September 2, 2021 • 32 mins
On today's episode, Jason kicks things off with a quick thought on how COVID-19, or more specifically, the health and safety protocols brought upon by COVID-19, is taking over sports for the second year in a row. Whether it's Cam Newton possibly losing his job in New England because he wasn't vaccinated or Urban Meyer saying the Jacksonville Jaguars considered vaccination status when deciding on their Final 53, it seems as thought every single day we have a new COVID-related headline in the world of sports. Later, EstablishTheRun.com founder and fantasy football analyst Evan Silva swings by to discuss how gambling and fantasy are so intertwined, why the Chicago Bears defense could give up big numbers to opposing wide receivers, why he expects Calvin Ridley to have a stellar season for the Atlanta Falcons, the dreaded 'Talent vs. Volume' debate in fantasy football, how the JK Dobbins injury impacts the Baltimore Ravens backfield, which rookie running back could become a league winner for you in the second half of the season, why he's lower on Saquon Barkley than at least one of his colleagues, why the decision to dump Cam Newton and start Mac Jones actually boosts the upside of every single New England Patriots skill position player, why it's hard not to be concerned about the availability of unvaccinated players like Lamar Jackson and Kirk Cousins from both a gambling and fantasy perspective, and much more!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up,
straight Fire fan, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Thursday,
September two. Got a great interview today. I know a
lot of fantasy football drafts for this weekend. This is
like the big coming weekend for fantasy football drafts. My
son has two leagues. Yes, he's a fifth grader. I
(00:28):
have a draft tonight, already had one of my big
money drafts last weekend. Uh, it's fantasy football time. So
we got a great guest today. Evans Silva used to
work at Rhodo World. Have known him for a while.
I had him on the radio shows. Um, he's great.
He started a website called Established the Run. This guy
devours the preseason just so he can understand depth charts
and see what's going on. It's great stuff. All most
(00:50):
of your fantasy football questions will be answered. But first listen,
I just have a brief intro. And I'm getting really
sick of talking about the COVID situation in sports. Like
last year, we had an election in COVID and it
was just like gosh, please make it stop, and it wouldn't.
And you know, we got through the season. It was great,
a couple of hiccups whatever, And folks like you know,
(01:12):
you look at the stories and sports today and the
biggest ones involved COVID. They do. Uh, here's the headline,
Washington Nationals VP resigns over team's COVID vaccine requirement. This
guy is seventy three years old and he doesn't want
to get the vaccine. Like, what are we doing here? Really?
(01:36):
Seventy three you don't want to get the back you'd
rather quit your job then get the vaccine and listen
if you if you're if you're that strong on it,
go for it. Eight more power to you, Mr Bob Boone,
whose son is uh Aaron Boone, who announced that he
did get the vaccine. Um. So that's baseball, And then
you go over to the NFL Colts GM Chris Ballard
(01:58):
reiterated he's a firm believer everybody should get vaccinated and
there are consequences for unvaccinated players. There's consequences to not
being vaccinated. Ballard said, Do I think everybody should be vaccinated? Absolutely?
I'm for vaccine. Um. We're a lot of the guys
on our team who for the vaccine is perfect. No,
(02:18):
but it's a good thing. And listen, I'm not gonna
get into the Joe Rogan announcement where he made it
on Instagram and I at last check it was over
approaching four million views that he announced it had COVID.
He refused to get the vaccine. He just you know,
Joe Rogan is a nine figure guy, um with his
Spotify deal, So yeah, he's gonna get the best treatment
(02:39):
on earth. Um. Are you mr, you know, thirty four
year old in Arkansas? Are you getting the treatment Joe
Rogan's getting? Are you getting that? Wake up? Come on?
Come on, guys. Is one of those coastal elites who
moved to Austin. Um, but he's getting the top treat,
to the top whatever. He could just buy his way
to health. Um, listen, it's just it stinks that we're
(03:03):
heading into football like this. But it feels like it's
not going to be a story that goes away anytime soon. UM.
To each his own. If you don't want to get it, fine.
On a personal level, I know my entire son's fifth
grade is now on distance learning one week into the
school year because of positive COVID tests one week into
the school year and they're doing distance learning the whole grade.
(03:26):
Like come on, like, I mean again, these are ten
year olds to ten eleven year old. You can't get
the vaccine at that age. But this stuff is not
going away. Delta is gonna be a problem. I I
hope to attend a football game this fall. I did
not last year. When did go to I think I
went to one Laker game. I had to wear the
mask the whole time. Was not ideal. Football is outside
a little different, um, but listen, I just want sports
(03:48):
to come back. I just wanted wanted to be normal again.
You guys know that feeling right, But without further to listen,
I don't want to bring this up. I mean I
didn't even talk about the urban Meyer one from earlier
this week. Urban Meyer made us amen. Then he had
to backtrack because the NFL p A or like coming
after him is like, come on, guys, can we just
do football? Can we please? At least college football? I
(04:09):
will have college football picks on tomorrow's pod. Uh. If
if you want to hint as to where I'm going
with some of them, go listen to the one with
Preston Johnson. Last week, he gave out several picks for
week one. Um, I'm fired up for the weekend. Should
be fun. But let's get to uh Today's guest, Evan
Silva from Established the Run. Jason likes to think he
(04:31):
knows everything when it comes to sports. I know what
sports dance want, but for everything he doesn't. He knows
a guy who does. Let's just say I know a
guy who knows a guy he knows another guy. All right,
let's welcome into straight fire. He's been on the show before.
I used to have on my radio show back when
I had a radio show before I uh dropped it
(04:53):
to focus on the podcast a little more. He is
I mean, listen, he's Mr Fantasy Football. I know Matthew
Berry is a lot, but Evan Silva started his own shop,
Established the Run. Um, he's great, Evan. How are you man?
It's gonna be back with you, sir. This is our
first time talking UH this year. But um, you know
we're finally some optimism for your Jets. A really exciting preseason.
(05:19):
I mean, you know, I ever since we had no
preseason last year, Like I'm not taking for granted the
preseason ever again. And uh, you know we got to
see five first round quarterbacks played you know, a little
bit a piece, and I think they all performed well
in their own areas. I'm really excited for the season.
I can't believe you just said we just saw a
(05:40):
really exciting preseason. That's wild, but you get you get
way into it because of the hardcore fantasy breakdowns, and
like I want to ask, obviously the preseason matters, but
evan as gambling starts to bubble up and become very
very prevalent in football, how much do you yourself look
at like the Vegas wind totals and how much are
(06:03):
you looking at um like football outsiders puts up like
a hey, the d v O A was this? And
then if you see, oh, the Browns. I know they
want to live in games last year and they should
be regression, but look at their schedule. Holy hell, you
better have some Browns on your fantasy roster. How much
do you incorporate the gambling into what you do in fantasy? Well,
it's been a big part of my process for probably
(06:24):
about eight years now. Um, when I started doing like
team by team previews, where in the team by team previews,
I'm looking at, you know, building your you take like
a top down approach, a team based approach, and you think, hey,
how many plays is this team gonna run? Are they
gonna be playing from from behind or with a lead
(06:44):
a lot? You know, is it should we should we
bet one side of other other sports book win total.
And so that's been a big part of my process
for a while. I think that the the actual analysis
of sports betting. I think it really started to take
a turn last year in that direction, and it's it's
(07:05):
really gonna be veering in that direction. I think over
the next couple of years, like a hard veer towards
sports betting, and I'm interested to see will it start
to cut into daily fantasy, because daily fantasy. To be good.
In daily fantasy, it takes a lot of work. You know,
you can you can't just sit down in a bar,
press a button and you know, think that you're gonna
(07:27):
trot out a good daily thingam you know, But you
can do that for sports betting. And I'm telling you
you know, when I when I hang out in restaurants
in in Chicago, I mean the table over and the
table in front of me, it'll be you know, thirty
year old uh guys talking about their bets you know,
and that's that's become commonplace since um, you know, since
(07:50):
Illinois allowed uh sports betting. So I think that that's
absolutely the way of the future. And we're gonna see
see that veer really hard this year and and in Torno. Alright,
so you're a Chicago guy. I was just you know,
I'm doing a lot of stuff for Fox where I'm
like breaking down games, um from a gambling perspective, And
this the Bears news this week, and I'm not gonna
(08:11):
focus on Dalton versus Fields. I think everybody with a
pulse things Fields should start um and he'll eventually be
in there in September. But Evan, like, I'm just looking
at this offensive line. It's got to be one of
the five horse units in the league. And then the
news that they dumped Desmond Truffon, who was like their
big fill in for Kyle Fuller, and I looked at
their quarterback depth chart cornerback, sorry, corner, I mean, dude,
(08:33):
they combined the full cornerbacks on the roster zero interceptions.
They're all like second or third year players, Like they're
facing Matt Stafford and McVeigh in Week one on the road,
Like this could be. Uh. I don't know, man, this
Bears team is gonna get They're gonna hemorrhage points against
past offenses, right, Yeah, I mean they can rush the
passer a little bit. You know, they have so much
(08:53):
money invested in Khalil Mackin and Robert Quinn um and
and a cheam Hicks up front, and they're getting back
Eddie Goldman. So they're gonna be able to cause some disruption.
But you know, in today's game, like you you don't
you can't just have disruption, like you have to have
guys who can cover other guys. And they've got Jalen
(09:14):
Johnson and a whole lot of nothing behind him at cornerback.
And yeah, I mean I think that it's it's gonna
be it's gonna be a problem, especially because offenses have
so embraced you know, the the quick kidding, get the
ball out sort of of of a playing style and
the rams. You know, they're bringing back all five starters
(09:35):
on the offensive line. Um, they're they're heading into the
season pretty healthy in their passing game. You know, Robert Woods, Uh,
Cooper Cup, Uh, Tyler Higbee, the old line Stafford, all
these guys were healthy throughout training camp in the preseason.
I know that they lost Cam Akers and you know
that that kind of hurt him, but not not from
a passing game standpoint, and so um yeah, I think
(09:59):
that they're gonna come out and and lay it on
the Bears. And I think that you know this, this
timeline for Justin Fields, I mean, he's got, he's got.
I think Week two at home against Cincinnati is where
the over understarts for him. And I don't think Dalton
makes it past uh when the Lions, Uh, when the
Lions go to Soldier Field in week four, I think
(10:21):
it's gonna happen something. The change is gonna be made
between weeks two and four. So so based on Bears
secondary being awful, right, we know the Lions defense pretty bad.
You one would think, hey, let me let me try
to get a receiver or two from that division, and
the problem then becomes iss like like I don't see
any receivers on Detroit. You've been in a lot of
(10:42):
fantasy drafts. Has anybody taken Tyroll Williams like at any
point early in the draft, I mean like first twelve
rounds or whatever. Not first twelve rounds. I mean he'll
he'll get drafted, you know, he'll get drafted in um,
you know, the rounds fourteen through sixteen. But I mean
he's not a separator. And you know, Jared Goff is
(11:03):
not necessarily you know, the most aggressive quarterback when it
comes to throwing throwing into tight windows. T J. Hockenson
needs to get a hundred and thirty targets this year.
DeAndre Swift needs to get you know, that's who they
need to revolve their passing game around. But you know,
we've got some questionable guys making decisions in Detroit. And
(11:26):
you know, Anthony Lynn, I I really respect him as
a man, um you know, and and he he held
that team that the Chargers team together from like a
leadership standpoint, But strategically, I think he left a lot
to be desired when he was, um the Charger's head coach.
And then Dan Campbell is just you know, sort of
like a motivator sort of coach. So I don't I
(11:46):
don't know how they're gonna do schematically. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app search f S
r to listen live. So look at the number two receivers, Evan.
I grabbed Russell Gauge in the league, and I just
have a feeling he could have a breakout. You're like
(12:07):
Corey Davis did last year under Arthur Smith, the two
tight end heavy sets. We know A j Brown was
a monster last year, but Corey Davis kind of had
a finally a good year. Now it's uh, it looks
like it's continuing with the Jets. But where are you
on Russell Gauge in the Falcon's offense. I think that
Russell Gauge is like a big maybe. Um. Like looking
at my top one fifty rankings, he is like at
(12:31):
one fifty five and he's like just outside the top
one fifty. Um. You know, he's not like the most
talented guy. He's kind of limited to the slot. I
just I think the answer here, Jason, and it's not
a bad idea, but I think the answer here is
that Calvin Ridley is like gonna lead the NFL in
air yards this year, and they're gonna run so much
(12:51):
play action under Arthur Smith, and he's gonna be on
the receiving end of those downfield targets off play action
and Kyle Pitts is gonna really be the new number
two receiver, and they're gonna run a ton of two
tight ends and even three tight end sets. You know,
they have Kyle Pitts, They're bringing back Hayden Hurst, they
have They even they signed Lee Smith, who's essentially an
offensive lineman. But he's gonna end up playing like the
(13:14):
Snaps because Arthur Art because of Arthur Smith's background with
using multiple tight end sets. And so I think that
Russell Gauge can can maybe help you in a PPR
league and maybe contribute here and there as a guy
who can catch six seven balls in a given game.
But he's not going to be a big play factor.
But I mean he's not a bad guy to have
(13:35):
on the end of your bench. Just stick with the Falcons. Evan,
where do you have, uh, Mike Davis on your list?
I mean, I don't think anybody expects him to be
Derrick Henry. He is good, but if memory serves he's
often hurt. Is it worth picking up his running his
back up as a as a handcuff. Well, the thing
is that his backup stink. I mean, we're talking about
(13:57):
quadre Allison is the number two back, and it anta
a third year player who didn't get on the field
in his first two years. I mean, that's not a
good sign. And you know, they they were up against
the salary caps, so they couldn't go really spend any
money on RBS. And you know, they're sort of in
like a half step rebuild situation, so they're not gonna
(14:17):
trade draft picks for RBS, and so they're just gonna
They're just gonna run it out with Mike Davis and
a bunch of scrubs behind him. I think that that's
good for Mike Davis though, because he's a lot better
than Quadrialison and these other guys. And I have Mike
Davis as RB nineteen. He's sort of um a polarizing
(14:37):
figure in the fantasy. Uh in fantasy because some people
think that you shouldn't bet on these sort of mediocre
guys only because you know they project for volume. But
other people understand that, you know, volume is the most
important characteristic, and it looks like he you know, as
it pertains to running back fantasy success, you don't have
(14:58):
to be a in stational talent to be a consistent
RB two in fantasy. I think he's gonna catch a
lot of balls this year. I mean, that's one thing
that is that Mike Davis has always been able to
do is catching. He's a good receiving back. He's he's
a big back, but he's a good receiving back. And
in Atlanta, I think you can catch fifties. The offense
(15:20):
is not gonna look from a run past standpoint, it's
not gonna look anything like uh what what what Arthur
Smith ran in Tennessee. From a formational standpoint, I think
it will. But they're gonna throw the ball a lot
more because that's where their talent is. I would, I geez,
I would agree with a lot of that bummer about gage.
Let me go to another Uh you said the backup
(15:41):
running back for the Falcon stinks. Uh, let's go to
the Ravens real quick. They had their starter go down.
Bummer for J K. Dobbins. So everybody goes in drafts
Gus the Bus. I said, you guys can have Gus
the Bus. I want to know who his backup is.
And I would get half the people listening to this
podcast have never heard of Tyson Williams. Um. I mean
like I I got him late in my draft. Any
(16:04):
thoughts on Tyson Williams because it sounds like he's going
to be the number two back over Justice Hill. Yeah,
I think he's a great sleeper. Um. So he's a
guy that he bounced around three colleges. He started in
North Carolina, he wound up at and then he went
to South Carolina, and then he wound up at b
y U, which is the craziest set of three colleges,
(16:27):
you know, just no correlation between South Carolina, North Carolina
and b y U. But then as a senior at
b y U, he um, he earned a starting job.
But then after four games he tore his a c
L and you know he was done with college. He
you know, he had expired all his eligibility. Six months
(16:47):
after the a c L tare, he holds his own
individual Pro Day at two twenty pounds. He runs four
for eight with a six eight one three cone, which
is just insane numbers for a tune and twenty pound
running back, let alone or tune or twenty pound running
back six months removed from an a c L tear.
So this is what happened. The Ravens are a very
(17:09):
analytical organization, and you know, they just look at like
for when they're trying to sign up their undrafted free agents,
they use a lot of just athletic scores, and so
I guarantee you that he scored really high athletically on
their like on their spreadsheets. And they brought him in
and he impressed, and he stayed healthy, and you know,
(17:31):
he's worked really hard. And they brought in Todd Gurley
for a visit in June, but they're not gonna sign
Todd Gurley. They said they're gonna roll with Tyson Williams.
And I think he could come out the gate in
the Gus Edwards role, which was gonna be a ten
eleven carries a game. And you know Gus Edwards is
now in the in the j. K. Dobbins role, so, uh,
(17:55):
Tyson Williams. And then if Us Edwards goes down all
of a sudden, Tyson Williams is the lead back in
you know, the best rushing attack in the in the
A f C. So Twyson Williams is an excellent sleeper.
I would even be willing to reach around above his
a DP to get him on my team, like I
would be wanting to take him like tenth round right now.
(18:16):
That's spicy. And you also said reach a round, which
is always funny. Uh. But the other thing about this
is like when they're murdering teams because they can blow
teams out like or whatever, and that happens usually against
the Bengals. Um, if they're doing that, to say Denver
in Week three, Tyson Williams is probably gonna play the
entire fourth quarter and they're gonna be running the football.
I would assume he's gonna be like, I don't know, man,
(18:37):
any chance he's a top fifteen running back in fantasy
this year? Yeah, I mean there's a chance. You know,
these are the kind of guys that you want to
take flyers on that you know, people haven't heard of
as as you mentioned, um, you know, and they they're
just they're in a great environment for their skill set.
And that's what he landed in. I mean, he's you know,
he's he's in position to be a big time factor,
(19:00):
no no question. And and when you look at running games,
another one that I expect. I mean, you could feel
free to disagree with me, but the decision to start
Teddy Bridgewater to me signals that Fongio says, Dude, I
don't want to get fired. I'm gonna play it safe.
We got a loaded defense. We gotta run the ball,
run the ball more and then kick field goals. And
I don't know, it feels to me like Javonte Williams,
(19:20):
a kid out of North Carolina, could be a big
time factor in this Denver offense. Any thoughts, Yeah, I
think he might start a little bit slow because, um,
because Melvin Gordon is like still the starter, Okay, Um,
so I think that he's gonna start off sharing carries.
But man, if you listen to the coaching staff and
(19:42):
you know, they like, over the years, like, look, there's
a lot of coach speak that that is out there
and you and you can ignore a lot of it.
But over the years, I mean, when you know, I
think I've been able to kind of pick up on
coach speak that actually does matter. And you know, Pat
Shermer and vic fans you have come out just effusive
about Javonte Williams and how he's he doesn't just like
(20:05):
sit like in past protection and older coaches like Patriremin
Vic Fonjio love this stuff in past protection. He doesn't
just sit there and catch the past rusher. He goes
and you know, makes the past rusher eat it. You know,
like he is a violent he's a violent runner, he's
a violent player. He's excellent in the passing game, you know.
(20:25):
And over the course of the season, I think that
we're gonna see him, you know, gradually overtake Melvin Gordon,
because it's just gonna be clear that he's better than
Melvin Gordon. Um. But I think he might start out,
you know, first couple of games only getting ten to
fourteen touches. Uh, and he's gonna be I just think
he's gonna be somebody that you're gonna have to be
(20:46):
a little patient with. Um. I like how you framed
coach speak. Okay, what does the coach speak say to
you about Elijah More of my Jets? And I know
some people are gonna be like, oh, the Jets are
gonna stink. But let me frame it this way, Evan.
I look at that defense, I don't. I mean, the
car lost in loss is huge, the secondary is terrible.
There are games where they're gonna give up thirty points,
(21:06):
but they're also gonna be chucking with Zack Wilson. So
you know, I don't want to sound like an idiot.
I drafted Corey Davis and I got Elijah More later
in the draft. Where are you? What are you hearing
on Elijah More? Well, he was hurt for you know,
I mean, the the initial um, you know, the initial
rhetoric surrounding him was was awesome, you know from from
(21:29):
all the beat writers. He's the star of practice every day.
Then he was hurt for like quite a while, and uh,
and so he lost some of his luster, his his
ADP in fantasy, you know, started to dip. And so
now he becomes a value. I think, Um, I think
he's back in practice now. Um, but uh yeah, I mean,
(21:51):
I like, I'm gonna be on Jets overs this year.
I'm already on this over against the Panthers in Week one.
I got it at forty three. It's already up to
forty four and a half. I'm gonna be on Jets
overs because they're still gonna have the stigma of the Jets,
you know, but they are. They're gonna have to score.
As you mentioned, they're not really gonna be able to
rust the passer. They can't really cover anybody. Mike Lafleur
(22:14):
runs the Kyle Shanahan system. It's very quarterback friendly. They've got,
you know, a dude and Zack Wilson who absolutely is
willing to sling it. He's a good athlete. They've got
Corey Davis and Elijah Moore and Jamison Crowder. You know
they've and they've got Q and Cole If. They they've
got four legit receiver. I think that you're right. They're
gonna be given up thirty, but they're gonna be scoring
(22:35):
twenty four and so I'm gonna I'm gonna like them
as a as an over team. And that kind of
extends to you know, Corey Davis, well, his his ADP
has really started to pick up after he had that
monster preseason game. But Elijah Moore now looks like the
value in the Jets receiver corps. Is there anybody that
you've drafted yet? First of all, and I forgot to
ask the most important question, how many leagues are you in?
(22:58):
And be how many of those are money leagues that
you actually care about? Because like everybody doesn't go away
fantasy league just to practice drafting, but um, how how
many leagues are you in that you really care about. Well,
I I've really doubt I used to be in like
over a hundred you know, sid, Yeah, I've really really
downsized it to like five really high stakes leagues and
(23:21):
then and then you know, a couple more like quote
unquote expert leagues, and uh and and my and my
my home league, which is like with college buddies. So
I've really really downgraded the volume because it just got
too ridiculous levels. And I, you know, I used to
just never say no to a fantasy league, but I'm
(23:41):
getting too old for that. So I have five leagues
that are nineteen hundred entries, and those are the ones
that I'm going to be really focused on entry. And
then there's a waiver cost money too. No, No, it's like, um,
it's like uh like uh no, no, it doesn't cost money.
You get out, you get a thousand bucks in FAB
(24:03):
but it's fake money to play with. Uh those sound
build though those are pretty high high stakes leagues. Have
you have you seen a player drafted by someone you
respect in one of your leagues yet early that you
were like, WHOA, what does this guy see that I
don't see? Well, Mike Clay is one of the best
fantasy analysts, he's also yes, but he's also one of
(24:26):
the best players. And I think because he works at ESPN,
he can't do these big time, high stakes leagues as much.
Well he probably does them undercover. But but but he
but every every league that I'm in with him, and
I'm in like three leagues with him, every year he
finishes at or near the top. He's one. I mean,
he has a crazy win percentage. So I always pay
(24:49):
attention to the draft picks that he makes. And he
has been willing to take sa Kwan Barkley ahead of
where anybody else has been willing to take Kim And
I mean Chakewon Barkley is a guy who's been falling
to the second round like pretty consistently. But I've seen
Mike play take him as high as like number five overall.
(25:10):
And you know Mike Clay, I mean he, you know,
he knows Adam Schefter, like he works with these guys,
you know, like he he and he you know, he
does a podcast with Stefaniel Bell, you know, which pertains
to say Kwan Berkeley's injury and rehab, and so you know,
I I think he's you know, what he does in
(25:31):
drafts like people should pay attention to that. I certainly do.
And you know that that just kind of raises raises
your eyebrows when you see a guy that has been
falling in drafts and Mike plays like effort. I'm taking
him top five. Okay, So so let's talk through this. Okay.
This week alone, I believe the Giants made two trades
to fortify their offensive line or get some depth right.
(25:52):
Their offensive lines a mess. Probably it's not as bad
as the Bears, but it's pretty ugly. And they Kenny
Golladay in the off season. Who, uh, you know, can
is it stretch the field receiver? I don't know. There's
so many mouths to feed on that offense. Um, what
what do you think he could be seeing on se
Kwan Barkley, who I think just started taking first red
(26:12):
with the first team in the last like ten days. Right. Well,
like I said, he works with Adam Schefter, he goes
the podcast with Stan Stefaniel Bell. I don't know exactly
what he's seeing. Um, And I'm I'm worried about Sae
Kwon Barkley. I haven't been drafting very much sa Kwon Barkley. Um,
but you know again, you asked me a trusted guy,
and you know that I would say that Mike Clay
(26:33):
is a trustworthy drafter and he's been taking Sae Kwon
Barkley a lot. Wow. Uh, let's go to receiver's real quick.
I just I have a question about Golliday. Um. You know,
Jason Garrett last year was really bad as an offensive coordinator.
Danny Dimes doesn't have time to throw it down field.
I just I don't know this Golladay overpay. I love
(26:54):
the move getting him. I'm just I haven't seen anything
from Danny Dimes in the last two years that says,
oh wow, can Gallady is really gonna help him? Um,
Kenny Golladay played four games last year, missed all, like
almost all of training camp with a hamstring injury. Was
not able to build any sort of chemistry or rapport
(27:17):
during the preseason in training camp with a quarterback that
has been you know, in regressing. So I'm not real
big on Kenny Golladay right now. He's on my bus list.
The thing is that he started to fall into like
the eighth and ninth round, like everybody's kind of you
know anti Kenny Galladay right now. So if he look,
(27:37):
if he makes it to uh, if he makes it
to a spot in the draft where you know, I mean,
it just becomes ridiculous to not take him because he's
still he's still likely to lead the Giants in targets
and air yards. And Evan Ingram now looks like he
might start the season on I r U with a
calf injury. So I mean, Kenny Alda is now starting
(28:01):
to look like a potential value. M interesting. Uh and
anyone the uel you really like the jumps out that
maybe other people aren't on as much, um any position.
I mean I think that, uh, I think I've started
to uh warm up to Johnny Smith. Well just the Patriots, Um,
(28:24):
you know, moving on from Cam Newton, that's actually good
news for pretty much everyone in their offense. Uh, you know,
especially like James White, like Mac Jones. There's gonna be
a lot more willing to check down to James White.
James White, you know, it's back in the mix to
catch like fifty or sixty passes and and be a
big time factor in ppr UM. Cam Newton getting out
(28:47):
of the way is good for Damian Harris because, uh,
you know, Cam Newton was a major goal line vulture. Um,
and it's good news for the passing game. When when
they had Cam Newton in there, they played really liberally
and slow on offense, and and during the preseason when
Mac Jones was in there, they played fast, they played
with tempo. I think they're gonna run more plays. They're
(29:09):
gonna be more willing to let Mac Jones drop back
to pass thirty five times, you know in a game.
You know they wanted to always limit Cam Newton's past
attempts because he really wasn't an efficient passer. So I
think that that's good And and John new Smith is
a guy that can absolutely benefit from that. He just
needs targets because he's a run after catch machine. Um.
(29:31):
This is a tough one. Evident, maybe we'll end on it.
But the COVID situation, I don't think it's going to
be as prevalent as it was last year. However, there
are some quarterbacks who either have said they're not vaccinated
or have kind of refused to talk about it. And
you have to wonder does that impact at all your strategy?
And now what I guess have to be Kirk Cousins,
(29:53):
Lamar Jackson, Carson Wentz, and we're already seeing Wentz close contact. Um,
he may not start the open. It's uh, it's it's
absolutely concern. Um. I don't know exactly how it's gonna
go down. But you know, I was on Vikings overs
when they were when they're total, when the win total
(30:14):
was at eight and a half and and and I'm
a little worried about the overs now. I mean, kelln minds.
You know, their backup has looked just atrocious during the preseason.
I'm not sure what anybody really ever saw and him
I saw him play in college. I was very unimpressed. Um,
but you know, if they have to go to Kellen
Mond like that, dude is not ready to play. So um,
(30:36):
I'm I'm it's a concern. I don't know, you know
what the future holds, but I'm concerned about it. Yeah,
all right, and we could wrap up on this one.
But every time I look at this NFC picture, like
every there seems to be regression coming for the Packers.
I'm just curious with your you know fantasy, like are
people just gobbling up Aaron Jones and Davante Adams and
(30:57):
Rogers when you see something done that schedule and you
kind of wonder, like, yeah, I don't know, man, are
they regressing? Along with of course the Saints, who I
think are criminally overrated. But I think you're a jamis
get memory serves. No, I'm really, I'm really here. Um,
but I have their unders. But but with Green Bay,
(31:21):
I'm just worried about their offensive line right now. Like
it looks like David Back he's gonna miss the first
six games on pup. They're starting a rookie center. You know,
Billy Turner at right tackle is not great. Um, They're
their guards were already not great, and so I'm a
little worried about their offensive line. Now. Aaron Rodgers com
(31:42):
mitigate a lot that because it gets rid of the
ball quickly. But that's that's the big concern I think
right now is the O sign. Um. But I don't know.
I mean, I think they're they're they're gonna be good.
I think that they you know, Aaron Rodgers not gonna
have a nine point one percent touchdown rate again, you
know his touchdown his touchdown rate is going to go down. Um,
(32:02):
But I I still think they'll be pretty good. I mean,
they're you know, they're in a division with the Bears
don't look very good, the Lions look awful, and uh,
you know the Vikings have this issue with with Kirk
Cousins that that could come back to bite them, so uh,
I think the backers will be alright. Alright he is.
Evan Silva established the run. Give him a follow on
social media if you want to win your fantasy league. Evan,
(32:24):
thanks a lot man
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up,
straight Fire fan, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Thursday,
September two. Got a great interview today. I know a
lot of fantasy football drafts for this weekend. This is
like the big coming weekend for fantasy football drafts. My
son has two leagues. Yes, he's a fifth grader. I
(00:28):
have a draft tonight, already had one of my big
money drafts last weekend. Uh, it's fantasy football time. So
we got a great guest today. Evans Silva used to
work at Rhodo World. Have known him for a while.
I had him on the radio shows. Um, he's great.
He started a website called Established the Run. This guy
devours the preseason just so he can understand depth charts
and see what's going on. It's great stuff. All most
(00:50):
of your fantasy football questions will be answered. But first listen,
I just have a brief intro. And I'm getting really
sick of talking about the COVID situation in sports. Like
last year, we had an election in COVID and it
was just like gosh, please make it stop, and it wouldn't.
And you know, we got through the season. It was great,
a couple of hiccups whatever, And folks like you know,
(01:12):
you look at the stories and sports today and the
biggest ones involved COVID. They do. Uh, here's the headline,
Washington Nationals VP resigns over team's COVID vaccine requirement. This
guy is seventy three years old and he doesn't want
to get the vaccine. Like, what are we doing here? Really?
(01:36):
Seventy three you don't want to get the back you'd
rather quit your job then get the vaccine and listen
if you if you're if you're that strong on it,
go for it. Eight more power to you, Mr Bob Boone,
whose son is uh Aaron Boone, who announced that he
did get the vaccine. Um. So that's baseball, And then
you go over to the NFL Colts GM Chris Ballard
(01:58):
reiterated he's a firm believer everybody should get vaccinated and
there are consequences for unvaccinated players. There's consequences to not
being vaccinated. Ballard said, Do I think everybody should be vaccinated? Absolutely?
I'm for vaccine. Um. We're a lot of the guys
on our team who for the vaccine is perfect. No,
(02:18):
but it's a good thing. And listen, I'm not gonna
get into the Joe Rogan announcement where he made it
on Instagram and I at last check it was over
approaching four million views that he announced it had COVID.
He refused to get the vaccine. He just you know,
Joe Rogan is a nine figure guy, um with his
Spotify deal, So yeah, he's gonna get the best treatment
(02:39):
on earth. Um. Are you mr, you know, thirty four
year old in Arkansas? Are you getting the treatment Joe
Rogan's getting? Are you getting that? Wake up? Come on?
Come on, guys. Is one of those coastal elites who
moved to Austin. Um, but he's getting the top treat,
to the top whatever. He could just buy his way
to health. Um, listen, it's just it stinks that we're
(03:03):
heading into football like this. But it feels like it's
not going to be a story that goes away anytime soon. UM.
To each his own. If you don't want to get it, fine.
On a personal level, I know my entire son's fifth
grade is now on distance learning one week into the
school year because of positive COVID tests one week into
the school year and they're doing distance learning the whole grade.
(03:26):
Like come on, like, I mean again, these are ten
year olds to ten eleven year old. You can't get
the vaccine at that age. But this stuff is not
going away. Delta is gonna be a problem. I I
hope to attend a football game this fall. I did
not last year. When did go to I think I
went to one Laker game. I had to wear the
mask the whole time. Was not ideal. Football is outside
a little different, um, but listen, I just want sports
(03:48):
to come back. I just wanted wanted to be normal again.
You guys know that feeling right, But without further to listen,
I don't want to bring this up. I mean I
didn't even talk about the urban Meyer one from earlier
this week. Urban Meyer made us amen. Then he had
to backtrack because the NFL p A or like coming
after him is like, come on, guys, can we just
do football? Can we please? At least college football? I
(04:09):
will have college football picks on tomorrow's pod. Uh. If
if you want to hint as to where I'm going
with some of them, go listen to the one with
Preston Johnson. Last week, he gave out several picks for
week one. Um, I'm fired up for the weekend. Should
be fun. But let's get to uh Today's guest, Evan
Silva from Established the Run. Jason likes to think he
(04:31):
knows everything when it comes to sports. I know what
sports dance want, but for everything he doesn't. He knows
a guy who does. Let's just say I know a
guy who knows a guy he knows another guy. All right,
let's welcome into straight fire. He's been on the show before.
I used to have on my radio show back when
I had a radio show before I uh dropped it
(04:53):
to focus on the podcast a little more. He is
I mean, listen, he's Mr Fantasy Football. I know Matthew
Berry is a lot, but Evan Silva started his own shop,
Established the Run. Um, he's great, Evan. How are you man?
It's gonna be back with you, sir. This is our
first time talking UH this year. But um, you know
we're finally some optimism for your Jets. A really exciting preseason.
(05:19):
I mean, you know, I ever since we had no
preseason last year, Like I'm not taking for granted the
preseason ever again. And uh, you know we got to
see five first round quarterbacks played you know, a little
bit a piece, and I think they all performed well
in their own areas. I'm really excited for the season.
I can't believe you just said we just saw a
(05:40):
really exciting preseason. That's wild, but you get you get
way into it because of the hardcore fantasy breakdowns, and
like I want to ask, obviously the preseason matters, but
evan as gambling starts to bubble up and become very
very prevalent in football, how much do you yourself look
at like the Vegas wind totals and how much are
(06:03):
you looking at um like football outsiders puts up like
a hey, the d v O A was this? And
then if you see, oh, the Browns. I know they
want to live in games last year and they should
be regression, but look at their schedule. Holy hell, you
better have some Browns on your fantasy roster. How much
do you incorporate the gambling into what you do in fantasy? Well,
it's been a big part of my process for probably
(06:24):
about eight years now. Um, when I started doing like
team by team previews, where in the team by team previews,
I'm looking at, you know, building your you take like
a top down approach, a team based approach, and you think, hey,
how many plays is this team gonna run? Are they
gonna be playing from from behind or with a lead
(06:44):
a lot? You know, is it should we should we
bet one side of other other sports book win total.
And so that's been a big part of my process
for a while. I think that the the actual analysis
of sports betting. I think it really started to take
a turn last year in that direction, and it's it's
(07:05):
really gonna be veering in that direction. I think over
the next couple of years, like a hard veer towards
sports betting, and I'm interested to see will it start
to cut into daily fantasy, because daily fantasy. To be good.
In daily fantasy, it takes a lot of work. You know,
you can you can't just sit down in a bar,
press a button and you know, think that you're gonna
(07:27):
trot out a good daily thingam you know, But you
can do that for sports betting. And I'm telling you
you know, when I when I hang out in restaurants
in in Chicago, I mean the table over and the
table in front of me, it'll be you know, thirty
year old uh guys talking about their bets you know,
and that's that's become commonplace since um, you know, since
(07:50):
Illinois allowed uh sports betting. So I think that that's
absolutely the way of the future. And we're gonna see
see that veer really hard this year and and in Torno. Alright,
so you're a Chicago guy. I was just you know,
I'm doing a lot of stuff for Fox where I'm
like breaking down games, um from a gambling perspective, And
this the Bears news this week, and I'm not gonna
(08:11):
focus on Dalton versus Fields. I think everybody with a
pulse things Fields should start um and he'll eventually be
in there in September. But Evan, like, I'm just looking
at this offensive line. It's got to be one of
the five horse units in the league. And then the
news that they dumped Desmond Truffon, who was like their
big fill in for Kyle Fuller, and I looked at
their quarterback depth chart cornerback, sorry, corner, I mean, dude,
(08:33):
they combined the full cornerbacks on the roster zero interceptions.
They're all like second or third year players, Like they're
facing Matt Stafford and McVeigh in Week one on the road,
Like this could be. Uh. I don't know, man, this
Bears team is gonna get They're gonna hemorrhage points against
past offenses, right, Yeah, I mean they can rush the
passer a little bit. You know, they have so much
(08:53):
money invested in Khalil Mackin and Robert Quinn um and
and a cheam Hicks up front, and they're getting back
Eddie Goldman. So they're gonna be able to cause some disruption.
But you know, in today's game, like you you don't
you can't just have disruption, like you have to have
guys who can cover other guys. And they've got Jalen
(09:14):
Johnson and a whole lot of nothing behind him at cornerback.
And yeah, I mean I think that it's it's gonna
be it's gonna be a problem, especially because offenses have
so embraced you know, the the quick kidding, get the
ball out sort of of of a playing style and
the rams. You know, they're bringing back all five starters
(09:35):
on the offensive line. Um, they're they're heading into the
season pretty healthy in their passing game. You know, Robert Woods, Uh,
Cooper Cup, Uh, Tyler Higbee, the old line Stafford, all
these guys were healthy throughout training camp in the preseason.
I know that they lost Cam Akers and you know
that that kind of hurt him, but not not from
a passing game standpoint, and so um yeah, I think
(09:59):
that they're gonna come out and and lay it on
the Bears. And I think that you know this, this
timeline for Justin Fields, I mean, he's got, he's got.
I think Week two at home against Cincinnati is where
the over understarts for him. And I don't think Dalton
makes it past uh when the Lions, Uh, when the
Lions go to Soldier Field in week four, I think
(10:21):
it's gonna happen something. The change is gonna be made
between weeks two and four. So so based on Bears
secondary being awful, right, we know the Lions defense pretty bad.
You one would think, hey, let me let me try
to get a receiver or two from that division, and
the problem then becomes iss like like I don't see
any receivers on Detroit. You've been in a lot of
(10:42):
fantasy drafts. Has anybody taken Tyroll Williams like at any
point early in the draft, I mean like first twelve
rounds or whatever. Not first twelve rounds. I mean he'll
he'll get drafted, you know, he'll get drafted in um,
you know, the rounds fourteen through sixteen. But I mean
he's not a separator. And you know, Jared Goff is
(11:03):
not necessarily you know, the most aggressive quarterback when it
comes to throwing throwing into tight windows. T J. Hockenson
needs to get a hundred and thirty targets this year.
DeAndre Swift needs to get you know, that's who they
need to revolve their passing game around. But you know,
we've got some questionable guys making decisions in Detroit. And
(11:26):
you know, Anthony Lynn, I I really respect him as
a man, um you know, and and he he held
that team that the Chargers team together from like a
leadership standpoint, But strategically, I think he left a lot
to be desired when he was, um the Charger's head coach.
And then Dan Campbell is just you know, sort of
like a motivator sort of coach. So I don't I
(11:46):
don't know how they're gonna do schematically. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app search f S
r to listen live. So look at the number two receivers, Evan.
I grabbed Russell Gauge in the league, and I just
have a feeling he could have a breakout. You're like
(12:07):
Corey Davis did last year under Arthur Smith, the two
tight end heavy sets. We know A j Brown was
a monster last year, but Corey Davis kind of had
a finally a good year. Now it's uh, it looks
like it's continuing with the Jets. But where are you
on Russell Gauge in the Falcon's offense. I think that
Russell Gauge is like a big maybe. Um. Like looking
at my top one fifty rankings, he is like at
(12:31):
one fifty five and he's like just outside the top
one fifty. Um. You know, he's not like the most
talented guy. He's kind of limited to the slot. I
just I think the answer here, Jason, and it's not
a bad idea, but I think the answer here is
that Calvin Ridley is like gonna lead the NFL in
air yards this year, and they're gonna run so much
(12:51):
play action under Arthur Smith, and he's gonna be on
the receiving end of those downfield targets off play action
and Kyle Pitts is gonna really be the new number
two receiver, and they're gonna run a ton of two
tight ends and even three tight end sets. You know,
they have Kyle Pitts, They're bringing back Hayden Hurst, they
have They even they signed Lee Smith, who's essentially an
offensive lineman. But he's gonna end up playing like the
(13:14):
Snaps because Arthur Art because of Arthur Smith's background with
using multiple tight end sets. And so I think that
Russell Gauge can can maybe help you in a PPR
league and maybe contribute here and there as a guy
who can catch six seven balls in a given game.
But he's not going to be a big play factor.
But I mean he's not a bad guy to have
(13:35):
on the end of your bench. Just stick with the Falcons. Evan,
where do you have, uh, Mike Davis on your list?
I mean, I don't think anybody expects him to be
Derrick Henry. He is good, but if memory serves he's
often hurt. Is it worth picking up his running his
back up as a as a handcuff. Well, the thing
is that his backup stink. I mean, we're talking about
(13:57):
quadre Allison is the number two back, and it anta
a third year player who didn't get on the field
in his first two years. I mean, that's not a
good sign. And you know, they they were up against
the salary caps, so they couldn't go really spend any
money on RBS. And you know, they're sort of in
like a half step rebuild situation, so they're not gonna
(14:17):
trade draft picks for RBS, and so they're just gonna
They're just gonna run it out with Mike Davis and
a bunch of scrubs behind him. I think that that's
good for Mike Davis though, because he's a lot better
than Quadrialison and these other guys. And I have Mike
Davis as RB nineteen. He's sort of um a polarizing
(14:37):
figure in the fantasy. Uh in fantasy because some people
think that you shouldn't bet on these sort of mediocre
guys only because you know they project for volume. But
other people understand that, you know, volume is the most
important characteristic, and it looks like he you know, as
it pertains to running back fantasy success, you don't have
(14:58):
to be a in stational talent to be a consistent
RB two in fantasy. I think he's gonna catch a
lot of balls this year. I mean, that's one thing
that is that Mike Davis has always been able to
do is catching. He's a good receiving back. He's he's
a big back, but he's a good receiving back. And
in Atlanta, I think you can catch fifties. The offense
(15:20):
is not gonna look from a run past standpoint, it's
not gonna look anything like uh what what what Arthur
Smith ran in Tennessee. From a formational standpoint, I think
it will. But they're gonna throw the ball a lot
more because that's where their talent is. I would, I geez,
I would agree with a lot of that bummer about gage.
Let me go to another Uh you said the backup
(15:41):
running back for the Falcon stinks. Uh, let's go to
the Ravens real quick. They had their starter go down.
Bummer for J K. Dobbins. So everybody goes in drafts
Gus the Bus. I said, you guys can have Gus
the Bus. I want to know who his backup is.
And I would get half the people listening to this
podcast have never heard of Tyson Williams. Um. I mean
like I I got him late in my draft. Any
(16:04):
thoughts on Tyson Williams because it sounds like he's going
to be the number two back over Justice Hill. Yeah,
I think he's a great sleeper. Um. So he's a
guy that he bounced around three colleges. He started in
North Carolina, he wound up at and then he went
to South Carolina, and then he wound up at b
y U, which is the craziest set of three colleges,
(16:27):
you know, just no correlation between South Carolina, North Carolina
and b y U. But then as a senior at
b y U, he um, he earned a starting job.
But then after four games he tore his a c
L and you know he was done with college. He
you know, he had expired all his eligibility. Six months
(16:47):
after the a c L tare, he holds his own
individual Pro Day at two twenty pounds. He runs four
for eight with a six eight one three cone, which
is just insane numbers for a tune and twenty pound
running back, let alone or tune or twenty pound running
back six months removed from an a c L tear.
So this is what happened. The Ravens are a very
(17:09):
analytical organization, and you know, they just look at like
for when they're trying to sign up their undrafted free agents,
they use a lot of just athletic scores, and so
I guarantee you that he scored really high athletically on
their like on their spreadsheets. And they brought him in
and he impressed, and he stayed healthy, and you know,
(17:31):
he's worked really hard. And they brought in Todd Gurley
for a visit in June, but they're not gonna sign
Todd Gurley. They said they're gonna roll with Tyson Williams.
And I think he could come out the gate in
the Gus Edwards role, which was gonna be a ten
eleven carries a game. And you know Gus Edwards is
now in the in the j. K. Dobbins role, so, uh,
(17:55):
Tyson Williams. And then if Us Edwards goes down all
of a sudden, Tyson Williams is the lead back in
you know, the best rushing attack in the in the
A f C. So Twyson Williams is an excellent sleeper.
I would even be willing to reach around above his
a DP to get him on my team, like I
would be wanting to take him like tenth round right now.
(18:16):
That's spicy. And you also said reach a round, which
is always funny. Uh. But the other thing about this
is like when they're murdering teams because they can blow
teams out like or whatever, and that happens usually against
the Bengals. Um, if they're doing that, to say Denver
in Week three, Tyson Williams is probably gonna play the
entire fourth quarter and they're gonna be running the football.
I would assume he's gonna be like, I don't know, man,
(18:37):
any chance he's a top fifteen running back in fantasy
this year? Yeah, I mean there's a chance. You know,
these are the kind of guys that you want to
take flyers on that you know, people haven't heard of
as as you mentioned, um, you know, and they they're
just they're in a great environment for their skill set.
And that's what he landed in. I mean, he's you know,
he's he's in position to be a big time factor,
(19:00):
no no question. And and when you look at running games,
another one that I expect. I mean, you could feel
free to disagree with me, but the decision to start
Teddy Bridgewater to me signals that Fongio says, Dude, I
don't want to get fired. I'm gonna play it safe.
We got a loaded defense. We gotta run the ball,
run the ball more and then kick field goals. And
I don't know, it feels to me like Javonte Williams,
(19:20):
a kid out of North Carolina, could be a big
time factor in this Denver offense. Any thoughts, Yeah, I
think he might start a little bit slow because, um,
because Melvin Gordon is like still the starter, Okay, Um,
so I think that he's gonna start off sharing carries.
But man, if you listen to the coaching staff and
(19:42):
you know, they like, over the years, like, look, there's
a lot of coach speak that that is out there
and you and you can ignore a lot of it.
But over the years, I mean, when you know, I
think I've been able to kind of pick up on
coach speak that actually does matter. And you know, Pat
Shermer and vic fans you have come out just effusive
about Javonte Williams and how he's he doesn't just like
(20:05):
sit like in past protection and older coaches like Patriremin
Vic Fonjio love this stuff in past protection. He doesn't
just sit there and catch the past rusher. He goes
and you know, makes the past rusher eat it. You know,
like he is a violent he's a violent runner, he's
a violent player. He's excellent in the passing game, you know.
(20:25):
And over the course of the season, I think that
we're gonna see him, you know, gradually overtake Melvin Gordon,
because it's just gonna be clear that he's better than
Melvin Gordon. Um. But I think he might start out,
you know, first couple of games only getting ten to
fourteen touches. Uh, and he's gonna be I just think
he's gonna be somebody that you're gonna have to be
(20:46):
a little patient with. Um. I like how you framed
coach speak. Okay, what does the coach speak say to
you about Elijah More of my Jets? And I know
some people are gonna be like, oh, the Jets are
gonna stink. But let me frame it this way, Evan.
I look at that defense, I don't. I mean, the
car lost in loss is huge, the secondary is terrible.
There are games where they're gonna give up thirty points,
(21:06):
but they're also gonna be chucking with Zack Wilson. So
you know, I don't want to sound like an idiot.
I drafted Corey Davis and I got Elijah More later
in the draft. Where are you? What are you hearing
on Elijah More? Well, he was hurt for you know,
I mean, the the initial um, you know, the initial
rhetoric surrounding him was was awesome, you know from from
(21:29):
all the beat writers. He's the star of practice every day.
Then he was hurt for like quite a while, and uh,
and so he lost some of his luster, his his
ADP in fantasy, you know, started to dip. And so
now he becomes a value. I think, Um, I think
he's back in practice now. Um, but uh yeah, I mean,
(21:51):
I like, I'm gonna be on Jets overs this year.
I'm already on this over against the Panthers in Week one.
I got it at forty three. It's already up to
forty four and a half. I'm gonna be on Jets
overs because they're still gonna have the stigma of the Jets,
you know, but they are. They're gonna have to score.
As you mentioned, they're not really gonna be able to
rust the passer. They can't really cover anybody. Mike Lafleur
(22:14):
runs the Kyle Shanahan system. It's very quarterback friendly. They've got,
you know, a dude and Zack Wilson who absolutely is
willing to sling it. He's a good athlete. They've got
Corey Davis and Elijah Moore and Jamison Crowder. You know
they've and they've got Q and Cole If. They they've
got four legit receiver. I think that you're right. They're
gonna be given up thirty, but they're gonna be scoring
(22:35):
twenty four and so I'm gonna I'm gonna like them
as a as an over team. And that kind of
extends to you know, Corey Davis, well, his his ADP
has really started to pick up after he had that
monster preseason game. But Elijah Moore now looks like the
value in the Jets receiver corps. Is there anybody that
you've drafted yet? First of all, and I forgot to
ask the most important question, how many leagues are you in?
(22:58):
And be how many of those are money leagues that
you actually care about? Because like everybody doesn't go away
fantasy league just to practice drafting, but um, how how
many leagues are you in that you really care about. Well,
I I've really doubt I used to be in like
over a hundred you know, sid, Yeah, I've really really
downsized it to like five really high stakes leagues and
(23:21):
then and then you know, a couple more like quote
unquote expert leagues, and uh and and my and my
my home league, which is like with college buddies. So
I've really really downgraded the volume because it just got
too ridiculous levels. And I, you know, I used to
just never say no to a fantasy league, but I'm
(23:41):
getting too old for that. So I have five leagues
that are nineteen hundred entries, and those are the ones
that I'm going to be really focused on entry. And
then there's a waiver cost money too. No, No, it's like, um,
it's like uh like uh no, no, it doesn't cost money.
You get out, you get a thousand bucks in FAB
(24:03):
but it's fake money to play with. Uh those sound
build though those are pretty high high stakes leagues. Have
you have you seen a player drafted by someone you
respect in one of your leagues yet early that you
were like, WHOA, what does this guy see that I
don't see? Well, Mike Clay is one of the best
fantasy analysts, he's also yes, but he's also one of
(24:26):
the best players. And I think because he works at ESPN,
he can't do these big time, high stakes leagues as much.
Well he probably does them undercover. But but but he
but every every league that I'm in with him, and
I'm in like three leagues with him, every year he
finishes at or near the top. He's one. I mean,
he has a crazy win percentage. So I always pay
(24:49):
attention to the draft picks that he makes. And he
has been willing to take sa Kwan Barkley ahead of
where anybody else has been willing to take Kim And
I mean Chakewon Barkley is a guy who's been falling
to the second round like pretty consistently. But I've seen
Mike play take him as high as like number five overall.
(25:10):
And you know Mike Clay, I mean he, you know,
he knows Adam Schefter, like he works with these guys,
you know, like he he and he you know, he
does a podcast with Stefaniel Bell, you know, which pertains
to say Kwan Berkeley's injury and rehab, and so you know,
I I think he's you know, what he does in
(25:31):
drafts like people should pay attention to that. I certainly do.
And you know that that just kind of raises raises
your eyebrows when you see a guy that has been
falling in drafts and Mike plays like effort. I'm taking
him top five. Okay, So so let's talk through this. Okay.
This week alone, I believe the Giants made two trades
to fortify their offensive line or get some depth right.
(25:52):
Their offensive lines a mess. Probably it's not as bad
as the Bears, but it's pretty ugly. And they Kenny
Golladay in the off season. Who, uh, you know, can
is it stretch the field receiver? I don't know. There's
so many mouths to feed on that offense. Um, what
what do you think he could be seeing on se
Kwan Barkley, who I think just started taking first red
(26:12):
with the first team in the last like ten days. Right. Well,
like I said, he works with Adam Schefter, he goes
the podcast with Stan Stefaniel Bell. I don't know exactly
what he's seeing. Um, And I'm I'm worried about Sae
Kwon Barkley. I haven't been drafting very much sa Kwon Barkley. Um,
but you know again, you asked me a trusted guy,
and you know that I would say that Mike Clay
(26:33):
is a trustworthy drafter and he's been taking Sae Kwon
Barkley a lot. Wow. Uh, let's go to receiver's real quick.
I just I have a question about Golliday. Um. You know,
Jason Garrett last year was really bad as an offensive coordinator.
Danny Dimes doesn't have time to throw it down field.
I just I don't know this Golladay overpay. I love
(26:54):
the move getting him. I'm just I haven't seen anything
from Danny Dimes in the last two years that says,
oh wow, can Gallady is really gonna help him? Um,
Kenny Golladay played four games last year, missed all, like
almost all of training camp with a hamstring injury. Was
not able to build any sort of chemistry or rapport
(27:17):
during the preseason in training camp with a quarterback that
has been you know, in regressing. So I'm not real
big on Kenny Golladay right now. He's on my bus list.
The thing is that he started to fall into like
the eighth and ninth round, like everybody's kind of you
know anti Kenny Galladay right now. So if he look,
(27:37):
if he makes it to uh, if he makes it
to a spot in the draft where you know, I mean,
it just becomes ridiculous to not take him because he's
still he's still likely to lead the Giants in targets
and air yards. And Evan Ingram now looks like he
might start the season on I r U with a
calf injury. So I mean, Kenny Alda is now starting
(28:01):
to look like a potential value. M interesting. Uh and
anyone the uel you really like the jumps out that
maybe other people aren't on as much, um any position.
I mean I think that, uh, I think I've started
to uh warm up to Johnny Smith. Well just the Patriots, Um,
(28:24):
you know, moving on from Cam Newton, that's actually good
news for pretty much everyone in their offense. Uh, you know,
especially like James White, like Mac Jones. There's gonna be
a lot more willing to check down to James White.
James White, you know, it's back in the mix to
catch like fifty or sixty passes and and be a
big time factor in ppr UM. Cam Newton getting out
(28:47):
of the way is good for Damian Harris because, uh,
you know, Cam Newton was a major goal line vulture. Um,
and it's good news for the passing game. When when
they had Cam Newton in there, they played really liberally
and slow on offense, and and during the preseason when
Mac Jones was in there, they played fast, they played
with tempo. I think they're gonna run more plays. They're
(29:09):
gonna be more willing to let Mac Jones drop back
to pass thirty five times, you know in a game.
You know they wanted to always limit Cam Newton's past
attempts because he really wasn't an efficient passer. So I
think that that's good And and John new Smith is
a guy that can absolutely benefit from that. He just
needs targets because he's a run after catch machine. Um.
(29:31):
This is a tough one. Evident, maybe we'll end on it.
But the COVID situation, I don't think it's going to
be as prevalent as it was last year. However, there
are some quarterbacks who either have said they're not vaccinated
or have kind of refused to talk about it. And
you have to wonder does that impact at all your strategy?
And now what I guess have to be Kirk Cousins,
(29:53):
Lamar Jackson, Carson Wentz, and we're already seeing Wentz close contact. Um,
he may not start the open. It's uh, it's it's
absolutely concern. Um. I don't know exactly how it's gonna
go down. But you know, I was on Vikings overs
when they were when they're total, when the win total
(30:14):
was at eight and a half and and and I'm
a little worried about the overs now. I mean, kelln minds.
You know, their backup has looked just atrocious during the preseason.
I'm not sure what anybody really ever saw and him
I saw him play in college. I was very unimpressed. Um,
but you know, if they have to go to Kellen
Mond like that, dude is not ready to play. So um,
(30:36):
I'm I'm it's a concern. I don't know, you know
what the future holds, but I'm concerned about it. Yeah,
all right, and we could wrap up on this one.
But every time I look at this NFC picture, like
every there seems to be regression coming for the Packers.
I'm just curious with your you know fantasy, like are
people just gobbling up Aaron Jones and Davante Adams and
(30:57):
Rogers when you see something done that schedule and you
kind of wonder, like, yeah, I don't know, man, are
they regressing? Along with of course the Saints, who I
think are criminally overrated. But I think you're a jamis
get memory serves. No, I'm really, I'm really here. Um,
but I have their unders. But but with Green Bay,
(31:21):
I'm just worried about their offensive line right now. Like
it looks like David Back he's gonna miss the first
six games on pup. They're starting a rookie center. You know,
Billy Turner at right tackle is not great. Um, They're
their guards were already not great, and so I'm a
little worried about their offensive line. Now. Aaron Rodgers com
(31:42):
mitigate a lot that because it gets rid of the
ball quickly. But that's that's the big concern I think
right now is the O sign. Um. But I don't know.
I mean, I think they're they're they're gonna be good.
I think that they you know, Aaron Rodgers not gonna
have a nine point one percent touchdown rate again, you
know his touchdown his touchdown rate is going to go down. Um,
(32:02):
But I I still think they'll be pretty good. I mean,
they're you know, they're in a division with the Bears
don't look very good, the Lions look awful, and uh,
you know the Vikings have this issue with with Kirk
Cousins that that could come back to bite them, so uh,
I think the backers will be alright. Alright he is.
Evan Silva established the run. Give him a follow on
social media if you want to win your fantasy league. Evan,
(32:24):
thanks a lot man
Host
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.