Speaker 1: Hey everybody, It's Monday, August fifth, twenty twenty four. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, where we're trying to figure.
Speaker 2: Out how the news Kakoffs were.
Speaker 1: It's me and your man MG Marcus Brand joined by
Speaker 1: Michael f. Florio and Lakwan Jones. You find gentlemen are
Speaker 1: in studio today. I'm the slacker who's sitting in my
Speaker 1: garage right yeah, just.
Speaker 2: Wearing sweats and no shoes. Pull away chair we could
Speaker 2: bring right here. I'm sure, I'm sure. I'm sure it's
Speaker 2: lovely there.
Speaker 1: All you guys are saying here, it's a sweat box
Speaker 1: there in the Fantasy Lounge.
Speaker 2: Good times.
Speaker 1: We gotta lot to talk about. We're gonna do our
Speaker 1: division previews. We're doing the AFC South today. But first
Speaker 1: I gotta ask Lakwan because you now that you have
Speaker 1: a week of Good Morning Football under your belt, like
Speaker 1: you're a bona fide NFL Network star, Now, like, uh,
Speaker 1: what's that first week of GMFB been?
Speaker 3: Like, Man, it's been good, man, I've been I've been
Speaker 3: handling the sleep kind of like a pro. I want
Speaker 3: to say, I've been pretty proud of myself for the
Speaker 3: most part.
Speaker 2: But time have you settled on being your bedtime?
Speaker 3: My bedtime is like seven thirty five.
Speaker 2: I like that you push that extra five minutes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the extra five minutes is like the brushing of teeth,
Speaker 3: you know, finishing up dinner. But I'm definitely in bed
Speaker 3: before eight, Like I have to like let the body settle.
Speaker 2: What time do you eat dinner?
Speaker 3: Oh god man, We've been eating earlier and early every
Speaker 3: day this week, honestly, Like I have the.
Speaker 2: Senior Citizen early bird special.
Speaker 3: Yeah, four thirty five o'clock, you know, dinner is done
Speaker 3: and we're eating. Is like, this is so weird, Like
Speaker 3: I can't do.
Speaker 4: It because I was wondering if you did normal dinner
Speaker 4: time and then just cool immediately to bed.
Speaker 3: No, No, that would not be good for the body.
Speaker 2: It needs to digest.
Speaker 3: I need to lay down good. And you know, the
Speaker 3: whole Verteine's been it's been working.
Speaker 2: I've been crushing it though. Yeah. Yeah, man, it's it's
Speaker 2: been good to see.
Speaker 1: It's cool to see the you know, your social post
Speaker 1: about it, and yeah, man, I'm I'm I'm excited for
Speaker 1: you for the opportunity and hopefully you get the sleep thing.
Speaker 2: All.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's get going first with some news and rumors,
Speaker 1: and this one just sort of changed.
Speaker 2: I full disclosure.
Speaker 1: I started putting this thing together like on Saturday, and
Speaker 1: then now things have changed. I so originally Gino Smith
Speaker 1: missed a couple of practices.
Speaker 2: Had what looked like a knee injury.
Speaker 1: But the upside is that he is back at practice
Speaker 1: today for the Seattle Seahawks. So I was gonna ask
Speaker 1: if there's any concern at this point, but I feel
Speaker 1: like the answer to.
Speaker 2: That is no.
Speaker 1: So I will ask, though, Florioe, because we haven't talked
Speaker 1: about Geno Smith a whole lot.
Speaker 2: Two years ago he had that phenomenal season. Last year
Speaker 2: was just kind.
Speaker 1: Of meh, Which Gino do you think we see? Do
Speaker 1: we see like super Geno or do you just see
Speaker 1: like regular average. I haven't had a superstar yet, Gino.
Speaker 2: I think we're gonna see a little bit of both.
Speaker 4: I think there will be some weeks where the Seahawks
Speaker 4: need to throw the ball and he'll air it out
Speaker 4: down field. Like Lawan has done a really good job
Speaker 4: of pointing out about how aggressive Roan grub and the
Speaker 4: new OC there is at throwing downfield.
Speaker 2: I still, though, do think there will be some.
Speaker 4: Games where Seattle will have a lead and they won't
Speaker 4: ask Gino to throw a ton. How they get that
Speaker 4: lead could be him throwing. But I don't suddenly expect
Speaker 4: the Seahawks to become one of the past happiest offenses.
Speaker 4: I think he could be more efficient and everything. He
Speaker 4: is one of those I know he goes as like
Speaker 4: a low end QB two and I feel like that's
Speaker 4: the appropriate price. But if like there's him, there's Daniel Jones,
Speaker 4: there's Baker Mayfield. We both we all love Will Levis.
Speaker 4: Here like there's a big group of QB twos that
Speaker 4: could finish like top fifteen, and Gino Smith is in
Speaker 4: that group.
Speaker 1: For me, yeah, I mean that's sort of I think you,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you have a stronger take on him
Speaker 1: than either of us do.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I'm gonna get the grain.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: I mean I have some concern because with a hip
Speaker 3: and knee injury, I feel like, man, are we seeing
Speaker 3: in the back end of Gino Smith? Now it's getting
Speaker 3: up there in the age. I honestly wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 3: at some point we actually saw Sam Howe at some point,
Speaker 3: and I feel like, you know, Sam Howe didn't really
Speaker 3: get a fair shake in Washington if we really look
Speaker 3: at it. I mean, led the NFL in interceptions, but
Speaker 3: seventeen of them were under pressure, which he also led
Speaker 3: the NFL in. So it's like that old line did
Speaker 3: not protect them at all. And his first full season
Speaker 3: he got in as a starter, they kind of shipped
Speaker 3: them away when everything was in shambles. So I'm honestly
Speaker 3: stashing Sam Howe in super flex leagues just in case
Speaker 3: if Gino's gonna have these injury concerns.
Speaker 2: I think that would be bad for DK Metcalf.
Speaker 3: It would be but in a selfish in a selfish
Speaker 3: world where the quarterback runs, So I get him stashing
Speaker 3: Sam Howe.
Speaker 4: I just I'm like, oh for Seattle, I don't know,
Speaker 4: it's curtains.
Speaker 1: Well, Sam Howe was never going to be long for
Speaker 1: that job once they once they got Jayden Daniels in Washington,
Speaker 1: like that was gonna be a rap.
Speaker 2: So best case scenario, he stays there and he's on
Speaker 2: the bench.
Speaker 1: At least in Seattle, he does have I think a
Speaker 1: more legitimate opportunity to battle to get on the field
Speaker 1: a little bit. Flora you mentioned will Levis he's gonna
Speaker 1: be missing one of his targets at least for the
Speaker 1: next month or so. DeAndre Hopkins has a knee issue.
Speaker 1: Expected to miss four to six weeks.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The upside is they don't expect that he will need
Speaker 1: knee surgery, so hopefully that sort of helps his recovery
Speaker 1: time a little bit. But lakwan, I mean, look, Nuke's
Speaker 1: been great for a long time, but it does seem
Speaker 1: like the decline is starting to happen. Are you still
Speaker 1: willing to take a shot at him? Or is this
Speaker 1: kind of an avoid situation?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is one of those situations where it's a
Speaker 3: clear fade for me with this injury because I've already
Speaker 3: had concerns coming into the season, and then when you
Speaker 3: see the injury pop up, Man, it's like, all right,
Speaker 3: what kind of de Hopper we're gonna get when the
Speaker 3: season starts. I mean, the target separation rate was a
Speaker 3: concern for me last season with two point three, which
Speaker 3: was bottom the table among wide receivers with the hundred
Speaker 3: tard so it's not like we're getting the d hop
Speaker 3: that we know and love. So he now maybe a
Speaker 3: little sluggish to start the season, and you know, I
Speaker 3: don't know if I have in me the patience to
Speaker 3: hang on the d hop, you know, for those first
Speaker 3: couple of weeks, being that this injury is kind of
Speaker 3: close to starting the kickoff to where like I don't
Speaker 3: know if I want to wait until week four or
Speaker 3: five they get some real production out of d hops.
Speaker 3: So he's kind of one of those guys, like know what,
Speaker 3: I'm good off of him.
Speaker 4: He was already a fade for me because everything you said,
Speaker 4: like he had declined in metrics, he was creating less separation.
