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May 3, 2024 35 mins

Charch and rookie savant Thor Nystrom break down the rookies who got drafted into positions to make immediate impacts.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 Chargia.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
We are still basking in draft season.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I know the events behind us, but god, it's so
much fun to break it down and so much to
talk about. And who better to talk to than thor
nice Strom.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Great to have you back, buddy, Awesome to be here. Yeah,
I mean, what a crazy weekend we're coming off of
with the NFL Draft, and it's it's super exciting to
get into the evaluations for these guys for the coming
fantasy season.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yes, and we're gonna do this in two parts. This
week it's guys who hit the right landing spots after
round one because last weok, he did round one because
we record on Fridays and we knew all that. We
knew everything from Thursday. This week it's round two and beyond.
We're not doing every single player. I've limited this to
something in the ballpark of like I don't know, we're
going to do like eleven guys round two and beyond

(01:06):
thor that where we like the landing spot.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yes, So now I.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Want to be clear, we're not suggesting these players are
automatically going to have fantasy success. What we are saying
is that these are guys who have fallen into a
spot that gives them a primrose path to fantasy success
and possibly in the near future as well.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
And mostly I've mostly we're.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Looking at players in rounds two through four because these
are higher value players that I think are probably better
that the team has got more equity built into. And again,
not a comprehendhensive list, but there's a lot of great
names here in great.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Spots predominantly, yes, and we're going to talk about some
really interesting ones. We also have a couple of deep
sleepers for you guys. Excited for that too. And then
next week let's do worst landing spots.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
So guys that were even if we really like the player,
we don't like where he ended up and we're worried
about the timeline for six sess on those guys. So
that'll be next week. Okay, So best landing spots. I
want to start with this guy, Trey Benson. He was
my favorite fantasy back coming into this draft. He drops
into Arizona in round three, currently going off the board

(02:13):
to pick twelve in non superflex rookie drafts. He gets
into an improving offense. And I feel like I've said
this stat like five times in the last month. Arizona
averaged twenty five points per game in their final five
or maybe it was six games of last year, so
they were getting better. They add a stable quarterback. They
add Marvin Harrison and James Connor, who played well last year,

(02:36):
but he's aged twenty nine. I mean, the cliff's coming
for James Connor. And when it does, there's Trey Benson.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Who is about to put his boot onto the bumper
of James Connor's car off a back cliff. Right, Yeah,
Trey Benson's coming for you at James. A very interesting
pick and a great landing spot for Trey Bentson. I
think he starts chomping into Connor's usage immediately bypasses him
in very short order. In twenty twenty two, Trey Benson

(03:04):
sets the single season PFF record for force miss tackle rate.
In that season, he became the first collegiate running back
in the PFF charting era with a force miss tackle
rate over fifty percent. Oh, I love it. That was crazy.
And then you combine the last two seasons, Benson was
number one out of two hundred twenty six qualifiers in
miss tackles force per attempt. Oh. So you have that

(03:25):
so sexy an you talk to me like this so hot.
You have that aspect of his game where he's breaking
the tackles in the first level to get out to
that second level. And once he does, that's where the
size speed combination comes in. He was the premier combination
of that in this class for three nine wheels at
two hundred and sixteen pounds. Guys an absolute stud of

(03:45):
an athlete. That's why you saw him a cru so
many explosive runs at Florida State. The other thing I
would say about him, Mike Norvelu, go back to Memphis.
Remember when the way that he used Antonio Gibson, the
way he used Tony Pollard, When he had guys that
could multi dimensional skill, guy that could handle this sort
of thing, he would he would motion them out to
the slot, do interesting receiving things with them, get the

(04:06):
blockers out in front of him. He was doing that
sort of stuff. With Trey Benson because he's skilled enough
as a receiver. I also liked on Trey Benson's tape
the way he would sell play the play action, then
work his way through the line of scrimmage, work his
way through the garbage, get around that, and make himself
immediately available to the quarterback. Got a lot of targets
doing that. His hands are good and you get the
tackle break in Berserker. After that, all you got to

