Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Ep. 1

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

In the inaugural episode of Take Talk, Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven O'Rourke (@callemesteveo7) give their take on likely award winners for the 2022 NFL season and also tie a bow around the end of preseason football. --- 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. This is Take Talk, presented by Fantasy Points. I'm Steven O'Rourke, and I'm my co-host, Brett Whitefield, here with me. I'm one of the lead data charters at Fantasy Points. I clock in about 30 to 40 hours of film per week. I also give the fantasy points, data stats, and players of the week, twice a week.

And Brett, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Yeah, so my name is Brett Whitefield. I've been in the football business for quite a while now. I kind of started. I played at a decently high level. And then more importantly, I started working in data analytics about 10 years ago. I think this is actually my 10th season coming up, which is kind of crazy to think about. I started my career at PFF as an entry-level charter there.

did player participation for a while, quickly turn that into a full-time gig for them. Kind of slowly built my skill set up and then eventually departed to start a data company. And I've recently focused all that energy here at Fantasy Points as we're building a data vertical. I guess data and research is the correct term. And we've got a tool coming out pretty soon here. I don't want to give any dates, but we're like insanely excited about it. I think it's probably the coolest tool we've ever seen, especially in the fantasy

community. And I think it's going to be just something that's kind of like earth-shattering for everyone. And I'm really, really excited about it. Awesome. All right. Today we figure with cut down day happening, we're going to do a little bit, a little season preview, talk about awards winners, Super Bowl favorites, contenders, and then at the end get a little bit of talk about how much we think preseason matters in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, let's just dive in award winners let's start with MVP who do you have as your top guys in that VP race this year yeah i think there's like two obvious ones um i mean shoot erin rogers is defending MVP what two years in a row now something like that is this yeah i think brady's always in the mix but

i'm not going with either of those guys even though i think they're legitimate MVP candidates i think the kind of stand alone right now i think everybody's probable probable favorite has got to be josh allen in Buffalo. That's who I have too. I mean, it's hard to ignore what they're building there. And the weapons he has around him. I mean, how can you not? Right. I mean, we all saw the throw he had to Gabe Davis in the preseason.

I know I just said we're going to talk about how preseason doesn't matter. But on a throw like that where you're 360 spinning and putting a dart on a guy's chest from 40 yards out is something you can't ignore regardless of the competition. Yeah, it's ridiculous. I mean, this is the year for Josh, I think, but the progression of his career has been incredible to watch to me. He wasn't a guy I was very high on coming out either, being completely honest about that. And just, you know, not enough can be said about his work ethic

and the way he's developed. And also, the Bill's approach at how to maximize his talent, right? I think in the past, we've seen a lot of these big-armed quarterbacks that struggle with accuracy. The kind of prevailing theme is we're going to surround him with towers, There's big six, five receivers to go up and get it. We saw this with Cam Newton and Carolina recently with Devin Funchess and Kelvin Benjamin, and it just doesn't work.

That doesn't make those quarterbacks any more accurate. And now you're just, you know, reducing that margin of error to a margin that's so slim, bad things happen. Buffalo went the complete opposite rate, right? They developed a scheme that was all about getting open throws. And then they surrounded him with receivers that are true separators. They're quick, they're fast. They started it with, you know, Stefan Diggs and John Brown and Cole Beasley.

and they've slowly added to that. And now that he's really, he's playing with a certain level of swagger and confidence to add a guy like Gabe Davis to the mix, who is that freaky body control, toe taper guy to the mix. They just kind of have a good blend of every skill set there. And they've really done a good job of surrounding Josh with guys that just, they just make it easy on them. And they use those easy throws to build his confidence. And now I would say he's a pretty accurate passer.

Yeah. And it seems like every year they kind of upgrade. they upgrade a position. You take, like you said, Stefan Diggs came in. That was a huge upgrade for him. And then you swap out John Brown for Gabe Davis, who seems to be a large upgrade there. They're going to incorporate Isaiah McKenzie and Khalil Shakir, who could potentially be an upgrade from Cole Beasley.

They definitely have a little bit more speed, a little bit more of that, you know, breakaway ability that, whereas Cole Beasley was more of that grit and grind, classic receiver that is... Classic slot. Yeah. Yeah. He'll be open in the shore parts of the field, but, you know, don't really ask for much more than that.

Right. But it's a great security. And adding, like having a guy like Isaiah McKenzie just opens up for way more motion, a lot more of the, like the ghost, the jet motion, and just even more, you know, being even more confusing to defenses and giving Josh Allen an even better chance to make plays. No, I mean, the only real big question there is they have a new offensive coordinator. and what can Ken Dorsey do? Obviously,

Daibald kind of laid out a good plan for him, but when push comes a shove, he's still the one that has to make the play calls, and does he have the chops for it? I mean, I think he does, and it's hard not to be able to make it work with that offense, but it is still a question mark. Yeah, I've heard from people in my NFL circles

that a lot of them contribute or attribute to Ken Dorsey, with a lot of Josh Allen's development. So I think there's something to be said about that. I'm not saying losing Daible isn't a big deal, but I do think keeping Dorsey there. There was a moment where it looked like he was going to leave and go with Daibal, but they retained him. I think that's a really big deal.

We're also not even mentioning Dawson, Knox, and Nanny Sanders. Right. Those guys don't suck. Right, right. Those guys are pretty good players, especially Knox. Knox is a really good modern tight end. He's just really, really good in space. He's a good separator.

He's going to get open. You can't really match up linebackers with him. He's kind of perfect for what Josh wants to do. Right. The second guy I had, I went with Justin Herbert. Come on. That's the same guy I have. I just, yeah, I mean, like, obviously Patrick Mahomes is who, like you said, it's you

have Aaron Rogers, you have Tom Brady. Yeah. You have Patrick Mahomes. Right. You can throw in Lamar Jackson. We have to see if he stays healthy this year. But like those are guys that are kind of constants at this point. Justin Herbert, I mean, I think Justin Herbert, you know, he is going to, he looks

like he's going to elevate himself to another level. He's going to go into the stratosphere. And he reminds me of Josh Allen. He's got the arm strength. I mean, what he did last year in that Las Vegas game, just throwing, putting darts on guys on third and fourth down to keep drives going. The dude has poise. He doesn't panic.

It's, I mean, it's a matter of can they do it on first and second down this year? because that third down play, like he was amazing on third down. Like, unlike anything we've ever seen. But that's not, you can't maintain that year over year. Yeah. So what do they do? What do they do this year to, you know, improve their odds, get the ball moving on first and second down?

And, I mean, like, just give Justin Herbert the ball and let him sling it. You have one of the best route runners in the NFL. You have one of the best ball winners in the NFL. You mean, Keene Allen, the best route. the best are outrunners. Mike Williams is one of the best ball winners. I mean, it's hard to argue that he does, like Josh Allen, they're both kind of set up in similar situations where they have the guys that are perfect for their game. Yeah, absolutely. I think for me, the math was obvious. It's like beyond everything Herbert can do as a player and even, you know, the way that offense is built,

it's just a lot of times MVP comes down to who is the best quarterback on the best team, right? Right. We see that a lot because some of these top guys, they're all going to have similar stats. They're all going to be 4,500 pass yards, over 30 touchdowns, good passer rating, good PFF grade. I do think that actually matters now, which is crazy. But, you know, Herbert, the way that team is built, they have a chance to be the best team in the league, or the best record in the league. That defense is insane. And that offense is ready to take a step. I just think, like I said, beyond what Herbert can do as a player, it might just come down to the fact that he's going to be a starting quarterback on a 14 and 3 team, a 15 and 2 team.

and he's going to have good stats. Right. The one concern I have with Herbert, and it's not even like a concern, it's just like if I had to make a little note, it's that his rookie season, he did unsustainable things under pressure. His stats under pressure were insane,

not replicatable. He didn't replicate it last year. But last year, he did unsustainable things on third and fourth down like you were talking about, not replicatable. I want to see Herbert just put together a season where it's kind of normal,

you know? He doesn't have to be Hercules on just, you know, obscure plays and put up these weird stats because I think he can't sustain great play for a long time. The issue I probably have with that offense is Joe Lombardi. You talked about getting off the slow start, especially in some of those first downs. Well, we saw that here in Detroit. You and I are both Detroit fans, unfortunately. I mean, that's the one thing probably holding Justin back. I hope for his sake, Joe, you know, that was five years ago.

So I hope he's well beyond that point. But I saw things last year I didn't really like. And hopefully they can move on from that. I do think the receiver core is disgusting with Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Josh Palmer. I think Palmer is going to make a big leap this year. And he's so good on the slot. I think you can see Keenan playing on the boundary a lot more. Last year, Keenan Allen's target rate when he was lined up outside was actually ridiculous.

Really? Yeah. Yeah. I mean. Much higher than when he was. he's in the slot, actually, which is crazy. Because he's kind of known as a slot-only receiver. Right.

Yeah, his efficiency, his production, his target rate was substantially higher when he was lined up on the outside last year. So I actually think maybe getting him out there and more of a full-time fantasy, not 90 to 100% of the routes, but maybe go to like a 60-40 where, you know, him, Paul, because I know Williams comes down to the slot once a while, too. So they kind of have a good setup where these three receivers are all kind of interchangeable. They can do each other's roles. And they like to use bunch formations a lot, too.

So, you know, in a lot of ways, there's multiple slot receivers in the field at a time because they're bunching guys up and hiding them. And it just changes the route tree based on their alignment, which I like. I think that's great. Hopefully they do more of that. More early down passing, I'd like to see from that offense. And he obviously gets a healthy Austin Aikler this year. Yeah. Which helps.

He brought in. Yeah, for now. They brought in Gerald Everett, which I think, you know, he's solid. I like Gerald Everett. Salad. Salad's a good way to blow you away. He's not going to blow you away, but... He's never really been used right. Then that's the thing.

He's broken. He's had games where, you know, fantasy people know. Yeah. It's like, oh, my gosh, everybody go grab Gerald Everett. It happened in Los Angeles with the Rams. It happened last year with Seattle a couple times. I think he had a, it was a game against the Bears last year. Yeah.

He kind of showed up one-on-one on the outside. Right, where it was. He spanked him pretty good. And it was one of those works like, all right, Gerald Everett, here he comes again. Yeah. And I mean, Justin Herbert hasn't really ever had a great tight end. Yeah, at least not one with Everett's skill set. Like, Everett in college was the Yak God.

Like, dude, was incredible. Right. They'd throw him screen passes and he'd break three tackles. I mean, it's, if they can get that out of him and he can be just, you know, a reliable short option and maybe start to rely on his athleticism for, to exploit some one-on-one match. I think that's a big win for that offense for sure. I'm excited though. Oh, go ahead.

I was just to say Keenan Allen had a 33% target per route run rate when lined up out wide. Yeah, that's nuts. I want to see more of that. I know everybody thinks Keenan's like the slot only guy and that's where he dominates, but just not true. Like he's good in the slot for sure. He's a legitimately functionalable wide receiver on the outside and he's really good out there. So I want to see more of that.

And I think I think Palmer's archetype sets him up. playing the slot more. So Keenan can bump outside and they can get even more production out of him. Yeah, exactly. Who's your dark horse candidate? Yeah, I'm excited about this one. It's going to be super contrarian, I think, but Jalen hurts. Okay.

I don't. I mean, yeah, I, it's not. The look on your face is like, oh. I mean, I can see where you're coming from. I don't know if I'm all the way bought in yet as far as. as him taking a team to get him to an MVP level. Sure. Yeah.

I mean, what to? Yeah, so I look at this way. I mean, it is dark horse for a reason. These are guys that are probably unlikely, but I think have a chance. Hertz, what we've known about him since he was even at Alabama, incredible work ethic, never stops working. Incredible dude, great leader, goes Oklahoma. He just gets better and better.

Every single year he improves part of his game. We saw a big stride last year from where he was in college, even though there's still plenty of holes, not saying the guy's perfect by any means. You made the offense better this year by adding A.J. Brown, like, a lot better. Yeah. Zach Piscall also, low-key, pretty good third receiving option, you know. I forgot past Scott.

Yeah. Goddard's healthy. Offensive line is good. That team is poised to win that division pretty easily, I think, especially with all the stuff going on with the Cowboys. Right. I think you're looking at a team that takes a big step forward. He's going to be the leader of that team.

MVP a lot of times comes down to stats, right? You know he's going to have the rushing totals. I think his passing numbers go way up this year. I think they're going to get a little bit less dependent on the schemed run game, a little bit more dependent on his arm, and then the efficiency is going to go way up. I mean, AJ Brown is top three receiver to me as far as talent goes. DeFonte Smith is now just.

dropping from having to be a wide receiver one to more of a second option. It's just a really good situation for Hertz. They're another team that I feel like, because Hertz and Allen have similar skill sets. Allen probably better raw tools overall, maybe a little bit more athletic, a little bit bigger of an arm, but Hertz has the big arm. He's got the legs. He really just needs to get down with running the offense efficiently. We're like processing information pre-snap.

And then just getting throw-for-throw a little bit more accurate. We saw the leap with Josh. I'm thinking if we can see the leap with Jalen this year, he's a legitimate MVP candidate. That's a big if still, but I do think there's a chance that happens. And I'm excited. And I've been at Jalen Hurts stand since he was at Alabama, so maybe I'm a little biased.

But I, yeah, I love the kid. And I think this is really his time to shine. I like what Siriani does with the offense there. He clearly knows what Jalen Hertz can and can't do. And he caters to that. Yeah. Which I think was a big question last year. Not a lot of people thought.

I mean, he had some of those press conferences where people were already selling Siriani. But I think he showed like that he can put Hertz in positions to succeed. It's not everyone can be as good as Dan Campbell in press conferences. I'm sorry. No, it's not possible. But, you know, he's no Bill Belichick. Yeah, I mean, a healthy Dallas Goddard, too, for Hertz.

Yeah. Goddard is, he's an incredible player. I love Goddard this year. Yeah. He's an absolute monster. With AJ Brown, like you said, with AJ Brown in there, I am super high on Goddard. I think that those two open up the field in a way that Jalen Hurts didn't have in any way last year. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, who was running their slot routes last year? Cuez, some combo of Cuez and Jalen Rager. Right. And Cuez is fast, and he'll still provide that function for the offense this year. Deep threat. But they're going to be so much better in the slot this year. Cuez isn't a guy you're going to pin a ball on in the middle of the field. No, not at all.

Not at all. Well, dude, so you kind of disagreed with my hurt state. Who do you got for Dark Horse? I have. It's going to be tough, but I mean, I think there's a path here for Derek Carr. Okay. I think that. I'm here for it, but you have to sell me on it.

It's hard, like, it's hard to ignore the weapons that he has around him. I think that, like we said, it does sometimes come down to the best player on the best team. But Derek Carr could put up insane numbers this year. Darren Waller's top three or four tight end. Is Darren Waller healthy? I mean, he just signed a new contract, so I'm sure that that. Oh, is that official? I don't know if it's official, but I heard that it's coming.

I think money heals a lot of things. I did see the GIF, the meme or whatever. Waller in a wheelchair, Sanjury contract stands up. Well, I'm ready to go. And you have Devante Adams, who's pretty definitively, I mean, you can make it argument for other guys, but he's the best wide receiver in the NFL. Pretty definitively, yeah, at least for another year or two.

Hunter Renfro is, I mean, he's continually undersold in the slot, but, again, he wins a route. He makes catches. He's reliable. I just think that with that, with those weapons, I think that Derek Carr could put up astronomical numbers. And their defense isn't great. They have great front four.

They barely have to pressure. They barely have to run any blitz. They get so much pressure with-Crosby and Chandler-Jones. They get so much pressure with their front-four. I think they were one of the lowest blitz rates in the NFL. Do they still have Yanik, too? No, Yanics is in Indianapolis now. Okay.

But the defense isn't great, which means I think that they're going to get into a decent amount of shootout games. That's a good point. And that's where I like Derek Carr because he's shown that he can progress every year. Like he seemingly improves. It may not be leaps and bounds like we see with like a Josh Allen. But I think that he shows improvement every year when they give him better weapons. He utilizes him. I think that being able to target Devante Adam.

over Brian Edwards is Stop. Quite an increase there. You mean Jerry Rice slash Calvin Johnson slash Randy Moss, Brian Edwards, that guy? The legend, the legend, Brian Edwards, yeah. The combination of all the best receivers of all time. Stunningly, I believe that Devante Adams

is a little bit better of a weapon for him. But I just think that in that division, they're going to play high-flying offenses. I don't, their secondary is not that great. I think they're going to get picked apart a little bit. But like I said, that just, I think that gives Derek Carr an opportunity to get in a shootout. And, you know, if they're a team that wins 11 games, because I think that, you know, they could, in that division, it's, you know, it's going to come down to who's the, you know, obviously who's the best team on that day. but it could be a lot of coin flip games.

And if Derek Carr, you know, Derek Hart throws for 5,200 yards and 40 touchdowns. I mean, and then he brings the Raiders, he brings the Raiders to the playoffs. I don't think you can ignore him as a candidate. I mean, I think his odds are a little bit long, which is why I think that he'd be, you know, kind of a good play.

Just again. Well, like I said, that's the definition of dark. course, right? And so, like, yeah, I, I just think that, like I said, Derek Carr could lead one of the top offenses in the league. Yeah, let me interject for a sec, because I got a lot of thoughts about this. For one, I want to state that I'm a Derek Carr-truther as well. He's one of the, I think he's one of the most underrated QBs in the league. He used to have massive panic issues early in his career. I feel like he's over that. last year, think about all the turmoil that was going on in Las Vegas last year, between

Gruden and rugs and all kinds of stuff going on. Mayock. Mayock. Did one of the corners make a video from threatening somebody on the team? Was it Arnett? Yeah. I mean, it was a lot of distractions, and Carr just buckle down and led that team to the playoffs. I do really like Derek Carr.

I guess my issue, actually let me back up again. And I do think everyone is underrating the Raiders right now. I think generally speaking people look at that team as the clear fourth team in that division. Right. I don't think it's true. I don't think you can elevate the Broncos over them yet. I don't think so either. Yeah.

The Chiefs haven't exactly had a good offseason either. And I know they have Mahomes and I'm not discrediting them. They have a great coach as well. I don't even think you can pencil in. for sure the chiefs are better than the Raiders. And that might be a hot take. My point is, I think the Raiders, they have a chance to get to a spot where they finish second that division.

In the Chargers, I mean, we love the Chargers, but it's all paper talk right now. Right. It's just on paper, they look like one of the best teams in the NFL. That doesn't mean anything right now. Right. So I do think saying that the Raiders are the clear-cut fourth best team in the division is ridiculous, and I don't think anyone knows that.

I think that team has a chance to be really good. That said, They're a team that Josh Daniels play caller Josh McDaniels did they say Josh Daniels not bad but

listen we've watched this guy whether it was New England or Denver and I don't know if he just has so much Bill Belichick in him especially when he's calling plays for Bill if he's just you know performing to Bill's will but this need for an old school

run attack is insane and I really hope they didn't go get DeFante Adams and give up what they did and then sign them to the contract they did to then just run the ball on every single first and second down for all of eternity. Because that would drive me insane. But that's what I'm worried about with Derek specifically, is that this team is just too old school-minded with McDaniel's call in the plays. I think the Earhart Perkins offense has potential to be really, really good.

And I'd like this. I want to see McDaniel's new iteration of it if there is one. He tried some new stuff with Tebow didn't really work. That may not be his fault. Well, Tebow was his guy, though. Yeah, that's true. But, yeah, so I want to see the next evolution of what he does with that. But I'm so worried about it.

I'm also worried about that offensive line. It's pretty close to garbage. Yeah. And so when you're saying things like Car gets to 5,200 yards and 40 touchdowns, Yeah, in theory, if he does that, he's an MVP candidate, no question. I have a hard time believing he gets there with that offensive line. I could be wrong, though, but that's just my only objective. But I, you know.

The hope is that they, if they're going to run the ball, hopefully, like you said, they don't run it as much as, as much as, you know, a Belichick team does. But, you know, hopefully that leads utilization of play action and kind of helping the offensive line out a little bit. Yeah. But yes, that was one of my reservations, too, is the offensive line is kind of a, you know, they're a bottom five to ten unit in the NFL. Yeah. Well, right on, man. That's not a bad call, though.

I might disagree, but it's not a bad call. You want to do defensive player of the year? Yeah, let's move on to defensive player of the year. I mean, I think maybe I'm wrong, but I think we probably agree on number one. I mean, we have to. I mean, it's Aaron. Yeah. It's Aaron Donald.

I mean, I don't think we really need to. We don't even have to say it. It's just Aaron Donald's number one. He'll be number one. As long as he's in the NFL, it's just the way. I mean, he's the best defensive player of our generation. Yeah. And until he's not playing at that level, he's just automatically just been the number one for me.

Right. Yeah. So with that, who's your number two? I went with the reigning champ, T.J. Watt. I'm not, yeah, I'm just not, I don't see an outcome unless he gets hurt where he's not pushing 20 sacks again. I mean, their scheme is totally designed around giving him free looks too. It's not only that. And you know the voters, they love sack totals, right?

Yep. So if he's pushing 20 sacks again, I just don't see a world where he's not a legit candidate. He's also, he's super talented too. So he gets a ton of cleanup sacks. or unblock sacks because of scheme. And then he's also good enough to win those one-on-one matchups. So I'm not fretting a loss in production from him. He's also very good against the run.

He can do some things in coverage. Not that the voters even care about that, but he's just, he truly is a great player. He's the best edge rusher Pittsburgh's probably had. So the scheme has been around forever that they use. I mean, they've had a lot of guys come in, James Harrison, you know, Lamar. Woodley, even Bud Dupree, like, had some productive seasons there.

But, like, those guys won as a result of the scheme more than Watt does, I think. Watt is legitimately a beast. And I just, I think he's a, he just won it. I mean, he's coming off of a defensive player of the year campaign. So I think we have to consider him. What about you? I had my number two is Joey Bosa. Okay.

I think that, again, he's a guy that, Health-wise has not been there every year, but I think that if he stays healthy, like we said earlier, the Chargers are one of the best rosters across the NFL. He gets to work alongside Cleo Mac, who also has his own health issues as well. But let's say those two stay healthy all year. I mean, Joey Bosa could see sack numbers up there with T.J. Watt. Yeah. Just because it's one of those things where, okay, you've got Kalil-Mack on one side, Joey Bosa, on the other.

What you just said is the key, though. It is. It comes down to health. No, Kalil-Mack. Right. Well, yeah, like I said, it comes down to health. Yeah. Cleo-Mack being healthy.

Well, true. And Joey Bosa being healthy. I mean, I think that those are the two things standing in their way. When's the last time Kalil-Mack was fully healthy? Was it when he won a defensive player of the year? Probably. In 2016. And I think even when he's healthy.

healthy, he's not necessarily always healthy. Right. He plays through a lot of injuries. Right. But I just think that, you know, their interior defensive line worries me a little bit. Yeah. But Joey Bosa, I mean, he's a winner. He wins outside.

He can get sacks. I think that, like you said, voters look at sack numbers. And Joey Bosa, if he led the league in sacks this year, I think that he could, he's right up there in the conversation. I think, like you said, he's solid in the run. he's going to be down in a stance. He doesn't do as much coverage as like, you know, the guy like a T.J. Watt.

But thank God for that. Yeah, yeah, we wouldn't want to see him out there. But just coming down to sack numbers, he's solid against the run, just bolstering that defense altogether. The more you put good players around guys, the more you give an opportunity for a star like Joey Bosa to shine. Yeah, and he's going to have a super high win rate too.

and so, you know, it basically comes down to how many of those wins is he going to convert to sacks. And we credit, and we said it earlier. He gets two games against the Raiders this year. That's true. Two games against the Raiders. So he was my Dark Horse, Bosa. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. The only reason I'd say Dark Horse is because he hasn't really had that blow-up sack year yet. Right. He's been phenomenal his entire career, but he hasn't had that blow-up sack year. But his best years, though, were when he had a prime Melvin Ingram across from him. Those two, you know, I mean, I remember when they just completely destroyed Baltimore in the playoffs, just shut down Lamar Jackson. Right.

Yeah, that was like that. That was a great game. Yeah. What was that? 2019 that happened? 2020, maybe? I think it was 19. Okay.

But, yeah, I mean, he didn't play with that last year. He didn't have a competent player across from him. Uchenna, Noah. Boso's, he's fine. He's not, he's just not at that level, though. Kaleel Mac is healthy. I mean, who are you blocking one-on-one? You have to pick somebody, and a lot of plays that's going to be both guys, because that's just how offense is today.

Bosa is going to have a great chance to start converting that super high win rate of his to tons of sacks. So that's why I don't as a dark horse, because I think this could be the year he has that breakout blow-up season. What were you thinking for a dark course? My dark course, I kind of went between two guys and super long guys, but I think two guys that could be talked about. I was deciding between Fred Warner and Derwin James.

Oh, interesting. Again, I think Derwin James is a Swiss Army knife on defense. He can guard in the slot. He can come down in the box. He can drop deep if you want to. They're not going to do it often, but you can set them on the bullet. a bliss. He's just a good player. And I

think that, again, with the talent they have on defense, it's another one of those, similar to what I said with Joey Bosa for Derwin James. If you put enough good guys around them, you give him an opportunity to shine. You can put J.C. Jackson on an island. Hopefully he...

They wouldn't even mention him with the Bosa talk either. Right. Hopefully you can put him on an island out there. And you kind of give Derwin James a little bit more freedom to roam and play similar to how, you know, similar to how he and J. LaRansy and those guys played over in Florida State a little bit and just let them command that defense from the backfield and make plays. And so I don't think it'd be crazy to see Durwin James have a season

where, you know, he racks up 80 plus tackles, 10 plus tackles for loss and a couple interceptions and all of a sudden the charges are top five defense and you can clearly point to him being a leader of the defense. Yeah. Then I think that he, you know, he's a guy that you would want to put in the conversation. I, you know, obviously more recently it's obviously gone to defensive linemen just because you can. Yeah. Or the tackle leader of the NFL.

Yeah, you can point. Yeah. With Luke Keekely back in 2013. team, but you can, you know, point to those. But I just think that Derwin James has an opportunity to affect the game at all levels. And, I mean, Brandon Saley puts guys in positions to make plays. That's his thing, right? Right.

So no objections for me on Derwin James. Big objection for me on Fred Warner, though. Warner's coming off an egregious season. He was terrible last year. I like the player, and he was good before that. Right. I have a hard time reconciling what I saw on tape last year coming into this year, him turning that into a defensive player of the year campaign.

I'm just putting it as he could, like, I think he could be, like, a leader of tackles. Leader of tackles, okay. And that being, again, San Francisco is an opportunity to be a top five unit easily. The biggest thing for me was just thinking that, okay, he's playing behind. probably one of the best defensive lines in the NFL, inside out, inside out, one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. And that's going to keep him free of blockers. He's going to have free runs at running backs for tackles.

He's previous to last year, he had been solid in coverage. He's fast. He's a sideline, a sideline guy. Sure. I just was kind of, I went the route of, you know, I could see him leading the league in tackles, San Francisco being a top five unit. and, you know, their defensive line kind of picks away at each other because they're all so good that nobody kind of, you know, comes out from their group to be that shining star.

Obviously, they have Nick Bosa, but they have enough talent on that line that sack numbers could be evenly distributed. And I think Fred Warner could lead the league in tackles. Like you said, tape last year was it great. I'm kind of, you know, banking on a little bit of a bounce back year. just because last year seemed a little bit more like an aberration than the norm. And so just kind of playing numbers there and saying that I think he could lead the leading tackles. He's decent in coverage. He could pick up a couple interceptions.

In theory, he's decent in coverage, right? We've got to see him get back to that. But if he does get back to that, and he can haul in some interceptions. That will definitely help his case for sure. All right, moving on. We, dude, we're just flowing right now. 35 minutes in, we've talked about two awards. All right.

I think it's interesting. I think that this is one of the more, like, I don't know, in recent, it feels like one of the more exciting football seasons. Oh, yeah. In a while. I don't know if it's just the amount of talent and the talent movement. The turnover, I think, is just kind of like. It's creating more, less continuity throughout the league, which just makes it more interesting.

So it's easy. You know what league has had a lot of success with that? The NBA. I mean. Their superstars are like all over the map all the time. I never thought it would work in the NFL, but it seems like it's working. Who have we been talking about? Who makes a headline once a, I should say this, who has made a headline almost once a week for the last like four months?

It's kind of a grand. I mean. and NFL players are kind of like they see that. Yeah. That they have a little bit more of that autonomy and the ability to. You've seen a lot more guys just demand their outcomes. Right. Like Tyree Kill, sign me to this contract or I'm out.

Right. They know how good they are. Okay. Devonthe Adams. Demanding a trade. The player power movement. Yeah. So it's cool.

Anyways, let's blast through the rest of these because we still got a lot to talk about. Offensive player of the year. Full disclosure, dude. I didn't do any quarter. for this because I tried to stay away from me either just because we covered eight quarterbacks in the MVP. Yeah. So I just went skill players for this. No, that's not true. Yes, I did. Okay. I thought I had an offensive line, but I backed off of it. Um, you almost went an offensive line. I did, just to be contrarian. Because there is one guy. We'll just mention him. Why not? We're already,

we're already there. Trent Williams, he's the one one offensive line in the league where he plays at such ridiculous level that he should have won it last year. The things he put on tape last year was ungodly. He legitimately looked like the Incredible Hulk or like he's been taking compound V. I don't know if you guys watched the boys, but like unbelievable in pass pro and just absolutely demolish people in the run game. And you know how important that run game is to the San Francisco's offense. So anyways, that's my Trump Williams take. He deserved it last year. He's probably going to deserve consideration this year. But we will talk about more exciting. fighting players for the sake of the pod.

My first guy is Justin Jefferson. That was mine. Was it? It was. Dude, that's so funny. I mean, yeah, go ahead. You're going to say probably the same things I was about to say. Just look at the first two years of Justin Jefferson's career and the carnage he left on the field behind him.

Despite in a rookie season, Mike Zimmer doing everything he could not put him on the field. Now, to be two, two, full seasons later, you have an offense. It's going to be catered to Justin Jefferson. They're going to be playing a lot more 11 personnel. The run rate is going to likely go down. This is an

analytics driven team now. No more old school, Zimmer, rah, rah, and then who's the GM's name there? He's got Detroit ties. I can't remember. Spieland. Rick Spieland. Yeah, that's it. And you know, Rick did a pretty good job there, actually, so I'm not

even coming down on him, but just, it was a very old school approach. And they have Quasi, right? Yeah. That's his name? Yeah. And now this team is set up to fry people on the past game. And that's where Kirk thrives, man.

His best years, I thought, from a throw-for-throw perspective, was in Washington when he was able to spread the ball around a little bit more. But I think Jefferson's set up, even if he maintains the target rate he's had, that pass rate's going to go up enough where his production is going to go up even more. And it's already been at absurd levels. I think you're legitimately looking at like an 1,800-yard 15 touchdown season from Jefferson. And if he puts that up, I don't see why you don't just crown him now. Yeah.

I mean, he does have competition that we'll get to. I mean, Kevin O'Connell did it. I mean, he just helped do it with Cooper Cup. Yeah. Well, and that's the competition, too. Cooper Cup is my number two. Cooper, okay. Yeah.

My number two, I just, I threw in Jonathan Taylor. I can see it. I honestly don't love it, even though I chose it. I don't love it, but again, I think their offensive line will improve. Quentin Nelson was hurt a lot last year. He's a huge factor. They have one of the better centers in the NFL. Kelly is he's good.

And I think that that offense kind of runs through him. I think that they have an opportunity to have a more potent pass attack with Matt Ryan, way less volatility there. And I think that that opens up the opportunity for Jonathan Taylor to have more open run lanes to... Also, more opportunities in the red zone. Right. Which this could come down to being a touchdown stat, right? Right.

We also know this from, not to steal your thunder, because this is your guy. But when we did summer review, Chris and I, one thing that was glaringly obvious, and we actually went back several seasons to check this out because we noticed on tape watching Kyle Pitts is that Matt Ryan is allergic, allergic, to throwing into the end zone.

And I thought maybe it's just Pitts as a rookie, he doesn't trust him, whatever. No, we went back. We watched all those, like the Julio years were, you know, 1,500 yards, five touchdowns. Yeah, it wasn't Julio's, problem. Matt Ryan won't throw to the end zone. It's actually crazy. Even all these seasons where Ridley had a 10 touchdown year, Roddy White did. We went back that far, guys. Roddy White.

These were, a lot of these plays were 40, 50-yard plays that ended up being touchdowns. Crazy touchdown luck. Matt Ryan, inside the red zone, will not throw the ball into the end zone. Go get it close. What is the official stat we actually came up with? Over the last decade, I think it was the last decade, only out of 130, three qualifying quarterbacks. Only two quarterbacks have a lower end zone throw rate than Matt Ryan does. Right. So I know everyone, especially in the fans community, everyone's pumping Michael Pittman. I think Pittman's due for a breakout, but it's going to be between the 20s. Right. I don't think that touchdown number's going up like they wanted to. Right.

But that opens the door for Jonathan Taylor. There's a chance this dude has freaking 30 touchdowns this year. Because they're going to be in the red zone and Ryan won't throw it there. So they're going to have to bash it with Taylor. And when you get to the two-yard line, I mean, you're going to give the ball to Jonathan Taylor. Yeah. And Jonathan Taylor has breakaway ability. He can, you know, he's going to break his 20 plus yard runs.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He'll still get those. He'll still get those. Those are going to happen. I think that he'll, they're going to utilize naive hinds a little bit more in the passing game, which could kind of steal from his touches. But it doesn't matter.

I mean, the bulk of it. He had, I think it was over 12. It was 1,211 yards after contact last year. Yeah. It's absurd. It's absurd. It, like, the guy is a pure runner. Yeah.

And, yeah, like, the touchdown numbers could be there. The yard is just most likely going to be there. Again, their offensive line is healthier. I think that. Yeah, I mean, it's, Nelson's probably the best guard. Just repeating the same points I had said earlier that better passing game opens up the run game.

they still are going to kind of run that offense through Jonathan Taylor because they know what they have and Matt Ryan's old. Yeah. He's getting old. He doesn't, you know, he's still a good quarterback. Don't think you're wrong. And I think he's a better quarterback for that team than Carson Wentz. Best quarterback they've had in Reich's era, correct? Yeah.

Wright came in after Lepp retired. That revolving door that they've had in the last four years. You know, the has-men's? Who is the four-wents again? Rivers. Rivers isn't a bad quarterback, but he was washed when they had him. No, and yeah, like Matt Ryan offers a little bit more under the center work and things like that than Wednesday and Rivers offered. So that was, yeah, that was why I like Jonathan Taylor.

Nice. Who's your dark horse? Or you know, I forgot, you're number two. Oh, my number two? Well, I think you just convinced me that it's Taylor. But my two was cup. Okay. But the more we just talked this out, I'm like, I don't know, Taylor's got a legit shot.

The Naheim Hines stuff does concern me a little bit because like... I mean, they said it. They did say it. They did say it. We don't want to rely on Taylor as much this year. Right. Obviously, you know, that can all go to the wayside when you get into the nuts and bolts of it. And Hines is legitimately good, too.

Oh, he is. He's a threat. So that is the one concerning thing. But my number two is Cooper Cup. And we don't have to say much about this because Cup did it all last year. Yeah. He's a machine. The one thing possibly holding him back is a healthy.

health with Matthew Stafford. We've seen this in Detroit too, not to always reference every former Detroit player in our experience with them. But when he's hurt, he does not play well. No. He doesn't play through injuries. He does it. Yeah, he does it.

He does not like to sit, which is great, but he doesn't play well through injuries. And so if he's really got something going on, that could be a problem long term. It makes me wonder if he's going to be on a pitch count every game too. Like, are they going to run the ball 40 times just to keep Stafford's arm? healthy? I'm not sure. That's the one concerning thing, right? But the other, I guess the one B of concerns is

Alan Robinson is a very good receiver. I'm so excited for that. And he's also Stafford's preferred archetype in receiver. Yeah. Caledon. Calvin Johnson, Kenny Kennedy, Marvin Jones. These are go up, win at the, you know, catch point guys. also, Robinson's never had a quarterback as good as Stafford.

Not even close. I mean, Christian Hackenberg at Penn State was probably his best quarterback he's ever had. And Christian Hackenberg, spoiler, terrible. So Stafford is definitely, you know, the best guy he's ever played with. I think there's a chance he has a great season. So are they going to sustain two ridiculous campaigns? So my only two concerns. But my dark horse moving on is this is a true dark horse too,

because he doesn't play running back. He doesn't play wide receiver. Okay. Take a guess, man. Doesn't play running back, doesn't play wide receiver. I'm guessing you're going tight end. I am. I don't think you'd go Kyle Pitts.

I think Kelsey? No. Mark Andrews. Okay. I should have known that, actually. You love Mark Andrews. I love Mark Andrews. And I know his production last year was crazy.

Would he have 1,400 yards? and like a huge, large amount of touchdowns. But, and I know he benefited a lot from positive game scripts. Ravens' defense wasn't what it normally is. They were down a lot. They had injuries at running back. Running game wasn't the same. I don't care.

Mark Andrews is so freaking good. Seriously, he's so freaking good. That offense runs through him. I went back and I was kind of watching all the tight ends, just trying to get a good. feel for where we're at because tight ends always really especially in the fantasy world it's like hard to predict tight ends right yeah um and kelsey's been out the top for so long it's like i want to know who the next girl gault kelsey is it's it's pitts andrews for sure right but besides that

i watched tape and all these guys and i already liked anders going into it and i just came away just blown away yeah there isn't anything that he cannot do from from a past game weapon standpoint yeah split out wide, running on the slot, in line, it does not matter. He will destroy corners. He will destroy safeties. He will destroy linebackers. I feel the same way about Kyle Pitts, but I think Pitts is a year away still because that offense is in weird condition.

And quarterback play. And quarterback play. Not a Lamar is not exactly the best quarterback to have, to have a breakout season that gets you offensive player of the year award because he's just, you know, he's not the accurate guy in the world, but I do think Andrews is that good where there's a chance, you know, he could build on last year's numbers and I think he could break 10-end records. I'm that bullish on him. Actually, I'm so bullish on him.

I just traded for him in a dynasty league and I got him from you. Yep, that's right. Even though he basically won me the league last year. I forgot about that. You did win the league, didn't you? Yeah, I mean, Mark Andrews. You beat me. I did.

But yeah, Mark Andrews, I mean, He can line up out wide, he can line up in the slot, he can line up as an inline tight end. He's one of the best, he had some of the best numbers in the NFL, regardless of position for a receiving option. Does it? Yard proverbs insane anywhere. Tight end, yeah, from every spot. He did it from every spot. Wide, slot, in line, doesn't matter.

Yeah. He produced. Yeah. And so I can see that. Like you said, it'll be interesting to see, you know, as their defense is healthier this year, if they throw the ball as much. And I think, you know, we'll see Rashad Bateman breaks out a little bit. And, I mean, I feel like a lot of Mark, my worry is that I feel like a lot of Mark Andrews yardage last year came with backup tight ends. Or not sorry, backup quarterbacks.

With Huntley. A lot of people have said that, yeah, towards the end of the year, he had a couple of monster games. Huntley at quarterback for sure. I want to dispute that. Only threw it to him, it feels like. But when you're that good. I think vacated targets is a terrible stat that gets way overused on

Twitter, especially. But there's a lot of vacated targets there too. Yeah, Brown is gone. Sammy Walken. I think they lost two, three, and four, actually. I'm blanking on who the fourth guy is. But anyways, Baitman's set up for a big impact this year. He's very good, too.

But that offense goes through Andrews. I think they realize that they paid the man. I think he's, you know, he's primed to keep that train trucking. I don't know. Should we move on? I was just to say, my dark course, I just because I want to touch on him real quick is Aaron Jones in Green Bay. I think that Aaron Jones could have a huge year. And I know AJ Dillon is there.

know AJ Dillon had like 800 rushing yards last year and he'll get the ball a little bit more, but it is Aaron Jones's, um, his versatility in the passing game. In week eight last year when they had, um, when they, when Devante Adams was out, they put Aaron, they put Aaron Jones running routes, like 40% of his routes came from the slot out wide or in line. Like, they can use him everywhere. And Rogers loves his slant game. Yeah.

I think Aaron Jones can run that slant game. You're not wrong. With him. Like, he's a great receiver. And on it, like, Adam's leaving is going to be the best thing for him because they don't have a clear number one receiver. Right. They don't have a great tight end.

Like, Rogers predicates his game on trust, and he trusts Aaron Jones. And Aaron Jones, I mean, he'll, you know, if he, he could be a thousand and a thousand guy. I 100% believe that. You're giving me a goosebumps. 100% believe he could be a thousand, thousand, a guy, thousand rushing, thousand receiving. I mean, like, he just, he's a good runner. He's always, he's always near the top in yards per attend. Green Bay's offensive line, again, should be Bakhtiari's back, we hope, and should be healthy.

That's huge for their run game and pass game. And I just think that Aaron Jones won't leave the field. He may not always be coming out of the back field, but he's not going to leave the field. They're going to use him everywhere. And, you know, hopefully they have a couple receivers that break out. I know your guy, you're hoping for your guy, Christian Watson, to establish himself there a little bit this year as a rookie but i just think that with his positional versatility on like along the wide receiver positions i think that he could be poised for a huge

year i agree i i didn't really he actually never crossed my mind i don't think when i was thinking about this um but we talked about the red zone potential with with jonathan taylor but dude Jones is crazy red zone potential I mean honestly he's already been ridiculous in the red zone in the last three years

I mean opportunity is just going to go up and yeah I think it's a pretty good call man and like the nice thing about having AJ Dylan there is that they're going to use AJ Dylan as that bruiser

pounded in the middle used those thighs to just work through guys and then let Aaron Jones run outside zone, outside concepts, get them in the past game, work short game with them, and have that one-two combo with Rogers that Rogers loves of having the quick passing game and just letting a receiver go to work in the open field. And Aaron Jones, his best work is in the open field. So that's where I think that someone has to catch the ball for Aaron Rogers,

because Aaron Rogers is going to produce. It's guarantee. it's just a matter of who's on the receiving end now because Adams is gone and I think Aaron Jones is going to the trust thing is so important for Rogers too can't be stated enough actually yeah and he has that with Jones for sure I mean Rogers and Brady are operating the same yeah you know operate from the same elk where it's like I'm not going to throw them all if I don't trust you and he trusts Aaron Jones so for sure I think that that I think he could have a really really breakout this year all right should we move on to just staying the offense offensive rookie of the year. Sure. Let's hit the rookies quick. Yeah.

We're 53 deep and we got a lot of talk about still. Yep. All right. Offensive rookies. We might be pretty similar here. I don't know. We've had discussions about rookies and I think we think similarly about a lot of them. But what are you thinking?

I went one. I actually kind of went a little bit against my own. I went one, Drake London. Me too. I went to Reese Hall. I don't know how much. I just, the opportunity,

I think like they have Michael Carter there. I don't think they truly believe in Michael Carter. That's why they took Free Sale. And I'm going to throw in Trelaenbergs. Oh, my God. You would do that. You're kidding, right? I have to get you going a little bit.

Maybe if we have time, we'll hit Berks in a minute. For real, though, who's your? My Dark Horse. is Wondale Robinson. Oh, that is the dark course of all dark horses, because I kind of forgot he existed. I, yeah, I mean, Kenny Galladay's a shadow of himself. Who? Exactly.

I mean, I don't even think he cares anymore. He's the definition of cashing a paycheck right now, it looks like. But I just, like, he's fast. They're going to, I think they're going to utilize him in a lot of different ways. Yeah. Canarius Tony's health is in question. Like that, again, it's one of those things where someone's got to catch the ball. Yeah.

Sequin Barclay can only get used so much. And, I mean, I hope Sterling Shepard's back because he's a good player. But, and I hope that he stays healthy. But I just think that they're going to use Wondale Robinson. And he can break. He can, he's a breakaway guy. He can make plays. And, you know, if enough happens and or, I mean, I just.

I don't love this offensive rookie class. Okay. I don't know. Like, I don't love it, but I just think that, you know, if he produced enough, he can be in the conversation and they can play for it. Okay. My concern with McKenzie, we'll do this backwards. We'll start Dark Horse because we're kind of on that topic.

So my concern with McKenzie, or did I say McKenzie? Yeah. You know why said McKenzie? Because they're the same player. They're the same player. And it's the same play caller. And that's my concern, is that Davel sees Wondell Robinson as Isaiah McKenzie. Okay.

And he did nothing with Isaiah McKenzie for three years. That's true. So that's my concern. I also think Wondell's college profile was a little bit fraudulent. Kentucky was pretty good at getting him matched up with safeties one-on-one against a lot of quarters looks. I saw a lot of quarters looks. A lot of the deep balls Wondell caught were against really bad safeties, man. Like really, really bad.

And, like, you give a slot receiver with the mobility like Wondell against some of these really bad safetys playing quarters. He's going to win that every time. He's going to have a two-way go. Yeah. And he's going to break their ankles. We just saw it a lot. It doesn't mean he's not a good deep threat. I just, I haven't seen it tried and true, like you would like to.

Yeah. And his deep receiving profile on paper was good. When you put on the tape, it wasn't actually that good. That's my big concern with him. I think early in his career, I think he's more one-dimensional than people want to think he is. He is a jitterbug. He'll make guys miss, good in the open field. He does have that going for him.

It would be a true dark horse thing for him to win. But like you said, though, they're just, I mean, they're just, I mean, what? Like, Kenny Galladay, I mean, Shepard has always hurt. as well. He's just coming back from an injury, in fact, in this base golf camp, right? I think he just returned either early, now it would have been early last week. Tony, like, Tony's incredibly talented, but one, there's some overlap there, right, with Tony and Wondell. I think Tony can play on the outside, but he's definitely best suited to play on the slot, and Wondell's certainly not an outside guy.

So, a little concern there, but that said, they both thinks Wondell's maybe like a combination, of McKenzie and Cole Beasley, like the way he used Cole Beasley. Cole Beasie caught, like he had a hundred ball all season, right? In Buffalo? Or close to it. He for sure had over 80.

Yeah. For sure over 80. Yeah, you get into that territory. He's for sure going to be in the match. Yeah, 112 targets. Okay. So that's, yeah, that's it. We'll go all the way back to the top with London.

London was my number one guy. Quarterback play there is going to be suspect. It's the only thing that's going to hold him back. Yeah. But the dude has the making. This rookie class. especially with where the guys landed, there isn't like one stand, like one for sure,

this guy is, there's no quarterbacks for one. That's that they're going to push for it. Normally it's a quarterback award, right? I don't think Pickett's pushing for a rookie of the year. No, I don't, yeah. So London is, I guess, the next guy for me. He was my favorite guy,

one of my favorite guys in the class. I think he's awesome. Yeah. So just on him being awesome is why I put him there. I have no idea what that office is going to look like this year, though. Right. My number two guy was actually George Pickens. Oh, okay.

I guess it sort of contradicts what I just said about Pickett, right? Because they're kind of attached to each other in a lot of ways, except for the fact that Tribusky could probably play most of the season. Right. But Pickens, super talented guy, I think pure talent-wise, he was probably a top 20 player in this draft class. Yeah. Some off-field stuff is kind of why he dropped.

Yeah. That we really don't. It's been so vague. It's just off-field. We don't know what it is, but it's off-field. Anyways. And he was injured most of the year last year, so he didn't have a ton of tape. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, his best tape was probably from his freshman year, and that's also concerning a little bit, because that was a while ago at this point. But Pickett's is so talented, man, and looks like he's earned a starting job there already. And we know Pittsburgh drafts receiver as well. Not to, like, rest your hat on that, but there's an opportunity. To be really, really good there. Proof is in the pudding in Pittsburgh.

Yeah. Yeah. And Chase Claypool, he's going through position change. I think he'll be effective as a big slot. I thought he was kind of more of a big slot coming out anyway. So perfect for the way I viewed him coming out. Deontes is a great outside receiver. But shoot, they threw the ball a lot last year.

Yeah. So actually the year before that, too. Deontay Johnson was the, I think he was the second most targeted receiver in NFL. Yeah, like 158 or something like that? 169. That's crazy. Yeah, he's a little, too, so you're not probably wanting to give him 170 targets year over here. Right.

I just think Pickens is an opportunity. He also does things Deonti doesn't do. Like, Pickens is like crazy, freaky body control, toe taps. And when you have a guy, like, Trubisky throwing the ball, like, he wants to just recklessly throw the ball down the field. Pickens will be good for that. Right. So, right. Yeah.

Who was your number two again? Breece Hall. Brise Hall. Yeah, I don't like that call, mostly because I think the Jets are a mess. I also think Michael Carter is a lot better than people realize, and I don't think they don't like him. That's the thing. I like Michael Carter. Yeah.

I like Michael Carter a lot. Yeah, he's at least going to be really good in the past game for them. Yeah, and that's where I think. That coaching staff, though, this is what they do. Everywhere they go, you're seeing it Miami right now. They don't want one guy. want a stable. Shanahan's always been that way,

where, you know, every year it's like, he's like a new guy is leading the charge, but they always have multiple dudes. I don't think they, I think they do like Carter, but it's just they wanted another guy and they thought Bruce Hall was great for their scheme, and they're not wrong, he probably is.

I just think Michael Carter is good enough to keep Hall from winning an award like Rookie of the Year. Also, their offensive line is probably not very good. I think it's getting better. They're definitely a drive. pressing it so yeah mckai going down though really sucks for them yeah so that's didn't they bring in um who'd they bring it wasn't it band well fans been there for a while who's the fans is fans gonna be there starting i forget i thought they brought someone in that was like no

worthy for her affected but maybe i brought yeah you might be right you might be right but anyways um my dark horse was chriselope i see and i was waiting because i was I hope we get to talk about Olave. Yeah. Olave's got game. He wasn't near my favorite receiver in this class, but I love the landing spot. James loves to throw the ball deep. Alave is a really good deep threat.

Also, Michael Thomas, I don't know if you were aware, but injuries are kind of been a concern for him. I think he's missed like the last two years. Yeah, his injuries and then not playing, being injured, that whole mystery. Right. And now he's dealing with a hammy. While it does seem not super serious, it's just, are we ever going to get the old Michael Thomas again? I'm not convinced.

I think there's a chance a lot of they steps in and he's the team's wide receiver won right now. Yeah. I don't think that's true for even London. London Pitts is the wide receiver one. Yeah. Let's stop calling Pitts a tight end too, by the way. He's not.

He's a wide receiver. All of his production last year was on the outsider in the slot. Everybody in fantasy needs to relish this time period. this year where they get to have hits as a tight end because like you said, I don't know how much longer that lasts. Right. I mean, he's still playing like 20% of his snaps in line, but they're literally all on run downs. That's why they brought FERC certain though. That's true. FERC barely ran routes ever last year.

And he ran route on like 40% of trackbacks. Right. So all that said, I don't even think London's number one in his offense this year. I think Alave, like their tight end room is not good. I mean, Troutman's a could be a developing player, but he's been a letdown so far. Joanne Johnson's not special. Can he do things in the past game? Sure, but he's not going to lead the team in targets.

Not even really going to threaten anybody on that team for targets. And then the receiver room, I mean, they have Landry, who is very limited as a player. He might be the alpha of the room simply from a leadership standpoint, but no reason that he should leave that team in targets, in my opinion. It should either be Thomas if he's healthy or Olave if Thomas is not healthy. And just because of that, I think Olave's got a great shot to put up a phenomenal rookie season. So, yeah. This brings us to a comeback player of the year.

And this is the one I've been most excited to talk about. You want to do defensive rookie? Oh, we didn't do defensive rookie. No, we got to touch on that real quick. All right. Let's hit that. Number one, I think again, I'm assuming we're going to be on the same page here. Yeah, it's obvious.

It's Hutchinson. It's Hutchinson. You've already seen it in the preseason. We're not biased either. No, no, not at all. Not at all. But he's, I mean, like, he's a legit gamer. Yeah.

I mean, you see it. You've seen him preseason. You saw it at Michigan. I think we watched that clip of him against Ohio State. Yeah. Just doing the unthinkable and panicking offensive tackle. He's got game. After telling him he was going to pancake him, too.

That was the craziest part. Right. He's got game. He's, you know, he's going to be in the conversation. And if you stayed in a team that has needed pass rushing and is kind of moving that way a little bit. Charles Harris was a breakout last year. And they seemed, you know, we saw a lot of camp this year. We went to three or four practices.

They work well together. Aline McNeill is solid on the inside. The defensive line isn't, the interior needs a little bit more beef. But Hutchinson's going to work a lot of one-on-one. Yeah, he's going to play a lot of snaps. Yeah, and, you know, working one-on-one, they're going to move him in different spots. They're going to play them in the five tech. They're going to move him out to the, you know, out-wide defense event.

Three tech in that NASCAR package. Right. We just saw this weekend. He bullrushed a grown man, 11 yards into the backfield. Yeah, I mean, it's just. A starting offensive line in the NFL got bull rushed, 11 yards in the backfield by a rookie. Yeah. He could have taken him back to the locker room.

I mean. it's just it's unbelievable. I think the kid's phenomenal. Yeah. I mean, he should have been the first overall pick. I'm thankful Jacksonville disagreed with us on that. Yeah. Thankfully for us, yes.

Yeah. So I don't, probably don't need to say much more about him. Long story short, probably a good chance he leads all rookies and sacks. He's definitely to lead rookies and tackles and snaps probably because I went down the board looking at all the different edges and where they land. I don't think anyone's going to play as much as him. The line just had the need, like the clear-cut need for... He might be their best defensive player.

Legitimate. As a rookie, yeah. And like we said, they're going to use him in Avery different. Like, he's not coming off the field. Right. Really. Right. They are scheming their defense around what he can do.

Yeah. Point blank. My number two, it could be the same as yours because I know you're high on this guy, but I don't know. I didn't go edge rusher. I went linebacker. I went, Quay Walker?

Yeah. Did you really? I did. What the heck? The minute I said it, the minute I said it, I liked it. I hope, or. I tried not to give you a reaction when you mentioned him. For a dark horse is the same.

I'm going to lose it. But, yeah, Quay Walker, great defense, playing alongside a really good linebacker in Devandar Campbell. Like, he's. Right. And voters like stupid things like tackles. Right. He could lead the team in tackles there.

Easily. Kenny Clark is back. Yeah. Like, he eats up. Pass rushers. Rishong Gary and Preston Smith. Guys that eat up space, eat up line men, a lot of free runs. Quay Walker, that's where he excels.

Yeah. What's Lowry? They're a good five tech, right? Yeah. Dean Lowry. So, yeah, he's got a great line in front of him. He should be a menace in the run game. Yeah.

Plays downhill. He's also freaky athletic. And he could get after it in the past game, too. And I'm blitzes. Yeah. He could have like a crazy stat line where he leads a team in tackles, four sacks, four picks or something. Right. He's basically a lock to win it at that point.

Yeah. So. And that's why like, again, he gets to learn under a guy like Devonjic Campbell who is one of the better linebackers. Cover linebackers, too, which is very important. Exactly. I don't think our Dark Horse is the same. Okay. I went crazy with this one. Okay.

Who did you go with? Jaylen Petrie. Okay, we didn't go to same. Safety in Houston. I love that pit, though. I love the tree. He looks. He was one of my favorite players in the draft.

I went down to Senior Bowl and watched him. Fell in love even more. And then he just looks awesome. And we talk about stupid things like tackles. Like that defense is really, really bad. He's going to get a lot of clean-up tackles because that defense is really bad. And he's got a chance to make a ton of picks. You saw it on tape in preseason.

He knows how to fit the run. Oh, yeah, dude. He's downhill right now. He plays at like 195, 200 pounds, and he looks like a 225 pound safety, the way he plays. He's a beast. I love him. So fluid, too.

The hips. So good in coverage. And I'm a sucker for safeties that can come down and cover the slot. If you can do that, you have a place on my team anywhere, and you're also, by proxy, going to be closer to the line of scriments all the time. He's either going to be playing box safety or he's going to be playing in the slot. Yeah. Which means he's going to be fitting the run all on.

Yeah. So I think there's a chance. I mean, so full disclosure, there hasn't been a safety that has won the award in freaking 30 years. I think 92. Yeah. If I'm not mistaken, 1992 probably. And then I think maybe one other.

I think there's only been two ever. One was, the last one was in 1992. So definite, huge, huge dark horse. But I think Petrie is good enough that he could break that, that trend, especially just considering the circumstances around him. I'm curious now. What was your dark horse?

Kair Eelam. Oh, dude, I thought about him. Yeah, absolutely. I think that he is surrounded by that secondary. I love that secondary. Yeah. Buffalo's safety tandem is ridiculous. Tradavius White, hopefully coming back, gets their number one receiver.

He's one of those guys that quarterbacks don't like to throw at. All of a sudden, Kyrie Elam has, and that's kind of what gets, you the award if you're a corner is if you're getting targeted at. You have more opportunities to make tackles, make play PVAUs, have interceptions. Kyrieh is going to see that because people don't like to throw a Trinavius wife. And he has, he has the help of, um, of their safeties over the top. Like, he's protected in a lot of different ways. And I just think I liked his, I liked his tape coming out.

Yep. And I just think that he's a great. fit there. I think he's an upgrade at that position compared to what they had last year. I forget who was who their number two corner was last year. Levi Wallace. That's it.

Levi Wallace. Who I don't, I didn't dislike Levi Wallace, but I think I hear Elam has a higher ceiling than Levi Wallace. And yeah, I just think that having what he has surrounding him, the past rush, the people behind him, the guy opposite to him, I just think that it leads to

a lot of opportunity to make plays. It could also end up being that, you know, rookie corners are a little, it's the hardest position to come. It's like probably the hardest position as a rookie next to quarterback to come in and start and play right away. But he's going to have the opportunity to make plays because he's probably going to get targeted a lot. So he gets harder a lot.

And we just saw last year, Trayvon Diggs, for all intents of purposes, had a pretty rough season. Right. But he had double-digit picks. I mean, I'm not saying Eam is going to pick off 10 plus passes. But he's... If you get the opportunity, when you make the plays, he's perfect for that scheme, too. Yeah.

Florida's done a good job producing talent that is good in a variety of schemes, but a lot of, like, zone heavy stuff. And, you know, that's what McDermott's all about. He's going to mix a ton of cover three and a ton of cover two. You'll get your occasional man reps, of course, which Elam is, you know, he's big and strong and fast. So he'll be fine there. It's like if his brain really clicks on and he's... He's got that click and close. Like, there's a chance he, he, you know,

leaves rookies and picks for sure. Yeah. By default, that makes him a strong candidate for this. Yeah. I like it. It's a good call. Well, you kind of segueed into it, comeback player of the year.

Yeah. I bet you I can predict who you're going number one. You think so? I bet you I can. I bet you're going James Winston. I'm not. You're not, really. That's who I went with.

I thought with you leading Alave, I thought you were going James Winston. That would have been a logical choice for me. Right. I thought that was the clear segue. But I picked James Winston. New Orleans Saints are always solid. Yeah.

They're going to be, the NFC is super weak. They have to contend with the Buccaneers. Outside of that, their division is not that great, barring what Baker Mayfield does. But I just, I mean, James Winston, he puts up gaudy numbers. Yeah, he can throw 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a year. But if he bounces back and he throws, you know, 4,500 yards, 30 touchdowns, 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns, whatever. I mean, he's probably going to be up there leading the way.

I see the thought process. Yeah. And the division's not exactly scary. So, like you said, New Orleans is a pretty solid team. I don't hate it. I hate it, honestly. My guys in the same division. Actually, my two, my top two are in the same division.

Okay, who was your number one? My top, all three of my guys are in the same division. What the heck? Oh, wow. My number one, Baker Mayfield. Okay, I don't. This dude, you think about him and Jameson are kind of on mirrored paths almost, like former number one overall picks.

Yep. But Baker is a super talented dude. People forget that, mostly because he played last season with a torn shoulder. I just saw this guy on Twitter. I don't want to mention names. I want to expose bad takes by name. But this show is called Take Talk. Let's talk about this take for a second.

Somebody posted a string of stats. From week three on, Baker Mayfield was bad. And here are the stats. Pribut, basically. It was his thread. He failed to mention that in week two, Baker Mayfield tore his shoulder labrum and his throwing shoulder. Yeah, I mean, that's the whole thing.

That's the whole thing. But why are. Like, it's such a disingenuous thing to tweet. It just blows my mind to people, this is analysis today. I hate it. I hate it. But anyways, the Browns apparently didn't appreciate Baker's sacrifice for the team. And he put a lot of bad stuff on tape last year.

But he was hurt. It was ugly. The talent is in there. And for Baker, it's all about the mental, right? Yeah. And he's out of the toxic situation that he claims was toxic with the Browns. gets a fresh start in Carolina. He's already beat Donald, even pre-Darnold, getting hurt.

And, dude, this guy's got weapons. He's never had this kind of weaponry before. Yeah. In the past game, obviously, Chubb is a great running back and helps with the run game. But, dude, DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson, now Liviska, Terence Marshall, former second round pick. Two, well, Ian Thomas is not a good tight end, but they paid him like he's a good tight end. But they have Tommy Trembal, who is a good receiver.

being tied in. And then Christian McCaffrey, of course, Baker has set up. He is set up this year, and I don't think it will take much to win comeback player of the year because I think people want to like Baker. There's a lot of, it's interesting. There's a lot of people that want to hate Baker, but he's got a lot of people that want to love him too. I don't think it would take much to win over the voters with comeback player of the year. Yeah. And with those kind of weapons, if he starts 17 games, he's going to have a stat line. I mean, we saw it two years ago when he was healthy. Yeah.

He played well. I mean, let him in the playoffs. They were. And he gets to play the Falcons twice. Yep. So it's really all that matters. And he gets to play for the Browns week one. So maybe you can polarizing storyline week one.

That's true. Before we bounce to your number two, I want to bounce to my number two because Baker and this player are tied at the hip. And that's Christian McCaffrey. Is that your number two? No. No, okay. McCaffrey obviously has missed a good chunk of time the last two years. But he's primed to win this award as well.

I almost wonder, can Baker actually get there if McCaffrey's healthy the whole season? Because McCaffrey's just so freaking good. He's going to put up such ridiculous, gaudy stats. I'm not actually sure. If McCaffrey is McCaffrey of old, Baker has no shot winning this award. No. So it really depends on the offensive. philosophy and like are they going to ever throttle that workload back?

Yeah. Because I don't think McAfrey can sustain 30 touches again. I think he's kind of proven that at this point. He can't. As much as you'd like him to. Yeah, and I think they have the weapons now to support him with less touches. They don't have to completely run every single concept, everything through him to make that offense go. They can spread the love a little bit.

give him a playoff or, you know, things like that where he isn't just getting ground into the ground. My number two is Saquan Barclay. I mean, you can kind of take the same talking points for Christian McCaffrey, insert them on Saquine Barclay, except it's more so of the Christian McCaffrey back a couple years ago. The whole offense is going to run through him. If he stays healthy, you know, he's going to see a hard. hundred plus targets. He's going to,

he's a great runner, he's a great running back. I mean, we all know, we've all seen it. I don't really think I need to touch on it that much. I mean, like I said,

he is the Vegas favorite right now, right, to win comeback player the year? Yeah. Or at least I think Jeff King's footlander. Yeah. Are we like to mention them by name? I don't know.

No free ads. Yeah. He's a phenomenal talent. Yeah. there's definitely, same argument for him as McAfrey. Right. He plays 17 games. He's probably got a shot the win for sure.

I touched on it with Wondale Robinson. Someone has to get the ball. Yeah. And honestly, with who's playing quarterback there, they might have Sequin Markley throw the ball at this point. I mean, why not just see what he's got? Robbie Brown's Miami Dolphins offense? Yeah, they're playing for, like the Giants are not playing for this year.

This is a rebuild. Yeah. I, you know, and that offense will go as Sequin goes. And like you said, if you play 17 games, he's going to have the numbers no matter what to be at the top of the conversation. Who's your dark horse? My dark horse? Same division. I don't know what I was thinking here.

I just went three guys in NFC South. But my dark horse is Julio Jones. Okay. So I think he qualifies because he did nothing last year. He missed a lot of time. Career worst season ever by a very significant margin. He's teaming up with Tom Brady, guys. I'll say it again.

He's teaming up with Tom Brady. Okay, Brady shown last year with Evans, Godwin, and Brown, it doesn't matter. He's going to exploit matchups. He will take what is given to him. you put whoever gets the worst corner is going to that's who's getting the ball yeah um now there's the chance Julio's got nothing left in the tank it almost looked like that last year right it did at times it did at times because like last year was supposed to be holy cow it's Julio Jones and AJ Brown

yeah they literally almost never played the other right it was actually crazy it's weird but Evans tendency to have issues with injuries not long term but things that, you know, keep that target rate nice and low. Yeah. You know, his target rate's not awesome for an alpha receiver. Godwin coming back from the ACL, is he going to be 100%. I know they're saying he's going to play league one, right? It's great.

I'm happy for Godwin, but is he going to be 100%? If Julio Jones has something left in the tank and he gets to pair with Tom Brady, I'm just saying, look out. This guy's going to put up a year. He's going to have a season. He's a little bit older, but the minute it happened, I have, like, flashbacks to Randy? Randy Moss.

I know. I mean, he's three years older when Randy Moss went to New England. He was turning 30. Julio Jones is 33. Things are different now, though. Brown was 35 last year, right? Is he that old? I think so.

And he was doing what he did. Yeah. Brown, when, I mean, he was on ridiculous pace. Like, the per game numbers he was putting up. was nuts. Yeah. Towards the middle. It was absurd.

He shows up on, he shows up every time. I mean, he granted limited work only 184 routes, but he had 2.96 yards per route. Right. Oh,

oh, this year, no gronk. No gronk. That's, that's huge. So it's a three receiver offense. Those three guys

are going to get the crap targeted out of them. Yeah. Four not well too, probably. Maybe some Roshabwe. But Julio's got a chance here. If there's,

if there's something left in the tank, that could be very explosive. If there's something a safety does not want to see, it's Julio Jones running seams. Oh, yeah. You thought, you thought Gronk was scary running up the seams? Think about Julio Jones running that and going through the safeties or, you know, playing a big slot, moving him around a little bit and creating favorable matchups because they have a lot of tail on there. My favorite route Julio runs is Blaze Out, 83, 93 route. It's, he's so good at it.

There was a game probably 2019, and that was a while ago. So Julio might not be the same guy. It was against Carolina Panthers, though. I think they just kept running Julio and Blaze Out after Blaze Out, after Blaze Out, and Carolina couldn't stop it. It was just, it was great. I think he's a 200-yard game for Julio. And it was basically three or four of the same route, you know, 20 yards downfield,

just destroying the corner. They just kept throwing the same route to him. It was nuts. Wasn't that frozen rope from this weekend on a Blazeout? I don't remember. If I'm remembering correctly, I think that the one throw from Tom to Julio, I think it was a play zone.

Really? It was just a dart. A dart right into a chest. That gets me excited. Let's go. So I could be wrong. I wouldn't put my life on that. From remembering watching the play and replays,

it looked like that was what throw was. So it looks like they don't know how to use them. Who? Yeah. Who's your? Dark Horse. Alan Robinson. Okay.

That's great. Yeah, I think that. Yeah, that's actually, that's solid. We touched out it a little bit earlier. He is the exact archetype of wide receiver that Matthew Stafford loves. Kenny Gallaudet, Marvin Jones, Calvin Johnson, Alan Robinson. He will step into that offense seamlessly. He isn't going to be, he's not going to get the attention from defenses that he should get,

at least to start the season because of Cooper Cup, I feel like we know who he is, but he's just been in such bad situations. He hasn't had a good year. He's been healthy. I don't think he's been that hurt in his career. He stays healthy.

It's just that he hasn't had an offense or a quarterback that can get him the ball. He finally has that. And Matthew Stafford is going to get him the ball. Again, we talked about it. We talked about it with the Cooper Cup stuff. Matthew Saffer's help could potentially be an issue that elbow seems to be a bit of a concern for people. But I just think that, like, I believe in Alan Robinson so much.

I have ever since you entered the NFL. I, like, he just, he wins at the point of catch. He runs a good route. He can get the ball in the middle. He can get the ball deep. Yeah. People forget. Body control for days.

forget how good of a deep threat he was in Jacksonville. Yeah. And he started that way in Chicago, too, and then kind of slowly morphed into this like Kishon Johnson style possession receiver. Right. And I don't know. He doesn't have to only do that. And I don't know if that's even what he wants to do.

I think that's just like, they had Ms. Trubisky, who, you know, he throws a little bit chaotic. He can throw it deep. It was never that accurate. And I just think that we could see an Alan Robinson that we had. haven't seen in a long time. And I think that, you know, Cooper Cup is going to get a ton of attention, obviously. Tons.

It wouldn't be insane if Alyn Robinson led the Rams in receiving this year. I don't think it'd be that insane. I truly believe that Alan Robinson, hey, he hasn't had that much work in the last couple years. Yeah. He's not that big, like, can't be that banged up. He hasn't taken a lot of hits That's true That's a hot take

I love it Episode one Steve's dropping Hot takes on take talk Yeah And if that's If I If he just absolutely Just stinks

I'll eat that one But I believe in Alan Robbiz Chances are low You've convinced me I don't even think he's a dark horse I think he's a legit candidate I think he's a legit candidate too

Like he Let's see but yeah I know we're going to move on to just finishing or talking about Super Bowl favorites or at least Super Bowl contenders

I'm thinking we shouldn't I'm thinking we shouldn't because we'll do we'll come back for you guys next Wednesday we'll be dropping another one it'll be the day before the season starts we'll give you all of our

season outlooks because we're already an hour and a half deep right now and we still want to talk about preseason yeah preseason yeah let's preseason we're talking about preseason Terrible. Let's, yeah, let's quick touch on preseason. The amount of people that are fine tooth combing through games and reps, and I feel like, I don't know, maybe it feels that way this year and maybe it feels, maybe it is this way every year and we always forget, but it felt like even more this year.

I mean, every single week, there was a new guy and a new person who gets elevated to the top of who's going from not getting drafted in fantasy drafts. So all of a sudden, people are throwing out round two picks. I mean, granted, those are crazy people, but like, what are we doing? It's gotten so out of control. I get it. It's, I got us take a step back and realize it's a business. A lot of people are content creator. they have to come up with ways to make content.

But at the same time, something that drives me nuts about the fantasy community and the analytics community and NFL Twitter is that we react to literally everything like it actually means something. And I got news for you. It doesn't mean a freaking thing. The preseason, especially for the fantasy relevant stuff, the preseason does not matter. That's already determined.

teams know what their philosophy is going to be. They know who their dogs are and who's going to be getting the ball every play. Preseason matters for the guys trying to make a living playing football. They're not going to have a fancy impact, more than likely. Obviously, there's random cases like James Robinson who breaks out as UDFA, who is two weeks prior struggling to make a roster. But for the most part, it doesn't matter. I don't need

25 different analysts spinning a beat writer take on how Traylon Burks looked in practice today. I don't need it. It's not good. I mean, it started from game one. Practice one. Zemir White in the Hall of Fame game.

I know. He ran okay. I don't, I like, you know, he's a solid runner. I don't think that he showed anything. His biggest run of the night. He sidestepped the guy that was like crawling towards him and then rained through a hole and got tackled. He did what you should do. Yeah.

Is it expected? Yeah. That was an expected play from Zemir Wight. Nothing against Zemir Wai, by the way. That's not the point. And I saw, I mean, again, we get it. We are in the same business. Yeah.

So you have, you know, it gets to that the doldrums of the middle of August, beginning of August. We get that first taste of football. We have to just throw out and just like, we've been waiting to just, like, vomit opinions. Yeah. Because real football is happening. But I think I saw, like, four threads on Zemir White after game one. Yeah. And then it just never stopped.

I mean, it never does. Yeah. But, I mean. It got to the point where they're like, oh, the Raider are trading Josh Jacobs. Right. They're clearly trading. And you played in week one. I know.

What's so funny is people don't realize a lot of times players ask to play. Jared golf wasn't supposed to play week one for the Lions. No. He walked up to the coaching staff minutes before the game. He said, coach, if my starters are going out there, I should be the one to lead him. This is my team. And Dan Campbell's like, yeah, that's a great point. Okay, go out there, you get a series.

Yeah. How do we know Josh Jacobs and just say to McDaniels, dude, this run scheme is new to me? Right. I want to get some reps. Right. Put me out there. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

And I'm not saying that did happen. But, like, the fact that we read into everything, we make up stories. We build stories up. But ultimate case of preseason doesn't matter. Is it Tom Kennedy for Detroit? I mean, he's... I don't want to spoil anything for hard knocks tonight. Yeah, he's top three for sure.

Like, he... Yeah. Every year, though. This isn't the first year of Tom's done this. Every year. He tears it up against second, third, four-string corners, leads the team in receptions, leads the team in yards, leads the team in yards, leads the... the team in touchdowns, and he doesn't make the team.

It's happened three years in a row. The Giants, they need receivers, too. Their leader in receptions and receiving yards this preseason, I forget the gentleman's name. My apologies. They cut him this morning. Yeah. The Giants did.

A team that needs receivers. Desperate. Desperate for, this dude stepped up, allegedly did everything right. Bachman? Yeah, Bachman. Let the team. I think a 19 catches this preseason, and then he doesn't even make a team. Yeah.

It's so mind-blowing to me. I just, I want people to just chill. I want people to stop. I mean, I get it. I'm so glad football's back. Yes. Don't get me wrong. I'm too, like when I get the, when I get the opportunity, I'm watching pre-season football.

It's great. It's fun to bet on. It's fun to, you know, throw some money at. But like you said, it's just relax a little bit. It's not shaping the season. No, Andy Isabella, the second leader in receiving yards in the preseason, is not poised for a breakout. I'm sorry. It's not going to happen.

Steve, we had a guy on Twitter, I won't name him. He tweet after the Chief's second preseason game or during the game when Fortson was out there and number 83, I forget his name. The other tight end in Kansas. That's not Kelsey. These guys went out there. They're gray. Yeah, that's a Danny Gray.

Danny Gray. Right? No, no. That's not Danny Gray. He's in San Francisco. Yeah, it's not Danny Gray. It's, uh, anyway, it doesn't matter. Noah Gray.

Noah Gray. Kansas City has a deep tight end room. Fordson goes out there. He's playing with Mahomes. Catches two touchdown passes. Noah Gray looks pretty good. We had a guy tweet. Kansas City's time of room is so good.

Fade Kelton's. Kelsey, I've been saying this for months. Steve. Listen, there's a lot of things you could read into those tight ends doing well. That's probably not the take. The take isn't our Hall of Fame tight end who's still playing at an insanely high level is a fade because he's got good backups. The same way it's not, it should be like that with Andrews because likely he's playing well.

No, maybe the takeaway is they're going to play a little bit more two tight end sets. You know what? Kansas City especially. The receiver room is what? We don't know. Juju, not very good, very limited. Veldos Gainling, I mean, we've seen the inconsistencies his entire career. Sky Moore is a rookie who needs a lot of work. Miko Hardman dealing with an injury.

Fantasy heartbreaker every year. Fantasy heartbreaker every year. Maybe the takeaway is the Chiefs want to see what the other tight ends are capable of because we're probably going to play. Reed's even said this. to go back to the basics. 12 personnel, 21 personnel, they're getting back to the roots of the offense. That's the takeaway.

Why do we jump to Kelsey's of fate this year? I don't get it. I don't get why we do this, though, to ourselves every year. And then it's just, it's painful. I'm ready for football to be back, so we don't have to do this anymore. I know. So we can just see actual guys who are actually going to play in the games and we can start to draw conclusions on what's actually going to happen in the season.

Instead of playing this fictional game of who are we trying to, to who are we trying to draft in the second to last round of our fantasy drafts that's going to fall to the top of the leaderboard. I just, it's not going to happen. It rarely ever does. And like you said, I think it's a great point. Like it's probably more points to Kansas City playing a little bit more like they did when Andy Readers in Philadelphia.

Yeah. Rather than Travis Kelsey isn't going to see the field as much. Right. And I made the argument to, I think because Scott and maybe Graham asked me. like what my legitimate thoughts were about that. I think there's a chance they put Kelsey on a play count maybe this year, because he is getting older. Do I think they're taking him off the field on passing downs?

No. I don't. I think maybe they take them off the field on run downs if they take them off the field. Yeah. That would make sense. Yeah. So that's probably another small takeaway. Oh, one other thing before we go, and we do have to go.

But one other thing that we do in the preseason. it's the depth chart watchers. Okay. Especially because I don't think people actually realize this, the depth charts that the teams put out on their site, they're not only unofficial. Do you know who actually assembles those depth charts? A lot of people don't know this.

It's not the coaching staff. It's the marketing department. It's the communications department. And I know if you go, like, for example, if you pull up Detroit Lions depth chart right now, their team page. Oh, on the team page. I think there will be an asterisk at the bottom.

It says unofficial depth chart put together by communications team. And they're just taking their best guys too. They're at practice just saying, hey, it looks like Will Harris is running with the Tuesday day. So he's CB3. They don't actually know, though. And no one does. Because coaches aren't in the business of tipping their hands every moment they get.

A lot of the preseason is just trying things out and seeing what sticks, giving guys opportunity. Like, for example, if you have a guy playing really well with the threes, what do you do? You elevate him to the twos. It doesn't mean he won a job as a backup. It means he beat the threes. Now I've got to see him beat the twos. He beats the twos.

What do you do? You elevate him. You give him a couple reps with the starters to see if he can compete with starters. That is the whole preseason game. We don't need depth chart watchers. I mean, just to give you an idea, Tom Kennedy, who was just cut. Yeah. He was listed as a number two receiver.

Like second string. Second string slot probably? Yeah. Behind Amon Rao. Yeah. So Amon Rao's backup just got cut. Allegedly. In theory.

Yeah, in theory. If we want to go by. But he wasn't, no one ever should have thought he was. No. So anyways, rant over. Guys, this was fun. I had fun. This is our first episode.

Yeah. I can't wait. Yeah. And we'll be back every week in the season, Wednesdays. I guess I say we're in the season. now because preseason is over. So, like, we are in season. It's right.

I mean, we're nine days away. We are officially single digits away from the first week one NFL game, which is, yeah, nine days, which is awesome. Yeah. So from now until the Super Bowl, we'll be on here every Wednesday. And then even after the Super Bowl, we'll probably pivot to more draft talk, but we'll still be on here. But this is a new thing.

We appreciate you guys listening. Just please note that no one watches more football than us, Humble Brag. I watch every single snap every week. Steve undersold you on how much he watches. He said 30 to 40 hours a week. I know because I make his schedule that he watches more than that. So that was a lie. He lied to you.

And that's not even what I watch for fun. That's work watching. It doesn't include the fact that I'll still go back. And like 1 a.m. on a Wednesday, if I'm still up, I'll pull up, you know. Yeah. And I gave it from earlier too. Because that's just what we do. Yeah.

We're freaks. We love football. We watch it all the time. We do it because we love it. And that's where we want to bring the knowledge of what we see this year. Yep. To you guys. Absolutely.

Well, right on. So this was Take Talk with Brett Whitefield and Steve O'Rourke. We are out. 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 FantasyPoint.com. I'm