NFL Fantasy Football Podcast: Hype Train or Smokescreen?

Marcas Grant and Michael F. Florio are back for another edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast! This week, the guys go through some of the top headlines around the NFL and determine whether they are “Hype Trains” or “Smokescreens”. Can Michael Thomas still be a 100-catch receiver? Does Sam LaPorta have the potential to be the rookie tight end to draft? Finally, the guys take a trip to the beach as they review the 1991 American crime action film, Point Break. Does it hold up? We answer this and more! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow, Wow, everybody, it is Wednesday, May seventeenth, twenty twenty three.
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, where we're waiting
for the fifty year storm. It's being your randomg Marcus Grant,

(00:20):
joined by Michael F.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Floya.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
We're in studio today, so we got specialists and they
give yourselves around of applause.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
We appreciate all your help.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
As always, we appreciate all of you guys listening each
and every week. And uh, well, Floria, it is it's
mid May. How many best ball drafts have you done?

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Probably more than I should admit. I've done, like close
to ten. I want to say, but I'm doing I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
This is what I do.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
I do a lot of slow ones so that like
they don't take up my time, but then I can
like go back and look through them and maybe a
little bit less than that, but yeah, I always like
having a slow one going on, just because, like when
I'm bored, it gives me something to look at.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
I also feel like if you do slow and I've
only done maybe a handful, probably you know, four or five.
I also feel like if you're doing slow ones, it's
it prevents you from maybe overloading on Yes, you know,
I like to have like two.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Slow ones going and then anything more than that, I'm like,
why am I doing that?

Speaker 1 (01:15):
I mean it's basically like, you know, taking the ice
cream and scooping it in a cup as opposed to
just sitting there with the whole tub and a spoon
in your hand sort of thing. So, uh, that's kind
of where it is. We're not talking best ball drafts today,
though we are kind of diving in to some rankings.
Florio's rankings are up over at NFL dot com. You
go check those out at Fantasy dot NFL dot com,

(01:35):
and we're gonna compare them with the consensus for a
handful of players. It's May, so we'll do it here. Well,
we'll do it, maybe try to do it once a month.
We'll kind of catch up and see kind of where
things are as everybody sort of adjusts and more people
start drafting and that sort of thing. But we'll kind
of go through a handful of guys for this one.
Also play a little bit of hypes, train or Smoke
Screen and Florio's film festival continues because because Fast X

(02:01):
is coming out this week, we wanted to go back
and watch point break. I know, on the surface it
doesn't seem like it makes sense. We'll explain. We'll get
a little bit later on in the show, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
I don't think we can fully explain how hyped as
a collective podcast we are for the Fast.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Like I feel like every conversation that me and you
have had the last week ends up going back to
the Fast movies. I mean, just peek behind the curtain.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
After last week's show, we finished recording, and then we
all stayed here in the Fantasy last for probably another
fifteen to twenty minutes talking about the entire series, breaking
it down. We got Susie now, who just joined the group.
She admitted she hadn't seen any of them, but she
was super hyped to like start watching them after us
talking about how ridiculous they were.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Have you watched any of them? She doesn't watched any
of them yet. Okay, this is your next might be
a new plan, now, this.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Might have to be the next thing in the on
the show where we every week ask Susie if she's
watched a new one and that we can get her
one per week, and you know, you get her take
on what you know what she thinks of them as
they get more and more ridiculous, all the way to
Fast X. Maybe we'll just do a Fast X special.
I got a special pod.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
The whole pod should go together to watch.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Just make a whole thing of it and go watch
Fast X, record us watching it or something like that.
I mean, because you know that would be something that
a family would do. Yeah, I see what you did.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Let's let's football. Before everybody clicks this thing off. What
is it a little bit of hype trainer smoke screen?
Last week I called this section chatter because it's the
kind of thing where you're hearing coaches and GMS and
players say things and they don't necessarily have any news value,
but it's something to talk about because it's May, and like,
there are no football games where we're as far away
pretty much from the super Bowl as we are from

(03:43):
Week one. So this week a handful of headlines and
we can determine whether or not they are hype trains
or smoke screens and kind of kick these around a
little bit. The first one, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis
says he believes Michael Thomas can still be a one
hundred catch receiver. Now, it's been a couple of years
since we have seen Michael Thomas in earnest on the field.

(04:06):
Injuries have really hampered him over the last couple of seasons.
He has not looked anything like the guy that we
saw you set an NFL record for receptions a few
years ago. But the Saints did bring him back, albeit
on a much smaller salary.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
He Lomas still believes, at least he says he still believes.
Is this a hype train or a smoke screen.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
I'm gonna say this is a smoke screen because to
catch a hundred passes, you're gonna need to play a
full season, and Michael Thomas has played ten games in
the last three years combined. I actually saw a tweet
the other day. I don't remember who sent it out,
but it was like, we're coming up on the three
year anniversary of Michael Thomas's ankle injury that was supposed
to side on him a week.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Ten games in three years. But that being said, if
Michael Thomas, if you like, were able to inject like
wolverine blood into him or something like that, and we're like,
he is going to play the full allotment of games
this season. I would then say this is a hype train,
Like I think Michael Thomas could still play at a
high level.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
And what I love is his ADP in certain.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Best ball websites right now is insanely, insanely low. Like
he's the wide receiver forty five. That's crept up a
little bit. It used to be outside the top fifty.
But like at that price, and we're talking what he
goes in like the eighth, ninth, tenth round something like that,
I see it as a pick worth taking a gamble on.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
I think at the ADP, I think it's absolutely worth
taking a gamble on.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
What I don't think.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
I still think even if he's completely healthy and gives
you heck not even seventeen games, to say he gives
you fourteen or fifteen games, I just don't think it's
going to happen, just because I don't know if Derek
Carr can support a couple of one hundred catch receivers
right And I am of the belief I think a
lot of people are that Chris Olave has submitted himself

(05:59):
as the number one option in that passing game now,
which means you're going to feed him a lot of targets,
give him a lot of opportunities. I think one hundred
catches for Chris o'lave is very much in the cards
this year. I don't know that you're gonna have two
hundred catch receivers in New Orleans. Also factor in, you
know now that you look. Yes, Alvin Kamara is probably

(06:19):
going to be suspended, but it's not going to be
a full season. He's going to come back and play.
He's going to get his opportunities. We'll talk a little
bit about Jawan Johnson probably later in the show. He's
going to get some shots. There are just other guys
you have to spread the ball around to, and I
don't know that Derek Carr can support that many guys.
So I appreciate, I appreciate Mickey Loomis trying to hype

(06:39):
up Michael Thomas and believe in him. I don't think
I think his one hundred catch days are probably behind
him at this point.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, I could definitely see that. And your point on
Derek Carr, I think is a really good one because
the only time we've seen Carr have two like high
end receivers was with Crabtree and Cooper. And remember how
frustrating it was with Cooper, like Kramtree was his guy
that he'd consistently go to, and then Cooper was like,
did he catch a long touchdown or no? And it
was so boom or bust. I could kind of see

(07:10):
that being how the Saints offense shakes.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Out as well.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, I just don't know that Derek Carr has that
in him. I don't know if he ever did, but
I certainly don't think he has it at this.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Point in his career. Down in Baltimore.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
I guess up in Baltimore, we're going from New Orleans, right,
I know geography. Raven's offensive coordinator Tom Monkin says he
is looking to lighten quarterback Lamar Jackson's quote unquote burden
because he has a whole bunch of offensive weapons. Now
they go and sign Odell Beckham junior, They draft Za Flowers.
They have a new offensive identity, at least they hope

(07:46):
they have a new offensive identity.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Now.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
The caveat to this is Monk can also sort of
follow it up by saying, we don't want to completely
take away all the things that make Lamar who he is,
but I do think they want this offense to be
a little bit more pass heavy. I think Lamar is
a good passer. I don't know if he's a great passer,
but he's a good passer. Any concerns about him in

(08:10):
terms of what his fantasy potential could be If they
really do change the style of offense they're playing in Baltimore, No, I.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Actually think it can only help Lamar Jackson. I think
their offense has become way too predictable and it's become
If you can limit Lamar Jackson on the ground, you're
probably gonna do pretty well at shut slowing this offense down.
Todd Monkin, I looked back at his what he did
in college, and it was pretty split with pass and run.

