July 18, 2025 • 45 mins
FantasyLife's rookie maven, Thor Nystrom, provides six deeeeeep rookie sleepers at running back. Five of the six players are at ADP 200+, and they all have a pathway to success in the NFL.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargion.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hello and welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. It is a
calm before the storm editions training camps looming. Joining me today,
Thorn Eistrom. It's been a while, Puddy, Great to have
you back on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hey, appreciated charts.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Yeah, good to be back and excited to talk about
some rookie running backs.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yep, we're gonna break down hidden gems. These are all
running backs that have an ADP of two hundred or higher,
except one guy who's ADP is one hundred and seventy,
but that's still round fifteen. So these are all deep
flyers running backs the most voltable position. This is where
(01:01):
the guy. This is where the guy who looks like
he's third and fourth on the depth chart now heading
into training camp, pre training camp. He gets some buzz
in training camp. Look at Isaiah Pacheco as an example
for at this time three years ago, there were there
was there were very There was very little rumbling about
Isaiah Pichecko as a factor in Kansas City. Everybody at
(01:25):
the time, I think, was assuming Clyde Edwards Hilaire would
come back, or they they'd find some other way. But
then his training camp went on, Pachecko started to pop
in training camp and people are like, Hey, this thing
looks like it could add up. Maybe we've got Isaiah
Pichecko out of this group.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, and it might be the same organization, it might
be the same, but right, going back to the previous Yeah,
I mean, Pachecko was seventh round in his draft class,
and that was a circumstantial thing. A Pachecko had been
at a school that had a passing game and or
an offensive line, which the Rutgers teams he played on
did not. You wouldn't have had stack Box's again again,
(02:03):
Swiss She's offensive lines. It was hard to watch Pacheco's
film at Rutgers because he did not have a lot
of opportunities there. Because of that, you end up falling
down in the draft, even though he tested really, really well.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And Briard Brochard's tape is.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Better than his, but it's a small sample sized thing
and it's the position convert Tyrone Tracy the year before
with the Giants fell further in the draft than he
should have because he had the limited amount of time
at running back after transitioning over from receivers. So that's
one that deserves to be looked at very closely. And
we're going to get into a couple other situations like
that as well, with guys with profiles that need to
(02:37):
be studied pretty closely, especially for dynasty league owners and
then owners in deeper leagues.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We begin in Cleveland, quinch On rested and still unsigned,
by the way, I mean, we should mention that as well.
So that's put a little bit of spotlight on Dylan
Samson previously kind of an afterthought for most of this offseason.
The kid from Tennessee drafted in the fourth is ADP.
Thor is one hundred and seventy. That's round fifteen, and
(03:06):
so the the you know, the ADP makes them very
very gettable. What you what are your thoughts on Dylan Samson.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I think even you know, without the Judkins stuff, I
was looking for Dylan Samson to take over as their
passing down back real quick. And I know that people
think that that's going to be Jerome Ford. Maybe maybe
it will be, but Jerome Ford, I think he would
do better as a mix and match guy spelling both
hypothetically healthy and on the field and out of trouble
(03:33):
quin John Jenkins, but then also Dylan Samson as the
pass down back. What incentive does Cleveland, one of the
worst teams in the NFL, a team that is going
to be competing for a top three, top four draft
pick in the next RALF to play Jerome Ford over
either of those guys. Jerome Ford has one year left
on his contract. That the Cleveland Browns backfield going forward,
(03:54):
it's going to be Junkins as the meat and potatoes guy,
you hope, and then Samson as the passing down back.
I think that that starts right away more or less.
And Dylan Samson there's very attractive things about his profile.
He's a little bit of an unorthodox mover, but he
does have speed. He's slightly undersized, but he's not tiny, right,
(04:14):
I mean, there's so there's these reasons he ended up
falling through the cracks and then it's like always he
a one year wonder coming out of that that Tennessee offense.
But he showed aptitude on the passing downs and instincts
as a runner. Right with the Tennessee offense, they spread
the field so you have less guys in the box,
but you know you have less blockers as well. And
(04:35):
and the vision that he showed Dylan Samson I really liked,
and then a very fluid runner as well. But that's
a guy, especially with the opportunity that he has in
front of him. And we'll see what ends up shaking
out with Quinchron Jenkins. But uh, Quinchron Jenkins, it's it's
not You're not talking about a ash Genty type right
that you know, it's it's no guarantee that that he
(04:58):
locks down X amount.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Of percent of the workload either.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
So Dylan Samson's a guy I think fantasy owners in
deeper leagues and dynasty leagues, it needs to be of interest.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I'm with you on that who's the better pass catcher
between the two Samson or Judkins, because I'm interested if
there's a third down role available for Samson or if
it's more just like change of pace like Alter, you know,
every third series might be Samson.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Definitely Samson.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
That was that was the quote the Nippick with Junkins'
profile is you can dump the ball off to him
if you want. You can do screens every now and again.
He's not a good receiver though. Where Judkins his instinct,
you know, it's the running, the meat and potatoes type
stuff he and speaking of good vision, Judkins has tremendous vision,
(05:46):
but the receiving stuff has just never completely been there.
He's not going to run routes for you beyond the
line of scrimmage and break the ankle of a linebacker.
That's just not his game. And so I liked when
Cleveland I was advocating all spring for all the organization
to do or at least ones that could stomach potentially
opening up two roster spots at running back because this
running back class in April that we had in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Draft, it was so so stacked right the.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Team team's double dip, and Cleveland was one of the
teams that did that. I thought that was inspired. Maybe
they don't feel that way in hindsight after Quinnjohn Jenkins's
recent legal issues, but getting the coming back with Dylan
Samson there.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Dylan Samson, there's.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
An argument to be made that he was one of
the more underrated backs just because that you know, when
you're looking at the trades that you know and then
the production over time. Yeah, he paled in comparison a
little bit with that, but again last year he was
one of the better running backs in the SEC, and
he showed that he can be a two way player,
both the running and then of course the receiving down stuff,
(06:46):
which I think you're going to see come more to
the four as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What I really like about Samson, Dude's a fighter man.
He is. There are no easy tackles with him. He
is going to battle you all the way to the ground.
And I love that about it, even though he's not
a big guy and it doesn't always work, but he
always fights and I like that part of his game
quite a bit. If you are interested in Samson round fifteen,
(07:12):
let's go to the Los Angeles Rams Jarquez Hunter going
off the board adp of player two hundred. Round seventeen.
This is the fourth rounder from Auburn. He was the
backup to beloved runner Tank Bigsby Aviome. I kind of
(07:32):
like him, you know, he runs tall and upright, and
for a guy who's five foot nine, that uprights styling
makes him play a little bit bigger, but he's not
stiff like a lot of the track star upright runners.
You know what I mean when I say that thor
where some of those track star guys end up being
very very sort of perpendicular to the ground, and I
think they create a lot of a lot of a
lot of area for people to tackle them. What I
(07:55):
like about Hunter is he's got this upright running style,
but not in a stiff and rigid way.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah, there's there's a fluidity there to him, but there's
also he has like a he presents a hurkiye jerky
type picture to oncoming defenders and and Hunter becomes a
difficult guy to hit square.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
He hasn't he has an instinct for running the rams. Uh.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
They're often looking for the guys on tape that that
show the instinct. I think that's why they've hit on
some of these offensive players that end up being better
than their draft slot. Obviously Kyron Williams in the same
room that would apply to I like Hunter going forward,
I think more than Blake Koram. I think there there's
an argument to be made the Blake Korum with the
(08:40):
system he was in in the offensive line that that
flattered him. We know that Blake Korum didn't have the
best measurables. Hunter doesn't have the best measurables either, but
they're certainly better. And Hunter is a home run hitter
when he gets the open field in front of him.
That's where it comes back to that hurky jerky thing,
and it's hard to get a flush shot on him.
Once you get him into the second and of course
third level, that's when he can hit the after.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Burners four four four speed.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
On Jerks Hunter, that's ninety third percentile, his twenty yard split,
eighty seventh percentile, seventy first percentile athlete overall. You were
mentioning that some of the dimensions five to nine and
a half two hundred four pounds, but it's a guy
that can do some different stuff. Auburn did not have
a great passing offense last year, so there was a
lot of pressure that was on Jerks Hunter. He faced
(09:26):
a lot of stack boxes in the SEC and he
acquitted himself pretty well. I like again, I like the vision,
and I like his ability to make guys miss, and
then you have sort of an amalgamation of traits from there.
You mentioned He's not a stiff side to side. He
also has that north south burst. So jerk as Hunter
in an opportunity with a team that will play you.
(09:48):
The Rams don't care what you're getting paid, they don't
care where you've got drafted. Yeah, they will play the
best player. And I think Hunter is going to come in.
I think he's gonna use Surp Korum quick and then
can he carve out a role next to Kyron Williams.
You can't have Kien Williams having three hundred plus touches
every year, so they're going to have to give some
of that work to someone else, and I think it
would make sense for Jaikas Hunter to be getting that
(10:10):
as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So let's talk Blake Korm for a minute, because at
this time last year, were you and I were both
optimistic that Koram was going to get a pretty decent
run in LA and with some of the same thinking, right,
you know, Sean McVay will play the best guy. And
Korm was so productive at Michigan, but it just he
(10:31):
never he didn't get a lot of run, and the
run that we saw from Korum was honestly pretty pedestrian.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Last year Yeah, it's a little bit disconcerting that a
guy that lacks the measuables that Korum does and that
isn't going to contribute for you on passing downs. As
we knew of Korum, that he wasn't opening the eyes
of that coaching staff and at least forcing his way
into the field in a situational role right the rams
they're they're starting Kyron Williams. It's a guy where just
(11:02):
a very lithe frame and it's again, it's a guy
that you don't want to give three hundred plus touches
to every year. It's a guy that's going to break
down if you continue to do that, and you're looking
for a guy to that can take some of that workload.
It did not seem like they trusted Korum to do that,
and I think maybe that is why you saw card
submitted with jerkas Hunter's name on it in April. So Korum,
(11:24):
I think he's going to get kicked down to RB
three and he's going to have to make a case
to stay on the roster after this.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Wow, what a fall. What a fall. Okay, the next
rookie with an ADP of over two hundred and it's
just two hundred one is a player we've alluded to already.
Brishard Smith ADP two hundred one. That's round eighteen and
he's the seventh rounder from SMU via Miami. He is
receiver turned running back just one year at running back,
(11:51):
correct when he went to SMU that's right, yep, yep,
And people are sniffing opportunity in Kansas City Thoor. So,
you know, Kareem Hunt was awful last year. We've talked
about it many times in the show. By many metrics,
he was the worst running back in the NFL by
most metrics given the number of carries that he had.
Isaiah Pacheco is still a question mark due to the
(12:13):
struggling play that he had last year when he came
back from his injury. So there's some question marks there
and people are sensing there's an opportunity, especially for a
good past catching back in Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Yeah, Kareem Hunt has a fork sticking out of his back.
I think he's done. And then Pacheco, we'll have to
see last year was you know, and it's all he
was dinged up and he was okay, great, We're gonna
have to see it from mister Pacheco and Pacheco by
the way, he I believe he hits free agency after
next year as well, So you know, either way, Dynasty
(12:46):
owners need to have Brichard Smith that name circled. But
I think Briuschard's a guy potentially can get on the
field right away, just as Isaiah Pacheco did once upon
a time. The way that he gets on Briuschhard Smith,
I have no doubt about it. He's the best receiving
back on that team. I think you're going to see
him out there for all the passing downs that the
Kansas City has, and obviously they throw the ball pretty good.
(13:09):
I also I also think there's a shot he can
start pushing Pacheco for carries, just just in the base offense.
What we saw last year at Burchard Smith, I was
so impressed with it. That was a guy he was
stuck in Miami, Miami prior to that, the Hurricanes, I'm
talking about college football, Burchard Smith had gone there as
a slot receiver. He found himself stuck for a couple
(13:31):
of years behind a guy named Zaber Ristreppo, and of
course Ristreppo ended up going undrafted, but he caught a
billion balls in college right, like in Coral Gables that
you know, it's like this guy's you know, all yeah,
and and and Miami had two other receivers but you know,
outside of Ristreppo that were went to the NFL combined
last year, they had three total, and then of course
(13:51):
Elijah Royo.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Those guys were.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
On campus the majority of them prior to that, and
obviously that's what led Burchard Smith on his way. And
then he transferred to SMU. I didn't even know that
he had transitioned to running back, I think until August
and then I I didn't think Burchard's Smith had any
shot at SMU because they had multiple four former four
and five star recruits in their running back room. SMU did,
(14:14):
and Brichiard Smith somehow by the start of the season
he had hopped everybody at his new position. Now he's
sitting atop the depth chart and it's like, oh, that's
a cute story. No, no, no, he was the guy that
that let that ran there off. The offense ran through
Berchard Smith. SMU made the friggin CFP last year. Yeah,
Brochard Smith carried this team to the CFP in their
(14:35):
first year in the ACC and this wasn't a team
that was dominant passing. In fact, they had a returning
quarterback named Preston Stone that they benched after two or
three games, and then they went to this this scrambler
Kevin Jennings that we thought was going to be a
career backup. But again, the offense kept working no matter
what because of Brichard Smith. He showed natural chops for running,
(14:56):
a natural instinct for it that I had previously noted
with Tyrone Tracy. You know, we talked about him Tyrone
Tracy the year before in his draft class, right, Like,
my whole take with him was, Tyrone Tracy doesn't have
any business having the instincts for running that he showed
on the field at Purdue last year, being so new
to the position. I felt very similarly about Brishard Smith
(15:16):
in that regard at SMU. The question with that is
what percentage of that aspect of his game translates to
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Your five to nine.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Five, you know, you're shade under five to ten one
hundred and ninety five pounds or so. That it's on
the smaller side for sure, So we know that it's
not going to translate one to one, But will a
lot of it translate, right, Like, will enough of it
translate to make him viable as a runner? I know
he's going to be a good receiving down back. Nobody
could cover him at the senior ball, you know, like
(15:49):
in the one on one drills, it's the linebackers and
the strong safeties that have to take on the running backs,
and you've got a lot of decent assignments. There's there's
a lot of running backs coming out that are not
great receivers. I felt legitimately bad for the linebackers and
the shawn safeties that drew Burchard Smith because he was
making people look silly out there. It was like they
had throwing banana peels all over the field. He was
(16:11):
breaking ankles left and right, and by the time the
ball got thrown, you know, within ten yards line of scrimmage,
Burchard Smith would have an eight yard halo around him.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Because he created so much separation.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
It's exceedingly difficult for players of those positions to cover them.
Which makes sense because again, this is a slot receiver.
It's a slot receiver that just so happened to be
to show this aptitude as a runner to give him
this opportunity. But speaking of opportunity, you're in a great
offensive system with the coaching staff that knows how to
use the skill sets of his players and is shown
in the past. It doesn't, you know, similar to what
(16:43):
we were talking about with the Rams. It doesn't care
as much about your draft equity. It's going to play
the best player. And if Brichhard Smith proves that he
is a better player for Kansas City than Pacheco, He's
going to be on the field right away. Even so,
I again, I think at minimum you're going to see
Brishard Smith as the passing down guy, which if he
open's eyes there, he's gonna start chomping into the carries
as well.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I love Brischard Smith.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
All right, Well that's that is a glowing recommendation right there.
Four three nine. He had nineteen plays of over twenty
yards for SMU last year. I don't know that he
can ever be a full time three down back. That's
that's the only limitation for me on Smith, and I
think you probably see it that way as well.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
I assume, yeah, I you know, I think ideally you
would have him mixing and matching with someone and like
you know, Pacheco. You know, I don't know they could
work their their skill sets, but like, you know, what
I'm thinking is more like you know, the Giants with Tracy,
and then they drafted Scataboo to do the efficiency meat
and potatoes, you know, some of that stuff. And then
(17:46):
you take that work away from Tracy. You are increasing
the odds that Tracy remains healthy while leveraging what he
is best at. And then you're given Scattabu. You know
you're going to get efficiency with that and Kansas City
in the future we'll see in future is what they do.
You know, drafting here, Carson Steele would probably be you
would consider him like the homeless man's version of what
I would be talking homeless man's version of Cam.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Scattaboo, I guess.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
But like that's that's the kind of plateaon that I
would love Brishard Smith and in the future, get him
a Berserker to play next to him, Berserker just for
the early down and then let Brichhard do his thing,
which is break people's ankles in the open field.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Now, we don't have to necessarily love all the players
that we're going to talk about, but let's let's use
that as my transition point to I think it's Taj Brooks,
not Taj A. I don't think there's a silent tag. Right,
it's Taz Brooks's Cincinnati's running back ADP's to twenty round
nineteen to twenty round nineteen, six round draft pick by
(18:43):
the Bengals. I like that he's short, he's got this
low center of gravity, he can catch. He's got some
good footwork and juke moves. He's pretty slow, and I didn't,
you know, I don't see a ton of power there.
I didn't love what I saw. I think he looked
like a six round dart throw to me, which is,
you know where he was with the Bengals. But maybe you,
(19:05):
maybe you're more optimistic than I am, and maybe you
think he's gonna beat out Zach Moss and be the
backup in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I do think that, Yeah, because the reason you take
Taj Brooks, it's it's a good stylistic compliment for Chase
Brown's game. Ye In that Chase Brown, you know he
hits dingers and and whereas Todd Brooks you mentioned he's
he's all time bowling. He comes out the bowling ball
assembly line, right, I mean he's it's like the trash
(19:33):
compactor shoved him down, but he's jacked, right, I mean TODJ.
Brooks pulling up his UH measurements five to nine. At
the combine, he was two fourteen, but he went down.
He played at Texas Tech two twenty five to twenty six.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Jeez.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
You know obviously at five nine there you have you
have a lot of compact there.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
He went out. TODJ.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Brooks in the pre draft process tested better than we thought.
You know, it's it's not a great athlete like you mentioned,
but we thought he was going to test more like
a guy we're about to talk about Kyle Manongai and
Todge Brooks, to his credit, he tests a little bit
better than that that. You know, you talk about the
compliment for Chase Brown. Todge Brooks very good between the
tackles because you have the low center of gravity thing
(20:17):
and then the agility with the arm tackle breaking power, right,
I mean, like he's not he's not Barry Sanders in
terms of shifty, but for as big as he is,
he's extremely shifty.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
And then he's not a preserve. He's not branded. He
doesn't have Brandon Jacobs's strength.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
But but again for the type of player, he is solid, solid,
above average strength, and so you add all these things together,
he's a puzzle for people between the tackles, and he
is happy to do the efficiency stuff. Texas Tech a
school that going back click Mike Leach and prior to
that all time air raid team, they're one of the
premier air raate teams that we've had in college football
(20:56):
here the last thirty years, past past, past, past past,
Tosh brook and he made this point at the combine,
and I didn't see it as ego at all.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I was not in along with him.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
He was right about how I turned a passing school
into a running school. At the last two years Tums
Brooks in twenty twenty three, fifteen hundred and thirty eight
yards on the ground.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Last year fifteen oh five.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Again, that's a team that wanted to run the air
raid and had an air raid offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
But Todje Brooks was good enough that you know that
that's what ended up happening there.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
He also did plenty as a receiver twenty nine catches
the one year, twenty eight last year. And then here's
the biggest thing of how I know I'm not not.
I believe one hundred percent that Todge Brooks is going
to carve out a role this year because he was
one of the best pass blocking running backs in this
past draft class. That is why Cincinnati targeted him where
(21:44):
they did.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Joe Burrow keeps getting plastic getting killed, right.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Weeke in and week out. The guys a freaking crash
test dummy. And you know, you look at the quarterback
hits here and then the past couple of years, and
when Joe Burrow has been on the field, he gets
hit more than any other quarterback in the NFL. And
yet Cincinnati has they have not done much to fortify
that offensive line. We saw teams that had offensive line
issues this offseason that aggressively attacked at the Bears, the
(22:10):
vice Gangs. We could go on and on Cincinnati. It's
like every year they're like, oh no, Joe will figure
it out again. This small little concession that they did
for Joe Burrow was getting him a little bodyguard for
passing downs.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
That's TODs Brooks.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You're gonna see TODG Brooks out there because todgs Brooks
is really good at swiping out the knees and or
taking on the chest that the first guy through the gates,
and invariably with the Bengals, that guy comes through within
a second of the snap being done, so at least
you'll take care of him and then Burrow can try
to figure it out after that. But a really good
pass blocking running back is almost more valuable to Cincinnati
(22:42):
than any other team, you can argue, which you know,
Todds Brooks, you found yourself a good situation between that
and then the short yardage stuff, that meat and potato
stuff between the tackles, etc. That's where I think he
takes that work from Chase Brown year one. And it's
a thing too where it improves Chase Brown's bill. You
stay healthy throughout the season, which obviously Cincinnati's progative as well.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah. I love Chase Brown, by the way, and I
don't understand why he's not being drafted sooner than he is.
You've got the lead running back, the workhorse back for
a top five offense and he's going at ADP of
twenty seven. Yeah, I don't know, Andy, and he dude
can catch too, and there they threw to him more
(23:24):
and more as the season went on. You could see
him setting, you know, being much more productive through the
air this year. I love I love Chase Brown. I
have so much. I have so so much Chase Brown
on my various teams right now.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yeah, good, good situation obviously for Chase Brown. And I
respect how Chase Brown. You mentioned it improved as a
receiver at Illinois. That was it was a dormant skill
and the few times we seen him doing it there.
I saw Chase Brown fight plenty of balls in the
limited sample and then when he went to the Senior Bowl,
and so I wasn't thinking he was going to get
(23:55):
there as a pass catcher, and that he has started
to show those signs. And if you become a reliable receiver,
of course, then it goes. You were already talking about
a ferrari athlete. So it's just more opportunities to get
Chase Brown in space and then allow him to potentially
hit an explosive play.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So yeah, kudos to Chase Brown. All Right.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
You mentioned Chicago running back Kyle Mnungui. He is ADP
two twenty seven, that is round nineteen. He and we
we've referenced the Rutgers football program already because we were
talking about Isaiah Pacheco. Here's the guy who finished better
than Pacheco, in fact, second only to Ray Rice in
(24:37):
Rutger's career rushing production. For him, the issue is always
the speed. He's a four to six runner, and there's
some point at which you just there's some point at
which you're too slow for the NFL. And I don't
know if it's for six or not, but I think
we're right. We're getting near that point where it's awfully
(24:58):
hard to find other case studies of six runners who've
had productive careers.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah, that's right. Kyle Manonguy. The thing you like about
him is he's a fighter, you know. I mentioned all
the stack boxes that he faced at Rutgers, and then
of course he was he's he's one of the better
pass blockers in this class as well, Kyle Manong Guy.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
But the athleticism was the question.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
I had one of the strangest experiences with Kyle Manong
Guy at his podium session at the combine of almost
any prospect with the question I asked, because what I asked,
and and let me give some context here. I love
Kyle Manong Guy's game at Rutgers. I like the grinder guys.
I like the guy where it's like every time you
get the box going to be a street fight. I
like that stuff. And he has solid instincts, he has
(25:44):
solid vision. And again he's just a fighter. We'll seek out.
You know, he's a physical guy and everything like that
despite the frame, you know, two hundred and eleven pounds.
The question with Kyle Manonguy was always the athleticism. This
wasn't heading into the pre draft process. This was his
entire call career. Again, the things that you liked were
the things he could work on or the things with
his heart. But his athletic profile, it never acquitted itself. Well,
(26:09):
he's just not a great athlete. And so I asked
him at his combine session, you know, like you you
had a solid career at Rutgers, and you showed a
lot in some tough situations and stuff, and now now
you come here and you have questions about the athletic profile,
like are you looking forward to getting out on the track,
and you know, trying to answer those he had one
of the stranger again, one of the strangers responds to
(26:30):
a question at least I've ever asked there. He looked
me dead in the eyes and he goes, what athletic questions, okay,
And I was like, well, you know the yeah. I
was like, you know the question with your athletic pro
what questions?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I haven't heard that.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
And it's like, bro, all right, well, either you totally
lack self awareness or you're lying to me anyway. Either way,
this is a weird moment. And twenty four hours from now,
you're not going to be testing very well. And he's
didn't test very well. He was a fortieth percentile overall
Size of Justice athlete at five eight two eleven. You
mentioned in the four to six he had a forty
(27:06):
fourth percentile shut all, the twenty seven percentile twenty yards split,
sixteen percentile ten yard split. We were not wrong about
Kyle Manongai's athletic profile. But again, the toughness and his
his ethos is die on the sword of ethos on
the field. It speaks for itself. So can he carve
oute a role right away? I think there's a shot.
(27:28):
Rochan Johnson has not shown us what we want to see.
Roshan Johnson, you know, he needs to speaking of a
guy that needs to make a case to remain on
the roster.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
And then DeAndre Swift eh.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, already benched once by Ben Johnson two years ago
when he was two years younger, right, and presumably better
than he is now. So we already know that DeAndre
Swift once before was not adequate to a Ben Johnson offense.
And I think that's why some people are just int
Rohan Johnson. A couple of weeks ago, kent on the
show and he made a case for Roshan Johnson as
(28:02):
a sleeper and potentially as this year's Jamal Williams. You'll
remember two years ago, three years ago, he led the
NFL with seventeen rushing touchdowns and maybe Roshan Johnson could
be that back. But if neither of those guys really
pan out, if they look like they have the past
few years, that would open the door for Kyle Manungay.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
My thing with Rochean Johns, I just don't know what,
you know, what a dormant part of his skill set
is going to merge this year. I think we more
or less have seen Roshan Johnson, and then you know,
we more or less know what DeAndre Swift is, and
you mentioned the issues that he had prior in Ben
Johnson's system. I really thought that Chicago was going to
(28:44):
get aggressive to draft the running back. Now they got
hopped in line by the Raiders for Genti. They obviously
thought that it was that was way too early for Hampton,
you know, and so they ended up waiting all the
way to round seven. I probably, you know, with Manonga,
I probably would have hopped in line and gone a
little bit earlier if I was them. But maybe they'll
be shopping for one next up. Probably will be shopping
(29:05):
for a next offseason. But you you have you know,
Ben Johnson taken over. We're excited provisionally about the quarterback.
We're certainly excited about the pass catching unit, and mentioned
that the offensive line got a lot better this offseason
because they made real, real strides to fix that problematic
interior offensive line. But if you go into camp and
it's this, you know, Ben Johnson's like, wait, the guy
(29:26):
that I benched two years ago and now he's lost
this step, that's gonna be my belcown. No, and then
he doesn't like grow sean the scenario where I could
see Manong guy and then people are like, oh, Kyle
Mano guy, like he's the top fab guy this week,
and we have to it's the thing where you're just
taking some cost certainty because Ben Johnson might get you know,
it's the He's the watchmaker, the clockmaker type guy. Ben
(29:49):
Johnson wants you to follow his system and stuff. And
manong Guy I think fits that of a guy. He's,
you know, like Leeroy Horde. If you need a yard
to get you three yards, if you need five yards
to get you three yards, right, that sort of kayle Manongay.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
In addition to I will pass.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Block for you, I will be the bodyguard for Caleb Williams,
a guy charges you know, loves to extend the play
and wait beyond the point where he should and so
it's advantage just to have a good pass blocker next
to him. Kyle Mananga might be the best pass it
probably is the best pass blocker on that roster at
the running back position. So I think there's a shot
for him to steal a role in your one for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
ADP two twenty seven, round number nineteen. Now we go
to another player who's right down the cusp of being
too slow in the NFL. But I like this kid
more than I like Manungui. And it's Devin Neil. Now
with the Saints. He was the he was basically mister
do everything for Kansas, drafted in the sixth round. Slow,
(30:46):
but he's also very patient runner, which is not the
worst combination of the world and super slippery, really good footwork,
really good vision. He doesn't have really I think, the
size to break a lot of really squared up good tackles,
but enough of lose simpness that a lot of the
times tacklers can't take good angles at Devin Neil and
and stylistically among the Saints runners, I feel like he's
(31:10):
the closest to Alvin Kamara minus the speed because the
speed's totally different there. But he can catch like camera
can catch, you know, Kevin Kamara turns so many of
the of so many short passes into long gains. I
feel like, compared to everybody else on the Saints roster,
Devin Neil, if anything happened to Alvin Kamara, and we
don't want anything to Devin Neil could be the guy
(31:32):
who walks into that that backup job.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
There's a lot of scenarios where Devin Neil has a
big role this fall that you like. If certainly, if
if Kamara got hurt again, the other one, of course,
is prior to the trade deadline of potential trade there
uh sending out Alvin Kamara. The Saints heading into this
season are tanking about as egregiously as you will ever
see an NFL franchise thing. They aren't even being subtle
(31:58):
about it. They they are in utter an abject cap
helly that it's going to be difficult for them to
dig out from under for the next couple of years.
And the one way that they could improve their roster
was by winning the first overall pick. They are going
to make a strong run for it. They have set
their roster up to be the worst in the NFL,
and that is what they are competing for, is the
(32:19):
first pick. And then after that, I think they're going
to beg arch manning arch please please, please please your
father and the and the whole thing, and we'll do
the Saints thing and YadA YadA, and you know from Louisiana,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
But how does this, you know, affect Devin Neill?
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Look Elvin again, If you try to run Elvin Kamara
into the ground early on, you increase the odds of
his injury. And then if he makes it toward near
the trade deadline healthy the Saints are, you know, they're
one and five or whatever, ohen six, Elvin Kamara might
be politely asking the front office to trade him even
(32:55):
though they haven't. I haven't already, right, and then at
that point it's gonna be Devin Neil. Kendrey Miller, is
not it? Kendry Miller if they had more rosterable running
backs would not be on the roster this fall. I
don't know if you will anyway, Uh, Clyde Edwards, d Layer,
these other bombs they have on the Velis Jones, right, they.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Don't have anything on that team. It's Devin Neil after that.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
So Devin Neil, he is falling way too far in
dynasty leagues, you know. I mean like going forward, he's
the most attractive Saints running back when you get past
the Alvin Kamara era and then this coming season. Uh,
there are there's pass there, there's pass that are not
far fetched that Elvin Kamara would become the RB one
Bill Kow type guy.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah, there's uh, there's I really I hadn't thought about
the trade Alvin kamaras scenario, but now that you mentioned it,
that could be a real thing that could be a
real thing. That's really interesting, really interesting.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
I mean it's you know, I mean, just toss someone
out charge. But we just talked about the Kansas City
Chiefs thing. And if it turns out that indeed Kareem
Hunt is done and then Pacheco is still you know,
he's not back to one hundred percent, or there's some
tentativeness there. Maybe Briuschard you just want to keep him
as the pass on guy. Maybe you don't think he's
far enough along you get into late September, early October.
(34:09):
You're telling me a team like that wouldn't be incentivized
to send the cast.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Isn't good.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
It's not like you're gonna have to give up two
first round picks, a mid round pick, maybe a round
three ought to get that done to help a Super
Bowl contender, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
And that's just one example.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
But yeah, I think there's a real shot Kamara gets
traded in the fall because Saints don't want to win
games and he's gonna help win games.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Is are you with me on how I see Devin Neil.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
We didn't love Devan Neil.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Yeah, Devin Neil, he's just so underrated because of the situation.
He came from, you know, at Kansas, but under the radar,
and then you mentioned that the lack of home run
hitting speed. He's a decent athlete, but he's not a
great athlete. Yeah, but his his game, it's the feet.
His feet are just tremendous. The way he sets things up,
(34:55):
the way that you mentioned that it's difficult to hit
him square in the open field.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
He will out make people miss.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Some of these ones they don't even go down as
a broken tackle because he makes a defender miss so
bad he doesn't even get touched. But yeah, it's a
guy with really good feet that that both is a
good between the tackles runner. He also is a good receiver,
and I think the receiving element of his game You're
gonna see it more in the NFL than you did
at Kansas, just because the way Kansas used him it
was dumping off behind the line of scrimmage. Is because
(35:23):
their offensive system. But Devin Neil has shown he has
the agility, he has the feat and then at the
senior ball he was licking people in those one on
one drills that I was talking about before.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
It's funny while we're talking, I've got I've got twitter
x just sort of on in the background Dwayne McFarlane
while we're talking about these deep deep running back sleepers,
he just tweeted, Dylan Samson is now my most drafted
running back should be going earlier. Interesting and not just rookies.
(35:55):
This is his most drafted running back. So to go
back to the first running back we talked about Dylan Samson. Uh,
you know our coworkert fantasy life Dwayne McFarland, who I
respect A Todd loves Dylan Samson.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
It's one of the things where opportunity meets you know. However,
you say that for Dylan Samson and with Junkins, you
know his issues. Now the opportunity even is a little
bit brighter. And you know, we went through Dylan Samson's
profile and the reasons why he fell down a little
bit like you already have a high floor embedded because
of the value you can give on passing downs. And
(36:29):
then we just have to see about the way his running,
his the rushing element of his game, how that translates
to the NFL. I mentioned it's sort of an unorthodox
profile is the one year coming out of the Tennessee system.
But there's a shot that it translates, and if it does,
you know, and there's any issue with Judkins or you
know whatever.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah, but he could hit the brown run in Dylan Samson.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Uh, let me hit you with this. Since our last show,
Mike Williams is retired, which doesn't change anything for me
because I never thought he was going to be a
meaningful participate in this coming season anyway. But it's put
a spotlight on Trey Harris, the receiver that the Chargers took.
I didn't Again, I didn't think Williams was really going
to stand in his way at all, if you know,
(37:12):
or not for long anyway. But do you because we're
there's some additional focus on Trey Harris right now as
a potential deep downfield target for a strong armed quarterback
who doesn't have one. Otherwise, what's your level of optimism
on Trey Harris just if you don't mind, just sort
of an off the cuff change of topic.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
The slander on Quinton Johnston there.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Yes, right, there was some embedded slander, wasn't there. But
he's not He is not a downfield target at all.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Well, he has the athletic profile for but yeah, the
the butterfinger hands there and hopefully that's what Trey Harris
provides the team. Trey Harris does not have the athletic
ability of Quinton Johnston, but he has better hands and
and Trey Harris shure that he could win downfield in college,
but that's you know, it was downfield and then it
(38:03):
was a lot of the short stuff and then he
did some stuff Trey Harris on the slants and stuff
where you could just get him going south across the field. Well,
you don't want to this stuff that Trey Harris lacks.
Is this stuff that Lad mcconki's awesome at Trey Harris.
You don't want him switching directions in the middle of
his route because then it takes him a while to
work back up to speed. But as far as his
(38:23):
situational guy, you know, next to a guy in Lab
McConkie that can do a lot more stuff. I think
there's absolutely a shot that he sets Quinton Johnson on
the bench there and jumps past him in year one.
Now it's a passing offense. It doesn't throw the ball
as much obviously, the Jim Harbot thing, but yeah, you
do get the downfield shots there and Quinton Johnston did
(38:45):
not run away, of course with that job last year.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
And now Mike Williams out the door. So Trey Harris, caon,
have ever shot?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Gimme what's Trey? What's the week Trey Harris starts? First week?
The first week? Trey Harris is a starter in the
Chargers offense.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
Well, for me designating him as a starter, I would
have to put him above Quinton Johnson on the depth
chart because Charters they run twelve thirteen personnel more than
any team in the NFL. So you know, people got
to keep that in mind. McConkie the one boundary guy,
and they will kick McConkey inside. Of course when they
go three receivers, sure, but you know you have to
have two boundary receivers that you're comfortable with her. You're
(39:24):
gonna Jim Harbaugh's inclinations to have the more tight ends
on the field. You're gonna lean even more into that.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
But with what.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Week would I expect Trey Harris to be above Quinton Johnson?
I'll say five, you know, yeah, out of out of camp.
I don't know if I can do it out of
camp because Johnson last year, you know, I mean, he
was on the field, the coaching staff knows him, he
has utility.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
It's a guy that pushes his safety back.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
And then Trey Harris that his utility, you know, and
Johnson's is too.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
So I'm you know, I'm not you know, saying that
it's not. But the the.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Limited route tree with Trey Harris, that's it's not just
an old miss thing. It's again difficulty switching directions really quickly,
fluidly without losing you know, high and speed. So you
want to just keep Trey Harris on the North South Pass.
That's where he excels.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Would expect him to push Johnson out of that that
role week four or five.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
So maybe we're talking like October.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
This feels like one of those times when I want
it to happen immediately, but the veteran's going to hang
on and just you know, keep this thing muddy for
longer than I want.
Speaker 4 (40:27):
Yeah, and it's a Jim Harbod thing too. You know,
He's gonna have deference to the veteran until it's he
can't anymore basically, and I do think Trey Harris will
will push that issue. But keep in mind Trey Harris
coming from more or less a cotton candy offensive system
run by Lane Kiffin, and now you're going from that
a cotton candy collegiate system to true blue pro style
(40:50):
system in Jim Harbought. So you know, there's aspects of
Trey Harris's game that need to be developed. He needs
to learn to play in a true pro style system.
But again, you put him just compared the profiles of
him and Quinton Johnson, you can start to make an
argument for Trey Harris really quickly.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
What I like about Trey Harris. The other thing I
like and gives me optimism that he can start sooner,
is he was productive four different years in college, and
I you know, I like that he's nat this is
somebody where we're trying to project one good season and
hope that he can start week one. You know, he's
got you know, he had the productivity with at least
fifty four catches in three straight years and over nine
(41:28):
hundred yards receiving in all three of them. So he
was you know, he was somebody that was productive in college.
And I want to believe Trey Harris is going to
be going to be a factor sooner than later, I hope.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
So yeah, and he fits that ilk of player that's
cool to see in modern college football, where they make
good right away at the G five school that they
go to. In his case, it was Louisiana Tech, and
then he jumped up the portal. King Layne Kiffin came
McCallin to rust in Louisiana and Trey Harris he did
that call and went till Miss and was dominant when
(41:59):
he was on the field. Trey Harris is per game
stats at Ole Miss. We're utterly stupid, you know, Lane Kiffen.
He does a really good job of getting his top
receiving options looks. And then of course they had the
first round quarterback that could get it there.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
But you need that.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
You need your wide receiver one to be super duper reliable.
And even though Trey Harris doesn't run a full routtree
on those routes that I was discussing before, goal balls
stuff across the middle where you just keep them going
north south, and then the other thing he is really
really good at and Jim Harbaugh will appreciate this. It's
more of a paper cut thing, but it is something
when defenses do their drop zone stuff or you see
(42:34):
the cornerback's bailing back or they're playing off. You know,
it's a predominant zone system. Trey Harris is really really
good at denoting it right away and then doing the
hitch thing, turning round four or five yards upfield, you know,
making himself big. So it's going to be you know,
even if the cornerback could get down in time that
it's going to be hard to get around his frame.
You don't drop the ball. So I mean Trey Harris,
(42:54):
you look at him right away. The quarterback justin Herbert
this year, you see them starting to bail on their
zone right off the snap tree. Here is the guy
that knows what to do. And you can get receptions
that way and and and again paper cut and and
sort of prove your worth that away.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
But there are utilities to that game.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Out of all the players we talked about, Dylan Samson
in Cleveland, Jarquees Hunter in Los Angeles, for Shard Smith
in Kansas City, Toads Brooks in Cincinnati, Kyle Munungui Manungae
Guy Mnunguy manungu I in Chicago, and Devin Neil pick one,
(43:33):
just giving if you had to, if you had to,
if you had to, bank on one of them for
let's just say this year only since you know, because
dynasty will be a different topic for this year.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Who do you want? Oh?
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I like it the deep sigh from thor.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (43:53):
This is tough because of course, the circumstances a couple
of these guys, if circumstances changed a little.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
Bit, they're going to be off and running. Uh uh.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
I would probably be between Samson and Brochard just because you know,
combining all those different things. Brichard would be the true
you're swinging for the fence cause he get that role
and you're in the awesome offense, whereas Samson doesn't have
as much you know, in front of him.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
But there you know.
Speaker 4 (44:19):
Uh, you know what, whatever, I'm gonna swing for the fence,
I'm gonna say Brichard Smith.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Okay, all right, noted, we'll mark the tape. We'll come
back to it at at some point later in the year.
Maybe it's gonna be after week one. Maybe this is
gonna be another pukin Nakua for you, and we'll be
talking about how you were urging everybody to get Berchard
Smith back in way back in July, and even before that.
We'll find out, but we'll you know, we'll mark the tape.
I'll remember it. Thanks so much for the deep dive.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
Thor appreciate it. Good to be back.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Yeah, and you'll be back on a future show. I know,
later than I think, the fifteenth I think. So we
will talk to you. We'll talk to you more soon.
Thanks my Matt. Looking forward to it, and thanks to
you for listening, everybody. We'll be back next week for
more Fantasy Football Weekly. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(45:09):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargion.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hello and welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. It is a
calm before the storm editions training camps looming. Joining me today,
Thorn Eistrom. It's been a while, Puddy, Great to have
you back on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hey, appreciated charts.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Yeah, good to be back and excited to talk about
some rookie running backs.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yep, we're gonna break down hidden gems. These are all
running backs that have an ADP of two hundred or higher,
except one guy who's ADP is one hundred and seventy,
but that's still round fifteen. So these are all deep
flyers running backs the most voltable position. This is where
(01:01):
the guy. This is where the guy who looks like
he's third and fourth on the depth chart now heading
into training camp, pre training camp. He gets some buzz
in training camp. Look at Isaiah Pacheco as an example
for at this time three years ago, there were there
was there were very There was very little rumbling about
Isaiah Pichecko as a factor in Kansas City. Everybody at
(01:25):
the time, I think, was assuming Clyde Edwards Hilaire would
come back, or they they'd find some other way. But
then his training camp went on, Pachecko started to pop
in training camp and people are like, Hey, this thing
looks like it could add up. Maybe we've got Isaiah
Pichecko out of this group.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, and it might be the same organization, it might
be the same, but right, going back to the previous Yeah,
I mean, Pachecko was seventh round in his draft class,
and that was a circumstantial thing. A Pachecko had been
at a school that had a passing game and or
an offensive line, which the Rutgers teams he played on
did not. You wouldn't have had stack Box's again again,
(02:03):
Swiss She's offensive lines. It was hard to watch Pacheco's
film at Rutgers because he did not have a lot
of opportunities there. Because of that, you end up falling
down in the draft, even though he tested really, really well.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And Briard Brochard's tape is.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Better than his, but it's a small sample sized thing
and it's the position convert Tyrone Tracy the year before
with the Giants fell further in the draft than he
should have because he had the limited amount of time
at running back after transitioning over from receivers. So that's
one that deserves to be looked at very closely. And
we're going to get into a couple other situations like
that as well, with guys with profiles that need to
(02:37):
be studied pretty closely, especially for dynasty league owners and
then owners in deeper leagues.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We begin in Cleveland, quinch On rested and still unsigned,
by the way, I mean, we should mention that as well.
So that's put a little bit of spotlight on Dylan
Samson previously kind of an afterthought for most of this offseason.
The kid from Tennessee drafted in the fourth is ADP.
Thor is one hundred and seventy. That's round fifteen, and
(03:06):
so the the you know, the ADP makes them very
very gettable. What you what are your thoughts on Dylan Samson.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I think even you know, without the Judkins stuff, I
was looking for Dylan Samson to take over as their
passing down back real quick. And I know that people
think that that's going to be Jerome Ford. Maybe maybe
it will be, but Jerome Ford, I think he would
do better as a mix and match guy spelling both
hypothetically healthy and on the field and out of trouble
(03:33):
quin John Jenkins, but then also Dylan Samson as the
pass down back. What incentive does Cleveland, one of the
worst teams in the NFL, a team that is going
to be competing for a top three, top four draft
pick in the next RALF to play Jerome Ford over
either of those guys. Jerome Ford has one year left
on his contract. That the Cleveland Browns backfield going forward,
(03:54):
it's going to be Junkins as the meat and potatoes guy,
you hope, and then Samson as the passing down back.
I think that that starts right away more or less.
And Dylan Samson there's very attractive things about his profile.
He's a little bit of an unorthodox mover, but he
does have speed. He's slightly undersized, but he's not tiny, right,
(04:14):
I mean, there's so there's these reasons he ended up
falling through the cracks and then it's like always he
a one year wonder coming out of that that Tennessee offense.
But he showed aptitude on the passing downs and instincts
as a runner. Right with the Tennessee offense, they spread
the field so you have less guys in the box,
but you know you have less blockers as well. And
(04:35):
and the vision that he showed Dylan Samson I really liked,
and then a very fluid runner as well. But that's
a guy, especially with the opportunity that he has in
front of him. And we'll see what ends up shaking
out with Quinchron Jenkins. But uh, Quinchron Jenkins, it's it's
not You're not talking about a ash Genty type right
that you know, it's it's no guarantee that that he
(04:58):
locks down X amount.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Of percent of the workload either.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
So Dylan Samson's a guy I think fantasy owners in
deeper leagues and dynasty leagues, it needs to be of interest.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I'm with you on that who's the better pass catcher
between the two Samson or Judkins, because I'm interested if
there's a third down role available for Samson or if
it's more just like change of pace like Alter, you know,
every third series might be Samson.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Definitely Samson.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
That was that was the quote the Nippick with Junkins'
profile is you can dump the ball off to him
if you want. You can do screens every now and again.
He's not a good receiver though. Where Judkins his instinct,
you know, it's the running, the meat and potatoes type
stuff he and speaking of good vision, Judkins has tremendous vision,
(05:46):
but the receiving stuff has just never completely been there.
He's not going to run routes for you beyond the
line of scrimmage and break the ankle of a linebacker.
That's just not his game. And so I liked when
Cleveland I was advocating all spring for all the organization
to do or at least ones that could stomach potentially
opening up two roster spots at running back because this
running back class in April that we had in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Draft, it was so so stacked right the.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Team team's double dip, and Cleveland was one of the
teams that did that. I thought that was inspired. Maybe
they don't feel that way in hindsight after Quinnjohn Jenkins's
recent legal issues, but getting the coming back with Dylan
Samson there.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Dylan Samson, there's.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
An argument to be made that he was one of
the more underrated backs just because that you know, when
you're looking at the trades that you know and then
the production over time. Yeah, he paled in comparison a
little bit with that, but again last year he was
one of the better running backs in the SEC, and
he showed that he can be a two way player,
both the running and then of course the receiving down stuff,
(06:46):
which I think you're going to see come more to
the four as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What I really like about Samson, Dude's a fighter man.
He is. There are no easy tackles with him. He
is going to battle you all the way to the ground.
And I love that about it, even though he's not
a big guy and it doesn't always work, but he
always fights and I like that part of his game
quite a bit. If you are interested in Samson round fifteen,
(07:12):
let's go to the Los Angeles Rams Jarquez Hunter going
off the board adp of player two hundred. Round seventeen.
This is the fourth rounder from Auburn. He was the
backup to beloved runner Tank Bigsby Aviome. I kind of
(07:32):
like him, you know, he runs tall and upright, and
for a guy who's five foot nine, that uprights styling
makes him play a little bit bigger, but he's not
stiff like a lot of the track star upright runners.
You know what I mean when I say that thor
where some of those track star guys end up being
very very sort of perpendicular to the ground, and I
think they create a lot of a lot of a
lot of area for people to tackle them. What I
(07:55):
like about Hunter is he's got this upright running style,
but not in a stiff and rigid way.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah, there's there's a fluidity there to him, but there's
also he has like a he presents a hurkiye jerky
type picture to oncoming defenders and and Hunter becomes a
difficult guy to hit square.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
He hasn't he has an instinct for running the rams. Uh.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
They're often looking for the guys on tape that that
show the instinct. I think that's why they've hit on
some of these offensive players that end up being better
than their draft slot. Obviously Kyron Williams in the same
room that would apply to I like Hunter going forward,
I think more than Blake Koram. I think there there's
an argument to be made the Blake Korum with the
(08:40):
system he was in in the offensive line that that
flattered him. We know that Blake Korum didn't have the
best measurables. Hunter doesn't have the best measurables either, but
they're certainly better. And Hunter is a home run hitter
when he gets the open field in front of him.
That's where it comes back to that hurky jerky thing,
and it's hard to get a flush shot on him.
Once you get him into the second and of course
third level, that's when he can hit the after.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Burners four four four speed.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
On Jerks Hunter, that's ninety third percentile, his twenty yard split,
eighty seventh percentile, seventy first percentile athlete overall. You were
mentioning that some of the dimensions five to nine and
a half two hundred four pounds, but it's a guy
that can do some different stuff. Auburn did not have
a great passing offense last year, so there was a
lot of pressure that was on Jerks Hunter. He faced
(09:26):
a lot of stack boxes in the SEC and he
acquitted himself pretty well. I like again, I like the vision,
and I like his ability to make guys miss, and
then you have sort of an amalgamation of traits from there.
You mentioned He's not a stiff side to side. He
also has that north south burst. So jerk as Hunter
in an opportunity with a team that will play you.
(09:48):
The Rams don't care what you're getting paid, they don't
care where you've got drafted. Yeah, they will play the
best player. And I think Hunter is going to come in.
I think he's gonna use Surp Korum quick and then
can he carve out a role next to Kyron Williams.
You can't have Kien Williams having three hundred plus touches
every year, so they're going to have to give some
of that work to someone else, and I think it
would make sense for Jaikas Hunter to be getting that
(10:10):
as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So let's talk Blake Korm for a minute, because at
this time last year, were you and I were both
optimistic that Koram was going to get a pretty decent
run in LA and with some of the same thinking, right,
you know, Sean McVay will play the best guy. And
Korm was so productive at Michigan, but it just he
(10:31):
never he didn't get a lot of run, and the
run that we saw from Korum was honestly pretty pedestrian.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Last year Yeah, it's a little bit disconcerting that a
guy that lacks the measuables that Korum does and that
isn't going to contribute for you on passing downs. As
we knew of Korum, that he wasn't opening the eyes
of that coaching staff and at least forcing his way
into the field in a situational role right the rams
they're they're starting Kyron Williams. It's a guy where just
(11:02):
a very lithe frame and it's again, it's a guy
that you don't want to give three hundred plus touches
to every year. It's a guy that's going to break
down if you continue to do that, and you're looking
for a guy to that can take some of that workload.
It did not seem like they trusted Korum to do that,
and I think maybe that is why you saw card
submitted with jerkas Hunter's name on it in April. So Korum,
(11:24):
I think he's going to get kicked down to RB
three and he's going to have to make a case
to stay on the roster after this.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Wow, what a fall. What a fall. Okay, the next
rookie with an ADP of over two hundred and it's
just two hundred one is a player we've alluded to already.
Brishard Smith ADP two hundred one. That's round eighteen and
he's the seventh rounder from SMU via Miami. He is
receiver turned running back just one year at running back,
(11:51):
correct when he went to SMU that's right, yep, yep,
And people are sniffing opportunity in Kansas City Thoor. So,
you know, Kareem Hunt was awful last year. We've talked
about it many times in the show. By many metrics,
he was the worst running back in the NFL by
most metrics given the number of carries that he had.
Isaiah Pacheco is still a question mark due to the
(12:13):
struggling play that he had last year when he came
back from his injury. So there's some question marks there
and people are sensing there's an opportunity, especially for a
good past catching back in Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Yeah, Kareem Hunt has a fork sticking out of his back.
I think he's done. And then Pacheco, we'll have to
see last year was you know, and it's all he
was dinged up and he was okay, great, We're gonna
have to see it from mister Pacheco and Pacheco by
the way, he I believe he hits free agency after
next year as well, So you know, either way, Dynasty
(12:46):
owners need to have Brichard Smith that name circled. But
I think Briuschard's a guy potentially can get on the
field right away, just as Isaiah Pacheco did once upon
a time. The way that he gets on Briuschhard Smith,
I have no doubt about it. He's the best receiving
back on that team. I think you're going to see
him out there for all the passing downs that the
Kansas City has, and obviously they throw the ball pretty good.
(13:09):
I also I also think there's a shot he can
start pushing Pacheco for carries, just just in the base offense.
What we saw last year at Burchard Smith, I was
so impressed with it. That was a guy he was
stuck in Miami, Miami prior to that, the Hurricanes, I'm
talking about college football, Burchard Smith had gone there as
a slot receiver. He found himself stuck for a couple
(13:31):
of years behind a guy named Zaber Ristreppo, and of
course Ristreppo ended up going undrafted, but he caught a
billion balls in college right, like in Coral Gables that
you know, it's like this guy's you know, all yeah,
and and and Miami had two other receivers but you know,
outside of Ristreppo that were went to the NFL combined
last year, they had three total, and then of course
(13:51):
Elijah Royo.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Those guys were.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
On campus the majority of them prior to that, and
obviously that's what led Burchard Smith on his way. And
then he transferred to SMU. I didn't even know that
he had transitioned to running back, I think until August
and then I I didn't think Burchard's Smith had any
shot at SMU because they had multiple four former four
and five star recruits in their running back room. SMU did,
(14:14):
and Brichiard Smith somehow by the start of the season
he had hopped everybody at his new position. Now he's
sitting atop the depth chart and it's like, oh, that's
a cute story. No, no, no, he was the guy that
that let that ran there off. The offense ran through
Berchard Smith. SMU made the friggin CFP last year. Yeah,
Brochard Smith carried this team to the CFP in their
(14:35):
first year in the ACC and this wasn't a team
that was dominant passing. In fact, they had a returning
quarterback named Preston Stone that they benched after two or
three games, and then they went to this this scrambler
Kevin Jennings that we thought was going to be a
career backup. But again, the offense kept working no matter
what because of Brichard Smith. He showed natural chops for running,
(14:56):
a natural instinct for it that I had previously noted
with Tyrone Tracy. You know, we talked about him Tyrone
Tracy the year before in his draft class, right, Like,
my whole take with him was, Tyrone Tracy doesn't have
any business having the instincts for running that he showed
on the field at Purdue last year, being so new
to the position. I felt very similarly about Brishard Smith
(15:16):
in that regard at SMU. The question with that is
what percentage of that aspect of his game translates to
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Your five to nine.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Five, you know, you're shade under five to ten one
hundred and ninety five pounds or so. That it's on
the smaller side for sure, So we know that it's
not going to translate one to one, But will a
lot of it translate, right, Like, will enough of it
translate to make him viable as a runner? I know
he's going to be a good receiving down back. Nobody
could cover him at the senior ball, you know, like
(15:49):
in the one on one drills, it's the linebackers and
the strong safeties that have to take on the running backs,
and you've got a lot of decent assignments. There's there's
a lot of running backs coming out that are not
great receivers. I felt legitimately bad for the linebackers and
the shawn safeties that drew Burchard Smith because he was
making people look silly out there. It was like they
had throwing banana peels all over the field. He was
(16:11):
breaking ankles left and right, and by the time the
ball got thrown, you know, within ten yards line of scrimmage,
Burchard Smith would have an eight yard halo around him.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Because he created so much separation.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
It's exceedingly difficult for players of those positions to cover them.
Which makes sense because again, this is a slot receiver.
It's a slot receiver that just so happened to be
to show this aptitude as a runner to give him
this opportunity. But speaking of opportunity, you're in a great
offensive system with the coaching staff that knows how to
use the skill sets of his players and is shown
in the past. It doesn't, you know, similar to what
(16:43):
we were talking about with the Rams. It doesn't care
as much about your draft equity. It's going to play
the best player. And if Brichhard Smith proves that he
is a better player for Kansas City than Pacheco, He's
going to be on the field right away. Even so,
I again, I think at minimum you're going to see
Brishard Smith as the passing down guy, which if he
open's eyes there, he's gonna start chomping into the carries
as well.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I love Brischard Smith.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
All right, Well that's that is a glowing recommendation right there.
Four three nine. He had nineteen plays of over twenty
yards for SMU last year. I don't know that he
can ever be a full time three down back. That's
that's the only limitation for me on Smith, and I
think you probably see it that way as well.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
I assume, yeah, I you know, I think ideally you
would have him mixing and matching with someone and like
you know, Pacheco. You know, I don't know they could
work their their skill sets, but like, you know, what
I'm thinking is more like you know, the Giants with Tracy,
and then they drafted Scataboo to do the efficiency meat
and potatoes, you know, some of that stuff. And then
(17:46):
you take that work away from Tracy. You are increasing
the odds that Tracy remains healthy while leveraging what he
is best at. And then you're given Scattabu. You know
you're going to get efficiency with that and Kansas City
in the future we'll see in future is what they do.
You know, drafting here, Carson Steele would probably be you
would consider him like the homeless man's version of what
I would be talking homeless man's version of Cam.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Scattaboo, I guess.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
But like that's that's the kind of plateaon that I
would love Brishard Smith and in the future, get him
a Berserker to play next to him, Berserker just for
the early down and then let Brichhard do his thing,
which is break people's ankles in the open field.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Now, we don't have to necessarily love all the players
that we're going to talk about, but let's let's use
that as my transition point to I think it's Taj Brooks,
not Taj A. I don't think there's a silent tag. Right,
it's Taz Brooks's Cincinnati's running back ADP's to twenty round
nineteen to twenty round nineteen, six round draft pick by
(18:43):
the Bengals. I like that he's short, he's got this
low center of gravity, he can catch. He's got some
good footwork and juke moves. He's pretty slow, and I didn't,
you know, I don't see a ton of power there.
I didn't love what I saw. I think he looked
like a six round dart throw to me, which is,
you know where he was with the Bengals. But maybe you,
(19:05):
maybe you're more optimistic than I am, and maybe you
think he's gonna beat out Zach Moss and be the
backup in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I do think that, Yeah, because the reason you take
Taj Brooks, it's it's a good stylistic compliment for Chase
Brown's game. Ye In that Chase Brown, you know he
hits dingers and and whereas Todd Brooks you mentioned he's
he's all time bowling. He comes out the bowling ball
assembly line, right, I mean he's it's like the trash
(19:33):
compactor shoved him down, but he's jacked, right, I mean TODJ.
Brooks pulling up his UH measurements five to nine. At
the combine, he was two fourteen, but he went down.
He played at Texas Tech two twenty five to twenty six.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Jeez.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
You know obviously at five nine there you have you
have a lot of compact there.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
He went out. TODJ.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Brooks in the pre draft process tested better than we thought.
You know, it's it's not a great athlete like you mentioned,
but we thought he was going to test more like
a guy we're about to talk about Kyle Manongai and
Todge Brooks, to his credit, he tests a little bit
better than that that. You know, you talk about the
compliment for Chase Brown. Todge Brooks very good between the
tackles because you have the low center of gravity thing
(20:17):
and then the agility with the arm tackle breaking power, right,
I mean, like he's not he's not Barry Sanders in
terms of shifty, but for as big as he is,
he's extremely shifty.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
And then he's not a preserve. He's not branded. He
doesn't have Brandon Jacobs's strength.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
But but again for the type of player, he is solid, solid,
above average strength, and so you add all these things together,
he's a puzzle for people between the tackles, and he
is happy to do the efficiency stuff. Texas Tech a
school that going back click Mike Leach and prior to
that all time air raid team, they're one of the
premier air raate teams that we've had in college football
(20:56):
here the last thirty years, past past, past, past past,
Tosh brook and he made this point at the combine,
and I didn't see it as ego at all.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I was not in along with him.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
He was right about how I turned a passing school
into a running school. At the last two years Tums
Brooks in twenty twenty three, fifteen hundred and thirty eight
yards on the ground.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Last year fifteen oh five.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Again, that's a team that wanted to run the air
raid and had an air raid offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
But Todje Brooks was good enough that you know that
that's what ended up happening there.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
He also did plenty as a receiver twenty nine catches
the one year, twenty eight last year. And then here's
the biggest thing of how I know I'm not not.
I believe one hundred percent that Todge Brooks is going
to carve out a role this year because he was
one of the best pass blocking running backs in this
past draft class. That is why Cincinnati targeted him where
(21:44):
they did.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Joe Burrow keeps getting plastic getting killed, right.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Weeke in and week out. The guys a freaking crash
test dummy. And you know, you look at the quarterback
hits here and then the past couple of years, and
when Joe Burrow has been on the field, he gets
hit more than any other quarterback in the NFL. And
yet Cincinnati has they have not done much to fortify
that offensive line. We saw teams that had offensive line
issues this offseason that aggressively attacked at the Bears, the
(22:10):
vice Gangs. We could go on and on Cincinnati. It's
like every year they're like, oh no, Joe will figure
it out again. This small little concession that they did
for Joe Burrow was getting him a little bodyguard for
passing downs.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
That's TODs Brooks.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You're gonna see TODG Brooks out there because todgs Brooks
is really good at swiping out the knees and or
taking on the chest that the first guy through the gates,
and invariably with the Bengals, that guy comes through within
a second of the snap being done, so at least
you'll take care of him and then Burrow can try
to figure it out after that. But a really good
pass blocking running back is almost more valuable to Cincinnati
(22:42):
than any other team, you can argue, which you know,
Todds Brooks, you found yourself a good situation between that
and then the short yardage stuff, that meat and potato
stuff between the tackles, etc. That's where I think he
takes that work from Chase Brown year one. And it's
a thing too where it improves Chase Brown's bill. You
stay healthy throughout the season, which obviously Cincinnati's progative as well.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah. I love Chase Brown, by the way, and I
don't understand why he's not being drafted sooner than he is.
You've got the lead running back, the workhorse back for
a top five offense and he's going at ADP of
twenty seven. Yeah, I don't know, Andy, and he dude
can catch too, and there they threw to him more
(23:24):
and more as the season went on. You could see
him setting, you know, being much more productive through the
air this year. I love I love Chase Brown. I
have so much. I have so so much Chase Brown
on my various teams right now.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yeah, good, good situation obviously for Chase Brown. And I
respect how Chase Brown. You mentioned it improved as a
receiver at Illinois. That was it was a dormant skill
and the few times we seen him doing it there.
I saw Chase Brown fight plenty of balls in the
limited sample and then when he went to the Senior Bowl,
and so I wasn't thinking he was going to get
(23:55):
there as a pass catcher, and that he has started
to show those signs. And if you become a reliable receiver,
of course, then it goes. You were already talking about
a ferrari athlete. So it's just more opportunities to get
Chase Brown in space and then allow him to potentially
hit an explosive play.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So yeah, kudos to Chase Brown. All Right.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
You mentioned Chicago running back Kyle Mnungui. He is ADP
two twenty seven, that is round nineteen. He and we
we've referenced the Rutgers football program already because we were
talking about Isaiah Pacheco. Here's the guy who finished better
than Pacheco, in fact, second only to Ray Rice in
(24:37):
Rutger's career rushing production. For him, the issue is always
the speed. He's a four to six runner, and there's
some point at which you just there's some point at
which you're too slow for the NFL. And I don't
know if it's for six or not, but I think
we're right. We're getting near that point where it's awfully
(24:58):
hard to find other case studies of six runners who've
had productive careers.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah, that's right. Kyle Manonguy. The thing you like about
him is he's a fighter, you know. I mentioned all
the stack boxes that he faced at Rutgers, and then
of course he was he's he's one of the better
pass blockers in this class as well, Kyle Manong Guy.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
But the athleticism was the question.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
I had one of the strangest experiences with Kyle Manong
Guy at his podium session at the combine of almost
any prospect with the question I asked, because what I asked,
and and let me give some context here. I love
Kyle Manong Guy's game at Rutgers. I like the grinder guys.
I like the guy where it's like every time you
get the box going to be a street fight. I
like that stuff. And he has solid instincts, he has
(25:44):
solid vision. And again he's just a fighter. We'll seek out.
You know, he's a physical guy and everything like that
despite the frame, you know, two hundred and eleven pounds.
The question with Kyle Manonguy was always the athleticism. This
wasn't heading into the pre draft process. This was his
entire call career. Again, the things that you liked were
the things he could work on or the things with
his heart. But his athletic profile, it never acquitted itself. Well,
(26:09):
he's just not a great athlete. And so I asked
him at his combine session, you know, like you you
had a solid career at Rutgers, and you showed a
lot in some tough situations and stuff, and now now
you come here and you have questions about the athletic profile,
like are you looking forward to getting out on the track,
and you know, trying to answer those he had one
of the stranger again, one of the strangers responds to
(26:30):
a question at least I've ever asked there. He looked
me dead in the eyes and he goes, what athletic questions, okay,
And I was like, well, you know the yeah. I
was like, you know the question with your athletic pro
what questions?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I haven't heard that.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
And it's like, bro, all right, well, either you totally
lack self awareness or you're lying to me anyway. Either way,
this is a weird moment. And twenty four hours from now,
you're not going to be testing very well. And he's
didn't test very well. He was a fortieth percentile overall
Size of Justice athlete at five eight two eleven. You
mentioned in the four to six he had a forty
(27:06):
fourth percentile shut all, the twenty seven percentile twenty yards split,
sixteen percentile ten yard split. We were not wrong about
Kyle Manongai's athletic profile. But again, the toughness and his
his ethos is die on the sword of ethos on
the field. It speaks for itself. So can he carve
oute a role right away? I think there's a shot.
(27:28):
Rochan Johnson has not shown us what we want to see.
Roshan Johnson, you know, he needs to speaking of a
guy that needs to make a case to remain on
the roster.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
And then DeAndre Swift eh.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, already benched once by Ben Johnson two years ago
when he was two years younger, right, and presumably better
than he is now. So we already know that DeAndre
Swift once before was not adequate to a Ben Johnson offense.
And I think that's why some people are just int
Rohan Johnson. A couple of weeks ago, kent on the
show and he made a case for Roshan Johnson as
(28:02):
a sleeper and potentially as this year's Jamal Williams. You'll
remember two years ago, three years ago, he led the
NFL with seventeen rushing touchdowns and maybe Roshan Johnson could
be that back. But if neither of those guys really
pan out, if they look like they have the past
few years, that would open the door for Kyle Manungay.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
My thing with Rochean Johns, I just don't know what,
you know, what a dormant part of his skill set
is going to merge this year. I think we more
or less have seen Roshan Johnson, and then you know,
we more or less know what DeAndre Swift is, and
you mentioned the issues that he had prior in Ben
Johnson's system. I really thought that Chicago was going to
(28:44):
get aggressive to draft the running back. Now they got
hopped in line by the Raiders for Genti. They obviously
thought that it was that was way too early for Hampton,
you know, and so they ended up waiting all the
way to round seven. I probably, you know, with Manonga,
I probably would have hopped in line and gone a
little bit earlier if I was them. But maybe they'll
be shopping for one next up. Probably will be shopping
(29:05):
for a next offseason. But you you have you know,
Ben Johnson taken over. We're excited provisionally about the quarterback.
We're certainly excited about the pass catching unit, and mentioned
that the offensive line got a lot better this offseason
because they made real, real strides to fix that problematic
interior offensive line. But if you go into camp and
it's this, you know, Ben Johnson's like, wait, the guy
(29:26):
that I benched two years ago and now he's lost
this step, that's gonna be my belcown. No, and then
he doesn't like grow sean the scenario where I could
see Manong guy and then people are like, oh, Kyle
Mano guy, like he's the top fab guy this week,
and we have to it's the thing where you're just
taking some cost certainty because Ben Johnson might get you know,
it's the He's the watchmaker, the clockmaker type guy. Ben
(29:49):
Johnson wants you to follow his system and stuff. And
manong Guy I think fits that of a guy. He's,
you know, like Leeroy Horde. If you need a yard
to get you three yards, if you need five yards
to get you three yards, right, that sort of kayle Manongay.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
In addition to I will pass.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Block for you, I will be the bodyguard for Caleb Williams,
a guy charges you know, loves to extend the play
and wait beyond the point where he should and so
it's advantage just to have a good pass blocker next
to him. Kyle Mananga might be the best pass it
probably is the best pass blocker on that roster at
the running back position. So I think there's a shot
for him to steal a role in your one for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
ADP two twenty seven, round number nineteen. Now we go
to another player who's right down the cusp of being
too slow in the NFL. But I like this kid
more than I like Manungui. And it's Devin Neil. Now
with the Saints. He was the he was basically mister
do everything for Kansas, drafted in the sixth round. Slow,
(30:46):
but he's also very patient runner, which is not the
worst combination of the world and super slippery, really good footwork,
really good vision. He doesn't have really I think, the
size to break a lot of really squared up good tackles,
but enough of lose simpness that a lot of the
times tacklers can't take good angles at Devin Neil and
and stylistically among the Saints runners, I feel like he's
(31:10):
the closest to Alvin Kamara minus the speed because the
speed's totally different there. But he can catch like camera
can catch, you know, Kevin Kamara turns so many of
the of so many short passes into long gains. I
feel like, compared to everybody else on the Saints roster,
Devin Neil, if anything happened to Alvin Kamara, and we
don't want anything to Devin Neil could be the guy
(31:32):
who walks into that that backup job.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
There's a lot of scenarios where Devin Neil has a
big role this fall that you like. If certainly, if
if Kamara got hurt again, the other one, of course,
is prior to the trade deadline of potential trade there
uh sending out Alvin Kamara. The Saints heading into this
season are tanking about as egregiously as you will ever
see an NFL franchise thing. They aren't even being subtle
(31:58):
about it. They they are in utter an abject cap
helly that it's going to be difficult for them to
dig out from under for the next couple of years.
And the one way that they could improve their roster
was by winning the first overall pick. They are going
to make a strong run for it. They have set
their roster up to be the worst in the NFL,
and that is what they are competing for, is the
(32:19):
first pick. And then after that, I think they're going
to beg arch manning arch please please, please please your
father and the and the whole thing, and we'll do
the Saints thing and YadA YadA, and you know from Louisiana,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
But how does this, you know, affect Devin Neill?
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Look Elvin again, If you try to run Elvin Kamara
into the ground early on, you increase the odds of
his injury. And then if he makes it toward near
the trade deadline healthy the Saints are, you know, they're
one and five or whatever, ohen six, Elvin Kamara might
be politely asking the front office to trade him even
(32:55):
though they haven't. I haven't already, right, and then at
that point it's gonna be Devin Neil. Kendrey Miller, is
not it? Kendry Miller if they had more rosterable running
backs would not be on the roster this fall. I
don't know if you will anyway, Uh, Clyde Edwards, d Layer,
these other bombs they have on the Velis Jones, right, they.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Don't have anything on that team. It's Devin Neil after that.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
So Devin Neil, he is falling way too far in
dynasty leagues, you know. I mean like going forward, he's
the most attractive Saints running back when you get past
the Alvin Kamara era and then this coming season. Uh,
there are there's pass there, there's pass that are not
far fetched that Elvin Kamara would become the RB one
Bill Kow type guy.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah, there's uh, there's I really I hadn't thought about
the trade Alvin kamaras scenario, but now that you mentioned it,
that could be a real thing that could be a
real thing. That's really interesting, really interesting.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
I mean it's you know, I mean, just toss someone
out charge. But we just talked about the Kansas City
Chiefs thing. And if it turns out that indeed Kareem
Hunt is done and then Pacheco is still you know,
he's not back to one hundred percent, or there's some
tentativeness there. Maybe Briuschard you just want to keep him
as the pass on guy. Maybe you don't think he's
far enough along you get into late September, early October.
(34:09):
You're telling me a team like that wouldn't be incentivized
to send the cast.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Isn't good.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
It's not like you're gonna have to give up two
first round picks, a mid round pick, maybe a round
three ought to get that done to help a Super
Bowl contender, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
And that's just one example.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
But yeah, I think there's a real shot Kamara gets
traded in the fall because Saints don't want to win
games and he's gonna help win games.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Is are you with me on how I see Devin Neil.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
We didn't love Devan Neil.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Yeah, Devin Neil, he's just so underrated because of the situation.
He came from, you know, at Kansas, but under the radar,
and then you mentioned that the lack of home run
hitting speed. He's a decent athlete, but he's not a
great athlete. Yeah, but his his game, it's the feet.
His feet are just tremendous. The way he sets things up,
(34:55):
the way that you mentioned that it's difficult to hit
him square in the open field.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
He will out make people miss.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Some of these ones they don't even go down as
a broken tackle because he makes a defender miss so
bad he doesn't even get touched. But yeah, it's a
guy with really good feet that that both is a
good between the tackles runner. He also is a good receiver,
and I think the receiving element of his game You're
gonna see it more in the NFL than you did
at Kansas, just because the way Kansas used him it
was dumping off behind the line of scrimmage. Is because
(35:23):
their offensive system. But Devin Neil has shown he has
the agility, he has the feat and then at the
senior ball he was licking people in those one on
one drills that I was talking about before.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
It's funny while we're talking, I've got I've got twitter
x just sort of on in the background Dwayne McFarlane
while we're talking about these deep deep running back sleepers,
he just tweeted, Dylan Samson is now my most drafted
running back should be going earlier. Interesting and not just rookies.
(35:55):
This is his most drafted running back. So to go
back to the first running back we talked about Dylan Samson. Uh,
you know our coworkert fantasy life Dwayne McFarland, who I
respect A Todd loves Dylan Samson.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
It's one of the things where opportunity meets you know. However,
you say that for Dylan Samson and with Junkins, you
know his issues. Now the opportunity even is a little
bit brighter. And you know, we went through Dylan Samson's
profile and the reasons why he fell down a little
bit like you already have a high floor embedded because
of the value you can give on passing downs. And
(36:29):
then we just have to see about the way his running,
his the rushing element of his game, how that translates
to the NFL. I mentioned it's sort of an unorthodox
profile is the one year coming out of the Tennessee system.
But there's a shot that it translates, and if it does,
you know, and there's any issue with Judkins or you
know whatever.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah, but he could hit the brown run in Dylan Samson.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Uh, let me hit you with this. Since our last show,
Mike Williams is retired, which doesn't change anything for me
because I never thought he was going to be a
meaningful participate in this coming season anyway. But it's put
a spotlight on Trey Harris, the receiver that the Chargers took.
I didn't Again, I didn't think Williams was really going
to stand in his way at all, if you know,
(37:12):
or not for long anyway. But do you because we're
there's some additional focus on Trey Harris right now as
a potential deep downfield target for a strong armed quarterback
who doesn't have one. Otherwise, what's your level of optimism
on Trey Harris just if you don't mind, just sort
of an off the cuff change of topic.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
The slander on Quinton Johnston there.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Yes, right, there was some embedded slander, wasn't there. But
he's not He is not a downfield target at all.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Well, he has the athletic profile for but yeah, the
the butterfinger hands there and hopefully that's what Trey Harris
provides the team. Trey Harris does not have the athletic
ability of Quinton Johnston, but he has better hands and
and Trey Harris shure that he could win downfield in college,
but that's you know, it was downfield and then it
(38:03):
was a lot of the short stuff and then he
did some stuff Trey Harris on the slants and stuff
where you could just get him going south across the field. Well,
you don't want to this stuff that Trey Harris lacks.
Is this stuff that Lad mcconki's awesome at Trey Harris.
You don't want him switching directions in the middle of
his route because then it takes him a while to
work back up to speed. But as far as his
(38:23):
situational guy, you know, next to a guy in Lab
McConkie that can do a lot more stuff. I think
there's absolutely a shot that he sets Quinton Johnson on
the bench there and jumps past him in year one.
Now it's a passing offense. It doesn't throw the ball
as much obviously, the Jim Harbot thing, but yeah, you
do get the downfield shots there and Quinton Johnston did
(38:45):
not run away, of course with that job last year.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
And now Mike Williams out the door. So Trey Harris, caon,
have ever shot?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Gimme what's Trey? What's the week Trey Harris starts? First week?
The first week? Trey Harris is a starter in the
Chargers offense.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
Well, for me designating him as a starter, I would
have to put him above Quinton Johnson on the depth
chart because Charters they run twelve thirteen personnel more than
any team in the NFL. So you know, people got
to keep that in mind. McConkie the one boundary guy,
and they will kick McConkey inside. Of course when they
go three receivers, sure, but you know you have to
have two boundary receivers that you're comfortable with her. You're
(39:24):
gonna Jim Harbaugh's inclinations to have the more tight ends
on the field. You're gonna lean even more into that.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
But with what.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Week would I expect Trey Harris to be above Quinton Johnson?
I'll say five, you know, yeah, out of out of camp.
I don't know if I can do it out of
camp because Johnson last year, you know, I mean, he
was on the field, the coaching staff knows him, he
has utility.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
It's a guy that pushes his safety back.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
And then Trey Harris that his utility, you know, and
Johnson's is too.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
So I'm you know, I'm not you know, saying that
it's not. But the the.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Limited route tree with Trey Harris, that's it's not just
an old miss thing. It's again difficulty switching directions really quickly,
fluidly without losing you know, high and speed. So you
want to just keep Trey Harris on the North South Pass.
That's where he excels.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Would expect him to push Johnson out of that that
role week four or five.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
So maybe we're talking like October.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
This feels like one of those times when I want
it to happen immediately, but the veteran's going to hang
on and just you know, keep this thing muddy for
longer than I want.
Speaker 4 (40:27):
Yeah, and it's a Jim Harbod thing too. You know,
He's gonna have deference to the veteran until it's he
can't anymore basically, and I do think Trey Harris will
will push that issue. But keep in mind Trey Harris
coming from more or less a cotton candy offensive system
run by Lane Kiffin, and now you're going from that
a cotton candy collegiate system to true blue pro style
(40:50):
system in Jim Harbought. So you know, there's aspects of
Trey Harris's game that need to be developed. He needs
to learn to play in a true pro style system.
But again, you put him just compared the profiles of
him and Quinton Johnson, you can start to make an
argument for Trey Harris really quickly.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
What I like about Trey Harris. The other thing I
like and gives me optimism that he can start sooner,
is he was productive four different years in college, and
I you know, I like that he's nat this is
somebody where we're trying to project one good season and
hope that he can start week one. You know, he's
got you know, he had the productivity with at least
fifty four catches in three straight years and over nine
(41:28):
hundred yards receiving in all three of them. So he
was you know, he was somebody that was productive in college.
And I want to believe Trey Harris is going to
be going to be a factor sooner than later, I hope.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
So yeah, and he fits that ilk of player that's
cool to see in modern college football, where they make
good right away at the G five school that they
go to. In his case, it was Louisiana Tech, and
then he jumped up the portal. King Layne Kiffin came
McCallin to rust in Louisiana and Trey Harris he did
that call and went till Miss and was dominant when
(41:59):
he was on the field. Trey Harris is per game
stats at Ole Miss. We're utterly stupid, you know, Lane Kiffen.
He does a really good job of getting his top
receiving options looks. And then of course they had the
first round quarterback that could get it there.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
But you need that.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
You need your wide receiver one to be super duper reliable.
And even though Trey Harris doesn't run a full routtree
on those routes that I was discussing before, goal balls
stuff across the middle where you just keep them going
north south, and then the other thing he is really
really good at and Jim Harbaugh will appreciate this. It's
more of a paper cut thing, but it is something
when defenses do their drop zone stuff or you see
(42:34):
the cornerback's bailing back or they're playing off. You know,
it's a predominant zone system. Trey Harris is really really
good at denoting it right away and then doing the
hitch thing, turning round four or five yards upfield, you know,
making himself big. So it's going to be you know,
even if the cornerback could get down in time that
it's going to be hard to get around his frame.
You don't drop the ball. So I mean Trey Harris,
(42:54):
you look at him right away. The quarterback justin Herbert
this year, you see them starting to bail on their
zone right off the snap tree. Here is the guy
that knows what to do. And you can get receptions
that way and and and again paper cut and and
sort of prove your worth that away.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
But there are utilities to that game.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Out of all the players we talked about, Dylan Samson
in Cleveland, Jarquees Hunter in Los Angeles, for Shard Smith
in Kansas City, Toads Brooks in Cincinnati, Kyle Munungui Manungae
Guy Mnunguy manungu I in Chicago, and Devin Neil pick one,
(43:33):
just giving if you had to, if you had to,
if you had to, bank on one of them for
let's just say this year only since you know, because
dynasty will be a different topic for this year.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Who do you want? Oh?
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I like it the deep sigh from thor.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (43:53):
This is tough because of course, the circumstances a couple
of these guys, if circumstances changed a little.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
Bit, they're going to be off and running. Uh uh.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
I would probably be between Samson and Brochard just because you know,
combining all those different things. Brichard would be the true
you're swinging for the fence cause he get that role
and you're in the awesome offense, whereas Samson doesn't have
as much you know, in front of him.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
But there you know.
Speaker 4 (44:19):
Uh, you know what, whatever, I'm gonna swing for the fence,
I'm gonna say Brichard Smith.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Okay, all right, noted, we'll mark the tape. We'll come
back to it at at some point later in the year.
Maybe it's gonna be after week one. Maybe this is
gonna be another pukin Nakua for you, and we'll be
talking about how you were urging everybody to get Berchard
Smith back in way back in July, and even before that.
We'll find out, but we'll you know, we'll mark the tape.
I'll remember it. Thanks so much for the deep dive.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
Thor appreciate it. Good to be back.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Yeah, and you'll be back on a future show. I know,
later than I think, the fifteenth I think. So we
will talk to you. We'll talk to you more soon.
Thanks my Matt. Looking forward to it, and thanks to
you for listening, everybody. We'll be back next week for
more Fantasy Football Weekly. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(45:09):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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