Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Free Agency: Early QB Moves & Amari Cooper Traded

Episode Date: March 14, 2022

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) take a look at some early quarterback moves in free agency, plus the implications of the Amari Cooper trade. --- 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 to 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. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the Fantasy Points podcast here on a beautiful March 14th, 2020. It's about 11.30 a.m. Eastern, which means we are about a half an hour away from the NFL's. negotiating window to open before the start of the new league year on March 16th at 4 p.m. Which means we've already got some news to break down, a couple of trades. And I wanted to get those out of the way before we get into all these moves with the free agency and all that,

because the quarterback position is taking center stage. I'm with Graham Barfield. My name's Joe Dolan, by the way, managing editor at FantasyPoints.com. There's Graham Barfield. And we're just going to talk through these moves here, give you a little something to listen to. while you wait for your team to make some moves. Graham, I look this up. And by the time you listen to this,

it's probably even going to be past the point where, like, Adam Schaefter has already broken down a free agent move. But his first tweet, after the legal negotiating window, opened last year on March 15th of 2021, was at 12.59 p.m. Eastern, breaking the signing of Johnny Smith to the Patriots. So literally less than an hour after the negotiating, negotiating window opened, there was a free agent signing to report. So just because the window's open today,

but this isn't going to be like, you know, a normal baseball off season where it takes months and months. Basically, every free agent of note in the NFL is going to be signed by the end of the week. Yeah, thank God, man, we don't have any of the pressing legal and ongoing labor disputes that the MLB does. But man, I just got to say off the top, like, it's great to have a hot stove. Like the NFL has legitimately turned into a, you know, a hot stove over the last couple years, you know, these trades last couple weeks, Brady coming back. And then like you mentioned, you know, all the tampering and stuff that you can do even before the true signing window. I'm doing air quotes here. Signing window.

It's great. But I'm really enjoying it. I remember a time, you know, not too long ago, maybe 16, 17. Like pretty much nothing happened during free agency trade wise. It was just, you know, like where did the big name guys go? And I don't know, man. I really appreciate a, I don't know. I just appreciate the hot stove.

now and just having, you know, having some more fun. You know, it's turned the NFL into, you know, a year-round sport to begin with, but especially so now when we have so many, you know, fun moves to break down and digest. And it's a good time. Yeah, I mean, there was a time when trades were just so rare in the NFL, and that is luckily not the case anymore. And it's Blockbuster on top of Blockbuster. And, Graham, you've been breaking these down.

You're going to do, we're going to track all the moves, but you're going to do the big stuff like the really big moves that really impact fantasy you're going to write individual articles for you already have three of them up and let's start with one that you broke down for us last week and that's obviously the biggest trade and i can't well i guess watson's going to happen um it looks like by the way deshawn watson's going to meet with the saints and the panthers over the next 48 hours so it doesn't south is going to be hot here yeah it doesn't look like something is imminent there but obviously we'll break that down on a future podcast but uh the big trade Russell Wilson traded to the Denver Broncos.

And that was a roller coaster of a day for Broncos fans because you get the morning news that Aaron Rogers is returning to the Packers, which we'll talk about just a little bit here. And then you're like, oh, God, it's going to be Jimmy Garoppolo or we're going to re-sign Teddy Bridgewater or Mitchell Trubisky. And then Russell Wilson ends up traded to Denver. We've heard rumors for months about Wilson, but Seattle was really trying to act like, hey, this isn't going to happen. well it ends up two first round picks

three players a fifth rounder goes to Seattle and then Seattle sends back I think a fourth rounder I wonder if like the deal was hinged on that like you know like hey if you don't send back that fourth rounder it's over and it's not happening but it's Noah Fant Drew Locke and Shelby Harris Drew Locke's a net negative in this trade it doesn't bother me Fant and Harris can be helpful

but Graham honestly it's true the Broncos just traded a hell of a lot for the third best quarterback in their division, but it's also a team that is significantly improved. What was your read on Wilson to Denver from a fantasy standpoint? Yeah, sure. I mean, first and foremost, I mean, Denver had to do something. I mean, since they lost Peyton, man, I mean, we've all seen it.

