Fantasy Football Today - Toughest Players to Project (07/05 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 5, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Good luck coming up with projections for Kadarius Toney, Khalil Herbert and Anthony Richardson. Those are three of the players we'll talk about today, but let's start with Deshaun Watson (5:00). Can he bounce back to his superstar form? Will he throw enough? And we've got some news and notes (14:25) on the Vikings backfield and receiving corps ... Anthony Richardson is tough to project (20:10) as we try to compare him to Jalen Hurts coming out of college. We also talk about why Rhamondre Stevenson (26:00), J.K. Dobbins (34:05) and Khalil Herbert (38:30) are difficult to project. How will the Ravens spread the ball around? Is Herbert good enough in pass protection to stay on the field? ... At wide receiver, Heath has trouble projecting Kadarius Toney (44:15), Calvin Ridley (47:30) and Rashod Bateman (51:00). Of course Kyle Pitts (54:05) is a difficult projection, but so is Chig Okonkwo (57:45) ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection 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 Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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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No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. The toughest players to project. That's what we're talking about today on Fantasy Football Today. Welcome back.

It's July 5th. I'm Adam with Dave and Heath. How was it, guys? How was your 4th of July? Heath, big beach party? I did not go to the beach this year. It was actually a neighborhood party this year. Spent several hours in the pool.

Had some delicious burgers. Did cook meat over an open flame. And I had some hot dogs. It was good. No ketchup on the hot dog, but I did have mustard. Yeah, well, you know. Mustard's acceptable. Dave, how was your fourth?

I did go to the beach. Wife and I went to the beach. We did have burgers near the beach. Put our feet in the ocean. Then we went home and put our bodies in our pool. And then we had tacos. Fourth of July tacos. That's weird. With burger meat and hot dog meat in them?

No, no, no. Separate meal. It's like a side meal in between lunch and dinner. Hot dog tacos. That sounds good, right? That would be good. Yeah. I'd eat it. It's kind of like a chili cheese coney is it okay to have salsa on a hot dog can't have ketchup on a hot dog salsa could

you do that 100 okay oh i did watch joey chestnut by the way and i was completely disgusted and i couldn't look away and it's it's unbelievable that this event is what it is. And my son turned to me while we were watching in horror and asked me, how many hot dogs do you think you could eat? And I said, six, maybe seven. It's what, two minutes? No, no, it's like seven minutes, I think. Heath might know, I don't know.

I used to do some competitive eating back in the day, but I do not watch any longer. know i don't know i i have not i used to do some competitive eating back in the day um but i do not watch any longer it gives me flashbacks and yeah what did you eat um i was in a a pancake eating contest once i was in a watermelon eating contest uh pizza like you had to eat a large pizza who could eat the large pizza the fastest um they used to have this there there was this place in Kansas City called Winstead's and they had skyscraper sundaes. And these sundaes were like 18 inches tall in a pitcher and they were shakes, but also they had four scoops of ice cream in them.

People would share them, like four people with all of their own straws. And I had a contest to see who could eat one of those the fastest. Wow. Did you win? I just chug to see who could eat one of those the fastest. Wow. I just chugged it. Chugged it like a beer. Did you win? You won?

All right. Way to go. Get this man a trophy. New respect for Heath. I know this has been a little bit unusual, a little banter before the show. Yeah, yeah. I've been in non-competitive eating contests basically my whole life. And I don't brag a lot about anything on this show,

but I would like to say I had my best cooking day ever yesterday. Oh, wow. I crushed it. I really did. I was really pumped. And this is all without a grill. So I baked. You just boiled some hot dogs in some water. I baked everything.

I baked teriyaki chicken wings. I baked some raisins. I baked burgers. I baked hot dogs. And everything was great. You baked burgers? Yes. I baked burgers. I baked hot dogs. And everything was great. You baked burgers? Yes. It was so much better than on the stove.

I mean, the stove was just horrible. You know, year after year, I'm making these awful burgers. So I tried to bake them. Baked them for 15 minutes on 400, and they came out really, really good. I was shocked. Dave, have you ever heard of someone cooking a burger in the oven? No. Remember, I'm not allowed to have a grill.

Now I'm intrigued. Not allowed to have a grill in my apartment or my condo. So try it. It was really, really good. I'm more interested to hear if anyone else has ever done this or if you just pioneered this technique. I mean, I Googled it. Twitterful. Yeah.

All right. Let's rock and roll here with some fantasy football. Toughest players to project. Did you like the baked burgers better than any other burger you've had in your life? No, no. I'd much rather have a grilled burger on an actual grill. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just fishing for a Nasertig.

No, no. But they were really good. I mean, the stovetop is just terrible. So baked was good and easy. Very easy. Okay, anyway. Who's your toughest player to project, Heath, if you had to pick one um man come on i'm doing a twitter poll asking people that ever had a hamburger made in a oven um no i i think like as a rule it's the guys who are in different circumstances or that we've never seen before.

But I think the toughest this year for me is Deshaun Watson. Okay. And let me tell you some of the players we're going to talk about today. Just some. Deshaun Watson, Kadarius Toney, Ramondre Stevenson, Rashad Bateman, Kyle Pitts. Those will be some of them. So yeah, Deshaun Watson, for three straight years, he finished no worse than seventh per game in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues. I think no worse than six per game in four-point-per-passing touchdown leagues

was, you know, one of the studs. And last year, I don't even think he was top 20 per game based on his six games. He was awful. So, Deshaun Watson, one of the toughest players to project for you, Heath. Go ahead. Yeah, because he's either the best quarterback in the NFL or the worst quarterback in the NFL. And it's not just that, not just the contrast between the player he was before the

suspension and what he was the last six games of last year, but it's also, I think there's some pretty serious uncertainty about Kevin Stefanski's game plan going into this year. The Browns have been an extremely run-heavy team that has also had a high percentage of their targets go to tight ends in Stefanski's tenure in Cleveland. And they've went out and added Elijah Moore. They went out and drafted a couple of wide receivers, including Cedric Tillman, who I think could be pretty good. They already have Amari Cooper. There's whispers that maybe DeAndre Hopkins could be on the menu.

They are behaving this offseason like a team that's going to throw the ball more. They let Kareem Hunt walk and throw it more to their wide receivers. I think that'd be a good thing for Watson if they choose to do that. Can we get a look at the Twitter poll that I posted here? Earlier this morning I said, How much do you trust Deshaun Watson to bounce back to the elite quarterback he was in Houston? Fully trust, mostly trust, meh, maybe, and not a chance. And I thought mostly trust would win, but meh, maybe, and not a chance. And I thought mostly trust would win,

but meh, maybe is at 60%. Which is exactly how I have him ranked. I think I have him 12th. It's like, eh? Maybe. Yeah, I thought there'd be a little bit more optimism there. There really isn't. Dave, what would you have voted for?

How much do you trust Deshaun Watson to bounce back to the elite quarterback he was in Houston? Fully trust, mostly trust, meh, what would you have voted for? How much do you trust Deshaun Watson to bounce back to the elite quarterback he was in Houston? Fully trust, mostly trust, meh, maybe, or not a chance? It's meh, maybe for me. And it's got some to do with Deshaun Watson and just, is he a different guy now than he was when he was in Houston? But he touched on this, Kevin Stefanski and his track record as a play caller. It's not just what he's done in Cleveland. It's what he did in Minnesota with Kirk Cousins. He's never been above a 54% pass rate in five seasons as a play caller

in the National Football League, whereas Watson has been above 54% in each of his last three seasons in Houston, and he was at 54.1% in the last two weeks of last year. So Stefanski's never called plays at a high pass rate. Could that change maybe? Could it get to like 57%? That's pretty good. I don't see it getting to 60% unless something really bad happens to Nick Chubb.

So that's a huge factor. Whether or not Watson can bounce back, even with all these additions that the Browns have made, that's a huge factor. Whether or not Watson can bounce back, even with all these additions that the Browns have made, that's a huge factor. And then there's the division itself. It's not easy. He's taken on the Ravens twice. He's taken on the Steelers twice.

He's taken on the Bengals twice. I don't think all those defenses are necessarily going to be dominant. And believe it or not, the projected strength of schedule is actually favorable for Watson this year. It's a favorable schedule over the course of the season according to the work that I put in on it but it's it might be a little rough to start out because he's got the Bengals the Steelers and the Ravens all within the first four weeks of the year and then a buy early on people might draft to Sean Watson and then give up on him really quickly if he gets off to a slow start this year.

Okay. Yeah, he has been on very run-heavy offenses. Houston's pass attempts per game from 2017 to 2020, they were 23rd, 27th, 20th, and 27th. They were never higher than 20th in pass attempts per game, and he was great with Houston.

Now, Cleveland was really a lot lower. It was even lower than that until last year when Cleveland was 21st. As part of this process do you want to know what I have settled on for projecting this one? Yes. Okay. I have him at 4,300 yards and 27 touchdowns through the air. And 400 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. I'm using some estimates here, but approximately.

Yeah. That would be the second most touchdowns he's thrown in his career, if he hits 27. Well, right. But he's never played a 17 game season right he's been on pace for 28 29 and 35 touchdowns per 17 games in his last three seasons before last year when he was not close to that but okay uh some few quick questions here to wrap it up on Deshaun Watson. Would you rather have Watson or Tua? Tua. Tua. Watson or Cousins?

Watson. Same. Would you rather have Watson in round 10 or let's say Justin Herbert in round 5 or 6? I think I'd take Herbert. Okay.

And that is one tough player to project. We'll talk about I think I'd take Herbert. Okay. All right. And that is one tough player to project. We'll talk about a lot more later. There was one stat I came across this morning, my favorite stat of the day. Kadarius Toney had five green zone targets with the Chiefs, targets on plays that originated inside the 10-yard line. I had to say it like that for a reason.

He scored on four of them. He scored on four of the five, and on all five of them, he caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage or at the line of scrimmage and then ran it in. Two of them he was wide open, including the Super Bowl. But there were a couple plays, at least one, where the play started inside the 10-yard line, but you know they're so wacky. They threw the ball to him at like

the 14-yard line and he scored a touchdown. Five green zone targets and four touchdowns on them for Kadarius Toney, who's a player we're going to talk about later. Which then led me to think, actually right now, is that a green zone

target? I actually don't think it is. I think I'd have to come up with it. That's just a red zone target. So it was a play that started inside the 10-yard line. The line of scrimmage was inside the 10-yard line, but I guess that wasn't actually a green zone target because they threw it to him behind the line of scrimmage. Okay.

All accounts. It's based on the line of scrimmage. Is it? Yes. Okay. I didn't know that. Yeah. I would think well is it's not based on where the quarterback throws the ball from definitely not so you're saying is it like an

end zone target is based on where you catch the ball the line of scrimmage has to be in the end zone for an end zone target. Right. So an end zone target and a red zone target have different things to determine whether they were a target in that area? Yeah. An end zone target can be from the 50-yard line. It could be a deep ball. An end zone target just is it was in the end zone when you were trying to catch the ball.

But if the line of scrimmage is the 19 and you catch it in the end zone, it's both a red zone target and an end zone target. Right. But if the line of scrimmage is the 9-yard line, you catch the ball at the 12-yard line, is that a green zone target, Dave? It seems like you're saying that red zone is determined – in green zone are determined by where the line of scrimmage is, not where it's caught.

Because if it's where it's caught, then an end zone target would not be a red zone target because the end zone is not in the red zone. I don't, I, yeah. And the zone is not in the red zone. I guess that's technically true.

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See it on the CBS Sports app. I have to give an important shout out here. Please pay attention. Okay, we had four people who donated last year in our draft-a-thon, and they won a spot in a 2023 Listener League, and we don't have your email address. We have your name, but we don't have your email address. You paid a handsome sum, and you deserve to be in these leagues.

We need to get in touch with you. Your names are David Kuhn, Bill McCarthy, Nick Kajer, I don't know, K-J-A-E-R, and Kihan Lin. All right. David Kuhn, Bill McCarthy, Nick Kajer, I'm sorry, and Kihan Lin. The four of you, you deserve to be in this league. We're having trouble getting in touch with you. Please email fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. That is the letter I, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. That is the letter I, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Please send us an email, put draft-a-thon winner or something like that in there, and we will coordinate with you

and get you set up in the league. Not a lot of news and notes today. There was an article on ESPN.com from Kevin Seifert, and he says that all evidence suggests that Minnesota will use Alexander Madison in the same every-down role that Dalvin Cook performed last season. And then Seifert went on to say that Ty Chandler looks like the favorite as RB2 right now. So Madison in the Cook role, Chandler maybe in the Madison role, but the favorite as RB2

in Minnesota. Dave, any thoughts on that report? I think it's going to blow some people's minds to hear that because there are some anti-Madison folks because the metrics aren't in his favor. But just remember that any running back that's going to get a lot of work in an offense is obviously worth drafting in fantasy football

with a decent pick. So he might be frustrating. That wouldn't surprise me. If he's getting 15 carries and three catches a week, but he's not getting a ton of yards every single week, that wouldn't surprise me. But the dude's going to be working at the goal line, catching three balls a week, getting the work that we want.

To me, he's still a round four pick. I'm happy to take him then. It's interesting because a player like that, I think a lot of years would have been a round two still a round four pick. I'm happy to take him then. It's interesting because a player like that, I think a lot of years would have been a round two or a round three pick. I'm wondering why so late on Madison. I think it's Mike Davis. I don't think that they're the same. I don't think it's the same argument.

I think it's, and Adam, you made this argument two or three years ago. I think it was after the draft where you drafted Mike Davis and Miles Gaskin in back-to-back rounds. It did not happen. Like the running backs who can really let us down are the guys who we think, well, there's nobody else to take the touches from him. If you're not actually that good, that issue is not enough to keep you fantasy relevant for a whole season a lot of times. Right. Gaskin and Davis, people have scars from that.

Okay, next note, same team. Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell said that K.J. Osborne has been an off-season standout. When you see something like that, Heath, does that take some of the shine off Jordan Addison? That's nice of him to say that. I think it's been a tough off-season for K.J. Osborne. that take some of the shine off Jordan Addison. That's nice of him to say that. I think it's been a tough offseason for K.J. Osborne.

He had those two months where he was getting ready to be the wide receiver, too, and now he's clearly fourth at best. No, I don't think K.J. Osborne matters to Jordan Addison. Addison not practice? He had an injury that kept him out of the veteran minicamp, I think. Okay. And so maybe that's just the coach, you know, saying, Hey, thanks for practicing KJ.

You did great. We're going to need you if Jordan's not ready or if he gets hurt again. We're like JK Osborne. Am I right? Yeah. I'm. Could get that way if Addison plays like we think he could play. Okay. Buffalo running back coach Ryan O'Halloran

said that Naeem Hines can function in anything we do. The Buffalo running back's coach is Ryan O'Halloran? Is that not? Is that the reporter? I believe Ryan O'Halloran is the reporter. Okay. my bad. So that's a hell of a job swap.

Nice scoop there. I thought Ryan O'Halloran was in Tommy Boy. That's Callahan. I don't know. Well, this says Bill's running backs coach, Ryan O'Halloran. Okay. Oh, no. This was me reading a mistake.

I basically Ron Burgundy'd that. But from the website that I get a lot of news on, it says Bill's running backs coach, Ryan O'Halloran. But then you click on the article. Let's see if you guys know. Oh, you guys have no chance of knowing who the Bill's running backs coach is. Did you know? Certainly not Ryan O'Halloran.lly skipper yeah there it is yeah skip all right great stuff but um you know is that a

is that a knock against james cook because they didn't really use naeem hines when they got him last year maybe that changes this year i mean do they have peter King and Adam Schefter on the roster too? I'm just wondering. Look, this is a team that I think since Josh Allen became a thing, their running backs have totaled seven touchdowns a year. It's really hard to see Naheem Hines break into a significant role when they've got Harris and James Cook there. No, I'm just asking, do you think that he takes catches away from James Cook? No, I'd be surprised. All right.

All right, let's take a break here. When we come back, we'll talk about more reporters after this. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days.

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It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Okay, your favorite Colts beat writer is at quarterback today and will be tough to project. Now, Anthony Richardson will be a tough player to project for Heath. We already talked about Deshaun Watson. We've got nine more players to discuss here, starting with Anthony Richardson. Yeah, I could see Heath how that would be tough to project.

Why don't you actually, maybe we should start with his projection. Okay, so I've got him at, and I'm right now projecting 17 games for Anthony Richardson, but that is the most, maybe the most difficult part is not knowing if he or Gardner Minshew is going to start week one. I'm assuming Richardson starts week one. I've got him at 490 pass attempts, 3,200 yards passing, 18 passing touchdowns, 17 interceptions, 1,000 rushing yards, and 12 rushing touchdowns. Wow.

Okay, I want to know how you got to 1,000 rushing yards. Because his head coach, it's 1,027 actually, his head coach has been the offensive coordinator for Jalen Hurts the past two years when Hurts has averaged 10 rush attempts per game. Anthony Richardson is a better runner than Jalen Hurts and a worse passer than Jalen Hurts. And they just chose to draft Anthony Richardson with a top five pick, I'm presuming that he will run at least as much as Hurts did for Philadelphia. Boy, a thousand yards rushing, it'd be so hard to not be a top 12 quarterback.

I just can't. He just ran an offense and went to the Super Bowl with a quarterback who ran it 10 times per game and then drafted top five, a guy who's more of an athlete and less of a passer than that quarterback. So I actually was more interested in the 3,200 passing yards because Justin Fields last year, he played 15 games, but he was on pace for 2,541 passing guards it was justin fields had a terrible year as a passer uh but 3,200 did you did you feel like that was generous for for richardson um well i think that's one of the difficult things is

we don't know how bad he is as a passer partially because I think there's reasons to think that the things in Florida, there were things in Florida that were not helping him, like the hands on some of his wide receivers and the offensive philosophy as a whole. I'm projecting him for 6.6 yards per pass attempt, which is the lowest mark for any quarterback that I'm projecting so I he definitely fields definitely had worse weapons how many pass attempts was fields on pace for only 360 so you were I got him at 120 more pass attempts than

that that'll work and so that would be the difference in the yards. Okay. Well, is that too many pass attempts? I don't think if he – I don't know. Maybe. All right. I've got a pretty similar to what Philadelphia did with Jalen Hurts is my run pass rate for them

because it's a similar style quarterback and the same guy who was running the offense. Are you guys taking Richardsonardson or deshaun watson i'm taking richardson uh i love the upside for this reason if if we're getting 30 total touchdowns a thousand rushing yards and over 3 000 passing yards uh i i feel a little bit like you're projecting him closer to his upside than necessary, but that's, that's probably the main, it's gotta be a top 10 quarterback in your projections on a per game basis. Yeah. He comes in at number 10. Okay. So he's right in there. He's got a great schedule.

Six, the easiest projected strength of schedule opens the year with Jacksonville, Houston, Baltimore, the Rams after that. But it almost doesn't really matter because this is what the Colts figure to be best at offensively is running the ball. And so expect a ton of RPOs, expect a lot of short throws, high percentage passes, the occasional deep shot. I would take issue with Richardson being a worse passer, I think you said, than Hurts. I think you said he was a better runner and a worse passer. I think he's got a stronger arm.

And as far as accuracy goes, they're probably on par. Maybe Hurts. No, Hurts was actually more accurate in college. You're talking about coming out of college, not – Coming out of college. Not what Hurts was last year. His completion rate was better than Richardson's, if I recall, by a lot. But I still thought that there were issues with Hurts passing

when he was coming out of college. Now Hurts is an amazing passer. You've got to hope that Richardson makes that jump here, even though he couldn't do it in any of the last seven years before he went into the NFL draft. You're counting on the rushing yards. You're drafting him for upside. You don't have to take him with an early pick to do it.

And you can get a second quarterback later on in case Richardson busts or he gets benched or starts the season on the bench and it's Gardner Minshew under center for Indianapolis to begin the year. He's one of those guys, one of those few top 12 quarterbacks that you need another quarterback with.

Yeah. I remember there were a lot of the film guys, you need another quarterback with. Yeah. I remember there were a lot of the film guys, especially that had some real doubts about Jalen Hurts' ability as a passer, but I don't think it's fair to say that coming out. Maybe they do profile the same from a scouting perspective. Jalen Hurts, his final year in college, threw for 3,800 yards and 32 touchdowns. He had a year at Alabama where he threw for 17 touchdowns

and one interception. He was very successful. Very successful passing the ball. Averaged over 10 yards per attempt his last two years passing. He was really, really successful. Maybe not as

good as he should have been in terms of form, but Richardson's done nothing compared to what Hertz did as a passer in college. Our next player is Ramondre Stevenson. So why is this difficult to project? I actually love one of my favorite stats is the one you gave about the yards per catch and all the running backs who have been as bad as him. So I'm sure that factors in. Yes. It's so much of his fantasy success last year was based on high volume.

And he's a Bill Belichick running back who we entered the year and we didn't even think he was the best running back on his own team. He was being drafted in round nine, two or three rounds behind Damian Harris. So I think it's really like, did he just become a star, even though the efficiency numbers don't really look like it? Or did they just have very little creativity on offense and run a whole bunch of screenplays to him, and now they're going to throw the ball downfield more,

and a lot of his value is going to be lost? Or is bill belichick going to go back to a two-back system again because that's what he actually wants to do you think he's difficult to project dave mandre stevenson i think he's probably easier than some other players that we'll talk about because you'll just make the assumption that he'll be the feature back for New England. I have a hard time believing that he's going to be in a three-way even split with Pierre Strong and Ty Montgomery. That's really hard to believe. I think Belichick's philosophy at running back is use what you got, and that can change from week to week.

It can change from season to season. He seems to really like Ramondre Stevenson. He spoke glowingly about him, and you know that Belichick in press conference settings, usually when he talks about a player, it's as vague as possible. He hasn't been that way with Ramondre Stevenson. And so I wouldn't be surprised if he loses work. There's no question that that'll happen unless Belichick just develops the confidence in him that he can be a three-down workhorse.

And he did some of that last year, and he was successful in it. So it really is going to come down to what does he prove in training camp, what does he prove in the early part of the season to earn more work in that New England offense. The thing that worries me about him, two things. Number one, projected strength of schedule is very tough. Seventh hardest, his first four games, listen to this, his first four games of 2023 are against, I had it open, I was at Philadelphia in week one, Miami in week two,

the Jets in week three, Dallas in week four, and then the Saints on top of that in week five. That is a tough schedule, I think, for him to begin the season. Does get a little bit easier after that. In division last year, you know how many touchdowns Stevenson had? One. The same as Ian Rappaport and future NFL quarterback, Hall of Famer. I'm trying to think of a reporter.

Steven Holder, zero. He had none against the AFC East last year. He had one game with over 100 total yards. Receptions were what helped him in PPR leagues. So tough division. No guarantee that he's going to be the main guy. He's got to earn it, like I said, and tough schedule overall for Stevenson.

So, Adam, I've got that list that you referenced, and then I'll give my Stevenson projection. But he is the eighth running back since 1992 to see 80-plus targets in a season and average less than five yards per target. The first seven, Tiki Barber in 03 saw 19 fewer targets the next year. Michael Pittman in 03 saw 56 fewer targets the next year. Reggie Bush in 07 saw 25 fewer targets the next year.

Darren Sproles in 15 saw 12 fewer. Carlos Hyde in 17 saw 72 fewer. Tariq Cohen in 19 got hurt. Most recently, Najee Harris in 2021 saw 41 fewer targets the next season. Right, and he doesn't, to me, he's more like Carlos Hyde and Najee Harris than he is Darren Sproles and Reggie Bush.

I mean, those guys may have had bad years, but I feel like they were legitimately good pass-catching running backs. I don't know what Ramondre Stevenson is. I've said this a lot. It shocks me that Ramondre Stevenson had a 69-catch season. I don't think anyone ever would have thought that, and he was coming out of college as a guy who was just a big LeGarrette Blunt comparison,

right? When he went to the Patriots, people made that comparison. He ran a 4'6", 240. He's huge. And I just don't think anyone thought he was a 70 catch guy. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, it is interesting that some guys that I thought of as very

good pass-c catching running backs, Heath, were on that list. Sprouls, Bush, and who's the first one you said? Tiki Barber. So that was interesting. Maybe you can just have a bad year. You can just have a bad year. I think a lot of those guys that you thought of as really good pass catching backs were at the end of their careers or towards the end of their careers and still getting a bunch of targets because they had always done that. Gotcha.

But seeing their role shrink the next year because they weren't as good at it anymore. Yeah. All right. Here's just, I want to bring something up here that I think is interesting. So I have to use two different sources of average draft position here. But if you look at NFC ADP and I just,

I stopped instead of doing June 1st, I did June 15 at NFC ADP, and I just, instead of doing June 1st, I did June 15th. I've been doing June 1st. But June 15th, we got 60 drafts. And Ramondre Stevenson is RB10. And it's McCaffrey, Eckler, Bijan, Taylor, Barkley, Chubb, Pollard,

Jacobs, Henry, and then, you know, you could say Pollard's pretty uncertain, but that group's pretty proven. And then it's Stevenson, Najee Harris, Brees Hall, Travis Etienne, etc. So Stevenson kind of starts a tier of uncertainty. Well, I don't know if people feel that way. I feel that way.

But obviously, Heath, you have him on your toughest to project list, so there's some uncertainty there. But that's RB10. Last year, looking at Fantasy Football Calculator ADP, RB10 was Aaron Jones. RB11 was Saquon Barkley. RB12 was Nick Chubb. I don't know what it is about the running back.

Is this like a bad year for running backs or a perceived weak year for running backs? I have concerns, and I've said this before. The guys, almost exclusively the guys who have been 20 touches per game or 300 touches per year are 27, 28, 29 years old. There's really only a couple of young guys who have done that or we think will do that. I think there just aren't going to be as many great running backs. There's not going to be 12 guys who we think are going to be workhorse running backs or Alvin Kamara. Stevenson might be, though. Right. For me, that's why he's hard to project.

Yeah. And Kamara was in that group. Kamara, Dalvin Cook, they were in that group last year. They're not there. Joe Mixon right now is not there. Maybe he should be, but he isn't. Would you guys, do you like Stevenson better than Mixon at this point? Yes, for now.

I'm trying to decide. Definitely not if we get to training camp and nothing's changed in Cincinnati. Maybe today still, but every day we get closer and Cincinnati doesn't do anything. Joe Mixon moves up just a little bit higher. Are you getting to the point where you're going to feel good about taking Mixon in round two? Or are you already there?

No. No, I don't think so. That's what it would kind of take for me to take him over Ramondre. Right. I have Ramond Ray. Right. I have Ramond Ray is like the second to last running back that I'd be okay taking in round two in full PPR. Would you rather have Mark Andrews or Ramond Ray Stevenson? I believe I have Stevenson higher as of now,

man, I, I might, but just hearing that question, I think've got andrews at 28th overall and stevenson at 31st yeah okay all right jk dobbins is next on the tough to project list what do you got for dobbins um i think and you could throw mark andrews into this as well rashad bateman was actually on the list. The Ravens are very difficult to project because they've had a change in offensive coordinator. They had shared touches between the two running backs who were alongside Jackson pretty evenly, whether it was Ingram and somebody or Dobbins and Gus.

They got away with that a little bit when they had all the running back injuries that one year. And then is there any role for him in the passing game at all? Does this team turn into a team that throws the ball now 30 times per game? We get 510 pass attempts this year. Does the lack of rush attempts come out of Lamar Jackson's pocket, or do they come out of the running back's pocket? Does Dobbins still have to share the same amount that he always has? And is the offense as elite at producing five-yard per carry rushers when it's not the same

system. So what do you have him projected at? I have JK Dobbins. I'm, I'm too low, but you guys can tell me where, where I'm too low. I have him at,

uh, basically 200 carries a thousand yards, seven touchdowns on the ground, 22 catches, 140 yards and one touchdown through the air. Dave, where's he too low? I think he's too low on the rushing yards. I think that he's proven to be outstanding in terms of efficiency through 23 career games, 5.9 yards per carry, 43% success rate. In 2022, he was first in explosive play rate, avoided a tackle on almost 20% of his runs. He averaged 6.5 yards per carry against eight men in the box. I think that he's going to

be obviously the guy that runs the ball the most amongst the running backs in Baltimore, provided that he stays healthy. His last four games, I think he gave you a glimpse of what you're going to get, about 11.8 PPR points per game, 11.5 non-PPR points per game. Favorable schedule on top of it. I'm worried about him being one of these 1,500 total yard, 15 touchdown smashbacks. He's going to fall short of that, and he'll probably be somewhere in between what I think he'll be, which is close to about 1,300 rushing yards, and what Heath has, which is about 1,000 rushing yards, and just a big part of this offense and someone to help take pressure off of Lamar Jackson. I do have him at five and a half yards per carry. That's the highest that I project anybody. That's actually lower than what he had last year. Right. Well, right.

But it's just how many rush attempts is he going to have per game? I was thinking 15, and then I thought maybe 14, which would still be something like 235 rush attempts, 234 I think. Somewhere around there.

I have him basically at 12. Yeah, I thought 200 was low. That was the number that popped out to me as a little bit low, was the 200 rushes. It's tough because there are certainly reasons, both years. But, I mean, he's now had maybe 30% of his career games. He's had more than 12 carries. Well, he needs to be paid more.

That's what he thinks. We'll see if he does. Yeah. I mean, I just don't know. That's why it's so hard to project. Because I think if he's at 15 carries per game 14 carries per game then dave's right um 1300 yards is is absolutely um in the cards i i think he's really talented that's what that's one of the things i wanted to say too is like even on the guys that

i'm low on the it what makes someone hard to project is when you think they have a lot of upside and a low floor. Sure. So he's going in between Joe Mixon and Alexander Madison. You guys like Dobbins better than those guys? No. I've got Dobbins behind them. Okay. PPR is a big factor for that.

Let's do one more before a break here and it will be Khalil Herbert yeah I mean I don't even I'm glad I don't do projections because of you know the Bears well and I think like Herbert I had a tweet about this yesterday about the guys that fantasy guys like and coaches don't seem to as much. And Khalil Herbert definitely has fit into that, that group for the first two years in the league. I did not like hearing his head coach say that the number one job for a running back is to protect the quarterback, because that is not something that Khalil Herbert has shown an ability to do. I don't know how many,

I don't think you can project as much work for him as you can for J.K. Dobbins, and I don't think he'll be as good as Dobbins. Yeah, so look, Khalil Herbert's been great in limited sample size so far, and whenever David Montgomery hasn't played, Herbert's had – it's a lot like Alexander Madison, except I'd say better metrics. Oh, yeah, and a much smaller sample size, right? Well, let's see. He's played six games in his career without David Montgomery,

which includes a game that Montgomery left early with an injury. And Khalil Herbert has 18 or more carries and 17 or more rushing yards in all six games. That's a big workload. I would say smaller sample size than Madison, but Madison had almost no sample size last year because Cook stayed completely healthy.

I think it was three games the year before. So not that much smaller. But, I mean, obviously the big difference is Madison looks like an every-down back and is a fourth-round pick. Khalil Herbert's not even a top 100 pick right now. That's, I mean, the best part, right? There's really no, there's not a ton of risk

if he's going 102nd overall. Dave, I'm sure you, Dave, you seem high on Khalil Herbert. Do you think he's tough to project, though? He's tough to project because you just don't know how big of a role he's going to get. I think what Matt Eberflew says about protecting the quarterback is one thing, but look at the actions of this Bears offense even last year. They ran the ball a lot. Fields obviously had a ton to do with that,

but they used multiple running backs when they could from week to week. And I think that they're going to continue to do that. That's what they did do in minicamp. It was Herbert and it was Deontay Foreman really dominating and rotating with the first team offense in minicamp. There were a couple of flash runs to the edges from Herbert. I didn't see anything like that from Foreman. So I'm going to stick with what I've been saying all along with Herbert, which is he's the most explosive back that Chicago has right now, excluding Justin Fields. If you think Fields is an unbelievably fast player, but he's not a running back. I talked with Herbert while I was there. He's worked on nothing but

pass protection this offseason. He took up boxing to try and help him get better in that. How did he look in minicamp and pass protection? I can't really say. I didn't get a good enough look at that. I was watching fields. I was watching the wide receivers. Did not get a chance to really dial in on Khalil Herbert in that regard, but the schedule's great. Second easiest projected strength of schedule. He was top 10 among qualified running backs last year in yards per carry, yards before contact, yards after contact. I think he's a good player.

You just have to worry about how much work is there. It's like he said, almost the exact same thing as J.K. Dobbins, but you can draft him three, four, five rounds later than J.K. Dobbins, and he should be a decent number two running back. Wouldn't expect a lot of catches, and there's obviously a bad floor because if he gets hurt or if he struggles, the Bears don't have just one guy that they can turn to to take some work off his plate.

They've got two. They've got Foreman, and they've got rookie Roshon Johnson. Those guys can end up being a couple of thunderbacks in there that could really make things hard for Herbert if he struggles. One phrase Dave used, and I think it was where my point of contention with the Herbert people is, Dave said he's a good player. I agree that he's a good runner. I'm not sure that he's a good football player. I do think there's a difference. If you can hit big runs, but you can't

block and you can't catch, I'm not sure if you're a good player or not. That's fair. So, just real quick, give me the projected carries for the Bears' backfield, and you can even include Fields in there if you want. Oh, I can get the full Bears. Yeah, I think

Justin Fields is first, which Dave, I may need to make some adjustments after what Dave said, but I've got, no, I've got Khalil Herbert at 153, Fields at 143, Foreman at 110, and Roshan at 67. Okay. All right, with that, we're going to take a break.

When we come back, we've got five more players to talk about, and we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we've got five more players to talk about, and we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. All right, we're putting a timer on here. You've got two and a half minutes to talk about each player. You will be greeted with a buzzer sound if you dare go over two and a half minutes. Kadarius Tony.

Oh, yeah, he's tough to project. All right, Heath, what do you got for Kadarius Tony? Absolutely nothing. Just a complete throw your hands up in the air and guess. project all right heath what do you got for cadarious tony uh absolutely nothing just a complete throw your hands up in the air and guess um he's tough to project because he looks very elite and when you look at per route data and you look what he did in the very limited action with with patrick mahomes but part of my problem with per route data is when it's applied to players who have not shown an ability to run a lot of routes or earned an ability to run a lot of routes. Even when he was healthy last year,

he was not a full-time player for the Chiefs. There were complaints in New York about whether or not he'd put in the time to learn the playbook. We've talked about this with Sky Moore, and one of the reasons I'm more willing to give Moore a pass for last year was because he was a rookie wide receiver and they struggle in Andy Reid's system because it's a difficult offense. Which one of those two guys is going to know the playbook better this year than they did last year? And then can Tony stay healthy and do it for more than one or two games at a time? I currently have him projected and I don't know if i'm projecting him for 16 games probably not uh 70 catches 748 yards five touchdowns on 100 targets nine rushes for 56 yards and another touchdown okay i mean who knows i'm not even trying to insult you or anything

but this could go in so many different directions. Do you ever, someone asked this earlier, and I should have asked it at the start of the show. Do you ever project less than 17 games? Yes. I have projected Alvin Kamara for less than 17 games this year. But not- Will Fuller's last year in the NFL,

I projected him for less than 17. Rashad Penny, I'm not projecting for 17 games. Okay. But only extreme cases. I would say, honestly, I'm not projecting Kadarius Toney for 17 games. Okay. Dave, Kadarius Toney is being drafted

as wide receiver 34, 75th overall. How do you feel about that? That's Traylon Burks, Brandon Ayuk, Mike Evans, Marquise Brown, right in that range. And it's round seven territory, early round seven. And I think that's the point in a draft where fantasy managers are much more willing to take a risk on a player where if they bust, they go, oh, well, it was just a round seven pick.

It's a lot harder to do that in round four or round five because then you'll be like, oh, I passed up on some guys that would have helped my team a little bit more. So I think that's kind of the mentality you have to get into with Kadarius Toney is figure out where in the draft you're okay. Taking a boomer bus player, you have no idea what's going to happen to them. And whatever number you pick, 7, 8, 9, 10, whatever, that's where you should target.

Start making. That was not two and a half minutes. It was wrap up, wrap up. No, I'm done. You buzz me. I'm not going to tell you what his projected strength of schedule is.

I'm not going to tell you anything else. Okay. Next up is Calvin Ridley. Go ahead. Heath. Much like the Deshaun Watson thing, I mean, is he still the same guy that he was before? Ridley has the added factor of he's had some multiple foot injuries,

and those always scare me with wide receivers. He's going into a situation where we love the possible growth from this Jacksonville offense and what Trevor Lawrence can be. But one thing I don't know if I've talked about enough the possible growth from this Jacksonville offense and what Trevor Lawrence can be. But one thing I don't know if I've talked about enough is their top target earners are basically all still there. So we've got to figure out how are they going to take this team where we've got 130 target guy, 120 target guy, a 100 target tight end, and we threw it almost 100 times to our running backs. And now we're adding an alpha wide receiver. If he is still one, does he come in and earn 140, 150 targets like he's capable of? Is it chopped up 120 for him,

120 for Kirk, 100 for Zay, 100 for Ingram? Does somebody miss out? And again, I think with Ridley, a huge amount of upside, because if they do just treat him like a true alpha number one wide receiver, he could be a top 12 wide receiver in the NFL this year, but he's not played football in almost two years. He's got multiple foot injuries and they do have all the guys who earned a bunch of targets still on the team. He could be really, really helpful for Trevor Lawrence and Jacksonville, but not smash for your fantasy team. Current projection I have for him is 83 catches, 1,072 yards and seven touchdowns.

Go Dave. How much time do I have? A minute. He had nine and a half targets per game in 2020 and five games in 2021. He had 10.4 targets per game target per route run of at least 25.4 percent in each of those two seasons last year just kidding just kidding keep going come on jacksonville last year no wide receiver with 100 plus routes had more than a 21.5 percent target per route run rate philadelphia from 2016 to 20, no wide receiver with 100 plus routes, had more than a

21.6% target per route run rate. What do those two teams have in common? Doug Peterson calling the plays. Tight ends had a huge role for three years in Philadelphia. They had a big target per route run rate. That did not happen in Jacksonville last year. This is a big TBD, and it's what you, Heath, and Jamie have talked about with me when I've been outspoken on Ridley. I feel like I need to go back to the drawing board a little bit on him to see if I really still believe that, knowing that it seems like Peterson does not want to have a target hog at wide receiver.

Yeah, I don't buy that, Dave, because I think it's more personnel. I mean, he's better than Alshon Jeffrey was. it's more personnel i mean he's better than alishan jeffrey was well he he at his best he was better than alishan jeffrey was and they had dallas goddard and zach urtz on those teams in philadelphia you know so you're right that at his best he was better than alishan jeffrey but the same thing happened to alishan jeffrey right he had a he didn't have a gambling suspension but he had a couple of pretty elite seasons early in his career and then multiple injuries. And he wasn't the same guy late in his career. I just don't, I mean, I don't know. Maybe I just don't know enough about football, but the idea of a coach saying, Oh, I think I'm out of time here.

I've got five seconds. The idea of a coach saying, you're not allowed to throw the ball 28% of the time to one player. Sorry, you have to spread it. No, Trevor Lawrence is going to make that decision. All right, I guess I got the last word there. Let's go to... I don't know how that works. Let's go to Rashad Bateman. Rashad Bateman, Heath, go.

I had underestimated... Rashad Bateman was really pretty good when he was healthy the first two years of his career. He had, I think he was like 12 or 13 fantasy points in half of his first 13 games that he played at least 60% of the snaps. He was on like a 900-yard pace in those games. And again, new offense, planning to throw the ball a lot more, but also Odell Beckham added, Zay Flowers added, could be kind of a target competition. I think Bateman, who does still have really good pedigree, if he's 100% for the entire season, could very easily, maybe should be expected to be the number one wide receiver in this offense. He could be a top 25, top 30 type guy, but you've got the injury concerns, you've got the added

weapons, and we still don't really know how much Baltimore is going to throw. Go, Dave. His 17-game pace after the first three weeks of 2022 was 1,281 yards and 11 touchdowns. Go back and watch him play last year. He was so much fun to watch. Deep balls, catch and runs really turned on the Jets and surprised me with how good he played. Now he's coming off of a broken foot. The whole situation's changed.

He only has more than seven targets in five games, seven or more targets in five games. He's only played 18 games in his career, averaged 13.1 yards per catch. Love the idea of kind of putting Bateman in that same category as Kadarius Tony, where you're going to draft him late. You don't know exactly what to expect, but if he stays healthy, he should hit and have some pretty good numbers. I would take Tony ahead of Bateman. Really though? I mean, who has a clearer path to be the number

one wide receiver on their teams? And these are teams that have the two best tight ends in football, arguably. So who has the better path, Tony or Bateman? Because Bateman seems to have a lot more competition at wide receiver. Yeah, I'd say Tony has the better chance. We're completely ignoring injuries for these guys. Yeah, but that's why I'm taking Tony ahead of Batemaneman right yeah i guess i guess tony probably is like i don't actually think beckham is any competition to be the number one wide receiver in baltimore

15 million dollars i mean are we wrong about him is that just the worst contract that was the tax on lamar's contract okay okay fair enough um fair enough. All right, yeah, so Bateman, you know, one thing real – do we have enough time here? Is he going to be the 8.5-ish ADOT, 8.5-ish yard ADOT he was as a rookie or the 13.5-ish ADOT he was as a sophomore? We have no idea. It's not even the same coach. I think it's got to be the latter.

It's going to be easier to get Zay Flowers adapted in the offense with shorter routes. We don't know how good OBJ's speed will be. We don't know how Bateman's speed is going to be. I guess it's fair to say if Bateman's slower, then yes, the ADOT will go down. But based on the film last year, it should be higher. That's my bad. I shouldn't have asked that follow-up.

Kyle Pitts is next. What do we got for Kyle Pitts? Two and a half minutes on the clock. He's, I clock. He's still a generational talent. Still an elite wide receiver prospect. Still has not lived up to the promise. And it's year three. And he's got Desmond Ritter

at quarterback. And he's got Arthur Smith at head coach. And he has Drake London to compete with for targets. And so I've got him projected for 71 catches, 1,028 yards and four and a half touchdowns. Um, could see that either being way too high or even way too low. He could have a thousand yard, 10 touchdown season. He probably will have one at some point in his career. Should have had one last year, but Mariota missed him too much so if Ritter can throw with better

accuracy than Mariota then it's on for Kyle Pitts I say take whatever round you had in your mind for Kedarious Tony add at least two to it or I guess subtract it and that's the round that you should take Kyle Pitts if that's round five round six that's where you target him like the schedule form it's a top 10 schedule projected for the season. Carolina in week one, Detroit in week three, Jacksonville in week four, Houston in week five. He should get off to a really good start, and I still expect him to be at least 1A in terms of target share with Drake London in this iteration of the offense. If you expect that, Chris and I have been talking about this. I wonder if you guys agree. If you expect them to be pretty even in targets,

it makes no sense. Agree or disagree, it makes no sense to take Drake London two to three rounds earlier than Kyle Pitts. Yeah, makes no sense. Agree. If you think the targets are going to be pretty similar. Heath? Because in this case, you would have to think London's going to do a lot more with the targets

than Pitts and remember he's got to put wide receiver numbers up not tight end numbers so if you think the target's going to be the same I think that if you want a piece of this passing offense the value is clearly on Pitts I think it depends on that second part of do you think um what's it going to be in terms of like how, how many catches does 120 targets lead to for Drake London versus Kyle Pitts? And I, right now I have London with 10 more catches and a hundred more yards on a

similar, similar number of targets. Okay. Yeah. I don't know if I see it that way. Um, you gotta watch out for pits too. Uh, not participate in minicamp. So there's a question about how healthy his knee is going into the year. Oh, you made it with three seconds to spare.

We do have to do one last thing. I don't want to. It's not about Kyle pits. Okay. New timer. 836 votes. 75% of people have never cooked a burger in an oven I'm telling you man 400 degrees for 15 minutes it was really good

the best part is the replies which all I said was have you ever cooked burgers in an oven I did not say anything else just this first response immediately. You should

note this was prompted by Adam Azer. Another response. Ah, hell no. Yeah. What has Azer done now? Oh, God. Has Adam heard of a George Foreman grill? Oh, it was better than a George Foreman grill. 100% better. And then, as I think Dave might have said,

as in like a meatloaf? Yeah. They were really good. I a meatloaf they were really good i'm telling you they were really good colin colin sent us an email during the show i guess he's watching and he said i'm proud to announce i have a nickname for you adam abba adam baked burger azer abba so i'll take it i do have some twitter polls to get to as well, but we have one more player to talk about. Chigokonkwo, Heath, go. Yes. The poor man's Kyle Pitts, basically. A very, very good athlete who really gave us some incredible efficiency

in the second half of 2022, who was kind of an unknown coming into last year. But when you go back and look at it, he was still just a part-time player. Like 50%, 60% of the snaps, even when things were going really well. And the Titans might even throw the ball less than Atlanta does.

And I think Traylon Burks, as long as Traylon Burks is healthy, is the clear number one. So it's can a Conquo play enough to out-target Kyle Phillips, who's getting of Conquo play enough to out target Kyle Phillips. Who's getting some buzz now or Nick Westbrook, or is being number two on your team and targets even good enough if you play for the Titans?

Yeah. A tight end, you know, a wide receiver, probably not, but a tight end. Yeah. This guy had,

I mean, I've mentioned this before, Warren sharp at sharp football in the last five years, there have been only five players with a season of, I won't go through, he gave an EPA per target, yak per reception, and 30 or more catches. And to hit all these benchmarks, it was Jamar Chase, Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, George Kittle, and Chig Okonkwo

were the five players who have done it in the last five years. So under the hood, it looks great for Okonkwo, but how much can you make of 46 targets? Dave? Who do you think was second on the Titans in targets last year? Derek Hen... No. Chig Okonkwo.

Chig Okonkwo was fifth. I guess Woods. Robert Woods led the team in targets. Burks. Burks was fourth. Third. Burks was third. Who?

Austin Hooper. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Was second on the Titans in targets last year. Yeah. Did not make him fantasy relevant. Dave, we've basically stolen all your time. You want to say anything about Conqua?

Top five projected strength of schedule, but it's tough to begin the year because he's got the Saints and the Chargers and the Browns to lead off, so you're going to need some patience with him if you draft him. Another late-round pick that you can draft, and I think you've just got to be patient with him.

Ooh, that was well done. Still had some 15 seconds to spare. Okay, let me go through a couple of Twitter polls that I did here on today's topic. Who would you rather have in half PPR? J.K. Dobbins or Alexander Madison? I just did this 17 minutes ago, so only 280 votes. Madison, 52%.

Dobbins, 48%. And then I took the Deshaun Watson poll. How much do you trust him to bounce back? And I just substituted Calvin Ridley, basically. How much do you trust Calvin Ridley to bounce back to the elite wide receiver he was in Atlanta? Fully trust, 4.8%. Mostly trust, 38.7%.

Again, that's what I thought would win. Meh, maybe 51.3%. And not a chance, 5.2%. So that's kind of similar to Watson, although Watson was at 60% on the meh, maybe. Ridley is at 51.3% at meh, maybe, and 39% at mostly trust. Thought there'd be a little bit more optimism there.

Oh, well. Heath, I have a bone to pick with you. Oh, good. I don't really think that it's harder to be a rookie in Andy Reid's offense at wide receiver that had a full mini camp, training camp, preseason, etc. than it is to be a guy who got traded there midseason, like Darius Toney.

And I think the idea that it's hard to be a rookie wide receiver in Andy Reid's offense, I would ask you, they don't develop good wide receivers. And Jeremy Macklin and Deshaun Jackson had very good rookie seasons, especially Deshaun Jackson. So who is a rookie wide receiver

that didn't have that good of a, or who is a wide receiver that didn't have that good of a rookie year in Andy Reid's offense that ended up being really good? There's one that comes to mind. Is Tyree Kill was okay as a rookie. Tyreek Hill is the one, I think.

Right, but how many times has Andy Reid invested heavily in a wide receiver in the draft? Macklin and Deshaun Jackson were good. Who am I missing here? I'm not going to say J.J. Ortega-Whiteside. Oh, no, that wasn't even him. That wasn't even Andy Reid. Well, Meikle Hardman just got a multimillion-dollar contract

and scored a bunch of touchdowns last year and was terrible as a rookie. I mean, I don't know. I don't like this narrative that you can't be good as a rookie wide receiver in Andy Reid offense. Okay. So this is a Rasheed Rice thing? No. You think Andy Reid is God's gift to this earth and that he is so smart that it is

impossible for a rookie wide receiver to be good, and I think that's not true. Well, I do think the first part of what you said is definitely true. Like, I understand that you probably get tired of the narrative that we talk about the bad giants too much. And I apologize for insinuating that Andy Reid was good at something. Can you name five royals? Five current royals? Uh-huh. Salvador Perez.

Yeah. Bobby Witt. Uh-huh. Zach Grinke. Is he on the royals again? Scott Barlow. Uh-huh. Zach Grinke. Is he on the Royals again? Scott Barlow. Uh-huh. MJ Melendez.

Okay, okay, all right. Nicky Lopez. That's good. I did not expect that. All right, we're out of time, folks. I lose that one. We'll be back tomorrow with our favorite stats for 2023. We'll talk to you. Whatever it is you do, however complex or intricate, Monday.com can help you organize, orchestrate, and make it more efficient.

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