7 Players Who Will Actually Win Your League

Every year in your fantasy leagues, there are a few players who absolutely dominate and become league winners. And it's really hard to win unless you have one or multiple of those players. So, today we're going to be talking about the seven players who could absolutely explode in fantasy football this year.

And I want to start with none other than Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders. I mean, this is a player in Brock Bowers. If we pull up what he did last year, it was completely limited. You could see Bowers had a knee injury in week one. This only ended up causing him to miss like four to five games. I think it was five games in total last year. Bowers goes out there, plays 12 games. So, like overall, he plays a pretty full season. But, the problem for Brock Bowers was he wasn't really 100%. If you actually watch these games, it wasn't probably until easily the second half of the season when we got normal Brock Bowers, if that back.

But, despite the injury, Brock Bowers, as you can see right here, was still very productive. A 24% target share was second amongst tight ends. I mean, this was a guy who was averaging seven targets per game despite leaving games early, not being 100%. And that was in arguably the worst offense in all of football last year. Definitely had some of the worst quarterback play, not only last year, but even in his great rookie season. I mean, last year he's dealing with Kenny Pickett for a couple of games and a Geno Smith, who when Geno Smith is not protected, when he sees some shadows, he's not going to be the accurate Geno Smith and he's not going to be somebody who won't make mistakes. He will make mistakes. In 2024, in his amazing year where he was breaking records as a rookie tight end, you're playing with Desmond Ridder, Aidan O'Connell, Gardner Minshew. I mean, these are like QB2s at best, probably QB3s on most NFL offenses in 2026. And Brock Bowers is setting records with them.

So, I say all that to say, things are going to get better or at least have to get better this year when you factor in some of the off-season moves and coaching changes we'll get into, but just naturally, they're not going to be as bad as they were. Historically bad in a plays per game rate last season. We can start with the quarterback situation. It's changed. Now, am I going to say Kirk Cousins in 2026 is an upgrade from Geno Smith? Honestly, probably not. But, they do have Fernando Mendoza there, a number one overall pick. And if you're spending a number one overall pick on a quarterback, who I think will be starting week one in my opinion, but by like the latest week three, four, or five, you're hoping that that's going to be an upgrade on Geno Smith. You factor in that you're still going to be in a spot where you now have Kliff Kingsbury as your new offensive coordinator and a new coaching staff. Kingsbury just won a Super Bowl last year, one of the best run offenses and overall efficiency offenses in the entire NFL. Hopefully that helps a little bit the Raiders roster. Last season, Kingsbury's Seahawks ranked seventh in total yards per game and third in points per game. You compare that to the Raiders last year, who were dead last in the NFL in total yards per game and dead last in points per game.

Now, if you're not familiar, Fernando Mendoza is somebody who obviously had a lot of success last year at Indiana. The entire team and program just took a leap and a massive, a historic step forward winning the national championship. 9.3 yards per attempt is absolutely insane. A 72% completion percentage last year, 41 touchdowns to just six interceptions. He's known for his smarts, his football IQ, his toughness, his ability to kind of just understand in what's happening and see a play develop before it actually happens. If he could just be anything, we're not we're we're saying not a bottom five quarterback, just closer to like 20th overall, Bowers is going to just be skyrocketing this year in fantasy.

Then you look at Bowers' competition and it starts to become like where is the competition? It was kind of shocking that the Raiders didn't have anybody in the NFL draft that they wanted to draft outside of like Malik Benson in the sixth round, who's a speedster. Like nobody was brought on in this team in free agency. They're just going to run it back with Trey Tucker. Well, actually I lied. They did bring They brought in Jaylen Nailor, the former Viking in free agency. He's potentially their number one receiver, at least from like a possession standpoint, which is crazy. Jack Bescht entering year two from last season. So like as of right now, can they still sign a Deebo Samuel or Keenan Allen by the time that you're watching this or Stefon Diggs? Sure, but as of right now, no target competition for Brock Bowers. And it's not even like another situation where you might say, "Oh, the defense is only have to worry about the number one receiver. They could double team him or safety over the top." That's way harder for tight ends who will move across the formation, who will play out of the backfield, who will play online and in the slot. A lot harder to scheme those guys out of a game.

