Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - NFC South Breakdown + Tier Talk, Gamblin' Man - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/23

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

Will Drake London breakout in 2024? NFC South preview on today’s fantasy football podcast! A full breakdown for the Buccaneers, Saints, Falcons, Panthers. Find out how offseason moves and coaching changes will impact these offenses for 2024 fantasy football! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for July 23rd, 2024. Intro - 0:00:00  Tier-based drafting across positions - 0:04:05 NFL News - 0:09:35 NFC South Breakdown - 0:15:50 Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 0:16:48 New Orleans Saints - 0:29:15 Atlanta Falcons - 0:37:40 Carolina Panthers - 0:45:40 2024 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT is available now at UltimateDraftKit.com Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Dominate your draft in 2024 with the ultimate draft kit plus at ultimate draft kit.com. This is the one tool that will get you ready to go for your fantasy football drafts, all of our tiered rankings, all of our player projections down to the yards and the touchdowns,

everything you need being updated, not some outdated magazine, but updated each and every day by our team or sleepers, breakouts, busting values, and a whole lot more at ultimate draft kit.com. Welcome to the fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Jason Moore is here. I'm Andy Holloway. And we're joined by a bear.

Mike will be back tomorrow. Jay Gray is sitting in. They say if a bear is running at you, that you don't want to turn and run. They have a chase instinct, Jason, and that you should just yell at it. And a lot of the time it is a fake charge. Unless that is a

polar bear, in which case, kill yourself because you're about to get eaten alive. I do believe there is no way to escape the polar bear charge. Yeah, I just gave it to you. Yeah, no, without like a rocket pack or something. Yeah. I'm Jay Chris. I'm Jay Chris. Oh, now he's got graphics.

Yeah, for those listening at home, one, sorry. Two, those graphics were pretty cool. Al Borland feeling very proud of himself. Very few opportunities with Jay Grizz. Way to go. Thanks. Jay Grizz, if you're new to the show. Shout out to BK, he made the graphics.

If you're new to the show, welcome out to BK, eBay the Graphics. If you're new to the show, welcome. We're happy to have you this season. We do, when one of us is missing, we have a cardboard bear just sit in their place on the set. It happened about a long time ago, seven, eight years ago, and I don't know why. Yeah, and honestly, at this point, listening in so far today, here Tuesday, you're probably thinking this ain't gonna help me much but we are gonna help you oh we are Jay Grizz won't don't Jay Grizz is uh he won't help you much but this show is focused on you and your team and Jason and I are happy to be going

through the divisional breakdown of the NFC South today we have a lot of fantasy football news to talk about we've got footballers news to catch you up on. And like I said, Mike will be back tomorrow. So if you, you know, the tattoos will be returning. Twitter at the FF Ballers. You can follow Mike at FF Hitman, Jason at Jason FFL. I'm at Andy Holloway. You can come see us live in Los Angeles,

August 24th at the Palace Theater. Tickets at ballerslive.com. There are still some tickets available for that live show. It's a 10th anniversary show. It's going to be a very special show. We would love to see you there. And then the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com.

Jason and I have made some tweaks over the last couple of days to certain players that I'm sure we'll discuss today. But it's always alive. And you can get into the draft analyzer. You can import a team, see what we think about all of your position groups, and even what fantasy footballer your team aligns with the most. Yeah, this is the time to get access to all the tools and all the resources.

August is around the corner. Drafts are going to be here. Get a little bit ahead of your loser league mates who are going to wait until that August 20 whatever draft. That's when Papa Josh buys it. Right, exactly. Late August. Don't do that.

Alright, a quick question actually comes in from our Apple podcast reviews. I saw this come through from Viego, but he had a good question. Said that, I'm going to summarize this a little bit, says that he just bought the UDK, has regretted nothing, but has a question. Okay. Can you explain tier-based drafting as it pertains to choosing between two positions in different tiers? And to be clear, are tier-based rankings in the UDK the running back rankings?

There's a tier one, tier two, tier three running back. This is a common question we get. And how does like a tier three running back. This is a common question we get. And how does like a tier three running back compared to a tier three wide receiver? How do you view those? And can you explain that? Yeah. So tier based drafting, the way that we have always had this work best is you, you want to separate positionally and you don't want to necessarily equate one tier to another a tier three tight end. Doesn't mean that's the same as a tier three running back or a tier three wide receiver. It's going to be different from league to league,

right? Is your league three wide receivers starting? Then tier two wide receivers might be more important than tier two running backs. The entire purpose and the theory behind it is what you're doing is you're looking at the value left at each position on the board when you are drafting. You could say, I'm almost out of this tier at this position. Maybe I should focus there. Or you might look in certain rounds and say, there's plenty of people in the same tier across all positions. Take whatever position works best for your team. But it helps you determine when to move away from a running back or when to pull the trigger on a running back because you're saying, basically, there's one or two of these guys left at this position,

and it's positionally tiered, not across positions. Well, and it might be worth, I don't know if we've ever talked about it this way, but I'm looking at our UDK right now, tier four running backs is Henry, James Cook, Kamara, Mixon, and Aitken. That's the buckets or the bucket, tier four bucket. Now those players, we have the ADP on there too. So we have where they're going normally. And that spans basically the top of the third to right now, Alvin Kamara is going

in the top of the fifth. So if you combine the knowledge of the tier with where players are going, you might make that decision when you get into the fourth round saying, hey, I know that tier four running backs are drying up. I don't want to end up with a tier five running back on my roster. Therefore, once I see three of these players go, I know it's my time to act. Yeah, but you also might say, oh, but I see that this guy's going in the fifth round. I'm in the fourth round. I could still get this tier and go elsewhere. So using both together is great. And we also have in the UDK, we've got an ADP comparison tool so that you can see from platform to platform. Give me a name.

We were talking about Kyron Williams earlier today about the fact that on underdog, he's middle of the third round. A lot of times when we're drafting on ESPN or Sleeper, he's a higher second round pick. 203 on ESPN, 205 on Sleeper and Yahoo, but an underdog where wide receivers are a premium. He's discounted over there. Right. And so there's a lot of different resources, but I think combining the tiers with ADP is probably your best way to end the draft with the most talent. Give me one name to look up on that comparison tool that you think will have variability across platforms. Xavier Worthy. Okay worthy okay that's you know when

you when you're talking about rookies and you're talking about i want you to try to put underdog sleeper esp and yahoo in order oh come on come on all right where do you think he's going the highest i think underdog is highest you're correct 605 because of variance i would say sleeper is next yes 704 and then yahoo and then he is yeah yes or you got it 9 10 and 10 0 6 um now you're a cheater so you might have it up on your screen but no no that was good well it's pretty easy when you when you talk about explosive rookies because rookies are going to be i think the sharper crowd is usually on underdog this time of year and then when you're talking about dynasty leagues of people doing more rookie stuff, sleeper's really overtaken that.

So you're going to have people on sleeper platform more attuned to rookies. I basically just went smartest to least smartest platform players. Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Here's the truth. It's what you're doing the most of and win. Because mock drafts and stuff don't go live on, on ESPN and Yahoo as soon as they are on sleeper. Right.

And underdog is, is not apples to apples with underdog. I always want to stress that because certainly best ball is a different, we love having the data because we know how people are feeling about certain players. But broadly is how I look at underdog. I look at broadly. We think that Xavier Worthy is

explosive worthy therefore he's in the sixth round oh worthy um but I don't look at that as apples to apples when we get into August the you know people are going to catch up on ESPN Xavier Worthy is not going to go at 10 0 6 on ESPN in August no no he won't um but this time of year that's that's basically what I was saying. And also, obviously, it's a different game. It's an entirely different game on Underdog because of the best ball nature. Alright, let's jump into some news.

News and notes from around the league. We actually have a lot to talk about here, Jason. Because training camp's starting, baby. That's it. Training camp is here. Joe Burrow, fully cleared for contact ahead of training camp. Woo-hoo. Please be good.

TJ Hawkinson will begin on the PUP list. Don't worry, man. Well ahead of schedule. Oh, that is the report. Kevin O'Connell said he's well ahead of schedule. Yeah. Because if you're ahead of schedule, you're on schedule. Now, if you want to be ahead of schedule, you've got to be well ahead of schedule. So you're saying if he's well ahead of schedule. Yeah, because if you're ahead of schedule, you're on schedule. Now, if you want to be ahead of schedule, you've got to be well ahead of schedule.

So you're saying if he's well ahead, he is ahead. Could be. I think Hawkinson could surprise with his activity and how soon he's back out there. And the tight end position, I think he can get out there and contribute, even if he's not at 100%. I would agree completely. He could push the injury quicker, but I think you're going to see a little bit of like what happened with Javante.

Javante was not expected to be back week one. He got back early. He lost a step, but at tight end, losing a step, you know, what is it going to be like eight, nine yards per reception if he's lost a step? Would you put Hawkinson on your IR with a 10th round pick? Oh, 100%. Yes. Okay.

If I've got an IR, that's the league where I'm willing to draft him. Jonathan Books? Jonathan Brooks. Loves to read. On the PUP list. Some people call him Jonathan Books. I mean, he's just such a scholar. Yeah, I mean, you and him.

He gotta do the cooking by the book. You know you can't be lazy. That was quick with the draw, man. That was pretty quick. I mean, he had your coffee today, Al. Very nice. Jonathan Brooks, we'll talk about him with the NFC South breakdown today, but starting on the pup, I mean, he is going to be a risk.

I mean, I know you like taking him in mock drafts. I know that Kyle took him in the last one. But he is going to be a risk. I think people's opinions on Chuba Hubbard are going to be all over the map. I mean, that's probably somebody that – He's going to be a massive risk. He's going to get off to a slow start. We're not even sure if he will be ready week one. Timeline-wise, he should be.

I think he'll be out there week one. But he will get off to a slow start. He will not be a contributor to start his career, and he will be a fantastic player by the end of the season. What do you do with Chuba, though? Because Chuba will be a free, maybe starting running back. Sure. He's a 13th round pick. You're saying if you wanted to, I mean, if you're playing zero RB. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And you're going to the seventh, eighth, tenth round before you're grabbing running backs, Chuba're playing zero RB, right? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And you're going to the 7th, 8th, 10th round before you're grabbing running backs, Chuba's a fine pick because what you're looking for is – a lot of times you're looking for someone that can start strong

because you're going to be the waiver wire minor. And so when injuries come, that's where your roster is going to be very vastly improved. Dave Canales did pretty good things for a shot like in the passing game. That's in Tampa Bay. That's part of why I love Jonathan Brooks. But if he's behind scheduled, then Chuba could be a real value early in the year. He was the RB nine for a six week stretch in the season last year. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

What's this behind schedule talk? I said, if he's not behind schedule, no one's behind schedule. Well, I mean, if he's not way ahead, I didn't hear him say he's way ahead. Yeah, so he's right on schedule. Okay. Tucker Kraft on the PUP list for the Packers. Jaden Reed will begin on the NFI. Picked up a toe injury.

You could watch him run all around camp. He's fine. Yeah, Jaden Reed's going to be just fine. Giants plays Theo Johnson on the PUP list to open camp. Tight end rookie. Darren Waller is retired. Theo Johnson was a fourth round pick. It's tough for

rookie tight ends to contribute. Daniel Bellinger hanging out in the nasty boys. Yeah, if you're in some tight end premium and you want to just make a worthless pick, pick him up. Javante Williams, Samajay Piran, according to the Denver Post, Troy Rank believes that they could be battling for one spot in the backfield.

Yeah, I mean, don't take this news, because I saw some people overblowing this. This is a beat reporter's thought. You know, this is not from a team. This is not from, you know, someone. from um yeah you know someone they've got to write they've got to write stories and so it's like hey maybe they're maybe they're battling for that last spot he doesn't know this is not like speculative yes this is not it also he also believes that McLaughlin and Estime are locks well it makes sense uh they're both younger they're both under

contract longer term I feel like I owe you a gobble gobble and you were real close with mclaughlin there oh man that was right last episode i got me real good you got me real good i need to go back and watch that you were saying something i don't remember um it was basically just that estimate is you know a rookie they drafted this year. You expect him to make the roster. Yeah. McLaughlin came on strong last year, and he's under contract for seven more years. So, Javante and Samaje, if they only are going to carry three running backs on the roster, they'll be battling for it.

So, it makes sense. Javante is going to be on this roster. I will be blown away if Javante Williams is not on this roster. Cam Akers, signed by the Texans. Congratulations, man! On a roster. Just for another check or two before roster cuts.

Rasheed Shahid, one-year contract. The Saints. We'll be talking about him today as well. Any other news back there? Drop man? No, sir. Okay. Take a quick break. Come back with the divisional breakdown i'll be honest when you gobbled at the end of the last episode two things happened one i wasn't sure how badly i spoke because right now i am learning to speak

with a fake tooth in my mouth and two you scared the living crap out of me I noticed you were a little shook I was pretty startled when it happened I wasn't sure if you were just you hit the gobble hard you're a guy who hits a hard gobble yeah that's what they say about me that's true

see I was a little afraid you didn't see it coming. I'm sorry. I apologize, listeners. Let's get divisional. All right, we continue with the NFC divisional breakdowns. We got that started on Thursday last week. Or actually, was it thursday no it was

saturday because thursday we did a mock draft saturday we got it kicked off with the um north the nfc north talking all about those uh exciting uh high potential teams and now today's a different discussion with the nC South Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina, looking at players, rookies, coaches, offensive changes, how things could function. We just talked about Dave Canales, right? Arriving in Carolina. So there are changes.

And then there are some teams that made commitments to not changing because it worked last year. Like Tampa Bay brought some people back and want to re-roll what they did. Sure. I mean, ironically, they lost Canales, the person you just mentioned. He goes inter-division. Yep. He was their offensive coordinator.

Entering the 18th week of the season, there were three NFC South teams alive for the crown last year, if you remember. Tampa was 8-8. New Orleans was if you remember. Tampa was 8-8. New Orleans was 8-8. Atlanta was 7-9. And all four teams have a new offensive coordinator. So it's not just Canales departing, but that's wild.

And all of them are young. Like Tampa, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina, they went out. Clint Kubiak in New Orleans. Zach Robinson in Atlanta. We'll talk a lot about that. Brad Hedzik in Carolina and then Liam Cohen in Tampa. Yeah. I mean, you, I think all fantasy managers love when there is a younger next generation,

you know, you're going to get more passing. You're going to get more, um, you know, pre-snap movement and it's going to be a faster pace of play. I mean, generically speaking, that's true. It's not the old world where Greg Roman is going to come in here and slow it down, play defense, and run the ball. Here's something wild. All 32 NFL teams have a different offensive coordinator than who is in that position in 2022.

No, that's not true. Kyle, are you with us today? That's impossible. I did my job. It's true. It's true. But that was only two years ago, Kyle. You're telling me two years ago.

And we haven't played in 2024 yet. Two years ago. Every single offensive coordinator in the league is no longer in that job for that team? Correct. Wow. offensive coordinator in the league is no longer in that job for that team correct wow yeah i'm trying to go through some of the like stalwart best offenses and you go to buffalo and they changed last year and you go to kansas city and like naggy arrived right after the um 2022 season and so what's what about Ben Johnson? Kyle. They transitioned to him.

Yeah. Yeah, they did. In 2022? I mean, I'm sure he's not got the entire league in front of his face right now. Okay. But that says something about how these offseason shows are going to go. Like that, if you're really good at the position, Ben Johnson, they wanted to hire him away this year.

Yes. People wanted to hire him. Bobby slow it in Houston. They wanted to hire him away. Those are two people that had to choose. Eat it. Kyle. Wait,

did you find, is he wrong? He's wrong. Ben Johnson was the offensive coordinator. He got the job and he got the job in 2022. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's Kyle's right there. What do you mean? Yeah, that's fair. If, if got the job in 2022, yeah. Yeah, no, that's Kyle's right there.

What do you mean? Yeah, that's fair. If the transition happened in 22, that means they had a change in 22, which means 2022 started with a difference in offensive coordinator. No, 2022 started with Ben Johnson. I thought you just said they transitioned. No, Kyle said. Oh, Kyle.

That's when he got the job. Before the start of that season. He was the entire season in 2022. During the year. I get it. I get it. I'm on Kyle's side. Was it mid-year?

I mean, Kyle's not wrong on this. It's when he got the job in 2022. Yeah, that's... Mid-year? No, he got the job in 2022. Yeah, see? The whole season for 2022, he was the offensive coordinator for the Lions. But that's a calendar year.

2022 is a calendar year. How could you be on Kyle's side on this? In 2022, he was the OC. Look, I'm dunking on this fool. Okay, so if I asked you who the offensive coordinator of Detroit was in February of 2022, who was it? No one knows. Okay. Okay.

That's why I'm on his side. He also says you're a turd in Slack. Also, it is July. Ask me who it was in July. All right. Because I know that. I don't know why. It's Ben Johnson.

Do you have an opinion here, Al? Who's right? I'm staying out of this. Who's wrong? Okay. Let's start with Tampa. Tampa was 9-8. They beat Philly in the wild card.

That was a surprise. Lost toilly in the wild card that was a surprise lost to detroit in the divisional round went into the season with a six and a half win total it was a good year for tampa and it meant good things for fantasy mike evans was a my guy believed in baker's deep ball he went out and put together a pretty consistent season they also had a pretty easy schedule. So they kind of, you know, this year they're going in with an 8.5 win, Vegas prediction. Yeah, they have the first place schedule this year because they won the division,

which means their first place games this year, San Francisco, Baltimore, and at Detroit. Their schedule is not quite as easy this season. What's nice is you do have some consistency there. You're not bringing another quarterback in. That was one of the question marks around them last year. Mike Evans, back in business with Baker. That connection was awesome last season.

So that was one of the biggest fantasy football wins for you. You could have streamed Baker at times, and Mike Evans was dynamic. He was one of the best receivers in the game. He was the fifth 30-year-old wide receiver to finish top five since 2008. So Devontae was one of them, Antonio Brown, Jordy Nelson, Brandon Marshall. That's not normal. That doesn't happen a lot. No.

I mean, he's a great wide receiver. Right now, you know, he's being drafted as the wide receiver 15. I think that's right around where he belongs. That seems fair. You would expect him to kind of have a re-roll of last season. The question. Well, a re-roll would be. The re-roll of last season as far as, you know as archetype, usage, talent,

the question is touchdowns. Last year he had 13 receiving touchdowns. That's not a very easily repeatable number. And so touchdowns are the one thing that we talk about on the show. They're not a very sticky stat. The last four years, 13, 14, 6, 13. Yeah, I was going to say, now when you mike evans yeah a little stickier um but it's certainly you know if that goes down to to eight touchdowns which is a great season is not going

to feel like the huge win that was last year and also he was much lower drafted last year now if on the value side though the flip side is chris godwin who had you know 80 receptions a thousand yards we talked about him recently but chris Godwin only had, what, two touchdowns? Two receiving touchdowns. Yeah, Godwin was awful. But if he goes to six or seven receiving touchdowns, which is definitely in his range of outcomes, I just started to wonder recently if Chris Godwin is undervalued

or if you think he's just toast. I think we talked about this a little bit. Toast is too strong. Bread? I don't generally compare players to bread. If you were to, what type of bread would he be? Godwin? Godwin is what type of bread?

Oh, gosh. What is Godwin would he be? Godwin? Godwin is what type of bread? Oh, gosh. What is Godwin? Week old? Oh, week old? Yeah. That's a type of bread for you? It's not. It's like a pumpernickel or something.

Yeah. I mean, again, I don't generally compare them to bread. I just look like, you know, you get bread from the bakery, right? Yeah. And when you crack it open like Godwin a few years ago, it was awesome. Yeah. But it's been a while. And, I mean, a long while, 2019, while.

Since then, it's not been great. I mean, he scored nine times in 2019 with Brady, 120 targets. He's reliable. He's going to catch a bunch of passes. But he's going to remind you of like, you know, if he doesn't get into the end zone, he's just going to be like Elijah Moore plus. They've talked about moving him back into the slot. He is a very good player in the slot. He'll be another year removed from that knee injury. I think where he's going right now, wide receiver

37, I'm willing to take a shot here or there on him. That's fine. You can be that guy. I don't see a top 15 season coming in, but if you're talking about just a solid weekly flex option that you can get in maybe the eighth round, I'm okay with that. Unsurprisingly, a Todd Bowles team was very good on the defensive side, fifth in points per game given up, fifth against the rush. They were only 23rd in points per game, giving up. Fifth against the rush. They were only 23rd in points

per game scoring. So for fantasy, it's a little bit more of a distortion, right? Because Rashad White was amazing. Mike Evans was amazing. Baker Mayfield was a big surprise. And yet, you know, 23rd in points per game was not impressive.

They bring Baker back. He did not turn the ball over a bunch to let the defense keep them in games and then he he was pretty clutch at times they only have nine targets vacated on this entire roster so we had teams like what was it the chargers was that over 300 yeah the chargers the, there's teams with a ton of vacated targets. And then, you know, they've brought in, they drafted Jalen McMillan. He was... Wide receiver? Yep, a wide receiver. And then they

technically signed Sterling Shepard if he makes the roster as well. Yeah, and Bucky Irving running back in the fourth round. Rashad White last year was the RB2 from week seven on. 22 opportunities a game. 100 total yards plus um in average 16 fantasy points ran a million routes um not the most efficient runner and so i think that frequently you know mike didn't like him because he wasn't giving you the metrics between the tackles that you wanted

but they also struggled on the offensive line like this was something that they struggled with last year they had some injuries they don't go into the season projecting top 15 and on the offensive line but like I think a lot of people want to know will the shoe drop on Rashad White I I think the shoe is going to drop a little bit, but he's being drafted as if the shoe dropped a little bit. He's the running back 13. He's not being drafted like the running back two that, you know, he finished the second half of last year with. I, you know, with Dave Canales leaving, there is a little bit of fear here that it's not going to be the same system. They're not going to check it down as much. They're not going to leave him on the field as much. They drafted Bucky

Irving, who is a talented pass catcher in his own right. I've seen the way that Bowles talks about Rashad White, how much he absolutely, like he is a key, you know, core piece to the team and a core piece of the offense. He's going to still be a workhorse type of running back, but I could see it come back 5% or 10% this year. And if it does, Rashad White wasn't blowing us away last year. He was just consistently getting a ton of work every week, and so it ended up working.

You take some of that work away, I think Rashad White is a mediocre pick to me. At his ADP? Yeah, I mean, running back 13 I think is near his ceiling I I like him I like him because the consistency I don't care about Canales leaving when it comes to Rashad White there was a comfort level between Baker and Rashad White last year the offense isn't changing at all I don't understand why you would pivot from what worked and White was the most reliable when it came to catch percentage in the league. So in that regard, you know, is he going to be – I mean, what was his fantasy finish?

He was a running back seven last year. Had nine total touchdowns and a kajillion targets. And the RB2 from week seven on. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy with him at ADP. I took him, I think, in our last draft. And I wouldn't push it up. I wouldn't be striving to get him at a higher, like in the third round, but I'd take

him in the fourth. Godwin, you mentioned Godwin. I'm very lukewarm on this team as a whole. As a whole, I think they over-exceeded expectations last year. Usually when those mediocre teams far exceed their expectations think the New York Giants two years ago when they got the coach of the year award and

no one expected them to be as good as they were and then they they're like yeah we you know we are going to be good it's like well no you're probably not it's probably a good comp so Tampa does feel like the Giants from the year before the consolidation of targets to Rashad White and Mike Evans make it valuable for fantasy football, but for the most part, I think this team is not as good in 2024 as it was in 2023. New Orleans was 9-8 last year with a projected win total of 9.5 going into this season. Now it's down to 7.5.

And that's despite having the fifth easiest schedule for 2024. They were, maybe this surprises you, 10th in points per game last year under Derek Carr. It does. Did not feel that way. They became the third team, this is from Rich Rebar, since 2000 to not have a single running, to have a running back with a single run of 20 plus yards in the season.

They had a player though. Taysom Hill. So he didn't count? He did not count for that because I believe he had three runs of over 20 yards. Taysom Hill scored a lot. I think maybe Taysom Hill's the reason

I didn't feel like they're a top 10 scoring offense, but they were. Do you roll your eyes when Taysom Hill scores? Yep. Yeah, I do. Is it because it's so unpredictable and he just doesn't fit into your little box? Well said.

And also, when you don't fit into my box, you don't end up on my lineup. And then. Yeah, nobody benefits from Taysom Hill's success. Ever. Like, it's very rare. There's Saints fans out there plugging him in every week. Or they're in best ball leagues when you draft them. But outside of that, yeah, I mean, for the most part part you really you're like oh there's the titan one on the

week that no one had yeah and then you chase it right people chase it the next week when it doesn't happen um might surprise you for that running back room they didn't have any 20 yard runs they are counting for 28 million against the cap the running back room most in the nfl that is the Kamara contract. That is Jamal Williams' contract. And that's an insane amount of money. I mean, the Panthers are number two, believe it or not. And that is almost half the amount.

So this is one of the reasons why Alvin Kamara in a contract reworking seemed possible. Could still happen. Clint Kubiak taking over. Offensive coordinator. Usually has, I mean, Baby Cubes usually has a great run scheme, but it's going to be really difficult with this offensive line. They were the 23rd ranked at the end of last year, according to PFF. To start this year, they are the 32nd ranked.

And they just lost Ramchak? Yes, they did. They placed him on the IR. And it was so funny how it was reported. Because it was Pup. Well, I couldn't tell if the team. Like they made a mistake? I couldn't tell if the reporters were saying the team goofed.

Because what happens is he's a vested veteran. And so if you go at this time of year on the Pup, you're ineligible to play again the rest of the season and they placed him on the pup so he's he's done he's gone for the year but the way it was reported was like wait was this breaking news to the saints did they just find out that like oh oh crap we we lost we lost ryan all year um i would have i'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt yeah they knew what was going on. But still, they lost him for the whole season. Their offensive line projects to be terrible. I think that could be as surprising. That could be great news for Alvin Kamara.

It really could. Because the same way Brees Hall, behind an awful offensive line last year, it's just check down, check down, check down. The quarterback's running for his life, and the running back just leaks right through the leaky. Derek Carr loves a good check down, check down, check down. The quarterback's running for his life, and the running back just leaks right through the leaky. Derek Carr loves a good check down. Yeah, I mean, Alvin Kamara is going to have a ton of targets, and I think he's a wonderful value in fantasy football this year.

He is going to be the worst version of Alvin Kamara he's ever been on a per-touch basis, just like he pretty much was last year. But his targets are going to be so high that for fantasy any kind of half ppr full ppr he's going to be very valuable he's not being drafted like that where's his adp right now he's in the fifth round so you got to spend a early fourth on rashad white or you can wait around for alvin camara yeah and you probably have a similar view of them i do so tough offensive line situation really uncreative offense we want to see more motion from kubiak this year car played better with two tight end sets uh juwan johnson i think

had a um you know it's tough when you look at the tight end room you got tasem hill involved foster morose there juwan johnson uh there was a lot of hype then Then he was hurt. Then he ended strong. I believe he was tied in 9-4-1 for the last three fantasy-relevant weeks. So if you started him, congratulations. But he had a foot injury early in June. He's on the pop. So, you know, if you want to play around with Taysom Hill, honestly you can this year because there's a lot of rumors that he's going to be used a lot more at the running back position.

If that's the case, if he's actually integrated, you know, I think they're stopping the whole quarterback, you know, backup quarterback thing. In which case, if he ends up with, you know, 20 extra carries through the course of the season, I mean, that's just more touches for your tight end. Are you willing to take a late gamble on him? I mean, would you take him ever over a Pat Fryermuth when you're talking about the last round tight ends that you pulled the trigger on?

Probably not. Yeah, me either. I tried to talk myself into it. No, you did. You did a good job. Jamal Williams, Kendrick Miller, and Taysom Hill will be factoring into the running game behind Kamara. We talked about Kendrick Miller a little bit on the last show.

The vibes have not been great from a consistency standpoint. I brought up probably a month ago, this team loves Jamal Williams. Miller does not have good vibes right now in terms of carving out a reliable role. I'm not saying he doesn't fit some deep sleeper category because if Kamara went out, I think you would have to find explosiveness at the position and they might turn to him. But I don't think in the current healthy organization of this lineup, Kendrick Miller has a lot of room.

I agree because Alvin Camara will get everything and you've got a curmudgeon in Dennis Allen running the show. You're a big I'm a big anti Dennis Allen guy. I think he you know, does not belong as a head coach in the NFL. He was gifted that by Sean Payton.

And he's still there. For a minute. And I think people were disappointed he is. Michael Thomas is gone. No more Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas? Michael Thomas. Oh, I forgot about that.

Yeah, Jimmy Grandpa. Michael Thomas? Jimmy Grandpa is gone. You don't owe me any more money. Man. Yeah, he's gone for a minute. I'll bet he signs midseason. And no more Jameis.

Oh, that's sad. If Carr goes out for a play or two, you don't get to see Jameis come in and sling it around for Olave. That was always fun. Yeah, so Olave is the big question, Mark. He was much better than you remember last year because when you're drafted, like him and Garrett Wilson and these guys were drafted pretty high, second-round picks, you're hoping that they take that step forward

and they become this top-five elite, elite option. And he didn't. Chris Olave finished as the wide receiver 19. So it's like, oh, that's disappointing. But he was actually an A in consistency. He's very involved. He's the clear number one target in this offense. But you still need him

to step forward in that role this has to be an upgraded year the touchdowns need to come he needs to get on the same page with their car which they clearly were not for a lot of last season I think it happens I think that they I think that they develop and he is closer to the wide receiver 12 than the wide receiver 19 I hope hope so. It was a good summary. He is on the NFI list. So he was one of probably a bunch of players we could have mentioned in the news. He's not practicing right now.

Um, but look, they don't, they don't have a lot of other options. A wide receiver. Rashid Shaheed is there. If you play in a league, that's going to have kick yard returns.

Yeah, I mean, he should be returning kicks in the new format. He'll be the wide receiver one. He might. In that format. The one thing I saw in film last year was that Derek Carr and Chris Olave were occasionally out of sync. And Derek Carr, on the sideline in the game, loves taking shots to Rashid Shahid.

It was one of the things that as an Olave manager was really annoying is because there were a lot of deep shots that weren't going to Olave. Well, and he was so in sync with Shaheed. So it's like, come on, Carr. It's not that you can't do it. Just do it with the guy everyone wants you to do it with. You know, just complete the passes to Olave down the field. That's what you're saying.

That is what I'm saying. All Alright, quick break. Back with another team. Alright, let's talk about Atlanta. 7-10 last year. Came in with 8.5 wins as their projected win total. This year it's 9.5 and there's excitement, right?

They have the easiest schedule, according to Warren Sharpe, for 2024. That's the number one. That's what you're looking for. So, you know, in honor of Michael Penix Jr., we got him on the back wall today. Some lucky fan out there has assigned Kyle Borgannoni Michael Penix Jr. jersey. So, Raheem Morris, Zach Robinson.

Oof. Zach Morris? This coaching staff is led by Zach Morris? I guess Morris Zach. Man, I wish it was like Zach Robinson was the head coach. Kurt Cousins. Raheem Morris was defensive coordinator. Welcome to the squad.

Zach Robinson, welcome in. Darnell Mooney, three years, $39 million. Rondell Moore, they acquired him for Desmond Ritter. Ritter's out the door. Arthur Smith. Out the door. Addition by subtraction, for fantasy at least. We hope, right?

I mean, we are expecting better than the 25th ranked points per game offense, right? For sure. I mean, you know, the 11 personnel league-wide. better than the 25th ranked points per game offense, right? For sure. I mean, you know, the 11 personnel league-wide, last year it was insane how rarely the Atlanta Falcons used 11 personnel, which is three wide receivers on the field. They were last in the league, 14%. The league average, you know, is well above that. And if you look at the 11 personnel that the Rams have done,

which is where Zach Robinson's coming from, you've got 92%, 90%, 89%, 84%. Like, they are an explosive offense, obviously. And this is really exciting for fantasy. is this is where you're you get everything you want you get a humongous quarterback upgrade you get a humongous offensive coordinator how big is kurt cousin he's he's so large he's humongous he's the largest man i've ever seen um you know i i a couple years ago, had one of the things to remember episodes, which was these mediocre quarterbacks changing teams don't change. They don't fix it. They don't ever fix it. And I included, like, Derek Carr in that style of a list. But the one guy I excluded from that, because I don't think he is an average quarterback, is Kirk Cousins.

I think he is an actual top 10 NFL quarterback. Now the Achilles injury, maybe that adds a flag, a scare that you don't want, but if he's healthy, Kirk Cousins is an actual really good quarterback here that this offensive coordinator will be able to use to success. These and no setbacks yet for Kirk C on the recovery these situations are some of the hardest i think to um sift through for fantasy players like the wintles at nine and a half and part of that is like they were not for fantasy arthur smith was the worst right yeah because of bijan and it was a talking point and bijan and pits and um it was a regular weekly talking point about how Arthur Smith is holding

this offense back. Because these weapons that we have, we need this to be fixed. Now, the easy human nature thing to do is that when Arthur Smith leaves and Zach Robinson arrives, it's fixed. You just have to switch this one man that does not run the

football or do anything on the field. You switch him and everything, all of our dreams, all of our expectations for Kyle Pitts and B.J. Robinson and Mooney and Cousins in the office, they're just fixed. And it doesn't happen that way very often. Like in the offseason, we have lots of changes. The changes happen because you failed. Now, this is a team that won seven games.

They were not as bad with Arthur Smith in reality as we felt in fantasy. They were four and six in one score games. They were in a lot of games. They were probably a win or two from Arthur Smith staying there as the head coach. Yeah. I mean, usually when there is a big change at head coach or offensive coordinator, it does not just fix all that ails it. That's why I'm saying this is like, it's the perfect storm because it's not just the head coach or the offensive coordinator. The fact that you're changing the quarterback, quarterback is the number one thing. I don't care who the head coach is. If Arthur Smith was still here and you add Kirk Cousins to this lineup, you'd feel different. I'd feel much better about Drake London. I'd feel

much better about Bijan Robinson. Now you do the addition of getting in a faster pace of play. This is a team with a top five-ish offensive line. So you've got the ability to protect, the ability to run. You've got weapons in definitely Drake London, and then you hope Kyle Pitts. I expect huge things from this offense, and I think a lot of people do, but sign me up to the side. Like B. John, RB2 huge things from this offense. And I think a lot of people do, but sign me up to decide. Like Bijan, RB2 right now on ADP. Yep, he's my RB2 as well.

The Drake London discussion, we've had it a lot of times. In two years, he's got six touchdowns. He's had eight top 24 performances across two seasons. Darna Mooney brought in to be a compliment. And then you have Pitts and Moore and Dijon out of the backfield. Like, is there a chance Drake London doesn't get as much volume as we'd like? I don't think so. I don't think there's a chance he doesn't get as much volume. The wide receiver core is him and Darnell Mooney and Jack squat. He is going to have the target share now. No, Rondell Moore, not Jack squat.

Okay. Busted. Yeah. Rondell Moore is Jack squat. I mean, Kyle Pitts is going to line up as a wide receiver. Yeah, that's, that's fine. But my point is you don't have a lot of other people to soak up targets um i i can't imagine drake london having like fewer than a 24 target market share and if he's got that then he should be like do you like kyle pitts because i feel like you're one like you're one badge away from being a falcon stand and i and i am one badge away because I have bypassed Kyle Pitts in every draft. Everything that I'm saying about the Falcons, about the system. What about all that stuff about them having no receivers?

Does that benefit Kyle Pitts? It all applies to Kyle Pitts. 100% of it applies to Kyle Pitts. And I don't have any problem with someone saying I think Kyle Pitts is going to be the number one tight end and I'm going to take my shot on him. But, you know, we're going into year four and and he has – The talent, not the ability.

I just don't want to do it again. The ability, not the talent. I don't want to do it again. When a guy fails essentially three years in a row, it's really like let someone else be the hero who calls the right year you just don't want to take the risk I don't want to take the risk where he's not that cheap yeah that's what I'm saying where he's going in a draft is assuming that he's going to be good and there are plenty there's there's five maybe six if you want to include George Kittle really really outstanding

tight ends this year I believe and so I want to take one ofittle. Really, really outstanding tight ends this year, I believe. And so I want to take one of those other five guys and let Kyle Pitts go to someone who's more of a gambling man. Let me just excite the B. John managers, those that look to draft him. Last year, they were 25th in points per game. Only five running backs had more total yards than B. John Robinson did that on 50% of the touches in the per game. Only five running backs had more total yards than Bijan Robinson. Did that on 50% of the touches in the backfield.

Great as a receiver. Second in routes run. Fourth in yards. He's unbelievable. It's not impossible for Bijan to be the number one running back in fantasy football at the end of this season. No, I have

said it before. I think that if every running back played 17 games, the only person that could outscore Christian McCaffrey is Bijon. Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be fun to watch. Carolina was 2-15 last year. That's not great. Projected win total was 7. They got the number one pick, right?

Yeah. No, the Bears did. 7.5 was the projected win total for them going into the season woof two and six and one score games did not have a fourth quarter lead during any game according to warren sharp what is their projection this year i uh i'm do you not know no i i don don't know. All right, don't look. Okay. Guess. Five and a half. Lower. Oh, yeah, baby.

Four and a half. Four and a half. Okay. And currently, looking at the lines that we have today, they are favored in how many of their 17 games? Well, if they're only projected for four and a half, I'm going to say they're favored in two of them. What if we said zero? That would also make sense.

That would also, math would check out. So it's not been a fun ride, Panther fans. I'm sorry. You had the fun with Cam Newton a while back. Now you've had Ron Rivera for a year and a half. Wow. Matt Rule for two and a half years. Frank Reich for less than a year.

And Dave Kanellis is into the lion's den. I don't think you said this, but this is – maybe you said this. If you did, I apologize. But I'm seeing this, and this is the craziest stat I've ever seen. They did not have a fourth-quarter lead during any game. Yeah, I did say that. I mean, that's crazy. But, yeah, that's wild.

That's wild. They won two games. Yeah, both on field goals as time expired. They were that close to being winless and not favored going into the year. This is all about can Bryce Young be repaired psychologically? Like, I think physically, like, Bryce Young was the number one pick for a reason. Like, people saw the accuracy in college.

They saw the consistency at a big program but ironically you took his coach away halfway through the year and you and you struggled to build an offensive round i think he was the number one pick because of the psychology it wasn't the physical traits he's not a big strong quarterback he doesn't have a powerful arm he's not a mobile mobile, incredible scrambling quarterback. It was above the shoulders that made him the 101. And so if above the shoulders has been rocked, that really frightens me to have this fixed. Yeah, you don't get to overcome it by just running around for a couple years

as you fixed it. Yeah, Josh Allen sucked as a rookie. He came in and he looked like maybe he wasn't going to work out, but he could always rely on the physical tools. Same with Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence came in and sucked as a rookie. Just as bad as Bryce Young, but he had physical traits he could rely upon. So the question is, can Dave Canales put some kind of system in place

to elevate, because I don't think Bryce Young has the tools. Last year, Bryce Young threw for 2,800 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. And if you go back to his college days, like he threw 12 interceptions over three years and 80 touchdowns. It was a 47-7 and 32-5. So last year was a disaster. Now, he did not have a lot of the weapons that you would hope.

He didn't have receivers that were outside of Adam Thielen to start the year. You didn't have anybody you could rely on there. You had a running game that Miles Sanders crapped out in. Deontay Johnson is going to make a huge impact on this team. But the offensive line was a disaster last year. They had injuries. They were 29th in the league. You talked about Deontay Johnson.

He's a huge addition at wide receiver. So is Xavier Leggett. And they traded up for him. He is a special athlete. Those two guys alone majorly help Bryce Young. Jonathan Brooks, when he arrives for duty, helps Bryce Young. Yeah, I mean, a couple years ago you had Metcalf with a great season with Geno Smith.

Xavier Liget is someone that kind of is that big-bodied, can go make that jump ball catch, similar to Mike Evans last season with Dave Canales. So Xavier Leggett, Deontay Johnson, and then allowing old man Thielen to kind of just be the third. You shouldn't be the best. You should not be the number one target. And that's okay. Maybe like five, ten years ago you could have.

Absolutely you could have. Absolutely he could have, but at this point, I mean, they have done everything to help fix Bryce Young. He has weapons now. I think Jonathan Brooks is an excellent pass catcher. As soon as he gets on the field and starts playing that Rashad White role, it'll be amazing

for Bryce Young. Do you think this gets fixed? I think it's really hard, and it's even harder when Carolina's been in the boat of optimism with, like, Matt Rule, right? Matt Rule, offensive genius. We're going to get it fixed in Carolina. Matt Rule, how did that work?

Did not work well. What about Frank Reich, a guy you love, a guy who's had success, offensive mind? Let's go. It did not work well. So when you bring Dave Canales in here, he's up against it. And by up against it, you mean up against David Tepper? I think, yeah, I think up against.

Sometimes organizations, when they're run poorly from the top and they're mangled and, you know, when the ownership has their dumb fingers in every little thing, it's hard to succeed in the environment that's created by that. A reasonable owner of a team would find a year where they go out and win six games maybe and Bryce Young looks competent and they're in some other games that's a successful year now I don't Dave Tepper I think wants him to go 15 and 2 like that's the standard set and the patience level and to me it's like are they going

to fix it like to me if they, if they went 7-10. Oh, that'd be an awesome season. 6-11, but Bryce Young looked like a quarterback. I mean, they were dead last in points per game last year and 25th in points per game given up. That's a good recipe to not having a lead in the fourth quarter. You've got a long way to go is all i'm saying well at least they um have brian burns just a superstar defensive athlete oh wait they traded

him in this offseason so that's not gonna help although for fantasy purposes it might help i will be paying close attention to dionte's involvement league at like you said who do you who do you want on your team like we're at ad at ADP right now. Are you wanting to draft Deontay Johnson? He's the water shooter of 42, you know, in the eighth round. Do you want that? Here's my problem with Deontay is that Adam Thielen is still there. Like, Adam Thielen was a target hog last season. Yeah.

And this is not, like, we as fantasy managers, we swap one dude for another dude on our lineups, right? We take Thielen out and we put Deontay Johnson in because that's how we manage our teams. They don't do that at the NFL. Like Thielen brought value to the roster. He shouldn't have been the one, but he's going to fill up the target.

Like he's going to be a piece of the puzzle. And like Deontay, I just worry about the combination. Like what did we see from Thielen over the back half of the year? We saw things slow down. Yeah. And I'm worried that, like, the back half Thielen, there's going to be two of those, Thielen and Deontay, Liget with the, you know, gadgetry and deep balls,

Mingo's still there, Brooks, Chuba catches the ball, and this team will still be in the bottom third. So if you say bottom third offense with seven different options and a reliance on Bryce Young to not look incompetent, it's challenging. And like Dave Canales is going to have his fingerprints all over the offense, but your offensive line stinks. Yeah.

And you are going to be, I don't know if Idzik's going to be doing play calls or Canales. I should know that. I don't know that off the top of my head. I don't know for sure, but I would imagine Canales is the play caller. Yeah, he should be. Yeah, he is. But, yeah, look, it's a mountain to climb.

Let's call it a mountain to climb. And you get to start the season on the road against New Orleans, then go play the Chargers, then go play in Vegas, then play Cincinnati-Chicago. Yeah, I mean, there's a reason the team is projected for four and a half wins. They're betting against Bryce Young being fixed. For fantasy purposes, like you said, there's a lot

of mouths to feed now, which is a good thing, hopefully, for Bryce Young, but not good for fantasy. How many touchdowns for Young? You want to double his total? Give him 22. Now break it up. Now, did you see his longest touchdown passes last year? Oh, gosh. So he had a pass of 66 yards, 49 yards, and 30 yards.

Here was the problem with him. A pick six to the Colts. Oh, no. A pick six to the Colts and a pick six to the Cowboys. I thought you were done. Nope. His longest one as a Panther was 18 yards. His next longest was 11.

I'll just read them all to you because he only has 11 total touchdowns. 10 yards, 8 yards, 5, 4, 4, 3, 1, 1, 1. I can almost see the out route by Thielen sneaking into the end zone for him. I wish that I could have said I watched the film and thought Bryce Young showed a bunch of potential. He did not. Bryce Young missed players frequently when he had off-platform opportunities, opportunities to make a play when the line held up for him. It's the psychological thing that you said. That

has to get repaired. I think Dave Canales is a sharp, sharp guy. We've seen him make a quarterback out of Geno Smith, make a quarterback out of Baker Mayfield it's the best opportunity to redeem that pick but um but he missed he had some horrible misses last year yeah for sure and you know from my taste Jonathan Brooks is the only player I want on this roster and the reason is the reason I still take him is because I think the second half of the year he's an explosive athlete because of his age he's's because I think the second half of the year, he's an explosive athlete. Because of his age, he's so young, I think he's going to recover from the ACL just fine. We've seen young star players early in their career, Todd Gurley, Jamal Charles, when they are coming out of college and they have an ACL injury, they bounce back really, really quick. And so I do think at the end of this year, you're going to have a ton of dump-offs.

They're going to be using him in the Rashad White role, but he is going to be far more efficient. So he's it. It's the only one I want. Give me your divisional standings. Who wins it? Who wins it? I assume.

Let's go. Since it's just two of us, let's just go one by one. All right. First place, Falcons. Yeah, I got the Falcons. Second place. This is where it gets tough between the two. I got Tampa's just go one by one. All right. First place, Falcons. Yeah, I got the Falcons. Yeah. Second place. This is where it gets tough between the two. I got Tampa.

I got the Bucs. Yep. Yeah, and then New Orleans, Carolina. Same Zs. Okay. All right. Sorry, Carolina truthers out there. Hopefully, you see some progress.

You know what's sad? I want to watch Xavier Liga. I want to see him explode. I love Xavier. I mean, not physically. It's like his performance. Yeah. Xavier Liga is the

weirdest guy if you weren't listening in the in the early offseason never seen a fifth year breakout from a guy who was a barely I mean I think he he didn't have I don't think he had more than 200 yards in a season before this crazy fifth year breakout but I loved the tape I'm super rooting for him and I'm rooting against the Panthers in general because I'm rooting against Bryce Young but every Panther fan I know every Panther fan I know is so delightful like I want why root against Bryce Young I gotta root against someone I can't yeah yeah why do you want to see him fail because I didn't think he was that good coming out of college and then he was the number one pick over cj strata made no sense to me okay and then what we saw i think he has failed

sufficiently for the next five years already maybe like last year uh now tepper you want to root against tepper that's fine yeah and he's he's probably the number one reason i want to root against them thursday we have the n NFC East. Sorry, Panthers fans. I love y'all. Mike, well, you just said they're delightful. Delightful and sad. Thursday, Mike will be back. NFC East.

Saturday, the NFC West. And we'll be through both sets of the, or, you know, all the conferences, or all the divisions in both conferences. So, East, West of the NFC the rest of this week. All the latest news and information and you can watch the show live you can watch the show on youtube.com slash the fantasy footballers we will catch you

on the next one goodbye Jay Grizz useless as ever you know take them off the payroll yeah seriously thank you for listening to another take them off the payroll. Yeah, seriously. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

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