Tyler Knaeble urged drafters to accumulate Jordan James shares while the rookie is still available in Rounds 18-20. Knaeble expects the typical "Kyle Shanahan glowing quote" to surface in July, which would shoot James into Round 16 territory much like Elijah Mitchell’s meteoric rise in 2021. Behind Christian McCaffrey and fellow rookie Isaac Guerendo, the 49ers depth chart is wide open; Knaeble projects James to handle preseason ‘A’ team snaps thanks to his one-cut skill set that mirrors past Shanahan success stories. Because San Francisco backs annually finish top-five in expected points added per rush, any path to 8-12 touches makes James a spike-week dart. Knaeble’s plan: stay at or above 12 percent exposure now so you’re not chasing the steam once coach-speak hits.

Tyler Knaeble said he is willing to push J.J. McCarthy up to roughly pick 140—well ahead of ADP—whenever he already has Justin Jefferson on a roster. He reminded viewers that Minnesota ranked third in neutral-situation pass rate last season and spent top-10 draft capital plus extra picks on McCarthy, signaling the rookie will take over for Sam Darnold sooner rather than later. Knaeble thinks Darnold’s shaky pocket presence makes a mid-season handoff almost inevitable and that the Jefferson-McCarthy combo offers unique late-season upside at a modest price. He also pointed out that a Week-17 showdown with Green Bay gives the stack natural bring-back correlation in Best Ball Mania finals. Given that McCarthy is currently going 20-plus spots after fellow first-round rookies, Knaeble views the small reach as +EV closing-line value once beat writers start charting first-team reps in August.

Tyler Knaeble called Brock Purdy a smash pick at his current pick-120 neighborhood, arguing that the market still refuses to price in league-leading efficiency. Purdy finished 2023 first in yards per attempt (9.6) and sixth in EPA per drop-back, yet goes two rounds after quarterbacks with similar production profiles. Knaeble noted that stacking Purdy with George Kittle (and possibly Brandon Aiyuk if his contract saga drags on) provides inexpensive exposure to one of the NFL’s highest touchdown-rate offenses. He projects a 4,300-yard, 30-TD median outcome even if San Francisco’s neutral-script pass rate hovers around league average because Kyle Shanahan’s scheme consistently generates explosive plays. With Purdy already clearing 22 fantasy points in every game where he hit 30 pass attempts, Knaeble believes drafters are getting an "elite QB" discount that will disappear once training-camp blurbs remind everyone how loaded the 49ers’ skill group is.

Tyler Knaeble predicted that Jalen Tolbert’s current 160-range Best Ball Mania ADP will climb a full round and wind up even with – or ahead of – rookie Xavier Legette’s by mid-summer. Knaeble said Tolbert has already seized the Cowboys’ WR3 job and quietly posted a 1.85 yards-per-route-run figure over Dallas’ final seven games, a stretch in which Dak Prescott led the NFL in pass attempts. The Cowboys ran 11 personnel on 79% of plays last year, and Knaeble expects a similar deployment under Brian Schottenheimer, giving Tolbert a clean path to 90-plus targets. By contrast, Legette sits fourth on the depth chart in a Carolina offense that ranked bottom-five in pass rate over expectation. Knaeble advised scooping Tolbert now while drafters are still mesmerized by rookie shine, calling him a cheap way to get exposure to one of the league’s highest-volume passing attacks.

Tyler Knaeble urged drafters to keep hammering Keenan Allen while he slips into the 140–180 range of Underdog’s Puppy rooms. Knaeble said the only thing holding Allen’s price down is stack-anxiety around an undefined quarterback, calling that a temporary discount that evaporates the moment Allen signs. He pointed to Allen’s still-solid 800 yards and seven touchdowns last season as proof the veteran has plenty left, and floated Dallas as a "wheels-up" landing spot that would immediately shove his ADP inside the top-100. Because the Puppy will still be open when that signing likely breaks, Knaeble expects early drafters to bank easy closing-line value and get a free WR3/4 with WR2 weekly upside even if the roster cannot stack him.

Tyler Knaeble highlighted Zach Ertz as a screaming late-round value, noting that in Underdog’s Marathon contest the veteran consistently goes around pick 150—roughly a 10-spot premium to his price in regular Best Ball Mania drafts. Knaeble argued the Marathon ADP is a truer reflection of Ertz’s worth once drafters shed age bias and focus on role: Kliff Kingsbury’s offenses have historically peppered tight ends (23% target share in Arizona from 2019-22), and Washington lacks a proven red-zone weapon behind Terry McLaurin. Ertz averaged 7.9 targets per game before his 2022 knee injury and showed he can still separate in limited 2023 snaps with Arizona. At a cost cheaper than rookies who may not see the field, Knaeble is comfortable locking Ertz in as TE2 on hyper-fragile builds or pairing him with a rookie like Brock Bowers to secure early-season floor.

Tyler Knaeble said Keon Coleman has quietly become one of the cleanest values in early-summer best-ball rooms. Coleman’s real-life situation in Buffalo is unchanged, but his ADP has slid because every flashier rookie wideout (Xavier Worthy, Brian Thomas Jr., Adonai Mitchell, etc.) now goes in the fourth or fifth round. That inversion means drafters can land Josh Allen’s presumptive WR1 nearly a full round later than pre-draft, while the Bills still project top-10 in pass rate over expectation with only Khalil Shakir and Curtis Samuel competing for perimeter snaps. Knaeble reminded listeners that GM Brandon Beane has repeatedly defended the receiver room—"he’ll yell at you for 30 seconds about it"—and that Buffalo did not add a veteran target hog after the draft. With a clear path to 110-plus targets and spike-week linkage to an elite quarterback, Knaeble is upping his Coleman exposure now before the market corrects.

Tyler Knaeble thinks Caleb Williams should be climbing faster than the modest ADP drift we have seen since the NFL draft. He compared the rookie to Baker Mayfield’s 2023 fantasy season but with a significantly higher rushing ceiling, noting that Williams averaged 31 rushing yards and 0.46 rushing TDs per game at USC. Knaeble highlighted the upgraded environment: a rebuilt offensive line, an OC in Shane Waldron who coaxed a QB7 finish out of Geno Smith two years ago, and a pass-catcher nucleus of DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet and D’Andre Swift. With Williams likely to run more zone-read and scramble drills than Justin Fields did in 2023, Knaeble projects 4,200 passing yards, 500 rushing yards and 30-plus total TDs – numbers that historically lock quarterbacks into a top-five fantasy campaign. He is comfortable making Williams his QB1 in the 7th-8th round on underdog drafts and expects a summer ADP spike once camp hype circulates.

Tyler Knaeble argued that Rome Odunze is being mis-priced as Chicago’s WR3 when he profiles as the only true alpha X receiver on the roster. Drafted ninth overall, Odunze owns a prototype 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame and a collegiate resume that would have made him the WR1 in the 2024 class had he come out this year. Knaeble contrasted Odunze’s outside-dominant skill set with DJ Moore’s after-catch game and Malik Nabers-lite slot usage from Luther Burden, predicting that Odunze will handle the boundary-heavy routes (comebacks, deep ins, go balls) that no other Bears wideout consistently wins. He also reminded listeners that new OC Shane Waldron ran 11 personnel on more than 80 percent of snaps in Seattle, making three full-time receiver roles likely. With Chicago’s stackable offense sliding down boards post-draft, Knaeble is proactively buying Odunze shares before preseason reports push his ADP back up.

Tyler Knaeble called Kyren Williams a "fine click" near pick 40, saying coach Sean McVay’s spring comments about getting other backs involved are overblown. Knaeble pointed out that Williams already cleared the Rams’ RB2s by a wide margin in success-rate, targets per route, and pass-pro snaps last season. Because of that talent gap, he thinks even a concerted effort to sprinkle in Blake Corum would still leave Williams with roughly 70 percent of the backfield touches— plenty to pay off a mid-fourth-round price tag. Knaeble likes pairing Williams with Puka Nacua as a correlated bet on Los Angeles’ offensive efficiency and red-zone trips.

Tyler Knaeble cautioned drafters against loading up on Christian McCaffrey at the 1-2 turn in best-ball rooms. Knaeble stated he is capping his own exposure around 8 percent because the 28-year-old back now carries a lengthy lower-body injury history and has logged 1,015 regular-season touches since joining San Francisco. While acknowledging that a fully healthy CMC still owns overall-RB1 upside, Knaeble believes the combination of age, cumulative workload, and San Francisco’s willingness to mix in Elijah Mitchell and rookie Isaac Guerendo raises the probability McCaffrey misses games or sees a snap-share dip late in the year. At current pricing he prefers pivoting to Jahmyr Gibbs or drafting early-second receivers, arguing their median outcomes are similar without the same durability risk.

Tyler Knaeble said Jalen Coker is one of the sharpest Round-18 clicks in early best-ball rooms and even called him a better bet than rookie first-rounder Xavier Legette. Knaeble reminded listeners that Coker made the Panthers’ roster as a 2023 undrafted free agent and actually posted two usable spike weeks, while Legette’s production profile was littered with 2-for-30 and 3-for-17 touchdown-saved lines. He emphasized that targets—not draft capital—drive wide-receiver breakouts: Coker already earned them in limited snaps, running 60% of his routes from the slot and 40% outside, giving Carolina a movable chess piece who can siphon work from both Adam Thielen in the short area and Legette on the perimeter. Because Legette is “a poor man’s DK Metcalf who still can’t run the full tree,” Knaeble expects Panthers coaches to lean on Coker’s length, 4.5-range speed, and polished route craft whenever they need a chain-mover. With the market still treating Coker like a dead roster spot, Knaeble urged drafters to start mixing him in now before any preseason buzz pushes his ADP up a full round.

Tyler Knaeble projected Kyler Murray to run "a lot more this season," calling the quarterback a smash pick whenever he slips past ADP in best-ball drafts. Knaeble’s rationale: Murray is finally a full year removed from ACL surgery, the Cardinals’ backfield is one James Conner injury away from crisis, and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing dialed up designed QB rushes at a top-five rate during Murray’s four healthy games last year. Arizona’s defense still looks bottom-tier, so negative game scripts should force Murray into scramble mode as well. Knaeble thinks 600+ rushing yards and 6-8 rushing touchdowns are realistic, numbers that historically lock a quarterback into top-five fantasy finishes.

Tyler Knaeble said drafters should start mixing Michael Wilson into their late-round best-ball portfolios because the post-draft depth chart in Arizona is shockingly thin behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride. The Cardinals added zero veteran wideouts, and the rest of the room is Greg Dortch, Xavier Weaver, and Simi Fehoko—players Knaeble called “way worse than Wilson.” He reminded listeners that Kyler Murray publicly labeled Wilson a future 1,000-yard receiver, and noted that if either Harrison or McBride misses time, the target tree becomes ultra-condensed. Even without an injury, Wilson is penciled in for every-down perimeter snaps on a team projected to trail often, giving him weekly spike-week potential that is not priced into his current Round-18 ADP.

Tyler Knaeble predicted Brandon Aiyuk’s ADP will drift downward as training camp nears, anticipating news cycles that the 49ers wideout “is not ready to play” while his contract situation lingers. Knaeble advised taking a wait-and-see approach—only scooping Aiyuk if the market over-corrects—and instead grabbing rookie Ricky Pearsall, whose role would spike if Aiyuk stages a prolonged holdout. Until the contract standoff is resolved, Knaeble believes Aiyuk carries more downside than drafters are currently pricing in.

Tyler Knaeble prefers Quinshon Judkins over Caleb in every best-ball format, emphasizing that Browns coaches have already labeled the rookie a “bell-cow, versatile runner who can run through you, run by you, and run around you.” Knaeble expects Judkins to inherit the three-down workload previously handled by Nick Chubb, pointing to the back’s competent receiving chops as the tiebreaker in full-PPR scoring. Even in half-PPR Knaeble leans Judkins, because he projects a pass-down specialist will always siphon work from Caleb. He views Judkins as a Chubb-lite swing with legit league-winning upside if the depth chart breaks as the organization’s glowing comments suggest.

Tyler Knaeble urged caution on DeVonta Smith, noting that Philadelphia’s offense could remain extremely run-heavy after Jalen Hurts was asked to throw for only 2,900 yards and 18 touchdowns last season. With the controversial ‘tush-push’ still legal, Knaeble expects Nick Sirianni to keep leaning on the ground game, which already forced both Smith and A.J. Brown to “take a step back” in 2023. Unless the Eagles change their philosophical approach or face far more negative game scripts, Knaeble doubts Smith can deliver WR1-level consistency at his current ADP.

Tyler Knaeble said Courtland Sutton is one of the easiest clicks in mid-round best-ball drafts because he is the unquestioned WR1 in Denver and still available a handful of picks after ADP. Knaeble pointed out that Sean Payton’s only notable pass-catching addition was tight end Caden Ingram, a player he does not expect to siphon many targets. With rookie quarterback Bo Nix likely to lean on a trusted red-zone target—Sutton saw 10 end-zone looks and converted eight of them into scores last year—the 6-foot-4 veteran owns the high-leverage role drafters crave. Knaeble anticipates Sutton’s price rising throughout the summer and believes he carries legitimate top-20 upside if the Broncos exceed their modest passing projections.

Tyler Knaeble projected an "easy 30 percent target share" for Garrett Wilson and labeled him a rock-solid WR1 in early best-ball builds. Knaeble believes the Jets will trail frequently, forcing Aaron Rodgers to keep throwing, and noted that the offensive line (rookie Olu Fashanu, free-agent guard John Simpson, plus a healthy Alijah Vera-Tucker and Joe Tippmann) is stronger than last year. While Breece Hall and the run game could siphon some touches, Knaeble’s greater concern for volume actually helps Wilson: negative game scripts and a shallow receiver room should funnel targets his way, giving him weekly ceiling and season-long consistency.

Tyler Knaeble said now is the time to scoop Chase Brown in early-summer best-ball drafts because he expects the Bengals back’s ADP to rise to the Alvin Kamara / D’Andre Swift / Jaylen Wright tier once training-camp buzz hits. His reasoning: every report out of Cincinnati has been favorable, the club declined to sign any established veteran runners, and the remaining free-agent market is bare, leaving Brown a clear path to the No. 2—or even lead—role. Knaeble views Brown as one of the few mid-to-late-round picks with real closing-line value and league-winning upside if the depth chart breaks his way.