1121: 15 Transactions for Week 1

JJ Zachariason (0:02)

This is The Late-Round Podcast with your host, JJ Zachariason.

What's up, everyone? It's JJ Zachariason. In this episode 1121 of The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast, thanks for tuning in. After a draft season filled with ups and downs, we're just getting started. The NFL season kicks off this week, which means we're now moving into the in-season Late-Round Podcast schedule. And that schedule, it's the same that it's been in recent years. Every Tuesday morning, you can expect this 15 transactions episode. This is where I talk about players to add, drop, buy, and sell in your leagues. On Wednesday, it's 10 trends. That one's pretty self-explanatory. I talk about 10 fantasy football trends that can help you with roster management. Thursday is the Sleeper Show. That's where I talk about players who aren't heavily rostered, but they've got intriguing matchups. You may be able to start some of them in your league if you're in a pinch. Friday, we have two episodes that drop. One's a mailbag episode. The other one is an episode of Late-Round Perspectives. Expect the mailbag to hit your podcast feeds in the early morning, and then perspectives in the early afternoon. We also are doing the Late-Round Fantasy Football Show every Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern on YouTube. Myself and David Kitchen will talk through news, some data, players I'm higher or lower on that week versus consensus, a look-ahead waiver wire segment, some bold predictions, and more. That will then drop in the podcast feed on Saturday morning. So that alone is six episodes per week. I also do the data dump on Twitter and on Blue Sky every Monday morning, and that also gets sent via the Late-Round newsletter. And speaking of which, a brand new data dump YouTube show is coming in just a few weeks to that same YouTube channel. Where every Monday, Brandon Gadula and David Kitchen, they're going to go through some usage data to help you guys out with your teams. That's on youtube.com/atlate-roundff.

That's going to start in just a few weeks. And then obviously, if you're a Late-Round member, you'll also receive weekly rankings, rest of season rankings, and a Q&A live stream each week, along with plenty of other perks like the Late-Round Discord. You can learn more all about that on lateround.com. So yeah, it's a grind. There's a lot of work to be done this season, but I am really excited for it. I'll get stuff right, I'll get stuff wrong, but hopefully, in the end, it all leads to the same place, and that's a fantasy football championship. So with all that being said, let's get to the first transaction of this 2026 season.

Ad Malik Willis.

Usually on the 50 transaction show, you're going to find lower rostered quarterbacks than this one. But with drafts just finishing, there aren't many passers that are readily available. Willis, according to Yahoo, he's still available in nearly 60 percent of leagues, despite having legitimate top 10 upside in fantasy this year. He averaged 11.8 rushing points per game in his three starts with the Packers. We know that he can bring it with his legs. And if he can get to even seven rushing points per game this season, there could be something there because since 2011, only 25 quarterbacks have thrown the ball 300 or more times, while averaging at least seven rushing points per game. Twenty-two of those 25 passers finishes top 10 fantasy options in points per game. Some of you might be listening to this and you're just like, this is another Justin Fields or Anthony Richardson-type player. And maybe that's the case, but even if it is, over the last four years, Richardson and Fields rank as top seven quarterbacks in fantasy points per drop back among passers with 200 or more drop backs.

Malik Willis, for the record, ranks fifth. We don't know what Malik Willis is exactly as a thrower. And yeah, he doesn't have great weapons there in Miami, but we can't deny this potential upside. And it also doesn't hurt that the Dolphins open up their season against the Raiders and then the 49ers, two teams that could provide favorable matchups for fantasy quarterbacks this year.

By Luther Burden.

Anyone saying that there's not risk with Luther Burden, they're lying. There's definitely risk. We've never seen him as a true full-time player. He didn't hit a 70% route share in a single game last year. We have to admit that we're doing some projecting if we're leaning into Luther Burden, but I'm fine with that.

Burden's price did fall a little bit due to that groin injury that he suffered in camp, but his status in Week 1 looks good. He's back at practice. But genuinely, I think Luther Burden has a chance to be special in Fantasy Football. First, as a prospect, he had an elite zap score. It's rare for non-round one wide receivers to fall into the elite producer category in that model, but Burden didn't just get there. He comfortably got there. And there's nothing that he did as a rookie that really shifted my already high opinion of Burden. He had the third best yards per route run rate of any first year wide receiver against a hundred or more routes run since 2011, and he came on strong towards the end of the season. From week 11 through 17, week 11 through the end of the fantasy season. Burden ranked 10th in targets per route run, second in yards per route run, and fifth in PPR points per route run among all relevant wide outs in football. Maybe Burden doesn't check the traditional wide receiver boxes that Roma Dunze checks, but I think he fits this offense perfectly. Ben Johnson is the master schemer. He can get guys open in space, and Burden's incredible after the catch. In fact, in college, he had a 98th percentile avoided tackles force per reception rate, and his yards after the catch per reception ranked in the 84th percentile. Look, the bottom line here, a lot of people say, we can't buy into Luther Burden because we haven't seen it yet. If we waited for elite production to hit with players, we would never be able to find discounts on these breakouts. Burden, to me, has a legit shot to become a stud, but I also think his floor is kind of underrated given the offensive environment that he's in.