rockaction
Footballguy
I feel for you, I really do. Kendre is kind of like what Pitts is to me, except I feel like Kendre is still TBD because we haven’t seen him play a full healthy season yet. And many in the fantasy community seem ready to bury him but the Saints aren’t (the 6th rounder spent on Neal is not a large investment by any stretch and the other reserve RBs are JAGs). It’s worth holding to see if/how Kendre is used, assuming he makes the final cut.You guys are investing way too much time in dude.
I want to laugh with you, but he was the 1.05 in my world and a reach by about six spots. I gave the 2.12 to move from 1.12 to get him. So stupid. Okay, everyone following this thread regularly knows the story, but we keep getting new people to where I feel it's necessary to keep explaining why I’m spending time on him. In fact, this is the direct, uh, statement (hopefully good-natured taunt?) to which I'm responding.
It’s not even a sunk cost—guy has lots of running and catching talent by virtually all accounts—because we still do not know his fate and if you think you do, you’re jumping the gun and being unwise.
I’m just trying to figure out his attitude and ability to process knowledge because Dennis Allen (26-53) and his .329 winning percentage (which is the third worst in history for guys over 75 games—the 75 games being a point in his favor, but each team of his two had nearly absent ownership) tried to run him out of town. So of course I don’t trust him or his staff. That would also be unwise.
I personally think this guy is probably (70%?) either thick as a brick in the head or his attitude is rare in a bad way. I don’t know, but nothing really about his situation or the way he handles himself on social media add up to glowing reports about his demeanor. But guys can get buried under a whole lot of explainable stuff, or they change—or a change of scenery means everything for them. I’ve traded first-rounders before, so I’m usually not hyper-stuck on a guy, but I’d think he needs to flash or show something to hold him through the year.
In my case with Pitts, I went against consensus and took him ahead of Chase. The fear of missing out on a generational prospect like Pitts was too strong, even when a generational WR prospect was staring right at me. In dynasty you want to find anything that can help separate you from the rest of your league and having a stud TE is such a huge advantage given the absolute muck of mediocrity that position is. Taking over and rebuilding an orphaned team, I felt really good about taking Pitts as my cornerstone and it set me back for years. Most disastrous pick I’ve ever made. And yet here I am in 2025 still holding on, because no one in the league will trade me a TE worth a damn and there’s no one better in FA. It’s a sunk cost for me.
Then there’s Kendre, who I didn’t draft but I traded away the pick that would’ve ultimately ended up being him had I held on to it (I was also bullish on him that year, many people in the dynasty community were). It was a weak draft class going in apart from the 3 blue chippers (Bijan, Gibbs, JSN). At 1.05 you could either draft a WR whose ceiling was capped by their landing spot or you could get your guy, and it was an open question as to who was RB3. Many said Charbs, some said Kendre, some may have said Achane (though I remember the size/durability concerns). I’m still a believer in getting your guy, because I’d rather be wrong and have him on my team than to be right and see him on someone else’s team. I’m stashing Kendre after someone cut him last season, so the investment for me is miniscule, but my team sucks so I’m hoping for any advantage I can get. If a player isn’t producing it’s important to understand why that is. I’ve determined that the sample size isn’t enough for me to give up on him just yet. Definitely helps to learn where you may have went wrong in your process and learn from it but also acknowledge the luck factor in this game of ours, and most of it really is luck. Continue to trust your process because it makes it more satisfying when it does pay off.
Kyle Pitts was a tough evaluation and that's a tough pick. We had a guy in my other league (I play in two) take him first overall and it has submarined his team for years also. I have another league and had a good pick, but I didn't want Pitts at all because I have serious reservations about TEs in the first round. That said, we were told how different he was, and I was considering it—but then decided against it—it would be moot anyway as a gentleman traded right in front of me to take him. So that worked and I dodged that bullet, but wait—I would carry that prejudice into thinking that Brock Bowers wasn't who I wanted at 1.05 in one league, so congratulations to me for holding that view! Not good.
Needless to say, I've revised that attitude. It's the process, as we both noted, and it was the wrong process. So I'm altering it a bit. It won't make you feel any better, but Bowers is what Pitts was supposed to be; it's just that Bowers arrived a few years later. He's been a revolutionary athlete at the position that Pitts was billed as. They're going to keep coming, too, in my opinion. They'll be bigger, faster, and stronger.
So much of this is indeed luck, but it also is about sound decisions and minimizing the chances that things will go wrong and maximizing the probability that things go your way, so I'm always revising. Thank you for the kind words. Good luck with Kendre and we will see how he does.
