Speaker 1: The volume. Hi everybody, and welcome in to our Friday
Speaker 1: morning podcast. So I'm going to introduce you, many of
Speaker 1: you already know them if you play fantasy football, to
Speaker 1: one of the newest podcasts to join the volume. It's
Speaker 1: called Fantasy Pros. And obviously people have been playing fantasy
Speaker 1: sports for a long time. I remember a story years ago.
Speaker 1: I was on a plane. I was out of college
Speaker 1: and I was a broadcaster for the Las Vegas Stars,
Speaker 1: the Triple A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, and
Speaker 1: sitting in front of me was a young man named
Speaker 1: Sean Abner. He had been a top pick. I don't
Speaker 1: know why I thought he was a top pick in
Speaker 1: the Mets organization traded to the Padres. Maybe he wasn't.
Speaker 1: But his name was Sean Abner, outfielder, great sense of humor,
Speaker 1: fun guy, never panned out as a great player. And
Speaker 1: Bruce Bochie was our manager, and Bochie and Sean Abner
Speaker 1: on this American West Airlines plane. I have no idea why.
Speaker 1: I remember it was an American West Airlines plane. We
Speaker 1: were in coach. We all had aisle seats, and I
Speaker 1: asked them what they were playing, and they were playing
Speaker 1: ro tisseriy baseball, and it sounded so complicated to me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, do you guys watch every game? How in
Speaker 1: God's name can you keep up? I'm like, we live
Speaker 1: in Vegas. Just go bet the games. Just go to
Speaker 1: the palace station one of the station, Casino Caesar's Palace.
Speaker 1: Bet the games. And that was my first introduction to
Speaker 1: ro tisserie baseball. And this was years ago. It was
Speaker 1: in the early nineties, so forward to today. I tend
Speaker 1: to be a gambler. I bet on games. I don't
Speaker 1: play fantasy sports. But I also, throughout the course of
Speaker 1: my life, realized that I don't always like things the
Speaker 1: public does. And since I've created the volume, I felt
Speaker 1: we had a hole in the company. During the football season,
Speaker 1: during late July, August, September on through Christmas, we didn't
Speaker 1: have a good fantasy show. So we listened to a
Speaker 1: lot of them, and I wanted people that knew their stuff,
Speaker 1: sense of humor, easy to listen to, and we found
Speaker 1: these guys fantasy pros, and so I'm going to give
Speaker 1: you a sample of them today. They worked their butts off,
Speaker 1: and I think it's pretty easy in my business. If
Speaker 1: you listen to somebody for five or six minutes if
Speaker 1: they sound like people you'd like to hang out with.
Speaker 1: And I think the guys at Fantasy Pros really sounded
Speaker 1: like that. And that's a big part of what we've
Speaker 1: done at the volume. We've tried to find unique talent.
Speaker 1: Shannon Sharp just joined us. I love Shannon. I helped
Speaker 1: bring him to FS one. I think he's interesting, highly verbal,
Speaker 1: easy to laugh, He's all of things that a former
Speaker 1: great player should be. He's diligent, hard working, focused, has
Speaker 1: a wide range of knowledge on pop culture, nutrition, movies, football.
Speaker 1: Shannon Sharp's that was one of the biggest days in
Speaker 1: the volume's history. And we've had i'd say six or
Speaker 1: seven days that were really meaningful. Some of them are
Speaker 1: days in which we sign a sponsor and we don't
Speaker 1: talk about right, you don't care about that stuff. But
Speaker 1: Shannon makes us as legitimate as we've ever been. He's
Speaker 1: a tremendous talent. We'll put him all over our YouTube page.
Speaker 1: So I'm just really excited as we go into a
Speaker 1: football season. Now, you know we have Snaps, the SEC
Speaker 1: guys and John Middlecoff, Jason McIntyre, but Shannon Sharp and
Speaker 1: Fantasy Pros I think really take us to another level
Speaker 1: in our football coverage. And I'm totally jack. This has
Speaker 1: been the last couple of weeks. I've had this daunting
Speaker 1: head cold for two weeks. I had it, it left,
Speaker 1: I've got it back. I'm struggling with equilibrium. I can
Speaker 1: barely stand up. So if I seem a little punchy
Speaker 1: recently on the air, that explains that I can't breathe,
Speaker 1: wobbling all over the place. If some of it's just
Speaker 1: I told my wife, I get stressed out sometimes and
Speaker 1: I get sick when I get stressed, and so we've
Speaker 1: really been working diligently. We have more huge news which
Speaker 1: I think we're going to deliver later next week. I'm
Speaker 1: excited about. But you know, I just I love going
Speaker 1: into football seasons because stories that you are not going
Speaker 1: to believe are going to be unveiled. I mean, Grand
Speaker 1: Turismo is this movie that, by the way, I've seen
Speaker 1: billboards all over the country for it, where it doesn't
Speaker 1: sound it possible. It literally doesn't sound possible. A gamer,
Speaker 1: a race car gamer, goes into an academy, wins a
Speaker 1: contest in the academy, and then goes into a racing
Speaker 1: circuit with a very aspirational aud executive and a failed
Speaker 1: race car driver and eventually wins races. That doesn't even
Speaker 1: sound like it's true. It is true. It's a fascinating movie.
Speaker 1: And when I watch that movie, one of the things
Speaker 1: it led me to and it's something I've always believed
Speaker 1: be very careful about thinking something is a hot take.
Speaker 1: If I would have said to you, there'll be a
Speaker 1: kid that's going to be a gamer and he's eventually
Speaker 1: an executive is gonna say, I'm gonna take this kid
Speaker 1: and make him a race car driver against real pros,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna be wildly successful almost immediately, you'd be like, cuckoo, cuckoo,
Speaker 1: hot take guy Kevin Durant's gonna leave Oklahoma City and
Speaker 1: end up with the Warriors the arrival. They've already got
Speaker 1: seven clay they don't do they have enough basketballs? What
Speaker 1: a hot take? When you watch Grand Turismo, my takeaway
Speaker 1: is that's crazy. That makes absolutely no sense, And I
Speaker 1: think that's what I love about football. For the last
Speaker 1: thirty plus years, four new teams minimum have made the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's minimum. The average is six. Every time I make predictions,
Speaker 1: this time of the year. People are like, oh, give
Speaker 1: me a break, Carolina Panthers make the playoffs. Well, it
Speaker 1: can't just be the Eagles, the Niners, the Cowboys, the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: the Packers. There's got to be a new teams, the Vikings.
