Players to Reach For + Listener Mailbag (Ep. 211)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Everyone, Welcome back to the Things and Crows Football podcast.
I'm Bobby Sylvester and Tags is back this week. I
hope you're refreshed from some time away. Man. I'm doing well, man,
And I gotta say that I did listen to the
podcast with Jason that you had on and the reason
they canceled Mike and MICUs because they were making way
for the Unverified Mike and Mike Show. So don't say
that they canceled it for a reason. Jason, I can't

(00:37):
wait to be on next time when you hop on
the show. Now. I know that you thought we were
going to skip on all this Tags, but you know
it was really good timing for you to go on vacation,
by the way, I think the audience deserves. However, to
hear your reaction about losing to me for the second
straight season in Draft rankings expert accuracy. Yeah, no, it
was funny because I heard that on the show and
I hadn't even looked at the article until that happened,

(01:00):
and finding out Jake was number one, I was like,
that's all I need to know. It's all downhill from
there because because mister Seely will let you know that
he is number one and you are not, So it
didn't really even matter where I finished from there because
I was gonna hear it from Jake. And then when
you said that you beat me, I was like, well,
I'm just gonna I'm losing it life, right, I mean
you should have expected it though, right, Yeah, I mean, well,
the thing is is my rankings are different than projections,

(01:22):
and I want to be clear about that because rankings
and projections are two different things, and I always approached
my rankings in a way that I would draft players
where it's like, if I went by my actual projections,
I don't know where I would finish in the competition.
But projections are more of like a realistic outcome, whereas,
like my rankings, they have to account for some upside
built in, so I might take a player who's projected
for less if he has higher upside. So there's there's

(01:44):
difference in rankings and projections. So it's all fair. But
but I'm still not happy I lose to you at anything.
I was going to say the same thing, man, I
think that's what it really came down to, is that
you rank with that in mind, and I think you
probably would have beaten me by five maybe ten spots.
We both would have been top thirty out of one thirty,
which is, you know, really great for the show joining
us today, and I'm really excited to hear who her

(02:04):
favorite players are is Brandon. Mary Ann Lee of Sirius
XM Fantasy, co founder of her Fantasy Football, and she
does videos for Fantasy Alarm. Brandon, thanks for coming to
the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
super pumped. I love this time of year because this
is where we find out what everyone's research was telling
them and we have no idea what the other people
who have been finding, so this is exciting. Thank you also,
by the way, for getting stuck on a train, because

(02:25):
that gave me thirty extra minutes to take a bath nap.
What the hell is a bath nap? A bath nap
is where tags you want to know this. It's when
like you play sports so hard and so rough that
your body's just completely exhausted. It's the only thing that
can make your body feel better. So yesterday I was
playing like I don't know what you would call it.
It's technically pool volleyball, but it was also like wrestling

(02:48):
and like an NFL kickoff and it was pretty extreme.
So my body's torn up today and I needed that,
So thank you, Brandon. This sounds awful like Brandon, I mean,
I don't I don't know how what your bath life
is like, but mine mine is non existent. I haven't
fit in a bath since I was like six, so
I literally have not taken a bath. I mean realistic.

(03:09):
You gotta get like the garden tub man, you're doing
life wrong and you gotta get it. So like, okay,
build a custom home and what you do is you
open up the floor so that you can have a
bath underneath, and then you just close up the floor
so nobody knows it's like under your carpet, and then
when everybody leaves, you just watch a movie in your garden. Tuble,
what is happening here? What is happening Brandon helping? I

(03:29):
live in a one bedroom in New York City. Having
a bath period is a luxury, So I can't imagine
custom anything. Custom means I painted in my apartment. That's whoa.
We live in totally different worlds brand and I can't
even like if I screamed as loud as I could,
I don't think anybody would hear me out here. Our

(03:51):
neighbors are so far away. Probably has turkeys in his backyard.
Oh that's so cool. I'm actually a really weird person.
I love being either in New York City or out
in the middle of nowhere, nothing in between. I'm not
a suburb person at all, which I was raising the suburbs,
but I mean I would love to live like on
acreage by myself alone, or in the middle of New
York City. It's nice and working from home, like I

(04:11):
don't really have to deal with people. I go play softball,
I go play war ball, which is the pool volleyball
I was talking about. That's pretty much a go to church.
That's it. That's all I interact with people. And then
you know people who like fantasy football who come on
our show. Wait, can I ask you guys a question.
It happened while I was on vacation. Actually I was
taking So we're on a walk with my son, who
is now seventeen months, and my wife's with me, and

(04:33):
I grabbed a beer before we went in our walk,
and I said it in the stroller. And we're walking
down the street and I have a beer in the stroller.
That is that bad? Etiquette because she's drinking and driving. Well,
she told me that. She's like, I don't know if
that's proper. I'm like, I don't see what's wrong with it.
I'm taking my kid for a walk, I'm getting some exercise. Like,
what's the big deal. I understand the whole drinking in
public thing, but is that like bad etiquette on my part?

(04:54):
I don't know, man, I don't have a problem with it.
I'm sure some turn would, but like, you're fine? Is
it not? With the baby stroller? I don't care about that.
But I think just like, can you walk down the
street with an open container that? Well, I don't think
it's legal anywhere, to be honest with you, and I
found that out the hard way actually in New York.
Mike Taglier he can do whatever he wants. Let's be real.
I gotta show your story with you guys, and the

(05:15):
listeners are gonna love this story. By the way, So,
my brother and I my dad before he passed, he
wanted to take us to Yankee Stadium. Like he had cancer,
he knew he was gonna go and he always wanted
to take us to the Old Enge Stadium. It was
the last year it was up, so he flew me
and my brother out there to go, and we started
walking on the town after the after the game and everything,
and we're like, oh, we want to go find CBGBs.
The Underground Rock place was like, there's t shirts on

(05:36):
it and everything. We wanted to go visit it. And
we walked through New York and we grabbed you know,
we grabbed the paper bags put around the beer like
you would, and uh, these cops stop us and they
basically they gave us a ticket for drinking in public.
And I was like, well, I had a bag over it,
and they're like, that doesn't make it legal. And it
was just like my brother he refused to pay it
and he was just like that's ridiculous. And the cops

(05:56):
at the same time, we're like, hey, cand you tell
us where CBGB's is and they're like, yeah, closed down,
and we're like, well, this sucks. It was an experience
that I learned that no matter if even if you
have a bag over your beer, it's still drinking in public. Yeah. Yeah,
New York City's really strict about that too. All Right, guys,
we're gonna be talking about which players we're willing to
reach for today, and so basically the players were most

(06:18):
excited about. Right, like usual, we're gonna go roundtable here,
give off five players we love enough to reach for.
Before we do that, though, we have a few male
bag questions I want to cover and I need to
know first, Brandon, who did you end up taking in
the first round of the scott Fish Bowl. Yeah, you
know what, I put up a poll because I'm having
a very difficult time. I really think it is splitting
hairs in terms of the top five running backs, in

(06:38):
terms of, you know, who is going to be the
best of this season. So I don't really have a
definitive opinion. And I know that sounds horrible to say.
How could you not have a definitive opinion? So that's
so unlike YouTube, I know, I know, but they're all good.
I mean, like whatever, you know. I mean, whenever people
are asking us fantasy advice and they ask us things
about like the first five picks, I'm like, you'll be fine,

(06:59):
don't worry, you know. For me, I went David Johnson.
I just feel like he's the freshest out of all
the guys, had the leads amount of touches. His injury
does not concern me whatsoever. It was a freak wrist injury.
His legs are fine. The guy was less than ten
yards less in receiving than Davante Adams in twenty sixteen. Okay,
that is how good he was from receiving. That's not

(07:19):
even counting the twelve hundred rushing yards that he had
double digit touchtouk He is insane. So I just felt like,
I like that. I'm a little worried about Levon Bell's
durability this year. I'm kind of alane on that just
the three seventy touches thing. Only one running back in
less ten years has had a better season the second
year after having three hundred and seventy touches. That was
Ray Rice between twenty ten and twenty eleven, if you

(07:40):
can believe that. And you know who has over three
hundred and seventy touches the year before, Poor David Johnson,
and then he got hurt. So the curse lives on.
So I'm a little bit worried about that. Todd Gurley.
There's just so many weapons. I'm not gonna go Barkley
number one. I just want to do it, and I
like Zeke, but I do think there's a PPR issue,
and if you have a problem with David Johnson in

(08:00):
his offense, how do you not have that same problem
with Dallas. So that's a good point. That's a good point. Yeah,
I think you're right. All five of those top five
running backs are awesome, and I'm a little concerned about
Levim Bell as well. I mean, it's it's kind of
hard to because he's been so amazing for so long,
but enough so that I would definitely take Todd Gurley
over him. Tag's wordy Stamman. Yeah, I'm with Gurley. I
think Gurley's a risk free running back at the top

(08:21):
of the draft. And it's not to say that he's
going to finish number one, because running backs just traditionally
don't finish number one year over year. But when you're
weighing in risk reward, like Levion Bell, you know there's
a risk of him holding out, there's a risk of
him injuring himself, like he's been a little less durable
than Todd Gurley. Some people pointed out Todd Gurley has
a floor too, go back to twenty sixteen, but that's
not really fair because you were playing for Jeff Fisher
and as you guys have learned on this podcast and coaching,

(08:43):
absolutely freaking matters, and if anything, McVeigh will change the
offense a little bit to make sure that it's not
predictable in twenty eighteen. So I have no concerns about Gurley.
I actually took Saquon Barkley at number five in my draft.
The big four We're gone Gurly Bell and Ezekiel Elliott
and David Johnson. But I actually I would take se
Quon Barkley over David Johnson. It's close for me. I'm

(09:05):
legit concerned about David Johnson's offense. I'm not concerned about
the player, but the defensive minded head coach. You know,
potentially a rookie quarterback. The offensive line is trash. We
saw David Johnson start turning downward in the twenty sixteen
season when it came to running the ball. Will he
be used as much in the passing game with Larry
Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk over the middle of the field.
I don't know. He's still gonna be valuable. I'm not

(09:25):
saying I think he's a mid first round pick even
if he goes backward. We talked about this a couple
of years ago. Even if he goes backwards twenty five
percent of what he did, he still would have been
the number two running back last year. Right, So obviously
he was hurting everything. But if I had to bet
on any running back getting three hundred and seventy touches
this season, it's David Johnson, and then maybe sae Quon Barkley,
and then Gurla and Bell Elliott started to come into

(09:46):
the conversation. Well, my thing is, I think Mike McCoy
this is his last stand, and as an offensive coordinator,
he likes his running backs, he likes his tight ends.
I think there's a little bit more to look at here.
And I like the fact that Sam Bradford and Josh
Rosen a very similar place to so the playbook can
be consistent throughout both of them. I'm not worried about
it going in and out. They're the same guy in
my opinion, and I feel like they're both an upgrade

(10:09):
from what they had last year. And frankly, I think
in borderline an upgrade from twenty sixteen in terms of quarterbacking.
So I really genuinely believe that this offense isn't as
bad as other people think. And that's why I think
we're going to get a discount of David Johnson. I
drafted Aaron Rodgers at a tenth overall, and I was
so pumpy dropped to me. And I know that some
people are gonna you frown at that, but it's a

