Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeart Radio.
Speaker 2: Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
Speaker 2: source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
Speaker 2: whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show. Now,
Speaker 2: here's your host, Paul.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Chargian co
Speaker 1: host today. After kind of a fair amount of time off.
Speaker 1: Scott Fish welcome back.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, but it's pretty normal this time. Last year,
Speaker 3: between February and June and July, I only did one show.
Speaker 3: That's not four and a half month.
Speaker 1: But that's not it's not gonna be.
Speaker 3: This is my second show.
Speaker 1: All right, good we want you back.
Speaker 3: Yes, we miss you and I'm excited to be in
Speaker 3: your house again. I wore my swimsuit. I see that
Speaker 3: pool is under construction, but I can swim at.
Speaker 1: The boat we're adding in the Olympic lanes under the pool.
Speaker 1: It was traded for Paris's my my hair stylist. They're
Speaker 1: not barbers anymore. Okay, my hair stylist decided you wanted
Speaker 1: to get a pool put in your yard. They sold
Speaker 1: their boat and then started collecting money. Do you know
Speaker 1: much a pool a just a regular backyard pool costs
Speaker 1: to put in.
Speaker 3: I don't even have the slightest clues. Somody going to
Speaker 3: take a complete guess at twenty eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Add about one hundred thousand dollars to that.
Speaker 3: What yes, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: So they sell their boat and they save money and
Speaker 1: they scrimp and they put together over one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars to get just a standard suburban backyard pool put in.
Speaker 1: That's hand off the money to pool guy and he
Speaker 1: goes a wall. He never did anything, kept the money
Speaker 1: and took off for Kentucky. What and he did it
Speaker 1: to like ten fifteen people in the twin cities. They're
Speaker 1: just out over one hundred thousand dollars. There's nothing they
Speaker 1: can do.
Speaker 3: There's no recourse at all. Nope, that's the.
Speaker 1: Police are not interested, you know. It's he's filed bankruptcy
Speaker 1: to try to protect himself, but they don't. But he
Speaker 1: was sitting on all this cash. Nobody cares, nobody's following up,
Speaker 1: and they're never gonna get paid.
Speaker 3: That's I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine.
Speaker 1: I know I can't either. One hundred thousand dollars just gone.
Speaker 3: Man, Oh that's street. Tell the story, dig your own pool,
Speaker 3: get a shovel shot Aston and Sino Man did it
Speaker 3: so anyone could do it. And he did that in summer,
Speaker 3: so I mean a school year.
Speaker 1: I'm not a big pool guy.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not either.
Speaker 1: It's just I don't know. I'm just not my thing.
Speaker 3: I get in the water with them. I'm not a
Speaker 3: hot tub guy though. That feels like no, I'm not.
Speaker 1: Is it because of the germs?
Speaker 3: Uh? You know, like if it's over chlorinated and stuff
Speaker 3: and cleaned regularly and stuff, then sure it's fine.
Speaker 1: But what if it's just your hot tub for you
Speaker 1: and your family. You're already sharing germs.
Speaker 3: Maybe I guess I like saunas. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: On the hot tub, I remember, you know, yeah, let's
Speaker 3: we can move on. But yeah, I'm not a huge
Speaker 3: hot tub guy. It's it's okay in a hotel. Hotel,
Speaker 3: I need something to do in the pool.
Speaker 1: I guess the pool when I'll swim a little out wide.
Speaker 1: I just I need to gamify the pool experience that
Speaker 1: I say, water polo, two.
Speaker 3: Young boys footballs and stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah right, they have throw I gotta throw football. I
Speaker 1: gotta gamify the pool experience.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: For those of you who listened to last week's show,
Speaker 1: you know that what we're what we're doing here is
Speaker 1: breaking down breaking A lot of people were plus fifteen seconds, Ye,
Speaker 1: plus fifteen seconds. When is this thing going to get interesting?
Speaker 1: Plus fifteen seconds?
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: We're breaking down all the teams in each of the conferences.
Speaker 1: Last week we did the NFC and AFC East. This
Speaker 1: week we're doing the South. We're heading south. We're heading south,
Speaker 1: the AFC South, the NFC South. We're highlighting the off
Speaker 1: season moves. The rosters have stabilized, now, yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1: You know they were like ninety nine percent. You know
Speaker 1: these are the rosters these teams are gonna have. So
Speaker 1: we look at what the roster looks like, highlight the
Speaker 1: key differences from last year, and just.
Speaker 3: Give some overall thoughts on each of the teams. Ye,
Speaker 3: at least the fantasy football you know, relevant relevant to one. Yes,
Speaker 3: to have stabilized. I like that you took all the
Speaker 3: good teams too, did I? I was joking I have
Speaker 3: Carolina on my I feel like I don't mean good,
Speaker 3: I mean fun teams, but.
Speaker 1: Teams I may have may not. I did pick my
Speaker 1: now Houston. I went on a way again because I'm
Speaker 1: a big Texans. Guys, this is my team. I think
Speaker 1: they're going to win the Super Bowl or at least
Speaker 1: go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: I like it.
Speaker 1: So I did purposely give myself the Texans. The others
Speaker 1: are mostly just start throws. Okay, all right, let's start
Speaker 1: with Tennessee. I'll let you go first. Let's let's a
Speaker 1: lot of changes for Tennessee.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, coaching changes, ground and running game. Derrick Henry gone,
Speaker 3: Mike Vrabel gone. They bring in Brian Callahan, who uh
Speaker 3: was OC of the Bengals for five years, but similar
Speaker 3: to Kevin O'Connell with the Rams, he didn't call the play.
Speaker 3: Zach Taylor called the plays for the Bengals, so we'll
Speaker 3: we'll see what happens there. Brought in his old high
Speaker 3: school friend Nick Colts from the Jags. They went to
Speaker 3: high school together. Nick Colets actually remember that was like
Speaker 3: a coordinator for Brian Callahan's dad Nebraska and stuff, so
Speaker 3: long history there. But he was the pass game coordinator
Speaker 3: for the Jags. They were ninth in passing. The Jags
Speaker 3: were last year, so I expect a whole lot more
Speaker 3: passon if you're bringing those two Rabel and Derrick Hedrick. Uh,
Speaker 3: basically we're gonna have uh Will Levis. They're they're gonna
Speaker 3: have to try to groom him, try to develop him.
Speaker 1: This I'm telling I'm telling you they made a mistake.
Speaker 3: But he threw four touchdowns in that first game.
Speaker 1: They drafted JJ McCarthy. Yeah, I yet had that four
Speaker 1: touchdown game that first game, four touchdowns. You know where
Speaker 1: I'm going with this. Yes, the rest of the year
Speaker 1: four touchdowns. Wow, that's Will Levis was awful. He had
Speaker 1: the lowest completion rate of any starter last year. He's
Speaker 1: I'm I don't understand why teams croll out these guys.
Speaker 1: You know, I realized he was a high second round
Speaker 1: pick last year, right, right, and so you've got some
Speaker 1: equity built into it. But can't you look at the
Speaker 1: tape and just go, look, we can't count on Will Levis.
Speaker 3: Let's make it.
Speaker 1: Let's go get another guy and find out what happens.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't. I don't get keep drafting until you
Speaker 3: hit it. That's Malik Willis two years ago. Draft Levis
Speaker 3: the next year. He didn't seem like it just keep
Speaker 3: drafting quarterbacks. Yes, they brought in Mason Rudolph to sit
Speaker 3: behind him. I don't know. It's not a good quarterback
Speaker 3: in situation, but they're doing all they can on the
Speaker 3: with the other weapons to try to give him some help.
Speaker 3: They brought in Tony Pollard. They have Taja Spears.
Speaker 1: Yeh.
Speaker 3: Both just incredible pass catchers. They combined for well over
Speaker 3: one hundred catches last year on separate teams. Obviously, yes,
Speaker 3: but Spears was actually a little more efficient than Tony Pollard.
Speaker 3: If you watched Tony Pollard last year, that would surprise
Speaker 3: you at all. But they're both very versatile, and they
Speaker 3: can take those dump offs from Will Levis maybe add
Speaker 3: up that completion percentage. They have DeAndre Hopkins. They paid
Speaker 3: Calvin Ridley to come in too much. I thought, really,
Speaker 3: you don't think that. You don't think he should be
Speaker 3: the tenth highest rate with the third most guaranteed.
