July 19, 2024 • 30 mins
Thor Nystrom blows Charch's mind with the deepest rookie sleepers you'll hear anywhere. Plus, he identifies three highly-drafted rookies he doesn't trust.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
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 decided to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargian.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hey, everybody, welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I'm Paul Jarchie
and my co host is Thor Nice from back to
back shows. Yeah, yeah, baby, thank you for taking a
break from college football twenty four.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's obsessive, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Yeah, I had to break away just for a bit,
just so we can talk about some some deep, deep,
deep deep sleepers here for fantasy football.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, and that's the main topic today. Last week we
gave you just regular deep sleepers, guys that are being
drafted in you know, like the twenties and thirties and
forties of Dynasty Rookie Drive. Now we're gonna talk about
guys who are going basically undrafted in fantasy in dynasty drafts.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This is the sicko episode of Fantasy Football.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's really is we're talking to We're talking to you
or and four. I mean, it's this they're very you're
gonna give us guys. I don't know any of these guys,
and I'm not embarrassed to say that. I mean, I
follow this awfully closely. These are guys I don't know
and I haven't spent time with. And these are also
guys who are undrafted in the NFL draft.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
YEP.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So now we're really we're really diving deep onto the
stuff that only somebody like Thorne Eistrom knows.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We sure are, but people out there keep in mind,
twenty to twenty five percent every single season in the
NFL percentage of snaps are given to undrafted players. The
undrafted free ency gives the NFL more value than the
sixth and seventh round combined, and you can toss a
lot of the fifth round in there as well. And
we also get u fantasy contributors that were undrafted free agents,
(02:01):
sometimes even earlier on in their career. But we're going
to try to shoot the moon here and unearth a
couple guys or points you to folks out there, points
you with guys who are deeper dynasty formats could end
up providing you value.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And once we've given out these super deep sleepers, I
want you to hit on some of the more household
name rookies that you do not like, that you think
are being overdrafted based on their ADP. So these are
people who the listeners will know and we can help
them avoid it, both in redraft.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And in the Dynasty.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Okay, sounds great.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
By the way, you bought.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
A PS five just to play one game?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Of course, Yeah, it's it's the only one that matter.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Your investment into this game. Yes, is the cost of
the console like four dollars. I don't know if you
bought another controller or not.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
They're not cheap. That's like seventy bucks. Then you got
to buy the game and you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Got the early release edition of the game, so that
was like seventy bucks.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
I mean, so you're all you're in on this one game,
be like five hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
The thing is is EA could attacked another zero onto
the price. Yeah, and it coincided with JJ McCarthy playing
for the Viking. So I bought Madden for the first time, and.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Like, how about that? Alright, you got you got the
two pack exactly. Yeah, how about that?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Got to build him up into a Super Bowl winner.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Somebody's got to wait my whole life for that man.
All right, let's let's go with your first of the
deep sleepers to talk about running back Blake Watson currently
going off the board at Dynasty rookie draft.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Spot sixty five.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Who is he and where does he play?
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Blake Watson running back for the Broncos. A guy who
his entire career it was Starcross and Sink Benton. He
was a wide receiver earlier in his career at Old Dominion,
probably miscast there, did end up shifting two running back,
That's where he ended up taking off. But Old Dominion
was one of the few programs in the NCAA that
canceled their twenty twenty season due to covid. Okay, because
(03:59):
of that and because of the position change, he ends
up starting later where we starts to jump up and
start to produce there. But once he got to running back,
that's exactly what he did. Was impressive at Old Dominion
as a running back and certainly brings the receiving chops
as well, and then last season ends up transferring up
to Memphis, one of our better G five programs, proved
(04:21):
the concept again had an enormous season, but the NFL,
perhaps because of this ended up not inviting him to
the combine, which destroyed his chances of getting drafted. I
thought Blake Watson was probably the biggest snub of anyone there,
and there was running backs who got drafted that are
not as good as Blake Watson. Then you think about
the situation he's in now with Denver. Last week's episode,
(04:43):
we talked about Odrick estime with regards to this, just
because of the room that's there and Sean Payton's seeming
to not like Javonte Williams, So there's gonna be opportunities
even for running backs beyond Julia McLaughlin a guy that
we both like. Blake Watson's a guy to keep an
eye on. And with Sean Payton, you know Sean Payton.
I don't love Sean Payton, but as you know some
(05:05):
of the history with Minnesota and what have you. But
one thing you can say for him, he is going
to play the best prospect, the best player on his
team at any given position, and he doesn't care about
the undrafted. Thing is Julia McLaughlin could tell you, yeah,
Blake Watson could compete there very early on and end
up getting on the field. But even if he's on
practice squad year one, I think he's a guy twenty
(05:25):
twenty five to take.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
A look at all, right, So that's a long term
sleeper potentially in Denver. If Williams doesn't turn doesn't play
a lot better than last year, that he may not
be on the roster next season. It wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Let's go to running back Cody Schrader or Schrader. Cody
Schrader currently going completely undrafted in fantasy leagues. He doesn't
even have an ADP that appears. Who is he and
where does he play?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So Schrader comes out of Missouri, where last year he
blew up. The production went way up as Missouri as
a team ended up making a BCS ball game and
beat in Ohio State, and Trader was extremely impressive in
that game. He also had an impressive pre draft process
as far as at the All Star events, showed at
the Senior Bowl that he can catch the ball. Was
not used as much with that in the Missouri offense
(06:14):
because they have Luther Burden, the third who next year
is going to be a top ten pick, and a
couple other stud receivers there as well, so they weren't
thrown as much to the running back, but Schrader proved
that he could do that. Here's the thing with Schrader
in his current situation with the San Francisco forty nine ers.
Of course you have Christian McCaffrey, but thinking about the
plans behind McCaffrey going forward, Jordan Mason and Elijah Mitchell
(06:34):
are both free agents after this coming season. Patrick Taylor
has no guaranteed money. So that's three of the running
backs on the roster. The other two are Schrader and
then Isaac Garndo, who the forty nine Ers took basically
based on his measurables. Girndo's a big guy, runs fast.
He doesn't play with the agility that he tested with,
but he ended up testing like a banshee, you know.
(06:55):
Including that. But all Schrader has to do to get
behind mccaffre and the pecking order going forward is to
bypass Girndo this year. I think that there's a shot
of that. Girndo reminds me a ton of this is
going to be a blast from the pass for people
out there. You remember Kylen Bilage, Oh yeah, yeah, of course,
Kylen Blage had all the physical ability in the world,
(07:15):
and he could also catch the ball. But as I
said about him coming out in his draft class, he
ran as though he was mister Magoo, or ran like
he had drunk goggles on. You constantly see him running
into the back guys of his offensive lineman or running
without tempo. Think about the system that they have in
San Francisco, the zone blocking. You have to read the blocks,
you have to run with tempo and patients behind them,
(07:38):
and then when you get your moment, you have to
seize that with the cut, get into the hole, and
then get up field. Schrader is awesome at running the concepts,
the patients, the field, the vision. Some of these things
that we couldn't test for at the combine didn't test
as athletic two hundred two pounds thirty second percentile athlete. Obviously,
that's why Schrader did not get drafted despite the good
twenty twenty three season that he had. But here's the
(07:59):
thing Schrader played in his own heavy scheme at Missouri
that accentuated that vision, tempo, and his one cut oomph.
