Fantasy Football Daily - Cleveland Browns with Nathan Zegura | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and fantasy sports veteran Nathan Zegura (@NathanZegura) of the @Browns Radio Network and @Browns_Daily break down the 2023 Cleveland Browns from every fantasy football angle! 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

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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. Hi everyone, it's Joe Dolan, and this is the franchise-focused podcast series at FantasyPoint.com.

We're continuing this week with the AFC. North. And we started with the AFC East. And over a six-week period, I will be interviewing 32 different people, 32 different beat writers, analysts, podcasters who are really close to each of the NFL teams. And the object of the franchise focus podcast series is to glean useful fantasy football information from people who would know these things as we head into training camp and the 2023 NFL season. They're an educational process for me. And I always like to get as much information as I possibly can. So I decided why not just record these interviews?

Why not record these conversations? And hope that the listeners can glean some information as well. Again, we are heading into the AFC North in this section of our podcast interviews. We've already done the AFC East. I hope you enjoy. I hope you subscribe to the podcast feed. But without further ado, here's my next guest talking about an AFC North team. It's a big thrill to welcome one of my former colleagues on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio

to the program. He's somebody who's graduated to do much bigger and better things. His name is Nathan Zagura. You know him as the color analyst for the Cleveland Browns Radio Network, and you can still hear his voice on Fantasy Sports Radio because when Paul Kelly and I on the Sirius XM Fantasy Football Game Day show cut live to Browns, you hear Nate breaking down the plays. And those in Cleveland also know him as the co-host of Browns Daily every weekday. From 1 to 3 Eastern on ESPN Cleveland, follow him on Twitter at Nathan Zagura. Nate, it is a thrill to have you on the podcast. Thank you for lending your support, perhaps unknowingly, to the Game Day show on Sirius.

Glad we could still keep that connection to the channel for you, though. Oh, yeah, first of all, it's great to be on with you. And obviously, it's always great to come back on, you know, when you think about Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio, I love that, and I love what you're doing here at Fantasy Points with the guru. And I use it. So thank you, because I do not have the time to do what I used to do when I was, You know, people might still remember me as the Sirius XM Fantasy Consultant.

That was the show that we had on there. So, yeah, great to be back. Great to be talking fantasy. And certainly, you know, I'm excited about the Cleveland Browns this year. I am every year, guilty, obviously. But this will be my 11th season with the team. And it's by far the most talented team that we've had. And we're starting to see that even the mandatory minicamp that we just had.

You're seeing that this is a different level of offense. And that's really what it was, a passing camp. But we'll get into the specifics, I'm sure. But I do think I am bullish on our. ability to score points. This is fun. So obviously last year, I think the Browns, I guess when you make a trade for Deshawn Watson, you anticipate that that year is going to be kind of a limbo year.

He comes back, clearly rusty, not anywhere close to his best, maybe some flashes at the end of last season of what could happen. What did you see from Watson at those mini camps that would indicate he's ready to take the next step is the Browns quarterback. Yeah, well, let me go back to last year really quickly. And I think that one thing, and I certainly was guilty of it, and I even think a lot, I think DeShan himself was probably guilty of it, that we underestimated the impact of not playing quarterback for 700 days in the NFL.

It's hardest position in all professional sports, and that rust was real. But what I did see in those six games, and while the numbers weren't tremendous, you saw, honestly, pretty much every week, at least one or two plays. or throws that were better than anything, certainly I've seen, and that were elite. We got guys on our staff. Alex Van Pelt was around Aaron Rogers in Green Bay. Chad O'Shea was around Tom Brady in New England. And so you saw glimpses of what could be great.

I would tell people to go look at, there was a deep, he threw to Donovan People's Jones against Cincinnati. And DPJ told me after the game, he goes, that's the first time a pass ever caught meat. He said, I didn't catch that pass. It caught me, which I thought was pretty cool. Or you go to the, you know, those second half against Washington, where you have. had the three scores and really got it going. And there was the ability to throw the out from the far hash to beat coverage. He made a back shoulder throw it to David Ojoku to be an inverted cover too.