Speaker 4: And I think what saved him last year was first
Speaker 4: Will Levis was, look, he's fun for fantasy. He was
Speaker 4: not playing good quarterback out there. He was locking in
Speaker 4: on DeAndre Hopkins and just heaving the ball downfield. I've
Speaker 4: already been on the mindset. I think a lot of
Speaker 4: that volume is gonna go to Calvin Ridley. Now you
Speaker 4: adding this knee issue. He's not there for the first
Speaker 4: training camp with a new head coach. There's this, and
Speaker 4: he's thirty two. A wide receiver thirty two or older
Speaker 4: has not averaged fifteen Fantasy points per games since twenty twenty,
Speaker 4: like seems recently that's almost five years ago. Now at
Speaker 4: this point, like history is just working against the.
Speaker 2: Hop So then are either of you in on Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 2: He is one of my most drafted.
Speaker 4: I'm he's one of my best values, one of my
Speaker 4: most drafted. I love stacking him in Levis in drafts.
Speaker 3: I feel like now I have to now Like I
Speaker 3: wasn't really as readily trained, but now I feel like
Speaker 3: I have to pivot to somebody to stack with my guy,
Speaker 3: Will Levis. And I really feel as though Will Levis
Speaker 3: can get a good connection downfield, to stretch the field
Speaker 3: with Calvin Ridley's speed, and like, I think that's where
Speaker 3: Willis would get. Will Levis would get most of his
Speaker 3: fantasy points from Is on these deep shots in big plays.
Speaker 4: I keep saying, I think he's upside a similar to
Speaker 4: last year. But now you get a six round discount
Speaker 4: on him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's probably fair. I think there's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of volatility with Levis. I think there will be some
Speaker 1: weeks where things work really well. In some weeks up
Speaker 1: and down they cannot connect. So I mean, I think
Speaker 1: I think the ADP sort of reflects that too, with
Speaker 1: the Andandre Hopkins.
Speaker 2: It's when you have him as your wide receiver. One, yeah,
Speaker 2: don't do that. You can live with that, don't yeh,
Speaker 2: don't do that. Don't do that.
Speaker 1: I'm closer to where we are in Los Angeles. Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert right now diagnosed with plants or fascia in his
Speaker 1: right foot. He's gonna be in a walking boot for
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks. I mean, Floyda, This is the
Speaker 1: kind of thing that just tends to linger. And I
Speaker 1: know that, you know Herbert's not necessarily a running quarterback,
Speaker 1: but you still need your feet to plant and throw
Speaker 1: the football. There was already concern about Herbert with the
Speaker 1: coaching staff and this desire to run the football. Is
Speaker 1: this a buy the dip situation or is this a
Speaker 1: stay away situation?
Speaker 2: This is becoming a stay away situation for me.
Speaker 4: Like I was firmly on the I'm fading justin Herbert
Speaker 4: train when they hired this coaching tandem, and then he
Speaker 4: started going as like the QB seventeen eighteen in drafts,
Speaker 4: and I was like, at that price, I.
Speaker 2: Can get in because we're paying for the floor.
Speaker 4: And one thing I keep saying is like I don't
Speaker 4: expect him to suddenly become like Josh Allen, but I
Speaker 4: was hoping that he would set career highs in rushing
Speaker 4: numbers like this Greg Rohman and Jim Harborough, they have
Speaker 4: a lot of uh success with a quarterback that can
Speaker 4: run the ball. And again, I don't think Herbert is
Speaker 4: gonna suddenly become Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 2: But he is a good athlete who has shown us that.
Speaker 4: He can be mobile. So I was hoping that maybe
Speaker 4: the passing numbers decrease a little bit, but he makes
Speaker 4: up for it with more rushing. Now with this a
Speaker 4: foot issue, and look, I know it's different. This is
Speaker 4: an injury that we see a lot of the times
Speaker 4: in baseball and like, hey, look it ruined Albert Pooholz
Speaker 4: for years. This is an injury that that he's, like
Speaker 4: you said, lingers and lingers, and if he's not throwing
Speaker 4: as much into move we're already having some injury concerns.
Speaker 4: Now with Lad mcconkee, it's becoming a situation again where
Speaker 4: like maybe if he slides further enough and I could
Speaker 4: get him as like my low and QB two.
Speaker 2: I'm cool with it, but names around him like Jared Goff.
Speaker 3: I'd rather have, Yes, there it is. That's exactly where
Speaker 3: I was going with the next if I could just translation.
Speaker 2: Wait, go ahead. Yeah. I didn't want to hear you.
Speaker 2: I want to hear you make a case for Jared
Speaker 2: Goff because you like dumping on him.
Speaker 3: So I used to call him Jared Goof. But we're
Speaker 3: all good.
Speaker 2: There, we're good. I've never heard that before.
Speaker 3: We're good now he's no longer a ram. I don't
Speaker 3: have to scream at the TV no more, but Jared Goff.
Speaker 3: We're in good hands. But I feel like Jared Golf
Speaker 3: in that range where he's going in drafts, I much
Speaker 3: rather have now with this injury with Justin Herbert, because,
Speaker 3: like Florio said, this is assumed to be a run
Speaker 3: heavy offense, and he's already gonna take a hit on
Speaker 3: the passing by him week to week, so therefore he
Speaker 3: may not be asked to do much once he gets back,
Speaker 3: you know, for week one, week two, or whatever the
Speaker 3: case may be. They do much in that offense just
Speaker 3: so they could stretch out the longevity of the health
Speaker 3: of him. And I'm already looking at him like I
Speaker 3: don't know if I really want to take that chance
Speaker 3: on him. Like if I, like Florio said, I can
Speaker 3: get him as my low QB two, maybe, But in
Speaker 3: a lot of situations early in drafts, I was already
Speaker 3: waiting into the deep depths of the rounds to get
Speaker 3: him as my QB one with some type of upsiding,
Speaker 3: you know, making sure that other positions that I was at,
Speaker 3: tight end, wide receiver, running back, we're all solid and
Speaker 3: stacked at depth. Now I can't do that with Justin
Speaker 3: Herbert just gonna pivot the jerk off.
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I was in before this news about the foot injury
Speaker 1: came out because I felt like we had sort of
Speaker 1: gone way too overboard with this. You know, the Chargers
Speaker 1: are gonna run the football. I'm like, they're still gonna
Speaker 1: throw the ball a little bit. I mean they you know,
Speaker 1: they have a guy who is a borderline franchise quarterback.
Speaker 1: You know, like it's enough to have confidence in him.
Speaker 1: But now with this, who knows how long this thing lingers.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna kind of stay away from him.
Speaker 1: I just saw this come across h lakwan. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: direct this at you.
Speaker 2: Knee injury practice.
Speaker 1: The latest report is that he is weak to week
Speaker 1: with a knee injury.
Speaker 2: Your immediate thoughts on this.
Speaker 3: I was having a good Sunday, man, I really I
Speaker 3: was having a good son. I put it off because
Speaker 3: I saw the news that got heard in practice. I
Speaker 3: put it off, and then of course I'm getting tagged
Speaker 3: on Twitter that he week to week and I don't
Speaker 3: like this at all. Man, this this hurts because it's like, Pookah,
Speaker 3: we need you healthy, Cooper Cup, we need you healthy.
Speaker 3: Stafford would need you healthy. When the Avengers all assembled
Speaker 3: in week twelve, when we were all good, the team
Speaker 3: looked like it was unstoppable. Now with this injury, it's like, man,
Speaker 3: we need to do something about the practice field, Like
Speaker 3: we need to do something because guys are getting hurt
Speaker 3: left and right, like our old line three guys. Like
Speaker 3: this is not looking good and you know, usually we're
Speaker 3: the healthy team. But you know, sad, sad day for
Speaker 3: all the Pooka Nakua fans.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, look, it's week to week, right, So
Speaker 1: right now, I don't know that I'm really worried about it,
Speaker 1: but you know, if this thing starts to linger and
Speaker 1: we get closer to week one and it's still that situation,
Speaker 1: then I may have concerns.
Speaker 3: We can no longer say it's early because we're like
Speaker 3: four weeks out of the week one. True, you know,
Speaker 3: like this is very concerning to me, Like this reminds.
Speaker 4: Me a lot of what happened to Cooper Cup last year,
Speaker 4: where it happened about time and we were like, at
Speaker 4: least I won't speak for anyone by myself, I was like,
Speaker 4: this isn't a big deal.
Speaker 2: He could be back for Week.
Speaker 4: One, no problem, and then he reinjured it at the
Speaker 4: end of August and it just derailed his whole season.
