Fantasy Football Daily - IDP Corner: On the Clock IDP Decisions! Yes Or No?

Episode Date: August 24, 2024

Justin Varnes (@DownWithIDP) and Tom Simons discuss the IDP on-the-clock decisions! #FFIDP Dynasty Fantasy Football Playlist - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-kupTuz42SeHflK6fqOqKTxwqB2s46M6&si=MlpKS9aY6Nqdwr8- Use promocode - SCOREMORE for 10% off your subscription. Subscribe to FantasyPoints for FREE - https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ Where to find us: http://twitter.com/DownWithIDP http://twitter.com/FantasyPTS FantasyPoints Website - https://www.fantasypoints.com NEW! Data Suite - https://data.fantasypoints.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/FantasyPts Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You're welcome. You're welcome, as John Hanson said. Welcome to the IDP Corner edition of the Fantasy Points Now podcast series. I'm one of your hosts, the IDP section of the FantasyPoint.com website. My name is Justin Varnes. You can follow me on Twitter at Down with IDP. And hopefully everybody's ready for what's about to happen next. Please help me welcome our other co-host, Mr. Thomas.

Thomas, how you doing today? Look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane. It's a frog. A frog. It's not a bird or plane or even frog. It's just little old me, underdog. I have not thought about underdog. And you know what, I don't even want to say how many decades has been since I've thought about it.

Well, you know, it popped into my head this morning when I was thinking about we need some kind of superhero for what's coming up this season. because it's going to be needed. Well, certainly, we should get sponsored by Underdog, as I was like, and then you can do that every week. Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff like that rattling around in my brain. Yeah, well, I always speaks for an entertaining intro, that's for sure. All right, so Thomas and I are going to dive in. We're going to play a fun game called yes or no in this episode,

where we're going to be looking at, we don't know each other's choices here. We'll talk about this more later, but it's basically like you're off. on the clock, you're going to draft somebody about where they have been going off the board. And we throw a name at the other person. And they have to instantly just say yes or no whether they're going to hit that draft button. But before we do that, I'm going to run over a couple of camp notes, little things we've seen from preseason, basically stuff that I had mentioned last week. And then, of course, Thomas is going to get us caught up with any injuries and transactions.

I'll get his rolling with some cam notes. I mentioned last week that was hoping to see what would shake out between Pace and Blake Cashman there in Minnesota, but of course, neither of them played in week two's preseason games. Hopefully they'll play this week and we'll get some concrete evidence. But from what I've seen in red, it actually looks a little bit more like Cashman has the edge here to get the green dot. However, I think both of them will be on the field plenty. But just that would make me a little bit scared to hit the mash button on pace,

considering his draft capital or his draft average draft position. this point. Looking for that this weekend, hopefully. Some other LB situations are starting to clear up. Dorian Williams, he does look like the favorite to replace Matt Milano and Buffalo while Milano recovers from that bicep. And we remember that Milano still has a good chance to come back by the end of the season, but by that point, you'll probably already have figured out whether you're making the playoffs or not. So Dorian Williams should have a lot of lead time. Also in Philly, there's been a thing back and and forth between Zach Bonn and Nacobie Dean for who would start next to primary linebacker Devon White. It does look like Bonn has that lead. Same thing. Hopefully here in preseason week

three, hopefully some of the starters play. If not, we'll try and keep our ears to the ground and see what that's looking like. Because obviously, this is a big draft weekend coming up. However, what has not cleared up is what's going on in Atlanta. We still need more time to try to figure out what's going on with Caden Ellis, Nate Landman, Troy Anderson. I've seen a couple of different packages here. The thing that I read a disturbing quote from one of the Falcons coaches who said, they're really excited to mix up all three of these depending on the package. And I honestly couldn't eat the rest of the day.

Matter of fact, it still makes my stomach turn to imagine all three of them are just going to get like 60% playing time. I'm hoping that was just a scare tactic for I'm sure that dude plays in IDP leagues and he's trying to scare off his league mates. As Justin's stomach turns. Thomas is always ready with the... You must have watched television a lot as a child. Unfortunately, yes.

And I work in television, so... Yeah, so you literally cannot get away from it. I've been on it for 60 years, but anyways. That's crazy, man. That's awesome. And then I also mentioned a couple of safety alignment things from last week. I wanted to see what were the jets, the Packers, and the Raiders specifically. we're doing with their alignments regardless of what safety plays, i.e. a backup or not. You can still get some scheme notes from that.

Nothing really to sink our teeth into from the Jets or the Raiders. But with very limited snaps, we're seeing a hint that it looks like Bullard, Javon Bullard in Green Bay, is playing more box and slot snaps than Xavier McKinney. McKinney played six of his eight snaps. I said it was very little limited snaps. He played eight snaps. Six of them were deep. Bullard played more snaps.

He's obviously a rookie. He's getting more playing time. 20 snaps were up, which means box, slot, maybe a little bit of a wide corner if they motion out. 20 of his snaps were up. Eight were back. So again, not enough to make any strong decisions, but enough to lean that Bullard might actually have a little bit more productivity.

It's also interesting. because McKinney's obviously been a steady producer for a long time, but if you play that much time at deep safety, the odds are against you to be a major contributor. And we're seeing McKinney come off the board pretty soon. And I think everyone is just expecting that McKinney's going to be the major producer. This could be one of those situations if Bullard indeed comes out as a clear week one starter. This could be a situation where people are overdrafting McKinney and underdraft Ollum.

All right. that's going to very quickly wrap up our little camp notes. We're going to step aside for a commercial break. And on the other side, Thomas is going to catch us up on injuries and any sort of transactions that have happened over the past week. At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice.

And we can talk your ear off about transferring your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk, business. Okay, Thomas, catch us up. Who's hurt? Who's playing? Who's traded? Who's out? Who's on vacation? Who's playing golf? Well, we'll start off with injuries and we'll go to Arizona with defensive tackle Darius Robinson. The rookie was injured in practice on August 22nd. And we'll undergo... an imaging process. The injury is unknown or undisclosed, so we're not sure exactly what it is,

but keep an eye on that. Another rookie, defensive end, Miles Murphy on Cincinnati, is expected to miss four to six weeks after suffering a knee injury and a joint practice with India on August 21st. You had mentioned Blake Cashman. He had surgery on his finger on August 15th, but he should be fine and should be okay for opening day. So the green dot is still in process and still something that he might have or be involved in. Linebacker Jordan McGee from Washington, another rookie, underwent a surgical procedure on his knee, but it's not considered season ending.

I don't expect him to be a viable fantasy option early on, and he's more of a stashed dynasty-type pickup. Linebacker Nate Herbig on Pittsburgh was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. Now, Herbing is a backup, but he did get a lot of playing time as the edge ratcher opposite T.J. Watt, when they went three edge rushers with Alex Highsmith, Watt, and Herbig. Well, now he's on IR and looks like it seems to be a season-ending deal,

but we're still trying to figure out whether or not it's one of those temporary IR deals, and he could be back in six to eight weeks. Linebacker Garrett-Wallo, Tennessee, Torres Pectora muscle is done. He was placed on IR. He's a backup. Trades that happened. The Giants traded Jordan Phillips to Dallas. Now, this is kind of interesting because I'll,

I'm going to hold off a second on the Phillips discussion because I want to go down and talk in signings. The other trade that happened with cornerback Michael Jackson from Seattle was traded to Carolina for rookie linebacker Michael Barrett. Jackson was immediately slotted as a starting right cornerback on Carolina due to the fact that Dane Jackson will likely miss the start of the season. Jackson was a pickup this off season. Well, he's injured and it looks like Jackson will. start at right cornerback and probably be the nickelback or even stay at right cornerback when Jackson comes back, when Dane comes back. The signings, Dallas also signed veteran defensive tackle Linville Joseph.

So he and Phillips, Joseph was signed on a one-year deal worth up to $4 million, and he will be a backup to starter Mazie Smith, as will Jordan Phillips. Now, Phillips is capable of moving up and down the line playing defensive end, offensive tackle, playing the three technique, the five technique, and so on and so forth. So that's going to be kind of an interesting depth addition for the Cowboys. And finally, cornerback Stefan Gilmore finally came off of the free agency waiver wire when Minnesota signed them to a one-year $10 million contract, $7 million of it's guaranteed. Now, with Mackay Blackman out with a torn ACL, Shaq Griffin and Byron Murphy Jr., both with short-term injuries,

They're banged up. The loss of Kyrie Jackson, unfortunately this offseason, leaves Minnesota with some serious need at cornerback, and that's the reason why Gilmore was signed. Yeah, check out Dallas really kind of fortifying that defensive line there, particularly in the middle. That's some good news there. Yeah, they're beefing it up, and they're giving Micah Parsons more space to be used in a roaming-type monster position where he'll play a line. linebacker, he'll play edge, he'll come from the middle. It gives them the ability now to move Parsons around. Yeah, and we've seen some of these, you know, some of these defensive lines are

all but set. There's very little rotating in and out. I mean, there's, I mean, of course, there's always a little bit. We've seen other defensive line kind of philosophies where they're always keeping everyone fresh. And so when I see Phillips, who's been around for a while, and obviously Joseph, who's a long-time vet, when I see those sorts of things, it makes me think that they will be rotating a lot, that they will be keeping everybody's legs fresh. Obviously, they're, and also when you have these veterans like this,

they've done it all, which means they're very clever at masking stunts and just knowledge and technique. Sometimes it can be more about creating, creating confusion for the offense, even though Joseph probably can't stand up to the pounding week in and week out where he's just going to be a pass rushing menace, just using his veteran presence is going to probably create more opportunities, just as you said, for guys like Micah Parsons.

Remember, they blitzed Micah Parsons from spots that I don't even think they have numbers for last year. I mean, he was just, you know, he blitzed from the one, but agap, it does not matter. He blitzed from everywhere. And that's obviously, I think this is a sign that they're going to be trying to do stuff even maybe on a higher level creatively with these veterans who've got so much in their, in their bag. And if they're only going to come in, you know, if Joseph or Phillips are going to play 20 snaps

a game and give it their all and bring that veteran presence, that's, I think it, I mean, I'm saying that because I think these are underrated. signings for Dallas's defense and for the prospects that Micah Parsons might have even more of an advantage this year with these vets who can create some some cool stunts. And like I said, you know, it's like this is like pulling the veteran off the bench in the NBA to like, your job is to drain threes for the next four minutes and then towel off and drink a Gatorade and you're done, you know. Yeah, well, you mentioned the, you know, the whole veteran, excuse me, the whole veteran approach

the additions. They also added Carl Lawson and they added El Caudine Muhammad and they drafted Marchon-Nieland. So there's, you know, excuse me, I'm all choked up about this. I can tell. There's a, you know, a definite movement by the Cowboys to try and solidify the front defense defensive line and also give them the flexibility to move players around. Yeah, and this is also going to affect DeMarcos Lawrence, who is somebody we've expected to play of the 90% you know, roll opposite Parsons for all these years.

But he's also obviously getting long in the tooth. And this likely means that Lawrence, I mean, we're not expecting a ton from Lawrence this year, of course, just due to age. You know, we saw him slow down a little bit last year. But in a best ball league, DeMarcus Lawrence is basically almost like a forgotten player. And if they can keep him fresh and kind of do the same thing,

like just get him in some advantageous. pass rush snaps and they can keep this whole line fresh. He's got some potential deep in best ball leagues to me. Another person who I think is a little bit forgotten. Indeed. All right. So let's dive into our game, yes or no. Again, I'll set up the premise.

Yes. You are, no, you are on the clock. Now, every player we're mentioning, the other person is going to assume that they are going about where they normally go. So this isn't about values or sleepers or overval. I mean, it is in a certain way. But basically, if I say T.J. What is not, oh, are you going to get them in the fourth round?

It's assuming that you're going to have to go high for them. So where they are going, it's that point in the draft. Are you going to press yes or are you going to skip this person by? So, and again, we haven't seen either of our lists. We're going to do this basically two players per position. We're going to start with defensive tackle. Thomas, why don't you start us off? All right. Let's start off with Keon White, New England.

Oh, man, this is not going to be easy. I wasn't expecting to be this hard. Okay, so Keon White, that's a great one. Obviously, he's a rookie. We know that, oh, I shouldn't be doing all this. I should be saying yes or no. We're on the clock. I'm going to say no because I think, you know, he is a rookie.

we know that this stuff he's not a rookie but like we know that this young yeah he's young right second year we know that this stuff we know that defensive line it takes them a while we've seen great stuff from Keon White I don't know how long Christian Barmore is out

that's obviously a big piece they did just get rid of Matthew Judon get rid of you know but but so oh god it's a tough one I'm gonna say no just because I they've got Godcha there

They have Barmore who could come back after he's out indefinitely with blood clots. They don't know how long he's going to be out. Yeah. I would have to agree with you. I would have, my verdict would be no. Okay. First of all, defensive tackles should not be taken until the fourth, fifth, even sixth round of any IDP only draft. Now, that being said, White's projected as a top five DB defensive tackle by many fantasy, quote, unquote, experts.

I don't see it. I just, you know, yeah, as we mentioned, Barmore is out indefinitely, and White is projected as a starter. Yet he has just one season under his belt, as you mentioned. He's young. He's inexperienced. His numbers are not that appealing. He played in 16 games last year and only started four of them. And he only had 26 tackles and just three big plays with one of them being a sack.

And the other three being the other two being defensive passes defended. So I agree with you. I would say no. Yeah, and I don't want to say any of these other names just in case one of them is yours. But I'm looking right now at some, like, draft rankings, and I count at least eight. Nope. I'm going to go with, oh, yeah. I'm going to say there's probably 12 or 13 defensive tackles right now.

I would easily take over Keon White. Yeah, so it's crazy to me how high he's going just based off of hype. And it's also one of these things I think everybody wants. I think everybody wants to get that guy that nobody sees coming. So the Christian Barmore injury, which is something you and I discussed a while ago when it happened. Like it doesn't instantly make Keon White, you know, the next Mikea Parsons or something. So I totally agree. I think he's being overdrafted and I'm just not ready.

There's so many good defensive tackles nowadays who have a stronger, stronger track record and just an easier, path to their role in playing time. I'm just not ready to spend that money yet. I totally agree with that. All right. My first defensive tackle, veteran Cameron Jordan. Talk to me about him. Ooh, I would, no.

My verdict is no. And the reason being is that, you know, Carl Granderson has been stepping up and being more of the anchor on that defensive end off the edge. Now, yes, Jordan will start. He's their left defensive end, but he's got, you know, he's got Peyton Turner pushing him from the bench. And now, obviously Turner right now has an injured toe. But Jordan, his numbers have been down and he just, he's been underachieving for what fantasy owners are expecting from a starting defensive tackle. Now, you're probably going to be facing an early decision on Jordan. And that's the reason why I would say no. because I think Carl Granderson is most likely going to outperform him. Now, you also have to take into consideration that the Saints brought in Chase Young, too. So they have Isaiah Foskey from their draft last year when they took in the second round.

They have Turner. They have Young. They have Granderson. So I'm going to have to sit here and say no on Jordan. Yeah, me too, for all the reasons you just mentioned, particularly with Chase Young there. I think Chase Young is a little bit of a forgotten player. And I've heard he's been doing well in camp. And I just,

Jordan's been one of those guys I thought was underdrafted for the last couple of years, underrated, because he was still playing a high level despite his age. But I saw it kind of catch up to him last year. Again, love to take him in a basketball. He's going to have some blow-up games this year. But again, with some of these guys like Lawrence and Jordan, what we really loved is that they were on the field for almost every snap.

So they created a high tackle floor. And I think what New Orleans is doing here is just going to put Cameron Jordan in a situation where he's, the volatility is something that is, I mean, even the best defensive ends are volatile by nature. You start really limiting their snaps or throwing another pass rusher who was younger and extremely talented, whether we're all together and young is a, is a question we don't know yet. But that's just a guy every single time I've drafted this year. he'll pop up and I always pass him by, which is a shame because before I was always the guy who would take him. Calling everybody else a sucker. All right. Let's move on to defensive end.

I'm going to bring up a guy that you've been talking about, DeMarcus Lawrence on Dallas. You're on the clock. Can't do it. And also I have to quickly say, like, I looked at my defensive end. Obviously, Cameron Jordan is a defensive end, not a defensive tackle. That was my bad. I just looked at my list. No, same thing.

Just like you. Again, best ball is different. If he's still at the bottom of the heap in my later rounds, of course. But I mean, these guys are almost in, at least in my mind in terms of how I'm drafting year to year, these guys are in the exact same. They're carbon copies of each other. And again, there are so many other better options out there, I think. So I can't do it.

I would have to verdict no. And I agree with you. Lawrence is touted as a top five defensive end in many fantasy owner minds. But I don't agree with that assessment. I just, yeah, he's a solid NFL defensive end that teams have to account for consistently in their preparations every week. But so many fantasy owners are hoping he can recapture his stud years from like 2017 and 18 when he had 14.5 and 10 and a half sacks. Unfortunately, he's, he's.

He's not had seven or more sacks in five straight seasons. And, okay, he can give you 50 to 60 total tackles, but the expectations of getting him or having him record double-digit sacks in his 11th season, especially with his ADP being where it is, I can't do it. And as we brought up earlier, Dallas has gone out and signed a bunch of veterans, which is a very obvious sign. There's going to be a rotation going on with the addition of, of Marshawn Neeland and Micah Parsons being moved around, Lawrence's, his responsibility

could change this season and his playing time may not be as high as it has been in the past as they try and keep them fresh. Now, since we went with defensive end with Cameron Hayward, excuse me, Jordan Hayward, why don't you go ahead and do a defensive tackle here? Definitely. I'm going to turn up the heat on this one as well. I got to go one for you. Before we do that, we're going to step aside real quick for a commercial break. It's week three of Canadian tires early Black Friday sales. These prices won't go lower this year. Maybe too long. Freezing. Save up to 50% November 20th to 27th. Conditions apply. Details online. All right. You're on the clock. He just. Justin Madiabweke. Go.

Ooh, that's a good one. I would say yes. And the reason being is that Madabweke is a very key element in that Ravens defensive line. Now, they have Roquan Smith. So if you're expecting high numbers out of Madabweke, I don't expect any defensive tackle to really give you high numbers. But he's going to be one of the higher defensive tackle numbers. Now, a lot of it's going to depend on whether or not you're getting Madiwakee in a defensive tackle required league or if you're trying to insert him as a defensive lineman in an IDP league where you use, you know, you start one DL, one linebacker, one D.B. It's kind of tricky there because defensive tackles don't really do well in a format like that where you're trying to put them in as a defensive lineman when you can get more points

out of defensive end. But as a defensive tackle straight on, I would say yes. I'm with you. I think he's being underdrafted. I mean, again, let's talk just deep. required leagues, right? There are some great players, like older players who I think obviously are deserving of being drafted, like, you know, obviously DeForest Buckner and we're looking at, you know,

Derek Brown, Quinn and Williams, some of these guys, Christian Wilkins, of course, these are all great players. But I think by the end of the year, we will be talking about Madabweke, the way we talk about those guys. I think he's a top five defensive tackle. So anytime he's coming, so I'll get sometimes stuck like, should I go Quinn and Williams or Madabweke or should I go Ed Oliver or Madabweke? And I've found myself every time going Madabweke. I think I just, I think his star is rising.

I think we saw that last year. And he's just obviously he's also on a great defense, which always helps. But I love him. I'm definitely going more, him more often than not. Let's put it that way. Who you got next? Shall we go Edge? Let's do it.

All right. I'm going to start with my local boy, Boyer, Mafay, Seattle. All right. I'm going to say no. Oh, man, that's a tough one. I've yet to draft him this year. So the first thing I thought was, yeah, but then I went through all my drafts, like, just quickly in my head. And I realized I don't have them anywhere.

So, Thomas, why am I not taking Boyer Maffei? What am I missing? Well, the problem that Maffa has had, and he's entering his third year, and his first two years, he did nothing. And where they drafted him is obviously a major component into why people are backing off on this kid, because, you know, Seattle, you know, they took Maffa early because they were expecting him to be an edge rusher and supply them, you know, the necessary sacks that they were looking for. Taking them in the second round in 2022 was a mistake for many people. But he's been turning heads in training camp and in preseason games this year.

Now, he's entering his third year, as I mentioned. He posted nine sacks quietly and very subtly last year. And he could easily record double-digit sacks in this new defensive scheme. Now, he with the middle of the middle of the. the defensive line beefed up with Byron Murphy and they have, you know, Big Cat Leonard Williams and Draymont Jones. Pressure from both sides of the defense is going to be key for the Seahawk defense. And Maffa is primed to have a standout season.

So I'm going to say yes, only because I've seen what he's been doing this summer. And I'm telling you, this is a kid who is going to make some noise in this new defensive scheme that the Seahawks have. All right. Yeah, I like that. Okay. Well, I got a couple of drafts going on right now. I mean, I've got to, I'm going to say this too much because some of them might be listening, but I'm in a sleeper draft right now with some of the IDP show guys. And so I might sneak in and grab him if they don't first, if they listen to this. Yeah, that's a good one. Okay, I need to give him a closer look because I do like him. We talked about, you know, we talked about when we were looking kind of rankings and projecting. I do like him. I like his position, but it's weird that I haven't pulled the trigger on him yet. Well, the key with him also, too, as you just mentioned, is that most people aren't looking at him.

So he's going a lot later in drafts and is, as you said, a later-round sleeper-type pick. So you could beef up your edge or your linebacker or your defensive end positions and bring in Maffei later in the draft. I'm literally queuing him up right now. I'm going to owe you a beer after this if Maffei blows up and nobody saw it. Either that or you're going to send moose over to my house. All right, I got one for you.

How about Andrew Van Ginkle? Ooh, new team. Yep. In position. I'm going to, that's a tough one. It's a tough one. I'm going to have to say no. And the reason being is that when going to Minnesota,

everybody's expecting him to kind of have that upside that he had, with Miami. But there's a lot of depth there at that position. They added Dallas Turner in the first round of the draft this year. They've added Jonathan Greenard as well on the other side. So Van Ginkle is going to be battling for, I wouldn't say battling for playing time, but I just, you know, they've got some depth at that position. And I think there's better options out there. And I think that if Turner turns up the heat early in the in in the season, then Van Ginkle is going to start sharing snaps with Dallas Turner at that right outside linebacker position. So my verdict would have to be no. Yeah, I think I think a lot of people would agree with

you. I think I'm one of the few who, and it just could be I happen to find his, um, uh, pressure rate and incredibly sexy. I, And I think that Minnesota sees it. Now, if they thought Van Ginkle and Greenard were like the slam dunks, they obviously wouldn't have spent their 17th overall pick on Dallas Turner. And Turner is clearly their future. But, you know, you and I both have preached incessantly about you got to give these guys, you know, even the best of edges often need a little time to get going.

And I just think what that has done is that I think the excitement about Turner has has all but buried Andrew Van Ginkle. So I think I'm getting him as my, I've been getting him as DL5, DL6 sometimes. And to me, I'm like, hold up. This guy's going to be starting. And, you know, obviously they're going to get Dallas Turner in the mix, right? But he's going to be playing a lot of snaps. He has great pressure numbers.

So I just feel like, you know, I'm not using it as I would not draft him as my DL2. Once we get to DL4, DL5, I'm saying yes. And essentially, he's going as, you know, anywhere between 50 and 70 off the board. So to me, I'm going to grab him where he's going. You know, you bring up a valid point of his position. And we're talking edge here. So Minnesota runs a 3-4 defense and they use them in a, on their depth chart as a linebacker.

So it all depends on your league and how their database positions him. Because if they position him as a defensive lineman or defensive N, then his value increases, especially in big play leagues. Whereas if he's a linebacker in your league and you're forced to use him or draft him as a linebacker, and I think his stock starts to drop a little bit because you've got a lot better linebacker options out there. So that's going to be, that's a very valid point where you brought up. You know, if he's a defensive lineman, then as a fourth or fifth defensive lineman, he's a solid pick.

But if he's a linebacker, be careful. Yeah, you're right. If I'm in a league where he's listed as a linebacker and I can't use him and, you know, like that, yeah, he's undraftable to me. And you're right. So for those of you who are listening to this and try to decide, you know, look at that carefully. And obviously it's something we always have to deal with in the, in the, IDP Galaxy is whether some of these players, whether these edge rushers get DL or edge designation. That changes things a lot.

This is a very strong point that we should point out. Deviate slightly from the yes, no here to the listeners that in your league, there's a lot of defensive ends and linebackers that will fluctuate between either a defensive end or a linebacker position on your fantasy. website, whether it's MyFancy.com, whether it's RTSports, whether it's Yahoo, ESPN, so on and so forth. Whatever website you're using, you've got to be careful as to where these players are positioned. Now, I just finished one draft where the league at the end of the draft, you can lock players in at the position for the rest of the year, and you declare that. Once you declare it, you're done. And that way, if your website moves them from defensive end to linebacker or vice versa,

you've locked them in as a defensive end or whatever position you locked them in at, and it stays that way. So you've got to be really careful with the defensive line and the linebackers for especially edge rushers. Yeah. You're up. All right. Emma, I thought that was, I thought mine was Andrew Van Ginkle. Are you trying to jerk your responsibility?

Is it happening, Thomas? I was trying. Are you watching TV again? Let's go on. Underdog. Let's go. Hip, hip, hip. In a way, I go.

Let's do linebackers. Yeah, I'm down for that. I'm going to put you on the clock. And there's two of them I want to discuss, but I'll pick this one. Jordan Hicks, Cleveland. That was literally the first guy on my list. All right. No, no, I'm down because it's a great discussion.

If both you and I thought that's a discussion, then I'm down to talk. about this. So, you know, he's banged up. And he's obviously, what is he, 32, 31, something like that. I think he's 32. Yeah. I mean, he's banged up. Obviously, I got J.O.J.K. there. I'm a big fan of J.O.K. I'm a big fan. I'm not as big a fan, I think, as some are on that. but if so I'm not worried about too much about JOK supplanting Jordan Dix in terms of the primary producer, but injury and age and it's also, I don't know if they have disclosed that I haven't seen it,

but it was like an undisclosed injury. As John Hanson always likes to talk about vibes, about good vibes and bad vibes. Now I this is, I have drafted him. I have drafted him if I think I can get him late enough. So I haven't been a complete no or a complete yes. But right now, considering how close we are to week one and the injury thing. And obviously, they got JOK.

They also have Mohamed Diabadi there and Devin Bush. So they've got people to fill in. So maybe they don't feel like they need to rush Jordan Hicks. So I think I'm going to say no. I started off yes earlier. But as we've gotten closer and closer, I keep skipping him. How about you? I was torn on this one, and I went back and forth with it as well.

And a lot of it is because what you mentioned, this undisclosed injury that he has. Now, he's not going to play in the final preseason game for Cleveland. So you're not going to see him or we're not getting a lot of information as to what this injury is. Now, Hicks is not getting any fantasy love. He's really never gotten any fantasy lug in love in the years that he's been, you know, in the 10 or nine years he's been in the NFL. So his ADP in some leagues have him around the 30th or so linebacker coming off the board. Now, I am well aware of the linebacker purgatory, known as the Cleveland Browns. We both are. I mean, we watched Anthony Walker go through this, and we saw

J. O.K. go through all of this. But Hicks defies the odds and continually post-fancy stats every year is as evidence in his five straight 100 plus total tackle streak he currently has going. So I'm going to have to say yes. Hicks may not, he may seem long in the tooth entering his 10th season, and we mentioned he's 32 years old. But I'm hearing that he's going to wear the green dot. And I think that's what seals the deal for me as long as this injury isn't a serious one. And because of the fact that they're not disclosing it, I'm getting the vibe that they're confident he'll be there, especially if they're talking about him wearing the green dot.

Okay. Yeah, I heard that. Like I said, the beginning of the season, I thought he was underrated and I was taking him lots of places. But as we get as we creeped closer, I guess I just have had a little bit of like, oh,

am I going to have buyer's remorse on taking a 32 year old linebacker? Right. Because I'm with you, man. For the last couple of years, I keep thinking like, why is Jordan Hicks still on my? on the board. Yeah, why is he, this is great.

I'm going to, I'm going to snag him as an LB three or four. There, you just, now that is a huge point. Oh, I love the fact you just brought that up. Hicks is going later and consequently he's making you think later in the draft. Why is this guy still on the board? And that's when you can look at him as, as a linebacker three or four and get linebacker one or two numbers out of him. That's huge.

I mean, that's, that's a fantasy value. God send. I mean, that's what fantasy owners are always looking for is that that pick that you can get great value at later in the draft. Yeah. So I'm going to throw somebody at you who is going kind of

in the same area. And that is Kenneth Murray, Jr. What you got for him? Ooh. Squirm, squirm, Thomas. You would make me

do that. Tennessee is pretty much revamped that entire inside linebacker position. And I don't know if gut feeling, right off the bat, I would say no. And it's a tough decision because I could go either way. A lot of it would depend on what's on the board and around him. Who would I would be deciding between him and who else? Because the one thing that bothers me about this Tennessee Titans inside linebacker position is they drafted Cetric Gray in the fourth round, and he's Murray's backup.

Now, I haven't had a lot of information coming out of Tennessee's camp as to how well Gray is adjusting to the NFL level. Now, they have Jack Gibbons. Jack Gibbons is going to be playing the left side, I believe, inside, and Murray on the right. So Murray has shown some ups and downs when he was with the chargers, and that opens the door for me to see Gray step in and possibly, if not, I don't think he'll unseat him, but he could possibly come in and take snaps away from him, depending on whether or not Murray adjusts to the Titans passing coverage scheme and whether or not they want to take him out.

Again, it becomes, is he's going to be a three-down linebacker or a two-down linebacker? And, okay, wearing the green dots going to play a huge part as to whether or not Murray has that value. But right off the bat, of looking at on the clock and then I've got no time left, I'd say no. Yeah, so early on, obviously anytime you change teams, there's volatility there, right? On FantasyPoint.com in the IDP ranking section, we use basically a stability score. We have this whole series of external or ancillary items to help you make. make these sorts of decisions where you're like, all right, these guys are in the same tier.

They're close. You can look over and say, and we've graded them zero to 100 on how stable, like their stability. Stability would mean you're in the, you know, 100 would be you're in the prime of your career, no injury issues. You're playing the exact same position in the exact same defense and you've produced there for several years in a row or like say two or three years in a row. Like, for example, Foyer-Luicon, right? So he's had an incredible high, incredibly high stability rate, particularly the last couple of years because he's been in Jacksonville.

This now his third year in Jacksonville. He's shown he can do it over and over again. He's shown changing teams didn't matter. He can continue to do it over and over again. Right. So when we're looking at that stuff and we look at somebody like Kenneth Murray, we see he did not ever really play well in Los Angeles. I mean, it just never seemed to click for him. Remember he was a high draft pick.

and barely play. They finally got him going last year, kind of. And then, of course, they, you know, they let him go. So it's a new team. He really hasn't done much. And as you just said, it's a great point. They've revamped, you know, Tennessee. So we can't just assume he's going to go in and take Aziz al-Shahir's exact role and exact production. Right. Are you definitely not going to match Al-Shahir's numbers? I mean, that's that's a definitive point. Now, Tennessee is going more to a two linebacker set, which the league seems to be all the way through the league, seems to be leaning towards. And the fact that they go to a two linebacker set means that Gibbons and Murray are going to be the two linebackers. Now, when they played the Seahawks in preseason week two, Murray was the, you know, they tended, the Titans tended to be in a two linebacker set most of the game. And so that means that Murray has the high probability of wearing the green dot.

Murray is going to probably be a three-linebacker player in a two-linebacker setup. But that doesn't mean he's going to post El Shihir numbers. Yeah. So the interesting part for me is that, I mean, we're talking, talking about small sample size, but here we are. We're backed up against probably the second biggest draft weekend before. next weekend. Obviously, you know, he hasn't played, he hasn't played much in the preseason. He's only played 11 snaps. In those 11 snaps, he has graded across, you know, only 11 snaps, but he, but PFF thought he did great. He has an 80.8 defense. His tackles were good. His coverage and pass rush, again, he's doing, that's such a tiny sample size. But here's what goes through my mind. There's like, he is, I mean, he was drafted very talented very talented. Was he just a terrible fit for what the charges were doing?

And did Tennessee look at this and go, you know what? That guy with those traits, man, he's a perfect fit for the will for what we're trying to do here. 11 snaps is not going to cut it. But we're looking carefully. So I see, I'm the opposite. What I did with Hicks is exactly the opposite of what I've done with Murray, which is I started off. No. But, and you guys are going to kill me when Murray completely takes that I'm basing this off of 11 preseason snaps.

But it just opened up the door a little bit that says, all right, it does look like they're going to play a lot of two linebacker. And as we know, as long as he's on the field, he'll at least produce. And we're not paying linebacker two or linebacker one, obviously prices for him. Again, if I can, if I can, early on, yeah, right, early on, I thought when I, when it got to the point where it was linebacker four or five and I had Hicks or Murray who were pretty close to each other, I always chose Hicks. Lately, I've found myself going Murray. So that's a, but these are tough, funny that you also picked Jordan Hicks,

because these are some tougher calls, I think. I would lean towards Murray over Hicks and, you know, and this again is the fact that these two guys are not, not getting picked high in drafts and you're seeing them later in the draft and you're going, wow, why are they still on the board is you should take advantage of that opportunity and use that to go ahead and, you know, get a great value later in a draft. And, you know, when you bring up such a valid point with Murray and the fact that, yeah, there's a small sample size, but the opportunity is there. The opportunity for upside is there, and it's a new team. So you're not expecting him to do

what he did with the chargers. You're expecting him to have a new opportunity and possibly take advantage of it. Now, I've seen, I was just in a draft for 16 team IDP only, and he was taken early in the third round. So that, you know, when you start looking at whether or not his value is a early third round pick. Well, if you're 16 teams, that changes everything because people in that league took Jordan Hicks about four or five picks before Murray. So they're being taken right around the same time. But a lot of linebackers have already come off the board in 16 team leagues. So in a 12 team league, those guys are dropping into the fourth, fifth round. And that's good value. Yeah, I agree. We're going to step aside for one more commercial break. When we get back,

We're going to do a little bit of a speed round through some cornerbacks and some safeties. All right, cornerbacks and safeties. Let's do a little bit of a speed round here. Thomas, why don't you get us started? Okay, you're on the clock. Sauce Gardner, New York Jets. Ooh, no.

How about you? No. Okay, I like it. He's a complete package, shut down corner, yet therein lies the problem with him. He's so good opponents tend to avoid him. And that, his fantasy value has a limited cap, because of that fact. All right.

So I'm going to follow right back up with maybe the future sauce gardener. Christian Gonzalez. No. And the reason why injuries. He has yet to show that he can sustain a 17 game. He's only played one year. Yeah, but he didn't play last year much. So I say no.

Okay. I'm done for that. Me too. We get sucked into these players who are phenomenal NFL players, and particularly at the cornerback position. He did flash some production when he first came out, but I think now we're going to see more teams avoid him. Although, again, if I talk best ball and I have to have a cornerback,

I think the same thing with sauce. But the problem is, here's what I think. I can't afford sauce. I can't afford as high a pick as I'm going to have to get to get him. I'll never get him in a best ball or even in a deep cornerback league because he's always coming off the board way later. Sometimes I can get Christian Gonzalez late. All right. Next cornerback.

Actually, you're safety. Oh, go ahead. Move on to safety. How about Cameron Curl, Los Angeles Rams? Yes. Emphatically, yes. What about you? I was, early on, I was saying no because I was afraid of Cameron Kinchins coming in and, you know, stealing some snaps.

And then John Johnson was resigned. But yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you. I'm going to have to say yes. Yeah, I just, I think he was a great player last year. He got injured. He had a couple of unlucky games, but I think he's still a monster. I think talent wise, he's a monster player. I think the Rams know that and they got him specifically for that.

So I find myself getting him. Again, you can get him later. He was a top five pick last year. He ended up, I think, is a top 10 or top 15 safety or DB. And I just think the change of teams and all that is not like he's old or anything. Like, you know, but obviously, you know, we know that safeties can get all of a sudden they're out of the league, you know, but before you know it. We were like, wait, Justice Simmons isn't signed yet. Thank God he's signed by now.

But even that, it took an emergency injury for that to occur. So I'm going with him. All right, I'm going to fire back to you, Harrison Smith. Yes. And the only reason why I say that is, look, he's not, I'm not expecting him to be the tier one, tier two safety that he was in the past. And Cameron Byron, Bynum is going to steal some of this flat. And Josh Mattelis is stepping up. But for the same reason that you described, because of the injuries that they've suffered at cornerback,

I think some of these younger players like Mattelis and Bynum could be moved more towards the slot, and that brings Harrison Smith back to what he normally was doing in the past. Is he going to get the numbers he had last, you know, in previous seasons? No, I'm not expecting that at all. But if I can get him later, yeah. Yeah, same here. I've seen him really late in, and, and, and, and, some of these apps that I'm drafting in where, you know, obviously they have their own,

like ranking system. And I'm always like, wait, Harrison Smith is like DB50? Are you out of your mind? I mean, again, I understand he's old, you know, old, quote unquote, but he played great last year. He played great. And yes, they have three safeties, but they play three safeties. It's not like Harrison Smith is off the field for, you know, he's only getting on getting on the

field for 50% of the same. snaps. And maybe that changes year, but this year, but everything I've heard is that Mattelis will be the Swiss Army knife that they've got, they literally have a role called the Mattelis role. And they have, they have a safety who is working to basically, if Mattelis gets hurt, this guy just moves in and takes over the spot. So they have a clear role for all three of these safeties. Mattelis and Bynum, they're younger. They're the hotter names. that by definition has made Smith kind of, again, almost a forgotten player. I mean, I want him as my DB.

I'm happy to have them as my DB3. I can get him as a DB5 sometimes. So, yeah, I'm saying yes. I'm in a league where IDP only and that we're in the seventh, the middle of the seventh round, and then he's still on the board. Right. Yeah, exactly.

So, all right, that's going to conclude our little yes or no game. Thomas, that was fun, man. I dug that. Yeah. No. Yeah, yes, no. Oh, yes. Hopefully this will give you all a little bit of a feel of when you guys are in similar situations.

Hopefully some of the ones we've talked about, you've already felt yourself in or you're about to. This podcast is likely to drop Saturday morning. It's Friday morning right now. So hopefully you can get this in before your drafts. Remember that if you are a fantasy point subscriber and you are a premium subscriber, reach out to us on Discord, particularly this weekend. I will be in Discord a lot, helping people through drafts.

I got a couple of DMs there that I need to catch up on, which I'm going to do after this podcast. If you're not a fantasy point subscriber, what are you doing? It would be a great time to do it. You get to listen to us, banter on like this incessantly.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. You've got access to us pretty much nonstop in the Discord channels and we got a whole bunch of great stuff there, obviously, on the offensive side. That's the bread and butter. But we're happy to cover all the things IDP-oriented. Otherwise, anything else, Thomas, or do you need to take us home? Let's take us home.

Be well and be safe. What? What? Why are you shaking your head? You're welcome.