August 29, 2025 • 57 mins
Summer may be winding down, but football season is heating up with Justin Fields taking the captain's role at the Jets and a surprisingly functional Giants QB room featuring Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, and rookie Jackson Dart.
• NFL bombshell as Micah Parsons heads to Green Bay for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks in a trade that reshapes the NFC
• Cowboys may have severely undervalued their generational edge rusher who signed a record $188 million contract with the Packers
• Nolan McLean makes Mets history with three straight wins to start his career, besting legends like Seaver, Doc, and deGrom
• Yankees struggle against Boston before steadying against Washington, while Anthony Volpe's slump deepens despite a "mental reset"
• Cal Riley joins Mickey Mantle as only the second switch-hitter to hit 50 home runs in a season
• Fantasy football insights include Rasheed Rice's six-game suspension creating opportunities for Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown
• High-floor running backs like Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard offer stability in mid-rounds
• Late-round tight end targets Tucker Kraft and Hunter Henry provide surprising upside potential
Make sure to send your fantasy start/sits, Jets and Giants panic meter readings, and Mets/Yankees vibes to the mailbag for next week's episode.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I guess there's only one way to find out.
Let's do it to it right.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
All engines running.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, don't be mad.
(00:23):
Summer's almost over.
Look on the bright side.
Football is back.
It's almost hoodie season, themost elite weather known to
mankind, perfect for yelling atthe TV and begging for one more
catch for a player on yourfantasy team.
Welcome to episode 28.
I am Ian Rice.
This is Rice on the Mics, andhere's the lineup.
(00:45):
Today we start local.
In the NFL, the Jets slapped acaptaincy on Justin Fields'
fourth system in five years.
The staff is preaching patienceand operation, but week one
versus Pittsburgh will tell thetruth and set the tone.
Then we go over to the Giants,where the QB room is weirdly
functional and actually fun.
(01:06):
Russ is the adult in the room,Jameis is the late-night yoga
personality hire and rookieJackson Dart is there just
soaking it up trying to figureit out.
Then the league bombshell thatjust flipped the NFC Micah
Parsons is a Packer.
We'll talk why the Packersfinally went all-in and why the
(01:28):
Cowboys might have just settheir own defense on fire.
Baseball after that NolanMcLean did something Sievert,
doc and DeGrom never did.
The Mets' bats finally woke up.
And another young stud is onthe way up In the Bronx.
Yankees got dog-walked byBoston and then took care of
business with the Nats.
Stanton, mash Schlittler shovedand Volpe's mini-benching
(01:50):
didn't really fix much Aroundthe league.
Cal Riley joins Mickey Mantle,zach Wheeler's season is done
and the Brewers might havepeaked at the wrong time.
We'll sneak in some US Openquick hitters and then we'll
land this plane with somefantasy.
Rasheed Rice suspension, najeeHarris gets activated, joe
Mixon's in trouble, plus somehigh floor running backs and
(02:11):
late round tight ends that youcan target.
All right, crack the knuckles,grab your coffee.
Locals.
First Jets and Giants, thenwe'll get messy with Micah.
Stay tuned.
Tranquility Base here.
(02:33):
The Eagle has landed.
We kicked things off this weekwith the Jets and unfortunately
it's with a little Justin Fieldsreality check the brass at
Florham Park.
They put the C on Justin andthe messaging feels grown up,
which is good.
It's optimism.
(02:57):
With a little side of patience,I guess GM Darren Mugee.
Mugee got quoted as saying thathe can be one of those guys,
but it takes time and he waskind of referencing Baker
Mayfield on another team, samDarnold on another team.
But this is his fourth system infive years and that is a lot of
mental rewiring, from theverbiage to the checkouts to
(03:20):
just alerting his new personnel.
But I don't know, whateverstock you put into the preseason
, it told the story of a QBstill settling in you could see
that Goes four for nine with 46,but no throws longer than nine
yards in the air.
But he did flash the wheels alittle bit with a 13-yard TD run
(03:43):
when the pocket collapsed.
So they're trying to.
He's figuring out out againit's preseason.
Who cares?
Right, tanner, engstrom, the oc.
He just keeps hammering thesame thing home operation and
command.
That's what he's telling themedia and that's kind of the
mountain that fields has toclimb.
Right, career 61% completionpercentage.
(04:06):
His game is going to be makethe layups and don't miss the
big plays when they presentthemselves and around him.
After Garrett Wilson it'sprove-it territory.
I mean, josh Reynolds issomewhat steady, I guess, and
they got a rookie tight end inMason Taylor who could quietly
(04:28):
put up some numbers just basedupon volume alone.
If he's going to be the numbertwo and again they're going to
start splitting Brees' haul outto the slot, maybe Week one
versus Pittsburgh is going to bethe truth serum, though.
Being named captain is cool,but, third down, rhythm is what
buys you some patience in thistown.
(04:51):
This team is going to play aboring brand of football this
year.
It's going to be run, run,short pass, but if it's one
thing that this fan base knows,is that that is a path to
success for us at least.
Hard-nosed coach, tough defense, smash-mouth football with a QB
(05:14):
that isn't asked to do too muchthat's how the Jets went to
back-to-back AFC championships.
So if that's what it takes toget there, shut up and take my
money, I'm good, sign me up.
Now on to the Giants, the roomand the rookie.
This QB room, which everybodythought was maybe a disaster to
(05:39):
start, actually looks kind offun and functional, if I'm being
honest.
Actually looks kind of fun andfunctional, if I'm being honest.
Russell Wilson is thedisgustingly consistent adult in
the room.
He's policing tempo andshowcasing that he can still
throw the deep ball, being onwide receivers' asses by texting
them about route, detail andall that good stuff being the
(06:02):
real leader of the room.
Right Then it's James Winston.
He is the real leader of theroom.
Right Then it's Jameis Winston.
He is the vibes guy, thepersonality hire, the teammate
that keeps things light andmakes sure everyone is having
some fun staying out of theirown heads Between a little
late-night yoga and stretchingwith Jackson Dart.
He's been the QB that's beenlast off the field thrown to the
(06:27):
young receivers to make surethat everyone is getting
involved, and that's a toughrole to swallow this late in
your career.
But then he's also eaten Ws onthe sideline with Dart after the
Patriots game.
So the front office triedeverything right.
They poked around Stafford,they maybe wanted Rodgers, they
considered moving up for CamWard, they even studied Shador.
(06:49):
And here's where they landedRuss and Jameis for now, jackson
Dart for tomorrow.
That's not bad.
They even told teams no ontrading Jameis, because he
matters to the room and hematters to the kids.
He's really come a long waysince stealing crab legs out of
Florida State.
(07:10):
Now my sermon to Giant fans.
I know, I know, I know you wantto see the kid in action, but
trust me when I say this theworst thing that you could do is
rush Jackson Dart.
Look at the schedule and thefront sevens that you're going
(07:31):
to be facing and setting up forthat's a.
It's going to be a recipe fordisaster if you want to start it
right away.
First off, you got Washington'sline, which is no joke.
Then you got Chiefs with ChrisJones and Chargers with Khalil
Mack.
That's exactly how you teachbad habits fast by putting him
against players like that, toquote the replacements.
(07:54):
What's your biggest fear?
Quicksand.
One thing goes wrong and thenanother, and then another, and
before you know it you feel likeyou're getting swallowed up
like quicksand.
The best thing for Jackson Dartis to let him marinate, let him
learn.
It's clear that his time willcome, but for now, don't rush it
(08:14):
.
Wilson is enough of a pro tosneak out some wins that you
guys probably could have hadlast year without Daniel Jones.
And if he gets hurt, jameiswill come in and, yeah, he'll
throw some picks, but guess what?
He's also going to throw somebombs to neighbors.
Speaking of neighbors, by theway, he said the back tightness
was a minor thing and that he'sgoing to be ready for week one.
He lives on volume and he ledthe league last year in 11.3
(08:39):
targets per game.
So with Russ and calling him athreat at every depth level on
the field, that's your heartbeatright there, that's your bread
and butter.
So, mixing some hard runningwith Tracy and Scadabo along
with a stout front seven that isbeing touted as a strong Giants
(08:59):
defense.
I hate to even say this.
The Gi Giants even with aterrible schedule, they could
maybe make a little bit of noisehere.
Now you'll notice that when Iwas reading off the D-lines that
the Giants will be facing inthe first four weeks, I left off
Dallas, and that is becauseMicah Parsons is now a Green Bay
(09:24):
Packer.
Like I've been saying the pastcouple weeks, if you've been
listening, I've been all overthis.
Jerry Jones and his ego gets inthe way of holding on to a
generational player and Dallasshifts him off for Kenny Clark
and two first-round picks.
Green Bay follows that upimmediately, gives him a
four-year $188 million, 120fully guaranteed richest
(09:48):
non-quarterback deal ever.
Here's my plain English take,okay, the Cowboys straight up
got fleeced.
Look, they get Kenny Clark backand he's a good pro, don't get
me wrong.
But he turns 30 this season and, with all due respect, he can't
(10:09):
hold Micah's jock.
And the two firsts.
If Micah is Micah, which, nowthat he got traded, he's going
to be playing with a fuckingvengeance.
Green Bay is going to bepicking late like mid to late
20s, more than likely.
So you traded an apex predatorfor a solid defensive tackle.
Green Bay is going to bepicking late like mid to late
20s, more than likely.
So you traded an apex predatorfor a solid defensive tackle and
(10:31):
two likely late first roundpicks, which you'll probably be
using to try and find an edgerusher.
Cool man, cool plan.
Here's what else you could havedone.
You could have just paid theyoungest best edge rusher in
football.
And this is.
This isn't like the jetstrading jamal adams to a fading
(10:51):
seattle where the picks age likewine.
By the way, those picks turnedinto avt and garrett wilson.
For the record, this is micahparsons, 26 year old in prime,
getting traded to an ascendingPackers team that already broke
character by drafting MatthewGolden in the first round, first
(11:12):
time they drafted a receiver in20 years.
They spent in free agency, andnow they've added the league's
scariest non-Aaron Donalddefender.
They acted like a team thatsees a window and they jumped
all over it.
And as for Dallas.
Well, congratulations.
You have now created aleadership and identity void.
(11:36):
A week before kickoff, onceagain prove to the league that
your owner is a hothead.
Got absolutely fleeced in atrade for a player.
I mean, the Khalil Mack dealwas two first rounders, a third
and a sixth.
And Khalil Mack nothing againsthim is shit on the shoe
compared to Micah Parsons.
(11:58):
Gave you four years, four ProBowls, never less than 12 sacks
a year and he he totaled 52.5over those four years.
Him and Reggie White are theonly two guys to start like that
.
Reggie White, you don't replacethat guy with a committee of
picks and you don't trade thatguy away.
(12:21):
You put your ego aside and youfigure out the differences.
Paradoxically, though, from afantasy aspect, this actually
helps Cowboys fantasy pieces.
A worsened defense equals moreshootouts and by losing Micah
they are going to be in moreshootouts.
So that's more volume for Dak,more volume for CeeDee Lamb and
(12:42):
more volume for George Pickens.
Also, wide receivers and QBs,get a little bit of bump against
Dallas defense and the Packersdefense.
If you want to stream now, getsa little bit stronger.
Look, the longer, the short.
If I had to explain teambuilding in four steps to
someone brand new to the game,to an alien that just landed on
(13:04):
the planet.
Right, this is how it would go.
It would be step one get aquarterback.
Step two, get someone to attacktheir quarterback.
Step three, get someone toprotect your quarterback.
And step four, get someone foryour quarterback to throw to.
Four easy steps right, dallasjust traded away arguably the
(13:26):
best player in football at thesecond most important job on
that list.
Well done, guys.
All right, we'll wrap thissegment up with some league news
.
Rasheed Rice accepts hissix-game suspension.
Kc keeps eight wide receiverson their roster planning for
(13:47):
this, and we'll dive a littledeeper in that in the fantasy
segment later.
Najee Harris gets activated bythe Chargers.
Doesn't guarantee he's going toplay week one in Brazil, but it
does signal that they don'texpect him to be in as bad a
shape as they thought he was.
I mean, at one point it lookedlike he couldn't even open his
eye.
So I guess Harbaugh's willingto trust somebody that has
(14:09):
vision problems already.
Joe Mixon gets sent to the IRand he's out at least four weeks
, and Nick Cassero won't committo him playing at all this
season, which is crazy to thinkabout.
That backfield is now going tobe led by Nick Chubb and Damian
Pierce.
Nick Chubb has one knee.
Maybe Terry McCormick gets thebag, ends his hold in $44.65
(14:30):
million guaranteed over threeyears and Jaden Daniels gets his
wide receiver one back.
I think my tune is starting tochange about Dallas.
Go back to Washington.
This year Vikings brought homeAdam Thielen in a trade, which
is great for him.
It was a great video, it wascute.
He got traded back home and hewas telling his kids hey, we're
(14:51):
going home.
That's always fun.
Jaguars two-way rookie TravisHunter is cleared.
They still plan to use him bothways and his camp reps have
been 50-50.
He won the Heisman, won thereceiver award.
He is the best receiver comingout of this draft, which is
crazy.
But him playing both ways I'mstill a little nervous about.
And again, matthew Golden beenshowcasing that 4-2-9 speed,
(15:15):
made a beautiful contested39-yard catch in practice.
That wide receiver was dyingfor a true alpha and Jordan Love
might have just found him wasdying for a true alpha and
Jordan Love might have justfound him.
So that's what's going onaround the league.
Baseball is next and we'restarting in Queens first,
because Nolan McLean just madesome history.
Then we're shooting over to theYankees, trying to steadily ee
(15:37):
the ship a little bit, followedby some league headlines Cal
Riley's record chase, zachWheeler's brutal injury.
Brewers are wobbling.
We'll sprinkle in some US Openquick hitters a little bit later
and we're going to close withsome fantasy football, some
high-end four-running backs andsome late-round tight ends.
Plenty left to talk about.
(15:58):
Keep it right here.
The vibe has flipped in Queensand the rally really started
with the Nolan McLean debut.
(16:18):
The kid gets called up, goesfive and a third scoreless
against Seattle.
Eight strikeouts, two hits andthe crowd goes nuts flashing all
the pitches high 70s, curve,sweeper, cutter, sinker, heater
in the high 90s.
Not a bad debut, if I do say somyself.
(16:39):
Then Edwin Diaz comes in,finishes it off, gets saved
number 24, continuing to be thebest closer in baseball and the
big three, lindor, soto andAlonzo, got the job done for a
3-1 win.
Okay, that's start one for them.
Then on to Atlanta.
Mclean goes right back out andstacks seven strong innings a
(17:03):
rare feat for Mets pitchersnowadays.
Win number two, four hits, tworuns, zero walks all while the
lineup dropped 21 hits.
Soto goes yard drove in four.
Brett Beatty has a career-highfour hits.
Game two the bats continue tostay hot too.
(17:23):
Mcneil and Vientos both bangedtwo, six homers in total in the
game and I guess it's contagious, because Clay Holmes gives you
six and a third.
Yes, six and a third for a guythat can't get out of the fourth
.
Steady work, they get a 9-2 winin Atlanta.
Atlanta took the finale 4-3 but, more importantly, the Mets
(17:46):
left town with a series W in thehouse of horrors that Atlanta
has been and so much needed.
We can do this oxygen.
Then they roll right into themonumental Philly series at City
, and I was there for game one.
The place was jumping.
They go down 3-0 early and thenit just avalanched.
(18:10):
Luis Terrence matched hiscareer high with a five-ribby
night, filling in for FranciscoAlvarez.
Who's hurt?
Mark Vientos has come alive.
In his last couple games Rips atwo-run RBI double, jeff McNeil
pushes across another three andthe Mets, for once in their life
(18:33):
, hit with runners in scoringposition going 11 for 19.
A rare feat for this team thewhole year.
They put up a 13-3 answer.
Now Senga wasn't his best, butthe Metsies got after
Christopher Sanchez, who gave upa season-high six runs and on
(18:53):
top of it we even had a10-minute delay in center field
over a parabolic mic.
That's for TBS, for SNY, AlecBoehm, you know.
Leave it to the Phillies toblame something else for why
they're losing than their ownactual performance.
Never a dull moment, rightPhillies postgame we've been
ripped into Alec Boehm, callinghim an idiot for pointing
(19:15):
something out that had nothingto do with the game and delaying
Sanchez's ability to get backon the field.
It was a 19-minute delay.
You cost your pitcher.
Okay, so fine.
Game two Lay in and gut check.
Diaz came in early and struckout four of five, cleaning up
Ryan Halesley's mess, whocoughed up the lead to a
(19:37):
Harrison Bader three-run homerun.
Even Lindor had to give him alittle bit of credit and the
boos were so loud for RyanHelsley.
But that ninth inning with Diazwas a chef's kiss Tie.
Game four straight singles offPhilly's big trade deadline
(19:57):
acquisition Johan Duran, martebang, alonzo bang, beatty bang.
Then here comes Nimmo boop,little 6'5" single walk-off, how
you doing?
Okay.
Now game three, aka the McLeanshow, the guy that got this
whole rally started, and it washistoric stuff, literally not an
(20:25):
exaggeration.
He's the first Mets pitcher toever win his first three starts
and he did it with eightscoreless on 95 pitches, faced
the minimum into the seventh andthen gave up a couple bloops
here and there.
Mendoza, let him sit forced,weak contact to escape an
eighth-inning jam.
Mendoza, let him sit, forced,weak contact to escape an
(20:46):
eighth-inning jam.
He now sits at a .89 ERA with21 strikeouts through three
starts.
That's the lowest rookie ERAover the first three in Mets
history, which is a crazy statto say out loud, knowing that
the pitchers the Mets have hadin their franchise history.
That's better than Seaver's1.19.
It's better than franchisehistory.
(21:06):
That's better than Severs 1.19.
It's better than Doc and it'sbetter than DeGrom.
And on top of it, those 21strikeouts only trail Matt
Harvey and Nolan Ryan over aMets pitcher's first three
starts.
Matt Harvey and Nolan Ryan andthe bats stay hot
too.
Vientos continues to rake.
He added another RBI single anda two run home run to really
(21:28):
like hammer it home.
Nimmo had three hits 6-0.
Final little suck.
This how's the sweep?
How you doing?
The kid came up, saw the momentin front of him, didn't back
down and he attacked the hilland honestly, it definitely lit
a spark under a bunch of theseguys's asses too.
(21:50):
They hit 568, with runners inscoring position for the whole
series and now they're seven andtwo versus Philly this year.
So now they own the tie breakon the season, meaning if they
finish with the same recordsomehow at the end of the year,
they win the division.
They cut the division gap downto four games and they have a
(22:13):
four-gamer with Philly fromSeptember 8th to September 11th.
Aka it's business time.
And the kids' theme keeps onrolling
too.
Jonah Tong akathan, aka babylincecum, is finally getting the
call up and starting fridayagainst miami.
He's been the best pitcher inthe minors, 10 and 5, with a 143
(22:35):
era.
He's got 179 strikeouts in 113innings across double a and
triple a.
He's almost got 200 strikeoutson a year.
Opponents are hitting 148against
them.
Management is playing it slow,saying you know the plan is turn
by turn and there's matchups,but let's be honest, this is the
(22:57):
next shot in the arm that thisteam needs and meanwhile the
team is holding the playersaccountable.
Aka Senga, they want him to bemore consistent and, honestly,
they say he might need more rest.
Okay, message sent.
David Stearns plays no gamesand he has a short list of
(23:17):
friends.
So if you're not doing your job, there is a very short leash
and you can expect to have aconversation in his office
sooner rather than later Ifyou're fucking up the clean.
Just set the table and madehistory and, unfairly, mets fans
are going to look to Tong to doeither the same thing or be
even better.
So we're going to have totemper our expectations a little
(23:39):
bit.
But God man, oh man, if thiskid comes up and dominates just
how McLean is doing, the Metsare on a fast track to success.
One quick note FranciscoAlvarez, in his rehab game ropes
a double and then his next atbat gets plunked on the left
(24:01):
hand and fractures his pinky.
So he said he's going to try,because he's a tough son of a
bitch, but not what you want tosee for a guy who's already down
rehabbing trying to get betterfrom a broken thumb.
Now let's take it to the Bronx,because it's time to get on the
(24:22):
Yankees a little bit, fromgetting dog-walked to beating
teams that they're supposedto.
But let's not sugarcoat thatBoston series.
The Red Sox came into yourhouse, into your stadium, and
beat the hell out of you.
Game 1, 6-3 loss to Boston.
(24:45):
Rookie Roman Anthony owned thenight completely.
He's got an RBI single and thena ninth inning two-run bomb.
Boston went 3-for 19 withrunners in scoring position, and
they still beat New Yorkbecause they kicked it around.
The error machine continues toplow its way through Yankees
defense.
Nathaniel Lowe's RBI double inthe seventh put Boston ahead for
(25:08):
good.
Lucas Gilito gave up three andfour and two thirds but they
still couldn't get after itbecause the Sox bullpen stacked
a five and a third scoreless.
Not to mention Chappie comes inand nails his 23rd save of the
year.
Luis Hill came in, walked fivein five.
Another disappointing outingfrom someone who was supposed to
(25:30):
be back in May.
Disappointing outing fromsomeone who was supposed to be
back inMay.
So let's go on to game three,game two, excuse me, one nothing
Boston win in Yankee Stadium.
They let Brian Bellow, who'squietly had a pretty good year,
just shove his way on the hilland do whatever he want.
Seven innings, three hits, onlyfour base runners the whole
(25:52):
game and with that loss Bostonclinches the season series.
Connor Wong drove in the onlyrun, garrett Whitlock struck out
Stanton on three outsidepitches to end the eighth and
Chapman grabbed yet another saveagainst his old club.
Yankees were held to three hitsor fewer for the ninth time
(26:13):
this season.
Just another example of thehome run or bust mentality with
this squad.
So okay, two games down, two togo.
You know, worst case, let's getthe split.
Yeah, goodluck.
Game three a 12-1 Boston winAgain in your house, and this
one got sideways quick.
Crochet goes out was in fullcommand of everything.
(26:35):
He went seven strong, racked up11 strikeouts.
Trevor Story goes deep, drovein three, omar Nevaez hit a late
two run shot and as for theYankees, stanton just continues
to drive in useless home runs.
He's been hot and I will givehim credit, but he is the king
of either up 12 or down 12 andhit a home
run.
(26:55):
Meanwhile, will Warren, whomight have supposedly been the
kind of savior, maybe not getsbattered around and Boston bang
out 17 hits against them, evenafter getting embarrassed at
home, though the schedulesoftens up a little bit and they
walked into a get-right seriesagainst the Nationals because
(27:19):
Game 1, 10-5 win over the Nats.
Cody Bellinger drove in three,ben Rice shout-out Rice on the
mics hit a 435-foot tank andJazz launched number 25 and cam
schittler excuse me, camschlittler worked six scoreless,
which you love to see.
(27:40):
Jason dominguez got after ittoo a little three run shot and
uh, it's a good thing.
They did all that too, becausethey had to white knuckle it.
In the ninth the gnats put upfive, a Jacob Young grand slam.
Damage was done already, butjust goes to show how that
bullpen looks 10-1, all of asudden
10-5.
Anyway, game two take care ofbusiness.
(28:02):
Again 5-1.
Win Stanton had his best nightin a while, to be honest with
you.
Bases clear and double and thenhits a 450, fun 451 foot nuke,
which is his fifth home run inseven games.
And Luis Hill bounced backafter his bad start, looked a
(28:23):
little better.
Goes five.
Only gave up one run.
Listen, the Yankees beat up asolid pitcher in Mackenzie Gore,
which is what you want to see.
Again, it's home run orbust.
With this team, the big problemis the big, giant, enormous,
astronomical elephant in theroom.
It's Anthony Volpe.
(28:44):
He gets benched toquote-unquote reset himself and
then only to return to go to thelineup to go to 0-4.
This slump is real and the fansare only getting louder and
louder.
He got a two-game mental resetafter going 1-28, and then he
still comes back in the lineupand goes 0-4.
(29:05):
So now that's 1-32, hittingaround 2-06, and oh, not to
mention he's leading the majorswith 17 errors.
In fact, he did what everybaseball player dreads and made
two outs in one inning becausethey batted around and on top of
it, when they were up so big,he got struck out by a fucking
(29:27):
position player late in the game.
He's been out in front ofbreaking balls and just
expanding his zone so much helooks so lost at the
plate.
And Boone just continues tofeed the fans the same old
garbage saying to keep the faith.
And he's wired right and he'sgot good swings and he hits the
(29:49):
ball hard, but it's just rightat somebody.
The fans don't want to hearthat.
The fans are restless, theydon't give a shit.
They're looking at a shortstopwhich was Derek Jeter and then
Didi and then this any, and thisguy was supposed to be the next
Jeter.
That's what Cashman sold themon.
The fans arerestless.
(30:10):
I got a starting shortstop thatyou miss the window on sending
him down to try and fix him andnow you have to just deal with
it and try to get him rightwhile he's playing, which might
cost you games.
He's batting below the Mendozaline and leading the league in
errors.
Yeah, I'm allowed to be prettyannoyed with his play and also,
(30:32):
honestly, I'm allowed toquestion your management.
Boom, what are we doing it?
I understand trying to give thekid a rope and like let him try
to figure it out and playthrough it, but it's past that
now.
It's past.
He needs to sit.
You traded for a shortstop thatplays a better shortstop for
(30:52):
him.
If I was a Yankee fan and Iwatched him throw a ball 10 feet
over Goldschmidt's head onemore time, I might literally
throw my fucking remote just asfar as he threw that ball into
the stands.
I sound like I'm bitching andmoaning like I am a Yankee fan
and I promise you I'm not evenclose to a Yankee fan, but I'm
in touch with the people.
(31:13):
I understand the Yankee fans'vitriol that they have with this
kid.
It has to stop.
All right, anyway, let's dosome stories from around the
league.
Okay, cal Riley is just on avideo game level heater.
Sunday he hits number 48 and 49to set the single season
(31:37):
catcher home run record, passingSalvador Perez.
Then the next night hitsanother one, becomes just the
second switch hitter ever to hit50 in a season.
You know who the other guy wasMickey fucking Mantle.
He's also got nine multi-homerun games as a switch hitter,
(31:57):
which also passes MickeyMantle's record of eight.
He's got 31 games left to chaseMantle's 54 and Griffey's
Mariner's mark of 56.
And, honestly, if he stays hot,he might even pass Judge's 63.
He's done this all whileplaying a ton behind the plate
(32:20):
and in a park that, honestly,isn't home run friendly either.
Only nine of his home runs havebeen when he's de-aging, so we
might see some historyhere.
Moving on to this is a littlebit of a sore spot.
Even though he is a philly I Igot a soft spot for zach wheeler
.
He is, uh, he's done for theyear with thoracic outlet
(32:45):
surgery syndrome.
However you want to put it,it's pretty much a death
sentence for pitchers.
The timeline is six to eightmonths, but realistically and
based on history of this surgery, he probably will never be the
same pitcher that he was, whichis a shame too, because, I've
said it before, the worst thingthe Wilpons did was let him walk
(33:07):
and go to the Phillies, and ifhe kept this trajectory up, he
was probably going to go intothe Hall of Fame.
And the worst part was he wouldgo into the Hall of Fame as a
Philly, not a Met.
I mean, he was having aridiculous season this year.
He had 195 strikeouts in 149innings with a .27 ERA.
That's literally one of thebest pitchers in baseball and
(33:28):
he's gone just like that.
Now the Phillies do still havedepth, I guess with Sanchez and
Suarez and Lizardo and Nola, butthere's no replacing a guy like
Wheeler.
Therejust isn't.
Staying in the NL too.
The Brewers they might havepeaked at the wrong time.
They look like the best team inbaseball right now and they
(33:50):
have the best record and climbedthe charts.
But you got to peak inSeptember because now their
all-star closer, trevor McGill.
He's on the 15-day IL with aflexor strain, which aka
probably means Tommy John, andbefore that he blew three of his
last four save attempts.
If the playoffs were to starttoday, I think the Mets play
(34:15):
either the Dodgers or the Padres, which would mean that the
Phillies would play the Brewersor the Cubs, or the Brewers
would play the Cubs, but eitherway, this is another case of
I'll see it when I believe it inthe playoffs for the Brewers.
They always seem to choke itaway.
That's it for baseballright now.
(34:36):
But I want to touch on the usopen, because this isa new
york-based show and we are soblessed that we get a tennis
major in our city every year andsome people might scoff at
tennis, but let me tell yousomething right now Seeing
tennis in person, man, it'selectric, it's so fun.
(34:58):
So just a quick couple ofhitters on some of the Americans
right now.
Coco Gauff, winner last year,survived a three-setter, 10
double faults.
She got broken six times.
She's working on her serve.
They're trying to figure thingsout but she won six, four, six,
seven, seven, five.
(35:18):
She barely pulled it out sogood for her.
Francis tiafoe rolled throughround two 15 uso wins since 2022
.
He loves ash.
He literally was quoted assaying it just feels different.
Here I feed offthe crowd.
And madison keys she had arough one man.
She had 89 unforced errors and14 double faults in three match
(35:42):
upset against renata zarusa,zarua, zarua, whatever it is.
I was in the stands for thatone.
I was at the us open that thatday.
I knew she was going to lose.
I could just tell Keys didn'thave it and Renata is a smart
player.
It was like 11.30.
The sun was slamming down onArthur Ashe and whenever Keys
(36:06):
was in the sun, renata justplayed defense, made her play in
the sun went back and forth,made her make the errors and
then, whenever it was her turnto serve in the sun, she just
tried to hammer her serve homeas fast as she could to get out
of the sun.
She had a game plan, she stuckto it and it worked.
Hey, that's how sportsgo right.
And my boy Medveded I.
(36:28):
I like him, I think he's a goodplayer, but he's also a fucking
head case, as of late.
He's not wrong.
He was a photographer, walkedon the court between serves on
match point, which is like a bigno, no, and Medvedev lost his
mind.
He rallied to a fifth set andthen he lost it, but he like
(36:51):
blew up about it, blamed thephotographer, and then the
photographer's credentials gotpulled too, which is I don't
know.
It's a little aggressive for me, but to be honest, it's kind of
on brand for new york, becausenew yorkers don't give a fuck
where they're walking, they justneed to get where they're going
right, all right, well, well,that's it for the diamond and a
(37:12):
little dashof tennis.
Fantasy football closes theshow.
I got Cowboys fallout withMicah Gunn, chiefs, wide
receiver pivots with RasheedRice out, and I got some high
floor running backs to stabilizeyour roster and little late
round tight end darts thatactually hit.
So stick around, you don't wantto miss it.
(37:43):
Here we are on to fantasy timeto help you win your league.
Quick heads up though this issome late fantasy news to get
you readyfor kickoff.
If you want the full deep dive,the rankings, the tiers, the
(38:03):
sleepers, the fades, thestacking maps, the who to avoid
that's all in last week'sepisode, the Fantasy
Extravaganza.
That's your master file.
I promise you if you listen toit and you pay attention, you
will not be disappointed in theinfo that I give you.
And, by the way, also don't beafraid to DM me if you have any
(38:25):
questions.
But this is the update sincethen, because some news broke
over the past couple daysRasheed Rice is suspended for
six games and he isn't going toappeal it.
So that's why the Chiefs kepteight wide receivers, for a
(38:50):
reason I guess Seems like theymight have had a little bit of
inside information that he'd begone for these six weeks.
So, while his ADP falls anddon't be afraid to snag him if
he falls real, real late hereare some players that you can
snag late at a discount thatwill do well while he's gone,
and these are Kansas Cityplayers.
(39:12):
So, as a side note, mahomes isstill Mahomes and he has a
little bit of that Aaron Rodgersin him where once he finds a
guy that he trusts, it doesn'tmatter if it's the next guy in
line or it's peanut boy out ofthe stands.
If he finds someone that helikes, he sticks with them.
So this is just a smalldisclaimer that any one of these
(39:34):
guys couldblow up.
But first on the list ishollywood brown.
He's kind of probably thesafest play.
He's got wide receiver twousage and he gets the red zone
looks.
But xavier worthy is where I'dspend my money.
He's a little bit boom or bustflex option, to be sure, but
(39:58):
even with his rise in ADP nowyou can probably snag him as a
bench player with potential inthe seventh.
He's got explosive touches.
He takes the ball to thebackfield, sometimes he takes
deep shots.
Xavier Worthy is where I'dspend my money.
Juju honestly I forgot he waseven on this roster.
(40:21):
He's boring, boring floor.
Even in a full PPR he gets slotvolume on third down.
I don't know I'd pass on himUnless you're in a 16-man league
.
And don't know I'd pass on himUnless you're in a 16-man league
and you're desperate, I'd passon him.
Now some other players of notethat have big fantasy
(40:42):
implications.
First on the list is NajeeHarris.
Well, with his bad eye, nobodythought he'd be ready to go.
He got activated, so it doesn'texactly guarantee week one, but
that means that he's trackingand he's probably going to see
(41:03):
some snaps.
Now expect a committee withOmarion Hampton and I would say
my outlook early season Najee'sgoing to get some touches, but
he's probably going to get thegoal line and the short yardage
touches, whereas Amarion isgoing to get the big space
touches, the dump-offs, whatever.
(41:23):
They're both going to beflex-worthy early in the season.
But I fully expect that AmarionHampton is going to explode on
the scene and it's only going totake one or two big runs for
Harbaugh to go.
Okay, you're an every down backand we'll give you the
occasional breatherwith Najee.
(41:45):
Next on the list is TonyPollard.
He gets the runway in Tennessee.
He is locked into an RB2 rolewith volume and pass game, with
Tajay Spears going on the IRwith an ankle injury.
The only people behind him areJulius Chestnut and Kalel
(42:08):
Mullins.
So let me know if you've everheard of any of them before.
So maybe those guys are deepbench stashes if Tony Pollard
gets hurt, but honestly it's noteven worth it.
So if you're doing like a zerorunning back strategy or like a
hero running back strat and youhave your guy or you have your
(42:30):
three solid receivers and nowyou're looking for like a RB1,
rb2 kind of guy in the fifth,sixth, seventh round, pollard is
the guy 100%.
Now Joe Mixon tothe IR.
A lot of people have beendrafting Joe Mixon because oh,
he might come back, he might not.
Well, he's on the IR now.
He's out at least four gamesand the coach has been ho-hum
(42:55):
about it if he's even going toplay this season, which leaves
Nick Chubb to be the lead man.
But if you watch Nick Chubb'scollege career and you watch his
professional career, he hasabout a half a knee on his one
person and it's also his seventhyear at age 29.
So that leaves Damian Pierce.
(43:16):
He's the change-up pace back.
But he's got experience withhis team and in this system.
So if I was a betting man I'dbe putting my money on Pierce.
I would say he's probably goingto be the lead back sooner
rather than later, whether it befrom injury from Chubb or just
like aperformance takeover.
(43:37):
Now Micah getting traded has awater effect ripple on
everything.
So the Cowboys defense now getsway worse.
Without him there, nobody tosack the quarterback, nobody to
sack the quarterback, nobody torush the quarterback.
More time behind, that leads tomore shootouts.
(43:59):
So that bumps Dak, that bumpsCD, that bumps Pickens and,
honestly, it bumps Jake Fergusontoo.
All their volume, there reallyis no running game to speak of
in Dallas.
And if they're going to be downin games, dak is going to have
to play some hero ball so he maythrow some more interceptions
(44:23):
but honestly, the yards thathe's going to be throwing for
it'll make upfor it.
And now with Micah going to thePackers defense, if you're
looking for a streamer optionweek to week and just need a
couple sacks and need like sixpoints, eight points, five
points out of your defensePackers, might be a pretty solid
option to stream for the year.
(44:45):
So how about another scenariofor you?
Let's say you're drafting 10thout of 12, or 12 out of 14, or
even 12 out of 12.
And for whatever reason, nicoCollins or Malik Neighbors or
Puka Nakua falls to you in the12th and now you're on the
(45:08):
wraparound and you don't want togo receiver, receiver, it's
important to make sure you buildyour floor as high as you can.
That's the whole point infantasy football.
Right?
Get guys that will raise thefloor of your team in total to
the highest it can be.
So let's say, you take that bigname wide receiver or even
(45:32):
Brock Bowers or something, right?
Okay, whatever, who cares?
Right, these are the guys totake to raise your floor on the
wraparound to keep your teambalanced and also
explosive too.
So first on the list is DerrickHenry.
He might not fall to you thatlate, but Derek Henry has an
(45:52):
elite floor and he's got a superhigh ceiling with a super
positive script offense.
Uh, lamar being there, it'slight boxes and Mockadin loves
to feed running backs.
The only risk is his health.
Production isn't really theworry.
Again, it's.
You know it's a far shot thatderrick henry falls that far to
(46:15):
you, but if he does, that'snumber one a on the list to take
on the wraparound.
Next on the list josh jacobs.
He's somebody who definitelywill be there.
Okay, he's a bell cow on anascending offense in green bay
and even if green bay throwsmore, he is the closer and he's
the goal line guy, uh MarshawnLloyd's dinged up and now with
(46:40):
the addition of Micah on thedefense.
If the defense becomes as goodas it looks like it might be,
you're gonna run into a lot ofgame scripts where you're
running the ball late to killthe clock and that falls right
to Josh Jacobs, sothat's great.
Next on the list that you candefinitely grab even later is,
(47:02):
uh, isaiah Pacheco.
Okay, for some reason he'sfalling in drafts.
I don't know why.
I guess maybe it's because ofKareem Hunt, but his, his burst
looks back.
The depth chart behind him isvery thin.
Again, don't really worry aboutKareem Hunt.
He might vulture a TD here andthere or maybe grab a pass here
and there, but honestly, pachecois one open hole away from a
(47:27):
huge play.
And the Chiefs withoutreceivers now and Kelsey aging,
you're probably going to see alot of dump downs
to Pacheco.
Next on the list Tony Pollard,tony Pollard, I mentioned it
before.
Spears the Toshie Spears injurygives Tony Pollard super volume
(47:50):
early.
Cam Ward looks to be the truth.
At least he talks like he's thetruth.
I'm putting some stock in him.
And Cam's got some runningability and he's got an arm and
Calvin Ridley is no slouch.
So Cam's going to want to throwthe ball to Calvin Ridley,
which, once that startshappening, the box is going to
(48:12):
be lighter.
So Pollard's going to get somerun game and Pollard also has
some pass game usage.
I don't know if you know rookieQB means checkdowns.
Tony Pollard is agreat pickup.
Late Aaron Jones, next on thelist, still efficient, and he
(48:33):
gets some catches.
Jordan Mason is definitelygoing to siphon some carries.
The head coach already saidthis is going to be a committee
and Jordan Mason is definitelythe goal line guy.
But Jones might be the betterevery down play and he's getting
super discounted in drafts.
(48:55):
So those guys are definitelythe guys that you can take even
third, fourth round that couldfunction as an RB1 on your team
or at least have potential to bean RB1 on
your team.
Now, if you're going to punt onrunning backs, fine, but if
(49:17):
you're going to punt on tightends, that's a different story.
You know how it goes.
You either have to pay up earlyfor a stud or I'm going to be
sitting around watching red zoneon a Sunday hoping that in joku
can snag a touchdown to give meeight points for the day.
(49:39):
Well, I'm here to tell you, ifyou punt on tight end early and
want to snag those high-endreceivers or high onend running
backs, there's some late-roundguys that you can snag that will
give you consistency with biggame potential.
Okay, first on the list isTucker Kraft.
He is a sneakyyards-after-catch monster.
(50:04):
When he gets the ball he'sthick, he's strong, he bowls
guys over.
He was top 12 in yards-per-outrun last year too.
He was top 12 in yards per outrun last year too, and now, with
the addition of Golden, thedeep ball is going to be open.
So Kraft is going to eat overthe middle.
Tucker Kraft is a sneaky, very,very good tight end
(50:27):
this year.
Next on the list Hunter Henry.
Okay, I know Hunter Henry.
He's the guy that everybodypicks up in drafts when waiver
wire, when they have their guyon by whatever Not so much
anymore.
Man, a rookie quarterback'sbest friend is their tight end,
and this is May's second year,and when May played last year,
(50:49):
hunter Henry, that was hissecurity blanket.
They were in sync.
So May is going to look his waymore often than not right away
and also red zone targets withhunter henry.
Tyler higby he's another one.
He's a waiver wire fighter guybut he's viable while the rookie
terrence ferguson ramps up, andhe's going to get consolidated
(51:12):
targetry.
He's going to get tight up.
He's going to get consolidatedtargetry.
He's going to get tight endwork.
He's going to Devontae, adams,puka, nakua, whatever they're
all going to double those guys.
So over the middle is going tobe Tyra Higbee.
So if you're looking for 8 to10, 12 points,
it plays.
Now the last two on this list.
They're a little shaky butthey're definitely possible.
(51:35):
First is Mason Taylor from theJets.
I said it before earlier in theNFL segment.
He's a rookie but he's superathletic and Justin Fields can't
throw the ball more thanfucking 12 yards.
Okay, garrett's going to bedouble teamed because he's the
only one there and they're goingto stack the box against Brees.
So that leaves Mason Tayloropen over
(51:58):
the middle.
Just on volume alone, he couldeasily be a tight end too.
Six, seven, eight, nine, tenpoints a week with the potential
for a touchdown of 15, you takethat all day.
And then he's probably not evenbeing drafted or going, I don't
know in the last round of superdeep drafts.
And the last guy that falls inthat category same thing is
(52:20):
Dallas Goddard.
He's not really like a latedart, but he is discounted tight
in one production.
So if you miss out on theelites, he is probably one of
your best pivots.
I think you'll be all rightwith any of these
guys late.
The rule with tight end isconsistency.
(52:43):
But you don't want to chase lowvariance nobodies either.
Okay, I mean, yeah, the eliteguys, kiddo, mcbride, bowers,
they have the highest elite gamerates.
But if, if you don't want to,if you don't want to take that
guy, if you don't want to spendthe price that they're going for
(53:06):
, if you punt on tight end andyou want usable weeks with some
spike potential, not just thesix-point every week, guys,
those are the guys to takeTucker, craft, hunter, henry,
tyler, higbee, mason Taylor,dallas, goddard they won't do
(53:26):
you wrong, I promise.
Well, that's theboard Draft.
Smart, don't chase last week'sbox score and remember floor
wins you september, ceiling winsyou december.
Now let's go steal a league andlet's land this plane.
(53:50):
Huh, all right, that's episode28 in the books covered all the
locals.
Jets appear to have a plan withFields, a Giants quarterback
(54:13):
room.
That actually kind of makessense.
Micah to Green Bay flipping theentire NFC on its head.
We hit the diamond.
Mets might go on a run andNolan McLean is already writing
franchises.
First, yankees steadying theship as best they can with a
(54:34):
soft schedule ahead.
Kyle Riley is launching intohistory Wheelers.
Brutal news and the Brewersmight have peaked too early and
we sprinkled in some US openchaos.
Before closing with some latefantasy news, don't forget the
full blueprint is in last week'sfantasy
(54:55):
extravaganza episode.
If you want to dominate yourleague, make sure you give that
a listen.
I promise you this is an IanRice guarantee.
If you listen to that episode,you will not do bad this year in
fantasy.
So do me a favor.
If you had fun, if you likewhat you heard, tap five stars
(55:18):
on whatever platform you'relistening on.
Drop a quick review, even ifyou want Just a little.
Hey how you doing this wasgreat.
And send this to a friend whoargues about sports like it's a
full-time job, but really theydon't know what the fuck they're
talking about.
Right?
The mailbag is open for nextweek Fantasy start and sits.
(55:39):
Send me your roster Jets andGiants, panic meter Mets and
Yankees vibes.
Hit the DMs withit all.
I listen to everything, Irespond to everything and make
sure you check in everyWednesday for the weekly mic
check on the Instagram stories.
That's at Rice on the Radio.
(56:00):
Polls, sliders, quizzes for theweek.
Let your voice be heard.
I want to hear the pulse of thepeople.
Small programming note asfootball ramps up here.
Small programming note asfootball ramps up here.
We might spin up a second quickepisode some weeks.
Here and there A little earlyrecap, late week preview, maybe
(56:21):
some potential collabs.
So keep an eye on the socialsfor any schedule changes.
But hoodie and short season isupon us.
Don't be mad that summer's over.
Just be happy that football isback as always.
Spread good energy in thisworld and make sure you tell
(56:43):
someone you love.
I am your host, ian Rice, andthis has been rice on the mics.
Thanks for listening and I'llcatch you next week.
I guess there's only one way to find out.
Let's do it to it right.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
All engines running.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, don't be mad.
(00:23):
Summer's almost over.
Look on the bright side.
Football is back.
It's almost hoodie season, themost elite weather known to
mankind, perfect for yelling atthe TV and begging for one more
catch for a player on yourfantasy team.
Welcome to episode 28.
I am Ian Rice.
This is Rice on the Mics, andhere's the lineup.
(00:45):
Today we start local.
In the NFL, the Jets slapped acaptaincy on Justin Fields'
fourth system in five years.
The staff is preaching patienceand operation, but week one
versus Pittsburgh will tell thetruth and set the tone.
Then we go over to the Giants,where the QB room is weirdly
functional and actually fun.
(01:06):
Russ is the adult in the room,Jameis is the late-night yoga
personality hire and rookieJackson Dart is there just
soaking it up trying to figureit out.
Then the league bombshell thatjust flipped the NFC Micah
Parsons is a Packer.
We'll talk why the Packersfinally went all-in and why the
(01:28):
Cowboys might have just settheir own defense on fire.
Baseball after that NolanMcLean did something Sievert,
doc and DeGrom never did.
The Mets' bats finally woke up.
And another young stud is onthe way up In the Bronx.
Yankees got dog-walked byBoston and then took care of
business with the Nats.
Stanton, mash Schlittler shovedand Volpe's mini-benching
(01:50):
didn't really fix much Aroundthe league.
Cal Riley joins Mickey Mantle,zach Wheeler's season is done
and the Brewers might havepeaked at the wrong time.
We'll sneak in some US Openquick hitters and then we'll
land this plane with somefantasy.
Rasheed Rice suspension, najeeHarris gets activated, joe
Mixon's in trouble, plus somehigh floor running backs and
(02:11):
late round tight ends that youcan target.
All right, crack the knuckles,grab your coffee.
Locals.
First Jets and Giants, thenwe'll get messy with Micah.
Stay tuned.
Tranquility Base here.
(02:33):
The Eagle has landed.
We kicked things off this weekwith the Jets and unfortunately
it's with a little Justin Fieldsreality check the brass at
Florham Park.
They put the C on Justin andthe messaging feels grown up,
which is good.
It's optimism.
(02:57):
With a little side of patience,I guess GM Darren Mugee.
Mugee got quoted as saying thathe can be one of those guys,
but it takes time and he waskind of referencing Baker
Mayfield on another team, samDarnold on another team.
But this is his fourth system infive years and that is a lot of
mental rewiring, from theverbiage to the checkouts to
(03:20):
just alerting his new personnel.
But I don't know, whateverstock you put into the preseason
, it told the story of a QBstill settling in you could see
that Goes four for nine with 46,but no throws longer than nine
yards in the air.
But he did flash the wheels alittle bit with a 13-yard TD run
(03:43):
when the pocket collapsed.
So they're trying to.
He's figuring out out againit's preseason.
Who cares?
Right, tanner, engstrom, the oc.
He just keeps hammering thesame thing home operation and
command.
That's what he's telling themedia and that's kind of the
mountain that fields has toclimb.
Right, career 61% completionpercentage.
(04:06):
His game is going to be makethe layups and don't miss the
big plays when they presentthemselves and around him.
After Garrett Wilson it'sprove-it territory.
I mean, josh Reynolds issomewhat steady, I guess, and
they got a rookie tight end inMason Taylor who could quietly
(04:28):
put up some numbers just basedupon volume alone.
If he's going to be the numbertwo and again they're going to
start splitting Brees' haul outto the slot, maybe Week one
versus Pittsburgh is going to bethe truth serum, though.
Being named captain is cool,but, third down, rhythm is what
buys you some patience in thistown.
(04:51):
This team is going to play aboring brand of football this
year.
It's going to be run, run,short pass, but if it's one
thing that this fan base knows,is that that is a path to
success for us at least.
Hard-nosed coach, tough defense, smash-mouth football with a QB
(05:14):
that isn't asked to do too muchthat's how the Jets went to
back-to-back AFC championships.
So if that's what it takes toget there, shut up and take my
money, I'm good, sign me up.
Now on to the Giants, the roomand the rookie.
This QB room, which everybodythought was maybe a disaster to
(05:39):
start, actually looks kind offun and functional, if I'm being
honest.
Actually looks kind of fun andfunctional, if I'm being honest.
Russell Wilson is thedisgustingly consistent adult in
the room.
He's policing tempo andshowcasing that he can still
throw the deep ball, being onwide receivers' asses by texting
them about route, detail andall that good stuff being the
(06:02):
real leader of the room.
Right Then it's James Winston.
He is the real leader of theroom.
Right Then it's Jameis Winston.
He is the vibes guy, thepersonality hire, the teammate
that keeps things light andmakes sure everyone is having
some fun staying out of theirown heads Between a little
late-night yoga and stretchingwith Jackson Dart.
He's been the QB that's beenlast off the field thrown to the
(06:27):
young receivers to make surethat everyone is getting
involved, and that's a toughrole to swallow this late in
your career.
But then he's also eaten Ws onthe sideline with Dart after the
Patriots game.
So the front office triedeverything right.
They poked around Stafford,they maybe wanted Rodgers, they
considered moving up for CamWard, they even studied Shador.
(06:49):
And here's where they landedRuss and Jameis for now, jackson
Dart for tomorrow.
That's not bad.
They even told teams no ontrading Jameis, because he
matters to the room and hematters to the kids.
He's really come a long waysince stealing crab legs out of
Florida State.
(07:10):
Now my sermon to Giant fans.
I know, I know, I know you wantto see the kid in action, but
trust me when I say this theworst thing that you could do is
rush Jackson Dart.
Look at the schedule and thefront sevens that you're going
(07:31):
to be facing and setting up forthat's a.
It's going to be a recipe fordisaster if you want to start it
right away.
First off, you got Washington'sline, which is no joke.
Then you got Chiefs with ChrisJones and Chargers with Khalil
Mack.
That's exactly how you teachbad habits fast by putting him
against players like that, toquote the replacements.
(07:54):
What's your biggest fear?
Quicksand.
One thing goes wrong and thenanother, and then another, and
before you know it you feel likeyou're getting swallowed up
like quicksand.
The best thing for Jackson Dartis to let him marinate, let him
learn.
It's clear that his time willcome, but for now, don't rush it
(08:14):
.
Wilson is enough of a pro tosneak out some wins that you
guys probably could have hadlast year without Daniel Jones.
And if he gets hurt, jameiswill come in and, yeah, he'll
throw some picks, but guess what?
He's also going to throw somebombs to neighbors.
Speaking of neighbors, by theway, he said the back tightness
was a minor thing and that he'sgoing to be ready for week one.
He lives on volume and he ledthe league last year in 11.3
(08:39):
targets per game.
So with Russ and calling him athreat at every depth level on
the field, that's your heartbeatright there, that's your bread
and butter.
So, mixing some hard runningwith Tracy and Scadabo along
with a stout front seven that isbeing touted as a strong Giants
(08:59):
defense.
I hate to even say this.
The Gi Giants even with aterrible schedule, they could
maybe make a little bit of noisehere.
Now you'll notice that when Iwas reading off the D-lines that
the Giants will be facing inthe first four weeks, I left off
Dallas, and that is becauseMicah Parsons is now a Green Bay
(09:24):
Packer.
Like I've been saying the pastcouple weeks, if you've been
listening, I've been all overthis.
Jerry Jones and his ego gets inthe way of holding on to a
generational player and Dallasshifts him off for Kenny Clark
and two first-round picks.
Green Bay follows that upimmediately, gives him a
four-year $188 million, 120fully guaranteed richest
(09:48):
non-quarterback deal ever.
Here's my plain English take,okay, the Cowboys straight up
got fleeced.
Look, they get Kenny Clark backand he's a good pro, don't get
me wrong.
But he turns 30 this season and, with all due respect, he can't
(10:09):
hold Micah's jock.
And the two firsts.
If Micah is Micah, which, nowthat he got traded, he's going
to be playing with a fuckingvengeance.
Green Bay is going to bepicking late like mid to late
20s, more than likely.
So you traded an apex predatorfor a solid defensive tackle.
Green Bay is going to bepicking late like mid to late
20s, more than likely.
So you traded an apex predatorfor a solid defensive tackle and
(10:31):
two likely late first roundpicks, which you'll probably be
using to try and find an edgerusher.
Cool man, cool plan.
Here's what else you could havedone.
You could have just paid theyoungest best edge rusher in
football.
And this is.
This isn't like the jetstrading jamal adams to a fading
(10:51):
seattle where the picks age likewine.
By the way, those picks turnedinto avt and garrett wilson.
For the record, this is micahparsons, 26 year old in prime,
getting traded to an ascendingPackers team that already broke
character by drafting MatthewGolden in the first round, first
(11:12):
time they drafted a receiver in20 years.
They spent in free agency, andnow they've added the league's
scariest non-Aaron Donalddefender.
They acted like a team thatsees a window and they jumped
all over it.
And as for Dallas.
Well, congratulations.
You have now created aleadership and identity void.
(11:36):
A week before kickoff, onceagain prove to the league that
your owner is a hothead.
Got absolutely fleeced in atrade for a player.
I mean, the Khalil Mack dealwas two first rounders, a third
and a sixth.
And Khalil Mack nothing againsthim is shit on the shoe
compared to Micah Parsons.
(11:58):
Gave you four years, four ProBowls, never less than 12 sacks
a year and he he totaled 52.5over those four years.
Him and Reggie White are theonly two guys to start like that
.
Reggie White, you don't replacethat guy with a committee of
picks and you don't trade thatguy away.
(12:21):
You put your ego aside and youfigure out the differences.
Paradoxically, though, from afantasy aspect, this actually
helps Cowboys fantasy pieces.
A worsened defense equals moreshootouts and by losing Micah
they are going to be in moreshootouts.
So that's more volume for Dak,more volume for CeeDee Lamb and
(12:42):
more volume for George Pickens.
Also, wide receivers and QBs,get a little bit of bump against
Dallas defense and the Packersdefense.
If you want to stream now, getsa little bit stronger.
Look, the longer, the short.
If I had to explain teambuilding in four steps to
someone brand new to the game,to an alien that just landed on
(13:04):
the planet.
Right, this is how it would go.
It would be step one get aquarterback.
Step two, get someone to attacktheir quarterback.
Step three, get someone toprotect your quarterback.
And step four, get someone foryour quarterback to throw to.
Four easy steps right, dallasjust traded away arguably the
(13:26):
best player in football at thesecond most important job on
that list.
Well done, guys.
All right, we'll wrap thissegment up with some league news
.
Rasheed Rice accepts hissix-game suspension.
Kc keeps eight wide receiverson their roster planning for
(13:47):
this, and we'll dive a littledeeper in that in the fantasy
segment later.
Najee Harris gets activated bythe Chargers.
Doesn't guarantee he's going toplay week one in Brazil, but it
does signal that they don'texpect him to be in as bad a
shape as they thought he was.
I mean, at one point it lookedlike he couldn't even open his
eye.
So I guess Harbaugh's willingto trust somebody that has
(14:09):
vision problems already.
Joe Mixon gets sent to the IRand he's out at least four weeks
, and Nick Cassero won't committo him playing at all this
season, which is crazy to thinkabout.
That backfield is now going tobe led by Nick Chubb and Damian
Pierce.
Nick Chubb has one knee.
Maybe Terry McCormick gets thebag, ends his hold in $44.65
(14:30):
million guaranteed over threeyears and Jaden Daniels gets his
wide receiver one back.
I think my tune is starting tochange about Dallas.
Go back to Washington.
This year Vikings brought homeAdam Thielen in a trade, which
is great for him.
It was a great video, it wascute.
He got traded back home and hewas telling his kids hey, we're
(14:51):
going home.
That's always fun.
Jaguars two-way rookie TravisHunter is cleared.
They still plan to use him bothways and his camp reps have
been 50-50.
He won the Heisman, won thereceiver award.
He is the best receiver comingout of this draft, which is
crazy.
But him playing both ways I'mstill a little nervous about.
And again, matthew Golden beenshowcasing that 4-2-9 speed,
(15:15):
made a beautiful contested39-yard catch in practice.
That wide receiver was dyingfor a true alpha and Jordan Love
might have just found him wasdying for a true alpha and
Jordan Love might have justfound him.
So that's what's going onaround the league.
Baseball is next and we'restarting in Queens first,
because Nolan McLean just madesome history.
Then we're shooting over to theYankees, trying to steadily ee
(15:37):
the ship a little bit, followedby some league headlines Cal
Riley's record chase, zachWheeler's brutal injury.
Brewers are wobbling.
We'll sprinkle in some US Openquick hitters a little bit later
and we're going to close withsome fantasy football, some
high-end four-running backs andsome late-round tight ends.
Plenty left to talk about.
(15:58):
Keep it right here.
The vibe has flipped in Queensand the rally really started
with the Nolan McLean debut.
(16:18):
The kid gets called up, goesfive and a third scoreless
against Seattle.
Eight strikeouts, two hits andthe crowd goes nuts flashing all
the pitches high 70s, curve,sweeper, cutter, sinker, heater
in the high 90s.
Not a bad debut, if I do say somyself.
(16:39):
Then Edwin Diaz comes in,finishes it off, gets saved
number 24, continuing to be thebest closer in baseball and the
big three, lindor, soto andAlonzo, got the job done for a
3-1 win.
Okay, that's start one for them.
Then on to Atlanta.
Mclean goes right back out andstacks seven strong innings a
(17:03):
rare feat for Mets pitchersnowadays.
Win number two, four hits, tworuns, zero walks all while the
lineup dropped 21 hits.
Soto goes yard drove in four.
Brett Beatty has a career-highfour hits.
Game two the bats continue tostay hot too.
(17:23):
Mcneil and Vientos both bangedtwo, six homers in total in the
game and I guess it's contagious, because Clay Holmes gives you
six and a third.
Yes, six and a third for a guythat can't get out of the fourth
.
Steady work, they get a 9-2 winin Atlanta.
Atlanta took the finale 4-3 but, more importantly, the Mets
(17:46):
left town with a series W in thehouse of horrors that Atlanta
has been and so much needed.
We can do this oxygen.
Then they roll right into themonumental Philly series at City
, and I was there for game one.
The place was jumping.
They go down 3-0 early and thenit just avalanched.
(18:10):
Luis Terrence matched hiscareer high with a five-ribby
night, filling in for FranciscoAlvarez.
Who's hurt?
Mark Vientos has come alive.
In his last couple games Rips atwo-run RBI double, jeff McNeil
pushes across another three andthe Mets, for once in their life
(18:33):
, hit with runners in scoringposition going 11 for 19.
A rare feat for this team thewhole year.
They put up a 13-3 answer.
Now Senga wasn't his best, butthe Metsies got after
Christopher Sanchez, who gave upa season-high six runs and on
(18:53):
top of it we even had a10-minute delay in center field
over a parabolic mic.
That's for TBS, for SNY, AlecBoehm, you know.
Leave it to the Phillies toblame something else for why
they're losing than their ownactual performance.
Never a dull moment, rightPhillies postgame we've been
ripped into Alec Boehm, callinghim an idiot for pointing
(19:15):
something out that had nothingto do with the game and delaying
Sanchez's ability to get backon the field.
It was a 19-minute delay.
You cost your pitcher.
Okay, so fine.
Game two Lay in and gut check.
Diaz came in early and struckout four of five, cleaning up
Ryan Halesley's mess, whocoughed up the lead to a
(19:37):
Harrison Bader three-run homerun.
Even Lindor had to give him alittle bit of credit and the
boos were so loud for RyanHelsley.
But that ninth inning with Diazwas a chef's kiss Tie.
Game four straight singles offPhilly's big trade deadline
(19:57):
acquisition Johan Duran, martebang, alonzo bang, beatty bang.
Then here comes Nimmo boop,little 6'5" single walk-off, how
you doing?
Okay.
Now game three, aka the McLeanshow, the guy that got this
whole rally started, and it washistoric stuff, literally not an
(20:25):
exaggeration.
He's the first Mets pitcher toever win his first three starts
and he did it with eightscoreless on 95 pitches, faced
the minimum into the seventh andthen gave up a couple bloops
here and there.
Mendoza, let him sit forced,weak contact to escape an
eighth-inning jam.
Mendoza, let him sit, forced,weak contact to escape an
(20:46):
eighth-inning jam.
He now sits at a .89 ERA with21 strikeouts through three
starts.
That's the lowest rookie ERAover the first three in Mets
history, which is a crazy statto say out loud, knowing that
the pitchers the Mets have hadin their franchise history.
That's better than Seaver's1.19.
It's better than franchisehistory.
(21:06):
That's better than Severs 1.19.
It's better than Doc and it'sbetter than DeGrom.
And on top of it, those 21strikeouts only trail Matt
Harvey and Nolan Ryan over aMets pitcher's first three
starts.
Matt Harvey and Nolan Ryan andthe bats stay hot
too.
Vientos continues to rake.
He added another RBI single anda two run home run to really
(21:28):
like hammer it home.
Nimmo had three hits 6-0.
Final little suck.
This how's the sweep?
How you doing?
The kid came up, saw the momentin front of him, didn't back
down and he attacked the hilland honestly, it definitely lit
a spark under a bunch of theseguys's asses too.
(21:50):
They hit 568, with runners inscoring position for the whole
series and now they're seven andtwo versus Philly this year.
So now they own the tie breakon the season, meaning if they
finish with the same recordsomehow at the end of the year,
they win the division.
They cut the division gap downto four games and they have a
(22:13):
four-gamer with Philly fromSeptember 8th to September 11th.
Aka it's business time.
And the kids' theme keeps onrolling
too.
Jonah Tong akathan, aka babylincecum, is finally getting the
call up and starting fridayagainst miami.
He's been the best pitcher inthe minors, 10 and 5, with a 143
(22:35):
era.
He's got 179 strikeouts in 113innings across double a and
triple a.
He's almost got 200 strikeoutson a year.
Opponents are hitting 148against
them.
Management is playing it slow,saying you know the plan is turn
by turn and there's matchups,but let's be honest, this is the
(22:57):
next shot in the arm that thisteam needs and meanwhile the
team is holding the playersaccountable.
Aka Senga, they want him to bemore consistent and, honestly,
they say he might need more rest.
Okay, message sent.
David Stearns plays no gamesand he has a short list of
(23:17):
friends.
So if you're not doing your job, there is a very short leash
and you can expect to have aconversation in his office
sooner rather than later Ifyou're fucking up the clean.
Just set the table and madehistory and, unfairly, mets fans
are going to look to Tong to doeither the same thing or be
even better.
So we're going to have totemper our expectations a little
(23:39):
bit.
But God man, oh man, if thiskid comes up and dominates just
how McLean is doing, the Metsare on a fast track to success.
One quick note FranciscoAlvarez, in his rehab game ropes
a double and then his next atbat gets plunked on the left
(24:01):
hand and fractures his pinky.
So he said he's going to try,because he's a tough son of a
bitch, but not what you want tosee for a guy who's already down
rehabbing trying to get betterfrom a broken thumb.
Now let's take it to the Bronx,because it's time to get on the
(24:22):
Yankees a little bit, fromgetting dog-walked to beating
teams that they're supposedto.
But let's not sugarcoat thatBoston series.
The Red Sox came into yourhouse, into your stadium, and
beat the hell out of you.
Game 1, 6-3 loss to Boston.
(24:45):
Rookie Roman Anthony owned thenight completely.
He's got an RBI single and thena ninth inning two-run bomb.
Boston went 3-for 19 withrunners in scoring position, and
they still beat New Yorkbecause they kicked it around.
The error machine continues toplow its way through Yankees
defense.
Nathaniel Lowe's RBI double inthe seventh put Boston ahead for
(25:08):
good.
Lucas Gilito gave up three andfour and two thirds but they
still couldn't get after itbecause the Sox bullpen stacked
a five and a third scoreless.
Not to mention Chappie comes inand nails his 23rd save of the
year.
Luis Hill came in, walked fivein five.
Another disappointing outingfrom someone who was supposed to
(25:30):
be back in May.
Disappointing outing fromsomeone who was supposed to be
back inMay.
So let's go on to game three,game two, excuse me, one nothing
Boston win in Yankee Stadium.
They let Brian Bellow, who'squietly had a pretty good year,
just shove his way on the hilland do whatever he want.
Seven innings, three hits, onlyfour base runners the whole
(25:52):
game and with that loss Bostonclinches the season series.
Connor Wong drove in the onlyrun, garrett Whitlock struck out
Stanton on three outsidepitches to end the eighth and
Chapman grabbed yet another saveagainst his old club.
Yankees were held to three hitsor fewer for the ninth time
(26:13):
this season.
Just another example of thehome run or bust mentality with
this squad.
So okay, two games down, two togo.
You know, worst case, let's getthe split.
Yeah, goodluck.
Game three a 12-1 Boston winAgain in your house, and this
one got sideways quick.
Crochet goes out was in fullcommand of everything.
(26:35):
He went seven strong, racked up11 strikeouts.
Trevor Story goes deep, drovein three, omar Nevaez hit a late
two run shot and as for theYankees, stanton just continues
to drive in useless home runs.
He's been hot and I will givehim credit, but he is the king
of either up 12 or down 12 andhit a home
run.
(26:55):
Meanwhile, will Warren, whomight have supposedly been the
kind of savior, maybe not getsbattered around and Boston bang
out 17 hits against them, evenafter getting embarrassed at
home, though the schedulesoftens up a little bit and they
walked into a get-right seriesagainst the Nationals because
(27:19):
Game 1, 10-5 win over the Nats.
Cody Bellinger drove in three,ben Rice shout-out Rice on the
mics hit a 435-foot tank andJazz launched number 25 and cam
schittler excuse me, camschlittler worked six scoreless,
which you love to see.
(27:40):
Jason dominguez got after ittoo a little three run shot and
uh, it's a good thing.
They did all that too, becausethey had to white knuckle it.
In the ninth the gnats put upfive, a Jacob Young grand slam.
Damage was done already, butjust goes to show how that
bullpen looks 10-1, all of asudden
10-5.
Anyway, game two take care ofbusiness.
(28:02):
Again 5-1.
Win Stanton had his best nightin a while, to be honest with
you.
Bases clear and double and thenhits a 450, fun 451 foot nuke,
which is his fifth home run inseven games.
And Luis Hill bounced backafter his bad start, looked a
(28:23):
little better.
Goes five.
Only gave up one run.
Listen, the Yankees beat up asolid pitcher in Mackenzie Gore,
which is what you want to see.
Again, it's home run orbust.
With this team, the big problemis the big, giant, enormous,
astronomical elephant in theroom.
It's Anthony Volpe.
(28:44):
He gets benched toquote-unquote reset himself and
then only to return to go to thelineup to go to 0-4.
This slump is real and the fansare only getting louder and
louder.
He got a two-game mental resetafter going 1-28, and then he
still comes back in the lineupand goes 0-4.
(29:05):
So now that's 1-32, hittingaround 2-06, and oh, not to
mention he's leading the majorswith 17 errors.
In fact, he did what everybaseball player dreads and made
two outs in one inning becausethey batted around and on top of
it, when they were up so big,he got struck out by a fucking
(29:27):
position player late in the game.
He's been out in front ofbreaking balls and just
expanding his zone so much helooks so lost at the
plate.
And Boone just continues tofeed the fans the same old
garbage saying to keep the faith.
And he's wired right and he'sgot good swings and he hits the
(29:49):
ball hard, but it's just rightat somebody.
The fans don't want to hearthat.
The fans are restless, theydon't give a shit.
They're looking at a shortstopwhich was Derek Jeter and then
Didi and then this any, and thisguy was supposed to be the next
Jeter.
That's what Cashman sold themon.
The fans arerestless.
(30:10):
I got a starting shortstop thatyou miss the window on sending
him down to try and fix him andnow you have to just deal with
it and try to get him rightwhile he's playing, which might
cost you games.
He's batting below the Mendozaline and leading the league in
errors.
Yeah, I'm allowed to be prettyannoyed with his play and also,
(30:32):
honestly, I'm allowed toquestion your management.
Boom, what are we doing it?
I understand trying to give thekid a rope and like let him try
to figure it out and playthrough it, but it's past that
now.
It's past.
He needs to sit.
You traded for a shortstop thatplays a better shortstop for
(30:52):
him.
If I was a Yankee fan and Iwatched him throw a ball 10 feet
over Goldschmidt's head onemore time, I might literally
throw my fucking remote just asfar as he threw that ball into
the stands.
I sound like I'm bitching andmoaning like I am a Yankee fan
and I promise you I'm not evenclose to a Yankee fan, but I'm
in touch with the people.
(31:13):
I understand the Yankee fans'vitriol that they have with this
kid.
It has to stop.
All right, anyway, let's dosome stories from around the
league.
Okay, cal Riley is just on avideo game level heater.
Sunday he hits number 48 and 49to set the single season
(31:37):
catcher home run record, passingSalvador Perez.
Then the next night hitsanother one, becomes just the
second switch hitter ever to hit50 in a season.
You know who the other guy wasMickey fucking Mantle.
He's also got nine multi-homerun games as a switch hitter,
(31:57):
which also passes MickeyMantle's record of eight.
He's got 31 games left to chaseMantle's 54 and Griffey's
Mariner's mark of 56.
And, honestly, if he stays hot,he might even pass Judge's 63.
He's done this all whileplaying a ton behind the plate
(32:20):
and in a park that, honestly,isn't home run friendly either.
Only nine of his home runs havebeen when he's de-aging, so we
might see some historyhere.
Moving on to this is a littlebit of a sore spot.
Even though he is a philly I Igot a soft spot for zach wheeler
.
He is, uh, he's done for theyear with thoracic outlet
(32:45):
surgery syndrome.
However you want to put it,it's pretty much a death
sentence for pitchers.
The timeline is six to eightmonths, but realistically and
based on history of this surgery, he probably will never be the
same pitcher that he was, whichis a shame too, because, I've
said it before, the worst thingthe Wilpons did was let him walk
(33:07):
and go to the Phillies, and ifhe kept this trajectory up, he
was probably going to go intothe Hall of Fame.
And the worst part was he wouldgo into the Hall of Fame as a
Philly, not a Met.
I mean, he was having aridiculous season this year.
He had 195 strikeouts in 149innings with a .27 ERA.
That's literally one of thebest pitchers in baseball and
(33:28):
he's gone just like that.
Now the Phillies do still havedepth, I guess with Sanchez and
Suarez and Lizardo and Nola, butthere's no replacing a guy like
Wheeler.
Therejust isn't.
Staying in the NL too.
The Brewers they might havepeaked at the wrong time.
They look like the best team inbaseball right now and they
(33:50):
have the best record and climbedthe charts.
But you got to peak inSeptember because now their
all-star closer, trevor McGill.
He's on the 15-day IL with aflexor strain, which aka
probably means Tommy John, andbefore that he blew three of his
last four save attempts.
If the playoffs were to starttoday, I think the Mets play
(34:15):
either the Dodgers or the Padres, which would mean that the
Phillies would play the Brewersor the Cubs, or the Brewers
would play the Cubs, but eitherway, this is another case of
I'll see it when I believe it inthe playoffs for the Brewers.
They always seem to choke itaway.
That's it for baseballright now.
(34:36):
But I want to touch on the usopen, because this isa new
york-based show and we are soblessed that we get a tennis
major in our city every year andsome people might scoff at
tennis, but let me tell yousomething right now Seeing
tennis in person, man, it'selectric, it's so fun.
(34:58):
So just a quick couple ofhitters on some of the Americans
right now.
Coco Gauff, winner last year,survived a three-setter, 10
double faults.
She got broken six times.
She's working on her serve.
They're trying to figure thingsout but she won six, four, six,
seven, seven, five.
(35:18):
She barely pulled it out sogood for her.
Francis tiafoe rolled throughround two 15 uso wins since 2022
.
He loves ash.
He literally was quoted assaying it just feels different.
Here I feed offthe crowd.
And madison keys she had arough one man.
She had 89 unforced errors and14 double faults in three match
(35:42):
upset against renata zarusa,zarua, zarua, whatever it is.
I was in the stands for thatone.
I was at the us open that thatday.
I knew she was going to lose.
I could just tell Keys didn'thave it and Renata is a smart
player.
It was like 11.30.
The sun was slamming down onArthur Ashe and whenever Keys
(36:06):
was in the sun, renata justplayed defense, made her play in
the sun went back and forth,made her make the errors and
then, whenever it was her turnto serve in the sun, she just
tried to hammer her serve homeas fast as she could to get out
of the sun.
She had a game plan, she stuckto it and it worked.
Hey, that's how sportsgo right.
And my boy Medveded I.
(36:28):
I like him, I think he's a goodplayer, but he's also a fucking
head case, as of late.
He's not wrong.
He was a photographer, walkedon the court between serves on
match point, which is like a bigno, no, and Medvedev lost his
mind.
He rallied to a fifth set andthen he lost it, but he like
(36:51):
blew up about it, blamed thephotographer, and then the
photographer's credentials gotpulled too, which is I don't
know.
It's a little aggressive for me, but to be honest, it's kind of
on brand for new york, becausenew yorkers don't give a fuck
where they're walking, they justneed to get where they're going
right, all right, well, well,that's it for the diamond and a
(37:12):
little dashof tennis.
Fantasy football closes theshow.
I got Cowboys fallout withMicah Gunn, chiefs, wide
receiver pivots with RasheedRice out, and I got some high
floor running backs to stabilizeyour roster and little late
round tight end darts thatactually hit.
So stick around, you don't wantto miss it.
(37:43):
Here we are on to fantasy timeto help you win your league.
Quick heads up though this issome late fantasy news to get
you readyfor kickoff.
If you want the full deep dive,the rankings, the tiers, the
(38:03):
sleepers, the fades, thestacking maps, the who to avoid
that's all in last week'sepisode, the Fantasy
Extravaganza.
That's your master file.
I promise you if you listen toit and you pay attention, you
will not be disappointed in theinfo that I give you.
And, by the way, also don't beafraid to DM me if you have any
(38:25):
questions.
But this is the update sincethen, because some news broke
over the past couple daysRasheed Rice is suspended for
six games and he isn't going toappeal it.
So that's why the Chiefs kepteight wide receivers, for a
(38:50):
reason I guess Seems like theymight have had a little bit of
inside information that he'd begone for these six weeks.
So, while his ADP falls anddon't be afraid to snag him if
he falls real, real late hereare some players that you can
snag late at a discount thatwill do well while he's gone,
and these are Kansas Cityplayers.
(39:12):
So, as a side note, mahomes isstill Mahomes and he has a
little bit of that Aaron Rodgersin him where once he finds a
guy that he trusts, it doesn'tmatter if it's the next guy in
line or it's peanut boy out ofthe stands.
If he finds someone that helikes, he sticks with them.
So this is just a smalldisclaimer that any one of these
(39:34):
guys couldblow up.
But first on the list ishollywood brown.
He's kind of probably thesafest play.
He's got wide receiver twousage and he gets the red zone
looks.
But xavier worthy is where I'dspend my money.
He's a little bit boom or bustflex option, to be sure, but
(39:58):
even with his rise in ADP nowyou can probably snag him as a
bench player with potential inthe seventh.
He's got explosive touches.
He takes the ball to thebackfield, sometimes he takes
deep shots.
Xavier Worthy is where I'dspend my money.
Juju honestly I forgot he waseven on this roster.
(40:21):
He's boring, boring floor.
Even in a full PPR he gets slotvolume on third down.
I don't know I'd pass on himUnless you're in a 16-man league
.
And don't know I'd pass on himUnless you're in a 16-man league
and you're desperate, I'd passon him.
Now some other players of notethat have big fantasy
(40:42):
implications.
First on the list is NajeeHarris.
Well, with his bad eye, nobodythought he'd be ready to go.
He got activated, so it doesn'texactly guarantee week one, but
that means that he's trackingand he's probably going to see
(41:03):
some snaps.
Now expect a committee withOmarion Hampton and I would say
my outlook early season Najee'sgoing to get some touches, but
he's probably going to get thegoal line and the short yardage
touches, whereas Amarion isgoing to get the big space
touches, the dump-offs, whatever.
(41:23):
They're both going to beflex-worthy early in the season.
But I fully expect that AmarionHampton is going to explode on
the scene and it's only going totake one or two big runs for
Harbaugh to go.
Okay, you're an every down backand we'll give you the
occasional breatherwith Najee.
(41:45):
Next on the list is TonyPollard.
He gets the runway in Tennessee.
He is locked into an RB2 rolewith volume and pass game, with
Tajay Spears going on the IRwith an ankle injury.
The only people behind him areJulius Chestnut and Kalel
(42:08):
Mullins.
So let me know if you've everheard of any of them before.
So maybe those guys are deepbench stashes if Tony Pollard
gets hurt, but honestly it's noteven worth it.
So if you're doing like a zerorunning back strategy or like a
hero running back strat and youhave your guy or you have your
(42:30):
three solid receivers and nowyou're looking for like a RB1,
rb2 kind of guy in the fifth,sixth, seventh round, pollard is
the guy 100%.
Now Joe Mixon tothe IR.
A lot of people have beendrafting Joe Mixon because oh,
he might come back, he might not.
Well, he's on the IR now.
He's out at least four gamesand the coach has been ho-hum
(42:55):
about it if he's even going toplay this season, which leaves
Nick Chubb to be the lead man.
But if you watch Nick Chubb'scollege career and you watch his
professional career, he hasabout a half a knee on his one
person and it's also his seventhyear at age 29.
So that leaves Damian Pierce.
(43:16):
He's the change-up pace back.
But he's got experience withhis team and in this system.
So if I was a betting man I'dbe putting my money on Pierce.
I would say he's probably goingto be the lead back sooner
rather than later, whether it befrom injury from Chubb or just
like aperformance takeover.
(43:37):
Now Micah getting traded has awater effect ripple on
everything.
So the Cowboys defense now getsway worse.
Without him there, nobody tosack the quarterback, nobody to
sack the quarterback, nobody torush the quarterback.
More time behind, that leads tomore shootouts.
(43:59):
So that bumps Dak, that bumpsCD, that bumps Pickens and,
honestly, it bumps Jake Fergusontoo.
All their volume, there reallyis no running game to speak of
in Dallas.
And if they're going to be downin games, dak is going to have
to play some hero ball so he maythrow some more interceptions
(44:23):
but honestly, the yards thathe's going to be throwing for
it'll make upfor it.
And now with Micah going to thePackers defense, if you're
looking for a streamer optionweek to week and just need a
couple sacks and need like sixpoints, eight points, five
points out of your defensePackers, might be a pretty solid
option to stream for the year.
(44:45):
So how about another scenariofor you?
Let's say you're drafting 10thout of 12, or 12 out of 14, or
even 12 out of 12.
And for whatever reason, nicoCollins or Malik Neighbors or
Puka Nakua falls to you in the12th and now you're on the
(45:08):
wraparound and you don't want togo receiver, receiver, it's
important to make sure you buildyour floor as high as you can.
That's the whole point infantasy football.
Right?
Get guys that will raise thefloor of your team in total to
the highest it can be.
So let's say, you take that bigname wide receiver or even
(45:32):
Brock Bowers or something, right?
Okay, whatever, who cares?
Right, these are the guys totake to raise your floor on the
wraparound to keep your teambalanced and also
explosive too.
So first on the list is DerrickHenry.
He might not fall to you thatlate, but Derek Henry has an
(45:52):
elite floor and he's got a superhigh ceiling with a super
positive script offense.
Uh, lamar being there, it'slight boxes and Mockadin loves
to feed running backs.
The only risk is his health.
Production isn't really theworry.
Again, it's.
You know it's a far shot thatderrick henry falls that far to
(46:15):
you, but if he does, that'snumber one a on the list to take
on the wraparound.
Next on the list josh jacobs.
He's somebody who definitelywill be there.
Okay, he's a bell cow on anascending offense in green bay
and even if green bay throwsmore, he is the closer and he's
the goal line guy, uh MarshawnLloyd's dinged up and now with
(46:40):
the addition of Micah on thedefense.
If the defense becomes as goodas it looks like it might be,
you're gonna run into a lot ofgame scripts where you're
running the ball late to killthe clock and that falls right
to Josh Jacobs, sothat's great.
Next on the list that you candefinitely grab even later is,
(47:02):
uh, isaiah Pacheco.
Okay, for some reason he'sfalling in drafts.
I don't know why.
I guess maybe it's because ofKareem Hunt, but his, his burst
looks back.
The depth chart behind him isvery thin.
Again, don't really worry aboutKareem Hunt.
He might vulture a TD here andthere or maybe grab a pass here
and there, but honestly, pachecois one open hole away from a
(47:27):
huge play.
And the Chiefs withoutreceivers now and Kelsey aging,
you're probably going to see alot of dump downs
to Pacheco.
Next on the list Tony Pollard,tony Pollard, I mentioned it
before.
Spears the Toshie Spears injurygives Tony Pollard super volume
(47:50):
early.
Cam Ward looks to be the truth.
At least he talks like he's thetruth.
I'm putting some stock in him.
And Cam's got some runningability and he's got an arm and
Calvin Ridley is no slouch.
So Cam's going to want to throwthe ball to Calvin Ridley,
which, once that startshappening, the box is going to
(48:12):
be lighter.
So Pollard's going to get somerun game and Pollard also has
some pass game usage.
I don't know if you know rookieQB means checkdowns.
Tony Pollard is agreat pickup.
Late Aaron Jones, next on thelist, still efficient, and he
(48:33):
gets some catches.
Jordan Mason is definitelygoing to siphon some carries.
The head coach already saidthis is going to be a committee
and Jordan Mason is definitelythe goal line guy.
But Jones might be the betterevery down play and he's getting
super discounted in drafts.
(48:55):
So those guys are definitelythe guys that you can take even
third, fourth round that couldfunction as an RB1 on your team
or at least have potential to bean RB1 on
your team.
Now, if you're going to punt onrunning backs, fine, but if
(49:17):
you're going to punt on tightends, that's a different story.
You know how it goes.
You either have to pay up earlyfor a stud or I'm going to be
sitting around watching red zoneon a Sunday hoping that in joku
can snag a touchdown to give meeight points for the day.
(49:39):
Well, I'm here to tell you, ifyou punt on tight end early and
want to snag those high-endreceivers or high onend running
backs, there's some late-roundguys that you can snag that will
give you consistency with biggame potential.
Okay, first on the list isTucker Kraft.
He is a sneakyyards-after-catch monster.
(50:04):
When he gets the ball he'sthick, he's strong, he bowls
guys over.
He was top 12 in yards-per-outrun last year too.
He was top 12 in yards per outrun last year too, and now, with
the addition of Golden, thedeep ball is going to be open.
So Kraft is going to eat overthe middle.
Tucker Kraft is a sneaky, very,very good tight end
(50:27):
this year.
Next on the list Hunter Henry.
Okay, I know Hunter Henry.
He's the guy that everybodypicks up in drafts when waiver
wire, when they have their guyon by whatever Not so much
anymore.
Man, a rookie quarterback'sbest friend is their tight end,
and this is May's second year,and when May played last year,
(50:49):
hunter Henry, that was hissecurity blanket.
They were in sync.
So May is going to look his waymore often than not right away
and also red zone targets withhunter henry.
Tyler higby he's another one.
He's a waiver wire fighter guybut he's viable while the rookie
terrence ferguson ramps up, andhe's going to get consolidated
(51:12):
targetry.
He's going to get tight up.
He's going to get consolidatedtargetry.
He's going to get tight endwork.
He's going to Devontae, adams,puka, nakua, whatever they're
all going to double those guys.
So over the middle is going tobe Tyra Higbee.
So if you're looking for 8 to10, 12 points,
it plays.
Now the last two on this list.
They're a little shaky butthey're definitely possible.
(51:35):
First is Mason Taylor from theJets.
I said it before earlier in theNFL segment.
He's a rookie but he's superathletic and Justin Fields can't
throw the ball more thanfucking 12 yards.
Okay, garrett's going to bedouble teamed because he's the
only one there and they're goingto stack the box against Brees.
So that leaves Mason Tayloropen over
(51:58):
the middle.
Just on volume alone, he couldeasily be a tight end too.
Six, seven, eight, nine, tenpoints a week with the potential
for a touchdown of 15, you takethat all day.
And then he's probably not evenbeing drafted or going, I don't
know in the last round of superdeep drafts.
And the last guy that falls inthat category same thing is
(52:20):
Dallas Goddard.
He's not really like a latedart, but he is discounted tight
in one production.
So if you miss out on theelites, he is probably one of
your best pivots.
I think you'll be all rightwith any of these
guys late.
The rule with tight end isconsistency.
(52:43):
But you don't want to chase lowvariance nobodies either.
Okay, I mean, yeah, the eliteguys, kiddo, mcbride, bowers,
they have the highest elite gamerates.
But if, if you don't want to,if you don't want to take that
guy, if you don't want to spendthe price that they're going for
(53:06):
, if you punt on tight end andyou want usable weeks with some
spike potential, not just thesix-point every week, guys,
those are the guys to takeTucker, craft, hunter, henry,
tyler, higbee, mason Taylor,dallas, goddard they won't do
(53:26):
you wrong, I promise.
Well, that's theboard Draft.
Smart, don't chase last week'sbox score and remember floor
wins you september, ceiling winsyou december.
Now let's go steal a league andlet's land this plane.
(53:50):
Huh, all right, that's episode28 in the books covered all the
locals.
Jets appear to have a plan withFields, a Giants quarterback
(54:13):
room.
That actually kind of makessense.
Micah to Green Bay flipping theentire NFC on its head.
We hit the diamond.
Mets might go on a run andNolan McLean is already writing
franchises.
First, yankees steadying theship as best they can with a
(54:34):
soft schedule ahead.
Kyle Riley is launching intohistory Wheelers.
Brutal news and the Brewersmight have peaked too early and
we sprinkled in some US openchaos.
Before closing with some latefantasy news, don't forget the
full blueprint is in last week'sfantasy
(54:55):
extravaganza episode.
If you want to dominate yourleague, make sure you give that
a listen.
I promise you this is an IanRice guarantee.
If you listen to that episode,you will not do bad this year in
fantasy.
So do me a favor.
If you had fun, if you likewhat you heard, tap five stars
(55:18):
on whatever platform you'relistening on.
Drop a quick review, even ifyou want Just a little.
Hey how you doing this wasgreat.
And send this to a friend whoargues about sports like it's a
full-time job, but really theydon't know what the fuck they're
talking about.
Right?
The mailbag is open for nextweek Fantasy start and sits.
(55:39):
Send me your roster Jets andGiants, panic meter Mets and
Yankees vibes.
Hit the DMs withit all.
I listen to everything, Irespond to everything and make
sure you check in everyWednesday for the weekly mic
check on the Instagram stories.
That's at Rice on the Radio.
(56:00):
Polls, sliders, quizzes for theweek.
Let your voice be heard.
I want to hear the pulse of thepeople.
Small programming note asfootball ramps up here.
Small programming note asfootball ramps up here.
We might spin up a second quickepisode some weeks.
Here and there A little earlyrecap, late week preview, maybe
(56:21):
some potential collabs.
So keep an eye on the socialsfor any schedule changes.
But hoodie and short season isupon us.
Don't be mad that summer's over.
Just be happy that football isback as always.
Spread good energy in thisworld and make sure you tell
(56:43):
someone you love.
I am your host, ian Rice, andthis has been rice on the mics.
Thanks for listening and I'llcatch you next week.
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