Fantasy Football Daily - Arizona Cardinals with Johnny Venerable | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: July 23, 2023

With a new coach and GM, the Cardinals are entering a rebuild phase. But here's what's interesting -- few teams enter a full-on rebuild with a $200 million quarterback. Johnny Venerable (@JohnnyVenerable) of @PHNX_Sports discusses the vibes in the Cardinal fanbase with Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan). What is Kyler Murray's health? Do the fans want to keep Kyler long-term or replace him after a tank year? Who will catch passes here? It's a detailed breakdown of an interesting team. Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- 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. The franchise-focused podcast series on the Fantasy Points Podcast Network. I'm your host, Joe Dolan, and our long journey is coming to a close. 32 teams in 32 days, occasionally skipping a day here and there. But essentially in one month, we have a podcast for each NFL team, starting with the AFC East and now wrapping up with the NFC West.

I hope you enjoyed this journey as much as I did. I hope you learned as much as I did. Getting intel on camp battles, potential sleepers, injuries, who's going to be back early in training camp, who might not be back until a little bit later in the summer, contract situations. All of that has been covered. I just want to thank all of my co-hosts for scheduling these.

It was not a fun job scheduling the podcast. Once I started recording them, that's when I really started to enjoy it. Scheduling and getting people all on the same page was not the most fun, but everybody who I had on this podcast was so excited to join me. And it was such a pleasant experience once I got these things scheduled that I really can't imagine not doing this next year, even though it was a massive stress item in my life. But I think the fruits of the labor have really borne out here with all the information that we have acquired throughout the franchise focus podcast series.

We also, by the way, if you just listen to this and you're not subscribed to fantasy points.com, we also did an accompanying article for all 32 NFL teams in which we broke down, did a full breakdown of every player projected all. on those 32 teams, including John Hansen's final thoughts and how he's approaching all the teams. So I want to thank everybody for reading those articles. Tom Broley, Ryan Heath, Jake Tribby contributing to those articles. The guys did a wonderful job. Tom Brawley also did a full betting preview for all 32 teams. The guy is just a machine, so I really hope you check that out. And finally, we launched the Fantasy Points Data Suite last week, and to say the reception's

been great is an understatement. I think the industry is enjoying it, and I think the industry is seeing the potential of the fantasy points data suite. If you haven't signed up for the data suite and given a look at everything that the tool can do, you can go and sign up for a free seven-day trial. It will not charge your credit card for seven days, and you can decide that the data suite is something you want to add to your fantasy football research this year. It has been a big research month here with the franchise focus podcast series and the fantasy points data suite. I hope everybody is along for the ride and I hope everybody is ready for training camp in the preseason. That is what this series was leading into. And without further ado,

here is our final division, the NFC West. Welcome as we begin our final division in the 2023 franchise focus podcast series. We start the NFC West and we're going to start it alphabetically like we've been doing every other division and A is at the top of the alphabet. Boy, I am well educated. Certainly well educated is Johnny Venerable. He is the host of the P.HNX Cardinals podcast. You can follow him on Twitter at Johnny Venerable. It is his second consecutive appearance on the franchise focus podcast.

Johnny, it is a pleasure to have you on. And I got to ask you, has anybody ever told you that Johnny Venerable is a phenomenal pro wrestling name? They haven't. I grew up in the attitude air in the 90s. I haven't watched Pro Wrestling in a hot minute, but me neither. I appreciate it. Yeah, that's a pretty, it's a pretty badass name, good nickname, but Johnny is awesome to have you on the podcast. And there is a lot that has changed since the last time we discussed.

Yes. Kyler Murray's hurt. Let's start at the top. Jonathan Gannon, new coaching staff. You've got Drew Petzing, the new offensive coordinator. What is this offense going to look at? Let's just, let's presume. Kyler is back and I know that's a big presumption.

But let's presume he's back. How are we going to, do you have any idea of how this is going to compare and contrast to Cliff Kingsbury's offense? Yeah, because we got a chance. We ran down Jonathan Gannon at the NFL Combine back in late February, early March when we were there, my co-host, Bobrock and I, and we asked him what the office was going to look like. And he told us, frankly, that they're going to mirror a lot of, you would imagine, Cleveland

on early downs last year with Jacoby Brose. set, run heavy, a little bit of San Francisco. They're going to be out of the eye formation on early downs, which is something that Kyla Murray, I don't think, has done probably since high school. And then on third down, they're going to look like Philadelphia-ish with Jalen Hertz and Company. They're going to take a mixture of all that,

as opposed to Cliff Kingsbury, the 10 personnel, you know, running gun. They were in the shotgun, I think more than any other team. They were never under center with Kyla Murray playing quarterback. So very different, and they're limited, as you, your viewers and listeners probably know on both sides of the ball. So they're going to try to slow the game down the best they can. They're going to lean on the run game, which is led by James Connor, play action, Hollywood Brown. They've got a couple nice tight ends that I'm sure we'll talk about. But it's going to be a complete evolution as to what they did with Cliff Kingsbury last year,

which, frankly, was not good enough. I mean, Cliff, for, you know, all his faults, they would get off to fast starts offensively during the season. and they just couldn't adjust. You guys have seen the numbers and the analytics November, December, January. It was rough to look at. So this offense, I would say it's going to lend itself more to the latter half of the season as they get their bearings about them and find some cadence. But I expect Kyle Murray to have success just like Jacoby Brissette and Deshaun Watson last year.

So when do you expect Tyler Murray to play is the next question and the big question? Yeah, it's the biggest question of the season. and I think it's what makes the season so, I don't know, interesting because a lot of people have already written this team off. A lot of people assume they have the number one odd to have the top pick in Vegas with the NFL draft next year with Caleb Williams in mind. But I'm hearing via multiple avenues. Kyle Murray's ahead of schedule. And typically with an ACL tier, it's eight to 10 months leaning toward eight to nine months. Guys like, goodness, Carson Wentz and RG3 and Joe Burrow.

I mean, guys come back and they play week one. That's just what happened. And so I don't know where this false sense of security came with Kyla Murray playing during the year. A lot of people have assumed all he's going to miss most of the season. I think they're just kind of connecting dots because they assume the Cardinals aren't going to be good. So why would Kyle Murray play? He's worked his butt off to come back. And I expect him back no later than week five.

But I think there's a good chance we could see him during the first quarter of the season, week three, week four. A lot of it will be dependent on do they put him on PUP to start the year, which the earliest, if he gets put on PUP, would be to come back in week five. But I think that makes the Cardinals interesting. I don't know how many games they're going to win as a result, but I'm all for Kyla Murray over guys like Gold McCoyne, Jeff Driscoll,

with all due respect to them. Yeah, and Clayton, too, and also a rookie. You know, it does raise a really interesting kind of dichotomy here, though, because this is a new coaching staff. We obviously, you know, Steve Kime is no longer here. and you always hear the old adage. Oh, they didn't pick Kyler Murray. And their line is the worst team in football right now.

So it's a really interesting. Like, I haven't done a vibe check for a whole lot of teams since I did kind of the NFC North where the vibes are really important to me. What's the vibes of the Cardinal fan base? Is there like a, hey, I want Kyler to come out there and ball or is there a faction of the fan base that's like, tank for Caleb, baby. I'm ready for a new beginning. That's kind of an interesting battle that I feel is like brewing. I think it's 50-50 right now. Even split until we get to the season,

then everybody wants to watch their team win on Sundays early in the fall. And I think Kyla Murray will be lauded and rooted for as he should be when he comes back by this underrated Phoenix football fan base. And I think Cardinal fans are much more patient now that Steve Kheim is no longer their general manager. Because Monty Austin Ford coming. from Tennessee and the New England Patriots have stripped. He stripped this roster down. He stole Houston's one next year.

They're setting the Cardinals up for success. Now, they have to follow through. They have to make the right selections in the draft. They have to sign the right free agents. But they're on pace right now. $100 million to spend next offseason, multiple top picks, whether that's with Kyla Murray or not. I mean, they're saying and doing all the right things.

But Joe, to your point, like, I think initially there was a lot of speculation for tanking with this team. They weren't aggressive in free agency. they have a lot of young players, but I think it's more so they're trying to see who's worth keeping from the prior regime. Zaven Collins, Isaiah Simmons and company are a couple names that come to mind.