It's just quarterback play has just completely hampered this team from doing anything in the FACC West. And, you know, defensively, they've just got so much young talent that they've got to capitalize on. They've got a pretty good offensive line and obviously all the weapons you could ask for. So right off the top, like, man, Wilson's going to an amazing spot. I wrote this up in my article too, but Joe, I kind of think this is a big, you know, it's a big boon for Judy and Alberto and Javante, especially since Javonsie. It sounds like Melvin Gordon's not going to come back here. We actually just got news on that here like five minutes ago. But the big one for me is Cortland

Sutton. You know, Cortland Sutton, like ranked second highest in average death of the target last year. he, you know, obviously struggled through all the bad quarterback play once again from Bridgewater to lock. But I mean, Russell Wilson has been, if not the best, but, you know, one of the three best deep ball quarterbacks in all of the NFL over the last five or six years. I think this is just a huge, huge chance for Sutton to really make good on what was a very, very poor 2021 for him. You know, quarterback play aside, he also didn't have his best season ever coming back from the ACL tear. So now one year removed from the ACL, Russell Wilson under center, man. I'm really excited for Sutton and really all these guys, but Sutton mainly. Yeah, Sutton's a guy that I've been out on the last couple of years.

You know, I mean, look, two years ago, he got hurt, okay? That's not a W for me. It just turns out that I didn't invest in somebody who got hurt. But this year, I wasn't in at all on Cortland Sutton. And that really worked out. Unfortunately, I was in on Jerry Judy. You know, I feel like Judy could be like Russ's version of Tyler Lockett here, though. It's not, just because you like Sutton a lot doesn't mean Judy doesn't have an opportunity here.

Finally, we get to see Jerry Judy with some competent quarterback play. And I know Scott Barrett last year was talking to some guys who watch film each and every day. And they're just saying, like, dude, Jerry Judy's wide ass open all the time, all the time. And he's just not getting the football. fortunately, Russell Wilson should be somebody who's able to get him in the ball. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, Judy's going to be nice, man. I mean, it'll be interesting to see how Hack it kind of approaches all three of these guys, because, you know, if you remember last year, Judy was like strictly slot, just playing out

of the slot last year. I wonder if he gets a little more burn outside. I would love to see that personally because, you know, like you mentioned, he was getting open at well. It's just terrible, terrible quarterback play last year. So here's the question, and I'm going to relate this vis-a-vis the Seahawks here. you have Cortland Sutton and Jerry Judy and quite frankly Graham, I'll be honest. As deep as the Broncos are and I think Tim Patrick, Alberto, that sleeper train has left the station, okay? Everybody's going to call him a sleeper.

Everybody knows it. But I wonder if the true sleepers from a best ball perspective might be Tim Patrick and KJ. Hamler, who are going to be available in the double-digit rounds, aren't going to cost you nearly as much as Sutton and Judy will. Absolutely, man. I can tell you right now, I don't have any skin in the game yet. I usually don't play any best ball until after the NFL draft. But Ted Patrick is going to be one of my most drafted players.

He is, yeah, you know, he's been perennally underrated for the last couple years. And, you know, I think if we're really excited about Sutton, we're really excited about Judy. And Patrick ends up going like 9th, 10th, 11th round. I mean, it's just like a home run for best ball. Yeah. And now looking at Sutton and Judy, comparing them to D.K. Metcalfe and Lockett, I think it's fair to say, Lockett. Metcalf are better players, but do we look at them through that lens because, you know,

Sutton and Judy have never had competent quarterback play. So it's a really interesting dichotomy there because obviously this is going to absolutely tank the ADPs for Lockett and Metcalf, who, by the way, might not even be on the Seahawks come week one because of trade rumors. Yeah, man, that's the thing. It legitimately seems like Lockett could be on the move. And I saw a rumor and, you know, with Twitter these days, you always. have to like vet who your sources are. I saw a rumor that Metcalf was on the block and that makes

a lot less sense since Lockett's going to be like 29 this year. But it sucks because Wilson and Lockett have had this like mind meld on the field for the last couple of years. And I'm, I'm a total sucker for like great quarterback and wide receiver duo. So I'm a bit sad that that Wilson and Lockett are not going to be linking up anymore. But I, you know, from fantasy, from a fantasy perspective, I think it hurts Lockett more than Metcalf since, you know, Metcalf is just total freaking nature. I mean, you know, he was fine with Gino Smith last year. He wasn't really like, you know, falling apart like Lockett was. We just don't know who their quarterback's going to be there. And I mean, Drew Lotton doesn't get excited, Joe? No, he doesn't. I guess Watson could be there.

