September 6, 2024 • 49 mins
It's Fox Sports Radio's Official Fantasy Football Podcast! Mike Harmon and Dan Beyer get you ready for your Week 1 matchups with positional rankings, Hot Plays, Cold Sores, Fantasy Ninjas and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies, you want experience during your football season, We'll buckle up.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Sweet cheeks.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We've got all the experience in the world. This is
I want your flex with Dan Byer and Mike Harmon.
Mike and Dan break down everything you need to set
your lineups, from position rankings to starts and sits. The
guys help you make those hard decisions. And now let's
get your flex ond here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Finally, Week one is here of the National Football League season.
Hit Mike up at Swallodome. You can find me at
Dan Bayer on Fox. A new season is donned Mike.
One game in the books. The rest of the regular
season to go well.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
If the other two hundred and seventy one come close
to matching the excitement, the energy, and some of these
surprises that we got in Week one. No, no Taylor
Swift showing up, we are in for a fan fantastic
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We got some chaos before the.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Game, right, Lightning and rain and everything else just delayed
fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
But as soon as I heard Kevin Harlan's.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Voice for the first play for the first time, I
got to admit a little tear might have just trickled
out of my right eye as I got ready for football.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Geez, the Midwest thunderstorm. This is why the Chiefs have
to stop winning Super Bowls so we don't have to
have delayed starts to games like I feel like there's
you know, there was the fog game a few years back.
It's just all right, that's why somebody else needs to
win one. And you know, if it's indoors, that's fine,
or it's somewhere else, but then we don't have to
worry about any any weather delays. I don't want to
(01:40):
delay in welcoming our new executive producer to this show.
I think it's the perfect time to welcome Moman. He's
done our preseason shows with our rankings as well, big
thanks to our old producer Ryan Berschinger, and in fact,
you may hear from bursch at times throughout this season
here on this podcast. But I want to welcome in
our new executive producer. He's a New York Jets fan, Mike.
(02:03):
You can't escape it. It's everywhere no matter what I
do well.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
He doesn't have the long history of.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Defeat and crushing soul crushing moments that Smith does, so
maybe a little bit of a different yeah, different attitude
and assessment of things.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And that's why we love his positive attitude. Ian Roddy
is our new executive producer. Ian, welcome to Who I
Want Your Flex.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
I'm super happy to be here, guys. Thanks for the
for the introduction.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
This is uh, this is going to be a lot
of fun this year. You can even partake in some
of the fun to to lend your knowledge. But we
love your We love your positive attitude. What what is
it about fantasy football? I'm putting you completely on the spot.
I didn't even tell you before and I was going
to ask you about this. What is it about football
or fantasy football that really really does it for Ian Roddy?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
What is it just?
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Uh, just just the ability to control your own team
and and make all the decisions and be the one
who saw the decisions, steering the ship. Because as much
as we love to yell at the TV and you know,
our phones, our Twitter screens and all the decisions the
teams are making and fantasy we get to be the
one to make all those decisions and then just be
(03:16):
mad at ourselves for it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yes, it's perfect. Usually we can blame other people for
our problems, but no, we will give ourselves the ulcers.
Throughout the fantasy football season, there are weeks we all
know it should have played this guy instead you benched
them and he played somebody else, and it comes back
to haunt you. But Ian is absolutely right, and I
think Mike it's the perfect segue because these are all suggestions. Listen,
(03:41):
take what you will, Take what you have the knowledge
that Mike Harmon is going to give you, with his rankings,
with his hot plays, with its gold soords and his Ninjas,
and soak it all in and then ultimately make your decision.
And that's the fun of fantasy football. You may have
heard Mike say Isaiah Likely is on the tick up
(04:03):
the draft boards just a week ago. Well you saw
what Isaiah Likely did on Thursday night. So you may
want to take what Mike has said and absorb it
and then go from there. But that's the fun of
fantasy football.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I'm not gonna lie dan Ian.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
It's fun to be able to, you know, dance around
and do that whole pony thing or whatever you're gonna
do in celebration of getting one thing right. Because now
I'm playing with house money. Now, I could just throw
stuff against the board and see if it sticks. But
you know, likely with a huge game the obvious near miss.
I made the Kevin Durant oversized shoe joke on the
(04:39):
show with Jason Smith as we were watching it. Game
of inches. All right, your Bucks end up going on
to win a title as that flows out. So we'll
see how this one plays out for a full season.
But I gotta say for Isaiah likely, he was a
guy that a couple of plays before, I didn't know
if we were gonna see him again. Right, he crumpled
in a heap going after a ball that sailed out
(05:00):
of the end zone, holding his arm and his shoulder
and everything else. But he's broken, and then there he
is for what became a play that will define at
least the early part of this twenty twenty four season.
And for fantasy owners, if you drafted Mark Andrews, you're
just shaking your head because you can see the writing
on the wall.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I it was the runner up. In the tweet that
I was going to send, I was gonna say, and
the Bucks are on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals,
but that the Durant shot also for it was it's
what made it to force overtime, and then the Bucks
won the overtime in that game seven against the Nets.
But instead I went with the gift of the old
(05:38):
Kansas City chef's end zone painting. Oh okay, and they
didn't have the new one. They just had the old
one on the iPhone. And I'll tell you what, Mike,
this tweet took off. Ian. Did you know that Twitter
was down for this tweet? Did you understand how huge
this was?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Four likes, that's what we have had for.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
You know what, I didn't see it. I'm gonna like
it now, thank.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
You very much. I made I made a joke about
the the groundskeeper who again the co commercially spelled chefs
instead of chiefs.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Who are the chefs?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
That's that's that's Southway?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Is that that get away?
Speaker 4 (06:18):
This was the Snickers You're not you probably would have
been a better Southwest one. But either way, it gets
the job done.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I like it. I think that's clever.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I gave him props on the job that he did
on that back line. All right, well, Ian, welcome aboard.
That's gonna be a fun ride. We appreciate the work
you've already put in and can't wait for the upcoming season.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Awesome, And now your tweet has six likes because yes,
oh and I retweeted it.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Let's go at Dan Byron fi.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yes, at Dan Byron Fox at Swollen Dome and Ian's
Twitter handle or handle on x is pretty easy, except
one slight thing at Ian Roddy underscore.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, you can't forget the underscore because.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
There is a different Ian Roddy who looks very British.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
What do you know, I'm not a fan of that.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
He's from Liverpool.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
I don't think he's even on Twitter ever. So it's
really just like, can you just give me the username
and you can just keep being Ian Roddy in England
or wherever you live.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Hey without Twitter?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
At Dan Byer is sitting there holding a guitar. That's
true again, Yes he has twenty two followers. He hasn't
tweeted since twenty fifteen. But that's why I'm at Dan
Pyre on Fox. All right, let's get to these rankings.
Here we are Mike Carmen's quarterback rankings four week one
of the twenty twenty four NFL season. Mike Kodia got
(07:37):
one through five under center.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
We get the man crush right off the jump in
Josh Allen going up against Arizona breaking in a new
receiving core right, gave Davis gone, Stefan Diggs gone, And
as we talked about in the preseason episodes, that's probably
good for everybody. So those discounting the Buffalo Bills at
their own peril. And I don't think he's gonna need
to run as much as we saw Lamar Jackson in
(08:01):
the opener, but he'll still be active with his legs.
Combined that with the work of Cook, who will talk
about in a moment, and we get ourselves a nice
big opening start.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
CJ.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Stroud going up against Indianapolis last year three eighty four
and two one game, two sixty four and two in
the other let's go. Let's go for the hat trick
of big happy returns and another big outing.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
How about Friday night in Brazil.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I have no idea how this is gonna play out
around it, but once they get inside the white lines,
let's go fly Eagles Fly against the Packers. Hurts the
tushbush probably gone right. No, Jason Kelsey, he's out.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Hocket product.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Yeah, the brotherly shove goes away and you got sa
gone Barkley there. So curious as what that does for
his touchdown total for the season, But I don't need
to care about the season. I care about Week one,
and I think that receiving Core and Barkley are enough
to get it done. Number four Kyler Murray going up
against Buffalo secondary concerns. This is one if you look
(09:03):
at the over under for the week, this is one
with one of the higher totals that we'll be looking
at from the betting standpoint of this game. Forty eight
is the over under for this one. So we'll get
Kyler Murray in Marvin Harrison Junior and rounding out that
receiving Core McBride one of the fantasy darlings of the year,
(09:24):
and obviously I love the sledgehammer that is James Connor.
And again we saw Lamar Jackson running wild like Hulkamania
did back in the eighties before whatever happened to him.
Now with Kyler Murray, he looked like a video game
character the last couple of weeks of last season. I'm
expecting more of that. And then finally to round out
the top five, revenge game. Nah, just a really good offense.
(09:47):
Jared Goff going up against the Rams in Detroit, one
of their fourteen Dome games on the year. We know
about all the offensive weaponry, the depth at running back,
and the fact that Aaron Donald is going to be
watching it at home just like us.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Give me Jared Goff as my number five.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah. I think it's a huge storyline that hasn't been
talked much about throughout this season, is the absence of
Aaron Donald. Also a programming note, if you are listening
to this on Saturday, obviously you heard Mike Saint Jalen Hurts.
We are recording this late Thursday night into Friday morning,
after that Chiefs Ravens game. So hopefully if you get
this Friday morning when you're on your way to work,
(10:25):
or maybe Friday afternoon when you're driving home, you can
take Mike's Eagles Packers information and use it for that
Friday night game in Brazil. But obviously, if you listen
to the podcast after that, some of that will be dated.
So don't hold it against us, is what I'm saying.
All Right, let's get to the running backs one through five.
Here four, week one of the National Football League season.
Who do you like tolt in the rock mike in
(10:47):
Week one.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I have a giant asterisk next to him because I
have no idea what I'm getting health wise, because let's
face it, it's the age of misinformation. Coming into Week one,
they have to release something, and that's Christian mcaff going
against the New York Football Jets. Trent Williams is back.
Welcome back, you know, much to chagrin I know of
Ian and my guy Jason Smith, because they were really
(11:09):
hoping that the Jets would get to run over Rock
Purdy and these guys in Week one, and then that
would necessitate a huge contract for Trent Williams after Nah,
he got it done instead ahead of Week one, and
that means McCaffrey is your top play again. Going back
to the Friday game, Saquon Barkley going up against the Packers,
don't worry. We'll give a couple of bonus ones to
(11:31):
round it out. Rashad White going up against Washington.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
He may be.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Deposed or maybe lose the workload split at some point,
but for week one, believing him, believing in the Tampa
Bay offense, that they'll get it going against Washington.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Everybody's darling all of a sudden, there's still twelve to.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
One to win division to get in our random wagering notes,
b John Robinson, Arthur Smith is in Pittsburgh and he's
gonna watch the guy that he should have let run
them up last year for fantasy owners.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
He's gonna run wild on them. So he's number four
this week runner.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Receiver, and I think he's going to be the biggest
factor of this game because we'll talk about the rest
of that unit a little bit later. Breeze Hall in
that Monday night game against San Francisco, I don't need
him to be consistently great. I need two big runs
out of him. I need him to go Barry Sanders
for me for for zero zero minus four minus four
eighty two at a touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
That's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
And then a couple of bonuses just because we did
include some Brida guys.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
You guys, do you want to save him for the
hot plays? Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I got plenty of those, two.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Dan Okay, all right, give us the bulls, So we'll.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Just give the bonus for six and seven James Cook
the aforementioned against Arizona and then we'll get Jonathan Taylor
in the mix against Houston.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I got to use him while he's still healthy and upright.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Giving respect to Rashad White again, I had a buddy
who had a great fantasy season last year. My buddy
called him Rashard White the entire season.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You want to talk about disrespect. And I had a
Keeper League po possibly and I chose not to keep him.
He's one of the earlier picks in the draft, So
shame on me that I didn't put my money where
my mouth is. But I do find Rashad White of
being a guy who was completely underrated. When we're looking
at the running back position and week one against the Commanders,
(13:18):
we can maybe expect some big things. Let's go to
the wide receivers. Guys are going to catch those passes
for week one.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
The always popular I'm on ra Saint Brown because we
take our seven receptions and then we figure out the
yardage and touchdowns later. Yes, which is the beautiful thing.
And what a receiver he is. And any guy that
still has the chip on his shoulder that at a
moment's notice and probably in his sleep, recites all the
guys drafted in front of him is good on me.
(13:46):
Justin Jefferson. You may not like Sam Darnold, but against
the Giants, I'll take him for one day. We'll run
with that as we go forward. Opportunity here to go
against a defense. Last year they were the fifth most
generous against opposing wide receivers.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And while there will.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Be some growing pains and the communication and everything else
over time with Sam Donald, I like the roster that
the Vikings have overall, so I think this is a
game that they can go and get and ease Darnald in.
And that means Jefferson a top play. Devonte Adams going
up against the Chargers. He's still salty about all those
(14:24):
social media memes making fun of him in the schedule
release and everything else. Four straight on hundred catch seasons.
We know he's mister reliable regardless of quarterback, and that
means Gardner Minshew has himself a target. Remember, they have
some other weapons there. The dual tight ends Jacoby Myers
and everything else. But Devontae Adams gets fed. Why because
(14:46):
he wants to put it on Jim Harbaugh and company.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Tyree Gale going.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Up against Jacksonville again I don't need him to catch
nine balls. I need three, and one of those being
a big hitter from two A tongue of I low.
This is one of my most intriguing games of the
of the week. I got my popcorn set because you know, Dan,
the over under on this one's forty nine and a half.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Oh, Mike, I'm well aware, as you'll find out at
the end of the podcast, I am well aware that
we'll get over under is.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
That's what you call tease yes in our business.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
And number five he may slow down eventually, but he's
going for his eleven straight thousand yard season. Let's go
back to the well with Tampa Bay and let's get
Mike Evans in the lineup going up against Washington.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
There you are your top five rankings four week one
at the quarterback, running back, and wide receiver position. Harmon's
not done. He's got your hot place, he's got your
cold story, he's got your ninjas. If you're new to
the podcast like I it is, we'll explain all that
to you. I know it's Greek right now, but you'll
understand quickly. Hit Mike up at Swollen Dome find me
(15:49):
at Dan Byer on Fox that's next tier on I
Want Your Flex Hit me up at Dan Byron Fox.
Find Mike at Swollen Dome. He is Mike Harmer. I
am Dan Byer. This is I Want Your Flags. The
executive producer of the show is Ian Roddy. We welcomed
Iann our first segment. Ian In is kind of a
(16:10):
tongue twister. I never thought I've never had to say it,
but we welcomed ian In earlier, and Ian is gonna
get his first taste of what hot plays and gold
soars and ninjas are. Our hot plays are basically just
the guys you got to get in your lineups that
didn't make Mike's top five. Basically, that's it, right.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Mike, You got it, brother, Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Let's get to him the hot plays guys you gotta
get in your lineup for week one.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Talking about that high over under in that Jacksonville Miami game.
We get the other side of it. We get Trevor
Lawrence in as a hot play. I know many people
down on him, and if you look at consensus rankings
for the season, not really much of an expectation. I
think folks forgot he actually played through a bunch of
injuries last year would refuse to yield the field, and
(16:56):
fortunately for him, the Eagles were a bigger collapse. But
against this my defense that changed up its secondary. They
may be great offensively. A lot of questions still remain
for McDaniel's squad down there on defense. And I'd be
remiss if I didn't roll the dice in Week one.
Caleb Williams making a player or two with his legs,
and obviously you've got the full compliment of receivers keeping
(17:18):
it on Keenan Allen for those of you looking for
that w R three or maybe flexworthy option, he's got
a heel injury. He's been limited in practice, but that's
okay because then you can shift towards Cole Comet or
one of the other options there.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
But for Caleb Williams, high on it.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I went full hog on the you know, with Smith
and I just said, you know what, I never get
to do this. I'm pushing the Bears all the way through.
How about that?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Right? That?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So them all the way with the.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Eagles before Jalen Hurts and company beat them in the
NFC title game. But we'll worry about that another time.
Three straight games against the AFC South. I'm very excited
to see here, and this is one where we look
at and we'll get to there is a cold play
on the Bears side. In a minute, Camara go up
against Carolina. He's going to pile up perceptions I do
(18:04):
on the board that you put up Dan each and
every year in our studio. There's the Super Bowl, there's
the predictions. The Saints are going to be the worst
team in football. Yeah, Dennis, Dennis Allen's gonna get fired,
but Galvin Camaro's gonna.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Catch a hundred balls. Okay, as long as he's healthy.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
My bockeded Saints as well, So I agree with that.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
There's no buzz at all about New Orleans. None. No
one was talking about.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Which really we made me salty when I didn't get
that second quarterback. And the Guillotine League we drafted and
the only guy viable was Derek Carr.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I'll tell you what I'll say. The only starter, by
the way, in our Guillotine League that wasn't drafted was
Jacoby Brissett. We had thirty three or thirty four quarterbacks drafted.
Justin Fields was taken, Drake May was taken. But Jacoby
Brissette was not. I'm just going to say this. I
think Carolina wins in New Orleans on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I concur oh, you picked all right. I think Carolina
is uh. I think they're gonna be better. I don't
think they're the absolute dregs, even if the Vegas odds
are that they're down as bottom feeders. I think Canallis
actually does something with that squad.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Let's hope.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Let's hope, so let's go at least for one day.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Joe Mixon now a member of the Houston Texans going
up against Indianapolis again. This is one of those running
backs that's in that middle RB two phase of things.
But he's gonna catch the ball out of the backfield,
and I think he's gonna need to do that here
in week one as they try to get things rolling
and pick up where they left off a year ago.
(19:35):
We go back to the well in terms of that
Arizona Buffalo game, where we'll take a little Marvin Harrison
junior action to get involved, and I'll take another rookie again.
I'm not expecting, you know, world beating numbers from the
Giants overall, but someone's gonna catch enough passes to get
to about three thousand yards over the course of the year,
So why not start with Malik Neighbors to get us
(19:58):
started there. So Hot play again, we're looking at back
end twos and threes, and normally these are the guys
that are a little off the beaten path. Maybe they're
for the two quarterback league. Maybe as the year goes on,
it's more an injury replacement, or you're unsatisfied with the
production of your usual number ones.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That's what we try to do here.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
My favorite thing in fantasy football is each week looking
where my players are in Mike's rankings or in other
sites rankings, just to see what other people are saying
about my team. And it's why I think that when
we do rankings. Mike gave you a rankings of the
top quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. Every single one
(20:40):
of those guys he names is going to be in
a starting lineup, there's no doubt about it. But I
love to have the number one guy that week. I
think it's awesome. I think there's there's a rush. That's
how I enjoy fantasy football. So I feel those top
five rankings are so important. What the Hot plays are.
They're the outside of the rankings, So the guys that
you still need to get into your lineup, or if
(21:01):
maybe you got a stacked position in a certain area
you're trying to figure out which guy to play, maybe
this will lean over to it. And when Mike does
is Ninja's coming up in a little bit. There's even
more of that, even more borderline guys that you got
that got to get into. So that's why we kind
of do this in the way that we do with
the hot plays, with the rankings, the cold soares that
(21:22):
were do you have any more hot plays?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Micro Rn that's the end, We're done. We did a
couple of rookies to close it out.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, I just wanted to make sure because I want
to transition to the cold source. The cold Soares are.
Let's be honest, nobody wants them, Nobody wants anything to
do with them. They're bothersome, they're hurt, they're annoying, they're gross.
You don't want to touch them, you don't want to
see them, you don't want to look at them. That's
how we feel about these players in this group. So
these are the ones that you want to stay away from.
(21:49):
You want nothing to do with your cold source mic
for Week one of the twenty twenty four NFL season.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Quarterback position foreshadowed it a little bit earlier. Captain Kirk
going against Pittsburgh. Look, I don't think Pittsburgh's offense is
going to score eighteen or nineteen points a game, but
that defense, so long as TJ. Watton company are healthy,
they're gonna get after it. So while I think there
might be some points to be had when we look
at the overall, with the total on this one is
(22:17):
only forty three, Atlanta three three and a half is
the point spread on this one. Captain Kirk, I think
they get the win, but it's not a pretty pretty site.
I think it's a slug and a little bit more
from the kicking game and the legs of Bjohn Robinson.
So Captain Kirk goes into the QB twos for me
(22:38):
this week, as well as Dak Prescott against the Cleveland Browns.
Tell me, you're not waiting with a bucket of popcorn
to hear what Tom Brady has to say about everything
in this game on both sides, both he and Deshaun Watson. Right,
there's storylines for days, but you're looking at a team
last year fourth best against fantasy quarterbacks and really beyond
(23:02):
Ceede Lamb and I guess we'll talk Jake ferguson receiving
game is a little suspect, offensive lines a little suspect,
and that running back position. Man, Yeah it's Zeke and
whatever's left of Delvin Cooks.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
So Riko now though.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Nicely got Yeah, they are Rico.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Nicet I's head.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I guarantee.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Look, he's gonna get a lot of good pop culture
knowledge over the next twenty five weeks or whatever this is.
So we'll just have an encyclopedia according to the iWatch
Reflex podcast.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
You're gonna have to catch up Ian all right? Who
else he got for the cold source for week one?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
All right, Josh Jacob's going up against Philly. I know
there's a lot of excitement for him. The fact that
Lloyd is banged up and may not be able to
go hang a star on that one. It means Jacobs
will keep his workload. AJ Dillon's gonna be watching the
game like all of us, doing a podcast or something.
And then Kyron Williams going up against Detroit. Look, I
like Kylen Williams. I think The idea of what they're
(24:13):
doing with both of their running backs in the return
game is potentially asinine and destructive, but that's me outside
looking in. It may be the work of genius. I
think ninety percent of the kickoffs are going to be
touchbacks anyway, But for Kyron Williams against Detroit's front not
looking for the jail break. I know the over under
on this one is also pretty strong. We're looking at
(24:34):
fifty one what it's all said and done, but I'm
looking for him to have a smallish part in it.
More in the receiving game wide receivers that we're going
to stay away from. I got a Trio one I
talked about him before. As addition by subtraction leaving Buffalo
heading to the planet Houston. That's theefon Diggs. I think
he's the odd man out. I think you get Tank Dell,
(24:55):
you get Nico College, you get a little Dalton Schultz,
you get the work out of the backfield.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Dig This is a guy who's a nice.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Luxury product and in Week one doesn't exist unless they
try to force him the ball so he stays happy.
That's my only fear in making him part of this list.
Dan is they try to speed or hey, if we
if we at least throw it to him a bunch,
he'll shut up for a week.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Watch the Philadelpha Eagles in aj Brown and how they
deal with him, and then see how good it works
with Teamen chemistry, because it doesn't there.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You go, Hey, but you know what, Jason Kelce isn't
in Philly anymore. Dan, So Jalen Hurts feels empowered to
be the leader. I don't know whatever that means his
head coach. Well, there's no question about that, all right,
two other guys. One guy might get lost in the sauce.
Brandon Ayuk Monday Night Football, Welcome back. He got your deal.
(25:45):
I think there's more for Deebo, Samuel and the other
members of this receiving corps U and then DJ Moore
for the same reason. He's gonna end up drawing a
lot of sneak who comes over from Kansas City for Tennessee.
So I think you're gonna see more of Madoonsay, more
of Keenan Allen as much as he's able to give you.
And then you've got the dual back, dual tight end
(26:07):
of Everett and Comet to contend with as well, not
to mention Kaylin Williams himself and that try three headed
monster out of the backfield. So Dj Moore is a
guy that I've got great hopes for.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
For the year.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Week one, I temper it and he is a high
end two for me rather than his normal lofty position.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
So those are the cold soars for Week one of
the NFL season. Now we get into the Ninjas. These
guys may not be in your lineup every week, but
this is the week to get them in. Is that
a fair assessment you were? You had the ninja phrase
way before I came along on this show.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yeah, we've basically just said guys that pop out of
the weeds that you're not expecting. Maybe you've dismissed, maybe
you've put him in the closet for a little while,
and they decided they're the monster that doesn't want to
stay hidden anymore and they want to be seen. They
want to be out front, they want to cause some terror.
So here they are in your lineups.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Let's do it. Ninja's fork one.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Justin Herbert dismissed. Now, I know he's in a walking boot.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I know he's not one hundred percent even as we
get here to Week one against the Las Vegas Raiders,
one of the more interesting starts to the season, right Vegas.
A lot of noise with Devontae Adams. I think he
talked to everybody about us dan in the preseason, with
all the jabbering that he did. Gardner Minshew's the quarterback
(27:26):
for the Chargers. All about Jim Harbaugh and the run
game and everything else. They don't have any name brand receivers.
Guess what you might get a nice play action passing
game that flows out of this. And some of these
guys that are twos and threes, guess what they've played
as ones before? The Josh Palmers because guess what, Keenan
Allen and Mike Williams weren't showing up every week, So
(27:46):
these guys are battle tested. I know DJ Chark's still
on the injury list as well, so we'll keep an
eye on that. How about your guy, Gino Smith, another
guy who's been under the radar.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
This entire offseason.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Deal with the noise that was made in Seattle was
when everybody was fighting.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
That's true, That's true. They are very much under the radar,
even with the new coaching staff. And the Pete Carroll legacy.
This is what happens when your quarterback is not Marquee.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, very very chippy.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
But he's got several wide receivers and that's why Gino,
we're gonna pair him with Jackson Smith and Jigmas somewhere.
We talked about in our Pass Catcher's preview episode of
the podcast, and you brought him up, brought up Tyler Lockett,
guy like DK Metcalf, who's got a tough individual matchup
in this one. Yeah, with so he was narrow miss
(28:39):
on the cold source, but because I think he'll still
be able to make a play or two to make
a bigger impact. But we'll see there. Go back to
the running back position. Gus Edwards of the Chargers going
up against Las Vegas. Look, I got to ride him
while he's healthy. So in Week one, even against a
pretty good defensive front for Vegas, he's a short yardage
(28:59):
go line guy and I'll get my double digit touches.
Jerome Ford, who's been sneakily available late in drafts. I
think folks just forgetting about Cleveland's running game with Nick
Chubb not available for a while here going up against
Dallas defensive front. Look, I don't trust to Sean Watson.
(29:19):
I think they have to establish a run, and Ford
is that guy quitting himself quite nicely. In twenty twenty three,
finally at the running back position, Devin Singletary again volume volume.
I'm not looking for world beating numbers, but if he
can give me twenty for eighty and maybe find an
outside shot at a score, or give me three or
four catches, then I win. And I think the last
(29:42):
guy I throw on just going back to the quarterback position.
The other side of that Vegas Chargers game, Gardner Minshew,
because he has no conscience.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
He's gonna be fun there, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Like he's a guy that recognizes what he is at
this point, and he'll take his shots downfield. I like
guys that are willing to gamble a little bit. Now,
if it's my favorite team, I'd like that. I'm not
in that circumstance every week, But you know what, good
things can happen at times, and he's got enough weapons
to make make that happen.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
You are high on Ford in the preseason, talked about
them in our running Back episode, and you mentioned the
Gino Smith and the jsn connection. I fully expect Jackson
Smith and Jigba to supplant Tyler Lockett is option number two.
He should like this is now is the time to
do so. And I think that we're going to see that.
(30:34):
Curious to see what Denver brings to the table, obviously
with bone Nix as their quarterback. And you mentioned the
Stan Metcalf matchup, which is one that I will have
my eye on and you should all have your eye
on it as well. And if only the Denver Broncos
could do their part. Seahawks are wearing the throwbacks and
their opener, so hey, enough reason to watch that game
if you just add Denver where their throwbacks could be
(30:57):
an old AFC West title instead of a Super Bowl
forty eight rematch, you know, sort of. Look, even though
Denver's got new uniforms, but they're not that different. The
helmet's pretty much the same except for a sticker. This
should have just gone with a throwback and we could
have thought it was bas against l way back in
eighty let's go.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Yeah, I think I'm going to envision it that way anyway.
See if I can't get some AI that allows me.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
To do that, all right, He's Mike Carmen. I'm Dan Byer.
It is I want your flex. That's all a harmon's information,
except Mike's gonna give you his super Bowl pick next.
In fact, we all will, and I want your flex.
Plus we're doing away with the give you one reason. Yeah,
I'm moving on from that, but I've got some advice
that I got to get off my chest. You'll hear that. Next,
he's Mike Karmen. I'm Dan Byer. This is I want
(31:45):
your flex. All right, let's wrap this up. It is
I want your flex. He's Mike Carmen. I'm Dan Byer.
Week one is almost here. Ian Roddy is our new
executive producer, and Ian's gonna jump right into the deep end.
You are ready to give advice in Week one of
the NFL season. A streaming defense this week, Ian Roddy,
(32:07):
who do you recommend someone to pick up for this week?
Speaker 5 (32:10):
All right, yeah, so my first tidbit of advice on
the pod here, I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and
recommend as a streaming defense the Chicago Bears. What I
like about them? They're playing the Tennessee Titans this week.
Tennessee They've got Levis under center, he's you know, young,
last we saw him really reckless. And then just Chicago's
(32:31):
defense themselves, Jalen Johnson, one of the best colorers in
the league. You've got a pass rush with Montes, Sweat,
and then just other good guys in the secondary, young
guys Kyler, Gordon, Tyreek, Stevenson, Jakwan Brisker. I just like
the names and the talent that Chicago has. And then
eber Flus himself is just a great defensive mind as well.
So going against a team like Tennessee that's led by
(32:54):
a young guy like Levis, I like Chicago's odds.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
You really, Mike, you really saw that defense merge in
the second half of last year and maybe after the
Sweat deal. But not only do the native Chicagoans like
you expect Caleb Williams to play well, but this is
kind of going to be a defensive team as well.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Well, that's the thing, right after Eric Williams or Alan
Williams Alan Williams, So now I'm mixing old coordinator new coordinator.
After Alan Williams went and disappeared, in a lot of rumor,
conjecture speculation as to why still never found out exactly
what's going on. That kind of got dismissed.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I kept holding up a sign as we did the
podcast last year, Ian, where's Alan Williams.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yes, that's why I'm laughing because it came back this year.
I thought we had moved on, but no, no, we're
not still there.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Because it wants well, bo that's the goal.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
But the big thing is that it necessity necessitated such
a change, right knieber Flues now well quaffed. You saw
it in the Hard Knocks. Actually when when a guy's
beard mustache comes one of the more interesting things on
Hard Knocks. You got a bad show. But ibra Flus
good defensive mind. Eric Washington is their defensive coordinator, really
(34:10):
well regarded the guy that they're already thinking in two
years time might be looking at head coaching jobs down
the line. But you've got a good structure. You were
a top ten defense down the stretch. Now a full offseason,
they made a couple other trades quietly during training camp
that added some more depth. Now sweats banged up to
(34:32):
start things, but expected to go. As we sit and
record this late on Thursday, Yeah, everything is there to
go make some noise, so long as the offense does
their job right, which under justin fields, the problem was
as much as he could give you an electric play,
he could also just lay the ball down on the ground.
(34:53):
So less of that from Caleb Williams. If he's a
better steward of the ball means better opportunities for this defense.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Off We are year twenty seven of my long term
league ten teams standard league team defense. But again we
only have ten members, so there's it's you know, a
little tighter than a twelve team, and our rosters are short.
But anyway, when it comes to team defenses which we play,
you have your usual suspects. You have the Niners off
(35:22):
the board, Ravens were taken, Ian's Jets were taken in
my ten team league. I completely whiffed on taking the Bears,
and then I waited to our pick up deadline that
we have where we can pick up in ten minutes
after the deadline passed, where we could pick them up.
I picked up the Bears. So Ian, I am right
there with you, and in fact, they may stay on
(35:45):
my roster. I think they're going to be a play
throughout this season, so they could be out there in
your league, because I think there are other flashier names
that you will see, and you'll see people end up
taking the Browns. Obviously, great defensive team you know are
are going to be taken. But a team like the Bears, Yeah,
people may not be as keen to it as you
would think.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
Yeah, only rostered in leagues right now.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Perfect, Yeah, and so yeah, that's where our league was.
So when I picked up the Bears, maybe it was
forty one percent. All right, here's here's my categories. I
give you a Survivor pick every week. We're not gonna
we're not gonna mess with this one. You gotta go Cincinnati.
Joe Burrow is healthy, which we don't know when we're
gonna get again. Right, You've got Jrod Mao coming in.
(36:31):
We don't think that the Patriots are really in it.
Jacoby Brissette is the quarterback, veteran leadership, blah blah blah.
But with Jamar Chase back, with T Higgins, I think
you gotta ride Cincinnati. I think you're gonna see a
lot of Bengals this week for the for the Survivor
pick that is going to be your obvious one if
(36:51):
you're looking for one that maybe isn't as obvious. I
would even say Seattle to that point, Mike, of you know,
the Seahawks are a six point favorite, one of the
big more bigger that you have. But I think people
are wondering what you're gonna get from Mike McDonald. I
think a lot of us are wondering what we're gonna
get from bo Nicks. And I think Seattle's defensive line
is improved, they should be able to score against Denver.
(37:12):
So Seattle could be or your hidden gem when it
comes to survivoral.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
See if you can overpower up front Denver's offensive line
not harolded it as one of the best. And we'll
see what Sean Payton's got. In the post, Russell Wilson
era a lot of praise for bo Nicks. A lot
of it I think flows out of it. I got
no personal animus with him, but it seems like everybody
has a love fest if they've met and hung around
Sewan and Peyton, So I think that there's a little
(37:39):
of that that flows through. So maybe bo Nicks gets
elevated a little more than is reality, if that makes sense.
So yeah, I'm looking at Seattle's defense. It's one thing
you know, your new head coach can do is coach
him up on that side of the ball. So I
would expect aggression against the rookie because, let's face it,
the Denver Wide Receiving Corps. Who do you trust out
(38:01):
of there? Yeah, there's a couple of guys you like.
D Yeah, but week to week, right, Sutton s du right,
and then everybody keeps trying to make Mims happen.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
We'll see, sure, we'll see if Mims the word on Sunday.
By the way, Mike Ian, if you didn't know, Mike
was also talking directly to me about Sean Payton. I
tell the story. We were filling in one time on
Fox Sports Radio and Sean Payton was the guest, and
I decided to make up a game called danger Zone
where we just asked him like rapid fire questions in
sixty seconds and he completely played along. So I'm like,
(38:41):
all right, cool, And it's the only time I've ever
done the segment. I've never done it again.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
You would never go back to the well And no,
that was I wasn't talking about you, And you know,
love it, Lovington. We've got a couple others in our
in our in our severe that may maybe it's a
bit over the top for my liking.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, yeah, I uh he played along with danger Zone,
so I was game with it.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Awesome, But why would you go back to the well
you got your hit, Hey, that's it stands in it.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Uh my points of he'd probably like to forget it,
so I think, yeah, it's probably it's a proble movie
for distant memory. Oh man, the points of Palooza. That
is not new a game where look, you can look
at the over under. It might always suggest that you
do so when you're looking for fantasy, find out where
(39:34):
the over unders are the highest, and maybe look to
play guys in those games. I'm not gonna take the
highest one every week unless it's just there's there's no
other option, and I feel that there's another option outside
of Rams Lions, and it is one Mike mentioned earlier.
I think Jaguars Dolphins is going to be a fun one,
and I think it's it's gonna be hot, you know that,
but hey, Jacksonville is accustomed to some of the warm weather.
(39:56):
They go down to Miami to face the Dolphins. I
think you're gonna see a lot of points. Second or third,
I think highest over under the week. But I love
Jacksonville and Miami and that points of palooza.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Yeah, forty nine and a half.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Yeah, part of it, Dan is just the It's also
the tiebreaker, right if you're deciding between WR twos, WR threes, whatever,
and you're torn, look to the game where there's an
expectation of a higher point on it. Sure, and then
obviously we also, you know, soon enough we'll start getting
into the weather apps and NFL weather websites that give
(40:32):
us an idea of what we're looking at for wins
and whatever when we dig a little deeper into kickers
in things of that nature. But yeah, it's to jump
out that we got three or four games that are
forty eight plus. That's a nice little kickoff for the NFL.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
And then my final news segment, by the way Colts
Texans around, that's you know, over under for points wise,
same with Cardinals bills. But I'm signing with Jacksonville and
Miami to really pay it off. My final segment, I
told you we were doing away with the give you
one reason, but I am going to give you a
player each week, and I'm going to give you a
player in a category of an Oasis song in honor
(41:11):
of them reuniting, and who knows of this concerts even
of no, no, we didn't, we didn't try, and I
know there's rumors of them come into the States, but
we did not get any tickets. Didn't didn't even try.
But I am excited to see, uh, the Gallagher brothers
back together. And I figured what better way to, uh,
(41:33):
I don't know, to celebrate that than to have a
player be in a category of an Oasis song each week.
So it's a different song which allows which allows me
to do a positive or a negative and uh, We're
going to start out week one the song Supersonic, So
this player is going to have a supersonic sort of
(41:53):
performance on Sunday. Mike, you mentioned them earlier in your
Quarterbacks Kyler Murray Arizona Cardinals against the Bills. We talked
about the love of Trey McBride and him going off
draft boards a lot earlier. Kyler Murray is not at times,
and I think that there is an awesome opportunity for
him to show his stuff against the Bills coming up
(42:15):
on Sunday. He's not gonna have to deal with the
weather in Buffalo of any snow or cold. Since it's
Week one, my supersonic play for Week one is Kyler
Murray of the Arizona Cardinals in a good way?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Do you sing a few bars of the song too?
Are we treated to that?
Speaker 3 (42:30):
No? I can't for podcast rights reasons. You know, we
don't want to howe them any more money.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Oh, nicely done? Wait to be well.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
Actually, you know what if they fight us, they're not
fighting each other, we might get that tour after all, Dan.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Barr, Liam and Noel putting together a super Bowl time
for our Super Bowl predictions. Mike Harmon, you teased yours
earlier by seeing the Bears from the NFC Championship game.
Do you want to give us your Super Bowl prediction?
Speaker 4 (42:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (42:58):
The prediction for the fight is pain.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Somehow, some way, the Eagles navigate their way to the
Super Bowl again. I'm not the biggest believer in Sirianni,
but I love the roster. Even with the changes at
the offensive line, I think there was depth there on
the defensive line. Yeah, I know, Fletcher Cox has gone
(43:20):
and Kelsey're gone. I can't state how much those two
losses kind of bug me. But bringing in Saquon Barkley
and I think there's enough talent to keep things rolling up.
On the other side, maybe I'm just still an apologist,
and because picking the chiefs.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Isn't fun, I've done that before. Like I'm moving on.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
So I'm gonna take the Buffalo Bills, all right, That
Aaron Rodgers sorry, and the Jets fall flat, That the
Dolphins can't finish because they have no defense. Patriots are
what they are, so they win the division, and then
the battle of Attrition begins, and that no Stefan dis
means that Coleman and Shakir and Kincaid and Cook can
(44:07):
get it done.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Ian Roddy your Super Bowl fifty nine prediction.
Speaker 5 (44:11):
Yeah, I would love to pick my Jets, but to me,
I just feel like there's too much that has to
go perfectly right for them for that to happen. So
my AFC candidate is the Cincinnati Bengals' gotten them right.
With Joe Burrow returning, I think I don't know if
a deal is going to get done with Chase here,
but that's not really the point of this this talk
(44:32):
right now is you know, I think I think he'll
be there at some point, is the bottom line. And
I think that they'll make it to the Super Bowl
this year. They've been there once before, and that was
when Burrow was so young already, and he's older now,
more experienced, So just from a cerebral standpoint, he's improved
so much and now he's healthy. So I like the
Bengals for that, and then the NFC. I'm with Mike.
(44:54):
I like the Eagles again. I also don't really like
Nick Sirianni, but like Mike said, too, really really like
the roster and even though they lost Jason Kelsey, it
just feels and Fletcher Cox, it just feels like they
have so many trench guys. Whenever they lose someone, they
can just unbox a new one, you know, fresh from
the rap. You know, they've got Cam Jurgen's waiting in
(45:15):
the wings, a former pick that they can just replace
Jason Kelsey with. For Fletcher Cox, it's not a one
for one thing. But they've got, you know, uh, Nolan
Smith from Georgia who's barely played yet and he was
a first round pick. I I just really like where
the Eagles are right now roster wise, and regardless of
whether or not Sirianni is the best head coach, they
(45:35):
do have an adult in the room and Jalen hurts.
So I got the Eagles and I have them beating
the Bengals in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
Okay, Eagles win it all. Mike, did you have winning
Eagles bills?
Speaker 4 (45:44):
Match up bills? Bills, bills, stop bills. It just rolls
off the tongue. I mean, they're kind of like the Bears.
What's funny is Jay Glazer joined Smith and I after
the the Chiefs and Ravens Oprah and started asking about,
you know, players and situations and things that stood out
of training camp.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
And he went on and on about Jalen.
Speaker 4 (46:06):
Carter, so you know, you can listen to that whole
conversation podcast wherever you get it, but talking about how
much he expected him to take a leap and be
a disruptor for the Eagles this year. So part of
the rationale even before I had this mapped out, before
we talked to Glazer and it just emboldened me a
little more.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Well, Ian and you shared the Eagles, Mike, you and
I will share the Buffalo bills. I also have Buffalo
advancing from the AFC. I am coining Buffalo as Snowtown.
Speaker 5 (46:37):
That is.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
My coinage. My phrase I will use because if it's
perfectly with my motown versus Snowtown real, I like it.
I got the Lions in the Super Bowl, and give
me the Lions to win super Bowl fifty nine. I
fought it last year because I said, I don't want
both of these droughts eliminated in one year.
Speaker 5 (47:00):
I don't even know who we would be rooting for.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
Yeah right, I'm like, I don't want to. I'm just
I'm like, I'm not gonna fight this. Let's just let's
try to bring it to fruition Lions and Bills, with
the Lions getting the last laugh. I guess. I guess
if you were to root for someone to probably be
Buffalo because of their previous Super Bowl failures and the
Lions just getting there would be an accomplishment. But we're
(47:24):
going to keep that Bill's saga continuing into next season
because we're going to have the Lions win Super Bowl
fifty nine.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Boy, that would be one hell of a party in
New Orleans, thouldn't it.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
Oh my goodness, those two fan bases, Yes, in New Orleans.
I still have the picture from years ago on site.
The battle of good and Evil is what was I
was outside the walking down the street and there's a
church and I was just checking out this cool kind
of the way the light was hitting it and reflecting
or whatever. And all of a sudden, some guy popped
out of the weeds and started telling me the story
(47:56):
of how at midnight every night it's the battle of
good and evil on those grounds. And I was waiting
to get shived. I didn't, but it was a most
interesting and terrifying ten minutes. I think I've ever spent
in a city, just kind of walking around myself.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Oh man, good times. Me being the fussy eater. You know,
the food in that city does not do the many favors.
But still you gotta love the vibe of New Orleans.
Still a ways away, but it'll be here before you
know it. All right, there, it is week one, your
advice that you need, Mike, and I will be back
(48:31):
with another episode of I Want Your Flex that will
be produced by Ian Roddy after week one. It'll be
with you on Tuesday, and so you'll want to get
our recaps and what we think of what we saw
in week one and what you need to get ready
for in week two as well. So for our new
executive producer Ian Roddy welcoming him aboard. He is Mike Carmen.
I'm Dan Beyer. Good luck in week one. We'll talk
(48:54):
to you next time here and I want your flex
Ladies, you want experience during your football season, We'll buckle up.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Sweet cheeks.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We've got all the experience in the world. This is
I want your flex with Dan Byer and Mike Harmon.
Mike and Dan break down everything you need to set
your lineups, from position rankings to starts and sits. The
guys help you make those hard decisions. And now let's
get your flex ond here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Finally, Week one is here of the National Football League season.
Hit Mike up at Swallodome. You can find me at
Dan Bayer on Fox. A new season is donned Mike.
One game in the books. The rest of the regular
season to go well.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
If the other two hundred and seventy one come close
to matching the excitement, the energy, and some of these
surprises that we got in Week one. No, no Taylor
Swift showing up, we are in for a fan fantastic
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We got some chaos before the.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Game, right, Lightning and rain and everything else just delayed
fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
But as soon as I heard Kevin Harlan's.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Voice for the first play for the first time, I
got to admit a little tear might have just trickled
out of my right eye as I got ready for football.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Geez, the Midwest thunderstorm. This is why the Chiefs have
to stop winning Super Bowls so we don't have to
have delayed starts to games like I feel like there's
you know, there was the fog game a few years back.
It's just all right, that's why somebody else needs to
win one. And you know, if it's indoors, that's fine,
or it's somewhere else, but then we don't have to
worry about any any weather delays. I don't want to
(01:40):
delay in welcoming our new executive producer to this show.
I think it's the perfect time to welcome Moman. He's
done our preseason shows with our rankings as well, big
thanks to our old producer Ryan Berschinger, and in fact,
you may hear from bursch at times throughout this season
here on this podcast. But I want to welcome in
our new executive producer. He's a New York Jets fan, Mike.
(02:03):
You can't escape it. It's everywhere no matter what I
do well.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
He doesn't have the long history of.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Defeat and crushing soul crushing moments that Smith does, so
maybe a little bit of a different yeah, different attitude
and assessment of things.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And that's why we love his positive attitude. Ian Roddy
is our new executive producer. Ian, welcome to Who I
Want Your Flex.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
I'm super happy to be here, guys. Thanks for the
for the introduction.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
This is uh, this is going to be a lot
of fun this year. You can even partake in some
of the fun to to lend your knowledge. But we
love your We love your positive attitude. What what is
it about fantasy football? I'm putting you completely on the spot.
I didn't even tell you before and I was going
to ask you about this. What is it about football
or fantasy football that really really does it for Ian Roddy?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
What is it just?
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Uh, just just the ability to control your own team
and and make all the decisions and be the one
who saw the decisions, steering the ship. Because as much
as we love to yell at the TV and you know,
our phones, our Twitter screens and all the decisions the
teams are making and fantasy we get to be the
one to make all those decisions and then just be
(03:16):
mad at ourselves for it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yes, it's perfect. Usually we can blame other people for
our problems, but no, we will give ourselves the ulcers.
Throughout the fantasy football season, there are weeks we all
know it should have played this guy instead you benched
them and he played somebody else, and it comes back
to haunt you. But Ian is absolutely right, and I
think Mike it's the perfect segue because these are all suggestions. Listen,
(03:41):
take what you will, Take what you have the knowledge
that Mike Harmon is going to give you, with his rankings,
with his hot plays, with its gold soords and his Ninjas,
and soak it all in and then ultimately make your decision.
And that's the fun of fantasy football. You may have
heard Mike say Isaiah Likely is on the tick up
(04:03):
the draft boards just a week ago. Well you saw
what Isaiah Likely did on Thursday night. So you may
want to take what Mike has said and absorb it
and then go from there. But that's the fun of
fantasy football.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I'm not gonna lie dan Ian.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
It's fun to be able to, you know, dance around
and do that whole pony thing or whatever you're gonna
do in celebration of getting one thing right. Because now
I'm playing with house money. Now, I could just throw
stuff against the board and see if it sticks. But
you know, likely with a huge game the obvious near miss.
I made the Kevin Durant oversized shoe joke on the
(04:39):
show with Jason Smith as we were watching it. Game
of inches. All right, your Bucks end up going on
to win a title as that flows out. So we'll
see how this one plays out for a full season.
But I gotta say for Isaiah likely, he was a
guy that a couple of plays before, I didn't know
if we were gonna see him again. Right, he crumpled
in a heap going after a ball that sailed out
(05:00):
of the end zone, holding his arm and his shoulder
and everything else. But he's broken, and then there he
is for what became a play that will define at
least the early part of this twenty twenty four season.
And for fantasy owners, if you drafted Mark Andrews, you're
just shaking your head because you can see the writing
on the wall.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I it was the runner up. In the tweet that
I was going to send, I was gonna say, and
the Bucks are on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals,
but that the Durant shot also for it was it's
what made it to force overtime, and then the Bucks
won the overtime in that game seven against the Nets.
But instead I went with the gift of the old
(05:38):
Kansas City chef's end zone painting. Oh okay, and they
didn't have the new one. They just had the old
one on the iPhone. And I'll tell you what, Mike,
this tweet took off. Ian. Did you know that Twitter
was down for this tweet? Did you understand how huge
this was?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Four likes, that's what we have had for.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
You know what, I didn't see it. I'm gonna like
it now, thank.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
You very much. I made I made a joke about
the the groundskeeper who again the co commercially spelled chefs
instead of chiefs.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Who are the chefs?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
That's that's that's Southway?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Is that that get away?
Speaker 4 (06:18):
This was the Snickers You're not you probably would have
been a better Southwest one. But either way, it gets
the job done.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I like it. I think that's clever.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I gave him props on the job that he did
on that back line. All right, well, Ian, welcome aboard.
That's gonna be a fun ride. We appreciate the work
you've already put in and can't wait for the upcoming season.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Awesome, And now your tweet has six likes because yes,
oh and I retweeted it.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Let's go at Dan Byron fi.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yes, at Dan Byron Fox at Swollen Dome and Ian's
Twitter handle or handle on x is pretty easy, except
one slight thing at Ian Roddy underscore.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, you can't forget the underscore because.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
There is a different Ian Roddy who looks very British.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
What do you know, I'm not a fan of that.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
He's from Liverpool.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
I don't think he's even on Twitter ever. So it's
really just like, can you just give me the username
and you can just keep being Ian Roddy in England
or wherever you live.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Hey without Twitter?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
At Dan Byer is sitting there holding a guitar. That's
true again, Yes he has twenty two followers. He hasn't
tweeted since twenty fifteen. But that's why I'm at Dan
Pyre on Fox. All right, let's get to these rankings.
Here we are Mike Carmen's quarterback rankings four week one
of the twenty twenty four NFL season. Mike Kodia got
(07:37):
one through five under center.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
We get the man crush right off the jump in
Josh Allen going up against Arizona breaking in a new
receiving core right, gave Davis gone, Stefan Diggs gone, And
as we talked about in the preseason episodes, that's probably
good for everybody. So those discounting the Buffalo Bills at
their own peril. And I don't think he's gonna need
to run as much as we saw Lamar Jackson in
(08:01):
the opener, but he'll still be active with his legs.
Combined that with the work of Cook, who will talk
about in a moment, and we get ourselves a nice
big opening start.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
CJ.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Stroud going up against Indianapolis last year three eighty four
and two one game, two sixty four and two in
the other let's go. Let's go for the hat trick
of big happy returns and another big outing.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
How about Friday night in Brazil.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I have no idea how this is gonna play out
around it, but once they get inside the white lines,
let's go fly Eagles Fly against the Packers. Hurts the
tushbush probably gone right. No, Jason Kelsey, he's out.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Hocket product.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Yeah, the brotherly shove goes away and you got sa
gone Barkley there. So curious as what that does for
his touchdown total for the season, But I don't need
to care about the season. I care about Week one,
and I think that receiving Core and Barkley are enough
to get it done. Number four Kyler Murray going up
against Buffalo secondary concerns. This is one if you look
(09:03):
at the over under for the week, this is one
with one of the higher totals that we'll be looking
at from the betting standpoint of this game. Forty eight
is the over under for this one. So we'll get
Kyler Murray in Marvin Harrison Junior and rounding out that
receiving Core McBride one of the fantasy darlings of the year,
(09:24):
and obviously I love the sledgehammer that is James Connor.
And again we saw Lamar Jackson running wild like Hulkamania
did back in the eighties before whatever happened to him.
Now with Kyler Murray, he looked like a video game
character the last couple of weeks of last season. I'm
expecting more of that. And then finally to round out
the top five, revenge game. Nah, just a really good offense.
(09:47):
Jared Goff going up against the Rams in Detroit, one
of their fourteen Dome games on the year. We know
about all the offensive weaponry, the depth at running back,
and the fact that Aaron Donald is going to be
watching it at home just like us.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Give me Jared Goff as my number five.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah. I think it's a huge storyline that hasn't been
talked much about throughout this season, is the absence of
Aaron Donald. Also a programming note, if you are listening
to this on Saturday, obviously you heard Mike Saint Jalen Hurts.
We are recording this late Thursday night into Friday morning,
after that Chiefs Ravens game. So hopefully if you get
this Friday morning when you're on your way to work,
(10:25):
or maybe Friday afternoon when you're driving home, you can
take Mike's Eagles Packers information and use it for that
Friday night game in Brazil. But obviously, if you listen
to the podcast after that, some of that will be dated.
So don't hold it against us, is what I'm saying.
All Right, let's get to the running backs one through five.
Here four, week one of the National Football League season.
Who do you like tolt in the rock mike in
(10:47):
Week one.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I have a giant asterisk next to him because I
have no idea what I'm getting health wise, because let's
face it, it's the age of misinformation. Coming into Week one,
they have to release something, and that's Christian mcaff going
against the New York Football Jets. Trent Williams is back.
Welcome back, you know, much to chagrin I know of
Ian and my guy Jason Smith, because they were really
(11:09):
hoping that the Jets would get to run over Rock
Purdy and these guys in Week one, and then that
would necessitate a huge contract for Trent Williams after Nah,
he got it done instead ahead of Week one, and
that means McCaffrey is your top play again. Going back
to the Friday game, Saquon Barkley going up against the Packers,
don't worry. We'll give a couple of bonus ones to
(11:31):
round it out. Rashad White going up against Washington.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
He may be.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Deposed or maybe lose the workload split at some point,
but for week one, believing him, believing in the Tampa
Bay offense, that they'll get it going against Washington.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Everybody's darling all of a sudden, there's still twelve to.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
One to win division to get in our random wagering notes,
b John Robinson, Arthur Smith is in Pittsburgh and he's
gonna watch the guy that he should have let run
them up last year for fantasy owners.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
He's gonna run wild on them. So he's number four
this week runner.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Receiver, and I think he's going to be the biggest
factor of this game because we'll talk about the rest
of that unit a little bit later. Breeze Hall in
that Monday night game against San Francisco, I don't need
him to be consistently great. I need two big runs
out of him. I need him to go Barry Sanders
for me for for zero zero minus four minus four
eighty two at a touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
That's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
And then a couple of bonuses just because we did
include some Brida guys.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
You guys, do you want to save him for the
hot plays? Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I got plenty of those, two.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Dan Okay, all right, give us the bulls, So we'll.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Just give the bonus for six and seven James Cook
the aforementioned against Arizona and then we'll get Jonathan Taylor
in the mix against Houston.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I got to use him while he's still healthy and upright.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Giving respect to Rashad White again, I had a buddy
who had a great fantasy season last year. My buddy
called him Rashard White the entire season.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You want to talk about disrespect. And I had a
Keeper League po possibly and I chose not to keep him.
