Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: your weekly source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation,
Speaker 1: and whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show.
Speaker 1: Now here's your host, Paul. Hello, and welcome Fantasy Football Weekly.
Speaker 1: I am Paul Chargy In. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Less than one week until the NFL Draft. Such a
Speaker 1: fun time of year, not just for fantasy players but
Speaker 1: NFL fans. You get to unwrap all your shining new presence.
Speaker 1: You get speculate on everything that your team's, your favorite
Speaker 1: teams are gonna do, where your favorite players are gonna land.
Speaker 1: And to that end, we've already broken down in previous
Speaker 1: shows quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and today we'll do
Speaker 1: tight ends and it will be shorter because there's only
Speaker 1: a handful of relevant tight end in this year's draft.
Speaker 1: Next week I'll mention you know we record on Fridays,
Speaker 1: as you may be aware, and so we will. We'll
Speaker 1: go through sort of quick twitch reactions to the first round.
Speaker 1: Now I say we normally my co host Brian Johnson
Speaker 1: is here. He is He's off today dealing with UM,
Speaker 1: some dog related issues, get well, Stella, and so just
Speaker 1: me today. I hope you like the sound of my voice.
Speaker 1: Let's begin by looking at teams that have an immediate
Speaker 1: need at tight end, and there are a surprising number
Speaker 1: of teams that could have a tight end drafted tight
Speaker 1: end come in and make an immediate impact. The Jets
Speaker 1: if the assuming they're ready to move on from the
Speaker 1: Chris Herndon failed experiment, Cincinnati just has c jo Zuma Houston,
Speaker 1: Jordan Aikins, the guy who looks the part, but the
Speaker 1: production just hasn't been there. For Jacksonville, the aged and
Speaker 1: ever forever broken down Tyler effort is there. That's it.
Speaker 1: Tennessee is Anthony Firkster, who who looked pretty good after
Speaker 1: John H. John who left and UM and maybe a
Speaker 1: good enough contributor that he doesn't lose his job. But
Speaker 1: that's probably a spot where they'd like to get some reinforcement.
Speaker 1: The Chargers have Jared Cook, who's bounced around the league
Speaker 1: a lot and has generally underperformed where he's been. Caroline
Speaker 1: is Dan Arnold. Now, if Brian Johnson were here, he
Speaker 1: would tell you that Carolina has got all the tight
Speaker 1: end they need, and Dan Arnold maybe he'll eventually get
Speaker 1: proven right on his Dan Arnold takes New Orleans has
Speaker 1: Adam Troutman and Nick Vannette ah and Arizona has Max Williams,
Speaker 1: and I'll mention Seattle has got will dis Lee. I
Speaker 1: think these are all teams that are in play for
Speaker 1: the tight end position. As you probably already know, by far,
Speaker 1: the best tight end in the draft, and maybe the
Speaker 1: best player in the draft, is Kyle Pitts from Florida.
Speaker 1: His projection is the top end of the first round.
Speaker 1: And if I had to pick one person from this
Speaker 1: year's rookie class to go to the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: it would be Kyle Pitts. He's six foot six, two
Speaker 1: forty five pounds. He's he's a power forward. Now he's
Speaker 1: a little bit thinner than Travis Kelsey, which is why
Speaker 1: I think the NFL comparable and I see I see
Speaker 1: NFL comparable to him with Kelsey a lot. I think
Speaker 1: it's closer to Darren Waller myself because of that size.
Speaker 1: But he's only twenty years old, so Kyle Pitts can
Speaker 1: fill out his frame at the NFL level, which will
Speaker 1: help his blocking as well, and if he does fill
Speaker 1: out that frame, maybe he does become Travis Kelsey. He
Speaker 1: has had an insane level of production. That Florida offense
Speaker 1: really ran through him. And get this, Kyle pitts averaged
Speaker 1: eighteen yards per catch for a tight end. I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing for any position, but tight end. That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: He is the rare tight end who can get separation
Speaker 1: against cornerbacks. His footwork and his route running are really
Speaker 1: at wide receiver levels. And then because he's six ft six,
Speaker 1: he's got the huge wingspan, just the massive catch radius
Speaker 1: and then excellent body control with the ball in the air.
Speaker 1: Kyle Pitt's head zero drops last year none and then
Speaker 1: not that not that he needed this, but he ran
Speaker 1: a four four four at his pro day, which ranks
Speaker 1: him in the ninety nine percentile among tight ends. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: There's so few downsides, two pits. I'll mention just a
Speaker 1: couple of small things. He doesn't always play super fast
Speaker 1: and mentioned his four four four, but doesn't always play
Speaker 1: that fast, and his blocking is not elite at this level.
