Late-Round Perspectives: James Koh

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
James co is a co owner of Reception Perception who's
done work for NFL Network series XM, yahoo's Sports Rode Wire,
and DirecTV, among other spots. He's a sports broadcaster, a professor,
a four time Emmy winner, and some might refer to
him as the Sleeper King. These are his Late Round perspectives.

(00:32):
This episode is sponsored by DraftKings. There's no better way
to get closer to the action. With DraftKings Daily Fantasy,
the ultimate destination for football fans. New customers can play
free for their share of millions and prizes with their
first deposit of five dollars and more. Download the DraftKings
Daily Fantasy app and enter promo code Late Round to
play free for your share of millions. The Crown is

(00:53):
yours gambling problem called one hunter Gambler in New York
called eight seven to seven eight Pope n y in
Connecticut call eight eight seventy eight nine seven eighteen plus
the most stage eligibility sturt Is supply ends December thirty
first see terms at draftings dot com slash promotions.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Now back to the show.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
You know, I always tried to do my research a
little bit before people hop on. Just to look at, like,
because I do like a little intro and stuff of
you know, what you what you've done, and what you're about.
And I was looking through your stuff, you know, creeping
and stalking you on the internet.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
My god, your resume, my man, like you've been. You've
been everywhere.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
I've been everywhere, and and and and last year I
was following your your amateur boxing thing that you were
doing and stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Thank you. Yes, right those two years ago actually.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Two years ago, okay, yeah, yeah, that was fun to watch.
That was fun to see what you were doing. Flies
it really does it really? Yeah, because like we we
met each other like years and years ago and ages ago.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I can't even this was pre pandemic, right, yeah it
had it.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Was, it was pre pandemic. Yeah, yeah, that's so it's been.
I mean it's been a while. You know.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Every time when we interact and.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Stuff like that, I'm always excited to see your U
you know, your your avatar or wherever it may be.
But I'm excited, man, I'm really excited to to dig
in here. Let's talk about that resume and that journey
that has gone. I mean, like like I said, I
was going in like you're You're an Emmy winner, a
multi multi time Emmy winner, because you know, you do

(02:25):
the broadcasting stuff, but then you also got into the
fantasy stuff and and how did all of this come
about for James co.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
So yeah, so I've won a bunch of Emmy Awards
in my previous life as like a you know, on
camera news guy. So I want two Emmys doing hard news.
Like when I first started my TV career, I was
just covering regular news. I didn't do sports at all.
I was covering like you know, like uh, you know,
fed raid hikes and like car crashes and likelies.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I'm assuming I'm assuming some car chases that you've yet
a lot of hard chases in there too.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
A weather report, it's like, oh, the five Freeways got
ice on it. We go to live to James Co'
what's happening over there? I'm getting pelted by ice and
rain and stuff. It's like, man, it's crazy. Anyways. Yeah,
So no, I was doing hard news for a bit,
and then I was a local news reporter for like
six years, and then when I finally got to LA,

(03:23):
I was doing local news. But then my news director,
my boss, asked if I want to do sports. I'm like, yeah,
of course, And to be clear, I always wanted to
do sports, so it's not as if this came out
of the blue. I always wanted to do sports, but
I also had to pay the bills and to do that.
You can move up in the industry a lot faster
covering news than you do covering sports. I don't know,

(03:44):
for anyone who's listening out there, it's like, think about
your like local sportscaster guy. He's probably been in that
seat for like twenty years, so waiting for somebody to
like retire or move on. It's not a great career
choice or a smart career choice. So I wanted to
make a career choice where I can like move up
the ranks a lot faster and get paid faster and

(04:06):
do those things. And finally when I got to LA,
I started doing some weekend sports and stuff like that.
That's before I got to NFL Network.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, so then from there you got to NFL Network,
and that's where like, like was fantasy part of like
your repertoire in terms of like what you were interested
in or was it the broadcasting that kind of got
you into then the door with like NFL Network.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
This is kind of like life advice for people. But
whenever you go into a job interview, you really want
to be able to not just sell yourself, but also
sell yourself in that company.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Right.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
So yeah, when I went into that interview with NFL Network,
you know, I went in there, you know, and told
the guy, hey, listen, like I've got four Emmy awards,
like whatever, whatever. But at the same time, that's selling yourself.
When you tell people about all the accolades and everything,
that's selling yourself. But then when I talked about my
role at NFL Network, it was like, I love what
you guys are doing on the fantasy side, but listen,

(04:56):
I have been playing fantasy football since nineteen ninety seven, okay,
like a long ass time. Like I definitely know that
I can bring broadcasting chops, uh like award winning broadcasting
chops to your fantasy side, to your fantasy product and
elevate the product in that way because I know, love,

(05:18):
breathe fantasy football, and also I have all this experience
doing broadcasting work too. So that's why I think I
would be a huge fit and a huge you know
benefit to be brought aboard at NFL Network and that's
how I ended up getting my job.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, I mean it sounds like you were doing like
it's like descriptive data versus versus, you know, predictive data
right where you're like, You're like, I can do these
things as a broadcaster.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
There's a descriptive stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Like I'm showing you that I've done this, but here's
what I can do and bring it to the table.
That's great though, and then that's where you met, you know,
Harmon and et cetera. And then you and Harmon now
are your co owner at reception Reception.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
When I found out that Matt was going to start
his website, I immediately want to invest in and be
part of his journey there and just handle all the
things that he doesn't want to do, which is all
the business stuff, Like he doesn't want to deal with HR.
He doesn't want to look into, you know, website management
or advertising or sponsors. He just wants to go in
there and create content. He wants to chart these guys.

(06:17):
He wants to sit in a dark room and chart
wide receiver. That's his deal, you know. Yeah, but again,
when you start a website, you know, as you know,
JJ is just kind of like, there's so much more
to just handling, you know than just creating content, you know,
and that's kind of where I kind of step in.
And again, I want to invest in my friend, and

(06:37):
I really believed in him and in the product and
stuff like that, so I kind of handle a lot
of the stuff on the back end.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
That's great, two great people coming together creating something awesome.
I mean, I'm a sub. I think I think Harmon
gifted it to me to be fair good. You know.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
I love all the work that you guys are doing.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
And you have been doing running back work over the
You started that this summer.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Didn't you know the Yes, I did, Yeah, the running
So I have a question.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
So you're you know, obviously Harmon's doing the wide receiver
thing and that's sort of, you know, his bread and
butter at this point, not sort of that is his
bread and.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Butter at this point.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
But my question to you, and this is obviously gonna
be more football focused now, but like you charting these
running backs? Number one, was that something that was just
purely an interest for you or you know, like like
where did that come about? But then the second part
to that, I'm curious, like at a high level in charting, like,
what are some things that you've discovered that you didn't

(07:29):
really know before or didn't think about before that you
are now sort of like comprehen like in a more
comprehensive way understanding about that position.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Well, I wanted to do this since the jump. So
when I first, you know, signed on with Matt and
and invested into the company, like, this is something that
I knew that we should do, just because from a
company standpoint, there's going to be obviously a lot of
interest in wide receivers, but again there's equal interest in
running backs to right, certain to talk about this kind
of stuff, right, So I knew that that's something that

(07:59):
I wanted to do. I've always loved running backs. If
I could go back in time and somehow genetically modify myself,
I would I would love to play running back, you know.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
It's been my favorite position man boxing and now running back.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
I know, I guess, so, I guess.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
So I don't know. There's something about it.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
I just I've always been I've always gravitated towards that position.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
But it's been a while.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
It's been a long time in the making, just because
I've been so busy with so many different things. You know, again,
when we first signed on together, it was I was
still working full time at NFL Red Zone, so that
was my full time gig. And so I just you know,
I got two kids, man, married, mortgages and all I
can say, it's just hard, right. So but now that

