Fantasy Football Daily - 2021 Staff Pow-Wow: AFC North

Episode Date: June 3, 2021

John Hansen and the Fantasy Points staff break down the NFC North on the 2021 Virtual Pow-Wow livestream series. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for the Fantasy Points podcast, brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top-level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. It's time for our second division and our AFC breakdown in the 2021 virtual powwow series here at FantasyPoint.com, and our sixth division overall. My name is Joe Dillon, and today we're breaking down the AFC. North, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh should be, again, one of the most interesting and competitive divisions in the NFL.

And if you're looking for a little bit of a descriptor on this series, go and listen to our NFC East podcast where I break it down with the history of our powwows with Greg Kosell and Adam Kaplan and our staff. And, you know, for the last couple years, given COVID, that we can't really all get together. And now the fact that we're dispersed all over the country, we do it very. virtually, and we give you guys a little bit of a view behind the curtain, so to speak, here at FantasyPoint.com.

So without further ado, sit back and enjoy our breakdown from an NFL and fantasy perspective of the AFC North. Part three here of the 2021 FantasyPoint.com virtual powwow going on right now. We are covering the AFC this week. We've just wrapped up the AFC East. We're going to move over to the AFC North. and if you're not a subscriber to the website, a ton of content up already.

Early bird miss 2-1, early bird miss 21, save 10% off your subscription. Let's go to Baltimore. And let's take a look at the roster here and understand that, yeah, they're going to be a run-based team,

but they are adding more past targets here, Adam. But I will go to the backfield. I'll start with you, Adam. I think, and last year, I was not real high on Dobbins at all because largely because of Gus Edwards. I thought, you know what? Well, in Grum was also last year. Well, yeah. I think that was established that Ingram was in the course. Of course, he ended up being phased out. But obviously, Gus and JK, I don't think they'll

hand it over like, oh, here you go, JK. You're going to get the ball 320 times. But it does kind of feel that they want Dobbins to step up. He's the guy. And kind of emerged a little more. Dobbins is going to get 15 plus touches the game. If he does his job, does what he's supposed to do, it's a two-man backfield. I don't know that Justice Hill gets on the field. Dobbins is super explosive.

He's just, he's going to be the guy. You know how much they run the football there. My question is, Greg and I know this is we've checked into this. We know that they wanted to expand their passing game last year, but he couldn't without an offseason. I'm not saying they're going to be throwing the ball 35, times a game that will never happen based on the way that they went around the offense. But I'm interested to see what they do that's different from last year to this year.

So am I. Because as of now, the way they are on their offense, their past game is extremely limited. I've talked to numerous coaches, defensive coaches, who believe that once they get into a game where they have to throw the football in much more of a drop back fashion and the run game cannot be the driving force that they're simply not capable of doing that at this point. So this is a big offseason for Lamar Jackson and the past game overall because you can get as many wide receivers as you want. And they did.

They added Sammy Watkins. They drafted Rashad Bateman. They drafted Tilling Wallace. You can do all that. But unless the offense changes, receivers will go to Baltimore and die. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it should be all about.

the outside. Like what is Lamar, what can he do on the outside? We know he loves throwing it in the middle of the field to Mark Andrews. Now we need to challenge defenses, you know, more horizontally, right? I mean, that's kind of the point. Can a guy like Rashad Bateman help out? He can line up in a variety of spots. It feels like he could be maybe some of the glue to kind of put things and hold things together here outside of just Andrews in the middle of field and your shot plays to Hollywood Brown. Well, John, I feel like if, you know, if Bateman is as good as we think he is, and I mean, don't forget they had a Tyler Wallace, too, who should not have fallen to day three. I love Tyler Wallace. If they increase their pass rate by even like one and a half to two percent,

Lamar Jackson had, I mean, he already has QB1 in his range of outcomes, but he has like ceiling breaking 28 fantasy points per game in his range of outcomes because this, I mean, regardless of his accuracy issues, which have been prevalent for the last two years and especially were prevalent last year. I mean, Lamar is like one of the most efficient quarterbacks on a per play basis. I mean, over the last two years, his touchdown rate is 8%. It was 9%. It was 9% in 2019. It dipped to 7% in 2020, which is still like top five in the league. Pretty decent. Yeah. Yeah, man, I just, I love. I'm with you. No, I've been with you all all year. Yeah. I'm all in too. How about though, Adam, the O line?

