Speaker 1: What's up and welcome back another offseason edition of Fantasy
Speaker 1: Football Weekly. It's getting hot and heavy training camp going
Speaker 1: on with your host and faithful narrator, mister John Legaza
Speaker 1: and our friend and yours, mister Jake Troubridge. Jake, I
Speaker 1: probably knocked down another fifty hand drafts or so shuffling
Speaker 1: around the ranks as the news were going, we were
Speaker 1: wondering if we had enough news and notes to talk about. Well, surprise, surprise,
Speaker 1: every hour seems to bring something, and that thing, like
Speaker 1: the pebble in the pond, creates some ripple effects. Mister Troubridge,
Speaker 1: how are you fell?
Speaker 2: Fifty?
Speaker 3: Can we go back a minute and just discuss fifty nonstaffs?
Speaker 2: I wake up too many drafts.
Speaker 1: Nope. I wake up five thirty every morning to start
Speaker 1: my baseball work, and I started with drafts. I'm balancing
Speaker 1: different price points on different sites and I don't even
Speaker 1: though I do rankings and I battle test my auto ranks.
Speaker 1: Auto drafting is really a dangerous game, and something like
Speaker 1: best Ball, especially where one pick could really make a difference.
Speaker 1: So I like the hand draft, and if you're gonna
Speaker 1: hand draft and try and match any of these tournaments.
Speaker 1: You're going all day and all night. I'm the first
Speaker 1: one in work and I'm the first one out the door.
Speaker 1: So hopefully we can give the impart some of that
Speaker 1: knowledge and everybody today, How are you doing, Fred?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm good.
Speaker 3: We are just built different, John, That's just all it is,
Speaker 3: that we're built different. I haven't been doing a single
Speaker 3: draft since we last spoke. I did get the opportunity
Speaker 3: to head out to Lambeau Field to check out their
Speaker 3: training camp on Friday, which was a great experience. I
Speaker 3: got to see physically see Tucker Craft coming off of
Speaker 3: the pup list as he was riding his bike from
Speaker 3: Lambeau to the field. I know we're going to talk
Speaker 3: about Tucker a little bit later, but you know, it's
Speaker 3: a It was a much different experience in Green Bay
Speaker 3: than I understand that it was in say, Minnesota for
Speaker 3: a training camp. It was a lot nicer from what
Speaker 3: I understand, the people in the stands at least.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that comes with the quarterback play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's pink.
Speaker 3: I think maybe things were looking a little more precise
Speaker 3: angry bad.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say for sure.
Speaker 1: The good news Tuckercraft healthy, the bad news. You didn't
Speaker 1: get him that love letter that I wanted to give
Speaker 1: him about how critical he's going to be to my
Speaker 1: generational wealth. All right, enough for the fooling round band,
Speaker 1: enough of that, more of this. Let's do the news
Speaker 1: and notes again. We're gonna run through everybody, and some
Speaker 1: of these news and notes, even though they be not
Speaker 1: seem significant, may impact one, two or three other players.
Speaker 1: So I'll catch your name with the news and note,
Speaker 1: and you just give me a reaction, you know, bullish, bearish,
Speaker 1: if you like it, if you hate it, maybe you
Speaker 1: saw it coming first. One. This one just happened a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago. Deboke Samuel. He's me going to
Speaker 1: San Francisco, hopefully avoiding the substation era and the five
Speaker 1: G overload. One year, four million dollars seems pretty fair.
Speaker 1: I mean, I probably a good spot right reunited, and
Speaker 1: it feels so good. They probably know how to use him.
Speaker 1: My note on Deebo was he was a lot better
Speaker 1: than I realized he was. I guess, you know, the
Speaker 1: season's kind of come and go, and I thought of
Speaker 1: him as maybe more of just an after thought. And
Speaker 1: he earned ninety nine targets last year. So what are
Speaker 1: you talking about Debo in that offense?
Speaker 3: I feel like the only real possibilities for Deebo to
Speaker 3: thrive in fantasy was going to be a reunion of
Speaker 3: some sort, whether that was Washington or whether that was
Speaker 3: San Francisco. I didn't really see a lot of alternate
Speaker 3: paths for him to be not even a fantasy stud,
Speaker 3: just fantasy relevant frankly this year. But I do think
Speaker 3: that getting him back in that system is probably a
Speaker 3: good thing for him. You know, he he produced for Washington.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that was simply circumstantial because there
Speaker 3: weren't a lot of other great targets to be thrown
Speaker 3: to there. You know, Terry McLaurin was kind of dealing
Speaker 3: with things off and on throughout the year. It was
Speaker 3: kind of him and zach Ertz to some extent for
Speaker 3: a good portion of the season. Then again, he was
Speaker 3: also not catching passes from Jaye and Daniels the entire time,
Speaker 3: who has also hurt. So he did the best with
Speaker 3: what he had. That's all you can ask for. I
Speaker 3: think going back to San Francisco is the number two
Speaker 3: behind Mike Evans is a good situation. Poor went out
Speaker 3: for Ricky Piersoll. The guy is just never gonna be
Speaker 3: out on the field. Apparently his time in the Fantasy
Speaker 3: Sun might be over before it really gets here, but
Speaker 3: I don't mind it for debo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a few moving parts on this one. So
Speaker 1: Deebo again a little bit better than I realized. Still
Speaker 1: kind of a target earner, you know, which is always
Speaker 1: the first thing we're looking for. Nearly twenty three percent
Speaker 1: target perrout. However, right it's normally a pretty low a dot.
Speaker 1: It was just over five yards. That is not great.
