Speaker 1: Wow, Hey everybody, It's Tuesday, February fourth, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. We're big DIY
Speaker 1: guys to be your rand MG Marcus grand Joy by
Speaker 1: Michael F. Florio and Lakwan Jones. Are you guys? I mean
Speaker 1: I say this. I basically put these things in there
Speaker 1: because it applies to how I'm feeling in any given moment.
Speaker 1: I don't know if either of you are actually DIY guys.
Speaker 2: I love it, No, why not.
Speaker 3: I'll do some stuff myself, but like once you get
Speaker 3: past a certain point, I'm like, yeah, I can't do this.
Speaker 1: I replaced the front door handle this morning. I'm like, hoday, yeah.
Speaker 2: I've done that a couple of times. Nice. Nice. I
Speaker 2: replaced the belt on my washer at my old house, so.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah see yeah see I'm like, yeah, maybe I
Speaker 3: could change a door handle a little quons Like I
Speaker 3: just take a a my dryer and putting back together,
Speaker 3: like it's like it's nothing.
Speaker 2: As a mechanic, I know labor and how much they upcharge,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I'm not paying this dude one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty bucks to come to my house or something
Speaker 2: that I could just look up on YouTube and do myself.
Speaker 2: It's all nuts and bolts at the end of the day.
Speaker 2: That's one of the greatest things I learned as a
Speaker 2: mechanic in my early years. It's like it's all nuhing
Speaker 2: bolts at the end of the day. It's all ball bearings,
Speaker 2: all ball bearings.
Speaker 1: These days. Anyway, we're still doing our exit interviews. We've
Speaker 1: got picks twenty five through twenty eight, and I mean
Speaker 1: we're actually finish about this week. No surprise there if
Speaker 1: you've been following along. But also a little bit of
Speaker 1: trade news, not necessarily NFL trade news, but a trade
Speaker 1: that certainly shook all of the sports world over the weekend.
Speaker 1: We'll dive into that from an NFL perspective, but I
Speaker 1: want to start with some news headlines because a lot
Speaker 1: going on news wise, and I guess we have to
Speaker 1: start with the moment of silence for the Kwan in
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Ran Cooper Cup announced on social media
Speaker 1: on Monday that the Rams have informed him that they
Speaker 1: are seeking to trade him immediately. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: a guy who took the league by storm after getting
Speaker 1: drafted in twenty seventeen out of Eastern Washington. He's a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl MVP. He's a wide receiving triple crown winner. Lakwan,
Speaker 1: how much in your feelings are you right now? And
Speaker 1: if you can get out of your feelings? What does
Speaker 1: this mean from an actual football perspective.
Speaker 2: I'm in the fields last night. You know, I started
Speaker 2: watching all his highlights from twenty seventeen all the way
Speaker 2: up into this season, and like, I spent a good
Speaker 2: amount of time just like embracing all the memories and
Speaker 2: stuff that you know he's done for us and everything
Speaker 2: that you know he put on the field, I mean,
Speaker 2: his accomplishments. She went over him is just one of
Speaker 2: the things, Like I remember the dark days of being
Speaker 2: a Rams fan, Like it was one of those things
Speaker 2: that like you're living week to week on each win,
Speaker 2: like you're winning six to seven, eight and eight games,
Speaker 2: and like you're excited for that. And then when you
Speaker 2: get a guy like Cooper Cup in his first year
Speaker 2: hit the ground running. He's mcvay's guy. You remember McVeigh
Speaker 2: and Lesnie's excitement when they got him. And I was
Speaker 2: actually at that draft in Philly when we selected him,
Speaker 2: because you know, I had to go on day two
Speaker 2: because we didn't have first round picks. But it's like
Speaker 2: one of those things like you have your favorite running back,
Speaker 2: Stephen Jackson announcing his name and it's like Cooper Cup
Speaker 2: and you're like, who is this guy? But all those
Speaker 2: years and everything he's done for the Rams and for me,
Speaker 2: you know, personally, just not being able to say Coop
Speaker 2: anymore is gonna feel so weird. Man, It's gonna feel nasty.
Speaker 2: It hasn't hit me yet though, But you got poo,
Speaker 2: you just signed Mari Cooper. No no, no.
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, that year and watching his tape
Speaker 1: out of Eastern Washington and really seeing him pop, right,
Speaker 1: And he had a couple of games against some power fights.
Speaker 1: I think they played Washington State, I believe, well his
Speaker 1: final year there, and he went off in that game,
Speaker 1: and I just remember like, this guy looks really really good,
Speaker 1: sort of trying to take it with a grain of
Speaker 1: salt because he was playing at Eastern Washington and you're
Speaker 1: sort of wondering about the level of competition. I thought
Speaker 1: he could be successful, but I really thought he was,
Speaker 1: you know, a secondary receiver, right. I thought he would
Speaker 1: be you know, you'd have a good career as kind
Speaker 1: of a number two three receiver depending on the situation
Speaker 1: wherever he went. Never thought he would do what he
Speaker 1: has done so far in his career. The other part
Speaker 1: that's wild is you go back a Cooper Cup only
Speaker 1: has two one thousand yard seasons. Crim that's crazy, right.
Speaker 3: I think Cooper Cup and Pooka Nakula are similar in
Speaker 3: the sense of you were not alone in feeling that Marcus.
Speaker 3: Like a lot of people liked Cooper Cup, a lot
Speaker 3: of people liked Pooka Nakula. But I do think as
Speaker 3: good as those two guys are, h Efford and Sean
Speaker 3: McVay also helped highly elevate their wide receivers, So like
Speaker 3: they were, it was just one of those situations that
Speaker 3: happens in sports where like it was just like the
Speaker 3: perfect fit of everything coming together at the same time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will say that, like for McVeigh to come
Speaker 2: in and year one and like he turned the program
Speaker 2: around and he drafted Cuff and he was like, I
Speaker 2: got my guy, and like you bringing in a guy
Speaker 2: like Stafford, obviously that's going to elevate it to where
Speaker 2: it went now. So it's like we just were wanting
Speaker 2: the right pieces and when they all came together. We
Speaker 2: got eight amazing seasons out of him, and like, I'm
Speaker 2: just thankful that he was on my team. I was
Speaker 2: just thankful that he brung back the passion and spirit
Speaker 2: to be a ramp. Like you guys don't understand how
Speaker 2: dark it was, like me arguing, eyes read to my face. Man,
Speaker 2: I'm a Bills fan, but it's different when all your
Speaker 2: friends are Eagles and Cowboys fans and they're somewhat good
Speaker 2: and relevant, And like I'm sitting here with four wins,
Speaker 2: like ready to fight my friends, Like, no, we beat
Speaker 2: pay we beat Payton Manning and the Broncos last week.
Speaker 2: Like I know you guys remember when we did that
Speaker 2: and like they went to the Super Bowl loss. But
Speaker 2: I just feel like you just hold on to every
Speaker 2: win that we had and then to be on this
Speaker 2: winning streak, it kind of feels like it's not over.
Speaker 2: But like I'm still, like I would say optimistic.
Speaker 3: I know, from a football standpoint, it would be bad
Speaker 3: business to just say, oh, we're gonna let Cooper Cup
Speaker 3: retire here, but like, if I've learned one thing over
Speaker 3: these years of working in an NFL network, any contract
Speaker 3: in the NFL can.
Speaker 2: Be restructured, reworked at all of that, like we've seen it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe this is the fan in me and not like
Speaker 3: the analysts, because the analyst knows that, like, yeah, the
Speaker 3: right move is to trade him for what you could
Speaker 3: get and move on and stuff. But like, I don't know,
Speaker 3: there's something to seeing a franchise guy play only with
Speaker 3: one team and retire with that franchise. And there's certain
Speaker 3: players that I think, like Mike Evans should never play
Speaker 3: anywhere about the Bucks Cooper Cup feels like that kind
Speaker 3: of guy for me, for the Rams, like he should
Speaker 3: retire as a Super Bowl MVP, everything that he's meant
Speaker 3: to the team.
Speaker 2: I know it's an outdated and it's.