Might this be a problem with Alejandro Villanueva? What's in a position for him? He, he knows his, the couple of teams backed off of signing him as a left tackle. So to get a contract that's decent, this is what he's doing. I find it interesting that the Giants who have a bad offensive line, or very average at best, didn't think much of Kevin Zitler. They didn't want him back. The Ravens jumped in immediately and really gave him a strong contract.

So they clearly see what the Giants don't see. Yeah. Ronnie Stanley is back from, he had a major injury, he's back. Greg's better probably to talk about the other two. We'll see about the other spots, but it's an okay O-line. I don't remember that Nick Boyle's back, who's... That'll help, good blocker. Who blocks, that's what he does.

They've got a lot of tight ends, I'll tell you that. I know, and I'll tell you what, Josh Oliver, I know the guy's never played really, but he can run. He's a fascinating guy. He's an athletic tight end. I liked him coming out of college. Greg, real quick, back to Dobbins. Seemed like Dobbins was, yeah, this is what we thought he would be, right? I mean, any surprises?

Anything stand out to you from Dobbins last year? No, I think, you know, don't forget, it's a run-based offense that puts tremendous stress and stress and conflict on a defense. He's in a great spot. I mean, look at Gus Edwards. Gus Edwards carries 140 times a year. Average is five yards of carry. Yeah, he's done it for three.

three straight years now. I mean, it's a function of Lamar and the offense. That's what this is. It's a, the foundation of this offense is the run game. The big question is how much do they move away from that foundation to try to generate a more consistent week-to-week pass game that also puts conflict on defenses. I mean, clearly they, I don't know what kind of contract Sammy Watkins Scott Adam. You would know that. It's light. Yeah, it's very light. But I mean, obviously they spent a first round pick on a receiver for the second time in three years. So if you're going to do that, I think you've got to start expanding your past game. Yeah, no doubt.

And as bad as it was last year, they were seventh out of 32, obviously, in points four. Do you feel optimistic, Greg, that Lamar can, you know, return to form, take a step forward. Well, Lamont, first of all, from a fantasy perspective, Lamar will always put up numbers, and we know he's a good quarterback. That's not the point of this conversation. The point of this conversation is that coaches in this league know that if you get them in a situation where they have to throw the football, they can't do it very well, which has nothing to do with fantasy numbers.

So they have to be in a situation because that's happened in the playoffs in each of the last two years and they've been knocked out of the playoffs and the goals to win a Super Bowl. Yeah, I do feel like if they're playing from behind, you've got a much better chance this year. was just a bad year all around for for lamar he was down a little bit i thought mark andrews was a little off uh from from last from the year before you know now you had sammy and bateman and all that it all looks uh real good on paper defensively they're in good shape once again overall i mean no real weaknesses here on the defense a lot of good players here i still still waiting for that jail in ferguson to do something of note i thought he would i thought he was a pretty

good prospect here. The corner depth. They got a lot of alignment. I mean, they, you know, well, of course, now that they've lost Matthew Judon, we'll see how it all plays out and who gets more snaps. Tyos Bouser is a very athletic kid. He'll probably replace Judon. In a way, they got the kid away in the draft.

Oh, yeah. Oh, Jason, away, yeah. He's a free. Yeah. He has to learn how to rush the quarterback. He's very athletic. He's ridiculously athletic. Taven Young, is he, was he always here?

Yeah, he was always there. He's a temper. Yeah. That's hard to believe because I'd hurt. I'd like missed him in like 20. He gets hurt a lot, but he's a pretty, pretty tough, feisty player. Let's head on over to Cincinnati. And, you know, Adam and I have talked to multiple insider types.

Adam, as you know, like I've asked multiple people, have they done enough on the offensive line? it all comes down to that for protecting borough and you know blocking it up a little bit for bro mixing for god's ex they all say yeah but you know i guess we'll see about jackson carman and all that but riley reef is a decent run blocker at least on the right side bobby hart listen bobby hart was a mistake that was a mistake from the beginning as you mentioned hopefully carman could start at guard Riley Reef is an upgrade, not a great one, but he's an upgrade over Bobby Hart. The interior of their offensive line was dreadful last season. That's what teams told me who graded their tape for free agency when they grade lines.

