The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - A trip to fantasy (football) land, with Danny Kelly

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of fantasy projections...The summer is here, and it's time to start thinking about your fantasy football teams. That's exactly what we do on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Nate Tice is joined by TAFS executive producer Michael Beller and Danny Kelly from The Ringer to plant some early flags in the fantasy football world.Follow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceFollow Beller on Twitter: @MBellerFollow Danny on Twitter: @DannyBKellySubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Hey, everybody, what's up and welcome in to the Athletic Football Show. It is Friday, June 9th. The carousel of guest hosts on TASFS continues spinning as Robert Mays is still out there enjoying his honeymoon. This time, it's me, Michael Bellar coming out from behind the glass where I am typically producing this show, getting back in front of the mic, dusting off the vocal chops to host this episode. Really fun show. for you today. We're getting into my wheelhouse here. We're going to talk some fantasy football. Calendar turns to June. I always start thinking about fantasy football. So we're going to plant some

early flags with guys we like a little bit more than what the consensus says right now, guys were a little bit lower on than what the consensus says right now also dabble with some rookies for both redraft and dynasty leagues. To help me do this. Of course, we've got Nate Tice. Nate, what's going on, man? Not too much. Yeah, we, uh, Roberts away. And now we're, we're allowed to play a little bit. And I think a lot of people that are listening to, Beller, that have maybe not heard you before because I know you have a lot of experience doing this. They hear your voice and they go, oh, it's another ad read. You know, they're just used to your segments with the ad reads. And also it's like, oh, no, we're hopping into the show.

The music already hit. But I'm really excited to do this. Really excited for our guest today, who's a good friend of mine. And also, this is his expertise as long as well as yours, Beller. So this could be a really fun show. Really happy to be here as always. Yeah, also joining us from The Ringer, senior writer at The Ringer, covers fantasy, covers the NFL draft. Danny, what's going on, man?

Thanks for being with us. Not too much. How are you guys doing? Very good. Got a little frog in your throat right there. Excuse me. Coming in hot. That's how I sounded last week.

It was like my first hosting show. And of course I got sick the day before. So like my first like five words, I sound like a kid going through puberty. It was just like, hello, welcome to athletic football show. It's June. My vocal cords aren't really warmed up yet. I'm not really used to talking quite this much. So apologies for that, yes, but I'm doing great.

Yeah, I mean, I feel the same way. I used to host shows here at the athletic day in, day out. That was my first job at the athletic. Then I move over here with Robert and Nathan. I'm not doing it a ton anymore. So a little bit of butterflies going, but the voice feels good. The brain feels good. And that's really what's important as we get into this.

So, guys, let's go ahead and get into it. First, we're going to go through, like I said, a guy we're higher on and lower on versus the consensus, excuse me, at each of the four major fantasy positions. Four consensus, we consulted the rankings at fantasy pros. It's a pretty good gauge of where these guys are expected to go, where they're going to be ranked as you're sitting down to really draft your teams a couple of months from now. So we're looking at those fantasy pros consensus rankings. That's what we're going to talk about when we reference the numbers with these guys.

Danny, a quarterback who you like better than what that consensus says. So I'm going with, and this one's, got a little bit of risk to it, I guess, but I'm going with Anthony Richardson for the Colts, rookie quarterback who was, I guess maybe the surprise early pick for the Colts. And I think just going into the year, obviously there's concerns over his lack of starts, his lack of experience, just in general, some of the consistency issues, some of the accuracy issues that he saw, his completion percentage was not very good in college. And he only had 13 starts.

And I think college fans, people that will mainly just dabble in college football, I'll probably look at this pick like what in the hell is going on here. But in fantasy particular, I think the key here is even if he sucks as a passer, he can be really good in fantasy. And every year we see, well, not every year, but a lot of times we see some of these later round, quote unquote, dual threat quarterbacks come up and they run so much and they score so many touchdowns on the ground that they become very, very valuable in fantasy. So I think Richardson has a chance to be that next guy.

So he's a guy that I'm definitely targeting. You don't have to grab him early. And there's not, it's not like the riskiest pick ever. but he has incredible, incredible upside. So he's a guy that I'm going to be, you know, trying to draft in a lot of drafts. Boy, don't I know about that upside. I, uh, in a real life sense, very high on Richardson and also in a fantasy sense just as well. Redraft Dynasty, whatever it may be.

And it's, yeah, just for what everything Danny just said right there. He was one of what I looked at as another one. I actually thought he would be higher when I kind of would glance at this. Yeah, the kids said. QB18. QB18. Correct. Yes.

It's going to go up. It's going to go up as the summer goes along. And once people go, oh, this guy. Like, yeah, I also forget the deep waters that I usually swim in as opposed to. Maybe even talking about people that just don't look at fantasy until August 30th, you know. So, but Richardson, that's a great pick. I went with another more, in a weird way, run first quarterback and one that was surprisingly pretty good last year because of this ability. And I think his passing will get better this year because of what's happening around him.

And that's Danny Jones. Daniel Jones with John. Oh, okay. Just the staff last year realized that he was such a weapon with his legs. They used them. I think the joke I've used on the show is that what if Josh Allen didn't become Josh Allen? That's Daniel Jones. This is kind of like mid-tier multi-universe Josh Allen.

And he's at quarterback 12 right now in fantasy pros. I feel like he should just be a tier higher. You know, he should be more of a considered like a second tier guy because of that running ability. Even just the underlying stats, no player had a higher first down per rush rate than Daniel Jones on design runs. in the entire NFL, quarterbacks or running backs, 47.5%.

That's better in Josh Allen, better than Omar, better in Justin Fields, better in Jalen Hertz. Same volume as Josh Allen designed rush is. And he had the same amount of design rushes as Chase Edmonds or Cherrick McKinnon. So he's basically like a backup running back right there.

Yeah. So that's not even including scrambles. And same amount of explosive runs as Josh Allen and Jalen Hertz. You know, third success rate. Just a lot of underlying stats are very good on top of some decent volume. I mean, he had about 60 or so scrambles, oh, 50 or so scrambles on top of that, super efficient of those. And then so even if he takes maybe a half step back with the rushing volume, even though it did seem like the giant staff in tight games were like, uh, this is our best thing. Go. Yeah, yeah, just run. Just run. Yeah, that's fine. I think the passing will improve just because it kind of has to.

He became way, he was very efficient last year and how they used him. I just think the past catching options are better. So there's going to be an uptick in the passing stats. even if there is some downtick in the rushing stats, I still think he'll overcome that. Not saying he'll be QB1 or QB2 or QB3, but I think maybe as a second tier starting quarterback, I think he's one that I'm going to be looking at. The rushing floor is massive. For all these guys who run so much, it's so great for what they do in the fantasy world. And so it's hard to say that Daniel Jones is going to fall apart as a fantasy quarterback

because of how much he runs. And so there's reason to believe that maybe he can do a little bit more certainly this year than he did last year. I'm going to ask you this, though, Nate, the three quarterbacks ranked immediately. in front of him on fantasy pros right now. Are your guy, Dak Prescott, Deshawn Watson, and Tua? Are you taking him over any of those three? If we're sitting down drafting a straight up, normal one quarterback league today, are you taking him ahead of any of those guys?

I'm taking him ahead of Tua, and I am thinking I'm taking them ahead of DAC just because of that rushing ability, even if I love Dak. I know this is a real life fantasy difference right here. That's the difference. And Deshaun, I actually was almost one of these answers I looked at for this, was that I think he should maybe be a tick higher than he is. But I kind of was like, oh, that's a little bit fair where he's at right now. So, but him and Deshaun and Daniel Jones of this tier, I think, can be, they can rise up a little bit from maybe the tier three to tier two.

For some context on the rushing value that Jones brought last year and probably is going to end up bringing this next year. And to your point, you said he was, you think he should be a tier two guy. Yeah. If you look at just rushing fantasy points per game last year, the top four guys, Justin Fields, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen. Those are, you know, the quote-unquote Konami code guys, the cheat code quarterbacks. Daniel Jones was fifth. He was right next after those guys. And so the thought that you'd call him a tier two guy, I think there is some validity to that in fantasy.

He only threw 15 touchdowns. You have to think that's going to go up with the way that they have surrounded him with more talent. Sorry, Darren Waller came in. They signed 11 billion slot receivers to come in and try and, you know, get a full season out of like at least someone. one of them. Cobble them all together. Yeah. Yeah.

I know you put them all together. It's what awesome receiver. Totally. Collectively, you're going to get 17 games out of those guys. So I do think I struggle because I do think you'll probably run a little less just because he has more talent. But at the same time, you know, you're kind of getting more efficiency, probably a little bit more, a few more touchdowns through the air. And you still have that rushing floor.

So I kind of like this actually. I think it's not it's not the hottest take ever, even though I'm not the hugest Daniel Jones believer. Yeah, it's one of those, it became one of my favorite player prop bets of all second half of last year was betting on vanilla Vic and just his rushing, his rushing totals. It was because it would always be just hilariously low because everyone's like, oh, it's Daniel Jones. Oh, and it's like 18 and a half yards. And there it is. First quarter, he's already at 40. Scambling.

It was the best. Yeah. So, and that's, that's the thing. That's the difference between fantasy and real life is that he just has that. So, like, say even if it throws 20 touchdowns, you know, that's not that crazy, five touchdowns more because he was only have 15. So you look at that, that's what, four times five, that's, you know, 20 points there. So like you can take some downtick and some of the rushing just if there's some touchdown regression to or to the mean, I should say progression to the mean for passing touchdown.

So that's where I think the balance of this all is. I'm going to come out with sort of a tepid one here because I think the quarterback market is pretty well adjusted to what the reality is. And that's something I'm going to dig into a little bit more when we flip this to the negative side. What I'm going to say here is whoever ends up starting for the 49ers is being drafted too low. That's a good answer. We talk about it all the time. Adnauzzi and Kyle Shanahan, what he does for his offense, what he does for his quarterback.

