Fantasy Football Daily - 2024 Senior Bowl Day 2 Fantasy Recap

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Fresh in from Day 2 of the 2024 Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) practices, Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) and Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) offer their immediate observations on the fantasy-relevant sk...ill players who stood out the most. SIGN UP FOR FANTASY POINTS IN 2024 AT OUR EARLY-BIRD RATE, INCLUDING OUR NEW ALL-IN PACKAGE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:43 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. And welcome back with another episode of the Fantasy Points podcast. I'm your host, Brett Whitefield. I am joined by my good friend and CEO of Fantasy Points. Scott Barrett. We were down in Mobile, Alabama, for the Senior Bowl.
Starting point is 00:02:15 What's up, Scott? What's up, Brett? Yeah, join you guys a little late. I guess replacing Joe, who had to leave a little early. I drove in from Austin, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama yesterday, spent like 13 hours total in the car.
Starting point is 00:02:32 But happy to be here. Got to watch the Senior Bowl practice with you today. And good buddy, Danny Kelly, some other friends. For me, mostly today, I feel like it was like a networking thing. A lot of schmoozing and BSing and chatting. But you had your eyes glued to the field the entire time. And, you know, you came away with some good fantasy relevant takeaways.
Starting point is 00:02:58 I will say, Scott, that the networking component of the event is like an underrated part of it. Like, it is fun just to come be with the boys, talk ball, you know, even if you're kind of goofing off a little bit. It's fun. It is fun. It's a good time to network, get to know some people. And like, I've developed countless relationships now that, you know, people I met down here at the Senior Bowl. So it's kind of cool. Yeah. And tonight's going to be even better. I forgot to tell you, but an unnamed GM invited us out to the strip club tonight. Okay. AFC East. That's all I'll say. You're ridiculous. You're ridiculous. Oh, all right. Well, let's let's dive in. Scott, I know, like you want to pick my brain on the players but like I kind of want to pick your brain for a second
Starting point is 00:03:45 because like you come in you have such a unique take on everything you're definitely more of a numbers analytics guy but you still have eyeballs and just what is the experience like for you as a guy who's not really like trained to watch football necessarily other than what you know you and I talk about like I just want to know like what's it like for you to come in sit down like I feel like for whatever reason fantasy guys have a knack sometimes like it's as simple as what your eyes tell you is true it's like you know i don't need player takes but like what is the experience like for you yeah well you know i like to stick to what my strength is and that's clearly data analysis and research and and i mean we've watched a lot of tape together and you know i've had good opinions good observations
Starting point is 00:04:29 good questions but i mean like that's clearly your expertise and so like it's just so much easier for me to just let you shine or just sit over your shoulder or on a Zoom call and watch you watch tape and point things out to me. Whereas I'll, you know, bring up questions as it relates to data or provide more context as it relates to data for my own opinions. And so just, you know, for practices, you know, I'll have some, you know, I feel like basic observations. But, you know, I really wouldn't trust my opinion as much as I trust yours when it comes to watching players on the field. Well, I think where you provide a tremendous amount of value is because your perspective is so different because you're not coming from the football background necessarily is like,
Starting point is 00:05:14 I'll back up a little bit. When you, also, I don't watch any college football. Like, I don't have time. I'm grinding NFL DFS. And so like I do comment it with fresh eyes and I'll ask quite like, hey, why is this, why is Tank Bigsby like a considered a day two pick? Like that data says he stinks and the film wasn't good. That's what I was going to say. It's like you're, you're, you're, ability to ask questions is like you always challenge whatever my opinion is not because you don't agree it's like i want to get into your brain and figure it out what's cool about that is like well i do that because that's how i learn so well and to me you know how i learn is defending my right right it helps like it's like you you challenge me and i'm like i got to really now think through in process
Starting point is 00:05:55 okay do i have any biases go reback go through all my thoughts my notes and then if i still feel the same way i do afterwards and i actually end up feeling better about the guy usually And then sometimes you push me off of a guy where I had previously, you know, liked. So my first job out of college, we got to hang out with the CEO for a day. And it was like, this was a company with like, I don't know, a $500 million market cap, something like big company, big CEO. The CEO was a really interesting guy. He was a balancer until he was like 27. And now he's the CEO of this company.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And so someone asked a question, is like, what do you credit your success to? and he said being unafraid to ask dumb questions because, you know, like, that's how I learned. And so often I'm in the boardroom like, oh, you know, thanks for asking that question. I want to ask it, but I'm too. And so like with you, I ask so many dumb questions all the time. But it's like it helps me get smarter and like you find a benefit to it as well. It's like, oh, I don't know why no one's asked me that.