(10:29):
super flex league and you've got six touchdowns for a
passing six points for a passing touchdown. So I was
going to take Rodgers at one one. I thought he
wouldn't make it to me at one ten, but he did,
and then I got back him on the turnaround. So
pretty punched about that. You know, Aaron Rodgers is masterful
in this one. He actually he outscored every other quarterback
in my projections in this like actual scoring format by

(10:50):
over fifty points. So he was in a tier by himself.
So I Rodgers, I would have considered I think around
one seven, one eight, depending on who was there. So
one ten, yeah, absolutely. Can you explain what the Scott
Fish Bowl is, by the way, tags, So yeah, Scott
Fish he's an analyst in the community, works for fan Ball,
and he puts together this every single year and he
keeps growing in getting bigger and bigger and So what
he does is he invites the analysts from around, you know,

(11:11):
all the different sizes. Bobby and I are in it,
Brandon's in it, so and then he invites fans in there.
People get in through various different ways, but all yes
you do is that you make a small contribution to
Fantasy Cares. And what happens with all this money that's
donated is he goes out every single year in every city,
Like they have people that go out in every city
and buy gifts for kids at Christmas time who are
a little less fortunate. So you know, I can't imagine

(11:32):
there's seven hundred and twenty people in this league. This
is a league that I would not dare commission. You know,
it's got all these different conferences and divisions and it's
just it's a headache. But Scott does it every single year.
So I kudos to Scott. Nicest guy in the whole industry.
And that's saying something because there's a lot of nice
people in this industry. Yeah, right on over to the listener,
Melbag and they're literally hundred, so we're obviously not going

(11:54):
to do them all. But I picked up three that
I thought would make for some interesting conversations here. If
you want to send in questions, you can email them
to mailbag at Fantasy Pros dot com, tweet us at
Bobby Fantasy pro or at Mike Taglier NFL. And we
have a new way of doing it. Do you want
to tell them about it? Tags? We have a phone
line you guys can call into and leave a question
on there. All we want to know is who you are,
where you're from, and leave it. Don't do a keeper

(12:15):
league question because we can't do those because we've got
a lot of questions on there. Every single keepers league
is so different, it is and it's really hard and
the advice doesn't apply to everybody. So go and call
leave a general question. We're gonna go through some today
so you guys can actually understand what it is we're
looking for. Yeah, the number is two zero nine eight
eight one p r OS. That's two zero nine eight
eight one pros give us call. Hey. By the way, Brandon,

(12:38):
where can you find you on Twitter? Yeah? You can
follow me at brandon her FB, isn't her Fantasy Football?
And yeah, you can check out videos and all sorts
of stuff. And I'm gonna be writing this year for
CBS Sports and Sports Line, So that'll be fun too.
Somebody be doing writing again along with the videos that
I'm doing for Fantasy Alarm, So yeah, terriffic. Yeah, looking
forward to reading your stuff, Brandon. You always come on

(12:59):
the show and you spice things up and give really
good advice. So I wasn't bored to hearing what you
have to say here this question. First one is Matt
from Philly. He says, some friends and I are starting
a new twelve team half PPR league. All other rules
are open to discussion. Are there any quirky rules I
should bring up, Brandon, We'll let ego first here. Well,
I would say I prefer auctions, yes, and so I'm

(13:21):
going to start with that, And I would say I
only like I'm going to be hot takey here. I
only like auctions in person one day, and I think
you should have an actual auctioneer and chip in for
one and it could be really fun. M that's a
cool idea. I've never heard that before. Oh, I love it.
I've done it. It's like my favorite way to draft
is having a real auctioneer going once, going twice, and
you're like, oh, that's so intense. I'm pretty sure our producer, John,

(13:43):
he is an auctioneer in his other life. He is
so good, so good. We did it for the baseball
draft that I hesitantly participated in, but John was the
auctioneer of Like, seriously, I would pay to have John
come out and do my draft. Yeah, he was absolutely phenomenal.
Tags what would you do to change up the league?
So I'm always a fan of making leagues deeper. So
you know, I'm running an article right now, and I

(14:04):
was reminiscing about the times when I started playing fantasy football.
It's about like the more research you did and the
more you read, and the more magazines you bought and
all that stuff, it made you prepared. You had sleepers
that nobody else knew about. You know, you were drafting
guys where you wanted to get them. Nowadays, it's a
little tougher to do that. So how do we increase
the talent gap? And the only way we do that
is is more starting positions. So I recommend three running backs,
four wide receivers, and two flex spots, then a tight

(14:26):
end spot, quarterback, whatever, but no kicker. By the way.
On top of that, deeper benches, some people say well,
you got to make people pay for that. No, if
I want an upside player on my bench and I
want to hold him there, yeah, I mean. The thing
is I can go through a twelve team league with
twenty five bench spots and there's still gonna be guys
out there that I want to grab on my team.
So when you have a sixteen round draft and you're

(14:47):
starting eleven of those players, there's five people on your bench.
That makes things really tough, and you have to let
go of players that you don't necessarily want to. So
that's the part I don't like about it. I agree
with you. My favorite thing though, and this is something
I don't think enough people do. Actually, I don't know
if I've ever heard any other league doing it. It's
changing the way that the playoff teams are decided. So
I like to play in a twelve or four team

(15:08):
team league. Four team is the best because then you
can just play everybody once for the first thirteen weeks.
Then you have three three weeks of playoffs, but the
best four get in obviously the two division winners get
it buys, and then what you do is you take
one team as the most points that's not in the playoffs,
they're the five seed, and then on Week thirteen, it

(15:28):
doesn't matter who you play. Whichever team that's not already
in the playoffs has the best points in Week thirteen
gets in That way, no one loses attention. People are
trying to make trades for good Week thirteen matchups, and
it just keeps everyone involved. It's a lot of fun.
Oh it don't do divisions. I don't understand the point
in divisions. I'm sorry, Am I wrong? I'm cool with
the Am I am I wrong? In this? Like I
never understood it at all. It's like if you get

(15:49):
stuck in a good division and you're like literally in
third place, and if you don't make the playoffs because
you just happen to fall in a good division. I
just feel like the best teams should be in the playoffs.
And one other thing I want to mention before we
move to the next question is that I believe that
the regular season winner, it takes more to win the
regular season overall than it does to win the playoffs.
Like there's their skill to that too, but the regular

(16:10):
season winner should get something. So what I do in
my leaders is that have everyone pay a dollar for
each transaction throughout the year, just a dollar, and then
what you do is you split that money. So usually
in my leagues it's about two hundred and fifty bucks
something like that, and then you'd take one hundred and
twenty five, give it to the regular season winner, take
the other one hundred and twenty five by drinks and
food for everybody, and have a league party for the year.

(16:31):
It's a cool idea, all right. Next one, Matt from
bed Stewie. I guess that's in Brooklyn. I'm really surprised
he uses y'all in here if he's live in Brooklyn.
But he's doing mock drafts recently and he found himself
developing a strategy he wanted to run by us. All okay.
The concept is basically picking up two similar wide receivers
with potential upside and then just figuring out which one

(16:53):
is going to be the star. We're getting ready to
the other one Jamison Crowder Josh Docks, and one of
them might be awesome, the other one might be done.
Davante Parker, Kenny Stills. You draft him both, you get
one really good wide receiver. What do you think about that?
I'm okay with it, but only if you think it's
going to be a productive offense. So in that case,
I guess it's kind of the opposite of what they're saying. Right,

(17:14):
So people are targeting offenses that people don't know who
the wide receiver one is. I'm fine with that. I
also feel like taking a stand on those and having
a better idea of who really is going to merge
as best and so like for me, I'm willing to
wait for Kenny Stills because I still think he will
present more value than DeVante Parker, although Parker's ADP has
dropped quite a bit so that that's actually probably a

(17:36):
pretty decent option there. But yeah, I think this is okay.
But I think this works better if you're any best
ball setting, because then one of them will go off
right each week year, So you're thinking that one of
them is going to be the guy that scores stesshown
and one of them is going to be the one
that whatever. In terms of me making actual decisions in
week one, you're gonna have to make decisions early as

(17:58):
to who you're going to drop for waivers, right, Yeah,
I think you're right, And it's it's always tough to
figure out who that guy's gonna be. With that said,
I mean, I think the Washington offense is gonna be
awesome with Alex Smith. Well, I don't know about awesome
because they had Kirk cousin Lester and they weren't exactly awesome.
But I love Jamison Crowder, Josh Dockson, I love him
and his ADP Parker I love it, his ADP Stills,
I love it is ADP. I don't know if either

(18:18):
of him is going to be a star in same
with Washington. I mean they've got Jordan Reid to throw
too as well. So I think it's Paul Richardson there.
I'm getting Paul Richardson everywhere. Yeah, Paul Richardson as well.
So tags, what do you think now? Yeah? No, I
think that you hit it on the head, Bobby, and
that it hasts to do with current costs, right, because
Crowder and Dockson are pretty cheap, Parker and Stills are
really cheap. And you know it goes back to you know,

(18:39):
random just mentioned Richardson, He's really cheap as well. But
what you want to do with those players, you want
to grab their quarterback, right, because if you think that
Richardson's gonna be the guy and then they're still Crowder
and Docks in there. They're gonna get performance. You want
to draft Alex Smith because he's gonna better than people think.
I think he's one of the more underrated quarterbacks, especially
in two quarterback leagues. I think Alex Smith, you'll be
extremely happy if you have him as your number two
quarterback and it's two back format. I got him top

(19:01):
ten man. Yeah, No, seriously, my projections came up back
to a little too high on him. I need to
go back and adjust them. But seriously, you'll love him
in a two quarterback format. As for the Dolphins, Ryan
Tannehill coming back, you know, if you look back at
what he was doing with Adam Gase, he was playing
pretty well with him. But it's really hard to gauge
because he's been out of football for basically a year
in a couple of games, so he could come back

(19:22):
not the same player. I like Parker and Stills at
their current costs, but I would I want to invest
two of my draft picks in an offense that I
consider to be a bottom ten scoring offense. No, I wouldn't,
And so I think Brandon's correct in that assessment where
if you have an offense like the Redskins, I have
no issue with it because we think it's going to
be a higher scoring offense. They have a bad defense
should be in some shootouts of their secondaries bad, I

(19:44):
should say the front sevens being rebuilt. But as for
Parker and Stills, I'm a little concerned about the overall offense,
so I can't necessarily like all of them, so I
would pick my poison there. And as for right now,
I'm with I'm with Parker on that one, so we're
gonna talk about that as the show goes on today. Also,
I'm want to say, have you guys seen this reality
show with Jay Cutler in it? Yes? Oh, it's guys,

(20:05):
this is my summer. I mean, I know we're supposed
to get excited for all or nothing and you know,
hard knocks, but man, it might be just watching Jay
Cutler do nothing and be sassy. If they can cut
out all the other parts without Jay, I would be
completely happy about that, because that was the first show
I've ever watched where I actually had to sit there
and watch like what was happening? And I was I
was so annoyed by a lot of the stuff that
was taking place, but when Jay came on, it was