It speaks for itself going back years and years, teams and teams. So that really doesn't need to be discussed any further. I'll just throw the numbers at you. This quarterback group finished 14th in fantasy points last year. What Jimmy did, what Brock Purdy did, the one game that trained. Lance played 14. I mean, they were QB 14. So we're talking about just outside that top 12 group that we always look at. If it does end up being Trey Lance at some point early in the season, midway through the season, whatever, we get to start getting excited about the rushing floor as well. And then what really puts it over the top for me is that last year, the top seven quarterbacks were all on teams that went to the playoffs. 13 of the top 14 were all teams that went to the playoffs. The one guy who wasn't was Justin Fields and we know why he is there from a fantasy. thousand yards rushing. Basically, what I'm getting at here is you want your quarterback in your fantasy league to be on a good real-life team. And the 49ers do check that box. And so I think once

you start, I'm not going to take Brock Purdy as a top 10 quarterback. I'm not going to take Trey Lance as a top 10 quarterback if it ends up being him. But once we start getting deeper into the position and you're looking at especially your QB2 and Super Flex leagues, which is by far my favorite fantasy format, this 49ers quarterback, whoever it ends up being, you guys, ends up becoming very interesting. So I just look at these guys as being undervalued relative to where the market says they should be. Yeah. Uncertainty is the reason I think right now, but I'm totally with you on this one. And when you look at the weapons that whoever the quarterback is going to be starting for them has around him with CMC, Iuke, Debo, Kittle, the list goes on. I mean,

it's just incredible what they can do. Plus, when you add in Shanahan's, you know, scheming, brilliance, it's almost like, and this is what we've been saying about quarterbacks for 40 hours forever. It's like it's almost like it's so, it doesn't matter who it's starting for the 49ers. They're just going to produce regardless of like whether, you know, it's Tray Lance, Brock Pretty or even Sam Darnold, you know, throw a chip on Darnold late in the draft or whatever and see how it goes. Oh, man. I like this.

As a Sam Darnold real life stockholder and a little bit of a dynasty stockholder, I wouldn't mind a Sam Darnold 49ers year with Kyle Shannon Ann calling plays and just act like it's all, oh no, it's Donald just, yeah, that's all him. It's purely him. It's not the situation or anything. No, I like this Beller a lot, especially. Yeah, like you're saying, just overall, just the general, it's, you know, kind of a mid-tier starting quarterback and fantasy.

But it's, shoot, I mean, even, even Darnold as a rusher, as a runner is pretty good. I mean, remember with the Panthers a couple of years ago, like the first couple of month of the season? Four rushing touchdowns. Yeah, one of the most dynamic threats in the NFL was Sam Darnold's legs in the red zone. It was crazy, but he still has more athleticism than you would think. So, you know, it's not, it's not that. crazy to say this because just because the floor is so high, no matter who it is of those three options. Let's get out to running backs. Nate, you take this one first again. A running back,

you are higher on than what the consensus says here in the first week of June. Maybe this is one I'm willing into existence, but this is J.K. Dobbins for the Baltimore. Yes. Yeah, I Dobbins in that draft class and this even go back to college, maybe because I just saw him absolutely murder the Wisconsin Badgers multiple times when he was at Ohio State. In that, In that draft class, I love Jonathan Taylor. I had Dobbins slightly ahead of Jonathan Taylor, just because I just thought he was so, so good. But even having said that, he's produced when he's been healthy. It's just that he hasn't been healthy.

He had a major injury. Even last year, he came back, got hurt again, and then came back again. But right now he's at running back 18 on fantasy pros and actually an underdog right now, about fifth roundish right now. But when he came back for those last four regular season games, he averaged seven yards of carry. 57 carries for 397 yards 7th and entire NFL and rushing success rate third and runs of 5 or more yards on first and second down first and percentage of runs of 10 or more yards so he's getting explosives as well and then the one playoff game they played the ravens played with uh huntley was their quarterback i believe he had over 100 total yards so he had some receiving in there which is usually kind of the knock on him and that's a bit of the greg roman offense he still can't catch decently i think there's people who are concerned maybe about todd munkin now is the OC and it's not to be his run-hive be Todd Monkin's going to be a balanced offense. It might not be some of the crazy.

They're still going to be in there, the design runs with Lamar and all that, but there's still going to be a lot of traditional runs as well, which is Dobbins is really, really good at. Gus Edwards, of course, is still there going to be the short yard's little shirt, but I just really think, I think we're kind of sleeping on Dobbins a little bit, especially when he showed that now he came back from Major. He had that four-week stretch, not the greatest run defenses, but it was fantastic. Also without Lamar?

Also without Lamar. Yeah. Great point. But also that is a guy that you're just kind of. of looking at like this he's a real talented player so hopefully he hits this season running pun intended 100% and it just looks really good i i think this is a guy that i'm betting on in everything redraft or or dynasty love daubbins i mean he this is the classic the year after the year after or whatever when yeah you have an acl injury and a lot of times guys have complications with that you have uh you know compensatory injuries is that the right word i'm using compensating

for the other for the injury i think that That works. I knew what I meant. I knew what I meant. So, yeah, it works now. You see, you constantly see this. You see hamstrings or quads or, you know, connecting areas. High ankle spreads.

Not necessarily the knee. Yeah, because guys are sort of favoring it or whatever. But now he has a full year of being healthy and kind of getting over that injury. I think he could actually, he absolutely explode. I'm with you, Nate. He was one of my favorite guys coming out. He's so explosive, so dynamic. Hopefully they use them a little bit more.

I'm not expecting anything big in the passing game, but maybe, you know, marginally better in the passing game in this new offense. And we'll see where he goes. And I think he could score a lot of touchdowns too. I think, you know, obviously Gus Bus is going to be in there, Gus Edwards. But, you know, I think they'll probably lean on him. Leon Dobbins a little bit more when he's fully healthy and explosive. I can see Monka just really liking him and going like, oh, this guy's great.

Like, what's, let's get on your center and pound the rock with this guy. And so that's where I could see him get a little more volume than I think people realize. I am going to tempt that year after knee injury fate that, that you referenced there, Danny, but we'll save my guy for last, especially since you're on the opposite side of my guy. Let's hear who you like better than consensus here. So this one is, I don't know if it's cheating or not, because he's still ranked pretty highly, but Kenneth Walker for the Seahawks. There's a term that gets thrown around in the draft world that we've beat him up enough. I feel like people have beat him up enough this offseason based on, you know, there's a,

I think a relevant, but maybe not super as important as people think it is in terms of success, his success rate last year. He was a very boomer bus runner. There was a, There's a lot of plays where it was zero or negative yards. And that's all relevant. And people are kind of attributing the Charbonnet pick, the second round pick to the CX used on Zach Charbonnet to the success rate that Kenneth Walker had. But I think if you go back and you really look at what Walker did as a rookie, it's important to remember that he's like ridiculously good. Yeah. He's very, very good runner.

Yeah. I was actually and I was watching, um, Jaden Reed, who will talk about a little bit later, I think. in the 2021 season going back and watching him for the draft this year and just watching Kenneth Walker at MSU, it was just like, holy crap, this guy is so much better than any, like, any of the non-Beijon runners in this in this rookie draft class right now. And so I think basically my point is, I think people are beating up Kenneth Walker a little bit too much because of that success rate stat that's getting thrown around. If you look at what he did last year, he finished, this is also, by the way, he didn't start for like the first four or five weeks. 11th in yards, yet over a thousand

yards rushing, nine touchdowns, which was ninth. He was 12th in PFF rush grade, fifth and rushes of over 15 yards. So he's hitting those explosive plays. Second in breakaway rate per PFF. So he's turning his rushes into explosive plays. And he forced 50 missed tackles, which was 12. Right now he's the RB 14. And there's several guys above him based on the fantasy pros of consensus rankings that I would absolutely not take. I was absolutely take Kent Walker over these guys like Travis E. TN. Breece Hall, who I'm a little bit worried about with his injury coming off of that. We talked about with J.K. Dobbins.

So I don't know. To me, he's just ranked a little bit too low. I think people are a little too worried about Zach Charbonnet and attributing the success rate stat that's getting thrown around to the reason the Seahawks took Charbonnet. I think they took Charbonnet because they need more running backs. They lost several of their running backs and free agency. So to me, I don't think the Charbonnet pick was an indictment upon what they think Kenne Walker can do.

I think it's just they needed running backs and they love running backs. He's a perfect sea hockey running back, and that's why they took it. I like that. Especially with, it's funny that people remember, too, is that Walker and Breece Hall, because I think both are very dynamic as rookies. But even coming out of college, it was like 1A, 1B for a lot of people. Like those two were cut above everybody else. And there's other guys I liked as well, but those two were in their own tier. So it's kind of funny just like a year away because Bruce Hall was doing some great things.

And everyone's like, oh, who's this Kenneth Walker guy? It's like, he's really good. he was a Heisman finalist, I believe. Ridiculous. Yeah, his stats were crazy. Yeah. And that's kind of, I've nicknamed him Sonic because he's just kind of as chaotic as a runner. Like just, I don't mean that in a bad way.

I mean, just that's what he is. He creates big plays because he can just, it's controlled chaos. But no, I really like Walker. I kind of thought he was tiered kind of fair, but I get what you mean that maybe he should be a bump above those guys that maybe are just, just in his same tier. So I agree with this one. Other guys going right by him at that position, Ramandre. Stevenson, Naji Harris. It's an interesting group of players.

Certainly choose your own adventure when you look at that group of running backs if you end up taking one or two of them. It's a fun group of guys and I'm sure we will be arguing about them as we get deeper and deeper into the summer. For my guy here, you guys, I'm going to Javante Williams. Back end of the 20s, RB28 right now on fantasy pros. He's coming off the knee injury. So obviously we're going to have to watch this closely as the summer progresses. But we know what the big acquisition was for Denver this season. it's Sean Payton. I think we all trust what Sean Payton does as an offensive designer

as an offensive mind. And if you look at those last three healthy seasons for Russell Wilson in Seattle, you had Chris Carson as the RV 11 in fantasy points per game, the RB12, the RB 13, those last three seasons. You get to 2017, that was the year they had all the RB injuries and Thomas Rawls played a bunch of Russ actually led the team with 95 carries that season.

So we'll throw that out. But you have a blueprint for one. what a successful Russell Wilson offense can look like, and it's going to lean heavily on who that primary running back is. This is all obviously contingent upon Javante Williams being healthy enough to be that primary running back. But at RB28, I feel pretty comfortable saying that this is a gamble that is worth taking. If he proves himself healthy, we're not going to be talking about him as the RB 28

when we're really sitting down to draft at the end of August. But it's not like we're going to see him jump from 28 to 16 or anything like that. So I think that just a competent offensive mind running the show in Denver, getting Russ perhaps back under control a little bit, a team that did go out and sign Mike McGlinchie and Ben Powers. They should have a healthy Garrett Bulls this season. I'm not saying they're going to suddenly turn into world beaters up front, but it should at least be, again, a competent offensive line. A competent line, a very good offensive designer and play caller. If Javante is healthy, I see him way more as an RB2 type than an RB3. So I like him here and I would like him even a little bit higher if it ends up being that's where I have to take him in my fantasy leagues.

I'm bullish on the Broncos overall. Just because I think that Sean, we've heard it. We've heard it. That Sean Peyton is. And I think it's because we picture Drew Brees chucking in, chucking in chucking it all the time and the 5,000 yard passing seasons with Sean Peyton. He wants to pound the rock the rock. Like that is his, that is as pound the rock and play action. Pound the rock and play action.

That is Sean Payton all the way. think that's going to look like more of those mid-2000 saints offenses or the late Saints offenses maybe when they had James or anything like that or the last years of Burris where they want to be a run first team. And so I like Javante Williams. And I think just what you're saying, Beller, is that there is some upside there if he comes back healthy and hits the ground running because I think that play caller wants to be pounding the rock. That's Russell Wilson's bread and butter too. I mean, Nate, you know going back to the Wisconsin offenses when Russell was in college, going into the early career in Seattle.

I was one of the loud let Russ cook people, and I admit my mistake on that. I think he's much better and more effective and more efficient, clearly in an offense that has balance and allows him to, you know, really focus on, like, his deep passing is where he exactly separates himself. He's so precise downfield. And I could see them doing that. The other thing I will mention that is in favor of Javante. And maybe it's something that will help him even if he isn't quite fully healthy as Wilson last year ranked fifth among starting quarterback. in passes to running back. So the rate of passes he threw to running back.

So it was kind of strange. He didn't really do that a ton in Seattle, but maybe that was because he was running a lot more in Seattle. Now he's a different guy. He's older. He was checking down on every third down. That's what it was. Well, there's that too. He was not taking chances.

So he was just checking it down. No, seriously. But, hey, for fancy purposes, that's great. So I feel like I remember, like, games where he was checking it to the running back, like 10 plus times in a game. I could be missing. I could be misremembering, but that was always surprising to me at the beginning of last season. So we'll see if that is the case again.

But that could also help Williams really strongly, obviously, if he's more involved in the passing game. Danny, I mean, this is the first time we've ever done a podcast together. So I appreciate you being nice, but you're on the opposite side of this. You can share it right here right now. You're lower than consensus on Giovante Williams. So what's the case against? Purely, purely injury. You know, that's the main and only thing I'm worried about.

I really like Jvante as a player. And honestly, it's not like a huge risk to take him where he's going. So I guess I, it's, I'm not like strongly, strongly anti-Javante. What I am is more just, it worries me, number one, that he's coming off of what was described as a very major multi-ligament injury in the same vein as J.K. Dobbins. You remember this time last year? I got way too excited about J.K. Dobbins. And then it ended up being, again, like I said, multiple injuries that were necessarily

even his knee. It's just other stuff happening in his lower leg that affected his ability to get on the field. a little bit worried that's the case, or it will be the case with Javante. Plus, when you look at Sean Payton's history with rotating running backs, I don't know if he's going to get the full-on workload that we really want him to get. You know, I think there's pluses and minuses with Peyton. Obviously, he's going to, I think, want to run the ball a lot and be balanced, but seems to really like Samajai P. Ryan, so maybe he's more involved in the passing game.

There's just some things that are keeping me from getting too excited about Javante. I'm going to be all aboard Javentay in 2024, but frankly, I'm just, like a little worried about the injury thing right now. Totally good. I want to throw one little sleeper name in there. And I think Danny's a big fan of this guy anyway. So is Jalen Warren for the Steelers? Yeah. He's running back 50.

I saw you tweeting Jalen Warren clips just yesterday, I think it was. He was out playing Nadja Harris for a few of those games I watched. And Harris came along at the end. But Warren, Warren's going to, he earned himself a lot of snaps and he's a guy if Harris gets banged up again or they just want to go, I don't think they'll ever go to a 50-50 split. but he's deserving more touches and more snaps. Just a guy that's like a last round dark throw or, you know, last couple rounds.

And you're just like, hey, screw, I'll stash this guy on my bench. Like, he could be a surprising contributor. And then the last one I said, those military guys, is Miles Sanders. I think we're still underrating the Panthers offensive line and Frank Reich's willingness to pound the rock. So Miles Sanders, I think, is at running back 20. I felt a little low to me just at my first glance anyways. I was trying to get myself into a D'Andre Swift case here, and I just, I couldn't, I wanted to do it, and I couldn't quite piece it all together in a way that felt honest. You felt like it was like debate class as opposed to like what you actually felt?

Yeah, yeah. But I still like, let me, I'll work on it. I'll workshop it over these next couple of months, and maybe we'll come back to it. Receivers, Danny Kelly, you're up first here. Who do you like better than consensus? All right, this is a guy that I've kind of defended his entire career for unknown reasons. I don't know why I just always like him, but Markey's Brown for the Cardinals. He's small.

I get it. He's very small. But I think he's going to be the clear cut number one for this team with Dandre Hopkins gone now. He's going to be, you know, basically competing with guys like Greg Dorch, Michael Wilson, who's a rookie. They've got a couple other guys there that might get snaps and looks. But he's going to be the clear cut number one. They move them all over the formation, I believe.

And then just betting on the idea. I think people are kind of assuming because the Cardinals are outwardly, quote, unquote tanking, which they absolutely are. I think there's a lot of people that are assuming Kyler Murray is not going to play this year or he's going to miss a huge chunk of the season. And I'm kind of, I like just making the bet, like if, if Kyler comes back in week four or five or whatever and then just plays the rest of the season, like that's going to be massive for a guy like Mark East Brown, who, again, is going to have probably 23, 24 percent target rate at least and is a big play threat. Kyler Murray comes in and elevates that offense. I know that they're

going to probably be losing a lot, so they're going to be throwing a lot. I don't know. It makes a lot of sense for me to see him go or to have like a much better season than where he's getting draft right now. He's the wide receiver 33 on fantasy pros. And that's not really what he's been the last couple years, you know? And so I just think he's really solidly underrated right now. During the DeAndre suspension last year, 64 targets. 43 catches, 485 yards, three touchdowns.

It's a nice template to work off. It is. Yeah, the Cardinals are such a another realm. That I just, uh, I, I hate, I hate getting tied up with bad teams. I do too. And it's like, obviously there are dudes on bad teams who have a great fan of James Robinson was the RB6 on the one in 15 Jaguars team two years ago. Like it happens.

But I hate getting mixed up with bad teams. I do too. Just don't, I'm not saying draft him in the first round. No, no, but you're just a little. No, but it makes sense, especially at Hopkins for sure gone. You know, it's not like a question anymore. And I think, and like, you said, it's not like there's much else there on the entire team. So James Connor and

Hollywood Brown, I feel like we're going to be eating a lot of touches. What about your guy, Trey McBride, Nate? Trey McBride. The name brand, Trey McBride. A little athletic football show inside joke from a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Danny, I, like, we're talking about names that are relevant on the card. Names I recognize on the carnals. I'm like my first or second name I threw out there was. There are a couple of name brands here. I reckon. I said Trey McBride as Wad. And Mita and Robert roasted me. like, Trey McBride is a guy you recognize. I said, well, that's the drap brain.

Am I, like, still in there? I'm like, oh, yeah. Again, sometimes I'm in the deep waters. So I don't realize what the shallow end looks like. I like him. I like him. Maybe if Zach Ertz is not in the picture. There you go.

They're like the same player. It's so funny. All right, Nate, who you got here at the wed receiver position? Okay, like my real answer is like Calvin Ridley. I think people are forgetting right now that he's a true, true receiver one. I think because he was receiver two quote unquote with Julio or early on with his falcons career and now he missed the year because of the suspension. He's a real deal receiver one.

Wide receiver 24. Let me jump in. Wide receiver 24 is sandwiched in between Chris Godwin and Jerry Judy. Yeah, yeah. That's right there. No. It should be way up there. And this is an offense that'll chuck the ball when they want to.

Doug Pearson does a little bit. Everything. It's balanced. But he, when I think he didn't have a dude like this, Christian Kirk, of course, had a great statistical year last year. he's a slot only guy. Calvin really is a real deal ex-receiver that can run a full routery. I think him and Trevor can make magic this year. I really do. My other one, I'm going to make a better case of the case about. Also, Chris a lot of rules.

I know. I can't do this. Every category show I can never help myself. Chris Olave shall also be getting a little bit more of a little bit more of a ball. He's one of my two. He's starting to steal it. Take the case. No, no, no. Here it is. Here's my case. He's a top 10 fantasy receiver this year. Because I am a, yes, I agree with that one. I actually do. I am a caricature myself. And I'm going with frickin Alec Pierce, who is 159th overall on fantasy pros. Receiver 66 on fantasy pros.