Speaker 4: And I was already of the mindset that like Cooper Cup,
Speaker 4: I love Pooka Nakua, but Cooper Cup to me is
Speaker 4: the Rams receiver that I think is the best value
Speaker 4: right now and that I still believe could be potentially
Speaker 4: a league winner if things break right for him this year.
Speaker 4: But now at Pooka being hurt, it's like, is this look,
Speaker 4: he's younger, He's got less wear and tear and all
Speaker 4: of that, so he could bounce back quicker. Maybe this
Speaker 4: is nothing like last year, But the pessimist in me
Speaker 4: is just like Cooper Cup hurt a lot of my
Speaker 4: teams last year because I was still drafting him after
Speaker 4: he got hurt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we saw this last year, right, so
Speaker 1: but hopefully this is not the same. Hopefully this is
Speaker 1: not that, but definitely worth monitoring over the next couple
Speaker 1: of days or so, I knocked on wood. We have
Speaker 1: to spend a long time. But there was the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame game over the weekend last Thursday. Bears get
Speaker 1: the win. They were lead when the game was called
Speaker 1: because of inclement. Whether it's twenty one seventeen is how
Speaker 1: it ended. What if anything, did we learn right now?
Speaker 1: And really the starters on either side played. We didn't
Speaker 1: see CJ. Stroud, We didn't see Caleb Williams. Nobody I
Speaker 1: think was surprised by that. But any takeaways, I mean, Florida,
Speaker 1: were you are you? Are you back in on cam Akers?
Speaker 1: I guess this is what I'm trying to get to
Speaker 1: sweet about it.
Speaker 4: I've been firmly out on cam Makers. The thing I'm
Speaker 4: hoping is that I'm hoping the Texans are like, hey,
Speaker 4: cam Akers is such a good backup that we could
Speaker 4: trade Damian Pierce. There you go and trade him to
Speaker 4: a team, because I just think he's a bad scheme
Speaker 4: fit here, Like, I don't believe you go from looking
Speaker 4: like Damian Pierce did as a rookie to what he
Speaker 4: did last year just by like losing all physical capabilities.
Speaker 4: I just think he's a bad fit for this scheme
Speaker 4: that they have right now. And if you trade him
Speaker 4: to a more power scheme like the Cowboys or the Chargers,
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 2: He can really elevate and be what he was a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago.
Speaker 4: And yeah, maybe I'm taking a bunch of him as
Speaker 4: my last round picks right.
Speaker 2: Now because I'm like, he's so cheap.
Speaker 4: The biggest thing I learned, though, is we all say
Speaker 4: the Hall of Fame game doesn't matter, and that's largely
Speaker 4: true until it doesn't finish. And then there's a lot
Speaker 4: of people out there who are very upset.
Speaker 1: They might have had stuff on the line or something,
Speaker 1: they might have had some other interests in that game
Speaker 1: and they don't get to finish that out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry about your luck on that one. I'll remember.
Speaker 2: We're old enough to remember.
Speaker 1: Remember was it a couple of years ago when Josh
Speaker 1: Jacobs played like all of the.
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame game?
Speaker 1: We were like, oh no, like he's gonna get traded.
Speaker 1: This is a bad sign. And then he had the
Speaker 1: best rushing season of his Yeah.
Speaker 2: Shot Penny last year too.
Speaker 4: Right, there's always one veteran that they still make play
Speaker 4: in this game, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Yeah, I mean we learned Colin Johnson.
Speaker 3: You know, he was a breakout star in the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame game. He was the tallest wide receiver last season,
Speaker 3: probably still the tallest, but six to six. You know,
Speaker 3: shout out acbar He's a six to six guy.
Speaker 2: I never understood why a team doesn't sign like a
Speaker 2: seven footer and just make him a red zone like
Speaker 2: a goal one. Specially, that's what we.
Speaker 3: Were saying about Bar our friend. There you go, There
Speaker 3: you go.
Speaker 2: He could have been.
Speaker 3: He could have been like a tight end or something.
Speaker 2: So waiting for the day somebody tries to sign Victor wimb.
Speaker 4: No one, if you put him on the one, no
Speaker 4: one is stopping him. Six one corners is gonna be
Speaker 4: like keeps playing on a nerve hoop.
Speaker 1: I feel but I feel like, you know, getting a
Speaker 1: release off the line, like he's a thin fellow, Like
Speaker 1: he's not particularly I don't know how muscular he is.
Speaker 2: We need like Joel embiide out there.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we need somebody who can, like, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe deal with some press coverage at the line anyone. Uh. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I gonna take a break, come back and dive into
Speaker 1: the a f C South. We talked about the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about them a little bit later on the
Speaker 1: show as well. That's coming up next to her on
Speaker 1: the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. So the a f C
Speaker 1: South on the docket today. As always, teams are listed
Speaker 1: in alphabetical order, so that starts us off with the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans, a big surprise team from last season. I
Speaker 1: think everybody was thinking there was a chance for them
Speaker 1: to elevate, but maybe not as quickly as they did.
Speaker 2: Their top scores from last season. CJ. Stroud the top quarterback.
Speaker 1: He was the QB eleven overall two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: one points, Devin Singletary the RB thirty two one sixty
Speaker 1: seven point three, Nico Collins was their leading scoring wide
Speaker 1: receiver wide receiver twelve and fantasy two hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: point four points, and Dalton Schultz it was the tight
Speaker 1: end ten one hundred and fifty and a half points
Speaker 1: in the offseason, they said goodbye to Devin Singletary. They
Speaker 1: did acquire Stefan Diggs in a trade. Also former Rams
Speaker 1: number one wide receiver Ben Scornic in a trade as well.
Speaker 2: They did sign nothing nothing for the ugliest number.
Speaker 3: Ugliest number possibly. I tweeted about that, like he needs
Speaker 3: to change that, Like twenty six on a wide receiver
Speaker 3: looks so weird.
Speaker 2: That is wild.
Speaker 1: Other additions in the offseason, they signed Joe Mixon in
Speaker 1: free agency. They drafted a tied and Kate Stover in
Speaker 1: the fourth round, and a running back Jamar Johnson Juar
Speaker 1: Jordan Rather.
Speaker 2: In the sixth round.
Speaker 1: First sexon off the board Nico Collins at thirty two.
Speaker 1: So we've sort of talked about this, I think repeatedly,
Speaker 1: but now I'm asking you guys to plant a flag here.
Speaker 1: Choose your fighter. You gotta pick one in redraft, not
Speaker 1: best Ball, Nico Collins, Stefan Diggs, Tank, Dell Florio.
Speaker 2: You can start Nico Collins.
Speaker 4: He is is the one that I have firmly decided
Speaker 4: is the one I want the most. I understand he
Speaker 4: goes first and you gotta pay up to get him,
Speaker 4: but he is the one that I feel most comfortable,
Speaker 4: will be consistently out there two wide receiver sets, three
Speaker 4: wide receiver sets. You can move him all over the field.
Speaker 4: He could play the X, he could play in the slot.
Speaker 4: He can win downfield and better yet, he can win
Speaker 4: after the catch, like there's nothing that he cannot do,
Speaker 4: which is why I believe that he'll be out there
Speaker 4: the most. I think Tank Dell brings a high ceiling,
Speaker 4: maybe not the safest floor, because is he can to
Speaker 4: be out there in two wide receiver sets stuff like that.
Speaker 4: I think Steph Diggs will have a set role on
Speaker 4: this team. He's gonna get plenty of volume. I think
Speaker 4: he brings a very safe floor. But getting up there
Speaker 4: in age starting to lose potentially the deep ball in
Speaker 4: his game. So I don't I have questions about his upside.
Speaker 4: To me, Nico Collins, is that safe floor meets that
Speaker 4: high ceiling and you kind of get the best of
Speaker 4: both worlds that the other two give you all in one.
Speaker 2: But I love taking these guys in best ball. I
Speaker 2: don't know about you guys in.
Speaker 4: Redraft where you actually have to play them week to
Speaker 4: week and everything like that. I find myself a little
Speaker 4: bit more hesitant because there's a lot. It's like kind
Speaker 4: of what the forty nine ers were from me years ago.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I know this offense is gonna be great.
Speaker 4: I know at the end of the year they'll probably
Speaker 4: have their numbers, but week to week it might be
Speaker 4: a major headache.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that's that's the thing for me,
Speaker 1: is that it's just gonna be so hard to try
Speaker 1: to figure out whose week it is. If I'm picking one,
Speaker 1: I'm probably gonna pick Tank Dell in part because he
Speaker 1: is the cheapest of the three, but also because I
Speaker 1: think he does have the most upside. I mean, he
Speaker 1: was the guy who I think was the more consistent
Speaker 1: when both he and Collins were healthy.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of where I'm going.