He can run through arm tackles and off angle attempts
and again all he has to do is be better
than Gorenda. Grendo is the boomer Bus guy. Strader way
lower ceiling, but very very reliable in that Shanahan system.
I think he's a guy that could potentially surprise. Have
(08:20):
you been breaking down Holy Cross football a little bit?
A little bit Jalen Cocher, Yeah, there's a little bit
of steam here. He's the only guy in this list
that I had some familiarity with prior. He lands in
a favorable spot in Carolina wide receiver where Adam Thielen
(08:41):
is at the end of a really nice career. Jalen
Coker might be in a spot by this time next year,
potentially a starter. Keep your eye on Jalen Coker in
camp if he impresses and ends up making that roster.
He's a guy who could get onto the field pretty quickly.
The depth chart behind the starters there Jonathan Mingo, who
(09:02):
is a disappointment as a rookie. He's wide receiver four,
and then it's just pure flotsam, and you could probably
even toss Mingo in with the flatsam. As far as
Coker goes eighty fifth percentile athlete at six one and
a half two hundred and eight pounds. I comped him
to David Terrell, the old Michigan wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh yeah, we thought we thought he was going to
be really good. Went to the Bears early, yes, and
never really panned out.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Never really got there. But you know, in another world
where another reality where maybe.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Tria the Bears have a quarterback who can pass that
as well.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Yeah, but where he's not miscast Terrell as a guy
who had to be your wide receiver, one where he
could have been a wide receiver, two possession guy. I
think that would have behooved him a lot better. That's
what I see of Jalen Coker. A guy that's going
to be a solid possession receiver. The thing he lacks
is the downtown wheels, but he is very springy and explosive.
Get this, So Coker ran in the mid to higher
(09:53):
four fives, but he posted the same ten yard split
on that run as Ady Mitchell did on his running
in the four threes. Okay, so Coker gets off the
line very fast. He obviously has strength as well. And
then the thing I love most about him is his
ball skills. He doesn't drop anything. He can catch the
ball outside of his frame, catch it in congested quarters.
(10:14):
The other really cool thing that I grab from his tape.
Not many receivers in this class. How many collegiate receivers
have that late hands thing. Yeah, they wait until the
ball is right there descending over the defensive back shoulder
before they.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Put the hands off and extend the hands.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
So the defensive back on the ball exactly, they can't
get their head around. Jalen Coker has the late hands thing.
So you think about the big catch radius, the sure hands,
and that late hand thing. With the guy who can
get off the line and accelerate out with that explosion,
I think he could challenge Jonathan Mingo pretty quick for
that wide receiver four role. And I think he is
going to make the Panthers roster.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
All right, I like it.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
He's currently going off the board in rookie Dynasty drafts
to pick seventy three. All right, this guy's going off
the board pick sixty nine.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Fight end?
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Is it? Dallen Hulker, Yes, all.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Right, incredible.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Hulker like it?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Hulker, all right, where did he play and where is
he now?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Where was it?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Where was he playing college?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
He played at Colorado State In college six three and
a half two forty one sixty first percentile athlete. Colker
got a lion share and enormous share of the Colorado
State offense. People go with Trey McBride, you know, for
years they've done this with the pass catching tight ends.
Holker was another guy off off that sort of conveyor belt.
He's on the smaller side, but you're looking at him
(11:32):
as more of the h back move kind of a
guy in your offense. You can play him in the slot,
you can move him around, you can put him in
the backfield if you want. He is smaller, yes, I'll
get the nagatives out of the way for a smaller
lack speed four seven eight and not terribly explosive. Was
twenty fourth percentile ten yard split. He was also one
of the classes oldest players, so maybe the ceiling a
little a little bit lower, but he's a good route runner,
(11:55):
uh snap maybe not snapping pizzazz, but he augments his
tempo and he has a grab bag of upper body
deeks and stuff he does to keep people off of
his scent. He's also shifty. He is as shifty as
he is not fast. Ninety fourth percentile three cone eighty
third percentile short shuttle these things. When he caught the
ball in the Mountain West, he turned into a broken
(12:16):
tackle machine. He's very fluid converting from a pass catcher
into a runner, doesn't lose much momentum with that, and
gets a field and then he can set people up
to make them miss and run through off angle attempts.
Number two in this tight end class with fifteen broken
tackles force last year. The one other thing I wanted
to mention about him. Last week we were talking about
Roman Wilson, a guy with a smaller frame but huge hands.
(12:37):
Holker is another guy who has a genetic quirk that
wasn't talked about enough that really helps his game and
makes him sort of deceiving as a pass catcher. He
had the longest arms in this entire tight end class
outside of Brevin span Ford, who is essentially a third
offensive tackle. At six seven, two sixty. Those were the
two longest arms of any tight end in this class.
(13:00):
Alan Holker again six three and a half two forty.
He has these really long, long arms and then he
goes out and meets the ball at its at its
earliest point. He can catch balls outside of his frame
which team drafted him, he was who with Hulk Holger? Yeah,
under at the free agent with the Saints.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Saints.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Yeah, and if.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You said that, somehow I missed it.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Okay, sets up a really good scenario for him. Juwan
Johnson recently had foot surgery. We don't exactly know when
he's gonna come back. The team has been a bit
tepid when they're explaining its timeline. Yeah, a bit a
bit vague. Yeah, they're hoping he's back by the end
of camp and then the regular season. It didn't sound
super positive, you know, confident to me when when when
(13:42):
I was listening to it, I think you could confidently
say that Juwan Johnson's availability for camp is now an
open question. Look at the depth behind there they have.
The Saints have nothing, So I think Hulker has a
real I mean, sorry Taysom Hill and but like, wow.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
He's not a true tight end.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Yeah, exact obviously, Yeah, but Holker for an offense that
might be looking to chip away with some of the
efficiency in the passing game, that is what Hulker provides
you short and intermediate. He is going to catch the ball,
He's going to extend out and then he can break
some tackles. I camped him coming out to both Skafeye
You remember him back, Yeah, yeah, yeah, a guy who
you could maybe catch forty to fifty balls at his peak.
(14:19):
They're not going to be way down the field, but
he can be an efficiency guy, not drop the ball,
and then can break some tackles for you moving around
the formation.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
The incredible hulkar Yes, all right with the Saints. Maybe
there's some opportunity there going very very late in fantasy
rookie drafts deep leagues.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Maybe he makes sense. Let's take a break when we
come back, Let's talk about some of the rookies.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
We know that our splashy rookies that are being drafted
in the first two rounds of fantasy rookie drafts that
you don't like and you're recommending people stay away from.
Stay tuned more Thorn Neistrom coming up on Fantasy Football Weekly.
This is the easiest Fantasy football weeks they have ever
recorded for me personally, Thor Yeah, you know you're talking
(15:00):
my guys. I don't know who they are, I don't
know where they got drafted. I'm just kicking back and learning.
Like our listeners now, We're going to talk about three
bust candidates that are going in the first two rounds
of fantasy drafts, one of them going at pick number six.
And you don't like it, tell people who it is,
Savior Worthy?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Oh boy, all right?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
People want Patrick, they want the next Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
This isn't gonna be it, at least.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
For me, not as a rookie. I think he starts
off slower and that I was really surprised when I
saw the adp on Xavier Worthy. Think there's two things
people need to keep in mind here. Number one, Xavior Worthy.
