April 10, 2024 • 50 mins
Marcas Grant, Michael F. Florio, and LaQuan Jones are back with the latest podcast. First, they discuss Anthony Richardson’s return from shoulder surgery, what they expect from Deshaun Watson this season, and where they would draft Darren Waller in 2024.
After the break, the guys talk about their expectations for rookie quarterbacks and whether they would rather have Bo Nix or Michael Penix (19:50). Then Jones shares his research into special teams performance and explains how the NFL’s new kickoff rules might boost D/ST and returner scoring going forward (37:54).
The NFL Fantasy Football Podcast is part of the NFL Podcast Network.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow, Hey everybody, It's Wednesday, April tenth, twenty twenty four.
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. We're ready to
put the team on our back though. It's me your
man named g Marcus Grant, joined by Michael F. Florio
(00:21):
and Lakwan Jones. I know this is a a audio
only show today, which is probably for the best because
we all have different weird things going on with with hair.
Like Florio is, it's it's longer than it's ever been.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's out of control.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
You got Lakwan doing the do rag. Mine's just kind
of generally messy, which I'm wearing a headband, wearing the
over your headphones to try and hide it. It's best
that people don't see us today. We will be will
be a little bit more well behaved for Thursday in
the Fantasy cheat sheet. So uh you ready for that?
(00:58):
Here we are. It is about two weeks and a
day away, yes, from the NFL Draft kicking off. How
many more prospects do you guys think you can watch
or how many more prospects do you plan to watch
between now and then?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Man, I got a couple more running backs I want
to hit on because I feel like there's the one
sleeper that we're not really talking about that's going to
end up in a really, really good situation, and like
I just need to evaluate like all the running backs.
That's just where I'm at with it.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm trying to get as deep, like deeper with wide
receivers than I've ever gone in the past. Like I
last year, I remember I watched like fifteen and I
was like, Oh, there's no way these fifteen are all
going to make an impact. And this year it feels
like you go twenty deep and you still feel like
there's there's more players that can make an impact that
you haven't watched yet. So trying to cross off all
(01:53):
the receivers but before then, but yeah, these next two
weeks are probably going to be lots of doing stuff
like that, and then it it kind of comes and
then the landing spots will change all of our opinions
on these players.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know, it's crazy, though, you're looking at it from
a different perspective because you're a team fan that needs
wide receivers right now, I know you're in the deep
of the tent trenches trying to find that one guy
that will match up with your picks man, I get it.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
It's that it's also just like to me, I feel
like wide receiver is a position where their talent can
kind of dictate how they're going to be at the NFL,
where I feel like some like it's they're all landing
spot dependent, but they maybe a little bit control their
own fate a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, we'll talk wide receivers probably like next week. Next
week's show. We're gonna preview some quarterbacks on today's show.
But you know, kind of looking ahead, have you found
a guy that you secretly would like the Bills to draft? Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I found a few, Lad mcconucke. Yeah, he is. He's
my wide receiver full right now in this class. I
think he's the best after the Big three. I like
Ricky Pearson later on. But if they could get you know,
like like a Troy Franklin or a key On Coleman
(03:12):
with don't I know they can't get all of these guys,
but I think like you get a speedy slot guy
and you pair him with some size out wide and
then they're cooking with fire.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
All right? All right? Is Troy Franklin just a better
Gabe Davis?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
No? I so I have like notes because I'm very
bad at memorizing everything, but I do not I compared.
I gotta find who it was that I compared to
Troy Franklin, I said, Jalen Hyatt or Robbie Anderson. But
there was someone who I wrote, Gabe Oh xavierly Get,
(03:47):
I said, he is. He's gonna be the next Gabe Davis.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, he's shrieked size and he has that speed. I
could see it. If you guys go after him, I'll
be all right, all.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right, Uh yeah, Well, we'll get into wide receiver a
bit more next week. We'll do quarterbacks today. We'll also
kind of dive in our own. Lakwan Jones here did
some research about the new kickoff rules and maybe what
that could mean for defense and special teams when it
comes to fantasy, So we will kind of let him
present his findings a little bit later on in the show.
But let's start with some news and rumors, things that
(04:20):
are kind of floating out there here in this semi
dead periodore NFL news, things that'send to make Fantasy Twitter
sit up at attention and maybe drool a little bit.
The first one being Anthony Richardson saying he is on
a mission in his comeback from shoulder surgery. I believe
I saw that he's throwing about forty passes per day.
(04:40):
We have yet to see any video these I have
yet to see any video. I don't know if there's
some floating out there. When we do fantasy Twitter is
going to go completely bananas. But even just him saying
he is on a mission got people really hot and
bothered over the last week. I went and checked yesterday
in Best Ball drafts. He is still the QB six.
I know we talked about this not long ago, but LQ,
(05:03):
are you still okay with him at QB six at
least in the Best Ball territory? And where would you
slot him for redraft leagues?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
QB six is fine with me right now, I think.
More so, I want to say this, I am in
on Anthony Richardson, but I get some people's caution and
some type of hesitation with him.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
But he has top five upsided.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I don't see how those small sample of games that
you watched last year and don't say this dude can
play in the NFL. And it's the Rams game really
that like really opened my eyes, Like, okay, this dude
can operate and pocket with chaos around him. You have
Aaron Donald ad ninety nine. I'm still heard about him retirely.
But he's going out there coming at Anthony Richardson full
speed every single play. And he's out there just evading
(05:46):
the pressure, finding his eyes downfield and finding Michael Pittman
most plays. And it's games like that where I'm like, man,
I just really wish he stayed healthy the entire season
because he might have been a lock as a top five,
you know, fantasy quarterback last year because each and every
game had he played those first weeks, he's just gotten
better and better and more aware of that. Hey, I'm
in the NFL. I need to be making some NFL plays.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I mean, Florida, are you? Are you there with it?
Which I mean, I know we loved him, We loved
the possibility of what he could bring. We all had questions.
This feels a little bit like wish casting or am
I wrong?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's a little bit, but I'm fully in. I mean,
if you remember last year, I had him as a
top nine fantasy quarterback coming into his rookie season. Like
Anthony Richardson has been my guy for uh since at
this time last year, and I know it was a
very small sample size, but in the games that he
stayed healthy, he finished as a QB one in every game,
(06:46):
and he was averaging. I believe it was in his
two full games it was something like twenty four Fantasy
points per game, which is Josh Allen level. Now, I
know it's just two games, but I never had any
doubt of what he can do as a runner. And
what I kept saying last summer was I think this
guy is going to surprise people as a passer. I
think that he has the tools. I think he has
(07:08):
a cannon for an arm and that we kind of
got to see it. But now you pair it with
the fact that we have more confidence in Shane Steichen
than we did a year ago. I think at this
time last year there was questions is it was he
a good oc or was he just benefiting from having
Hurtz and Brown and Devonse. But we saw the Eagles
offense go get worse without him, and the Colts passing
(07:29):
attack really as send as the year went on, So
I think you're now I was saying it last year,
like Anthony Richardson is better than Gardner Minshew that's not
a hot take.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But you saw a minch you could.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Do with his arm. Now you add in that he
could be Cam Newton with his legs and give you
one thousand yards and ten rushing touchdowns. Like to me,
I think he comes in tier two, the tier two
quarterbacks with C. J. Stroud and Joe Burrow. But I
have no problem putting him first and making him the
QB five coming into next year. Understand though, that you're
(08:01):
paying for the ceiling, which I think is QB one,
and I would want to pair him with someone else
because my biggest concern is still, hey, did this guy
learn how to protect himself?
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yet? Did he learn how to protect himself? And look there,
I think I don't know that the arm questions can
be completely ignored. Now. Granted, look we have the same
questions with Justin Fields, and Justin Fields turned out to
be a really good fantasy quarterback. His NFL future we're
still we're still sorting through at this point, a little blurry,
(08:31):
still a little blurry, but fantasy wise, we knew that
he could be productive, and I guess that's sort of
the thing. Right. You have Anthony Richardson, who's a big body, guy, big,
strong body guy. We need him to stay healthy, We
need him to stop taking you know, big hits near
the goal line. We need him to be on the field.
My thing is, I feel like, if I'm taking a
quarterback top five, top six, I want that to be
(08:54):
my quarterback. I don't want to have to come back
and spin draft capital elsewhere on the position. And I
feel like that's sort of the thing is that we're
all like, yeah, we all love Anthony Richardson, but most
people are also like, but I still want another guy. Like,
if you're taking let's say Joe Burrows the QB six,
you're just taking Joe Burrow and you're probably not coming
back to fill in somewhere later on in your draft. Right,
(09:15):
if you're taking Mahomes, Jackson, Hurts, Allen, probably even CJ. Stroud,
that is your guy. The only time you're worried about
another quarterback is on a bye week or if you know,
knock on Wood. Unfortunately something happens to one of these guys.
That is why my only caveat that if we're still
talking about Anthony Richardson as I want to make sure
(09:36):
I have insurance, then we're not sure that he's a
top six quarterback.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, I can't agree with that, And I'm also not
against you know, understanding that process and still getting a
guy if you have the questions about him as your
one and only quarterback on your rosters. Like we're talking
redraft here, I would think like I would still draft
like a later round like a jarreed golf. You know
what I mean, as trade value as somebody I can
(10:02):
ship off if Anthony Richardson ends up staying healthy and
working out, so I would try to get something in return.
That's just usually how I would treat some guys like
we're talking about, like Anthony Richardson, that were not like
one hundred percent sure, but we want to buy in
and for the potential ceiling that he gives because just
the flashes in the pan that we saw, It's like, man,
this could be my lock right now at quarterback. But
(10:24):
I get what you're saying too.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No, I get the whole ceiling argument. I totally do.
I still think though there's a why not a wide gap,
but a notable gap right between what the ceiling and
what the floor potentially is for Anthony Richardson. If that
is my only rule, it just.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Sucks that he got hurt, because I don't I think
we would be questioning if he didn't get hurt, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, the reason why I want to insurance is in
case of injury, if he stays healthy and plays seventeen games,
I don't see any way. He's not a QB.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
One, Yeah and can can? Is it crazy for me
to say that he's kind of like we talked about
his tools, like he's set up a little bit more
better than Lamar Jackson. Not comparing the two as complete
football players, but he has a solid RB one, worklow
with JT.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
He already has better wide receivers than Lamar had. Wide
receivers like Alex Pearce.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Isn't much, but he could still stretch the field. He's
still trying to develop and find his way and be consistent.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
We wish Lamar had somebody like Michael Pittman. Yeah, what
we want maybe this year.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Maybe I'm being way too nitpicky because Lamar Jackson still
ran for eight hundred yards last year, but he he
doesn't look like MVP year Lamar as a runner anymore.
That's not saying he can't still be a very effective
runner at the NFL but I don't think we get
that video game. I'm gonna put up twelve hundred rushing
(11:46):
yards a year like like we have, and the rushing
touchdowns have never been Lamar's strong suit either.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That I think is the big difference between Richardson and
Jackson is that near the goal line, the Colts will
lean on Anthony Richardson. They will take their big body,
strong quarterback and use him as a goal line option.
I mean, like, you know, we've been saying for years
right that the best goal line back in Buffalo is
Josh Allen. The best goal line back in Indianapoli. They
have Jonathan Taylor, so they could use him. But you know,
(12:14):
but Anthony richards is going to do. Whereas for Baltimore
when they get close, it's generally not Lamar Jackson running
the football. They don't want to put him down there
in all that traffic and risk his health. So that
is a huge difference. There's much more touchdown upside for
Anthony Richardson and now with Derrick Henry, Lamar is definitely
not running in. You know, like if Lamar Jackson gets
(12:36):
a rushing touchdown from the five yard line and in
it's because like it was a broken play or like
you know, it was a scramble where he just sort
of got loose. But there won't be any designed runs
for Lamar Jackson from that close end, not at all.
Speaking of quarterbacks, Deshaun Watson also coming off some injury
issues and just a generally sort of down year for him.
(12:58):
He says he'll be ready to go in Week one,
not a huge surprise. But right now he is QB
twenty three in Best Ball Drafts, And I sat and
looked at that Florio and I just thought, like that
feels low, Like I get it right, I get that
Deshaun Watson hasn't been the guy we saw in Houston,
(13:19):
but twenty three, with the weapons he has around him,
it just feels low. I don't know if you agree
with that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
No, I completely agree with it. And what like, look
at a QB's going direct Baker Mayfield, Like I know
Baker Mayfield was a really good streaming option down the
stretch last year. We were talking about Baker being good
for sixteen to eighteen points per week. Sometimes, you know,
a big week for him is like twenty two to
twenty four. Then Drake may who is yet I like
(13:49):
Drake May I think he's toolsy. He's yet to play
a single snap at the NFL. I would take Watson
over Aaron Rodgers, who is coming back from the Achilles injury.
I like Jayden Dan a lot. I think I think
Watson should be going in a similar range as like
Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, Matthew Stafford. And he's
going well after all of those guys. And again, I
(14:11):
know he didn't look good. I know Joe Flacco outperformed him.
Trust me, Me and Marcus and we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We a lot of time on it, a lot of
time on a whole bunch.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But let's not overlook that Watson when he was out
there was still giving you twenty to forty rushing yards
a week, which is a free fifty to one hundred
passing yards right there. Then he has good weapons around him.
I don't I don't think it'll ever be pretty with
DeShawn Watson anymore. I don't think he's going to turn
back the clock and be the guy that he was
(14:43):
in Houston. But I think he can still be a
useful QB two in fantasy that has the upside any
week of finishing as a QB one.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
El Q is the is the Deshaun Watson we knew
from Houston? Is that guy gone and he would come back? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
That so that that's those days are gone and something
we have to accept. I do agree that it's a
little low, but I kind of understand it because he
wasn't really you know, that good to be out there
perform him and.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
He was hurt.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
But I just feel as though what draws your interest
here at twenty three QB twenty three is just the
upside with the addition of Jerry Judy. But it's not
like a lock that Jerry Judy ends up working out,
because we have yet to really see it work out
for Jerry Judy to be this sod you know, wide
receiver too, you know weekly for guys like him. So
I feel like I, I honestly, you will probably take
(15:34):
a shot on him in a few leagues, like one
or two leagues. I mean, the degenerates we are, we're
probably like in the twenty leagues. So for people that
are only going to be playing one league or two
leagues this year, like I wouldn't be drafting him, you know,
I kind of just stay away.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
No, No, I totally agree with that. Like, if you
know you're in a single redraft league or couple of
redraft leagues, you probably aren't drafting Deshaun Watson. But if you're,
you're spreading it out, you're playing best ball, you're doing
a lot of things. I just feel like it's worth
taking the shit right that he's not He's not what
he once was, but I don't think he's totally cooked
as long as he can stay healthy. And just the
way this offense is set up, They've brought in weapons,
(16:11):
they are built, they're built around him because the Browns
don't have a choice. They have invested so heavily in him.
They have to build this thing around him. They have
to figure out how to make it work. So that
to me, you know, you mentioned that that he's behind
Baker Mayfield, right, and like Baker had one of his
best seasons, maybe his best career season ever last year
(16:33):
game as QB twenty two, And I'm like, yeah, that's right,
you know, Like I look at I just I don't know,
I feel like Watson can move up at least a
couple of spots.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So yeah, I'm always a sucker for Russian quarterbacks and
most of the guys ahead of him are just like
old veteran statues, and I'm like, Watson could easily outperform
these guys because upside with.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
His Matthew Stafford. I mean, I know we're excited about
Kirk Cousins, but we do have.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
To take an account that it's April, so I'm pretty
sure is eighty. He will rise once a couple of
videos and beat reporters like, oh my god, Jerry Judy,
Jerry Judy, and then you know, people gonna start looking
back at Jashaun Watts. It's gonna be like exactly, it
play out to be nothing but.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Jerry Judy to get people hyped for you that that's bad.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He has stands. I don't know where they come from.
Every time they come out of nowhere, out of the
woodwork and just try to like defend him like he
needed a real quarterback.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I'm like, all right, but he's right. But but I
think Lakwan's right. Right, We're gonna see like a training
camp or an ota fade from Watson to to Jerry
Judy with some like you know, cheeky headlines, cheeky capture.
I'm gonna be like, here we go, it's coming, it's happening.
You know exactly what's gonna happen. Last little bit of news,
(17:44):
real quick. Darren Waller says he still hasn't made a
decision yet on playing in twenty twenty four. This is
hilarious to me. Look right now, he is the tight
end thirty two thirty two. I mean, if you say
every starting tide in the NFL, he is the last one.
I would either of you take a swing on him,
(18:05):
knowing what little we know right now.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Nope, pack it up.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
He's done.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Wow, I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I feel as though he's waiting on the draft, like
he's gonna wait to see what the Giants do, make
a decision based on their results, and he's gonna be like,
know what, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
If we're talking about a last round pick and the
best ball, I could be convinced, but I'm a known
Darren Waller Stan. I loved him coming into last year.
It did not work out. He was better with with
Taylor than he was with Daniel Jones, which is problematic.
He was better with DeVito than he was with Daniel Jones,
which is also problematic. I don't think Waller will ever
(18:46):
be what he once was. But I still do think
he can be a useful tight end at the NFL level,
but for fantasy we're probably talking him more as a
tight end two at best if he plays, which I'm
still thinking he's going to retire.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I mean, at this point, the way this thing is
dragging a lot, I just don't see him coming back
to play. I know one of the things he said
is just it's about you know, him figuring out does
he have the emotional energy to go through another training
camp in another season. And I feel like the longer
you see it's like it's like, you know, me sitting
on the couch, you knowing I gotta get up to
go to the store or something like. The longer I
sit here, the less chance of me going to the
(19:22):
store is going to happen. And I feel like this
is sort of darn. Waller is just sitting on the
couch and the chances of him getting up and going
to training camp are are diminishing. And I'm not saying
that is shade, like I get it. So so we'll
see what happens with that. I say, quick break, comebackward
to tack some draft quarterbacks, it's Caleb and then it
gets confusing after that. We'll dive into that a little
(19:44):
bit next on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. All right,
so the draft is in, let me do the man.
Fifteen days from now, that's right, that is when the NFL, well,
we'll begin onboarding. It's new hires for the twenty twenty
(20:04):
four season. And so let's start at the quarterback position,
because why wouldn't we. These are the guys that are
likely going to go in the top three, maybe even
top four picks, depending on how things go. So I
will ask you, gentlemen, starting with you, Mike Florio, after
Caleb Williams, who is your QB two Jaden Daniels.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And it's not all that close. I really like, I
think Jadeen Daniels is closer to Caleb than he is
to the other two. Now, I'll say that being like
quarterbacks the hardest position to scout. You can't get in
their heads and all that. And even more than that,
I think it comes down to landing spot. Like if
you put Jayden Daniels on the Patriots, it might not
(20:47):
work out. They put him on like the Commanders. I
can get very excited But the reason I'm so excited
about Jade and Daniels for real life and for fantasy
is because I'm a sucker for rushing production, and I
think he's the only quarterback in his class that has
a chance to sniff eight hundred, let alone a thousand
rushing yards in a season. He reminded me of like
(21:08):
a Lamar Jackson. I think his fantasy profile from right
away could be like Justin Fields, where he gives you
such good rushing production and then you add in like
solid pass game production and he ends up being a
QB one. And what I keep saying is like, look
at Jalen Hurts, Kyler, Murray, Lamar Jackson, Justin Fields, Anthony
(21:31):
Richardson in the small sample size we saw him last year.
They all have kind of different play styles, but they're
all fantasy QB ones the day they get to start
because of what they bring you with their legs. And
as a thrower, he has great timing. I like his accuracy.
He doesn't have the strongest arm, but his timing makes
up for it. He could make all the NFL throws.
(21:51):
He could put the ball on the rope when he
has to. I came away from watching his film, Like,
I really like this kid, and I hope he doesn't
end up in New England because his wide receivers at
LSU were better than what New England has right now.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, drop the light. Yeah no. So the big knock
on him is his struggles throwing in the middle of
the field. Does that concern you at all?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
A bit? But I think he has a strong enough
arm and the timing is really really elite that he
could make up for it. It'll depend on coaching and
stuff like that. But the skill And that's the thing
with so many of these prospects is I don't want
to prospect that's like a finished product coming out of college.
I want one that has the tools and I hope
(22:37):
that the coaching staff could kind of develop them into
more So, I think James Daniels has all of the
skill set to be a really good NFL quarterback.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
I think that is one of the things that, like,
at the next level, they'd have to help work with
him on.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
All right, Yeah, Look, I mean I feel like your
evaluation for Daniels is sort of it's like a redo
of the conversation we just had about Anthony Richardson, except
he's not maybe not as big, not as physically imposing
as Anthony Richardson, but it is the is the skill
set that we are sort of in love with. Are
you Are you on board with that, laqwan or you
got a different QB too, No, I.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Was gonna say Jaydon Daniels as well. I mean, it's
a lock at QB two for him. He has the
best chance to be able to go somewhere who has weapons,
and like Florio said, he goes in anywhere else there's
gonna be a ton of question marks about the situation
rather than his actual talent trying to develop with you know,
the patriots who have nobody, you know. So I feel
like it's he's more so a lock for the commanders obviously.
(23:33):
With the no brainer there with Cliff Kingsbury, his history
with Kyler Murray and I've spoken about it before, hopefully
he could take some of his experience of being with
Kyler Murray and teach Daniels how to be a little
bit more protective, slide a little bit more run out,
and be just aware of his surroundings when he's off
and making runs. Because I watch a lot of his runs,
you know, on tape and some of them are amazing,
and then there's somewhere he just doesn't see that last
(23:55):
guy that's running fool speed at him while he's trying
to hesitate in juke, and then he'll get blasted. That's
very dangerous at an NFL level, you know. So I
just hope that he's more protective of himself so we
don't end up into Anthony and Bridgeson conversation to where like,
oh man, he's getting banged up, you know all this
other stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, I you know, we joked about the whole Sonic
Rings gifts that you get with Jayden and Dang's And
I've been saying that, like wherever he gets drafted, there's
going to be a major League baseball team somewhere in
the vicinity. Like maybe he should just go out there
and practice slide and learn to practice syl Man, call
Kyle Kyler, call somebody you know, call Russell Wilson, right
(24:32):
he played baseball, Like figure it out, like just just
figure out a way to make it happen. I'm gonna
I'm gonna go off not off board here, I'm gonna
go the other way and go Drake may as my
number two quarterback because I think he while he does
not give you the same type of rushing ability Jayden
Daniels does, he is one of those guys a lot
like Caleb Williams, who is any effective runner right who
knows sort of when to run and can do it effectively.
(24:54):
I think he has more arm talent right now, at
least in this part of his career than Jade Daniels does.
I think people like Jayden Daniels, I think they have
talked themselves into liking him even more where I think
he has a little bit more of a project type
vibe than say may does. Look and I don't follow you,
(25:14):
nobody ever putting Daniels at number two. The fact that
we've had this conversation, that it's been ongoing for a
while and speaks to how people are feeling about him.
But I think I think I'm gonna go with with
Drake may As as my number two guy, Which gets
me to the next question. Because JJ McCarthy has been
on a rocket ship at least his his his draft
value has been and the way people are talking about
(25:37):
him has been to the point that I've even seen
him talked about is going number one, number two or
number one, even in this draft. I don't think it's
gonna happen. But that's sort of where the conversation drifted
at some point, LaQuan. Are you buying into the JJ
McCarthy hype slightly? It will all depend on where he'll
(25:57):
go in location. I mean, I will be very happy
with the.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Vike because, like you said, we like quarterbacks that have
some type of mobile to him. He has the ability
to extend the place with his legs, like that's already noted.
More so, it's like his placement of the ball like
great in the pocket awareness. I mean, the dude is
able to get the confidence to step up and make
some of those difficult throws. And this is kind of
what you want out of a quarterback. I mean you
can almost label him as you know, almost NFL ready
(26:22):
polish to be able to go on a team like
the Vikings and step into a role where you have
a Justin Jeffson or Jordia Addison. This is really where
it's going to come down to where his development. Location
is going to matter to me to be buying completely
into the hype, because GMS are seeing some, coaches are
seeing some so obviously he's rising up on the border,
but it's all going to come down to location. Man's
(26:42):
that's what it is for me.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's J J. McCarthy, the kind of guy Florio that
you think can be. I guess we're you know, this
is a fantasy show, so it's talking for fantasy. If
he shows up and is a starter right away or
at least early in the season, is he a guy
that we are going to be interested in at this
point in his.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
For fantasy purposes, Probably not, not year one at least.
I would envision him being more of a QB two
and probably a low end one at that because to
Laquan's point, like he is athletic. He can run, but
I don't he's got a small frame. I don't envision
him being a game changer with his legs at the
(27:22):
NFL level. And I am kind of buying in on
the hype. I think he's a top four quarterback easily
in this class. I did like a lot of what
I saw. Good athlete, he can make all the NFL throws,
he has a really strong arm. I have him behind
Drake May. But just like LQ was saying, it comes
down to landing spot, Like if you put May on
the Patriots and JJ on the Vikings, I'm going to
(27:44):
be much more interested in McCarthy because of the head coach,
the play caller, the weapons around him, all of that.
But if you put JJ on the Patriots and Drake
May on the Vikings, it completely flips on its head
in the opposite direction. The knock always on JJ is
that he didn't have to do a whole lot in college,
And then the pro JJ people are like, well, if
(28:07):
you look for it and you watch his film, like
when he had to throw, he made all the throws,
And I agree, and I like that, but I keep
going back to it's much easier to do so when
you're asked to do that a handful of times a
game and the defense isn't expecting it and your team
is just flat out better the team on the other sidelines.
(28:28):
So I like a lot of what I saw on
film from JJ McCarthy, but there's still a lot of
questions that I don't think anyone right now can answer
until we see him handle some adversity at the next level.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
I feel like how much you like JJ McCarthy depends
on how much you are into intangibles. Because that is
sort of the argument in his favor. And look, there
is value to that, right, there's value being into having
a football IQ and knowing when to make the right play,
when to tucket run, when to stand in there make
the throw. But you know, for those of us who didn't,
(29:04):
if you didn't lock in and watch every Michigan game
over the last year or so, if you haven't really
gone deep into the research of it, you look at
him on film and you see a guy who, yeah, man,
he ran a lot. He had a lot of really good,
talented teammates around him, and he had a you know,
a defense, a head coach, a whole system that really
helped him win. And you know, while he certainly made
(29:27):
plays to help the Wolverines, he wasn't always the engine
that made them go. And I think I think that's
sort of where the disconnect is. I think you look
at him as a guy who's very mobile, who can
run the football, but you know, I don't know about
the other things and whether or not he can sort
of be the full package, especially for what we would
(29:48):
want in a fantasy circumstance. He's not gonna be the
guy that gets taken in redrafts. There is definitely dynasty
upside there, but I think beyond that, I you know,
I'm curious there he goes. I'm curious if a team
does take him at four, if somebody wants to take
him even earlier. You know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
To your point. Intangibles obviously matter a whole bunch, But
we're not talking to these guys, mean we're we don't
in it. So I'm not gonna listen to what other
people say. Like I'm viewing, I'm judging the physical ability
that I that I can watch and quantify a little bit.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
And that's why I chose like Daniels and May over JJ,
because I just think physically and what they've done in college,
it stands.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Out a little bit more. Yeah, no, no doubt day
one or Day two quarterback that you are most concerned about.
I guess both real real football and fantasy wise, Florida,
you can go first on that.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Whichever one goes to the New England Patriots. Sounds like
I'm making fun of them.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
And you kind of are. That's fine as.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Sure as they dominated my team for two decades, so
they didn't. But just compare, like I tweeted this out yesterday,
but the Bears are one of the best landing spots
QB one has ever fallen into. The Vikings are head
and shoulders above everyone else. The Raiders at least have
DeVante Adams, the Commanders have Terry. Both of those teams
(31:21):
have an offensive coordinator that has called plays before. The
Broncos have Sutton and Sean Payton. The Patriots have a
first time head coach in OC calling plays for the
first time, and maybe the worst weapons in the NFL.
So whichever one goes there I think is behind the
eight ball. But from a talent standpoint, it's Bo Nicks
(31:41):
because I a lot of screens, a lot of deep balls,
and just I don't know, I didn't come away wowd
watching him play. And for me, a rule of mine
is always like when a player has a breakout season
at twenty four years old in their sixth year a
la Kenny Pickett, I always take some pause.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Watching Mike's on fire today, But I'm gonna say the
same thing, man, because you just look at that situation.
It's like, how can one quarterback be developed and be
put in the direction of success? What they put together
this offseason so I know it's not like an attractive
place to go play in the off season for you know,
(32:20):
a top wide receiver right now, but you still have
some free agents out there that can go in and
make some pop. I mean, your best wide receiver on
the roster right now, in my opinion, is the mary
O Douglas. And that's not saying a lot. So what
top tier quarterback are you going to put in this
situation and actually think he's going to be able to
move forward to his development to put something on tape.
(32:40):
And it's sad, man, it's just really sad at this point.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah. No, I look, I think we're all just sort
of looking at like the Patriots as a please do
not draft this prospect that we like team, right because
when they was talking maybe they'll go after Marvin Harrison junior. Yeah,
at that point we're like, no, please, don't you know,
now they have a quarterback prospect that you might like,
and you like, please, don't, please don't draft this guy.
I mean, I guess, I guess if you're not into
(33:05):
the whole JJ McCarthy thing, then then you wouldn't mind
seeing him go to New England, particularly right down, straight down.
I mean, so I the Patris definitely already sort of
a cautionary tale right now, just because there's so much
unknown in that spot. But Florio did mention bo Nix,
(33:25):
which he sort of answered the next question for me,
which is who would you rather have bo Nix or
Michael Pennix? I know Florio's answer, l Q, what is yours?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
I like Penix man, he just has that kind of
swagger and confidence about him, and like I know everybody
has the injury councern on him, but he's good to
go man. And like seeing him at the combine throw
he throws a really good pretty ball. I mean more
or less you have that killer instinct in him, Like
he makes the important place. He's making some good decisions
with the ball as well. So I'm more so lean
(33:54):
on Penis as a GM if I'm going to bring
a guy in like him and hopefully he lands with
the Raiders and give them that, you know, momentum that
they could take off and have a guy like Penis.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Mold what you gonna You're gonna bump Aidan O'Connell out
of the starting gig there in Las Yes he is. No,
I'm all about Pinick at least over Knicks for sure,
because I think the only knock on pinis the two
things about him are the injury history and the age.
No one seems to have any issues with his ability,
you know, with the arm strength, with the the ability
(34:24):
to make all the throws, that sort of thing I.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Got my penis do rag on today.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
It's just as can't he stay healthy, you know? And
and how long do you have to wait for him
to get there? I think that probably wild knock him down,
have seeing him mocked in early second round, uh, in
a lot of drafts. But I think I'd rather have
that over guy who uh you know, exceled at Oregon.
But as you mentioned Mike, he wasn't asked to do
nearly as much at Oregon as he was at Auburn
(34:52):
when when he just wasn't you know, he wasn't as
productive at Auburn. And so I Pinnicks was productive wherever
he was, he just couldn't stay on the field. I
think I would rather take that than than a guy
that I really have to sort of simplify the offense
for and and give him fewer things to do.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
One thing I noticed with Pennix, he had a lot
of like, bleep it, he's down there somewhere type and.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Not a terrible thing.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Let him do that with Davante just it'll be it'll
be great for fantasy purposes.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yes, yeah, I mean, look, when you have a great
wide receiver, just you know fit, you know, Rome's down
there somewhere. I'm alright with that. Is there another radar guy,
say a Day two, Day three quarterback that that you
guys sort of like right now?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Look one Jordan Travis. I watched a couple of nights
ago where you know, he's one of those guys that
can move the change, like he can move a downfield
and and I was looking at his stats. He doesn't
have much turnovers. I mean, he's very good at decision
making and having the ability of the rushing upside, just
like Mike. I'm a sucker for guys who had the
rushing ability in the rushing upside. So he could be
like a Day two pick and end up in the situation.
(36:03):
He might not start this year, but he could probably develop,
you know, under somebody and probably take over starting job.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
All right, your thoughts there, Floria.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
I like Travis, And to borrow another one from our guy,
Emory Hunt. Spencer Ratler, who former number one prospect coming
out of high school.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
He's betting some buzz.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Yeah, he's got a strong arm, he's toolsy, so there's
a little bit there for coaches to work with at
the next level.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Yeah, Rattler was a guy that that popped into my
head too. I don't know that I get the buzz
of him moving up. I mean, yeah, I've seen people
talk about him maybe sneaking into the first round. I
think that's a little bit excessive. Although look, Emery loves him, right.
We had Himory Hunt on not long ago, and he
was definitely big on Spencer Ratler, And I do think
that his history where he has been the fact that
(36:52):
you know, once upon a time, this guy was a
strong Heisman candidate before losing his job to Caleb Williams,
who you know in hindsight, yeah, man, of course, right,
but that right, I mean, like see what Caleb has
done over the last couple of years in college, Like
all right, yeah, we get it, man, But I do things.
I think the Spitzer Ratler is a guy who you know,
(37:12):
in the right spot, could end up being kind of
kind of productive, kind of nice.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
And be like ragging Alex Smith for losing the gig
to Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
To Patrick Mahomes, right, like, yeah, man, we get it,
we get it, we get it. We only get I
looked Drew Bledsoe lost his gig to Tom Brady. It's like,
you know, years later, it's like, oh, yeah, I get it.
Oh I see, I see, I see how that went.
All right, take one more break, come back. We're gonna
dive into the new kickoff rules and what this could
mean for DSTs in fantasy. Arman Lakwan did some interesting
(37:44):
research here, so we'll let him present that in just
a bit coming up here on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. So,
I'm sure, as you all know now, the rules about
kickoffs have changed in the nf The gone are the
traditional kickoffs, and now you're gonna have kind of different formations.
(38:05):
The idea being to try and minimize injury risk while
also returning the kickoff to the game, just because you know,
we were at a point where you know, it just
was gone essentially from the game. You weren't getting guys
returning it. You certainly weren't getting kickoffs, kickoff return for touchdowns,
I should say, or anything like that. So this is
hopefully a nice compromise, but it is likely to change
(38:28):
the way we look at defense and special teams because
the special team's part of it is important, especially when
you have guys that can run back kicks for scores.
So are On mckwan Jones, who is a researcher by
trade here at the NFL, did some research and tried
to come up with ways to sort of rank the
rank the defensive units based on the new kickoff rules.
(38:51):
So I hope I didn't butcher that too badly, and
if I did, please please sit here and correct me.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
So, just randomly one night, I was just looking at,
you know, this new kickoff rule and how cool it
can be. You know, you're watching the videos of x
XFL players, you know, doing et cetera, et cetera, and
I'm like, man, this is huge for some teams like that,
you know, that were in that pocket of averaging like
eight to like ten Fantasy points per game in DST.
So it's like, man, some of these teams that were
(39:17):
on the CUSS, they have some like big premiere players
and even some teams that were like in the middle
of DST of like averaging like six point nine Fantasy
points per game, which were the Denver Broncos. So you
see them twenty if in the in the rankings, you
know last year in the final results. But then you
have a guy like Marvin Mims who was just so
great at kick return. He was such an explosive player
(39:38):
even when he was on offense. So I'm looking at
this like, man, he just got into a role where
he's seeing more targets, so hey, he's going to be
double dipping to be able to be on kick return
and get some points on offense when you know when
the points come. So I'm looking at some of these teams.
So I just wrote down a whole bunch of star
impactful players. I divided them between wide receiver and running backs.
So I started highlighting some guys that had definability, Greg
(40:01):
George Curtis Samuel for the Buffalo Bills, who were a
top five defense, which, sorry, Florida, I think they're on
the decline. They lost so many guys. But man, I
just think this is going to change the dynamic of
people playing DST and having these defense and special teams
and their rosters where they're going to be averaging more
fantasy points per game. With this kickoff rule than their
(40:23):
flex position or their wide receiver three or guys. They
are just looking for upside, like I rather roster, you know,
a let's say the Dolphins. Dolphins defense were a top
ten defense as well. Now let's imagine Devon ah Chan
and Tyreek Hill and in the back of the fields
for returns on this new hybrid, like they're going to
(40:44):
be scoring almost once a week, if not every other week,
to where they're double dipping in points. So I'm going
to try to get like a Tyreek Hill with the
Miami Dolphins to try to be more relevant each week.
So hopefully I'm not ramling too wrong. You guys could
jump in at any time. But I really think sheet
that I built for us, and you know, I eventually
put it together to where the public could see it.
(41:04):
But I think this could where you can get your
edge if we start looking at some of the players
that are on special teams and making an impact for
some of these defenses that were already good on defense.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah, well, it's very colorful, it's very color coded. I mean,
you got to do this, you know, in a format
we can like put this on social and posts, put
it out there. And kind of let people take a
look at it and kind of figure out on their
own what there is. You know, I love your wish
list by the way of guys that you would like
to see returning. Y Yeah, in the fact that you
put Tyreek Hill for the Miami Dolphins, I mean we
(41:36):
would all love to see that. Mike McDaniel will get
fired if Tyreek is such as a significant injury returning kick.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
That's why I was looking at it. I'm like, it's
very limited, like injury you can get from that, Like
you really like a Damian Pierce, like a guy last
year with his ninety eight yard return. Now we know
how explosive he is. He's one of those running backs
that has the vision. He's able to break through the
seam and just take it to the house. Be great
for Tyreek Hill to hit the edge. Or he's a
big body, little guy. He's a little gerbil Hamster that's
(42:05):
like built up. He can go right through the special teams.
Guys they got are lined up on the line, Like
I think teams are gonna start seeing like, oh wow,
Tyrek Hill is ringing it back every week. Let's start
putting some actual big lineback, some big linemen on special
teams as well, maybe some starters, maybe some backup guys
that are trying to get reps to try to stop this.
I just think this is going to change everything of
(42:26):
just more scoring points.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
So my first question is how much do you wait
this when you are looking at at DSTs in drafts? Right? Like, so,
for instance, you got the forty nine ers here, right,
and they are a good fantasy defense. They don't have
anybody that immediately jumps off the page at you though,
as like a really super dangerous returner. Right, I mean,
(42:49):
you got Jordan Mason, You've got Ronnie Bell, neither of
these guys. You know, we're not talking about them in
Cordero Patterson type terms. How much do you wait what
this could be versus just having a straight up good defense. Yeah,
so a straight up good defense, like I said, like
they were avaging a fantasy points were going, so it
made them tenth to be top ten. So these defense
(43:10):
are gonna stay the same. If they're gonna be a
good defense but not have any threats on special teams,
they're going to kind of kind of fall in middle
of the pack. And then these other teams that were
already on the cuss that have impactful players on kick return,
like even the Jets, they're top five defense, but you
have Xavier Gibson. He's one of the most explosive returners
they have on the roster.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
So these are guys that will make an impact to
rise these defenses that are already good to the higher level.
And some defenses like the Kansas Chiefs that were really
good in real life but not many impactful players on
special teams to kind of up their points to get
into that top five conversation, I think the rankings will
definitely change.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
How I'm curious how you are you looking at return
man at first or is that just like a tiebreaker,
Because my thing with defense is always like you don't
want necessarily the defense that's not going to get any
points you want. And the Dolphins are a great example
of that. They were looking at your chart. They were
twenty second in points allowed last year, but they were
(44:09):
six in fantasy points because they rack up sacks and turnovers,
and that's always the two things that I look for
in defenses. Is that change for you now? Are you
looking for return man or are you still looking at
defenses that force sacks and turnovers and then you want
to pair with one of those that has a good return.
So really the pockety you want to find a team
that has both. I mean a team that just doesn't have,
(44:31):
you know, the special teams upside like the forty nine's
for example, Maybe I'm okay getting a foreign nine defense
because they get a ton of takeaways. They have the
ability to get to the to the quarterback as well,
so maybe I'm okay just dealing with that. And there's
other teams that, you know, like the Ravens, you have
Justice Hill, but you already know that defense is going
to be top not So I really feel as though
a team like the Ravens are a better situation than
(44:54):
a team like maybe I would say the Packers. You know,
they're a good defense that able to get to the ball,
a takeaways increase at the end the end of the season,
and they're probably gonna make some good additions in the draft.
So it's all things where you got to look at
where you're gonna get a team that has both both
head edges of the sword, a returnment and a good defense.
The other teams man they can just price it at
(45:15):
the bottom of the rankings. For me, honestly, I mean
you're talking about that.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
The team that on this list jumped out to me
is the Cleveland Browns, a very good team defensively. I mean,
we know Miles Garrett is a home wrecker all by himself.
You know, you're throwing at Nahim Hines potentially a guy
as a return man who does have some ability and
some bursts. You know, the Browns could be kind of
an interesting option. I feel like they're gonna be one
(45:39):
of the first defenses off the board, but they could
kind of give you that upside potentially when it comes
to too returns.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
There at the Steelers too, They sneakily signed Kardera Pattison
and then you look at Seattle. They got Leaviscus Chanol.
We know he's a running back with the ball in
his hands. Like, these are gonna be teams that are
gonna make impact and make some noise and move up,
you know, being that their defense isn't that strong.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
What about a team like to me, one that stood
out was the Denver Broncos. They were not good defensively
last year. Despite it in real life we thought their
defense was pretty good, but fantasy wise, it was not
but Marvin Mims is explosive and truly I believe one
of the best returnment in the league. But is that
enough to overcome a poor defense or is it just like, Okay,
(46:22):
he's gonna have some fun moments, but I don't want
to ride this defense.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
So it might it's just that we haven't seen it yet.
That's why I can't really like go into that yet
because it's like we haven't seen how these teams are
gonna be able to get you know, creative, and how
some of the teams that are kicking off play defense
against these guys. So it's more so like I think
this year would be the trial run obviously for everybody.
If people like it, I'm really excited about it because
(46:47):
it makes guys that you were like so so like
Leviskus Chanol is the best example, like we're like, oh man,
we want to push her in to get the touches,
get the ability, but it just didn't work out, And
I'm I just do it yesterday. He should just change
your running back, hate the Cordero Patterson route, make an
impact on special teams and make your name that way.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Man, I do feel like Cordillo. I say this draft
the Steelers defense, so that you don't feel bad when
Cordero Patterson is scoring touchdowns, you know, on kickoff returns
versus drafting you know, Najee Harris and feeling bad when
Cordero Patterson is stealing rushing touchdowns because Arthur Smith, yeah,
decided to run jet sweeps with him at the goal
line or something like that.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
You know, that's all Patrick Claybond's boy, Rashid Shaheed is
going to eat as a wide receiver return.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Man.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
That's a double dipper there. He's going to be on
kick return too. Man. That that's one of those things
like you get points. You get six points if the
individual player scores on kick return and these rules exactly.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
I was gonna mention that though, because not every league
plays that way, right, So make sure this is this
is the thing where you want to make sure what
your scoring system is that you do get those points
individually versus them just going straight up to the defense's
special teams. And I wonder if you know, depending on
how many returns we get, if we start to see
more activity, there will more leagues go to the individual
(48:07):
player getting it versus the ds tam.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
Yeah, six points and then if it's a touchdown all
the time, then four points two points, so eventually.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Yeah, so I'm just I'm I'm I'm curious to see
how this impacts scoring systems.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
These guys start returning them so much. It's like, who
needs a quarterback when you have a good return man.
Speaker 3 (48:28):
Yeah, I'm saying they might have unlocked the beast here.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Wow, I mean we're going to be sitting here time
do I do I want to draft Mac Jones or
Cordero Patterson? Actually, I think that that probably applies now, So.
Speaker 3 (48:40):
Draft defense in the fourth round because Tyreek Kial and
Devon a Chan are going crazy every week.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Yeah, if we get that far then than things I think,
then I think we need wholesale scoring changes. We're done here,
so but anyway, No, it's good research, good stuff. I
definitely would love to get this in a format we
can post this on social media and have people kind
of you know, it's the Internet. People will lovingly look
at it and have no complaints about whatever you wrote
(49:08):
at all, because that's just how the Internet works. Of course, anyway,
I think that's a good spot for us to pause,
at least for today. Of course, we'll be back with
you on Thursday for another edition of the Fantasy cheat Sheet.
We are still appreciative of all you guys who are
jumping in there and participating. We are thankful for you.
Please come back again for the next one coming up
(49:29):
this week on Thursday as well. In the meantime, gonna
do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
Stay happy, safe and healthy, do good and live well.
Enjoy the week, everybody, and we'll talk to you again
real soon. I'll help me
Wow, Hey everybody, It's Wednesday, April tenth, twenty twenty four.
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. We're ready to
put the team on our back though. It's me your
man named g Marcus Grant, joined by Michael F. Florio
(00:21):
and Lakwan Jones. I know this is a a audio
only show today, which is probably for the best because
we all have different weird things going on with with hair.
Like Florio is, it's it's longer than it's ever been.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's out of control.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
You got Lakwan doing the do rag. Mine's just kind
of generally messy, which I'm wearing a headband, wearing the
over your headphones to try and hide it. It's best
that people don't see us today. We will be will
be a little bit more well behaved for Thursday in
the Fantasy cheat sheet. So uh you ready for that?
(00:58):
Here we are. It is about two weeks and a
day away, yes, from the NFL Draft kicking off. How
many more prospects do you guys think you can watch
or how many more prospects do you plan to watch
between now and then?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Man, I got a couple more running backs I want
to hit on because I feel like there's the one
sleeper that we're not really talking about that's going to
end up in a really, really good situation, and like
I just need to evaluate like all the running backs.
That's just where I'm at with it.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm trying to get as deep, like deeper with wide
receivers than I've ever gone in the past. Like I
last year, I remember I watched like fifteen and I
was like, Oh, there's no way these fifteen are all
going to make an impact. And this year it feels
like you go twenty deep and you still feel like
there's there's more players that can make an impact that
you haven't watched yet. So trying to cross off all
(01:53):
the receivers but before then, but yeah, these next two
weeks are probably going to be lots of doing stuff
like that, and then it it kind of comes and
then the landing spots will change all of our opinions
on these players.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know, it's crazy, though, you're looking at it from
a different perspective because you're a team fan that needs
wide receivers right now, I know you're in the deep
of the tent trenches trying to find that one guy
that will match up with your picks man, I get it.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
It's that it's also just like to me, I feel
like wide receiver is a position where their talent can
kind of dictate how they're going to be at the NFL,
where I feel like some like it's they're all landing
spot dependent, but they maybe a little bit control their
own fate a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, we'll talk wide receivers probably like next week. Next
week's show. We're gonna preview some quarterbacks on today's show.
But you know, kind of looking ahead, have you found
a guy that you secretly would like the Bills to draft? Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I found a few, Lad mcconucke. Yeah, he is. He's
my wide receiver full right now in this class. I
think he's the best after the Big three. I like
Ricky Pearson later on. But if they could get you know,
like like a Troy Franklin or a key On Coleman
(03:12):
with don't I know they can't get all of these guys,
but I think like you get a speedy slot guy
and you pair him with some size out wide and
then they're cooking with fire.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
All right? All right? Is Troy Franklin just a better
Gabe Davis?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
No? I so I have like notes because I'm very
bad at memorizing everything, but I do not I compared.
I gotta find who it was that I compared to
Troy Franklin, I said, Jalen Hyatt or Robbie Anderson. But
there was someone who I wrote, Gabe Oh xavierly Get,
(03:47):
I said, he is. He's gonna be the next Gabe Davis.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, he's shrieked size and he has that speed. I
could see it. If you guys go after him, I'll
be all right, all.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right, Uh yeah, Well, we'll get into wide receiver a
bit more next week. We'll do quarterbacks today. We'll also
kind of dive in our own. Lakwan Jones here did
some research about the new kickoff rules and maybe what
that could mean for defense and special teams when it
comes to fantasy, So we will kind of let him
present his findings a little bit later on in the show.
But let's start with some news and rumors, things that
(04:20):
are kind of floating out there here in this semi
dead periodore NFL news, things that'send to make Fantasy Twitter
sit up at attention and maybe drool a little bit.
The first one being Anthony Richardson saying he is on
a mission in his comeback from shoulder surgery. I believe
I saw that he's throwing about forty passes per day.
(04:40):
We have yet to see any video these I have
yet to see any video. I don't know if there's
some floating out there. When we do fantasy Twitter is
going to go completely bananas. But even just him saying
he is on a mission got people really hot and
bothered over the last week. I went and checked yesterday
in Best Ball drafts. He is still the QB six.
I know we talked about this not long ago, but LQ,
(05:03):
are you still okay with him at QB six at
least in the Best Ball territory? And where would you
slot him for redraft leagues?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
QB six is fine with me right now, I think.
More so, I want to say this, I am in
on Anthony Richardson, but I get some people's caution and
some type of hesitation with him.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
But he has top five upsided.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I don't see how those small sample of games that
you watched last year and don't say this dude can
play in the NFL. And it's the Rams game really
that like really opened my eyes, Like, okay, this dude
can operate and pocket with chaos around him. You have
Aaron Donald ad ninety nine. I'm still heard about him retirely.
But he's going out there coming at Anthony Richardson full
speed every single play. And he's out there just evading
(05:46):
the pressure, finding his eyes downfield and finding Michael Pittman
most plays. And it's games like that where I'm like, man,
I just really wish he stayed healthy the entire season
because he might have been a lock as a top five,
you know, fantasy quarterback last year because each and every
game had he played those first weeks, he's just gotten
better and better and more aware of that. Hey, I'm
in the NFL. I need to be making some NFL plays.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I mean, Florida, are you? Are you there with it?
Which I mean, I know we loved him, We loved
the possibility of what he could bring. We all had questions.
This feels a little bit like wish casting or am
I wrong?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's a little bit, but I'm fully in. I mean,
if you remember last year, I had him as a
top nine fantasy quarterback coming into his rookie season. Like
Anthony Richardson has been my guy for uh since at
this time last year, and I know it was a
very small sample size, but in the games that he
stayed healthy, he finished as a QB one in every game,
(06:46):
and he was averaging. I believe it was in his
two full games it was something like twenty four Fantasy
points per game, which is Josh Allen level. Now, I
know it's just two games, but I never had any
doubt of what he can do as a runner. And
what I kept saying last summer was I think this
guy is going to surprise people as a passer. I
think that he has the tools. I think he has
(07:08):
a cannon for an arm and that we kind of
got to see it. But now you pair it with
the fact that we have more confidence in Shane Steichen
than we did a year ago. I think at this
time last year there was questions is it was he
a good oc or was he just benefiting from having
Hurtz and Brown and Devonse. But we saw the Eagles
offense go get worse without him, and the Colts passing
(07:29):
attack really as send as the year went on, So
I think you're now I was saying it last year,
like Anthony Richardson is better than Gardner Minshew that's not
a hot take.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But you saw a minch you could.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Do with his arm. Now you add in that he
could be Cam Newton with his legs and give you
one thousand yards and ten rushing touchdowns. Like to me,
I think he comes in tier two, the tier two
quarterbacks with C. J. Stroud and Joe Burrow. But I
have no problem putting him first and making him the
QB five coming into next year. Understand though, that you're
(08:01):
paying for the ceiling, which I think is QB one,
and I would want to pair him with someone else
because my biggest concern is still, hey, did this guy
learn how to protect himself?
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yet? Did he learn how to protect himself? And look there,
I think I don't know that the arm questions can
be completely ignored. Now. Granted, look we have the same
questions with Justin Fields, and Justin Fields turned out to
be a really good fantasy quarterback. His NFL future we're
still we're still sorting through at this point, a little blurry,
(08:31):
still a little blurry, but fantasy wise, we knew that
he could be productive, and I guess that's sort of
the thing. Right. You have Anthony Richardson, who's a big body, guy, big,
strong body guy. We need him to stay healthy, We
need him to stop taking you know, big hits near
the goal line. We need him to be on the field.
My thing is, I feel like, if I'm taking a
quarterback top five, top six, I want that to be
(08:54):
my quarterback. I don't want to have to come back
and spin draft capital elsewhere on the position. And I
feel like that's sort of the thing is that we're
all like, yeah, we all love Anthony Richardson, but most
people are also like, but I still want another guy. Like,
if you're taking let's say Joe Burrows the QB six,
you're just taking Joe Burrow and you're probably not coming
back to fill in somewhere later on in your draft. Right,
(09:15):
if you're taking Mahomes, Jackson, Hurts, Allen, probably even CJ. Stroud,
that is your guy. The only time you're worried about
another quarterback is on a bye week or if you know,
knock on Wood. Unfortunately something happens to one of these guys.
That is why my only caveat that if we're still
talking about Anthony Richardson as I want to make sure
(09:36):
I have insurance, then we're not sure that he's a
top six quarterback.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, I can't agree with that, And I'm also not
against you know, understanding that process and still getting a
guy if you have the questions about him as your
one and only quarterback on your rosters. Like we're talking
redraft here, I would think like I would still draft
like a later round like a jarreed golf. You know
what I mean, as trade value as somebody I can
(10:02):
ship off if Anthony Richardson ends up staying healthy and
working out, so I would try to get something in return.
That's just usually how I would treat some guys like
we're talking about, like Anthony Richardson, that were not like
one hundred percent sure, but we want to buy in
and for the potential ceiling that he gives because just
the flashes in the pan that we saw, It's like, man,
this could be my lock right now at quarterback. But
(10:24):
I get what you're saying too.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No, I get the whole ceiling argument. I totally do.
I still think though there's a why not a wide gap,
but a notable gap right between what the ceiling and
what the floor potentially is for Anthony Richardson. If that
is my only rule, it just.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Sucks that he got hurt, because I don't I think
we would be questioning if he didn't get hurt, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, the reason why I want to insurance is in
case of injury, if he stays healthy and plays seventeen games,
I don't see any way. He's not a QB.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
One, Yeah and can can? Is it crazy for me
to say that he's kind of like we talked about
his tools, like he's set up a little bit more
better than Lamar Jackson. Not comparing the two as complete
football players, but he has a solid RB one, worklow
with JT.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
He already has better wide receivers than Lamar had. Wide
receivers like Alex Pearce.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Isn't much, but he could still stretch the field. He's
still trying to develop and find his way and be consistent.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
We wish Lamar had somebody like Michael Pittman. Yeah, what
we want maybe this year.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Maybe I'm being way too nitpicky because Lamar Jackson still
ran for eight hundred yards last year, but he he
doesn't look like MVP year Lamar as a runner anymore.
That's not saying he can't still be a very effective
runner at the NFL but I don't think we get
that video game. I'm gonna put up twelve hundred rushing
(11:46):
yards a year like like we have, and the rushing
touchdowns have never been Lamar's strong suit either.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That I think is the big difference between Richardson and
Jackson is that near the goal line, the Colts will
lean on Anthony Richardson. They will take their big body,
strong quarterback and use him as a goal line option.
I mean, like, you know, we've been saying for years
right that the best goal line back in Buffalo is
Josh Allen. The best goal line back in Indianapoli. They
have Jonathan Taylor, so they could use him. But you know,
(12:14):
but Anthony richards is going to do. Whereas for Baltimore
when they get close, it's generally not Lamar Jackson running
the football. They don't want to put him down there
in all that traffic and risk his health. So that
is a huge difference. There's much more touchdown upside for
Anthony Richardson and now with Derrick Henry, Lamar is definitely
not running in. You know, like if Lamar Jackson gets
(12:36):
a rushing touchdown from the five yard line and in
it's because like it was a broken play or like
you know, it was a scramble where he just sort
of got loose. But there won't be any designed runs
for Lamar Jackson from that close end, not at all.
Speaking of quarterbacks, Deshaun Watson also coming off some injury
issues and just a generally sort of down year for him.
(12:58):
He says he'll be ready to go in Week one,
not a huge surprise. But right now he is QB
twenty three in Best Ball Drafts, And I sat and
looked at that Florio and I just thought, like that
feels low, Like I get it right, I get that
Deshaun Watson hasn't been the guy we saw in Houston,
(13:19):
but twenty three, with the weapons he has around him,
it just feels low. I don't know if you agree
with that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
No, I completely agree with it. And what like, look
at a QB's going direct Baker Mayfield, Like I know
Baker Mayfield was a really good streaming option down the
stretch last year. We were talking about Baker being good
for sixteen to eighteen points per week. Sometimes, you know,
a big week for him is like twenty two to
twenty four. Then Drake may who is yet I like
(13:49):
Drake May I think he's toolsy. He's yet to play
a single snap at the NFL. I would take Watson
over Aaron Rodgers, who is coming back from the Achilles injury.
I like Jayden Dan a lot. I think I think
Watson should be going in a similar range as like
Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, Matthew Stafford. And he's
going well after all of those guys. And again, I
(14:11):
know he didn't look good. I know Joe Flacco outperformed him.
Trust me, Me and Marcus and we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We a lot of time on it, a lot of
time on a whole bunch.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But let's not overlook that Watson when he was out
there was still giving you twenty to forty rushing yards
a week, which is a free fifty to one hundred
passing yards right there. Then he has good weapons around him.
I don't I don't think it'll ever be pretty with
DeShawn Watson anymore. I don't think he's going to turn
back the clock and be the guy that he was
(14:43):
in Houston. But I think he can still be a
useful QB two in fantasy that has the upside any
week of finishing as a QB one.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
El Q is the is the Deshaun Watson we knew
from Houston? Is that guy gone and he would come back? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
That so that that's those days are gone and something
we have to accept. I do agree that it's a
little low, but I kind of understand it because he
wasn't really you know, that good to be out there
perform him and.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
He was hurt.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
But I just feel as though what draws your interest
here at twenty three QB twenty three is just the
upside with the addition of Jerry Judy. But it's not
like a lock that Jerry Judy ends up working out,
because we have yet to really see it work out
for Jerry Judy to be this sod you know, wide
receiver too, you know weekly for guys like him. So
I feel like I, I honestly, you will probably take
(15:34):
a shot on him in a few leagues, like one
or two leagues. I mean, the degenerates we are, we're
probably like in the twenty leagues. So for people that
are only going to be playing one league or two
leagues this year, like I wouldn't be drafting him, you know,
I kind of just stay away.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
No, No, I totally agree with that. Like, if you
know you're in a single redraft league or couple of
redraft leagues, you probably aren't drafting Deshaun Watson. But if you're,
you're spreading it out, you're playing best ball, you're doing
a lot of things. I just feel like it's worth
taking the shit right that he's not He's not what
he once was, but I don't think he's totally cooked
as long as he can stay healthy. And just the
way this offense is set up, They've brought in weapons,
(16:11):
they are built, they're built around him because the Browns
don't have a choice. They have invested so heavily in him.
They have to build this thing around him. They have
to figure out how to make it work. So that
to me, you know, you mentioned that that he's behind
Baker Mayfield, right, and like Baker had one of his
best seasons, maybe his best career season ever last year
(16:33):
game as QB twenty two, And I'm like, yeah, that's right,
you know, Like I look at I just I don't know,
I feel like Watson can move up at least a
couple of spots.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So yeah, I'm always a sucker for Russian quarterbacks and
most of the guys ahead of him are just like
old veteran statues, and I'm like, Watson could easily outperform
these guys because upside with.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
His Matthew Stafford. I mean, I know we're excited about
Kirk Cousins, but we do have.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
To take an account that it's April, so I'm pretty
sure is eighty. He will rise once a couple of
videos and beat reporters like, oh my god, Jerry Judy,
Jerry Judy, and then you know, people gonna start looking
back at Jashaun Watts. It's gonna be like exactly, it
play out to be nothing but.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Jerry Judy to get people hyped for you that that's bad.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He has stands. I don't know where they come from.
Every time they come out of nowhere, out of the
woodwork and just try to like defend him like he
needed a real quarterback.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I'm like, all right, but he's right. But but I
think Lakwan's right. Right, We're gonna see like a training
camp or an ota fade from Watson to to Jerry
Judy with some like you know, cheeky headlines, cheeky capture.
I'm gonna be like, here we go, it's coming, it's happening.
You know exactly what's gonna happen. Last little bit of news,
(17:44):
real quick. Darren Waller says he still hasn't made a
decision yet on playing in twenty twenty four. This is
hilarious to me. Look right now, he is the tight
end thirty two thirty two. I mean, if you say
every starting tide in the NFL, he is the last one.
I would either of you take a swing on him,
(18:05):
knowing what little we know right now.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Nope, pack it up.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
He's done.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Wow, I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I feel as though he's waiting on the draft, like
he's gonna wait to see what the Giants do, make
a decision based on their results, and he's gonna be like,
know what, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
If we're talking about a last round pick and the
best ball, I could be convinced, but I'm a known
Darren Waller Stan. I loved him coming into last year.
It did not work out. He was better with with
Taylor than he was with Daniel Jones, which is problematic.
He was better with DeVito than he was with Daniel Jones,
which is also problematic. I don't think Waller will ever
(18:46):
be what he once was. But I still do think
he can be a useful tight end at the NFL level,
but for fantasy we're probably talking him more as a
tight end two at best if he plays, which I'm
still thinking he's going to retire.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I mean, at this point, the way this thing is
dragging a lot, I just don't see him coming back
to play. I know one of the things he said
is just it's about you know, him figuring out does
he have the emotional energy to go through another training
camp in another season. And I feel like the longer
you see it's like it's like, you know, me sitting
on the couch, you knowing I gotta get up to
go to the store or something like. The longer I
sit here, the less chance of me going to the
(19:22):
store is going to happen. And I feel like this
is sort of darn. Waller is just sitting on the
couch and the chances of him getting up and going
to training camp are are diminishing. And I'm not saying
that is shade, like I get it. So so we'll
see what happens with that. I say, quick break, comebackward
to tack some draft quarterbacks, it's Caleb and then it
gets confusing after that. We'll dive into that a little
(19:44):
bit next on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. All right,
so the draft is in, let me do the man.
Fifteen days from now, that's right, that is when the NFL, well,
we'll begin onboarding. It's new hires for the twenty twenty
(20:04):
four season. And so let's start at the quarterback position,
because why wouldn't we. These are the guys that are
likely going to go in the top three, maybe even
top four picks, depending on how things go. So I
will ask you, gentlemen, starting with you, Mike Florio, after
Caleb Williams, who is your QB two Jaden Daniels.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And it's not all that close. I really like, I
think Jadeen Daniels is closer to Caleb than he is
to the other two. Now, I'll say that being like
quarterbacks the hardest position to scout. You can't get in
their heads and all that. And even more than that,
I think it comes down to landing spot. Like if
you put Jayden Daniels on the Patriots, it might not
(20:47):
work out. They put him on like the Commanders. I
can get very excited But the reason I'm so excited
about Jade and Daniels for real life and for fantasy
is because I'm a sucker for rushing production, and I
think he's the only quarterback in his class that has
a chance to sniff eight hundred, let alone a thousand
rushing yards in a season. He reminded me of like
(21:08):
a Lamar Jackson. I think his fantasy profile from right
away could be like Justin Fields, where he gives you
such good rushing production and then you add in like
solid pass game production and he ends up being a
QB one. And what I keep saying is like, look
at Jalen Hurts, Kyler, Murray, Lamar Jackson, Justin Fields, Anthony
(21:31):
Richardson in the small sample size we saw him last year.
They all have kind of different play styles, but they're
all fantasy QB ones the day they get to start
because of what they bring you with their legs. And
as a thrower, he has great timing. I like his accuracy.
He doesn't have the strongest arm, but his timing makes
up for it. He could make all the NFL throws.
(21:51):
He could put the ball on the rope when he
has to. I came away from watching his film, Like,
I really like this kid, and I hope he doesn't
end up in New England because his wide receivers at
LSU were better than what New England has right now.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, drop the light. Yeah no. So the big knock
on him is his struggles throwing in the middle of
the field. Does that concern you at all?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
A bit? But I think he has a strong enough
arm and the timing is really really elite that he
could make up for it. It'll depend on coaching and
stuff like that. But the skill And that's the thing
with so many of these prospects is I don't want
to prospect that's like a finished product coming out of college.
I want one that has the tools and I hope
(22:37):
that the coaching staff could kind of develop them into
more So, I think James Daniels has all of the
skill set to be a really good NFL quarterback.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
I think that is one of the things that, like,
at the next level, they'd have to help work with
him on.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
All right, Yeah, Look, I mean I feel like your
evaluation for Daniels is sort of it's like a redo
of the conversation we just had about Anthony Richardson, except
he's not maybe not as big, not as physically imposing
as Anthony Richardson, but it is the is the skill
set that we are sort of in love with. Are
you Are you on board with that, laqwan or you
got a different QB too, No, I.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Was gonna say Jaydon Daniels as well. I mean, it's
a lock at QB two for him. He has the
best chance to be able to go somewhere who has weapons,
and like Florio said, he goes in anywhere else there's
gonna be a ton of question marks about the situation
rather than his actual talent trying to develop with you know,
the patriots who have nobody, you know. So I feel
like it's he's more so a lock for the commanders obviously.
(23:33):
With the no brainer there with Cliff Kingsbury, his history
with Kyler Murray and I've spoken about it before, hopefully
he could take some of his experience of being with
Kyler Murray and teach Daniels how to be a little
bit more protective, slide a little bit more run out,
and be just aware of his surroundings when he's off
and making runs. Because I watch a lot of his runs,
you know, on tape and some of them are amazing,
and then there's somewhere he just doesn't see that last
(23:55):
guy that's running fool speed at him while he's trying
to hesitate in juke, and then he'll get blasted. That's
very dangerous at an NFL level, you know. So I
just hope that he's more protective of himself so we
don't end up into Anthony and Bridgeson conversation to where like,
oh man, he's getting banged up, you know all this
other stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, I you know, we joked about the whole Sonic
Rings gifts that you get with Jayden and Dang's And
I've been saying that, like wherever he gets drafted, there's
going to be a major League baseball team somewhere in
the vicinity. Like maybe he should just go out there
and practice slide and learn to practice syl Man, call
Kyle Kyler, call somebody you know, call Russell Wilson, right
(24:32):
he played baseball, Like figure it out, like just just
figure out a way to make it happen. I'm gonna
I'm gonna go off not off board here, I'm gonna
go the other way and go Drake may as my
number two quarterback because I think he while he does
not give you the same type of rushing ability Jayden
Daniels does, he is one of those guys a lot
like Caleb Williams, who is any effective runner right who
knows sort of when to run and can do it effectively.
(24:54):
I think he has more arm talent right now, at
least in this part of his career than Jade Daniels does.
I think people like Jayden Daniels, I think they have
talked themselves into liking him even more where I think
he has a little bit more of a project type
vibe than say may does. Look and I don't follow you,
(25:14):
nobody ever putting Daniels at number two. The fact that
we've had this conversation, that it's been ongoing for a
while and speaks to how people are feeling about him.
But I think I think I'm gonna go with with
Drake may As as my number two guy, Which gets
me to the next question. Because JJ McCarthy has been
on a rocket ship at least his his his draft
value has been and the way people are talking about
(25:37):
him has been to the point that I've even seen
him talked about is going number one, number two or
number one, even in this draft. I don't think it's
gonna happen. But that's sort of where the conversation drifted
at some point, LaQuan. Are you buying into the JJ
McCarthy hype slightly? It will all depend on where he'll
(25:57):
go in location. I mean, I will be very happy
with the.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Vike because, like you said, we like quarterbacks that have
some type of mobile to him. He has the ability
to extend the place with his legs, like that's already noted.
More so, it's like his placement of the ball like
great in the pocket awareness. I mean, the dude is
able to get the confidence to step up and make
some of those difficult throws. And this is kind of
what you want out of a quarterback. I mean you
can almost label him as you know, almost NFL ready
(26:22):
polish to be able to go on a team like
the Vikings and step into a role where you have
a Justin Jeffson or Jordia Addison. This is really where
it's going to come down to where his development. Location
is going to matter to me to be buying completely
into the hype, because GMS are seeing some, coaches are
seeing some so obviously he's rising up on the border,
but it's all going to come down to location. Man's
(26:42):
that's what it is for me.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's J J. McCarthy, the kind of guy Florio that
you think can be. I guess we're you know, this
is a fantasy show, so it's talking for fantasy. If
he shows up and is a starter right away or
at least early in the season, is he a guy
that we are going to be interested in at this
point in his.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
For fantasy purposes, Probably not, not year one at least.
I would envision him being more of a QB two
and probably a low end one at that because to
Laquan's point, like he is athletic. He can run, but
I don't he's got a small frame. I don't envision
him being a game changer with his legs at the
(27:22):
NFL level. And I am kind of buying in on
the hype. I think he's a top four quarterback easily
in this class. I did like a lot of what
I saw. Good athlete, he can make all the NFL throws,
he has a really strong arm. I have him behind
Drake May. But just like LQ was saying, it comes
down to landing spot, Like if you put May on
the Patriots and JJ on the Vikings, I'm going to
(27:44):
be much more interested in McCarthy because of the head coach,
the play caller, the weapons around him, all of that.
But if you put JJ on the Patriots and Drake
May on the Vikings, it completely flips on its head
in the opposite direction. The knock always on JJ is
that he didn't have to do a whole lot in college,
And then the pro JJ people are like, well, if
(28:07):
you look for it and you watch his film, like
when he had to throw, he made all the throws,
And I agree, and I like that, but I keep
going back to it's much easier to do so when
you're asked to do that a handful of times a
game and the defense isn't expecting it and your team
is just flat out better the team on the other sidelines.
(28:28):
So I like a lot of what I saw on
film from JJ McCarthy, but there's still a lot of
questions that I don't think anyone right now can answer
until we see him handle some adversity at the next level.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
I feel like how much you like JJ McCarthy depends
on how much you are into intangibles. Because that is
sort of the argument in his favor. And look, there
is value to that, right, there's value being into having
a football IQ and knowing when to make the right play,
when to tucket run, when to stand in there make
the throw. But you know, for those of us who didn't,
(29:04):
if you didn't lock in and watch every Michigan game
over the last year or so, if you haven't really
gone deep into the research of it, you look at
him on film and you see a guy who, yeah, man,
he ran a lot. He had a lot of really good,
talented teammates around him, and he had a you know,
a defense, a head coach, a whole system that really
helped him win. And you know, while he certainly made
(29:27):
plays to help the Wolverines, he wasn't always the engine
that made them go. And I think I think that's
sort of where the disconnect is. I think you look
at him as a guy who's very mobile, who can
run the football, but you know, I don't know about
the other things and whether or not he can sort
of be the full package, especially for what we would
(29:48):
want in a fantasy circumstance. He's not gonna be the
guy that gets taken in redrafts. There is definitely dynasty
upside there, but I think beyond that, I you know,
I'm curious there he goes. I'm curious if a team
does take him at four, if somebody wants to take
him even earlier. You know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
To your point. Intangibles obviously matter a whole bunch, But
we're not talking to these guys, mean we're we don't
in it. So I'm not gonna listen to what other
people say. Like I'm viewing, I'm judging the physical ability
that I that I can watch and quantify a little bit.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
And that's why I chose like Daniels and May over JJ,
because I just think physically and what they've done in college,
it stands.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Out a little bit more. Yeah, no, no doubt day
one or Day two quarterback that you are most concerned about.
I guess both real real football and fantasy wise, Florida,
you can go first on that.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Whichever one goes to the New England Patriots. Sounds like
I'm making fun of them.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
And you kind of are. That's fine as.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Sure as they dominated my team for two decades, so
they didn't. But just compare, like I tweeted this out yesterday,
but the Bears are one of the best landing spots
QB one has ever fallen into. The Vikings are head
and shoulders above everyone else. The Raiders at least have
DeVante Adams, the Commanders have Terry. Both of those teams
(31:21):
have an offensive coordinator that has called plays before. The
Broncos have Sutton and Sean Payton. The Patriots have a
first time head coach in OC calling plays for the
first time, and maybe the worst weapons in the NFL.
So whichever one goes there I think is behind the
eight ball. But from a talent standpoint, it's Bo Nicks
(31:41):
because I a lot of screens, a lot of deep balls,
and just I don't know, I didn't come away wowd
watching him play. And for me, a rule of mine
is always like when a player has a breakout season
at twenty four years old in their sixth year a
la Kenny Pickett, I always take some pause.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Watching Mike's on fire today, But I'm gonna say the
same thing, man, because you just look at that situation.
It's like, how can one quarterback be developed and be
put in the direction of success? What they put together
this offseason so I know it's not like an attractive
place to go play in the off season for you know,
(32:20):
a top wide receiver right now, but you still have
some free agents out there that can go in and
make some pop. I mean, your best wide receiver on
the roster right now, in my opinion, is the mary
O Douglas. And that's not saying a lot. So what
top tier quarterback are you going to put in this
situation and actually think he's going to be able to
move forward to his development to put something on tape.
(32:40):
And it's sad, man, it's just really sad at this point.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah. No, I look, I think we're all just sort
of looking at like the Patriots as a please do
not draft this prospect that we like team, right because
when they was talking maybe they'll go after Marvin Harrison junior. Yeah,
at that point we're like, no, please, don't you know,
now they have a quarterback prospect that you might like,
and you like, please, don't, please don't draft this guy.
I mean, I guess, I guess if you're not into
(33:05):
the whole JJ McCarthy thing, then then you wouldn't mind
seeing him go to New England, particularly right down, straight down.
I mean, so I the Patris definitely already sort of
a cautionary tale right now, just because there's so much
unknown in that spot. But Florio did mention bo Nix,
(33:25):
which he sort of answered the next question for me,
which is who would you rather have bo Nix or
Michael Pennix? I know Florio's answer, l Q, what is yours?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
I like Penix man, he just has that kind of
swagger and confidence about him, and like I know everybody
has the injury councern on him, but he's good to
go man. And like seeing him at the combine throw
he throws a really good pretty ball. I mean more
or less you have that killer instinct in him, Like
he makes the important place. He's making some good decisions
with the ball as well. So I'm more so lean
(33:54):
on Penis as a GM if I'm going to bring
a guy in like him and hopefully he lands with
the Raiders and give them that, you know, momentum that
they could take off and have a guy like Penis.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Mold what you gonna You're gonna bump Aidan O'Connell out
of the starting gig there in Las Yes he is. No,
I'm all about Pinick at least over Knicks for sure,
because I think the only knock on pinis the two
things about him are the injury history and the age.
No one seems to have any issues with his ability,
you know, with the arm strength, with the the ability
(34:24):
to make all the throws, that sort of thing I.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Got my penis do rag on today.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
It's just as can't he stay healthy, you know? And
and how long do you have to wait for him
to get there? I think that probably wild knock him down,
have seeing him mocked in early second round, uh, in
a lot of drafts. But I think I'd rather have
that over guy who uh you know, exceled at Oregon.
But as you mentioned Mike, he wasn't asked to do
nearly as much at Oregon as he was at Auburn
(34:52):
when when he just wasn't you know, he wasn't as
productive at Auburn. And so I Pinnicks was productive wherever
he was, he just couldn't stay on the field. I
think I would rather take that than than a guy
that I really have to sort of simplify the offense
for and and give him fewer things to do.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
One thing I noticed with Pennix, he had a lot
of like, bleep it, he's down there somewhere type and.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Not a terrible thing.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Let him do that with Davante just it'll be it'll
be great for fantasy purposes.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yes, yeah, I mean, look, when you have a great
wide receiver, just you know fit, you know, Rome's down
there somewhere. I'm alright with that. Is there another radar guy,
say a Day two, Day three quarterback that that you
guys sort of like right now?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Look one Jordan Travis. I watched a couple of nights
ago where you know, he's one of those guys that
can move the change, like he can move a downfield
and and I was looking at his stats. He doesn't
have much turnovers. I mean, he's very good at decision
making and having the ability of the rushing upside, just
like Mike. I'm a sucker for guys who had the
rushing ability in the rushing upside. So he could be
like a Day two pick and end up in the situation.
(36:03):
He might not start this year, but he could probably develop,
you know, under somebody and probably take over starting job.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
All right, your thoughts there, Floria.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
I like Travis, And to borrow another one from our guy,
Emory Hunt. Spencer Ratler, who former number one prospect coming
out of high school.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
He's betting some buzz.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Yeah, he's got a strong arm, he's toolsy, so there's
a little bit there for coaches to work with at
the next level.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Yeah, Rattler was a guy that that popped into my
head too. I don't know that I get the buzz
of him moving up. I mean, yeah, I've seen people
talk about him maybe sneaking into the first round. I
think that's a little bit excessive. Although look, Emery loves him, right.
We had Himory Hunt on not long ago, and he
was definitely big on Spencer Ratler, And I do think
that his history where he has been the fact that
(36:52):
you know, once upon a time, this guy was a
strong Heisman candidate before losing his job to Caleb Williams,
who you know in hindsight, yeah, man, of course, right,
but that right, I mean, like see what Caleb has
done over the last couple of years in college, Like
all right, yeah, we get it, man, But I do things.
I think the Spitzer Ratler is a guy who you know,
(37:12):
in the right spot, could end up being kind of
kind of productive, kind of nice.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
And be like ragging Alex Smith for losing the gig
to Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
To Patrick Mahomes, right, like, yeah, man, we get it,
we get it, we get it. We only get I
looked Drew Bledsoe lost his gig to Tom Brady. It's like,
you know, years later, it's like, oh, yeah, I get it.
Oh I see, I see, I see how that went.
All right, take one more break, come back. We're gonna
dive into the new kickoff rules and what this could
mean for DSTs in fantasy. Arman Lakwan did some interesting
(37:44):
research here, so we'll let him present that in just
a bit coming up here on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. So,
I'm sure, as you all know now, the rules about
kickoffs have changed in the nf The gone are the
traditional kickoffs, and now you're gonna have kind of different formations.
(38:05):
The idea being to try and minimize injury risk while
also returning the kickoff to the game, just because you know,
we were at a point where you know, it just
was gone essentially from the game. You weren't getting guys
returning it. You certainly weren't getting kickoffs, kickoff return for touchdowns,
I should say, or anything like that. So this is
hopefully a nice compromise, but it is likely to change
(38:28):
the way we look at defense and special teams because
the special team's part of it is important, especially when
you have guys that can run back kicks for scores.
So are On mckwan Jones, who is a researcher by
trade here at the NFL, did some research and tried
to come up with ways to sort of rank the
rank the defensive units based on the new kickoff rules.
(38:51):
So I hope I didn't butcher that too badly, and
if I did, please please sit here and correct me.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
So, just randomly one night, I was just looking at,
you know, this new kickoff rule and how cool it
can be. You know, you're watching the videos of x
XFL players, you know, doing et cetera, et cetera, and
I'm like, man, this is huge for some teams like that,
you know, that were in that pocket of averaging like
eight to like ten Fantasy points per game in DST.
So it's like, man, some of these teams that were
(39:17):
on the CUSS, they have some like big premiere players
and even some teams that were like in the middle
of DST of like averaging like six point nine Fantasy
points per game, which were the Denver Broncos. So you
see them twenty if in the in the rankings, you
know last year in the final results. But then you
have a guy like Marvin Mims who was just so
great at kick return. He was such an explosive player
(39:38):
even when he was on offense. So I'm looking at
this like, man, he just got into a role where
he's seeing more targets, so hey, he's going to be
double dipping to be able to be on kick return
and get some points on offense when you know when
the points come. So I'm looking at some of these teams.
So I just wrote down a whole bunch of star
impactful players. I divided them between wide receiver and running backs.
So I started highlighting some guys that had definability, Greg
(40:01):
George Curtis Samuel for the Buffalo Bills, who were a
top five defense, which, sorry, Florida, I think they're on
the decline. They lost so many guys. But man, I
just think this is going to change the dynamic of
people playing DST and having these defense and special teams
and their rosters where they're going to be averaging more
fantasy points per game. With this kickoff rule than their
(40:23):
flex position or their wide receiver three or guys. They
are just looking for upside, like I rather roster, you know,
a let's say the Dolphins. Dolphins defense were a top
ten defense as well. Now let's imagine Devon ah Chan
and Tyreek Hill and in the back of the fields
for returns on this new hybrid, like they're going to
(40:44):
be scoring almost once a week, if not every other week,
to where they're double dipping in points. So I'm going
to try to get like a Tyreek Hill with the
Miami Dolphins to try to be more relevant each week.
So hopefully I'm not ramling too wrong. You guys could
jump in at any time. But I really think sheet
that I built for us, and you know, I eventually
put it together to where the public could see it.
(41:04):
But I think this could where you can get your
edge if we start looking at some of the players
that are on special teams and making an impact for
some of these defenses that were already good on defense.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah, well, it's very colorful, it's very color coded. I mean,
you got to do this, you know, in a format
we can like put this on social and posts, put
it out there. And kind of let people take a
look at it and kind of figure out on their
own what there is. You know, I love your wish
list by the way of guys that you would like
to see returning. Y Yeah, in the fact that you
put Tyreek Hill for the Miami Dolphins, I mean we
(41:36):
would all love to see that. Mike McDaniel will get
fired if Tyreek is such as a significant injury returning kick.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
That's why I was looking at it. I'm like, it's
very limited, like injury you can get from that, Like
you really like a Damian Pierce, like a guy last
year with his ninety eight yard return. Now we know
how explosive he is. He's one of those running backs
that has the vision. He's able to break through the
seam and just take it to the house. Be great
for Tyreek Hill to hit the edge. Or he's a
big body, little guy. He's a little gerbil Hamster that's
(42:05):
like built up. He can go right through the special teams.
Guys they got are lined up on the line, Like
I think teams are gonna start seeing like, oh wow,
Tyrek Hill is ringing it back every week. Let's start
putting some actual big lineback, some big linemen on special
teams as well, maybe some starters, maybe some backup guys
that are trying to get reps to try to stop this.
I just think this is going to change everything of
(42:26):
just more scoring points.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
So my first question is how much do you wait
this when you are looking at at DSTs in drafts? Right? Like, so,
for instance, you got the forty nine ers here, right,
and they are a good fantasy defense. They don't have
anybody that immediately jumps off the page at you though,
as like a really super dangerous returner. Right, I mean,
(42:49):
you got Jordan Mason, You've got Ronnie Bell, neither of
these guys. You know, we're not talking about them in
Cordero Patterson type terms. How much do you wait what
this could be versus just having a straight up good defense. Yeah,
so a straight up good defense, like I said, like
they were avaging a fantasy points were going, so it
made them tenth to be top ten. So these defense
(43:10):
are gonna stay the same. If they're gonna be a
good defense but not have any threats on special teams,
they're going to kind of kind of fall in middle
of the pack. And then these other teams that were
already on the cuss that have impactful players on kick return,
like even the Jets, they're top five defense, but you
have Xavier Gibson. He's one of the most explosive returners
they have on the roster.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
So these are guys that will make an impact to
rise these defenses that are already good to the higher level.
And some defenses like the Kansas Chiefs that were really
good in real life but not many impactful players on
special teams to kind of up their points to get
into that top five conversation, I think the rankings will
definitely change.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
How I'm curious how you are you looking at return
man at first or is that just like a tiebreaker,
Because my thing with defense is always like you don't
want necessarily the defense that's not going to get any
points you want. And the Dolphins are a great example
of that. They were looking at your chart. They were
twenty second in points allowed last year, but they were
(44:09):
six in fantasy points because they rack up sacks and turnovers,
and that's always the two things that I look for
in defenses. Is that change for you now? Are you
looking for return man or are you still looking at
defenses that force sacks and turnovers and then you want
to pair with one of those that has a good return.
So really the pockety you want to find a team
that has both. I mean a team that just doesn't have,
(44:31):
you know, the special teams upside like the forty nine's
for example, Maybe I'm okay getting a foreign nine defense
because they get a ton of takeaways. They have the
ability to get to the to the quarterback as well,
so maybe I'm okay just dealing with that. And there's
other teams that, you know, like the Ravens, you have
Justice Hill, but you already know that defense is going
to be top not So I really feel as though
a team like the Ravens are a better situation than
(44:54):
a team like maybe I would say the Packers. You know,
they're a good defense that able to get to the ball,
a takeaways increase at the end the end of the season,
and they're probably gonna make some good additions in the draft.
So it's all things where you got to look at
where you're gonna get a team that has both both
head edges of the sword, a returnment and a good defense.
The other teams man they can just price it at
(45:15):
the bottom of the rankings. For me, honestly, I mean
you're talking about that.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
The team that on this list jumped out to me
is the Cleveland Browns, a very good team defensively. I mean,
we know Miles Garrett is a home wrecker all by himself.
You know, you're throwing at Nahim Hines potentially a guy
as a return man who does have some ability and
some bursts. You know, the Browns could be kind of
an interesting option. I feel like they're gonna be one
(45:39):
of the first defenses off the board, but they could
kind of give you that upside potentially when it comes
to too returns.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
There at the Steelers too, They sneakily signed Kardera Pattison
and then you look at Seattle. They got Leaviscus Chanol.
We know he's a running back with the ball in
his hands. Like, these are gonna be teams that are
gonna make impact and make some noise and move up,
you know, being that their defense isn't that strong.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
What about a team like to me, one that stood
out was the Denver Broncos. They were not good defensively
last year. Despite it in real life we thought their
defense was pretty good, but fantasy wise, it was not
but Marvin Mims is explosive and truly I believe one
of the best returnment in the league. But is that
enough to overcome a poor defense or is it just like, Okay,
(46:22):
he's gonna have some fun moments, but I don't want
to ride this defense.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
So it might it's just that we haven't seen it yet.
That's why I can't really like go into that yet
because it's like we haven't seen how these teams are
gonna be able to get you know, creative, and how
some of the teams that are kicking off play defense
against these guys. So it's more so like I think
this year would be the trial run obviously for everybody.
If people like it, I'm really excited about it because
(46:47):
it makes guys that you were like so so like
Leviskus Chanol is the best example, like we're like, oh man,
we want to push her in to get the touches,
get the ability, but it just didn't work out, And
I'm I just do it yesterday. He should just change
your running back, hate the Cordero Patterson route, make an
impact on special teams and make your name that way.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Man, I do feel like Cordillo. I say this draft
the Steelers defense, so that you don't feel bad when
Cordero Patterson is scoring touchdowns, you know, on kickoff returns
versus drafting you know, Najee Harris and feeling bad when
Cordero Patterson is stealing rushing touchdowns because Arthur Smith, yeah,
decided to run jet sweeps with him at the goal
line or something like that.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
You know, that's all Patrick Claybond's boy, Rashid Shaheed is
going to eat as a wide receiver return.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Man.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
That's a double dipper there. He's going to be on
kick return too. Man. That that's one of those things
like you get points. You get six points if the
individual player scores on kick return and these rules exactly.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
I was gonna mention that though, because not every league
plays that way, right, So make sure this is this
is the thing where you want to make sure what
your scoring system is that you do get those points
individually versus them just going straight up to the defense's
special teams. And I wonder if you know, depending on
how many returns we get, if we start to see
more activity, there will more leagues go to the individual
(48:07):
player getting it versus the ds tam.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
Yeah, six points and then if it's a touchdown all
the time, then four points two points, so eventually.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Yeah, so I'm just I'm I'm I'm curious to see
how this impacts scoring systems.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
These guys start returning them so much. It's like, who
needs a quarterback when you have a good return man.
Speaker 3 (48:28):
Yeah, I'm saying they might have unlocked the beast here.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Wow, I mean we're going to be sitting here time
do I do I want to draft Mac Jones or
Cordero Patterson? Actually, I think that that probably applies now, So.
Speaker 3 (48:40):
Draft defense in the fourth round because Tyreek Kial and
Devon a Chan are going crazy every week.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Yeah, if we get that far then than things I think,
then I think we need wholesale scoring changes. We're done here,
so but anyway, No, it's good research, good stuff. I
definitely would love to get this in a format we
can post this on social media and have people kind
of you know, it's the Internet. People will lovingly look
at it and have no complaints about whatever you wrote
(49:08):
at all, because that's just how the Internet works. Of course, anyway,
I think that's a good spot for us to pause,
at least for today. Of course, we'll be back with
you on Thursday for another edition of the Fantasy cheat Sheet.
We are still appreciative of all you guys who are
jumping in there and participating. We are thankful for you.
Please come back again for the next one coming up
(49:29):
this week on Thursday as well. In the meantime, gonna
do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
Stay happy, safe and healthy, do good and live well.
Enjoy the week, everybody, and we'll talk to you again
real soon. I'll help me
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
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.