Everyone Is WRONG About These Free Agent Moves || Fantasy Football 2026

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Free agencies seem to move so fast this year and I think there are a lot of things that the fantasy community is just flat out getting wrong.

And today, Joey Wright and I, we're going to talk about some of the moves, things that we think that people understand and maybe they don't and what it all means for fantasy football.

Joey, we kind of talked over the weekend about some things that, you know, this is kind of the consensus belief and then maybe where we stray from that opinion a little bit.

And the first one you want to talk about is the biggest move perhaps of all of the agency.

Ken Walker going to Kansas City, talk to me a little bit about why he might not be a true three down back there.

Yeah, I'm just not convinced that we're going to see him get the bell cow work there in Kansas City.

If you look at the past five seasons under Andy Reed, I'm just going to run it down here.

His lead back in percentage of running back total touches.

So that's receptions and carries cream hunt 45% cream hunt 52% in 2024 in 2023.

Pacheco was 60% and that's the high mark 60% of the total running back touches is the high mark of this and Andy Reed backfield.

Pacheco in 2022 43% drove Williams 45% in 2021 and C.E.H 55% in 2020.

No back with more than 249 total touches in the past six seasons.

We've not seen it happen.

We've been factoring Patrick Mahomes getting some care.

She's got about 60 a season because you can't really I mean, we'll say maybe 30 of them would normally go to a running back.

I don't want to factor it into it, but it does pull away from the floor a little bit from Kenneth Walker.

He played 17 games last year.

He missed six the season before that.

But he did split time as act sharpening the last few years.

I think the best thing to happen to Ken Walker.

He was so excited.

Is he won the Super MVP his stock took a huge up arrow when Charbonne went down to the division around the playoffs from then on.

It was 65 carries in the playoffs.

He was looked fantastic.

Walker had 252 total touches last year in Seattle.

Pretty much what he was expected to possibly get in Kansas City.

That's kind of the max of what we've seen so Andy Reed.

So the max workload that Walker has had in his career in Seattle is pretty much what he's walking into in Kansas City.

And that offense didn't run with the quarterback as much.

I just don't see him taking the leap to RB1 status with those types of numbers.

I think it'll be an RB2 and I think it should draft him there.

But this whole like we have a brand new RB1 and Ken Walker Super MVP narrative.

I'm just not buying.

And you know, I like this take a lot just because it challenges what you know is the first big move.

It was what everybody wanted to see.

We've been wish casting or running back into this chief's offense for so long.

But I think he makes some really good points there.

And I dug into this a little bit as well when I wrote my instant reaction article.

And we do have this like rich history of elite RB1s with Andy Reed, Brian Westbrook, Lashon McCoy, Jamal Charles,

and you know, Kareem Hunt pre, you know, his initial move.

But that feels like it was so long ago.

And it was like I looked and we saw 78% touch total from Kareem Hunt back in 2017.

He got injured in 2018.

And then we saw that Damien Williams, Darryl Williams, Lashon McCoy, Anthony Sherman, mix of touches.

And it has been nine straight years now that we have seen this running back by committee in Kansas City.

I think the other thing here is that the chief's offense there.

I say hasn't been that good over the last few years.

Like I think we've been wish casting this for so long.

Like we were waiting for C.E.H. to be the heir apparent to Kareem Hunt.

And we were waiting for this to happen that over the last few years this chief's offense has started to dwindle a little bit.

So I don't even know if we should be that excited about a running back room here on an offense that maybe isn't as good as it was when we started hoping for this five, six, seven, eight, nine years ago.

Yeah, I think the chiefs have a little bit of the New York Yankees complex.

What I mean by that is anytime the chiefs come to town, the team circle the calendar.

And I think they're kind of falling into a little bit.

But you're right.

This offense has not really been that great of late.

And you know, we know Kelsey's coming back next year.

A big new addition that happened probably what an hour before the show today.

Justin Fields now could start the season as the chief's quarterback.

So there's a lot of things happening there in Kansas City.

I just maybe it's too much for Ken Walker to be a ever Jonathan Taylor level or even like a Devon H a level.

Right.

And we're not saying to like fade Kenneth Walker.

We're not saying that he's going to be terrible.

We're just saying that this idea that he's just going to walk into an offense get 300 plus carries and be an elite running back might not be 100% factual.

And that's what we're going to do today on this show is talk about some of these.

Just consensus takes that we want to challenge a little bit before we dive into the rest of the show though.

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Joey, let's go ahead and jump into the next one that I want to talk about here.

Chris Rodriguez Jr.

signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

And this is one where I think a lot of people are just leaning on Beish, all too.

He's the younger guy.

He's got the really fun athletic upside the relative athletic scores off the charts.

He ran a quick 40 time.

And I get it like Travis ETN left.

And immediately we rejoiced and said,

Beish Altuton is going to be the guy.

But my goodness, Chris Rodriguez on real efficiency metrics last year.

Three yards after contact for attempt.

That was second in the league behind only divine agent.

He broke a tackle once in every 8.6 carries.

That was the fourth best in the league last year.

And then he had a 58% success rate, which was fifth best in the league.

And I think those three stats right there perfectly encapsulate who Chris Rodriguez Jr. is as a runner.

He generates yards after contact.

He breaks tackles.

And he keeps an offense on schedule.

And when you look at this history with Liam Cohen, this surprises a lot of people.

But Liam Cohen, not too long ago, was just kind of climbing through the NFL ranks.

And he started as the offensive coordinator at Kentucky.