(04:28):
do is get is hit him on the hands eighty
six percentile among running backs and miss tackles force per reception.
So that's a side of the other thing we were
talking about.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
And Florida State never does like workhorse back that they've
just beaten into the ground with, you know, two hundred
and fifty three hundred touches.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
You know, they always use rotations of guys.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
I mean they And so Benson comes into the NFL
really with pretty low mileage but enough usage. You feel
really good projecting success for the Cardinals.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
That's right. Yeah, And it's a it's a nippick you
can have about NorVa when you're thinking about these guys
for the NFL, because you're, like, man, I wish Benson
like last year, the usage he would get pulled off
the field sometimes because this is what Mike Norvell has
done going back to Memphis, and it's like, man, you've
got an awesome running back on your roster, just funnel
at all to him. But that's just the way that
does system.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
All right, Let's go to the next running back with
that fell into a promising spot. Jonathan Brooks ends up
in Carolina in round two. He's currently going up the
board to pick eleven in non superflex rookie drafts. You know,
I was a little lukewarm on his overall game. I
don't see special NFL level traits like I do in
Trey Benson, but I love the opportunity in Carolina, and

(05:37):
Carolina's offensive line non awful in run black blocking. They
ranked sixteenth by Pro Football Focus. And he's just been
playing better than Chewba Hubbard and where Miles Sanders is
right now, and those I mean, those guys could be
cut candidates for me as far as I'm as far
as I'm concerned. What are your thoughts on this landing
spot for Jonathan Brooks in Carolina?

Speaker 3 (05:55):
This is probably the best landing spot for any running
back that was taken, which is the case because I
don't know why Dallas didn't take a ruddy back draft
was weird. But because of that, this is objectively, I
think the best landing spot. He walks in immediately and
is going to be the belcow of the running game there.
Jonathan Brooks a guy earlier in his career stuck behind
Bijon Robinson and Roshawn Johnson. This this past season, he

(06:19):
made up for it. The first ten games of the season,
he was averaging over one hundred and forty scrimmage yards
per game. Unfortunately, he tears his ACL against TCU on
November eleventh. That was the then that of course wiped
out his entire pre draft process. Wasn't able to test
everything like that. I love his feet. I like him
as a runner. He makes people miss that. That's the
part of his game where I mean, I think Caroline

(06:41):
is going to give him a metric ton of carries
this coming season, the.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
One assuming he comes back in short order from the injury.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
And they've been the public comments about that have been
pretty bullish that he's going to be ready for the
start of the season. Well to see, I mean, like
we're in the middle of his recovery process right now, right, yes,
you know well to see, but at least the timeline
that has been given to us publicly, it sounds promising.
The one part of his game that I'll be interested
to see how much at the NFL level is the

(07:09):
receiving element of it. Obviously earlier in his career because
of the way that you know, with Beijon there and Rochean,
he just wasn't used as much as a receiver, and
then those first ten games a lot of the usage
was coming as a runner. So I'm not sure about
that aspect of his game, but he's gonna get He
is going to be the belcow of that Carolina offense
as far as the runner immediately, and.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
That's Jonathan Brooks. Let's go to another running back that
fell into a nice spot. Kamani Vidal has been.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
You know, he's been.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
There's been a ton of talk and buzz in the
fantasy community since the draft, even though he didn't get
taken until round six, and he's currently going off the
board to pick thirty nine and non super flex rookie drafts.
He needs to get passed JK. Dobbins and Gus Edwards,
but they just haven't looked the same since their respect
of ACL injuries. I mean, you can't always bounce back
from these like you like you want to. But part

(07:58):
of the love here is Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh
give us the most run heavy combo in the NFL, right,
so opportunity is.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Going to be there one thousand percent. Kamani Vidal, I
absolutely love his game. The last couple of years, he
was the Belkow period, end of story for that Troy
team that was dominant in the G five. He got,
he got all the looks there. He would stay on
the field on passing downs, but to pass block in
that system predominantly last four years he averaged around twenty
catches per season, not because he can't catch, but because

(08:28):
that was the way their offense was set up. It
turns out that Kamani Vidal is probably the best pass
blocking back in this class, which is going to keep
him on the field for passing downs. If not. I
think he's a better receiver than he was given credit
for in the process. But as a runner, a very
very interesting player. And the landing spot here, of course
is great Jim Harbaugh. This is his type of running back.