Speaker 3: More for other sports, like it's more of a baseball
Speaker 3: thing nowadays, but like I don't know, to me, there's
Speaker 3: something about a guy saying, like I am, I've only
Speaker 3: played for this team and I'm gonna be a legend
Speaker 3: for this team forever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's just I don't even know if
Speaker 1: it's a baseball thing anymore. I don't know that it's
Speaker 1: a thing in professional sports. For it, it's really really
Speaker 1: rare when that happened. Tom Brady played for multiple teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, even Tom Brady played for a second team. Like,
Speaker 1: it's just it's a thing that's it's wonderful when it happens.
Speaker 1: And I look, I say this to somebody who would
Speaker 1: love to see Steph Curry finish his career with the Warriors,
Speaker 1: it's increasingly unlikely that that may happen.
Speaker 2: She's so frustrating because like he is the Warriors, you know,
Speaker 2: like like like, for another example for soccer, Messi, I
Speaker 2: thought he was gonna die in Barcelona. I thought that
Speaker 2: was it, but then he's on PSG and then here
Speaker 2: we are, now fast forward to MLS. He's he's on
Speaker 2: a Miami.
Speaker 3: I think it's a little different if the player is
Speaker 3: like I want to go make money elsewhere or something
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 2: No, like MESSI lived and breathed like this is like
Speaker 2: Derek Jeter of soccer, Like you thought he was gonna
Speaker 2: stay in Barcelona, but then you see him in different
Speaker 2: Like I have a PSG messy jersey that's number thirty.
Speaker 2: It looks disgusting. I don't wear it often because it's
Speaker 2: like my son's and messi jersey looks better with his
Speaker 2: Barcelona Argentina. Like, I don't know, it just feels weird
Speaker 2: and ugly to look at. But Floria, I get what
Speaker 2: you're saying.
Speaker 3: Man, Dude, Cooper cupping the Patriots jersey next year is
Speaker 3: gonna be disgusting.
Speaker 1: Also, the flaw in your argument there, Lakwan, is that
Speaker 1: MESSI unlike Jeters? Not overrated?
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, overrated Jeters.
Speaker 1: Moving on, Miles Garrett apparently is not gonna finish his
Speaker 1: career with the Cleveland.
Speaker 2: Browns and that wasn't the plan.
Speaker 1: He has requested a trade after eight seasons with the Browns,
Speaker 1: sounding citing a desire to win. This was sort of
Speaker 1: I mean coming for a while, Flory, I mean we'd
Speaker 1: heard the rumblings that Miles Garrett was starting to get
Speaker 1: frustrated with the organization and maybe wanted to get out.
Speaker 1: And I'm filibustering here as you pull the Bill's helmet
Speaker 1: off the shelve.
Speaker 2: Here Miles Garrett's next team, Baby.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, like, this is your your chance to
Speaker 1: make a pitch for why Miles Garrett should be a
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bill.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: He said his number one reason is he has a
Speaker 3: desire to win. If I know anything about great players,
Speaker 3: it's that they don't want to just go sign with
Speaker 3: the Chiefs and win, so come to the team that's
Speaker 3: been closest but cannot get over the home And the
Speaker 3: biggest reason is, like and I've said him many times,
Speaker 3: the Bill's playoffs, especially that D line tends to crumble
Speaker 3: against the Chiefs in the playoffs. You put Miles Garrett
Speaker 3: or Max Crosby. I'm cool with either one of those
Speaker 3: two guys. You put them on that Bills D line.
Speaker 3: We're talking about the Bills beat in the super Bowl
Speaker 3: right now. I believe Josh Allen needs is Chris Jones,
Speaker 3: Stafford had Aaron Donald.
Speaker 2: There's always that.
Speaker 3: One elite player on both sides of the ball. The
Speaker 3: Bills haven't had that. This is their chance. All I
Speaker 3: want this offseason is for one of those two defensive
Speaker 3: players to put on the white Buffalo helmet, not the
Speaker 3: red one that I have.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, this is obviously a game changer, certainly,
Speaker 1: and I know we don't talk a ton about individual
Speaker 1: defensive players here or defense usually just because it's a
Speaker 1: fantasy football show and it's more offensive centric. This is
Speaker 1: a game changer. I mean, Miles Garrett I always say
Speaker 1: he's like a real life Avenger when you watch him play.
Speaker 2: He was made in a lab, not traditionally how people
Speaker 2: were made.
Speaker 1: Really was right. And wherever he goes, he is immediately
Speaker 1: going to be an impact player. And how did he
Speaker 1: immediately take I mean we're talking fantasy right. It makes
Speaker 1: that a defense that you suddenly have a lot of
Speaker 1: fantasy interest in.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and like I could definitely see him making a
Speaker 2: Day one impact and like I tweeted yesterday, like I
Speaker 2: think you should go to the commanders, gave with dan Quinn,
Speaker 2: Give with that defense. They need some more spar And
Speaker 2: then I really think Super Bowl sixty it's a lot
Speaker 2: for the Commanders because, like Floria will explain, you have
Speaker 2: at an elite on one side of the ball. You
Speaker 2: need another. And there's not that guy over there on
Speaker 2: the commander's defense that's popping up and dominating week after week.
Speaker 2: You put Miles Garrett on that defense, man, boy, we're
Speaker 2: gonna be looking at a whole different commander's team going
Speaker 2: into next season.
Speaker 1: I make the NFC East really really interesting if that
Speaker 1: were to happen. But definitely some things will keep be
Speaker 1: an eye on.
Speaker 3: Just not Philly please, it's not.
Speaker 1: The line is already stuck. I mean, obviously they find
Speaker 1: room for him without a doubt, but their defensive line
Speaker 1: is already loaded in Philadelphia for sure. But anyway, Cooper,
Speaker 1: Cup Miles, Garrett, we will keep an eye on them
Speaker 1: and whatever their potential landing spots are going to be
Speaker 1: when we know more. Speaking of landing spots, and I
Speaker 1: guess speaking of the Eagles, former Eagles head coach Chip
Speaker 1: Kelly is now in Las Vegas. He's the offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: for the Las Vegas Raiders. The AARP West continuing to
Speaker 1: live up to its name. Pete Carroll brings in a
Speaker 1: former Pac twelve rival. When the Pete was at USC,
Speaker 1: Chip was at Oregon. Chip went to the forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: where he took over for Jim Harbaugh, who's now in
Speaker 1: Los Angle. It's a whole wicked web of things going
Speaker 1: on to all these coaches. Time is a flat circle
Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff. There you go, obviously,
Speaker 1: Florida last year, Zaveer White was a huge, huge disappointment
Speaker 1: for everybody. Does this mean they maybe run it back
Speaker 1: with Zamir White?
Speaker 4: Does this do.
Speaker 1: Anything for you? With Chip Kelly there in Vegas.
Speaker 3: I think it makes you interested in the running game
Speaker 3: there because four years Chip Kelly's been in the NFL.
Speaker 3: I got to go look at his college numbers. But
Speaker 3: in the years he's been in the NFL, he has
Speaker 3: finished top seven in rushing attempts in three of the
Speaker 3: four years and top eleven every year he's The passing numbers, though,
Speaker 3: are not great and they're not what you want to see.
Speaker 3: So I think that's kind of and that's Pete Carroll's
Speaker 3: kind of mo as well, right Like he The biggest
Speaker 3: knock we had with Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson was like.
Speaker 2: Let Ross cook, Like, let him throw the ball more.
Speaker 2: You're not letting him do that.
Speaker 3: I expect a lot of running for the Raiders this season.
Speaker 3: I just don't think the running back of who the
Speaker 3: future running back is going to be is on their roster.
Speaker 2: Yet.
Speaker 3: I also don't believe the quarterback is because one player.
Speaker 3: And I'll say it here that I'm going to pound
Speaker 3: the table for the Raiders to bring in. Look, you
Speaker 3: could draft someone if you want as well, but let's
Speaker 3: get Justin Fields in the black and silver and see
Speaker 3: what he could do with Chip Kelly in this offense
Speaker 3: that obviously, Chip Kelly has had a running quarterback for
Speaker 3: most of his tenure in the NFL, So to me,
Speaker 3: that just seems like a perfect fit. And you could
Speaker 3: put another quarterback there if you want to make it
Speaker 3: a battle or something like that. But if you have
Speaker 3: fields and a new running back there, I could get
Speaker 3: excited for the running system in Vegas.
Speaker 1: You talk about Chip Kelly in his college career, and
Speaker 1: he really is a guy who has coached up great talent.
