Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
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 Jarchian.
Speaker 1: Welcome to a February edition of Fantasy Football Weekly.
Speaker 3: Or is it December?
Speaker 1: Old time warp happening right here? That is the hum
Speaker 1: of Brian Johnson, my co host today.
Speaker 3: Hey buddy, what up?
Speaker 4: George?
Speaker 3: Great to talk to you.
Speaker 4: You're officially in Auason. It's last December, but we're gonna
Speaker 4: discuss December.
Speaker 1: By the way, I mean, can we just please hang on?
Speaker 1: Can we please becock a little bit? Last week's show,
Speaker 1: we pretty much nailed the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: I would say you did me not so much. My
Speaker 4: juju props are looking great. A catch on each of
Speaker 4: the first two drives. Yeah, just give me one more
Speaker 4: and it's gravy nothing.
Speaker 1: Well, he hit the over depending on where you bet him.
Speaker 1: I you know, when it was thirteen and a half
Speaker 1: as I saw him, he finished at sixteen yards.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he hit that over. But I was louder in him.
Speaker 4: I was getting greedy, but no, you you spiked the
Speaker 4: the Eagles ault line of whether it was minus thirteen
Speaker 4: and a half fourteen, there was a room to spare
Speaker 4: props to you. I should I almost bet it, but
Speaker 4: I was like, Nah, Mahomes as much as I respect
Speaker 4: Charge Mahomes man, Yeah, I lost to Mahomes, which is understanding.
Speaker 4: Hindsight is twenty twenty, right, But I mean we on
Speaker 4: the show, We're like, there's no edge here for.
Speaker 1: The cheeps, right, there's no edge on the field. Find
Speaker 1: your edge.
Speaker 3: There wasn't one. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 4: I saw someone saying, no, did anyone predict this? And
Speaker 4: I'm like, Charge, did Charge predicted this? This blowout? So
Speaker 4: good on you, Good on you. Charge.
Speaker 1: Kind of take that peacock to the bank right there.
Speaker 4: You deserve it.
Speaker 1: Today, we're gonna highlight this is the first of a
Speaker 1: two parter. We're gonna highlight guys whose fantasy productions spiked
Speaker 1: in December and then answer whether or not that December
Speaker 1: production is a trend or a mirage. Now, in some
Speaker 1: cases it's young guys and it just took them most
Speaker 1: of the season before they really.
Speaker 3: Came on strong at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: Other guys, it's just veterans who for whatever reason just
Speaker 1: didn't show up in September, October, November, and then did
Speaker 1: well down the stretch. I'm using December here, but you know,
Speaker 1: we know there was also like a week eighteen was
Speaker 1: in January. If you need to go back, you know,
Speaker 1: into the final month of November.
Speaker 3: That's okay.
Speaker 1: Do We're just we're really we're focusing on end of
Speaker 1: season producers and whether or not it is a trend
Speaker 1: or a mirage.
Speaker 4: Now now, feel free to steal this for the for
Speaker 4: the show notes that you might put on iHeart, but
Speaker 4: I've named this this what we're doing. This is the
Speaker 4: UH and for the for the the young ones out there,
Speaker 4: they might not get this reference, but will educate you
Speaker 4: real quick. I've I've dubbed what we're doing the Drew
Speaker 4: the Drew Bennett exercise or the the Drew Bennett drill.
Speaker 4: How's that that's more alliterative? Right?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 4: So for those don't remember, Drew Bennett wide receiver for
Speaker 4: the Tennessee Titans in two thousand and four, starting in December,
Speaker 4: pretty much quiet all year. I'm just gonna read Drew
Speaker 4: Bennett's stat lines and four Billy Voleck by.
Speaker 1: The way, Yeah, quarterback back Billy Bennett.
Speaker 4: And this was like, this was Aaron McNair, Steve McNair's
Speaker 4: he must have been hurt. But I'm just gonna read
Speaker 4: this off quick. One hundred and twenty four yards, three touchdowns,
Speaker 4: two thirty three and three, one sixty and two. This
Speaker 4: is all like insane prime December production. And I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna go into this was a mirage. Drew Bennett was
Speaker 4: a mirage, that's right, yes, into future seasons, but this
Speaker 4: is what we're doing. Basically, we're gonna no one had
Speaker 4: a Drew Bennett type December but close. But uh, this
Speaker 4: is the Drew Bennett drill. I'm dubbing at that.
Speaker 3: I like it, all right, Well we'll name the show
Speaker 3: the Drew Bennett Drill.
Speaker 1: And I think broadly, the fantasy community spends the off
Speaker 1: season putting a lot of weight on December performances, a
Speaker 1: lot of weight.
Speaker 4: And probably remember it's fresh in our mind.
Speaker 3: Yeah that's right.
Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, it's the most recent data points we have.
Speaker 1: And then we've got a whole six month off season
Speaker 1: to talk about our most recent data points. So I
Speaker 1: think it's I think it's fair to break down these players.
Speaker 1: Before I do that, I'm going to bring you into
Speaker 1: the intrigue and drama that has happened in my fantasy
Speaker 1: basketball league.
Speaker 3: It is nothing to do with basketball.
Speaker 4: What whatball basketball?
Speaker 3: I know fantasy basketball.
Speaker 4: I used to play fantasy bas well. It's been quite
Speaker 4: quite some time. But yeah, tell me what's going on.
Speaker 4: I've got Luka Doncic.
Speaker 1: No, I've got a team that's in third place. It's
Speaker 1: a good team out of fourteen, and I'm deep at center.
Speaker 1: I got an offer to trade nas Reed for.
Speaker 3: I know of him, you know of him? Yep, for
Speaker 3: Devin Booker.
Speaker 1: Now, most people would say Devin Booker is like an
Speaker 1: A minus player and nas Reid is like a B player,
Speaker 1: maybe a B plus player depending on thinkings. Break his
Speaker 1: his way, And so we accepted the trade offer. The
Speaker 1: commissioner vetoed it, oh no, unilatterally vetoted it himself. And
Speaker 1: then and he's in first place, by the way, And
Speaker 1: I won't say his name.
Speaker 4: Thout to say, do him on the show. What's his address? Right?
Speaker 1: And he is a longtime friend, you know, I've known
Speaker 1: him for thirty years. And uh, I was extremely mad
Speaker 1: and so then the way this has worked is after
Speaker 1: I badgered him some and threatened to just quit the
Speaker 1: league right there, right then and there, he said, Well,
Speaker 1: after making a big deal about vetoing it, he said, well, okay,
Speaker 1: why don't you offer it to him again? And now
Speaker 1: if he still accepts it, then I'll let it go through,
Speaker 1: to which I said, why would I need to do
Speaker 1: that when we already agreed on a deal and he
Speaker 1: has not pushed through the trade yet.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 1: Veto's man vetos and friendships. I'm I'm still angry about this,
Speaker 1: and who gives any one person the ability to decide
Speaker 1: something like that? And obviously there's no chicanery, there's no
Speaker 1: funny stuff right, There's no money going under the table,
Speaker 1: nothing like that. This is just one guy who felt
Speaker 1: like the trade was not as even as he wanted
Speaker 1: it to be, and he he he nuked it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's even though, Like I'm not too in the
Speaker 4: know in basketball anymore, but I don't have any booker.
Speaker 4: It was probably like the number one, number two shooting
Speaker 4: guard preseason, right, and nas Reid fantasy wise was but
Speaker 4: I'm sure Nass spiked since Julius doesn't matter. That's awful.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry to hear that.
Speaker 3: That's yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the details I don't think matter, No.
Speaker 4: It doesn't. My opinion, no matter the sport. Veto's veto,
Speaker 4: the veto. That's what we need to do.
Speaker 3: Veto, the veto. Get it out of your leagues, everybody.
Speaker 1: And I'm serious that when I when I was talking like, okay,
Speaker 1: do I need to quit now? It turned into a
Speaker 1: friendship check at that point, and I'm still not sure
Speaker 1: that I'm going to continue in the league.
Speaker 4: Better.
Speaker 1: Okay, point being I have veto in your league.
Speaker 4: I hope he's listening. It's Matt, isn't it. No, It's okay.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to we're gonna break down these December players,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna we're gonna break this into two parts.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do quarterbacks and running backs today. The next
Speaker 1: week we're gonna wide receivers and tight ends. But secretly
Speaker 1: we're taping them both today because next Friday is Whiskey weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, so if there was some big thing that
Speaker 1: happened next week, then we would not know about that.
Speaker 3: All right, let's jump in with the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Do you want to start with justin air Bear do
Speaker 1: I have an air bear sounder?
Speaker 4: Speaking of speaking of Matt Well, it's his famous moniker. No,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of a lot of animals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of animals. That's a close I end
Speaker 1: get as a duck, which is a.
Speaker 4: Oh it was duck? What was duck? Hodges or the quarterback?
Speaker 4: Is that why we have the fight?
Speaker 3: You might still be from that? Yes, good heavens.
Speaker 4: Justin that's in the UFL or something at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 4: Justin Herbert. Let's talk about him December. To remember, he
Speaker 4: was a top ten quarterback Fantasy wise, multiple passing touchdowns
Speaker 4: in each of his last four games. He also cleared
Speaker 4: two hundred and eighty passing yards in three of those
Speaker 4: four games. So there was elite production from Herbert. And
Speaker 4: for those who again we were saying, that's what's fresh
Speaker 4: in our mind, but for those who had forgotten, the
Speaker 4: start for Justin Herbert was fat, brutal. In nine of
Speaker 4: his first thirteen games, he had zero or one passing touchdown.
Speaker 4: His passing yards in his first four games were one
Speaker 4: hundred and forty four, one hundred and thirty, one hundred
Speaker 4: and twenty five in one seventy nine. I mean we
Speaker 4: were just dropping him outright at that. He's like, this
Speaker 4: guy is worthless and it comes to fantasy football, and
Speaker 4: it's because Jim Harbaugh, you know, his first year head coach,
Speaker 4: not first year in the NFL, but long track record
Speaker 4: college NFL. He loves to run the rock and that's
Speaker 4: what he came in and he did to start the season.
Speaker 4: But the Chargers, you know, they swerved from that in December.
Speaker 4: But can you trust that as a trend for the
Speaker 4: team as a whole or a mirage. I'm leaning mirage
Speaker 4: here for Herbert, who, by the way, right now people
Speaker 4: are drafting already bestball teams. He's going off the board
Speaker 4: as QB fourteen, and like every year, a quarterback is
Speaker 4: very deep. So I am I'm calling his December a mirage,
Speaker 4: especially when it comes to drafting him as a top
Speaker 4: fourteen quarterback. I think the identity of the Chargers is
Speaker 4: still going to be to run the ball.
Speaker 1: Got to run better than they did last year, Brian.
Speaker 4: They do, but their line is I think they're going
Speaker 4: to bolster that offensive line even more. Spent top five
Speaker 4: pick on Joe Ault last year. I know as much
Speaker 4: as I will say this about Herbert sneaky ground production too.
Speaker 4: In December, yeah, and on the season as a whole,
Speaker 4: he was just one of eight quarterbacks with more than
Speaker 4: twenty passing touchdowns and more than three hundred rushing yards.
Speaker 4: So I kind of cherry picked that stat a little bit.
Speaker 4: But he's sneaky mobile. But I just feel that the
Speaker 4: philosophy is still gonna be running the ball. So I'm
Speaker 4: just this is a mirage for me. I don't see
Speaker 4: the two eighty three hundred yards multiple passing touchdowns on
Speaker 4: a consistent basis for Herbert. He's got that ability, but
Speaker 4: I just don't think that's the identity of the Chargers.
Speaker 4: So I'm going mirage.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: You know, I think the reason I was leaning trend,
Speaker 1: although you've made a really good case and I'm rethinking
Speaker 1: it now, it's just that all those young receivers getting
Speaker 1: a year older, right, Lad McConkie looks very, very promising.
Speaker 4: We start talking about him and the wide receiver and.
Speaker 1: Quinton Johnson as well, about both and those guys, and
Speaker 1: you know, I think if you're going to give those
Speaker 1: guys trend grades for their December and then then I
Speaker 1: think you have to give Herbert the trend, but we'll
Speaker 1: get to that next week. My quarterback Bryce Young Bryce Young.
Speaker 1: In December, Brian was quarterback six six Bryce Young. Now,
Speaker 1: part of it was dramatically improved passing in December nine
Speaker 1: touchdowns against just three interceptions, which is great. Multiple touchdowns
Speaker 1: in the final four games of his season, that was
Speaker 1: good news. Nobody cares and remembers a Week eighteen, but
Speaker 1: Bryce Young was the highest scoring quarterback in Week eighteen
Speaker 1: across the board. That was a game in which Carolina
Speaker 1: scored forty four points against a Falcons team that was
Speaker 1: playing to win. They needed that. They needed that game
Speaker 1: to get into the playoffs the and Bryce Young showed
Speaker 1: up and beat them and scored a bunch of Fantasy
Speaker 1: points doing it.
Speaker 4: Now, I remember that game well because I had the
Speaker 4: Falcons and two survivor pools, and of course what was
Speaker 4: the last week cost me a couple grand.
Speaker 1: Oh you didn't split them and go one Carolina one Atlanta, Well,
Speaker 1: I had.
Speaker 4: I was in multiple, but the Falcons were the best
Speaker 4: bet that week, even though I was skeptical about it.
Speaker 4: Of course for good I mean atlant at home, I'm
Speaker 4: steering us away. But anyway, I remember that game and yeah,
Speaker 4: Bryce Young looked great.
Speaker 1: Bryce ye great, he looked great. The bad news he
Speaker 1: had four rushing touchdowns in the final five weeks, which
Speaker 1: helped elevate that QB six status that I was talking
Speaker 1: about in December, and he's just you know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: have the mobility for you to be counting out a
Speaker 1: lot of rushing touchdowns from Bryce Young on passing alone.
Speaker 1: If we take those rushing touchdowns out, his QB six
Speaker 1: probably would drop to like QB twelve, QB fifteen, something
Speaker 1: like that. But trender mirage for Bryce Young, Brian, this
Speaker 1: is a trend. First, Dave Canalis is awesome. I think
Speaker 1: we now know that he is. He's a quarterback whisperer
Speaker 1: is he is somebody who's going to get the best
Speaker 1: out of the talents of his quarterbacks around him. I
Speaker 1: love that Carolina almost certainly better improve their offensive line.
Speaker 1: Their offensive line is garbage. Gotta get better in the offseason.
Speaker 1: I think that will happen. Wide receiver, could you some
Speaker 1: help and hopefully that'll happen too. You know, they've put
Speaker 1: a lot of draft capital into the wide receiver position,
Speaker 1: so it might not be as much help as I
Speaker 1: want because They've already spent a bunch of money and picks.
Speaker 1: Remember Terras Marshall was a second round pick three years ago,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Mingo second round pick two years ago. They've gotten
Speaker 1: nothing out of those guys, and obviously Mingo's gone for
Speaker 1: a fourth rounder.
Speaker 3: Thanks to the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Xavier Lagett had a few big moments last year, but
Speaker 1: not enough really to feel great about him. But I'd
Speaker 1: like to think he can get better in year two.
Speaker 1: And then Jalen Coker splashed at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: Thorn special, Yeah, so we're gonna keep an eye on him.
Speaker 1: Adam Thielen looked great. We'll talk more about Adam Feeling
Speaker 1: next week, as well as somebody that came alive in December.
Speaker 1: So I'm on trend on Bryce Young.
Speaker 3: What do you thank you with me on this?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I am men.
Speaker 4: He's going super late, and I mean he's going well
Speaker 4: past Justin Herbert, who's QB fourteen. I mean Bryce Young
Speaker 4: is like in the low twenties when you're baking in price.
Speaker 4: I'm taking Young over Herbert all day long. And the
Speaker 4: Panthers not a lock. They's somewhat said at wide receiver.
Speaker 4: The three guys you mentioned, But there's one slam dunk
Speaker 4: receiver in this draft class, Teed McMillan from Arizona, And
Speaker 4: it's looking like it's either gonna be the Raiders at
Speaker 4: six and then the Panthers are there at eight. Kind
Speaker 4: of those look like the two teams that might scoop
Speaker 4: him up if they somehow, If Carolina gets tet that
Speaker 4: shoots Bryce Young stock, yeah, big time.
Speaker 3: That's very possible, right.
Speaker 4: Multiple rounds, right from where he's getting drafted right now.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think a lot to like about Bryce Young.
Speaker 4: I think they're on the up and up in all
Speaker 4: all aspects in Carolina.
Speaker 3: All right, let's go to the running backs.
Speaker 1: I've got three, you've got two, so maybe I will
Speaker 1: I will go first here Rico Dowdell. In December, he
Speaker 1: was running back twenty four in ESPN scoring. Prior to that,
Speaker 1: his prior months were in the forties. But where I'm
Speaker 1: a little lukewarm on him here. By the metrics, Dowdell
Speaker 1: didn't turn into a much better runner down the stretch.
Speaker 1: He just got a lot more carries down the stretch.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't that he was getting he was better.
Speaker 1: He just had a lot more volume because Dak Prescott
Speaker 1: went down, and you know, Jerry Jones tried running the ball,
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy tried running the ball. In weeks one through eleven,
Speaker 1: Rico Dowdell had ten carries per game, and then weeks
Speaker 1: twelve forward he averaged twenty carries a game. And if
Speaker 1: you double the number of times a player is going
Speaker 1: to touch the ball, you're going to see a spike
Speaker 1: in fantasy points scored. Also with Dowdle only two touchdowns.
Speaker 3: Scored all year.
Speaker 1: So trand or mirage on Rico Dowdell.
Speaker 3: I am on mirage.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys are very likely to draft a runner, perhaps
Speaker 1: his earliest pick twelve of the draft. And while Dowdell
Speaker 1: had a few nice runs, and I don't want to
Speaker 1: make him sound totally ordinary because there were there were
Speaker 1: a few runs that he had during the season, I'm.
Speaker 3: Like, that look pretty good.