Speaker 1: It's not terrible, but the production production should get better
Speaker 1: as a blocker as again as he fills out his
Speaker 1: frame as he gets a little bit older. Uh, definitely
Speaker 1: in play as early as Cincinnati at pick five, and
Speaker 1: if p It doesn't go there, I can't see him
Speaker 1: getting by Carolina at pick eight. And the absolute lowest
Speaker 1: would be the Charges as as they look to replace
Speaker 1: Hunter Henry at pick thirteen. But again, I think Cincinnati
Speaker 1: at five makes a ton of sense that I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be at all surprised to see him go there. But
Speaker 1: he is not the only. Although this is not a
Speaker 1: great draft for tight ends outside of Pits, he's not
Speaker 1: the only fantasy relevant tight end that we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about as we had had into the draft. Pat
Speaker 1: friar Muth is the pen State kid that is projected
Speaker 1: to go in the second round. He's about the twentie
Speaker 1: tight end to be called baby Gronk, but it's more
Speaker 1: earned here than most. He's incredibly physical. Friar Muth just
Speaker 1: punishes potential tacklers very tough tackle. He's got good ball
Speaker 1: tracking skills, which is common among basketball players turned tight
Speaker 1: ends like he is. He got open a ton at
Speaker 1: Penn State and was an excellent blocker, and that offense
Speaker 1: largely ran through him now. He does not have high
Speaker 1: end tight end speed and he will get caught from behind.
Speaker 1: He did drop some passes and this past season. He
Speaker 1: only played four games this year and then suffered his
Speaker 1: shoulder injury and opted out of the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: Friarmouth currently projects into the second half of the second round,
Speaker 1: but that's actually a really good landing spot for some
Speaker 1: good offenses. He could go to the Saints, the Titans,
Speaker 1: the Seahawks, and Friarmouth would be very interesting on any
Speaker 1: of those three teams end of the second round. Now,
Speaker 1: the next the next tight end that's expected to be
Speaker 1: drafted is not a fantasy notable tight end because he's
Speaker 1: a run blocker. His name is Tommy Trouble from Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: We're not going to spend a lot of time talking
Speaker 1: about him because he's not very fantasy relevant unless something
Speaker 1: really changes here. He's Pro Football Focus is top ranked
Speaker 1: run blocking tight end this year. Um he's two hundred
Speaker 1: forty one pounds. Expect him to fill into that more
Speaker 1: excellent speed at the second level and terrific vision and
Speaker 1: instincts to find the next man to block. But he
Speaker 1: was not involved in the passing game. And so that's
Speaker 1: all the more time we're gonna spend on Tommy Trouble.
Speaker 1: Next up um is a guy named Hunter Long who
Speaker 1: played at BC. He was the focal point of the
Speaker 1: BC offense. He's a do it all tight end with
Speaker 1: no real holes in his game, including blocking. He's pretty physical,
Speaker 1: he welcomes contact, he's got above average speed, he's got
Speaker 1: good hands. You can see him do some good stuff
Speaker 1: after the past. But he just looks to me to
Speaker 1: be very average or above average and and everything. And
Speaker 1: I didn't see anything that looks that special for Hunter Long,
Speaker 1: didn't get a ton of separation, looks like an average athlete.
Speaker 1: I think he's just kind of a guy unless something changes.
Speaker 1: So he did not do a ton for me. The
Speaker 1: fifth and final rookie tight end I want to talk
Speaker 1: to you about is Breven Jordan's. He's more interest now
Speaker 1: he projects into the sixth round. So here we are
Speaker 1: the top five tight ends. There might only be five
Speaker 1: tight ends drafted through six rounds. It's that week of
Speaker 1: a position. But from a fantasy standpoint, Brevin Jordan's interesting
Speaker 1: because he really is a true pass catching tight end
Speaker 1: only and because of that, he's much more fantasy relevance
Speaker 1: than than some of the other guys that may get
Speaker 1: drafted around him or after him. Um problem is, he's
Speaker 1: a real project who's probably gonna need two to three
Speaker 1: years to develop if if the development happens at all,
Speaker 1: and usually in the sixth round. You don't get a
Speaker 1: lot of development from tight ends. He's um. He rarely
Speaker 1: was asked to block at Miami. They just threw to
Speaker 1: him a ton. He's one of the fastest tight ends
Speaker 1: in the draft. He ran a four six at his
Speaker 1: pro day and and that helps him get a lot
Speaker 1: of separation from lineman and really looks like a running
Speaker 1: back after the catch. Just a very fluid, natural, big
Speaker 1: bodied runner who broke twenty one tackles in his three
Speaker 1: years at Miami. Again, that's Brev and Jordan's um downsides. Again,
Speaker 1: rarely asked to block, He's a little on the smaller side,
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily win a lot of contested catches, and that's
Speaker 1: again a product probably of him being smaller. So he's
Speaker 1: somebody could look at if you're in a very deep
Speaker 1: dynasty empire league. Brev and Jordan, depending on where he falls,
Speaker 1: could end up being helpful. There you go, the five
Speaker 1: rookie tight ends worthy of note. When we come back,
Speaker 1: I just want to hit on some of the news
Speaker 1: from around the NFL. Over the past couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Because we've been so focused on tight ends, we really
Speaker 1: haven't hit on some of the Albeit I'll admit it,
Speaker 1: it's just modest news, but when we come back, some
Speaker 1: of the news from around the NFL. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul charging with you again. Brian Johnson
Speaker 1: off this week, expect him back next week. Some news
Speaker 1: from around the league. Julian Edelman retired after eleven seasons.