Of course, he broke the comebine record for forty and
he also creates separation where I think it could be
an issue initially with him and Pat Mahomes trusting him
and staying on the field all the time. The drop
issue with Xavier Worthy. Yeah, he's got a real issue
(15:52):
with the drop seas and that was even catching the
ball in the intermediate ranger, even short. Sometimes sometimes he
was wide open, the ball would just clank off his hands.
He doesn't have a very good catch radius as well,
so you have to fit that thing in there, and
then he's not money in the bank. With it and
not as good down the field as you would think
for a guy of his speed, with that speed, yeh,
Texas didn't use him as much with that Right now,
(16:15):
Worthy being projected as a starter in the offense where
it has Hollywood Brown and Raschie Rice as well Sky
Moore around there as well. But the skill sets of
Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown are super superfluous. That was
one guy that Xavier Worthy was comped to ubiquitously come
in during the pre draft process was Hollywood Brown. Hollywood
Brown right now is way more reliable Xavier Worthy, certainly
(16:39):
as a route runner, but also the hands as well.
Pat Mahomes is gonna trust him more, and then the
other concepts. You're going down the field, you're posting up
Rashi Rice for a lot of that stuff, and then
of course you have the pass catching vacuum there as
well at tight end and Travis Kelsey. I don't know
what Worthy what about that profile justifies him being taken
as high as he is right now outside of people
(17:00):
haven't watched his run during the NFL combine, but I
don't think he starts super fast as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
You know, there's a point at which that track star
speed just never seems to translate in the NFL. John Ross,
you know where if most of what you have done
is just been blowing by defenders by running straight, that
ain't gonna work in the NFL. And I my worry,
I'm I worry unworthy is what was he a four
(17:26):
to three? What was his speed?
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Low? Four? Two? Four? Two? Yeah? Right, four right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So I mean you And that's not to say that
he'll never catch, you know, long bombs or whatever, but
you won't know when they're coming. And it just that's
that's that's not a sustainable skill set in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
You have to be able to do all the other.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Stuff that the wide receiver position demands, and typically these
tracks Olympic track star speed guys don't have the rest
of the skill set.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
There's a lot of guys, if you're just talking twenty
twenty four, that I would rather draft rookie at the
same position than than the going forward. If he cleans
up those drops, I think then you're you're cooking with
gas there. But I think that that's down the road
and probably in a reality where Hollywood Brown is no
longer on the team.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Which is He's only on a one year deal, so
you know, Brown is likely somewhere else next year.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Yeah, and so that's where I'm I would be more
valuing Worthy would be a dynasty concept as opposed to
the red draft year one. I just don't think he
is going to meet match expectations.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
To go to wide receiver a d Mitchell.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Draft in the second round by the Colts, another fast,
another speed guy, a d Mitchell. I think they, you know,
they've got Pittman, who's got you know, he gives you
the big body, right and you know, but I think
they what that offense lacked was somebody who can get
under an Anthony richardson long ball.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Yes, and I do think that that is the one
thing that Mitchell provides. He has the four to three speed,
six a little over six to two hundred five pounds and
was a ninety nine point eight percentile athlete.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
That's almost at John hus Smith level, almost exactly.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
But the problem with Mitchell is the physical talent. It
was never matched by his production in college. You go
back to his time at Georgia, Kirby Smart and crew,
who are the best that we have in the spot
down there, They did not seem concerned when Adi Mitchell
walked out the door. Then he signs with Texas last season.
People need to keep in mind he had a very
(19:20):
advantageous situation there with Quinn yew Er is a guy
who can get the ball downfield, an NFL caliber pocket passer.
Then you had Xavier Worthy on the other side. They
had the awesome run game with Jonathan Brooks. It was
difficult for the defense to delineate more coverage resources to
Ady Mitchell and always keep a guy over the top.
And yet he only had the numbers that he had.
He ended up going off, I believe, in three games,
(19:43):
but he finished with thirty five or fewer receiving yards
in half of Texas's games. Seven of the fourteen games
under thirty five receiving yards. I'm sorry he only went
off twice. He had over one hundred and forty yards twice.
And that's because his game, again, it's the long ball. Yeah,
that's all it is. He is a Dave Kingman three
true out. He's either hitting the dinger or he's striking out.
(20:03):
He's going back to the bench. And the other thing
that's frustrating about Ady Mitchell is he doesn't on the
concepts where it's not specifically called for him. You would
see this sometime on his film where the ball is
going the other way. Yeah, he'd loaf off the line.
I don't know how that's going to ingratiate itself there.
What you're bringing him in for is to concern the
defense on the other side. Hopefully bring the safeties back
a little bit, give more spacing for Michael Pittman and
(20:25):
downs there in the intermediate range. But expecting more than
the occasional dinger out of Ady Mitchell. I think is
a fool's Aaron. This is a guy who was disappointed
both the past two schools he went to.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And the thing about these home run guys. And this
might be true Xavier Worthy too, although I like Xavier
Worthy a lot more than Adie Mitchell. Good luck Guesson
the game. When that deep ball is going to connect,
that's it. And when it doesn't, you've got one catch
for fourteen yards and he's murdering He's murdering your weak
single handedly.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
For me, these kind of guys that exist in this
final they're not guys that you want to target in
fantasy drafts. They're guys that you want to monitor week
tweek in DFS.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yes, that's where it's your.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Advantageous you know, those bigger tournaments, that's where you want
to potentially give a shot to him, because, yeah, he
can go off if he gets two or three of those.
In those couple games last year where Ady Mitchell went
off that I was just talking about, he averaged sixteen
point six yards per catch. That's it. If he if
if he's got the dingers there, he's gonna put up
numbers in that one particular game, but it's gonna come
(21:27):
off with three catches. Outside of that, you got to
look elsewhere for your efficiency, and certainly the Colts will.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
All right, So Xavier worthy or nervous about Aidy Mitchell
were worried about? Sorry, Texas fans, Yeah, no kidding, dam right. Yeah.
Then we sort of tipped our hand last week on
this guy. The Patriots drafted two wide receivers. You liked
Javon Baker went in the fourth round. You're not as
keen on Jalen Polk, who went in the second round,
and it's currently going off at pick twenty two in
(21:54):
fantasy drafts.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
Jalen Pol rookie rookie dynas in rookie drafts. Yeah, Jalen
Polk owes money to Jalen McMillan, who was the clear
wide receiver TOWO on Washington team until he got injured
last September. That's when Jalen Polk ended up starting to
get some targets and when he rose up to round
two right when Jalen McMillan came back at the end
of that season, as Washington was surging towards playing in
(22:16):
the National title, Jalen Polk summarily went back onto a
milk carton whenever McMillan was there. Polk was by far
like with distance between it wide receiver three on that team,
but he ends up going a round and a half
ahead of Jalen McMillan, who I believe is the better
football player over the last There was twenty games the
last two seasons at Washington, one of the better offenses.