Speaker 1: He still feels like a change of pace guy. He
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like a lead back to me, even though
Speaker 1: they were using him as a lead back. And also,
Speaker 1: Rico Dawdle doesn't catch, and that limits his upside as well,
Speaker 1: and and his and his floor obviously it gets affected
Speaker 1: as well. So I'm on mirage on Rico Dowdell.
Speaker 4: What do you think, Yeah, I'm kind of with you.
Speaker 4: He did look good, but it was it was kind
Speaker 4: of volume. They didn't have much many options to go to.
Speaker 4: Ezekiel Elliott clearly cooked. We won't see much of him
Speaker 4: in Dallas. But like guys like Rigo and a couple
Speaker 4: more we'll talk about in the coming minutes here who
Speaker 4: are kind of lumped in that running back forty fifty
Speaker 4: range and early ADP very nervous about all of them
Speaker 4: because apparently this is like the deepest running back class
Speaker 4: in the draft almost like ever. And of course you
Speaker 4: and four will get into that, yeah, very soon. But yeah,
Speaker 4: it feels like a mirage for Dowdell because Dallas will
Speaker 4: whether it's through the draft or free agency, they're gonna
Speaker 4: they could be one of the ones to take Ashton
Speaker 4: Genie who that would just make doubtle borderline worthless. So
Speaker 4: you have to you have to factor in those mitigated
Speaker 4: risks whatever. So I'm with you, a mirage on Rico. Sadly,
Speaker 4: even though he did come on, he was not a
Speaker 4: league winner, but a big time helper.
Speaker 3: That's yeah, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: Uh, Okay, let's go to more running back and then
Speaker 1: we'll take a break. Taja Spears with that nice December.
Speaker 1: Bill Parsley on the ongoing nagging injuries that Tony Pollard suffered.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean league winner. I mean Spears is the
Speaker 4: closest thing to a league winner amongst all running backs.
Speaker 4: Very unconventional path to get managers there, though. So in
Speaker 4: week fifteen it really started for Dowbtle, which is kind
Speaker 4: of like you know, the first week for most fantasy playoffs.
Speaker 4: Four carries for five yards. You but he scored a
Speaker 4: rushing touchdown. But he added six catches for eighty seven
Speaker 4: yards touchdown that game too, so that's like RB one production.
Speaker 4: Then in week sixteen, ten carries for twenty seven yards,
Speaker 4: discussing two point seven yards for carry, but two rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 4: Then he added three catches for thirty nine yards. That's
Speaker 4: another touchdown basically in fantasy scoring.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 4: Pollard played those two games two weeks fifteen and sixteen.
Speaker 4: He was banged up, like you said, but he was
Speaker 4: still taking fifty percent of the snaps. And in week seventeen,
Speaker 4: Pollard sits out and it's all I'm sorry, it's all
Speaker 4: Spears against Jacksonville and he has a kind of a
Speaker 4: dud game. Twenty carries for ninety five yards, three catches
Speaker 4: for eight yards, like his worst. But long story short,
Speaker 4: I mean, when you're talking four carries five yards and
Speaker 4: a touchdown, ten carries twenty seven yards, two touchdowns, you're
Speaker 4: catching it's it's a total mirage sadly for Spears, who
Speaker 4: you know, we were questioning him a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4: He came in as a rookie because he kind of
Speaker 4: has like no knees left right, like playing on no knees.
Speaker 4: But like, this guy is not gonna last. He's still going,
Speaker 4: and I hope it keeps going. But there's lots of
Speaker 4: concerns with his lack of knees still and Pollard still
Speaker 4: in the mix. Who knows who's gonna be the quarterback
Speaker 4: for the Titans, how that offense is gonna look. And
Speaker 4: he's not a belcow, So mirage for the thing.
Speaker 1: That's the thing on Spears. I think he's forever angel
Speaker 1: pace guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's it. Be thankful for what you got for him.
Speaker 4: In December in twenty twenty four, because hey, another Tennessee
Speaker 4: Titan had to make the list and the Drew Bennett drill.
Speaker 3: Right, that's a great point.
Speaker 4: I think we might have one more in the next
Speaker 4: show too. Right, we're not done with Titans, but's badly
Speaker 4: mirage for Spears and again another team, so many rookie
Speaker 4: running backs. Worried about his job stability for sure, whether
Speaker 4: it be the starter of the backup ringing the third
Speaker 4: stringer with so many running backs coming in.
Speaker 1: So we'll take a break back in just a couple
Speaker 1: of moments to continue with the December stars at the
Speaker 1: running back position. Who's going to be good next year
Speaker 1: and who won't We'll tell you when we come back.
Speaker 1: Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly Segment number two.
Speaker 3: Glad to have you with us.