There was that Will Levis, Juan del Robinson team.

But the engine that powered that right offense was Chris Rodriguez Jr.

He was the running back.

Liam Cohen and Leven Kentucky go into the Rams for a year came back to Kentucky the next season.

And was quoted talking about how hard it was going to be getting an offense going without Chris Rodriguez saying there were times.

I knew I could give the ball to Chris Rodriguez.

He'd pick up four yards whether it was block form or not.

He just makes it on his own.

In the similar vein, we've got James Gladstone talking about Chris Rodriguez saying that he's a superhero.

That he can do these amazing things on the NFL field.

So they gave him a lot of money on top of that.

The same exact contract, basically, is Rico Dowdall, Kenneth Gainwell, Tyler Algier.

So I think that we're looking at Chris Rodriguez, potentially not only being the lead back here,

but getting all of the go line work, getting a chunk of the early down work as well.

And I think that he only might not have the same ceiling as probably the safer pick of the two.

And I think Basel Tutton kind of lands in this spot where he's going to need very good efficiency rather than the volume base role that we were projecting for him.

Yeah, I mean, I kind of want to add to the Liam Cohen part.

I'm sorry, were you done?

Yeah, I'm done.

That sounded rude, but I didn't mean to be rude.

I felt like I made it cut you off.

No, like to the edge of the Liam Cohen part.

Anytime he's been calling an offense, he's basically been calling a shared backfield.

The best example that we've have of Liam Cohen, giving a running back the complete workload as a head coach or an OC was last year with ETN at 68.9% of the carries or the total touches for the running back.

And I think we agree Travis ETN is kind of a better running back a higher caliber than Tutton or Alan was last year.

But Rodriguez coming in here, definitely going to have a role.

And this isn't like, okay, now Tutton's even looking at 60% of the work.

I mean, I think I think it's going to come 33, 33, but you know, Alan's going to take a big hit, but Rodriguez is absolutely going to be involved.

And liquid Alan was on the field a lot last year too.

He didn't get a lot of touches, but he was kind of their passing down specialist.

So I think with ETN out of the picture, Tutton, not the best pass catcher.

Chris Rodriguez basically is zero in the passing game as well.

So we could be looking at a situation where Chris Rodriguez is getting the early down work.

Chris Rodriguez is getting the goal line work.

liquid Alan is getting the passing down work.

And that leaves Tutton as the change of pace guy who isn't getting passing down work and not getting goal line work.

Just getting a lot of low calorie touches here.

So I'm interested to see how ADP shakes out here, but my guess is that Tutton is going to be the most expensive of the bunch.

And if I can get Chris Rodriguez later in drafts for cheaper than Tutton, that to me feels like a very good bet.

So we're sick with running backs, Joey, because it was a wild offseason for running backs.

You've got Javonte Williams up next talking about how he might be one of the best kept secrets right now in fantasy football.

Yeah, it's kind of he might be the most exciting running back.

Nobody's talking about like I've not heard anybody really mentioning what's going on there.

Dallas and Javonte Williams.

They signed him to a contract before free agency really kicked off.

He was last year's RB 12 24 million for three years.

That's not a whole lot of money and that might scare you off.

I just think it's a very efficient contract for how good he is about half the price.

The Kansas City paid for Walker and half the price.

The New Orleans paid for ETN and it could be argued he's just as good as them 287 total touches last year in Dallas.

230 more running back touches than all the other players.

So he's definitely the lead back there in Dallas.

They brought nobody else in through free agency.

And I know what you're thinking.

And this is true to any of these situations we're talking about today.

What's going to happen on the draft?

I don't really feel like Dallas is a threat to take any of the top running backs and love price or Washington out of this draft.

They've got two first round picks, but I think they're going to use both of those on edge rushers and a linebacker because they hit none of those in free agency of any merit.

So they're going to be looking to add to the scope positions there.

And if I can interject you know, we really quickly with her picks at 12 and 20 0% chance Jeremiah loves falling to them with either of those picks.

So like I was talking about this couple months ago that like maybe if Jeremiah love would be there at 12, but with the amount of buzz that we're getting about him, he's not making it to 12 completely agree.

And then Dallas does not have a second round pick.

So they be picking kind of towards the front of the third round.

Any running backs are going to be available there.

I'm not necessarily worried about cutting in Javante's workload, especially for 2026.

Listen, we've seen him put in RB1 production again in the past.

I don't see why I can't do it again.

I really like the bond in next year.

Yeah, I love Javante Williams and one of those players that came into the league so young.

Like you know, we get these guys that come into the league young all the time and kind of forget about how they age like Javante Williams is still just 25 years old.

It's unbelievable.

Like I think people have this perception of him is like this old dusty veteran running back and I get it like he had that very bad knee injury, which really impacted his efficiency ratings.

But if you look what he did last year, he totally rebounded to his every injury efficiency ratings and then also did that well getting one of the biggest workloads in the NFL.

But it wasn't just that he was getting a lot of looks.

It was that he was getting a lot of valuable looks.

He was top five in red zone touches.

He was top five or I'm sorry, he was top 10 in targets.

So he's getting the targets.

He's getting the goal line work.

He's getting the early down work.

He's in a good offense that's going to get him a lot of scoring opportunities.

So people are quick to point out the little dip in efficiency towards the end of the year.

And that happens when you're a running back in a big workload.

We saw the same thing with Jonathan Taylor.

We see that from a lot of running backs, but still just 25 on a multi year contract.