Speaker 1: His story is really pretty incredible. You look at you know,
Speaker 1: where he came from, was not expected to be a
Speaker 1: wide receiver, and and um, the all the production that
Speaker 1: he ultimately ended up having and had to really carry
Speaker 1: a lot of the receiving load for Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: the Patriots offense, and many many times, um notable, I
Speaker 1: think mostly for Julian Edelman. And by the way, you know,
Speaker 1: he was one of those guys nobody ever seemed to
Speaker 1: like be happy to pick up Julian Edelman. You drafted
Speaker 1: him as the twenty five wide receiver off the board,
Speaker 1: but darn if that guy did not, especially in PPR leagues,
Speaker 1: end up finishing his like wide receiver fifteen seventeen. Most
Speaker 1: of the time you got returned on on whatever draft
Speaker 1: spot you took Julian Edelman in. Now, the Patriots receiver
Speaker 1: group without Edelman is bad. Nelson Agilare surprised us last
Speaker 1: year with a shock came out of productivity. I'm not
Speaker 1: nearly as confident in this offense. There's Jacobe Meyers, who
Speaker 1: flashed a little bit last year, and then they gave
Speaker 1: Kendrick Borne an absurdly big deal, which is a bad decision,
Speaker 1: I think. And those are your Patriots starters right now.
Speaker 1: We don't really know the quarterback is going to be yet.
Speaker 1: I guess it could be Cam Newton, and I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of Cam Newton apologists that have will
Speaker 1: give you every excuse in the book for last year's
Speaker 1: terrible play and eight touchdowns in fifteen games played. But
Speaker 1: if it's Cam Newton, I don't think any of these
Speaker 1: guys are going to be reliable fantasy producers. Next, James
Speaker 1: Connor signs with Arizona. That reunites him with Cardinals running
Speaker 1: back coach James Saxon, who worked as the Steelers running
Speaker 1: back coach for or five years now. This does muddy
Speaker 1: the waters for Chase Edmonds, who already suffered because they
Speaker 1: never gave him the ball to stripe, and Connor could
Speaker 1: end up getting that work, and Connor could end up
Speaker 1: getting some, you know, just regular rotational work. Anyway, I
Speaker 1: thought kind of terrible last season, and I'm not convinced
Speaker 1: that he brings a ton to the table here. So
Speaker 1: Connor honestly doesn't worry me that much. But I do
Speaker 1: have concerned that Cliff Kingsbury is going to do a
Speaker 1: lot of what he did last year, and that's used
Speaker 1: two guys pretty evenly, and that that would be unfortunate
Speaker 1: for those hoping for better things ahead for Chase Edmonds.
Speaker 1: It's um, it's a it's a tricky spot for Edmonds
Speaker 1: right now and there's a lot of risk and I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised to see them the Cardinals take a
Speaker 1: running back in the draft. Last note from around the NFL, Jooe.
Speaker 1: Bernard signed with Tampa and that clouds an already murky
Speaker 1: backfield road. A wire notes that no backfield at a
Speaker 1: higher drop rate than Tampa's last year, and they had
Speaker 1: a fourteen and a half percent drop rate, which is
Speaker 1: double the league's average drop rate of six point six percent.
Speaker 1: So Giovanni Bernard brings good hands and I think he
Speaker 1: really walks into the Lashawn McCoy rolled that offense from
Speaker 1: last year and McCoy was not a fantasy viable player
Speaker 1: and I don't think Bernard will be either. And you
Speaker 1: have the constant frustrations that come with a Bruce arians back.
Speaker 1: You never know who's going to be the lead back,
Speaker 1: the guy that's gonna get paid in any given game.
Speaker 1: That's going to be very frustrating. Um Leonard for Nett,
Speaker 1: obviously there Ronald Jones returns. Those guys had plenty of drops.
Speaker 1: Keyshawn Vaughn did nothing last year. Bernard also a good
Speaker 1: pass blocker. I just think he's gonna be in a
Speaker 1: lot and involved in the passing game. But it would
Speaker 1: be fascinating if he turns into James White, and that
Speaker 1: would be a best case scenario, is that Brady starts
Speaker 1: utilizing Geo Bernard like he did James White, and that
Speaker 1: would be the that would be the best possible outcome. Now,
Speaker 1: no back was used that way last year, but maybe
Speaker 1: he just didn't have it back that was good enough
Speaker 1: to be used that way last year, and perhaps Geo
Speaker 1: Bernard is going to be that guy. That would be
Speaker 1: That would be pretty garden awesome, honestly, and that would
Speaker 1: be the best case scenario again for Geo Bernard. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to a shorter than normal version of
Speaker 1: Fantasy Football Weekly. Brian Johnson back next week. Will recap
Speaker 1: the first round next week. Can't wait for the draft.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, everybody, Bye bye. Fantasy Football Weekly is
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