Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - NFC West Breakdown + Hype Train - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/24

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

Fantasy Football show for July 24, 2025. Final divisional preview for the 2025 season! Rams, Seahawks, Cardinals, and 49ers! Find out which players are being over and undervalued in 2025 fantasy football drafts. Will Marvin Harrison live up to the hype this year? What’s the outlook for Puka Nacua and Davante Adams? Full breakdown for the NFC West division! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.2025 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT + Draft Analyzer available now at UltimateDraftKit.com (00:00) Introduction(07:00) NFL News(23:55) NFC West Breakdown(24:50) Los Angeles Rams(37:05) Seattle Seahawks(51:25) Arizona Cardinals(1:02:34) San Francisco 49ersConnect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Welcome in! Thursday July 24th, somehow July's almost over already. We had the realization today that next week is the last week of the year that we will not be doing daily, morning, record, and release. It's coming, Fookland.

We are just minutes away from August. Yeah, we're gonna be doing shows every day. It's a good thing. It's a fun thing. It's beautiful. It's starting on August 1st which is a Friday. Weird. So we'll have a show on August 1st. Mm-hmm. And then forever. Until the end of time. It's super exciting for those following along at home. The channel well, the channel's been renamed. Mike is constantly. People didn't know how to use the channel,

so I had to rename the channel. A lot of people out there have already asked for an invite into the Camp Highlights channel, which is now called the Camp Highlights and Hype Train channel, which is so many characters that I've thought about renaming it many times. But I mean, it is what it is. Yeah, there's that hype train yeah cuz we need

our old hype train well the very dangerous very day that the train that sounded like you were about to get t-boned while you're driving and everyone complained about it but stop train something just fell off yeah power line fell off your toilet Mike but no I mean that if I had a nickel first time that's happened I'm looking at this channel and it's you know Jackson Dards first pick six yeah jk Dobbins first up yeah this is you know we've got we've got Kyle Pitts walking to camp yeah but the walk had a lot of swag to it so we've got uh we call that we've got Kyle Pitts walking to camp. Yeah, but the walk had a lot of swag to it, so it was funny. Is that what we call that?

We've got T-Mac. I mean, whatever, man. Petero and McMillan tweet. And then I watched that video, and I'm like. I think it was just him shuffling around. He's just barely in the view. Like I said, not everyone understands how to use the channel.

We've got Mike sharing the first play of seven on seven for the Jets was a little throwing by the quarterback and catching by the receiver, Garrett Wilson. And it was in slow motion. Uh-huh. Yeah yeah this is you do know how to use the channel. The the reporters. Anthony Richardson overthrowing his receivers already. The reporters on the Garrett Wilson they said that that would have been a touchdown. Did they? Yeah. Okay. Caleb Williams looking very uncomfortable in training camp

so far, he threw three picks. He's real itchy. Threw three picks with his brand new offense. And we've even got old busted former NFL cornerbacks like Quinton Jammer jumping into the camp hype time of year and Lad McConkey had a nice little one on one drill catching a pass. Quinton Jammer, jumping into the camp hype time of year and Lad McConkey had a nice little one-on-one drill, catching a pass, Quinton Jammer running in and saying, I would not have let that happen.

I gotta take a little on-ridge with your shuffling around comment on Tet McMillan. You guys clearly did not watch that whole video. I guess not. Was there something else that happened? Because it was real boring. No, he's not the first guy. He's the second guy. He's doing this. He's doing this drill and a coach walks in his way. Oh, and he catches it with one hand. He just, he Velcro catches that ball. Jason, you're not helping the camp. Yeah, baby. You're not helping the camp. Oh yeah. The video was way

too long for that. I agree, I agree. I didn't get to see that part. That part was cool. That's the camp hype. Okay, new rule Jason, you've got to timestamp things for me too. So we've reached the inevitable exaggeratory phase of fantasy football, which is... It's part of my favorite time. It's really the best time. Every single one of you out there,

undefeated on the season in fantasy football, right? All of our picks could be perfect. Oh. All of our rankings. Our takes are so good. Very likely perfectly accurate. But as the news comes in, some of it is very relevant and some of it is moving around some UDK

rankings things more depth chart oriented right we were talking today about mr. Besh in Las Vegas Mike and Thornton and the way things may look in year one for mr. Jack Besh yeah the Raiders not a great opportunity for him potentially we're in very early stages, but you know, the early reports saying like, hey look, Jacoby and Thornton, they seem like the two outside wide receivers and that Besh is actually competing with Trey Tucker for a starting job. So it's, that's a camp battle that we will be keeping our eyes on. But then like it's wild, Besh is the second round pick and was Thornton the fourth I believe fourth

Yeah, and so to have that already swip swapped is is interesting Jason lost his mind over a Trey Harris catch yesterday as well Oh, see what you have a two of them what against against rookie cornerbacks in one-on-one drills Yeah, Pryor's good. That's all I need. So it is, it's really exciting. I saw Hard Knock starts up on August 5th, so that's not far away. Buffalo will be the team covered there. It's an exciting time of year, that's why we're going to five days a week.

There's just so much to talk about. And you can secure the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com. That is all of our rankings, all of our sleepers, breakouts, busts, and values that we've all agreed upon. We'll have some more episodes in August with our individual picks in those categories. And you know, the My Guys episode is coming up,

fantasy MVP episodes. There's a lot on the table for August. So thank you so much for supporting the show. If you watch it, youtube.com slash the fantasy footballers, make sure you subscribe over there. Click the bell every Sunday morning. Most often it's Mike going live with Sunday live, pre NFL coverage of the fantasy football latest news.

It's making sure you're all caught up. Start sit decisions. So that's a great way to do it. And then if you're on Spotify, Apple, wherever you're listening, click that follow button, drop us a review. That would be an awesome way to support the Deucers, is what I'm saying.

The Deucers over there, they feed on the reviews. Yeah, they like them. Like. Thank you, Josh. Yeah, yeah. So there you go. Let's jump right into some more news. News and notes from around the league.

I should have said let's jump into some actual news. Right? The other stuff, that's camp highlights and hype. But here's some good news, Malik Neibour is practicing fully in training camp. So the lingering toe injury that goes way back to LSU that took some time from him last year He's practicing. Yeah, did you guys see the camp highlight video? I sure did getting that touchdown. Yep From mr. Russ or yeah. Yep. Okay Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh says he doesn't know when Najee Harris will be back for training camp. This one is

Actionable and a big piece of news because like we're, the fantasy community is very excited for O'Marian Hampton, a first round running back. First round running backs are, generally speaking, fantasy gold and it was like, well, if Najee might be in the way for a bit, how long will he be in the way? I mean, they're being drafted like Hampton is gonna be the starter sooner than later. I think, you know, Hampton's in front of him by a few rounds, I believe. But the fact that Najee might not do training camp?

I mean, if he misses camp... That's a huge, huge deal. If he misses camp, all of a sudden it feels like he's not even, because he's new to this team. Right. You know, the whole, like, he's the starter to start the season, he's the veteran, he's the proven NFL player. It would have been different if it happened in Pittsburgh, where he had been.

Correct. Exactly. This is like, now it's like, come week one, who's's the vet for the chargers because Hampton has more time there Potentially, so we definitely need to monitor that Hampton's ADP will Take a rocket ship to the moon. You guys tell me whether I need to hit the panic alarm on this piece of news We got yesterday Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin

Underwent a second ankle procedure in the spring. He's starting on the pup. Yeah. Yeah. That you should hit the panic alarm. Yes. Black us out. That was not a panic alarm. That was really, that was like a power outage. Did I do something wrong there Al? No, you didn't. Okay. All right. Somebody back here did, though. I'm going to guess it's not a falcon or an owl. We're all trying to find the guy who did this. He looked...

