Speaker 1: Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: your weekly source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice. Now,
Speaker 1: along with the guys from fanball dot com, here's the
Speaker 1: host for Fantasy Football Weekly. It is finally Fantasy football season.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. It is year twenty five,
Speaker 1: a quarter century of Shenanigan's bad takes, dubious opinions, and
Speaker 1: a whole lot of ointment. I am Paul CHURCHI and
Speaker 1: do of my longtime co hosts have been there for
Speaker 1: many of those twenty five years. Brian Johnson and Christian Peterson. Hello, guys,
Speaker 1: good to be here. Church. What's up Church? Let's do
Speaker 1: this thing. Let's do it. If you're new to the show,
Speaker 1: we really hit our stride in the regular season when
Speaker 1: we break down all the NFL matchups fantasy style and
Speaker 1: now in August. It's all about helping you dominate your draft,
Speaker 1: your a shin, and really just adding fund the world's
Speaker 1: best pastime, Fantasy football. Today, we will get you up
Speaker 1: to speed on all the notable offseason moves, will highlight
Speaker 1: the training camp battles you need to follow, will answer
Speaker 1: some of the toughest questions out there and roll through
Speaker 1: our Dynasty and Empire rookie rankings as well. Guys, I
Speaker 1: want to start with some some newer news, and that's
Speaker 1: reports out of Dallas, including coming directly from Jerry Jones,
Speaker 1: that the Ezekiel Elliott holdout could extend into the regular season.
Speaker 1: At this stage, it's still early. But what is your
Speaker 1: level of panic and what are you recommending for people
Speaker 1: who are drafting now. The level of panic was high
Speaker 1: a week ago. It's even higher now, especially now that
Speaker 1: Jerry Jones has realized you don't need a league leading
Speaker 1: rusher to win the Super Bowl, or so he says,
Speaker 1: even though the last time the Cowboys won the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl they had a leading US but leading Roser and
Speaker 1: Emtt Smith. Yes, they have some able bodies there in Dallas.
Speaker 1: There there no Zeke Elliott, but uh, Tony Pollard, rookie
Speaker 1: they drafted in the fourth round out of Memphis, has
Speaker 1: three three down potential. And you know, in this day
Speaker 1: and age, it's a passing league more so than a
Speaker 1: running league. And uh they say this holdout could last months,
Speaker 1: and I believe it. Yeah, if you're if you're drafting
Speaker 1: right now in a Best Ball league or something, I
Speaker 1: don't know how you take Zeke in the top five.
Speaker 1: You know, his his ADP is a top three, top
Speaker 1: four overall kind of guy. And with with this news,
Speaker 1: I just it doesn't sound good. I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know when I would take him, Brian, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you have any thoughts on that. Would you take
Speaker 1: him like late first at this point? Would that be
Speaker 1: worth the risk? Yeah, at this point he might be
Speaker 1: falling behind the Joe Mixons and Dalvin pres of the
Speaker 1: world that are much more secure in their their job
Speaker 1: at this point. So yeah, this is uh, there's a
Speaker 1: major cause for concern here for Zeke owners and uh
Speaker 1: clearly behind Kamara, McCaffrey, Barkley for me and yeah, I've
Speaker 1: got I'm I will take the contrary position that says
Speaker 1: it's too early to panic here. The season is still
Speaker 1: over a month away. That's a lot of time, a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure on both sides of this, And there's
Speaker 1: a temptation to say, well, look at Levan Bell. If
Speaker 1: Levian Bell did it, anybody can do it. Let's remember
Speaker 1: this levy On Bell wasn't under contract Zeke is. That's
Speaker 1: a big difference. That's forty dollars a day and fines. Um,
Speaker 1: it's a year of old service lost. He's got a
Speaker 1: lot more to lose here. And I'm not ready to
Speaker 1: say yet that the Levy on Bell example, is going
Speaker 1: to be what happens most of the time. So I've
Speaker 1: moved Zeke down to number four in my teach sheet,
Speaker 1: but I'm not moving him down into that next year
Speaker 1: running backs yet. It I just feel like there's too
Speaker 1: many things that can happen, and and that really Zeke
Speaker 1: doesn't have all the same kind of leverage the Levy
Speaker 1: on Bell does. What I find out, how this one
Speaker 1: goes down. What about Melvin Gordon? Are you worried about
Speaker 1: him yet? Um? In some ways, I'm more worried about
Speaker 1: Melvin Gordon to to be honest, Um, the situation there
Speaker 1: is a is a little bit different than that. I
Speaker 1: think they've got more capable and regular backups that have
Speaker 1: proven themselves able to power at all that offense. Um.
Speaker 1: But Gordon's situation is what worries me is he said
Speaker 1: no to a ten million to flat, no to at
Speaker 1: ten to twelve million dollar offer per year. That's great
Speaker 1: running back money. And if that's not enough, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: nervous about what will be enough. Now. The hope is
Speaker 1: that ten to twelve means that they're already closer than
Speaker 1: we know, but there doesn't seem to be anything coming there.
Speaker 1: And um, and I've moved Gordon down pretty precipitously right now.
Speaker 1: He's running back eleven on my on my cheat sheets.
Speaker 1: So I've I've got I've got a fair amount of
Speaker 1: of of consternation over over Melvin Gordon, but still thinking
Speaker 1: in the long run, both guys a week one, I
Speaker 1: do expect both guys will be suiting up for their teams.
Speaker 1: That's not stopping people who own both running backs from
Speaker 1: hitting the bottle heavily tonight, because this is some bad
Speaker 1: news for those who correct. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm in
Speaker 1: an Empire League where I've got I've got two running
Speaker 1: backs on my roster and one of them is Zeke
Speaker 1: and I'm Sweaton right now, I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1: Just hope that it turns out this way. Let's move.
Speaker 1: This is our first show of this season. Let's recap
Speaker 1: some of the key offseason moves from last off season.
Speaker 1: For anybody who's snoozing in the off season that you
Speaker 1: know you're not following every single move and a grandular level.
Speaker 1: And now here it is regular season and you want
Speaker 1: to get up to speed on all the notable changes
Speaker 1: that have happened, the key guys that have got a
Speaker 1: new home. Let's attack this on a per position basis,
Speaker 1: starting at the quarterback position. Guys. All right, well, we're
Speaker 1: actually lucky that the Zeke news broke. Otherwise we'd be
Speaker 1: kicking the show off with news of well sort of news.
Speaker 1: But we'll be talking Nick Foles football season. He's he's
Speaker 1: the following act. So but Nick Foles has gone from
Speaker 1: Philly to Jacksonville. Uh, really only viable in super flex
Speaker 1: or two quarterback leagues. You're not going to be drafting
Speaker 1: Nick Boles and standard one quarterback leagues. A f C
Speaker 1: South teams Houston, Indian Tennessee combined to allow less than
Speaker 1: one and a half passing touchdowns for the game. That's
Speaker 1: the bulk of the sched for the Jaguars. Biggest set
Speaker 1: folds um season total for touchdowns at nineteen and a half,
Speaker 1: that's just gross. If that's your under, that's brutal. So
Speaker 1: that's that's about enough for Nick Foles. Whose else? We
Speaker 1: got CB you know he's going to be You watch,
Speaker 1: Nick Foles is going to be one of those waiver
Speaker 1: wire bye week quarterbacks that's never on a roster till
Speaker 1: the bye weeks roll around, and then somebody's got to
Speaker 1: replace their starter, and you know that'll be I think
Speaker 1: that'll be it for Nick Foles. Yeah, hopefully our next
Speaker 1: guy will just flat out never be on rosters. This
Speaker 1: is Joe Flacco now of the Broncos. Man. We thought
Speaker 1: we were finally done with Joe Flacco last year in
Speaker 1: Week eleven when he gave up his starting job to
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. But now, somehow, some way still has a
Speaker 1: starting job. It looks like he's gonna be a starter
Speaker 1: in Week one in Denver. Feels like he's just keeping
Speaker 1: a seat warm for rookie Drew Lock. But Lock did
Speaker 1: not look very good in the Hall of Fame game
Speaker 1: last night, and he's behind Kevin Hogan on the depth chart,
Speaker 1: So it could be more Joe Flacco this year for
Speaker 1: the Broncos than anybody really wants to see. But really
Speaker 1: nothing to see here from a fantasy perspective, Flacco has
Speaker 1: never finished higher than the QB twelve From a fantasy
Speaker 1: perspective in his career, and that was many, many years ago.
Speaker 1: In the recent past, it's more like, you know, QB
Speaker 1: twenty six, just nothing to see here, even even in
Speaker 1: two quarterback or flex leagues. Well, let's keep up with
Speaker 1: these days of of Joe Flacco, like launching those long
Speaker 1: touchdown passes. Man, those were a long time ago, weren't they.
Speaker 1: It's you know, he's you know, there's no I don't
Speaker 1: think there's a there's a lot to like their Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: go ahead, Brian, Well, I was just gonna say, we're
Speaker 1: gonna stick with the theme of fantasy or relevance unfortunately
Speaker 1: for a fantasy show and talk about Ryan Patrick and
Speaker 1: Josh Rosen, the dynamic duo of quarterbacks. Well, I know, okay, Well,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have done that in the first show. I've
Speaker 1: ad be smirched ste Beard. I apologize. Charges Yes, you
Speaker 1: have fantasy relevant Okay, Well, you know, look, I'm a
Speaker 1: I'm a Fitzpatrick apologist. Great, and especially from a fantasy standpoint,
Speaker 1: because I don't I don't care about the four interception games.
Speaker 1: I love the four touchdown games that he just slings
Speaker 1: the ball unconscious downfield, doesn't care what happens. I love
Speaker 1: that kind of aggression. And you look at remember how
Speaker 1: good he was to those first four games of last year.
Speaker 1: He was Fantasy Football's highest scoring quarterback through three weeks.
Speaker 1: He can get it done from time to time and
Speaker 1: maybe even in Miami. Yeah, those games are really easy
Speaker 1: to pay, those four touchdown games. Or Fitzpatrick, well, there's
Speaker 1: no there's no Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to Sean
Speaker 1: Jackson who was on Tampa Bay last year. On Miami,
Speaker 1: the receiving core far inferior to that of Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1: But Fitzpatrick should get the start, uh come week one.
Speaker 1: But you'd like to think or they would like to
Speaker 1: see Josh Rose and take over there. But again, this
Speaker 1: is really a super flex two quarterback conversation or cheap
Speaker 1: DFS play option. Come week one, we'll talk some more
Speaker 1: Stu Beard than last quarterback. Let's glaze over this one
Speaker 1: as quickly as we possibly can. Case Keenum moves the
Speaker 1: Broncos to the Redskins this year, where he to just
Speaker 1: like Joe Flacco who's now in Denver, is holding them,
Speaker 1: just holding the seat warm until a rookie quarterback can
Speaker 1: take over. Dwayne Haskins actually maybe in the running to
Speaker 1: take over as soon as Week one, but right now
Speaker 1: Keenum is number one on the on that depth chart.
Speaker 1: But again, nothing to see here from a fantasy perspective.
Speaker 1: It's a bad offense. There's nobody to throw to Paul
Speaker 1: Richardson as their protected projected number one wide receiver. You've
Speaker 1: got Josh Josh Dockson, Trey Quinn. Just nothing to see
Speaker 1: here for the Redskins in general and certainly for Keenum.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm more anticipating seeing what Dwayne Haskins can do
Speaker 1: if and when he takes over that starting job. And
Speaker 1: it doesn't help that Trent Williams, They're all star left tackle,
Speaker 1: is threatening to hold out into the season as well,
Speaker 1: and that's uh, that would be a massive loss if
Speaker 1: they're not able to come to terms with him, and
Speaker 1: he may he may be fed up with this organization
Speaker 1: in a way that Kirk Cousins was. It's very possible.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you, guys that Washington, if I
Speaker 1: were to give you Washington or miam for the lowest
Speaker 1: scoring offense in the NFL, which would you take? Man?
Speaker 1: Can we take both and neither none of the above?
Speaker 1: I always said, if you're going to remove one team
Speaker 1: from fantasy football this season and no one would miss
Speaker 1: a player, it would be Washington. Washington Hair Ever Miami. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it. If it's not those two, I don't you know,
Speaker 1: it's somebody that's going to suffer like a quarterback injury.
Speaker 1: I mean it's I think it's those two teams in
Speaker 1: a runaway. Let's go to the running back position. Who's
Speaker 1: got a new face in a new place. All right,
Speaker 1: we got some big names here. Finally we'll start with
Speaker 1: Levan Bell. Uh, everyone knows is what the Jets. Now
Speaker 1: Bell last played football some five and fifty days ago. Uh, personally,
Speaker 1: that makes me very nervous. Um kind of puts uh now,
Speaker 1: Zeke's in this nervous territory with me and Levian Bell.
Speaker 1: Actually where I'm liking Joe Mixing and Dalvin Cook over
Speaker 1: guys like this personally. Um, the Jets were top twelve
Speaker 1: in rush attempts last season, but Bob three in receptions. Um,
Speaker 1: you know Bell has made his hey catching the ball
Speaker 1: throughout his career. Those numbers should go up in that offense.
