All aboard the training camp hype train? Parker Washington, Luther Burden & more | Yahoo Fantasy Mailbag

Josh Norris & Joel Smyth answer your burning fantasy football questions ahead of the 2026 NFL season.

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Oh, yes.

Welcome to the Yahoo!

Fantasy Mailbag.

I'm Josh Norris.

That is Joel Smith, and these are the biggest questions you asked us ahead of your fantasy football draft.

Joel, we'll kick things off with, Ralph Smith with an I, not related to you.

And this is more towards you, Joel, but would love Josh's insight as well.

With you loving the running back, running back start this year, who would you be taking at the 104?

Would it be Puka or Ja'Marr Chase, or instead would you go for that running back in CMC, JT, James Cook?

Joel, no pressure on the line here, but, you are just making the big decision here- for Ralph ahead of his draft.

Yeah.

For running back, running back star, I want it to be still natural.

You don't wanna like force it in there.

It is what's happening most of the time for me.

But at 103, every time I'm picking Ja'Marr Chase.

104, if Ja'Marr Chase is still there, yes, I'll still go him.

Puka and CMC are kind of a toss-up at that point for me.

I wouldn't reach for JT or James Cook.

But CMC, it's pretty 50/50.

Like with him being healthy right now- Mm-hmm he still has the upside that Gibbs and Bijan gives you at that 101 and 102.

A little bit more risk, yes, but he was the overall RB1 last season.

So him and Puka, I'm fine with going either way.

If you are in a 12-team league and you do not think that running back is gonna last to pick 21, then I would lean more towards CMC at that point.

I, I think this is maybe the worst spot to draft from is the 104, because you have to make this decision.

And Joel, as we get further and further through this preseason, the running backs into round three kind of become less and less appealing.

And so it makes me understand this question even more.

Like at the very least, if you turn back at the 304, maybe there's a chance in your league that Jeremiah Love was going to be there.

And at this point right now, are we perfectly happy with that selection?

Are we extremely confident that he's gonna play in week one?

Not really.

Breece Hall, same thing.

I know he goes at the end of round three here on, on Yahoo!, but he's dealing with a groin issue.

And then you're battling like the Kyron Williams, Josh Jacobs, Javonte Williams conversation though.

So I guess my advice here, Joel, is if you're at the 104 and you want to take the best player, which I guess is Puka Nacua on everyone's board, just understand that your wide receiver and maybe tight end if you take Brock Bowers in that second round, that's where you're gonna be and win your league, right?

And understand that for the entire season, your second running back spot is going to be your weakness.

You can't be perfect in every single position.

And so just be active with that, be mindful of it, and maybe even do the, dreaded zero running back build here from the 104.

What do you think, Joel?

Yeah, I would agree with that in general.

It's tough to find much upside even in round three.

So if you are taking that round three running back, you're kinda just hoping like you get that fringe top 10 guy.

You're not really shooting for much top five upside with Javonte Williams or Kyron Williams.

You just really want that really strong week-to-week starter.

What would, what would be your ideal start from the 104?

Let's just play it out there, okay?

'Cause I think mine, if I was set on one of Ja'Marr or Puka, it would be that, and then I think I would go Brock Bowers still over the Nico Collins, George Pickens, A.J.

Brown area.

And then once you get to round three, if you really want to force a running back, I would hope that Kyron Williams falls into that spot.

But if not, Joel, DeVonta Smith, or heck, even for me, Malik Nabers in that spot is what I would do.

And then once you get to round four, DeAndre Swift would be like my ideal first running back in this build.

What about you?

Yeah, I would say similar with Puka there or CMC, but if you're going Puka.

I like Bowers there.

If it's not Kenneth Walker following or Hampton, sometimes we'll get one of those two to kind of fall to closer to the end of that second round.

And then we're getting- Right into round three.

It is usually my favorite receiver, I would say.

Nico Collins up there for me as like that really good high target now that Jaden Higgins is out for the season.

In round four, a name that I like in that round as Trip is Travis Etienne.

Just with, again, Alvin Kamara injured, I really do expect a lot of volume for Etienne.

He's not my favorite player in terms of a talent, but I do like this offense, and I do like the volume that he should get in round four.

Yeah, I just refuse to believe that in consensus rankings, Ken Walker III is still like the 21st overall player, but you're right.

In some leagues, he's gonna be there.

I view him as like the 13th overall player, so he's like not even factoring in- Yeah to my conversation with the, you know, fourth to last pick of the second round.

But like you said, it is possible in leagues out there.

Speaking of, let's go to MathNerdActuary.

Is this your burner account, Joel?

Just wondering.

How high to go- It's not in bidding on Jahmyr Gibbs in a 10-team league, $200 budget, standard league, starting one quarterback, one running back, three wide receivers, one tight end, and one flex?

This is a loaded question, Joel, because only one running back is necessary in the start here.

And so for this person, how high is too high to go all in on Jahmyr Gibbs?

It is an interesting league because it's three receivers and a flex, so it is a decent amount in a starting lineup.

I do like spending a lot on Bijan and Gibbs this season, just because if we look at past seasons, if you have the overall RB1, or at least like an overall RB1-type player, 24, 25 points per game, CMC last season, you have about a 25% chance of winning the championship versus your normal 8% chance in a 12-team league.

Mm-hmm.

Like it is a massive jump just having that number one overall player, and you don't have to wait until pick 24 to have your second-best player in the auction leagues.

So I really like Jahmyr Gibbs, and even if you want to pay up for Bijan Robinson, spending extra for that, figuring it out later, especially if you do have like a lot of sleepers in the later rounds that you like that could be potential starters.

Yeah, that, this is a fascinating question.

I love how different everyone's leagues are because, you know, we can give advice for, you know, your standard 12-person leagues, and then, "Hey, that's not me.

That's not my home league.

We, we do it differently here."

I would say for, for this individual, you can kind of live and die in your fantasy football world by Jahmyr Gibbs and go all in.

And then with your three wide receivers and a flex, play those out as wide receivers as you go.

And then for your bench, Joel, maybe find, like, your favorite late-round running backs, whether that be, you know, Bill Crosky Merit for me.

I know we've talked about others for you as well.

And look, if everything goes haywire, then maybe you can fill in Bill, especially obviously in your bye week.

But just say, "Hey, pushing all my chips in on Jahmyr Gibbs," for the exact reason that you said, Joel.

That if he's the player that you need, you have a fantastic chance of not just making the playoffs, but also making the championship.

And then build it out from there.

Like, be very, very balanced, and, we're gonna talk about it here in a moment.

But, load up, to me, in the salary cap or auction leagues, in those, like, round four, round five wide receivers because that's where I think the most value is in compared to, like, the round one and two wide receivers here.

All right.

Charlie Metzger is next.

I mean, we go from one condensed league to one that's much more broad here from Charlie.

"How does your draft strategy evolve in a 14-team league compared to a smaller one?"

So Joel, we took you on one side of the spectrum, and we're gonna force you to answer the question the opposite end.

I have three quick tips, I would say, especially when- Okay we're getting f- 14 teams, very large.

Lots of 28 players are going in those first two rounds.

So with one, I would say to balance the risk a little bit more.

Not that you have to completely fade your Malik Nabers, your George Kittles, Tucker Krass, the guys that are injured right now, but I would not draft multiple or a lot of them in your starting lineup.

Like, if you're drafting Nabers, I would try to draft pretty healthy everywhere else.

Or draft players like DeAndre Swift to set it off, who has, like, my number nine guy injured that first month of the season.

But I wouldn't, like, start my draft with Jeanty and then Malik Nabers as my first two picks just because these, the 14-team leagues, you gotta make the playoffs, and there's not a lot of depth, that there is in those leagues in general.

So number two, on the opposite end, I would say the floor plays in the later rounds become more enticing.

You technically have a deeper starting lineup just because there's not many players on waivers.

There's so many teams in the league.

So your Stefon Diggs, Wan'Dale Robinson in PPR leagues, Chris Godwins become a little more enticing as usual teams will have them as their number one bench player in a 14-team league.

If you are having 10 to 12 points per game every single week from Stefon Diggs as your flex, that's pretty solid for a 14-team league.

And then that last one is just waiting on quarterback to wherever you're s- you're comfortable.

With 14 quarterbacks potentially, I would find how many quarterback ones I consider or, like, I'd be comfortable with.

For me, I would love to have one of the top 11, and if 10 of those are drafted, I would rather have, like, I really want that 11th quarterback before it gets to that 12 and 14.

But you are waiting kind of up until that last moment.

I'd rather wait to quarterback 10 to 12 than take quarterback two, Lamar Jackson.

I think that is the number one piece of advice here for these deeper leagues is to wait on quarterback.

I mean, if we just look on Yahoo right now, Brock Purdy's the quarterback 12.

Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback 13.

Bo Nix is the quarterback 14.

Matthew Stafford is the quarterback 15.

I think three of those were top eight scorers at the position last year in points per game, and you just have to feel comfortable getting one of those guys.

You gotta push and push and push until, everyone else in your league has really selected quarterbacks, and then get ahead of them when it comes to running backs or starting wide receivers and, and all that stuff.

Because how you outlined it, saying that 28 players are gonna be in the top two rounds, I mean, that means DeVonta Smith is a second round pick.

That means Jeremiah Love or Kyron Williams is a second round pick.

That makes me nervous.

So yes, push quarterback and then prioritize other positions, too.

And I would really prioritize, again, I'm, I'm a broken record here, but, you know, two starting running backs that you feel very comfortable about because that's the spot that's really gonna dwindle and dwindle even faster in, I think, these larger leagues.

Okay, another question here from Kenma.

"We're always told not to believe training camp hype, but I feel some of the things we are hearing on Parker Washington or Luther Burden, et cetera, is too good to not look at.

Thoughts?"

Joel, go first.

Yeah, I actually wanna hear what you have to, have to say about this because I think that it is very valuable overall if you know what to look for.

The training camp highlights, I would say, is the hype to generally avoid.

But there is a lot- Yes of value when we're talking about first team reps, especially for, like, those dynasty rookies like Cyrus Allen right now or Stribling.

Or just the 11-on-11 practices, the scrimmages against other teams, those preseason games, who's playing with the ones and who's getting that volume.

So for Burden, Parker Washington, there's just a lot of reports of, like, they are getting peppered with targets.

They are that number one option.

And when that is not, you know, one-on-ones in the end zone throwing on corners and bossing them in the end zone because it's just one-on-one versus a corner, then yeah, I think it does matter a lot when we're talking about these receivers and just finding the value, especially in the later rounds.

We talked about Stribling a ton.

Another guy that fits that, where it's like we are not hyping up Stribling because he has a lot of fun plays in training camp.

It's because- Right there's a lot of opportunity in that San Francisco offense, and they have shown time and time again, "We really like this guy."

So I think it does matter a decent bit.

Yeah, the, the individual posts via X accounts or wherever else- they can hype up players just based on how good, like, their social media team is for that franchise versus, you know, what, what we wanna look for is the consistent drumbeat going on here.

And, you know, y- you, you brought up Parker Washington, for example.

Like, we got a small sample last season from basically week 11 and on where he was the Jaguars wide receiver one when, you know, Jakobi Meyers and Brian Thomas, you know, were all in the field.

The question is then does that translate into year two with another off-season and Brian Thomas, you know, getting healthy and Jakobi Meyers getting a new contract?

And then again, you look for the drumbeat, and you find beat writers that you really like.

John Shipley, for example, with Jaguars is one.

And he just every day is saying, "Yeah, Parker Washington is the guy.

He's doing this.

He's playing in this role.

He's working up the middle," all that type of stuff.

And then you f- try to find that with really every single team.

So I think you can find negative too drumbeats, Joel.

Like the Tennessee Titans, for example.

Like, it has not been a good camp for their offense.

And then you watch in the preseason, Carnell Tate has not had a single catch through two preseason games.

And if he's playing basically the X wide receiver role on the outside, it is becoming, like, more and more difficult it seems to funnel targets and catches in the direction from Cam Ward to Carnell Tate.

And that's giving me, like, more and more reservation as we go along.

So again, I think you can find this on both ends of the spectrum here.

Yeah, totally.

And it's looking like Carnell Tate is going to be, like, volatile at best.

It hasn't been that, like, for other rookies.

Like, Omar Cooper Jr.'s had some up and downs.

Eli Stowers, it's been pretty bad in terms of just, like, consistently on that drumbeat, so yeah.

All right.

Friendly Fred.

We'll close this, this with this one.

It's our favorite topic.

Ladd McConkie, Emeka Egbuka- Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith.

Who do you think has the highest chance to be the next Jason?

So I'm gonna need a full ranking from you with these four names.

But, Joel, again, our favorite round, four slash five.

Who do you think is the next Jason of this group?

Yeah.

So Jason went from wide receiver 19 in year two to wide receiver two overall.

So if we're talking, like, that top three ceiling, I would say my two names at the top would be Waddle and DeVonta Smith.

Waddle more just because I like the love situation.

He is switching teams.

Maybe a little closer situation to, like, a George Pickens.

But DeVonta Smith, it is pretty, like, one-to-one.

Like, new offensive coordinator coming in, new play callers, changes going on there.

His wide receiver one leaves, so he has more opportunity.

He has the quarterback chemistry there in an offense that should be pretty solid this year, and still, like, a really good defense, like, run-heavy team, but he's the number one option, and he's very talented.

So I do really like DeVonta Smith and just his opportunity as a wide receiver one overall here.

And, like, Mekhi Lemon is dealing with the hamstring, and he's slowly coming back.

A rookie that's missing camp.

They don't really have many other options there.

So I would say DeVonta Smith is my main pick.

You know, a couple months ago, I would've said Ladd McConkie for this reason.

Like, 51% of Jaxon Smith-Njigba's production last year came on 38% of the routes that he ran with, like, heavy personnel sets.

And Ladd was probably gonna be the biggest beneficiary of his team going to heavy personnel sets in terms of Mike McDaniel, you know, bringing in Charlie Kolar and David Njoku and Alec Ingold.

He already had a Rondale Gaston there.

And the reason that's important, we've talked about it, is with more heavier bodies, meaning tight ends, then passes and targets get funneled to the better players and the best ones, and that, that really is Ladd McConkie.

But Joel, to right that equation, you know, the Chargers would've gone from, like, the projected 16th best offense to maybe top five, which, you know, we have seen Mike McDaniel offenses be, you know, top three in scoring.

I just get nervous about, like, this offensive line as we go along now, and, like, maybe their ceiling is top 10 and, and it's not top five anymore.

Losing Tyler Biadasz, who was a big-name center.

Obviously, you drafted Jake Slaughter in the second round, who had been playing backup left guard, but now he's a starting center.

And then, you know, Cole Strange is abysmal anyways.

And their left tackle hasn't been practicing all of camp.

So what I'm trying to say is I, I am more afraid now than I was back in June that the Chargers' ceiling is capped versus if we ever got a healthy offensive line for Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel, that could've been the pathway for me for Ladd McConkie to be, quote-unquote, "this year's Jason."

Yeah.

Slaughter's such an X factor right now.

Like, who knew a center, a rookie- I know would be so important for fantasy football?

Yeah.

No, it's, it's absolutely true.

Okay.

That does it for us.

Follow me, @JoshNorris.

Follow him.

That's Joel, @FancySmith with a Y.

And, send us your questions, and we're gonna be here answering them every single week, so they can be featured on the next episode.

Thanks for tuning in to the Yahoo!

Fancy Mailbag, and we'll see you next time.

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