Speaker 1: And when he was at Oregon he had a lot
Speaker 1: of great talent and they were very high powered offense
Speaker 1: there with the Ducks, Ucla not so much. I mean,
Speaker 1: he came in, they scored a little bit early his
Speaker 1: last couple of years there, Offensively, they were not a
Speaker 1: very good group. Then he goes to Ohio State last year.
Speaker 1: Obviously they have a ton of talent, they score a
Speaker 1: ton of points, they win a national championship. Now he's
Speaker 1: back in the NFL with a roster that, aside from
Speaker 1: Brock Bauers, doesn't have a ton of offensive talent. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he could do some things. With Jacobi Myers,
Speaker 1: they definitely need a quarterback. As you mentioned, justin fields,
Speaker 1: potentially a stop gap option for them. So a guy
Speaker 1: who's very creative offensively. I think they sort of caught
Speaker 1: up to him in the NFL because you know, his
Speaker 1: Eagles offense has kind of started hot and then slowed
Speaker 1: down as people kind of figured out what he was
Speaker 1: doing a little bit. So very curious how this works
Speaker 1: with Pete Carroll. They're in Las Vegas, you know it's
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting there to watch. A couple of other
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator related items. The Ravens signed Todd Monk him
Speaker 1: to a contract extension, no surprise considering how well things
Speaker 1: went for the Baltimore offense this year. Texans hiring Rams
Speaker 1: assistant Nick Keeley as an offensive coordinator. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you have any insights into that. LaQuan Oh, he's
Speaker 1: from the McVeigh tree. I mean, he's what them will
Speaker 1: bellot at for the two seasons he's seen success. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously when we look at the coordinators or assistant coordinators
Speaker 1: that's with McVeigh in the building, they find success. Zach Taylor,
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell. I mean, look, Liam Coleman's now a head
Speaker 1: coach of the Jaguars, Like you look at this as
Speaker 1: an opportunity that he can make his name and go
Speaker 1: out there and maybe two three years we see him
Speaker 1: as a head coach who knows. But like when you're
Speaker 1: under McVeigh tree, you're just oozing this success. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm all bored. Is Zach Taylor really successful?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 2: I would say maintaining the pieces then, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, I know he got to the super Bowl, He's
Speaker 1: been a conference championship game. Last two years have not
Speaker 1: been great. First two years were not particularly great.
Speaker 2: That story he is. He is a competitive.
Speaker 1: Two out of six man, two years out of six.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 3: I it called a hater for this, but Taylor and
Speaker 3: Burrow are the two biggest winners of lou Ana Ronald's
Speaker 3: defense being the only one that ever figured out how
Speaker 3: to slow down Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: All right, you know got out to them.
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor stood next to Sean McVay for twenty minutes
Speaker 1: and got himself ahead. Coaching job. I tried to stand
Speaker 1: next to Sean McVay once too. It didn't work out.
Speaker 2: I just want to shake his hand.
Speaker 3: I forget what offseason it was, but it was one
Speaker 3: where like if you breathe the same era as McVeigh,
Speaker 3: you you got a head coaching gig.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's wild.
Speaker 2: It was why Thomas Brown he should be on his
Speaker 2: way to find success and mean, it didn't work out
Speaker 2: in Chicago, but he's the He's exactly the person that
Speaker 2: Broun cam Akers back into the fold on the back
Speaker 2: end of the season when he became more relevant, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. And I think that's what kind
Speaker 2: of led to the transition of him following Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 2: to still be employed. So it's like, you shout out
Speaker 2: to Thomas Brown for doing that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so again, Nick Kayleey part of that that coaching tree.
Speaker 1: He'sc now in Houston after Bobby Slowick, who was the
Speaker 1: new hotness for a couple of years, finds himself out
Speaker 1: of a job.
Speaker 2: Weird. Yeah, how quick he turned into the ugliest girl
Speaker 2: at the prom.
Speaker 1: Life comes at you fast, which actually is a perfect
Speaker 1: segue to get back to our exit interviews. Picks twenty
Speaker 1: five through twenty eight, and number twenty five is the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans who went ten and seven this past year.
Speaker 2: Went right.
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon, who looked like he was gonna just be
Speaker 1: straight up cut by the Bengals. He ends u getting
Speaker 1: shipped over to Houston. I turned out to have a
Speaker 1: pretty good season, over one thousand rushing yards, over three
Speaker 1: hundred receiving yards. He was the RB thirteen. Did miss
Speaker 1: some time with injury, but when he was on the field,
Speaker 1: was very, very good for Houston this year. Nico Collins,
Speaker 1: who really has ascended I think to being one of
Speaker 1: the top wide receivers both in the NFL and in fantasy.
Speaker 1: Only played twelve games, but sixty eight catches, thousand and
Speaker 1: six yards, seven receiving touchdowns, and two hundred and ten
Speaker 1: fantasy points. He was a wide receiver at twenty six.
Speaker 1: Lakwan is Nico Collins an elite fantasy receiver. Yet I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say elite because when we talk about the elites,
Speaker 1: we're talking Jamar Chase, We're talking Justin Jefferson. You know,
Speaker 1: guys would like Pokin Nako. I think he's right there.
Speaker 2: It's just that A gotta stay healthy. B They need
Speaker 2: to build that old line to protect Straute to even
Speaker 2: be able to get time to get him the ball.
Speaker 2: So it's like he can he's looking up at that
Speaker 2: ceiling where he could be in the elite. But the
Speaker 2: talent's there, the route running, what he brings outside of
Speaker 2: the perimer. He brings everything to the table that you
Speaker 2: want in a prototype of a wide receiver one. It's
Speaker 2: just that some things around him are just out of
Speaker 2: his control to make him as send to the elite status.
Speaker 1: Floyd, where are you drafting him? I mean, are we
Speaker 1: gonna have to spend what early second, mid second on
Speaker 1: Nico Collins next year?
Speaker 3: I'm thinking first to be honest, but I am someone
Speaker 3: who likes wide receivers in the first round. But I,
Speaker 3: like Lakwan said, the elite of the elite, I Jamar Chase, Justin, Jefferson,
Speaker 3: Ceedee lamb Amanron Saint Brown, and we have Putpuka and
Speaker 3: I think the only other wide receiver I'd put over
Speaker 3: him after that is uh is aj Brown.
Speaker 2: That's sixth right there.
Speaker 3: Like, I think it'll be like Nico, maybe Malik Neighbors,
Speaker 3: depending on what the Giants do at quarterback, maybe Brian
Speaker 3: Thomas Junior.
Speaker 2: That'll be like the late first, early second round wide receivers.
Speaker 2: And I think it'll be a preference thing.
Speaker 3: Like there'll be some drafts where if I'm in that room,
Speaker 3: I'll take Nico Collins, say like tenth overall. But if
Speaker 3: someone likes one of those other wide receivers a little
Speaker 3: bit more and then Nico goes like second or third
Speaker 3: pick in the second round, I think he'll be in
Speaker 3: that range, like late first, early second. But I think
Speaker 3: at this time next year we are talking about Nico
Speaker 3: Collins being an absolutely elite fantasy wide receiver.
Speaker 1: You're just you know, obviously Tank Dell in that injury
Speaker 1: are significant. We'll see what happens with Stefan Diggs this offseason,
Speaker 1: which obviously gets us the sort of what went sideways here?
Speaker 1: Tank Dell suffering just a brutal injury at the mid
Speaker 1: point of the season. He finishes this wide receiver forty nine.
Speaker 1: Stefan Diggs hurt earlier in the season, He's wide receiver
Speaker 1: fifty nine. Dalton Schultz underachieved tight end twenty. But maybe
Speaker 1: the biggest disappointment in this Houston offense was CJ. Stroud
Speaker 1: thirty seven hundred passing yards, twenty touchdowns, twelve interceptions QB nineteen.
Speaker 1: And we went into the last season not sure which
Speaker 1: Texans receiver we wanted to draft, but all of us
Speaker 1: sort of feeling like, well, hey, if you just draft CJ. Shroud,
Speaker 1: you get all of this baked in, right, you get
Speaker 1: all the production baked into one that didn't really work out.
Speaker 1: I mean Florio which CJ. Stroud, I mean, is the
Speaker 1: guy that we saw his rookie years. He's still there.