(20:27):
nothing but laughter, like Jay's the star of that show.
When he said, I no idea what you guys are
talking about. Well, it's his wife's show, really, but it's
all Jay. It's all Jay. Because they were out to
dinner and she's like, so have you thought about what
you're gonna do now? And his quote, I'm not kidding
you is quote I'm not really looking to do a
lot of work right now. I'm looking to do the
exact opposite of that. That is so Jay cutlery, Bobby,

(20:47):
you got to watch it like Jay is just the
star of the show. No, man, I don't. I don't
think I'm interested at all. Sorry, guys, I don't really
watch much TV, and if I do, I don't want
to watch that. Yeah, well just watch the gifts. We'll
just watch cut ups on Twitter. Yeah exactly. I'll watch
like Civil war documentaries or something. I like those two. Yeah.
All right, final question here. This one's from John. Don't

(21:08):
know where he's from. We'll just make it up. We'll
say that John is from Alaska. So our first question
from Alaska on the Listener mail deck this year. My
question is about managing your bench throughout the season. Can
you discuss ways to know, like when it's time to
send a bench player to waivers. What's your overall approach
on keeping someone on the bench throughout the season versus
waiving them snap snaps counts. Here's my thing. I don't

(21:29):
think you can ever make a bad pick in the
double digit rounds. It's all about upside. It's all about
taking chances and you can you put them, you know,
on waivers. Okay, So that's one of the things that
I get really testy about when someone's like, oh, what
a bad pick in the twelfth round. I'm like, plays plays.
But what you do look at, in my opinion in
weeks one and two and three, is how often is

(21:49):
this player on the field. If this guy isn't even
getting on the field, it's time to cash in your
chips on them and get someone. But that depends on
what their upside is, right, because if they're on the
field all the time, you can literally compare their snap
count and decide right there what you want to do.
The only way that I don't feel that way is
a if a player is still hurt and you think
they're gonna have a big role when they come back,

(22:09):
or be if it is a very specific handcuff in
a great offense. So if you say I want to
hold on to Jaylen Samuel's because I have Levi on Bell,
that makes sense in my brain, even though Samuels hasn't
see the field. If you are holding on to let's
say terk Cohen and it doesn't work out for him
and he's not used the way that people think that
he is, and here you are, and you got this

(22:31):
great running back who has an opportunity because of an injury.
You have to go with the guy who's gonna be
on the field. More so, you have to be honest
with yourself. Don't hold onto those guys with a tremendous
upside for too long if they're not on the field.
That's my opinion. Remember when Odell Beckham, though he was hurt,
for the first six weeks, exactly everybody dropped him. He
was like five percent owned. What if Michael Gallup gets like,

(22:52):
you know, twists his ankle or something and he's out
for two weeks, he doesn't seem much snap count. Do
you automatically get rid of that guy, or like geronom
more els and you know he's gonna be the number two,
but he gets nicked up just a little bit. Do
you hang onto those guys? Tags John and his email
to us, he mentioned that he would be grabbing someone
like Kalen Blaje with his last pick, and I think
that's a bad idea. So Kalen blaj is third in
the depth chart. He's gonna require two injuries to see

(23:14):
significant playing time. He's the type did Alvin Kimara last
year in second. But he's the type of guy that well,
we saw Kimara snapcounts rising. That was that was clear
Thursday we talked about him on the show. But what
I'm saying with Blaje, I'd be shocked if he plays
more than fifteen snaps over the first you know, like
more than fifteen snaps in a game over the first
six weeks. Like I just would be shocked if that happens.

(23:35):
So I wouldn't take someone like him. I would take
someone that I know, basically i'm gonna know what i'm getting,
Like a Vance McDonald Vans McDonald is the ideal last
round pick for me because you're gonna see in the
snap counts if he's past Jesse James because those two
combined for I think it was eighty seven targets last year.
And if he has that starting tight end roll locked
up because he's had an entire offseason, Vance McDonald, you're
gonna know exactly what you have after week one, whereas

(23:57):
like someone like blaj you won't. Those are that's the
guy that you're gonna drop because you're gonna need to
find out. The week one of the waiver wire is
so important because that's when Brandon was mentioning, you're gonna
see the snapcounts. You're gonna know who is exactly where
on the depth chart, and that's when you need to
attack the waiver wire. And you can't hold onto players
like Klein Blaje, who might turn into something like if
you're in week five or week six and your roster's

(24:18):
got a few guys that you're kind of like myth about,
Like let's say that you don't really love having Alan
Hearns and your roster because he's consistently putting up six
points and he's not helping you grab someone like Kalen
Blaje in week five or six because that's just like
holding him, like, you know, Brendan said, like a handcuff.
That's when I start grabbing guys like that. But at
the beginning of the season, you want to look for
those guys that are going to make a difference because

(24:38):
they're actually on the field. I disagree. I love to
have the high upside guys the entire time, unless you've
got a really short bench. And so I don't mind
drafting Gay Kleen blaj is not even anywhere close to
my favorite. I don't mind drafting. And Justin Jackson, who's
the backup running back. A lot of people think Austin Ackler.
I think it's gonna be Justin Jackson. If Melvin Gordon

(24:59):
goes down, Jackson could be an RB one I really
believe then. So I'm fine having him on a bench,
even if he's not getting any touch. He's obviously if
you've got buys coming up, he've got injuries. Yeah, he's
the guy that you cut. But if you can afford
to do it him and John Kelly somebody like that,
you could hit an absolute home run. We'd be talking
about this year's Kamara, this year's Spencer Ware And I
understand by the time most of you drafted last year

(25:21):
we already knew about Kareem Hunt, but before then we
were telling everyone draft Spencer Ware and then he got
hurt and you won championships. So these are the types
of guys you want filling out your bench. I think
there are bad picks after the twelfth round. I think
if you're the guy who picks Greg's are lying in
the thirteenth round, you were gonna lose. I think if
you're the guy who is a Homer Ravens fan and

(25:41):
you're reaching for their defense in the twelfth round, or
you're getting your second quarterback then, or you're getting you know,
just some guy who's you know what, he's gonna be
a Nelson Agilar. He doesn't have much upside. He's just
a depth piece. I want all upside after that's thing.
So let's pretend something happens. Let's pretend Week one happens
and John Ross goes off for ninety yards in a touchdown,

(26:02):
and you saw him getting targets, you saw him being
a major part of the offense. Another guy in Richard
Matthews is that guy on the Titans, and these guys
are in the waiver wire. The first person you're gonna
drop is Justin Jackson. That's I'm dropping my depth guy. Man.
I'm not dropping Justin Jackson. You can always get depth
guys on the waiver wire. You can't always get a
Justin Jackson because Gordon gets hurt. Justin Jackson's one hundred
dollars fab you can get. You can get your depth

(26:24):
guy for one dollar. He's just like everybody else, but
he also might turn out to be exactly nothing. If
Melvin Gordon never gets hurt. Sure, sure, but that's that's
a risk I'm willing to take. It's just it's just
one roster spot, and it's not like there's any value
of a replacement for those depth guys. Well, but I
think what we're talking about here is basically the same thing,

(26:45):
but just saying it differently. We all agree that upside
is where you want to aim in the double digit rounds.
So don't draft Frank Gore because he's number two. Okay,
you know, unless I love Frank Gore and the guy's
classic Hall of Famer I love them, but like, let's
be honest, we would rather have Kilon Bellage than Frank
Gore because that's how we all on this show play

(27:07):
fantasy football. In terms of when I pick up someone
on waivers, it depends on how the people that actually
are not the low guys, the higher guys, how they're performing.
Because if I have two guys that I took as
my running back one and two, and they're not doing anything,
and I'm starting to get a little bit nervous because
now all of a sudden they're in a committee or

(27:27):
something weirdest going on with this offense, or like Joe
Mixon last year. Yeah, yeah, And then I'm like, Okay,
what am I gonna do? I may then have to
drop one of these guys to pick someone up. So
it's really about how the whole team is composed and
how I need to use that person, and then how
big my bench is. But you know, I think the
thing is again it comes down to usage and snap counts,
and you know what you're holding on too, And I

(27:48):
agree you hold onto Odell Beckham as long as you
can because it's an injury because it wasn't his fault.
But if I got a healthy dude there, I got
Joe Mixon sitting there not getting any playing time, and
I got Jeremy Hill in there, I'm thinking, what's going
on here? I may need to get someone fast or
I'm gonna lose this league big time. So you got
to think about like, it's all about contexts and each

(28:08):
of these players are different. I'm fine with you drafting
klein Balage, but yeah, you may have to let him
go if your other guys aren't performing. Hey, by the way, John,
I think klein Balage is very similar to Corey Clement
last year. I think he'll be in a similar type
of role. So that's a guy I would avoid. Sure.
I think there's upside eventually in his career, but he's
not going to be used that way right away. I
don't think so, at least all. Right on over to

(28:29):
the heart of the show, where we're going to tell
you about the players we're willing to reach for. But
first I want to tell you about your rules dot Com,
and seeing that you're listening to this show in early July,
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(28:49):
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(29:11):
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That's you areu LZ dot com. All right, so let's

(29:33):
do it, and Brandon, we're gonna let you start here.
I don't know about you, guys. I'm going in reverse
order just to build it all up. So, Brandon, who
is your number five guy that you're willing to reach for? Oh? Okay, well,
I actually I'm going to talk about the strategy that
I've employed recently. If I'm in the middle of drafts
right now, I'm finding that it's actually best value for
me to go wide receiver wide receiver, which I'm not

(29:54):
incredibly comfortable with. But I've had instances where I've started
with Hopkins and Michael Thomas. People are so running back
crazed right now that I can't let those guys go away.
If I'm right there, I'm just sitting there going, Okay,
it's this or Melvin Gordon, you know. I mean, these
are the decisions that I'm making. So what I'm doing then,
is I'm reaching in the third and the fourth for

(30:15):
these rookie running backs that, in my opinion, are definitely
the number one guys. So that would be the Rashad
Pennies of the world. Ronald Jones, the guys I listen
Sequon Barclay's amazing. Obviously he's gonna go with one of
the first six picks, but these other guys are incredibly
good and they do not have competition. Rashawn Penny had
the number one elusive rating according to Football Focus among

(30:37):
all of the running backs coming out of the draft
this year. Now he'll need it because of that offensive line,
but he's an incredibly good athlete who's built to play
in Seattle. Ronald Jones. I'm sorry, but if this offense
is going to give Jaquiz Rogers twenty plus touches a game,
what do you think they're gonna give Ronald Jones? I mean,
come on, So to me, I'm going a little bit
higher on them in the third and fourth. So then

(30:58):
I have two solid white receivers, two solid running backs,
and then usually I get like an Emmanuel Sanders type
from my third wide receiver, and I'm like, whoa, this
starting lineup is killer. I like it. So off of
those rookie running backs, who's your favorite? Is it? Is it? Guys?
Is it Penny? I think it's actually Ronald Jones because
I can get him the latest, and I think that
his usage is gonna be crazy, especially with the Jamis

(31:19):
Winston suspension. I don't know how they don't lean on him.
That would be insane. So right now, Ronald Jones is
ADP fifty nine. That's RB twenty six. Guys. I agree.
I think he's going to be a workhorse, And I mean,
what are they gonna do Peyton Barber? No, Yeah, that's
that's by the way. That's a lot of noise. You know,
come on, that's just crazy and That's why you also
have to listen to these preseason news blurms with Gran's

(31:42):
soul because they're also looking for news. Did you see
the guy, the poor guy who wrote that article about oh,
Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield got engaged. What should we do?
I don't even want to give it any attention Like
that was the stupidest article I've ever seen. I'm sorry.
I try and respect work. That was stupid. Yeah, I'm
glad I missed it. Yeah, so listen. In my opinion,
these guys are studs that came out for a reason.