So when it comes down to it, like the major downsides for Brock Bowers are just like the quarterback situation doesn't pan out, and if he's going to be taken right now in the second round of fantasy drafts as the 18th overall pick right now according to consensus ADP average draft position. Sure, if the quarterback situation doesn't pan out, if Klint Kubiak can't get it going as a first-time head coach, yes, maybe that's a situation where things start to fall apart a little bit, but I'm just going to say that I don't see that happening the way that it currently stands. I think as it currently stands, Brock Bowers in the middle to end of round two. Although, I'm not like high on taking tight ends in round two. If he falls to round three, it's a smash. He's still like the exception to that rule.

Next up, we have Kyler Murray, who is coming off of the worst year of his NFL career. And if we pull it up, you can see right here because he only played five games because he was dealing with injuries. And then there was like a contract situation, and Jacoby Brissett was actually playing better even though the overall Cardinals team was not playing great. And that ended up for last year, Kyler only having 161 total passes. But if you just look a a year previous to that, when he played a 17-game season, you're getting 3,800 passing yards, you're getting the 572 rushing yards and five touchdowns. You're getting the top 12 finish at the quarterback position. And this is very important because Kyler Murray has played seven NFL seasons. In five of those seasons where he played at least half the season, stayed healthy, he's averaged a top 12 quarterback finish. In fact, he's averaged a top eight quarterback finish during that span. And you can see that right here. These are his point per game finishes. Last year obviously skewed from only playing five games, leaving one of them early. But then you're getting a top 12 finish, a top 12 finish in just eight games, seventh, fourth, third, and 11th despite it being a rookie year. And you actually got to see those rushing yards come back up when he was finally healthy off of a serious knee injury a year before that. You got to see them come back up in 2024. That's what we're hoping for. Maybe it's not 572 in this Minnesota Vikings offense, but if it can be in this 400-yard range where he averaged in his third and fourth season in the NFL, you pair that up with what he's now dealing with with the Minnesota Vikings, which is a very good stable of wide receivers. We know that Justin Jefferson is arguably on a week-in and week-out week-out basis the best wide receiver in the NFL. Jordan Addison is a very underrated and solid number two. And a quiet signing this offseason, they replaced Jaylen Nailer, who was a solid number three for them, with Jauan Jennings, who was awesome. He's going to help the run game. He's going to help as a possession receiver on third down and short. He's a third and Jauan is what they used to call him with the 49ers. There's still T.J. Hockenson there. There's still Aaron Jones as a pass-catcher out of the backfield.

So, Kyler Murray, in my opinion, massive upgrade from what this team had last year. Like, if you're just comparing this to the 2025 quarterback situation of Max Brosmer, Carson Wentz, J.J. McCarthy, it is absolutely night and day. That unit ranked 29th overall in total passing offense. >> Now, you're going to get Kevin O'Connell, who up until last year, when he couldn't make it work with the J.J. McCarthy, who was also injured and who was also very raw and didn't have a lot of college starts. And it was kind of the expectation that he might not be this dynamite quarterback. Outside of that, Kevin O'Connell, when he gets veteran quarterbacks, despite who they are, right? Whether it's Kirk Cousins, whether it's Sam Darnold, whether it's Nick Mullens, we can keep going. Joshua Dobbs, those guys have success for fantasy and even in real life. So, I think maybe the biggest downside for a Kyler Murray would probably just be his injury history. Like, significant loss of injury. Obviously, he's now on a new team, so what does that look like? But, if you're just talking about like the talent, the overall rushing upside, the surrounding pieces, the coaching staff, everything looks unbelievable for Kyler. And the best part, for fantasy football, this guy goes, currently as of this recording, 116th overall. You're telling me I can get Kyler Murray in the 10th round? This is like the definition of what never happens anymore in fantasy, right? This was Jayden Daniels' rookie year. I mean, I guess technically this was Drake Maye last year, who was going as like an eighth or ninth round pick. But, you're getting Kyler Murray in the 10th round. Like, those late-round quarterbacks who are mobile, have a ton of upside, or veterans in good situations, they don't exist anymore. These types of profiles are getting pushed up to the seventh round, where Justin Herbert goes, right? The eighth or ninth round, where Brock Purdy goes. No. Kyler Murray, because of a down year and his injury history, he's currently going this late. To me, he's the day-one starter. I don't see why that's going to even be a question. He's going to He's on a one-year deal, so he's going to be motivated to try and earn a new contract, whether it be with the Vikings or another organization. Kyler Murray, to me, in round 10, is a top-two quarterback option this year in drafts, maybe even the best.

Now, let's keep going, and we're going to go over to a rookie here in Carnell Tate out of Ohio State. He signs with the or he was drafted by the Tennessee Titans first overall uh fourth over Let me say this better. Now, we're going to go to a rookie Carnell Tate of the Tennessee Titans. They took him in this year's NFL Draft fourth overall out of Ohio State. And I mean, this is a 21-year-old wide receiver. Early breakout age. He goes to Ohio State, competes against the best of the best like a Jeremiah Smith over there who's going to maybe be a top three if not higher pick in next year's draft and he and he holds his own. Now, if you watch my channel during the pre-draft process of the NFL Draft, you know a lot of people freaked out when Carnell Tate only ran a 4.53 40-time. It was actually slower than that at the NFL Combine. Then in his pro day, he runs a 4.53 40-time and everybody's jumping up and down like "Oh my god, he only has average speed, 47th percentile speed overall. Oh my god, this is terrible. Maybe he's now not worth a top 10 pick or a first-round pick overall." Everybody starts panicking. If you actually watch the guy's film, you know he's not beating people with blazing speed. He's beating people with football IQ, route running, leverage, uh catch point, yards after the catch, all this. And that helped him find success at Ohio State, where last year he had 875 yards. He had a 16% target share despite dealing with other top-end prospects like a Jeremiah Smith uh in college. Nine catches as well. Also, this wasn't like the most flashy Ohio State team in terms of like what they were dealing with at the quarterback position by any means. So, overall like the stats aren't flashy. Uh that's going to be why people are down on him. The 40-yard wasn't as flashy. That's why some people are going to be down on him. But, he went fourth overall to the Tennessee Titans who need an alpha wide receiver uh and the film is amazing. The Titans did take him like I just said fourth overall. And look, I really like this pairing for what you're going to get from Carnell Tate. There weren't a lot of wide receiver rooms where he could have just come in right away if he was drafted to the team and be the clear-cut alpha. Like if he would have went to the Saints instead of Jordan Addison, you have Chris Olave there. Sure, Carnell Tate maybe profiles out as the X downfield, but there's still another proven veteran there. For Carnell Tate, like nobody really is there. Sure, there's a proven veteran there. There's a Calvin Ridley. There's a Wan'Dale Robinson. But, if you're talking about that outside threat to be a true number one to take on seven to 10 targets per game, Wan'Dale Robinson and back to the slot in this offense. He's not going to be doing that downfield. Calvin Ridley, although he's had a nice OTAs according to reports, he's a 30-plus-year-old wide receiver who's dealt with injuries over the last couple of seasons. And now you have Carnell Tate, a fourth overall pick in or fourth number four overall in the first round, 21-year-old wide receiver out of Ohio State. Like this is going to be the guy over Calvin Ridley. Maybe it doesn't happen week one or week two and Ridley shows some flash, but as the season goes on, the younger more explosive first-round pick, I think he's going to be the one standing out.

And what's cool is like Carnell Tate and Cam Ward, they set up nicely together. Not only are they like a similar age range, 24 21 in in terms of like bonding compared to a 31-year-old Calvin Ridley for a Cam Ward, which matters off the field in terms of like what your interests are for your number one receiver. But you're also going to get Cam Ward being like this big-arm quarterback who's not afraid to take risks. We saw him do that all of last year. In 17 games last year, he was averaging 3.2 deep attempts per game. That was 12th overall in the NFL. That's going to fit well with Carnell Tate. Like I said, he's not a burner downfield, but Carnell Tate will work those deep to intermediate parts of the field with his route running. And he was very good last year in college against Big 10 cornerbacks and some of the best of the best in terms of the college football playoff at getting open. I think it's going to translate well to the NFL. We're also getting early reports I got at OTAs. Brian Cambell Daboll, the new offensive coordinator, comes over from the Giants, can't stop talking about what he's seeing from Carnell Tate at minicamp. Obvi- And then there's like a video about it. This is courtesy of Underdog Fantasy Football Show. This is like obviously this is just coach speak at this time, but it's better than negative things being said.

So Carnell Tate, this is the crazy part. He goes 68th overall. So he's going as like a mid to late sixth-round pick. Usually when you get a top five wide receiver in an NFL draft, they're going to be like a fourth-round, maybe fifth-round pick at the latest. Not a mid to late sixth-round pick. I get it, this was a soft draft class. Carnell Tate in most drafts probably doesn't go top five, but he did go that high and it sets up pretty well for him to be the clear-cut day one number one receiver for Cam Ward. So Carnell Tate for me is another player who I can see easily exploding. And by this time next year, we're drafting him in like the Drake London range of the second round of fantasy drafts.

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All right, now let's go to the running back position and I want to talk about Breece Hall, somebody that you all know about. This was a guy who went for over 1,000 total or 1,000 rushing yards last year. He goes out there. He dominates between his rushing and receiving yards for over 1,400 total yards, 36 catches. Overall great game log and a great season for Breece Hall in terms of total yardage, despite him being in a terrible offense. Now he only gets five touchdowns. That held him back weekly on a fantasy basis because that offense was so bad. And there's also the argument like Garrett Wilson was hurt, everybody was hurt. They just had to lean on and load up Breece Hall. But that's great cuz if that happens again, they'll lean on him. And if it doesn't happens, the offense remains efficient, goes down the field, and he scores more touchdowns. And we also know what happens for Breece Hall in a year where he came off of a torn ACL, by the way, when he gets a good offense around him or a good enough offense. 994 rushing yards in that season. 76 catches. We're hoping we can get back to that after 36 catches last year. 591 receiving yards. Like a massive season, right? A top 10 running back season. And the interesting thing is 36 catches this past season, okay. 76 catches, 57 catches the years before that. Aaron Rodgers was there, some other guys who checked it down more often. But now he's getting a quarterback who will check it down. It's not Justin Fields from last year, a mobile quarterback who won't check it down to start the season. Instead, it's going to be Geno Smith, who last year checked it down to a rookie Ashton Jeanty like 70 plus times. And then you factor in that last year this Jets offense ranked dead last in passing yards per game by near or total passing yards I should say by almost 500 yards. The Browns The Browns quarterback situation last year had over 400 more passing yards than the Jets on the season. So like we're just hoping Geno Smith wasn't great last year. The situation I would say is the reason why. That's why all the coaches and the entire staff and everything is different for the Raiders now, right? If Geno Smith can just go back to being like the 20th or 15th best quarterback in the league, this offense should be solid, get to the red zone more, and Breece Hall scores more touchdowns and catches more passes.

Now, in terms of the other team changes uh this off season, this is a part of the fantasy blueprint the team changes tracker. Obviously, Geno Smith is going to be the big one. You're going to see some pieces uh leave in free agency. And then in the NFL draft, you're getting some other pieces on offense, most notably first rounder tight end C.J. Uzomah, and first round wide receiver Amari Cooper. They had three first round picks. They traded back in to get Amari Cooper out of uh Indiana. This is very interesting because if either of these guys hit, let alone both of them, you're going to be in a situation where now the offense is even better. You have a Garrett Wilson. You have the tight end Mason Taylor from last year. Maybe Adeniji Mitchell gets you something. And if one of these two rookies could hit, now the Jets have something to be a more efficient and consistent offense, which is always going to help a running back like Breece Hall. The current competition for Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, just like it was last year. Braelon Allen is coming off of a torn ACL. Who else is out there? Isaiah Davis, just like it has been the past couple of seasons where he has not been able to do anything. Uh just 43 carries last year despite Braelon Allen uh getting hurt for Isaiah Davis. So once again, Breece Hall looks like he's going to be a workhorse back in this backfield. And the Jets are telling you that based on what they just did this off season. Like they just signed him to an extension not that long ago. Three years, $45 million extension, $15.3 million guaranteed. So he's going to be the workhorse back. Where does Breece Hall go? He has the profile of a second round running back, but you can currently get him right now in round three. 31st overall is the back half of the third round. Very good spot. Like this range of running backs, if you really wanted to get a running back here. I personally prefer the receivers. I prefer the Roshee Races, the Devonte Smiths, but if they're gone, Tyron Williams, Breece Hall, especially Breece Hall, second half or middle of the second or third round, great spot for both those guys.

Next up, we're going to go back to wide receivers with a later round wide receiver, and that is going to be Josh Downs who Josh Downs of the Colts no longer has Michael Pittman to compete with, which means 111 targets are opened up from last year and even the year before that was also 111 targets just ironic enough from Michael Pittman. He's now gone. Josh Downs is expected to see his role increase. And that's important because Josh Downs role last year wasn't all that great. Tyler Warren comes in, right? He ends up taking up a lot of the production. Josh Downs can't get on the field in two wide receiver sets all that much. Just 58 catches, 566 receiving yards. It wasn't great for Josh Downs last year. Just 6.7 fantasy points per game was a career low. His involvement in the offense absolutely cratered. If you just look at like how often this guy was on the field last year, let's look at it. 63% of the snaps. He was only in really in on three wide receiver sets as a slot receiver where he played 421 snaps, sixth most in the NFL. We're hoping that he takes a step forward this year, and we're kind of getting those reports right now. You can see right here, head coach Shane Steichen says wide receiver Josh Downs is expected to see more targets and a larger role this year. Steichen plans to give Downs opportunities outside on the outside after primarily using him in the slot throughout his first three seasons. This makes sense with no Michael Pittman being there. This is very good to see. We've seen flashes from Josh Downs of having success. The biggest flashes was his best season in the NFL in 2024 when some players dealt with injuries on his team, and he showed a lot of upside when Joe Flacco was specifically the starting quarterback. In that season, Josh Downs goes out there and he has a 25.6% target share, borderline great to elite, all right? Top 20 in the NFL. A 30% target rate, 30% of the time he was running around he was getting targeted, sixth best in the NFL. In those games specifically when Joe Flacco was his starter, yes, Joe Flacco was the Colts starter if you remember, the stimulus package of Joe Flacco last year with the Bengals, he also did it in 2024 with the Colts. In those seven games in 2024, Downs was the wide receiver one in this in this offense [clears throat] and a top 12 wide receiver in fantasy. 15.5 points per game, 9.4 targets per game, and over 70 receiving yards per game.