Like, it seems like they're on the perimeter of the Watson. It really seems to be focusing on the Saints and the Panthers right now. But, I mean, let's not even waste time talking about it until, like, we're in, like, April. And it's like, man, it really looks like Drew Lach's going to be their number one quarterback. I mean, they could draft one. They have a top 10 pick now. They could trade that top 10 pick for a quarterback. So there's a lot that could happen right now. So let's go to the piece of news that kind of preceded this. Aaron Rogers returning to the Green Bay Packers, and there's not a ton to discuss right now. I mean, he's back. And that's great for Devante Adams. But Marquez Valdes Scantling's a free agent. We'll learn something about him likely today.

Alan Lazzard's a restricted free agent. Devante Adams said he will not play under the franchise tag. He will not sign it. Leverage for Devonte Adams to get a long-term deal done. They're going to get a deal done. Maybe it'll take until July, but they'll get a deal done. But Aaron Rogers returning to the Packers? I mean, he said it himself.

He's played in this offense in three seasons, and he's won two MVP's. Pretty good. So I think you can just be aggressive drafting your Packers. As we stand right now on March 14th, I have no worries. it's whoever that they're going to get something done with Devonthe Adams. Yeah, I mean, you know, I remember listening to Rogers post 49ers loss interview. Maybe it was the morning after. And he mentioned, like, he made a note to mention it twice that, like, you know,

he was going to talk to Devante before he made any calls. So, yeah, but both these guys are linked. And I'm sure, I agree with you. I'm sure they're going to get something done. Yeah, you can go back to drafting Adams in, like, the top eight, I have them at six in my best ball ranks, like right on Cooper Cup. The big question, Joe, you know, this. is the more interesting debate is what do we do with Aaron Jones? Because like he kind of disappointed at his

ADP last year. Like he wasn't a, you know, strikeout like, you know, three swings and a miss. But, you know, he was like a soft single. And I don't know, man, you know, AJ Dillon was a tank to end the last year was, you know, more involved in the past game than I ever expected. John Hanson nailed that on the head, by the way. You know, what do we do with Aaron Jones? Because I'm really struggling, you know, with his outlook right now. Yeah, I would love to see, here's how I go through. And I'm like you, I'm going to be fully honest. I do bestball rankings, but I don't do really invest in bestball drafts until after.

I mean, it's an investment for me, too. I have to pay to play. So I want to do where I feel like I'm going to have the best success. How I do my rankings is it becomes like an either or thing. Would you rather have this guy or that guy? And then it's almost like, it's almost like a cascade where it's like, okay, Would I rather have Cooper Cup or Jonathan Taylor? And then I pick on that, and then I pick that.

And I was like, would I rather have Jonathan Taylor or Dalvin Cook? Or would I rather have Devante Adams or Dalvin Cook? Like, that's how kind of you do the rankings. I would almost have to stack it up because, I mean, Jones was not bad to have. But here is the problem. A.J. Dillon is good as a pass catcher and he's good at the goal line. Jones is good as a pass catcher, and he's good at the goal line. Yeah.

It's one of those back rotations where it's not like, you know, where James Connor Chase Edmonds, you can say, well, you know James, James Conner is going to get the touchdown opportunities, but Chase Evans is going to catch a bunch of passes. It's not like that with Green Bay. They can truly ride the hot hand. And if there is a two, three round difference between those two backs, no matter who is in the lead, I'm probably going to end up drafting the cheaper back much more often. Yeah, I'm with you on that. And, you know, it's one of the things, like, H.A. Tillan's role is not going to go down after last year. I mean, he is only going to be more and more involved in this offense. I was just looking out this morning. It's interesting, like,

