Fantasy Football Today - 05/20: Prisco's Breakouts, Underrated Rookies, Falcons Interview (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 21, 2019

Kicking it off with an email about Tyler Lockett (3:20) and if we're giving him enough respect. Then we review Pete Prisco's 2019 breakouts (7:50). Kerryon Johnson? Josh Allen? Who else made the list? Can Antonio Callaway outplay Jarvis Landry? ... Find out who won the NFL Draft Podcast League contest (19:30), and be treated to another fun round of Fill in the Blank (21:30). Then Jamey gives us the rookies who are under the radar right now (25:50) but shouldn't be for much longer. And of course we react to the Game of Thrones finale (39:00) ... Matt Tabeek of AtlantaFalcons.com joins the show (46:00)! Matt talks to us about the ATL backfield, if Julio Jones will catch more TD passes than Calvin Ridley (he didn't last year), the amazing Game of Thrones Falcons schedule release and much more ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. We're always looking for breakouts in fantasy football.

We've got a list of breakouts from Pete Prisco. We don't have Pete Prisco on, but we do have a lot of water and we already have to drink quite a bit. Welcome to the show on Tuesday, May 21st. Yeah, we're going to look at Prisco's breakouts. We have an interview at the end of the show with Matt Tabik of AtlantaFalcons.com. We're going to ask him some questions about, you know, Devontae Freeman, Calvin Ridley, Julio Jones. Who's going to catch more touchdowns? Ridley or Jones? Last year it was Ridley.

We already recorded the interview, and it was awesome. So if you want some Falcons insight, stay tuned for that. Dave and Jamie are here, but Heath Cummings is back, and he's a little sick. How are you feeling? I was here last week, right? I don't remember. I think that I'm just as back as everyone else.

I think what you're referring to is Heath was not part of the interview with Tabik, so that's why he feels like he's back. Also true. Wait, you were here last week for both episodes? I was here for one episode, the Ben Bolin episode. Okay. But I was just not part of the interview, but I was here for the first part of that episode. Why don't you ever

want to be on the interviews? Don't you know he's not a people person? I'm not. I don't really like talking to other people. I hate talking to you. Yeah. But that's the best thing about the interviews. Four people interviewing one guy seems like a lot. I don't talk that much during the interviews.

Some news. Oh, what do we got? Tyler Croft broke his foot yesterday. That's not good. Nope. For him. First day of OTAs. We'll have surgery to fix it.

Reuben Foster tours ACL. Multiple reports. First day of OTAs. Yeah. Foster surgery to fix it. Reuben Foster towards ACL. Multiple reports. First day of OTAs. Yeah. Foster, one I knew about. Any fantasy impact with Tyler Croft? Ryan Griffin's available. Yes.

Wait a minute. They drafted Dawson Knox. Another rookie tight end to take late on draft day? He'll be the best one to watch. I don't think you should draft Dawson Knox. By the way, Tyler Croft's on the bills's Creek. He's on the Bills now. Maybe the Bills can be on hard knocks now. Email of the day.

Let's start with an email. Alright, so here's the deal. Right now, it's a bit of a dead zone in football coverage. It is. Two players are out for the year in the last 24 hours. Hopefully that's it. Hopefully no more. Dead zone.

Julian Edelman got an extension. Cooper Cup is on the way back. If you want to debate us. Raven signed Michael Floyd. Come on, guys. I mean, we just got Matt Tabik to dish on the Falcons. You're going to hear about that. If you want to debate us, that is true.

That's why we're getting these guest interviews. Please send in some emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. You have rankings questions or anything, bold proclamations, anything that's not a keeper question or a dynasty question. I'll read some of those, but interesting talking points that all the people can enjoy, send them in. Did we get any fill-in-the-blank questions? Yes, we did.

Did we still have the voicemail, too? What's the voicemail? Where people can leave you voicemails. No, we don't have that. We got rid of that? Everybody shut up and let me read this email it's a dead time it's from con dear clara bell penny wise and false stop false staff clown you're gonna die clown okay uh can you please talk for a brief minute about your recent comments regarding Tyler Lockett? I'm not super high on him, but I just heard Dave and a Seattle reporter say that they would take Calvin Ridley over Tyler Lockett.

Don't most receivers make their major leap in year three, not year two like Calvin Ridley? And won't he be competing with Muhammad Sanu for targets? Isn't Lockett the veteran and the primary target on his team? Good question. Well, I don't think targets are the reason that you want to make the argument for Tyler Lockett over Calvin Ridley because Ridley had more targets than Lockett did last year. I think that'll be closer, though, this year.

I think it'll be relatively close. I wouldn't be surprised if Lockett had more. I just don't think Lockett can be as efficient as he was last year, especially in terms of touchdown. I don't think Iverman will. It's very, very close. Do we feel like they're the same kind of fantasy option where they're – obviously last year, very touchdown-dependent, double digits for both of them, maybe big play-dependent as well.

Do we feel like they're similar in that regard? Maybe even their games are similar in that regard. One thing that was different is I believe Ridley was actually used in the red zone. Tyler Lockett scored a bunch of touchdowns and almost all of them were from outside the 20. Yeah. I do think there's going to be a separation though in how they're used because if the reports are accurate that they're going to move Lockett to the slot, that will obviously

open up a lot of things for what we would like to see from his game. Look, I mean, you know, show that you're more than just a deep threat and a big play guy. So do you all take Ridley over Lockett? I have Ridley over Lockett. Not me. I would take Lockett over Ridley. I have Ridley over Lockett, but they're almost back to back. All right.

Thank you for the email. Good stuff. Appreciate it. News and notes. Ezekiel Elliott was handcuffed but not arrested in Las Vegas. Has anyone else ever been handcuffed but not arrested? I haven't. That was a really weird video, the TMZ video.

It was just – I'm guessing you have, Heath. Oh, I have. You have. I have been handcuffed but not arrested. Did it hurt? No, he was gentle. It seems like people still feel like they're in pain when they're handcuffed.

That's good to know. I've been in the back of a squad car, but not arrested. I've lived a very boring life. Nothing like that. Patrick Peterson is suspended six games for violating the PED policy. The first six games of the season for Arizona are Detroit, at Baltimore, Carolina, Seattle at Cincinnati, and at Atlanta. I already made Marquis Brown the start of the week for the Baltimore game.

Week two start of the week. Yep. That's Galladay, A.J. Green, and Julio Jones in that stretch. Not too bad. And Tyler Lockett. Darius Geis is expected to be ready for training camp. Houston released tight end Ryan Griffin. Baltimore signed Michael Floyd.

Redemption year for him. Washington linebacker Reuben Foster. Sorry, sorry. Michael Floyd started the week. Revenge game, too. Yes, perfect. Okay, yeah. Reuben Foster out for the season for Washington.

He's going to be a starting linebacker for them, most likely. Ben Roethlisberger did say that he went too far with his criticism of Antonio Brown. Yes. Tampa Bay is releasing Gerald McCoy. Cincinnati is moving left tackle Cordy Glenn to left guard. That clears the way for Jonah Williams,

the 11th overall pick to play left tackle for the Bengals. And a nice report from Pewter Report that Brashad Perryman is in rhythm early with Jameis Winston. Dead period, like I said. Nothing going on. Carson Wentz has no limitations on his back.

I don't know why I didn't put that in the notes. I feel like I've done too many Carson Wentz updates, but that is good. All the negative ones. The first one that's positive, you leave that one out. Has Cam Newton thrown a football yet? I don't believe so. No.

Remember, we were freaking out about that with Andrew Luck. Took him a long time to throw. He was throwing like Nerf balls. If I recall, we weren't really freaking out at this point in the year. Sure. But once training camp started and he wasn't throwing, That's when we got an upset tummy. And it took him a little while. I mean, he played great, but it took him a while to start throwing the ball downfield.

Andrew Luck last year. So it's worth looking at with Cam. So Pete Prisco's breakouts also fill in the blank. Jamie's under the radar rookies. Big part of today's show. And we're going to reveal who's in the podcast league based on the nfl draft contest heath didn't think i would do it over the weekend and he was right i did it last night pete prisco's breakouts only four offensive players dalvin cook and carry on johnson are

the running backs josh allen as the quarterback and antonio calloway is the wide receiver it's kind of a strange loves Antonio Callaway you know funny thing is Ben Gretch who was in here for a couple of days a couple weeks ago actually was talking about how much he liked Antonio Callaway's possibilities in this offense he's a best ball receiver for sure he thinks he could fill that uh Deshaun Jackson role in the uh in the offense well uh having done the video with Pete already, and I think we talked about this on one of our shows, he thinks Callaway can be nine touchdowns. So let's start with Callaway.

In two years? No, this year. He thinks that he can score a punch. Okay. Well, obviously, there was some encouragement. Just to let you know, Baker's going for 104 touchdowns this year. Right. You know, okay, I'm's going for 104 touchdowns this year. Right. You know, okay, I'm just looking at Callaway's game log.

Last six games after their bye, he had two games with only one target and no yards. So those are bad. The other four games, he had five to seven targets. He scored in PPR 16, 9, 14, and 17 fantasy points. So Callaway finished strong. He is very talented. But now they have Beckham.

So is there a scenario where, if we just assume that Beckham's going to be good, is there a scenario where three receivers are good or it's Jarvis Landry or Callaway? One of them is going to be good. If Callaway scores nine touchdowns, he's going to score more fantasy points than Jarvis Landry or Callaway, one of them is going to be good. If Callaway scores nine touchdowns, he's going to score more fantasy points than Jarvis Landry. Yeah, I think this is more of a NFL breakout than a fantasy breakout.

And Pete's argument is he's going to average close to 18 yards per catch. So he's going to be just – think of Tyler Lockett as a rookie. Think of Deshaun Jackson. Deshaun Jackson. Deshaun Jackson. You know, any of these guys that just have splash plays, like best ball scenarios are perfect. Daily scenarios are perfect for Callaway. Seasonal fantasy leagues, probably not so much because he'll be the type of guy that you add off waivers

because no one's going to draft him, let's repeat. And then he'll have that big splash play week. You'll run to the waiver wire to get him, and then he'll have what you said, Adam, one target and won't do anything with it. I think the real key for him and for Landry, because I think this comes from what happened in Tampa Bay with Todd Monken and how we had Adam Humphreys get a lot of targets. Sean Jackson still had some big games.

Mike Evans was still the number one. I don't know if they're going to throw the ball 625 times like the Bucs did last year. Or like the Bucs have had the last couple years. I think they're going to be pretty good, and they've got a very good running back, which the Bucs didn't have. So that might be the only reason. I do think there's good possibility for Galloway to have some big games.

But the Steelers threw the ball a ton also, and they had a good running back and a good running game. Now, the defense is probably comparable. I mean, I would think Cleveland's probably a little bit better than where the Steelers finished last year. So I think that's probably a better offense. I know you're using the mock in comparison, obviously, because he's the office coordinator.

But if you're just looking at explosive offenses with complete package, the Browns and Steelers sort of mirror each other because of how their receiving core should operate. But again, it's, you know, can three receivers and a tight end be sustainable with a strong run game? That's the problem that I think Callaway faces. Is there how good of a possibility

0-10 possibility-o-meter that he's just better that Callaway's just better than Jarvis Landry? He's their number two guy. There will be riots in the locker room if that's the case. Just because of how Landry will probably complain,

and then Beckham will probably support him. Or is it done by Jarvis Landry goes out and he has four catches for 65 yards, and that's a nice contribution, and Callaway catches one pass for 29 yards, and it's a touchdown. I would put it at... I don't know if there would be that much fighting. 3.5 on the possibility-o-meter. Thank you, Heath. Thank you for playing the game.

You're very good at that. What Heath was saying, I've given this stat before, but I'll give it again. Baker Mayfield, he won five games with Freddie Kitchens as his head coach. In those five games, he threw 20, 26, 22, 31, and 37 passes. So didn't throw a lot. Production was really good.

He had 13 touchdowns in those games, but did not throw a lot. So they got into a take the lead, run the ball kind of mentality. And the losses under Kitchens were a lot. That was also, though, just to evaluate it, that it was Kitchens learning to be a play caller on the fly. And without a guy in monken to his point also of an aggressive play caller that will just have an influence on what kitchens will do and without beckham and without beckham you know so they're gonna you know i think it's

one of those things where it's it's that's i'm sure how they would like to operate if it's just trying to get w's but i also think there's going to be some want to, and I got this impression of Freddie Kitchens in the couple times I've been around him. There's also, I think the, the, the want to have some style points.

Remember he's a Bruce Arians guy. So that, that, that I think influence will play a role. Any beef with the Dalvin cook or carry on Johnson breakout calls from Pete? None. Yeah. Stay healthy, both of you.

Don't do anything stupid. That's it. Yeah. And listen, the Lions still have a crowded backfield. CJ Anderson's there. Theo Riddick's there. I am hoping that what they saw in the limited amount of time that Kerryon Johnson was as close to a featured back as he got last season was enough to convince them that he should

maintain that role. Sometimes coaches do things that drive fantasy managers like us crazy. And I'm hoping that that's not the case here. I'm hoping Theo Riddick doesn't even make the team. And that it's just two guys and it's Karrion getting most of the work and C.J. Anderson

getting eight to ten touches per week. That would be a dream. Does Dalvin Cook have the potential to be in that top five running back group, those five studs, if you include Melvin Gordon? Does he have that potential? Absolutely. I feel like he's just shy of that. Just a little bit.

With all the other weapons that they have on that offense, as much as Mike Zimmer wants to run the ball a lot, but they can't just ignore the investment in Cousins and the receivers. You think they're throwing the ball, they're running the ball 50 times. I mean, you could still be successful throwing the ball 30 times a game and not necessarily having to get away from the run game. The biggest question for me is how much of Latavius Murray's role does Madison get? I don't think it's going to be as much as it was by any stretch.

I disagree. It could be close. I think it'll be right about what it's been because they don't want Dalvin Cook to break down. Yeah, I don't agree with that. They can't give him 20 touches a week. Madison was one of the worst picks based on how he performed. What do you mean based on how he performed? I mean, he's a big slug.

He's Latavius Murray. Right, yeah. Oh, I don't think, no, he's not coming to take touches away from Dalvin Cook. I don't think he's going to be Latavius Murray's touches. Well, so the difficult part of answering this question is sort of when you look at the game log and really determining what they wanted to do when Dalvin Cook was healthy.

Because in 2017, in Dalvin Cook's rookie year, they more or less turned him loose in the first four games. Week two, he didn't have a ton of carries because they got blown out at Pittsburgh. Week four, I think he had 13 carries, but he tore his ACL halfway through the game. But basically in three of those four games, it was like workhorse.

It was 22 carries, 27 carries, and then 13 carries and a half. Now last year, you look at the game log, and I do think it's a little unclear because when they first, because they were playing very tentatively with him. Now, the game against the Rams, he had 10 carries. He missed the week before. I won't go

through the whole thing, but... That was by design, though. Yeah, exactly. That was by design. Week one, he had 16 carries. Just look at the last three games. Yeah, you look at the last four games, there were two games in there where Latavius Murray got big work. Both those games were blowout wins. So the way I interpreted when I looked at the game logs this morning

is that they really were featuring Dalvin Cook, maybe not as much as Melvin Gordon's going to get or Saquon Barkley's going to get, but Murray was sort of being phased out. He only got a lot of work, in my opinion, because they were crushing the Dolphins and the Lions in two of those games. Yeah, Dalvin Cook's the lead back, but they did use Murray as a goal line guy and as a finisher.

When they had a two-score lead in the fourth quarter and wanted to run it 15 times, Murray was the guy to do that. And I would say this year that it won't be Madison in that role. They're not going to give the rookie the touches at the goal line when they've got Dalvin Cook. No, if they've got Dalvin Cook, you trust him over Madison. Again, we'll hear from Matt Tabik a little bit. When you go out and get a big back

and try and improve your offensive line, which is two things Minnesota did, similar to what Atlanta did, it's because you want to be more physical and sort of impose your will. And so if Madison's going to be successful, it's going to be as a physical running back, which could be at the goal line, which could be in fourth quarter situations. I just don't

think he's a very good player. I think Dalvin Cook deserves the majority of touches there. And to me, drafting a player like Madison is a hope for what he could be. But I think if Dalvin Cook is right, he's going to be a 20-plus touch guy on a weekly basis. And

he has four rushing touchdowns in 207 career attempts. So that's weird, but he has 4.7 yards per carry, and he's really, really good. So we like Dalvin Cook. Last guy is Josh Allen, and I just think we're going to skip Josh Allen for now. Actually, why don't you guys give me 30 seconds of Josh Allen

breakout analysis. Sorry to be brief with it. Go ahead. I mean, if he runs like he did last year and gets better as a passer, he's going to be a star, but you have to downgrade the rushing and just hope the passing improves. They added not the best receivers around him,

and now he just lost one of those guys that was supposed to be a key contributor in Tyler Croft, but Cole Beasley and John Brown, they provide specific skill sets. Zay Jones is saying he got a little bit bigger this offseason. Hopefully Robert Foster is still a key contributor, which I think he will be. So it's putting guys around him that sort of fit what his ability should hopefully have. You know, Beasley is going to be asked to do a lot in terms of underneath routes,

especially if the tight end position is not ready. But this is still going to be a run first team. You know, they're not going to get away from what McCoy and hopefully Singletary can provide. And then seeing where Frank Orr and TJ Yeldon mix in. I think Josh Allen's one of those guys. You know, I mean, Adam, you talk about Jimmy Garoppolo. I think he's sort of in a similar situation. You know, somebody you can take as a second quarterback

that has the upside to be a top 10 guy. Cool. We're going to find out who's in the podcast league, do some fill in the blank, and talk about some under-the-radar rookies after this quick break on Fantasy Football today. Kick off an exciting football season with bet mgm an official sportsbook partner of the national football league yard after yard down after down the sportsbook born in vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight real

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job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. So who wants to... Dave, I want you to do it because you're fun. You know, you're good at doing it. You got your laptop there? I do. Okay. I want you to do it because you're fun. You're good at doing it. You got your laptop there? I do. Okay.

I want you to go to wheeldecide.com. W-H-E-E-L.com. Wheeldecide.com. More injury news in the dead time. Okay. The quarterback we were supposed to be worried about last year. Luck? Strained his calf.

That's fine. So, Dave, this is... Andrew Luck strained his calf? Strange as calf. That's fine. So, Dave, this is... Andrew Luck, strange as calf? Yes, but he'll be fine. Hope so. Dave, this is how I pick dinner sometime, but I can't decide what I want. I go to wheeldecide.com,

then go to modify wheel. See modify wheel? Yes. Okay, in the first line, you're going to put in Jason D. Jason D. Got it. Second line, you're going to put in Brian S.

Brian S. And that's it. Then you go to apply. Why don't we flip a coin? You're making me go to a website and put in names, and now I've got to spin a virtual wheel. It's a 50-50 shot. It's really fun.

Keith, give me a quarter. No. Come on. Do the wheel. Jamie, quarter? Nickel? Anybody has quarters anymore. Everything's on credit card.

Apply the wheel. Give me a credit card. It'll either land on one side or the wheel. Jamie, quarter? Nickel? Nobody has quarters anymore. Everything's on credit card. Apply the wheel changes. Give me a credit card. It'll either land on one side or the other. Only two people got seven correct answers. And I mean seven in order. Some people were like, hey, I got seven right. But they were out of order. That doesn't count.

It has to be in order. Did any of these guys – I think you should give – if anybody picked Farrell in their top ten, they should get it on that. I don't think they did. I'm just looking forward to the email that comes like five minutes after the podcast is released. I got seven in a row and Adam realizing he missed someone. No, because I gave them time to email me. If they haven't done it by then, I'm sorry. You had weeks.

You had a month almost. Dave, who's it going to be? Is it going to be Jason or Brian? All right. I'm spinning the wheel now. Anybody want to watch me do this thing so you know I'm not cheating? No, nobody does. I used this for dinner last night.

What were your choices for dinner? Shrimp or chicken. All right, wheel is spinning. It has landed. Congratulations to Brian. Oh, Brian! Brian, welcome to the Podcast League. Seven correct guesses in the top ten.

So what happens to Jason? He's not in, I'm sorry. He got my spot. Welcome to the Podcast League. Seven correct guesses in the top ten. And that is... So what happens to Jason? He's not in. I'm sorry. He can have my spot. No. Let's fill in the blank. Jamie said our listeners can do better than Adam.

So I'm sure he's right. No name on this one. I would rather draft blank in the third round than blank in the first round. Could mean a player or a position. I would rather draft blank in the third round than blank in the first round. Could mean a player or a position. I would rather draft blank in the third round than blank in the first round. I like Damian Williams, but not in the first round. No, no, no. You'd rather draft Damian Williams in the third round than Melvin Gordon in the first round.

Something like that. No, no, no. I like who I would take in the first round. That's why I'm taking them in the first round. Okay, but would you rather take Damian Williams in the third round than Joe Mix take in the first round. That's why I'm taking them in the first round. Okay, but would you rather take Damian Williams in the third round than Joe Mixon in the first round? No, give me Mixon. Does anybody want to fill in the blank then accurately?

I'd rather have, based on potential average opposition, I'd rather have Keenan Allen in the third round than Antonio Brown in the first round. You know Antonio Brown's not going to the first round. Yes, he is. I'd rather take anybody in the third round than Patrick Mah going to the first round. Yes, he is. I'd rather take anybody in the third round than Patrick Mahomes in the first round. You know he's not going to the first round.

You're not playing the game right. Okay, I'd rather have... This isn't that good of a point question. I'd rather have Damian Williams in the fourth round than Todd Gurley in the first round. What if it was Damian Williams in the third round? No, I wouldn't have either one. What if I made you choose? Gurley in the firstian williams in the third round no i wouldn't have either one what if i made you choose girly in the first or david williams hold on wait let me put it in the

wheel the side wheel for jamie it's fun right no i'd rather have josh jacobs in the third round than todd girly in the first round there you go heath you want to participate no okay all right jay yes i would rather have aj green in the third round than odell beckman for sure yes i agree why actually i would change that to i think i would change that any chance.Y. Hilton in the third round? Yes, absolutely. For sure. I'd rather have Hilton in the third than Beckham in the first. Because my big issue with Beckham is he's pretty...

He might be injury prone. Go get the guy Hilton who doesn't get hurt. Well, that's what I was going to say about A.J. Green. A.J. Green's... Hilton's not as injury prone as Beckham. Not recently. Not. Green. A.J. Green's... Hilton's not as injury-prone as Beckham. Not recently. Not as bad. He was banged up last year.

He just played through it most of the time. Okay, Clint from a golf town in North Carolina. Dave? I don't golf. Okay. Put it on the wheel then. Dear Patrick, Joe, and Rich. Those are Chiefs MVP quarterbacks.

They are. I will not draft blank this year because they're going to cost way more than I'm willing to pay. Le'Veon Bell. Todd Gurley. Golden Tate. Really? Way more than you're going to?

Where do you think he's going to go? He will be a top 70 pick in PPR. He will. I'm going to look at his current best ball ADP. I think he will be. His current best ball ADP is 97th.

Still too high. It's not too high. I think Chris Godwin for me. He's in a lot of control. Yeah. He's Chris Godwin for me. He's what? In a lot of control. Yeah. He's like middle of the 40th overall. Chris Godwin is not going to catch 100 passes.

And we have our first bet of the year. This is from... I don't have a name on this one either. Fill in the blank. Neither of the Giants quarterbacks can hit the broadside of a blank. Wide receiver. Space station.

The funniest place for Adam Zoper to hide his wallet so that his cat Chloe can never find it is blank. Her name is Zoe, you jerk. Thank you. Good stuff from our listeners. In the shower because he doesn't take one. Wow. Very good. Time for Jamie's under-the-radar rookies.

Okay, Jamie, you have two running backs on your list. Under-the-radar, who are they? Well, first off, I did this based on what average draft position is right now for the top five rookies at their respective positions, so just running backs and receivers. So these guys are outside of the top five at those spots. So the two running backs are Darwin Thompson and Justice Hill. Thompson, based on, I think it's Fansfield Book Calculator,

is not being drafted in redraft leagues right now. And Justice Hill is the sixth running back off the board. Sixth rookie running back. Sixth rookie running back. Just for clarification, Kansas City, Darwin Thompson is Kansas City's round six pick. Yep.

And Justice Hill was a third round pick. Fourth round pick for the Ravens from Oklahoma State. So let me tell you the breakdown of carries for the Ravens in their final five games, including the postseason. I didn't have a ton of times.

I would have done their last nine games, but just their final five games, including the postseason. I didn't have a ton of times. I would have done their last nine games, but just their final five games, Lamar Jackson led the way with 74. Gus Edwards had 69 carries in those five games, and Kenneth Dixon had 45. So is that part of the reason why you're saying that Justice Hill is a sleeper, or sorry, under-the-radar rookie?

Yeah, I think he's going to contribute right away. Right now he's going behind. I could certainly see he's not going to crack the top three rookie running backs. He's probably not going to be the fourth guy because I think Henderson's going to stay in the fourth spot. But he should be drafted ahead of Singletary. He's going to play right away. I can't imagine a scenario where that's not their running back tandem

because of the skill set for both Ingram and Hill complement each other greatly. Hill's a one-cut-and-go type of guy. I think Tevin Coleman, explosive type of player. And in an offense that's going to run the ball as much as Baltimore is, with Ingram being 30 years old in December, I mean, I love Mark Ingram on and off the field, and I hope he has a great season. But it's just hard to expect him to stay healthy for 16 games

in an offense that's going to lean on him as much as they potentially can. So if Hill's getting the percentage of touches that Dixon was getting, that's fantastic. And he's absolutely somebody based on taking in a double-digit round scenario you should clearly take a chance on. That's where I'm kind of fumbling with both of these running backs because I like the talent on both of them a lot. I like the landing spot a little bit more for Hill than I do

for Thompson. How patient can I be with them if I take them in round 13 or round 14? When I get to week 5 and they're not contributing and I'm not going to start them and I need somebody off of waivers, that's the issue. I'd be shocked if Justice Hill is not contributing, whether he's starting on your fantasy roster

or not. That's what I mean. Contributing to my fantasy team. Well, I mean, by week five, the hope would be that your team is in good enough shape that you can wait out some of these guys or at least have one roster spot to play with. This goes back to our conversation a couple weeks ago about holding on to a second quarterback versus some of these skill players that could be

good or potentially great down the road. Look, I'm hopeful Damien Williams is the guy for Kansas City for 16 games. He has 105 total touches as the high point of his career. That was last season. Can he be the guy for 16 games? Or will Carlos Hyde be that guy? Or will Darren Thompson be that guy? Same thing with Hill.

I think if you're just looking at who's going to play right away, Hill has the better chance to do so of these guys. But it's just how deep is your bench? How long can you hold these guys? That's the question with a lot of guys when you're talking about late-round picks. I mean, the five guys I chose were chosen for a reason. Either good situations, great offenses, or talent. Hill and Thompson are in good situations and or good offenses.

I mean, Thompson, if he becomes the guy for Andrew Reid, we know what that's been. Hill, just based on how much Baltimore will run the ball and what I expect his role to be, I think is a great situation for both those guys. And again, it's just the draft capital you have to spend on them. I did a magazine draft last night for another publication. I took Carlos Hyde and Darwin Thompson with my 12th and 14th picks respectively. Give me that all day long. Yeah, that's really good.

Yeah, it's good. I'll just add my under-the-radar back is still Bruce Anderson. That's a great one too. You know, it's funny. He's not registering in ADP. He's another guy that I thought of. I spoke to a Tampa Bay beat writer. He said he could be the starter or he can be cut.

Sure. That's just the range of spectrum they've got a wild competition there because they've got about six guys and none of them are actually good except for maybe bruce anderson has uh i i will say this though it does appear like they are very much in the paint barber camp yeah oh great also like we're cbs right we've got we've got some money can we honestly not afford to get a new chair in your podcast studio? That thing is just awful. No, I take it on purpose.

You have it, Jamie? I couldn't figure out who it was. It is awful. What does it sound like when Adam Azer opens his wallet, Jamie? More Bill's bad news. Cole Beasley also had surgery. What kind of surgery? Did it affect his rap game? Root canal?

Core muscle surgery. No. Good thing it's May. Okay, moving on to the wide receivers. Let's just wrap John Brown in a bubble right now. Jamie's under the radar list. Deebo Samuel for the Niners, the second round pick. And Pittsburgh wide receiver Deontay Johnson, a third round pick. Andy Isabella, Arizona wide receiver, the second round pick. And Pittsburgh wide receiver Deontay Johnson, a third round pick.

Andy Isabella, Arizona wide receiver, a second round pick. So again, it's Debo Samuel for the Niners, Deontay Johnson for the Steelers, Andy Isabella for the Cardinals. Who are you most excited about? Well, Samuel, and he kind of, you know, again, it's a little cheating with this, but he's the sixth receiver off the board

of average opposition based on rookies for 2019. So the five guys, you can probably anticipate who they are. It's Harry Metcalf, Campbell, Paris, Campbell, Campbell Hardman and Marquise Brown. So again, I think Campbell, I think Samuel will probably end up moving past Marquise Brown. But if you look at it of those six guys, you could say Marquise Brown could But if you look at it, of those six guys, you could say Marquise Brown

could be the number one receiver for the Ravens, but I don't think that's very attractive. Debo Samuel could be the number one receiver for the 49ers. Dante Pettis, we're looking at really a four-game sample size of him being very good.

He had a hard time staying healthy last season, and I don't know if he profiles as the number one guy. Now, you could say the same thing that Samuel maybe doesn't profile as the number one guy, but it would not be a shock if he's better than Dante Pettis

in 2019. So, this is where I'd feel more comfortable spending a late round pick on one of these under the radar rookies because I agree. I think Samuel is the one that's got the best chance to help your fantasy team. If he's not the number one receiver for the 49ers, if Pettis has that job,

then he's the number two among wide receivers. He could be fourth. If Marquis Goodwin has a bounce back year and stays healthy, he could easily be the 49ers. If Pettis has that job, then he's the number two among wide receivers. He could be fourth. Marquis Goodwin has a bounce-back year and stays healthy. He could easily be the second guy. Jalen Hurd, somebody that they drafted in the third round. Yeah, but that's a project pick. I'd be surprised if he made an impact this year. I like Samuel's opportunity

probably a little bit more than I like his actual talent because I don't think he's a burner. He's got this unique build. He's kind of built like a running back, but he runs good routes and gets good yards after the K. He's almost like a thicker version of DJ Moore. And in an offense with Garoppolo at the controls, and I like Garoppolo's accuracy,

especially on short-range passes, I think he's going to be a good fit there. So I like the idea of grabbing him very late on draft day and seeing what happens. Making him your fifth or sixth wide receiver in PPR. That sounds good to me. Johnson's another one that I like, though. Okay, I wanted to ask a follow-up.

We'll get to Johnson in a second, but Heath, let me get you involved here. Who do you think has a better chance, as Jamie was saying, that Samuel Pettis is unproven? Samuel could be the number one guy. Who has a better chance of being the number one guy on their team? Samuel for the Niners or very similar situation, Isabella for the Cardinals? Hakeem Butler for the Cardinals. Okay.

Seriously, I think that situation in Arizona, I don't disagree with Isabella being on that list. I think Butler and Isabella was taken first. It may turn out that two rounds that he's, it may turn out that he's better. Um, the thing I like about Butler is that he has a different skillset than the rest of the receivers on that team. I think he could legitimately lead the team in touchdowns in his rookie

year. Um, but I, I think if I was, if you were asking me which one has a better chance of being fantasy relevant, I would say Samuel over Isabella. Okay. I would agree. over Isabella. Okay.

I would agree. And you have to admit this, Heath, that the Cardinals took Isabella in round two. They clearly targeted him. That was the Rosen. They coveted him. There are things about his game that they must love. Butler kind of fell into their lap. Oh, right.

So I think that's got to count for something. And I like Butler. I like Butler their lap. All right. So I think that's got to count for something. And I like Butler. I like Butler than Isabella, too. But it counts for something. But I had Butler as my number one receiver before the draft. And Isabella was not in my top 12. Sure.

So but you're not you're not Cliff Kingsbury. I'm not going to move Isabella. Isabella feels very much to me like what the Rams did with Cooper Cup. Just a guy that was highly productive in college. And Isabella let all receivers and receiving yards last season, over 1,600 yards, had over 100 catches. I think it was 13 touchdowns. If we get reports that Isabella's living with...

I think it's just one of those things where it's like, because it's a very similar comparison that he wasn't on a lot of pre-draft lists. And then all of a sudden you see the pick in the second round, you go, wait what what do they see in this guy that you don't necessarily wonder about and look you can you can certainly debate the merits of steve kime and and the coach the uh the talent evaluation of the cardinals and how they went about things but if kingsbury and and

if you watch the the draft video of what the Cardinals have released, I think there's a show on what they did as well. This was a guy that they wanted very highly. And when they decided to pull the trigger on the Rosen trade, it was because they wanted to stay in the second round and get this pick. So I think that kind of speaks volumes to how they plan to use him. And I think he's a little bit more – to Heath's point, he's – Butler's different than the other guys because he's really the only outside guy that will stay outside most likely. But I don't think Isabella is just a slot guy because he's small. He ran 4-3-1 at the 40 for a reason. He's fast.

He can move. And they can use him in both spots. So he also, I think – the way I would sort of view the Cardinals receiving corps coming in, I think Butler's fourth could eventually become first, and I think Butler's value long-term, dynasty-wise, I would take Butler over Isabella. Seasonal, I'm taking Isabella over Butler just because I think he's going to play more. Could you rank the Cardinals receivers if Butler's

fourth? Oh, fantasy-wise, it's Kirk Fitzgerald, Isabella, Butler for me. Okay. Me too. No, Butler over Isabella for me. Dave, you want to give me a quick thought on Deontay Johnson for the Steelers? I just think there's an opening for a big play receiver there. They wouldn't have drafted Johnson. I feel the same way about Johnson going to Pittsburgh as Isabella to the Cardinals.

I think that this is a guy that they wanted. I think he went a little sooner than people expected. I don't think he's going to be the next Antonio Brown, but he moves real well. He's got good hands. I think that if he has a good training camp, he could be the number two receiver there sooner than later. He can beat out Dante Moncrief and James Washington, but it's contingent on camp, and he's got to get healthy. He got nicked up in rookie minicamp. He's one of those guys that his 2017 numbers were better than his 2018 numbers.

He was a star receiver in 2017, and then his numbers dipped in 2018. It was drastic, too. So you have to wonder if that was an indication of really who the player that he is. But he went from 74 catches, 1,278 yards, and 13 touchdowns in 2017 to 49 catches, 761 yards, and 8 touchdowns. I know nothing about Toledo football, so I don't know if the quarterback play was bad, offensive line was bad, whatever. But just in terms of production, his numbers clearly took a decline. I think the Steelers, based on everything that I've read, they're hoping that that's still the player that they acquired in

round three. And their track record of receivers is all over the map because they've taken one, I looked at this today, they've taken one in almost every single draft in the second or third round. You go back to, you know, hitting on guys like Mike Wallace and the third round from Ole Miss and, and Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders in the same draft in the third round and the sixth round Sanders was the third round pick Juju, obviously in the second round,

you know, two years ago. But, you know, they missed on guys like Lima, Sweden, Sammy coats. And,

you know, we'll see how James Washington, how he performs. So they swing and miss at this position a lot. Hopefully he's one of those guys that they hit on. You call yourself a football fan and you don't know about Toledo Rockets football? Yeah, I know. It's terrible. Actually, I think they played Miami both in 2017 and 2018. And I kind of feel like they had a top quarterback in 2017 who graduated and did not play in 2018, but I will try to confirm that.

Let's see how well it's still at 21 touchdowns in 27 games. Let's see how well your college football acumen is. The Utah state mascot is who? Oh, Jim. I have no idea. Utah state. I have no idea. Utah State. I have no idea. The Big Blue.

The Big Blue. Toledo. Yes, they had Logan Woodside in 2017. You can't replace Logan Woodside. He's 17th in passing yards. He actually was a very accomplished quarterback. He graduated in 2017.

I'll save some emails. I got some good emails about Todd Gurley's dynasty value, about Chris Godwin, stuff like that. I'll save them for our next show. I want to get to our interview with Matt Tabik talking about the Falcons. Jamie and I are going to speak about Game of Thrones for two minutes now. And it's not like everybody's seen it at this point. Oh, come on, Heath.

Don't take the headset off. Oh, come on, Heath. All right, fine. Jamie, you know what I'm going to miss about Game of Thrones? What's that? The good content? The good storylines? At least in the final season, everybody was kind of caught up, I think.

It felt like half the nation was watching TV at the same time on Sunday night and then talking about it afterwards with their friends. It was really cool. It was something that I don't know that we'll ever get again to this scale. Maybe not. I think a lot of people, no matter how they feel about how the final season ended or the final episode ended, certainly the show will be missed. I'm looking forward to the behind the scenes on this coming week

to see how that was. I'm actually looking forward to it. I don't know how you feel, Adam, because your son is young. I have a seven-year-old, so I'm waiting until he's a little bit older to watch it with him because I think he'll enjoy it. How old? How much longer are you going to wait? Oh, 12 probably. Another five years. 11 or 12.

There's obviously a lot of graphic stuff in there that anything under 10 for sure is too young for him, certainly by his mother's standards. I think in terms of the final episode, it was a little frustrating. I think I said this to you, they should have probably built up to Daenerys being killed as opposed to making that the middle of the show. I wonder, I know you did. I unfortunately didn't enter it.

The pool. Yeah. The Game of Thrones pool. I did horribly. And I think it was who would end up on the Iron Throne, right? It was a lot of things.

You had like... Well, I'm getting to one thing specific in regard to since the dragon burned the iron throne there was a lot of people saying that uh they were doing that to mess with vegas because a lot of people said who would end up on the iron throne maybe yeah you know i i think that i really at first really kind of hated the final episode um and then i was more content with john's ending when i realized you know people made good points about it i guess i didn't pick up on it at first but he is actually

happy amongst those people amongst the the free folk and he will live a happy life out there beyond the wall but you don't think you would have been happy with his family i do i do i so that was frustrating but i guess it wasn't such a bad ending for him. But I think a couple things bother me. Like, if you just forget about the endings for everybody and how you felt about the way it ended for all those guys, it was just a boring episode. Like, it was just a really boring, lame, crappy episode, whether you like the endings for these characters or not. So that was a problem. How did you expect it? What did you think was going to happen?

Like, there'd be another battle? No, but it just was bad it was just like I don't know I mean I'm not a TV writer but I know that that was not a good episode it was just

it was lame again I think if they had ended it with Daenerys being killed right they could have done exactly

they could have you know what you know what a lot of people brought up he goes to look for the freaking dragon they could have ended the series

with Bran seeing the dragon finding more dragons or laying eggs or something like that. No, seriously. But that went nowhere. I think there are a couple things that were brought to my attention, whether through friends

or seeing on social media. One, couldn't they have given Bran a better nickname than Bran the Broken? Like, everybody has such cool nicknames and here is better nickname than Bran the Broken? Everybody has such cool nicknames and here is Bran the Broken is the most terrible of them all.

I think having Arya, like I told you, become Christopher Columbus and go off and searching for new worlds. There's somebody that did something on Twitter, Tommy Tran, one of our hosts, sent it to me, that had subtitles over frozen pictures of where they were. And so it said, Aria goes to find

what's west of Westeros, finds land and calls it Wester... Wester... Westeros? I think that was a little silly in that regard. I do think there could have been a little bit more politicking going on.

First off, how did the... Just knowing the Dothraki and the Unsullied, do you think Jon would have really lived? No, I don't. I think if he lived, it was because he saved them from the Night King. But no, I don't think he would have lived. I think there were a lot of things

that made absolutely no sense in that final episode. I guess what bothered me at first was that you invested eight years into Danny and John, and you were left with, I think, very unsatisfying endings for both of them. And I think what bothered me after that was that Bran is maybe the worst character in the show. I have no connection to him.

I don't think he's that good of an actor. I don't care about that character at all. And he's the freaking king. So it just, it just, I don't know. And also brand's character just changes every week to serve the purposes of the show.

Can he see the future? Does he know everything about the past? When do they play into that? He's the worst character and they made him the king. And that just sucks to me. Uh they made him the king and that just sucks to me uh yeah the whole the whole scene was very very frustrating like you know you there could have been any number of ways when they had them all you know deciding right that could have gone yeah okay so final thought is that i think game of thrones the last

two seasons i actually liked season 8 I hated season 7 like everybody but I liked season 8 but I think the last two seasons pretty much eliminated Game of Thrones from best show ever in fact the New York Times the New York Times had a list of the top

20 post Sopranos dramas and it wasn't even on there it was not even in the top 20 post-Sopranos dramas, and it wasn't even on there. It was not even in the top 20, which is insane. That's just stupid. What was Breaking Bad was one of them. I don't think they ranked them.

I think they just had them. Breaking Bad was on there. The Shield was on there. The Shield was after Sopranos? Yes, just after The Sopranos. West Wing was on there. There were a lot of them. Some that I had never,

a lot that I had never seen before. But Breaking Bad, I think is, and I did a Twitter poll after the episode and things were fresh, but what did you like better, Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones? And Breaking Bad got like

60% of the vote, so. I think, you know, a lot of people, just because it's HBO, were comparing Sopranos and Game of Thrones in the ending because a lot of people

were unsatisfied with Sopranos ending. All right, your final thought? I would like to see, as I told you, a comedy featuring the small council. That would be a great spinoff. Yeah.

My boss, EK, had some good spinoff titles like Aria. That's funny. Yeah, it's a good song. Okay, here's Matt Tabeek. Here's some Falcons talk. Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you on Thursday. The Atlanta Falcons went 7-9 last year, tied for second in the NFC South. It was a disappointing season.

Had some injuries on the defensive side of the ball, which may have really impacted their fantasy production on the offensive side of the ball, as Matt Ryan had the third most pass attempts in the NFL. We have got former CBS Sports colleague, now digital managing editor of AtlantaFalcons.com, Matt Tabik joining us. What is up? As we called you in the office, Tabik. Nobody called him Matt or Matt Tabik.

He's just Tabik. What's up, man? What's up, guys? Happy to be here. Happy Monday. Happy to see you, Matt. And do they have a hard time? Do they call you Tabik in Atlanta, too?

So, you know, you've got the same name as Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub. Too many Matt's in the building. I started this mailbag and they call it straight from the beak. It'll play on the beak. Everyone just calls me beak around here, from Thomas Dimitroff

to my colleagues to everybody. I'm just the beak. We're going to call him Beak from now on. The Falcons invested heavily in their offensive line. Chris Lindstrom with the 14th pick, Caleb McGarry with the 31st pick. And based on what you saw last year, how much improvement can the line make? Was it a weakness last year? How much better will it be this year, do you think?

It was a definite weakness for them. It was something that Dan Quinn even said right after the season that they've got to get right. He named two guys that he was satisfied with and basically said the other three was up in the air. But they couldn't protect Matt Ryan. He was sacked 42 times. They couldn't run the ball.

Of course, Devontae Freeman only played two games. But they had trouble blocking. They had trouble protecting. They just had a lot of issues. Okay. So that's obviously a position of need, guys. And Dave and Jamie, I'll throw it over to you. But we were pumped to see them invest there, certainly.

Yeah, it's hard not to, and also the two guys in free agency that they added. It seems to be a strength, at least on paper, and so that's always a great thing, and I think sometimes an underrated thing for people that draft

their fantasy rosters is looking at offensive line. It gets magnified in areas where it seems to be dominant, like whenever we talk about Dallas. And I don't know if Atlanta is going to be as good as typically what we think of the Dallas offensive line, but they could certainly move into the top 10, maybe even the top five at that position if these guys gel together quickly.

They'll look a lot better because of the offensive weapons that Atlanta has. But I think, you know, just spots uh and and that position group will make matt ryan the running backs and the receivers look a lot better yeah you're referencing james carpenter and jamon brown and adam gettis all free agent signees and the two draft picks uh for i'll say this right off the top, they're definitely going to be bigger. All those guys are noticeably bigger, and they're going to be younger too. And one thing that Dan Quinn talked a lot about after the season

was he wanted nastier guys. So Chris Lindstrom and Caleb McHenry they are maulers and that was a box that they had to check when they were drafting those guys my wife says about me that I look bigger but she doesn't usually call that wait till football season or fatball season is that's right well if you remember the Falcons had trouble just in short yardage situations at times last year too. And that was a big reason too.

They drafted the running back out of Pitt, Kadri Allison. And I know you probably want to talk about the running backs here shortly. But, yeah, they've definitely gotten bigger. Obviously, right now everyone's just kind of penciling in, you know, Jake Matthews and then James Carpenter, Alex Mack, and then the two new rookies. But don't necessarily Chris Lindstrom and Caleb McHenry. But I wouldn't be surprised if Jermon Brown pushes for that job. And if Tyson Braylow ends up starting three, four games before McGarry takes over.

So it's going to take a little while for them to gel, but they've definitely improved. They've addressed it. They've gotten bigger. They need to keep number two upright. So that's the key. They also need to open up lanes for the running backs. So let's just start with this.

What do you know about Devontae Freeman's health? I saw him. We had media days here everything that dan quinn saying and based and based on what i'm seeing with the eye test now i'm not obviously i don't know the medicals or anything like that but he looks great and coach quinn said he's going to be a full go for camp and uh that's huge for this team you know he's he's missed 16 games the last two years. He only played, uh, two last season. So due to multiple injuries, but, uh, yeah, that's going to be a big, big, big, uh, boost for this team to have him back. Um, you know, cause when he's healthy,

he's capable of putting up 1500, you know, combined, you know, total yards, you know, he's, he's a pretty good receiver too. So it's going to be big for them to have him back healthy. Matt, is he entering the point of his career, though, where you have to really just start to worry about him staying healthy for 16 games? I know last year was a little bit fluky, the year before, though, the concussions and the knee problem. Is it just that he's entering that phase of his NFL career where he's not an old running back but you know I mean that that position adds

five years to your body so is he just starting to be one of those guys or was it just one of those injury plague seasons that he could bounce back from that's a great question I mean look those guys you guys know I mean the running backs take a beating and since I've been here the last two years they've needed three running backs to get through the season with Tavon Coleman him and you know a third back last year was Edo Smith but it's tough to say because of the nature of the positions you know or the injuries I'm sorry he you know he had the concussion he had the groin so I mean, it's a huge year for him. I'll just say that. It's a big, he knows it. Coach Quinn knows it. You know, right prior to the 17th season, he got that big contract,

and deservedly so for what he had done. So, yeah, it's tough to say, Jamie, but I mean, it's going to be a big year for him. And if things go south or if something, you know, if he gets hurt again, knock on wood, he doesn't. But if he does, then it's going to be only natural for people to kind of think along those lines that, hey, maybe this is, you know, maybe this is where he is with his career. And, you know, maybe they'll have to do something else. But right now, they're not thinking that way with him at all. Do you think they're worried about workload with Devontae? Have you gotten any inkling from the coaches about just how much they'll lean on him? Yeah, well, break down the backfield.

What do you think it looks like, Matt, in terms of carries between the three guys? Well, you know, I just automatically assume that, you know, Smith, you know, he had a decent, he was kind of thrusted into that role last year. I mean, he didn't put up gaudy numbers by any means, but he's a real shifty kind of runner. I think he rushed for like 300-some and he caught another a buck 50 but i i'm telling you right now they they drafted the big back out of pit cadre allison dan quinn said that he's a four down back those are his words i would not be surprised if cadre pushes ito for that number two spot and you know you know, we haven't seen them yet.

OTAs start this week. The next three weeks we got OTAs on Thursdays. We haven't seen this group together. But when you look at everything they've done up front, and they've also brought in, you know, they brought in Luke Stocker, another tight end who's kind of a fullback. He's kind of a hybrid guy. But they've gotten bigger.

They bring in this big back they know they need to be able to get to improve in those short yard situations Kadri too has got great feet he can catch the ball too even though he didn't put up a ton of receiving yards at Pitt they think that he can be you know like, like Quinn said, a four down back. And so I think it's going to be really interesting to see how he develops and how quickly, you know, Dirk Cutter finds a place for him on, you know, in packages and stuff like that in the offense. And they also drafted this kid named Marcus Green out of Louisiana Monroe, who reminds us all of Darren Sproles he's a great return guy but he is really really fast now he hurt his hamstring in rookie minicamp just a tweak but

he's got lights out speed they tell me and uh wouldn't be surprised if we see, you know, different ways to get him on the field as well, too. He's a small guy, but, you know, I think they want to get the ball to him in space, too, like they do Devontae. So it's going to be really interesting. But the one I'm really looking forward to is Kadri Allison to see how they use him. That was the guy behind James Conner at Pitt. Yes. Conner was out for a while. He actually got on the field and replaced him.

And then last year with Conner in the NFL, he was the starter there. He had a big freshman year, then his numbers dipped, and then he had a big year last year. Matt, I'm curious how Dirk Cutter's doing. I know that he was there a couple years back. Matt Ryan had a career year, then a career year with him in 2012. Julio, his only double-digit touchdown digit touchdown season came with cutter at the controls how has he acclimated back into things in atlanta well we have yet to see it uh but we hear you know that things are going really well obviously he's got a great uh relationship with matt and julio because

he's been here before um you know they also like i referenced too they brought in mike malarkey they brought in cutter they've got bob sutton who's going to help coach quinn with the the game management end of things while he focuses on the defense so they got a collection of head coaches here uh but back to cutter uh the expectations are pretty high and so we're we basically looking, we're expecting to see the same offense with some wrinkles in it. So we haven't seen it yet, Dave. But by all accounts, everything we've heard is that, you know, we're expecting high output. You know, we're expecting matt ryan and julio to

put up similar numbers um the running game is the big question it's like what what's it going to look like with dirt now uh versus with steve sarkisian so uh and all we can go by is what he did before and what he did at tampa you know and everybody knows the kind of passing numbers that the bucks put up last year. They were just sensational. They had some pretty good receivers too, but the Falcons have some pretty good receivers. So it's going to be really fun to watch him at the controls.

What do you think Calvin Ridley's potential is, speaking of those good receivers? He was a top 20 wide receiver in fantasy last year as a rookie, and big games and some quiet ones, as to be expected. But what do you think from him in year two, and where's the ceiling for Calvin Ridley? I think he's got a high ceiling. He led all rookies last year in receiving yards and touchdowns. And, yeah, I think he had just over 800 yards and about 13 yards a clip, you know, a catch and 10 touchdowns.

So, yeah, and I was talking to him not long ago. He had literally, he hadn't taken any time off, you know, from the time that, you know, he finished up at Alabama and then did all the combine stuff and the offseason stuff. And he was one of those guys that hit the proverbial rookie wall. He's chomping at the bit. You know, this offseason has been a little different for him, but he's chomping at the bit to get back.

Like I said, you know, and Mohamed Sanu had a career best year last year, career best, you know, 800-and-some yards on 66 catches. So it's going to be really interesting because there's only one ball you got julio you've got sanu you've got ridley you got austin hooper who's gotten better every single year he was a pro bowler last year like granted a late ad and then you got freeman back so the thing with them is like you know dispersing that ball around but i think i i would expect ridley to have a better year this year is there i mean you kind of touched on this is there enough footballs to go around for all these guys i mean that's that's a good problem to have i guess but yeah that's

that's no i i obviously from from you know uh a team perspective you know but from what we're talking about here is is this an offense that can have a dominant passing game like we saw last season, still have a dominant run game like they're hoping to, and maybe, you know, set some offensive records from certainly a team perspective, but, you know, that would lead itself to, you know, other things as well from a good thing, positive standpoint. Yeah, I mean, you would expect if freeman's back in that they can get that run game going you'd expect some of the passing numbers to be down but to be you know you but you look at 2016 when matt was putting up like ridiculous numbers in his mvp

season you know they had the run game clicking that year so who's to say and it's early in the first half of last year matt was putting up comparable numbers to his 2016 season so uh and then they got to the midpoint mark you know of the season and things kind of went south but i'll tell you what uh jamie i you know that's going to be the big questions like who's how are they going to disperse that ball? And so it's a good thought. It's a good question. I don't have the answer for that. But if Freeman is back healthy, that offense, because they love the play action,

they hit the big plays off the play action. If they have the run game going, that opens up all the play action for them, and they've certainly got the weapons downfield to hit. So, yeah. Who really could come down to those running backs, too, because Ryan threw the ball over 600 times. They didn't have Freeman for 14 games. Coleman was good, not great. So, yeah, that's obviously going to be a huge factor. Well, it's also the defense fell apart, too.

I mean, when you lose Deion Jones and Keanu Neal, that's the middle of the defense and teams just were fielding on, feasting on that side of the ball. Yeah, that was the other part of it. They were scoring points like crazy, but they couldn't stop anybody last year. They lost both safeties. Deion went down for 10 weeks. E. Grady was out for a little while. Tack missed a little time. They had Foye Aluokun, a rookie from Yale who played safety in college, playing linebacker. Yeah, and so they had, you know, Jordan Richards back there.

And so, yeah, that's the one position I'm kind of, you know, they drafted Isaiah Oliver in the second round out of Colorado last year. Dan has pretty much, well well he hasn't pretty much he said he's the starter on you know the other corner to replace robert alford so a lot of eyeballs are going to be on him he's long he's he's he looks he's built like richard sherman but uh you know he's he's not obviously richard sherman but he's got all the clubs in the bag, as they say. So they're looking for a big year from him. But they're still, to me, they drafted two corners, but I still feel like they're a little thin at corner. And then, you know, obviously with Dan Quinn calling the defense, I'm expecting them to be much more aggressive on defense. He really believes that he can get everything he can out of Nick Beasley

and Tack McKinley. They brought back Adrian Claiborne. So they got three former first-rounders at defensive end. And Coach Quinn, his calling card is his defense, you know, his defense. And he's betting on himself. And a lot of people, you know, believe that he's going to turn this D around. Just being healthy is going to be – they were just decimated last year. I mean, they won't ever use that as an excuse, but they were.

Oh, yeah. So it's going to be a big difference. Yeah, it was shaping up to look like a pretty good defense. And here's where the Falcons have ranked in rush attempts the last three seasons, 12th, 16th, and 30th last year. And defense plays into that. I mean, if you're trailing, you can't run the ball as much. It'll be really interesting to see how many throws we get from Matt Ryan and how many carries we get from Devontae Freeman.

And that's going to really dictate a lot. You know what you're going to get from Julio Jones in terms of catches and yards. You probably know what you're going to get in terms of touchdowns. For some reason, he's only had one season with more than eight touchdowns. So I got two questions for you, Matt. Yeah, it is crazy. Who catches more touchdowns next year, Calvin Ridley or Julio Jones? That's my first question.

I've learned never to bet against Julio. I'm going to go with Julio. Even though I know what the numbers say and I know what a great year Calvin had, but I'm going to hang my hat on Julio every day. I would probably do that too. That's probably smart.

Ridley had 10 to 8 for Julio, but yeah, I think you've got to just think, this is going to be the year. Eventually he's going to break out in that category. And final question for you, Tabeek. Yeah. Did you, I, I'm sure the answer is no,

unfortunately, but I'm going to, you can lie and take credit. Did you have anything to do with that? Unbelievable game of Thrones, uh, schedule release that the, that the Falcons put out.

Oh, it was all my idea guys. Way to go. I'll tell you what they, we got, we got a really great, really great digital staff here. And, you know, we were talking about, you know, hey, what's popular right now? What are the, you know, obviously Game of Thrones came up.

And we saw the Texans. There was a couple other teams that kind of did those kind of GOT-type themes. We found this guy he's an Argentinian based animator on YouTube his name is Damien Bocio or Bocio I probably butchered his name but they reached out to him and you know kind of pitched the concept he came back and blew us away with a couple uh different versions and then we put the easter eggs in there you know the the things that everybody just you know the the ram hit and the saints guy and a couple of those were some those were some late ads uh and dan gad the uh digital director here should get some well a lot of credit for those. But we put those in.

And that, to me, kind of separated from everybody else because that's what everyone was talking about. And that's what you want, right? With that kind of video, you're trying to appeal to your fan base and season ticket holders. And we were on SportsCenter. Everybody was talking about us. It was a fantastic video. Great job by our staff here. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Yeah, I was like you, though. I was pretty much a backseat and fan, just kind of just watching it and watching it all come together and stuff like that but one thing we do do is we it's a not the not the biggest staff but do a great job collaborating and brainstorming and um and then once we have an idea you know we have a lot of freedom to run with it but that was a lot of fun that's awesome between that and the concession stand prices i am all in on the falcons this year once, I am making them my team. Love the Falcons 2019 Super Bowl champions. Tabik, it was great having you on. Great hearing from you again. He's the

digital managing editor of AtlantaFalcons.com. He writes column, he covers the team, and he hosts the Falcons Audible Podcast. So go ahead and check that out. Thank you for joining us, Matt. It was great having you on. Hey, thanks for having me on. Miss you guys. And yeah, anytime.

Just give me a call. I'd love to hop on with you. But this was fun. Thanks. Absolutely. That's Matt Tepic, Dave Richard, and Jamie Eisenberg. I'm Adam Azer, and we'll talk to you later in the week on Fantasy Football Today.