April 22, 2025 • 46 mins
Marcas Grant, Michael F. Florio and LaQuan Jones start the show with the latest news ahead of the NFL Draft including Anthony Richardson’s future as a fantasy-relevant QB and realistic expectations for J.J. McCarthy upon his return from injury. (1:55)
Then Emory Hunt of CBS Sports joins to discuss his belief that Shedeur Sanders is the most pro-ready QB prospect since Andrew Luck, how Kaleb Johnson compares to the rest of the RB draft class and which pass catchers he’s most excited about regardless of their landing spot! (12:02).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow, Hey everybody, It's Tuesday, April twenty second, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast where the waiting
is the hardest part. It's me and your man, MG
Marcus Grand joined by Michael f.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Florio and Lakwan Jones. What is the guys? Two more sleeps?
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Two more sleeps? Thank god? Yeah, yeah, one more, Like
I'm ready to get this over.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Just let's just move. Let's just get it over with,
man show.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
It's excited like Thursday night.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I'm excited for the draft. I'm tired of.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
All this other just noise and chatter. Like that's where
I'm done with. That's where I'm excited at. Like, let's
get it here and let's get it done.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Everybody's just like trying to you know, everybody's hot taking
now to try to get the biggest take out there
I'm speaking of, which, Uh.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
We have a guy who.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Gets accused hot taking, but generally more often than that
he is on point. We were having our yearly visit
with Emory Hunts, he of the football game Plan. His
draft guide is out.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Now. We've had him what on the show four or
five years in a row I think at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, and there's always a couple of guys that he
breaks from consensus with. And you know, a lot of
people give him a hard time, say he's a hot
take artist, but Emory's got receipts.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Man, he ends up being way right.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
It's hilarious because you could ask Emory, like, give me
a player that people are lower on, and he'll start
pulling out like d three linemen and you're like, what.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Right, like a third round guy.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yes, So we will get into him.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I'm sure we will ask him about small school guys,
and I'm sure he will give us a name that
we have never not only never thought of, but probably
didn't even know had never even heard of until today.
That is the beauty of having Emory hunt On. So
stick around for that. I meantime, a couple of news
headlines to dive into. We'll start in Indianapolis, where Colt's
general manager Chris says he expects both Anthony Richardson and
(02:03):
Daniel Jones to play at some point this season. Mikes, look,
I know we've been trying to hang on Anthony Richardson
and his fantasy relevance. We want him to be a runner.
We hope that he can develop as a passer, but Florio,
at this point, we've seen him get benched. Now they
bring in Daniel Jones and they're sacked that Daniel Jones
is going to see some playing time. Like, at what
(02:24):
point do we just have to give up the rope?
Let go of the rope on Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
I think at this point he is nothing more than
an upside QB two that like, probably not even gonna
be top fifteen in most people's fantasy rankings, but the
upside is very high because of what you said, Marcus,
what he does as a runner. But I'm gonna take
shots at the Colts the same way I did in season.
This is dumb, Like I understand how you have to
plan to have your backup quarterback play because of injuries,
(02:55):
especially with Richardson all of that, but when you drafted
Anthony Richardson, I knew he was a twenty one year
old kid that had completed attempted two hundred and fifteen
passes in college. Now two years through his NFL career
one hundred and seventy six pass attempts. You know what
he needs more than anything, reps and opportunity and you
knew that when.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
You drafted him.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
So give him those reps and give him those opportunities,
and don't waste them by giving half of them in
camp to Daniel Jones. Look if Jones plays because Richardson
flames out in the first half of the season or
he gets hurt or something like that, sure, but you
should be giving Anthony Richardson every opportunity he needs to grow,
because when you took him, that was the plan.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It feels like lakwan, this is a decision that's made,
Like the Colts have this I don't know, this idea
that they are a contender, right And I get at
the AFC South is not particularly strong.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
They were eight and nine last year.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
There was just a couple of games out of the
division title. But I mean you they're not truly a
contender in the AFC, right, Well, you still have to
deal with the Bills and the Ravens and you know,
the Chiefs and you know whoever else, Like, why don't
they just to Florida's point, just let him play, let
him grow, because you know, the worst thing that could
(04:12):
happen to him is you are ten and seven and
you get bounced in the first round of the playoffs,
and then what do you do.
Speaker 7 (04:18):
I think they honestly just want to put a good
product out there. And I see why they're rushing kind
of the process of Anthony Richardson because it has not
been pretty.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It has been very, very bad.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
I mean, like the completion percentage, your god, forty nine
percent to tap it on the help getting out, dear God.
That looks bad for a franchise quarterback. So you bring
in Daniel Jones and it's like, all right, well, we
kind of have an idea what Daniel Jones has been
these last two seasons. But there's that twenty twenty two
season that everybody's holding on to. Danil Jones looked pretty
good that season with the medium floor, throwing thirty two
(04:51):
hundred yards, but he didn't turn the ball over much.
He ran for seven hundred yards. These are all things
that they kind of want Anthony Richardson to be right now.
And if you have any type of hope that Daniel
Jones comes in as a starter, he has weapons around him.
They're still going to be able to pick one of
these tight ends that everybody's mocking him to. To have
(05:11):
complete weapons around Daniel Jones. That's all we wanted in
New Jersey for when he was at the Giant, complete
set of weapons, and if we look at that twenty
twenty two season, he was great at the deep ball.
You have Alex Pears to beat a deep threat. You
have Michael Pittman that we have not seen the absolute
best for him, but he is the wide receiver one.
You have an absolute dog in Josh Downs and I
(05:34):
hope the world catches up to this of him operating
out of that slot being disgusting. So I honestly feel
like they are making these comments because Daniel Jones actually
has a chance to be a starter. And also one
more point, in twenty twenty two he was QB nine.
So I'm going to be taking no shots for Dan
Jones living in those deep darks of pits of HTBLEL
(05:55):
hockey sticks and the ADP just for the upside, because
the rushing upside there, the deep ball is there, they
have the weapons, they have a running game.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
It might be Dani Jones season this year.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
No team has ever thought Daniel Jones was the guy
and been wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Thank you for jumping in because I didn't have words.
I just you're reaching. You're trying to get me excited
about a bowl of oatmeal. I mean, like, his best season,
maybe that's what it is. His best season was slightly
better than mid He threw fifteen touchdowns that year, fifteen.
(06:34):
That ain't great, man, It ain't hey we're talking about
but we're talking about these two guys who who at
best are mid sharing time, both being part time players.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
But which one has that untapped potential and which, like
which one is approven? You've had six years.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
As a starter and it did not work out and
the other guys had six games pretty.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Much like I get your point, right, I totally get
your point about Anthony rich But I feel like, for
us right in fantasy, like, I don't want to touch
either of these guys because of what the Colts are
telling us, Like the Colts are telling us that they're
not in fully on Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So if they're not fully in.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Like I'm not going to spend a draft pick on
a guy who's gonna be a rotational quarterback.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
It seems like, yeah, I think they pulled the plug
early on Anthony Richson, and that's going to be the
sad trooth of this of like where you don't draft
Anthony Richson even though that upside is magnificent, Like we
all know what it can be, but it's not what
it is, you know. So it's one of those things
like feel bad for Josh downs to feel bad for
Michael Pittman because they're uncertainty of who's going to be
(07:38):
the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I mean in the end they are probably in
probably they are doing Anthony Richards in a disservice by
not really giving him the full chance to develop.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
And they might walt seven games with Daniel Jones, you know.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
Like they will rush for seven hundred yards and fifteen
touchdowns and.
Speaker 6 (07:56):
Being he's fantasy, he's not the better of the two,
like like noltely not.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
No, it's just so bad.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yah, I youstening, Chris Ballad, if you're listening, give him
a shot, that's all rasking.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Just give him another show.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Gave up on Josh Allen after two years.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Good look. Other young quarterbacking news.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota says JJ McCarthy has no limitations
at the start of the off season program. I mean
the kuand all signs seem to be pointing to JJ
McCarthy being the Vikings starter when it comes to Week one.
I'm not saying I'm out on him. I just feel
like he's so much of an unknown that, besides Justin Jefferson,
(08:41):
it makes me unsure of what to do with Vikings players.
Speaker 7 (08:44):
I mean, Vikings completely option to what Indy saying about
their starting quarterback. Looking at JJ, I love the confidence
that this team is putting around him, and honestly, they
have a great system over there, and then it works
for Sam Darnold, And like I think we always forget
at you know, what we were thinking going into the season.
If it was JJ, if it was Sam Darnold, we
(09:05):
were getting a discount Justin Jefferson. If this is what's
gonna happen again in the fantasy streets, please let it happen,
because I'll take it.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
I know you guys are on TJ.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Hawk.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
He's going down in ADP.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
He's living in that you know question of where does
he go?
Speaker 7 (09:17):
But I could see him being great, being good for
you guys because I'm.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Not touching them.
Speaker 7 (09:25):
But you have all these players that might get discounted,
like the Aaron Jones is the Jordan Mason Jordan Addison, Like, Okay,
let's just keep what it is. You guys are gonna
be a little hesitating on him, but I'm loving the confidence,
like they're gonna have like a villain arc with him,
and like I think he's gonna come out and just
ball out and shut everybody up because you see the
confidence that this franchise is putting behind him. So I'm
(09:47):
gonna be buying into it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I mean, Floyle, I'm not, like I said, I'm not
out on JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I don't. I don't hate him, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I just it's just an incomplete I guess it's sort
of a black box, like because he was a winner
at Michigan on field, they won games, but they also
didn't ask him to do it son, So I'm just
not sure what to get out of him. That's the reason,
at least for me, that I'm just sort of hesitant
on Vikings players.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
No, I totally get that because whether you believe in
JJ or not, like he's an unproven at this level
and that always adds risk into these players, especially someone
like Jefferson, who you need to take top five, top
three overall in a lot of drafts, so it adds
some risk there. I kind of am at the point
(10:33):
where I trust KOC and the Vikings Brass like.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
He has a very fantasy friendly system.
Speaker 6 (10:40):
He's got arguably the greatest, the one of the best
sets of weapons in the NFL. I think you can
make that argument. And Sam Darnold had a career year
with him. Kirk Cousins was putting up numbers with him.
But then there was that stretch two years ago at
the end where it was like Josh Dobbs and and
Nick Mullins and those guys are putting up numbers for
a stretch with KOC. So jj is not a player
(11:05):
like I'm looking to draft, but I do think he
is one that could be like a fun late round
dart throw or waiver wire name in season and there'll
be weeks where you could stream him in good matchups
and stuff. But yeah, for me, it's just trusting this
system and the playmakers around him more than trusting him himself.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, I look, I think if you're playing Dynasty, if
you're playing best ball, like, you've got to kind of
stake a claim one way or another. You decide whether
you're in or out. For those of us who play redraft,
you can take more of a wait and see approach.
You can sit back, hands off this year, see what happens,
and then come back again in twenty twenty six and
take a shot at JJ McCarthy. But we'll keep an
eye on that too. As we get a little bit
(11:42):
closer to training camp and the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
It's like a quick break. We're gonna come back with
Emory Hunt.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Dive into his thoughts, the man who probably watches more
college football than about the next twenty five analysts combined.
Get his thoughts coming up two days ahead of the
NFL Draft. That's coming up next on the NFL Fantasy
Football Podcast.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Very happy to be joined here.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
On the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast by guys we consider
a friend of the show for sure.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
At this point, we like.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
To talk to him every year, right about this son,
just before the draft. You know him probably from social
media on Ftball game Plan. You see him on CBS
Sports Network. He is the owner and creator of the
Football Game Plan himself and a man who has probably
forgotten more about college and pro football than some of
us will ever ever know. That is the one and
(12:31):
only Emory Hunt. Emory, always good to talk to you. Great,
you just stepped off of television. You have us feeling underdressed,
but it's always great to have you hanging out with us.
Speaker 8 (12:39):
Man Man, I'm great to be glad to be on
the show as always a yearly thing for us. And
excuse my presence, you know what I'm saying, excuse my presence.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Well, the Football Game Plan Guide is out. Glad to
be perusing through it once again as always, so definitely
wanted to get you on and pick your brain about
you know what you think on some of these prospects.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Is where a couple of days away from.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
The draft and want to start a quarterback right because
that more than likely is where the draft is going
to begin. That's sort of certainly for fantasy football, where
the conversation has begun. The top two of the class
for most people cam Ward and Shuduer Sanders. You have
Shuder Sanders over cam Ward, even though he looks like
the consensus to go number one. What puts Shradeur ahead
(13:24):
of cam Ward for you? And ultimately what is Sanders
ceiling for you?
Speaker 8 (13:28):
It's funny because if you're watching Schador Sanders and I
cover a lot of FCS football. So I've seen his
first game, which was an upset win over fam You
and the Orange Blossom Classic and a torrential downpour. They
won that game seven to six, And that was my
first exposure to him as a quarterback because I hadn't
seen his high school games and it's just like, I
don't know what to expect. But I was impressed that
(13:50):
season with how he played the position from the neck up.
And when you combine his play from the neck up
with what he does from a touch timing, anticipation, and accuracy, man,
he's plugging play. He's exactly what they want. And what
was cool about his freshman season thirty touchdown passes inside
the red zone, no interceptions. So for someone that is
(14:11):
that people say gets sacked a lot or tasts a
lot of sacks. You think he have a ton of fumbles,
he doesn't. You think he have a ton of interceptions,
He doesn't. And he has way more touchdowns than interceptions
in that regard as a whole. And we've seen him
time and tom again just play well in the situation.
Third down offense, backed up offense, red zone offense, in
the game offense need to have his situations like he
is the most pro ready prospect since Andrew Luck from
(14:34):
all all the things I mentioned, on top of the
fact that he has a Hall of Fame dad that
has prepared him for the spotlight. He was trained by
Tom Brady and Jeff Blake and Troy Aikman, So like,
this guy can step in right now. And he has
gone to two down trodden programs in Jackson State and
Colorado and led those guys.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
To bowl games, to new heights.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
And looking at some other qbs, em Rie, you have
Jackson Dart at QB seven. A lot of people have
him as the QB three in this class, and Tyler
Shuck is getting hype now maybe as a first round
pick him as your.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
QB twenty three. So what do you see differently.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
Than everyone else who is seemingly a lot higher on
these two?
Speaker 8 (15:17):
For Dart, you could tell who started to watch Jackson
Dart at the bowl game against Duke and based off
social media the one pass he threw, because if they
watched him during the season, they would have seen that
Florida game when he threw three American interceptions in the
last two minutes with Old Missus playoff berth on the line.
So can you imagine if Shador Cam had a game
(15:38):
like that with the playoffs on the line and they
throw three picks in two minutes, we would never see
the light of day of that game, right. And So
Jackson Dart is a good player. I think he needs
a little bit more time.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Because of coming out that out of that old miss offense.
Speaker 8 (15:54):
And we've seen this before with Matt Correll. We're seeing
Matt Correll go through the ups and downs adjustments in
a UFL, having to deal with pressure quickly, having to
deal with things changing post snap as of what he
saw pre snap. And that's the issues I saw with
Jackson Dark. When the first threat is taken away, then
things start to get money, and then he doesn't handle pressure.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Well. We saw that in the first.
Speaker 8 (16:16):
Series or two against Georgia before the backup came in
let him for a touchdown. Then Dark came back in
and started to have a really good game. So that
worries me about Dart. I think he's more of a
day two guy that needs helping.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Shuck.
Speaker 8 (16:28):
I remember just last year when everybody was worried about
guys being twenty three in twenty four. So now we're
okay with a dude that It's funny. Everybody last year
was worried about Michael Pennix's age and injury history, and
this year we have somebody in the seventh year of
college that has only been healthy this past season that's
(16:50):
also twenty seven years old.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Like, what are we doing?
Speaker 8 (16:53):
So I think he's on the day two, day three
type trains. You know your QB two that can help
you in the two to three game pinch.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
Now let's shift to some of these running backs, man.
I mean the consensus out there in the fantasy streets,
everybody's all excited about Ashton Genty. Is he immune to
landing spots?
Speaker 8 (17:13):
I'm glad you brought up Aston Genty because he is
my RB one. I don't see that as much of
a drop off between him and also Amari and Hampton,
who I have as a RB two. And if somebody
had Trevion Henderson as their RB one, I wouldn't betterny
it because.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
I like all the parts about his game.
Speaker 8 (17:29):
But I feel like right now we're in the midst
of the one upmanship of Ashton Genty. He had gone
from a first round pick to top fifteen to top
ten to Now we're seeing people may trade up to
two to get him like so at some point we're
approaching that area where are we overrating him. I do
(17:49):
think he's more of a gap skiing guy than a
outside zone guy. I think he's more downhill than he
is east and west because if you've seen in certain games,
if teams beat him to the spot, they're able to,
you know, corral him and get him on the ground
because he doesn't have that cutback ability. I know people
will show one highlight of him cutting back, but the
(18:10):
difference between you great these prospects is how consistently are
you doing that one thing right? And that's what lowers
a tear for some guys or lower the levels down
for some guys.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
I think he's a very good back again.
Speaker 8 (18:20):
RB one breaks an enormous amount of tackles that you
just can't even explain. But I also feel like he
will be a part of a tandem. I don't think
he's a quote unquote foundational guy.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Uh we are a camp scatterboo friendly podcast. He's a
guy that we all like here, but I will I
will concede that he's also sort of a hard guy
to evaluate. Right, because he didn't really pop until that
final year in Arizona State.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
He was a transfer from Sacramento State. There are a
lot of things to like.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
There are a lot of things to sort of question
when you look at camp Scataboo, man, what do you
think of him? And you know, is he closer to
his ceiling than to his floor? How much more room
does he really have to develop? I think he that's
a great question.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
I think he is what we see and so you're
gonna get what you just saw from Cam Scatable.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
The lateral agility.
Speaker 8 (19:07):
I think he has better latter rigility than asking Genty.
The difference is we've seen Genty like finished games and
finished runs and do all of those things you want
to see. Scatabul has been banged up a little bit.
He takes on too much contact, as does Genty. I
think Genty maybe a little bit faster, much more explosive
about the blocks, so you worry about the quote unquote
(19:28):
long speed. But Scataboo, to me is a starting tailback
in the same mode. If you're talking about Genty as
a combo guy, Scatable could be the same thing. Which
is why we tend to say this draft class is deep,
and it's not just deep in terms of like, hey,
the top eight backs I'm talking about like the line
goes down the hall type deeper guys that we're not
even talking about, of guys that can be starters that
(19:50):
we end up finding on day three. So I'm a
camp scatibul guy. I like that we saw him put
the whole display of his skill set out there on
film in a b and all started. I mean starting
a playoff game and the receiving skills a downfield threat.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
But I do feel like.
Speaker 8 (20:06):
He's going to have to learn to invade a little
bit more as a pro than what he did at
Arizona State.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
And when you were talking about Genti, you said you
wouldn't battery if someone has Henderson up high. I love Henderson.
I fall in that like hive of his book Queen Show.
Jenkins also has a hive of his own. So we're
pitting two teammates against each other, which one do you
like more?
Speaker 8 (20:26):
I like Henderson a little bit more because Henderson passed
pro is phenomenal and that's going to get him on
the field early, and that also yields to him being
a very good receiver. Explosive, game breaking speed, and this
year he put together division because I thought last year
he missed some opportunities. He was like, Wow, why do
you hit that particular gap or the cutback was right there?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
What was he you know? Seeing it?
Speaker 8 (20:49):
This year he saw it better and tied all of
the parts of his game together perfectly for Junkins. And
I don't know if this is a byproduct of him
playing in a tandem to where I need to eat
now I don't know what my next meal is going
to be, or in the sense of the running game,
I don't know what my next carry is going to be.
So I got to make sure I make them keep
(21:09):
me out there. And I think that's that's why his
patience wasn't where it needed to be. At times you
saw him beat the pulling lineman around the court like now.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
You gotta wait, let that set up, and then you
explode through.
Speaker 8 (21:21):
So I think his patience is where he's gonna have
to work on, and I think that ties to him
having to work in a tandem, not knowing when your
next carry is gonna come, because you're not the leadoff guy,
You're not the foundational guy. And I think that affects
a back's ability to stay patient because you want to
show that you should be out there long term.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
And you said, there's a line down the hall of
running backs in this class, and you scouted over twelve
hundred players total in this class. So are there any
running backs you find yourself a lot higher on than consensus?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
This is how you know.
Speaker 8 (21:53):
Folks watch football in October and some watch football in February.
Because remember everybody else talking about Khalil Mullens out of Michigan,
the big running back, the linebacker turn running back, and
his teammate Don of the networks like these are two
really good backs, like and they have gone forgotten about
Oli Gordon rushed for seventeen hundred American yards last year
(22:15):
if he just.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
Forgot about running the football.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
There was one game in particular I'm watching about Ali
watching Oli Gordon.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
It was a Utah game and the quarterback turns around
the hands in the ball.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Now, as a running back, I've been in this situation
where you see what the quarterback does seecause it's head
is turned hands you the ball. You're like, bro, everybody
behind you has a red helmet on. We were orange
and brown like they literally didn't block nobody. And so
for Gordon, we know he has explosiveness, we know he's
a very good downfield threat as a receiver, and this
is somebody you can get on in rounds, you know,
(22:47):
four through seven on day three that ends up being
a starter. And so I think there's backs that we're
not even discussing that go even further Kayamanangai.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Out of Rutgers.
Speaker 8 (22:58):
All of these backs that will see earns some ticks
and perhaps some starts as pros and be fantasy relevant
about the back end of the season.
Speaker 7 (23:06):
So you talk about being fantasy relevant. So I have
this thing. I mean, look, Marcus and Florida, they're gonna
look at me kind of crazy. But I have this
thing against Caleb Johnson, Like I think he's a product
of how good Iowa was O line was last season.
But there's no wiggle to his game when I watch him.
There is no juke out of your socks. So I
need you to check me, because you, my boy, you're
gonna keep it honest. Like, am I too low on
(23:28):
Caleb Johnson? And does landing spot actually matter where he
goes this season?
Speaker 4 (23:32):
It's funny you bring him up, man, I'll tell you this.
Speaker 8 (23:34):
Caleb Johnson's story I remember, and this is my philosophy
the whole time. Like during the season, I'm an NFL
analyst and a college football analysts. I don't dive into
the drafts up until you know, postseason, when I'm not
calling games on Saturdays and I'm on the road at
the All Star Game circus.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So this just so happened to be.
Speaker 8 (23:52):
I saw Twitter talking about Caleb Johnson, so I already
assume this guy must not be good if Twitter's talking
about him that much, Right, I'm.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Like, all right, I had a rare it was.
Speaker 8 (24:04):
I was getting ready for this game on Saturday, so
I checked him too the hotel and it was a
rare Friday night Big ten game and it just don't
happen to be Iowa versus UCLA. And I was like,
you know what, let me check out this kille of
Johnson do everybody talking about.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
I probably picked the worst game to see him first.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
They literally had him in witness protection program like he
was in crisis the whole game. I'm like, man, it's
a dude they talking about like so so, and then
you know, watch him more. When I was studying him
I put in my scout noes he doesn't go broke
making a profit because he always falls forward.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
If the lane is there, he'll hit it.
Speaker 8 (24:40):
And I remember because I know the other talk was
how he's super fast, and I was like, now you
could clearly see he's not fast, but he's consistent, right, And.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
I was grading this Illinois State edge rusher.
Speaker 8 (24:54):
And when I say so, obviously I'm gonna watch the
Iowa game because they played Iowa and I'm like, wow,
this play it was blocked so perfectly. It was it
was almost like you know the blumbarsil here and the
seal here run like they blocked everybody and he had nothing.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
The last time he got touch was in the huddle.
You know what I'm saying, Nobody on the right side.
Speaker 8 (25:17):
So I was like, oh, yeah, if you're gonna block everybody,
he has a clear lane, of course he's gonna have
long runs. But I kind of compare his game to
Brian Robinson of Washington, where if you beat him to
the spot, there's no wiggle, there's no elusiveness, and that
could cause a problem. So he can be a perennial
guy that averages like four point three yards a carry,
(25:39):
which ain't bad, but at the end of the day,
you're gonna always look for someone to bring you a
little bit more juice out the position.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So I'll say this, you're talking about watching Caleb Johnson
against Ucla. For whatever reason, the Bruins just had this
talent to just ugly up a game on both sides.
And that's that's not just me being a USC homer
just watching them objectively, like they just there is no
such thing as a as an aesthetically pleasing UCLA football game.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
That's just what they did.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Exactly, because first of all, anytime they want to throwbacks,
they really about the mess of game up. If you
have a d N wearing at lineback, a where forty
nine catching and like, oh this.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Game is ugly.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
True for sure, for sure, we'll take a quick breakway
to come back. We're talking with Emory Hunt.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
We'll get into his thoughts on some of these wide receivers,
probably the tight ends as well as we get ready
for the NFL Draft. Stick around for more of the
NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Want to kind of.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Turn our attention as we talk to Emory Hunt about
some of these past catchers and and that, and and
that have you, But didn't want to ask one general
question here because we sort of got into it when
you were talking about Tyler Shuck and the quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Do we make too.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Much of a prospects age?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I know that's a big deal for people who are scouting,
especially in fantasy. If you're playing Dynasty what have you.
It seems like it's a bad thing until it's not.
Do we do we get too hung up on that?
It depends.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
It depends on the prospect, and it depends on the
position and situation, And your expectation has to taper a
little bit because the biggest question you have about age
is upside like how much better can this guy get?
Or is this guy hit his ceiling already? Because we
start to see guys get better in year two or
three in the NFL, and that normally would have put
(27:23):
them in the age range of twenty three twenty four,
right with more room to grow. But if you're entering
the league at twenty four to twenty five, at twenty eight,
now we kind of expect your skills to kind of
this decline a little bit. If we think about some
of these receivers that had been on a move Brandon
Cooks was standing because he's always on the move.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
But you think about these receivers that have.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
Been on the move, they're around that age that these
some of these guys are starting to come into the draft.
So if you are I say this, if you are
ridiculously fast, you got a little bit more long runway.
But if you're a possession guy coming in as a
older player, you better play special teams and you better
do something else otherwise you may not get draft, or
(28:08):
you may get drafted late, even though you may be
a very good football player.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, where I worked in baseball, they used to always
say you are if you're twenty two year prospect. If
you're twenty five, you're kind of a suspect. They kind
of looked at it a little bit.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Well, I want to ask you about Iowa States due
of their wide receivers, man, because honestly, I just need
to know if there's going to be any type of
fantasy relevance from Jalen Nolan and Jaden Higgins. Like these
two guys, when I watch them, you have no that
runs out of that slot very quick in his routes
and be able to break and create that separation Higgins
to me, I feel like he could adjust very well
when that ball thrown or misthrown in his direction. But
(28:45):
are these guys somebody that fantasy managers should be looking
out for, especially this week with the draft coming up?
Speaker 8 (28:51):
Great question because I feel like if we're looking at them,
and how I tend to grade these guys by position,
No slot, Higgins more that big inside guy. I think
it's easier for slot guys to be fantasy relevant because
the game happens quicker for them, especially someone like Noel
that has the ability to play inside or outside right.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
So I like how he.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
Has the ability to break a game open with the
ball in his hands, has a great sense of timing.
You go back to the Iowa game, his big play
down the sideline.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
He had a really good.
Speaker 8 (29:24):
Game against Kansas in the game they ended up losing,
but he got them back in the ball game. For Higgins,
I think he has to be one of those guys
that you call plays for right where Okay, we're gonna
work him over this particular quadront of the field, We're
going to single up him versus him, and it's tough
to find a team where to me if you're going
(29:44):
to do that, you got to take him high in
a draft. So I can see Noel being way more
fantasy relevant based off his position, his skill set, and
his versatility. I don't think we can see the same
crossover ability for Higgins more so than Noel.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
So way too high Higgins got it noted.
Speaker 8 (30:04):
A lot depends on that, like it depends on for
a guy like Higgins. It really depends on landing spot.
For a guy like no it doesn't depend on land this.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
But if that makes sense, No, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
And Emery, I know you like Travis Hunter a lot.
I know you like Tech McMillan a lot. But after
these the top two guys in the in the class,
are there any wide receivers that you find yourself a
lot higher on than some of these other guys who
are going around talking about draft all week.
Speaker 8 (30:32):
I would say, Jack Beck, I'm a big fan of it,
kind of got lost in the shuff. I forgot where
Jack Besh, I forgot where he ended up. He was
at LSU. And then next thing you know, we started
to seeing Elik neighbors and you know, other res here
in Brian towns. Like I remember they had this other
dude and it was like I just couldn't figure out
where he went. Then he pops up on TCUs like, oh,
(30:54):
that's the dude from LSU, And so I'm glad he
had the career he had on the back end of
his CCU time and at the Senior Bowl to where
we saw him and could project four.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Okay, he could probably be an inside or outside guy.
So I like his.
Speaker 8 (31:10):
Game, I like how he plays, and I think he
has a bright future. Even his teammate J. P. Richardson
was a stud at Oklahoma State. You kind of remember,
like I remember they had this receiver that was a
slot guy, and next thing you know, he's at TCU too,
And so that's another one. And I think Kobe Kobe Hudson,
if he had better quarterback play at UCF, people will
(31:32):
realize how good this dude is because he was at
the Hula Ball and you got reminded how good he
was because of the quarterback play wasn't you know, bad
like it was at UCF.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
It was consistent.
Speaker 8 (31:42):
So we saw the guy that was able to go
up above the rim went over the middle of the field,
just like those two Florida receivers Shamiri DK and also
Elijah Badger. Badger has running back in his background, so
you can utilize him a multitude of ways. Also as
a kick returner, has that experience, and DK has the
speed to really get d down the field. We saw
both guys kind of blossom a little bit more so
(32:03):
when they open up the playbook when they put in
their quarterback DJ Lagway, when he took over for the
injured Graham Mertz.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
I want to ask your real quick about Travis Hunter
because obviously he's one of the headliners in this thing.
For real football, it seems really exciting that he might
play both ways, and I know.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
That's what he wants to do.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
For fantasy, it's a little bit scary to think this
dude's gonna play, you know, fifty sixty snaps on defense
and then maybe play on offense. What is his future?
Does he actually end up playing both sides of the
football in the NFL?
Speaker 4 (32:32):
I think he does.
Speaker 8 (32:33):
And it's a great question about fantasy because if you're
talking about fantasies, like man, I don't know where, like
where do you take a Travis Hunter?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Right, Because here's the thing.
Speaker 8 (32:43):
When you have him on defense as a corner, as
a quarterback. Why are you throwing his weight because you're
literally throwing to a wide receiver, So do not throw
his weight. And so yes, he can start on defense.
And because of the pace of play of the NFL game,
he's gonna see less snaps in the pros than he
would in college because he could start at corner and
(33:05):
let's say he's at at wide receiver. He's probably number three,
So there's what twenty five snaps out of a slot
position and him being out there, you know they're gonna
try to bracket him. So that leaves to everybody else
one on one with an opportunity to make a play
or if they leave him stick up, you get him
the football and he's able to return, you know, make
things happen after the catch. And we haven't really seen
(33:27):
this part kind of untapped, which we could potentially see
as a pro.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
He's so good with the ball in his hands.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
He may even return punts because at the end of
the day, that's where he was getting his break.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
In the college. So he's playing one hundred twenty snaps.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
He's mainly gonna see sixty snaps total in the pros.
But from a fantasy perspective, I don't know how how
can you gauge where to take him? Because who's going
to feature Travis Hunter the receiver?
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Right?
Speaker 8 (33:53):
And that's the other part that you kind of worry about,
which it will be interesting. What is I got I'm
about to use a fantasy terms. Should I be paying
attention his ADP? Where would his ADP be? If that
would be interesting to watch? Because where do you take
you out of it that you don't know is gonna
play or how much he's gonna play on offense?
Speaker 7 (34:13):
When I start questioning the guy's ADP and questioning how
much he's gonna be on the field, I ultimately just
fade every single time. I'm not even gonna look that way.
I'm good, I ain't losing sleepover and know what on
to next year. But I want to ask you about,
you know, not the consensus wide receiver one Tetro McMillan.
I mean, honestly, he's coming in with a chip on
the shoulder because we honestly say will Travis Hunter is
(34:33):
the best wide receiver in this class, But since he
goes both ways, I guess it could be Tetroll. But
more so looking at with the recent viral verlity going around.
Are you questioning his love for football? And does he
fit as a wide receiver one for a team need
maybe like the Panthers or a team like Jaguars where
he could be a contributor as a wide receiver too.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
I like him as a wide receiver one or wide
receiver too.
Speaker 8 (34:56):
I think people are underestimating his run after the catskills
fluid athlete body is built like a swimmer, but he
does have the ability to get in out of his breaks,
in and out of his transitions. He's making moves while
consistently moving downhill, So he's a fluid athlete and man.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Just the leaping ability and abilit.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
To make the thing happen after the catch is crazy,
and in fact, I would probably boots his stock up
higher based off that video, because who knows if somebody
just ask Like if somebody asks me something to random
and I'm just don't want to be bothered, I might.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
I am likely to give any answer. So I respect that, Like, yeah,
I don't even watch film, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
I'm just nice, Like you know what, man, get this
guy on my football team. I like that attitude that
stuff doesn't matter. To me because we don't know the context.
But just a football player that can play insider or
out at that height. Give me that guy ten times
out of ten.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
And is there any receiver you think is receiving too
little hype? And more importantly, you can put your hater
hat on if you want, who's receiving too much hype?
Speaker 8 (35:59):
I got to tap into February football man, because apparently
this is all the.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Action happens, right Matthew Golden.
Speaker 8 (36:08):
Uh, you know, watching him during the season, peerless rod runner,
just graceful body control, can make every catch, and it
was like, this is a solid receiver, man, this is
a really good receiver. The pair as well with Isaiah Bond,
who's clearly faster. But then he runs his four to
two and listen, tippy Captain Matthew Golden. I would draft
(36:30):
him based off this alone. If I ever ran a
four to two and you question whether or not it
was legitimately, you will never see me run another forty
yard dad.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
So exactly like, no, it's documented, I ran four to two.
Speaker 8 (36:42):
Nine, live with it, right, even though nine but the
paper says I ran four to nine. I just think that,
and it's this is the part that frustrates me because
we talk about teleoal McMillan being wide receiver one, and
then all of a sudden, this guy runs his forty
and now people just say, yeah, he's a wide receiver one.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Is it because his tape?
Speaker 8 (37:02):
If you had this take in October, I would respect
it because it's like, oh, yeah, well you know you
had that take, even know you saw something that we
didn't see.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
But if it's based off the forty time, then what
are we really doing? Right?
Speaker 8 (37:12):
And so I feel like that is kind of getting
a little bit overvalued. And I also feel like Luther
Burden is underrated at this point. Coming into the season,
he was up there with Travis Hunter in terms of
what the scouts thought about this dude as a prospect,
and then all of a sudden, it just he just
went unnoticed. Brady Cooked, the quarterback, was banged up all
(37:33):
throughout the season, but he still produced some very good tape.
And I think Burden's gonna be a steal wherever he
goes in a draft.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
I talk about tight ends, Marie.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I mean, right now, it's Tyler Warren, it's Colston Loveland
at the top of the board for a lot of people,
anybody else you think could maybe be a sneaky Year
one contributor at tight end.
Speaker 8 (37:53):
If I'm gonna helm Man like Bro, where your friends
at doll like Bro, You're got to go out there
and run no forty yard dash on those spraying ankle like,
then people are gonna judge you for that because if
you watch him play, you clearly see him being faster
than four to eight and so. But now people are
gonna this is why Matthew Golden was genius, Like, because
(38:13):
why would I go out there and put something on tape,
on paper that's stamped and they gonna sayll, he's a
four eight guy. Now they're gonna drop your side even
though they know you're not a foury guy. They know
you ran with a spraying ankle, but they know they
don't care. They're trying to get you at a cheaper rate.
And so I think Gunnar helm is someone that is
criminally underrated during this process. I like Mason Taylor as well.
I think he's just a solid goot tight end. It's
(38:35):
probably gonna be that type to h It's funny because
I compared his game to Mark Andrews. Just racks up completions,
you know, and if he goes to if the Jets
don't take Tyler Warren at seven, Mason Taylor will be
a good get quietly and would be that Mark Andrews
to Justin Fiel's uh, you know offense, and he'll rack
up a lot of completions. And I also think Brennan
(38:57):
Stool out of Clemson, you know, a flex tight end,
very good athlete can get down the field. Vertical is
another one that's been underrated.
Speaker 7 (39:08):
So is there any small school players that you think
that could be fantasy relevant that fantasy managers should be
John down right now.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Lan Larrison, the running back out of U C.
Speaker 8 (39:17):
Davis, screams either Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid type pick.
Nearly had a thousand thousand this past season. You know,
once he over thirteen hundred yards rushing and eight ninety
something receiving.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
It was cool about him.
Speaker 8 (39:30):
He spent the first two years as a backup as
a kickoff returner because he had a prolific running back
in front of him that didn't get an opportunity to
play in the league.
Speaker 4 (39:39):
But once he.
Speaker 8 (39:40):
Took over, he became a stud And the reason why
we didn't see him in any postseason All Star game
circuit was because you know, he got injured during the
playoffs with UC Davis. So now he's getting back to
the ran four or five at his pro day. But
this is a tremendous athlete. He glides out there on
the field. I think he has a chance really be
(40:00):
one of these small college gyms and be fantasy relevant.
I would even toss out my one of my favorite
prospects and stories in the class in Mitchell van Voren
out of Saint Norbert, which is a Division three college.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
He had one year football where.
Speaker 8 (40:16):
He played outside receiver, had five hundred yards receiver and
ten touchdowns. And the reason why you asked, like, well
he only had one year, that's because he spent the
previous three four as an as an All Big East
four hundred meters hurdler at Marquette. Little my mind when
I found that out, man, it was like you see
this guy six four two fifty coming out to the track.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
You're like a brol To shot put over there.
Speaker 8 (40:41):
Like I'm here, yeah, I'm in lane five and he
like winning.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
Races, Like yo, this is crazy.
Speaker 8 (40:48):
Like so I saw at the College Grin Iron Showcase
now I'm glad that he was able to be, you know,
approved his worth and athleticism against FBS competition, because that's
what you go to the Allstar against four to get
those questions from those small school guys and can they
measure up against their upper lower counterparts?
Speaker 6 (41:06):
And Emry, you've been breaking down this draft for months now.
You're on every single show I see right now talking draft, but.
Speaker 5 (41:12):
We're two days away.
Speaker 6 (41:14):
Is there any draft take that you've been wanting to
put out there but you haven't had the chance to yet,
get it off your chest.
Speaker 8 (41:20):
If the Browns do not leave the first round with
Shador Sanders, send them to the European League of Football,
put the Ryan Fire in in the AFC, north Man,
because here's what I don't get. You looking at your
depth chart and you're seeing it, say Joe Flacco and
(41:41):
also Kenny Pickett. There's a quarterback at plays like Joe
Burrow who happens to be in your division, and his
former coach compares Shador Sanders to Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4 (41:55):
And you look at that and you think, now we're
gonna go take somebody else.
Speaker 8 (42:01):
Man, If you don't take that boy too, and go
live your life, man is crazy. My thing is with
Joe Flacco, you know, very good player over the course
of his career, right, but people have romanticized Joe Flacco's
time in Cleveland, like we all saw him throw like
six picks in that playoff game.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
Like what are we talking about?
Speaker 8 (42:20):
So at the end of the day, take your door,
Sanders if you're the Browns, I don't care if you
don't take him at two. But man, you better put
a Houston Texans and do something to get back high
enough to what because if the Giants passed at three,
then you know move them and bring the London Monarchs over.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
Like, So that's my thing.
Speaker 8 (42:38):
Like if sor Sanders doesn't leave the first round of
the NFL Draft as a Brown or a Giant or
stealer the then the draft, the draft is broken.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Well, looking forward to breaking down the Absterdam Admirals against
the Gainst the Cleveland Browns in the very near future.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
That should be a whole lot of fun emory. We
always appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
We always are grateful for the insight for folks who
maybe are uninitiated.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Where can they find you? Man?
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Follow me on Twitter at f ball game Plan.
Speaker 8 (43:09):
You can see me on CBS Sports HQ during the
draft on Day two and Day three as well as
post draft on that Sunday as well, and go order
the draft guide guys, Football gameplan dot Com Slash twenty
twenty five Draft Guide. And if you have purchased my
draft guide since twenty twenty, right now you have over
fifty four hundred individuals scattering reports at your fingertips. You
(43:32):
would know more about the NFL, CFL, UFL European League
of Football than anybody on your block. And also this year,
we threw together over fifty CFL draft prospects in this
draft guide because we know a lot of these guys
will end up on training camp rosters.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Some may even make the team.
Speaker 8 (43:49):
So it's cool to check out some of these guys
that you may not have heard of from schools, you
may not have heard of that are on your practice squad.
That's why we kind of threw that in there. So
this year we had the entire Oh and I want
to say this, this is why the draft dry draft
adds valuable Kobe cole Jones, safety out of North Carolina
Central by pass the NFL draft process.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
We saw him down l Q.
Speaker 8 (44:12):
At the HBCU Legacy Bowl, and he was he's in
his draft class. He signed with the BC Lions. We
got a scowaryport on him. I looked at other than
draft guides around.
Speaker 4 (44:23):
All they had was his heightweight name. So there you go.
There you the reason why this is the best one
out there.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I was looking before you came out. I was looking
through all my old files, and I know I got
three or four years worth of draft guides and stuff.
So I do feel like i'm, you know, a little
bit ahead of a game. So definitely go check it out.
If you haven't already, go check it out. And now
you can buy back issues too, if that's what you
want to do. You can go back and get some
past issues.
Speaker 8 (44:47):
The savage would be this like, because this be fact.
This before I knew my value, right, so them first
once was like ten dollars like cakes.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
You know what I'm saying, harrows right, let's go.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
Like five cents a player like play.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
So I learned my lesson.
Speaker 8 (45:11):
But man, I love keeping at this price point because
there's value in having this. Some people may say, why
you have so many prospects? Uh, some of these guys
only even play in the NFL. But if they do,
you do have a chance to at least get it
familiar with who it is and you can make your
adjustments whether you're in dynasty league or whatever, if this
is worth it.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
But it's always good to have more than less.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Absolutely, and even at some point somebody's gonna get injured,
some first year player, second year player.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Is going to get a call. Uh, you just go.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Back dive through see what folks said about him, and
kind of get yourself prepared in that regard as well.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Go check them out. Emory Hunt a fotball game plan
on Twitter. Go check out the draft guide as well.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
By the way, we are going to be doing a
live stream after Round one is done as well on
Thursday night, so I'll be sure to check us out
on the NFL Fantasy YouTube page. We'll be there as
soon as they call the name for number thirty two
in the first round, and we will be on and
talk about all the fantasy relevant guys that go in
Round one and kind of get you preview for the
weekend as well.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
In the meantime.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
That'll do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy
Football Podcast. Stay happy, safe, and healthy, do good and
live well. Enjoy round one everybody, and we will talk
to you on Thursday night.
Wow, Hey everybody, It's Tuesday, April twenty second, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast where the waiting
is the hardest part. It's me and your man, MG
Marcus Grand joined by Michael f.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Florio and Lakwan Jones. What is the guys? Two more sleeps?
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Two more sleeps? Thank god? Yeah, yeah, one more, Like
I'm ready to get this over.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Just let's just move. Let's just get it over with,
man show.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
It's excited like Thursday night.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I'm excited for the draft. I'm tired of.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
All this other just noise and chatter. Like that's where
I'm done with. That's where I'm excited at. Like, let's
get it here and let's get it done.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Everybody's just like trying to you know, everybody's hot taking
now to try to get the biggest take out there
I'm speaking of, which, Uh.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
We have a guy who.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Gets accused hot taking, but generally more often than that
he is on point. We were having our yearly visit
with Emory Hunts, he of the football game Plan. His
draft guide is out.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Now. We've had him what on the show four or
five years in a row I think at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, and there's always a couple of guys that he
breaks from consensus with. And you know, a lot of
people give him a hard time, say he's a hot
take artist, but Emory's got receipts.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Man, he ends up being way right.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
It's hilarious because you could ask Emory, like, give me
a player that people are lower on, and he'll start
pulling out like d three linemen and you're like, what.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Right, like a third round guy.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yes, So we will get into him.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I'm sure we will ask him about small school guys,
and I'm sure he will give us a name that
we have never not only never thought of, but probably
didn't even know had never even heard of until today.
That is the beauty of having Emory hunt On. So
stick around for that. I meantime, a couple of news
headlines to dive into. We'll start in Indianapolis, where Colt's
general manager Chris says he expects both Anthony Richardson and
(02:03):
Daniel Jones to play at some point this season. Mikes, look,
I know we've been trying to hang on Anthony Richardson
and his fantasy relevance. We want him to be a runner.
We hope that he can develop as a passer, but Florio,
at this point, we've seen him get benched. Now they
bring in Daniel Jones and they're sacked that Daniel Jones
is going to see some playing time. Like, at what
(02:24):
point do we just have to give up the rope?
Let go of the rope on Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
I think at this point he is nothing more than
an upside QB two that like, probably not even gonna
be top fifteen in most people's fantasy rankings, but the
upside is very high because of what you said, Marcus,
what he does as a runner. But I'm gonna take
shots at the Colts the same way I did in season.
This is dumb, Like I understand how you have to
plan to have your backup quarterback play because of injuries,
(02:55):
especially with Richardson all of that, but when you drafted
Anthony Richardson, I knew he was a twenty one year
old kid that had completed attempted two hundred and fifteen
passes in college. Now two years through his NFL career
one hundred and seventy six pass attempts. You know what
he needs more than anything, reps and opportunity and you
knew that when.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
You drafted him.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
So give him those reps and give him those opportunities,
and don't waste them by giving half of them in
camp to Daniel Jones. Look if Jones plays because Richardson
flames out in the first half of the season or
he gets hurt or something like that, sure, but you
should be giving Anthony Richardson every opportunity he needs to grow,
because when you took him, that was the plan.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It feels like lakwan, this is a decision that's made,
Like the Colts have this I don't know, this idea
that they are a contender, right And I get at
the AFC South is not particularly strong.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
They were eight and nine last year.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
There was just a couple of games out of the
division title. But I mean you they're not truly a
contender in the AFC, right, Well, you still have to
deal with the Bills and the Ravens and you know,
the Chiefs and you know whoever else, Like, why don't
they just to Florida's point, just let him play, let
him grow, because you know, the worst thing that could
(04:12):
happen to him is you are ten and seven and
you get bounced in the first round of the playoffs,
and then what do you do.
Speaker 7 (04:18):
I think they honestly just want to put a good
product out there. And I see why they're rushing kind
of the process of Anthony Richardson because it has not
been pretty.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It has been very, very bad.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
I mean, like the completion percentage, your god, forty nine
percent to tap it on the help getting out, dear God.
That looks bad for a franchise quarterback. So you bring
in Daniel Jones and it's like, all right, well, we
kind of have an idea what Daniel Jones has been
these last two seasons. But there's that twenty twenty two
season that everybody's holding on to. Danil Jones looked pretty
good that season with the medium floor, throwing thirty two
(04:51):
hundred yards, but he didn't turn the ball over much.
He ran for seven hundred yards. These are all things
that they kind of want Anthony Richardson to be right now.
And if you have any type of hope that Daniel
Jones comes in as a starter, he has weapons around him.
They're still going to be able to pick one of
these tight ends that everybody's mocking him to. To have
(05:11):
complete weapons around Daniel Jones. That's all we wanted in
New Jersey for when he was at the Giant, complete
set of weapons, and if we look at that twenty
twenty two season, he was great at the deep ball.
You have Alex Pears to beat a deep threat. You
have Michael Pittman that we have not seen the absolute
best for him, but he is the wide receiver one.
You have an absolute dog in Josh Downs and I
(05:34):
hope the world catches up to this of him operating
out of that slot being disgusting. So I honestly feel
like they are making these comments because Daniel Jones actually
has a chance to be a starter. And also one
more point, in twenty twenty two he was QB nine.
So I'm going to be taking no shots for Dan
Jones living in those deep darks of pits of HTBLEL
(05:55):
hockey sticks and the ADP just for the upside, because
the rushing upside there, the deep ball is there, they
have the weapons, they have a running game.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
It might be Dani Jones season this year.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
No team has ever thought Daniel Jones was the guy
and been wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Thank you for jumping in because I didn't have words.
I just you're reaching. You're trying to get me excited
about a bowl of oatmeal. I mean, like, his best season,
maybe that's what it is. His best season was slightly
better than mid He threw fifteen touchdowns that year, fifteen.
(06:34):
That ain't great, man, It ain't hey we're talking about
but we're talking about these two guys who who at
best are mid sharing time, both being part time players.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
But which one has that untapped potential and which, like
which one is approven? You've had six years.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
As a starter and it did not work out and
the other guys had six games pretty.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Much like I get your point, right, I totally get
your point about Anthony rich But I feel like, for
us right in fantasy, like, I don't want to touch
either of these guys because of what the Colts are
telling us, Like the Colts are telling us that they're
not in fully on Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So if they're not fully in.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Like I'm not going to spend a draft pick on
a guy who's gonna be a rotational quarterback.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
It seems like, yeah, I think they pulled the plug
early on Anthony Richson, and that's going to be the
sad trooth of this of like where you don't draft
Anthony Richson even though that upside is magnificent, Like we
all know what it can be, but it's not what
it is, you know. So it's one of those things
like feel bad for Josh downs to feel bad for
Michael Pittman because they're uncertainty of who's going to be
(07:38):
the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I mean in the end they are probably in
probably they are doing Anthony Richards in a disservice by
not really giving him the full chance to develop.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
And they might walt seven games with Daniel Jones, you know.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
Like they will rush for seven hundred yards and fifteen
touchdowns and.
Speaker 6 (07:56):
Being he's fantasy, he's not the better of the two,
like like noltely not.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
No, it's just so bad.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yah, I youstening, Chris Ballad, if you're listening, give him
a shot, that's all rasking.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Just give him another show.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Gave up on Josh Allen after two years.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Good look. Other young quarterbacking news.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota says JJ McCarthy has no limitations
at the start of the off season program. I mean
the kuand all signs seem to be pointing to JJ
McCarthy being the Vikings starter when it comes to Week one.
I'm not saying I'm out on him. I just feel
like he's so much of an unknown that, besides Justin Jefferson,
(08:41):
it makes me unsure of what to do with Vikings players.
Speaker 7 (08:44):
I mean, Vikings completely option to what Indy saying about
their starting quarterback. Looking at JJ, I love the confidence
that this team is putting around him, and honestly, they
have a great system over there, and then it works
for Sam Darnold, And like I think we always forget
at you know, what we were thinking going into the season.
If it was JJ, if it was Sam Darnold, we
(09:05):
were getting a discount Justin Jefferson. If this is what's
gonna happen again in the fantasy streets, please let it happen,
because I'll take it.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
I know you guys are on TJ.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Hawk.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
He's going down in ADP.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
He's living in that you know question of where does
he go?
Speaker 7 (09:17):
But I could see him being great, being good for
you guys because I'm.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Not touching them.
Speaker 7 (09:25):
But you have all these players that might get discounted,
like the Aaron Jones is the Jordan Mason Jordan Addison, Like, Okay,
let's just keep what it is. You guys are gonna
be a little hesitating on him, but I'm loving the confidence,
like they're gonna have like a villain arc with him,
and like I think he's gonna come out and just
ball out and shut everybody up because you see the
confidence that this franchise is putting behind him. So I'm
(09:47):
gonna be buying into it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I mean, Floyle, I'm not, like I said, I'm not
out on JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I don't. I don't hate him, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I just it's just an incomplete I guess it's sort
of a black box, like because he was a winner
at Michigan on field, they won games, but they also
didn't ask him to do it son, So I'm just
not sure what to get out of him. That's the reason,
at least for me, that I'm just sort of hesitant
on Vikings players.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
No, I totally get that because whether you believe in
JJ or not, like he's an unproven at this level
and that always adds risk into these players, especially someone
like Jefferson, who you need to take top five, top
three overall in a lot of drafts, so it adds
some risk there. I kind of am at the point
(10:33):
where I trust KOC and the Vikings Brass like.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
He has a very fantasy friendly system.
Speaker 6 (10:40):
He's got arguably the greatest, the one of the best
sets of weapons in the NFL. I think you can
make that argument. And Sam Darnold had a career year
with him. Kirk Cousins was putting up numbers with him.
But then there was that stretch two years ago at
the end where it was like Josh Dobbs and and
Nick Mullins and those guys are putting up numbers for
a stretch with KOC. So jj is not a player
(11:05):
like I'm looking to draft, but I do think he
is one that could be like a fun late round
dart throw or waiver wire name in season and there'll
be weeks where you could stream him in good matchups
and stuff. But yeah, for me, it's just trusting this
system and the playmakers around him more than trusting him himself.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, I look, I think if you're playing Dynasty, if
you're playing best ball, like, you've got to kind of
stake a claim one way or another. You decide whether
you're in or out. For those of us who play redraft,
you can take more of a wait and see approach.
You can sit back, hands off this year, see what happens,
and then come back again in twenty twenty six and
take a shot at JJ McCarthy. But we'll keep an
eye on that too. As we get a little bit
(11:42):
closer to training camp and the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
It's like a quick break. We're gonna come back with
Emory Hunt.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Dive into his thoughts, the man who probably watches more
college football than about the next twenty five analysts combined.
Get his thoughts coming up two days ahead of the
NFL Draft. That's coming up next on the NFL Fantasy
Football Podcast.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Very happy to be joined here.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
On the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast by guys we consider
a friend of the show for sure.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
At this point, we like.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
To talk to him every year, right about this son,
just before the draft. You know him probably from social
media on Ftball game Plan. You see him on CBS
Sports Network. He is the owner and creator of the
Football Game Plan himself and a man who has probably
forgotten more about college and pro football than some of
us will ever ever know. That is the one and
(12:31):
only Emory Hunt. Emory, always good to talk to you. Great,
you just stepped off of television. You have us feeling underdressed,
but it's always great to have you hanging out with us.
Speaker 8 (12:39):
Man Man, I'm great to be glad to be on
the show as always a yearly thing for us. And
excuse my presence, you know what I'm saying, excuse my presence.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Well, the Football Game Plan Guide is out. Glad to
be perusing through it once again as always, so definitely
wanted to get you on and pick your brain about
you know what you think on some of these prospects.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Is where a couple of days away from.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
The draft and want to start a quarterback right because
that more than likely is where the draft is going
to begin. That's sort of certainly for fantasy football, where
the conversation has begun. The top two of the class
for most people cam Ward and Shuduer Sanders. You have
Shuder Sanders over cam Ward, even though he looks like
the consensus to go number one. What puts Shradeur ahead
(13:24):
of cam Ward for you? And ultimately what is Sanders
ceiling for you?
Speaker 8 (13:28):
It's funny because if you're watching Schador Sanders and I
cover a lot of FCS football. So I've seen his
first game, which was an upset win over fam You
and the Orange Blossom Classic and a torrential downpour. They
won that game seven to six, And that was my
first exposure to him as a quarterback because I hadn't
seen his high school games and it's just like, I
don't know what to expect. But I was impressed that
(13:50):
season with how he played the position from the neck up.
And when you combine his play from the neck up
with what he does from a touch timing, anticipation, and accuracy, man,
he's plugging play. He's exactly what they want. And what
was cool about his freshman season thirty touchdown passes inside
the red zone, no interceptions. So for someone that is
(14:11):
that people say gets sacked a lot or tasts a
lot of sacks. You think he have a ton of fumbles,
he doesn't. You think he have a ton of interceptions,
He doesn't. And he has way more touchdowns than interceptions
in that regard as a whole. And we've seen him
time and tom again just play well in the situation.
Third down offense, backed up offense, red zone offense, in
the game offense need to have his situations like he
is the most pro ready prospect since Andrew Luck from
(14:34):
all all the things I mentioned, on top of the
fact that he has a Hall of Fame dad that
has prepared him for the spotlight. He was trained by
Tom Brady and Jeff Blake and Troy Aikman, So like,
this guy can step in right now. And he has
gone to two down trodden programs in Jackson State and
Colorado and led those guys.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
To bowl games, to new heights.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
And looking at some other qbs, em Rie, you have
Jackson Dart at QB seven. A lot of people have
him as the QB three in this class, and Tyler
Shuck is getting hype now maybe as a first round
pick him as your.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
QB twenty three. So what do you see differently.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
Than everyone else who is seemingly a lot higher on
these two?
Speaker 8 (15:17):
For Dart, you could tell who started to watch Jackson
Dart at the bowl game against Duke and based off
social media the one pass he threw, because if they
watched him during the season, they would have seen that
Florida game when he threw three American interceptions in the
last two minutes with Old Missus playoff berth on the line.
So can you imagine if Shador Cam had a game
(15:38):
like that with the playoffs on the line and they
throw three picks in two minutes, we would never see
the light of day of that game, right. And So
Jackson Dart is a good player. I think he needs
a little bit more time.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Because of coming out that out of that old miss offense.
Speaker 8 (15:54):
And we've seen this before with Matt Correll. We're seeing
Matt Correll go through the ups and downs adjustments in
a UFL, having to deal with pressure quickly, having to
deal with things changing post snap as of what he
saw pre snap. And that's the issues I saw with
Jackson Dark. When the first threat is taken away, then
things start to get money, and then he doesn't handle pressure.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Well. We saw that in the first.
Speaker 8 (16:16):
Series or two against Georgia before the backup came in
let him for a touchdown. Then Dark came back in
and started to have a really good game. So that
worries me about Dart. I think he's more of a
day two guy that needs helping.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Shuck.
Speaker 8 (16:28):
I remember just last year when everybody was worried about
guys being twenty three in twenty four. So now we're
okay with a dude that It's funny. Everybody last year
was worried about Michael Pennix's age and injury history, and
this year we have somebody in the seventh year of
college that has only been healthy this past season that's
(16:50):
also twenty seven years old.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Like, what are we doing?
Speaker 8 (16:53):
So I think he's on the day two, day three
type trains. You know your QB two that can help
you in the two to three game pinch.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
Now let's shift to some of these running backs, man.
I mean the consensus out there in the fantasy streets,
everybody's all excited about Ashton Genty. Is he immune to
landing spots?
Speaker 8 (17:13):
I'm glad you brought up Aston Genty because he is
my RB one. I don't see that as much of
a drop off between him and also Amari and Hampton,
who I have as a RB two. And if somebody
had Trevion Henderson as their RB one, I wouldn't betterny
it because.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
I like all the parts about his game.
Speaker 8 (17:29):
But I feel like right now we're in the midst
of the one upmanship of Ashton Genty. He had gone
from a first round pick to top fifteen to top
ten to Now we're seeing people may trade up to
two to get him like so at some point we're
approaching that area where are we overrating him. I do
(17:49):
think he's more of a gap skiing guy than a
outside zone guy. I think he's more downhill than he
is east and west because if you've seen in certain games,
if teams beat him to the spot, they're able to,
you know, corral him and get him on the ground
because he doesn't have that cutback ability. I know people
will show one highlight of him cutting back, but the
(18:10):
difference between you great these prospects is how consistently are
you doing that one thing right? And that's what lowers
a tear for some guys or lower the levels down
for some guys.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
I think he's a very good back again.
Speaker 8 (18:20):
RB one breaks an enormous amount of tackles that you
just can't even explain. But I also feel like he
will be a part of a tandem. I don't think
he's a quote unquote foundational guy.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Uh we are a camp scatterboo friendly podcast. He's a
guy that we all like here, but I will I
will concede that he's also sort of a hard guy
to evaluate. Right, because he didn't really pop until that
final year in Arizona State.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
He was a transfer from Sacramento State. There are a
lot of things to like.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
There are a lot of things to sort of question
when you look at camp Scataboo, man, what do you
think of him? And you know, is he closer to
his ceiling than to his floor? How much more room
does he really have to develop? I think he that's
a great question.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
I think he is what we see and so you're
gonna get what you just saw from Cam Scatable.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
The lateral agility.
Speaker 8 (19:07):
I think he has better latter rigility than asking Genty.
The difference is we've seen Genty like finished games and
finished runs and do all of those things you want
to see. Scatabul has been banged up a little bit.
He takes on too much contact, as does Genty. I
think Genty maybe a little bit faster, much more explosive
about the blocks, so you worry about the quote unquote
(19:28):
long speed. But Scataboo, to me is a starting tailback
in the same mode. If you're talking about Genty as
a combo guy, Scatable could be the same thing. Which
is why we tend to say this draft class is deep,
and it's not just deep in terms of like, hey,
the top eight backs I'm talking about like the line
goes down the hall type deeper guys that we're not
even talking about, of guys that can be starters that
(19:50):
we end up finding on day three. So I'm a
camp scatibul guy. I like that we saw him put
the whole display of his skill set out there on
film in a b and all started. I mean starting
a playoff game and the receiving skills a downfield threat.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
But I do feel like.
Speaker 8 (20:06):
He's going to have to learn to invade a little
bit more as a pro than what he did at
Arizona State.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
And when you were talking about Genti, you said you
wouldn't battery if someone has Henderson up high. I love Henderson.
I fall in that like hive of his book Queen Show.
Jenkins also has a hive of his own. So we're
pitting two teammates against each other, which one do you
like more?
Speaker 8 (20:26):
I like Henderson a little bit more because Henderson passed
pro is phenomenal and that's going to get him on
the field early, and that also yields to him being
a very good receiver. Explosive, game breaking speed, and this
year he put together division because I thought last year
he missed some opportunities. He was like, Wow, why do
you hit that particular gap or the cutback was right there?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
What was he you know? Seeing it?
Speaker 8 (20:49):
This year he saw it better and tied all of
the parts of his game together perfectly for Junkins. And
I don't know if this is a byproduct of him
playing in a tandem to where I need to eat
now I don't know what my next meal is going
to be, or in the sense of the running game,
I don't know what my next carry is going to be.
So I got to make sure I make them keep
(21:09):
me out there. And I think that's that's why his
patience wasn't where it needed to be. At times you
saw him beat the pulling lineman around the court like now.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
You gotta wait, let that set up, and then you
explode through.
Speaker 8 (21:21):
So I think his patience is where he's gonna have
to work on, and I think that ties to him
having to work in a tandem, not knowing when your
next carry is gonna come, because you're not the leadoff guy,
You're not the foundational guy. And I think that affects
a back's ability to stay patient because you want to
show that you should be out there long term.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
And you said, there's a line down the hall of
running backs in this class, and you scouted over twelve
hundred players total in this class. So are there any
running backs you find yourself a lot higher on than consensus?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
This is how you know.
Speaker 8 (21:53):
Folks watch football in October and some watch football in February.
Because remember everybody else talking about Khalil Mullens out of Michigan,
the big running back, the linebacker turn running back, and
his teammate Don of the networks like these are two
really good backs, like and they have gone forgotten about
Oli Gordon rushed for seventeen hundred American yards last year
(22:15):
if he just.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
Forgot about running the football.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
There was one game in particular I'm watching about Ali
watching Oli Gordon.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
It was a Utah game and the quarterback turns around
the hands in the ball.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Now, as a running back, I've been in this situation
where you see what the quarterback does seecause it's head
is turned hands you the ball. You're like, bro, everybody
behind you has a red helmet on. We were orange
and brown like they literally didn't block nobody. And so
for Gordon, we know he has explosiveness, we know he's
a very good downfield threat as a receiver, and this
is somebody you can get on in rounds, you know,
(22:47):
four through seven on day three that ends up being
a starter. And so I think there's backs that we're
not even discussing that go even further Kayamanangai.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Out of Rutgers.
Speaker 8 (22:58):
All of these backs that will see earns some ticks
and perhaps some starts as pros and be fantasy relevant
about the back end of the season.
Speaker 7 (23:06):
So you talk about being fantasy relevant. So I have
this thing. I mean, look, Marcus and Florida, they're gonna
look at me kind of crazy. But I have this
thing against Caleb Johnson, Like I think he's a product
of how good Iowa was O line was last season.
But there's no wiggle to his game when I watch him.
There is no juke out of your socks. So I
need you to check me, because you, my boy, you're
gonna keep it honest. Like, am I too low on
(23:28):
Caleb Johnson? And does landing spot actually matter where he
goes this season?
Speaker 4 (23:32):
It's funny you bring him up, man, I'll tell you this.
Speaker 8 (23:34):
Caleb Johnson's story I remember, and this is my philosophy
the whole time. Like during the season, I'm an NFL
analyst and a college football analysts. I don't dive into
the drafts up until you know, postseason, when I'm not
calling games on Saturdays and I'm on the road at
the All Star Game circus.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So this just so happened to be.
Speaker 8 (23:52):
I saw Twitter talking about Caleb Johnson, so I already
assume this guy must not be good if Twitter's talking
about him that much, Right, I'm.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Like, all right, I had a rare it was.
Speaker 8 (24:04):
I was getting ready for this game on Saturday, so
I checked him too the hotel and it was a
rare Friday night Big ten game and it just don't
happen to be Iowa versus UCLA. And I was like,
you know what, let me check out this kille of
Johnson do everybody talking about.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
I probably picked the worst game to see him first.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
They literally had him in witness protection program like he
was in crisis the whole game. I'm like, man, it's
a dude they talking about like so so, and then
you know, watch him more. When I was studying him
I put in my scout noes he doesn't go broke
making a profit because he always falls forward.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
If the lane is there, he'll hit it.
Speaker 8 (24:40):
And I remember because I know the other talk was
how he's super fast, and I was like, now you
could clearly see he's not fast, but he's consistent, right, And.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
I was grading this Illinois State edge rusher.
Speaker 8 (24:54):
And when I say so, obviously I'm gonna watch the
Iowa game because they played Iowa and I'm like, wow,
this play it was blocked so perfectly. It was it
was almost like you know the blumbarsil here and the
seal here run like they blocked everybody and he had nothing.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
The last time he got touch was in the huddle.
You know what I'm saying, Nobody on the right side.
Speaker 8 (25:17):
So I was like, oh, yeah, if you're gonna block everybody,
he has a clear lane, of course he's gonna have
long runs. But I kind of compare his game to
Brian Robinson of Washington, where if you beat him to
the spot, there's no wiggle, there's no elusiveness, and that
could cause a problem. So he can be a perennial
guy that averages like four point three yards a carry,
(25:39):
which ain't bad, but at the end of the day,
you're gonna always look for someone to bring you a
little bit more juice out the position.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So I'll say this, you're talking about watching Caleb Johnson
against Ucla. For whatever reason, the Bruins just had this
talent to just ugly up a game on both sides.
And that's that's not just me being a USC homer
just watching them objectively, like they just there is no
such thing as a as an aesthetically pleasing UCLA football game.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
That's just what they did.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Exactly, because first of all, anytime they want to throwbacks,
they really about the mess of game up. If you
have a d N wearing at lineback, a where forty
nine catching and like, oh this.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Game is ugly.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
True for sure, for sure, we'll take a quick breakway
to come back. We're talking with Emory Hunt.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
We'll get into his thoughts on some of these wide receivers,
probably the tight ends as well as we get ready
for the NFL Draft. Stick around for more of the
NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Want to kind of.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Turn our attention as we talk to Emory Hunt about
some of these past catchers and and that, and and
that have you, But didn't want to ask one general
question here because we sort of got into it when
you were talking about Tyler Shuck and the quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Do we make too.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Much of a prospects age?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I know that's a big deal for people who are scouting,
especially in fantasy. If you're playing Dynasty what have you.
It seems like it's a bad thing until it's not.
Do we do we get too hung up on that?
It depends.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
It depends on the prospect, and it depends on the
position and situation, And your expectation has to taper a
little bit because the biggest question you have about age
is upside like how much better can this guy get?
Or is this guy hit his ceiling already? Because we
start to see guys get better in year two or
three in the NFL, and that normally would have put
(27:23):
them in the age range of twenty three twenty four,
right with more room to grow. But if you're entering
the league at twenty four to twenty five, at twenty eight,
now we kind of expect your skills to kind of
this decline a little bit. If we think about some
of these receivers that had been on a move Brandon
Cooks was standing because he's always on the move.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
But you think about these receivers that have.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
Been on the move, they're around that age that these
some of these guys are starting to come into the draft.
So if you are I say this, if you are
ridiculously fast, you got a little bit more long runway.
But if you're a possession guy coming in as a
older player, you better play special teams and you better
do something else otherwise you may not get draft, or
(28:08):
you may get drafted late, even though you may be
a very good football player.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, where I worked in baseball, they used to always
say you are if you're twenty two year prospect. If
you're twenty five, you're kind of a suspect. They kind
of looked at it a little bit.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Well, I want to ask you about Iowa States due
of their wide receivers, man, because honestly, I just need
to know if there's going to be any type of
fantasy relevance from Jalen Nolan and Jaden Higgins. Like these
two guys, when I watch them, you have no that
runs out of that slot very quick in his routes
and be able to break and create that separation Higgins
to me, I feel like he could adjust very well
when that ball thrown or misthrown in his direction. But
(28:45):
are these guys somebody that fantasy managers should be looking
out for, especially this week with the draft coming up?
Speaker 8 (28:51):
Great question because I feel like if we're looking at them,
and how I tend to grade these guys by position,
No slot, Higgins more that big inside guy. I think
it's easier for slot guys to be fantasy relevant because
the game happens quicker for them, especially someone like Noel
that has the ability to play inside or outside right.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
So I like how he.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
Has the ability to break a game open with the
ball in his hands, has a great sense of timing.
You go back to the Iowa game, his big play
down the sideline.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
He had a really good.
Speaker 8 (29:24):
Game against Kansas in the game they ended up losing,
but he got them back in the ball game. For Higgins,
I think he has to be one of those guys
that you call plays for right where Okay, we're gonna
work him over this particular quadront of the field, We're
going to single up him versus him, and it's tough
to find a team where to me if you're going
(29:44):
to do that, you got to take him high in
a draft. So I can see Noel being way more
fantasy relevant based off his position, his skill set, and
his versatility. I don't think we can see the same
crossover ability for Higgins more so than Noel.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
So way too high Higgins got it noted.
Speaker 8 (30:04):
A lot depends on that, like it depends on for
a guy like Higgins. It really depends on landing spot.
For a guy like no it doesn't depend on land this.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
But if that makes sense, No, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
And Emery, I know you like Travis Hunter a lot.
I know you like Tech McMillan a lot. But after
these the top two guys in the in the class,
are there any wide receivers that you find yourself a
lot higher on than some of these other guys who
are going around talking about draft all week.
Speaker 8 (30:32):
I would say, Jack Beck, I'm a big fan of it,
kind of got lost in the shuff. I forgot where
Jack Besh, I forgot where he ended up. He was
at LSU. And then next thing you know, we started
to seeing Elik neighbors and you know, other res here
in Brian towns. Like I remember they had this other
dude and it was like I just couldn't figure out
where he went. Then he pops up on TCUs like, oh,
(30:54):
that's the dude from LSU, And so I'm glad he
had the career he had on the back end of
his CCU time and at the Senior Bowl to where
we saw him and could project four.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Okay, he could probably be an inside or outside guy.
So I like his.
Speaker 8 (31:10):
Game, I like how he plays, and I think he
has a bright future. Even his teammate J. P. Richardson
was a stud at Oklahoma State. You kind of remember,
like I remember they had this receiver that was a
slot guy, and next thing you know, he's at TCU too,
And so that's another one. And I think Kobe Kobe Hudson,
if he had better quarterback play at UCF, people will
(31:32):
realize how good this dude is because he was at
the Hula Ball and you got reminded how good he
was because of the quarterback play wasn't you know, bad
like it was at UCF.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
It was consistent.
Speaker 8 (31:42):
So we saw the guy that was able to go
up above the rim went over the middle of the field,
just like those two Florida receivers Shamiri DK and also
Elijah Badger. Badger has running back in his background, so
you can utilize him a multitude of ways. Also as
a kick returner, has that experience, and DK has the
speed to really get d down the field. We saw
both guys kind of blossom a little bit more so
(32:03):
when they open up the playbook when they put in
their quarterback DJ Lagway, when he took over for the
injured Graham Mertz.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
I want to ask your real quick about Travis Hunter
because obviously he's one of the headliners in this thing.
For real football, it seems really exciting that he might
play both ways, and I know.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
That's what he wants to do.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
For fantasy, it's a little bit scary to think this
dude's gonna play, you know, fifty sixty snaps on defense
and then maybe play on offense. What is his future?
Does he actually end up playing both sides of the
football in the NFL?
Speaker 4 (32:32):
I think he does.
Speaker 8 (32:33):
And it's a great question about fantasy because if you're
talking about fantasies, like man, I don't know where, like
where do you take a Travis Hunter?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Right, Because here's the thing.
Speaker 8 (32:43):
When you have him on defense as a corner, as
a quarterback. Why are you throwing his weight because you're
literally throwing to a wide receiver, So do not throw
his weight. And so yes, he can start on defense.
And because of the pace of play of the NFL game,
he's gonna see less snaps in the pros than he
would in college because he could start at corner and
(33:05):
let's say he's at at wide receiver. He's probably number three,
So there's what twenty five snaps out of a slot
position and him being out there, you know they're gonna
try to bracket him. So that leaves to everybody else
one on one with an opportunity to make a play
or if they leave him stick up, you get him
the football and he's able to return, you know, make
things happen after the catch. And we haven't really seen
(33:27):
this part kind of untapped, which we could potentially see
as a pro.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
He's so good with the ball in his hands.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
He may even return punts because at the end of
the day, that's where he was getting his break.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
In the college. So he's playing one hundred twenty snaps.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
He's mainly gonna see sixty snaps total in the pros.
But from a fantasy perspective, I don't know how how
can you gauge where to take him? Because who's going
to feature Travis Hunter the receiver?
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Right?
Speaker 8 (33:53):
And that's the other part that you kind of worry about,
which it will be interesting. What is I got I'm
about to use a fantasy terms. Should I be paying
attention his ADP? Where would his ADP be? If that
would be interesting to watch? Because where do you take
you out of it that you don't know is gonna
play or how much he's gonna play on offense?
Speaker 7 (34:13):
When I start questioning the guy's ADP and questioning how
much he's gonna be on the field, I ultimately just
fade every single time. I'm not even gonna look that way.
I'm good, I ain't losing sleepover and know what on
to next year. But I want to ask you about,
you know, not the consensus wide receiver one Tetro McMillan.
I mean, honestly, he's coming in with a chip on
the shoulder because we honestly say will Travis Hunter is
(34:33):
the best wide receiver in this class, But since he
goes both ways, I guess it could be Tetroll. But
more so looking at with the recent viral verlity going around.
Are you questioning his love for football? And does he
fit as a wide receiver one for a team need
maybe like the Panthers or a team like Jaguars where
he could be a contributor as a wide receiver too.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
I like him as a wide receiver one or wide
receiver too.
Speaker 8 (34:56):
I think people are underestimating his run after the catskills
fluid athlete body is built like a swimmer, but he
does have the ability to get in out of his breaks,
in and out of his transitions. He's making moves while
consistently moving downhill, So he's a fluid athlete and man.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Just the leaping ability and abilit.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
To make the thing happen after the catch is crazy,
and in fact, I would probably boots his stock up
higher based off that video, because who knows if somebody
just ask Like if somebody asks me something to random
and I'm just don't want to be bothered, I might.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
I am likely to give any answer. So I respect that, Like, yeah,
I don't even watch film, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
I'm just nice, Like you know what, man, get this
guy on my football team. I like that attitude that
stuff doesn't matter. To me because we don't know the context.
But just a football player that can play insider or
out at that height. Give me that guy ten times
out of ten.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
And is there any receiver you think is receiving too
little hype? And more importantly, you can put your hater
hat on if you want, who's receiving too much hype?
Speaker 8 (35:59):
I got to tap into February football man, because apparently
this is all the.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Action happens, right Matthew Golden.
Speaker 8 (36:08):
Uh, you know, watching him during the season, peerless rod runner,
just graceful body control, can make every catch, and it
was like, this is a solid receiver, man, this is
a really good receiver. The pair as well with Isaiah Bond,
who's clearly faster. But then he runs his four to
two and listen, tippy Captain Matthew Golden. I would draft
(36:30):
him based off this alone. If I ever ran a
four to two and you question whether or not it
was legitimately, you will never see me run another forty
yard dad.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
So exactly like, no, it's documented, I ran four to two.
Speaker 8 (36:42):
Nine, live with it, right, even though nine but the
paper says I ran four to nine. I just think that,
and it's this is the part that frustrates me because
we talk about teleoal McMillan being wide receiver one, and
then all of a sudden, this guy runs his forty
and now people just say, yeah, he's a wide receiver one.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Is it because his tape?
Speaker 8 (37:02):
If you had this take in October, I would respect
it because it's like, oh, yeah, well you know you
had that take, even know you saw something that we
didn't see.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
But if it's based off the forty time, then what
are we really doing? Right?
Speaker 8 (37:12):
And so I feel like that is kind of getting
a little bit overvalued. And I also feel like Luther
Burden is underrated at this point. Coming into the season,
he was up there with Travis Hunter in terms of
what the scouts thought about this dude as a prospect,
and then all of a sudden, it just he just
went unnoticed. Brady Cooked, the quarterback, was banged up all
(37:33):
throughout the season, but he still produced some very good tape.
And I think Burden's gonna be a steal wherever he
goes in a draft.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
I talk about tight ends, Marie.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I mean, right now, it's Tyler Warren, it's Colston Loveland
at the top of the board for a lot of people,
anybody else you think could maybe be a sneaky Year
one contributor at tight end.
Speaker 8 (37:53):
If I'm gonna helm Man like Bro, where your friends
at doll like Bro, You're got to go out there
and run no forty yard dash on those spraying ankle like,
then people are gonna judge you for that because if
you watch him play, you clearly see him being faster
than four to eight and so. But now people are
gonna this is why Matthew Golden was genius, Like, because
(38:13):
why would I go out there and put something on tape,
on paper that's stamped and they gonna sayll, he's a
four eight guy. Now they're gonna drop your side even
though they know you're not a foury guy. They know
you ran with a spraying ankle, but they know they
don't care. They're trying to get you at a cheaper rate.
And so I think Gunnar helm is someone that is
criminally underrated during this process. I like Mason Taylor as well.
I think he's just a solid goot tight end. It's
(38:35):
probably gonna be that type to h It's funny because
I compared his game to Mark Andrews. Just racks up completions,
you know, and if he goes to if the Jets
don't take Tyler Warren at seven, Mason Taylor will be
a good get quietly and would be that Mark Andrews
to Justin Fiel's uh, you know offense, and he'll rack
up a lot of completions. And I also think Brennan
(38:57):
Stool out of Clemson, you know, a flex tight end,
very good athlete can get down the field. Vertical is
another one that's been underrated.
Speaker 7 (39:08):
So is there any small school players that you think
that could be fantasy relevant that fantasy managers should be
John down right now.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Lan Larrison, the running back out of U C.
Speaker 8 (39:17):
Davis, screams either Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid type pick.
Nearly had a thousand thousand this past season. You know,
once he over thirteen hundred yards rushing and eight ninety
something receiving.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
It was cool about him.
Speaker 8 (39:30):
He spent the first two years as a backup as
a kickoff returner because he had a prolific running back
in front of him that didn't get an opportunity to
play in the league.
Speaker 4 (39:39):
But once he.
Speaker 8 (39:40):
Took over, he became a stud And the reason why
we didn't see him in any postseason All Star game
circuit was because you know, he got injured during the
playoffs with UC Davis. So now he's getting back to
the ran four or five at his pro day. But
this is a tremendous athlete. He glides out there on
the field. I think he has a chance really be
(40:00):
one of these small college gyms and be fantasy relevant.
I would even toss out my one of my favorite
prospects and stories in the class in Mitchell van Voren
out of Saint Norbert, which is a Division three college.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
He had one year football where.
Speaker 8 (40:16):
He played outside receiver, had five hundred yards receiver and
ten touchdowns. And the reason why you asked, like, well
he only had one year, that's because he spent the
previous three four as an as an All Big East
four hundred meters hurdler at Marquette. Little my mind when
I found that out, man, it was like you see
this guy six four two fifty coming out to the track.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
You're like a brol To shot put over there.
Speaker 8 (40:41):
Like I'm here, yeah, I'm in lane five and he
like winning.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
Races, Like yo, this is crazy.
Speaker 8 (40:48):
Like so I saw at the College Grin Iron Showcase
now I'm glad that he was able to be, you know,
approved his worth and athleticism against FBS competition, because that's
what you go to the Allstar against four to get
those questions from those small school guys and can they
measure up against their upper lower counterparts?
Speaker 6 (41:06):
And Emry, you've been breaking down this draft for months now.
You're on every single show I see right now talking draft, but.
Speaker 5 (41:12):
We're two days away.
Speaker 6 (41:14):
Is there any draft take that you've been wanting to
put out there but you haven't had the chance to yet,
get it off your chest.
Speaker 8 (41:20):
If the Browns do not leave the first round with
Shador Sanders, send them to the European League of Football,
put the Ryan Fire in in the AFC, north Man,
because here's what I don't get. You looking at your
depth chart and you're seeing it, say Joe Flacco and
(41:41):
also Kenny Pickett. There's a quarterback at plays like Joe
Burrow who happens to be in your division, and his
former coach compares Shador Sanders to Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4 (41:55):
And you look at that and you think, now we're
gonna go take somebody else.
Speaker 8 (42:01):
Man, If you don't take that boy too, and go
live your life, man is crazy. My thing is with
Joe Flacco, you know, very good player over the course
of his career, right, but people have romanticized Joe Flacco's
time in Cleveland, like we all saw him throw like
six picks in that playoff game.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
Like what are we talking about?
Speaker 8 (42:20):
So at the end of the day, take your door,
Sanders if you're the Browns, I don't care if you
don't take him at two. But man, you better put
a Houston Texans and do something to get back high
enough to what because if the Giants passed at three,
then you know move them and bring the London Monarchs over.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
Like, So that's my thing.
Speaker 8 (42:38):
Like if sor Sanders doesn't leave the first round of
the NFL Draft as a Brown or a Giant or
stealer the then the draft, the draft is broken.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Well, looking forward to breaking down the Absterdam Admirals against
the Gainst the Cleveland Browns in the very near future.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
That should be a whole lot of fun emory. We
always appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
We always are grateful for the insight for folks who
maybe are uninitiated.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Where can they find you? Man?
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Follow me on Twitter at f ball game Plan.
Speaker 8 (43:09):
You can see me on CBS Sports HQ during the
draft on Day two and Day three as well as
post draft on that Sunday as well, and go order
the draft guide guys, Football gameplan dot Com Slash twenty
twenty five Draft Guide. And if you have purchased my
draft guide since twenty twenty, right now you have over
fifty four hundred individuals scattering reports at your fingertips. You
(43:32):
would know more about the NFL, CFL, UFL European League
of Football than anybody on your block. And also this year,
we threw together over fifty CFL draft prospects in this
draft guide because we know a lot of these guys
will end up on training camp rosters.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Some may even make the team.
Speaker 8 (43:49):
So it's cool to check out some of these guys
that you may not have heard of from schools, you
may not have heard of that are on your practice squad.
That's why we kind of threw that in there. So
this year we had the entire Oh and I want
to say this, this is why the draft dry draft
adds valuable Kobe cole Jones, safety out of North Carolina
Central by pass the NFL draft process.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
We saw him down l Q.
Speaker 8 (44:12):
At the HBCU Legacy Bowl, and he was he's in
his draft class. He signed with the BC Lions. We
got a scowaryport on him. I looked at other than
draft guides around.
Speaker 4 (44:23):
All they had was his heightweight name. So there you go.
There you the reason why this is the best one
out there.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I was looking before you came out. I was looking
through all my old files, and I know I got
three or four years worth of draft guides and stuff.
So I do feel like i'm, you know, a little
bit ahead of a game. So definitely go check it out.
If you haven't already, go check it out. And now
you can buy back issues too, if that's what you
want to do. You can go back and get some
past issues.
Speaker 8 (44:47):
The savage would be this like, because this be fact.
This before I knew my value, right, so them first
once was like ten dollars like cakes.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
You know what I'm saying, harrows right, let's go.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
Like five cents a player like play.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
So I learned my lesson.
Speaker 8 (45:11):
But man, I love keeping at this price point because
there's value in having this. Some people may say, why
you have so many prospects? Uh, some of these guys
only even play in the NFL. But if they do,
you do have a chance to at least get it
familiar with who it is and you can make your
adjustments whether you're in dynasty league or whatever, if this
is worth it.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
But it's always good to have more than less.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Absolutely, and even at some point somebody's gonna get injured,
some first year player, second year player.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Is going to get a call. Uh, you just go.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Back dive through see what folks said about him, and
kind of get yourself prepared in that regard as well.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Go check them out. Emory Hunt a fotball game plan
on Twitter. Go check out the draft guide as well.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
By the way, we are going to be doing a
live stream after Round one is done as well on
Thursday night, so I'll be sure to check us out
on the NFL Fantasy YouTube page. We'll be there as
soon as they call the name for number thirty two
in the first round, and we will be on and
talk about all the fantasy relevant guys that go in
Round one and kind of get you preview for the
weekend as well.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
In the meantime.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
That'll do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy
Football Podcast. Stay happy, safe, and healthy, do good and
live well. Enjoy round one everybody, and we will talk
to you on Thursday night.
Hosts And Creators
Marcas Grant
Adam Rank
Michael F. Florio
Kimmi Chex
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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.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!