Bartel said he would be "ecstatic" to land Chargers first-round runner Omarion Hampton in the early fourth because he expects a looming ADP spike. With Najee Harris trade rumors swirling and daily Chargers camp videos featuring the rookie, Bartel believes Hampton will creep into the late-third range by the end of draft season. He labeled Hampton a potential difference-maker, not merely a volume plug-and-play, and advised scooping him now at 4.01-4.05 before the market corrects.

Joe Bartel acknowledged that if drafters insist on grabbing a tight end in the late teens, Hunter Henry is the only name the RotoWire mock-draft tool pegs with any real ceiling. The algorithm assigns Henry the highest "upside potential" score in a bleak Round-13 pool that also includes Mike Gesicki and Isaiah Likely. Bartel said Henry is still a long shot to crack the top 12, but his projected red-zone role makes him the best emergency option once you have faded the position through the first 12 rounds.

Joe Bartel said fantasy managers should leave Zach Ertz on the waiver wire even when the draft room is begging for a tight end. RotoWire’s value meter shows almost no chance Ertz returns a top-5 finish and projects the lowest ceiling among the late-round options. Bartel emphasized that at this stage of his career Ertz is, in his words, "too decrepit to actually play football," so burning a 13th-round pick on him only caps roster upside. Instead, Bartel prefers to keep loading up on running-back and wide-receiver depth while letting someone else take the risk.

When the mock finally forced him to consider tight ends in Round 13, Bartel flatly dismissed Zach Ertz, saying the veteran is "too decrepit to actually play football at this point." The RotoWire value meter also flagged Ertz as the lowest-scoring option among the late tight-end pool. Bartel advised passing on Ertz entirely and instead throwing darts at younger options with athletic upside because the 33-year-old offers virtually no path to a top-five finish.

Bartel called Cincinnati running back Chase Brown a "tremendous value" when he lasted to pick 3.08 in his mock. Brown’s usual ADP is early third—often off the board by 3.03—so landing him four to five spots later delivers a full-round discount while still pairing him with two early wideouts. Bartel likes grabbing Brown anywhere after 3.04 because he projects for an every-down role in a Joe Burrow offense that ranked top-10 in red-zone appearances last season, giving drafters inexpensive access to 275-touch upside.