Speaker 1: Sam Donald's second year, it's just the extended absence makes
Speaker 1: me nervous, and really only time will tell if Levan
Speaker 1: Bell will recapture, you know, the glory days of old,
Speaker 1: which had become old nearly two years ago. So time
Speaker 1: will tell, you shall see. Yeah, he says he's good
Speaker 1: for five hundred, five hundred touches this year, and you know,
Speaker 1: when that Jet's offense, they probably wouldn't mind doing that,
Speaker 1: and and the opportunity counts for a lot. But you know,
Speaker 1: he's not also not running behind a Steelers level offensive line,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't have Ben Roethlisberger to and Antonio Brown
Speaker 1: and Juju Smith Schuster to distract defenses either. So it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like we're going to get nearly as the
Speaker 1: level of productivity that we had when he was in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: although his adp is is trending to the first round,
Speaker 1: so you know, we'll have to we'll we'll see. There
Speaker 1: are people that that definitely are backing the old Levy
Speaker 1: on Bell now that he's in New Yea. He used
Speaker 1: to have it at the running back position. Bell has
Speaker 1: gone to Twitter to publicly lobby for fantasy owners to
Speaker 1: take him apologize for last year, and by the way,
Speaker 1: Bell has nothing to apologize for he told everybody he
Speaker 1: was going to hold out. You know, he was like,
Speaker 1: you know this thing, you know, he never he was.
Speaker 1: He was the guy who was playing the hardball card
Speaker 1: from from the beginning, and fantasy units just didn't want
Speaker 1: to believe it could happen. I heard he ran the
Speaker 1: conditioning test twice too. He's just trying too hard at
Speaker 1: this point, the proof that he's ready, he's a little
Speaker 1: nervous overcompensating. All right, Let's move to the next guy
Speaker 1: in the list. It's Mark Ingram, who moves from New
Speaker 1: Orleans to Baltimore, where he will be a bell cow
Speaker 1: for the first time in many years maybe in his career.
Speaker 1: Of course, in New Orleans he had to split time
Speaker 1: with Alvin Kamara, specifically in the receiving game. But Ingram
Speaker 1: has shown in the past that he can catch the ball,
Speaker 1: and again, there is just almost no competition whatsoever in
Speaker 1: this Baltimore backfeard. There's there's Gus Edwards, who kind of
Speaker 1: flamed out last year when given an opportunity. There's Kenneth
Speaker 1: Dixon who hasn't done anything in the three or four
Speaker 1: years that he's been in the league. There is a
Speaker 1: rookie Justice Hill, who I think has some upside and
Speaker 1: could potentially could be a pass catcher. But this is
Speaker 1: a good opportunity for mark Ingram, and he's a he's
Speaker 1: a pretty a pretty nice value play right now in
Speaker 1: terms of average draft position. Just the twenty one running
Speaker 1: back taken forty two overall, So you can get a
Speaker 1: guy in the fourth round who looks to be a
Speaker 1: bell cow. Uh. You know, he's being taken just ahead
Speaker 1: of guys like Philip Lindsay Sony Michelle, Kenyan, Drake uh
Speaker 1: and behind Josh Jacobs and and and carry on Johnson.
Speaker 1: So uh, many of those guys have a lot more
Speaker 1: question marks than Ingram does in terms of his role
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. So I kind of like Ingram as a
Speaker 1: as a little bit of a value play if you
Speaker 1: if you skip running back in the first couple of rounds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with everything you just said. I think the's
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be on all those guys that
Speaker 1: you begrudgingly taken the fifth round and then lo and behold,
Speaker 1: it's a guy that you're happy to have in your
Speaker 1: lineup every week. Let's go to our next, our next
Speaker 1: running back with a new face new place. Well, old face.
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't really change your face when you
Speaker 1: change cities. Well still petifically, he's still pretty young, though.
Speaker 1: I think he's the only about there's room for facial change. Okay,
Speaker 1: and that's Tevin Coleman. We was speaking of another guy,
Speaker 1: A great target if you're gonna avoid running back in
Speaker 1: the first several rounds. Some might call that doing the
Speaker 1: opposite right Church, but Coleman a great Uh do the
Speaker 1: opposite back? Reunites with Kyle Shanahan, who was his offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator in the Falcons in San Francisco. Now his where
Speaker 1: Coleman is playing sort of a crowded backfield there with
Speaker 1: Matt Brada and Jack McKinnon. But McKinnon already hurt, uh,
Speaker 1: in danger of getting cut. And we all remember Breeda
Speaker 1: was banged up every week last year. So McKinnon is
Speaker 1: the odds on favorite to be the lead back. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Shanahan went out and got him for that reason.
Speaker 1: And remember when McKinnon before we got hurt last year,
Speaker 1: he was going in like the third fourth round of
Speaker 1: drafts because everyone was so excited using the Shanahan offense. Uh,
Speaker 1: Coleman is not getting that kind of love, and you
Speaker 1: should be. He's going in the fifth, sixth round. So
Speaker 1: Coleman getting undervalued on draft day in my opinion, and
Speaker 1: he has true bell cow potential. If McKinnon and to
Speaker 1: go down, you're looking at a easily a top seven
Speaker 1: eight running back if this offense goes off. Here's why
Speaker 1: I can't agree with you, and it's because Matt Breed
Speaker 1: is good. Matt Breed is really good. Um when he
Speaker 1: you know, I think when healthy, he runs harder than
Speaker 1: anything I've ever seen from Tevin Coleman. And I think
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, the best running back
Speaker 1: they've got is Breeda, not Coleman. And yeah, I'm I
Speaker 1: worried that he's constantly hurt, of course I am, um,
Speaker 1: and I don't count on him to to stay upright
Speaker 1: for the whole season, but I'm I'm nervous that when
Speaker 1: ultimately they need and they want to win in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: they're gonna play their best back, and I think that's
Speaker 1: gonna be Matt Breedall find out training camp battle to
Speaker 1: watch what else we got it running back? Let's go
Speaker 1: to Jordan Howard, picked up by the Eagles from the
Speaker 1: Bears in exchange for a sixth round pick during the
Speaker 1: off season. Now, this is a this is a case
Speaker 1: study for the foolishness of Twitter during training camp. If
Speaker 1: you go to Twitter right now and search for Jordan
Speaker 1: Howard and Miles Sanders, you will find half of the
Speaker 1: full on each side of this debate. Half of the
Speaker 1: people are saying, Jordan Howard's taking all the all the
Speaker 1: looks with the number one offense, He's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: he's gonna get eighteen to twenty touches. People are, people
Speaker 1: are really sleeping on Jordan Howard, and the other half
Speaker 1: are saying Miles Sanders is easily the best running back
Speaker 1: in Eagles camp, and blah blah blah. So it's it's
Speaker 1: hard to kind of it's hard to kind of cut through,
Speaker 1: uh some of that bs. But you know, I think
Speaker 1: Howard is certainly going to be involved. Sanders is certainly
Speaker 1: going to be involved. My worry is that Sanders is
Speaker 1: capable of taking a lot of the handoffs, which back
Speaker 1: in Chicago, when Jordan Howard was sharing touches with Tarik Cohen,
Speaker 1: Cohen was much more of just taking the receptions. Uh
Speaker 1: So Howard got two seventy touches. Last year, he was
Speaker 1: the he was a top twenty running back. But I
Speaker 1: think there's more downside this year than there has been
Speaker 1: in the past, just because Sanders is a guy that
Speaker 1: can do it all. He is capable of doing it all.
Speaker 1: So I just think Jordan Howard's UH floor is much
Speaker 1: lower this year than it has been in past years.
Speaker 1: They're both being selected in the same round. I believe
Speaker 1: they're in the seventh round right now, according to a DP. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard both in the seventh round.
Speaker 1: I would take Sanders personally, just because I'm all about
Speaker 1: playing for the upside, even if it takes five or
Speaker 1: six weeks. Yeah, what we what we do know is
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson has tipped his hand repeatedly on on how
Speaker 1: he likes his running backs, and that's in a rotation.
Speaker 1: So I I think we know what Doug Peterson is
Speaker 1: all about in its rotational runners, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what we're gonna get again. Guys, any any other running
Speaker 1: backs left? Yeah? One more worth noting Latavius Murray now
Speaker 1: with the Saints. Mark Ingram just left for Baltimore. As
Speaker 1: CP mentioned earlier, vacated a hundred and sixty touches from
Speaker 1: last year. But don't forget Ingram is four games because
Speaker 1: of suspension. Prior to last year, Ingram average well over
Speaker 1: two hundred touches for the Saints and Murray two hundred
Speaker 1: touches easily in sight for him. Saints running backs were
Speaker 1: third in rush attempts and fifth in receptions last year.
Speaker 1: Kamara is certainly the lead back right now, but Murray
Speaker 1: will see his fair care of fair share of carries,
Speaker 1: especially near the goal line. One would think um probably
Speaker 1: the most important handcuff in fantasy football. Who could uh
Speaker 1: Philip le spot in some weeks as well too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the only other guy on my on my list
Speaker 1: that I think is is somewhat relevant here is u
Speaker 1: is Kareem Hunt, who of course went from the Chiefs
Speaker 1: to the Browns. We know that he's sitting out the
Speaker 1: first eight games of the season with with that suspension,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna be really fascinating to see how the
Speaker 1: Browns use him once he once he returns in Week A.
Speaker 1: They of course have Nick Chubb, who everybody loves and
Speaker 1: and I agree after after what he did last year
Speaker 1: as a rookie, but I mean Hunt, Hunt is one
Speaker 1: of the best running backs in the NFL. So when
Speaker 1: he comes back in Week nine, the Browns are absolutely
Speaker 1: going to use him. So it's gonna be fascinating to
Speaker 1: see what happens here. As a fantasy owner in a
Speaker 1: you know, just a typical redraft, uh season long league,
Speaker 1: I don't know that you can afford to sit on
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt for eight weeks. You might be out of
Speaker 1: the running by then. But in dynasty leagues, he certainly
Speaker 1: is a little bit, uh actually a lot more intriguing
Speaker 1: in a dynasty format for me, you know, I'll uh.
Speaker 1: The part I like about Kareem Hunt is this, even
Speaker 1: if you do, even if you get to a point
Speaker 1: where you can't afford to sit on him and your
Speaker 1: team's losing, you can trade him to a contender and
Speaker 1: basically tell this, tell this contending team, I am going
Speaker 1: to give you, arguably, you know, the one of the
Speaker 1: five best running backs in fantasy football, and I think
Speaker 1: that's gonna be pretty compelling. He'll always be tradeable. I
Speaker 1: think Cremut will always be tradeable, So you know, if
Speaker 1: you absolutely have to drop him at some point and
Speaker 1: just you need that roster spot, or you have to
Speaker 1: make a trade and you just can't afford to have
Speaker 1: a nonstarter. I think you're gonna be able to get
Speaker 1: something for Cream Hunt, and that's why I'm drafting him
Speaker 1: in a lot of leagues, and I'm taking him around
Speaker 1: earlier than many others. Guys will take a break. When
Speaker 1: we come back, we're going to talk about the wide
Speaker 1: receivers that have moved in the off season and who
Speaker 1: you actually need to care about in moments. All right,
Speaker 1: we have covered quarterbacks and running backs that have moved
Speaker 1: from team to team in the fantasy implications of those moves. Guys,
Speaker 1: let's break down wide receivers and tight ends. Brian Johnson,
Speaker 1: let's begin with you give us give us your first
Speaker 1: wide receiver that is playing in a new home this year.
Speaker 1: It was somewhat big news when Odell Beckham was traded
Speaker 1: in the off season to the Cleveland Browns. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: new home in Cleveland, pairing with Baker Mayfield in what
Speaker 1: should be a very prolific offense. Really, the only concern
Speaker 1: with Beckham is he has only played sixteen games over
Speaker 1: the last two years. That's an average of eight per season,
Speaker 1: So injuries are somewhat of a concern, but outside of that,
Speaker 1: it's not enough to sway you from aggressively targeting Beckham
Speaker 1: on draft day. The upside is just incredibly massive. I
Speaker 1: couldnot argue him being your top ranked wide receiver, your
Speaker 1: third wanked ranked wide receiver. All signs are pointing towards
Speaker 1: a monster season Rebeckham. That's all I have to say
Speaker 1: about that. Really, Yeah, my wide receiver number one overall,
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham. Kind of the opposite situation here for Antonio Brown,
Speaker 1: who goes from the the NFL's most plific passing offense
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh to Oakland, which was not quite as prolific
Speaker 1: last year. Steelers ranked first in passing attempts and fifth
Speaker 1: in total plays. The Raiders ranked sixteenth and pass attempts
Speaker 1: and twenty four in plays last year, and of course
Speaker 1: a pretty sizeable downgrade and quarterback play from Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: to Derek Carr. But Antonio Brown is Antonio Brown sixth
Speaker 1: straight hundred hundred catch seasons, scored double digit touchdowns and
Speaker 1: four of the last six years, so certainly is still
Speaker 1: a very fantasy relevant player, although the general public doesn't
Speaker 1: think he's gonna be able to repeat last year's numbers.
Speaker 1: He finished as the number three wide receiver in most
Speaker 1: scoring systems last year. Right now, according to the average
Speaker 1: draft position, he's the seventh wide receiver off the board,
Speaker 1: which that feels about right for me. We know he's
Speaker 1: still an elite talent and an elite player, but the
Speaker 1: downgrade in situation makes sense to me. Did you see
Speaker 1: the pictures of his feet? No, thankfully, don't look at
Speaker 1: on Twitter. He'll drop you in his people drop him
Speaker 1: in your rankings considerably if you see his feet. It's hard.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm moving him down to wide receiver twelve. Alright,
Speaker 1: he was already out wide receiver. And by the way,
Speaker 1: never look at a wide receiver's hands either. They've all
Speaker 1: been mutilated from catching balls for all, for all those
Speaker 1: years and stuff. It's always nasty. Don't look at don't
Speaker 1: look at any of the digits on any wide receiver.