They grade everything they see. It was probably the worst offensive line football. Not probably was. And they've addressed it in their mind. They've done what they can. They can still do more. Hopefully it'll be better. I mean, how many times we have to talk about Joe Nixon running into a wall?

And that's what the last two years has been like. It's and they didn't do you view this as a passing team. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I look at Boyd Higgins and Chase and say all three are going to get 100 plus targets. Sure, for sure. I would say probably yes. I think the O line will help dictate, you know, just exactly how much. But, you know, Borough, I have it on good reporting that Borough's arm strength apparently

has improved dramatically from last year to this year. Well, he wants to do more downfield stuff too. I mean, they got Chase Boyd and Higgins, you know, and there's very few people who didn't think Jamar Chase could step in and play right now. So that's a pretty good group. And Auden Tate's been a nice player for them because he's gotten snaps over the last couple of years.

This is, they've got some weapons here. What they're lacking is a tight end. So that means you're right, John. Those receivers are getting targets. Yep. Graham, Chase, Boyd-Higgins, are you kind of the old, I'll take the cheapest one? Is that where you are with these three? You know, I was talking to our good doctor, Mr. Porris last week.

And I think there was a report that came out that Burrow was close to like 75, 80 percent. He was throwing with like a sleeve on his leg. And Edwin and I both kind of agreed, like, there's a chance Burroughs not ready until like week four. You know, they just, like, play a super safe with them and give them, like, an extra month. But that thing said... I don't know about that. I don't know with that at all. Really? Yeah.

That's not happening. If he's taking the reps in camp, he's playing. I agree. Yeah. No, no, I know. I'm just saying, like, you know, they just slow roll it as much as possible. But back to the past catchers, yeah. I mean, when Burrow was healthy, they were the most, not the most, but one of the five most

past heavy teams, regardless of game script. They threw it 62% of the time when the game was within a score. I was up there with like the chiefs, the bucks. Yeah, all three of the receivers are going to get fed. I don't really have like a strong take on who to target though. I'm a little higher on Higgins in my best ball ranks than I think consensus. Maybe a little bit lower on Boyd. But Chase is tough right now because he's like a fifth round pick.

Higgins is probably my favorite target. But yeah, it kind of just depends on, you know, who the best. value is I'm not really going to a draft saying I've got to draft one of these three guys. Our guy Joe Dolan, by the way, Graham, apparently his internet just died. But it's all good. We can pick them up here. Joe Mixon, we know the drill. The guy's got to stay healthy, block it up a little bit.

He's a stud talent. Graham, if he's ever going to have a true breakout, this has got to be it, right? I feel like this has got to be it. Yeah, and no G. Bernard now. So, you know, he's going to get all that passing down work, which is humongous. That's the, that's been the big. thing, John, that's been holding him back as he's, you know, been behind Gio and passing down

situations. They use Gio a lot as a pass blocker, too. So, yeah, it's going to be mixing on all three downs and, you know, the offensive line still is a concern. Burroughs knee is still a concern, but, I mean, volume-wise, I think this is the year where Mixins the workhorse. And you can now get him at probably the cheapest costs, at least in the last two years. I mean, he's a mid-second round pick right now. What was his injury last year? He had a foot problem that the Bengals, I think, I think they messed up. They shut him down, yeah. Yeah.

They said it was a sprain at first, and then he missed like a month, and then they ended up just having to shut him down. It may have been because they were not competitive, too, because they lost burnout. I still think, and again, I never knock coaches, but I still think there's more you can do with him in the past game. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I totally agree with that. Mixing was, like, still, I don't think anybody's ever going to touch some of Mixon's yards created numbers that I've found. I mean, he's, he was such a fantastic prospect.

Very unique, because usually don't find guys of his size is as versatile as he is. He's really gifted. It's, um, I'm just hopeful that the offensive line, I hope to get to their camp this summer. I'm really hopeful that their offensive line gets it together. Frank Pollard, John, I think it's the coach, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, second stint there. Yeah.

