We're getting close to the end of fantasy football draft season, and our tradition is to turn a pod episode over to you! We'll take *your* questions all show on things NFL-related, fantasy-related, literary, Tom Petty and belly-button. Plus, Pound Foolish *is* actually a best-selling book (by some metrics), and we'll celebrate that a little bit. Thank you so much, from the management team at Cumulative Press. Guest: Denny Carter of Rotoworld.

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Top 10 Novels Podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/harrisfootball/HF_-_Top_10_Novels_Of_All_Time.mp3

*** PLEASE NOTE THERE'S A BIT OF BAD LANGUAGE AND ADULT SUBJECT MATTER IN THIS CHAPTER ***

This is Chapter 21 from the audiobook version of my new novel, Pound Foolish.

Here's a description of the book:

Part locker room chronicle, part neo-noir, all American: Pound Foolish tackles a season-in-the-life of a pro football team that has a serial killer in its midst.

Someone is murdering women in the orbit of Detroit's NFL franchise. But also: a new season is kicking off and nobody can really prove anything. Plus football is one of the last remaining ties that bind a city. So...the games will go on. And they should. Right?

Enter our gumshoe. Mouse Morrison is a former player the team brings in to investigate. The further Morrison digs into the locker room-and the more lunkhead players we meet on their journeys of supremacy and self-destruction-the stronger a stench of conspiracy becomes. Is this a coverup? How deep within the franchise and the league does it go?

The team keeps winning games. The bodies keep piling up. The whole mess bleeds from the sports section to the front page, nobody's sure what to believe...and absolutely everybody has an opinion.

Pound Foolish is a rollicking, cinematic murder mystery set in a multi-billion-dollar circus teeming with killers. It pulls back the curtain on a sport that grips America's psyche, and also owns a bloody chunk of its soul.

If you'd like to order the paperback or ebook, you can do it here:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/pound-foolish-christopher-harris/6e3d12e8ee8b65a6?ean=9798234047892

If you'd like to get the audiobook, you can get it here:

https://open.spotify.com/show/6wRV8qnMzB7d73Iuf9w7NA

Or anyplace else you get audiobooks (except Amazon, until next week)

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

It's a great time of year to reflect on the assumptions that underpin some of our ranks. We certainly have built up our mind palaces for what the 2026 NFL season will look like, and just as certainly, those palaces are about to be shattered. Which players are we worried we've got wrong? We'll talk about that on today's pod. Plus: it's Pound Foolish publication day. I'm freaking out. Guest: Ben Gretch of the Stealing Signals newsletter.

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Ben's Players He Might Be Wrong About:

5. What if I'm too high on Colston Loveland?

4. What if I'm too low on Ladd McConkey?

3. What if I'm too high on Keaton Mitchell?

2. What if I'm too low on Javonte Williams?

1. What if I'm too high on Jameson Williams?

Chris's Players He Might Be Wrong About

5. What if Jonah Coleman plays a lot?

4. What if Courtland Sutton is washed enough that he becomes a bit player?

3. What if Marv Junior is for real this time?

2. What if the Jets o-line is good enough to get Breece Hall really going?

1. What if there's a clear answer for Packers RB?

You need strategy help in the double-digit rounds? We've got you covered! We'll simply give you a list of players whom *we* have been taking late in fantasy football drafts. Some high-upside flyers, some safer veterans who can smooth out risk...these are lists of guys we actually have drafted regularly! Plus we'll discuss the Packers' backfield in light of Josh Jacobs being placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List. Guest: Scott Pianowski of Yahoo! Fantasy.

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Scott's Late-Round Players He Loves:

5. Emmett Johnson

4. Jordan Love

3. A.D. Mitchell

2. Tre Tucker

1. Juwan Johnson

Chris's Late-Round Players He Loves:

5. Jakobi Meyers

4. Khalil Shakir

3. Woody Marks

2. Denzel Boston

1. Tyler Allgeier

The Super-Deeps continue...we're not giving you names to draft in your standard-sized leagues, we're giving you names to get onto deep benches, trade for in dynasty leagues, and/or track early in the season to be ready to pounce should circumstances warrant. Plus we've got your Warp Zone list for 2026: players who we think will perform at least two rounds better than their current Average Draft Position. Big fun! Guest: Cousin Josh.

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Second Half of Super-Deep Sleeper List:

Kendre Miller

Konata Mumpfield

Eli Raridon

Raheim Sanders

Nicholas Singleton

Josh's Warp Zone Players For 2026:

5. Jared Goff (9th round)

4. Romeo Doubs (10th round)

3. Juwan Johnson (12th round)

2. Jameson Williams (4th round)

1. David Montgomery (5th round)

Today's show features players you mostly shouldn't draft! That's because we're talking about *really* deep sleepers. For various reasons, they're probably buried on the NFL teams' depth charts, but we'll give them a nod as potential early-season waiver adds and/or deep-league late-rounders and/or dynasty adds, because something about them (talent, career arc, situation) intrigues us. Plus an update from the end of the Pound Foolish World* Tour. Guest: Jake Ciely of The Athletic.

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Jake's Super-Deep Sleepers For 2026:

5. Kaelon Black

4. Chris Bell

3. Dontayvion Wicks

2. Nicholas Singleton

1. Jahan Dotson

Chris's First Five Super-Deep Sleepers For 2026:

Cyrus Allen

Ryan Flournoy

George Holani

Daniel Jones

Seth McGowan

Today's episode is about "safe players," but of course, there's really no such thing. What we're really discussing is roster construction, and the players we tend to use as safe harbor because of their unusually high floors, given when you can draft them. We might not be exactly *right* about the nature of these players' risk, but it's a fun conversation that can help you figure how to build your 2026 fantasy football team. Plus we'll report on the great Portland book event for Pound Foolish, and reflect on the NFL news of the day. Guest: Jeff Erickson of Rotowire.

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Jeff's Safe Players For 2026:

5. Derrick Henry

4. DeVonta Smith

3. D'Andre Swift

2. Harold Fannin

1. Dak Prescott

Chris's Safe Players For 2026:

5. Saquon Barkley

4. A.J. Brown

3. Travis Etienne

2. Ladd McConkey

1. Jaylen Warren

It's time to get busty! We're going negative today, identifying some players we absolutely wouldn't select at their current ADPs. It doesn't necessarily mean we think they stink (though it can!) and it doesn't necessarily mean they can't hit their upsides (though we doubt they will!). Mostly: these are players whose downsides are scarier than the market believes, or whose upsides feel more capped than the market desires. Plus Ashton Jeanty's injury, Nick Chubb's retirement, a great mixtape and news from Tacoma! Guest: Patrick Daugherty of Rotoworld.

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Pat's Busts For 2026:

5. Carnell Tate

4. Javonte Williams

3. Omarion Hampton

2. Bhayshul Tuten

1. Luther Burden

Chris's Busts For 2026:

5. Dalton Kincaid (but really Kyle Pitts)

4. Josh Downs

3. Malik Nabers

2. Omarion Hampton

1. Jeremiyah Love

Let's finish the countdown of our 2026 Flag Players list. These are the guys we're most interested in drafting in fantasy football this year, given their combination of talent, opportunity and potential draft value. Then we'll move right on to the Frag Players, in which we do the opposite: we're listing players we absolutely don't want any part of in '26. Guest: Cousin Josh.

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Flag Players #5 through 1 for 2026:

5. Chris Rodriguez

4. DeVonta Smith

3. Jameson Williams

2. Bucky Irving

1. Zay Flowers

Josh's Frag Players For 2026:

5. Jeremiyah Love

4. Jaxson Dart

3. Harold Fannin

2. Bucky Irving

1. Rashee Rice

The Flag List begins today! That means we're making ourselves pick *TEN* players whom we recommend drafting at their current values. Anyone can proclaim they "love" a wide range of possible draftees. We're putting flags in the ground and making these ten players our essentials for fantasy football in 2026. Also: let's evaluate our own suppositions about situations! What offenses might we simply have wrong, that might torpedo (or elevate) certain guys in our ranks? Guest: Matt Harmon of Yahoo! Fantasy and ReceptionPerception.com.

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)

Flag Players 10 Thru 6:

10. Matthew Stafford

9. Keaton Mitchell

8. Brenton Strange

7. Kyren Williams

6. Stefon Diggs

Matt's Offenses He MIght Be Wrong About:

5. What if one of the Browns QBs is even just "okay"?

4. What if neither of the Falcons QBs is good at all?

3. What if we're ignoring the Chargers warning signs?

2. What if Caleb Williams doesn't get any better?

1. What if the Dolphins aren't the worst offense in NFL history?

Chris's Offenses He Might Be Wrong About:

5. What if the Jags are the Jags of the first 8 weeks last year?

4. What if Kyler Murray gives the Vikes the flashy thingy from Men In Black?

3. What if Commanders losing Laremy Tunsil makes everything else untenable?

2. What if Mahomes is instantly Mahomes?

1. What if the Dolphins are competent?