(08:39):
But what I liked is it was a lot of
deep passes and explosive plays. And then you go back
to what he did before he was with Georgia, when
he was with Tampa Bay in the NFL, a lot
more three wide receiver sets, and I think that this
is the offense the Ravens have built. I think we're
gonna see a lot less two tight end sets, with
Mark Andrews obviously being the number one tight end, and
then we're see Bateman and and O'Dell and Zay Flowers

(09:03):
all out there, which is going to make it easier
for Lamar's a passer. One, the talent is better than
it's ever been, I would say from the pass catching group,
and two it's just gonna be harder to predict and
it's not gonna be as vanilla as it has been.
And when you have a passing game that you have
to respect, I think it then creates rushing lane running

(09:23):
lanes for Lamar Jackson. So my thinking is like, even
if he dials back to running a little bit, could
we see it be more efficient than it has been
the last couple of years. Plus I naturally expect his
passing numbers to jump up.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
He's ranked as my QB four.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
I cannot quit that twenty nineteen season where I know
he didn't score the most fantasy points ever, but that
was the best fantasy season eight quarterbacks ever had. Like,
if he doesn't sit that last game, he does set
the record. He was by far the most fantasy points
per game ever. I just can't quit the Lamar upside.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
I'm with you. I've got him as my QB four
as well.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
In fact, I was I was in a mock draft
last night with Bob Harris and the guys over in
Football Diehards, and I went, you know, this is the
time of year to kind of play with things, play
with ideas. They took Mark Andrews in the second, and
I'm sitting there. I had so just I had taken
Jamar Chase number two overall. I took Mark Andrews in
the second, and I'm thinking, Okay, this way, I can

(10:18):
stack him with one of the two quarterbacks, right, I
can either stack him with Joe Burrow, stack him with
Lamar Jackson. And so I'm waiting and I'm watching this
whole thing happen, and Josh Allen's gone and Jalen Hurts
is gone, and it's coming up and Patrick Mahomes is
still there and Lamar Jackson's there, and I'm like, I
really want to stack a quarterback, but I don't want to.
I'm not gonna take Lamar or Joe Burrow ahead of
Patrick Mahomes. And so two picks before me, Mahomes went,

(10:39):
and that just gave me the green light to go
and get Lamar's Q be four because I'm sort of
with you, I think even if the rushing numbers come down,
ideally the passing yard which comes up, maybe the passing
touchdowns come up. Here's what can Lamar Jackson gets to
thirty five hundred passing yards? Because that's a number he's
never hit in his career. Could he do it this year?

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yes, because of the receiving talent he has around him.
I think in the past.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
I mean, let's remember, like last year, their one after
Bateman got hurt was DeMarcus Robinson. And there's years where
like Willie Snead has been a top two target for
this team, like it's it's been pretty bad. I don't
think he's ever had an assortment of weapons quite like this.
So I definitely think he can get there. But it
is insane that that is a number that Lamar Jackson

(11:23):
has never reached. Like in today's NFL. I'm so I'm looking.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
And the year Lamar won the MVP twenty nineteen, that
was his career high. He passed for thirty one hundred
and change. He had how many touchdowns? Thirty six touchdowns.
These were his pass catchers. I mean, he had Mark
Andrews who led the team in targets. You had Marquise Brown,
who was a rookie Andrews was only in a second season.

(11:49):
You had Markuise Brown who was a rookie. Willie Snead
was the number three pass catcher on that team with
a whopping actually in yard, actually in yards. Snead was
fourth number three in terms of yards. Was Hayden Hurst
at three forty nine?

Speaker 2 (12:03):
What are we doing here? Nine? He won an MVP
with that cast. Yeah, yeah, I mean, so you're right.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
I mean, this is definitely a better collection of talent,
and so hopefully if there is anything that is lacking
in rushing yards and it wouldn't be a surprise, it
sort of fills in the gaps.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
With the passing numbers there.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
So we'll see in Carolina, Bryce Young starts OTAs as
the QB two behind Andy Dalton. Okay, let's let's just
all admit this is a smoke screen, right, this is
it has the smoke screen.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
How long until this just flip flops and we just
stopped the charade?

Speaker 3 (12:47):
It should be today, like at least I'm hoping by
the time like training camp starts and stuff, because I
know it the whole thing of like coaches want their
rookies to earn it in all of I get it,
but like we know who Andy Dalton is at this point.
We know that, Like if you gave truth serum to

(13:08):
Frank Reich right now, he would tell you Bryce Young
is our week one starter. So do everything you can
to get him as ready as you can for week one.
And I know some people will downplay it and stuff,
but like, let's go back a couple of years ago
when Trevor Lawrence was giving away half of his first
team reps to.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
Gardner Minshew and we were.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
All like, what are we doing here? De Meyer, Like like,
we know that this is the guy. To me, not
only do I think it's valuable just to get the
rookie as comfortable as you can, but you want him
on the same page with his receivers. And the more
that people play together, the better chemistry they have. And
I'm a firm believer that unless you have like a
proven veteran quarterback like like the Mahomes and Alex Smith

(13:52):
situation or something like that, you don't learn from osmosis.
You can't learn a whole lot, I think from sitting
on the bench. So to me, you want to play
these rookies, Get Bryce Young out there with the ones
as soon as possible.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
When I think, I think the point to it that
you may just want to emphasize is that it's not
like he's going to be sitting behind some MVP type quarterback,
right Andy Dalton has had a nice career and he
had some nice seasons, but the end is coming for
Dalton very soon. He's not the same guy that he
was all those years in Cincinnati, so it doesn't make

(14:26):
sense for for for Bryce Young to sit behind him.
And somebody made the point I can't remember who, but
you know, talking about for instance, Lamar Jackson. Even he
came in and he was behind Joe Flacco. But this
was a Joe Flacco that was still playing at a
high level in Baltimore, a guy who had won Super
Bowls for the Ravens, and they were sort of using
Lamar Jackson as kind of a he had his own
little special package. It was kind of a gadget player.

(14:48):
When they when they, you know, first brought him in there,
eventually he took over. This ain't that, yes, So you know,
I don't know if this was just a way to
show deference to a veteran, if it's a way to
mind a rookie that he is a rookie. But it
stop the insanity, like we all know better than this,
Like let's just let's just move on, Frank.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Right, I bet you if Andy Dalton right now, do
you think you could beat out Bryce Young and he
I know athletes are always going to believe in themselves
and stuff, but if he was being honest, I bet
you even Andy Dalton's like, nah, I know I'm the backup.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
I mean I think I think everybody understands, right, Like
you don't you know, you trade up to get the
number one pick. You spend a lot of assets to
get this number one pick. You're not all of a
sudden just going to say, hey, you know what, how
about you sit for a year? Like that's just not
It's not going to happen like at all. In Denver,
Sean Payton says he is quote hopeful Javonte Williams is

(15:43):
ready for training camp, saying he doesn't think or he
hopes at least that Williams will not start on the pup.
I mean, this was more than just an ACL This
was a pretty severe knee injury for Javonte Williams, and
the rumor mill. Now mind you, you know, we don't
know how much truth there is in it has had
a wide range of outcomes for Javonte Williams two, he's

(16:04):
ready to go in week one to he could miss
a good chunk of the year. So I mean that's
a huge, huge swing there in terms of Sean Payton
saying he thinks you know or hopes that Williams can
avoid the pump hype train or smoke screen and where
are you willing to take Javonte this year?

Speaker 3 (16:21):
I think that's a hype train. We've seen backs come
back sooner from the ACL.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Obviously.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
The one that is always in my mind is Adrian
Peterson running for two thousand after nine months. But I
don't expect that from anyone else. But I think Javonte
a week one will be what he tearing like.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Week three or week four.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Last year it was pretty early, so I think he'll
be close to one hundred percent. My concern is always
the first year back from an ACL. Players usually don't
look themselves, and part of it is mental, Like a
lot of the times when you hear athletes talk about it,
they're like, I need to know that I can fully
trust my knee again. Johnny Utah had to learn the
hard way that you need to be patient.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
But I like.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
Javonte at his ADP RB twenty nine going like pick
ninety overall, to me, you're not taking a whole lot
of risk by taking him there. But if he starts
to climb, and I think he's someone that could climb,
if he starts to be on the practice field this summer,
because everyone always loves to hype up Javonte Williams, then
I'd be out on him. But as a borderline top

(17:27):
thirty running back, I think he's a good option if
you wait on running.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Back again, he's sort of another one, kind of like
we talked about with Michael Thomas, where the ADP is
such that I don't know that there's a ton of risk.
I think, yeah, I think the risk has been sort
of baked in to what his ADP is and so
that makes.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
It I think worth a shot.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
And look, if you take a swing on him later
in a draft and he really does turn out to
be there for week one and ready to go, then
maybe you end up with something and if it doesn't
work out, then you haven't really risked a whole lot
of draft capital.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
I did sort of, you know, smirk.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
It was bank Cliss, who was one of the Broncos
beat writers, talking about, you know, guys coming back off
acls and how even for for a lot of ACL
guys like this, we're talking about what nine ten months
I think it is between Javonte's injury and him coming back,
and the name that popped up was Adrian Peterson, how
he was able to come back and be amazing. And

(18:26):
I'm like, yes, that is true. That's also not really
the example you want, because Adrian Peterson, at that point
in his career and his life was he was a superhuman.
And I think if that's the standard we're gonna hold
somebody too, then I think we're gonna sort of be disappointed.
I do think we sort of look at it more
in the lines of the average player. And you mentioned
it it takes a good year to come back. I

(18:48):
mean what Saquon Barkley took me a solid year to
kind of look like Saquon again after that ACL injury.
And we're talking about a guy who was a quote
generational running back and looked like an apple, absolute monster
out there when he was healthy. So I would tend
to draft with caution. But if, for whatever reason Williams
turns out to be more ap than Saquon, then you got.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yourself a bonus. Yeah. Uh.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
In Washington, Ron Rivera says he believes Antonio Gibson can
still play.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
A key role. You probably hear the exasperation in my
voice hype train or smoke screen only because of ADP.
I'm gonna say hype train. Okay.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
I still think Antonio Gibson could be useful if used
the right way, as a pass catching running back, someone
who you you could mix in there. But again, this
all goes back to ADP. Like I saw someone on
Twitter being like, when are fantasy people are gonna stop
falling for Antonio Gibson? And I think the ADP indicates

(19:52):
that we kind of have right. He's the RB forty two,
going to pick one thirty. Overall, we're talking about a
double digit someone you can get in like the twelfth
round something like that. And if we're talking Washington running backs,
I would greatly rather have Gibson at that price than
Brian Robinson, who still goes outside the top one hundred.
It's pretty wild that neither of them go in there.

(20:13):
But to me, Robinson is the one that I think
could be more useful on the ground, whereas I think
Gibson could catch more passes. Yeah, I'm not crazy about
either one of these running backs at all, But just
as like a late round dart throw, I'm fine taking
a gamble on Antonio Gibbson.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
I'm just I'm calling smoke screen on this one.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
I just you know it was it was when I
saw the headline, it was the grand theft auto meme,
the od bleep, here we go again. I mean, that's
kind of how I felt when I saw that, because
I remember a couple of years ago. I think it
might have been when they first got Antonio Gibbson. Pretty
early in his career, Ron Rivera referred to him as

(20:52):
a Christian McCaffrey type player, which I have learned now
that basically, for Ron Rivera, any running back who can
catch passes he refers to as a christ Jim McCaffrey
type player.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
And it's like, bro, No, but it doesn't work like that.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
And if they really were going to get Gibson more involved,
it feels like they could have done that. Now, maybe
the difference this year is that you've got Eric b
Enemy there, right, and he's the guy calling plays, and
you know, maybe things change a little bit, but you've
had ample opportunity to get Antonio Gibson heavily involved in

(21:26):
this offense. Not only did you not get him involved,
you went out and drafted a guy. You drafted another
guy who play his position, and you gave him snaps
over Gibson. So at some point you know, sure, I'm
sure this is what you want. There are a lot
of things that I want, but that doesn't mean they're
gonna happen. I just I can't. I can't buy into this,
and you're right. The the ADP the RB forty two situation,

(21:49):
Gibson sort of suggests that we're we've all heard this
song before from Ron Rivera, and people aren't buying it
at this point. Last one, this from Detroit Reports, so
that Sam Laporta was quote the best player on the field,
apparently the best player on the field by a wide
margin in Lions rookie mini camp. This this feels like

(22:12):
absolute hype train, but like in a smoke screen sort
of way, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
I agree. I was gonna say there's no way he
was the best player.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
If Jimior Gibbs was on the field, because I mean,
Gibbs is in my opinion, Oh Gibbs.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
I did have that ankle injury. Oh yeah, so he
was so maybe.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
So okay, if you take Gibbs off the field, then
I could believe this all their rookies. Yeah, the one
that they took second highest is probably gonna be the
best one.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
I could believe that.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
Laporta is someone that I'm not interested in drafting because
rookie tight ends, especially the first few weeks of the season, usually.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
It's very bumpy for them.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
But I could see Laporta being if you want to
take him as like a late pick as your second
tight end. Cool, but I could see him being someone
that hits off the waiver wire because the Lions are
so thin at tight end. Yes that I think that
just by default, he could be out there getting targets
on a team that their offense was very fantasy friendly

(23:10):
last year. So especially once you get Jamison Williams back
and you have him and Monro taking so much defensive
attention away, that could create just you know, open short
underneath targets for la Porta, especially in the second half.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Of the season.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
So here are the tight ends on the depth chart
behind Sam Laporta. Right now, he's listed on some places
as the number one tight end. The guys behind him
brock Wright, James Mitchell, Shane Zilstra, Derek Dees Junior, and
Patrick Murtau. Stop me when you know there's somebody there
you want to you want to draft.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
I know a few of those names because of that.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Helps no one, you know what, Yeah, there are some
that helps no one.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
All stars in that.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
I'm pretty sure Shane Zilstra made it at least once,
probably multiple times.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
I think there was a.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Week where it was multiple lines tight ends. So where
all the that helps no one's I think you are
correct there. So there's a very good chance Laporta is
the number one guy there. I still think, you know,
this is one where we as a group have to
kind of pump the brakes on this. Like hearing that
he was the best player on the field in rookie
mini camp, Like, okay, maybe he was.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
I don't think we need.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
To translate that into hey man, let's pump sand Laporta
ad updraft right now.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
So I think that's that's.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Maybe sort of where we have to kind of, you know,
take a pause a little bit. Speaking of taking a
pause and do that, take a quick break, come back.
We will dive into some rankings, and we'll also go
hang out with Johnny Utah and Bodie on the beach.
That's coming up next here on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Let's talk some rankings.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
You can go check out Michael f Florio's fantasy rankings
at Fantasy dot nfl dot com. So I felt like
it was gonna be fun to kind of compare and
contrast some of his with some of the consensus that
you can find all across the interwebs. So let's start
at the top, because look, there are three quarterbacks that
are at the top of everyone's list. The order is

(25:08):
somewhat interchangeable. Patrick Mahomes, the consensus has him at quarterback one.
You have him at quarterback three. And this isn't like, hey,
you're crazy, what's wrong with you again? You can sort
of shuffle around Mahomes, Hurts and Allen in any sort
of order. But I just kind of wanted your take
on why you've got him at three instead of one.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
I know it's splitting hairs. I was just curious your
thought process.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yeah, exactly, what you said. I always say, like you
could put these three in any order. You could call
me bias. But my thinking with Josh Allen is he
was the QB one two years ago, he was the
QB one this season before this last one, and then
he was the QB one for the first half of
the season before he hurt his elbow. He was also

(25:52):
on pace. If he played that Bengals game, he was
gonna become the first quarterback ever in history went back
to back four hundred fantasy points seasons. My logic there
is he gives you similar numbers as Mahomes through the air,
but he's gonna run a whole lot more. And that's
also what Jalen Hurts like. I know, Hurts isn't gonna
give you quite the passing numbers that Mahomes is, but

(26:13):
he's gonna give you even better rushing numbers than Josh Allen.
And to me, my thinking is, I feel like I
can trust the rushing production a little bit more if
the Chiefs have because they underwent a complete philosophy change
last year and Mahomes went from being like the quarterback
who two years ago was like, why can't I throw
the ball deep? Every single play to breaking the NFL

(26:36):
record for short yards touchdown passes. So to me, I'm like, hey,
if some of those quick passes near the goal line
become handoffs to Pa check over something, and it doesn't
have to be a whole lot, four of them will
completely change everything, you know. So to me, again, there's
no wrong order, but I just felt like the other two,
because of what they give you with their legs, just
feel a little bit safer to me.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
That's kind of where I am too. I've got Alan one,
Hurts two, Mahomes three. We talked about having Lamar Jackson
at four, and it is just it feels like the
guys who run a little bit more have a little
bit of a safer floor in terms of what their
production can be. And like, this isn't a knock on Mahomes.
I mean, the guy through for fifty two hundred yards
had forty touchdowns last year. There's no reason to think

(27:19):
he can't do that again. And he runs enough that
you know it definitely adds something to it. Right, he
had with three hundred and fifty yards four rushing touchdowns
last year. That number certainly is attainable again this year.
So again, like if you came to me and you
said you had Patrick Mahomes number one and Josh Allen
number three. You know I'm not gonna shout at you

(27:41):
about it, like just you know, I just was curious,
but about your your particular personal thought process there, Anthony
Richardson consensus is at QB ten, you have him at
QB thirteen. Not a huge gap between you, but it
is the difference between drafting him as a QB one
and not drafting him as a q one. I mean
you've got him at thirteen. Mean he's just outside that

(28:03):
range of QB one. What for you made the difference?

Speaker 3 (28:08):
I think right now is heavily skewed by best ball
this early in the process, and in best ball, sure,
I have no problem taking him at QB ten because
you don't need to pick when you start him, you're
just gonna get those big blow up weeks. But if
we're talking redraft, and that's what my rankings are, like
the quarterbacks I have him behind, then are Aaron Rodgers

(28:29):
who have at twelve. I could see myself bumping him
up ahead of Rogers, But dak Intua, I think that's
where I draw the line because if you take Anthony
Richardson at QB ten, now all of a sudden, you're
starting him week one, and I don't think people are
gonna feel confident enough to do that. I think he
has the upside to finish QB ten overall, but I
don't rank players based on like where I think they're

(28:52):
gonna finish. I'm not trying to win the accuracy contest
or anything like that. I'm telling you this is how
I would draft them. And I feel much more comfort
with Anthony Richardson as my QB two, especially if I
don't get one of the top eight. Pairing him up
with like a Tuo or a Dak or a Watson,
I love doing that. I if you take him at
QB ten, though, you're saying he's my starting quarterback, and

(29:14):
I think that puts a lot more pressure.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
On your your team on. I know Richardson doesn't feel
the pressure, but he has to perform there.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
He feels pressure, but for a different not from us
geeks here, just from you know, from.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
The hey, I'm supposed to lead a franchise sort of
thing there.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
And I think with Richardson, the comparisons you keep getting
not maybe in terms of style, but in terms of
what fantasy potential is that he could be what Justin
Fields was what Jalen Hurts was a couple of years ago,
and that guy who even if he still needs work
on his his passing game, and look, the reports early
are that he's very impressive throwing the football there in Indianapolis.

(29:49):
But even if he still needs work that he can
still provide for you because of his rushing upside. Trey
Lance was another one there, right, But at the same
time last year, people weren't really drafting Justin Fields to
be their QB one outside of like Adam Rank right,
Like nobody was drafting him to be their QB one.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
They were drafting him as an option with upside. Same
with Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
I mean two years ago I had Jalen Hurts and
Dak Prescott and it ended up being a struggle every
week to figure out which one of those guys I
was gonna start because they were both giving me pretty
good production. So you're right if you're talking about you say,
dynasty leagues or keeper leagues, redraft leagues drafting Richardson as
the QB ten and thinking, hey, I'm gonna plug this
guy in as my starter every week does open you

(30:33):
up to some more vulnerability and some more risk as
opposed to drafting him as a second quarterback and then
riding it out if he turned out to be somebody better,
even better than what we think he can be.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
And if you take him at QB ten and he
finishes a QB ten, okay, if you take him at
thirteen he finishes at ten, you feel good about that
and like he gets some return on your investment. And
we say all the time, there's like a top eight quarterbacks.
I think if you take him at ten, he really
doesn't have anywhere to go like upwise.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah, no, you're right, You're absolutely right. Which we want
to talk about drafting somebody at the ceiling. We'll get
into that in a little bit. Trey Lance, and this
one is interesting to me. The consensus has at mt
QB twenty four. You have him mt QB thirty three.
And I think what's really interesting is that brock Purty,
the consensus has a QB twenty eight.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
Is this just a best ball thing right now? With
Trey Lance, I think it's a best ball thing. I
think it is a fantasy players are they hold onto
their priors like no tomorrow, like they people want to
be right on Trey Lance, and I've been very vocal
that I am not super high on brock Party. I
think last year he played very well, but I think

(31:47):
like if you put Sam Darnold in this system, he.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Could play very well.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
I think a lot of quarterbacks could play very well
in this system given the weapons they have and everything.
Trey Lance for fantasy would be the best case scenario
because of he could give you that production with his
arm and with his legs.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
But read the tea leaves like I.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
And again I'm saying all of this is the low
brock Party guy. I have him as QB twenty one
in my rankings because it's it doesn't matter what I think.
What matters is what the team is going to do,
and the team has been very vocal that if he
is healthy, Brock Purdy is going to be the starter.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
At least.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Maybe things change and can't. Maybe Purdy doesn't look as
good as he did at post surgery. I don't know,
but as of right now, everything the Niners are saying
is that they want Brock Purdy to be their starter.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
That's sort of it, and I think but I think
there's sort of that there's enough ambiguity in there that
I think people are sort of looking for the silver
lining in it because and we talked about this before,
lots of other people have talked about it too. There's
so much unknown still about Trey Lance, right, this is

(32:56):
this is his resume.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
So far.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
We saw him get occasional opportunities as a rookie, and
then when he got the chance to be the starter,
he played one game in a monsoon then the second
game he got hurt, so we really haven't seen him.
So there's still this belief, there's this belief in his
upside and what he can be, and so I think
people are sort of holding onto that, and you know,

(33:20):
throwing the fact that nobody knows exactly when Brock Purty
is going to be ready. Nobody wants to buy into
Sam Donald because we've we've seen that movie, right, we
sort of know how it is, and even with Kyle Shanahan,
I think we understand there's there's a ceiling there.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
So I think there's still.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Sort of that that hope, that belief in what Trey
Lance can be.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
It's just such a black box there.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
What scares me with Trey lance Is he's lost so
many years of development because not only has he made
four starts in two years in the NFL, but his
unit last year in college was taken away because of COVID.
He played one game that year. So Michael Thomas has
played more football in the last three years.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Has that is a concern?

Speaker 1 (34:01):
That is that is a little bit of a concern. Yeah,
where he's played very very little football, and you know,
a lot of it is out of his control unfortunately,
but the window does seem to be closing on what
his opportunity can be. Over the running backs, Bjeon Robinson
consensus has him at two, you have him at five.
Either way, we're talking about drafting him very high. RB

(34:22):
two feels like the absolute ceiling for Bijon like that,
that seems like a hard bar to live up to,
even for somebody that we think is gonna be amazing
this year.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
Yeah, And so when I was doing the rankings, I
you know, Bijon was all the way at the bottom
to start, and I put him up at RB two
and I was like, CMC is my one for me.
And I've seen people say, you know, he's not shouldn't
be a lock for RB one. But my thinking is
always what running back gives me the highest odds of
not only being the RB one, but of being top five,

(34:52):
and CMC and Eckler highest odds of any running back.
Like if if Eckler's back with the Chargers and obviously
McCaffrey with the Niners, to me, they're untouchable as my
top two running backs. Then I was like Bijon or Saquon,
and I could I could sell you that Bijon could
be better. It's the same thing for Jonathan Taylor. But
I just think there the floor is safer with the

(35:13):
veterans because Arthur Smith, yes he's gonna run the ball
a whole lot, but how much is Tyler else you're
gonna get? You know, Like there's some concerns of the
unknown with Bijon, and yes, I get it. The upside
is the unknown. Upside is always fun. I feel like
people always want to be first on a player, but like,
I don't know. I if I drafted Saquon and he

(35:35):
finished a little bit behind Bijon, I wouldn't feel nearly
as bad as if it was the other way around.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Like if I was like I.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Let the proven elite talent in Saquon fall because I
wanted the unknown upside.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
To me, it just felt safer. No, it does feel safer.
I totally get it. I mean, and maybe this is
this is us hesitating, right. I think we've all as
a group gotten better about not you know, once upon
a time you talked about drafting a rookie this high,
people would.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
Be like, he's never played it down of football.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yep, we've gotten past that as a society, right we
have seen too many rookie whether it was Ezekiel Elliott
or Saquon Barkley or you know, I'm sure there are
other guys out there that I'm I'm blanking on right now.
We've gotten over that now, so we're used to drafting
rookies highly. This though, and maybe this is me sort
of still holding onto a tiny bit of that. You're

(36:25):
drafting him at RB two, you are essentially saying, I
guarantee he's going to finish as a top five running back.
And as you mentioned, look, I don't think Tyler Alzier
is going to have a huge role, but it could
be just enough. Quadero Patterson not gonna have a huge role,
but still going to partially be involved. They still do
have to throw the ball occasionally, maybe not as much

(36:45):
as we like. There are other places to go with it.
So I had some I had a little bit of
pause when I saw a Becheon at RB two. Admittedly,
I think I have him as my RB four or
five right now, So I'm I haven't fully jumped off
the cliff, but you know, I'm I just got my
heels kind of hanging on the edge of it.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
At this point.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
You haven't fully jumped out of the plane yet, not
fully out of the plane yet, and I still have
a parachute like like Johnny Utah. Yeah, we're getting to
that Dalvin Cook consensus RB twenty one. You've got him
at RB twelve. The only difference I can think is
that I guess people are concerned about where he may land,
if he stays in Minnesota or somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
But I don't know.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
I'm kind of with you in the sense that wherever
he goes, he's still a good running back who's going
to get a lot of opportunity somewhere. And yes, the
thinking continues to be like the Vikings are going to
move on, But I'm like, are they they went through
free agency and they didn't bring in running backs. They
went through the draft and they took Dwayne McBride in

(37:49):
like the fifth round or something like that or did
I get his name wrong. I don't even but yeah,
like they didn't fight anything into a running back outside
of paying Alexander Madison backup running back money. And to me,
I get that there's a potential out in his contract.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
But then there's a lot of dead cap with it
and stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
Part of me thinks that they're just gonna run it
back with Dalvin Cook this year, and after the draft,
my thinking changed a lot. So that's why I have
him back at twelve and if he is there in
Minnesota or like you said, if someone else takes on
that big contract, I think they're gonna give him.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
A whole lot of work.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
The only thing that gave me some pause was yesterday
I think the Vikings put out like their schedule, like.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
I canna say, did you see this? You know he's
been raised from the mural.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
There is not on it, and that that worried me.
That what I was like, Okay, maybe I should lower him.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
I mean, you know, right now, this is this is
very much decipher things from cryptic social media season. I mean,
if you want to read into that, that does suggest
that the Vikings are sort of ready to move on
from him. But the question is can they find a
trade partner right now, because.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Teams aren't.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
They haven't started that next round of running back free agency, right.
I mean, I think about the guys that are still
Ezekiel Elliott is still out there, Leonard Fournette still out there,
Kareem Hunt is still out there. Those guys could probably
give you good sort of backup moments, good snaps, backup
snaps for a little bit less of an investment. If
you're trading for Dalvin Cook, you're going to have to

(39:22):
give up probably some draft picks, some kind of assets there.
You might be able to go out for now and
get one of these free agents off the street for
a little bit cheaper. So it might be hard, at
least in the short term, for the Vikings to move
a guy like Dalvin Cook. So I wouldn't be surprised
if we get to week one and he's still on
the roster. Now, maybe before the trade deadline something happens,

(39:42):
I don't know, but I think he's gonna still be there.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
If you're looking at trade for running back two right now,
I would rather have Alsin Eckler than Dalvin Cook. He's cheaper,
he's a shorter contract. Like I just think it's gonna
be hard to move that running back contract.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
No, I agree, I completely agree there.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Terry McLaurin, why receiver twenty six by consensus, you have
him at wide receiver eighteen. Similarly, John Dotsa's wide receiver
forty two, you've got him at thirty five.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Is this just because you love Sam Howell.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
No, it's because I love Terry McLaurin, and I'm never
gonna quit Terry mclaurran. I believe Terry is a top
ten wide receiver in the NFL. He's just had terrible
quarterback play.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
The thing that gives me hope is not just Sam.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
How it's that Jacobe Brissett is there. And Brissette played
really good football last year. He had Amari Cooper being
a top ten wide receiver and it was kind of
like he was throwing the ball downfield to him, and
that's what we love when they do it with Terry McLaurin.
And my thinking though, is with Eric Bienemy. There the
offense is going to be better, and they have the

(40:46):
coaching staff has a lot to prove this year, Like
Bienemy needs to prove that he could do it without
Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. Ron Rivera needs to prove
that he is worthy of getting another year as being
the head coach there. So if Sam Howe struggles, whether
it be in camp or early in the season, it
would not surprise me if we saw a move to
Jacoby Brissett. And I think that reaches It sounds terrible

(41:09):
to say, like Jacoby Brissett brings Terry McLaurin to a
new level, but with the quarterbacks he played with, I
think that's the case. And with Johan Dotson, I just
think he's a really underrated wide receiver. Like I think
he's very good friend of the show, Matt Harmon. I
know in perception reception, Johan Dotson guy. Yeah, and we're
talking wide receiver three four territory. I'm all about the

(41:32):
upside there. Give me Dotson over you know, any of
these of the much safer wide receivers. So that also
kind of plays into it.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yeah, I you know, I understand. I guess people are
just concerned about the quarterback uncertainty there. I just still
believe in the power of Terry McLaurin, so I would
push him a little bit up my my rankings too,
compared to where he is ADP wise, I'm looking at
some of the guys around Jahan Dotson, he's going after
Gabe Davis and Brandon Cooks. He's just ahead of Quentin Johnston,

(42:03):
Zay Flowers, Michael Thomas.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
You know, Like, I don't know. I I might put
him up ahead.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
Of say a Gabe Davis, just because I feel like
there at least a little more consistency, perhaps with dots
in there.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
Uh you know, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Maybe this is a situation where he's where he is
because it's hard to figure out who you're moving around him.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
But it just feels like forty two feels a little
bit low. I have him way ahead of Gabe Davis.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
I don't want to do the Gave Davis thing again
in Best Ball. Sure in real life it's going to
be frustrated.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
I mean, we spent all last summer arguing about Gabe Davis.
I don't really want to go down.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
That road again.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Zay Flowers, wide receiver forty four by consensus wide receiver,
fifty six by your ranking. So you are a lot
lower on Zay Flowers than a lot of other people.
Is this just why? Because because I don't know, explain why,
I'm not gonna put words in you.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Why? Why do you? Why do you have him lower?

Speaker 3 (42:57):
I just am worried about how much volume he's gonna get.
I think that Mark Andrews is the number one target.
I think that Odell is going to be. While I
don't love Odell for fantasy purposes, I think after the
money that the Ravens invested in Odell, it tells us
that they have big plans for this year for Odell.
He got the most money of any wide receiver on

(43:20):
a per year basis of the in this free agent class,
when most of us did not think he was gonna
get anywhere close to the eighteen million. And then I
think Bateman is there, and Bateman will be playing ahead
of Flowers early on. And while I said earlier I
think the Ravens passed more, I still think they're.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Going to run the ball a lot.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
So to me, I just have volume concerns for him.
But now that I'm looking at it, I'm like, maybe.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
I should bump save Flowers up a bit because I
do like him as a talent. Yeah, I think he's
another hard one to figure out. I think I think.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
The value of Zay Flowers is based heavily on how
much you think Odell Beckham has left in the tank.
If you think Obj is washed, then I think you're
like Zay Flowers a whole lot more if you believe
that Beckham still has something left. And I think that
sort of bumps Flowers down a little bit. I think
I think that's the other part of it. Also, how

(44:12):
many times will the Ravens have three receivers on the field,
Because if it's just two receivers, it's probably going to
be Obj and a healthy Rashad Bateman more often than not,
So that also sort of impacts it. This is not
a team that has been you know, they're not a
wide open passing attack. I don't know that it just
completely flips because Todd Monkin is there this year. So
I want to be optimistic about Zay Flowers, but I

(44:34):
can also tell you a story where it just doesn't
really work out quite that way this year. Let's get
a couple tight ends before we get to the film Festival.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Darren Waller consensus tight end seven. You got him a
tight end three.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
You have been very vocal about your love for Darren
Waller so far this offseason.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
I've always loved Waller as a talent and the numbers
last year. I know he missed time due to injury,
but then when he was on the field, he's still
just as good as most tight ends in this league.
Obviously Kelsey's one. I still think Mark Andrews deserves to
be two. Like to me, I then have these next
five tight ends in like a big group of Waller, Hockinson, Kittle,

(45:11):
Pitts and Goddard. But my thinking was like Hockinson has
the number one target vacuum in the league opposite of him,
and now they brought in Jordan Addison, so there's.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Target comp there.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
George Kittle has deebo and Ayuk and Christian McCaffrey. Goddard
has aj Brown and DeVonta Smith. Kyle Pitts has to
deal with Arthur Smith. So I was like, which of
these do I feel most confident in? Well, if healthy,
we'll see the most volume, and for me that's Darren Waller.
I think He's gonna be the giants number one pass
catcher this year, the number one target, and I trust

(45:44):
Brian Dable to draw up plays that will put him
in a position to succeed. But this is one of
those instances where if you were like, I have Hockinson
or Kittle or Pitts ahead of Waller, I'm not gonna
really argue too much.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
I think that's sort of the thing, right because we all,
I think agree, Travis Kelsey is in a tier two himself.
Mark Andrews probably has his own tier to himself, that
second tier guy. But then you look, I mean the Hawkinson's, Kittles, Pitts, Goddard, Waller.
You could throw those names up in the air and
whatever order they land in, you're like, okay, yeah, exactly
works here. So I don't think it's completely crazy. It's

(46:17):
just for now, it seems like Waller's at seven. For
a lot of people, you got him at three. He is,
and we've talked about this on the show. He's probably
the only Giant I have, at least pass catcher that
I have any real.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Interest in drafting this year.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
A little bit further down the list, Juwan Johnson tight end, seventeen.
By consensus, you got him at tight end ten. Again,
this sort of feels like I think after you get
past those top you know, seven or eight tight ends,
it's another handful of guys you could probably just sprinkle
in pretty much any direction.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
At this point, it is like like we were talking before,
I like David and Joku, so I have him ahead
of him. I like Evan Ingram, I have him there.
Then there's Gerald, Everett, Chicka Conkole. For me, those five
would be like the tier after that. I think there
might be a little bit of a drop off, But
I think people are low key sleeping on Juwan Johnson
and just how good he was down the stretch. Like

(47:08):
there was a period where it was like, Okay, he's
either gonna get you a touchdown or he's gonna give
you nothing. But then down the stretch he was consistently
seeing five, six, seven targets per game. And then the
Saints went out and traded Adam Troutman. They didn't sign
a tight end, they didn't draft one. I think Juwan
Johnson is going to be the third target in this
offense behind Olave Michael Thomas, depending on when we see

(47:32):
Alvin Kamara return. But if Michael Thomas missed his time
again and then we're talking about him potentially being your
number two target.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Yeah, I mean I think I could see that happening.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
And again, I think when you're getting down that far
in the tight end list, you just want somebody who
could probably give you six to eight points in a week.
You just want somebody who's not going to be a zero,
maybe catch a touchdown and you could feel okay with that.
And Johnson, as you mentioned, was a guy who very
much did that. And we've seen now grantsed Derek Carr
had Darren Waller for a number of years, but he

(48:00):
was not afraid to get his tight ends at well,
even when Waller wasn't there. We saw Foster Morow getting
involved in the raider passing game. So Derek Carr not
afraid to integrate his tight ends into what he's doing.
Last one, Daltonton kad tight end eleven by consensus, tight
ends seventeen on your rankings. I know you have concerns
about the Bills getting two tight ends on the field.

(48:22):
Is that why because you've also you're a little bit
lower on I think Dawson Knox too than a lot
of people's. It's just about the Bills getting two tight
ends on the field.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
Yeah, like I'd rather Kincaid than Knocks, But my thinking
is this is going to be an offensive philosophy shift
from a now second year play caller. The Bills last
year in the second fewest two tight end sets, and
I know they keep saying they want to use Kincaid
Morris a slot receiver, which I love, and I think
the upside to be a tight end one is there,
But I don't love taking a rookie as a tight

(48:52):
end one because I looked it up. Since two thousand,
there's like six rookie tight ends who have averaged double
digit Fantasy points per game, which is pretty rough. And
then you add in that he's gonna have to be
the offense is gonna have to change to get him
out there. Kincaid's gonna have to do things a little
bit differently than he's done it in college. And then
what I think is one hundred percent getting overlooked. The

(49:14):
Bills tend to ease their rookies along, and Sean McDermott
talks about the rookie wall more than any head coach
that i've seen and like, look at last year, for
an example, Kayer Elom, their first pick at the cornerback.
They were throwing out undrafted players over him because they
were like, he's not ready. James Cook, we thought, okay,

(49:35):
their second round pick, they're gonna use him. He didn't
really get going until late in the season. So part
of me thinks that the Bills like to ease their
rookies along. And I've heard some stuff that like, it's
gonna be different with Kinkaid because he's a pass catcher
that they know they need to get the ball to.
But I like him a lot more as a tight
end two. And maybe I have him a little bit
too low, But I don't love taking him as a

(49:58):
tight end one.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
I think I I think the consensus ADP is sort
of based on a couple of things. One, it is
the excitement over what he can be, especially as a
pass catcher. And again, at that point, you have reached
just a glut of tight ends that can sort of
be ordered in kind of any direction, any sort of way.
So why not take the shot on the guy that

(50:21):
we believe has the most upside. And I think that's
where you sort of land with Dalton Kincaid at eleven.
I'm like sick looking he's going just behind Pat Fryarmouth,
ahead of Dalton Schultz, Chicaconko cole Comet. So I could
see why people would just be like, you know what,
out of all those guys, why not throw a dart?
That's all I yeah, that's that's kind of what I

(50:42):
am imagining.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
When people are sort of drafting. Here. There you go.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
That was a good slew of guys. And again, we'll
do this a few more times. It's only may. We
try to do this maybe once every few weeks and
kind of take the pulse of the ADP world.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
And you know what we think and how we feel
about guys.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Time now for the latest edition of Florio's Film Festival,
and this week we are watching Point Break, released in
July of nineteen ninety one. The reason I picked this
movie and we talked about this last week. Coming out
this week is Fast X, the tenth in the Fast
and Furious series. If you go all the way back

(51:21):
to two thousand and one, I think it was yeah
for the Fast and the Furious twenty two years ago,
you had The Fast and the Furious. Well ten years
before that, yeah, Point Break. You just take out the cars,
you insert surfing, and it's the same movie.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
The synopsis.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
A gang of bank robbers calling themselves the ex Presidents,
commit their crimes while wearing the masks of former US presidents.
The FBI believes that the members of the gang could
be surfers and sends young agent Johnny Utah undercover at
the beach to mix with the surfers and gather information.
Utah meets surfer body, gets drawn into the lifestyle of
his new friend, Your your takeaways.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
I kept telling you it's the same movie. Your takeaways from.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
This, and I've had friends before tell me that, like,
you should watch Point Break. It's the exact same movie,
And for the most part it is. I felt like
it was a little bit like Point Break was a
little bit more focused on like him actually being an
FBI agent, where like Fast and the Furious kind of
quickly forgets that.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
A terrible cop. Oh awful, this is a terrible.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
So there's a big difference between letting like Vin Diesel
completely get away and letting body body just be like,
all right, you're gonna go ride the wave and kill yourself,
Like two very different scenarios.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
But I really liked the movie.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
I I do want to say, I wish, like, you know,
there's another dimension out there where Fast and the Furious
didn't get all those sequels, but Point Break did. And
like Pat Chick Swayze comes back.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
And what's the other actor, Kanu Reeves not Keanu Reeves? Uh,
the two guy? Oh Gary Busey.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Gary Busey comes back like three movies late, and he's okay,
Like I would love to see that universe where that happens.
But yeah, it was a really good movie, really entertaining,
And what I liked about it was the action was entertaining,
but not like insanely over the top. And this is
coming off of last week was Desperado, where we were saying,
like there was so much shooting that he was throwing

(53:18):
bullets at one point, like that felt very unrealistic.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
This felt like, yeah, this could happen.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
And the ex Presidence is such a cool like gang
of bank robbers and the way they refer to each
other by name and they're in and out like it
it all seemed like, hey, this could easily happen.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Yeah, it definitely, you know, there's a little more realism
to it than there was with Fast and the Furious, right,
I mean like Fast and Furious is like, we're just
going to show you beautiful people driving really fast and
all by the way, they commit crimes while they're at it.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
It you talk about there being a sequel, There was
actually talking. I think there was a script for a
sequel and for whatever reason, it just never materialized. It
never got off the ground.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
Is it someone I don't I don't know if it
was Whine.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Someone came in and was like, do not watch the
second one? And I was like, oh, there's the second one.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
Well, the second one is in. There was a remake
of it, but it was not an actual sequel. But yeah,
the second one was trash.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
I'm not a big fan of remakes. I think they
usually ruin it when they try to do that. But yeah,
even like the one thing that made me laugh was
I was like all of these surfers and like they
know who he is and they're like.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Oh you Ohio State, Like we love football. I was
like that worked out pretty conveniently.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Yeah, you know, like they like heiny Johnny Utah, you
won the rose Ball, you beat sc Boom, you beat
sc in the Rose Bowl and you got your knee
folded up and that was why you never went pro.
Which also, you know, nineteen ninety one you have a
major knee injury. And he said he had two years
worth of surgeries. Like nowadays, you'll fast forward almost thirty years, right,
Like guys get their knees wrecked and they come back

(54:48):
the next year because medicine has advanced.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
That was one thing that I note when he was like, yeah,
I tore my acl and that was it for me.
I was like, oh, man, you you played twenty years
too early, because you would be back being the number
one like they said he was, he the Heisman winner
or something. He was like he was all at all conference,
which he'd be in the NFL in in our.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
World now, yeah, I mean, you know he he'd have
been c. J. Stroud something like that at this point.
Uh No, it's Keanu. Reeves practiced with the UCLA quarterback
coaches to help him with the football scene. Also not
the last time he played a quarterback in a movie.
He also was a former Ohio State quarterback in the
movie The Replacements, which I.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
Like The Replacements a lot, but I'm guessing in a
fictional Football World that Johnny Utah was the better.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
I think Johnny Utah was probably Shane Falco obviously had
the longer career because he never turned blew out his knee.
He just was fixing boats or something. He at a
dock when he got you know, when he got invited
to play. Uh but I think Johnny Utah probably would
have had the better career had he not gotten hurt.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
Johnny Utah also is insane. That is the name. Well,
that's a great name, which apparently he.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
Won because he wont He loved Johnny Unitus and Joe
Montana and so that's how they came.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Up with sort of Johnny. It makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
Yeah, that's a great football name. But he's just insane.
And we were talking about it before before the show.
Jumps out of a plane with no parachute.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
In his second time ever jumping out of a plane.
He does it without hesitation.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
He's just like, oh man, now I gotta do this
with a gun in his hand, the biggest gun.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Shoot. Uh yeah. I thought he was going to shoot
the gun out of the plane. I thought that was
his plan. When he like looks and.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
He just leaps, I was like this guy is insane
speaking which Patrick swayzey apparently was an accomplished skydiver, and
he actually did the skydiving scene himself.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
I've never been, but I really want to go sky
I had never really had any interest.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
I rewatched the movie for this and I was like,
you know, maybe maybe that's the thing I tried. Like
I never really had the idea of it, and like
maybe just the adrenaline rush of watching this movie a guy.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Always wanted to do it.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
And then like there was like one day when my friend,
like a friend of mine, was like, I'm going right now,
and I was like, no, I need to prepare for this.
I can't just I'm not Johnny Utah. I can't just
jump out of a plane at a moment's notice.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Also, for many of the surfing scenes, Patrick Swayze refused
to use a stunt double since he never had one
for fight scenes or car chases, so he did a
lot of the surfing too. Shout out to Patrick Swayzee
for like, Yeah, that is all incredible business.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
So does it hold up? Would you watch this movie again? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (57:24):
Not only does it hold up, it's now we've we've
watched a good amount of movies as part of the
film series. My top two continue to be Keanu Reeves movies.
This might be number one, and then I like to
Speed a lot as well. Interesting but point break was
it was fun, you know, like, yeah, the jumping out
of a plane was like, oh my god. But besides that,
it all seemed like very plausible and not like two

(57:48):
over the top and.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
Even probably more.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
Realists like that Fast one where yeah, like where he
just forgets that he's a cop and and all that.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
But and the other thing.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
That's crazy about Fast is like, I get that they're
into cars. Why would all the other world class criminals
be that into street racing? But that's another conversation for
another day. Uh yeah, this the fact too that he
finds him in Australia and he tracks him down and
he throws the mask in front of him.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
I was like, that's such a cool scene. Like, I'll
say this.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
The one thing I did laugh about rewatching it is
that the FBI thought it was an absolutely ridiculous idea
that a group of criminals in Los Angeles could possibly
also be surfer, Like why, why is this such a ridiculous,
laughable idea that people in La could possibly surf and
do crime, like you could do anything and also be
a surfer, Like it's Los Angeles, what happens here?

Speaker 3 (58:41):
The one question I had was how does he get
out of being like I understand that that he just
kind of gets taken out of there, but like he
robbed a bank, that would probably hurt him a little bit.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Yes, I would think there would be some legal repercussions
to him being involved materially in a bank robbery. I mean,
you're on camera with a gun, like in the middle
of it.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
I also thought it was bad planning on their part
to be like, we know you're in the FBI.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
And where may can you come? Rob come along with you?
Don't want to bring the cops with you?

Speaker 1 (59:12):
On that show, which everybody else in the gang was
sort of the voice of reason on this or like body,
we should probably just go now, and him being.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
Super Zin and Chow was like no, man, like being
all spiritual, like.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
No, this is a game, Like no, not really, because
all of your guys got killed.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
That was the one thing watching and I was like,
if this happened in real life, they would have brought
him into the van or wherever they were, and they
would have just killed him, killed him or like just
dumped his body. Yeah, exactly, and they would not be like,
this is fun. Let's have him know who we are
and come after us.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
So skydiving with the cop that's trying to catch up.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Because if body, listen, if you did what you had
to do in that van, you you get to surf
that wave, you get to live the life that you wanted.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
To live because you probably get away with it. Exactly.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
He was the only one, well, him and and Gary
Busey were the only ones who knew who they were,
and like kill them both and that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
That's the end. That would be completely the end.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
It's funny though, because you know now that we mentioned
here there's two movies in which Cama Reeves is a
former Ohio State quarterback. I would love one day maybe
we should do this is go through and do like
a ranking of fictional football players.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Oh, we could definitely do that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
You know, we get Shane Falco and Johnny Utah and
Willie Beaman and I mean, we can just go on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
All Paul thought, which Paul crewe would it be for you?
For me, it's Adam Sandler. That's that's the one I
grew up with. Yeah, yeah, it's supposed to the the
Burt Reynolds, Paul Crewe.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
But yeah, we should we should a should put together
a ranking of fictional football players.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Sort of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
I mean, there's just from those movies alone, because there's
so many. Any the Ice Box from Little Johns, I'd
want to rank her up pretty high.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Yeah, yeah, we go on and on. I'm thinking of
the program, and I can't think of the Oh.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Joe Caine from the program?

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Can we get I know it's not a movie, but
can can Friday Night Lights qualifying? Sure?

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Why not? We'll get the you know, Oh yeah, well
I'm thinking of the TV. The TV. Yeah, the movie,
I mean the movie.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
Obviously, the movie was based on a book which based
on a real school, and then they turned it into
a TV show and fictionalized it was great for.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
Like two or three seasons and fell off hard. So
there it is.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
So that's a that's our point break recap next week
con Air, because I think somehow we ended up with
having a con Air discussion questions.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Yes Keanu reads and he is not, but Steve Bushimi is. Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
I think that's how we talked about it because Steve Bush,
because Desperado. Steve and Danny Trejo, who were both in Desperado,
are also both in Cone.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Is it la based?

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
Uh No, Actually it does not. It does not evolve it,
but it does involve Nicholas Cage, so strap in.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
There's so many face off memes that I now understand,
by the way, and they're hilarious, but for so long
I didn't understand any of them.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
This is also what we're gonna do. We we are
educating young Florio on memes too. Now there's gonna be
so many more memes that he's like, oh, I get
it now because he's seen the movies that they are
attached to. By the way, not only is this point break,
I mean, we'd love to talk about it because we
were talking about it, but also it's sort of the
swan song for ow Ryan Dennis. He's not leaving forever,
least hopefully not forever, but we are sending him out

(01:02:19):
into the wilderness for five months because that's sort of
what we do here.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
It's like a real weird ride of initiation. You and
I went through it, Oh yeah a few times. It's
it's fun if you you know, it's what you make it.
You have plenty of time to watch all the Fast
and furious, watch all the fast movies. Go to the beach,
enjoy your five months. Hopefully we'll see you back.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
On the surfer. Avoid bank robbers.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
Yes, avoid bank robbers. You know I shot because Ryan
not only helped us produce this podcast, did a great job.
He was also the person who did a lot of
the graphics.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
A lot of the.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Florio Film Festival graphics that you've seen with Mike's face,
you know, photoshopped in.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
That was all Ryan.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
So we appreciate all your hard work. Enjoy your time off,
and hopefully we will see you back again. What is
this is may so I guess in time for like
week seven, six or seven or something.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
You know, week one. Let's just if you're listening.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
It'd be great, it'd be great management. If you want
to bring it back for week one, the podcast can
desperately use it more. Even the preseason. We would certainly
or now or now we'd appreciate all of that. But
in the meantime we still got we got plenty of
people helping us out here. Albert's gone too, so the
cast is getting smaller. The Fellowship of the Ring is
breaking up. It hurts my heart, but we still have

(01:03:27):
plenty of people here to lost Randy to l huddle.
I don't even want to talk about. It's making it sad.
It's making me totally sad in the meantime, so I
stopped being sad. Let's let's wrap this one up. We
appreciate you hanging out with us as you always do on.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
This show and putting up with our ridiculous movie talk
at the end of each overy pod. That would do
it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast,
The Happy, Safe, and Healthy, do good and live well,
enjoy the movies, Enjoy the.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Weekend, and we'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Don't don't help h