Speaker 1: It can't just be the Chiefs and the Bengals and
Speaker 1: the Bills and the Jaguars. It's got to be new teams.
Speaker 1: And so that's why I've always laughed at kind of
Speaker 1: I rolled at the term hot take. Sports gives us
Speaker 1: the unexpected, the grand turismo, the crazy, the wild, the unexpected,
Speaker 1: the gamer turn race car driver. It's what I love
Speaker 1: about this season. It's what I love about sports, is
Speaker 1: what I loved about the movie. All right, let's go
Speaker 1: to our guys. They're interesting fantasy pros, really fun twenty
Speaker 1: five minute discussion.
Speaker 2: Here we go.
Speaker 1: We had a discussion after last football season and I said,
Speaker 1: you know, we really don't have a fantasy group that
Speaker 1: and I said it's I've always been a better over fantasy,
Speaker 1: but I said, my friends are fantasy over betting. And
Speaker 1: I said, anytime I've done a remote and said how
Speaker 1: many people play fantasy, one hundred hands go up. And
Speaker 1: I'm like how many people bet and hands go up?
Speaker 1: But fantasy, I believe in America is still it's more popular.
Speaker 1: And so we were looking for a group that had personality,
Speaker 1: that was accurate, that was fun, didn't take themselves too seriously,
Speaker 1: and we listened to a lot of tapes and that
Speaker 1: you guys were the obvious choice. And it's really exciting
Speaker 1: for us because, you know, as our company grows, we've
Speaker 1: got so many different shows like we have. You know,
Speaker 1: Daniel Cormier was an actual UFC fighter, he's ringside Shannon
Speaker 1: Shark can do pop culture and sports. We just didn't
Speaker 1: your Space. We thought we did a poor job on
Speaker 1: it our first two years, like we're just not doing
Speaker 1: a good job. We had gambling talk, but not fantasy.
Speaker 1: And I didn't think you guys would be available to
Speaker 1: be honest with you.
Speaker 2: I was like, well, to be honest, Colin if if
Speaker 2: you know, if Colin Coward calls you, you pick up
Speaker 2: the phone. That's what I always say. Let's beyond which
Speaker 2: my wife that so that's another show. We can on
Speaker 2: a time for that conversation today, that's for sure. But
Speaker 2: Daniel Cormier, by the way, came on with me on
Speaker 2: the Betting Pros podcast, and he was fantastic. We did
Speaker 2: a whole preview of UFC two ninety one. We talked
Speaker 2: wwee he and I because we're both big fans, so
Speaker 2: it was a great time. And again I encourage everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you already know about the Volume Network, but
Speaker 2: the shows they have on there phenomenally. You got all
Speaker 2: the athletes who have their own shows on there, and
Speaker 2: the myriad of different content you guys are doing is
Speaker 2: just tremendous. And I guess we're just excited, and I'm
Speaker 2: excited that you're excited. So let's talk about football because
Speaker 2: we've got questions here and we're gonna land this up
Speaker 2: for you. The first burning question. I think these are
Speaker 2: important because this is I always say, you know, we
Speaker 2: love to talk about fantasy stuff, but real football and
Speaker 2: fantasy that intersects. Everything's coming here together. The numbers come
Speaker 2: around obviously, the same thing with some of these situations
Speaker 2: and how they impact fantasy. First question, I want to
Speaker 2: ask you, com will the Lions crumble under expectations? It's
Speaker 2: one thing to be the plucky underdog every single year,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, you're building this thing but
Speaker 2: now you look at Vegas. They're telling you they believe
Speaker 2: in the Lions. You're telling the rest of the league
Speaker 2: believes in the Lions. Do you think that the Lions
Speaker 2: are ready to believe in themselves as a favorite?
Speaker 1: I am as long as the expectations are ten to
Speaker 1: eleven wins and not twelve, thirteen or fourteen. The NFC
Speaker 1: is the weaker conference. If you look at Jared Goff's career,
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear. When he has a clean pocket and protection,
Speaker 1: he's a really good quarterback. He's not as good outdoors,
Speaker 1: he's not as good under duress. He's not as good
Speaker 1: forced to run. But the Lions have a top five
Speaker 1: to six offensive line, more than enough weapons. Jared Goff
Speaker 1: with time to throw in Los Angeles, when he struggled
Speaker 1: against the Niners, the rams O line couldn't block the
Speaker 1: Niners D line. He struggled right and McVeigh saw that,
Speaker 1: And so there's a way. Great quarterback don't have to
Speaker 1: win a certain way. Good ones do. Goff does, but
Speaker 1: this team allows him to play the way. He's very
Speaker 1: successful time in the pocket. I think they'll have a
Speaker 1: very good run game. Jared Goff throwing on third and
Speaker 1: two or second and five is a really good quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I like the expectations too. Ten eleven wins, we
Speaker 2: start pushing eleven twelve and we start having a bad
Speaker 2: conversation Justin Fields. Everybody's talking about him. Well, Justin Fields
Speaker 2: take the next step forward or we fall backwards. In
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, I know they give him DJ Moore.
Speaker 2: They've given a Rocheawn Johnson, Deonta Foreman, some upgrade offensive
Speaker 2: line pieces. Is that enough? Are we ready to finally
Speaker 2: see Justin Fields from Ohio State? Or we're going to
Speaker 2: see Justin Fields who has been hit and miss at
Speaker 2: the quarterback position. Great in fantasy, but that's not everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he'll be a hit because they were
Speaker 1: last in the league last year in yards after catch
Speaker 1: and so between the upgrade at wide receiver, tight end,
Speaker 1: and I think the kid they got out of Texas
Speaker 1: the running back is the steals of the draft. He's
Speaker 1: going to get much more support yards after the catch.