He's one of the earlier picks in the draft, So
shame on me that I didn't put my money where
my mouth is. But I do find Rashad White of
being a guy who was completely underrated. When we're looking
at the running back position and week one against the Commanders,
(13:18):
we can maybe expect some big things. Let's go to
the wide receivers. Guys are going to catch those passes
for week one.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
The always popular I'm on ra Saint Brown because we
take our seven receptions and then we figure out the
yardage and touchdowns later. Yes, which is the beautiful thing.
And what a receiver he is. And any guy that
still has the chip on his shoulder that at a
moment's notice and probably in his sleep, recites all the
guys drafted in front of him is good on me.
(13:46):
Justin Jefferson. You may not like Sam Darnold, but against
the Giants, I'll take him for one day. We'll run
with that as we go forward. Opportunity here to go
against a defense. Last year they were the fifth most
generous against opposing wide receivers.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And while there will.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Be some growing pains and the communication and everything else
over time with Sam Donald, I like the roster that
the Vikings have overall, so I think this is a
game that they can go and get and ease Darnald in.
And that means Jefferson a top play. Devonte Adams going
up against the Chargers. He's still salty about all those
(14:24):
social media memes making fun of him in the schedule
release and everything else. Four straight on hundred catch seasons.
We know he's mister reliable regardless of quarterback, and that
means Gardner Minshew has himself a target. Remember, they have
some other weapons there. The dual tight ends Jacoby Myers
and everything else. But Devontae Adams gets fed. Why because
(14:46):
he wants to put it on Jim Harbaugh and company.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Tyree Gale going.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Up against Jacksonville again I don't need him to catch
nine balls. I need three, and one of those being
a big hitter from two A tongue of I low.
This is one of my most intriguing games of the
of the week. I got my popcorn set because you know, Dan,
the over under on this one's forty nine and a half.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Oh, Mike, I'm well aware, as you'll find out at
the end of the podcast, I am well aware that
we'll get over under is.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
That's what you call tease yes in our business.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
And number five he may slow down eventually, but he's
going for his eleven straight thousand yard season. Let's go
back to the well with Tampa Bay and let's get
Mike Evans in the lineup going up against Washington.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
There you are your top five rankings four week one
at the quarterback, running back, and wide receiver position. Harmon's
not done. He's got your hot place, he's got your
cold story, he's got your ninjas. If you're new to
the podcast like I it is, we'll explain all that
to you. I know it's Greek right now, but you'll
understand quickly. Hit Mike up at Swollen Dome find me
(15:49):
at Dan Byer on Fox that's next tier on I
Want Your Flex Hit me up at Dan Byron Fox.
Find Mike at Swollen Dome. He is Mike Harmer. I
am Dan Byer. This is I Want Your Flags. The
executive producer of the show is Ian Roddy. We welcomed
Iann our first segment. Ian In is kind of a
(16:10):
tongue twister. I never thought I've never had to say it,
but we welcomed ian In earlier, and Ian is gonna
get his first taste of what hot plays and gold
soars and ninjas are. Our hot plays are basically just
the guys you got to get in your lineups that
didn't make Mike's top five. Basically, that's it, right.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Mike, You got it, brother, Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Let's get to him the hot plays guys you gotta
get in your lineup for week one.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Talking about that high over under in that Jacksonville Miami game.
We get the other side of it. We get Trevor
Lawrence in as a hot play. I know many people
down on him, and if you look at consensus rankings
for the season, not really much of an expectation. I
think folks forgot he actually played through a bunch of
injuries last year would refuse to yield the field, and
(16:56):
fortunately for him, the Eagles were a bigger collapse. But
against this my defense that changed up its secondary. They
may be great offensively. A lot of questions still remain
for McDaniel's squad down there on defense. And I'd be
remiss if I didn't roll the dice in Week one.
Caleb Williams making a player or two with his legs,
and obviously you've got the full compliment of receivers keeping
(17:18):
it on Keenan Allen for those of you looking for
that w R three or maybe flexworthy option, he's got
a heel injury. He's been limited in practice, but that's
okay because then you can shift towards Cole Comet or
one of the other options there.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
But for Caleb Williams, high on it.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I went full hog on the you know, with Smith
and I just said, you know what, I never get
to do this. I'm pushing the Bears all the way through.
How about that?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Right? That?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So them all the way with the.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Eagles before Jalen Hurts and company beat them in the
NFC title game. But we'll worry about that another time.
Three straight games against the AFC South. I'm very excited
to see here, and this is one where we look
at and we'll get to there is a cold play
on the Bears side. In a minute, Camara go up
against Carolina. He's going to pile up perceptions I do
(18:04):
on the board that you put up Dan each and
every year in our studio. There's the Super Bowl, there's
the predictions. The Saints are going to be the worst
team in football. Yeah, Dennis, Dennis Allen's gonna get fired,
but Galvin Camaro's gonna.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Catch a hundred balls. Okay, as long as he's healthy.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
My bockeded Saints as well, So I agree with that.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
There's no buzz at all about New Orleans. None. No
one was talking about.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Which really we made me salty when I didn't get
that second quarterback. And the Guillotine League we drafted and
the only guy viable was Derek Carr.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I'll tell you what I'll say. The only starter, by
the way, in our Guillotine League that wasn't drafted was
Jacoby Brissett. We had thirty three or thirty four quarterbacks drafted.
Justin Fields was taken, Drake May was taken. But Jacoby
Brissette was not. I'm just going to say this. I
think Carolina wins in New Orleans on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I concur oh, you picked all right. I think Carolina
is uh. I think they're gonna be better. I don't
think they're the absolute dregs, even if the Vegas odds
are that they're down as bottom feeders. I think Canallis
actually does something with that squad.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Let's hope.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Let's hope, so let's go at least for one day.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Joe Mixon now a member of the Houston Texans going
up against Indianapolis again. This is one of those running
backs that's in that middle RB two phase of things.
But he's gonna catch the ball out of the backfield,
and I think he's gonna need to do that here
in week one as they try to get things rolling
and pick up where they left off a year ago.
(19:35):
We go back to the well in terms of that
Arizona Buffalo game, where we'll take a little Marvin Harrison
junior action to get involved, and I'll take another rookie again.
I'm not expecting, you know, world beating numbers from the
Giants overall, but someone's gonna catch enough passes to get
to about three thousand yards over the course of the year,
So why not start with Malik Neighbors to get us
(19:58):
started there. So Hot play again, we're looking at back
end twos and threes, and normally these are the guys
that are a little off the beaten path. Maybe they're
for the two quarterback league. Maybe as the year goes on,
it's more an injury replacement, or you're unsatisfied with the
production of your usual number ones.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That's what we try to do here.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
My favorite thing in fantasy football is each week looking
where my players are in Mike's rankings or in other
sites rankings, just to see what other people are saying
about my team. And it's why I think that when
we do rankings. Mike gave you a rankings of the
top quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. Every single one
(20:40):
of those guys he names is going to be in
a starting lineup, there's no doubt about it. But I
love to have the number one guy that week. I
think it's awesome. I think there's there's a rush. That's
how I enjoy fantasy football. So I feel those top
five rankings are so important. What the Hot plays are.
They're the outside of the rankings, So the guys that
you still need to get into your lineup, or if
(21:01):
maybe you got a stacked position in a certain area
you're trying to figure out which guy to play, maybe
this will lean over to it. And when Mike does
is Ninja's coming up in a little bit. There's even
more of that, even more borderline guys that you got
that got to get into. So that's why we kind
of do this in the way that we do with
the hot plays, with the rankings, the cold soares that
(21:22):
were do you have any more hot plays?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Micro Rn that's the end, We're done. We did a
couple of rookies to close it out.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, I just wanted to make sure because I want
to transition to the cold source. The cold Soares are.
Let's be honest, nobody wants them, Nobody wants anything to
do with them. They're bothersome, they're hurt, they're annoying, they're gross.
You don't want to touch them, you don't want to
see them, you don't want to look at them. That's
how we feel about these players in this group. So
these are the ones that you want to stay away from.
(21:49):
You want nothing to do with your cold source mic
for Week one of the twenty twenty four NFL season.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Quarterback position foreshadowed it a little bit earlier. Captain Kirk
going against Pittsburgh. Look, I don't think Pittsburgh's offense is
going to score eighteen or nineteen points a game, but
that defense, so long as TJ. Watton company are healthy,
they're gonna get after it. So while I think there
might be some points to be had when we look
at the overall, with the total on this one is
(22:17):
only forty three, Atlanta three three and a half is
the point spread on this one. Captain Kirk, I think
they get the win, but it's not a pretty pretty site.
I think it's a slug and a little bit more
from the kicking game and the legs of Bjohn Robinson.
So Captain Kirk goes into the QB twos for me
(22:38):
this week, as well as Dak Prescott against the Cleveland Browns.
Tell me, you're not waiting with a bucket of popcorn
to hear what Tom Brady has to say about everything
in this game on both sides, both he and Deshaun Watson. Right,
there's storylines for days, but you're looking at a team
last year fourth best against fantasy quarterbacks and really beyond
(23:02):
Ceede Lamb and I guess we'll talk Jake ferguson receiving
game is a little suspect, offensive lines a little suspect,
and that running back position. Man, Yeah it's Zeke and
whatever's left of Delvin Cooks.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
So Riko now though.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Nicely got Yeah, they are Rico.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Nicet I's head.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I guarantee.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Look, he's gonna get a lot of good pop culture
knowledge over the next twenty five weeks or whatever this is.
So we'll just have an encyclopedia according to the iWatch
Reflex podcast.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
You're gonna have to catch up Ian all right? Who
else he got for the cold source for week one?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
All right, Josh Jacob's going up against Philly. I know
there's a lot of excitement for him. The fact that
Lloyd is banged up and may not be able to
go hang a star on that one. It means Jacobs
will keep his workload. AJ Dillon's gonna be watching the
game like all of us, doing a podcast or something.
And then Kyron Williams going up against Detroit. Look, I
like Kylen Williams. I think The idea of what they're
(24:13):
doing with both of their running backs in the return
game is potentially asinine and destructive, but that's me outside
looking in. It may be the work of genius. I
think ninety percent of the kickoffs are going to be
touchbacks anyway, But for Kyron Williams against Detroit's front not
looking for the jail break. I know the over under
on this one is also pretty strong. We're looking at
(24:34):
fifty one what it's all said and done, but I'm
looking for him to have a smallish part in it.
