Fantasy Football Daily - Training Camp Fantasy Football Winners and Losers | Coachspeak Index's News and Notes

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

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Training camps are firing left and right. We've got news coming down the pike every single day. What better person to have on the channel on the pod than Greg Brandos, aka at CoachSpeak Index on Twitter. Greg, good to have you on the show, man. You were just saying before that you've been spending like 15, 16 hour days grinding training camp, pressers for all coaches, players. So I've got you on the show. We're going to pick your brain today. about all of the most important training camp news. I'm so ready. Thank you for the invite.

Huge, huge fantasy points fan. So my absolute pleasure to be here. Yeah, the respect is mutual. Our guy Chris Wecht has been using CoachSpeak Index Discord for two years now using it as kind of like just a pipeline of news and information. Greg always does a fantastic job curating news and information. I remember I got your account from Evan Silva.

I think it was like three years ago. he put me on to Greg when he had only a couple thousand followers. Maybe Greg is now exploded in the space. He's become basically ubiquitous with coach speak and putting together the information that you need to know that matters. Greg, let's get it started, man. I'm excited for the show. I've been pumped all day to talk with you and talk through some of these interesting situations. And I've tried to pull out some of the most fantasy relevant situations that we're going to talk through. The first one here, we'll go basically by team looking at the Arizona Cardinals. Marvin Harrison and Michael Wilson have been two players that fantasy managers have kind of

struggled to pick through. Harrison's going in that kind of middle of the sixth round. Wilson going in the seventh, maybe early eighth round in most formats. Earlier this offseason, we heard the, you know, kind of the news buzzworthy line from LaFleur calling Michael Wilson the new Pooka and Akua in his offense and he called Mark. Marvin Harrison, kind of like that traditional X wide receiver for Marvin Harrison there, you know, comparing him to Vante Adams within the roles of the offense, of course, not comparing them as a player, just how they're going to line up in this offense. Greg, what else have you heard in terms of the press conferences this offseason when it comes

to the Cardinals? What is LaFleur said? What should we expect in terms of the roles for both these receivers in this new offense? Well, fantasy players are not the only ones who are having trouble figuring this out, Because on July 26th, they asked Michael Flore whether he sees either of Marvin Harrison Jr. Or Michael Wilson as the wide receiver won. He deflected that question. We're seeing a lot of this in Arizona when it comes to depth chart stuff.

As you mentioned on June 2nd, LaFleur said that Marvin Harrison Jr. is our ex-receiver, but you can move him around where sometimes he is, sometimes he's not. That is a big difference from what we saw the last couple seasons. with Drew Petzing, who kept him as a pretty static ex-receiver. And then on Michael Wilson on July 29th, Mike Lathor said he's tough as nails. He's super competitive. He happens to be a really good receiver. It's been a pleasure getting to work with him.

There are some similarities between a guy like Pooka Nakua, Robert Woods, and Michael Wilson. They're strong guys. They're sturdy. They can play in between the tackles and insert and get on safeties. And they like mucking it up in there. but they're different too. He knows where his similarities are. He's been a pleasure to work with, and he just continues to go like this, ascending gesture from the floor. Yeah, so the Pukinikawa stuff is more about, yeah, this guy, and he has mentioned that we don't want to put Marvin Harrison,

Jr. kind of close to the core. We don't want him inserting on safeties. That is a role for Michael Wilson, but we do want to move Marvin Harrison Jr. around. So, it's a, It's going to be both of these guys. Kendrick Bourne is kind of a distant third option there. They've talked about him being closer to the middle in that slot roll. And, you know, all the drops and stuff are getting attention. Obviously, LaFleur talked about that and said, hey, yeah, you guys saw this drop. This stuff is going viral.

We don't really care about that. All that matters is what happens on the next play. And he made a catch on the next play. And, you know, most of you guys did not tweet that out. Yeah, Harrison, I think, is just going to continue to be memed for drops, Greg, because he had some high-profile drops last year. I remember he had a drop wide open in the middle of the field that would have been like a 70-yard touchdown. The thing is, yeah, I think you're touching on maybe the most important thing with this offense

is just how much more often these players are going to be in motion. Obviously, Matt LaFleur is closely connected to his brother and Mike LaFlefour. Excuse me, Mike LaFore is very closely connected to Matt LaFleffor and, you know, Matt LaFleafour, the Packers-Lafloor. He's one of the most genius coaches at using motion and using players in motion to kind of generate leverage. Last season, I pulled the stat up according to our fantasy points data suite. Marvin Harrison averaged 1.8 yards per route run when he was in motion or when there was any motion on the play. Michael Harrison was at 1.3. I think that just speaks to the quality of the offense.

Both of those were kind of like either average or slightly below average. But Harrison seeing a slight efficiency boost when he's in motion is bullish. I agree with you that he still kind of profiles as that X receiver, but I think both players are going to be moving around the formation quite a bit. Just in terms of just fantasy projection, the stat I keep coming back to, Greg, is like when Michael Wilson had Marvin Harrison on the field last year, he averaged just a 12% target chair. When he was off the field, it was up to 25%.

Just a huge split there. So for fantasy, you know, it's kind of interesting to hear, you know, there's kind of like a split opinion on these players right now. now, but in my opinion, I think Marvin Harrison is still very good at football. He's had, like I said, some high profile drops. Maybe he's gotten memed way too much. Harrison only ended up playing in nine games last season, Greg. But in those games, the role is pretty good by expected fantasy points. He was like wide receiver 13, strong, strong, high-end wide receiver two. And I really do think he kind of missed out on the Jacoby Berset, just Jacobi Berset volume hack at the end of last

season. He did miss out on some big spiked weeks. So Wilson versus Harrison, you know, Cardinals are still kind of trying to figure it out. Fantasy managers are still trying to figure it out. I am buying personally a Marvin Harrison bounce back or maybe even search forward this season. And Michael Wilson, to me, is a player that certainly could have some fantasy value. But to me, yeah, I think with McBride on the field earning 25% of the targets at worst, Harrison coming back fully healthy. Greg, have they said anything about Harrison? injury history, I guess he's fully healthy going into this year. I think there is something in there. I believe it was earlier in the offseason. Mike, Mike LaFleur, you know, kind of commented on that,

also saying that he's very excited about, you know, the ways that they can use Marvin Harrison, Jr. And I think you're right, man, this ceiling for him has, has not been reached. It's a lot of his potential, I believe, is still untapped from from the Petzing era. And Mike LaFleur, probably the guy to do that. You know, if, if, if you look around the league at different play callers, like, this is, this is probably one of the ones that, that you would want here. Yeah, running theme of this show today is going to be breaking down some murky situations. This cardinal situation is certainly very murky. I think after Trey McBride, there is, you know, kind of a wide range of opinion on how the, you know, this, this receiver group gets split. There's also becoming a much

wider range of opinion, Greg, about how this Panthers backfield gets split. Chuba Hubbard and Jonathan Brooks basically being split in sharp ADP over on FFPC and NFFC leagues where a lot of money is being put down into high-stake formats. These ADPs are starting to converge. They're starting to get real tight. Chuba's going like, you know, been going 75 overall. Most of the summer kind of just stuck there in that middle of the seventh, late eighth round. Jonathan Brooks has been surging upwards though going into the ninth round in most leagues now i got to pick your brain what is dave canales and the panther said about this backfield i think this is one of the more interesting situations to figure out because if gregg if one of these two guys gets the starting job and kind

of gets you know maybe not a full-blown like bell cow roll where they're getting 70% of the snaps but if it's like a 6535 split that we can count on weekly someone in this backfield is going to be very very valuable curious what you've heard and what you've read from dave canales and and the Panthers coaching staff this offseason. It's very interesting because in previous seasons, it's been Chuba Hubbard is our guy, right? And it, but then it's also been a bit of a meritocracy with Dave Canales and the Panthers.

We saw last year when Rico Dowell was proving that he was a better option at running back, it took about a week or so late, but they finally got around to putting Rico Dowdell in as the starter. And then we get this comment from Dave Canales on January 12th. this year about Jonathan Brooks saying that he's going to have an opportunity to compete to start for this team.

On July 24th, Canales was asked about the position group. He's most excited to see compete during training camp. He mentioned pass rusher, safety wide receiver, then went on to say that he could go position group by position group, and then he highlighted the running back room. He said, I feel great about our running back room to see how we can utilize these guys and what does that combination look like with Chuba Hubbard and Jonathan Brooks and Trevor at Gien to see what comes out of that group and during OTAs we're getting these quotes from I think one from Jonathan Brooks saying that you know not quite 100% yet but they weren't really pushing to 100%.

This is a guy who they're trying to ease in just a little bit given his his injury history. So pretty big on July 28th we get Dave Canales saying I don't see any hesitation in play now. Offensive coordinator Brad Izzick in a separate press conference said the same thing. Dave Canales has been raving about Jonathan Brooks in the passing game and what he brings in that phase. And on July 28th, Canales talked about this this like wow play that Jonathan Brooks made in the passing game, said he made an unbelievable catch on a go ball where he got his feet in, which just goes to show some of the other things that he can bring to our offense. So he brings a complete. different phase to the table that Chuba Hubbard doesn't.

Like, Hubbard is a decent pass catcher. Like, he's okay in the past game. Jonathan Brooks is something different. He excels. And they've talked about his finishing speed. When he gets the ball, they've talked about using him on screens. They've talked about using him downfield. In the passing game, this is a guy who is, you know, he's electric in the passing game.

And he's very good as a runner as well. He's more explosive. We know that Chuba Hubbard didn't have many explosive runs last season. And you compare the profiles of these two guys. I think it's pretty clear which one is the better running back, which one brings more to the table for this offense, makes them more multiple. And again, this is a meritocracy for Dave Canales and the Carolina Panthers.

So whoever gives them the best chance, to score points to win games, that is going to be the running back who gets the most usage. And I think it's going to be pretty clear that if he's healthy, that is Jonathan Brooks. Interesting. That is very telling, like you said, that he's run a meritocracy. And in the past, they've just, like, loved Chuba Hubbard. Last year, I remember Chuba got hurt. He had the calf injury. And then Rico Dato was just, like, bawling out. They gave him, obviously, the huge role for those couple of weeks, and he bawled out. And Chuba came back, and they immediately made Hubbard the starter for that one week. But then they kind of really,

realized their mistake and started playing doubtle more and more as the season goes on. So I'm with you that Brooks certainly has a ton of upside. I remember when he got drafted, Canales was basically just like basically a love fest of his past game ability. And I think that is kind of the biggest piece of the upside angle here is that, okay, yeah, maybe Hubbard, you know, he was injured last season, dealt with a calf injury, was probably not 100% when he did come back. He's maybe not the world's most explosive runner.

Jonathan Brooks, when he's fully healthy, certainly is. And Brooks has more ability on passing downs. We talk about this all the time in fantasy football. A target is worth two and a half more PPR points than a single carry. So getting a pass down roll locked in for Brooks is going to give him a usable floor is like a low end flex. But then like Greg is saying, if they do run a meritocracy and it's week two. And Jonathan Brooks is like clearly the better runner than Chuba. There's certainly some bell cow upside here. Scott Barrett, our guy, his ears definitely just perked up on these quotes here for Greg. Another player that Scott's ears are going to perk up on, Luther Burden, man, his hype, the rocket ship has left the station. It has just gone completely to the moon with Burden. Ben Johnson has been effusive in his praise this offseason. Greg will speak to that. But Burden has been a player that's really started to come up in price. He was consistently going near that three, four turn.

All offseason, Greg, I think he starts kind of. creep in in the third round and to sharper managed leaks, especially given the context that Romo Dunzee has been dealing with his foot injury. And he may not be like completely 100% himself. Ben Johnson, the quotes have been going viral, Greg. What exactly has he said about burden? And is this justified? Is the hype rocket ship just going completely?

Is it too crazy or is this, you know, some sharp action here that we should be following? I think the moon is just a pit stop on the way to Neptune. Interesting. Interesting. Okay, okay. That's a quote for me. That's not Ben Johnson.

This is Ben Johnson. May 28th, quote, I'm buying Luther Burden stock right now. Just how he's approached this offseason. It's been electric, end quote. And then another quote from the same presser. When we drafted him, we saw an explosive athlete who was really dangerous

with a ball in his hands. The question was, how can we get it in his hands? The easy things to do are screens or short throws, but I think there's a lot more to his game that we've worked to unlock. Ben Johnson has also talked about how Luther Burden is. He looks like he's playing at a different speed right now.

We did see some of the downfield stuff last year with Luther Burden. And obviously we saw just how good he is with the ball in his hands. And this offseason, it's been a lot of Luther Burden and Colston Loveland are going to be huge parts of this offense. They are going to be focal points of this offense. They've talked about how much time. both of those guys have spent at the facilities. It talked a lot about how Luther Burden has put on some muscle. He's bulked up a little bit in order to break these tackles at an even better rate

and just make himself much, much harder to tackle. Ryan Poles, the general manager and the offensive coordinator, Press, Taylor, also spoke recently about how every day this offseason Luther Burden was calling and texting quarterbacks to just, hey, I need an arm out here. I need an arm. Whoever come out here.

And this guy has been working so hard, which is big because the work ethic was one of the concerns for him coming out as a prospect. That is why he fell into the second round. This was a guy who at one point was mocked right around the 15th pick in the 2025 draft.

So knowing that he has that stuff down and another one of those concerns, last year coming out in the draft was how how dedicated is this guy as a run blocker and we saw that pretty immediately last season so I mean this this guy's head is in the right place and that's that's that's a red flag that we've taken care of now right so we're we're back to all right this guy is like Ben Johnson said he's absolutely electric we don't have to worry about the all-field concerns now it's it's what's on the field what's on the field is really good with Luther Burden.

Yeah, on the field, I think one of the things I keep coming back to is just, yeah, Caleb Williams for fantasy is awesome because he scrambles and he's looking for the big play down the field, which, you know, is obviously great for fantasy, but he's struggled with his accuracy. Here at Fantasy Points Data, we chart catchable targets for all receivers in last season, Luther Burton, bro, 90% of his targets were catchable. Compared to Romo Dunzee at 67%, DJ Moore at 76%. So yeah, you bake in, okay, he's kind of the shallow A-dot screen-designed target player.

He's not going to have that downside that maybe O'Donzee will have because he's not running these deep down-the-field routes that Caleb Williams has kind of traditionally struggled or maybe not struggled, but just his accuracy comes and goes. There's a couple plays where you watch Caleb and you're like, wow, this is perfect. And then there's a couple plays where he's just like his sailing balls or he's throwing it at O'Dunze's feet. Burden because the average depth of target last season was seven and a half yards downfield, basically half of Romo Dunezai's ADOT, Addoz, was like 14.3 or 14.5, I believe, off the top of my head. I'm looking at Burden as, like, to a significantly higher floor than Romo Dunezay,

and he's a player that I've really come around on for fantasy. I right now have him at 39 overall in my rankings. Maybe that ends up being a little too low. Across the board, Consensus ADP on managed leagues for him is kind of like 50, 55 overall. ESPN, he's going really, really cheap. Sleeper, a little more expensive over on Sleeper, but Burden is a player that I want to be ahead of on ADP, just because I think he could be kind of a mix

between a PPR cheat code, and there's some significant second-year breakout potential. One of the things Scott talks about all the time with Ben Johnson is his slot receivers. We've seen this in the past with Jarvis Landry, just like hoovering targets, getting 100 receptions every single year. Amman Ross St. Brown obviously was a massive,

massive breakout pick within the Ben Johnson scheme. I think Luther Burden is kind of a new iteration where he's maybe not necessarily the route runner of Amon-Ras, St. Brown, but he's significantly really good after the catch. And maybe one of the best players, most difficult players to tackle. I think Luther Burden is a massive edge pick on some less sharp platforms right now like ESPN and Yahoo. And like I said, NFFC, NFPC, where a lot of money is being spent, man. He's going right there at that three-four turn.

Luther Burden is certainly a player that could help you win some leagues this season and a player that I've really come around on this offseason. Greg, I got to ask you about the Packers Receiver rotation. Can I make one more point on Luther Burden? Because you mentioned the completion percentage for Caleb Williams. And I still remember there's this quote from last season from Ben Johnson. And he said a lot of people think that turnovers are the number one indicator on offense of if you're going to win the game or not, but it's not.

It's actually completion percentage and how effective your quarterback is. And he has made this focus on kind of a lower A dot where if you have playmakers, and this is why they drafted Luther Burden, this is why they drafted Colston Loveland last year, very easy, you know, low risk, high reward plays. just get the ball in your playmaker's hands and let them go do something special. You can get explosive plays without chucking the ball downfield. So Ben Johnson is obviously playing to Caleb Williams' strengths and the strengths of this offense and kind of shading away from Caleb Williams' weaknesses.

And Ben Johnson reiterated that again this offseason talking about 70% completion percentage is the mark. That is the championship level mark for us. And they print that out every day after practice and they put it in the quarterback room and say, either you reach championship mark or you did not reach championship mark today. So that's a very big thing for Ben Johnson. And again, it just points that error towards Luther Burton and Colston Loveland in this offense. Yeah, that's exactly right.

I mean, Caleb Williams in his career has been a 60% completion rate player last year. It actually dipped year of year. I certainly can buy that Williams can be a little more accurate, especially in kind of like the shallow to intermediate areas. I still question his ability to kind of like consistently push the ball down the field. But between, you know, him kind of crushing his sack rate last season, Greg, you know, Caleb Williams was one of the most sacked quarterbacks in football history in his rookie season.

Last year he did a great job managing the sacks, you know, getting out of evading pressure. Yeah, I'm very bullish on burden and his kind of potential in this offense. Not for nothing, too. Jared Gough had a career high in his completion rate. I believe it was 72% in 24 and Ben Johnson's last year with the Lions, which was his best year with the Lions. Ben Johnson is one of the best play callers, top three play caller in football right now. And like Greg just said, certainly going to cater to Caleb Williams' strengths. We're talking with Greg Brainos, aka CoachSpeak Index, at CoachSpeak Index on Twitter. You can follow him over there. Like we've been putting up on the screen a few times, his Discord is.

is one of the most valuable discords in the football space. Highly, highly recommend it. We use it here at fantasy points all of the time. Greg, I got to ask you about this Packers Receiver rotation, man. This has been one of the headaches and sore spots for fantasy managers for three years now. This group has just been basically at the high end. If we can get somebody on the field, 75% of the time, that's like a huge win. Last year, obviously Christian Watson comes back from the ACL injury.

He was still kind of a part-time player running about 70%. of the routes. This year, though, no Romeo Dobbs. Dontavian Wix is now an eagle. Are we going to see Jaden Reed play in two tight-in sets? I see you wincing. I see you wincing. What is LaFleur and the Packard? What have they kind of, have they hinted at anything here with this receiver? Man, so, I mean, I don't know how, I don't know if people are aware how few routes Jaden Reed has run out of 12 personnel over here. I am. It's wildly low. Yes, yes. I, I, I looked it up last night in the Fantasy Points Data Suite, eight routes. Ooh, his entire career out of 12 personnel.

Yeah. I think Matthew Golden is going to have to fall on his face in order for Jane Reed to consistently play over him in 12 personnel. I'll give you a couple of quotes here on Matthew Golden. General manager, Ryan Gutikunst on March 31st said at the end of the year, I think everybody could see that we probably needed to get Matthew Golden the ball more because he was very explosive and made so many plays when we did. And then Matt LaFleur on May 27th about Matthew Golden said there is a lot of opportunity there for him to go out and take. His final game last year was his best performance. And I'm not even talking about catches of yards. Just the play style that we're looking for from him. He showed a lot of competitiveness. That touchdown

in Chicago was pretty spectacular. So I think you got a glimpse of what he's capable of becoming on a consistent basis. And then we got this quote the other day from Jordan Love on NFL Network saying that Matthew Golden is locked in at the X. They asked Matt LaFleur about that on I believe August 3rd. And LaFleur did not dispute that when he was asked about it. He also said that he was not aware that Jordan Love made this quote. but this is the Romeo Dobbs role and I believe that it's going to be Matthew Golden.

And again, I think he will just have to fail in order for Jaden Reed to be playing consistently in 12 personnel. Yeah, and that's a key for this offense. One injury I've been keeping my eye on Luke Musgrave, their second tight end behind Tucker Kraft. He has a neck injury. They might be forced Greg this year to play more 11 just because Luke Musgrave is not. healthy. He's not been able to stay on the field really his entire career. That is something we need to keep an eye on with Jaden Reed. But yeah, not a bullish note at all from Greg here or the Packers on Jaden Reed playing more in 12 personnel. I think myself included, I've been wishing that Jaden

Reed would play more in two tight-in sets, kind of like Josh Downs. That seems like it's going to happen here with Josh Downs. We'll get to the Colts here in just a moment, but not as nearly as bullish for Jaden Reed. I think, you know, Matthew Golden, you say he's got to fail. The prospect profile was not very good to me. He was not a target earner at Texas. He dealt with really bad quarterback play. Quinn Ewer's really struggled at Texas there. But he was not a target earner competing for targets with Xavier Worthy and Isaiah Bond.

He was under target earner last year. I think he was six or seventh by targets per route run on this team, Greg. So there is some like bus risk with Golden for sure. But yeah, definitely not bullish if you're leaving in Jane Reed playing more than 12 personnel this year. But like you said, maybe they just lean into the 11 more, which would be great for Jaden Reed because he probably does earn more targets when he's out on the field with Matthew Golden in that slot role. They love his run after the catch ability out of the slot and just like what a dog this guy is. Yeah, he is a very good football player, but he has to get on the field more to be viable in fantasy.

This is something I talk about with Dalton Kincaid. I think Kincaid could be a really good player, but he just, does not run a full-time route share. That is a certain concern, again, going into the season, unfortunately, for Jaden Reed, even without Dantavian Wix and Romeo Dobbs in the mix, we've kind of got, like Greg was saying, a mix of roles here, and Matthew Golden kind of sliding into that, you know, traditional boundary ex-receiver role where Dobbs was running the majority of his routes over the last couple of years.

Not great for Jaden Reed, that's for sure. We got to talk through this Jags backfield, man. This has been one that has been a source of a lot of debate in the fan. fantasy football community all summer. Chris Rodriguez is now fully healthy. He is practicing coming back from his foot injury. Greg, what have the quotes been from Liam Cohen and this JAG staff on what we should expect between Basial Tutin and Chris Rodriguez this season? I'm going to start with Chris Rodriguez first. On March 31st at the annual owners meeting, Liam Cohen had a press conference and then he also had an interview with team media. This is what he said in his press conference.

I look at rushing yards over expected and yards after contact. In his interview with Team Media, Cohen said, what I always appreciated about Chris Rodriguez has been his rushing yards over expected and his yards after contact. So like a very direct match on the same day in two different kind of media appearances there.

Liam Cohen and offensive coordinator, Grant Udinski, have been talking a lot about staying on schedule, getting four, six, eight yards on their rushes. Cohen said that last year was probably the worst year in his career as far as, you know, always being in second and long, you know, second and eight. They want to eliminate that. They want to get to second and six, second and five, second of four this year. And then on Basial Tutin on July 21st, on an interview on the Schrager hour,

Liam Cohen said, quote, his yards after contact and rushing yards, man, when he can get going and get downhill, I mean, he was 428 coming out, he can fly, he was so conscientious about ball security last year and doing right. Okay, now Tuton, you got it. You understand it more. Now just go be you. Like, go do what got you here. Go be special. That's who you are. And we're definitely expecting Tudin to have a big year for us, end quote. a lot of this off season they have said we we don't exactly know what we have in basal tutin OTAs there's no pads even in training camp when you have pads you know you're not going to the ground we see these clips of running backs running 80 yards to the house when in actual NFL game it's a joke it's a joke you know four yards in into that run so so there's there's some good and bad there, right?

I would say kind of a silver lining for Bachel Tutin something that's maybe not talked about enough is his role last year was more of a short yardage and kind of goal line back

for the Jags. And that wasn't his strongest point as a prospect coming out. Coming out, it was like, oh, this guy's super fast. he forces mistackles at a high rate and not as much of the short you know not a spotlight on the short yardage stuff but we saw him really excel in that area last year and and and they really talked them up and how impressed and kind of surprised they were at his success rate and how he's just never going backwards he's always going forwards near the goal line and in short yardage so it's

it's cool to know, it's cool for the Jags to know and that coaching staff to know that, okay, he's got this in his bag, but he's also got this kind of untapped area that we didn't really use them a bunch in last year of in the passing game and using the explosiveness there and outside runs. That was all Travis Etienne role last year. So it's very possible that he kind of gets the first shot at that. and if he excels, then he's RB1. And if the vision, which is a little bit of a concern for people,

if that's not quite there and they are behind schedule and they're getting into these second and eights, then we probably see some more Chris Rodriguez. I do think Rodriguez will mix in quite a bit here in this backfield. But man, one thing for me that that makes it really tough is the fact that Chris Rodriguez is such a zero in the passing game. And man, these Liam Cohen offenses, they're so intricate. There's so much going on there. And it can be very explosive, right? But you need all the pieces working together.

And if you have a running back back there who can't be used in the passing game, then you're all of a sudden, taking a full dimension away from your offense. So I think for this offense to operate at its highest potential and capacity, they do need a pass catching back. And that would be Bachel Tutin, but he has to go out there and prove that he is an RB1 in the NFL. That's my biggest thing with Tutin as well. And that's what I keep coming back to is like if you want to have a scheme where the defense doesn't really know if it's a runner a pass, Tutin has to be their guy because to your point, bro, Chris Rodriguez in his career has two, one, and three receptions in his three seasons. He's just, he's been a complete zero, even going

back to college throughout his NFL career. He's just been an early down grinder. And, you know, Basial Tutin's got real upsaw on passing downs. Getting the high value targets on passing downs is going to be very, very valuable for his role in fantasy this year. Liam Cohen last season designed the fifth most targets to his running backs out of the backfield screens, his running backs out of the backfield that was tied with the 49ers last year. So this is a real opportunity for Tutan to take a lot of the designed work that Travis Etienne took in the past. And for what it's worth, I mean, I don't think ETIN was a very, very good pass catcher.

I think he's kind of been miscast as like a really good pass catcher. I've always pushed back on that. Even going back to Clemson, I think he's, you know, he's an explosive player for sure, but is he is a great route runner? Probably not. And I think the same can be said for Bayshill Tutton. He's not going to be routing guys up out there, but he's, you know, He certainly has the yards after contact,

mist tackle force ability to take a design screen where he's got a big runway to the house. We saw that a little bit in that Bill's game there in the playoff loss for the Jags as well, Tutin, getting some space and hitting some big plays. I'm with Greg that I do think that this is probably a little more of a split backfield than most fantasy managers will want.

It might cap Tutin's upside, but I still think he's clearly going to be the lead back in more of like a 60-40 type split on early downs. He led this backfield in yards after contact, per attempt led this backfield and missed tack was forced per attempt last season as well. So we've seen the small sample efficiency with Tutin. Now it's just all about truly, you know, kind of marrying these two things up and playing more this season.

I teased it just a moment ago, Greg. We got to talk through the Colts and some Josh Downs coach speak. There's been some very, very bullish quotes from Shane Steichen this offseason about, you know, what Downs' role is going to be. We want him to play more. It seems like in 12 personnel, this is the opposite of the Jaden Reed effect. Stephen Holder, one of the Colts beatwriters, was just saying yesterday that Downs has looked fantastic in practices, and he was speculating still that they signed a wide receiver, which has got to be a part of this discussion here for the Colts because between Alec Pierce's injury this off season and they're just general lack of depth. This is a team that we've kind of tabbed as like maybe a Stefan Diggs or Keenan Allen landing spot.

But let's talk through Downs and exactly what Stuyken has said. and then we'll kind of marry it up with whether or not the Colts should sign a wide receiver. Early in this, like very early in this off season, they asked Shane Steichen if Josh Downs could play in 12 personnel, if he could play on the outside. And he said, we're going to try it out in the spring. We're going to put them out there on the outside. And, you know, we'll just kind of see what happens.

And then we finally get a couple quotes from Shane Steichen that make it sound like, okay this this is actually have it's the Michael Scott meme of all right it's happening let's everybody let's go stay calm everybody stay calm except we're not staying calm where i'm getting very excited about it on july 28th uh Shane Steichen was asked how much he's thought about getting Josh Downs more involved in the offense this year Steikin said uh that Josh Downs is a tremendous football player I'm excited for him going into the season getting him involved any way we can whether it's in 12 personnel. Obviously he plays a lot in the slot in 11 personnel,

but just trying to find different ways to get him the ball. We'll go through that process in training camp and during game week preps, but we're excited for him this year. So that's a pretty good quote. And then the next day, even better, Stuyken says we're excited about Josh Downs right now. Obviously a guy that can play inside and outside for us now

and his role is going to improve for us this season, which we're excited about. So yeah, I think Josh Downs, does play in in 12 personnel and I would say if it if it got to the point where they're like man he's he's getting bullied on the outside it's it's not quite working out as much as we want I think we would just see them go and really lean into 11 personnel just making sure that whatever we have to do josh downs has to be on the field and and chris ballard loves him as well by the way as far as bringing in another receiver.

Their general manager, Chris Ballard, was asked on July 28th, whether he's considering bringing in a vet receiver, and Ballard said we will. I don't think right now, but at some point we'll evaluate and probably talk through some of those guys. Yeah, I think they want to get a look at just some of the deeper roster options they have between Ash and Dooley and Anthony Gold. But yeah, you're right.

I mean, they've got to sign a wide receiver. All these quotes from Stuyken that Greg just mentioned, are very bullish, though. If they do sign a wide receiver and they want to get downs on the field more, he's going to have to play more in, you know, two tight end, 12 personnel sets. Obviously, Stuyken is one of the most multiple coaches in the league. He loves to mix and match 11 and 12. I think one of the things I'm most excited about with Downs in this offense is Stuyken is one of the best coaches in football, Greg,

utilizing motion and utilizing coach, you know, kind of utilizing motion to get his players in the right spot to succeed. And I think downs is the kind of the flanker motion man in this office. offense is very, very intriguing to me. Downs is, you know, in terms of ADP, he is not come up enough. In Sharper Leagues, FFPC and FFC, he has come up from like the 110s in ADP into the 90s, but in managed leagues, his consensus ADP, Greg, is still, you know, well into the 110s, especially in PPR leagues. I think Downs makes a lot of sense as your wide receiver 3 or wide receiver 4. There's some downside risk with this Colts offense for sure.

Daniel Jones coming back from the Achilles injury. We got to expect a little regression after they ran so hot on touchdowns. Our guy, Rich Rebar, he had some awesome stats on, you know, kind of what we should expect from the Colts on this, in terms of regression on our show a few weeks to go back and go back and listen to that pod if you have not already. But yeah, I'm very in on Josh Downs. I was very in on Josh Downs last year.

That did not work out so well because he had the ankle injury. And then Michael Pittman was a huge part of the offense as was Tyler Warren. But they're going to have no option but to play downs more this season. player that we're very bullish on here at fantasy points. We'll pivot back over to some more backfield talk. Pretty much the rest of the show is going to be backfield breakdowns. The Rams this season are kind of interesting, man, because last year, Kyron Williams lost the goal line role. I think this is one of the biggest things that I saw just looking into the weeds of what this offense was last season. The Rams kind of rotated possessions, you know, between their backfield last season.

Kairn would get the first two drives. Then they'd bring Korem onto the field for that third drive. The biggest thing to me, though, is, is Kyran losing the goal line role. In years past, he was pushing a 70, 80 percent share of carries inside the five. Last year, that dripped all the way down into the 50s. Blake Quorum was getting close to, you know, 40 percent of the carries inside the five. Greg, I'm curious if any Sean McVeigh quotes have kind of caught your, caught your ears a little bit on this backfield here. Yeah, Sean McVeigh on July 25th, talking about Blake Quorum said, quote, he's a stud and he's going to be a big factor in what we're going to do this year and love everything he's about, end quote.

On August 3rd, McVeigh was asked whether there are any players that he thinks have really stepped up. And McVeigh named two offensive players, Terrence Ferguson and Blake Corum. And then McVeigh stated that quorum is only getting better and better. I think as the season went on last year, I believe at some point they, they, they, they, they, they started going kind of drive for drive where initially it was two for kairn williams one for blake quorum and quorum kind of slowly started to to eat into that he's earned a lot of trust from sean mcvay mcvay is starting to talk about him the same way that he's been talking about

kairn williams in years past this that july 25th quote when he was talking about blake quorum in the past i i don't know if there was a single time in the past where he was asked about Blake Corum and did not end up just unprompted talking about Kyron Williams at some point during his answer. He did not bring up Kyron Williams this time when talking about Blake Corum. So I think we're going to see a pretty even split between those two backs this season. Yeah, Sean McVeigh loves Karen Williams like a son. I truly believe that. But yeah, I think his hand has been forced. Blake Corum played significantly better last year. And I'm with Greg. I think Corum ends up being a big thorn in Kyron Williams' fantasy football value this season.

In the third round, man, I just can't do it with Kyron. I think he's an easy fade in that spot. He's being completely overvalued. I think people are kind of going back to his old role in this offense where he gets the bulk of the goal and carries. That just was not the case last year. And the big thing to me is there's really like no floor value kind of like booing his, you know, fantasy value for Kyron this year.

Man, the Rams have been at the bottom of the league and reception. to the running backs in three straight years. They've ranked 32nd or 31st and running back receptions in three straight seasons. So there's really no like floor boost for Kyron Williams in that regard. There should be a much tighter spread on Kyron and Blake Corum's AEP. I have it ranked that way and we're kind of projecting it out that way here at Fantasy Points as well. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025.

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for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Speaking of there should be maybe tighter spreads on ADP, we've got to talk through this Patriot's backfield as well. Trevion Henderson's going on the fifth round. Remandre Stevenson consistently going kind of in that seventh round pocket on most platforms. You know, last year, Remondri and Trevion played in 17 games, and Remandre completely, you know, took over the early down rushing role. Greg, he was playing more on passing downs.

And we've heard, at least I've read, you know, throughout training camp from some of the beatwriters that Henderson is still struggling in pass protection. I'm curious if any quotes from Josh McDaniels or Mike Brable has kind of, of caught your eye this summer reading through this Patriots backfield listening to the press conferences has anything kind of stood out to you on what we should expect between the split between Trevion Henderson and Romandre this year. Yeah, if you scroll through the New England Patriots thread in the Coach Speak Index Discord, what you will discover is that the Patriots coaching staff loves Romandre Stevenson, like truly loves this guy. And so this quote from Josh

McDaniels was actually before the Super Bowl. was on January 22nd. He said that Ramandre Stevenson's ability to block blitzes and protect the quarterback has allowed him to play a role as a pass catcher. He's got a broad route tree, really good hands, and a really good understanding of what to do to help the quarterback and be friendly to him. Then when talking about the passing game in a July 30th presser, Mike Brable mentioned Hunter Henry, the receivers, and Ramondre Stevenson. In that same press conference, Vrable was asked about Treyfion Henderson's past protection, and Vrable talked about Henderson's need to be able to

recognize where the pressure is coming from in disguise, defensive looks. And then Vrable said, I love the way that Ramandre protects, and Trevion is continuing to work on that. I think these ADPs maybe should be flipped a little bit. At least, Travion should be going later. Ramandre Stevenson should definitely be going earlier. I've got a lot of him in drafts this season. They trust this guy.

And that's very big to a coaching staff, especially when you have a franchise quarterback like Drake May. You have to protect him. And it's not just about the past protection. Ramandre Stevenson led all running backs and rushing yards over expectation per attempt in 2025, had one of the highest explosive play rates at the position last year, forced more mistackles per attempt than Trayvion Henderson did.

It nearly doubled him up in that department. Stevenson's yards after contact per attempt, much higher, yards per route run, also much higher, as was his success rate. And again, going back to the pass protection, man, that's so important to any team, but it's especially important to Josh McDaniels and to Mike Vrabel. So it's, it might be wheels up again for Romandre this year. He's probably going to keep the gold line role. He has better vision than Treveon Hendon. people are just like kind of wanting to force traeion Henderson to be a thing and I get it he was he was very he had like 1100 total yards or something last year a lot of that was when remandre stevenson

was out okay so let's let's include that when we're talking about that stat yeah about a third of his rushing yards to Greg's point came in those three or four games that remandre either got hurt or he missed completely I think the biggest factor to me and everything that Greg just kind of laid out to me is the pass down role. They trust Ramandre in pass protection in a way that they don't with Trevionn Henderson. Sneakishly, this Patriots offense, Greg, they were fifth most pass heavy last year by pass rate over expectation. This is a team that's going to throw the ball. McDaniels kind of turned the keys over to Drake May last year.

And if they don't trust Trevion and pass pro, man, like, bro, they're not going to play them. They're not going to play them. They're going to play Romandre. And it's kind of the same thing that we just talked about a little bit go with the Jags backfield is like having a little bit of that, you know, kind of mirroring your concepts between the run in the past, not wanting to give a defense of a tell, you know, based on who's in the backfield, don't want to give a defense to tell them what the play call is. Romandre gives the Patriots that. Bro, he's super boring. You know, nobody's going to

ooh and on your fantasy league when you take Ramondri in the seventh round, but I'm with Greg that he's one of the best values on the board right now. Patriots offense going to regress year over year by implied points per game. They're one of the most regression prone teams by projections this year. To me, that really is going to hurt this backfield, but it might hurt Trevion Henderson even more because he is not going to play as much as we want in the past game. I think that's one of the keys of this off season. And certainly, certainly one of the keys of the show is the quotes from McDaniels and this coaching staff, just how much they love Romandre. continuing our theme of muddy backfields, Greg.

I'm picking your brain on these muddy backfields, picking your brain on everything you've read from the quotes and press conferences this off season. The Steelers have a new coaching staff. Mark McCarthy is replacing Arthur Smith as the play caller of the Steelers, and he brought in his guy, Rico Dowdell. Dowdell was McCarthy's guy back. His last season on the Cowboys,

Dowdell had that kind of breakout season, went over 1,000 yards that year. He brings them into the Steelers. I'm curious if you've read any kind of interesting, maybe newsworthy quotes on this backfield split and what we should expect between Dowdell and Jalen Warren. I think it'll probably be pretty even between these two. Mike McCarthy is referred to Rico Dowdell as a four-down player and an excellent third downback. He's also talked about how smart Dowdell is.

We also got a lot of that from the coaching staff in Carolina last year. I don't know if you remember there's this one play. and I believe the Panthers or NFL network, somebody put out this clip of it last year after it happened, but Rico Dowdell noticed something in the defense that they were playing against in this game last year. And he goes to the coaching staff. He's like, he points it out to him, right?

Because I guess the coaching staff didn't recognize it. And sometimes it's easier for the players who were on the field to recognize that. And it ended up in, I believe, like a 30-yard touchdown reception. for him and Canales was just raving about like how intelligent he is, how he's able to recognize stuff. Rico Dowdell used to be a quarterback. Mike McCarthy has talked about that and how that allows him to kind of see the game a little bit differently. And then maybe most importantly, McCarthy is in the past called Rico Dattle a bowling ball full of butcher knives. So you would imagine that

McCarthy as the offensive play caller is going to utilize that profile when the Steelers, get down to the goal line. And then McCarthy said several times this offseason about how great of a fit battle is with Jalen Warren, how these two backs complement each other and how great of a combo. They are. I don't think they're super interested in being like, okay, it has to be this one guy. They talk about how interchangeable they are, how they can both be on the field, whatever down it is.

So if the offense is moving, they don't have to take a guy out. They just keep rolling. Same kind of thing. If somebody gets, gets injured, then it's like, okay, we don't,

we lose the player, but we don't actually lose that much as an offense. So I think we see a pretty decent split here. I do think that RICO Dowdell, you know, football intelligence is, is good, not only with McCarthy,

but especially with Aaron Rogers, right? Someone who's so particular about, about assignments and, and just on, intelligence. I do think Jalen Warren is a very good running back, but Rico Dattle is no slouch. He's a pretty decent running back in his own right. Do I think Jalen Warren is a better running back? Yes, I do. But what is most important is what the coaching staff thinks and how Aaron Rogers

feels about these guys. Jalen Warren can do the third down stuff. He wasn't tasked with it last year and it was a different coaching staff but it was Aaron Rogers there and uh you know Kenny gainwell got got a lot of that work so maybe it does end up being uh being Jalen Warren that plays more third downs but it could it could also just be like kind of a drive by drive thing right and and and then you're just banking on like okay which which which which drive ends in in points and whichever back is out on the field for that drive will we'll hit your lineup Jaylen Warren is going to get the Kenny Gainwell role from last season, Greg, which is exciting to me. Like you noted, he really didn't play that much on third downs last year because Gainwell was in that role.

I think for PPR and full PPR leagues, like, that makes a ton of sense to me. But, yeah, I have Rico Dowdow, ahead of Warren because I do believe he leads this team in early down carries. I've gone back and forth on this backfield. I think one of these two players is going to end up being maybe not a league winning value, but a very strong value, somebody that we can maybe rely on as like a low-end RB2, a really strong flex play. Dowdell's, you know, early-down ability mixed with the fact that, I mean, he's got 39

catches over the last two seasons. He does have some bell cow upside. And this is Mike McCarthy's guy. The bowling ball full of butcher knives quote, man, that's like, you can't get any more bullish of a quote than that, man, for a running back. There's no more bullish quote than that. Maybe if he said it was, it's shot out of a rocket launcher.

And he's a, he's got butcher. knives attached to his rocket, then yeah, sure. That is about as bullies as it gets. This will be a split backfield. I'm with Greg on that, but we are, you know, we're looking at, you know, fine margins, small edges in this kind of seventh, eighth round pocket where both backs are going. And I do think Dattle, and just in terms of Belcal upside, he's got just a little edge there on Warren. We'll pivot over to the Niners here before we talk Washington's backfield. The Niners picked up Debo Samuel. Obviously, Ricky Pearsall is going to have season ending PCL surgery. It's going to be a nine to 12th month recovery process for him.

Unfortunately, Pearsall has just been just bitten by the injury bug, man. Super unlucky for the last couple of years for Pearsall. They signed Debo Samuel. They bring in Desaun Shribling, who's become, you know, kind of a best ball hero. You know, he was going very, very cheap earlier this off season and kind of the 180s and 190s. He's really screamed up in price into the 140s and 150s. Now to a point where he's like, actually got to be, you know, productive.

You don't necessarily need that production. out of him what he's going super late. I've got to pick your brain a little bit of what they've said about Debo. Have they said anything about Deshaun Stribbling and his role, kind of in this post-Ricky Pearsall world that the Niners now have to live in? Yeah, I'll start with the Debo quotes. John Lynch on August 1st said that they had been talking to Debo for about a month and said, quote, you're going to see him in the return game.

You're going to see him at some receiver. You're going to see him at some running back. We're going to use them all over the field. We're really excited to have Debo back. We have a lot of history with him. We know the type of player he is. He looks to be in really good shape, end quote. And then the interim head coach Chris Furster on July 31st said,

when the ball is in Debo Samuel's hands, there's a lot of special things that he can do. So you find as many different ways to get the ball in his hands so he can impact the game in a special way. We'll look at that and obviously have as many ways as we can to involve him in the game plan. and then let me pull up real quick what Chris Furster said about Deshawn Stribling on This is July 31st. They asked him what he's seen from stribling

Firster said quote I love him He's very mature for a young guy. He's learned the book. He's learned the formations He does things right. He makes plays. He's fast. He's physical. He's got really really good hands The guy's just outstanding Everything that are scouting staff and positions and coaches evaluated him as just seemed to be coming true. It's early. He's got a long way to go, but for early, he's doing so many things very well. It's impressive, end quote. And they had previously talked about, I think was John Lynch and maybe Kyle Shanahan as well. I know offensive

coordinator Clay Kubiak have also talked about how he was one of their gold helmet guys for the NFL draft. And for them, the gold helmet is more like, you know, kind of intangibles and meeting room stuff and in locker room and like how quickly can a guy pick up on things how hard uh is he going to work and like basically can can can he pick it up immediately and be a factor for us and they were very very high on stribling and everything that we've heard uh from them and from reports is that yeah man this you can you can talk about his prospect profile and what he was in college. I know some people are down on him, but this is a guy who whatever his potential is, he will fulfill that. He's going to have to fulfill it because at this

point, you know, Christian Kirk's dealing with a calf injury. He's been nicked up. Mike Evans is, you know, always good for a yearly hamstring strain. This 49ers team after the Pierce ol injury, really, they had to have some depth. It's interesting to hear you say that we're talking to Debo for a month. I think that is pretty bullish for him and what his role is going to be in this offense. He's going to kind of block stribling, I think, as long as all of these guys are healthy, of course, this is the 49ers caveat here. If everybody stays healthy, which none of them ever do, if they do stay healthy, I do fully expect Mike Evans leads to this team by far in route share, then Debo, then stribling. There's been some kind of buzz that Kirk might not make the team.

I don't know if that's necessarily going to be the case anymore, especially after Pearsall got hurt. but yeah, Stribling has been lauded for his blocking potential in this offense. I think that obviously will really matter to Shanahan. If he is a good blocker, that's one of the things he loved about Joanne Jennings in the past, is just how good of a blocker he was. So if Stribling kind of come in and, you know,

make some waves in the past game as well as the run game as a blocker, it certainly will get him onto the field. I still think he's really only like kind of like a best ball only pick. Debo Samuel might have some like low-end wide receiver three value. To me, I think the big key is just, just getting George Kittle back and getting him back in the fold early in September. He should lead this team in targets this season. I'm fully expecting Kittle and Evans to be the top two at receiver with Christian McCaffrey,

probably just chalking it up to another 100 targets for McCaffrey this year. It's crazy that it's crazy that McAfri is the only healthy player on this team as we stand here on August 4th. It's so nuts. Send all these guys to Germany to get some stem cell injections. You're not lying. It obviously worked for McCaffrey. It worked very well for him after he had the bilateral Achilles issue there last year. McCaffrey did lose maybe a little bit of a step to my eye,

but the role is going to be so freaking good for him this season once again. All right, Greg, we'll finish up here with a Washington backfield breakdown. We potentially have three players here in the mix. I'm curious if you've read anything interesting, anything fantasy managers need to know from new offensive coordinator, David Blow. he's taking over from Cliff Kingsbury last season. They've got kind of a new look backfield here. They signed Rashad White on a one-year deal.

They draft Ketron Allen late. They bring back to Corey Kroski-Mert. What should we kind of expect? Has Blow said anything to kind of tip his hand on what the roles are going to be here? So right after Blow was named offensive coordinator, he stated that he's incredibly confident in what Bill Kroski-Mirit can be in this league as a starting running back. but then this offseason they have talked about and especially Dan Quinn have talked about this backfield as being an open competition.

Quinn was asked on June 18th whether he feels like he has to have a main guy at running back. Quinn said I think it's probably some main guys in certain parts where it's maybe not going to be one person the entire time. I don't know yet, but I think will for sure be more than just one. They love Rashad White in the passing game. They've been talking so much about his hands and how good he is in that area and that he has really stood out during the offseason. They are working on the past game stuff with Kroski Merritt, both the past catching and the past protection. If he were able to get that stuff down, I think he would be the number one running back there. As a runner, I think he clearly has the most juice in that backfield.

they're kind of trying to make him a thing they're they're they're seeing if he can be uh just a a guy who can be on the field all the time for them whether it works out you know we'll we'll see maybe we'll see in the in the in the preseason how he's handling pass protection and if if if they're using him in the past game there but um yeah it's it's a it's a it's a really tough backfield to figure out. It is a very tough backfield. I think that's the one thing I can't keep coming back to is, yeah, Jacoy Crosky Merritt is probably the best early down runner in this offense, but it's a little bit like how we talked about with Chris Rodriguez and the Jags backfield just a moment ago. It's like, if they really want to try to like kind of, you know, disguise what play is coming, to me, Rashad White

is that guy because he's such a good pass catcher. White did have his best season, at least underneath the hood on yards after contact, mistack was forced last season. That was last, last year was his best year yet. So if you can kind of build off of that in a new scheme, new system, I do think there's some sneaky bell cow upside with Rashad White in a way that there's just probably not with your Corey Kroski Merritt. But to Greg's point, this could be just like a complete scratch your head backfield. And every single week, we're kind of just like looking at these guys as like low end flex plays. I think a second point finally to make this on this on this backfield here is Jaden Daniels is going to take goal line carries. He's probably going to get about a quarter to 30 percent of the

goal line work. Obviously last year. Daniels was never fully healthy. He couldn't really be himself. But in his rookie season, that's where he was. He was getting about 25 to 30 percent of the carries inside the five, which could kind of hurt the touchdown upside for this backfield as a whole. I've been drafting Rashad White. Just like I said, I think he does have some sneaky bell cow upside. Mainly is just, you know, he's got the passing down upside in a way that Jacourri Kroski Merritt probably does not. Greg, this has been fantastic, man, an hour of Coach Speak Index. Follow him on Twitter at Coach Speak Index.

Greg, thanks so much for coming on, man. Thank you so much for the invite. This was a blast. Yeah, good hour right there. Fantasy football knowledge dropped. If you have not already subscribed to the YouTube channel, if you're listening to us on YouTube, you need to correct that right now,

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