(32:03):
I like a lot of them, and I am reaching
for them if I go wide receiver heavy at the top.
What do you think about Royce Freeman? Would you reach
for him as well? Yeah? I would. I think that
Denver is going to do really well depending on him.
I think they made a mistake with c J Anderson
last year, and still CJ put up over a thousand
rushing yards, So the quietest thousand rushing yards season maybe
in history, but it did happen. So yeah, and I

(32:25):
think people are really underestimating the Broncos offensive weapons period case.
Keenum is such an improvement over Trevor SimMan. I mean,
I don't know. People clearly weren't watching tape. You guys,
this is a huge improvement. You don't need to be
a case Keenum fanboy to be like yeah, wow, what
an improvement. So yeah, I would I would reach for
him too. Yeah. I think his legs also a lot
of people don't realize how fast case Keenum is. I

(32:46):
think his legs will open it up for Royce Freeman
to be a solid workie running back as well. Tags
what do you think about these guys? Um, well, you
guys are just taking people off my list. I'm not
really happy with you to here right now. So my
number five one was actually Royce Freeman. You know, he
was someone that minded me while watching his tape of
Jordan Howard. I don't think he does anything like elite
level Like, I don't think he's an elite level elusive
or anything like that. He's not a great pass catcher.

(33:08):
He's going to be awesome on the goal line. I disagree.
I think he's an elite level goal line back. No, no, no,
he's got phenomenal. So the thing he does phenomenal that
most people don't notice is it he has vision and
the vision thing you can't teach, like that's just something
you have or you don't. He's not a really fast guy,
but he will follow his blocks and he knows how
to find the holes. So I like Royce Freeman a lot.
His current ADP and half PPR leagues is one oh five.

(33:30):
I am. I'm willing to take him as like around
the twenty five running back range, which is right around
picks sixty or seventy. So I'm willing to reach three
rounds if I have to. For Royce Freeman, I don't.
I do not. This is a player who we're going
to see move up the draft board like it's not.
It's not. He's not going to stay there. The Broncos
have talked about they drafted a running back that they
haven't had in quite some time, in someone that who

(33:52):
can shoulder the load. That's that's the way they described it.
Not me and for the people out there who are
DeVante Booker supporters, like stop, Okay, DeVante Booker had his chance. Okay,
if you go back twenty and sixteen, he had his
chance and he blew it. And then in two and
seventeen they went to C. J. Anderson obviously had a
little bit of a time share, but it was CJ.
Anderson's gig. He went over a thousand yards. As Brandon mentioned, now,

(34:14):
DeVante Booker, they cut c J. Anderson. They cut the
guy that they were playing over, DeVante Booker. Then they
drafted a guy at the top of the third round.
Does this equation equal DeVante Booker is good and he's
are starting running back. No, it means you cut the
guy that was in front of him, which means you
think very little of him, but you own him for
very little money. It wouldn't be shocking if he was cut.

(34:36):
I think D'Angelo Henderson is just as good as he is.
But it's clear that Royce Freeman was drafted to take
on that workhorse role. And if if their offensive line
it was supposed to be better last year. Ron Leary
came there in free agency. Garrett Bowles, they drafted him
in the first round. If these guys, you know, they
mesh well in their second season together, I think they'll
take a step forward. And I love Royce Freeman as
a like a low end RB two. If you wait

(34:56):
at the position, I think he's a he's a great
low end RB two. He's being drafted right now behind
Marlon Mack, Tevin Coleman, Carlos Hide. People know, like I said,
that'll change, that is going to change once preseason comes round. Yeah,
all right, here's my number five guy. And who wasn't
the we act on this show? It was Jason Moore
was so mad at me for saying that I love

(35:19):
Brandon Cooks this year. But I love Brandon Cooks this year.
He's the wide receiver twenty one in ECR and he's
been a top ten wide receiver each of the past
two seasons. Bobby, Oh, don't do it again. You just
you do. You're not gonna drive again. He was a
top ten wide receiver. You're not drafting him as a
top twenty wide receiver. Sammy Watkins was like a top
twelve receiver when healthy with Tyrod Taylor, but then he

(35:40):
went to the Rams and you sew it happened. Brandon
Cooks is always healthy. What are you projecting an injury
or projecting the Rams offense? And there's just too many
guys for him to be a top twelve receiver. Like
I feel like I'm not saying you're not gonna have
weeks where you're like, yes, I'm so happy I own
Brandon Cooks. I think you're gonna it's gonna be Sammy
Watkins esque where it's like you're gonna be there's gonna
be weeks where you're just like, why's targeted this guy?

(36:00):
Why they pay him so much money, why they trade
you know, all these things. Yeah, but Watkins was the
number four in that offense. Cooks is gonna come in
and be the number one or number two in that offense.
He's had a whole offseason to go in there. Robert
Woods was extremely efficient last year. Cooper Cup filled his role.
They're not going to touch Cooper Cup's role. They drafted
him for a role. He's playing that role. Todd Gurley

(36:20):
is one of the best receiving backs of the backfield.
Why are you gonna take touches away from guys who
are extremely efficient and on top of that, because they're
not as good as Brandon Cooks. Man, Sammy Watkins couldn't
learn the playbook. He thinks the earth is flat. Brandon
Cooks is gonna come in there, learn the playbook, play
all over the place, and he's gonna be awesome. He's
gonna be a lot better than Wide receiver twenty one.
I've got him as a top fourteen wide receiver. And
on top of that, Gerald Everett was drafted last year.

(36:43):
He was a rookie tight end and they didn't target
tight ends at all last year. So, like I said,
I think that McVay is gonna over. He's gonna work
this offense into something else. He's gonna morphit because so
it's not predictable because he's a young offensive mind. But Brandon,
are you with me on this or are you closer
to Bobby's side? Like before you answer, Remember he's got
the same first name as you, spelled different, but it's
the first name. Very true, very true. Actually, probably if

(37:06):
we both put credit cards out going Dutch on a date,
I'd probably get his because they think would be a
girl spelling right, and as the funky spelling is what
they think. Yeah, I'm more with Mike here, but I'm
gonna say this. If I'm playing any best ball format,
I love guys like Brandon Cooks. If I have to
decide weekly about whether or not I play him, I

(37:28):
do not like Brandon Cooks because you're right, it's gonna
be Sammy Watkins asked, and I'm a huge Gerald Everett supporter.
They love him. They want him to be the next
Jordan Read. And remember, you know Jordan Read at the time,
you know it was productive. Yeah, so and McVeigh that
was his first pick that he made as the new
head coach, and it was very much his pick. So

(37:48):
I kind of feel the same way. I'm just not
quite sure. I think this offense, there's now tape on it,
we can study a little bit more of the variety
and the patterns and what have you. And there a
lot of smart people other teams too, that are going
to figure out a little bit. I'm not saying it's
going to take a huge step backwards, but I don't
think there's gonna be enough to support a week to
week Brandon Cooks just because also I think Jared Goff

(38:10):
really likes Robert Woods and Cooper Cup as targets genuinely, so, Bobby,
this is one of those, like what we were talking
about the top of the show, Brandon Cooks is one
of those guys. He's going to finish better than Wide
Receiver twenty one. I actually agree with you on that,
but my ranking of him will not be better than
what his finish will be because he's just going to
be very volatile. Yeah, there's gonna be some volatility there,
but if he finishes that high, that means there's going

(38:31):
to be some weeks where he absolutely wins the week
for you. I mean, if we're talking about like wins
over replacement, and that's not something that's been exactly derived,
but we can get an idea of what it looks
like like, if you finish with seventeen points as a
wide receiver, you're giving your team like a fifteen twenty
percent better chance of winning than a replacement level player,
Whereas if you're getting you know, if he goes out

(38:52):
and post one of those three years or fours that
sometimes will happen. Yeah, he reduces your chances of winning
by you know, fifteen or twenty percent, but there's gonna
be so many more of those that's fifteen to twenty
points that he's essentially going to help you win more
games than the guy. I wasn't going to say this, Brandon,
but since he disagreed with me, than an Adam feeling well,
I think that the problem that I'm having a hard

(39:14):
time wrapping my head around is this guy is so
young and this is his third team, Like what is
happening here? And that's a lot for anyone to learn too.
I actually wouldn't judge him if it was, you know,
like confusing a little bit, or maybe it's old hat now,
I don't know. Maybe they just all love him so
much that like, we have to go get this guy
if he's available. Oh okay, but I don't I don't

(39:40):
even know. I'm not trying to make like a judgment
calling him necessarily like as a human, But it does
beg the question of why, because that's that is very
odd because the skill set is so high. I just
don't understand. New Orleans got Michael Thomas and they obviously
knew that they had a baller and they were like, listen,
we can get a lot of value here. And by
the way, they made the most of it. The Saints,

(40:00):
that one made sense. The Patriots, I'm very surprised that
they were like, see, yeah, that's weird. Yeah, I don't
I don't know what was going on with that. Actually
I do know what was going on with that. They
need to go out and get get Sony Michelle. Stop
talking about names. I want your number four. You know,
when it comes to people that I am willing to
grab a little bit earlier. Um, I'm gonna say, if

(40:24):
I'm not getting the top three tight ends, then I'm
waiting until the end of my draft, and that's it.
So I'm willing to take a Travis Kelce hero Zacher okay,
a little bit higher and like the fourth or fifth,
but I'm then I'm dropping it down. So that's it.
So I guess it's not really like reaching, but I
am willing to do because I know there's a big
debate about tight ends right now. I'm willing to do

(40:46):
the Gronk Krelzy Earth's thing, But then I am out
I like it. Yeah, I totally understand that, and of those,
I would reach for Earth's more than any of them. Tags.
How do you feel about those top three tight ends?
Would you reach for them? I think it's a great point,
And it's funny because her number four ties with my
number four. My number four is Trey Burton slash Jordan Reid.
And the reason I have it like that is because

(41:06):
I'm not willing to reach on the top tier guys
like I understand the reason why you'd want to draft Gronk,
and I'd consider him at the start of the third.
But it's it's just really tough Kelsey. I feel like
his ceiling is gonna be a little bit limited with
the addition of Watkins the offense. Like, I still think
Kelsey's gonna be great, but it's again, there's only so
much to go around. You have basically a rookie quarterback ERTs.
I like, he seems like he's a little more nicked

(41:27):
up than I than I would like to spend on
a top three pick and a guy that plays a
receiver position that they usually don't miss much time. But
he seems to be in and out of the line
up a little bit too much for me. So I
put down Tree, Burton and Jordan Reid because I don't
want to. That's that's my cutoff point. That's my point
where it's like, oh crap, if I missed a tight
end by those two guys, I'm I'm really upset because

(41:48):
that means I have to grab multiple tight ends. Benjamin
Watson or you know, m Vans McDonald. I love Vance McDonald.
He's the guy I would I would grab in the
last round because I believe he is actually going to
be a breakout this year. I think that he's going
to be a tight end one when the season's done.
I think he's gonna be a top twelve guy. You're
gonna find that out in week one. We talked about
that with your last pick. You want a guy that
you're gonna find out right away. I think we're gonna

(42:10):
find out about McDonald. He plays the Browns in week one,
so I would probably stream him, but I also might
grab somebody else. But ideally I have a guy who
I don't have to worry about streaming that I can
play every single week, And Trey Burton is the guy
one of my teams. He goes to Matt Naggie's offense.
He knows ninety percent of the playbook. He's essentially teaching
the entire He's helping Naggie teach the entire team the

(42:30):
offense because he knows all of it. So he's working
with Trubisky to help to understand the playbook. Obviously, when
you do that with a player, you're going to develop
some chemistry that he wants to target somebody over the
middle of the field. Alan Robinson has is still dealing
with the ACL thing. He's he hasn't gotten into practice,
so he might be a little slow let's start the season,
which means Trey Burton and Anthony Miller might be the

(42:50):
stars of his offense. That you know, once we start
in week one, week two, that's really interesting. I don't
think it's going to be Anthony Miller, but I will
save that one for another time. We were all in
the same wavelength here. Because I'm going tight end as well,
and for the same types of reasons. My guy is
Kyle Rudolph. Once those top seven tight ends are gone,
if I don't have one, you better believe I'm drafting
Kyle Rudolph. I don't care when it is in the draft.

(43:12):
I am not letting it get deeper than that. I
guess i'd be okay with Jordan Reid. He's really risky.
Of course, there's big upside there, and I love Eric Ebron.
I've actually seen that they're spreading him out all over
the offense. Would it surprise you guys if they actually
used him as like their wide receiver too. I think
the more we hear about it, the more it seems
like he's going to be used as the zach ERTs

(43:32):
of their offense. But I mean, I don't I don't know. Man,
We talked about it before because I think Doyle's I
think Doyle's fine too, but um Ebron really excites me.
I just think he's got big time upside. Now. He
could be a total dud like Kobe Fleiner a couple
of years ago, but he's not going where Kobe Fleiner
was drafted. Kobe Fleiner was the tight end five and tags.
That was actually our first conversation ever, was me and

(43:52):
you just being so buddy buddy about how much we
loved Kobe Fleiner. That sucks, Yeah, going to Drew Brees' offense, Yeah,
that was that was a mistake. Yes, we overestivated how
good the Sean Payne noffins can be for someone who's
not very good at football. So I've got Kyle Rudolph
as my number five tight end. I've got Delaney Walker six,

(44:15):
Trey Burton seven after that. It is just so ugly.
I don't want Jimmy Graham. I don't want Evan Ingram.
Yeah that's Jimmy. How do you feel about Jimmy Graham, Brandon,
It's kind of like a hitter miss thing. The tight
end position is so ugly to me. But I think
Jimmy Graham. I think we've started to see signs of
his demise. He's going to a new offense. Aaron Rodgers
is a very precision passer. He's developed chemistry with these players,
and it's I think it's why you see players struggle

(44:36):
so much when they leave him or even when they
come to the team. The rookies last year, so many
people talking about Jamon Moore, They're talking about Equanimia Saint Brown,
all these other guys. These guys don't they don't produce
with Aaron Rodgers. It's even Davante Adams for his Remember
how bad Davante Adams was to start his career. It's like,
these guys take time to learn Aaron Rodgers and he
takes time to learn them and what their strengths aren't
what he can do. So I'm not completely sold on

(44:59):
Jimmy Graham because Aaron Rodgers is not the type to
throw a jump ball in the end zone. He just
doesn't do that. I have very strong opinions about Jimmy Graham.
First of all, he had a tough time getting used
to Seattle. His first year in Seattle was tough. It's
it's tough to learn an offense. And this isn't a
knock on any players. It's tough, absolutely, So I think
we as fantasy players put too much of an expectation
on a lot of these guys that are changing teams,

(45:20):
first of all. Second of all, the number one wide
receiver in touchdowns over the last two seasons is Davante Adams.
They have the best red zone target in football right
now at the wide receiver position. That's a fact. He's
number one. I think, I think Beckham, but yeah, but
he's number one in total touchdowns. So the fact that
they would then all of a sudden saying no, no, no,

(45:41):
We're going to give ten touchdowns to Jimmy Graham makes
no offensive sense. So and Jimmy Graham's not getting touchdowns,
He's not scoring fantasy points as we've seen over the
last few seasons. And I don't know if he's really
like diminished in skill as much as he was just
on a team that just it was the weirdest trade
of all time. They did not need him. He was
completely unnecessary to that offense. It was bizarre. So yeah,

(46:02):
I guess, in my opinion, I think he's going way
too high. I am not into him whatsoever. If the
show was about people, I'm not drafting, Jimmy Graham would
probably be my number one pick. I am not doing
it this year. He's in my top five two. Deshaun
Watson's my obvious number one, but yeah, Jimmy Graham's top
five for sure. I agree with you on Watson as well. Cool. Yeah,

(46:23):
I think every expert we've had come on the show
tags has agreed with us. Watson is nowhere near the
quarterback number two. Yeah, no, I don't understand the love.
I don't get it. Yeah, I don't. I don't know
which experts are ranking him high enough that he's still
like ECR number three. I think it is. I think
Russell Wilson snuck above him, but he wasn't number two
for a long time. Don't forget don't forget about Martell's
Bett last year. Guys like I actually was sucked into

(46:44):
that one where I was against Martella's Benett. And then
the more I was like, okay, I get it. You know,
they did spend some money in free agents to acquire him,
even though Aaron Rodgers traditionally doesn't target tight ends extremely
like a whole lot. And then Martella's Bennett was probably
in better shape than Jimmy Graham has been as of late,
and Martella's Benett couldn't get anything going with Aaron Rodgers.
So I just like I said, Jimmy Graham is coming

(47:05):
from playing with Drew Brees and Russell friggin Wilson, like
these are two elite quarterbacks, and he didn't top seventy
two more than seventy two yards in a game last
year Jimmy Graham, he wasn't good with Russell Wilson. So
I mean, I understand the want to like him, I
really do, because you know this nostalgia of him being
up there with Jimmy, with Rob Gronkowski for a long time.
But he's thirty two years old, he's got he had

(47:26):
that devastating knee injury that, by the way, coming back
from that was like a revelation itself, like it was
just very uncommon for someone to come back. But he
started over the last year and a half, he's shown
signs of a decline. And I just want to tag
on one quick fun fact about Shaun Watson. In terms
of accuracy percentage, according to Pro Football Focus, there were
only two quarterbacks that played in at least twenty five
percent of their snaps with a worse accuracy percentage than

(47:48):
Deshaun Watson. It was Deshaun Kaiser and Drew Stanton. Deshaun
Watson was thirty eighth in the National Football League. That
is a great stat I'm so glad you shared that.
Can I steal that you can? But this is why
I wasn't into This was why I wasn't into Jamis
Winston and Marcus Mariota making a big leap in their
fantasy points last season. I faded both of them repeatedly

(48:09):
because they also had bad accuracy percentages. It improved a
little bit last year, but not much so. Accuracy matters
in terms of what you're going to find in terms
of fantasy productivity. In my opinion, I think it's actually
one of the most important stats, which is also why
I like Baker Mayfield. Who doesn't like Baker Mayfield? He's
the man, the devil? Yeah, yeah, that guy who wrote
that article. All right, Brandon, here's your number three. Well,

(48:33):
I think we might be an agreement on this one
because you guys kind of snuck his name in there.
I'm drafting Michael Gallop too high. And I'm fine with
it because it's still in the twelfth round. Gallop going
in the twelfth Yeah, I got him in the twelfth rounds.
It's the other day in the basketball League. I thin
people aren't really paying attention. But you guys, Michael Gallop
is by far and away the wide receiver out of

(48:53):
this rookie class who has the clearest path to a
possibility of being the number one target on their team.
Everyone else has a really big stud in front of them,
Like I love Calvin Ridley, don't get me wrong, but
there's Julio Jones there. That's a pretty legit guy, pretty good.
And yeah, Andrew Miller, I think that that he is
a second most because is Alan Robinson going to be
healthy or what's going to happen here? But Alan Robinson

(49:15):
also not a schlub, right, So all these rookie wideouts,
it's really dicey. He's good too, you guys, Yeah, he's
incredibly good. He did not come from a stud school,
so I think that people get a little bit worried
about that. And again, you guys, they're not in college anymore.
Let it go. Get your head around the Antonio Browns

(49:36):
of the world. So I would say this, Alan Hearns
was never a wide receiver one. Okay, Ever, now he
had a great season as a wide receiver two opposite
an amazing wide receiver one. Now, even if Michael Globs
number one target, he's not gonna be an amazing wide
receiver one. That's going to open that up for Alan Hearns.
And then the worst cases. Over the last two seasons,

(49:57):
he hasn't played in more than eleven games, hasn't gone
over five hundred yards, and hasn't scored more than three
touchdowns in an entire season. How is he, all of
a sudden gonna have put up wide receiver one numbers
in the National Football League? It blows my mind. And
he couldn't do it with Blake Bortles and it was
all garbage time too. I'm not buying Alan Hurns at all. Weird,
it's weird people love him. People are drafting Kenny Galladay

(50:18):
ahead of Michael Gallup right now. Gallady is that clear
cut wide receiver theory Galladay, That's that's a dumb pick.
I'm sorry. I don't want to get on people that
like Galladay, but I think it's a dumb pick. Anyways,
But yeah, I don't know why Michael Gallup's going so
late that it really doesn't make any sense. And he's
actually he was on my list that didn't quite make
it into my top five, but he was definitely considered
for it because you know, you mentioned not only he's

(50:40):
the only one. You said he's got the clearest path
to number one targets. I think he's the only one
on this team who's a potential number one receiver. In
my rookie profile that I did for him, I compared
him to Jeremy Macklin. I think he's best suited as
a number two, but he could step up as a
number one if need be. At times I think that
it's there. He's a guy that can play all over
the field too. So I mean, my worry is that

(51:02):
the competence of the coaching staff and Dallas doesn't get
him on the field because they've talked about you know,
Cole Beastley. You know, he's someone that they couldn't start
Ryan Switzer over. In fact, they traded away Ryan Switzer. Uh.
You know, Alan Hearns, we paid him. He's a starting receiver.
Terrence Williams want to play Terence Williams because he's a
good blocker. Yeah, I'm not kidding guys, Like that's why
they played Terrence. They so put him on the offensive

