The Ringer NFL Show - Preseason Week 1 Winners

Episode Date: August 16, 2021

We go over everything we learned from Week 1 of preseason and determine how it’s changing our thinking, including the rookie QB debuts, the RBs and WRs who stood out, injury updates, and dynasty players to trade for or trade away. Finally, we read a particularly regretful listener email about Santa Claus. QB watch (5:09) Preseason winners (35:40) Injury updates (50:40) Dynasty trade targets (52:37) We ruined Santa Claus for a kid (65:08) Check out our UPDATED rankings on The Ringer's 2021 Fantasy Football Draft Guide here. Email us at [e-mail]. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. I wanted to tell you about a new podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. It's going to be on the Ringer Reality Podcast. What's it called, Johnny Bananas? Death, Taxes and Bananas. We're going to be breaking down this season of the challenge, Hall of Fame episodes, and I'm going to be taking you behind the curtain of America's fifth major sport.

Are we getting special guests? We're going to have special guests. We're going to have special effects. The show is just going to be special. I can't wait. Check it out. Death, Taxes, and Bananas on the Ringer Podcast Network. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show.

My name is Danny Hyfitz, and I am joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Coralbeck. Before we get in anything, please go to fantasyfurtball. orghum. Please, our draft guide is there. It is up. It is beautiful. It works on your phone. Please.

Whatever your brows, please. We're just shameless and desperate at this point. It is different than the other ones. It's not like your other man's. Please check it out of fantasy football. The ringer.com. It's good. And it's updated.

Okay. Enough of my shameless plugging. Week one of the preseason is done. It is over. We're going to go over everything we learned and how it's changing our thinking. But first, is it? Did we learn anything? Should it change our thinking?

DK. Does preseason week one mean anything? Does the preseason mean anything? I mean, yeah, I think it means something. I think at the very least, you get to kind of see how teams are sort of sorting out their starting units. I mean, obviously a lot of teams just sit all their starters. But for the teams that did play quote unquote starters, you can start to see how the teams have these guys in mind, like how they're used on first and second down versus third down.

the situations they're used and are they in, which personnel are they in? Things like that are definitely helpful. I think from like a big picture point of view, especially for, and we're going to talk about the rookie quarterbacks, but like rookie quarterbacks,

this is their first action, this is their first time playing in the NFL, technically speaking. I know that it's exhibition, but it's still like a big deal for them. And so it's good to see how they react, the kind of poise they show, all the different things that they're learning,

how quickly they're picking up the offense, all that stuff. I think all that stuff does matter. And, you know, at the end of the day, you can't overreact, but I do think that there are things that you can kind of pick up on, just by watching the preseason. And that is why I went and watched like a psycho all the preseason games over the weekend.

All of them. Well, I didn't, I'll be honest, I didn't watch most of the fourth quarters because that was getting into, like, literally players I've never heard of territory. The fourth quarters are tough. It's just tough football. It's rough. But for the most part, yeah, I watched all three quarters, two and a half, three quarters of all the other games. A lot of fun stuff, a lot of exciting stuff. A lot of, oh, there's a few

things here and there that were kind of sad. Like Denzo Mims, still not playing with the ones. Still not playing with the twos. Kind of playing with the threes at this point still. He's like the sixth receiver on that squad still. You're right though, D.K., I think you made a good point there about like preseason. I feel like it's almost more schematically telling what people do more than it is like the yard somebody puts up. Like it's interesting to see, you know, like with Washington, like Antonio Gibson didn't play a lot of third downs. J.D. McKissick did. And It's like, it's not how many yards they put up as who plays what snaps and what downs.

So that is very telling. But preseason in general, we all get so intoxicated with, I think, seeing football on our television screens. I went back and looked at, there was no preseason last year because of COVID. 2019, here are the best performers of week one in preseason 2019. Spencer Schnell, do you know who that is?

I do not. We all know Spencer Schnell? 120 yards receiving for the bucks in week one. Mike Boone, D. D.K.'s boy had 70 yards in a touchdown for the Vikings in 2019. DeShon Kaiser, lit it up. T.J. Jones had 72 yards on the Giants. So I'm just saying, you know, temper the expectations a bit. This is sobering. This is sobering, Craig.

Kevin Cork loves to tweet out every year that the New York Times had the headline Ryan Leaf outdoules Peyton Manning in the season debut. I mean, it is important to remember that. Correct. The Pats gave 22 carries to somebody named Nick Brossette. So, I mean, if you don't know Nick Brouset, I don't know if you even care of the NFL. Ryan Griffin at 330 yards for the box passing. Well, Craig's an anti-preseason guy. He's like he needs FDA approval. in the preseason before he takes any stock. Who can trust it right now? I do.

I don't trust the CDC, which is preseason. I need FDA approval. So I think the preseason reminds me of the combine where you're kind of looking for confirmation or things that stand out. So like the combine, it's like, does it really matter how fast the guys run the 40-R dash in their shorts?

Not really. The teams don't care. It's, is that guy is fast in person with our eyeballs as when we saw him on tape. Because that guy's strong as he looked, like agile. The test in a vacuum, me nothing. The test are simply to confirm what you saw on tape. I think that when I'm looking

at the preseason, I'm looking, okay, even just who's not playing? Okay, these automatic starters are just not getting reps. Okay, is that what the depth chart? Is that how we thought it was? Cool. Most of the depth charts are as we thought they were. But the three or four or five that are not as we thought they were are very interesting. And we can sift through all the boring stuff so that we can just tell you the things that actually didn't align with what we already thought. Yeah. I think the biggest thing, honestly, is this was the weekend of, the rookie quarterbacks because there was five rookie quarterbacks. Everybody was extremely excited to see how these quarterbacks look. And I mean, generally speaking, I think they all look pretty good.

Like none of them had a bad game, right? There was definitely reason to be excited about each and every one of them. Mac Jones, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, Zach Wilson, Trevor Lawrence. So I think the first thing we want to do is just talk about like the eye test. Like how did these guys look to your eye? Who do you guess I want to start with? Well, let's just do this. D.K., who passed the eye test with flying color? colors to you. I think there are tears, I think. Yeah, I would say Justin Fields definitely looked really good.

I agree. I think he was the best looking rookie QB in my mind. Because the stats are really tough because, like, Trey Lance was 5 for 14, but there was a couple drops. But like, you really got to watch the type of throws they're making. Like, Zach Wilson didn't throw a ball past nine yards. Trevor Lawrence kind of checked down a couple times. So it's like, you can have a high completion percentage. You're like, ooh, Trevor Lord is a six for nine, but it's like, yeah, three of them were

dump-offs. Yeah. But, like, I would say Fields looked the best, was doing the most. Him and Lance took a lot of shots. They played a lot. I think the number one thing that stood out to me is how fucking fast Justin Fields is. Yeah. This is like a 4-4 guy and he's big, too.

He's like thick. He scored on a touchdown on like a broken play scramble and kind of just like put his shoulder down and the DV was just like, yeah, I'm not going to try and tackle this guy. He had that other long one on the sideline where he just like split. It would look like he was fast-forwarded through like. a slow motion defense. He looks like if Dak Prescott and Kyler Murray were like

fused together. It doesn't make sense seeing his body move that fast. Yeah. It's important to remember what 4-4 means. Like, his best receiver is Alan Robinson in Chicago. Alan Robinson ran a 4-5-6. Justin Fields is faster than Alan Robbins. Oh my God, that's insane. He's very fast. So let's just start with Fields because

I think, generally speaking, the first three series that he was in were very nondescript. Like he basically got into a third and long in the first series, a third and long on the second series didn't really do anything. Those situations, and this was because they were running and they couldn't run, you know, the first two downs or whatever.

Those situations don't really give you a whole lot of information. Now, some of his best plays did come against second and third string guys later on in the game. So there's that caveat. But like overall, I think he showed to me he looked very poised. He was in command. He even said this and this is hopefully not going to be like a famous last words thing. But like someone asked him if the game was like fast to me to him and he was like, actually it kind of felt slow.