(08:51):
Blake Korham ends up going in the third round to
Sean mcvabe, so at least he stays in the same
area code as Jim Harbaugh. But I thought it was
so interesting that three runs they can have sleepovers. They
can sleepovers exactly. But three rounds later he ends up
taking Vidal, who is essentially the pointing spider Man give
of Blake Koram as a physical package. They're in the
same height, they're the same weight. It's just Kamani Vidal

(09:12):
is a better athlete. Kamani Vidal ended up testing as
an eighty eight percentile athlete five A two thirteen. You
know you have that bowling ball build. Kamani Vidal ran
for four thousand yards in the FBS. He did it
a different way than Blake Korum, even though they're in
the same dimensions. Blake Koram is more your breaking bowling
ball on the lane, where he does it with agility, tempo, patience,

(09:33):
different stuff like that Kamani Vidal, whereas with him, it's
throwing the bowling ball at the pins where it's he
comes forward, the acceleration. He's not waiting for anyone breaking
through that line, and it's a different type of a
playing style for back that type where a lot of them.
Usually you see more of the Korum type, Devin Motor, Singletary,

(09:54):
those kind of guys where it's more shaken. Vadal takes
the fight to you. And and it's not just that
he accrued all these stats against G five teams. They
played Kansas State. Kansas State was loading eight man boxing
against Kamani Vidal. He was blowing through into the second
third level. The guy that I compared Kamani Vidal to
was Jalen Warren, which I got a chance to ask
Kamani down in Mobile at the Senior but what he

(10:16):
thought of my company, He was starting to laugh, and
he compared himself to Maurice Jones Drew. But he did
say that he liked my comp of him. The thing
with those two guys' games. When Jalen Warren came out
of Oklahoma State, obviously he was under sauld the ends
up going undrafted. Warren finished his last season there number
two in the FBS and forced miss tackles. This past season,

(10:37):
Kabati Vedal finished number two in the FBS and forced
miss tackles. I think that that's what he has bringing,
that kind of game is what he is bringing to
the Charterers. I believe that in his rookie season he
upset JK. Dobbins and Gus Edwards to start as a
rookie for Jim Harbaugh in that run first offense that
they have with Greg Roman.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Let's transition to tight ends, and you and I broke
down the tight end position only like what four shows ago.
So I don't want to spend a ton of time
on who these guys are, but I do like the
opportunities for three different guys that fell into spots where
they can be short, they can become starters, perhaps as
early as week one, number one Jatavian Sanders, he falls

(11:15):
to Carolina, He's only got to beat out Tommy Trumbull
and Ian Thomas here and a completely rebuilt Carolina offense.
You know, with new coaching staff, obviously we're you know,
we're gonna get year number two for Bryce Young. It's
going to be better. It's going to be better for
Bryce Young. One hundred percent chance it's going to be better.
What are your thoughts about that landing spot for Sanders.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
I'm interested to see if they're if Carolina is willing
to take a third receiver off the field to get
him onto it, or if or if they'll go without
an inline guy, because the thing with Jatavian Sanders is
he cannot play inline. He will get ragg dall and
it's one of the reasons why he fell down the
board a little bit. Yeah, as far as his receiving utility,
to me, it's isolated to two things. And Steve Starkesian

(11:55):
very cleverly schemed to uh to work around these things
and to play these things up. With his testing. You
saw the speed and you saw the burst. The rest
of his athletic testing disappointed. That's why he finished fifty
seven percentile in that. But he can stretch the seam absolutely,
he can absolutely do that, and he can make plays downfield.
The other thing that they would do for him, Sarkeshan

(12:17):
would get the defense focusing on Xavier Worthy Adonai Mitchell
on the other side of the field and would get
Sanders isolated against one of the tertiary you know, linebackers
strong safety against Sanders in space one on one hit
him on the hands in the intermediate area where he
had the opportunity to turn up field and hit the jets.
So you would see the yak yardage there to Chaevian

(12:38):
Sanders does not break tackles, but he gets yak yardage
because of that and the way he was schemed with that.
If Carolina uses him cleverly like that, I think that's
where you get the receiving utility out of him at
the NFL level. But again I'm curious how they do
their offensive usage because you have the three starting receivers
now that they had to get to that room.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, and that's and on the interior they got Deontay
Johnson now add feeling, both guys that run a fair
amount from the slot, and so you worry about Sanders
necessarily just having room to stand up if he's not
gonna be an inline guy and he's going to be
standing in the slot. What do we do if we've
got two receivers who can run in the slot.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
For sure, but a far far, far better receiver and
offers more utility than those two other guys that you
mentioned on the Carolina depth chart.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Sanders currently going pick thirty six and non superflex rookie drafts.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Let's go to another tight end.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Eric Hall drops into Cincinnati and one of the better
spots available for a tight end. He only needs to
beat out Tanner, Hudson, Drew sample Mike Koseki, who at
this point I think we can just call it. We
can stop referring to Mike Aseki as a former first rounder.
Let's just call him a journeyman because I think at
this point that's where he is and in his career path.
What do you think of Eric Hall currently going off