(51:24):
all he's that good. Um, they were playing him over
Bryce Butler. I just don't have faith in the coaching
staff to play Gallop right away. But I actually I
love Gallop as a player, and I think that he
can make a difference. Dak Prescott is not nearly as
bad as people are making him out to be. He's
actually an above average and the full quarterback. Um. So
I actually I dig the Michael Gallop one. I actually
I would have He's someone I would not mind having
on my bench. Uh. Well, and I'll say this. I

(51:44):
did the UM coverage for Sirius XM's uh draft at
at the FSTA, so they kind of consider that. You know,
the kickoff was fun. We were in Minneapolis. Um, you know,
we have to go into the stadium, which is a
really cool stadium, you guys. So I was on the
coverage team. I was the only person that I had
even thought about Michael Gallup and we gotta almost a

(52:05):
fight about it, and I was like, you guys, he
is by far the I'm out of all the working
wider diservice, he's the only one that I'm interested in
and you can get him still so low. And everyone's like,
I don't know, I mean Alan Hearns and oh you know,
and I was and I just kind of tore it
to stress. I did exactly what I did here, and
everyone was shocked. I was like, wow, what a hot take.
But you should really hold on to that. You should,
you should really own this Michael Gallup take. And I
was like, is this a take? I just thought it

(52:26):
was fine, No, it's that's not A's not a hot
take by any means. I'm actually with no. Yeah, yeah,
I think that most people that we have on our
show agree, and we try to only get like the
best people in the industry. So I don't think you're
alone on that one, Brandon. Oh well, guys, all right,
who's your number three here? Tags? I had Ronald Jones there, man. Um. Yeah,
as I mentioned Peyton Barber for the supporters on Peyton Barber,

(52:47):
he sat behind Doug Martin and Charles Sims while they averaged,
you know, sub three point three yards per carried to
the last year. Again, you don't draft the running back
at the top of the second round. If you're happy
with what you have this Ronald Jones is in a
depth chart guy. And if you're worried about his size,
he scored eighteen touchdowns last year. I think his size
was fine. He measured he came in it over two
hundred pounds. I mean jamis losing Jamison the offense. Does

(53:08):
it lose some of the potency of the offense, Yeah,
for sure. But the thing with Ronald Jones you don't
have to worry about is loaded boxes. Like you don't
have to worry about that at all. They have so
many weapons on that team that legitimately he's going to
see six men fronts quite a bit. YEP, I agree
with that. I already talked about how much I like
Ronald Jones. I like Sony Michelle more than all of them.
He's not on my list. And you know this next one, Actually,

(53:28):
I feel a little bit embarrassed about it. In fact,
I have something to admit. I thought about not even
telling you guys that I was drafting this player that
high because it's just embarrassing. But you know what, I'm
drafting him. I need to let you guys know I'm reaching.
I bought it again for Sammy Watkins. I know he
thinks the earth is flat. I know he screwed me
over last season. I have to do the combine as

(53:50):
a result of that. I know all these things, okay,
but I also know the talent, and he's going as
wide receiver twenty nine right now. He was a top
thirty wide receiver last year in the worst possible situation.
I think he goes to a better situation where he
is in the number one wide receiver. It's not tyreek Kill.
Tyreek Kill's not a number one. Watkins is gonna get

(54:11):
a lot more targets here. I know they've got Travis
Kelsey as well, but I think Watkins could be a dynamo. Bobby,
You're gonna love my Sammy Watkins profile. That's gonna be
coming out, I think this week. Actually, they want to
put it out just because I want to get it out.
I'm not gonna read it anything. Any time that I
see Sammy Watkins name, I just feel sad. I'll draft him,
but I don't even want to talk. No, you're gonna
like him. You're gonna like, you're gonna like what you

(54:31):
read in the fact that the way that they're talking
about using him, they're talking about using him more in
the slot. Andy Reid said in ways that he hasn't
been using his career, which I don't know if that's
really true, because if you go to the Rams last year,
he played in the slot thirty one percent of the
times last year. So they're gonna moving around slot targets
are worth more, YadA YadA. But you'll read the profile
when it comes out. So I have no issue with Watkins. Actually,
if there's one person on the Chiefs offense, I am buying,

(54:53):
it's Sammy Watkins because someone is going to disappoint because
they are not gonna have two top thirty receivers, a
top two tight end, and a top ten running back.
It's not gonna happen, guys, So you have to understand
you have to pick someone who you think's gonna bust,
and I think Tyreek Hill is definitely a bust. But
looking at their costs, the other ones are being drafted
exactly where they're projected to go, whereas Sammy Watkins is

(55:13):
being drafted arguably kind of at his floor. He might
be a little up and down, he might be a
little Brandon Cooksie but you're getting him for a lot
cheaper this time. Last year, Watkins was going in the
top thirty overall. Right now he's wide receiver twenty nine.
I mean, this is a guy who was drafted second overall.
He's an absolute freak of nature. Bobby, this might be
like we are bold, our bold prediction episode that's gonna

(55:35):
be coming up, you know, in the coming months. I
think one of my bold predictions will be that Sammy
Watkins out scores Tyreek Hill. Oh that's not bold, man?
Is it a lot of Well? I mean when you
look at ADP of twenty nine and nine, oh, I
guess most people will think it is. But yeah, for us, yes,
it's Tyreek Hill wide receiver ten right now. What Oh,
I've got Watkins higher than a man, I've got them
twenty three and twenty four. It's a hot take, man.

(55:59):
I noticed that. It's like kind of like last year
when I said that Devin Funchis could outscore Calvin Benjamin. Um,
that's kind of how I feel about it, where it's
like I'm not going to say it's like likely to happen.
Do you know that Calvin Benjamin was going to the build? Yeah?
You got traded. I don't know. Before that, I was
so right on him getting traded. I was like, whoa,

(56:19):
all right, Brandon number two here Jamal Williams, Okay, I
think he is the lowest ADP number one running back
on the board every draft. Then I take him all
the time, all the time. Is he going to be
the number one running back when Aaron Jones comes back? Yeah?
I think so. I think he is the best pound
for pound actual running back. I think Aaron Jones. I

(56:41):
know there's a lot of truthers out there. We got
a lot of oh many's the athletic, which you know,
my least favorite thing that people say, because I'm like,
oh really, oh because he plays in the NFL, I
get it. Yes, athletic. Yeah, No, So to me, I
think Jamal Williams is the guy that they're I think
they're gonna go back to a little bit more of
a true running game as a way to protect Aaron Rodgers.

(57:03):
I think that there's gonna be a little bit more.
You know, hey, is Eddie Lacy, you know, you know
the prototype we want to go with here. No, but
you know, he did keep defenses. Honest, it was really bad.
What was going on there when they were trying to
make time Montgomery and every down back and all this
other ridiculousness. I think they've they've realized that they're over this.
So Jamal Williams is, in my opinion, the number one,

(57:24):
especially goal line carries. And by the way, they're going
to get to the goal line because they have Aaron
Rodgers back there, so that is a great offense. And
if they just want to punch it in, I think
it's Jamal Williams. Most of the time. Jones was so
much better than Williams when he was on the field,
but Tax has said this before. Williams is so much
better at run blocking. There's no chance they're gonna go
star Aaron Jones. Yeah, he's gonna cut into his carries

(57:45):
when he comes back. Williams is going to get the
goal line carries and he's gonna play enough that he's
definitely worth starting each and every week. I love the pick.
He's ADP thirty nine right now, behind Rex Burkhead, Chris Thompson,
Isaiah Crowell, Carrie On Johnson. I would draft Jamaal Williams
over all those guys behind Isaia Crowell. That's a crime like, seriously,
you should be arrested, amazing, you should be arrested if
you take Isaia Crowell before you take Tamall Williams. And

(58:07):
that's then, And that's the thing is, like I believe
it's going to be somewhat more of a timeshare than
people think. But the Aaron Jones suspension means everything. And
I say that because we know who's starting Week one,
we know that it's Jamal williams job, and we know.
The thing is, so many people in the industry talk
about how overrated pass blocking is for running backs because
they only stay in the pass block, you know, a
certain percentage amount of time. It's very small. But here's

(58:27):
what matters the coach. The coach cares, and if the coach,
Mike McCarthy cares about pass blocking for his running backs,
Jamal Williams is going to be on the field. Jamal
Williams last year, you know. And what in my eighty
two interesting stats from last year that article I released,
One of the stats in there was that Jamal Williams
had the worst big play rate, is that he wasn't
breaking longer than fifteen yard runs. Jamal Williams was essentially

(58:48):
Frank Gore. Last year in the in the Packers offense
that was led by Brett Hunley, offensive line was hurt.
Brett Hunley was the quarterback. Aaron Rodgers is here. Now
I agree with you one hundred percent. And the thing is,
Aaron Jones had a great game, and then he had
one great run against the Saints, and then people like
want to fall in love after that one game. Jamal
Williams had a few good games in there. He showed
the ability to handle a big workload. Like I said,

(59:10):
Aaron Jones suspension changed everything for me. I had these
two so close. I felt my prediction was that Jamal
Williams started the season anyways, just because of what he
how more well rounded he is. And now I feel
more comfortable and seriously stopped drafting Isaiah Rowell, Like, don't
I want to take Isaiah Roll my last pick? I'm
not kidding. I agree. I would not draft him in

(59:31):
any twelve team league, and you know, sixteen player rosters
or whatever, I wouldn't draft. Yeah, I when it draft
him at all? And you remember, I mean last year,
everyone was so excited about Jamal Williams, and for a
good reason. He's a very good running back. He was
a freak in college. He's very athletic as well. Right,
Aaron Jones is a little bit more, but Jamal Williams
is a really good athlete. We were drafting him above
this last year when he wasn't the starter. Yeah, it

(59:53):
makes no sense. Guys. You know what's really crazy. He
averaged over ten yards per reception. Yeah, and you wouldn't
really think of but yeah, I mean, listen, he didn't
have many, but the you know, the point is is
that you know, the guy is you know, he had
twenty five receptions on the season, but they averaged ten
point five yards per reception. He averaged if ten point

(01:00:15):
one after the catch. You know, I do think it
makes sense, by the way, to get the pass blocking
running back out there, because if Aaron Jones is out there,
you know that they're probably running the ball, right, I mean,
if Mike McCarthy's in charge, Yeah, yeah, So I mean
if if Jamal Williams is out there, they have to worry.
Are they gonna run the ball? Are they gonna pass
the ball? Yeah? Time Montgomery's gonna be mixed in there, too,
So I, like I said, I think it's gonna be

(01:00:36):
a timeshare more than us any of us would like.
But I do think Jamal Williams starter week one. Alright, Tags,
it's to you for number two. All right, I'm gonna
take him before you do. And it's Dronama Allison. I
wasn't gonna say him. I had him number six, I
had him like number two or number three, But I
just figured you were gonna mention him so much. Oh yeah,
for sure. No, Dronama Allison is on every single one
of my best ball teams. I think, like, unless we

