Fantasy Football Daily - Dalvin + Zeke Reaction | Preseason Week 1 Fantasy Recap with Guest Graham Barfield | Two-Point Stance Podcast

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

While many dismiss the NFL preseason as glorified practices, we know there are fantasy football nuggets to be had. FantasyPoints.com Senior Analyst Graham Barfield joined the Two-Point Stance to talk about what he learned from the first weekend of games. We start the show with our instant reactions to the Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliott news. FantasyPoints.com is your home for the best in fantasy football news and betting analysis. Sign-up today and download our award-winning cheat sheets. Twitter (never X): https://twitter.com/FantasyPTS https://twitter.com/FG_Dolan https://twitter.com/DrakeFantasy https://twitter.com/GrahamBarfield Need a draft board? Go see our friends at FJFantasy.com and use code "FantasyPTS10" to save 10% off your order. Get in on the winning over at Underdog Fantasy. Play best ball and win your share of millions in their unique set it and forget fantasy contests. Just use code "FantasyPTS" to get your first-time deposit matched up to $100. --- 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 for 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. All across the fantasy universe, we're back in better than ever on the two-point stance. What's up, everybody? I'm your boy, Brian Drake. Check me out at Drake Fantasy on Twitter. Hang in with Joe Dolan, the managing editor, of fantasy points.com. FG underscore Dolan is how you find him. What's up, brother. How you been?

Oh, doing okay, Drake. It was, uh, it's been a long time, like 12 hours since I last talk to you. So it's good to be with you. Um, uh, obviously, though, a lot of news has come down since we last talked. And I unfortunately can't get to roast you all over again for your briefs all pick in the third round of the, of the King's classic draft. So, uh, we'll be talking about that. I know you were, uh, you sent me a, um, uh, I think it was a one word explet. when you saw it. Yeah. When you saw the signing of Dalvin Cook.

So it's good to be with Drake. Good. We're, uh, we're, we're, you're listening to this on, on Wednesday, I believe. We're recording Tuesday, but you're listening Wednesday because, uh, John Hanson just had a podcast with, uh, with Adam Schaefter that has a lot of insider tidbits. So anyway, good to be with you, Drake.

Good to be with you. You Graham. Drake, I don't want to steal your thunder, but you want to introduce Graham for the pod, don't. Yeah. So we've got the preseason week one behind us. There's a lot you can take from that and a lot that's total nonsense. So what we have here is our main man, Graham Barfield. Follow him at Graham Barfield on Twitter. He has sifted through the wasteland that is third string depth charts and preseason

second halves and found the actionable content. So Graham, welcome back to the two points. Dan's how you doing, brother? I'm doing good, guys. Yeah, good to talk to you guys again. I think it's our third or fourth show this year. So rounding it out here before the season starts. And yeah, preseason's here, a bunch of RB news finally it feels like you know Joe and I know you and I do a bunch of drafts it's kind of nice like we've got a I know you know brees hall pour one out but it's got nice to get a you know kind of like a rejig of the ADP here a month before you know week one so drafts are going to be a lot of fun here with uh with all this news I've got my calendar just flying right now I have a separate I have a separate color in my Apple calendar for for fantasy drafts

and for my redraft league so we've scheduled our auction. We've scheduled our, we're doing our dynasty league draft right now. It's a really fun time of year. There is literally nothing better than adding your drafts to your calendar. It's just like it's the best feeling in the world. And this is, it's prime draft time. It's good time. It is prime draft time. If you were like me and you drafted a little earlier, maybe you thought, I got a deal and a half on Brees Hall. He's going to return from injury. He's going to be the RB1 with this revamped Jets offense. Well, then you got kicked square in the balls yesterday like I did because.

because Delvin Cook has signed with the New York football jets, a deal worth up to $8 million. We'll talk all about this and what it affects Brace Hall. But interesting nugget that came out, guys, from the insiders, is that Delvin Cook's not quite even ready to practice yet coming off that shoulder surgery. So he's still about a week out this morning before we started recording news broke that Brice Hall is being activated off the Pup list. They're going to try to ramp him up, see if he's ready to go for week one.

So who knows, maybe it's both of these guys ready for week once. Let me get, Graham, you're our guest, your initial take. Delvin Cook signs the world out there in fantasy land immediately thinks, well, Breece Hall's done. I don't want anything to do with them. Just draft him in the eighth round now. Delvin Cook, he's going to take over the backfield because Delvin Cook's not as washed. I think these people think, you know, still eight touchdowns last year,

over a thousand yards rushing. This is a situation where maybe, Aaron Rogers was in the Jets brass here and saying, I want this guy in here. I want to make a run at a Super Bowl. And I want a piece of Delvin Cook. That's why he gave you back 35 mil. So initial thoughts on Delvin Cook landing in Gang Green. Yeah, right.

I mean, it's one of those things where it seems like we have to read the tea leaves doubly. It's almost like, you know, on the one hand, bris gets removed from the PUP. All the Jets beat riders have been saying that like, you know, he hasn't had a setback, which it's clear now he hasn't. But yeah, Dalvin Cook was still really, really good last year. Like maybe not top eight, maybe not top 10 like he was in previous years. But he was still 12th among all running backs and yards after contact per carry. He was tied for 14th.

He usually was a very explosive runner in his past, not as much last year, but still strong, you know, 20th and explosive gains, that's gains of 10 or more yards. You know, I think just like logically speaking, just thinking through this move, like, Brees Hall had just turned 22. years old four months ago. He still has two years left on his rookie deal, and then he'll enter the franchise tag purgatory that all these running backs are entering after their fourth year. More than likely, Bree still get franchise tagged, and the Jets will have team control for at least three more years. Daven Cook's on a one-year deal. We haven't seen any contract details yet, I don't

think, but I mean, I'm going to assume that $8.6 million is very incentive-laden. All of that being said, I mean, Brees is like a huge, or excuse me, Cook is a huge threat to Brees on early downs. I think the big question I have here is what this rotation looks like. And I think, you know, the big question is in the red zone. You know, Davin Cook last year, 60% of the Vikings inside five carries, inside 10 carries, top five among running backs. I think, you know, if Cook is going to be eating into Brees's touchdown equity, he's going to be eating into the early down stuff.

Like, you know, I've had Breece a little lower in my rankings and I've been taking all the receivers in that like third round bucket ahead of them. I bumped him into like the late fourth, early fifth round now. I've been out on Breece. I've been a little skeptical on Bruce. The upside is amazing for him. I mean, the talent is not, not in question here. But I think we've got to just add up like all these like, you know, obviously the cook move and

then coming off the injury. I think we got to add all this up. And it's, you know, Bruce is. obviously has a really, really high ceiling, and I think the floor is pretty low now. Joe, Brees Hall with what is being reported, $7 million guaranteed, that makes him on annual average salary a top 10 running back in terms of contract for this year. Over at Fantasy Points, this is probably updated or not yet updated to reflect the news. We've got Breast Hall as our RB11.

With this news, do you think that shifts downward? Do you still want to draft him at the end of the third round? And where would you draft Delvin Cook now? So there's a lot of layers to this onion that we kind of have to peel away. My first read on this was Dalvin Cook going to be the starting running back for the New York fans at the beginning of the year. That doesn't necessarily mean he's going to be starting in November or December. And I think just the flat ranking of Breece Hall right now doesn't really tell. the whole story because I think it's entirely possible.

Breeze Hall is like RB 37 in September and October and like RB6 in November and December. I think that is within the range of outcomes. So it's really hard to get a full read on this. I think this is honestly just a good bit of business by the New York Jets. Like they, you don't go out and get Aaron Rogers unless you think you're a contending team. So that's what they did. They went out and got Aaron Rogers. and then Breece Hall, there's star running back,

who would have been a top five running back in fantasy had he not gotten hurt last year. He ends up getting hurt in October last year. So now they're like, well, we think Breece Hall is explosive and we think he's great, but we're not 100% sure how healthy he's going to be. I think they're going to bring Breece Hall into this thing slowly. So what I kind of view Breece Hall as,

depending on where his ADP falls, I'm not drafting him in the third round. That is just not going to happen. depending on where his ADP falls, I could be talking myself into drafting him, maybe if he's a fifth or sixth round pick. But I think more than likely is he might end up being kind of a bi-low guy in season. Oh my God, Dalvin Cook got 13 carries and three targets in week one.

And Brees Hall saw five carries. I can't believe this. I think it is entirely within the range of outcomes that Brees Hall is a league-winning type of running back but doesn't become so until the second half of the season. I think that is absolutely something that could be in the cards. And we've seen this, guys. We've seen a guy like Rashad Penny who was injured before, you know, who's coming off an injury. Be a league winner in December.

He was available off the waiver wire. I don't know if Breece Hall is going to be that. But I really do think that Dalvin Cook's going to come in here. He is going to start right away. Breece Hall is going to be somebody in Dynasty. I'm buying low right now. I think he's going to be a mid-season buy low kind of guy. I don't know if I want to draft Dalvin Cook.

Like Dalvin seems like somebody who is going to be drafted earlier than I'm willing to take him. But I wouldn't be surprised, guys, if Dalvin Cook's the top 15 running back in September and October. I just don't know how long that's going to last. I think this is a pretty volatile situation right now. Yeah. The way I look at it is everybody out there listening who's like a home league guy and you're drafting with your buddies on Labor Day weekend, you're going to see Delvin Cook just rock it up the board because the casual fan is like,

oh my God, Delvin Cook, he's with the Jets. He's going to be the starting guy. Obviously, this Breece Hall kid's not ready because they only saw a few games of him last year. So I love what you're saying, Joe, great buying opportunity for a savvy player after the first three, four weeks of the season. Hey, here's my wide receiver three that's had a few, you know, pop off games. How about you throw me back, Breece Hall? And then we'll rock and roll for the rest of the season. So interesting to watch there.

So again, if you're drinking the night, four went out for your boy, Drake, who drafted Brees Hall in the third round at the King's Classic. But don't worry, I'll survive. I got Rashad White a little later in the draft. Also in the news yesterday, guys, Ezekiel Elliott signs with the New England Patriots, this a lesser money deal, but something we assumed what happened. New England was going to add another back. They wanted to take the load off from Andre Stevenson.

They lost Damien Harris, who was a very good, very capable goal line back. He's now in Buffalo. In comes Ezekiel Elliott. I believe last year he had a career worst yards per carry, but he is good around the goal line. This is a guy who, without question, could get double-digit touchdowns for the New England Patriots, just like he did last year with the Cowboys.

So Graham, let's go to you. Does it move the needle at all for you on Ramandre Stevenson? We have met RB9, he's got an ADP of around 27. That's a, you know, that's a really solid pick if you're going to get Ramandre Stevenson, you're kind of planting your flag saying maybe he's RB one if you grab a couple receivers. Does Zeke scary at all? Not really. It's the complete opposite of Daven Cook. Like on the one hand, like Daven Cook was still really good on early downs last year. Like Zique, Zik wasn't. I'm sorry. Sorry, Patriots fans. But like in general, I mean,

Ramondre is still going to be playing on passing downs. Remondry is also very, very good at pass protection. I think the big question is, you know, you kind of nailed it is like how much is Zik involved near the goal line? And to me, it just seems like, you know, Bill Belichick finally turned on the film for Pierre Strong and was like, okay, you know, let's stop messing around. Let's get an actually decent second running back to, you know, to back up Ramandre. And by the way, not for nothing. I mean, all we've ever heard from inside the Patriots building from either, you know, beats that we talk to or just people that we've heard from inside the building that are connected is they all love, like, they love Ramandre.

So unless you had like, I don't know, unless you had Pierre Strong projected for like 120 touches or, you know you really liked kevin harris like to me i don't think your remandre projection should change at all uh if it once they sign zeke i think if anything it just kind of hurts romandre sealing a little like the touchdown ceiling but in general i mean as long as remandre still you know belcow and especially belcow on passing downs i think he'll be just fine but it definitely limits his like ceiling from being like 7580% snapshot player to like 65 70. Joe what do you think about zeeke Galliate here. Capable receiver. We know he's good in pass pro, and that'll always get you on the field, especially with veteran coaches. Zeke, the last two years, has 22 rushing touchdowns. That

scares the crap out of me if I'm drafting Ramandre Stevenson. Well, the Patriots had a touchdown problem in general last year. You know, Ramondre had five. Damien Harris had three. Damien Harris had, I think, 16 two years ago. But here's the thing about the Zeke thing that doesn't really freak me out. First and foremost, this is not binary. There are. going to be occasions when Ezekiel Elliott is going to fall ass backward into the end zone for a half a yard after Ramandre did the work

getting them 40 yards on a 70 yard drive. That is going to happen. I'm not saying it's not going to happen. But what evidence is there right now, guys, that Zeke Elliott's better than Damien Harris? I don't think there's any evidence. No. Yeah. But Zeke is

historically Drake a good receiver. You mentioned he's a capable receiver, but he was washed in that department last year. From our Fantasy points data. He was 84th of 89 running backs with 50 or more routes run with 0.48 yards per route run, okay? And the guys at the bottom were like Jacob Johnson, who's a fullback. So that just shows you he was sub fullback level at receiving last year. Damian Harris more than doubled him in yards per route run last year. Romandre almost tripled him in yards per route run last year. And that wasn't just a cowboys thing, right? Like last year, the Eagles running backs were pretty low in yards

per route run, but that's kind of because Jalen Hurst just never checked the ball down. But Tony Pollard was near the top of that board in yards per out run. So it was a Zeke thing, not necessarily a Cowboys thing. So yes, is he going to play on some third downs and in short yardage? Of course he will.

But look, Damian Harris had what, 400 some rushing yards. He had over 100 carries last year. I think he had the same number of catches as Zique and was twice as efficient as a receiver as Zique. Where is the evidence that Zique is better than Damian Harris and Ramandre still ran for a thousand yards and caught 60 balls last year.

Do I think Zeke is going to vulture him? Absolutely. Do I think this is anywhere nearly as big a problem for Ramandre as Dalvin Cook is for Brise Hall? Not even close. So if there is any dip on remandre, I'm buying the dip because I don't think Zeke Elliott is going to be a ruining asset here. So let me throw this anecdote out to you guys.

Texted my Patriots guy yesterday. And I'm going to give you the exact exchange that I had with him. Zeke thoughts, I started. He responds, needed. He'll vulture touchdowns and play some on third down, but still love Mondre. He's their guy. And I responded to that. They love, love Mondre.

And his response was, yeah, Bill would kiss him. Wow. They love Ramondre Stevenson in New England. And this is Jessica. I think this is a depth sign. yes, Zeeke will be annoying at points. He absolutely will be annoying at points. I'm not trying to say he won't,

but this is simply a guy in Ramandre Stevenson who's too good and too versatile for them to take off the field. They had a touchdown problem last year, but remember that Matt Patricia was running that all. They have a professional offensive coordinator this year. I think Remandre Stevenson is still a top 10 running back for me, and we have him ranked as such offensive points. I typically start my text conversation with sup, you up,

And that's around, yeah, like 1 a.m. But apparently that's how Belichick talks. I have not sent that text in a long time, Drake. By the way, I mean, it says a lot that Bill would want to kiss Ramandria. I could not see Bill kissing anybody, like literally the least affectionate guy ever. So, I mean, this speaks volumes that Ramondry is his boy. If you guys want to kiss anyone, kiss me for saving you money on your draft board. Because folks, you're listening to this pod right now.

You're into fantasy football. You know you got a draft coming up. few weeks. And then you're like, oh my God, we don't have a draft board. Like, we got to do something here. We got you covered here at fantasy points. Why don't you go over and see our boys at FJFantasy.com. They're a premier draft board site. I use them for my own home league that I'm the commissioner of. And I'm going to save you 10% off your order right now with code fantasy PTSD PTS 10. Again, fantasy PTSD 10% off your order. They've got a draft board. You're getting old. You're like me. I turn 43 next week. We can't have these little tiny stickers up there. Guys in the

back of the garage can't see it. They've got jumbo stickers, mammoth draft boards. Trust me, your friends and family are going to love it. And thank you for finally getting a practical draft board that they can see. Go over to fjfantasy.com. Use code fantasy PTSD 10. Save some money. Have a great draft. And then tweet at us how your draft went. I want to see it. And I want to see pictures of those draft boards from fjfancy.com. All right, Graham, the reason we have you here is we want to kind of run through the first week of the fantasy or the preseason for the NFL. There's some teams we learn some stuff about, some things we don't.

So we don't have to like, you know, go crazy about what we saw from the Patriots, since we're just talking about them. They didn't really do anything. Their offensive line was all backups. They didn't do crap. We saw Taekwon Thornton out there. But they played the Houston Texans. And there were a few interesting nuggets that came out from the Texans.

Damien Pierce didn't play. Devin Singletary started. He got some run. I think Devin Singletary is a sneaky backup that you can grab later in your draft. You know, CJ Stroud put a little bit, didn't look great at all. But I think maybe the name to know from here is a little player that Joe Dolan didn't text me, sup you up. He goes, sup, Drake, here's a guy we need to take in our dynasty draft. And his name is Tank Dell.

And maybe some of you folks out there don't know about Tank Dell. but he's an electric player from the Houston Cougars. He has a little relationship, by the way, with C.J. Stroud, they were talking before the draft. Those two have a connection now. And, you know, he put 11 snaps to C.J. Stroud Graham. He looked pretty good out there and a team that needs playmakers. Let's be honest. Yeah, they do.

I mean, credit the Texans for kind of wisely and very cheaply, completely remaking this receiver room, obviously getting John Mechie back. You know, basically he's a rookie this year will be nice to. But, yeah, Tank Dell. And Nico Collins were the top two receivers for Stroud. Again, Stroud only played 12 snaps. But, yeah, Dell had 11. Nico Collins was at nine.

Dalton Schultz was at nine. And John Metsie played seven. Metchy's a slot only receiver right now. Actually, I bumped down Metchie a little bit in my ranks, especially since Tankdell's coming on. But yeah, man, credit, credit you guys for buying low on Dell and Dynasty leagues. I mean, the knock against him is very clear. I mean, he's tiny. He's 5-8-165.

But, like, you know, there are very few. receivers with this type of production profile, especially over two years, you know, get it, you know, not the best competition level, but tank Dell has been a monster producer. He's going to be on the field. The big question for me, I guess, is, you know, what this looks like when Robert Woods is healthy. There's a very real chance. Like, this is like a just pretty gross rotation with like Nico Collins playing every down and then they rotate Dell and Woods and Metchie. That's kind of what it's trending towards right now. And I guess we'll see if one of those guys pops. But, you know, for season long leagues, I have

haven't really been taking many Texans receivers, but for best ball, I mean, you know, I think all of these guys are still relatively cheap. Dell is really going to start coming up in price. I mean, he was free 18th round pick, you know, all offseason. He's going to start coming up into the 16th, 17th round. So if you've been drafted Tank Dell, you're going to have to take them a little bit higher now. But all of that being said, I've, I've not been super high on Texans receivers for the most part. Joe, anything you saw from this game or you just probably take a victory lap on tank dell i mean i'm not going to take a victory lap on tank del he's i mean we just took him in the dynasty draft because he was falling to like the last round but

there's an there's electric um ability to tank down the problem is drake our dynasty team is in a best ball dynasty when am i going to feel um when am i going to feel comfortable uh starting this guy in a redraft lineup maybe he maybe he breaks the the mold but um right now i'm still not getting excited about one preseason game that being said he does give the Texan something that they don't that they need and that speed. We can skip over the Patriots. They didn't do anything. They didn't play anybody.

Let's go on to this Vikings Seahawks game where the Vikings rested a ton of guys, but they did let us take a peek at Jordan Addison. Ty Chandler started at running back. Those are two guys late in drafts that people are taking shots on. Addison obviously had a nice college career, moved around a little bit, won the Bolitnikov Award. So I don't know. I mean, he's going to play.

Is he the second? Is he the third? I mean, you could say is he the fourth, technically, with T.J. Hawkinson there. Graham, what do you think of Addison? Are people kind of a little too high on him right now with this offense because of KJ. Osborne and Hawkinson. Oh, by the way, Justin Jefferson, the best receiver in football?

This is why doing projections is so crucial, right? Like, I love Jordan Addison as a prospect. I think he's going to give the Vikings some versatility that they did not have last year. Like Adam Thieland was just not. not the same player. Addison can line up inside. He can line up outside. And that's going to give Jefferson more versatility too. Like Jefferson can line up obviously wherever the hell he wants and when. But you mentioned it. I think Addison is a is a clear three here behind Jefferson and Hawk. And unless there's an injury, like I don't see Addison having much higher ceiling for than like

a 20 to 22 percent target share. And that would even be pushing it. Like high, like low 20s would be pushing it for Addison. I've been kind of out. But the dude's a baller. Like stone cold baller. I think he'll start in two wide receiver sets. Maybe not week one, maybe not week two, but Addison will definitely be in two wide receiver sets. Ty Chandler looked really, really good. I mean,

he's got four four wheels. You know, I didn't, I didn't think he was a fantastic prospect coming out of UNC, but a very, very good zone runner. Displayed soft hands, quick feet.

I think the Vikings have got to be pretty thrilled with what Chandler showed them. And, you know, we'll see if they signed Kareem Hunt. You know, all these running back moves we're talking about. It's kind of cleared up the whole free. agent market. Really, we're just waiting on Cream Hunt. And Leonard Forenett. Now Hunt did visit with

the Vikings last week, one of three or four visits he took. So we'll see if he signs. But for right now, I think Madison's job is safe, but Chandler looked good. And if they bring in Kareem Hunt, it's definitely some increased competition. I've been kind of out on, not kind of out. I'm definitely out on Madison. It's not really about Ty Chandler. It's really just about what I think this offense is now. And I think it's extremely pass heavy. And again, Addison's edition will only bolster the Vikings past heavyways. I got to tell you guys, I was watching the quarterback show last night on Netflix with my son. If you guys haven't seen it yet, go out of your way.

It's a very good show. They follow around Marriota, Mahomes, and Kirk Cousins. I have said for a long time on this show and anywhere else I talk, the Vikings' offensive line is not good. I don't care what their PFF ranking is. Oh, they're actually like a top five line. No, they're not. If you look at what Dalevin Cook did last year and how he struggled and how he was getting hit behind the line left and right. Kurt Cousins got murdered behind this line.

There's a whole episode about it. The entire season, he's just getting battered and bruised. I'm nervous that Kurt Cousins not going to make it through this season with this offensive line, guys. Like, it's scared the bejesus out of me, but that's neither here nor there. Joel, let me ask you about the Seattle offense. We got a look at Zach Charbonnet. He apparently has recovered. you know, he was blessed from the heavens with his injury that kept him out indefinitely.

Hey, look, now he's back. And Jackson Smith and Jigba, we saw him play, played exclusively in the slot where I think he's going to play throughout the regular season. J.S.N. I mean, there's people I saw this weekend, they're taking him over Tyler Lockett. Has that changed for you at all? Are you still lock it over JSN? And any thoughts on Charbonnet versus Ken Walker? I absolutely am Lockett over Jasson. until proven otherwise. Now, here's the thing about Walker.

The concern I have with Walker and I love Ken Walker. I traded up for him in one of my FFPC Dynasty leagues last year. And the thing that I worry about with Ken Walker, who was phenomenal, by the way, last year, is his style. And his style is very Barry Sanders-like, very sacred. Juan Barkley like. I am going to improvise and I'm going to try to find the 40-yard run. And unfortunately, that's going to mean at times I'm going to run into a brick wall or I'm going

to run myself into a tackle where I really should not have been tackled. And that's something that I think Ken Walker, it's his style. Now look, Kenneth Walker last year, this is per fantasy points data. After Rashad Penny got hurt, Kenny Walker had the third most rush attempts, the fifth most yards of any running back. And he also consistently delivered explosive plays. He gained 15 or more yards on 7.3% of his carries. Unfortunately, stuffed runs, which is what we define at fantasy points data, as rush attempts not resulting in a first down or touchdown that failed to gain at least four yards on first down or three yards on any other down, Walker was the highest rated stuff. Walker was the highest rated

stuffed player of any running back from week six on with 100 more attempts at 54.6%. And that also came with the second worst success rate on man and gap concepts. He's a boomer bus runner. And a lot of times last year, he was boom. Now, the question I have, if Pete Carroll now has a viable grinder in Zach Charbonnet, does he get frustrated with Ken Walker? The first time Ken Walker bounces a run outside and gains one yard when he could have game five just by hitting it up inside the blocked scheme.

And is Ken Walker the kind of running back? And I think he is who needs that 10 carries to kind of get his feel for the speed of the game. If he doesn't get those carries, he's going to be a massive fantasy bust. Oh, by the way, he's dealing with a groin injury right now. He's returned to practice. So there are a lot of, like, I love Ken Walker. This is the kind of running back who I think can be a game changer. We saw him be a game changer for fantasy.

but the style doesn't necessarily, in my opinion, fit what Pete Carroll wants from his running backs, which is surprising because they took him in the second round. But if they view Charbonnet as somebody who's going to handle 15 carries and he's going to get 60 yards when they're 60 yards blocked, that could be a problem for Ken Walker. Yeah, the problem is if you give both of them 15 carries, I think Ken Walker gets 110 yards as opposed to Charbonnet 60.

There's just things that Ken Walker can do that Sharbonnet can't. I've been saying Ken Walker is like a true three outcome running back. You know, we've all heard a true three outcome hitters in baseball like they either walk, they strike out or they hit a home run. That's Ken Walker. Like he's out they're going to strike out. He's going to have zero yards like you're saying on a stuffed run. He's going to have, you know, walk three or four yards or he's going to hit a home run.

And he hits home runs about as good as anybody in the NFL. I've been hammering Ken Walker personally. I think he's a fantastic buy, especially in the fifth six round. He's starting to slip into the sixth round in PPR leagues, which is insane to me. You know, I just want to buy good backs on good offenses at the end of the day. And I think Ken Walker does things that Zach Sharboni can't do. The Giancarlo Stanton of fantasy football. Oh, God, he's not that bad, Brian.

He is not that bad. Good Lord. I'm a Yankees fan and I really don't follow baseball. So I only know about nine players and they all play for the Yankees. So that's the depth of my knowledge right there. If we ever spin off into a fantasy baseball site also, I'll be. He's like, Ken Walker's like Max.

Ken Walker's like Max Muncie. He's like, you know, he's going to hit 200. He's going to draw a bunch of walks. And he's going to hit nothing but diggers. There you go. Somebody who I think can hit a lot of dingers out here is a guy like Darius

Slayton for the New York football giants. Darius Slateon and Paris Campbell got the night off, which you wrote in your article kind of shows us that this might be the wide receiver one and wide receiver two. Darius Slayton perennially forgotten about in fantasy football circles. Slayton and Campbell are coming off the board as like wide receiver 81 and 84 on underdog. They're damn near pick 200. Nobody's drafting these guys, folks.

And these might be two starting wide receivers. I remember all through camp, we're hearing so many practice reports by Paris Campbell. They're giving him jet sweeps. They're playing him in the slot. They're moving them all around. They want to use him as a weapon, not just as, hey, you're a slot receiver is going to be hurt by week four. So that was really interesting to me. What's your read on these two guys, Graham?

And should we in the fantasy community be really getting on the ball with these two and getting them as a part of our draft plan late? Because this giant's offense isn't going to be bad with Brian Dayball and Dana Jones, Darren Waller. Yeah, Daris Slayton, I think, is, you know, all throughout last year and then all throughout the summer, he's just been underrated. There's a point in time, guys, where Slayton was the wide receiver five off the board. 80p on this team. It's just absolutely insane. I've had him at wide receiver one all off season. He got paid like their clear outside boundary receiver. Campbell and Hodgins were both on

one year deals. And this is all to say, you know, preseason, we're dealing with 15 snaps here, guys. Like it's like 15 snaps here, 20 snaps there. Like every team's a little different. Every guy's a little banged up too. So like, please again, like as you're listening to this podcast, as you read through my article, like take all of this with a grain of salt. Like every team's a little different. Coaches do things differently. Every team does things differently. But in general, like I think coaches kind of tell us what they think about players.

And I think it was pretty noteworthy to me that, you know, Darius Slate and Paris Campbell and Isaiah Hodgins are all healthy right now, including Jalen Hyatt. They're all healthy. And Hodgins played in week one. Like he played 12 snaps with the second team. You know, to me, I think Slaten is the clear X receiver. I think Campbell will be their starting slot. And then they'll mix in.

Jalen Hyatt and Wondell Robinson, whenever he gets healthy, out of the slot. But to me, I mean, I think it's just very clear. Like, Darren Waller is really the only giant's viable pass catcher here. He is starting to really scream up boards. Joe, I don't know if you've done any drafts in the last a couple of days, but Waller, man, he's starting to go on like the mid-60s. Yeah, I started getting my shares of Waller here a little bit more recently. Scott and John Hansen kind of talked me into it.

But I'll tell you, I'm looking at my exposure as soon as, on Underdog Fantasy. As soon as Drake raised the point of Darius Slayton, he's my second most drafted wide receiver in both dollars and percentage. The only receiver I've drafted more is John Mechie, and that was just a pure opportunity thing. But Darius Slateon's been one of the most horrendously mispriced players all offseason. And again, it's always easier to say, oh, he's a much better bestball player. Yeah, everybody's a better bestball player because you don't have to decide, you don't have to decide when to start them. But I really do believe Dary Slayton is a better best ball receiver.

But I mean, he's available in like the 15th round of my redraft or he's going to be a $1 player in our auction league. Like I'll have Darius Slayton. Like he is legitimately going to be their top outside receiver. And this is somebody who, you know, I don't want to get too anecdotal here, but I'm going to get anecdotal. He was somebody who was dog housed by multiple coaching staffs and multiple front offices. and literally played his way out of that and into a contract. Like I think like for a guy like Brian Daibel, who's trying to establish culture with the Giants,

I think that's the kind of guy that Brian Daible wants to reward. Hey guys, look, we had Slate and Barry. Like, this guy almost didn't even make the roster. And then by the end of the year, he was our top outside receiver. That's the kind of guy who I think, you know, Daniel Jones has trust with, Daible has trust with. And again, what are you investing into him? Nothing.

There's no, no investment. investment here whatsoever. And yes, do I think Darren Waller is going to be their top receiver? Of course I do. Darren Waller's also gotten hurt each of the last two years pretty badly. So somebody's going to have to catch passes outside of Darren Waller. Why is it not going to be Darius Slayton? And, you know, I just trust Dary Slate more than I trust Paris Campbell at this point, quite frankly. Yeah. I was picking up and starting Darius Slateon last year in the King's Classic where I lost some guy in the finals whose name will not be mentioned. Oh, I'm Baltimore now? Okay.

So, yeah, he's very, very, very cheap and very, very productive. On the other side for the Detroit Lions, Joe, you've been all over Jamir Gibbs since literally the second he was drafted. He didn't really do anything. He had six carries for 19 yards. This is what I like, though. Your casual home league guy that you're drafted against, probably sees this thing like, eh, David Montgomery didn't play.

This Gibbs guy stinks. He played with the backup offensive line for the Lions. And the Lions first string offensive line is very good. They might be top three in all of the NFL. So this might suppress his value to some of the casual folks out there listening. So I think maybe there's a bounce back buying opportunity. I hope Gibbs doesn't do anything in preseason for the rest of these two weeks. Oh, no.

Go ahead, Joe. Yeah, nothing that Jemir Gibbs does in preseason is going to get me off of the Jemir Gibbs train. Did you see the video of the Lions when they drafted him? It was like a party in there, dude. They were had their assholes. clenched so tight when they traded down with Arizona because like, is he still going to be there? Is he still going to be there?

And they were so excited when Jemir Gibbs fell to them that it looked like the biggest relief in the world because Brad Holmes is probably sitting there like, oh my God, they're going to kill me if I made this deal and Jemir Gibbs isn't there. Again, anecdotal, but I think they have a massive plan for this kid. And they're just trying to get, they're just trying to get his NFL legs under him. I'm not going to read into the fact that he's. He's playing with secretary of offense. Yeah, I'm not reading it at all.

Gibbs has a huge ceiling. The stat I keep coming back to is I look this up. There's been since, I think it was 2010, there's been only 10 running backs taken in the top 15 overall picks. Nine of those 10 had an RB1 top 12 season within their first two years. The only guy who didn't was C.J. Spiller. I mean, that's the ceiling for Gibbs. Like, he has an immediate top 12 ceiling.

I've got him ranked at RB 11. You know, David Montgomery is definitely going to steal you know, some touchdown work for sure. But like Gibbs could absolutely get to 85, 90 targets within this offense. I mean, DeAndre Swift was at 7580 every single year. And Gibbs is a better receiver than him. And yeah, I noted in the article, like Gibbs, to me when I was watching him in Alabama, again, I didn't do your arts created this year, but I watched all these guys.

You know, Gibbs didn't have a ton of pass pro reps. But like, like always, all college running backs pretty much by and large struggle and pass pro. But like he looked so, so solid. It's very clear to me that he's been working on it. in practice. And, you know, coaches, you know, coaches especially love when running backs are great and pass bro.

I mean, DeAndre Swift always struggled there. I think the coaches are going to immediately trust him with, like, a massive, massive passing down, you know, workload. And then anything he gets on the ground that, you know, David Montgomery doesn't get is just gravy. So to me, yeah, I think Gibbs is at worst, like a back end RB1. And the ceiling could go even higher. Sam Leporta got some work.

There's a lot of buzz around him. in fantasy circles that he's just going to be the past catching, you know, tight end for this lion's offense that everyone seems to be pretty high on. You guys buying Sam Leporta? Would you want him as your starting tight end or you just maybe want to get him? Let's ask some of the bench, see what happens. Yeah, I've been lower on Leporta and Kincaid a little bit in my best ball. You know, I think they're definitely going to be near full-time players.

But, yeah, again, I mean, I think I'm on Raj, just kind of get a 30% target share. they finally have some pretty good receivers. Reynolds be a full-time player. They'll get Jameson Williams back. Lipport is a really good player, but I don't think we can project him from more than like 45, 50 receptions, in which case, like he's just a tight end too.

He's a good best ball play, though. We'll try to rip through some of these games a little quicker and make sure we get through most of all the high points. Do you guys take anything from the Steelers game against the Buccaneers? Kenny Pickett starts, finds George Pickens for a touchdown. Over the middle, by the way. way. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't think George Pickens was, I didn't think George Pickens was allowed to run in between

the hashes. I thought he had to stay just completely outside the hashes at all times. But the restraining order against him from the hash market. The Steelers are so hard for me to get a general grip on because they are a team where I see almost everything both ways, right? Like, the Najee Harris thing, for instance. I understand that he was less efficient than Jalen Warren last year. And he comes out. Jay Lamarron has three carries and Noggi doesn't get a carry and all that stuff with the first team offense. On the other hand, I view Naji as somebody who's touched the ball more than any running back on planet Earth the last two years. And he was playing hurt in the first half of last year. And now the offensive lines better. Deontay Johnson is a target

hound, but he can't score and he always drops passes. But like the fact that he gets 150 targets is meaningful. George Pickens, oh, he can't separate on the outside. Yeah, because Matt Canada has them just running wind sprints all the time. Like, Kenny Pickett, oh, he only threw seven touchdowns last year. Yeah, but the offense was bad. The problem is Matt Canada's back. Like, the Steelers are such a hard team for me to get a read on. Like, in, like, I think if the, I feel like personally, if there was a creative offensive coordinator there, this actually would be a pretty good offense. And I struggle so much. Like, because Graham, as you might expect on our staff, we have people who love Najee at cost. Scott hates Najee at cost. Yeah. But it's hard for me

to shake the fact that Mike Tomlin always uses bell cows. I know. And he's been the bell cow of bell cow the last couple years. This team is so strange for me to get to get a redone. Yeah, it's definitely one of the toughest teams to project for sure. And for what it's worth, I don't put any stock in Warren getting three carries and Harris getting zero. Like it, you know, like I always say, every team does things a little differently in the preseason. Again, we only got one drive. It's possible they just wanted Najee to shake off the rust on a couple plays and then get Warren a couple runs and then get the hell out of there. But Joe, I mentioned this to you in group chat, like Tony, or Jalen Warren kind of strikes me as like a Tony Pollard type where it's like,

we know this dude is extremely talented. Like, we know if you were to, get the 250 touch role. Like he could be a back end RV1 for fantasy. It's just the coaches love this clear early down workhorse type guy and Naji. You know, I think Scott's point is the right one. It's like this is probably a 6535 backfield in favor of Naji.

And then it comes down to what do you think about the Steelers? You know, do you think they're going to have a much, much better offense? At which case, a 6535 split in favor of Naji on a pretty good offense could be okay. be seven, eight touchdowns. But on a bad offense again, like this could get pretty gross pretty quickly. I've got Travis Etyn ahead of Najee. I've been, I've had nausea. I've had nausea and Breece Hall back to back all summer, which looks good now. I'm actually considering taking Brise ahead of now too. Jets' offense is going to be better. I think at the end of the day, like with some of

these splits, you know, we're trying to make, you know, we're splitting hairs between players. I think at the end of the day, like, if you just want to go into your draft and be like, look, I think I think Najee's the workhorse. I think Brise is the workhorse, but I feel better about the Jets offense. Just go that way. Like use, use off the best offense is the kind of delineating point. And it's like, okay, I think Najee Harris is, you know, maybe has Belkow in his range of outcomes, but man, I'm still not sold on the Steelers. Like take Ken Walker, take Aaron Jones, take the guys you run possibly better offenses because I'm with you, Joe. I'm still not sold on the Steelers offense. Looking at the Buccaneers, not much to report here. They're still trying to find their starting

quarterback. I lean that's going to be Baker Mayfield, but it'll be Kyle Trask may get a start or two, but he sucks. They're trying to find their backup running back. We'll see how that plays out. My boy Sean Tucker from Syracuse got some work. I always like putting a chip on him. He's talented. Let's go to the Packers Bengals. So the Packers here, they had Jordan Love play. He played two drives, which is fantastic. Christian Watson's out there. But the guy I want to ask you about Graham is Luke Musgrave, the tight end, who looks like he is these starting tight end for the Green Bay Packers. They drafted two this year in the NFL draft.

But Musgrave is a guy who's going to be on the field. They're going to get him out and running routes. And on a team with some really young playmakers on the outside, you know, Dobbs and Jaden Reed, who's a slot player, maybe we can find something late with Luke Musgrave. Oh, baby. I'm going to victory lap here for a second because I've had Luke Musgrave on my short list for tight end targets in basketball since June.

Dude's an athletic freak. I think he should be going a lot closer to Dalton, Kincade, and Sam Leporter. Like, Kincaid's now going in, like, the 120s. Leporter will go in, like, the 140s to 150s, and Musgrave is free still. I think Musgraves should be going around Leporta, the 150s, 160s. You know, college production was not there. He dealt with a ton of injuries, but, I mean, if you look, just athletically speaking,

the dude is an absolute freak. And then you mention it, like, they have nothing else. Robert Tunyon's gone. Like, you know, they'll play the other guy they drafted, the Kraft, Tucker Kraft, but he's not in the same universe as Musgrave. And he's just blown up, Musgrave is just blown up camp. I think Musgrave, Leporta, Ken Cade, and Michael Mayer all have like an equal chance. Maybe Mayer has like a slightly lower chance in these four guys.

They all have an equal chance of like finishing as the rookie tight end one. And not only like being pretty good as a productive rookie, like I think this entire rookie tight end class is going to completely break the mold of what we think of rookie tight ends. Like historically speaking, fantasy, we've all been saying, you can never draft rookie tight ends. They take forever to develop. We're just seeing the curve across all positions get shorter and shorter as, you know, college football just becomes more and more like the football minor leagues. And to me, I think this whole rookie class is just so poised for like not only like full-time

roles, but like actually fantasy viable roles. And we'll be using these guys as tight-in streamers. But yeah, if you're doing best ball drafts for the next 30 days as we roll into week one, like Luke Musgrave should absolutely. be one of your targets is like a tight in three in the 17th, 18th round. He's going to start coming up in price, but yeah, I'm still weighing on Musgrave. Bengals didn't play anybody, who cares? Let's move on.

Atlanta, Miami was a pretty forgetful game also. Falcons didn't play anybody. The only thing I want to hit from you guys, and Joe, I'll start with you with the dolphins, with Delvin Cook not signing there, with Zeke not signing there. What's your thoughts on this backfield with Mostert, with, you know, Devin, A chain the rookie with Jeff Wilson, Jr. They've all got to be pretty happy today. Oh, yeah.

And the question now becomes is which one of these guys pops off for redraft. Devin A chain is small. He's very explosive, but he's small. Rahim Moster and Jeff Wilson are basically free in drafts right now. I mean, in best ball, they're not 100% free, but they're like 13, 14th round picks. I haven't really been drafting a ton of these guys because I feared the Dalvin Cook thing. And now I'm kicking myself or not because it feels like they're ADP, might rise by a round or so.

But it's still going to be a committee. Miami has employed a committee for years. Mike McDaniel employed a committee effectively last year. What I think is this is going to be more of a weekly thing. Oh, Rahim Mosterd's dinged up. Let's play Jeff Wilson. Exactly. Devon A chain's dinged up. Let's play Rahim Moster.

And I think it's going to be one of those situations where you have guys who are hopping from fantasy roster to fantasy roster this season. So I think it's going to be a situation. You know, like you've seen these guys. Normally it's the receivers who catch four passes for 55 yards every week. Like, oh, I need that guy on my roster, like the Tyler Boyds of the world. And then he's always the first guy that your team drops after you use them for somebody with more upside. I almost feel like the Dolphins running backs are going to be like that. Oh, Rahim Moster. He didn't do anything last week. I'm going to drop him. And then the next week, somebody picks them up and he runs for 100 yards. It's the same situation it was last year. Yeah, I feel the same exact way, Joe. It's the same exact thing as last year. You're going to be pulling your hair out with these guys.

I will say I did take Rahim Mosterate at the first pick 12th round at RB 48 in a recent draft. I'm completely fine with taking a shot on either him or Jeff Wilson at that price. They're going to run the ball well. Yeah, they will run the ball well. It's just who is it? Yeah. Exactly. There's going to be weeks where Jeff Wilson gets hurt and it's Rheemostir,

are getting 17 carries. Yeah. The one guy I will say, I'm, I'm definitely not down on A chain. Like, okay. I'm not, I'm not like Scott out here, absolutely eviscerating the guy on YouTube. By the way, Scott's Dev and A chain take down. Just go listen to it. But yeah, I mean, A chain's 185.

In the history of the NFL, like, you look back, the guys that are sub-195 and have been successful is a very short list. It's like work done and like a handful of other guys. So to me, like A-chain is the clear guy who's not going to get the rushing carries. And by the way, A-Chain was playing behind Miles Gaskin and Salvin Ahmed, and I don't put a whole lot of stock in that. The coaches make, you know, coaches make rookies earn it every single year. But A-Chane, to me, is, I think, a pretty risky bet in the 10th round. Like, to me, I am bumping Rahim Mosterra and Jeff Wilson way up.

I had Mosterra and Wilson ahead of ADP before the news that Cook signed. And I've got Mosterra and Wilson, like, now on the 1-30s in best ball. There's going to be usable weeks here. But, you know, Joe said it perfectly. In season long, you're probably going to be pulling your hair out. But, yeah, I think it makes sense to take shots on both these guys, Wilson and Buster is your RB4, RB5, RB6 tight. The commanders played the Cleveland Browns in a rainstorm. I know that because the rainstorm hit Canton where I was standing outside watching the game.

So the story to take away from this is Eric B. Enemy is putting these pledges through Hellweek, basically. and they're all very upset about it. But they came out and looked pretty good. Sam Howell throwing the ball all over the place. 9 of 12 for 77 yards. Jehan Dodson played every single snap of offensive football for the commanders. And they just kind of played their starting offense. They've got a new coordinator.

They want to see what they have here. I don't know if there's a lot to take from this that we didn't kind of already know that Jehan Dodson is good at scoring touchdowns. And they want to be a little more, you know, dynamic through the air. But were you impressed at all, Graham, with the commanders? Yeah, Jehan Johnson's the new Chris Carter. All he does is score touchdowns. Yeah, no, look, I think we know what they are.

They're going to be DeHon Dotson and McLaurin will be their two guys and two wide receiver sets. Samuel play in slot. We kind of know what they'll be with their backfield, too. It'll be a 1A, 1B committee. I did think it was a little notable that Robinson got three third down snaps, excuse me, two third down snaps, Gibson got three. So maybe if Robinson mixes in a little more on passing downs, he'll have a little more

upside than we think. But yeah, by and large, I think we kind of know what the commanders are. To me, the big question for B-Rob is just how much he plays on passing downs compared to Gibson. And, you know, we'll see. I think Brian Robinson's an underrated receiver. But I think Robinson has some underrated upside here. I think he's a better player than people give him credit for.

And there's some underrated upside here for sure if he plays a little bit of. the more in passing downs for the browns not a whole lot going on we did see a little bit out of elijah more joe i know you're pretty high on him our entire staff is oh my god i can't stop drafting this dude it's like i it's scary how much elijah more i have right now yeah our entire staff's high on them everybody's hyping him up they're using i talked to nathan zagura a couple months ago and he was all right by the way zagura was the one who tipped me off that they were going to use him in the backfield turns out they do in the preseason so yeah he might catch 90 balls like That is within his range of outcomes, like absolutely in this offense.

If he's going to get that like outside, inside versatility, they're going to give him schemes usage. And then, oh, by the way, we're going to get a couple carries. Like, man, sky's the limit. And like Elijah, we've all been Elijah, Elijah Moore fans for, you know, since he came out of college. But man, this is, this is pretty sweet. Kind of shows in a way, you wonder, what the hell are the Jets doing with this guy? You know, like, yeah, it's, it's one of those things.

I think, you know, maybe, you know, maybe there are some things. that Elijah didn't come through on. I mean, we really don't know. We don't know what happened inside of that building. But the thing is, Brian, is just like the talent has never been in question with him. The dude was a baller at Ole Miss. I remember Scott sending me videos like before Elijah got drafted. He's like, bro, you got to watch this.

AJ Brown thinks Elijah Moore is better than him. And like, that's what the word in that Ole Miss building was that Elijah Moore is the best receiver to come out of there compared to AJ Brown compared to John Mingo, compared to D.K. Matt Calfe. So, yeah, man. That's the other question. Why the hell wasn't all-miss better?

Well, the quarterback play was so bad. Oh, my God. Matt Corral, by the way, is struggling in Panthers camp. So there you go. Oh, man. Yeah, it was brutal. Let's move on to the Broncos and the Cardinals for the Broncos. You know, we saw Jerry Judy in the touchdown pass.

I'm sure the guru was doing backflips in his living room watching that. What I want to bring up from this game, though, is Adam, Troutman. Everyone's been drafting Greg Dulcich, but it was Adam Troutman who out snapped Dulcich. And, you know, we saw Troutman he played with, you know,

she, I just blanked on the coach's name in New Orleans there. Sean Payton, sorry. We saw him play with him and he brought him in. Are we maybe too high on Dulcich here and just totally have missed the mark on Troutman? Yeah, I wish I listened to John in this one. We were talking projections with

with the boys a couple weeks ago. And John was like, yeah, I think Adam Troutman's going to play a lot more than people think. And I was like, no way. You know, Troutman and Dulcich played different positions. Dulcich is way better. Should have listened to the guru on that one. I mean, you know, Dulcich last year had a really strong rookie year. It's kind of also bolstering why I think these rookie tight ends are going to come out and play well.

Dulcich was a full-time player out of the gates last year, 76% route share. But yeah, big concern. And really, you know, guys, listen to this, you're listening to the show. This is, I think, maybe the biggest takeaway from this weekend is, Dulcich being a part-time player. Troutman played in 11 personnel. That's three wide receiver sets. Dulcich wasn't on the field.

So this looks like a tied-in by committee. I'll be watching their game closely this week. We'll see if Russ plays again. But I'll be watching this closely. He should. Yeah, he definitely should. Those first two drives were pretty brutal. The third drive, they kind of got in gear.

And then the fourth drive, that's when they scored. Yeah, I'm not going to draw any sweeping conclusions about Russ from the preseason because, I mean, he is learning a new offense, but the first two drives was like, uh-oh. And then then they got, then they got going. The problem is, you know, the Cardinals are awful. Like, they're just a freaking terrible team. So I don't know how much we're going to learn about them from the preseason. I've been drafting Dulcich a ton, but I have dropped him way below Chigacanquo on my favorite breakout tight end.

Yeah, same. It's unfortunate. I was in on Dulcich, too, Joe. It's just, you know, this is one of the things. Like, you know, this week there was a lot of teams that rested their starters. we really didn't learn a whole lot, but this is actually one of the few things that I think really does matter.

For the Cardinals, quickly, I just like Michael Wilson. He's a guy I draft late in almost every single draft. He saw three targets. I think he's going to play a lot on the outside for Arizona. In, let's go over to the Saturday games here quick, see if you can find anything. Tadj Spears for the Tennessee Titans,

looks like he could be taking over that role behind Derek Henry. Do you guys have any interest in him is anything more than a handker? for this year. Not really. Yeah, he's a contingent value guy, but a really good contingent value guy. I think, yeah, man, I think he's the best backup. If you're into handcuffing, like, John Hanson's into hand. He's old school. He's into handcuffing. He's actually moving Derek Henry up in our projections because he feels better about the ability to handcuff him. So that's actually going to be, there's, there are people in the industry who would absolutely vomit at that logic.

But to John, that's his thing. And he loves Tadje Spears. We just know he's completely contingent on Henry B. I'm not saying he won't get a couple of carries or receptions here and there. But, yeah, he's not going to be fantasy relevant with Derek Henry in the lineup. The Bears broke the internet on Saturday when they threw a four-yard pass that went for a touchdown from Justin Towers. Four-yard, minus four. And did more, took it to the house for 62.

yards. You know, we all know that DJ Moore is a massive upgrade over anything they had there. I don't think we need an extensive breakdown on that. What I did like from this team, though, and I think everybody's sleeping on it is Khalil Herbert. He could just be that number one running back on this team that nobody's talking about. You know, I love Deont, excuse me, Rocheon Johnson. They still got down the form and they brought in. But Herbert's the starting running back. He played every single snap with the starters. It's only seven snapped, but hey. You know, we talked at him. Kaplan last week and he said Foreman's going to really be involved, but that was

not the case in the first preseason game. Herbert was good. And, you know, he's a guy I've been, he's a guy I've been drafting what, like basically I drafted him, maybe this ends up being a mistake, but I draft, I've drafted him 10 times out of 10 over Devon A chain who's kind of like, there's those two unsettled

backfields. Miami and Chicago are really unsettled. There are the two backfields that don't have any running backs going in the top 30 by ADP, but I've been taking Herbert over A chain 10 times out 10 those are the first guys drafted from those respective backfields yeah what yeah definitely in on herbert um joe you can tilt all you want but justin field has averaged 43 yards per 10 like those numbers count baby oh no they do count no like here's just what i'm saying is like and like i

understand the i understand the rules of engagement on twitter right but like oh justin fields with a perfect passer rating i'm like oh come on now everybody's like oh you know he's the only player look yes I understand last year he didn't have a player like DJ Moore who could take a screen pass that's a yard ball yard. Look, I'm ripping out my headphones. Take a screen pass that's a yard behind him and a yard at his feet and take it to the house. He did not have that player last year and he does this year. That is always going to increase somebody's margin for error. But let's not act like he's a polished passer at this point.

Now last year, we had same questions about Jalen Hertz. I understand that. So let's just like, but let's just, you know, pump the brakes on the perfect passer rating here, man. Come on. That's a great, great nugget to pull from. I have a hot take, man. NFC's wide ass open.

I think bears make the playoffs this year. And I think they're solidly a playoff team. Like, very solid. That is a pretty hot take. Like, I mean, you look at their strength of schedule is so freaking easy, guys. Like, there's always teams, like last year, the Jags were actually a pretty good example. Like, they had a really easy strength of schedule and they just like kind of rolled into playoffs.

I think that logic applies to the Bears this year. I think they're... Much improved, much improved team. DJ Moore, much improved defense, better offensive line, horrible conference. Not great division. Like, the Vikings will be good. The Packers will probably win eight or nine games again. But I think the Bears are playoff team.

Like, I think this... I'm buying bears, for sure. I'm still not there on the defense, but, you know. Yeah. Panthers Jets, we already exhausted ourselves on the Jets. We didn't see anything from them. they brought in, as we know, Delvin Cook. But for the Panthers, interesting nugget in this game.

Jonathan Mingo started and played eight of 11 snaps with the starting unit. He played ahead of Terrace Marshall who got banged up this week already. So Jonathan Mingo, a guy who underdog ADP has him at wide receiver, 67. This is somebody I don't think the casual fantasy player is drafting enough. Yeah, Mingo is, I've, done a little bit of a 180 on mingo when i was looking at him in uh april and may around the draft i was like man you know he's not super productive you look at his efficiency metrics not super great but man he blew out like super great uh extremely great athlete uh there are some in game metrics

that showed he was an extremely good athlete along with michael wilson and then yeah uh week one of the preseason he's a co-starter with dj charke and adam feeling like this is not even a question he's going to start in 11 personnel. It'll be interesting to see what their 12 personnel is. That's two tight end, two wide receiver. I think it'll be Chark and Thielen to start the year, but it could be Mingo. I mean, Mingo just clearly has the most upside out of all these guys. He's the most athletic.

DJ Chark, though, has apparently blown up Panthers Camp. Like, before he hurt his ankle and had all the problems with his ankle, he's had like three surgeries on it now. I mean, Chark was on a very, very strong ascension with the Jags. Man, I think DJ Chark and Mingo are both a little undervalued right now. See, Jacksonville took on the Dallas Cowboys. Everyone's been talking up Tank Bigsby. Tank Pigsby, though, in this game only played one snap with Trevor Lawrence.

It was a third down play. We didn't get to see an extended run from him. So we'll have to kind of table that and see what happens. But that's where I want to go with you guys is ETN, Biggsby. ETN was terrible at the goal line last year. Maybe that's where Biggsby comes in and makes a difference. Are you buying the Biggsby hype this year and has it soured you on ETN or are you taking it as a buying opportunity to get a piece of ETN

and what could be a playoff offense in Jacksonville? Me, I think ETN has just been a really solid fourth round pick all offseason. I don't think he's like a great fourth round pick. I don't think he's a bad for a throne pick. I just think he's really solid. And Bigsby, to me, you know, he's just kind of profiled as, you know, the change of pace and backup guy. I actually take it another way.

I think it's a good sign that Bigsby got that one snap with the first team. Because like I was mentioning, Devon A chain was buried. Roshan Johnson was buried like Roshan didn't play in the third, until the third quarter for the Bears. So I actually think it's a good thing that Bigsby got on the field with the first team. I'm not on that short yardish carry. The annoying thing, though, is Jim Michael Hastie is still going to play on passing downs. Nobody wants to.

hear this literally this will be the only show you listen to all offseason that somebody mixing jemichael hasty but the dude got 26 targets last year he'll probably play on some third downs which will hurt et n and bigsby to me bigsby is just a contingent value guy like if et n gets hurt we're going to feel pretty good about bigsby as an rb2 but to me et n is the clear early down back and then yeah the big question is you know is bigsby mix in the goal line is it still et n i think that's really the big question and that still remains to be seen. But yeah, I think in between the 20s, it's, it's E.TN's job to lose. Joe, this I read and it sort of puzzled me. And again, we can't take much from it because Trevor Lawrence only played

12 snaps and had six dropbacks. But Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones were the two wide receivers in every two wide receiver set. Christian Kirk only played in the slot in three wide sets. Does that shock you a little bit, even in a very, very small sample size? No, not in a small sample size. I think Christian Kirk is going. I mean, like he has, he has chemistry with Trevor Lawrence. Like that, yeah, there's no way they're going to, to reduce his set nap significantly after a 90 catch season last year. It's not going to happen. Yeah, and just keep in mind, I've seen this passed around on Twitter so many times. Please, if you take it in away from the podcast, this.

The Jags were at 78% 11 personnel last year on passing downs. Like, they are 11 personnel team. The league average is like 72%. So anytime you see somebody say, oh, Christian Kirk, Doley played in the slide. It's like, yeah, they're going to be a full-time 11 personnel team. It's not a big deal. Don't overthink it. Not a lot going on in Colts bills, although we have seen Anthony Richardson officially named as the Colts starter for this season. That locks him in as a top 12 quarter, not that he wasn't by ADP, but that obviously locks him in. He's the only potential, outside of Daniel Jones, he's the only potential cheat code quarterback you can get outside of like the first five rounds of drafts.

Did Kyler Murray die? I mean, he might be. He might be dead. Yeah. I mean, Kyler Murray. Kyleor Murray might not start the season though. So no. Yes.

But yes, Tyler is very cheap. I saw a Schefter last night on that fantasy football marathon that ESPN does. He was talking with Stefaniabelle. It almost got contentious at one point where he was like, I don't know if Kyle Murray plays the whole season. And they just put him on the shelf and trade him. and you know, Stefani was going back and forth with him.

Interesting that, that Shepter would say that. Again, folks, I want you to go out of your way, find the conversation between guru and Schaefter and our podcast feed in on YouTube. Alec Pierce's ADP would have shot through the roof. He could have caught a 40-yard pass. You know, but he dropped that one for the bills. You know, hey, it's the James Cook show. I think James Cook's going to start rocketing up boards, you know,

with maybe this Breece Hall News and, you know, Rema, who knows what people want to downgrade him. But I think that James Cook's, just way too low and he's going up graham oh yeah yeah cook's going way up i think you're going to um you know july mid-july he was going to cook was going in the 90s i think we're going to see cook into the 60s like late 60s in the next couple weeks um yeah man damian harris has a knee issue latavius murray's 33 by the way latavius looked good uh he doesn't look 33 i think the big just keep cashing them checks man oh my god man yeah seriously uh the big takeaway real quick

Brian is that Khalil Shakir is no longer the bill's wide receiver three. Trent Sherfield and Deontay Hardy both mixed in with Dalton Kincaid and Dalton Knox with that first team. So I've been reading that Bill's beats have been saying Shakir has had like an up and down summer and appears he's been demoted. So if you've been taking late round shots on Shakir and basketball, I would I'd probably tame that just a little bit. He still has time to be their three. But right now I think it's Sherfield and Hardy kind of mixing in, which kind of throws a wrench into all of that. Goal and Kincaid played four of the five snaps with Josh Allen. Just a heads up, folks.

Joe, you were big on Twitter with, oh, go ahead. No, they're going to run this like 11 plus one personnel, I like to call it. It's Kincaid in the slot. He's a slot receiver. He's not a tie-down. And Knox will still be a full-time player. Joe, you used to work for the Philadelphia Eagles. You were the king of the preseason depth chart.

Rumors swirled last week at Kenny Gainwell. maybe the Eagles RB1. You kind of debunked that a little bit on Twitter. You know, they did sign Rashad Penny. They traded for D'Andre Swift. Set us straight here, your thoughts on this Eagles backfield. Well, look, my take was everybody, because Kenny Gainwell's been getting the hype

and there were those reports from training camp. And then the fact that Gainwell sat while Rashad Penny and D'Andre Swift played, everybody was like, oh, my God. No. Kenny Gainwell and Boston Scott both sat. and Boston Scott is not a lock for this roster. Here's what happened.

The Eagles wanted Kenny Gainwell and Boston Scott, who have had three years in this offense to sit. DeAndre Swift and Rashad Penny have not had three years in the offense. Rashad Penny is coming off a long layoff because he's been injured. I do not buy that Kenny Gainwell is the guy the Eagles want to be their number one running back. I simply do not buy it. Kenny Gainwell has 170 touches in his career and has one gain of 20 yards. and it's 20 on the nose.

That is not how the Eagles want to play. The Eagles won explosive plays. DeAndre Swift and Rashad Penny will provide explosive plays. Kenny Gainwell is reliable. Look at the numbers. By fantasy points data, he was number one in the NFL in runs that gained one yard in terms of percentage, and he was number one in the NFL, at least one yard. And he was number one in the NFL in terms of runs that gained at least three yards.

He was literally the best short yardage back in football last year. but he has no explosion whatsoever. I view him as the Eagles version of Samaj-P-Rine. They will rely on Kenny Gainwell, and I'm not saying he won't play, and I'm not saying he's not a great pick at ADP. I think he's a very good pick at ADP, because last year they wanted reliable.

You saw that. They essentially benched Miles Sanders in the Super Bowl. So they want reliable. They view Gainwell as reliable, but I also think they want, when they're playing their normal non-two-minute drill offense, They want explosive plays. That's what they want.

If you want an explosive play, you put in J.K. Dobbins, because the Rams will be able to do that this week. They have brought him back in. He's going to be getting up to speed. So maybe that quell some rumors about he and his health in Baltimore. Not much happened in the battle for Los Angeles. The Chargers arrested everybody. We did see some Quentin Johnson. You know, he's a very intriguing rookie.

So I think a lot of folks are going to take shots on him. You guys take anything away from the Chargers Rams game, Graham? No, Stetson Bennett, man. It looked all right. He's tiny, but he throws laser beams out there. It's crazy. He just like stands in the pocket, does not move. Feet don't move.

And he just throws freaking lasers. But yeah, no, I don't got anything from this game. The Chief's Saints game was highlighted by, you know, our own Scott Barrett doing naked cartwheels down the highway as Justin Ross hits the field. and scores a touchdown. So, you know, you can follow Scott on Twitter and see all his love for Justin Ross. But is this a real thing, guys? Should we be drafting Justin Ross?

It looks like he might make this team here. And anybody attached to Patrick Mahomes, I kind of want a piece of. Yeah, unfortunately, Drake, it looks like he just had an injury in practice. So we'll see. Oh, boy. Ross is going to make the team, though. And this is because of the Tony injury. They'll keep seven wide receivers.

But it was Marquez Vauta Scantling and Skymore as the top. two receivers, then Rishi Rice mixed in and Justin Watson. To me, I think Sky Moore is the only guy we can bank on to project to be full-time. I think he's their full-time slot receiver regardless of Tony's health. And then Tony will obviously mix in when he gets healthy. Sky Moore is a guy who I've been drafting a lot of and he's really come up my board. And frankly, I think he's really the only guy I'm kind of targeting. We know what MBS is.

Rishu Rice is interesting. It looks like he's bulked up a little bit too. but again, I think he's a part-time player. So to me, it's still Sky and then just, I mean, maybe one of these guys pops, but I think we're really only going to get one, and I just want to bet on Sky. Finally, gentlemen, 49ers, Raiders.

Trey Lance got the start and just look kind of crappy. The line that he had in front of him was abysmal. So who knows how much we can take for that. And for the Raiders, Joe, it was Zemir White, who was running in place of Josh Jacobs. you got 43 carry or 43 yards excuse me and a touchdown so that's kind of you know the lay of the land for that game i don't know what we can claim from these two teams but i think the 49ers have a ton of weapons on offense and we're going to be heavily invested and the raiders are going to be up and down week to week in a shootout division aden o'connell's going to start some games this year by the way yeah he looks presuming tom brady doesn't come out of retirement yo aiden o'connell was dotting receivers like literally dot after dot in between the numbers.

Like I was super impressed with him. He should have gone 17 of 18. He had two drops on third downs that would have extended drives. He looked really good. And by the way, this is like not for nothing. It actually matters. Like this is actually kind of big for Devonte Adams because at the end of the day, Adams could play with any quarterback that can hit him he's going to do well with.

Like I, yeah, I think Devante Adams is going to be just fine this year. Graham, you had some observations about Zemir White, didn't you? Oh boy. Yeah, he's, uh, the Raiders can't, the Raiders can't be serious with him as their RV too. Like I don't want to be like mean to the guy. I don't want to be like a hater, but they can't be serious with him as there too.

He is so slow. Yeah. Can they say, hey, we don't want to pay Josh Jacobs and then go give money to Karim Hunter come in? I mean, that would just look ass backwards. That's the thing, man. It's like there's, there's been no buzz about any of the free agents going there, you know, I don't know.

We really, we really don't know. You want to take? Yes, of course. I think the Raiders could be the worst team in the NFL this year. That is certainly within the range of outcomes. Absolutely. They could certainly be in the Caleb. They should, I mean, like, now here's the problem.

If they are, I think Josh McDaniels loses his job, but I would love to see them to trade Devonthe Adams at the deadline. Go, go tank, go get Caleb Williams there, get a star, get a star in Vegas. No question about it. Great job, guys. Thanks for, you know, giving us a good 70 minutes of content right here. folks make sure you're checking out fantasy points.com go over there get your cheat sheets get in on the fantasy points data for just 50 bucks this year dominate your leagues and of course go over to

fj fantasy fantasy fantasy fantasy t s 10 and save 10% off your draft board so for joe for our guest grand barfield i'm brian drake we'll see you guys next time on the two points dance thanks for tuning into this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform, and come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.