Speaker 1: That's what makes Kansas City in San Francisco so good.
Speaker 1: Brock Purdy gets it out to Debo McCaffrey Kittle. It's
Speaker 1: yards after contact, it's yards after catch, and so this kid.
Speaker 1: He was asked to do way too much. Last year,
Speaker 1: he just outside of Mooney and cole Comt, he just
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of next level players. Tanyan's a
Speaker 1: really good pickup Claypool. I'm hitting miss on. DJ Moore's
Speaker 1: good yards after catch will allow him to throw on
Speaker 1: third and short and second and five. It felt like
Speaker 1: last year he was in third and nine constantly. So yes,
Speaker 1: I think if you look at his splits last year,
Speaker 1: he was better in the last six games. In the
Speaker 1: first six, he's getting better. It's time it'll work.
Speaker 2: Erickson. Your thoughts on fields here. I now we've had
Speaker 2: a lot of conversations on the fantasy side. Do you
Speaker 2: see these new pieces and this renewed optimism here for
Speaker 2: fields to take a step forward?
Speaker 3: I do you know last year he's QB six and
Speaker 3: points per game eleven games played from week's five through seventeen,
Speaker 3: Tams QB five and that was with no weapons to
Speaker 3: throw to. So it's much harder to get completions where
Speaker 3: you're throwing to Chase Claypole, who's just joined the team.
Speaker 3: But now you have Dj Moore, you have darn all
Speaker 3: Right added to the offensive line. I think that he's
Speaker 3: set for stardom in year three, specifically in fantasy football.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, certainly the rushing equity off the charts. We
Speaker 2: saw that last year if you added him in a
Speaker 2: single quarterback league, even he got to the playoffs. I
Speaker 2: mean that run was just spectacular. Let's go to another
Speaker 2: one too, last year feel good story, Colin. I love
Speaker 2: field good stories. The problem is sometimes they don't always last.
Speaker 2: Can Gino Smith replicate his twenty twenty two season, which
Speaker 2: was really good from fantasy perspective, and let's be honest,
Speaker 2: from a Seattle Seahawks perspective, they were very pleased. So
Speaker 2: do you think that this is just the new version
Speaker 2: of Geno Smith or is this a one off?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm split on it. The old line, young
Speaker 1: O line, I thought deteriorated a little at the end
Speaker 1: of last year. The running back got hurt, so they
Speaker 1: drafted Zach Charberne of UCLA, which I thought was a
Speaker 1: really smart move. So Walker's a really hard running kid
Speaker 1: from Michigan State, but he gets banged up. So they
Speaker 1: went and said, you know what, Gino needs a running back,
Speaker 1: a top running back. So when Walker left, the O
Speaker 1: line deteriorates. It's more on Gino. So I think Seattle
Speaker 1: saw that and said, you know what, We're going to
Speaker 1: go get a running back one A so we're always
Speaker 1: going to have a top running back. They also went
Speaker 1: and drafted a slot receiver with Lockett and DK Metcalf
Speaker 1: and so I think they know what Gino is. It's
Speaker 1: a little like Dak Prescott or Kirk Cousins. With a
Speaker 1: run game, with support, they can manage you to a
Speaker 1: lot of wins. They can't carry you with no run game.
Speaker 1: They can't carry you with a deteriorating O line. So
Speaker 1: my guess is he dips a little bit. There's there,
Speaker 1: you regress to the mean a little bit. But I
Speaker 1: do think Seattle is smart enough. I think the O
Speaker 1: line will be better this year. Just it's year two
Speaker 1: in the league for those tackles, so I think he's
Speaker 1: going to look pretty similar to last years rating last
Speaker 1: year was near the top of the league. I imagine
Speaker 1: that pulls back a little, but he won't embarrass Seattle.
Speaker 1: He falls into the camp of quarterbacks nine through fourteen
Speaker 1: in the league. You know they can win. They can't
Speaker 1: carry he can win. It's Kirk Cousins is very much
Speaker 1: in that, but they can't carry you. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what Gino is well.
Speaker 2: And you got to have that offensive line ready to
Speaker 2: go in that division two because you've got guys like
Speaker 2: Aaron Donald in the front and obviously what you saw
Speaker 2: last year from that San Francisco pass rush. We'll see
Speaker 2: how Nick Moosa wants society. He wants to come back
Speaker 2: and play. We'll see how that works out Ericson, I
Speaker 2: want to ask you this one here. This is a
Speaker 2: is a fun Jet question. You know, we keep talking
Speaker 2: about all we need for the New York Jets is
Speaker 2: what a quarterback? That's it, That's all we need. Well
Speaker 2: they got one. They got a Hall of Fame quarterback.
Speaker 2: He's not quite the same guy he was a few
Speaker 2: years ago, but obviously a huge upgrader over what they had.
Speaker 2: Is Aaron Rodgers really the only thing that Jets need
Speaker 2: to make a run the Super Bowl. And I know
Speaker 2: that sounds lofty, Andrew, but in your opinion, do you
Speaker 2: think that you could take this offense? It was right
Speaker 2: twenty ninth the points last year. Put Aaron Rodgers there
Speaker 2: with the pieces they have with these now two running backs,
Speaker 2: with Breeze Hall and Dalvin Cook and actually run through
Speaker 2: the AFC.