Speaker 1: But I just sort of understand that, look, there are
Speaker 1: gonna be weeks that's gonna be really, really frustrating, and
Speaker 1: I don't know that we're gonna be able to sell,
Speaker 1: certainly not right away which one is, which I think
Speaker 1: maybe by the time we get a decent sample sized
Speaker 1: midway through the season, we'll have a better idea.
Speaker 2: But right now, I just I just don't know. I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: Do you have one Lakwan that you parfectarly prefer hoping
Speaker 1: it's Digs, it is Diggs.
Speaker 3: I can't believe we all pick different players like this
Speaker 3: is crazy, but I think it's Digs because Florie'll talk
Speaker 3: about that safe floor like obviously scared money, don't make
Speaker 3: money with him over here. But I just feel like
Speaker 3: Stefan Diggs is the safest floor just based on if
Speaker 3: there is regression in Nico's game, if it's yards receptions,
Speaker 3: even if it's touchdowns, it will be because of Stefon Diggs.
Speaker 3: So therefore, I feel as though I don't have to
Speaker 3: pay that early second round price where Nico Collins is going,
Speaker 3: where I compare Stefon Diggs with the wide receiver too
Speaker 3: price on him where if there is a headache week
Speaker 3: to week, hopefully how I draft him some of these
Speaker 3: redrafts that are coming up to that end of this month,
Speaker 3: I will have a good depth at wide receiver to
Speaker 3: where I could just swap him out for a potential
Speaker 3: flex guy or a potential wide receiver three. So the
Speaker 3: safest bet here if you are going to get a
Speaker 3: piece of this Texans offense, I think, in my opinion,
Speaker 3: Stefan Diggs is the guy that will want on the
Speaker 3: back and in that third round.
Speaker 2: All right, so we helped everybody, not at all.
Speaker 1: We know are different way, but you know, I think
Speaker 1: I think honestly that speaks to how confusing the situation is.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's been one of the biggest
Speaker 1: talking points across fantasy this offseason is which Texans receiver
Speaker 1: do you want?
Speaker 2: How do you determine which one?
Speaker 1: And I think every argument I've heard for every single
Speaker 1: one of these players is a completely valid argument, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's hard, it's hard to really poke holes in
Speaker 1: any of these because we just really don't know, and
Speaker 1: we're not gonna know. I think at least a month
Speaker 1: before we kind of get a sense of who's who
Speaker 1: and who's doing what florio Are we undervaluing Joe Mixon?
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like we haven't talked a lot
Speaker 1: about him a lot. We spent so much time on
Speaker 1: the passing game. But are we undervaluing him right now?
Speaker 4: I think he's properly valued personally, Like he goes as
Speaker 4: a high end RB two in a lot of drafts,
Speaker 4: and that's where I have him ranked. Like, I don't
Speaker 4: feel comfortable with him as my RB one. I still
Speaker 4: think he's got it left in the tank there. Last
Speaker 4: season second best rate in his career, actually have runs
Speaker 4: that went for ten or more yards, and I think
Speaker 4: he could see he did that despite seeing his most
Speaker 4: loadorboxes since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: The c J.
Speaker 4: Stroud deep ball and all those receivers around him should
Speaker 4: help create running lanes. The issue is, I don't think
Speaker 4: he's gonna get nearly as many targets as he got
Speaker 4: in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: Like c J.
Speaker 4: Stroud is not a type of quarterback, or at least
Speaker 4: he wasn't as a rookie who is looking to dump
Speaker 4: the ball off. He keeps his eyes down feeling than
Speaker 4: wants to throw down field where it's Joe Burrow and
Speaker 4: the Bengals had a lot more designed stuff for mixing,
Speaker 4: So I wouldn't be surprised if he kind of had
Speaker 4: a little bit of a better season than what like
Speaker 4: Devin Singletary gave us down the stretch last year, which
Speaker 4: was really reliable RB two numbers that you could start
Speaker 4: each week, but the upside was capped.
Speaker 1: I mean, any thought Lakwan that maybe they go a
Speaker 1: little bit more run heavy, because I feel like they
Speaker 1: got in a lot of high scoring games, especially kind
Speaker 1: of midway through the season, that forced them to be
Speaker 1: a little pass heavy. Any any concern that maybe they
Speaker 1: decide that they want to try and run the ball
Speaker 1: and be more ball controlled, because I mean they have
Speaker 1: a defensive head coach, a Demigo Ryans. Or is this
Speaker 1: or is it gonna be status quo from last year?
Speaker 3: I think it would be a little bit of last
Speaker 3: year mixed in with Joe Mixon's abilities. I like Florio said,
Speaker 3: he might not see a bunch of targets, but he's
Speaker 3: still one of the best red zone running backs since
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen, like top five and most of the major categories.
Speaker 3: So I think more so you need to have your
Speaker 3: expectations and order win game of Joe Mixon. Like they
Speaker 3: may have a nice balance between pass and run, and
Speaker 3: I think that's where Joe Mixon can have the longevity,
Speaker 3: you know, through the season, being that you know he
Speaker 3: kind of has like a bumpy up and down injury
Speaker 3: history as well. So I think the positive here when
Speaker 3: you're walking away from draft with Mixing as your RB
Speaker 3: two or RB three, wherever the case may be, because
Speaker 3: also I don't trust him as my RB one with
Speaker 3: a new situation in this offense. So I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, the positive here that you're walking away mixing
Speaker 3: as your RB two or whatever the case may be,
Speaker 3: is that he is one of the best, you know,
Speaker 3: red zone goal line scorers out there. So I think
Speaker 3: that you're going to be leaning on a lot of
Speaker 3: touchdowns for Joe Mixon to have some type of high
Speaker 3: ceilings and fantasy outings, you know, week to week.
Speaker 2: I like him at ADP, though, I mean I like
Speaker 2: him where he's perfect. Right now. He's like RB fifteen sixteen,
Speaker 2: depending on where you look.
Speaker 3: It's like the sixth seventh round that he slips to,
Speaker 3: which is insane. It's insane. That's why I'm like, this
Speaker 3: is perfect where he's at.
Speaker 4: I have started to see redraft ADP and like Derek Henry,
Speaker 4: Isaiah Pacheco, Kaien Williams, all these names that we like
Speaker 4: in like the third, fourth round are going second round.
Speaker 4: So I think Joe Mixon might be pulled up like
Speaker 4: a round or two in redraft, But in Beastball, the
Speaker 4: running backs ADP are insane right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're talking about a guy who win, he's
Speaker 1: been healthy in his career, has generally been a top
Speaker 1: ten running back, you know, and I know the situation
Speaker 1: is different, but I also think they brought him in
Speaker 1: for a reason. I mean, they actually went out and
Speaker 1: made a trade for him when it looked like the
Speaker 1: Bengals were just ready to cut him loose. So it
Speaker 1: just feels like the Texans have a plan in place
Speaker 1: for Joe Mixon.
Speaker 3: I feel like with this, I feel like with this
Speaker 3: healthy Texans OH line, that he might be able to
Speaker 3: be more efficient on the yards for carry aspect of things.
Speaker 3: And that's always been his knock, you know, with the Bengals.
Speaker 3: But we've known the Bengals have been working on their
Speaker 3: own line since the beginning of time, like they couldn't
Speaker 3: really get it right, and he's still putting up a
Speaker 3: thousand yards behind like a mid tier type of O line.
Speaker 3: So I think this might be a good little upgrade
Speaker 3: for him, you know, going into Houston.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Uh Lakwana's Dalton Schultz cooked. I don't mean like physically cooked.
Speaker 1: I just mean cooked in terms of, like, are there
Speaker 1: just not gonna be enough targets left for him to
Speaker 1: be anything this year?
Speaker 3: He's sitting in the crock pot right now, getting slow cooked.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's only because you know, the random weeks
Speaker 3: that he finds his self fantasy relevant. I mean Nico Collins,
Speaker 3: you know, he has his little injury pass as well,
Speaker 3: and then you know Tank Dell he's building up some
Speaker 3: type of injury list, but he's always going to be
Speaker 3: on the radar of like just with his side. So
Speaker 3: there could be some random weeks that you know, Dalton
Speaker 3: Schultz might end up relevant. But obviously this will be
Speaker 3: a best ball take. But Redraft, I don't see myself
Speaker 3: targeting him at all.
Speaker 4: Same like, I'd rather he's going right after like Goddar
Speaker 4: and Djoku Frar Mood.
Speaker 2: I'd rather have all of those guys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if I miss out on tight ends like that,
Speaker 4: those are the groups that I'm targeting, and I'm pairing
Speaker 4: them with t J.
Speaker 2: Hopkinson.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 2: I also don't understand why Pat Fryarmooth is so low.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know we talked about the Steelers already,
Speaker 1: we did our AFC North preview, but it just it
Speaker 1: feels like Pat fryar Mooth should be pulled up a
Speaker 1: little bit more. Yeah, yeah, you know, at least two
Speaker 1: rounds in my opinion, you know, like maybe not a
Speaker 1: great quarterback situation, but not horrible and not a ton
Speaker 1: of target competition beyond George Pickens. It just feels like
Speaker 1: we should be giving Pat fryn With some more love.
Speaker 1: But that's another conversation. Let's move to the Indianapolis Colts.
Speaker 1: Last year, Gardner Minshew was their QB one, in large
Speaker 1: part because Anthony Richardson did not hang around that long
Speaker 1: because of an injury two hundred and five points for
Speaker 1: the Mustache QB twenty one. Zach Moss was actually their
Speaker 1: top scoring running back RB thirty one, just the shy
Speaker 1: of one hundred and seventy points for the record. Jonathan
Speaker 1: Taylor was about thirteen points behind Moss and finished as
Speaker 1: the RB thirty three. Michael Pittman was your top scoring
Speaker 1: receiver two hundred and fifty points for him Wide receiver
Speaker 1: thirteen finish and I never would have come up with
Speaker 1: this on my own. Kylon Granson was their top scoring
Speaker 1: tight end, a whopping seventy three points, which made him
Speaker 1: be tight.
Speaker 2: End thirty one.
Speaker 1: I literally was like ou in my head, I'm like,
Speaker 1: who was the Colt's tight end? And look at him
Speaker 1: like Hyland Grandson yep. Wouldn't wouldn't have remembered that on
Speaker 1: my own for sure losses. In the off season, they
Speaker 1: said goodbye to Gardner Minshew, Zach Moss, and Isaiah McKinzie.
Speaker 1: They brought in through free agency Joe Flacco just because
Speaker 1: you want a quarterback who does the same things as
Speaker 1: your starter. Because Anthony Richardson and Trey Sermon the running
Speaker 1: back who just has not been able to hook on
Speaker 1: anywhere in his career, they did draft Ad and I
Speaker 1: Mitchell in the second round and wide receive Anthony Gold
Speaker 1: in the fifth round. First colt off the board Jonathan
Speaker 1: Taylor at eleven point two. So I'm gonna ask these
Speaker 1: questions sort of out of order from the way I
Speaker 1: wrote them because I just mentioned Jonathan Taylor. So I
Speaker 1: will ask you, Florio, is Jonathan Taylor being undervalued at
Speaker 1: RB six. I know he's your guy.
Speaker 4: He is my guy, but no, I do not believe
Speaker 4: he's being undervalued there. I think maybe to me, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: I can see. I think I believe I have a
Speaker 4: ranked is my RB four, So I think you can
Speaker 4: push him up a little bit, but he belongs in
Speaker 4: that same tier. After the Elite three guys with like
Speaker 4: Saquon Barkley, you could put Jamiir Gibbs in there, Kyrien Williams,
Speaker 4: Dereck Henry, et cetera. The second round guys, I think
Speaker 4: that's where he belongs because the upside is sky high.
Speaker 4: We know that we've seen him already finish before as
Speaker 4: the RB one like a cup just a couple of
Speaker 4: years ago.
Speaker 2: Although it was one of the.
Speaker 4: Worst RB one seasons of all time. I still love
Speaker 4: my guy Jonathan Taylor. The upside with him running the
Speaker 4: option with Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 2: Is very high.
Speaker 4: But there's also look, Anthony Richardson's probably gonna, if he
Speaker 4: stays healthy for seventeen games, probably gonna take eight hundred
Speaker 4: rushing yards away, maybe a thousand plus away. He's also
Speaker 4: potentially gonna take a lot of goal line work because
Speaker 4: his head coach was one of the brain trusts that
Speaker 4: developed the tush push in the first place. So yeah, like,
Speaker 4: I think the floor is very safe with Jonathan Taylor,
Speaker 4: but the the ceiling might be a little bit capped
Speaker 4: because of Anthony Richardson. But yeah, I still love him
Speaker 4: where he's going. He's if I take a wide receiver
Speaker 4: in the first round. I don't love any in round
Speaker 4: like middle of round two. I'll take Jonathan Taylor absolutely.
Speaker 3: I mean lak Jonathan Taylor is Saquon Uh Jonathan Taylor.
Speaker 3: And I only say that because Saquon He He's one
Speaker 3: of those guys that I can't put my hat on anymore,
Speaker 3: just with the injury history, you know, Like I love
Speaker 3: the town, I love what he brings to the table
Speaker 3: when healthy, but it's just that he's been injured so
Speaker 3: many times and burned my fantasy team so many times
Speaker 3: to where it's like you just can't anymore, you know,
Speaker 3: like you love him in a new winning situation with Philadelphia,
Speaker 3: but Jonathan Taylor, to me, man is more of the
Speaker 3: safer bet here. It's all about expectations as well with
Speaker 3: Jonathan Taylor, Like you have to go into these drafts
Speaker 3: having clear expectations because, like Florio said, AR fifteen, he's
Speaker 3: gonna be going out there like he's going to be
Speaker 3: taking some of those goal line opportunities, the red zone opportunities,
Speaker 3: the rushing yards, and it's gonna take away a lot
Speaker 3: from Jonathan Taylor's game where he's gonna have to eat
Speaker 3: a different way, you know, Like I really feel as
Speaker 3: though he's still one of those top seven running backs
Speaker 3: in that conversation, but if I could pivot to Jamier Gibbs,
Speaker 3: I honestly would you know, just based on how explosive
Speaker 3: he is?
Speaker 1: Am I crazy because I think I'd rather have Jonathan
Speaker 1: Taylor over Jamier Gibbs for the reason being that I
Speaker 1: think Cayl I think, look the floor. I don't even
Speaker 1: know how, but like, I just think there's so much
Speaker 1: volatility with Jimior Gibbs right where you have to draft him.
Speaker 1: The fact that he's going off as a top four
Speaker 1: running back, like David Montgomery still exists, right, he still
Speaker 1: walks the earth. You look at Indianapolis, there isn't really
Speaker 1: that level of competition for Jonathan Taylor. Like, yeah, Anthony
Speaker 1: Richardson will take some of that goal line work, but
Speaker 1: everywhere else on the field, I mean, are you really
Speaker 1: worried about Trace Sermon? You know, I remember we talked
Speaker 1: ourselves into Evan Hall being the guy last year when
Speaker 1: Taylor was hurt, and then Hall got hurt really early
Speaker 1: in the season. There's just nobody there that's really gonna
Speaker 1: take those opportunities away from Jonathan Taylor.
Speaker 2: From from just a rushing standpoint, and I.
Speaker 1: Look at Philadelphia, there's so many weapons there that's that's
Speaker 1: necessarily gonna take away from Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 2: I would rather have Taylor than both of those guys, right.
Speaker 4: And the thing with Gibbs is we've we've spent a
Speaker 4: lot of time this offseason saying like, we don't love
Speaker 4: taking devon a chan where he goes in like the
Speaker 4: middle to late second round.
Speaker 2: Gibbs and a chance situation are very similar, right they are,
Speaker 2: And AND's got a much better both.
Speaker 4: Explosive, smaller backs with a big back there that that
Speaker 4: is a veteran who could take goal on touches away
Speaker 4: on good like like the sky is the The upside
Speaker 4: is immense for both of them, but there's another back there.
Speaker 2: Stuff like that is.
Speaker 3: So you look at Gibbs where it's a lot higher
Speaker 3: when the David Montgomery came back fifty exactly. So it's like,
Speaker 3: I feel as though you get more of the upside
Speaker 3: of him and chances higher scoring rate with Gibbs in
Speaker 3: that red zone versus h who's not really used in
Speaker 3: the red zone to where you're not going to see
Speaker 3: many touchdowns opportunities That's where I just kind of have
Speaker 3: it flipped.
Speaker 2: But it is similar, ye, very similar.
Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, we all had that that sort
Speaker 1: of look in the mirror moment with Devon ait Cham,
Speaker 1: which is why his ADP came down. But I don't
Speaker 1: feel like we've had a similar moment with Jamiir Gibbs.
Speaker 3: Maybe not, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Y uh, look on what is the ceiling for Anthony Richardson?
Speaker 1: Could he be the QB one this year?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? I mean the dude scored what seven touchdowns in
Speaker 3: like two and a half games. I mean, if he's
Speaker 3: going to be in an end zone more times than not,
Speaker 3: then I don't see why him finishing as the e
Speaker 3: QB one is out of the question, especially in seventeen games.
Speaker 3: I feel like he's a threat with his arm, and
Speaker 3: he's a huge threat on the ground as well. So
Speaker 3: it's like he has that double Tandre here where it's
Speaker 3: like I feel like, Anthony Richardson the ceiling, the sky's
Speaker 3: the limit. It should be QB one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it easily is to me. I think
Speaker 4: the only people in the NFL that match Anthony Richardson's
Speaker 4: up is Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen and they have
Speaker 4: been the top two quarterbacks drafted for years now because
Speaker 4: of what largely because what they give you with their legs,
Speaker 4: and Anthony Richardson I believe could give you. I don't
Speaker 4: think he's going to this year give you fifteen rushing
Speaker 4: touchdowns like Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen did, but he
Speaker 4: can give you double digits like easily. And then I
Speaker 4: know some people might be like, well, is he gonna
Speaker 4: throw for.
Speaker 2: Four thousand yards? He doesn't have to.
Speaker 4: Laayer's Lamar Jackson never has, Kyler Murray never has, Jalen
Speaker 4: Hurts never has. Like when you have such and I
Speaker 4: think Richardson could be like what Hurts is, just with
Speaker 4: even more rushing yards because he's faster and just a
Speaker 4: better natural runner.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it.
Speaker 4: It's like josh Allen Hurts and even that, I'm like,
Speaker 4: Richardson's upside might surpass the two of them as well.
Speaker 2: I love it. Yeah, I mean I think that that
Speaker 2: is within the range of outcomes.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to come up with a number in
Speaker 1: my head for passing yards that would get him there, right, Like,
Speaker 1: let's put him at eight hundred rushing yards right, eight
Speaker 1: hundred rushing yards and ten touchdowns, because those seem realistic
Speaker 1: for Anthony Richardson thirty five hundred passing yards. What twenty
Speaker 1: five touchdowns is that? Does that feel realistic? Is that possible?
Speaker 4: I think last year might be a blessing in disguise
Speaker 4: for him, because obviously we want on the job training,
Speaker 4: but like he kind of got to sit back, work
Speaker 4: with Shane Psychen and just like from a mental standpoint,
Speaker 4: take everything in and that's where people said he needed
Speaker 4: to improve the most. And like the reports this year
Speaker 4: are like, Wow, it's like he's a different person compared
Speaker 4: to how he was breaking down the game last year.
Speaker 4: And sometimes I think just a year kind of with
Speaker 4: no pressure and everything just learning.
Speaker 2: Could be a good thing. Yeah, well hopefully. I mean
Speaker 2: the big thing is him just stay healthy. That's all
Speaker 2: we want. That's it, Just stay healthy for sure. Lakwan.
Speaker 2: Is there another?
Speaker 1: Actually, I asked Floria Flora, is there another pass catcher
Speaker 1: you want after Michael Pittman.
Speaker 2: I love Michael Pittman a lot after him.
Speaker 4: I like the talent that is Donna Mitchell and Josh
Speaker 4: Downs and stuff, but I don't have a like a
Speaker 4: flag plant or anything like that. To me, this seems
Speaker 4: like one of those situations that will learn about it
Speaker 4: as the year progresses, Like Pittman is clearly number one.
Speaker 4: Uh well, we'll kind of learn who steps up the rest.
Speaker 4: And I could see these being names that hit big
Speaker 4: off the waiver wire in like week four or something
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 2: You look on any of these guys do anything for you.
Speaker 3: If my leagues have like deeper bench spots, maybe I'll
Speaker 3: go at their Josh downs because I kind of liked
Speaker 3: way he was pulling out of that slot as a
Speaker 3: guy that could separate. He could possibly be, you know,
Speaker 3: a security blanket for Anthony Richardson, but that will probably
Speaker 3: be it. Like, if I don't have the bench spots,
Speaker 3: I probably won't look to the Colts wide receivers outside
Speaker 3: of Pittman. But uh yeah, there's a lot there's there's
Speaker 3: just not much there.
Speaker 1: I can't do it. I mean, I just I think
Speaker 1: I like there's that that there's potential there. But because
Speaker 1: we're still sort of waiting on Richardson as a passer,
Speaker 1: Like I just don't know how many guys he can
Speaker 1: legitimately support beyond Michael Pittman. That's the thing that's sort
Speaker 1: of keeping me away from him at this point. All Right,
Speaker 1: two teams down, two teams to go. As we continue
Speaker 1: our look at the AFC South. Stick around for more
Speaker 1: the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Jacksonville Jaguars Next up. Had
Speaker 1: a really monumental collapse at the end of last season,
Speaker 1: ended up missing the playoffs all together. Now trying to
Speaker 1: sort of regroup and see what they have in store
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty four. But the last year, Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 1: your top QB was QB thirteen two hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: six point six points. Travis etm the RB three overall
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty two point four points for him.
Speaker 1: Calvin Ridley just shy at two hundred and thirty points.
Speaker 1: He was the wide receiver eighteen. Evan Ingram was the
Speaker 1: tight end two two hundred and thirty point three points.
Speaker 1: In the offseason, they moved on from Calvin Ridley, Za Jones,
Speaker 1: and Jamal Agnew. They acquired Mac Jones in a trade.
Speaker 1: They signed Gabe Davis, Devin Duvernet, and.
Speaker 2: Sided in Josiah the Guara.
Speaker 1: And they drafted Brian Thomas in the first round and
Speaker 1: running back Kilan Robinson in the fifth, Travis etn is
Speaker 1: your first Jaguar off the board at.
Speaker 2: Eighteen point four.
Speaker 1: So Lakwan, is Trevor Lawrence a value at QB fourteen
Speaker 1: this year?
Speaker 3: I don't know about value. I mean that's kind of
Speaker 3: where he should be going to be honest. I mean
Speaker 3: we haven't really seen this breakout season from Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 3: and there's always been I don't want to say excuses,
Speaker 3: but there's been something keeping him from hitting his full
Speaker 3: fantasy potential. But you know, if you're in the business
Speaker 3: of waiting for you know, double digit rounds for your
Speaker 3: QB one, eh, I guess you could take a shot
Speaker 3: and you better have your rest of your positions in
Speaker 3: solid and stone, Like this doesn't mean drafting a bunch
Speaker 3: of rookies before you get t law or drafting z A.
Speaker 3: Flowers or the Gabe Davises of the world. You know,
Speaker 3: like your roster can't look like that. And you're waiting
Speaker 3: for Lawrence like he's one of those guys that you
Speaker 3: just need to understand, like where his ceiling is and
Speaker 3: kind of where his floor is. It's not gonna be
Speaker 3: something you want for X amount of weeks.
Speaker 2: Mean Flora.
Speaker 1: Is this the year? Is this a make or break
Speaker 1: year at least for fantasy for Trevor Lawrence And I
Speaker 1: only got paid by the Jaguars, so they obviously believe
Speaker 1: in him. But for fantasy, is this the year we
Speaker 1: either figure out is he actually good or is he
Speaker 1: just kind of mid?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think last year was kind of because
Speaker 4: like his second year, we were like, all right, we're
Speaker 4: cleaning the slate. His rookie year didn't count. He put
Speaker 4: up a really good number two. Then they brought in
Speaker 4: Calvin Ridley. We were all super bullish, like, look at
Speaker 4: all the weapons he has, all this stuff, and yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean I know he was battling like four different
Speaker 4: injuries last season, So yeah, maybe if he if he
Speaker 4: looks healthy again this year and he puts up better numbers,
Speaker 4: I'll change my tune. But he's yet to average eighteen
Speaker 4: Fantasy points per game. And the frustrating part is he's
Speaker 4: doing it doing what I thought would kind of elevate
Speaker 4: him in fantasy, which is being a really good, good
Speaker 4: runner near the goal line. He's got four rushing or
Speaker 4: more rushing touchdowns in two straight years. He had a
Speaker 4: career high in rushing yards last season and it still
Speaker 4: didn't translate to a huge success. And he's really as
Speaker 4: struggled as a passer in the red zone in particular.
