Fantasy Football Today - Player Outlooks (NFC)! What to Know About James Conner, Jauan Jennings, Malik Nabers and More (06/03 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: June 3, 2025There is a lot to tell you about six important players in the NFC, but first we owe Dave an apology (4:40)! What was Dave spot-on about on yesterday's show? We've also got news and notes (9:15) includ...ing our thoughts on Detroit's phenomenal center Frank Ragnow retiring ... Jamey gives outlooks for Rachaad White (17:25) and Drake London (25:35). White always gets 50 catches, but he was getting phased out late last season. Do we prefer London or Tee Higgins in drafts? ... Dave talks about James Conner (31:15) and Jauan Jennings (39:00). We compare Conner to the rookies and we spend a lot of time trying to figure out the 49ers offense. It's not easy! Finally, Dan gives his outlook for Malik Nabers (53:00) and then talks about the pluses and minuses of Brian Robinson Jr. (1:00:00) ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com 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 Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 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 Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fan 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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Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.
You know it's gonna be a good show when the first segment in the notes is called an
apology to Dave.
Dave, are you ready to be apologized to?
I got a feeling this is going to go very badly.
No, no, I owe you an apology.
It's like a game of the week setup.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's going to be some cheesy music being played and I'm going to feel like an idiot.
Please, let's go with the apology.
Yeah, let me get some music queued up.
Jamie's here and Dan Schneier is here
with a funny background of, oh, what year was that?
1992?
I think it's 94.
94.
I mean, the big banner that says 94 behind him
doesn't give it away.
Oh, it does say 94, doesn't it?
Yeah.
It is the Netherlands giant stadium.
The old giant stadium, the good giant stadium.
It's much better than that one.
It's a World Cup banner.
It's this World Cup.
How old was I in 94?
What are your guesses?
10.
No, I was 10.
He was six.
Five.
I was 33.
And look the same.
Amazing. Yes.
All right, guys.
Today we are doing player outlooks for the NFC two for each division.
We brought Dan on because Dan wrote up the NFC East outlooks.
I don't know why he gave himself the NFC East.
What an interesting division for him to choose.
He did the NFC North, but he gave us, he's not on the show today.
He gave us notes on Deandre Swift and TJ Hockinson.
But let's start out with an apology.
Before we start, Dan, Adam had to write Outlook
for the first time.
Oh yeah.
How many texts and or phone calls combined
that I'm gonna guess all of us, I know I got a lot.
A lot.
Did he send, and emails in regards to his Outlooks.
A shockingly low number for Adam's purposes,
probably three, but one of them,
One, but one of them was him asking me,
which I was not happy and I had a little bit of an,
what did you ask me is something that I wasn't unhappy about?
Oh.
It was so frustrating.
What was it again?
This was like two weeks ago now
and I just went on a vacation.
I think he asked me to like give him like all last year's, what was it? It was so frustrating. What was it again? This was like two weeks ago now and I just went on a vacation. I think he asked me to like give him like all last year's.
What was it?
It was something great.
Something so reasonable.
No, it was not.
It was not with a really snotty, rude.
It was not a snotty, rude market.
Can you, can you get this?
I'm reading it right now.
Can you give me a list of players I'm writing up, please?
That's what I asked you.
Yeah, give me a list of players writing up.
Part of the job of writing these outlooks
is grinding through the depth charts of last season.
Remember every single player that was on the roster
last year and every single player that will be
on the roster this year.
That is part of the outlook job.
You don't just get to cut that off, Adam.
Okay, so I said, can you give me a list of players
I'm writing up, please?
This is the first time I've ever done this.
He goes, he writes back.
No one's ever asked me that.
He writes back, up, please. This is the first time I've ever done this. He goes, he writes back, he writes back,
honestly, no, I am totally swamped trying to get done
before I leave for vacation. I have to write player outlooks,
write articles for this.
I apologize for the snappiness. I immediately apologize. No,
you sent me a text apologize for you. You had to do that. And I'm not gonna try to get that for you.
You had to do that and I'm happy you did.
He sent me a text.
Sorry about that last email.
I'm super stressed.
So anyway, okay.
Anyway, let's not get into that.
Let's stay on task.
Apology for Dave.
Apology to Dave.
So yesterday on the show,
Dave was kind of poo pooing John who Smith's yak.
Cause Heath brought up his that John
who Smith was really good after the catch and Dave said well when you catch
a lot of balls three yards behind the line of scrimmage you know it's easy to
get yak on that and then I said something like come on there's not that
many catches three yards behind the line of scrimmage so I decided to look it up
and John who Smith led all tight ends in targets behind the line of scrimmage
with 12.
Brock Bowers did have 11 and Trey McBride did have 10.
So that is part of the profile, I would say, of a good fantasy tight end is easy catches
that you can turn into yak.
But if we just look at that's three yards behind the line of scrimmage, he had 12 targets
John New Smith.
If we just look at anything at or behind the line of scrimmage, I think John Smith may
have set a record for tight ends.
I only went back like 10.
I'm not joking.
I only went back 10 years, so I could be totally wrong, but he had 33 targets, 33 targets at
or behind the line of scrimmage and 25 catches.
Both of those were the most among tight ends in the NFL. Similarly, David Nijoku and Evan Ingram
had a lot of those last year.
They had 24 catches, John Doe had 25,
not last year, I'm sorry, 2023 for Ingram and Nijoku.
They had 24 catches on 30 and 27 targets respectively
for Nijoku and Ingram.
Darren Waller also had a season like that.
Those guys kinda struggled the following year,
and maybe mostly just Ingram.
But Dave, I wanted to give you a shout out
because John New Smith actually was the most reliant
of all tight ends on those types of targets.
Great.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
I mean, it's only my job to know these things and to like bring them to light, not make
up BS.
No, it's an ordinary start to the show.
Adam is getting it right about in my outlooks.
Like this is only what I'm supposed to be doing.
But did you know that?
It's only what I've been doing for the last 25 years.
Get him, Dave.
Get him, Dave.
No, but sometimes we say things that are just sort of, you know, off the cuff, not necessarily
thoroughly researched.
Me?
Never.
No way.
I don't ever do that.
Well, anyway, I thought it was impressive.
And there's no way that you knew that he led all tight ends and targets at or behind the
line of scrimmage.
I watched a ton of his snaps.
I know how he was using that offense.
And he was really good after the catch.
Like I think Heath's point about yards after catch per reception is a good one.
I just really freaking hope that the Dolphins matriculate the ball downfield via the forward
pass this year because otherwise it's such a lame offense.
Yeah.
It was so lame if they just keep doing trade handling.
Not for him.
I want to think that they're going to get back to the 2023 version, but I'm like, well, Taron Armstead is now not playing this year. They have no solution at left tackle
What's gonna stop last year from happening again on the offensive line at least?
I mean they'd improve the guard a little bit, but I don't know. Yeah, definitely concerned
Well, let's love for Patrick Paul. Are you gonna, are you going to spare the audience story of your 112
batting average?
I got my first softball hit last night. It went first hit and it
went about 20 feet.
It was it again. No, I hit it off the end of the bat. I was
running so I didn't see what happened. But I think they
thought it was going to roll foul and it never did. And I got a hit. I
reached base twice, score a run and fielded well.
You need to retire from softball and put all your energy into tennis.
Right now on the website, cbsports.com slash fantasy slash football, we have sleepers and
breakouts and busts from Dave. You can also find those from Jamie and Heath,
but they are being featured.
Dave's are featured right now.
We have updated dynasty rankings.
We've got Dan Schneier writing about mid-round steals,
but I think that was from a podcast.
But we've got a mock draft recap.
We've got some props.
We got some great stuff here.
Loveland versus Warren debate.
So check it out, cbsports.com slash fantasy slash football.
We can't cover everything on the podcast,
so you gotta supplement it with the written content
or maybe you are someone who already reads it
and you're supplementing that with the podcast.
That's the way to go.
All right, news and notes.
The Patriots have no plans to release Stefan Diggs
according to Ian Rappaport and Diggs did show up for OTAs, so hopefully they're on the men there.
Detroit center Frank Ragnar retired.
And is this a big deal to you guys?
Dave, is this a big deal to you, Frank Ragnar retiring?
Dave Korsunsky You listen, anytime you lose one of your
offensive linemen that's like all pro status, he's that good. It's a problem replacing him. The replacement won't be as good. But the
Lions have found a way to, to cultivate at least solid O linemen. And they've got some options on their bench that
they can use. I think Glass now could be somebody that could step in. I'll have to look into it a little bit
further. Is it like a, am I running away from Jameer Gibbs as one of my favorite running backs and fancy? No. Do I think that David Montgomery is a bad pick now? No. But I bet
it like two or three times this season. There's an a gap blitz where Jared Goff gets mauled
because rag now isn't there. That's probably going to be the extent of it.
Can I throw some stats into the wind? This is courtesy of Nate Tice. I saw this yesterday
at the book market. Had to book market since 2022,
the Lions offense with Ragnaud on the field,
46.3 success rate, third best in the NFL,
0.10 EPA per play, best in the NFL,
without Ragnaud on the field,
39.4, 23rd in the NFL success rate,
and 0.1 12th in EPA per play.
Since when? Since when when I'm sorry since
when since 2022 including the 2022 season and he's been on the field for almost all
of it.
I mean not all of it clearly.
No but that's such a small sample they in one game against but it's kind of like the
Lane Johnson stuff right he's been on the field.
This is like you know when you look at offensive line grades and things
of that nature, like who was around him?
Yeah.
Well, let's see.
They've lost Jonah Jackson now and Frank rag now over the last two seasons.
They played one game without rag now last year and scored, uh, 42 points.
And they just drafted Tate Ratledge,
who was Georgia's center.
That was a big one.
They were.
6308, like that dude might be able to fit right in.
There was.
It's almost like they didn't think that this was coming.
There was a quote circulating yesterday from Brad Holmes
that after the news came out saying where he was like,
yeah, we're gonna give Frank all the time
he needs to make whatever decision he wants to make. And I think people were thinking
it was maybe injury related that he was going to have some sort of surgery.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani, M.D. So it sounds like they were preparing for this.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani, M.D. Yeah.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani, M.D. Okay. I mean, he was number one in run blocking in each
of the last two seasons and number two and number one in pass blocking at center.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani, M.D. It's a loss to Dave's point. You know, there's gonna
be some situations, you know, and I'm sure some stories about
they couldn't run the ball in X game or golf was taking a beating in certain game.
How much of the offensive line, which has been such a strength for this team, is now
changed or worse or whatever the case may be.
But also to Dave's point, this is a team that has done such a great job of building up
this line and this regime has focused on it so much. And I'm curious to see how the Jets are
going to do it and now the Bears are going to do it. Clearly that's been the path of two of
their assistants who have left and following hopefully a similar blueprint. It's what every
team should be doing clearly and you know, and offensive line
play is so important as we know. So I would hope that it's not a significant fall off.
But if you are deciding, let's say between Gibbs and Bijan and Barkley, you know, depending
on how your draft goes at the top, or Montgomery or Connor, or, you know, one of the rookie
running backs, it is something that you should take into consideration if you're, you know,
pros and cons versus these players. And again, going back to what we talked about yesterday,
we're going to talk about today. This is why we're having these conversations about these
player outlooks now, you know, to give you these early opportunities and the stories
that you're going to see on the site. I appreciate that. I'm not mentioning mine. So thank you.
But invisible blame. That's because Dan, it was on vacation. You know, get an idea in your head of, you know, these these type of scenarios and you'll
know going into your draft when the clock is ticking down what you should be doing.
I have a great idea.
I can look up how both Gibbs and Montgomery did running to either side of the center last
year.
It's funny because I'm like two minutes.
I'm actually looking up right now up the middle.
Just there's an option left right middle.
And Jamir Gibbs averaged 6.8 yards per carry on runs up the middle.
David Montgomery 4.5 because my initial reaction was like this probably would hurt Montgomery
more than Gibbs.
Gibbs had more carries than Montgomery up the middle.
Now Gibbs, you know, had those last three games without Montgomery, but 6.8 yards per carry on runs up the middle for Jamir Gibbs, 4.5 from Montgomery. That's
stands out. But I think we've exhausted this topic. We'll come back to it, Dave, when at
the end of the news.
We're coming back to it. Never.
Okay, fine. Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen said the Jaguars do not want to part ways with
Travis ETN. There had been some talk about that.
Kyle Pitts has an undisclosed injury.
John Smith, again, wants to stay in Miami according to his agent.
What's the name, Dan, what's the name of the wide receiver that the Dolphins have that
used to be on the Chiefs?
Why did you say?
Yeah, Tyree Kill.
Okay.
We just have to say it every show. Thank you. Why did you kill? Yeah, Tyree kill. Okay.
We just have to say it every show.
Thank you.
We have a streak going, Dan, of Tyree kill conversation.
Well, now we've kept it going.
Washington offensive coordinator, Cliff Kingsbury.
He praised Brian Robinson Jr.
We're going to talk about him shortly.
And he expects a big jump from Jaden Daniels.
R.J.
Harvey is being used a lot in the passing game,
according to the Athletics' Nick Kosmider,
right now during OTAs.
And here's a crazy stat, watch this,
we're gonna throw it up on the screen here
if you're watching.
If you're not watching, you can look
at youtube.com slash fantasy football today.
Okay, do you know who is second in NFL history,
you're about to know, in receiving yards
after turning 40 years old.
Jerry Rice has 2169 yards.
Second on the list is a guy who has six receiving yards after age 40.
It's Tom Brady who caught one pass this year.
Marsadies Lewis might play again if Aaron Rogers plays.
And if he does, he says, going to be his last year.
If he does, he could pass Tom Brady for the second most receiving yards in NFL history
after age 40. Lewis just had his age 40 season and he had two
receiving yards. So he needs to get five to pass Brady to get up
to seven receiving yards. But this is a list that you never
thought you'd see.
I never thought I'd see this. Are any of our vets close? Hopkins? I don't think any of them are close, right? No. I just said
a player outlook. The last team that I did, which was, I won't tell you, but the last team that I
did and there was a 40 year old in the NFL last year that is not on his team currently, but would not surprise me if he signed with the team.
A receiver?
A player.
Could he catch a pass?
I mean, obviously he could.
Not if he's an offensive lineman,
but I guess he could.
All right, anyway, let's take a break.
Come back with some player outlooks.
Talk about Rashad White when we come back
on Fantasy Football today.
Now streaming.
When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Walter, please find my daughter. me come back on fantasy football today. I think that I call a lot of players interesting.
I think Rashad White really qualifies there.
Jamie, tell me what you unearthed about Rashad White in this process.
What do you want to talk about here?
So last year was obviously a frustrating season for Rashad white when it comes to
how the year ended and what Bucky Irving was able to accomplish and looking like the future of the
backfield there for the bucks. And I would anticipate him being the future of the backfield
for 2025, but he has had Rashad white 50 plus receptions in every year of his career including last year
Last season he had he averaged a career high. This is this was just for Adam career high 4.3 yards per carry
He did and he scored nine total touchdowns for the second time
I think second year in a row but second time in his career and
So for an offense that we very much like I don't speak for everybody
but I know I like the Bucs offense a lot of you know key parts that are
certainly going to be relevant for fantasy managers whether it's the you know the the must-start guys of
Bucky and Baker and Evans and potentially Godwin to Jalen McMillian and Jalen McMillian and Ibuka and maybe Kate Otten
but I think Rashad White like you said Adam is very interesting because
how much of a role will he still have and will it be
still as a role as a pass catcher will he be able to you know step in clearly
if there's an injury to Bucky Irving we've talked about this a lot that the
Bucks while Irving was great last year it was not necessarily in the workload
that we anticipate or excuse me the workload that we like to see for some of
these premier running backs especially the guys that were taking in their first two or three rounds.
He was still not playing the snap share of a total workhorse type of guy because I think
Rashad White is still relevant.
And you've heard some stories, at least read some stories of the Bucs this off season.
Rashad White's in the contract year.
He's still going to be a big piece of what they do offensively.
And I'm curious to see what his role is.
I've taken him in a few drafts.
His price tag is basically as cheap as you'll find for somebody that I think him and Ramon
Stevenson are kind of in a similar spot, you know, guys that can still have relevant roles
on their teams and still be, you know, decent, you know, fantasy options, especially if an
injury does occur. Stevenson's in a much different category than White from how they'll get it done. But in any event,
can he still get to 50 receptions? We know that's a big number for PPR. Can he still, you know, be
a relevant guy from a touchdown perspective? And if you're looking at it on YouTube, it was
six rushing touchdowns in 2023, six receiving touchdowns in 2024. That's a hard number to
replicate. But if he can get to, you know, six plus touchdowns in 2024. That's a hard number to replicate, but if he can get to six plus touchdowns, which I
think is doable, he might be a weekly flex option, especially in PPR.
Not a bad, probably fourth running back that you put on your team, but somebody that has,
I still think some lottery ticket upside.
What if his best quality is being capable as a pass protector for Baker Mayfield? And that's what keeps him playing.
That's not going to help us in fantasy. And that, I think that kind of helps build what the, the ugly floor could be for
Rashad White. Because we saw his playing time dwindle late into the year and then even into the playoffs. These are the most precious
games for Tampa Bay. In the wild card round, he played 17 snaps against Washington. Game before, Week 18, kind of a
meaningless game. They needed to win it. They did 17 snaps. That's it. 27 the week before. Earlier in the year, he was
playing like north of 40 snaps a game for Tampa. So I just,
I wonder how much playing time Rashad White's going to have. And if he's really being used as
a pass protector, first and foremost, maybe he catches a couple of passes a game. Maybe he gets
a couple of token carries a game, but he's not anywhere in the same class as Bucky as far as
explosiveness and playmaking goes.
Uh, I don't mind, I guess I don't mind the ADP, but if I'm drafting Rashad white, I'm thinking a solid season for him is like 10 PPR points per game.
And I don't, I'm not even sure if he can get to that.
I think he's a little bit different than your, than your traditional handcuff
because he plays on a better offense with a better offensive line.
And he has that role in the passing game, potentially.
We don't know if that's for sure.
Like you said, Dave, maybe that comes down to pass protection and other factors like
if Bucky Irving can take that step forward.
But I think we also know that Bucky Irving has never been a player, at least not at the
collegiate level, who handled the massive workload there.
So I think that plays a factor too.
But I also kind of feel like looking at the Bucks last year, Sean Tucker might take snaps as well. He took snaps last year away from
these two backs at times and had that role. So I think it's a little bit of a murky back
field, but I like the idea of buying into a good offense with a good offensive line
as more of like a high end handcuff. I view him as Jamie, what do you make of the fact that,
I'm just gonna read his targets in his last eight games.
Rashad White.
One, one, three, two, eight, one, zero, two.
And they only lost two of those games.
So I think part of it was they were winning
and running the ball a lot.
I remember that with Baker Mayfield,
he wasn't throwing as much. And the game that he had eight targets was that Sunday night loss to Dallas, but
they also lost to Washington in the playoffs and he had two targets. But again, 1132810
and two targets. I think that's eight games. Sorry if I miscounted. What do you make of
that?
I mean, again, you know, you're not drafting this guy to be a starter on your team. And Dan, I think, nailed it with the more than a handcuff description because there's
going to be games where you can potentially start him if the run is better from a target
standpoint.
And we'll see how Bucky Irving sort of rebounds. I don't think Sean Tucker is really something that you should be concerned about with either
of these two guys.
He's going to have somewhat of a role, but really aside from that one big game where
we thought, okay, maybe it's a start or something, he didn't really do very much down the stretch
because as you're illustrating with Irving's touches and White's touches, Tucker really
wasn't doing much at the end of the season anyway.
But it's more along the lines of like, he's in the category, at least for me, of TyJ Spears
and Zach Charbonneau and Jordan Mason, Isaac Grendel.
You know, there may be sometimes in bi-weeks or injuries where you can start him and hope
for that 10 PPR point number. If there's an injury to those guys in front of him,
White included, with Bucky Irving,
then I think White will be a must start running back
across the board.
And so again, it's how you're drafting,
it's how you're building your team
and what your expectations are.
This isn't the same Rashad White that we were looking at
going into last season where he was RB 22 through 28,
depending on where his ATP ended up.
This is a guy that's gonna be RB 40 and the chance to, you know, be significant
at some point during the season.
All right.
So next up, number one, I think Tucker comes into play if Bucky misses time, which means
you don't have to really worry about Sean Tucker unless it's like a really deep league,
maybe a dynasty league.
You can take him with a late round flyer.
Adam, are you interested in the targets for Bucky in his last eight games?
Adam Backer Sure.
Adam Tate I mean, I just think we should compare the two, six, three, one, two, three, four, five,
two. And in seven of those eight games, Bucky caught 100% of his targets.
Preston Pysh Wow. Does that include the playoff game?
Adam Tate I mean, I didn't do the math. There's smarter people listening that did the math.
I think it's relatively close between Bucky and Rashad in terms of like overall
targets and it's because Rashad White had that one game with eight targets.
Bucky can win in passing down situations as well, as long as they're willing to
give up a blocker in the backfield and they send Bucky Irving out on a route.
Baker just knows he has to get the ball out fast
in those situations.
And if he has to do that,
that's where Bucky could come into play.
Okay, let's go to our next topic here.
It is Drake London, Jamie, as we continue in the NFC South
and man, was he good with Michael Pennex?
Yeah, I mean, this is easy one, you know,
just kind of solidifying the fact that he didn't
drop off by any stretch with PENX.
Now part of that was Darnold Mooney missing a game and we know that his numbers popped
in week 18.
He had a 40-point PPR game as you see if you're again watching on YouTube.
That big line at the end of his game log there is very impressive.
We like to see that all the time.
But two of those three games were very good, over 17 PPR points per game, which really
that week 17 game is the one you want to consider.
Because Mooney did play in that game, got five targets in that game, or five catches
in that game.
It's just really looking at where Drake London is.
And I think he's kind of the bridge receiver, because you look at the guys that are going
to get drafted in front of him, I don't think he's going to go ahead of any of Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, C.D. Lamb, Malik Neighbors, Pooka Nakua, Nico St. Brown, and A.J. Brown. I might
be missing somebody in there, but I think that group is kind of the first tier or tiers
of wide receivers. And then it's kind of London into T. Higgins and Lad McConkey and JSN and
Devonte Adams, that whole group. So we talked about this last year about the leap that London was expected to
make and he made it, you know, third year breakout and, you know, it was, okay, Kirk
Cousins, Zach Robinson, those guys coming in and how would he do?
Well, he was great with Cousins and would there be a fall off if there was a change
in quarterback?
Well, clearly there was not.
And, you know, I don't know where I said this to you, Adam, but the Falcons offense in the three games
that Pennix started, they averaged 32 points per game.
So that's a really good starting point
from a young quarterback stepping in
and their numbers continuing to look good.
B. John Robinson was obviously awesome.
And I think you could see Pennix was pretty good as well.
So I'm sorry, London was pretty good as well.
Pennix had one big game in there.
It was the week 18 game against Carolina.
So I think London is entrenched as a second round pick.
You could take him, I think, as early as 17, 18 overall.
Be real comfortable with it.
We talk a lot about picking at the back end around one.
You can get two wide receivers.
And I think he's in that conversation.
I don't know where you want to put running backs
in between him.
Derek Henry, Kyron Williams,
those type of guys, depending on how your draft goes,
the tight ends as well.
But for me, London is a top 10 wide receiver
and I think kind of locked into that nine spot.
Ten, I think one guy you forgot was Brian Thomas Jr.
I'm sorry, Brian Thomas.
So yeah, you have him 10th, Dave has London 10th,
Heath has London 11th with T Higgins ahead.
So I do think that you nailed it.
I mean, he's kind of an easy,
it looks like one of the easier players to rank
among his position, Drake London.
But if we look at throwing the running backs in there,
like you said, you know, do you guys go Kyron Williams
or Drake London, for example?
I take London personally, but you know, again, I think it probably depends
on what you do in round one.
Depends on format.
I don't want to go too deep into this because I know we don't have that much
time, but I don't find him to be as easy to rank as others.
I think London has been a big name and has been a big popping player.
Like we see in that week 18 game, but he hasn't been a consistent fantasy
force at all throughout his career yet.
And I'm not sold. He will be that in those, in that small sample size that we're banking on 18 game, but he hasn't been a consistent fantasy force at all throughout his career yet.
And I'm not sold.
He will be that in those, in that small sample size that we're banking on with Penix that
included against defenses like the giants who were the worst in the NFL at the end of
the year with Dexter Lawrence and injured commanders who gave up 24 points and the Panthers
who were not a good defense at all last year.
I want to see Penix over a full season and a full sample size to believe that that offense
can move the way it needs to for Pennix over a full season and a full sample size to believe that that offense can move
the way it needs to for London to be a consistent fantasy
force that's worth drafting just after the names
that we mentioned, because quite frankly,
I would never take him over T Higgins right now,
because I know T Higgins is in an offense
that's going to move the ball,
and I don't care if he's number two,
he's proven that there are two players on that offense.
So I kind of find London to be less of an easy eval
for me at least, despite liking his talent, because I'm not sold yet on the sample size on that offense. So I kind of find London to be less of an easy eval for me at least despite liking his
talent because I'm not sold yet on the sample size or the offense.
I think it's a fair point.
The one thing I will say and just in terms of sample size, like first two years of his
career, terrible, terrible quarterback play.
Yeah.
And then finally gets competent quarterback play.
And you're right.
I mean, we don't know what Pennex will be.
It was three games against very bad defenses. We don't know what
Mooney will be again, you know, in conjunction with him with London and how
those, you know, guys will work together. What the tight end position is gonna look
like, whether Pitts will be there or not, you know, can he be a factor as we, you
know, have seen? seen probably not but I
Think once he got better system better quarterback
first round talent top ten talent
It all sort of mesh together, you know
so like that's why I would buy into it and especially and you see the target jump as well like
everything sort of fell in line for what his
Expectations were coming into the league and now getting that type of, you know, support around him.
I'd see that case for sure.
I just think we're buying him at that point right now to be frank with his ADP.
Yeah, I think with any of these guys though, again, you know, Higgins, you're, you're,
you're expecting him to, you know, still be as successful.
And I agree, he will, you know, in, in his role as the second guy, um, you know, what, again, the, the, the, the guys behind him, you know, so I his role as the second guy, you know,
what again, the the the guys behind him, you know, so I don't
think he should go ahead of any of the guys I listed in front
of him. That's just me personally. But yeah, you know,
Higgins is a great, just no argument. Like, McConkey, I
can't take McConkey over London, I can't take JSN over London, I
can't take Adams over London, you know, any of these guys,
Mike Evans over London, like, there's no chance for me.
Yeah, I get that. Okay. Let's go to Dave's player outlooks. He had the NFC West and he wants
to talk about one of the players that keeps me up at night in terms of evaluation. I cannot shower.
I can't, like, I can't do it with the 49ers. They're just, they just,
there's so much to be sorted out
and it feels so unpredictable.
We're gonna talk about Joann Jennings.
That's the one I just,
oh, drives me crazy.
But James Connor,
James Connor's, I feel like kind of simple, Dave, right?
Like he kind of is what he is.
He just keeps getting a little bit older,
but is that how you see it?
All he's done since arriving in Arizona
is average at least 15 PPR, 13 half PPR and 11
non PPR points per game per season.
And he's average at least 15 plus touches per game for six straight seasons, 17 plus
touches per game in his past three.
I went to look at his efficiency to just see, all right, we know he's getting older. Where's he declining? Dude, he's, he's
barely declining yards per carry. Adam, I know that's your
favorite stat. That's one that like you could look at and say,
All right, maybe there's something there. Because the
average five yards per carry in 2023, that went down to 4.6 in
2024. But even like, his rate of zero or negative rushing arts,
it got better last year.
His explosive play rate was on par from 2023.
His avoided tackle rate was identical.
28.8% from what it was in 2023.
I think he's still a good player.
I think he's still going to get a lot of the work in that offense.
He's probably going to be one of those guys that he's just going to continue to be good for fantasy until something
really bad happens. And you could say, Well, bad things happen to older running backs, and, you know, their, their
bodies just aren't the same. If you can predict that with consistency, you're going to win your league and you're
going to win your drafts a lot of the time. I think Connor's built a little bit differently than your typical
running back. I think he's proven it. And he deserves the benefit of the doubt, especially since he's
not one of these running backs that like other running backs that have that type of track
record, they're going in round two.
He's not, he's going in like round four.
And I love that value, especially if I don't go running back heavy early on.
I thought he was going later than that.
But okay, would you so I
would take round four. I don't have a problem. The toughest thing for me is Connor versus
the rookies. You know, where do you come out on that? I think I like Connor better than
everybody except Jen. Right, Jen. I mean, I would take Harvey over Harvey, not Hampton.
No.
Dan, how about you?
I'm thinking about that.
I, I want to say that I would take Connor over Harvey and Hampton right now.
I don't, I think Dave makes a good case. Like there's not really like the negative to Connor is just the
injury profile and the age right now.
Benson didn't really show last year. I liked Trey Benson coming out in Florida state, but he didn't really show last year. the, like the negative to Connor is just the injury profile and the age right now. Benson
didn't really show last year. I liked Trey Benson coming out, Florida state, but he didn't
really show last year that he's going to be pressing to take into, you know, dip strongly
into that role this year. So what, and that offense in my mind with Petsing has proven
that they can run the ball and they can design a run scheme. So I don't really see the negative
outside the age and the injury. What is he now 30 years old?
Yeah, I mean with the rookies you're getting it's the unknown they're younger less of it less of an injury track record But also the unknown comes from can they will they have the same?
The role that we're expecting Connor to have and we know that he's gonna have that role. So I'll take Connor both of them
the thing with Connor is
You know go past last year five of the previous six years
or four of the previous five years, he missed at least three games.
And so if you take that into account and just think there's going to be some time that he
misses because clearly it's not just those games, it's the ones that he gets hurt and
that he doesn't finish as well, or A's or stats.
Right?
You're right. He left two games earlier. They should
have played fewer than 30% of the snaps in week six and 17.
Yeah.
When he's on the field, he's going to be amazing. And so is
this the year that there's a big breakdown? Again, you know,
father time is undefeated. We know that when running backs
typically turn 30, I think we do have to shift the goalposts a little bit
because of how things have changed,
especially what we saw last year with Connor,
with Henry, with Aaron Jones, all these guys,
29 plus, 30 plus that have coming off big seasons.
But was that an outlier season
or is that gonna be the norm?
And that's the question you have to ask yourself.
So I like the fact that the Cardinals,
despite that Trey Benson didn't show very much,
did nothing to enhance their backfield at all, you know, at least nothing of significance.
So they're going with the same cast of characters with the hope that Connor can do this, plus they
gave him a contract extension in the last year. So there's a lot to like about the situation.
I wouldn't take him around for personally, but I do think yet once you get past like, you know,
running back 15, 16, 17, he's certainly in that conversation
even with those guys.
Like Dave said, his production would scream taking him in the same range as Joe Mixon
and Ken Walker and those guys that we're still relatively excited about.
Really there's just one year age difference between Mixon and Connor.
It might be splitting hairs there, but in any case, I do think you kind of factor in
13 plus games, you know, as opposed to 16 plus games
for where just his career has been.
And then we'll kind of see where, you know,
sort of things fall.
But I do think there are a little bit more red flags
with Connor compared to at least some of those other guys.
One final note on Connor,
I think as we get into draft season,
the recency of just getting these rookies,
he'll fall in drafts.
Like he'll fall even further than round four.
People are gonna wanna take Hampton.
People are gonna wanna take Harvey
and these young guys over him.
Also, I think you can handcuff him cheaper
than probably most of these backs.
Like you can get Benson very last round of your draft.
So if he is gonna miss time,
you at least have that handcuff on your bench cheap. So I think that's valuable too.
And he does not have to deal with a quarterback who steals carries near the goal line. Kyler Murray
had one carry last year inside the five. Now that is super low. He's usually got five or six,
but maybe that's part of the evolution of Kyler Murray. It was actually a pretty interesting stat.
I don't know.
It's not good for Kyler,
but only one carry inside the five yard line.
All right, let's take a break and talk about Joann Jennings,
who keeps me up at night.
And we'll be right back on FFT.
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I wanna bring up two things.
Jawan Jennings, we were talking about him
before the show started, and he ran a 4.72, 40,
4.72 at the NFL Combine.
He was a seventh round pick.
That's part of what keeps me up at night,
because we were watching,
I was just watching some of his catches and like, man,
he looks really slow.
What did Joann Jennings run?
What was his 40 time?
And then I went, what?
4.7, I had a flip out.
Okay.
But I did also, I keep talking about John New Smith.
This is completely off topic.
And I keep forgetting to mention that John New Smith
ran a faster 40 time than any tight end
in this current rookie class.
Wow.
Yes.
I don't think a Royal ran.
He may have beaten that if he did,
but just keep that in mind.
John Smith was a good athlete.
Okay, Dave, Jawan Jennings, how do you feel about him?
What's the stat?
What was Daquan Thornton's 40 time?
You really want to know, or is this just?
Well, no, it was fastest of the combine line here.
Oh really?
Mm-hmm.
4.7 to a. What about John Ross?
Taekwon Thornton was 4.28.
But I, yeah, I'm never one to overreact
like the guy who runs the fastest 40,
but the guy who runs the slowest 40,
sometimes it's Pukin Akua,
but sometimes it's not good.
Anywho, Dave, what do you want to tell us
about Joann Jennings?
Sometimes it's Joann Jennings,
and when he gets an opportunity, he does well with it.
Last year, and we've mentioned this number before,
14.9 PPR points per game.
Maybe I need to apologize,
because that number's a little bit misleading.
He had 46.5 PPR points against the Rams. Then his next two
biggest games were 28 PPR points, 25.1 PPR points. He had just one other game over 13.7 PPR points all year, and two
with over 12.2 PPR points. All this despite having eight games with seven or more targets, and five
of those eight were 10 plus targets.
So we had the opportunities that we really liked the receiver to have, but he didn't
necessarily come through outside of a couple of spike weeks over the course of the season.
And that brought me to the film.
It's funny how we work at them because it's not like I told you, hey, I'm going to watch
Joanne Jennings film and you're like, oh, I'll do it too.
We both did it on our own.
And the ways that he won were with physicality.
There were a couple of plays against the Rams where coverage broke down.
He was wide open.
He's got some savviness to him.
He knows how to get open and be an available target to Brock Purdy.
That's going to help him.
His contested catch rate was actually
7th best among qualifying receivers last year, 62.5% on 32 contested catches. Marvin Harrison could never do such a
thing. Marvin Harrison Jr. could never do such a thing. But it makes me a little bit nervous to go, to target to Juan Jennings. Let's put it that way. Could he be the number one receiver
for the 49ers this year?
Sure, but he's not the most explosive.
He's gonna win with size.
He can win in the red zone.
He did that certainly against the Rams
and against some other teams.
But the inconsistency that we saw
where he was really feast or famine,
that makes me wanna go in a different direction
at wide receiver.
And recently I pulled Parsall ahead of Jennings,
because I think he can be just as boom or bust as Joann Jennings was last year, but maybe he could actually match him in
terms of targets, and maybe even be a little bit more consistent. Because usually what happens is talent wins out when it
comes to targets and opportunities. And if Pearsall proves that, you know, the speed he has, uh, he can win contested
catches too, the double moves his route running, it's better than Joann Jennings route running,
that could put him in a position to take targets away from everybody in the 49ers offense.
As long as he's healthy, I think Piersal is the better bet on draft day.
If I had to pick a 49ers wide receiver.
Sorry, I'll let the other guys talk.
I just want to say I'm sitting here talking about how slow he is.
I did think Joann Jennings looked like a pretty good route runner.
This guy knew how to get open.
He obviously understands the offense.
He was a very reliable target.
He caught almost 70% of his targets and he ranked 20, where are you Joann Jennings? 27th among wide receivers and tight end,
I think just wide receivers, no, and tight ends in open score according to ESPN's analytics. So
he's not going to do a ton after the catch. I don't know he's going to make a lot of big plays,
but there is a reliability there with Jawan Jennings. I don't want to completely dump on
him. He does things very well. But I think the talent disparity
between him and Pearsall is probably what's really tripping me up.
Tanner Iskra And I wonder if as long as the opportunity
presents itself, I know that there's a hamstring injury with Pearsall right now. As long as
Pearsall does show what he like, he was a first round pick and he had a good 40 time. So to me,
like the difference is clear, the better talent is Pearsall. It's going to take a lot of volume and more consistency from Juan Jennings to
be the better fantasy receiver.
And so if I'm trying to win my league, I want to take on upside.
Uh, Pearsall to me is the easy receiver to take between the two.
Anybody else want to jump in here?
Pearsall is definitely a better value.
I think Jenny's is going to be the better receiver this season just based on how much this team
relies on him.
He's also in a contract year so I think that's going to matter for him as well.
You know, they signed him to a two-year deal two seasons ago and looking at how this offense
is going to operate, you know, we've had this conversation many times.
What happens when Ayuka is healthy and which of the three comes off the field?
And so is it because they don't run a lot of three receiver sets.
So will they change potentially?
I think they sign guys like Luke Farrell for a reason
because they like to be in 12 personnel
and have extra blockers on the field
and that's something I think that matters to them.
So which of the three is not going to see
as many opportunities and targets?
It could easily be Jennings.
It could be IEUuk because he's not 100%.
It could be Pearsall because he doesn't stay healthy
and also is the most inexperienced of the three.
I can see it going any which way possible.
So if you're telling me right now,
I have the option in round, let's say six,
to take one of the 49ers receivers, I'm taking Jennings.
If you say I can take one of the 49ers receivers at cost,
which I think is what we'll see how ADP settles,
because right now they're both amazing values.
And I just don't think that's going to stay the same for Jennings
because of how people in the industry are going to hype them up.
Um, I'll take Pierce all at his cost because David's right.
We don't know which of these guys is going to stand out above the rest
and pedigree and talent may favor Pierce all over Jennings.
But this guy, when he gets a chance to make plays two of those games, by the
way, if I'm not mistaken with the high target volumes with Josh Dobbs, right? Not necessarily.
No, he only played one game with Dobbs and he got ejected in the first half. He had 10
targets in the first half.
The game where Dobbs came in and had that.
Yeah. One drive. But no.
One drive was what? Five targets?
It was a lie. It was that shootout with the Lions in week 17. I do think that based on how this team values him, like every story you read about
Joann Jennings is they should have paid him more.
They should have given him a lengthier contract.
He's kind of been this guy over the last couple of years.
Like when someone has missed time, he's made a play or two.
And now he's getting a chance to sort of be featured.
So this is one of those teams, you know, Dave said a couple of times,
he finds a way to get open. He's a good route runner. This is, you know, Sean McVay, Shanahan,
they put guys in just spots that they make plays and it's not necessarily the star players
all the time or the high draft pick guys all the time. It's guys that they rely on. And
this is just one of those guys. And so I want as many shares of Jowan Jennings as I possibly can get especially at where his value is right now.
I also want as many shares of Ricky Pearson as I can get because again it's a very ambiguous
receiving core so I do think there's going to be chances for both these guys to be significant
playmakers.
I would just take the chance on the veteran in this offense more so than the younger player
as much as I like Ricky Pearson.
I'm definitely more along the lines of where Jamie's at I think because it's a combo of
two things. One, what you said Adam about
He just understands his role in the offense when I watch this offense what I see is a quarterback who is one of the best
The NFL throwing out breaking passes. I think he understands the timing of outbreakers, which a lot of quarterbacks don't he's talked about this Brock
Purdy he talks about how he sees it really well those intermediate outbreakers. That's what Jennings runs
I'm not sold that Pierce all will run those. I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm sure he can, but I'm not sold to you.
Definitely. The second thing is just the 21 and the 12 personnel that Jamie mentioned.
If you have that personnel grouping on the field, which Shanahan needs to make his offense
work, you want to receive her like Jennings on the field to block. You do not want to
receive her like Pierce all out there to block on the on the outside.
And that's a big part of it too.
It's not just the personnel groupings.
There's a pretty big piece coming back to this offense
that's gonna change a lot.
And that's McCaffrey.
And so a healthy McCaffrey could, you know,
sort of throw a big wrench into all of these guys
in a positive or negative way, you know,
in a positive, just opening things up, you know,
and getting back to, I can't think what they were,
you know, a year ago, how much Adam have we talked about the Yak was gone from this team.
But yeah, that's because they threw the ball. That's partially
because they threw the ball downfield. So and they threw the
ball downfield. And that I think will favor Pierce all more so
than Jennings a little bit just based on how he operates. So we
could see the evolution of this. But I also think again, you
know, you're looking at it. To me, the takeaway is you want
pieces of this offense. And you know, if you're in Dave's
camp, you want Pierce all first.
Great.
He may be the best guy you want.
You want Jennings first, you know, which, which is where Dan and I come out.
I think that's the, you know, route you can go as well.
And what have we seen in ADP?
Last time we talked about it, Ayuka was the one going first.
Exactly.
People still, you know, waiting for him to come back and hoping and look, it may be the case, hoping
that he's still their best guy, which he could be.
We don't know if he has a strong recovery from the ACL.
He knows what Brock Purdy wants to do.
He knows what Shanahan wants to do.
Again, that's why I kind of favor James a little bit because of his being a veteran,
but Ayuk may end up being the best receiver by the end of the season when your fantasy team may want to start when
these guys remember most of these guys are being drafted.
I shouldn't say most all three of these guys are being drafted as as reserve receivers,
you know, at best starter in the three receiver league or flex in a three or seven league.
They're not being drafted as starters in two receiver leagues.
And that's the best upside about it is if any of them hit, you have a pretty good player
on your bench that could be successful.
The problem with taking I you first and foremost is he could start the year on the pup list.
There's all sorts of reports about how to San Francisco saying that he could miss the
first four games.
And then remember he didn't just have a clean MCL tear.
He had an MCL tear as well.
You just have to wait and see.
But he's the one I'm actually least interested in drafting.
Even at that ADP because he's behind both Jennings and Pearsall. You're
going to see Jennings and Pearsall go within like 10 picks of each other in every single draft you
look at. So it just makes sense to kind of look at the two receivers, figure out the one you like
best. If you like Jennings better, prepare to take him even when Pearsall is on the board. But if
you like Pearsall, you can have the radar go up.
As soon as Jennings is picked,
you know Pearsall is gonna go soon after.
I do think we'll see the ADP separate a little bit now
with Pearsall coming into camp hurt.
And Jennings is definitely gonna get more hype.
Yeah.
I think when you look at the 49ers,
the last six years, the most targets for any player
on the 49ers is 121. What they typically do is they really
spread their targets out kind of evenly. But then get the most
out of their targets. But it really feels like it could be
that one of those situations where I mean, if I were going to
just do a projection off the top of my head with everyone playing
17 games, I would put Jennings and Kittle somewhere
in the 105 to 120 target range. I would put Pierce all somewhere in the 95 to 105 range
and I would put McCaffrey around 90 or something like that. It's just think yourself probably
closer to 80 to 105 for me. I think it's a much wider range given the injury history.
Yeah. So, and the thing is they outperform their targets,
but it's not going to be a lot of targets.
But it's late round picks.
Now, the last thing here, and we've spent a lot of time
on this, but I just think it's so interesting,
because they hold the keys to so much fantasy success.
Let's say Iyuk misses the first four games,
and he comes back.
Personally, I think Iyuk is a bigger threat to Jennings than Pierce Hall. I
don't know how it's going to play out. But I just sort of get
that sense like you can Jennings are more similar than I you can
pierce all does anybody really feel? I think so.
I think a healthy I you can be more explosive.
No, not yeah, no, not talent wise. I'm like, big, big body,
you know, kind of like more, probably more outside,
even though they'll all play a little bit everywhere.
The thing that I always go back to is, you remember IUX rookie season when he was making
all these plays and he comes back his second year and he was in the doghouse for such a long time?
Yeah.
This is what my concern is with Pierce Hall to an extent, is Shanahan favors these veteran
guys that do
their jobs.
You know, again, going back to what we talked about Najee Harris yesterday and how, you
know, he's going to be a pain in the ass because of he's a guy that just does his job as opposed
to the explosion that's what Hampton could be.
So Jennings may not be that explosive.
You may be more explosive when he's healthy.
Pearsall may be more explosive.
Yeah.
But to Dan's point, like the blocking matters.
The route running matters when you know, you're, you're, you know, these timing things that
are so dependent on staying on schedule. And I think Pearsall can do those things. I'm
confident that he's going to be able to pick these things up. But Jennings has done it
in this offense year over year. Ayuka has done it in this offense now year over year.
You know, Pearsall is going to have to outperform those guys and out veteran those
guys.
If you, if you get my dress, you know, like, and those are the things that could keep him
off the field, even though again, he might be more explosive.
So I know it's not like a dog house thing, you know, so I don't know if that's the right
thing.
Yeah, I get what you're saying.
It's a fit thing.
And just to be clear, Pierce Hall mostly played the slot at Florida.
So it's, it's not a guarantee given his size.
What?
Not last year.
His slot rate and Jennings slot rate were very similar last year.
Yeah, he can line up anywhere.
I'm not saying he can't.
I just don't think he offers the same in the run game as Jennings does.
Oh, yeah.
No, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't make that argument.
No.
All right, Dan, I think it's time for you to give us give us some notes.
You want to do neighbors or Brian Robinson Jr. first?
You could throw neighbors out there first
and give that stat.
All right, let's go to Malik neighbors
and his fit with Russell Wilson.
Malik neighbors had the fourth most unrealized
air yards in 2024.
So give me a quick definition of unrealized air yards.
Yeah, unrealized air yards, he had 876.
That just means air yards where he was open
and the ball either
didn't come his way or was off target.
And Russell Wilson was the most efficient deep ball passer in 2024, completing 54% of
his passes of 20 plus air yards for 851 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions. So
you're arguing the deep ball connection will be much better this year than it was last
year for Malik neighbors.
Yeah, night and day. I don't think it could be much worse watching the tape of what it was with
Daniel Jones those first eight weeks. Jones was inaccurate. Jones didn't throw when neighbors was
open. And yet the Giants continued to design those routes and those opportunities for neighbors,
both out of the slot and on the outside with double moves. This offensive design from Malik
neighbors, that's not going to change. That's how Dable designed the offense last year.
It was successful.
It worked.
That quarterback just held back neighbors at times.
The quarterback didn't against the Colts.
Somehow they got a miracle quarterback game.
They're one of the second half of the season and neighbors went off and was
the best player in fantasy that week.
So with the revive revival of his deep passing, something that wasn't there, but was
there for him at LSU plus all the targets. I mean, we're talking about somebody neighbors who average
8.2 fantasy points per game as a rookie. That was more than Justin Jefferson and his amazing rookie
season who had 17.1 average. He had 58% of the Giants receiving touchdowns, 41% of their total yards, 37% of their team targets, 11.3 per game.
I feel like he is a lock top 10 fantasy player based on this volume and based on the upgrade
in the deep passing game and at quarterback.
And that's my case for him.
I would never let him fall past even eight in drafts.
I love everything you said, except the offense worked. Well, it worked for the
quarterbacks. I mean, like, I don't think a lot of work for the Giants last year. Nothing
can work when Daniel Jones is your quarterback and Drew Lock is your quarterback. But like
what Dable was able to do in the first eight games of the season, or really before that
Carolina game was generate some passing yardage through Malik and all of it was through Malik neighbors.
Okay. So I hear a couple of things that concern me with neighbors. Um, it's tough because
I think we all can tell he's a truly special player. Yeah. I think I'm trying to look it
up now, but the stat you gave about Russell Wilson and his, his, um, completion percentage
on past attempts of 20 or more area yards.
I think it's been pretty-
That's the NFL.
Yeah, but so much better last year
than it was the year before.
And the year before that and the year before that.
So it's not like he has a track record.
I have him at 47%, you had him at 54%,
there's probably just like a slight difference there.
But the year before that, he completed 32% of his passes.
Oh, I think I know why, but the year before that 36%, 38%, 34%, 41%. So he had one of his best
years last year of his entire career on those passes. But he I've seen like he throws pretty
good deep ball. My concern is like, he doesn't throw that much. Almost throughout his entire
career. He's been a low volume passer.
And I feel like the targets,
170 targets in 15 games for neighbors.
I mean, I feel like that could be 150 targets
in 17 games for Malik neighbors.
It could be a, and he's only,
like Russell Wilson has produced a top 10 wide receiver
per game twice in PPR in his entire career.
And I think part of that is like,
there's just not that many catches
because he usually throws like 31 ish passes per game.
I can't really find a reason for that.
Like he's obviously Pete Carroll liked to run the ball.
But I mean, part of that was the team makeup, right?
Like the Steelers and the Seahawks,
they were run first teams and they were competitive.
Slow.
I'm sorry?
They're slow too.
I mean, like, you know, it's a lot of-
Yeah, but is Wilson gonna come to the Giants and sling it around 35 times
I don't think it's gonna be the same kind of run first
Option for them here. Like I don't know if they're gonna be winning enough games to have that kind of game script
How many games is he even the quarterback for that?
I don't know that he's ever had a receiver anywhere near as good including DK Metcalf and George Pickens as Malik neighbors is
What what what's the over under starts for Wilson?
I'm not the right guy to ask because I think the Giants are going to be more competitive than people
realize this year. There's an accurate line for that, isn't there? I'm going to, I'm going like seven.
I'm going to go 12. And then if they go to Jameis, awesome. Bonanza, they go to Dart.
That's good.
No way they're going to Jamis.
Right.
Probably not.
But you would, unless it's on the quarterback play, unless it's the, the awful McCarthy
situation of rookie gets hurt early.
And I'm not as old though, like I know some of these other situations, like the Pennex
one we brought up early, like we saw three games of Michael Pennex and his bad defenses.
Like he could easily not, he could easily hold back his wide receiver.
He's not going behind neighbor.
He's not going behind London.
I think it's like Nico Collins, Brian Thomas Jr.
That kind of like, yeah.
And it's also, you know, Gentie and, and potentially Gibbs and, you know, a Chan, if you want to
throw them up there as well.
So it's, it's that conversation, you know, or
Henry for a lot of people. I think the thing that you know,
you mentioned, the wind like the schedule is tough. Yeah, yeah.
That's good, right? I mean, that could mean they're gonna have
to throw a lot.
That's what I'm thinking going to be but it's also, you know,
he's facing some some tough competition from a cornerback standpoint,
from a defensive back standpoint.
How much of the offensive line going to hold up for Russ?
Is the run game going to potentially be better?
I don't have high expectations for them running the ball.
You know, I think they're running backs without production fantasy-wise, but running the ball,
I don't think it's going to be very dominant.
So you know, they may be in situations to your point, Adam, of Russell
having to throw the ball more. But if they're losing games, at what point does it? Okay,
we're done with the 30 plus year old quarterback here. We're not turning to James Winston.
And now it's Jackson Dart. And is he going to, despite the fact that he's more accurate
than Cam Ward, are we going to that stupid video that made some made some rounds? Did
you see that, Adam? Which one? The dart neighbors, the dart.
Now the dart ward thing.
The rookie thing where they're there playing.
There's a look, it could be could be great for neighbors. I mean, it's not like the quarterbacks
last year were anything to write home about and he still was very productive. So it's,
it's, you know, depending, I think on how you you feel about you know, second year receiver
Uncertain situation around him, you know, and then to your point Adam, okay
St. Brown who's been tried and true for you know, three years basically
Nico Collins has been very solid and in two plus seasons with CJ Stroud
AJ Brown and we know what he's been able to accomplish Brian Thomas jr. You know, you can nitpick him as well. So
Neighbors gonna be fascinating to see where he sort of settles from an ADP
standpoint.
All right. Last guy is Brian Robinson Jr. He scored the 18th most fantasy points.
This is a stat from Dan 18th most fantasy points in PPR,
but he was on the field for just 43% of the snaps, which ranked what?
32nd among all running backs.
Dan and average just 1.8 targets per game. ranked what? 32nd among all running backs? Dan? Correct.
And average just 1.8 targets per game, 47th among running
backs. This is Brian Robinson Jr.
Any kind of drop in Washington's offensive efficiency
or red zone role for Robinson could make him borderline
unplayable. Wow.
Yes.
Yeah. I mean, famously I considered Zameer White
unplayable and worth dropping in like week one last year.
We had a big argument about that on the podcast, Adam.
I prevailed.
This is not the same situation.
This is not the same situation.
The offense in Washington is definitely a lot better
than the offense was in Vegas.
But I do think that there is a non-zero chance
that no one seems to be considering
that this Washington offense falls off just a little bit this year.
Uh, now that teams will have, you know, a full year of film on this cliff Kingsbury
offense, we saw a similar drop also Kingsbury in Arizona hasn't happened yet.
Jaden is probably a different tier level player than Kyler.
So I don't want to say it's likely, but it's definitely possible.
And for Brian Robinson, he feel like his fantasy profile, his his his outlook is hanging onto a thread of those eight rushing touchdowns
There are those eight total touchdowns like there's not a lot of volume here. There's no role in the passing game
And that run game I thought lost efficiency in the second half of the season
So ultimately yes, I like the player and I think that's why he's still being drafted where he is
But it feels like a lot of people are just kind of taking him in a spot where
it's like, ah, this is definitely going to be like a flex worthy player.
And it's like, well, if he doesn't score a touchdown, what is he really
offering on a week to week basis?
She's not getting a lot of carries again and he's not getting a lot of targets.
I'll make you a little more optimistic about him.
This is where we got to go.
Acer stats, Acer it up Both games against the Dallas Cowboys. He left early with an injury and he,
or actually one of them was week 18. So he left early because they pulled their starters and he
only had five carries in those two games. If you take those two games out, he was on pace for 251
carries. So if you take those, if you leave them in, he was on pace for 227 carries, which is really low,
but 251 is pretty respectable.
Do Acer stat you back real quick?
That was with good game script
because they were leading a lot of games.
The question is, will they be?
They also had some blowouts, my friend,
which were bad game scripts.
Okay, Acer stat me back.
You can't double stamp or triple stamp.
And yeah, so 251 carries isn't bad.
I also, just to throw it out, he scored eight touchdowns.
He was on pace for 10.
Every running back over the last four years
since we went to a 17 game season,
who has scored 10 or more touchdowns,
has finished at worst RB26 overall in PPR, in full PPR.
So obviously better in half or, yeah.
Well, like, cause one of them was Gus Edwards.
Gus Edwards was the worst example.
That's what you really fear.
No, seriously, that's what you fear
that Brian Robinson could be is a better version
of Gus Edwards.
Cause Gus Edwards was RB26 overall in 2023
with 10 touchdowns, but
he was RB 34 per game or something like that. And so I see the profile is scary. You're
right, Dan. He's gonna, Brian Robinson is gonna need touchdowns. But he, he, he was
more involved in Gus Edwards that season, but no, I totally get where you're coming
from. He's, he's a scary pick. Let's see where he's, where do you guys think he should go?
Jamie, where do you think he's scary though? Like that's the only thing I would disagree with. Like
where he's going, he's perfectly fine. Yeah. It's going a hundred and fifth on fantasy
pros. So that's right. He's going a lot earlier in our mocks. Where's he going? He's going
ahead of Joanne Jennings and Ricky Pierce hall, which is ridiculous. That's scary.
Spooky. So where, where do you, where would you guys take him?
Like 80th?
In that range.
You know, I think again, you're looking at what is this backfield comprised of?
They drafted a seventh round guy and you have an aging Austin Eckler who's not going to
take carries away from him.
Yeah, I agree.
So again, you know, to circle back to like he's, I would take him before a shot white.
Would you think there's more potential for you? You're obviously taking him ahead of like, your favorite handcuffs, right? Like the Jordan
Masons that you're getting a start running.
I mean, again, I don't want to draft Brian Robinson to be a starter for my team, but there's going to be weeks where this is going to be
a really good offense.
And yes, the quarterback is going to run.
We know that.
And they added a running wide receiver
and Debo Seymour was going to take some touches away.
Maybe some red zone touches away.
But this is just one of these guys.
Like he's not a league winner, but flex,
RB too, depending how you build your team, you know,
hero RB, zero RB, you know, he can certainly get you by for a few weeks. And you go back,
I think it was 2023, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know if it was last year,
the games were Eichler missed his role in the passing game spiked.
It's true. If you're a zero RB drafter, you can keep his name in mind because he opens the year
against the Giants, Packers, Raiders, Falcons. I think the Giants might be the toughest matchup
of those four. Yeah. Packers. I'd have to say Packers had a really good defense last year,
but Dan thinks the Giants are going to the playoffs. So just competitive, just competitive.
are going to the playoffs. So just competitive, just competitive. So I saw a comment in the chat
that I want to make sure we, you know, I don't want to feel like I made people feel this way.
I'm trying to find, I'm sorry. I'm trying to find that. I can't find it. It said, I'm staying away from all 49ers.
I think that's a horrible idea.
Don't stay away from a team that's almost guaranteed
to have a great offense.
And if I broke down the targets like I did
and made you think, oh, well, none of them
are gonna be good, that's misleading on my part.
So I apologize.
Like they get away for tomorrow's show
where I'd like to apologize to myself.
No, if I apologize to the listeners and the viewers, if I gave you the idea that you should
stay away from 49ers and I will end the show with this juicy meatball, I am going to draft
Christian McCaffrey third overall and then everyone's going to talk about it on our next
podcast whenever that happens.
So he is in my number three overall player.
What if you pick eighth?
I'll draft him eighth. I'll draft him eighth.
I'll draft him as early as third.
So bring it on.
Behind Chase and Bijan?
In some order.
Probably Bijan first probably and then Chase and then.
And then how soon will you be drafting Garendo or you won't care?
No, I'll draft Garendo.
Round three.
You got to get him.
You have to get him.
Dad, I was good to have you back, buddy. Good to be back. Glad to talk ball with you guys. It's always fun to be on here. And Adam, I hope you know that over my vacation, I played
four sets of singles and three sets of doubles, which is more than I've played combined
in the last probably two or three years.
So you are in a lot of trouble when we get to the summer.
Yeah, I play that, you know,
I play double that a week basically.
I know, but I'm good at tennis and you're bad.
Not bad.
I'm not bad.
I got a big match tonight.
Big, big match tonight.
I'll give you updates tomorrow, folks.
I wanna hear about it. Thank you so much for watching and listening. I'll give you updates tomorrow, folks. I wanna hear about it.
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football.
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