6/8 MON
(8:05amET)
Today/tomorrow
-- DEBUT: A new/special ‘Top 10 Players for FF 2026’ series of reports from Ross Jacobs will drop this week and run as a 10-day daily series. This series began Saturday 6/6/26, a series exclusively for the Draft Guide.
The debut/#10 was open to all subscribers...#1-9 will be for the Draft Guide package of reports only, as the drive to redraft 2026 is upon us.
-- NOTE: I’m researching and working through all the main/key injuries lingering out there in the NFL/for FF as I work on the draft guide, which has ripple effects for all rankings and ratings and betting, etc. And I am getting a lot/learning a lot from them...and GEMINI does a lot of the heavy lifting/research, so everybody wins.
I’m gonna keep them coming as we dial in the 2026 Draft Guide projections and commentaries. I’m working my way down from the major/monster ones to the more curious/suspect/double-check-and-make-sure-things-will-be-OK injury Q&A’s...like with a Bo Nix (posting today).
-- The month of June is Draft Guide prep and reporting season. It’s pushed back a little bit from usual time ranges due to the Schedule release being so much later this year.
-- A ‘Strength of Schedule’ light reporting, daily series runs through June.
-- Miscellaneous reports on things that come my way and more scouting reports to come. I have a backlog of them to get published already.
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NEW DISCORD NOTIFICATION SYSTEM/INVITE: FFM Discord Notification System
This is not a chat room. It is a one-way channel for FFM notifications about newly posted items and critical breaking news.
This Week’s/Month’s Agenda…
-- 2026 Draft Guide studies.
-- DRD rankings will now update rankings and add/update commentaries, etc., every THU or FRI for the rest of the preseason.
-- Dynasty and Best Ball rankings audits/updates weekly +/-.
-- Holy series QB and RB done. Holy RB Handcuffs underway (on hold for draft, since we’re this close)
-- Full scouting reports on various prospects from now until the NFL preseason. Deeper looks at Cyrus Allen and more all on deck.
-- Any FFM News & Notes or Special Reports during the day as I get them.
-- New coaching staff hire’s analysis series...trying to slot/schedule this. Once the Draft Guide is set, I hope/plan to turn to this.
== NEWS & NOTES & Xs ==
-- HEADLINE/NBC REPORT: NBC Sports Houston’s Aaron Wilson believes Texans WR Jayden Higgins “could be poised for a breakout” season in 2026.
Wilson began today’s report by recounting a successful fade route Higgins ran from the slot at organized team activities. Per Higgins, the Texans view him as a versatile receiver and plan to deploy him at multiple spots this year. Per PFF, Higgins ran 79.2 percent of his routes from the perimeter and 20.4 percent from the slot.
My take... I’ve always liked Nico Collins, back to scouting him up close at his Senior Bowl...a highly rated prospect for us, graded well ahead of the mainstream. He may always be Stroud’s #1 look because they came up together and they’re connected, but the more talented of the two WRs is Jayden Higgins...and if they are gonna run him out of the slot, which they should...it’s genius, because he has high-end movement skills and can get open on anyone with a giant target range body--watch out!
-- HEADLINE: Sports Illustrated’s John Shipley reports that Jaguars RB Bhayshul Tuten “certainly looked like he was picking up steam” at organized team activities.
Again, these OTA reports are virtually meaningless on how players ‘look’, especially at RB where there is no contact, etc.
I am interested in rotations and who is being treated as the lead/starter, but in this case...Chris Rodriguez is out with a suspected foot injury, likely minor...so no reason to put him on the practice field.
BUT I can tell from football message board brigades...this headline is moving the market. The masses LOVE Tuten...and Jon Brooks.
-- HEADLINE: The Miami Herald’s Omar Kelly believes Dolphins rookie WR Kevin Coleman Jr. should be the team’s starting slot receiver this season.
I have some thoughts about this headline/story/opinion: https://youtu.be/-rT-KHV5kAc?si=RZZ1RkHOFYUWV99d
He’s not beating about Malik Washington. Not even close. Get out of here.
-- Tales from the road/travel diary on my 30th Anniversary Trip to Niagara Falls:
Drove to Pittsburgh area for a stopping point, and we’ll drive into Niagara Falls tomorrow. Went through West Virginia then to PA/Pittsburgh.
It was a fairly uneventful, pleasant trip. But there are three things this leg of my trip will be known for...
1) I went up I-77 to I-79 through West Virginia, and there was like no traffic at all. Even the ‘closed to one lane’ due to road work...no real lines or stop-and-go, just slow down and no brakes/just going. It was awesome!
2) If you were worried that the U.S. has no trees left, don’t worry...I found them! They’re all in West Virginia on I-79 and route 19 (I think). What gorgeous tree lined driving. It did have a minor Deliverance (the movie) feel at times...like I pray I don’t breakdown out there, but visually wonderful.
3) So, when you’re out in God’s Country, there’s a lot of trees...but not necessarily a lot of stops for gas and food. As we were hitting 11am, we all determined we needed a pitstop and food. And there was a LOVE’S travel stop ahead in a few minutes, and my son researched on his phone and said, ‘it has an Arby’s in it’. And not many other options for a while.
Both my wife and I said...”the other day we were just talking about--why don’t we go to Arby’s ever?”. Last time we went, 7+ years ago, it was OK. I’ve heard some good things on it of late. My son balked, but we pitched it hard and ultimately did the stop and got our gas & lunch there.
My personal review: Terrible (Bacon burger). My wife’s personal review: Terrible (pulled pork sandwich). My son’s personal review: I told you so (chicken tenders).
It was all ‘school cafeteria’ quality/taste food. None of us finished our items. We trashed half or so of it. We then decided... that Arby’s...
You.
Are.
Banned.
Never going again, unless there is some kind of a food emergency.
https://youtu.be/Ts8rvpY73Iw?si=O4_twRLjtRRmFpFY
== QUOTES & QUOTABLES (pulled from an internet A.I. search, I try to make sure it’s accurate but some of it is ‘trust in AI’) ==
-- (YAHOO) Two weeks ago, Klint Kubiak provided insight on how his Las Vegas Raiders would earn their roles over the course of the offseason.
“Yeah, we’re counting on them. We’re counting on them to produce for us,” the Raiders head coach responded when asked how important it is for second-year players to make a sophomore leap. “The good thing is there’s competition with (Jack) Bech and with DT (Dont’e Thornton Jr.). There’s a lot of competition in that receiver room, and may the best man win.”
Just a few days later, Kubiak’s trusted offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko echoed similar sentiments when broached with the topic of Bech and Thornton Jr. — the two 2025 NFL draft selections, taken 58th and 108th overall picks, respectively.
“Yeah, I think all those guys are competing their butts off. Every day they come to work they put in time, you can tell they’re studying at night because they come in with a notebook full of questions,” Janocko said. “They’re always peppering Coach (Zach) Azzanni with questions. It’s not just those two, but that whole position group is exciting because they’re guys that really work hard.”
Azzanni, the coach charged with the development of the Raiders’ wide receiver room, noted earlier this week at this stage of the offseason, it’s a clean slate and proving grounds.
“It’s all open for business,” he said on Tuesday, stressing there are no established roles.
RC NOTE: I do not like the sound of this for Bech. I’ve heard NOTHING heartwarming about Bech yet.
-- (PFT) Via Rich Cimini of ESPN, Jets coach Aaron Glenn views the absence of night games pragmatically.
“To me, it’s more of you earn the right,” Aaron Glenn said, per Cimini. “And, yes, you can use that as motivation, but you earn the right. That’s the good thing about this league. You earn your right -- players, coaches, everybody. You earn your right to get what you get in this league.”
-- "I definitely still want to be here," Denzel Ward said, per ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi. "Myles is a good friend of mine, a great teammate, but things aren't lost. It's Ohio against the world. So people could doubt us, but we're going out there still trying to play our best ball and bring wins to the city."
-- “This offseason is different than last,” Josh McDaniels said. “Last offseason, we were just getting to know the language and learning how to operate within a system of offensive football. This year, we’re trying to take that and then go to the next phase of that, the next level of that, in his case which is obviously playing the position of quarterback. He (Maye) knows a hell of a lot more than he did last year at this time. He’s trying to either really turn the corner and perfect some things that he has an opportunity to do that with, or trying to learn a few new things and evolve as a player and as an offense. He’s had a great attitude. Super fun to be around every day. Fun like he was last year, but it’s a more accelerated version.”
Your moment of Zen for this day...
-- https://x.com/hoodwild_/status/2063686175014199690
https://x.com/MLFootball/status/2063701397862793274
== Daily Series ==
NEW for JUNE: 2026 Strength of Schedule analysis according to FFM!
I am putting my data into GEMINI and letting it do two things...do my calculations for me on our internal NFL-based ‘Strength of Schedule’...which takes a ton of things into consideration like our current win-loss projections for all teams 2026, analysis on weather, and travel, and BYE week impacts, etc.
I’m doing a slow burn for some daily fun/fare, BUT I’m also running my AI writer/creation AI_McGillicuddy1 to take all my data and guidance/notes and then make a report on the schedule as if he is an expert schedule analyzer (with our data) and then writes it in his comedic way that I constructed him to be like...a Frankenstein writer, half robot/half football writer/comedian.
We’ll add a team’s strength of schedule per day until we’re done. But we’ll begin with the first two, to get us started, the A’s group and then their quick schedule analysis reports from AI_McGillicuddy1 will hit during the day.
How we evaluate the SOS is a winning percentage (like everyone else), but ours is weighted for certain factors on top of our own internal projections for 2026 season strength of the 32 teams. The higher the % above .500, the tougher the schedule and vice-versa.
Our FFM Internal SOS for 2026, current:
*Adding Warren Sharp’s #1-32 rank on their S.O.S. calculations just for a fun check/parallel to a football research group that also gets that S.O.S. is a whole different animal than just “what was their record last year?” For Sharp Analysis notes, it’s displayed as #1 their easiest/#32 toughest scale.
44.20% = Dallas Cowboys (#29)
45.81% = Cincinnati Bengals (#3)
48.27% = Chicago Bears (#27)
48.74% = Baltimore Ravens (#6)
49.73% = Carolina Panthers (#30)
51.21% = Cleveland Browns (#4)
52.25% = Buffalo Bills (#14)
53.11% = Atlanta Falcons (#20)
57.98% = Arizona Cardinals (#32)
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