Speaker 1: That's the lesson learned here. Let's go to our third
Speaker 1: wide receiver with a new home. Who we got the
Speaker 1: Shawan Jackson sort of a new home, more of a
Speaker 1: homecoming st in a sense, returns to Philadelphia to join
Speaker 1: another prolific offense. That really has no true standouts outside
Speaker 1: of zach Ertz. But Jackson is a still a great
Speaker 1: deep threat um and which makes him a great best
Speaker 1: ball play because it's hard to peg when he's gonna
Speaker 1: have these monster games, and when he does, if he's
Speaker 1: in your best ball lineup on your best ball team,
Speaker 1: he'll be putting your lineup. His nineteen yard average depth
Speaker 1: of target last year led all receivers with at least
Speaker 1: seventy targets and on catchable balls. According to you Sports
Speaker 1: Info Solutions, d Jacks led the league in PPR points
Speaker 1: per target and Jameis Winston was incredibly inaccurate last year.
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz is an upgrade over Winston, so Jackson will
Speaker 1: be a viable wide receiver three and even standard formats.
Speaker 1: But he's great and best ball this year al right, Next,
Speaker 1: particularly best ball you don't have to guess when those
Speaker 1: long passes are going to connect in it. It's been
Speaker 1: a long time since he's had quality quarterbacking didn't have
Speaker 1: it for chunks of his time in Washington either, So
Speaker 1: it'll be fun to see what d Jacks can do
Speaker 1: their Christian Who do we got next? Yeah, let's go
Speaker 1: to Devon Funcius, who moves over to the Colts from
Speaker 1: the Panthers. At this time last year, everybody was looking
Speaker 1: at Funchius as a potential kind of breakout player after
Speaker 1: he had over eight hundred yards and eight touchdowns the
Speaker 1: year before. That did not come to fruition under fifty catches,
Speaker 1: less than six hundred yards and just four touchdowns in eighteen,
Speaker 1: So kind of gets gets a chance to start all
Speaker 1: over again here in a prolific passing offense catching passes
Speaker 1: from Ander Luck. But there are a lot of mouths
Speaker 1: to feed in India. Of course, he'll be behind t
Speaker 1: Y Hilton and the wide receiver packing order. Indianapolis also
Speaker 1: has a couple of very good tight ends and an
Speaker 1: intriguing rookie and wide receiver pair s Campbell. So honestly,
Speaker 1: no guarantee that Funcious is any more than the fourth
Speaker 1: or fifth option in this passing game. So not a
Speaker 1: lot to love here for Funcious couldn't be less interested that.
Speaker 1: I mean, you could give me twenty eight rounds before
Speaker 1: I'm going to consider having Funchs for my fantasy team.
Speaker 1: All right, who do we have left? So? John Brown
Speaker 1: probably makes the most lateral move catching passes from Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson and now we'll be catching passes from Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and Buffalo Um And for a guy who only runs vertically,
Speaker 1: by the way, but smokey Smoky Brown has shown flashes
Speaker 1: of brilliance in his career with Arizona and Baltimore at times,
Speaker 1: but injuries have always plagued him. But he's healthy now
Speaker 1: and reports at a campus he's the most impressive player
Speaker 1: by far. But again, the equality of the targets he'll
Speaker 1: be fighting for with his A Jones and Robert Foster
Speaker 1: might not be all that great coming from Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: but this is a wide receiver battle. We might talk
Speaker 1: about it a little later in the show. So I
Speaker 1: will concede to Christian. Now, yeah, let's go to Dante Moncrief,
Speaker 1: who is the presumed replacement for Antonio Brown in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Came over on a two year, nine million dollar contract,
Speaker 1: has been running as the number two guy opposite Juju
Speaker 1: Smith Schuster early on in training camp, so it looks
Speaker 1: like he's going to be the guy. Moncrief a guy
Speaker 1: again who has burned fantasy owners basically throughout his career.
Speaker 1: Everybody has seemed to think he has all kinds of
Speaker 1: upside and we just haven't seen it, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: Do we think he can do it? Now? In Pittsburgh?
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown leaves behind a hundred and sixty eight targets
Speaker 1: from last year, so somebody's going to have to pick
Speaker 1: those up in Pittsburgh and not a ton of not
Speaker 1: a ton of competition their second year guy James Washington
Speaker 1: and a rookie a rookie to deal with there too,
Speaker 1: So uh, this will be interesting to watch in in
Speaker 1: training camp, which we'll discuss a little bit later as well. Alright,
Speaker 1: any wide receivers left before he moved to tight end?
Speaker 1: Real quick? I'll mentioned Tyrolle will Williams on Oakland now
Speaker 1: previously with the Chargers. He is a beast at six four,
Speaker 1: mostly underwhelmed with the Chargers, he was fighting for targets
Speaker 1: in a very crowded offense. The offense in Oakland and
Speaker 1: not his crowded. So Williams is the number two standing
Speaker 1: alongside Antonio Brown, so should seen improvement of numbers for him.
Speaker 1: Al Right, do we have any who are the tight
Speaker 1: ends that have moved that we actually care about? I
Speaker 1: got I got one guy in mind, alright, Good, maybe's
Speaker 1: hear what you got. Maybe this is it. Jared Cook
Speaker 1: to the Saints from Oakland's coming off coming off a
Speaker 1: career year last year. In fact, career has and catches,
Speaker 1: yards and touchdowns, almost seventy catches, almost nine yards and
Speaker 1: six touchdowns, So very good season for Jared Cook signs
Speaker 1: on for two years with the Saints for fifteen million dollars. Now,
Speaker 1: the Saints, they really haven't had a relevant fantasy tight
Speaker 1: ends since Jimmy Graham left in which is kind of
Speaker 1: interesting to me. The Saints just sort of they kind
Speaker 1: of just sort of change their offense depending on what
Speaker 1: kind of skill set they have with their past catchers.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see here if they actually focus
Speaker 1: back on the tight end again now that they have
Speaker 1: a quality player like Jared Cook. I'll mention this one.
Speaker 1: Jesse James leaves Pittsburgh, and I don't care that he
Speaker 1: went to Detroit, but I care a lot that Vance
Speaker 1: McDonald has an opportunity to get the lion's share of
Speaker 1: the tight end targets now without sharing them in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: and that makes him an intriguing possibility as well. Guys,
Speaker 1: Let's let's take a break and when we come back,
Speaker 1: let's talk through the f C and NFC training camp
Speaker 1: battles and talk about the positional battles that fantasy players
Speaker 1: need to know about when we return. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: It is Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchi and
Speaker 1: my co host Brian Johnson and Christian Peterson. We just
Speaker 1: broke down all the offseason moves by position. Let's look
Speaker 1: at the training camp battles that are out there and
Speaker 1: the ones that fantasy players need to pay attention to.
Speaker 1: And by the way, I'll note this, four weeks from now,
Speaker 1: when we're doing our last preseason show of Fantasy Football Weekly,
Speaker 1: we're gonna come back to these exact same training camp
Speaker 1: battles and tell you who won each one of these.
Speaker 1: So we'll have resolution, or we believe we will come
Speaker 1: early September and we'll go to we'll talk through these
Speaker 1: same training camp battles. Then let's begin on the a
Speaker 1: f C side. And Christian Peterson, what's our first training
Speaker 1: camp battle. Yeah, let's start with the Baltimore Ravens wide receivers. Really,
Speaker 1: all of them are kind of up for grabs here.
Speaker 1: They lost their last two wide or their top two
Speaker 1: wide outs from last year, and John Brown and Michael
Speaker 1: Crabtree didn't replace them with much other than rookies they
Speaker 1: did take. They did take a couple of rookies within
Speaker 1: the first three rounds. The first one was Marquise Brown,
Speaker 1: five seventy pound speedster, who unfortunately is just getting back
Speaker 1: on the field now. He missed a lot of the
Speaker 1: offseason program recovering from a from a foot injury, so
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see what he does in training camp.
Speaker 1: The other guy, Myles Boykin, is generating a ton of
Speaker 1: hype right now. He's a six four twenty pound physical
Speaker 1: specimen ran a four four at the combine, and Baltimore
Speaker 1: Beat writers have labeled him one of the most impressive
Speaker 1: players in Ravens camp in the early going. So right now,
Speaker 1: Boykin might have the inside track as kind of the
Speaker 1: number one wide receiver, but with only Willie Snead and
Speaker 1: a bunch of other cast off veterans to battle these
Speaker 1: guys out, I think both of these rookies are going
Speaker 1: to see significant playing time in Baltimore, but we'll see
Speaker 1: by the end of training camp. Yeah, we need Markey's
Speaker 1: Brown to get through that foot injury, get on the
Speaker 1: field and prove that he's ready to go for Week one.
Speaker 1: Right now, he's It's hard to draft either guy. We
Speaker 1: could also it would also help if we saw Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson throw a little bit better. Let's go to the
Speaker 1: NFC side, Brian, give us your next training camp battle. Well,
Speaker 1: we discussed this earlier, but we'll touch on it again
Speaker 1: real quick. The Eagles backfield situation, which primarily comes down
Speaker 1: to Miles Sanders versus Jordan Howard. Everyone expects Sanders to
Speaker 1: eventually lead that team in touches. But the one thing
Speaker 1: all through out there that we didn't talk about earlier
Speaker 1: is I've heard reports at a camp that Sanders might
Speaker 1: be a little more behind than people wanted to be
Speaker 1: because he did miss O t a s so it
Speaker 1: could be a slower start for him than people are expecting.
Speaker 1: And even and the real question is, though our significant
Speaker 1: touches in Philadelphia significant fantasy football because of the platoons
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson always runs out there. The last running backs
Speaker 1: it saw Bell cow usage in Philly with a Shawn
Speaker 1: McCoy and before that, Brian Westbrook. But those are Andy
Speaker 1: Reid's guys. He's long gone, so really, see how this
Speaker 1: placed through in camp. Sanders looks like a special player.
Speaker 1: But how soon he gets that opportunity? Only time will
Speaker 1: till All right, let's go to the a f S
Speaker 1: back to the FC side, Christian, Yeah, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: to Buffalo here where we have a mess at the
Speaker 1: running back position. We have the incumbent Lashawan McCoy, the
Speaker 1: undead corpse of Lashawn McCoy versus the undead corpse of
Speaker 1: Frank Gore, versus third down back t J Yeldon versus
Speaker 1: rookie Devon Singletary. This is an absolute mess right now.
Speaker 1: Of course, McCoy comes in seemingly as the incumbent, coming
Speaker 1: off the worst season of his career three point two
Speaker 1: yards per carry last year. Frank Gore is now thirty
Speaker 1: six years old. Uh, seeming Lee won't go away. And
Speaker 1: then you've got Devin Singletary, who's got to be the
Speaker 1: most intriguing guy here. He's a rookie pick, just one
Speaker 1: pick after David Montgomery and the third round of the
Speaker 1: NFL draft. He right now is being picked in the
Speaker 1: thirteenth round of fantasy drafts, compared to David Montgomery of
Speaker 1: the Bears, who's a fifth rounder. So if single Terry,
Speaker 1: who's he's He has been taking a few reps with
Speaker 1: the number one offense in the preseason here, So if
Speaker 1: he shows out well in preseason games, I think there's
Speaker 1: a there's a sneaky little sleeper here if he can
Speaker 1: somehow battle past all of these veterans. But we'll find out.
Speaker 1: The Christian I think Singletary the worry is um not
Speaker 1: built to be a goal line guy, not built to
Speaker 1: be an every down guy. He's probably a situational player. Um,
Speaker 1: But man, he's he's slippery, he's elusive, he's fast, and
Speaker 1: you know, I think I think that there's a spot
Speaker 1: for him also be fascinating. There's a chance that l
Speaker 1: Shawn McCoy gets caught and it ends up there ends
Speaker 1: up being you know, they just don't carry all those
Speaker 1: running backs and he might be the odd man out
Speaker 1: of this, which is possible, and frankly, I think from
Speaker 1: a fantasy standpoint, the Clay, the clarity would would be welcome.
Speaker 1: All right, let's let's go to our next NFC training
Speaker 1: camp battle. Brian, Alright, charge, calling this a battle might
Speaker 1: trigger you a little bit because you have very strong
Speaker 1: feelings for one of these guys. But I'm still gonna
Speaker 1: say there's a battle between Chris Carson and Rashad Penny
Speaker 1: in the Seahawks backfield. But it's really not a battle.
Speaker 1: The battle is how many touches will Penny steal from
Speaker 1: Chris Carson, who by all accounts was a top ten
Speaker 1: fantasy back last year went healthy. Um. As for Penny,
Speaker 1: the only reason Seattle really will put him on the field,
Speaker 1: as they invested first round draft capital in him last year,
Speaker 1: really didn't didn't get a shot to prove himself. Um,
Speaker 1: he did look good when healthy. That was very sparingly
Speaker 1: last year for Penny. Uh. Carson should lead this team
Speaker 1: in touches to start the season, but Penny could close
Speaker 1: the gap. I know you probably feel differently about that.