Speaker 1: Buddy, I knew it was bad.
Speaker 3: I know it is that bad for forty seven million
Speaker 3: guaranteed for a man.
Speaker 1: God bless his agent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And they brought in Tyler Boyd, which
Speaker 3: I think is also another good signing there. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I add those. Now Treylon Burks doesn't have to start,
Speaker 3: but yeah, he's you know, as a fourth option, he's okay.
Speaker 3: They got Chicka Kwank Konker still, I see. I like
Speaker 3: Chicka Kwank, but he does he does things that aren't
Speaker 3: great on the football field at times, but sometimes he
Speaker 3: can really hit that scene and look really good. So
Speaker 3: maybe he's just got to grow. I don't think he's
Speaker 3: a huge fantasy asset, probably a deeper guy. But they
Speaker 3: got weapons around Levis. But as you know with fantasy,
Speaker 3: a lot of times it depends on your quarterback. And
Speaker 3: he's how much can he support? Can he support all
Speaker 3: those weapons or does it just help the past game
Speaker 3: a little?
Speaker 1: Look, We'll Levis has the opportunity to get better. Of
Speaker 1: course in year two. I just didn't see the traits
Speaker 1: that I wanted to in year one to make me
Speaker 1: feel confident about it. So I don't want to make
Speaker 1: it sound like I'm writing it writing off his career.
Speaker 1: I'm just not very optimistic.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it could be. It could be, And we
Speaker 3: don't know how well Brian Callahan and Nickolets can develop
Speaker 3: a quarterback. Yeah, we don't really know the level they've been.
Speaker 3: You know Brian with Burrow or you know Nicholets last
Speaker 3: year with Lawrence, etcetera. We really don't know. We'll see.
Speaker 1: So I asked this for each for each of the teams.
Speaker 1: Does the passing game for the Texans Titans get better
Speaker 1: or worse this year?
Speaker 3: I think it has to get better just based on
Speaker 3: who they have and more volume if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Like great, I don't. Yeah, you know, when you're not
Speaker 1: the most run heavy team in the league. Yeah, it'll
Speaker 1: it'll probably help. And then running game, yeah, better or worse.
Speaker 3: It's probably worse. But fantasy wise, there's gonna be a
Speaker 3: lot of pass catching that'll help, So that that'll help.
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be fantasy points. It might
Speaker 3: be similar, but it might be split between two people
Speaker 3: and it might come from pass catching instead of Derrick
Speaker 3: Henry for one hundred and fifty yards and three scores.
Speaker 1: At this time last year, Tony Pollard was beginning of
Speaker 1: the second round selection. Yeah, now in Tennessee, which runner
Speaker 1: would you draft first? Taj Spears Tony Pollard?
Speaker 3: Oh first. It is tough because I feel like they're
Speaker 3: really going to give it give, really going to give
Speaker 3: Pollard as much is he can. They really really want
Speaker 3: to get him involved, but I like, this is your
Speaker 3: classic who do you want it? Their ADP at the
Speaker 3: States the question where all of us they're gonna say,
Speaker 3: Taj Spears if he's the lower guy, but you're posing hey.
Speaker 1: At the same price, at the same price, they're both available,
Speaker 1: and you've decided you're drafting a Tennessee running back.
Speaker 3: Here here's the thing. I think I'm going Spears, And
Speaker 3: here's why. Not only is he more efficient, and I
Speaker 3: think he's got more juice. We saw him in training
Speaker 3: camp against the Vikings, and we saw him last year
Speaker 3: enough to see that he's he's got some some speed
Speaker 3: to him. He's got that. I'm I'm losing track of
Speaker 3: the word here, but I think I'd rather have him
Speaker 3: because where I'm going to be drafting these guys is
Speaker 3: probably my RB three or four and that point I
Speaker 3: got my one and two. I want the upside guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Spears feels like the upside guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think his you know, just the skill set. He's
Speaker 1: got some electric moves. Yes, honey, Pollard, I no one
Speaker 1: play should affect me as much as this one play
Speaker 1: from Tony Pollard last year. Cowways have the ball at
Speaker 1: the two or three yard line of their opponent. They
Speaker 1: hand the ball off to Tony Pollard. He's going off
Speaker 1: left tackle and he's got the entire way from the
Speaker 1: left tackle to the to the cone, no defenders. And
Speaker 1: at the point of the handoff, I'm saying, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: to myself, obvious touchdown. And he erased that touchdown. He took,
Speaker 1: he went, he he he didn't go far enough outside.
Speaker 1: He ran into a defender. And I'm like, ninety nine
Speaker 1: times out of one hundred, the running back get paid
Speaker 1: gets paid on that play, and he managed to erase
Speaker 1: a touchdown. I can't get.
Speaker 3: Weird how he was the opposite guy I know two
Speaker 3: years before. I know.
Speaker 1: It's such a fickle game.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's go to the Houston Texans. I love the Texans,
Speaker 1: all right. So the passing game gets a big change
Speaker 1: with perpetual ingrade Stefan Diggs arriving in Houston. He expands
Speaker 1: the receiver room in a way that might not be
Speaker 1: as fantasy friendly as we would like because Nico Collins
Speaker 1: are there, Tank Dell is there, Dalton Schultz comes back,
Speaker 1: you know, as we all know, and this worries me
Speaker 1: a little bit. If Diggs he ain't getting the ball enough,
Speaker 1: everybody has to suffer, right, If Diggs ain't happy, nobody's happy.
Speaker 3: It's not that a player of Diggs's level came into
Speaker 3: the situation. It's Diggs coming into this situation.
Speaker 1: All the personality and the baggage and everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've seen.
Speaker 1: Now Collins and Diggs both have ADPs inside the top thirty.
Speaker 1: They're separated by just five picks. So I'll ask you
Speaker 1: similar question. Would you rather have Collins or would you
Speaker 1: rather of Digs Collins?
Speaker 3: That's not even I don't even think that's close to me.
Speaker 3: I think Collins is the star in the making. But
Speaker 3: we've we've been on the Collins train for.
Speaker 1: Years, you and I have. But when we looked like
Speaker 1: morons two years ago, we kept talking about Colins. So Collins,
Speaker 1: here's the separator. I'm gonna give you some data on
Speaker 1: Collins and Diggs. Collins on deep balls passes of twenty
Speaker 1: or more yards last year, Get this, he caught eleven
Speaker 1: of twelve passes on deep balls.
Speaker 3: It doesn't even feel surprising, But.
Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 3: Still amazing?
Speaker 1: Now, let's go to Diggs. Diggs got thrown to sixteen
Speaker 1: times on deep passes from Josh Allen last year. You
Speaker 1: want to guess how many catches he had on those
Speaker 1: deep balls.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna it feels like it's bad, just the way
Speaker 3: your team. I'm gonna go with seven.
Speaker 1: Four, three interceptions and no touchdown.
Speaker 3: That's like twenty five percent of my math.
Speaker 1: That is correct, well done. Here's at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. I want my receivers to get downfield passes right,
Speaker 1: I want big plays. I want that, and Nico Collins
Speaker 1: can deliver it. Stefan Diggs doesn't do that.
Speaker 3: Can you Can you make the argument that because Nico Ken,
Speaker 3: and because we know Dell Ken as well, that Digg
Speaker 3: zill run really free in the middle. Maybe in short
Speaker 3: but again, we've talked about this all the way back
Speaker 3: to the days of Juju Smith Schuster with that you
Speaker 3: need volume in touchdowns. You do and if you don't
Speaker 3: do it though it's not fantasy.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Tank Dell. He returns from last year's broken
Speaker 1: leg and last month's nightclub shooting. 'tis but a scratch.
Speaker 1: I understand she's a flesh wound, but still wow, not
Speaker 1: great sign he is he is participating in limited fashion
Speaker 1: in in off season workouts. Other receivers on the team
Speaker 1: like Robert Woods and Noah Brown and John Matchi are
Speaker 1: basically plaster to the bench here. I mentioned Dalton Schultz
Speaker 1: signed a new three year deal in the off season.
Speaker 1: He was a highly inconsistent producer last year, and I
Speaker 1: think that continues here and bring in Diggs doesn't add more.
Speaker 1: I think to Dalton Schultz repertoire here, so I think
Speaker 1: he's a spot starter. And then of course c J.
