The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Ross Tucker Loves Football More Than You | Hour 1

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

"Shough is the real d-, oh sorry." After Dan makes sure we properly dive into the pain and agony of Ross Tucker's football-playing days, we go rapid-fire through some of the most important NFL topics, including the Saints, Bengals defense, and fears for Mike McDaniel. Plus, Ross walks us through the food spread at an NFL game and picks some Greg Cote Catchphrases to try to fit into his broadcast of the Steelers and Bengals this weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My favorite part of the football season is the confidence everybody has before it kickoff. Zaslo already knows how the game is going to end. Tony has studied every possible matchup and Chris Cody is convinced his fantasy team is unbeatable. Then the game starts, everything immediately goes off the rails and suddenly nobody remembers making any of those predictions. That's why a legendary game day starts with an ice cold Miller light. Whether I'm at a tailgate, watching with friends, or settling in for a full Saturday of college football, Miller Light is the beer I can depend on. It's crisp, refreshing, and has a clean finish that hits perfectly during a hot South Florida game day.

Miller Light is the original light beer with great taste, and beer lovers have trusted it for more than 50 years. Make game day legendary. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Game time is Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 caps. calories in 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. From morning hockey with a cup of coffee to timbits and road trips.

Tim's and Canadian tire have always gone together. Now it's official. You can now earn Canadian tire money at Tim's. Link your Triangle Rewards and Tim's Rewards accounts to earn twice with every Tim's run. Terms and conditions apply. Visit Tim Hordens.ca. For details. Where some see heroes and others see egos.

Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. Against the spread. Against the spread is presented by Draft King Sports. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Mike.

I mentioned it already. We're putting the town on alert. I think this is the biggest game of the college football season. going to be a game that is cited. I am talking, of course, about Ole Miss. And against the spread, I'm going with Jeff Brom and Lul. He's taking Louisville. I know LSU's dominant at home at night, but that's just a lot of points.

We don't really know much about LSU how they're going to look with Lank-Kiffin. Clemson going in there plus 10. Just give me the points. Give me a close game. Clemson plus 10 at LSU. I get to do one? Yeah, if you want to. You got one?

Give me the huskies over wazoo. We did a third. We're about to have Matthew Barry on the show, but real quick, I do have my definitive top 25 lists of the best people I know. And if you're listening to this and you think, Mike, you rushed it, maybe you forgot me. No, take this list personally. Okay, before you jump into it, though, because there could be some hurt feelings here. These are, you're doing the best people you know?

The best people I know. Or it's more in my head a vibe. It's all encompassing. It's a cat-roll. It's not best people. I'm taking all these data. No, it's not moral. Most moral.

A lot of these people are very immoral. Okay, okay. That's what I'm getting. Yeah, all right. I'll just rat-a-tat-tat it because Matthew Barry is so gracious with his time. Number 25, Unda, number 24, John Isner. Number 23, Rose, congratulations. Wow.

Number 22, Tom Bogart. Number 21, David Sinopoli. Number 20, Mike Radigan. Number 19, my Nicaraguan friend, Joelle. Number 18. Billy Lucch. Number 17, Cam Gourby. Number 16, Brian Monroe. Number 15, not Ethan Bedowski, but his dad, Robb, I like that guy a lot. Number 14, Charles Barkley. Number 13, Dan Dockich. Number 12, Mochetta. Number 11, Manu. Number 10, Zabo. Number nine, Dominic Faw. Number nine, Dominic. Number eight, Morty Fiswere. Number seven, Kevin Clark. Number six, Eagle Eye. Number five, the bear. Number four, the water, man. Number three, Dave Damachek, number two, Mina Times, College, Mike. Take it personally. I'm three? Yeah, dude.

I like you. You're a good guy. I like Matthew Barry. Roy likes him even more, apparently. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry.

He's the founder of FantasyLife.com and host of Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Barry on NBC Sports and Peacock. He's Matthew Barry. Barry, what's happening, man? How's the offseason treated you? And more importantly, how are the drafts treating you? Dave, they've been going well. There's a lot of them been a done of them, you know. I'm the owner of guillotineleaks.com over at Fantasy Life, so I'm doing a ton of those. I've been like in 16 of them. We did not run back to Dan Levittar Deatine League show because they all, Dave, you would have embarrassed. I know you're a long-time fantasy player,

and I played a league with these guys all last year. About half of them took it seriously. other half terrible. And then I ended up winning the league. And so, I don't know, it just didn't seem a lot of interest to get their butts beat again. But honestly, there has been no offseason, but it's been great. Everything's good. Everything's good. And I'm good. Happy to be back. I'm pleased to hear all of that. And I do want to say, as a man of justice, this does need to be shouted out. Alanister pays his bets. So too does Matthew Barry. The last time I saw you was on Media Row at the Super Bowl, about three years. ago and our mutual pal from way back, yours from the Q's, David Feeney said, wait, tell Matthew Barry

he owes me 20 bucks and you took $20 out of your pocket and said, give this to Feeney, tell him to suck on it, something like that. And Dave, did you in fact give that 20 bucks to Feeney? I did, yeah. There you go. Debt's paid. Good. Fantastic.

Well done, Matthew Barry. And as far as that goes, you pay your debts. Are you in your own top 25 people? I would like to think so. but I take issue with, I think Kevin Clark should be higher than seven. I know Kevin Clark. He's fantastic. But you know me a little bit.

Yeah. Everyone loves Kevin Clark. Yeah, I hear you, but, you know, he's not as good as Eagle Eye Nicoletti. I'm sorry. I disagree. As somebody who does rankings for a living. Make your own list. I think your rankings are terrible, Mike. Yeah.

No, here's where Kevin Clark fits. Right above Marty Fish, not as good as Eagle Eye. Don't pass me on it. I disagree. strongly to me. You don't know, you don't know Nicoletti. You don't know Dan Nicoletti. Listen, I know Dave Damashach.

I've known Dave Damashik for 20 years. Dave Damashek will tell you right now he shouldn't be right to have a nobody is more efficient with a funny text than Dan Eagle Eye Nicoletti. And if you don't know if something's offside in hockey, that's how we got the nickname. Now, wait a second, wait a second here. I don't appreciate Matthew Barry trying to dupe me in and trade on my. self-esteem issues by saying Dave Damashek knows he ain't no Kevin Clark because he knows that Dave has low self-esteem and we'll say, yeah, of course, I'm no Kevin Clark. But I'm not going

to do it into a microphone. I'm going to face time Kevin Clark right now. I'm going to ask, Dave, who's better? You aren't Eagle Eye and I know the answer. He'll readily admit it. I'm going to be very clear. I'm going to be very clear about this. I want to be, Dave, just so you know, I would rank myself below Kevin Clark. This is not about your self-esteem issues. Okay. I just think that guy's really nice. I really like him. And I just didn't realize that Mike was doing his rankings based on who texts quickly. He's like a girl. It's a big part of it.

It's a huge part. Well, Matthew, he has self-esteem issues too. And so he's vain. And whoever responds to him most quickly is who gets the goal. Apparently. Terrible. Matthew Barry, much like a doctor is constantly asked about, what is this thing on my arm? What is the question you get the most out on the streets?

Oh, I mean, like, just right now it's like, give me a sleeper, right? Give me a sleeper. Who's your ride or die? Um, you know, and I get a lot of, yeah, I mean, those are those are the two big ones in terms of questions. I got a lot of like, uh, you know, miss you on ESPN, love, you know, love, hey, you know, Avengers. I got a lot of Avengers, uh, randomly. But anyway, so, but who does, who, give me a sleeper and who's your ride or die are probably the two biggest right now. Okay, give me a sleeper or a ride or die right now.

All right. Well, my ride or die is DeBonte Smith of the Philadelphia Eagles. It's right or die is always a known player that I think takes the next level. I'm at wide receiver 10. He's currently going anywhere between wide receiver 15 and 20, but I think he's got top five upside. I wrote about this last February when I got out of the NFL Combine, so late February, early March, where I was drunk with an Eagles team source,

who basically told me, we think Devante Smith has another gear. As good as he has been, we think he has another gear and another level that he can get to, that if he would ever get the kind of target share that Jackson Smith and Jigba got last year, he could have that kind of season. And that was with A.J. Brown still in the team. Obviously, A.J. Brown, who's had at least a 28% target share each of the last four years, now in New England. So then you think about

Devante Smith, who over the last two years, when A.J. Brown has been off the field, has gotten at least, has been targeted on at least 29% of his routes. It's a number. You're like, oh, that's a lot of numbers, Barry. What are you saying? Let me just give you an idea of some of the people that get targeted on 29% or more of their routes. It's Jamar Chase. It's Pooka and Nakua. It's Jackson. Jackson Smith and Jigba is the elite. Devante Smith has top five fantasy upside. He's going at the end of round two, sometimes in round three. Give me all the Devante Smith this year. I'm in a sort of sliding scale in my brain of how specific to go or broad. First, I'll go

broad here. Man, I could take in a million different directions with you and dig in on the Eagles offense in particular. But first of all, where are you philosophically on drafting a quarterback and when you should do that. Fairly late. I mean, listen, you know, it all depends on sort of when that quarterback falls to you. You know, if Josh Allen is there at the end of round three, then okay. You know, but he generally goes to the end of round two, sometimes middle of round three. But quarterback this year, Dave, is so deep. It's deeper than I think I've ever seen it. I have Bo Nix at QB15. And that's not me hating on Bo Nix, who has been a top 10 quarterback in fantasy each of the last two years. It's just that's how deep the position is.

You know, when you sit here and you go like, you know, you can get outside the top 15, when you can get guys like Jared Gott, you can get Baker Mayfield, you can get Malik Willis, who I think is going to have a very good fantasy year. Like, it's just, it's the craziest, the deepest I've ever seen the position. And so I tend to wait. I did a whole draft episode of Fantasy Popple Happy Hour, which is my show. And we walked you through and just at a very basic level, first couple of rounds, I think you want to go running back heavy.

I wouldn't mind it tied in. round three or four. Rounds four through six is where the sweet spot for the wide receivers. Then round seven, I really like a quarterback somewhere in the rounds five through seven range, getting a quarterback there. You can get a good one there. And then you can fill out for rounds eight and on with just sort of depth and wherever you missed out. But if you start wide receiver early, you're not going to like your build. It gets dicey quick at running back. Before we go any further here very quickly, get everybody up to speed. You mentioned guillotine league. And I imagine. a fair percentage of people don't know what that means. Explain. So,

guillotine league is really fun. It's basically like a fantasy football league. You have a, you have a league like normal, a draft like normal. You start a lineup like normal. There's two big twists. Number one is that at the end of the week, the team with the lowest score in the league gets cut, chopped. That's where the guillotine comes in, right? You know, you get cut and your season's over. You're done. And then you keep doing that until only one team remains. So that's twist number one. The second twist, which is really fun, is that all the players on the team that got cut go back into the free agent pool. I have to interrupt you real quick.

Matthew, I have to interrupt you real quick because I have Kevin Clark in between hits at first take. So I gave my top 25 best people I've ever met list. You were slotted perfectly at number seven. Better than Marty Fish, not as good as Dan Eagulli and Nicoletti. And Matthew Berry was like, Kevin Clark's better than Eagle Eye and Nicoletti. Kevin, are you better than Eagle Eye and Nicoletti? Eagli Nicoletti is the most important and charismatic person I've ever met my entire life. And if I was in prison, he'd be my first phone call.

That's right, Kevin Clark. Thank you very much. Wait, wait, wait, don't let him go. He's on first take. All right, but I'm saying, too. He has to choose. Matthew Barry. Okay, we'll text him back or call him back.

The next one is Matthew Barry or Dave Damashek. That's a good call. All right. Absolutely text him that. But here's what I would say. That's why Kevin Clark is such a good person. because of course he would say, no, no, no, I should not be right tired of. Don't mansplain friendship.

He told you. Again, you don't know Eagle Eye Nicoletti. You just don't. No flies. Maybe that's, yeah, I know a lot of people, Mike. I mean, I've been in this business a long time. You know, I'm a middle-aged man. I know a lot of freaking people.

I've known Dave Damashek for literally over 20 years. I know a lot of people, too. I know a lot of people. So the fact that I don't know him, I don't know, you know, maybe he's not as great a person as you think. Like, you know, I'm just saying. You heard it from the source. My favorite part of the football season is the confidence everybody has before a kickoff. Zaslo already knows how the game is going to end.

Tony has studied every possible matchup, and Chris Cody is convinced his fantasy team is unbeatable. Then the game starts, everything immediately goes off the rails, and suddenly nobody remembers making any of those predictions. That's why a legendary game day starts with an ice-cold Miller light, whether I'm at a tailgate, watching with friends, or settling in for a full Saturday of college football. Miller Light is the beer I can depend on. It's crisp, refreshing, and has a clean finish that hits perfectly during a hot South Florida game day.

Miller Light is the original light beer with great taste, and beer lovers have trusted it for more than 50 years. Make Game Day legendary. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Game time is Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 Cattle,

calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey, it's Roy, and I want to talk to you about blinds. I had one set of blinds that drove me crazy. Every single morning, one little gap would let in a laser beam of sunlight that hit me right in the face. And when I tried to roll them up, one side would always go higher than the other. I live with it that way longer than I should have because replacing blinds felt like a whole project.

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Mike Ryan. We're going to get that off the guy. World Rar 3, colon. Our group chat has a pretty good feeling about this one. This is the Dan Leverter show. Matthew Barry is right about this much at least. Kevin Clark just pulled a bullshit move there. Of course, that's what you do when asked about who do you like better yourself or the other guy?

You say, oh, the other guy's better. I only wish I could live up to that. Clark thinks a world of, all right, I asked Kevin Clark, I texted him. Matthew Berry or Dave Damashek, would you like to know the answer? I would. He said Matthew Barry. That son of a bitch. He's still raw about what happened in Miami in the national championship.

Yeah, you're a Hoosier. All right. Well, listen. But by the way, Dave, I think he got it wrong. I would have chosen you. No, no, no. You above me any day of the week. The one day.

Absolutely not, Damasek. Absolutely not. It is you all day, twice on Sunday. Stop it. Chris Cody. Chris Cody, we have the rarest of treats upon us right here. Matthew, we're doing a fantasy draft. I'm so mad.

Jeremy just took Devontas Smith. I did it. Right after Matthew said that, he's my right or die. I was up and I went, okay, let me go take Devonti Smith. So that's what I did. I want the stars to align so that it is my pick while I am talking to Matthew Barry and I can take his counsel in real time. Let me know when and if my pick arrives.

All right, let's talk some more fantasy. And in broad strokes, where do you come down in the year of our Lord 2026 on kickers? Should they be a part of fantasy? No. I love that. No, I'm anti-kicker. I play in leagues with them because the commissioner is stubborn and it's good for me just to have exposure to that.

But no, it's, you know, there's no statistical difference. It's more luck-based than, you know, fantasy already has too much. much luck involved in it. And then you add kickers, which is just all about the whims. And it's weird, like you get, you get more points. It's a 50-yarder versus a 49er, which 49-yarder, which doesn't happen in actual football. And I, no, no, completely completely with you. And the variance of defenses and whether they score and special teams and all of that. I got a text. And I thought the guy was kidding when he asked this. He said, I have the third pick in my draft. Is it too soon to take the Rams defense?

And I l-o-led at him. I said, and then I realized, oh, he's sincere. But how early, I guess it's dependent on your league scoring and everything else, but how much are you willing to reach on the Rams defense in 2026? See, I mean, I'm not that. I mean, like, honestly, you're probably better off. Like the defense that plays the Browns every week is probably going to score just as much as the Rams, if not. The fact of the matter is is that as brilliant as the Rams defense will be in the NFL, fantasy-wise, defenses, you know, the defenses that score a lot in fantasy are the ones that get turnovers and score touchdowns.

And defensive touchdowns are fluky, right? Is it a pick six or do they just, you know, do they make an interception, they run out of bounds? They take a knee, that kind of stuff. Fumbles are fluky, right? I think they will get a decent amount of sacks. I think they'll hold teams to a lower score, but, you know, maybe you could, you know, reach a round or two, but, like, I'm not going, you know, no,

I don't actively target defenses because I think it's too easy to stream defenses for leagues that play. And it's also, again, there's a lot of variance there. I am interested in what you said about the quarterbacks because you said it is a position-rich area this season at least. And running backs, I advocate taking them early because like gold, they are rare, the guys who are three-down backs.

And so you want to take one of those guys versus receiver, which is a deeper spot there. Where are you specific with tight ends right now? It goes Bowers and McBride is Loveland. You are so much better at this segment than Dan Lovettar. You are just humble in your back right now. good shit right now. Don't let us bother you.

Don't let us interrupt, but you're good at this. I'm getting good shit here. It's much better than Dan does it. Is Loveland now a part of the top tier tight end? Do you wait on him a little bit? He's literally like, I'm trying to take him in two picks. Do you shut up? When's in my pick, too?

I really want Matthew Barry to counsel me. You're up right before me. You're coming up in one pick. Well, I will tell you, to answer your direct question here, Dave Damashek, is that, yes, I mean, I have Colson Loveland at Titan 3. He was actually my runner-up for Ride or Die. And just looking at the position overall, and then I'll get back to Loveland. Real quickly, I want to be one of the first guys in my league

to draft a tight end or one of the last. I think there's a tier there with those three. Bowers, McBride, and Loveland in that order. I have Tyler Warren at four. I've Tucker crafted five. If I don't get one of those five guys, I want to wait. Because the difference from hitting like Titan 6 is like Sam Laporta. I was just going to say, I would assume that to it is, right.

Yeah, Leporta, Pitts, Carol Fanon. Like, I think all those guys are fairly similar to, like, I'd much rather have Isaiah likely in round 10 or 11. I think he's going to have a big year. I think Kittle's going to have a very big year, actually. I think Kittles going to, his price has been depressed because of the injury, but I think he's actually going to come back strong. And I think the injury concerns are baked into the price.

He's going like in the ninth, tenth round. So I would, if I don't get one of the top five guys, I want to. to wait and be one of the last guys. I like Joanne Johnson quite a bit in New Orleans this year, as he's going to be the number two pass catcher. Specifically to Lublin, though, like if you look at his average depth of target last year, over the final eight games, where he was getting like seven targets a game, he's averaging almost 100 yards a game. Like, and, you know, his average depth of target, it's not like this line of scrimmage stuff where a lot of tight ends operate. Like, they're throwing it deep to him. This is a guy that

was the first draft pick ever of Ben Johnson when he took over for the Bears. No DJ Moore, the burden's a little bit banged up. Kaimanangu's a little banged up. The Andre Swift left practice early yesterday. It's just cramps. He's going to be fine. But still, I think Cole's, I think I'm all in on the Bears offense over all this year. I'm a big believer in Ben Johnson.

And I think Loveland is going to be the center of that offense. Do you advocate for drafting an entire offensive skill guys? I think that that works. I know there's a fair amount of pushback on the idea of stacking even just a quarterback and his top pass catcher is that that is a mirage. that you are seduced by, I continue to be seduced by it. How say you? No, yeah, I mean, I like it. It's not something that I'm actively trying to do unless you're like in a best ball where Stacky's important. You're trying to optimize for points and you're in a large tournament.

But generally speaking, I don't mind the strategy because to your point, Dave, basically, look, when you're drafting a fantasy football team, you're basically trying to predict the future. That's what I do for a living. That's what we're all trying to do. And if you basically say, like, I'm in on the Bears this year and I'm going to try to get, I'm going to try to get one of Adunzean Burden. I'm going to try to get Swift, Williams, Loveland, you know, two or three of those pieces. Basically, you've just narrowed down your choices, right? You basically have to get one thing right.

The bears are going to be good, right? And if the bears are going to be good and that offense is going to be good, then generally speaking, most of the skilled players that you have around on that team are going to be good. So it's lessening the amount of decision-making you have to do. You basically have to just get one thing right as opposed to multiple things right. I mean, you know, if you further down, like, you have to guess right on the right players. Right. That's the specifics matter here.

If you take the entire Cowboys offense and they bust out, so too will your fantasy team. What is the best you can. Let's cobble together the all-time Syracuse fantasy roster. I assume the only option you really have is Donovan McNabb, right, at QB. I would think so, yeah. Is there any other Syracuse QB who? mattered in the NFL? Not in the NFL.

Not in the NFL. And we'll see what Comic Corps does. Your best runner. Who's your best fantasy runner? I guess you can go Jim Brown. He was pretty good. He was pretty good. Jim Brown was not bad. Jim Brown was not bad. Joe Morris was good. Yeah. I have to think about this. Like I mostly

think of, you know, I mean, like when I think of there weren't a lot of like, yeah, we had my pit my pit fantasy team would obliterate the cues yeah no Syracuse has not had great Syracuse has not had great success in the pros uh Marvin Harrison Marvin Harrison yeah yeah Kevin Johnson on the outside who Kevin Johnson on the outside yeah yeah Dwight Freeman on the edge but it's still not still not great why not there's not a tight end that we've had yeah I mean like um you know we have

We had, we had, why I'm blanking on the fullback team. Rob Johnston, who is, who, we had a, we had a good fullback. Rob Conrad. Got lost. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. What about versus the, you? That's right.

Rob Conrad. You know what? Hot take. Pitts, uh, pit. No, don't even try it, pal. In fantasy? You're, don't even. Advancing to the end?

Okay, Dan Marino. Lechon McCoy. All right. I'll take him word. Okay, I'll have, I'll take. Larry McChair. How about I go, how about I go, Dan Marino,

Tony Dorset, and Shady McCoy. Yeah, and you got Mark May opening on. Larry Fitzgerald. Mark May isn't a factor here, but I have Larry Fitzgerald. Yeah. Okay.

All right. Dicka. Pick your running back. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to sit here and try to defend Syracuse's performance in the in the pros. We're a better fantasy basketball team. We've got a pretty sick fantasy basketball team.

you know, starting with Mello, of course. But, yeah, not a good, not a good fantasy football team. Derek Coleman, who's the all-time fantasy point guard? Is it Sherm? Pearl Washington didn't do much. Pearl Washington is pretty good. There's a lot of people that also go McNamara. Yeah, oh, well, I mean, yeah, I mean, not in the pros, but yeah, I mean,

with Pearl or Sherman. Let's try this by division here a little bit, Matthew Barry. I was about to ask you because I'm a Steelers fan. I don't know if I've ever mentioned. I'm born and raised in Pittsburgh. I think it's come up once or twice. on the show. But either way, I would ask you what Steelers you might want to have. I assume Aaron Rogers is not the answer to that question. But let's go entire AFC North. Let's fill out the

ultimate, the ideal roster from just the AFC North. Which QB do you want? Burrow or Lamar. I have Lamar at two and Burrow at five. So they're both right there. Although Joe Burrow is a proud fantasy life investor. So I don't want to get in trouble there. But I do have, I have Lamar at two and I had Burrow at five. You know, I'd like to see Matthew Barry with Joe Burroughs hair do. That'd be nice on you. Breaking news from the WMBA Commissioner, Kathy Englebert, has decided to retire at the end of the season. That is what they're calling it.

That's what she decided to retire, huh? Well, you know, she's going out on top. We're doing it. Yeah, they're giving an important exercise. They're giving an, yeah. I want to hear past. Interesting, by the way, my, Kathy Engelbert did not make Mike Ryan's top 25. No, just outside.

She's no Dan Dockich, I'll tell you that. Others receiving votes. You really, right, Mike, you really should have had others receiving votes. Along with his daughter. No? No, no family on this list. Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks? I know it well.

It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it. But it's because Tony usually walks in with Quervo. Walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quervo is a thing that turns hanging out. into this is the night.

It has that effect on people. It does. You usually take the credit for it. But again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it quervo.

Keep it quervo, baby. Ah, folks, listen up. You wouldn't want an offense alignment to play wide receiver, would you? No, you wouldn't. You need the right person. You need the right equipment for the job. That applies to football,

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Hey, Damichick. You know about that, Jadaicus? Dave Demichick. No, I don't. Okay. I figured. This is the Danlebatar show. I don't need to be three, and if I would have been 25, I would have been thrilled.

So to be ahead of Kevin Clark, it might be controversial, whatever. I'll just take the win of being on the top 25. I'm surprised you guys who didn't make the list aren't more offended. I would be destroyed. If I were sitting here... What were my expectations, Steve Day. When you have UNDA 25, I just know I'm not making that list. I know how Mike Ryan feels about it.

I think Mike Ryan might be going to hell because he doesn't have the decency to put you on the list when you're in the room with him. No, that's... I'm a real one. I actually appreciate the honesty. I don't think... I think he put together the list very quickly and did no research whatsoever. I don't think he punched the numbers. You shut the fuck up, my list. All right?

You don't know my list better than me. Are you that much... I don't think you get the work. No, Matthew Barry. I don't think you did the work. I think you're, you know what, Mike Ryan? I think you're doing a hot take thing here. I don't think you did the work.

Yeah. I didn't do the work on my list. I don't think you looked at the data. I'm with you. You don't know Zabba. I'm with Barry. You don't know Zabo. His name is Wayne.

We call him Zabo. And every time he comes up to a group, he goes, A.O. are you? And I love that about him. No. Love it about him. It's absolutely not. Nah.

You just, they just, you got called for a last minute segment. We need a hot take, Mike Ryan, and you're like, all right, let me throw something together. That's what happened right there. That's what happened right there. There's no thought got, went into that. You can't defend it. Billy Lucci is a, it's all right. It's all right.

We've all, we've all half-ass segments in our lives, you know, and just own up to this. You know what? You, Matthew Barry. Holy, holy, you Matthew Barry. Whoa. You, you. A-C. You're stupid ass.

What the hell? Wow. How are we going to go from here? Here's the question for you. Is it the top 25 people that you like the most? Or is it just the top 25 people that will actually talk to you? You know what? He is cooking right now.

Let me give you a list of people. I'm going to beat the ever-loving shit out of the next time I see him in person. Number one, Matthew Berry. You know, Matthew Barry will be joining us every week for his fantasy advice. Maybe one week we can get his top 25 people. You know, Matthew Barry, you know what else is no worth... Guess who just took a shit where he eats? Matthew Barry.

You know what? Matthew Barry is on my list also. Two first names. Oh. What? It has happened. Spelled differently. But Matthew Barry, this is going to be a long season

if we don't fix this right now, and there's only one way you can fix it. Give me a deep sleeper. Like the deepest, nastiest, the deepest, nastiest, the deepest, nastiest B-Sy. you can think of. Give me the hipsters picks. Give me a guy that might be on the practice squad right now that you're expecting big things out of. I want your nastiest sleeper. Okay. I don't know that this guy's going to be on the practice squad because he's on the 53 and he's going to be on the field.

But he is somebody that's going outside the top 100 picks that I love a lot and I have a ton of them. And that's Jonah Coleman, rookie running back for the Denver Broncos. Look, we love J.K. Dobbins, but he has never played all 17 games throughout his NFL career. The Broncos got to look at R.J. Harvey as the lead running back last year. Like, we're going to draft Jonah Coleman. Jonah Coleman can play all three downs. I believe he's the best running back on that team. Sean Payton likes to use multi-running back, so he's going to get a shot early where they can see what he can do.

And my expectation here is over the second half of the year, Jonah Coleman is the lead running back of the Denver Broncos. I think he's the best guy in that room, and I think they're going to realize that. And I think he takes over this job over the second half of the season. Play that breaking news thing. Go ahead, Chris Cody. Cyrus Allen.

Talk to me. That's not the breaking news. Who said I had breaking news? I thought you were about to tee up that Matthew Barry is going to help me make my pick because it's time for the cool cats spelled with two Ks to pick. Without any level of communication. Some bad chemistry. That shit would never happen to me in Eagle Eye.

Did you tell me that with your eyes? I don't know you were flagging me as though you had something. I was going next. I want to know about Cyrus Allen. Talk to me, Matthew Barry. Look, Cyrus Allen, I really like the tape from college. The question is how much he was. can he get onto the playing field, right?

Xavier Worthy is somebody that I'm hearing a lot of buzz about out of Kansas City, you know, that he's gotten stronger. Remember, this is the guy that we've drafting in the first four rounds last year, gets the friendly fire with Travis Kelsey, hurts his shoulder, spends the rest of the year running, you know, a very limited route to try to protect him. We're still wondering about Rishi Rice and what his usage is going to be, how healthy is he?

So the question with Cyrus Allen, like the talent a lot, but if you think that, like, I feel like every single year, there is a buzzy late round chief's rookie at a camp think about Sky Moore. Think about DeNerec Oh Sky Moore. Think about Mikol Hardman. Like I mean, I just every year there's a team so I mean

I think Cyrus Allen is better than those guys but do I think he has an immediate impact? I am not sure. I don't mind him as a late round flyer, absolutely not. But it's just they got a lot of amounts to feed and I just think with the Chiefs they went out, they paid a lot of money for Ken Walker, they're going to have a good defense. I think they want to be

more run heavy this year. I mean, you don't pay that kind of money to Ken Walker to just, you know, have them pass pro and Mahomes throw it 35 times a game. Like, I think they're going to be more balanced offense. All right. And their defense is good. They're not going to be in shootouts anymore. Right, which means that they'll probably lean on Ken Walker a little bit more than they might have in past seasons. But now that I really do want to get Matthew Barry's counsel here, but all right, let's talk about Ken Walker quickly because a lot of people are buzzing about him.

Where is he for you? How much more does he elevate? in that Chief's offense over what we've seen from him with the Seahawks. Absolutely love him this year. Another finalist for my ride or die. I'm at running back six this year, much higher than consensus. I have him over Saquan, Barclay, over Devon A. Chan, just when he has gotten, at least 18 touches a game.

He's averaging over 18 fantasy points for game throughout his career. All the reports out of the Chiefs camp is that they're going to use him in the passing game. That's something that he hasn't really done throughout his career except for the one year with Ryan Grub in Seattle. But he is a good pass catcher. He has that big breakaway speed. So, you know, the Chiefs have always been one of the higher scoring offenses. They're always, you know, since Andy Reid got there in the Mahomes era,

they're always one of the league leaders in terms of red zone trips, in terms of red zone rush attempts as well. So they always, they're always in scoring position often. They get a lot of opportunities. So I think Ken Walker just has a monster here. There's no real competition in that backfield. He's going to be, you know, the lead running back on an extreme. good offense. Dave, make your pick. I mean, think about Andy Reid, right? Andy Reid made

Charcendrick West a thing. He made Spencer wear a thing. Like Ken Walker's going to have a monster season here. That's right. Quickly, because we have important business to tend to, Patrick Mahomes, draftable even outside your 15? I'm at QB 14. I think a lot of people forget that 25% of his fantasy points last year came from his legs. He runs more than he gets credit for. How much does he run this year off of the injury? And again, the fact that they now have Ken Walker. So, high-end QB2 for me this year. Okay. All right, here it is.

Let's do it. The all-time phone a friend. I feel like this is special. I bet you're summoned to do this quite a bit, right? You can't make your pick for you. That's horse shit. What? I said I'm going to seek his counsel.

I'm going to push the button. I'm just asking him what he thinks. Matthew Barry. Yes, sir. The all-time whiz of fantasy football. It is now time for my cool cats, spelled with 2Ks, to make their third. round pick, we're adding on to Jonathan Taylor, who I claimed with the eighth overall pick.

I feel like a relative steal to get him at eight. And then I came back with Nico Collins. So I have the running back. I have my first receiver. Now on the board with my third pick, Garrett Wilson, Malik neighbors, Ted McMillan, Zay Flowers, Egbuka. Skip to right over Etienne. McConkey. I'm just giving him the receivers first. Then the runners available. Brees Hall, Javante Williams, Travis A. Chan. I believe that is the update now. What about Travis A. Chan? Shut your mouth. Or Loveland. Matthew, do not say Loveland, Matthew. Or Judkin. If it was me, Matthew. Matthew. Is asking my counsel. I have a lot of Colston

Loveland this year. Where are you picking? And where are you picking, Dave? I am picking What pick are you? I am pick number 30. What is it? He's the eighth pick out of 12 teams. It's the 30 second overall pick. Okay.

So right. So you're going to you're going to pick again in like six to eight picks again. Yeah. If it were me, I would go, I would either go Loveland or Breeze Hall. I think Loveland's there. There's a lot of good wide receivers. I think has been made. I think Loveland's there on the way back.

Is he? He took Lovelin. Matthew. Great advice. That was great. That was really nice. So Matthew Barry to help me out there. And then, and then, Dan, coming back around, I would, Dave, sorry, Dave, when coming back around, if one of those three running backs is there, I would take one of those three running backs that you mentioned.

Otherwise, Zay Flowers and Ladd-McConkie are my favorites of the wide receivers you mentioned. Well, speaking of Zay Flowers, that's what I was going to ask you as we return to the AFC North conversation, Jamar Chase and T. Higgins or D.K. Metcalf and Zay Flowers. This should be fairly easy, right? you're going orange and black. Give me Zay Flowers. Give me Zay Flowers. Dave, give me one second to tell

I was supposed to do serious XM three minutes ago. Oh, no. Let's get him out of here. Hang on. No, no. I'll just do this right here. Please stay.

Hey, can you guys push me to the next segment real quick? I'm still on with Dan Levitard. No, no, no. Name check me, please, please. All right. Thanks. All right.

It literally doesn't hold the same thing. There you go. There you go. That is a power move right there. All right. Matthew Barry goes up the charts just a little bit. That was pretty cool. Just a little bit.

Trying to get into other receiving votes for Mike Ryan. That's a tough road to hoe for you, pal. I understand. I understand. That's all right. I got a whole season to work on. All right. Yes, you'll be counseling everybody on the Labitard show and beyond for the whole season here.

But D.K. Metcalfe. How say you? Oh, Christ. No, thank you. D.K. Metcalfe made by hate list this year. And again, hate is always such a strong word. But so I don't hate the player. I always just hate the ADP. And the problem with D.K. Metcalf is that he plays with a quarterback who had the lowest average depth of target last year. D.K. Metcalf works best as a red zone threat and as, you know, going deep, winning 50, 50 balls. And Aaron Rogers is throwing, you know, at this stage of his career, Aaron Rogers has become kind of a dink and dunker. you know, throughout the, you know, he's somebody that throws closer to the line of scrimmage.

And you look at the numbers last year from, from D.K. Metcalf. Now you've added target competition with Michael Pittman. I really like Jeremy Bernard, the rookie out Alabama, roll tide. You know, you've got you've got two running backs that are going to touch the ball. You've got a bunch of tight ends. I think the big Steelers are going to be a good football team this year. But I think fantasy-wise, other than the running backs as sort of flexes and going back for our kicker conversation, I do like Chris Boswell.

Right. I don't think there's a lot of fantasy success to be had in Pittsburgh because I just, I don't think Pittman's going to be a big touchdown score. I don't think Metcalf is either. I think they're going to sort of divide the targets. And even though Mike McCarthy will be more pass heavy than the offense was under, you know, Tomlin and his staff, it doesn't feel like it's going to be a high scoring offense because I don't think it's going to need to be.

I think the Steelers is going to be typical Pittsburgh football, right? You know, they're going to play good defense. they're going to play ball control conservative offense and, you know, grind out a lot of wins. Yeah, I just don't know that there's a lot of fantasy value on that team. I guess the fantasy value is in the defense. I do think if one of those two running backs emerges and the guy at the back end of tight ends, Pat Friermouth, I think it swings hard back in his direction. All right. We've reached the Friermouth portion of this.

We can let him. All right. I'm saying goodbye to him. I'm having a conversation with my friend Matthew Barry, who it's murky. Right. Who ranks ahead of whom? I'm sure of it. Matthew Barry, you're going to be here all season long, very exciting stuff, founder of

FantasyLife.com, Fantasy Football, Happy Hour with Matthew Barry, NBC Sports and Peacock. Good catching up, Pally. Good luck to you in fantasy. I guess you don't need it. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. Good luck. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry. It's a banger of a song, even though he's a real son of a bitch. Dave, you were complaining about Labor Day earlier. Yeah. And I know like the workforce, you know, we get mad about it sometimes. But I will say there was something really cool that I saw earlier this week where the Colts social media intern was doing a video and just kind of doing her job trying to, trying to, you know, film one of the players.

I guess they were handing out like different, you know, thoughts about the year. And then you can see in this video that we're about to play. but that one of the players, I believe it's Tyler Warren, ends up handing her a piece of paper, if you guys can roll this video. You could see that Tyler Warren hands a piece of paper and she looks at it, and you ultimately realize you see a shocked look on her face

and you can see from this camera angle, it says, congrats on being a full-time employee. So they have this super cool moment that they can post a social where they're filming her, she's filming it, and I always think it's great when you can make someone feel like the hard work that they put in.

has paid off. So if you're a fan of mystery crate, you know you can apply to be Chris Cody's intern. And maybe Chris Cody will one day hand one of those pieces of paper to you, right, Chris? You can hire them full time? That's right. You know, we might make Jeremy full time eventually too. Yeah, maybe one day.

Maybe one day I'll also get that piece of paper. And I think folks that that's worth a toast. Worth a Toast is presented by Cuervo. Keep it fun. Keep it quervo. Where some see heroes and other see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire. athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings, the end of jobs, or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the

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