I do the either-or thing too, especially within tiers, because I love the draft from within tiers. You know, I have like a running back tier in the second round that goes into the third and so on and so forth, receiver tier in the third round that I like. And I put Aaron Jones at the end of my kind of two, three turn. I've got David Montgomery had of them, Cam Acres. I just feel more comfortable about the workloads. And obviously, the Rams offense is, you know, on par with the Packers in terms of efficiency. Montgomery's role is just so sweet. But yeah, man, I'm with you. I think AJ Dillon's going to have a big role and be a huge part of this. You know, I just wonder how off, how much are people going to get on the,

oh, I'd rather have A.J. Dylan for cheaper. And then all of a sudden, they're essentially getting drafted back to back. Yeah. Yeah. I could see, I definitely see a scenario this summer where, you know, Dylan goes from, like, the sixth round to like the early fourth or something like that, just based on hype. I certainly see that. You know, them getting drafted back to back is kind of like one of those things where I'd be okay

with that, right? Yeah. Like, I mean, just like in basketball, I feel like you're going to get half the time at A.J. Aaron Jones, half the time A.J. Dillon. It's like, it's like one of those things like, you know, you have a friends with benefits type of deal. Like, you know, if Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillan both stay healthy. They're both fine RB2s. But if one goes down and you've got one of the other, like you've got a top five running back and you've got all those benefits. Yeah. And it's just a matter of who gets. But we've seen both of the guy, both guys get it done. And that that, that Aaron Rogers being back increases the chance. that both guys are going to suit up and be good for fantasy. Also, let's also look at the fact that, you know, they have been rumored for the 437th consecutive year

to be in the market for potentially signing a big free agent wide receiver. I heard Aaron Allen Robinson out there. That hasn't been the case, but you wonder if they don't have the money. They don't have the money for your route, man. They just released it, Daria Smith. Yeah. Like, so, I mean, that's a good player who's hitting the market. So, you know, they had to cut some meat off the bus.

loan to Retain Rogers and obviously Fonte Adams. I know that we said we weren't going to speculate very much, but one thing I thought about last night, what if they, I kind of like Will Fuller. Like, what if they, what if they let NVS walk and they signed Fuller for cheap? Like, that would definitely pique the interest of everybody

on fantasy Twitter. The worst finger injury in the history of the world. I think he said like week five, you're like, did he lose a finger? Like, what's going on? I mean, like, even still, like, JPP played quicker. So, We'll see what happens.

But yeah, I mean, I could see that working out as kind of a value signing. Let's go to the other big, I guess, move here. He's back. Tom Brady has returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And literally, I think he was retired for, I think it was 40 days. He was retired. It didn't even feel like that long. But he's back.

He's playing. I mean, and Grant, this is the thing where, like, when he retired, I was like, he has literally nothing left to prove. And he retired basically. at the top of his game, leading the NFL, you know, and passing. And then you always look at it from both sides of the coin because you don't want to end up like Rathosberger, right? Right. You can't throw the ball anymore.

But when you're a competitor like Tom Brady and you look at it and you're like, dude, I'm at the top of my game. Why would I retire? They franchise Chris Godwin. Mike Evans is still there. Grunk still hasn't retired. The Buccaneers now are in and out. NFC, now it looks like it's very possible Deshawn Watson will be in that division, but they're an NFC that now lacks Russell Wilson. The NFC East is a total mess. The Cowboys have Dak Press

gun and are literally releasing every other player on the roster. It's an NFC where with Tom Brady back, instantaneously, it's the Rams and the Packers. It really is. I mean, that's the way it looks right now. And I understand, you know, the Cardinals, the 49ers can make a move here, especially if Tray Lance takes a step up. Vikings brought back Kirk Cousins, which Viking fans are going to like a lot less than fantasy players will. But I'm looking at it from a perspective with Tom Brady. I mean, right now you have to rank the Buccaneers as a top three roster in the NFC. I mean, that's a top three team in the NFC. Brady has all the answers at this point. You know, He has seen every single thing that you could possibly throw at him throughout his NFL career.