Speaker 1: Stroud coming off very likely the best rookie season of
Speaker 1: any quarterback in NFL history, numerous record set started his
Speaker 1: career with one hundred and ninety one passes without an
Speaker 1: interception I remember, which is staggering.
Speaker 3: That's incredible.
Speaker 1: He posted finished the season posting a touchdown to interception
Speaker 1: ratio of twenty three to five. His average distance of
Speaker 1: throw was eight and a half yards, the longest of
Speaker 1: any rookie since they started tracking the stat and his
Speaker 1: deep passing was fantastic, completing fifty nine percent of his
Speaker 1: deep balls that was second best in the entire league,
Speaker 1: not him on rookies the whole league. He had the
Speaker 1: second best deep pass completion percentage eight touchdowns on deep passes,
Speaker 1: no interceptions. Unbelievable.
Speaker 3: It is CJ Stroud, Yes on CJ Stroud, just how
Speaker 3: well he understands and knows the game. Have you watched
Speaker 3: any of the clips of him and Michael Parsons going
Speaker 3: through plays talking about the game. That guy tends Apparently
Speaker 3: c J. Stowd talks about the game like on a
Speaker 3: Peyton Manning level. It's unbelievable how well he understands the
Speaker 3: They would go back and forth. Mike could be like,
Speaker 3: well if you did that, I'm gonna do this, and
Speaker 3: CJ's well, then I would do this, and I'm like, wow,
Speaker 3: this is and there. It's just incredible to watch how
Speaker 3: smart these two are with the offensive defense. And they're
Speaker 3: still good too.
Speaker 1: You know, it's still it's a physical game, but it's
Speaker 1: also a cerebral game. Yeah, and depending on your position
Speaker 1: especially so. Does the passing game get better for the
Speaker 1: Texans this year? And I think it does.
Speaker 3: I think c J.
Speaker 1: Stroud matures to another level. He only had he had
Speaker 1: twenty three touchdowns last year, that number he could have
Speaker 1: thirty three. I mean he could easily be for good
Speaker 1: for ten more touchdowns this year and then you get
Speaker 1: Tank del back on the full season. You know, I
Speaker 1: just think this and add ad Indgs, so it gets better.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the Houston running game. The Texans inexplicably
Speaker 1: swapped the lightly used Devin singletary for the aged Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: who's going to start the season with eighteen hundred career touches.
Speaker 3: That's a lot.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of work. He has not topped four
Speaker 1: point one yards per carry Joe Mixon in five years,
Speaker 1: and four point one per carry is not a lot.
Speaker 3: And a lot of people will not a lot of people,
Speaker 3: one person at least, but I know other people have
Speaker 3: mentioned it. Zach Taylor ran him up the middle into
Speaker 3: defenders so much that I wonder if that hurts, like
Speaker 3: his yards per carrying things like that. But also that's
Speaker 3: really painful touches. Those are touches that are really wear
Speaker 3: you down.
Speaker 1: So last year Mixon dropped or drooped, depending on how
Speaker 1: you want to look at it, down to running back
Speaker 1: thirty five by Pro Football Focus. His elusiveness dropped to
Speaker 1: running back fifty, and his yards after contract contact to
Speaker 1: drop to fifty one. You know, everything on mixing looks
Speaker 1: like a.
Speaker 3: Guy into for me who is washed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so let's go to the backup. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: I can't be trusted to talk about Damian Piers. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you take it away from here. Are
Speaker 1: you are? Damian Pierce returns as the backup. I you
Speaker 1: know I've ruined all my credibility and matters around Damian Peers.
Speaker 3: I don't think you have.
Speaker 1: But I think, what do you think?
Speaker 3: I think one thing we did see at the end
Speaker 3: not last year, but the end of the year before
Speaker 3: and might have should have been a foreshadow to the
Speaker 3: to the following year. Although he was hurt a lot,
Speaker 3: he consistently runs into people instead of trying to run
Speaker 3: around people, which caused that injury. But also, you know,
Speaker 3: if they tackle him and he isn't breaking those tackles,
Speaker 3: his numbers go way down. And I think we saw
Speaker 3: a lot of that last year as well. We should
Speaker 3: have seen it at the end of the previous year too.
Speaker 1: They got to coach that out of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels CoA it does. It feels it feels coachable.
Speaker 3: Maybe he just he's used to you know in previous
Speaker 3: you know, high school, college. It's being able to just
Speaker 3: run through people and he was able to right away
Speaker 3: in his career. But yeah, that's my problem with Pierce
Speaker 3: is he needs he needs to fix that.
Speaker 1: I'll note this, Pierce finished with Pro Football Focus is
Speaker 1: second best pass blocking grade among all on the field,
Speaker 1: So that'll help. Right now, if you don't like Pierce,
Speaker 1: if you're with me, that mix's washed. And you don't
Speaker 1: like Pierce, your only other option is Jawar Johnson, a
Speaker 1: twenty five year old Louisville long shot, likely too small
Speaker 1: to me in every down back, but maybe he gets
Speaker 1: into the rotation if he shines.
Speaker 3: I I wouldn't be shocked if this this year is
Speaker 3: a similar split to last year's was with Singletary, but
Speaker 3: Pierce maybe takes more of the load later in the season.
Speaker 1: Maybe, I mean, you know, maybe Mixon is just so
Speaker 1: cooked they have to go to Pierce more. But I
Speaker 1: you know, right now, I'm just as much as much
Speaker 1: as I'm trying to get every part of the Texans offense,
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna.
Speaker 3: It Also would shock me if if Mixon has an
Speaker 3: Alexander Madison from last year type of year where he just.
Speaker 1: Told the spot and he's not good, that could very
Speaker 1: well be the pay in the case right now, Mixon
Speaker 1: going off the board at running back fifteen pick.
Speaker 3: Fifty feels high. Feels I think that is classic. You
Speaker 3: want the running back on the offense that's going to
Speaker 3: be in a position to score a lot.
Speaker 1: And so people are doing that thing. But I just
Speaker 1: I'm not a believer in him. Let's go to Jacksonville.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, let's go to Jacksonville. We'll start the coaching
Speaker 3: staff didn't have much much changes there, so we can
Speaker 3: move on from that. Normally, I want to start there
Speaker 3: just in case there's something. But let's start with the
Speaker 3: passing game. Trevor Lawrence. We mentioned earlier. Nick Holtz was
Speaker 3: the passing game coordinator there. Ninth in passing last year,
Speaker 3: Trevor Lawrence himself QB thirteen not actually the worst year.
Speaker 3: They picked him up for his fifth year option. If
Speaker 3: you watch the games, he still has room to improve.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did safe to say.
Speaker 3: I think that's that's very safe to say. They did
Speaker 3: not bad, I mean not bad, you know. No, QB
Speaker 3: thirteen feels right, It actually feels right for him. They
Speaker 3: did lose Calvin Ridley, but they brought in Brian Thomas Junior,
Speaker 3: who I know you love. In the draft, they brought
Speaker 3: in Gabe Davis paid him, I believe, three for thirty ish,
Speaker 3: three for three for more than I thought was going
Speaker 3: to get. Yeah, yeah, and they still have Christian Kirk.
Speaker 3: So now they have you know, they replaced Ridley and
Speaker 3: Zay Jones with Brian Thomas Junior and Gabe Davis. Whatever
Speaker 3: you think of Gabe Davis or a rookie that still
Speaker 3: feels like an upgrade.
Speaker 1: Christian Kirk is going to be a guillotine superstar, you think.
Speaker 1: So He's going to catch a ton of pass super consistent,
Speaker 1: super consistent.
Speaker 3: I can see that.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know that he gets like double
Speaker 1: digit touchdowns. But Christian Kirk could be sitting on one
Speaker 1: hundred catches, yeah, you know, thirteen yards.
Speaker 3: Or it could be the guy last year tight end,
Speaker 3: Evan Ingram, who had one hundred and forty three targets.
Speaker 3: Next closest was one hundred and twenty seven at tight
Speaker 3: end one hundred and fourteen catches. Next closest was ninety
Speaker 3: five a tight end. He had nine hundred and sixty
Speaker 3: three yards, which was third, but he.
Speaker 1: Only had four scores. Swhear it took half a season
Speaker 1: for him to get the first one.
