August 5, 2026 • 38 mins
Jake and John are back to review all the relevant news in the fantasy sphere with camps underway! The Commanders have a new receiver in town, so how does that affect the value of others in DC? The Eagles have a remade wideout core but there's already injury issues. How do we parse through those? We review some returning players in Indianapolis and Green Bay plus much more as your drafts continue to approach!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up and welcome back another offseason edition of Fantasy
Football Weekly. It's getting hot and heavy training camp going
on with your host and faithful narrator, mister John Legaza
and our friend and yours, mister Jake Troubridge. Jake, I
probably knocked down another fifty hand drafts or so shuffling
around the ranks as the news were going, we were
(00:20):
wondering if we had enough news and notes to talk about. Well, surprise, surprise,
every hour seems to bring something, and that thing, like
the pebble in the pond, creates some ripple effects. Mister Troubridge,
how are you fell?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Fifty?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Can we go back a minute and just discuss fifty nonstaffs?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I wake up too many drafts.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Nope. I wake up five thirty every morning to start
my baseball work, and I started with drafts. I'm balancing
different price points on different sites and I don't even
though I do rankings and I battle test my auto ranks.
Auto drafting is really a dangerous game, and something like
best Ball, especially where one pick could really make a difference.
(01:01):
So I like the hand draft, and if you're gonna
hand draft and try and match any of these tournaments.
You're going all day and all night. I'm the first
one in work and I'm the first one out the door.
So hopefully we can give the impart some of that
knowledge and everybody today, How are you doing, Fred?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I mean, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
We are just built different, John, That's just all it is,
that we're built different. I haven't been doing a single
draft since we last spoke. I did get the opportunity
to head out to Lambeau Field to check out their
training camp on Friday, which was a great experience. I
got to see physically see Tucker Craft coming off of
the pup list as he was riding his bike from
Lambeau to the field. I know we're going to talk
(01:37):
about Tucker a little bit later, but you know, it's
a It was a much different experience in Green Bay
than I understand that it was in say, Minnesota for
a training camp. It was a lot nicer from what
I understand, the people in the stands at least.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, I think that comes with the quarterback play.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, that's pink.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I think maybe things were looking a little more precise
angry bad.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I don't want to say for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
The good news Tuckercraft healthy, the bad news. You didn't
get him that love letter that I wanted to give
him about how critical he's going to be to my
generational wealth. All right, enough for the fooling round band,
enough of that, more of this. Let's do the news
and notes again. We're gonna run through everybody, and some
of these news and notes, even though they be not
seem significant, may impact one, two or three other players.
(02:27):
So I'll catch your name with the news and note,
and you just give me a reaction, you know, bullish, bearish,
if you like it, if you hate it, maybe you
saw it coming first. One. This one just happened a
couple of days ago. Deboke Samuel. He's me going to
San Francisco, hopefully avoiding the substation era and the five
G overload. One year, four million dollars seems pretty fair.
(02:48):
I mean, I probably a good spot right reunited, and
it feels so good. They probably know how to use him.
My note on Deebo was he was a lot better
than I realized he was. I guess, you know, the
season's kind of come and go, and I thought of
him as maybe more of just an after thought. And
he earned ninety nine targets last year. So what are
you talking about Debo in that offense?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I feel like the only real possibilities for Deebo to
thrive in fantasy was going to be a reunion of
some sort, whether that was Washington or whether that was
San Francisco. I didn't really see a lot of alternate
paths for him to be not even a fantasy stud,
just fantasy relevant frankly this year. But I do think
that getting him back in that system is probably a
(03:32):
good thing for him. You know, he he produced for Washington.
I don't know if that was simply circumstantial because there
weren't a lot of other great targets to be thrown
to there. You know, Terry McLaurin was kind of dealing
with things off and on throughout the year. It was
kind of him and zach Ertz to some extent for
a good portion of the season. Then again, he was
(03:54):
also not catching passes from Jaye and Daniels the entire time,
who has also hurt. So he did the best with
what he had. That's all you can ask for. I
think going back to San Francisco is the number two
behind Mike Evans is a good situation. Poor went out
for Ricky Piersoll. The guy is just never gonna be
out on the field. Apparently his time in the Fantasy
Sun might be over before it really gets here, but
(04:15):
I don't mind it for debo.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, there's a few moving parts on this one. So
Deebo again a little bit better than I realized. Still
kind of a target earner, you know, which is always
the first thing we're looking for. Nearly twenty three percent
target perrout. However, right it's normally a pretty low a dot.
It was just over five yards. That is not great.
So he does come off as a little bit gadgety,
(04:40):
but that's a great place to be gadgety and a
great place to try and earn yak something that Diebo
was still literally elite at six and a half yards
after the catch perception last year in that big you know,
Tucker Craft and Greg Dulsage to here, right, those guys
that if you get them one on one and shake
the first tackle or you dive and miss the ankle,
(05:01):
they could be off and running. So I still think
they's some juice. Again, I think the system is the
big boost here, and maybe one more pathway that we
haven't mentioned now. I don't know if this is too
much galaxy bringing but substation jokes aside, there have been
running back injuries, both James and Black injured, and Debo's
(05:23):
been pretty effective in his career running the ball, So
again San Francisco with a spot that might be able
to get him looks behind the line of scrimmage, with
a little bit of a room to shake the shoulders.
All of a sudden, I'm a little bit interested. We
know McCaffrey not the most deficient runner anymore, possible Debo
is a guy they might turn to if you need
(05:43):
a couple of short yards. What do you think about
Deebo in the run game. I don't think you're gonna
get a volume thing. But whenever he's been back there
and healthy, sometimes it's one or two carries a game
and might make a difference.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
My hope with them re signing Debo and bringing him
back home is that they plan to take just a
tiny bit more of the workload off of CMC. That's
been my biggest concern about Christian McCaffrey is how can
he possibly coming off of a four hundred plus touch
season his career high, how can he do it again?
We don't want him to do that again because I
(06:16):
feel like that's just asking for trouble. So if you
can have Deebo back there taking some of this stuff
off of his plate, not a lot, It's rarely been
a high, you know, touch count for Debo coming out
of the backfield, but like you said, he's been good
at it. And if that saves CMC so he can
play most of the season, That's really what I'm looking
(06:36):
for out of Debo in the backfield.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Very last thing, are you drafting him right? He's at
price one point thirty five right now. It hasn't really
moved much. It felt kind of baked in. He was
telegraphing this with the workout program and stuff. I thought
he was coming back. So I'm not really expecting the
price to move up too much. It may move up
a little bit. He's going around Jaden Reed, Jordan Addison,
Jacobe Meyer is probably where he belongs to. He's drafting Debot.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, around that group of players. I like Deebo as
to stand out because Mike Evans at his advanced stage
not a lot to say on the field, either, So
don't we don't often talk about wide receivers as being handcuffs.
But there is a world where Deebo gets even more
workload this year.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh interesting, you mentioned contingency value on wide receivers. We're
gonna get back to that in a little bit. I'm
gonna bury that lead for a little bit because there
was one that I kind of foresaw coming that looks
like maybe it might be coming to fruition. Let's move
to the next one. This is the newest deal. This was,
you know, breaking news. Bump bump, bump bump. Stephan Diggs
is gonna be going to Washington, right, So it's like
(07:37):
the pieces are going where we thought, but maybe not
exactly where we thought. I got a little crisscross applesauce there,
as my daughter would say, But these things happen. Deal's
gonna be worth up to twelve million dollars. All the
details are still a little hairy, but he is going
to Washington now. We spoke about Diggs briefly this offseason already,
so just to cut to the chase. I was surprised
(07:58):
he didn't go back to England. They brought him in
after knee injury. My assumption was to pick up on
end plus one this year with the Drake may breakout,
which happened and they got continuity, but they didn't push
forward with Diggs. So you know, the attitude thing maybe
what was the cause there at only five hundred and
(08:21):
sixty six snaps for Digs, he earned over one hundred
targets when eighty five, ten, thirteen and four twenty four
and a half target per round over two point four
yards per rout, he still got it. So I'm expecting
him to fly up boards. I was digging around the
Twitter streets briefly, and it looks like early estimates are
(08:41):
ADP ninety right now. It was about one thirty to
one thirty five. So talk to us about Diggs. Did
you like him? And do you like him where he's going?
Because I think that pick ninety probably feels about right
where you are on Stephan Diggs.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, with Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
The thing about the resigning not coming to fruition until now,
I thought was more due to the off the field stuff,
and that seems to have tempered down. And let's face it,
if there is a team that is going to shove
aside the off the field stuff and invite somebody in,
it is probably going to be Washington one of like
three teams who would be completely willing to overlook that stuff.