Receiverer 65 on underdog. Up and down season last year, Colts sucked last year. Played with a quarterback that couldn't be worse for his skill set in Matt Ryan, because Matt Ryan's arm just literally fell off his body. Util. Yeah. And Alec Pierce is a vertical X, a vertical X. a vertical deep threat and he's getting paired with a coach that loves vertical.

Shane Steichen is a former North Turner guy. That's why I always say even last year with Jaylen Hertz, last two years with the Eagles, attacked vertically, go balls and corners. That's really conducive to what Alec Pierce is good at, but also playing with a quarterback that can throw out 80 yards. And that's again, and it's going to give him chances to make plays on the ball. Total opposite type of quarterback than Matt Ryan. You're of course afraid to Gardner Minshu.

Yes, of course. Of course. Gardner mentioned that's he's going to let him create those yaks on all those checkdowns. But I think that it's, he's not going to be a high reception merchant type of guy. He's going to be one of those guys that it's going to be some spike weeks where he has a big week of a four catch for a hundred yards and a touchdown and then a week where he has one catch for 10 yards. Like that, I'm not saying this guy is going to crawl up to receiver one or even receiver two. But as a flex or a possible receiver three with some upside, I think he's well worth. the dart throw. I actually think his skill set is more conducive to Anty Richardson than Michael Pittman is. Even though they both have size, Pittman is more of the horizontal guy. But as a true, yeah, as a true vertical guy, I just really think he's going to come along this year. And even as a player, he's not going to always have a great routery and everything because he has stiff hips and all that. But he's a true deep ball winner and a true 50-50 ball winner. And Richardson's going to give him a chances. I think him and a guy like George Pickens are actually more in the same tier than people realize. Stylistically, they run the same routes probably.

I had the same exact grade with them coming in out of the draft. The NFL version, I mean, obviously there were some character things with Pickens, but the NFL treated them basically the same too. And it's funny. And you even look at the underlying stats. Yes, the overall final stats, Piggins had a little bit more of an uptick, but just the rate stats, successful targets per route, Pierce was 76, Piggins was 77th.

First downs per route. Piggins was 57th. Pierce was 68th. So they're like in yards per route. Piggins was 53rd. Pierce was 603rd. So, like, they're in the same tier for all these stats, but Pickens is going right now as receiver 37 and 8, 9th overall.

So I think you can get, I mean, that's half of the, or Pierce is half the investment right there. I mean, he's going to a full 80 spots earlier. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that Pierce should get a little uptake. I think he's worth a dart throw. And honestly, I like him for, for dynasty purposes, but I'm just even saying right now for

redraft purposes, I think he could be a fun little bench guy that can, end up being a decent starter as the season goes along. You know who he reminds me of is Gabe Dave. Gabriel Davis. Stylistically, while you were talking there, I was sorting on true media here. Receivers with 50 plus targets, the highest air yards per target receiver last year, Gabe Dave. And I'm like, this is sort of the exact same role where you're an outside guy, you're going to stretch the defense.

You're probably not going to see a ton of targets, but you can have these big spike games because you're creating huge plays. So obviously, Gabe Dave has Josh Allen and Pierce has a rookie in Anthony Richardson, so there's a huge difference there. But stylistically, they play a very similar role, I bet. It's really funny. You say that because the only other receiver I looked up to compare, I had Pickens, and the other one was Gabe Dave.

Because Gabriel Davis has gone 60 spots earlier than Pierce is right now. So it's just one of those where he's in that tier. Yeah, that's what it is. He's the Diet Coke version of those guys. And I like him as a real football point. as well. Chris Alave, the case is pretty simple here. I do think I would take him as a top 10 receiver. I like the upgrade from Andy Dalton to Derrick Carr. And Dalton played fine last year, but 20th and EPA for drop back. Derek Carr was up at 12. I think that helps improve Alave's rate stats this season to the

extent that we're talking about more of a 80, 1,2006 compared with the 701,004 that he had last year. I want to bet on a young guy like this who's already shown us what he can do, both back in college. and in his rookie season, an ascending player, an offense that I think should be better this year, really all around. Crystal Lave is an easy one. You really don't need me to make a case for him. I could not believe it, you guys. Could not believe it when I saw that Brandon Cooks is down in the 40s.

Because Brandon Cooks on a good football team with a good quarterback, and the guy just produces. Six years, he has had at least 100 targets. And I used that number just to weed out some of his injury seasons. Six years with 100 targets, he has been. wide receiver 20, 10, 15, 18, 18, and 22 in half PPR scoring. That wide receiver 22 year, the low year for Brandon Cooks here, with Davis Mills and Tyrod Taylor as his quarterback. So now he moves to Dallas, he gets that Krescott.

He's not going to be the alpha. We know that's going to be C.D. Lamb. Michael Gallup is here as well, so maybe there are some target concerns. But Brandon Cooks has shown us time and time again in different offenses, different quarterbacks that so long as he is healthy and motive it to use last year as an example, he's going to produce. So getting him here, and we all know what Brandon Cooks is, I don't think there's going to be any crazy move for him up draft boards this summer.

Maybe he moves up a couple of spots. But I think you're probably going to be able to get him in the wide receiver 40 range. And that is a bet I'm going to make in every single draft that I possibly can. Yeah. I mean, just even look at the receivers going around him. Like it's like Jacobi Myers. who I love, but, you know, fancy. Again, we're looking at that.

Jordan Addison, you know, another rookie receiver, but it's like, I don't know, the Vikings' offense, you're really betting on that. Quentin Johnson. Ju-Ju-Ju-Ju-Colnton. Cortland Sutton. Jackson Smith and Jigba. Gabe Davis, who we just brought up.

Going to be third in his team in targets. Yep. Gabe Davis, the bills brought in like several players to like, so Gabe Davis didn't have to be receiver too in their offense. So just read what the teams are telling you. And, yeah. No, that's a great, great call. He's just one of those guys that always produces, always produces.

What a charmed career also, right? Yeah. I mean, he paid for it a little bit in Houston these last couple of years, but Drew Breeze, Tom Brady, get to play with the Rams and Sean McVeigh and now get to play with Dak. I mean, I guess I should pull out the Mike McCarthy buzzer here. If I had it handy, I would smash it because we are concerned about that. Don't.

I love Brandon. Don't forget. Mike Riley in college at Oregon State. One of my favorite players to watch ever in college. Brandon Cook's at Oregon State is last year. That's a deep cut, but it's a lot of fun. Trust me. No, I love that one.

That's a really good one. All right, guys. Let's wrap things up on the positive side. Tight ends. Nate, you take this one away first. Would you look better than the consensus? Okay, first off, Kyle Pitts is the obvious one. Tide in five and 60th overall.

But he's like, people are, people have come. Like, there was a small pendulum swing in the wrong way. And now, because of people like us, I think, he's like back to, yeah. Like really a round lower than Hawkinson. Like, and I, same Judy overall as Jerry Judy or same Judy over same tier overall as Jerry Judy and Michael Pittman and Jomante Williams, no offense. But, uh, but, but I mean, just even last year, I mean, Marriota, and I know this has become the main step, but Mariotto, like you can't, I can't overstate enough how bad Mariotta was

throwing the ball last year. Yeah. And he was, they were trying to give Kyle Pitts targets, trying. Top 10 in target share. Like, and even like. guys that other tight ends that you can look at, you know, he's a round loader in TJ, round lower than T.J. Hawkinson right now, which is like, okay, but I feel like they should be more similarly tiered. Hockinson had his career year last year, like, with split in between

the lines and the Vikings. He had 44 first downs in his fourth season. Kyle Pitts had 43 as a rookie as a rookie tight end. So like, just don't overthink this guy. And I think just this, I, I'm very bullish, of course, on the Falcons offensive when it's listening to the show. But I, man, I just think, even Kittles, drafted slightly higher and I love Kittle, but it's like there's so many mouths to feed that offense. And that's a run first offense. So I don't know. I think there's this has just been, yeah, it's starting to get up there again where people are like, oh yeah, Kyle Pitts is really good. But come on, just don't ever thinking. And I'd say down the, down the tiers is Juan Johnson,

the Saints tight end. Yeah. He's tight in 18 right now. Erf Smith is going higher than him. What's Irv Smith? The legend of Irv Smith. Oh my God. Mr. Mr. No one's been, no one gets more excited than people about Irv Smith's three. 350 yards that he catches over here. He's the Kristen Michael of tight ends. Great reference. Yeah. Cole Comette is going higher than him, but man, he's, I mean, should be a top 10 half PPR guy. And I think Carr's going to pepper him. He had successful targets for Rouse, the stat I look at now. And he was 12th overall just behind Hawkinson and Kittle, who were 10th and 11th. So I just think that Saints offense has a lobby. Tide end room did sign Foster Morel. But I mean, I think he's going to be the number two target in that offense. even depending on Michael Thomas, of course.

But yeah, so that's enough one I want to throw out there. Danny, your guy here at the tight-end position? So I'm going with Greg Dulcich for the Broncos. I thought he really flashed a lot as a rookie. You know, from week six to 15, which is the weeks he played last year, he was the tight-in-12, you know, and as a rookie, that's saying something because typically rookies take a year or two or three sometimes to sort of develop and get on the field and kind of figure out how to do the NFL, like do what you need to do in the

NFL blocking and all that. There's just so much to learn. But with Dulcich, what's nice is, number one, he's very fast. He can get up to see him really, really fast, like long strides, very explosive type runner. But they're really, I think, just view him as a receiver. So he's not going to be asked to do a ton of blocking. They're going to move him around the formation. There's already talked that he's the new quote unquote Joker in Sean Peyton's offense. I'm just picturing him on like leak plays on play action, just scoring a lot of touchdowns Russell Wilson. A lot of running catch like on crossers and things like that. That kind of is his bread and butter. He's like a big galloping thoroughbred out there, you know, after the catch. And so

I actually looked it up and I forget what I used as the limiter, but among qualifying tight ends, he was actually second in ADOT or I think it was air yards per target. I don't know if it's exactly the same as ADOT, but basically same idea. And Kyle Pitts was first. So him and Kyle Pitts are, like the explosive tight ends, you know, of that, of that sort of age group. And I think Dulcich has a chance to really break out this season. I think he fits the Russell Wilson style of offense in terms of what they're going to want to do this year. And also Wilson showed a lot of chemistry with them as a rookie. So all things considered, even though it is a new coach, I do think he has a chance to be a big breakout player this year. So I'm taking him over a lot of the more, I guess, safe picks at tight end this year. Yeah. I like him in a real, real football as well. well as fantasy. It's funny because my comparison for him coming out of UCLA was Jared Cook and that they're kind of high cut, long

legged guys that are best down the field and maybe just if he has blockers. And that's what's funny is Jerry Cook had a really good year under Sean Payton and New Orleans. So it's like that kind of maybe skill set he can use, but no, that's a good call. I'm a very explosive player. And the things that

he's not great at, which is like underneath route running, doesn't matter. Russell doesn't throw that stuff. So it actually kind of works out for as far as stylistic fit. So good pick. I like him as a player and I like him in fantasy too. He was my guy as well. He's tight end 14 at fantasy pros. 13's Colquette.

I'm taking Dolcich over him. 12 is Chagosium, a concho. I'm taking him over a concoe as well. 11 is Dalton Schultz. And I'll throw out Dalton Schultz as a guy here as well. This really for me just comes down to volume. Yeah. Is there anything between Dalton Schultz and 100 targets?

this season. He's probably their second best option in that passing offense. I don't think there's anything that stands between him and getting 100 targets his first year in Houston. So you look at that and you look at the recent history of tight ends with 100 targets and it's really good in terms of fantasy production. And so I just think that the math is going to work in his favorite guards. So you think of him, a rebuilding Houston team, C.J. Stroud in his rookie year, whatever.

the math can't help but get him to 6,6004. We know how numbers like that can play at the tight end position. So it's really, it's based on nothing other than that. I wish I could point to something else, but sometimes you want to make it simple at this tight end position. I will say that I do think with the way the position has gone, you want one of the dudes. I don't think we can live in,

you can live in really in a world anymore where you're like, I'll just, you know, wait and grab tight end 10. And I don't care. I think you want one of the guys at this position. I agree with that. I think it's because after that, it's just such a craft shoot. I mean,

all these guys were talking about, it's like, you know, you're betting on different levels of squinting. Even for me, like, Joanne Johnson's like, he's a converter receiver.

Is that because they had nobody else? Is that why? Or is he actually? There are too many good players at the position to be totally behind. When we were in a world of Antonio Gates and nothing, Tony Gizawa's in nothing, Gronk and you other guys. You could be the worst tight end in your league and still be fine.

I think it's harder now when you have six, seven, eight guys. You can really count on to be double-digit fantasy scores. Right. It's like when you look at the playoff odds for something, everybody's at plus eight, or a Super Bowl odds. It's like there's like 20 guys at 20 teams at plus 1,800. And you're just like, I don't know, over that one. Go with that one.

That one sounds good. Yeah, I think it's pick your poison. I think that's a great call. All right, guys, let's flip this over to the negative side. I guess let's get through these ones a little bit faster. It's fun to go. It's fun to go long on the positive. It's fun to go long on the positive.

Let's get through these a little bit faster. Quarterbacks, we are lower on, then consensus. Danny, take us away first here. So I'm just going with Aaron Rogers. I'm a little bit worried about the Aaron Rogers hype. He's not even going high. He's not like a high pick or anything. He's a QB 15 according to these ranks.

But there's just so many quarterbacks I would take over him based on like price and the range that you're taking them. I would rather take a guy like, for instance, Anthony Richardson, who I mentioned earlier, even a guy like maybe Matthew Stafford, I might take over Aaron Rogers at this point, just because I think coming into a new offense with new weapons, although I suppose he did bring Lizard and Cobb with him. But like, I just think there's a lot of huge question marks here. Obviously, Aaron Rogers is getting up there in age.

I think that they're probably going to want to run the ball and be a balanced offense. I'm just not seeing a huge amount of upside with Aaron Rogers and a lot of downside, I guess. And so I don't know. I just want off to Aaron Rogers Carousel. I'm just not doing it this year. So he's a guy that I'm much lower on. I'd rather have like Jared Goff, who's ranked below him. I'd rather have probably Russell Wilson, honestly.

Derek Carr, maybe. And then there's some guys like Kyler Murray, who you're probably only going to get for, you know, the second half of the year. But like at this point in one QB leagues, I think you want to bet on upside over a guy like, Aaron Rogers, who, you know, is not, I would say the odds are against him being like a really prolific season this year. Yeah. I think they, like him, he's tiered with like Daniel Jones. I'd much rather have Daniel Johnson fantasy sense. Like way more, like you said, I'd rather, much rather bet on the upside.

Nate, you're gay? My guy is Tua. He's a quarterback 11 and on fantasy pros. Just a little rich because of the injury history. And as I know how explosive that offense was and what he did when he was healthy last year. Very efficient when he plays, but, you know, the tail end of the season, there's two things. Well, one, he was getting hurt. But two also was that their offense became a little bit more balanced as that year went along and as defense is adjusted.

He has no rushing ability whatsoever. He's like one of the lowest scrambling quarterbacks, like period since he's been in the league. They have a strong defense. So I think they'll be out in front a little bit more this season. And even if it's a feisty a FC, a really, really loaded AFC, that defense is going to be really good, keeping the game. So I think it's going to be more balanced. So they're not going to have a lot of chuck heavy type games, game scripts. And also he doesn't bring in the rushing.

So I think it's going to be a lot of like 20 to 24 pass attempt type games. So you're not just going to have that volume, even if he is going to be explosive. So maybe defense is adjusted. I'm not even saying like it's too much of a drop off, maybe just a little bit lower. And again, same type of argument maybe that Danny's bringing up with Aaron Rogers. Maybe I'll bet on other guys to maybe just because I think they can just raise that ceiling a little bit more. You guys are both with your picks here making the point that I was referencing earlier in that like I look at these quarterbacks and it's just like you know like they might not be

my favor but this is all like very fair I'm not betting against any of the guys who we who we know are do right Mahomes Alan Hertz Lamar Burrow Herbert Lawrence deck I'm not betting against any of them real life war fantasy Justin Fields I could see why you would maybe be interested in betting against him in the real world but the dude's gonna run for like 900 yards and six touchdowns like he's gonna he's gonna play in fantasy the bears aren't gonna suddenly turn away from him I mean, that's just, that's not going to happen. So, like, he's going to be a fantasy performer. So I throw a half-hearted one here at Deshawn Watson because you aren't getting a huge discount based on where he sandwiched in between DAC and Tua at QB10.

Feels it's a fair price. I'm not going to say that this is a crazy overpay, but we've seen very little of him since 2020. What we've seen has been very bad. What we saw last year from him was legitimately bad quarterback. And still 27 years old, what we saw from him before that was excellent quarterbacking. So even him, it's not like I'm saying throw up my hands and I'm done with him. But it's a little, it does feel a little bit like an unnecessary risk to me when I like Tua, it sounds like a little bit better than you, Nate.

I would rather bet on Miami's passing game than on Cleveland's. I would take Tua over him. I would take Daniel Jones over him. And then we start to get into the world of like, you know, what the hell, who cares? Kirk, Rogers, golf, Russ. it just becomes a little bit different. So Deshawn Watson, I'm not going to sit here and say he's overvalued. I just can't see him really end up on any of my teams because I want one of those

do. Similar to what we talked about at tight end. I think you need a dude to quarterback now. I think the days of just waiting on your quarterback and, you know, taking quarterback 12 and quarterback 16 in one QB leagues, I think that's done. Yeah, I ran into that issue last year. I was like, oh, I'll just take Tom Brady. He's going to throw it.

I know what I'm getting. I know I'm getting 4,000 yards, 30 tutties. We're good. And yeah, I bet on the worst Tom Brady here, the worst bucks here. Finally happened. Finally happened. Got him late in an auction league. I was so fired up for like two bucks.

I was like, hell yeah. There we go. This is suckers. Yeah. Yeah. So that I've learned my lesson with that. Yeah. That's a very good point, though.

All right. Running back position here. Nate, you go first. Who are you lower on? A little scared of that O line in front of Derek Henry. But the one I'm actually going to go with is. is Jemir Gipps at runback 17. Like the player,

love him for Dynasty, but a runback 17 for a redraft league is a little crazy to me. Even if I do think he's dynamic and I think he's going to be a good catcher. He's overall 35th. He's head to have like D.K. Metcalfe. Amari Cooper, Dibo Samuel,

DJ Moore, Jalen Hertz. He just talked about you need a dude at quarterback. Scary Terry. He's going ahead of that. Ahead of Dobbins, Miles Sanders, Damien Pierce,

his teammate, David Montgomery, Isaiah Pacheco. These are all guys he's going ahead of. And he's running back too. And that is just crazy. I love, I think he's going to be a really fun player. I think he's going to be a really fun pass catcher. But you got to understand it's like, yes, those fun past catches is going to be, you know, three, four catches.

You know, it's not going to be like this, not the whole offense, the focal point of the offense. So I think he's just, I really like the player. Don't get me wrong. But I just think that going a little too rich. And I think the hype is just a little bit out of control right now, especially this is the same team that just paid a lot of money to David Montgomery as well, who is their, true, I think it's going to be, I think it's going to be more of a 65-35 split. Even if, even if Gibbs is on the field getting some of those catches and everything like that, and they do pony personnel as well.

I just think that we're overrating what the actual box score, score substance of that will be this season. I think he'll have a fine year, not saying, I'm not going to play or anything like that. I just think box score-wise, it's not going to be as drastic as he's getting made out to me to be running back 17. Do you think it's as easy as for Detroit this year, looking at those guys and saying David Montgomery is Jamal Williams and Jemir Gibbs is DeAndre Swift. Yeah, it's, yes, in a sense, but it's, I think this offense prefers the size and the Montgomery.

And I truly, I don't think it's as easy as that because Swift wasn't the past catcher that Gibbs is. And, you know, Gibbs is a little smaller as well. So some of that, it's not the true one to one. So I think running game wise, even if I'm not a big fan of Swift, I think he was true more better on the field. like, sorry, on the ground, but he'll bring more to the past catching game. So I think Montgomery, Montgomery is way better in Jamal Williams. And I like Jamal Williams. He was way better than Swift. So I think it's just that Montgomery is going to eat more of these touches than I

think people want to make it out. I think people are underrating Montgomery a little bit and overrating Gibbs a little bit, especially how every game is going to play out, I think. Danny, we've got you as down on Javante Williams for injury concerns, someone else who you're not liking at the position. I clumped Bruce Hall and Javent. Williams together. And for the exact same reason, basically just I'm a little spooked, I guess, by the ACL injury. First year coming back off the ACL injury, obviously some guys come back

and do great on off coming off an ACL. And, you know, maybe Hall and Giovante Williams are those guys that end up being just as good or around as good, I guess, as they were prior to the injury. But a lot of times you see injuries crop up. You see them not quite as explosive, not quite as confident. And their volume goes down dramatically. And also, it seems weird to me that the jets are like apparently in on every other running pack. So like they were apparently going to take Jemir Gibbs in the first round if, if you hadn't gone to Detroit. And then they were,

they have been linked to, uh, Dalvin Koku got released on Thursday. So we'll see where he ends up going. Um, but I don't know. To me, the Jets are saying to us a little bit that they aren't quite 100% confident that

Bruce Hall is going to be back this year. Um, you know, so I don't know. They draft the guy in the fifth round is the abondaconda. Uh, they still have Bam Knight, who I think was really.

really pretty good last year when he was given the opportunities. You like Bambi, don't you? Aren't you a big Bamb night guy? Bambi, he's like, uh, fad budgets last year. That's for sure. He had some good, you know, uh, broken tackle on yards after the, uh, broken tackle on yards after the, after first contact numbers last year.

He's like pretty surprisingly good. And, you know, he's just a meat potatoes guy. He's not necessarily going to create a bunch of explosive plays like priest hall. But, um, anyways, my point is, I'm just a little worried about those two guys. And I don't want to have to, take them where they're going.

I'd rather, you know, take another guy in that area and kind of like just not have to worry about the injury history. I think Breeze Hall is very good. To be clear, both these guys I really like. It's just purely injury related. It's just pure of what going into this year coming off big injuries. Yeah. No, totally get that.

Breez Hall RB 11 rubbing draft day elbows with A.J. Brown. Amon Rae St. Brown. His team of G. Wilson, Travis E.T.N. Reason to believe. But you're going to pay a pretty penny to believe. So certainly.

Right. something worth considering. Nate, Derek Henry was going to be my guy when I woke up this morning. I already had him penciled in when I was starting to go through this last night. Derek Henry was my guy. And then Delvin Cook got released. We're recording this on Thursday. Then Delvin Cook got released.

And everyone wants to tell you Alexander Madison is taken off here. I mean, I get, you know, the volume's going to be there, at least as the Vikings are currently constructed. And we know that volume is a big part of the battle here at the running back position in the fantasy world. But like, he's been in the league for four years. and the two different regimes in Minnesota have never seen fit to make him anything other than a pure backup. And you can point to Kevin O'Connell and say, spent just one year with Kevin O'Connell,

career lows last year with Kevin O'Connell as the head coach. 36.9% success rate since he's been in the league. It's not a perfect staff for running backs, but it still has some value. That ranks 32nd out of 38 backs with at least 400 carries. It's worse than Adrian Pee. The ones who are just worse than him. Adrian Peterson, Philip Lindsay,

James Robinson, like not the sort of guys who you want to be mentioned with. And again, I just look at, I look at when a guy has some time in the league and just feel like these teams, these coaches who are professionals who get paid to do this, have been with him day in and day out. I just think if it was going to happen, it would have happened by now. And so he steps into the starter's chair and that's all well and good. But now you're suddenly going to have to be looking at paying a top 15, certainly top 20 price for him. And I just don't see it, guys. I'm wholeheartedly with you because I, this is a guy that I believe his rookie year or his second year, he stepped in when Cook got hurt, which time Cook got hurt,

but one of the times. And I was like, okay, I'm going to watch him real quick. And I was like, that it? Like, and I kind of, it's very, he's mid. Yeah. Her? Yeah. Yeah. He's, he's.

Yeah. And that's exactly how I felt. Oh, I know. We're a little older than the guys who usually work with. So we actually get, we actually get these references. No, but he's, I'm totally with you. And I, it shocked me how much people are like going out in front and like planting flags about how Madison's going to be the guy. It's, it's medicine.

He's really, he had, he had Kubiak as his offensive coordinator. And like he didn't do anything. Like, he's been in a zone system before. It's not like there's a new scheme that they're doing. And so I think it's, it's going to be more of a committee there. I actually would rather take a chance on Ty Chandler. or the rookie they drafted, Dwayne McBride in the seventh round, I'd rather take a chance on those guys than have any stock in Madison.

Because been there, done that, I've seen him. He's nothing more. I think he's a replacement level, maybe a slightly above replacement level back, and I'd rather take a chance on one of the other guys. There's a reason why all those Dalvin Cook injuries that you mentioned. And to be fair, he's got, he had some pretty good stat lines, pretty nice box score numbers in those games that Dalvin Cook was injured, not all of them, but a good handful of them.

There's a reason why the moment Dalman Cook comes back, and Dalman Cook is a good running back. I think whoever picks him up, I kind of love the Miami connection. But there's a reason why Dalwinkin comes back, and he is immediately back to a pure baggap. They're not mixing him in a-and-a-sop. In a day and age where teams can't wait to mix in a second running back, two separate regimes in Minnesota said, now we're good on this. He's a pure backup. So I'll take my cues from that. Let's get to the wide receiver position here.

Danny, you take this one away first. Who do you got as a wide receiver that you're just not? into. This is probably going to be a popular one during the pre-draft process, but Devo Samuel for the 49ers. I think everybody looks at his 2021 season. And to me, that was just such a outlier in so many different ways. Number one, I think just situationally, they didn't have Christian McCaffrey at that point in time. So, you know, he turned into essentially a two-position player. He was like having a running back and a receiver on your team at the same time. It was like a true cheat code, really, what he was in 2021.

Those days are over. I don't think he's ever going to come back and do that. Now they have Christian McCaffrey. They like this Jordan Mason guy. They have, what's his name? Elijah Mitchell, who's hurt right now, but apparently he's, you know, the number two on the team.

They also have tied to his price so they drafted in the third round. They've got like a ton of running backs that they can really, you know, use to carry the rock. They're not going to have him do quite as much as what he was doing that year. Obviously, there was issues with the contract.

There's like a quasi holdout or whatever. I think part of the reason for that was he didn't want to carry ball as much because it was going to affect his longevity in the league and all that. So there's just like to me, so many. Yeah. And so many things about 2021 were such a outlier, you know, based on everything that we've seen throughout the rest of his career. He's also been a little bit having injury history. And so that's a little bit worrisome going forward. I don't know.

To me, he's just more of like a, I don't even know. Like, is he even a wide receiver two anymore? with the amount of weapons that the 40-9ers have the way they spread the ball around, it's like, to me, that's even a little bit of a question. That would be the tough part is because they have so many mouths to feed. Yeah. It's a great offense and, again, in real life, but the fantasy gets dinged a little bit because none of them are going to be overwhelming.

Maybe CMC a little bit, but the other guy, it's really hard. So I agree with that. Yeah, last year he was the wide receiver 26 and half PPR points per game. And I don't know. Like, I think he's going to be better this year than he was last year, but marginally, and I think I yuk is still ascending. and there's all this talk that Iuke is like the best player at 49ers training camp. I think he's a really good player.

They still have Kittle. They still have CMC. They have so many guys. And by the way, we don't know who the freaking quarterback is going to be of this team. So there's just too many things working against Ebo's Samuel right now. I love him as a player, but he's wide receiver 18, I believe, in fantasy pros right now.

And that's just really rich for me. I think that's a good one. Again, yeah, it's one of those where I love the player, but just fantasy purposes, it's like, God, he's just not quite there. And I think that's where I, It's year after the year kind of thing. I think Iyuk was getting that hype last year. And then he got into the doghouse because he ran two wrong routes.

And that's, I can tell you, I can tell you what happened there. And so Shannon Hans like, screw you. No, you're back to the bench. And then he, what happened when he started playing again? Oh, yeah, you're really good. Oh, wait a minute. Yeah. Yeah, you're never seeing the bench ever again.

Yeah. So I think that's where I think this is the year of I yuk. And I think him and Debo are going to be more tiered the same than yeah, but they're going in different spots right now. My receiver's in this same range as well. I'm going to hold them under my hat for a second. Nate, who do you got? Mine is Jerry Judy.

I think that, yeah, and this is, he's going receiver 22 on Underdog, Receiver 25, Fancy Pros. I think they drafted his replacement in Marvin Mims. I think Sean Peyton prefers the Cortland Sutton's and the Tim Patrick's. I know the contract stuff, but just saying for this year, he likes size with his receivers. So I think those are the guys he's going to like. Now, Judy's not like a short guy or anything, but he's undersized as far as weight-wise. And I think also Judy still has a lot of people's brains about what he is as a route runner.

And like, because people just love foot quickness and go, oh, that's route running right there. It's not. He's a deep ball guy. And that's how Russ uses him. He's a slot fade, you know, slot guy. He's almost 50% of a snapshot from the slot. That's not a bad thing or anything. But that's just what he is.

And he's a vertical guy, which is different. I think than the profile. I think a lot of people had from him coming out of Alabama. but he's going in the same tier as Calvin Ridley right now. No way. Going the same tier as Mike Williams. It's like, okay, Mike Williams, all right, maybe because he's got to stay healthy.

But when Mike Williams is way better of a player and also I think he produces a little bit more and it's going to be in a more pass happy offense, even Rashad White, they're going to the same tier. I know he's a running back, but I think, of course, I'm a fan of Rashad White, but it's like, really? Yeah, and I think guys like other guys like Drake London or Christian Watson are getting drafted near him. I'd much rather have those guys.

Yeah, but even, yeah, I just, think that because of what Sean Peyton prefers, I think it's going to be a more run heavy and play action heavy offense. I just don't think that's going to be conducive the Judy's skill set. I think Sean Peyton would rather have Dolchich in the slot than Judy. And so I just think his

volume's not going to be there. That I think people think he's going to get that uptick. And I just think this is what he is as a player. I don't think there is any more ascension to happen with him as a player. I think we're going to have some head-to-head on Rashad White this year just because, I mean, you talk about... Oh, his underlying numbers are so bad.

There is an environment in Tampa that I want to sprint away from as fast as I possibly can. You don't like Baker-Mayfield. Oh, I'm not really trying to get into any of that this season. Speaking of, I'm not trying to get into. I can't do it with DeAndre Hopkins, you guys. I just can't, I can't believe he's wide receiver 20 on fantasy pros right now. Wide receiver 19 by underdog ADP. His next team odds as it stands.

Maybe by time someone's listened to this, he will have signed. I don't think so, though, because he's meeting with. Tennessee over the weekend. His next team odds, the six leaders in the clubhouse, Bill's, Browns, Lions, Titans, Chiefs, Patriots. He's going to either a team where he will not be anywhere near the number one receiver or will be a passing game we don't expect to be very good. Right. 31 years old, I mean, I think he still has a lot to offer a good team. I think from a football fan standpoint, I would love to see him in Buffalo. I would love to see him on Detroit.

I think those would be the two places I would like to see in the most, among the ones that are most rumored to be going after him. I think the fact that Tennessee is potentially realistically in the mix here says a lot about what the league sees him as at this point of his career. He came out. They're saying like, oh, he's going for the money and not the rings. And it's like, oh, okay, well, that shows you why he's taking a visit to Tennessee as well. It's just, like, no matter where he ends up, it's just he's not going to be a top 20

red receiver. And that's what you're going to have to treat him as it. I mean, if we're already on spec putting him as a wide receiver top in the side of the top 20, I assume that wherever he goes, he's going to stay in this range. And there's just no way. No way to. No way.

I'm not doing. I love that. I love that just all of our. That's our response to all this. Just no way. Just no way. I would love to see him on a good team, though, because I think he has a lot to offer a contender. Yeah.

I just think there's not that juice to squeeze with it. Like there's no value to be had with it. So I get what you're saying there. All right, guys. Let's wrap this one up. Tight ends, Nate, who you're not in on at this position? I'd rather take on a chance of other tight ends than Cole Komet. Just low passing value.

I think he's going to be dropped to the third option of that offense, maybe fourth even by the end of the year. So I just think I- Which Notre Dameer gets more targets in Chicago this year? Is it him or is it Chase Claypool? I think Claypool does. I think Claypool does barrel. I know, but it's a low passing volume as it is. I don't think it can support a lot of mouths.

And even if there is going to be an uptick and throwing, because it has to go up, just because it was so low last year, just not a guy I'm still willing to bet on. I've always been kind of a little lower on him than the consensus anyways in real life. But to see him fancy purposes as well. I'd much rather take a chance on one of our guys, Juan Johnson or Dolchich. I'd rather even take a dart throw. If we're talking about late in the draft on like Gisicki, just because of what the Patriots. Yeah, just like in a red zone to get some juice some touchdowns like a Cickey.

I'd much rather take a chance on any of those guys or Njoku, even like I'd much rather rather take a chance on him than Cole Comet. So I think it was a little rich. I thought where he's getting slotted at right now. So it's not, again, it was kind of like the quarterback argument. It's like, yeah, these all seem kind of sort of fair. But that would be that would be one where I was like, yeah, I'm not as high as other people are. So I'm going to go with Dalton Schultz.

You guys gave some pretty compelling arguments. I'd say in terms of like just the total volume. But for me, I'm just like, he's the exact type of player I just avoided fantasy. And maybe that's not a good thing because in fantasy, sometimes you have to pick players you don't think are very good. I just don't really think he's that good. He's just kind of a guy. I think number one, he benefited dramatically and greatly from playing with a quarterback

in Dak Prescott who has targeted tight end position at a higher rate than almost any quarterback in the NFL over the last couple of years. And I think that's just been such a crutch or not crutch. necessarily. That's like a negative. That's like a pejorative. I would say it's like his security blanket over the middle of the field. He just loves throwing as a tight end. Dalton Schultz, to me, doesn't have much dynamism. He's not very, you know, he's not explosive. He's not super athletic or dynamic after the catch. Among 44 tight ends last year with 30 plus targets, he was 36th out of 44 in yards after the catch per reception. Like he's just, he's a catch and

fall down guy. He's like he's Zach Ertz, but not as good kind of deal. He's Mr. Six-yard gain. Yeah. That's, that's, that's someone. Like, where are you going to get like a bunch of five catch, 35 yard performances from him? Which honestly, maybe like there's an argument to be made that that's fine at the titan position because it's just such a barren wasteland right now. But the type of fantasy player that I am, I'm going for like the Chicaquam, you know, in that area, I'm going for guys that are more explosive or a little higher upside, Dulcich, Gerald Everett, who I still am like maybe the last person who thinks he's

a good player in the world. Like you said, Juan Johnson, Gassiki, you know, even Zach Ertz is going way, way way, way behind. And we don't know much about what his injury is right now, but he was a pretty high volume guy last year. So to me, like, Dalton Schultz is just the most boring player to pick, and that's why I'm avoiding him. I do think your arguments are volume are valid, though. There's just not very many other guys on that team. So he would be like the prototypical, like, draft for volume over skill type player. Got to buy Stroud a little bit. You got to believe that that that line is going to be what appears that it could be on paper. But if any of that, if any of

that doesn't come to pass, then he's in trouble. And it's the classic adage that what's a rookie quarterback's best friend. And that's the underneath tight end. Like that, that's a classic thing. So I'm saying if I'm kind of like where he's going to slot it at, it's like, yeah, makes sense to me. So I'm kind of in between both of you guys. So, but I think if I were optimistic about him, it would be like, oh, it's a rookie

quarterback. And they just go, oh, shoot, where's my tight end? Check it down. And so he can get some volume that way. But I get it. I get the boringness argument. He is a very boring, very boring player. All right, guys, I came and tepid with that 49ers quarterback way back when I am going to go out with what I think is kind of hot at the tight end position.

I'm out on Darren Waller. I just, I think there's significant concerns with the offense. Nate, I know what you're talking about with Daniel Jones earlier, but still even a little bit more through the air is not going to result. I don't think in a ton of volume 18th and past throw EPA last season. Darren Waller's 31 at the start of this year. right at the start of the year he turns 31. He's missed 14 games. The last two seasons, the ranking of tight end seven is fair.

But when you compare it to the universe of football players, you're going to have to take him alongside Isaiah Pachecoe, my guy, Brandon Cooks, Rashad Bateman. I would rather have any of those guys and most of the guys who are in his draft day neighborhood. I would rather have. I'm just going to be looking elsewhere at the tight end position. I think there's enough risk here that I almost certainly want to go higher

for a lot of the reasons I referenced earlier that I want to have a guy at this position. And if I'm getting in on someone who I do have to pass on other guys like this where the opportunity cost is pretty high, it's just not going to be someone going to a new offense, going to an offense that has a quarterback who is going to take the ball out of the air and run it a ton going with a guy who he turns 31 and has missed 14 games of the last two seasons. Yeah. There just starts to be a lot of marks against where the opportunity cost pushes him over the edge to a guy who I'm just not going to end up with very much. I get this one. Especially he does his best work from the slot. And what have we already made that joke about?

A lot of receivers do they have. They have so many. I mean, literally they got like five playable slot players, which is hilarious. And yeah, I get this one. And I just don't think the volume will be there.

I like this addition for the Giants in a real football sense. But I think from a box score looking at it, it's like, I don't know. I see this as like a 60 catch season. You know what I mean? Like a 50-something catch season. And he's been banged up, like you said.

He's older than I think people realized because he was such a late bloomer, transitioning from receiver. So I think there is some of that. And they also have a young tight end that they like Daniel Lee Bellinger. So it's not like it's just going to be him getting the tight end target. So he'll get some. He'll get some. He's a great, he's still a good dynamic player. But I think all those blemishes you brought up Bellar, I totally get.

I was kind of surprised that he was slotted as high as he is right now, or the consensus at least. It makes sense at the tight end position. I mean, I think everyone's going to have Kelsey Andrews Hockinson, Kittle, Pitts, and Goddard as the first six. Maybe someone's got Evan Ingram up there, Nate. But those first six are going to be the first six for most people. And then you do start to get the Waller, Ingram, Fryermuth. I mean, who are you going to put seven? It almost has to be him.

Just because he did it in the past, yeah. Yeah, just it's, I can't get there. I can't get there personally. I can get there to him. Like, if I'm doing rankings, he's going to be my seventh tight end. but I'm not going to I'm going to be going to be getting tight end earlier and be getting it later

this is sort of a dead zone for me at the position I like that. A little no man's land. A little bit of a no man's land. All right, we thought we were going to have like a ton of time to talk about rookies. Before we got going like, what, 45 minutes and then you look here, it's like, all right, we've been doing this for an hour and 10. So we're just going to fly through some

dynasty picks here, some just guys that you guys have targeted. I'm going to sit this one out, just point guarded to you guys. Chris Paul is getting waived maybe. so yeah you got point guards on the brain. Nate, dynasty guys who you're looking at. Quarterback, of course,

Anthony Richardson, just because of the rushing floor we talked about, but running back wise, I do like Zach Sharbonne. I do maybe because I draft him a couple places. I mean, I like him too. Don't give me wrong. Roshan Johnson for the Bears,

Roshan Johnson, whatever. I had him as my running back four in this class. I was really high on him, but I like him. They only have to worry about Deonté Foreman right now. So Evan Hull is a sleeper as one, as a pass catching back for the Colts. You don't know what Jonathan Taylor.

He keeps getting banged up. So I can sneakily see him getting more touches. I think he's just always going to be irrelevant for a while. Am I super, super, super sleeper. And I'm really mad because I wasn't able to draft him in a lot of leagues. He, like wasn't even available. It's the generic Prince for the Chiefs. They're on drafted free agent.

I liked him out of Tulsa. I saw him at the shrine game. I was like, who the heck is this guy? Stat profile is not overwhelming, but he also had the highest speed score of the combine this year. And the receiver wise. Jane Reed, I don't want to steal your thunder. Cedric Tillman for the Browns. Tower Scott for the Bears has like a deep flyer.

And then my sleeper, sleeper, and I know this is another guy you like is Puka Nakuwa from the Rams. I think he's going to be really fun in that offense. I hope he can stay healthy, but really fun with some of the jet sweep stuff. I think they can run with him and also just being a big body vertical threat. Tight end. The only guy that I'm making sure I get out every draft class is Luke Musgrave with the Packers. And that's my tie in for Dynasty is the guy I like. Musgrave is such a good one.

He's already starting to make a little bit of noise for the Packers in their training camp, which is exciting. And people seem to be, you know, it's early, but people seem to be pretty excited about him. I was getting him before the draft because I do a bunch of dynasty drafts before the draft, because then you draft a guy in the first round and he goes in like the fifth round or something. Like sometimes that happens. But like Malik Willis or whatever. But the guy who I've got him, I got Musgrave in like late third round, sometimes early fourth round.

And now I'm just like loving it. because a couple of tight-ins that I really like in this class, Dalton Kincaid and Samuel Porta. I think both of those guys are really good targets in, like, you know, the one-to-turn-ish area in terms of Super Flex leagues. And I think both of those guys will have a lot of volume. But man, Musgrave such a huge value, I think, because he's going quite a bit later.

As far as running backs, like Devon A-chain has been my guy, super, super speedy, really, really undersized. And that's always a concern. But I think he landed in the perfect situation in Miami. me obviously if Dalvin Cook has signed there by the time you hear this or decides to end up signing in Miami that's going to hurt his value early on. Could be a pick for next year, right? I mean,

right. I think Moester. Cook is 28. And like I don't know. I don't know I have Moosterts contract details up the top of my head. But that feels like it could be a Mostert replacement. Yeah. Absolutely.

And Mosterts actually like probably the best comp for him because I think Moster is 197 pounds or something like that. A chain, I think he's gotten. He said he's gotten up to like 192. So it's a negligible difference in terms of their size. They're both like Olympic level speed. Yeah. They're both kind of get them in space, get them outside.

I think A chain can run up the middle. He's not going to pass to do that a ton. That's what I was just going to say. Sorry, let me to cut you off is that he was my running back five. And usually I do not touch sub 200 running backs. Even when I'm grading up for media purposes. I'm like just so far away from that.

And he was one dude. I'm like, he's a real running back. Like, because he does all the in between the tackle stuff. He has great vision. But I love the player. He's like an exception for me. Like, uh, he's my. my outlier. Like, I like him even despite the size because I think he's a real dude. So love that.

100%. Yeah, like, I'm 100% exactly in said with you on this. I'm going into this and I've said this. I think I've used a caveat every time I've ever talked about him in this pre-dive process. Like I'm probably dumb for getting really excited about A-Chane because you just don't see that many guys his size. Sure. Make it in the NFL. But he to me is special. Like the burst explosiveness. I don't say this lightly. It's almost Tyree Kill like. He's so twitchy explosive. Obviously, no one's really at the level of Tyree Kill. But I I mean, it's a perfect landing spot for him. I know that McDaniel is going to find a way to, you know, get him in space and get him opportunities where you're like have some runway with it. And you can just like outrun guys. It's exactly what it does with Tiger Kill and Waddle. And so you add him into this offense. I think it's really exciting.

So he's a guy that I'm willing to take late in the first, early second and super flex leagues. I know that's like a little rich for some people, but I've been doing it and hoping for the best with that. For sleeper guys, I really like Jane Reed. I think he was one of the most impressive receivers at the senior bowl this year. He was just really good. He's a little bit bigger. Even though he's small, you know, relative to the NFL, I think. He's like a lot bigger than some of these other guys in his class.

Yeah. He's just more built. He has a little bit of like a running back body relative to some of these other guys. I'm a big fan of him. So I, yeah, I hope he makes him fancy because I like him as a real football player. He's fun. Absolutely. He's got a good opportunity in Green Bay.

Obviously, there's a bit of a open competition at receiver. Michael Wilson for the Cardinals, I thought, was really impressive. He's got a lot of caveats because he was hurt most of his career, but he's really good getting off the line. He's big, physical player. The running backs that I've been kind of taking flyers on in the third and fourth round, Eric Gray for the Giants. I liked him on tape. I thought he was pretty twitchy in terms of the short area, not necessarily an explosive guy at long speed, but he's a little twitchy guy in the short area, good size, and he's obviously playing behind Sequin,

who's been battling injuries and is in a potentially, You know, I think he's still on the franchise tag or did he sign him from Delia? No, franchise tag. I don't think he's even signed it yet or something. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you might be kind of like quasi holding out here. So, Garrett Gray has an opportunity to maybe get some volume in year one. I think Zach Evans is another guy who I liked on tape.

I think, you know, he's got some limitations in terms of his ability to make guys miss in the short area. But he's really a slashing type guy with good speed, good size. And Acres has such a high. The ranch got nobody. Right. They have nobody else. Karen Williams is sort of their third down guy. I think Acres is really questionable as like, quote unquote, their guy.

Like, who knows? Like last year, there was times where it looked like he wanted to retire. There was times that he left the team for a while. Yep. There's just so many things going on. They were trying to trade them and then they ended up trading Henderson, like, or cutting Henderson. They were at least Henderson. He just didn't even sign with anybody.

They're going to, yeah, we're going to cut Acres and they ended up cutting Henderson. It was very strange. It was very strange situation. Yeah. The whole timeline of that was very bizarre. in other words, and I don't really have a huge amount of confidence in Acres long term. So I think just opportunity-wise, Evans is kind of a guy that I'm looking at. They traded up a full round to get him.

I think they traded up like 37 spots to get him. Obviously, it's late in the draft, so it's relative. But still, like, that's a pretty big move to go get a running back in a class like this. And so they must have some conviction with him. And then Chris Rodriguez, running back for Washington, who, a bit of a plotter. He's not going to rip off many explosive runs. But, man, that guy breaks a million tackles. He's like up there with Bijon and some of the greats like David Montgomery in terms of

college broken tackles per game numbers. Obviously, it's a bit of a volume stat, but consistently, consistently breaking tackles. And he just strikes me as the type of guy that Ronan Ferrer is going to like and give the ball to. So those are a couple guys I like late in drafts. Yeah, he's kind of like a Diet Coke, Charbonnet. Yeah, that's kind of what he has. It's Sharbonnet. It's day three Charbonnet.

That's what it is. Yeah, that's kind of what it is. it's yeah it's it's the traitor jo's version of it that's that's where you're going with uh no trade just is good but uh yeah no i i i i cross ruggis he was a guy because i was watching levis and he kind of stood out totally he was mr efficient like he was just mr four five yard six yard gain in his own system so i totally get that one i like the zach evans one a lot i really do uh especially his just because his landing spot mostly and just he's a simple efficient runner and he's playing an offense that thrives with simple efficient runners so i think

it's a perfect fit for him. All right. Danny Kelly from the Ringer. Danny, thanks so much for being with us, man. This is a lot of fun. Thanks. This was a blast. I love it.

Thanks, Danny. You can catch Danny, of course, with his co-workers at the Ringer on the Ringer fantasy football podcast. So be sure to check those guys out. Thank you for checking us out as well. Nate, this was awesome, man. I love getting back on the microphone. You and Robert are awesome. I love working with you guys and doing my duties from behind the glass.

But it's fun to get back on the microphone and do this with you. Hopefully we can do a little bit more of it this season. I agree. This was a ton of fun. It was really fun scratching a different itch also, just co-host-wise and also fantasy football wise. It's fun to live in Fantasyland for a little bit. For what we thought would be 45 minutes and turned into an hour and 20-minute show. So it was great.

I was passionate. You don't even know this, but I already wrote out the episode title and episode description. And Fantasyland is in the title of the show. Was it? How about that? I love it. I did not plan this. Got to keep doing this.

Got to keep doing this. No, this was awesome. Thanks so much, everyone, for listening to us here on the athletic football show. Have yourselves a great weekend on Monday. You will hear Nate. You will hear Robert, thanks to the magic of manipulating time, opening up the athletic football show mailbag and diving in to some emails and voicemails that you guys sent us a couple of weeks ago. So excited for that show. And again, we'll be doing that all summer long.

So Robert will be back next week. And we'll pick things back up in the meantime. Please give us a rating and a review on your podcast platform choice. Check out our YouTube page as well. We've been getting back into the swing of putting things up on there regularly. And you were going to see a whole lot from us this season. So you're going to want to be subscribed to our YouTube channel. Also, thanks so much for listening.

Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.