To me, it very much seems so like they want Javante Williams to be the running back in the future.

I was just doing my rankings the other day.

It's really hard to keep him outside of my top 15.

Yeah, I could agree.

And if you think of iconic positions in the NFL, of course, Dallas Cowboys quarterback historically.

But for fantasy, the Dallas Cowboys running back.

If there's a lead back there has always been profitable for your fantasy team.

If that's going to be Javante and you hit the nail in the head with the injury.

I think a lot of people were waiting to see what was going to happen last year.

If you'd be able to handle a workload after the injury and he absolutely did.

He played every game last season.

Like I said, wheels up on Javante for me.

Yeah, and the last thing I'll say this was a phenomenal prospect coming into the league.

Like immediately after his rookie season.

I know there's a lot of people that just might have started playing fantasy in the last couple of years in which case welcome.

Hopefully you'll be playing 20, 30, 40 years from now like the rest of us.

But Javante Williams came into the league a second round pick had an amazing rookie season.

Like the broken tackle rate, the target share, all the things we care about off the charts.

And then it was year two.

He had that injury.

And then it just seemed like he never really bounced back in Denver.

But looked like a completely rejuvenated player last year.

Plenty of reason to be excited about him.

Another guy that I want to talk about still talking about the running backs here, Joey.

Rashad White in Washington.

Now a lot has changed just over the last few days.

We got the word this morning that Jeremy Nichols.

Jeremy McNichols is going back to Washington.

They also signed Jerome Ford over the weekend.

Now it's crazy as it sounds.

I think that is good news for Rashad White because that tells me that they probably don't think Jeremiah Love is falling to them at pick number seven.

And that was the big fear that I wrote in my instant reaction article to this Rashad White signing.

I said if he gets this workload in Washington, it's phenomenal.

Of course, the fears that if Jeremiah Love ends up there, it's probably not going to happen.

And I think that the moves that they've made since signing Rashad White tell me that they don't think that he is going to be there at seven.

So it was just a few years ago.

Rashad White was the RB4 and fantasy football back in 2023.

And the big knock that season was that his efficiency was bad.

And it was in rushing the EPA in 2023.

He ranked 139th among all running backs in 2024 that improved to 20th best among all running backs.

And last year, he was 9th in rushing EPA.

So we're seeing a player who is just slowly developing, getting better at the NFL level.

And a guy who not that long ago was a top five running back in fantasy.

So he is a great receiver.

And that's something that Cory Croskey merit lacks.

Of course, we've also got good pass catching from Jeremy McNichols and that can cut into that a little bit.

He's also got the familiarity with the system.

But a lot of people don't realize that Rashad White going to Washington.

He's now getting teamed up with his quarterback from college.

Jaden Daniels and Rashad White took that back field at Arizona State.

And they were a great dual threat there.

They rush for over 2000 yards in the two seasons that they that they played together.

So I'm looking at Rashad White, a guy who has steadily improved his workload.

A guy that we know can handle a big workload.

Increased efficiency over the last couple of years.

Getting teamed up with his college quarterback and doesn't have a lot of competition for touches.

This is a guy that I think could realistically finish as a top 24 running back.

And I think because he hasn't done it over the last couple of years,

people just aren't even considering that as an outcome.

Yeah, I mean, last week we talked about Rashad White on the free agency show.

And, you know, he is somebody that as a buck in your span, I watched every year.

And I used to have a big problem with Shrad, right?

Because he could not break tackles mentioned this last week.

And then he learned how to break tackles.

And I think that's when you saw his efficiency really start to skyrocket.

My only and I'm not even really pushing back is I don't think it's going to happen overnight.

Rashad White, which might mean that he's a player that if he slips pet somebody takes on takes him in a draft this year.

If it takes a couple of weeks for a shot white to get going and Washington because I do think they're going to test out.

They're different options.

I don't think you're in forkey catch passes out of the backfield.

I agree with you.

So I think that role is Rashad White's.

But if it takes a few weeks between the Corey Croskey Marit and Rashad White to really see Rashad White's volume go up.

That might be the perfect trade target to go week four.

Go grab Rashad White when his value is a little lower than it should be.

I agree.

And you talk about the broken tackle rate.

I just want to say the numbers back that up.

Rashad White has been in the league for four years.

Broken tackle rate has increased each of those four years.

Last year, the ability to generate yards after contact per attempt.

Second highest rate of his career as well.

So you know, there was very good reason back in 2022 and 2023 to talk about Rashad White's playstyle and his efficiency.

But that's changed.

And I think that's something that so many people aren't willing to do.

Deandre Swift.

Like I was like the biggest Deandre Swift hater for years.

He has completely changed.

I always played football over the last couple of years.

He gets downhill quicker.

He's not willing to shy away from contact like he used to.

He generates yards after contact.

And we're seeing the same exact thing now from Rashad White.

Now before we talk about the next player, you might have heard me talking about Jeremiah Love here.

And if you're just tuning in for the first time this off season, you might not know who Jeremiah Love is.

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Joey.

I'm the next one here and we're going to talk about a guy that we called this last week when we were kind of setting the table for free agency.

We talked about how much of a good fit Romeo dobs would be in New England.

That's where he landed.

Talk to me about how he could potentially be a wide receiver to and fantasy this year.

Yeah, this is the free agent signing.

I was most excited for that was a really fun show.

Last week of just like we would say something and then like 20 minutes later it would happen.

And I mean, I walked around pretty confident on that day.

And that faded a little bit.

