Fantasy Football Daily - Preseason Week 2 IDP Review | IDP Corner Podcast

Episode Date: August 26, 2023

Justin Varnes (@DownWithIDP) and Tom Simons review the second week of preseason games from an individual defensive player perspective to help you in your upcoming IDP Drafts! READ DR. EDWIN PORRAS' INJURY [PRO]NE GUIDE WITH CODE INJURYPRONE25: https://injuryproneguide.myshopify.com/ Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by 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. Welcome to another edition of the IDP Corner. My name is Justin Varns. You can follow me on Twitter at Down With IDP. I'm one of two IDP analysts over at FantasyPoint.com, and with me as always is our other IDP analyst, my partner in crime, Mr. Thomas Simons.

How you doing today, Thomas? I'm doing great, Justin. How about yourself? Doing well. We got a little bit more football week to have watched. Just a little. This might be the most important preseason week now that we only play three preseason weeks. We'll have to see what teams do in this last one.

But we got a lot of really good what we think is concrete information from what we've seen the last couple of weeks what we've seen in training camp, et cetera. Some things are starting to kind of clear up. We want to make sure that you all see what we see for those of you who still have some drafts left. I think the majority of the drafts are still coming up. So, Thomas, you want to dive in? I know you got to see a lot of the games this week.

Yeah, you know, it's funny how previously you used to have four preseason games. And now with just three, you're finding that teams are, for example, this power. weekend, preseason week number two, not counting the Hall of Fame weekend. Teams were running out their first team defenses, and I won't mention the offenses because this is an IBP podcast, but they were running out their first team defenses for maybe one series, if you're lucky. But there was only about 70, 75 percent of the teams did that. The rest of them were still running out their second and third teams.

And I don't believe you're going to find they're going to run out their first team in week three. Most teams will be saving their players like Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams and so on and so forth till opening day. Now, I'm going to start in Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Atlanta game. On the opening defensive series, the Bengals played their first team defense, and they ran a 4-25 scheme, just like they do, you know, that's very similar to what they ran in 2022. Now, the two linebackers will probably be, as with last year. will be Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt. Now, the Falcons ran a 3-3-5 scheme

with outside linebacker Bud Dupree lining up on the edge like a defensive end. So it was more of a 4-3, but Dupree was in a linebacker position in a two-point stance and used the edge as an edge rusher. Now, rookie cornerback DJ Turner started and he should see some significant playing time as the third cornerback for Cincinnati going forward.

forward. Speaking of Cincinnati, I'm going to talk a little bit about their safeties. They jettisoned both their starting safeties for the last couple of years. Von Bell and Jesse Bates, they got a new team now. And now that we got to see them play a little bit more, it seems pretty clear that they are going to roll out Dax Hill and Nick Scott as their starting safeties. The important thing beyond that is that it was just one game. It was, I think, 18 snap, something like that. It was pretty much 50-50 as to how many of them were deep snaps and how many of them were closer to the line of scrimmage. So this could very well be

a pretty evenly split 50-50 safety thing here, which means we don't have a clear-cut front runner for getting tackles out of your safety position from Cincinnati. Again, just one game, just not even one game, not even a quarter, like 18 snaps, but something to chew on it. It's hard to pick one of these to imagine that they're going to be your 100-tackle guy just right out of the gate. Especially with the rookie Jordan battle going to be adding into that mix and being in a three safety set for them. He could actually cut into some of their playing time or fantasy value. Now, the Giants started their first, their game this weekend with a two linebacker set with Bobby Okoraki playing the mic position in Kavon Thibiro was roaming the edge for most

of the time he was on the field. He was on either side of the field, basically. Now, rookie cornerback, Deonté Banks got to start at right cornerback, and it looks like that's where he's going to start on opening day. Speaking of linebackers, so I put out an article this week. I put the same article out last week, not last week last year. It's called tackles for losers, and it's more complicated than just tracking basically how bad a team in general is going to be by their predicted win losses. but it does give us a window into some of the other things that might cause a team to be bad. Like we knew the Houston Texans were going to be bad last year,

and it shouldn't surprise us that so many tackles went to the Houston, Texas. So I want to talk about everybody's runaway favorite number one linebacker, and that's Foyosida, Aloiken. You know, two years ago he's with the Falcons. He had, you know, I think he led the league and tackles. Well, he also led the league or was in the top five in the league. for snaps played. So then he switches to a new team.

He goes to the Jaguars, and he basically is going to get the exact same luck. He's going to play some of the highest snap counts in the league, and, of course, he's going to rack up 180, 190 tackles. So he goes from one team to the next, and it looks like, okay, this guy, no matter where he plays, he's just going to rack up a ton of tackles. And he does rack up tackles, but he doesn't rack them up at some sort of extraordinary rate that makes him necessarily better than a lot of other linebackers. He's a really good linebacker, but he's had the incredible fortune of playing on two teams

who have finished in the top five in snaps for, you know, in back-to-back years, and he has not missed a snap other than a game or two where they basically pull him when it's a blowout. So he's had incredible injury luck, not even a rolled ankle to come off the field for, for, for the rest of a game or something. And he's had the incredible fortune of having played the most snaps over the last two seasons. So coming into this year, he's with the Jaguars again. But the Jaguars look to be a better team this year. And they look to not keep their defense on the field as much.

They started the season last year, three and seven, and looking like what we would consider the same old Jaguars, In those three wins, Foyosani-A-Lu-A-Khan did not crack nine tackles in those three wins. He got all of his tackles in the seven losses. It took a five-game winning streak at the end of the run. They basically ran the table, including a couple of miraculous comebacks and an overtime win

for the Jaguars to actually finish with a decent record. This year, they may win more like nine, 10, 11 games. I think Aluacan is going to have a hard time, making it three years in a row. So for me, I think people are jumping a couple of rounds early to get a Lua Khan. I'm not sure I can take that based on what I think his team has got to do and just the incredible fortune he's had of the last couple of years. Now, it doesn't mean he's not a great player and he's not going to get 140 or 150 or maybe 160 tackles,

but 190 tackles, I'm not sure that's going to happen this year. You know, he also has Devin Lloyd and Chad Muma developing behind him. So that's even more pressure on him trying to achieve that and making it harder for him to do that. Now, Philadelphia's got a rookie defensive tackle, Jalen Carter, and he's been a beast this summer. He started this past week next to Jordan Davis inside for the Eagles. And during the week, the Eagles and the Colts had a joint practice, and a couple of fights broke out. in particular, one thing that happened was on the defensive side of the ball. The Eagles, somebody was trying to punch the ball away from rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson.

And it looked like a punch, but it was really, they were going after the ball. And, of course, a fight breaks out. And Carter had to be held back. Now, this is the one thing. The reason why I bring this up is this is something that we have to be concerned with. This kid is a really good football player and can be an immediate impact fantasy option for people unless his immaturity gets the better of him on the field. And that was the case in this practice where he had to be held back.

And that's the kind of thing that gets you ejected in suspensions during the season. So Carter has to tone, you know, rein that in and be a little more under control. and I think he has a good base around him to help him be that way and maintain a focused football approach. Now, the unexpected retirement on the Eagles of Miles Jack, they just signed him, and then he turns around and retires. Well, that opens a door for veteran Zach Cunningham, who's trying to stake a claim to the backup linebacker spot, and he did not disappoint last Thursday posting seven total tackles. He had four solos and three assists. and a tackle for a loss while taking 43% of the snaps against Cleveland.

Let's talk one more linebacker from that tackles are for losers' article. One of the teams that is expected to probably finish with some of the lowest win totals is the Arizona Cardinals. That puts their every down linebacker, Kaiser White, firmly in my sights as somebody I want to pick up. He's, you know, I've been pretty wary of IDP ADPs because they can really be inconsistent. I think I mentioned this last time I've been using the IDP shows ADP. They kind of clean it up and make it a little easier and more consistent. So I'm using that a little bit more than I've used in the past. And right now, Kaiser White, according to their ADP is coming off the board as LB 47.