Speaker 3: I think in theory it makes sense. You know why
Speaker 3: the Jets made the move. They wanted to get the
Speaker 3: veteran quarterback in the build into upgrade, pairing him with
Speaker 3: his elite defense. But the other issues at hand, the
Speaker 3: brutal schedule over the start for six weeks. No one
Speaker 3: has a tougher schedule than the New York Jets. Offensive
Speaker 3: line issues on the New York Jets is specifically at
Speaker 3: the tackle position, Like that's scary. You have a you know,
Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers is no spring chicken, Like he's going to
Speaker 3: be entering his age forty season. You know, they got
Speaker 3: to make sure he is protected. We saw him get
Speaker 3: banged up a little bit last year with a finger injury,
Speaker 3: thumb in Like if that influenced his play, which was
Speaker 3: not great last year, then there's potential issues here. So
Speaker 3: they need good Aaron Rodgers to make the Super Bowl run.
Speaker 3: And I'm not so sure of him at this age.
Speaker 3: He hasn't passed for three hundred yards since Week fourteen
Speaker 3: of the twenty twenty one season. So for me, I'm
Speaker 3: on the side of really fading the New York Jets
Speaker 3: hype an ultra competitive AFC East and I bet the
Speaker 3: under on their projective Wintell. So I'm not in on
Speaker 3: the Jets, interested to see what Collins take is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Colin, I want to ask you about the Jets
Speaker 2: because with hard knocks on top of it, you're talking
Speaker 2: about I mean, as much press you could possibly get
Speaker 2: in a situation, and it had enough press in the
Speaker 2: off season. Now you're adding hard knocks in the fire.
Speaker 2: Is it going to get to a point here where
Speaker 2: the Jets that people are going to start believing too
Speaker 2: much in the Jets? And should people pump the brakes?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's a lot of blinking red lights here.
Speaker 1: Corey Davis now retires. So you have Garrett Wilson, a
Speaker 1: twenty three year old, your number one receiver, Alan Lizard's
Speaker 1: a three. They want to make him a two. Andy
Speaker 1: Reid bailed on Micole Hardman. The tight end position isn't
Speaker 1: highly productive. It's like, and we don't like the tackles.
Speaker 1: Does that sound like an AFC championship team? Like there's
Speaker 1: just you know, everybody bangs on the Giants, but we
Speaker 1: love their tackles. Waller and Saquon Barkley are veteran weapons,
Speaker 1: offensive coach, quarterback in their prime, good defensive front. The
Speaker 1: Jets are flash here. You can argue the Giants have
Speaker 1: really key pieces left tackle, quarterback, prime offensive coach. You know,
Speaker 1: giants planning the same MetLife stadium are getting dragged by everybody.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm not so sure that the offensive
Speaker 1: coach with a quarterback in his prime who had a
Speaker 1: higher passer rating than Aaron Rodgers last year may not
Speaker 1: be the play in New York and not the Jets.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the defense certainly on the Jets size, working in
Speaker 2: their favorsus whether or not the offense can meet the expectations.
Speaker 2: And just like the Lions now, they've got expectations.
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Speaker 2: Let's get to another burning question here for the NFL season.
Speaker 2: This is a fun one here, Colin. Is Jordan Love
Speaker 2: the next great Packer quarterback? And this historic run that
Speaker 2: they've had of going from far to the aforementioned Aaron
Speaker 2: Rodgers and now Jordan Loves starting the show some flashes here.
Speaker 2: It's only preseason, but I'm sure people all over Cago
Speaker 2: and people all over Minnesota are starting to say, oh no,
Speaker 2: not again. Do you think we're getting to that point
Speaker 2: with Jordan Love where people are buying in on the hype?
Speaker 1: Well, Farvan Rodgers are arguably top twelve quarterbacks. Ever, I
Speaker 1: feel pretty confident Jordan Love will not enter that space.
Speaker 2: Agreed.
Speaker 1: The question is there's a lot of boxes. He checks.
Speaker 1: You know, he's big enough, he's mobile, his arm's fine.
Speaker 1: I think we have to be honest that outside of
Speaker 1: an occasional Trevor Lawrence or Andrew Lucker, John Elway. Where
Speaker 1: you land is about eighty percent of your success as
Speaker 1: a quarterback. Mahomes landing in Houston is not going to
Speaker 1: be hoisting trophies. He gets Andy Reid, the Hunt family,
Speaker 1: Brett Veach. It's a whole different reality. Matt Stafford Detroit,
Speaker 1: Matt Stafford, Sean McVay trophy, struggling for the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: my takeaway is the Packers on line, excellent run game,
Speaker 1: excellent offensive coach, Wonky division. He's probably going to be successful.
Speaker 1: But what is success? What if he's Kirk Cousins with
Speaker 1: better mobility. I think Green Bay would sign up for
Speaker 1: that today. And that's what I think. You're going to
Speaker 1: have kind of a Dack Cousins with an athletic kid
Speaker 1: who can move. They can move the pocket. By the way,
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleuor likes to move the pocket. Couldn't much with
Speaker 1: Aaron as he declined in mobility. So I think they're
Speaker 1: going to move the pocket a lot. The offense is
Speaker 1: going to look different, it's going to look more youthful,
Speaker 1: and I think they'll be successful as long as we
Speaker 1: keep expectations more toward Kirk Cousins and less toward Farvron,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers Andrew.
Speaker 2: When we're talking about the athleticism of Jordan Love too
Speaker 2: and this ability maybe to get out and do some
Speaker 2: other things Aaron Rodgers wasn't capable of doing. What does
Speaker 2: that mean from a fancy perspective, because I know we
Speaker 2: have expectations they're going to rely heavily on that run
Speaker 2: game that Colin was talking about with aj Dillon and
Speaker 2: of course Aaron Jones. But Christian Watson's a piece that
Speaker 2: is coming relatively cheap still in drafts, and that guy
Speaker 2: is a huge playmaker. I know there's still some questions
Speaker 2: about the consistency, but we saw the playmaking ability, we
Speaker 2: saw the speed, we saw you could change a game.
Speaker 2: Is he somebody in fantasy you're investing in in twenty three?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I love Christian Watson and the fact that Christian
Speaker 3: Watson can also He's a dual threat in terms of
Speaker 3: he can win after the catch, so he can take
Speaker 3: a screen or a slant to the house, and he
Speaker 3: can also win downfield, which takes advantage of Jordan Love's
Speaker 3: big arm. So Jordan Love's moving around the pocket making
Speaker 3: offscript plays. I think Christian Watson is going to be
Speaker 3: that guy that delivers splash plays.
