Fantasy Football Today - FFT Express - Mike McCarthy to the Steelers, Bobby Slowik promoted to OC, Jesse Minter to the Ravens, & More! (01/26 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: January 27, 2026Adam Aizer and Jamey Eisenberg break down the latest NFL coaching news and rumors and what it means for fantasy football moving forward. Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy ap...p as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday 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
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Mike McCarthy back on the sidelines.
He'll be the Steelers new head coach.
We'll talk about that and more right now on Fantasy Football Today Express.
Welcome everybody, Adam and Jamie here on Monday, January 26th.
We just saw two very competitive, very close games, different styles in the
AFC and NFC championship games.
But right now we're talking coaches here.
And McCarthy had a really a great offense in three of five years with the Dallas Cowboys.
And those were the three years where Dak Prescott got.
stayed healthy.
So he's got a really good track record here.
He may not be the most exciting hire,
but do you like it for the Steelers, Jamie?
I do.
You know, it's still incomplete for me
because of the quarterback situation.
You know, so when you start to just take a look at the Steelers,
you know, if Aaron Rogers is not there,
really the guys that we're looking at drafting,
and maybe even if Aaron Rogers is still there
because of who's under contract are D.K.
McCaff and Jalen Warren.
Maybe the tight end comes into play if it's Friarmooth
and they move on from Johnny Smith.
But I think at this point, you know, Kenneth Gainwell's a free agent.
They didn't develop a second wide receiver yet, you know, in terms of 2025.
So, you know, we'll see if any of the guys that were there stepped forward, Calvin Austin,
Roman Wilson, one of those type of players.
But I think just in the case of what this team looks like right now, there's a little bit more hope offensively because we just didn't love the Arthur Smith offense.
So if they get the right quarterback in place, he's talked about this on the full-length episode we did on Monday.
D.K. McCaff could still be a very good fantasy wide receiver.
I don't think the door is closed yet on him still competing to be a top 15 guy.
I think maybe being top five is probably out of the question unless they go out and get an elite quarterback,
but that's hard to expect.
But I think Metcalf can still be drafted as a number two wide receiver, at least in that range,
and produce like a top 20 guy.
And Jalen Warren can I still be potentially a solid number two running back?
We'll see if Gainwell's brought back if they want to keep him on the roster.
I don't think Caleb Johnson is going to take that much.
of a step forward and be better than Jalen Warren, but really it comes down to the quarterback.
So there's a lot to like about what McCarthy has done is not just Dallas, obviously, what he did
in Green Bay with Aaron Rogers and that group there.
But if you look at it, you know, I know you have the metrics in front of you in terms of when
Dak Prescott or the stats when Dak Prescott was healthy and what they were able to produce.
So it could certainly be, I don't think it certainly, it is an upgrade for them offensively
just based on what we saw with Arthur Smith, how Mike Tomlin liked to run his team.
I think Mike McCarthy will do better things for that offense.
I hope so. I hope it's not like his time has passed kind of deal.
Like Pete Carroll, I thought he was going to, I know he's not a play call or anything.
I thought Pete Carroll was going to do good things with the Raiders,
but I think he just, his time had passed in Seattle and it looked like they did the right thing by firing him,
which was kind of controversial at the time.
And he didn't work out.
McCarthy, he's had great talent, right?
He's had great talent on offense.
It's almost like the opposite of Arthur Smith.
And things got a little bit stable.
in that last year with Dak Prescott.
They were only 18th in scoring in 2024,
you know, before his injury and they finished in the 20s.
So I know some people were critical of like his offense
just being like very simple kind of.
I hope it's an upgrade, but I also don't know how they upgrade a quarterback.
I mean, is there a quarterback out there that's better than Aaron Rogers
that they could get?
I mean, I think if you start to look at it,
do they take chances on two of the guys that are probably going to be available?
whether it's free agency or trade in Kyler Murray or to a tongue of Iloa.
I don't know if that's an upgrade.
Is it going to be a Malik Willis who's going to be sought after as, you know, what he did in his end of time with Green Bay.
And I think if you're starting to connect the dots, there are two guys from Green Bay in Miami and they're going to need a quarterback.
So Malik Mollis want to go there and play for, you know, front office guy and coach that there's some familiarity with.
So look, you know, we'll see.
senior bowl starting this week.
We're going to get to, you know, find out more about the quarterbacks not named
Mendoza, you know, and who's going to be available as we look at first round caliber
talent and where the Steelers may or may not decide to go.
And then, you know, is it a Mac Jones?
Is it a Jimmy Garapolo?
You know, I'm trying to think of someone like the backup quarterbacks that could be
bridge guys and turn into a Jacoby Preset type situation.
Terrod Taylor, you know, one of those type of guys.
So there's just lots of different scenarios.
the play. You would expect that if McCarthy goes to Pittsburgh where Aaron Rogers, upon every
exit interview players in front office, oh, we would like him back or he was good for this franchise.
He had a good season, blah, blah, blah, everything that they were saying.
It does make some sense that there's a connection between the two.
All right. We'll come back and talk about the Dolphins new offensive coordinator, the Ravens
new hire at head coach, what the bills might do after this.
Back here on FFT Express, Bobby Sloick was the offensive coordinator for
for the Texans for C.J. Stroud's first two seasons.
Now he's been a member of the Dolphins organization.
I've been promoted to offensive coordinator under new head coach Jeff Halfley.
Thoughts on this for the Dolphins?
So I believe Slowick, if I'm not mistaken, came to Houston from San Francisco, right?
Yeah.
So you have the LaFleur connection.
Now, Slowick, you know, they're all probably connected in some way, shape, or form,
having either coached together in some previous stop or knowing each other.
I don't think it's a bad thing.
Anytime you see these coordinators, coaches, et cetera,
comes down to what?
Who's the quarterback?
Yeah.
So if they get the quarterback right,
you hope that there's going to be progress.
Now, in the case of Slowick,
you saw a great rookie season for CJ Stroud.
He was there for year two also,
and there was a big step back.
And so how much of that was Stroud,
how much of that was the offense,
how much of it was the offensive line,
et cetera, et cetera.
So there's not a lot to work with right now,
Maine.
You have a great running back.
You have what could,
be a great wide receiver. You have an offensive line. I think that's probably going to end up being,
you know, if you want to look at PFF or whatever, middle of the pack would be my guess, you know,
not great, not terrible. And so if they get their right quarterback in place, hey, Bobby Sloot could be
awesome. If they get Tuatawa again, okay, how is he going to look running a different offense than Mike
McDaniel? Because we really haven't seen that. You know, the Brian Flores tenure really wasn't fair to Tua.
You know, I think you just have to judge Tua based on what we saw in McDaniel. So Sloak was
part of that. Again, did they cultivate wide receivers after Tyree kills injury? I think the answer is
probably no. You know, Malik Washington never really took a step forward. That was his role. He was the
passing game coordinator. So to me, whenever you go from offensive-minded head coach to
promoting from within, there's still questions. And again, Sloak's been an office coordinator
before, but I think also you have to sort of say, still don't know what he is because one good
year, one bad year for Csia shot.
And let's finish with two openings for offensive coordinator and for head coach,
one of them anyway.
You do have Jesse Minter, the Chargers defensive coordinator, going to the Ravens.
But who do you want to see end up calling plays for Baltimore and Buffalo?
I think you want to see somebody who's going to open up the passing game even more,
you know, what we saw from Lamar with Todd Mocken.
I'm sorry, I don't have the names for you, but, you know, in the case of Todd Mocken's system,
you know, and what we saw going from Greg Roman to Todd Monkin, it was great for Lamar Jackson, you know, so as long as he can still run.
And I don't think that door is closed on him running, but, you know, did take a step back, did get injured, starting to get older.
You know, you start to worry about guys that do what he does and as they age.
You know, it happened to Cam Newton rapidly, you know, for example.
A lot of guys stability get hurt.
But if Lamar is going to still run enough and by running enough, I think you got to be, what would you say, Adam?
600 plus yards for him?
For who?
Kyler?
Lamar Jackson.
Lamar, um,
elite fantasy quarterback.
Yeah,
maybe more.
I mean,
he's certainly capable of more,
but 600 is a great season.
Yeah,
great season.
So I would say 600,
because he's never been a really
a rushing touchdown guy.
You know,
that's not something that carries him.
It's been more of his rushing yards.
It's not like Josh Allen,
for example,
who's going to get you.
Yeah, he doesn't do the goal line stuff.
Right.
So it's not going to be both.
You know,
he'll do enough,
obviously touchdowns,
you know,
on the ground.
But I think for Lamar Jackson,
he's always been an
underrated passer. I would like to see another past catcher there because it seems like Isaiah
likely is leaving. But Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, I just don't think it's enough, you know, even with
what Rashad Bateman has done. You know, get somebody else in there to help Lamar. My guess is they
run it back with Derek Henry. So you're probably going to see a lot of similar concepts. I don't
think they're bringing in somebody at least doesn't make sense to sort of reinvent the wheel
there, you know, so let's just say they had moved on from Monkin and brought in, let's say,
like an Arthur Smith. Like that would have been like, oh my God, what are they doing? You know,
So probably something that's going to run a lot of similar concepts.
You know, maybe they go outside the norm and get someone from the San Francisco Rams Tree, you know, who's available.
I just think that, you know, Jesse Minter probably brings in somebody that he's comfortable with and somebody's going to be comfortable with Lamar.
Yeah, the reason I said Kyler, when you asked that, because I was thinking Cliff Kingsbury would be, I think it really, you know, and he's worked with Kyler.
He's had great season with Kyle.
It's great season with Jane Daniels.
So I'd love to see.
He's in the home of college.
And I'd love to see, yeah, and I'd love to see Brian Dable go to Buffalo,
just for some familiarity there.
All right, let's wrap it up.
Thank you very much, Jamie.
Thank you everybody for watching and listening.
We will talk to you next time on Fantasy Football at Express.
On podcasts.