Yep, yep. Also, they've got a million guys behind mixing P. Rine, Trevion Williams. That's an open competition. I think that Chris Evans out of Michigan is really intriguing, though. He can, well, he can play on passing downs. He missed 2019 because of like academic issues and he barely played last year with COVID and stuff. But he was like their primary passing down back in 18.

Yep. And then Puka Williams is here. I thought he would get drafted. He's an explosive kid. He's small. He's explosive. Were you surprised he didn't, he went undrafted, Greg? Yeah, he was.

He was a draftable player in my view. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Defensively, do we really care? Let's be honest. I'm just keeping it real. No, we don't. We don't really care about the Bengals for fantasy.

We'll worry about how good of a matchup they are for our options of players later. So let's move on to the Cleveland. And, you know, status quo. I mean, there's no real changes here, Greg. We know what they want to do. We know it's run base and all that. But, you know, I'm sure they want to expand things. I think the big thing is downfield throws.

That, I think, is what they're looking to do. We'll see if Beckham can stay healthy. Well, the big thing is to me, and I don't know how you guys saw about this, is who becomes the number three. I mean, Higgins has been there and he's been solid, but they have People's Jones. They drafted Anthony Schwartz with a third round pick. Now, he's not a volume target, but that kid can run.

So, you know, that to me, and I don't know how, like, how Graham feels about it in terms of fantasy. But that to me is the big question is who ultimately becomes the number three as the season progresses. I'm going Higgins there. He does click pretty well with Baker. The problem, though, to your point, Greg,

like he didn't have a ton of juice. Schwartz from the slot does. And People's Jones is straight line speed is pretty good. And he's big too. Yeah, he is big. Graham, I don't think we're that concerned about it for fantasy. It's more of a like,

in-season thing. We'll see what we see there, right? I mean, you're not real interested here in the third receiver pre-draft. Yeah. Yeah, I think, yeah, I think, you know, you nailed it. DPJ is going to be kind of rotational. Higgins will be a rotational. This is going to be a 12 personnel team.

Okay, you know, Hooper. Kind of disappointed us last year. I actually really like Hooper for bestball because he's literally stolen free right now, like 15th, 16th round. But, I mean, they're going to play Brian. They'll play in Joku. Once again, I mean, Stafansky has plenty of people. to kind of move and play to his, you know, play off his run game, which is what I fully expect

them to do again. I mean, they're going to be, you know, in the top five, you know, top five teams and run rate in all situations. One thing I do want to add, and John and I probably have talked with this before, with Beckham Jr. returning and Donald and People's Jones, you know, was able to play last season. We don't know about Anthony Schwartz's ability to play yet, but I do wonder if Jarvis Lander will be outside more, excuse me, inside more, inside more, is just a slot receiver, which is really his best position. Do wonder what they'll do that. Well, that would depend, I think, on the development of people showing.

Yeah, that's why brought it up. Exactly. I'm going to be looking into that. I'm very interested. You're 100% right, Adam. I don't have a great feel for the tight ends. I mean, I loved Bryant last year. He was very good.

But Hooper did come on down the stretch. I guess in Joku's the real monkey wrench here. I mean, Adam, what's his role? No, well, they surprisingly, I'm very surprised. They could have cut him in March. First day of March was when his salary became fully guaranteed of $6 million. They kept them, which tells you once again, and Graham's right, they're not going to change.

They're always going to be 12 personnel, a heavy base run game with two tight ends. But I just found an interesting. And they wanted to, and I don't have the stats to back it up. I know talking to the Browns at the start of the last season, they wanted to use Anjoko at the X. Exactly. They needed them. They needed them with, oh,

BJ out and yeah but even coming into the season they wanted to do that because they you're seeing that trend we've talked about waller at the X and and other teams using tight ends at X I do wonder if he'll do that more and maybe to get him on the field because I mean six million dollars for a guy who barely contributes is ridiculous graham we all know nick chub is good clearly if you have the gift of sight you know it but are you with these people like there's like this many army of people who are taking him very proactive, like seven overall. I don't get it. I don't see how you give the guy more than 30 catches.

