Buck called Theo Johnson a "straight-up good pick" even though he wasn’t part of any stack in his lineup. He highlighted Johnson’s projected starting role for the Giants and raved about the rookie’s rare measurables—"monster freak athlete, like 6-8"—as the exact swing you want in the closing rounds of Best Ball Mania drafts. Buck pushed back on the idea that late-round tight ends must correlate with your quarterback, arguing that Johnson’s size/speed profile and immediate path to snaps give him stand-alone spike-week potential.

Buck declared that J.K. Dobbins will ‘straight-up outscore’ Brian Robinson Jr. this season. He prefers Dobbins’ explosive profile and the Broncos’ commitment to feature him near the goal line over Robinson’s merely ‘perfectly fine’ early-down role in Washington. Buck believes Denver’s half-point-PPR environment on Underdog further tilts the scales because Dobbins offers big-play juice while Robinson rarely catches passes. Drafting Dobbins several rounds after backs like Isiah Pacheco or Tony Pollard allows drafters to bank ceiling without paying the high opportunity cost those names require, making him a priority target in the double-digit rounds.

Buck argued that Davante Adams is the premier third-round receiver after opening RB-RB. He believes Adams is "completely under-priced" given his elite touchdown and red-zone profile and said Matthew Stafford’s accuracy will keep the funnel flowing. Buck acknowledged the report of Stafford’s back soreness but dismissed it as routine veteran rest. With Adams’ ceiling of double-digit TDs and 140+ targets, Buck thinks passing on him in the third is a mistake for anyone chasing tournament-winning upside.

Buck called Saquon Barkley a "smash" at pick 1.05 and said he would even draft him ahead of CeeDee Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, or Jahmyr Gibbs. He dismissed concerns about last year’s 400-touch workload as survivorship bias, noting that players who handle that volume are elite talents who keep getting fed even if their efficiency slips. Buck added that Barkley could regress to 4.3 yards per carry and still crush because Philadelphia will lean on him as a true bell-cow. In Best Ball Mania, Buck views Barkley as the safest high-ceiling anchor you can grab from any slot after the top four.

Buck advised drafters to ignore fourth-round rookie Jalen Royals, predicting he will open 2024 as a weekly healthy scratch behind special-teams favorite Nico Remigio. Buck cited Andy Reid’s long track record of day-three receivers failing to earn offensive snaps—mentioning Skyy Moore’s stalled development and multiple early-round picks who never cracked the rotation—as evidence that draft capital still matters in Kansas City. He dismissed Chiefs personnel director Ryan Nutt’s comment that Royals shares a "similar skill set" with Rashee Rice as media fluff, not an actual playing-time signal. Buck concluded that any Rashee Rice injury or suspension would funnel targets to Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown, not to Royals, making the rookie a wasted pick in best-ball drafts and a name to ignore on early waiver-wire watch lists.

Buck pushed back on the idea that Patrick Mahomes is an automatic top-five fantasy quarterback, citing mounting off-field obligations that could dilute his preparation. He pointed to Mahomes’ new production company, nonstop commercial work and a family actively chasing reality-TV fame as distractions that simply did not exist during the QB’s early-career domination. Buck admitted the Chiefs’ offensive infrastructure is still elite but predicted that "mental bandwidth" issues keep Mahomes outside the top-eight fantasy QBs unless rookie left tackle Josh Simmons immediately grades as a top-10 pass-blocker. With Mahomes going several rounds ahead of quarterbacks who project similarly in raw points, Buck advised passing on him in both season-long drafts and best-ball tournaments unless his ADP slides into double-digit rounds.

Buck called Xavier Worthy the cheapest way to buy into a potential Chiefs passing rebound and urged drafters to take him any time he slips past the 3/4 turn. Buck rattled off Worthy’s rookie production – 59-638-6 receiving, 20-104-3 rushing – plus two separate 11-target games and three postseason touchdowns, including two in the Super Bowl. After Week 7 Kansas City shortened Worthy’s average depth of target and pushed his slot rate above 60%, a role shift Buck believes turned him into a genuine target earner rather than a pure field-stretcher. PFF agrees: Worthy posted several 80-plus receiving grades and a season-best 92.4 mark in the AFC Championship win over Buffalo while playing mostly outside. Buck likes that year-one growth curve, notes Worthy is still several rounds cheaper than Rashee Rice, and sees a clear path to 115-plus targets if Rice’s legal or injury issues linger. He tagged Worthy a priority pick in both best-ball and redraft formats.

Buck warned against taking Rashee Rice at his current ADP near the 2-3 turn (around pick 30). He argued Rice’s early-2024 target spike was a mirage created by a "broken" Chiefs offense that had Travis Kelce and Hollywood Brown sidelined and Isaiah Pacheco hurt, forcing Kansas City to use Rice as an extension of the run game. With Kelce and Brown healthy and the Chiefs determined to re-establish the ground attack, Buck expects Rice’s target share to fall. He added that Rice still runs a limited slant/option-heavy route tree, is rehabbing an LCL tear, and faces a possible league suspension. Given those layered risks, Buck believes Rice offers more downside than upside at a second-round price and prefers fading him in both best-ball and season-long formats.

Buck said Tank Bigsby is the Jacksonville back you want in 2025 drafts. After an ugly rookie season, Bigsby rebounded in 2024 with multiple long TDs—including a 65-yarder—and finished 16th among all RBs in yards after contact per attempt despite ranking 86th in yards before contact behind an offensive line that was 25th in run-block win rate. Only Derrick Henry posted a better yards-after-contact mark among backs with 100+ carries. Buck argued Liam Cohen’s offense (projected by Mike Clay for 1,500 rushing yards, 9 rushing TDs and 74 backfield receptions) will lean on Bigsby’s improved vision and tackle-breaking ability. At an Underdog ADP around 152, Buck views Bigsby as a cheap path to a projected 300-point backfield and a potential league winner.

Buck cautioned that Christian McCaffrey’s touch count could be purposefully managed in 2025. With the 49ers eyeing another deep playoff run and McCaffrey approaching the age cliff for running backs, Buck suggested Kyle Shanahan may scale the veteran back from the 339-touch workload he logged last season. He pointed to San Francisco spending Day-2 money on speedster Isaac Guerendo and retaining Elijah Mitchell as signs that Shanahan wants to keep CMC fresh. Buck expects a clean bill of health in training camp to push McCaffrey’s Underdog ADP even higher—possibly ahead of Ashton Jeanty and into the top six overall—creating a sell opportunity for drafters worried about snap throttling and TD variance. He prefers backs like De’Von Achane, who carry similar ceilings without the looming workload cap.

Buck said he is comfortable selecting Jonathan Taylor ahead of second-round—and even some late first-round—receivers such as Puka Nacua, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Nico Collins and Brian Thomas. He walked listeners through the common 2-v-2: Justin Jefferson + Taylor versus Bijan Robinson + Ladd McConkey, arguing the former side wins in both median and ceiling because Taylor can still post 30-point spike weeks while elite wide receivers remain plentiful later. Buck expects Taylor’s price to stay flat all summer, citing persistent concerns about Indy’s QB situation and coaching stability, so drafters can “be at market” now without fear of overpaying. Despite Taylor’s limited receiving role, Buck believes a top-10 run-blocking line, proven 30-touch upside and a Colts offense “ready to run the air out of the ball” give him first-round level win-rate potential.

Buck called Derrick Henry “probably the worst pick in the first two rounds” on Underdog. Henry turns 31 this season, played under 60 % of Tennessee’s offensive snaps last year, and has never been a receiving threat (career-high 33 catches back in 2020). Buck doubts that volume rebounds after Henry’s move to Baltimore, noting the Ravens rotated Gus Edwards and Justice Hill on passing downs and like to keep their backs fresh for December. Without targets to pad weekly floors and with age-related decline looming, Buck advised fading Henry at his late-first/early-second ADP in Best Ball Mania drafts, preferring younger, more versatile backs or elite wideouts in that range.

Buck said he is hammering Jonathan Taylor in the second round of Underdog best-ball drafts (19th overall, RB8) because the market is sleeping on an elite back. Taylor still finished RB5 in points per game last season despite an offense that cycled between Joe Flacco and Anthony Richardson and went 8-9. Buck highlighted Taylor’s spike-week lines — 26.6, 39.8, 26.0 and 24.5 fantasy points — plus end-of-year workloads of 29-218-3, 32-125-2 and 34-177-1. Indianapolis ranked fourth in PFF run-blocking grade and is “signaling to the high heavens” it wants to run regardless of whether Daniel Jones or Richardson starts. With a top-10 run-blocking line, a coaching staff committed to the ground game and proven breakaway talent, Buck believes Taylor should be going a full round earlier alongside names like Saquon, Bijan and Gibbs, making him a smash at current ADP.

Buck said now is the perfect moment to load up on Matthew Stafford because the market has not reconciled his 15th-round Best Ball Mania ADP with the cost of his weapons. Puka Nacua is routinely going in round 1 and newcomer Davante Adams in round 3, a pairing Buck compared to Chase–Higgins in Cincinnati. If first- and third-round receivers are going to pay off, their quarterback has to come along for the ride, yet Joe Burrow costs a fifth-round pick while Stafford is available ten rounds later. Buck predicted Stafford will ultimately slide up several rounds once drafters realize quarterback prices across the board are rising and that he is likely to outscore names being drafted ahead of him such as Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love and C.J. Stroud. He framed Stafford as the easiest way to get cheap exposure to what could be a top-five passing offense and urged drafters to take him now before the inevitable ADP correction.

Buck argued that Davante Adams remains a top-10 talent and is poised for another elite fantasy season after moving to the Rams. Last year Adams still logged 13th-best half-PPR points per game while splitting time between two bottom-eight scoring offenses. His 2023 game log featured weekly outputs of 21.5, 18.6, 36.3, 17.8 and 15.1 points despite quarterback play from Gardner Minshew and late-stage Aaron Rodgers. Buck highlighted Adams’ league-leading red-zone prowess and noted that pairing him with Stafford’s arm, McVay’s scheme creativity, and defensive attention drawn by Puka Nakua creates a spot where Adams could match or exceed his peak Green Bay efficiency. He believes Adams’ ADP discount is purely situational and that Best Ball players should aggressively draft him for predictable spike weeks in the fantasy playoffs.

Buck said Matthew Stafford is a bargain-bin version of Joe Burrow and an undervalued QB2 in Best Ball Mania drafts. His argument hinges on Stafford still being one of the league’s few true gunslingers who has already proven he can beat the two-high defensive meta. For the first time in his career Stafford could have two elite receivers simultaneously: Puka Nakua and the newly-acquired Davante Adams. Buck reminded listeners that Adams finished 13th in half-PPR points per game last season despite splitting 14 games between Gardner Minshew and late-career Aaron Rodgers on two offenses that were bottom-eight in total touchdowns. Adams posted individual lines of 9-110-1, 36.3 DK points, and several other 17-22 point outings under those conditions. Moving to Sean McVay’s system with Stafford’s arm should dramatically raise the unit’s scoring ceiling and create weekly spike weeks that matter in Weeks 15-17. Buck framed Stafford as the cheapest path to stacking an offense that could rival Cincinnati’s Chase-Higgins pairing in raw upside, making him an actionable late-round target at current ADP.