It was just great recognition because that's not where the ball is supposed to go, but he recognized what they did and put the ball in the right place. And then he saw what he could do with his legs. And we saw that as the season went on. But, you know, what I saw in minicamp is something that I've never seen before with the Cleveland Browns. And I've only heard about it mythically from, you know, other teams when they talk about seven on sevens and all the ball doesn't hit the ground.

on Tuesday of our mini-camp. So it was the first mini-camp practice. The Browns did seven-on-sevons. That's the only thing that was full speed in these mini-camps. They did a normal period. He went 10 for 10, and that normal period was throwing dots everywhere. And then they did a red zone period. And in that red zone period, 10 plays nine touchdowns, not nine completions, nine

touchdowns. And we have an excellent secondary, but he was just putting it absolutely darts. Amari was back the day. Elijah Moore, we will talk about extensively on this. and then Donovan People's Jones, the chief, you know, even had a drive, get one to Nick Chubb out of the backfield. He looked awesome. And after that day, I talked with a lot of our coaches about it. And you could just see kind of the smiles on their faces.

And even on the defense, who was just because they realized, okay, we got a guy who is going to be able to lead us where we want to go as a team. And so it was all smiles. I had coaches like who I mentioned, you know, AVP and Chad O'Shea, you know, who said that was a special practice. And they've been around, as I mentioned, very special quarterback. So I think he's back and I talked to him too, walking off the field that day. And I go, man, that was, you know, that was pretty good. And he goes, I'm finally, like, feeling like myself. I'm not thinking.

I'm not worrying. I'm just reacting and putting the ball in very tight windows. And he has the ability to do that. So I think that was the most encouraging thing. Again, nobody's hitting them. There are no pads on. But I think that was the most encouraging thing because we didn't even see practices like that last year. You saw, as I said, flashes.

But this was like, wow. So the Browns, I believe, were at bottom 10 or bottom 11 in total passing yards last year. And I think obviously part of that you start with a backup quarterback Jacoby Perced who played very well, by the way. Very well. As I'm sure you're well aware. But also, you know, when they were a team that last year for fantasy, I actually drafted a lot of them are at Cooper because I thought he was undervalued because I didn't see a lot of competition for targets for him. You know, Donovan People's Jones has made some plays. And, you know, obviously David and Joku had his best year in the league.

But the Browns went out and they added some high resources to the wide receiver position, most notably trading for Elijah Moore and then also drafting Cedric Tillman. Now, Scott Barrett at fantasy points, Nate, he would kill me if it took me too long to ask about Elijah Moore. That's his boy. Elijah Moore changed a scenery guy. He changed a scenery guy. got off on the bad foot last year with the Jets. What have you seen from Elijah Moore?

What are the expectations for the coaching staff for him as he looks to be maybe the number two to Lamar Cooper? There's a lot of excitement. So Elijah Moore, I loved him coming out of Ole Miss. And I'll share a story with you that I've shared a few times, but perhaps would be new to your audience. So the night of the draft back in 20, this was what the 20-21 draft. And Elijah Moore was still on the board and starts second round.

and I came out as I'd be getting ready to do radio for the second round of the draft and sat down with Coach Defansky and I was just like, man, just get us Elijah Moore. And he's like, we got no chance. But he's like, I'm going to,

you and my dad have been nonstop talking about Elijah Moore. So his dad, who was obviously a great legend in the basketball business. Also was the big Elijah Moore guy. He was so dominant, old miss. You saw flashes, those final six games his rookie year

before he got hurt. But he is, he was the star of many, camp. Honestly, I mean, Deshawn Watson was the star, but if you were saying who was the next star of Brown's mini camp and really the OTA's the whole offseason, it was Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore catches everything thrown his way, and that's not hyperbole. Last year, he actually had more catches than he had catchable targets. So I don't know how that's possible. I feel like if you catch it at some level be catchable, but nonetheless, he caught one that was deemed uncatchable.

So he catches everything. They are using him outside. They're using them as the ax when they go three by one sometimes. They're using him in the slot. And then most fun, and I think from fantasy, they're using him in the backfield a lot. And so in the red zone, he scored, I think, of those nine touchdowns. I think he scored four of them. Two of them came out of the backfield. I was talking with one of the Browns linebackers. And he said, you know, we've already had to change how we deal with him out of the backfield because he is, you can't cover him with a line. You just forget. You can't do it. So he has been great. I'm a big Elijah. Jamor believer. I said this with the guru. I think it is likely in my mind that in 2024,

he will be the Brown's number one receiver and he will be a fantasy month. This year, I think he is still going to be fantasy relevant. I think it's harder to say because, you know, we've got Amari who coming off last year, 78 catches, 1160 yards, nine touchdowns. Amari is great. You've got DPJ who was on pace for a thousand, finished just shy, 839 a career high. He's only improved every single year. You've got Elijah. You've got the Chief, who if the Chief played 16 games or 17 games last year, you know, he's probably about 750 and maybe six, eight touchdowns. That being David and Joko to my listeners, by the way. Yes, David and a Jocco. So you've got four legit weapons in the past game. You've got Nick Chubb, who was obviously going to get his

touches as well. Then he got Marquis Goodwin, who can still fly and was showing the vertical ability. Cedric Tillman, I believe the Brown stole, and we can talk about him later. certainly Dynasty Leagues absolutely grab him up. I think he becomes Amari Cooper next year, like in that role in this offense. They see him as a true number one receiver. So I think it's going to be hard week to week to say which Brown's guy is going to be consistent catching the football. But I do think Elijah Moore, especially in PPR leagues, they're going to try to get the ball into his hands. I love him.

I am buying Elijah Moore stock. Absolutely. I think that he is going to have a phenomenal year. He has a chip on his shoulder. He was very unhappy with how things went down with the Jets. he has a relationship with Deshaun Watson predating his time with the Browns, and they hit the ground running. So very exciting and very excited about Lashmore. I think he's, to me, I don't understand why he can't be a number one receiver in the NFL.

And I think, as I said, I think there's a good chance he will be in short order. So let's talk about Cedrick Tillman. I actually gets drafted one pick after his Tennessee teammate Jalen Hyatt. And Hyatt was the guy kind of getting, you might remember that first round-ish hype. And what I think bore out with that. with that draft pick and with Tennessee. Teams don't really know what to do with Tennessee's offense because it's so drastically different than an NFL offense

that guys might just fall down the draft board a bit. But you mentioned that the Browns think he can be a true one receiver. What did they see from Tillman and what did you see from him at minicamps and OTAs? Well, the first thing that jumps out, obviously, size speed combination, right? He's a big guy over 6'2. He can run vertically. He is a very natural athlete. I think that is readily apparent.

And I love the way he catches the ball. I'm not saying, I want to caveat this because I've said this on the radio a bunch of times before. Like you're saying he's Larry Fitzger. I'm not saying he's Larry Fitzger. I'm saying he catches the ball like Larry Fitzger. Big hands, always hands out, always away from his body. High points it extremely well. And so what the Brown saw on him is if you go back to 2021 at Tennessee,

he closed out the season with like a stretch of 100-yard games. They average over 17 yards of catch in the SEC. But one of the things you want to look at, right, is how do you perform in against the best competition? Well, people would remember that 2021 Georgia defense that gave up eight points a game. That's right, eight points a gain in the SEC for that season. And basically, they're all first round picks or top certainly three, four round picks in the NFL. They're all playing now in the league. Tillman went 11 for 200 in a touchdown against them.

Then you go to Alabama. He went for seven for 150 in a touchdown against Alabama. Then he go to his bowl game against Purdue. He goes seven for one. and three touchdowns in the bowl game. So he showed the ability to separate vertically, make contested catches, big target, big frame, big catch radius, and he can run.

And there was a lot of talk that had he come out after 2021, talking to people like Dane Bruegler and various other draft experts as I do, that he was a late first, early second round pick. Maybe he comes out then, and that's where he goes. The thought was if he goes back and has another dominant season like he did, this is the guy who could end up being the first receiver taken in this draft class. So he went back school. He goes, I think against Pitt, I want to say, early in the season, another 150 in a touchdown game gets hurt the next week.

And then basically played on a busted ankle, high ankle sprain. And when he came back, came back too soon to try to help his team, wasn't himself. The Brown's got him in the third round. And so they felt like that was a big, big steal for them. So in essence, the Browns traded their second round pick this year for Elijah Moore and Sedra Kilman because they got a third back from the jet. So they're very pleased with that. He's looked good. fantasy-wise this year. I mean, if he forces his way onto the field, I don't know who's coming

off. I mean, this is not a situation I'm used to, by the way, with Brown's wide receivers. Exactly. This is very new territory to me. I was there when our number one receiver was Ricardo. So I understand, and no offense to Ricardo, but that just wasn't what we've got here where you got a guy with 5,000-yard seasons under his belt. You got second round picks. He got Donovan Jones, who was the number one recruit at the wide receiver position coming out of high school. He was the top-rate receiver in the country. So you've got some real talent here. But I think Tillman, Dynasty League, absolutely.

If it's like a keeper league where you get to keep them based on the round, take a late round flyer on them, stash them on your bench. I think that would be good. Nate, you're obviously in tune with fantasy. And I think part of the discourse around Nick Chubb has almost become a meme on fantasy Twitter. Like every time somebody mentions Nick Chubb, they have to try to sound like they're the smartest but saying he's the best pure runner in the NFL. And there's a reason it became a meme is because I think it's probably true.

Part of the problem for fantasy with Nick is the lack of production in the passing game, ergo he becomes even despite how electric he is almost touchdown dependent. There's a big change, though, in the backfield this year. As of publication, Kareem Hunt does not have a team and is not with the Cleveland Browns. Is there a chance Nick Chubb has more passing down work this year? So unfortunately, I don't think that there is going to be a big change in Nick Chubb's passing game utilization. You know, last year, he'll give you the 15. 16125 yards, gave you 12 touchdowns on the ground, but didn't score a rushing touchdown.

Did catch one in that final game against Pittsburgh from Deshawn Watson once Watson was there. They brought in, you know, Bill Musgrave, who is considered to be very good at designing some shotgun run offense concepts. They are going to be much more varied there. Nick Chubb is not going to run against heavy boxes anymore. He's going to be running out of the shotgun. He runs anyway you know, he's one of the best in the NFL, basically and everything, but legitimately, statistically speaking, against light boxes. his yards per carry is one at the top of the NFL, out of the shotguns, one of the top of the NFL. He's going to be productive.

PPR, those catches, 70 catches versus his 27. That's what, 40, that's worth 400 yards of rushing. That's a lot. So he's not going to make that up. He caught 27 balls last year. Could he catch 35 balls this year? Sure. But as I mentioned earlier, Elijah Moore's going to be in the backfield on some passing

situations. The rounds are going to go out there and break the huddle with Elijah Moore in the backfield. Goodwin running some type of a clear-out route. Amari beating somebody one-on-one, Chief running the seam and then DPJ running a slant underneath that while he's running an angle route against the linebacker who has no chance. So number one, that is going to happen more often than you're going to see Nick Chubb catching the football.

Jerome Ford has at this point made them feel very comfortable, but again, the pads have to come on. You've got to see the pass pro. Then he can be that number two. And then there's a wild card that Demetrick Felton could still make this team for the third consecutive year. and he is back to being a full-time running back, and he's a pass-catching back. That is what he is.