More in the receiving game wide receivers that we're going
to stay away from. I got a Trio one I
talked about him before. As addition by subtraction leaving Buffalo
heading to the planet Houston. That's theefon Diggs. I think
he's the odd man out. I think you get Tank Dell,
(24:55):
you get Nico College, you get a little Dalton Schultz,
you get the work out of the backfield.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Dig This is a guy who's a nice.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Luxury product and in Week one doesn't exist unless they
try to force him the ball so he stays happy.
That's my only fear in making him part of this list.
Dan is they try to speed or hey, if we
if we at least throw it to him a bunch,
he'll shut up for a week.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Watch the Philadelpha Eagles in aj Brown and how they
deal with him, and then see how good it works
with Teamen chemistry, because it doesn't there.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You go, Hey, but you know what, Jason Kelce isn't
in Philly anymore. Dan, So Jalen Hurts feels empowered to
be the leader. I don't know whatever that means his
head coach. Well, there's no question about that, all right,
two other guys. One guy might get lost in the sauce.
Brandon Ayuk Monday Night Football, Welcome back. He got your deal.
(25:45):
I think there's more for Deebo, Samuel and the other
members of this receiving corps U and then DJ Moore
for the same reason. He's gonna end up drawing a
lot of sneak who comes over from Kansas City for Tennessee.
So I think you're gonna see more of Madoonsay, more
of Keenan Allen as much as he's able to give you.
And then you've got the dual back, dual tight end
(26:07):
of Everett and Comet to contend with as well, not
to mention Kaylin Williams himself and that try three headed
monster out of the backfield. So Dj Moore is a
guy that I've got great hopes for.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
For the year.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Week one, I temper it and he is a high
end two for me rather than his normal lofty position.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
So those are the cold soars for Week one of
the NFL season. Now we get into the Ninjas. These
guys may not be in your lineup every week, but
this is the week to get them in. Is that
a fair assessment you were? You had the ninja phrase
way before I came along on this show.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yeah, we've basically just said guys that pop out of
the weeds that you're not expecting. Maybe you've dismissed, maybe
you've put him in the closet for a little while,
and they decided they're the monster that doesn't want to
stay hidden anymore and they want to be seen. They
want to be out front, they want to cause some terror.
So here they are in your lineups.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Let's do it. Ninja's fork one.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Justin Herbert dismissed. Now, I know he's in a walking boot.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I know he's not one hundred percent even as we
get here to Week one against the Las Vegas Raiders,
one of the more interesting starts to the season, right Vegas.
A lot of noise with Devontae Adams. I think he
talked to everybody about us dan in the preseason, with
all the jabbering that he did. Gardner Minshew's the quarterback
(27:26):
for the Chargers. All about Jim Harbaugh and the run
game and everything else. They don't have any name brand receivers.
Guess what you might get a nice play action passing
game that flows out of this. And some of these
guys that are twos and threes, guess what they've played
as ones before? The Josh Palmers because guess what, Keenan
Allen and Mike Williams weren't showing up every week, So
(27:46):
these guys are battle tested. I know DJ Chark's still
on the injury list as well, so we'll keep an
eye on that. How about your guy, Gino Smith, another
guy who's been under the radar.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
This entire offseason.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Deal with the noise that was made in Seattle was
when everybody was fighting.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
That's true, That's true. They are very much under the radar,
even with the new coaching staff. And the Pete Carroll legacy.
This is what happens when your quarterback is not Marquee.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, very very chippy.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
But he's got several wide receivers and that's why Gino,
we're gonna pair him with Jackson Smith and Jigmas somewhere.
We talked about in our Pass Catcher's preview episode of
the podcast, and you brought him up, brought up Tyler Lockett,
guy like DK Metcalf, who's got a tough individual matchup
in this one. Yeah, with so he was narrow miss
(28:39):
on the cold source, but because I think he'll still
be able to make a play or two to make
a bigger impact. But we'll see there. Go back to
the running back position. Gus Edwards of the Chargers going
up against Las Vegas. Look, I got to ride him
while he's healthy. So in Week one, even against a
pretty good defensive front for Vegas, he's a short yardage
(28:59):
go line guy and I'll get my double digit touches.
Jerome Ford, who's been sneakily available late in drafts. I
think folks just forgetting about Cleveland's running game with Nick
Chubb not available for a while here going up against
Dallas defensive front. Look, I don't trust to Sean Watson.
(29:19):
I think they have to establish a run, and Ford
is that guy quitting himself quite nicely. In twenty twenty three,
finally at the running back position, Devin Singletary again volume volume.
I'm not looking for world beating numbers, but if he
can give me twenty for eighty and maybe find an
outside shot at a score, or give me three or
four catches, then I win. And I think the last
(29:42):
guy I throw on just going back to the quarterback position.
The other side of that Vegas Chargers game, Gardner Minshew,
because he has no conscience.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
He's gonna be fun there, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Like he's a guy that recognizes what he is at
this point, and he'll take his shots downfield. I like
guys that are willing to gamble a little bit. Now,
if it's my favorite team, I'd like that. I'm not
in that circumstance every week, But you know what, good
things can happen at times, and he's got enough weapons
to make make that happen.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
You are high on Ford in the preseason, talked about
them in our running Back episode, and you mentioned the
Gino Smith and the jsn connection. I fully expect Jackson
Smith and Jigba to supplant Tyler Lockett is option number two.
He should like this is now is the time to
do so. And I think that we're going to see that.
(30:34):
Curious to see what Denver brings to the table, obviously
with bone Nix as their quarterback. And you mentioned the
Stan Metcalf matchup, which is one that I will have
my eye on and you should all have your eye
on it as well. And if only the Denver Broncos
could do their part. Seahawks are wearing the throwbacks and
their opener, so hey, enough reason to watch that game
if you just add Denver where their throwbacks could be
(30:57):
an old AFC West title instead of a Super Bowl
forty eight rematch, you know, sort of. Look, even though
Denver's got new uniforms, but they're not that different. The
helmet's pretty much the same except for a sticker. This
should have just gone with a throwback and we could
have thought it was bas against l way back in
eighty let's go.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Yeah, I think I'm going to envision it that way anyway.
See if I can't get some AI that allows me.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
To do that, all right, He's Mike Carmen. I'm Dan Byer.
It is I want your flex. That's all a harmon's information,
except Mike's gonna give you his super Bowl pick next.
In fact, we all will, and I want your flex.
Plus we're doing away with the give you one reason. Yeah,
I'm moving on from that, but I've got some advice
that I got to get off my chest. You'll hear that. Next,
he's Mike Karmen. I'm Dan Byer. This is I want
(31:45):
your flex. All right, let's wrap this up. It is
I want your flex. He's Mike Carmen. I'm Dan Byer.
Week one is almost here. Ian Roddy is our new
executive producer, and Ian's gonna jump right into the deep end.
You are ready to give advice in Week one of
the NFL season. A streaming defense this week, Ian Roddy,
(32:07):
who do you recommend someone to pick up for this week?
Speaker 5 (32:10):
All right, yeah, so my first tidbit of advice on
the pod here, I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and
recommend as a streaming defense the Chicago Bears. What I
like about them? They're playing the Tennessee Titans this week.
Tennessee They've got Levis under center, he's you know, young,
last we saw him really reckless. And then just Chicago's
(32:31):
defense themselves, Jalen Johnson, one of the best colorers in
the league. You've got a pass rush with Montes, Sweat,
and then just other good guys in the secondary, young
guys Kyler, Gordon, Tyreek, Stevenson, Jakwan Brisker. I just like
the names and the talent that Chicago has. And then
eber Flus himself is just a great defensive mind as well.
So going against a team like Tennessee that's led by
(32:54):
a young guy like Levis, I like Chicago's odds.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
You really, Mike, you really saw that defense merge in
the second half of last year and maybe after the
Sweat deal. But not only do the native Chicagoans like
you expect Caleb Williams to play well, but this is
kind of going to be a defensive team as well.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Well, that's the thing, right after Eric Williams or Alan
Williams Alan Williams, So now I'm mixing old coordinator new coordinator.
After Alan Williams went and disappeared, in a lot of rumor,
conjecture speculation as to why still never found out exactly
what's going on. That kind of got dismissed.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I kept holding up a sign as we did the
podcast last year, Ian, where's Alan Williams.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yes, that's why I'm laughing because it came back this year.
I thought we had moved on, but no, no, we're
not still there.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Because it wants well, bo that's the goal.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
But the big thing is that it necessity necessitated such
a change, right knieber Flues now well quaffed. You saw
it in the Hard Knocks. Actually when when a guy's
beard mustache comes one of the more interesting things on
Hard Knocks. You got a bad show. But ibra Flus
good defensive mind. Eric Washington is their defensive coordinator, really
(34:10):
well regarded the guy that they're already thinking in two
years time might be looking at head coaching jobs down
the line. But you've got a good structure. You were
a top ten defense down the stretch. Now a full offseason,
they made a couple other trades quietly during training camp
that added some more depth. Now sweats banged up to
(34:32):
start things, but expected to go. As we sit and
record this late on Thursday, Yeah, everything is there to
go make some noise, so long as the offense does
their job right, which under justin fields, the problem was
as much as he could give you an electric play,
he could also just lay the ball down on the ground.
(34:53):
So less of that from Caleb Williams. If he's a
better steward of the ball means better opportunities for this defense.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Off We are year twenty seven of my long term
league ten teams standard league team defense. But again we
only have ten members, so there's it's you know, a
little tighter than a twelve team, and our rosters are short.
But anyway, when it comes to team defenses which we play,
you have your usual suspects. You have the Niners off
(35:22):
the board, Ravens were taken, Ian's Jets were taken in
my ten team league. I completely whiffed on taking the Bears,
and then I waited to our pick up deadline that
we have where we can pick up in ten minutes
after the deadline passed, where we could pick them up.
I picked up the Bears. So Ian, I am right
there with you, and in fact, they may stay on
(35:45):
my roster. I think they're going to be a play
throughout this season, so they could be out there in
your league, because I think there are other flashier names
that you will see, and you'll see people end up
taking the Browns. Obviously, great defensive team you know are
are going to be taken. But a team like the Bears, Yeah,
people may not be as keen to it as you
would think.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
Yeah, only rostered in leagues right now.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Perfect, Yeah, and so yeah, that's where our league was.
So when I picked up the Bears, maybe it was
forty one percent. All right, here's here's my categories. I
give you a Survivor pick every week. We're not gonna
we're not gonna mess with this one. You gotta go Cincinnati.
Joe Burrow is healthy, which we don't know when we're
gonna get again. Right, You've got Jrod Mao coming in.
(36:31):
We don't think that the Patriots are really in it.
Jacoby Brissette is the quarterback, veteran leadership, blah blah blah.