Now, we don't have to have that this year. I get that Tyler Warren's there, Jonathan Taylor's a big piece of the offense, Alec Pierce is there, but if we could even get like 12 fantasy points per game, he's going to be a smash where he currently goes in drafts in round 10. Now, if I pull back up the team changes tracker in the fantasy blueprint, check it out at jointheblueprint.com. Limited spots available, so if you had it last year, make sure you get in before those spots all fill up this year. It's my proven system for winning your fantasy league. You can check it out. Look at what they did this off-season. Despite losing Michael Pittman, all they brought in was Nick Westbrook, not really a threat. Deon Burks in the seventh round, he was like the fourth or fifth last pick in the entire NFL draft, not really a threat. So, like the current competition, if you're looking at this for a Josh Downs, sure, Daniel Jones out or Jonathan Taylor out of the backfield took a bigger step last year, but then the wide receivers, Alec Pierce who had surgery in March is going to take four to six months to recover, might not even be ready week one. Ashton Dulin, Nick Westbrook, Deon Burks the seventh round rookie, Anthony Gould, and Tyler Warren. Like your really only competition in my opinion for where Josh Downs operates in the short to intermediate parts of the field is Tyler Warren. And I would much rather have Tyler Warren on my fantasy teams, but he also goes in the fourth or fifth round of fantasy drafts compared to Josh Downs who's going in the 10th round of fantasy drafts. So, this target competition is already baked in. You also factor in that both Tyler Warren and Josh Downs are going to have probably a benefit that Daniel Jones is coming off of a torn Achilles, which we've seen at least in some samples. They're older quarterbacks, but like a Kirk Cousins, an Aaron Rodgers, when they tear their Achilles, they lose almost all of their power, especially if it's on your plant foot, you lose a lot of your power, and as the season goes on to throw downfield. Daniel Jones threw the ball downfield like three times per game last year, one of the highest rates in the NFL. So, if that Achilles limits that this year and Alec Pierce's own injury limits that this year, you don't have any outside weapons, Michael Pittman gone, Nick Westbrook's really not that guy, you're probably going to keep throwing it short to intermediate to Jonathan Taylor, Tyler Warren, and Josh Downs. So, for me, Josh Downs right now, like there's some really good wide receivers in this range of the draft, like your 10th round or so. Josh Downs is one of them in my opinion. There's also a Jakobi Meyers in this range. There's a Ricky Pearsall. If you wait like another round or two, you start to get into this range of wide receivers where there's going to be a Matthew Golden, a Casey Concepcion. Like the 10th and 11th round at wide receiver, pretty loaded this year if you're not trying to get like a Kyler Murray in this range. So, just make a note of that as we go through this. But, in that 10th round, ninth round, whatever it might be, wherever he ends up, Josh Downs is a great pick.

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Next up, let's get into Justin Jefferson, the Minnesota Vikings. You know this guy. He's coming off of the worst year of his NFL career easily, right? Even like when you factor in his rookie year on a per game basis. Coming off of a year where he only scored nine fantasy points per game. But, despite that, the guy was still earning volume. Like believe it or not, sixth most targets in the NFL, 8.3 per game. A 30% target share I would consider elite. Anything above 30% is elite. Anything above 25% is great. Seventh the target share in the NFL. So, the guy's still being targeted. He's still the dominant wide receiver and pass catcher on his team, no matter who his quarterback was last year, cuz he dealt with plenty of different quarterbacks. Uh this was a guy who just had a bad season, and it had to do with quarterback play, especially down the stretch. From weeks 10 through 17, if you try to buy low on him heading into your fantasy playoffs, he got even worse. Those last eight games of the season for him before like they just peppered him with targets to get him to 1,000 yards in week 18, you're only getting seven fantasy points per game. Usually during your fantasy playoffs in your home stretch. 37 receiving yards per game. I mean, it was so frustrating like how can you possibly draft Justin Jefferson in round one? He's healthy, he's earning targets week in and week out, and then it's like week 12 and you're debating on starting Justin Jefferson or Jaylen Nailor. Like you're pulling your hair out. And because of that, Justin Jefferson is now going in the late first round. You're getting somewhat of a discount on him because of that bad year, and a lot of people were burned by him, and a lot of people just know that he did not have a good year. He's another year older, whatever it might be. But in my opinion, he now has a better quarterback situation to work with. He has Kyler Murray. We kind of went into depth earlier on Kyler Murray. I'm not going to go into depth again, but I will say that in 2024, Kyler Murray did give 1,100 yard season to Trey McBride. In 2020, the last time he had a proven number one receiver, he did give DeAndre Hopkins a top 10 wide receiver season. So like he's capable of doing this when he's healthy. Like we know that out of Kyler Murray. And whatever you think of Kyler Murray, he's easily, like by the numbers, by the eye test, by the athleticism, by the upside, he's easily better than everything they had last year at quarterback. JJ McCarthy's 243 pass attempts, 57% completion rate. It was actually like if you actually watched it, it felt what much worse than that. That's not going to get it done. 2025, Carson Wentz playing with an injury was actually the best quarterback they had last year, completing 65% of his passes on 169 attempts. And you know, if you actually watch Max Brosmer in the games that he played, it was atrocious. 71 attempts, some of the worst football you'll ever watch a quarterback play was Max Brosmer last year. So yeah, the combination of these three guys, even if you take their three strengths and combine them all together, Kyler Murray's rushing upside, proving this as a veteran for seven years in this NFL in this league, that's what I want at my quarterback over those guys easily. It's going to be a massive upgrade.

We talked about it earlier in terms of like who Kyler Murray's going to throw to, but Justin Jefferson has the exact same target competition for the most part. Still Aaron Jones out of the backfield, still Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson another year older. You're swapping out Jalen Nailor for Ja'Juan Jennings, which I would say is like slightly more difficult target competition, maybe. But for the most part, this is like a wide receiver who in this offense is just going to see four to five targets per game. It's still the Justin Jefferson show. I once again expect him to earn close to a 30% target share and rank top 10 in the NFL in targets. And because of that, at the end of the first round, the ninth overall pick, after going as a top five pick in most drafts last year, Justin Jefferson to me is great. If you have a late pick this year, and like let's just say you're ninth overall, and Jefferson falls to you, and then you come back around, you can get like a Saquon Barkley, the biggest bounce-back candidates, in my opinion, at like the top-end wide receiver and running backs. You get those two guys, I feel really good about that.

Let's keep going here, and we're going to talk about another rookie wide receiver who went in the first round, eighth overall to the New Orleans Saints. And we're talking about Jordan Addison, the 21-year-old out of Arizona State. And in my opinion, he might actually be the best rookie wide receiver in this entire draft class. Better than Carnell Tate who went ahead of him, and who I even had ranked higher, just because of the injury concerns for Jordan Addison. But if he gets out out on the field this year, and he's actually playing, the guy's going to be lights out. Now, there were concerns during the draft process, like, "Oh my god, we're not seeing him work out, run the 40, whatever." But he was able to hold a private workout, I think like a week or so before the NFL draft, or maybe like two weeks before, and he looked really good. He was cutting, this is all the way back in April. It's months later now, so he should only be healthier from his hamstring injury. The team is obviously being smart with him. They're not forcing him into situations, as you can see from some of these reports right here. Jordan Addison hamstring will continue to be limited during mini-camp. That makes sense. Why rush back your top 10 overall pick, who you're hoping could be a big part of your offense this year, in an offense that's young, with Taysom Hill, with Chris Olave, you're trying to take the next step forward. Uh why rush him back from a hamstring injury that he seemed to have reinjured at some point close to the NFL draft process, cuz he wasn't able to test or do anything. But Jordan Addison can ball. Like this guy is absolutely fantastic. He's like a more athletic and and dangerous Stefon Diggs in some ways. A 30% target share in his last fully healthy season in college in 2024, 1,100 receiving yards, uh 115 targets. The guy was great. He was doing it again in 2025 before an injury. That's the problem with Jordan Addison, at least like on paper. He's had injuries. He's had like a collarbone injury. He's had some lower body injuries. They're not great overall. He's now dealing with a hamstring injury, at least from the time of the pre-draft process and the end of his season last year. So, like hamstring's definitely not great. That has to get 100%. That's why they're being safe with him for a wide receiver who relies on explosiveness. But Jordan Addison is hard to ignore. Matt Harmon of Reception Perception, he has a prospect profile. He breaks down wide receivers. Reception Perception is great. Check it out at the very least check out Matt Harmon on Twitter. Be sure to follow him. He says some highlights, 85.6% success rate versus zone coverage, which is not only the best result in this class, but it's the fifth fifth best mark since 2021 for a power five receiver. So, that's fantastic. If you think about the wide receivers who have been in the last four to five NFL draft classes, the Malik Neighbors of the world, you're talking about going back to now like the Ja'Marr Chases of the world and the Rome Odunzes and the Marvin Harrisons, like he's up there and better than some of those guys.

And now he lands on the Saints where like, yes, obviously Chris Olave is there and I had Chris Olave in a lot of fantasy leagues last year as a sixth-round pick. He was an absolute no-brainer. I don't know why more people weren't on him. If you had the fantasy blueprint, you knew he was one of the best overall picks in all of the draft, not only the middle rounds. But Chris Olave relied a lot on overall targets last year. A career high like 150 targets. Uh if you look at just the splits from that first like six weeks of the season when Rashid Shaheed was actually on the team, Rashid Shaheed, especially with Tyler Shough, was earning more targets than Chris Olave. But then Shaheed gets traded and it opens up the runway for Olave to only compete with tight end Juwan Johnson last year. Olave himself produces. He stays healthy. He looks great. But he relied a lot on volume. Jordan Addison, I would not be shocked. And this might be a hot take. I would not be shocked if by this time next year Jordan Addison is going in like the second or third round of fantasy drafts and Chris Olave is that sixth, seventh, or eighth round wide receiver like where Jordan Addison is going now. Jordan Addison, in my opinion, is more talented than Chris Olave. Chris Olave is just the proven veteran. He's very good in his own right. He literally just had a career high season last year. So, we're not going to dunk on him too much. But if you're telling me second-round pick Chris Olave or like seventh-round pick Jordan Addison, give me seventh-round pick Jordan Addison all day long.

Now, he's going to be paired up with quarterback Tyler Shough it seems like the Saints are going all in on this year. He obviously had a nice stretch to end his season last year. If you look at it right here, um his final 10 games of the season when he actually took over and was like a full-time starter, you're getting 18.6 fantasy points per game, 238 passing yards per game, and about 20 rushing yards per game. So, you're getting some nice mobility there at him out of him as well. I mean, he was just very good. He was top 10 in the NFL from weeks 8 to 18 specifically. If you were to look at just those splits, and we could do that right here on Rotoviz pretty easily. Actually, we already have it in there. You go. If you just look at these splits, he was top 10 in the NFL during this time in passing attempts per game, in passing yards per game, in quarterback efficiency. If you look at the schedule, it was a very soft schedule. That's what the naysayers and the detractors will say, and that's definitely worth bringing up. But, also, I mean, he ended up going out there and doing that as a rookie who wasn't expected to do that in the final 10 games of the pro level. He looked really good. So, if that was to continue, there's no doubt in my mind he could definitely definitely have enough production to keep Chris Olave afloat in fantasy, to keep a later-round pick in a Jordan Addison who currently goes 78th overall as a seventh-round pick, can definitely keep him afloat. I think both these rookie wide receivers look great this year. Jordan Addison and Carnell Tate. If you're asking me to pick one of them, a sixth-round pick in Carnell Tate or a seventh-round pick in in Jordan Addison, as of right now, I'll still lean with Carnell Tate. I think he's the better receiver in a better situation as a clear-cut number one, not competing with a Chris Olave. But, it is close. That's how good Jordan Addison is. So, there you go. Those are the seven players that can absolutely explode this year in fantasy. And if you get at least one of them, you're probably going to be in a good position in your leagues. Why not try and get a couple? Now, these picks I would all consider good picks, some of the best picks in your fantasy draft. But, if you want to see the worst picks in your fantasy draft in every single round, I made a video about that right here. You can check it out. The whole goal in fantasy is not to be perfect. It's just to make less mistakes than your league mates and your friends. This video helps you do that. Avoid these worst picks in every round of your draft.