whoever drafts him right away year one. Do you see it the same way for Denzel Boston? And what kind of a dynasty asset is this gonna Is this guy gonna be over the course of the first few years in the league.

so the team started playing back on him. But then you know, Boston developed a really nice slant route, a really nice en route, really nice out route. You know, I think he has a lot more route versatility than even even some of the top three wide receivers in

the class. He's just good hands, you know, really good catch technique, has a little later breakout than some of these others, Like you said, because he was behind guys that got drafted in the NFL and Washington, including another receiver in this class, Jeremy Bernard from who transferred to Alabama, you know, Boston was behind him. So you know, that's always tough to to kind of parse out why. But I do think that the downside for Boston, he's not

gonna do much after the catch. Even with his size, he gets tackled pretty easily. So I think you're looking at a guy that you know, maybe can command a little more target targets from that big slot. I think I think the right team that has pass a pass first offense, I think we could see Boston have a pretty good impact. So, you know, dynasty wise, I mean this wide receiver class these five, to me, is is

the one O two through the one of six. I mean, I think you're you're drafting these receivers and maybe the next guy that we talk about right in that right in that range before any running back and you know, maybe in the FFPC you're going to take the top tight end over some of them.

the rest of the guys. Do you see more of as like a smooth kind of flat curve when when we talk about the guys that are going to be going in the mid first round of the guys that are going in the mid second round.

But there's there's just so many. I don't say negatives because I don't think that the negative list is is that good? Just like you don't watch most of these receivers and think, wow, you know this, this guy could be a star if this is correct or this is fixed. I think a lot of them are capped out, you know. And it's it's I think part of the NFL draft today, we're getting guys that have been in college four, five,

six years coming out. We know, I think we know who most of these players are already, you know, I mean how many you know. We don't have too many early declares here, three year declares here. So that that's the tough part I think about watching them, is it feel like there's not a lot of room for growth for a lot of these players. Outside of I think like Tyson and Lemon and and and the next guy that we'll talk about, I think those are really the only ones that I feel like, are gonna grow and

get better. And to me, you know, a second round, third round pick that doesn't get better is gonna be really hard to make a fantasy impact right away.

not sixth then every other draft. And I think you got to keep that in mind. Sometimes we just say draft capitals, draft capital like this is you know, we put that bucket out, and I think this bucket this year, to me, is a lot different than a lot of years.

football player. Like I think there's some refinement there. And so that's why I said, I think he's one of those players that I look at him and go, there's improvement that could be made here for already a pretty good player. So he's still raw. He's not very physical. I think that's when he would get into trouble was when he had, you know, corners or it was up against linebackers that could get physical with him. But I'm a fan of Omark Cooper and I didn't expect him

to be talked about as a first round pick. I thought, you know, some of the some of the role combinations were, it's not a ton there that he's probably going to be more slot only. I don't think he'll play outside. I thought, Okay, it's probably a round two guy that I like. And now it's like he might go top twenty, and I'm like, that feels too expensive, you know. It's it's almost like I want this guy to go Day two because that will be better. But I'm a Nomark

Cooper fan. Uh, certainly, And you know, I could see him ending up in rookie drafts as you know, the one oh five to one oh six when we get there.

really be dangerous to cover. Uh. And like I said, I think being as good as he is against zone coverage, which I think it was almost seventy percent of NFL plays last year defensive plays for zone against pass plays, I mean it was a ridiculous number. I think that really bodes well for someone like Cooper.

This guy's story was pretty incredible, as you know, the way he made his way from high school to now being a national champion, to now being a potential Day two pick in the NFL draft. I worry about the athleticism not being enough at this next level, but perhaps shade with how crafty he is, with how powerful he is, with how big he is, maybe athletics, maybe he ages pretty well in the NFL and becomes a nice little possession receiver for whoever drafts him. Your thoughts on sarat.

that come out. I always think of it the Keem Butler love that that happened when he got drafted, right, it's like, oh, he's such a good contested catcher. Well he can't get open, you know, That's why he had to catch everything contested. I think Elijah Serat's kind of the same way, Like he doesn't get open, but he sure he knows how to he knows positioning, he knows how to box you out. He knows how to do that.

Just doesn't really pass the eye test. His hips are pretty tight, but like good hands, good power, enough explosion off the line that you can't really press him. I think there's upside there. I get why people like him. He's probably not gonna be someone in a lot of my teams.

do you also struggle with that? Why do you think people struggle with trying to figure out how these Tennessee receivers are going to turn out once they get to the next level? And specifically Brasel, how is he figuring in to your rookie rankings for receivers.

something you can do in the NFL. With where the ball's placed, you know it's gonna be much harder to hit those passes than well a ten kind of builds are often so you know it's someone's gonna get open, Like, it's really hard to cover three guys in a stack all the way against the sideline. I got my three corners, I'll button up against each other. You know, how do

you really cover that? And so when you have a really good athlete we saw Doante Thornton last year, I think Chris brasles a similar class of this kind of big, long, fast athlete who is really hard to cover when you're working through traffic as a dB. That makes it really tough. That's why that production came. I think brass a little more refined than Thornton. It wasn't just like run straight and well, you know, we'll get the ball to you. Brazil could do a lot of different things. They did

a lot of screens with him. They had some middle of the field stuff for him. But it's definitely tough to know if a player has a good feel for the receiver position, and if they've played in that system for a number of years, it's hard to trust that they have a good feel for the position. You know, you're not learning NFL style offenses and talent any know who knows. Maybe roles change in ten twenty years and

we get something similar in the NFL. But for now, I like Brazil, but I think he's he's not someone I would draft in a redraft, right you know, I don't think it's going to be a year one hit, but he could be a player down the line that finds a role because of that athleticism, size, speed, stride is all really good.

There's been so many people speaking effusively in praising Sadik in Love, I want to talk a little bit about potential warning signs, potential red flags, because with the f FPC tight end premium scoring, there's been a lot of people falling all over themselves the draft sidique in the early to middle part of the first round of Brookie drafts coming up in a little over a month. This

dude put on a show at the combine. And I think part of the reason that his agility at his speed was so good compared to previous tight ends was because there's not as much Kenyan Sadik as there was

say a Michael Mayer or a Rob Gronkowski. This is not a large tight end now, We saw that that kind of worked out for Aronde against in the second last year with Los Angeles, and perhaps it can work out for Sadiq this year, but or over the course of his career, I should say, but in regards to Sadik, do we need to prep ourselves now that if we draft him, we have to understand that this guy may not be in every down tight end at the next level. He may not be the type of guy that can

get out there and run block when he needs. I know he's a good blocker, but when he's blocking these other, bigger, more physical athletes in the NFL than what he was facing in the Big Ten, I do think that there's a little bit of a learning curve here, and maybe a learning curve that his body just will never be built for. I don't question the fact that he could

be successful at the next level. What I do question is him being able to do it and being on the field as much as we would like him to be given his expected draft capital in FFPC rookie drafts. How oft am I or how on am I? In regards to the Sadik size and perhaps some other warning signs about him, Shane.

It's almost the Kyle Pitt's type of situation where we know what the talent is, we know what he can do as a receiver and as an athlete, but playing Sadek in line is almost malpractice because you know, one on block NFL edge rushers and uh the edge rushers aren't gonna buy that he's blocking them. So, you know, I think Sidiq has that ability more so than an Ronde Gadsden, for example, as a player that could place

them in line, that could do some blocking. I think the techniques there, you know, but sideiq is is best in the red zone. I'm not even one hundred percent sure he was the best tight end on his team, which is a question. So twenty twenty seven Jamary Johnson, but you know who it was two fifty seven, and you know, has the tight end profile, and Oregon kind of was leaning on him a little bit more later in the season when they needed someone on the field

for the run game. So, you know, I think sidiq is could be a boon for fantasy because that it's a nice thing about these top two tight ends, Like if you are drafting them as a team, you're drafting them to catch the football and so that's at least what we can get with Sadik. But I do think there should be some trepidation over playing time as a rookie if the situation offers another tight end that that's

going to block. The nice thing that we have seen the past two years is teams moving to more twelve or thirteen personnel teams, Like you know, they are figuring out that having a tight end in the slot works well, and that might be a benefit now than it was three four years ago. You know, when Pitts was a rookie, even though we had such a good rookie year, but

we saw him get off the field. I think Sadik at least could is more than likely going to go to a team that's willing to use two tight ends and Sadeqk's going to be the one catching passes.