Speaker 3: I feel like it did. Yeah, he ended his tight
Speaker 3: end six. If his touchdowns matched what the other stats
Speaker 3: should have been, he would have been tight end won
Speaker 3: by a long shot. But maybe, yeah, maybe it's just
Speaker 3: a lot of Kirk and Ingram, very consistent, tons of targets.
Speaker 3: You love me in your guillotine league type of situation.
Speaker 3: You're gonna ask the question or do you want me
Speaker 3: to just answer it? Did the passing game improved?
Speaker 1: Did the passing game improve?
Speaker 3: I think it improved? Okay, I think it improved.
Speaker 1: With the swapping of receivers.
Speaker 3: The swapping of those receivers in just another year for
Speaker 3: Trevor Lawrence under Doug Peterson, I feel like those factors
Speaker 3: probably just going to be a slight improvement.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's go to the running game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, in the running game, the coaches recently recently said
Speaker 3: they want to get the ball into tank tank bigsbys.
Speaker 1: More well more would be like twice twice. Yes, another
Speaker 1: bruise on my ego right here.
Speaker 3: I do think they. I do think they saw with
Speaker 3: Etn Gain hurt again last year for a little bit,
Speaker 3: and he still finished his running back three that they
Speaker 3: just want to keep they want to keep him healthier.
Speaker 3: I think I'm shocked they didn't do more of that
Speaker 3: last year. But maybe a second year with Tank in
Speaker 3: that offense, you know he'd learned some learned some things whatever.
Speaker 3: But Etn running back three last year, Like he's going
Speaker 3: to need to reproduce all of that to stay at
Speaker 3: that level. I mean, he had fifty eight catches, but
Speaker 3: he was one of only two running backs in the
Speaker 3: top ten running backs with under four yards per carry. Wow,
Speaker 3: three three point eight yards per carry the other one.
Speaker 1: I just don't think he's special. Yeah, I'm just not
Speaker 1: convinced that Travis Etn is a special player.
Speaker 3: Man. I thought so in college. Yeah, the fifty eight
Speaker 3: catches really helps. The twelve scores really helps. If he's
Speaker 3: going to be the super volume focal point of that offense.
Speaker 3: He had many twenty plus touch games last year. He's
Speaker 3: going to do it again. But if they do get
Speaker 3: Tanked more involved, I'd expect to slight drop up. But
Speaker 3: he's probably still going to finish as an RB one.
Speaker 3: He's probably still going to finish in that top one regards.
Speaker 1: It's just too volume. Yeah, yep, let's go to Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: the last team of the AFC South. Let's go to
Speaker 1: the passing game. We only got to see Anthony Richardson
Speaker 1: for part of four games last year, So Week one
Speaker 1: he did, he look good in the stretches he did.
Speaker 1: Week one, you get the knee injury. Week two he
Speaker 1: had a concussion, and then in Week four the shoulder
Speaker 1: injury that ended a season.
Speaker 3: So historic levels of fantasy points person nap.
Speaker 1: How about that though, right that's I mean, that's the
Speaker 1: that's the exciting part. He had the four touchdowns, despite those,
Speaker 1: Despite those, all that that happened in the first four games,
Speaker 1: he had four rushing touchdowns. He looked pretty mate. He
Speaker 1: would a whopping seven yards per rushing attempt, and I
Speaker 1: thought the passing looked pretty good. And people were really
Speaker 1: worried about his deep ball, but Anthony Richardson's deep ball
Speaker 1: connected pretty well last year in the again very limited
Speaker 1: sample size that we had in early drafts. Right now,
Speaker 1: Anthony Richardson's ADP Scott quarterback six.
Speaker 3: I've seen a lot of lists with him there fifty.
Speaker 1: Five overall, so he's kind of like the last of
Speaker 1: the sort of proven rushing quarterbacks. What do you think
Speaker 1: Is that about right.
Speaker 3: That I like him a little more.
Speaker 1: I have him in my.
Speaker 3: Top five with c J. Stroud. So I have a
Speaker 3: question for you. In our home league, would you like
Speaker 3: one of those?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: I would thank you very much because I have both
Speaker 3: of them. I cannot keep both of them.
Speaker 1: Well. You know, obviously Richardson's got way more upside, which
Speaker 1: is how you win. But I love c J. Stroud.
Speaker 3: I won the league last year, so my next seven
Speaker 3: years are paid.
Speaker 1: So I just worked that in. How nice of you, God,
Speaker 1: My team was terrible. I am interested in even in
Speaker 1: a one quarterback league. I would give up some asset
Speaker 1: for and in this home and I know you're not
Speaker 1: trading Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 3: In this home league. They do keep quarterbacks too, No,
Speaker 3: but I I have Anthony Richardson, just on that pure
Speaker 3: upside a little higher we've for me. I feel like
Speaker 3: we've seen so many times these top quarterbacks. Some of
Speaker 3: them will drop, some of them won't, but you can
Speaker 3: find super steady, good guys late. I'd rather take Richardson
Speaker 3: and all that high upside and then back them up
Speaker 3: with someone that you know makes me feel safer.
Speaker 1: Agreed. In traditional leagues like not guillotine leagues. You gotta
Speaker 1: play for upside. You need to be the best of
Speaker 1: twelve teams.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: And so you know he's this is the kind of
Speaker 1: pick that goes and wins your league.
Speaker 3: Exactly. If you get.
Speaker 1: A Lamar Jackson from four years after season, you know
Speaker 1: you find yourself.
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts fifteen touchdown, you exactly winning the Colts.
Speaker 1: Drafted six foot two at AD and I Mitchell. I
Speaker 1: was saying it wrong earlier. Ad and I Mitchell in
Speaker 1: the second round. He is insanely fast four three four speed.
Speaker 1: And now you've got a guy who can get under
Speaker 1: these long passes thrown by Anthony Richardson the way that
Speaker 1: the rest of the receivers like Michael Pittman, Josh Downs,
Speaker 1: they were not going to get under those balls. Mitchell.
Speaker 1: Do you see Mitchell's rats, No, No, nine point nine
Speaker 1: to nine's that's very close to the ten, very close
Speaker 1: to the ten. Yes, Yes, amazing speed for a guy
Speaker 1: six foot two. Yeah, so he's going to open things up.
Speaker 1: But I'm not asking for consistency from Mitchell early in
Speaker 1: his career with a young quarterback. He's still raw, needs
Speaker 1: probably needs a season or two only had one really
Speaker 1: productive college season, so I think he's a year away
Speaker 1: from being a consistent contributor.
Speaker 3: Yep, that's probably.
Speaker 1: Speaking of guys with a nine point nine to nine rasts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Jilannie Woods come back this this, this is gonna be
Speaker 1: the year for Jilannie Woods. Yes, one of these times,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get it right. This is gonna be like
Speaker 1: my Zach Moss. One of these years, I'm going to
Speaker 1: get it right. And it's gonna be when everybody's given
Speaker 1: up on John it was.
Speaker 3: You know what's It's not even gonna be a season.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be that the giant fantasy playoff run that
Speaker 3: we talk about. Yeah, maybe that's gonna gonna be that.
Speaker 3: And then you'll get your You'll get your flowers, your Peacocky.
Speaker 1: Woods returns from a hamstring injury that cost him all
Speaker 1: of these his sophomore season last year. I think he
Speaker 1: remains a great dart throw just on the absurd athleticism
Speaker 1: and and a lot of Titans do sort of figure
Speaker 1: it out in year three, although really missed the whole
Speaker 1: year last year with the hamstring. So does he get
Speaker 1: better or worse for the Colts passing game? Well it
Speaker 1: gets better. Richardson over Gardner Minshew is enough and then
Speaker 1: you add in ad and I Mitchell and it all
Speaker 1: gets better. So now let's go to the running game, Scott. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor returns. Current ADP is pick thirteen overall running
Speaker 1: back five. So here he is going at the very
Speaker 1: top of the second round.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's fair. I think we've seen what
Speaker 3: that offense does with Taylor at the end. They just
Speaker 3: give him so much volume, and the curiosity is what's
Speaker 3: going to happen with him and Richardson both on the
Speaker 3: field more. Maybe maybe that lowers because Richardson takes so many,
Speaker 3: so many runs he can, but Richardson's.
Speaker 1: Not built for like Tush push style.