Speaker 1: Is it just a matter of getting that protection in
Speaker 1: front of him, or maybe did we crown him a
Speaker 1: little bit too early.
Speaker 3: I think everything broke right for him as a rookie
Speaker 3: efficiency wise, especially, and we crowned him a little too early.
Speaker 3: I also don't think he's this guy we saw in
Speaker 3: year two. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 3: But to your play, everyone is gonna say all the
Speaker 3: Texans a line was was really bad, and it was.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying it wasn't. But like when you compare CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud's numbers under pressure this past year to his rookie year,
Speaker 3: it's not all that different.
Speaker 2: The stats are pretty similar.
Speaker 3: Where to me, the biggest falloff was was on the
Speaker 3: deep ball.
Speaker 2: Like CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud went from his rookie year being i would say
Speaker 3: the best deep ball thrower in the NFL to one
Speaker 3: of the worst like As a rookie, his passer rating
Speaker 3: on deep balls was one hundred and forty two point eight.
Speaker 3: As a sophomore it was fifty two point nine. His
Speaker 3: completion percentage was almost cut in half. The yards per
Speaker 3: tentpt was down everything, like the yards despite having more attempts.
Speaker 3: The yards were down almost four hundred yards to touch
Speaker 3: stounds were cutting half. He threw way more inner city
Speaker 3: zero interceptions on deep balls as a rookie six last
Speaker 3: year as a sophomore, so I think I do think
Speaker 3: he could get closer to that rookie year guy. The
Speaker 3: deep ball is obviously going to be a factor, but
Speaker 3: I do think it was one of those situations where,
Speaker 3: like efficiency, just he caught everyone off guard that that
Speaker 3: deep ball was working for him as a rookie. He
Speaker 3: could get better as a junior, but I'm not sure
Speaker 3: he's ever gonna be We're gonna be saying like he's
Speaker 3: the best deep all thrower in the NFL like we
Speaker 3: were after his rookie year.
Speaker 1: I mean, it is wild how the gap between he
Speaker 1: and Bryce Young closed quite a bit by the end
Speaker 1: of the year, right, I mean, wow, at the end
Speaker 1: of year one, it was well CJ. Shroud obviously was
Speaker 1: was the pick, right. CJ. Shroud was the pick. Texans
Speaker 1: got this one right, and then by the end of
Speaker 1: the year two, it's like, alright, yeah, maybe let's let's
Speaker 1: let's open this case again. Let's let's let's evaluate a
Speaker 1: little bit further. So the one thing we all know,
Speaker 1: the draft price on CJ. Stroud is going to be
Speaker 1: a lot more manageable this year than it was last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is he a QB one?
Speaker 4: You think?
Speaker 2: No? No, no, no, sir.
Speaker 1: He could eventually work his way back to that, but
Speaker 1: he's definitely not drafted as a QB one.
Speaker 2: Him and Brace Young are on the same eye level
Speaker 2: right now. For me when it comes to that, is
Speaker 2: that a short joke? I was gonna say, there's a
Speaker 2: pum there. I can make sure jokes because but uh, yeah,
Speaker 2: I can't. I can't see myself take him as my
Speaker 2: QB one and feel confident about that. Yeah, no, I'm
Speaker 2: with you. Uh.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to pick number twenty six, which belongs
Speaker 1: to the Los Angeles Rams. Kyron Williams had himself a
Speaker 1: year nearly thirteen hundred rushing yards fourteen rushing touchdowns. He
Speaker 1: was the RB seven. Pukakua continues to be great and
Speaker 1: in his first two years in the league, he only
Speaker 1: played eleven games, but seventy nine catches nine hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety yards was the wide receiver twenty one. So I
Speaker 1: didn't ask you this. We talked about the the you know,
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup fread issue, Lakwan, but you had said this before.
Speaker 1: If Cooper Cup wasn't there, Pooka's your one dot oh one.
Speaker 1: Are you prepared to make Pooka your one dot one
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 2: Yes, one hundred percent. I don't think they could bring
Speaker 2: anybody in that can match Cooper Cup's pass production. So
Speaker 2: it's like we're gonna be seeing a heavy, bunneled then
Speaker 2: hyper focused Pookin Nakoula as long as he stays healthy.
Speaker 2: There is risk in that at the one O one,
Speaker 2: but there's risk with every single player with injury. So
Speaker 2: therefore I'm just taking that out of the bag, like
Speaker 2: I'm ready to just hit submit, enter, whatever the case
Speaker 2: may be. On whatever draft platform we got, it's gonna
Speaker 2: be Pooka Nakoua because honestly, the talent's there. Air Pooka
Speaker 2: is what they call on him. So being that he
Speaker 2: has the heart to be that alpha wide receiver one
Speaker 2: and handle that workload while pushing down a Cooper cup
Speaker 2: declining production. There's nothing else that I need to sell
Speaker 2: anybody onto. Why I believe that he could be one
Speaker 2: on one.
Speaker 1: Is this contingent on Matthew Stafford coming back.
Speaker 2: Matthew Stafford is coming back. I feel very confident about
Speaker 2: that because there's no answer as a backup in the
Speaker 2: draft this year or in free agency unless we get
Speaker 2: Kirk Cousins on some type of you know, restructure deal
Speaker 2: and he comes in and takes over the keys. But
Speaker 2: that's still same, same but different, but still the same.
Speaker 1: To me, it feels like kirk Cousins maybe not a doubt,
Speaker 1: Maybe it isn't slight down grade. I mean just from
Speaker 1: where Stafford is.
Speaker 2: Like, to me, that's a comfort move, like the previous
Speaker 2: history of McVeigh. Okay, he could be a McVeigh guy,
Speaker 2: but then is he going to get his past a hump?
Speaker 2: Is he as good as Matthew Stafford?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: But I just feel as though that's a slight, a
Speaker 2: slight downgrade. You know, if we go from Stafford to
Speaker 2: kirk Cousins, I.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't do that no, Heaven's no.
Speaker 2: Did you guys watch Kirk Cousins play football this year?
Speaker 2: Like I actually, I actually watched Kirk Cousins interview this
Speaker 2: morning and Good Morning Football. Apparently he had an ankle injury,
Speaker 2: an elbow injury and a shoulder injury and trying to
Speaker 2: keep the Achilles intact.
Speaker 3: So Aaron Rodgers is playing the same card, like, not
Speaker 3: only was I coming back from Achilles at an advanced
Speaker 3: age I had, I was in a body cast and
Speaker 3: no one knew it until after the Like maybe it's
Speaker 3: maybe it's all factual.
Speaker 2: I am not risking my Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Window on that, you know, Like I think Kirk Cousins
Speaker 3: should firmly be a backup moving forward and maybe or
Speaker 3: maybe he goes somewhere where he could battle for a
Speaker 3: camp or whatever. I think, just like we're saying with
Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers, like where is he going to start next year?
Speaker 2: Like like I don't know. My eyes don't lie to me.
Speaker 2: I watched Kirk Cousins play and it was brutal.
Speaker 1: It was rough. It was for sure rough. And if
Speaker 1: I'm the Rams, like you've got a good thing with Stafford,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. I wouldn't toss that aside to try and
Speaker 1: start over with Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2: No, we need him, Like, come on, I'm feeling optimistic
Speaker 2: next season, maybe this season after that. Don't don't rip
Speaker 2: my heart out, Like, no, don't do that.
Speaker 3: I will say, look, I didn't understand the whole, like
Speaker 3: Stafford's coming back, but will it be Like if he's
Speaker 3: coming back, you guys just say okay, like welcome back
Speaker 3: for another year.
Speaker 2: Like ten minutes after our lossing is to Eagles, they're
Speaker 2: like every single year they try to retire. I don't
Speaker 2: know why media does that, Like he's look, can you
Speaker 2: be like why are you saying this? Like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: still have football left.
Speaker 1: Because he's thirty six years old, has taking a beating
Speaker 1: in his career.
Speaker 2: That's why I already made my case. When you look
Speaker 2: a dog in him, it's a picture of Matthew Stafford
Speaker 2: where that was created. There's no way age is playing
Speaker 2: a factor with him in his head and he still
Speaker 2: thinks he can go out there and play into his forties.
Speaker 2: That's really what he's believing. Guys. Kirk Cousins is six
Speaker 2: months younger than Matthew Stafford, and he's comfortable for Stenson.
Speaker 3: Bennett is two years younger than Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 2: Like, hey, we bring up Ben in projects.
Speaker 1: So the question is that that question should then be
Speaker 1: asked of Sean McVay and Less Snead, who still have
Speaker 1: yet to formulate a plan for life after Stafford. I
Speaker 1: don't care how much dog you got in you, father,
Speaker 1: time comes for all of us.
Speaker 2: I think that's the one slight that I have against
Speaker 2: McVeigh and less Snead. We didn't plan properly at the
Speaker 2: quarterback position, like the d line, the secondary, you know,
Speaker 2: the running back, Like we hit on all cylinders, but
Speaker 2: we have yet to bring in a quarterback that can
Speaker 2: really take the mantle. Because honestly, it's like, all right,
Speaker 2: we're looking at the clock. You know who two years left,
Speaker 2: you know, like that's gonna be here before we know it.
Speaker 1: Also, happy early thirty seventh birthday to Matthew Stafford. He
Speaker 1: turns thirty seven on Friday.
Speaker 3: They I don't think you need unless you're drafting a
Speaker 3: rookie quarterback. This doesn't seem like a we're gonna have
Speaker 3: a quarterback waiting in the like it seems like when
Speaker 3: Matthew Stafford eventually retires, Sean McVay is just like, who
Speaker 3: wants to be the next one to get.
Speaker 2: All of the benefits of leading my offense? And someone
Speaker 2: will come listen, I have PTSD being that I had
Speaker 2: to watch football being played with Sam Braffner on the
Speaker 2: sideline tearing his acl with Sean Hill, with Austin Davis
Speaker 2: went bad, Nick Fole, Like, I am so scared to
Speaker 2: go back to those dark hours that I literally probably
Speaker 2: will not watch football.
Speaker 3: I'm going to call you out, LaQuan. You keep talking
Speaker 3: about how scarred you are as a fan. You are
Speaker 3: the only one of us who have seen a Super
Speaker 3: Bowl in the last three decades.
Speaker 2: This is true. This is true. Hey, hey, listen, I'm
Speaker 2: actually happy. You know, the Chiefs were kind enough to
Speaker 2: us to step out and let us win one in
Speaker 2: the middle of their dynasty run in Powerhouse.
Speaker 3: So if anyone has suffered here, I don't know if
Speaker 3: it's the Rams fan.
Speaker 2: That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's that's very true. That's very true. So you're violent away.
Speaker 1: Let's take a break, take a break, come back dive,
Speaker 1: and it's more of our exit interviews. We've got the
Speaker 1: Ravens and the Lions, coming up next here on the
Speaker 1: NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Pick number twenty seven belongs to
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens who were twelve and five this past
Speaker 1: year and the things that went right no surprise Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: who right now still a candidate for MVP. They have
Speaker 1: not yet announced the award. They'll announce that on Saturday
Speaker 1: at NFL Honors. With Lamar over forty one hundred passing
Speaker 1: yards over nine hundred rushing yards, he finished as the
Speaker 1: QB one and his partner in crime in the Baltimore
Speaker 1: backfield Derek Henry, who was just shy of two thousand
Speaker 1: rushing yards for the season sixteen rushing touchdowns, He was
Speaker 1: the RB four. Zay Flowers had himself a nice season
Speaker 1: over one thousand receiving yards for receiving touchdowns, he was
Speaker 1: the wide receiver twenty two. Mark Andrews latter half of
Speaker 1: the season went right. Mark Andrews early half of the
Speaker 1: season went wrong. And I know we've talked about whether
Speaker 1: or not the car accident that he suffered during the
Speaker 1: preseason may have had an impact on him. But remember
Speaker 1: after Week one, when Isaiah likely caught like eleveny balls,
Speaker 1: we were all like it's over. It's a wrap for
Speaker 1: Mark Andrews. The year started badly for Mark Andrews. The
Speaker 1: year ended poorly for Mark Andrews, but in between he
Speaker 1: did find a little bit of redemption there. But I
Speaker 1: guess I beg's the question. I'll ask this of you, Flora,
Speaker 1: since your team sort of benefited from his foibles there
Speaker 1: at the end of the season. Is Mark Andrews still
Speaker 1: a he finishes the tight end six? Is he still
Speaker 1: a top five tight Are we drafting him as such
Speaker 1: next year?
Speaker 3: I think so because the tight end position is so ugly.
Speaker 3: I like, so after there's the top two in Bowers
Speaker 3: and McBride. Obviously, I think Kittle goes in front of him.
Speaker 3: I think Sam Laporta goes in front of him. After that, though,
Speaker 3: it then becomes like a pre like I think you
Speaker 3: can make the case for Andrews. You can make the
Speaker 3: case for like maybe Kelsey or Hockinson or in Djoku.
Speaker 3: But like, I think the fact that Andrews is who
Speaker 3: he is and has been as good as he has
Speaker 3: been for years, and even more than that, the quarterback
Speaker 3: and the offense that he is tied to, I think
Speaker 3: people will see and something you talk about a lot
Speaker 3: Marcus like muscle memory. I think people will see the
Speaker 3: name Mark Andrews after like the other four tight ends
Speaker 3: are off the board and be like, this is my
Speaker 3: last chance to get one of the top guys.
Speaker 2: And I still think he'll he'll get drafted as one.
Speaker 1: Lakwan Lamar Jackson. Is he your QB one? Have you
Speaker 1: have you declared a QB one for this year? I
Speaker 1: don't even know if you have.
Speaker 2: I have not. Actually, I mean that that's actually one
Speaker 2: of the things that I probably have to get on.
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel though if you do make him
Speaker 2: your QB one, it's based on Todd Monk and you know,
Speaker 2: basically returning, you're hoping that he can basically mirror what
Speaker 2: he did this season, putting up the most Fantasy points
Speaker 2: ever you know, by a player. So I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, he could still be that elite quarterback next season,
Speaker 2: even if you know they watch tape and try to
Speaker 2: stop him and whatever that offense is. But he's he's
Speaker 2: up there. I wouldn't argue if somebody today was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's my QB one twenty twenty five. I think it's
Speaker 2: a two man race.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like, there's not there's not gonna be
Speaker 1: a cute There's gonna be a consensus, right, It's gonna
Speaker 1: sort of be a preference. Do you like Josh Allen?
Speaker 1: Do you like Lamar Jackson? I don't think there's a
Speaker 1: wrong answer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Lamar will be in consensus. I think
Speaker 3: I do agree. I think it'll be very preference space.
Speaker 3: But I just feel like Lamar is gonna go one
Speaker 3: more often than Josh.
Speaker 4: Probably.
Speaker 1: That being said, then how are we feel about his
Speaker 1: wide receivers Zay Flowers seventy four catches, one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixteen targets, but even then, I don't know, Floride still
Speaker 1: feels like a fourth fifth round wide receiver at best.
Speaker 3: I'm not as high on Like I like Zay Flowers
Speaker 3: as a talent as a real life player, but for
Speaker 3: fantasy like last year, it was very up or down.
Speaker 3: Like he had numerous games where where he'd give you
Speaker 3: like really big yardage or he I mean he only
Speaker 3: scored three four touchdowns I believe receiving last year. And
Speaker 3: then like you look at his game logs, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of games where it's like fifty yards or fewer.
Speaker 3: So to me, yeah, I agree. I like him a
Speaker 3: lot more if you get him as say, like a
Speaker 3: wide receiver three. But I'm looking at like early rankings
Speaker 3: right now, and they have him the names in the
Speaker 3: tier with him or like Mike Evans, DJ Moore, Devonte Rashi,
Speaker 3: Rice Courtland, Sutton Pickins, Metcalf. That feels right, but there's
Speaker 3: names in there I would rather have than say Flowers.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, And I think that's it's another argument to
Speaker 1: have in the offseason, just the volatility of some guys
Speaker 1: right where it's you look and you look at, hey,
Speaker 1: why's hever twenty two? That's not bad, But then, as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, the week to week is a little bit
Speaker 1: of a different story with some of these guys where
Speaker 1: you have those spike weeks that help you win a week,
Speaker 1: and then there are the weeks where he just is
Speaker 1: no help at all.
Speaker 2: You're not adding in the headaches of when you're gonna
Speaker 2: start him or not, like you can never guess when
Speaker 2: the matchup is in his favor. It's one of those
Speaker 2: things that it happens at random, and I'm not drafting
Speaker 2: a wide receiver where you know on a week to
Speaker 2: week basis at the wonder which week, I'm going to
Speaker 2: put him in. If I'm drafting him in the first
Speaker 2: three to four rounds, that sounds insane.
Speaker 3: If I get that player in as my wide receiver
Speaker 3: three in like round six, I'm cool with it because
Speaker 3: there's gonna be some weeks where he just goes off
Speaker 3: and wins me the week. But if I'm paying a
Speaker 3: premium price, I need you to be like that anchor
Speaker 3: for my team.
Speaker 2: Like he's a wide receiver one on the offense, he
Speaker 2: is a flexing fantasy Like there's no way every single
Speaker 2: week start. Like I hear people talk about Zay Flowers
Speaker 2: how electric is, Like I love watching him play, but
Speaker 2: he will never enter my fantasy rosters as a guy
Speaker 2: I will plug and play in on a week to
Speaker 2: week basis. The tier behind him that like this is
Speaker 2: on Fantasy Pros early rankings right now, the tier behind
Speaker 2: him has like DeVonta Smith, Jordan Addison, chrys Olave, Brandon
Speaker 2: Aiyuk like Romo Dunes, And I'm like that probably feels
Speaker 2: like the tiers A.
Speaker 1: Flowers belongs in which one of you was out on Alave.
Speaker 1: It's u lu kwan, this is your just done.
Speaker 2: Done, done done. I had been done, he falls into
Speaker 2: that Trevor Lawrence hate bag that I have.
Speaker 3: I've done if he goes where he's been going in drafts,
Speaker 3: but if we get a discount on him, like I
Speaker 3: could see myself buy it back.
Speaker 2: In and and to be clear about my hate bag,
Speaker 2: like I don't want people thinking that I hate these players,
Speaker 2: but it's one of those things where the fantasy streets
Speaker 2: makes me dislike them where their ADPs end up, and
Speaker 2: then I'll overhype and you constantly hear it, and I'm
Speaker 2: just sitting there as the guy in the corner in
Speaker 2: the dark lake. Does nobody see what I see? Like
Speaker 2: one of those moments, it's like, what are we doing?
Speaker 1: Don't hate the player, hate the ADP.
Speaker 3: There's a twenty player wide receiver gap between Zay Flowers
Speaker 3: and Jaden Reid, and that seems crazy to me. They're
Speaker 3: very similar players in my.
Speaker 2: Opinion, if not the exact same, in the same situations
Speaker 2: as well, Like I don't get.
Speaker 1: It, except Jay Flowers has less competition in his offense
Speaker 1: than Jayden Reid does and has Lamar Jackson and as
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. So there's that big number twenty eight, our
Speaker 1: last one for this episode is the Detroit Lions fifteen
Speaker 1: AM two A phenomenal season, which I know for Detroit
Speaker 1: fans maybe doesn't lessen the sting of the way things ended,
Speaker 1: but nonetheless Jared Goff, Jared Goof, if you will, for
Speaker 1: forty six hundred passing year, I did that exactly as
Speaker 1: Lakwan was taking a sip of cranberry juice to see
Speaker 1: if I can maybe spit.
Speaker 2: It out because I didn't expect it right, thank you.
Speaker 1: Following that, forty six hundred passing yards, thirty seven touchdowns,
Speaker 1: twelve picks, he was the QB six. Jamiir Gibbs was fantastic.
Speaker 1: He had over nineteen hundred scrimmage yards. Was the RB two.
Speaker 1: David Montgomery another solid season. Seven hundred and seventy five
Speaker 1: rushing yards, three hundred and forty one receiving yards. He
Speaker 1: had thirteen well twelve rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown,
Speaker 1: so I guess thirteen total touchdowns if you will, RB seventeen.
Speaker 1: I was despite missing some time with injury. I'm on
Speaker 1: Ross Saint Brown fantastic again. Twelve hundred yards, twelve receiving
Speaker 1: touchdowns are a wide receiver three at Jamison Williams a
Speaker 1: little bit of a breakout season. Over one thousand receiving yards.
Speaker 1: He had eight total touchdowns Wide receiver twenty three. Sam
Speaker 1: Laporta sort of like Mark Andrews, kind of fits into
Speaker 1: the what went right and what went wrong because early
Speaker 1: in the season, Sam Laporta was a ghost. I'm a ghost,
Speaker 1: like he was just not there at all. But late
Speaker 1: in the season he started to come to life. He
Speaker 1: finished just as the tight end eight, which is probably
Speaker 1: not really making you feel any better if you drafted
Speaker 1: him as the first tight end off the board. So
Speaker 1: I guess that leads me to ask the question, Lakwan,
Speaker 1: where are you drafting Sam Laporta next year?
Speaker 2: Are you?
Speaker 1: Obviously you know I drafted him as the tight end one,
Speaker 1: but top three, top five tight end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he could be a top five tight end. I'm
Speaker 2: still a little worried about the identity of this line's
Speaker 2: offense with Ben Johnson gone, but I still still think,
Speaker 2: you know, the back end of the season, him making
Speaker 2: an impact, it still will be relevant, you know. And
Speaker 2: then I think more so that he will be a
Speaker 2: comfort pick for me, Like if I don't want to
Speaker 2: get to George Kittles, if I don't want to pay
Speaker 2: up for trade McBride, brock Bauers, Sam reporter there, why not,
Speaker 2: like I'll take him there.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned Ben Johnson being gone, Florio, I mean,
Speaker 1: how much does that change? Maybe not the guy's at
Speaker 1: the top, right, I mean, I think we're still taking
Speaker 1: I'm on raw, We're still taking Javier Gibbs first round.
Speaker 1: But you know, Jamison Williams, Sam Laporta, how much do
Speaker 1: you factor in the lack of Ben Johnson this year?
Speaker 3: I think it has to be factored in. And I
Speaker 3: mean Ben Johnson has been the most sought after OC
Speaker 3: for the last two three years for a while now
Speaker 3: because of how much. And it wasn't just like oh man,
Speaker 3: he's gotten the most out of the passing game, Like
Speaker 3: he elevated everything, the running game, the passing game, all
Speaker 3: the secondary options there. So I agree with your assessment
Speaker 3: markets like Gibbs a Manra, I'm out, although I do
Speaker 3: think to me, with those top guys, it becomes a tiebreaker,
Speaker 3: like if you're debating between a Manra Saint Brown and
Speaker 3: like Lakwan's boy Pooka Nakoula. Let's say I'm gonna be like, well,
Speaker 3: Pookah has everything coming back the same, whereas it's a
Speaker 3: new play caller for a Monra. So I will use
Speaker 3: that to take Puka, but I'm not gonna knock a
Speaker 3: Manra out of the first round. I do have concerns
Speaker 3: with Jared Goff though, because as great as Gough has
Speaker 3: played these last couple of years, I think we all
Speaker 3: would say like it's a lot of the system that
Speaker 3: he played in and the talent around him so much,
Speaker 3: not him just like going off and everything. So I
Speaker 3: think he takes a hit and the secondary pass catchers
Speaker 3: like Jamison and Laporta take a hit. And one thing
Speaker 3: I was talking to the Kwan over the weekend, I
Speaker 3: might just punk tight end next year, Like I don't
Speaker 3: want to use a second round pick on Bowers or McBride.
Speaker 3: I'm sick of taking like someone like Laporta in round
Speaker 3: three or four thinking he could give me elite stats
Speaker 3: and then he's just solid and then I don't know.
Speaker 3: It's like I think this might be the year where
Speaker 3: I just I'm the last person in my draft to
Speaker 3: take a tight end.
Speaker 1: I can't do it. I just I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: want that headache of trying to stream a tight end
Speaker 1: every year?
Speaker 2: What do you mean I got you, man, Johnny Smith.
Speaker 1: It went so well for you. I just you know,
Speaker 1: I that's one of those things. It just seems like
Speaker 1: a great thing to say in February, and then you
Speaker 1: know in October when you're like, is this the dollon
Speaker 1: Shoultz Week? And then you're like, I shouldn't have done this,
Speaker 1: like you know, like I just I can't give.
Speaker 2: Me dal Kinkaid And like Evan Ingram in rounds like
Speaker 2: nine to ten, you.
Speaker 1: Were ready to put dalcan k to the moon two
Speaker 1: weeks ago.
Speaker 4: What are we agreed?
Speaker 3: I Like, I'm like, if I could get like an
Speaker 3: eight round discount and get him at another tight end,
Speaker 3: I'll take the up.
Speaker 2: I feel like my teams are better when I have
Speaker 2: more debt at the wide receiver running back position, where
Speaker 2: I traditionally you'll take, like in that mid round like
Speaker 2: a tight end. But if I could wait even later
Speaker 2: and get a John Newe or a Cole Comet that
Speaker 2: I've been screaming for the last month down that I
Speaker 2: think he's gonna be really good this season. So I
Speaker 2: don't know, man, it just feels different with that build
Speaker 2: that you have when you wait on Titand.
Speaker 3: This is years of chasing those upside tight ends, like
Speaker 3: Dal Kinkaid in the fifth round, Kyle Pitts.
Speaker 2: This goes all the way back to like Kyle Rudolph
Speaker 2: as a sixth round pick, like a decade ago. For me,
Speaker 2: like er Smith, I've constantly been chasing these upside tight ends,
Speaker 2: and I'm just I'm over it. I guess the port
Speaker 2: is better than.
Speaker 3: All of those guys, So yes, I would take him
Speaker 3: as a top five tight end depending on costs.
Speaker 2: Higbee falls into that in the twenty season two because
Speaker 2: of twenty nineteen him going off twenty twenty, people were
Speaker 2: pushing Higbee all the way up in the mid round.
Speaker 2: I was ain't on Higbee. I've been burned constantly by
Speaker 2: these upsides. We weren't friends then, man, and we didn't
Speaker 2: know each other. That would have stopped you.
Speaker 1: What the sounds like, is it that your draft strategy
Speaker 1: on tight ends is changing. It's that your mentality about
Speaker 1: the tight ends you're drafting is different, because you're still
Speaker 1: talking about punting and waiting until later to get a guy,
Speaker 1: but now you're just gonna get a guy.
Speaker 2: Where you're just like yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: This dude's gonna be mid right as opposed to.
Speaker 2: I don't have to pay the premium to get mid right.
Speaker 1: Like I instead of like waiting and being like this guy,
Speaker 1: Yeah he's at mid is the floor and like the
Speaker 1: ceiling is the roof. Like now, like, you haven't changed
Speaker 1: your strategy, You just changed your mentality, is all that is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, like I'm going to in and out for
Speaker 3: that two ninety nine double stack rather than like.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I was, what's a premium?
Speaker 1: Like in and out.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm doing right now. I'll be having the
Speaker 3: in and out tight end strategy going this year.
Speaker 1: I knew he was gonna say that.
Speaker 2: I'll say Habit Burger, and then in and out you
Speaker 2: decide which premium or not.
Speaker 1: I've never had had I've never heard of Habit Burger,
Speaker 1: So Habit's fine. It's been a long time. It's been
Speaker 1: a long time since I've had one. I gotta go
Speaker 1: back again. I guess the gourmet is like Bowers McBride.
Speaker 1: Then there's like the middle burger chains or whatever, and
Speaker 1: then there's.
Speaker 3: Look, there's in and out there for two ninety nine
Speaker 3: or three ninety nine whatever, it calls get yourself a
Speaker 3: great meal.
Speaker 2: But no, we talked about this over the weekend too,
Speaker 2: Like Jonna Swift was on the waiver wire, zach Ertz
Speaker 2: was on the waiver wire, like all these other guys
Speaker 2: that were actually showing up and showing out were I
Speaker 2: thought the waiver war. So punting completely is not a
Speaker 2: bad idea. And just wait a couple of weeks for
Speaker 2: these guys.
Speaker 3: I'm looking at a Fantasy pro again. It's it's February.
Speaker 3: This is gonna be very different from August. But they're
Speaker 3: they're early ADP right now. Tight End ten and on
Speaker 3: is like Evan ingram Kin, Kate Tuckercraft, Jake Ferguson, Dallas
Speaker 3: Goddard Hunter, Henry Kyle Pitts, Brian Muth, Coolekmit. I'll take
Speaker 3: two of those guys in the later rounds of my
Speaker 3: draft rather than a fifth round tight End.
Speaker 1: Here you go, man Mark Andrews is going to be
Speaker 1: five guys where like, you got to pay up for it,
Speaker 1: and you're like, it's fine, not worth it, not worth
Speaker 1: the price I paid for it.
Speaker 2: You don't got to put a small mortgage on your
Speaker 2: house to get there.
Speaker 1: To get it it's like I've done it now, I
Speaker 1: don't know that I'll be back again soon. Speaking of premiums, uh,
Speaker 1: the Lakers got a premium player not really paying a
Speaker 1: premium price, and it sort of broke the internet for
Speaker 1: a couple of days. We'll come back talk about that
Speaker 1: in an NFL perspective as we wrap things up on
Speaker 1: the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. So, unless you've been living
Speaker 1: under a rock for the last couple of days, you
Speaker 1: know that things happened in the National Basketball Association over
Speaker 1: the weekend. In fact, if you're like most of us,
Speaker 1: you probably either saw something on social media that looked
Speaker 1: like a reporter might have gotten hacked, or you got
Speaker 1: a text message about it from a friend. But the
Speaker 1: longest short of it is Luka Doncic, who by pretty
Speaker 1: much everyone's estimation is a top five player in the NBA,
Speaker 1: is just twenty five years old, is not going to
Speaker 1: finish his career with the Dallas Mavericks. Instead, he's all
Speaker 1: the move to Los Angeles was traded for Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: in a blockbuster three team deal, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz. In that trade they were the third
Speaker 1: team there. They were sort of like the spillover bucket, Like,
Speaker 1: hey man, we're trying to like we're trying to like
Speaker 1: bail water out of this thing, and we just need
Speaker 1: an extra bucket to help clean up to That was
Speaker 1: the Utah jazz I here just come take like this
Speaker 1: Jalen Hood Chaffino and a couple of draft picks or whatever.
Speaker 1: That's neither here nor there. I'm not here to evaluate
Speaker 1: the the merits of the trade. But oh it was awful,
Speaker 1: nicky in here, But it was one of those moments
Speaker 1: in sports that just complete Lee circover social media to
Speaker 1: the point that Beyonce announced to her tour the same
Speaker 1: time that the trade was being announced, and everybody's like, hey,
Speaker 1: B not now, who has.
Speaker 2: That ever happened? Like she gets stiffed on her announcement.
Speaker 1: I mean literally everybody's like, B will deal with this
Speaker 1: in just a little bit. We got to talk about
Speaker 1: Ady and Luca. When when you see a move like
Speaker 1: this across sports, it's kind of a meme on social media.
Speaker 1: It's like, explain this to me in you know, in
Speaker 1: baseball terms, in comic book terms, in reality TV show terms,
Speaker 1: and so obviously for a lot of us is what
Speaker 1: would be the NFL equivalent of this, And I mean
Speaker 1: Lakwan the one name that kept popping up when everybody
Speaker 1: said what's the NFL equivalent? Matthew Stafford's name kept showing up,
Speaker 1: and like every different generation as like kind of the
Speaker 1: a D version, right, like older player, like good player,
Speaker 1: but older player.
Speaker 2: I will not accept that?
Speaker 4: Why not?
Speaker 1: I mean if that's not I don't think that's accurate,
Speaker 1: like good player, older player. Okay, then if that, if
Speaker 1: you don't accept that, what would be your NFL equivalent
Speaker 1: of this trade?
Speaker 2: So how I looked at it was it was like
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow traded for Cameron Jordan for the Saints. You
Speaker 2: add in Bubb Memes and then a first round pick
Speaker 2: next year. Like That's how I looked at it as
Speaker 2: because Cam Jordan is a great defender, he's on the
Speaker 2: back end of his career with age, like he's past
Speaker 2: that peak, still a good player, but it's not Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: No, all right, I guess I could kind of get
Speaker 1: down with that. I just don't know that Cam Jordan
Speaker 1: is the same level of headliner like Ady is still
Speaker 1: a headliner. You know, I don't know your your your
Speaker 1: take on it. Florida.