And, you know, obviously the mental side of his game was as sharp as ever last year. But, I mean, there was no drop off, Joe, in the physical aspect of his game either. I mean, he was, I was legitimately bumped to see, you know, see him retire, even kind of unceremoniously. You know, he just kind of like dipped out. You know, he had that little message. I think Schefter broke the news beforehand or whatever. But, I mean, it was just like kind of a quiet, you know, weird retirement. And I think a lot of people, myself included, were all kind of like,

eh, I don't know, man. He might get the itch come like June. But it'll like you said, it only took 40 days. He's got it in March. It's crazy. You know, they've re-signed Ryan Jensen and a lot of a center back too. You know, he signed last night after the news that Brady came back. I wonder if Allie Marpet will come out of retirement now too.

After he kind of unceremoniously retired himself a couple weeks ago. But yeah. That seems much more of a, of a, I just want to take care of my body. He's toast. Yeah. Yeah. He's just done. And I would totally respect that.

But yeah, man, they're back. And, you know, for as long as Godwin is, like, less than 100%, you know, Gronk might not be back. He probably will be. Mike Evans is, you know, I think, you know, the guy I'm going to be after a ton in fantasy drafts myself. Just, you know, I don't think he ever gets drafted too high. And, you know, any, you know, risk that Godwin's not 100% for the first four to six weeks

of the season or something. Evans is just going to get fed. And let's just see. We'll see if they make any moves at receiver. Obviously, Antonio Brown's not coming. He's not walking through that door. I don't think Bruce is planning on giving him another deal. They have some young players there, Tyler Johnson, among them,

but they could sign somebody here at wide receiver, certainly more Buccaneers. And ultimately, it looked like Leonard Fournett, by the way. I don't want to speculate too much, Graham, because this could be literally irrelevant in 10 minutes. But Leonard Fournett said, you know, it looked like he was saying goodbye. But if he comes back and he something, with the Buccaneers, especially if they don't bring back Ronald Jones.

Leonard Fournett's a top 25, like, fantasy player. No doubt about it. The thing with Fournett, though, is he's got to bang the cash register one last time. This is probably his last chance to, like, get a big contract. And the Bucks certainly don't have a ton of spending money to go out there and, you know, get, you know, overpay for Fournette. So if he does come back, the thing is he's going to have to come back on a team-friendly deal.

Let's get to the other quarterback move that happened. Carson Wens traded from the Colts to the team, excuse me, the commanders. Get it right. They are the commanders. And we have to analyze this from a fantasy perspective, Graham, and that's what you're going to do. But looking at Wence's numbers, not awful last year, you know, cut down on the turnovers, cut down on the sacks. But the fact that the Colts made this trade very clearly for a locker room perspective, after Wentz, in a way, forced his way to Indianapolis to work with Frank Reich.

The vibes are atrocious here. And now you're going to Washington. And I have all the respect in the world for Ron Rivera. But like, this is now two teams in a row who essentially have given up on Wentz for locker room reasons. Yeah. That is a really bad sign, Graham. And, you know, you sent me a quote. He was talking, I guess, to some children.

as part of one of his like events. And there is, I have nothing against religious people at all. You practice what you want. You don't practice what you want. That, you know, that never bothers me. But it's like when the quote essentially says here, and I'm going to read part of it, Graham, here. I said, okay, God, I'm going to just take the next right step.

I'm going to be obedient wherever you have me. It's just take the right. Because ultimately this isn't my life. this is God's life. I'm just living on mission for him. And essentially, and look, on the surface, I don't have a problem with what he's saying there. Right. But we have now had two teams in a row, two, like, kind of reports where Carson Wentz just refused to take accountability, both in Philadelphia and in Indianapolis. And if he just thinks everything that's happening to him is what God wants, as opposed to God saying, hey, look, man, I'm trying to show you to take accountability here.

You ever hear the old, the old, like, it's not like a story where somebody was in a hurricane in New Orleans, and they're on top of a roof, and the person prays to God to save them, and then somebody comes by in a boat, and he's like, no, God's going to save me. Then somebody comes by in a helicopter, and the person goes, no, God's going to to save me. And then the person ends up drowning. And then when he gets to heaven, he's like, God, why didn't, why didn't you save me? And God was like, dude, I sent a boat and a helicopter. What else am I supposed to do? Like, it's like Carson Wentz is refusing to take whatever signs he he thinks he's seeing to take responsibility here. And if it didn't work out in Indianapolis,

I don't see how it's going to work out in Washington personally. I'm with you. I wrote this up, and I said this in the article, but it's like, this is a sign of desperation. And I'm like, you, I respect Ron Rivera infinitely. I think, you know, I think Scott Turner's done an incredible job as offensive coordinator there, despite, you know, the just complete lack of consistency of quarterback. All of that being said, man, you're bringing in a whole wild card here in Carson Wins. And, you know, you and I were all over this in like 2017 and 18. Like he was playing like an MVP. Like he, if, you know, he didn't tear up his knee, didn't hurt his back, you know, his, maybe his career totally goes another way, and I hope it would have. But the facts are the facts.

