Ari

The Greatest Semi-Retired Fantasy Football Analyst in the Fantasy Game. Former Footballguys. Attorney.

[Evan Silva @evansilva]

My initial Top 150 Rankings for the 2026 Fantasy Football season.

https://t.co/TB3ZlRoiwx

[Ring Magazine @ringmagazine]

Gervonta Davis is reportedly being sought by Maryland law enforcement for an alleged probation violation, stemming from his arrest earlier this year in Miami on domestic violence charges. If arrested, Davis will be held without bond.

[Ari Meirov @MySportsUpdate]

#Bears HC Ben Johnson was asked about WR Luther Burden Jr. … and his answer was about as glowing as it gets:

“I’m buying Luther Burden stock right now…”

The full back-and-forth is worth watching. Johnson sounds like a coach expecting a breakout year.

[JJ Zachariason @LateRoundQB]

I've got some news to share!

[Matthew Berry @MatthewBerryTMR]

You: Look, there's no way JJ's stock could fall further

JJ: Hold my beer

[Ari @FFesq]

@SIChrisMannix @DAZNBoxing This is epic!!!!

[Dan Rafael @DanRafael1]

Rd 7: SICK FIGHT!!! Dubois 10-9. Pure violence. Wardley nose is gone. Both guys have taken massive shots. Dubois 66-65. #WardleyDubois #boxing

[Ari @FFesq]

@DanRafael1 This is awesome

[Ari @FFesq]

@MikeCoppinger This is awesome

[Ari @FFesq]

@ringmagazine Both, but not Canelo … who is right not to fight a guy that big. Canelo fighting even a few times at 175 was incredible given he should max out at 160 really.

[Ari @FFesq]

@ringmagazine @SRMG_HQ Benavidez chopped the tree

[Ari @FFesq]

@rosieperezbklyn @DAZNBoxing @GoldenBoyBoxing @premierboxing @SampsonBoxing The monster though

[Ari @FFesq]

@ringmagazine @MikeCoppinger January?

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

If you pitched this as a screenplay, every studio would reject it for being too on-the-nose.

Fernando Mendoza was a 2-star recruit ranked 2,149th in his high school class. Zero FBS scholarship offers. Not one. He walked on at Cal, fought for a starting job, transferred to Indiana for his senior year, then led them to 16-0 and the first national title in school history. Heisman, Walter Camp, Maxwell, Davey O'Brien, Manning, Big Ten MVP. 41 TDs, 72% completion, 8-to-0 TD-to-INT ratio in the playoffs.

The Raiders took him #1 overall Thursday night. $54.56M fully guaranteed. Only the third player ever to win the Heisman, win a national championship, and go first overall the next spring. Burrow. Newton. Mendoza.

Then he skipped Pittsburgh.

The biggest stage in football, the moment every kid imagines from the second they pick up a ball, and Fernando watched the call from his living room in Florida because his mom Elsa is in a wheelchair and the travel is hard for her. She was diagnosed with MS when he was 4. She wrote a letter to her sons in The Players Tribune in 2015 promising the disease "won't affect us in the ways that matter."

The part nobody talks about: while every other top pick was on stage, Fernando announced the Mendoza Family Fund the same day. $500K personal donation to the National MS Society. Committed to raising $1M over three years. He hasn't taken an NFL snap and he's already given more to a cause than most players donate in a full career.

He and his brother Alberto have already raised $360K through the Mendoza Bros. Burger at BuffaLouie's in Bloomington. At Christmas, he handed four families dealing with MS $10,000 each for an Adidas shopping spree.

Both his parents are children of Cuban refugees who fled Castro. His dad rowed at Brown, won a Junior World Championship in 1987, and played high school football in Miami next to a teammate named Mario Cristobal. Fernando beat his dad's old teammate in the national championship game in January.

Every athlete talks about playing for their family. Fernando actually did it.

[Warren Sharp @SharpFootball]

who is stopping this passing attack?

QB Shedeur Sanders
QB Deshaun Watson
WR Jerry Jeudy
WR KC Concepcion
WR Denzel Boston
WR Cedric Tillman
TE Harold Fannin Jr.

[Rotoworld Football @rotoworld_fb]

Real chance Stafford plays past '26, deep in talks https://t.co/JdoSto8GRq

[Ari @FFesq]

The Rams brass will tell you how much respect they have for Matthew Stafford on who they decide to take with their next few picks.

If we see them take WRs & OT’s, then you know they are playing nice with their star QB. Even if those picks don’t make the most sense. #NFLDraft