Speaker 2: Down all right, Now here's a fun one. Andrew. I'm
Speaker 2: going to give you a shot at this one first,
Speaker 2: because we had this conversation on betting pros. I've had
Speaker 2: it with a bunch of people. I've already made an
Speaker 2: investment and it seems to be the one where everybody's
Speaker 2: got a different answer. Who's going to win the NFC South, Andrew,
Speaker 2: go ahead, I'm.
Speaker 3: Going with the Atlanta Falcons. You know, Arthur Smith has
Speaker 3: handpicked top ten overall offensive players at running back, wide receiver,
Speaker 3: tight end of our last three seasons, got Pits London
Speaker 3: Bijon defense has added key players through free agency and
Speaker 3: the NFL Draft with their site set on winning now,
Speaker 3: like people are joining this defense because they're not rebuild.
Speaker 3: Like Kalays Campbell bringing him in. He wanted to come
Speaker 3: to the Falcons because I think this team can win.
Speaker 3: And when you look at the division they play in,
Speaker 3: it's the worst division in all football. So I think
Speaker 3: that the Falcons can run the table here. I'm not
Speaker 3: afraid of Derek Carr. Like if it's Derek Carr and
Speaker 3: the Saints. That is the biggest thing standing between the
Speaker 3: Falcons and at NFC South title. I'll take that all day.
Speaker 3: So for me, all I see the question mark comes
Speaker 3: around Desmond Ridder and during year two, But I think
Speaker 3: in a similar way to a Jordan Love where all
Speaker 3: he needs to do is facilitate an offense with all
Speaker 3: these skilled players around him, similar to a Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 3: that Arthur Smith had so much success with in Tennessee.
Speaker 3: So Ridder wasn't a perfect prospect coming out of Cincinnati,
Speaker 3: but the one thing that he did do was win games.
Speaker 3: Third most wins by quarterback in college football history including
Speaker 3: NFL and college Ridder is twenty eight And oh at
Speaker 3: home the Atlanta Falcons open the season at home Panthers
Speaker 3: and Packers. They're starting to and oh so I'm back
Speaker 3: in the Falcons.
Speaker 2: What a fun meetingless trend that you throw out there,
Speaker 2: as if that somehow means anything for anything. Look, I'm
Speaker 2: already invested in the Falcons, but it's mostly a b.
Speaker 2: John Robinson reason. Like that's that's the whole point that
Speaker 2: I keep making, Like this is a head coach that
Speaker 2: knows how to run the football, want to run a
Speaker 2: football needs to run the football in an offensive line.
Speaker 2: They got Tyler Alger over a thousand yards last year. Yeah, Colin,
Speaker 2: there's some questions here about this division. So when you
Speaker 2: look at it from your perspective, who do you think
Speaker 2: is really the front runner in the NFC South, Because
Speaker 2: once again last year it was disappointing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Derek Carr is the best proven quarterback.
Speaker 1: The Saints, I think have the best roster. That's probably
Speaker 1: where i'd lean their schedules week. A lot of betters
Speaker 1: like Atlanta Arthur Smith, good old, underrated O line, a
Speaker 1: lot of first round, you know, tight end running back players.
Speaker 1: So I think I think in a league that has
Speaker 1: pivoted in the last eight to nine years to offense,
Speaker 1: they've got really high end offensive players with a very
Speaker 1: nice offensive line. I don't know anything about Desmond Ritter.
Speaker 1: I watched them in college too, So I mean, if
Speaker 1: I would probably go Car in the Saints roster. But
Speaker 1: there is no proof that the head coach of the
Speaker 1: Saints is more than a defensive coordinator. He bombed with
Speaker 1: the Raiders, and I mean Sean Payton to him was
Speaker 1: an ugly first year and Sean Payton won with Bridgewater,
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston, Drew Brees, Taysom Hill. So it's like I'm
Speaker 1: putting stock that the Saints coach finds his he finds himself,
Speaker 1: he pivots, he somehow finds this magic, but there's no
Speaker 1: proof it's true. Atlanta is so hot with all the betters.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you have to acknowledge I didn't see it, so
Speaker 1: I still have a week or two to make my
Speaker 1: picks Atlanta. I really thought Carolina would be interesting, but
Speaker 1: they have been so overwhelmed up front offensively in two games.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not even It's like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is potentially Bryce Young small a disaster. So I
Speaker 1: think Atlanta is with the smart money. That's where the
Speaker 1: smart money's going. But I'm not smart money. I'd go Saint.
Speaker 2: Well, now I feel even smarter money because now you're
Speaker 2: talking about everybody else in it, and I'm in it,
Speaker 2: and Andrew's it. That's good, so we feel good. Let's
Speaker 2: leave on that high note. And I'm glad you brought
Speaker 2: up the offensive line issue there in Carolina because that's
Speaker 2: another thing too that really starts to concern me. That
Speaker 2: size of Bryce Young concern me anyway, And if you
Speaker 2: can't not protect this guy, you have to protect him
Speaker 2: more than you would your normal quarterback if you were
Speaker 2: going to keep this kid upright and playing seventeen games
Speaker 2: in the NFL. Let's get to another one here. Normally,
Speaker 2: after you lose the Super Bowl, especially in a tight fashion,
Speaker 2: especially in a disappointing fashion, we've seen teams the next year,
Speaker 2: things don't go their way. Now, the Eagles last year,
Speaker 2: we're very close to winning that game. You can make
Speaker 2: that argument they're just another one of this line of
Speaker 2: teams Colin, where you have this team go to the
Speaker 2: Super Bowl, have a great year, everything works out, they
Speaker 2: fall short. The next year, they have high expectations, but
Speaker 2: again doesn't work out. Now I am completely invested in
Speaker 2: the Eagles because I think they can absolutely regain that stature,
Speaker 2: more because the NFC is weak than anything else. Do
Speaker 2: you see the Eagles being able to get away from
Speaker 2: that recent trend of those Super Bowl teams that lose
Speaker 2: and then disappoint the next year. Can the Eagles be
Speaker 2: the exception to the rule.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to pull back. Shane Stiken's a
Speaker 1: significant loss. I think he's brilliant. I was told years
Speaker 1: ago by the Chargers GM Tom Telesco. I went to
Speaker 1: lunch with him and he said, boy, we have a
Speaker 1: young offensive coach that is really good. So Shane Steiken
Speaker 1: took herbert rookie year, huge numbers. Jalen Hurts turned him around.
Speaker 1: I think that's a loss. Siiani struggled coaching this team
Speaker 1: before he handed over the play calling. Dude, he's to
Speaker 1: Shane Stikin. And then everything took off. They lost a
Speaker 1: couple of their best defenders. You know, they let some
Speaker 1: linebackers go. Their schedules much tougher. Remember last year they
Speaker 1: faced a collection of kind of backup quarterbacks and second
Speaker 1: tier quarterbacks who are fell behind in games. So Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts played with a lead, and often a significant lead
Speaker 1: in many games. Well, as you guys know, Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: looks good with a lead. That's not the league, right.
Speaker 1: What makes Mahomes great is he can trail seventeen to
Speaker 1: nothing third quarter or second quarter, and it just he
Speaker 1: plays the same way. So I don't think they'll have
Speaker 1: these gigantic twenty four to three leads at half. They'll
Speaker 1: play from behind, the games will be closer. They'll miss
Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni they'll be a good team to a very
Speaker 1: good team. But at times last year they looked like
Speaker 1: Alabama and Nick Saban's early dynasty, like they were just
Speaker 1: the games were over at half. That's not the NFL.
Speaker 1: That is just not Dallas could be better. I think
Speaker 1: the Giants are fine. I've watched Sam Howe in the preseason.
Speaker 1: I talked to Greg co South today. You can win
Speaker 1: games with Sam Howe. I think Chicago's better. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of teams. Detroit could be better. The NFC is
Speaker 1: going to be a little better than we think, and
Speaker 1: I think Philadelphia pulls back. I still think they win
Speaker 1: the division, but I think they have to go to
Speaker 1: weeks fifteen, sixteen seventeen to win it. Those two giant
Speaker 1: games late will decide it.
Speaker 2: Well, that's an interesting thing from the fantasy standpoint because Andrew,
Speaker 2: we're talking about having to push the ball a little
Speaker 2: bit more. That could be a good thing from fantasy perspective, right.
Speaker 3: No, I love it for the receivers Aj Brown, DeVante Smith,
Speaker 3: Dallas Goddard. People are trying to figure out is there
Speaker 3: are too many miles to feed in this offense. But
Speaker 3: if this team has to now play a full four quarters,
Speaker 3: which wasn't the case last year where they would just
Speaker 3: run the ball in the second half of games because
Speaker 3: they were just blowing teams out. So I think it's
Speaker 3: great for fantasy football that the Egos are going to
Speaker 3: be playing in more contested contests where they're going to
Speaker 3: be going back and forth more with some of these
Speaker 3: other teams.
Speaker 2: I'm jeous because Collins out there having lunches with these
Speaker 2: important NFL people. I had lunch with ericson last week.
Speaker 2: We went to a taco place in New York. I
Speaker 2: don't know if the same kind of conversations happened. I
Speaker 2: didn't get that same kind of buzz. All right, let's
Speaker 2: get to another question here on the board, Andrew, This
Speaker 2: one's for you. Will brock Perdy pick up where he
Speaker 2: left off or is everything going to fall apart in
Speaker 2: year two, because let's be honest, it was another Cinderella
Speaker 2: story of epic proportions. Trey Lance looks like he's on
Speaker 2: the outs. I know Darnold's kicking around, So are you
Speaker 2: believing in Brock.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna believe in rock Perty's seven point six
Speaker 3: touchdown rate, which is basically be throwing at least two
Speaker 3: touchdowns in every single game for seven straight games. Because
Speaker 3: that's better than Patrick Mahomes' career touchdown rate, which just
Speaker 3: happens to rank fifth all time in NFL history. So
Speaker 3: anyone that thinks that Brock Perry's just gonna step in
Speaker 3: and throw two touchdowns every single week, you're gonna be wrong. Like,
Speaker 3: that's not gonna happen with Brock Purdy. Can he be
Speaker 3: Kyle Shanahan's puppet as a guy that facilitates the offense, probably,
Speaker 3: Like we've seen him do this with Jimmy Garoppola, with
Speaker 3: Nick Mullins, with CJ. Bether, Like we've already seen this
Speaker 3: play out with a Shanahan quarterback. Rock Purty works in
Speaker 3: this system and they're going to have some success. But
Speaker 3: for him to have such a big edge and be
Speaker 3: as hot as he was last year, I don't think
Speaker 3: that's gonna be the case.
Speaker 2: Whatsoever.
Speaker 3: He's gonna show more of the reasons why he was
Speaker 3: a seventh round draft pick, why he was picked last, Like,
Speaker 3: I don't think that he necessarily has all of the
Speaker 3: intangibles in that upside. And ultimately, the reason they drafted
Speaker 3: Trey Lance was because they wanted to get over the hump,
Speaker 3: and I don't think with brock Purdy and his limitations
Speaker 3: as an athlete coming off this elbow injury that they
Speaker 3: are going to mention it over the hump. So they'll
Speaker 3: be in the playoff contention like they are every year.
Speaker 3: Still have a strong defense, but I would be betting
Speaker 3: against brock Purty in the forty nine ers.
Speaker 2: Colin, you want to chime in here on brock Perty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he'll regress, no question. I have Seattle winning the division.
Speaker 1: It's been a very distracting off season. Trey Lance, Sam Donald.
Speaker 1: I think Donald's a better too than Trey Lance, but
Speaker 1: I think he pulls back.
Speaker 2: They're very good.
Speaker 1: Seattle is younger, healthier, gets better. Young players tend to
Speaker 1: not get hurt as much, and when they do, they
Speaker 1: heal faster. San Francisco is getting old, a lot of collisions,
Speaker 1: kids window free, Trent Williams. So Seattle will get injured
Speaker 1: like everybody else, the players will heal faster, and I
Speaker 1: think the Niners will pull back. They'll be really good,
Speaker 1: but they'll pull back, all right.
Speaker 2: Answer this question with the name, who's the first NFL
Speaker 2: head coach to go in twenty twenty three, who will
Speaker 2: be relieved of his duties? Colin Coward, what do you have?
Speaker 1: I think Ron Rivera their schedules tough early, they have
Speaker 1: a new ownership. New owners always get their own GM
Speaker 1: and their coach right right. They're not gonna blame Sam Howell.
Speaker 2: He is what he is.
Speaker 1: They're going to let him go. I also think at
Speaker 1: some point they may move off players at the trade
Speaker 1: deadline if they you know, they may want to get
Speaker 1: in to the Caleb Drake may sweepstakes. What if they
Speaker 1: start two and four? They may move off players. Ron
Speaker 1: Rivera his fate is then sealed, right, you know? I
Speaker 1: don't I think if Ron won seven games eight, we'd
Speaker 1: go what a year? They'd still move off him. So
Speaker 1: I think Ron Rivera's a choice.
Speaker 2: All right. Before Colin gets to his five favorite surprise
Speaker 2: players of twenty twenty three, I got one more question
Speaker 2: for you, and this is a big one. You mentioned
Speaker 2: him earlier in the show, Sean Payton. Can he turn
Speaker 2: around the Broncos in one year? I know, we just
Speaker 2: got news today about Jerry Judy's injury. Now we don't
Speaker 2: have updates exactly what that is yet, so it's kind
Speaker 2: of a loaded question, but I'll ask it anyway. Is
Speaker 2: that co upgrade enough where the Broncos can get on
Speaker 2: the right track or do they continue to struggle in
Speaker 2: this very competitive AFC West.
Speaker 1: I think they'll get on the right track, but that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean they'll make the playoffs. They were twenty ninth
Speaker 1: than getting plays in on offense and defense. They were
Speaker 1: a mess. They had to hire somebody to run the clock.
Speaker 1: That's not going to be a problem. You will watch
Speaker 1: the Broncos and you will feel most Sundays they are
Speaker 1: well coached and can win the game. But I don't
Speaker 1: think they're going to win more than nine to ten games.
Speaker 1: They're not going to win eleven, twelve, thirteen. So you
Speaker 1: will see a well run, lubricated organization. You will think
Speaker 1: that's a good team. Like the Chargers last year. I
Speaker 1: don't think you'll think they're a super Bowl team. I
Speaker 1: think there's too many injuries. I think you're asking Sean
Speaker 1: to fix the culture, fix, the quarterback fix, the O line,
Speaker 1: that fix. There's just too many fixes. So and there's
Speaker 1: too many teams in the AFC who have maybe one
Speaker 1: ask or one fix. They have three to four. So
Speaker 1: they'll be a really good team, but.
Speaker 2: Not great all right? Who could be great this year?
Speaker 2: I know you put together all a list for us,
Speaker 2: which is great. If you watch the Herd, you know
Speaker 2: Colin's not above a good list once in a while.
Speaker 2: I know I do. And look, you've got five names here,
Speaker 2: maybe some honorable mentions to some guys you think you
Speaker 2: could have really surprisingly good twenty twenty three. So who
Speaker 2: is on that list for you going into this season?
Speaker 1: I think Luke Muskgrave is a rookie tight end for
Speaker 1: Green Bay. I watched him because I'm from the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 1: I heard about him a couple of years ago at
Speaker 1: Oregon State. He got hurt before the USC game. It
Speaker 1: didn't play, or the country would have seen him. Incredible
Speaker 1: speed for a tight end. Young quarterbacks, Jordan Love love
Speaker 1: tight ends. They drafted two. I think we're going to
Speaker 1: see some young skill players in this league. Pop Luke
Speaker 1: Musgraves one of them. Chris o'lave I think is going
Speaker 1: to have a really interesting year. So first of all,
Speaker 1: Ohio State's become an insane wide receiver school. My entire life,
Speaker 1: Ohio State was known for linebackers, Russians. You know, it's like,
Speaker 1: when did they become wide receiver?
Speaker 2: You five six years?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what you go from Andy Dalton, Taysom Hill
Speaker 1: to Derek Carr. That's a real upgrade.
Speaker 2: And Derek.
Speaker 1: Olave gets open sometimes Derek doesn't have the confidence to
Speaker 1: throw people open, but Olave has the speed and twitchiness
Speaker 1: to get open. I think he's going to have a
Speaker 1: big year. Another player that they've been talking about in
Speaker 1: San Francisco, Brandon I Yuk. So Deebo gets hurt, Kittle
Speaker 1: gets hurt, McCaffrey gets hurt. A Yuk is going to
Speaker 1: have a lot of catches and so much of this offense.
Speaker 1: And Deebo can be a little It's not a negative.
Speaker 1: He's a little emotional. Like if he gets dinged, he
Speaker 1: may not want to play hurt, he may not want
Speaker 1: the running back touches. Ayuk wants the bag. He wants
Speaker 1: the touches, give me the ball. George Kittle is not
Speaker 1: getting the bag in a Week five against the Rams,
Speaker 1: right like Ayuk wants touches. And I think brought pretty
Speaker 1: a young quarterback right, Garoppolo and Kittle were close. I
Speaker 1: think pretty his guy is going to become Brandon Ayuk
Speaker 1: and I think Brandon's a really good player Arizona State guy.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to have some numbers. I wrote
Speaker 1: this one down, although it's probably already baked in to
Speaker 1: your business. I think Calvin Ridley is probably, you know,
Speaker 1: recency biased. Nobody's seen him play. Kelvin Ridley's great like
Speaker 1: route runner, speed, twitchy, the entire route tree, Doug Peterson's
Speaker 1: second year. If you go back to Jacksonville last year,
Speaker 1: you know they kind of sputtered around. They had to
Speaker 1: clean up the urban Meyer mess, and it was about
Speaker 1: week seven, week eight, week nine from like, I think
Speaker 1: it was like week nine on Trevor Lawrence was better
Speaker 1: than Patrick Mahomes and multiple numbers. Right, it's like, oh whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: Now they weren't as good as Kansas City, but Trevor
Speaker 1: was carrying the load. So now Christian Kirk moves to
Speaker 1: it too, which is already what he is. Evan Ingram
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be as dominant in that space. Travis
Speaker 1: atn to me, has always been good at catching the
Speaker 1: football a good duel back can do.
Speaker 2: He doesn't.
Speaker 1: He's not just a downhill guy. Calvin Ridley is one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty catch guy, and I think in a
Speaker 1: Wonky division Doug Peterson system. I mean, people really liked Doug.
Speaker 1: I thought, if you look, if you went to the
Speaker 1: last seven to eight games last year, the Steelers defense,
Speaker 1: the Jags offense, it was like whoa, whoa whoa young quarterback,
Speaker 1: different looking team than eight weeks ago. I think Calvin
Speaker 1: Ridley's gonna have a big year.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Really interesting though, because Calvin Ridley's guy started out
Speaker 2: as a value and he's been climbing up the boards
Speaker 2: here in our industry almost to the point where now
Speaker 2: his ADP is going to a certain degree where he
Speaker 2: has to return that value. Almost not quite there, but
Speaker 2: just about on that tilt. I got one more player
Speaker 2: because I know you had him down to Olave is
Speaker 2: one of my favorite guys too. I want to get
Speaker 2: your take on Kenny Pickett because this is one too
Speaker 2: that has a lot of fantasy assets around him now,
Speaker 2: whether it be Deontae Johnson, George Pickens, and obviously you
Speaker 2: know Naji Harris, who was very good year one disappointing
Speaker 2: last year. We can chalk that up to the O
Speaker 2: line to inconsistent quarterback play. Do you think Pickett is
Speaker 2: ready to make a jump.
Speaker 1: Well, I think Pickett's more mobile than people may understand.
Speaker 1: He's not Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. But if you
Speaker 1: go to last year's games, Kenny and the Steeters O
Speaker 1: line has been really average. They just it's like Buffalo.
Speaker 1: They have talent, they can't figure it out. And he
Speaker 1: had to move last year. He's mobile, and so Kenny's
Speaker 1: gonna run for some touchdowns.
Speaker 2: And I.
Speaker 1: Love their roster, I really do. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I love their offensive coordinator or their play calling, but
Speaker 1: I love their roster. And I think, you know it's
Speaker 1: funny at Burrow and Lamar and Deshaun Watson are getting
Speaker 1: all the pub Pickett now moves into his prime. He's
Speaker 1: comfortable in the stadium. He played college football. They won
Speaker 1: seven of their last nine games. I don't see special,
Speaker 1: But again, like Jordan, love the culture, the coach. You know,
Speaker 1: with the Steelers defense, he's throwing when he wants to throw,
Speaker 1: not when he has to throw. I mean, Pittsburgh's defense
Speaker 1: is you're not getting in the mid twenties on that
Speaker 1: He's not going to have to be in shootouts. He's
Speaker 1: going to throw either leading or in situations where he's
Speaker 1: not desperate. I think he's going to end up having
Speaker 1: a nice year. He's going to get overshadowed in that
Speaker 1: quarterback division and in the But Kirk Cousins has been
Speaker 1: overshadowered for years. And I don't know how he plays
Speaker 1: in fantasy, but puts up nice numbers year.
Speaker 2: Over year QB nine last year in fantasy, and nobody cares.
Speaker 2: And you know what he's going is right now. You
Speaker 2: know he's going QB twelve. So he's the free quarterback
Speaker 2: in your single quarterback league that you can draft basically whenever,
Speaker 2: real quick too, because I know you got to get
Speaker 2: out of here. I know you had one more name
Speaker 2: on your list, Jordan Addison. Speaking of Kirk Cousins, your
Speaker 2: ability to project a little bit of what Addison can
Speaker 2: do taking the skill set from USC over here to Minnesota. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So he's a good route runner. He's feisty for a
Speaker 1: guy that's not considered a burner. At USC was always
Speaker 1: wide open. It's like the Cooper Cup thing. It's like,
Speaker 1: why is he so Jordan Nelson? Why is he so
Speaker 1: wide open? Jordan got doubled at USC was always open.
Speaker 1: Good hands, he's slight, he's not big. This may be
Speaker 1: a guy that plays fourteen to fifteen games a year.
Speaker 1: He'll never get doubled because of Justin Jefferson. He'll never
Speaker 1: get doubled. So he'll beat single coverage. He's slippery, he
Speaker 1: kind of explodes out of his routes. He's sneaky fast again, routes, hands,
Speaker 1: deceptive speed. Really a quiet kid. Really, he came into
Speaker 1: USC was a complete grown up. Just not distracted by
Speaker 1: LA at all. Just may have been the quietest guy
Speaker 1: in the team. So he's an adult. He'll come in
Speaker 1: to that organization and he'll match Kirk Cousins because Justin's
Speaker 1: got some flair, right, Like, this kid's a grinder. He'll
Speaker 1: come in, he'll work hard. He'll make sixty four catches,
Speaker 1: six touchdowns because you know Jefferson's going to take so
Speaker 1: much of the coverage gets rolled over. So he's an
Speaker 1: interesting one. I worry about his health because he's not big,
Speaker 1: Like he is slightly slight, like devont Day Smith, like
Speaker 1: really slight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, agreed to one hundred percent
Speaker 1: The volume