Mainlining beat reporter posts on X in June, all is right in the world…
In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by VinoVest:
The Titans backfield is sneaky attractive
Watercooler: When will Nick Chubb return?
Late-Round Stacks: A safety net in Denver
It’s 6/6. Take it away, Peter Overzet…
My favorite backfields to target in fantasy share two characteristics:
Ambiguity - when there is no clear back, we get very affordable prices
2-headed monster - backfields can support production from two backs, but a third makes it messy
Enter the Titans backfield, which currently checks both of these boxes with Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears:
Not only do we have a clear Top 2 RBs with no third back muddying the waters, but we’ve been pummeled with a non-stop stream of coachspeak about how the Titans want to heavily utilize both Pollard and Spears.
In yesterday’s press conference, OC Nick Holz called them both “interchangeable” while highlighting their involvement in the passing game.
It’s an interesting comment, considering Pollard was mostly pigeonholed into a rushing role last year while Spears operated primarily in passing situations:
But at these prices, we don’t have to “pick” a favorite. I’ve routinely clicked Pollard when he falls in drafts (which happens often), while Spears has been a priority target for me.
The beauty of a backfield like this is that both can pay off their price tags—even if it’s a true 50-50 split—and then you get to freeroll the league-winning scenarios if one of them were to get hurt.
Load up in drafts and pray Will Levis doesn’t implode.
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🐶 Will the dogs be barking in Cleveland? Browns fantasy football outlook for 2024.
🏒 Hockey fans! Everything you need to bet on the Stanley Cup Finals.
⚾️ C.J. Stroud is a realist. Nice try, Micah.
🚑️ An update on Nick Chubb. His first time speaking since the season-ending injury.
🤫 A deep sleeper in the Bills WR room emerges. Interesting.
👀 The Vikings enter their Winter Warriors era. These uniforms are sick.
😮💨 We love pre-snap motion. The WRs who benefit the most from it.
🚀 Brock Purdy’s new weapon. Off to a good start.
🎯 7 priority targets for drafts. It’s the year of the Elite TE.
⏰ The first Broncos RB in the building each day. Stock up/sleep down.
What do you do when you get sniped on your preferred stacks? Today, Jonathan shares some of his backdoor stacks in case of an emergency…
Best ball drafts can be chaos. We all know the feeling of getting sniped on the QB you needed to complete your stack. As tilting as that is, it shouldn't ruin the team if you're well-prepared and ready to pivot to your favorite late-round stacks.
In this article, I've outlined three of my favorite teams to turn to for late-round stacks so that you can be prepared for when the inevitable snipe turns your draft upside down.
🐴 Denver Broncos
QB - Bo Nix (209.2)
RB - Jaleel McLaughlin (166.5), Audric Estime (212.3)
WR - Troy Franklin (163.0), Marvin Mims (167.8), Josh Reynolds (215.4)
TE - Greg Dulcich (212.8)
The Denver Broncos are one of the cheapest overall offenses in best ball drafts, with Courtland Sutton (96.6) barely cracking the Top 100 as the highest-drafted player on the team. Behind Sutton, there is a lot of uncertainty about how targets will be distributed among a group of unproven pass catchers. That seems like a scary proposition for fantasy football, but in best ball, we have to be willing to embrace uncertainty to find overlooked league winners.
Personally, I like to target Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims as the stacking partners to set up a Bo Nix pick in the last couple rounds. If I'm not able to get one or both of them, there are still viable options at the very end of drafts in Audric Estime, Josh Reynolds, and Greg Dulcich, who all have the opportunity to earn a real role in this offense.
It's fair to have a healthy amount of skepticism regarding this Denver offense but I like the upside it provides with such late picks. Initially, I wasn't very high on Nix as a prospect, but there are a few reasons I have come around on him for fantasy football purposes. He's very accurate at all levels of the field, doesn't turn the ball over often, and already has a ton of experience. More importantly, he provides a sneaky rushing upside, as evidenced by his 20 rushing TDs over his final two seasons at Oregon.
I still think his ceiling is quite a bit lower than some of the other rookie QBs, but I'm increasingly confident that Nix can step in and run a functional NFL offense right out of the gate.
With Sean Payton scheming things up, we could see multiple fantasy-relevant pieces emerge in Denver. The uncertainty about who will earn targets behind Sutton has kept the prices of all the ancillary pieces suppressed, which won't make it too hard for one or more of these late-round picks to outperform their ADP.
