Updated SEPT. 3, 2025

Many people know that I help co-host the Walterfootball.com podcast and YouTube channel. The owner and purveyor of Walterfootball.com is my good friend Walt Cherepinsky. I think he’s brilliant. But I don’t always agree with him.

Going into the 2025 season, there are some sentiments that Walter is seemingly confident about that I think he’s potentially too confident about. I’m recording them here so that we can revisit this after the 2025 season:

– Bengals will definitely have a bad defense, so that has shaped Walt’s opinions of Joe Burrow and Bengals skill players.

– Very confident the Lions are going to take a step back, which has shaped his opinion of all Lions skill players.

– Jonathan Taylor was a bad pick in 2nd round because this will be the “worse offensive line” of his career.

– Christian McCaffrey not worthy of 1st or 2nd round pick because of health concerns. (I might actually be on board with Walt on this one).

– Breece Hall and Braelon Allen are “definitely” going to split workload 50/50 because the coach said it. (This one I find especially egregious).

– De’Von Achane is going to get similar (or more) workload in Miami offense because their offensive like will suck (not allowing downfield routes to develop) so their long-to-medium passing game will be terrible and they’ll be forced to dump-off passes to Achance; he also quoted the coaching staff claiming they “want to get the ball out of Tua’s hands even faster” than last season which will lead to more dump-offs to Achane.

– He said of Jalen Wright, “I don’t know if he should even be drafted.” The reasoning is partially injury-related but also because Ollie Gordon has looked “so good” in the pre-season that he’ll be the #2 guy behind Achane.

– Alvin Kamara is “barely worth a 7th round pick” (in typical 12-team leagues) because he has supposedly lost a step and the Saints will definitely suck (maybe even be tanking for Arch Manning), so Kamara most likely be phased out of the offense late in the season (because the coaches “might want to keep him fresh for 2026”), so Kamara won’t have value in the 2nd half of season, especially during your fantasy playoffs when you need him most. Walt does admit that Kamara is better in PPR, but still not close to being worth the 4th round pick (his current ADP).

– James Conner will definitely get much less of the workload in 2025 because “he himself even said it.”

– Romeo Odunze will definitely be the #1 WR in Chicago partially influenced by DJ Moore saying that he is “going to take a step back” in 2025. Believing Odunze is better than Moore is fine, but taking the Moore’s comment is silly.

– Chris Olave is a “walking concussion and he’s off my board until the 10th round.” (This isn’t too egregious, there’s some substance to this).

– Tyreek Hill has definitely lost a step, has had off-the-field issues, and Miami offensive line wont be good enough to allow any passing plays down the field to develop, so Hill will definitely be a bust; and he “might be in jail before the end of the season.”

– TreVeyon Hendeson will get “like 80 catches; well maybe not 80, but easily 60 or 70. They don’t have other options and he’s a good at pass protection so we know he’s going to be on the field.”

– Cooper Kupp “looked terrible last year, he can’t separate, he’s done. He didn’t even play in the playoffs. He’s going to get like 2 or 3 catches per week, if that.” (I might be with Walt on this one too).

– Khalil Shakir “has no upside, especially in standard. Maybe in PPR he has a little bit of upside, but not really that much.”

– Zach Charbonnet is better than Ken Walker, and is more reliable, and Walker might be traded by mid-season “because this is a contract year.” (This isn’t a terrible take but I remember in summer 2024 when I said Charbonnet and Walker were close in talent and Walt said Charbonnet had no talent).

– Fantasy analyst Matt Waldman (who I trust a lot) has pushed Luther Burden, saying he was the best WR in the 2025 NFL draft class. When I mentioned that to Walt he cited the fact that Oledmous Zaccheus has started over Burden in pre-season. I responded, “That means nothing, the pre-season is trash!” Walter seemingly disagrees; Zaccheus starting over Burden seems to have some meaning in Walt’s mind.