Kai Murray comes back though and plays, which I expect him to within the first four to six weeks, like they're not going to be the worst team in football. They might be bad. They might be top 10. But to be the number one picking team, I mean, for 17 weeks,

you have to be borderline unwatchable. I think the bears were an outlier last year, and I think purposely maybe through a couple games toward the end of the year. They were a fun, bad team. I think the Cardinals have a chance to be that. And then some, they have a fourth play schedule. They play the NFC, you know, hierarchy of quarterbacks,

which I would take Kyla Murray in the top three to five easily of that group. So if Kyla Murray comes back and looks like Kyler Murray of old, like midway through the season, they're not going to be picking one. It will just be predicated on what's Houston do if they got the number one pick through Houston, which, I mean, C.J. Straude would have to go down. D'Amico Ryans would have to be a disson. disaster for that to happen. I just don't think they're going to be in a position to draft Caleb Williams anymore, especially with this Kyler Murray return seeming so imminent.

If you would have asked me three months ago when the talk was, let's hold them out until Thanksgiving, then it's like, why even bring them back at all? And they're purposely trying to get Caleb Williams. But the fan base, I think it will be a short memory because I just don't think they're going to be bad enough to be the first pick of the draft next year. You know, and that always raises the interesting point because, you know, Carolina traded up from, I believe it was seven this year using a couple of first-round picks and then, of course, DJ Moore. So I, you know, I look at it like Kyler Murray's incentive to play well is even if he's not in Arizona next year, if he plays well, heck, even if he doesn't play well,

somebody's going to look at his pedigree and say, this guy will take on the, look what happened Carson Wentz, you know, like, Wentz, Wentz got traded twice after bad season. So I feel like Kyler has that incentive because he is on the big contract to get back, play, and say, hey, if it's not going to be here, I'm going to show another team what I can do. Yeah, and I think this regime will draft quarterbacks mid-round, late rounds every year, but I mean, they're paying Kyla Maria premium. They went to his statue, Heisman, statue unveiling in Oklahoma, the entire front office, the entire coaching staff. And like, I genuinely believe Jonathan Gannon likes Kyla Murray and is going to make it work with Kyla Marie. And we'll just have to see the partnership

unfold. I mean, Cliff Kingsbury and Kyle Murray had a really good relationship to start out, and it fizzled. I think in large part because I think Kyler lost some respect for Cliff and saw that again, Sean McVeigh, and Kyle Shanahan and Pete Carroll, just he needed an upgrade. And so I think let's give Kyla Murray the benefit of the doubt now with what I think is a serious coaching staff in a division that you have to have one or you'll get undressed every year. Let's see if they match Kyler Murray's level of play. And let's see if the front office can support him with a cast that has called the offensive lineman and big body receivers. Tyler Murray was asked to carry this franchise the moment he got there.

And I think he's held up his end of the bargain. But when he needed the franchise to match his level of excellence, they failed him. And so, and then subsequently, he's been taking a lot of arrows for the last 18 plus months. It'll be interesting to see now, you know, using that fuel to the fire, I think it's going to lead to some good results. So let's talk, switch to some other players here. and let's talk about James Connor. Obviously, he's had injury problems on his own,

but I look at the backfield behind him, and there's not a lot of depth. You know, Keontay Ingram didn't do a whole lot as a rookie. I thought Corey Clement was a player who showed a lot of promise early in his career in Philadelphia, but then injuries caught up with him. What's your outlook for James Connor? And do you expect him to be like a 70, 75% of the snaps kind of guy in this backfield?

Yes, because they're paying him eight figures because they love his leadership, his mentality. Joe, I think this is his last year with the Cardinals, but I think he could have a thousand yards and double-digit touchdowns, just kind of by default. Drew Petzing did a masterful job last year with, you know, of course, Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, which, by the way, the latter is still a free agent.

It's a name to watch for this team if they get into training camp. I think the Cardinals are going to back into signing a low-priced veteran of sorts, a name people recognized because this running back market is kind of dead on arrival, unfortunately, for the position. and they could be the benefactor of that. But as far as James Connor goes, the offensive line is an unknown, but I think this is the best tackle depth they've had in some time.

If they can just get average play from their interior, James is going to have a nice season. James is somebody that they're going to lean on, health withstanding. If he goes down, then all bets are off. But he's somebody I'd feel comfortable from a fantasy perspective taken within the first three rounds. You'll just, I don't see him ever not having 20 touches in a game. They just don't have enough elements,

especially before Kyla Murray comes back to supplement offensive touches. Last year, in the only game that he had, I think, like 20, the highest carry amount that he had in a game, he went for 100 yards. So he's still that type of player, and I expect him to be productive this season. The wide receiver group is obviously thin. There's been some injury problems here following the release of Yonre Hopkins, and he had injury problems himself, you know. Marquise Brown is the lead guy,

and I think you're well aware of how much his targets went up in games DeAndre Hopkins missed last year. Kyle Murray looked for him. What's his health status coming off the foot? Do you anticipate he being able to get into camp and really kind of be that alpha that they don't have anywhere else? Yeah, he's 100% bought in. He's in a contract here.

That helps. He's been in everything this offseason with the new regime. OTA's mini camp. I think he's poised for a thousand yards season. Now what that looks like, I don't know. It's hard not. If you're going to get the targets he gets, even in an offense that may not have Kyler Murray for a couple weeks, he's going to say.

sleepwalk his way, health permitting to 1,000 yards. He was on pace last year for 1,300 yards with Kyla Murray, with Colt McCoy, before going down against Seattle, especially now with DeAndre Hopkins not playing. The Cardinals are going to be behind in some games. And so that's going to lead them to Hollywood Brown seeing a big jump in production. I would also say, too, some interesting names behind him. They took Michael Wilson, Stanford receiver in the third round, who I get it. It's been shells and not real football this off season. He's looked fantastic. He was a player that couldn't stay healthy for a couple fluke reasons at Stanford. But big-bodied receiver, they don't have enough of those.

And this is an offense, Joe, that is going to translate to big-bodied receivers over time. No Cleveland receiver last year under Drew Petzing was under six foot. And so the Cardinals under Steve Kime, for whatever reason, pairing him with a 5-10 quarterback, went undersized receiver more often than not. Kyla Marie, I think, will lean toward some of these bigger targets. Zach Pascal comes over from Indianapolis, spent some time in Philadelphia. I think he'll be a nice red zone option. Rondell Moore is kind of the wild card of that group.

He's a name. People remember him from Purdue. He's a second round pick. It's a make or break year for him in Arizona. If he's not productive, I could see him being shipped off next off season. I want to start. I definitely want to talk about some of these lower end receivers.

Let's start with Rondale Moore since you just brought him up. Yeah. Did Cliff Kingsbury kind of struggled? You know, he was, he's throughout his career, has been one of the lowest average depth of target receivers in the entire NFL. Do you think Kingsbury struggled to figure out a way to use him or did Moore just not develop in a way where his usage could be expanded? I think it's probably 70, 30 on Cliff, 30 percent on Rondell Moore who's not been able to stay healthy. And that's the biggest thing is you have to be able to stay healthy.

I mean, Greg Dorch has been really productive in this offense and they're almost identical in stature and size. And Greg Dorch was one of the best receivers in the NFL last year in separating. Rondell, though, his usage under Cliff Kingsbury was malpractice. It was egregious. They would not use him as a traditional wide receiver, putting him in the slot, moving him around. I mean, it was too much horizontal. I think Cliff Kingsbury honestly thought he'd be able to just throw him the ball behind the line of scrimmage and let some, I mean, I'm five, six and a half. We're the same size.

We're the same height, at least. And so it's just, this is a man's game in the NFL. You've got to be able to scheme players open. But you can watch what he did against Minnesota last year, a nice catch and run. He had a nice end of the season. Injuries notwithstanding. I just, I don't know what. you draft him to kind of be an outlier because if he succeeds, it's like, well, he's Steve

Smith, but there's only one Steve Smith, and he played much bigger than his physical stature. So, I mean, as harsh of a reality as this, and our listeners of Ph. Next Cardinals know this. I'm betting on him not to succeed in Arizona. I just, I think too much time has passed. He hasn't been able to stay healthy dating back to Purdue 2018. So I just think he's just going to be a rotational player. And I hope I'm proven wrong. Great person hadn't a chance to interview him during Super Bowl week, great human being, but just it's the reality of the situation right now. Michael Wilson has been a receiver. First and foremost, our guys were down at the Senior Bowl.

I don't know if you were there, but our guys were down at the Senior Bowl. He was the standout receiver of the week in Mobile. I have been making him, I've been making a point of it on my underdog bestball drafts. He has been my final round pick so many times for all the reasons that you said. What other player on this team, in theory, can give them what Michael Wilson can give them. I think the answer is zero players on this team can give them what even I don't, I'm not even trying to say ideally, but let's just say Michael Wilson comes out and has a decent rookie

season. I do view him as a player even in a decent rookie season who gives them way, something way different than anybody else on this roster. Yeah, I think injuries are the only thing that can stop him because he's polished. I mean, you saw his route running, you saw his ability go up and over corners. I think Zach Pascal is the only other name to watch. watch in terms of a big body receiver, but that's what they want to move toward. I mean, certainly they would draft Caleb Williams if given the chance next spring.

Nobody on the roster would perhoove them, behoove them from doing that. But I remember when they took him, we were doing our draft show, and it was a little bit of a befuddle because, number one, they've taken so many receivers that haven't worked out. We're going to do this again, injury guy, and then you watch the tape and you watch his explosiveness. And then to see, it's one thing to do it at the college level. but then again in shells this off season to do it against pros veterans this off season and you hear the whispers hey this this kid's the real deal i think i think a nice year for michael wilson 500 plus yards 50 plus catches a bunch of targets um because i think it's coming if he if to your

point joe if he's healthy he will play that would be the biggest thing whereas like rondell more was not drafted by this regime if he if he's healthy he'll be active but what does that look like i know what Michael Wilson looks like, he's an exor, he's an outside receiver, and they don't have enough of them. And you can make the argument, I think a pretty easy argument that Greg Dorch has been better at being Rondale more than Rondale Moore's been at being Rondell Moore. Not even close. Not even close. Greg, to me was stripped of playing time egregiously by Cliff Kingsbury last year because they had an investment at Rondell Moore. Greg Dorch put up 100 yards receiving against the 49ers. I saw him go down so many times. And by go down, I mean, get lit up. during training camp at the preseason, you would assume, oh, he's going to be out, comes back the next play,

is just everything you want from an undrafted player. And again, somebody that deserves targets and time, they tendered him this offseason, this new regime did. So they like him enough. He's going to come back. He'll be jack of all trades, punt returner, kick returner, will get time offensively.

Easy player to root for it. And somebody that I hope sticks around in Arizona for a long time. Zach Ertz, obviously, is still on this roster. he got hurt last year. Even before he got hurt, never a player who was going to win with his explosiveness and athleticism entirely on his smarts and savvy. What's the outlook for Zach Ertz? Is he healthy?

Is he a player that maybe if he somehow is productive in the first half of the season, they can move by the deadline? What is the outlook here? Yeah, thank you. Get the nail on the head. I spoke with him during Super Bowl Media Week, and his goal was to be ready week one. I think he'll do some light stuff in the early.

portion of camp. I don't think he'll start the season on PUP. It could be a week to week thing, but he's making a lot of money just like James Connor. He's got a really close relationship with John and Gannon. I think that's what people don't know or emphasize enough. They were in Philadelphia together, and they love what he brings off the field just like James Connor. So I could definitely see it be a year where he's on the team because they want to instill that culture. I mean, they'll pay Zach Ertz and James Connor. Some might consider overpay salaries this year to ingratiate and develop the culture that they want. And they'll tell DeAndre Hopkins, you know, eat grass and we'll pay $21 million to go away.

And I love DiHop. But that's what the Cardinals did. That's what Austin Ford and Gannon did. And they have the cash to be able to overpay these guys this year. But I absolutely think Ertz is a movable player if he shows that he's productive and healthy. I just don't know if he's going to have that opportunity with the player I know we're going to talk about. Yeah. So I want to discuss the offensive line here because it is it is a line that the Cardinals have made investments into.

They go out. They signed Elijah Wilkinson this offseason. And then obviously, of course, the big investment was Parrish Johnson. What's the outlook for the offensive line? I know that's been kind of a bugaboo in Arizona the last number of years. I mean, it probably struggled early and hopefully find their footing mid to late season. I mentioned this. This is the best tackle depth that they've had maybe in my adult life.

They've got four capable tackles. DJ Humphreys, they moved all of his guaranteed money to this year. And they're telling DJ Humphreys who they like, play well. And we'll keep you around. if not, you're going to hit free agency next off season. So he's motivated. He's in good shape. His back was a bugaboo last year and looks like it's been healed to some degree.

But yeah, the showstopper is the sixth overall pick, Paris Johnson Jr. Who they would have taken at three, Joe. They were prepared to take him, traded down, then traded back up in front of a couple tackle-needy teams. He's a freak show. A lot of people projected him. Well, he's going to play guard the first year. They've not screwed around. And I commend them for that.

This is a rebuilding team. They said, no, no, no, you're going to play your natural position at tackle. We've had his offensive line coach on our show before. He's a generational type of prospect that I think at worst is going to be a 10-year player for the Cardinals. And then Josh Jones and Kelvin Beecham back up both of those players. The interior, of course, is the issue. Will Hernandez was playing good football for them.

The ex-giant last year before he went down, he's the right guard. It's left-guard and center if this team's going to struggle, that that's going to be it. They brought in Yeldda Froldthold from Cleveland, familiarity with Drew. Petzing. He's looked okay, but I would not discount them adding the center during this free agency training camp period. Watch guys who are cut. Watch Ben Jones, who was in Tennessee with Monty Austin Ford if he's healthy. Left guard is just an open crapshoot. You mentioned Wilkinson. John Gaines, who was a player out of UCLA, who tested really well, was their fourth rounder. Yeah, in a perfect world, he would win the job. That's asking a lot, though.

So I think a lot of us thought they would take advantage of this strong center class. They did not, at least not to the untrained eye. Maybe Gaines plays some center. He was snapping the ball a little bit during the off season. But they cannot rebuild this line in one singular off season. I think that's what they told you with their selection. So trying to band-aid the interior, hopefully it doesn't lead the guys going down. We'll just have to wait and see.

You know, I thought it was interesting. You mentioned that they would have taken Parrish Johnson at three. And I think the insight there is, of course, you know, like I believe that that that's the truth. They're always going to say, oh, you know, we love this player and you trade it down and got him anyway. But I do think that that points to where the head of the organization is right now, right? Yeah. We're not going to make the sexy pick.

We think we're going to start in the trenches. We're going to start on the offensive line. If we can trade down and get them, so be it. If not, we're going to take the guy who we think sets us better for the future. And I think that's probably refreshing for Cardinal fans following the Steve Kime era. Yeah, because it was all sex appeal and guys showstopper tweener line. linebackers, undersized receivers. I mean, again, I knock on Isaiah Simmons a lot, not the person, but the player,

because I didn't see an outlook for him to have immediate success with the Cardinals. And I've been proven right on that. And they didn't pick up his fifth year option. They're moving Zaven Collins from inside linebacker to pass rusher this off season. So, I mean, they're cleaning up the mess of Steve Kheim, who, I mean, he was by default, the most successful gym they've ever had. But how much of that was credited, Bruce Ariens and Carson Palmer and Kyler Murray, I would say a lot.

So they have not drafted well for 10 plus years. And so they're trying to get back to basics. And you can't go wrong with a blue chip position at tackle from a blue chip program, Ohio State. Just their bus rate has been so high because they've gotten cute. Andy Isabella, UMass. They thought after drafting David Johnson and John Brown, they could go small school every other year. It just hasn't been the case. And then they botched to San Reddick, letting him leave and playing him out of position for a couple of years.

they are finally getting back to the philosophy of taking big time prospects from big universities and they know exactly what to do with them. Every single one of their draft picks you can identify. Like B. Joe Jilar in the second round, we'll play the Hassan Redick role under Jonathan Gannon. That's easy to identify. Paris Johnson, they're not going to screw around. They're playing them a tackle, not guard. I mean, those are just marquee positions that you have to hit on to be able to have any kind of sustained success in the NFL.

So, Johnny, I've been wrapping up all. these podcasts by asking my guess, somebody on the roster, this being the Cardinals roster, might be under the radar for the average fantasy player. Who do you think that contributor could be on offense for the Arizona Cardinals this year? Yeah, I alluded to it. And I do think one of the Steve Kime draft picks that he'll eventually get credit for, Trey McBride, second round tied in last year out of Colorado State and was a phenom, was the best tied in collegiate in 2021 during the college football season and was really hampered

by, I would say, coaching development last year, caught on the second half after Zacherts went down, saw a lot of targets. And I think, again, we talked about a Joe off air. It's a tight end epidemic a little bit with regard to fantasy football. I think he's going to be a sure thing for a lot of targets. I think he's going to sleepwalk his way, 500 plus yards. I think you could see a lot of targets in the red zone. I do not think that Zacherts will have the preference over him to begin camp because he's going to be hurt. Ray McBride took all the first team reps this entire offseason. Drew Petsing, go look what he did with the tight ends in Cleveland last year. David Njoku. Again, is he ever going to be a thousand-yard receiver?

Probably not. But, I mean, six, 700 yards, I think is realistic these next couple of years with a handful of plus of touchdowns. He was a phenom at Colorado State. I mean, he was an unbelievable receiver and something that I think is going to translate well. And, yeah, he's somebody that under the radar outside of the Hollywood's and James and is Connors that I would identify as a sleeper for this team. His name is Johnny Venerable. He is the host of the P. HNX Cardinals podcast at Johnny Venerable on Twitter.

Johnny, we had a lot to talk about with the Cardinals. And I'm going to venture a guess when I'm doing this podcast next year, we're going to have quite a lot to talk about with the Cardinals as well. Uncertain but exciting times for the Cardinals. I kind of view this as. Absolutely. Yeah. When will Kyler Murray be back?

What does Johnny and Gannon's team look like and some of these young players? Who's going to pop for this team? Yeah, it's a transition year, but the best possible kind. So I got to be honest, I'm a uniform junkie. I thought the Cardinals were in dire need of an update. I think most Cardinal fans would agree with that. What's the new to uniform rating from you? I personally, I think the whites are way better than the Reds, but I'll-

I agree with that. And a lot of people like the Black. They haven't made the Black for sale yet. They want the Red and the White to sell well. I think, I mean, for me, I was clamoring for it for years. I asked Monty Austin for this offseason at the combine. We're the uniforms. Cardinals played tongue in cheek.

Give them credit. They finally did it. These are a throwback, I think, to a little bit of the 90s and the 70s, which is the best possible uniform. Get the piping out of here. Singular color. I think the red will be better if they change it to the white pants, which they can do at any point.

Any point. The helmet, look, I love the white helmet. I'm a sucker for that. So I'm going to give an A 10. That's a Homerish score. But man, oh, man, I'm very much of the mindset. that the uniforms they rock before this were the worst in the NFL. So it's an easy layup.

They kept it simple. They didn't go flashy. There was rumors they were going to do like an Oregon Ducks thing. They didn't do that. So they will be aesthetically pleasing this fall because I think a lot of people that went under the radar. Week one against the commanders, they'll be in those white jerseys. I think that'll pop for people.

So it'll be an aesthetically pleasing, at least from a clothing standpoint. It's going to be a great uniform year across the NFL with all the new throwbacks. Johnny Venerable. Thank you so much for joining me on the franchise focus podcast. I hope to talk to you before next year. But if we don't talk before next year, get prepared because there's going to be a lot to talk about that as well. Come by any time. Thanks for having me, Joe.

Three more podcasts left on the franchise focus podcast series. We are going to talk the rest of the NFC West. I can't believe it's almost over, but it's training camp time. It's fantasy football time. Thanks for tuning in everybody, and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform, and come join the roster at fantasypoints.com.