I mean, this is a guy who couldn't make layup throws at the end of the year last year. He could not make easy throws. He was throwing into double coverage. I mean, just making legitimate rookie mistakes. And rightfully so, pissed off all of upper management probably because he was saying stuff like that to, you know, his coaches and, you know, the people he's accountable to. And, you know, I'm like you. You know, practice whatever makes you happy. Do what you want with your life. I really don't care. Just do what makes you happy as long as you're not hurting anybody else.

But at the same time, man, you've got to have some level of accountability. And I can't imagine quotes like that reflect well or when Colts fans hear that. It doesn't not. It can't reflect particularly well on whence because the end of the day, that Colts team, man, they started really bad last year, made a great run. Thanks to a really stingy defense. And obviously Jonathan Taylor, too. They made a great run to even put themselves in.

that position to make the playoffs. And all they have to do is, you know, make layup throws against the Jags and he couldn't get it done. I don't see, you know, he doesn't know any of the coaches. So he take that narrative away like we have with Frank Reich. Weapons, I think, are a lot, a lot worse off in Washington. The defense is worse. The offensive lines worse.

Man, you know, I- One game's worse. Yeah. I hope I wish him all the best and genuinely hope he can try to find a way to turn around. but I'm with you. I mean, he pissed off his teammates in Philly, got the door, split the locker room, and obviously pissed off management. And I'm sure some of his teammates in Indy, too.

The vibes are absolutely nuclear in Washington. And I got to imagine, too, Joe, they probably will not be done. They cannot go into the season thinking, you know, whence is their 17 games started? They've got to find some competition. Yeah, I mean, they still have Heineke under contract, correct? I mean, at the very least, you know Heineke's a capable backup. So I don't know if they're going to draft somebody, but that opens up a whole other can of worms because the Eagles drafted Jalen Hertz and Wentz went into a hissy fit. And, you know, I think I would love to pick Howie Rosen's brain about that because on some level, you had to have known that that was a possibility, right?

You don't do that and think knowing all you know about when. Apparently, the locker room problems with Wentz, based on what, you know, multiple people have said, LaGarrett Blunt actually was on a Washington media podcast and said that Wence and Darren Sproles literally got in a fight when both were hurt in 2017 because Wence was upset they were winning without him. Wow. And that's when the locker room problem was. And look, and I'm trying to be as fair to Wence as possible here because, I mean, he was awesome that year. Like, I mean, you go back and you watch that. There's like, yeah, maybe he had a little bit of third down luck, but you go watch his tape from 20.

17, there was nothing fluky about that. The guy was a freak. And all of the numbers show that too. I mean, he was legitimately an MVP candidate, too. And I'm with you. I mean, he had it. You know, you look for that it factor. Joe Burrow has that. He had it. And unfortunately, you know, injuries and maybe some leadership misuse of his own, man, the decline has been, it's been crazy. I got to think, you know, Carson was what, six, five, Darren Sproles is like five on a good day. I would pay to see that fight. That's is thick, though, man.

Oh, yeah. But apparently they had to be separated. That was like, when people, the report came out that it was Wenson, another injured player and somebody confronted them. Everybody just assumed it was Jason Peters. Right. Right. Oh, God.

You not want to be confronted by hand. But no, it was apparently Darren Sprouls, but, you know, it got to the point where, like, Frank Reich had to apologize to Jim Ursay for signing off on this trade or for pushing for this trade. That seems bad. That does not seem great from an organizational standpoint. So 27 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and your coach had to apologize for trading for you. And let's look at it from a statistical perspective, Graham, because people are going to be like Terry McLaren. You dug into the numbers, and there are some problematic trends with Carson Wentz as it relates to Terry McLaren.

Yeah, I think one of the best ways to kind of like not necessarily level the playing field, there's no way to really level the playing field. there's no way to really like create an apples to apples like a scenario in any in an e-fell game in my opinion but i think the best way to do it for quarterback play is just looking at how everybody plays in a clean pocket so like you know your offensive line does his job you're completely clean you get to go through your first second third read how good are you you know if you're given that environment how good are you and carson went for the last three years joe his accuracy everything every efficiency metric you look at his accuracy most importantly has gone down within a clean pocket. He's been in the bottom 30 of the league and accuracy from a clean

pocket for three straight years. And this is after the fact, you know, 2017 to 2018, he was like top 10. Efficiency spiked a little bit last year. That's probably just because he was throwing it less. Man, I mean, if you're inaccurate from a clean pocket, what do you have? And, you know, Taylor Heineke, for what it's worth was 34th of 37 quarterbacks last year in accuracy from a clean pocket. We all know what kind of season Terry McLorne had, especially late in the air, especially me. I had McClure on a ton of teams, and that was brutal down the stretch there. But, you know, we're going back to the same well with McLaren. You know, he's going to have those spike weeks where Wince and him connect on a couple deep balls and he goes for six for 125 in the touchdown.

But I got a feeling we're going to be looking back at the same really low floor and you're not really going to know when to predict when McLaurin's ceiling leaks are going to happen just because Wince has been so scattershot. Oh, how about this? by the way, Graham, it is now 12.01 p.m. Eastern. Teams have had one minute to negotiate contracts. Unbelievable. It's crazy they can get this turnaround. Just amazing work by the front office and the agents, Alex Kappa, the guard from the Buccaneers, has signed, will sign a four-year $40 million to deal with the Bengals. So Tom Brady is going to have to replace both of his guards. So that's interesting. But we can't just get too far behind ourselves because I mean, I actually want to end

this podcast soon, so like there isn't more news that's going to make us talking completely irrelevant. But let's talk about another move here. And just very briefly, Ramari Cooper traded to Cleveland now. It looks like Cleveland could be on the outskirts of the quarterback market. They just might get priced out of it and might have to go in with Baker Mayfield. But I understand Amari Cooper makes a lot of. lot of money. But when you look at the numbers, he's still really good. This is a big loss for Dallas. And I also think it's a huge downgrade for Amari Cooper's fantasy value. It is. And, you know, the big thing hanging over our heads here is, you know, what do they do with Baker? You know, Baker's on the last

year of that fifth year option. You know, if a team does trade from, his cap number is extremely friendly. I think Dan Graziano had in that ESPNP is, yeah, it's already 18.9 million full guaranteed this year, which is pretty low. I mean, Kirk Cousins just got signed for a $35 million extension. So there's some, I guess, possibility that a team could take a chance on Mayfield, especially at his low-ish cap number. But yeah, that's the thing. If they're in for Jimmy G or even Watson, they could be a dark horse for Watson maybe.

Everything goes out the door. But for right now, yeah, Baker Mayfield, man. I mean, you know, 2020 was, it looks like, you know, we're going to see these Browns Peak in 2021 and everything came crashing down last year because of Mayfield. He's severely regressed and the offense regressed with him. And for fantasy, we just have to hope that maybe Mayfield somehow regains his 2020 form or they do decide to move on and it's a big upgrade. We'll just have to see.

But for now, I mean, he's going from a top 12 team and pass rate to a bottom 12 team and, you know, a top 12 quarterback to a bottom eight quarterback. So I mean, I'm the kind of guy who likes to keep it simple. And, you know, anyway, so I said for Amari, it's not good. And let's flip it to Dallas right now because it doesn't seem like Dallas is going to be in the market for making any big additions to their off. I mean, Graham, they're in the market of subtracting from their offense. I mean, Lale Collins is probably going to get traded. Cooper already got traded. It's an offense that's going to be taking a step back. Now, apparently they're going to be resigning Michael Gallup, but he might not be ready for week one coming off the ACL.

Looks like a five-year deal for him. Dalton Schultz got franchised. And for some reason, this is one of those players who like, people yell at you if you even mildly criticized. And I wasn't even like saying the player stunk. But last year, let's call it like it is. Cini Lamb was a bust for fantasy. Yeah, especially late in the season.

Anybody that had him for those last like seven or eight weeks, I mean, he was unusable. The thing with me, Joe, is do they kind of give him a defined role? Because the last couple years, you know, he's been full time in the slot with Cooper and Gallup both healthy. But, you know, getting both those guys on the field, especially the last year at the same time, was really difficult. I'd love to see C.D. Lamb really take over as like the alpha outside receiver, not full time in the slot, and he was more efficient running routes outside last year

in terms of yards per route run, significantly more efficient. I really hope Lamb can take the next step, but, you know, I think you're fooling yourself if you think he's going to take the next step because Amar Cooper's gone. I think they've got to, you know, do something different with the way they're deploying Lamb and his skill set because, you know, for right now, for my money, I'm with you. He was extremely disappointing for fantasy last year. Yeah, I mean, and look, I think C.D. Lamb's going to be drafted as if he's about to get a massive share of target.

And that might be fair. Like, again, I'm not saying the player isn't good, but he's about to get drafted in the second round yet again, where he was a massive bus last year. Like, again, it's not to say he wasn't useful. he was almost kind of Graham, one of those players that really hurt you for fantasy because you wanted to play him. He had the opportunity to go nuts and then you keep putting him in your lineup. And he's like, oh, God, another forecatch for 50-yard game. Yeah.

And those are the players that really hurt you. Yeah, the Cowboys were so up and down last year. And it really came down to Dak. Like, Dak was, you know, one week he'd be like, oh, my God, Cowboys are going to the Super Bowl. Dax playing out of his mind. And then, you know, especially late in the year, they have that Broncos game where he was really bad in that first half. That Washington game that they squeaked out that they got up to it like, I think it was like a 21 to 9 lead or something like that. And he was really bad in the second half of that game.

So I think some of this too is, you know, not necessarily on Lamb. I think it was kind of on DAC last year. But, yeah, I'm with you. Just because Cooper's leaving, I'm not expecting the target chair to go from like 22 to 29%. I just don't think that's the way Dallas wants. wants to play. They want to kind of have, you know, three guys that are highly involved. And I think all those, you know, vacated targets that Cooper's leaving behind will go to land. They'll go to Schultz. And whenever Gallup is back to 100%, they'll go to him too.

The interesting thing is, Cedric Wilson's a free Asian, right? They've got to get a three. Because they, I don't think they've got anybody else. They've got that semi-fioco who didn't play me. He was a Cilts. Yeah. He didn't play it all last year, hardly. So, yeah, they got to get a three. Yeah. All right, Graham. Well, this was 37 minutes of, of, of, oh, by the way, Kirk Cousins re-signed with the Vikings. I think that's good for fantasy. Vikings fans aren't very happy. Great for Justin Jefferson. We love it for Justin Jefferson. Yeah. I actually, I broke down this coaching change. Kirk Cousins was like the best play action quarterback in the league last year. And you know, he's been really good. Emin O'Connell, he's from that McVeigh, you're going to run a lot of play action. I mean, yeah, maybe it all comes crashing down in January yet again for the Vikings. But hey, as long as Justin Jefferson gets his

hundred catches and we'll see if they move feeling. But I feel like that the O'Connell hiring was good for Kirk Cousins as much as Viking fans don't. Viking fans wanted them to trade for Wilson. They wanted them to trade for Watson, but it's going to be Kirk Cousins yet again. Yep. Give me some play action. Give me cousins throwing deep crossers at Justin Jefferson and will be just fine. That's the way I'm looking at it for fantasy. All right, Graham, follow him on Twitter at Graham Barfield. Follow me on Twitter at FG underscore Dolan. We'll reconvene a little bit later in the week, Graham, and just go over some of the bigger moves. I think a Deshaun Watson trade is going to happen. Let's just sign

off right now before we get anything breaking that's going to make things worse for this podcast. Let's get this in the can, ship to Kukana so he can throw it out there into the ether. Thanks everybody. Make sure you check out Graham's Fantasy Fallout series and our trackers on FantasyPoints.com will be free for everybody to read this offseason. Thanks everybody, and we will talk to you soon. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform and come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.