(09:22):
Now on the field, Diggs last year you mentioned it
great metrics. I would also add he had the fourth
highest ESPN Open Score rating, which measures separation from defenders
amongst wide receivers.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That was tied with Garrett Wilson.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
That is a good place to be, especially at the
age that Stefan Diggs is at. So yeah, I don't
mind Stefan Diggs in the what would that be, eighth round?
I mean, at this point you're just hoping at least
somewhat of a fast start. Obviously, it's a new quarterback,
it's a new system, it's all that. But I think
(09:57):
Stefan Diggs is uh not maybe the highest upside play,
but he's a pretty reliable play based on where you're
drafting him.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, it's high probability throws, potentially very explosive offense, and
if he's healthy, can handle more of a snapload there.
I think there's a Again, I don't think this would
be a wide receiver one, but where you're getting him
definite value. Last question before we move on, one of
the hot pieces for the Commanders was Chigakonkuo. I think
(10:26):
inevitably he's going to be affected. As of today, he
was tight in sixteen around ADP one forty three. I
would expect that to fall. Maybe he falls down a
tier into the one fifties, more closer to Schultz Barner,
maybe even Terrence Ferguson, who's really on it. He's on
a bit of a steam ride up right now. So
(10:48):
what do you think about Chike? Should people be happy
with what they got? Maybe not pushing up any further me.
I had some Chike when I would get him around cost.
I don't think I'm gonna be paying the new I
think I'm out at what I'm considering a premium. We
spoke about this also. One of my paramnuster tight ends.
I want them to potentially be the second target earner.
(11:09):
I think that's now at the window. What do you
think about Chiga Conquo in regards to the new digs
move John.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Maybe I'm being stubborn. I might be.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I've been known to, but I feel a little bit
like Leo DiCaprio and Wolfe of Wall Street. Right now,
I'm not oh, thank you wow, that's just overflowing with undue.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Compliments. I appreciate it, but.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I do think this is a situation where you're going
to see Stefan Diggs go there and you're gonna think
the worst for mister o'conquo.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I don't think this is the worst.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I think that this is a situation where Diggs can
raise the boats along with the tide a little bit
in Washington. Now, this does to me spelled just disaster
for any early breakout hopes for that rookie Antonio Williams.
That's somebody that I'm just plainly not interested at this point.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
But Chico Conquo.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
We still don't know how effective Terry McLaurin is going
to be. Last year it was a bit of an
outlier for him. Admittedly a lot of a do I
think to the holdout from training camp and some of
this stuff kind of spiraled from there. But you know,
we don't know how much that Terry McClure necessarily has
left in the tank.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I'm not saying that he's going to be a disaster either.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I just want to keep my mind open to the
possibility that Chigo Kongo is still out there seeing seventy
eighty plus targets and being very effective with those targets.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So I'll take him in the last round.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Absolutely, Yeah, Okay, I'm with that. I still think he's
gonna get a full confident snaps. I think my hope
for the ceiling case was an extra boost in target
chair underneath, in particular at the slot, and I think
Diggs is probably gonna soak up a lot of that.
We've seen a lot of two tight ends which would
push Chig maybe offline where he could be really effective
(12:51):
and be a matchup nightmare. So he's stuff we not out.
I think they're still talent there, and I like the offense.
We haven't seen a ton from him, and I think
that's why I don't. I just don't want to ton.
You mentioned McLaurin. I can't help it because David Plow,
the new coordinator, had mentioned getting him not only ten
targets a game, but moving him around the formation. And
that's a total bull signal for me. Whatever we're hearing
(13:15):
about getting your ex or most talented receiver you know
away from the outside all the time. We saw it
be the you know, breakout point for London on a
par game basis, and Ceedee Lamb on a pre game
basis even justin Jefferson at points, I think that's I
think that's how you do it. So, yeah, I guess
you're right. I guess you're right. Maybe I'm was a
(13:35):
little too overreactive because at the end of the day,
he really is still cheap and it's a tight end
with ceiling that you could easily drop and replace. All
right now, the radio listeners can't see, but I'm wiping
away a tear for Philadelphia rookie wide out Mackay Lemon
wide receiver nineteen's going up high man. He now hasn't
practice for a second straight day because of the hamstring
(13:57):
that's been an issue in the past, and we haven't
gotten details. The quotes are kind of murky. The actual
injury is quote unquote unknown. We don't think it's quote
unquote significant, but it is alarming. If he's missing half
the spring with an injury. What do you think about Lemon?
Someone I was drafting this is a contingency value. I'm
pushing up wix just in case this keeps him out
(14:20):
and stalls that rookie learning curve. Where were you on,
mkayle Lemon?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, my heart is drowning in pure sadness right now.
John McKay lemon, one of my favorite rookies coming in,
had very high expectations for him in the sort of
new look Philadelphia offense that's gonna be without Aj Brown
hamstering injuries. I've said it before, I'm not a doctor.
I don't even have the lab coat, but recurring hamsterring
(14:47):
injuries are nothing to mess with in fantasy football because
the possibility that he suits up week one and they
say he's fine and he's out there, but then gets
reinjured throughout the season. That's a real thing. We've seen
guys come on and off the injury reports because of
hamstring injuries, and so planning week to week can be
(15:07):
very tricky. And then the added fact that he is
a rookie and it could have already been a slow
start for him because earlier in the mini camps he
was dealing with this hamstring injury. It's all just kind
of boiling up to this spot that I hate to
say it, I'm not very interested in mackay Lemon in
Redraft right now.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
In Dynasty, I'm.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Still very bullish, incredibly bullish on the guy in Redraft.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Eugh, it makes me so nervous.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I don't know that I'm gonna go crazy and start
pivoting to all of the other pass catchers that are there.
DeVante Smith also dealing with a hamstring injury, but that's
a newer thing, that's not something that's been popping up.
So I feel more confident about DeVante Smith and his
availability and the fact that he's a veteran. But yeah,
it's a real bummer. So maybe Dallas Godder will find
(15:56):
his way into my redraft stocks a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, it's a big boost for him. He's always excelled
whenever pieces we're missing, and it's not just fantasy football,
Fantasy sports in general happens as baseball all the time.
The baseball season that was so long, a lot of
times we want them to stay out, stay out as
long as you need because of the reaggravation factor that
you mentioned. That's number one. So here we are hoping
(16:24):
that they keep out a rookie who needs critical snaps.
Even right generally we're thinking about rookies producing in the
second half. A lot of that is based on chemistry
and repetitions that they've built up along the way. If
you're going to hamper that number. Oh Man, the stanks.
I'm a little bit worried Lemon had been one of those,
(16:44):
you know, an oasis for me. We've talked about waiting
for quarterback lots of times. You can go Hurts to
Lemon at the seven to eight turn or in the seventh,
in the eighth and you're feeling really good about a
quarterback one and a wide receiver like four or flex
guy that could right into production. Now I'm worried. I've
been drafting do Tavian Wicks. He goes so late really
(17:05):
after thought, I just had him as a contingency play
because one, I just worry about rookies catching on it
in the NFL at all. And then, like you mentioned,
there are a few wideouts that I feel would step
into a prominent role with an injury, Wix being one
of those guys. Do you think Wix should be part
of a last round red draft plan? There are people
(17:25):
drafting right now, and I would say, if you can
make him an easy drop, you definitely want to do
that because you could see where this could go very
right for Wicks.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'm glad you brought up Wis first. I didn't want
to have to do it. As the packer fan. I
didn't want any sort of fandom fanaticism sort of.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Biasing me in this.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But I do think Dantavian Wicks has been getting a
fair amount of hype already.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Coaches seem to love him.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
He does seem like somebody who could step into a
sizable role. If he's a last round or approximately a
last round guy, yeah, toss him on my roster. And
like you said, if he starts off the couple first
couple of weeks and he doesn't look that great and
he's just not earning targets, all right, smell you later.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I think this is a possible uptick for the Wix hive,
but just a tough blow for the lemonheads out here.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Man. Yeah, I love all those name drops, by the way, Yeah,
one hundred percent. As much as we like these rookies,
we have to be honest about it. Now, if he
were to start getting into the ninth and the tenth,
I'm going to reconsider it where it's more of even
a bench pick sometimes, right, I don't look to overpay
for rookies. I wouldn't consider that an overpay. I'll draft
(18:36):
him in, stant him and then go back for starters
that I think could produce in the first once again,
you know, like Wix and maybe they make an interesting
handcuff pay. Maybe we're in the age of handcuffing wide receivers.
Who knows now next wide receiver you mentioned. I don't
think we really need to go into it. It's it's
Ricky Piersoll. It doesn't sound like you're gonna get anything
(18:56):
from him, though. I guess there's one easy question. Would
you Ricky Piersoll right now at any cost? Again, my
hands are firmly in the fantasy third. He still gets
drafted in every single draft. Sometimes it's at the very
end of the twentieth round there where if he's gonna
come back, even for the last month or two, he
could be a contributor. I'm not that guy. I don't
(19:17):
like to invite injuries. Would you draft Piersol at any cost?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Nah, I'm out. I don't see it.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I just there's no reason for me to believe that
he's gonna be back there in any reasonable amount of
time to have him clogging up my bench spots, even
in an ir spot at that point, like, if he's
going to be back for the fantasy playoffs. All right, great,
I guess, but we don't even know if he's gonna
get much run if Debo is still there.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah. And for as much as these coaches and coordinators
lie to us, basically every time they open their mouth,
transactions and roster moves our truth, right, playing time is truth.
That's when they actually show their cards, when they go
and acquire somebody with some talent, even though I don't
think their archetypes necessarily overlap. They just brought somebody in immediately,
which worries me. Now, talker Craft, cheese, let's go, man.
(20:02):
I was really excited to see that he came off
the puppulist immediately. Again, there were people who paddicked. You
told us to be careful with that. We went through
the different types of puppulist. You could check that out
last week. He's practicing. They are over the moon about
this guy. They say he looks fantastic. He's even dropped
not a full round was my trigger point. At ADP eighty,
(20:25):
I am seeing him closer to ninety. At points, I
think just the pup thing has people a little off.
I would draft Craft, I would draft Graft and stash
him if I had to, but I'm drafted him because
think he's gonna be ready for Week one talk to
us about your tight end one.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Just just so excited for this man to be back
on the field. I can barely contain myself. I've been
saying for much time, maybe too much time, arguably, that
there's been too much of an emphasis placed on this
injury because we had some ambiguity there, and I.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Can appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I can appreciate not wanting to jump into bed with
somebody who's coming off of an injury like that. But
with both him and George Kittle, these are two guys,
two archetypes that if they say they're going to be
out there, there's a pretty decent chance you should believe them.
They've proven that they have a history, they have a
good track record fighting through these injuries. Now, I don't
(21:24):
know that Craft's going to come off to a hot start.
That's the one thing I've been cautioning about, and you've
mentioned as well, John, If you're going to draft Tucker Craft,
which I plan to, I am going to make sure
that I grab another tight end very late that I
feel somewhat comfortable in for the first couple of weeks
because I don't want to be out here and then
Kraft is, you know, only running thirty percent of the
routes or something like that his first couple of weeks.
(21:46):
I just want to be safeguarding myself. So give me
that Greg Dawst super late or whoever Chicoconquo now if
he's going to be following that far, and let me
rely on those guys the first couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah, I love that. I actually love that you mentioned
the players that in this new meta were up against
with multiple tight end sets and fewer three wide receiver sets,
those might be guys that end up being flex plays.
We haven't quite entered the realm of tight end flexes,
but you could see how it could get there for
some of these teams only because their only tight ends
(22:21):
in name only right, A lot of times, like I
mentioned before, the second tight end pushes the more athletic
one offline where they're actually running a wide receiver route
from a slot role, and they would and should be
wide receivers. So there is a possibility, and I like
those names again, guys that could be at least the
top three target and their team can do the shoulder wiggle,
(22:43):
make some space. All right, We're probably about halfway home
in this one as far as names, but I think
these next ones do more of like a lightning round.
I have Xavier Worthy up next. He springed his shoulder again.
Now he hasn't returned to practice. They're expecting him later
this week. It is the same shoulder that cost him
(23:06):
essentially the entire year. From an efficiency standpoint, I was
already a little bit if he on Worthy. I think
I'm out for as many drafts as I do. Jake,
I mean zero outer, if that's a word. I just
I zero out tons of players. I don't and some
people do that a player at any price, not me.
(23:26):
That's not me. There are players that don't fit, and
especially when it comes to injuries. I've been into the
Cyrus Allen stuff. He's banged up, goes one hundred picks later,
and I'd rather take a pop. I do think someone
in that pass catcher room will go off the like Worthy.
I know we still have some fans out there. It's
just not me. I didn't think he was going cheap
enough in the first place, and now certainly not. Now.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Doesn't it feel like a million years since Xavier Worthy
had that playoff run for the Chiefs a couple of
years ago, where we didn't get to experience it for
fantasy purposes because it was after our fantasy seasons wrap.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
But in the Chiefs actual postse he just garbage time out.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I mean, yeah, sure, but there was a couple of
games even before that, before the big garbage time loss
he still had it felt like he was ramping up,
and then the injury whatever else came into play. Patrick Mahomes.
The offense in general just hasn't looked good this past year.
I was starting to get my hopes up, though, John,
because you know, I love the return of Eric the
(24:25):
Enemy as their offensive coordinator. But no, I just can't
trust Worthy at this point. This is getting me to
pivot a little bit more. If I don't, for example,
want to believe in Tucker Craft, maybe you should then
wait a couple of rounds and see what old man
Travis Kelsey has left in the tank. Yes, Cyrus Allen,
I could also see a case for him. He's been
(24:45):
getting all the social media training camp highlight love, so
why not.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'd rather do that than Worthy, for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Now what about Thornton, He's Taekwon Thornton's also getting a
little bit of love at the very back end, and
not to even Drake be into my best bull streets.
If you are getting volume on the Chiefs and the
deep looks, that could be a valuable piece, right, It
could be a flex star. Do you think Thornton has
any value? I'm really having a tough time with these Chiefs.
(25:13):
I've been worrying about the pass volume in general. The
entire market is higher on Mahomes than I am man
outside of Kenneth Walker. If the Chiefs are really prolific
pass offense, I'm gonna be in a little bit of
trouble because I've not been on that. Do you like
anything there? I mean again, these guys are last round picks.
Would you take a stab on any either or both?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
It's just really hard. I mean, Taekwon Thornton was getting
some hype last offseason as well. If I recall when
he made the jump to Kansas City and again all
the other stuff still holds true that the offense itself
was just looking.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Lackluster.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
So I don't want to blame it all on Taekwon Thornton,
but we're talking about a guy who through four years,
still hasn't cracked the century mark in receiving yards. It's
a tough guy to want. I want to buy into.
I don't know if I buy into that light of
a breakout. I'd rather go with Cyrus Allen.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah. Also the hey, a quick way to lose your
money is to bad against Patrick Holmes. But I've been
going back and watching all these deep throws. It's just
not the same player. Maybe it was just old Terry Hill,
but he just came up as it was always the
most accurate deep bawl and he could always be deep.
It just hasn't felt the way to me. I don't know. Again,
(26:28):
there is certainly a pathway to the unemployment line, but
against the Chiefs, but I think I'm gonna take it again.
Worthy would have to really fall of me again on it.
But I'm not drafting them at all until her at
least returns to practice. All Right, enough bad news, enough
bad news. How about a little bit of good news.
And it's been tough, Jake I have. I don't think
I put a single piece of injury optimism out there
(26:49):
all off season, not how I roll. However, Daniel Jones
and his achilles man. The thing with these Achilles surgeries
is they've physically come up with a new technique. Right,
So I'm trying to correct my own arc, right, my
own recovery arc because of the new surge, which's a
(27:10):
whole new type where players are on a different timeline.
Daniel Jones, it's the quote was clearly in a good place.
He's quote unquote unimpeded. That was from ESPN's Ben Solac said,
it's gonna be one hundred percent wheels up, full playbook
for Daniel Jones. They're not gonna be babying him. They're
not gonna be doing anything of the sort. He feels
(27:30):
like himself. The reason I say this is I was
worried about that because that's what I do as a pessimist.
We saw how great that Colt's offense was with him
about the center, I don't think I could afford to
be fading the entire Colts offense. I'm starting to draft
Jonathan Taylor a little bit in the first I'm starting
to draft Downs even I was already drafting Warren when
(27:51):
he falls. So should I be coming off like the
LEDs here a little bit? I was fully ready to
go into the season with zero Colts and now like, man,
I'm starting to scoop him up where I can because
I think they're still cheap. If Daniel Jones is one
hundred percent and they're really rocking and rolling in camp,
people could start getting really bullish. We could see the
Colts get more expensive. Where are you on Indie going
(28:13):
into it? This is going to be polarizing in the
next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I think it is.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And first of all, can I just say how heartwarming
it is to have somebody earnestly be like, yeah, I
was worried about the Colts, but now that Daniel Jones
is going to be healthy and presumab lead starting, that's
not where we were a year ago, two years ago,
three years ago.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Well, it's just let's.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Credit change styche Let's I'll going to credit Stiched for
as much of this as Daniel Jones. But the splits
were just very hard, dude, you know, being controvertible. Man,
we're talking about and historically good. I've been expecting them
to even be that good, but they were so historically good.
How dare we fade a John mthan Taylor who's going
in the end of the first round people are not
(28:57):
into him at all, So focus about the Colts and
specifically were you drafting JT and how are you treating
them going forward?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Well, I mean, Jonathan Taylor.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
The only knock that I had against him at all
was just another workload thing. This is a guy that
also saw more than three hundred and fifty touches last year.
It's just it's not like he's old by any stretch.
But we have a pretty good track record of seeing
a downtick from those guys the following season. I don't
know that that's going to be the case with JT.
But that's my argument for not drafting him at least
(29:28):
early in the first round. I'm still fine. I'm still
fine to take him. I think he's a good investment.
I would say Tyler Warren is the guy that I
was looking for to make sure that he had competent
QB play before I got too excited, because his ADP
is significant and that's not something that I want to
mess around with with early tight end. You kind of
(29:48):
look for any red flag for a tight end when
you're drafting them that early, and if he was going
to be catching from the backups or god, forbid they
bring in another septagenarian quarterback off the streets to start
throwing to him, then that would have been a real
concern from Tyler Warren. But I'm good with him. I'm
good with Josh Downs. The guy that I'm still ambivalent
about is Alec Pierce. He has his own injury stuff
(30:10):
that he's dealing with, and I also just never thought
that he was going to be the de facto number
one receiver there. So the rest of the guys I'm
good with, though I'll bite.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
And take the piece of humble pie on Pierce. A
lot of that was before the injury. I pumped the brakes.
The price didn't really sink in proportion to my worry.
So I've stopped drafting Alec Pierce. I'm getting a little
bit high on the Josh Downs stuff now, I gonna
be careful in this hopem. I'm normally a very kind
of ardent drafter, right, I have my priors. I'm sticking
(30:39):
to him because of well researched Josh Downs is getting
talked up as a player that could be a focal
point in two wide receiver sets if they don't sign
Keenan Allen. There's been talks about that, So that's what
I'm waiting for. I've got Downs right, Mike, Crosshairs, Jake,
He's a guy. If Alan goes somewhere else, I am
gonna get real bullish on Downs. Do you think that
(31:02):
he could be part of the two wide receiver game?
It has not been a part of his game at all,
But they haven't brought anybody move away from Pittman. The opportunity,
at least theoretically is there. What do you think?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, that's I mean, that's not for me to decide, obviously,
that's for the coaching staff to decide how they really
want to force the issue with him, because certain coordinators
will completely readjust everything. If they love what they've seen
from one of their players, but he doesn't fit the
traditional mold of like a two wide receiver set guy,
they will find ways to get him out there if
(31:33):
they really want to.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
It's getting long now.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
In the tooth, late in the offseason for us to
suggest that they're going to bring in Keenan Allen and
that's gonna zap everything away from Josh Downs. It's almost
to the point where I'm not hoping for it, because
Keenan Allen would be a little bit of a headache.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
But I think that the ADP.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Discount you would get on downs after like a Keenan
Allen signing, would be interesting to me, and I think
I might chase him down draft boards if that's the case.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, you know, you're always gonna have my ear of
making price, you know, determined the arguments man. All right,
two more names to get through them really quick. It's
a little bit more good news. Jacksonville running got Chris
Rodriguez is practicing with the team and they are really
they are really talking him up. I don't like to
buy too much into drum beat stuff, though I do
(32:23):
think it's something everything is in agreement based on Chris
Rodriguez looks fantastic in the role that we're hoping for
trucking over guys, and I was kind of high in
Baseiel Tutin. I think Rodriguez could also be good. You
have to believe in the Jacksonville offense being really great
with conant the switches. Why not. So I think it's
fine if Rodriguez moves closer to Pick one hundred than
(32:46):
he is now, maybe Pick maybe one twenty or one thirty.
I think I might be out, but as long as
he's hanging around in the tenth round or later, I
think he could be a flex option. What do you
think about Chris Rodriguez? Most likely you know it's not instant,
but I do think he's in line for a lot
of the high value goal line work for a team
we think is gonna score a lot of points. Where
are you on c Rod?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
I am worried that he's going to be annoying, more
so than individually fantasy relevant or fantasy great. I'm most
worried that he's going to be annoying and really cut
into the upside of bacial toot And I'm backing away
slowly with my hands up from Basil Touton right now.
Because there's a thing that happens with these coaches where
(33:31):
Liam Cohen has known Chris Rodriguez for a very long time.
They go way way back, and sometimes with coaches, they
force the issue with those guys because of their history together.
Even if I think Chris Rodriguez is a good player,
don't get me wrong. I think he's a good quality
running back.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I don't like him.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I don't think anybody likes him as much as Liam
Cohen likes him, so you know, even if he's inefficient
or whatever, you know, he's not a great pass catcher,
Cohen's probably going to want him on the field a
good amount.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
So I'm kind of staying away from this backfield entirely.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Now. Yeah, that's been a little bit of a running
theme I'm noticing again on those Twitter streets, and I
think it's true. Is one of the maybe let's go
to disconnect, right, disconnects between fantasy and real life. Is
real life coaches like success rate way more than we do,
and they like EPA perrush way more than we do.
(34:29):
Those numbers do not really correlate to fantasy success, but
they do correlate to drive success and efficiency, which helps
the real life team. So, and the jaguarsn't have to
be really good to make Sea Rod the David Montgomery
to Basil Tuton's Jumior Gibbs. So I've been seeing Tuton
approach the fourth round where I've had to say, mos
(34:51):
Rico a little bit too rich for me. Man, You know,
I can't really get there if he falls into the
fifth and I need a RB two. I think Tuton
could definitely be that guy. But yeah, now I'm starting
to get a little bit into the sea Rod. But really, Jake,
it's gotta be half point PPR. I think that's where
he really stands out when the touchdowns are worth that
much more. Right, last player, I note my j ETSS
(35:14):
Jets rookie tight end Kenyan Sadiq had a setback. It's
recovery for hernia surgery. Excuse me, And you know I
was not drafting him when he got hurt, and I
was taking some slings and arrows. What's the big deal, John,
just hernia. He's gonna be fine. I said, you could
have setbacks during anything, and it is in a place
where you're working. It's in the core. So I don't know.
(35:38):
I'm not buying in now he's gonna start sinking like
a stone. My question is, again there's the rookie worry.
There's also been some historical data, Jake on tight ends.
We know first round tight ends have a history of
not producing. They have as of late, but none of
them have missed time. Right, something we've already mentioned already today.
I wonder if Mason Taylor is a viable twentieth round pick.
(35:59):
If you like the Jets. Right now, I'm kind of
washing my hands of all of it. I guess Taylor
is an okay tight end for but I don't know.
I think I'm out in the situation. Would you be
buying Sadiq down boards? I like that term you used before.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
First of all, John, I don't have a corps. I
don't think so. I don't understand how will hernia injury?
I had even effect a core?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Oh good?
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Can I borrow one sometime? I shoy having one of those.
I do think with Kenyon Sidik though. The unpolished nature
of Kenyon Sidique, he's an amazing athlete. Freakish athlete is
the type of phrasing that people like to use for
tight ends of this build.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
They're not traditional.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
You wouldn't expect him to be the next George Kittle,
Travis Kelcey, whatever. But he has a skill set that's
very interesting, and if you polish it and refine it,
he can be very useful for a team. I've long
said I don't know that the Jets are that team
to be able to polish and refine him the way
that he needs to be, and certainly not in his
first year. All this does is kick that can further
(37:03):
down the road to the point where I don't know
if I'm gonna be comfortable drafting him next year. John,
Obviously there's a long ways away. We can discuss it
at a later time, but it's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Yeah, we probably want to see something from him this year. Yeah,
it's kind of scary. Again. I'm Alwa's bagging the same
drum about repetitions and chemistry, especially for first year players.
I think it's extremely important in this league. So I'm
I'm just not gonna bother with Sadik just in case.
I don't think this is gonna be a season ender
as far as the injury goes, but I'm afraid the
(37:35):
impact might last the entire season. All right, Jake, that'll
do it. We spent the entire episode on our news
and notes, but hopefully it mattered right how those like
I said, the pebble in the pond creaks the ripple
eff fact downstream players that we like, players that we don't.
We'll be back next week, everybody with more of the same.
As the league starts to change. We promised we'll get
some of those bold predictions that you and I wrote down, Jake.
(37:58):
So from John Lagaza and Jake true bridge everybody, thanks
for listening, and have a very weekend. Mm hmm
What's up and welcome back another offseason edition of Fantasy
Football Weekly. It's getting hot and heavy training camp going
on with your host and faithful narrator, mister John Legaza
and our friend and yours, mister Jake Troubridge. Jake, I
probably knocked down another fifty hand drafts or so shuffling
around the ranks as the news were going, we were
(00:20):
wondering if we had enough news and notes to talk about. Well, surprise, surprise,
every hour seems to bring something, and that thing, like
the pebble in the pond, creates some ripple effects. Mister Troubridge,
how are you fell?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Fifty?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Can we go back a minute and just discuss fifty nonstaffs?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I wake up too many drafts.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Nope. I wake up five thirty every morning to start
my baseball work, and I started with drafts. I'm balancing
different price points on different sites and I don't even
though I do rankings and I battle test my auto ranks.
Auto drafting is really a dangerous game, and something like
best Ball, especially where one pick could really make a difference.
(01:01):
So I like the hand draft, and if you're gonna
hand draft and try and match any of these tournaments.
You're going all day and all night. I'm the first
one in work and I'm the first one out the door.
So hopefully we can give the impart some of that
knowledge and everybody today, How are you doing, Fred?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I mean, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
We are just built different, John, That's just all it is,
that we're built different. I haven't been doing a single
draft since we last spoke. I did get the opportunity
to head out to Lambeau Field to check out their
training camp on Friday, which was a great experience. I
got to see physically see Tucker Craft coming off of
the pup list as he was riding his bike from
Lambeau to the field. I know we're going to talk
(01:37):
about Tucker a little bit later, but you know, it's
a It was a much different experience in Green Bay
than I understand that it was in say, Minnesota for
a training camp. It was a lot nicer from what
I understand, the people in the stands at least.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, I think that comes with the quarterback play.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, that's pink.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I think maybe things were looking a little more precise
angry bad.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I don't want to say for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
The good news Tuckercraft healthy, the bad news. You didn't
get him that love letter that I wanted to give
him about how critical he's going to be to my
generational wealth. All right, enough for the fooling round band,
enough of that, more of this. Let's do the news
and notes again. We're gonna run through everybody, and some
of these news and notes, even though they be not
seem significant, may impact one, two or three other players.
(02:27):
So I'll catch your name with the news and note,
and you just give me a reaction, you know, bullish, bearish,
if you like it, if you hate it, maybe you
saw it coming first. One. This one just happened a
couple of days ago. Deboke Samuel. He's me going to
San Francisco, hopefully avoiding the substation era and the five
G overload. One year, four million dollars seems pretty fair.
(02:48):
I mean, I probably a good spot right reunited, and
it feels so good. They probably know how to use him.
My note on Deebo was he was a lot better
than I realized he was. I guess, you know, the
season's kind of come and go, and I thought of
him as maybe more of just an after thought. And
he earned ninety nine targets last year. So what are
you talking about Debo in that offense?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I feel like the only real possibilities for Deebo to
thrive in fantasy was going to be a reunion of
some sort, whether that was Washington or whether that was
San Francisco. I didn't really see a lot of alternate
paths for him to be not even a fantasy stud,
just fantasy relevant frankly this year. But I do think
that getting him back in that system is probably a
(03:32):
good thing for him. You know, he he produced for Washington.
I don't know if that was simply circumstantial because there
weren't a lot of other great targets to be thrown
to there. You know, Terry McLaurin was kind of dealing
with things off and on throughout the year. It was
kind of him and zach Ertz to some extent for
a good portion of the season. Then again, he was
(03:54):
also not catching passes from Jaye and Daniels the entire time,
who has also hurt. So he did the best with
what he had. That's all you can ask for. I
think going back to San Francisco is the number two
behind Mike Evans is a good situation. Poor went out
for Ricky Piersoll. The guy is just never gonna be
out on the field. Apparently his time in the Fantasy
Sun might be over before it really gets here, but
(04:15):
I don't mind it for debo.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, there's a few moving parts on this one. So
Deebo again a little bit better than I realized. Still
kind of a target earner, you know, which is always
the first thing we're looking for. Nearly twenty three percent
target perrout. However, right it's normally a pretty low a dot.
It was just over five yards. That is not great.
So he does come off as a little bit gadgety,
(04:40):
but that's a great place to be gadgety and a
great place to try and earn yak something that Diebo
was still literally elite at six and a half yards
after the catch perception last year in that big you know,
Tucker Craft and Greg Dulsage to here, right, those guys
that if you get them one on one and shake
the first tackle or you dive and miss the ankle,
(05:01):
they could be off and running. So I still think
they's some juice. Again, I think the system is the
big boost here, and maybe one more pathway that we
haven't mentioned now. I don't know if this is too
much galaxy bringing but substation jokes aside, there have been
running back injuries, both James and Black injured, and Debo's
(05:23):
been pretty effective in his career running the ball, So
again San Francisco with a spot that might be able
to get him looks behind the line of scrimmage, with
a little bit of a room to shake the shoulders.
All of a sudden, I'm a little bit interested. We
know McCaffrey not the most deficient runner anymore, possible Debo
is a guy they might turn to if you need
(05:43):
a couple of short yards. What do you think about
Deebo in the run game. I don't think you're gonna
get a volume thing. But whenever he's been back there
and healthy, sometimes it's one or two carries a game
and might make a difference.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
My hope with them re signing Debo and bringing him
back home is that they plan to take just a
tiny bit more of the workload off of CMC. That's
been my biggest concern about Christian McCaffrey is how can
he possibly coming off of a four hundred plus touch
season his career high, how can he do it again?
We don't want him to do that again because I
(06:16):
feel like that's just asking for trouble. So if you
can have Deebo back there taking some of this stuff
off of his plate, not a lot, It's rarely been
a high, you know, touch count for Debo coming out
of the backfield, but like you said, he's been good
at it. And if that saves CMC so he can
play most of the season, That's really what I'm looking
(06:36):
for out of Debo in the backfield.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Very last thing, are you drafting him right? He's at
price one point thirty five right now. It hasn't really
moved much. It felt kind of baked in. He was
telegraphing this with the workout program and stuff. I thought
he was coming back. So I'm not really expecting the
price to move up too much. It may move up
a little bit. He's going around Jaden Reed, Jordan Addison,
Jacobe Meyer is probably where he belongs to. He's drafting Debot.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, around that group of players. I like Deebo as
to stand out because Mike Evans at his advanced stage
not a lot to say on the field, either, So
don't we don't often talk about wide receivers as being handcuffs.
But there is a world where Deebo gets even more
workload this year.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh interesting, you mentioned contingency value on wide receivers. We're
gonna get back to that in a little bit. I'm
gonna bury that lead for a little bit because there
was one that I kind of foresaw coming that looks
like maybe it might be coming to fruition. Let's move
to the next one. This is the newest deal. This was,
you know, breaking news. Bump bump, bump bump. Stephan Diggs
is gonna be going to Washington, right, So it's like
(07:37):
the pieces are going where we thought, but maybe not
exactly where we thought. I got a little crisscross applesauce there,
as my daughter would say, But these things happen. Deal's
gonna be worth up to twelve million dollars. All the
details are still a little hairy, but he is going
to Washington now. We spoke about Diggs briefly this offseason already,
so just to cut to the chase. I was surprised
(07:58):
he didn't go back to England. They brought him in
after knee injury. My assumption was to pick up on
end plus one this year with the Drake may breakout,
which happened and they got continuity, but they didn't push
forward with Diggs. So you know, the attitude thing maybe
what was the cause there at only five hundred and
(08:21):
sixty six snaps for Digs, he earned over one hundred
targets when eighty five, ten, thirteen and four twenty four
and a half target per round over two point four
yards per rout, he still got it. So I'm expecting
him to fly up boards. I was digging around the
Twitter streets briefly, and it looks like early estimates are
(08:41):
ADP ninety right now. It was about one thirty to
one thirty five. So talk to us about Diggs. Did
you like him? And do you like him where he's going?
Because I think that pick ninety probably feels about right
where you are on Stephan Diggs.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, with Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
The thing about the resigning not coming to fruition until now,
I thought was more due to the off the field stuff,
and that seems to have tempered down. And let's face it,
if there is a team that is going to shove
aside the off the field stuff and invite somebody in,
it is probably going to be Washington one of like
three teams who would be completely willing to overlook that stuff.
(09:22):
Now on the field, Diggs last year you mentioned it
great metrics. I would also add he had the fourth
highest ESPN Open Score rating, which measures separation from defenders
amongst wide receivers.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That was tied with Garrett Wilson.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
That is a good place to be, especially at the
age that Stefan Diggs is at. So yeah, I don't
mind Stefan Diggs in the what would that be, eighth round?
I mean, at this point you're just hoping at least
somewhat of a fast start. Obviously, it's a new quarterback,
it's a new system, it's all that. But I think
(09:57):
Stefan Diggs is uh not maybe the highest upside play,
but he's a pretty reliable play based on where you're
drafting him.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, it's high probability throws, potentially very explosive offense, and
if he's healthy, can handle more of a snapload there.
I think there's a Again, I don't think this would
be a wide receiver one, but where you're getting him
definite value. Last question before we move on, one of
the hot pieces for the Commanders was Chigakonkuo. I think
(10:26):
inevitably he's going to be affected. As of today, he
was tight in sixteen around ADP one forty three. I
would expect that to fall. Maybe he falls down a
tier into the one fifties, more closer to Schultz Barner,
maybe even Terrence Ferguson, who's really on it. He's on
a bit of a steam ride up right now. So
(10:48):
what do you think about Chike? Should people be happy
with what they got? Maybe not pushing up any further me.
I had some Chike when I would get him around cost.
I don't think I'm gonna be paying the new I
think I'm out at what I'm considering a premium. We
spoke about this also. One of my paramnuster tight ends.
I want them to potentially be the second target earner.
(11:09):
I think that's now at the window. What do you
think about Chiga Conquo in regards to the new digs
move John.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Maybe I'm being stubborn. I might be.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I've been known to, but I feel a little bit
like Leo DiCaprio and Wolfe of Wall Street. Right now,
I'm not oh, thank you wow, that's just overflowing with undue.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Compliments. I appreciate it, but.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I do think this is a situation where you're going
to see Stefan Diggs go there and you're gonna think
the worst for mister o'conquo.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I don't think this is the worst.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I think that this is a situation where Diggs can
raise the boats along with the tide a little bit
in Washington. Now, this does to me spelled just disaster
for any early breakout hopes for that rookie Antonio Williams.
That's somebody that I'm just plainly not interested at this point.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
But Chico Conquo.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
We still don't know how effective Terry McLaurin is going
to be. Last year it was a bit of an
outlier for him. Admittedly a lot of a do I
think to the holdout from training camp and some of
this stuff kind of spiraled from there. But you know,
we don't know how much that Terry McClure necessarily has
left in the tank.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I'm not saying that he's going to be a disaster either.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I just want to keep my mind open to the
possibility that Chigo Kongo is still out there seeing seventy
eighty plus targets and being very effective with those targets.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So I'll take him in the last round.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Absolutely, Yeah, Okay, I'm with that. I still think he's
gonna get a full confident snaps. I think my hope
for the ceiling case was an extra boost in target
chair underneath, in particular at the slot, and I think
Diggs is probably gonna soak up a lot of that.
We've seen a lot of two tight ends which would
push Chig maybe offline where he could be really effective
(12:51):
and be a matchup nightmare. So he's stuff we not out.
I think they're still talent there, and I like the offense.
We haven't seen a ton from him, and I think
that's why I don't. I just don't want to ton.
You mentioned McLaurin. I can't help it because David Plow,
the new coordinator, had mentioned getting him not only ten
targets a game, but moving him around the formation. And
that's a total bull signal for me. Whatever we're hearing
(13:15):
about getting your ex or most talented receiver you know
away from the outside all the time. We saw it
be the you know, breakout point for London on a
par game basis, and Ceedee Lamb on a pre game
basis even justin Jefferson at points, I think that's I
think that's how you do it. So, yeah, I guess
you're right. I guess you're right. Maybe I'm was a
(13:35):
little too overreactive because at the end of the day,
he really is still cheap and it's a tight end
with ceiling that you could easily drop and replace. All
right now, the radio listeners can't see, but I'm wiping
away a tear for Philadelphia rookie wide out Mackay Lemon
wide receiver nineteen's going up high man. He now hasn't
practice for a second straight day because of the hamstring
(13:57):
that's been an issue in the past, and we haven't
gotten details. The quotes are kind of murky. The actual
injury is quote unquote unknown. We don't think it's quote
unquote significant, but it is alarming. If he's missing half
the spring with an injury. What do you think about Lemon?
Someone I was drafting this is a contingency value. I'm
pushing up wix just in case this keeps him out
(14:20):
and stalls that rookie learning curve. Where were you on,
mkayle Lemon?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, my heart is drowning in pure sadness right now.
John McKay lemon, one of my favorite rookies coming in,
had very high expectations for him in the sort of
new look Philadelphia offense that's gonna be without Aj Brown
hamstering injuries. I've said it before, I'm not a doctor.
I don't even have the lab coat, but recurring hamsterring
(14:47):
injuries are nothing to mess with in fantasy football because
the possibility that he suits up week one and they
say he's fine and he's out there, but then gets
reinjured throughout the season. That's a real thing. We've seen
guys come on and off the injury reports because of
hamstring injuries, and so planning week to week can be
(15:07):
very tricky. And then the added fact that he is
a rookie and it could have already been a slow
start for him because earlier in the mini camps he
was dealing with this hamstring injury. It's all just kind
of boiling up to this spot that I hate to
say it, I'm not very interested in mackay Lemon in
Redraft right now.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
In Dynasty, I'm.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Still very bullish, incredibly bullish on the guy in Redraft.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Eugh, it makes me so nervous.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I don't know that I'm gonna go crazy and start
pivoting to all of the other pass catchers that are there.
DeVante Smith also dealing with a hamstring injury, but that's
a newer thing, that's not something that's been popping up.
So I feel more confident about DeVante Smith and his
availability and the fact that he's a veteran. But yeah,
it's a real bummer. So maybe Dallas Godder will find
(15:56):
his way into my redraft stocks a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, it's a big boost for him. He's always excelled
whenever pieces we're missing, and it's not just fantasy football,
Fantasy sports in general happens as baseball all the time.
The baseball season that was so long, a lot of
times we want them to stay out, stay out as
long as you need because of the reaggravation factor that
you mentioned. That's number one. So here we are hoping
(16:24):
that they keep out a rookie who needs critical snaps.
Even right generally we're thinking about rookies producing in the
second half. A lot of that is based on chemistry
and repetitions that they've built up along the way. If
you're going to hamper that number. Oh Man, the stanks.
I'm a little bit worried Lemon had been one of those,
(16:44):
you know, an oasis for me. We've talked about waiting
for quarterback lots of times. You can go Hurts to
Lemon at the seven to eight turn or in the seventh,
in the eighth and you're feeling really good about a
quarterback one and a wide receiver like four or flex
guy that could right into production. Now I'm worried. I've
been drafting do Tavian Wicks. He goes so late really
(17:05):
after thought, I just had him as a contingency play
because one, I just worry about rookies catching on it
in the NFL at all. And then, like you mentioned,
there are a few wideouts that I feel would step
into a prominent role with an injury, Wix being one
of those guys. Do you think Wix should be part
of a last round red draft plan? There are people
(17:25):
drafting right now, and I would say, if you can
make him an easy drop, you definitely want to do
that because you could see where this could go very
right for Wicks.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'm glad you brought up Wis first. I didn't want
to have to do it. As the packer fan. I
didn't want any sort of fandom fanaticism sort of.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Biasing me in this.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But I do think Dantavian Wicks has been getting a
fair amount of hype already.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Coaches seem to love him.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
He does seem like somebody who could step into a
sizable role. If he's a last round or approximately a
last round guy, yeah, toss him on my roster. And
like you said, if he starts off the couple first
couple of weeks and he doesn't look that great and
he's just not earning targets, all right, smell you later.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I think this is a possible uptick for the Wix hive,
but just a tough blow for the lemonheads out here.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Man. Yeah, I love all those name drops, by the way, Yeah,
one hundred percent. As much as we like these rookies,
we have to be honest about it. Now, if he
were to start getting into the ninth and the tenth,
I'm going to reconsider it where it's more of even
a bench pick sometimes, right, I don't look to overpay
for rookies. I wouldn't consider that an overpay. I'll draft
(18:36):
him in, stant him and then go back for starters
that I think could produce in the first once again,
you know, like Wix and maybe they make an interesting
handcuff pay. Maybe we're in the age of handcuffing wide receivers.
Who knows now next wide receiver you mentioned. I don't
think we really need to go into it. It's it's
Ricky Piersoll. It doesn't sound like you're gonna get anything
(18:56):
from him, though. I guess there's one easy question. Would
you Ricky Piersoll right now at any cost? Again, my
hands are firmly in the fantasy third. He still gets
drafted in every single draft. Sometimes it's at the very
end of the twentieth round there where if he's gonna
come back, even for the last month or two, he
could be a contributor. I'm not that guy. I don't
(19:17):
like to invite injuries. Would you draft Piersol at any cost?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Nah, I'm out. I don't see it.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I just there's no reason for me to believe that
he's gonna be back there in any reasonable amount of
time to have him clogging up my bench spots, even
in an ir spot at that point, like, if he's
going to be back for the fantasy playoffs. All right, great,
I guess, but we don't even know if he's gonna
get much run if Debo is still there.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah. And for as much as these coaches and coordinators
lie to us, basically every time they open their mouth,
transactions and roster moves our truth, right, playing time is truth.
That's when they actually show their cards, when they go
and acquire somebody with some talent, even though I don't
think their archetypes necessarily overlap. They just brought somebody in immediately,
which worries me. Now, talker Craft, cheese, let's go, man.
(20:02):
I was really excited to see that he came off
the puppulist immediately. Again, there were people who paddicked. You
told us to be careful with that. We went through
the different types of puppulist. You could check that out
last week. He's practicing. They are over the moon about
this guy. They say he looks fantastic. He's even dropped
not a full round was my trigger point. At ADP eighty,
(20:25):
I am seeing him closer to ninety. At points, I
think just the pup thing has people a little off.
I would draft Craft, I would draft Graft and stash
him if I had to, but I'm drafted him because
think he's gonna be ready for Week one talk to
us about your tight end one.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Just just so excited for this man to be back
on the field. I can barely contain myself. I've been
saying for much time, maybe too much time, arguably, that
there's been too much of an emphasis placed on this
injury because we had some ambiguity there, and I.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Can appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I can appreciate not wanting to jump into bed with
somebody who's coming off of an injury like that. But
with both him and George Kittle, these are two guys,
two archetypes that if they say they're going to be
out there, there's a pretty decent chance you should believe them.
They've proven that they have a history, they have a
good track record fighting through these injuries. Now, I don't
(21:24):
know that Craft's going to come off to a hot start.
That's the one thing I've been cautioning about, and you've
mentioned as well, John, If you're going to draft Tucker Craft,
which I plan to, I am going to make sure
that I grab another tight end very late that I
feel somewhat comfortable in for the first couple of weeks
because I don't want to be out here and then
Kraft is, you know, only running thirty percent of the
routes or something like that his first couple of weeks.
(21:46):
I just want to be safeguarding myself. So give me
that Greg Dawst super late or whoever Chicoconquo now if
he's going to be following that far, and let me
rely on those guys the first couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah, I love that. I actually love that you mentioned
the players that in this new meta were up against
with multiple tight end sets and fewer three wide receiver sets,
those might be guys that end up being flex plays.
We haven't quite entered the realm of tight end flexes,
but you could see how it could get there for
some of these teams only because their only tight ends
(22:21):
in name only right, A lot of times, like I
mentioned before, the second tight end pushes the more athletic
one offline where they're actually running a wide receiver route
from a slot role, and they would and should be
wide receivers. So there is a possibility, and I like
those names again, guys that could be at least the
top three target and their team can do the shoulder wiggle,
(22:43):
make some space. All right, We're probably about halfway home
in this one as far as names, but I think
these next ones do more of like a lightning round.
I have Xavier Worthy up next. He springed his shoulder again.
Now he hasn't returned to practice. They're expecting him later
this week. It is the same shoulder that cost him
(23:06):
essentially the entire year. From an efficiency standpoint, I was
already a little bit if he on Worthy. I think
I'm out for as many drafts as I do. Jake,
I mean zero outer, if that's a word. I just
I zero out tons of players. I don't and some
people do that a player at any price, not me.
(23:26):
That's not me. There are players that don't fit, and
especially when it comes to injuries. I've been into the
Cyrus Allen stuff. He's banged up, goes one hundred picks later,
and I'd rather take a pop. I do think someone
in that pass catcher room will go off the like Worthy.
I know we still have some fans out there. It's
just not me. I didn't think he was going cheap
enough in the first place, and now certainly not. Now.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Doesn't it feel like a million years since Xavier Worthy
had that playoff run for the Chiefs a couple of
years ago, where we didn't get to experience it for
fantasy purposes because it was after our fantasy seasons wrap.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
But in the Chiefs actual postse he just garbage time out.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I mean, yeah, sure, but there was a couple of
games even before that, before the big garbage time loss
he still had it felt like he was ramping up,
and then the injury whatever else came into play. Patrick Mahomes.
The offense in general just hasn't looked good this past year.
I was starting to get my hopes up, though, John,
because you know, I love the return of Eric the
(24:25):
Enemy as their offensive coordinator. But no, I just can't
trust Worthy at this point. This is getting me to
pivot a little bit more. If I don't, for example,
want to believe in Tucker Craft, maybe you should then
wait a couple of rounds and see what old man
Travis Kelsey has left in the tank. Yes, Cyrus Allen,
I could also see a case for him. He's been
(24:45):
getting all the social media training camp highlight love, so
why not.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'd rather do that than Worthy, for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Now what about Thornton, He's Taekwon Thornton's also getting a
little bit of love at the very back end, and
not to even Drake be into my best bull streets.
If you are getting volume on the Chiefs and the
deep looks, that could be a valuable piece, right, It
could be a flex star. Do you think Thornton has
any value? I'm really having a tough time with these Chiefs.
(25:13):
I've been worrying about the pass volume in general. The
entire market is higher on Mahomes than I am man
outside of Kenneth Walker. If the Chiefs are really prolific
pass offense, I'm gonna be in a little bit of
trouble because I've not been on that. Do you like
anything there? I mean again, these guys are last round picks.
Would you take a stab on any either or both?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
It's just really hard. I mean, Taekwon Thornton was getting
some hype last offseason as well. If I recall when
he made the jump to Kansas City and again all
the other stuff still holds true that the offense itself
was just looking.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Lackluster.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
So I don't want to blame it all on Taekwon Thornton,
but we're talking about a guy who through four years,
still hasn't cracked the century mark in receiving yards. It's
a tough guy to want. I want to buy into.
I don't know if I buy into that light of
a breakout. I'd rather go with Cyrus Allen.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah. Also the hey, a quick way to lose your
money is to bad against Patrick Holmes. But I've been
going back and watching all these deep throws. It's just
not the same player. Maybe it was just old Terry Hill,
but he just came up as it was always the
most accurate deep bawl and he could always be deep.
It just hasn't felt the way to me. I don't know. Again,
(26:28):
there is certainly a pathway to the unemployment line, but
against the Chiefs, but I think I'm gonna take it again.
Worthy would have to really fall of me again on it.
But I'm not drafting them at all until her at
least returns to practice. All Right, enough bad news, enough
bad news. How about a little bit of good news.
And it's been tough, Jake I have. I don't think
I put a single piece of injury optimism out there
(26:49):
all off season, not how I roll. However, Daniel Jones
and his achilles man. The thing with these Achilles surgeries
is they've physically come up with a new technique. Right,
So I'm trying to correct my own arc, right, my
own recovery arc because of the new surge, which's a
(27:10):
whole new type where players are on a different timeline.
Daniel Jones, it's the quote was clearly in a good place.
He's quote unquote unimpeded. That was from ESPN's Ben Solac said,
it's gonna be one hundred percent wheels up, full playbook
for Daniel Jones. They're not gonna be babying him. They're
not gonna be doing anything of the sort. He feels
(27:30):
like himself. The reason I say this is I was
worried about that because that's what I do as a pessimist.
We saw how great that Colt's offense was with him
about the center, I don't think I could afford to
be fading the entire Colts offense. I'm starting to draft
Jonathan Taylor a little bit in the first I'm starting
to draft Downs even I was already drafting Warren when
(27:51):
he falls. So should I be coming off like the
LEDs here a little bit? I was fully ready to
go into the season with zero Colts and now like, man,
I'm starting to scoop him up where I can because
I think they're still cheap. If Daniel Jones is one
hundred percent and they're really rocking and rolling in camp,
people could start getting really bullish. We could see the
Colts get more expensive. Where are you on Indie going
(28:13):
into it? This is going to be polarizing in the
next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I think it is.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And first of all, can I just say how heartwarming
it is to have somebody earnestly be like, yeah, I
was worried about the Colts, but now that Daniel Jones
is going to be healthy and presumab lead starting, that's
not where we were a year ago, two years ago,
three years ago.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Well, it's just let's.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Credit change styche Let's I'll going to credit Stiched for
as much of this as Daniel Jones. But the splits
were just very hard, dude, you know, being controvertible. Man,
we're talking about and historically good. I've been expecting them
to even be that good, but they were so historically good.
How dare we fade a John mthan Taylor who's going
in the end of the first round people are not
(28:57):
into him at all, So focus about the Colts and
specifically were you drafting JT and how are you treating
them going forward?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Well, I mean, Jonathan Taylor.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
The only knock that I had against him at all
was just another workload thing. This is a guy that
also saw more than three hundred and fifty touches last year.
It's just it's not like he's old by any stretch.
But we have a pretty good track record of seeing
a downtick from those guys the following season. I don't
know that that's going to be the case with JT.
But that's my argument for not drafting him at least
(29:28):
early in the first round. I'm still fine. I'm still
fine to take him. I think he's a good investment.
I would say Tyler Warren is the guy that I
was looking for to make sure that he had competent
QB play before I got too excited, because his ADP
is significant and that's not something that I want to
mess around with with early tight end. You kind of
(29:48):
look for any red flag for a tight end when
you're drafting them that early, and if he was going
to be catching from the backups or god, forbid they
bring in another septagenarian quarterback off the streets to start
throwing to him, then that would have been a real
concern from Tyler Warren. But I'm good with him. I'm
good with Josh Downs. The guy that I'm still ambivalent
about is Alec Pierce. He has his own injury stuff
(30:10):
that he's dealing with, and I also just never thought
that he was going to be the de facto number
one receiver there. So the rest of the guys I'm
good with, though I'll bite.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
And take the piece of humble pie on Pierce. A
lot of that was before the injury. I pumped the brakes.
The price didn't really sink in proportion to my worry.
So I've stopped drafting Alec Pierce. I'm getting a little
bit high on the Josh Downs stuff now, I gonna
be careful in this hopem. I'm normally a very kind
of ardent drafter, right, I have my priors. I'm sticking
(30:39):
to him because of well researched Josh Downs is getting
talked up as a player that could be a focal
point in two wide receiver sets if they don't sign
Keenan Allen. There's been talks about that, So that's what
I'm waiting for. I've got Downs right, Mike, Crosshairs, Jake,
He's a guy. If Alan goes somewhere else, I am
gonna get real bullish on Downs. Do you think that
(31:02):
he could be part of the two wide receiver game?
It has not been a part of his game at all,
But they haven't brought anybody move away from Pittman. The opportunity,
at least theoretically is there. What do you think?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, that's I mean, that's not for me to decide, obviously,
that's for the coaching staff to decide how they really
want to force the issue with him, because certain coordinators
will completely readjust everything. If they love what they've seen
from one of their players, but he doesn't fit the
traditional mold of like a two wide receiver set guy,
they will find ways to get him out there if
(31:33):
they really want to.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
It's getting long now.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
In the tooth, late in the offseason for us to
suggest that they're going to bring in Keenan Allen and
that's gonna zap everything away from Josh Downs. It's almost
to the point where I'm not hoping for it, because
Keenan Allen would be a little bit of a headache.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
But I think that the ADP.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Discount you would get on downs after like a Keenan
Allen signing, would be interesting to me, and I think
I might chase him down draft boards if that's the case.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, you know, you're always gonna have my ear of
making price, you know, determined the arguments man. All right,
two more names to get through them really quick. It's
a little bit more good news. Jacksonville running got Chris
Rodriguez is practicing with the team and they are really
they are really talking him up. I don't like to
buy too much into drum beat stuff, though I do
(32:23):
think it's something everything is in agreement based on Chris
Rodriguez looks fantastic in the role that we're hoping for
trucking over guys, and I was kind of high in
Baseiel Tutin. I think Rodriguez could also be good. You
have to believe in the Jacksonville offense being really great
with conant the switches. Why not. So I think it's
fine if Rodriguez moves closer to Pick one hundred than
(32:46):
he is now, maybe Pick maybe one twenty or one thirty.
I think I might be out, but as long as
he's hanging around in the tenth round or later, I
think he could be a flex option. What do you
think about Chris Rodriguez? Most likely you know it's not instant,
but I do think he's in line for a lot
of the high value goal line work for a team
we think is gonna score a lot of points. Where
are you on c Rod?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
I am worried that he's going to be annoying, more
so than individually fantasy relevant or fantasy great. I'm most
worried that he's going to be annoying and really cut
into the upside of bacial toot And I'm backing away
slowly with my hands up from Basil Touton right now.
Because there's a thing that happens with these coaches where
(33:31):
Liam Cohen has known Chris Rodriguez for a very long time.
They go way way back, and sometimes with coaches, they
force the issue with those guys because of their history together.
Even if I think Chris Rodriguez is a good player,
don't get me wrong. I think he's a good quality
running back.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I don't like him.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I don't think anybody likes him as much as Liam
Cohen likes him, so you know, even if he's inefficient
or whatever, you know, he's not a great pass catcher,
Cohen's probably going to want him on the field a
good amount.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
So I'm kind of staying away from this backfield entirely.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Now. Yeah, that's been a little bit of a running
theme I'm noticing again on those Twitter streets, and I
think it's true. Is one of the maybe let's go
to disconnect, right, disconnects between fantasy and real life. Is
real life coaches like success rate way more than we do,
and they like EPA perrush way more than we do.
(34:29):
Those numbers do not really correlate to fantasy success, but
they do correlate to drive success and efficiency, which helps
the real life team. So, and the jaguarsn't have to
be really good to make Sea Rod the David Montgomery
to Basil Tuton's Jumior Gibbs. So I've been seeing Tuton
approach the fourth round where I've had to say, mos
(34:51):
Rico a little bit too rich for me. Man, You know,
I can't really get there if he falls into the
fifth and I need a RB two. I think Tuton
could definitely be that guy. But yeah, now I'm starting
to get a little bit into the sea Rod. But really, Jake,
it's gotta be half point PPR. I think that's where
he really stands out when the touchdowns are worth that
much more. Right, last player, I note my j ETSS
(35:14):
Jets rookie tight end Kenyan Sadiq had a setback. It's
recovery for hernia surgery. Excuse me, And you know I
was not drafting him when he got hurt, and I
was taking some slings and arrows. What's the big deal, John,
just hernia. He's gonna be fine. I said, you could
have setbacks during anything, and it is in a place
where you're working. It's in the core. So I don't know.
(35:38):
I'm not buying in now he's gonna start sinking like
a stone. My question is, again there's the rookie worry.
There's also been some historical data, Jake on tight ends.
We know first round tight ends have a history of
not producing. They have as of late, but none of
them have missed time. Right, something we've already mentioned already today.
I wonder if Mason Taylor is a viable twentieth round pick.
(35:59):
If you like the Jets. Right now, I'm kind of
washing my hands of all of it. I guess Taylor
is an okay tight end for but I don't know.
I think I'm out in the situation. Would you be
buying Sadiq down boards? I like that term you used before.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
First of all, John, I don't have a corps. I
don't think so. I don't understand how will hernia injury?
I had even effect a core?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Oh good?
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Can I borrow one sometime? I shoy having one of those.
I do think with Kenyon Sidik though. The unpolished nature
of Kenyon Sidique, he's an amazing athlete. Freakish athlete is
the type of phrasing that people like to use for
tight ends of this build.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
They're not traditional.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
You wouldn't expect him to be the next George Kittle,
Travis Kelcey, whatever. But he has a skill set that's
very interesting, and if you polish it and refine it,
he can be very useful for a team. I've long
said I don't know that the Jets are that team
to be able to polish and refine him the way
that he needs to be, and certainly not in his
first year. All this does is kick that can further
(37:03):
down the road to the point where I don't know
if I'm gonna be comfortable drafting him next year. John,
Obviously there's a long ways away. We can discuss it
at a later time, but it's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Yeah, we probably want to see something from him this year. Yeah,
it's kind of scary. Again. I'm Alwa's bagging the same
drum about repetitions and chemistry, especially for first year players.
I think it's extremely important in this league. So I'm
I'm just not gonna bother with Sadik just in case.
I don't think this is gonna be a season ender
as far as the injury goes, but I'm afraid the
(37:35):
impact might last the entire season. All right, Jake, that'll
do it. We spent the entire episode on our news
and notes, but hopefully it mattered right how those like
I said, the pebble in the pond creaks the ripple
eff fact downstream players that we like, players that we don't.
We'll be back next week, everybody with more of the same.
As the league starts to change. We promised we'll get
some of those bold predictions that you and I wrote down, Jake.
(37:58):
So from John Lagaza and Jake true bridge everybody, thanks
for listening, and have a very weekend. Mm hmm
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!