(08:43):
I really want to dig in this past summer and
just say, you know what, my schedule has lessened a
bit and I have a little bit I have a
little bit of carve out time that I can do
and spend and dedicate to the running back position.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
And now I'm obsessed.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Now I'm obsessed, man, Like I just once I got
into it, I'm like, yeah, this is what I want
to be doing. This is I this is what I
need to be doing, man. And so I really love
charting and doing all those things at the running back position.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
You ask me about what I've learned.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
I think I took for granted how difficult it was
for offensive lines to run outside zone. So I know
this is like super niche but like, because like when
you look around JJ, it's like, okay, well, why can't
everyone just do what Kyle Shanahan is doing or the
Shanahan's in general, like, why can't people do what Sean
McVay was doing, you know, three four years ago, just

(09:32):
run outside zone guys, like this is it's clearly the way,
it's clearly the scheme fit that like generates the most
running back production. Why isn't everyone doing this? And then
when I started charting, I'm like, oh, this is why,
because bad o lines cannot do this. And there's a
lot of coaching involved too, just bad old lines just
don't know who to block, and when you don't know

(09:55):
who to block, these plays end up getting blown up.
So bad old lines are not not able to run
outside zone at any you know efficiency, They're really just
not able to run outside pretty much at all. So,
you know, man gap principles on the outside are a
little bit easier because you know exactly who you need
to target, But even then that gets a little bit

(10:15):
murky and a little bit difficult. And I think that's
probably the number one thing I learned just in terms
of charting.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
That's super interesting, very interesting. All right, let's talk about
this this fantasy football season.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
What so far has surprised you the most?

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Now we're four weeks in, we're recording this before the
Thursday Night games of Week five has not officially started yet,
But so far, what's been the biggest surprise for you?

Speaker 3 (10:36):
I would say the biggest surprise is, and this has
impacting me personally, but just the lack of chemistry between
Brian Thomas Junior and Trevor Lawrence. I thought that Liam
Cowen was going to be, you know, he's going to
be the cure all. And to be honest with you,
the offense really has done well, I would say in
every aspect other than Brian Thomas Junior, Yeah, Lawrence, you.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Like Trevor Lawrence is playing well when he's throwing at
Brenton Strange, when he's thrown at Parker Washington, when he's
thrown into Tami Brown, Like he's got a pretty good
handle on the offense overall. But when you're when you
don't have the star piece of that puzzle, everything looks
a little not as good, you know what I'm saying.
So the whole chemistry between or lack of chemistry between

(11:22):
BTJ and Trevor Lawrence, I think that surprised me and
has continued to surprise me as a season wears on.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
You know what's funny is that last year because like
Brian Thomas did a lot of what he did from
a production standpoint with Mac Jones, right, and and so
there was a lot of the you know, I got
plenty of questions over the offseason of like, you know,
are you worried at all? You know, I was basically
at market with with Brian Thomas, but it was like,
are you worried at all about Mac Jones not being
the quarterback? And I'm just like I brushed it off

(11:49):
for the most totally because like why why Like of
course we understand that chemistry is a thing, it can
be a thing, but why.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Why would it be Mac Jones versus I think is an.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Upgrade to Trevor Lawrence, you know, And I agree, like
I think conceptually and schematically, I like what I'm seeing
in Jacksonville, And we were getting a lot out of
the running backs and you know, Traves Etn's averaging over
six yards per carry right now and looks good too.
And so like we're seeing a lot of those concepts
that we saw in Tampa Bay coming over to Jacksonville.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
But they can't get on this side.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
I can't tell if It's one of those things where
like the perfect storm has just kind of happened, and like,
you know, when when Brian Thomas is on, Trevor Lawrence
is off, and when Trevor Lawrence is on, Brian Thomas
is off.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
I'm kind of hoping that's the case.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Like are you are you still more in the camp
of buying into Brian Thomas or are you actually nervous
about what this could look like rest of season?

Speaker 3 (12:45):
I am coming around, you know, through those first two weeks,
I was pretty nervous, But I would say the last
couple of weeks I felt like there's been a little
there's been a noticeable tick up in terms of production
for Brian Thomas and the chemistry between he and Trevor Lawrence.
It's really unfair, I think, to both parties, right because
like whenever you assess blame for this and to me, truly,

(13:07):
I think it's really fifty to fifty. Brian Thomas is
alligator arming a lot of throws. He's not running. He's
not running through a lot of his in breaking routes.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Some of the like there have been picks, like interceptions
that that Brian Thomas just literally stopped running and it
was you know, clearly not on Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, and so yeah, and it's like when you assign
the blame, it's kind of like, well, the assumption is
that of one of those two parties needs to play perfectly,
and in football that just is never the case. It's
such a messy sport man, you know. So like Trevor
Lawrence is not going to play perfectly, Brian Thomas Junior
is not going to play perfectly.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
I get it.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
And so to your point of I think they're both
playing imperfectly at the wrong times, you know what I mean,
Like it's just not going together. But the last couple
of weeks, I think we have seen them kind of
sort of gel a little bit more together. And I
do wonder too if Liam Cohen, who's a small guy,
fiery guy too, Jesus, I was not. I was not

(14:04):
prepared to see him ready to fight Robert Sala.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
I think I think the NFL needs more of that,
to be honest with you, Like, I think it's great.
I think it's fun.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, I agree, Yeah, I love that, but h but again,
I just I think I think he's a.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Pretty smart guy.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
And Liam Cohen, I can't imagine he's going to continue
to ask BTJ to run the exact same route tree
that he ran the first couple of weeks. I think
we may see some more vertical downfield shots and and
maybe that's a way to kind of unlock some of
that untapped potential and.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Ceiling for BTJ as as a season war zone. Yeah yeah,
I mean, like it's also one of those things.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
And I talked about this in my Mailbag episode, but
it's like this isn't to me, like Calvin Ridley or
something where like that offensive environment is absolute trash. You know,
Calvin Ridley was not and is not the kind of
player that Brian Thomas is. He's obviously, you know, he's
going to be thirty one years old at the end
of Like maybe this is the time, Maybe this is
it for Calvin, Like who knows, Like we have no idea,

(15:02):
but like it's just a much different like positioning and stuff,
Like we can't, you know, like we can't just let
go of our priors with a player like Brian Thomas,
you know, it would be kind of foolish. I think
after just a month of football we can adjust. Of
course we have to adjust, but completely letting go just
seems insane. We had a really weird waiver wire this
week where there were some guys that, you know, we

(15:23):
felt pretty good about. Obviously if like Woody Marx was
out there, then he was going to be a blow
your fab kind of kind of player.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
There's these like lingering injuries everywhere, and.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
Like we didn't get like we haven't even gotten you know,
at the time this recording, we don't even know if
Bucky Irving's gonna play or not this week.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
It sounds like he's not, but like, you know, and
then you.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
Get like the Trey Benson ir thing officially hitting after
Tuesday after Waivers run yeah run right, So to everyone
scrambling to get Michael Carter and stuff and and ma
Mario de Marcado, do you have any like lower key
waiver Wire ads this week that that you think could
make a bigger impact than sort of the consensus was thinking.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
The funny thing to me is, I don't know why
everyone's sleeping on Isaiah Davis. They're in love this Yeah,
Breylan Allen is going to miss you know, it sounds
like multiple weeks. I mean, he's an ir candidate right now.
He's got a pretty serious knee injury.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Yeah, I think he might have gone an IR today.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Actually, I think you're right. I think you're right. So again,
it's like we're talking about Isaiah Davis here. I don't
understand on Yahoo he is three percent rostered right now,
which I don't. I don't understand, and like to me, JJ,
what's funny is I would rather roster Isaiah Davis than
Michael Carter. Like we have evidence that Michael Carter and
Imari de Marcado are not needle movers, right, Like, we

(16:37):
have evidence of this. We've seen them play extensive amounts
of football, right, and these guys are not needle movers.
I would argue that we haven't really seen any kind
of any kind of evidence that Isaiah and Davis is
not a needle mover, right, Like, this is a guy
that averaged five point eight yards per carry last year.
He was straight up better than Braylen Allen. Yes, Breidon
Allen averaged three point six yards per carry. You're wondering, well,

(16:59):
why isn't he backup? Well, draft capital matters to a
lot of these teams, right, and Braylen Allen had a
more you know, storied collegiate career, he had obviously the
draft pedigree. Thus he is the backup to Brice Hall.
And the thing about the Jets right now is that, listen,
they don't want to give Brisce Hall full on control

(17:19):
of that backfield. They don't want to give him seventy percent,
seventy five percent of the backfield touches, right like, So
I think that I think that Isaiah Davis is actually
gonna work in to like a forty percent snapshare they're
in New York. I woant to be surprised to see
that at all, and maybe it might even be more
if he starts to play really, really well. So again
I just go back to I would rather have Isaiah

(17:41):
Davis than Michael Carter because Davis, to me, has shown
more on the football field than Michael Carter has. And again,
I know we're scrambling for Michael Carter because the Trey
Benson news was there. I'm just a little bit confused
by it because I just don't think either one of
Carter or Imari tem Marcado are going to be needle
movers in fantasy.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
I agree with you, and especially when you compare and
contrast Isaiah Davis to Braylan Allen. I wrote about this
actually in my Prospect Guy, because I do the year
two model stuff and so I write up, you know,
the year two guys, and with Braylan Allen, like his
peripherals and his secondary numbers and his advanced analytics, we
were pretty atrocious last year, like they were not good.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
And then you you know, he was.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Getting a lot of steam and camp and entering the
season and such, and it was fine to buy into
that a little bit because whatever, it's a late round pick,
it doesn't matter. And he's a young player, like really
young player, like only twenty one years old, and so
you know, he can obviously improve as a player. But
Isaiah Davis had just an unbelievably underrated, like in a
small sample sure, but underrated rookie season. And my thinking

(18:42):
with that split in the way that they've used Breeze
Hall versus Braylan Allen is that the two of them
are more complimentary pieces as players, right, Like Braylan Allen
is sort of just like this bulky not going to
catch a ton of passes, kind of just just grind
between the tackles kind of player. I think they were
hoping that he would become like a true bruiser that
they could use at the goal line consistently and like

(19:04):
be that compliment to Breishall being more of like the elusive,
agile player. But Isaiah Davis might be more of like
an in between the two of those guys and maybe
even be more of the Breeehall archetype if you you know,
were to just categorize between those two, and that might
be part of the reason why you know, they preferred
going Allen versus Davis. But every time that Davis has

(19:27):
been on an NFL field, like he's been really effective,
and I'm I'm with you, man, I mean, I'm a
I was a borderline like truther when he was coming
out last year, so like I'm getting really I'm also
like like this is this is my week because I
loved Isaiah Davis coming out.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
I love Sean Tucker coming out.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
So I'm just I'm sitting here and I'm like, I'm like,
please let this happen for these guys, right, But I'm
with you, like it, it didn't really make that much
sense that he was an afterthought. I mean, I'm in
some like home leagues where like I got him for
a dollar, you know, like it was. It was just
no one really cared. And I understand it's not the
best offense in the world, but it's also an offense
that funnels looks to their running backs like pretty aggressively.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
So really really like that call out.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
We also have a lot of interesting tight ends coming
off waivers this week, which is not what we typically see.
But there's three of them that I do want to
talk a little bit about. I think the go to
obvious one that people want to learn most about and
learn more about is Darren Waller. So talk to me
about Waller and if you are bullish or bearish on
this situation.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
I'm extremely bullish on Darren Waller for a couple of reasons.
I don't think the productivity. Look the two touchdown performance,
obviously that's a little fluky, But I just think his
usage overall, I don't think was very fluky. Like I
get that he only ran ten routes, he only played
twenty five percent of the snap So if you looked
at that, you would say, Okay, Darren Waller.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Is an older player.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Ah, I don't know if I want to buy into it.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Miami.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
It's not like Miami's offense right now is looking that
good either.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Right.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
That being said, I think the usage that it makes
sense for a player in his first game back from
an incredibly long layoff, right. I do think that they
will get him utilized more as the season wears on.
And really, the real reason why I'm so intrigued by
Darren Waller is I can't help but think about John

(21:12):
HU Smith's like ridiculous, ludicrous, absurd usage in Miami last year.
I gotta be honest with you, I did not agree
with it, you know, like, don't you had a good offense,
you had Tyreek and you had Jalen Wattle.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Just throw to those.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
Guys, Why are we building out in its higher offensive
game plan for John U. Smith in Miami? Like what
are we doing out here? I don't get it? But
that being said, that is what happened, right, And so
now Mike McDaniel now has Darren Waller. Tyreek Hill is
now gone for the season. There's just so much like

(21:47):
coalescing there in Miami around Darren Waller. For him to
really succeed, his health has to hold up. But if
he can stay healthy, I think there is a lot
of reasons for optimism for that kind of production to
kind of sort of follow him throughout the year.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
I thought that his touchdown, like the one that was
that that Tua just threw it at the goalpost basically
and he you know, and he toe tapped he comes
down with it. To me, I'm watching that and I'm
like the fact that Waller can step onto a football
field after not playing for over, you know, a year
and a half or however long, and then he does that,
that has to make you at least get.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Somewhat excited about what he might be able to do.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
You know, even just that micro kind of just that
athleticism was still pretty apparent.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
So I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
You know, Tyreek Hill being out should be able to
you know, funnel targets in different areas. You know, hopefully
Jalen Waddell ends up kind of living up to to
what folks think that and believe he might be able
to be. But you know, looks have to go somewhere,
and I think Darren Waller's is one place that can go.
Mason Taylor's another one. He's been running a lot of routes,
but you know, last couple of weeks he's get getting
more and more involved how do you feel about him?

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, he's a rookie tight end, so you know, we
want to be patient with our rookies here, especially at
the tight end positions. Generally rookie Titans don't do. I know,
Brock Bauers kind of sort of broke that mold and
Trey McBride obviously was really good as a rookie too,
But again I would I would probably just say there's
a we should use a little bit of caution in
regards to Mason Taylor. I really like him. He's a really,

(23:14):
really good athlete, and let's be real, justin Fields did
help elevate Cole Comet as well. Although we are finding
that Cole Comett is kind of sort of quarterback proof
because I mean he's outperformed Jerald Everett, who they brought
in in the offseason as a free agent. He's outperformed
Colston Loveland, a highly touted rookie as well. So we're
finding out Cole Coomet is pretty good player. But that
being said, Mason Taylor has that, you know, pedigree as well.

(23:35):
He has that athleticism. Justin Fields, I think when he's
looking for an outlet, Valve has utilized the tight end
a little bit. So I think there's a lot of
optimism and hope here for Mason Taylor. I think he
can develop and in this week in particular, when he's
taken on Dallas defense that has obviously really struggled defensively,
I think he can kind of sort of keep that

(23:56):
hot streak going that we saw last week.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, I mean he could very easily in the season
as their number two option in the past totally, you know,
all right, last one THEO Johnson twenty five percent target
shair last week with Jackson Dart.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Again, I think there is a lot of reasons why
we should get excited about THEO Johnson. I know right
now everyone's kind of sort of moving towards Darius Slayton,
which I get, you know, I love Darius Slayton. But again,
THEO Johnson. To me, if we're talking about a rookie
quarterback where they clearly don't trust him to have a

(24:29):
full complement of the playbook, you know what I'm saying,
like it's one hundred and eleven yards passing jaj. What
I found really interesting is that, like we can all
sit here and say quarterback wins are not a stat
and quarterback wins especially don't matter in fantasy. But for
whatever reason, the hypeer around Jackson Dart right is like

(24:49):
is built around the fact that he actually won a
game against the LA Chargers. Like that's what's funny to me,
you know.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, dude, dude, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
I think that the Giants in general are just the
most vibes based on Earth right now, where where you
get Jackson Dart just crazy vibes like like you know,
like I've said all along, like you know, even through
the prospecting process, I was like, he's got that like
psycho Josh Allen in him, you know, like that that
just insanity where he's gonna throw his body around a

(25:16):
little bit. And then you get Cam Skataboo, who, like,
for all intents and purposes, was not even remotely effective
this past week, you.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Know, like like not not like.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Like but he's such a vibe and he's so fun
and it's it's like it's totally such a great combo
that I do think that that's just like naturally kind
of elevating things right now in the way that we
view you know, the Giants.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
But I'm I'm going along for the ride. I think
it's fun. It's funny.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Yeah, like I said, one hundred and eleven yards passing
for Jackson for Jackson Dart right Like so again, like
I don't know if the I don't know if Brian's
able fully trusts Dark to run the entire playbook. But
and and if that's the case, we're if we're talking
about stripped down playbook for Jackson Dart, there's no question
I think THEO Johnson will be utilized heavily, you know,
kind of sort of as a same valve for Dark.

(26:01):
And listen, THEO is a dude. He's a great athlete. Man,
He's a crazy good athlete. So if we're looking for
some checkdowns and things of that nature, I think THEO
Johnson's in a really really good spot. And yeah, New
Orleans again has you know, struggled at times defensively. I
think he's a pretty good play this week too.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
So since we talked about these two offenses, I had
some other questions about the injuries that we saw a
wide receiver and Malik Nighbors obviously being you know, the
main one this past week with his ACL how are
you feeling about like Wandell versus Darius Slayton versus THEO.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Like, do you think that there is a legitimate.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Enough ceiling for these guys to be like, you know,
top thirty wide outs in Fantasy or is this more
of like a bye week fill in kind of kind
of play.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, I think they're more by week fill ins. And
I think you just want to play the matchups, you
know what I mean? That being said, the matchup for
Darius Slayton is pretty good. New Orleans has given up
a lot of production to outside wide receivers. It's it's
really confusing, right, Like THEO Johnson was tied for the
team lead in terms of targets he had five, Wandale
Robinson also had five, but Darius Layton actually led the
way in terms of receiving yards because he was getting

(27:07):
more downfield shots. So how are we feeling about this
whole And again we're trying to parse out the smallest
pie in the whole world one hundred and eleven. Yeah,
I think you know, right, So again, it's just it's
it's really interesting. So when I when I put it
that way, I don't I'm not clamoring to get Darius Layton,
not clamoring to get Wandale Robinson. I think they'll both

(27:29):
be really really inconsistent from a production standpoint, and you
really do want to play the matchups overall. But Slayton's
an interesting one to me because Matt Matt Harmon and
I have gone back on back.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
And forth on on Darius Slayton quite a few times.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
I just think he's underrated, you know, because I think
people view Darius Layton as like this end of the
roster guy, like he's he's a nothing.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Basically.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
To me, I think he would elevate the passing attacks
of damn near every single team in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
I'm not saying he's a number one, right at least
number two.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
Yeah, yeah, he's a three, but he can He's a
three with skills, right and the skills that he brings
are he can work downfield right like, and when you
look around the league, JJ, this is just such a
dearth of true downfield X receivers in the NFL right now.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
That's why I think that Darius Layton on any team
would help their passing attack, not because of any other
reason than once or twice a game, you could throw
to him downfield and he can try to go and
make a play and at the very least he's stressing
the defense, right. So that's why I think he's just
been an underrated player. I think he'll still have that
similar role but more volume here for the New York Giants.

(28:43):
So in that way, I think he's an underrated player
and somebody that should be on the end of your bench.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
But again I'm not I saw.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
People just I mean, dumping buckets of fab money on
Darius Layton, and I would not be doing that.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
The other wide out that people were going after this
week was Maleikue Washington. Are you Are you more on
the potential for him in the Miami offense versus Darius Slayton.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
I think both offenses are a little bit they're below average.
I think that's fair to say, right, and so when
we're talking about below average passing attacks, I'm not really
clamoring to get anybody in those games, right. So Malink
Washington is an interesting player. He's mostly a slot guy,
and we'll find out whether or not he can fill
in that role here for Miami. But I do think

(29:25):
that Jalen Wattle will probably dominate some of the looks overall,
and if Mike McDaniels has his druthers, man like, he'd
be insane to not be building his entire playbook around
Jalen Waddle because he is truly the best player, best
pass catcher on that offense. And I think Mike McDaniel's
pretty smart guy man like, So I would imagine that
he's going to change the playbook and play calling to

(29:47):
kind of sort of gravitate around Jalen Waddle and Darren
Waller to a degree.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, yeah, I'm probably leaning to I mean, I would
lean towards Washington for like ambiguity purposes. I liked him
as a prospect. I think he has good yak ability,
and I you know, we've seen we've seen that work.
You know, you mentioned John Hu right in the in
the Dolphins offense last year, like Mike McDaniel will will
you utilize those yak players, you know, as much as

(30:14):
he can. You know, obviously we see this lower a
dot like whether it to be be to a chan
ord John Hu last year, and I can see some
of that manufactured stuff happening a little bit more for Maleak.
I'm just more like intrigued by the question marks surrounding
him and the Ambi wheels surrounding him. We have no idea, right, right,
so why not you know, throw that dart. But yeah,

(30:35):
I'm with you from the standpoint of, like, let's not
anticipate a league winning type player like I got him
for like five Like I think that his his fab range,
in my opinion, depending on the depth of the league,
was like five to fifteen percent this week. You know, like,
nothing crazy, just someone who might be able to be
a filler for you. But let's hope that we can
be pleasantly surprised by him. All right, let's talk about

(30:57):
the Bengals offense because we now have two weeks without
Joe Burrow and it's been it's been hellish.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Like I said a tweet that it.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Reminds me so much of last year when the Dolphins
were without Tua and it was just just death, you know,
watching that offense perform. And I got a lot of
people responding being like, well, this is what happens whenever
a team loses their starting quarterback. No, it's not always
this dramatic of a drop, you know, it's not always
like there's a gray area here that we can talk

(31:26):
and there's nuance with this where this offense has just
looks so putrid. I mean, do you have any hope
for these wideouts? Do you think it's matchup basic? Are you
at least a little bit optimistic about that? Do you
like the usage still from like a Chase Brown Where
are you at with these guys?

Speaker 2 (31:41):
So I would say this.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
I know it has been absolutely atrocious and awful the
last couple of weeks, but matchups matter, man Like in
week number three, he's going up against Brian Flores in
that menace, hyper aggressive Minnesota defense where their masking coverage
is really really well and Jake Browning, who again has
some professional experience, You just don't have that much experience
right like looking at what these defenses are are presenting

(32:04):
him right now. So that's week number three, and then
week number four it's Denver, right Like, again, Denver is
going to to to put these guys in absolute brain pretzels,
and that's what happened, you know what I mean, dude?
I mean again, if you look at what what what
the schedule is like for Cincinnati right now, I just
laid out in Minnesota Denver week one that to play Cleveland, bro,

(32:25):
this has been probably the most difficult, most difficult passing
schedule to open the season for damn near any of
these teams. Uh, And it's it's it's for me, it's
it's Cincinnati, you know what I mean. So right now
they've got Detroit, green Bay, Pittsburgh, and the Jets coming up.
Green Bay's tough, Detroit's dealing with a lot of injuries

(32:47):
in the secondary right now, Pittsburgh is not as good
as advertised, and the Jets are kind of sort of
up and down as well. Then they've got Chicago in
week number nine with Jalen Johnson on IR too. So
I think it's going to ease up here a little
bit for Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
So I'm not I don't think it's all doom and gloom.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
That being said, obviously, they have not shown very much
over the last couple of weeks, so and it's not
like these teams that they're going up against are just bad,
you know, like yeah, So, so the I think it's
more of a neutral matchup over the next four weeks
and let's just see what Cincinnati brings to the table.
But it's gonna be better than what we saw the
last couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
I think you're right, and and I do think that
this week is is a big week for just like
a general litmus test of like where they really are.
And again, I don't love like going super vibes based
like this. But at the same time, you know, Minnesota
when they played Cincinnati, they were coming off a really
bad loss against.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Atlanta, right, and then that that primetime game.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
And then and then Denver and then they're playing in Minnesota, right,
so they're they're in Minnesota. So Cincinnati's on the road
very next week, Cincinnati's on the road again, playing against Denver,
who's coming off a brutal loss against the Chargers, Right.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
And I don't I.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Don't like you know, obviously, I'm an analytics based analyst,
and I I focus on numbers, and I you know,
I'm supposed to not believe in some of this stuff,
but I think that we are all human, right, And
I do think there is sort of these like different
kind of motivators and things that matter to these teams,
and in these cases Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
And I'm not trying to just like cope because what
do I care.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
I mean, it's not like I was, like, you know,
like needing to have all these I don't need the
Bengals to be really really good.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
I'm just trying to be objective about this, where.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Like realistically, Cincinnati's been in two really really tough spots
when you add on that context too. And so now
they're at home this weekend, Like you said, the Lions
are banged up.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
If they can't get it done this week.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
I'm gonna be I'm gonna be even more, you know,
like I'm kind of nervous right now, but I'm saying,
like like panic button, I will press officially and and
and be very scared about what's to come. But though
the one player that I do want to dig into
a little bit more as Jamar Chase, where you know,
I sent a tweet out earlier this week that and
I actually talked about on the ten Trends episode two.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
But Jamar Chase with.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Jake Browning eight games with Browning, Browning's played nine, he said,
eight with Jamar Chase. Chase is averaging eleven point two
PPR points per game with with Jake Browning, where without
him it's twenty two. So he's he's basically seen his
production cut in half.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
So we're gonna play a little game here.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
I've been playing games on perspectives recently, we're gonna go
one wide receiver by one wide receiver, and you're gonna
tell me which wide receiver versus Jamar Chase. You you know,
so either Jamar Chase or this wide receiver you want
more rest of season. The first wide receiver I'm gonna
throw out there is Chris Olave.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
I would, man, this one's really really close.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
I'm assuming I'm assuming you're I'm assuming you're in a
lave bro because you know, just yeah, I'm an alave
bro too.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
So like you know, like alave bros are are we
we love some chrysal so.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
I yeah, no, no, listen.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
And by the way, the volume is there too, right,
Like he's number two in the NFL in terms of
total targets among wide receivers, right, like Puka Naku is
one at fifty, chrisal Love is not that far behind.
He's got forty three for goodness sakes, you know. Like,
so it's there, you know, you know, and again air
yards are there too. Just it's just the volume is
there for Christal Lave And like it hasn't totally worked

(36:24):
out because Rattler isn't that good. But I'm probably trusting Rattler,
and you know what, I might be trusting the schedule
a lot more for Christal Lave than Jamar Chase right now.
That being said, man, Jamar Chase is so damn good.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
You know.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
It's like he just needs to like crack one you know,
that's all it takes is for him to like break
one tackle and.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
He's doing Yeah, yeah, he can do it like any game.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah yeah, So okay, I am going to I am
going to tentatively say Chris O Lave like fifty one
forty nine percent Christal Lave over Jamar Chase rest of the season.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
If you want to give me percentages, I like. I
like percentages.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
So if you want to do that out of one
hundred and you want to say that's that's even better.
It'll give it'll give the listeners a better idea, all right.
Next on the list is Xavier Worthy.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Yeah no, no, no, give me Jamar Chase. Look Examber
Worthy is an important piece for Kansas City, and obviously
we saw him blow up in a couple of different spots.
But that being said, I think he's still like a
he's not like an every down. We got to get
it to him player you know what I mean, Like,
he is a role player. He's an really important role player.
But I I just don't think, you know, on a

(37:29):
week by week basis, I think we're going to see
some ups and some downs, especially when Rashid Rice comes back.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
Yeah, I think the Rice factors is definitely important. How
about a Mecca Buka. If you love a lave, you
love a Buka. That's right, That's that's actually really true.
The then diagram of.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
A circle, right, Yeah, no, it's obviously. I love Abuka
as well. One of my roles, one of my mini
roles is a Big ten being a Big ten analyst
from my local NBC station here. So I saw a
lot of Auka last year and man, I was so
in on him, and when he charted out well from
Matt Harmon's perspective, I was.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Like, Yep, this is it. We're in. Look.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
I love Abuka. But that being said, Mike Evans is
coming back at some point. Chris Godwin's already back very
much a competition for targets I and while I love Baker,
I just don't think he can support three high level
wide receivers. Jamar Chase is clearly the alpha in Cincinnati.
And while we don't like what we've seen from Jake
Browning thus far, I think he's smart enough to know,

(38:31):
let's go ahead and feed Jamar Chase eight to twelve
targets a game. And so I think from that perspective,
I will take Jamar Chase.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Hey.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
By the way, JJ, what we haven't talked about at
all is the fact that a potential trade could be
on the on the horizon too, right, Like if to
your point that if Jake Browning goes out there against
a banged up secondary for Detroit and absolutely just pukes
all over himself hundred percent, Cincinnati's getting on the call
and they're either going to pick up Kirk Cousins or
Jameis Winston And man, can you am yo James?

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Yeah, give me, give me Jamis in this office.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
That's the thing though, Like Cincinnati, let me put on
my GM hat and my you know, my my team
building hat. Cincinnati to me, like, you either go in
and you say we're gonna just try to make the
playoffs and maybe Joe Burrow will be back for that
for that time, or you you like trade T Higgins. Yeah,
like you you do things and you go like I
think that the problem would be just just being stagnant

(39:27):
and just doing this over and over and over again
if they can't get it going. You know, this weekend's Detroit,
So that would be my thing, is like let's see,
Like like I really do think that they need.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
To like pick a pick a destination to go to.
Here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
What about if you do the best of both worlds
and you just lose but it's super fun. I mean
that's literally James, you know what I mean. It's like,
you're still selling seats because it's fun. We're still watching
bombs go to t Higgins, bombs go to Jamar Chase.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
It's super fun.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
But we're still losing ball games because James throwing turn
the ball over two to three times a game, you
know what I mean. Like, yeah, So I don't know,
like I feel like that might be the best of
both worlds.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
The problem would be if you.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
Brought in Kirk Cousins, and if Kirk Cousins still has juice,
like he could legitimately take you to the playoffs, you
know what I'm saying, That would probably be the biggest
problem because then what do you do at the end
of the season, Like we got you got Kirk Cousins here,
you got you know, Joe Burrow here. Jake Brown is
still in her contract too. It's like we got an
issue here. But that being said, Jamis everyone kind of

(40:29):
knows Jamis is like this, Like, ah, he's a stopgap
kind of quarterback. Like that's what would make it the
most fun. You're still losing games, so your draft status
still protected. Yeah, but man, it's a hell of a
lot of fun watching Jamar Chase and t Higgins catch
fifty yard bombs, you know.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah, right, And the best part is that Jamis himself
is super self aware and so he will just have
fun with it too.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
That's why it's totally you know.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
That's why it's the greatest, all right, Next guy, George
Pickens versus Jamar Chase.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Oh man, I gotta know how long CD Lamb is out.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Say, let's say CD is out for two more weeks.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Obviously, for the next two weeks, I want George Pickens,
There's no question, no question. But I mean, if we're
talking season long, I think I will I think I'll
still lean towards Jamar because again, once CD comes back,
he's still going to be a target. Dominator. You know,
may maybe they have found something here with Jake Ferguson
as well.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
I don't love Jake Ferguson, but he's a you know,
he's a really nice, complimentary tight end, you know, so
they're gonna get him the football.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yeah, he's a he's a he's a target gobbler.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
I mean, it's it's it's it's really you know, people
hate this and I said this at the at the
start of the season because I mentioned that TJ. Hockinson
is this eras Greg Olsen, where like the ceiling isn't
like insane, but the floor is generally there, right, Yeah,
Like Ferguson can be that floor type of player from
a fantasy perspective, you know, especially in an offense it's

(41:53):
just throwing the.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Ball a lot.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Well, he also reminds me a lot of like late
career Jason Witten, if we're staying at the team, you know.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Yes, yes, yeah, like the Hawk and Olsen thing I
think are at least like comparable athletes and stuff.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Ferguson isn't even at that level. You know.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
It's more of like the the I mean later career
Jason Witten probably, Yeah, all right, A J.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Brown next versus Jamar Chase.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
I don't know, Jji, what are we doing over here
with AJ Brown?

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Bro? What are we doing with AJ Brown? That's why
I gotta ask you what are we doing out here? Man?

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Like?

Speaker 2 (42:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
Like it's just it's just so problematic. You know, the
new OC there for Philadelphia, I just think he's in
over his head. You know, like when you have A J.
Brown and DeVante Smith and Jalen Hurts who is a
developer who's still developing as a quarterback, and you're throwing
for less than two hundred yards in most of your
games here, it's just I just don't know what we're doing.
You know, they're like, yes, they're winning games, but they're

(42:50):
making it so damn hard on themselves.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
You know, need to be this hard? Yeah, it doesn't
need to be this hard man.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
And the other thing I would say is like they
have taken over this Kansas City like aura, Like it's
all about Kansas City. Last year's winning all of these
games just based on aura, you know, Like it's ugly,
it's disgusting, it's gross, But you know what, they're just
winning games and they just keep winning these one score games.
That's Philadelphia right now. So if you're an Eagles fan, great,

(43:17):
maybe they continue to do that. Maybe they just have
all these aura wins, like where they're just winning these
one score games. But it's ugly, man, nobody's making a move.
Last year, nobody was making a move for anyone on KC.
This year, nobody's making a move for anybody on Philadelphia.
I don't know what the hell to make of AJ
Brown's role. It seems like I don't want to say
he's like checked out, but damn dude, he is. He's

(43:41):
he's on checked out adjacent, you know what I'm saying,
Like he is very close to basically throwing in the
towel on twenty twenty five. And if Kevin Patillo can't
figure that part of it out, I don't know what
they're gonna do.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
Man So.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
And by the way, this has been going on for
a couple of years now where AJ Brown just wants
the ball, you.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
Know, yeah, I mean it like ah, And he's one
of the rare players where it's like, yeah, he's kind
of got a point, you know, like he should be
getting the ball.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
The problem that I see that, you know, I was
pretty bullish on the passing attack for Philly to just
be to just throw the ball a lot more this year,
because it was almost impossible for them not to. And
I think that the miscalculation is with Patulo, like we're
not seeing number one nearly as many plays run as
we did with Kellen Moore because Kellen Moore likes to

(44:29):
run in a fast pace.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
You know.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
That's that's not everything, but that's at least something.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
I think the bigger thing is just from an efficiency standpoint,
they're not doing the things that the basic things that
we know work analytically, which is like getting guys in
motion a lot of play action, and they're not even
doing like as much like RPO stuff like just just
get the defenses on their heels a little bit more
and open things up that way because they're running. Attack
has not been that good this year, you know, at least,

(44:54):
you know, versus what we saw in twenty twenty four,
and so I think all of that is sort of
can I think a lot of people are just like,
you know, oh, you said regression was gonna hit, and
it's not hitting.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
That's not really what's going on here.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
I think it's beyond that, it's it's really like x's
and o's that's happening, and them just like running this really.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Ridiculously stale offense.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
And if they don't change things, and I'm not you know,
as each week passes by, I'm becoming less and less
optimistic that they are going to change things.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
And wouldn't you also say too, just from again from
a schematic standpoint, they ask AJ Brown to run the
most difficult route tree right, Like, it's like you're going
to be an outside X receiver. You're not gonna get
any help. We're not going to put you in motion
and we're going to ask you to run vertical and
or comebacks. Like it's where are the designed plays for

(45:44):
AJ Brown?

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (45:45):
Like where is just a like let's get this guy
in motion and have him run a deep over, Let's
have let's get this guy running a quick slant route
and just feed him the rock here just a little bit,
you know, like where are the design touches for AJ Brown?
I actually think, for like a Jalen Hirst perspective, I
don't actually disagree with where why he's not going to
AJ Brown because again, you're asking him to run the

(46:08):
most difficult route tree and he's I'm not saying he's covered,
but there's certainly shading coverage towards him, so they're trying
to take him away. He himself is not running routes
that well, right, Like, why would you go to AJ Brown?
So again, when we're talking about Jammar Chase or AJ Brown,
you hit it right on them. I don't see a

(46:29):
lot changing right unless they fire Patulo, which is a possibility,
but they have to start losing games for that to happen.
And right now, like I said, I think they're just
racking up Ora wins Man. Yeah, so I would take
Jamar Chase over AJ Brown easily.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Yeah. Last one Nico Collins.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Uh No, look it's Nico Collins all the way right.
Like again, I think Houston's offense is starting to find
itself a little bit, although it was against Tennessee and
as while you know, like it's and like, by the way,
the whole Woody Marks thing is really interesting to me too.
And don't get me wrong, like I like Woody Marks.
I charted Woody Marks. I said, hey, Woody Mars will

(47:09):
be a great fit for this team. And if he
could figure out pass pro and I think he's figured
out pass pro a little bit here, so it's working out.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (47:16):
That being said, I am one of those people that
I just you can't take a ton out of a
twenty six nothing blowout, right, like the snapshare percentages, the
usage rates and all that stuff, Like all that stuff
gets really really wonky in a blowout, you know what
I mean. So and so I get it, like we're

(47:37):
excited about Woody Marks.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
He's he's a rookie.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
Nick Chubb is old and he's injured or he's coming
off of major injury.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
So we don't like Nick Chubb, all right, I get it.
That thing said.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
I don't know if it's like a fifty eight to
forty split moving forward like we saw here in week
number four. I still think it's going to be fifty
to fifty and yeah, I think there will be some
very up and down weeks here for Woody Marks. I
this this whole proclamation of up he's taken over that backfield.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
I just I don't know, man like by the way
he may have.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
He may have totally I wouldn't necessarily point to the
Tennessee game and say, well, this is why he has
taken over the backfield, you know what I mean, Like
I want to see another week or two before I'm
really comfortable and all in on what he mark's moving forward.
But man back to the original question, Go ahead and
give me a Nico Collins over Jamar Chase rest of season.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
The Woody Marks stuff is interesting because at the very least,
like to me, it was always just like a process
play for me, because like I liked Marx as a prospect,
but I didn't love Marx as a prospect, you know,
Like I thought he was just like really solid, especially
as a pass catcher, like he had that in his
in his arsenal. But what I've seen what he like
from what he marks in the NFL, And it might

(48:50):
just be like the juxtaposition of him versus Nick Chubb,
who I think is just not quite you know, He's
obviously not the same kind of player that he used
to be, right, it might just be that likeaposition of Okay,
I'm watching him versus Chubb, and he just looks way
more dynamic than Nick Chubb versus me. Thinking about Woody
Marks and watching him from college and seeing what he

(49:11):
was like in college, because it's almost like I see
him as.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
A better like he's playing better I.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Think as a as a pure between the tackles runner,
He's made some I mean, he made some really nice
moves even last week too, and so.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
Like it's just it's a really weird vow.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
But at the very least, you know, I like, it's
hard for me and I think anyone to be like, yeah,
I'm gonna go all in on Nick Chubb right now,
you know, just based on what we've seen.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
So okay, let me give some numbers here in regards
to my charting of Woody marks, right, Like, he was
one of the worst you know, between the tackles runners, yeah,
among the twelve guys that I charted last year, right,
but he was one of the best in terms of
running outside zone yep. Right, So I wonder I'm very

(49:53):
curious because Nick Cayley's coming from this LA background. Yeah,
I guess he has a little New England background too, right,
a little New England.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
Right, So if we're talking New England, that's gonna be
more between the tackles. If we're talking about Sean McVay,
mixed bag, because early in his career he was exclusively
outside zone and and you know, over the last couple
of years, he's been almost exclusively inside zone, but we
figured there's gonna be some zone stuff. In regards to
what Houston is doing. What's interesting is that with Nick

(50:19):
Chubb as the lead prior to week number four, through
the first three weeks of the season, Houston ran between
the tackles at a seventy five percent clip, by far
the most in the NFL. But if we're gonna start
utilizing what he marks, who again, I don't think he's
very good in between the tackles, but I think he's
great outside. If we're going to use what you utilize

(50:42):
what he marks, we have to change the run game
just a little bit, not a little bit, a lot,
and we're gonna have to start getting to the outside
a lot more. To your point, JJ, you know, in
week number four he did look a lot better between
the tackles than then I thought he would look.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
Yeah, But if we if we stretch that out across
the entire season, I think we will see him get
back to what we saw in college, which is a
guy who struggles, you know, in between the tackles and
and honestly, man like you know, actually he was a
pretty explosive player too, Like you know, he had he
had a twenty three percent explosive play rate among the

(51:19):
plays that I charted for what he marks, and when
we're talking about the top twelve guys that I charted,
he was actually number one in explosive play rate. So
he actually has that in the US bag.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
He just didn't test well, you know, I know, you
know that like that also is was problematic, like just
from like you know, an.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Overall like what does this guy look like?

Speaker 3 (51:40):
Evaluation standpoint one hundred percent. But but to your point,
like he's a good pass catcher, he's actually explosive when
he can get to the outside. But let's just see
if Houston modifies their offensive scheme just a little bit
to kind of utilize his athleticism just a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Let's talk about what I think is probably one of
the more interesting storylines. I don't know if I would
call it like a surprise per se, but it's at
least like I think like something that's that's you know,
easily top three change, like changing the fantasy landscape this year.
Things that's that was horribly worded. That's why I'm not
a broad That's why I'm not a broadcaster.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
I'm just a podcaster. Let me just get to it.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
The Chargers offense, right, yes, the pass catchers there is
Lad mcconkee, dust, How are you viewing these wide receivers?
And then the last thing I'll say is does the
offensive line stuff worry you?

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Now? The offensive line definitely worries me, There's no question.
And that played itself out as they lost in a surprising,
shocking manner to the New York Giants. And again just
Herbert was under pressure a lot. Okay, that being said,
you know is Lad mcconkkee dust, No, And actually those
two things are related. And I would say because their
tackle problems are going to be a problem for the

(52:52):
next you know, four or five, six weeks here, I
think that. And again, remember Joel got injured in the game.
Right now that they have an entire week of game
planning to kind of sort of get set things right,
don't be surprised if LA now starts to lean on
more of a quick, quick game, right, like a quick
passing attack, right, and these deep, developing downfield shots for

(53:13):
Quentin Johnston they kind of sort of, I don't want
to say, evaporate entirely, but we see a lot a
lot less of them, you know, And in that way,
who's going to be the guy that gets open the fastest.
I mean, shoot, that's Latim Conky, right. So that's why
I think the tackle issues and Land mccaukey's production might
be a little bit related.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
You know.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
I want to be surprised to see Lad mccaukey get
back on track this week as the offensive game plan
gears itself to kind of sort of work around the
tackle issues, just though Herbert's just not getting destroyed in
the pocket like he was there in week number four.
So no, I don't think Lad mccaukey's dost. Yes, the
the tackle situation concerns me. Omarion Hampton. His usage might

(53:55):
might be a little bit concerning as well. But again,
if they're trying to keep Justin Herbert healthy, it probably
mays a lot of sense to try to feed the
rookie of the rock a little bit. So we'll see,
but I think that Lad does have a chance, especially
with these tackle issues, to come back over the next
couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
I've texted Harmon a little bit about the QJ stuff
as it was happening the first couple of weeks of
this season, and look, I know that you know he's
surprised because he's playing better and such, and it's it's
not it's just to me, it's just it's okay that
this could just be one of those things where the
player got better and the usage changed a little bit
and he's getting, you know, better looks for what he

(54:32):
is capable of doing. If you were to right now,
putting you on the spot, pick either Lad or QJ.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Rest of season? Do you have a lien with what?

Speaker 1 (54:42):
You can give me a percentage again if it's helpful,
But do you have a lien with those guys?

Speaker 3 (54:45):
I do, I'm going fifty five to forty five? Lad,
you know my lean there would be Lad. I know
he hasn't really And again, the to be honest with you,
I think more more concerning than Quentin Johnson has been
the usage of Keenan Allen. Right, Like, Keenan Allen I
thought was just you was only talk about dust. Shoot,
I thought Keenan Allen was dust last year. I'm watching

(55:06):
him in Chicago, man like, I don't know, maybe he
just hates the cold. I don't know what it is. Hey, listen,
he's an older player. Maybe the cold's impacted. I don't know, man,
But like I thought he was dust last year. Bro
then all of a sudden, him and his crazy ass
shoulders come to LA and he's rejuvenated. You know, Like
what's going on here? I was not anticipating that. I
thought this was more of like a like a depth

(55:27):
signing at best, you know what I'm saying. But no,
he's actually been a huge integral part of the passing attack.
That's the only reason why I'm not just like, nah,
this is ridiculous, Like Lad, Lad eighty percent for sure
going to be better than Quentin Johnston. Has nothing to
do with Quentin Johnson. Has everything to do with the
usage of Keenan Allen.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
Yeah, there's a little bit more redundancy between those twos
versus Huja, you know, and that's that's that would be
the issue overall. All right, real quick, before I let
you go, give me any cell candidate or candidates that
you have right now in Fantasy.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Cell candidate, we go back to Quentin Johnson in a
league in air yards. There's no tackles left. I just
don't think the game plan is going to allow for QJ.
To see these deep downfield shots QJ for me, big
time sale.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
All right, give me a buy candidate.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
I'm gonna stay a wide receiver. I think Tech McMillan
he's the wide receiver thirty three right now. When I
saw that, I was shocked. I'm like, how is Tech
McMillan the wide receiver thirty three? This guy's been playing
really good football and great ye, I mean he's he
has been incredibly good. Like from an actual on field perspective,
he's a stud man. He has seventh in total air

(56:32):
yards though, so again the volume is there for him
to absolutely OutKick this wide receiver thirty three price tag
right now.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
So for me, I think he's a huge buy. I
think he has man This might be a little hot takey,
but I think he has a skill set very similar
to Nico Collins, a downfield, big bodied X receiver who's
actually a much better route runner than you think, right Like,
I have been really surprised by his start stop a
bi on comebacks and curls. He's been good on dig

(57:03):
roundes as well. I just think that the skill set
between Tet and Nico Collins are are pretty similar. And yeah,
he's a huge buy from me right now. Wide receiver
thirty three dude, he could absolutely finish as a top
twelve wide receiver, especially given the injury landscape right now.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I had Tet as a target
this year. You know, I had him as a bye
can last week on the show, and yeah, it makes
a lot of sense. I mean I think that his
like because his go to comp and his his typical
comp was like a Drake London coming out.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
He's going towards that right now too. Like he is
a he's a beast.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
He's very good, and so I'm excited to see, you
know what he'll be capable of.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Hopefully Bryce Young.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Can can turn things around a little bit because he's
been pretty inconsistent this.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Year, you know, you know, jug even if it's not
Bryce and they go to Andy Dalton at some point
and Bryce Young's career is just done and over with,
even then, like even then, it's going to be an
upgrade at quarterback, right Like, I would not be surprised
at all if if they make the quarterback change and
the offense improves, I would be surprised at all.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
I don't know, all right, last thing, throw me a
hot take for Week five.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
I'm gonna go with Stefan Diggs as the wide receiver
one dot one this week.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
I like it. I like it. Okay, listen to game.
We're talking.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Hey, yo, if we're talking vibes, come on, man like,
it doesn't get more vibe than this, you know, like
we're talking a revenge game of revenge games. Man like
New England taking on Buffalo and Stefan Diggs. His production
and his usage has ramped up, finally cracked the century
mark last week against Carolina, and again he is the
number one wide receiver in this passing attack. Drake May

(58:38):
is developing as well, and dude Diggs is catching everything
he's got, nineteen of twenty two targets come his way.
But you know he hasn't caught a touchdown yet. So
I'm gonna say, in addition to my hot take of
wide receiver one dot one, I am gonna say, how
does he get there? He's gonna get there by catching
two touchdowns this week against Buffalo, a team that has
been giving up production and touchdowns to outside wide receivers.

(59:03):
As a matter of fact, they've given up a I
believe they've given up a touchdown to an outside wide
receiver in three consecutive games. So I think that Stefan
Diggs hot take, Stefan Diggs catches two touchdowns, ends up
as the top scoring wide.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Receiver this week in fantasy football. I love it Buffalo
banged up too.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
I mean, they could that that game could be fun
for fantasy's.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
There's a very real chance it could be fun for fantasy.
Do you think that that with Diggs?

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Just since we're on the topic, do you think that
they were just kind of like like slow playing it
to make sure that he was good and is because
like literally in weeks two and three he had like
sub sixty percent route shares for them, you know, and
then this past week finally over that eighty percent mark,
and obviously you know the production game.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
Yeah, I think so. I think it makes a lot
of sense. They don't want to rush the guy out there,
And to be honest with you, there's still ahead of timeline,
aren't they. Like I was under the impression he wasn't
going to be ready till like week six, seven, eight,
and like we're week four to five and they've pretty
much ramped him up to full speed.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Yeah, and he's startable. And this is a horrific week.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
I don't know if you've looked at wide receiver rankings,
it's a horrific week for wide out. So if you're
going to choose a hot take, it's probably good to
do it at wide receiver position for a guy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
To be the one on won this week, because the
position is such trash right now. Yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
I mean you think about like JJ McCarthy in a
bad spot right now, the defense that you know, the
defensive matchup doesn't line up.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
JJ.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
Excuse me, Jamar Chase obviously we just talked about him
at lengths. Yeah, there's just man, there's just so many
opportunities and pitfalls for the top wide receivers right now.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
Yeah, James, this was great, man, always great talking to you.
Let everyone know where they can find you, what you're
working on, all that good stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
You know what. I'm going to get to all that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
But I want to talk to you about this in
particular because we talked about the running back stuff and
I didn't get this out, and I want to get
this out, okay, And you're a data guy, and I
just want to get this kind of sort of idea
out there because I don't think we fall on this enough,
But did you know that ten of the top fifteen
running backs last year ran to the outside more than

(01:01:08):
they ran to the inside. So outside run rate, to
me is something that no one talks about in fantasy
and I just want to get that out to you
and your audience where we can we focus a little
bit more on outside run, right, Like, if you think
about Kyle Shanahan, if you think about Garrit Kubiak, what
were these guys so successful at they were finding random

(01:01:30):
running backs doing what running outside zone? Yeah right, and
so yeah, with tons of speed and like and honestly,
maybe not even tons of speed because Justin Forest at
the age of twenty nine had fifteen hundred scrimmage yards
under Garret Kubiak when he was the Baltimore OC. Like, again,
these guys have been king makers doing what running to

(01:01:53):
the outside, and that has still proven itself to be true. Again,
ten of the top fifteen rushers last year ran to
the outside more than they ran.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
To the inside.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
So it's not a perfect stat but again, if we're
looking for profile, you know markers can guys run to
the outside is one of the most important factors. I
look for when we're talking about high upside running backs.
It's not everything, it's not everything, but no stat is
going to capture everything. And we have all these metrics
for wide receivers, yards per route, run air yards, all

(01:02:25):
these things. We don't have enough of that for running backs.
And let me tell you right now, JJ, I really truly, honestly,
really feel strongly about this. And this is why I'm
bringing up out of the blue randomly to you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Right. I love this love is that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
Outside run rate is one of those markers for me
to find a really good, high upside running back. And
I just want you to start looking into that, JJ,
because I know you can and I know you love
the data, Okay, and if you can start to get
this out there man, Like I'm just trying to preach
this gospel of Hey, listen, if you're looking for high

(01:02:58):
upside running backs.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
Look at outside run rate.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
Has that been something that you looked at from a
prospecting standpoint? That just translated as well, like that's a
that's a marker of someone that you like would be
more interested.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
In one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
And again, when we're talking about outside success, right, and again,
you could find this data too on Reception Perception dot
Com through my running back strutting. But yeah, it's like
these guys that can run to the outside. Well, I
just talked about what he marks running to the outside
really really well, it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Should be not a surprise that he is.

Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
A high upside running past yere right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Like, yeah, yeah, asht genty was the best.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
He was literally the best at running to the outside
in college.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
So again that's the kind of profile that I am
looking for when we're trying to find these guys that
can play. Now, again, it's not one hundred percent success rate, man,
it's not one hundred percent hit rate. But again we're
just we're trying to find the edges here, trying to
find a little bit of an advantage that maybe your
league mates don't know about. And I know for a
fact no one and Fantasy is talking about this. And

(01:04:01):
so again, if you and your listeners start to do
a little bit more digging, a little bit more research
into this, I do think that this can be an
advantage and we can be in early on this trend
of looking for outside run rate in regards to finding
sleeper running backs.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
I love it, and I love that you just brought
it up out of the blues like that. That's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
Listen.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
If there's any audience that's gonna that's gonna consume this, man,
it's gonna be your audience.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
Man. Yeah, we're gonna love that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Of course, I want any guests to come on and
just say, hey, I want to talk about this thing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
Yeah, I want to talk about it too. It's very interesting.
I haven't dug into it, you know enough.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
I Mean, the thing that's going through my head is
just like the correlation of what we know what we
want in fantasy football in particular, which is usually like
you know, generally athletic backs that can create these big
plays and these splash plays and kick it to the
outside at the very least, you know, like a like
that's why I was interested in, like Kenneth Walker this year,
in that Kubiak system. I mean, my guy, like that

(01:05:01):
combination could be glorious if they just let it happen, right.
And that's no shade to Zach Sharbonnat. I think Sharpenna
is fine. He's just not the same kind of player
as Kenneth Walker is. And so like my brain, my
brain's going to the correlation of just kind of like that.
But I do wonder, you know, obviously there's gonna be
an overlap of like just scheme and and the the

(01:05:21):
fact that like those that that that Shanahan tree and
the Kubiak tree is going to be more efficient generally
because of the stuff that you were talking about earlier
with the offensive line play and such, and then getting
more out of that and being able to coach that better,
and then that will trickle down into these running backs
having the capability and ability.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
To do that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
But I do I do wonder parsing that out, you know,
like like really looking into that and sort of like
segmenting it if you can find some gems and looking
at things that way.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
Yeah, for me, right now, that shortcut is outside run
rate man, And again that kind of sort of encapsulates
everything that you're talking about, is it. Scheme is a
tech right who cares? You know, Like that's the runt
of the ball to the outside, you know, means that
means a lot of things are moving in that direction,
which is talent level for the running back. He can
kick it to the outside, he's got no athleticism. And
maybe the run scheme is also built to run it

(01:06:10):
to the outside as well. So when I look at
outside runway, that's it's like a short cut number into Okay,
can they get it done on the outside. So again
that's just this is a random you know, totally, like
no one talks about this in fantasy football. I think
they should. I think they should, And it's something that
I'm like preaching right now as gospel as I am

(01:06:31):
like getting more into the running back charting as well.

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
I'm going to dig into it more. I'm going to
dig into it more. I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:06:37):
Let everyone know what you're working on, though. What's going
on at reception Perception? How awful of a coworker Matt
Harmon is all that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
Matt's the worst huge No, no, no, it's the most
humble dude you'll ever find. But no, it's been great
over there. Obviously, we're doing stuff. I'm writing for Yahoo,
I'm creating content for Rodal Wire.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:06:57):
I just have bro I'm obsessed with finding jobs and
I just got to keep working, you know. But but yeah,
fantasy football is my life, man. I love doing what
I'm doing here. We're doing running back charting now for
reception perception as well. If you want to find me
at James dco on all the socials, whether it's Instagram, TikTok,
you know, Twitter x or or hell even YouTube. If

(01:07:18):
you want to find me out YouTube, you can go
and do that too and shoot me a message. I'm
pretty good about getting back to d MS.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Yes, yes, I'm on Twitter at Late Round QB, Blue
Sky at Late Round QB, all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Make sure you're checking out Lateround dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Subscribe to the show, subscribe to the YouTube channel YouTube
dot com slash at Late Round FF. Thanks for listening everyone,
but more importantly, thanks for tuning in

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

24/7 News: The Latest

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Late-Round Perspectives: James Koh

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

24/7 News: The Latest

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

Late-Round Perspectives: James Koh

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark