
4 BOLD Fantasy Football Predictions for 2026 with JJ Zachariason | Best of the Fest (Ep. 2154)
About this episode
FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast is made possible by:
This segment was taken from the 2026 FantasyPros Fantasy Fest, our 4-hour marathon livestream to help you be fully prepared for all of your upcoming fantasy football drafts! Click here to watch the whole thing on the FantasyPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/fantasypros
JJ Zachariason joins Chris Welsh and Derek Brown for FantasyPros Fantasy Fest to break down four predictions that could completely reshape the 2026 fantasy football season.
Could Stefon Diggs AND Terry McLaurin both finish as top-24 wide receivers? Is Puka Nacua capable of averaging an incredible 26 PPR points per game? Could Malik Willis become a top-12 fantasy quarterback thanks to his rushing upside? And is Justin Jefferson actually at risk of finishing outside the top 20 wide receivers?
The guys dig into the stats, usage, ADP and historical trends behind each prediction before putting even more bold takes from the FantasyPros community to the test.
Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)
Intro - 0:00:00
Stefon Diggs and Terry McLaurin - 0:07:18
Puka Nacua - 0:12:02
LeagueBase - 0:14:42
Malik Willis - 0:16:21
Justin Jefferson - 0:21:42
Chat Bold Predictions - 0:25:18
Outro - 0:27:16
Helpful Links:
2026 FantasyPros Fantasy Fest - We were joined by some of the industry's BEST experts for our 4-hour-long FantasyPros Fantasy Fest 2026 livestream, the biggest fantasy football event of the year! Missed the stream or didn't have the time? No problem! Click Here to watch the whole thing on the FantasyPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/fantasypros. Don't forget to subscribe and drop a like if you love what we do and want more content just like this!
LeagueBase is a private clubhouse for your fantasy league. Connect your Sleeper, Yahoo, or ESPN league, and everything that makes your league yours—the trades, records, rivalries, running jokes, and league history—finally has one home. You can also get $50 in credit toward your league’s first season at LeagueBase.com with code FP50—that’s F-P-five-zero. And right now, LeagueBase is sponsoring a draft trip for one league. Sign up free at LeagueBase.com/fest and you’re automatically entered to win a trip for your entire league next offseason. Wherever your league wants to go, LeagueBase picks up the trip. Official rules at LeagueBase.com/fest.
Draft Wizard - Dominate your fantasy football draft with Draft Wizard. Run fast mock drafts, test different strategies, build custom cheat sheets, get pick-by-pick draft advice, and learn your leaguemates' tendencies before draft day. Just download the FantasyPros App or head to fantasypros.com/draftwizard
Start Your Free FantasyPros Premium Trial - https://www.fantasypros.com/free/ -
Get three days free to unlock premium draft tools, rankings, analysis, and personalized advice.
Watch and Subscribe to The Tailgate - https://www.youtube.com/@tailgatenfl -
Just friends talking football. Get NFL storylines, weekly analysis, giveaways, and more from the FantasyPros team.
Subscribe to FantasyPros on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@fantasypros -
Watch the latest fantasy football rankings, mock drafts, sleepers, breakouts, and draft advice.
Support the FantasyPros Fantasy Football Podcast - https://www.fantasypros.com/review/ - Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help support the show.
Real-Time ADP - Track up-to-the-minute draft trends across all major platforms: https://fantasypros.com/realadp
View the Latest Fantasy Football Rankings - https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/rankings/ - Compare expert consensus rankings, tiers and player values before making your draft-day decisions.
Follow us on Twitch - The team here at FantasyPros is taking questions all week, every week on Twitch. Follow us on Twitch at twitch.tv/fantasypros and never miss a stream!
Discord – Join our FantasyPros Discord Community! Chat with other fans and get access to exclusive AMAs that wind up on our podcast feed. Come get your questions answered and BE ON THE SHOW at fantasypros.com/chat
BettingPros Podcast – For advice on the best picks and props across both the NFL and college football each and every week, check out the BettingPros Podcast at bettingpros.com/podcast, our BettingPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/bettingpros, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Get every episode summarized
Each time FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
Transcript ready
778 searchable segments. Every word is indexed and playable.
Full transcript
FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast — 4 BOLD Fantasy Football Predictions for 2026 with JJ Zachariason | Best of the Fest (Ep. 2154). Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Strong hands built America, kept it running for 250 years. Strong hands also keep Copenhagen moving today. Here's to the bravery of linemen, the endurance of truckers, the skills of welders, the traditions upheld by farmers and all American tradesmen sharing in our work ethic. Copenhagen, celebrating American craftsmanship, proven since 1822. Warning, this project is not a safe alternative to secrets. The 2026 fantasy fest is here right here on fantasy pros. What's up friends? I'm Chris Welsh and we have got hours upon hour. We're stacking hours on top of each other for all of the fantasy football goodness that you guys could possibly imagine. We're talking ranks. We're talking draft strategy. We're getting into bold predictions. We've got live drafts and we've even got an after party.
And we are so excited that you guys are here with us for these four hours of craziness. And the fantasy fest is brought to you by League Base, which we'll be talking about all so long. So strap in, sit down, enjoy, because we've got so much for you here. And I got a couple of buddies here at fantasy pros joining me for this first segment here. We've got Debro, the King of Bros and the House Seth Wilcock jumping in here as we are going to be tackling bold predictions and friends. Here's what I want you to do in the comments below. Interact throughout the show. You guys can drop your bold predictions. You can have questions on bold predictions or you could just have questions about anything because at the end of every single segment for this entire show, we're going to be answering your questions. So fill up the chat feed so we can have more and bigger conversations around what you guys want after we talk about some bold predictions. So the fantasy fest is here. Debro, what is up my man? What is up me and Debro in the house Seth Wilcock got to love it with some Debro. I do good man. I'm ready to sling some bold takes.
Get them out there in the space. I think we got some good ones cute up here. I gave my own bold prediction in the chat here that Seth grows a beard in the year of 2026. I'm here for it, but I'm ready for some bold man. There's no chance that's going to happen. And you know what, even if there's a little bit of craziness behind the scenes, Seth Wilcock is always here to help pick up some of the pieces. Seth are you ready to drop some bold predictions because we've got some good ones for the show today. Yeah, ready for an excuse to when I miss a pick and I'm on the clock just to be all right with it because I'm on the fantasy pros, fantasy fest here. I think I'm on right now in about four different leagues, different platforms. So I'm going back and forth from my apps. My screen time's gotta be through the roof right now, but excited to be chatting here with you boys tonight. Boys, what does the bold, what defines the bold take for you? This kind of comes back. I'll talk about this a lot where I look and I'm like, everybody is very cravy about sleepers. Like sleepers become the term that the term that just like creates all the chaos for everybody. And it's like, so really a sleeper and stuff like that. And but like bold prediction, we've done lots of bold predictions on these shows.
We've had some that are really huge. Sometimes we even want to be mild about it. I was joking with Bogman the other day. He did a show because he's become like a bold take machine, especially when we cut up videos here. But like, where is the definition that truly makes it bold? Is there a threshold deep, bro? Guys, we're gonna tackle into these like, what is the threshold where you think like, yeah, I've really nailed that this is a bold prediction. For me with bold predictions, there has to be a lane of possibility with it. And some things like you get constraints of, is the quarterback good enough, is the play volume enough, is the target volume enough to get a player to whatever we're talking about. Like if we're talking about, oh, this guy's gonna be the the wide receiver one of the year, but he's on a team that's gonna run at like a top three clip in the league, is the target volume gonna be there? Is the quarterback play gonna be there? So for me, even with bold takes, there has to be a lane of possibility to set the bar of like, okay, even in your mind's eye, can we squint and see it?
Because if I can't squint and see it, it's just ridiculous. It's not a bold take. It's just something that will not happen. Seth, real just real quick. And then we're gonna jump into your guys with bold takes. When you're hyper focusing on bold takes, what do you think you lean towards more? Is it talking about record breaking performances? Is it about a usage type of a stat? You know what I'm going with it? Like I think people take bold predictions. And finishing as BAP BAP BAP, like what is the lane of bold prediction usually look like for you? It's a little bit more productivity based and just overall status, kind of what I'm looking at. I think finishes are great too. Like for me, I'm looking to get the pop, right? Like I like to see someone go, hmm, oh, that's interesting. I wasn't considering that. I like being kind of roasted in the comments in the moment, but then maybe look back six months from now and I get a text from D-Bro, hey, that wasn't such a bad take and maybe the YouTube commenters come back around as well. All right, well, Kings of Bold takes here and bold predictions. That's what we're gonna jump into. So again, reminder, drop your comments below. At the end of this segment,
we are gonna be bringing up some of your questions. So we have your fantasy takes and your fantasy questions be as tight and awesome as you can. And you can also kind of interact with this segment. If you got some good stuff, we'll bring it on. We're excited to talk with you guys for the rest of the show. So let's jump into some bold predictions and then we are also gonna be throwing a little bit of a surprise. Actually, you know what? We're gonna throw a little bit of a surprise that you right now. Behind the scenes, Seth Wilcock, stepped in when there was a little bit of chaos to start. So Seth, I love you dearly, but I'm gonna start the show off with a negative. You gotta get out of here. Get out of here, Seth. See you back at, what, 65 after party? We'll be here. Locked and loaded. We've got a surprise for you because Seth is a monster and Seth is our G, but the guy that he was filling in for is here, DeBro. Welcome everybody get ready. Cause coming to the stage, oh my God. It's JJ Zacharyson. How you doing, man? My gosh, I am so sorry. I thought it was 330 and not three.
And it's my fault. I apologize profusely, but I'm here. I'm here. We love you. We love you too to make up for it. That East Coast dad time bro. It's under for all you know, I know. I just want the season to start. So I have a routine and I know where I'm at. Like it's just so wild right? You know, all you've got to do to make up for it is bring the boldest, most badass predictions. And that's what we're looking for for you, my man. So if anyone didn't know behind the scenes, that's what we were just kind of reeling with that. It's all good. We love Seth. I feel so bad for literally putting him on the plank and kicking him off the ship. I'm sorry. It's it's really my fault. It's okay. I apologize. It's okay. So you know what? Let me ask you this really quick, Jay, because I asked these guys, what is the marker when you are putting together bold predictions in that it has to meet a certain threshold? It has to be maybe statistical base or finish base or a volume base. What are the kind of two thresholds when you are putting together? But you know, because bold predictions are just such a big marker for our industry. What signifies those and locks in for you
when you're ready to put out a bold prediction like you're going to do in the show? Yeah. Look, I want them to be realistic. You know, I don't want to just throw something out there that I can't back with data or with some sort of analysis. So I think that's the biggest thing. And I think that when I say the bold prediction, I want people to say, oh, you know, kind of give like a, like, oh, I can see it so that they're not just like, you know, straight face, like, oh, that's not bold enough to be to warrant a bold prediction. So I just kind of go through that. And I, you know, base it all on, you know, the stuff I typically do with the data and numbers analysis. All right. You're going to be put on the hot seat because bold prediction number one for fantasy fest and for the season, JJ, the late round quarterback, your number one bold prediction is what? I will say that Stefan Diggs and Terry McLoren both finish as at least wide receiver twos this year. Both of them. Yes. Yes. And so the reason for this is number one, Stefan Diggs, I don't think it's cooked. The way that that folks might think that he's cooked. He averaged 12.3 PPR points per game last year.
He was a fine picket cost. He wasn't a league winner. But with that being said, among, among wide receivers with a hundred or more routes, Diggs was inside the top 10 in Yard for Out Run. He was the 90th percentile in targets for Out Run. The reason why Stefan Diggs was in better in fantasy football is because his route share. I mean, his route share was alongside guys like Troy Franklin and Sterling Shepherd. They just weren't using him that much in New England. Now, why they weren't using him that much in New England? I think number one is coming off in ACLs. That's probably playing a role. But then also they just face scripts where they didn't need to force it with Stefan Diggs. They were in these favorable game environments. He can play in the slot, but he can play outside still. I'm actually not that concerned about him. Like people think that he's only like a slot merchant at this point. He's actually top 10 last year outside the slot in Yard for Out Run. I think that the fit with McLearn is also awesome because he's more vertical in nature. He can play that X, let Stefan Diggs play in the outside and also move inside in 11 personnel. There's not that much competition in Washington
outside of these two guys. I don't mind Chigaconco, but he's not sitting there like ready to earn a 20% target share necessarily. And you're looking at Traylon Burke, Santonio Williams, like a lot of question marks outside of these two guys. And then when it comes to McLearn, he's not dust either. McLearn had his best per route run season of his career last year, which is crazy because obviously they weren't playing in this like really great ecosystem. So I like, you know, McLearn to be able to make some of those splash plays that we've learned to love from him. And if this comes together, now look, I wish this Lamy Tonsal injury didn't happen. It would make this bold prediction a lot easier to say and feel more confident in it. But I do think that both these guys compliment each other really well. They should be able to see strong target shares. I think there's a very real chance they could both be top 24 this year. I am very worried about the offensive line. And I think there's been some reports that have come out there. And we've seen that happen in like the 80 P streets. If you look on like real time 80 P Fandasy pros, we've seen Jayden, we've seen Daniels like move around. We've seen that adjustment at the quarterback position.
We even saw right when the Tonsal injury was happening, him kind of flow around. So I'm a little bit wonky on just the offense in general. And that was kind of my fate was maybe not even the other pieces was Daniels. But Debra, what do you think about both Stefan Diggs and McLearn? I think we can all agree like Stefan Diggs has been kind of mispriced and most places have not caught up. Probably the best places to the cheap plug is our real time 80 P Fandasy pros. It is a fantasy pros real time 80 P. You can find it easily. And that's showing like the latest from seven days to even 24 hours. That has been the best marker to understand what the real value looks like. But do you think it is possible, Debra, for both these guys to finish as a top 24 in this offense? I absolutely think this is possible. I love this take by JJ. Just so many parts of pieces, it's a consolidated passing attack. You have a quarterback that's shown that he can get it done. Stefan Diggs, like to JJ's point was not dust at all. He was basically, again, the only reason that held down his production is he was the Christian Watson of the New England Patriots. And a lot of that was because New England
was blowing teams out in the first half. Like you look at the splits between Drake May's numbers, first half, second half. It reminded me a ton of yesterday year Philadelphia Eagles when they just took their foot off the gas, ran the ball, didn't matter, and they weren't having to throw it a ton. Stefan Diggs is still really freaking good. And this is what we want. If the quarterback is good enough to support two top 24 weapons, and the target tree can be consolidated enough, I love this take from JJ. I've had Stefan Diggs, my White receiver, 31, since he signed with Washington, top 36 guy, easy for me. Fun thing, this has really has not happened since 1991. I went and looked this up, 1991, the at the time, the Redskins had Gary Clark and Art Monk, where Gary Clark had 1340 yards, 70 catches and 10 touchdowns, where Art Monk had 71, just around like 1050 and eight touchdowns. Those last time you would have like a theoretical scene, two White receivers in this offense in Washington be top 24.
So that's a really, really fun one. D-Bro, bold prediction, your first one, but it's number two on the episode. Hit us with what you got, my man. Dude, when I'm looking at these bold predictions, I want to, again, how JJ kind of frame this. I want to go with the guy that I think could define leagues, and I think Pukka Nakuwa could be the first White receiver, and I went all the way back to 2013. He could be the first White receiver to average 26 PPR points per game in the year 2026. Now, how does Pukka get to this? First of all, like, I don't think people realize that when he was a full-time player last year, because in week six he heard his ankle, he missed week seven. If you look at weeks one through five and eight through 18, Pukka was averaging 24.7 PPR points per game, and the simple napkin math of how he gets there is not hard to see, guys. If he gets the red zone role, if we were to just simply flip the touchdowns, and say Pukka got the 14, and Devonte Adams got 10
over a whole season, Pukka's at 26 PPR points per game. And if you go all the way back to 2013, where's only two White receivers that have Eclipse 25 points per game? It was Devonte Adams in 2020 with 25.6 Cooper Cup in the same Rams offense with 25.9 in 2021. If Pukka takes over the red zone role and Stafford still is chucking it, this is a consolidated offense, Pukka can get there, and if he puts that number up, not only is he the clear White receiver one in fantasy this year, probably by a mile, but he's gonna be a league and season defining player. Did you say the week 14 through 18 stat? What did you say it was? No, it was a week. No, one through five and eight through 18. Okay, well, because I have something. Well, look, so you think he's gonna average 26 points to game, we'll check this out. The final five games of the season, he averaged 26.1 points per game in the final five weeks, and seven games, seven, were 20 or more through the whole season. He scored 20 or more points in seven games last year.
The only thing that holds Pukka in a coup of back is anything he does in the off field, is when he's in street clothes. JJ, what do you think about 26 points per game for Pukka and Akua this year as a bold prediction? I love it. If you look at all wide receiver seasons since 2015, where the Whiteout had 200 or more routes run, Pukka and Akua's last two seasons rank in the top five in both yards and targets per out run. I mean, the dude, I just don't think that people realize how amazing his per out run efficiency has been. I do like that you use points per game here, because maybe there is like a game suspension or something going on with Pukka, there could be stuff going on or there's an injury or something like that. But I think that it's in reach, because his usage in this offense is really unlike anyone else's usage in Pantasy football. All right, we've got more bold predictions coming up. Both of these guys have got two, which by the way, I gotta say these are probably my favorite two that are about to come up here. And I got some interesting stats I pulled on JJ's. But before we do, we want to remind you guys that fantasy fest is brought to you by League Base.
League Base is a private clubhouse for your fantasy league. Connect your sleeper, Yahoo, or ESPN League, and everything that makes your league yours, the trades, records, rivalries, running jokes and league history, finally has a home. Instead of having everything scattered across spreadsheets and camera rolls and group chats, League Base gives your league one place for commissioner tools, scheduling reminders, league news, and many games like Survivor and Pickham. It's built to make running your league easier and keep everyone engaged all season long. You can also get a $50 in credit toward your league's first season at leaguebase.com with code FP50, that's FP50. And right now, League Base is sponsoring a draft trip for one league. Sign up free at leaguebase.com slash fest, and you're automatically entered to win a trip for your entire league next season. Wherever your league wants to go, league base picks up the trip. No purchase necessary for US residents, 18 and older, in September 30th, official rules at leaguebase.com slash fest.
So get your league set up at leaguebase.com and use code FP50, that's FP50 to claim your $50 credit. All right, ladies and gentlemen, more bold predictions. JJ, this has been a popular, I get screamed at, whenever I do a short on fantasy pros, people on the internet just yelling at me and D-Brow has talked about this guy, and he gets screamed at. I don't know, you're very well liked, so maybe you'll get screamed at a lot less, but your bold prediction is a great quarterback. So I don't know, maybe you've got some PTSD too of the screaming, let's hear your bold prediction on a certain quarterback that we've all been loving. Yeah, I wouldn't say that I'm well liked. I'm gonna go, Malik Willis is a QB1 this year. You know, you look at what he did in Green Bay, average 58 and three starts, average 58 rushing are to game and a touchdown per game. That's 11.8 fantasy points per game via rushing. Yes, small sample size, I get it. All right, so let's take that 11.8, let's bump it down to seven, okay? If you look at quarterbacks since 2011, who had seven or more points per game via rushing and threw the ball 300 or more times into season.
So that's just the 300 more times just a qualifier to say they played that season as a starter, played a lot of games, right? So seven or more points per game via rushing while throwing the ball 300 or more times. You have 25 quarterback seasons since 2011 where that quarterback hit those marks. And I think that comfortably, Malik Willis is gonna get there on the ground. Seven or more points per game via rushing. Of those 25 seasons, only three of the quarterbacks of those 25 ranked outside the top 10 in quarterback scoring and points per game. All of the other ones ranked inside the top 20, which obviously Malik Willis is being drafted after that point in time as well. Not that a QB 18 or QB 17 is gonna really help you out in fantasy football, a will from a superflex perspective to a degree, but not in a single quarterback league. I'm just viewing Malik Willis this year as at the very worst, it's gonna be a Justin Field situation and that's someone that we've drafted historically at like a low end QB 1 high end QB 2 type price tag. You know, I think the market has gotten a lot sharper in general in understanding regression and touchdown regression while understanding
that quarterback mobility matters a whole lot. Just look at like Matthew Stafford's ADP this year, which I think is more or less, you know, it's decent enough. Like it's, you know, people are baking in that regression. Five or six years ago, Stafford would have been a QB 5 or QB 6 in ADP. But all this is to say that we still have this mobile guy late. We still get this guy who could be borderline prolific on the ground. I know that that seems hyperbolic, but it's true. Like all we've seen with Malik Willis since college has been a phenomenal athlete who brings a whole lot of points in production to the table with his legs. So the real question is, can he be a good passer? I mean, like Debro, like we've all been doing this. We've been watching football for a while. I don't remember seeing a wide receiver room look as bad as what Miami's does entering the season to be fair. But at the same time, I just think there's a lot up. We don't have a big enough sample size to say definitively one way or another that Malik Willis is either really good or really bad as a thrower. So we're just leaning into the baseline with the rushing. And if he's a better thrower than we expect, then all,
and I don't think the offense of lying there is that bad. All of a sudden, if he's a better thrower than we expect, then he could easily be a top 10, top 12 quarterback. We look like bobble heads here, me and Debro were like, we're just bobble head. Everything. So I've got something I'm going to add. And this is going to be a cheap plug. I actually use coach, which we have here in fantasy pros, which can help you in drafts. And I use coach to help me find this. And this is a little bit in line with what you talked about, but I took a different angle. I looked at, first off, I looked at our projected fantasy pros, projected rushing yards. He's number two in that quarterback for rushing yards. So I decided to play it down and I typed into coach, which you guys could do on fantasy pros. I said, give me all of the quarterbacks that have had 500 or more rushing yards in the last 10 years. And their fantasy finish, 28 quarterbacks came up. And to your point, when you said there were three that didn't finish as a top 12, I laughed because I can see them. 2018, it's Lamar Jackson, 2020, Cam Newton, and 2023, Dandel Jones. They were 18, 15 and 25 respectively.
But every other single quarterback that had 500 or more rushing yards on that list, that is 25 quarterbacks, finishes a top 10 quarterback in fantasy or higher. And I then asked coach one more thing further. This is a nice plug for coach here. I said, now I want you to average all of those quarterbacks for me and give me the average quarterback finish of a quarterback that rushes for 500 more yards in a season. Quarterback five. That's what it ended up being as quarterback five. So it's not a foolproof system, but what that does show you is if he is capable of being a starting quarterback for the majority of the season and he gets to that rushing marker, it's showing you historically in the last 10 years, they've been a quarterback five and only three have not finished as a top 10 quarterback. So that is me backing the system there, Debra, I know you kind of agree with this on Maliquilus. What are we doing in ADP? Like I just have to throw this out here. Like in the year 2026, did the Konami Code die? Like did I miss the memo? Because for everything we're talking about rushing, it matters, you're going to be a top 12
or flirting with that type of production. Real-time ADP Maliquilus is QB22? Make it make sense. I do not understand that, JJ, I don't know where you have him ranked, but I've got Willis at QB14. I'm absolutely emphatically with you. Yeah, yeah, I mean, like it's wild to me. I think he's honestly the easiest click on the board in general because it's free, and if it doesn't pan out, it's not that hard to replace. All right, final one here, Debra, we're going to get a little bit less questions in this segment. We will try to get to a few. I've seen some people with some bold takes and that I really like. So we'll try to burn to this one, but I don't want to burn too quick here. The last bold prediction is a really high end player, a first round talent that Debra, you're thinking he might not finish as high as people are putting him out here. So talk to us about this wide receiver that might fail this year in your bold prediction. The real-time ADP wide receiver six right now, I'm telling you that Justin Jefferson will finish outside the top 20 wide receivers again this season, unfortunately. And this is somewhat of a Justin Jefferson take.
This is somewhat of a, I do not believe in Kyler Murray kind of take, but if you look at Justin Jefferson on a per-row basis last year, even just taking out like, okay, back quarterback play on volume and routes and snaps and arrow, all that kind of stuff, he was still only the wide receiver 15 and XFP per game. He was still only the wide receiver 17 and XFP per-rowed. So still not a wide receiver one, much less a top 10 wide receiver. So then we get to, okay, what is the Vikings offense look like this year? I don't think Kyler Murray is a good fit for KOC, he's offense asking him to play in structure on time. He can't even access the middle of the freaking field. So what are we gonna do? Get just like sideline shots and this looks like the Eagles offense of yesterday year and it's just go balls and stuff of Kyler? I also think with the Vikings, we could see them become more run heavy because of Kyler. Like this team last year was 19th and neutral passing rate 16th and pass rate over expectation. Both of those numbers could go down this year. And Jefferson quietly, although nobody wants to talk
about it took a step back amongst 109 qualifying wide receivers. I don't know if anybody out there would be telling you that Justin Jefferson was out tied the top one, excuse me, 35 wide receivers in separation score and route win rate. So if this was, okay, maybe the beginning of Justin Jefferson still really good at football, but maybe he's not elite. This offense goes a little bit more run heavy and Kyler still garbage as a quarterback. And we see JJ McCarthy at some point this year, Justin Jefferson is not a top 20 wide receiver in fantasy again this year. It was a hard one for me to back. I did do so a few looking here and a yards per game. He's average over 90 yards per game behind cousins, wins and darnled, but Mullins and McCarthy became an absolute disaster. Really interesting is touchdown rate is the most significant. Sam Darnoldy at a 9.71 touchdown rate per reception. That dropped a full percent under Nick Mullins. Kurt Cousins was actually in the 8% tower range, but there was so much volume. And then under JJ McCarthy that one under eight.
So if he can be more, if he can be better, then if Kyler Murray can be better than obviously JJ McCarthy and serviceable to what we've seen before, I think it's hard for him not to be based on from touchdowns to volume, but I know we are going with this JJ. What do you think, not top 20 wide receiver for Justin Jefferson? I mean, look, it's a bold prediction show. It's a bold prediction. And it's one that is backed in, like I could see it going down. Like one of the other parts of this KOC offense that I think is important is that one of the reasons why Sam Darnold was able to thrive in is because arm strength. And I am a little bit worried about what Kyler brings the table from that perspective to and be able to push the ball down the field because they're going to want to do that. And that's why they were able to thrive with Darnold the way that they did. So there is a little bit of fear there. I mean, I'm not going to go as bold as Debro would, but I think that there is at least a possibility is not a wide receiver one. You know, I don't think that that's out of the question. What's so ever? We're giving away a free one year fantasy pros premium. Subscription to one lucky viewer in today's stream. So if you guys want to get a full year premium fantasy tools
to help your draft manage your team dominate your league. Here's how you enter subscribe to the fantasy pros YouTube channel drop a comment below on the stream. And that's it. We'll be announcing a winner toward the end of fantasy fest. So stick around, keep those comments going. It is the easiest way to enter a contest. And the majority of you have already entered yourself. So rock that in. We've only got like a minute or two here. I want to put a few this is what we're going to do. I'm going to put a few of these bold predictions at some of our listeners to put up. And I want you to buy or sell them. All right. So yeah, it's trapping. Bold take. Mike Washington is more touchdowns than Gen T. JJ. I mean, I, I only sell if we knew that Gen T was out for like half the season. But I'm not, I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm, yeah, I want only buy, I would say. I'm, so I'm selling. Okay, D-Roh. So I'm, so I could sell. Is it bold to say stripling will be a wide receiver one from this year's rookie class this season? D-Roh. If the substation capsizes the entire receiving depth chart, it's not wild to say. I'm actually going to buy this. JJ, I'll buy it with the way that things are going for, for the top guys in the class.
All right, bold take chase brown finishes as a top five running back this year. JJ, I mean, I think I have them at like RB six or something right now. So it's got an RB five. So I'm not very bold for me. Yeah, by the way, this one just completely, we don't even have to get a take. But Justin Jefferson, wide receiver won this year. So you and Timeline are going against it. Here's another stripling one. Here's a little bit more bold take. Stripling top 24 wide receiver this season, Pierce all out, they're given the reasons behind it. So we said top from the class, but what do you think about as a wide receiver too? Good happen. Yeah, easy. Okay, you guys both fine, aren't good? Do want to Smith will not finish as a top 25 wide receiver? Sell on that. I'm selling, selling. Okay, I want to get you guys on like the other side of it. We had a bold take on Malik Willis. We had this one. Okay, here we go. Here's the last one. And look at the name of the person. Dranko's Jake says bonix is a top five quarterback. I'm going to take Broncos Jake. Yeah, I could see it happen. The only reason I would sell is because quarterback is so competitive. But aside from that, like I can definitely see, you know, bonix having a good year because the past.
I love it. They're going to be top three top five in passing. And I love I'm sowing on Jalen Waddle. Oh, dude, it's going. No, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, we don't we have to do a whole another fest if we want to talk about it. Jalen Waddle fest. Yeah, exactly. There you go. Shout out to JJ Zacharyson for joining us. You can find him on X late round QB. Make sure you check out everything. One of the best in the business, JJ. We appreciate you. You know, you're just going to have to give some hugs and kisses to Seth who we had to boot off. I know. I'll tell you again, genuinely, I'm so sorry. I don't know how that even happened. But I I'm apologies. And hopefully the the fire from the takes made up for it. You are here. You were here and you gave some fire takes. We appreciate you, JJ. Fantasy Fest rolls on. Don't go anywhere because Jake Sealey is coming up. We got a whole bunch more right after this here on the Fantasy Fest. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros, Fantasy Football podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts at fantasypro's.com
slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at fantasypro's. And subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasy pros. This is an I heart podcast guaranteed human.
More episodes
More from FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

5 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes to Add Before They Break Out (Ep. 2188)
FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Fantasy Football Week 1: Key Questions for Every Matchup | Rankings, Breakouts &...
FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Week 1 Fantasy Football Decisions: Start/Sit Advice for Every Position (Ep. 2186...
FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Week 1 Start/Sit: The Toughest Fantasy Football Lineup Decisions (Ep. 2185)
FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast