Fantasy Football Today - Kyler Murray to the Vikings! What it Means for Every Vikings Pass Catcher (03/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

Can Kyler Murray revive his career with the Vikings? Kevin O'Connell certainly has a great history of getting the most out of his quarterbacks (excluding 2025). What does this move mean for Justin J...efferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson and the Vikings running backs? We also tell you why Murray may not be a great fit for this offense, but why he could be a league winner if things go right. We explore every angle of this signing and talk about Emari Demercado to the Chiefs and Emanuel Wilson to the Seahawks at the end of the show Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app 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  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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Starting point is 00:01:22 This is Fantasy Football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. With the Minnesota Vikings, one-year prove-it deal, can he rebound?
Starting point is 00:01:49 He was a top 12 quarterback per game, five straight seasons. Even coming off a torn ACL a few years ago, five straight seasons as a top 12 quarterback per game in four point and six point for passing touchdown leagues before last year. Kyler's season last year was kind of like Justin Jefferson's season last year, just much worse than what we usually expect. So we're hoping for a big rebound here. Adam Azer, Dave Richard, and Jamie Eisenberg on Friday the 13th.
Starting point is 00:02:17 Is anybody scared of this? I didn't even realize it was Friday the 13th. I love Friday the 13th. There will be a marathon of bad movies on tonight. We know that. Jamie, you know, what's your instant reaction to, well, not so instant. What's your reaction, though, to last night's news of Kyler going to the Vikings? I mean, we obviously expected it, you know, once the sort of dominoes fell into place.
Starting point is 00:02:44 So it wasn't so much a shocking move. I think just the fact that you kind of hope will be the best word. You hope that he's back to being a starting fantasy quarterback. You hope that he gets this Minnesota offense going in the right direction. You hope that Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hawkinson can be starting caliber fantasy options again, and certainly Justin Jefferson being an elite one. It's just you have to see it.
Starting point is 00:03:09 You know, and I think it was Kevin Sefer to VSPN tweeted out or Post on X, whatever we phrase at this point. There's been 10, seven times. I think a quarterback has had a rebound season of some sort to a high degree with the Vikings that have been on their second team in their history. I'm probably butching whatever he sent out. No, no, no. I'm following along, and if I'm following along, then everybody else can.
Starting point is 00:03:38 I agreed, yeah, on everything. So, like, this has happened before. You know, it's Brett Fav and Sam Darnold, and, you know, those are the two that come to mind, at least for me. But there's, there's, there's, there's a lot to like about what this is there. So seven different quarterbacks. It's encouraging. It's really encouraging. There you go, Thomas.
Starting point is 00:03:59 He got the answer. Yeah. Yeah. I think you just kind of go into it with. glass half full, at least that's how I'm approaching it. You know, number two quarterback for Kyler with a chance to be a number one guy, Jefferson, worth taking in round two, Addison, you know, borderline number three receiver with a chance to be great. Those two guys in particular, the thing that's encouraging for me is those two guys were basically who they were with Carson Wentz.
Starting point is 00:04:26 Jefferson a little bit below, Addison played three games with Wentz and was over 15 PBR points in all three. So if they can do that with Wence, you hope that they can do that with Kyler. And for Kyler and Jefferson in particular, the one year where DeAndre Hopkins was amazing with Kyler, the first year they were together, he was 28 years old. Jefferson was going to be 27.
Starting point is 00:04:48 And it was a pretty impressive season. You know, so I'm going to be encouraged. Jamie, I have four games of Addison and Wence. Is that right? You said three. Just want to make sure it because he averaged 16 points. per game in, well, I thought four games with Wents Weeks, four, three. Okay, I must have read it wrong. That's okay. But either way, you're right.
Starting point is 00:05:09 He averaged, Jordan Addison averaged 16 PPR fantasy points per game. He was on pace for 89 catches, 100, 1,313 yards, nine touchdowns on 128 targets. Even if you remove this fluky play, we had an 81-yard catch against the Steelers who left him wide open, he still would have averaged 13.7 ppr fantasy points per game with Wence. Jefferson didn't score any touchdowns in. those five games with Carson Wentz, but he was on pace for like 1,600 yards or something like that. You know, big number, maybe more like 15, but big numbers other than the touchdowns. And then even Hawkinson at least was on pace for 99 targets in those games.
Starting point is 00:05:48 He, you know, didn't do much with them, but he was usable. So, Dave, we were talking earlier this week that you said that's what gave you hope that Kevin O'Connell's offense was still humming with Carson Wentz, those five games. Now, before you get to that, let's just put out, you know, Jamie said, round two for Jefferson, you know, mid-round pick for Addison, sorry, for misquoting, you whatever, but you give me your take on when, we'll talk about the, you can tell me Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason, if you want, but basically anyone you want to tell me on the Vikings when they're going to,
Starting point is 00:06:18 when they should be taken. Let's separate the running backs for the sake of this conversation. So I don't talk too much and we don't confuse everybody too much. But Jefferson's locked in as a top 12, top 10 fantasy wide receiver. we're just going to hit the delete button on 2025. And Jamie used the word hope. I think that's probably the best word. Hope that Kyler Murray can reclaim his downfield passing.
Starting point is 00:06:41 That's really been the thing that's gone south for him since he tore his ACL. It's weird. You'd think that after he tore his ACL, it would be his rushing numbers that would turn south. Uh-uh. It was his downfield throws. They've really gotten a lot worse. They started to pick up last year. But for the most part, they've gotten worse.
Starting point is 00:06:59 I think that can come back. And I think that that's going to be more about O'Connell, the pass protection, and the lack of a strong run game in Minnesota. At least I expect a lack of a strong run game for the Vikings. Jefferson's awesome. Kyler's going to know to throw it his way. Top 12 type of wide receiver. Addison, that mid-round type of like borderline number three wide receiver absolutely fits in there.
Starting point is 00:07:21 Hockinson is back in the conversation as a borderline top 12 tight-in, probably one of those guys. I say it about so many players that are in this late-round convo. Who do they play in week one? Do you like the matchup in week one? If so, draft them, if not let somebody else draft them. And then when they drop them, you can pick them up, use them as a high-end type of a streamer. And Kyler, he's above Malik Willis.
Starting point is 00:07:41 Remember, Malik Willis is going to be my red line at QB. I like him better than Malik Willis simply because we've seen him do it before. He's got a better situation. He should throw a lot, and he's been in offenses where he's thrown a lot previously. I would expect that to continue there. I don't know if I can fit him top 12. he might be top 13. And he could be one of those quarterbacks
Starting point is 00:08:03 where as long as I'm not going to pour him with a veteran that's coming back from an injury or somebody else that's got like crazy high upside. I don't know if I love the idea of drafting Murray and Willis, but I don't hate the idea of drafting Purdy and then Murray or Murray and then Gough. One of those combos, I think that can work for fantasy managers who want to wait on QB.
Starting point is 00:08:24 Yeah, as I mentioned, top 12, five years in a row. And in the last three seasons, since coming back from a torn ACA, Kyle Murray has been on pace for 518, 572, and 58 yards rushing. So he is just about 37 yards rushing per game in his career. Yeah, pretty good. I think we should expect over. Well, that's the thing is I don't know what, I don't know. I find it very difficult to project him in this offense.
Starting point is 00:08:51 Like I said to you guys off the air, I don't necessarily think he's a good fit for this offense because of the things you said, Dave. over the last three seasons, he's got the fifth lowest yards per attempt on deep balls, the six lowest yards per attempt on passes of 10 or more air yards. So deep balls is 20 or more, 10 or more. He still stinks there. And who is he ahead of? It's guys who really haven't played that much.
Starting point is 00:09:14 He's ahead of Caleb Williams, Cam Ward, Spencer Rattler, Mack Jones, and Bryce Young, in terms of yards per attempt on pass attempts of 10 or more air yards. Where he's been efficient is on short throws. The Vikings, like Jordan Addison has been top five in average route. depth all three of his seasons. Justin Jefferson's pretty high up there, too. Jefferson's A-DOT is usually around 10-11 yards. It's not really that crazy.
Starting point is 00:09:36 Addison is closer to 12-13. But to me, he's a terrible fit for this offense. But maybe he can just be better, as you were saying. Maybe he can be better at throwing the ball downfield. But that hasn't really been his thing. And also, the Vikings haven't been throwing the ball as much lately. Their defense last two years has been pretty damn good, fifth and seventh and points game allowed. The pass attempts have gone down. They're not throwing the ball.
Starting point is 00:10:03 You know, just in Justin Jefferson's tenure, they've ranked 27th when he was a rookie, then 11th, 7th, and 4th in his next three years, then 18th, then 28th in past attempts. So I have a hard time. There was a reason for that last year. Yeah, last year they were 30th in plays. I think you got to sort of separate how we approach this, because like, you're right. This is not the ideal fit for what I'm sure Kevin O'Connell wants. to do from a money perspective and I take a chance on perspective, like this is the perfect fit because you know what you have. You know what your backup plan is right now.
Starting point is 00:10:42 As ugly as it may be, this is the guy you drafted in 2024, MacArthur, right? So that's your backup plan. And so they probably view this as if this guy is anything close to what he can be in Kevin O'Connell's offense with these weapons. I mean, this is the best weapons he's ever had. You know, he's had good guys at times, you know, they've never sort of aligned where, you know, like Marvin Harrison, what he could become with what Trade McBride is right now. Or, you know, DeAndre Hopkins as he was getting toward the tail end of his tenure there with what McBride, you know, was in his first year and a half. You know, those type of things just never really in place.
Starting point is 00:11:15 And so you're saying, okay, I get this guy for $1.3 million. The Cardinals are playing, paying his salary. He's a former number one overall pick. He can hopefully acclimate to the system there. and these weapons elevate him. And if it doesn't work, okay, you turn back to McCarthy. And maybe McCarthy, the motivation and, you know, a year full of, offseason full of being healthy and realizing, like, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:41 his career may not be what it was or expected to be because of how it's, it started. And then there might be another thing that we don't know that they're still thinking because cousins is still out there, a guy that's played in the system before and may not be able to get a job, you know, and that might be, okay, we'll see. how this looks in the off season. If we have to make a desperation call, they might go out and get a Kirk Cousin still.
Starting point is 00:12:03 So I love the move. Yeah. Absolutely love the move. I agree with you. It's not like, hey, they went out and found the guy for this team. But that's where they're getting him at such a discount. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:16 All right. Let's take a quick break and we'll finish up our thoughts on that. And also just a couple of running back updates as well. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. Just to go back to the fit with Kyler Murray. I think it's easy to be excited about Kyler Murray. You know, El Connell's been there four years.
Starting point is 00:12:32 Kirk Cousins was eighth per game in 2022. Cousins was fifth per game in 2023. He only played eight games, but he tore it up. And then Sam Darnold was eighth per game in 2025, four. And then, of course, you had last year's debacle. It's great for Kyler. I guess I was just, I don't know how to necessarily feel about the receivers because I'm excited for them.
Starting point is 00:12:55 But, you know, Kyler, he's usually on pace for about. 23 at most touchdowns, or he hasn't been a big touchdown thrower. He runs the ball, obviously. So I just thought it was difficult from a projection standpoint. So I don't know, Dave, I thought maybe easiest to get excited about Kyler, not sure about how to feel about the wide receivers. I agree with what you guys said. But one thing you did say, both of you, was Justin Jefferson in the second round,
Starting point is 00:13:21 which is not necessarily just forgetting about last year, because we just forgot about last year, he'd be in the top five. So you're telling me both of you a little bit of apprehension, I think, if you're saying Justin Jefferson in the second round. That's fair to say. But for me, I'm expecting him to see a good target volume.
Starting point is 00:13:41 We saw him get 10 targets per game with Carson Wentz. And that led to good fantasy production. It wasn't Jetta's typical numbers as far as fantasy goes. But even if he gets to nine targets per game, he should be able to get over that 15 PPR point per game mark
Starting point is 00:13:57 and maybe even touch 16 or 17. He would need a ton of touchdowns to get back to top three range. I think you said it best at him. We haven't known Kyler to be that guy as a thrower. It would be a little startling. If he went and threw for 30 or 35 touchdowns this year, is it possible? Sure, Kevin O'Connell can maybe coax that out of him, but it's not necessarily the type of thing that you want to bet on.
Starting point is 00:14:22 You don't want to put that much upside into your selection of Justin Jefferson. So you take them somewhere between the ninth receiver off the board and the 11th wide receiver off the board. I'm a little higher than that. I think I'm seventh. The thing that I'm hoping for, and again, is that 2020 season with the Andre Hopkins for Murray, Hopkins had 160 targets. He had 116 receptions.
Starting point is 00:14:46 He had 1,400 yards and six touchdowns. He averaged over 17 ppr points per game. Jefferson's worst season prior to last year was his rookie season, 17.1 ppr points per game. I think that's realistic for a guy that was in that 16 to 17 point per game range with Wentz in those games. And again, you're talking about what talent level does Jefferson have. And we saw him, even in that small sample size, remember, he was coming back from a hamstring injury that 2023 season when Cousins missed the final half of the year. It was, what's his name? The pasturnaut is escaped.
Starting point is 00:15:20 Josh Stubbs. And it was Nick Foles and not Nick Foles. Nick Mullins. You know, it was a hodgepodge of quarterbacks, and Jefferson was still very good. And so I'm hoping, again, keep using that word, I'm hoping that what Jefferson did last year was just a byproduct of everything being miserable,
Starting point is 00:15:39 McCarthy not being healthy or potentially not good. And now you have a guy that's at least for one season, elevated a pretty elite receiver that was still in his prime. And if you look at the next two years for Hopkins, he played 10 games and 9 games in 2021 and 2022. he was at 16 points per game in one of those seasons, 14 and a half in the other. Like, I think that's the floor for him. So if you tell me that Jefferson is at worst, a 14 point per game guy, I can live with that in round two.
Starting point is 00:16:05 I wouldn't love it, but I could live with it because you know there'll be some spike games in there. And he's too good not to probably be better than what that was for Hopkins. But if you're telling me two years of DeAndre Hopkins with Kyler Murray was over 16 points per game, that's a second round pick. And that's a borderline top five wide receiver. One of the problems with metrics, man, is they just don't tell you why sometimes. And I think the question of why has Kyla Murray struggled so much throwing the ball downfield over the last three seasons? Is it because he hasn't had DeAndre Hopkins?
Starting point is 00:16:34 You know, and they haven't been able to replace that with the appropriate player? Or is it because he is worse since the knee injury? I don't know. If he can bounce back. He also got eight touchdowns out of Marvin Harrison in his rookie season, too. Like that's not something to overlook. He did. But I also got like three hours.
Starting point is 00:16:49 of Trey McBride that year, right? So, and then McBride, obviously, it took off with Chicobee Percept, throwing 41 times per cent, but still, it was much better production for McBride. So, yeah, I mean, if Kyler Murray can get back to being the type of passer he was
Starting point is 00:17:06 when he had DeAndre Hopkins, then seriously, you could, and he's rushing for over 500 yards? For Minnesota, like, you could be looking at a top five league winning quarterback. I don't think I'm exaggerating. here, right? I mean, the upside, if he can, if he can play better. Sure, but we've, we've talked about that up to that.
Starting point is 00:17:25 Are you safe right? Year after year after year. And Adam, you keep bringing up this stat about him being top 12 at quarterback and like, what is it? Five straight years before last year per game. Okay. All right. So in three of those years, he didn't even touch 22 points per game. And then now are we, should we expect him to get to 22 points per game now? Because if we are, than I've got him ranked too low. And he should be a top 12 quarterback. And then his upside wins the last time.
Starting point is 00:17:56 Kiler even had 25 points per game. I think it was 2020. I think it was the year with Hopkins. And so counting on that to happen, I don't think anybody's going to draft him with that type of expectation. So yeah, he's got that type of upside. That's why he's going to get drafted in every single league. And if you're somebody that had Kyler before and you're going,
Starting point is 00:18:14 oh, man, keep him away from me. I know that he stinks. I think it's worth reconsidering just because of the new offense that he's in. He'll be asked to push the ball downfield. If it doesn't work out, then he'll just keep throwing it short. Either way, it's going to work out for Jefferson.
Starting point is 00:18:28 It won't work out for Addison as much, but that's why you're taking Addison with a mid-round pick. I think that there's room for him to be good. I don't know if we're going to, I don't know if it's a good idea to hype him up as like a possible top five quarterback. Things would have to go really right for Minnesota for that to happen. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:45 But nobody's drafting him like that. No, I hope not. No, no, no. I just wanted to. He has had two elite seasons in his career, 2020 and 2021, Kyla Murray. He's also had, you know, he's also. But he was 23.9 in 2021. Let's not use the E word.
Starting point is 00:19:02 I got him at 24.8. I've got him lower. Either way, that's not E. 24.8 is pretty close. I mean, it's not 27, which he was in 2020, but it's pretty damn good. All right. Let's do a This Minnesota Viking
Starting point is 00:19:18 or this other player exercise here. Justin Jefferson or Malik Neighbors. Neighbors as of now. Jefferson as them now. Justin Jefferson or Drake London. London.
Starting point is 00:19:32 Agreed. Kyler Murray or Yeah, Brock Purdy. Purdy right now. Yeah. Kyler Murray or we said Malik, well, you can say it again, Malik Willis. Willis for me.
Starting point is 00:19:53 I'll take Kyler. Oh, okay, okay. I guess maybe Dave only said that. Kyler, Murray, or Patrick Mahomes? Mahomes for now. Kyler. You keep saying for now, what needs to change? Mahom's knee injury.
Starting point is 00:20:07 It would be worse than, like, his recovery would be slower. Yep. All right, how about Jordan Addison or Mike Evans? Evans. Evans. Yeah, all right, let's move down a little bit. Jordan Addison or looking at our most recent draft, Romeo Dobbs with the Patriots now.
Starting point is 00:20:27 I think I'll end up with Dobbs higher. Don't quote me on it. I'm still working on that. If Brandon Ayuk goes to the commanders, Addison or Iyuk? Addison. I would probably rather take the chance on Iyuk, but again, don't quote me on it. Addison or Josh Downeyer? That was kind of the range I had for both of them, but I have Addison slightly higher.
Starting point is 00:20:53 I think I would rank Addison ahead of downs, but I kind of feel like waiting the extra round or three to get downs. Get downs. Get downs. Get downs. Get downs. Now I got to go watch Pulp Fiction. And T.J. Hawkinson, who did we talk about? Jig O'Conquo. Jake. I'll take Hock. Okay. I'm not going to wait. I'm not going to do a lot of Hockinson stuff.
Starting point is 00:21:24 The thing that worries me about Hockinson is he ever going to get back to his pre-ACL form? Like it's been almost two years of him struggling. Yeah. Yeah. What was this? You took a pay cut to stay, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:37 His target per out run rate was something wildly low. I was a 14% target share, 15.9% target per out run rate. right. That's really low. All right. A couple of running back notes here. Oh, Jamie, you want to talk about how this might affect Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason? In the story I wrote about Kyler, I didn't really think it changes their fantasy outlook very much. You know, I mean, you're probably going to lose some receptions, but I don't think anybody's looking at these two guys and saying they're going to win me my league because of their reception totals.
Starting point is 00:22:08 So, you know, you have a 31, soon to be 32-year-old Aaron Jones. I think he's just a flex option at best. Mason not far behind him is one of the high-end handcuffs. That's certainly going to play a lot. I saw one Minnesota writer suggests that should be Mason on first and second down and Jones on passing down to just stop with the timeshare already. It didn't work.
Starting point is 00:22:27 So, you know, Kyler's not going to be great for these guys, but I don't think anybody's looking at these guys as great fantasy options right now. Could their rushing efficiency perk up a little bit because of Kyler's threat to run? Defense is having to adjust for that. If there was one clear cut, this is the guy, and I could trust this guy, then I would agree with you.
Starting point is 00:22:46 But again, Jones missed five games last year. He was injured the year before and played through it. Like, at his age, if his rushing efficiency improves dramatically, you know, does he go from a, you know, nine point per game guy that he was last year to a 15 point per game guy? No, maybe he gets to 11. You know, he had 11 points per game. And I think it was five of the 12 games that he played last year. Like, it just wasn't great.
Starting point is 00:23:10 And Mason was awesome when Jones was. out those five games he averaged over 13 ppr points per game but like you need one to not be there for the other I think to be successful I agree and Mason that was weighted down by the one big game he had I think it was against Cincinnati he went berserk in that game
Starting point is 00:23:26 he really had one bad game though in those five like he was yeah he was okay in a couple of games you're right week 18 he had 14 carries for 94 yards then score no catches he's never going to do much in the past right so like he'll run well but he just won't maybe a little bit better in those in those classic non-peer
Starting point is 00:23:43 PPR formats. This encourages me a little bit for the passing game for Minnesota. Just because this looks like what the Vikings run game is going to be. We can talk about Jacksonville and they might add another guy along the way. I don't think Minnesota is going to make any big splash at running back. And this is going to be what they go with. And that encourages me for, you know, just adds a little bit more on top for Kyler for Jefferson, for Addison, for Hawkinson. Yeah, I hope their defense gets a little worse. Honestly, they've lost players.
Starting point is 00:24:12 is not necessarily great players, but they've lost players in free agency, and it would be a benefit to everyone on offense if the Vikings defense would just stop being so damn good. They lost some pretty good players, man. Like, their D-line is a question mark now. Yeah, but I feel like those guys were more just... Grenard?
Starting point is 00:24:31 Like, Grinard. Well, no, not Grenard, but Jonathan Allen and... That's a pretty big, you know... I'm generally of the philosophy of Jimmy's and Joe's over X's and O's, players are certainly more important than system, but you get some systems that just absolutely work. And Brian Flores' system works. Robert Salo's system works.
Starting point is 00:24:50 Steve Spagnolo's system works. Like, you know, these guys are elite defensive coordinators for a reason. Vic Fangio system works. You know, so I think Flores clearly going to miss those guys, but he'll find a way to still make this defense a very solid unit. So I don't know if that's the thing you want to bank on for Minnesota's offense being better as a defense being worse. Sure, that's fair.
Starting point is 00:25:10 Are you drafting the Vikings' DST? probably not but they'll be in the mix of you know who they're playing week one and and what you know their schedule is like all right guys um a couple of running back notes emmanuel wilson to seattle amari de mercado to kansas city d mercado to kansas city d mrs d murkado to kansas mr david might end up mattering well who's what's that running back room look like right now i'm sure that that's not a finished group but charbonnet just had the surgery holani isn't anything special uh maybe there's a pathway for emmanuel wilson to be a streaming running back in the early portion of the year. De Mercado, I'm afraid of him being the next Charbonnet and he gets in the way of Kenneth Walker and that would suck. Charbonnet is looking very good right now. Like if he can get back early in the season.
Starting point is 00:25:57 Miracle recovery, please. I mean, that would be fantastic. But, you know, even just the, okay, yeah, he'll be ready mid-October. He'll be, you know, our guy to close the season. Like, this could be a league-winning type of player if this is what this backfield does look like. You know, we were talking about, you know, Halani. and Wilson as the two guys, you know,
Starting point is 00:26:17 they're clearly going cheap at that position. So unless it's a prominent rookie of some sort, then he's in a great situation. Wait, what is your worryometer on Amari Demarcato being Zach Charbonnet and taking points? Oh, it's low. It's like a 0.5 for me. No, it's got to be a little bit higher than that.
Starting point is 00:26:40 When's the last time we saw? saw Kansas City throw all of their running back work on one guy. And they just signed Jim Mercado. But not at the goal. I don't know that they would use him at the goal line. I don't, listen, I doubt it. So that's why I got to. So that's.
Starting point is 00:26:54 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's like a maximum of three. I was going to say two. I'd be more. I'd be more. I'd be bringing back Kareem Hunt. That's, yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:03 All right. We got to finally. We also have one more running back note. Oh, what's got? We have a name change. A name change. A name change. I know about the logo change in Tennessee.
Starting point is 00:27:14 He's going by Richard Dave from now on, everybody. He's going by Kenny Gainwell now. Kenny Gainwell? Kenny, Kenny Gainwell. Okay. All right, we have a YouTube poll to end the show. If Kyler starts every game for the Vikings next season, what will his fantasy points per game be?
Starting point is 00:27:30 We always use six point per pass and touchdown, by the way. 19.5 or higher? Yes. Under 19.5 or C results. And I voted for. 19.5 or higher and I am losing. Under 19.5 is 51%. It's only under that number once in his career.
Starting point is 00:27:51 It was last year. Yep. Yeah, 45% say 19.5 or higher and 3% chickened out and said C results. Want to hear a sentence that could make a lot of people nervous? What if Drew Petzing was the reason? This is a question in a sense. What if Drew Petzing was the reason that Kyler stunk it up? It's certainly possible.
Starting point is 00:28:10 it's certainly possible. He's now the Lions offensive coordinator. Or it could just be a name only and Campbell's still calling place. That'd be cool. Break out that menu. You of all people, Jamie, cannot say name only about Drew Petting. All right, we're out of here, everybody. That was 27 minutes on Kyler, basically.
Starting point is 00:28:33 I love it. But there's so many moving parts there. Okay, we'll talk to you later. Don't know when, but later. on fantasy football today. If we don't talk to you until Monday, have it been awesome. See you.
Starting point is 00:28:44 On podcasts.

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