Speaker 3: I thought about this a lot on Sunday, and I
Speaker 3: landed on it would be like trading Jayden Daniels for
Speaker 3: Dak Prescott because Dak and Ad are about the same age.
Speaker 2: I think they're both thirty one. Luca is like six
Speaker 2: months older than Jade and Daniels. They're both under team
Speaker 2: control for a little bit.
Speaker 3: And yeah, like you're trading your franchise identity away, and
Speaker 3: that's what Jayden is for the Commanders.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: I try to think about this a lot, and me
Speaker 3: and LaQuan we're talking about a little bit over the weekend.
Speaker 3: But like, I think this was the most shocking sports
Speaker 3: moment I can remember as a fan. Like the ones
Speaker 3: that I think compare are like Mookie getting traded to
Speaker 3: the Dodgers, your your team, Marcus a Rod to the
Speaker 3: Yankees when Andrew Luck retired, like KD to the Warriors.
Speaker 3: But I think what's different about this is it came
Speaker 3: out of nowhere. There was no build up and it
Speaker 3: just happened randomly on a Saturday night, like and one
Speaker 3: thing I love as a Nick fan is like the
Speaker 3: Knicks have been trying for two decades to get this
Speaker 3: caliber of player on their roster. The Lakers pick up
Speaker 3: a phone on Saturday night, thinking it's a drunk.
Speaker 2: Dial and they're like, you want to give us one
Speaker 2: of the faces of the NBA for you haven't called
Speaker 2: anyone else. You're accepting our first offer. Sure, we'll continue.
Speaker 3: To play NBA on easy mode like that for the
Speaker 3: Lakers smash, except.
Speaker 1: I mean, it really is like the I think the
Speaker 1: shock to that rippled through the sports world was amazing,
Speaker 1: the point that when it first dropped, the universal reaction was, oh,
Speaker 1: Sham's got hacked. Like that was that was what everyone's
Speaker 1: Sham's got hacked. This can't there's no way this is real.
Speaker 1: Sham's got hacked. Ha ha ha. This is really funny.
Speaker 1: But let's like, you know, I mean, I saw a
Speaker 1: video a clip of a live stream. These two guys
Speaker 1: were doing a Laker live stream, and they're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this is fake. Sham's got hacked. Ha ha.
Speaker 1: But let's you know, let's.
Speaker 4: Just for alive.
Speaker 1: Let's just put this in the trade machine and see
Speaker 1: how this would work.
Speaker 2: Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: And then five minutes later just like oh wait, this
Speaker 1: is real, Like this is this, this is really really real.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 1: There's very much like a what's happening sort of thing.
Speaker 3: I was at a bar watching Nicks Lakers and like
Speaker 3: with a couple of Laker fan friends and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: we're not gonna make any trades this year. If we do,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be very small. And then like I walked home,
Speaker 3: and in the walk home, like the game ended and
Speaker 3: Luca got traded to the Lakers. Have you guys ever
Speaker 3: seen a time where reporters like I have to ensure
Speaker 3: you that this is real, Like.
Speaker 1: I have to say I have to confirm that this
Speaker 1: is actually really happening. Yeah, I mean, because at first
Speaker 1: I was like, this is sort of it sort of
Speaker 1: feels like the night Antonio Brown was a Buffalo bill
Speaker 1: for like fifteen minutes. But this is even bigger than that.
Speaker 2: I don't think we'll ever get an NFL trade to
Speaker 2: this level.
Speaker 1: No, I don't think so either, because the NBA is
Speaker 1: very much about salary dump trades about superstars moving. There's
Speaker 1: a lot more superstar movement, especially with trades in the
Speaker 1: NBA than there is in the NFL. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: just I can't imagine if you're an NFL team likes
Speaker 1: you mentioned with Jade, Like, if you're in Washington and
Speaker 1: you have Jayden Daniels on this rookie contract under team
Speaker 1: control as the new face of your franchise, you're not
Speaker 1: just gonna dump him for even a good player, but
Speaker 1: an older player, right, He's just not gonna do it.
Speaker 1: The contract dynamics are so different.
Speaker 3: Miles Garrett, Aaron Rodgers, Russell will like, we've seen really
Speaker 3: big name players move before, but it happens after two
Speaker 3: to three months of coverage of like what this train
Speaker 3: could look like, Whereas.
Speaker 2: In the NBA, like literally no other gms didn't even
Speaker 2: know that Luca was available, Like it just happened.
Speaker 1: I talked about the Utah Yeah, Danny Ainge and the
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz were involved. Afterwards, Age said, I didn't know
Speaker 1: it was Luca ad that he's like by the time
Speaker 1: I find out, and he's like I had it was
Speaker 1: like I found out like thirty minutes before they posted it.
Speaker 1: I was like, it was too late for me to
Speaker 1: do anything.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. There should be a doc.
Speaker 1: None of the players involved New Right Ad didn't know.
Speaker 1: Luca Lebron apparently was out to dinner with his family
Speaker 1: when he found out.
Speaker 3: It's a lot like fantasy trades, when like a trade
Speaker 3: happens and you have other managers being like, we could
Speaker 3: have topped that offer, like that was legitags.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly what that is, absolutely absolutely wild. In fact,
Speaker 1: just before we started recording this pod, the Luca introductory
Speaker 1: press conference was happening in Los Angeles. The I mean
Speaker 1: just photos of him with the the purple and gold
Speaker 1: seventy seven jersey.
Speaker 2: He's not to seventy, by the way, there's no way
Speaker 2: you know what that is.
Speaker 3: Though, right, like the whole Oh, he's overweight, he's to seventy.
Speaker 2: He doesn't he's not committed.
Speaker 1: And that's Dallas try to justify what they did.
Speaker 2: Yep, it's Lamar can't stay healthy.
Speaker 3: Running quarterbacks get hurt. Remember when no one wanted to
Speaker 3: pay Lamar two years ago?
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, that's all this is. It's saving face.
Speaker 1: It's the Mavericks trying to play cya and and explain
Speaker 1: why it is that they traded a generational talent. Of
Speaker 1: all the weird, wild things about this trade, the one
Speaker 1: thing that broke my wife was looking at a picture
Speaker 1: of Luca and learning that he was twenty five years old.
Speaker 1: She's like, she's like, what do you mean twenty five?
Speaker 1: And like he's twenty five years old? She said, no,
Speaker 1: you mean like thirty five. Like, no, he is twenty
Speaker 1: five years old.
Speaker 2: I couldn't look at him and say that either.
Speaker 1: I was like, that is the thing that of all
Speaker 1: the things that happened, that's the one that broke my wife.
Speaker 2: Well, she's a Laker fan, right, she should be happy.
Speaker 1: She's a Lebron fan. But okay, she did admit she's like,
Speaker 1: you know, she's like I kind of phone off watching
Speaker 1: the Lakers lately, like I'm back in. She's like, I'm
Speaker 1: back watching the Lakers again.
Speaker 3: They went from having literally once Lebron walked away, they
Speaker 3: were gonna have probably the roughest decade in franchise history.
Speaker 3: And now you would trade maybe two teams future for there,
Speaker 3: like you would take two teams future over theres Like
Speaker 3: it's crazy.
Speaker 1: That is it so uh fun times one time and
Speaker 1: it's why that the NBA stole even a little bit
Speaker 1: of shine from the NFL leading up to Super Bowl
Speaker 1: week just wild.
Speaker 2: You know what if it was if the Bills were
Speaker 2: in there, that might be different.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with No, I'm gonna go with Bill.
Speaker 2: Everyone's fired up right now? Oh yeah, yeah, Look, me
Speaker 2: and Floria will be the front man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and by everyone we mean sixty seven percent of
Speaker 1: this show. We will, of course, preview Super Bowl fifty
Speaker 1: nine coming up on our show on Thursday. We'll finish
Speaker 1: our exit interviews as well, so stick around for that.
Speaker 1: Should be a whole lot of fun. But in the meantime,
Speaker 1: that'll do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy
Speaker 1: Football Podcast. They happy, safe and healthy, do good and
Speaker 1: live well, Enjoy the day is everybody, and we'll talk
Speaker 1: to you again on Thursday.
Speaker 4: Wow, I'm a ghost.
Speaker 1: Don't help book as a whole