Speaker 4: So if you're not racking up touchdowns, and it's gonna
Speaker 4: be hard for you. And that's the thing. Like his
Speaker 4: career touchdown rate is three point three percent. It dipped
Speaker 4: last year after a solid show his second year. So like,
Speaker 4: I think QB fourteen is appropriately priced, but he's not
Speaker 4: someone Maybe it's because I've been burned like three years
Speaker 4: in a row now, but he's not someone that I
Speaker 4: find myself like bullishly targeting, Like I'd much rather wait
Speaker 4: around to get Jared Goff.
Speaker 1: I mean, no more than twenty five touchdowns in any
Speaker 1: given season. He's had double digit interceptions in two of
Speaker 1: his three seasons. You know, he's gone back to back
Speaker 1: years over four thousand yards. But it just there's nothing
Speaker 1: about it that suggests he's ready to somehow take this
Speaker 1: big leap. You can almost argue that I don't know
Speaker 1: if if his wide receiver group got any better from
Speaker 1: last year, losing Calvin Ridley and you know, adding Gabe Davis.
Speaker 1: We'll see if Brian what Brian Thomas turns into if
Speaker 1: he really is that deep threat, it could be a
Speaker 1: big play guy in the offense.
Speaker 2: But there's just there's too much unknown for me to
Speaker 2: get excited about it.
Speaker 1: I keep looking at Trevor Lawrence and trying to tell
Speaker 1: myself a story of how I can sort of plug
Speaker 1: him into a lineup, and I don't really have a
Speaker 1: good story about it right now. So Evan Ingram was
Speaker 1: a good story last year, finishes the tied end two
Speaker 1: behind Sam Laporta.
Speaker 2: Lakwan.
Speaker 1: Any confidence that he can repeat what he did last season.
Speaker 3: Uh maybe, I mean there there's probably some injuries that
Speaker 3: were likely to happen. I don't want to say it's
Speaker 3: a definite thing, but I feel like it's going to
Speaker 3: be hard for him to kind of scratch the surface
Speaker 3: for like four to five targets per game with the
Speaker 3: new weapons that they have on a perimeter. So I
Speaker 3: think a lot of people need to have their expectations.
Speaker 3: I keep saying expectations because it's very important going into
Speaker 3: these drafts with the tight end like Evan Ingram, who's
Speaker 3: in a crowded room right now, so it's gonna be
Speaker 3: hard for him to even try to do what he
Speaker 3: did last year because a lot of that was based
Speaker 3: on injuries.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean a lot of based on injuries.
Speaker 1: And I know Florida we talked about how so much
Speaker 1: of it was just short passing on a team that
Speaker 1: I think wants to be more vertical, more downfield. I
Speaker 1: know that he said himself, Ingram did that he wants
Speaker 1: to be more of a vertical option in the passing game.
Speaker 1: I mean, if he's not a vertical option, does does that?
Speaker 1: Let's put it this way. Last year he was a
Speaker 1: tight end too, right. I feel like the range of
Speaker 1: outcomes could be that he's the top three tight end again,
Speaker 1: or you know, he could be outside the top twelve.
Speaker 2: I mean, is there do you have any feeling one
Speaker 2: way or another on that.
Speaker 4: I think he'll probably finish more in the like eight
Speaker 4: to twelve range at the tight end position. One hundred
Speaker 4: and fourteen catches last year's second most ever by a
Speaker 4: tight end, but he's the only tight end in NFL
Speaker 4: history to have one hundred and more catches and not
Speaker 4: get eight thousand yards.
Speaker 2: So the efficiency is off the charts bad.
Speaker 4: If that volume decreases back to what it like, he
Speaker 4: could lose thirty targets and it would still be a
Speaker 4: great year for him career wise, but that's going to
Speaker 4: really hurt, and I think it's possible he could lose
Speaker 4: that volume because last year with and without Christian Kirk
Speaker 4: was night and day. He averaged over ten targets per game,
Speaker 4: nineteen over nineteen fantasy points per game. Without Christian Watson
Speaker 4: it was eleven point six per game, with Watson at
Speaker 4: just seven point six targets per game, and he did
Speaker 4: not score a touchdown while Christian Kirk. I keep saying
Speaker 4: Chrisian Watson, I mean Christian Kirk. He did not score
Speaker 4: a touchdown while Kirk was out on the field last year,
Speaker 4: So that's all very problematic. And then I know they
Speaker 4: lost Calvin Ridley, but they did bring in two targets
Speaker 4: that you would assume are better field stretchers in Gabe
Speaker 4: Davis and Brian Thomas. So maybe he gets a couple
Speaker 4: of more downfield targets, but I don't think it's going
Speaker 4: to be a routine thing, and I think a decrease.
Speaker 2: In volume is coming as well. So, I mean, you
Speaker 2: mentioned Christian Kirk, Lakwan is there.
Speaker 1: Do you have confidence in any of these receivers after him,
Speaker 1: I guess maybe Brian Thomas might be the leading candidate there.
Speaker 3: Uh, Brian Thomas, I've grabbed in a few basketball leagues,
Speaker 3: but redraft, I don't think I'm going to be touching
Speaker 3: him unless I got deeper bench spots. But I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, it's either Kirk or nothing for me. Like
Speaker 3: he's been my guy for a couple of years now,
Speaker 3: and I think he's been old reliable. I mean, if
Speaker 3: you want a safe floor, it's kind of like go
Speaker 3: to the number one wide receiver on the team. That's
Speaker 3: kind of at a discount. In my opinion, I think
Speaker 3: he can stay healthy this year and kind of break
Speaker 3: his ADP or smash his ADP whatever the kids are
Speaker 3: saying these days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean like I can see myself maybe in
Speaker 1: some leagues taking a late shot on Thomas, But it
Speaker 1: very much is sort of a depth ad until we
Speaker 1: see what he is. But really it's just sort of
Speaker 1: Christian Kirk or kind of I don't say nothing, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's kind of Christian Kirk.
Speaker 2: Maybe Evan Ingram in the right situation.
Speaker 1: I just don't I'm just not sold on any of
Speaker 1: the these pass catchers there in Jacksonville right now. Finishing
Speaker 1: up with the Tennessee Titans. Last year, Will Levis was
Speaker 1: their top scoring quarterback. They went through a number of
Speaker 1: different guys. It was Ryan Tannehill at the start of
Speaker 1: the year, then Levis took over late one hundred and
Speaker 1: six point one points. He was QB thirty three, Dereck
Speaker 1: Henry the RB eight overall two hundred and forty six
Speaker 1: point seven points for him, DeAndre Hopkins two hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty three point six points, wide receiver twenty two, and
Speaker 1: Chig o'conquote your top scoring tight end in Tennessee. He
Speaker 1: was the tight end twenty one, one hundred and thirteen
Speaker 1: point four points. The offseason, Ryan Tannehill said goodbye. Still
Speaker 1: a free agent right now is Tannehill. Dereck Henry obviously
Speaker 1: went to Baltimore, and wide receiver Chris Moore also left Tennessee.
Speaker 1: They add Galvin Ridley in free agency along with Tony
Speaker 1: Pollard and Tyler Boyd. Also signed Mason Rudolph and spent
Speaker 1: a sixth round pick on wide receiver Jakwan Jackson. First
Speaker 1: off the board, Covin Ridley seventy five point eight, which
Speaker 1: tells you a lot about how people feel about this
Speaker 1: Titans off. So Floria, I'll start with you choose your fighter,
Speaker 1: Tony Pollard or Taija.
Speaker 4: Spears, Uh, whichever one is cheapest, like like which right
Speaker 4: now is Spears, but it's not by much. And I'll
Speaker 4: tell you straight out, I have a couple of like
Speaker 4: dabbles of Spears and of Pollard, but largely I'm not
Speaker 4: going after this backfield because they are almost identical players.
Speaker 4: And Spears last year was the more explosive runner, so
Speaker 4: I'll side with him because I tend to go with
Speaker 4: the explosive side of things when it's uh, you're competing
Speaker 4: for touches because you could do.
Speaker 2: More on limited volume.
Speaker 4: But Tony Pollard was the better receiver at least statistically
Speaker 4: like metric wise, and they knew what they had in
Speaker 4: Taja Spears and still went chose to go out and
Speaker 4: literally the moment free agency started, pay Tony Pollard.
Speaker 2: And that is something that I just can't overlook. Like
Speaker 2: everyone's like, oh, they're the same thing.