Yeah, yeah. Hunt's obviously going to be involved once again, not only as a receiver, but on the early down stuff. You know, it was Chubb like 5842 with the early down stuff. And Chubb is just that damn good. I mean, you give him the ball 18, 20 times. You give hunt the ball 10 to 12 and you got the best due in the league. But yeah, I think Chubb is, I thought Chubb is being a little overdrafted last year in the late 1st,

and that kind of ended up being wrong just because, you know, somebody running backs died. Yeah, if he's a top eight, nine pick again, that's a bit much for a back who's not going to get any passing down workout set of a couple screens. Joe, you're back. Welcome back. What do you think of Chubb? Like mid-second round pick, to be fair, as opposed to like taking them at seven overall over? I'm willing to take him late first, early second round. I think you view maybe, I mean, again, you look at this guy in his talent level.

It's stupid. I mean, it's incredible how good he is. He's in that cammakers, Najee Harris kind of range for me. And again, like we were saying with best ball, if I do 10 drafts and I have 10 spots at the 12th 13 the first second round turn. I might go Acres Harris one draft. I might go Acres Chubb, another draft. I might go Chubb Harris one draft. So I have him in that range. I'm just worried about again, Kareem Hunt being there. I mean, if Kreme Hunt wasn't there, we'd all take him top three overall and feel really good about it. But the talent is there. He's produced despite it. He's not

somebody who's going to lose goal line carries to his quarterback. I'm totally cool with Nick chub is my RB1, depending on where I draft. Yeah, I think people are going a little overboard. To me, it's all about plugging in the catch totals as it relates to PPR, fantasy points and all that. But let's move on to the defense real quick, Adam, because dare I say, they may have some fantasy juice. If Newsome works out.

Yeah, they're going to be better. I know, I know they were, they knew they had a sort of a mismatch at linebacker last year. They feel a lot better about it. Delpit's coming back from his Achilles injury. We'll see how he does. They're very high on him. John Johnson comes in. Pretty good free agent safety. Ronnie Harrison did a good job failing in last season. Newsom is a first run pick. Troy Hill. Yeah, they've fortified their secondary, which was not good last year. They've really addressed it. The only question I have is Greg has told us about Clonney. He's not a good pass rusher. Tack McKinley's done nothing as a former

first round pick. Yeah, yeah. Helping Garrett out on the other side is. is my question. I just don't know if they're going to have enough of consistent pass rush of them, Garrett. But I agree, though. They've really helped themselves this off season and secondary in a lineback. Yeah, I think they have a chance that we've got them in our top. Well, they're fantasy, man. Some weeks, they were very good with turnovers.

Yeah. They have a ton of turnovers last year? I mean, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but, you know, I plugged in digits that were very fair based on last year and the improvements, and they came out at 11. And anything else here on the Browns? I mean, we've covered it all.

I don't know how we could talk about Harrison Bryant's upside this year. I don't know if he has any. But one thing on Mayfield, so he obviously played well, right? Oh, yeah. He put himself to. And Stefansky and Van Pelt did a great job of understanding what he is as a quarterback. So using your question, because you always want to John, can this guy be better? Because you and I don't agree on Josh Allen.

We're slightly different in our thought process. how much better can Mayfield be for fantasy now that Beckham's back? Yeah, Greg, and to piggyback, you told us for the first month of the season that he was not comfortable. He was not pulling the trigger. He was like slow processing. And then he turned a corner and it seemed like he actually balled out down the stretch here. I mean, how good was Baker down the stretch in your mind and compare it to how much it grew from earlier in the season? Well, I think that's just comfort with a new offense and an offense that actually fits him very well.

And I would expect with a normal offseason that that will continue to grow. You know, Baker Mayfield is a good player. He throws the ball well. He's got pretty quick feet. You know, he's not a runner per se, but he can move a little bit. But he's a, you know, if you go back to what he was in college, he was a rhythm player. The ball came out. And, you know, a lot of people thought that he was a.

movement guy, and he really wasn't. He played in structure, in rhythm, and with timing. And that's what the Kevin Stefansky offense is. And it presents those kinds of reads and throws for him. So I would expect Baker Mayfield to continue to to incrementally improve. And if Beckham can be healthy, it just gives them more options in the past game, more dimensions in the past game. What do you think of his ability to throw the deep ball? They're run-based, they run heavy. They want to go deep a little bit more. put defenses on their heels. What do you think of his ability?

Well, deep balls are relative term, John. Three years. Depends on what kind of deep ball you're talking about. I mean, normally you're not just dropping back and winging it down the field. Deep ball can be a number of things. Yeah, you can throw a go route. You can throw a post. You know, these are all structured design plays.

And a lot of those throws are spot throws. They're not just, you know, drop back and heave it. Yeah. Let me ask you this. How much, I'm assuming you believe he's a little more talented. Kirk Cousins, but how much more talented than Kirk Cousins? I think it grows it better than Kirk Cousins. Yeah.

That's kind of what I mean. Yeah. Consistently making down, more downfield throw. I think that's what they want. That's what they want to grow this year. Baker has a sneaky kind of strong arm. I would agree with that 100%. It's not like a top five, top eight arm, but I mean, he's he can make.

And the way of his arm. What I would say about his arm is it's more live than power. Like he's not a power thrower, but I think there's some juice to his arm. Hey, Adam, real quick, have you heard anything about if they're going to get a deal done with Baker this offseason? I would be very surprised if they did because they don't need to. I know Andrew Barry, the GM didn't really think that they're connected what happened with Wants and Goff. But I think teams are learning now because Mayfield's been up and down, I mean, sure, certainly looks like the hours way up,

but considering the way that he played two years ago, and we know the, we know the reasons. We've been over this because of the coaching. Things right now are in a good place. There's really no reason for them to do it. The reason why teams do it early is because they get a discount. They, they, they give, they get a discount and sign a guy early. That's why you would do it, but I'd be very surprised.

It wouldn't make much sense to me to do it right now. But this is the time that you do the extent. This is when Wednesday, his extension in June of um June of what it was it 19 yeah wow it's crazy final team to the cover here we're we I know we're all probably late for lunch here Pittsburgh Steelers and Matt Canada takes over at him uh as the office coordinator and uh I guess we all assume when that happened oh I guess we're not going to sling it all over the field like we did with for Randy Featner then all of a sudden up now we got Najee Harris so you know how much of the

offense you think is going to change? Obviously, we're going to balance it out here. I would expect them. I would expect them to stretch the field more. I'm not seeing a lot of of dink and dunk. Part of it is because Rothsberger's almost two years removed from the elbow surgery. So I expect them to expand it downfield more. I think from what I understand his arm is fine. They don't feel like they need to do that. The one question, and it has it, you and I were talking about this this morning on a show. Their offensive lines got some serious question marks. I would agree with that. I agree with that.

Yeah. And that I'm not, they're not going to be, I, based on when I've done a little background check on Canada and what they want, they do not want it to be as pass happy. No. In terms of volume, I don't have the stats at front. I don't know. What was Rossberger per per game on past attempts? I bet you he was 42.

Right. They're not one in that anywhere close to that. I'm thinking 30, you know, maybe mid 30s, which is right, maybe a little bit above the league average. Unless they're behind, which. their defense should be still pretty good. It's going to be way down and past attempts because that's what they want. And Naji Harris is going to have to get the football.

I remember we talked to Zach Banner on NFL radio. He was so, he was really disappointing in the run game. And he felt bad that he couldn't play. I expected to make a commitment to it and be less pass happy. Yep. 40.1 attempts last year in 15. 40.

Well, 40.5, actually. 40.5. I would expect to be 33, 35. That's too many. What's that? That's too many. Well, you also have, right. Now this year, but Juju's back.

That was a surprise. That's a surprise. That I didn't see coming. It doesn't mean they're going to throw it 40 times again. They're not going to that. There were some ways that Greg talked to us about it. It was ridiculous. How many times they'd have Rothsberger drop back?

It was also very predictable. That was the other problem. There was no rhythm to their past game. None. It also seemed like they had no confidence in the downfield throws based on the play calling. See, I had people tell me that would know that they did not think Ben was ready yet with his coming off of surgery. But then so was it the, what was the game where people joke that Ben took over the play calling? They started slinging it when they were behind.

Was it the playoff game against the calls? They threw the ball downfield. I mean, he threw a tutty to Deontay down the stretch. It was real nice on the right side. I just know that there was a point where they. his arm clearly was like it was back. When they do throw it, I do, based on what I've heard,

they're going to be throwing it downfield more. Greg, confidence level based on that comment, I'm sure you saw some moments where you maybe question the, you know, the strength of the arm. Throwing it down field doesn't mean you're throwing it more. You know, that's the thing. I mean, I think people are twice saying, too, yes.

I mean, look, far be it for me to say what's going on in the minds of the Steelers coaching. and personnel department. But if you draft Najee Harris with the first pick in the draft and Pat Friermuth with the second pick in the draft, I got to believe that you believe as a team that you're going to run the ball a lot more than they did a year ago. Naji Harris is a volume back. Okay. And Rathesberger, to me at this point in his career, is not a quarterback you want dropping back 40 plus times a game by choice. So to me in an ideal world, now the offensive line is a question. that that's a given but to me it seems you want to line up in such a way and rothlisberger's not

been real receptive to playing under center that's going to be another question for this offseason and as we go through training camp but you want to be in a situation where you're going to get eight in the box and you can work the outside with guys who can run claypool and dante johnson and that's how you can throw it down the field by design with with manufactured schemed vertical shots. That's different than just putting them in the gun and saying, let's start throwing it all around the yard. So that's what I think they're going to do. No shortage of viable options with Juju back. And then, of course, Claypool exceeded expectations. Deont, they still have James Washington who can sneak it downfield here and there. So they're fairly loaded. And they're

going to be more balanced. A lot of talent in the skill positions, period. And a tight end with Ebron and Fryermuth. Period. It's just a question. of this O line. But it sounds like Greg, they can perhaps mask the deficiencies of the O line with bouncing it out, savvy play calling, working off the run.

You know, if Harris has success. Well, one thing about Harris is he's a contact runner, so he can gain yards, even if it's not blocked really well. He's a physical contact. Exactly.

A little bit of a creator for a big guy. A little bit. Greg, what did you think of the two linemen and they drafted Kendrick Green and Dan Moore. I know you watch both of them. I like both of them quite a bit. Kendrick Green, I really like.

He played both center and guard. I don't know where they have him, you know, obviously he's not going to play right guard to Casper. They have him working out at center, Greg, because the big thing is like they have, he has Pouncey's number. And like Ben, Ben said today he was like confused or something.

Well, I like Kendrick Green a lot. Dan Moore, I did too. He came from Texas A&M. I thought he was a really good, prospect relative to where he got drafted. Because all he did when I watched his tape was block all these SEC pass rushers and he did it well. So I thought he was a legitimate left tackle prospect.

And again, without knowing the kid, given who they have listed at the tackle positions right now, if he has a good offseason and training camp, I think you would have a chance to start a left tackle. Backup running back spot here is a little up in the air. Anthony McFarlane, is he the backup? Is he just viewed as a complimentary guy? Yeah, complimentary. Now, could he want to taking the job?

Sure, because Benny Snell really struggled. And your guy, Belage, is there. So the job's open. And Jalen Samuels is still there. Oh, it's unbelievable. I mean, this guy's done nothing. But McFarlane will have a chance. And when they get to training camp,

he'll have a chance to work his way in there to a pretty good role. I just don't see him being able to carve out a nice little complimentary role as they look to get Harris going. Well, get it. But give some of it. explosiveness to complement Harris. Yeah. Defensively, I don't know. I've been on their defense the last

two years. I'm still fine with them. We think we have them at three. I'm just I feel like a drop off is coming. Like Adam, there's some concerns in the secondary. Well, corner, you know, Joe Hayden's up there. Yeah, the one issue they have on defense is that corner opposite Hayden.

Yeah. It's, it's a little questionable. It's, they got the one kid who got in trouble off the field and then what do they really have? I was surprised that they didn't really address it. That was a little bit of a surprise. That in the O line. Well, that could be, look, from a talent standpoint, other than DeCastro,

where's the talent on their offensive line? It's a good point. It's a legitimate question. I know the kid at left tackle, our guy at there. Of course. Yeah. I know I talked to a couple of beat riders who do think pretty highly of him. We had to play last year.

I mean, we'll save full time. I don't know. It did pretty well, actually. So that's the storyline to keep an eye on. Otherwise, you know, pretty loaded. And Harris is good. They won the ball. One thing we should talk about from a fantasy standpoint here is if the Steelers aren't

going to be dropping Ben back 40 times a game, which they obviously don't want to do. What does that do to somebody like Deontay Johnson who, I mean, his entire fantasy, and we like Deontay Johnson, but his entire fantasy. production was based on volume. If they're going to throw the ball down field a little bit more, not to say Deontay can't go get it. I'm beginning to wonder, Chase Clay,

might be the best bet here. Wow. I don't know. That's a good. It's certainly a fair point and a good point. I feel like we have him at 19, Deonti. Normally a guy fits that profile. We're going to rank higher,

but I'm somewhat conservative. I'll open it up to the floor. I mean, we've got him at 82 grabs. Is that too much? because Graham wouldn't wouldn't juju back limit clay pole snapage though? Actually, there's James Washington that limited juju snaps. What they did is they rotated Washington in like midseason, which I kind of didn't understand.

I mean, I know Big Ben and Washington are boys, but I don't know. I mean, you know, beyond the offensive line, I'm actually more concerned that Ralflessberger's arms just shot. Like he was, when they threw beyond 10 yards last year, Rathlisberger was in the bottom of the NFL in accuracy. Like if you look at any type of metric. And that's on top of the fact that his average depth of target was like down near Drew Breesian levels.

Like I, you know, I hear you that they want to, they want to open it up more, they want to throw deeper more, they want to scheme that up more. And I'm sure they do. But I think what will end up inevitably happening over, you know, now a 17 game season is I just don't think Rathosberger has the pop in his arm to really stretch the defense consistently for 17 games. I think they're going to have to go back to some of the shallow, the shallow stuff with Deonté and Juju.

And I think a part of the reason they drafted Harris in the first round is so Big Ben has a binky, you know, to kind of check down to him. I mean, Najee Harris, Naji Harris, man, is like one of the best past catching running backs I've seen after the catch in the last six years. I mean, the dude, you know, broke Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Camara. They're the top two guys I've ever charted and miss tackles force per reception. like blew them out of the water. I just think that this offense, you know, they're going to throw it,

they're going to try and stretch the feel with Claypool a little, but I still think at the end of the day, this is going to be a very shallow average depth of target team and just a run after the catch team. And they have the guys who do that between Deonté and Harris and Claypool. Yeah, Deonté is a tough call. I mean, 88 grabs last year in 15 games. He did miss parts of other games.

So I thought my 82 projection was fair. but Joe mentioned Claypool. He could be more productive for fantasy with the touchdown. He definitely has the bigger ceiling. He has a bigger ceiling for sure. Who does? Claypool definitely has a bigger ceiling from like a weekly perspective. You know, I mean, he's got that 150 for five grabs and two touchdowns,

whereas Deonté doesn't really have that. Also, Juju is not easy to break down either, by the way. John, Juju's been like one of the hardest players to figure out this off season, I think. I really don't know what to do with him because he's so cheap now. last year. He's like a 7-3-thrown pick now. I mean, we've got him with 79 catches for 705 and 6 studies.

If they change the offense a little bit, will they use him a little bit less like a running back, like a handoff? I mean, his average depth of the target was like a yard last year, it seemed like. A lot of weapons, a lot of confusing, hard to really come up with a bunch of strong definitive statements

other than Naji Harris is good. And that's about it, really. I mean, Deonté, you know, needs to clean it up a little bit, but I still believe in them. I'm still going to take them over Claypole, but Joe, you make a good point. And my point is also good that we're done.

And we're wrapping it up here for the day. Just wrapped up the AFC East and North. And if you missed the NFC, you could catch it on the site, FantasyPoint.com, on demand, fly on the wall. You sit and watch us, you know, talk through every team in a league. Tomorrow will be back for the AFC South and West

to wrap it up. Don't forget the promo code. If you haven't subscribed yet for an early bird special, is Early Bird Miss 21. Early Bird Miss 21. Use that promo code and save 10% off. We thank our guy, Ben Cucanis, on the other side of the glass.

He'll be doing some post-production stuff as well. I'm going to wrap it here for Joe Dolan and Greg Cosell and Adam Kaplan and Graham Barfield. Thanks a lot to those guys. Thanks for watching out there. On the interwebs, I'm John Hanson. We'll catch it tomorrow with the final installment. of the FantasyPoints.com offseason powwow.

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