Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, Hey everybody, It's Wednesday, March sixth, twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, where we didn't
Speaker 1: write an open for this show today anyway, Well keep going.
Speaker 1: It's me and your man, MG Marcus Grant, joined by
Speaker 1: Michael f. Florio and La Kwan Jones. Ear, gentlemen, you
Speaker 1: guys are actually face to face in studio. I'm feeling
Speaker 1: sort of left out, like I have other obligations in
Speaker 1: the morning that prevented me from being there when you
Speaker 1: guys are. But how is it being back in the
Speaker 1: building at the moment?
Speaker 2: Uh, this is my first time being in in a
Speaker 2: few weeks, so I kind of walked in and I
Speaker 2: was like, I hope everything's the same, And luckily.
Speaker 3: It's all pretty much the same, pretty much the same,
Speaker 3: just familiar faces like Yo, hey, what's up man?
Speaker 1: And catch it up? You're there, Lakwan, you're there more
Speaker 1: frequently than me and Mike are this season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, you.
Speaker 1: Have actual like in building duty. We just kind of
Speaker 1: show up when we feel like it, or you know,
Speaker 1: we're summoned by summoned by higher powers to be there.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the only time this time of year
Speaker 1: that we actually show up. Anyway, we got a lot
Speaker 1: to talk about. Free agency starts in about a week. Officially,
Speaker 1: the new league year starts one week from today. That
Speaker 1: is when free agency deals can officially be signed. Of course,
Speaker 1: we will have the negotiating period because the league doesn't
Speaker 1: like the word tampering, So we've got the negotiating period
Speaker 1: on Monday and Tuesday. Deals can officially be signed on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: So we'll talk about some of the big names that
Speaker 1: we think could be moving, some names that we already
Speaker 1: know aren't going anywhere. At this point, Weilsell sort to
Speaker 1: do a quick combine wrap up just some of the
Speaker 1: things we saw in our observations from what happened over
Speaker 1: the weekend in Indianapolis. But I want to start with
Speaker 1: the biggest news of the last couple of days. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say of the day, but this actually happened
Speaker 1: on Monday. But we haven't been here to talk to
Speaker 1: you since then. So the Broncos have told Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: that he will be released. It was a tumultuous two
Speaker 1: years in the Mile High City for dangerous I will
Speaker 1: stay for the record, I actually thought it was gonna
Speaker 1: work out. I was very surprised to see how badly
Speaker 1: it went for Russell, Wilson and Abron. Look, I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people out there with like Revision's
Speaker 1: history who are, yeah, this is never gonna work. Russ
Speaker 1: was always washed, And I'm like, I don't know that
Speaker 1: that was the consensus. It was not at all, no, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the belief was he'd go to
Speaker 1: Denver again. Yes, he was not the same guy at
Speaker 1: the end of his time in Seattle that he was,
Speaker 1: you know when they went to the super Bowl and
Speaker 1: they won the Super Bowl. But I think most of
Speaker 1: us believed that there was still something left in the tank.
Speaker 1: Now that that question is sort of up in the air,
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask a different question, but Flourida, I mean,
Speaker 1: does Russ still have anything left at this point?
Speaker 2: For first, anyone who is saying that they were adamantly
Speaker 2: against this when it happened, I need to see proof.
Speaker 2: Because everyone was on board with this. Remember it was like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's Mahomes and the Chiefs gonna be able to win
Speaker 2: the division again. That was a wave and everyone was
Speaker 2: discounting the bad year in Seattle because of the broken
Speaker 2: hand which Aaron Rodgers last year in Green Bay comes
Speaker 2: to mind. Ken Russell Wilson still play. I still think
Speaker 2: he's a starter at the NFL level. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: if he's an above average starter, though at this point
Speaker 2: I'm not in the camp of saying Russell Wilson was
Speaker 2: horrible last year, but I'm also not in the camp
Speaker 2: of that he was great. I think he was kind
Speaker 2: of somewhere in the middle. I think some stats indicate
Speaker 2: that he played well, but then there's like EPA. These
Speaker 2: are the quarterbacks that he had a better EPA than
Speaker 2: last year midimum two hundred attempts, Bryce Young, Sam Hall,
Speaker 2: Zach Wilson, both Patriots quarterbacks, Josh Jobs, and Kenny Pickett.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: So that's not good.
Speaker 2: He still does have the deep ball, I'll give him that.
Speaker 2: I think he can be a type of game managing
Speaker 2: quarterback that like you could win with if you have
Speaker 2: good pieces around. I no longer think Russell Wilson is
Speaker 2: the guy that can lift your team and carry you
Speaker 2: to the playoffs or anything like that.
Speaker 1: I mean to that point though, about the deep ball,
Speaker 1: and I sawing with Dwayne McFarlane over at Fantasy Life,
Speaker 1: who is incredibly smart and makes me better at this
Speaker 1: job every time I talk to him, and he brought
Speaker 1: up the point that teams nowadays, the way the NFL
Speaker 1: plays defense, we see a lot more you know, too
Speaker 1: high safeties. I mean, that was the talk about Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: Have people figured out Patrick Mahomes. They're putting two guys
Speaker 1: back deep. They're not letting him throw the deep ball
Speaker 1: that is becoming the norm among NFL defenses. So now
Speaker 1: that takes away that big deep ball that we all
Speaker 1: love from Russ right, those moonshots he would take down
Speaker 1: the field, So that takes a big part of his
Speaker 1: game away. He also is not the same runner that
Speaker 1: he was earlier in his career, which you know that
Speaker 1: happens right father time comes for us all. He doesn't
Speaker 1: run the way he did earlier in his career. Those
Speaker 1: were the two things that I think made Russell Wilson special.
Speaker 1: When those aren't available to him anymore, it is naturally
Speaker 1: going to be a struggle for him to be a
Speaker 1: productive quarterback. I put out a poll on Twitter, which
Speaker 1: you know, this is super scientific, so this is binding
Speaker 1: and we know that this is going to be But
Speaker 1: about thirty five percent of the people who responded said
Speaker 1: that they don't think he's going to be a starting
Speaker 1: quarterback next year. Dikes, I mean, Lukwon, do you I
Speaker 1: know Florio said he thinks he'll be a starter. I
Speaker 1: do think he's going to be a starter somewhere. Do
Speaker 1: you believe he's going to be a starter? And where
Speaker 1: possibly could that be?
Speaker 3: I mean yes, I mean do we know right now?
Speaker 3: Like are we knowing what the Steelers are dealing with
Speaker 3: in the house right now? Like there's plenty of teams
Speaker 3: that would love to have Russell Wilson as an upgrade
Speaker 3: so they can have something to build off. I mean, honestly, DeLanda,
Speaker 3: spots I got for him would be Atlanta because that
Speaker 3: would be obviously funny for non football purposes.
Speaker 1: But but just put out what the non football purposes are,
Speaker 1: Like you've teased it. You can't throw that conversation grenade
Speaker 1: and walk away. Just put it out there.
Speaker 3: Well, Sierra Baby Daddy Future is an Atlanta native, So
Speaker 3: going there, I'm pretty sure there's some type of tension
Speaker 3: and he'll being close proximity of hearing his music in
Speaker 3: the locker room, which I think will call some friction
Speaker 3: and some mental games, so he's not going.
Speaker 2: To allow it.
Speaker 1: Allow Russ. Russ is a rules guy. First day of camp,
Speaker 1: no future. I just want to see future in the stands,
Speaker 1: like wearing the colors of every other team that plays
Speaker 1: the found just sitting there just you know, wearing Saints
Speaker 1: colors and stuff.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, mental warfare during the game. But man,
Speaker 3: I feel like if you put him with the Steelers, man,
Speaker 3: I think that will fit his mold because you have
Speaker 3: Author Smith over there so oc so we know they're
Speaker 3: not going to be throwing the ball as aggressively then
Speaker 3: you know they've done in the past. So you talk
Speaker 3: about Russell Wilson as a game manager. Now, he doesn't
Speaker 3: have the tools to run the ball. He doesn't have
Speaker 3: that deep ball as much as he had before. You
Speaker 3: need a guy that's going to come in and take
Speaker 3: care of the ball, and that's one of the things
Speaker 3: that he did last season. He had the fifth best
Speaker 3: touchdown in interception ratio. I mean, you want a guy
Speaker 3: that's going to go out there and not turn the
Speaker 3: ball over a bunch of times. But when you're looking
Speaker 3: at the Zach Wilson's, the Kenny Picketts, the mac Joneses
Speaker 3: of the world, the Desmond Riders of the world, and
Speaker 3: you know, you're looking at the Vikings that need a
Speaker 3: you know, a replacement of the Kirk Cousins return from injury.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of options where Russell Wilson going to
Speaker 3: be a nice plug and play to elevate some of
Speaker 3: the players that need some development, elevate some of the
Speaker 3: veterans there that you know, on the back in their career.
Speaker 3: So I think he could still be a starter man
Speaker 3: because again, the word we should be using for him
Speaker 3: is decent. Last year, he wasn't terrible, he wasn't great,
Speaker 3: He was decent. He was a serviceable quarterback and that's
Speaker 3: hard to find right now for some teams that are
Speaker 3: struggling to find a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I like that you said game manager
Speaker 1: because I think that's sort of what he is now.
Speaker 1: Where once upon a time he was he was the
Speaker 1: playmaker right when when the Seahawks were great. Look, Russ
Speaker 1: was the guy who kept the line moving. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: it definitely helped that they had Marshawn Lynch, they had
Speaker 1: some really good receivers, but there were so many times
Speaker 1: and I look, I can tell you this is a
Speaker 1: forty nine er fan. I'm sure you can say it.
Speaker 1: As a Rams fan, there were so many times you
Speaker 1: just sat and watched and you were cursing at the
Speaker 1: television because Russ somehow got out of a pass rush
Speaker 1: and you know, either scrambled for a first down or
Speaker 1: he found somebody downfield, made a play and kept the chains. Movie.
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody in the in the NFC West probably
Speaker 1: has a similar story during Russell Wilson times. Those times
Speaker 1: are gone, and and to your point, I think the
Speaker 1: most common response that I got when I put the
Speaker 1: question out there was Steelers, probably followed by Falcons. The
Speaker 1: Raiders were another team that that sort of came up.
Speaker 1: Raiders were one I could see a lot too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Russ could still lead, like he could still lead a
Speaker 1: locker room, I believe. Uh.
Speaker 2: I do think russeans to change his style of play though,
Speaker 2: like he's still holding the ball for far too long. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: I agree, and like, look, most fans are gonna look
Speaker 2: at the amount of sacks he takes and blame the
Speaker 2: offensive line. It's like no, no, no. This has been a
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson problem going all the way back to his
Speaker 2: early Seattle days. Like he holds it too long, he
Speaker 2: thinks he can avoid the pressure. He needs to learn
Speaker 2: how to get the ball out of his hands quickly
Speaker 2: and be that game managing style, because I think if
Speaker 2: he could play how he did last year with cleaning
Speaker 2: that up, because everyone loves to point out like, oh,
Speaker 2: when a quarterback throws an interception, but a sack could
Speaker 2: be a drive killing play just as much as an interception.
Speaker 3: So range, Yeah, yeah, a lot.
Speaker 2: There's a lot that it can do. So Russe needs
Speaker 2: to clean up some stuff as well. But I think
Speaker 2: if he can do that, he could still, like you
Speaker 2: put him on the Steelers. They're they're probably be in
Speaker 2: contention for the seven.
Speaker 1: Seed again this year. Goals Man hashtags low. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think to your point though too. Also, it is
Speaker 1: easy to, you know, point out sacks as an offensive
Speaker 1: line issue when it oftentimes can be a quarterback issue.
Speaker 1: It can be a problem with a guy holding the
Speaker 1: ball too long, not getting it out quickly. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: there's only so long you can ask guys to offer protection,
Speaker 1: especially against good pass rushes, especially when teams are bringing
Speaker 1: a whole lot of potential. So I do think that's
Speaker 1: sort of something to kind of keep in mind, I'm
Speaker 1: sitting here on philibusterings, I'm trying to look up, you know,
Speaker 1: longest time to throw the football, and I would guess
Speaker 1: that rust is probably high on that list. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean Denver's old line was pretty good last year
Speaker 3: in my opinion. They were a top six top five
Speaker 3: you know line last year in protection grade. As for PFF,
Speaker 3: so those sacks that he was taking is on him
Speaker 3: really have just him not.
Speaker 2: Getting the side of it. Is like Patrick Mahomes and
Speaker 2: Josh Allen are not the sacks the two least sex
Speaker 2: quarterbacks in the NFL because of their O line. Like
Speaker 2: the quarter sacks are just as much a quarterback said.
Speaker 3: As it is an off decision making and how long
Speaker 3: you're holding onto the ball. It was a huge thing there.
Speaker 1: So minimum hundred and fifty drop backs, Russell Wilson had
Speaker 1: the third highest time to throw. Uh. The only guys
Speaker 1: who held the ball longer on average Nick Mullens and
Speaker 1: Justin Fields Okay, the mobile Yeah right, I mean like
Speaker 1: fields your finger like he's gonna get himself out of trouble.
Speaker 1: Russ used to be able to do that. Can't do
Speaker 1: that anymore.
Speaker 2: And I really want to know what Nick Mullens, what
Speaker 2: goes through Nick mullens head.
Speaker 1: I mean, right now, Nick Mullens is just like it
Speaker 1: is probably like you know, a second and a half
Speaker 1: of just loud screaming and they're like, I gotta get
Speaker 1: rid of the ball. I don't do it. Four fifth
Speaker 1: read back to the town. Yeah, So like that that
Speaker 1: because there are things that Nick Bullins would do it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what what were you thinking? Were you thinking
Speaker 1: at all? Like making that really what's going on here?
Speaker 1: That that was a lot of what happened there. But
Speaker 1: now for the Broncos, right because they don't have Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson anymore right now. I mean, if you know, quote unquote,
Speaker 1: if the season started today, Jared Stidham would be their
Speaker 1: their starting quarterback. Florio, I don't believe Sean Payton wants
Speaker 1: to go into the season with Jared Stidham at his
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. But what do they do? I mean, do
Speaker 1: they go harden free agency? Do they try and move
Speaker 1: up and try to get one of these guys in
Speaker 1: the draft? What is the best course of action?
Speaker 2: The draft? I think is one hundred percent their best
Speaker 2: course of action. And I'm so excited for the draft now,
Speaker 2: because we know the top three picks are all in
Speaker 2: play to be quarterbacks, but the Giants are heavily rumored
Speaker 2: to be in play for a quarterback, and the Falcons
Speaker 2: depending on what happens with Kirk Cousins. But if Kirk
Speaker 2: Cousins goes to Atlanta, then eleven, twelve, thirteen becomes the
Speaker 2: most interesting portion of the draft. I would say, because
Speaker 2: you have the Vikings, the Broncos, and the Raiders, you
Speaker 2: can make a case that all three of them could
Speaker 2: be in the market for a quarterback. So do one
Speaker 2: of these teams try to jump the others and move
Speaker 2: into the top ten. Do we see a trade up
Speaker 2: something like that? But unless the Broncos are gonna be
Speaker 2: really aggressive, they're not gonna get Kleb, Jayden Daniels, probably not,
Speaker 2: Drake May even JJ McCarthy might be out of their
Speaker 2: range unless they're gonna jump up.
Speaker 3: Sounding like it, now, you got to jump up a
Speaker 3: few picks to get that.
Speaker 2: That's what it sounds. I think Bo Knicks is the guy.
Speaker 2: I could see Sean Payton being like a veteran guy
Speaker 2: coming out of college who would get the ball out
Speaker 2: of his hands very quickly. Has a strong arm, could
Speaker 2: kind of operate the offense how we're saying rush should
Speaker 2: like you take some deep shots occasionally, but a lot
Speaker 2: of it is just on rhythm, like on schedule, getting
Speaker 2: the ball out of your hands quickly. Bow Knicks could
Speaker 2: kind of do that. And and if he's sorry, if
Speaker 2: we're not talking about bo Knicks potentially to the Broncos.
Speaker 2: I think it's very, very very possible we could see
Speaker 2: six quarterbacks in the first round.
Speaker 1: I like it, so I'm I'm pulling up mock drafts
Speaker 1: right now on NFL dot Com and looking. Lances aer
Speaker 1: Line has the Broncos trading up to number nine, trading
Speaker 1: with the Bears getting up to number nine and taking
Speaker 1: JJ McCarthy at that spot there. I'm curious if McCarthy's there,
Speaker 1: just because all the hype about him in the last week,
Speaker 1: especially post Combine. You know, I've seen people talk about
Speaker 1: him as number one. I saw somebody put up put
Speaker 1: out there that JJ McCarthy is their number one quarterback,
Speaker 1: ahead of Caleb, ahead of Drake May, ahead of Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 1: That to me feels, yeah, a little a little wicked aggressive.
Speaker 1: I try to find the right word aggressive. Is the
Speaker 1: word I'm gonna land on right here.
Speaker 2: I didn't.
Speaker 1: I just don't really see that being the case with McCarthy.
Speaker 1: But nine, I think that's in play.
Speaker 3: It's in playing because the Broncos are at twelve, I mean,
Speaker 3: how aggressive, Like they honestly really don't have draft picks,
Speaker 3: to be honest, Like they don't have like the ample
Speaker 3: amount of quantity of draft picks. But they they have
Speaker 3: two wide receivers they've been trying to move, you know,
Speaker 3: for some time now. So the Bears could use another
Speaker 3: wide receiver if they don't go at nine, taking Roma Doonzay.
Speaker 3: So you get a Courtland Sun or Jerry Judy, you
Speaker 3: take your pick. But the Bears need weapons, They need
Speaker 3: guys on the perimeter. They need wide receivers bad And
Speaker 3: I think you can get a guy, you know, like
Speaker 3: Gordon Sun and Jerry Judy if you let the Broncos
Speaker 3: move up from twelve to nine. So that can only
Speaker 3: be the way, honestly, for them to do anything aggressive
Speaker 3: because they really don't have draft picks to share that
Speaker 3: people are interested in.
Speaker 1: For what it's worth. Bucky Brooks in his most recent
Speaker 1: mock draft, which granted was a little over a week ago.
Speaker 1: He's got the Broncos taking McCarthy at twelve. Charles Davis
Speaker 1: has been taking bow knicks at twelve. So at least
Speaker 1: it seems like most people believe they are going to
Speaker 1: go get a quarterback in the draft, which, yeah, look,
Speaker 1: it sort of makes sense, right, It doesn't really make
Speaker 1: sense to go out and pay for a quarterback that
Speaker 1: is going to be a bridge guy when right now
Speaker 1: you're still a little ways away. I'm right. I mean,
Speaker 1: like the the the raigning Super Bowl champs, the two
Speaker 1: time raigning Super Bowl champs are in your division. The
Speaker 1: Chargers have a new head coach to go along with
Speaker 1: their franchise quarterback. The Raiders. I'm not really sure, but
Speaker 1: the point being they're doing Broncos, they're doing things. If
Speaker 1: you're the Broncos, I think the point is you do
Speaker 1: have a couple of years to play with to try
Speaker 1: and build the program, So why not get yourself a
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback on that that rookie deal and try to
Speaker 1: build from there. As of this moment, as we sit
Speaker 1: here on March sixth, recording this thing in the morning,
Speaker 1: are there any Broncos that any of you guys are
Speaker 1: interested in in fantasy.
Speaker 3: You go first, because no, no, nope, I evans No.
Speaker 2: Look, we were talking before the show, me and the Kwan.
Speaker 2: I said, Jerry Judy's career ended the Steve Smith night.
Speaker 2: At least his Bronco career ended the night that Steve
Speaker 2: Smith eviscerated him on. As Sutton is, he's a good
Speaker 2: wide receiver, but we don't know where he's gonna end
Speaker 2: up playing as of right now, which makes it very risky. Actually,
Speaker 2: Marvin Mims, especially since this time of year, if we
Speaker 2: drive season, I would take a shot on Marvin Mims.
Speaker 2: I took him in our mock draft. But like even
Speaker 2: Javonte Williams, I'm good on. Like I think Javonte just
Speaker 2: gets over hyped at this point by the fantasy community.
Speaker 2: I was a Javonte guy coming out.
Speaker 1: Of college, but such a Javonte guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, We're multiple years into his career and he has
Speaker 2: proven that he's just an RB two and I kind
Speaker 2: of think that's what he is.
Speaker 1: He got the chance. I'm still I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: letting go. And the fact that the fact is, the
Speaker 1: fact is that the draft price is going to be
Speaker 1: decent on him. He's not gonna have to pay up
Speaker 1: to get Javonte Williams. No, you know, I just I
Speaker 1: just need for Ryan to calm down a little bit.
Speaker 1: Does look like it's gonna happen, because I literally was
Speaker 1: just looking at their numbers. Man, they literally split the
Speaker 1: entire targets, you know, out of the backfield. So there's
Speaker 1: not much PPR upside. We could chase with the reason
Speaker 1: for Javonte Williams, but like you said, his price is
Speaker 1: going to be decent to where I can get him
Speaker 1: as my RB three.
Speaker 3: Maybe things will change, maybe things will go more where
Speaker 3: he'll take a workload because he was returning back from
Speaker 3: injury as well, so they kind of probably slowed down
Speaker 3: the space and I think, you know more so he
Speaker 3: wasn't fully recovered, so that could have been why SOMEMANJ. P.
Speaker 3: Ryan played so much. I mean their targets. Williams had
Speaker 3: fifty eight, Pan had fifty six. Like pick a running
Speaker 3: back you want to target to. But we know Sean
Speaker 3: Payton likes throwing to his running backs because his time
Speaker 3: in New Orleans.
Speaker 2: So no team did it more last year than Denver,
Speaker 2: which is why, like when we talk for agents, I
Speaker 2: have a certain running back that I want to go there.
Speaker 2: But uh my thing is like, if Davontae can't shake
Speaker 2: Samaj p Ryan, it probably says some stuff about Javonte Williams.
Speaker 1: Come on, I mean that's kind of harsh.
Speaker 4: I mean, I just la la la la la la,
Speaker 4: Like I don't but I just know that I remember
Speaker 4: I had a sad when the Broncos drafted him because
Speaker 4: they had Melvin Gordon and so that that made me
Speaker 4: sort of sad.
Speaker 1: And you know, Adam Rank tried to kind of talk
Speaker 1: me down off the ledge and kind of got me
Speaker 1: to buy in a little bit. Then, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: Lakwani did have the major injury. So I'm not I
Speaker 1: think I'm realizing that he's not going to be the
Speaker 1: back that I hoped he would be coming out of college.
Speaker 1: But I still want more for him. I still believe
Speaker 1: there's more there. But but at some point it's got
Speaker 1: a show. I mean, he's going to be twenty four
Speaker 1: coming up in in about six weeks or so, you know,
Speaker 1: he will be on his fourth season in the NFL,
Speaker 1: So at some point, like you know, it's got to happen.
Speaker 3: For why does this sound like Royce Freeman.
Speaker 1: I was never in, but I was never in on
Speaker 1: those guys the way I was in on Javonte Williams.
Speaker 1: So maybe this is just not maybe not wanting to
Speaker 1: let go of my priors. I get admit to that,
Speaker 1: but I still hope for better.
Speaker 2: Last point on Rusto and Marcus. As a baseball guy,
Speaker 2: you can you can attest to this, like any team
Speaker 2: that signs Russ, the Broncos are paying whatever. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: I've seen people be like, oh, well, the NFL is
Speaker 2: not gonna They're not like that. They don't want to
Speaker 2: let the Broncos be caught holding the bag because one
Speaker 2: day it could be them. If I'm Russell Wilson, I'm
Speaker 2: going to baseball route and I'm signing for the veteran
Speaker 2: minimum with my new team, and I'm saying I'm getting
Speaker 2: paid either way, use that money to build around me.
Speaker 1: And I think that's going to make Russ very attractive
Speaker 1: for a lot of teams, knowing that you don't have
Speaker 1: to pay him a whole lot. I think Lindsay Rhodes,
Speaker 1: formerly of NFL Network, was the first two point out
Speaker 1: that the Broncos moved on from Russ. They're not even
Speaker 1: they haven't gotten into the actual contract yet, Like they
Speaker 1: haven't had a money contract yet and they've already moved
Speaker 1: on from Russ. That's how bad things were. So yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I think any team's gonna at least kick the tires
Speaker 1: because the cost is going to be it's going to
Speaker 1: be really low.
Speaker 2: I'd pay him a dollars and be like, Broncos, you
Speaker 2: got the other thirty eight, We're gonna spend that.
Speaker 1: On Team bet Let's do it. Let's go run it
Speaker 1: for real. So anyway, that's that was the big news
Speaker 1: of the day. We'll certainly keep an eye out on
Speaker 1: where Russ land. That's going to be very interesting and
Speaker 1: seeing what the Broncos decide to do in the next
Speaker 1: few weeks to a couple months at the quarterback position.
Speaker 1: There take a break, we're going to dive into free
Speaker 1: agency because a week from now we're gonna have a
Speaker 1: whole lot of names changing teams. We're gonna have some
Speaker 1: names that aren't changing teams as well. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: that more on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. So about
Speaker 1: a week from now, we will be talking about player movement.
Speaker 1: In fact, we'll actually be talking about it probably on
Speaker 1: Monday and Tuesday, because that's when the negotiating period happens,
Speaker 1: and that's when we'll start getting all these reports of
Speaker 1: so and so agreeing to such and such deal with
Speaker 1: this and that team. But on Wednesday, March thirteenth is
Speaker 1: when these deals can officially be signed as the start
Speaker 1: of the new year. Some news that we already know
Speaker 1: about that it's sort of worth kicking around. Mike Evans
Speaker 1: and the Bucks. They keep their deal going two years,
Speaker 1: fifty two million dollars for Mike Evans.
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: I think he is they I mean I saw it.
Speaker 1: I mean I saw someone out there, you know, making that,
Speaker 1: you know, asking the question, and I think kind of
Speaker 1: playing Devil's advocate, But I think, you know, what, is it?
Speaker 1: Ten one thousand yard seasons to start his career. That's
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame worthy. That's all the fame work stands
Speaker 1: to me as far as I'm concerned. And last year
Speaker 1: maybe arguably being his the best year of his career.
Speaker 1: Maybe not statistically, but in terms of just overall play
Speaker 1: might have been the best year of his career. The
Speaker 1: Colts are going to use the non exclusive franchise tag
Speaker 1: on Michael Pittman Juniors so he does have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to go out and negotiate deals with other teams, but
Speaker 1: the Colts will have the first round of refusal, a
Speaker 1: chance to match and keep him in Indianapolis. That went
Speaker 1: not a big surprise. I felt like his best shot
Speaker 1: was to go back to Indianapolis. And I think the
Speaker 1: Colts agree, Especially you got a young quarterback in Anthony
Speaker 1: Richardson that you want to value.
Speaker 3: They're gonna let him negotiate to see what number comes back,
Speaker 3: what it is. They don't really have an actual value
Speaker 3: in their head for him. I mean I didn't either
Speaker 3: when I went to go look at his numbers and
Speaker 3: compare another wide receivers. I guess you can give him
Speaker 3: a Christian Kirk type ordeal like Kirk personally. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: like I don't know, like it's a mystery here it is.
Speaker 1: But I think, and I think if you're the Colts,
Speaker 1: I don't know that you compare him necessarily to other
Speaker 1: receivers statistically. I think the value is what he means
Speaker 1: to your team, specifically what you're building right now. But
Speaker 1: you're building what he's given you the first couple of years,
Speaker 1: in the first few years in the league, and the
Speaker 1: fact that, as I mentioned, they've got a young quarterback
Speaker 1: that they are sort of trying to build around. You
Speaker 1: want to know that he's got a regular, consistent play
Speaker 1: making target to get the football too. So I think
Speaker 1: that that, more than anything, gives him some value to Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: And so I think, but I think you're right. They're
Speaker 1: gonna let him go out sort of test the market,
Speaker 1: see what sort of numbers, come back to see how
Speaker 1: the rest of the league values Michael Pittman, and then
Speaker 1: they can make a deal accordingly and ideal if you're
Speaker 1: indian it is a multi year deal. It's not just
Speaker 1: a one year thing. You're bringing it back for a
Speaker 1: few years. You got to be a four year banger,
Speaker 1: you would think so, you would think so. Last bit
Speaker 1: of free agency news, the Giants say they will not
Speaker 1: use the franchise tag on Saquon Barkley. There was a
Speaker 1: little bit of chatter last week and maybe they could
Speaker 1: do it again, but it appears that they will not
Speaker 1: do that. So Saquon is going to be a free agent.
Speaker 1: You know, there, I'm sure will be suitors.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: You know, running backs don't necessarily get paid the way
Speaker 1: they used to but I would think a guy like Saquon,
Speaker 1: especially considering the draft class, is not all that exciting
Speaker 1: to a lot of people. Uhquon is certainly gonna have
Speaker 1: offers when he hits free agency. Why to get back though,
Speaker 1: to wide receivers because it's interesting in terms of who's
Speaker 1: available in free agency. It's interesting in who's going to
Speaker 1: be available via the draft because they've been the talk
Speaker 1: of the draft season so far the wide receiver position.
Speaker 1: The top guys on the board after Mike Evans and
Speaker 1: Michael Pittman have ostensibly been locked up. Calvin Ridley, Markus Brown,
Speaker 1: Gabe Davis, Tyler Boyd. Those are the top names as
Speaker 1: far as I was concerned for you guys. And I'll
Speaker 1: start with you, Florio. Who is your top wide receiver
Speaker 1: available and do you have a preferred landing spot for them?
Speaker 2: Calvin Ridley is I would say, head and shoulders the
Speaker 2: best wide receiver in this class. And if you guys
Speaker 2: listen to the podcast at all last year, it's no surprise.
Speaker 2: I'm I am a Calvin Ridley believer. I know he
Speaker 2: disappointed last year, but shout out to a good friend
Speaker 2: of yours, Marcus in front of the show Matt Harmon.
Speaker 2: I was reading Reception Perception yesterday on Calvin Ridley, and
Speaker 2: it pointed out a lot of really good things that like,
Speaker 2: he can still get opened against zone, he could still
Speaker 2: get open against man. He did struggle against press, but
Speaker 2: the type of routes that they were asking him to
Speaker 2: run were very, very difficult. And anyone who had Calvin
Speaker 2: Ridley in fantasy last year can attest to how it was. Basically,
Speaker 2: and I joked about it on Twitter. Every week, every
Speaker 2: single game was a game of is Calvin Ridley going
Speaker 2: to make an amazing touchdown catcher not? Because that seemingly
Speaker 2: what he had to try to do each and every week.
Speaker 2: I still think, look, I'm not gonna I think the
Speaker 2: expectations last year were a little too lofty, and that's
Speaker 2: on me and other people who put him very high
Speaker 2: expectations on him.
Speaker 1: But yeah, let's be real. But let's let's also be real,
Speaker 1: right because part of it was he had that that
Speaker 1: article he wrote in the Player's Tribune where he was
Speaker 1: like fourteen hundred yards. We were all like, yep, let's
Speaker 1: go yep. He definitely sold this.
Speaker 2: I bought in this one might be a little bit
Speaker 2: of a surprise. My favorite life spot Arizona Cardinals, because
Speaker 2: I think they're going to take either Neighbors or Marvin
Speaker 2: Harrison at four and then we're talking about Calvin Ridley
Speaker 2: not having to be that X and getting to do
Speaker 2: what he did in Atlanta, which is play some in
Speaker 2: the X, some in the flanker, move him all over
Speaker 2: the field, and Marvin Harrison Neighbors they could do the
Speaker 2: same thing. So now and then we're talking about a
Speaker 2: one two punch for Kyler Murray to go with Trey McBride.
Speaker 2: That Cardinals offense could immediately become one of the most
Speaker 2: fun for real life purposes and for fantasy purposes. There's
Speaker 2: there's a few other landing spots I like, but that
Speaker 2: was one that I was thinking on last night and
Speaker 2: I was like, I think this would be the most.
Speaker 1: Fun interesting for Calvin Ridley. And I don't know that
Speaker 1: I don't know. He's the guy that I love most
Speaker 1: in free agency. I think he's the guy that's probably
Speaker 1: gonna get the biggest contract out there of all these guys.
Speaker 1: But I did think the Jets could be an interesting
Speaker 1: spot for him. Yeah, pair him up with Garrett Wilson,
Speaker 1: because we know Garrett Wilson is a stud, right, I
Speaker 1: mean we saw we saw what Garrett Wilson did last
Speaker 1: year with bad quarterback play, and now the hope is
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is something close to healthy. Yes, he's going
Speaker 1: to be forty years old, but a forty year old
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is still better than anybody else. The Jets
Speaker 1: ran out there quarterback last year. You give him a
Speaker 1: running mate on the other side, like Calvin Ridley with
Speaker 1: Breisee Hall in the backfield. You know, I know you
Speaker 1: don't like to think about this Flooryo. That offense is
Speaker 1: really scary, always guys running together. Potentially, I think that'd
Speaker 1: be great, and it takes the pressure off of him
Speaker 1: to have to be that number one guy to carry
Speaker 1: that offense, because you know, when it comes to it,
Speaker 1: Garrett Wilson can be that guy. Galvin Ridley has a
Speaker 1: solid number. We saw when he was the number two
Speaker 1: with Julio Jones early in his career in Atlanta. You
Speaker 1: make him the number two guy with Garrett Wilson, that's
Speaker 1: potentially deadly. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I actually haven't heard that though. With the Jets. I'm
Speaker 3: actually starting to think of my mind like that could
Speaker 3: really work, they can kill it in the draft and
Speaker 3: then bring on a guy that can this offensive spark.
Speaker 3: I like it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, uh ELQ, was there a name that of these
Speaker 1: wide receivers that you like the most and a landing
Speaker 1: spot you got?
Speaker 3: I was gonna say Calvin Ridley. He probably has my
Speaker 3: most attention right now, but I can see people not
Speaker 3: really wanting to target him regardless of where he lands.
Speaker 3: Just some people just have a bad taste in their
Speaker 3: mouth because like we can talk about like the hype
Speaker 3: was crazy because in me as a as an owner
Speaker 3: that Adam last year man, like I would say, like
Speaker 3: I was a little upset that on the return, but
Speaker 3: you kind of had to accept it in a way
Speaker 3: because it was just like he was still the unknown,
Speaker 3: Like we were just hyped off of the unknown. This
Speaker 3: guy haven't played football in so long, so you know
Speaker 3: you kind of have to take that to the chin.
Speaker 3: Because his hives were really good and when he put
Speaker 3: up twenty points, but then the following week it'll be
Speaker 3: six points, and then following that week it'll be a
Speaker 3: single digit number of like one. So I get the
Speaker 3: people's frustration, and I think the landing spot for him
Speaker 3: will matter the most for him not to be the
Speaker 3: number one or a clear notion as a number one,
Speaker 3: because Christian Kirk was the number one in Jacksonville, to
Speaker 3: be honest.
Speaker 2: And he was the number one in volume mea in responsibility,
Speaker 2: I would argue its Calvin Ridley definitely.
Speaker 3: So it was just kind of like there was still
Speaker 3: some unknown there who's doing what and who was who?
Speaker 3: So if he goes there with a big number one,
Speaker 3: and he goes there like maybe Tennessee like with Man
Speaker 3: please please.
Speaker 1: He might as well just I don't know, go out's pasture,
Speaker 1: like just no, it's a new regime. It's a new
Speaker 1: who's throwing the ball though, Like I mean, that's the problem.
Speaker 2: Who's throwing the.
Speaker 1: Ball into Man Levis who's throwing the ball intennes c
Speaker 1: right now? Like I said, man.
Speaker 2: As the Calvin Ridley guy, I will I think, yes,
Speaker 2: we put two lofty expectations on him, and he's the
Speaker 2: one taking the bulk of the blame. But Fevor Lawrence
Speaker 2: was supposed to to be this franchise quarterback and he
Speaker 2: did not take the next steps that we thought. Plus uh,
Speaker 2: and this is this is something that I talked about
Speaker 2: in season a bit and I think I did a
Speaker 2: bad job of having two hive expectations early on. But
Speaker 2: he was better the second half of the year than
Speaker 2: he was the first half of the year. And I
Speaker 2: think we'd all kind of expected Calvin Ridley to hit
Speaker 2: the ground running, and it's like, hey, you can only
Speaker 2: prepare so much for live reps and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: and two years out of the league is gonna take
Speaker 2: some time to get back into that shape. So I
Speaker 2: think with a normal offseason, maybe next season could be
Speaker 2: even better than this year was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's fair.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'd be cheaper for me.
Speaker 1: And I feel like, you know, we are obligated to
Speaker 1: do this as a fantasy football show. But the Marquis
Speaker 1: Brown of the Chiefs, because we got we got we
Speaker 1: have to we have to promote somebody to the Chiefs, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, at first it was Mike Evans, but he's
Speaker 1: not going anywhere. We wouldn't be doing our due diligence
Speaker 1: if we didn't suggest that one of these wide receivers
Speaker 1: goes to Kansas City. And I really do think Marquis
Speaker 1: Brown in Kansas City could be bananas.
Speaker 3: I'm surprised I didn't hear Gabe Davis from you, Mike.
Speaker 2: I was gonna said, they're gonna bring in Gabe Davis
Speaker 2: and he's gonna be the new MVSA.
Speaker 1: He can be MVS.
Speaker 3: He's gonna be in the biggest op of possibly vs.
Speaker 1: Big in the postseason. So I mean, you know, we laugh.
Speaker 2: But you can make fun of Gabe Davis all you want.
Speaker 2: Travis Kelsey, Tyreek Hill, no one has the best receiving
Speaker 2: game in Arrowhead in the Patrick Mahomes era is game
Speaker 2: Davis two hundred yards, four touchdown game.
Speaker 1: Okay, you know what this feels like. So I'm uh,
Speaker 1: you know, because I am an old. That feels like
Speaker 1: there was there was a picture in Major League Baseball
Speaker 1: guy named Mark Portugal and uh played for the Astros
Speaker 1: for a while and when they would play the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Giants, he would just shove. He would shove it
Speaker 1: down their throats every single time. So when he finally
Speaker 1: hit free agency, the Giants like, you know what, we're
Speaker 1: gonna go get Mark Portugal. And he was terrible. The
Speaker 1: Giants just awful. That's what this feels like, right, This
Speaker 1: feels like a Mark Portugal situation. The Chiefs are like,
Speaker 1: man gave Davis. Let us up here at arrowhead man,
Speaker 1: we should get him. And then they're like, oh, the
Speaker 1: other sixteen games of the years.
Speaker 2: Truly, how Bill Belichick signs free agents like it's no
Speaker 2: coincidence that every player they signed happens to have a
Speaker 2: good game against the Patriots.
Speaker 1: Come over and do that.
Speaker 2: Hey, yeah, good game game against us. Here's a bunch
Speaker 2: of money.
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of money to do nothing. Yeah, come on,
Speaker 1: come right in. Yeah, I you know, I mean, Gave
Speaker 1: Davis is going to get some some interest. I saw
Speaker 1: some Jaguars fans suggesting that maybe their team was going
Speaker 1: to talk about it now that they weren't excited about it.
Speaker 1: They were just putting out there that the Jaguars seem
Speaker 1: to have an interest in Gabe Davis, and they weren't
Speaker 1: all that thrilled about it. But he will get some
Speaker 1: interest from somewhere. You think it's look if they because
Speaker 1: it sounds here's it sounds like the Jaguars are prepared
Speaker 1: to lose Calvin Ridley. I don't think they believe they're
Speaker 1: going to be able to afford him with what he's
Speaker 1: going to command around the league. So I don't know,
Speaker 1: Gave Davis. Maybe the guy who slides in there, come
Speaker 1: on down.
Speaker 2: Dave Davis is making his own case on Instagram. It's like,
Speaker 2: that's no way. He's like tweeting Legit Analytics. He's posting,
Speaker 2: and I'm like that that's not a good sign.
Speaker 1: Oh man, all right, Well, next day he's gonna he's
Speaker 1: gonna fill out an indeed resume too. Right, let's move
Speaker 1: on to running backs because there are some interesting names.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's a very top heavy list at
Speaker 1: running back. Yeah, and then after a certain point there's
Speaker 1: a pretty big drop off. But the top guys, at
Speaker 1: least for me, Dereck Henry, Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, Tony Pollard,
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler, Lakwan please rank them for me.
Speaker 3: Josh Jacobs, Barkley, Henry Eckler, Tony Pollard. In my emotion there,
Speaker 3: I feel like Tony poll is gonna go somewhere bored.
Speaker 3: I tweeted this the other day like it's gonna be
Speaker 3: somewhere boring, it's gonna be nasty where it's probably gonna
Speaker 3: be New England or something like that, where it just
Speaker 3: why did you do that? But I think Josh Jacobs
Speaker 3: is probably the biggest target right now on the market
Speaker 3: right now that people should be really like entertaining. He
Speaker 3: might not leave, you know, the Vegas, but I really
Speaker 3: feel like teams should just go out there and make
Speaker 3: an offer because man, you look at his last year,
Speaker 3: people are gonna be like, oh, well it was down
Speaker 3: he got injured, But it was the similar as the
Speaker 3: situation to Saquon Barkley really, where like he got tagged,
Speaker 3: he refused to sign it and got a one year deal,
Speaker 3: Like dude, I'm not gonna risk injury. Like these these
Speaker 3: situations here do matter when we're looking at some of
Speaker 3: these players and look at their last year notes. But
Speaker 3: I mean, didn't have the best Fantasy finished RB eighteen.
Speaker 3: But I really feel as though Josh Jacobs can change
Speaker 3: and elevate a team that is a running back away man.
Speaker 1: I could say for me, Saquan's my number one in
Speaker 1: this group because I think he sort of combines the
Speaker 1: best of all of these guys, right. He gives you
Speaker 1: the past catching ability of a Pollard or an Eckler.
Speaker 1: He gives you that power running ability that you get
Speaker 1: from a Derrick Henry or a Josh Jacobs. You know
Speaker 1: health has been an issue off and on for him
Speaker 1: over the last few years, but he also has been
Speaker 1: behind an offensive line that didn't do him any favors.
Speaker 1: My thought, my goal would be to have him come
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles play for the Chargers, moving in a
Speaker 1: Greg Roman Jim Harbaugh offense that is going to run
Speaker 1: the ball. They can throw it to him. They know
Speaker 1: that he could be an effective pass catcher out of
Speaker 1: the backfield, to pair up with Justin Herbert back there
Speaker 1: they've got. You know, we'll see whatch of their receivers.
Speaker 1: You know they stick around with. If it's Keenan Allen,
Speaker 1: if it's Mike Williams, presume it's going to be Keenan Allen.
Speaker 1: I think that's the beginnings of something there. Because the
Speaker 1: Chargers are I don't think they're far away. They have
Speaker 1: some holes defensively that they really got to figure out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I don't think they're far away. But I think
Speaker 1: Saquon gets them one big step closer to being a
Speaker 1: playoff team. I do. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think for everything that you said, like one, he
Speaker 2: still has the best like the highest percentage of runs
Speaker 2: go for ten plus yards. He's also was like the
Speaker 2: highest rated receiver of this bunch, so I agree at
Speaker 2: number two. I look, I think the NFL is going
Speaker 2: to agree with Lakwan. I think they're gonna rank Josh
Speaker 2: Shacobs the highest because he's the youngest. I'd rather Derreck
Speaker 2: Henry still at this point in their careers, Derek Henry
Speaker 2: still is the most high end speed of all five.
Speaker 1: Of these running backs. Is there anywhere but Baltimore that
Speaker 1: you see him going.
Speaker 2: I had two teams for Derrick Henry and I went
Speaker 2: back and forth on them, the Ravens and the Cowboys,
Speaker 2: because I think it would be very Jerry.
Speaker 1: Very Jarah to go out and sign Derrick Henry one
Speaker 1: hundred percent would be Jerry Jones like to sign Derek
Speaker 1: that's a big money, multi year deal too, Like it
Speaker 1: would it would be it would be like a huh
Speaker 1: sort of deal when we saw it, Like I could
Speaker 1: totally see that happening. I never thought about the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: but I really do think the Ravens are gonna come calling.
Speaker 1: I just don't see how they don't and bring him
Speaker 1: in just because of the state of the position, even
Speaker 1: though there're some interesting names out there. Do you think
Speaker 1: we're gonna see some of these guys go early, or
Speaker 1: is it gonna be that we have to wait? I
Speaker 1: think it was he was Dave Klugi who put out
Speaker 1: reminded me that this time last year, we're like, oh, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: Leonard Fournet's gonna get signed, Like he's gonna get signed early,
Speaker 1: and we'll figure we don't know where he's going to go,
Speaker 1: but certainly Leonard Fournete's going to get a job, right,
Speaker 1: And we waited a long time. We were well into
Speaker 1: the season before Leonard Fournette finally got a job. I'm
Speaker 1: not suggesting something like that with any of these guys,
Speaker 1: but I mean, is it gonna be that we you know,
Speaker 1: we see a whole lot of other signings before any
Speaker 1: of these running backs start getting going.
Speaker 2: I think we'll see Saquon Son pretty early. Josh Jacobs
Speaker 2: because again I think that, like Lakwan said, I think
Speaker 2: the NFL is gonna say he's young, he can do
Speaker 2: a little bit of each. Although my beef with Josh
Speaker 2: Jacobs is when you look at now his five years
Speaker 2: in the NFL two years ago, is the anomaly like
Speaker 2: that that huge career year is the one that clearly
Speaker 2: stands out, like that's the one that's different than the
Speaker 2: paid Yeah. Yeah, and didn't work out for him unfortunately.
Speaker 2: But Derek Henry I could see signing early. I think
Speaker 2: Pollard and Eckler are the two that could be left
Speaker 2: hanging around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. I was gonna say Poler would probably
Speaker 3: be a last to get signed because I don't know
Speaker 3: where he fits right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Eckler sadly is going to be hanging
Speaker 1: out for a while. I think, you know, last year
Speaker 1: didn't do him any favors, and it wasn't his fault.
Speaker 1: I mean, he got hurt early in the season. It
Speaker 1: feels like he kind of rushed himself back and was
Speaker 1: never totally right and that completely impacted what his production
Speaker 1: was going to be. So I think unfortunately he had
Speaker 1: a bad, injury plagued year at the worst possible time
Speaker 1: for him career wise. And so I think that's gonna,
Speaker 1: it's gonna.
Speaker 2: We're talking about it now, But that does not get
Speaker 2: talked about, and everyone just trade saw Sin Eckler like
Speaker 2: he fell off a cliff this year, and maybe he did.
Speaker 2: Look he's approaching twenty nine years old. That I understand
Speaker 2: the concerns. Why I think he's probably going to be
Speaker 2: left hanging around a little bit. But yeah, he also one.
Speaker 2: So for the high ankle's frame went on, I R
Speaker 2: like you said, the burst and everything as a runner
Speaker 2: was gone. He was still, though, the best receiving running
Speaker 2: back of these five. So I do think he can
Speaker 2: at least be a player that you could pigeonhole into
Speaker 2: a specific role and he can help your team, which
Speaker 2: is why I want him on the Denver Broncos because
Speaker 2: could just draw up one hundred targets for Austin?
Speaker 3: Could he really could?
Speaker 2: That?
Speaker 1: That would be spicy. I would be totally on board
Speaker 1: with with something like that. If Austin Eckler went to Denver,
Speaker 1: then I would have to, you know, hang up the
Speaker 1: hat for would just have to, Hey, bro, we tried, man,
Speaker 1: It's just it's just not gonna happen. So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's what I want to do there. Uh, of these
Speaker 1: guys that we didn't talk about, Lakwan, is there a
Speaker 1: player or team that you would most like to see? Like,
Speaker 1: what is the what is the connection? If you could
Speaker 1: play matchmaker here, who would you connect here in free
Speaker 1: agent and see?
Speaker 3: Give me Saquon to the Texans man I love joining
Speaker 3: that train man because that will elevate that offense to
Speaker 3: a powerhouse of the AFC. Like you will have to
Speaker 3: have them in the same conversation as the Chiefs, as
Speaker 3: the Ravens and the Bills, because the Texans are really
Speaker 3: moving and grooving right now on an offense and they
Speaker 3: need a running back. It's clearly they're a running back away.
Speaker 3: Devin Singletary was there. He was a serviceable running back,
Speaker 3: but he doesn't move the needle to get this offense
Speaker 3: to be a powerhouse that they could be. The running
Speaker 3: game will be great with him. You could do a
Speaker 3: little bit of him out of the backfield. But you
Speaker 3: have the draft still to get some depth on that
Speaker 3: old line because you know, the old line fell apart,
Speaker 3: you know, with injury and stuff like that. Get some
Speaker 3: young guys in there that can block, and you get
Speaker 3: the running game going with Saquon and you get c J. Stroud,
Speaker 3: Tank Dell and Nico Collins. Oh Dalon Schultz is back
Speaker 3: in the building to be a servicebale tight end. You
Speaker 3: have options for CJ. Strout and his offense to really
Speaker 3: take it to the movement.
Speaker 1: M all right. I like that, even though I you
Speaker 1: know want Saquon in Los Angeles, but I can, I
Speaker 1: can do you do you have a pairing that you
Speaker 1: would like? Uh?
Speaker 2: Sake one to the Texans was was my favorite one,
Speaker 2: I think because I had Henry to the Ravens. So
Speaker 2: I put Josh Jacobs to the Chargers because no matter
Speaker 2: who the Chargers get, I want to see them have
Speaker 2: a dual threat guy because I think that's their their
Speaker 2: offense is going to heavily run through the running back.
Speaker 2: To me, the most difficult pairing that I had was
Speaker 2: Tony Pollard. I was sitting and I ended up writing
Speaker 2: Cowboys because I was like, if if the Cowboys don't
Speaker 2: get one of these other running backs, like I if Tony,
Speaker 2: like you said, Tony Pollard could end up somewhere ugly,
Speaker 2: and it could be and he won't have that uh
Speaker 2: the team backing him being like, Okay, we've invested a
Speaker 2: lot into this guy, like he's just a guy that
Speaker 2: they signed off the street. I was also considering Philly
Speaker 2: for him, but I think DeAndre Swift returning to Philly
Speaker 2: is probably best case scenario.
Speaker 3: Yeah for him, absolutely, But.
Speaker 2: Fellas we have some some pre agent making news.
Speaker 1: Yeah man, Yeah, Zach Ertz signing a deal with the
Speaker 1: Commanders one year up to five million dollars. This, according
Speaker 1: to Tom Pelasero, it reunites zach Ertz and Cliff Kingsbury
Speaker 1: and they worked together with the Arizona Cardinals for a
Speaker 1: couple of years. Of course, Cliff, after leaving Arizona went
Speaker 1: to like a villa in Thailand and I think reenacted
Speaker 1: season three of White Lotus or something like that, and
Speaker 1: then came back and was the quarterbacks coach at USC
Speaker 1: and you know, may have used his time with Caleb
Speaker 1: Williams to sort of work his way back into NFL
Speaker 1: good graces. So now he is in Washington and he's
Speaker 1: got a tight end that he is familiar with. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love zach Ertz. I don't know that I'm super excited.
Speaker 3: About thirty three. Yeah, you let Logan Thomas, who's thirty
Speaker 3: two go, and that he signed a thirty three.
Speaker 1: Year old three year old I mean, and look, zach
Speaker 1: Ertz got to a point that he realized that Trey
Speaker 1: McBride was the future in Arizona, and it was just.
Speaker 3: Like, hey, man, you might as just let me go
Speaker 3: just over his shoulder, like, man, just let me get
Speaker 3: in front of.
Speaker 1: You to stop this just you know whatever. So I look,
Speaker 1: I like zach Ertz is a good player. I you know,
Speaker 1: I it doesn't necessarily move the needle for me a
Speaker 1: whole lot with him going to.
Speaker 3: Adpro one what it is right now?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's and it's I don't think it moves
Speaker 1: a whole lot from there at any point for sure.
Speaker 1: You know, I mentioned I like, uh, the idea of
Speaker 1: Ridley to the Jets, Markus Brown to the Chiefs, uh
Speaker 1: saquond to the Chargers. You mentioned you didn't have a
Speaker 1: really good landing spot for Tony Pollard. But as we're
Speaker 1: talking about the Commanders, I think Tony Pollard in in
Speaker 1: Washington sort of makes sense. I think he can be
Speaker 1: in Washington. He can be that guy that we always
Speaker 1: thought Antonio Gibson was gonna be.
Speaker 3: Gibson's a free agent, actually yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I think that you know that
Speaker 1: that pairing is done, but why not bring him in. Uh,
Speaker 1: you can sort of split the workload with him and
Speaker 1: Brian Robinson. As Robinson more the the straight ahead runner.
Speaker 1: Pollar can get some carries for you, but he can
Speaker 1: be a pass catcher out of the backfield. I mean
Speaker 1: that was what that was the role I always envisioned
Speaker 1: Antonio Gibson was going to be in, even though it
Speaker 1: never really happened. Hollared seems more fit. Which is weird though,
Speaker 1: because I don't know if you ever heard this, but
Speaker 1: Antonio Gibson was a wide receiver in college and for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, Washington decided to not throw the balls and
Speaker 1: get it. Don't get it, don't get it. But I
Speaker 1: think I think Tony Paula can be that guy.
Speaker 2: I considered Pollard there, but I I love Brian Robinson,
Speaker 2: so I want I just want him to have a
Speaker 2: backfield too.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: I do he can catch the ball to man man
Speaker 1: wish def puon Brian Robinson flashback. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: that that could be interesting. I like Brian Robinson. I
Speaker 1: just don't know if if they want him to be
Speaker 1: that kind of a pass catcher or if he can Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I'm the guy who always says just because we
Speaker 1: haven't seen a guy do it, doesn't mean he can't
Speaker 1: do it. But to this point, the commanders nor Robinson
Speaker 1: have shown any inclination that they want to use him
Speaker 1: in that fashion at all. So uh, anyway, about a
Speaker 1: week from now, we will be talking more and more
Speaker 1: about this, which actually it's a good time to maybe
Speaker 1: can I clue you guys in we are considering should
Speaker 1: I put this out here?
Speaker 2: Guys?
Speaker 1: Should I try I put out the yes? Yes. So
Speaker 1: we are talking about we are developing the idea of
Speaker 1: doing a weekly streaming show, a short one maybe once
Speaker 1: a week, you know, twenty five thirty minutes something like that.
Speaker 1: We will talk about some of the big deals going on,
Speaker 1: the big issues going on across fantasy football, and obviously
Speaker 1: next week with it being free agency, feels like a
Speaker 1: good time to start that because we can hit some
Speaker 1: of the big deals that happen. You know, we'll do
Speaker 1: our Wednesday show talk about some of the deals that
Speaker 1: happened then, and then Thursday seems like a perfect follow
Speaker 1: up to talk more about that. So be wary for that.
Speaker 1: Wary that seems like it's something frightening. Be aware, be
Speaker 1: prepared for something like that, probably out on the YouTube
Speaker 1: or a streaming service.
Speaker 3: They're coming soon. Near fire content. Only that's the first
Speaker 3: time say this, send that on this show.
Speaker 1: We own that phrase. Now. I just want to let
Speaker 1: you know, surprise, surprise, it's probably anyway, I to Believeablongs
Speaker 1: to Roger, now, sorry about your luck a break come back.
Speaker 1: We will talk a little bit about the combine as
Speaker 1: we wrap things up on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
Speaker 1: I want to finish up the show by talking some
Speaker 1: combine the things that went on in Indianapolis. We talked
Speaker 1: a little bit about it last week, and I think
Speaker 1: the consensus was it's it's entertaining to watch, it's fun
Speaker 1: to tweet about and talk about, but it doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: translate to fantasy production. Although Xavier Worthy of running a
Speaker 1: four to two one woo, that's heat for sure, which
Speaker 1: I guess leads me to the first question, which player
Speaker 1: or players Florida you think helped themselves the most over
Speaker 1: the weekend.
Speaker 2: Look, Xavier Worthy is going to get all the talk,
Speaker 2: but at one sixty five running it at four to
Speaker 2: one is very impressive. But Xavier to get running a
Speaker 2: four to three nine at two twenty one that stood
Speaker 2: out to me. Donnie Mitchell, only four wide receivers taller
Speaker 2: and five heavier have ran a faster forty than him
Speaker 2: since two thousand and three. Brian Thomas Junior stood out
Speaker 2: to me. Second fastest forty third fastest ten yard split.
Speaker 2: So these are some names that are already kind of
Speaker 2: late first round picks, but I think they solidified themselves
Speaker 2: there and I think they did a really good job
Speaker 2: of showing like, hey, after the big three that are
Speaker 2: getting all the talk about, like this is a really
Speaker 2: deep wide receiver class and there's a lot of really
Speaker 2: really talented players. And then from a hype standpoint, I
Speaker 2: don't think anyone gained more hype than JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 1: And Michael Pennan. Nobody, Nobody, Nobody, Claire McCarthy. You know,
Speaker 1: there's always that guy or a couple of guys who
Speaker 1: during you know, the pre draft season, rockets themselves up
Speaker 1: draft boards. JJ McCarthy is the leader in the clubhouse
Speaker 1: for that one hundred percent. Anybody jump out to you
Speaker 1: this weekend, but on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Jalen Wright, Man, I mean his pro comp is
Speaker 3: ALM Kamara, and I know, like a lot of teams
Speaker 3: need this type of running back right now. With the
Speaker 3: speed he had the second fastest forty time, I'm on
Speaker 3: the running back, so you know, he really had a
Speaker 3: great testing and broad jump as well. I think he
Speaker 3: had the highest as well. If I'm not mistaken, and
Speaker 3: like he's one of those guys that were fringed, like
Speaker 3: running RB two to three behind Jonathan Brooks. I mean
Speaker 3: it's safe to say, just based on land the spot,
Speaker 3: if he gets into a good spot, he can fall
Speaker 3: into a role where he can actually carve himself out
Speaker 3: to be useful in fantasy. So I think Jalen Wright
Speaker 3: did a great job testing out.
Speaker 1: And there's some talk that he could end up being
Speaker 1: the first running back taken in this draft. I know
Speaker 1: a lot of people were looking at Jonathan Brooks, but
Speaker 1: I think you know, look the medicals. The fact that
Speaker 1: he tore in ACL and is it likely to be
Speaker 1: ready at the start of the season is going to
Speaker 1: impact his draft status a little bit. So it could
Speaker 1: be that Jalen Wright has sort of surpassed him there.
Speaker 1: For me, a couple of names one Romo Dunza, not
Speaker 1: that he's moving up in the draft, but mostly that
Speaker 1: he sort of confirmed everything we already believed about him.
Speaker 1: You know, he's he's already going to be one of
Speaker 1: the top three receivers taking off the board. I think
Speaker 1: one and two were going to be the Molikue neighbors.
Speaker 1: Marvin Harrison Junior in whatever order you would like to
Speaker 1: put them. But I think o'doonza just locked himself in
Speaker 1: as the third wide receiver with what he did over
Speaker 1: the weekend, And for me, I was very interested to
Speaker 1: see what Marshaun Lloyd was going to do. I thought
Speaker 1: he performed very well. I thought he had a faster
Speaker 1: forty time than some people were going to think were
Speaker 1: expecting from him. It also, as a USC fan, made
Speaker 1: be frustrated that sometimes Lincoln Riley would just ignore him
Speaker 1: for long stretches in the game, because I think he's
Speaker 1: a talented player. I think the I think Lancer lines
Speaker 1: comp for him was a Jeric McKinnon type. He's not tall,
Speaker 1: he's a little bit stout. I think he can be
Speaker 1: a decent pass catcher if given the opportunity. He's a
Speaker 1: guy who has potential to be explosive at times, but
Speaker 1: maybe not a guy that you're gonna lean on to
Speaker 1: be a three down RB one. But I thought he
Speaker 1: performed and performed very well this weekend. Either you guys
Speaker 1: find somebody you're gonna go back and watch after what
Speaker 1: you saw at the combine, or you lakwhile you already
Speaker 1: saw you got a list of guys.
Speaker 3: There's a comfl guys where I'm just like, dude, what
Speaker 3: in the world, Like where this guy come from? But no,
Speaker 3: I mean for me personally, I was kind of like
Speaker 3: lay on the bandwagon. Ricky Piersoll, like he's one of
Speaker 3: the polished like wide receivers route running, like he's gonna
Speaker 3: make a huge impact to a team on one of
Speaker 3: these early second round teams. I mean, he had already
Speaker 3: had the senior ball buzz and I'm like, yeah, yeah, whatever,
Speaker 3: you know Roman Wilson, That's who I'm really looking at
Speaker 3: right now. But this dude is going to be one
Speaker 3: of those route runners that can just make a huge
Speaker 3: playing Like who is this dude?
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, Florida. Anybody you're keeping an eye or you're
Speaker 1: going to rewatch, I should say.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to watch more of Anthony Gold. He
Speaker 2: tied Worthy for the fastest ten yard split, and to me,
Speaker 2: I think the ten yard split almost matters more than
Speaker 2: the forty. Trey Benson was a standout this week, and
Speaker 2: then Isaac Grendo, who ran the fastest forty wait adjusted
Speaker 2: you can make an argument is the best forty time
Speaker 2: ever ran running back, but his ten yard split wasn't
Speaker 2: very good, so uh, definitely one. I haven't even started
Speaker 2: to In full honesty, I'm working my way through this
Speaker 2: wide receivers right now. I got so back going through receivers.
Speaker 2: I have not even started running back yet, so those
Speaker 2: are probably gonna be the two running backs I start
Speaker 2: with now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll be honest, Like I had kind of heard
Speaker 1: the name Isaac Garrinda. I think I had watched one
Speaker 1: or two Louisville games during the season, but I didn't
Speaker 1: know much about him. So I'm definitely curious to sort
Speaker 1: of dive in and see what's going on there. I
Speaker 1: know this is not the most exciting running back class,
Speaker 1: but I think there are some guys out there who
Speaker 1: could be impact players.
Speaker 3: I like to call it if.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good term. I like that term. I
Speaker 1: think it is a contributor class. Another quick question before
Speaker 1: we get out of here, I mean, is, aside of
Speaker 1: it being you know, interesting, theater, is the forty irrelevant?
Speaker 1: I guess for lack of a better term, I.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't say you relevant totally, but it's a little over hyped,
Speaker 3: especially for running back, like your first ten yards matter
Speaker 3: so much more like the forty determines.
Speaker 2: Okay, if you get in open field, can you take it?
Speaker 2: The distance which is important, but like burst, to me
Speaker 2: matters so much more than high end speed for running back.
Speaker 2: So if you can get going in ten seconds, I
Speaker 2: think that probably translates a little bit.
Speaker 1: Better to the NFL. I don't remember who it was
Speaker 1: that said it, but I think the point is taken.
Speaker 1: If you were running forty yards at a time on
Speaker 1: an NFL field, something has especially if you're a defensive player,
Speaker 1: something has gone really wrong. You know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: you shouldn't be running forty yards at a time. So
Speaker 1: it's it's nice, it's fun, it's interesting. But I think
Speaker 1: with the way the game is played, because especially offenses
Speaker 1: have sort of shrunk the field and everything's a lot shorter,
Speaker 1: I think your point is, well, take it, Floria. It's
Speaker 1: more about the ten yard burst in the overall forty
Speaker 1: yard run.
Speaker 2: Bigger question, why do we even make o lineman run
Speaker 2: the forty when they get penalized for being five yards down, for.
Speaker 1: Being downfield, yeah, destroying their knees. It was there was
Speaker 1: some you know, some big offensive line prog. Maybe it
Speaker 1: was it might have been pinn A Suol or somebody
Speaker 1: like that. It was like a big offensive line prospect
Speaker 1: and their forty time was below expectations. And I think
Speaker 1: one of the scoutser coaches is like, all right, well,
Speaker 1: I guess I just won't have him run streaks down
Speaker 1: the field, you know, I think, But I think in
Speaker 1: some way they'll say this. In some ways, watching those
Speaker 1: guys run and the time that they run is way
Speaker 1: more impressive.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, as a human.
Speaker 1: As just as a human being, that as a football player,
Speaker 1: but as a human being to be that big and
Speaker 1: that heavy and still run. Look, man, I mean you
Speaker 1: go out there and try to run forty yards, right,
Speaker 1: to run it even in five seconds or five that's
Speaker 1: that's pretty good man. And to do that with three
Speaker 1: hundred plus pounds is sort of amazing. So, yeah, it
Speaker 1: doesn't make headlines, but sometimes watching some of those guys
Speaker 1: run is amazing because I don't think you realized what
Speaker 1: kind of athletes some of these dudes are.
Speaker 2: But my personal FA favorite headline from it was like
Speaker 2: Sam Hartman runs fastest forty amongst quarterbacks, and then it
Speaker 2: was like he was the only quarterback that ran.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you can also say Sam Hartman had the
Speaker 1: worst forty times exact quarters as well. We'll be true,
Speaker 1: both of those statements are true one hundred percent. All right,
Speaker 1: that's a good spot for us to stop for this week.
Speaker 1: We'll be back with you next week as well, as
Speaker 1: we will be pretty much in the thick of free agency,
Speaker 1: so we'll be back with you kind of talk about
Speaker 1: what is to be some of this player movement and
Speaker 1: what that's going to mean for both the NFL teams
Speaker 1: and your fantasy football team as well. But that'll do
Speaker 1: it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
Speaker 1: Stay happy, safe and healthy, do good and live well.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 1: Wo