But with Jamar Chase back, with T Higgins, I think
you gotta ride Cincinnati. I think you're gonna see a
lot of Bengals this week for the for the Survivor
pick that is going to be your obvious one if
(36:51):
you're looking for one that maybe isn't as obvious. I
would even say Seattle to that point, Mike, of you know,
the Seahawks are a six point favorite, one of the
big more bigger that you have. But I think people
are wondering what you're gonna get from Mike McDonald. I
think a lot of us are wondering what we're gonna
get from bo Nicks. And I think Seattle's defensive line
is improved, they should be able to score against Denver.
(37:12):
So Seattle could be or your hidden gem when it
comes to survivoral.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
See if you can overpower up front Denver's offensive line
not harolded it as one of the best. And we'll
see what Sean Payton's got. In the post, Russell Wilson
era a lot of praise for bo Nicks. A lot
of it I think flows out of it. I got
no personal animus with him, but it seems like everybody
has a love fest if they've met and hung around
Sewan and Peyton, So I think that there's a little
(37:39):
of that that flows through. So maybe bo Nicks gets
elevated a little more than is reality, if that makes sense.
So yeah, I'm looking at Seattle's defense. It's one thing
you know, your new head coach can do is coach
him up on that side of the ball. So I
would expect aggression against the rookie because, let's face it,
the Denver Wide Receiving Corps. Who do you trust out
(38:01):
of there? Yeah, there's a couple of guys you like.
D Yeah, but week to week, right, Sutton s du right,
and then everybody keeps trying to make Mims happen.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
We'll see, sure, we'll see if Mims the word on Sunday.
By the way, Mike Ian, if you didn't know, Mike
was also talking directly to me about Sean Payton. I
tell the story. We were filling in one time on
Fox Sports Radio and Sean Payton was the guest, and
I decided to make up a game called danger Zone
where we just asked him like rapid fire questions in
sixty seconds and he completely played along. So I'm like,
(38:41):
all right, cool, And it's the only time I've ever
done the segment. I've never done it again.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
You would never go back to the well And no,
that was I wasn't talking about you, And you know,
love it, Lovington. We've got a couple others in our
in our in our severe that may maybe it's a
bit over the top for my liking.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, yeah, I uh he played along with danger Zone,
so I was game with it.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Awesome, But why would you go back to the well
you got your hit, Hey, that's it stands in it.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Uh my points of he'd probably like to forget it,
so I think, yeah, it's probably it's a proble movie
for distant memory. Oh man, the points of Palooza. That
is not new a game where look, you can look
at the over under. It might always suggest that you
do so when you're looking for fantasy, find out where
(39:34):
the over unders are the highest, and maybe look to
play guys in those games. I'm not gonna take the
highest one every week unless it's just there's there's no
other option, and I feel that there's another option outside
of Rams Lions, and it is one Mike mentioned earlier.
I think Jaguars Dolphins is going to be a fun one,
and I think it's it's gonna be hot, you know that,
but hey, Jacksonville is accustomed to some of the warm weather.
(39:56):
They go down to Miami to face the Dolphins. I
think you're gonna see a lot of points. Second or third,
I think highest over under the week. But I love
Jacksonville and Miami and that points of palooza.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Yeah, forty nine and a half.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Yeah, part of it, Dan is just the It's also
the tiebreaker, right if you're deciding between WR twos, WR threes, whatever,
and you're torn, look to the game where there's an
expectation of a higher point on it. Sure, and then
obviously we also, you know, soon enough we'll start getting
into the weather apps and NFL weather websites that give
(40:32):
us an idea of what we're looking at for wins
and whatever when we dig a little deeper into kickers
in things of that nature. But yeah, it's to jump
out that we got three or four games that are
forty eight plus. That's a nice little kickoff for the NFL.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
And then my final news segment, by the way Colts
Texans around, that's you know, over under for points wise,
same with Cardinals bills. But I'm signing with Jacksonville and
Miami to really pay it off. My final segment, I
told you we were doing away with the give you
one reason, but I am going to give you a
player each week, and I'm going to give you a
player in a category of an Oasis song in honor
(41:11):
of them reuniting, and who knows of this concerts even
of no, no, we didn't, we didn't try, and I
know there's rumors of them come into the States, but
we did not get any tickets. Didn't didn't even try.
But I am excited to see, uh, the Gallagher brothers
back together. And I figured what better way to, uh,
(41:33):
I don't know, to celebrate that than to have a
player be in a category of an Oasis song each week.
So it's a different song which allows which allows me
to do a positive or a negative and uh, We're
going to start out week one the song Supersonic, So
this player is going to have a supersonic sort of
(41:53):
performance on Sunday. Mike, you mentioned them earlier in your
Quarterbacks Kyler Murray Arizona Cardinals against the Bills. We talked
about the love of Trey McBride and him going off
draft boards a lot earlier. Kyler Murray is not at times,
and I think that there is an awesome opportunity for
him to show his stuff against the Bills coming up
(42:15):
on Sunday. He's not gonna have to deal with the
weather in Buffalo of any snow or cold. Since it's
Week one, my supersonic play for Week one is Kyler
Murray of the Arizona Cardinals in a good way?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Do you sing a few bars of the song too?
Are we treated to that?
Speaker 3 (42:30):
No? I can't for podcast rights reasons. You know, we
don't want to howe them any more money.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Oh, nicely done? Wait to be well.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
Actually, you know what if they fight us, they're not
fighting each other, we might get that tour after all, Dan.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Barr, Liam and Noel putting together a super Bowl time
for our Super Bowl predictions. Mike Harmon, you teased yours
earlier by seeing the Bears from the NFC Championship game.
Do you want to give us your Super Bowl prediction?
Speaker 4 (42:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (42:58):
The prediction for the fight is pain.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Somehow, some way, the Eagles navigate their way to the
Super Bowl again. I'm not the biggest believer in Sirianni,
but I love the roster. Even with the changes at
the offensive line, I think there was depth there on
the defensive line. Yeah, I know, Fletcher Cox has gone
(43:20):
and Kelsey're gone. I can't state how much those two
losses kind of bug me. But bringing in Saquon Barkley
and I think there's enough talent to keep things rolling up.
On the other side, maybe I'm just still an apologist,
and because picking the chiefs.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Isn't fun, I've done that before. Like I'm moving on.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
So I'm gonna take the Buffalo Bills, all right, That
Aaron Rodgers sorry, and the Jets fall flat, That the
Dolphins can't finish because they have no defense. Patriots are
what they are, so they win the division, and then
the battle of Attrition begins, and that no Stefan dis
means that Coleman and Shakir and Kincaid and Cook can
(44:07):
get it done.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Ian Roddy your Super Bowl fifty nine prediction.
Speaker 5 (44:11):
Yeah, I would love to pick my Jets, but to me,
I just feel like there's too much that has to
go perfectly right for them for that to happen. So
my AFC candidate is the Cincinnati Bengals' gotten them right.
With Joe Burrow returning, I think I don't know if
a deal is going to get done with Chase here,
but that's not really the point of this this talk
(44:32):
right now is you know, I think I think he'll
be there at some point, is the bottom line. And
I think that they'll make it to the Super Bowl
this year. They've been there once before, and that was
when Burrow was so young already, and he's older now,
more experienced, So just from a cerebral standpoint, he's improved
so much and now he's healthy. So I like the
Bengals for that, and then the NFC. I'm with Mike.
(44:54):
I like the Eagles again. I also don't really like
Nick Sirianni, but like Mike said, too, really really like
the roster and even though they lost Jason Kelsey, it
just feels and Fletcher Cox, it just feels like they
have so many trench guys. Whenever they lose someone, they
can just unbox a new one, you know, fresh from
the rap. You know, they've got Cam Jurgen's waiting in
(45:15):
the wings, a former pick that they can just replace
Jason Kelsey with. For Fletcher Cox, it's not a one
for one thing. But they've got, you know, uh, Nolan
Smith from Georgia who's barely played yet and he was
a first round pick. I I just really like where
the Eagles are right now roster wise, and regardless of
whether or not Sirianni is the best head coach, they
(45:35):
do have an adult in the room and Jalen hurts.
So I got the Eagles and I have them beating
the Bengals in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
Okay, Eagles win it all. Mike, did you have winning
Eagles bills?
Speaker 4 (45:44):
Match up bills? Bills, bills, stop bills. It just rolls
off the tongue. I mean, they're kind of like the Bears.
What's funny is Jay Glazer joined Smith and I after
the the Chiefs and Ravens Oprah and started asking about,
you know, players and situations and things that stood out
of training camp.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
And he went on and on about Jalen.
Speaker 4 (46:06):
Carter, so you know, you can listen to that whole
conversation podcast wherever you get it, but talking about how
much he expected him to take a leap and be
a disruptor for the Eagles this year. So part of
the rationale even before I had this mapped out, before
we talked to Glazer and it just emboldened me a
little more.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Well, Ian and you shared the Eagles, Mike, you and
I will share the Buffalo bills. I also have Buffalo
advancing from the AFC. I am coining Buffalo as Snowtown.
Speaker 5 (46:37):
That is.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
My coinage. My phrase I will use because if it's
perfectly with my motown versus Snowtown real, I like it.
I got the Lions in the Super Bowl, and give
me the Lions to win super Bowl fifty nine. I
fought it last year because I said, I don't want
both of these droughts eliminated in one year.
Speaker 5 (47:00):
I don't even know who we would be rooting for.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
Yeah right, I'm like, I don't want to. I'm just
I'm like, I'm not gonna fight this. Let's just let's
try to bring it to fruition Lions and Bills, with
the Lions getting the last laugh. I guess. I guess
if you were to root for someone to probably be
Buffalo because of their previous Super Bowl failures and the
Lions just getting there would be an accomplishment. But we're
(47:24):
going to keep that Bill's saga continuing into next season
because we're going to have the Lions win Super Bowl
fifty nine.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Boy, that would be one hell of a party in
New Orleans, thouldn't it.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
Oh my goodness, those two fan bases, Yes, in New Orleans.
I still have the picture from years ago on site.
The battle of good and Evil is what was I
was outside the walking down the street and there's a
church and I was just checking out this cool kind
of the way the light was hitting it and reflecting
or whatever. And all of a sudden, some guy popped
out of the weeds and started telling me the story
(47:56):
of how at midnight every night it's the battle of
good and evil on those grounds. And I was waiting
to get shived. I didn't, but it was a most
interesting and terrifying ten minutes. I think I've ever spent
in a city, just kind of walking around myself.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Oh man, good times. Me being the fussy eater. You know,
the food in that city does not do the many favors.
But still you gotta love the vibe of New Orleans.
Still a ways away, but it'll be here before you
know it. All right, there, it is week one, your
advice that you need, Mike, and I will be back
(48:31):
with another episode of I Want Your Flex that will
be produced by Ian Roddy after week one. It'll be
with you on Tuesday, and so you'll want to get
our recaps and what we think of what we saw
in week one and what you need to get ready
for in week two as well. So for our new
executive producer Ian Roddy welcoming him aboard. He is Mike Carmen.
I'm Dan Beyer. Good luck in week one. We'll talk
(48:54):
to you next time here and I want your flex
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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