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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Is Drake Maye's rushing upside being overlooked?
Yahoo Fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens break down the New England quarterback's early ADP and determine if his rushing game could mirror former Patriots QB Cam Newton with increased opportunity. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript Extra consensus is QB 18, uh, on Drake May right now. Advertisement We're slightly higher than that QB 16 here at Yahoo with a range of 13 to 18 uh on Drake May. I gotta throw Drake May to you with this stat, Andy, because I think his ability as a rushing quarterback is Sort of going understated right now, like that potential upside there that that is is waiting to be mined there. Drake May last year, 3.81 yards after contact per rush attempt was second most in the NFL behind Baker Mayfield. But here's the crazy part about his rushing last season. 97% of his rushing yards came as a scrambler because they so rarely used him as a designed rusher. I don't know what the rate, the split is gonna look like this year. Advertisement I, I will, I will take the under on 97% of his rushing yards from being from scrambles because May has already talked about this and he's looked at some of those old Cam Newton, uh, 2020 Patriots games, you know, where Josh McDaniels kind of had Cam Newton, what was left of him cooking as a design rusher. So I'm very excited about Drake May this year. Where do you think he might end up slotting in drafts and, and is he somebody you're interested in targeting this year? This, this is funny because you started exactly where I was going to start, which is with the idea that like, man, if Drake May was a proactive runner this year, it, it would make all the difference in terms of his fantasy appeal. Advertisement And if we just get like, I don't know, if we get little nuggets about that, the the potential of that, hey, let's give Drake May 5, 67, you know, designed rush attempts per game. That that would change the math, that would change a lot of things. This is definitely a player who, if we're making it a recurring part of the offense. He could easily rush for 750 yards, 800 yards. I think he's a the the numbers look similar to Caleb Williams last year in terms of, uh, you know, just a total rushing output. He's a better runner than than Caleb. That would make Drake May really appealing, you know, if we could just get Drake May to like 3500 passing yards and he's a proactive rusher, now he's now he's got top 10 appeal. I think there's a lot of new things in uh in New England as well, and it's hard not to like what they did for him in the offseason.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Is Trevor Lawrence on a Matthew Stafford career trajectory?
Yahoo Fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens discuss what the future could look like for the Jacksonville quarterback entering his fifth season in the NFL. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript When Matt Stafford was Trevor Lawrence's age, when he was like 25, 26 years old, we, we stone cold knew what he was. Advertisement Like, everybody, everybody had and I had their, like, it was fixed. We all had fixed firm opinions on what Matthew Stafford was and he was. I don't know, he was a Jameis-like quarterback who only got his numbers off of volume, and he was only ever going to complete 57, 58% of his throws, and listen, if you let him throw the ball 700 times, he's definitely throwing 1820 picks. Like we knew who he was. He was a product of, of Calvin Johnson and volume. And like, I don't know, he had he had 12 more years left, right? And now Matthew Stafford's going to the Hall of Fame, he's gonna be a 60,000 yard quarterback. Advertisement He's got a Super Bowl. Um, we don't, like, I know that people feel like they know exactly who Trevor Lawrence is and what the next 10 years of Trevor Lawrence is gonna look like, but I'm, I'm telling you, you don't, like he's, he's still young, still developing, and a huge talent.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why Jordan Mason's early ADP is too low
Yahoo Fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens explain why the Minnesota Vikings' new running back's draft position should rise closer to the season. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript Consensus ranking right now is 37, which is actually higher uh than when I wrote the article when he was running back 40. Advertisement Um, that's a, it's a big gap between him and Aaron Jones at running back 22. And look, I think like Jones should be ranked higher, but I wonder if that gap needs to be tighter, Andy, because like Jordan Mason last year, weeks 1 to 7, was second in the NFL and rushing yards behind only Derrick Henry. And I think when you look at why they went out to get Jordan Mason. Uh, the Minnesota Vikings did because this has been a very zone heavy run game. It's been kind of a one note rushing game, uh, under Kevin O'Connell's tenure there. And it started off pretty well with Aaron Jones last year, but then of course it faded with injuries. Advertisement And you look what they did in the offseason, they added a bunch of beef. Ryan Kelly, Will Fries, Donovan Jackson, fixed the interior that. Offensive line and Jordan Mason last year at 5.95 yards per carry on gap scheme runs. I kind of think Jordan Mason might be key to the what seems like the desired evolution of the run game here in Minnesota. So, again, he's somebody that depending on like training camp usage and stuff like that, I could certainly see coming up from his current consensus rank. Yeah, this is one where I think you've just kind of exposed a problem in the ranks, uh, and, and he's, he's, he's a near lock to come up, um, because people are going to remember that Jordan Mason for like a month and a half was, was the absolute right answer in fantasy, and you were, you know, until he, until the point that his injury hit, um, like he, he was a weak winner for you and and he was somebody who was going to be able to ride a great situation. Advertisement And pretty significant talent to to an absolutely huge season, like he was gonna cruise to, I don't know, 1300 rushing yards, something like that. He looked awesome. Um, and there were, there were more touchdowns ahead for him as well. So like he looked great in in there should absolutely not be whatever the whatever the gap is in the ranks between Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason is right now. It it shouldn't be like that. Like Aaron Jones is a very valuable player and he's one of the best like. It's like a, like a legit route running, kind of, kind of running back too. I think he's a really gifted receiver and we're gonna, we're gonna see that role for him throughout the year. Advertisement But man, Jordan Mason is a really good compliment and there's no way that Jordan Mason is, is simply viewed as a straight backup, right, or somebody that they're only going to give 68 touches to. Jordan Mason's really good. He proved it. Um, and he should probably be, I don't know, for 40% of the snaps and a whole bunch of touches, um, so yeah, I, I think this one gets corrected as the, as the draft season moves along.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Could Dak Prescott get back to being a top-8 fantasy QB?
Yahoo Fantasy analyst Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens break down the impact of the George Pickens trade on the Dallas Cowboys quarterback's fantasy value. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript Again, I, the one of the bummers of this to me is that I think it's gonna wake people up a little bit to uh how how under ranked Dak Prescott had been. Advertisement We'll get to Dak Prescott a little bit later in the show when we start talking about the mock draft like that guy was the MVP runner up. Two years ago, uh, he led the NFL in touchdown passes, you know, we're like a year removed from that. Um, he's had a 4900 year passing season, he's really good. He's been a really, really good fantasy asset over the years and have there been some ugly moments too? Sure. Um, but, you know, his best fantasy seasons have been like upper tier stuff. And he's really getting slept on. Um, and I don't know if that's the, the return from injury. I don't know exactly what that is. Advertisement Maybe it's just the fact that we're, we're more interested in a bunch of second year quarterbacks. I have no idea, but Dak Prescott is very likely in a healthy season to be a top eight-ish fantasy quarterback, and most people seem to have him like QB 18, QB 20, but he's, I mean, he's a better player than that. Well, I think now that he has CD Lamb, one of the best receivers in the league, and George Pickens, who I think fits really well as as a really good number 2 receiver, that just looks so much better on paper than, yeah, CD Lamb and and like a rotating cast of car, you know, we were starting to get like the post draft cope of like, well yeah, they didn't, yeah, of course they didn't get Ted McMillan, they wanted Tet McMillan. 12, but they didn't get they didn't get McMillan there, but they have to take another receiver, they share a 4th for Jonathan Mingo, like in the middle of the season, you know, he's just learning the offense. Advertisement OK, like now, now that we've got that out of the way and it's CD Lamb and George Pickens, these guys work so, so well together again because CD Lamb, he leads the NFL in the last few years with yards from the slot. Now he could play all three positions, but he's maximized. is an interior player, whereas Pickens is a is a boundary guy. Uh, we've thrown the stat up a couple times, uh, on the screen, but Pickens is one of the league leaders in terms of 15 + yard plays on go routes. Dak Prest over the last few years is, is, uh, is super productive on those. Like this heat map that we're throwing on the screen at YouTube right now, like you see just again where they've caught the ball, it makes so much sense. Advertisement So Pickens, I think actually fits really well here. I, and by the way, I also like that he, you know, who knows if like this part of it is the the reporting, whatever. But reportedly he doesn't want to sign a contract right now. He wants to show like, I'm a top guy. He's playing with the best quarterback he's ever played with by a mile.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why strong rookie RB class is shaking up fantasy draft strategy
Yahoo Fantasy analyst Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens break down the 'crazy' running back depth in the offseason's first fantasy mock draft. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript Let's start with the running backs, where you kind of takeaways at that position. Advertisement Yeah, I, in the, in the write up of the mock, um, I highlighted three different things and the first of them was running back depth. I think that this is the impact of a really, really good, um, draft class at the running back position, right? We've had this group of, you know, 678 guys come into the league that we're all pretty interested in, and it's just made, I don't know, it's made the running back position feel incredibly deep. One of my takeaways was certainly that like. That, you know, the what is normally thought of as the running back dead zone, uh, and you can define that however you like. Advertisement Usually it's, it's somewhere beginning somewhere around 4-ish, extending through like round 8, round 9, right, where it's just a, it's just a minefield of running backs who You know, we, we think they have, we think they're in line for a lot of touches, but we don't know if they're good. Um, you know, there's there's like a bunch of messy players in there, but it's not like that now. Like if you look at, you look at the 5th round in our draft, and um it's, it's like Ken Walker and It's David Montgomery and it's James Connor and like Alvin Kamara waited until the 6th round. These are good players who, as long as they stay healthy, are going to be incredibly productive running backs for you. Advertisement Um, and, and again, those guys are getting pushed into the dead zone. That's not what the dead zone is supposed to be. Um, and then after those guys, we got that real wave of um non-genty rookie running backs, right? And they all kind of went in a big flurry. I think it started with Caleb Johnson and it went like RJ Harvey and you know, then we finished up with like Henderson and Judkins, but they, they all just Went in a clump, and then the running backs at the very end, like the like the endgame running backs before we started taking defenses and kickers, they're still good names. They were Jaylen Warren, they were Nai Harris, or Jordan Mason. Advertisement This big group of really useful names who I think if you're drafting like a zero RRB team, those are better than the names that you were seeing in the final rounds last year. Um, so it's, it's just like all things considered, running back. Again, it's running back and, you know, it's fantasy football, so this is probably all gonna get, you know, flipped on its head and it's, it's uh it's not gonna seem this like we're gonna be laughing about the fact that we thought running back was deep when we get into October. I get it, but right now, as you look at the landscape, it looks crazy deep.
