In this video, we're going to be breaking down what I got wrong in fantasy football this year,

specifically looking at the five things I would consider were my biggest misses. I think it's important to look back at these things and just see like what could we have done differently? Is there a takeaway, a learning lesson so we could spin it forward and get better for 2026 and beyond? Now, I'm not gonna lie, this year was a great year in fantasy. I won 75% of my home leagues, including the most watched league in the world, the flock league,

but I still did get some pretty important things. Now, I'm not going to lie, this year was a great year in fantasy. I won 75% of my home leagues, including the Most Watched League in the world, the Flock League,

but I still did get some pretty important things wrong, so let's dive into it. Let's start with Calvin Ridley, who like, do you guys even remember Calvin Ridley, right? This was a guy who was going in, I don't know, the sixth, seventh round of most fantasy drafts. We'll look at the ADP in a second, but I thought he was in line for a nice bounce back season.

He had like a similar, what we called it was a Terry McLaren situation like the year before. McClorin had a bad 2023, then he got Jaden Daniels in 2024, and he popped off and finally got set free, a veteran wide receiver who had a rookie quarterback. I thought similar things would happen for Ridley, who was getting that rookie number one overall pick quarterback in Cam Ward coming in, because Ridley, it's not like he had a bad year the year before that. Despite playing with Mason, Rudolph, and Will Levis, some of the worst quarterbacks in 2024, he still averaged seven targets per game, was the clear number one receiver for the Titans, top 20 in targets, and he was heading into this year, 2025 with absolutely no target competition. The problem, though, in 2024 were those

quarterbacks. It was a terrible overall quarterback situation with Levis and Rudolph. There was

inaccurate passes, uncatchable targets, all this stuff. Ridley had the most unrealized air yards,

meaning his downfield targets weren't paying off, but Cam Ward coming in as a number one overall pick who at Miami in college led the NFL in downfield passing was a perfect marriage. And look, it's not like Ridley was going in the second or third round. The idea was as like a sixth or seventh fantasy pick, some of the downsides of the Titans' offense not being good or the rookie quarterback not paying out

were somewhat baked in. So that was the idea that Cowden really would be the 2025 version of what

Terry McLaren was in 2024 with a rookie QB. But that didn't happen at all. I mean, the guy

this is crazy. He finished the season with 17 catches, 303 yards, just 43 yards per game. Now, obviously, the reason he only had 17 catches was he wasn't healthy. I mean, this entire season was brutal. The first couple of weeks of the year, Calvin Ridley in this offense were terrible. And then in week six, he gets a hamstring injury. That keeps him out for basically a month. He comes back in week 11 and immediately breaks his fibula. So what did we get from Calvin Ridley this year? Weeks one through four where everything was terrible. Cam Ward looked bad, right? The Titans basically were firing their coach like the first quarter of the season because the offense was atrocious. But then Ridley finally started to get some things going in week five. Five catches, 131 yards, although he was probably on your bench in fantasy because the first month of the season was awful. But unfortunately, that was the last we saw of Calvin Ridley starting and finishing a game because in week six, he suffered the hamstring, week 11 he was done for the year. So this one's a little bit difficult because we didn't really get to see him play out. We only got to see him start in complete five games, and that was early in the year when Cam Ward had no experience. But if you watch football, you know the Titans offense in Cam Ward got better as the year went on. Shamir Deek kind of emerged a little bit. Chukakaku had some big games. The final six games of the year for Cam Ward, he started completing 21 passes per game. He started completing over 61% of his passes instead of 56%. He was throwing one and a half touchdowns per game compared to the first 10 where he wasn't even throwing a touchdown per game. All in all, that final like four to six weeks of the year, Cam Ward played his best football. Unfortunately, Caldman really wasn't healthy for us to see if he would have been able to kind of bounce back after the slow first four games of the year.

And the takeaway here is kind of tough because of the injuries. He only got to play in five completed games, had one good game and didn't get to get the good stretch of Cam Ward. So it's a hard takeaway, but I will say as a sixth or seventh round pick, obviously Ridley was a bust and I had him in a couple of leagues. Where his ADP was going, 66 overall.

Again, this is like a sixth round for you, some players around him.

This was a pretty gross range in general.

T.J.

How. And I had him in a couple of leagues. Where his ADP was going, 66th overall. Again, this is like a sixth round for you.

Some players around him.

This was a pretty gross range in general.

T.J. Halkinson was in a void for us. Zay Flowers was in a void for us. Travis Kelsey was in a void for us, right? These types of guys, Aaron Jones, we weren't high on. These types of guys didn't really pay off. but slightly below that you had some nice options.

Rashi Rice, Tyron Tracy paid off.

Obviously, Chris Olavet was a massive hit.

We'll talk on him in a video later in the week for some of my big hits. So Ridley was gross, but let's get into the player who was easily. By far and away, my biggest miss this season. It is not even close. Come on down Seattle Seahawks ride receiver Jackson Smith and Jigba, who was going for the price of a third round pick and fantasy drafts this year. And I'll be honest, I had a lot of

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