But no, the Patriots offense is led by Josh McDaniels.

And that type of offense requires, you know, we said the Oscars last night.

So I'm going to bring up an actor.

It's like Bruce Lee got to be water to succeed in that offense.

You got to be able to do a lot of things.

And that's I think why we like Romeo dobs so much.

He can block.

He can work in the middle.

He can work outside.

He used to just be a deep threat.

He's really developed his game.

When he was in Green Bay to really be a great not even just great like a very, very good well-rounded wide receiver.

He's going to be coming into presumably the work that Stefan Diggs is leading behind.

I don't like something like to talk about vacated targets.

But dig saw 102 targets in 2025.

And he got to be a little bit of an increase in work load for him.

He's hyper efficient.

And why I kind of like that he finishes a wide receiver 36.

165.4 ppr fantasy points.

Listen to a little math.

If you add a little bit more production to him.

You would have fallen about 190 to 200 ppr fantasy points.

That's kind of the threshold that wide receiver two's fallen to.

It would be like around the wide receiver 19 last season.

I don't see any reason why Romeo dobs with the talent that he has.

He develops every year.

He's increasing inefficiency.

Can't go into that Patriots offense where it's an upgrade at quarterback in my opinion with Drake May.

It's an upgraded Drake May as well.

I think you might be at this point the best wide receiver he's got to work with.

I know Stefan Diggs has a historic.

You know, he is one of the better wide receivers we've seen.

But in the last couple of years is definitely, you know, towards coming down the side of the mountain.

So I absolutely love it.

There in New England for Romeo dobs is the free agency.

I was most excited for the signing.

And I think looking right now it's so easy to just say like dobs is going to have a career year because it's a it's a similar system that they run in New England.

You know, everybody kind of has their roles.

But we know dobs is going to be the chain mover.

He's going to be the first read.

He's going to be the red zone guy.

Joey, I hate to even put it out there because I am also very excited about Romeo dobs.

But we're hearing rumors about them being tied to AJ Brown.

We're hearing that they might be interested in bringing Stefan digs back.

How much would that change your outlook for Romeo dobs if they bring in one of those two players?

Let's say it comes out later today.

AJ Brown is now a patriot.

Are you just completely out on Romeo dobs at that point?

I wouldn't be completely out.

It would definitely change my optimism on him.

I think we've hidden what are we on almost a week and a half now since the.

The shoe started falling and.

If AJ Brown came in, of course, I'm going to project AJ Brown to be the top wide receiver in the Patriots offense.

I don't think the 85 targets is out of the question for Romeo dobs.

Still if you were to see the same workload as he did last year in Green Bay.

And we know he was a wide receiver, you know, a wide receiver three last year.

White receiver two, no, I don't think he could be a AJ Brown there, but still most leagues out there.

They start three to four wide receivers.

You have the flex spots.

Romeo dobs is still something I'm going to be rostering.

We are back with Joey, right?

And I've got a take that I'm going to put out there that probably isn't too spicy.

But I think that Brock Bowers could lead the league in targets this year.

And I'm going to, I'm going to put on my tinfoil hat.

I'm getting fitted for right now, but I think some some craziness here happened that people aren't really fully understanding.

And I want to kind of walk through what happened this off season with the Raiders for free agency open.

Huge blockbuster trade, right?

They traded Max Grasby and in return, they were getting two first round picks.

One of those first round picks was Baltimore's 2026 pick, which was 14th overall.

Now, when I look at what the Raiders did this off season, they fully operated under the idea that they would not have Max Grasby

and that they would have a first round pick that they could use on a receiver.

They went out and they signed Quitte Pay, who was the presumed Max Grasby replacement.

And then they signed Jalen Naylor, who is not a guy that you want as your lead receiver.

They sat out the Romeo dobs and Alec Pierce and Wondale Robinson, all the top receivers where they had the money to spend on those guys.

And reading the tea leaves here, I think they just thought, we're not going to pay up for one of those guys.

We're going to take Fernando Mendoza at one.

We're going to pair them up at 14 with Jordan Tyson, McKay Lemon, whatever wide receiver is available.

And then when the Raiders decided to back out of that trade, it just kind of put them in a position that they don't want to be.

Or their wide receiver room right now is Trey Tucker, Jack Bash, Dante Thornton and Jalen Naylor.

So to me, that just tells me that Brock Bowers is the clear and obvious wide receiver one here.

And when you look at Clint Kubiak's offense, and his history of how he utilizes playmakers on offense, of course we've seen the huge tight end seasons from Tyler Conkland and George Kittle and TJ Hockens and all these guys.

But we've also seen the wide receiver one seasons, Justin Jefferson with his breakout year, Brandon Ayuk with his career season, which Jackson Smith and Jigba did last year.

This entire Clint Kubiak offense is predicated around using people all over the field.

So you can get that top target open in space to create after the catch, which is exactly what Brock Bowers does well.

So I'm not reinventing the wheel here telling you that Brock Bowers is a good player.

But Trey McBride coming off the huge season that he had, there's a lot of reason to be excited about Trey McBride going into 2026.

We're going to talk about him in just a little bit, but Brock Bowers is my tight end one this year.

I don't think it's out of the range of outcomes that he could have 180 plus targets and lead the league in targets this year.

So whether those are coming from a veteran bridge quarterback coming from Fernando Mendoza, I don't care.

We are going to see Brock Bowers just getting annihilated with targets this year.

He's a guy that I'd be okay taking at the one to turn in your fantasy drafts this year.