So I don't see a path for Nick Chubb to catch the ball a lot more. What I would say is maybe he will on early downs because we're just going to throw up more. Like we are going to be a throwing football team. But if you're expecting him to go to 60 catches, that's not going to happen. I do think, though, you can book them for another 1,400 plus yards on the ground, and you can book them for, I think he'll have more touchdowns. I think we're going to score more. So I think you can book them for 1,400 and, you know, 14 touchdowns, easy, you know,

16 plus total yards and 14, 16 plus touchdowns. So he's going to be very good. He just won't be able to compete with, you know, an Echler or McCaffery just on the fact that they're going to catch 90 balls. So, Nate, you've mentioned virtually every player on offense, but I know you have, you're close to this team, you're there every day. You have a super deep sleeper that you're going to throw out to fantasy players and especially dynasty players, somebody to keep an eye on for you preseason

DFS sickos as well. Who is it on the Cleveland Browns? Yeah, it's a running back name Hassan Hall out of Georgia Tech. And he was very productive at Georgia Tech. He led the team with rushing last year, 521 yards. They didn't have a great line. He is very good, though, catching it out of the back field. You'd say, well, obviously he'd be drafted.

Listen, if there's ever a position in the NFL where guys can emerge and be viable, it is the running back position. So he catches, as I say, very well, out of the backfield. He runs well. He has made an impression so far on the coaches. Stump Mitchell talked about him already, saying that he looked pretty darn good, you know, in this early portion. So this is a deep sleeper.

And on the Browns team that doesn't have a lot of deep sleepers. You know, a tight end, I give one. If anything were to happen to David a joke, if he misses any time, Jordan Aiken's, I would gobble him up in a second. He came to Sean Watson personally recruited him. He's with the Browns now. I think a career higher over 500 yards a year ago. But Hassan Hall's a guy that you stash away in Dynasty.

And the Browns is, you think about their salary situations going forward, they're going to have to find areas to to save money. And one of those areas, my guess, is going to be at the running back position. So it makes sense. You have an undrafted guy there. It could be your third running back. Maybe in the future, he becomes the number two running back.

You know, the Browns are going to have a tough decision. And I'm glad I don't have to make it with Nick Chub as he, you know, gets a little bit older and still commands high dollars because he is the best pure runner in the NFL. So he's a guy that I would look at in Dynasty leagues. And it's a lottery ticket, right? Has he ever become something for the Browns? Maybe. But he's got to keep an eye.

And I think he'll get a lot of work in the preseason as well. No doubt about that. You can take the fantasy industry, or excuse me, you can take the guy out of the fantasy industry, but you can't take the fantasy industry out of the guy. I was really excited about that one day, so I flubbed it. But his name is Nathan Seger at Nathan Zagher on Twitter. Nate, it's been great hearing you. And we're anticipating on the game day show with Paul Kelly,

hearing you calling a lot of Nick Chubb touchdowns this year as we throw to the as we throw to the Browns games live. It's been a pleasure having you. Thanks so much for having me on. Or excuse me, thanks so much. I'm flubbing this outro because I'm so excited to have you. Thank you so much for joining me. I did feel like I was on your show, though.

We were together. It was a tag team for the ages. But I would say is this last year, I was kind of banging the drum for two people I thought were valued on the Browns. It was Amari and it was David DiJoko. David DiJoko, prior to his injury was certainly top five tight end and basically every metric. This year, I'm going to talk right now. Deshawn Watson is being undervalued in fantasy.

He is the guy that will be the consistent, I think, point score. As I mentioned, there are so many guys that catch the ball. There's only one. He will touch it every single play. Deshawn Watson, it would not surprise me at all if he finishes this year as a top four fantasy quarterback. And you can get him. And you can correct me on this. But the last time I did a show was talking fantasy, he was going like 10th to 12th at the

quarterback spot. He will be better than that. You can take the bank. So I can tell you exactly right now, underdog fantasy. Deshawn Watson is going as quarterback 9. You and John Hansen are in lockstep there with Deshaun Watson as an undervalued quarterback. No doubt. He is definitely undervalued.

He is Nathan Zaguerra. Let me try this again. Thank him for joining me on the franchise focus podcast. It's been a pleasure having you, Nate. You are the man. Everybody go follow his stuff on Twitter at Nathan Zagura and listen to Browns Daily on ESPN Cleveland one to three every week. day. Nate, thank you so much for

for almost it again. Thank you so much for being on the show and we'll talk to you later. Oh man. It was a pleasure, dude. Anytime. 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.