Starting point is 00:06:54 But you know, now that you bring that up, that's a good question. Yeah. Oh, especially because like when you're really trying to scout players, you get into what I call scout speak, you know, you learn all these terms. and these little cliches you're looking for in a guy. And then sometimes when you've been, I've been doing this now for, I've scouted after this.
Starting point is 00:07:11 It's like some things you really care about actually don't matter as much as you think they do. And sometimes it takes guys like you to challenge that to like figure that out. Anyways, all that aside, let's dive into some players here. So coming in a day late to the senior ball, kind of asking around, talking to, you know,
Starting point is 00:07:29 really sharp people who are here. one of the big biggest takeaways, I think is this might be, this might be white boy summer. Apparently a lot of, in a draft, in a draft class that has maybe the best cornerback in the class is a white boy, best white corner potentially since Jason Sehorner, maybe the only one who's not here. Star of the show at running back or at least surprise star of the show is a white guy. and then like three white wide receivers who could go round two.
Starting point is 00:08:03 And I think that's been a big surprise. There's three white running backs and three white receivers here. And they're all like stars of the Senior Bowl, apparently. Yeah, most of them. Yeah, it is kind of crazy. Yeah, the Dill and Laube kid was the one that really kind of surprised everybody. The New Hampshire running back, Joe and I briefly talked about him yesterday. And just so the listeners know, when we got off that podcast, Joe and I watched some Laub
Starting point is 00:08:29 is it Laube or Laube tape. And the first game we put on, dude had 12 receptions for 2195 yards and 2 touchdowns as a running back. So that was like really impressive. I definitely kept an eye on him all day today, just trying to get a feel for his game. I would say this guy is like big Danny Woodhead. Like, unfortunately, like Danny Kelly actually was the cop,
Starting point is 00:08:50 the guy who gave me that comp. Oh, well, he's the king of comp. Yeah, he's the king of cops for sure. And so I saw it right away. And unfortunately, you don't want to comp a white guy to another white guy. you know, it's kind of lazy. But it is true. That's what he is.
Starting point is 00:09:01 He's basically a slot receiver that can also play running back. He's like somewhere between Rex Burkhead and Danny Woodhead on that spectrum. And remember, that's huge for fantasy. Like in a PPR league for a running back, a target is worth 2.5 times as much as a carry. So that can be such a cheat code. You're a guy who can get, you know, four to six targets per game plus at least 12 carries per game.
Starting point is 00:09:23 You're talking about really rare and really valuable usage. Yep. Then the other white running back, we got Schrader, the Missouri running back. He led the SEC and rushing yards this year, Scott. Wow. Yes. And he's here.
Starting point is 00:09:36 I mean, he was, I think, a late-ish ad. I don't know that he was an initial invite, but he looks really good running the ball. I would say he definitely is deficient in the past game, though. A little rough and pass pro, not the smoothest route runner in the world, doesn't have natural hands like you'd like to see for a guy who led the SEC in rushing years,
Starting point is 00:09:54 because you're hoping that guy is a fantasy stud one day. I'm not sure he'll get the draft capital investment. that it's going to require for him to be a fantasy stud. But semi-impressive dude for sure. Well, yeah, Dylan Lauby was a bit of a surprise. Like no one was talking about him. He might have been a late addition to the Senior Bowl roster. Who do you think is, you know, coming out of this probably going to be considered
Starting point is 00:10:16 the top running back at the Senior Bowl, or at least heading into it, was the presumptive favorite? So there's two that really stand out. You know, I guess Marshaun Lloyd is the one probably most people are talking about, the USC running back. Yeah, I've heard his name quite a few times. Yeah, a lot of people like him. Yep, he's, he's fantastic. He's really, really good.
Starting point is 00:10:35 He was my number two running back coming into the week. Love his game. He's got a jump cut. That's just ridiculous. He put that on display yesterday, did it again today. You're seeing a lot more of his game translate to the passing world, though, which I think is like, he's growing on me a lot because I think he's more valuable than I initially thought he was even.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Like he looks like a really, really, really national. receiver and he didn't get a lot of opportunity at USC to be a receiver. Kind of reminds me like Rashad White was a good example. He came down to the Senior Bowl, not a lot of volume in the past game at Arizona State, I think that's where he was, and then came here and just tore it up in the receiving drills all week long. Sure enough, he's in Tampa Bay. That's probably the best thing that he does is catch the football, yards after catch.
Starting point is 00:11:19 He's a weapon that way, not a great runner, but really effective in the past game. And I think Marshaun Lloyd has kind of taken that leap where he's a really effective runner, but also adding the receiving chops to his resume. He is also very good at Passport, by the way, that's on his college tape. That's mostly how he was used in the past game, actually. A running back I'm really excited about. Didn't watch too much of him today, but just really excited about him because, you know, like everyone has a type, right?
Starting point is 00:11:44 Some like him tall or short or skinny. I like him thick. Oh, yeah. I like him thick with four Cs when it comes to running backs. Because something diving into the analytics that seems to be, really predictive is BMI or better than BMI is pounds per square inch. And Ray Davis is one of the thickest, one of the densest running backs. We've seen in quite some time.
Starting point is 00:12:12 Five foot eight, 220 pounds. Yeah. This guy's thick. He's a fire hydrant. When I said there was two guys, he's the other one. He actually is my RB1 coming into the week. Him and Lloyd are kind of in a battle to remain in that spot. I think his effectiveness in the past game puts him above Lloyd for me right now.
Starting point is 00:12:29 And I know I just said Lloyd looks great in the past game. But Davis is a legitimate mismatch weapon. Like Kentucky used him that way whenever they needed a big third down or a red zone. They were scheming up throws to Ray Davis. I'm not talking a screen pass or a Texas route. I'm talking like legitimate downfield. We're going to get you open 20 yards downfield and score that way. Really impressive stuff, especially for a guy who's 5-8, 220.
Starting point is 00:12:51 funny. Like his receiving chops for that size are, are just unparalleled. It's really cool. He actually reminds me of it like a thick D'Andre Swift with really good hands. Swift's hands are garbage, but like DeAndre Swift is 5'8, like 212 and kind of has those real thick thighs. Ray Davis is built very similar to Swift, just a little bit heavier and he moves just like Swift. Who is the short, really thick Falcons running back, racked up a couple thousand-yard seasons? Oh, God. Not Jamal Anderson. No.
Starting point is 00:13:23 Okay, not that far back. How far back? Am I thinking of Warwick Dun? No. Oh, yeah, War K done. Okay. That was the other guy I mentioned that John Hanson today. He's like, who does he remind me?
Starting point is 00:13:32 I said, I don't know, some combo of Wark done and D'Andre Swift. Like, he's in that realm. He's thicker than both of them, though. But yeah, Dave Davis is a freaking baller. I absolutely love his game. All right. So before we move on to wide receivers, I guess we should talk about quarterbacks and maybe briefly touch on tight ends.
Starting point is 00:13:49 it's sort of a weak senior bowl for tight ends. But yeah, the quarterback position, obviously you get to start at the top with Michael Pennix, Jr. Bo Nix, two players who could sneak into the back end of round one. You have, oh, is that a hot take? No, I'm laughing because you said sneak into the back end of round one. And that's kind of, I feel like that's me talking. Because I think consent is still that those guys will be round one picks.
Starting point is 00:14:17 Okay, go ahead. Yeah, so that's all, like, I don't think they're quite there personally. So there are the cream of the crop of this senior bowl, probably the best senior bowl quarterbacks we've had in, gosh, since the Jalen Hurts, Jordan loved Justin Herbert year, like that year was awesome. We've really, really rough quarterback groups since then. So it is refreshing, although both those guys played like cheeks today. Now, big caveat being the senior bowl is not designed for quarterbacks to perform well in practice.
Starting point is 00:14:45 For them, it's more of the teams and getting to know the, GMs and the scouts that really matter to them. Ultimately, you know, they're playing with all new skill players. There's no timing down there. It's a new playbook, new terminology. It's a lot to put on the QB shoulders for this week. So when guys do play well, it's like a real, you know, feather in the cap of like their ability to adjust on the fly.
Starting point is 00:15:05 It's not really an expectation though that they play super well this week. So I want to throw that caveat in there. That said, they both played really bad today. Yeah, kind of every quarterback struggle today. But it's also like they weren't really given opportunities to show out, you know, most of their throws were seven yards or shorter downfield. Yeah. I think it's the timing aspect.
Starting point is 00:15:24 Like a lot of guys, you're just not comfortable pushing the ball downfield to a receiver you've never thrown to. Right. Who's now getting covered, you know, usually a safety and a corner involved. It's like you don't trust it. I know Spencer Rattler tried to twice yesterday.
Starting point is 00:15:38 Both passes were errant. One was almost picked off. It's not like a horrible decision issue. It's more of like a timing issue. And so then today, same thing. I think Pratt was the guy who tried to do it today and almost threw a pick. And it is what it is. Sam Hartman was there also on the national roster and not knowing too much about him,
Starting point is 00:16:00 other than he played in college for like 10 years. Joe said, Joe Dolan said, it was like a very loopy delivery. And yeah, to me, it just seemed like a very amateurish delivery where it's like, I'm surprised he was even like managed to get an invite. Like you're in college for X amount of years. You can't clean that up. It looked almost like maybe I'm being too hard on him, but like that meme, you know, like the meme video of like from the CW show that got an actor who doesn't know how to play
Starting point is 00:16:26 quarterback. That looked rough to me. The ball, you know, lacked velocity. The delivery seemed amateurish. Yeah, Hartman, Hartman, you know, he's here because 16,000 career passing yards in college, almost 60 starts. I mean, the dude has like 2,500 drop. backs tons of college experience it's like he's like it's similar to brock purdy story that was
Starting point is 00:16:50 brock pretty's whole deal four-year starter you know he checks all those bill parcels box his team captain yada yada yada he'll get drafted he'll probably get drafted in like the fourth round um depending on he goes he could even play next year i mean i don't know anything i'm not a tape guy but to me it really seemed like he didn't belong um i don't disagree by the way okay well then on on the american side uh roster uh you have joe milton which just like insane insane insane insane Arn Talent and Spencer Rattler, who was like a thing a number of years ago. Debbie people were super excited about. You want to speak on either of those quarterbacks?
Starting point is 00:17:25 Yeah, so Milton's your built in the lab guy. You know, if you were like, give me, give me Cam Newton 2.0. Like you're building Joe Milton. Like he's huge. Does he the mobility? Yeah, yeah. Well, he's not, he doesn't run like Cam Newton, but he probably could if he wanted to. So that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:17:42 Big. He's like six, five, 240 pounds. pounds, rocket ship arm, like just one of the strongest arms we've ever seen. Yeah, I mean, it's insane. Like, he, I think he threw a past 80 miles an hour today, which is wild. And on tape, he has like 75 yard throws. Yeah, there's YouTube videos of him throwing goline to goline. Insane.
Starting point is 00:17:59 Yeah. Insane. So you can see a team taking a chance just based on that. Oh, 100%. You know, you have the right coaching behind him. Who was the other guy you mentioned? It was Spencer Rattler. Yeah, Rattler, you know, he's another one, just really good arm talent.
Starting point is 00:18:13 it just he hasn't really put it all together now i will say for him he has developed over the years like his second year at oklahoma as a starter there it was rough completely wheels fell completely off transferred to south carolina it was a slow grind but he did get better every year there and so i think he's probably playing his best football right now i just don't know that it's enough for me to get excited about i've heard from other sources i think adam kaplan told me today he knows there's a couple teams with first round grades on him which is wild to me um he's a he's a he's a mid to late day two guy for me probably and then once you're in that range you might as well wait till day three so spencer rattler teams have round one grades on him that i was told yeah so one of the insiders
Starting point is 00:18:53 told me that today i maybe shouldn't have said adam's name because it might not have been him okay so but one of like a trusted source did tell me that interesting yeah that's that's wild uh would be a big surprise i guess from what i'm hearing among the nfl mock draft cognoscenti uh so just note that as we segue into wide receivers that again quarterback play has been very suspect very questionable and again not a lot of intermediate to deep throws but i remember last year watching with you and uh tank dell was one of the stars of the senior ball jaden reed it's one of the stars of the senior ball rashi rice russia rice um michael wilson i know he didn't have the best rookie season but uh he would have won my vote uh he was just destroying db's one-on-one nonstop i think he was the runner-up for practice player of the
Starting point is 00:19:47 week as well so i wasn't the only one who felt that way um is there a player like that this year from this year's senior bowl who is yeah yeah so every year you know go back to 2019 like i every year i fall in love with the ride receiver here it's like clockwork and i'm i hate to say it but i'm right most of the time. Last year it was who? Pooka Nakua. Okay. And the year before that, Christian Watson.
Starting point is 00:20:12 Yep. And the year before that, it was, I can look, Josh Palmer. Hold on. Probably Josh. Christian Watson, Josh Palmer, Michael Pittman Jr., the year before that, and Terry McLaren the year before that. Nice. And by the way, when Terry McLaren was at the Senior Bowl, he was coming off of a fifth
Starting point is 00:20:32 year senior year where he barely, like, he didn't go over a thousand yards, nothing crazy and all of his production was jet sweeps and screens and the occasional go ball, right? Nobody thought Terry McLaurin was going to come to the senior ball and tear it up. And the guy annihilated everybody, all practice, every practice. So point being, every year, I find a guy. I absolutely lock my eyes on it. Love what I see.
Starting point is 00:20:54 This year. That guy is Florida wide receiver, Ricky Purcell. I have a man crush on this dude. Well, you were telling me about him before the senior ball. You were just like, this is my guy. I love him. And your track record, especially with wide receivers, is so insane. And honestly, I think, like, best in industry by a wide margin.
Starting point is 00:21:14 It's just like, I have so many stack dynasty teams just because you're like, this wide receiver draft him late. And so, yeah, my ears perked up. And I actually went and watched a little bit on tape. He has one of these sickest catches I've ever seen over the middle of the field, takes a brutal hit, holds on to the ball. It's the OBJ catch, except in some. of falling into an end zone, he's literally getting drilled by a scene.
Starting point is 00:21:39 Yeah, it's crazy. Jenks. He also gets open nonstop. But the thing to me is like, and again, you know, I'm not the tape expert. I'm the guy here to ask dumb questions. And I'm sure there's people at home who are like thankful for that because you'll learn something too is he seemed to be getting open constantly on film. But it wasn't like he was doing anything rare or anything unique.
Starting point is 00:22:03 Is he, is that just like route running polish? Yeah, yeah, he's just a really easy mover. He makes hard things look simple. He's a phenomenal route runner, like legitimately phenomenal. I think the production at Florida could have been better. Their quarterback, like Sir Richardson was last year. Purcell missed a chunk of that season. He was by far their best receiver on the field when he played.
Starting point is 00:22:27 And then this year, same thing. Like, you know, really suspect quarterback play all year. And he still hit like, I think almost 1,000 yards, you know, six touchdowns or something. like that was was very productive considering the circumstances this year um but yeah he that that's the easiest way to summarize him he makes hard things look simple love players like that and that's good yeah ideally uh some ppr sheet code upside to his game you would say yeah he's i mean perfect build 6 1195 he could play outside play inside i think you know for for the fantasy aspect like you probably want him to play in the slot 40 50% of the time kind of like an amon raw level workload where
Starting point is 00:23:06 you know, in two receiver sets, we're comfortable getting him on the outside, and he can win on the outside. You know, he can stack guys vertically and win that way. But ultimately, you know, he's so good in the short area quickness, intermediate part of the field. You want him working out of the slot and dominate in the middle. Is that a good, like, fantasy upside comp, Amun Ra? Yeah, I mean, it's hard. It's really hard to do that because, like, Amonra is a fourth round pick, lands in the ideal situation, ends up being a fantasy god. Yeah, I'm saying like an upside pick to give you that kind of out. Sure. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So you're talking like sealing.
Starting point is 00:23:39 Yeah, yeah. Okay. That's fair. Yeah, that's fair. PPR cheat code. Yeah, PPR cheat code. Good after the catch. Yeah, great after the catch. I don't know that it'll ever be like a touchdown, you know, unless you really get to the team that trusts him in the red zone. A lot of those shiftier slot guys just don't do well in the red zone for whatever reason, you know, because we're still stuck in let's throw fade routes and, you know, and backline digs to big monsters. That's kind of what we do in the NFL still. So anyways. So the other wide receiver I want to talk about is a player who like is in a lot of, you know, Daniel Jeremiah, Dean Bruegler's top 50s.
Starting point is 00:24:15 Some people are saying could sneak into round one or be one of the first picks in round two. Joe told me this. I thought it was hilarious. There are only two players in the history, two people in the history of the world with the last name McConkey. And they're both white wide receivers and they're unrelated somehow. that's a lad,
Starting point is 00:24:34 McConkey, a good lad, as John would say. Are you as high on McConkey as you think, you know, these people have, who have them in their top 50?
Starting point is 00:24:46 Yeah, so coming into the week, he did come into the week as my wide receiver won. That was here. Not in the draft, sorry. Adam Marvin Harrison Jr.,
Starting point is 00:24:54 senior bowl wide receiver one. I do think when we leave, Purcell will be my number one. But McConkey's still great. He had a really, really good day yesterday. and Joe and I hit that pretty strong. Today was not as good.
Starting point is 00:25:06 I really felt like the coaching staff of that team decided, you know, we want to go out of our way to put him in uncomfortable situations. We're going to get physical corners on him. And he didn't seem to do well with the physicality. Like, I was joking. He had that one rep where he tried jukeing the corner like five times before he got into his stem. That just doesn't work in the NFL. You literally, like, that's Deonté Johnson.
Starting point is 00:25:31 Like when Deonton Johnson's short. struggling, that's what he's doing. He's overthinking it. He's trying to set you up. You're not falling for it. And for a guy like Ladd who doesn't seem to like the physical part of it, he's going to have to get more decisive with that release game and that stem package. It's all good. Like, it's a slight knock. It's a nuanced knock on what I saw today and why maybe he struggled today versus yesterday. But I still think he's a great player. You know, there's definitely a reason pretty much everyone has him in their top 50 right now.
Starting point is 00:26:01 Is he a slot wide? receiver you think he he's another one like personal he can play anywhere like he he played a lot of outside at georgia i think naturally some nfl teams will have him as a slot guy but he'll he should play a combo role for sure yeah so the spectrum is outside geordy nelson inside you know julian edelman brian hartline hunter renfro cooper cup i think he he give me an upside fantasy comp for him an upside fantasy like you just did for um and ron um and boy um like assuming he goes to the right spot everything works out well for him who could he be not who is who is he now i'm trying not to do white guys what about michael pitman no just do a white
Starting point is 00:26:49 guy if it works it works yeah i think you nailed it with jordy possibly jordy really he's i don't think he quite has jordy's straight line speed jordy was a fast dude i mean i jordy might be one of one i remember gregg cassel's comp for Alec Pierce was Jordy Nelson. And so maybe we just retire the Jordy comp. Yeah. Because at least with Edelman, there's like Edelman-esque players who exist. So the reason I'm reluctant with Edelman is Edelman was so elite in the short part of the field.
Starting point is 00:27:19 I don't know that McConkey's there. I also think McConkey has more vertical juice than Edelman ever had. Wow. Okay. All right. Yeah. But he probably doesn't have as much vertical juice as Nelson. So he's like somewhere between an Edelman and a Nelson.
Starting point is 00:27:32 He's got more of Nelson's body type, though. I think he's close to 6-2. Okay. Yeah. Also, sneaky athletic. I keep hearing that. He's going to surprise a lot of people at the combine. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:42 And by the way, I lied. He's 5-11. All right. Well, let's talk about a wide receiver who's much taller than 5-11. And maybe he's not even a wide receiver. Johnny Wilson, what are the measurements on him? 6-6-247. And so a lot of people think, oh, that's awesome.
Starting point is 00:28:00 He's a wide receiver and he's gigantic. So he's like Calvin Johnson, right? Or is that a bad thing? And he's like too big for the position. Yeah. You know, you don't, I don't want to crush the kid. Like, I don't want to sit here and say he can't do it. He has an opportunity to prove me wrong, obviously.
Starting point is 00:28:19 But I do think he's about there. This isn't a, like, everyone knew D.K. was stiff, D.K. M.K. This is a different level of, it's just, it's an anatomical limitation. He's 6-6, almost 250 pounds. It's like when you watch him trying to run receiver-level outside routes against cornerbacks, it's like trying to stop a semi-truck. And the deceleration aspect, the speed turns on some of the out routes, he's going to have to run on the outside, some of the dig routes.
Starting point is 00:28:53 He just can't really do it at the level needed to be consistent at the NFL level. Sure, is there corners he could bully in the NFL? Absolutely. And he's still, even if he plays tight on, he might get those looks because you'll put him out there and you'll use him that way. But down in, down out, I don't think he has the lateral movement skills to play wide receiver in the NFL. And I think, like, I like the guy, though. His skill set's very attractive. I mean, you saw him to, he had a much better day today, by the way, than he did yesterday. Maybe he listened to the pod yesterday and wanted to go out there and prove us wrong.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Scott, but like, you know, that vertical receiving ability, his, you know, over the middle of the field, all that. stuff's great and he's going to get more opportunity to do that as a tight end than he will as a wide receiver. Yeah. So what about his potential as a tight end? Because that's exactly what you want to see. You know, like what is a mediocre wide receiver worth and fantasy? Not much. What is like a wide receiver masquerading as a tight end with a tight end? Yeah, exactly. Darren Waller was the last guy that did this. He was huge. Like, well, Logan Thomas, Robert Tunyon, two players who like kind of unfortunate injuries, but were in that sort of fancy cheat code. Those guys were, well, so Logan was a very elite guy.
Starting point is 00:30:06 Tonian wasn't close to the level of athleticism that Johnny Wilson is. Wilson is on that wall or spectrum of, I think. Well, these are both converts only entirely due to hyper athleticism. So here's the difference. When Tonian converted from wide receiver to tight end, he was still kind of wide receiver's size. He didn't have the movement skills at wide receiver size. That's why he converted. So he had to put on like 20.
Starting point is 00:30:30 pounds. Yeah. When he put on those 20 pounds, he lost a lot of athleticism. Johnny Wilson needs to put on five pounds. So he's going to maintain that explosiveness that above the rim ability, the lateral quickness he does have, which is probably good for a tight end, bad for a receiver. He'll maintain all of that as a convert, similar to how Logan Thomas did.
Starting point is 00:30:51 And Darren Waller did. Like, Darren Waller was a wide receiver that converted to tight end, you know. So, like, that's my comp for him, though, is if you're asking, is Darren Waller. Like, I think he could be that level of mismatch weapon. So fantasy, for fantasy tight ends, what's really predictive. One thing that matters, like, even more than college production to a large degree
Starting point is 00:31:11 is just weight adjusted for you. You want tight ends who are big and fast. And if a wide receiver is big enough and fast enough, could make an elite tight ends. I'm with you. I really like the upside there, but you were kind of saying he might just be a tweener. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:27 Could be. A small anecdote I all he uses last year There was a guy by the name was Elijah Higgins Stanford wide receiver Michael Wilson's teammate actually They were like a dynamic duo there at Stanford The first rep I saw of him running a route I said that guy's a tight end Not a wide receiver sure enough
Starting point is 00:31:44 I don't he wasn't was he like a seventh round pick by the dolphins Something like that sure enough though the dolphins draft him First thing they do is they announce him as a tight end Like they fully intended moving the tight end I kind of feel like that might be how it goes down this year will Wilson will cling to the wide receiver tag as long as possible. And then hopefully the right team picks him up and moves him the tight end. And it's a, it's a seamless transition.
Starting point is 00:32:05 And he has a great career. Well, you're saying, like narrow hips, like his hips were too narrow. I do. I am a little concerned about that. He's very, his base is super narrow. I'm not sure, you know, he'll ever have that wide blocking stance you want. But you know what? Like, Waller.
Starting point is 00:32:18 You don't want that for fantasy. You want, well, you, you want like, George Kittel and Rob Grunkowski, like, they made that work. but typically you want tight ends who are just running routes as much as possible and not releasing time blocking. Well, you don't think I have a blocking this early, but you want him to have a complimentary enough skill set that he gets on the field. No, of course.
Starting point is 00:32:39 Yeah. So that's, when I say I'm concerned, that's what I'm talking about. It's like, is he going to be a bit player where he's part time or can he actually be a full-time tight end? Or he's just like early career Evan Ingram who is just like so gifted as receiver.
Starting point is 00:32:53 Ingram is yoke. That dude is a wide base. He's actually a much better. run blocker he gets credit then he gets credit before or for mike mike jaseki who was just glorified big slot not blocking at all he just wasn't good low t mike i'm sorry do i say that yeah wait what is that what was your will mallory last year my com for him was mike gisicki with a nut sack oh that's one of my favorite cons of all time he he was a big star of last year's senior goal to me yeah um all right any other wide receivers you want to oh yeah of course there's one i want to
Starting point is 00:33:23 talking about, Xavier Liggett, South Carolina guy, loved his tape. I trashed him yesterday. I thought he had a horrible day of practice. In my, what, five plus years are coming down here now, Scott, I have never seen a receiver or any player, for that matter, have the bounce back day that he had today. Like, he went from, I thought, one of the worst players in the field yesterday to one of the best today. Polar opposites, I'm not sure if maybe he was not understanding the playbook, if he was
Starting point is 00:33:49 hurt, something was going on yesterday. He was distracted. I'm not sure. looked awful today looked amazing everything he was doing today was working whether it was his route running a lot more detail and nuance what he was doing sinking those hips exploding out of his brakes all that stuff he just looked so much better i don't think he generated an inch of separation on a single rep yesterday and today he was getting open and if he wasn't open he was winning at the catch point i mean it was it was truly an awesome day he was one of the only receivers on 11 on
Starting point is 00:34:16 11 that actually like made plays downfield everyone everyone else is completely shut out was there any wide receiver you wanted to hit on? Um, yeah, let's not, let's not force it if it's not there. Uh, it is also important to,
Starting point is 00:34:32 to know that, that Johnny Wilson was with the wide receivers today. We haven't seen him take a rep with the tight ends, right? That is true. Um, and let's, let's not force anything with the tight ends either. No one really,
Starting point is 00:34:44 there's one I can talk about, uh, uh, Ben Sino or Sinat from Kansas State. Um, two days in a row, he's impressed me. I thought he,
Starting point is 00:34:52 he, finished yesterday on a low note during the callouts to end the practice. He got a 1 v1 opportunity, got open, dropped the ball. That aside, he's been awesome. Generating separation, really fluid mover. I'm not going to say he's an elite athlete. I don't think he's an elite athlete. It doesn't look elite.
Starting point is 00:35:09 And I know you and I both value that in tight ends. But as far as like for a crummy group of tight ends, he's definitely been the best guy by far. Yeah. So when you're saying that is that colored by your very low expectations heading into it, Like, what do you talk about, like day three? So when you look at a guy like Luke Schoonmaker, who was a standout last year, I think Sino is having that level of senior bowl practice.
Starting point is 00:35:34 And Schoonmaker was a second round pick. Now, he was overdrafted by like two rounds. But, you know, I think Sino could get himself into like a late day two, early day three conversation. Yeah, I'm hearing like future tight end two, not really a fantasy difference maker, but we'll see. Yeah. If he gets Schoonmaker capital, though, you'll change your mind on that. Yeah, I really thought Will Mallory was the best, the most impressive, or at least maybe just from a fantasy perspective,
Starting point is 00:35:58 like just his movement skills. Yeah, his, his ball skills were not good. A lot of ugly drops. No, he's a, yeah, explosion off the line. Explosive, yak guy, route runner. Basically a wide receiver in a tight end body.
Starting point is 00:36:11 Okay, let's talk about non-skill position players. Who stood out most to you? And I'm guessing it's the DBQ, starts with a Q. Kenyon Mitchell from Toledo. Yeah, you know, I don't, you know, probably haven't done enough work on some of the non-skill guys that really get into depth on them because we have been watching mostly skill players since we are kind of fantasy driven.
Starting point is 00:36:37 But we will have that draft guide. Oh, yeah, the prospect guy. Yeah, I'll still get to all of them. It's just kind of have to prioritize the workflow here. But yeah, Quinnion, Mitchell, quarterback Toledo. I think he's going to be a top 20 pick. I, so like, low key was watching him a couple weeks ago. kind of looking at who my Detroit lines might be looking at at the back end of the first round
Starting point is 00:36:57 because they need a corner obviously. Second I watched the guy fall in love. I was like, oh, my God, the lion's got to do whatever they came to get this dude. He ain't going to be there, though. He's going to be long gone. But he looks awesome. He was locking on everybody today. There was another corner that really stood out to me.
Starting point is 00:37:11 It was, oh, my gosh. Well, yeah. Was it John's boy, Max Melton? No, I do like Max. So Max's tape is pretty good. I know fellow Rutgers alum. Yeah, I know he didn't have the best year. Oh, Carlton Johnson, Fresno State Corner.
Starting point is 00:37:31 Small school guy, you don't expect him to be able to hang with the big dogs, the SEC receivers that are here. He was, I mean, he actually locked down McConkey a couple times. Those really bad reps of McConkey were like, oh, dang, he just got shut out. That was Fresno State kid. So big, big tip of the cap to him. He's showing out. Last thing I wanted to talk about, maybe we got it out.
Starting point is 00:37:53 the little bit of drama that occurred yesterday. You were telling me it looked like a player locked up round one draft capital that wasn't expected and he bowed out of the senior bowl early. Yeah, I still haven't figured out who it is. I thought it was the Western Michigan edge. But anyways, Nagy kind of talked about it on a radio spot where he was like, you know, he was kind of poking fun of the fact like Daniel Jeremiah drops the top 50, then this kid's agent's calling me telling me he can't participate in senior bill anymore.
Starting point is 00:38:25 I thought it was a Western Michigan kid because he was on nobody's radar and then DJ drops that top 50. He's on it. Not only that, he's 270 pounds and hit 20 miles an hour yesterday running. Like the dude's a freak specimen. I thought it was him, but he was there practicing today and he actually, I think he got a sack on the quarterback. So yeah, maybe maybe it was about him, but he had second thoughts, came back. Yeah, maybe Maggie talked about a dropping out. Right. Well, we saw that happened last year where Puka left day one. We thought it was because of that. But actually he picked up a concussion,
Starting point is 00:38:56 but that did happen to Jaden Reed last year. Yeah, Jaden Reed. And this happened, this has happened every year. So get the call while they're at senior bowl. Like, hey, you're probably going to go in the top 40, top 50 range. And then it's like you can't really improve your draft stock
Starting point is 00:39:10 and that's ultimately what they're there. So like why risk yourself to Jaden's credit. He did still participate in the one-on-ones and the seven-on-seven drills. Didn't do any team activity. by team drills, I mean the 11 on 11 and didn't participate in the game. But yeah, he definitely shut it down to kind of avoid injury once he got the call there. Yep. All right.
Starting point is 00:39:34 Let's get out here. We've been doing 37 minutes. No, we're not doing that. You know, my wife listens to this podcast, Scott. And you're going to give her some hard tremors. Just kidding. Just kidding. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:45 Anyways, 37 minutes of draft content. We will be back tomorrow. Friday. I'm not sure yet with the flights and how all that's going on. But we'll be back with some more content. Thank you so much for making us your first listen of every day or maybe last listen depending on when it comes out. But check out the site, FantasyPoint.com. I'm going to have my updated practice notes.
Starting point is 00:40:06 Also, dated.com. Still time to get in on that before things get crazy. All right. For Brett Whitefield. For Scott Barrett. 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,
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