(01:00:57):
play in a league with our listeners because he's stolen
from me or Bobby takes him. But um, jeronomo Allison.
He's his ADP right now is two hundred, which is
basically undrafted. It doesn't make it doesn't make sense. Guys
like I joke about it, but I'm serious when I
say that. James Jones retired a couple of years after
he caught fourteen touchdowns from Aaron Rodgers. You guys are

(01:01:17):
talking about rookie wide receivers coming in. Here's a challenge
for you guys. Can you guys name the two wide
receivers at the Packers drafted last year in the fifth
and sixth round. Well, I mean you already said it
earlier on the show, so yeah, well that's what I'm saying.
So yeah, Malachai Dupree, where is he D'Angelo Yancey? Have
you guys heard of his name? Year? That's what I'm saying.
If you no, Nope, not many people. I can do

(01:01:38):
it because it's obviously my job to do it, But
not many people can tell me who the Packers wide
receivers they drafted last year were and the reason they
can't do this because they didn't play. But yet these
guys that they drafted this year were drafted in the
same exact range D'Angelo yancy was in the fifth round
last year, that's where Moore was taken this year. Yet
people want to give the job to those guys. Did
we not just talk about the chemistry with Rogers knowing

(01:01:59):
the offense. Allison has played fifteen career games with Rogers
and he has produced phenomenal in those. He actually had
an eight target game last year or an eight catch
game where he had one hundred and thirty three yards
with Rogers in the lineup, so Rogers obviously feels comfortable
with him. He shown the buil the ability to produce
in the offseason. They didn't go out and get a
free agent. They didn't go out and draft a wide

(01:02:19):
receiver with a even a Day two pick. So yeah,
Geronimo Allison, like, come on, like, that's the guy that
you draft and you know exactly what you're getting after
week one. If you wanted Saint Brown or more, if
the Packers wanted him so badly that they had to
get them, you know, at the front of the deb
chart a head to Grontom Allison, they would have taken
him before the fifth round, right they didn't. He is
not a priority to take there, Like that's the thing

(01:02:40):
is just like he's also known as a project too.
They also know it's gonna take some time to develop him.
So expecting a rookie to walk in on day one no, Like,
if you want to talk about next year, okay, maybe
they outwork Geronimo Allison, but Allison at worst is going
to be like a wide receiver for in fantasy right now?
All right, My number two is I can't decide who
to put number one in number two. Let's go with

(01:03:03):
Jordan Wilkins. Okay, he's running back sixty nine, right, now
ADP two fifty three, so he's basically going undrafted. And
I understand Marlon Max there, Niheim Hines is probably gonna
get some work in the passing game, and Mac is electric.
But the thing is, Jordan Wilkins has a chance to
start Week one the same way Alfred Morris did in
twenty twelve, where nobody was expecting it. He came in

(01:03:25):
and you know what, just won the job. If he
wins the job as a starting running back in Andrew
Lux offense, he's at least in RB two. He's got
awesome upside. He's not the greatest athlete, he's not the
best running back, but he was pretty good in college.
He's a guy who can step right in as a fourth,
fifth round pick whatever he was, step into a starting
job and just be fine in Andrew Lux offense. You

(01:03:46):
kind of have to wonder on basically where Frank Reich
is gonna go. Is he gonna go to Andy reidway
or is he going to go the Doug Peterson way,
because so many people have talked about the Doug Peterson
like they use the multi back system. Well, I mean
it depends because if you go to Andy Reid, Andy
Reid uses a one back system, and like, like you
look at the snaps last year, look at the touches
with Kareem Hunt, like they were all there. Jamal Charles

(01:04:08):
got a ton of them. We don't know what Frank
Ryk is gonna do. We don't know if he agrees
with the whole time share, with the way they built it.
Though the Hines pick and in the draft, taking Wilkins
late in the draft, having Robert Turbin on the roster,
having Marlon Macket seems like it's going to be someone
of the Doug Peterson one. So I do think it's
gonna be a bit of a mess for fantasy. However,
another suspension, Robert Turbin got suspended for four games. That

(01:04:30):
clears up the path for Jordan Wilkins to get those
RB one snaps, and he's been taking first team snaps
in practice. Marlon mack has been out with a shoulder injury.
He has a shoulder surgery this offseason, which is kind
of under the table because these guys are all learning
a new offense. So Jordan Wilkins really isn't behind anybody.
It's a new head coach, so there's no favoritism going
on there. So I like Wilkins. I don't know if

(01:04:51):
I would reach for him, but I think he's a
fine guy to put on your bench. Though, most important
question canny catch nerf balls. That's what I was gonna say.
I'm I know that I'm not popular to say this.
I am incredibly concerned about Andrew Luck. Still, what quarterback
enthusiastic about everything? And you're just bumming me, I know,

(01:05:13):
But what quarterback has come back after this much time
of not throwing a football and then had a stud
fantasy season like name Peyton Manning. Was he out that long?
I think he was. No, No, he wasn't. He got
hurt at the beginning of the season, and then he
came back the next season. But he was out the
whole season. But remember he was like standing on the
sidelines of preseason. Yeah, it was like his neck fall

(01:05:34):
off at some point. Yeah, and he's still throw a
football before I underlocked it. That's my point. I think
this is a little crazy. I think I think our
expectations for Andrew Luck are too high for where he was. Also,
this talk about it being mental that disturbs me because
I'm someone who suffered a shoulder injury, and I do
have a mental block on like moving my shoulder in

(01:05:54):
certain ways, and there is that element to an injury.
If that's the case, I'm concerned. I think we just
have two high expectations. I'm not saying that I hate
him or anything like that, but I'm also wondering if
there's two playbooks, because it was really unfair having Jacoby
Brissette perform in an Andrew Luck playbook all year. They
have to have a backup plan. No one was unfair
to him. I mean they brought him in, they were

(01:06:15):
like here you go, and he was like, what the what?
And I hope that they have a contingency plan. I'm
a little nervous. I'm also nervous about the first time
he gets hit if he doesn't get freaked out again.
For what Jacoby Brissette had to do, he did a
great job. He was really awesome. Yeah, I mean coming
in and learning the playbook and what one two weeks

(01:06:35):
and then he gets thrown out there and he's a
top fifteen Fantasy quarterback over the first six weeks. I mean, listen,
just nuts. I mean it should have been Stephen Morris's job.
Let's be real. I'm not gonna sit here and throw
like a party, but I do recognize the circumstance he
was in. You know, there's certain guys that, like we
were talking about Jamal Williams having to deal with the
Brett Hundley situation and this like bizarro world. Here we

(01:06:55):
had Jacoby Brissette being thrown in, or Mitchell Trubisky who
was asked to only like complete nine houses a game.
I mean, you know there's certain guys you can't hold
it against them. It was coaching, Yeah, and Jared Goff
the year before, just looking like baby back there and
then all of a sudden, everyone's like, yeah, he might
be a top thirty fantasy quarterback and then look at him,
he finishes the number thirteen or whatever it was. Yeah,
I had him all over the place in those two

(01:07:16):
QB leagues. I'm so happy. Oh man, you should have
told us. Well, but this is my theory, and I'll
say it now for all of you guys, And this
is kind of what we're talking about. Alex Smith. If
you're in a two quarterback league, you need to take
at your second quarterback needs to be someone that no
one else really cares about. But who is not going
to compete for their job? Yeah, okay, and that was
Jared Goff last year. I knew he was the guy,

(01:07:37):
and I was like, perfect, I can take him late still,
but he's not going to compete for the job. And
that is the number one thing. Well tell us who
it is this year, because we need to know. Oh well,
I'm all in on the I mean my quarterbacks. Nine
times out of ten, I take at the variant. I'm
not kidding, guys. I wait until the last two picks
before my kickers and defense, and I take a combo
of Blake Bortle's case King and Alex Smith every time,

(01:07:59):
and I feel great about it. Tags Blake Bortless should
be in there. She didn't even think about Mitch Rubisky,
he said, Blake Bortles. Oh no, I love Mitch too,
but he's gone a little bit earlier because there's a
little bit of a hype train for him, at least
in the industry, so he I usually don't quite get him.
But those three guys no one likes at all. It's
hilarious Alex Smith and miss Rubisky. That's perfectly fine with me. Yeah,
me too, all right, Brandon onto your number one, and

(01:08:21):
then tags we'll close it out. Oh man, it is
so hard to come up with this number one pick
because I you know, kind of those quarterbacks. Frankly, I'm
fine with them for sure, but I would say Emmanuel Sanders,
I think is a forgotten man, and Demarus Thomas Again,
I just want to reemphasize these two guys, for three
seasons in a row, both put up a thousand yards apiece.

(01:08:43):
And this was also when Peyton Manning was terrible, and
when Trevor Simeon was there for his first season. You guys,
they both together were able to put up over a
thousand yards three seasons in a row. And then, by
the way, DeMars Thomas had two other seasons on top
of that where he had a thousand yards and Eric
Decker had a thousand yards opposite him. So he continuously
is able to put up a thousand yards and have

(01:09:03):
the other guy put up a thousand yards. I'm not
saying that's necessarily going to happen, but I think that
is definitely a possibility. And I still think that his
floor is incredibly high. I mean, he only played in
twelve games last season because he was hurt. He's still
got five hundred and fifty five yards and two touchdowns,
which you know isn't great. But did you see Trevor
Simeon play football. I just want to be clear, you guys.
Huge upgrade, huge upgrade. You know, Emmanuel Sanders right now

(01:09:27):
is going ADP thirty seven for wide receivers. Even if
he puts up eight hundred yards, that's a good value. Yeah.
And by the way, he with his injuries, you knew
when he was out it wasn't like he couldn't be replaced.
So I do want to point that out. Some people
with injuries like Ronk. That's one of the big complaints,
right is that sometimes he's going to be a decoy
or sometimes he's not going to play and it's gonna
be the last second. Emmanuel Sanders, it was like a

(01:09:48):
clear injury. So again, I think he's going to be fine.
But people are really down on him, and I'm going
a little bit higher on him because I think he'll
bounce back. What's the difference really between him and Jordie Nelson.
I mean, where do you want me to start? No, No,
I'm saying this because I think a lot of people
would ask this question, not because I agree with it.

