Fantasy Football Daily - Free Agency Begins - Instant Reaction | Two-Point Stance Podcast

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

The NFL opened its 2024 Free Agency "tampering" period, and the signings were fast and furious. The Fantasy Points team has instant fantasy football reactions. Saquon Barkley lands with the Philadelphia Eagles. Josh Jacobs signs with the Green Bay Packers. Tony Pollard leaves the Dallas Cowboys to become a Titan. Kirk Cousins cashes in with the Atlanta Falcons. Russell Wilson catches on with the Pittsburgh Steelers. D'Andre Swift shocks the world and finds a home with the Chicago Bears. Gus Edwards is the man for the Los Angeles Chargers. Devin Singletary is headed to NYC to start for the New York Giants. Plus, Tee Higgins requests a trade and live breaking news. Hosted by: @DrakeFantasy - @FG_Dolan - @GrahamBarfield Sign up at FantasyPoints.com and get our early bird pricing, including our "All-in bundle," which includes every product we produce! https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ #FantasyFootball #NFL #NFLFreeAgency --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.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, welcome everybody in to FantasyPoint.com, and the free agent frenzy is upon us. and the fantasy football fallout is all around us. Welcome in everybody. I'm Brian Drake.

You can find me on an old Twitter machine to Drake Fantasy. Join with my guy, Joe Dolan, managing editor of FantasyPoint.com and Graham Barfield. Graham, Joe, welcome in. What an incredible day to kick off free agency. We've got a lot to talk about quarterbacks, wide receivers, and a whole lot of running backs. Joe, I'll start with you. How you doing, bud? Dude, let me tell you. You and I, you reached out earlier today and you're like, hey, what's going on with free agency shows? And I said to you, hey, are you free tomorrow? You know, let's let the day play out. And, you know, let's make sure we have tomorrow to, so we can kind of wait for all these signings to come down so we can break them down. And then it became evident like 15 minutes after noon Eastern when the legal tampering window opened that,

We were going to have plenty to talk about this evening. And as I'm sitting here, Drake and Graham, I mean, how many fantasy relevant players who are on the free agent market, well, all of them remain unsigned. Okay. So let's let's back it up a little bit. We just had Will Disley, excuse me, Will Lutz, the kicker from the Broncos who reportedly left the Broncos for the Jaguar. Sorry, Graham.

He backed out on his agreement. and he went back to, I believe, the Broncos. So these players who were reportedly agreed to deals can still do that. Eagles fans well know the whole Frank Gore thing from a number of years ago. But ultimately, 99% of these guys who have an agreement that's published today or reported today are going to end up signing with these teams once the window opens up on Wednesday. And I'm looking now, and I'm looking at fantasy relevant players who have, and signed. The wide receiver market has not moved a whole lot. But the thing about the wide receiver

market is it wasn't very good. Obviously, T. Higgins has requested a trade, but Gabe Davis to sign, Calvin Ridley's still out there. But the running backs, Derek Henry is still out there. Aaron Jones is now out there. But Sequin Barkley, Tony Pollard, like so many of these guys have signed already. And it's already, Graham, you've been writing up some of these individual articles and Tom Broley's doing the tracker over at fantasy points. I mean, I'm thrilled you had a moment to breathe to even join us on this on this. I'm excited to break it down, guys. Yeah, I will be up writing all night in case you guys are wondering, looking forward to that for sure. I always love free agency. Just, you know, get some new roster moves, kind of official first start of the new season. And shout out to

Tbro, our guy, the grinder, just, I mean, dominating the free agency, just a machine, seriously, dominating the free agency previews. He's already got a bunch of stuff up on the site. And as you said, I got articles coming out throughout the week. But yeah, excited to talk about it. And Joe, I don't know how you feel, man. But like I remember a couple years ago, you know, when we were back doing the guru days, you know, it was like a three or four or five, six, seven day process with free agency. I appreciate getting all the moves out of the one day at least.

Yeah, let's just get it out of the way. Let's also say it for what it is. The tampering period is a joke. All these contracts were already probably somewhat signed or figured out over the weekend. You know, so it's just, you know, just a flood. were open today. Well, let's start things off, guys, with the quarterbacks. A couple of moves of note. I woke up this morning and everyone's talking Russell Wilson, right? So we knew he was going to be gone from the Denver Broncos. Signs a veteran minimum contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers going

to come in competing with Kenny Pickett. Now, everyone can crap on Russell Wilson. Oh, he's lost it. He's not that good. I contend he's better than anybody on that Steelers roster. I don't know how you guys feel we can debate that. But to me, this is a net win for Artie Smith and this offense in in Pittsburgh where you've got a great X wide receiver. Okay, maybe great's a stretch here in Pickens. We'll see if Deontay Johnson hangs around. You've got a solid running game with two horses back there. And I think Najee Harris is going to fly up draft boards. I think this is a really good landing spot for Russell Wilson. And maybe in fantasy and best ball, you're looking at him as your second quarterback, but where else could he have gone and landed in a better position and the weapons

around him with the offense, they're going to run. Joe, we'll start with you. I think it's a great spot. The UFL would have been a better position for Russell Wilson, given the way he's played of late. But now, like, in terms of the Steelers ends up in a few. Like, the, the only argument against this from the Steelers perspective is a roster building and a philosophy perspective, in my opinion. And the question is, should the Steelers have even made this move? And I think that's what some of the Steeler beat writers are arguing. Would you rather just, you know, Tom Browley, who's a Steeler fan, he was saying to me,

oh, geez, they should have just given Kenny a year. And if he sucks, then you pick at the top of the draft next year. But that is just not the way the Rooney's work. That is not the way that Mike Tomlin works. Mike Tomlin's never had a losing season famously. And if you're going under the under, the guys that you're going to be somewhat of a competitor this year, Russell Wilson makes sense for them because they're paying him a million dollars, because Russell Wilson's going to get 40 million

this year because the Broncos are already paying him. So in that regard, if you are, if the, if the Roonies came out and said, you have to compete this year or at least try to compete this year, this is probably the single most cost effective move for the Steelers, a thing that is never active in the free agent market. Look, Russell Wilson, I compared his 2023 season to Carson Wence's 2021 season in Indianapolis when Wence was obviously better than he was in his last year in Philly when it was a disaster. But the quality of the numbers on the surface kind of covered up some still-ish, some still obvious issues with his level of play.

Wilson actually fumbled more than Wendt did that year this past season with Denver. I thought it was a very similar kind of situation for them. But look, I think Wilson's going to come out and they're going to be able to play big, dumb, Steeler football. They are going to run the hell out of the ball. No quarterback in the NFL checked it down more than Russell Wilson last year. And they've got two good receiving backs in Najee Harris and Jalen Warren. And I think that's where the offense is going to be built around.

And, you know, I edited Graham's article on Russell Wilson today. And I was stunned to learn George Pickens had 1100 receiving yards this past year. But there's always those guys who are like, wait, he did what? But the thing about Russ is, and Kenny Pickett, the touchdown stat, like what? He's got 14 touchdown passes and 26 starts, something ridiculous like that. Russell Wilson, at the very least, is going to give a guy like George Pickens and Pat Friermuth the opportunity to make plays in the red zone. And I think that's where the Steelers want the improvements to come.

In the red zone, run the football, take care of the ball, which Russ did with the exception of the fumbles this year relatively well. Graham, you wrote up the article. I'm not that enthused. But if you're operating under the agreement that you have as a franchise that you're going to try to compete, it's a very cost-effective move that is not going to hurt the Steelers in the long term, at least from a financial standpoint. You have the nail on the head with Tomlin.

And he's just, he's unwilling to have a year where they kind of take a step back and maybe call it tank, call it what you call it what you want, but just really have like a rebuilding year. And at the end of the day, Brian, you said at the top, man, like, you know, anything was better than Kenny Pickett. And at the end of the year, Pickett was healthy, came back from a high ankle injury and they started Mason Rudolph. And, you know, a big part of that was, you know, Pickett's struggles throwing over the middle in terms of both his processing and just how often he did it.

according to our fantasy points data, basically Mason Rudolph through the ball over the middle 22% of the time compared to 15% for Pickett. Pickett was well below average. And that's a big question that we have for Russell Wilson. Wilson still hasn't adjusted, in my opinion, to the meta of the NFL. You know, playing, you know, defenses are playing way more too high safety. As a result, we're seeing offenses, you know, say, hey, if you're going to take one fewer guy out of the middle of the field, we're going to start attacking.

in the middle. And that takes a quarterback with guts and accuracy and the processing skill to throw over the middle and do it well. And Wilson has not done that consistently through his career. Just last season, 17% of his throws were over the middle that was, you know, well below average. So I don't know, man. I, you know, Artie Smith for all the things that he does, you know, kind of bizarrely with his personality, he's going to continue to do, get used to darnel, Washington coming in and running some jet screens probably at the red zone. Just, you know, be prepared for that tilt. But, you know, Artie loves play action, loves throwing over the middle. And last year, Desmond Ritter did it 22% of the time, you know,

that this offense will be predicated on throwing over the middle off play action. And Russ is going to have to adjust, man. At the, like, last year, his adjustment was just checking down religiously. You know, not just to just kill you guys with data. But like, last year, Russell wasn't checked down more than any quarterback in the NFL at 19%. The second closest quarterback was Justin Fields at 13%. The league average is eight. So, I mean, Russell was two, he was double the league average, seven percent higher than the next closest quarterback.

And at the end of the day, man, like, I just don't see Russ elevating this offense to a point where, you know, George Pickens is a wide receiver one. But I do think this is a great move for Pickens as like a splash play, go up and get it kind of guy. Because Russ's moonshots are still, they're still there. They're still there. I apologize for my dog Scotchy barking right there. But hey, this is live television. I want to point out that I asked Brett Whitefield, who is the head of fantasy points data and is our lead charter and basically football genius that we have at the site. And look, I asked them about Arthur Smith's tendency to design things to the middle of the field and Russ's overall reticence to throw to the middle of the field.

But this is what Brett said to me. He said, Russ is most comfortable throwing middle of field off boot, probably give him some inside zone RPO stuff too to get slant game going. He thinks that's actually very similar to what they did in Seattle when Russ was at his best. So in theory, there are things that Arthur Smith can do here. And obviously, Arthur Smith would have signed off on this move with Russell Wilson thinking, hey, there's things that we can do here. The good news, Drake, from a fantasy perspective that I think is I don't think any of us in the fantasy industry are going to rate these Steelers skill position players anywhere nearly as highly as

we rated the likes of Bijon Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London last year. So any of that kind of Arthur Smith, let's get Calvin Austin and Darnell Washington and Connor Hayward involved, that stuff is going to be offset by the fact that we're not going to be investing as much into these players. Graham, you mentioned that you think it's going to be a lot of bestball stuff for Jalen Warren and Najee Harris. And I think both of those guys can produce good numbers this year. They might be annoying from a season long perspective, but for,

From a best ball perspective, I actually think this might be an offense where you can invest a little bit, very little capital, and get some return on that. Because as much as we hate Arthur Smith, I still think he's a decent play designer. He just had his priorities asked backwards in Atlanta. And Russell Wilson, in theory, in theory, is an upgrade over what Desmond Ritter was last year. In theory, yeah. And for Nagey and Jalen, I think we kind of win it. the season knowing, regardless of what they do at quarterback, those two guys are going to get 450 carries. Like, they're just, that's what, you know, they're going to come out and run the ball.

Now, okay, now we're talking about maybe a little boost in the touchdown expectation and touchdown equity for Naji. And then, you know, I said it off the top, like if, if Russ doesn't adjust and he just keeps checking down, Jalen Warren has really strong, you know, PPR floor. Once again, he outscored Naji by basically two-tenths of a point last season. Start sit. It's going to be a nightmare. Once again, you know, we had a billion questions every single week. Do I start Najee? Do I start Jalen on the start sit show with myself and John and Tom? But yeah, I think for best ball right now, both guys are going off the board in the mid rounds,

Najee's off the board in the 70s. Jalen's off the board in the 90s. I've been taking both in best ball. I can sign up on either one of those. Yeah, because Joe, you know me. I'm a receiver heavy drafter. I'm coming out and I'm going to try to get three or four receivers in my first six picks. It's a perfect setup for both those guys.

And, you know, in best ball, obviously we're just, we're praying for the spiked weeks. we're not really too concerned about StartSit. We talked a lot about Arthur Smith. Well, his old team, the Atlanta Falcons, made quite a splash today, signing Kirkie Cousins. I don't know if you guys saw on Twitter what Kirk put out, this Star Wars, like, opening that announced where he was going. It was really well done.

Go check that out all across, you know, the Twitter sphere. Kirkie Cousins, four years, 50 million do it signing, 90 mil over the first two years. I mean, whoever this guy's agent is has probably a yacht in the Mediterranean just off the money he's made off Kirk Cousins. But 45 a year, 45 million, not too bad at all for Kirkie. Coming off the Achilles, though, guys, I'm interested how that plays out because it is off his plant lag. So we don't really have a lot of great data to say like, oh, this aging quarterback coming off this kind of rough injury. You know, he could struggle a little bit out of the gate. But what we all want to talk about, what does this do for Drake London, for Kyle Pitts,

freeing Bejan Robinson? I mean, I think we're going to get to the point, Graham, let's start with you, where these guys are going to be, could they be overvalued? Like the hype is going to get too high on Drake London. And Drake London is great. I think he's just undervalued because he's such a great player. Everyone, when he came out of USC. Oh, he's just a contested catch guy, but he's not.

He's legit. Could we get too high on these guys going into the season? Bundin is already like going at that three-four turn, Drake. You know, he's already kind of going in that pocket. I think the quarterback upgrade, at least in terms of cousins or fields, was already a little priced in with him. And yeah, I think he's going to continue to run into the third round. No one wants to draft Kyle Pitts.

I think everybody's kind of sourd on him again. Yeah, myself included. Shout out to Danny Kelly, who put out a great tweet. He did the Simpsons meme. I will not get excited about Kyle Pitts again. I will not be excited. And I feel like I have to do the same thing. The guy I'm most excited about here, Joe, is Bijon.

I think this is just absolutely massive for Bijan. Not only are we getting R.D. Smith out of the way, we're going to stop giving the ball to Tyler Aousier on early downs. We're going to stop, you know, with the red zone nonsense, we're going to get our guy the ball. Kirkie's going to lead him down the field, and they're going to have significantly more red zone opportunities and touchdown equity in this offense. To me, this is enough to put Bejohn over Brise as the RB2. obviously CMC is the just stone cold locked in RB1 but this is enough for me to put Bijan over Brise clearly is the RB2 at this offense and Drake yeah that's the biggest question is what does cousins have left coming off this Achilles injury but even if he's like 60% of what

he was in his last two to three years with the Vikings that is like a massive upgrade from everything that the Falcons have been dealing with yeah look her cousins and I know some of this is scheme driven, but Kirk Cousins throughout his career has done one thing for fantasy. Number one, he's always produced for fantasy despite constantly being like the 10th to 14th quarterback off the board. I will be drafting Kurt Cousins at price this year. I guarantee you, because I feel like there's going to be a little bit of knock because of Kirk Cousins, because of the injury and the move to the new system. But it's not a new system because Zach Robinson comes from the Sean McVeigh system.

So does Kevin O'Connell. So Kirk Cousins is going to have a great familiarity with the system. But he throws to the good players on their teams. And the Sean McVeigh system utilizes the good players on their teams. Kirk Cousins, I don't know if you guys are aware, but he has a four-year deal here with Atlanta. He is, if he stays relatively healthy over the course of this contract, going to become the first player in NFL history to throw for 15,000 yards for three different teams.

like that somebody like her cousins doesn't move teams you know like guys like vini testaverti well they had injuries and stuff like that you know he was a bus somewhere and then went somewhere else somebody who produces for a team doesn't resign and then goes and gets a big free agent contract elsewhere does not happen at the quarterback position so he's already one of the most unique players but we love him for fantasy good he throws to good players he's he's i don't care what prime time whatever playoff maybe the fow aren't going to win the Super Bowl. Doesn't matter to me. He's going to throw the ball 150 times to Drake London. That's what matters to me. And I got to be honest, I wanted something. I wanted

them to get Justin Fields just so I wouldn't be in on Kyle Pitts. Just so I would be like, all right, fine. Like, yeah, Kyle Pitts will have some spike weeks, like whatever. Now I, depending on where his ADP settles, like, I got to be like, look, they're going to throw to them. They're going to throw to their good players because that's what Kurt Cousins does. So I like this move. Kirk is going to be a high-end QB-2 by ADP. I'll be drafting him there. I'll be drafting most of their players at cost. Not 100% sure about Bijon, depending on where he settles, but we know he's a great player. Drake London at cost is completely fine to me. Let's see what else they do at receiver. But I like the move for the Falcons. I think it makes them an instant, I mean,

they were contender in that division with Desmond Ritter. So I think this makes them, Kirk Cousins is the best quarterback in that division. He's better than Derek Carr. He's better than Baker, even though I know Baker got his contract and good for him. And he's better than Bryce Young at least at this point. So I think Atlanta, this is a great signing. I think this is going to propel them into the playoffs or at least the playoff hunt. And from that, I think they'll score some points. So I'm in on Kirk. I'm in on the Falcons offense. I love this signing for them. Really easy for me to parse this out. And if you look at Kirk Cousins too, of any quarterback that played at least eight games, and that's what Kirk played last year, he would be quarterback five in

fantasy points per game at 19.8. And again, Joe, you just mentioned, oh, he's going to go as like a QB2. You're going to get Kirk Cousins like you do every year. You're going to wait till the 15th round and then go, eh, give me Kurt Cousins. And he's going to start for you every week and you're going to be absolutely fine. Anything else on Kirkie Graham or the Falcons? Real quick, real quick, Kyle Pitts or Evan Ingram right now. You're on the clock, Drake, and a best ball draft, Evan Ingraham or Kyle Pitts.

I haven't even if I caught like 110 passes. Yeah. You're talking about Sneaky Langement. For him now with Gabe Davis there, no Ridley. I think he might lose Ridley in Ingram there. Yeah, okay. Ingram 114 catches for 9663 yards. That is a Jarvis Landry-ass stat line right there, man.

Now, I'm probably taking Ingram right now, especially since we don't know what's going to go on with Ridley. But, yeah, now I'll be smart. I'll take Ingram, but the cop hits. I'm going to be tan a lot. yet again. I am, the thing is, I am, I am somebody who is completely out of the George Kittle business right now. I'm out of the Kittal business right now. I'm out of the Kittal business right now. The good news is you'll get three or four round difference between Pitts and Kittle right now. Yeah. So, man, oh man. Well, when the frenzy kicked off today, the Bears, I mean, the Bears front office, they have to be the most efficient offense that we, or front office. was we've ever seen, guys. They got a three-year, $24 million deal done with DeAndre Swift in literally three minutes. I couldn't believe it. The tampering period opens, boom, contract ready to go.

I don't know how that happens. But DeAndre Swift, going to the Bears, as I mentioned, a $4 million signing bonus, 14 mil fully guaranteed. He's going to get eight and a half over the first year, 16 and a half over two. Now, this is a guy who last year played on the final year of his rookie deal in Philadelphia, made just over a million dollars. It was a prove it year. And he played really well, Joe. The Eagles didn't throw him the football, which is kind of his calling card,

but he stayed healthy. He ran really well, even in between the tackles when they asked him to, didn't get the touchdown love because of the tush push. Now he's going to go to Chicago where, I mean, they kind of have three guys that all look the same. In my eyes,

you've got Swift, you've got Roshan Johnson, you've got just or you've got Kalaal Herbert. It's, I mean, is this kind of just a really ugly situation or they paid him star for money? It's his role. So here is the question that I have with DeAndre. First and foremost, I think he's the starter here. They paid him starters money.

Okay. Number one, he was kind of a grinder with the Eagles last year. And it's hard to separate DeAndre Swift without talking about Sequin Barclay. It's hard to separate that conversation. And obviously we'll get to Seekwan Barclay. But just going through and doing just basic numbers here. in comparison. DeAndre Swift was seventh among running backs with 100 or more carries in yards before contact per attempt, but he was just 40th of 49 in yards after contact per attempt. That's interesting to me,

because he did seem like kind of a grinder. And I was talking to a couple guys at the senior bowl who were like, man, I was just disappointed that he didn't make guys miss at the second level. And I kind of saw that. And the question now becomes, for D'Andre Swift's fantasy value, did the Eagles not throw D'Andre Swift the ball because of their scheme? And by the way, the Eagles thought their scheme was problematic because they fired their offensive coordinator. Or did they not throw D'Andre Swift the ball because they don't think D'Andre Swift commanded that kind of attention in the passing game,

which is strange, as you mentioned, because he had done that in Detroit. He had just 39 targets, excuse me, he had his 39 receptions for 214 yards. And then you look at the fact that the Eagles just spent big money to upgrade at the running back position with a player who, in theory, becomes a bigger mismatch for them. So it's really hard for me to parse out the fact that the Eagles, a team that does value throwing the ball to running backs, had an atrocious screen game, didn't utilize DeAndre Swift in that department. and then let them walk and then pay more to upgrade the position. It's a really difficult thing for me to figure out. And depending on where DeAndre Swift lands, I'm not sure I'm going to be in on DeAndre Swift this year, group.

I won't be either. You can hit the nail on the head. This is just a massive offensive line downgrade. Swift, you know, by our numbers, I split it out. I was looking throughout the course of the season. So he, you know, obviously week one, gain well was a starter. But then from that point on, I mean, there was basically no spike. yak, no spike and mistackless tackles force.

He just kind of, like you said, he got what was, you know, kind of blocked for him, and that got to the second level and really didn't have a whole lot of juice. And that's not DeAndre Swift from college. That is not DeAndre Swift even from some of his Detroit days. So, you know, you have some concern that there's some skilled degradation there. And then you also have some concern that Khalil Herbert and Rochon Johnson are pretty good at football themselves. You know, obviously Swift is going to get the ball first. He will be their 1A.

But, you know, they have two competent players behind him that are going to you know, mix in for touches at certain points in games. Obviously, the big, you know, question here is what Caleb Williams will be early in the season. But, you know, as we know, watching him, he is not going to be a guy who's checking the ball down all that often. He is going to be trying to make plays, extend plays, scramble. I don't see him as a checkdown quarterback at all for this offense. And that's going to hurt Swift, too. You know, I guess the one feather in his cap that you can make here, Drake, is that, you know, he'll finally get some goal line opportunities. he's not going to have to be pushing Jalen hurts his butt into the end zone.

I guess Joe, did Swift ever actually have to do the push or was that always Goddard? No, Swift, well, Swift was in there because they ran some, like, they ran some gimmick plays off of the push involving DeAndre Swift, like a K-flip type of pass. Guys, we have some breaking news right now. Now, this is not a fantasy thing right now. I want to see what the compensation is, but the Panthers have traded Brian Burns to the giant. Burns is signing a five-year deal. This is for Ian Rappaport, worth $150 million maximum with $87.5 million guaranteed.

Look, I think this makes sense for the Panthers. Guys, Panthers need draft picks. The questions is what draft picks? The Giants have two second round picks in this year's class. What draft picks did the Giants give up to land Brian Burns? But this obviously is going to have a lot of ramifications from a fantasy standpoint for the Carolina Panthers who are going to be loading up on draft picks here to try. to build around Bryce Young, but I just wanted to get that out there while we continue the

DeAndre Swift discussion. Interesting. I mean, the Giants have nobody on offensive score any points. Maybe they'll run some ender rounds for Brian Burns as they fight for the first overall pick next year. Interesting stuff. Let me get you guys. Here's the question then.

In fantasy, we're talking best ball. Then we get later in the year and some managed leagues. Where are you comfortable drafting DeAndre Swift? And what type of roster construction do you need to have? have to say, I want DeAndre Swift on my team. I'm willing to click the button on him. ADP right now is like in the like high 90s, early hundreds. He's going to skyrocket well into probably the 70, 80 range.

I'm getting Miles. I'm getting Miles Sanders. I am too. Because I was in on Miles Sanders last year. And out of that system, I think Swiss more talented than Sanders. But I think the best. are going to be better this year than the Panthers were. They're one of those teams.

Well, I'll draft Rochon Johnson and or Kahliel Herbert later and see where the Domino's fall. Yeah, this, this already is setting up to be an amazing year for ZeroRB. Again, like last year was one of the best setups of all time for ZeroRB. And this is just, this is another great setup between all. There's just going to be so many backs that go in that like 60 to 90 pocket this year. Well, let's talk about a running back who might go in. the first round with all the hype surrounding him and the new offensive line and the scheme.

And that is Saquan Barkley. If you listen to the two point stands podcast that Joe and I do during the season, you will probably see us this year both wearing matching Saquan jerseys. Joe being a Penn State alum, I'm sure is excited about this. But Barkley goes to Philly three years, 37.7 million, 26 million fully guaranteed. There's a max value of $46.7 million. So those numbers kind of sound big, but when you see all these other contracts going out, you're like, these running backs still aren't getting paid all that much.

And Philadelphia, Joe, was a team that never paid the running back. The last five years, if you look at what they paid between DeAndre Swift and Miles Sanders, it was barely over a million dollars if it was a million dollars. I think this money that got fused into the cap at the last minute really helped balloon some of these running back numbers because people are like, oh, hey, now we can spend money we didn't have before and get a running back. But we got Barkley now who, listen, this guy hasn't played 15 games in a while. I think maybe twice in his whole career. That's going to be the issue.

Can he stay on the field? And now what can he do? Can he run the offense and not bounce outside all the time, Joe? What are your expectations for Sequin? And where are you going to click them, baby, in fantasy drafts? So let's settle down here and talk about the Eagle spending habits at the running back position. First and foremost, recently you're 100% right. Not pay, you know, sign Rashad Penny, trade for DeAndre Swift for a song.

Miles Sanders, abuse and abuse him on that rookie contract. Kenny Gainwell, use and abuse him on that rookie contract. But if you look at history and maybe going back 10, 15 years, the Eagles have actually kind of spent more on the running back position than a lot of teams because they extended LaShawn McCoy. They extended Brian Westbroke multiple times, and this is with Howie Roseman in the front office. The one thing I will discount is the money they spent on DeMarco Murray and Ryan Matthews

in the year Chip Kelly ran the office. That doesn't matter to me because that was Chip and not Howie. But I do still want to do the Brian Windhorst thing here. Why would they do that? Because the Eagles know better than anybody. You would argue Eagle fans, Howie Roseman devalues the linebacker position to a fault. Like, at some point, you do need functional bodies out there. And the running back position hasn't been one that they've handed a big contract out to in the recent past.

I think they believe Seaquin Barclay makes them less predictable. And as talented as they were last year, and I'm including Swift because he ran for 1,000 yards and was a pro bowler. A.J. Brown, Devonte Smith, Dallas got all of who missed some time, but still, they were too predictable. Sequin Barclay gives you the ability to be less predictable. And I think that's the key for the Eagles. they think he could be a true three-down back. They could split him out wide, put him in the slot. They are not signing Sequin Barclay, Drake, to a $40 million contract,

whatever they're paying him, to run the ball 25 times a game. That is not the player Saquan Barclay is. That's not the player he should be. Saquan Barclay should be a 10 to 15 carry a game guy, maybe 12 to 15, occasionally 20 to 25 when the game script dictates it, and you get him five or six targets per game, or at least split him out wide, get him on a linebacker six, seven, eight times per game. I don't think Sequin Barclay is going to be a massive volume player.

Graham, if you disagree with me, let me know. But I wonder if they want to use him like a supersized version of Austin Eckler. Like that same kind of role, just a much bigger player. And if the game script dictates he gets 18 to 25 carries, then they'll do that. I don't think he's going to be a five-carry guy, but I certainly don't think he's going to get 300 carries. That's not the way the Eagles operate. And I think they view his value as more of that receiving back, somebody who can maybe create more of those plays off the tush push. Get him in the open field where he is so dangerous.

He is a threat to break one. The Eagles might think he's not going to bounce as much behind a great offensive line. This is a fascinating, fascinating signing for me because it really destroys a lot of the preconceptive. we had about the Eagles and about the value of the running back position. And it's not even the biggest running back contract given of the day, which we will get to. But Graham, this one to me is, I don't know how excited I am for Sequin for fantasy. This isn't one where I'm like, oh, my God, he's going to be the number one overall picked. I'm not like that.

And I feel like he's going to get pushed into the first round. And I'm not sure I'm clicking the button on him there. But I feel like for the Eagles, this was a signing where they're like, damn it, we are just not going to let people know what we're doing. We're just not going to do that again this year. And Sequin gives them an option that defenses are going to have to worry about. And just like defenses have to worry about Christian McAffler. You're right, 100% right about the predictability.

And especially at the end of the season, this offense, just let's call a spade a spade a spade. It became kind of an high school-ish offense in terms of just the reads, the concepts, and basically what they're asking hurts to do. I'm really excited to see what Kellyn Moore could do. with this offense and with Hertz for a full season. The big question I have is, it's, you know, obviously the tush push and Hertz is going to get his 12 rushing touchdowns. We know that's going to happen.

The big question I actually have in this offense is Barclay's fit. You know, last year, he was a little better on zone blocking, according to our fantasy points data, 4.1 yards per carry and a 43% success rate on zone carries. His man stuff is a little worse, but typically, Barclay has been a running back. that is more successful in a man blocking scheme. And the Eagles throughout the years have been a zone blocking team. Obviously, offensive coordinator change will change that this year. I'll be really interested to see just what the Eagles kind of, you know,

deploy in terms of their run scheme. For Fantasy, Joe, I'm with you. I think the big question will be how many targets he gets in this passing game. And as we know with Hertz, as we know with all Russian quarterbacks, most Russian quarterbacks are not going to have a higher checkdown rate. They're going to have a significantly higher scramble rate. And I don't think Hertz is going to just change who he is, man. He gets out of the pocket.

It's kind of like what we just talked about with Caleb Williams. He's looking to scramble. So to me, if Barclay is a first-round pick, I'm going to be out. Like, I'll be taking receivers in that pocket. If he gets pushed into kind of that one-two turn and I can get a receiver and a back with Barclay in the second round, then I'll be into that. But I'm with you guys. I think he'll eventually get pushed into that like kind of 9, 10, 11 pocket.

And, yeah. This is going to be the single most hyped signing of free agency. Like in terms of like even more so than because defensive signings don't get hyped up that much. It's going to be hyped up more than Kirk Cousins because it's a high profile team with a high profile player, the fantasy impact. And I wonder if that's just going to push Sequon out of affordability for fantasy. I am far more interested in this from an NFL standpoint than I am from a fantasy standpoint. And I'm not denying, by the way, that Seacquon could have a huge year for fantasy.

Maybe the Eagles are looking at, like Graham, you did. Sequin's success rate was zoned vis-a-vis man blocking. And the Eagles are sitting there and their analytics team and their coaching staff are breaking down this signing and Harry Roseman's there and they're like, I don't give a shit. His success rate was zoner man blocking because he had crappy blocking. It doesn't matter what scheme it was. The blocking was bad. I think you're right, though.

When you look at Seacquan stylistically, he strikes me as a man blocking guy. because it gives him the hole to hit and then you get creative. Sometimes he might get a little too creative behind a zone blocking that allows you to bang, to bend, or to bounce that run. That's where you get those bounced runs. And at Penn State, man, when he was Superman, he could do it. And, you know, he's still incredible.

He used to teleport, man. Like, he could literally go from running behind the right tackle, make one cut and he's running behind the one tackle. Like that's, and I don't know if he's got that any. But like, you know, watching some. tape at him last year. Like when he got to the second level, he still had the juice. Like this is, this guy's a freak athlete. This is not a four, six runner. And even if he's lost two steps, he's still faster than a lot of running backs out there. I think that's what's going

to tantalize people. Because everybody knows he's always had the home run potential. Is he just going to get, to borrow another baseball analogy? Is he just going to get more fastballs down the heart of the plate because he's running behind the Eagles offensive line? And that's what I think the Eagles are betting on here, Drake. Yeah, and we'll see if. the Eagles go with any more Jalen Hertz under center, which they never did with Brian Johnson as the offensive coordinator. And you remember last year at the end of the season, you talk about being more predictable. Kenny Gainwell was playing way too many snaps because he was a pretty good pass protector. And Jalen Hurts dropping back, maybe he's seeing some ghosts. You know,

he doesn't throw the ball over the middle at all. Hopefully that changes. But Seekuaan Barkley is an excellent pass protector. So now they can keep him in there. Like you said, keeps things on for the backfield. Now imagine you're that defense and Jalen Hertz is in the gun and you got Saquan Barkley on the outside of him. I mean, this is going to be fun, man. It's going to be fun. Graham, I like what you said about. You'd rather get him on that one, two turn. Maybe you hook them in or you get a great wide receiver and you get Barkley in the second round. That'd be a lot of fun. Yeah, that's going to be the jersey to buy in the NFL this off season. By the way, one of every three people in the state of Pennsylvania is going to order a Seacuan-Barkley-Eagles jersey,

and fanatics that will absolutely not be able to meet the demand. That's the easiest prediction of the season. Guys, I wanted to point this out because this tweet is going to keep me up tonight. This is from Alex Nugie, at Alex underscore Nugie or Nuge, N-O-G-E. This is this quote. This is going around. it's gone viral. Quote, Sequan with another 10-yard run to put him over the century mark.

The Eagles are now in the run zone. And here comes Kenneth Gainwell. I'm like Nick Siriani's obsession with Kenneth Gainwell was just, maybe that was an early sign that they just lost the plot with the Eagles offense last year. I don't know, getting new bodies in there, and especially with the new offensive coordinator, it's going to be good. I'm really interested to see what work people do, not just from the fantasy standpoint, but those who analyze the NFL from a tape standpoint,

I'm going to be looking at Brett Whitefield, especially for this, what they think of the Sequin signing, and maybe you can talk me into it more from a fantasy perspective. I think he's going, I think he's got huge potential. There's no doubt about that. I just wonder if he's going to be too expensive based on the hype and the fact that he got a really big money contract from a team that you didn't expect to give one out. If you guys are enjoying what you're seeing right now, make sure you go over to YouTube.com slash fantasy points. Click that subscribe button. You're going to get all our offseason content.

You're going to get all our shows. You're going to get Brett Whitefield and all of his draft prep. I mean, this guy's a machine. Make sure you're subscribe to that podcast feed as well. He's doing outstanding work and he just did a great show with Brad from Pro Football Focus of a previewing free agency. And the all in early bird special still available at FantasyPoint.com. Get ready for the season. We've got NFL. We got college. You want spring football? We're going to be breaking that down. for you as well. It's all there at fantasy points.com. So Sequo Barkley leaves New York, and we don't have to spend a lot of time on this one, but Devin Singletary is on his way to New York. So Singletary is going to take over. We would assume the lead role for the Giants, not that that's

very awe-inspiring, but he was pretty good last year, nearly 1,000 yards for the Texans, leaves a hole for the Texans that I don't think Damien Pierce is going to fill. So quickly, we'll just go around. Graham, start with you. What do you think of Singletary coming to New York? and then what do you think of Singletary leaving the Texans? Yeah, Houston is wide open here. I've kind of got my eye on Derek Henry. They apparently wanted to sign Sequin, by the way.

Yeah, yeah. Which I would actually be more in on Sequin with Houston just because, I don't know, just than I would with Philly. That was the spot, Joe. That was the spot to really, like, I think, get back in. Well, Derek Henry could go there. There's reports that the Ravens are still talking to Henry. That's like the one big guy who hasn't signed yet for us.

Yeah. Yeah. We'll see on Henry. It'll probably be tomorrow. As for Singletary, I think the Giants are just going to draft somebody to give him a complimentary piece. Obviously, they have Drake just so many questions with Daniel Jones,

what this offense is going to look like. Singletary has, you know, I think, been an adequate runner. You know, he's never been below average. He's never really been significantly above average. All that being said, though, you know, Singletary on a Giants offense, we're not expecting to win two, many games is it's not exactly exciting. I will say if you're doing early bestball drafts

you're in the big board over on underdog shoutouts who are partners, you know, Singletary is going to be a pretty solid value, I think for the next couple weeks. He's kind of going in that 130 range. And, you know, if you're, you know, zero RB drafter like me, he's got some, you know, he's definitely got some standalone value there. But I'm thinking, Joe, they got to add another back here. They've just had no depth behind Berkeley for years. And they're, they're not going to go into this year with just Singletary. They're going to do. Singletary will be getting drafted in the triple digits. I think his ADP will be above 100. And I think that'll be a solid value, but I do think they're going to draft somebody. By the way, they traded just a second

and a fifth for Brian Burns did the Giants. That's a good trade for the Giants. Like, I think the roster is garbage, but they have a good defensive line. And Burns is young enough to be part of the next contending Giants team. The Panthers have completely fumbled every bag they've had under David Tepper. That's more of an NFL discussion than a fantasy, but just throwing that out there. Bad Intentions asked, you all think Echler will end up in Dallas? I got to be honest, the name I'm circling for them is Aaron Jones. Yeah.

The Dallas has seen him. Mike McCarthy, Mike McCarthy's familiar with him. He went to Texas, Texas El Paso. He's a U-TEP guy. That's the name I'm circling for them. I think that makes sense. Oh, that makes sense, too. I mean, he's a Texas guy.

too. Yeah, Baltimore could certainly, could certainly reach out there. But Aaron Jones is a fascinating option because let's move on, I guess, straight to Josh Jacobs. Let's do it. Josh Jacobs, they have four years, 48 million to take over the lead role in Green Bay. And there were some talk that they were trying to redo the number for Aaron Jones. Maybe they wanted to keep him.

Josh Jacobs now, you know, the room is yours in Green Bay. I hope you'll like, you know, warm sweaters and cheese because you're the man now four years, 48 mil as I said. That leaves Zemir White is the only game in town in Vegas and Aaron Jones on the street. So let's start with Josh Jacobs. Two years ago, this guy was the leading rusher in the NFL. You know, wasn't as good last year. I'm going to equate some of that to he held out.

I don't think he really wanted to be there on that deal. Line wasn't as good as a crappy team. And, you know, it's kind of an anomaly to me when guys on awful teams like lead the league and rushing or had these splash years. It's just kind of, you know, just chalking up to it is what it is. But he's going to go to a really good team with a lot of inexperience and cheap wide receivers. That's why they can afford to pay a running back this kind of salary. And it's got to be exciting. I think people are going to be excited to click Josh Jacobs in this up-and-coming Packers offense.

I don't know. What do you think Josh Jacobs is looking at in round two, round three? I think he'll sneak into. round two. Yeah, he's, you think, you think that's it? Yeah. You think he's going higher? You think round and a while one? Aaron, Aaron Jones is gone. A.J. Dylan is likely gone. I mean, I think he's top five running back. They like, they like to run the ball. I mean, like, I think that offense, the Matt LaFleur offense is, is excellent. Jordan Love had a great end of the year. Man, I, would you take Jacobs over Barclay? Because I think I will.

would. Yeah, I could see it. I wouldn't fall to doing it. It's a point flip. From a fantasy perspective, I think I would. Graham, you're, you're our resident Jacobs lover. You've loved him since he came out. And I think it's taken a little bit of time for him to kind of get to that level. And maybe he, he creeped back a little bit towards what he was. But man, I kind of feel like I'd take him over Barclay. Like, I just think there's, there's less competition there in that backdown. maybe they draft somebody maybe they bring back a j dillon or something i don't know yeah but no jones they just signed jacobs to a big deal i feel like they're like hey dude come in here's 300 touches

i i think he's a safe for bet than sayquine it'll be interesting to see where he does shake out obviously there's risk right like he has the massive 2,022 season 600 rushing yards the efficiency is incredible like i mean just absolutely bananas good efficiency according to our fantasy points data i mean last year, Josh, Josh Jacobs, now two seasons ago, 3.2 yards after contact per carry. Last year, he fell down to 2.3, so nearly a full yard drop. You know, there's a history. You go back through the backs that have had 280 carries and then their following year, pretty much all of them drop off in terms of their fantasy efficiency, their overall production. I think that's just, you know, the year-over-year effect of having just a massive workload. If he can refine the form,

I'm with you. I think he can push for top five. But to me, I'm, I'm a little lower. I think it'll be like low-end RV1 for him. Obviously, the big thing for Jacobs throughout his career is he's passing down roles just kind of come and gone. You know, he came under college. I thought that was like the one thing he really was going to excel at. But, you know, rookie season barely gets involved and kind of second year not super involved.

Got the workhorse role in 21 and 22. And then last year the wheels kind of fell off there with Vegas. The big thing, working in Jacobs favor vis-a-vis to steal a line from you, Joe last year is this Raiders offensive line was awful. I mean, they were bottom three. And most of our, you know, yards before contact metrics and PFF grids, I mean, they were atrocious. So Packers and the floor-led offense is going to be a significant schematic boost for Jacobs. But, you know, I'm the Josh Jacobs stand and like pretty much everything I've said about Josh Jacobs tape with a grain of salt. But all of that being said, like, I'm still kind of going

into this with a little bit of concern here just after the season and how bad it was for him. Let me throw in some optimism from John Hanson. He just texted me, so he must be watching the live stream. He has done his initial Josh Jacobs projection, just like an initial. I love John. After all these years, he's still like Josh Jacobs, the contract isn't even signed and he's doing an initial projection. His initial projection has Josh Jacobs with 282 fantasy points in 15 games,

the equivalent of what would have been the RB3 last year. So I think, like, John's super high on Jordan Love. John has Jordan Love is like his fourth dynasty quarterback, which is I think as high as anybody in the industry. I totally understand being super high on Jordan Love. I think their offensive line is good. As you mentioned, the Raiders line was crappy. I can see, like, I, I just feel like there are fewer pitfalls

to Jacobs in Green Bay than there are to Barclay in Philadelphia, strictly from a fantasy standpoint. I already told you, I think I like the Barclays. signing from a football standpoint. But from a fantasy standpoint, I think Jacobs is a lot smoother analysis for me. Joe, you want some more breaking news on the pod? Let's do it. Austin Echler signs a two-year dealer plans to with the Washington commanders.

Her Adam Schaefter. Well, they lost Antonio Gibson to the Patriots, which Graham was vomiting about that because of the remandre. Um, Austin Echler now, I mean, isn't that kind of what he is right now, guys? He's going to be the lightning compliment to Brian Robinson there in Washington. And Dan Quinn, like, they're going to have a rookie quarterback. They're going to run the ball. And they're going to have a checkdown option.

I'm just, I'm just saying you for this is another backfield committee. We get, you know, Tai J dies. We'll talk to Tyjee and Tony Pollard here in a second. But this is just another, another committee, man. Another, this is going to be another committee where we're, the word, this is the worst type of committee too because it's a you know kind of bifurcated committee where there's two clear roles you know b rob will be the early down guy ecler will be the passing down guy and neither of those two guys are going to get there each other's fantasy points but do you prefer that

to something like bjean and algear last year where it's just like oh it's his turn yeah that was you know like that was just pure stupidity though like it's just rite smith being already smith um Echler, if he's the passing down back on a crappy team, which the commanders probably would be the worst team in the NFC East, he could have a really nice PPR role. And, you know, everyone, he's old, he's shot, you know, the commander's stank. Someone's got to catch balls, you know,

we'll see who their quarterback is. And maybe he, I mean, he's still going to get some carries. It's not like he's never going to carry the football again. Who knows, that's a guy in best ball who you're going to get in, I don't know, the 11th round. probably now because nobody wants to touch him and he's going to catch you know 90 balls for this commander's team uh that's that's optimistic i think but i actually kind of like this from a fantasy perspective like i'm not going to be drafting bryn robinson a whole lot like i like brian robinson

but i'm just not going to be drafted him yeah i think that's the biggest takeaway for me joe is i'm now completely out on b rob yeah i like him we liked b rob last year that that worked out all right is like an RB3 cheap cheap RB3 but I a ooh ooh with with that clear there real quick Drake you mentioned the contract so two years basically he gets four point eight million dollars this year he's going to get a three million dollar signing bill and says four point eight million dollars a great deal on the commander's part if he's you know listen you had the high ankle sprain in the middle of the year but if he's got his form back like this is a incredible value contract for them anthony lynn is the run game coordinator obviously he was the head coach with chargers so there's

some familiarity there as well with Anthony Lynn. So Austin, I actually think that's a decent signing for the commanders. Like having a veteran like that, we, we talk to Trey, Trey Camberling and I talked to Echler earlier this year. Obviously, he does the podcast with Matt Harmon, just a super, super intelligent guy who has a wonderful head on shoulders. I also think that's a good guy to have a round with a new head coach. You're going to have a rookie quarterback.

I just feel like that's a good guy to have a round for the commander. or so. But when you look at this running back market and what kind of money that Swifters get, obviously Sequin and Jacobs, but you look at the money Swift's getting, Tony Pollard's getting. We'll get to him. Even what Antonio Gibson has gotten kind of tells you where people are with Austin Echler right now. And unfortunately for Echler, it feels like he just had the worst year of his career at the worst possible time because this offseason is the best offseason financially in a long time for running backs. Real quick, before we move on, you know, I'm kind of. spilling some news here, but I'm halfway through this running back class, and it sucks. I'll just, it sucks. It's not a good group. I love Trey Benson. Joe, I was texting you about Trey Benson in September. Well, of course you love Trey Blinson. Yeah, well, I'm obviously a little bias,

but I mean, I like Benson and a couple other guys in this class, but man, I mean, I like the USC running back. I like Marshall. Yeah, Marshall Boyd, man. He's going to be okay. Actually, I know you, I don't know if you're going to have any Dylan lobby tape, but I freaking love that kid. He was awesome at the Senior Bowl. He was awesome at the senior bill. Yeah. I haven't charted him yet, but I've seen some highlights. It is, but it is.

This is an awful class. And the NFL is telling us that. Yeah. Like day two is like the running back day of the NFL draft, right? Yeah. There might be like three or four running backs. You go on day two. Like it's so I think that makes a lot of sense because, you know, you look at a team like the Eagles, right?

Well, they're a contending team. You need a running back. Like, and they're probably just sitting there. saying like, God, like, what if we don't get one of our day, what if we don't get one of our day three targets? You know, obviously the chiefs made it work with Isaiah Pacheco, okay? There's always going to be that. But the Eagles are probably sitting there just saying like, man, what if we don't get one of those guys? And then all of a sudden, we're sitting here and we got crappy rookie running backs and Kenny Gamewell, and we don't have a run game. So I think that's kind of what the Eagles were saying,

but I mean, it was just the perfect windfall with the best free agent running back class, maybe ever and and this draft class. Derek Henry's still out there, by the way. So we'll see where he signs. And Aaron Jones is still out there. This Eckler deal, yeah, I can see myself drafting him, Drake, based on the things you said. I think the initial reaction from everybody in fantasy is going to be,

oh, I'm out on the commanders. But I think Eckler could have some value there if he's healthier this year. Yeah. You talk about one muddy backfield. Let's go to another. And that's in Tennessee. And this surprised a lot of people today. Tony Pollard leaves Dallas, heads to the Titans on a three-year, $24 million deal,

sharing a backfield now with our man, John Hanson, the gurus darling, Tage Spears. I dug this up from Fantasy Points data. Last year, Derek Henry handled 76% of the Titans carries inside the five. He was also 11th per our data in yards after contact per attempt, but he's gone. So let's look at yards after contact per attempt for these two backs. Tadje Spears was 14th. Tony Pollard was 38th. But you look at the body type guys.

Spears 510, 200. Is he the early down back and Pollard 6 foot 209? To me, this is a very redundant, you know, kind of player archetype. Like, what are they trying to do here with these two guys? I wonder if this could be not that they're similar body types, but I wonder if this could end up being like a Bijon, Al-Gier kind of situation where it's just like, oh, hey, dude, it's your turn. And I think the first thing everybody's going to say is, oh, this destroys Tijey Spears.

Let me see where those ADPs fall. Let me see where the ADPs fall, because I could end up seeing myself drafting Tajey Spears if people move down on him and just being like, all right, well, maybe Tony Pollard comes in like Miles Sanders went to Carolina last year and he shits it up. And then they're going to have to give the ball to somebody. And I think Tajie Spears is better than Chuba Hubbard. So maybe that's that kind of situation. but this was a weird one for me.

It feels like the Titans almost were like, oh, we've got to replace Derek Henry. So who are we going to replace them with? Oh, well, Tony Poller's out there. Yeah, let's sign him. Yeah, Tai Jai was my second favorite rookie running back coming into last year after Bejohn. Like, obviously, Bijon was RV1.

I love Tai Jai, obviously, have the knee issue coming out of college. And then basically all the opportunities he got last year, he bawled out. You know, it was great in passing downs. Like you mentioned, Drake. But then when he actually, got to run the ball or being open the field with the ball in his hands. He was awesome.

This is a gross split to me. I'm more leaning towards you, Joe. I mean, obviously, this signing just happened a couple hours ago. We want to let the dust settle, run the projections, see where these guys come out. I definitely think I lean towards you with Tai Jay. I would not be writing this guy off. I think if you're going under the assumption that Pollard is going to automatically be the 1A right now, I think that that might be a little, you know, to a little head. I think Taije is going to have a big, big role here. The end of the day, the Titans offense, Drake is, that's just. They don't have anybody else.

They can run the ball all day and just throw swing passes to these guys. That's what the plan is going to be. The Andre Hopkins probably won't be there. So it's, you know, obviously Levis. Levis is kind of an open-ended question. I think at this point depends on who you talk to about Levis, what kind of opinion they're going to have them. You know, he did some good in his few starts.

Obviously, you know, wasn't super consistent. the offensive line here is an absolute nightmare. They have the worst offensive line in the league. Tony Powell, Tai J. Spears split behind this Titans' offensive line doesn't sound like a fantasy back. They did sign Lloyd Cushenberry, which may be the best center on the market. So, I mean, at least there's something. The Titans have a high draft pick.

I think everybody on planet Earth is mocking them one of these top offensive tackles. So that makes sense to me. So maybe that offensive line is a little better. This is just, I can't see myself draft in the ton of Tony Pollard, guys. Gus Edwards landed with the Chargers. I love this. That's going to really go under the radar, I think, for so many folks. But this is a team now with Greg Roman out there, with Harbaugh.

They're going to want to run the football, and they're going to want to run it a lot. I mean, you still have Justin Herbert. So let's not act like we're going back to leather helmets here, right? But let's say they signed Gus Edwards. Is Gus Edwards kind of, they're like, their lead back? And they're going into season like, hey, Gus. Edwold is a guy? They got a draft somewhere, right? Again, talking about blocks from everybody.

Everybody has Blake Coram going to them in the second round because of the Michigan connection and because Jim Harbaugh, that's the way Jim Harbaugh wants to play. But I've said this, and I'll say it again, Gus Edwards is one of my most drafted running backs last year. It was a great pick given Baltimore having a great offense. He scored double-digit touchdowns. If he's a 16th round pick on Underdog Fantasy again, just sign me up. You'll be on 30% of my teams on a Jim Harbaal offense.

They're apparently entertaining trade calls for Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. So don't underestimate the fact that they might want some leather helmet action here, Drake. Justin Herbert's going to throw the ball eight times a game. They're going to be the eight best throws you've ever seen in your life, but he's going to throw the ball eight times a game. Now, Gus Edwards, I think this is a good signing. I mean, he's got two years. He's familiar with Greg Roman.

This is the kind of thing where you're like, oh, God, I don't want to draft Gus. Edwards again. And then all of a sudden you're looking up on week one and Gus Edwards is getting 10 carries. And you're like, oh, you know, Gus Edwards. Is the leather helmet powder blue? Because that would look sharp. Oh, baby. Oh, baby. That would look great. We need that. We will Gus Edwards in the powder blue, no chin strap, just a cracking heads. They're going to draft it back. Absolutely. It's going to be a good back because the chargers throughout the years have been absolutely garbage at taking their day three and day two shots on running back. So, you know, Harbaugh and, and Roman, man, they're going to scheme up a pretty sick run game.

And, you know, it might be eight throws a game for Justin Herbert. He might have him on that JJ McCarthy diet. But, you know, I think Chargers' offense is going to take a significant step forward this year. And Gus Edwards is going to be a thorn in our sides, guys, for another season here for goal and roll. I won't, then I won't mess with the Charger running backs in season long. But give me Gus Edwards and best ball, baby. Like, just give them to me. because, like, I don't know, this is the kind of guy.

He's, he's one of those coaches pet guys. Like, I talk about Samaj-P-Rine in that regard, and I think P-Rine's a little more versatile. But, like, we can say it all we want. Like, oh, my God, they can't use Samaj-P-Rine. Yeah, but coaches love guys who go forward, don't fumble and pass protect, right? The, like, coaches love those guys.

Jim Harbaugh is a coach who is going to have guys who you're like, well, does he go forward? Is he going to get me one yard at the goal line when we need one yard? then give him the freaking ball. That's what Jim Harbaal is going to see with Gus Edwards. And obviously the familiarity with Greg Roman is important here as well. We'll touch on this last running back quickly. And that is Antonio Gibson.

He's leaving the nation's capital. And he's staying on the East Coast, though. He's going to be a New England Patriot. Interesting move because you've got Ramandre Stevenson, whose forte is in the passing game. He's really good at that. We had 51 targets last year. But he's a very adept.

pass catcher. Now you got, here comes Antonio Gibson. And of course, everyone's heard the stories. Oh, he ran out of the slot in college. So now he's not going to be there to run the football because he's shown that he's not really that good at it. So is he just going to nuke the value of Ramandre Stevenson from a team that already stinks and probably won't have that many chances to score to begin with? We have a fan in the chat, Josh Coons, who I think he's a Patriot fan. And he is, he is just absolutely disgusted that we're talking. about this signing because he does not like it at all. The Patriots might just be one of those, just ignore them offensively kind of teams. Although if they land, no matter who they land at three, whether it's Jaden Daniels or Drake May, it's going to give them a lot more excitement than Mack Jones offensively. And maybe there's a little bit of factor where we're just recoiling a little bit because nobody was in on the Texans offense last year and it was like one of the dead nuts fantasy offenses. I don't know, man. This is a, this is a Zeke replacement, I guess. This is a Thai Montgomery replacement. They cut Devante Parker's and re-signed Kendrick Boren,

so they have no, their receivers are god-awful. It just hurts for Mondre more than anything to me. But this is, like, he got, I think, more guaranteed money than Echler got. So, yeah, I mean, that hurts for Echler, but I think they view him as a player who has some untapped potential. I wonder if they view him as, oh, God, you're going to kill me, but do they see some Debo potential here? Like, not like produce like Debo, but jet sweeps, you know, mismatches. Maybe that's the kind of player they view a mess. He was that in Memphis, you know, obviously converted receiver was really explosive in the open field in college. And we just, you know, we've seen it in bits and pieces.

But as you mentioned, Drake, you know, he's not going to be a guy they're going to give the ball to, you know, on the ground 10, 12 times. This does really hurt Ramandre's role in the passing game. You know, last year, Zeke and Stevenson started splitting, especially at the end of the year. The Stevenson had a, you know, still had a 50% route share. That was RB9, Travis E.N, Tony Pollard, Jemir Gibbs were just slightly ahead of them in the, you know, low 50% route share range. Gibson is going to take third down rolls. He's going to take that third down role. And the big question to me is just, you know, how big will his role be on the early down stuff in their passing game?

And if they do view him as a mismatch, kind of, you know, maybe somebody you can move around the formation. They're kind of scheming a few extra targets for him. Yeah, it's really going to hurt Stevenson and PPR. You know, Joe, you and I were all over Mondreys breakout two years ago. We had him on a bunch of teams. Thank you, Andrew Callahan. Yeah. Thank you, Andrew Callahan for sure on that one.

Shout out to Franchise Focus. The big reason, though, Joe, is we loved him in PPR. We loved him for those, you know, kind of checkdowns that we knew he was going to get. And now that's, like, completely gone. And if they draft Jay and Daniels and they start, you know, more Drake, both of those guys are runners. Not,

I mean, Daniels obviously to a different extent, but yeah, wow. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. Zeke Elliott.

Remember, Zeke Elliott, he caught 51 balls last year. I wonder what's going to happen to him. You know where I could see Zeke? And I think he would do phenomenal. And everyone always wants to put every receiver in the world there. Kansas City.

Imagine. Zeke just kind of picking his spots in K.C. You know, because they never trust McKinnon. They never trust C. Spelling Pacheco runs like a bull in a China shop. I'd love that. Chicago is going to sign them and they're going to have a five man running back on that field here, Drake.

Hey, Dallas needs a running back. Graham, you've got a Jags, you got a Jags hat on. Your Jags made a move today. Three years, 39 million. It could get all the way up to 50 for Gabe Davis. Gabe Davis from the bills, you know, he of better in best ball fame now goes down. and I guess we'll just run wind sprints in Duval County and be a really good blocker because Gabe Davis is going to help this run game in Travis ETN.

He is excellent with blocking, you know, out on the edge. So I think that's kind of a hidden, you know, win for giving a guy upwards of nearly $50 million. But what do you think of the signing? You're a Jags guy. Yeah, Gabe, you know, Gabe is a good run blocker. But if he's such a good receiver, why is his career target chair like 14%, you know, like that you know why is he getting 50 mil yeah well you know this the market that's the going rate for a good number three wide receivers yeah that's the market and honestly i think three years 39 is really

not that bad it's probably a one year or two year deal anyway most three year deals or two year deals uh davis is going to continue to be a 15 16 percent target share guy he'll get some shot plays jags are going to draft receiver like 100 percent they'll probably draft the day two receiver um Davis doesn't really change their plans for that this offense is is Trevor Lawrence is obviously you know obviously after all the injuries we've got to see more from Lawrence going into 2024. That's the big question is, you know, it can Lawrence be a little more than Alex Smith? Because I think to this point, he's really just been a really elevated Alex Smith who had an on hair on fire second half against the Chargers in that playoff game.

Beyond that, I want all the Christian Kirk I can get right now. Kirk and Lawrence, this connection has been phenomenal when Kirk has been healthy the production has been fantastic he's basically been a back-in wide receiver two but he's drafted as a wide receiver three i think kirk will come up in we're talking about evan ingram a second ago i think he's going to be hard pressed to catch a hundred balls this year i don't think that's what they wanted by design uh but but ingram and kirk to me are pretty much locks for 80 receptions this year you know obviously both play 1617 games and davis is going to continue to be just kind of the shot play guy who's probably like you said, Drake, a little more valuable to the Jags run game.

And especially for ETIN, when they kind of go into their bunch or tight formations. Davis is a big guy, good blocker. He's Doug's Tori Smith in the Super Bowl year. Oh, there you go. There you go. I don't think this is that big of a needle mover. Joe, where do you think Gabe ends up going for fantasy? 10th round.

Like, he's just going to be their like finally best ball, Gabe, instead of spending a fifth round pick on him. He'll be a 10th, 11th round pick, depending on what happens. with Ridley, by the way, because Ridley's still out there and they can still sign them. Like, there's certainly an opportunity for him there. Remember, Parker Washington came in when Kirk was hurt late in the year and gave them some really good snaps. So they can be flipping to wide receiver by committee here if Ridley goes elsewhere.

But that's pretty fascinating to me when it comes to Calvin Ridley. He and Derek Henry are the two biggest fantasy options who are unsigned as of right now. Guys, before we go, I want to talk about Gardner Minshu, who got a $15 million guaranteed deal from the Raiders, and how that relates to Justin Fields. Where's Justin Fields going to end up? Because I think it's pretty obvious. I don't know. Who's out there? No, I mean, does he have to go to somewhere where he's a backup?

Or do the Raiders still, but are the Raiders going to pick up his fifth year option when they just paid Gardner Minchu $25 million? like it's we're running out of spots for justin fields here guys yeah yeah he's not going to the vikings that's for sure uh they're not going to trade him to to minnesota i'd be pretty stunned Minnesota's going to have a rookie oh what does that do by the way I mean just Justin Jefferson and Jordan just Jefferson's great but like how much does not having kirkie there really just like hurt Jefferson I mean I'm not I'm not going to I'm not going to go on a limb and be too concerned about Jefferson at this point. I mean, he's still the same guy who just nuked the lions in their last game with

Nick Mullins at quarterback. And Nick Mullins says a shot, you know, pop gun arm. Yeah, it is a little bit of concern. And it's a big concern for Addison and Hawkinson. I've just been moving Hawkins down. Like, every time I've updated my best ball rankings, I've just kept moving them down. And that'll probably be the case again today. Yeah, man, it's tricky.

And I don't think T. Higgins gets moved. People came out like, oh, yeah, he requested a trade. That's posturing. in any contract. Yeah, Pitman, he won't. Pitman got the franchise tag and they figured out an extension for him today. And I think they'll do the same for Higgins here. Even if they don't and they know they're going to get a comp pick for him next year, it's the comp pick at best will be a third, right?

That's the highest you can get. So what's more valuable? A third next year or a year in Joe Burroughs Super Bowl window with Chase and Higgins together. Like, you're going to trade them. What are you going to get from? Someone's going to give you a two. Well, great. You got a two versus a three, but then you lose T. Higgins.

Yeah, he would probably get a two. I would imagine somewhere in like that 30 pocket. That would probably be. Yeah, which, by the way, Carolina now has two of those picks. Oh, because of, and I mean, like, Carolina needs everything they can have. I mean, they're terrible. Yeah, I mean, as anti-misanthropes says, he's like, Higgins could sit out theoretically and just decide not to play.

So he always does have that threat. Yeah, guys, with fields, I mean, is he going to have to end up just going back? Does he have to end up being a backup? I think, I think right now what's most likely is he ends up in just staying in Chicago. And they just, they try to move them in maybe in the season. Yeah, that'll be awkward. He just waits until there's an injury because a team that's bringing in a rookie isn't going to have a guy who they need to make a decision on next year with that fifth year option

because they're going to want to develop the rookie. They don't want, oh my God, we drafted this rookie in the first round, and now we're going to have to make a decision between him at Fields. I think he's just going to wait and see if somebody gets hurt, you know, maybe a place like, who knows, like Seattle or somebody like that with kind of a me, quarterback situation. But we'll see. This is a really fun show.

And if you're watching, listening, if you're on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. If you're on Twitter, make sure you're giving us a follow. I'm at Drake Fantasy. Joe is at FG underscore Dolan. Graham is, of course, at Graham Barfield. The site itself is fantasy. P-T-S. And don't go anywhere, folks. We are going to have content all off-season long from the guru John Hanson, from Scott Barrett, from Joe, from Graham, the grinder, you name it. It's out there.

It's going to be phenomenal. Gentlemen, thank you. Great work here is free agency truly is a frenzy. Anything else you guys need tonight, or you're good? I need a drink. I need to eat something. I had a can of soup for lunch after treating my body like crap for a week, but now I'm starving, so I need to go eat something, guys. And hopefully we'll get some Derek Henry news tonight. That'll be interesting. Yeah, I'm going to get some food here too. Beautiful job, guys, though.

Keep following the free agency tracker over at FantasyPoint.com, and we'll see you guys down the road. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, wait, and review on your... favorite platform and come join the roster at fantasy points.com.