NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Fantasy Extravaganza: Part II/ Richardson Trade

Episode Date: September 1, 2017

A room filled with heroes Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal, & Nick Shook– recap all the latest news from around the NFL including DeAndre Hopkins and CJ Fiedorwicz extensions, Andrew Luck’s current shoulder status, and Chris Johnson being released by the Cardinals. The heroes are joined by some of fantasy’s finest, Michael Fabiano and Alex Gelhar, for their added insight on “Who Do you Trust?”Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Around the NFL podcast. Does it have a Game of Thrones fantasy team? Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Greg Rosenthal,

and I'm joined by a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, and the man with all the muscles. Nick Shook Hey Greg All right Little weird show here Little weird show here I don't think I've

He has large muscles Greg But every human being Has muscles inside their body You even have muscles I don't have muscles And for all the listeners Who are covering their ears Hearing my nasally voice

To start the show Without Dan Hansis He's off visiting His in-laws in Texas And it's been a long time Since I've had to host I went through a laundry list of people to see if we get them in here.

Matt Money Smith, you'd be a great host. Nope. Damashik, not available today. Colleen Wolfe is off on one of her new television programs preparing for that. So this is it. People are enjoying their Fridays. What a novel idea. We're going to enjoy it too because this isn't just any show you're here for, Nick Shuck. Did you know that?

Yeah. We've got other people joining us. And that's because it's the fifth annual, I believe, fantasy extravaganza. Every time I hear that, I feel like I should be in a town square and someone's coming out with a big scroll to read a message from the king. Well, that's appropriate because we've got the king of NFL fantasy in the podcast studio. Maybe for the first time. I think Michael Fabiano has been here before, but maybe just once.

years ago and he's coming back. We're also going to have Alex Galhar from our fantasy live show. And most importantly, we have you, Mark Sessler. You are just giddy with anticipation coming into this program. Well, I think it's great to have the fantasy guests on. I don't remember Fabiano being on the show, but I think it was like a long time ago. I could be wrong. I guess that occurred. I mean, he's, you know, he'll be on today and he is the unquestioned king of the fantasy realm inside our building. We also are going to, we're going to play a fun game with them that we have in played in a little bit of time, and it was inspired by our friend Chris Wessling, who I was visiting with earlier this week, and he's on the road to recovery.

His voices is a little shot. So although he is feeling better and he's starting to look forward to coming back to work even more, he's been watching the preseason now and taking notes, his voices is pretty shot right now. That's still recovering, so he can't really join us even to say hello on the phone. but he did want to, you know, tell all the listeners that he appreciates all the love. He's here in spirit. Well, I mean, I think we'll have him back at some point this season.

Absolutely. Well, so we have a lot to get to. We're going to do fantasy. We're going to do a little bit of news with the preseason having finally ended Thursday night. And since I have nothing else to really talk about, why don't we get it going. What's going on, Erica, behind the glass? How's it going, guys? Let's do a little, a little bit of news?

A.B. Yeah, I see y'all cuss. Big dog. I got pups bigger than air, bud. Are you aware, bud? Why I'm not at practice? I'm in these 17, because 26 is savage. So that was Levyon Bell.

What did you think? You compared him to another famous rapper before the show Mark says. Well, not in this actual offering he had, which was really just more spoken word, but in a previous one that he had pinned on his feed, it was lyrical and it had music, And it had, I thought, it had echoes of Little Debbie. It really did.

The way that sometimes she gets on a little ref. Little riff of hers, with the way she references people. I heard a little bit of that in Lev Bell's previous one, not this one. I think there's too much emphasis placed on the freestyle. Was it a freestyle? No, it's definitely not a freestyle. Did he sit down and write it out?

Of course he did. It was so canned. He even has, in a part we didn't listen to, kind of a friend come in at the end, and that was clearly stated. It was all very staged. I think having a hype man in your own video, what appears to be your home when you're not at practice,

weeks before the regular season starts, not exactly the best look. Well, I don't know if you guys know this, but I do, I enjoy hip-hop. Sometimes you guys come to me. Yeah, you've made that clear. So I wanted to translate part of that if you didn't totally get what he was saying.

He says he's got pups bigger than AirBud. Actually, I'm not really sure what that means. Airbud, one of the great... This translation off to a very solid start. He said, you're the big dog. I have... It helps bigger than AirBud. Airbud, one of the great American cinematic achievements, I would say, of the 21st century.

Which sport Air Bud excelled in did you like the most? Well, we talked to... On another podcast I used to do called The Rosenthal and Justin Lick Vanity Project, RGVP. We talked about the football one was really great because every time basically he was on the... the field, it would seem like he would suffer a catastrophic injury, like, if he was on a special team's play. So that always piqued my interest. But the classic basketball, like, letting the yogurt, like, to come out of the, or the pudding, whatever it was, like, that was so

great. The basketball, though, wouldn't he suffer a concussion almost every time he tried to shoot an alley-up? It was his nose. It seemed very dang. Dog concussions. Underrated. All right, so the translation not going well. He says, I'm going to need 17 because 26 is Savage. You want 17 million a year he's uh he's number 26 how about that i mean well that was that was very solid translation it's it rings to me a tad tone deaf for athletes to be rapping about needing 17 million dollars when like half our countries and like utter turmoil but you know whatever whatever floats his little boat he needs well so levy on bell at september 1st as we tape this he returned to the pittsburgh stealers as expected on friday getting ready for week one but we will start

our news with another AFC team, the Houston Texans who are back in Houston, they met with some hurricane survivors that are staying at NRG Stadium, a lot of good stories coming out of that, but they also did a lot of business this week on Thursday signing DeAndre Hopkins and tight-end C.J. Fedorowitz to big contract extensions, including a monster deal for DeAndre Hopkins. Nick Shook, is he worth it? Would you pay a receiver five years, $81 million? What's the math on that?

What was it? I think 17 or something like that a year. It is. Yeah, really? A little less. Especially for a guy who's been a little up and down in his career. Obviously, the quarterbacks he's played with hasn't helped. Well, I think that's the thing that we kind of lose with him.

We know how good of a receiver he is, but because of the people who have been throwing to him, I feel like he's gotten kind of lost in the wash a little bit, so maybe this contract would be surprising to some folks, but if you isolate who he is on the field and what he can do for your football team, if you have a competent quarterback throwing to him, we don't know if that'll be Tom Savage or if he'll be competent or not this year, then it's totally worth it.

Tom Savage is real. What you're seeing is a move that says we're aligning our number one weapon with Deshaun Watson's contract, that we're going to get our people in place, and yes, it's Tom Savage's team right now, but that's obviously not the long-term plan. And when they find a running back of worth, they'll do the same thing,

and you want to keep, the good teams want to keep their core together. The Texans don't really have a core on offense. At this point, this is the beginning of that. There are some folks who thought Hopkins' struggles last year were a lot on Hopkins, the guys who really break down the film, that he's not a guy who gets a lot of separation, so he's going to rely on his quarterback to kind of throw it up for him, and he's going to make that catch, even though he doesn't create a lot of separation.

He's getting 49 million guaranteed. If that is all real deal guaranteed, that is way more than any receivers ever gotten, guaranteed. I want to see all the details we say this every time. I suspect in this deal, it's kind of a three-year deal, maybe three years, 50 million, which is still a ton of money, maybe a little less than that. And after that, we'll see if he's still at the top of his game. But that is, that is major deal. And I think one thing I thought was smart that I saw about this, ESPN's Bill Barnwell pointed out, the way to get the most amount of money is wait until you get

into that contract year. So even though it's a little riskier, the fact that he was so close to free agency, he got paid top dollar. Don't we think also that this deal won't seem as Titanic two years from now? Right. I mean, all this thing, it's just the cap continues to grow. I don't see it as a prohibitive deal. And I think that knock on him, if he finds a quarterback that

establishes a report with, like a Watson or something, I think eventually that concern goes away because at one point that quarterback then trusts that receiver well, you know what, he might not be open, but I'm going to throw it up and expect him to go get the ball. The one criticism of Watson coming out, and I would say it's played out in the preseason so far, is

Not that accurate deep down the field. So we'll see if that all works out. But they signed Hopkins. They signed Fedorowitz to a deal that was more surprising to me because he really hasn't taken a big leap as a tight end. They made some other contracts. But let's move on to their division rival in Indianapolis, where Jim Ursay keeps talking about Andrew Luck.

And every time he opens his mouth, it sounds less likely that Andrew Luck is going to play week one. He put major doubt on that. We know that it's unlikely Andrew Luck could play week-on because he hasn't practiced, but he also made some comments that were curious to me, and I'm going to read a quote from Jim Ursay. When asked about Andrew Luck, he said, it's been said before by one of the greatest athletes and competitors

who've played any sport, and the quote was this. These games, all games, are played on a four-inch field between your ears. That's where it's at, referring to Luck's injury. You have to be able to deal with this, not only physically, but mentally. I have no idea, no doubt that Andrew Luck, the person that is, he's going to come out of this thing, not just how he was, but a better QB. When is the question? That timetable is more on the football gods and Andrew's gut feeling on how he's feeling.

That is murky. How did you interpret that? That's a very strange statement. Am I right? A week ago, someone talked about the six inches between the ears. That was the size of the human brain. for an NFL player at that point. Now it's been reduced to four inches between someone's ears.

But that's concerning. I would say it's just that... You're saying luck might have two less inches than most. I'm not saying that. The owner who employs him is saying that. That's where my concern comes from. It seems to me like Ursae obviously knows the full breadth of what information is out there about luck.

None of us do. And these are not decisive comments. They're very murky. And so there's no clear timetable attached to what he said at all. And I think you have to almost wonder at this point, at what point, if we don't have Andrew Luck, week one, and it goes on and on, is this just an absolute lost season for the cults? Yes.

And also, because without him, they do not look good. And I know it's the preseason, but still. I think it's a veiled shot at Andrew Luck's mental toughness, or maybe that he can't get over, you know, getting past that. And you and I kind of discussed this before, Greg, when it comes to maybe a lower body injury, that's more understandable because you have to run. You have to trust your legs.

Whereas with a shoulder, I know he's a quarterback and everything. It's kind of a different. I thought people might see it that way. I'm going to be more generous to Erce and just see it as like maybe Andrew Luck is not ready to really let his shoulder rip. He is not, I'm just guessing because Erce's talking and he's making us guess with these vague comments

that they believe maybe he can return to practice or there is some sort of medical clearance, but he's not feeling comfortable. And that's pretty typical in injury recoveries that guys, okay, they're saying he's cleared, but when he's throwing it, maybe he's not feeling like he's really ready to go out there and start playing. I think also when you are in, you know, it's May, it's early June, and week one is the timetable. And we're, you know, we're saying we, but we have confidence he can come back by then. Well, there's literally no way to know. And you get closer and closer in week one.

And it's an injury with a lot of variables attached. Week one becomes completely unrealistic as you get into early August and closing in on September. Shoulder injuries are also kind of a fickle thing because one, it's based on how the joint is, it's a rotational thing. I mean, I'm no medical. Oh, look at this. Just because you have a great body. No, no, no. Tell us how the human body operates, please.

Dr. Beck. Oh, God, that's a thing now. No, it's, I mean, I've dealt with shoulder issues before my, and you don't know from day to day, and it's a different type of injury his is, but that's a million dollar arm. He's been a hundred million dollar arm, he's been recovering since January. That's a long. You've got to be careful. That's a long recovery. And it's a reminder.

There are a lot of people here on different timelines. So Chuck Bagano needs to save his job. Yes. He's on one timeline. Andrew Luck is wanting to be careful with that shoulder, of course, long term. So he's on one timeline. And then Chris Ballard, their general manager. What's your favorite type of frog?

Who, you know, sometimes he's off the wall. Sometimes he's thinking long term. He's got a really strange team. There's no Vante Davis early in the season. There's seven or eight or nine new defensive starters. This is a team planning for the future. So he's on a different timeline, and it all spells trouble. Well, no one should be rushing him back.

That's a terrible idea whether you're Pagano or anyone. Right. Another quarterback, not rushing back, is Teddy Bridgewater. Just quickly, Mark, you wrote the story. He is going to the reserve PUP list. For clarity, Andrew Luck, as we tape this as a candidate for that list, he is fully expected to come off the reserve PUP list by the time this weekend is up. I think Saturday is the deadline.

So even if he's not practicing, he's likely to be active so that he's eligible to play and practice at some point in the first six weeks. Teddy Bridgewater will not be eligible. Yeah, I think it's not surprising that the way they'd shift him on to that. Certainly, it would be shocking if suddenly he were active on the roster now. But then they've got, you know, at that point, they've got a period of, I think, five weeks to get him to practice after he comes off the PUP. and then from there three weeks to activate him.

And if he becomes active, that essentially sounds like it would be contractually his last year in Minnesota, making things kind of tricky down the road. But in general, I think the overall story is incredibly positive because I think people would have questioned whether Bridgewater would ever throw a pass again. So whether that happens in Minnesota or somewhere else, he is obviously, because the few times he's met with reporters,

has worked so tirelessly behind the scenes to get back to where he is that this is the kind of thing we never see from athletes in general. So Teddy Bridgewater counted out by many could play this season. That would be quite a story. I think he would just be commended for ever really taking the field in a competitive NFL game again. I mean, that sounds like he's making real progress. And when he does that, that in itself is enough for me.

And there's contract questions with him that if he didn't practice at all this season, could his contract toll and then he's still a member of the Vikings on the same contract into next year? We're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit because if he is able to play this year, I think they're going to let him practice. They're going to want to see him out there and see what he looks like.

But it's a strange situation for Minnesota because you have this guy Bridgewater who is supposed to be the quarterback of the future and you have Sam Bradford. Both of their contracts are up after this season. So how Bradford plays could wind up really impacting Bridgewater's future. We learned a little bit more about Vante's Burfect's future

this week. This happened after our last podcast. Feels like a while ago already. His suspension was reduced from five games to three games. Mark Sessler, your thoughts. Well, I mean, I guess I'm confused on some level because it seems like the league in exacting this initial punishment must have said we're absolutely certain about our take on this.

And we wouldn't have done this without feeling 100% sure that a five-week suspension is the correct answer here. and then in an appeal, it's removed down to three. I explain to me why there would be any variable here. I think he got punished for his reputation, personally. So is the league acknowledging that, though? It's strange. Well, he got punished because he's been punished for these hits before.

They're saying that if anyone made this hit, they would have gotten a fine. But since it's Vantes Burrfect, and he's been punished seven times, there are rules that it's successively bigger punishment. Obviously, hitting your wallet so many times is not teaching you to adjust the He's been suspended twice for dirty hits. Right. It's strange, and it's an opportunity to mention here, Ezekiel Elliott's looming suspension, but I was really hesitant to talk about it on this show because we're taping it Friday

afternoon, and it's going to be stale. I think by the time we're back in this studio, if not by the time people listen to it. I expect we'll get a final word on his suspension. If not Friday, as we tape this, which is very possible, then Tuesday, I think, when everyone is back at work in the NFL league office. Because right now it's hanging over the Cowboys. And in theory, if there's no answer, he's playing week one Sunday night football,

number one show of the week. I feel like that's an uncomfortable and unwanted thing for the NFL to be going through. It is. And if that suspension were reduced, I mean, the messages to players, the league can come down with these heavy-handed, surety-filled, you know, punishments,

but appeal them immediately because you can change their minds. It's almost a given now anytime, somebody suspended that it's an automatic appeal. I think Doug Martin was the last one who did not automatically appeal. Yeah. But this is a, I feel like Zeke is a very, it's a unique case because it's the domestic violence policy, which we really haven't seen things getting appealed too much or reduced, and we'll see what kind of precedent the NFL wants to show there.

Before we, you know, depart from the preseason forever, and we talk about this every year, August is the worst month, I think, for our jobs. No one wants to cry. You know, I'm not crying. But it's just, it's a long month. So it's nice. It's a bit of a mishmash, and it's welcomed when September comes. Well, it's like four or five nights of games, which is sneaky.

You're busy. You know, Nick and I were here last night. You've spent more nights than I have, Mark, here doing these games. And the final preseason night is usually a bit of a stinker. Not many players who are going to be big factors are playing in those games. But, you know who is playing, your boy, Mark Sessler? Patrick Mahomes, and he did light up the final night of the preseason, for me at least, that I at least got to watch something, some fun football, because he is about as fun as it gets.

He had three big-time throws to DeMarcus Robinson, who caught them all for 129 yards in a touchdown, including one where he was throwing on the dead run to his right, right before he got walloped. And the ball traveled 50 yards in the air for a 46-yard completion, right on his fingertips, and we started talking after that, how many people in the NFL can make that throw? Two. I would say Aaron Rogers can make that throw. Maybe Rogers?

Maybe Cam Newton, but you don't really see him making that throw on the... He certainly got the arm. It's not in his normal bag of tricks. Whoa, we had to go. That was a crazy... Right. Michael Vic can make that throw. He would be going to his left versus going to his right. It reminded me a little bit of Michael Vic can make that throw.

Maybe not consistently, but occasionally. It wouldn't necessarily be entirely accurate, I think, every time. But, yeah. Brett Fav. Maybe it wouldn't be running as fast. Makes you think of Fav. But, I mean, it's the kind of performance that had Greg and I bickering at each other early morning about who likes Mahomes more and who liked him first and all this.

I honestly stick to the thing that I think Mahomes is going to be a tough person, no matter what, in terms of the fan base, in the stadium, if the Chiefs are down 20-0-0 in one game in week seven, and it's Alex Smith's to do. That's the reason they're down. to keep fans satisfied the Mahomes with this incredible arm and an unfinished product otherwise is sitting on the bench with a helmet off. He's too alluring. And I get, tape watchers will say, eh, his foot work, blah.

I mean, I get it. He's an unfinished product. The next throw after one of those long throws, he threw an interception that was overturned. The average fan could care less about, my point is not that they're correct, but the average swayed stadium could care less. They want to see the backup no matter what.

Whether it's Brady Quinn or someone else, Mahomes is going to be tough to hold down. I'm glad you mentioned Brady Quinn because that's where I was going to go with this. Take the experience with the Browns and every. We've got too many Browns fans. Take it out because the chiefs are in the most enviable position when it comes to quarterback, both short and long term. I don't see them struggling a whole lot to ever call for Mahomes. You might have some of your fans. We want to see Mahomes.

We want to see the new thing, the new flavor. But, you know, Alex Smith is going to be, you know, pretty consistent. You know what you're going to get from him. And for them, that's probably going to translate into a competitive season again, which wouldn't really result in any calls for Mahomes. I think if it stays on script, you're right. I mean, it's not that it's logical that Mahomes comes in and plays. But what if they're down 28-0-0 against the Patriots?

And then they get out of the gate in a rough schedule. They go 1-2 or 1-3. I promise you it won't take five months for society to turn on Alex Smith. You say that, Nick, but they're at Patriots Week 1. Then they're home for the Eagles. Let's just say they have a bad home opener and lose that Eagles game. You know, and then they're 0 and 2. Then you're at San Diego, you know, you're at Los Angeles, the Chargers.

It's like it doesn't take long. At any point, if there are two games under 500, that's the point it happens. You know, they're at Houston early in the season, Pittsburgh, Oakland. You never know. And the point is not that we're saying Mahomes is ready to start, because it clearly has some incredible tools, but he's not in other ways prepared for this. But it's just that that logic isn't baked into people's reaction.

We've got too much like-minded fans in this room, though. We've got two Browns fans thinking Brady Quinn. Meanwhile, I'm asking who could make this throw, and Tamposi over there text me in all caps. What did you say? Don't say Tom Brady. The goat. Not today.

You should say it. The goat, he can do a million in your actual voice. Tom Brady. Tom Brady can make that throw. No, he could never make that throw. That's my point. At no point in his career, could he ever make that throw. Not many people ever could.

Of course he could. I thought to illustrate this relationship. She can pull the plug on the whole show, so we agree with him. All right, yeah. I thought the relationship, between Smith and Mahomes was kind of interesting in what Mahomes said last night, saying that Alex is the perfect person for me to learn from

and how he was helping him, you know, read coverages and working on his footwork and everything else. I'm curious to see how if the near-dumstay scenario that you have set up, Mark, ends up happening, how does that affect that relationship? Does it sour? Does Alex cut him off? Well, I mean, Smith has been through this to such an incredible high-pitched,

like, in another example with Colin Kaplan. And I don't get the sense of that relationship was as close, Whereas this feels more like a mentor. And as long as Mahomes and Smith both have the right attitude, which it seems like they do, I think quarterbacks get it. Yeah, and good quarterback rooms are able to kind of isolate from all that because this is the dynamic with every backup quarterback whenever a starter is struggling, ones that are much less sexy on field than this.

So I just think this could be, this is one to watch. We've set up for months. Quickly, before we move on, one other preseason final thought, I just mentioned Kaepernick, was that the two teams that show the most interest in Kaepernick, the Seahawks and the Ravens, they both still have big quarterback needs. Trevon Boykin has not looked like a backup quarterback. I know it's, I know they don't need a starting quarterback, but he's thrown four interceptions in the preseason. They need a quarterback. And they, they seem open to Kaepernick. So I'm not ruling that out still. I think

people have forgotten. And then the Ravens, the ship has probably sailed, but it shouldn't have, because Ryan Mallett was just awful throughout the preseason. And Joe Flacco still hasn't he's still not taken off the publicist. He will be soon, and I guess he's playing week one. But Ryan Mallet, to me, the fact he was out there for a number of series, I'm not sure if he's going to be on their roster week one, that even if Flacco is starting, that maybe they cut Ryan Mallet and they pick up someone else's release or they make a low-level trade that they're searching for some way

to get better because Mallet just was really poor in the preseason. I thought Seattle was the perfect fit for a guy like Kaepernick, Because if you look at Trevon Boykin and compare him to Colin Kaepernick, they're really not that far off. And if they wanted to see more out of Boykin before making that decision, now they have, and it wasn't that. Yeah, I mean, in that situation, I'm taking Kaepernick over him. It's crazy, of course. Mallet getting cut would be insane because then your next quarterback is Thad Lewis. Well, they just cut that Lewis.

They cut St. Louis. My thought would be they would bring in a quarterback either that gets released or that we don't see coming. Like, who knows, they bring in Matt Castle from the Titans, you know. Just something uninspiring, or they bring in Kaepernick. Because to me, Mal has shown he's not a good option. Any other final preseason thoughts before we move on? One, if I had to take the over-under of eight on games that Nathan Peterman will start for the bills this year, I'm taking the over.

Okay. I know this is my beat. This whole rookies will start, but I don't think the bills, A, believe in Tyrod Taylor at this point. I think he's injury-prone, and they're GM gushed over Peterman yesterday, and he's looked the part. Fifth round pick. They did ask McDermott, their coach, about whether Peterman fits the offense better, and his answer was Tyrod is our start. Well, that's what you have to say as the coach right now.

Right. I like Peterman. I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of him coming out of pit, even though he was good there. And he looked really good last night. I know it's week four. Come on. This offense is. There are a lot of problems.

It could be out of complete wreckage that you have a rookie starting to. It's depressing that, Lashon McCoy, to me, stuck on that offense. And Tyra-Rad Taylor is a fun player to watch. One final thing was that John Brown got injured in the Bengals game, barely played in the preseason. He's going to be out a couple weeks. Everyone was really excited to see Brown and mixing what they're going to do to this offense. But this is what often happens is, oh, wait, like this guy hasn't played at the NFL level.

He missed a lot of practices before training camp. He's been hurt throughout training camp. And they'll have mixing, but they won't. It really sounds like John Brown's not going to be a fact. for a while. Finally, we've got a little bit of minor breaking news here. While we were up here, Chris Johnson, released by the Arizona. That's a bummer.

There's going to be a lot of releases coming up. That's not a screaming headline. He did not look good in the preseason. It's not a surprise, despite the fact that Aryans couldn't be more loyal to certain players that probably shouldn't be on the line. Yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out because that might be the end of the run for Chris Johnson. certainly peaked early in his career and maybe he'll get signed elsewhere

but a fun player to watch over the last what has been nine seasons I believe CJ2K I always remember his time in Tennessee return from a gunshot wound how many can claim that I mean he his first six years of his career looking at it now he went over 1,400 yards from scrimmage that's pretty good

like that's the start of a Hall of Fame type of career it didn't continue so he's not going to be a guy on Titans teams where they knew it was going to him and him alone half the time. Right. So that's, he's not going to be a guy that's talked up for can, but he is a guy to me that should be talked up as like a Titans ring of honor type of player. Is there a higher honor? That should throw Matt Castle in the ring of honor. Oh no. Come on. All right. I think much. I think that's all we really need to talk about for the preseason for 2017. So let's not delay it anymore. Let's, uh, let's hear those bugles again.

It's time for part two of the fantasy extravaganza. All right, so is this the first time in the studio, I believe, one of the key members of the fantasy live podcast and really one of the puppet masters pulling the marionette strings behind the scenes. Sounds ominous? We welcome to the studio. Alex Galhar. Thank you. Thank you.

It's an honor to be here. Did come in and pinch hit one time last year. I know, but you were on the outside of the class. Now you're getting a promotion. Usually the fantasy live guys, you know, they show you a little, frankly, a little disrespectful. They keep you outside of the glass. Now we're letting you in.

I was at the desk one time. I think somebody was stricken with a dire illness and you had LeBahn, Marcus, me, others come pinched. Shook as well. I have the memory of a gold fit. The time when I was behind the glass was when I came up to discuss the shot not heard around the world at Wesselmania. That's what I was.

what I was thinking. A lot of controversy. An infamous cornhole misdecision on my point. Whenever Gellar shows up, controversy is sure to follow. So he's going to help us with the fantasy extravaganza. And then, wow, we've got a big fish in the room right now. I mean. Where?

The gold jacket. A big fish. None other. I mean, he's the champion, the wrestling fan, the grand poobah of the fantasy coverage here at NFL Network. You're going to say, the grand pooh-bub of, like, all dorks around the NFL. Welcome. I've never been on this show. I don't think I've ever been.

That was my guess. I thought I had never recalled you being in here. I thought you were about four years, like a really long time ago. Thanks for inviting me back. Oh, you're here. You're here. Yeah, took you long enough. That's all that.

Wow, I didn't know. Geez, four years. Thanks, Sessler. It's a great way to start off the podcast. If I had any say in how the show was organized, you could point the finger at me. But I just sit here. I'm wheeled in and I make a few comments. Well, maybe Fabiano, you know, he doesn't know that the fantasy extravaganza is only once a year.

And as Dan Hansis, our humble host always says, me and Chris Wesleyan, we helped build Roto World. Yes, you did. Brick by brick. So we are usually the, you know, the fantasy kind of talk for these fantasy extravaganzas. And, you know, Mark's also here. Hey, listen. I'm only having. I'm only having fun with you guys.

It's always a pleasure when you invite me once every four years. So if you are a regular listener, you'll know that we did a part one of the fantasy extravaganza last week with some great guests, Matt Franchise, Francescovich. I don't know if I say that right and Marcus Grant. And so if you're drafting, though, this weekend, this is when I'm drafting. I think this is the best weekend to draft or even doing...

Only weekend to draft, isn't it? I agree. Or even if you want... Tuesday or Wednesday next week. You know, get it close. If you got the time, why not? Get all the information you can. There's cuts, there's trades.

We're talking about it. Know as much as you can. I have four in two days next week. Oh, my gosh. How many leagues are you in total? Only eight. You are violating one of my core fantasy corner rules is you never be in more than, I think it's two or three leagues at one time.

I kind of have to do this for, you know, my job. You're an liar. He's doing it for a living. Geller, how many are you? I think I'm in 11. Good heavens. I have friends who work for serious XM who are literally in like over 20. That's outrageous.

It's insane. Bob Harris. It's a preposterous. Are these people engaged in like meaningful relationships with other human beings? Not that I know of. Yes, within their fantasy leagues. I, uh, I, once I got out of the fantasy game professionally, that was one big relief off my shoulder that you could just play, you know, you could just kind of dabble in it for fun

instead of you're in 10 leagues, you're trying, okay, these are the, Three or four leagues I miss reading Greg Rosenthal's fantasy analysis, man. I used to read your stuff all the time back when I was in CBS and you were at Roto World. It was, we've both been in the game. Long time. For a long time. I started in 2003 and I do remember there was, there whispers then like, oh, maybe we're going to hire Fabiano here at Roto World, but then you went to CBS. It's been a long time.

18 years now for me. Wow. I'm just old. That is a long time. I think this will be my 15th season on some level. in football. So without further ado, let's talk a little. What a trip down memory late. Yeah, exactly. Really helped a lot of back slapping going on in this room. So what we're going to do, we're going to bring back a game that we like to call Who Do You Trust?

And this was inspired by a visit I had with Chris Wesseling earlier this week, who's gearing up for the fantasy season and the regular season on his own. And he threw out a Hugh Do You Trust of his own, which is a little unrelated. said, who do you trust to be back in the lineup faster, Andrew Luck or Chris Wessling? Oh, God. And this seems to me like an obvious choice. I don't want to put any pressure. I'm going, Chris Wessling. I have more faith in Chris Wessling than I do Andrew Luck.

Yeah, I don't want to put any pressure on Chris Wessling. It's not even a question. He's been so tough throughout this whole ordeal, and the surgery was a lot. But he's starting to watch preseason. He had some real hot takes on Mitchell Trabisky. It's on Twitter. And I don't trust anything that comes out of Chuck Pagano's mouth about Andrew Luck. There was a headline literally in the Indianapolis Star this week that said Chuck Pagano is a liar.

I think Chuck Pagano is a liar. This was written by Greg Doyle. Shout out to another 60% G out there. I don't trust what's going on there. I do trust Chris Wesley. We've already seen Wes in this studio when he would say himself that he was not 100%. He's already played hurt a thousand times this offseason, so it's easy to trust Wes in this scenario.

So we hope you're back, buddy. Love you, pal. Soon, you know, during the regular season, he will be back certainly early in the regular season, I expect. But let's move on to some fantasy. Let's do it. At quarterback, all right, who do you trust? And I'm going to look early in the draft.

one of our favorites around the NFL podcast Derek Carr, who's a great guy and a great Twitter follow Derek Carr or Russell Wilson both six round picks For me it's easy

I'm going to go with Russell Wilson this year who I trust more. He's done it more consistently their passing offense they've increased their attempts in each of the last five years they now have kind of hit their apex with everybody there. Jimmy Graham is fully healthy

they figured out how to use him last year Doug Baldwin is one of the most underrated wide receivers in the league They've got athletic speedsters and Paul Richardson and Tyler Lockett just ready to make plays all over the field. That backfield's a mess. Give me Wilson all day. Overall, it's Wilson that I would trust more. But I trust Carr more in that I don't have to draft him until the 10th, 11th, or 12th round.

Really? Wilson, you're probably drafted in the sixth or seventh round. So Carr is probably going to end up being the better value from a fantasy perspective. Derek Carr is good on camera. And despite all your good points, Alex, I'm with you, I'm with you, Fass. We're going Carr. I'm all in on the Raiders. Yeah, I mean, Carr's done it.

I know Russell Wilson's done it too from a fantasy perspective, but Carr's got the same offensive line. I mean, the continuity is there. The receivers are there. The running backs who were there last year are back, and then you're adding Marshawn Lynch to that. In terms of trust, to me, Derek Carr seems a little safer.

I like the fact that Russell Wilson went out, lost a lot of weight, looks healthy. The body is almost reaching Nick Shook level. although the proportions are different. I know, man. I feel like less of a man sitting next to this gentleman here. Oh, you should. Look at those biceps, dude.

That's like my cat. I mean, geez, Louise. We got a lot of comments on Twitter. Did you notice that, Nick Show? Because it was a video show on Wednesday that you were part of. We got a lot of comments that you were in Adonis. I did see the Adonis. He does feel a little, and you mentioned this.

He feels a little objectified, so I think we need to pull. I'm speaking to myself, pull back on the body comments. Let's talk about Nick the person. I mean, haven't we objectified? you know, women in this society for far too long. So shouldn't we kind of, you know, even it out a little bit? Versus not objectifying anyone. You must constantly be objectifying someone in your world.

Let's do the men for a while. Okay. Got you. All right, I'll bear that cross. All right, what's our next to who do we trust? Who do you trust? This has been a constant debate in this room. But I couldn't help but do it because they're getting drafted one pick apart

according to this average draft position. I know where we're going. James Winston or Marcus Mariotta. Yeah, man, I am all in on Mariotta. Mario is a guy who I actually have in the top five quarterbacks this season. Wow. This year is Matt Ryan. If you look at the numbers he put up between week five and week 12 last year,

the best player in fantasy football. So he's got it in him and he didn't have Eric Decker. He didn't have Corey Davis at that point. You still got DeMarco Murray in that backfield. So the Titans will still run it and you're not going to be able to, you know, stack the box against DeMarco or Mariotto will absolutely rip you apart. I like James. Don't get me wrong.

I think he turns the ball over too much. He's got great weapons. That doesn't matter in fantasy. Yes, it does. You lose points for interceptions. If you were in a league with smart people like James Coe, who were going six touchdowns, six points for touchdown, four for interception on the bad side. Yeah, interceptions count in fantasy football. That's not standard.

Blake Bortles was objectively an awful quarterback last year. Still finishes a top 10 passer, though. Yeah, but that's because fantasy scoring is flawed. It is flawed, but that's what we're talking about. Hey, guys, you know, we're here, guys. I don't want to get into a big fantasy divide right now. There's no divide here. For me, this is incredibly close.

I think I have Marioo ranked slightly higher than Winston, but at this point, perhaps I trust Winston a little more. I think he's finally got the weapons there. They're in a competitive division that's going to have a lot of high-scoring games. You can see a situation where the Titans are just boat racing their division in several games and are running the ball and, you know, coasting to victory, whereas Winston is going to have to match the firepower of the Saints, the Panthers, and the Falcons six times throughout this season.

So that could itself lead to more high-scoring games or fantasy production. For the sake of argument, I'm going to go with Winston here. I should have seen this coming. I think Mark's picking up on, I didn't understand the kind of rivalry that might be happening between Fabiano and Gellar. There's definitely no rivalry. Fantasy expert heat. Everyone else in the room is picking that up, right?

I thrive off of any sort of pot-stering attempt by our host, whether it's Hansis or... Bid's not here, so I need to... You're just stirring the pot a little bit, yeah. He's like the little finger of this podcast. Trying to force siblings and co-workers against each other. James Winston's the right answer here, by the way. It's not the right answer. They both have great schedules.

That's a good point. So maybe they're both great values. But Winston is the one facing, you know, the Saints and the Falcon. Panthers defense is better, but also getting to face those AFC South Dewe. defenses out of division, which is nice, I believe, and he's just going to be throwing more. I think he's going to be throwing. I mean, it's a run first offense in Tennessee. It's not a run first offense. Shooki solved the argument. You just sold, you sold me on Winston because I was going to go Marriota because I'm a huge fan of the exotic smash mouth, but that's exactly why.

He's going to throw 45 times the game, do you think, James Winston? Mariotta can also give you a lot of points running with the football too. James, not so much. Not since his rookie year. That's true. But you know what? Why not? Let's go with James. All right. I'm going to stay at quarterback. at least now two more. Who do you trust? Cam Newton coming off a shoulder surgery, surprisingly getting taken still pretty high,

relatively, considering he hasn't practiced at all or played at all in the preseason just about, or Ben Rathusberger? Where are the games being played? Is it home or road? On the road, I want nothing to do with Rathsburger. Craig, you have a weird look on your face. Have you not seen the splits?

I don't buy into home road split. Dude, are you hitting me last year? If the average 13 points a game on the road and over 22 at home. He was awful against bad teams on the road. Last year he gave you eight points against the Browns. I think that's just randomness, though. It is not randomness.

You throw enough numbers against the wall. Some years you'll have a big split. He's a great quarterback. He is. I'm normally with you, Greg, but this one has some historical, like, veracity to it. Right, but even if you throw numbers against the wall, things will stick for a couple seasons.

But it doesn't mean I think Ben Rothesberger is like a bad player. No, he's a great player. I'm going to go with Cam Newton here, too, though, because Ben Rothlisberg, despite his pedigree, despite how good of a quarterback he is, the offense he operates in. He's only been a top 12 quarterback at the end of the year, I think once in the last, like, six years when you actually break down the numbers. Whereas Cam, aside from his injured years, has never, and, you know, last year we counted as an injured one, top four every other year. So it's like, it's a real life versus fantasy type thing here where I would always want, for me on field in real life, I would take Big Ben every season, every year.

But this is not just any Big Ben season. This is, we've got everybody. An offensive line, that's great. We've got Martavis Bryant back. We've got Antonio Brown. We've got Bell in his peak. I mean, this should be as good a season as he's ever had. Could be, but I still believe in that whole road home split.

Look at it. I'm serious. Take a look at it. And if you look at careers, Cam Newton is so far and away better in fantasy football than Ben Rathusberger. It's not even close. It's the running cheek card. And the last thing, I don't want to endure those two to three weeks when Ben Rathusberger gets nicked up

and we think he may actually die. Like he may just fold it up. A Ravens game, he's, you know, he's got a, he always does get injured, but he sells it so high. And I don't want to deal with that stress on my fantasy roster. I'll just take Newton. Ben Rathusberger in his bronzed, oversized cleat for his massive swollen ankle. We're going with him.

All right. Just to be different. Babs, you convinced me on that one. Yeah. Brother, look at it. This week and start, for next week in Stardham and Sitem, I'm looking at Rathusberger's numbers in Cleveland career-wise. and they are awful.

He's averaged like 13 points a game career in Cleveland. Which is funny because he's about 19 and 2 against the Browns. This is where we're different. Don't care about wins and losses. I mean, I do in real life. That's where I divide on this. I'm actually saying a good thing about the Browns and you're upset about it.

Well, because the defense has held drop us burger down. The result, because in real life, what fantasy results are attached to Big Ben mean nothing to me to the fact that Cleveland is, the one win they have in like the last decade came in like negative 20 to, temperatures with Josh Cribbs running the wildcat. The actual functional, non-functional Brown's offices are like two and 19 against Big Ben.

So there is no comfort. Fantasy hat take. These historical numbers, it doesn't matter. This is all that matters is right now. I'm serious because this Brown's team, they don't have anything to do with any other Brown's team. This Steelers team, for the most part, don't really have much to do. I would care about is now. I agree that you have to look at what's happening right now from fantasy.

now what happened in 2011. But there are weird trends out there that are hard to ignore when they're like, you know, 10 seasons deep. Like Chris Sale for the Red Sox, your beloved Red Sox. He's awesome against everybody. The Cleveland Indians kill him. And this has been his entire career. It's just a trend that you can take a look at and think,

wow, that's really interesting. It's interesting. By and large, I'm with you on these, Greg. But the Rathusberger won. That one, it just puzzles me. Running back, who do you trust more? Lashon McCoy or DeMarcoe Murray? DiMarco Murray.

Do I have to rationalize? No, you don't. There's not a lot around Lisham McQuay. I know Lashaw McCoy. I know his story. Both potential first round picks and fantasy. Maybe Murray's going in the second. Yep. I think I'd go McCoy by a little bit here.

The situation is getting dire, more and more dire by the minute in Buffalo for that offense. But I'll take shady right now. DeMarco's already had a hamstring. That worries me. He's got that monster known as Derek Henry behind him ready to take over the load. If he gets nicked up, I'll go McCoy. I feel like McCoy could wind up on a different.

different team by week six or so, and that could change his whole fantasy world. Yeah, I'm going McCoy as well. You can't ignore last year, and this has been one of the better running backs in fantasy football during his career between Philadelphia and Buffalo. Hey, DeMarco's been great, too. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't mind having either one of these guys on my roster, but if I had to pick one, it would be shady.

It's close, but I'm going to shade. I don't trust really either of these guys this year for their draft value. for their draft value. And McCoy is a guy. You guys like to do those do not draft list. You kind of come up with some guys to stay away from. McCoy, forget about it. I would not take him in any league.

If he falls in the second round, do you take it? No, I still don't want him. I know he had a great season last year and he's a great player. Sometimes you just got to say, this is a mess. It's going to be a mess. He looks like a potential huge bust. There's at least like a 35% chance. He is just a massive bus.

So I just say, let's feel the same way about Jordan. and Howard? Yes. Because all of the same red flags are there, if not more. His offensive line is more in disrepair. He's got old beat-up guys in the interior. He's got Mike Glennon or Mitchell Trubisky throwing to Kendall Wright, Victor. Kyle Long's a good player.

Kyle Long is good. And he's got Josh Sitton. Sitton has had back issues for like five straight years. He missed games last year. They were pretty good last year. Chicago's defense might be able to stay in the games for the running. Howard would not be a guy if I was in multiple leagues. I would ever draft probably either, just because it costs so much, too.

You're right. He's in that mix for me. All of those guys, well, not DeMarco, he's actually in a good offense, but those running backs in bad offenses, just the red flags start popping up, scoring potential, game script, like, and if they're not catching passes, that really deflates their value. A lot of hot takes so far, and we're going to get to more hot takes as we continue, who do you trust?

But I've got a treat for everyone in the room right now, especially Michael Fabiano. Because you have never been in this room when, we take a trip, and it can get a little dangerous over to the fantasy corner. This isn't just any corner. This is kind of going to the rough and tumble, you know, part of the... Are you guys putting a dunce cap on me? No, no, no. It's Sessler, and it's not safe.

I mean, the takes here are dangerous. They're antagonistic sometimes. You might not get out the same that you walked into the fantasy corner, but it's time to go over there. Actually, like last week, because it is a very dangerous scenario here, a lot of heat on the street. If we could just sneak behind this door and get inside to read, just a quick... We're hiding in an abandoned building. There's just nails and broken bottles around.

Greg, thank you for joining me in here. A PSA, basically, is what this is. What is fantasy football's long game? As the rotissory parlor sport continues to morph into a vast money-making sensation, what is the fate of this burgeoning industry in a changing world? I see three potential outcomes for fantasy. football scenario number one it balloons unabated as the decades roll on and pro football continues its unquestioned top spot is the nation's favorite pastime leaving baseball basketball and something

called hockey deep in the distance for the next 200 years american life grows more and more luxury laden as we bathe for the rest of our days in a vicarious wonderland scenario number two even better Fantasy football becomes such a critical cash cow for pro football that by 2025, the league takes swift action to further interweave the fan experience into games on a core level. Instead of Kyle Shanahan calling plays, game flow is dictated by a pool of 300,000 lottery-winning fantasy players who vote online in between snaps on how players should be utilized. In haste, fantasy football grows bigger than pro football itself. As a result, beatwriters, reporters, and so-called insiders are wiped off the grid in favor of hulking fantasy analyst think tanks who cover the hobby with a nationalistic zeal typically reserved for political uprising.

Scenario number three, while doing its best to completely ignore the swiftly growing culture war in our country, pro football, and by attachment fantasy football, continues to market itself as the ideal mental release from life stresses. This plan works beautifully until October 30th, 2019, when a portal opens up over Asia's golden triangle region. Hundreds of miles wide, the staggering celestial opening and beams red, white light down on the earth. NFL.com does its best to ignore this staggering Earth event, publishing breathless stories about Patrick Mahomes throwing five touchdowns in a week eight game attended by 116 fans. The site wonders why an article, 10 fantasy sleepers who can't be ignored, receives 19 clicks from a terrified human race, wondering about the hole in the sky over deep Asia.

The answer finally comes seven days later when 10,000 beings of light descend from the sky opening. Hovering over Earth and speaking telepathically to all living creatures, the beings announce in unison the computer simulation is over. Time to leave the fantasy corner and go back to our regularly scheduled program. Wow. Those were all extremely plausible, I think. I mean, there was a lot of laughter there, but I was chilled.

I'm in shock right here. That was one of the toughest trips to the corner because I think it opened up a window into a lot of our souls. It's going to give us all a lot to ponder for the future as well. I mean, Fabiano was definitely a little worried. Yeah, yeah. I think it was a little scared. Also, for your first trip to the corner, that's a big one.

Two of those three options are promising for you for here. I feel like scenario two in which Fabiano is leading one of those cabals, deciding what happens on the field. That feels to me like the most realistic possibility. Maybe not every team is like that, but Fabiano and other different fantasy decision makers are running like a division's worth. Like, you know, one team is run by the field. I can see that.

I love it. A low level. There would never be backfield committees again. We'd go back to the days of featured backs. It would be tremendous. Amari Cooper and Julio Jones would get targeted near the goal line. Yes. Wonderful.

Yep. Rob Grunkowski, you know, we inject him with some adamantium. You too are shrunk with Howard and it's concerning the scenario one. Yeah, they viewed this as all a good thing. That two of the three scenarios are pretty great. Wow. It's almost hard to move on from that, but we're going to. We're going to keep going back to a little who do you trust.

And I do have a little breaking news before we get out of here. Oh, my. Just a few minutes. but before we do that, let's try to be quick since we are running out of time, but I got a few more to get to. Let's go, who do you trust at running back? Kareem Hunt or Ty Montgomery or Joe Mixon.

Ooh. Well, I'm going with Kareem Hunt here. I've got all of these guys really kind of bunched together in my rankings. That's why I picked him. Mixon's probably more talented than all three, but you've got Jeremy Hill and Gio Bernard there still. At some point I do believe he's going to end up being the guy sooner than later. But Kareem Hunt is in an offense where we know he's going to be

featured back. At least we all suspect he will be with Spencer Ware out for the year. If you look at Andy Reed's pedigree when it comes to fantasy running backs, you go back to Brian Westbrook and do Staley and Shady and Charles. He's had a lot of running backs put up good numbers. Heck, even Karell Buckhalter. You remember him? He had a couple of decent fantasy seasons as well. So I would go with Hunt because I know he's going to get the volume. I know the offense is conducive to running backs finding success, and I know this kid is versatile. Hopefully, he doesn't get blown up and past protection too much because that could be a problem. Otherwise, I do think he has all the skills to be a very solid RB2. Fabiano with the buck

caught there, Carl. Go Gowler. I'm with you on the mixing thing. While he is extremely talented, talent doesn't always win out in fantasy, it's opportunity. And while Kareem Hunt has a lot, I'm going to be a bit of a homer here and also chase the upside of Ty Montgomery, a guy who is a converted wide receiver, now playing running back, but he's big, he's strong, he's fast, he could run between the tackles. Jamal Williams, this rookie that got fantasy Twitter all ablaze when he was drafted by the Packers. You know what his longest run in the preseason was? Six yards.

Get that out of here. I want time of Montgomery in there. Breaking tackles per next-gen stats. He had one of the highest yards after a defender was within one yard of him created on his own over 5.5 per carry. Wow. He caught about 77% of his passes last year out of the backfield, so it wasn't like he got all those as a wide receiver. His ceiling is outrageous in one of the highest scoring offenses in the league. Back when Eddie Lacey's heyday, he finishes the RB6 and back-to-back years, that is well

within Ty Montgomery's range of outcomes. Give me the running back in the high-scoring offense who can catch a million passes all day, every day. I got a chance to break down a lot of Thai Montgomery film last year, and I loved what I saw, and I love him for all the reasons that you just pretty much pointed out. I don't really have much else to expand upon that. He's good. He's good, and he's got an ability to create some extra yards, which I don't know if that's necessarily as important in what we're talking about right now, but just looking at him as a running back who's multi-talented, I like the guy. I trust in talent. I think that's more important in general. Ty, I was leaning Thai, but I would still go Joe Mixing. I think fantasy gets too caught up with

what's the situation going into week one. Just who's the best player? If you make those decisions a lot, then I think over time you get rewarded. So all three are close. I kind of like all three, but I have good Joe Mixing. Yeah, it's close. Montgomery, he had a huge percentage of his fantasy points last year in that one game against the Chicago Bears, and the Packers have a lot of offensive weapons. I like Montgomery, but I just feel like Hunt is going to be a guy

who's going to see more touches? Mark Sess, I believe you have a who do you trust to throw out there? I do. All right. Imagine this scenario. You were a single guy and utterly terrible with women, not too hard for some of us in this room or all of us, except for Nick Shook to imagine.

Others maybe too, I don't know. you're working a dead-end job in an office in some anonymous city by the sea over the past four months you've developed a killer crush on Juliet Casmar the low-level account relations analyst who sits 14 feet away in a cubicle and who once told you that she loves gaming especially World of Warcraft in an effort to win her over you need one NFL.com fantasy analyst to swoop in and organize the perfect first date do you trust Marcus Grant by my account a smooth fellow

or anyone else attached to the fantasy team. Who nails this assignment? Who do you trust? Whoa. I trust Marcus Grant. I love it. Interesting. Marcus Grant also, as a smooth fellow,

he can pick yourself, by the way. He has deep nerd. I'll just go with Marcus Grant. I'm already on this train. He has deep nerd cred. He's a creative guy, has many, many interests. I think you'd be able to concoct a very good. Long-time listeners of the show, you know, I love you, Marcus,

but long-time listeners of the show will know, I always take the field. So I don't know, I don't even know who it is, But I'm taking the field. Well, you have to pick someone. Yeah, you have to pick someone else. Taking the rest of the group. Someone's going to step up.

I'm taking myself. Okay. Why would I not take myself? That right there is a move that speaks to... Come on, man. Have you guys seen my girlfriend? That's a good... That's a fair point?

That's all I'm saying. I'm done. Mike drop. You've done the work already, you said, yes. The best players believe in themselves. Marcus is a social chameleon. I've seen him in multiple social scenarios, and he's thrived in all of them.

I'm taking him. time. All right. Let's do a speed round before a little breaking news. I was shocked that Danny Woodhead is getting drafted so high. Who do you trust Danny Woodhead, Eddie Lacey, or Thomas Rawls? Danny Woodhead. Oh my. Is anybody in Seattle I don't trust in the running back spot? No way. Wrong. It's Thomas Raw. Baltimore has targeted running backs the second most out of any team the past two years. Why would you not want a great guy who can catch pass and do work in the Red Zone? 34 year old who literally didn't play football. He's not 34. Neu is blown out last year on a terrible offense and you haven't seen him play football in a long, long time.

The last time I saw him play football, he was damn good. Bad offense is going to have to throw the ball a lot, too, Danny Woodhead. Yep. How could, Eddie Lacey has been awful for two years. I'm going to go, yeah. I mean, come on. I would go Thomas Rouse. Wow.

In a backfield with four guys who could potentially see work. He turns 33 in January, and he's from North Platte, Nebraska. Who? Who cares? Who cares? Who do you trust? T.Y. Hilton or Keenan Allen? Keenan Allen.

Is Andrew Luck playing? One of those two. If Andrew looks there, T.Y. Hilton. Otherwise, I'm going out. This weekend. I don't like T.Y. this weekend at all. Okay. Yeah.

Des Bryant or Michael Thomas or Amari Cooper. Ooh. I have Michael Thomas ranked ahead of Des by one spot. And as a Cowboys Homer, it pains me to say that. But it's Michael Thomas. I've got to go with Michael Thomas too. Again, wrong answer. It's Des Bryant.

Finally, Martavis Bryant. Martavis Bryant or Kelvin Benjamin, our last one. Not even close, it's Martavis Bryant. Really? By a mile. We're talking about trust. Benjamin had a nice preseason. Jim, Kevin Benjamin's been pretty quiet in practice and preseason.

Benjamin even last year had like seven touchdowns in 1,000 yards coming off a torn ACL. I'll take that. He's fully back. Yeah, but he did everything in the first three weeks of the year, and then he was garbage. So what? What was the last time we saw Martavis Brian on a field? All right. When we did, he was damn good, too.

15 touchdowns and 22 games. I read a well-done SI feature on Martavis Brian that convinces me. I'm sold, he'll be on the field all year this year. Okay, and that's it for the fantasy extravaganza. Wow, I know. Wow. There's some heat, some danger in there? A lot of danger.

I enjoyed it. The potential either end or explosion of the entire fantasy industry, so that was exciting. I'm going to have nightmares about that simulation coming to an end. That would have been breaking news, and I think we have some of our own. Yeah, we do have some big breaking news before we leave. How about this? The Seattle Seahawks have made the best defense in football,

even better acquiring Sheldon Richardson from the Jets in exchange for Jermaine Curse and a conditional second round pick that is from our NFL Network Insiders Ian Rappaport and Mike Garifolo. Wow, the Seahawks pick up Richardson, and it cost a lot. Giving up a conditional second. Dan Hansis, our host pointed out, possibility just last show well and he was actually correct on the potential you know draft pick reward going the other way which i think is a great prediction by him and he's in a contract year so

if you're seattle you know this is not a team that's in a you know one year of super bowl window you want to try to find a way to keep him on your roster for a long term well they needed to get that line they've really had trouble actually getting the interior their line settled they've always had kind of just guys and that's fine since the super bowl they spent in mebane and uh and whoever else I'm forgetting. Well, they have Rubin as well. It looks like they're trying to trade to get in reverse here. They spend their money on the outside, but wow, I said it earlier.

I think this is the best defense in the league when you have Bennett, Averill, Thomas, Sherman, Wagner, Wagner, K.J. Wright, all together that they played together. And now you add Richardson, who can be a younger guy added to that mix. It reminds you of the Percy Harvin trade, which had mixed results at best for the Seahawks. But I like the chance they're taking, especially. because Richardson look great in the preseason. This is kind of a nerdy view of this, but I'm curious to see what the terms of the draft pick are,

what makes it, you know, conditional terms of whether it's a second. Well, it sounds like it'll be a second or a third. So either way they're getting an okay. Well, because it's got to be based on Richardson's performance most likely. So I just want to know what the benchmarks are for that. Well, and what's the Percy Harvin, in terms of the daring do attach to it, yes. But Percy Harvin created issues right away for Seattle in terms of how to fit him in, and it kind of split up that locker room.

this is not someone that you need to figure out how to plug into your defense. No, I mean, the motivation has certainly been, I think, an issue with Richardson, but he's in a contract year. And the difference is, this isn't an offensive team. This is a defensive team. You get Pete Carroll, some guys who hadn't done quite as much in other places like Michael Bennett, like Cliff Raverill, who knows how to coach up talent. I mean, he is, along with Belichick, but maybe even more so,

the premier defensive coach in the NFL. When you give him Sheldon Richardson, this was my Super Bowl pick before this trade. It's double my Super Bowl pick now. Double it down. If you're not motivated to play football as a defender in Seattle, there's no reason you should be playing at all. How about the NFL starting to come through with some big-time trades? The trades have been fun time. I love it.

About time. Where were these for all those years? It's a salary cap thing, I really believe. There's more flexibility because the salary cap is so high. You can do something like take on $8 million of Sheldon Richardson. that's your main curse is there even there's no fantasy in pay you're not i mean well geez robbie anderson you've got uh chat hans i mean there's there's not a whole lot to like in new york team hashtag never jets in fantasy this year i'll take below pal i would take billy pal yeah but that's

about it wow all right some breaking news as we and what a fun day this was uh on the program getting fabiano in the studio i know man i can't wait to make another appearance in what You don't have to be salty. You are a leap year. By then, more than that. They may not have fantasy. Yeah, by then, according to Marks scenarios, you'll be running your own franchise, so you can fire us all for the lack of respect we apparently showed you.

That show will a simulation is. I would never do such a thing. All right. The gulag. Let's get out of here. Unless you make me win another four years. Let's get out of here. For the sizzler.

For Nick Shook and all those muscles. For Michael Fabiano, Alex Gelhar, Erica, Tamposi behind the. glass. Hands us will be back. Tuesday or their next show. We'll see ya. Hey everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluate team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find

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