(01:10:10):
I mean, Jordy Nelson was miserable last year. He played
all sixteen games, like you said, Sanders only played twelve,
and Jordy Nelson he and Aaron Rodgers for part of
that time, and he was horrible with Aaron Rodgers absolutely.
And also I would say this that when you saw
what Emmanuel Sanders could do once he did get the
ball in his hands, it wasn't like there was any
sort of downgrade in his playing skills, at least in
the way that I was watching the tape. And by

(01:10:31):
the way, everyone has their own interpretation I guess of
what happened here. But to me, in terms of the
Denver Broncos, you know, they were even using him on
shorter pass routes because Trevor Simmons was struggling so so bad,
but he still was getting after the catch, he was
still trying to get it done. They just could not
get it down the field. They couldn't get a first down.
And that was all based on play calling. But in
terms of his skill set, it did not look at

(01:10:53):
least to me and my eyes when watching the tape,
that his skill set had deteriorated. At all, And again
he is playing in the same team, the same building,
with the same players for the most part, except for
this big upgrade at quarterback, which I like as well,
whereas Jordi's never played without our own rogers. I mean,
we don't who is this person out in Oakland? And
by the way, what's going on Gruden and Derek Carr.
What a bizarre cast of characters in Oakland. I have

(01:11:16):
no idea what's going on there, whereas I think Denver
is actually a very kind of traditional built so predictable. Yeah,
but I like that. Thank you. I want to know
thank you? All right, tags onto your number one. I'm
assuming it's Kevin White. Yeah, obviously it's Sony Michelle and
it's not really that close. Um. I looked at the
ADP before we started at sixty one. His ADP. I'm

(01:11:39):
I'm not kidding. Is that when if I look at
my cheat sheet, I obviously draft for value and you
get as much as you can while being you know,
getting the guy you want. Sony Michelle is somebody I
think about in the third round, and I'm not even
him in the top forty. Yeah, man, I'm not even
like that's the thing is just like once it gets
to the fourth round, I know that if I'm playing
with someone that knows kind of how I feel, they'll
take him before me. I think Justin Boone. We did

(01:11:59):
a recent industry mock. Justin Boone took him in the
fourth round ahead of me, and I was upset because
I was hoping I would get him there. But in
most drafts I'm able to wait and if, like Brandon
you mentioned, going wide receiver heavy, I usually get a
running back in the first round. Rounds two and three
usually wind up what ride receivers. I'm not attached to
any certain strategy, but reaching for Sony Michelle in the
fourth round is easy for me. He plays in the

(01:12:22):
top three scoring offense. They've been a top three scoring
offense every single year that Tom Brady's been the starter
under Bill Belichick. That's obviously huge. I released an article
today that talked about what is team scoring mean for
fantasy football, and essentially, if you have a high scoring offense,
you have a good shot at finishing. Is a top
twelve running back and Sony Michelle. People are overestimating the
volatility and the Patriots backfield. You know, in DFS, I

(01:12:44):
was able to use both Dion Lewis and Rex Burkehead.
Last year we knew what their roles were, and I
think Rex Burkhead is still going to be viable. The
Patriots are the one team in the NFL who exploits
their enemies like their weaknesses. The Patriots going by my
method of strength of schedule, it's a little bit different
and if you guys can look it up on the
site if you guys want, but the Patriots have the
easiest schedule for running backs this year, and I do

(01:13:07):
expect them to exploit that. There's a reason they spent
the equity that they did a first round pick on
Sonny Michelle when this is a team who historically does
not spend money on running backs. And when people talk
about oh, well they're gonna have people do this and that,
I want to go back through the running backs that
they've had on their roster. Let's talk about this. Legarrett
Blunt is very good. Is he a three down back? Yeah?
And also has one of the best elusive ratings from

(01:13:27):
numerous years in a row. Fun Can he catch passes?
No answers? No? Stephen Ridley had a really bad fumbling issue.
Wasn't working much on third day. Mike Gillislee, what was
he used in the passing game? I think he caught
one pass the entire year before he was benched. You
go back, you keep going back in time. Shane Vereen,
he was a third down back. He was never workers.
They have a true three down running back and Sony Michelle,

(01:13:48):
and I think that's why they drafted him. They got
Isaiah Wynn, the guy who he worked with in college
obviously was one of his offensive linemen. So there's gonna
be some chemistry there. But Tom Brady is on the
way down, guys, And I'm sorry to say it, like
I don't want to see it for as many people
as give me crap because we get your emails, guys,
as many people. Again, I mean, and I crap about
saying he's not the goat. He's my number two quarterback

(01:14:09):
all time. So it's not saying I don't want to
see him fade, but I'm sorry. This is the last year.
This is it, and I see a decline, and I
think that the Patriots know it, and I think they're
going to shift towards the run game a lot more
this year. Sony Michelle is going to finish his a
top eighteen running back. I got a real problem here.
And this is why I say I actually am all
about diversifying. There's no one that's on all my teams,

(01:14:30):
and I actually will sometimes say, Okay, I have way
too much of this guy. I gotta stopped his fumbling issues.
Twelve fumbles in college, Bill Belichick, you and I, and
that's my thing. I'm fine with it. If it hits,
it is a home run. But if he fumbles twice
in the first couple of games, Bill Belichick could say,
you could Mike gillisly out of there, he would murder him,

(01:14:50):
murder So I'm a little worried. I just don't want
him to cough up the ball. If if he's again,
if he can hold onto the ball, I'm with you
one hundred time percent, oh Man, because I know Bill
Belichi that scares me. Let's say that here's some running
backs were being drafted ahead of him, Derrick Henry Kenyan,
Drake Jagi, Alex Collins. There's guys Rashaan Penny, mark Ingram
who's suspended for four games, Lamar Miller, I'm fine with that,

(01:15:12):
Dion Lewis. And then you get to the like guys
like Marshawn Lynch are drafted in the same range like that.
That's the thing. I'd even draft him over Lashawn McCoy
and Joe Mixon. Man, I'm all in on Sony Michell.
I'm Onny Michelle. I wouldn't take him over Mixon or
um Lashaw McCoy, but he's uh, He's definitely someone that
I consider. I think I have him right now as
my number fifteen running back, So I'm high on him.

(01:15:35):
And like the thing is is he's going outside the
top five rounds, Like on average, he's going in the
sixth round of twelveteen leagues, So I'll take him in
the fourth round every time. It's funny. I was gonna
say Sony Michelle too, but again I knew you were
going to bring him up, so I didn't you know.
He's also gonna get so many goal line opportunities. I
understand James White was the guy in the playoffs last year,
Rex Burkehead did it for a little bit, but Sony

(01:15:57):
Michelle is more billed to be a goal line back
than either of those guys, and the Patriots have more
goal line running back situations than any other team in
football and it's not even close year in and year out.
I'm a huge believer. Yeah, I like Sony Michelle. My
number one guy, though you just mentioned him, tags is
Marshawn Lynch. Marshawn Lynch. I know Doug Martin's there and
everyone's excited about the muscle Hampshire, who was just horrible

(01:16:18):
last season. Marshall Lynch was really good. I don't think
a lot of people realize just how good he was
in terms of yards after contact, number one in the NFL.
They improved their offensive line. I think Derek Carr is
going to be a lot better this year, as if
he's not battling the back and the leg issues that
he was dealing with. I mean, Marshawn Lynch last year
was he was a running back too, and all of

(01:16:40):
a sudden, why is he being drafted as RB thirty three. Brennan,
what's your take on Lynch again? I have just a
very weird feeling about the Raiders this year. I'm having
a hard time analyzing them doing projections. I don't I'm confused.
I feel like it's five years ago. It's a weird team,
so I think that's part of it. I think there

(01:17:01):
a lot of question marsis is just what this team
looks like. I think it was very scary watching Derek
carrn Amari Cooper play last season, which just kind of
has cast the shadow I think on the team as
a whole. And then, like you said that, Marshawn Lynch
played better than what a lot of people think, but
the whole team, it was a very odd, disappointing year

(01:17:22):
for them, also because people had too high expectations going in.
But now with Gruden, who's weird? Is that? I mean?
And I know that's not you know, hashtag analysis weird,
but it just it feels difficult to predict, and I
think that's why people are not with him. I will
get some Marshawn Lynch in my life though, because I
agree with you. I think there's a possibility there. I'm

(01:17:43):
not a Doug Martin girl, I don't. I don't understand that.
I also think as a possibility that's where de Marca
Marian's up. Interesting h with the two veterans there. I
mean Lynch, I'm just worried about him retiring at any minute.
And I could see it like Doug Martin playing behind
the offensive line in Tampa, was it. I think there
was a mix of things. I think he's a little
bit of a head case, and if he gets his
head on right, he's got multiple fourteen hundred yard seasons.

(01:18:06):
Do I think it's possible that turns into a time share? Yeah,
But for the people expecting so many rushing attempts out
of the Oakland backfield, know this. John Gruden, for as
much as he talks about turning back the clock to
nineteen ninety eight and all that crap, none of his
last eight teams have finished top ten in rushing attempts. Interesting. Yeah, yeah,
that's a good point. I'm just okay on it. I
guess my thing is if it's all about the construction

(01:18:27):
prior to Marshawn Lynch for your team, right, if you're
in dire need and you're like, I need to hit
a home run here, and at least I think this
guy's going to be the number one guy, I'm okay
with it. If it's someone that I'm like, oh the upside,
I don't know. I don't know if I feel that,
But I think Chris Thompson's being really underdrafted, and and
Darius Guys frankly you know, Alex Smith had the number
one accuracy passes to running backs like over the last

(01:18:50):
five seasons. They're going to get a lot of work
in the passing game. I love this Gruden offense. I
know we've already talked about x Smith and him being
a baller, but I actually think these running backs are
gonna benefit from that as well. I think Alex Smith
could win the MVP this year. I think he's a
dark horse. I don't know if the team is good
enough to do that, but I think Alex Smith is
an underrated quarterback for sure. It's so good man, if
they just let him loose, he goes to a different

(01:19:12):
offense and they just let him sling the ball. He
was one of the most accurate passes down the field
last season at twenty yards or more. And people don't
know that you have the best rating in the NFL
for deep passing. He had the most yards by a
long I think it was by like over three hundred
yards more than any other passer when it comes to
deep passing. And people are still telling me, for whatever reason,
that Patrick Mahomes is an upgrade. Oh, I know that
Patrick mahomes hype is out of control so crazy. I

(01:19:36):
saw somebody had him on Twitter as their number five
fantasy quarterback this year. A lot of people are saying
this stuff, but I'm like, what are you guys watching?
And then like no, if you saw his college tape.
But I'm like, you, guys, college is not the NFL.
I also want to just scream that at the top
of my lungs, like it's not the NFL. It's not.
And he's in a tough division in terms of corners.

(01:19:57):
I don't I don't know what's going on. I'm confused.
I am very happy that other people are drafting Pat
Mahomes because I will not be drafting him anywhere, even
with say, same as Tag's head. I don't remember who
we were talking about, Isaiah crow Well. I would not
draft Pat Mahomes in a standard league, not with my
last pie would. I mean, he's he's he's for me.
He's right in the area a Trubisky. Maybe the offense
will better because they've been in place, he's had a

(01:20:18):
year to learn it. I don't know. I think that
he's a slight upgrade over Trubisky in terms of but
in terms of cost. No, That's why I'll end up
with Trubisky because I'm not willing to pay you know,
the top thirteen, top fifteen pick for Mahomes. I also
would just wait and get Blake Bortles boom. That's a
good way to end the show on Blake. You two
can high five on your way out. All right, guys,
that's all for today's show. Brandon, as always, it with

(01:20:40):
a pleasure. Thank you for coming on, thanks for having me,
and thanks to the sponsor of today show, Your Rules
dot Com. If you go to your Rules, check out
the new fantasy football platform that they have going on
with all kinds of customizable options. That's why O you
are you lz dot com for Mike Taglier. I'm Bobby Sylvester.
Thanks for listening. Enjoy your football. I just wanted you

(01:21:03):
to watch me desme starting in a blue fall your life.
I don't even know how to gain the street barks dogs,
kicking and digging and saying deserving up trouble

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