(22:38):
We had one of the better offensive play callers we
had in Kaylen Debor, who got the Alabama job after
the season. In twenty games last few years, when Jalen
McMillan and Jalen Polk completed full games together at Washington,
McMillan had one hundred and twenty four catches, sixteen hundred
and fifty seven yards, fourteen touchdowns. Polk only had sixty
eight catches twelve hundred and ten and nine. There was
games late in the season again when when McMillan came back,
(23:01):
where Polk didn't do anything. He's being looked at as
a potential outside guy at New England. I don't think
he is an outside guy. I don't think he can
create the separation. He was in the most advantageous situation
of any receiver in college football last year. We're on
the other side of the field. You have to double
Rome every single time, and then you have an NFL
caliber slot who ends up going in Round three in McMillan.
(23:24):
Then you have a top ten quarterback, and you have
potentially the sport's best play caller in Kaylen de Borg.
Polk was only drawing the cornerback two on the other
team and never had the extra coverage sources over there,
so we had to beat two guys to get the ball.
A lot of free releases for him as well. The
guy that they were pressing was Roma Dunese. Off the line,
(23:44):
he got a lot of easy looks for me. He's
more of the thing I like about Polk. I know
I said a lot of negative things. He has very
good hands, and what I always viewed him as was
a taller slot in the NFL. That's an efficiency guy.
That's what I think his ultimate destiny is. One problem
here is Drake May. We talked about this last week.
He loves to go bombs away. Jalen Polk is not
gonna be your bombs away guy. And then the constitution
(24:06):
of New England's roster. They have slot receivers.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, that's one thing. One thing they got everywhere.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Yeah, and so how will that play out? Are you
gonna take Pop Douglas off the field? You're gonna force
Jalen Polpe to be an outside receiver where he can
start getting jammed by some of these better NFL cornerbacks.
He was overdrafted and uh, he's being overdrafted in fantasy
right now.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah. I kind of like I kind of like the
Mario Douglas.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know, he's not bad, He's not a little bad.
He's not a bad little player. The Liberty kid either.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I like him.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
They know they've got kJ Osborne also primarily a slot guy.
I'm I'm I'm feeling you on that. It doesn't feel
like a recipe for fantasy success.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
With Jalen Pole.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
No, but maybe for Javon Baker, but you know what
who you know, and hopefully for Javon Baker. If you
heard last week's show and if you didn't go go
check that out.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I like Drake May. I'm convinced Drake May. You know,
it might not all come together this year. The receiving
I don't think the receiving talent is is quite where
we want it to be yet. But I'm really optimistic
that with the right with the right coaching, right opportunity,
Drake May is gonna be good.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
For fantasy purposes. I would with May year one let
someone else have them. Dynasty Leagues is where you look
at that. I think year one they need to work
through some things with Drake May. But he has that
absolute howitzer, a lot of creativity, like the way he
navigates the pocket. But my favorite thing about his film,
I love it he's in shotgun and then he does
the bicycle backwards when he gets them up, so he
(25:30):
gets another half second or flit second to see the
whole field, whereas usually the quarterback get. I mean, this
is a very subtle thing, but usually the quarterback gets
it and immediately squares the one side. But Drake may
does the bicycle thing. Keep keep all the receivers out there,
the receiving court right now and the rest of the
supporting caster in New England, of course not very good.
But once they're able to flesh that out and get
sort of the basketball team of receivers where we have
(25:52):
this guy who can do this, this guy who can
do that. We got the efficiency guy. I think that's
where potentially Drake may could take off down the line.
Has one of the better arms we see come out
last past couple classes.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
He had to do so much at North Carolina. I
mean he had to be the entire offense. The receivers
weren't very good, the offensive line wasn't very good. He
had to be creative, he had to you know.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
He just I was just and last year the offensive coordinator,
there is a dope really like Yeah, the year before
Drake may was playing with Phil Longo, one of the
better offensive coordinators we have, and allowed Drake Maye to
throw the ball down the field and that's where he
was just singing people. This year this past year in
twenty twenty three, they brought in a dopey guy. There
was the one thing you could say for it is
dopey guys, a little bit dopey. I'm sorry if he's listening.
(26:36):
But there was some more NFL throws there, as far
as like this stuff over the middle, driving the ball
in before the descending defender could get there. Some more
timing stuff, so we got to see some more of that,
but overall was not the most advantageous system certainly did
not give him lay up looks. And then to your
point about the receiving corps, they did have a solid
running back, the offensive line wasn't very good, and the
(26:57):
receiving corps had fallen off a cliff, particularly because they
thought that tes Walker was going to be their wide receiver,
one guy who had transferred up from Kent State the
NCAA and their last act of being punitive Walker, No
you're not playing. This is your second transfer and tes
Walker and UNC spent the first six weeks of the
season fighting the NCAAA. The NCAA did not acquiesce until
(27:21):
I'm told there was a threat of a lawsuit there,
and then all of a sudden the NCAA was like,
oh no, but then you throw this guy into the
offense mid stream right and Walker what he was was
the your nine ball guy right down the field. But
now he had to shake off Russ. You have to
try to get him in there, and you have to
validate his opinion for coming to UNC. It wasn't the
(27:42):
kid's fault that the NCAA had done what they had done,
but all of these different moving pieces, and in that
the passing offense that lack creativity, an offensive line in
front of Drake may where you were getting the pressure
right away. That's where his game devolved a little bit.
I think year one, early on, you work with him
a little bit on a couple of these things, but
down the line he could be a star.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I really optimistic. I'm uh the Patriots. Patriots fans have
had plenty of winning. I feel like they're just released from,
you know, from the Belichick aura of negativity and hostility,
and I just want things to be fresh, new and
fun for the Patriots.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
I do too, And this coming season they're probably I
don't think I'm going out on a lot or being
mean here, but they're probably gonna have a top ten
pick next draft, probably maybe a top five pick and
maybe maybe even.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well, they have the lowest they have the lowest win
total in Vegas at four and a half.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
So if they here's here's what I want. We're talking
about Drake may optimism for the future, how he has
a crappy receiving court. Now there are two gods of
receiving prospects in the next class, Luther Burden coming from
Missouri and then Tetra Easy for me to say McMillan
from Arizona. McMillan is the skyscraper six foot five but
(28:55):
two hundred and ten pounds, about twenty twenty five pounds
less than Mike Evans was. Yeah, McMillan has the biggest
catch radius though you'll ever see, and he catches anything
that you put within that thing. He has highlights where
he'll catch the ball in practice put it through his
legs before his feet hit the ground, so he can
be like trick shots type stuff. If you get one
of those two receivers. Burden for people out there that
(29:18):
haven't seen him, he is analogous to Malik Neighbors from
this past class. But if you could get one of
those guys and add him to Drake May's offense going forward.
That would take a receiving cord that right now, it's
just a bunch of disparate parts of collection and misfit toys.
You put the number one receiver on them right away,
like the Giants did with Neighbors this season. If the
Patriots end up getting burdened or you have the freak
(29:39):
outside guy in McMillan, that would make that receiving course
start to look pretty solid right from the get right
when you submit that card.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Fantastic work today, Thor, that has been a ton of fun.
We will will show caution on Xavier Worthy, Ady Mitchell,
Jalen Polk. Last pick of our drafts. Will look at
Blake Watson, Cody Schrader, Jalen Cocher, and the incredible Hulker.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
Yeah, way down there for the dynasty guys. But I
think that there's one of those guys I think, or
maybe a couple end up surprising in the future. But Church,
I got to get back to playing NCAA football.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I know exactly. We've got bigger priorities here. Talk to
you later, everybody. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargian.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hey, everybody, welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I'm Paul Jarchie
and my co host is Thor Nice from back to
back shows. Yeah, yeah, baby, thank you for taking a
break from college football twenty four.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's obsessive, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Yeah, I had to break away just for a bit,
just so we can talk about some some deep, deep,
deep deep sleepers here for fantasy football.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, and that's the main topic today. Last week we
gave you just regular deep sleepers, guys that are being
drafted in you know, like the twenties and thirties and
forties of Dynasty Rookie Drive. Now we're gonna talk about
guys who are going basically undrafted in fantasy in dynasty drafts.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This is the sicko episode of Fantasy Football.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's really is we're talking to We're talking to you
or and four. I mean, it's this they're very you're
gonna give us guys. I don't know any of these guys,
and I'm not embarrassed to say that. I mean, I
follow this awfully closely. These are guys I don't know
and I haven't spent time with. And these are also
guys who are undrafted in the NFL draft.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
YEP.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So now we're really we're really diving deep onto the
stuff that only somebody like Thorne Eistrom knows.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We sure are, but people out there keep in mind,
twenty to twenty five percent every single season in the
NFL percentage of snaps are given to undrafted players. The
undrafted free ency gives the NFL more value than the
sixth and seventh round combined, and you can toss a
lot of the fifth round in there as well. And
we also get u fantasy contributors that were undrafted free agents,
(02:01):
sometimes even earlier on in their career. But we're going
to try to shoot the moon here and unearth a
couple guys or points you to folks out there, points
you with guys who are deeper dynasty formats could end
up providing you value.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And once we've given out these super deep sleepers, I
want you to hit on some of the more household
name rookies that you do not like, that you think
are being overdrafted based on their ADP. So these are
people who the listeners will know and we can help
them avoid it, both in redraft.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And in the Dynasty.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Okay, sounds great.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
By the way, you bought.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
A PS five just to play one game?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Of course, Yeah, it's it's the only one that matter.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Your investment into this game. Yes, is the cost of
the console like four dollars. I don't know if you
bought another controller or not.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
They're not cheap. That's like seventy bucks. Then you got
to buy the game and you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Got the early release edition of the game, so that
was like seventy bucks.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
I mean, so you're all you're in on this one game,
be like five hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
The thing is is EA could attacked another zero onto
the price. Yeah, and it coincided with JJ McCarthy playing
for the Viking. So I bought Madden for the first time, and.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Like, how about that? Alright, you got you got the
two pack exactly. Yeah, how about that?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Got to build him up into a Super Bowl winner.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Somebody's got to wait my whole life for that man.
All right, let's let's go with your first of the
deep sleepers to talk about running back Blake Watson currently
going off the board at Dynasty rookie draft.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Spot sixty five.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Who is he and where does he play?
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Blake Watson running back for the Broncos. A guy who
his entire career it was Starcross and Sink Benton. He
was a wide receiver earlier in his career at Old Dominion,
probably miscast there, did end up shifting two running back,
That's where he ended up taking off. But Old Dominion
was one of the few programs in the NCAA that
canceled their twenty twenty season due to covid. Okay, because
(03:59):
of that and because of the position change, he ends
up starting later where we starts to jump up and
start to produce there. But once he got to running back,
that's exactly what he did. Was impressive at Old Dominion
as a running back and certainly brings the receiving chops
as well, and then last season ends up transferring up
to Memphis, one of our better G five programs, proved
(04:21):
the concept again had an enormous season, but the NFL,
perhaps because of this ended up not inviting him to
the combine, which destroyed his chances of getting drafted. I
thought Blake Watson was probably the biggest snub of anyone there,
and there was running backs who got drafted that are
not as good as Blake Watson. Then you think about
the situation he's in now with Denver. Last week's episode,
(04:43):
we talked about Odrick estime with regards to this, just
because of the room that's there and Sean Payton's seeming
to not like Javonte Williams, So there's gonna be opportunities
even for running backs beyond Julia McLaughlin a guy that
we both like. Blake Watson's a guy to keep an
eye on. And with Sean Payton, you know Sean Payton.
I don't love Sean Payton, but as you know some
(05:05):
of the history with Minnesota and what have you. But
one thing you can say for him, he is going
to play the best prospect, the best player on his
team at any given position, and he doesn't care about
the undrafted. Thing is Julia McLaughlin could tell you, yeah,
Blake Watson could compete there very early on and end
up getting on the field. But even if he's on
practice squad year one, I think he's a guy twenty
(05:25):
twenty five to take.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
A look at all, right, So that's a long term
sleeper potentially in Denver. If Williams doesn't turn doesn't play
a lot better than last year, that he may not
be on the roster next season. It wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Let's go to running back Cody Schrader or Schrader. Cody
Schrader currently going completely undrafted in fantasy leagues. He doesn't
even have an ADP that appears. Who is he and
where does he play?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So Schrader comes out of Missouri, where last year he
blew up. The production went way up as Missouri as
a team ended up making a BCS ball game and
beat in Ohio State, and Trader was extremely impressive in
that game. He also had an impressive pre draft process
as far as at the All Star events, showed at
the Senior Bowl that he can catch the ball. Was
not used as much with that in the Missouri offense
(06:14):
because they have Luther Burden, the third who next year
is going to be a top ten pick, and a
couple other stud receivers there as well, so they weren't
thrown as much to the running back, but Schrader proved
that he could do that. Here's the thing with Schrader
in his current situation with the San Francisco forty nine ers.
Of course you have Christian McCaffrey, but thinking about the
plans behind McCaffrey going forward, Jordan Mason and Elijah Mitchell
(06:34):
are both free agents after this coming season. Patrick Taylor
has no guaranteed money. So that's three of the running
backs on the roster. The other two are Schrader and
then Isaac Garndo, who the forty nine Ers took basically
based on his measurables. Girndo's a big guy, runs fast.
He doesn't play with the agility that he tested with,
but he ended up testing like a banshee, you know.
(06:55):
Including that. But all Schrader has to do to get
behind mccaffre and the pecking order going forward is to
bypass Girndo this year. I think that there's a shot
of that. Girndo reminds me a ton of this is
going to be a blast from the pass for people
out there. You remember Kylen Bilage, Oh yeah, yeah, of course,
Kylen Blage had all the physical ability in the world,
(07:15):
and he could also catch the ball. But as I
said about him coming out in his draft class, he
ran as though he was mister Magoo, or ran like
he had drunk goggles on. You constantly see him running
into the back guys of his offensive lineman or running
without tempo. Think about the system that they have in
San Francisco, the zone blocking. You have to read the blocks,
you have to run with tempo and patients behind them,
(07:38):
and then when you get your moment, you have to
seize that with the cut, get into the hole, and
then get up field. Schrader is awesome at running the concepts,
the patients, the field, the vision. Some of these things
that we couldn't test for at the combine didn't test
as athletic two hundred two pounds thirty second percentile athlete. Obviously,
that's why Schrader did not get drafted despite the good
twenty twenty three season that he had. But here's the
(07:59):
thing Schrader played in his own heavy scheme at Missouri
that accentuated that vision, tempo, and his one cut oomph.
He can run through arm tackles and off angle attempts
and again all he has to do is be better
than Gorenda. Grendo is the boomer Bus guy. Strader way
lower ceiling, but very very reliable in that Shanahan system.
I think he's a guy that could potentially surprise. Have
(08:20):
you been breaking down Holy Cross football a little bit?
A little bit Jalen Cocher, Yeah, there's a little bit
of steam here. He's the only guy in this list
that I had some familiarity with prior. He lands in
a favorable spot in Carolina wide receiver where Adam Thielen
(08:41):
is at the end of a really nice career. Jalen
Coker might be in a spot by this time next year,
potentially a starter. Keep your eye on Jalen Coker in
camp if he impresses and ends up making that roster.
He's a guy who could get onto the field pretty quickly.
The depth chart behind the starters there Jonathan Mingo, who
(09:02):
is a disappointment as a rookie. He's wide receiver four,
and then it's just pure flotsam, and you could probably
even toss Mingo in with the flatsam. As far as
Coker goes eighty fifth percentile athlete at six one and
a half two hundred and eight pounds. I comped him
to David Terrell, the old Michigan wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh yeah, we thought we thought he was going to
be really good. Went to the Bears early, yes, and
never really panned out.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Never really got there. But you know, in another world
where another reality where maybe.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Tria the Bears have a quarterback who can pass that
as well.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Yeah, but where he's not miscast Terrell as a guy
who had to be your wide receiver, one where he
could have been a wide receiver, two possession guy. I
think that would have behooved him a lot better. That's
what I see of Jalen Coker. A guy that's going
to be a solid possession receiver. The thing he lacks
is the downtown wheels, but he is very springy and explosive.
Get this, So Coker ran in the mid to higher
(09:53):
four fives, but he posted the same ten yard split
on that run as Ady Mitchell did on his running
in the four threes. Okay, so Coker gets off the
line very fast. He obviously has strength as well. And
then the thing I love most about him is his
ball skills. He doesn't drop anything. He can catch the
ball outside of his frame, catch it in congested quarters.
(10:14):
The other really cool thing that I grab from his tape.
Not many receivers in this class. How many collegiate receivers
have that late hands thing. Yeah, they wait until the
ball is right there descending over the defensive back shoulder
before they.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Put the hands off and extend the hands.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
So the defensive back on the ball exactly, they can't
get their head around. Jalen Coker has the late hands thing.
So you think about the big catch radius, the sure hands,
and that late hand thing. With the guy who can
get off the line and accelerate out with that explosion,
I think he could challenge Jonathan Mingo pretty quick for
that wide receiver four role. And I think he is
going to make the Panthers roster.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
All right, I like it.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
He's currently going off the board in rookie Dynasty drafts
to pick seventy three. All right, this guy's going off
the board pick sixty nine.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Fight end?
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Is it? Dallen Hulker, Yes, all.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Right, incredible.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Hulker like it?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Hulker, all right, where did he play and where is
he now?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Where was it?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Where was he playing college?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
He played at Colorado State In college six three and
a half two forty one sixty first percentile athlete. Colker
got a lion share and enormous share of the Colorado
State offense. People go with Trey McBride, you know, for
years they've done this with the pass catching tight ends.
Holker was another guy off off that sort of conveyor belt.
He's on the smaller side, but you're looking at him
(11:32):
as more of the h back move kind of a
guy in your offense. You can play him in the slot,
you can move him around, you can put him in
the backfield if you want. He is smaller, yes, I'll
get the nagatives out of the way for a smaller
lack speed four seven eight and not terribly explosive. Was
twenty fourth percentile ten yard split. He was also one
of the classes oldest players, so maybe the ceiling a
little a little bit lower, but he's a good route runner,
(11:55):
uh snap maybe not snapping pizzazz, but he augments his
tempo and he has a grab bag of upper body
deeks and stuff he does to keep people off of
his scent. He's also shifty. He is as shifty as
he is not fast. Ninety fourth percentile three cone eighty
third percentile short shuttle these things. When he caught the
ball in the Mountain West, he turned into a broken
(12:16):
tackle machine. He's very fluid converting from a pass catcher
into a runner, doesn't lose much momentum with that, and
gets a field and then he can set people up
to make them miss and run through off angle attempts.
Number two in this tight end class with fifteen broken
tackles force last year. The one other thing I wanted
to mention about him. Last week we were talking about
Roman Wilson, a guy with a smaller frame but huge hands.
(12:37):
Holker is another guy who has a genetic quirk that
wasn't talked about enough that really helps his game and
makes him sort of deceiving as a pass catcher. He
had the longest arms in this entire tight end class
outside of Brevin span Ford, who is essentially a third
offensive tackle. At six seven, two sixty. Those were the
two longest arms of any tight end in this class.
(13:00):
Alan Holker again six three and a half two forty.
He has these really long, long arms and then he
goes out and meets the ball at its at its
earliest point. He can catch balls outside of his frame
which team drafted him, he was who with Hulk Holger? Yeah,
under at the free agent with the Saints.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Saints.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Yeah, and if.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You said that, somehow I missed it.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Okay, sets up a really good scenario for him. Juwan
Johnson recently had foot surgery. We don't exactly know when
he's gonna come back. The team has been a bit
tepid when they're explaining its timeline. Yeah, a bit a
bit vague. Yeah, they're hoping he's back by the end
of camp and then the regular season. It didn't sound
super positive, you know, confident to me when when when
(13:42):
I was listening to it, I think you could confidently
say that Juwan Johnson's availability for camp is now an
open question. Look at the depth behind there they have.
The Saints have nothing, So I think Hulker has a
real I mean, sorry Taysom Hill and but like, wow.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
He's not a true tight end.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Yeah, exact obviously, Yeah, but Holker for an offense that
might be looking to chip away with some of the
efficiency in the passing game, that is what Hulker provides
you short and intermediate. He is going to catch the ball,
He's going to extend out and then he can break
some tackles. I camped him coming out to both Skafeye
You remember him back, Yeah, yeah, yeah, a guy who
you could maybe catch forty to fifty balls at his peak.
(14:19):
They're not going to be way down the field, but
he can be an efficiency guy, not drop the ball,
and then can break some tackles for you moving around
the formation.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
The incredible hulkar Yes, all right with the Saints. Maybe
there's some opportunity there going very very late in fantasy
rookie drafts deep leagues.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Maybe he makes sense. Let's take a break when we
come back, Let's talk about some of the rookies.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
We know that our splashy rookies that are being drafted
in the first two rounds of fantasy rookie drafts that
you don't like and you're recommending people stay away from.
Stay tuned more Thorn Neistrom coming up on Fantasy Football Weekly.
This is the easiest Fantasy football weeks they have ever
recorded for me personally, Thor Yeah, you know you're talking
(15:00):
my guys. I don't know who they are, I don't
know where they got drafted. I'm just kicking back and learning.
Like our listeners now, We're going to talk about three
bust candidates that are going in the first two rounds
of fantasy drafts, one of them going at pick number six.
And you don't like it, tell people who it is,
Savior Worthy?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Oh boy, all right?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
People want Patrick, they want the next Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
This isn't gonna be it, at least.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
For me, not as a rookie. I think he starts
off slower and that I was really surprised when I
saw the adp on Xavier Worthy. Think there's two things
people need to keep in mind here. Number one, Xavior Worthy.
Of course, he broke the comebine record for forty and
he also creates separation where I think it could be
an issue initially with him and Pat Mahomes trusting him
and staying on the field all the time. The drop
issue with Xavier Worthy. Yeah, he's got a real issue
(15:52):
with the drop seas and that was even catching the
ball in the intermediate ranger, even short. Sometimes sometimes he
was wide open, the ball would just clank off his hands.
He doesn't have a very good catch radius as well,
so you have to fit that thing in there, and
then he's not money in the bank. With it and
not as good down the field as you would think
for a guy of his speed, with that speed, yeh,
Texas didn't use him as much with that Right now,
(16:15):
Worthy being projected as a starter in the offense where
it has Hollywood Brown and Raschie Rice as well Sky
Moore around there as well. But the skill sets of
Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown are super superfluous. That was
one guy that Xavier Worthy was comped to ubiquitously come
in during the pre draft process was Hollywood Brown. Hollywood
Brown right now is way more reliable Xavier Worthy, certainly
(16:39):
as a route runner, but also the hands as well.
Pat Mahomes is gonna trust him more, and then the
other concepts. You're going down the field, you're posting up
Rashi Rice for a lot of that stuff, and then
of course you have the pass catching vacuum there as
well at tight end and Travis Kelsey. I don't know
what Worthy what about that profile justifies him being taken
as high as he is right now outside of people
(17:00):
haven't watched his run during the NFL combine, but I
don't think he starts super fast as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
You know, there's a point at which that track star
speed just never seems to translate in the NFL. John Ross,
you know where if most of what you have done
is just been blowing by defenders by running straight, that
ain't gonna work in the NFL. And I my worry,
I'm I worry unworthy is what was he a four
(17:26):
to three? What was his speed?
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Low? Four? Two? Four? Two? Yeah? Right, four right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So I mean you And that's not to say that
he'll never catch, you know, long bombs or whatever, but
you won't know when they're coming. And it just that's
that's that's not a sustainable skill set in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
You have to be able to do all the other.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Stuff that the wide receiver position demands, and typically these
tracks Olympic track star speed guys don't have the rest
of the skill set.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
There's a lot of guys, if you're just talking twenty
twenty four, that I would rather draft rookie at the
same position than than the going forward. If he cleans
up those drops, I think then you're you're cooking with
gas there. But I think that that's down the road
and probably in a reality where Hollywood Brown is no
longer on the team.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Which is He's only on a one year deal, so
you know, Brown is likely somewhere else next year.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Yeah, and so that's where I'm I would be more
valuing Worthy would be a dynasty concept as opposed to
the red draft year one. I just don't think he
is going to meet match expectations.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
To go to wide receiver a d Mitchell.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Draft in the second round by the Colts, another fast,
another speed guy, a d Mitchell. I think they, you know,
they've got Pittman, who's got you know, he gives you
the big body, right and you know, but I think
they what that offense lacked was somebody who can get
under an Anthony richardson long ball.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Yes, and I do think that that is the one
thing that Mitchell provides. He has the four to three speed,
six a little over six to two hundred five pounds and
was a ninety nine point eight percentile athlete.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
That's almost at John hus Smith level, almost exactly.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
But the problem with Mitchell is the physical talent. It
was never matched by his production in college. You go
back to his time at Georgia, Kirby Smart and crew,
who are the best that we have in the spot
down there, They did not seem concerned when Adi Mitchell
walked out the door. Then he signs with Texas last season.
People need to keep in mind he had a very
(19:20):
advantageous situation there with Quinn yew Er is a guy
who can get the ball downfield, an NFL caliber pocket passer.
Then you had Xavier Worthy on the other side. They
had the awesome run game with Jonathan Brooks. It was
difficult for the defense to delineate more coverage resources to
Ady Mitchell and always keep a guy over the top.
And yet he only had the numbers that he had.
He ended up going off, I believe, in three games,
(19:43):
but he finished with thirty five or fewer receiving yards
in half of Texas's games. Seven of the fourteen games
under thirty five receiving yards. I'm sorry he only went
off twice. He had over one hundred and forty yards twice.
And that's because his game, again, it's the long ball. Yeah,
that's all it is. He is a Dave Kingman three
true out. He's either hitting the dinger or he's striking out.
(20:03):
He's going back to the bench. And the other thing
that's frustrating about Ady Mitchell is he doesn't on the
concepts where it's not specifically called for him. You would
see this sometime on his film where the ball is
going the other way. Yeah, he'd loaf off the line.
I don't know how that's going to ingratiate itself there.
What you're bringing him in for is to concern the
defense on the other side. Hopefully bring the safeties back
a little bit, give more spacing for Michael Pittman and
(20:25):
downs there in the intermediate range. But expecting more than
the occasional dinger out of Ady Mitchell. I think is
a fool's Aaron. This is a guy who was disappointed
both the past two schools he went to.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And the thing about these home run guys. And this
might be true Xavier Worthy too, although I like Xavier
Worthy a lot more than Adie Mitchell. Good luck Guesson
the game. When that deep ball is going to connect,
that's it. And when it doesn't, you've got one catch
for fourteen yards and he's murdering He's murdering your weak
single handedly.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
For me, these kind of guys that exist in this
final they're not guys that you want to target in
fantasy drafts. They're guys that you want to monitor week
tweek in DFS.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yes, that's where it's your.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Advantageous you know, those bigger tournaments, that's where you want
to potentially give a shot to him, because, yeah, he
can go off if he gets two or three of those.
In those couple games last year where Ady Mitchell went
off that I was just talking about, he averaged sixteen
point six yards per catch. That's it. If he if
if he's got the dingers there, he's gonna put up
numbers in that one particular game, but it's gonna come
(21:27):
off with three catches. Outside of that, you got to
look elsewhere for your efficiency, and certainly the Colts will.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
All right, So Xavier worthy or nervous about Aidy Mitchell
were worried about? Sorry, Texas fans, Yeah, no kidding, dam right. Yeah.
Then we sort of tipped our hand last week on
this guy. The Patriots drafted two wide receivers. You liked
Javon Baker went in the fourth round. You're not as
keen on Jalen Polk, who went in the second round,
and it's currently going off at pick twenty two in
(21:54):
fantasy drafts.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
Jalen Pol rookie rookie dynas in rookie drafts. Yeah, Jalen
Polk owes money to Jalen McMillan, who was the clear
wide receiver TOWO on Washington team until he got injured
last September. That's when Jalen Polk ended up starting to
get some targets and when he rose up to round
two right when Jalen McMillan came back at the end
of that season, as Washington was surging towards playing in
(22:16):
the National title, Jalen Polk summarily went back onto a
milk carton whenever McMillan was there. Polk was by far
like with distance between it wide receiver three on that team,
but he ends up going a round and a half
ahead of Jalen McMillan, who I believe is the better
football player over the last There was twenty games the
last two seasons at Washington, one of the better offenses.
(22:38):
We had one of the better offensive play callers we
had in Kaylen Debor, who got the Alabama job after
the season. In twenty games last few years, when Jalen
McMillan and Jalen Polk completed full games together at Washington,
McMillan had one hundred and twenty four catches, sixteen hundred
and fifty seven yards, fourteen touchdowns. Polk only had sixty
eight catches twelve hundred and ten and nine. There was
games late in the season again when when McMillan came back,
(23:01):
where Polk didn't do anything. He's being looked at as
a potential outside guy at New England. I don't think
he is an outside guy. I don't think he can
create the separation. He was in the most advantageous situation
of any receiver in college football last year. We're on
the other side of the field. You have to double
Rome every single time, and then you have an NFL
caliber slot who ends up going in Round three in McMillan.
(23:24):
Then you have a top ten quarterback, and you have
potentially the sport's best play caller in Kaylen de Borg.
Polk was only drawing the cornerback two on the other
team and never had the extra coverage sources over there,
so we had to beat two guys to get the ball.
A lot of free releases for him as well. The
guy that they were pressing was Roma Dunese. Off the line,
(23:44):
he got a lot of easy looks for me. He's
more of the thing I like about Polk. I know
I said a lot of negative things. He has very
good hands, and what I always viewed him as was
a taller slot in the NFL. That's an efficiency guy.
That's what I think his ultimate destiny is. One problem
here is Drake May. We talked about this last week.
He loves to go bombs away. Jalen Polk is not
gonna be your bombs away guy. And then the constitution
(24:06):
of New England's roster. They have slot receivers.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, that's one thing. One thing they got everywhere.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Yeah, and so how will that play out? Are you
gonna take Pop Douglas off the field? You're gonna force
Jalen Polpe to be an outside receiver where he can
start getting jammed by some of these better NFL cornerbacks.
He was overdrafted and uh, he's being overdrafted in fantasy
right now.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah. I kind of like I kind of like the
Mario Douglas.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know, he's not bad, He's not a little bad.
He's not a bad little player. The Liberty kid either.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I like him.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
They know they've got kJ Osborne also primarily a slot guy.
I'm I'm I'm feeling you on that. It doesn't feel
like a recipe for fantasy success.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
With Jalen Pole.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
No, but maybe for Javon Baker, but you know what
who you know, and hopefully for Javon Baker. If you
heard last week's show and if you didn't go go
check that out.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I like Drake May. I'm convinced Drake May. You know,
it might not all come together this year. The receiving
I don't think the receiving talent is is quite where
we want it to be yet. But I'm really optimistic
that with the right with the right coaching, right opportunity,
Drake May is gonna be good.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
For fantasy purposes. I would with May year one let
someone else have them. Dynasty Leagues is where you look
at that. I think year one they need to work
through some things with Drake May. But he has that
absolute howitzer, a lot of creativity, like the way he
navigates the pocket. But my favorite thing about his film,
I love it he's in shotgun and then he does
the bicycle backwards when he gets them up, so he
(25:30):
gets another half second or flit second to see the
whole field, whereas usually the quarterback get. I mean, this
is a very subtle thing, but usually the quarterback gets
it and immediately squares the one side. But Drake may
does the bicycle thing. Keep keep all the receivers out there,
the receiving court right now and the rest of the
supporting caster in New England, of course not very good.
But once they're able to flesh that out and get
sort of the basketball team of receivers where we have
(25:52):
this guy who can do this, this guy who can
do that. We got the efficiency guy. I think that's
where potentially Drake may could take off down the line.
Has one of the better arms we see come out
last past couple classes.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
He had to do so much at North Carolina. I
mean he had to be the entire offense. The receivers
weren't very good, the offensive line wasn't very good. He
had to be creative, he had to you know.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
He just I was just and last year the offensive coordinator,
there is a dope really like Yeah, the year before
Drake may was playing with Phil Longo, one of the
better offensive coordinators we have, and allowed Drake Maye to
throw the ball down the field and that's where he
was just singing people. This year this past year in
twenty twenty three, they brought in a dopey guy. There
was the one thing you could say for it is
dopey guys, a little bit dopey. I'm sorry if he's listening.
(26:36):
But there was some more NFL throws there, as far
as like this stuff over the middle, driving the ball
in before the descending defender could get there. Some more
timing stuff, so we got to see some more of that,
but overall was not the most advantageous system certainly did
not give him lay up looks. And then to your
point about the receiving corps, they did have a solid
running back, the offensive line wasn't very good, and the
(26:57):
receiving corps had fallen off a cliff, particularly because they
thought that tes Walker was going to be their wide receiver,
one guy who had transferred up from Kent State the
NCAA and their last act of being punitive Walker, No
you're not playing. This is your second transfer and tes
Walker and UNC spent the first six weeks of the
season fighting the NCAAA. The NCAA did not acquiesce until
(27:21):
I'm told there was a threat of a lawsuit there,
and then all of a sudden the NCAA was like,
oh no, but then you throw this guy into the
offense mid stream right and Walker what he was was
the your nine ball guy right down the field. But
now he had to shake off Russ. You have to
try to get him in there, and you have to
validate his opinion for coming to UNC. It wasn't the
(27:42):
kid's fault that the NCAA had done what they had done,
but all of these different moving pieces, and in that
the passing offense that lack creativity, an offensive line in
front of Drake may where you were getting the pressure
right away. That's where his game devolved a little bit.
I think year one, early on, you work with him
a little bit on a couple of these things, but
down the line he could be a star.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I really optimistic. I'm uh the Patriots. Patriots fans have
had plenty of winning. I feel like they're just released from,
you know, from the Belichick aura of negativity and hostility,
and I just want things to be fresh, new and
fun for the Patriots.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
I do too, And this coming season they're probably I
don't think I'm going out on a lot or being
mean here, but they're probably gonna have a top ten
pick next draft, probably maybe a top five pick and
maybe maybe even.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well, they have the lowest they have the lowest win
total in Vegas at four and a half.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
So if they here's here's what I want. We're talking
about Drake may optimism for the future, how he has
a crappy receiving court. Now there are two gods of
receiving prospects in the next class, Luther Burden coming from
Missouri and then Tetra Easy for me to say McMillan
from Arizona. McMillan is the skyscraper six foot five but
(28:55):
two hundred and ten pounds, about twenty twenty five pounds
less than Mike Evans was. Yeah, McMillan has the biggest
catch radius though you'll ever see, and he catches anything
that you put within that thing. He has highlights where
he'll catch the ball in practice put it through his
legs before his feet hit the ground, so he can
be like trick shots type stuff. If you get one
of those two receivers. Burden for people out there that
(29:18):
haven't seen him, he is analogous to Malik Neighbors from
this past class. But if you could get one of
those guys and add him to Drake May's offense going forward.
That would take a receiving cord that right now, it's
just a bunch of disparate parts of collection and misfit toys.
You put the number one receiver on them right away,
like the Giants did with Neighbors this season. If the
Patriots end up getting burdened or you have the freak
(29:39):
outside guy in McMillan, that would make that receiving course
start to look pretty solid right from the get right
when you submit that card.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Fantastic work today, Thor, that has been a ton of fun.
We will will show caution on Xavier Worthy, Ady Mitchell,
Jalen Polk. Last pick of our drafts. Will look at
Blake Watson, Cody Schrader, Jalen Cocher, and the incredible Hulker.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
Yeah, way down there for the dynasty guys. But I
think that there's one of those guys I think, or
maybe a couple end up surprising in the future. But Church,
I got to get back to playing NCAA football.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I know exactly. We've got bigger priorities here. Talk to
you later, everybody. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeartRadio.
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