I'm like, dude, you don't have to say that. Just don't say that. But it did look like he was processing well. He was poised for the most part. He made a couple of really nice throws. He showed off his athleticism. Yeah, so I think that overall he had a really good day. And it's something to grab onto, if you're a bearish fan,

like all this stuff is positive. They're still talking about how they're going to start Andy Dalton. And again, we've talked about this on the show. I think it actually does make sense. Every time I hear these coaches talk about this now, I'm just like, yeah, this makes sense. They're going to say until it's 100% clear that Fields is ready to start, they're going to say that Andy Dalton is their guy. Because if they say this too early and then Fields just shits the pet in the next couple of games, going back on that could be like a disastrous decision. You know what I mean?

So basically, they're just going to lie their asses off until it's 100% clear that Fields is ready to go. So that's fine. Whatever. I don't think it's even a lie. It's true. truth is you're a coach in charge of 90 players right now right you're not in control of it why pretend you're in control just be like the truth is they're taking it every day listen parents lie all the time about pretending they don't have a favorite kid but you got to do that so i only got one

they got scottorlbeck over there so let's talk about you mentioned tray lance i think he was another guy that had some extremely impressive highs like his throw his 80 yard touchdown throw or whatever was was extremely impressive he rolled out to his left yeah and a up finding a guy that was going across the field to his right and just unleashed his throw. Like, he has an incredible arm. But that being said, you know, he, to me, he looked a little shaky at times. I don't think he was like as, he wasn't as dialed in as some of the other rookie quarterbacks. I think that part of that was, um, the protection wasn't really holding up. He took a couple, I think he took four sacks. Um, the receivers were definitely not helping out.

Like, he made one really nice throw on like a deep out. The receiver just dropped. And that would have been like move the chains type of situation and I think instead they had to punt. So like there was definitely like some situations there where his teammates just didn't really help him out. But I think there was high highs and then, you know, he looked like a rookie at other times. But again, it's like what it. He looked to me tools wise like, you know, just holy shit. Like what an arm. You know, he showed up accuracy, all that stuff. And I think overall he is like fields trending to be like the starter. I don't know if it's going to be quite as soon though. because I think Jimmy G was fine too.

And in the 49ers case, they're really not showing any signs that Lance is going to be the week one starter yet. So I read Peter King's column this week for pro football talk. I felt like Matt and Aggie was speaking directly to us because Matt Nagy was talking, the head coach of the Bears, was talking Peter King specifically about starting Justin Fields.

And Peter King made the point that Matt Nagy was the offensive coordinator in Kansas City when the chiefs sat Patrick Mahomes for an entire year behind, Alex Smith. And that worked out. Not that Justin Fields is Patch of Holmes or it's the same, blah, blah, blah. But the point being, Matt Nagy's not committed to just playing Justin Fields immediately. And Matt Nagy basically was like, look, some people get caught in the moment and short term and just really wanted

to happen because it'll satisfy them. And I was like, yeah, that's me. That's pretty much it. That's what we're doing. And so I think it's totally reasonable to expect Tray Lance or Fields to play at some point this season. I think the reality, the line that Nagy said that stuck with me is He said, whatever happens will happen organically. I think that's actually the truth. It's one thing to believe, you know, they have this whole plan and week three, you know, when the schedule gets easier to play. The truth is like we don't know what's going to happen.

These guys just have a very high likelihood of playing when shit hits the fan. But the reality is the Niners have a pretty easy schedule this year, relatively speaking, and it starts kind of easily that if the Niners get in a role, it might be hard for them to move on from Jimmy G until something goes wrong. And that also the Bears, I'm worried that they feel like Fields might, I'm worried that Fields might be more of an October guy, maybe even a November guy than in September, unless they start losing pretty quick.

I thought it was interesting that Nagy was talking about how, I mean, this is something that he's going to say regardless, but he's like, I'm not worried about my job. Like, I'm worried about doing what's best for Justin Fields in the long run and what's best for the Bears.

And that's really what you want this Bears coaching staff to do what's best for the long term of the team. That doesn't always happen when you have a lame duck coach who might get fired or is on the hot seat. And I think Nagy realizes, is like, it's like a contradiction because he knows, like, if this doesn't go well this year, he could get fired. But also, it would be bad.

It would suck if they ended up putting him into early and things just go haywire and they, like, potentially, like, throws Justin Fields off track. So, I don't know. To me, he's saying the right stuff. I do think ultimately that Fields is trending much quicker to being the week one starter than maybe Lance. And then with the other guy,

So, like, obviously, Zach Wilson and Trevor Lawrence, both are going to be the week-one starters. Let's talk about both of those guys real quick. And then we can't-Machshunders too. Well, Gardner-Minshu is, like, why can't I compete for this job? Dude, they're still giving Gardner-Minshu, like, first-team snaps. It just doesn't make any sense to me unless they're just trying to, like... I still like Gardner. ...filled up Minchew's trade value.

Minchu did not look good in this game. I would say Trevor Lawrence looked pretty good. Like, he started out the game holding on the ball too long. He got sacked with his first snap. What an idiot. made a couple of really nice throws. Like he, on his first third down, on his first third down,

he hit a really nice, like, a throw on, like, a comeback route for a first down. He had that one big throw up the seam to Marvin Jones on, like, a broken play. That was really cool. I would say overall, it was relatively quiet. Like, the offense didn't score a point when he was in there. You know, they struggled to move ball at times,

and he looked a little bit, like, unsure in the pocket here and there. But, like, overall, positive. like I wouldn't say like anything was surprising or shocking it wasn't in a negative situation. With Zach Wilson, same deal like yeah, he didn't really push the ball down the field.

He did have one nice throw on like an out route for a first down where he just hit his back foot, ball came out fast, like accurate, all that stuff. But like overall, nothing about his performance was necessarily scintillating or worrying.

It was just kind of like a good first game, right? Yeah, I think he had a couple just like straight misses. Like he just like threw a couple balls like into the ground on an out route that you're like okay. But I mean again, it's just so early. Like think about how long. Yeah. Think about how long it takes anyone to get good at anything. Like this was his first game. It's like hard to judge him. I didn't think he looked particularly that good. One thing I did notice is he peppered Corey Davis and I'm starting to think maybe Corey Davis needs to be bumped up a little bit. I know I'm doing exactly what I just said people shouldn't do. But I know that a big draft secret that our man, J. J. Zacharisen does over at Fandle is that you want to draft the number one wide receiver on kind of an ambiguous wide receiver field. And that is exactly what Corey Davis is. Well, yes, right now, this is ignoring the fact that Elijah Moore was not in the game. I really want to see how it all shakes out when Elijah Moore's in there. I would definitely agree with you, though. Like, Corey Davis looked like the go-to guy, the number one guy in that offense. I think he hit him three times. Maybe like the first three throws. throws. Yeah. God, that was like three throws or free throws?

I think went to Corey Davis and so like, yeah, he's clearly going to be a big part of this offense. He's not coming down. He's not coming off the field on any certain situation. Like, you know, if they're playing like two receiver sets,

he's staying out there. Which they did a lot of. And I think that's the one thing about the Jets offense is they have a million wide receivers. But reports are that, you know, Mike LaFloor worked for Kyle Shanahan and is presumed to

run a Kyle Shanahan style two tight end, two wide receiver. and if that's the case, maybe Elijah Moore won't be on the field that much and Corey Davis will always be on the field. Yeah, yeah. So Trevor Lawrence, so Justin Fields and Trey Lance

passed with flying colors. Zach Wilson has walking colors. I don't know what... Zach Wilson was fine. I would say Trevor Lawrence was fine. I don't think either of them looked amazing. I don't think neither of them looked bad. Neither of them looked amazing.

I think Trey Lance was really good on a couple of throws and a little uncertain on a couple other throws. And then same with Fields. Like, I think Fields looked really, I think he probably had the best day of the group. I agree, best commands. Just based on his overall, like.

Well, can we talk about McCorkel? All of his plays. McCorkel? Mac Jones. I thought he was pretty solid, too. I did, too. He kind of had Happy Feet a little bit. He kind of reminded me of Philip Rivers,

just kind of watching him. He also looks like he's playing in 1998, the way his pads fit. He just doesn't look like he's so different than Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Justin Beals. He's so far on the other side. Stylistically. Yeah, he just kind of stands there.

He has like the Peyton Manning, like kind of Philip Rivers, like kind of frenetic vibe, but he like was pretty accurate on every throw. Listen, I think Mack Jones should start ASAP, but that's just me. Asap.

It's a big week for the Patriots because they, so they have two joint practices with the Eagles this week, and then they play the Eagles in the preseason on Thursday. And I think based on how this week goes, this is the week for the Patriots quarterback competition. I have no idea what Belichick does. I have no interest in particular.

tending to know what Bill Belichick thinks about anything. However, I think that if one guy, whether it's Cam or Mac, goes up and one guy's stock goes down this week, I think that matters a lot for this job. And so, you know, if they both play somewhat the same,

who knows. But I think it's a big week to watch whether someone deviates or someone separates themselves from the back. It's such a, I think, like, this quarterback competition in particular has the potential to, like,

really change the style of offense for a team. team. You know what I mean? Like, you know, I think the 49ers for the most part are going to be similar. They'll probably run more with Trey Lance, but they're going to run the same type of passing game. Like, Mac Jones could really unlock the passing game for the Patriots, whereas like these other guys, it's going to be a similar passing game, I guess. Because Mac Jones is just so much more of a rhythm passer, more accurate. I think he probably gets rid of the ball a little bit more quickly, distribute the football. Like, like, stylistically, is just so different than Cam Newton. So, that to me is just so interesting how that's going to go

and it's going to have major major implications for fantasy because like honestly if Cam Newton is the quarterback for the Patriots this season it like takes all the receivers off the board more or less like you might as well just like wait till the last round for any of these guys

if Mac Jones is the quarterback it's totally different so listen to the things we're saying DK's like Mac Jones is more accurate better rhythm passer he'll distribute the ball more if Mac Jones starts the entire Patriots team will probably be a stock up up. It's like, why are we, what's Cam Newton good at? Like, why are we debating this? Why shouldn't

it just be Mac Jones? Because like, we can't predict what Bill Belichick is going to do, right? Like, Bill Belichick might have, he just might do this, like, I trust the veteran thing. And he's like, I trust the veteran to do this. No, I know, but I'm just saying the way you're complimenting Mac seems like it's obvious that it should be him. I know Cam's injury was a big thing last year, and he may have not been himself. And I guess maybe that's the difference is if he goes back to old Cam this year, you know, maybe he should start over Mac Jones. But from everything that everybody says, it just seems like Mac Jones is just a better passer. And it seems to me like the better passer should be the one playing quarterback. Okay. Updated. So let's, fantasy stock here for

these rookie quarterbacks. Lawrence is number one that hasn't changed, right? Or he had a bad preseason a game. So he's last now. Well, he took that sack. So that was tough. He took the sack. So he's dead to us. I think honestly, though, he looked good. Like his like tools like, yeah, he was as described. Like he's as advertised. Lawrence is still number one. Okay. Stock the same. Is Justin field stock up to number two, although he's been in kind of a time of Trey Lance this whole time. So the two of them are still in that second tier of like you want them as a backup quarterback, later rounds, and you want to hold them and hopefully they start starting, and then they're unbelievable for you.

I feel like field stock went up, Trey Lansing's stock didn't change. Okay. And then, yeah, with Wilson and Mack Jones, I would say just kind of neutral. Mac Jones, maybe stock up a bit. Okay. More importantly, offensive rookie of the year odds from Fandle Sportsbook. Yeah. usually always a quarterback, unless there's not good quarterbacks that year. This year,

it's overwhelmingly probably going to be quarterback. Trevor Lawrence is 3 to 1, Justin Fields is 5 to 1, Tray Lance is 6 to 1, Zach Wilson's 8 and a half to 1, Mac Jones is 10 to 1. Of those odds, D.K., which of those odds do you like, which of those odds do you like the best rookie of the year? Probably Lance, and this is not based on the preseason week one games, but just the fact that the same deal we've been talking about for like the last couple weeks, Number one. I think Lance is going to be in the best, like, he's in the best system. I trust Shanahan to design a system that's going to work for him really well. Also, their schedule down the stretch

is really, really light. So I could see Trey Lance finishing really strong, which always does help in the voters' minds. Like, what have you done for me lately kind of deal? He might not end up starting right away, but I think he has a chance to be like really good, like finish the year really, really strong. And that to me is what makes this a pretty good bet. I, the only thing is, is like, if you want to just play the odds here, I mean, I think it's Trevor Lawrence. He's going to start all 17 games. Like, Fields, Lance and Matt Jones might not get into week eight. And it's like, do you really want to invest your money on somebody who literally, regardless of how good they play, won't have enough games on their resume to be considered?

I mean, I agree with that. You can talk yourself into Zach Wilson at eight and a half to one. I think he's probably the worst, maybe quarterback of these five guys, but he's going to play every game. So even if he's, you know, if he's decent, eight and a half to one, it's not bad for the second overall. Stats do matter, yeah, for these awards. Like overall stats are certainly hugely significant. So have you got, I guess, like, to button all this up, do you have any change in heart or thought

in how early fields or lance is going to start? Because obviously that's what we're talking about, or Jones, I guess. Craig, you kind of think Jones is going to be the week one starter, don't you? I think if I had to pick one guy who's not currently the week one starter, who will end up as the week one starter, I would pick Mac Jones.

I think Trey Lance is going to play the latest into the season. And I think Justin Fields could take it. Because Jimmy Gropolo and the Niners' offense is proven, and it's just already good. Andy Dalton, we all know, is a placeholder. So I think as soon as it gets a little messy, I think Fields will be in. I mean, this might be meaningless,

but Nagy was already sort of softening on his stance as of today, that Fields is going to start getting more reps with Alan Robinson, with more reps with the ones. That doesn't mean he's going to be the one. It doesn't mean he's going to be a starter, but he deserves to get more reps with these guys. Meanwhile, Shanahan's like, fuck you, we're not doing it. He doesn't need to be a starter, blah, blah,

like he's like, his attitude is so different I feel like than Nagy. It's just funny. Like, that might not mean nothing. That might not mean anything, but like, that's just kind of how it feels today. All right, other quarterback competitions, the Broncos Drew Locke versus Teddy Bridgewater. This is getting interesting.

We're all clamoring to see what's going to happen to a team that regardless will probably not make the playoffs here's the deal though like this is a huge deal in the fantasy world because the broncos have such elite weapons jerry judy potential huge breakout star court court and now kj hamler who caught two deep passes one for a touchdown uh it looked really good he is the guy who will benefit the most from drew lock right yes yes he so well i don't know probably yeah because he's like he's sort of like a deep threat speed guy, you know, he's going to run like these slot fades, things like that. He has an elite speed and he has

actually, he was a really good prospect. He's kind of small dude, but like production-wise, he's a really good prospect. I think, so Drew Locke shocked me with how poised and in-command he was. Hell yeah. Because I was not expecting that. I was expecting sort of the same old Drew-Lock thing, which is, I guess, like, just James West.

Like, you know, he is a guy that can make these big throws and can create big play. but also just decision-making is atrocious. You never know what you're going to get. He's like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're going to get. No, DK., this is not a movie pod. You can't make movie rights.

I'm not doing... Okay, we're getting ahead of myself. Drew Locke, though, I thought, looked really good. Like, in command. There was one play in particular to Judy where he got the snap, looked to his right, came back to his left. Like, he went through his progressions,

really calmly and then just hit Judy over the middle of field. Judy took it and, like, picked up an extra 20 yards. or something. He looked really solid on that. His throw to KJ. Hamler down the field was like 50 yards on a dime. Let him perfectly in stride. So there was a lot to like about Drew Locke.

He just really got that offense going. I thought Teddy was good, too. Like, it's sort of still one of those things where I think there's still lock, like, or there's still head to head. Or not head to head. There's still, you know, step for step with each other. And it's like hard to know who the winner's going to be. But I don't know.

Drew Locke for the first time, I would say. say in the last, like, month or so, I'm starting to think that Drew Locke might be the starter here. Here's my thing with Drew Locke. Everyone agrees, every person, analyst of any kind of in the NFL, seems to agree that Drew Locke kind of sucks. And when everyone agrees in something, it's usually wrong. Like, you know, like all the analysts on like a studio show,

all the analysts in the studio show picked the same team to win, the team always loses. It kind of reminds me of that because I just feel like six weeks from now. Like, we like all these skill players. The line isn't bad. It's like six weeks from now. if Drew Locke is, you know, average, we're going to be like, oh, right, he heard his throwing shoulder in week two came back and was the worst statistical quarterback, basically in every

category or second to worst to like Dwayne Haskins. Like, he's the worst in everything. Maybe it's because he heard his throwing shoulder. Like, I'm not exactly a Drew Locke fan here, but I'm thinking. And here's the thing. I don't understand how we can be in on Jerry Judy and on Corley Sutton. Noah Fan is like a top 10 tight end. now we're throwing KJ Hamler into this bunch.

Guess what? The Broncos have a good defense. This isn't a team that wants to throw the ball a lot. Vic Van Joe's this conservative head coach. This is not the Chiefs. They're in the same division, but they don't want to win the same way the Chiefs do. So if you're believing in all these guys, you kind of have to have some path here. The only thing that makes sense to me is Drew Gluck-Lock optimism.

So I'm kind of out on KJ. Hamler solely because of how much I think they're going to throw. And no offense even then I think it's not quite like in paper he makes sense. However, if Fant and Cortland Sutton and Jerry Judy are all good, it's, well, Drew Locke was probably good. And I think that actually might be a sneaky source of value because all these rankings and all these projections really stem from team down. We're trying to guess how this offense will perform and then we're dividing up the pie. I think the Bronco pie, though, if Drew Locke is good, might just be bigger than we think. Also, speaking of the fact that they're probably not going to throw a ton, Giovante Williams looked awesome too. This offense just has so much hidden potential and hidden value if everything goes right.

If everything breaks right, this is going to be a huge fantasy team. But I mean, I think, again, it just hinges on the quarterback situation. So we'll see. This is, you know, Craig, we were talking about this before the show. Like, we don't want to overreact too much to this because there's still two more games. There's still all these training camp practices, all this stuff. But I will say, just for me, for the first time in a long time, I actually leaning Drew Locke right now.

Nice. I'm all in. I'm happy that this is a Drew Lock podcast now. Yeah. Lock it down. Okay. Next one. The Saints.

Oh, my God. This one was funny to watch. So is James Winston and Taysam Hill split reps at quarterback? Tasev actually started the game. And they basically did the first half. It was just turnover city. It was they each threw a pick. There were two fumbles.

Actually, like the running backs actually fumbled the ball. Latavius Murray fumbled. I think once or twice. He like never fumbles. So that's crazy. Latavius fumbled. Devante Freeman Fumbled, I think, too.

There was just like turnovers everywhere. It was all turnovers. It's like the James stuff is infectious. It was unbelievable. So, shit. Do we learn anything about this?

Number one, and then two, I guess, what is the effect again? Who on the Saints is interesting to us? Yeah. So I test, for me, and I think this,

I mean, you guys can take this how you want, because I've been sort of on the Taysom Hill is going to start train, I think, for most of the off season. I just have had a hard time believing that James Winston is going to change.

Dying on Tassum Hill. I think that was a title of an episode last year. Yeah, I've been dying on Taysom Hill. I thought that James Winston looked way more sharp. I thought Tassum looked pretty bad in this one. He made like one or two nice throws, but for the most part, like when he was throwing it deep down the field, he did get picked off one time,

then he almost got picked off another time. He should have been picked off that second time. He looked really shaky to me. You know, just decision-making. his throwing motion is just a little wonky. It just didn't look very sharp. And I thought James looked much more sharp. So I'm, you know, this is again, there's one game and we'll see how it goes.

I think they're going to have James start the next game because they're going to alternate. I think this was the plan before this game that James would start the second week. So we'll see how this goes. Same with Denver. Teddy Bridgewater is going to start next week. Yeah. I just continually, every time I hear the same situation, I come back to the same thing, which is, I don't understand why the answer is not just going to end up being, James is the quarterback.

Tasam is who he was. Tasum is a situational and goal line quarterback. Taysam is the guy on third and short. Tassum is the guy in the goal line and the red zone. They're both going to play. We keep thinking, well, it's like a traditional quarterback thing. Obviously, Sean Payton doesn't think this is a traditional quarterback situation. I just feel like he has all these plays for both guys.

I feel like he's going to use all the plays. And he's going to rotate him in like closer to what we think of as running backs than quarterbacks. With that said, of the Saints receivers, there's all, Michael, Thomas is out for at least half the season. So, I mean, Marcus Calloway, I mean, is coming up for them as a receiver. There's also Deontah Harris who's kind of short. And then my guy, Adam Troutman, D.K., like, what do you make of the Saints situations right now at pass catcher?

So, yeah, I think the big story, there's a couple of big stories here outside the Taysom versus Jamis battle. And that was number one, Marcus Calloway looked really solid. He was running, you know, sort of the same role that you see Michael Thomas run, where it's like short and intermediate area, just like dominating running. crisp routes catching everything. He looked really solid in that area. And he ended up getting, hold on,

I'm going to pull it up here. He got four targets, three catches, 61 yards in like limited action with the first team. So he looks to me like the number one guy in this offense. Craig's like that's not an FDA approved to that line. At least until Michael Thomas comes back. So this guy definitely needs to be moved up in your rankings, keep him on your radar as we're going through drafts late in late in drafts.

For Marcus Calloway. Marcus Calloway, correct. And then the other guy, I think that's interesting. Well, there's two other players that are really interesting in this group. Joanne Johnson, who just, and this is funny, because I threw this over to Craig and Hyfitz, like a couple weeks ago, that Juan Johnson, this obscure UDFA

second year guy, was moving to tight end, and Hyphitz was like, get the fuck out of here. Like, no one cares. Like, this is not a big deal. Also shout out to Gordon, who emailed us saying, like, what about Joanne Johnson? And are Joanne Johnson running more routes than Adam Troutman's, which I'm freaking out about Adam Troutman, D.K. Yeah, so this is the problem. So

Joanne Johnson looks to be, being used in the Jared Cook role, which is split out from the formation, being used on three receiver sets. So like passing situations, obvious passing situations, he's being flexed out. He's running more routes.

He had two catches for 71 yards in this game. He looked smooth. He looked big, natural in the position. And on the contrary, Troutman was used as a blocker pretty much the same clip as he was used in that area last year as a rookie. and basically he did a really good job of blocking,

and I think that they're just going to continue to use him as like a blocking tight end. He's not going to not, he's going to still catch passes, but the way that he was used in this preseason week one game is not as a big breakout tight end one type guy where you're really getting excited about him. He's just being used as like a regular tight end that might catch a few passes here and there. I'm not crying.

You're crying. That is a little bit worrisome. I think it's one thing you have to keep in mind. It's not like, don't drop him or whatever in your leagues. you have or if you've already gone through your draft or whatever, see how this all pans out. But I think Joanne Johnson immediately should be on everyone's radars as basically the Troutman replacement in this like theory that he could be like the breakout guy. I actually don't think Joanne Johnson should be on your radar unless you're in a deep league.

I think that it's just more like if Joanne Johnson and Troutman split the role that I was hoping for Troutman, then I think the reality is that it's neither of them are going to be useful, which is devastating. But we got to see if Troutman's actually going to not get that role or no. Yes. So this is a deep one. So Juan Johnson definitely for deep leagues. And then the third guy also for deep leagues is Tony Jones,

who came in and looked like the best non-alvin Camara running back on this team. Like we mentioned it before, you got a couple fumbles. You got DeMonte Freeman, Latavius Murray, both fumbling the ball away. They didn't, neither of them look good. Tony Jones comes in and had 82 yards of touchdown rushing plus five catches for 38 yards. He looked explosive. And he was also, by the way, like a big training camp star from last year. just keep him in mind

Craig's laughing It's so funny dude Hi Fitz Did you just Google Tony Jones I saw your fingers moving Yes Yeah me too He's an undrafted guy

Out of Notre Dame And I don't know This is so funny DK I need you to be serious with me Look at me For a moment I was like Is this Tony Brooks James He used to be on the I was like

DK look at me in the eyes In my Zoom eyes Yeah If James Winston's the quarterback The guy who throws For 5,000 yards And 30 picks and 30 touchdowns who is actually going to matter on this Saints team?

Because I kind of started to think of this team as like the Warriors last year. Look me in. Where like Clay Thompson's out and they're missing a lot of guys and stuff's there. And we kind of start talking ourselves into all these. Oh, I know Michael Mulder, Jordan Poole? Like we'll be fine. Eric Paskill. One of these guys is going to break out.

Guess what? None of them did. Jordan Poole did late. So all the Warriors fans, I know Jordan Poole did late. But like I feel like we're all just kind of really trying to talk ourselves into all the other guys surrounding Alvin Camara, who can be legitimate and real, Tony Jones, who is actually on week seven going to be a starting wide receiver or running back or tight end on someone's fantasy roster in like a 10-te-team league? Is it Marcus Calloway? Is it actually going to be, you think?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I do. I think it's Marcus Calloway and Trequan Smith who was injured, and he's not playing right now, but he's got the experience. And so, you know, as long as Michael Thomas is out, I think it's Marcus Calloway. And then even when Thomas gets back, I think, I I think he could still have a role. But regardless of who the quarterbacks are, that's the guy to keep really at the front of your mind. The Tony Jones stuff is notable only because Latavius Murray might not even make the team.

And if he does, he's not have like the vice grip of the backup lock he's had for the last few seasons. So like Latavis Murray probably isn't even worth a draft pick anymore. These guys love to get out of me because I've got degenerate dynasty brain. And I'm always thinking like, I'm, no, I'm telling you like, number one, thank you. You did defend me. But like,

I do historically. I'm guilty of it too of just like talking about these random third four string guys but what Haifis just said I think is actually applicable he might end up having a role in this offense if Latavius

and Devanti Freeman end up just sucking and not really being a part of this so just keep them in mind okay sometimes D. D.K. goes Craig. You go too deep. You go deep K sometimes. I go too deep. Yeah. You deep K. So we're here. We'll do a thunder

round for deep K guys. Okay. So guys guys who jumped off the screen for you the preseason. Some deep K give us some deep case stuff and then Craig and I you've seen the key and peel scratch the anger translator you talk about these guys that maybe people have never heard of

and Craig and I are going to try to do the translate into what that actually means for fantasy football Some of these guys are going to be fantasy relevant this year I'm just telling you

define relevant I'll start with the guys I'm going to start with the guys I'm going to start with the guys that are the most important to talk about Rondale Moore of the Cardinals was super exciting

in this first preseason game they used him kind of like in multiple different situations. They used him on a really fun, like, little orbit motion thing where he came across the formation behind the quarterback and they flipped to him. He picked up some yards. They used him in sweeps, you know, short area stuff. He looked really, really fast, really explosive. He had three catches for 23 yards plus two carries for 16 yards. So he, I would say, is like a sneaky sleeper, like a real should be on your fantasy radar and redraft this year. I think he's like a legitimate

option. I'm with you there. Rondale Moore. is a very good late round pick. The deep K player in this is Eno Benjamin, who I thought looked really good. He's the running back. He's right now, I would say the third string running back on the Cardinals, but me of the brain thinking that neither Chase Edmonds

or James Connor is any good, that's what has me focusing on Eno Benjamin, who had a 50 yards and a touchdown in this game. So that one's I feel like if they agreed with you, he would not have played. For you dynasty people, that's a guy to keep in mind. Another guy that I think has a legitimate chance to be

fantasy relevant this year is Quez Watkins of the Eagles who has been over the last just everybody at home you know if they're driving and it's a loud car they've definitely never heard that name before so his name is Quez Watkins wide receiver wide receiver oh my god obviously everyone knew quez watkins was a receiver i just wanted to repeat it for you know just everyone already knew that sure sure sure uh no i think so coming into this game he's already on my writer because he the drum beat from training camp continues to like grow he's been really really impressive. You know, he's getting reps with the ones. Devante Smith is out, so he's

getting his opportunity to really shine. Shit, look at this team last year produced Frickin Travis Folgum, who was like the number one receiver for like eight weeks last year. And you guys are just laughing at me. I think Kwez Watkins has a chance. I laughed in my head. I didn't laugh out loud. Well, wait a minute. What about Travis Fulgum?

Do you like him more than Kwez Wollgans? I think Wachins is going to replace Fulgum. Okay. Why? In this office. Travis Fulgin was pretty good last year. He was. But I think Watkins has a few things that Fulgum doesn't have, number one, speed. He's like a four-three guy coming out of college. That was like the big deal.

He went to Southern Miss, kind of a smaller school situation or like less, you know, famous situation. And he was a six-round pick. But again, like he's been really good in training camp. You're hearing about him all the time. He's running with the ones. Early in the game, they were backed up. The Eagles were backed up to like the two-yard line.

Watkins ran just like a vertical route of the sideline, beat his defender. and Jalen Hurst just barely missed him, like overthrew him a little bit. That would have been a 98-yard touchdown, and then, like, a couple drives later, he housed the 79-yard touchdown on a little simple screen from Joe Flacco.

This guy has juice, and everything you're hearing from the Eagles beat is that he's, like, really, really impressive. So in an offense with very little clarity on kind of, like, who the main characters are going to be in this, like, DeMonte Smith, I think, is obviously going to be the number one guy. And I would still have Smith way above Watkins.

However, Jalen Rigger hasn't really impressed that much in camp. He's sort of just been blah. He did have one nice route in the preseason week one game. But overall, we don't even know if he's going to be like a mainstay in this offense. Like there's a lot of opportunity here. And Watkins seems to be seizing it. So I think he's very interesting. I guess my question is.

So Devante Smith comes back in a week or two. And one, is he not just going to do all this stuff like these 90-yard touchdowns? won't those be his? And then if Devonty Smith's number one and then Dallas Goddard at Tideend is realistically the number two receiver in this team, how much upside does the number three option have, like a borderline three at that have

in like an Eagles passing offense, Jalen Hertz. Well, I mean, I don't think he's going to be a wide receiver one, but I do think that you could find a guy who's going to be like a wide receiver three slash flex option here. And speaking of Dallas Goddard, by the way, Zachert's played more snaps, got more targets than Dallas Goddard in this game. Are we worried about Dallas Goddard?

Wait, I think we should be. Was he with the ones or with the team? Yeah, he was running with the ones. He started the game. High Fitz was on the Zacherts thing early and I think it's a great point. This Zachert thing is stressing. It's making me very worried because I like really want God or something. They're still kind of refusing to acknowledge that he exists.

Have you seen his hair? His hair is insane. He's literally trying to tell people he exists with his hair. I actually think there's a chance that I have Zachertz ranked the highest of like actually any fantasy in the United States of America. because I just assumed he's going to get traded. But here's the point. If he gets traded, he'll be more valuable.

Yeah, he'll get even better. What team is going to trade for Zach Ertz and then not give him a role? Like, that's what I don't understand. He'll have a bigger role. I guess I'm just confused. Like, I'm not saying draft Zachertz to be your starting tight end in like a 10-teen league,

but if you're in anything resembling a deeper league or tight-end premium, I mean, if Zachertz gets traded to the bills the week before the season, Zachertz could be the number two receiver for like one of the past heaviest teams in the NFL. Like that is totally on the table. If you're talking about late round dart throws, a guy that,

and look, if he doesn't get traded and the Eagles don't play him, whatever, you cut him. But he's not being drafted in most places. It's barely ranked in most places. He's not as good as you used to be. He's only like 31 years old. He's not dead. He's not dead. I think that I get so stuck.

So there's like this long running. There's this long running inside joke with Eagles, Twitter and Eagles fans that Zach Ertz has never. broken a tackle in his entire career. Except for the ones that, like, won them the Super Bowl,

those ungrateful, freaking Eagles fans, that play where he got the first down in the Super Bowl to score a touchdown. Irrelevant. Extended drive. Oh my God.

Irrelevant. It's still hilarious, though. I think there's actually a Twitter account, like, did Zach Ertz break a tackle? And it's like just a bunch of nose. Regardless, man.

Yeah, more deep K. Let's continue to get deep. Yeah. Yeah, lightning round. Josh Palmer. Josh Palmer of the Chargers. Hell yeah. We're going into the season really not knowing who the number three receiver in this offense is going to be.

Obviously, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, one and two. That's pretty much set in stone. However, there's just a whole bunch of uncertainty who the number three guy is going to be. And I think, honestly, there's a lot of value, potential value in being the number three receiver in an uptempo, good passing volume, offense, being quarterback. by Justin Herbert. Like he's, you know, he could have this huge

second year jump and this offense could be really good. Josh Palmer looks to be that guy. And according to B reports that I've seen, he's got kind of a stranglehold on that number three position. He came in and in like very limited action

in like the first quarter caught six passes right away. And they were all sort of in that short and intermediate area. He was sort of like doing the Jarvis Landry thing where like he's just this really dependable like short and intermediate area guy catches everything.

He can separate, you know, big, strong physical type guy. So he's intriguing to me based on this. And then also just like if Mike Williams gets hurt, misses games, like you're the number two in this offense.

Like that has a lot of potential value. So Josh Palmer is 100% on my radar right now. In Dynasty, it's interesting because the Chargers basically are not going to extend Mike Williams' contract. And I feel like he might get Franchise type, but he's probably going to be a free agent next year. So I think it's probably more interesting in a redraft.

In Dynasty, it's interesting because Josh Palmer might be the number two receiver for Justin Herbert's Chargers next year and might be able to hold that job. I don't know what that means in a redraft yet, but it is interesting and that that's an offense that we really like. There's not really an established tight end. You've got like Jared Cook and Donald Parham. But, you know, I think Josh Palmer might be more intriguing than those guys.

But again, it's a deep K. And then two more guys just on that sort of in that thread in that vein. Terrace Marshall from the Panthers had a really good first game. He caught one really, like, impressive deep ball, ran up the field. He did get caught from behind, which is like slightly concerning, but that's not that big of a deal. Three catches, 88 yards. Quite the hand wave. What do you mean they got caught from behind?

I mean, he got hit. So it was, PJ Walker was a quarterback. It was like a sort of a broken play. And he navigated the pocket, stepped up, passed it to Terrace Marshall. It got behind the defense and hit him in stride. And Marshall had kind of like a lead on the corner. And the corner just straight up caught him from behind. So whatever, I'm not worried about it.

That's not great. It's one of those things where you're ending it with. I'm not worried about it. But you're making me worried. I'm not worried about it. But it was something that people were making fun of him on Twitter. about. Did you guys see that Tim Tebow attempted block?

That was the worst thing I've ever seen. There was two of them. There was like back-to-back plays where he was like asked to make a block and it was like, I have a lot of respect for tight ends all of a sudden because they have to do a hard job. And Tim Tebow did not do a great job at that. Anyway, Terrace Marshall is number one. And then Donovan Peoples Jones from the Browns is another guy to keep in mind. Again, if we don't know for sure if O'Dell Beckham is going to be 100-set healthy, be able to stay healthy all this year.

you know, he's a guy that's a sleeper in my mind, like last round dart throw. But he's been another training camp superstar. All the beat reporters are talking about how dominant he's been. He's a former five-star guy with elite elite athleticism. You always kind of look for those guys. He was frisky last year. He kind of finished 2020 with a couple of big games where he had, you know, like 90, 70 yards, stuff like that. He's got size.

He's dangerous down the field. He came in and got targeted five times in limited action, you know, with the ones. And so, you know, obviously he's a guy that's probably not going to get a ton of looks if Jarvis and Odell are in the game. But if you have an injury in this situation, like, that could be really big for Peoples Jones, who has clear, you know, chemistry with Mayfield. And honestly, like, the B reports that I've been listening to and reading to a reading have been saying, like, he has a chance to be like a star. You know, obviously you want to take all of that stuff with a grain of salt. But he's been that good in training camp is the bottom line. so just keep him in your mind.

Take it with the same amount of salt that Jerry Jones puts on his Big Mac or whatever he was eating in Hard Knicks. Also, on Hard Docks, did you see they blurred out the logo on the McDonald's? Yeah. That was hilarious.

If you salt your fast food, that is the most old man thing to do is to salt your fast food. Dude, just think about how much salt is already in that shit. Oh my God. I mean, the only reason it exists is because of the salt. The entire business model depends on the salt. I always,

I thought about the salt shaker itself and I was like, where did that come from? Who got that for him? Like, somebody had to go fetch assault chicken. That's not in the hotel room. No, no, no, no. First of all, it's his office. Second of all, Jerry Jones clearly doesn't just do that as a one-office. It's not his office. They're in Oxnard. They're in Oxnard. They're in Oxnard like this little townhouse village. No, they have a whole facility there. Obviously, Jerry Jones does this all the time. And so they already know what to bring Jerry likes because he's on this team for 40 years.

So they just bring, they got everything down that Jerry needs. I know. I'm just saying, I love that like a PA or whatever. Some intern's like job is to be like, go to the lobby and get. Get me the salt. Get the salt. What do you think Calamore does? What do you think Jason Garrett was able to keep his job for 10 years? He's got to keep the salt shakers in the right place. He knows just what kind of seasonings Jerry likes. Exactly.

And then one last note, the Miami running back situation, I think, is getting kind of nerve-wracking. I know that I'm on record talking about how Miles Gaskin is a really good value based on where he's going in drafts. I'm getting a little nervous about this because Malcolm Brown came in and was like the main guy for the starters in this game. And it's not like they didn't play Gaskin to rest him. they were playing him like into the second quarter. Like he was getting his turn to do it. And it was like Malcolm Brown was the starter and he was the backup. So this is something to watch.

This is sort of how it went last year too. And then Gaskin just ended up being like the guy. And I actually saw Cameron Wolf from the NFL network was tweeting about this. He still thinks Gaskin's the guy. However, it's making me nervous. It's making me really nervous. I think they're going to rotate Gaskin with Malcolm Brown and Salvador. Malcolm Brown is not a fun player.

And I think that this is not a great fantasy situation for Miles Gaskin because his entire value is basically based on Workload. Miami having a ton, giving him a ton of goal line opportunities. And if that changes, which I kind of think Malcolm Brown might get the goal line opportunities, then there's not really much value in Miles Gaskin. Malcolm Brown, Hall of Fame, Fantasy Football Vulture. Hall of Fame.

He's starting it. He's like Matt Ozziata 2.0. Yes. Did you guys watch this game, by the way? Did you get a chance to watch Tua? Yeah, a little bit. What did you think of Tua? He had one pick at that his last throw of the game was a pick in the end zone.

That was a bad throw. It was kind of a deep ball over the middle. But I thought in general, like, all his little outroutes and, like, slants. Like, he was accurate. Look solid. I think he looks a lot better. He looks more comfortable, much more comfortable than he did last year. I kind of think my take on Tua is that he's just going to be, like, fine.

Yeah. I know. It sucks because I was so excited about him coming into NFL and, like, the... No, no, don't let them do this to you, D.K. No, don't let... I'm not letting you put this on record. I think we so often categorize people in only two buckets where you're either going to be Patrick Mahomes or you're going to be a bust.

And we don't realize that that's... That never happens. So many quarterbacks are just Kurt Cousins or Alex Smith. And no one's ever like, I think Tua is going to be a eight-year starter. They'll make the playoffs once and he'll be fine. And I kind of think that's... Am I taking crazy pills? What happened to like three days ago when we were all like, oh, yeah, Tua had that hip injury

and now they're building an offense around him? Am I the only one that remembers that podcast? Listen, I've never been on the Tua train, so I think he'll be fine. I have been on the Tua train and High Fitz. I remember that. I'm just trying to... I'm like protecting my heart. I'm stealing myself against this.

I'm protecting your heart because I'm not letting you get off the two of a train after a whole off season of we're like, he had a bad hit, but you got to watch the year two. It's year two. He looked pretty good. He looked pretty good. No one projects people to be Baker Mayfield or to be Kirk Cousins. And let's like face it, most of the NFL's quarterbacks are Baker Mayfields and Kirk Cousins yet. No one predicts those guys to be those guys. Just saying. By the way, I kind of got in trouble, not in trouble. People kind of got upset with me a little bit because I compared Zach Wilson to Baker Mayfield coming out. and everybody wants Zach Wilson to be Patrick Mahomes,

which, hey, maybe he will be. But, like, I think you make a really good point that most quarterbacks fall into that zone. And it's not even a bad thing. Like, it's not a bad thing to have a franchise quarterback. But everybody wants fucking Patrick Mahomes.

It's like, are you Andrew Luck or are you Josh Rosen? Those are the only two options. It's like, well, you know what? I'm sorry, he's going to be Baker Mayfield. Yeah, so we'll see. We'll see. But, yeah, I thought overall, too,

it looked pretty good. Okay, injuries real quick. Dak Prescott's shoulder injury is healing well per Adam Schaefter. Yeah, put a little salt on it. Jerry put a little salt on the shoulder. He's throwing. He was throwing before the game. Look pretty good.

I want to see him, but yeah, that would be good. So not only is Hunter Henry dealing with an injury now, Jono Smith is also dealing with an injury, a tight ends for the Patriots, the guys who got top of my head, $75 million combined in the first like hour and a half for agency, so that's chill. For them, Elijah Moore receiver for the Jets is day-to-a with a quad injury. I think he'll be fine.

it didn't sound like he would miss week one. And then Cadarious Tony, the Giants first round pick, is just off to the most under the radar bad trading camp for Giants rookie I can remember. So, Hyfitz, you're a Giants fan. Obviously, you, I think you more than most probably try and just compartmentalize your Giants fandom. I never actually hear you complain that much about the Giants.

It feels like when you probably should be complaining more. Craig is reacting to that. Maybe he does. Well, I also went on New York, New York with John Dostremski, where I got all my complaining out. So that's probably why I just found to check me out. And listen to that pod. All I want to know,

is what's your anxiety level 1 to 10 on Cadarious Tony being a first round bust. Let me tell you something. In the moment, like, around that time, I was like, I don't think it's a, like, look, other teams would have taken Tony in the first round.

So it's not like the Giants run on Ireland. You're having said that. I think after the first two days, we were all like, well, Elijah Moore might just outright be better than Cadarist Tony. If I could swap those picks right now, I would nine and a half times out of 10. Yeah.

If I could just give the Giants more at the 19th pick or whatever they got them, I would do. Cadiris Tony has missed time this training camp. with a contract issue and then like personal issues and then injuries and then was so behind that coaches were talking to reporters about how behind Cadarious Tony is and then the reporters asked Cadaris Tony do you feel you're behind and he said nope not at all I feel like I'm doing

great and like that's super concerning yeah and like it's uh anyway not great don't think cadarist Tony is a great pick in fantasy 2021 it's feeling ominous to me already it's just not feeling good Okay, having said that. Dynasty talk. Let's do Dynasty. This is an important time of year for Dynasty because a lot of you guys have been emailing us to do more Dynasty talk. I think this is a really important time of year. If there's one piece of advice I can give you for Dynasty, it's very simple. You want to like trade, you want to acquire assets that will increase in value and you want to trade away assets that will decrease in value. It's kind of that simple. And there are all these layers to it. But at the end of the day, it is now August. It's a hype machine. You want to look at. okay, who will be more valuable in October, who will be more valuable in February, and get those guys. And then you want to decry, and you want to trade away the guys who would be last value. A perfect example is like Zach Gertz, we were talking about before. Jack Gertz, if you could have traded him a year ago, that would have been great. Yeah.

So with that said, D.K., who are like two or three guys that you think maybe it's worth trading for in Dynasty right now, that will be more valuable a year from now? So I think what you just said, I think makes a lot of sense. Like you want to, like you said, get guys that are going to gain value. I think there is a caveat that I have to say before I get into these three players. It does depend on what your plan for the season is. Like, are you trying to win now? Then don't trade away a guy like DeAndre Hopkins who is still going to have an elite year, but he's only going to decrease in value from now on.

Right. And so just keep that in mind. Like it really does depend on what you're trying to do this season. That being said, here's a couple guys that I really think are going to continue to gain value this year, this time next year are going to be like much higher on the ADP lists. Jerry Judy, for starters, I think is one of those guys right now is he's depressed in value based on where he should be already. And I think he's going to catch up to where he should be as the season goes on. Basically, I think he has, he's like the talent and the skill set to in theory be up there with like the Brandon Ayukes. Maybe not the CD Lambs.

I think C.D. Lamb is appropriately priced, and I think he's, like, a different tier type guy. But, like, Judy should be in people's minds, I think, on the same level as, like, the Brandon Ayukes and maybe the clay pools or whoever. And, like, I'm seeing in my drafts that I'm doing, these guys are going much higher than Jerry Judy. So I think Judy is the type of guy who, with a better year on offense, with a better year from his quarterback, with more chemistry, whether it means, you know, it's Bridgewater or Locke. I think he, like last year, we've talked about this ton. he just had so many hit like I think he had the number one most uncatchable passes in his direction last year of

all players and so like I think he's always going to be separating. He's really good after the catch. I think as long as he can clean up this drops issue that he had last year which I think he can, then I think he's going to explode and value going forward. I think another guy to keep in mind is Michael Gallup. We didn't talk about him in the earlier part of the show but I think what he did in

game one in the in the in the in the broncos game or sorry in the cowboys game was pretty intriguing and could indicate that he's going to be moved around he played more more in the slot than on the outside in this game and cd lamb lined up on the outside which i think indicates to us that the cowboys are going to use these guys interchangeably and they're going to have them play inside outside last year gallop was getting like the less um not not high value but like the less uh like efficient targets down the field deep down the field like bombs and that made him a little bit hit or miss like boom or bust now if he's getting peppered in the slot with targets he's like in ppr he has a potential to be really really valuable

from the start and that doesn't even account for the idea that he is going into his contract year he could get picked up by another team going into 2022 where he is the number one instead of like the third option here behind cd lamb and um marie cooper or alternatively the cowboys could just move on from of Marry Cooper because Mario Cooper's cap hits start to get enormous going forward. They may decide that Gallup is better for the long-term

vision or whatever, and they might end up having Gallup and C.D. Lamb be their one-two punch. So regardless, in any case, I can just see Gallup. Assuming he can stay healthy, I think his value is going to explode going forward too. And then the third guy I bring up

is T.J. Hawkinson, who I just think he has a chance to sort of leapfrog into the next tier of tight ends, that elite tier of tight ends where he's going to get like 100 plus targets. Sounds like he's been the far and away the star of training camp on offense for the Lions so far. Obviously, that's a low bar. It's not necessarily saying a lot because they just don't have a ton of skill players there right now and John Josh Swift has been hurt. But I think just a combination of being the clear cut number one in this passing game and the fact that Jared Goff has

always pretty heavily targeted slot receivers. And I think he's going to play a de facto slot role for them and play a lot of snaps and run a lot of routes. I think he just has a chance to like kind of blow up this year too. I think he's that talent. He's that talent. He was a top 10 pick, I believe. I keep forgetting where he was taken.

I think it was in the top 10. But yeah, I think he's the type of guy who could expose this year and finally start to like achieve that elite tier at the tight end position. Gallup's a really smart one. I mean, imagine if he gets traded to the chiefs or something next year. I mean, you could end up with a, a really, really high value pick.

I like Gallup more than Judy because realistically, Judy's already got the hype and that you got to remember that people always overvalue their own players. The best time to do this is honestly before your rookie drafts because you want to trade for picks before the season and you want to trade for players before the draft. However, I think it's too late for Judy and it might be too late

for Hawkinson because they're getting that hype. Galap's perfect because I don't think there is a ton of Gallup hype right now. I think the rookie receivers you want to target like in the middle of the season when they start to struggle. But, D.K., Are there, yes, yes. Who's like maybe a big guy, like a star that you might want to trade away? Yeah, so there's a couple.

The first one that came to my mind was Devante Adams. And I mentioned D'Andre Hopkins earlier. It's a perfect example. But the difference between D'Andre Hopkins and Devante Adams is that Hopkins is connected to Kyler Murray, at least for the next couple of seasons. Adams, to me, has a potential to be like a top three, top one receiver in the NFL this year. And that's great. And obviously, if you're in Wind Now, I don't trade him. But with Aaron Rogers, almost surely to leave Green Bay next year,

that I think the value of the chemistry that those two have, the connection they have, like, that's a big part of what you are buying if you're going into, if you're drafting Devante Adams or you're trading for Devante Adams, it's the built-in chemistry and, you know, just that feel around the end zone and inside the 5-10-yard line that they have. And so if Adams gets picked up by another team next year, or sticks with the with the packers and and Aaron Rogers leaves, I just don't know if he's going to have that elite elite upside.

Add in the fact that he's getting a little bit older. You want to trade receivers, generally speaking, before they start to decline heavily, obviously. And so, again, it depends on what kind of team you're building. But I think Devante Adams is the type of guy who's, like, going forward after this year, there's a lot more uncertainty than some of the other elite tier. receivers in that situation. So get what you can sell them to a team that's trying to win it all this

year. And you might be able to get a couple of first round picks, you know? Well, yeah, that's what I was going to ask is I feel like it's one thing to know that, okay, hey, maybe I should trade Devonta Adams. But I think it's really difficult in Dynasty to know what to trade for, because there's so many possibilities, you don't really know what you're doing. Do you have any advice to somebody who wants to trade away Devontah Adams and like what they could potentially get for them and or kind of what is even on the market for somebody of his skill set at his age? Yeah. I mean, it really, it depends on a of stuff. It depends on your league. It depends on, you know, you have to have a willing partner in the trade or whatever. But I think you could get a couple of first round picks for

him. You could, you could potentially pick up some of the younger guys that are still developing, you know, like a brand of I.uk or a Claypool plus, um, plus something else. Um, you could trade an elite trade for an elite running back in theory. Yeah. Like, uh, you know, like a JK Dobbins plus something. Um, the, the best way to do it, honestly, is to look at ADP list for Dynasty. and take a look at where guys are going in startup drafts around that player. And that gives you a foundation for like their value, their true value on startup drafts. It gives you an idea like where to start asking. That's good.

My main dynasty advice when it comes to trading is you take advantage of hope. Everyone before the season. No, I'm serious. Like hope is the inefficiency. Hope is the new money ball. Before the season, everyone is hopeful that they're going to do well. Like if before the season, if you're in a 10 or 12 team league, maybe, maybe, how, half the teams have a shot, but have a shot at winning the ship.

But everyone thinks they do, right? Or maybe most of the teams think they do. You want to take advantage of the people who are hopeful and are willing to give up something in the future to help now. So if you're like on a not great team and you're willing to trade Devante, target the teams that are going for it because if you want a draft pick, if you're like, well, I want to go for it and I want to trade Devante, guess what? A year from now, or at the end of the season, if Rogers leaves and then Devante's there

and you try to trade them, not only are people. are going to be like, well, you know, Devante, how is he with Rogers? People, the hope has shifted. Now the hope is on the rookies. Now everyone's way overvaluing how good these rookies are going to be. So it's as simple as before the season, everyone's overvaluing players. So take the picks because the drafts seem, the 2022 NFL draft seems so far away. Get the picks now. And then when the draft is coming up, trade the picks for players. And that's basically the best advice. You can think how sexy the number two pick in a rookie draft sounds. And then you're like, all right, it's Zach Wilson. And half the time it doesn't work anyway.

Right. But you don't ever remember that right before the draft. It's rookie fever. And it's a real deal. Like, people get so excited, so attached to those draft picks that you can like sell them for a fucking, it's like, like, go black. It's a bummer because usually the most efficient way and the most telling and like kind of like how it works out in fantasy football is usually the best players are the most boring. players. Like, I'm talking about fantasy managers. Like, usually the most boring, less sexy options are usually the ones that win you championships. Like trading for draft picks a year in advance,

is it fun right now? No. Drafting a guy like Tyler Boyd, is it fun right now? No. But those are usually the things that end up, you know, creating success. Yeah. And then just quickly, two other guys that keep in mind, like, Alvin Camara, obviously, like, again, same, same story. going forward, it's hard to see him have the same type of target rate that he's had in the past, or to see him achieve the same just overall efficiency that he has in the past for much longer. Obviously, like, running backs are like quarterbacks. They fall off a cliff. And then you like, it's just, it's much, much harder to extract value for those players.

The third guy that I kind of thought of was Robbie Anderson, who, I think he had, you know, he's not necessarily like a hot name on the, on the trade market, I'd say. But like, he's the type of guy who is probably. probably going to end up not being on the Panthers again next year. Terrace Marshall is like nip it at his heels. And I just think right now you're probably going to have a chance to get the most value for him as you will ever. So he's another guy that just kind of on my radar if you got him, like, try and move him for someone who's bullish on the Panthers this year. Also, if you want to get a lot of value out of somebody who wants to win now, what you should do is wait till Jalen Hertz is a really good preseason game and trade him away for a lot.

There you go. Jalen Hertz is one of the most interesting players in Dynasty right now, honestly, because... Because somebody who's not super tapped in could be tricked into being like, oh my God, DK's trading me Jalen Hertz, franchise Eagles quarterback, who is this dual threat stud. And you might get a ton in return, and he could end up getting benched by week 10. Yeah, yeah. That's the problem.

I think there's a very strong chance that he's a top five quarterback this year, but there's also way too much risk that he's just going to get benched. And there's, like, too much smoke around the Eagles. you know, trying to get other quarterbacks, honestly. And so, you know, I think the best, the bull, I guess, scenario is that he turns into a franchise quarterback for them and is like a top 10 quarterback in dynasty for the long term. But there's also just a lot of risk that he's not going to be that guy. Okay. That's our dynasty talk.

We also have an email we have to get to. I'm going to give it upfront trigger warning to everyone, Santa. Sorry. warning about Santa, everyone coming up. You know what that means if you're listening. Especially Joe, if you're listening, trigger warning for Joe. I'm going to read an email from Joe, but ironically, he might have to turn it off. I think I would imagine that that ship has sailed for Joe to give him the warning.

Turn off this podcast if you don't want to hear about Santa. Okay, there's your trigger warning. I got to read an email from Joe. So last week we had this argument about, you know, whether kids, you know, should you tell your kids about Santa or not? Like, Joe responds one sentence. Joe's response, guess I shouldn't be listening to the pod with my kids in the car. Sorry. Learned my lesson now.

Thanks, meanies. I actually would like some more info here from Joe. I want to know what happened and how the convo went and where they're at now. I think you could probably still talk your way around it, right? Salvage it. So I'm funny. I actually, I'm not kidding. I actually followed up with him because I had to know more.

So I said, oh my God, Joe, did we ruin Santa for your children? Could you imagine if we're the people who just feel? Well, that's what you want, Hafez, right? I felt bad. I felt, I legitimately felt bad. That's not my. It's people's personal decision. I know, but Hyphiz, you agree with,

I mean, this kid now found out that Santa, you know, is. So Joe said, I was listening for the 12-year-old who loves you guys and is probably hip to the Santa anyway. But the nine-year-old dot, dot, dot, grimace face emoji. I was fast to the skip button, hopefully fast enough. So we may have ruined Santa for a nine-year-old. old child. We. I blame Hyfitz. I blame Hyfitz, too. Also,

Hyfitts advocated for this happening. He was like, yeah, I think you should... But not me to tell your children. I'm not telling other people how to raise their kids. You think the proper rule is that you should tell your children that Santa's not real. Yeah, you, your parents should tell it. I didn't want to be the one to do it for other people. I'm not going to tell D.K.'s kid, like, hey, Santa's not real. But still, you're like that. This nine-year-old kid, good. You need to know.

Dude, I think, we ruined Santa for a kid. I got several text messages from people that were like, dude, you guys should have a trigger warning. You should be careful about this. I was like, oh, I didn't even think about it. I swear so much on this podcast that I completely forgot kids will be listening. We all have to curse less and kids. Yeah. Yeah, all right.

We'll all be better role models for you in the future. Santa's real. Yeah, we'll see. If we can get Santa on the pod. I think he's a big fantasy guy. All right. There we get Santa out of the pod. All right.

Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Santa. Thank you, Lord. Lord. Thank you, Nat King Cole. I don't know. I just got into the Santa. Oh, Christmas time. Yeah. How festive. I can't believe we ruined Santa for a kid. Please email us at ringer fantasy football at gmail.com. If someone else, we ruined Santa for your kid, I'm sorry. The Grinches of fantasy football. Oh, my God. All right. I'm very guilty. All right, goodbye.