Speaker 1: Paul Chargie and Brian Johnson with you. We're working through
Speaker 1: the running backs that had bigs and whether or not
Speaker 1: that is a trend or mirage going forward. We've hit
Speaker 1: ric O'doubdell Taj Spears earlier, quarterback Bryce Young, Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1: I think we've got a yes, a no, a no,
Speaker 1: and a no so far. Let's see what happens with
Speaker 1: Zach Sharbonnet. He was running back eleven in ESPN scoring
Speaker 1: in the month of December eleven.
Speaker 3: That's an RB one.
Speaker 1: His surge was really a reflection of Kenneth Walker and
Speaker 1: who had ankle and calf injuries, and you know, he
Speaker 1: was on and off the field. He missed some games,
Speaker 1: he played hurt in some he got knocked out of
Speaker 1: some games, and Walker just could never really get it
Speaker 1: going all season because of the injuries and ultimately finished
Speaker 1: the season on IR.
Speaker 4: I feel like Kenneth Walker like always has like a
Speaker 4: hernia two or something like that, like some kind of
Speaker 4: ailment with Kenneth Walker. Sadly, who's the elite when healthy,
Speaker 4: but he is.
Speaker 1: He's so good when he's healthy. In those rare moments
Speaker 1: Week one, you're like, oh my god, Kenneth Walker, So
Speaker 1: trender mirage going forward on Zach Sharbonay is sadly a
Speaker 1: mirage Charbs can catch, and he chipped in some help
Speaker 1: through the air, but his aerial production was really rather limited,
Speaker 1: and for Charbs it's just it's all about volume. In
Speaker 1: games with more than eight carries, he averaged a very
Speaker 1: healthy seventeen PPR Fantasy points, but in games with eight
Speaker 1: or less carries, he only averaged five fantasy points. And
Speaker 1: you can't win on five fantasy points from your running back.
Speaker 1: So you had to know going into the game, was
Speaker 1: is Sharbonay going to get a bunch of volume? And
Speaker 1: really that's another way of just saying, is Kenneth Walker hurt?
Speaker 1: And Kenneth Wacker is constantly hurt, but you got to
Speaker 1: figure out if he's gonna play or not. Now, Seattle
Speaker 1: brought in a new offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak, I believe,
Speaker 1: making his third stop as an offensive coordinator. In Kubiak's
Speaker 1: introductory press conference earlier this week, Brian he raved about
Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker. He referred to him specifically as the Seahawks'
Speaker 1: best runner and said he wants to get him the
Speaker 1: ball in as many ways as possible. That's all for
Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker, not Zach Sharbonay, and Koubiak plans to run
Speaker 1: his own scheme, and he says that Walker is a
Speaker 1: perfect fit for a zone scheme run attack. So and
Speaker 1: he barely mentioned Zach Scharbonay at all. So I think
Speaker 1: sharbon Ay did did not do enough to move himself
Speaker 1: into a meaningful time share or take the lead job
Speaker 1: away from Kenneth Walker. And Walker rolls into next season
Speaker 1: as the starter and that means that Zach Sharbonay's success
Speaker 1: in December is a mirage.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, you can't buy too much
Speaker 4: into Charpenay's December back to Walker quick super intriguing. He's
Speaker 4: coming at somewhat of a discount. He's already eighteen right now,
Speaker 4: and the guy's going after him. A lot of question marks,
Speaker 4: a lot of rookies, I don't know what to expect.
Speaker 4: And then it's like David Montgomery, who's one bee, James
Speaker 4: Connor who could fall up. So I like where Walker's
Speaker 4: at right now. Even fifty eight was that it's like
Speaker 4: mid fifth round. That seems like a good value. Just
Speaker 4: speaking about Walker right now. If he stays healthy, he
Speaker 4: could return round one, round two value for sure.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Jerome Ford. You'll remember end of year
Speaker 1: the Browns had to put Nick Chubb on injured reserve,
Speaker 1: and that allowed Jerome Ford to get to get a
Speaker 1: lot of carries and sometimes it worked.
Speaker 4: Out sometimes, but really overall it didn't. It was really
Speaker 4: just a nice two game stretch for Ford in weeks
Speaker 4: fifteen and sixteen. Week fifteen against Kansas City, who pretty
Speaker 4: much the best run defense in the league. Last year,
Speaker 4: he had eighty four yards in a touchdown only on
Speaker 4: seven carries, so there was some flukiness there. And then
Speaker 4: a week sixteen at Cincinnati, he had eleven carries ninety
Speaker 4: two yards in a touchdown. Cincinnati one of the worst
Speaker 4: defenses in the league last year, so he can't read
Speaker 4: into that too much. Then he got hurt in Week seventeen,
Speaker 4: so super small sample size. So he had the two touchdowns,
Speaker 4: one in Week fifteen, one in Week sixteen. Outside of
Speaker 4: those two scores in the fantasy playoffs, Ford only had
Speaker 4: one other touchdown all season last year, and that came
Speaker 4: in Week one. Also, the only game Ford had more
Speaker 4: than eleven carries all season, he had twelve in that
Speaker 4: game in Week one, So clearly not a bell cow.
Speaker 4: And as you said, Nick Chubb will be healthier next year.
Speaker 4: And speaking of like question marks about like who is
Speaker 4: going to lead this offense, how good are they going
Speaker 4: to be? No idea who the quarterback is going to be.
Speaker 4: There's a couple other at least one other Brown talk
Speaker 4: about in the next episode. But as for now, trendor mirage,
Speaker 4: I mean, you cannot gotta think Jerome Ford is on
Speaker 4: trend right now. Ford is going off the board as
Speaker 4: running back forty one, forty four. It pick one, give
Speaker 4: me Nick Chubb four rounds later, all day long? Who's
Speaker 4: going as RB fifty six?
Speaker 3: Wow? He's down to fifty six?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Wow, Jubb. Chubb is a steel right now. If
Speaker 4: you're an early best ball drafter like me, and just
Speaker 4: like the other guys we mentioned before at running back,
Speaker 4: Jerome Ford could easily be replaced. I like Jerome Ford,
Speaker 4: but he seems a replacement level when it comes to
Speaker 4: this incoming class of rookie running backs. You know, he's
Speaker 4: still on a rookie deal, so I don't think he's
Speaker 4: gonna be like cut or anything like that. But yeah,
Speaker 4: I think someone could usurp him as as the number
Speaker 4: two in Cleveland. He doesn't have lead back potential sadly,
Speaker 4: especially that offense, probably not. Probably not. There's not enough
Speaker 4: discount to even or value right now with four to
Speaker 4: lean trend. So I just got to adamantly say, Mirage,
Speaker 4: stay away right now.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you two quick running backs that
Speaker 1: I think are both pretty clear mirages.
Speaker 3: But we'll we'll just talk him through fast.
Speaker 1: Isaac Grendo finished his running back nineteen despite playing only
Speaker 1: four games in December, but he was the benefactor of
Speaker 1: all those injuries to the other forty nine ers, CMC
Speaker 1: Jordan Mason, the preseason injury to Elijah Mitchell. No idea
Speaker 1: going forward. You know who out of that group will
Speaker 1: be back and healthy at the beginning of the season
Speaker 1: and where Grenda would slot in. But I'll mention this,
Speaker 1: when given enough carries, Isaac Garrenda was pretty good in
Speaker 1: his five games with nine or more carries. He's finished
Speaker 1: as running back twenty five, running back ten, running back two,
Speaker 1: running back twenty three, and running back ten.
Speaker 3: You know that's not bad.
Speaker 1: And the Niners offensive line was a disaster in December.
Speaker 1: They were missing Trent Williams, so managed to be pretty
Speaker 1: good when he could stay healthy, which was a big
Speaker 1: problem for him along with the rest of the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers runners. But I just think there's so much
Speaker 1: chaos and pandemonium and different players coming and going out
Speaker 1: of that that it seems unlikely that Isaac Grindo is
Speaker 1: a trend.
Speaker 3: We will go mirage there.
Speaker 1: And then Jalil McLaughlin, the Denver running back not really
Speaker 1: fantasy startable, but I'll note that he saw an uptakeing
Speaker 1: work in December and finished the month with five and
Speaker 1: a half yards per carry, a healthy twenty six percent
Speaker 1: mistackle rate, and to my eyes, he looked like the
Speaker 1: best of the languishing runners for Denver down the stretch
Speaker 1: last year. He chipped in some receptions, but I swear
Speaker 1: he can catch better than how much they throw to him.
Speaker 1: I wish they'd throw to him more. He did not
Speaker 1: score in December, and he only had three touchdowns all year.
Speaker 1: Not really built for goal line use, but just to
Speaker 1: re emphasize the usage pattern. In weeks one through eleven,
Speaker 1: Jaleil McLoughlin averaged five carries for twenty one yards. Disaster
Speaker 1: weeks twelve forward ten carries fifty one yards gets you
Speaker 1: into flex territory. So you know, I think that Denver
Speaker 1: overhauls their backfield this offseason because they weren't able to
Speaker 1: get significant production, reliable production from anybody. Javonte Williams gave
Speaker 1: him very little audric estimate, couldn't didn't wasn't able to
Speaker 1: do much. It's just you know, Julian McLaughlin with his bill,
Speaker 1: will never be a lead back, but maybe he has
Speaker 1: cemented the number two role. You know, like, he'll be
Speaker 1: the change of pace back behind whoever they draft, And
Speaker 1: I believe the Broncos will draft another running back and
Speaker 1: that guy will probably be the lead. McLaughlin might be
Speaker 1: the change of pace guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah. That Denver backfield's so tough to predict right now.
Speaker 4: Audric Estimay was getting so much steam from Sean Payton
Speaker 4: late in the year, right like, well, we're gonna see
Speaker 4: a ton of estimate this week. He get like four.
Speaker 1: Snaps right right and winning with him.
Speaker 4: And like and Javonte. Yeah, it is just like any
Speaker 4: one of those guys could be cut Williams, Estima, McLaughlin.
Speaker 4: They probably draft run. Yeah, I'm staying away from that
Speaker 4: backfield at least until after the draft at the very earliest.
Speaker 4: I'm with you on Mirage on McLoughlin and Corendo, who
Speaker 4: if he gets if he gets the touches, like you said,
Speaker 4: he can produce, but health competition, he kind of gots
Speaker 4: got to stay away. I think, I will say McLoughlin
Speaker 4: and Grendo they do come at a much cheaper cost
Speaker 4: as of right now than the aforementioned running back spears
Speaker 4: Ford Charbone. They're going multiple rounds before those guys, So
Speaker 4: just stay away from the first three running backs without
Speaker 4: a doubt.
Speaker 3: Right, probably true? Probably true.
Speaker 1: All right, with that, let's put a wrap on this show.
Speaker 1: We're gonna turn around and record next week's show, and
Speaker 1: we're being transparent about that because I'm on vacation at
Speaker 1: Whiskey Weekend next week and we'll hit the wide receivers
Speaker 1: in the tight ends.
Speaker 3: Sound good.
Speaker 4: We need to premature speculation like time machine.
Speaker 1: Ah, yeah, we really do. I don't have that. I
Speaker 1: don't have that sounder. I gotta really I gotta freshen
Speaker 1: up the up the sounds because you know what, we
Speaker 1: don't need anymore.
Speaker 4: Hey, it ain't so you never know, you never know.
Speaker 3: Why don't we use it this year?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean it's Trubisky hit the field this year as
Speaker 1: a reminder, I think it was weak.
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers is shopping if Aaron Rodgers is still a
Speaker 4: viable quarterback, so it is Mitch Trubisky as part. I'm
Speaker 4: concerned at this point.
Speaker 1: If I'm in best ball Aaron Rodgers route, how many
Speaker 1: rounds they go? Like twenty twenty? Yeah, like pick twenty
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's he's getting It's it's It's like him and
Speaker 4: and Kirk Cousins are like the Dark Bros. Now the
Speaker 4: old man going. And you won't like this in Minnesota
Speaker 4: because Sam Darnold Ball had gone. I'm praying for for
Speaker 4: the Raiders, but uh, Danny Dimes was later rounds two
Speaker 4: sneaky sneaky value.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: I think I believe the quarterbacks who will be starting
Speaker 1: for the world on roster for the Vikings next off
Speaker 1: next camp will be Daniel Jones and JJ McCarthy, And
Speaker 1: I think it'll be more of an open battle than
Speaker 1: people think, just because McCarthy lost that rookie year and
Speaker 1: was not able to do much of anything with it.
Speaker 1: So you know, I there is a scenario here where
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones starts the season and then who knows.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I five hundred to one MVP odds. I put
Speaker 4: a few bucks on it. Wow. Okay, people think I
Speaker 4: dislike JJ McCarthy. Not the case. I just think he's
Speaker 4: gonna take a little time. I don't think you're just
Speaker 4: plugging JJ McCarthy and you're winning double digit games, Sorry too,
Speaker 4: JJ McCarthy Nation mostly anyway, Yeah, Danny, Danny Dimes, Yeah,
Speaker 4: I think it's gonna be like you said, I think
Speaker 4: it's gonna be a competition, and I think he could
Speaker 4: beat him out, and he's got skill. And if if
Speaker 4: Koc is truly the quarterback whisper Daniel Jones gonna do
Speaker 4: some damage with the Vikings, have him the chance.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely so.
Speaker 4: Cood JJ McCarthy too, don't get me wrong. But it's
Speaker 4: going to be a competition.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it will. All right, we will.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next week, everybody, and I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this podcast. Thanks for getting to the end
Speaker 1: of it. We'll break down the December stars at wide
Speaker 1: receiver and tight end and tell you if they are
Speaker 1: trends or Mirage's Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeartRadio.
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