I could put a degree in one thing I've said this before I like seeing a rookie quarterback if Mendoza is going to start near one having a tight end to lean on not such deep area targets more intermediate right down the middle of the field get comfortable get up to speed with this NFL offense.

So on that, even everything you said adding to that, I just think it makes a lot of sense of Brock Bowers to lead the league in targets.

I'm not going to push back really at all.

As tight end one though, I think we're going to talk like you said we're going to talk about Brian a little bit.

I might push back there maybe make a little a little side wager on on show with you.

All right. Well, let's talk a little bit about Tremac ride because that's the next guy that you want to talk about here.

And I agree with what you're saying. This has kind of been like the best case scenario like everything we wanted to see for Tremac ride has happened so far this year.

So let's talk through it and then we can have the little Brock Bowers or Tremac ride debate.

Yeah, so I think Tremac Brides value in the short term for right now is really tied to Jacobi Berset.

I loved what I saw to Jacobi Berset last season when it comes to Tremac Bride.

Berset took over in a week six average to 19.6 fantasy points per game.

It's good enough to be the QB seven for that point from that point of the season on that's fantastic.

Jacobi Berset looked really serviceable as a fantasy quarterback.

I think Arizona needs to win some games out of keep them on the field.

Tremac Bride weeks one through five last year, 12.5 PPR fantasy points and one touchdown.

He was the tight and forward during that stretch. That's not bad at all Dave.

I think, you know, as a normal tight end, anybody would take that.

Then weeks through 17 after Jacobi Berset took over 21.1 PPR fantasy points per game, 10 touchdowns.

He was the run away tied in one career high and receiving yards almost doubled his career touchdown production.

And one, two thirds of a season would Jacobi Berset.

I am expecting the Cardinals to probably address quarterback in the draft.

Tyson said at number three, a lot of people are expecting that to happen.

I don't I don't know if Tyson steps into your one.

I just don't see it happening.

My biggest fear point with Tremac Bride is once we get Marvin Harrison Jr. on the field producing Michael Wilson,

getting the targets he did last year is that cut into Tremac Bride.

I don't really think it does. Do you see that possibly happening though?

No, I don't think so. I think McBride is very clearly the top dog here.

And you do see this like I remember early on in Travis Kelsey's career.

There was fear about like how Tyree Kill would work in and how other receivers would work in.

And with Mark Andrews, they went out and they drafted Mark East Brown.

And we said, how is this going to impact Mark Andrews?

When the reality is there are some tight ends who can just on their own accord draw those targets.

We saw last year 27.4% target share from Tremac Bride led all NFL tight ends.

I mean, he's up there not just getting like good usage for a tight end.

He's getting a lead wide receiver one usage.

Like we're looking at similar target chairs for like Garrett Wilson when he was healthy to what Tremac Bride is getting out here.

So I don't see this as like, you know, a lot of times we will see tight ends or running backs kind of end up in these situations where it's like a product of a broken offense feeding them a lot of targets.

I don't think that was the case with Tremac Bride.

I think that he is just such a good tight end that he's going to continue to command these targets on his own accord regardless of who's playing alongside him.

Next guy I want to talk about here.

And this is another kind of thinking outside the box a little bit.

You know, a lot of people look at the obvious winners and losers.

Yeah, one Dale Robinson got a huge contract. He's a winner.

Alec Pierce got a huge contract. He's a winner.

Jackson Dart nothing change with him.

He's still on his rookie deal, but when I look at the moves that they're making in New York.

I cannot help but get very excited about the outlook for Jackson Dart.

And we saw last year with Jackson Dart.

Like he was giving us very good production.

I mean, we were looking at the per game QB eight from week four onward when he took over as a starter.

He had 18 plus points and 10 of his 12 starts.

So we were already getting good kind of back end QB one production.

But I think you can take that step up to elite QB one production this year.

And it's because of John Harbaugh and the moves that John Harbaugh has made so far throughout free agency.

Now, Isaiah likely coming in.

Isaiah likely isn't really a blocking tight end, but it tells me that they want to establish that same sort of offense that they had in Baltimore.

Sign up or follow up the Isaiah likely signing with Pat record.

Pat record is the fullback from his time in Baltimore.

So I think we're going to look at a very similar offense to what we saw in Baltimore.

They don't have Mark Andrews there, but they do have Theo Johnson, Thomas Fedoni, Chris Manherts.

They've got some good blocking tight ends as well.

So I think we're going to see the same stuff jumbo sets multiple tight ends full time fullback on the field.

Lots of rushing and of course lots of design rushing for Jackson Dart.

And I'm not saying that Jackson Dart is Lamar Jackson, but he can't rush the ball very well last year on a per game basis.

He had over 40 rushing yards per start, which was second in the league only to Justin Fields.

So we already saw it last year, but I think we could take a huge step forward in the rushing department this year.

Also last year, we saw him playing with no Malik neighbors throwing the ball to Theo Johnson and Bondale Robinson.

Now with Isaiah likely there, Malik neighbors coming back from an ACL.

We're going to be looking at a better overall environment for passing.

So rushing up sides still going to be there.

We've got better blockers in the picture now and better pass catchers.

I've got Jackson Dart right now ranked as my QB five in 2026 redraft rankings.

I think that he takes that step where he could realistically finish as a top one top two top three guy challenging Josh Allen is one of these guys that just breaks fantasy this year.

Yeah, I mean, you laid the case that really well and I have really nothing to push back at.