on Sadiq. But this is a guy and I've been hearing this more and more over the course of the last month. And again maybe this is people, you know, just because we don't have a whole lot going on right now and we're trying to come up with new narratives. But I have heard people say that they like Star Wars better at the next level than Kenyan Sneak, which could prove to be true. But there are some red flags with Stours as well. What are some of those and who do you think is more successful at the

next level? Shane, would you have Stours as your number one tight end over Kenya Seek.

runner up in the Heisman. I was amazed at how much Diego Pavia could not hit Eli Stone, like Eli Stowers was making these crazy catches in the open field that it shouldn't have happened, you know. So like from a a perspective of value, like I'm probably gonna draft more Stours in rookie drafts, right instead of spending a top five FFPC rookie pick on Sadik, I can move down to the late first and take Stours. I don't think the difference is enough for fantasy. I do think

Sidik is more polished, certainly as a blocker. I think Sidik is more polished as in terms of a mover and the different routes that he has, especially in the red zone. But I think Stowars has that potential and because of you know, the QB conversion situation is still a little bit wrong when we talk about room to grow, I think Stowers has that room to grow. I think Sadiq, you know, could we kind of know what he is

and has that elite potential. But I think Stowers could turn into an elite pass catcher in and Rondez Gasden type of role. That's what you're gonna have stours do.

Fantasy football year round. The NFL Draft starts in just over a month, so don't miss out on playing in the FFPC Never Too Early Best Ball Tournament and the Never Too Early Super Flex Bestball Tournament. Both of those tournaments will close at the start of the NFL Draft. They each feature a forty thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars grands prize, respectively. You just saw the ad for

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Rampage Tournament, which is going on right now. It's twenty five thousand dollars grand prize there, and of course, the seven Bananas Promo could earn you free FFPC teams if it's free, it's me, and it could be you as well. Sign up now my FFPC dot com. Manage all those teams from your pocket with your phone with the FFPC app. We are coming into the home stretch of the final portion of the FFPC Insider Access Show this evening. Shane hallin from Draft Sharks joining me Eric Baltman here talking

FFPC rookie drafts NFL rookies. And I think if there's one name, Shane that has come up over and over and over again with this year's rookie class, it is the Notre Dame Rushier, Jeremiah Love. We don't have to spend a whole lot of time talking about him, because what can we say that hasn't already been said? What I will post to you is this, If Love is to bust at the NFL, why is it? What would cause him to bust? If he does have any red flags?

What are they? What don't you like about Jeremiah Love? Right now?

isn't enough to overcome that. You know a lot of there are a lot of plays where he is running to where you know he's if it's an off tackle play, he's running off tackle. He's not looking for that cutback lane, he's not hitting it, or you know, he's just going where the play is supposed to go and missing maybe

bigger plays there. I think in the NFL, if you have a week offensive line, I think we saw with Ashton gent last year at times, you know a week offensive line and you have some of those vision limitations. That's like the one thing it can sometimes be tough to overcome that blocking. Whereas you know Adrian Peterson, one of the best running backs of all timer I had great vision and he could overcome a bad offensive line because he'd always find wherever there was a whole, he

could find it and get there. I don't think Jeremiah Love has that type of ability.

in the top ten. He's He's the one on one in every format for me, even at super Flex. Yes, though you can make an argument depending on your team, to take Mendoza over Love. I'm taking Love one on one in the super Flex League.

then the combine. I was like, he looks like one of the best pass catchers in this draft, and he was right, but that's what knocked him. I think Price has that. You know, it's such a smooth mover. He's tough, really low pad level, has some home run ability, even though you know Love's not. He's a four or five speed player. He's not maybe the quickest, so he's doesn't have this elite athleticism like a Mike Washington. But I

think Price has that combination that can work. We've now seen two big time mock draft smel Kiper and Daniel Jeremiah with jeneriing Price in round one. Again, to me, he tells you how bad the twenty twenty six classes as a whole. Jenering Price is getting into the first round of the NFL draft, but that's not out of their own possibility.

I'm not sure why, and that's that's kind of my big question. But still, you know, the size, the cutting ability. You know, he doesn't fumble, he does everything right, the technique's good, the vision solid. Like he's an NFL contributing He's a one bee that is going to get a good amount of carries and I think produced with those carries. He just needs that chance. So I like Coleman. I think situation is more important for him than maybe the other backs in this range.

I just assume they have that killer instinct. I just assume that all these guys want to compete. And if I'm Emma Johnson and I know doing the three cone and the forty is gonna hurt me, I ain't doing it, and I'll let teams figure it out themselves. So I was kind of disappointed. I guess maybe I was more dis pointed, not in his decision to do all these but the actual execution of it, which turned out bad. Because I was kind of high on Emma Johnson until I saw what he did at the Combine, and now

I'm not nearly as high. And some of these, you know, a couple of the other guys Coleman and Price will talk about Washington in a second. I actually like a little bit more. Johnson looked pretty good in the Big Tent last year, and now I'm wondering if he does have the chops to succeed on the next level. Shane, where do you have Emma Johnson among your running backs.

like this guy stinks. Right, But teams now you know you have film, you have GPS tracking on that film, Like there's a lot of things you can do to check the numbers and see what you want to do. I think Emma Johnson, you know, I think competing is good for him. But he is small and he is slow for that size. But everything else to me is like really good. This is probably the best catching, pass

catching running back in the class. He's a really good just rhythm runner, Like the patter of his feet moved to kind of a style where he can make that shift and it's a lot more consistent. He's not like this herky, jerky, you know, an open space guy, and it makes some really tough to bring down and get a clean hit on him, which I always like. Knows

how to kind of set up the second level. Takes good angles watching his film like this could be the RB two in the class if he was a little bit more athletic, you know, if we saw this for multiple years. So it definitely holds me back. I think Emma Johnson, I like for fantasy more than reality. Even because of the pass catching, I just think he's gonna be hard to keep off the field. I think you're at least gonna get some receiving out of him.

dealt with some injuries before. I saw some people Shane moving him up to their running back two in the class. Now we know you didn't do that, but at the same time. Where was he? Was he a Day three pick for you prior to the Combine and it's now day two? Or did you not bump him up as much.

but you know, I went back. I tweeted kind of a threat about this when I was working on the film article for draft shirts for what Mike Washington went back to his new Mexico State tape and watched him and it's like it's like a completely different player, you know, two years ago, and no idea what he's looking for in a hole, no idea you know how to how to kind of shift and make a cut behind the line to get the most out of that explosion. He'd slow down a lot to make a cut. Well, you know,

in the fumbles have carried on through this year. And then you watch him in Arkansas against the SEC, and you see a player that clearly got much better coaching at the running back position and what to look for and how to make a cut and what the what your feet are supposed to do. So to me, that bodes well. I mean you see the improvement from him. Yeah, he's older, he's only had one year of development. I think it's a red flag. I think you got to

be worried. You know, he is a receiver in high school. I think the receiving chops come out despite the size. I think there's a lot to like that power and smooth movement. I think the upside is, you know, a lead running back is an elite running back. I think the downside is a player that can't you'll get on the field that that's more athlete than running back. So probably the biggest boom or bust of this running back class are those.

the college season even ends. As faris Bieler would say, things move pretty fast around here. Nick Singleton, you've known for years, uh to owning him in Debi what happened to him at Penn State to to lose so much of his prospect shine to the point where now a lot of people would even put k Tron Allen above him and Shane. The fact that he's got he's dealing with a broken foot right now. Is somebody going to find a nice little value on him. Some team gonna find a nice value on him when it comes to

be the NFL Draft. Knowing that, you know, we don't know how far along the foot is to being healed, and we missed out on a lot of stuff at the combine and workouts and stuff after he fractured his foot at the Senior Bowl.

slight improvements every year. But I was just waiting for the blow up the year that Nick Singleton would become, you know, a fully well rounded running back. You know, in a Penn State system that has some of the best training staff in college football. You know, we see the elite athletes out of Penn State every year, like,

how do you not develop as a runner? And that's what gets me, like, I think I'll have a lot of Nick Singleton and rookie drafts because I'll bet on the upside and he's gonna come to me we'll see what the situations are. But cheaper than a Mike Washington, cheaper than you know, Jonah Coleman, And I think the upside is above those players. But I never saw an NFL running back in terms of the little things, the vision, the footwork, the ability to make guys miss just never

came around. Whereas Kate ron Allen is like the perfect technique running back who you know knows knows how to how to get low through the hole and knows how to take contact and uh, you know, knows how to how to what cutback lanes to look for, how to follow zone blocks that Nick Singleton just ignores. But Alan just isn't explosive, Like he is so slow off the snap that you're like, I don't think this can work

in the NFL. And it's why I still see both his Day three picks, like, I think a team in this weak or twenty twenty six class could take a shot on either one in round three, but uh, I think both just have these glaring holes out there that makes it tough to really see either one as a day you know, Day one player contributor in the NFL.

a successful NFL running back. How much of a sleeper is Claiborne in this year class shame?

He gets tackled too easily. He's you know a little more always trying to make the big play and sometimes gets some caught and because he can't really break a tackle, it goes poorly for him. So I definitely see him as more of a number two running back in the league. But he could have you know, big run and it's seventy yard touchdown here and there. That makes you say, oh, he's a guy should have, you know, on the bench.

number one. He's gonna go to the Raiders. They have Clint Kubiak, who I think is a really smart offensive guy who knows how to scheme his players up to play to their strengths, which I think is a feather in Mendoza's cap. He's gonna have genty behind him. He's gonna have an improved and healthier offensive line in front of him. Rock Bauers obviously on this team. Jalen Naylor's there as well. We'll see what Jack Besh does in his second year, so he's got some things to work

with there in Las Vegas. I think what's interesting is, at least the reporting that I'm seeing is that the Raiders don't want to start him week one. They want some veteran to kind of start over him and then ease Mendoza, in which I think is the right way to do it. My question for you is, even though he is going to be the number one overall pick and he won the Heisman and he was the National Championship quarterback and all these things, how good of a pro is he going to be? Like? What? What's his

ceiling at the next level. I've heard a lot of Jared Goff comparisons, which I think is fine, but at the one on one I would I would hope for more, something more dynamic than that. At the peak of his powers in the NFL shape, what's Mendoza going to be? Uh So?

I think I'm with you. I think a situation's perfect Kubiak offense allows a quarterback to to really be in timing, you know, be able to get those throws out, and Mendoz is accurate enough to I think to hit that and do that. He's going to have the offensive line upgrade. He's gonna have brock Bowers, he's gonna have Ashton Gent to lean on. That run game. Kubiak is always going

to be run first. I think all this works. I think where Mendoza falters is under pressure, and there just wasn't a ton of that because of the RPOs and the timing rounds that they had in Indiana. But when he did get pressured in the Big Ten Championship against Ohio State, for example, you know that that's where he struggled. And there's times he put on the Superman cape and and and made a great throw under pressure and it worked.

And so I think you see those flashes, but I think it's going to take some time for him to do that. It's great to want to start a veteran. There's not a veteran on the market I think is going to compete with Mendoza in camp and and the whole team's gonna say, you gotta, you gotta start this year. They gotta start Mendoza, like he's so much better. Right, you know you're gonna lose the team if you don't start the best quarterback so I think he'll be good. I don't think he's going to be great.

he could be a top twelve quarter fantasy quarterback. But you just you're not gonna get the number one scorer.

at the next level. If he was, and if he did, certainly I think there's some upside there. I just I guess I don't know how much. How would you rate Ty Simpson as far as how well, how good of a pro career you think he's going to have.

a QB coach when he was four. You know, his technique, I mean, his footwork is excellent. He but just the decision making and the arm strength isn't there, you know, and so when to me, like you look at a guy like Cole Payton from North Dakota State, a quarterback in this class who is footwork's all over the place, but his arm is stronger than Simpson. If I clean up that footwork, that arm gets a little bit stronger. I think Simpson's capped out in a lot of those places.

He doesn't have the experience I think to make the right decisions and get the ball in the right place. I have a lot of fear. I think if it's better for Simpson to go in around two, you know, to get that and I don't think I haven't rated currently as a late second round pick. I mean, he's obviously going to go higher than that, but I certainly don't like him going in the first round than what that means for his future.

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