Speaker 4: And Spears is the younger, more explosive version, so he's
Speaker 4: gonna be way better and I get that thinking, but like,
Speaker 4: Tony Pollard is not.
Speaker 2: Just simply gonna go away.
Speaker 4: And if one person does take over the line's share
Speaker 4: of work, I think it'll be Pollard, not Spears, because
Speaker 4: I just don't see Pollard going away after they paid him.
Speaker 2: Which one do you like?
Speaker 3: Ok Uh, If it's Spears, it will have to be
Speaker 3: my RB three four. But I'm fading Pollard just based
Speaker 3: on the fear that you know, I don't think Spears
Speaker 3: takeover will be right out the gate. I don't want
Speaker 3: to say that, like it'll eventually grow to a point
Speaker 3: where like the touches are getting split to where it'll
Speaker 3: be more annoying. So I'll be more annoyed of taking
Speaker 3: Tony Pollard as my RB one RB two, however you
Speaker 3: want to draft it, because it'll kind of be a
Speaker 3: slow burned rental here getting Tony Pollard. So I would
Speaker 3: go with Spears, being that is the cheaper option.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm going with Spears because I like Spears
Speaker 1: last year, and you know, even frustrating as it is
Speaker 1: to see a guy with the exact same skill set
Speaker 1: come in the fact that he is slightly cheaper in drafts,
Speaker 1: I think still makes me in on him.
Speaker 2: But I I they do envision a scenario where maybe.
Speaker 1: Tony Pollard wasn't fully healthy last year and that had
Speaker 1: a lot to do with why he was sort of disappointing.
Speaker 2: And if he is fully healthy, will we see him
Speaker 2: take off?
Speaker 1: Because remember a couple years ago when he was still
Speaker 1: the number two to Ezekiel Elliott. There, you know there
Speaker 1: was a reason we were all rejoicing when Zeke left Dallas,
Speaker 1: right where like this opens things up for Pollard.
Speaker 2: He's gonna be He's gonna be huge. It just never
Speaker 2: quite happened.
Speaker 1: But what if he just wasn't healthy and now that
Speaker 1: he's fully healthy, he can kind of get back to
Speaker 1: being that explosive guy again.
Speaker 2: I think that's possible.
Speaker 4: To your point, I do think that is something that
Speaker 4: we as a fantasy community don't do a good enough
Speaker 4: Like we just assume, oh, player got hurt last year,
Speaker 4: he's healthy this year, and like Tony Pollard had a
Speaker 4: severe injury late in like January.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so playoff in the playoff game. I think, Yeah,
Speaker 2: he did.
Speaker 4: Show signs of life down the stretch from like weeks
Speaker 4: eleven on last year, so that could be the case.
Speaker 4: I continue with my point though, since this backfield started,
Speaker 4: I think this is this year's version of.
Speaker 3: The Steelers nice?
Speaker 4: Yeah, but like they're both RB low end RB two's
Speaker 4: maybe RBS explosive.
Speaker 2: That's complicated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that's very possible. The other
Speaker 1: part of this is, like the Titans could be bad
Speaker 1: this year. How much is that going to impact things?
Speaker 1: With two running backs who can do Like it's not
Speaker 1: like you're like, oh, yeah, they're gonna be bad to
Speaker 1: throw the ball so that means spears or like it
Speaker 1: could be either one of them, right, Like, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be a a big headache to figure.
Speaker 3: Out why did they do that to themselves? I could
Speaker 3: have signed a big back and could have signed JK. Dobbins.
Speaker 3: They could have did a whole bunch of other things
Speaker 3: to where this would not be an issue.
Speaker 1: Not being they could have made a trade for you
Speaker 1: can still make a trade for Damian Pierce, I guess,
Speaker 1: but I could.
Speaker 2: That would that would make things even? That would just
Speaker 2: be that would be awful right now?
Speaker 1: So I had two other questions here about the Titans,
Speaker 1: but it feels like we sort of answered. I mean,
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins dealing with a knee injury, Uh you right now?
Speaker 1: I know we both we all three kind of were like, eh,
Speaker 1: maybe stay away. We're all sort of into Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 1: We're all kind of into Will Levis, right is every
Speaker 1: are you guys on the Will Levis hype train right now?
Speaker 3: Yes, sir Cho Choco chokes.
Speaker 4: Just draft Ridley and draft Levis and uh, look it
Speaker 4: might I we it's not gonna be pretty. You're not
Speaker 4: gonna want to watch the Titans games, but you're gonna
Speaker 4: want to see the stats after. I think like three
Speaker 4: corners could be disgustingly bad. And then you might get
Speaker 4: like to hail Mary's to Calvin Ridley and you're like, oh,
Speaker 4: this was a great fantasy day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a rough way to live. I'm still it's
Speaker 1: my favorite way to live. That is a rough, rough
Speaker 1: way for Sunday man. Yeah, I don't know, just one
Speaker 1: big play hunting what is that? There's nothing, there's some
Speaker 1: So it's so unremarkable right now the Texans or the
Speaker 1: Titans offense, right I mean, we we think Will Levis
Speaker 1: might develop into something. And DeAndre Hopkins is aging and
Speaker 1: beat up. Calvin Ridley's coming off kind of a mess
Speaker 1: season in Jacksonville. They've got two running backs that are
Speaker 1: kind of the same. I mean, the biggest thing to
Speaker 1: talk about with the Titans is that their running back
Speaker 1: is in Baltimore. Now, other than that, it's just I
Speaker 1: don't know, is there anything else that stands out about
Speaker 1: this team to either of you?
Speaker 4: Look good and fun in fantasy are two very The
Speaker 4: Chiefs were good last year, they were not fun. The
Speaker 4: Titans are. I believe are gonna be fun for me.
Speaker 4: Like I think we're gonna get a lot of throwing
Speaker 4: the ball. I think we're gonna get a lot of yolo.
Speaker 2: But there's a reason why Jameis Winston is one of
Speaker 2: my favorite players in the NFL. He's not great, but
Speaker 2: he's never boring. And that's what I think Will Levis
Speaker 2: and the Titans will be. All right, that's fair, that's that's.
Speaker 3: A lot of big throws that I'm expecting, Like it's
Speaker 3: gonna have you on the edge of you see, and
Speaker 3: like is he going to catch it? Like that's how
Speaker 3: long the ball is kind of hang in the air,
Speaker 3: like I'm ready for it?
Speaker 2: All right. I guess that's sort of there's something. There's
Speaker 2: something there to watch, Like I'd much rather be the
Speaker 2: Titans than say, who's like a bad boring team, the Saints. Yeah,
Speaker 2: oh my god. This the worst place you could be
Speaker 2: is being like seven to nine every year.
Speaker 3: Like, how have we not talked about chrys adp yet?
Speaker 2: I am. We'll get there. Here's it. We'll get there
Speaker 2: on on Wednesday, since we're.
Speaker 3: Gonna do the NFC South, I'm coming in with avent.
Speaker 2: So everybody lock in.
Speaker 1: Uh the pun is gonna be heated talking about talking
Speaker 1: about Chris olaves A DP, and he probably will be
Speaker 1: on a lack of sleep, so he'll just come off
Speaker 1: of a morning very very He's gonna be grouchy and
Speaker 1: tired and have a bone to pick with the Chris
Speaker 1: olaves A DP. He's got a lot of problems with
Speaker 1: you people. He's gonna let you hear about it. Uh
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean that's pretty much wrap up on
Speaker 1: the the a f C South. We'll have another show
Speaker 1: for you on Wednesday, we talk about the NFC South
Speaker 1: and uh, still doing the cheat sheet on Thursday. Not
Speaker 1: too many more editions of the cheat sheet left as
Speaker 1: we get closer to the start of the regular season,
Speaker 1: so we got a couple left.
Speaker 2: I think we settled on watching the Warriors.
Speaker 1: This is like a little house keeping, letting you guys
Speaker 1: know so we can rightly.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 4: I had a mini moment of panic last night when
Speaker 4: I was like, I don't remember what movie it is.
Speaker 2: I gotta watch it. I've seen this movie literally yearly
Speaker 2: since I'm twelve. So there it is.
Speaker 1: So Florio is going to be locked in, so Lakwan
Speaker 1: you get to watch the Warriors for the first time.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that on Thursday on the cheat sheet there.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, that'll do it for this edition of
Speaker 1: the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. They happy, saving healthy, do good,
Speaker 1: and live well. Enjoy the days. Everybody will talk to
Speaker 1: you again on Wednesday.