Speaker 1: You care to weigh in on the charge because you
Speaker 1: are probably higher? Yeah? I do, because yeah, I have.
Speaker 1: I have Chris Carson higher than almost everybody just because
Speaker 1: the eye test. He I thought Carson looked really good
Speaker 1: last year. And I've got to miss my sixteenth running
Speaker 1: back overall. Um. And frankly, if we were just on,
Speaker 1: if there wasn't a first round pick in Rishonde Penny
Speaker 1: even higher. Um, And we do see situations where rookie
Speaker 1: running backs look a lot better in your two Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay's you know, telling us that story about Ronald Jones.
Speaker 1: In Denver, they're telling us that story about about uh Freeman,
Speaker 1: Royce Freeman, and so you know, maybe Penny is a
Speaker 1: much better back in year two, because that does happen
Speaker 1: sometimes with running backs. But I know that my eyes
Speaker 1: tell me that Chris Carson is a good runner, and
Speaker 1: he's got the confidence of that coaching staff, and I
Speaker 1: think he's going to get the majority of the work.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the FC side. What's our next training
Speaker 1: camp battle, Christian, Yeah, I'm gonna stick in Buffalo this
Speaker 1: time for the wide receivers, where we've got John Brown,
Speaker 1: Za Jones, and Robert Foster all sort of scrabbling this
Speaker 1: see who who was sends to the top of the
Speaker 1: pecking order there. Of course, Brown we talked about a
Speaker 1: little bit. Came over on a twenty seven million dollar
Speaker 1: contract for three years, so I think he's he's going
Speaker 1: to be your guy. Shocking shocking money for a guy.
Speaker 1: And then Zay Jones lead the bills and catches yards
Speaker 1: and touchdowns last year. Not that that was really saying much.
Speaker 1: I think the most intriguing guy here really is Foster,
Speaker 1: who came on late last year. He had three touchdowns
Speaker 1: and three games of at least ninety four yards in
Speaker 1: the final six games of last season, but now has
Speaker 1: seemingly probably because of the acquisition of Brown, he's been
Speaker 1: running with the two's uh in camp. But uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens here, and again, there may not
Speaker 1: be a ton of upside here, but Foster is the
Speaker 1: guy that seemed to show some rapport with Josh Allen
Speaker 1: towards the end of last year, so maybe he'll be
Speaker 1: able to jump up in the preseason and get a
Speaker 1: starting job. I agree with all that. Let's go to
Speaker 1: the NFC Brian Uh. Staying with the running backs in Washington,
Speaker 1: we have Darius Gice versus Adrian Peters and uh, this
Speaker 1: is really guys versus his quads. Those things look very
Speaker 1: overflated and looked like they could explode in any second. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean, he did tweak him in July, so he's
Speaker 1: he's already he's already got caused for concern with those things. Um,
Speaker 1: but easy to remove from a c L surgery. Guys
Speaker 1: that is Washington would love to see him stay healthy
Speaker 1: and win this job that Peterson refuses to go away.
Speaker 1: Last year approved he had plenty of gas left in
Speaker 1: the tank. Uh he finished top fifteen among running backs
Speaker 1: in miss tackles and yards after contact. But really, this
Speaker 1: might not be a great job to win for either
Speaker 1: of these guys you mentioned earlier. Chart Trent Williams, all
Speaker 1: pro left tackle might sit out the season, is willing
Speaker 1: to sit out the season. That would just drop this
Speaker 1: line down significantly. If I'm picking a running back from
Speaker 1: Washington in a in a PPR league, it's actually Chris
Speaker 1: Thompson who is going to steal all the passing work
Speaker 1: from both of these guys and comes that you know,
Speaker 1: last round discount and draft. So that's the winner of
Speaker 1: this battle in my mind is Chris Thompson between guys
Speaker 1: and Adrian Peterson used to take a may and if
Speaker 1: you go elsewhere altogether, I'm not taking a leap. So yeah,
Speaker 1: there you go. Makes sense. Let's let's go back to Christian.
Speaker 1: Who do you get what's an next training camp battle
Speaker 1: the a C. Well, this one's a little interesting, I
Speaker 1: guess technically right now you would say this is the
Speaker 1: backup running back job for the Chargers. However, depending on
Speaker 1: what happens with Melvin Gordon, the winner of this job
Speaker 1: could be extremely fantasy relevant. It's Austin Ekeler against Justin Jackson. Ekeler,
Speaker 1: I think is clearly the guy here. He should be.
Speaker 1: At least, he's averaged five and over five point two
Speaker 1: yards per carrying his two year career. Last year he
Speaker 1: had nine how about that, Austin five yards per gary
Speaker 1: and last year had nine and fifty combined rushing and
Speaker 1: receiving yards and six touchdowns playing behind Melvin Gordon. So
Speaker 1: imagine what he could do if Melvin Gordon was out
Speaker 1: of the picture. But there is talk that Ekeler isn't
Speaker 1: isn't well suited to be the every down back, so
Speaker 1: Justin Jackson will probably be involved in some way. But
Speaker 1: again we'll see how this shakes out during training camp. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I agree with that sentiment. I don't think Keler
Speaker 1: is built to be a workhorse style back, and I
Speaker 1: think he's his best his best usage is in that
Speaker 1: you know, ten to fifteen touches per game range where
Speaker 1: he can still be uber effective like he has been,
Speaker 1: and he was. He was a guy that you could
Speaker 1: you could start as a flex starter last year, and
Speaker 1: you're right. If the things go belly up on on
Speaker 1: the hold out with Melvin Gordon, that's that whole situation.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting. Let's go back to the NFC, Brian,
Speaker 1: I was gonna bring up the San Francisco running backs again,
Speaker 1: but we went into those guys in pretty good detailed
Speaker 1: earlier in the show. So let's talk about the Bucks backs,
Speaker 1: Peyton Barber versus Ronald Jones, who was in his second year.
Speaker 1: Barber was the lead back last year, but he was
Speaker 1: probably one of the worst running backs in the league.
Speaker 1: If you look at the numbers, he averaged just three
Speaker 1: point nine yards per touch last season. That was good
Speaker 1: enough for fifty first amongst sixty qualified running backs. Jones
Speaker 1: was drafted thirty eight overall by Tampa Bay last year,
Speaker 1: but barely saw the field whether he was injured or not.
Speaker 1: There was some healthy scratches thrown in for Jones, so
Speaker 1: he just clearly wasn't ready to play last year. Early
Speaker 1: reports at the camp he's looking more ready to play,
Speaker 1: has put on some um, some weight, has bolt up
Speaker 1: a little bit. But again, just like Washington, this is
Speaker 1: a job I don't know if you want to win.
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay figures to be very past heavy this year
Speaker 1: with lots of negative game strip game scripture. It's running
Speaker 1: backs that returning four or five starters on their offensive line,
Speaker 1: which was bottom five last year. So this is another
Speaker 1: you know, it'll play itself out in camp. Well, probably
Speaker 1: see Barber as the lead back come Week one, but
Speaker 1: Jones will probably close that delta as the season goes
Speaker 1: on as well. I am going to die on the
Speaker 1: baton Barber Hill. This is a guy that I think,
Speaker 1: when I know and I'll leave me, I'll be alone
Speaker 1: on that hill. Um. Just watching him play, I really
Speaker 1: think he ran hard behind an offensive line that gave
Speaker 1: him no help whatsoever, and I don't think he left
Speaker 1: many yards on the field. And I think this is
Speaker 1: why they didn't invest a single draft pick into the
Speaker 1: running back position in the off season. I think the
Speaker 1: coaching staff from back and they looked at the tape
Speaker 1: and they were happy with what Peyton Barber did in
Speaker 1: the situations they put him in. And I think with
Speaker 1: a much more dynamic offense now, Peyton Barber is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite guys to significantly outperform last year. I
Speaker 1: don't think until Ronald Jones shows me he can play,
Speaker 1: I don't think he's a factor, and I like Peyton Barber.
Speaker 1: Let's move on, Christian. What's our next a f C
Speaker 1: training camp battle. Let's go to Miami. At the running
Speaker 1: back position. We've got Kenyan Drake versus Kalen Blage. Blage
Speaker 1: is the fourth round pick from last year, really couldn't
Speaker 1: even get on the field for most of the year
Speaker 1: until late in the season, and then wasn't very good
Speaker 1: after he did, and then sort of inexplicably open training
Speaker 1: camp this year running with the number one's ahead of
Speaker 1: Kenyan Drake, who a lot of people saw as a
Speaker 1: guy that might ascend, you know, into the RB one
Speaker 1: RB two potential area for fantasy this year. But now
Speaker 1: it seems pretty clear that nobody who none of none
Speaker 1: of the various regimes that go in and out of
Speaker 1: Miami are are letting themselves trust Kenyan Drake. He's never
Speaker 1: had more than seventy five touches in his three NFL seasons,
Speaker 1: so it kind of makes sense that Bellage is going
Speaker 1: to be heavily involved here. Of course, Drake can still
Speaker 1: get it done even with only a dred and seventy
Speaker 1: five touches. He was a top fifteen fantasy running back
Speaker 1: in points per reception formats last year, so he's gonna
Speaker 1: get it done through the air regardless. But it will
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how they deploy Bollage here in
Speaker 1: the preseason games. Yeah, I just don't think Blage is
Speaker 1: a great runner. Will prove it's wrong again. A second
Speaker 1: year guy, maybe, you know, maybe he comes in and
Speaker 1: looks like a materially better runner than the version that
Speaker 1: we saw as a rookie. All right, back to the NFC, Brian, Alright,
Speaker 1: I have one more and finally got some wide receivers
Speaker 1: to talk about here. Well, we'll call this the Packers
Speaker 1: number two wide receiver battle between marquees Valho Scantling and
Speaker 1: Jeronimo Allison, even though it's not really a battle. Uh
Speaker 1: Valdez Scandling technically is the number two receivers will be
Speaker 1: starting on the outside with Davante Adams, but Jnalm Allison
Speaker 1: will be on the field equal amounts essentially from the slot.
Speaker 1: It's really who's gonna outperform the other um. In eight
Speaker 1: games with Rogers last year, Geroni will Allison average well
Speaker 1: over ten PPR points per game. He was a very
Speaker 1: consistent producer. H mvs wasn't as consistent, but he's a
Speaker 1: freak athlete six four sub four four speed will certainly
Speaker 1: strike on a plenty of deep balls from Rogers. Um
Speaker 1: Alison will be the more consistent producer about this Scandling
Speaker 1: is the guy I would rather have in best Ball
Speaker 1: because of that big play potential. Um. They're really both
Speaker 1: gonna be winners though, as long as Rogers stays healthy,
Speaker 1: because Davonte Adams is gonna more in a lot of
Speaker 1: attention and these guys are gonna run free in single
Speaker 1: coverage all year. So both I am targeting heavily in
Speaker 1: all drafts, not just one or the other. I love
Speaker 1: and Jimmy Graham not really a factor to take Nike
Speaker 1: balls away from those wide receivers either. Let's go to
Speaker 1: the a f C. Christian. Yeah, my my final battle
Speaker 1: to watch here is also a wide receiver. This is
Speaker 1: in New England. Really it's rookie to Kiel Harry versus
Speaker 1: his own expectations or everybody else's expectations of him. Uh,
Speaker 1: there is nobody else about outside. So Julian Edelman we
Speaker 1: know is the number one wide receiver. But at number
Speaker 1: two there's Tomarius Thomas, who will probably open on the
Speaker 1: pup list recovering from an Achilles injury, Philip Dorset who
Speaker 1: was just a boring veteran, Maurice Harris, who is an
Speaker 1: even more boring, even more veteran than Philip Dorset. So
Speaker 1: really this comes down to, you know, what are we
Speaker 1: going to see from Nikil Harry, who everybody loves in
Speaker 1: terms of his production in college, his athletic profile. You know,
Speaker 1: this guy has all the traits to become a stud
Speaker 1: but in New England, and you never know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen if he if he comes up with a
Speaker 1: case of the drop seas if he can't pick up
Speaker 1: the offense right away, he could find himself in the doghouse.
Speaker 1: So this one I'm gonna be watching really closely. You're saying,
Speaker 1: you're suggesting that Bill Belichick has a dog, holds grudges
Speaker 1: and has a doghouse, and no, not him. So that
Speaker 1: is that is certainly the danger. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I mean, there have been numerous drops in training camp
Speaker 1: so far. It's still early and we got a month ago.
Speaker 1: But if you think the check is gonna be cool
Speaker 1: with drop balls. Oh man, no chance have you seen
Speaker 1: Belichick's dot dog yacht before? It's very impressive. Not only
Speaker 1: a house, he has a dog mansion, dog, mansion dog.
Speaker 1: Let's release the hounds in the the NFC side again, Brian,
Speaker 1: who else? What other training gamp battles do we have?
Speaker 1: I'm tapped out on battles. Charge, I'm all battled out. Okay, alright, good,
Speaker 1: you're battled out? And Christian, do you have any left? Now?
Speaker 1: We touched on the Dante moncrief in Pittsburgh as well,
Speaker 1: theoretically battling it out with with James Washington and then
Speaker 1: third round rookie Deante Johnson, but I think mon Creffe
Speaker 1: probably has that one wrapped up. Thankfully I didn't have
Speaker 1: to go and be Giants number one wide receiver battle
Speaker 1: between probably like Kelvin Benjamin and whoever is some other
Speaker 1: bum they would have signed because Sterling Shepherd supposedly will
Speaker 1: be ready for the season, so he is their number
Speaker 1: one wide receive absolutely. Uh. At moments from now, we
Speaker 1: will break down the Dynasty Empire rookie drafts. What does
Speaker 1: the order we think you should take these guys in?
Speaker 1: Will answer three tough questions. You can play along as well,
Speaker 1: and it's some of the gameplay variations that can make
Speaker 1: your league's more fun. What it's a guillotine league, what's
Speaker 1: an Empire league? What's super flex? We'll answer those kinds
Speaker 1: of questions and more. It is Fantasy Football Weekly. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Fantasy Football Weekly. This is a segment
Speaker 1: we like to call three Tough Questions. We dive into
Speaker 1: some of the toughest questions from around the NFL. I
Speaker 1: asked my panel of experts this week, Christian Peterson, Brian
Speaker 1: Johnson three tough questions. You play along see if you
Speaker 1: can get all three correct you. Sometimes Christian and Brian
Speaker 1: go three, you know, but more often than not they don't.
Speaker 1: So we find out we always get the answers right,
Speaker 1: but sometimes we don't go three. And oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: like how you call this experts, but then you make
Speaker 1: us feel quite the opposite answer the question. All right,
Speaker 1: let's begin with tough question number one. With Antonio Brown
Speaker 1: departed to Oakland, Juju Smith Schuster becomes the go to
Speaker 1: receiver in Pittsburgh, will Juju post more less or about
Speaker 1: the same fantasy numbers as Antonio Brown did last year?
Speaker 1: We'll begin with Christian Well. Last year, Juju basically was
Speaker 1: better than Antonio Brown in all but a couple of categories.
Speaker 1: In all but one category, really, he had seven more
Speaker 1: catches on a hundred and thirty more yards. Touchdowns is
Speaker 1: where he trailed. Antonio Brown s accord sort of a
Speaker 1: flukey high touchdown total of fifteen and just seven for Juju.
Speaker 1: So you know, we're looking at a guy who is
Speaker 1: basically already guaranteed not maybe not guaranteed, but he's got
Speaker 1: a very good chance of matching or exceeding Antonio Brown's
Speaker 1: totals in catches and yards. And so for me, it
Speaker 1: really just comes down to the touchdowns, and fifteen is
Speaker 1: an incredible amount of touchdowns, the most since Dez Bryant
Speaker 1: had sixteen and Brown, again he was he was heavily
Speaker 1: targeted in the red zone. He was second in the
Speaker 1: NFL with twenty nine targets and Juju had twenty four
Speaker 1: and Flucally just didn't get just didn't get as many touchdowns.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, this is a long way of
Speaker 1: saying that I think Juju will will perform just as
Speaker 1: well as he did last year, but because of the
Speaker 1: inability to match the fifteen touchdown, so'll fall just short
Speaker 1: of Antonio Brown's numbers last year. So you're saying less
Speaker 1: more or less are about the same. You're saying less, Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go less to Jujuu finish finished with less
Speaker 1: points than Brown did last year. I'll just add so
Speaker 1: Brown had roughly thirty forty points more than Juju last season,
Speaker 1: and standard PPR leagues, uh whopping two targets vacated by
Speaker 1: Brown's trade or on yet trade to Oakland. But you know,
Speaker 1: so you would think Jujus will absorb a ton of
Speaker 1: those targets and you can make up those thirty points.
Speaker 1: But there's just not much more production, much more room
Speaker 1: for more production from Juju is already very heavily involved
Speaker 1: in the offense, and now he's gonna warrant more attention
Speaker 1: with Antonio Brown gone. So I just see the majority
Speaker 1: of these targets vacated by Brown going too. Donte Moncrief,
Speaker 1: James Washington, Vance McDonald, maybe even Jalen Samuel is getting
Speaker 1: used in the passing game more so for that reason,
Speaker 1: um Juju will finish just slightly under Brown's total from
Speaker 1: last year. But I see a better year for Juju personally, alright,
Speaker 1: But so Brown leaves behind one hundred four targets and
Speaker 1: the Steelers just don't have a lot of the talent
Speaker 1: to souk up all those one D four targets. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Moncrief and you mentioned uh, I think James Washington,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned Jalen Samuel's. Those are all guys that
Speaker 1: I think are going to chip in some there um
Speaker 1: and you guys hit I think on the most sailing
Speaker 1: part of this. Juju was targeted one D sixty six
Speaker 1: times last year, so I don't think he can possibly
Speaker 1: get targeted anymore than that when the league leaders were
Speaker 1: only at four more targets in the entire NFL than
Speaker 1: what Juju had last year. So I don't think he
Speaker 1: can get above where Antonio Brown was, but he can
Speaker 1: roughly equal it because we've already seen him turn all
Speaker 1: of these targets into a lot of yards and a
Speaker 1: lot of receptions, and all he has to do is
Speaker 1: ratchet up that you actually had more yards and more
Speaker 1: receptions than Antonio Brown was. Ratch up the touchhowns you
Speaker 1: either get all the way to fifteen to get to
Speaker 1: the same level of fantasy points that Antonio Brown had
Speaker 1: the correct answer. Juju Smith Schuster will have about the
Speaker 1: same Fantasy points as Antonio Brown did last year. Let's
Speaker 1: go question number two. Two sophomore receivers Caroline Is DJ
Speaker 1: Moore in San Francisco's Dante Pettis head into this season
Speaker 1: as the top receivers for their respective teams. Who is
Speaker 1: more likely to take a bigger jump in year two?
Speaker 1: Is it d J Moore or is it Dante Pettis.
Speaker 1: We begin with Brian Johnson. I love both of these
Speaker 1: guys going into their second year. Um neither had a
Speaker 1: full season sample size last year. Um More roughly half
Speaker 1: years were at the work and Pettis is half of
Speaker 1: that half. UM So I like more sample size more
Speaker 1: and uh talking to more Among wide receivers with at
Speaker 1: least fifty targets, I'm sorry, fifty catches um more led
Speaker 1: them all in yards after the catch on a per
Speaker 1: reception basis. And if you've been watching All or Nothing, UM,
Speaker 1: you know the Amazon show, it's chronicling the panthers. They
Speaker 1: highlight More a lot, and he is tough to bring down.
Speaker 1: He bounces off people, he breats, tackles left and right. Uh.
Speaker 1: He looks great. He's also just one of seventeen wide
Speaker 1: receivers all time to post six d plus receiving yards
Speaker 1: in a single season. At twenty one years old. He
Speaker 1: joins a list that includes names like Randy Moss and
Speaker 1: Marie Cooper, Mike Evans, Keenan Allen, Juju Smith Schuster, DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: and Josh Gordon. He has an elite talent and at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, he is likely to beat
Speaker 1: the top receiving option for his team, where Pettis will
Speaker 1: you know, play second fiddle to George Kittle in the
Speaker 1: receiving game. For that reason, I'm going d J. Moore
Speaker 1: has the bigger jump this season. All right, Christian, what
Speaker 1: do you got? Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna agree with
Speaker 1: Brian on this one. I think it's d J. Moore
Speaker 1: for a couple of reasons. One is, you know, we
Speaker 1: know what d J. Moore has got at quarterback. It's
Speaker 1: Cam Newton who doesn't put up elite level passing yards
Speaker 1: he's thrown for. He's thrown for more than yards and
Speaker 1: tossed more than twenty four touchdowns just once in the
Speaker 1: last six years. But by comparison, Jimmy Garoppolo in San
Speaker 1: Francisco has thrown for two thousand and sixty eight yards
Speaker 1: and just seventeen touchdowns in his entire five year career,
Speaker 1: So we just don't know yet. We think Garoppolo is
Speaker 1: going to be pretty good, and we've seen him be
Speaker 1: pretty good in small spurts, but we just don't know yet.
Speaker 1: And then secondly this it worries me that the forty
Speaker 1: Niners spent the early portion of their draft loading up
Speaker 1: on rookie wide receivers. They drafted a guy in the
Speaker 1: second round, Deebo Samuel, they drafted another wide receiver in
Speaker 1: the third round j heard. It feels like that feels
Speaker 1: like not the actions of a team that believes they've
Speaker 1: found their number one wide receiver in Dante Pettis. So
Speaker 1: there's just enough nagging doubt in my mind here on Pettis,
Speaker 1: though I like what he did in the second half
Speaker 1: of last year that I'm gonna go with more on
Speaker 1: this question. The correct answer is, Dante Pettis I had
Speaker 1: a terrific six games stretch at the end of last
Speaker 1: year where he averaged sixty one yards and almost a
Speaker 1: touchdown per game. During that six game stretch. At the
Speaker 1: end of last year, he was Tyler Lockett in productivity
Speaker 1: and that type of lack. It was wide receiver fifteen
Speaker 1: last season, and he did that. Pettis did that with
Speaker 1: Nick Mullins throwing him the ball. Nick Mullins, undrafted quarterback,
Speaker 1: third string quarterback. More meanwhile, started ten games. Funny, you
Speaker 1: guys didn't mention his touchdown total. Remember his touchdown total
Speaker 1: from last year. One he had He had one as
Speaker 1: a starter in a fluke, a fluke one At the
Speaker 1: beginning of the year when he wasn't a start, he
Speaker 1: was getting almost no time. In the ten games he started,
Speaker 1: he scored one time. Now, if you can divide one
Speaker 1: by ten, that tells you he was he scored. He
Speaker 1: was good for zero point one touchdowns per game. Zero
Speaker 1: point one. That's it. I want a guy who can
Speaker 1: find the end zone. That is Dante Pettis. And if
Speaker 1: it comes down to Cam Newton and Jimmy Garoppolo, if
Speaker 1: this is a rushing competition at quarterback, it's no question
Speaker 1: I would take Cam Newton as a passer. Give me Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: who's got a higher completion percentage for his career, more
Speaker 1: passing yards per game over his career and more passing
Speaker 1: touchdowns per game over his career. Dante pettis the correct answer.
Speaker 1: Let's move to our next question, tough question number three.
Speaker 1: Last year, there were only about five bona fide start
Speaker 1: worthy tight ends in all of fantasy football. How many
Speaker 1: this year are you projecting to have? How many starter worthy,
Speaker 1: bona fide starter worthy tight ends do you project this season?
Speaker 1: We begin with Christian Peterson. It doesn't look a whole
Speaker 1: lot better for me. Uh. For this year, I've got
Speaker 1: the obvious top three our Travis Kelsey, Zach Ertz, and
Speaker 1: George Kittle in in some order. Kelsey is certainly number one,
Speaker 1: the other two in some order. Uh. And then I've
Speaker 1: got next on my list, Evan Ingram and O. J.
Speaker 1: Howard at four and five. Both of those guys, had
Speaker 1: they managed to stay healthy last year, would have been
Speaker 1: in the mix as as every week fantasy starters. I
Speaker 1: think they had both established themselves as that before their injuries.
Speaker 1: And now we know Ingram is is uh, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the best pass catchers in New York. O J.
Speaker 1: Howard showed last year. Again, I think before the injury
Speaker 1: that he is going to be relevant every week, and
Speaker 1: then you get down to a bunch of question marks.
Speaker 1: Eric Ebron last year had a ton of touchdowns and
Speaker 1: he was one of those weekly starters. He referred to charge.
Speaker 1: But now Jack Doyle is back in the fold, and
Speaker 1: Doyle is a good player, So who knows what's going
Speaker 1: to happen with EBRN and out. There's just all sorts
Speaker 1: of question marks. Next up, in no particular order. You've
Speaker 1: got Hunter, Henry, You've got Trey Burton, Vance McDonald who
Speaker 1: referred to earlier in the show, Jared Cook, who we
Speaker 1: talked about earlier in the show, David Njoku. There there's
Speaker 1: seven or eight or nine or ten names now to
Speaker 1: me that come into the mix at tight end, number
Speaker 1: six and beyond. And because I can't identify, even necessarily
Speaker 1: with much confidence, who number six is for me, I
Speaker 1: don't think there are I don't think any of those
Speaker 1: guys are relevant. So I'm gonna go with five. Alright,
Speaker 1: So five, you're five, okay, all right, Brian, I'll go
Speaker 1: six outside of the big three, Kelsey Kittle, Ingram, Henry,
Speaker 1: O J. Howard, those are the six I trust, Vance,
Speaker 1: Jared Cook, They're right there. Um, I'll include those guys
Speaker 1: at eight. But I'm drawing the line right for Eric Ebron,
Speaker 1: who certainly would regress on his fourteen touchdowns last year
Speaker 1: fourteen fifteen touchdowns with Jack Doyle back in the mix.
Speaker 1: And basically the point I'm trying to make here is
Speaker 1: if you miss out on Cook, don't don't go for
Speaker 1: the Hooper is the in joke. Wus the Routolphs, the
Speaker 1: Jimmy Grahams, the Jordan Reeds. I would just wait on
Speaker 1: tight end till the very end of the there's not
Speaker 1: the quiet. Well, we have to stop pontificating. That's not
Speaker 1: the question I'm trying to many star worthy tight ends
Speaker 1: are think Okay, well, I think this is a trick question.
Speaker 1: It's it's how many teams are in your league. Because
Speaker 1: as bad as tight ends are, none one, we're scoring
Speaker 1: the negative points. I'd rather take a sight. I'll go six.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw Henry in the mix on top of
Speaker 1: list in hopes that he stays healthy. Yeah, the correct
Speaker 1: answer is ten. You guys are misreading the tea leaves
Speaker 1: on this entirely. Uh, this is there are ten guys
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go to war with. Let's let's go here.
Speaker 1: My number four tight end is Hunter Henry, who had
Speaker 1: the phenomenally impressive rookie season. First he was a first
Speaker 1: round draft pick miss last year, already rolling to rave reviews.
Speaker 1: This year, he will perform as a bona fide starter.
Speaker 1: Vance McDonald, who we have a referenced a couple of times.
Speaker 1: If you combined Jesse James's numbers from last year and
Speaker 1: Jesse James is in Detroit with Vance McDonald's last year,
Speaker 1: you end up at tight end four. This is he
Speaker 1: put together. That's an eighty catch, one thousand yards, six
Speaker 1: touchdown season. That's absolutely starter worthy. And Vince McDonald has
Speaker 1: no competition on that that depth chart. So Vance McDonald
Speaker 1: clearly a top ten guy. Jared Cook was last year's
Speaker 1: tight end four, and he goes from Derek Carr to
Speaker 1: Drew Breese throwing him the ball. He's certainly in the mix.
Speaker 1: You already mentioned Evan Ingram, you mentioned O. J. Howard,
Speaker 1: we mentioned Eric Ebron's last year's tight end three or
Speaker 1: maybe tight end four depending on the scoring system. He's
Speaker 1: in this mix. And then there's Mark Andrews, who you
Speaker 1: guys didn't mention and I think is sitting on a
Speaker 1: massive second season, put up five hundred fifty two yards
Speaker 1: last year. That's one of the five highest marks for
Speaker 1: any rookie tight end in the last twin years. Mark
Speaker 1: Andrews at five fifty two yards, and with all of
Speaker 1: the questions they've got with the receivers there, I think
Speaker 1: Mark Andrews is going to be a safe play as well.
Speaker 1: This it is not Panic time on tight ends. Last year,
Speaker 1: at this time, this show was telling you panic a
Speaker 1: tight end, draft him early, go get one of the
Speaker 1: good guys. I'm telling you ten deep this season. Thank you,
Speaker 1: guys want to combined to one three on everything. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: Hopefully the listeners did a better job than you guys
Speaker 1: did I got, in fact, by default, I think they
Speaker 1: had to have. There's almost no way around it. Question
Speaker 1: question two was a clear setup from the world's foremost
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo apologists. We should have seen through that. That's
Speaker 1: a good point. That is a that is a good point.
Speaker 1: I have several tasteful nudes of Jimmy Garofolo uh in
Speaker 1: poster form in my room. What can we say? It's
Speaker 1: the prett season, It's the Hall of Fame Game Weekend
Speaker 1: Matt Matt shab is still in the NFL. That's the
Speaker 1: believable thing. That guy's drawn up paycheck, he match up,
Speaker 1: is gonna finish his career as one of the like
Speaker 1: fifteen highest paid quarterbacks of all time, which is unfathomable.
Speaker 1: Because he keeps milk in his career. You would think
Speaker 1: at some point he would just be like, you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm done. I don't even, I don't even. I'm
Speaker 1: just bored holding the clipboard. You think he'd be done,
Speaker 1: but it hasn't worked that way to this point. When
Speaker 1: we come back, we're gonna talk about some of the
Speaker 1: game play variations that you will want to run in
Speaker 1: your league. What's a guillotine league, what's the best ball,
Speaker 1: what's an Empire league, what's super flex? We will go
Speaker 1: through all of that moments from now. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charching, my co
Speaker 1: host Christian Peterson and Brian Johnson. You know, mants have
Speaker 1: been playing fantasy football for a long time. We've most
Speaker 1: have been playing the same way with the same rules,
Speaker 1: and some people are still playing in touchdown only leagues.
Speaker 1: I love god, it's I don't even understand that. However,
Speaker 1: there are so many new and cool ways to play
Speaker 1: fantasy football. You take all these millions of passionate players
Speaker 1: and they've dreamed up fascinating new ways to play. I
Speaker 1: think the most exciting new way to play is the
Speaker 1: guillotine league. Guys, um, let me, let me give you
Speaker 1: the opportunity to talk about a Christian tell people what
Speaker 1: a guillotine league is. So, a guillotine league is a
Speaker 1: league in which every week of the season, the lowest
Speaker 1: scoring team for that week gets chopped unceremoniously dumped from
Speaker 1: the league and they're all of the players from that
Speaker 1: roster get released into the free agent pool, so they're
Speaker 1: they're available for all of the other teams in the league,
Speaker 1: uh to bid on in the in the free agency Uh,
Speaker 1: in the free agency process, which starts at seventeen teams
Speaker 1: waiver wire, Yeah teams. Yeah. The idea as you start
Speaker 1: with seventeen teams and each week of the season, UH,
Speaker 1: somebody somebody has chopped, so you end up at the
Speaker 1: end of the year with with a champion, and it's
Speaker 1: not head to head, it's total points, so you're just
Speaker 1: playing against everyone essentially. Yeah, that's right. So you're a
Speaker 1: week yeah, and so you're playing every single week. You're
Speaker 1: not necessarily playing to win. You're just playing not to lose,
Speaker 1: like if you're last, Like if you're running from a bear,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be the fastest person. You just
Speaker 1: can't be the slowest. Great analogy like that. That's exactly right.
Speaker 1: Um At seventeen teams, low scoring team gets shopped eats week.
Speaker 1: You get down to week sixteen, there's two teams left,
Speaker 1: and the winner takes all. I like, winner takes all
Speaker 1: whatever whatever your pot is. And by the way, these
Speaker 1: pots get big with seventeen teams. You know, you know
Speaker 1: I don't. I think if I do the math correctly,
Speaker 1: if you each paid a hundred dollars, that'd be one thousand,
Speaker 1: seven hundred dollars and you could give it all to
Speaker 1: the winner. If you want to go with the extreme
Speaker 1: head chopping scenario and there's only one survivor, you could
Speaker 1: have a seventeen hundred dollar pay day that way, what
Speaker 1: do you think? I'm just gonna say, you're down to
Speaker 1: picking your two running backs in week sixteen seventeen. He's like,
Speaker 1: I gotta pick two between se Kwon Barkley Christian McCaffrey, Alvin. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: we all played guilloteam leagues last year, and the waiver
Speaker 1: wires are crazy because every week a whole team's drafted
Speaker 1: just hit the waiver wire, and by mid season that
Speaker 1: team is always beyond beyond where they were when they drafted.
Speaker 1: They've made a bunch of key pickups and then they
Speaker 1: got cut. So all of these amazing players end up
Speaker 1: hitting the waiver wire. So in the span of one week,
Speaker 1: you might have se Kwon Barkley hit the waiver wire
Speaker 1: along with Antonio Brown and Patrick Mahomes and Jared Cook
Speaker 1: and you know, just a whole roster of great players
Speaker 1: and then everybody bids on them. And it's fascinating how
Speaker 1: the Guillotine League works. Um, what are what do you
Speaker 1: guys feel are a couple of winning strategies for Guillotine
Speaker 1: League players. Well, that's just the thing. This is only
Speaker 1: the second season of existence, so it's very much everygreen
Speaker 1: when it comes to strategy. People who need to invent
Speaker 1: what strategies work for KI team leagues this year. Personally,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna treat um the draft or startup auction. However
Speaker 1: you you construct your guillotine teams in your league. Gonna
Speaker 1: take a very hard look at the first one or
Speaker 1: two weeks at the season and doc players for bad
Speaker 1: matchups uh in those weeks who you would normally draft
Speaker 1: higher in standard season leagues, because yes, the odds are
Speaker 1: you're one of seventeen teams. Uh, you'll be one of
Speaker 1: you but one in seventeen chance to be the first
Speaker 1: team knocked out. But those chances go up incredulously when
Speaker 1: your your first round pick. What's the bed in week one?
Speaker 1: Because there are so many teams, uh, And if you
Speaker 1: your studs don't perform, you're very likely to be one cut.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna take a very hard look at the
Speaker 1: early season schedule and adjust my rankings accordingly. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: I agree with that. I think you want to be
Speaker 1: be wary of extremely difficult matchups in the early going.
Speaker 1: I think one of the other things you should do
Speaker 1: is try to target more reliable players, you know, a
Speaker 1: boomer bust player like with like like a Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 1: You know, over the course of the season in a
Speaker 1: in a season long league, you can afford, you know,
Speaker 1: to to ride out those waves where he has huge
Speaker 1: games and then he and then he might do not
Speaker 1: much of anything in other games, but in a guillotine
Speaker 1: format in that down week, you know you might be done. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so you know, Tyreek Hill or sort of deep
Speaker 1: threat wide receivers are an example of that, and maybe
Speaker 1: maybe even sort of like pass catching running backs running
Speaker 1: backs that depend more on that, which it's just it's
Speaker 1: just more difficult to sort of predict how game flow
Speaker 1: is going to go for past receiving running backs. So again, yeah,
Speaker 1: just just sort of trying to target more more reliable players,
Speaker 1: because again, it doesn't matter if you're the highest scoring
Speaker 1: team in the league. You just can't be the lowest scoring.
Speaker 1: The only quible I have with the advice you're giving is,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I'm going to contort my draft
Speaker 1: around the guys with the tough early schedules, because just
Speaker 1: odds are with seventeen teams, you're not going to be
Speaker 1: the one who gets cut. You got a chance of
Speaker 1: surviving week one no matter what, right unless you're really
Speaker 1: really bad in your draft, and week two, with sixteen teams,
Speaker 1: you got chance or making the cut. More likely than not,
Speaker 1: you're gonna make the cut anyway. And I'm really not
Speaker 1: sweating it in my Guillotine leagues unless you know there
Speaker 1: are guys like A. J. Green, who I don't think
Speaker 1: it's gonna play for a couple of weeks in the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season. That's a guy. That's a guy
Speaker 1: that does change things. Kareem Hunt hard to even draft
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt in this format, and so Zeke. Those guys
Speaker 1: are more dangerous because they might not come in, they
Speaker 1: might they might miss a few weeks into the season.
Speaker 1: Those guys are more dangerous too in the guillotine format.
Speaker 1: If you want more information on Guillotine leagues or maybe
Speaker 1: even on joining one, you don't know six and other people,
Speaker 1: or even if you do, I'll go to Guillotine leagues
Speaker 1: dot com. Guys talk about the best Ball format and
Speaker 1: how that works. Brian Um, I know you spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time talking best Ball. Tell people how best
Speaker 1: Ball drafts work. Uh. They're longer, bigger drafts than you're
Speaker 1: used to because you need to draft a lot of depth.
Speaker 1: So Um, like standard Fantasy. Every week, you'll have a roster,
Speaker 1: that starting roster that prizes of a quarterback, two running backs,
Speaker 1: three wide receivers, a tight end, flex spot in a defense.
Speaker 1: But unlike standard fantasy, you don't pick who you're starting
Speaker 1: every week. The results pick who starts. So once all
Speaker 1: the games conclude each week, your highest scoring player or
Speaker 1: players that can slot into the applicable spots, uh, comprise
Speaker 1: you're starting lineup. So your best ball team, your best
Speaker 1: balls are put forward. So it's a really fun fun
Speaker 1: way to play. You know, people start drafting best Ball
Speaker 1: teams literally the day after the Super Bowl, even before
Speaker 1: the actual NFL draft. Uh. There's some risk there, but
Speaker 1: there's a lot of reward as well. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. And we talked about guys that are better
Speaker 1: for best Ball, like the Shawn Jackson's of the world,
Speaker 1: where it's hard to peg when you should start them
Speaker 1: when you're the one that has to insert them in
Speaker 1: the lineup yourself. But when they're automatically put in when
Speaker 1: they have those spike games, Uh, it's much more rewarding
Speaker 1: experience owning players like that and far less frustrating. So
Speaker 1: best Ball a lot of fun. I love playing it
Speaker 1: very much. Are very much almost the almost the opposite
Speaker 1: of the guilloteam leagues where you want reliable players. In
Speaker 1: best Ball, you can have these home run hitters like
Speaker 1: the DeShawn Jackson's and the Eric Ebrons who scores touchdowns
Speaker 1: that is great and then doesn't score touched on he's terrible.
Speaker 1: Those those guys end up working out those high risk,
Speaker 1: high reward game in game out guys are better best
Speaker 1: ball options and more viable for sure, and charge you
Speaker 1: don't have to guess when they're when they're gonna go off. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I I didn't mention that. And there's no inseason management.
Speaker 1: You're you're not adding dropping players, you're not trading your
Speaker 1: your draft, and you're done. So it's a fun way
Speaker 1: to get stay stay on top of the ADPs of
Speaker 1: players as the summer progress. Is a good way to
Speaker 1: stay on top of things is participating investment, and that
Speaker 1: is that's the beauty of best ball. If you love
Speaker 1: the draft, there's a real thing on best balls. If
Speaker 1: you love to draft, but you don't want to manage
Speaker 1: a dozen teams, you can draft a dozen best ball teams.
