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The 5th Down: Tier 1 Boom OR Bust Players · The Poi N Soy Podcast

• KayOhKnee: Welcome back to the podcast. I'm your co-host, Kony McKeegan. With me today on the fifth down is my boyfriend, the fifth down. Nolan Chang say what's up to the pod, Nolan. So we are here to continue our fantasy football summer series. ⁓ and on this week's episode, we're beginning our very first episode of the Boomer Bust series. So Nolan: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. KayOhKnee: We're gonna go through the tiers. We did a consensus rankings. We'll get into how we mathed that one out in just a second. But before we do any of that, we have to give a shout out to our partners over at W Energy. Fantastic Tasic Energy, all of the energy you need to get through your day. Head on over to W.g. or use the W Energy app in our promo code, which is POI and SOI. That's P-O-I-N-S-O-Y for ten percent off your order. Nolan, let's talk about some NFL fantasy football. Nolan: Hello. KayOhKnee: ⁓ so we're gonna do a little bit of housekeeping first before we get into the rankings. So first and foremost, we did ⁓ sort of adjust the tier rankings somewhat a bit. ⁓ we took the consensus rankings from Fantasy Pros. We took our own rankings, so that's myself and Nolan since we have been making lists. ⁓ go back and watch the tiers ranking pods if you haven't already seen those. ⁓ and we just took the average of the three ⁓ different rankings and put them together into what we're having here, this twenty twenty six Poy and Soy Consensus rankings. So, ⁓ with that said, I'm gonna give you guys our list and I'm gonna give you guys the list that we took or excuse me. I'm gonna tell you where some of these players moved ⁓ and accordingly since we did we made a difference. I was like there are a few more than a few players that are here that aren't supposed be here or weren't here initially and are now here. So ⁓ With that said, let's start off with the top of tier one for our consensus rankings. That is Josh Allen, Drake May, Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, and Dak Prescott. If you're wondering why I'm stopping at eight names, that is because at the quarterback position and the tight end position, we're going to keep it to eight names apiece just because you typically aren't drafting, you know, 60 or so players at those positions. You know, it's usually Nolan: ⁓ KayOhKnee: ⁓ even for our league, we're a super flex league, so most of these guys, you know, if you're gu Nolan: Imagine you're the sixtieth quarterback in the league. KayOhKnee: Hey, you getting paid, so I was like you're making way more money than we make right now. I mean, I I was like, I will gladly be the 60th best quarterback in the league. ⁓ Poor Dylan Game. You he might actually be the 60th. I was like, I'm gonna have to double check these rankings, but he might he might be a ⁓ actually I'm kinda curious now that you just said that. ⁓ it's Davis Mills. Nolan: You right, you right. You got a nutritionist, you got a trainer, okay, okay, you right. ⁓ poor Dylan Gabriel. ⁓ huh. KayOhKnee: That's funny though, because it's like right in that Yeah, for real. Right in that general area, it's Jarrett Stidham, Davis Mills, and Tyler Huntley, and then Dylan Gabriel. Dylan Gabriel's actually the 62nd best quarterback in the NFL. Hey. Getting paid. You know what I mean? He is getting paid. ⁓ so anyway, yeah. So if you're wondering why we only got eight names, so for us, our QB1 rankings. Nolan: ⁓ But he that's ironic. After he had that legacy game last year. Hey, you know, we we were kinda right. KayOhKnee: ⁓ end with eight players and then we'll kind of have another eight and another eight and another eight. There should only be four of these podcasts and we'll give you our boomer bust for each one. So Nolan, you heard the names in our consensus rankings. ⁓ obviously there are some differences here from the you know fantasy pros consensus rankings because first and foremost we got Drake May taking a bump up to second overall that on his on the fantasy pros he's on third right now. ⁓ Joe Burrow took a step down behind Jaden Daniels. Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: Jalen Hurts was completely dropped out of this tier for us. ⁓ I'm pretty sure that was your doing, if I'm not mistaken. ⁓ yeah, I'm like I I I'm ninety nine percent sure that was you. And then Dak Prescott did get moved up into this tier ⁓ w ⁓ with ⁓ Jackson Dart all also taking a bump down. So interesting times for us and our rankings, but you see the consensus rankings. Who for you is the boom among these quarterbacks in our QB one rankings? Nolan: That was my doing. I can I can guarantee you that. ⁓ I don't think this is gonna come as any surprise to those who have listened to us through through our tier talk as well as ⁓ our risers ⁓ segment that we did. Justin Herbert, he is the boom candidate, I think, for this first tier for quarterbacks. ⁓ some of the same reasons why we discussed it recently. He's got Mike McDaniel now as his OC. He has a plethora of weapons, including now ⁓ sorry, it Gadsden and Njoku. KayOhKnee: Mm-hmm. Nolan: he's got Lad McConkey, he's got Q J, Trey Harris is coming into his own as well. This is a very high powered offense. ⁓ any way you you dice it, this is an offense with the right people at the right h helms can make a huge splash, and I think ⁓ the one that's gonna be the maestro of the whole thing is has to be Justin Herbert. And the fact that he's you know, he's a QB one. And the fact that he's still hovering ⁓ below some of these names that we have consensus wise leads me to believe that he is gonna be the the prime candidate ⁓ to really boom during this season. ⁓ if not then Chargers fans everywhere will cry and it will be a sad story for everyone. But Justin Herbert has proven a lot the over the last few seasons. He's been in a tough division, he hasn't necessarily had ⁓ competent, healthy players all at the same time. KayOhKnee: Daddy has. Nolan: This is a very good strong start for this team at the beginning of this twenty twenty six season. ⁓ What? KayOhKnee: I'm just gonna piggyback off of what you're saying because Justin Herbert's actually my best candidate from this tier. That's why I was laughing because I was just like, Whoa, what are the odds that that was the guy that you picked? ⁓ yeah, I I had Justin Herbert listed as my my best candidate from the QB one rankings. ⁓ Nolan: ⁓ my god, what WHAT KayOhKnee: Mostly it just comes down to where he's being drafted and how high he's being touted. ⁓ you know, he lands in sort of for us, he's you know, a first round QB, if not like the tail end of second kind of round. ⁓ for most leagues, he's gonna be like a third round QB, but he's going very, very high in QB rankings. I'm worried that we're going to see more holes in the Justin Herbert game than I would like to. You know, I've been with you on the train of like we believe in this Chargers offense. We'd like to see them boom. But I'm putting him as my bust for this specifically just because he was more of a value when he was like outside the top ten and you were getting him and he was showing off for you. Now he's gonna be maybe in the top five. I mean he slowly moves up the rankings just a bit. and we're not really sure like where, you know, that's gonna place him as far as like ⁓ in the ethos of quarterbacks. I'm just worried, man. He doesn't really have rushing upside, you know what I mean? There's nothing really outside of his thoring game that ⁓ is gonna add value to him as a player. All the guys above him, you know, I don't think that I can see him usurping most of those guys. I mean maybe maybe a Joe Burrow, you know, if Joe Burrow gets off to a slow start and that whole thing happens out but Nolan: Mm. KayOhKnee: Yeah, I I was I was with the Chargers offense being something really big this year, but I'm just so worried at where Justin Herbert is being drafted and where he's being valued that he might not reach that value just based on his past play and all that sort of stuff. So I did pick him I did pick him as my best candidate, ⁓ just within this QB one ranking. With that said though, I'm I'm with you on the I would like to believe that him Nolan: That's fair, yeah. Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: And this Chargers offense are gonna boom, but just the way that people are hyping up this Chargers core, it's like I'm s I'm worried it's gonna be that team that everybody bites on this year that just sinks everyone's squad. So ⁓ yeah. Yeah, maybe, you know, hopefully. And if that is the case, that'll be great. ⁓ 'cause, you know, we'll see if he if he can prove me wrong. Nolan: What if everyone's right? KayOhKnee: throughout the year, but ⁓ that that that's where I have him right now. But anyway, ⁓ Nolan, who do you have as your bust candidate for this QB one ranking? Nolan: I Think I mean I don't think this is a surprise either because ⁓ it's it's pretty consistent with what I was talking about previously when we did tier ones. ⁓ I guess tier one and tier two. I also have an inkling that Lamar Jackson is not gonna have a QB one season. ⁓ look, I you know, we there was a time some odd seasons ago where You know, you as a divisional rival would talk about Lamar Jackson not being able to prove himself as a true ⁓ VP of the league. Even though he did ⁓ VP things, you know, we're not gonna deny that him the hymn of that. ⁓ But he's going into it now with a new offense, which for better or for worse could completely change what his playstyle is, how the team looks from a day-to-day basis. ⁓ he's going into it with Zay Flowers, who we've kind of, you know, we've been teetering over the last, I would say, offseason about where we're really seeing him. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. ⁓ you're going in with a somewhat KayOhKnee: Can't believe I yeah. I can't believe I'm teetering, but I am teetering, yeah. Mm-hmm. Nolan: Maybe declining Derrick Henry. ⁓ you're also going into it with your best tight end receiver, no longer on the team. You're going into it with Mark Andrews, who also is still kind of dealt with health here and there. And you have Rashad Bateman and Devantez Walker as your wide receiver two and three. ⁓ it doesn't seem like there's gonna be a lot going for him that's gonna match him as a QB1. all season long. ⁓ I don't see A lot of strength from this roster, though I do see some corner pieces that may prove to be something of a of a boom for him. ⁓ but it it's just not a good look, and I I have a feeling that this is going to be somewhat of a bust year. And by bust, I do mean he's just not gonna finish as a true QB one, or if anything, he might be like two QB twelve or eleven on the season. I'm not saying that he's gonna be shafted all the way to like you're benching him week to week, but it is something that to monitor because I don't Think he's gonna be like a top-tier choice as we come down to it. ⁓ so yeah, Lamar Jackson is my best candidate for the season. KayOhKnee: I I I don't disagree with that, so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say anything really to counterpoint that 'cause yeah, I've been on I've been on the hater train for Lamar for a long time, but you know Nolan: Mm-hmm. ⁓ huh. Mm. KayOhKnee: I also put ⁓ pretty high on my rankings, so I guess I can't really, you know, say that Nolan: That's why he's there because you did this. KayOhKnee: No really I think so, yeah. I think if I had been even I think I was not with the ranking rankings. I was lower than them, but still, you know, within the same tier 'cause we still had a Josh Allen, Drake May back to back. But ⁓ yeah, and then as far as my boom candidate from this category, it's gonna be Caleb Williams. ⁓ you know, really it just comes down to completion percentage. Like if this guy can complete more passes heading into next year He has all the tools, ⁓ the the makings of a top three QB. I mean, he's got a prolific offense. He has this fantastic offensive coordinator mind in ⁓ Ben Johnson, his head coach. ⁓ he has even more weapons than he's had in the past. I think Luther Burden is gonna be another dynamic that they didn't have with DJ Moore as their pseudo wide receiver one. ⁓ I like the combination of DeYndre Swift and Kyle Manungay out of the backfield. Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: There's just a lot of things that are working in the Chicago Bears' favor. I think that they're gonna be the top of their division this year, and with all of that being put together, I think this is the type of y type of season where Caleb Williams really has to take that next step. I'm believing that he is gonna take that next step more than I'm believing a guy like Justin Herbert's gonna take the next step, which I can't. You know I mean? I was so high on that train of like the Chargers being really good this year, but I just if I had to pick one or the other to finish higher than the other one, it's to me it's gonna be Kayla Williams. And I think that there's a good chance that, you know, injuries aside and all this other stuff, like there he could finish in the top three, man. If he just connects on a couple more of those deep bombs from last year, I mean, we're talking about a guy who could have undoubtedly been QB two or three last year. So yeah, that's where I'm at with my boom candidate for the QB one ranking. So Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: Gonna be an interesting year, you know, and we'll see. We see we have a few names that did drop out of this well, not tier this this ranking for us. ⁓ be very curious to hear your thoughts on them when we get to the next part of this. But ⁓ anyway, let's move on over to the running back position. So starting off the rip, ⁓ we do have, you know, some changes, some notable changes here, ⁓ from our rankings to their rankings. ⁓ I mean, nothing right at the top because the top Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: Five, six, seven. Actually almost all of them. Okay, so after seven is where it starts to trail off a little bit. Okay, so yeah, after seven, ⁓ so we did have B. John Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, Ashton Genty, and Devon Achan. ⁓ after that, though, it's Omarion Hampton, Saquon Barkley, Kenneth Walker, Brees Hall, and Chase Brown. Nolan: Five, six, seven, eight. KayOhKnee: Few of those guys definitely bumped up into this tier from where they were ⁓ on the fantasy pros rankings and a few guys that did get knocked out of here. So on the fantasy pros side at eight they did have Chase Brown, nine Saquon Barkley, ten was Omar Anhampton, eleven was Derek Henry and twelve was Kenneth Walker. So we definitely flubbed up that ⁓ that bottom group there. I'm not even sure how much further down Derek Henry moved, but ⁓ anyway, yeah, Nolan, you're looking at the tier. They're seeing the tier here. Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: our consensus rankings ⁓ for r RB one. Who do you have as your boom candidate for this ranking? Nolan: My boom candidate is Kenneth Walker the third. he is going into a strong polished program franchise. ⁓ they did a lot during this offseason and the draft to bolster their defense. ⁓ I think that for that reason, game script is never going to be an issue with the Chiefs. So, you know, a lot of these running backs will probably talk about as the season progresses. Game script is gonna kind of push them out of the usage on the field. ⁓ I don't think Kenneth Walker's gonna have that problem. He is the Super Bowl MVP, he is still young, strong runner, ⁓ he has big big yard plays ⁓ that come out of his his production. And I think that's gonna continue, especially with this Chiefs team. We're still kind of weighing what's gonna be or who's gonna be the first or QB one on week one. ⁓ pretty sure it's gonna be Justin Fields. Even more so than Justin Fields can at least rely on the run game with Kenneth Walker than, you know, having to prove something out of the pass game, which we have, you know, yet the jury's still out to see what kind of kind of Justin Fields we're gonna get with this new franchise for him. ⁓ but Kenneth Walker, I think, out of these twelve choices, seems like the one that can really take his his elevation of where he was regular season last year for a fantasy standpoint and really boost that up a lot this season. ⁓ I'm not gonna say he's gonna end up being like the the running back one on the season, but I could see him jumping into that top six, top five. KayOhKnee: Like that. I do like that. You know, it's not that's not where I I w I thought you were going to go, so so I'm just gonna piggyback right off of that. My bust can't no I'm just chugging that I'm just kidding. No, I was like ⁓ yeah, I was like I got no qualms with that one. ⁓ I was just gonna bring up the Justin Fields point, but you already addressed that. So yeah, with you as far as like that could be both like a boon or a not boon, you know what I mean? Because if Justin just keeps taking away touches from him, but ⁓ Nolan: ⁓ son of a KayOhKnee: Yeah, I I'm I'm with you on the Kenneth Walker train. I like him. Obviously we like him enough to ⁓ really bump him up in our rankings. We moved him up two spots from the Fantasy Pros consensus. So ⁓ but yeah, my boom candidate for this ⁓ RB one group is gonna be actually Brees Hall. RB eleven, I mean a few years back he was drafted as RB three, if I'm not mistaken. ⁓ this is a guy who undoubtedly has this crazy ceiling and as we see You know, as we see as we saw this last year specifically, ⁓ you know, he didn't have the greatest quarterback play. It wasn't a offensive minded group. It wasn't like an offensive minded head coach that came in and did anything to like, you know, provide him more touches. It was just Brees Hall doing what Brees Hall does, you know, making plays out of broken plays, which is something that I'm always expecting out of a guy l like Brees Hall because he's You know, really good in the receiving game. He's really good as a runner. He l uses the holes really well. I really like Brees Hall heading into this year, especially at his value, because if he is drafted somewhere in this range, which is like the, you know, maybe second round, third round kind of area. I really like what he can do. I really like where his upside goes because, you know, we undoubtedly saw how he was on a Jets team that wasn't very good. And we expect this Jets team to not be great, but to at least take a couple steps ahead. You know what I mean? They picked up a new wide receiver who should be undoubtedly wide receiver two in this group, if not three. and then they also picked up a super, super, you know, athletic tight end in Kenyon Sadiq. All of these things are adding to a room of weapons that we, you know, at least from ⁓ an on paper standpoint, looks a lot better than it was last year. ⁓ they added to their offensive line. The offensive line is getting healthier, which means they're getting back, you know, the last two tackles that they drafted in the coup last couple of drafts. It's just pointing to Brees Hall having himself a top five season and I'm really, really expecting him to be a guy that really boons this year. So gonna be taking a lot of Brees Hall swings this year ⁓ alone. So Nolan. Moving over to your best candidate for the R B one rankings, who do you have as your best candidate in this group? Nolan: ⁓ contrary to ⁓ my discussion about Kenneth Walker, this specific team does not necessarily have the strongest of defenses. It's they're they're I would say league average, maybe a little above average if you really wanna be generous. ⁓ and in that reason this running back will probably get phased out during the game script. And that's Jonathan Taylor. ⁓ and this is bec ⁓ more so on how this team offensively looks. KayOhKnee: Take your shots. Bam bam. Goddamn. Nolan: I'm taking shots. I'm taking these shots, right? ⁓ and let let's keep in mind a lot of Jonathan Taylor's big weeks last year, fantasy wise. KayOhKnee: Yeah guys, Jonathan Taylor's gonna suck. Don't draft him. Don't draft him. Nolan: No, but a lot of his his big weeks, production wise fantasy, ⁓ came from games where he had huge breakaway runs. And that kind of fed into a lot of how he looked as a fantasy asset. And I'm not denying he was a fantasy asset. He was clearly the leading running back for a good stretch of the season. ⁓ but that was also with a strong valued quarterback in Daniel Jones playing out of his mind last season and proving all the doubters wrong. We're going to the season where once again we have to figure out who is going to be QB1 week one. ⁓ Whether it's Riley Leonard, whether it's Anthony Richardson, we don't know. That plays into how this game script can go. If they can't put points on the board and their defense can't hold other teams at bay, that means the running back game is going to be pushed out. And I I think he's gonna be the biggest effect of that in how he's actually used on the field. And that's unfortunate because he he showed amazing things last year, but My my biggest fear out of all these guys for the running back position is that Jonathan Taylor is going to have to be off the field so many plays at a time or unused so many plays at a time because of how the rest of the team is performing. ⁓ so for that reason, Jonathan Taylor, I apologize. If you want to refute me, come onto our podcast and discuss it. But I worry for your brother, and he is my bus candidate. KayOhKnee: I'm that's a great that's a hot take. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna disagree either because I like what I like where your ⁓ points went. So I don't agree, but you know what I mean? I like I like where your head is at with that one. But yeah, my bus candidate for this one, and it's probably not even that hot of a take because he's not necessarily that high in this ranking in general, it's Devon Achan. You know, Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: I know we've kind of talked about the situation with Miami being one that could be a positive game script for him. ⁓ but kind of similar to your take with, you know, the Indianapolis Colts, this is a defense that is rebuilding. ⁓ they basically just brought in a brand new, you know, rookie linebacker that is supposed to be the culture center for the squad. I'm sure he is gonna be great, you know. I really did like ⁓ I I I cannot think of his name and I can only remember him 'cause of his mustache. He has like this glorious mustache and I really wanted to draft him. ⁓ but I I I know you do. ⁓ anyway. ⁓ but anyway, yeah, I mean Nolan: Glorious. I really want to grow a glorious mustache. KayOhKnee: They this is a very, very young squad. This is one that is gonna be, you know, going through some aches and pains. They obviously traded away a lot of the the big names here. You know, we got rid of Bradley Chubb. We got rid of ⁓ Jalen Waddle, Tyree Kill was released in the off season. We don't have two at all here. Mike McDaniels is out the building. All of that is pointing to this being a situation where we're gonna try to, you know, put out a workhorse back in Devon H N. And I just don't think that he's gonna produce in that way. ⁓ the offensive line has not gotten any better. You know what I mean? ⁓ even if the game scripts are pushing for him to be on the field, which I doubt will be the case because they'll probably be be playing from behind ⁓ a lot of the time. It's Malik Willis. We don't know. I mean, everything that's come out of that camp, even though I've been one of those guys that's been pretty high on Malik Willis, has been that Malik Willis has struggled with this offense. He's ⁓ not been very accurate throwing wise. So that's pointing to maybe more dump dump off passes for Devon Achan, which could be good for sort of the half PPR stuff. But even with that said, how efficient is he going to be running wise if you know there is no throwing offense? How efficient is he going to be if he is the the main focal point of all defenses? Because truthfully, Malik Washington isn't really the guy that you're double teaming. Neither is ⁓ Chris Brazil or whoever the other, I forgot what the name of the ⁓ Chris Bell, maybe Chris Bell. I think it's Bell, not Basil, ⁓ that they brought in through the draft. All signs are pointing to this being a situation where A-chan is gonna wanna be the guy and they're gonna want to try to use him as much as they can. But really it's the part that's making me think that this is a very bad situation is this is not a situation proof quarterback. Like I don't believe that he's a quarterback or excuse me, running back. I don't believe that he's a running back that can deal with, you know, a bad offensive line and no offensive weapons and poor play from a QB. Like he is not that guy for me, even though I think he's one of the better running backs from, you know, a big play standpoint. I'm just worried. All the signs are pointing to this being sort of a Las Vegas Raiders of last year's situation. And they might be even worse than that team. So With that said, you know what I mean, really hoping that Malik Willis, the guy that I kind of touted as a guy who could, you know, be really, really good this year and I think he was one of my risers if I'm not mistaken. But ⁓ really hoping that he proves me wrong and A Chan can kind of do the opposite of what I just said, but I'm I'm probably just not drafting him just because of everything I just mentioned. So ⁓ yeah, from this group of running backs, Devon A Chan is undoubtedly my big bust candidate. ⁓ Yeah. So any qualms? Anything you wanna talk about? Any before we move on to the wide receiver position? Nolan: No, ⁓ he was actually my my second choice for the the bus candidate. So I'm I'm completely there with you. I do think you know he is more liable to be used in the past game when GameScript has to push it that way. But you you are completely right. This team is this team is fighting to not be the last worst ranked team in the in the whole NFL. So that I think that says enough for where we're looking at him. KayOhKnee: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. They'll they'll be in play for a top five pick this year. So and hopefully they use it on offensive line or a wide receiver. Who know? ⁓ Jeremiah Smith would be that'd be a nice player for the Miami Dolphins. Oof. Anyway, ⁓ let's move over to the wide receiver position and our consensus rankings for this one. So Nolan: Yeah, yeah. KayOhKnee: Again, this one did have a few changes, a few notable changes from ⁓ the fantasy pros consensus to our consensus. ⁓ so to start off the rip, number one, we do have Puka Nakua, ⁓ then Jamar Chase, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Amon Amon Ra Saint Brown, Justin Jefferson, Drake London, CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Chris Olave, AJ Brown, Nico Collins, and Tedaroya McMillan, who does take a bump up into this group. ⁓ And moving over to the Fantasy Pros group, they had Jamar Chase at the top, so we did swap the two of those ⁓ guys, Jackson Smith and Jig Boy at number three. Amin Ra was pretty much the same spot. ⁓ then it was CeeDee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Drake London, Nico Collins, George Pickens, AJ Brown, Chris Olave, and Rasheed Rice, who you'll see in I can't remember if it's the next pod or the pot after that, where that guy has fallen due to our rankings. But ⁓ anyway, ⁓ I'm kinda also surprised that they still have him up here. I mean I guess everybody's believing that the legal troubles is just gonna you know what I mean? So and the cleanup surgeries and everything else that's going on with him. But anyway Nolan: Yeah. Hey, but he's released from jail as of today, so ha ha KayOhKnee: Yeah. I was like I'm so happy for him. ⁓ anyway, ⁓ going into it, Nolan, who do you have as your boom candidate from this group of wide receivers? Nolan: ⁓ contrary to or contrasting from the first two positions that we did, this will be the one where I actually have someone who's ranked higher booming up higher and someone who's ranked lower busting down lower. ⁓ as opposed to someone that was lower booming up and vice versa. This is it's it's tough for me to say this one because the low hanging fruit KayOhKnee: Yeah, yeah. Nolan: was another player on this this list, but I've talked about him enough, I think, for the past pods that I had to kind of dig deep into decide who I really wanted to be my boom candidate. And that's Justin Jefferson. ⁓ Justin Jefferson finished as a wide receiver 28 for fantasy ⁓ last year. Justin Jefferson. Twide receiver 28. ⁓ KayOhKnee: Yeah. Nolan: Though he is ranked higher because he is Justin Jefferson, he has the great route running, he has the separation, he has the speed. KayOhKnee: And you still put JJ McCarthy in your QB tier five, huh? He made Justin Jefferson the second best receiver in the league. He made him wide receiver 28, and you kept JJ McCarthy in there. How dare you? Nolan: You know, you know. You know, I'm just saying. regardless, ⁓ Justin Jefferson, I think clearing away has an opportunity to leap over Amon Ra. I think he has a fighting chance to enter that top three wide receiver. I'm not here to say that he's gonna beat out JSN, Jamar Chase, Puka Nakua because they have put up numbers that are. Insane over the last two seasons in their own right. ⁓ but Justin Jefferson is potentially getting a upgraded quarterback, and things from training camp look good, or from OTAs. And this is a player who two seasons removed was putting up top five numbers as a wide receiver with Daniel Jones at or not Daniel Jones, sorry, D Sam Darnold at the helm. ⁓ Daniel Jones is the backup. I apologize for that. ⁓ that says everything I need to know about where his talent still lies, regardless of who's going to be on the field with him. I think he has a strong possibility of leaping over these guys. I am hoping he was, you know, it's it's a soft spot in my heart because he when I first did fantasy, he was my first KayOhKnee: Mm-hmm. Nolan: I think boom wide receiver. ⁓ wow, all right. Cal calm down now. I think he was also my first forty point player. So that was something that really drove home this fantasy world I'm in now. ⁓ and I think that this is his season to return to form to really reclaim what he's been showing the last two years, but just not getting the ball in his hands. ⁓ so Justin Jefferson, boom candidate. KayOhKnee: Love. ⁓ Love. ⁓ Justin Jefferson pick four. I got you. Okay. Nolan: You shut your mouth KayOhKnee: Okay. ⁓ yeah, I mean I I agree wholeheartedly. He's undoubtedly one of the guys that I fully believe in as well. So that's that would have been another one, maybe the second one that I had on my list of guys that I was gonna put up here. But my boom candidate for this group is actually gonna be AJ Brown. ⁓ look, you know, AJ Brown has been the guy who has been consistently drafted in the second and third rounds of every single draft for the last Five or six years. ⁓ he has never gone any lower than that, and there's a big reason why. He is undoubtedly one of the best receivers in the league. ⁓ when he was with the Tennessee Titans, he was maybe number two in the entire league. He is not that far removed from being that version of A.J. Brown, and now he is getting what is undoubtedly. the best situation that he has ever been in in his entire career because he's getting the head coach that put him in the best spots in Tennessee and made him a wide receiver, you know, in the top five of wide receivers as far as fantasy is concerned during his tenure there. He is getting a quarterback that is undoubtedly the best throwing quarterback that he has had since he started in the NFL because he went through Ryan Tannehill, who is a mech ⁓ quarterback at best. And then he went to ⁓ Jalen Hurts, who just decided not to throw him the ball ever. ⁓ now he gets Drake May, who is one of the best deep ball throwers, mid ball throwers, just all thrower quarterbacks, ⁓ in the league. ⁓ and he's part of a prolific offense that has two very good running backs, you know, a wide receiver core that is very, very strong now with him. being in there, he is undoubtedly wide receiver one. They're not going to be going through this sequence of like, ⁓ is it this guy? Is it you? Is it you? No, it's it's AJ Brown. ⁓ and on top of that, he looks mentally very checked in, very locked in, very healthy, very happy. ⁓ and all of those things point to this being just a fantastic season for AJ Brown. I am putting him as a guy that I expect to finish above at least the, you know, one, two, three, four. At least five guys above him, you know. I like I like where your head is at with Justin Jefferson. I like the top three. I think that he could finish as a top five wide receiver when all is said and done. But I do think that he could pass the guys like Chris Olave, George Pickens, C D Lamb, Drake London, and Amon Ross, St. Brown, to be completely honest. So ⁓ he's a guy that I'm putting as my boom candidate for this wide receiver one group. yeah. Roland, any thoughts, opinions, qualms? Nolan: I'm in agreement. I do think that AJ Brown I mean we've been moving him up this whole time during the offseason in in preparation for that ⁓ official trade. And I think that he can return to a wide receiver one season, top five wide receiver one season. ⁓ and this is this is the team to do it for him. KayOhKnee: I know. Geez, yeah. Yeah. Please be the team. ⁓ anyway, let's move over to our best candidates for the wide receiver position. Nolan, who is your wide receiver best candidate? Nolan: This one I'm sure you'll probably be in agreement with. ⁓ my best candidate for this 2026 fantasy season is Nico Collins. ⁓ you know, he's my boy. ⁓ in Nico I trust, but I don't trust CJ. And I don't trust how this offense as a whole looks. ⁓ what he does have yeah, what he does have going for him is that this is potentially. KayOhKnee: ⁓ okay. Yeah. Preach, sister. Nolan: The number one defense in the league still entering this season. So there's a good chance that he will see the field more, more opportunities, more plays. That is kind of where the buck stops on the positivity because Nico did a fantastic job of staying healthy last season, and he still put up numbers that would were a shell of his former self. ⁓ so I think that this is gonna be the biggest. This is gonna be the biggest indicator, I think, for the Texans on what they need to do moving forward for the future. Because I don't think they're gonna look at Nico as the problem. They're gonna have to look at who's throwing the ball to him ⁓ moving forward. And CJ, yeah, your your leash is short, buddy. ⁓ but I will say of the bust candidates that I've mentioned thus far. KayOhKnee: Yes, it is. Nolan: ⁓ I do think Nico has probably maybe the strongest chance to maintain his position. ⁓ of where we currently have him consensus wise. I I don't think that this is by any stretch ⁓ like if he's gonna it like he's moving down to tier two. Getting Nico as a tier two wide receiver on the season is is still a fantastic wide receiver, but he's not someone I'm gonna be necessarily drafting my first or second round right now. ⁓ just because I do think that there is some hesitations and reservations that I have going into the season, not necessarily Nico's fault. KayOhKnee: Yeah. I I could not agree any more on the Nico Collins take. ⁓ that was gonna be the one I probably was gonna talk about, but I'm gonna go to my hot take because, you know, screw it. You took the one that I was the low hanging fruit one that I wanted to grab. So my hot take from this group is actually gonna be my banner is Jackson Smith and Jigba. ⁓ you know, I'm I'm looking at the situation that the Seattle Seahawks are in, right? They're coming off of a Super Bowl win. He's undoubtedly a guy that's gonna get drafted in like the top eight picks of drafts for almost all leagues, right? ⁓ especially as a wide receiver as wide receiver three in, you know, our consensus rankings. I just think that there is a pretty solid possibility that he could finish near the bottom end of this tier as opposed to the top end of this tier. When you factor in that they no longer have Kenneth Walker, that running back group is very unproven, ⁓ very much up in the air. Sam Darnold, you know, we've we've seen The greatness of Sam Darnold and we've seen the worst of Sam Darnold. Who knows where the truth lies, but this might be the year that we see where that actually is, because we've seen him be a Super Bowl, you know, quarterback, but we've also saw him in Minnesota and before Minn I mean Minnesota was actually pretty solid, but I was like we saw him in Carolina, we saw him in New York, we've seen him in a couple of different places and you know, all those places aren't great organizations, so obviously him being in this situation is very different. ⁓ All that being said, though, nobody's going to be surprised by Jackson Smith and Jigba this year. Off our defenses will be focusing in on the wide receiver one of this group, especially when you don't have somebody like Kenneth Walker to be ⁓ another weapon that you need to be worrying about. You don't need to stack the box as much against the Seattle Seahawks. You can just send two corners at Jackson Smith and Jigba on every single play and not really have to worry about the Rasheed Shaheeds or Cooper Cubs. And if that is the case, and those guys end up Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: you know, getting more looks because Jackson Smith is covered so often. That's, you know, even better of a chance for Yeah, exactly. we got some guys who could actually, you know, do something for this offense, but I just think that this is gonna be a year that's gonna be a lot tougher. Teams are gonna come in trying to prove a point against the Super Bowl winners. And as usually happens with guys like Jackson Smith in Jigba and offenses like the Seattle Seahawks Nolan: And then we got some new boom candidates down the way, everybody. KayOhKnee: The next year is the toughest year for them. They're gonna have a much tougher schedule. The defenses are gonna be locking in on this group and trying to prove that they can beat them. Yeah. And that's yeah. I didn't even think about that factor. But yeah, yeah. You're right. Yeah. And then on top of that, your guys' secondary is gonna be nasty this year. So Nolan: Now they gotta face Miles Garrett two times a year. Gonna have Sam Darnold seeing ghosts again. KayOhKnee: I'm worried about the prospect of drafting a guy like Jackson Smith and Jaguar. He's undoubtedly going to be one of the guys that gets, you know, picked up, kept, all that sort of stuff. To me, the draft stock is telling me I would stay or clear of him because I don't want to be taking risks on somebody who might just get every single coverage known to man thrown at him. So ⁓ anyway, Nolan, thoughts, opinions, anything else you want to add to that before we move on to the tight ends here? Nolan: I you know, when I was trying to make my choices for boom or bust, Jackson Smith did cross my mind as a bust candidate. I didn't want to be that bitter Rams fan, so I'm glad you said it instead. so but I I am in agreement. There's a there's a lot that KayOhKnee: ⁓ That's a good point. That's right. It would have been it would have seemed a lot more ⁓ I guess pointed it if it was you that said as opposed to me. It's also why I didn't say Lamar Jackson in the first one. So ⁓ anyway, ⁓ we're moving over to the tight end position. ⁓ this one had some small changes, but I mean as we kind of figure with the ⁓ Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: Tight end position. Nothing really changes too much from their rankings to our rankings. So off the rip, we do have Trey McBride at the top of this one. Then Brock Bowers, Colston Loveland, Tucker Kraft, Tyler Warren, Kyle Pitts, Harold Fannon, and Sam Laporta. Like I already mentioned, only gonna have eight in this one, ⁓ for this position specifically. ⁓ and on the flip side of this, they did have a little bit of different rankings here. So they have Brock Bowers at the top of theirs, Trey McBride, number two. Colson Loveland, Tyler Warren, Tucker Kraft, Harold Fannin Junior, Kyle Pitts, and Sam Laporta at the bottom of that. Nolan, looking at the rankings, looking at who we have here, who is your big boom candidate for the tight end position in our tight end one group? Nolan: ⁓ my boom candidate is Kyle Pitts senior. ⁓ I think he did a fantastic job last season. We've talked about it. ⁓ he now has Tua at the helm who, you know, he likes to throw to his tight ends. Kyle Pitts seems like I don't I mean, I'm not gonna speak for him, but I have a feeling he's gonna go into this season with the same preparation and mentality that he had last season. And I think that's gonna speak volumes for his production as a tight end one. ⁓ KayOhKnee: Yeah. Nolan: The fact that we have him so high on our list this season, this offseason compared to where he probably was last season, I think says a lot already, ⁓ in regards to how high we hold him in regard. But Kyle Pitts, they have the sh I would say they have a tier one player in each of their positions. Bijan, Drake London, Kyle Pitts. Other than the quarterback, but I think in regards to how all this is gonna play out, you can kind of live with not having a QB one at the helm when you have these strong players all around. Kyle Pitts is gonna be someone that definitely, definitely benefits from all that. ⁓ so I do see him moving up. Do I think he's gonna be like the the tight end one? No. I don't think that I'm not gonna say that. ⁓ but he he could flirt with three and four. Yeah, yeah. Like you you got some strong tight ends. Yeah. KayOhKnee: It's pretty hard to crack that I was like a say, it's pretty hard to crack that top two. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I was like those top two I think are it's like almost not even a chance to crack that. Yeah. I was like they are basically wide receiver numbers for tight ends. So yeah. Yeah. I know. ⁓ as far as a boom candidate for this one, this one is a tougher ask because I mean, well, one, the tier's a little bit smaller, and two, because, you know, as we kind of just mentioned the Nolan: They're law. Tcha. KayOhKnee: Top two is undoubtedly gonna be the top two. I just don't think that there's any way that you crack into that. So you're really hoping that you can hit that top three spot. ⁓ with that said though I I'm still fervently on the Colston Loveland train, man. I do think that he is the one guy amongst this group that I really believe can crack this top two group because one, he has all the tools. He is undoubtedly a guy that can play like this large wide receiver, and sort of fits the mold of what Ben Johnson likes in his wide in his tight ends. You know, somebody who can pass block, but more importantly, can catch the ball and make big plays. Nolan: Mm. KayOhKnee: I really like that Colson Lovelin can do that in spades. On top of that, this receiver core did lose another wide receiver, so they're moving into this new offense, which we're not even sure what it looks like yet. You know, we're not sure if Roma Dunze is going to be wide receiver one. We're not sure if Luther Burden is going to take another step in touches. But I will say I know for a fact that Colston Lovelin is undoubtedly going to be a large part of this offense, whether that's in the red zone or if he just starts getting peppered with more targets throughout the offense. In general, there's a lot of movement with Colson Lovelin. They obviously are phasing out Cole Komet. We haven't really heard or seen anything out of him from training camp. They're moving Coastin Lovelin around the line. They're using him in end-a-round stuff. They've shown that in their training camp stuff. It's pointing to the fact that Colson Lovelin is going to be a major part of this offense, and I am buying wholeheartedly on a guy who was drafted pick ten last year in the first round. Like this is a guy that has all the talent in the world. Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: There's a reason why he was picked that high, especially by this prolific offensive head coach. I'm I'm just I'm he's my boom candidate. He's the only guy that I can see from this top eight that can maybe crack that top two, which we already know is sort of like this impenetrable fortress of Trey McBride and Brock Bowers. If he can get a little bit more touches this year, I think Colson Lovelin is just to the moon, man. And we saw in Spurts this last year when he had like this Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: you know, one big catch and he ran for like sixty yards. It's like you'd never really see tight ends who do that specifically. He's a guy who can do that. So ⁓ yeah, and the other one I was gonna say one of the other things that I really liked was he lined up outside. It was like, you know, a fade pass. He catches it. Like you don't have very many tight ends who do that. I mean the last one we really saw who was like able to really do that was like Rob Gunkowski. Nolan: Yeah. KayOhKnee: Trey McBride is, you know, obviously there. I'm talking about like guys from the past, obviously not the guys who are currently in the league. But yeah, anyway, that's why I have Closa Loveland as my boom candidate ⁓ for this group of tight ends. Nolan, Quams. Anything else you want to add to that one? Nolan: No, I mean I I definitely agree with that. It it's even weirder just being like, Yeah, he's we consensus he's top three tight end, but you're like, Yeah, I think he's booming up higher, which is you know, I think that speaks speaks volumes about where we actually see him in this j Ben Johnson's offense, so KayOhKnee: Yeah, yeah. 'Cause it's literally like that tier like if we were tiering it, it's like tier one, that Trey McBride Brock Bowers tier is like we've not seen a tight end group this strong before. So it's like to crack that, yeah, like you gotta be pretty damn good to get up there. So ⁓ anyway, on the flip side of that, we do have our bus candidate from this tier Nolan. Who do you have as the bus candidate for this group? Nolan: It's close knit, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I was weighing my options between two of them. I felt like I'll I'll mention who it was the other one that I'm not picking is. I felt like how it looks right now on paper, there should be no hitch in how he returns. And that's Tuckercraft. I I was worried, you know, to have him rank so high coming off an ACL injury, and then he's returning to the game, says he's gonna be perfect, ready to go by week one. We'll see. I'm not too sure. But yeah, yeah. KayOhKnee: We were the ones who moved him up once, but Nolan: But as I reviewed it more and more, you can't deny who Tucker Kraft is. You can't deny how his division currently looks and how he can definitely feed in that division right now as a tight end. ⁓ so I didn't feel good about having him as my bus candidate. So then I dug deeper. And my bus candidate is gonna be another Indianapolis Colt. It is Tyler Warren. Is that yours too? KayOhKnee: Yeah. Mm-hmm. ⁓ no. I was hoping you weren't gonna see him. No, that's not I mean, mostly because I just I I love Tyler Warren. You my boy. You you hooked it up last year, but yeah, I I can't disagree. ⁓ Nolan: I know, I know. Yeah. ⁓ Be f look, before the Daniel Jones injury, he was averaging a top ten finish every single week as a tight end or top ten tight end every single week. ⁓ and I had pull up the the chart just so I could read it out to you guys. After his injury in week fourteen KayOhKnee: Yeah. Nolan: Or during his injury in week fourteen, Tyler Warren finished thirty-first, thirtieth, twenty-second, seventeenth, and twentieth. ⁓ I think that would be as overall, not just as a tight end, 'cause that'd be ridiculous. ⁓ but that is not someone that I can clear in a way say is going to maintain a, by consensus, top five tight end ranking throughout the season. and I'm not gonna Be repetitive, but we've already talked about the issues going into this season with the Colts. I will say the one positive note that he has is that we don't know the health of Alec Pierce completely coming back yet, how that's gonna look on paper, ⁓ how it's gonna look on the field and applied to this team. We know they have Josh Downs, but You gotta d you gotta have someone that can deliver the ball to all these guys. And there there's just too much there's a dark cloud hanging over this franchise until we know the the status of Daniel Jones. And I don't wanna flirt with that too much. So my best candidate is Tyler Warren. KayOhKnee: No, it's funny, I was gonna say in a way I know this is terr it's gonna sound terrible when I say it, but I was gonna say in a way the Daniel Jones injury was a little bit of a blessing because like they were number one pre pre injury. They dropped down in the rankings in their division, so that kept them from having like a really crazy schedule this year, which I feel like they're sort of in the middle of the pack as far as like strength of schedule. So I feel like that is one thing that is at least a positive for them. But I agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying. Yeah, I mean it's hard to have any stock in the Indianapolis Colts when we're not Nolan: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. KayOhKnee: Sure, who's going to be suiting up at the quarterback position for them and whether or not that that player is going to be able to get them the ball. You know, we've seen some positive things we like out of Anthony Richardson. We'll see how positive we're feeling about it, you know, when the season actually starts and if he's actually playing. So ⁓ again, gonna go with another hot take here because to be quite honest, it's it's kind of tough to pick anybody ⁓ within this group. I mean, it's the tight end position. You know, it's hard to say like, ⁓ somebody's gonna be a bust because they're in this group. It's like you're getting somebody who's once you're outside of the top, like well, I guess for what I just mentioned, the top three, it's pretty much just kind of like all vanilla. You know what I mean? You're all guys that you're just hoping to give you a okay numbers. ⁓ with that said though, because of that, what I just said, my hot take is it's Trey McBride. Nolan: Mm-hmm. KayOhKnee: Is gonna be the bust from this group. Let me let hear me out. I I am with I'm I'm one still worried about this this Cardinals offense in general. You know, as kind of we've I know for real though. I was like, as as has been the case for this entire offseason, what we're seeing out of Carson Beck is that. Nolan: You don't believe in Carson Peck? I'm scared. Poor Michael Wilson. KayOhKnee: He might be the guy and they may be in no rush to, you know, do anything other than trot out their brand new third round rookie QB. And, you know, Jacoby Brissett isn't exactly making things easy by not signing his contract and making this extension stuff carry out even more than it should have. I mean, he probably should have just took whatever the first offer was because now that's likely off the table and if you're liking enough of what you see out of Carson Beck, then bye bye Jacoby. ⁓ All that pointing to Carson Beck could be starting sooner rather than later, depending on how short of a leash they want to give Jacoby, because it should technically still be Jacoby to start the season. I'm just worried with all of those changes with the changes at the running back position. Obviously they really like what they're getting out of Jeremiah Love, but where does Jeremiah Love operate? In that close to mid range area that Trey McBride likes to occupy. and That's pointing to this offense utilizing more sets where they are dump off passes to Jeremiah Love or, you know, using different wide receiver sets and this sort of stuff. I just liked Trey McBride better when you had a pocket passing quarterback in a team that didn't really have a whole lot of weapons. Now they have a little bit more. You know what I mean? Now they have a group that can do a little bit more things. It's a little bit more prolific in the passing game. That Points to me just worrying about Trey McBride in general. Again, the other part of it too, what you just kinda mentioned earlier. I mean, this is a team that's gonna be facing some very tough teams in their conference. You know what I mean? There's gonna be some tough defenses for them to go up against. And I I just don't see how when you have this guy who is undoubtedly wide receiver one on your team in Trey McBride, how you don't just continually double coverage that guy. I mean, Marvin Harrison hasn't proven that you Yeah, yeah. Marvin has Marvin Harrison hasn't proven that you can you have to put anybody on him as a weapon. Michael Wilson is there, but as we kinda mentioned already, if it is not Jacoby Brissett, then we kinda like Michael Wilson a whole lot less. There's just a lot of wonky things going on with Arizona right now, and I don't really like the offensive coordinator either. I don't really buy into what he's selling. it's just pointing to red flag after red flag for Chimney McBride. ⁓ and that's why I have to I have to unfortunately place him as my bust candidate for the tight end one ranking group. So ⁓ yeah. Nolan, Quams, anything you want to add to that one? ⁓ no. Nolan: I'm in agreement. I hate to say it. I am in agreement. ⁓ gosh. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ it's KayOhKnee: But if he falls to in the third round though Nolan: If he falls if him or Brock Bowers fall to me in the third round, I'm running it back. KayOhKnee: What about the second round? It's just I mean, you're kinda deep in there, so I was like Nolan: Yeah, no, well Yeah, I guess maybe we'll see. Yeah. 'Cause I think Trey McBride was right around I think he was twenty four last year. Pick twenty four last year. Yeah. KayOhKnee: 'Cause usually they're taking it at the turn, right? So, I mean that's not like a crazy thing for you to consider at that spot. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. That sounds right. Yep. That's exactly right. Yeah. ⁓ 25 actually technically. Yeah, he was on the rep. I just realized that. ⁓ gosh, yeah. I know. I'm sorry. I just looked at the board, I'm like, ⁓ I got all excited seeing stickers on the board. ⁓ it's coming up. Jared's wedding, which is what we're talking about. Jared's wedding. We're all very excited about the wedding. That's what we're talking about, which is in a couple of weeks. Whoa, it's in a couple of weeks. Nolan: ⁓ he's on the wrap. Congratulations to Jared. We're super happy for him and Emily. Dang. A couple of weeks. KayOhKnee: ⁓ dang. ⁓ my gosh, just years going by so fast. ⁓ anyway, I think that'll do it. ⁓ I think that'll do it for our boom or bust, ⁓ tier one or our whatever ranking f top rank groups. It's hard because I don't want to call it tears because we just did tears. Consensus tears ⁓ boom or busts. ⁓ and we'll get into Nolan: But not fast enough! Our consensus tiers. KayOhKnee: Our consensus tier twos next week. So Nolan, anything you want to say to the beautiful people at home before we bounce on out of this pod? Nolan: Draft responsibly everybody. KayOhKnee: Draft responsibly. If you're listening to this pod, we also have a new website. Go ahead and check it out. Boy and soy.com. ⁓ it's gonna be where you find all of the latest updates on this podcast. All of our podcast stuff will be posted there. We'll start throwing in newsletter things for those of you who sub who subscribe to that ⁓ website. So head on over there. If there's anything be ⁓ behind the scenes or whatever, we're gonna have some other stuff on there later on. But ⁓ go ahead, check it out, look around, take a Take a gander at our about us page because it tells our love story as friends. Right? So anyway, go ahead over there, check it all out, ⁓ view the things, and ⁓ thank you for joining us on this very special episode of The Fifth Down. With that said, it has been a pleasure, it has been a joy from all of us here at Poi and Soy. Nolan: ⁓ Everybody. KayOhKnee: Bang bang.