Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, and welcome into the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Is that time of year again?
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Yes, the NFL is officially back, baby, and we're gonna
help you make those lineup decisions in this primer episode
with our must start players. I'm your host, Seth Wilcock,
and I'm joined by the author of the primer himself,
my brother from another mother, your brother from another mother
as well.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
He's Derek Brown Debro.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
How are you as kickoff inches closer and closer and closer.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I'm really I'm feeling good about kickoff. I don't know
how I feel about gaining that many family members like
you're discussing so but I guess I'll deal with it.
Thanksgiving and Christmas should be interesting to begin with. Yes,
so you know, just hope you uh we got enough
turkey and all the trappings for everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So well, I'm glad you're here, man, I'm ready to go.
I'm Marty starting to put the menu together for Sunday.
I got some turkey sliders on there. Veggie try action,
I'm walking out.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
No, no, saur kraut. Buff chick? Are you buff chicken dipped? Guy?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Buff chick dip always okay, okay, all right, that's like
the American food these days. So I'm glad you're there
and deep, bro, before we jump in, can you give
everyone a quick breakdown of what the Primer is and
where they can find it if they haven't checked it
out so far?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Bro, It's so it's always at fantasypros dot com. It
lives on the homepage almost the entire week, as soon
as it goes live on Thursday mornings. This being week one,
I always try to get it out a little bit earlier,
so when live Wednesday morning, but it will be live
every single week Thursday am, bright and early. And yeah, dude,
(01:32):
I mean this is me walking through every single game,
trying to give you every statistical nugget, matchup all parts
and pieces of what I think is important, and you know,
and for everybody that's been reading the Primer for multiple seasons.
We did kind of condense things like I don't need
to go out and tell you to start Cede Lamb
or Saquon Barkley. I don't need to go out and
(01:53):
tell you to start Derrick Henry. So we did make
a must start section to kind of condense some of that,
because look like you don't need me to tell you
to like anything for out of my mouth or on
paper or digitally as it were, to tell you to
play any of those players. So really just saving people time,
because look, there's thirty thousand words in this thing. I'm
(02:14):
going through every single thing leaving no rock or like
stone unturned for trying to help people with lineups. But
the top elite players you don't need my help to
overplay them.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Well I'm excited it'sapp into that big bald brain of
yours today in this video we got going on. Quick
shout out to everyone who's tuning in either on the
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We appreciate you. Thanks for helping us continue to grow
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please give this video a thumbs up and make sure
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(02:47):
want you to miss a second of the coverage of
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Speaker 2 (03:19):
You don't miss that.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And Derek, let's go ahead and jump right into the quarterbacks,
where you have an interesting QB who's been faded throughout
draft season you think should be started in week one
on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Who do you have, dude?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I know we talked about the entirety of draft season
about don't draft Jared golf He's gonna regress the passing
touchdown people you know, danced around all the all the
Ben Johnson stuff and new coordinators and things like that.
We are into the regular season now, so we need
to change and not listen to our priors. Looking at
Jared Golf, man, I think this is just sets up
(03:53):
as a wonderful matchup for him. I mean, first of all,
when you get past funnel defenses, which I think the
Packers going to declare themselves all season as teams had
had trouble running on them. I know they lost Kenny Clark,
but I still think they are going to field probably
a top twelve run defense this year. So this all
sets up that the Lions are going to pass. They
(04:15):
need to pass, and looking at the secondary, like, tell
me what corner seth are you worried about in the
Green Bay Packers depth chart anybody? Like you're worried about
Keyshawn Nixon.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Former kicking turn champ.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, yeah, Like, dude, he gave up a sixty six
percent catch rate last year. You worried about Nate Hobbs
ninety six passer rating in his coverage, Javon Bullard who
couldn't stop anybody legit, eighty four percent catch rate, one
nineteen passer rating in his coverage, Or we're worried about
a pass defense that Honestly, even before the downgrades of
the secondary last year weeks ten through eighteen, giving up
the thirteenth highest success rate per dropback and ninth highest
(04:49):
cpoeve two quarterbacks, we think that those numbers are going
to get better in the year twenty twenty five. In
Week one, Nah, dude, I think Jared Garf is going
to light them up as long as the offensive line
could keep him clean. And we know that, you know,
his pressure versus clean pocket splits are a real thing,
as long as they can keep him clean and which
I'm not saying this offensive line's gonna be top five
(05:10):
this year, but top ten, that's not crazy good enough
to sider here, and you know, keep him at least
keep the rushers away for him long enough to deliver
short area targets. I think Jared Goff is gonna be like,
I've got him at QB eight right now. So I
think it's kind of crazy that we have him ranked
outside of the top twelve an easy are right.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Now, yeah, right now, down at QB seventeen. So he
is continuing to slide down rankings. And you know, you
got a feel for the Packers because they continued to
invest in that secondary.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Eric Stokes was a first round pick.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Of course, they traded away Jay or Alexander, they traded
away two seasons ago over Seul Douglas to the Bill.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So they've slowly.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Been kind of, you know, getting rid of a lot
of these valuable secondary members. And I think Jared Goff
could make them pay in week one and in a
game that has one of the higher totals of the weekend, Debro,
I think you're right on point here to be tarting
someone like Jared Goff, who's probably out there on waivers
in most leagues.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I would say, oh, absolutely, Like if you waited on
quarterback and stuff and you're okay, do I play somebody
like Dak Prescott? Do I have place? And depending on
when you're watching this, maybe that game's already happen, you know,
But do I play Dak? Do I play Brock Purdy?
Do I play Bo Nicks like all these guys with
tough matchups this week?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Like?
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Or do I play Jared Goff who has a glorious matchup?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
All right, well, I love to hear that.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Let's go to the running backs, where, no surprise, who
your first must start is of the season at the
Harvey position.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Shock everyone with this pick? Would you eah?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
No, It's gonna be just absolutely just nobody's gonna see this.
It's out of left field. They're not gonna see this
one coming. But the fact that we in ANYCR have RJ.
Harvey ranked HISS RB twenty seven and the guys we're
gonna be talking about on this video weekly. We're discussing
running backs outside of the top twenty that really need
to be in consideration for lineups. RJ. Harvey definitely needs
(06:59):
to be made Like RB twenty seven in ECR is
way too low. He needs to be in discussion in
that RB two conversation. I think he's gonna have a
like astounding week this week. Like Tennessee, and we're talking
about a defense. We see all these turnover and defenses
year to year and how good or should we look
into last year's statistics and say, is that really what
(07:20):
you could project forward for twenty twenty five. They're returning
a lot of the same personnel, so I think a
lot of this can be stickier, you know where you're
looking at a defense. For Tennessee weeks ten through eighteen,
they allowed the second most rushing yards per game, seventh
highest yards up to contact per attempt, and we know
Harvey is gonna get targets in the passing game. They
allowed an eighty one point one percent catch rate to
(07:42):
running backs and quietly the most receiving touchdowns in the
NFL to opposing running backs. So Harvey, it's like Okay,
is he gonna get it done on the ground? Is
he going to catch a pass for a touchdown through
the air? Dude, I think you can do all the
things this week. So I'm comfortable starting him as an
RB two. Ranking him as an RB three is way
too low. I can't even wrap my head around that
(08:04):
right now.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
What do you think the workload split is going to
be between him and JK. Dobbins, who has been in
camp for most of the summer.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I think it's probably sixty forty in the cupper of Harvey.
Like what we saw in the preseason is Harvey was
playing and this wasn't a JK. Dobbins type of take,
but like we got to see Harvey's usage, So I
think JK. Dobbins is going to slot into whoever the
other running back that was playing during the preseason. So
Harvey was playing primarily on first and second downs. It
(08:32):
was when we saw a third down come into play
where you saw another running back come onto the field
for pass protection. So I do think Dobbins could also
like play a little bit on the early downs, like
take some of the early rushing load away from Harvey.
So like seventy percent of the snap is probably not
gonna happen, but in that sixty percent range, maybe sixty
five percent, depending on how game script goes. Yes, that's
(08:54):
where I think Harvey's.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Going to live well. And that's a key word to use.
There is game script.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
And while I am very high on the Tennessee Titans
came ward as a whole this season, I think Week
one against the Denver Broncos is going to be tough sledding,
a lot of three and outs, potentially some turnovers, some
yolo balls thrown up by the number one overall pick,
and that leads to a lot of chewed clock needed
by Denver. So I do expect RV to also have
a great Week one. Who else do you have in
(09:19):
the running back department that is your must start of
the week, Derek, I.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Think people need to give strong consideration in the flex
to Jordan Mason, and I know that in some of
this I will give a caveat to this. This is
kind of a shot in the dark. We don't know
what the exact split on this backfield is going to
be sure. We're just looking at like people's options for flexes,
and depending on how deep your league is and where
you know what that looks like, and honestly, your team,
(09:45):
like if you drafted like a zero RB team and
you're like, who am I going to roll out a
running back this week? Jordan Mason was one of those
candidates where he fed a lot of different builds, but
he was also a guy that we're going to be
in a lot of zero RB teams. So I think
he's a guy you could probably plug into it and
in a pinch as an RB two on a zero
RB team, but a lot of like probably more of
(10:05):
a comfortable flex for a lot of people. This all
comes back to what I think his role is gonna
be in this offense. I think he's gonna be the
goal line back. I think if we're looking at a
game that I think he gets sideways pretty quickly, like
I think Kidley Williams. Everybody's really really high on him,
seeing what he did in the preseason. I think a
lot of that's probably gonna come crashing down a Week
one versus a Brian Flores defense. So again we go
(10:26):
back to Gamescript talking if Minnesota is just beating the
brakes off the Bears late, or they have a comfortable lead,
like say they have a ten point lead or two
touchdown lead, something like that, as salting the clock away
late in the fourth quarter. Mason's the guy that's gonna
get these totes and it's a wonderful matchup. So like
he gets say twelve carries and he gets into the
(10:46):
end zone, you're gonna be very happy you started him.
And the matchup is good too. Man, Like this bears
run defense only at a Grady Jerrett this offseason. What
he has left in the tank is up for debate.
I'm not saying that he's not an upgrade, but a
sizeable upgrade. I don't know if he can be that.
Considering Chicago we saw last year down the back half
(11:07):
fifth most rushing arts per game, ninth highest explosive run rate,
fourth lowest stuff rate. So this all leans to okay,
Like this is a tough matchup for JJ McCarthy in
this passing attack. I think through the air, I think
Minnesota should lean on their ground game to open the
season in this matchup, and if they do that, Mason's
gonna have a good day.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Let's play a little would you rather with Jordan Mason?
Real quick here, Derek, A couple guys who we know
will be the starter for their team. Travis Etn against
the car Panthers, Mason.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
I have him ranked right ahead of Mason actually one spot.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Nick Chubb against the Rams, Mason okay, and then Jerome
Ford against the Benkals Mason okay.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
All right, So it.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Feels like, you know, you're definitely pushing him well into
the RB three category and right there for a flex play.
So Jordan Mason on Monday Night, Debro's calling his shot.
Before we keep it moving, I wanted to remind everyone
that you can dominate your fantasy football league with Fantasy
Pros Premium, now available free for six months when you
deposit and place your first wager on one of our
(12:08):
partner sportsbooks. We know you're placing wagers, so make it
count and get that six months for free.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And this is the easiest way to get.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Full access to our top fantasy football tools all season long.
Go to fantasypros dot com slash Premium to get yourself started.
All right, Derek, we're heading to the wide receiver realm
where you have a couple of interesting names here. Let's
start out there in Los Angeles where they will be
traveling to face the Chiefs in Brazil.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
All right, we're talking all this Bears talk. I had
to reacclaim acclaim myself to a word I can't even
talk right now. So where this player is? I want
to talk about a former Bear and a current Bear
in this spot of the video. But Keenan Allen, dude,
I mean wide receiver sixty one in ECR is egregiously low.
I think he is firmly in flex play territory. I
(12:54):
will not be surprised. And this is not I do
not dislike this player at all, but looking at the coverage,
looking at the matchups in general, I will not be
surprised if out of the gate in Week one, if
Keenan Allen out targets Ladd and Maconkey this week, and
I know a lot of people can say that's crazy,
but if you look at the matchup, Ladd was not
very good versus too High last year. Really, I mean
(13:15):
a lot of his production was versus single High. That's
not what we're gonna see the Chiefs play. Last year.
They had the second highest rate of too high almost
sixty one percent of their defensive snaps. This all goes
back to, like this is in Keenan Allen's wheelhouse, dude,
against a team that the Chiefs were ripped in half
by slot receivers, and I think Keenan Allen, I'm not saying, lad,
I know where he played last year. I know he
(13:37):
was predominantly slot. I'm not saying he's not gonna get
some time in the slot. But come on, dude, you
don't bring a guy like Keenan Allen back into this
offense and expect him to play eighty percent outside. We
know he's gonna get slot reps, we know he's probably
gonna lead the team in slot snaps, and Ladd is
a guy that has more outside perimeter utility at this
point in his career than Keenan Allen does. So look
(13:57):
at Keenan Allen, like the Chiefs gave up the most
Fantasy points per game and the eleventh highest PPR points
per target to opposing slot receivers.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Les Wow.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
So I look at this as a fantastic matchup both
schematically and what you look at at corner wise. So
I think Keenan Allen is poised to have a really,
really strong game, and in PPR formats especially, I think
he is a strong flex play in Week one.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Well, Fred McDuffie on the outside, likely going to see
a lot of Ladd McConkie one on one when latt
is moved out there. I think it's a strong play.
I'm excited to see if Keenan Allen can kind of
rekindle some of that magic that he had with Justin Herbert. Like,
let's not forget this guy was on pace to be
not only a wide receiver one, but a top five
wide receiver the last time him and Jay Herbo were
linked up. So excited to see it again in Friday
(14:45):
night on Primetime. And let's go one more receiver for
you here, maybe the shocker of the entire primer if
you guys read through.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
It this week. All Right, I know I'm going deep
with this deep, and I know.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
We're going really with this, but this is the shout
out to everybody that's dealing with you know, two flex leagues,
deeper leagues, fourteen teamers, what have you okay?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Or if you're in.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Dynasty leagues DFS lineup, this is yes, yes, sir. If
you're playing some single game, you're playing a showdown and
this is this is the Captain du jour people, all Right,
I built it up enough, Alamide is a kis man.
I think that he is going to have a really
really strong game if he truly is, and we've gotten
there's no storylines, nothing that's come out to say that
(15:31):
he will not be the starting slot wide receiver and
play all the snaps this week in Week one, I'm
not telling you that it's going to continue the entirety
of this season with Luther Burden on his heels, but
I think that's what we get in week one, and
if that is the case, I think Alambade's a kias
is in for a really really strong game, dude. And
this is multiple different levels. Like if we want to
(15:52):
talk about what he did to close last season week
sixteen through eighteen, when he was a full time player
for the Commanders, twenty percent target share average, sixty eight
receiving yards per game, two point two yards per route
run in weekly scoring, he was the wide receiver six
thirteen and sixty two, so in two of those three games,
a top fifteen wide receiver. I know it's a really
small sample size, but also looking at the coverage structure here,
(16:14):
Seth and that's really really like that the corner matchup
and what Minnesota gave up last year. All screams screams
that Zakias could have a really strong game. They were
leading the NFL in too high rate almost sixty four
percent of the defensive snaps last year against too high
Zakias twenty eight percent target per route run rate zero
(16:36):
point one two three first downs per route run. I
know this is a different team. That type of efficiency
on a per route basis against this coverage structure is
very notable. And then you look at what Minnesota did
last year.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
They allowed the.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Fifth most fantasy points per game and the third most
receiving yards per game, two slot wider US receivers, And
then you go and you look at the corner matchup
and it's just as good. Tavari A Thomas coming into
this secondary is kind of worrisome. He's had good seasons
throughout his career, but the last time we saw him
(17:13):
as a full time player, and for a corner that's
a little bit older, he's not on the front nine
of his career. It is concerning dude in twenty twenty three,
which he only defended five targets last year, So I'm
not going to throw out that sample to people. But
in twenty twenty three. This corner who was Zakias is
going to match up with for most of if not all,
of the day, allowed an eighty two percent catch rate
(17:33):
and a one to ten passer rating in his coverage.
So if Zakias is the full time slot receiver every
day to point I can find, Seth says, this dude
is headed for a really strong outing and week one,
And I know it sounds crazy. I know it does.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I mean, it's definitely out of the box.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
But I'm not trying to glaze up here, but I
think all your data points point to a big day
for Zakias and it kind of goes back all the
way to the NFL Draft show. You and I both
were a little bit on the fade side of Luthor
Burden as a prospect because he's more of a manufacturer
touch guy. I could see them getting him involved in
some end a rounds, maybe some some.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Shuttle passes, something like that.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
But if you want a guy who's gonna go out
and route someone up from the slot, it's not Luthor
Burden right now. He still needs to develop that part
of his game. Yeah, and maybe we see it by
week six. By week seven, after the bears By eventually,
but I think right now is a Kias is interesting.
I think you even have a wager on his over
receiving yards if that's correct.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Right, Yes, sir. Last time I looked it up, his
receiving yards were sitting in the mid teens and I
just dude, I slam the over on that. And depending
on where you're getting this and you can get alt
lines and stuff, I think he is a fantastic bet,
Like if you're throwing parlays together, I really love where
his stuff is at and whether you want to hit
(18:51):
this like we get I'm pulling up his lines right now,
like re live on betting pros and this is how
fast you can do this, Like I'm just pull off
the rip bettingpros dot com. I mean, Alamide is a
Kiyas seth. Can I interest you in a plus four
fifty anytime touchdown? Can I interest you in plus money
(19:11):
over two and a half receptions? Can I interest you
in his receiving line books right now has climb, but
it's still only at twenty and a half. Yes, yes,
and yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Those are kind of my favorite djen player posts where
it just takes one or two receptions, they get over
that yardage mark and it's a guy most people aren't
betting on.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So I like that.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Derek bring us home with someone who is close to
my heart for Penn State, Nitney Lion at the tight
end position.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Hashtag we are they.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I should have known you were gonna work in the
wholborism here when I put this together. Man, But yes,
Brent's strange. If you punted tight end, you're doing the
whole streaming thing. You're looking at matchups. I'm not telling you, like, Okay,
he's gonna be a top ten tight end, top five
guy this week whatever. Like this all comes down to
if you were living in the low and tight end
(20:00):
one kind of file them, You're like, Okay, who am
I starting this week? Is Jake Ferguson? Is it somebody else?
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Who am I going to stream? Brenton Strange is a
guy that's gonna be available in a ton of waiver
wires right now. If you're playing the streaming game, he
needs to be in the conversation. This is a lot
of different parts of pieces, man, But I think really
just leaning on the matchup with this. Last year Carolina
gave up the fifth highest yards per reception to tight
ends and the most receiving touchdowns per game. So looking
(20:29):
at this passing attack, like we kind of know where
the ball is gonna go, Dude, Like it's gonna be
a crap ton of BTJ. It's gonna be Travis Hunter
behind him, and then who's the third target in this offense?
It easily could be Brenton Strange. Man, Like I'm not
high on his season long outlook and stuff like that.
Maybe he can pull like a zach Ertz type of
(20:49):
runout where he gets a ton of targets and he
just volumes his way to like, you know, a top
fifteen type of season at tight end. But I'm telling
you right now, like he could have very strong game
in Week one.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Brent Strange is someone I actually have quite a bit
of exposure to, especially in the best ball streets, because
when he got targets last season, he delivered.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
He usually does deliver.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
He's not incredibly athletic once he gets it, Like he's
kind of more of a fall down type of tight end,
but at the saint like.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Tested out of the freaking like jumped out the gym
at the combine and stuff like that, but like, it's
funny that you brought that up because like seeing the
difference between who are Jim Warriors and does that like
crazy athleticism kind of translate to the field. Strange is
at one of those guys where you're like, you see
him on the field, You're like, he's running away from guys. Yeah,
he looks like Superman but still athletic.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, and he had second round draft capital at one point.
And as you said, like we have Tim Patrick who's
come over from the Lions, Diami Brown's there, but it's
no one that's really gonna steal a lot of targets
share And also like we don't know what the snap
percentage is gonna be for Travis Hunter right out of
the gates, so it could open up some potential volume
for Brenton Strange against Carolina on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So, Derek, fantastic job today, man.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
That is going to do it for us on this
episode of the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. Comment down
below your favorite Week one must start player. We want
to hear from you, and while you're here, make sure
you're smashing that like bututon and subscribing to the channel.
If you're new for Derek Brown. I'm set Wilcock. Good
luck in Week one, take care of y'all.
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