Speaker 1: So he does come off as a little bit gadgety,
Speaker 1: but that's a great place to be gadgety and a
Speaker 1: great place to try and earn yak something that Diebo
Speaker 1: was still literally elite at six and a half yards
Speaker 1: after the catch perception last year in that big you know,
Speaker 1: Tucker Craft and Greg Dulsage to here, right, those guys
Speaker 1: that if you get them one on one and shake
Speaker 1: the first tackle or you dive and miss the ankle,
Speaker 1: they could be off and running. So I still think
Speaker 1: they's some juice. Again, I think the system is the
Speaker 1: big boost here, and maybe one more pathway that we
Speaker 1: haven't mentioned now. I don't know if this is too
Speaker 1: much galaxy bringing but substation jokes aside, there have been
Speaker 1: running back injuries, both James and Black injured, and Debo's
Speaker 1: been pretty effective in his career running the ball, So
Speaker 1: again San Francisco with a spot that might be able
Speaker 1: to get him looks behind the line of scrimmage, with
Speaker 1: a little bit of a room to shake the shoulders.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, I'm a little bit interested. We
Speaker 1: know McCaffrey not the most deficient runner anymore, possible Debo
Speaker 1: is a guy they might turn to if you need
Speaker 1: a couple of short yards. What do you think about
Speaker 1: Deebo in the run game. I don't think you're gonna
Speaker 1: get a volume thing. But whenever he's been back there
Speaker 1: and healthy, sometimes it's one or two carries a game
Speaker 1: and might make a difference.
Speaker 3: My hope with them re signing Debo and bringing him
Speaker 3: back home is that they plan to take just a
Speaker 3: tiny bit more of the workload off of CMC. That's
Speaker 3: been my biggest concern about Christian McCaffrey is how can
Speaker 3: he possibly coming off of a four hundred plus touch
Speaker 3: season his career high, how can he do it again?
Speaker 3: We don't want him to do that again because I
Speaker 3: feel like that's just asking for trouble. So if you
Speaker 3: can have Deebo back there taking some of this stuff
Speaker 3: off of his plate, not a lot, It's rarely been
Speaker 3: a high, you know, touch count for Debo coming out
Speaker 3: of the backfield, but like you said, he's been good
Speaker 3: at it. And if that saves CMC so he can
Speaker 3: play most of the season, That's really what I'm looking
Speaker 3: for out of Debo in the backfield.
Speaker 1: Very last thing, are you drafting him right? He's at
Speaker 1: price one point thirty five right now. It hasn't really
Speaker 1: moved much. It felt kind of baked in. He was
Speaker 1: telegraphing this with the workout program and stuff. I thought
Speaker 1: he was coming back. So I'm not really expecting the
Speaker 1: price to move up too much. It may move up
Speaker 1: a little bit. He's going around Jaden Reed, Jordan Addison,
Speaker 1: Jacobe Meyer is probably where he belongs to. He's drafting Debot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, around that group of players. I like Deebo as
Speaker 3: to stand out because Mike Evans at his advanced stage
Speaker 3: not a lot to say on the field, either, So
Speaker 3: don't we don't often talk about wide receivers as being handcuffs.
Speaker 3: But there is a world where Deebo gets even more
Speaker 3: workload this year.
Speaker 1: Oh interesting, you mentioned contingency value on wide receivers. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get back to that in a little bit. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna bury that lead for a little bit because there
Speaker 1: was one that I kind of foresaw coming that looks
Speaker 1: like maybe it might be coming to fruition. Let's move
Speaker 1: to the next one. This is the newest deal. This was,
Speaker 1: you know, breaking news. Bump bump, bump bump. Stephan Diggs
Speaker 1: is gonna be going to Washington, right, So it's like
Speaker 1: the pieces are going where we thought, but maybe not
Speaker 1: exactly where we thought. I got a little crisscross applesauce there,
Speaker 1: as my daughter would say, But these things happen. Deal's
Speaker 1: gonna be worth up to twelve million dollars. All the
Speaker 1: details are still a little hairy, but he is going
Speaker 1: to Washington now. We spoke about Diggs briefly this offseason already,
Speaker 1: so just to cut to the chase. I was surprised
Speaker 1: he didn't go back to England. They brought him in
Speaker 1: after knee injury. My assumption was to pick up on
Speaker 1: end plus one this year with the Drake may breakout,
Speaker 1: which happened and they got continuity, but they didn't push
Speaker 1: forward with Diggs. So you know, the attitude thing maybe
Speaker 1: what was the cause there at only five hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty six snaps for Digs, he earned over one hundred
Speaker 1: targets when eighty five, ten, thirteen and four twenty four
Speaker 1: and a half target per round over two point four
Speaker 1: yards per rout, he still got it. So I'm expecting
Speaker 1: him to fly up boards. I was digging around the
Speaker 1: Twitter streets briefly, and it looks like early estimates are
Speaker 1: ADP ninety right now. It was about one thirty to
Speaker 1: one thirty five. So talk to us about Diggs. Did
Speaker 1: you like him? And do you like him where he's going?
Speaker 1: Because I think that pick ninety probably feels about right
Speaker 1: where you are on Stephan Diggs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 3: The thing about the resigning not coming to fruition until now,
Speaker 3: I thought was more due to the off the field stuff,
Speaker 3: and that seems to have tempered down. And let's face it,
Speaker 3: if there is a team that is going to shove
Speaker 3: aside the off the field stuff and invite somebody in,
Speaker 3: it is probably going to be Washington one of like
Speaker 3: three teams who would be completely willing to overlook that stuff.
Speaker 3: Now on the field, Diggs last year you mentioned it
Speaker 3: great metrics. I would also add he had the fourth
Speaker 3: highest ESPN Open Score rating, which measures separation from defenders
Speaker 3: amongst wide receivers.