Speaker 1: You don't have to manage any of them. And that's
Speaker 1: the beauty of it. For draft junkies like me, I
Speaker 1: love the draft. I can't manage twelve teams. I can
Speaker 1: have twelve best ball teams. Let's go to Empire leagues. Christian,
Speaker 1: tell people what the Empire league is. Yeah, So an
Speaker 1: Empire league is a sort of a spin off for
Speaker 1: a derivation of a of a dynasty league. And if
Speaker 1: people don't know what a dynasty league is, that is
Speaker 1: a league in which in year one you have a
Speaker 1: regular draft or auction like you would in any other
Speaker 1: fantasy league, but at the end of that season, going
Speaker 1: into the next year, you keep all of the players
Speaker 1: that are on your roster, and then the subsequent year
Speaker 1: you're drafting really just for rookies, you know, and a
Speaker 1: new NFL rookies that are coming into the league. So
Speaker 1: it's a format that allows you to draft players in
Speaker 1: year one and really hold them for the rest of
Speaker 1: their careers if you really want to. And it creates
Speaker 1: a whole different dynamic because there's a lot of offseason activity.
Speaker 1: The only way to really improve your teams is by
Speaker 1: is by making traits um So it's it's sort of
Speaker 1: a way of of actively playing fantasy football year round,
Speaker 1: which which is appealing to a lot of people. So
Speaker 1: that's what a dynasty format is, and the Empire spinoff
Speaker 1: of that is really just has to do with um
Speaker 1: essentially the prize pool. So it's it's a way of
Speaker 1: increasing the prize pools year after year. So what happens
Speaker 1: is everybody might pay a hundred dollar entry fee every
Speaker 1: single year in a typical dynasty league, all of that
Speaker 1: money goes back out after that year. In an empire league,
Speaker 1: half of it stays in a pot, a rolling pot
Speaker 1: that rolls over from year to year until one of
Speaker 1: the teams wins the league back to back and that
Speaker 1: team then at that point takes down the entire empire pots.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of a way of of almost increasing
Speaker 1: the stakes in your fantasy football league by creating this
Speaker 1: long rolling pot that that potentially turns into a bigger
Speaker 1: payout down the road. And then also it's a way
Speaker 1: of keeping the league fresh because after that, after the
Speaker 1: person wins back to back the league, the league folds,
Speaker 1: the league is over, and you can certainly start up
Speaker 1: a new one the next year. But yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: a way it puts it puts an endpoint on a
Speaker 1: dynasty league because one of the things that can tend
Speaker 1: to happen in a dynasty league is they get a
Speaker 1: little stale, potentially they just end because people lose interest.
Speaker 1: And people don't lose interest when there's an Empire Pot
Speaker 1: in play, right, If you're you're rolling up, when you're
Speaker 1: rolling forward five thousand dollar Empire Pot, nobody's leaving, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. And I love the fact that there's a
Speaker 1: defined end to an Empire League. When somebody wins back
Speaker 1: to back years, they cash out that year's money, they
Speaker 1: cash out the Empire Pot, and they are the champion,
Speaker 1: not just last year's champion or the current champion. They
Speaker 1: are the champion of the Empire League and it disbands.
Speaker 1: And I love that about the Empire League format. Alright,
Speaker 1: last gameplay variation. I want to throw to you guys,
Speaker 1: super flex. I think this is all but mandatory in
Speaker 1: any reasonably sized league. Brian, tell people what's super flex is. Uh.
Speaker 1: Everyone's familiar, familiar with the flex spot, which is usually
Speaker 1: comprised of a running back, wide receiver, a tight end. Uh.
Speaker 1: Super flex, Uh, you can still play all those same positions,
Speaker 1: but the kickers, you can play a quarterback. And like
Speaker 1: you said, uh, it is basically mandatory at this point
Speaker 1: because in this day and age it's a passing league.
Speaker 1: There are at least fifteen sixteen seventeen guys that have
Speaker 1: top ten quarterback potential this year. And when you're only
Speaker 1: when you only have to start one, they lose all value.
Speaker 1: They almost become worthless unless they're Patrick Mahomes like Cam
Speaker 1: Newton is virtually worthless in a one quarterback league. So
Speaker 1: super flex it just makes quarterbacks way more value. It
Speaker 1: just opens the floodgates for trading, uh, way way more,
Speaker 1: which is a way better thing, way better experience for
Speaker 1: everyone in the league. And uh again, and then there's
Speaker 1: also two quarterback mandatory. But super flex is uh the
Speaker 1: nice step up from one quarterback and uh, we can't
Speaker 1: recommend it enough. I will not play in a one
Speaker 1: quarterback league unless it's best ball. That's the only place
Speaker 1: you really find a one quarterback league or something super
Speaker 1: high stakes. But any home league should be super flex
Speaker 1: at this point, way more fun. Yep, it really should,
Speaker 1: because the quarterbacks are worthless, uh and they're in the
Speaker 1: almost indistinguishable from one another unless you can get to
Speaker 1: that super flex level where people can start to and
Speaker 1: now you're going. Now, now those second tier quarterbacks and
Speaker 1: third tier quarterbacks have got so much more value. We
Speaker 1: love super flex for sure, How does, um, how does
Speaker 1: it change drafting quarterbacks? In your mind? If if Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes has got a let's not use Mahomes, let's use
Speaker 1: a let's use a mortal quarterback. As as as as
Speaker 1: our option here, Let's say, um, Drew Brees is going
Speaker 1: in the ninth round. What does how does it change
Speaker 1: in a in a one quarterback leave? If he's going
Speaker 1: the ninth round? When would you take Drew Brees in
Speaker 1: a super flex league? Yeah? I mean it depends a
Speaker 1: little bit on your on your scoring system, Um, and
Speaker 1: I will know that you should be in a super
Speaker 1: flex league unless you really just want it to be
Speaker 1: a full two quarterback league. You need to be careful
Speaker 1: with your scoring system to make it so that every
Speaker 1: week it's it is a It is a difficult decision
Speaker 1: on whether you should just start two quarterbacks automatically or
Speaker 1: whether you might be able to play a wide receiver
Speaker 1: at that spot. But generally speaking, the quarterbacks I think
Speaker 1: they just consistently score more points. You know, they may
Speaker 1: if you've done your scoring system right. They may not
Speaker 1: necessarily have any more upside than a wide receiver, but
Speaker 1: their floor is is a little bit higher and so
Speaker 1: I think that brings that brings quarterbacks up for sure.
Speaker 1: If if you're normally drafting Drew Brees, if he's if
Speaker 1: he's a ninth round a DP in a regular one
Speaker 1: quarterback league, I think absolutely you gotta you gotta jump
Speaker 1: on him earlier. It might you might have to pick
Speaker 1: him three or four rounds earlier. Yeah, and you'll still notice,
Speaker 1: you know what, a couple of quarterbacks go in a
Speaker 1: super flex league, then all of a sudden, a quarterback
Speaker 1: run occurs, and it's fun to start those runs, sit
Speaker 1: them out. I don't know. It just adds a ton
Speaker 1: of complexity, good complexity to any fantasy league, and you'll
Speaker 1: see I mean, I don't think. I don't think Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes was necessarily a bad example charts because I think
Speaker 1: in a super flex league you might see Patrick mah
Speaker 1: go in the top five picks. You again, depending on
Speaker 1: the on the scoring system. But yeah, for those listeners
Speaker 1: that are in our local market in the Greater Minnesota
Speaker 1: Minneapolis area, a reminder, the Fantasy Football Training camp is
Speaker 1: coming August sevent to Canterbury Park. It is totally free.
Speaker 1: You'll want to arrive local time ten o'clock for Fantasy
Speaker 1: Football Weekly. You get to hear the on air portion
Speaker 1: of the show from tender noon, and then we do
Speaker 1: the off air deep dive, data driven stats, slides, presentations,
Speaker 1: power points, all that stuff for ninety minutes. After that,
Speaker 1: it's totally free. It's a Canterbury Park. It is the
Speaker 1: Fantasy football training camp. Moments from now, we will talk
Speaker 1: about Dynasty and Empire leaguers. What does that rookie draft
Speaker 1: look like. We'll tell you our top twenty uh Dynasty
Speaker 1: Empire rookies who were drafting in what order and why.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we close out every one of
Speaker 1: our preseason podcast on Fantasy Football Weekly by releasing one
Speaker 1: sleeper from each of the host You're gonna get three
Speaker 1: sleepers for your draft or your auction at the end
Speaker 1: of this At the end of this show, first our
Speaker 1: Dynasty and Empire rookie drafts. If you're in a Dynasty
Speaker 1: league or an Empire league, it's primarily populated by rookies.
Speaker 1: Here's the order we recommend that you take them in.
Speaker 1: There's some debate, not generally a ton of debate, but
Speaker 1: some debate on some of these guys will talk through
Speaker 1: sort of the highs and lows for each one of
Speaker 1: these guys. I think the first guy that we're gonna
Speaker 1: take is David Montgomery, the rookie from Chicago. Josh Jacobs
Speaker 1: was drafted first, but Montgomery comes here because quality of offense,
Speaker 1: to me is a big differentiator. Christian, what are your
Speaker 1: thoughts and David Montgomery number one overall? Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think you could. You could
Speaker 1: probably quibble between the top two of Montgomery and Jacobs.
Speaker 1: Those seem like kind of the consensus top two backs
Speaker 1: UH this year. And I don't disagree that Montgomery has
Speaker 1: landed in a better spot with a better offense. He
Speaker 1: has a little bit more competition in the backfield with
Speaker 1: Tarik Owen there as well. And I think Jacobs maybe
Speaker 1: is set up to be more of a three down
Speaker 1: guy earlier on than what Montgomery will be. But again,
Speaker 1: I can't I can't quibble too much with your supposition
Speaker 1: that Montgomery is just in a more explosive offense. Mitchell
Speaker 1: Drabinsky looks like he's about to take another step forward
Speaker 1: UH this year. They have very good wide receivers, they
Speaker 1: have to Cohen open things up. They've got an elite
Speaker 1: level defense, that should put the game script in the
Speaker 1: in their favor. In most games, they might be running
Speaker 1: out the clock in the in the second half, and
Speaker 1: that's when David Montgomery comes in. So I don't mind
Speaker 1: Montgomery at number one overall. Yeah, he'll get the touchdowns
Speaker 1: and that still counts for a lot in fantasy football.
Speaker 1: Let's go to number two, Josh Jacobs. Is we just
Speaker 1: mentioned he falls in. He falls in with Oakland, that
Speaker 1: was obviously a pretty dysfunctional offense last year. What are
Speaker 1: your feelings on Josh Jacobs at number two, Brian, that's
Speaker 1: just it. That's the rub, right, it's Oakland. But no,
Speaker 1: if if this was a redraft league in that you're
Speaker 1: just playing for this one season, I would take Jacob's
Speaker 1: over Montgomery because Jacobs will probably see more touches walking
Speaker 1: into the starter's role. But this, as you said, this
Speaker 1: is Dynasty Empire. I like David Montgomery's long term outlooks,
Speaker 1: and you know, I can't really back up a gut feeling,
Speaker 1: but something about Josh Jacob's just screams Trent richardson two
Speaker 1: point oh to me as well. So if I had
Speaker 1: the first big I would lean Montgomery long term Jacobs
Speaker 1: probably the better back this year in terms of opportunity,
Speaker 1: but again with Oakland, you never know what's going to
Speaker 1: happen with those Raiders. They seem to overdraft offensive players.
Speaker 1: Jacobs might be the next one out. We'll see, all right.
Speaker 1: And because we are looking long term our number three guys,
Speaker 1: Darryl Henderson for the Rams, because can anybody who's listening
Speaker 1: tell me that Todd Gurley is going to be on
Speaker 1: the team or in the NFL two or three years
Speaker 1: from now? No chronically arthritic need? Yeah right, I mean
Speaker 1: you know they might amputate. He might have a peg
Speaker 1: leg by this time in two years. Who knows. Darryl
Speaker 1: Henderson at some point becomes to go to back for
Speaker 1: the Rams. And that's why in my mind for Dynasty
Speaker 1: and Empire, he goes all the way up to number three.
Speaker 1: Christian Yeah, I mean, you're right. This this is sort
Speaker 1: of the the extraordinarily high upside play to take Henderson
Speaker 1: at at third here, and it is because of Girly.
Speaker 1: I mean, Girle might not even make it through this
Speaker 1: season for all we know. They also resigned Malcolm Brown
Speaker 1: for a decent chunk of money, and then they drafted
Speaker 1: Henderson early in the draft, So clearly the Rams aren't
Speaker 1: comfortable with Todd, Gurley and Henderson. Everybody loves right he's
Speaker 1: got He's got an explosive, you know, sort of athletic profile.
Speaker 1: I've seen comparisons to Alvin Kamara in the way that
Speaker 1: he plays. So if he is is indeed getting a
Speaker 1: lot of touches early on this year, he'll be valuable
Speaker 1: as soon as this year. But even if not, you know,
Speaker 1: Girly may not last more than another year or two,
Speaker 1: and long term, there's no better offense to be in
Speaker 1: in terms of being a bell cow in that Rams
Speaker 1: off fence. So I agree here it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: a swing for the fences kind of pick, and it's
Speaker 1: it's probably more of a year two or three and
Speaker 1: beyond kind of upside play than it is this year.
