# 1102: Mailbag - Stafford's Touchdown Regression, Superflex Rankings, and More

An episode of [The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1224965828), 29 May 2026, 23 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/0a233618-d694-4c81-a139-b34e00f98fb1/03aa56a3-9a40-449b-9465-b45800e99eed/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=5747cc82-33a9-497c-8353-b34e00f98fbe

On this week's mailbag episode, JJ talks about his approach to dynasty, Matthew Stafford's touchdown rate, the problem with superflex rankings, and more. Make sure to check out LateRound.com to pre-order the 2026 Draft Guide. And while you're there, become a member! The new Members Hub is the place for rankings and tiers, data dumps, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: This is the last with your host JJ zach j
[0:06] Speaker 1: J Zacher reason. What's up everyone, It's JJ Zacharyesen in
[0:14] Speaker 1: this episode eleven two of the Late Round Fantasy Football podcast.
[0:21] Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in. Some of you may heard about
[0:24] Speaker 1: it already, but Late Round Fantasy Football has a brand
[0:27] Speaker 1: new website. We're shifting off of Patreon and we've now
[0:31] Speaker 1: got a member's hub for all Late Round members where
[0:34] Speaker 1: you can get rankings, data dumps, discord access and more.
[0:37] Speaker 1: And the site itself has more information too. Prices aren't changing,
[0:41] Speaker 1: but if you're a patron and you want access to
[0:43] Speaker 1: the new site, you should have received some communication via
[0:46] Speaker 1: email already. If you haven't, you want to make the switch,
[0:50] Speaker 1: email David at lateround dot com and David Kitchen can
[0:53] Speaker 1: help you out. There's going to be a transition period here,
[0:56] Speaker 1: so bear with us. But the new website is seriously
[0:59] Speaker 1: awesome and on that site you can now officially pre
[1:02] Speaker 1: order the Late Round Draft Guide. That guide is gonna
[1:05] Speaker 1: give you everything you need to crush your season long
[1:08] Speaker 1: drafts this year. There's game theory, discussion, player analysis, targets
[1:11] Speaker 1: and avoids, rankings and more. You can check that out
[1:15] Speaker 1: on the new Late round dot Com site. Right now,
[1:18] Speaker 1: that's late round dot Com. The first question this week
[1:24] Speaker 1: is from Kobe on Patreon. It says, hey, JJ, are
[1:26] Speaker 1: there any big picture dynasty strategies that you consistently live
[1:29] Speaker 1: by to keep a roster healthy and competitive long term?
[1:33] Speaker 1: For example, in a start three wide receiver PPR league,
[1:36] Speaker 1: would you generally lean toward elite wide receivers like Chase
[1:39] Speaker 1: Puka and jsn over elite running backs like gibbson Bijeon
[1:42] Speaker 1: if they're in the same tier because of the longevity
[1:45] Speaker 1: and roster building advantage. And in the deep late rounds
[1:48] Speaker 1: of a startup are high upside players who may never
[1:51] Speaker 1: pan out better stashes than handcuff running backs and sacrificial
[1:54] Speaker 1: ex wide receivers that we don't expect to hold much
[1:57] Speaker 1: standalone fantasy value. So I don't have one singular answer here,
[2:01] Speaker 1: because every roster needs to be approached differently. Like if
[2:04] Speaker 1: I'm in win now mode, I might hold on to
[2:07] Speaker 1: less of those project wide receivers who need some time
[2:09] Speaker 1: to develop. I'll opt for backup third string running backs.
[2:13] Speaker 1: It all depends on where my roster's at, and I
[2:15] Speaker 1: don't think there's some clear cut answer with whether you
[2:17] Speaker 1: go with Chase or Pooker or JSN versus b Jon
[2:20] Speaker 1: and Gibbs. I can tell you that I tend to
[2:22] Speaker 1: build with wide receiver and non running backs, and usually
[2:25] Speaker 1: dress running back last. I do that for two reasons. First,
[2:29] Speaker 1: if I have a higher end rookie draft pick, I
[2:31] Speaker 1: can get more of that immediate production at running back
[2:33] Speaker 1: and a lot of classes like Jeremiah Love this year,
[2:35] Speaker 1: but even last year, we had a handful of Year
[2:37] Speaker 1: one impact type players at running back. But then second,
[2:40] Speaker 1: if I'm competitive or borderline competitive, my biggest need is
[2:43] Speaker 1: at running back. It's a position that teams are typically
[2:46] Speaker 1: more willing to part with mid season non competitive teams
[2:51] Speaker 1: because players like Derrick Henry they're at the tail end
[2:53] Speaker 1: of their career and managers know that if they're not competitive,
[2:57] Speaker 1: they'll want to cash in before being the ones holding
[2:59] Speaker 1: the back. From just a perception standpoint, it's not quite
[3:03] Speaker 1: the same at wide receiver. The overarching approach in philosophy
[3:07] Speaker 1: that I have with Dynasty is to draft for value
[3:09] Speaker 1: and trade for need. I'm rarely jumping tiers for need
[3:13] Speaker 1: in rookie drafts. Early on in rookie drafts, unless it's
[3:16] Speaker 1: a league that doesn't have a lot of trading. But
[3:18] Speaker 1: in an active league where I know that I can
[3:21] Speaker 1: get a deal done, I won't reach for a need.
[3:23] Speaker 1: I want to first accumulate that value and then I
[3:26] Speaker 1: can address it later. And when I address it later,
[3:29] Speaker 1: I have a larger player pull to choose from, not
[3:31] Speaker 1: just rookies. It makes doing a deal easier because I
[3:34] Speaker 1: have more options. Hopefully that answers your question, though, I
[3:38] Speaker 1: think the beauty of dynasty is that every league has
[3:40] Speaker 1: different dynamics, and every league is going to force you
[3:43] Speaker 1: to have somewhat of a different approach. The best players,
[3:46] Speaker 1: in my opinion, they're the ones who are able to
[3:48] Speaker 1: adapt to that specific league environment. Now, speaking of adapting
[3:54] Speaker 1: to your league's environment, the next one is an email
[3:56] Speaker 1: from Corey. It says, HI, why are quarterback generally prioritize
[4:01] Speaker 1: so heavily in superflex leagues? I draft primarily on replacement values,
[4:05] Speaker 1: and for a ten man league, so replacement starter is
[4:08] Speaker 1: the twentieth ranked quarterback. Those values say that only Josh
[4:11] Speaker 1: Allen should go in round one. Most superflex mockx and
[4:15] Speaker 1: rankings have five or more quarterbacks in round one. So
[4:19] Speaker 1: if I'm being totally honest. I cannot stand super flex rankings.
[4:23] Speaker 1: I despise them because if you're not reading the draft room,
[4:26] Speaker 1: reading your individual league's draft, if you're not doing that
[4:29] Speaker 1: in a super flex league, you're doing it totally wrong,
[4:32] Speaker 1: and rankings can't account for that. In some leagues, you're
[4:36] Speaker 1: gonna get eight quarterbacks drafted in round one, and unfortunately,
[4:40] Speaker 1: the position will dry up. You mentioned using a simple
[4:43] Speaker 1: VARp equation where your baseline quarterback is the QB twenty.
[4:47] Speaker 1: Some leagues, that's not the baseline quarterback because some teams
[4:50] Speaker 1: are gonna draft three quarterbacks before you're even thinking about
[4:53] Speaker 1: your second one. And obviously the league size matters here too.
[4:56] Speaker 1: League size is generally twelve, not ten. You get prioritized
[5:00] Speaker 1: so heavily in super flex lee's because obviously the supply
[5:03] Speaker 1: and demand equation just shifts. Instead of starting one, you're
[5:07] Speaker 1: generally starting two. Now, you could argue that it matters
[5:10] Speaker 1: a little bit less in full PPR formats because some
[5:13] Speaker 1: elite wide receivers can match those quarterback scores, but quarterbacks
[5:17] Speaker 1: is generally gonna score more points than the other positions,
[5:20] Speaker 1: and there are at most thirty two of them there's
[5:22] Speaker 1: thirty two starters, and at this moment, we don't even
[5:26] Speaker 1: know who some of those starters even are, which means
[5:28] Speaker 1: the supply can run out quickly in leagues where teams
[5:31] Speaker 1: aren't afraid to just start their drafts with like two quarterbacks,
[5:34] Speaker 1: or where they get two in the first three rounds.
[5:37] Speaker 1: I do think that vorpass flaws just inherently. I talk
[5:40] Speaker 1: about that a lot every year in the Late Round
[5:43] Speaker 1: Draft Guide. But even if you go with VORP, you
[5:46] Speaker 1: still need to account for where that baseline player gets drafted.
[5:49] Speaker 1: If he goes in round four, let's say that it's
[5:52] Speaker 1: not in apples to apples comparison if the baseline player
[5:55] Speaker 1: at a different position goes in round eight. If the
[5:58] Speaker 1: baseline player a wide receiver, let's say goes in round eight,
[6:02] Speaker 1: that's different than the baseline player going in round four
[6:04] Speaker 1: at quarterback because that point differential from that player to
[6:08] Speaker 1: the baseline player. It's stretching across fewer rounds at quarterback
[6:12] Speaker 1: in that case, which means there's a higher opportunity cost
[6:15] Speaker 1: if you pass on that position. But look, I think
[6:18] Speaker 1: your overall feelings towards rankings and superflex is very valid
[6:21] Speaker 1: because even myself, as someone who does superflex rankings, I
[6:25] Speaker 1: hate them. It's different in Dynasty because there's a market
[6:28] Speaker 1: component that we have to worry about long term, but
[6:31] Speaker 1: in redraft, you need to read the room first and foremost.
[6:37] Speaker 1: This lass questions from Dylan. It says, who are some
[6:40] Speaker 1: of your favorite underrated tight ends in Dynasty right now?
[6:42] Speaker 1: Any interesting finds with a new tight end model? Or
[6:45] Speaker 1: was that just for prospects? Well, that model is for prospects, yes,
[6:50] Speaker 1: And if you go past, like even the twenty twenty
[6:52] Speaker 1: five class, you're getting into tight ends where we now
[6:54] Speaker 1: have multiple NFL seasons from them, so a prospect scorer
[6:58] Speaker 1: is just not as relevant. But if we look at
[7:00] Speaker 1: last year's class, the model reinforces the idea that Colson
[7:04] Speaker 1: Lovelin and Tyler Warren and Harold Fannin are all really good.
[7:08] Speaker 1: And I'm still holding out hope for Terrence Ferguson. I
[7:11] Speaker 1: had him as a buy this offseason, and even though
[7:13] Speaker 1: they drafted Max Claire, Ferguson is an athletic tight end
[7:16] Speaker 1: who scored well in both the old model and this
[7:19] Speaker 1: new model. And we know the Rams are going to
[7:21] Speaker 1: run heavy personnel, and I'm expecting Ferguson to take a
[7:24] Speaker 1: step forward. According to Keep Trade Cut, he's at a
[7:27] Speaker 1: very reasonable price tag of tight end twenty two. Another
[7:31] Speaker 1: tight end you might want to look at is Greg Dolsic.
[7:34] Speaker 1: He's tight end forty two on Keep Trade Cut. He's
[7:36] Speaker 1: probably on the waiver wire in a lot of your
[7:38] Speaker 1: dynasty leagues. One of the things to always look for
[7:41] Speaker 1: in a breakout tight end is an obvious lack of
[7:44] Speaker 1: pass catchers on that team, and Miami clearly has that.
[7:48] Speaker 1: Dulsig is also coming off a season where he was
[7:51] Speaker 1: targeted on almost twenty three percent of his routes run,
[7:53] Speaker 1: and he had a crazy good two point three to
[7:55] Speaker 1: one yards per rou run rate on one hundred and
[7:57] Speaker 1: forty five routes run. That's according to PA. Now, look,
[8:01] Speaker 1: that's not a ton of routes run, so these numbers
[8:03] Speaker 1: aren't amazingly predictive. But when we're talking about a totally
[8:06] Speaker 1: free player in a situation without pass catching alternatives, I
[8:10] Speaker 1: do think that we can use some of those numbers
[8:12] Speaker 1: just say hey, let's throw a dart at this player.
[8:15] Speaker 1: I've also taken him plenty in Best Ball drafts so far.
[8:19] Speaker 1: Some other players who I think are were dart throwser
[8:21] Speaker 1: Juan Johnson, who's coming off his most efficient season by
[8:23] Speaker 1: most metrics. Pat Fryermuse still isn't twenty eight years old.
[8:27] Speaker 1: He could have a larger role in this new offense.
[8:29] Speaker 1: And Michael Meyer the Raiders are probably gonna run a
[8:31] Speaker 1: lot more twelve personnel. I've talked about that this offseason.
[8:35] Speaker 1: And Mayer has injury upside if something happens to Brock Bauers.
[8:39] Speaker 1: So those are some random names that make sense to
[8:40] Speaker 1: me right now. This last question is an email from Robert.
[8:45] Speaker 1: It says, hey, JJ, love all the work you do. Thanks,
[8:48] Speaker 1: thank you. Are we ignoring Lequent Allen and Jacksonville. Everybody's
[8:52] Speaker 1: talking about bashall Tuton's breakout, but isn't getting on the
[8:55] Speaker 1: field the first goal of a successful running back. Allen
[8:58] Speaker 1: has already proven his past protection and work in the
[9:01] Speaker 1: passing game. What are the chances he gets the lion's
[9:04] Speaker 1: share of work? Thanks, Bob, I mean to be fair,
[9:08] Speaker 1: they played almost an identical number of snaps per game
[9:11] Speaker 1: last year, bay Shall Tuton and Laquinn Allen. They just
[9:14] Speaker 1: did very very different things. Allan would run a few
[9:17] Speaker 1: more routes per game touton would see a handful of
[9:19] Speaker 1: more rushes. Alan only had a little over one rush
[9:22] Speaker 1: attempt per game last year. He played their third down role.
[9:25] Speaker 1: According to Fantasy Life data, seventy nine percent of their
[9:28] Speaker 1: long down in distant snaps last year went to Laquinn Allen,
[9:31] Speaker 1: Travis Etn, and Beasehall Tutin combined for the final twenty
[9:34] Speaker 1: one percent. Now, Allen was a great pass catcher in
[9:37] Speaker 1: college and that translated to a role right away in
[9:39] Speaker 1: the NFL. The problem is that he likely isn't the
[9:42] Speaker 1: player that they're gonna want to use on early downs.
[9:45] Speaker 1: I mean, last season, Allen had six total first half
[9:48] Speaker 1: rush attempts. He had seventeen in the second half, and
[9:51] Speaker 1: about half of his attempts came on third and fourth down.
[9:55] Speaker 1: The reason Tuton's getting loved right now or even Chris Rodriguez,
[9:59] Speaker 1: is because Travis et who is the most valuable asset
[10:01] Speaker 1: in the backfield last year, He's gone, and the idea
[10:05] Speaker 1: is that someone's gonna be taking that work. And since
[10:07] Speaker 1: Alan played a very specific role last season and this
[10:10] Speaker 1: is the same coaching staff, there's more upside for that
[10:13] Speaker 1: role to be absorbed by Tutin than Laquinn Allen. Now
[10:16] Speaker 1: that being said, I've thrown plenty of final round dart
[10:18] Speaker 1: throws and Best Ball at Laquinn Allen. He'll likely have
[10:22] Speaker 1: a role in that team. It's just that when we
[10:24] Speaker 1: aim for pass catchers in fantasy, we don't only want
[10:27] Speaker 1: guys who are mostly playing on third down and who
[10:29] Speaker 1: probably won't be seeing much goalline work, if any. The
[10:32] Speaker 1: likely outcome is that Alan more so caps the ceiling
[10:35] Speaker 1: of a player like base Shall Tuten or Chris Rodriguez
[10:38] Speaker 1: as opposed to having crazy standalone value himself. But in
[10:42] Speaker 1: best Ball, I think, given then he has some role,
[10:45] Speaker 1: and he's so cheap, and there's at least some chance
[10:47] Speaker 1: for a little bit more work, he could give us
[10:50] Speaker 1: some usable weeks here and there on a full PPR
[10:52] Speaker 1: platform like DraftKings. This last question is from Twitter. Is
[10:57] Speaker 1: from at bnl BRGHD one. I'm sure that spells something,
[11:03] Speaker 1: but I have no idea what it spells. What's your
[11:05] Speaker 1: outlook on Matthew Stafford this year seems like a clear
[11:08] Speaker 1: regression candidate based on touchdown rate, but Rams throw at
[11:11] Speaker 1: a much higher rate close to the goal line. I mean, look,
[11:15] Speaker 1: to be fair, the Rams are still just eleventh last
[11:17] Speaker 1: year in pass rate within the ten yard line, and
[11:19] Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, the year before Devonte Adams, they
[11:21] Speaker 1: were seventeenth and Matthew Stafford had a three point nine
[11:25] Speaker 1: percent touchdown rate one year and then a seven point
[11:27] Speaker 1: seven percent touchdown rate the next year. Well, look, Stafford
[11:31] Speaker 1: undoubtedly had a crazy high expected touchdowns number because they
[11:34] Speaker 1: also threw it a lot at the goal line. At
[11:36] Speaker 1: the actual goal line, his expected touchdowns last year were
[11:40] Speaker 1: closer to forty two or forty three. That's insanity. He
[11:44] Speaker 1: threw forty six, so we outperformed that mark, But it's
[11:47] Speaker 1: not like he outperformed it by such a crazy, crazy number. Now.
[11:51] Speaker 1: I've seen this a lot in fantasy analysis. People often
[11:54] Speaker 1: think that if a player didn't far outperform as expected
[11:57] Speaker 1: numbers from the previous season, whether it be yards, touchdown, whatever,
[12:01] Speaker 1: that automatically means that he's not a regression candidate. But
[12:04] Speaker 1: that's not exactly how this works. Like, we can't just
[12:07] Speaker 1: assume that Stafford is going to have forty two expected
[12:10] Speaker 1: touchdown passes again the year prior he was at twenty eight.
[12:14] Speaker 1: That number fluctuates and it changes. It's just helpful when
[12:18] Speaker 1: we're looking at a player and we're saying, if he
[12:21] Speaker 1: maintains this type of workload, will things get better or
[12:24] Speaker 1: will things get worse. That's what the expected numbers can
[12:27] Speaker 1: help us do and find out. And for Stafford, it
[12:30] Speaker 1: would be a little bit worse probably, But we also
[12:32] Speaker 1: shouldn't expect him to maintain that kind of workload because
[12:35] Speaker 1: it's not a common numbered hit at all. It's a
[12:38] Speaker 1: very very high expected touchdowns mark, and we also know
[12:41] Speaker 1: that touchdown rate is a number that regresses to the mean.
[12:44] Speaker 1: I'd likely have another rewind episode in this topic coming up,
[12:46] Speaker 1: but touchdown rate has a negative relationship to current season
[12:49] Speaker 1: production among quarterbacks and fantasy football, as in, when you're
[12:53] Speaker 1: looking at a draft worthy quarterback, the ones with higher
[12:56] Speaker 1: touchdown rates in the previous season actually underperformed versus expect
[13:00] Speaker 1: at a higher rate than the players who have lower
[13:02] Speaker 1: touchdown rates. And that's because fantasy managers they look at
[13:05] Speaker 1: the previous season and they look at those numbers and
[13:07] Speaker 1: they say, oh, yeah, I'll draft Matthew Stafford really high
[13:10] Speaker 1: because he had forty six touchdowns last year. That raises
[13:13] Speaker 1: the player's cost and it makes it harder for those
[13:16] Speaker 1: guys to really exceed expectation because touchdown rate regresses, So
[13:21] Speaker 1: we'll see where Stafford ends up landing ADP wise, I
[13:24] Speaker 1: don't usually have strong quarterback takes in Best Ball because
[13:27] Speaker 1: I'm usually just stacking. But I don't have a serious
[13:30] Speaker 1: problem with this QB fifteen to ADP over on Fantasy pros. Now,
[13:34] Speaker 1: it might sound crazy, but I think someone like Tyler Shuck,
[13:37] Speaker 1: Kyler Murray they might have more intriguing upside because they're rushing,
[13:40] Speaker 1: and Malik willis even because if you draft them in
[13:43] Speaker 1: season long and they don't pan out, you can just
[13:46] Speaker 1: start streaming and still be Okay. It's crazy. I understand
[13:49] Speaker 1: that it's crazy to say that because Stafford is just
[13:51] Speaker 1: so good, but we have to play this game of
[13:54] Speaker 1: fantasy football. That's what the game is, whether fortunately or
[13:58] Speaker 1: unfortunately however you want to view it. Mobility at the
[14:01] Speaker 1: quarterback position matters so much. I do expect regression from
[14:05] Speaker 1: Stafford this year, though we can't project anyone to hit
[14:08] Speaker 1: forty passing touchdowns, let alone repeating forty six. The last
[14:15] Speaker 1: question this week is from at Brainy Balders. It says
[14:17] Speaker 1: it would be awesome hearing about your early years in
[14:19] Speaker 1: the industry and what helps shape the legend we all
[14:21] Speaker 1: know today. I've heard you talk about your background a
[14:24] Speaker 1: couple of times in your podcast, but I'd love to
[14:26] Speaker 1: hear more about your inspirations and what helps shape Late
[14:29] Speaker 1: Round QB in its early years. So, first off, I'm
[14:32] Speaker 1: far from a legend. I'm just a guy in mom's
[14:34] Speaker 1: basement doing fantasy content. But this type of question has
[14:37] Speaker 1: now been asked multiple times over the last couple of
[14:39] Speaker 1: mailbag cycles, and it's the off season. Less stuff is
[14:42] Speaker 1: going on. So I'll talk about it, and I'll bookmark
[14:44] Speaker 1: this for any future questions like it, because I know
[14:47] Speaker 1: that I tell this story periodically, but I'll just do
[14:50] Speaker 1: it one more time. And if this kind of thing
[14:52] Speaker 1: does not interest you, Thanks for listening. I appreciate you.
[14:55] Speaker 1: Have a great weekend. I'll catch you next week. Anyway,
[14:58] Speaker 1: where this all started. Graduated college in twenty ten. I
[15:01] Speaker 1: got my degree in marketing and I had a background
[15:03] Speaker 1: in graphic and web design. Back then, you couldn't vibe code.
[15:07] Speaker 1: I just learned front end development and design while I
[15:09] Speaker 1: was in high school. I started building websites when I
[15:12] Speaker 1: was like in eighth or ninth grade. I actually thought
[15:14] Speaker 1: I was going to go to school for design at
[15:15] Speaker 1: one point, so out of college, my now wife got
[15:18] Speaker 1: a job in Cincinnati, Ohio, and that's where I moved.
[15:22] Speaker 1: And I got a job at an ad agency, and
[15:24] Speaker 1: I hated it. I loved the people, I love the atmosphere,
[15:27] Speaker 1: but I just didn't like the job. I was a
[15:29] Speaker 1: project manager. I thought I was gonna bring all my
[15:31] Speaker 1: skill sets together and be really good at that job.
[15:34] Speaker 1: And I think I was good at that job for
[15:35] Speaker 1: what it's worth, but it just felt like admin work.
[15:38] Speaker 1: I took one other job at a different agency where
[15:40] Speaker 1: it was smaller, and I did some more hands on design,
[15:43] Speaker 1: some more hands on website development work. But while I
[15:47] Speaker 1: was at my first job, I knew I couldn't do
[15:49] Speaker 1: that for the next forty plus years. I knew I
[15:52] Speaker 1: needed to do something about it. So I sat down
[15:54] Speaker 1: one day, I wrote my passions down in a word document,
[15:58] Speaker 1: and I couldn't get off the fantasy football idea. At
[16:01] Speaker 1: the time, there wasn't nearly as much content as what
[16:04] Speaker 1: we see today. It was the big players, the big
[16:06] Speaker 1: media sites mostly, and at that time, which was late
[16:10] Speaker 1: in the twenty eleven season, I couldn't help but notice
[16:12] Speaker 1: how every analyst was essentially telling people to draft quarterbacks
[16:16] Speaker 1: early next year, or that you needed a good quarterback
[16:19] Speaker 1: to win in fantasy. But I knew through playing for
[16:22] Speaker 1: a decade at that point, because I started playing in
[16:23] Speaker 1: like two thousand and one, two and two, I knew
[16:26] Speaker 1: that the logic didn't make sense. Yes, quarterback numbers were
[16:29] Speaker 1: really good in twenty eleven, but it wasn't like we
[16:32] Speaker 1: predictably knew exactly which quarterbacks would be good. And we
[16:36] Speaker 1: also knew supply and demand was a big part of
[16:38] Speaker 1: this game, and that position just didn't matter that much
[16:41] Speaker 1: from a supplying demand perspective. So I decided to blend
[16:45] Speaker 1: all of my passions together on a project outside of work.
[16:49] Speaker 1: At that time, ebooks really weren't that easy to produce,
[16:52] Speaker 1: and they weren't that popular. But I knew how to design.
[16:55] Speaker 1: I knew how to code, so I could write the ebook.
[16:58] Speaker 1: I could design the charts, can make it look decent,
[17:01] Speaker 1: and then I could code it so it was responsive
[17:03] Speaker 1: on different devices. So that's what I did. Each day.
[17:07] Speaker 1: I'd go to work, i'd go home, and then I'd write.
[17:10] Speaker 1: I had very little responsibilities at the time, because I
[17:12] Speaker 1: was twenty three years old. I then did that for
[17:14] Speaker 1: about six months, and I published the Late Round Quarterback
[17:17] Speaker 1: Ebook in June of twenty twelve. And then in twenty
[17:20] Speaker 1: twelve a lot of stuff that I wrote about ended
[17:23] Speaker 1: up coming. True quarterbacks regressed, we had more chaos at
[17:26] Speaker 1: the position, and Late Round Quarterback dominated. That got me
[17:30] Speaker 1: a guest series on rote A World after having a
[17:32] Speaker 1: call with Evan Silva, who funny enough as a friend
[17:34] Speaker 1: of mine now and then I actually wrote a few
[17:36] Speaker 1: articles on PFF when Mike Clay was running things there.
[17:40] Speaker 1: Almost exactly a year after my book launched, I got
[17:43] Speaker 1: a full time job offer from Nick Bonadio at Number Fire.
[17:46] Speaker 1: I was asked to create content for them, which turned
[17:48] Speaker 1: into me essentially building out the media business for Number Fire.
[17:52] Speaker 1: I would recruit writers, they'd write content, I'd edit the content.
[17:55] Speaker 1: I'd critique things for the writers. We were a well
[17:58] Speaker 1: oiled machine. We were doing up to thirty articles per
[18:01] Speaker 1: day at one point. Some really awesome analysts actually got
[18:04] Speaker 1: their start under me at Number Fire. Scott Barrett and
[18:06] Speaker 1: Graham Barfield over at Fantasy Points, Jacob Gibbs at CBS Sports,
[18:09] Speaker 1: Chris Raybon and Action Network. There are tons more apologies
[18:13] Speaker 1: if I didn't name you, but I'm proud of what
[18:15] Speaker 1: we built without a doubt. We then were bought by
[18:18] Speaker 1: Fandel in twenty fifteen. I became a Fandel employee. The
[18:21] Speaker 1: first couple of years they were actually kind of rough,
[18:23] Speaker 1: just from the perspective that Fandle didn't know what they
[18:25] Speaker 1: wanted to do with us. But my team, alongside my
[18:28] Speaker 1: boss Adam Kaplan, who was there with me back at
[18:30] Speaker 1: number five, we all just started kind of taking over
[18:33] Speaker 1: as thought leaders within that organization and with digital content.
[18:38] Speaker 1: So I was at Fandle for almost seven years, and
[18:40] Speaker 1: I did some cool stuff there. I got to do
[18:42] Speaker 1: TV spots, I got to have a real budget to
[18:44] Speaker 1: work with. I really did enjoy my time at Fandel.
[18:48] Speaker 1: I have nothing but good things to say about that
[18:50] Speaker 1: company and the people that I worked with. It just
[18:53] Speaker 1: got to a point where I always had this goal
[18:55] Speaker 1: in mind to run my own company. Just going back
[18:59] Speaker 1: to the start, I taught my self had to design
[19:00] Speaker 1: and build websites. That was what I did in high
[19:03] Speaker 1: school to make money. I didn't have the traditional jobs.
[19:07] Speaker 1: That's what got me decent internships in college. I've just
[19:10] Speaker 1: always had this desire to create and the only way
[19:14] Speaker 1: that I could really do that completely freely was to
[19:17] Speaker 1: go out on my own and start a business. So
[19:19] Speaker 1: in January twenty twenty two, that's what I did. I
[19:21] Speaker 1: left FanDuel and I started Late Round Fantasy Football. My
[19:25] Speaker 1: plan was to actually never hire anyone and just do
[19:27] Speaker 1: my own thing, but then David Kitchen became available, and
[19:30] Speaker 1: he was something I actually had thought of when I
[19:32] Speaker 1: started the business, as someone who could help manage sort
[19:34] Speaker 1: of like the business side of things. So I hired
[19:37] Speaker 1: him last year January twenty twenty five, and then I
[19:39] Speaker 1: was able to add Brandon Godolah in January of this year.
[19:43] Speaker 1: And look, right now, I really don't have plans to
[19:45] Speaker 1: be much bigger. From a human resource standpoint, I would
[19:48] Speaker 1: be totally content and fine if it's just us three forever,
[19:52] Speaker 1: because I want to be able to stay true to
[19:53] Speaker 1: what I really want to do, which is create content
[19:56] Speaker 1: and analyze this game. The bigger you get, the more
[19:59] Speaker 1: managing you have to do. And if that's the case,
[20:02] Speaker 1: then I would have less time focusing on the content.
[20:06] Speaker 1: But look, in the end, if you want to talk
[20:07] Speaker 1: about inspiration and what pushed me to do this, I
[20:10] Speaker 1: just couldn't do the typical nine to five thing. I
[20:13] Speaker 1: didn't like it. I knew I didn't like it. I
[20:15] Speaker 1: knew I needed out. I was determined to do whatever
[20:18] Speaker 1: I could to not do that, because I know myself.
[20:22] Speaker 1: I know that if I had that standard job that
[20:24] Speaker 1: I just didn't like doing, it would affect my mental health,
[20:27] Speaker 1: it would affect my relationships, and that's not a good
[20:30] Speaker 1: thing at all. And I am fully aware of how
[20:33] Speaker 1: lucky I am. Look. I know that I worked hard.
[20:36] Speaker 1: I know I was able to think about things in
[20:38] Speaker 1: the way that other people weren't thinking. I was able
[20:40] Speaker 1: to market an idea in a way that was unique,
[20:43] Speaker 1: and that's something I'm very proud of. Don't get me wrong.
[20:45] Speaker 1: But anytime you're able to find success doing something, you
[20:48] Speaker 1: have to take a step back and you have to
[20:50] Speaker 1: try to be objective. You know. For me, I was
[20:54] Speaker 1: lucky to have an interest in an industry that was
[20:56] Speaker 1: just starting to boom. I was lucky to have a
[20:59] Speaker 1: loose connection to even have an interview at Number Fire.
[21:02] Speaker 1: I was lucky that my content ended up getting seen
[21:05] Speaker 1: by the right people at the right time. And there
[21:07] Speaker 1: have been ups and downs through all of this. Trust me,
[21:10] Speaker 1: Most of the really tough stuff happened pretty early on,
[21:13] Speaker 1: where I was working like fourteen fifteen hours a day
[21:15] Speaker 1: pretty consistently. There were definitely times in that like twenty
[21:18] Speaker 1: thirteen to twenty sixteen timeframe where I let my work
[21:21] Speaker 1: like get in the way of health. Fortunately, though, I've
[21:24] Speaker 1: always had a great support system with my wife, my family,
[21:26] Speaker 1: my friends, and I've always been able to bounce back.
[21:29] Speaker 1: I think that's key with anything that you set out
[21:31] Speaker 1: to do. Don't do it alone. Lean on people, ask
[21:34] Speaker 1: for advice, be willing to feel what you need to feel,
[21:37] Speaker 1: don't let it just sit there. But really, what inspired
[21:40] Speaker 1: me to do all this was just this desire to
[21:42] Speaker 1: create something, to create something that could connect people and
[21:45] Speaker 1: get them to think differently about a game that I
[21:47] Speaker 1: really do deeply love. As I've gotten older, I've realized
[21:51] Speaker 1: that critical thinking is something to just not take for granted.
[21:54] Speaker 1: It's important to always work your mind, and this game
[21:58] Speaker 1: is a way for us to do that. That's one
[22:00] Speaker 1: of the many reasons I love doing what I do.
[22:03] Speaker 1: I get to go in the lab, I get to
[22:05] Speaker 1: completely fry my brain researching things, and then I emerge
[22:09] Speaker 1: with some new idea that you guys can judge me
[22:11] Speaker 1: on it's legitimately really really fun and it's one of
[22:15] Speaker 1: the things that drives me to keep innovating and coming
[22:18] Speaker 1: up with new ideas. Now, look, there are plenty of
[22:20] Speaker 1: details in there that I could have gotten to. I
[22:22] Speaker 1: could have talked about this for hours, and if any
[22:24] Speaker 1: of you want to learn more or you just want
[22:26] Speaker 1: to bounce an idea off of me, you can always
[22:28] Speaker 1: email me. But that's really the story. From a lazy
[22:31] Speaker 1: high school student who just built websites, hung out with friends,
[22:33] Speaker 1: played some sports, to an advertising project manager, to an
[22:37] Speaker 1: editor in chief to an entrepreneur. That's how Late Round
[22:40] Speaker 1: Fantasy Football came to be. That's it for today's show, though,
[22:44] Speaker 1: Thanks all of you for listening. If you had subscribed
[22:46] Speaker 1: to the Late Round Fantasy Football podcast, make sure you
[22:48] Speaker 1: are by starching for it pretty much anywhere podcasts can
[22:51] Speaker 1: be found, and effort to follow me on Twitter and
[22:53] Speaker 1: on Blue Sky at Late Round QB. Thanks for listening
[22:56] Speaker 1: this week everyone, I greatly appreciate it. Make sure you
[22:59] Speaker 1: check out Late Round sign up for whatever you can
[23:01] Speaker 1: sign up for, or whatever you want to sign up for.
[23:04] Speaker 1: I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks for the continued support. Enjoy
[23:07] Speaker 1: your weekend. I'll catch you next week.

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