Speaker 2: That was tied with Garrett Wilson.
Speaker 3: That is a good place to be, especially at the
Speaker 3: age that Stefan Diggs is at. So yeah, I don't
Speaker 3: mind Stefan Diggs in the what would that be, eighth round?
Speaker 3: I mean, at this point you're just hoping at least
Speaker 3: somewhat of a fast start. Obviously, it's a new quarterback,
Speaker 3: it's a new system, it's all that. But I think
Speaker 3: Stefan Diggs is uh not maybe the highest upside play,
Speaker 3: but he's a pretty reliable play based on where you're
Speaker 3: drafting him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's high probability throws, potentially very explosive offense, and
Speaker 1: if he's healthy, can handle more of a snapload there.
Speaker 1: I think there's a Again, I don't think this would
Speaker 1: be a wide receiver one, but where you're getting him
Speaker 1: definite value. Last question before we move on, one of
Speaker 1: the hot pieces for the Commanders was Chigakonkuo. I think
Speaker 1: inevitably he's going to be affected. As of today, he
Speaker 1: was tight in sixteen around ADP one forty three. I
Speaker 1: would expect that to fall. Maybe he falls down a
Speaker 1: tier into the one fifties, more closer to Schultz Barner,
Speaker 1: maybe even Terrence Ferguson, who's really on it. He's on
Speaker 1: a bit of a steam ride up right now. So
Speaker 1: what do you think about Chike? Should people be happy
Speaker 1: with what they got? Maybe not pushing up any further me.
Speaker 1: I had some Chike when I would get him around cost.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna be paying the new I
Speaker 1: think I'm out at what I'm considering a premium. We
Speaker 1: spoke about this also. One of my paramnuster tight ends.
Speaker 1: I want them to potentially be the second target earner.
Speaker 1: I think that's now at the window. What do you
Speaker 1: think about Chiga Conquo in regards to the new digs
Speaker 1: move John.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm being stubborn. I might be.
Speaker 3: I've been known to, but I feel a little bit
Speaker 3: like Leo DiCaprio and Wolfe of Wall Street. Right now,
Speaker 3: I'm not oh, thank you wow, that's just overflowing with undue.
Speaker 2: Compliments. I appreciate it, but.
Speaker 3: I do think this is a situation where you're going
Speaker 3: to see Stefan Diggs go there and you're gonna think
Speaker 3: the worst for mister o'conquo.
Speaker 2: I don't think this is the worst.
Speaker 3: I think that this is a situation where Diggs can
Speaker 3: raise the boats along with the tide a little bit
Speaker 3: in Washington. Now, this does to me spelled just disaster
Speaker 3: for any early breakout hopes for that rookie Antonio Williams.
Speaker 3: That's somebody that I'm just plainly not interested at this point.
Speaker 2: But Chico Conquo.
Speaker 3: We still don't know how effective Terry McLaurin is going
Speaker 3: to be. Last year it was a bit of an
Speaker 3: outlier for him. Admittedly a lot of a do I
Speaker 3: think to the holdout from training camp and some of
Speaker 3: this stuff kind of spiraled from there. But you know,
Speaker 3: we don't know how much that Terry McClure necessarily has
Speaker 3: left in the tank.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that he's going to be a disaster either.
Speaker 3: I just want to keep my mind open to the
Speaker 3: possibility that Chigo Kongo is still out there seeing seventy
Speaker 3: eighty plus targets and being very effective with those targets.
Speaker 2: So I'll take him in the last round.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Yeah, Okay, I'm with that. I still think he's
Speaker 1: gonna get a full confident snaps. I think my hope
Speaker 1: for the ceiling case was an extra boost in target
Speaker 1: chair underneath, in particular at the slot, and I think
Speaker 1: Diggs is probably gonna soak up a lot of that.
Speaker 1: We've seen a lot of two tight ends which would
Speaker 1: push Chig maybe offline where he could be really effective
Speaker 1: and be a matchup nightmare. So he's stuff we not out.
Speaker 1: I think they're still talent there, and I like the offense.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen a ton from him, and I think
Speaker 1: that's why I don't. I just don't want to ton.
Speaker 1: You mentioned McLaurin. I can't help it because David Plow,
Speaker 1: the new coordinator, had mentioned getting him not only ten
Speaker 1: targets a game, but moving him around the formation. And
Speaker 1: that's a total bull signal for me. Whatever we're hearing
Speaker 1: about getting your ex or most talented receiver you know
Speaker 1: away from the outside all the time. We saw it
Speaker 1: be the you know, breakout point for London on a
Speaker 1: par game basis, and Ceedee Lamb on a pre game
Speaker 1: basis even justin Jefferson at points, I think that's I
Speaker 1: think that's how you do it. So, yeah, I guess
Speaker 1: you're right. I guess you're right. Maybe I'm was a
Speaker 1: little too overreactive because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: he really is still cheap and it's a tight end
Speaker 1: with ceiling that you could easily drop and replace. All
Speaker 1: right now, the radio listeners can't see, but I'm wiping
Speaker 1: away a tear for Philadelphia rookie wide out Mackay Lemon
Speaker 1: wide receiver nineteen's going up high man. He now hasn't
Speaker 1: practice for a second straight day because of the hamstring
Speaker 1: that's been an issue in the past, and we haven't
Speaker 1: gotten details. The quotes are kind of murky. The actual
Speaker 1: injury is quote unquote unknown. We don't think it's quote
Speaker 1: unquote significant, but it is alarming. If he's missing half
Speaker 1: the spring with an injury. What do you think about Lemon?
Speaker 1: Someone I was drafting this is a contingency value. I'm
Speaker 1: pushing up wix just in case this keeps him out
Speaker 1: and stalls that rookie learning curve. Where were you on,
Speaker 1: mkayle Lemon?
Speaker 3: Yeah, my heart is drowning in pure sadness right now.
Speaker 3: John McKay lemon, one of my favorite rookies coming in,
Speaker 3: had very high expectations for him in the sort of
Speaker 3: new look Philadelphia offense that's gonna be without Aj Brown
Speaker 3: hamstering injuries. I've said it before, I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 3: I don't even have the lab coat, but recurring hamsterring
Speaker 3: injuries are nothing to mess with in fantasy football because
Speaker 3: the possibility that he suits up week one and they
Speaker 3: say he's fine and he's out there, but then gets
Speaker 3: reinjured throughout the season. That's a real thing. We've seen
Speaker 3: guys come on and off the injury reports because of
Speaker 3: hamstring injuries, and so planning week to week can be
Speaker 3: very tricky. And then the added fact that he is
Speaker 3: a rookie and it could have already been a slow
Speaker 3: start for him because earlier in the mini camps he
Speaker 3: was dealing with this hamstring injury. It's all just kind
Speaker 3: of boiling up to this spot that I hate to
Speaker 3: say it, I'm not very interested in mackay Lemon in
Speaker 3: Redraft right now.
Speaker 2: In Dynasty, I'm.
Speaker 3: Still very bullish, incredibly bullish on the guy in Redraft.
Speaker 2: Eugh, it makes me so nervous.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I'm gonna go crazy and start
Speaker 3: pivoting to all of the other pass catchers that are there.
Speaker 3: DeVante Smith also dealing with a hamstring injury, but that's
Speaker 3: a newer thing, that's not something that's been popping up.
Speaker 3: So I feel more confident about DeVante Smith and his
Speaker 3: availability and the fact that he's a veteran. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a real bummer. So maybe Dallas Godder will find
Speaker 3: his way into my redraft stocks a little bit more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a big boost for him. He's always excelled
Speaker 1: whenever pieces we're missing, and it's not just fantasy football,
Speaker 1: Fantasy sports in general happens as baseball all the time.
Speaker 1: The baseball season that was so long, a lot of
Speaker 1: times we want them to stay out, stay out as
Speaker 1: long as you need because of the reaggravation factor that
Speaker 1: you mentioned. That's number one. So here we are hoping
Speaker 1: that they keep out a rookie who needs critical snaps.
Speaker 1: Even right generally we're thinking about rookies producing in the
Speaker 1: second half. A lot of that is based on chemistry
Speaker 1: and repetitions that they've built up along the way. If
Speaker 1: you're going to hamper that number. Oh Man, the stanks.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit worried Lemon had been one of those,
Speaker 1: you know, an oasis for me. We've talked about waiting
Speaker 1: for quarterback lots of times. You can go Hurts to
Speaker 1: Lemon at the seven to eight turn or in the seventh,
Speaker 1: in the eighth and you're feeling really good about a
Speaker 1: quarterback one and a wide receiver like four or flex
Speaker 1: guy that could right into production. Now I'm worried. I've
Speaker 1: been drafting do Tavian Wicks. He goes so late really
Speaker 1: after thought, I just had him as a contingency play
Speaker 1: because one, I just worry about rookies catching on it
Speaker 1: in the NFL at all. And then, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: there are a few wideouts that I feel would step
Speaker 1: into a prominent role with an injury, Wix being one
Speaker 1: of those guys. Do you think Wix should be part
Speaker 1: of a last round red draft plan? There are people
Speaker 1: drafting right now, and I would say, if you can
Speaker 1: make him an easy drop, you definitely want to do
Speaker 1: that because you could see where this could go very
Speaker 1: right for Wicks.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you brought up Wis first. I didn't want
Speaker 3: to have to do it. As the packer fan. I
Speaker 3: didn't want any sort of fandom fanaticism sort of.
Speaker 2: Biasing me in this.
Speaker 3: But I do think Dantavian Wicks has been getting a
Speaker 3: fair amount of hype already.
Speaker 2: Coaches seem to love him.
Speaker 3: He does seem like somebody who could step into a
Speaker 3: sizable role. If he's a last round or approximately a
Speaker 3: last round guy, yeah, toss him on my roster. And
Speaker 3: like you said, if he starts off the couple first
Speaker 3: couple of weeks and he doesn't look that great and
Speaker 3: he's just not earning targets, all right, smell you later.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I think this is a possible uptick for the Wix hive,
Speaker 3: but just a tough blow for the lemonheads out here.
Speaker 1: Man. Yeah, I love all those name drops, by the way, Yeah,
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. As much as we like these rookies,
Speaker 1: we have to be honest about it. Now, if he
Speaker 1: were to start getting into the ninth and the tenth,
Speaker 1: I'm going to reconsider it where it's more of even
Speaker 1: a bench pick sometimes, right, I don't look to overpay
Speaker 1: for rookies. I wouldn't consider that an overpay. I'll draft
Speaker 1: him in, stant him and then go back for starters
Speaker 1: that I think could produce in the first once again,
Speaker 1: you know, like Wix and maybe they make an interesting
Speaker 1: handcuff pay. Maybe we're in the age of handcuffing wide receivers.
Speaker 1: Who knows now next wide receiver you mentioned. I don't
Speaker 1: think we really need to go into it. It's it's
Speaker 1: Ricky Piersoll. It doesn't sound like you're gonna get anything
Speaker 1: from him, though. I guess there's one easy question. Would
Speaker 1: you Ricky Piersoll right now at any cost? Again, my
Speaker 1: hands are firmly in the fantasy third. He still gets
Speaker 1: drafted in every single draft. Sometimes it's at the very
Speaker 1: end of the twentieth round there where if he's gonna
Speaker 1: come back, even for the last month or two, he
Speaker 1: could be a contributor. I'm not that guy. I don't
Speaker 1: like to invite injuries. Would you draft Piersol at any cost?
Speaker 2: Nah, I'm out. I don't see it.
Speaker 3: I just there's no reason for me to believe that
Speaker 3: he's gonna be back there in any reasonable amount of
Speaker 3: time to have him clogging up my bench spots, even
Speaker 3: in an ir spot at that point, like, if he's
Speaker 3: going to be back for the fantasy playoffs. All right, great,
Speaker 3: I guess, but we don't even know if he's gonna
Speaker 3: get much run if Debo is still there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And for as much as these coaches and coordinators
Speaker 1: lie to us, basically every time they open their mouth,
Speaker 1: transactions and roster moves our truth, right, playing time is truth.
Speaker 1: That's when they actually show their cards, when they go
Speaker 1: and acquire somebody with some talent, even though I don't
Speaker 1: think their archetypes necessarily overlap. They just brought somebody in immediately,
Speaker 1: which worries me. Now, talker Craft, cheese, let's go, man.
Speaker 1: I was really excited to see that he came off
Speaker 1: the puppulist immediately. Again, there were people who paddicked. You
Speaker 1: told us to be careful with that. We went through
Speaker 1: the different types of puppulist. You could check that out
Speaker 1: last week. He's practicing. They are over the moon about
Speaker 1: this guy. They say he looks fantastic. He's even dropped
Speaker 1: not a full round was my trigger point. At ADP eighty,
Speaker 1: I am seeing him closer to ninety. At points, I
Speaker 1: think just the pup thing has people a little off.
Speaker 1: I would draft Craft, I would draft Graft and stash
Speaker 1: him if I had to, but I'm drafted him because
Speaker 1: think he's gonna be ready for Week one talk to
Speaker 1: us about your tight end one.
Speaker 3: Just just so excited for this man to be back
Speaker 3: on the field. I can barely contain myself. I've been
Speaker 3: saying for much time, maybe too much time, arguably, that
Speaker 3: there's been too much of an emphasis placed on this
Speaker 3: injury because we had some ambiguity there, and I.
Speaker 2: Can appreciate it.
Speaker 3: I can appreciate not wanting to jump into bed with
Speaker 3: somebody who's coming off of an injury like that. But
Speaker 3: with both him and George Kittle, these are two guys,
Speaker 3: two archetypes that if they say they're going to be
Speaker 3: out there, there's a pretty decent chance you should believe them.
Speaker 3: They've proven that they have a history, they have a
Speaker 3: good track record fighting through these injuries. Now, I don't
Speaker 3: know that Craft's going to come off to a hot start.
Speaker 3: That's the one thing I've been cautioning about, and you've
Speaker 3: mentioned as well, John, If you're going to draft Tucker Craft,
Speaker 3: which I plan to, I am going to make sure
Speaker 3: that I grab another tight end very late that I
Speaker 3: feel somewhat comfortable in for the first couple of weeks
Speaker 3: because I don't want to be out here and then
Speaker 3: Kraft is, you know, only running thirty percent of the
Speaker 3: routes or something like that his first couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: I just want to be safeguarding myself. So give me
Speaker 3: that Greg Dawst super late or whoever Chicoconquo now if
Speaker 3: he's going to be following that far, and let me
Speaker 3: rely on those guys the first couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. I actually love that you mentioned
Speaker 1: the players that in this new meta were up against
Speaker 1: with multiple tight end sets and fewer three wide receiver sets,
Speaker 1: those might be guys that end up being flex plays.
Speaker 1: We haven't quite entered the realm of tight end flexes,
Speaker 1: but you could see how it could get there for
Speaker 1: some of these teams only because their only tight ends
Speaker 1: in name only right, A lot of times, like I
Speaker 1: mentioned before, the second tight end pushes the more athletic
Speaker 1: one offline where they're actually running a wide receiver route
Speaker 1: from a slot role, and they would and should be
Speaker 1: wide receivers. So there is a possibility, and I like
Speaker 1: those names again, guys that could be at least the
Speaker 1: top three target and their team can do the shoulder wiggle,
Speaker 1: make some space. All right, We're probably about halfway home
Speaker 1: in this one as far as names, but I think
Speaker 1: these next ones do more of like a lightning round.
Speaker 1: I have Xavier Worthy up next. He springed his shoulder again.
Speaker 1: Now he hasn't returned to practice. They're expecting him later
Speaker 1: this week. It is the same shoulder that cost him
Speaker 1: essentially the entire year. From an efficiency standpoint, I was
Speaker 1: already a little bit if he on Worthy. I think
Speaker 1: I'm out for as many drafts as I do. Jake,
Speaker 1: I mean zero outer, if that's a word. I just
Speaker 1: I zero out tons of players. I don't and some
Speaker 1: people do that a player at any price, not me.
Speaker 1: That's not me. There are players that don't fit, and
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to injuries. I've been into the
Speaker 1: Cyrus Allen stuff. He's banged up, goes one hundred picks later,
Speaker 1: and I'd rather take a pop. I do think someone
Speaker 1: in that pass catcher room will go off the like Worthy.
Speaker 1: I know we still have some fans out there. It's
Speaker 1: just not me. I didn't think he was going cheap
Speaker 1: enough in the first place, and now certainly not. Now.
Speaker 3: Doesn't it feel like a million years since Xavier Worthy
Speaker 3: had that playoff run for the Chiefs a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago, where we didn't get to experience it for
Speaker 3: fantasy purposes because it was after our fantasy seasons wrap.
Speaker 2: But in the Chiefs actual postse he just garbage time out.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, sure, but there was a couple of
Speaker 3: games even before that, before the big garbage time loss
Speaker 3: he still had it felt like he was ramping up,
Speaker 3: and then the injury whatever else came into play. Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 3: The offense in general just hasn't looked good this past year.
Speaker 3: I was starting to get my hopes up, though, John,
Speaker 3: because you know, I love the return of Eric the
Speaker 3: Enemy as their offensive coordinator. But no, I just can't
Speaker 3: trust Worthy at this point. This is getting me to
Speaker 3: pivot a little bit more. If I don't, for example,
Speaker 3: want to believe in Tucker Craft, maybe you should then
Speaker 3: wait a couple of rounds and see what old man
Speaker 3: Travis Kelsey has left in the tank. Yes, Cyrus Allen,
Speaker 3: I could also see a case for him. He's been
Speaker 3: getting all the social media training camp highlight love, so
Speaker 3: why not.
Speaker 2: I'd rather do that than Worthy, for sure.
Speaker 1: Now what about Thornton, He's Taekwon Thornton's also getting a
Speaker 1: little bit of love at the very back end, and
Speaker 1: not to even Drake be into my best bull streets.
Speaker 1: If you are getting volume on the Chiefs and the
Speaker 1: deep looks, that could be a valuable piece, right, It
Speaker 1: could be a flex star. Do you think Thornton has
Speaker 1: any value? I'm really having a tough time with these Chiefs.
Speaker 1: I've been worrying about the pass volume in general. The
Speaker 1: entire market is higher on Mahomes than I am man
Speaker 1: outside of Kenneth Walker. If the Chiefs are really prolific
Speaker 1: pass offense, I'm gonna be in a little bit of
Speaker 1: trouble because I've not been on that. Do you like
Speaker 1: anything there? I mean again, these guys are last round picks.
Speaker 1: Would you take a stab on any either or both?
Speaker 3: It's just really hard. I mean, Taekwon Thornton was getting
Speaker 3: some hype last offseason as well. If I recall when
Speaker 3: he made the jump to Kansas City and again all
Speaker 3: the other stuff still holds true that the offense itself
Speaker 3: was just looking.
Speaker 2: Lackluster.
Speaker 3: So I don't want to blame it all on Taekwon Thornton,
Speaker 3: but we're talking about a guy who through four years,
Speaker 3: still hasn't cracked the century mark in receiving yards. It's
Speaker 3: a tough guy to want. I want to buy into.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I buy into that light of
Speaker 3: a breakout. I'd rather go with Cyrus Allen.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Also the hey, a quick way to lose your
Speaker 1: money is to bad against Patrick Holmes. But I've been
Speaker 1: going back and watching all these deep throws. It's just
Speaker 1: not the same player. Maybe it was just old Terry Hill,
Speaker 1: but he just came up as it was always the
Speaker 1: most accurate deep bawl and he could always be deep.
Speaker 1: It just hasn't felt the way to me. I don't know. Again,
Speaker 1: there is certainly a pathway to the unemployment line, but
Speaker 1: against the Chiefs, but I think I'm gonna take it again.
Speaker 1: Worthy would have to really fall of me again on it.
Speaker 1: But I'm not drafting them at all until her at
Speaker 1: least returns to practice. All Right, enough bad news, enough
Speaker 1: bad news. How about a little bit of good news.
Speaker 1: And it's been tough, Jake I have. I don't think
Speaker 1: I put a single piece of injury optimism out there
Speaker 1: all off season, not how I roll. However, Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: and his achilles man. The thing with these Achilles surgeries
Speaker 1: is they've physically come up with a new technique. Right,
Speaker 1: So I'm trying to correct my own arc, right, my
Speaker 1: own recovery arc because of the new surge, which's a
Speaker 1: whole new type where players are on a different timeline.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones, it's the quote was clearly in a good place.
Speaker 1: He's quote unquote unimpeded. That was from ESPN's Ben Solac said,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be one hundred percent wheels up, full playbook
Speaker 1: for Daniel Jones. They're not gonna be babying him. They're
Speaker 1: not gonna be doing anything of the sort. He feels
Speaker 1: like himself. The reason I say this is I was
Speaker 1: worried about that because that's what I do as a pessimist.
Speaker 1: We saw how great that Colt's offense was with him
Speaker 1: about the center, I don't think I could afford to
Speaker 1: be fading the entire Colts offense. I'm starting to draft
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor a little bit in the first I'm starting
Speaker 1: to draft Downs even I was already drafting Warren when
Speaker 1: he falls. So should I be coming off like the
Speaker 1: LEDs here a little bit? I was fully ready to
Speaker 1: go into the season with zero Colts and now like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm starting to scoop him up where I can because
Speaker 1: I think they're still cheap. If Daniel Jones is one
Speaker 1: hundred percent and they're really rocking and rolling in camp,
Speaker 1: people could start getting really bullish. We could see the
Speaker 1: Colts get more expensive. Where are you on Indie going
Speaker 1: into it? This is going to be polarizing in the
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: I think it is.
Speaker 3: And first of all, can I just say how heartwarming
Speaker 3: it is to have somebody earnestly be like, yeah, I
Speaker 3: was worried about the Colts, but now that Daniel Jones
Speaker 3: is going to be healthy and presumab lead starting, that's
Speaker 3: not where we were a year ago, two years ago,
Speaker 3: three years ago.
Speaker 2: Well, it's just let's.
Speaker 1: Credit change styche Let's I'll going to credit Stiched for
Speaker 1: as much of this as Daniel Jones. But the splits
Speaker 1: were just very hard, dude, you know, being controvertible. Man,
Speaker 1: we're talking about and historically good. I've been expecting them
Speaker 1: to even be that good, but they were so historically good.
Speaker 1: How dare we fade a John mthan Taylor who's going
Speaker 1: in the end of the first round people are not
Speaker 1: into him at all, So focus about the Colts and
Speaker 1: specifically were you drafting JT and how are you treating
Speaker 1: them going forward?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Jonathan Taylor.
Speaker 3: The only knock that I had against him at all
Speaker 3: was just another workload thing. This is a guy that
Speaker 3: also saw more than three hundred and fifty touches last year.
Speaker 3: It's just it's not like he's old by any stretch.
Speaker 3: But we have a pretty good track record of seeing
Speaker 3: a downtick from those guys the following season. I don't
Speaker 3: know that that's going to be the case with JT.
Speaker 3: But that's my argument for not drafting him at least
Speaker 3: early in the first round. I'm still fine. I'm still
Speaker 3: fine to take him. I think he's a good investment.
Speaker 3: I would say Tyler Warren is the guy that I
Speaker 3: was looking for to make sure that he had competent
Speaker 3: QB play before I got too excited, because his ADP
Speaker 3: is significant and that's not something that I want to
Speaker 3: mess around with with early tight end. You kind of
Speaker 3: look for any red flag for a tight end when
Speaker 3: you're drafting them that early, and if he was going
Speaker 3: to be catching from the backups or god, forbid they
Speaker 3: bring in another septagenarian quarterback off the streets to start
Speaker 3: throwing to him, then that would have been a real
Speaker 3: concern from Tyler Warren. But I'm good with him. I'm
Speaker 3: good with Josh Downs. The guy that I'm still ambivalent
Speaker 3: about is Alec Pierce. He has his own injury stuff
Speaker 3: that he's dealing with, and I also just never thought
Speaker 3: that he was going to be the de facto number
Speaker 3: one receiver there. So the rest of the guys I'm
Speaker 3: good with, though I'll bite.
Speaker 1: And take the piece of humble pie on Pierce. A
Speaker 1: lot of that was before the injury. I pumped the brakes.
Speaker 1: The price didn't really sink in proportion to my worry.
Speaker 1: So I've stopped drafting Alec Pierce. I'm getting a little
Speaker 1: bit high on the Josh Downs stuff now, I gonna
Speaker 1: be careful in this hopem. I'm normally a very kind
Speaker 1: of ardent drafter, right, I have my priors. I'm sticking
Speaker 1: to him because of well researched Josh Downs is getting
Speaker 1: talked up as a player that could be a focal
Speaker 1: point in two wide receiver sets if they don't sign
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen. There's been talks about that, So that's what
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for. I've got Downs right, Mike, Crosshairs, Jake,
Speaker 1: He's a guy. If Alan goes somewhere else, I am
Speaker 1: gonna get real bullish on Downs. Do you think that
Speaker 1: he could be part of the two wide receiver game?
Speaker 1: It has not been a part of his game at all,
Speaker 1: But they haven't brought anybody move away from Pittman. The opportunity,
Speaker 1: at least theoretically is there. What do you think?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's I mean, that's not for me to decide, obviously,
Speaker 3: that's for the coaching staff to decide how they really
Speaker 3: want to force the issue with him, because certain coordinators
Speaker 3: will completely readjust everything. If they love what they've seen
Speaker 3: from one of their players, but he doesn't fit the
Speaker 3: traditional mold of like a two wide receiver set guy,
Speaker 3: they will find ways to get him out there if
Speaker 3: they really want to.
Speaker 2: It's getting long now.
Speaker 3: In the tooth, late in the offseason for us to
Speaker 3: suggest that they're going to bring in Keenan Allen and
Speaker 3: that's gonna zap everything away from Josh Downs. It's almost
Speaker 3: to the point where I'm not hoping for it, because
Speaker 3: Keenan Allen would be a little bit of a headache.
Speaker 2: But I think that the ADP.
Speaker 3: Discount you would get on downs after like a Keenan
Speaker 3: Allen signing, would be interesting to me, and I think
Speaker 3: I might chase him down draft boards if that's the case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, you're always gonna have my ear of
Speaker 1: making price, you know, determined the arguments man. All right,
Speaker 1: two more names to get through them really quick. It's
Speaker 1: a little bit more good news. Jacksonville running got Chris
Speaker 1: Rodriguez is practicing with the team and they are really
Speaker 1: they are really talking him up. I don't like to
Speaker 1: buy too much into drum beat stuff, though I do
Speaker 1: think it's something everything is in agreement based on Chris
Speaker 1: Rodriguez looks fantastic in the role that we're hoping for
Speaker 1: trucking over guys, and I was kind of high in
Speaker 1: Baseiel Tutin. I think Rodriguez could also be good. You
Speaker 1: have to believe in the Jacksonville offense being really great
Speaker 1: with conant the switches. Why not. So I think it's
Speaker 1: fine if Rodriguez moves closer to Pick one hundred than
Speaker 1: he is now, maybe Pick maybe one twenty or one thirty.
Speaker 1: I think I might be out, but as long as
Speaker 1: he's hanging around in the tenth round or later, I
Speaker 1: think he could be a flex option. What do you
Speaker 1: think about Chris Rodriguez? Most likely you know it's not instant,
Speaker 1: but I do think he's in line for a lot
Speaker 1: of the high value goal line work for a team
Speaker 1: we think is gonna score a lot of points. Where
Speaker 1: are you on c Rod?
Speaker 3: I am worried that he's going to be annoying, more
Speaker 3: so than individually fantasy relevant or fantasy great. I'm most
Speaker 3: worried that he's going to be annoying and really cut
Speaker 3: into the upside of bacial toot And I'm backing away
Speaker 3: slowly with my hands up from Basil Touton right now.
Speaker 3: Because there's a thing that happens with these coaches where
Speaker 3: Liam Cohen has known Chris Rodriguez for a very long time.
Speaker 3: They go way way back, and sometimes with coaches, they
Speaker 3: force the issue with those guys because of their history together.
Speaker 3: Even if I think Chris Rodriguez is a good player,
Speaker 3: don't get me wrong. I think he's a good quality
Speaker 3: running back.
Speaker 2: I don't like him.
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody likes him as much as Liam
Speaker 3: Cohen likes him, so you know, even if he's inefficient
Speaker 3: or whatever, you know, he's not a great pass catcher,
Speaker 3: Cohen's probably going to want him on the field a
Speaker 3: good amount.
Speaker 2: So I'm kind of staying away from this backfield entirely.
Speaker 1: Now. Yeah, that's been a little bit of a running
Speaker 1: theme I'm noticing again on those Twitter streets, and I
Speaker 1: think it's true. Is one of the maybe let's go
Speaker 1: to disconnect, right, disconnects between fantasy and real life. Is
Speaker 1: real life coaches like success rate way more than we do,
Speaker 1: and they like EPA perrush way more than we do.
Speaker 1: Those numbers do not really correlate to fantasy success, but
Speaker 1: they do correlate to drive success and efficiency, which helps
Speaker 1: the real life team. So, and the jaguarsn't have to
Speaker 1: be really good to make Sea Rod the David Montgomery
Speaker 1: to Basil Tuton's Jumior Gibbs. So I've been seeing Tuton
Speaker 1: approach the fourth round where I've had to say, mos
Speaker 1: Rico a little bit too rich for me. Man, You know,
Speaker 1: I can't really get there if he falls into the
Speaker 1: fifth and I need a RB two. I think Tuton
Speaker 1: could definitely be that guy. But yeah, now I'm starting
Speaker 1: to get a little bit into the sea Rod. But really, Jake,
Speaker 1: it's gotta be half point PPR. I think that's where
Speaker 1: he really stands out when the touchdowns are worth that
Speaker 1: much more. Right, last player, I note my j ETSS
Speaker 1: Jets rookie tight end Kenyan Sadiq had a setback. It's
Speaker 1: recovery for hernia surgery. Excuse me, And you know I
Speaker 1: was not drafting him when he got hurt, and I
Speaker 1: was taking some slings and arrows. What's the big deal, John,
Speaker 1: just hernia. He's gonna be fine. I said, you could
Speaker 1: have setbacks during anything, and it is in a place
Speaker 1: where you're working. It's in the core. So I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not buying in now he's gonna start sinking like
Speaker 1: a stone. My question is, again there's the rookie worry.
Speaker 1: There's also been some historical data, Jake on tight ends.
Speaker 1: We know first round tight ends have a history of
Speaker 1: not producing. They have as of late, but none of
Speaker 1: them have missed time. Right, something we've already mentioned already today.
Speaker 1: I wonder if Mason Taylor is a viable twentieth round pick.
Speaker 1: If you like the Jets. Right now, I'm kind of
Speaker 1: washing my hands of all of it. I guess Taylor
Speaker 1: is an okay tight end for but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think I'm out in the situation. Would you be
Speaker 1: buying Sadiq down boards? I like that term you used before.
Speaker 3: First of all, John, I don't have a corps. I
Speaker 3: don't think so. I don't understand how will hernia injury?
Speaker 3: I had even effect a core?
Speaker 2: Oh good?
Speaker 3: Can I borrow one sometime? I shoy having one of those.
Speaker 3: I do think with Kenyon Sidik though. The unpolished nature
Speaker 3: of Kenyon Sidique, he's an amazing athlete. Freakish athlete is
Speaker 3: the type of phrasing that people like to use for
Speaker 3: tight ends of this build.
Speaker 2: They're not traditional.
Speaker 3: You wouldn't expect him to be the next George Kittle,
Speaker 3: Travis Kelcey, whatever. But he has a skill set that's
Speaker 3: very interesting, and if you polish it and refine it,
Speaker 3: he can be very useful for a team. I've long
Speaker 3: said I don't know that the Jets are that team
Speaker 3: to be able to polish and refine him the way
Speaker 3: that he needs to be, and certainly not in his
Speaker 3: first year. All this does is kick that can further
Speaker 3: down the road to the point where I don't know
Speaker 3: if I'm gonna be comfortable drafting him next year. John,
Speaker 3: Obviously there's a long ways away. We can discuss it
Speaker 3: at a later time, but it's terrifying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we probably want to see something from him this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's kind of scary. Again. I'm Alwa's bagging the same
Speaker 1: drum about repetitions and chemistry, especially for first year players.
Speaker 1: I think it's extremely important in this league. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm just not gonna bother with Sadik just in case.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is gonna be a season ender
Speaker 1: as far as the injury goes, but I'm afraid the
Speaker 1: impact might last the entire season. All right, Jake, that'll
Speaker 1: do it. We spent the entire episode on our news
Speaker 1: and notes, but hopefully it mattered right how those like
Speaker 1: I said, the pebble in the pond creaks the ripple
Speaker 1: eff fact downstream players that we like, players that we don't.
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week, everybody with more of the same.
Speaker 1: As the league starts to change. We promised we'll get
Speaker 1: some of those bold predictions that you and I wrote down, Jake.
Speaker 1: So from John Lagaza and Jake true bridge everybody, thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and have a very weekend. Mm hmm