(13:46):
the board way down at pick fifty four in non
superflex rookie drafts.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Oh, that's a mistake by people, isn't it. Yes, Eric All?
I love Eric All. I was so ballish on him.
He was my tight end three, and as I put
in my scouting report with the tight ends, he would
have been my tight end two if I had confirmation
on the medicals that that he had been cleared with
at it. It feels like the Bengals were okay with
it based on where they took him, which is right
around where he was on my board. Eric All is

(14:12):
very clearly the number two guy at this position group
in terms of receiving utility offered to the next level
he's been. He was starting at Michigan for the two
years prior to when he went to Iowa. Last year
at Iowa, when he was on the field the first
six games or so, he was one of the better
receiving tight ends in college football by the numbers and
what was once again a rancid passing offense in Iowa City.
But they had brought him in after he transferred from

(14:34):
Michigan in order to step into Sam Laporta's inline spot
in their offense. Yeah, when he was at Michigan, he
was playing more of the h back, big slot role,
move around chess piece, kind of a role that this
past year Colson Lovelin filled in Jim Harbaugh's offense. But
I love the athleticism with Eric All in conjunction with
the receiving skill, and he has ball skills as well.

(14:55):
But you can see examples of this even in his
brief time in Iowa City. There was a play last
year they hit him on the hands intermediate against Penn
State and he ends up turning the corner and Kaylan
King was the cornerback who is trailing him. Eric All
outruns Kaylan King to the end zone for love fifty
yards out. Wow, kaylan King and his pro day ran
I believe a four or five to one, So I

(15:15):
think eric All would have ran probably in the high
four fours had he been able to test Caylen King
I'm sorry, four or five to two at Penn States Prode.
But at least on that play in pads, eric All
appeared to be faster than him. Washington's Devin culpad the
fastest forty time with tight ends that were tested this
year at four four seven, eric All would have been

(15:37):
challenging him. And then you know Theo Johnson was the
one everyone was going nuts about. Was a four or
five seven, eric All would have licked him. And again,
the route running, the ball skills. We have seen this
going back a couple of years. The only reason he
felt the way he did and in the pre draft
process there wasn't more talk about him. It's because of
that back injury that ended his career at Michigan. There
was a disagreement about whether he should shut it down

(15:58):
that season and rock for that thirt That's what ends
up leading to his transfer goes to Iowa.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
If you're gonna go anywhere you go to tight end,
you leave Michigan. If you're gonna leave Michigan for any
program as a tight end, Iowa is the one.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
And if they're attracted to you, Yeah, that's the one
position you could trust the Iowa City coaching staff to identify.
And like I said, he was doing so well at
the beginning of the season and then the torn ACL
I'm comfortable enough with that back into the a CL
with modern technology that doesn't concern me at all. The
back injury though, it seems as though he all was
the one who elected for it and there was no

(16:33):
one else who would shut him down that season. So
because of that and then because he comes back the
next season, I'm making a situational assumption, of course, looking
into the black box of his medicals which they don't
release to us, that it's it doesn't crazy elevate his
risk at the NFL level, and obviously that's what the
Bengals have told us. Their read is on it by
taking them where they did, but big time sleeper Eric Hall,
and at a position, by the way, we've been crying

(16:55):
out in the last couple of years for the Bengals
to take the pass catching monster at tight end for
Jie Burrow. They did it here at his sticker price
discon with a guy where if his body doesn't betray
him Eric All is going to be a star in
the NFL.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
All right, last tight end I want to hit you with,
and then we'll switch over to wide receivers. Ben Sennett,
I gotta love a guy named Senate finds his way
to Washington. You can't you can't make it any better
than that. Washington did sign zach Ertz, but Logan Thomas
is gone and there's just no other threats on the roster,
and zach Ertz is at the bitter end of his career.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
I believe, so maybe Ertz holds him off for.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
A year, but it feels like Senate's a guy that
by this time next year is going to be ready
to explode.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
And then Jayden.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Daniels will be a year another year in as a starter,
and you can really project for a pretty cool twenty
twenty five for him, for sure, six foot four, two
hundred and fifty pounds, ninety seven percentile athlete, eerily similar
in all those things, including the specific test to Sam
Laporta from last class. To me, he's like ninety five
percent ninety three percent version of Sam Laporta. Games are

(17:56):
very similar. You can play him inline stud blocker who
absolutely gets after I think he's number two in this
class in terms of that from the metrics last year
and then the receiving utility, and in particular I thought,
well projected, you know, you have the athleticism, you have
the idea of how to run the route. He has
really good hands.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
But what I like for the projection to the NFL
is we talk about a lot with the quarterbacks JJ
McCarthy and Drake May about how they were so good
ten to nineteen yards down the field between the hashes,
in the intermediate range. How well that projects the NFL.
We so rarely talk about that though with receivers and
tight ends. Ben Sennett destroys people in that range down
the field ten to nineteen in the intermediate between the hashes.

(18:32):
That's where a metric ton of his usage came in college.
Then once he catches the ball there he becomes the
tackle breaking berserker. That's where it was akin to Sam
Laporta for me in terms of that, I think the
name where it's going to be evolkedmore in Washington now
that he's going there is Chris Cooley. I think who
he's going to remind him of. But yeah, he's going
to force his way onto the field one way or
another the first season, maybe not the full snaps with him,

(18:55):
but I think, you know, with jayde Daniels's evaluation, so
good throwing down the field, such a good scrambler. We
had talked about how in the LSU offense they didn't
throw into that sector. I was just talking about quite
as much. Ben Fennett, I think is being brought in
to make Jaden a little more comfortable throwing over the
middle the hashes at the NFL level.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
We'll take a quick break when we come back. Let's
go to the wide receivers, beginning with Keon Coleman, who
drops into Buffalo. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly, Paul Charchian,
thorn Icetrom. You can follow Thor on Twitter at thor Ku.
I am at Paul Charchian. And also we've got a
new Discord channel. Look in the show notes you can
get our Discord channel show notes right here in the

(19:33):
show notes you can get to a Discord channel with
a link there, and you can join our conversations about
each episode and everything fantasy football related. Let's go to
the wide receiver position. Keon Coleman drops in. Was it
pick two of the second round? First the second round,
first pick of the second round, Keon Coleman, Buffalo. This
is obviously turned into a position of great need for

(19:54):
them with Stefan Diggs gone, gave Davis gone, They're really
rebooting the spot, not a lot of competition. Coleman walks
in is the probable starter week one here, and he's
got a great quarterback to throw them the ball. So
let's you know, Coleman's not a speed guy, so you know,
I don't know. You know, Josh Allen's got the big,
big arm, so I don't know if that's going to
be like bombs away. But you know, Gabe Davis was

(20:15):
a speed guy and it never came together in a
way that materially helped fantasy players. So what do you
think about this landing spot for Keon Coleman and Buffalo.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
I love this landing spot for ke On Coleman in Buffalo.
You not only walk into that starting spot on the
boundary in a good offense, but it's his stylistically his game.
It fits so well with Josh Allen. The thing I
was concerned about with Coleman is that he would go
into like a timing rhythm type offense where they would
ask him to try to do stuff in the intermediate area.

(20:44):
That's the part of the game where he struggles with
Last year PFF he was zero percent out in separation rate. Wow.
Keon Coleman doesn't care if you are in his kitchen
when the ball is coming, because generally it is down
the field. And this is where you know, It's funny
when people on Twitter at he ran them four to
six one at the combine were like, he's not athletic.
I was just chuckling. It's it's like a kid who

(21:06):
was on Tom Izzo's basketball team at Michigan State two
years ago isn't athletic? Right? Are you kidding me? You know?
And I saw him so often hurtle defenders after the catch,
he jumps out of the gym, and that is the
utility with him down the field and with Josh Allen
in particular, That's what's gonna play up a comment about
him last year. At the beginning of the season, he
was doing tremendous He lit up LSU one hundred and

(21:27):
twenty two yards three touchdowns, lit up Clems in eighty
six yards two touchdowns. That through September and October, he
was doing great. That's when Keyon Coleman suffered an injury
that the cause him to miss a game. Then he
comes back, he wasn't one hundred percent. Then Jordan Travis
gets injured, and that brought in quarterbacks that should not
have been on a Power five field or maybe even
a G five field, and so what ended up happening.

(21:48):
People look at his stats and they think he was disappointing.
Last season. Key On Coleman got eighty seven targets. Only
fifty five of those were chartered as catchable because of
all the bad targets that he got in November when
these guys were on the field that shouldn't have been.
Of those fifty five targets, Keon Coleman caught fifty of them.
Eleven went for touchdowns, twenty eight others went for first downs. Dang,

(22:09):
and he's now about to go from these flotsome guys
after Jordan Travis got injured to playing with Josh Allen,
who is again the perfect stylistic fit for his game.
You chuck it up to Keon cole It's a rebound thing. Yeah,
that's what that kid is done, Knox since he was
a kid. That's all he does iley higher than you.
It's full extension because it's just the box out thing
with basketball, it's all it is downfield. If it's only

(22:32):
one guy on Keon Coleman, he is getting higher. He's
getting up to that ball and he doesn't drop it either,
as he has really good hands. This is a really
good fit. Let's go to a player who is really fast.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Troy Franklin ends up in Denver currently going off the
board his pick twenty one and non super flex rookie drafts,
I should mention Kean Coleman going his pick eleven right
now in non super flex rookie drafts for Troy Franklin
gets teamed up with this college quarterback Bonix. I don't
think that means very much. I mean, I think you
gain a little a little out of that. You get

(23:03):
in a little chemistry gain, but not a ton. Jerry
Judy's departure opens up reps for somebody.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
But is it.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
Franklin right away? What about Marvin Mims? I mean they
put second world equity into Marvin Mims one year ago?
What about free agent Josh Reynolds has proven he can
be a contributor. Franklin's viewed as a pretty raw project
who might need some time in coaching. But you know,
we love his speed, we love the deep separation, we
love the big playmaking ability that he demonstrated regularly with
bon Nicks.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
What are your thoughts of this landing spot. Yeah, Troy Franklin,
I was surprised that he fell down the board, and
he finds a really interesting landing spot here, both with
being reunited with Bonex's collegiate quarterback and then also Troy
Franklin's closest comparison in terms of this size and the
athleticism in the entire NFL. When you look, you pump

(23:49):
them into a mock draftable, you pump them into the
rat system. It's right. So it's it's kind of crazy
that those two guys are going to be duking it
out for reps. And then obviously Reynolds is involved with
that as you are going to see Troy Franklin on
on the field in year one, and he absolutely out
of those three guys fighting for two spots, could win
one of the starting spots. Immediately he got the NFL

(24:10):
was punitive with Troy Franklin because he's skinny. I mean,
that's what it is. Six six, but he's a ninetieth
percentile athlete, extremely productive at Oregon three point three two
yards per route run last year, and he wins at
all three levels. Now, of course, with bo Nicks, there
was a lot of screen passes being thrown to the outside.
At least with that, Troy Franklin got to show that
he can manufacture yards after the catch, including breaking tackles,

(24:33):
which was impressive for a player who is on the
skinnier side. But in the instances where he was allowed
to go downfield, I saw a better route runner than
he was given credit for this process. To me, he
is a better prospect than the round four early round
four price tag that was put on him. And I
like Troy Franklin as a fantasy asset sleeper kind of guy.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Currently going off the board pick twenty one in non
super flex rookie drafts. Next Lad McConkie, who did go
second pick of the second round, he goes. He currently
going off the board pick eight in non super flex
rookie drafts. He lands with the Chargers. Now, the Chargers
passed on the leak neighbors, which ended up resetting a
lot of that first round, I believe, and I think

(25:11):
that's it. I think that call ended up putting the
Vikings in a spot to get JJ McCarthy ultimately, but
they pass on neighbors instead they go offensive line. But
then they reinforce this position at the very top of
the second round, and you get a player who is
hyper productive at Georgia and Ladd McConkie, and he walks
into a wide receiver room where he's the best player.

(25:32):
I mean, he's better than Josh Palmer, and it looks.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Like better than Quentin Johnson base on what we saw
last year.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Super slippery, lots of separation. I didn't see him breaking
tackles after the catch. I don't think he's that guy.
But mann does lad McConkie get open? And maybe it's
because brock Bauers was opening up a lot of space
for him, But man, when you watch Georgia games, you're like,
there's nobody.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Within five yards of lad McConkie. Ever, it seems like
that's what it is. That kid rolls out of bed
getting separation. Yeah, yeah, he's opened more than seven to eleven,
as the kids say. And he is the inverse of
Keon Coleman, who is the get separation in his downfield.
Now I'll jump in with Kean or with Lab McConkie.
It's I'm separating from you and we're going to make
ourselves available at the quarterback right away. I love this

(26:12):
fit with the Chargers. Lab mcconky became the wide receiver
one on that team the second that card was submitted. Now,
of course, it is the run first offense. That is
the ethos of those guys there. Now, so you're going
to run on the early downs. But the thing is,
and the reason that they were attracted to Lab mcconki,
it is not just to address their terrible wide receiver room.
It's also because of the constitution of their entire offensive philosophy,

(26:34):
which is, we get closer to the sticks on the
early downs. We need the efficiency guys in order to
convert on those third downs. Sure that is Lab McConkie.
He will get open. You know the third and fours,
they were in the third and fives. They're in the
third and six, is you lad McConkie won on one
and man coverage is shaking as dude, and then Herbert
hitting him on the hands and we're getting the first down.

(26:54):
One of the craziest stats that I pulled from this
past draft class. Last season, more than eighty percent of
the balls that left the quarterback's hands headed in mcconkey's direction.
I'm not talking chartered as catchable. I'm just talking peer
balls that were throwing his way eight more than eighty
percent of them became completions. And this was not on
the spoon fed targets that a guy like Malachi Corley got.

(27:17):
McConkie's twelve point two eight out was the exact same
as Malik neighbors Is. Last season, mcconkee finished with three
point twenty six yards per route run that was number
four among FBS prospects in this class. He plays on
the people were tossing, Oh, he's just a slot, He's
a slat. No, he wasn't. At Georgia, a team that
won two of the last three national titles. He played
eighty percent of his snaps on the boundary in a

(27:39):
twelve personnel offense. And hello, he is now going to
a twelve personnel offense under Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman.
He is going to be an outside receiver. The guy
that I compared him to is Jordan Addison, and I
think you're going to see a similar sort of a deal.
The efficiency thing getting open and then he converts it
and by the way, four to three to nine gas
for the times where potentially they do want to send

(28:01):
him down the field a little bit. You can't just
always be trying to play up on him, cause he
can get around you if you try to take that
away and try to start jumping things. All right, Let's
turn our attention to the Patriots. Two receivers.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
They put second and fourth round equity into the position,
a massive position in need. Jalen Polk and Javon Baker
currently going off the board his picks twenty three and
twenty eight. In non superflex rookie drafts, they have virtually
no competition. They can walk right in and potentially be
starters here. Drake May could be really good. I really
like Drake May. Talk to me about these two. I know,

(28:34):
having talked to you, you like Baker. You're not as
high in Polk, even though they took him in reverse order.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, I was super confused by the Pulk pick, and
I think that they're gonna come to greatly regret passing
on lad mcconky in order to take Jaalen Pulk. The
last couple of years when Jalen McMillan and Jalen Polk
were on the field together at Washington Together there was
twenty games where that occurred where they both completed the
full game. Jalen McMillan in those games one hundred and
twenty four catches for sixteen hundred and fifty seven yards
and fourteen touchdowns. Jalen Pol in those games sixty eight

(29:01):
catches for twelve hundred and ten yards and nine touchdowns.
Jalen Polk was always the clear and distant wide receiver
three when Jalen McMillan was on the field. The only
reason he ends up going at the top of the
second round was because Jalen McMillan suffered a knee injury
against Michigan State in September, which allowed Jalen Polk to
finally jump up into the wide receiver two role and
he went off in for the five next games where

(29:23):
they were playing these crappy Pac twelve defenses. But when
Jalen McMillan came back at the end of the season,
Jalen Polk came right back to where he came from
as a distant wide receiver three in fact, two of
the games down the stretch where they're play and keep
in mind Washington was going towards playing in the National
title game in full games, Jalen Polk that he played
in active zero catches in two of those games down
the stretch. Wow. The guy that I really like, though,

(29:46):
is Javon Baker. Javon Baker is the guy that I
think will quickly ascend to being the top option in
that Patriots passing offense. The wide receiving room there stings
and Jawn Baker can actually play. The reason he felt
on the board, it's not because he can't play, it's
because some of the evaluators have issues with his personality,

(30:06):
which he's not a bad kid, but he It reminds
me a lot of stuff on Diggs, another guy who
fell down the board, because you know, evaluators thought, is
your attitude in the way that you see yourself commeserate
to your ability on the field.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
And something that has haunted Diggs to this day.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Exactly. Yeah, yes, And when things are going well, you
never hear about that saft with stuff on Diggs. When
it's not, that's when that sort of stuff starts coming out.
But Javon Baker ardently believes that he is the best
wide receiver in this class, you know. And last year
he was blowing the kiss at Oklahoma. Everyone gave him
crap about that, but that touchdown answer when of Oklahoma's touchdowns.
The Oklahoma is a twenty two point favorite in that game,
UCF was a failed two point conversion at the end