So, those that are listening at home, the panicle arm now comes with some special effects in the studio. The lights go out. And the lights normally flash like a panic alarm. And the second that the lights just turn like a panic alarm and the second that the lights just turn off I see Al turn to the right yeah oh yeah he just a slow glance to the right stare down so I don't know if anybody's taking responsibility for that but I know who's not going to take responsibility oh

yeah it happened again perfect perfect yeah it is very troubling I mean there was the did you guys see the, that we went to prudence film on the, there was a photo of Godwin in a jersey and it was like, one of those ankles is, looks a bit puffier than the other one. Help me out here, explain this to me. Because if he had not been paid,

let's just pretend this scenario was Chris Godwin actually had another year left on his former deal. Right. And he had not been paid, we would not have been in on Godwin for the year. Correct. At all, not with McMillan playing well,

with the Ibuca draft pick, with any of that stuff going on. It would be, I'm not gonna say we wouldn't be in, but it would be very, very hesitant. I think I'll go as far as to say I would've been out. I would've been out. Because we've been here. He's had an injury, it was a major injury, we saw him leave the field, significant.

I think what happened was they paid him and we did the math equation. It's money equals he's good. Yeah, I mean they are the ones with the information on the injury, on the timeline, on the surgery, on the recovery, and they came out on the surgery, on the recovery, and they came out and they paid them a lot of money. That gave us confidence that they are not worried

about the injury, the recovery timeline, any of that. And they very well might not be, from the standpoint of they're not playing the same game we're playing. We have to draft a guy and have him be ready week one. They're trying to win a Super Bowl. So by the time they get to the playoffs, maybe he's good. Long term, this is more than a one year contract, maybe he's good.

But for fantasy football purposes, Chris Godwin is someone that, I would not be drafting him personally, certainly not where he's being drafted. I don't even know if I would. I mean, he was off my board before this news, and now he's very off my board. On our NFC South show,

I was so close to making some comments around, that were probably too hyperbolic and extreme about, like Mike brought up Egbuka, and how interesting that selection is, right? I am so in. But I almost made the comment, like what we see right now with our eyes on that team is Evans and Godwin. But what might be the reality for this team,

genuinely, by the end of the year, could be Egbuka and McMillan. Like both, not just one. McMillan's not a bad player. He had 461 yards as a rookie and caught eight touchdowns from Baker, and yet the elder statesman, their time might be ending sooner than you think,

and the draft pick of Egbuka maybe has more of a backdrop now. Maybe that's even more of a we knew Godwin wasn't gonna be around. Yeah I'm glad you brought up Jalen McMillan. He was a rookie wide receiver last year. He is the perfect example of someone that let's say you had a bad fantasy year last year and you start checking out towards the end of the season. You might not realize how electric he was the last five weeks of the year because he really didn't do much

for the majority of his rookie season. Chris Godwin was everything, Mike Evans was there, and then the last five weeks of the season, I mean, he put up monster, he put up over 1,000 yards in the last five weeks. So he would have paced? He would have paced over 1,000, yes, he would have paced over 1,000 yards in the last five weeks. So he would have paced? He would have paced over a, yes, he would have paced over. He had 1,000 yards over a five week span.

You were really breaking news. He's the greatest player of all time. He would have been on pace for 1,074 yards and 23 touchdowns, because they all came that. Egbuka and McMillan are in the 11th round right now. Godwin is, to me, untouchable in the sixth. And then Evans is 312, which is fine. I mean, if Godwin starts off slow,

I would certainly have even more confidence in Evans while the other guys get it figured out. So let's say even cost holds for Jalen McMillan and Egbuka. Which direction do you prefer to go? If even cost, Egbuka, because I just think think I think the skill set and be a boat Yeah, it could be about I was That's how I am, but I wasn't sure if you guys know I mean it's willing to sacrifice the the eight touchdowns I yeah, I would be fine with either of them where they're going, but if I had to pick one

I would it would be a book. He's I mean he's a better prospect. He's a better wide receiver He's a first-round pick for a reason and you know, and he's from Ohio State. You bet on those guys. So it was a secondary procedure. The team says that it's not a surprise to them. That's what was reported. Not a surprise to them and that he's doing well. So there you go. Terry McLaurin officially did not report to training camp. This is what we've been talking about. It is still a back and forth between Terry McLaurin and the team, much like Michael Parsons and Trey Hendrickson. And we'll see. Darren Waller, starting on the PUP. This is called Coming Out of Retirement. It's a little PUP, get the body warmed up,

I guess. Yeah. It's OLD. Oh, get the body warmed up, I guess. Yeah. It's OLD, is the problem. Yeah, yeah, PUP for old? Yeah. Wait, how old is Darren Wilder, by the way? I think he's 33, 34? Is he older or younger than Adam Thelen?

That's what I'd like to know. He will be 33 this season. So he is younger than Old Man. All right. Joe Mixon is starting on the NFI. So not the PUP. This is the non-football injury list. He was in a boot this spring.

The team has come out and said that he should be back out at training camp soon. I saw more positive things about it. I don't want to let it, I don't want it to overemphasize or underemphasize it. I also don't want an isolated high ankle sprain in week two of the season to somehow just make me gunshot on Joe Mixon now if it's unrelated to that injury.

But you just don't want to see players in their, the last couple years of potential production to be hurt already. Yeah, and this is one of those, I haven't heard of a procedure that was done. We were talking about him being in a boot back, whatever it was, a month or two ago. And it certainly seemed like the way that that was being reported was, it was nothing. Don't worry about it.

He's got some soreness, so he's in a boot. But now we're in training camp months later, and if he's not ready to play, it's like, okay, there's something lingering here. So it does give me a little bit of the heebie-jeebies. I went in the Ultimate Draft Kit, I upped his risk rating, because I think he carries a little bit more risk. Aaron Wilson of the Texans Insider said that Joe Mixon is his quote, is quote, doing great after injuring his right ankle earlier in the off season.

So he's been able to ramp up his workouts. He's not off the pop yet. So we'll see. And just to confirm it, Nick Chubb was the next man up. Yeah, and a lot of people speculating, if they knew that Mixon was banged up, was that why they signed Chubb? Damien Pierce hanging on for dear life.

One day, Woody Marks, right? Zach Moss still is on the NFI list for the Bengals. There's been a lot of positive Chase Brown news related to their offensive. Oh, yes, there has. Offensive coordinator said some big things about Chase Browns. He said the thing that, like, you know,

you don't wanna overreact to news. I need him to shut up. Yeah, I know, because you're loving his draft value. I wanted the OC to do this normally. Now I'm Danny to shut up. Yeah OC to do this normally now my goose but what he said was he really He talked about like oh people are gonna know him. He's gonna be a superstar whatever, but he said he can do Everything Austin Eckler did yeah Like and the the reason that we love chase is because what you saw During the second half of last year with Joe Burrow and with this offense and when they were winning games,

trying to make the playoffs, was an outstanding, outstanding amount of passing work to Chase Brown, a la Austin Eckler, and what made him the running back one in fantasy one season is 100 targets his way. I'll go as far as to say, like, my confidence level with Chase Brown and Devon Aitchan, who are lower draft picks than, like, Gibbs, right? Or maybe a Henry.

Sure. Like, if I was a team, if you're in a keeper league, you got low draft capital, I would be willing to trade Gibbs to go get Chase Brown and something. I'd be willing to trade an upper echelon player. I feel like someone's being pitched right now. No, they're not. Look, honestly, I would have rather not said that

because he's talking about my horrible draft spot in the League of Record with Gibbs. But the same goes for HN. I think that's one of the things, I mean, I do it in dynasty all the time. It's like, if there is a player in the Chase Brown tier, which is lower, you know, he's a lower tier than the Gibbs, than Henry,

than some of the other running backs, Jacobs even, I think Jacobs is going ahead of Chase Brown in all drafts. Yes. So it's like, if I could go trade Jacobs off of that huge touchdown year, and I could get Chase Brown in a pick, like that's the kind of home run trade that I'm looking for. Sure. Players never finish in the same order as the year before. You

need to go make a bet on tier jumps and I think Chase Brown, Devon Aitchan are two players that I would target that maybe aren't viewed like the upper echelon. Yeah I agree completely. I think Devon Aitchan is is viewed pretty upper tier right now. I think he's the fifth running back off the board. But Chase Brown. But he's not in Gibbs tier, right? No, no, he's not in Gibbs tier. But Chase Brown is not even,

Chase Brown's going behind Kyron, John and the Taylor, Josh Jacobs, Bucky Irving. I think he's a great value. So keep him there. I mean, you probably trade Bucky Irving. Yeah, okay, enough. I agree, yeah, let's move on. Oh yeah, I would trade Bucky for Chase Brown.

Chase Brown sucks. Just get that quote and send it to your league mates. Send it to your league mates and keep his ADP low. 49ers injury section of our news, John Jennings. Go trade Breece Hall for him. John Jennings is on the field. Brandon Ayuk, not anywhere close to having a concrete timeline.

Ricky Pearsall to be elevated off the PUP list within the first few days of camp. Jacob Cowing, wide receiver, now suffered a hamstring injury running routes. And the Niners had to sign Equinemia St. Brown. So I don't know what the turf is doing there, man. Like I know Mike, nobody on this planet loves Christian McCaffrey more than Mike Wright this year.

But I'm not one of them, because the 49ers, and their injuries, man, we start every year going, how in the world would Gerindo become a relevant fantasy player? That was last year, Gerindo was fourth on the depth chart last year, fourth. The 49ers, man, that training staff has got them doing some weird stuff. I don't know what's going on. Matthew Stafford, limited to start camp with back soreness. Jason shook his head. I mean, maybe just like... No, it's

real bad news. They said he'll be fine for the season. But I mean, you're talking, the season's pretty far away and he's old and he's dealt with neck issues and back soreness, keeping him from practice. I think they managed reps with him. I mean, I hope so. But you've got new players here. You've got Devonte Adams that you want to come in and have a good rapport with Matthew Stafford.

So I don't know. When they're that old and they're this close to retirement, it just makes me worry a little bit. They do have, if it gives you any hope at all, Jay, they do have Jimmy Garoppolo as the backup. Oh yeah. I mean that's... So, I mean, it's not... Could be worse.

It's not the same as multiple years ago where you're like, oh man, if Stafford goes down, this team, every fantasy piece disappears. Yeah, but Matthew Stafford is, I mean, like for Puka. Puka's targets and the way that, I feel like Jimmy Garoppolo spreads the ball around a little bit more. Stafford's like- Oh, if Jimmy Garoppolo is the quarterback,

it's devastating for those guys. Devastating. They drop tears, for sure. Oh, if Jimmy Garoppolo is the quarterback, it's devastating for those guys. Devastating. They drop tears, for sure. Yeah, they won't disappear and go to nothing. Did you remember, Jimmy Garoppolo had the opportunity to fail to get the ball to Devonte Adams for weeks and weeks at a time, and it was one of the most embarrassing things

I've ever seen on film, where Adams was beating guys down the sideline time after time after time, and Garoppolo couldn't hit him. Oh man. I was like. Do you remember that? In my head, I'm like, what team are we talking, oh yeah. Yeah, no that was supposed to be the great combo. Yeah. And Garoppolo couldn't get it to him, it would be bad.

Stephon Diggs, not feeling any limitations from the ACL turn, not on the PUP, and he's gonna play. That's what's gonna happen. Okay. Which is great for Drake May. I forgot, Kyron Williams, the last news on his contract, he says he anticipates it getting done, does not have a timeline,

he will practice during training camp and get ready for week one, even if he has not signed that extension. Don't say that part out loud, Kyron. He's trying to be a good man. Yeah, but it's not out loud. Speaking of good men, Jimmy Grandpa has retired. After 13 seasons.

Jimmy Graham. I believe he had more touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints in the last couple of years than, was it Chris Olave? Probably. I mean, sometimes I think I've thought Jimmy Graham was retired for years now. If you are newer to fantasy sports and you only know him as Jimmy Grandpa,

go watch some Saints highlights of the years. We had two years where he was like 1,200 yards and double digit touchdowns. These were electric times. Jimmy Graham was awesome. Yeah, he was a game changer. He was a fantasy football wrecker. He was a superstar.

It was always him and Gronk. Last piece of news that I don't see in here. No, Brian Daybald just came out and officially announced that Russell Wilson is the starter. So there's no confusion there on the depth chart. For now. Yes. Mid-season.

We saw those first four games. Yeah. All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back with our final divisional breakdown, the NFC West. Let's get divisional. Well, we'll get to talk about Matthew Stafford and the Rams a little bit more. Talk about McCaffrey and the 49ers a little bit more. Our Cardinals and what they have in store for us for fantasy football and the Seahawks

after a 10 and 7 season just narrowly missing out to the Rams and the tiebreaker for the division. We're looking at rookies, we're looking at head coaching, offensive coordinator changes, player changes, ways the offenses may be shifting in 2025, and we'll give our takes on the win totals that Vegas has for these teams and the big fantasy implications for each of them as we round out the NFC here with our final divisional breakdown episode. So, the Rams won the division with a negative 19 point differential, scoring-wise. Should be ashamed of yourself.

That is the lowest ever for a division winner that had 10 wins. Their projected win total last year was 8.5, they won 10. They started one and four. It seemed like it was going the wrong direction. They ended up nine and three. That is kind of the Matthew Stafford experience. When he gets cooking and he's got the receivers that are healthy and available, they're just, it is still just a difficult offense to stop. And they were definitely a team people did not want to face in the playoffs. No, and and they were nine and five and one score games this year. That win total has bumped up to nine and a half.

Middle of the pack schedule in terms of difficulty. And, you know, never doubt Sean McVeigh, never doubt that offense with Matthew Stafford. It is a team where that health of Stafford is as the, you know, the team's going to go with Stafford. It is a team where the health of Stafford is as the, you know, the team's going to go with Stafford. I know that Garoppolo is a better backup, he certainly is, but we would all be crying if we had Puka Nakula or Devonte Adams or Kyron Williams. Not saying there's a big difference, but.

So no more Cooper Cup, no more DeMarcus Robinson, we had Devonte Adams, and we still got Kyron, we still got Puka. We got a second round tight end rookie in Terrence Ferguson, which I'm a big fan of. Me too, me too. They drafted a fourth round running back as well. Last year's market share was dominated

by the wide receiver position. Number one in the league in terms of targets broken down more to the wide receiver than to the running back. Kyron did not catch a lot of passes. The running back room did not catch a lot of passes. The tight ends didn't catch a lot of passes. Higbee had been hurt, came back very late.

They brought Parkinson in, but he, it's a big money, but he never turned into a pass catching threat for them. Tyler Higbee, the big money, but he never turned into a pass catching threat for them. Tyler Higby, though, it, I, you, you, we talked about this in the office, guys, of, you know, you, you like Terrence Ferguson, the, the, the rookie. I'm like, Tyler Higby is back, though, and then I went and looked, and the first two games are absolute nothingness. So, it was, Tyler Higbee just came back from a devastating

knee injury But then the final week of the season here is five for 46 with a score Then you go look at the playoff run five for 58 seven for 54 and a score is like Should we be? Just like what should you throw Tyler Higbee away for Terrence Ferguson? I would do that for the, it might be a boat argument, because Higbee is on the last year of a deal as well. So I do think they're planning for the future.

I would give it a shot, but it's not that Higbee won't be relevant and definitely could be. I think there's two outcomes. Higbee is a player that takes the majority of the snaps and is their tight end. And is irrelevant. And you don't want him for fantasy, so he's irrelevant. Or Ferguson breaks out and is possibly a little bit relevant.

That's exactly how I see it. And those numbers about Higbee, seven targets in the playoffs, that says to me that this is a team that really wanted a tight end, but their tight end was injured all season, and then it was like, oh good, we can go to this position. Then they go into the draft, and if you watch,

I was showing you the draft day videos before they drafted him, like going into day two, saying like, this is their target, this is the guy they don't wanna miss that McVeigh was talking about, I have a plan for him. He can see how he's going to get Ferguson involved. He's got draft capital, and he has the athletic profile. He was the guy that, when we were doing our spreadsheet

battling of looking at prospects just through actual data, he really did stand out. So it could be a final year for Stafford and McVeigh. We never know. McVeigh's threatened to leave many times and Stafford is the second oldest starting quarterback in football but while they're there there's a lot of value to be had and it starts with the wide receivers. Jason tell me why Devonte Adams in a two-year forty six million dollar contract is not gonna play out

like Alan Robinson once did going to the Rams. Yeah, well, I mean, obviously, it's funny because that is always the fear now, is like the scouting profile. Let me remember how big that contract was. It was, it was pretty large, but I think why it's not gonna work out that poorly is because of the film of the end of last year.

Devonte Adams was crisp, was awesome, was working well, was good for fantasy, and at the same time, Cooper Cup disappeared. He vanished, he poofed. His every metric went down. His efficiency went down. His targets, and it was like the team went out and said, man, I really wish we had old Cooper Cup.

Well, why don't we just basically trade Cooper Cup for Devonte Adams? It wasn't a trade like that, but they swapped in Devonte Adams. So I think the opportunity, the need for the role, because of the beginning part of the year, Puka was great with Cooper Cup, who was great. So I think film of last year is what allows us

to not just be afraid of Alan Robinson. Alan Robinson's deal was three years and $46 million. It's also actual for contract. Why did you sign Adams to a $46 million contract? You should have changed that number. Like Devontae Adams, really solid production last year. The Alan Robinson was coming off of 12 games played, 38 receptions for 410 yards. Exactly. And the Rams were like, yeah. And they tricked us all. Just remembered that the Rams did that and the other people

are dumb too. I remember having that Chicago year of Alan Robinson and be like, I will never trust this man again. And they, the Rams eventually even beat me down. Oh, I'm like, okay. So they keep saying it's good. It is a perfect example of this time of year's highlight videos from training camp, because Alan Robinson had a, oh, he was all the rave of these one-on-ones, go up and grab that ball with one hand.

The gap in draft cost between Pukinakua, the 109, and Devonte Adams at 404. It's always interesting to look at the ride receiver one and one A, one B situations and what the gap is, whether it was Thielen and Diggs from years ago, Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, Higgins and Chase, Waddle and Tyreek, I mean, we've had so many of these. That's a pretty big difference.

Devonte Adams is, I think we all agree, going to be a huge red zone threat. Like if I had to bet which of those two guys scores more touchdowns this year, I'd probably put my money slightly on the Adams side. I would as well. So 109, 404. Totally worth it.

I like both. What you give up at 109, what you give up at 404. Is there a world where, like you probably don't want both of these guys. Not on the same team, but I'm fine taking either one. Both will be great, both will be good. If Matthew Stafford is healthy, Puka is a great pick in the first round.

He is not valued like some of these elite. Means a wide receiver five off the board. Yeah, but I'm saying that's totally worth it. He you know his he got injured last year. Can he be your wide receiver one Andy? Great question. Puka? Yeah of course. Okay yeah yeah yeah. I mean you've got to start there with the... Oh no easily. Okay. Easily. This is a guy... Your wide receiver one of course. Yeah Puka is your wide receiver one. When he came back from injury because he started last season injured including a game where he he got banged up played 30% of the snaps. He was on pace for a hundred and seventy targets, 124 receptions,

1600 yards. Now the touchdowns had never been there for him, but that's the stat that you look at all the greats at the end of their career and they you know some guys had usually four or five six touchdowns and then they've've got a 13 season. His story is unfortunately not always projection-based. It's also injuries that people had to deal with last year, and he's been injured historically going back to college and high school. So that's part of the equation with him. I'm just saying, like, do you like the value on Adams

enough in the fourth, where that would, you know, do you go in eco-collins at 109 if you were in that spot? So you feel free, that's the question. So you don't box yourself into both Rams on the back of a back of Stafford. It's a worthy question, and in order to answer that, what you really need to do is you need to say, well, who would you be taking instead of Puka,

which you, you know, Niko, or Malik neighbors, or someone, would you rather have them, but also who would you be taking instead of Devuka, which you, you know, Nico or Malik neighbors or someone, would you rather have them? And then, but also who would you be taking instead of Devonte Adams, where he's going, he's going around Mike Evans, Marvin Harrison, Rushie Rice, which obviously he'll fall when the suspension comes in. So you just say which combination would you prefer,

Devonte Adams and Malik neighbors or Mike Evans and Puka? Or Martin Puka. I mean, I would, the first one you said. You'd rather the Devonte Adams side? The Adams side, Nico? Yeah, I think so. Okay.

But yeah, look, it'll be interesting to see, I think fantasy players will love to see Puka go out there and play a full season. I think they'd love to see what Stafford can do with these two weapons, you know, it's, nobody ever talks about Stafford as a fantasy option, but he should be a streaming option if he has these players. He should, but man, it's been... Kyron used the touchdown machine around the goal line for basically two years, and that's really sacrificed Stafford. He throws the yards, but the touchdowns... He can throw those yards.

He picks them up off the ground and grabs them by a yard and chucks it. The example is, so you had a run here of a month where he's a quarterback, 6-8, 22-7. And then if you're like, okay, let's go Matthew Stafford, take me through the fantasy playoffs. 8.2 points, 6, 9.2. In full games played. Like that, that is something that can happen. So he is, you better be streaming in the perfect situation. The big story with Kyren to me, it just comes down to lack of efficient, efficiency and effectiveness in the passing game and how that separates him tier-wise from some of the other guys. Yeah, that's fine. And explosive plays, like he's kind of like,

he was more like Derrick Henry than he is, you know, Gibbs and A-Chain, A-Chain obviously. 182 yards on 34 catches. Yeah, P.U. And not a lot of explosive runs, but a touchdown machine. 12 in 2023, 14 in 2024, ends as the RB6 in both of those years.

Are you happy with Kyron as your running back one? I like Kyron quite a bit. I mean, this is going into- That's not my question. Am I happy with him as my RB1? Ish, because he's on the fringe for me. Yeah, I don't think I'm thrilled to have him- Is he being drafted as?

Running back 11? I have him at 10 right now. I still like where he's being drafted, but I like when he's my running back too and I get another running back one. He does feel like just a really high upside RB2. Yeah. Like you don't necessarily win a week with Kyron

very often, but he doesn't lose weeks for you. No, he's pretty darn consistent. I mean, our metrics, he's an A inconsistency over his last 17 games. I think a little bit too much has been made of the lack of efficiency and breakaway runs last year. Like two years ago, he had it. And it's not like he's some old back

that's just trending down. I think the truth is probably between those two seasons. And you know his utilization around the goal line is exceptional. I mean, literally a dominator. He led the NFL in red zone touches with 79. The percentage of teams rushed attempts inside the red zone, 74%, rushing touchdowns inside the five with 14.

Like, that's their game plan, and it works. Nice opening season schedule. They do play at home against Houston in week one, then they go to Tennessee. They gotta go travel to Philly in week three, but then back home against Indianapolis in week four. That seems like a two and two, three and one type of start to me.

Well, that'd be better than last year. Favored by three in week one. All right, we gotta talk about Seattle. I don't know what to think about this team. That is very fair. They were 10 and seven. But a really strange 10 and seven. Like, do you, I'm sure you guys remember

it being weird last year. Well, they started undefeated, I think. They, here's their record. At home, this team was 3-6. Okay. On the road, they were 7-1. Like that, that's weird. In the NFL, that's weird, man.

Yeah. It's very weird, and they also no longer have their quarterback. I mean, this was an off-season overhaul. They've got their quarterback. They've got the guy they wanted. They also, I think the weirdest thing is to have a new offensive coordinator win ten games and then be like, I don't want you. It didn't end well. They lost out on the playoff spot. And they did, I don't agree with the statement

that they got their quarterback. I think they got a quarterback that they didn't want. But they had to make, they had to sell that they wanted. Because they wanted Gino. They made offers to Gino Smith. Gino Smith did not wanna stay. And then they came out and then they said, what's the best thing left?

And let's make a good story around Sam Darnold. And that's not to say Sam Darnold can't have equal success in this offense, if not better. It's very possible. Darnold was impressive last year. However, I'm not sure this was the plan. I'm not sure they went into the off season saying, let's get rid of Gino and get Sam Darnold.

I completely agree. And you know, Sam Darnold, this is gonna be one of those situations where we find out what the truth is Because last year Sam Donald was a very good quarterback, but he was set up for success with a Phenomenal head coach an offensive minded head coach a good offensive line the best wide receiver in the game Then eventually you get Hawks and you had Addison It was it was really,

really set up for success. Now, he goes to one of the worst offensive lines in the league, and that's always been like Darnold's seeing ghosts. Yeah, Gino had 50 sacks. He was sacked 50 times. They're ranked 30th by PFF to go into the year to the offensive line point you made, and then you look at their offense and you literally, you almost took out all the major pieces and got rid of them. Like other than JSN staying there, your pass catchers, you know, Lockett, Metcalf,

even though a Phant who's now been released, and then your quarterback in Geno Smith, and Clint Kubiak's your offensive coordinator now, so you know, you got that defensive mind head coach, but you add Kubrickup and MVS, those are downgrades from DK McCaffin and Tyler Lockett that combination. You had Sam Darnold debatable. You draft a really good tight end in the second round in Arroyo out of Miami. You draft Jalen Milrow who who knows. The contract for Sam Darnold is such that if it doesn't

work out in a very tough division like I don't know where you guys have Seattle in this division I'll tell you at the end of the show and we'll give you our rankings but if it doesn't work out in a tough division Milro could be the future next year he could and he's I think he could work too like for a for a later drafted quarterback that's not usually, honestly even like a second round pick at quarterback is just a death knell usually. But I think Jalen Milrow has an opportunity to be very good for both the NFL but also for fantasy because if he starts and is bad in the NFL, he will still be good for fantasy. He's a monster rushing mobile quarterback. So for a team that were better on defense

than they were on offense last year that probably wants to win with defense going into this year, is the running game gonna be more of a priority? 100, this is why they got rid of Ryan Grubb. This is why they went from Grubb to Cubes. They went out and got Cubes and the... The old Grub to cubes.

The Cubiac running system that has proven so effective in the NFL. This is the year for Kenneth Walker. I think that this team wants the offense to run through Kenneth Walker. When he says the year, he means his last chance. Oh, absolutely. I mean, if Kenneth Walker plays 17 games, I think he'll be one of the best picks in fantasy football. He's the guy that I'm most confident about on this team.

I didn't say it. Pretty sure I've said it before. But the first part of that is terrifying. Mike cannot victory lap a projection. No, I can just be excited that I'm not alone the only one. You're the only one though I think that's willing to take that risk. I don't know that I'm picking Kenneth Walker because So I don't know that he's gonna be on the field, especially if they're saying There are there have been a I'll say I'll say this don't you don't you balk balk me into picking Kenneth Walker. Don't you do it?

I'll say this. Don't you, don't you balk balk me into picking Kenneth Walker, don't you do it. No, he's brock-brocking you into Brock Bowers. No, look, Kenneth Walker is one of those guys, the tantalizing, per-play, exciting letdowns. That's what he's been. Number one, enforced miss tackle rate. His yards have to come after contact.

Get to his efficiency. That's what I'm saying. There have been a lot of, I'm not talking about Kenneth Walker specifically. There have been a lot of players in this category where CJ Spiller or certain players that you watch on a per touch singular highlight, like Ken Walker's highlights stand up

against everybody in the league. They will whoop everybody. But you also could draft him and he's running back 38 or 28. Like he's got a range of outcomes that is not the same as players drafted in his category. I've seen some plays from Kenneth Walker that are superhuman, unbelievable runs for one yard. Like, because the offensive line is so bad

that he's like doing judo moves back behind the line, throwing guys off of them. Yeah, it's not a good O-line. The O offensive line is so bad that he's doing judo moves back behind the line, throwing guys off of them. The O-line is still trash. I think Sam Darnold is going to struggle with it. And then if they're going to give him a ton of work, I do think that the scheme will be better. The offensive line scheme will be better. It'll be better for Kenneth Walker as well. So there's some good rays of sunshine for this running game because of a good defense and a desire to do it and a great scheme. He better not be your RB1.

I think so. I think he certainly can't be your RB1 because he's not reliable. And he's being drafted as the running back 15. Behind this offensive line and an offense that I don't think is gonna be a top half offense, the scoring opportunities probably won't be a double digit scoring guy, in which case I'm looking at what's his ceiling? Is he gonna be better than running back 15 if he plays the whole season? Yeah.

Yeah, he will. He will. And I'll say this to the positive for Kenneth Walker. You have to find players like this that have warts but talent. Yeah. Those are the potential breakouts. Ignore my warts.

Yeah, I mean, otherwise they're already drafted too high. Don't look at them. I mean, right? They're already drafted too high. It is the perfect Mike Wright type of pick because, and I- I love warts. No, no, no, I say that as a compliment.

Oh, thank you. You are, you can ignore warts better than most. So here's what's funny is we talk a lot. Your wife must be littered with warts. I look on the inside, man, that's where beauty is, you superficial freaks. Don't look on the outside, that's where all the bandages are.

Actually all of his injuries are internal as well. Oh gosh, oh gosh. I think a lot of, I think almost all of us talk about like, well we're playing to win. You know, you're not playing for second place. He's a play to win pick. He is 100%, he is a, I'm not scared, I wanna get the guy that's going to win my league.

He's a play to win or not play and you lose. And I'm not sure, I'm not sure that I actually follow that actual advice of I play for first or I actually follow that actual advice of I play first or I don't give a crap. Because Ken Walker is the first or I don't give a crap. Well there's other picks in that round that are that type of pick. I'll take Ken Walker in the fifth round.

I, Andy Holloway, who's never said a nice word, I will take him in the fifth. 408. If he gets to the fifth round, I'll be on my team. It's possible. I think it's worth it. I feel like, Mike, you are either in them running for a championship or destroyed. Oh yeah, or your last place.

Your last place, you are Ricky Poppy, man. Your first or last. Yeah, I mean look, everybody plays differently. But if I'm running CMC and Ken Walker out as my one too, I am. You are L-I-V-I-M, brother. I am freaking sending anonymous donations to those medical staffs. Yeah, Andy has too high of an anxiety to play that style.

I don't want to double up, man. J.S.N. New running mates. Cooper Cup. You just talked about the offensive line, you talked about the running game. Got Sam Darnold at quarterback, but he has the only show in town.

He's the second round the only show in town. He's the second round pick right now in fantasy. Wide receiver 12 off the board. I don't think that price, here's how I feel about Jason, you tell me your opinion on his draft cost. I don't think it's an inappropriate cost. I don't think wide receiver 12 at 211 is wrong.

But based on everything else that's ever been there, I never take him. Like I don't think it's here. I don't. Yeah, never take him. Like I don't think it's- You're saying the other players available. Yeah, I just don't, I don't think it's inappropriate relative to the other wide outs. I just don't ever take him there. I would, you know, I kind of concur.

He was the wide receiver 10, last year in his sophomore season, so he had that official breakout, and it happened in the second half of last year where he dominated. There is a quarterback change, but also you lost D you lost DK Metcalfe and Tyler Lockett you go into this season like you went into last season in JSN still being the wide receiver three in his sophomore year you're going into this training

camp as he's alpha dog number one so you're getting a wide receiver one who was a top ten wide receiver last year going into year three young studley you're drafting him as the wide receiver 12 that, going into year three young, studly, you're drafting him as the wide receiver 12. That all sounds good on paper, but as we go through this process, I realize I'm into Rams players and I'm not into Seahawks players. I think that this offense is going to take a major step back with the offensive line being bad, Darnold there, a change over, and a desire for more slow it down, win with defense play style.

So where JSN is being drafted, I would rather have T. Higgins, who's going several spots behind him, but the other running backs, Josh Jacobs is there, Jonathan Taylor. I think that's what ends up happening is the running backs. Or Trey McBride.

I'll bring it up again, I've looked back historically on the wide outs that break out in year two, and it's not that they can't work, it's just that historically it seems like we steam them up a little bit too much. I mean, he's being drafted as the wide receiver 12 with a lot of variables changing around him So that part of the the draft that kind of freaks me out and then what is what does this team actually do?

What is their plan of JSN? Was their slot guy like he's an 80% type of a slot player. Cooper Cup, that's where Cooper Cup had those incredible seasons. You know, 65%, that's how much Cooper Cup has generally been running in the slot. What do they do here when those two guys, I mean, these should be the two featured wide receivers, but they both kind of operate in the same-

Their biggest success has happened in same area of the field. Yeah, that's a question. So, like, what is this? I would assume you bring a Cooper Cup, you have some sort of plan for that, but it's still troubling to have to pay a wide receiver 12 price for that. I do think there's an opportunity for- What if they try to put him outside? I think there's a chance for Arroyo or Barner

to make an impact on this offense just because... They're tight ends, one rookie, one second year. Yeah, they're tight ends just because of the kind of what seems to be isolation of Cooper Cup and JSN. Like you look at their depth chart, MVS, Torrey Horton, and Jake Bobo. It goes out of, it was almost a P90X. I almost threw a P90...

Tony Horton. Tony Horton. Tony Horton. Oh, I feel like it's been so long, I'm trying to remember some of his, what's some of his go-to phrases. Oh gosh, I know them. You got any back there, Al? Were you ever a P90X, bro?

Yeah, I was. Oh, you can use the microphone though? How about that? Oh, your microphone broken? Oh, it broke when I hit the Panic alarm. Thank you, Kyle. So Josh broke it. Do your best, forget the rest. Thank you, Kyle. Josh broke it. Do your best forget the rest. Thank you Kyle. That's it. Alright. I think I ripped my pants. Yeah. We're gonna take a break. We're gonna

come back and talk about the last two teams. All right, Arizona. Eight and nine last year. And that was above their win total. They were projected for seven last year. They're the only team over the last eight years to do all of the following win eight games lead their division in scoring differential. So the Cardinals had the highest scoring differential, yet somehow finished third place. That's...

The scoring differential got kind of bumped by a couple of shellac-ings. I believe the Rams were one of the shellac-ings. Yes, the Marvin Harrison game. The, the Marvin Harrison. Singular. So look, they had a really difficult opening schedule last year. So the truth of the Cardinals

and what they are, Marvin was a rookie. Their defense was kind of figuring things out. They started six of their first seven games last year against playoff teams. They were also three and five and one score games. This year they have the 11th easiest schedule and their win total is up at eight and a half. So who was the team that was at seven and a half that I was shocked about on the last episode? Do you remember who that was? The Cowboys. The Cowboys.

So yeah, their projected win total eight and a half. Yeah, it was the Cowboys at seven and a half. And it was the Patriots that are up at eight and a half. The Patriots are very high, yeah. The Cardinals are favored in five of their first six games going into the year, so that's gonna be part of the picture. We always, you always wanna take players, like if it's a big, overwhelming differential,

like if you're splitting hairs on somebody from the Cardinals or somebody on the Browns and you look at those opening season schedules, I'd like them to be in plus matchups most of the time. So, you know, Judkins is kind of a question mark now, but maybe that question would have been Connor or Judkins at one point in time, and then you're looking at those schedules saying, wow, they get to go play New Orleans, then Carolina,

then San Francisco, then Seattle, where they're favored, and then Tennessee, and then Indianapolis. James Connor is yet again super undervalued. Yeah, he's entered the point where he will perennially and always be until he's done. And he's the perfect type of player with that schedule. I mean, it's not necessarily great for the passing game if you're up, but the running game is great.

And then at his age, it's like draft him, get some juice out of it, have him be great, and then at his age, it's like, draft him, get some juice out of it, have him be great, and then trade him for value. Just to look at the numbers, I mean, he was really, really good last year. He was the RB 10 and he missed a game due to injury. He's been very good in Arizona. I know a couple years missing, what, four games or so, but.

That's the. Yeah, that is part of the experience but I feel confident enough to find a replacement for a game here there who is number one enforcement's tackle rate was that was that was Ken Bonewalker and number two is James Connor he if and if you're not okay if you're not watching Cardinals games from last year or you weren't I should say I incredible work by you. Because it was frequently very painful to watch. But the bright spot of, I mean, well, Trey McBride, of course, but James Connor,

he's just, he's old and it doesn't make sense, but he looks so good. Well, look at 100 yard games he had for Arizona. One, two, three, four, five, six 100 yard games. Two straight thousand yard seasons. Knows for the end zone. Can catch the football. 47 receptions for 400 plus yards.

You know, I think it was Williams was, Kyron was like 40 for 180 yards. So like he was. Connor overproduced a bit last year. Yeah, so it's just about the price for Connor being so discounted. He was the, he's in the late fifth round, the RB20. Let's say, okay, I'm gonna put you...

I knew what you were gonna do. I knew what you were gonna do. You're at the 505. I know what you're gonna do. You're at the 505 and Ken Walker is there, but so is James Connor. Oh, baby. I mean, I told you. and Ken Walker is there, but so is James Connor. Oh, baby. I mean, I told you.

So Walker value is there. You're taking James Connor a couple spots over ADP. And I guess they both average. If I want upside, I'm going to take Kenneth Walker. And if I want to know that I'm getting really reliable numbers every week, I'm going to take James Connor until he gets. And they can both get hurt. They can both get hurt.

So which do you want? In a vacuum. In a vacuum with no other context? No other context, just who's better? I'm really just trying to drag this out. James Connor. James Connor, yeah. I do expect Trey Benson to get on the field

a bit more this year. While we were all really disappointed. Better be better on the field a bit more this year. While we were all really disappointed. Better be better on the field when he gets out there. The disappointment I think by the draft community and dynasty Twitter, I think that our disappointment did not match what the actual, the Arizona Cardinals felt, I mean he was 4.6 a carry. Let me give you two big questions for the Cardinals felt it. I mean, he was 4.6 a carry. Let me give you two big questions for the Cardinals.

Okay. Number one, will Kyler Murray be a locked in every week fantasy starter? I think he will be, yeah. Okay, I would probably lean on the yes side. Which again, don't hear what us Phoenicians are not saying. That doesn't mean he's going to be the best quarterback, but he's proven that he can finish in the top 10 four times in six years,

and I think there's a lot to like about the offense. Yeah, and also there were some quotes, and this is great because it wasn't coming from a coach or a beat reporter, this was coming from Kyler Murray's mouth when he was being interviewed talking about how he was watching Lamar Jackson And he realized how valuable the running of Lamar Jackson is for the running game I mean you saw what Derek Henry did with stacked boxes because

They had the threat of Lamar Jackson and so he was talking about how he he really needs to add the more to his running game And that is a beautiful thing that is how his fantasy goodness will happen and I agree This is not saying he's gonna be a top five quarterback Yeah, I'll believe that one when I see it on the field after six years But I don't think he's gonna be all the way down in the streaming category Okay, so Mike are you fine with him as an every week starter you get late you you feel like you can lock him in I? Think so Mike, are you fine with him as an every week starter? You get him late, you feel like you can lock him in? I think so. There's probably other guys I'd rather take a chance on,

but will this surprise you to know, Jason, that was the second highest rushing yardage total of Carla Murray's career last year. Yeah, that surprises me. That does. I think it surprised me when I realized they had gone eight and nine. Because I think we had been so, there were so many games with the Cardinals

What the storyline of the Cardinals for those that watched intently which is us and thankfully not you was that the Cardinals were? Jacqueline Hyde there were games like the the Rams game The Bears game where they were a dominant football team that was blowing people out. And then there were games where Kyler Murray would begin the game looking like a... Backup quarterback. Yeah, like he's thrown with the wrong hand. And he would end the game looking that way.

He never overcame anything. He didn't really change. So it made him very frustrating to deal with. He is a very talented passer that gets hot and gets cold, and that's a complication. So we, you know, right now he's the QB 10 off the board in the eighth round, you don't have to pay a lot for him. If you buy into the season, that's fine.

Do you like Marv's ADP? That's the last question, is do you buy into him as a value now when he sits in the late third, early fourth, wide receiver 17, outside that top 12 expectation? For me, I am in on that, but I don't blame people for being frustrated. I'm in on that. I think the biggest question, like if we had one question that we could get the answer to for sure before the season that would tell us the fantasy football pecking order here is who is the number one target on this team? Does Marvin Harrison Jr. become the number one target over Trey McBride?

Or is Marvin Harrison Jr. the number two target behind Trey McBride? Because if it's still McBride as the one, which last year, I mean, it was like, target-wise, Trey McBride is the number one wide receiver for this team at the tight end spot, and Marv trailed way behind him, but he was a rookie. Does that flip? No, it doesn't flip. No, I mean, I think that would be a crazy expectation. You still think that Trey McBride has more targets than Marv?

I care less about one-two as much as the gap between one-two. It was extreme last year, and Marv needs to be a regular target monster in the passing game, not this guy that sometimes works down the field to get Trey McBride open. I think McBride will have more targets. Yeah, I think so too. But I think that Marv and Harrison can progress enough,

and he's put on a lot of weight, and the Cardinals don't have a lot of other weapons like they're they have high expectations I mean he had despite all the disappointment for fantasy he was one of six rookie wide receivers in the last decade to be up over 880 yards and eight touchdowns it just came too infrequently yeah it all happened against the Rams so but I think he can definitely deliver on a wide receiver 17 draft value if it just goes up. I am, ADP-wise, I think I'm pretty nervous about both Marv and Trey McBride.

Like, Trey McBride's gonna be a stud, he's gonna be a top three tight end. I believe that at the end of the year. The issue with him is that George Kittle is going in the fourth. I would, I'd rather take George Kittle in the third. Like reach an entire round. I think I'm with you now on that.

And take him and get just a different second round pick. That's my fish with McBride. It's very expensive. And Marv is, it might work, but he feels scary. Last year we talked about the Rams. They had 70% of their teams markets are going to wide outs. The Cardinals were at 48%,

which meant the running backs got 18%, where the Rams I think were at 10. And their tight ends were at 34% with Trey McBride. I mean 48% is not gonna be the number that this season ends at. And I think if McBride out targets him, but that number gets to 60%, we're going to be happy with Mark.

Because I think he's one of the better bets at double digit touchdowns of any wide out. Yep. And you're sitting there, I don't know where you stand on that. It's a really tough decision to know whether or not he's going to become a target monster or not. I mean, this is a guy who had only 116 targets last year, and he was of the wide receiver group. He was the alpha, he was drafted to be the one, and he was the one last year. Like from week one, Arizona Cardinals knew he is our primary wide receiver, and he still only had 116 targets. So there's got to be some development there. I personally have him right above. I've got him in my top 15

wide receivers, so I'm fine taking the shot at him there, but it's scary to me. The big boys are, you know, Chase 175, neighbors at 170. CD last year even with DACA at 150. McBride was at 147. Yeah, we got to get him at least in the 130s. I mean, JSN, 137. See, that's- You gotta get to 130, 140. DJ Moore, oh my gosh, Wondale had 140 disgusting,

140 invisible targets in the work? Line of scrimmage, easy to target. Oh my gosh, that's a shocker! But you're training- If you had asked me how many targets he had, I would have guessed three. I almost brought, back when we were doing our Scottie Fish draft, I didn't even wanna say it.

I'm like, the PPR value of one down. Yeah, Terry McLoran was at 117. Now you understand people. We weren't trying to trash Terry McLoran. He had the same target total as Marvin Harrison. But he had 13 touchdowns, which are not sticky. So this is my contentionention is that I don't think where Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. are going. I don't think both are going to be good picks.

But I do think one is. So that's where I want to know who's the... I think I'm in on Marv. Who is... So if you're in on Marv... Yeah, I think he gets 140. ...then I think Trey McBride has to come. If Marv's up at 140 targets... McBride can come down. That's totally fine because he's a 1-4. I think Trey McBride has to come down. If Marv's up at 140 targets. McBride can come down, that's totally fine, because he's going to score more. He can have the same season, but he scores eight times,

and he has 128 targets. That's fine. All right, we got one more team. And we don't normally talk about them last, but we go in order of how they finished last year. Last place, losers. Huh, Falcon? The 49ers. Oh, no 49ers you're on say what's that future Super Bowl winner?

On video keep it on this screen Look at that face. That face is shame. That face is red. See your shame. Oh man. 49er fans. That is a 49er face if I've ever seen one. 49er fans need not lean on that level of confidence

or lack thereof. I think it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be a lot. Not even a clear throat redo it. This is a bit. Just bit and hide. He noped out. Oh man,. There were six and eleven so that's why we're talking about them. They had an eleven and a half point or eleven and a half win

total last year and they won six games. It was it was rough. They lost seven of their last eight. If you look at the history with Shanahan they've kind of been all or nothing. They've had a six, 10. Oh yeah, this is the Mike Wright team. Oh, and it makes sense, because CMC's on there. Six and 10, four and 12, six and 10, six and 11. So six wins or fewer, four different times. That is a suck team.

But then. And then they had four times with 10 or more. Yeah. 13 wins. What kind of team is that? Twice. That's like a... I mean, that's a Super Bowl contending team.

And right now, they're, I mean, they're projected to be a 10 and a half win team. They've got the easiest, literally the easiest strength of schedule for 2025. Yeah. I mean, they started Seattle, New Orleans, Arizona, Jacksonville. But they've also lost. It's set up for them. They've lost.

Half their team it feels like. They've lost a lot of pieces. On the offensive side, Debo has been a stalwart there. He's gone. He was 16% of the targets. And no more Elijah Mitchell in the depth chart at running back, that's not that big of a deal. But they lost a lot of defensive starters.

That's where maybe there's more fantasy goodness to be had than you would expect. The lack of a defense, which has always been dominant for the 49ers, or recently at least, and the lack of a difficult schedule, when I see those two things coming together, I shake my head and go, dude, Chris McCaffrey's gonna be the number one runner-up.

That is, I was gonna say, the amount of injuries they have at wide receiver right now, it's like the universe is telling me, in the face of Mike's great and grand number one overall prediction for McCaffrey, it's just, they just keep taking away all the other pieces so that I have nowhere else to look, but like Kittle, who does get hurt a lot,

and McCaffrey, who does get hurt a lot. Yeah, I was telling Mike earlier today, I think Kittle's the best pick in the draft. He's just so necessary for this team. How is it not right now? How is it not? That's almost, that's like, as of right now, you should pass on Bowers, and you should pass on McBride.

I agree. It's tough because there's only one of him in the third round or the fourth round or whatever. Yeah, if other people have the same plan. Exactly. So it's like if you pass on those two guys, you got to kind of hold your breath and just hope that he falls to you. You know what I mean?

It's just kind of out of your hands. Yeah. But I mean, it's still a risk, regardless of Kittle's presence, it's still a risk taking those tight ends that high. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it makes it really interesting, even though those tight ends will be good. They are favored in, the 49ers are favored

in 15 of 17 games. So they got a fourth place schedule, and. That gives them games against Chicago, the Giants. Carolina. Cleveland Browns, Indy, Tennessee, New Orleans, Jacksonville, I had to play the game man. Oh, you oh, you're Mr. All or nothing. Yeah. Hey guys, we can get a fourth place schedule next year. It's it's not happening this year. They have the third highest team implied totals for

2025. So, you know, if you want to kind of understand the nuance to, you know, maybe Mike's slightly not typical view of CMC and putting him at number one, where I think he's, what's his ADP right now? RB8 or something? RB7 at the 206. I was thinking about McCaffrey of like, what I am going to really enjoy this year is that it's not just people who draft Christian McCaffrey

who are in on watching him every week. Every running back selected in front of Christian McCaffrey this year, you will be sitting and watching, like if your guy gets hurt, you're gonna lose your mind. Or if Christian McCaffrey doesn't get hurt, you're gonna lose your mind. Or if Christian McCaffrey doesn't get hurt, you're gonna lose your mind. Because if McCaffrey's not hurt,

he's out producing your running back. And then the same thing, if you drive McCaffrey everyone after you, you'll be like, oh, I knew it. I knew he was gonna get hurt. That's the presupposition then. The presupposition is not. He's so fun this year. The presupposition is that McCaffrey, when healthy,

produces in your mind more on a per touch basis than any running back of football. Yes. And then gets more touches too. If you if you presume that if you lock that in and guarantee it and how old is he? 28. 28. So if you presume that because I've seen the comments, dude, I've seen I've seen the dude. I've seen the reactions, I've seen the comments, I've seen the vitriol and emotion that comes along with McCaffrey. There's the, every other comment is, I wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole. That's where Al is. Every time we bring him up, he's like, nope, he's gonna get hurt.

And he's not priced. I won't draft him. He's discounted for McCaffrey, but he's not priced in a place where he's not your first round pick. And because of that, you are making the decision to take him ahead of very, very big names. So that proposition you're talking about, right?

Like you are, like it will suck if you take a safer, presumed name in Jacobs, and Jacobs plays 17, and McCaffrey plays 17, and McCaffrey will probably outpace Jacobs in this situation. He will 100%. Because of the pass catching. And people need to remember that about Christian McCaffrey. It's just, it is a gamble on health

because it was so disruptive. It wasn't a mid-season injury. It was a pre-season, we thought he'd be back, then he wasn't, then it's a mid-season injury. And you burned every part of your season. Just willing to be wrong. Jason, I got a question about which way does this shift the paradigm? Christian McCaffrey has been working out all off season with Bijon Robinson. So the man of glass versus the guy who is impervious. Oh my gosh, that works so bad for Bijon Robinson. So the man of glass versus the guy who is impervious. Oh my gosh, that works so bad for Bijon.

That's what I get out of that. Does it make you more wary for Bijon or more confident? More confident in Christian McCaffrey. The man of steel versus the man of glass? Oh, tremendous work back there. It's probably going to be the running back one and running back two at the end of the season. I don't blame a single person in the world.

Andy, you're kind of not in on Christian McCaffrey. He's at eight for me. Yeah. Right where he is within the running back rankings. I don't blame anyone. The entire first round, I mean, he's in the second round, so that means every single team in every single league on average bypasses Christian McCaffrey, right? That's just a fact. If he is in the second round and I'm picking, I mean, that is an auto selection for me. If I get a first round pick plus Christian McCaffrey, I'm not going to play that scared. When, you know, Vegas is not scared of this team. The vacated targets, all the wide receiver question marks,

we've seen the research in the past where vacated targets go not necessarily to the new incoming wide receivers, but when teams have a lot of turnover there, there's more passing to the running backs. And so- I just feel like we could talk in circles over this situation.

Absolutely. Because it's never going to be, it's never gonna come down to a metric I can give you. Like it is what it is. No, it is. McAfrey. Games played. Yeah. Okay. That's the only metric that matters. Last year was an example. Like we talked about Saquon on the NFC East show. If you go over to 350, the last 10 running backs that go over 350 opportunities, The last 10 running backs that go over 350 opportunities, two of the 10, like most of them get hurt.

Like a lot of them have either been hurt or lacked production to a great degree. He was another one of those. He was 355 opportunities at San Francisco and 352 the year before, and he did that. That's what happened in Carolina. He had 428 opportunities in 2019, out for the year. 355, out for the year before, like, and he did that, that's what happened in Carolina. He had 428 opportunities in 2019, out for the year. 355, out for the year. How'd he do when he got back?

Well, when he got back from injury, he also missed the entire season again for Carolina. When he got back from that one. Oh, when he missed the second time? Yeah, I mean, this is what I'm saying. He was the running back one. I'm just saying his legs are fresh. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, he's, this is what I'm saying. He was the running back one. I'm just saying his legs are fresh. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah, he's good. Fresh legs. I don't, if the injury was different than Achilles tendonitis, genuinely, which, look, that is not something that you can just say you've healed the rest of your life, in my opinion. This is not an ACL repair that you go and you scan. He thought he was back last year.

He thought he'd be back. That's part of the storyline. He believes something about his own body last year that was not true. And so for me, that's part of the equation is, as you age, the math changes. His total volume, he may be 28, which is still old for a running back.

29, still old for a running back. But his workloads, 400 plus, 350 plus, 350 plus, plus the passing game, it does, the wear and tear adds up. And I don't know how they're going to utilize him exactly. I don't know if this easy schedule means that they'll try to do less. I don't know, but I think I'm comfortable drafting him at ADP is all I'm saying. And there's tremendous upside. Yeah. The final thing I'll say,

because we're going home. And Jace is trying so hard to be fully riding your train now. I mean, this is your train, and he is now. And that's all, if you want on the train. You can ride my George Kittle train, I will ride your Christian McCaffrey train. We ride.

If you want to ride, like. Come on, rush. The last thing I'll say is it's the thing about rankings is is difficult because Like when you have them at one like if you you have the first overall pick you're like I'm gonna take McCaffrey You're gonna take them over Bichon and Barkley that I have McCaffrey ranked at number one That's a really difficult decision to even make that happen. But that's where my projections landed him. Yeah, I mean, he's the single hardest player to predict in that I think I've ever seen in fantasy

because three of the last five years you were devastated. And two of them you won the championship. And two of them you won the championship. I mean, what do you do with that? What do you do with three times you wanted to die? You hire a therapist. Yeah. Better help.

Yeah, but the- We've already talked about Kettle. The wide receiver room right now looks like Joanne Jennings has the inside track on being the most relevant fantasy wide receiver for maybe a while to start the season. Pearsall will be involved. Iyuk may not come back for a long time, may get traded. And Brock Purdy, it's hard to look at Brock Purdy without Iyuk and without Deebo who he had for a long time

and feel like Purdy is this lock to be an every week starter. He's much more of a streamer for me. I agree. I like everyone on this team and I don't like that. Well, the values are, put it this way, George Kittle is not being drafted as the number one tight end, Chris McCavary is no longer even a first rounder. The wide receiver one for this team right now is in double digit rounds. No one is being seen as a great prospect here from an average draft position standpoint,

and yet they have the third highest team implied totals. That number means Vegas is expecting them to score the third most amount of points in the NFL. And that they'll figure it out. Yeah, so when those two things are both true, which they are, I'm in. And they'll be value wide receiver, there will be. Yeah. I said to everyone, I mean, the show,

we're OUT on Brand and IU, so no. We need to be OUT of this episode, where you are. Jennings and Ricky Pearsall. Give me the division. Go ahead Jay. Give me the division cuz I I'm gonna take an hour with this. Oh man I am going to go I'm gonna go Rams Niners Cardinals Seahawks. I'm gonna go yeah whatever I'm gonna say, whatever, I'm gonna say it. Arizona, San Francisco, Rams, Seahawks. San Francisco, Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks. So we all have different projections there. So right now the odds have San Francisco slightly above the Rams. Cardinals and

Seahawks are tied projection-wise for, for the division. And we'll see. Mailbag episode coming up, Unsolved Mysteries episode coming up, another mock draft coming up, and five shows a week right around the corner. So, there you go. Divisional breakdown episodes are over. We did it!

We got through. Every team. We offended nearly every fan base, and we get to talk about some other stuff moving forward and a lot more camp highlights on the way So that is all all for today's show Matt. Do you have anything you want to add? My mic was turned off Also talk louder baby louder goodbye Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers.