Best, Worst & 'Huh?' Rookie Landing Spots with Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper of Fantasy Alarm joins Jeff Blaylock one week after the 2026 NFL Draft to break down the winners, losers, dream landing spots, nightmare scenarios, and the biggest dynasty implications. It’s a 90-minute debrief packed with intel so you know how to spend your rookie draft capital. This is the episode to have in your queue before your rookie draft.
“He’s the biggest loser of the draft by far — he basically just got made into Drew Sample.”
One week after the draft, the dynasty dust has settled — and some of it landed on players you were counting on.
In Episode 36 of Dynasty Compass, Jeff Blaylock is joined by Andrew Cooper, Fantasy Alarm’s football headliner and SiriusXM co-host, for a comprehensive post-draft debrief one week after the 2026 NFL Draft concluded. The conversation uses Coop’s pre-draft analysis series — winners and losers by position plus best landing spots for rookies — as the foundation, working through how everything actually played out and what it means for dynasty managers heading into rookie draft season.
Coop opens with his signature “block line” metric: where the first pure blocking tight end goes off the board. In 2026 that number was just 14 — the lowest in recent memory — and he uses it to frame the entire class as historically thin. The tight end conversation dominates the early going, from Kenyon Sadiq’s complicated Jets landing spot (complicated by Omar Cooper Jr.’s arrival and the resulting target competition with Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall) to Eli Stowers’ clean long-term setup in Philadelphia, where the Eagles front office told him directly he’s the next in their Zach Ertz–Dallas Goedert second-round TE lineage. Mason Taylor gets the harshest verdict of the episode: Coop calls him the biggest dynasty loser of the draft, now buried as an inline blocker in a four-way battle for the second target on a bad team.
The wide receiver and running back conversations center on landing spot quality versus draft capital. Antonio Williams to Washington and Malachi Fields to the Giants come out as genuine positives; the Jets’ decision to add Omar Cooper Jr. to an already slot-heavy group is Coop’s biggest surprise of the draft. On running backs, Coop makes an extended case that the NIL era has created a pipeline bottleneck — top college backs are now earning more than many low-end NFL starters, keeping talent in college longer and depressing the quality of recent drafts — but argues the dam will break in the next few years. On Jeremiyah Love specifically, both Jeff and Coop are unambiguous: take him 1.01 in every format, organizational concerns about Arizona and all. The hit rate for top-10 overall picks is simply too high to second-guess.
The episode closes with round-by-round dynasty rookie draft strategy. Coop draws his comfort threshold at KC Concepcion — roughly picks five or six in a single-QB league — and is actively looking to trade out of anything deeper in round one. His Day 2 targets include Eli Raridon, Elijah Sarratt, and Malachi Fields. Late-round dart throws he’s willing to take: Adam Randall as a converted WR physical freak in Baltimore, and Matthew Hibner as the second Ravens tight end who he thinks is a pass-catcher rather than a blocker. The show closes with each host’s favorite moment from draft weekend itself.
Key Takeaways
Coop’s “Block Line” evaluates the draft class based on when the first pure blocking tight end is taken. The 2026 class had the earliest Block Line in recent memory.
Don't overthink Jeremiyah Love (ARI) because of the Cardinals' backfield situation. He's the 1.01, regardless of format.
Kenyon Sadiq's landing spot (NYJ) was great ... for an hour. Then the Jets drafted Omar Cooper Jr. The slot has gotten crowded.
Eli Stowers (PHI): The Eagles told him he’s the next in their lineage of star second-round tight ends.
Depressed RBs: The NIL era has created a bottleneck at running back, and draft capital suffered for it.
Coop’s favorite non-first-round dynasty picks: Eli Raridon (NE), Elijah Sarratt (BAL), Malachi Fields (NYG) and Adam Randall (BAL).
De'Zhaun Stribling (SF) and Kaelon Black (SF) headline the reaches, and force Coop and Jeff to rethink their rankings.
Coop rates KC Concepcion as the last rookie he’s truly comfortable taking in round one of dynasty rookie drafts — after five or six the value gets very sketchy very fast.
Despite a weak class, there's value to mine in later rookie draft rounds.
Timestamps
00:00 – The Draft Is Over
03:39 – The “Block Line”: Coop’s draft quality litmus test
08:42 – Tight end landing spots: Sadiq & the Jets disaster, Stowers & Raridon
19:01 – Tight end nightmares: Roush, Klare & the Rams’ 5-TE
24:15 – Wide receiver landing spots: Williams, Bernard & the best/worst spots
36:35 – Running backs: the NIL bottleneck and why the class is thin
42:10 – Jeremiyah Love: just take him 1.01, full stop
49:09 – Jeanty, Washington & the Raiders’ split-backfield reality
55:28 – Quarterback landing spots: Mendoza, Simpson & the rushing QB flyers
1:06:25 – Reaches, head-scratchers & the panic picks
1:15:32 – Value picks & sleepers: Raridon, Branch, Brazzell & late-round darts
1:20:53 – Dynasty rookie draft strategy: round-by-round recommendations
Related Links & Tools
View this episode on YouTube
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
Follow Andrew Cooper on Twitter/X
Follow Jeff on Twitter/X
Related Episodes
Ep. 21 – Scouting Rookie RBs: Who’s Real in the 2026 Class? with Dave Kluge
Ep. 22 – Scouting Rookie QBs & TEs: Dynasty Draft Strategy with Mike Kashuba
Ep. 23 – Is There a WR1? Scouting Rookie WRs with Jeff Bell
Ep. 31 – Finding Rookie Sleepers with Alfredo Brown
Ep. 34 – What the Metrics Say About the 2026 Rookie Class with Ryan Heath
Ep. 35 – On the Clock? When to Trade That Rookie Draft Pick with Pete Nova
