June 19, 2026 • 32 mins
Jake and John are back with another offseason edition packed with news, notes and more! The guys go over some injured players making their way back, ask what the value of Ladd McConkey and Travis Hunter are and go through a TON of ADP risers and fallers! It's almost America's 250th birthday, so what better way to celebrate than making sure you're well informed as we roll through the summer!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up, everyone, and welcome back to another offseason edition
of Fantasy Football Weekly with your host and faithful narrator
John mcgaza at that handle on the Socials, and my
friend and yours, mister Jake Trobridge. Jake, this is the
first time I don't have a active fantasy football draft
window open for the first time since I think we
spoke last and I'm not sure what to do it myself.
(00:34):
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I mean, it has to feel a little bit of
a relief. I would think, just like, oh, how do
I deal without the stress of a draft on my shoulders? John,
I mean, I don't have a draft window open right now,
but I am preparing for Scott Fishbowls Live Draft, which
is coming up at least in my home city in
about a month. And I know long term listeners of
(00:56):
this show know all about the wacky and wonderful scorings
that Scott comes up every year for that big charity tournament.
And I gotta say, John, because this year it's all
about like big play bonuses and stuff, you know, if
you get a forty yard passing play, it's worth like
an extra ten points. It's kind of fun to analyze
players from that different angle. When you're hyper focused on
(01:17):
one thing, it feels like I've really honed in John.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I don't know, you know what's funny to that point.
That's kind of why I avoid it now. Hattip and
much love to Fish. He does fantastic work. Even though
I don't play, I do donate to the cause because again,
he does such wonderful work. They do so much. That said,
I don't have the bandwidth for that. It's hard enough
(01:40):
for me to scrape off the best ball brain to
get to those fine layers of redraft nuance. That transition
be hard enough for me. Always under the gun with
best ball again, building for the whole year. You're thinking
in terms of multiple quarterback teams. A lot of things
we don't do in redraft. So hat tip to everyone
that does do it, and we can actually talk about
(02:02):
it if you want to set it up. I'll check
the rules and maybe as like a third party perspective,
I can give some takes on it. Maybe that's a
good off season topic idea, But for today we're gonna
do some news and notes. It's been you know, the
drips are happening right with OTA is going on, and
then we're gonna jump back into those season ending injuries
from last year and players that will be back, how
(02:23):
we're treating them subsequent ADP moves, the pass catchers. If
you miss last week, check out quarterbacks and running back.
I'm glad we took the time to really sink our
teeth into it because it's worth it, all right. So
first news and note is a pass catcher himself, though
it's Chris Alave. He's going off at ADP twenty nine.
I can speak for somebody. I've taken him as high
up as the turn, the two three turn, looking for
(02:47):
a first wide out after taking gives at the one
oh one O. Lave's off blood thinners, or will be
in two weeks. According to sources, he's avoiding contact for now,
but they're saying he should be good to go by
all intents and purposes. It is a for recovery coming.
Everything to this point is going exactly he's planned, and
they're saying he's fully on track without restrictions for week one.
(03:08):
So I guess just talking to me about Olave. Are
you worried about this news? Were you worried? And how
are you handling going forward? What do you think about
that high price tag?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Of course, I think this bit of news with Olave
is a good reminder that we know more about players
than we ever have before. The news and updates that
we get most of the time, it's stuff we would
have never even thought to think about ten years ago.
Nobody would have thought to put out there ten years ago.
So this news didn't really shake me. I mean, Chris
(03:37):
Alave has had his issues in the past staying healthy
and on the field, with all the concussions and things
like that. It's maybe just a tiny, tiny reminder to
myself to remember Chris Olave had all the concussion stuff.
Jordan Tyson, the highly drafted rookie, is coming into the
season with his own injury stuff. Maybe just keep an
eye on Juwan Johnson Ny on the other rookie wide
(04:02):
receiver Bryce Lance later in drafts, or at worst, you know,
keep your eyes on the waivers as you get close
to it. But I'm not really freaking out about a
Lave John, are you?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
No, definitely not. I'm drafting him. It's not throwing me
off it, and I've even capitalized on the natural discount
that will happen with any injury news. He's kind of
dropped down and I've seen him now back third, early four,
where to me, it's a smash. A Lave is a
total target hog in one hundred and fifty six targets
last year, and that was as they were discovering that
(04:33):
quarterback situation. Shuck kind of came into his own. We
saw a lot of progression. You know, the market is
pricing him properly, but yeah, I'm into the Olave thing.
So it's for me, it's wheels up for a Lave
again late third for sure. Next one is another wide
receiver in that seam range. Going a little bit after.
It's Lad mcconki for the Chargers. Now, this is one
(04:55):
of those kind of secret injuries. You know, we hate these,
but we know that they're gonna happen from time to time.
He's dealing with a string left hamstring. They're saying phase
two of the Charges offseason program. I'm not gonna pretend
to know what that means. They're saying he'll be ready
for training camp, which is a really good sign. He's
been working off through the side through OTAs. He'll participate
in individual drills. This is an update. I caught this
(05:18):
just today. Jim Harbor said, I think Mike McDaniel said
it best potential for the best year he's ever had
in pro football. I see it the same way. Well,
he's only had two of those. I guess the first
one was really good, so the best one would be
really good. What do you think about Lad mccaukey. Does
this throw you off? Mit all, we're already seeing a
dip in case you were wondering.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, I agree with both you and Mike McDaniel, two
very smart men about Lad mccacky. I do think that
this would be a great match for the player to
really pop off soft tissue injuries. Though they're not nothing,
it is a bummer, Like you said that, it's just
kind of popped up out of nowhere. Now, if this
(05:57):
causes a dip where he's gonna fall into the fifth
and sixth round, you know, perpetually, then I'm good with that.
I would like to get more shares of him because
I do think he's going to be a focal point
and be very creatively used. But I'm keeping an eye
on this into training camp. If stuff keeps popping up
throughout training camp, this is an injury that can reappear
(06:19):
magically throughout the season, and I don't want to be
on the receiving end of, you know, him continually leaving
games earlier or something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
That's such a great point with the soft tissue stuff.
Something I have a lot of experience following with baseball,
And what I would advise people is this, aside from
like a true setback where it's a real reaggravation and
they're reassessing if they extend the timeline, don't look at
it as a bad thing. Look at that as a
good thing. Like you mentioned, if you get a full rehab,
(06:49):
it won't get reinjured. A lot of the reaggravation comes
from hurrying back too soon. Now, because I tweeted it
out and my football stuff is not that popular, I'm
going to put it on another platform. I was really
into Lad McConkie. I put Lad McConkie. I started out
high in him last year, but after they brought in
Keenan Allen, I hit the eject button. I'm back. The
career numbers to this age are still really great. A
(07:12):
strong combo of volume and efficiency. This is career numbers.
Six point eight targets a game, twenty one percent target
per route run, one point eight six yards per run.
Those are elite numbers. But I put also four plus ceiling.
He runs twenty two slot routes a game, almost five
slot targets, and more than a half of an end
zone target per game. Those are career numbers. So I
(07:33):
just want to put that out there if people are
dinging him for the stuff last year. Again, I think
there was target cump. There's also some injury stuff and
then the offensive line problems. So unfortunately you said round
five or six, that's that's not happening Jake. But he
has fallen. He has fallen past Za Flowers and Ameca
Abuka and now McConkie's making for an interesting, like three
(07:56):
to four turnplayer, which I think opens the door if
you're drafting those running backs early. So keep an eye
on McConkie. I think you brought up the most important
point is just make sure that there isn't another injury
next player. R J. Harvey had offseason surgery. Man, I
wish we knew about these things for torn liebram I
(08:18):
don't like that. That's like the Bucky Irving thing in
the shoulder. This happened versus New England very late. Right,
So now they're saying he had a really good offseason
and he's a full go. I'm doing air quotes per
Sean Payton. I worry about this. The marker was already
kind of punishing him adp. Eighty five. I was just
beginning to get interested. How are you handling Harvey or
(08:40):
if not, the Denver backfield in general.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I will absolutely grab some Joonah Coleman late in my drafts,
that rookie that they just added, because I think I thought,
even coming into the season into the NFL, regardless of
which team he landed with, he has three down potential.
He can be that guy. He can be that guy
in Denver as well, if Peyton ever stops trying to
outsmart himself. But I don't know if we'll get there.
(09:06):
So Dobbins, we know his injury history. I mean, out
of one hundred and one possible games he could have
played in his career since twenty twenty, he's only played
forty seven. So John, I don't know. You know, if
the over under his set at nine and a half
healthy games played this year for Dobbins, I'm more comfortable
taking the under at this point.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
R J.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Harvey for his sake. I mean, I don't know. He
didn't become this magical joker type of player that Peyton
is obsessed with finding, you know, that hybrid kind of
running back or tight end. Harvey wasn't that. He was
just thrown into the mix because of Dobbin's injury last year.
So I don't know. This this injury stuff with both
(09:46):
Dobbins and Harvey, it really has me taken a hard
look at Coleman.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah. I think that's a great point. A lot of
times this is like the anti move thing I was
talking about earlier in the offseason, where let's say, situation
confuses you, or you say, like the red and Stibi Horse, No, sir,
I don't like it. There might be another window open,
right Like, just because you don't like where you know
Harvey's going and Dobbins worries you. Both of those things
(10:14):
are true for me. Doesn't mean you have to be
out totally. Sometimes, you know, when the door closes, the
window opens. I love that Coleman pick. He's going outside
of the top one fifty, and I think it's even
worth consideration in a redraft. Right again, I'm trying to
wear both those best ball and redraft hats. I liked
it even as a very late redraft pick. I think
(10:34):
he'll fall into redrafts also because one news blurb, one setback,
and all of a sudden that third wheel could be
a secondary player behind somebody that were handicapping for single
digit A meta games. You know, So there's absolutely some
potential value there. Last news and no, we'll do this
one quickly. I don't know how much impact it's gonna have,
(10:56):
but we're staying in the Mile High City for this one.
Denver signed UFL Offensive Player of the Year Hackeen Butler.
I was like, man, I remember that name, and I
saw one of the blurbs Dake NFL veteran. I was like, man,
I was digging and digging and digging. I had to
go all the way back to the twenty twenty Philadelphia Eagles.
(11:16):
Two targets, no catches, so he didn't actually get the
finished box score. The thing with this is and they're
excited about him. Of course, this wide receiver room is
why I brought this up. We were already a little confused.
It was a bit murky, right bringing in Waddle. The Franklin, Bryant,
Mims and Humphrey room already felt a little bit crowded.
(11:39):
Even Humphrey got some love last year. Does this move
you off of your Pat Bryant love, which I don't
think was misplaced? I think was a really great take.
Are you worried at all? Or I'm telling you Brian's
gonna fall half around? Are you just buying it?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I mean I was worried for Pat Bryant simply with
the addition of Jalen Waddle and not knowing how much
he was going to be out there this year. I
think Pat Bryan is still the part of the succession
plan for Courtland Sutton, who's getting up there in age.
So Dynasty believers in Pat Bryant, I am holding strong.
I'm not moving off of him for Dynasty for this year.
(12:15):
I still don't care about Hakeem the Dream Butler showing
up for training camp because Butler is the definition of
a camp body to me. He has bounced back and
forth from the UFL to NFL practice squads so many
times the last few years, and they even tried converting
him to tight end like you were talking about when
he was in Philly. That was what they tried to
(12:35):
force him to be. There was this makeshift tight end.
To me, this is a big nothing burger. If it
does force Jalen Waddle down the board a little bit,
I'll be happy because of that, or even Courtland Sutton.
I'll still get plenty of both of those guys.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, I love that. I don't I don't know much
about the UFL, so I just you know, kind of
went and Dug who go, Wow, offensive player of the year.
And sometimes this happens in lower competition college leagues, right
we here about my mother the most productive player, Tyson
Pagent was like that. If I'm not mistaken, guys that
put up these cartoonish right numbers. Again, I'm not a
(13:11):
prospect there, So I was. I was ready for like, wow,
I wonder, I wonder how crazy this was. Butler just
turned thirty. He had nine games for thirty twenty nine
catches excuse me, six forty one and three. So I
don't know, that's like seventy one yards game. I mean,
not necessarily crazy. Again, I was just had the antenna
up because it was a situation I was worried about,
(13:33):
and I didn't like the idea of bringing talent, like
stop bringing in competition into rooms where we're looking for clarity, right,
I'm looking for clarity and they're bringing in the cumulo
clouds or whatever. All right, So that's it for the
news and notes. I know we didn't finish on the
most exciting one. Let me just shuffle of paper really quick,
Jake and I want to dive back into these pass
catchers and the seizing ending injuries. All right, we're back
(13:57):
with some wide receivers. I'm doing the audible side because
sometimes I type audible sigh, because this is how I
felt about Molik Neighbors when he went down. I was
really high in it. We saw the immediate impact of
a target hog and one of the first and few
people to ever remind me of Megatron out there. Now,
(14:17):
his ADP is dropped with the bad news he's down,
but it's still EDP thirty two. So I wanted to
leave with that because you're still paying kind of a premium. Okay,
he tours acl but plus the meniscus in the right knee.
He's now at a second surgery because they needed a
scar tissue cleanup. The Giants have been a little bit
vague about the timeline. We don't like that the goal.
(14:37):
The stated goal is training camp maybe week one, but
now they're saying could be wishful thinking and he could
miss the first few weeks. Then you have ramp up
like you're ready for contact. I have found myself very
sadly off of Meleak Neighbors, who I love. I have
yet to see him in the fourth if we get there,
(15:02):
like where the number starts with a four, right pick
forty or worse. Maybe I'm clicking in best ball in redraft,
you think you're behind the ePol immediately, Maybe you could
clean up that mess later in drafts. Chake talk to
us about Malik Neighbors. So I don't think the town
is a question at all. But is the you know,
is the juice worth the squeeze? I guess something to ask.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, Johnny tores ACL all the way back in week four,
so you would think by now, you know, we've gotten
much more rosy and optimistic reports of guys who tore
their ACL is much later than that last season. So
the fact that we're not and teams loved I mean
they can't wait to put out an optimistic report about
these types of players. So the fact that they're very
(15:43):
much Hemming and Halley has me super nervous. I think
I see some shades of Terry McLaurin in twenty twenty five,
albeit for different reasons. Terry McLaurin was holding out last year,
and that was a concern to me, because if you're
not out there practicing, as training camp goes on and
as we get close to the season, stuff can happen.
(16:03):
You either show up rusty or there's cause that you
will have a slow start in some form. So I'm
not worried about the whole you know, charity softball game gait,
you know, when he was running to first base, and
I know there is a lot made of that. That
didn't scare me. But the fact that these guys won't
just come out and say, yeah, week one, he's definitely
(16:24):
good for week one. We're still getting maybe's about that.
So I don't even think in round four I'm gonna
be on him. John maybe round five, But it puts
too much stress on the rest of your draft to
have a guy like this kind of leading your lineup.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, and you know, you're back waiting that value and
that first second third pick is supposed to carry you.
So ya, I'm with you. I don't like to invite
the injuries. It's that reaggravation. That's second procedure, right. Anytime
you have to reinvade the body, you reset a lot
of clocks and well then open yourself up for like
(16:58):
infections and stuff. Also, to me, it's a disaster. I'm
kind of out which man really thinks. I don't think
he's gonna get far enough for either one of us
to take it. So I guess it is indeed Braxton
Burial season. He said it, everyone, not me. Next up
is the most has got to be the most prevalent
and time consuming argument going on in the fantasy industry
(17:22):
right now. So the macro is Jaguars wide receiver room.
The microre we're going to talk about now is Travis Hunter. Right.
We had the torn lcl in the right knee, so
he had surgery in mid November. Okay, he was breaking out.
I think it was the international game. I'm not mistaken,
but regardless, it was week seven year, it was week
(17:44):
seven in London. Okay, they're expecting him back as a
full time cornerback and a part time wide receiver. This
is what they're saying, not me. The recovery time does
put him on track. Now again, Liam Cohen with all
this optimism like you mentioned, which I don't necessarily buy,
but they do like to put that out there, which
I do think is especially bearish for neighbors. So the
(18:07):
saying he's gotten stronger on all this stuff, but that
last game is the focus, right. It's the value of
the slot role in the Liam Cohne offense, which we
saw manifest down the stretch. Parker Washington, he's going very
early in that game where Hunter went bananas, mister Trubbridge,
(18:28):
twelve of the fourteen targets, fourteen targets, twelve of them
were in the slot, and all of the production all
eight for one oh one and one were all from
the slot. Man this you could see where this goes.
Travis Hunter is a extremely undervalue ADP one thirty eight.
This guy could be a wide receiver one or Parker
(18:49):
Washington is the guy. Now, I don't know what to do.
I've been trying to just take Jaguar wide receivers wherever
they fall. I'm not ending brought back Jacobe Myers. This
might be the most talent to pass catch a room
in the league. Can you bring any clarity to us
at all? I'm just gonna leave it open to talk
Jaguars wide receivers.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
No, I can't bring any clarity in this situation, John,
as much as I would love to, I've been doing
a similar thing of just I will try to still
keep my optimism up for Parker Washington because I believe
in the talent, and there used to be a time
that a guy could break out in the third year
(19:27):
and we were all just comfortable going, Hey, he broke out.
He can probably continue to be that good, especially as
it happens towards the latter part of the season instead
of the inverse. So I'm still good with Parker Washington.
I think what I'm struggling with John is you're never
gonna sell me that the team wants to use Travis
Hunter heavily on both sides of the ball, especially after
(19:50):
he tore his LCL and missed most of the season,
not saying that that was all because of how much
they were trying to use him or overuse him. But
you wouldn't do that to a guy coming off of
that injury, especially because to me, they have more of
a need at cornerback on defense than they do it
wide receiver. You said it, there's plenty of talented guys here,
(20:11):
Brian Thomas Junior. I refuse to believe that. You know,
his talent just evaporated last year. I think he can
still get that connection back. I like Jacobe Meyers fine,
I like Brenton Strange their tight end. Frankly, so, I
think Hunter is fine as a late round Best Ball option,
not in any lineup where I or any league where
I have to set a lineup. Am I investing in
(20:33):
Travis Hunter though, because I don't know which games they're
going to try to shoe him horn him in to
the offense versus when he's gonna take a back seat
and play defense. But in Best Ball on fine, the
other guys all just kind of, you know, every other
draft sort of thing. Pick a different guy.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you one hundred percent there,
and I would even shrink it down even more. I'm
only drafting Hunter in Best Ball or non lineup setting
formats where I already have Trevor Lawrence. I want that connection.
I think they have to go off together in those games.
I'm not even I don't even think I'm interested in
the frequency of the boom and bust as constituted. Again,
(21:08):
right now, I'm penciling him in as a cornerback. There's
a and not just enough talent they have, like the
diversity of talent, it's actually a perfectly set out, like
compartmentalized room. If you ask me, Brian Thomas can really
play deep, and Myers is much better short and intermediate.
(21:28):
He's always been a target earner, never gonna take the
top off. But you don't name a guy that you
feel more confident to get your five point fifty one
in one. Jacoby Myers is your guy. And then again
Washington in that number three role. He didn't just excel
right Jake, he went He went off in those games,
and they were in high leverage spots, playoff games. I
(21:50):
don't know how you can get away from Washington in
that spot. And again because I've been such a park
Washington bull. Remember what Godwin looked like in that sing
exactly before he got hurt, before Cohen left Tampa. Godwin
was like he was easily a wide receiver one he
might have been a top five overall wide out. So
and see how I mentioned like the role, but that
(22:12):
also if something were to happen to Washington, I don't
like to put injuries out there. Let's see it hits
the lottery and decides to, you know, go on a
mindfulness meditation retreat. How good for it, man, You know
that opportunity if it goes to Hunter. Right, if they say, oh, Man,
that slot role belongs to Hunter, that all of a
sudden he his value to skyrocket. So we want a
(22:33):
piece of the jaguars. It just like you said, it's
gonna be hard to find. I've been trying to go
with value, all right, tight ends. Next let's go to
tucker Craft. Enough out of me ADP eighty two. They're saying,
our man is healthy. Another ACL timeline. He's had a
little bit more time also, not as much as neighbors,
but he hasn't had the reaggravation. Talk to us about
Tucker Craft and cheese.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
I mean John at first, blush, You go, geez, you know,
I expected a guy who tore his ACL to have
somewhat of a discount, and you look at where he's
going in ADP. You don't really see that You know
he's still very much in the top five I think
across pretty much all platforms at this point. And then
I think about it more and I go, well, maybe
actually this is the discount because he's not tight end two,
(23:15):
tight end three, even tight end four. In most cases,
I think he's mostly tight end five. But Tucker Craft
was tied for the overall tight end one spot in
points per game through the first eight weeks of last season,
and his underlying stats were all incredible. John. I know
you're a big stats guy. Let me just give you
a couple of my favorites here as the Packer fan
(23:36):
because it just warms my cheesy little heart. But among
all pass catchers, not even just tight ends, John, but
all pass catchers, Tucker Craft ranked fifth in yards per target,
seventh in yards per reception, second in yards after the
catch per reception, fourth and broken tackle rate, and second
in passer rating when targeted. Again, not just for tight ends,
(23:59):
all pass catch This dude is a beast. So if
they're saying that they project him to really be on
track to get out there week one, even if he
doesn't look amazing in week one, by week three, week four,
this is the league winner.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Type of guy.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I think I'm okay taking him where he is going
in drafts right now. I just hope he doesn't shoot
up too much further.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I guess John Oh I was waiting for the player
that we were both so into. You got all of it.
I love that I had some tight end stuff that
I thought was kind of sexy. You really won uped
it right there and went full on pass catcher, and
that speaks to the talent level. You know, he was
on pace for one thousand yards double digit tight ends
through that week eight when he got hurt, just under
(24:42):
six targets a game, twenty two percent target per route run,
almost two and a half yards per outrun. It was
two point four to nine. So I'm just there, that's elite,
elite stuff. And the ten point eight YAK perception led
all tight ends, not only get elite all tight ends.
The next one Greg Dolcich at seven point seven. I
(25:02):
mean that's an order of magnitude, multiple orders of magnitude
better than the field. Craft can win in line, win short,
shake the tackle, and then break out. He can also
win in the scene. He is grounkish In and if
you ask me, he is so excellent. He also reminds
(25:23):
me of this is a little bit of a throwback.
He reminds me of a little bit of Dallas Clark
in the scene, because that's one of the great tight
end scene throws. Now when Peyton Manning has a lot
to do with that. But when I think of like
the stereotypical, prototypical tight end seam route, it was Clark
and just get that high throw, whether titand can reach
(25:43):
up to pull it in in stride and he's out.
You know, he's out. I don't like We've mentioned this
before a couple of weeks ago. I don't like the
tight ends, a catch and fall. I've never been the
Ertz guy. That's not my thing. I want a guy
again that can shake the shoulders and get out into
spacecraft is absolutely guy. And you know they move away
from Romeo Dubbs, you move away from Don Tavian Wicks.
(26:05):
There are plenty, plenty of short and intermediate targets open.
And then one last stat Tucker Craft no reason to
not believe him. They was recorded at twenty one and
a half miles per hour on the practice field, which
is top speed. Right, It's not just his top speed
it's an elite top speed and it's you know, one
(26:26):
hundred percent healed. If that's the number that we're going by,
So I am super excited. And just to addresser appointment,
the price, Yes, correct, he's tightened five, but it's picky too,
so you aren't getting it. You know, it's even by ADP.
It's a top five EDP, but you didn't really have
to reach up for him. Next guy is a player
that I know that you like, but I'm curious how
(26:47):
you're handling it now because George Kittle, his price is
moving up now, it's not skyrocketing, but he's now up
to pick one point sixteen. He tore his right achilles
in the playoffs, so we haven't had a lot of time.
That was January eleventh. They're saying he's remarkably ahead of schedule.
Talk about injury optimism. He's jogging and doing single leg hops.
(27:08):
Oh my goodness. They're targeting a week one return in Australia,
which man, I don't know that role again, I mentioned
role is very valuable. The tight end role in the
Shannan offense. Tongus was the tight end nine that stretched
between week two and six more than six targets a game.
Are you into Kittle? Are you kind of buying a dip?
You're viewing this as a dip? How you going about
(27:30):
which you don't about the guy that's easily gonna project
as a top five to ten and when he's healthy.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, when healthy, of course, is the key words with
all these guys, but John the least surprising words in
the English dictionary. George Kittle is pushing to play despite
his injury. That is literally all that the guy does.
If it was anybody else and they were coming out
with all of these narratives that, yeah, he's on target,
he's really pushing for it. Yeah, that's what everybody says.
(27:56):
Not a lot of guys actually follow through the way
that Kittle does so. And the fact that his surgeon
back when this first happened in January was calling the terror,
you know, a best case scenario because it was so
high up on the appendage. And as we've mentioned, we're
not doctors, but that sounds good. I like the sound
of that. I think I am pretty comfortable taking the
(28:17):
injury discount in redraft and in best ball leagues because,
as you said it, that's such a vital role Mike
Evans obviously new to the team. He's getting up there
in age. Hopefully he stays healthy as well, but he
carries some injury risks. Ricky Parsol has carried some injury
risks recently, So everybody on the team, even CMC at
(28:39):
his advanced age of barely thirty or whatever it is,
they all kind of have some question marks. So I'm
fine dipping into Kittle, And honestly, his values probably too
deflated in Dynasty as well, because when Kittle's on the field,
he just produces so much fantasy goodness and it's such
a fickle position in Dynasty. I'd rather pay, you know,
(29:00):
a more modest price for somebody like Kittle who's older
and injured. But I'd rather pay that than one of
these younger, very questionable guys who tend to be valued
ahead just because they're younger.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yeah, it's not a bad point. I mean, if you
get boxed out on one of the earlier tight ends,
let's say you had your heart set on Warren or
the drop back to Craft, the Craft doesn't make it
to the eighties and he's gone in the seventies, and
you find yourself in that gap. All of a sudden,
Kittle becomes pretty attractive. A lot of these players outside
pick one hundred and ten everyone are gonna get dropped
(29:33):
or injured or stink or a combination of all of them.
So you want to play for the guys that can
move the needle, and Kittle is certainly one of those players.
I mean, he's on the shorter list, shortest list. A
should say have players at the tight end position that
you'd roll out as a flex player, right, I mean
he could be in every week flex player. You'd probably
be fine with that because he can get your ards
after the catch and he's always involved in the red
(29:55):
zone and stuff. So yeah, I think you're right. I'm
not targeting it. We are f hitting that point where
I'm gonna be out because now it's a starting tight end.
Before we get out of here, I do have one
last question, because this is a question I've been asking myself.
How about George Kittle versus Mark Andrews. Andrews they move
away from likely, I feel like there's more of a
target share. He's not as old as we think he is.
(30:16):
Everyone is healthy, The Ravens are good, and that's why
I have my draft in Kittle. It's not so much
anti Kittle, it's you have to take him over Mark Andrews.
How do you deal with that? One v one before
we go.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Jake, I do love me some Mark Andrews, and I've
been in on Mark Andrews since I'm way back in
like March, and it just feels rude that everybody's starting
to come around on this guy. Now, you know, shame
on us for talking so highly of Mark Andrews. Sure
it was only us that that caused his anti beta climb, uh,
(30:48):
But yes, I like splitting splitting the difference with tight
ends in general. We've talked a lot about waiting at
tight end because it feels so deep. But there are
times where I just go, I've did late at tight
end and it's burned me. So maybe I just do
the thing that I don't usually do, which is take
the solid, quote unquote reliable guy in George Kittle. So
(31:10):
do you answer your question? I'm just splitting it up,
but I do love Andrews.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, I hear, and I think that's the question. Maybe
it depends on the format or who else is there.
If you could even double tap them, I think that's
a great commination for a best ball season. You have
your early hit with Andrews, and then you hope to
back it up with Kittle, and then again a guy
that could be a filler at the flex man Jake,
that will do it. This show just goes so fast, man,
have such a great time talking, and we'll be back
(31:35):
next week, you know, talking news and notes, and we're
gonna keep hacking away at the Redwood until the big
tree full hard. So from John and Jake, we appreciate
everybody listening. Enjoy your weekend. And that's it from Fantasy
Football Weekly. Take care of ye
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up, everyone, and welcome back to another offseason edition
of Fantasy Football Weekly with your host and faithful narrator
John mcgaza at that handle on the Socials, and my
friend and yours, mister Jake Trobridge. Jake, this is the
first time I don't have a active fantasy football draft
window open for the first time since I think we
spoke last and I'm not sure what to do it myself.
(00:34):
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I mean, it has to feel a little bit of
a relief. I would think, just like, oh, how do
I deal without the stress of a draft on my shoulders? John,
I mean, I don't have a draft window open right now,
but I am preparing for Scott Fishbowls Live Draft, which
is coming up at least in my home city in
about a month. And I know long term listeners of
(00:56):
this show know all about the wacky and wonderful scorings
that Scott comes up every year for that big charity tournament.
And I gotta say, John, because this year it's all
about like big play bonuses and stuff, you know, if
you get a forty yard passing play, it's worth like
an extra ten points. It's kind of fun to analyze
players from that different angle. When you're hyper focused on
(01:17):
one thing, it feels like I've really honed in John.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I don't know, you know what's funny to that point.
That's kind of why I avoid it now. Hattip and
much love to Fish. He does fantastic work. Even though
I don't play, I do donate to the cause because again,
he does such wonderful work. They do so much. That said,
I don't have the bandwidth for that. It's hard enough
(01:40):
for me to scrape off the best ball brain to
get to those fine layers of redraft nuance. That transition
be hard enough for me. Always under the gun with
best ball again, building for the whole year. You're thinking
in terms of multiple quarterback teams. A lot of things
we don't do in redraft. So hat tip to everyone
that does do it, and we can actually talk about
(02:02):
it if you want to set it up. I'll check
the rules and maybe as like a third party perspective,
I can give some takes on it. Maybe that's a
good off season topic idea, But for today we're gonna
do some news and notes. It's been you know, the
drips are happening right with OTA is going on, and
then we're gonna jump back into those season ending injuries
from last year and players that will be back, how
(02:23):
we're treating them subsequent ADP moves, the pass catchers. If
you miss last week, check out quarterbacks and running back.
I'm glad we took the time to really sink our
teeth into it because it's worth it, all right. So
first news and note is a pass catcher himself, though
it's Chris Alave. He's going off at ADP twenty nine.
I can speak for somebody. I've taken him as high
up as the turn, the two three turn, looking for
(02:47):
a first wide out after taking gives at the one
oh one O. Lave's off blood thinners, or will be
in two weeks. According to sources, he's avoiding contact for now,
but they're saying he should be good to go by
all intents and purposes. It is a for recovery coming.
Everything to this point is going exactly he's planned, and
they're saying he's fully on track without restrictions for week one.
(03:08):
So I guess just talking to me about Olave. Are
you worried about this news? Were you worried? And how
are you handling going forward? What do you think about
that high price tag?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Of course, I think this bit of news with Olave
is a good reminder that we know more about players
than we ever have before. The news and updates that
we get most of the time, it's stuff we would
have never even thought to think about ten years ago.
Nobody would have thought to put out there ten years ago.
So this news didn't really shake me. I mean, Chris
(03:37):
Alave has had his issues in the past staying healthy
and on the field, with all the concussions and things
like that. It's maybe just a tiny, tiny reminder to
myself to remember Chris Olave had all the concussion stuff.
Jordan Tyson, the highly drafted rookie, is coming into the
season with his own injury stuff. Maybe just keep an
eye on Juwan Johnson Ny on the other rookie wide
(04:02):
receiver Bryce Lance later in drafts, or at worst, you know,
keep your eyes on the waivers as you get close
to it. But I'm not really freaking out about a
Lave John, are you?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
No, definitely not. I'm drafting him. It's not throwing me
off it, and I've even capitalized on the natural discount
that will happen with any injury news. He's kind of
dropped down and I've seen him now back third, early four,
where to me, it's a smash. A Lave is a
total target hog in one hundred and fifty six targets
last year, and that was as they were discovering that
(04:33):
quarterback situation. Shuck kind of came into his own. We
saw a lot of progression. You know, the market is
pricing him properly, but yeah, I'm into the Olave thing.
So it's for me, it's wheels up for a Lave
again late third for sure. Next one is another wide
receiver in that seam range. Going a little bit after.
It's Lad mcconki for the Chargers. Now, this is one
(04:55):
of those kind of secret injuries. You know, we hate these,
but we know that they're gonna happen from time to time.
He's dealing with a string left hamstring. They're saying phase
two of the Charges offseason program. I'm not gonna pretend
to know what that means. They're saying he'll be ready
for training camp, which is a really good sign. He's
been working off through the side through OTAs. He'll participate
in individual drills. This is an update. I caught this
(05:18):
just today. Jim Harbor said, I think Mike McDaniel said
it best potential for the best year he's ever had
in pro football. I see it the same way. Well,
he's only had two of those. I guess the first
one was really good, so the best one would be
really good. What do you think about Lad mccaukey. Does
this throw you off? Mit all, we're already seeing a
dip in case you were wondering.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, I agree with both you and Mike McDaniel, two
very smart men about Lad mccacky. I do think that
this would be a great match for the player to
really pop off soft tissue injuries. Though they're not nothing,
it is a bummer, Like you said that, it's just
kind of popped up out of nowhere. Now, if this
(05:57):
causes a dip where he's gonna fall into the fifth
and sixth round, you know, perpetually, then I'm good with that.
I would like to get more shares of him because
I do think he's going to be a focal point
and be very creatively used. But I'm keeping an eye
on this into training camp. If stuff keeps popping up
throughout training camp, this is an injury that can reappear
(06:19):
magically throughout the season, and I don't want to be
on the receiving end of, you know, him continually leaving
games earlier or something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
That's such a great point with the soft tissue stuff.
Something I have a lot of experience following with baseball,
And what I would advise people is this, aside from
like a true setback where it's a real reaggravation and
they're reassessing if they extend the timeline, don't look at
it as a bad thing. Look at that as a
good thing. Like you mentioned, if you get a full rehab,
(06:49):
it won't get reinjured. A lot of the reaggravation comes
from hurrying back too soon. Now, because I tweeted it
out and my football stuff is not that popular, I'm
going to put it on another platform. I was really
into Lad McConkie. I put Lad McConkie. I started out
high in him last year, but after they brought in
Keenan Allen, I hit the eject button. I'm back. The
career numbers to this age are still really great. A
(07:12):
strong combo of volume and efficiency. This is career numbers.
Six point eight targets a game, twenty one percent target
per route run, one point eight six yards per run.
Those are elite numbers. But I put also four plus ceiling.
He runs twenty two slot routes a game, almost five
slot targets, and more than a half of an end
zone target per game. Those are career numbers. So I
(07:33):
just want to put that out there if people are
dinging him for the stuff last year. Again, I think
there was target cump. There's also some injury stuff and
then the offensive line problems. So unfortunately you said round
five or six, that's that's not happening Jake. But he
has fallen. He has fallen past Za Flowers and Ameca
Abuka and now McConkie's making for an interesting, like three
(07:56):
to four turnplayer, which I think opens the door if
you're drafting those running backs early. So keep an eye
on McConkie. I think you brought up the most important
point is just make sure that there isn't another injury
next player. R J. Harvey had offseason surgery. Man, I
wish we knew about these things for torn liebram I
(08:18):
don't like that. That's like the Bucky Irving thing in
the shoulder. This happened versus New England very late. Right,
So now they're saying he had a really good offseason
and he's a full go. I'm doing air quotes per
Sean Payton. I worry about this. The marker was already
kind of punishing him adp. Eighty five. I was just
beginning to get interested. How are you handling Harvey or
(08:40):
if not, the Denver backfield in general.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I will absolutely grab some Joonah Coleman late in my drafts,
that rookie that they just added, because I think I thought,
even coming into the season into the NFL, regardless of
which team he landed with, he has three down potential.
He can be that guy. He can be that guy
in Denver as well, if Peyton ever stops trying to
outsmart himself. But I don't know if we'll get there.
(09:06):
So Dobbins, we know his injury history. I mean, out
of one hundred and one possible games he could have
played in his career since twenty twenty, he's only played
forty seven. So John, I don't know. You know, if
the over under his set at nine and a half
healthy games played this year for Dobbins, I'm more comfortable
taking the under at this point.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
R J.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Harvey for his sake. I mean, I don't know. He
didn't become this magical joker type of player that Peyton
is obsessed with finding, you know, that hybrid kind of
running back or tight end. Harvey wasn't that. He was
just thrown into the mix because of Dobbin's injury last year.
So I don't know. This this injury stuff with both
(09:46):
Dobbins and Harvey, it really has me taken a hard
look at Coleman.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah. I think that's a great point. A lot of
times this is like the anti move thing I was
talking about earlier in the offseason, where let's say, situation
confuses you, or you say, like the red and Stibi Horse, No, sir,
I don't like it. There might be another window open,
right Like, just because you don't like where you know
Harvey's going and Dobbins worries you. Both of those things
(10:14):
are true for me. Doesn't mean you have to be
out totally. Sometimes, you know, when the door closes, the
window opens. I love that Coleman pick. He's going outside
of the top one fifty, and I think it's even
worth consideration in a redraft. Right again, I'm trying to
wear both those best ball and redraft hats. I liked
it even as a very late redraft pick. I think
(10:34):
he'll fall into redrafts also because one news blurb, one setback,
and all of a sudden that third wheel could be
a secondary player behind somebody that were handicapping for single
digit A meta games. You know, So there's absolutely some
potential value there. Last news and no, we'll do this
one quickly. I don't know how much impact it's gonna have,
(10:56):
but we're staying in the Mile High City for this one.
Denver signed UFL Offensive Player of the Year Hackeen Butler.
I was like, man, I remember that name, and I
saw one of the blurbs Dake NFL veteran. I was like, man,
I was digging and digging and digging. I had to
go all the way back to the twenty twenty Philadelphia Eagles.
(11:16):
Two targets, no catches, so he didn't actually get the
finished box score. The thing with this is and they're
excited about him. Of course, this wide receiver room is
why I brought this up. We were already a little confused.
It was a bit murky, right bringing in Waddle. The Franklin, Bryant,
Mims and Humphrey room already felt a little bit crowded.
(11:39):
Even Humphrey got some love last year. Does this move
you off of your Pat Bryant love, which I don't
think was misplaced? I think was a really great take.
Are you worried at all? Or I'm telling you Brian's
gonna fall half around? Are you just buying it?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I mean I was worried for Pat Bryant simply with
the addition of Jalen Waddle and not knowing how much
he was going to be out there this year. I
think Pat Bryan is still the part of the succession
plan for Courtland Sutton, who's getting up there in age.
So Dynasty believers in Pat Bryant, I am holding strong.
I'm not moving off of him for Dynasty for this year.
(12:15):
I still don't care about Hakeem the Dream Butler showing
up for training camp because Butler is the definition of
a camp body to me. He has bounced back and
forth from the UFL to NFL practice squads so many
times the last few years, and they even tried converting
him to tight end like you were talking about when
he was in Philly. That was what they tried to
(12:35):
force him to be. There was this makeshift tight end.
To me, this is a big nothing burger. If it
does force Jalen Waddle down the board a little bit,
I'll be happy because of that, or even Courtland Sutton.
I'll still get plenty of both of those guys.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, I love that. I don't I don't know much
about the UFL, so I just you know, kind of
went and Dug who go, Wow, offensive player of the year.
And sometimes this happens in lower competition college leagues, right
we here about my mother the most productive player, Tyson
Pagent was like that. If I'm not mistaken, guys that
put up these cartoonish right numbers. Again, I'm not a
(13:11):
prospect there, So I was. I was ready for like, wow,
I wonder, I wonder how crazy this was. Butler just
turned thirty. He had nine games for thirty twenty nine
catches excuse me, six forty one and three. So I
don't know, that's like seventy one yards game. I mean,
not necessarily crazy. Again, I was just had the antenna
up because it was a situation I was worried about,
(13:33):
and I didn't like the idea of bringing talent, like
stop bringing in competition into rooms where we're looking for clarity, right,
I'm looking for clarity and they're bringing in the cumulo
clouds or whatever. All right, So that's it for the
news and notes. I know we didn't finish on the
most exciting one. Let me just shuffle of paper really quick,
Jake and I want to dive back into these pass
catchers and the seizing ending injuries. All right, we're back
(13:57):
with some wide receivers. I'm doing the audible side because
sometimes I type audible sigh, because this is how I
felt about Molik Neighbors when he went down. I was
really high in it. We saw the immediate impact of
a target hog and one of the first and few
people to ever remind me of Megatron out there. Now,
(14:17):
his ADP is dropped with the bad news he's down,
but it's still EDP thirty two. So I wanted to
leave with that because you're still paying kind of a premium. Okay,
he tours acl but plus the meniscus in the right knee.
He's now at a second surgery because they needed a
scar tissue cleanup. The Giants have been a little bit
vague about the timeline. We don't like that the goal.
(14:37):
The stated goal is training camp maybe week one, but
now they're saying could be wishful thinking and he could
miss the first few weeks. Then you have ramp up
like you're ready for contact. I have found myself very
sadly off of Meleak Neighbors, who I love. I have
yet to see him in the fourth if we get there,
(15:02):
like where the number starts with a four, right pick
forty or worse. Maybe I'm clicking in best ball in redraft,
you think you're behind the ePol immediately, Maybe you could
clean up that mess later in drafts. Chake talk to
us about Malik Neighbors. So I don't think the town
is a question at all. But is the you know,
is the juice worth the squeeze? I guess something to ask.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, Johnny tores ACL all the way back in week four,
so you would think by now, you know, we've gotten
much more rosy and optimistic reports of guys who tore
their ACL is much later than that last season. So
the fact that we're not and teams loved I mean
they can't wait to put out an optimistic report about
these types of players. So the fact that they're very
(15:43):
much Hemming and Halley has me super nervous. I think
I see some shades of Terry McLaurin in twenty twenty five,
albeit for different reasons. Terry McLaurin was holding out last year,
and that was a concern to me, because if you're
not out there practicing, as training camp goes on and
as we get close to the season, stuff can happen.
(16:03):
You either show up rusty or there's cause that you
will have a slow start in some form. So I'm
not worried about the whole you know, charity softball game gait,
you know, when he was running to first base, and
I know there is a lot made of that. That
didn't scare me. But the fact that these guys won't
just come out and say, yeah, week one, he's definitely
(16:24):
good for week one. We're still getting maybe's about that.
So I don't even think in round four I'm gonna
be on him. John maybe round five, But it puts
too much stress on the rest of your draft to
have a guy like this kind of leading your lineup.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, and you know, you're back waiting that value and
that first second third pick is supposed to carry you.
So ya, I'm with you. I don't like to invite
the injuries. It's that reaggravation. That's second procedure, right. Anytime
you have to reinvade the body, you reset a lot
of clocks and well then open yourself up for like
(16:58):
infections and stuff. Also, to me, it's a disaster. I'm
kind of out which man really thinks. I don't think
he's gonna get far enough for either one of us
to take it. So I guess it is indeed Braxton
Burial season. He said it, everyone, not me. Next up
is the most has got to be the most prevalent
and time consuming argument going on in the fantasy industry
(17:22):
right now. So the macro is Jaguars wide receiver room.
The microre we're going to talk about now is Travis Hunter. Right.
We had the torn lcl in the right knee, so
he had surgery in mid November. Okay, he was breaking out.
I think it was the international game. I'm not mistaken,
but regardless, it was week seven year, it was week
(17:44):
seven in London. Okay, they're expecting him back as a
full time cornerback and a part time wide receiver. This
is what they're saying, not me. The recovery time does
put him on track. Now again, Liam Cohen with all
this optimism like you mentioned, which I don't necessarily buy,
but they do like to put that out there, which
I do think is especially bearish for neighbors. So the
(18:07):
saying he's gotten stronger on all this stuff, but that
last game is the focus, right. It's the value of
the slot role in the Liam Cohne offense, which we
saw manifest down the stretch. Parker Washington, he's going very
early in that game where Hunter went bananas, mister Trubbridge,
(18:28):
twelve of the fourteen targets, fourteen targets, twelve of them
were in the slot, and all of the production all
eight for one oh one and one were all from
the slot. Man this you could see where this goes.
Travis Hunter is a extremely undervalue ADP one thirty eight.
This guy could be a wide receiver one or Parker
(18:49):
Washington is the guy. Now, I don't know what to do.
I've been trying to just take Jaguar wide receivers wherever
they fall. I'm not ending brought back Jacobe Myers. This
might be the most talent to pass catch a room
in the league. Can you bring any clarity to us
at all? I'm just gonna leave it open to talk
Jaguars wide receivers.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
No, I can't bring any clarity in this situation, John,
as much as I would love to, I've been doing
a similar thing of just I will try to still
keep my optimism up for Parker Washington because I believe
in the talent, and there used to be a time
that a guy could break out in the third year
(19:27):
and we were all just comfortable going, Hey, he broke out.
He can probably continue to be that good, especially as
it happens towards the latter part of the season instead
of the inverse. So I'm still good with Parker Washington.
I think what I'm struggling with John is you're never
gonna sell me that the team wants to use Travis
Hunter heavily on both sides of the ball, especially after
(19:50):
he tore his LCL and missed most of the season,
not saying that that was all because of how much
they were trying to use him or overuse him. But
you wouldn't do that to a guy coming off of
that injury, especially because to me, they have more of
a need at cornerback on defense than they do it
wide receiver. You said it, there's plenty of talented guys here,
(20:11):
Brian Thomas Junior. I refuse to believe that. You know,
his talent just evaporated last year. I think he can
still get that connection back. I like Jacobe Meyers fine,
I like Brenton Strange their tight end. Frankly, so, I
think Hunter is fine as a late round Best Ball option,
not in any lineup where I or any league where
I have to set a lineup. Am I investing in
(20:33):
Travis Hunter though, because I don't know which games they're
going to try to shoe him horn him in to
the offense versus when he's gonna take a back seat
and play defense. But in Best Ball on fine, the
other guys all just kind of, you know, every other
draft sort of thing. Pick a different guy.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you one hundred percent there,
and I would even shrink it down even more. I'm
only drafting Hunter in Best Ball or non lineup setting
formats where I already have Trevor Lawrence. I want that connection.
I think they have to go off together in those games.
I'm not even I don't even think I'm interested in
the frequency of the boom and bust as constituted. Again,
(21:08):
right now, I'm penciling him in as a cornerback. There's
a and not just enough talent they have, like the
diversity of talent, it's actually a perfectly set out, like
compartmentalized room. If you ask me, Brian Thomas can really
play deep, and Myers is much better short and intermediate.
(21:28):
He's always been a target earner, never gonna take the
top off. But you don't name a guy that you
feel more confident to get your five point fifty one
in one. Jacoby Myers is your guy. And then again
Washington in that number three role. He didn't just excel
right Jake, he went He went off in those games,
and they were in high leverage spots, playoff games. I
(21:50):
don't know how you can get away from Washington in
that spot. And again because I've been such a park
Washington bull. Remember what Godwin looked like in that sing
exactly before he got hurt, before Cohen left Tampa. Godwin
was like he was easily a wide receiver one he
might have been a top five overall wide out. So
and see how I mentioned like the role, but that
(22:12):
also if something were to happen to Washington, I don't
like to put injuries out there. Let's see it hits
the lottery and decides to, you know, go on a
mindfulness meditation retreat. How good for it, man, You know
that opportunity if it goes to Hunter. Right, if they say, oh, Man,
that slot role belongs to Hunter, that all of a
sudden he his value to skyrocket. So we want a
(22:33):
piece of the jaguars. It just like you said, it's
gonna be hard to find. I've been trying to go
with value, all right, tight ends. Next let's go to
tucker Craft. Enough out of me ADP eighty two. They're saying,
our man is healthy. Another ACL timeline. He's had a
little bit more time also, not as much as neighbors,
but he hasn't had the reaggravation. Talk to us about
Tucker Craft and cheese.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
I mean John at first, blush, You go, geez, you know,
I expected a guy who tore his ACL to have
somewhat of a discount, and you look at where he's
going in ADP. You don't really see that You know
he's still very much in the top five I think
across pretty much all platforms at this point. And then
I think about it more and I go, well, maybe
actually this is the discount because he's not tight end two,
(23:15):
tight end three, even tight end four. In most cases,
I think he's mostly tight end five. But Tucker Craft
was tied for the overall tight end one spot in
points per game through the first eight weeks of last season,
and his underlying stats were all incredible. John. I know
you're a big stats guy. Let me just give you
a couple of my favorites here as the Packer fan
(23:36):
because it just warms my cheesy little heart. But among
all pass catchers, not even just tight ends, John, but
all pass catchers, Tucker Craft ranked fifth in yards per target,
seventh in yards per reception, second in yards after the
catch per reception, fourth and broken tackle rate, and second
in passer rating when targeted. Again, not just for tight ends,
(23:59):
all pass catch This dude is a beast. So if
they're saying that they project him to really be on
track to get out there week one, even if he
doesn't look amazing in week one, by week three, week four,
this is the league winner.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Type of guy.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I think I'm okay taking him where he is going
in drafts right now. I just hope he doesn't shoot
up too much further.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I guess John Oh I was waiting for the player
that we were both so into. You got all of it.
I love that I had some tight end stuff that
I thought was kind of sexy. You really won uped
it right there and went full on pass catcher, and
that speaks to the talent level. You know, he was
on pace for one thousand yards double digit tight ends
through that week eight when he got hurt, just under
(24:42):
six targets a game, twenty two percent target per route run,
almost two and a half yards per outrun. It was
two point four to nine. So I'm just there, that's elite,
elite stuff. And the ten point eight YAK perception led
all tight ends, not only get elite all tight ends.
The next one Greg Dolcich at seven point seven. I
(25:02):
mean that's an order of magnitude, multiple orders of magnitude
better than the field. Craft can win in line, win short,
shake the tackle, and then break out. He can also
win in the scene. He is grounkish In and if
you ask me, he is so excellent. He also reminds
(25:23):
me of this is a little bit of a throwback.
He reminds me of a little bit of Dallas Clark
in the scene, because that's one of the great tight
end scene throws. Now when Peyton Manning has a lot
to do with that. But when I think of like
the stereotypical, prototypical tight end seam route, it was Clark
and just get that high throw, whether titand can reach
(25:43):
up to pull it in in stride and he's out.
You know, he's out. I don't like We've mentioned this
before a couple of weeks ago. I don't like the
tight ends, a catch and fall. I've never been the
Ertz guy. That's not my thing. I want a guy
again that can shake the shoulders and get out into
spacecraft is absolutely guy. And you know they move away
from Romeo Dubbs, you move away from Don Tavian Wicks.
(26:05):
There are plenty, plenty of short and intermediate targets open.
And then one last stat Tucker Craft no reason to
not believe him. They was recorded at twenty one and
a half miles per hour on the practice field, which
is top speed. Right, It's not just his top speed
it's an elite top speed and it's you know, one
(26:26):
hundred percent healed. If that's the number that we're going by,
So I am super excited. And just to addresser appointment,
the price, Yes, correct, he's tightened five, but it's picky too,
so you aren't getting it. You know, it's even by ADP.
It's a top five EDP, but you didn't really have
to reach up for him. Next guy is a player
that I know that you like, but I'm curious how
(26:47):
you're handling it now because George Kittle, his price is
moving up now, it's not skyrocketing, but he's now up
to pick one point sixteen. He tore his right achilles
in the playoffs, so we haven't had a lot of time.
That was January eleventh. They're saying he's remarkably ahead of schedule.
Talk about injury optimism. He's jogging and doing single leg hops.
(27:08):
Oh my goodness. They're targeting a week one return in Australia,
which man, I don't know that role again, I mentioned
role is very valuable. The tight end role in the
Shannan offense. Tongus was the tight end nine that stretched
between week two and six more than six targets a game.
Are you into Kittle? Are you kind of buying a dip?
You're viewing this as a dip? How you going about
(27:30):
which you don't about the guy that's easily gonna project
as a top five to ten and when he's healthy.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, when healthy, of course, is the key words with
all these guys, but John the least surprising words in
the English dictionary. George Kittle is pushing to play despite
his injury. That is literally all that the guy does.
If it was anybody else and they were coming out
with all of these narratives that, yeah, he's on target,
he's really pushing for it. Yeah, that's what everybody says.
(27:56):
Not a lot of guys actually follow through the way
that Kittle does so. And the fact that his surgeon
back when this first happened in January was calling the terror,
you know, a best case scenario because it was so
high up on the appendage. And as we've mentioned, we're
not doctors, but that sounds good. I like the sound
of that. I think I am pretty comfortable taking the
(28:17):
injury discount in redraft and in best ball leagues because,
as you said it, that's such a vital role Mike
Evans obviously new to the team. He's getting up there
in age. Hopefully he stays healthy as well, but he
carries some injury risks. Ricky Parsol has carried some injury
risks recently, So everybody on the team, even CMC at
(28:39):
his advanced age of barely thirty or whatever it is,
they all kind of have some question marks. So I'm
fine dipping into Kittle, And honestly, his values probably too
deflated in Dynasty as well, because when Kittle's on the field,
he just produces so much fantasy goodness and it's such
a fickle position in Dynasty. I'd rather pay, you know,
(29:00):
a more modest price for somebody like Kittle who's older
and injured. But I'd rather pay that than one of
these younger, very questionable guys who tend to be valued
ahead just because they're younger.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yeah, it's not a bad point. I mean, if you
get boxed out on one of the earlier tight ends,
let's say you had your heart set on Warren or
the drop back to Craft, the Craft doesn't make it
to the eighties and he's gone in the seventies, and
you find yourself in that gap. All of a sudden,
Kittle becomes pretty attractive. A lot of these players outside
pick one hundred and ten everyone are gonna get dropped
(29:33):
or injured or stink or a combination of all of them.
So you want to play for the guys that can
move the needle, and Kittle is certainly one of those players.
I mean, he's on the shorter list, shortest list. A
should say have players at the tight end position that
you'd roll out as a flex player, right, I mean
he could be in every week flex player. You'd probably
be fine with that because he can get your ards
after the catch and he's always involved in the red
(29:55):
zone and stuff. So yeah, I think you're right. I'm
not targeting it. We are f hitting that point where
I'm gonna be out because now it's a starting tight end.
Before we get out of here, I do have one
last question, because this is a question I've been asking myself.
How about George Kittle versus Mark Andrews. Andrews they move
away from likely, I feel like there's more of a
target share. He's not as old as we think he is.
(30:16):
Everyone is healthy, The Ravens are good, and that's why
I have my draft in Kittle. It's not so much
anti Kittle, it's you have to take him over Mark Andrews.
How do you deal with that? One v one before
we go.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Jake, I do love me some Mark Andrews, and I've
been in on Mark Andrews since I'm way back in
like March, and it just feels rude that everybody's starting
to come around on this guy. Now, you know, shame
on us for talking so highly of Mark Andrews. Sure
it was only us that that caused his anti beta climb, uh,
(30:48):
But yes, I like splitting splitting the difference with tight
ends in general. We've talked a lot about waiting at
tight end because it feels so deep. But there are
times where I just go, I've did late at tight
end and it's burned me. So maybe I just do
the thing that I don't usually do, which is take
the solid, quote unquote reliable guy in George Kittle. So
(31:10):
do you answer your question? I'm just splitting it up,
but I do love Andrews.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, I hear, and I think that's the question. Maybe
it depends on the format or who else is there.
If you could even double tap them, I think that's
a great commination for a best ball season. You have
your early hit with Andrews, and then you hope to
back it up with Kittle, and then again a guy
that could be a filler at the flex man Jake,
that will do it. This show just goes so fast, man,
have such a great time talking, and we'll be back
(31:35):
next week, you know, talking news and notes, and we're
gonna keep hacking away at the Redwood until the big
tree full hard. So from John and Jake, we appreciate
everybody listening. Enjoy your weekend. And that's it from Fantasy
Football Weekly. Take care of ye
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