I normally get a little nervous when I see people hyping second year quarterbacks so much.

Look at Justin Herbert's first year, look fantastic.

Second year comes in takes a step down.

You've seen it happen time after time, but things just keep happening for Jackson Dart to make us believe it.

Okay, this might really happen. The Harbaugh.

I love all the Harbaugh information.

We've seen a little Mar Jackson looked like like you said, he's not a Mar Jackson, but to expect even 85% of all Mar Jackson gave us to be super.

And I just want to say you talk about the year two quarterbacks.

I mean, that's when we saw Drake May take a huge step forward.

Yeah, Caleb Williams take a huge step forward.

So last year, three of the top seven quarterbacks for year two quarterbacks, including Drake Bay, who was the QB two in scoring behind only Josh Allen.

So that's why you hear so much about year two quarterbacks because they're good bets to make, especially when they've still got those young youthful legs and they can run all over the field.

It makes for a lot of fantasy production.

So Jackson Dart is a guy that I am a okay being just very, very aggressively overweight on in drafts this year.

Yeah, one other thing I really like about Jackson Dart is we've seen him hanging out off season.

And it's been pretty public.

And he's hanging out with Ken Scott, like he's not hanging out with models. And I mean, maybe he should.

There isn't a clip of him walking by some famous actress. I forget who it was. I remember seeing it.

But no, I mean, he's hanging out with his teammates. He's building that rapport.

And I know that doesn't necessarily translate to stats on the page, but dude, eventually it does.

I mean, building rapport with your teammates, having them in your corner side by side with you and the trenches every week.

There's a lot of value to that.

Yeah, I'm all I'm in on Jackson Dart for the share for sure. Same with me.

Give me five.

And I also saw the report that just came out this morning that cam scatiboo is trending to be 100% full go in less than a month.

So I doubted that. You know, I thought I saw that foot turn around and like it was about to fall off his leg.

And I said, well, that's a career under for cam scatiboo. He's never going to be able to recapture that magic.

But I don't know, man. Like there's some people like, you know, he just like never bet against Derek Henry, no matter how many he gets.

I feel like cam scatiboo could get run over by a steamroller. And I'd still just be like, ah, he'll be fine. He's just rub some dirt on it.

I mean, we have all the metrics and all the history on NFL players, but cam scatiboo is like part Gremlin.

So I think they need to really factor that in. He's not programmed the same.

Yeah, he's just something else. Maybe part of that.

I mean, right when the injury happened, like I looked at the extent of the damage, like broken bones torn ligaments.

Like I was just like, well, that's it. Like maybe he can return to a shell of his former self in two, three years.

But sounds like he's ready to get back on a field and be the weak one starter.

So we'll have some very interesting cam scatiboo discussions throughout this offseason.

But Joey, give me your last one here. You look at Mike Evans going to San Francisco and I'll, you know, hand up.

I'll admit it. I scoffed at it. I thought it was just like a funny signing.

You know, you look at all these old guys in San Francisco.

And I think that's the take that a lot of people have is like desperation, championship window closing.

You have a little bit of a different take here and I love it.

Yeah, I think it's the most threatening red zone offense in the league now, like by far.

Like I, you eventually see Mike Evans going like, okay, yeah, he's a red zone threat.

But then you start looking 138 red zone touchdowns between the three since 2021.

And that takes into account that each of these guys missed about a season of production.

All three of them are inside of the top 25 players and red zone touchdowns in the last five seasons.

No other team has three players in there.

And if you're saying, well, you know what Mike Evans is on the Buccaneers.

He absolutely wasn't the Buccaneers. I was there to see it and it was beautiful.

But let's look at a wider receiver that was on the 49ers for a while.

26 of Deba Samuel's 41 red zone targets or touchdowns came when he was on the 49ers.

There is room for Mike Evans to feed in this offense as well.

Since 2021, the 49ers have been top five and red zone scoring percentage every year, but the 2024 when CMC was injured.

CMC is a big factor into why they have so many red zone touchdowns.

But George Kiddell is the only time he's the top side in that because Mark Andrews is 25.

Not even Travis Kelsey is in the top 25 in the last five years, which surprised me.

Do you see Travis Kelsey? Is it yeah top 25 and red zone?

No, I did the control find because I thought I was wrong.

Wow, there's no way Kelsey's not in here.

No, he is not and it could be because he dealt with a little bit of injury time.

But yeah, top 25 and red zone touchdowns.

The last five seasons, Travis Kelsey's not there.

George Kiddell is the top tight end.

I see this team getting into the red zone this at the same rate and an even better rate of scoring.

But this is more of a dynasty question for you Dave because we just talked about those three big names, Christian McCaffrey,

George Kiddell, Mike Evans, you know, any team that has those three, it doesn't feel unstoppable.

It's pretty close to it.

I am worried about Ricky Pearson.

Does this kill his short term value only or is it just kind of like this might be going for two or three years and by then Ricky Pearson might not be as relevant.

You know, I think self awareness is a good trade to have and I am very self aware that I think the biggest blind spot in my analysis is keeping the light out.

Keep in the light on for injured injured players who are still young in their careers and sometimes that works out for me.

You know, JK Dobbins, Javance Williams and sometimes it doesn't, you know, I still am the one the high guy on rankings when it comes to Jonathan Brooks and trade.

And Martin Lloyd and of course Ricky Pearson.

I still look at what he did his rookie season when he got these little pace of action where he just looked dominant.

I can't help but keep going back to that Troy game where he was operating as a pure wide receiver one winning all over the field getting red zone touches across the middle of the field outside the numbers.

Deep short kind of doing it all.

That's the type of player that I see.

And then last year just like another fluke injury and maybe he's just one of those guys that's going to continue getting injured year after year.

Maybe we need to write some sort of season to assist to the substation next to the practice field.

I don't know what's going on here, but no Ricky Pearson going into year three.

I'm still going to keep a light on for him as he gets cheaper.

I'm just going to buy more.

And maybe that's just me being an absolute fool here.

But I do look at all of these veterans.

George Kiddell, Christian McCaffrey, Mike Evans, they need a young guy to carry the torch.

And I'd assume that that would be Pearson a former first round pick.

I know that's kind of like the death sentence once you say for the first round pick.

But still hoping that he can have a healthy year where we can see what he can do.

Where we can see what he could actually be with a full 17 game sample.

Last one we're going to talk about here, Joey.

And then we're going to wrap it up.

I worry that JJ McCarthy's done as Minnesota's QB one.

And I know a lot of people are going to, you know, buy into the PR spin that we're getting that it's going to be an open camp battle.

I don't know about you, Joey.

I don't think there's much of a camp battle here.

I think that they brought in Kyler Murray to be the quarterback for 2026.

And my goodness.

I wanted to go through and look at quarterbacks over the last 30 years who were drafted inside the top 10 and weren't the week one starter going into year three.

It is a very, very short list. You ready for it, Joey?

Yep.

Tray Lance.

Anthony Richardson.

Josh Rosen.

That is not a list that I think JJ McCarthy wants to be lumped in with.

So I'm a little bit worried here, like typically when we see these guys get drafted high, if they aren't getting at least a three year leash.

We've also got to remember the rookie season completely lost the injury as well.

Year two on and off the field with injuries.

And now effectively being benched for year three, I hope he can turn it around.

I want him to turn it around, but history is not on his side.

And on the flip side, when you look at Kyler Murray, he kind of fits the mold that Kevin O'Connell has worked with and resuscitated in the past.

Kyler Murray's got the pedigree, a former number one overall pick.

And you look, Jared Goff, you know, had some pretty good years under Kevin O'Connell, Matthew Stafford won his first Super Bowl with Kevin O'Connell.

Sam Darnell, the top three pick, went on to completely change his career around with Sam Darnell.

I think maybe the whole like Kevin O'Connell being Midas, everything he touches turned to gold.

I think maybe we got a little over our skis when we said that like Daniel Jones just being there for a few weeks, just like being in the mere presence of Kevin O'Connell taught him out of play football.

We might have jumped the sharp with his narrative, but still, I mean, we've seen good play from Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullins and just about anybody not named Jason McCarthy, who has stepped up in this offense.

So I still think Murray is a decent quarterback.

He never really developed in Arizona, which was the issue here, but shockingly stagnant across his career.

When you look at what he did in 2019 and what you look at what he did last year, rushing, passing production was eerily similar, but a 38-48-1 record was terrible.

One playoff appearance with no playoff wins terrible.

So I think he just overstayed his welcome in Arizona.

Personally, I'm excited to see what he can do with a fresh start.

Since coming to the league in 2019, Tyler Murray is fourth and rushing.

He's the QB7 in per game fantasy scoring.

So I still think that when we're looking at Murray here in an offense with a good coach with good weapons around him, I'm looking at Murray as a potentially elite fantasy quarterback.

And for JJ McCarthy, I'm just terrified about what his future is going to look like in Minnesota.

Yeah, you're exactly right.

I kind of look at Kyle Murray the same as I do Justin Fields.

When they're on the field, like I know I'm getting fantasy production, but the problem is they need to stay on the field.

And if Minnesota is not winning games like New York Jets when they weren't winning games, they pulled Justin Fields off.

I do trust the Kevin O'Connell, though, is going to utilize Murray to get closer to like that 14-1 season and less like the above barely above 500 of last year.

Although they did finish 2025 out with five straight wins.

So maybe they're on the right foot and Kyle Murray is going to be the piece that this offense needs to move on even further into the playoffs.

Now, now I have also heard that like the Kevin O'Connell quarterback, like the guys that we've seen fine success.

You know, I listed him.

Jared golf, Matthew Stafford, Sam Darnold.

These are your court cousins, of course, who I didn't lump in because he was a third round pick, not a, you know, a top three pick like these other guys.

But they're all your traditional pocket passers, kind of Murray, very different type of quarterback.

You know, hair on fire, running around, extending plays with his legs, playing out of the off schedule, all that sort of fun stuff.

Do you have any concerns, Joe, and I'm totally putting you on the spot here.

But do you have any concerns that maybe just being a different type of quarterback could end up not working in his favor or, and maybe I'm kind of answering your question for you.

Seeing some of the successes we saw from Jerren Hall and Josh Dobbs.

Does that give you faith that Kevin O'Connell system could be maybe a little bit more elastic?

Well, first I just want to address what you said about I've never seen Kyle Murray set his hair on fire and run around on a field.

If I missed that game, I apologize.

No, I mean, I think what we saw to Josh Dobbs gives me a little hope for what Kyle Murray, but anytime we've seen Kyle Murray stay on step on the field and stay on the field.

He's been fantasy relevant. So I'm not exactly is worried that he doesn't fit into the prototype of what a Kevin O'Connell successful quarterback normally looks like.

I'm also excited about him with a good quarterback or with a good wide receiver because we saw over the first couple of years of his season with a prime Deandre Hopkins, like just pushing him into top three consideration.

Even that little window when Hopkins was suspended and we saw Hollywood Brown step in as the wide receiver one for the Cardinals over that six week stretch Hollywood Brown was the wide receiver six in fantasy.

So, you know, maybe I think a lot of people got disappointed because of Marvin Harrison Jr. and his lack of success in Arizona.

And now they're just painting with this broad brush saying that Kyle Murray can't support an NFL offense or an NFL wide receiver.

But it wasn't that long ago that we actually did see him supporting a fantasy relevant wide receiver and elite wide receiver at that.

So when I look at Justin Jefferson, hardly returning wide receiver for value with JJ McCarthy last year.

I mean, maybe I'm just a sucker, but I was tweaking my rankings this weekend. And Justin Jefferson, I'm just putting him right back where he's been the last couple of years as a top five receiver.

I think it's kind of silly to push him too far down completely agree. I mean, we've seen the track record with Justin Jefferson producing with quarterbacks that I mean, you mentioned the good names.

But there were some bad names to go through through Minnesota as well. I am not worried about Jeff Jefferson. If anything, Kyle Murray going there makes me a little more excited for him.

Well, I was down on the last couple of years a little bit. Well, Joey, we did it. We talked about some of the biggest storylines around the league and some different leans that we might have on some of these storylines.

We went this entire show shockingly without talking about the Oscars. We got a few minutes left here before we can log off here.

Joey, so again, putting you on the spot, any major takeaways from the Oscars, anything you liked, anything you didn't like, people you were happy to see what awards. Let's hear the floors yours.

Yeah, I mean, it's been since 2019, Revan, so excited for an Oscar night when parasite one best picture and best director and everything.

It was like, I won the Academy Awards. I was getting text messages from friends. Last night was very much like that. I've been in Palatown soon.

Palatown is Anderson's corner since he was 26 years old and made Boogie nights and it would hardly before that, I'll use cinnamon nuts out there. They're going to say, well, we made a movie before Boogie nights.

Well, where are that?

But 26 years old he makes Boogie nights. Who is this wonder kind and it's just been a long road to finally get him to it.

But what I'm most excited for one battle with another winning is sometimes you'll see directors win for movies that aren't necessarily their best work.

Yeah.

This is one of his best films.

As somebody, like I said, I've been in this corner. It's just fun to see your guys win.

And I know one of your one of your people won last night with Jesse Buckley, you were champion now.

All Oscar season with she was going to invest actors to your right on mark there.

And one thing I'll say, yes, I loved one battle after another. I think there will be blood such a better movie like that.

Oh, it's the night opinion. One of the best movies ever made by Paul Thomas Anderson. The fact that he was snubbed there and it took him this long for the Academy event, right.

Does chap my you know what?

Anyway, who hasn't seen there will be blood.

Maybe the best movie ever made like I know how you don't put it in consideration for that.

It is the best American film of the last 25 years. And that's easier for me to say because Paul fiction was made in 1995.

But yeah, no, I mean, what he did and there we blood. And I hadn't argued it with Jake Bryant the other week about should no country for men have one best picture that year.

And I think in the moment, it was easy to see, you know, the Cohen brothers, right, never one best picture. And it was like, OK, now it's their time.

Listen, I have watched there will be blood at least once a year for the every year it's been out and it was just cool to see Paul Thomas Anderson win.

Mike will be Jordan winning. That was, that was nice.

I think we learned, you know, you don't know if I've got to be sure with the Oscars was not even the Oscars specifically, but it was like the reactions to the Oscars when they did best original song, train dreams.

I know you and I both connected on this like, yeah, just such a beautiful movie. One of my favorites of the year.

But the first time that it made an appearance at the Oscars ceremony was for best original song.

And the one little bit that they had clipped for that segment was the lyrics or something along the lines of having dreams and they're about a train or something like that.

It just got meamed so hard on social media. Don't let that sour your opinion on train dreams. I've rewatched the yesterday before the Oscars.

Just an amazing movie front to back.

I told my wife, I was like, I think it could win cinematography. It did not win.

It's a beautiful, beautiful film. I love the Oscars night. It's very much like my, you know, it's my other super bowl of the year you could say.

I had an absolute blast and it's just fun to see things you love get awarded.

And I'm sorry for all the people that were really in the center's camp.

I think centers got awarded some really good stuff though.

You know, Ryan Kugler getting his first Academy Award. That's really fun to see.

So good stuff for him in the future. But it was PTA's time and he won, you know, just like when Marty Corsese won for the departed.

It wasn't one of his crappy movies. He won for a good one. So it was good to see PTA finally get it.

And way to go, Joey, true professional. You are bringing it back to football at the end of the show.

Ryan Kugler, Sacramento State wide receiver with some really fun highlights that you can go check out.

But what do they got everybody for allowing us to indulge ourselves and talk about some non football things at the end of the show.

Joey and I are both Joey much more so than me.

A seat of vials. We love watching film.

2025 was a great year for it. So love to talk about that a little bit.

But as I asked at the top of the show, if you are listening on a podcast, please do his favor.

Let us know what you think about these new iterations of the show.

What we can improve, what you like, which you don't like, all of that good stuff.

It will really help the show grow and help us bring you a better show.

Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll be back later this week with Jeff Bell.

And then on Friday, we're doing a two round rookie mock graph with Jeff Bell and Mike Kishuba talking about the rookie guide as well.

So thank you so much for tuning in. See you soon.

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