(30:44):
of the game for taking that game into overtime, potentially
upsetting Oklahoma. The only reason they had that shot was
because Javon Baker was going ballistic. Reason he blew the
kiss there at the end of the first half was
to tell him like, we're here. You're not getting rid
of me all this game, And that's why UCF almost
rose up in that game. Javon Baker can win it
all through levels of the field. The way they predominantly
use him in that offense was the deep shots. But

(31:04):
I saw that kid win short, win intermediate, the yards
after the catch when he does the quarterbacks, he had
a UCF. We're not so good at hitting him on
the hands in space, but he can do that stuff.
And then the release package with him is crazy, very
very dynamic, bullish on him, and I think he's better
than Jalen Polk and like I said, I think he's
going to be Patriots wide receiver one at some point
his rookie season.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
All right, last guy, I want to talk about it
as we wrap up our perfect landing spots Guys that
dropped into positions. We really like Roman Wilson in Pittsburgh.
They put a third round equity into him. He's currently
going up to board pick twenty two in non superflex
rookie drafts. You know, Dante Johnson now gone as we
mentioned earlier, and whether it's Russell Wilson or justin fields,

(31:45):
he should have decent quarterbacking. Maybe he's better than Kenny
Pickett level quarterbacking anyway in Pittsburgh. What do you think
of Roman Wilson in Pittsburgh?

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Huge fan, great landing spot and draft day bargain on
his price point. What Roman Wilson is not as an
outside receiver just because of the size five ten, But
he's bursty, he has the speed and he makes plays downfield.
He also has tremendous hands. One drop, zero fumbles as
the wide receiver one on last year's title team after
two drops and zero fumbles the year before and this

(32:16):
is with usage that went down the field with him.
It was not spoon fed stuff. And here's something to
keep in mind with that. I this should have been
talked about a lot more during the pre draft process.
They talk about his frame so much, but they never
brought this up. Visa Vive the no drops with him ever.
In an odd genetic quirk, Roman Wilson had what quirk,
an odd groenetic quirk. I don't know what that means.
He has enormous hands, oh, especially for his size. Roman

(32:40):
Wilson's hands are get this bigger than Roma dunesays. They
are one eighth of an inch smaller than Marvin Harrison's
and they are the same size as Xavier Lagetze, that
guy's receivers that got huge. Yeah. And Roman Wilson never
flubs balls, So I feel like that is something that
should have been discussed more with him. Very very good
out runner, very very reliable last year on the field,

(33:02):
number one in the FBS and expected points ated per
route run. He was also top ten nationally in quarterback
rating when targeted. All right, love it.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
Do you have any sleepers that we haven't addressed that
you feel like guys who just dropped into really nice
landing spots that you also want to you want to
chip in here.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
I want to go totally off to grie with the
guy that wasn't even drafted. If we can go at
the end of the deepest of weeds, Jalen Cocher went
to the Carolina Panthers. He's coming out of holy Cross.
I was stunned that that kid did not get drafted.
I have to assume that that's the FCS say what position.
I don't know who this kid is. Jalen Coker wide receiver, okay,
and he's heading into a room where it is wide open.
And and to me qualitatively, I did not have him

(33:38):
ranked too far behind where I had Jonathan Mingo on
my board last year. Wow, Jonathan Male like in the
high eighties. I had Jalen Coker in the one twenties,
so pretty close. And the rest of the wide receivers
there that are backups in Carolina, they're just flats them.
Jalen Coker's ball skills are incredible. He has the laid hands,
he doesn't drop anything. He spears things outside of his frame,

(33:59):
very very good with and while he lacks the downtown wheels,
he ran somewhere in the mid four fives, which you
can see that on film. He is super bursty and
the acceleration, including in and out of the route breaks.
That is also something, interestingly enough, that showed up in
his testing. Even with the mid four to five speed,
he had the same ten year split as mister at

(34:20):
done Mitchell, who really four three to three? Wow, that's right?
All right? Yeah, So Jalen Cocher, watch out for him.
I think he's making that Carolina Panthers teams. And for
any of our deep Dynasty listeners out there, make sure
you grab that guy at the end of your draft
and stashum. All right, I love it.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
That's uh, that's kind of stuff that we that we
love to hear. That would have been a little bit
of what you would have been saying had we done
this segment a year ago, you'd a bit you'd have
thrown in Pukinakua at the end at the end.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
Of our discussion. All right, you'd have brought him to
art in the last round.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
That's right, And we're so we're uh, we're going with
Cocher as our dart throw this year. Thanks for listening, everybody.
We'll be back next week with players who we like
but don't love the landing spot. We'll talk about the
bad landing spot. Guys that worry us next week.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Talk to you then.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
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