That's, you know, LB5, LB4, LB5. I would not be surprised if he stays healthy if Kaiser White doesn't end up in the top 10 and tackles because he should be doing an every down role on a defense that is almost certainly going to be playing a lot of snaps. So that's a great late round grab that you can get that may end up being your LB1. So, you know, speaking of linebackers, rookie linebacker Jack Campbell's been kind of a buzz for fantasy owners because he came in with great upside potential, but there was the thought that he may not crack the starting lineup right out of the gate. He didn't start for Detroit this past weekend,

but he did take 43% of the snaps, and he led the team with seven total tackles, four solos and three assists. Now, Campbell did well to be around the ball frequently, and that's key when you're trying to earn playing time on the field. Now, when he was on the field, he showed patience getting off his block, and he may not have been the primary tackler, but he was always near the ball or on the ball when the play was made. Our guy, Greg Kossel, loves Jack Campbell. And I love the fact that Campbell spent a lot of time with Luke Keeckley this summer.

So, you know, as a dynasty asset, I'm actually spending quite a lot trying to get as many shares of Jack Campbell as possible. There's kind of two things here happen. And I really do think he's going to be an incredible player. And we've seen so many first-round linebackers of the last several years become busts that I think people are a little bit more weary of Jack Campbell being the next, you know, Isaiah Simmons or whoever it might be. Right. And but I think he could absolutely be the real deal.

Now, speaking of Isaiah Simmons, that's another player who I think is hard to draft, which stinks because he's on the Cardinals, which he, He has the potential to play a lot, but he is still adjusting to his role as more of a full-time safety. They played him deep a lot last game, and he really struggled. He, you know, the coaching staff even said so afterward. He gave up two pretty bad touchdown passes, just looked lost. I mean, granted, it's a, you know, this is. New position.

It is. You know, we think about him in college, and he kind of played this, you know, kind of safety. Right. A big, safety linebacker spot. Yeah, exactly, right. But that was a specific role to Clemson's defense and it didn't quite translate to the NFL. He still seems a little lost. Now, we got time, but, you know, if your draft is this weekend or next, he's just a hard guy to draft right now.

Indeed. I've got a couple of IDPs that should be on your radar. One's in Miami. And he started with the first team defense in preseason week number two. And that was Cater Kohu who started opposite Xavier and Howard at cornerback for. the Dolphins. Looks like Kohoo is going to be the starter come opening day with Howard. Now, someone else to keep an eye on is Steelers rookie right outside linebacker Nick Herbig. This kid has a serious motor coming off the edge, and he had it on full display against

Buffalo this past Saturday. Herbig finished with two solos. He had a sack, a tackle for a loss, a QB hit, a PD, a force fumble, and he took 45% of the snaps. or rather 46, somewhere around there. Now, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith are the entrenched starters at outside linebackers. So Herbig is just great insurance on these two and could see increased playing time if he continues to do well. Now, he's currently dealing with a shoulder issue, and that has limited him this week. So don't expect big things from him early on in the season. But he's definitely a stash in CIDP.

I'm going to talk about a former stealer, and that's linebacker Robert Spillane. It was Spillane who wore the green dot for the Las Vegas Raiders this past week and not Divine Diablo. Now, they both played essentially every down with the starters or close enough to. So I still am leaning toward Divine Diablo. It's not a terrible thing that he's not wearing the green dot. That doesn't automatically anoint you as the tackle leader of a team. We've seen that plenty. Some players do better not being the quarterback of the defense.

We don't know exactly why Spelaine has it. and not Diablo, but it really doesn't matter. It only matters, you know, as we've said before, snaps are going to get you tackles most of the time, not always. And it looks like Diablo is going to be somebody who will still be on the field an absolute time. So maybe it makes me just a slight, maybe just a slight bit more hesitant on Diablo. But what it really does is it makes me very interested in how late you can get Robert Spillame,

because, as I was saying, when I talked about the Cardinals, this Raiders defense should also be on the field a lot because they're not expected to win a ton of games. And if that's the case, you can get Robert Spillane literally for free and you might have gotten an every down linebacker who's going to play 1100 snaps this year. Yeah, and speaking of green dots, of the 32 NFL teams, 29 linebackers and three safeties

are projected as the primary green dot wearers, while 26 linebackers, four safeties, a cornerback, and a defensive end are projected as the secondary green dot wearers. Now, it's important that you bring up the green dot because the green dot doesn't necessarily mean that this is going to be a tremendous fantasy option. What it does mean is that this person is going to spend a lot of time on the field. Most of the green dot wearers usually spend anywhere between 90, to 95% or more of the snaps.

So that means that they're going to be out on the field and the opportunities are going to be open for them to have good fantasy outings. Now, to put it into perspective, a green dot for those who, many of you know what it is, but for those who don't, the green dot is basically the communicator between the sideline and the huddle.

The sideline will transmit through an intercom system in the helmet of the green dot wearer, what the play is going to be, and then they call the play in the huddle. And you usually have a primary and a secondary person designated to wear the green dot. The primary is the one that will spend most of the time on the field. And if they, as you had mentioned, if you get an ankle rolled up, as you mentioned in, look, and these type of things, you have to leave the field, well, the secondary green dot wearer will step in and start calling the plays.

And there's times where you'll have one or two plays where there's nobody wearing a green dot. They both are on the sideline and somebody comes in from the sideline with a play call. So it's important to understand what the green dot is and that it could be something that, for example, as you mentioned with Diablo and with Spalane, if Spalane's wearing the green dot, there's a high probability that Spalane will see more snaps in Diablo and that Spalane being so late in the draft could be a real huge. fantasy steel. Now, speaking of linebackers, Buffalo has a competition that's been going on all summer at their middle linebacker spot to fill the void by of Tremaine Edmonds who moved on to Chicago. Torel Dotson is apparently locked down the starting job next to Matt Milano. And there is Tarel Bernard who is pushing Tirel Dotson, but it looks like Dotson's the one who's going to be the primary

middle linebacker. Now, it was really nice to see Damar Hamlin play this past weekend, and he posted three solos. So it was a pleasant surprise and nice to see DeMar get out on the field. Yeah, absolutely. What a great sight that was to see. Yeah, absolutely. Speaking of safety, let's talk about the Carolina safety situation. This one is big. It, I mean, we've seen, for the last two games, we've seen a very clear picture of how they're using their safeties.

And, you know, they brought in Vaughn Bell as a free agent from Cincinnati. They've got Xavier Woods there. Xavier Woods and Vaughn Bell are clearly, at least so far in the preseason, but we're running out of time for this to change. They are clearly the every down starting two safeties. What we've seen from Jeremy Chim is Jeremy Chin has been. coming in basically on like third and long situations, not a quite a true like dime safety role, but way too close to that. And unless they are planning on playing a ton of three safety sets, which they might,

but they certainly didn't show that in the preseason. Jeremy Chin all of a sudden went from possible top five or top 10 safety before training camp started to he might be undraftable or just the type of player you could. take a deep shot on, but I don't think he's going to make it very far in terms of somebody else drafting him. So that's my advice. What I'm doing, I think your best bet here is to let a league mate of yours who doesn't quite know Chin's usage. Let them draft Jeremy Chin because there are way too many bad vibes here to see, you know, they have a new coaching staff. Everything has changed there, and we see every single year, the secondary is the position that changes so much

when you get a new defensive scheme in. So Chin may just be a 20 to 30 percent snap guy now. We don't know yet. So let's go to Kansas City and talk about these linebackers in Kansas City. I'll start off with Leo Chanel has started this past weekend in preseason week two over Drew Tranquil. Now, they brought in Tranquil from the Chargers. but his stock seems to be dropping, and I wonder if he's going to land on your loser, tackle loser list in the fact that if Chanel starts over Triuncle,

Tranquil's snap count is going to drop significantly, and his fantasy value pretty much falls off the edge. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean, I think Drew Trankel is absolutely undraftable because this makes him linebacker number four on a team that usually usually, usually runs, you know, two linebackers. Just two linebackers, right. We're hoping Leo Chanel will get enough snaps as the quote-unquote starting third linebackers.

So everybody knows Nick Bolton's the man there. He had an incredible year last year. He also, the Kansas City Chiefs played a ton of snaps last year, which was a little bit fluky. Bolton obviously took advantage of that. It had a great, great season. The interesting one, I think is the guy next to him, which no one's talking about, which is Willie Gay. Willie Gay is linebacker 49 in drafts, according to the IDP show ADP.

He's likely going to play 80 to 90 percent of the snaps next to Nick Bolton. He missed four games last year, but on the games, the games he was on the field, he was a seven to nine tackle guy, including in the Super Bowl. He had eight tackles in the Super Bowl. Now, that's obviously not an amazing production, but it's hard. the number of linebackers who play around 90% these days is dwindling. And you could do a lot worse for what is possibly your linebacker 5 than somebody who's going to play 80 to 90% snaps on the Kansas City Chiefs defense.

Yeah, I mean, let's be honest. We're not talking about fantasy gold here when we talk about chief linebackers. And the fact that they go with two of them makes it really hard to trust the Chanel or a triangle at all. And you're looking at Bolton being the primary and the go-to guy here. And Gay is going to be a surprise, though. I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised. Now, speaking of pleasant surprises, there's a sleeper in New England that people aren't paying attention to. And that's Jolani Tavi.

He, the former Detroit Lions linebacker is, he started this past weekend, at linebacker next to, well, he will be next to Joanne Bentley. Now, obviously, Matt Judon is an edge rusher, and the Patriots like to mix it up with a 34-4-3 type system with one of their linebackers being an edge rusher. But Tavie might see significant playing time moving forward from opening day on, and he could be, with the coaching staff really liking this guy, he could be a pleasant surprise and somebody you can get like Spillane very deep and late in your drafts and or auctions. I want to talk about one of the tackled darlings from last year, speaking of the Houston, Texas, and that's Jonathan Owens. Remember that he's over in Green Bay now.

The important thing here is that he is looking like the third safety in Green Bay. He's not even a starting safety anymore. I think if you've been listening to this podcast and you're a fantasy point subscriber, you are already not banking on Jonathan Owens. But this is just a note to say that I don't think Owens is draftable either. I think it's going to take an injury for him to be out there. And even if he does make it out on the field, Green Bay is probably – Green Bay's defense is probably not going to play anywhere near the number of snaps.

The Houston's defense played last year. and Griebe's linebackers are a lot better than Houston's linebackers were last year. So Owens might be another guy that you're just sitting there during your draft saying, please let one of my league makes think that Jonathan Owens is going to be even close to the producer he was the year before. You mentioned an injury, and actually there was one recently with Traveris Moore, who was a safety in the mix as well. he left the preseason game Saturday against a Patriots with a knee injury. So you have to keep an eye on that because that could boost Owens a tiny bit, but still, that's a situation you may want to avoid and let somebody else take that risk.

Now, as we expected, Denver started Josie Jewel and Alex Singleton as the inside linebackers. Now, one small note here on these two is that Joel did take two more snaps in Singleton. in the preseason week too. Granted, it's a very small sample size, and yes, this is just a preseason game, and who knows why they did that. But is this something to look forward to down the road where Jule will take more snaps in Singleton to be seen? Let's talk a little bit about Shaquille Litter.

We talked about him last podcast with Dr. Edwin Porras. Just to note that if Jonathan Taylor does get traded, as it looks like he probably will, that that gratings the chances that the Colts defense will be on the field for even more snaps. If you're going to take a shot at Shaquille Leonard, I think he's got more upside without Taylor being there. Just a little note on that. One note about Leonard is that he did apparently suffer a concussion in practice last week and has been in concussion protocol. call him. So that's just something you want to keep an eye on to. Leonard has, when he's on the field, this guy has just total upside potential. The problem is getting him on the field. Man, it was so great

having Edwin on the podcast last week. The bottom line is that the NFL has a 98% injury rate, and injuries aren't disappearing anytime soon. So are you tired of tagging Edwin Porras and other injury analysts and tweets wondering when your top player will be back from injuries? Are you tired of wondering if you should place a prop bet on that guy coming off a high ankle spray him? Are you tired of asking if you should buy low or sell high in Dynasty because a guy had an ACL tear? Well, stop and grab a copy of the injury-prone draft guide and playbook. Stop worrying about how injuries affect your fantasy and DFS lineups, your prop bets, and your

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guide and playbook is that resource. So use promo code injury prone 25 for 25% off. That's promo code injury prone 25 for 25% off. Now we're a bit concerned going into the preseason about defensive tackle Javan Hargrave moving from Philadelphia's 4-3 base defense to a 3-4-based defense with the 49ers. But apparently that was not the case in pre-season. in week two when Hargrave was on the field, the 49ers were in a 4-3 base the whole time he pretty much most of the time he was there. Now that plays into Hargrave's strengths, and he's not going to post the numbers he posted with Philadelphia. We've already mentioned that in two previous podcasts ago, but he does give you a possible top 10 defensive tackle type

numbers, so keep an eye on that. Yeah, I mean, Hargrave was great last year, and, you know, he switches over to the 49ers, and he's dropped kind of heavily in drafts and kind of doesn't make sense. So I love that they're doing a little bit more a 4-3 over there. That should definitely help. I want to talk about another person who's kind of been a little bit forgotten or overlooked, and that's Leighton Vander Esch. So there's a – you know, Vander Esch had a couple of fluky games last year.

There was one random game where he had just three tackles. Other than that, he was a 7 to 10 tackle guy for basically the majority of the season. He's missed the last five games of the season. So, you know, of course, his numbers, if you just look at his season numbers, you're going to say, oh, he only had 90 tackles. He had 90 tackles, but, you know, missed the last five games. I want to make a point about that. It looks like he started 14 games, and he did start 14 games, but he got injured seven snaps. into that 14th game. So he really did miss a good chunk, and before that was a 7 to 10 tackle guy,

and he is basically not being drafted. And I know everybody is excited about Overshawn, but there's a couple of things that, you know, I was already a fan of Leighton Van der Leyen Vendresch because I didn't necessarily think he was going to be coming off the field. But I know, Thomas, you've got an update that's very important that relates exactly to this. Yeah, DeMarvie and Overshaun, the rookie linebacker tore his ACL in the second preseason game. It's confirmed that it was a torn ACL. So he's done for the year. Now that's going to have a major impact on Van der Esch and could also have an impact on Micah Parsons.

We talked previously about how Parsons is going to be a defensive end and he's going to be given, you know, let loose on the edges. and but with the depth problem that the cowboys now have at linebacker, Parsons may play some more linebacker like he did last year. And that complicates things all the way around, although in Vanderech's case, it means that he's going to see significant playing time. Now, I'm going to wrap myself up here with the Seahawks and talk about Trey Brown. Brown was pretty much injured most of last year. So he didn't see much action and didn't make much noise in the Seahawks secondary. But he's making a big statement this year and is currently in line to start opposite Tariq Wollin for the Seahawks. Michael Jackson had a good early camp, but he's not excelled in the preseason games.

And he could actually be trade bait in what is very, very deep secondary or cornerback room for the Seahawks. And this is especially true when you consider that they have Devon, Witherspoon, the rookie that they drafted number five overall, and he's likely going to play the nickel cornerback. They also have other cornerbacks like veteran Artie Burns. They have Kobe Bryant. Bryant has been seeing a ton of action this summer at the free safety position and could also be used in a three safety rotation even more so.

I think they're doing this as more of an insurance policy and Jamal Adams, who is going to get activated this week from the PUP. list. He won't play this weekend, but he will be preparing for opening day. Now, if Adams is healthy, then they can use Brian in a number of ways. They can use him in the slot. They can use them at cornerback. They can use them at safety. That gives them a lot of flexibility if Adams is healthy. If he's not, Bryant will probably be the third or fourth safety that will play with Quondre Diggs and Julian Love that they brought in from the Giants. So this secondary is really, really deep for the Seahawks, and that's critical for them for their success going forward.

Hey, Thomas, I just want to ask you a quick because I know you're pretty dialed into the Seattle team since that's where you're, you know, you do most of your work. If, you know, Jordan Brooks obviously is not fully healthy yet. If Adams is, you know, they've got Adams, they've got Julian Love, both of whom has spent significant time in the, you know, in the box or around the line of scrimmage. They've got Kobe Bryant there who is now they're working out at safety, and they obviously also have Condre Diggs. do you see Julian Love or probably more so Jamal Adams, but do you see Jamal Adams maybe being a pretty heavy box player there, not only with Jordan Brooks out for a little bit, but also when Jordan Brooks gets back,

as we talked before, he's been having issues in coverage? Yeah, I mean, they have Devin Bush to help them with Jordan Brooks as far as stepping in and being covered. coverage. But Devin Bush had issues when he was with Pittsburgh for coverage weaknesses, and that was one of the reasons why Pittsburgh was more than willing to let him go. So, yeah, I could see Adams sliding into the box and being more in the box, and Julian Love and Diggs will play the deep safety when Love will play more of a strong safety, but not in the box if Adams is out there. And Adams will play more of a linebacker

position that gives them another cover linebacker to go along with Bobby Wagner. This frees up the edges. Now, this team has a lot of young, fast edge rushers, and Bois Mafei has looked so, so good this summer. I can't express enough how this kid has gone from what is he doing last year to, wow, this year. This kid is somebody to keep an eye on for Sass. for the Seahawks. Now, that was one of their big problems was getting the edge pressure and getting sacks. And Maffei and Derek Hall, who K.J. Wright, has actually come out and said that Derek Hall, the rookie, could be up for in the running for defensive rookie player of the year. So you have

Chenow Nuoso, you have Daryl Taylor, who's been dealing with a shoulder injury all summer. You have Maffay, you have Hall. This team has a lot of speed. and a lot of high motor guys on the edges that allows them to move an Adams into the box and let these guys stay on the edge and bring pressure. And Adams can be a cover guy or a run stopper along with Bobby Wagner. And if Brooks is healthy, this team, this defense just got really nasty fast. Nice. Speaking of nasty, let's talk about some injuries.

Oh, boy. We already mentioned Shaquille Leonard with a concussion and overshone with a torn ACL. Speaking of Dallas in their depth, Malik Jefferson, who's a backup linebacker, suffered up plantar fascius

in the second preseason game. And the Cowboys' linebacker position is really, really, really thin. When you consider you've got Desmond Cox and Gibreel, excuse me, you have Gibreel Cox coming off

injury and the only other real depth that they have is Demone Clark. You know, they've got a rookie with Tyrus Wheat and they have Devin Harbor, but other than that, they don't have anybody else. So they're counting on Clark and Cox to be starters with Vanderec while Parsons plays defensive end. Well, now you, with overshone done for the year and Jefferson banged up with a plantar fichitis, they only have two other linebackers. They're in serious trouble here.

and that's why I was concerned a little bit with Parsons playing more linebacker. Now, speaking of Plantar for shyness, Jonathan Allen on Washington defensive tackle is dealing with the same issue. You can have to keep an eye on that going into the opening day. Linebacker Devandre Campbell's been dealing with an ankle injury, but the team is hoping he'll be ready for opening day. Linebacker Nolan Smith from Philadelphia, the rookie edge rusher, suffered a shoulder injury in the second preseason. season game. Keep an eye on that. Legerius Sneed, a cornerback who's been a fantasy stud for the past

two years, he's been dealing with knee swelling, and there is no timetable for his return, so that's kind of a concern. Also, cornerback Dante Jackson on Carolina suffered an ankle injury in the second preseason game, and the team is hoping that, or expecting him to be ready for the season opener. Now, cornerback Christian Gonzalez left practice. today with an ankle injury, so we have to watch for updates moving forward on this. He was expected to be possible starter at the third cornerback position, the slot spot, but if he misses this coming week, that could put that into jeopardy, and he may end up being a backup off the bench at best for the season to begin with.

And finally, safety Grant Delpit suffered an arm injury in practice this week. The extent of the injury is unknown. We'll have to keep an eye on that. All right, that's going to wrap it up for our preseason week two review. We feel like what we've seen is going to mostly be what we see to start the year. It doesn't mean it's all going to change with some injuries and some moving around. But please take note to some of these playing time situations that should make you feel either more confident or much less confident about drafting some of these people as we still have major drafts coming up over the next week. to 10 days. And, you know, we're going to Blake and we're going to have actual real meaningful

football, which we're all pretty excited about. Remember that when we are on, when we are on during the regular season, we will normally be doing our podcasts during the, basically after the Thursday night game. And then it'll be dropping on Friday. So we'll try and have that out on Friday afternoons to prepare everybody for their weekend of IDP football. So make sure that you give us a follow, give the Fantasy Points podcast to follow to get that. Obviously, a lot of amazing stuff going on on the offensive side for our website as well, John Hansen, Graham Barfield, Tom Brawley, so many great guys, Joe Dolan, Scott Barrett, the list goes on and on.

So let's make sure you guys follow the podcast when you can. I hope everybody's enjoyed this, Thomas. Let's get out of here. Be well and be safe. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.