Speaker 3: Touchdown no no. And Jonathan Taylor is great at the
Speaker 3: goal line. He's got to know us for it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's he I think five is fine for Jonathan Taylor.
Speaker 1: We love that he's a workhorse. Once he took over
Speaker 1: from Zack Moss, who had a shockingly good season, Taylor
Speaker 1: averaged twenty two carries per game. You just don't get
Speaker 1: that from many backs in the league anymore. Yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: not enough though, being made of Taylor's overall lukewarm season.
Speaker 1: Let me get you a symmetrics. You know, he missed
Speaker 1: the first month of the season and then he killed
Speaker 1: fantasy owners down the stretch. He played in just one
Speaker 1: of five games from week eleven to week fifteen, So
Speaker 1: here you are in your fantasy play right that hurt.
Speaker 1: He hit one hundred yards last year one time, and
Speaker 1: it was Week eighteen. That's it. He was profoabable, I
Speaker 1: know he was. Pro football focus is running back forty
Speaker 1: four overall, that's it. He was thirteenth in yards after contact,
Speaker 1: which we like, twenty third in elusiveness, but overall to
Speaker 1: play for him seemed down a bit. He topped just
Speaker 1: four point two yards per carry, which is nothing in
Speaker 1: just four games last year for Jonathan Taylor, and he
Speaker 1: scored in the final five games of the season, which
Speaker 1: I mean helped his overall stats because he went on
Speaker 1: that long scoring run at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: But many of those games were too little, too late
Speaker 1: in a season where if you had drafted Jonathan Taylor
Speaker 1: and missed that month and then he missed that stretch run,
Speaker 1: you probably weren't in the playoffs any So Zach Bross
Speaker 1: is gone. He went off to Cincinnati. That running back room,
Speaker 1: it's thin. So Evan Hull returns after last year's knee injury,
Speaker 1: and then after a two carry season last year, Trey
Speaker 1: Sermon comes over Philadelphia. We can now call him a journeyman. Right,
Speaker 1: Sermon's just not special.
Speaker 3: Scott, He's just a guy.
Speaker 1: So does the offensive line? Oh, I'll mention Colts put
Speaker 1: a third and fourth round pick and the offensive line
Speaker 1: which could help. Does does it get better or worse
Speaker 1: for the Indianapolis running game this year? I think worse
Speaker 1: because Moss was such a good was such a good backup,
Speaker 1: whether he was starting when Taylor was out or not.
Speaker 1: I think that the drop from Moss to Evan Hull
Speaker 1: makes this a lot worse. All right, let's take a break.
Speaker 3: Well, that volume leads to another injury.
Speaker 1: Which it might, which might? It's fine. Uh, Let's take
Speaker 1: a break and turn our attention to the NFC South
Speaker 1: when Fantasy Football Weekly continues. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Hey,
Speaker 1: we have a Discord channel. Did you know that? Check
Speaker 1: out the show notes. You can get a link right
Speaker 1: to our Discord channel. You can participate talk about this episode,
Speaker 1: anything that's happening in fantasy football. We've got side conversations
Speaker 1: on video games, board games, whiskey.
Speaker 3: And you can win it. You can win a trip
Speaker 3: to hang out with Charts at his in his new pool.
Speaker 1: I was a big canon I was a cannonball guy,
Speaker 1: not a jackknife guy. Uh yeah, it was more of
Speaker 1: can cannonball guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think the jackknife is a little harder to pull off.
Speaker 1: And I mean cannonball. It's just, you know, basically tuck
Speaker 1: and jump in a pool. It can't really go wrong
Speaker 1: with it, you can't. All right, let's let's let's talk.
Speaker 3: It's the belly flop guys you gotta worry about.
Speaker 1: You know. The belly flop competitions are pretty fascinating to
Speaker 1: see those big fat guys dive into the pool and
Speaker 1: just you can hear it, it's gotta hurt.
Speaker 3: This might be the most off the rails episode we've
Speaker 3: had a long time.
Speaker 1: It probably is. I did not think we'd be talking
Speaker 1: about belly flops.
Speaker 3: I feel like if I bought the show more, that
Speaker 3: would be spread out of all your episodes, but instead
Speaker 3: it's all in one.
Speaker 1: Do you do if you're in the belly flop competition? Okay,
Speaker 1: how do you train for it? Do you do you
Speaker 1: need to like? Do you do you just eat? Do
Speaker 1: you do you jump in the pool a lot? Is
Speaker 1: there a lot of technique like do you go navel first?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: Or you going nipples first?
Speaker 3: There is someone listening who knows about this. Yes, would
Speaker 3: probably have put it in.
Speaker 1: The discord in the episode. Yes, put it in the
Speaker 1: episode discussion in our discord channel. What are the techniques?
Speaker 1: Do they lather up with something? Do they use oils
Speaker 1: or like a lubricating agent of some kind on the belly?
Speaker 3: I don't know, I really don't know.
Speaker 1: You do you shave because you don't want the hair?
Speaker 1: Do you shave the chest hair off because you don't
Speaker 1: want the hair to lessen the impact? I don't know,
Speaker 1: belly fly, I really like these are the burning questions.
Speaker 1: Yes that we've got the Fantasy.
Speaker 3: Football Week and that's a show this week.
Speaker 1: And on that note, let's be done AFC, sorry, NFC South.
Speaker 1: Let's begin with Division champion Tampa Bay.
Speaker 3: Okay, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They actually had one major coaching change.
Speaker 3: They lost Dave Canalis to uh the Carolina Panthers. He
Speaker 3: was obviously the QB coach for Seattle when Gino Smith
Speaker 3: one comeback Player of the Year and nearly did it
Speaker 3: again with Baker last year, as.
Speaker 1: I'll be talking about him momentarily, Carolina.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I should have saved it for the end,
Speaker 3: but that that makes absolutely no sense because they've started
Speaker 3: with the passing game, and uh so, I would you know,
Speaker 3: Baker has been what he is for years and then
Speaker 3: he had a really good season last year. I worry
Speaker 3: that he'll down Tech without Dave Canalis, but maybe not.
Speaker 3: He's got He's got Mike Evans back the contract extent.
Speaker 3: They got Chris Godwin. Still, they got Trey Palmer. They
Speaker 3: say they're gonna move Godwin back to the slot, where
Speaker 3: he's been more productive in his career, and he's.
Speaker 1: Then you got then you got Palmer playing out of position.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Palmer played fifty three percent slot last year, so
Speaker 3: he's yeah, a little bit more of a slock guy.
Speaker 3: He's playing out of position. You could start some of
Speaker 3: the other guys, but here are the other guys, Jalen McMillan,
Speaker 3: Devin Tompkins, rakeem Jarrett, Ryan Miller, Rally.
Speaker 1: Webb, Raley Webb.
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure that's like a baseball player from the twenties. Actually,
Speaker 3: I don't know how that got in there. Cephas, Johnson, Tanner,
Speaker 3: Canoe or new Cameron Johnson, La Treo, Drones and scraps Charty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, scrap char Plucky plucky.
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it. Yes, those are the
Speaker 3: other wide receivers behind Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Trey Palmer. So,
Speaker 3: say it falls off just a bit, I'd expect a
Speaker 3: lot of two and three person three wide receiver, you know,
Speaker 3: situations there. Trey Palmer weirdly enough, if he's moving outside.
Speaker 3: Last year outside he had nine catches for twenty plus
Speaker 3: yards nine times, nine times. So I wonder if that
Speaker 3: they they want to get Godwin more productive in the slot,
Speaker 3: they feel it's better for him, and they saw something
Speaker 3: in Palmer that maybe maybe there's something there. Yeah, maybe
Speaker 3: there's something there.
Speaker 1: I thought it was weird that they that they did
Speaker 1: take Godwin out of that role that he had been
Speaker 1: so productive in. Yeah, and it didn't it just didn't
Speaker 1: feel like it was a natural fit. Last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Kate Oughten was
Speaker 3: tight end twenty. I don't see him getting more targets
Speaker 3: in an offense I think is going to be slightly
Speaker 3: less and doesn't have depth. May maybe do maybe if
Speaker 3: there's an injury, he does. You know, that's that's where
Speaker 3: it come in because they don't have any depth either
Speaker 3: behind atten or wide receivers. But I think the passing
Speaker 3: game takes it a slight tick down the.