Speaker 1: But I like it. I like the high risk, high
Speaker 1: reward here. All right, guys are gonna have to zip
Speaker 1: through some of the remaining players on our list. Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray comes in at number four, high upside quarterback with
Speaker 1: a big arm and crazy mobility. And we don't know
Speaker 1: a lot about the coachy staff in Arizona, but there's
Speaker 1: a lot of reason for optimism, Brian, Yeah, this was
Speaker 1: a super flex league. You're taking Kyler Murray first overall,
Speaker 1: even if you don't need a quarterback. But this is
Speaker 1: a one quarterback scenario, so I can, I can, we
Speaker 1: can justify this ranking. But you just said it all there.
Speaker 1: It sounds like the upside is limitless despite the fact
Speaker 1: that he doesn't stand very tall. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of upside that regard that people say, don't worry about
Speaker 1: the height of Murray. Uh, don't worry about it. That's so,
Speaker 1: let's not worry about it. But this is a again, like,
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to watch this kid play to see
Speaker 1: if you can live up to the hype. And I
Speaker 1: noticed it's just yesterday. I've already marked my calendar Week two,
Speaker 1: Arizona at Baltimore, Marie versus Lamar Jackson. I got marked
Speaker 1: on my calendar. I can't wait. Two hundred rushing yards
Speaker 1: among the quarterbacks, Miles Sanders clocks in at number five
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia under the supposition that he crowded backfield gets
Speaker 1: at least somewhat left crowded with time, But maybe that
Speaker 1: isn't even accurate. What do you think, Christian Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't mind Sanders here, and in fact I like him
Speaker 1: quite a bit, even in redraft leagues this year. I
Speaker 1: think it's it's it's a matter of of when and
Speaker 1: not if he takes over the Lion's share of that
Speaker 1: backfield from from Jordan Howard. So I really like Sanders
Speaker 1: upside the problem. The problem, of course is this idea
Speaker 1: that the Eagles will forever be in some sort of
Speaker 1: committee approach to their backfield. So that's the risk with Sanders.
Speaker 1: But I would also argue that in their committees of
Speaker 1: the recent past they haven't had a player of sanders
Speaker 1: ability either, So once he gets in there and starts
Speaker 1: doing his thing, I think he' and even that committee
Speaker 1: approach might might be a thing of the past. The
Speaker 1: first wide receiver off the board is at number six.
Speaker 1: It's Paris Campbell for the Indianapolis Colts. First, in no
Speaker 1: small part because Andrew luck Is can be really good
Speaker 1: for three and four and five and six years from now,
Speaker 1: and so Paris Campbell should should be in a situation
Speaker 1: where he's got great quarterbacking throughout much of his career. Brian,
Speaker 1: your thoughts, Yeah, that's the reason he comes in higher
Speaker 1: than Harry. Uh, he just not. No one knows how
Speaker 1: long Tom Brady's gonna play. Andrew Luck should be the
Speaker 1: Colts quarterback for the very foreseeable future. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: t Y Hilton is an elite talent, but Devin Funcious,
Speaker 1: the other receiver competing for targets, is the complete opposite
Speaker 1: of that. Uh, basically not talented at all. So yeah, Campbell,
Speaker 1: the hype seems to be growing every day. He did
Speaker 1: tweak his hamstring the other day, but that's no cause
Speaker 1: for long term concerns. So Campbell looks like he's gonna
Speaker 1: have a long, rutful career. And uh, I can't. I
Speaker 1: can get on board with taking him over and kill Harry. Alright, guys,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to zip through the final guys. T J.
Speaker 1: Hockenson is the tight end for Detroit. Typically Titans don't
Speaker 1: do very much in there, uh in their rookie years,
Speaker 1: but ultimately long term, and that's our goal here. He's
Speaker 1: in a nice position with Detroit Christian. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: another one where you're gonna have to just kind of
Speaker 1: swallow hard and know that you're not going to get
Speaker 1: much out of Hockinson in year one but if you're
Speaker 1: talking about Gronk two point oh here, you know, that's
Speaker 1: the kind of upside that we've that that we've heard about,
Speaker 1: at least from Hockinson. So, uh, seven overall is a
Speaker 1: little aggressive and you're gonna have to wait for it,
Speaker 1: but but the upside could pay off. All right, Let's
Speaker 1: go to the previously mentioned nikkil Harry, who, while Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is there, is probably the best receiver out of
Speaker 1: this class after Brady Leaves. Who knows he comes in
Speaker 1: at number eight, Brian, Yeah, he'll likely be the top
Speaker 1: rookie wide receiver producer this season. But let's just throw
Speaker 1: this out there. There is still a glimmer of hope
Speaker 1: for Josh Gordon to come back this season, and if
Speaker 1: Gordon comes back, that will really kill Harry's value um
Speaker 1: this season and next season, you know. And Tom Tom
Speaker 1: Brady he supposed last two years and then the outlook
Speaker 1: gets grim post breedy. So I'm getting a little worried
Speaker 1: about Harry, but I think he clocks in right right
Speaker 1: around eight. Alright. Devin Singletary is the running back for
Speaker 1: Buffalo that comes in at number nine. Christian, Yeah, we
Speaker 1: talked about him a little bit earlier in the show.
Speaker 1: And you know, he was picked one pick again in
Speaker 1: the NFL draft, behind David Montgomery, who's up at the
Speaker 1: top of this list. So there's certainly is some talent there.
Speaker 1: There's nothing but a bunch of old, downtrodden veterans in
Speaker 1: in Buffalo. So he could make an impact as soon
Speaker 1: as this year. Yeah, and next year. No way, Frank
Speaker 1: Gore is playing next year. No way, he can't say.
Speaker 1: I know we've been saying that for a decade, but
Speaker 1: no way is Frank Gore in the mix next year.
Speaker 1: Another tight end comes here at number eleven. Noah fanse
Speaker 1: for Denver comes in at number eleven. Again, don't expect
Speaker 1: a lot this year. They got quarterbacking issues. As long
Speaker 1: as Joe Flacco is there after that, I think he's
Speaker 1: got a role coming in at number twelve. Damien Harris
Speaker 1: Brian joins it very what is crew you a very
Speaker 1: crowded backfield with the Patriots. But there's some thought here
Speaker 1: that maybe he distinguishes himself in some fashion. Well, if
Speaker 1: he does that, he's gonna have to outshine a guy
Speaker 1: who you know, we were talking about like this last year.
Speaker 1: That was Sony Michelle who they They invested first round
Speaker 1: draft capital, and so New England backfield has been very
Speaker 1: modeled for many, many years. This is the long the
Speaker 1: long play. Though Rex Burkhead is not gonna last forever.
Speaker 1: James White is clearly a past catching specialist. UM. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I can't tell you if Harris is gonna
Speaker 1: out go out at any time. Who knows. But usually
Speaker 1: the long term prospects with these running backs for New
Speaker 1: England don't work out like the Lawrence Moroneys of the world.
Speaker 1: But we'll find out. Alright. Three rookie running backs come
Speaker 1: into thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, Benny Snell, rych Weell Armstead, and
Speaker 1: then Justice Hill for Baltimore. Christian, you touched on him
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier. You want to loop back on
Speaker 1: Justice Hill and what he could do in Baltimore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I honestly like hell better the best out of
Speaker 1: this out of this tree. He's just an explosive guy.
Speaker 1: He can he can play the pass catching role um,
Speaker 1: so I think he carves out a role um pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: In Baltimore. We talked about mark Ingram potentially being able
Speaker 1: to catch passes. We've seen that he can do that.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, Ingram seems to function better
Speaker 1: when he's the when he's the guy moving the chains
Speaker 1: on first and second Town, and he has a guy
Speaker 1: like Alvin Kamara to come in and catch the passes
Speaker 1: and be the explosive guy. And I'm not saying Justice
Speaker 1: Hill is Alvin Kamara, but they could they have a
Speaker 1: chance to sort of reprise that kind of thing here
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. Andy Isabella comes in at sixteen, seventeen, Miles
Speaker 1: Boykin and eighteen is A J. Brown for Tennessee, and
Speaker 1: because of injury, we haven't been able to see anything
Speaker 1: from him yet. Brian, your thoughts on A J. Brown's
Speaker 1: potential impact for Tennessee. Yeah, he was hurt on like
Speaker 1: one of the first first first place of training camps.
Speaker 1: We're waiting to see what he can actually do. It's
Speaker 1: it's really not a matter of A J. Brown's talent,
Speaker 1: it's a matter of his quarterbacks talent. We're not so
Speaker 1: sure that Marcus Mariotta is going to be on Tennessee's
Speaker 1: raw for next year. Uh. Hean winstoner in the last
Speaker 1: years of the contract rookie contracts, So if they let
Speaker 1: Mariota walk, I mean There's a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks coming in this upcoming draft class, but um,
Speaker 1: I think on paper and on tape A J. Brown
Speaker 1: looks like he has all the makings to be a
Speaker 1: at least a wide receiver to UH in the future
Speaker 1: from a fantasy football perspective, But um, we gotta see
Speaker 1: how these quarterback situation shapes out in Tennessee over the
Speaker 1: next year or two until we can really get a tree.
Speaker 1: Nineteen is Irv Smith the tight end for Minnesota. Is
Speaker 1: expected to be learning on the job this year but
Speaker 1: could pay off at some point with Kyle Rudolph coming
Speaker 1: near the end of his career and Number twenty Deebo
Speaker 1: Samuel the slot the new Percy Harvin in the NFL,
Speaker 1: perhaps for the Niners hope. So anyway, um, and we'll
Speaker 1: probably play out of the slot for the Niners this
Speaker 1: coming season. Guys would like to wrap the show with sleepers,
Speaker 1: and I want to uh. I want to start off
Speaker 1: with my preferred sleeper for this show, and that is
Speaker 1: Jalen Samuel, who I think a chance to be the
Speaker 1: highest scoring Steelers running back this year. Yes, what's a
Speaker 1: bold statement when James Conner is there, But Jalen Samuel's
Speaker 1: got a number of things going for him. Number one,
Speaker 1: all of the running backs for the Steelers have already
Speaker 1: said it's going to be a time share this year.
Speaker 1: There's not going to be one guy who's going to
Speaker 1: get the ball all the time. Samuel's the most gifted
Speaker 1: past catcher that they've got. They've got all of the
Speaker 1: missing targets from Antonio Brown leaving and Jesse James leaving.
Speaker 1: That's going to open up some opportunities for Samuel to
Speaker 1: catch more passes and as a tight end. In college,
Speaker 1: his position coach was the Steelers current running back coach,
Speaker 1: and so there's a coaching opportunity that you know, they
Speaker 1: obviously know how to use him. They've got a history there.
Speaker 1: So I think Jaylen Samuel has has a real opportunity
Speaker 1: to actually and by the way, I'll mention this outperformed
Speaker 1: statistically James Conner in UH in yards per carry and
Speaker 1: uh touchdowns per carry last year, and so I they're
Speaker 1: things about James Jalen Samuel that made me think he
Speaker 1: could be very very good. Let's go to Brian Johnson,
Speaker 1: who's your sleeper for this week of no relation. I've
Speaker 1: got Curtis Samuel, Carolina's wide receiver, currently their number two
Speaker 1: wide receiver, but he could prove to be their number
Speaker 1: one come at the end of the year. UM. Last
Speaker 1: year was Samuel's second pro season. UH didn't become a
Speaker 1: regular starter until Week eight and then he missed the
Speaker 1: last three games due to injury. But he looked really
Speaker 1: good when given the opportunity UM, including running the ball.
Speaker 1: He had two rushing touchdowns last year. UM, but he's
Speaker 1: no gimmick player. Samuels has all the makings of a
Speaker 1: potential number one and to see that look no further
Speaker 1: than his red zone usage last year, which was limited
Speaker 1: due to his sample size. Keep that in mind, but
Speaker 1: Samuel had more touchdowns in the red zone than George Kittle,
Speaker 1: Jarvis Landry, Corey Davis, Allen Robinson, and Jimmy Graham. Three
Speaker 1: of Samuel's four red zone receptions went for touchdowns, so
Speaker 1: he was very UH proficient and an effective And while
Speaker 1: four red zone receptions doesn't seem like a lot, only
Speaker 1: fifteen wide receivers had ten plus red zone receptions last year,
Speaker 1: and a full campaign from Samuel would easily vault him
Speaker 1: into that territory. So UM I love dj More. We
Speaker 1: talked about him earlier, but Samuel could be the same player,
Speaker 1: if not better than More, and you're getting him several
Speaker 1: rounds later in drafts. Right now, All right, Christian, You've
Speaker 1: got thirty seconds for your final sleeper. I can do
Speaker 1: that because I've already talked about him several times. It's
Speaker 1: Dante Moncrief of the Steelers. It's really all just about
Speaker 1: opportunity here. Antonio Brown leaves behind hundred and sixty eight targets.
Speaker 1: Moncrief is running as the number two opposite Juju Smith Schuster.
Speaker 1: They clearly don't trust James Washington, last year's second rounder.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I don't love Moncrief because he's failed to
Speaker 1: live up to expectations. But it's all about opportunity, and
Speaker 1: the opportunity will certainly be there no matter how you
Speaker 1: heard the show. Our podcast, so Fantasy Football Weekly is
Speaker 1: on the I Heart app, which is number one four
Speaker 1: podcasts and where you can always get it first, typically
Speaker 1: on Friday evenings. We encourage you to listen to Fantasy
Speaker 1: Football Weekly on the I Heart app or wherever else
Speaker 1: you love podcast, but we love the I heart app
Speaker 1: as well, and that is it for this week. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next week from our preseason Fantasy Football
Speaker 1: Weekly