Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, Hey everybody, It's Thursday, January second, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, where we were
Speaker 1: also Pro Bowl Snubs. It's me and your man m G.
Speaker 1: Marcus Grand joined by Michael F. Florio and Laqwan Jones.
Speaker 1: Happy New Year, gentlemen. Flora, you and I have been
Speaker 1: in the same spot since the calendar rolled over. Lakwan,
Speaker 1: you and I have not. How did you spend your
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve?
Speaker 2: If you don't mind me asking, uh boring, I mean,
Speaker 2: it was just another day, man. I didn't stay up.
Speaker 2: I had worked that night for Good Morning Football, so
Speaker 2: I was out by seven o'clock.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I rolled up yesterday to work at like eight thirty
Speaker 3: in the morning, and Lakwan was leaving for the day,
Speaker 3: so I was like, ooh, I'm not even gonna ask
Speaker 3: how his night went.
Speaker 1: No, it was a school night for a lot of
Speaker 1: us because January first, While it was New Year's Day
Speaker 1: around the world, it was just Wednesday for a lot
Speaker 1: of us, and we had shows and the like to do.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it was just kind of a school night.
Speaker 1: I was in bed by like eleven twenty. The fireworks
Speaker 1: in my neighborhood started actually a little bit before midnight,
Speaker 1: but they went crazy right at midnight. I was probably
Speaker 1: slip by like twelve oh five, so that was that
Speaker 1: was kind of my New Year's Eve. Anyway, we still
Speaker 1: got stuff to talk about. I know it is week eighteen.
Speaker 1: I know for most folks, your fantasy season is done,
Speaker 1: So congratulations to all of you out there who won
Speaker 1: a Fantasy championship. Better luck next year to the rest
Speaker 1: of you who did not. But for a lot of folks,
Speaker 1: I know there's still some daily Fantasy that folks are
Speaker 1: going to be playing. I know there's some sort of
Speaker 1: season long awards maybe like total points and that sort
Speaker 1: of thing for a lot of leagues. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: kind of dive in to today's show mostly from a
Speaker 1: daily Fantasy perspective, some good picks, some guys to spend
Speaker 1: up four guys to avoid that sort of thing, and
Speaker 1: then we'll have our own DFS lineups for the end
Speaker 1: of the show. Also some hot takes for twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five coming up at the end of the show. But
Speaker 1: want to get started with kind of a little bit
Speaker 1: of what we learned, and I know that in the
Speaker 1: offseason We're to spend a lot of time kind of
Speaker 1: diving into things that happened and kind of spinning that
Speaker 1: forward to next year. But just kind of a first
Speaker 1: look at things we're taking away from the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four season, and Lakwan, what was something that stuck out
Speaker 1: to you at least as we kind of first dive
Speaker 1: into this sort of thing.
Speaker 2: So like three years, like, I've had this mindset and
Speaker 2: like a lot of fantasy managers have the same mindset
Speaker 2: that Vyum is king, but that isn't always necessarily true.
Speaker 2: Like volume isn't always going to be king if the
Speaker 2: situation sucks. So when I look at some of these
Speaker 2: examples of like wide receivers, man like guys that have
Speaker 2: over one hundred plus targets, a healthy target share of
Speaker 2: like twenty plus percent, but averaging less than twelve Fantasy
Speaker 2: points per game. But there's information out there, like a
Speaker 2: Michael Pittman or a Calvin Ridley, guys that had these
Speaker 2: question marks around them at the quarterback position. With Will
Speaker 2: Levis and Anthony richardsoning, if they could get on the
Speaker 2: same page, of course they're going to see a ton
Speaker 2: of volume. Of course you're going to see over one
Speaker 2: hundred targets. But these targets aren't valuable. But then you
Speaker 2: get to a guy like Marvin Harrison Junior, where the
Speaker 2: number one top wide receiver prospect, the talent is out
Speaker 2: of the wazoo, but just didn't work out. So when
Speaker 2: you have these examples and we have this information before
Speaker 2: going into the draft, we kind of have to analyze
Speaker 2: and look at the bigger picture, especially with Marma Harrison Junior.
Speaker 2: Looking at the Cardinals the last two seasons, they're bottom
Speaker 2: of the table when it comes to wide receiver production.
Speaker 2: A lot of people don't know that or look at that.
Speaker 2: They're among the Titans, the Ravens, the Steelers when it
Speaker 2: comes to wide receiver production because they're dead last and
Speaker 2: wide receiver receptions and thirty first and wide receiver receiving yards.
Speaker 2: So these are things and examples that we have the
Speaker 2: information for that we have before draft day. We need
Speaker 2: to take that more an account. Maybe Vyum isn't going
Speaker 2: to be king if the situation isn't king.
Speaker 1: I mean with the Cardinals being bottom of the table,
Speaker 1: as you say, I love that you said that. By
Speaker 1: the way, is Jonathan Gannon going to get sacked at
Speaker 1: the end of the year maybe.
Speaker 2: Or the offensive coordinator. Like I know that some of
Speaker 2: the Cardinals fans, you know, talking to Kelly, you know,
Speaker 2: when we had our also ra episode for the ram
Speaker 2: Trecap podcast, but more so looking at like they're not
Speaker 2: happy with Drew. They're not happy with this offense and
Speaker 2: how these wide receivers aren't being held to the high tier.
Speaker 2: And you can't really blame Kyler Murray. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: dealt with his injuries and he's only produced one top
Speaker 2: twenty five wide receiver in his career, Like it's crazy.
Speaker 2: DeAndre Hopkins twenty twenty is the only one. Everybody else
Speaker 2: outside the top twenty five. I mean, Christian Kirk was
Speaker 2: the closest one, which was in twenty twenty one where
Speaker 2: he finished wide receiver twenty six. So I think there
Speaker 2: needs to be a change at offensive coordinator. I do
Speaker 2: blame Kyler Murray.
Speaker 1: You do.
Speaker 3: Because I was very high on Marvin Harrison Junior this
Speaker 3: year for exactly the point that you made Lakwan like
Speaker 3: the only receiver he's really elevated was d hop And
Speaker 3: I was like, all right, he's got his new d
Speaker 3: hop here.
Speaker 1: But like you bring up.
Speaker 3: Christian Kirk and it's like, Okay, Christian Kirk got so
Speaker 3: much better when he left, Like I want Kyler Murray
Speaker 3: to be so good, but at like he's in what
Speaker 3: year six, year seven now, and it's like, also, I
Speaker 3: don't think the Cardinals have taken enough heat this year,
Speaker 3: Like they were what six and four controlling the division
Speaker 3: and then they lost like six of seven or whatever.
Speaker 1: It is like that's bad. It is bad. It is bad.
Speaker 1: And I think I think to your point, Lakwan, now
Speaker 1: you look at d hop you look at that season
Speaker 1: that he had with Kyler Murray, and it's more that
Speaker 1: liked hop elevated Kyler as opposed to the other way around, right,
Speaker 1: because Hopkins has been good wherever he's been, Right, Obviously,
Speaker 1: he was a stud in Houston, he was very good
Speaker 1: in Arizona. Even a diminished DeAndre Hopkins has had some
Speaker 1: moments in Kansas City. So it's apparent that really Kyler
Speaker 1: just sort of is who he is at this point.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think we know, I think this
Speaker 1: is gonna be the year because everybody, not everybody, but
Speaker 1: a lot of people were big on Kyler in having
Speaker 1: a good year, and it's been meh, to say the least.
Speaker 1: And I think this is gonna be the year that
Speaker 1: you see a lot of people just sort of let
Speaker 1: go of the rope on the idea that Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: can be an elite certainly any regular quarterback. I think
Speaker 1: that kind of passed already. But even the idea of
Speaker 1: him being any lead fantasy quarterback is pretty much over
Speaker 1: at this point. The other point I was really gonna
Speaker 1: make to what you were saying initially is this Quorter
Speaker 1: goes back to the old argument Lakwan of do you
Speaker 1: want an alpha in a bad offense versus maybe a
Speaker 1: secondary guy in a good offense? You know, I mean,
Speaker 1: like you know, I think I'm looking at it, Missie,
Speaker 1: like as a wide receiver thing, right, Like you know,
Speaker 1: do you want to be you would you rather have
Speaker 1: a T. Higgins? You know, who obviously is the number
Speaker 1: two there in a good passing offense in Cincinnati, versus say,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at a bad offense. I don't know Jacobe Myers,
Speaker 1: for instance, who is the number one wide receiver in
Speaker 1: a bad offense in Las Vegas?
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, I honestly T. Higgins just seems
Speaker 2: a lot better as overall as a talent. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you make that comparison and Jacoby, but I get it.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you look at the elik Neighbors like he's another
Speaker 2: one that we had the information that it's bad quarterback
Speaker 2: play there, but you're just hoping on the talent that
Speaker 2: he could just elevate a bad quarterback. Sometimes that happens,
Speaker 2: but it's a lot of situations that you can't really
Speaker 2: like predict like that.
Speaker 3: Neighbors and Thomas make me put a little bit more
Speaker 3: blame on Marvin Harrison Junior as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like Thomas balled out with Mac Jones. Yeah yeah, yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: I mean I think I think you sawt about elite
Speaker 1: neighbors too. Is another one who you know, the quarterback
Speaker 1: play was really bad. Four quarterbacks all awful, really bad.
Speaker 1: They're in uh, you know, in New York. But meliite
Speaker 1: neighbors still found a way to be productive more often
Speaker 1: than not. For sure.
Speaker 2: I like how I secretly put so much heat on
Speaker 2: Kyler Murray and the Cardinals right now? Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: an agenda.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think you were saying anything
Speaker 1: that we didn't already believe. It is just it's just
Speaker 1: vocalized a little bit right now, Floria, What was your
Speaker 1: big takeaway from the early part of this off season.
Speaker 3: What Brock Bauers and Trey McBride at the latest our
Speaker 3: second round picks next year. I think with a quarterback
Speaker 3: upgrade and at least in Vegas, you could make an
Speaker 3: argue I will never be the person taking a tight
Speaker 3: end in the first round. I also probably won't be
Speaker 3: taking one in the second round. But I do believe
Speaker 3: that these guys belong in the second round because of
Speaker 3: what they gave you this season. Like Rock Bauers tight
Speaker 3: end one on the year, Trey McBride right behind him.
Speaker 3: George Kittle was sandwiched in there, but it was a
Speaker 3: point apart from what McBride was. And I keep saying
Speaker 3: it like if Trey McBride caught two or three touchdowns,
Speaker 3: we're talking about him being the tight end one.
Speaker 1: So as much as we.
Speaker 3: Just poop pooed Kyler Murray for wide receivers and stuff,
Speaker 3: he has been elite at getting the ball to tight ends.
Speaker 3: Trey McBride was the tight end one last season in
Speaker 3: points per game with Kyler Murray. He was right behind
Speaker 3: Brock Bauers.
Speaker 1: This year and that.
Speaker 3: So yeah, Anders, I mean you speak about bad quarterback play.
Speaker 3: He did it with Gardner, Minshew Aoc and Desmond Ritter.
Speaker 3: Like I know that the Raiders, I don't know why,
Speaker 3: after being the front runner to get the first overall
Speaker 3: pick all year, we're like, let's win out a couple
Speaker 3: of games here and put ourselves at eighth overall.
Speaker 1: But even so, like they're not.
Speaker 3: Gonna make the same mistake they did last year, right
Speaker 3: where they're like, oh, we'll get our guy at eight
Speaker 3: and we won't bring in a veteran that we trust
Speaker 3: her something like that.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't see the quarterback play being this bad. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think those to me, move over Kittle, move over Kelsey,
Speaker 3: these are the new elite tight ends moving forward.
Speaker 1: To my opinion, I want to believe. I want to
Speaker 1: hope that the Raiders get better quarterback play next year.
Speaker 1: So I mean, so, this is but this is my
Speaker 1: This is not me throwing shade at the Raiders. This
Speaker 1: is me looking at this objectively because right now I
Speaker 1: think they're in the eighth spot in the draft order,
Speaker 1: which means, you know, barring them trading up, which is
Speaker 1: not impossible. But bar them trading up neither cam Ward. No,
Speaker 1: Suregar Sanders is going to be there. The list of
Speaker 1: free agent quarterbacks not great, great, right, so, like, I
Speaker 1: don't know unless they somehow feel like they can resurrect
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers or I mean just you
Speaker 1: look at that, you go up and down the list
Speaker 1: of free agent quarterbacks. It's not great. It might be
Speaker 1: another year, maybe Jamis.
Speaker 2: Maybe Hey, Ryan Tannehill, why not justin.
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for you. I'm waiting for either of you
Speaker 1: to say a name that excites me, and you have
Speaker 1: not done that yet.
Speaker 3: The only name that excites me realistic, I mean Russell
Speaker 3: Wilson little, but it's Sam Darnold.
Speaker 1: But JJ McCarthy, yeah, I mean less they want to
Speaker 1: make a trade. Although if you're the Vikings, do you
Speaker 1: want to move JJ McCarthy right now? It just doesn't
Speaker 1: seem like you want to do that because Sam Don
Speaker 1: has been great. He's not a guy you feel like
Speaker 1: you can rock with for the next five to seven years, right, Like,
Speaker 1: just it's just not so. I don't think the moving.
Speaker 1: I don't see him the moving that Russ I think
Speaker 1: stays in Pittsburgh. Because what he did for them. Do
Speaker 1: you think Sam moved, I think I think I don't
Speaker 1: think Sam moves. I think Vikings going next year making
Speaker 1: a decision about who's the starter. But I think they
Speaker 1: have both Sam and JJ. I think those are both
Speaker 1: their quarterbacks. I think I think the option potentially out
Speaker 1: there is Justin Fields. That may be the option for them,
Speaker 1: And I know that was it feel it felt like
Speaker 1: that was part of the equation last year, that maybe
Speaker 1: they would bring in Justin Fields, and it didn't quite happen.
Speaker 1: They were also targeting Michael PINNOCKX and the the Falcons
Speaker 1: pulled the rug out from underneath them by drafting Pinicks
Speaker 1: as early as they did, So maybe it's Fields. I
Speaker 1: don't know that that's a huge quarterback.
Speaker 3: Up Tommy Putlitz is out there, Tommy, oh my god, no,
Speaker 3: so like Justin Fields.
Speaker 1: So like Justin Fields. I don't know if that's a
Speaker 1: huge quarterback up grade for them next year.
Speaker 2: It feels like a giant to me. I'm going to
Speaker 2: say it now. I feel like he feels like he
Speaker 2: could probably operate that offense and save you know, whatever
Speaker 2: left of that staff is left. But honestly, I don't
Speaker 2: think the Vikings move on from Sam Donald, So I
Speaker 2: think that's our question. That'd be really silly, like why
Speaker 2: would you do that? And what if Sam Donald shows
Speaker 2: exactly who he is next year? So you keep them
Speaker 2: and then you have JJ there for the replacement.
Speaker 3: But they're gonna have to pay Sam though, You're gonna
Speaker 3: have to give him a lot of money.
Speaker 2: Maybe you tag him. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think obviously I think that's I think that's
Speaker 1: what happens. I think I think they tag him next year.
Speaker 1: That makes sense. Also, the idea of Justin Field's going
Speaker 1: to the Giants makes me sad. From elite neighbors, it
Speaker 1: makes it makes my heart hurt. From lak n it
Speaker 1: does it just does what pick are they there? They're
Speaker 1: the second pick. They've fallen a couple of spots because
Speaker 1: they decided to go out. They just had to go
Speaker 1: out and like you know, just wax the Colts last week. So, uh,
Speaker 1: they've fallen a little bit in in their draft, your
Speaker 1: draft spot, I believe, as I pulled this up real quick,
Speaker 1: they're number four at the moment.
Speaker 3: Why the Titans are clearly taking a QB the Browns.
Speaker 3: Who knows and the Patriots I think are just going
Speaker 3: to sell that pick, so maybe interesting draft time for real.
Speaker 1: My last thought on your point, though, is I definitely
Speaker 1: think Bowers and McBride. I can't think of them in
Speaker 1: the first round. I don't know that there's any tight
Speaker 1: end right now that's worthy of a first round pick,
Speaker 1: just because if you're doing that, I need that tight
Speaker 1: end to be such a single player advantage at the
Speaker 1: position that it's impossible to ignore. That was why in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, like twenty twenty three, we were looking
Speaker 1: at Travis Kelce in the first round, because in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two he was one hundred points better than the
Speaker 1: tight end too, Like he was way above everybody else.
Speaker 1: Brock Bearers, is that an amazing season. He's fifteen points
Speaker 1: ahead of George Kittle right now, Like that's not so
Speaker 1: much of an advantage that I'm taking him in the
Speaker 1: first round, second round all day. I will take Brock
Speaker 1: Bauers for sure. My early takeaway is that it feels
Speaker 1: like running backs are start to make a comeback in
Speaker 1: fantasy football. This was a year that we had more
Speaker 1: guys at two hundred and fifty or more points than
Speaker 1: we've had in a really long time, and it feels
Speaker 1: like more teams are starting to lean on one running
Speaker 1: back than ever before. So this year, ten different, eleven
Speaker 1: different running backs had at least two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: Fantasy points. It's been a while since we've had that
Speaker 1: many get to at least the two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: point barrier. Here, and you go up and down the list, right,
Speaker 1: you look at the guys. Saquon obviously a workhorse, Bijon
Speaker 1: for the most part of workhorse, Dereck Henry Davon, a Chan,
Speaker 1: Josh Jacobs, Kyron Williams, Alvin Kamara went healthy. You know,
Speaker 1: Chase Brown took over as the workhorse guy there in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati one Zach Moss went down, James Connor the same thing.
Speaker 1: Tuba Hubbard missed two hundred and fifty points. Probably would
Speaker 1: have gotten there if he doesn't get hurt. He was
Speaker 1: a guy that was by himself. He could say the
Speaker 1: same for Joe Mixon, Aaron Jones. So many guys that
Speaker 1: we haven't you know, we just haven't seen this number
Speaker 1: of guys that you look at and you're like, there
Speaker 1: wasn't really a lot of competition for them for long
Speaker 1: stretches of the season. It gives me hope that we
Speaker 1: can start to draft guys and have them be true
Speaker 1: RB ones, and maybe they're not all first round guys, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think when you look at first round
Speaker 1: running backs next year, you're looking at uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Jean Robinson for sure. You know. I think I think
Speaker 1: you can make a case for Bressee Hall. I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see a lot of people draft Saquon, although
Speaker 1: I've got a theory a little bit later on in
Speaker 1: the show as to why maybe that's a bad idea.
Speaker 1: I think Gibbs, that Gibbs is going to be one.
Speaker 1: But I think we can see more guys that we're
Speaker 1: going to draft as RB ones who we can sort
Speaker 1: of make a strong case for them having solid workloads
Speaker 1: and not having enough competition that you have to really
Speaker 1: be worried about it. I don't know if I am
Speaker 1: I crazy on that, Florio.
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: And to me, I do think.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of like Derrick Henry, He's not going
Speaker 3: to be a first round pick because of age, concern
Speaker 3: mixing and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But it also lines up.
Speaker 3: Remember, like I know, this is like forever ago, but
Speaker 3: like weeks four or five, six, in the middle of
Speaker 3: the season, there was a lot of stuff coming out
Speaker 3: about defenses playing.
Speaker 1: Too high at the highest rate ever.
Speaker 3: And trying to take away the long ball from a
Speaker 3: lot of these explosive quarterbacks. The correction from the offense
Speaker 3: has been our right, We're just gonna keep running the
Speaker 3: ball again. So it's a reminder that time is a
Speaker 3: flat circle, and as offenses adjust, the defenses that adjust,
Speaker 3: and then the offense adjusts back, and it's just kind
Speaker 3: of a repeated thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I think this is gonna be a situation
Speaker 1: where this year is and maybe maybe we see running
Speaker 1: backs pulled up into the first round a little bit more.
Speaker 1: I'm not sold on that part of the equation yet,
Speaker 1: but I do feel good about guys. You'll be drafted,
Speaker 1: probably in the second round coming up.
Speaker 2: I'm still faingning first round running backs like I think
Speaker 2: I'm done. Like I think I'm done, like you. There's
Speaker 2: one name you didn't mention, Christian McCaffrey. Word does he said?
Speaker 2: Is he still in the first round? Like that's your guy?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think he's a first round guy. I
Speaker 1: think he's a second I think he's a solid second
Speaker 1: round guy.
Speaker 2: Does the fantasy streets agree because we all know how
Speaker 2: this works, we all know how the offseason works. We
Speaker 2: forget begin to meet with and then a big name.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the case for him and I could see,
Speaker 1: like I could see him sneaking late into the first
Speaker 1: round being that guy you take around the turn. And
Speaker 1: I think the argument is, yeah, obviously this year injury
Speaker 1: was a big driving factor, but the Niners offense is
Speaker 1: still going to be pretty good. Maybe it's not going
Speaker 1: to be where it was a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: it's still going to be pretty good. And we know,
Speaker 1: when healthy, McCaffrey's still going to be out there for
Speaker 1: like seventy five eighty percent of the snaps. He's still
Speaker 1: going to get the majority of the opportunity, So volume
Speaker 1: is still going to be there. He's still a talented player.
Speaker 1: You worry about the health, but I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the factors that made him a first round pick
Speaker 1: for all these years, a lot of those things are
Speaker 1: still going to be in play next year. And I
Speaker 1: think that's going to be the argument. But I do,
Speaker 1: I do think you do think he's gonna be around,
Speaker 1: you know, eleven twelve somewhere around there.
Speaker 2: Another argument is going to probably be who do you
Speaker 2: draft as the handcuff? Is it Jordan Mason or Isaac Grendo.
Speaker 2: That's gonna be the real nasty.
Speaker 3: That is gonna be a draft another running back. It's yeah,
Speaker 3: It's just that's.
Speaker 1: How it goes. Yeah, when you know when they're drafting
Speaker 1: Woody Marks out of USC and like putting him in
Speaker 1: there or something like that, you're gonna be like, now
Speaker 1: what Wow? So I mentioned obviously for a lot of folks,
Speaker 1: Daily Fantasy is gonna be a big part of Week eighteen.
Speaker 1: Have some some kind of options for you as we're
Speaker 1: diving through, and then later on the show we'll give
Speaker 1: you our our lineups for Daily for this week. But
Speaker 1: how to a few categories. First, the player that is
Speaker 1: worth spending up for four week eighteen and laquad. If
Speaker 1: you're breaking the bank on a certain player, who is
Speaker 1: it going to be for you?
Speaker 2: I'm dropping a big bag on Joe burrow Man. Honestly,
Speaker 2: at seventy five hundred, you kind of have to build
Speaker 2: around your roster with him. But last time he played
Speaker 2: the Steelers eighty two combined points. Last time these two
Speaker 2: teams met. He put up three hundred yards and three
Speaker 2: touchdowns last time, and Joe Burrow has been on a
Speaker 2: straight heater man. I mean, he's been going out there
Speaker 2: putting up huge points and they have everything to play for.
Speaker 2: They need to make sure they handle business win this
Speaker 2: game just so that they can have a shot going
Speaker 2: into the playoffs. And honestly, Joe Burrow showing his frustrations
Speaker 2: with this team has been, you know, great to see
Speaker 2: from even though he's been playing his way into the
Speaker 2: MVP conversation with Josh Allen Lamar Jackson. So he's going
Speaker 2: to be going out there to handle business and then
Speaker 2: in a big way in the Steelers secondary, they've been
Speaker 2: kind of sketchy entire season. So, like I said, eighty
Speaker 2: two combined points last time they met, and Burrow took
Speaker 2: an l last time, so I know he's looking for revenge.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Also, you know, keep in mind this might possibly
Speaker 1: be the last time we see Burrow, Jamar Chase, and
Speaker 1: T Higgins all on the field together. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: the Bengals hoping to make the playoffs, but also the
Speaker 1: chance that maybe we don't see T. Higgins come back
Speaker 1: next year, so maybe they go out with one last
Speaker 1: big bang on the game that they have to win
Speaker 1: to have a shot the playoffs.
Speaker 3: And the Steelers might not need anything that, Like if
Speaker 3: the Ravens win the game before that, they can't win
Speaker 3: the division.
Speaker 1: So could get a lot of backups too, Very true,
Speaker 1: very very true. Also though, Florio, you got a guy
Speaker 1: that has a lot to play for as well and
Speaker 1: has a very good matchup this week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the matchup was what I circled because it's Bucky Irving.
Speaker 3: He's seventy seven hundred, which sounds expensive, but then you
Speaker 3: look at what he's done recently, like the floor is
Speaker 3: super safe, he brings the highest ceiling. He bawled out
Speaker 3: the first time he played the Saints, but now the
Speaker 3: Saints in their last two games have allowed almost three
Speaker 3: hundred rushing yards and three touchdowns to running backs. So,
Speaker 3: and like you said, there's a plenty of incentive there
Speaker 3: because the Bucks, they are in the best situation you
Speaker 3: want a team to be in. This week, you win
Speaker 3: and you're in like they know everything is on the
Speaker 3: line for them this week. They're not gonna get cute
Speaker 3: and pull their starters or something like that. And something
Speaker 3: that I talked about the Bucks a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3: They got a little bit of the Lions in them
Speaker 3: in this sense of like they could be up four scores,
Speaker 3: they're still throwing the ball around.
Speaker 1: The park and stuff.
Speaker 3: So and if this is the case this week, I
Speaker 3: expect it to be a lot of Bucky even grinding
Speaker 3: out the clock.
Speaker 1: So yeah, he was.
Speaker 3: I also tried to get Baker and Mike Evans in
Speaker 3: They're a little bit more pricier, but Bucky was the
Speaker 3: first name that I selected outside of I want.
Speaker 1: It to be different.
Speaker 3: But the name that you have next Marcus is a
Speaker 3: slam dunkyst Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that was a first one by where like
Speaker 1: by far that I was gonna go after. And that's
Speaker 1: Jean Robinson. The Falcons obviously they need the Bucks to lose.
Speaker 1: They have to win. They need the Bucks to lose
Speaker 1: in order to have a shot at the division title.
Speaker 1: But they play at the same time. They're in the
Speaker 1: early slate of games on Sunday. But Jean Robinson's been
Speaker 1: fantastic over the back part of the season. Most of
Speaker 1: the season, I shouldn't say back par season, but most
Speaker 1: of the season, but especially the last few weeks, has
Speaker 1: really I think gone to another level. He's gonna be
Speaker 1: one of those guys that when we talk next year,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be an easy first round pick for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, but also a really good matchup coming
Speaker 1: up this week. He's gonna get plenty of opportunity to
Speaker 1: get the football and has a really good shot to
Speaker 1: go out and put up a really good number against
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers, whose run defense has been bad all
Speaker 1: year long has not gotten any better. So even at
Speaker 1: eighty five hundred, it is worth making space for him
Speaker 1: in your lineup. Feels like the guy you start with
Speaker 1: and then you build around after that to try and
Speaker 1: make sure you can build a pretty good line of
Speaker 1: Jeon Robinson feels like a slam dunk value option. Lakwan,
Speaker 1: who's your your value option? Oh?
Speaker 2: I mean, look, we're going to stay in the same
Speaker 2: game that you just left. I mean, Michael Pennix Junior.
Speaker 2: This is a great value play, a fifty four under.
Speaker 2: I mean, Pennis look good these last two games and
Speaker 2: this offense, and we're seeing Zach Robinson, the offensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: kind of crack open that playbook as the weeks have
Speaker 2: gone on, and honestly, it looks like he can handle
Speaker 2: business within the division, being that the Falcons are four
Speaker 2: and one, averaging damn there thirty points per game against them.
Speaker 2: So we're looking at this offense and how Pennix has
Speaker 2: looked these last two games. You might look at the
Speaker 2: score or the box score and try to compare to
Speaker 2: last year games with Kirk Cousins are kind of similar,
Speaker 2: but you're getting a lot more out of Michael Pennis.
Speaker 2: You're punting the ball less, you're getting more yards per play,
Speaker 2: you're getting more plays per drive, you're getting more red
Speaker 2: zone drives and opportunities to score. So with this Panthers defense,
Speaker 2: they've been very generous to quarterbacks all season long, and
Speaker 2: Pennix has shown that he can run this offense, get
Speaker 2: out of the pocket, get out of trouble, unlike Kirk
Speaker 2: Cousins playing when saying in mud how he's running. But
Speaker 2: more so, this offense just looks like they're able to
Speaker 2: score way more points. So this puts Pennis in the
Speaker 2: perfect position and situation that have the opportunity to put
Speaker 2: up big points.
Speaker 1: I do think Pennis is going to be an interesting
Speaker 1: talking point this offseason where we're drafting him because he's
Speaker 1: played well in a couple of starts, maybe not necessarily
Speaker 1: eye popping numbers, but you got to be happy with
Speaker 1: kind of what you've seen out of him. So I'm
Speaker 1: curious where people are gonna feel comfortable taking him in
Speaker 1: drafts next year. For sure, Florio, you got a running
Speaker 1: back who's starter is not likely to see the field
Speaker 1: this week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they've already. They've ruled it's Michael Carter. They have
Speaker 3: ruled out both Benson and James Connor, I believe already.
Speaker 3: So it's gonna be the Michael Carter Show, which is
Speaker 3: crazy because he's only played two games and it's the
Speaker 3: last two weeks. But hey, i mean, if he's got,
Speaker 3: like last week, thirteen carries in those two games, he
Speaker 3: has seven targets, so we know he could he's caught
Speaker 3: all of them as well, so he's more of a
Speaker 3: floor play. But the forty nine ers we've seen and
Speaker 3: this is something that you spoke about a lot in
Speaker 3: the later part of the season, Marcus, like their run
Speaker 3: defense wasn't the same as it has been in past
Speaker 3: years and earlier on in the year, and Michael Carter like,
Speaker 3: I'm going to talk about it again, and like you
Speaker 3: want to target people who have something to play for
Speaker 3: this week, and I know the Cardinals are eliminated, but
Speaker 3: Michael Carter's playing, like again, he only played the last
Speaker 3: two weeks this season. He is playing for his next contract,
Speaker 3: is the next job. He wants to put good stuff
Speaker 3: out there on tape. So at forty seven hundred, I
Speaker 3: was like, yeah, you know what, I'll take the safe
Speaker 3: floor with the chance of him hitting a little bit
Speaker 3: more because it's a game with two teams that are
Speaker 3: out of it, so he's going to be trying. Maybe
Speaker 3: the forty nine ers though rest one of their defensive
Speaker 3: starters or something like that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Saw him at that price and I was like, all right, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'll take the shot on him.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's been an interesting kind of a side note
Speaker 1: to this is that a few years ago, Michael Carter
Speaker 1: Javonte Williams coming out of North Carolina about the same time.
Speaker 1: It was like, man, both these guys seem set up
Speaker 1: for huge success, and neither one of them have really
Speaker 1: reached that. Javonte has been a little bit better, but
Speaker 1: even he has sort of had to deal with between
Speaker 1: injuries and now a coach that doesn't want to seem
Speaker 1: to use him. Carter's always just been stuck behind guys.
Speaker 1: It just never quite turned out the way that I
Speaker 1: thought it would when they were both coming out of college.
Speaker 1: For me, my value pick at fifty six hundred is
Speaker 1: going to be Kenneth gain Well, because we know Saquon
Speaker 1: is not going to play, so we know it's gonna
Speaker 1: be Kenneth gain while getting a whole lot of opportunity,
Speaker 1: good matchup against a Giants run defense that's been bad
Speaker 1: when they've played all their guys. You know, curious to
Speaker 1: see how much of their starters play this week, or
Speaker 1: a team that really has nothing to play for in anything.
Speaker 1: You know, if you are the front office, you would
Speaker 1: prefer to lose this game to try to get you
Speaker 1: a little bit closer to that number one spot in
Speaker 1: the draft. So you know, I would imagine their starters
Speaker 1: begin the game, but whether or not they finish the
Speaker 1: game is a different situation. But I do see a
Speaker 1: good workload for Kenneth Gaine, while an opportunity to put
Speaker 1: up some good numbers with Saquon sitting this one out
Speaker 1: in the regular season finale. Meanwhile, red flags Lakwan now
Speaker 1: this one, I see the name, you would know better
Speaker 1: than the rest of us how this might potentially turn out.
Speaker 1: But still kind of surprised me that you put this
Speaker 1: guy here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, red flag. If you're going to be a billion
Speaker 2: your lineups with Kira Williams in there in fresh of all,
Speaker 2: I'm going to break the rules oral quick, A huge
Speaker 2: red flag on the NFL. How does he not get
Speaker 2: the Pro Bowl?
Speaker 1: Bull?
Speaker 2: Like, how is Kira Williams not in the Pro Bowl
Speaker 2: but Josh Jacobs is when we're looking at almost thirteen
Speaker 2: hundred yards, fourteen touchdowns with three hundred and fifty touches
Speaker 2: Like Kyra Willis has been amazing this season, I mean
Speaker 2: seven games with consecutive touchdowns at least one Like, how
Speaker 2: does he not get in?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 2: Huge red flag on the NFL for that, man, I'm
Speaker 2: really upset about that. But more so, he could be
Speaker 2: very limited in this game. There's nothing really for him
Speaker 2: to play for. He could possibly be inactive. But McVeigh
Speaker 2: talked about it earlier to see other earlier this week,
Speaker 2: his excitement to see Blake Korm get the opportunity, So
Speaker 2: don't try to fit him into your lineup with the
Speaker 2: matchup being great for him On the ground and for
Speaker 2: him to pad these numbers even more even though not
Speaker 2: going to the Pro Bowl. But there could be a
Speaker 2: possibility that he could have a very limited role.
Speaker 1: So your point about the Pro Bowl here's so much
Speaker 1: and I never get it worked up about Pro Bowl snubs,
Speaker 1: is that by the time you get to the game,
Speaker 1: about half the league ends of getting named to the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it works out.
Speaker 3: He could be like the Ravens have nine and the
Speaker 3: Bills have two.
Speaker 1: I mean, just like it's like, you know, between whoever's
Speaker 1: going to the Super Bowl, obviously those players aren't gonna
Speaker 1: be there. You're gonna have guys who were hurt, guys
Speaker 1: who just would rather opt out, like you know, eventually everybody.
Speaker 1: That's how you end up with Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Huntley.
Speaker 1: Like that's how it happens, you know, So Tyler Tyron Taylor.
Speaker 1: It is for who's your red flag for the week?
Speaker 3: Uh, anyone not on a team playing for anything, Like
Speaker 3: like I had Josh Allen on Fantasy Lovey yesterday because
Speaker 3: he's gonna start.
Speaker 1: But that's it.
Speaker 3: He's gonna play a handful of snaps, they said, and
Speaker 3: that's it. I expect maybe James cooking that same game,
Speaker 3: he's like nineteen yards away from a thousand. Maybe they
Speaker 3: let him get that and then pull him. The Patriots
Speaker 3: are already kind of toying with the idea of sitting
Speaker 3: Drake Maye to quote unquote protect him, aka protect the
Speaker 3: number one pick.
Speaker 1: So like stuff like that.
Speaker 3: Even on primarily it's on teams that are still going
Speaker 3: to the playoffs that have already clinched their playoff spot
Speaker 3: because they're gonna definitely sit all of their guys. But
Speaker 3: like teams that are out of it, we see a
Speaker 3: lot of the times in Week eighteen they want to
Speaker 3: give their younger guys a shot. See what they have
Speaker 3: put some stuff on films. So for me, when when
Speaker 3: we go over our DFS lineups and I think your
Speaker 3: guys are very similar, I targeted teams that are still
Speaker 3: fighting for their playoff lives because those are the only
Speaker 3: teams treating Week eighteen like a regular week, like one
Speaker 3: night you were going out there and you need to win.
Speaker 3: So that anyone not on one of those teams is
Speaker 3: not someone I'm really all that excited to include in
Speaker 3: my lineup.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that, I think that's very true.
Speaker 1: Especially if you're playing DFS this week. You just want
Speaker 1: guys that you feel like has a good they have
Speaker 1: a good shot to play all four quarters or at least,
Speaker 1: you know, three plus quarters of their game to give
Speaker 1: you a decent number similar to your thought. Though, I
Speaker 1: think Nico Collins is one that I would tend to
Speaker 1: shy away from just because he's still priced really high.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's considered obviously, like the way he's performed
Speaker 1: this year, is one of the higher upper echelon wide
Speaker 1: receivers at seventy eight hundred, going against a Titans defense
Speaker 1: that's been tough on wide receivers all year long. In
Speaker 1: a situation where the Texans say they're going to play
Speaker 1: their starters, but for how long? You know, how long
Speaker 1: are we are they going to see CJ. Stroud and
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon and Nico Collins and those guys. Because the
Speaker 1: Texans are locked into a playoff spot. They are the
Speaker 1: four seed pretty much regardless. Nothing can change that. So
Speaker 1: at some point there's nothing to gain by having your
Speaker 1: guys in there the whole time. So it's a combination
Speaker 1: of not expecting to see them for a full game.
Speaker 1: Also the fact that you know the matchup's not good.
Speaker 1: I think that's a way to get away from Nico
Speaker 1: Collins in your daily lineups. This week, I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: a quick break come back. We're gonna give you our
Speaker 1: full DFS lineups four week eighteen, plus some hot takes
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five. Probably won't be the last time
Speaker 1: we do hot takes for twenty twenty five. That's coming
Speaker 1: up next on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. So we
Speaker 1: gave us, We gave you rather some your guys to
Speaker 1: drop the bag on, some values, some guys to avoid.
Speaker 1: Now we just put together and put together a full
Speaker 1: daily lineup for folks out there who are still tinkering
Speaker 1: around that sort of thing. In a week eighteen, I mean, Lacon,
Speaker 1: take us through your lineup. Please.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I love my lineup actually, Like I was
Speaker 2: like looking at this like a man, I haven't built
Speaker 2: such a strong lineup in a very long time. But
Speaker 2: at the quarterback position, I'm going bow Knicks. He hasn't
Speaker 2: disappointed me in the last couple of weeks, and he's
Speaker 2: just been playing great football. And then you dropped the
Speaker 2: bag on Vijon for the reasons that you explained earlier.
Speaker 2: You already know that these last couple of weeks, he's
Speaker 2: just been phenomenal through the Fantasy playoffs, so why not
Speaker 2: top it off with a great season. Kenny Gang, Well,
Speaker 2: Kenny g knows how to play a tune when he's
Speaker 2: given opportunities. The matchup is just way too juicy. Such
Speaker 2: a value play too. Where he's at Marvin Mims as
Speaker 2: my number one wide receiver that I just chose. I
Speaker 2: had to smash him in there with that connection with
Speaker 2: bow Knicks, just based on the connection they've had these
Speaker 2: last couple of weeks. Sean Payton knows who Marvin Mims him, Like,
Speaker 2: it's incredible that he knows who this guy is.
Speaker 1: Did he just find out? Did you just find out?
Speaker 2: Feels like that like Jingle all the way when Jamie
Speaker 2: goes he knows my name, like Floria, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm talking about, Like it's crazy that Marvin Min's has
Speaker 2: been showing up on that people. But JSN, we already
Speaker 2: know great value there where he's at. And then Jordan
Speaker 2: Addison those three three wide receivers. I love that combo there.
Speaker 2: And then I have John Newsmith at the tight end position.
Speaker 2: Self explanatory. It's starting forget for the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: He's probably gonna be scoring so many touchdowns if the
Speaker 2: Dolphins make the playoffs. Jalen Coker man, he's just showing
Speaker 2: up since injury. He's just shown up in flash create
Speaker 2: great connection with Bryce Young making the big plays when
Speaker 2: he's getting the opportunity. And then I go with the
Speaker 2: Jaguars defense. The last four games, they've a lot less
Speaker 2: than eighteen points per game. I don't know why they're
Speaker 2: showing up and showing out. I don't know why they're
Speaker 2: taking the ball away two sacks per game in the
Speaker 2: last four games, like they're getting at their quarterback. I
Speaker 2: don't know how they're showing up, but they're showing up
Speaker 2: and showing out. So that's my dff DFS lineup that
Speaker 2: I think is pretty strong.
Speaker 1: I do love you going John Smith though there right Like,
Speaker 1: if he's gonna punish me, he's gonna punish me. I
Speaker 1: should at least get some benefit out of it. So
Speaker 1: I guess I respect the hustle for sure. Floria, what's
Speaker 1: your lineup look like?
Speaker 3: I realized that my lineup is kind of like a
Speaker 3: combination of the two of your guys, but I went
Speaker 3: with Sam Darnold at quarterback, because you guys have watched
Speaker 3: the Lions defense as of late, and y'all know their
Speaker 3: offense is awesome. So to win against the Lions you
Speaker 3: have to outrun them in a track meet. I want
Speaker 3: that in my lineup. I've already spoke about Bucky Irving
Speaker 3: and Michael Carter at my running backs. Jefferson was really expensive,
Speaker 3: but I went with Jordan Addison to complete that stack there,
Speaker 3: which Addison's been bawling out as of late, and I
Speaker 3: don't think he gets enough credit. Jalen McMillan has been
Speaker 3: awesome as of late, sixteen Fantasy points per game in
Speaker 3: the last month, six touchdowns in those four games. Courtland
Speaker 3: Sutton because again it's a game where the Broncos need
Speaker 3: to win. The Chiefs are going to be sitting a
Speaker 3: lot of their guys. I have Sam Laporta the opposite
Speaker 3: of my QB wide receiver stack because we talked about
Speaker 3: this on Fantasy Live yesterday. In the last like half
Speaker 3: of the season, Sam Laporter is giving you Sam Laporter
Speaker 3: type numbers again, so what I think would be a
Speaker 3: high scoring game.
Speaker 1: I went there. I got Blake Corman.
Speaker 3: I was surprised you did not LQ rumors that he
Speaker 3: is going to get a lot of volume to really
Speaker 3: showcase what he can be. He really hasn't had that
Speaker 3: opportunity yet this year. And then I went with Seattle
Speaker 3: because Jimmy G Man like it's gonna be Jimmy G
Speaker 3: the whole game. He's rocking the gray hair and all that.
Speaker 3: I'm like, all right, yeah, I'll get the Seahawks for
Speaker 3: super cheap because everyone it's priced as if the RAMS
Speaker 3: starters are playing, but we all know they're not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I trust me the text chain I have.
Speaker 1: I'm sure if Jimmy G starts playing like Jimmy garoppolo,
Speaker 1: it will be lighting up with people saying, you know,
Speaker 1: it'll be like the It'll be the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing
Speaker 1: at the screen meme like yeah, I know that, I
Speaker 1: know that guy. I've seen that guy.
Speaker 3: He took shots at you guys, so you guys got
Speaker 3: to take shots back, Like I mean, like.
Speaker 1: With his brother like out here texting or ig and
Speaker 1: jokes and stuff about Kyle Shanahan. It's like, bro, you
Speaker 1: you might want to keep quiet, want to pipe down,
Speaker 1: They want to stick this out. You might want you
Speaker 1: might just want to sit this one out. Bro for sure. Well,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned Florio, your lineup kind of a mishmash
Speaker 1: of what the Lakwan and I put together. I went
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold at the quarterback spot, Jon Robinson, I mentioned
Speaker 1: the guy to pay up for, so I actually started
Speaker 1: with Robinson there and trying of worked around that. But but
Speaker 1: Jon Robinson for sure. Against the Panthers I wanted. I
Speaker 1: took Isaac Garrindo because look, he's gonna get a lot
Speaker 1: of opportunity to close this thing out. They got Josh
Speaker 1: Dobbs starting at quarterback with no brock Perty. I can't
Speaker 1: imagine they're gonna let Josh Dobbs throw the ball a
Speaker 1: ton of time, so it could be a run heavy
Speaker 1: game plan for the forty nine ers against a not
Speaker 1: so great Cardinals run defense. Went with Jordan Addison to
Speaker 1: complete the stack. Also to Calvin Ridley, who has been
Speaker 1: a little bit better with Mason Rudolph than I anticipated,
Speaker 1: and again sort of with Houston. I know defensively they've
Speaker 1: been pretty good, but I don't know how much they're
Speaker 1: gonna play their guys coming up this week, and so
Speaker 1: I do think that the Titans want to finish strong.
Speaker 1: We'll try to want to try to finish with a win.
Speaker 1: I like Calvin Ridley. Against the Texans, I took Jayleen McMillan.
Speaker 1: I sort of went with both Addison and McMillan because
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure who I wanted at quarterback initially, but
Speaker 1: I knew I wanted to stack a wide receiver with
Speaker 1: the quarterback. But I also didn't necessarily want to pay
Speaker 1: up for the wide receiver ones in Minnesota and Tampa.
Speaker 1: It ended up going. I ended up with the Darnold
Speaker 1: Addison stack. But I took McMillan nonetheless, because he's been
Speaker 1: playing some really good football in a game again that
Speaker 1: the Bucks have to have coming up this week. Took
Speaker 1: Mike Gasiki. I just didn't love any of the tight
Speaker 1: end options either. They were sort of higher priced guys
Speaker 1: in bad matchups. They were guys that I didn't think
Speaker 1: we're going to play the majority of the snaps. I
Speaker 1: just didn't really love the situation. It's not a bad
Speaker 1: matchup for Gasiki against Pittsburgh. The Bengals are likely to
Speaker 1: play their guys for the entirety of four quarters, and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe he sneaks one into the end zone
Speaker 1: and does it really awful gritty, and I end up
Speaker 1: feeling okay about it. My flex option, I went with
Speaker 1: the Kenneth Gainwell and mentioned him expected to get the
Speaker 1: majority of the work with no Saquon Barklay, and I
Speaker 1: finished it up. I know, I said the Texans probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't play their guys the whole time, but also the
Speaker 1: Titans still give up a lot of sacks and Mason
Speaker 1: Rudolph might throw it to the other team once or twice,
Speaker 1: So I still feel okay with taking the Texans defense
Speaker 1: against the Tennessee Titans this week. So there you go.
Speaker 1: Those are our lineups. You know, unless you record this
Speaker 1: and are like tracking this by hand, this is probably
Speaker 1: the last we're gonna speak of these on this show.
Speaker 1: So all right, as exactly as we finish out this show,
Speaker 1: time to start our look aheads for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Will certainly not be the last time that we do this,
Speaker 1: but figure we might as well started off with some
Speaker 1: hot takes. So what are things, Laqua, that we are
Speaker 1: going to be talking about on this very podcast about
Speaker 1: a year from now?
Speaker 2: Cale Williams being the steel of the draft man, and look, honestly,
Speaker 2: we look at his body at work this entire season.
Speaker 2: There's been sixteen games that I've said, Wow, that was impressive. Wow,
Speaker 2: how did he get that off? And like, man, the
Speaker 2: Bears have found their franchise quarterback. But it's like, overall,
Speaker 2: despite being sacked sixty seven times, which is insane, only
Speaker 2: eleven turnovers and he had nine games without an interception,
Speaker 2: So we know Cale Williams can play on an NFL level,
Speaker 2: it's just the issues around him. So if the head
Speaker 2: coaching search goes on and they bring in an offensive mind,
Speaker 2: big Ben Johnson could be in mind. Cliff Kingsbury wants
Speaker 2: a second shot at becoming a head coach. I think
Speaker 2: that there is going to be opportunity to jump on
Speaker 2: Caleb Willimans very early in drafts and he's going to
Speaker 2: be a huge deal because he's still finished as a
Speaker 2: top fifteen quarterback. Like I don't know how he did it,
Speaker 2: but he did it. So that just shows that there's
Speaker 2: still some type of opportunity for him to go out
Speaker 2: there and put up big points if we get the
Speaker 2: right offensive staff out there to get him to be
Speaker 2: unlocking that potential.
Speaker 1: I don't disagree with that at all. I feel like
Speaker 1: he's going to be a bigger steal in like home
Speaker 1: leagues than he will be like with the nutcases like us,
Speaker 1: we're going to be drafting in like March and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. I think a lot of people are gonna
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, I like Caleb Williams like, but I
Speaker 1: think in home leagues, with people who aren't insane like
Speaker 1: the rest of them, they're going to look at Kale
Speaker 1: and be like, honestee, the big deal, and like he's
Speaker 1: gonna fall. And so I think in those leagues he's
Speaker 1: absolutely gonna be a steal for sure. Florio your your
Speaker 1: hot take circles around another rookie quarterback from this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you might have heard me already talk him up,
Speaker 3: but Drake May. I am a huge Drake May supporter.
Speaker 1: And I'll be honest.
Speaker 3: Coming out of college, I was like, he's got a
Speaker 3: lot of potential, but I want to see it translate
Speaker 3: a little bit because where he went to.
Speaker 1: School and all that.
Speaker 3: And I'm telling you, within like three games of watching
Speaker 3: him play, I was like, I am one hundred percent sold.
Speaker 1: And I keep saying it. Don't look at the box
Speaker 1: scores like look.
Speaker 3: You got eight months before we have to draft for
Speaker 3: you non sicicos and stuff. Just go watch some of
Speaker 3: Drake May's games like strong Arm is Mobile Playmaker. And
Speaker 3: one of the things the Patriots spoke about was they
Speaker 3: asked him not to run because they're not competing for
Speaker 3: anything this year, and they were like, if we were
Speaker 3: in the hunt, he'd be running a whole lot more,
Speaker 3: which is awesome for fantasy. And then on top of it,
Speaker 3: he's doing it with probably the worst O line in
Speaker 3: weapons in the NFL. And not only do the Patriots
Speaker 3: have the first pick, and I said, they're probably gonna
Speaker 3: sell it off, they have all of their picks, they
Speaker 3: have the most cap space, and.
Speaker 1: Unlike quarterback, there are good wide.
Speaker 3: Receivers out there this year. There's t Higgins, Keenan, Amari Cooper,
Speaker 3: Chris Godwin, d Hop Marquis Brown.
Speaker 1: And then the list gets a little bit dinner.
Speaker 3: But like you can add competent has catchers, you add
Speaker 3: a couple of old linemen and then maybe a change
Speaker 3: at play caller, and I think Drake May could be
Speaker 3: like he's not going to be in that elite tier
Speaker 3: with like Alan Lamar, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: I will say Joe Bowers combined two players.
Speaker 3: But I think in that secondary tier that's where Drake
Speaker 3: May will finish.
Speaker 1: Who would you rather have next year, Drake May or
Speaker 1: bo Nix? Drake May for me? Okay, Bownicks for me?
Speaker 1: All right? I mean I don't think, you know, I
Speaker 1: just obviously it's a matter of opinion right now. BY
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be an interesting conversation. I think that's
Speaker 1: gonna be two guys that I think are gonna sort
Speaker 1: of line up similarly, because there are young guys who
Speaker 1: showed flashes this year who could use a little bit
Speaker 1: of extra help with wide receivers. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: in Denver Courtland Sutton was nice, but they can't do
Speaker 1: it with him by himself. Drake May really didn't have
Speaker 1: any wide receivers in New England, so they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to fix that problem at all. But I do think
Speaker 1: there's a big step forward coming from May. You sort
Speaker 1: of the unsung hero I think of the rookie quarterbacks
Speaker 1: this year, and I think he acquitted himself very well
Speaker 1: considering the circumstances. My hot take and I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe this is not you think it's spicy. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that Sae Kwon Barkley will not be worthy of
Speaker 1: a first round pick next year. I think Sae Kwon
Speaker 1: Barkley in the second round is great. And I said
Speaker 1: this on Fantasy Live today. I know the pushback's gonna
Speaker 1: be well. Marcus he had two thousand rushing yards this year,
Speaker 1: and that is exactly my point is that he had
Speaker 1: two thousand rushing yards this year. You go back and
Speaker 1: you look at the eight other players who've had two
Speaker 1: thousand yards in a season, and the drop off in
Speaker 1: terms of rushing production the next year has been dramatic.
Speaker 1: First of all, what happened in the two thousand yard
Speaker 1: season is that you had good health situations where everybody
Speaker 1: was able to play a full season. The next year,
Speaker 1: you had guys that suffered injuries, missed a couple of games.
Speaker 1: In some cases, guys missed significant number of games. Derreck
Speaker 1: Henry went from sixteen to eight games. Terrell Davis went
Speaker 1: from sixteen to four games and just ran for two
Speaker 1: hundred and eleven yards. You look at the average number
Speaker 1: of rushing yards the following year, guys averaged just over
Speaker 1: one thousand yards per game, or a thoundand for the
Speaker 1: season per game would be amazing. It was just over
Speaker 1: one thousand yards for the season the following year, even
Speaker 1: if you take out because one of the numbers was
Speaker 1: Terrell Davis Acord for two to eleven because he only
Speaker 1: played four games. If you take that out, the number
Speaker 1: still jumps to only twelve hundred yards. You take out,
Speaker 1: Let's say everything else for Saquon remains the same, but
Speaker 1: you drop him down to about twelve hundred yards or
Speaker 1: so rushing. Next year, you're looking at about two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty eight Fantasy points, which is right about where
Speaker 1: James Cook is right now. James Cook is the RB nine.
Speaker 1: Nobody is talking about taking James Cook in the first
Speaker 1: round next year. So I just think that this is
Speaker 1: one of those magical seasons for Saquon that has been amazing.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna be like a bust next year,
Speaker 1: but I think if if you're drafting him in the
Speaker 1: first round and you're thinking you're gonna get just this
Speaker 1: bananas video game like production, I think you're gonna look
Speaker 1: at Saquon and be like, what's wrong with Saquon Barkley?
Speaker 1: If he ends up being a second round pick, and
Speaker 1: he puts up similar numbers to what we've seen from
Speaker 1: these other two thousand yard rushers. I think you feel
Speaker 1: great about it, but I think the knee jerk is
Speaker 1: gonna be like, yeah, man, he was amazing, He's in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: everything's great. Let's take him in the first round. And
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you that I don't think I feel
Speaker 1: comfortable doing that right now.
Speaker 2: So nope, there is agreed.
Speaker 1: And so this is different Lakwan. This is a different thing.
Speaker 1: You're got drafting running backs in the first round. Like
Speaker 1: I'm willing to take a running back. I could take
Speaker 1: Bijon or somebody like that in the first round. I
Speaker 1: just don't think I want to take Saquon in the
Speaker 1: first round this year.
Speaker 2: I'm the bitter X my hardest score. Now, I'm hurt.
Speaker 2: I'm part of that CMC one oh one group, you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm about done with it. And you look at
Speaker 2: Saquon's numbers, they're amazing. I mean, that's a heavy workload.
Speaker 2: And we're talking about Saquon possibly having the same workload
Speaker 2: in the playoffs, like he's going to be going through
Speaker 2: a lot of wear and tear. Same thing as CMC
Speaker 2: back to that theory I pointed to earlier in the summer, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know if I want a guy that's working
Speaker 2: this hard this year. I'm glad to be in the
Speaker 2: you know, the the magical story of him having two
Speaker 2: thousand yards and all these fantasy numbers. But next season, no,
Speaker 2: he's going to be god tired. He's going to be
Speaker 2: one out this fall season. Like, I don't want any
Speaker 2: parts of that. And I don't want to go out
Speaker 2: there and spend a high draft pick on a running
Speaker 2: back again when we've seen this story played over and
Speaker 2: over and over again.
Speaker 3: Three hundred and forty five carries right now, his career
Speaker 3: in regular season is pre his career high was two
Speaker 3: ninety five, so that's already fifty more.
Speaker 2: Oh my, yeah, all the numbers, people no fade faith, fait.
Speaker 1: It just it just feels bad. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3: Older running backs hit this year, but like, I still
Speaker 3: don't want to use a first round pick on a twenty.
Speaker 3: He's gonna be twenty eight next month. Like it's like
Speaker 3: bijon games. These guys are what twenty three to twenty four,
Speaker 3: Like I could get behind that twenty eight.
Speaker 1: You're too close to the cliff of falling off for me.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think as a show, we might be
Speaker 3: fading first round Saquon crazy.
Speaker 1: Wow, all right.
Speaker 3: You guys can I did not come into this episode
Speaker 3: thinking this way, but you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean because like it's funny, because I say,
Speaker 1: like I part of me is like this is like
Speaker 1: a spicy hot take. But I feel like we're all
Speaker 1: gonna kind of get together and start looking at this
Speaker 1: and realizing that, like, yeah, maybe maybe it's just not
Speaker 1: that that spicy a take. By the time we get
Speaker 1: to like, you.
Speaker 3: Know, July, he'll still one hundred percent go in the
Speaker 3: first round, though, Yeah, I think I think consensus will
Speaker 3: put him in the first round.
Speaker 1: But I think there's gonna be a lot of people
Speaker 1: out there who look at this and say, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe not maybe just not for me. I also look
Speaker 1: forward to being in like October and being like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was stupid to me. I don't know what I
Speaker 1: was thinking. I'm an idiot, So that's always That's certainly
Speaker 1: in the range of outcomes for me for sure. So
Speaker 1: there you go. Those are our hot takes for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. We will do this again at some point
Speaker 1: in the off season, probably multiple times in the off season,
Speaker 1: a little bit of housekeeping. We are taking a break.
Speaker 1: We're taking a hiatus for a week, so all next
Speaker 1: week we will be dark. We'll be back with you
Speaker 1: after that. Two shows a week for at least through
Speaker 1: the NFL playoffs will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We're
Speaker 1: also going to revive the Fancy cheat Sheet this offseason.
Speaker 1: We're certainly grateful to all of you who kind of
Speaker 1: made it a thing for us last year. It started
Speaker 1: with something fun and goofy for us to do, but
Speaker 1: it seemed like it found an audience, so we are
Speaker 1: certainly grateful for that. We're gonna bring it back next season.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned for your local listings for further details on
Speaker 1: that one. But in the meantime, that'll do it for
Speaker 1: this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, The Happy, Safe,
Speaker 1: and Healthy, Do good, and live well. Enjoy Week eighteen, everybody,
Speaker 1: and we will talk to you again real soon.