Speaker 1: Loss of Canalis and then just Mike Evans being one
Speaker 1: year older, right, I mean the end is coming for Mike. Yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe it's here now and we don't know it. Hopefully
Speaker 1: it's a year or two away, but it's coming.
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame career, thousand yards every year. Into the
Speaker 3: running game, we have Rashad White, who I previously mentioned
Speaker 3: was one of the two top ten running backs with
Speaker 3: a yards per carry under four in this season. He
Speaker 3: was not very efficient, but he did have sixty four
Speaker 3: catches scored just enough to make him RB four, kind
Speaker 3: of like traves et. If that offense takes a little
Speaker 3: bit of a downturn and he doesn't score as much
Speaker 3: and he doesn't, well, the catches should probably still be there.
Speaker 1: I think the catches will be there. It's the touchdowns
Speaker 1: or worry on what and.
Speaker 3: There's nobody behind him. They drafted a fourth round, uh,
Speaker 3: the Bucky Irving fourth round, and then Chase. I was
Speaker 3: gonna say Daniels, but it's Edmunds, Chase Edmonds behind him.
Speaker 1: What happened to the kid with that we love from
Speaker 1: Syracuse last preseason? Uh?
Speaker 3: Train Sean Tucker?
Speaker 1: Sean Tucker.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he's still there. He's still there too. All right,
Speaker 3: He's like fourth on the depth Shart, but he's still there.
Speaker 1: This whole show is just me about stuff I was
Speaker 1: optimistic about happening that didn't happen last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's uh. I think the running game also takes
Speaker 3: a slight downturn, honestly as far as that goes, because yeah,
Speaker 3: if the offense is going down, I think it's uh,
Speaker 3: I think it's uh, you know, rising tide backwards.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Ye, all right, let's go to Carolina.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Dave Canalis comes over. You already mentioned that
Speaker 1: he revived the careers of Gino Smith and Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: That's the big addition here. But they also added some
Speaker 1: players of note to the passing game. Deontay Johnson now
Speaker 1: in Carolina, and they drafted second round pick I believe
Speaker 1: was it end of the first They jump into the
Speaker 1: bottom of the first I think for Xavier, like at
Speaker 1: the marble mouthed, I think, yeah, I think they jumped
Speaker 1: into the bottom of the first. Xavior. It's fun to
Speaker 1: hear him talk. I can't understand anything he says. I hope,
Speaker 1: I'm hoping there's not some scenario in the future where
Speaker 1: I'm calling in like to my insurance agency and I've
Speaker 1: got a question. I got to talk to my phone
Speaker 1: representative and it's Xavier, because it's going to be a
Speaker 1: very difficult conversation at that point, because I can't understand
Speaker 1: the guy. Uh Panthers pored first, second, and fourth round
Speaker 1: picks into the offense. I mean they you know, they
Speaker 1: knew the offense was terrible. It's got to get better,
Speaker 1: and it can only get better for Bryce Young. You
Speaker 1: know here you are. You're Bryce Young, controversial pick, is
Speaker 1: the first rookie overall. C J. Stroud is immediately a
Speaker 1: billion times better than you. Your coaching staff gets fired
Speaker 1: at mid season. You're working with interim guys who all
Speaker 1: know that this is the beginning. You know that the
Speaker 1: season is lost. It's just everything was bad for Bryce Young.
Speaker 1: Not enough talent at wide receiver, as well some of
Speaker 1: the dart pick throws that they had had in recent years. Also,
Speaker 1: Tarres Marshall, Jonathan Mingo didn't did, did not help this offense.
Speaker 1: So they trade for Deontay Johnson. A little weird to
Speaker 1: me because stylistically, I think he's got some similarities to
Speaker 1: Adam Thlen with the same number well and that, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know that's gonna be a I want.
Speaker 3: To for it as far as.
Speaker 1: I'm concerned, Uh, Johnson and Theland sure handed guys, though,
Speaker 1: that maybe will be something that helps that helps Young
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 1: Leaguett brings vertical speed to the table, something Thelan does
Speaker 1: and Johnson do not have. So incredibly thick for incredibly
Speaker 1: thick for a guy who runs a four to three nine
Speaker 1: like Guet is really well built, probably opens the year
Speaker 1: as a starter or at least a situational player in
Speaker 1: this offense. I shot Mingo big time, big time. I
Speaker 1: think Taris Marshall, I think this is it for him
Speaker 1: and oh yeah, cut candidate. Mingo probably makes the roster
Speaker 1: only because he was a second round draft pick one
Speaker 1: year ago.
Speaker 3: Do you know when I realized that Terrence Marshall, Terrace
Speaker 3: Terriss Marshall wasn't going to be a thing in the NFL.
Speaker 3: I was watching tape on him because I'm like, how
Speaker 3: is he not producing? And there was a play they
Speaker 3: decided he got open and they passed it away from him.
Speaker 3: And before while the pass is in the air, he's complaining, complaining,
Speaker 3: he's not going to help block. He's not. It's like,
Speaker 3: come on, yeah.
Speaker 1: That's stuff. Your coaches hate that, and they see the tape.
Speaker 1: I could regale you with futility stats for Bryce Young. Okay,
Speaker 1: and it is bad, but remember how we threw out
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence's rookie year. We said bad coaching staff, bad situation,
Speaker 1: players around him, and we threw it out and we
Speaker 1: just went reboot for next year. I think that's the
Speaker 1: approach to take on Bryce Young. Sure, just let's just
Speaker 1: your race last year. Let's assume this is going to
Speaker 1: be a much and and it really should be a
Speaker 1: much better coaching staff that puts him in a far
Speaker 1: better position to succeed. I will know this. The touchdowns
Speaker 1: are total disaster, but I'll know this. We knew that
Speaker 1: Young was not going to run very much. But to
Speaker 1: be very clear, now we know zero wheels here, so
Speaker 1: he is not going to help you on the ground
Speaker 1: at all. And overall, does the Carolina Pathing Panther's passing
Speaker 1: game get better worse? Well, of course it has to
Speaker 1: get better. Can't get it, can't be worse. Let's go
Speaker 1: to the running game. Jonathan Brooks almost certainly takes over
Speaker 1: as the lead back, but the timetable is complicated because
Speaker 1: he tore his ACL in November, so we don't know
Speaker 1: for sure when that's going to happen. Chuba Hubbard and
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders are still there, although I think Miles Sanders
Speaker 1: is a post June one cut candidate. Looking at the
Speaker 1: cap hit at that point, he would not even be
Speaker 1: a cap hit, so there's a chance they cut him.
Speaker 1: I mean, at this time last year we were optimistic
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders could be an RB one. Yeah, and he
Speaker 1: you know, he didn't even finish the season as the
Speaker 1: starter on his own back, losing it to Chewba Hubbard.
Speaker 1: He wasn't even good. So Hubbard and Sanders probably are
Speaker 1: some combination, are your guys? Until Brooks is ready for
Speaker 1: to hit the field and get a big workload yep October.
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know. I mean, you know it's Acls,
Speaker 1: you don't You just you don't know for sure. So
Speaker 1: the Brooks then could take some time. I'm in the
Speaker 1: minority with this take. Just looking at brooks college work,
Speaker 1: I just didn't see special NFL level traits. I saw
Speaker 1: a running back who was good at a lot of things.
Speaker 1: But I'm trying to find those things that are gonna
Speaker 1: make you special at this level. And I just I
Speaker 1: had a hard time spotting him. Thor likes him, doesn't
Speaker 1: love him. He was just the one year starter of Texas.
Speaker 1: But in fairness, he was behind Bijon Robinson two years ago,
Speaker 1: and they could have John similar to.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 1: And I'll mention this Carolina is offensive line non awful.
Speaker 1: Last year in run blocking they ranked sixteenth by Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus. So does it get better worse this year?
Speaker 1: Let's assume Brooks is better than Hubbard and Sanders, which
Speaker 1: wouldn't take a lot, and eventually this running game gets better.
Speaker 3: Okay, I mean for fantasy, it really could have if Brooks,
Speaker 3: you know, in the second half of the season, at
Speaker 3: post Thanksgiving whatever is taking the load where there's not
Speaker 3: the split that gave them secrets. Sea grades are worse
Speaker 3: all year.
Speaker 1: Correct, all right, let's go to the Saints.
Speaker 3: The Saints. Yeah, this might be the most boring one,
Speaker 3: this one.
Speaker 1: They did have a boring offseason.
Speaker 3: So boring.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: The only coaching changes They hired Clint Kubiak, who we're
Speaker 3: familiar with UH Minnesota OC from Minnesota a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago. Then he was the Broncos pass game coordinator
Speaker 3: than the forty nine Ers pass game coordinator. He's jumping
Speaker 3: around job a job. But that's about the only change
Speaker 3: in coaching here. They they they're quarterbacks. They they still
Speaker 3: have Car, they still have Jake Hayner. They drafted Spencer Rattler,
Speaker 3: but he's you know, going to be behind them most
Speaker 3: likely unless there's some real faltering or or injury or
Speaker 3: whatever or cut. Do you think Car's getting cut? I'm
Speaker 3: looking at your face.
Speaker 1: I'm just what I'm I'm trying to ask myself. Is
Speaker 1: this is there a scenario around Thanksgiving where the Saints
Speaker 1: are like, a, let's see what three win operation or
Speaker 1: win operations possible.
Speaker 3: I feel like they want to see what they happens.
Speaker 1: I feel like it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yep, And that's about all the changes. Then we
Speaker 3: get to the running game, where there's Kamara, Jamal Williams,
Speaker 3: and Kendra Miller. Still the passing. The wide receivers A Lave,
Speaker 3: Shaheed at Perry auditions, auditioned by subtraction by Thomas.
Speaker 1: He's out of the league right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, let's stay in the passing game here. But
Speaker 3: Chris Alave sixteen wide receiver sixteen last year, just he
Speaker 3: really feels like he's on the way up. He looked
Speaker 3: like a star. He looked like on that Nico Collins path.
Speaker 3: He looked like on looks like what Drake London might
Speaker 3: be too in Atlanta. Yeah, he's wherever he's going. I'm
Speaker 3: sure it's worthy in drafts for sixteen. Honestly feels like
Speaker 3: a floor for him this year. Personally, I think that
Speaker 3: they're going to be behind. They're gonna have to throw
Speaker 3: all the time.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, that's that is possible. I just feel
Speaker 1: like Derek Carr kind of puts a ceiling on what
Speaker 1: Chris o'lave can do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but there have been some really high passing yardag
Speaker 3: years out of car in Oakland, so I wouldn't doubt that.
Speaker 3: And the running game is just getting a year older
Speaker 3: and a year older and a year older.
Speaker 1: Kamara fell off the table, the metrically fell off the table,
Speaker 1: like all.
Speaker 3: His freak tackles, all that everything gone. That's that's what
Speaker 3: I'm saying. I don't see the run game being able
Speaker 3: to support them, even unless Kendre Miller takes a huge step.
Speaker 3: And you know Jamal Williams, well, he really never was
Speaker 3: that guy. He had a good season and half a
Speaker 3: season or so of being that guy, but hasn't really
Speaker 3: had it. But in the past game we got Rashid Shahid,
Speaker 3: Who's probably gonna benefit from Mike Thomas's thirty nine catches
Speaker 3: and forty eight You know I feel about Rashii Rashid yaheedr.
Speaker 3: But but oh, first off, Alave was second interceptions in targets,
Speaker 3: which I did not realize. I did not realize that either.
Speaker 1: All right, we love that volume.
Speaker 3: At least I wrote that, Oh no, that's Kamara. Kamara
Speaker 3: was second receptions and targets. And what I was like,
Speaker 3: it's quite above him. That can't be right right as
Speaker 3: I say it. But Rashi Yahed he averaged fifteen to
Speaker 3: twenty less targets than the the players around his rank.
Speaker 3: He ranked wide receiver forty four last year, but he
Speaker 3: had way more Fantasy points because of how Oh no, yeah,
Speaker 3: he had way more Fantasy points because of how efficient
Speaker 3: he was, because of all those big balls, the you know,
Speaker 3: seven scores or whatever. At Perry twelve catches in eight games.
Speaker 3: But those twelve catches went for two and forty six
Speaker 3: yards and four touchdowns bombs away. So there there's some
Speaker 3: real efficiency out of out of the two guys behind
Speaker 3: a lave. So if a lave is getting the volume
Speaker 3: those two guys, that's where I was. Those two guys
Speaker 3: with their efficiency can still make hay for you and fantasy.
Speaker 3: I don't know the data Perry will, but.
Speaker 1: No, I don't think it's very interesting.
Speaker 3: I still like he's so productive on twelve twelve catches.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a I'm gonna have a it's a
Speaker 1: painful decision my second round. I have a second round
Speaker 1: pick in a dynasty league. That looks like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have to drop Shaheed to make that pick. Oh, that's league, right, Empire.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's gonna be tough, tough, tough, Taysom Hill, I mean,
Speaker 3: Juwan Johnson and Foster Morrow are above him on the
Speaker 3: on the tight end depth chart, but it seems like
Speaker 3: it's always Taysom Hill, who is tight end twelve because
Speaker 3: of four hundred and one rushing yards and seven combined
Speaker 3: rushing TD but.
Speaker 1: The ultimate wildcard to tight end, right, Yeah, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: one week you get zero fantasy points. The next week
Speaker 1: he runs into.
Speaker 3: Almost quite literally, he had six double digit fantasy point
Speaker 3: weeks and then a whole bunch of like two and
Speaker 3: three point or last weeks. Uh into the running game.
Speaker 3: We've kind of already discussed it though, but Kamara was
Speaker 3: running back eleven, but we've mentioned how he downturned in everything.
Speaker 3: Thirty three percent of his stats came in those two
Speaker 3: games where he caught twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Now right, forgot about that.
Speaker 3: So when you catch twenty eight pass twenty five passes
Speaker 3: on twenty eight targets in two games, yes, you're gonna
Speaker 3: you're gonna most of your stats are gonna come basically
Speaker 3: in two games.
Speaker 1: Marriage cooked.
Speaker 3: As far as the passing game, I think it's gonna
Speaker 3: be pretty similar. It's just we're gonna get more numbers
Speaker 3: out of players without Mike Thomas there, and the running
Speaker 3: game I think takes a downturn.
Speaker 1: Just go to the Falcons. What do you think is
Speaker 1: the bigger off season story the dumping of Arthur Smith
Speaker 1: or the signing of Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3: I think it's the signing of Arthur Smith to another.
Speaker 1: Team, sabotaging the Steelers.
Speaker 3: Seed story to be. I think it's oh man, they
Speaker 3: are both man that is, I don't even that's a.
Speaker 1: Tough one, isn't it too tough? You new head coach
Speaker 1: in Atlanta's Raheem Morris, You new offensive coordinator Zach Robinson.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Zach Robinson for a second. He's a
Speaker 1: super thin resume, so it's hard to know what kind
Speaker 1: of offense he's going to bring to the Falcons. For
Speaker 1: the last two years he was the Rams passing game
Speaker 1: coordinator and quarterbacks coach, so he has not called plays before,
Speaker 1: so we have nothing to go on there. Sean McVay
Speaker 1: runs a very balanced offense, you know, like middle of
Speaker 1: the pack run percentage, past percentage, whereas Arthur Smith obviously
Speaker 1: was run heavy. He ranked fourth last year and run
Speaker 1: play percentage. So we should see a much more balanced offense,
Speaker 1: and particularly because you bring in Kirk Cousins, who's way
Speaker 1: better than Desmond Ritter, so you know, presumably we're going
Speaker 1: to see a lot more passing in Atlanta. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about Kirk. I'm not worried about his return from Achilles.
Speaker 1: He was dancing on it in February. You know, he's
Speaker 1: looked fine in mini camps and just I know there
Speaker 1: are a lot of people that are like Achilles. Honest,
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to matter very much. I couldn't,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe maybe not be proven wrong. But it's
Speaker 1: not like they needed wheels before he offers with or
Speaker 1: without the Achilles. I mean, you could surgically remove his achilles,
Speaker 1: and I still think he would be a significant upgrade
Speaker 1: to this passing game considering what they had. And remember,
Speaker 1: Cousins last year was having the best year of his
Speaker 1: career pre injury. When he went down, he was leading
Speaker 1: the NFL in passing yards. He finished touchdowns right or
Speaker 1: second second in touchdowns. He finished with a seventy percent
Speaker 1: completion rate. Last year, Cousins was on pace to finish
Speaker 1: second in touchdown passes. Get this his ADP right now,
Speaker 1: quarterback seventeen. Yeah, and I realized he doesn't have Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson anymore. But it's not like they have no weapons
Speaker 1: to throw to.
Speaker 3: You made me figure it out. I will keep Anthony
Speaker 3: Richardson and I will draft Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: There you go his previous year's finishes. Kirks, he was
Speaker 1: quarterback four at the time of his achilles. Year before that,
Speaker 1: he was quarterback six year before that, quarterback nine year
Speaker 1: before that, quarterback eleven. Now he's going off the board
Speaker 1: his quarterback seventeen, Scott yep.
Speaker 3: And he still has good weapons. He still has great weapons,
Speaker 3: and they're gonna finally unlock Kyle Pitts. Some of those
Speaker 3: some of those videos, I know you always see the
Speaker 3: best shape of your life and the amazing catch videos.
Speaker 3: Kirk to Pitts looked really good and.
Speaker 1: It does look good, right, yeah, I mean there's a
Speaker 1: lot of opportunity here, so Drake, London, Kyle Pitts and
Speaker 1: John of Smith and now in Miami. So that's gonna
Speaker 1: help keep Pitts on the field. So we like that
Speaker 1: London going off the board wide receiver fourteen. So it's funny,
Speaker 1: you know, London's been nowhere near wide receiver fourteen prior
Speaker 1: to now, but now he's getting drafted as though Kirk's
Speaker 1: going to be really good, but nobody's drafting Kirk.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to love when that happens.
Speaker 1: That people are assuming a massive uptick in Drake London's production.
Speaker 1: His two years so far in the league, he's had
Speaker 1: almost exactly nine hundred yards and then he's had a
Speaker 1: four touchdown season and two touchdown season. For Drake London
Speaker 1: to get him to make good on wide receiver fourteen,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, he's got to get like you know,
Speaker 1: we need him to get like a fifty percent bump
Speaker 1: on these numbers. We need him at thirteen hundred receiving
Speaker 1: yards and you know, eight touchdowns.
Speaker 3: And honestly, that wouldn't that that honestly wouldn't even shock
Speaker 3: me nor what't. But you need that to hit that
Speaker 3: adp yes is the thing that's.
Speaker 1: So we do need that and kurtly deliver. The team
Speaker 1: brought in Darnell Mooney, Rondel Moore, and ray Ray McLoud,
Speaker 1: which is a little bit baffling because they all play
Speaker 1: the slot and they brought them all in, so I
Speaker 1: thought that was weird. Mooney as the expected starter out
Speaker 1: of that group and Moore's gonna probably be the gadget
Speaker 1: guy for the Falcons. I want to mention this digging
Speaker 1: up some Zach Robinson research with the Rams. Last year
Speaker 1: they finished dead last in receptions and receiving yards to
Speaker 1: running backs.
Speaker 3: Oh last year.
Speaker 1: So does B John Robinson automatically get the big uptick
Speaker 1: with Kirk who did not throw to his running backs
Speaker 1: in Minnesota either.
Speaker 3: And he's like, oh, he's like the anti Joe Lombardi.
Speaker 3: Who I saw this stat this week. Joe Lombardi now
Speaker 3: with Denver, you'll talk about him next week. With that,
Speaker 3: I'm sure his targets to running backs top five ten
Speaker 3: years in a row.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, So he's like the anti.
Speaker 1: I'm struggling with what to do with Julium mouglachlan. But
Speaker 1: that's a conversation.
Speaker 3: Maybe for now next week.
Speaker 1: So everybody thinks B John Robinson is going to be
Speaker 1: way way better. Hopefully he will, but you know you're
Speaker 1: going to get less total rushes out of this offense,
Speaker 1: and if Zach Robinson follows the Rams blueprint, you might
Speaker 1: not get as many receptions for b Jehon Robinson as
Speaker 1: you think. So let's let's talk this through on the
Speaker 1: running game, by the way, just a passing game get
Speaker 1: better obviously, Yes, way way better, way better running game.
Speaker 1: The only notable change in personnel Cordell Corderyl Patterson is
Speaker 1: now in Pittsburgh. He follow Arthur.
Speaker 3: Smith makes sense ever since that video of him saying
Speaker 3: he was on his fantasy team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. Bijon Robinson and Tyler Algier returned
Speaker 1: last year. Robinson was almost a full yard better per
Speaker 1: carry than Algier and despite the bigger size, Robinson had
Speaker 1: more yards after contact. Romason is just better yep. But
Speaker 1: the problem was they were only separated by two carries
Speaker 1: per game. I mean, Alger was getting almost the same workload,
Speaker 1: which was very frustrating. Obviously, the assumption is that Bijon's
Speaker 1: going to be a bigger part of the workload under Robinson,
Speaker 1: but that's just an assumption, and Bijon's ADP right now
Speaker 1: is ridiculous. It's eight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's I just there's a lot of name attached
Speaker 3: to that. There's a lot of everybody expected a ton
Speaker 3: from him coming in. He was like the clear cut
Speaker 3: number one Dynasty pick and the loss of Arthur Smith.
Speaker 3: Everybody felt like he was misused by a Thurs Smith
Speaker 3: that they feel like this is his true rookie year.
Speaker 3: So I get it.
Speaker 1: The only way to make good on an ADP at
Speaker 1: pick eight for Bijon is that he has to score
Speaker 1: a lot more touchdowns. Yeah, a lot more. He had
Speaker 1: four rushing touchdowns last year, four receiving touchdowns. So I
Speaker 1: went and decided to look up what did he do
Speaker 1: inside the five? Like, you know, can can he have
Speaker 1: a big uptick on usage inside the five? He's not
Speaker 1: built like a traditional goal line back. He was given
Speaker 1: only three carries inside the five last year.
Speaker 3: Three yep, Arthur Smith. I actually commented on that a
Speaker 3: couple times last year that he prefers Algerion. They thought
Speaker 3: he was better inside the five.
Speaker 1: Now, on the three carries, he did score twice. So
Speaker 1: there's that. But get this, and this is really fascinating.
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith threw to Bjon Robinson five times from inside
Speaker 1: the three yard line. Okay, he had zero touchdowns and
Speaker 1: zero receptions. None were even complete.
Speaker 3: I'd like to watch where those balls ended up.
Speaker 1: Yes, I assume that it's on Desmond Ridder. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: blame for that. But yeah, they threw to him five
Speaker 1: times from inside I think I said three before, but
Speaker 1: it was from inside the five yard line.
Speaker 3: None caught interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so does a running game get better? I don't
Speaker 1: know that it does. I think that there's gonna be
Speaker 1: fewer carries to go around. Algier is still there, and
Speaker 1: you know, I just I don't know. I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: not convinced that. I'm not convinced that Bejon Robinson's gonna
Speaker 1: be materially different from the guy he was last year.
Speaker 3: I production wise, like man, I find it hard to
Speaker 3: believe he's I find it hard to believe the new
Speaker 3: coaching staff is gonna give Algier as much work. I
Speaker 3: just I just find that hard to believe. I can't
Speaker 3: I can't imagine it. So I feel like the running
Speaker 3: game may be about the same, but the offense is
Speaker 3: gonna be better, so there's more scoring opportunities and it
Speaker 3: might be more condensed. To Beijon's side, I think I'd
Speaker 3: lean better on that personally. But I get it. You've
Speaker 3: you've pointed out the angles.
Speaker 1: Okay, well there you go. A FC South NFC South
Speaker 1: in the books. Yes, uh, these get to be long podcasts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this one is. I talk way too much. I
Speaker 3: interrupt too much stuff that doesn't.
Speaker 1: Matter, like greasing your stomach for belly flops. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: that that's that's not me.
Speaker 3: See now you're rude that you should have edited the show, Scott,
Speaker 3: I have to go grease up our bellies. Still, we'll talk.
Speaker 1: To you, shave each other's chests and grease up our bellies.
Speaker 3: Yes, not weird. Yeah. Tweet us on Twitter or x
Speaker 3: or whatever hashtag greased bellies, grease bellies. Yeah, d of
Speaker 3: this show.
Speaker 1: You can prove you made it through our one hour show.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to everybody. Will be back next
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