Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Will Reichard crushing it, more trade implications, Rams-Vikings Pick 'ems

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

Matthew Coller and Mike Schopp of WGR550 in Buffalo and The Deep End Fantasy Football podcast get together to talk about the rise in great kicking, the DeAndre Hopkins trade, Russell Wilson and Rams-Vikings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. It is the Purple Insider Fantasy Show with Mike Shope, WGR 550, and the Deep End Fantasy Football Podcast. And the show presented to you by our great friends at Underdog Fantasy, the easiest place to play fantasy sports and the fastest growing app in the industry remember to use that promo code purple when you sign up at underdog fantasy to claim your special pick first time deposit offer up to a thousand dollars in bonus cash must be 18 or older terms apply concern with your play call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit ncpgambling.org and we'll have our pickums for thursday night football with the vikings and rams

very soon uh i i almost called just to complain the other night mike because i was so close so close on uh ravens and bucks i i nailed every one of them except for i needed lamar to not throw at one of those massive long touchdowns so we keep coming ever so close and we're not quite there yet, but an exciting, an exciting time in the NFL. We got another trade to talk about Mike. We do. I mean,

that's a guy that I, it never feels good betting against him, but you know, I'm sort of tempted to do it again at Cleveland and we'll maybe get to that game. But with the Browns losing Watson, which is probably a plus for them. I just want to say before we get rolling. So I'm here in my basement, Grand Island, New York.

You and I met through your time in Buffalo and I've got this mini helmet collection and I change it up every week based on who's playing in the following week. So we've got Dallas, San Francisco, Giants, and Pittsburgh. They're like the mini helmets. It's not like these little guys, all right? Here's like a gumball machine. Well, that side doesn't have the logo on it anymore,

because we don't have a Viking Super Bowl, not to pick at scabs, so I only have this size. But Vikings and Rams, I don't know about you. You and I, I think both like to watch old games from time to time. And I can think of two games between the Rams and the Vikings. And I'm sure there were like at least 10 more. Okay. The one they played in the mud, the one they played in the mud, 1977 divisional round, the Rams were 10 point favorites in the Coliseum against Minnesota. Minnesota won the game 14-7 with Bob Lee.

So for the Rams to be 10-point favorites, they must have had a much more impressive season, but they couldn't handle the mud. And then there was a game in the late, maybe 89, where it was 21-21 to overtime, and the Vikings won on a safety, which is pretty rare in NFL history. It was a block. Merriweather, I think, was the name.

There was a block punt or something in overtime, and they won by two in overtime. Okay. Was this the game where Rich Carlos kicked like seven field goals or something to add up to 21 points? Yeah. That could be right. Yes, yes.

The barefooted kicker, and I think he kicked a game-tying field goal to tie the NFL record, and then they won on the blocked punt in overtime because, strangely enough, it wasn't that long ago that I watched the – I watched, actually, an NFL Films feature on barefoot kickers, which no longer exist and have not existed in a very long time. Yes, we talked about that that and that's not coming back, right? No, no, I don't think so. Especially since kickers are absolute freaks. So the other day, Mike, Kevin O'Connell, if the Vikings had not gotten a five yard penalty for not lining up

correctly, he said he was going to send out the kicker from 68 like in the year 2043 do they just catch the extra point and or the kickoff and have to decide whether to kick a field goal or not because guys are kicking it so far like okay do we actually try this drive or just kick a field goal from 75 yards it's like the the sebastian genikowski attempted 76 yard field goal, which was essentially a joke from Lane Kiffin. Maybe it'll go in soon. I don't know. Is there, is there a working theory on why like people aren't kickers aren't,

Oh, I can't wait to hear it. Cause I'm going to throw out a couple of stupid ones. So like, are they that are kickers bigger? Maybe they're bigger. Like those guys in the barefoot. Okay.

Those guys in the barefoot era were small. Like that's kind of why they were kickers bigger maybe they're bigger like those guys in the barefoot okay those guys in the barefoot era were small like that's kind of why they were kickers they were soccer players and they were just not like big bodies so that's different now I was looking up in Buffalo there's some consternation about Tyler Bass who had gotten into kind of a by modern standards sort of a, by modern standards, sort of a rough patch. He went six for six, including extra points on Sunday, and maybe it's fine now. But if you look up his statistics, he makes 85%, I mean, career, 85% of his field goals. What is that? Like six out of seven, almost.

And like Steve Christie was this automatic replacement for Scott Norwood in the Super Bowl era for the Bills. And, you know, this guy makes everything. And he's like 78. I mean, just the standard is so much higher now. You've got guys like, and you see the churn. I mean, the Niners lost their kicker to an injury. They brought in a guy he might've missed. They brought in a different guy, Green Bay with Narveson. He missed a few, brought in a different guy. Like there is this churn in the league at that position. So I don't think the bills would, you know,

just to finish that point, really expect to do better, just dabbling in on waivers than, than Bass. But it just is a point about how hard it is to meet the modern standard. Like you said. Yeah. I shouldn't have reacted so quickly

when you said are they bigger because they're not bigger from when i was maybe 12 but they are bigger from when i was maybe 12 right then like 1983 because i was 12 in 1983 that nailed it uh right because ryan lindell was enormous and he played what what, a long time ago. So, and Janikowski. I mean, what a beast. So I think these guys have been big and they've been hitting the weights for a long time or bigger. But if you look at the Vikings kicker, I was walking behind the Vikings kicker and their fourth string tight end the other day.

And I said, one of these gentlemen is one of the best football players in the world. He kind of looks like a guy who should give the players water when there's a timeout. But my theory here is that if you are a fifth grader who has any kicking talent at all as a kid, they will get you. And I did a story actually with Will Reichard and the trainer of his that he had since the time he was in sixth grade. So he was kind of a prodigy kid for kicking and they got him into these camps and it was just kicking training, endless kicking training. more scientific it's become more biometric and you think about our right-handed pitchers in major league baseball are they larger i don't think so but they are throwing with the most efficiency possible in this world because they can biomechanically break down every single inch of how they're throwing it plus there's kind of the theory there may have been in the 80s 90s hey accuracy was king but now power is king just like it is in in a lot of sports the

three-pointer the home run in golf yeah it's a great it's a great example where when tiger woods hit the ball 300 yards you were like oh my gosh 300 i hit 270 now it's like the golf clubs are so much better but we're also so much like technically uh better i think that all of it kind of plays into it they have k balls a lot of teams have domes there's a lot of things that go into it but my theory is the childhood to adult training for like 10 years not just hey we found some soccer player in europe he's pretty good at kicking you're in always follow the money right yeah like i remember in in that tiger era it was always you know driving accuracy on tv like just this guy hits all the ben crenshaw hits all the fairways and then tiger and he brought on a whole new generation of players.

Yeah, we don't really care about the fairway. We're just going to hit farther, and we're going to beat you. And the data supported it. So there's a little bit of data in it, too. And to your wonderful hypothesis about the year 2043, data sort of gives you the answer when it comes to down and distance stuff. And this is key to know, I think, when you it comes to down and distance stuff. And as this is key to know, I think when you sort of like, just sort of bank on that stuff, it is always moving.

And right now as field goals get, I guess the word has to be easier from 55 to 65 yards, you know, we're basing wind probability, those sort of quote answers on how it's been through history and now it's very much different so we could end up in a place in a few years not even 20 19 where we're like sort of changing that you know you know what i mean like we're changing we're moving we're moving the goal post is technically what we're doing here and now now a 60-yard field goal kind of makes sense, which can change. And this should continue what you're saying too, right?

Because it's more and more money all the time, which could change, you know, just kind of what teams do on earlier downs. I mean, that could be our future, which I think is terrible. I mean, we don't really want that future, right? We're going to make the goalposts. Sal Capaccio with WGR, we talked about this recently, and his idea is to raise the crossbar.

This is the longest fantasy football podcast in history that's still been on kickers for almost 10 minutes. But it's okay because the Vikings have the best kicker in the league, Will Reichardt. So if you're in a fantasy league that has a kicker and you pick Will Reichardt, good for you. It also might

change drafting kickers a little bit because that's always been thought of as maybe not the best idea but if there's kickers that are of a different type of level who you can kick from 60 every time and i also notice it's not just that the nfl kickers are getting better it's everybody you watch a college game that used to be the joke oh here comes the kicker now the guy just makes it from 49 through the middle of the post because they know division one scholarship that's nil you could be pretty lucrative right to to make that money so i think it's going to get better uh there was one other thing i was thinking of uh oh i know the blocking the NFL changed the rules.

So you, I mean, now they do this thing where they push down the snapper and they jump over him, but you used to be able to just murder everyone in front of you on those kicks. And I think that the kickers had to shorten their run-ups and they had to do it quicker. They couldn't get like the full swing and they had to do it quicker. They couldn't get like the full swing because they were worried about it getting blocked. But now that the rules make it harder for teams to pressure the kicker, you kind of have all day back there. So maybe,

maybe Jan Stennerud could have kicked it from 60 if, if you know, they weren't able to pressure him at all but back in the day you could just clobber every single person there and try to block it that's a great point i've got this card collection sitting next to me every week and i want to find a kicker but most of my cards are old and most of the kickers were also running backs hey uh fred cox back in the day made like 53 and he was was the GOAT when he retired. Fred Cox.

The highest scoring kicker, yeah. Do you want to talk about this DeAndre Hopkins trade? Because I could talk all day about Will Reichert. I'm not kidding. From the time he arrived at TCO Performance Center, and I have the receipts, all the podcasts, I was losing my mind. I've just never seen anyone kick a football like this we were in the practice facility one day and we were watching him uh because if it's outside we're kind of far away from him kicking but inside we're right there he gets his half of the field

so we're right on the sideline and he is cruising 55 yard kicks 15 yards above the posts. And I'm just, what is going on here? So he's an alien. We all wanted that 68-yard kick because he might have made it. You'll get it. There was a prop bet on Brandon Aubrey. Was it week one for Dallas against Cleveland or week two? They lost to New Orleans, I think, in week two.

One of these weeks, he might have hit 60-something in week one. I mean, that was always like the white whale when you're watching the NFL is can somebody break that Tom Dempsey, former Ram, record, 63 yards, and eventually that's happened now numerous times. But there was a prop bet on whether he would make a 70-yard field goal or break the record. It was like minus 180 that he would. And, you know, it's not happened yet.

But, yeah, I mean, very interesting. Yeah, I think Frank Corral and Fred Cox and Tom Dempsey in the mud, it's a different – definitely a different game. Very much. So, DeAndre Hopkins plays for the Chiefs now. What do you think of that? I mean, I feel like that's a perfect fit for them and for him. You know, these receiver trades, I mean, we've had big receiver trades here in rapid succession with Devontae Adams and Amari Cooper last week and now DeAndre Hopkins. In Buffalo on Sunday, CBS, their announcers noticed, which I think qualifies as appreciated and impressive, that Hopkins not only wasn't on the field in sort of hurry-up

drives in the second half, one of the commentators noticed that he wasn't even following the drive. Like, the receiver who's about to go in the game or might be about to go in the game is at the line of scrimmage, and he was way back the other way with his arms folded. And you're like, you know, yeah, this is probably over. So Kansas City, you know, they, of course, traded Tyreek Hill, and that's kind of been the story here the last couple of years, how they were able to win back-to-back championships

without an obvious wide receiver one. You know, somebody that everybody agrees is great. Kelsey, I know, changes that. It's not right to ignore him. But still, they did that. But they have made receiver trades. They tried it with Kadarius Toney. I don't know.

That's over. He's, I think, maybe on the Cleveland practice squad. I don't even know at this point. And still young, talented, but didn't happen. And then last year, I think it was Hardman that wanted out from the Jets. Remember, there was like a text or something with Mahomes, like, get me out of here. And they do. And they win again.

And doesn't he catch the touchdown pass to win the Super Bowl, and didn't Tony maybe do the same thing the year before? So now, I mean, this is a different deal, obviously, with DeAndre Hopkins. It's like Amari Cooper with the Browns, and maybe to an extent also Adams with the Raiders, where I think it's really hard to know, and it doesn't have to be black and white,

but whether the guy is really to blame for his lack of production. What is it? What's going on with the depth of target? What's going on with success rate? I think Watson was so bad, historically bad, for Cleveland that at the risk of being a homer here, I thought like Cooper, let's go. I mean, wheels up with this guy. Maybe he's not a perfect player and he's 30, but it's worth the effort. It's worth a third round pick. I thought

that was like a great idea. Appreciate the aggressiveness of it too. And this is easily at least that for Kansas City. I mean, they're trying to make history. We had Cooper Cup on the table yesterday with the Rams, who we'll probably talk about here. And I know the Chiefs aren't a team that's sort of pushed in their chips, big contract and big commitment to receivers. They did the opposite with Tyreek, but they still made efforts. They still want to get there. They're losing guys every week to injuries. They're winning every game.

I mean, you have to make a trade like this, and it's not even as rich of a draft pick as it was for Amari Cooper. I don't even know what their situation is with the cap, but I feel like they could do another one. They could even add another wide receiver. They're in a position where you should just burn third round draft picks to bring in great players. And the same thing goes for Buffalo. Love the trade for Buffalo. Having seen Cleveland up close in the joint practices and then watched a couple of their games, I don't think it was Amari Cooper's fault. Not even a little bit. I

mean, Deshaun Watson was playing some of the worst football at quarterback that you're ever going to see for someone who gets to keep starting. Usually they bench a guy who plays like that. So I think Cooper showed that he's got it with Hopkins. He has never had to win with speed. It's always been his technique. He's kind of Keenan Allen ish. He has incredible hands. The Vikings have played against him a few times, and he catches just about everything. What I, and also we should say, too, that Rasheed Rice was a wide receiver one at the end of last year, so they kind of did have that,

even though that was talked about as if they didn't. But then losing him was a big factor. Is there something different to you about Mahomes, though? He keeps winning. It's entertaining every week week it's kind of wild every week that play he made down the sideline and then crushing the guy in the end zone he does cool stuff still but it doesn't have the same feel as it did before and I just don't really know what to make of it because I will not be the one betting against Patrick Mahomes here. Yeah. Well, my main guess is it's just finally gotten to a point where it all became untenable. You know, Rice was a big investment and you're right to point out how he progressed and how he mattered to their offense last year.

They also signed Marquise Brown, who got hurt maybe on the first play of the preseason for the year. So they showed their hand. They wanted to change this. And then you lose Hollywood right away. You lose Rice early enough. And Kelsey, he's different. I mean, out of maybe a little bit more necessity, they're like, okay, we can't just wait until January to throw the ball to him now because our other guys are gone. And they're really, I mean,

to go to Juju, who was, you know, kind of written off for dead in New England because of his knees and like, this guy just can't play anymore. Here are the Patriots who just need anybody and they can't even make that work. And they paid him. And then Kansas city like, Oh, seven for one 30 and a touchdown immediately. And then he gets hurt. So with Mahomes, I mean, you gotta believe it's still in there. And the drive of his drive, the team, all of it, I'm sure it's eyes on the prize for Kansas City one way or another. Look at their schedule now.

So they go to Vegas, then it's Tampa and Denver at home. If that's 9-0, then they come here to Buffalo after that, and then it's Carolina after that and Vegas again. There's a pretty good chance they're like 13-1. And we won't know. We'll have the same conversation then as we're having now, even with DeAndre Hopkins, because a team like that, to get to fantasy, the fantasy numbers just don't materialize.

That team, the defense is great. The schedule is – the hard part of their schedule, they've beaten Baltimore, they've beaten Cincinnati, they've beaten San Francisco. Like that's kind of behind them now. And it could just be more of the same, even with Kareem Hunt nearly running for three touchdowns against the Niners.

Another guy who was not even in the league before Pacheco got hurt and Kansas City just reached out. So I think the most interesting conversation about the year Mahomes is having is around the MVP award and just like what do you do with the guy that we all accept as great. There's sort of a legacy element to MVP, but he leads the league in interceptions. It's just like there are no numbers here. How can you vote for him?

That's another one that's fun. But fantasy-wise, you know, you and I have been over this, starting Darnold over him, Geno Smith. Guys, you just sort of like you cringe a little bit when you do it, but it hasn't been wrong yet. Hold on. Let me silence my phone real quick so I can tell you that us days are back at us cellular again, exclusive offers just for customers. Just to say, thanks right now, you'll get $1,200 off

any phone plus 400 off any tablet. Amazing, right? Yeah. But my family is so excited about their new devices that they keep texting me during the show. They're all about us days deals like $1,200 off You know what it's reminding me of is when Tom Brady didn't have great wide receivers and he wouldn't put up huge stats, but they would play close games. Belichick's defense would win them. And then people on TV would debate. Is Tom Brady really an elite quarterback? Should they just stick with Matt Castle as opposed to paying Brady? Because they won with Matt Castle. And then Randy Moss showed up and he threw 50 touchdowns

or whatever and I think there's a little bit of this going on with if the Minnesota Vikings had as many injuries at if Jefferson and Addison and Naylor and Aaron Jones were all out they would be one in five I mean I think that he is grinding his way finding a way and some of the interceptions are kind of flinging the ball up and then it gets picked and it's not that bad of an interception their defense is fantastic and i guess there's just a part of it with a quarterback that good who has all these accomplishments and only really cares about winning the game that he's not trying to rack up stats. He's probably trying to just keep a hold of the ball with short passes,

grind out first downs, give his defense a chance, and then say, all right, I'll try to win it at the end if I've got an opportunity there. But I don't think almost anybody else could do this. And I think that when over the years, the analytics people have loved to debate qb wins and things like that and the one problem that they run into when they say qb wins aren't a stat it doesn't matter is the conundrum of the megastars where you're like i don't think peyton manning's

team was good enough to win 14 games every year i don't think that his roster was good enough or his coaches were good enough for anything else i don't think that his roster was good enough or his coaches were good enough or anything else. I don't think Tom Brady's team or his coaches or cheating or whatever was ever good enough. And I think we're kind of going through this same thing with Mahomes. Like one score games are usually split. Tom Brady's record in one score games, 70% winner. It's like, I think that there are always exceptions to every sort of statistical rule and we're seeing it a little bit uh with patrick mahomes that said i think he's gonna throw the heck out of the football the deandre hopkins so if you got him or you could get him then you should i would put a i would put a big bet on him oh yeah that that's right hopkins i don't think like

at least in most situations quite sunk to the point of being a cut uh but if he is of course like that's that's big you know they they play san francisco and all their guys go down you know they play without iuk and samuel and mcafree like that's just there's a lot of luck in the schedule too so catching teams at the right time or the wrong time definitely plays in. You know, I want to be like sort of the absolute toughest sell when it comes to these like baked-in exceptions. Like do there have to be exceptions? I mean, I need to see the whole case study to go there. I mean, still though, like anecdotally at least, is Mahomes the exception?

Do running backs matter? No, unless it's Derrick Henry. There's always exceptions, right? There can be. There are. I mean, I don't want to say always, but there are. Yeah, it just makes it so much fun to talk about. Fantasy-wise, Hopkins, we'll see.

It's going to be mostly short, I think. Rice without the big play. I don't even know if's going to be mostly short, I think. You know, Rice without the big play. I don't even know if this has to be right. There's probably some still juice with DeAndre Hopkins. But, like, reliable, catches everything like you said. And I think he's great for the Chiefs because they don't really have that. They don't really have anything right now except Kelsey. And that's just like sort of line of scrimmage kind of dump off stuff.

So, yeah. I mean, it's a win for Amari Cooper. It's a win for Hopkins. I guess it's a win for Adams, but that one is a little less obvious because of Garrett Wilson and just like the Jets struggles. And Aaron Rodgers has all these injuries and he's 40 and he might be bad. That one is not, it's not Allen or Mahomes in their prime for sure. Rogers has not thrown for 300 yards since 2021. So I think it just,

the typical quarterback gets old and continues to hang on thing is happening there. I am curious about your perspective about the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I think these things are always fun to watch play out on social media because Russell Wilson's first quarter, every single person is tweeting the same exact thing.

Why did they bench Justin Fields? Which, by the way, for fantasy purposes, you're probably ticked if you have Justin Fields. But for anyone who's actually watched real football, it's Justin Fields. And it wasn't looking, was it looking good to you guys? Like, I don't know anyway.

So Wilson comes in first quarter. He's not that good. Everyone's Tomlin must be the biggest fool of all time. He just accidentally wins all these games. And then by the fourth quarter, Wilson has put up huge numbers. He's hit big shots to pickings. And I did think Mike that in Denver,

he had one of the worst offensive minds that still works in the league, Russell Wilson, and then Sean Payton wanting him to be Drew Brees, which he's not Arthur Smith actually runs the Russell Wilson, Brian Schottenheimer, Pete Carroll, run a bunch of times, play action, deep shot. I think that if you're George Pickens, you got to be through the roof. It looked like this could work without Russell Wilson having to be the old Russell Wilson. The game for me was, yes, obviously it started kind of embarrassingly for all involved, but I think then it became the opposite,

which is like, all right, what is he really doing? And Pickens really saved him. I mean, Pickens made a couple of plays, but yeah, that is Wilson's game. I don't know that every game is going to be like that, where I just don't feel like he's that good, but compared to fields is a different thing. And all of that is to say what? About whether they should have done it.

So far, they look great. And they probably won't look bad ever for making that move. They got through a good part of their season with Fields. I wonder what happens to him. He's one of these guys that really always needs to be clarified are we talking about fantasy football or the real thing because in fantasy he was QB eight last year and nobody ever saw him throw you know have a good passing game or whatever it was so I don't know what happens to him if he gets another another chance um Pickens is really the one as we're talking about the other receivers, he's really the beneficiary for this, just like the Colts guys when Richardson plays versus when Flacco plays.

You can't play the Pittman-Downs group if Richardson's the quarterback right now, but if he's not, then you absolutely want to. And I think Pickens was somebody that had become a tough start until this move, and that's really a great sign for them. Their schedule, they play the Giants on Monday night. After that, they get into the weeds with the Ravens twice and even the Browns defense. They have a much tougher second half. Kansas City's in there too. So that'll be interesting to see.

I don't think Wilson is a QB1 in fantasy at all. I mean, there's not much running that's been gone for years too, and it's really just kind of these prayers to Pickens, which we know he can pull off, but I wouldn't want to start him over these other veterans I mentioned earlier. And certainly, you know, the high-end guys. I mean, he comes in, I don't do rankings,

but maybe in the teens. Yeah, I was thinking about it more from a Pickens perspective also is just that he, with fields in there, was getting so few targets that he didn't even feel like running his routes, which I do not advocate for. But in some ways, if you actually watch back a game on the coaches film and you watch how far these receivers run over and over and over and over. You could see why if you're star wide receiver, you would be like, what am I at a track meet here?

Like I am exhausted. I am. And the guy's never even seen me out here because fields can't see the field. Uh, from his perspective, I think they're going to really pump them the football. They know how good he is. Uh, and that that might that might work for a lot of explosive plays um just some other before we get to vikings and rams just some other random kind of thoughts that i've had uh fantasy wise you uh having some regrets about not drafting derrick henry hi this guy it's almost like been off limits to talk about a running back is one of the greatest players of all time in this era. They don't even say it. Just don't even hint that a running back could actually be good or special.

I watch Aaron Jones every week. I think he's pretty good and special. Derrick Henry is like Jim Brown is in the NFL. He just not only if Jim Brown had played later, he just is unstoppable. Still, he's hitting 21 miles an hour still running down the sideline exceptions to the rule i i mean i figured he would be good with baltimore because they they're running quarterback and gus edwards was good with baltimore but this is this is all timer type of stuff from derrick henry and i just want us to appreciate it in a world where we've basically said,

Oh, running backs. Don't even come to the stadium. We didn't, we're not going to discuss you at all. Yeah. Well, I definitely have to take the massive L on Derrick Henry, like through the years, four or five years ago, I was off him. And that didn't feel good either. But you're trying to lean into process, you know, like you bet against running backs as they get older. Is there a pass catching role? Does the team commit? Is the team, is the offense good enough? You know, this was last

couple of years, even with Tennessee, it really wasn't that great. I mean, the efficiency wasn't there and you didn't have to have Derrick Henry to win anything, even though he looked, obviously, this year you see him and he looks like at least the same player. So this year for me was more a structural thing where in the third round, I was usually sort of not drafting a running back, whether that was Henry or Travis Etienne or whoever, A-chan, like guys.

And you got to make sure you sort of talk about exceptions, take that into consideration and like this one guy I had to have, but the other ones didn't hit either. And the receivers, look at the one-two turn and these drafts, all the injuries. That has just been wild and random and terrible for fantasy football this year. But what I've learned in playing all these underdog best ball drafts is wide receiver is really where you want to load up because the receivers in the back half of the draft are just not the same as the so-called handcuffed running back who with one injury steps in and gives you Jordan Mason gives you winning weeks.

I mean, he's the NFL's leading rusher or he was before last week. Speaking of Henry. So that's why I don't have much Barkley. That's why I don't have much Henry because these guys want one misstep with their age, you know, the odds of an injury.

You never know from injuries, but just like that, that probability. And then just how you build your team. And I know I was sort of tweaking you for your drafts because you kind of avoided rookies and you were into the veterans. And of course, every season is different. And right now, Henry is a league winner. One of my best teams. I have five or six teams that I think are really exciting. And he's on three of them.

So never avoid anybody altogether if you're drafting a lot. Oh, of course. Yeah, I just think it's kind of interesting that some guys who we were all afraid of because of their age and, hey, the history of these guys going to other teams eddie george as a dallas cowboy just you know lots of examples emmett smith is a arizona cardinal doesn't always work out and yet in this instance it was a very unique i don't think there's a lesson in the future by the way i really think that it was just this year, Henry Barkley Jones. These guys are special. They were the best players of the last five to seven years at their positions and they've still

got it, but I wouldn't say, Hey, go sign a bunch of veteran running backs next year, because that very well could blow up in your face. But it's just one of those kind of trends that I was curious about how this might play out and has played out really, really well for somebody like Henry or Barkley. And then one more thing I want to throw at you. One of our friends who now works in the league, formerly of PFF, Eric Eager, back when he was allowed to be one of us podcasting, I used to listen to his shows a lot. And something he talked about was running backs when they play with a running quarterback, average more yards per carry.

And I think that might be something to look at in the future because everyone has succeeded with Lamar. I mean, everyone can succeed, I think, in Philadelphia where DeAndre Swift was pretty good and they run with Jalen Hurts. I wonder if there's hidden value there. If you can identify when a team has a running quarterback and the opponent has to have a guy at least pay attention to the running back on all plays. Well, it's logical. I mean, maybe Brian Robinson in Washington is sort of an example of this, although Daniel's missed most of last week, but he's been in the end zone a lot.

I think you've got to include Joe Mixon in this point, too, by the way. That's a later pick, and he's had huge games for Houston, a team that seems to really want to run the ball, and maybe after last week you believe it, or you can accept it, because they didn't even get to 100 yards passing against the Packers. So, yeah, I mean, that's logical. There just always are exceptions is the theme of the show, yeah, I mean, that's logical. There just always are. Exceptions is the theme of the show because it works both ways.

Christian McCaffrey, quintessentially, was this. He was the first overall pick, and he hasn't played a down. Why? He got hurt? Is that because he's 29? I mean, who can tell? But it definitely happens to running backs. And it's also, just to say it, it's a little too

soon for victory laps. Not that soon. It's not that early, but we still, the underdog betting world is about having like a good enough team to get to the playoff weeks and then that's where you win your money and we know through history that older players wear down and the rookies get those late season opportunities maybe they're on a bad team and I still want to think that not drafting so much of these running backs we're talking about isn't a fatal blow because by the time we get to week 15 we're not technically even halfway there yet uh there will be a lot a lot more if you will carnage and it's a terrible thing about this sport and sometimes it makes you as a fantasy player just ask yourself all the questions about your life you know why am i doing this these these picks made so much sense, and now they're just out for the year.

And, you know, is there a better way to live? But it's a long way from the money weeks is all. Chris Godwin would certainly make you feel that way, as great as he was playing this year. Let's talk about Vikings and Rams. I think that the – this is just my personal opinion, Mike, the Minnesota Vikings and their wide receivers should be very excited about this football contest.

I don't see much in terms of secondary for the Rams. I see a lot of points against for the Rams, except for when they play the Vegas Raiders. I see a lot of short drives for the Rams, giving the ball back to the other team. This is a pretty significant mismatch, especially secondary versus wide receivers. And also Justin Jefferson said yesterday, you know, it's been a while since I've had one of those 100 yard games would really like to get one of those wink, wink. I watched the tape of the Rams I would really like to get 100 yards I feel like they're going to throw all over this team well they might um the Rams are a tough one for me to figure out like they're not dead at two and four but and they're a team that they're famous for

not wanting draft picks, relatively speaking. But yesterday we got that they're not taking calls on Cooper Cup. They're making calls about Cooper Cup. And like, okay, what is the vision here? Why would you do that if you were trying to compete in a division where San Francisco is down? That could be a really interesting thing. We have another receiver, veteran receiver,

getting traded to a team that has a chance to win. And I don't know, does he even play in this game then, if that's how the Rams are thinking? Like, just off a bad ankle? You know, sure, Minnesota. The problem, I mean, Jefferson is obviously great. And in fantasy, he hasn't been a bust or anything, but their defense is too good.

Their team is too good. You know, the premise on the Vikings was that they'd be behind a lot. And that even with Darnold, as opposed to McCarthy, whoever it is with Cousins, like, it didn't matter. Like, there would still Nick Mullins, that whole point. There would still be a lot of production in the passing game, but really they haven't been bad enough for that to manifest. Now you get Hawkinson back.

So I'll defer to you on how you think these guys are feeling about this game. Interesting for Darnold, not a great day for him last week, and the premise on him has been he's had hot starts, but can he keep it up? And now in a national game, that'll be a conversation against a team that, like you said, it should be pretty beatable. They're only a three-point favorite, too. So you have everybody is back now in Minnesota. You have Addison not suspended or anything.

You have Hawkinson back, right, in this game? I think so. I think not officially, but I think so. Yeah, and Jones is healthy, and you want at least that one monster play, that 98-yard touchdown pass he had against the Niners, something like that from at least, also as a fan, but as a fantasy player, where you can get Jefferson upwards of 20 points. Yeah, I think what Jefferson's season kind of reminds me of a little bit of the one where Stefan Diggs then forced a trade.

Not that Jefferson's going to do this, but where it's been a lot of big plays for him. And last week, I think Kevin O'Connell made a concerted effort to try to get him the football on shorter throws because it had just been explosives or nothing for him. And you need the football in the hands of Justin Jefferson. But the problem with Jordan Addison is it's also kind of similar where he should be running some underneath stuff, getting him going, and then try to hit the deep shot from time to time. but this is a more low

volume type of offense where you're getting a lot of play actions and deep shots and they are leaning on Aaron Jones a lot but just as an offense the crazy thing is they just haven't run a lot of plays like when you're ahead by that much I remember looking at this the Vikings defense has been on the field for in in terms of plays per game, one of the highest in the league because they've been winning the whole time. And it's, well, we're up and we're going to play a little safer. And yeah, actually, Kevin O'Connell's aggressiveness at times in those situations hasn't worked out for him.

So it's three and outs or it's punting. And last week, I thought the Darnoldold overall played well but it wasn't like a 340 yard type of a game that maybe we expected if you got a shootout like that and it was the same sort of deal where it's a couple of short passes okay here's a 51 yard throw to jordan addison that's kind of the main way they're they're doing it i don't know that there's a better way to play with sam darnold though well because the guy's got an absolute canon but i don't think he's kirk in terms of i'm gonna drop back and have five options on a play i'm gonna scan the defense see one hole in the defense pick it apart and i am curious to see how it goes with hockinson if they lean into that a little bit more the other thing is jones is good he averaged six yards to carry last week I mean he's just a great player so they're

giving him the ball as well it's an interesting dynamic because I think that Jefferson does need a big game though here coming up some point I would love to see it um you know the the objective kind of faith or trust in Darnold is that you know he's going to throw the ball like that's he's going to he's going to play to his instincts. But he also gets himself into trouble. Like the branch play where he's got Jones alone on the left and he throws to the right, like that play kind of gets them beat. And so I think that's the player we have.

And fantasy-wise, that can be fine. It has been fine. But as you get along in a season in the best division ever, the NFC North, where is there, when is there a division where the top four teams in league and point differential are all in the same division? Um, also how mad are the Texans? They're just like, we're good. Why do we, why do we have to play these teams? Right. NFC North, AFC South. Yeah. Very interesting game.

The number was a little bit high on Jefferson. If it is a game for me in terms of the underdog pick-em, if it is a game where the Rams just lie down and Cup doesn't play because the signal was sent yesterday, we are not going to win it this year. Maybe even Stafford. There's been some, I don't know if it's, if it's not baseless,

but speculation about him being traded too, they could just get there in a snap. And if that happens sort of on the field tomorrow, it's gonna be tough for the Viking pass catchers to really get there unless it happens early. Yeah, the rumor stuff is always funny to me because knowing enough people who do this professionally, trade players and so forth, they have conversations all the time about, what do you think about this? Or this guy, we might be willing to trade at the right price.

And then the price comes back and they go, okay, don't okay don't worry about it and hey we thought of this random thing nah that doesn't make any sense they it's not very hard to text or call someone but then sometimes people find out and then it seems like it was about to happen even though it was never really real and it because you know just it's a it's a wild world we live in but uh let's take a look at these at these pickums for this game. I am very curious with the skin in the game for myself because I will be there at SoFi Stadium to hear what you have for these pick-ems. And just a reminder, use that promo code, PURPLE.

Play along with us. You get a special pick, first-time deposit offer up to $1,000 in bonus cash. The pick-ems are super easy. I opened up the app. I clicked NFL, and they were all right there. And there's all sorts of different things that you could do with them. And we've been having a great time coming

one short every single week, it feels like. That happened to me again last week with Javante Williams. I gave off, gave out a four player pick-em last week and got my three and walk quietly to the next hole, having nothing to show for it, except, you know, whatever it is to tell you every week,

you know, we go back and forth getting three out of four. And you can, you don't have to play four, you can play more than four too. But they also, if you do a four team, four player pick them, they give you an option of a smaller payout if one of them misses so if i had done that all season i'd be way up but this doesn't really seem i'm here with you we're doing it out loud i don't want to i don't like to live like that i want to lose it off like a business expense you can write off some of the losses here well what do you got for this one? You want your picks to correlate.

You want them to tell a particular story. You make your picks, and then what is the game you're imagining? And I've already said, I really find the wording of the cup thing yesterday very curious. Like, why are they leaking that they're trying to trade him? Oh, and we'll keep money. Like, that's just so different from what it was with Adams, where you know, like Adam Schefter the day before the trade, I think

it was, like, oh, well, they would keep him, you know, just, come on. But this one, Diana Rossini was like, they're making calls. Wow. Well, he's coming off an injury. If you're getting those calls on Cooper Cup, you want to see him play tomorrow? Like, no.

Right. Just take your time, and we'll be better off. So therefore, I'm starting with him lower than 68.5 receiving yards. It's still a pretty good number. It's a pretty healthy number. But I don't know. I'm not even sure it counts in my favor if he doesn't play. But we'll see.

I'm just sort of predicting that he has a smaller game than the market. If they get really down, they do have a – Kyron Williams is like automatic touchdown guy. He is so important to McVay, to the Rams. They do have a second-day pick in Blake Corum at running back. Last week, the talk was that he would play some. He didn't really play that much. But in the game, I'm sort of

conjuring up. They get down, and it's not a 94.5 total yards night for Kyron Williams, so I'm going lower on him too. The touchdown pick-em on him is like less than 1x. He's minus 175 at the books to score a touchdown. I mean, that's kind of crazy. But again, my game is it's quiet with the Rams. The one Rams higher for me is Tutu Atwell, three and a half catches. He's nice. He showed some versatility, little, fast. If they're down, he's a guy who stays in the game on the field,

and I'm going higher than three and a half catches for at well and my one my one Vikings addition to this I don't think you're allowed to do it just one team um is Addison higher oh yeah yeah at 40 and a half you know like big play potential and again if this game happens it would have to happen early but you know Addison higher than 40 and a half. It all sounds like it could be the Vikings night, chance to really show everybody who maybe most of the country hasn't really seen them yet,

that what's happened so far this season is legit. My random one, and you could say it's informed because it's this game, but it's not really. Just a little. Cam Akers to score a touchdown I kind of like. Revenge game. And here's why. Because Kevin O'Connell absolutely cares about that stuff.

He tried desperately to get Aaron Jones a touchdown against the Packers. He made sure he left Aaron Jones senselessly in the football game in week one to try to get a hundred yards, which just, what are you doing? And Cam Akers going back to LA, they got rid of him. Kevin O'Connell loves Cam Akers. Also, Ty Chandler was in the game for all of about 10 plays made a big mistake on one of them with a holding penalty i think they're kind of done with ty chandler and that's why they traded for cam acres somebody that kevin o'connell trusts if they get the ball at the three yard line

i just think there's a decent possibility the Cam Akers comes in and scores. And this one is times 4.65 your money on this one. I would take my swing there for Cam Akers scoring a touchdown. He's also perfect in the game I described. Yes, yes. Like if they're up 28 to 6 in the third quarter, he gets 10 carries. Right. Yep, exactly. And they will try to get him a touchdown if they are up 14 points or something like that it should be fun i uh will be flying out soon and i can't

wait to go there and uh watch this one and see how these pick'ems end up playing out so always good stuff mike uh it was fun to have have a Thursday night game that we want to watch and that the team I'm covering is involved in. And next week, the Vikings have been flexed, flexed onto national TV. So we can have actually a really fun discussion about Anthony Richardson because that has been kind of weird. So I'm looking forward to that as well. So thank you, as always, for your time.

I look forward to doing it again next week. Have a great trip.