The Ringer NFL Show - The Biggest Fantasy Questions for 2025

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! The guys pose some of their biggest fantasy questions ahead of the season, including what CMC’s season will look like, which rookies are potential league winners, who the most likely sophomore slump candidates are, and much more. Plus, emails! (00:00) Intro (04:11) Which playoff teams will make the playoffs? (22:03) How will new offensive coordinators affect their new (and old) teams? (48:01) Which rookies will win you your league? (54:57) Will the Round 2 guys show up? (01:00:37) Should you take Saquon Barkley first? (01:04:32) What will Christian McCaffrey’s season look like? (01:14:20) Emails! Check out our 2025 Ringer Fantasy Football Rankings here!  Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producers: Kai Grady and Carlos Chiriboga Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're a fan of the inner workings of Hollywood, then check out my podcast, The Town, on the Ringer Podcast Network. My name's Matt Bellany. I'm founding partner at Puck and the writer of the What I'm Hearing newsletter. And with my show, The Town, I bring you the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood. Every week, we've got three short episodes featuring real Hollywood insiders to tell you what people in town are actually talking about. We'll cover everything from why your favorite show was canceled overnight. Which streamer is on the brink of collapse? And which executives is on the hot seat? busy, Netflix, who's up, down, and who will never eat lunch in this town again?

Follow the town on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Dana Heffitton. I'm joined by Dana Kelly and Craig Coralbeck. And today we are going over the biggest questions for the fantasy football season in 2025. We're going to go through the big questions. We're going to do some emails and just a couple things first. Thank you.

We sold up the live show New York. So thank you everyone bought tickets for that. Heck yeah. DK takes New York. Can I wait? August 19th. The Big Apple. Thank you.

Oh, God. I hate that nickname. Thank you for that. New Yorkers say that, right? I won't even give up the dignity of a response. Believe you get your ass kick, say it's something like that. All right. The YouTube channel, please subscribe.

We've a YouTube channel now. Ringer Fantasy Football on YouTube. Just type in Ringer Fantasy Football on YouTube. Just hit the subscribe button. We said last week that we would bring back the full intro music if we got to 10,000 subscribers. And then some people were like, that's kind of, messed up.

Yeah. We're holding it hostage. Now I feel a little bad. This is lame. So you can bring it back and now you're not. You're hoarding 10,000 subscribers over us. I guess we are. We're in the lab.

We're making it. We're making a couple tweaks that I think people are going to like. So all these people have all this time to write comments and stuff when they could be going out and adding us on their parents' YouTube. Yeah. So please subscribe to YouTube. They could be passing out brochures on the street for our show to bring back. Getting the word out, you know.

Please do subscribe to the YouTube though. And then so, yeah, we're going to get to the big. as fantasy things. The last thing is we want to announce something fun we're doing for this season, which Craig, I'll give you the floor here to kind of unveil this. Yeah, baby. We're kind of in an official capacity. We're bringing back the Ringer Fantasy Football League. And we are going to, on our YouTube channel, in late August, we don't have an exact date. It might be August 25th, but I don't want to officially announce that. We're going to have a live stream draft. Fantasy Football League, it's going to be the three of us and all your

favorites from the Ringer. Again, I don't know if I want to announce the official crew yet, because It's not finalized, but the man who runs this company will be involved in the league, as well as many other of your favorite hosts at the Ringer. It's going to be great. We're very excited about it. It's going to be contentious. We're all going to fight. We're going to have a live draft on our YouTube channel, a live stream draft.

And the most important thing, what I care about the most, which will take this league to the next level. We're going to follow with the whole season. We'll be updating it. We'll be having people on. We'll be trash-talking the whole thing. But the punishment. The punishment is the most important thing.

We can't figure out what the punishment should be for this league. And so we wanted to ask our listeners to help us out. So for the next month and a half, six weeks, we want emails from all of our listeners, just figuring out what the punishment could be. And you can keep in mind, this has to be a punishment that Bill Simmons would do what he got at. Bill Simmons is not going to sit in a waffle house for 24 hours

and lose an hour for every waffle. Something our bosses would do in reality. Yeah, something like Sean Fennyson would reasonably do at the end of the season. So take your time. We're going to do a mailbag episode closer to the draft in August where we go through all of the top submissions

and we will pick what the final punishment is. So get your brains turning. Start thinking about it. I can't wait to see what you sickos come up with. Email to email.com and just put like the punishment, anything involving punishment in the subject line. And yeah, let us know because we got to figure out the right.

We're going to calibrate the right. It's got to be perfect. It does. That's why we're letting people know well in advance because this needs to be the perfect punishment. Yes. So enough with all the housekeeping. I want to get to the biggest fantasy questions of the 2025 season,

or at least the things we're thinking about the most. And I actually want to start with the thing that we started with last year, which is just not about fantasy. It's actually about real life, which is which teams are going to make the playoffs. It is about fantasy, though, a little bit. It's balls. The age-old maxim, draft good players on good team.

Yeah. The easiest thing you can do is just identify the teams that will be good, and also which good teams will be bad. Like last year you didn't want anyone on the 49ers. It wouldn't be really nice if you had had Jinn Daniels and Alston, or Jinn Daniels and Terry McLaurin from Washington. Like identifying who's going to go up, who's going to go down is really important. Also, it's generally very consistent.

Like every year for, I mean, honestly, since the NFL has the current, I mean, they kind of changed it again, but the current playoff format. You've pretty. You said 1600s there for a second. I almost, I, well, like the Treaty of Westphalians. Ever since the Mayflower. No, but basically you could kind of set like clockwork when it was a 12-team field that you would have six new playoff teams every year, even though that sounded like

that was impossible when you looked at it at the preseason. You'd always have about six new teams. They added it to 14 teams, and it stayed around that number, around six. But every year you would have about three of the seven teams in each conference would swap out. And I made DK and Craig last year do this exercise. And of course, last year was like the first year in forever that actually only two teams fell out of the playoffs last year. And that bucked like a multi-decade trend of it almost always being three teams per conference.

However, it was two teams total? Two, no, two teams in each conference. Sorry. So 10 teams from 2023, 24 season, 10 of the 14 returned to the playoffs last season. Which is unheard of. There were only four new teams. However, we're going to sit here and we're going to force ourselves to still find the 60 playoff teams. Dude, this was like pulling teeth.

I could not figure it out. Yeah. I was like, these are going to feel like such hot takes. but it does happen almost every year. Dude, the NFC is extremely difficult. Dude, it was basically, you basically had at least five new playoff teams every year for like more than

20 years until last season. And so it is worth doing because that's how you, it sounds crazy. But then last year is a good example. NFC, even when you only had two teams fall out, they were the top two seeds. It was the 49ers and the Cowboys. So it happens a lot. So with that said, I actually kind of want to make a start with the AFC, actually.

Okay. Which I think is, hard. Really, I think this is really difficult. So last year, you had the Chiefs were the one seat. They have won the AFC West nine straight times. You have the Bills as the two seed.

The Bills have won the AFC East, five straight times. The Ravens have won two straight AFC South titles. Sorry, AFC North titles. The Texans have won two straight AFC South titles. The Chargers were the new team. They made a wild card. The Steelers somehow were a repeat team. They made the playoffs again. I have no memory of that. Hell yeah. Every year,

maybe wildcard L's. So, D.K. Yeah. Obviously, it's easy to just be like, well, the Steelers won't make it back to the NFC, to the playoffs. So who are the other two teams? Yeah, that's what I love about it. The only two teams you feel truly safe about, truly safe about, honestly, are the

Bills and the Ravens. Yeah, I would be shocked if the Bills and Ravens, what did you say, DK? Not the Chiefs? Well, I would put them third behind Buffalo and Baltimore just because of the division, to be honest. I mean, there's three other good teams in the Chiefs Division. I don't feel the same way in Buffalo or Baltimore. So, yeah, and that's basically the way that I looked at it.

I feel very confident, or at least somewhat confident, the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens are going back to the playoffs. And then because I only get one more. I felt like I needed to pick something else. I'm like, I'm kicking the Texans out, even though I think they'll probably go to the playoffs. I think in that division, we could see more competition from some of the other teams, the Titans, Colts, and Jags.

Ultimately, I guessed Jags here, even though I don't feel strongly about that, could be a surprise winner of that division. And then they could be one of the teams. And then the second team is like, I don't know who to pick. I think the Bengals probably just because they have such a high powered offense. But I don't feel great about the dolphins. The vibes are atrocious right now with the dolphins. The Patriots would have to go from worse to like in the playoffs, which is not unheard of,

but it's not an easy thing. And I still think that they are, you know, they're going to struggle on offense with the lack of firepower that they have. Jets? Where did you guys land on the Jets? I'm not putting the Jets. I'm not putting myself in a position. No, I actually think the Browns are the only team that I would be, I am going to say is out.

Like, they're out. They have one of the hardest schedules in the entire NFL. They play the Ravens. The schedule thing matters. No, no way. I think that swapping in the Bengals for the Steelers is just like the free space. I assume we all did that. It doesn't even count.

Bengals for Steelers, that's a given. Do you guys want my, a coward answer? Do you want my like deep down like my actual gut call? Because you have to kind of go for it. You do. I want, give me the three new teams that you added in the ASC gut call.

My like gut call like thing I'm a little afraid to say out loud is swapping the Jags for the Texans to win the AFC South. Bengals for Steelers. And honestly, dude, I think the Chiefs could miss the playoffs. That's that, that's my like gut call. And I know that's insane and that's crazy. But I just keep thinking about, dude, the Chiefs. they won 15 games last year.

However, again, they won six games on the last play of the game. They didn't play that well last year. And that's not me twisting the narrative because they lost the Super Bowl. The Chiefs were sitting there 10 and 1 or whatever talking about how they're not executing.

You know what I mean? Like they're beating the Broncos on the last play of the game. And they're talking, Patrick Mohn's is saying they're not playing well. And so I'm looking at the Chiefs and I'm like, you have Travis Kelsey who wishes he could have retired

if they had won that game. You have an old core. And I don't think it's the way that the Niners, I looked at the Niners as the crushingness of a Super Bowl champion and you lose it and it crushes you. The Chiefs have an element in that, but they want it's more just, they're just exhausted. They've played so many more games. They played like an extra season.

Yes. Like seven years or whatever. So many more games than everyone else over the last five seasons. And I just think that wears on you. And I wouldn't be shocked. And also the Broncos I think are getting better. The Chargers I think are getting better. The Chiefs are getting worse.

So who are you putting into the playoffs for the Chiefs here? I that is the question That is the question Right That is the question The Say the dolphins I kind of do you think about the dolphins man

I kind of do you think of the dolphins Carlos is just staring at you right now Carlos has made a good point to me That we talked about the dolphins last year Like it was some catastrophe And it was to him as the third of the season It won like eight games Yeah

And I'm like they were the worst dolphins I watched with that two And I'm like yeah they'll probably The dolphins also are kind of like the cool Steelers, where they'll also just win eight or nine games and make the playoffs and get crushed in the first round. Say the Raiders. I thought about the Raiders getting into the Chiefs. Maybe.

But I think the Patriots or Dolphins I do think about. But again, I know that's like a hot take. But again, the Niners didn't make the playoffs last year. So that's, you know, it's easier to sit here and just say the Broncos won't make it. But I think the Broncos kind of will make it. What do you think of? Yeah. Yeah.

The Colts won eight games last year. That's not happening. If Daniel Jones starts, does that get him an extra win or two? I actually think the Titans have a better chance of making the playoffs than the cults to me. I think the cults have horrific vibes. Yeah. I could see Cam Ward leaving Tennessee.

I'm not going to pick the tag team of Daniel Jones at Anthony Richardson. No, that team just has like, everyone's going to get fired at the end of the season written all over it. I do think Anthony Richardson maybe is a value at this point because he's dropped so bad, but I don't know.

What do you think? Who were the teams you're pulling out? I had the Jags and Bengals going up into the, the playoffs and the Steelers and Texans falling out. And then Craig said two to three teams each conference. So I didn't, I was like, I can't do three. You got to do three.

Otherwise it's not going to. Hmm. I mean, I think I would probably lean a team like the Jets or Dolphins. But who's the third team to pull it out? You're pulling Texans for Jags. You're pulling Stilers for Bengals. You're putting Patriots in and who you're pulling out. Because I feel like it has to be Broncos charges or chiefs if being honest.

Yeah. Probably, I guess the Chargers. Yeah, I pulled the chargers. I did. because of a Greek tragedy of some sort? I think it's an AFC West team. One of those teams is not making it back, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs. It is obviously easier to say Broncos are Chargers.

That's like the, that's the safer thing to say. Yeah, my four teams in are the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Bills, and the Broncos. I drop the Texans, Steelers, and Chargers out, and I replaced them with the Bengals, the Jags, and the Raiders. Ooh, Raiders making the playoffs would be fun. It's tough, maybe. Yeah, I thought about New England. All right, you want to do NFC?

Yeah. I think first of all, though, this is such a great exercise because it just sounds so absurd now. Within a year from now, it's like, oh, yeah, that team fell apart because of injuries or whatever. It happens all the time. I have a similar hot take that Hyvins had in the AFC about the NFC. Oh, are you going to say what I think you're saying? I'm not saying Philadelphia is not making a box. Can I guess?

Sure. Did you pull the lions out of the playoffs? Yeah, I did. You dog. What the fuck? I kept in the Eagles, the Packers, the Bucks, and the Rams. I took out the lions, I took out the Vikings, and I took out the commanders. And I replaced the three new teams.

I have the Niners back in. I have the Cowboys squeezing in. And it was impossible because you have to remove three, all seven of these NFC teams that made the playoffs this year are fucking good. Yeah. Like, they're all good. And so if you're pulling the, this sounds dumb, but like if you're pulling the Vikings, the commanders, and the Lions, that means you can't add back in the Vikings, the commanders

and the Lions. So you have to pick like three other worst teams than those. And so the only, I mean, it was, I picked the Niners. pick the Cowboys, and I picked Atlanta, just because the division's bad, and maybe Atlanta and the Bucks can both win 10 games. I agree. Craig got rid of the 12 win commanders, the 14 win Vikings, the 15 win. So the argument for the, I agree with Craig, because here's the thing, the Niners have the easy. So if you look at Warren Sharps, like strength of schedule, which basically yeah, it's looking at not just like wins and losses, but like basically using Bettyons, the quality

of the team, the Niners have the easiest schedule in the NFL by far. So I think that's, they're kind of the Bengals of the NFC where it's like the free space is putting the, Niners in. But it's not as easy to take someone out. Because when I look at the NFC, I'm not taking the Eagles out, obviously. I think it's kind of insane to take the Eagles out. So I'm not taking the Rams out. I mean, the Rams added to Devante Adams. Like, I'm not taking the Rams out of this.

I thought about the Rams just because of Stafford's age and injury history. They're fucked. But they're healthy. I think they're in. You're healthy. I'm like the Rams of the team that I'm most confident could give the Eagles a game in the playoffs. So I'm not taking them out.

The Lions, I agree. It's like you don't want to, but you can see it with the coordinators and everything. The Buccaneers are weird because they're a team that I could so easily see the Bucks actually being this like dark horse team that take a step up and you're like, wait, are the Bucks a Super Bowl contender? But also, I did it for this exercise because I was like, damn, I have to take three these teams out. I'm like, all the Falkans can beat the Bucks in the NFC South.

Like, what if Michael Pennings is good? That's all it takes. Like they need a pass rush in Atlanta, but that's more for like a true Super Bowl run. Like, I could see Michael Pennings Jr. being better and the Falcons making the super, sorry, winning the NFC South. So who are the three NFC teams that you removed? Dude, this sounds nuts, but I took out. I did what you did.

I took the commanders out. So they had the biggest schedule change. There's like, who is the hardest schedule? And then there's who's schedule. Washington had the easiest schedule in the NFL last year. Now they're like 19th, which that's the biggest spots is the biggest shift. And so I'm like, all right. And again, they had this mercenary team of all these.

The Washington's the oldest team in the NFL, which is belied by the fact that she had Daniels, but everyone else is like ancient. And this, I don't think that's necessarily going to change dramatically, dramatically, but they went, what was it like 20 out of 20 on fourth down? They were the best fourth down team ever. Yeah, it was like wild, like so much better than any other team ever. And part of that skill, but you can still be skill. Yeah, you can go 15 at 20 and still be pretty good.

But like that changes your season. So, I mean, Bobby Wagner is probably the oldest function. Or I guess Tamara Davis is still going. So Bobby Wagner is one of the oldest middle lineback to the NFL. Marshall Nattabor, they're counting to play cornerback. I mean, Marshall Nathmore hasn't been able to stay healthy in years. I mean, you got Zach Ertz is one of the older tight ends in the NFL. he's like essential to this offense.

Even Debo's. Yeah, Debo is, I'm big on Debo this year, but I'm not sitting here like, I'd be shocked if Debo wasn't himself or can't play. Like, they are, Larry Me Tonsolink, depending on a lot of old guys. So I pull Washington out. I also pulled the Vikings out, man. I just did it. I'm like, it's, yeah, what if he's bad? That's basically weird.

What if he doesn't win 14 games? Like Donald did. I'm like, sorry, nine. Nine is a great rookie season. That's, you know what I mean? So I pulled Vikings, commanders, and bucks out. I put the Falcons in for the NFC South, which is tough because. I actually think the books are really good.

Maybe I was over-influenced by Tristan Worst, the left tackle, starting the season probably physically unable to perform. But I put in the Niners, as Craig did. I also put in Dallas, which is not popular. But I just think back being back. And I got to tell you, I'm sitting here right now and I still don't know. Oh, no, those three. And the other two I was between was the Cardinals and Seahawks. I really wanted to fit the Cardinals in.

I think the Cardinals are feisty. But the N.S. Everyone forgets about my Seahun. You guys are just. singing the Rams praises and meanwhile they got into the playoffs by like a fourth tiebreaker over the Seahawks.

Did you put the Seahawks in? No. Still, who did you feel like emanating from both of you? I'm upset that you guys didn't even discuss it. Well, I don't know. I put them on, they're on the borderline for me. The teams I dropped out just because I feel like they are still

not quite to the level of the lions and eagles, which I, to me, the lions and eagles still are the class of the NFC. And then you have the Rams who, again, snuck into the playoffs, even though they look great at the playoffs. I dropped out the Buccaneers, new O.C. Liam Cohen was making magic last year. Who knows if that

will happen again? Yes, I agree. I agree. Justin Wirfs. I think it's a huge loss. If he doesn't play for the first half of the season, their offensive line could be totally different. And so they're another team with a lot of moving parts. I feel like, I dropped the commanders out just because, like I said, it felt like they kind of did capture lightning on

model last year. And who knows if they can do that again this year? I'm not saying that Jane Daniels is all of a sudden going to be bad. I just think, you know, everything kind of went their way last year. And the teams I put in, I had the Falcons winning. And again, it's kind of just a matter of they have a really easy schedule. And I think Michael Pennings will raise the floor a little bit on offense. They did invest in two offensive alignment, two pass rushers in the draft, which we can talk about the cost, but like it's nice to have two extra pass rushers. and then I'd put in the 49ers and I was considering dropping out the Packers or the Vikings

I didn't know which one I was leaning towards I think I leaned the Vikings will still be good I just really trust Kevin O'Connell and what he does there. The NFC was more muddled. I went in with the Falcons and the 49ers in. You need one more. I know.

I don't like this fence sitting. You said two to three. Oh my God, it's three. So I said two. Do three. That's the whole exercise is three. Give me a minute. Let me think of that.

Let me think it was easy. Putting the Seahawks in. Anyone could do two. And I'm dropping the Packers out. The Packers, it's funny that it's the Packers are the other one where I, the Packers, I mean, there's seven seed last year. In theory, they should be the easiest one to drop. But I kind of looked at it as Jordan Love had an MCL injury.

Yeah, they had a weird season. I think the Packers are good. All year. Yeah, they are good. That was their year where the quarterback was hurt the entire season. Even when Jordan Love came back, like he had an MCL injury week one. That doesn't necessarily go away. And so.

No, I know. The Lions are good. The Lions lost seven coaches. Like, we'll get into that. That's true. That's wild. And it's, it's, the lions, that's also just a competitive division. I think doing this exercise also, it, I think that with the teams you want to put in, I think the difference to me is that the AFC, the elite teams are so much better.

The NFC is the Eagles, the Lions are turning down, but I just think the bills and Ravens are like so unassailable. And the Chiefs, they have my homes. It's tough to go against them. The NFC, I think, is so much flatter where in 16 teams in the NFC, there's only two teams you're not considering, right? It's the Saints of the Giants. The Saints are the worst team in the NFL.

They have a really easy schedule, though. There's the Giants who could be better, but the Giants have the hardest schedule. So I think Giants are out. The Saints are out. That leaves 14 teams. I think 12 of the 14, you have to really consider.

The Bears and the Panthers, you have to really talk yourself into it. But there are 12 teams of the NFC that, like the Cardinals, the Seahawks, the Cowboys, the Falcons, the Niners. Those are all teams that didn't make it last year that you wouldn't blink if they made the playoffs. So I think it's much harder.

Why do the Giants have the hardest schedule if they were last last year? They got screwed. It's just kind of how it lines up because basically the way the schedule works is so they get the fourth place teams and the other divisions. But then you also are at the mercy

of what divisions you're playing at a given time. They got screwed because they're like playing like the NFC North. Yeah. So well, they're playing the AFC West. So the Giants are playing the Broncos. Yeah. So like...

Plus the NFC East. Yeah. So they're playing the Giants play the Washington, Dallas Eagles. So the Eagles is automatic two losses. Yeah. Dallas is, again, probably two losses.

One to two commanders is probably two. You're hoping to go one in one versus Washington. So like the Giants three. Also they suck. And they suck. And then you're getting the AFC West and then also you play in the NFC North.

So those are the two most balanced divisions and probably the entire NFL. It's just so brutal. Like the Niners, you know, it's like, oh, they just had one bad year. Now they have the easiest schedule in the league. This is the fucking Niners' whole thing is they like

suck for one year and then they position themselves for right back. Like the Giants are playing the NFC North. get the worst team they're playing is the bears now with Ben Johnson's coach. You've got Vikings, Packers, Lions, and then you play Chiefs, Broncos, Chargers, Raiders. So the worst team, yeah, so the Giants are screwed. This dovetails into my first big fantasy question of the season. Please.

Which is the two new hot shot OCs that left to become head coaches, Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen, how will that affect their new teams and their old teams? Me going through rankings looking at everything, I keep thinking about like, God, what's going to happen to the Lions? are the Bears going to be good? Can Liam Cohen do it with Jacksonville? And can the buck still be solid? So like starting with Detroit, like I said,

they lost seven coaches. Ben Johnson, Antoine Randall L, and the assistant quarterback coach J.T. Barrett went to the Bears. Aaron Glenn went to the Jets, their defensive coordinator. Tanner Engstrand, shout outside SCSU,

went to the Jets. And then as did Steve Hyden, the tight-ins coach went to the Jets. And then their defensive line coach, Terrell Williams, went to New England. So they lost seven coaches. And really, they're losing two offensive coordinators because Ben Johnson and Tanner Engstrand, which is just impossible. I've been saying Engstrom, I think, the whole offseason. Engstrand. Good start.

He's been with the Lions for five years as the tight ends coach and a passing game coordinator for the last three years. And the Lions just like literally had one of the most electric offenses ever. They had over three points per drive last year, which only four teams have done that in the 21st century. And now they... Also, that list is probably what, Peyton Manning Broncos and the 07 Patriots. And now their offensive coordinator is this guy, John Morton, who was the passing game coordinator for the Broncos in Bow Nix last year. He was on the Lions as an assistant in 2022. And before that, he was on the Raiders for three years.

He was the O.C of the Jets in 2017. The last time he's called plays, he was the O.C. for the Jets in 2017. And I don't know, man. Sometimes I'm like, Jared Goff kind of only really succeeds in perfect situations, at least in my mind. It's like when the McVeigh era was cooking, the offensive line was good. He had Todd Gurley. He had all the receivers and like everything was on fire. And McVeigh was like ahead of the curve in terms of play calling.

Same thing with Ben Johnson, the great offensive line, the great skill players. Now I'm like, eh, offensive line's a little worse. They lost their center. They lost their guard. You know, they were the most under-centered team in football last year. You lose their center. Also, the lions are playing outdoors way more this year. They played three games outdoors last year.

Last year it was all indoors. They only played one outdoor game. game until week 16. And at that point, they were 13 and 2. This year, their first four away games are outdoors. Green Bay, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City are their first four away games. I don't know. That's why I kind of pushed Detroit out of the playoffs if I had to pick. What do you guys think? Yeah, I think it's obviously leading you in a certain direction right now. It's definitely possible. If you want to push back, feel free. I will say there's a reason we talk about continuity so much and why like some teams are so like the, look at the Eagles or sorry, look at the Chiefs

right now with being able to hold on to Andy Reed and Spags for like multiple multiple years. That is so rare to see, you know, a really good team, a Super Bowl type team keep their coaches. It's just so rare. There's always brain train. I feel like that's why the goal is to hire an offensive, like a guru play caller as your head coach and they don't leave. Exactly. And so that's like, I think one of the big arguments we have when teams are hiring is like, okay, if this guy, if you hire a defensive coach, then your OC, if he does a good job is going to be gone. in like a year or two.

So I don't know. It's just like it really does matter. And I don't know how much it matters. I don't know if it's like seven games worth or whatever if like they're going to miss the playoffs. But it is it is really important. And we don't know anything really about this John Morton guy. I just look back to the 2017 season. Do you know who started at quarterback for the 2017 Jets?

Josh McCown. Josh McCown. He actually had a pretty good year. It's good. It's a touchdowns. I remember sneaky McCown here. True. Speaking of random fantasy tweets.

Maybe there's something there. Fantasy at one point wrote in Slack around that time that Josh McCown was firmly the third greatest quarterback of his lifetime for the New York Jets. And he took through it. He was right, which was crazy. So maybe John Morton's got, you know, maybe John Morton's got it. Yeah. But yeah, Craig, I think you're right to question this. And if you think about what the lions were doing last year, it really felt like this is the peak.

This is the apex of offensive football. They were feeling themselves so much. They're throwing touchdowns per game. Dude, they averaged over three points a drive. Every time they touched the football, they got a field goal. Minimum. They were doing the fake fumbles. They're throwing to offensive linemen.

Did you guys see the story of how they did? Remember that when they threw the ball, the Pena Sewell that was like in the middle of the field, like on the 40 yard line? Yeah. Because usually you only see offensive line and catch it in the end zone. Yeah. Right. Did you ever hear? Did I ever tell you the story?

of how Dan Campbell green lit that play? No. Dan Campbell... Wasn't it like by accident? Dude, he's like sitting there and he... I can't believe he admitted this. This is why he's the man.

Dan Campbell was just kind of like... Yeah, I was kind of like watching the wave in the stadium. And I got kind of mesmerized by it because it was really good. And then I just kind of black back in and I just sharing the headset, Dan, Dan, are we good?

Are we go? And he's like, oh, yes, yes, yes. And then he watches the play and they throw the Pne Sewell. And he's like, holy shit. Is that what I just said? And he fucking approved it. He didn't hear what they were saying.

Do you think Ben Johnson organized that with the crowd? He's like, you're going to do the wave, and then I'm going to call a pass. Yeah, I still believe it. He planted some people in the stands to start the wave. Yeah. But to your point, Craig, it's weird because on one hand... The talent is clearly mostly still there.

Obviously, the Lions can be the number one-seeded, or the number two-seeded than a C again. Needless to say, they're really good, they're incredible, they're well-coached, blah, blah, blah. It's a lot of factors all coming together, which is a lot of their defensive guys are coming off injuries. And so some of those guys are going to be back.

And it's like, oh, we're fully healthy or bolstered. But some of those guys are also like returning from injury, not 100%. The other thing is the offense was incredibly healthy. So that's the thing is the defense will be healthier. The offense is unlike, and this is a little debby downer, but it's unlikely to be the offense was oddly like almost untouched by these issues, whereas the defense was smited by like God. They had 14, there's 11 starters in a football team.

They lost 14 guys to I.R. or whatever. And so they were playing guys off the street. So that will be different. But the flip side is, it's all these little things. It's the outdoor work. It's losing the coaches. It's losing the players. It's losing recipes.

And also just, I think that all that to me, I don't think I'm pulling them out of the playoffs, but it does make me look in the first round. Amon Rae St. Brown as a player, like, do I want to take him sixth? Whereas I actually worry if there's a little more risk there of any things as like, is he more like, do I want to take Amara over like Nico Collins? Do I want to take a Monra over like Devon A. Chan from Miami? Like, are there other players I want to? I want to attack.

But overall, I don't know. I almost wonder, see, I almost think for certain players like Jamir Gibbs and a Monara, I think even Sam Laporta, I might be like still just as high on them because I almost think Ben Johnson's, Ben Johnson leaving there might be less creativity

in this offense, which means golf will just pepper people like a Monara and his tight end and hand the ball off to Gibbs. And it's all the other stuff that will go away. So I think that realistically, I think that's fair. And again, Gibbs and, of Monro of first rounders. I think I'm probably out on Sam LaPorter this year just because I just feel like it's just mostly touchdowns. And again, a lot of the lines having less points per game and yards is built into the rankings and everything. But D.K.K., what do you think the effect is on the Bears? What do you think the effect is the effect? What do you think the effect? And then you have all these guys. Like, when you're making your rankings and you're looking at Bears players, like, what do you have Colson Loveland in the first round tight end? You have all these guys. How do you feel about the Ben Johnson effect in Chicago? Like, how are you assessing it? Like when you're making your rankings and you're looking at Bears players, like how, what do you? You

you thinking about? I'm thinking about how detail oriented he, Ben Johnson is and how that's going to make a big difference. I don't know if it's going to happen immediately where all of a sudden this is a good offense where it was a total fucking mess. But I do think having the details ironed out and the way that he thinks that he focuses on and the way that he calls plays, sequences plays, designs plays, all that stuff is going to matter. It's going to help. And I think, you know, there's still enough there with Caleb Williams talent wise for it to make it work. It's not like he has to, you know, bring in some random guy and, like, make everything work as well as it did last year for the Lions. But so at the end of the day, I think I give everybody a little bit of a bump.

And that's not saying much because last year, they were kind of a disaster. But I don't know, I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to look like a real offense this year. Where do you guys land on this? I know. I feel like my initial reaction to the Bears this year is like, if I want anybody, I probably just want Caleb, because there's so many options. I don't know where the ball is going to go. if the bears are good, I'll just take Caleb. And then I went and I kind of looked at

the lions in the past few seasons and I was like, you can't really sustain like a quarterback, a running back or two, a couple of a tight end, a couple R receivers. Like they can't all be good in fantasy when like a, you know, when a team is good or even just like starting to get good.

And man, I kind of forgot even in the, like even two years ago, three years ago, how good everybody was in the Lions when Ben Johnson got involved. Like, like, there was, David Montgomery was the number seven running back. Jamir Gibbs was the number eight running back in 2023. Like Sam Laporta was the number one tight end. Jared Gough was a top ten quarterback.

A Monrose-Brown was a top five wide receiver. It was remarkable how every single position was like legitimately top five or top ten at their position in fantasy. So it kind of made me think that maybe everyone is a little low on the bears in terms of just like the upside and that that will trickle in as we get closer to draft season in August because the reports are already coming out. Like DJ Moore and Roma Duncei are talking about just like how the vibe is completely different.

Like you said, D.K. Ben Johnson is like a total maniac about specifics and knowing your role and being detail-oriented. And they're like, it's just a completely different vibe. You're held accountable. And it's really working and the team loves it, but it's a ton of hard work. And I don't know.

Part of me is like, Caleb certainly has the skill. And like, I'm more on the camp of like, what if overnight they're just really good? And I think usually I'm a little skeptical of the offensive guru coming in and being exceptional if there aren't like specific things that make me feel that way. I think just frankly, I don't think the short answer to whether I believe in Ben Johnson and the Bears says I don't actually, fantasy wise, I don't think any of it's priced in, actually.

I don't think there's any like McVeigh effect priced into the coaching thing. As you look at it, DJ Moore, I'm just looking at general rankings. We're a little higher on them, which that is a conversation. He's like around receiver 21, right? It's like the 50th player, DJ. Moore. That's not insane. You know, you look at like Luther Burden. I'm way higher Luther Burden. Luther Burden's going like, it's like a 15th round player.

I'm like, that should be someone going 110th, 120th. I think Luther Burden is someone that might not play in September and have no impact whatsoever on October. And from Thanksgiving on, Luther Burden could be a top five fantasy receiver. Like, that's the kind of player he is. I think that DJ Moore is one that could lose

Ben Johnson's favor and he just like makes an example of him and benches him, but I also think DJ Moore could be incredible in this offense. I think Colson level The obvious comparison is the Sam Leporta, who had 10, however many touchdowns his rookie year. But the other guy, I have a list of like half a dozen guys that don't know what to do with this season.

And like the number one guy in the list is DeAndre Swift, where I'm like the running back in the Bears offense, we just saw Jemir Gibbs and David Montgomery in Detroit have, I might get this wrong. I basically think the most touchdowns for a duo of running backs and a tier period. They were basically both top 10 back-to-back seasons. We've never seen the rushing production from two players

at the same time as Gibbs and Montgomery, really entering the league. And like the Bears running backs. Like DeAndre Swift is being taken 60th, basically. And then Rochon Johnson's like undrafted. Like you know what I mean? Like I don't know what to do with the Bears backfield. Whereas DeAndre Swift last week saw him in Detroit playing for Ben Johnson,

they jettisoned him. They didn't even want DeAndre Swift because they didn't like the way he was running. So I don't know what to do with that. It's so weird to me that the leadback has played for the coach, but they got rid of them. But that to me is a crazy opportunity. So I think the Bears, the way that they're priced, if they're good,

could stack Chicago. You know what easy it is to get DeAndre Swift, DJ Moore, Caleb Williams, Colston Loveland, and Luther Burden? It's effortless. You can get the whole offense and not even spend it in one of your first five picks, basically. I've kind of gone back and forth on DJ Moore, but over the last week or two, I've decided that DJ Moore is going to be a guy I'm targeting a lot because there's so many bad

vibes around him right now. Like, people are kind of like, he walked off the field. And like, we're guilty of this. We've been saying this too. But like, you know, he did do it. off the field. He did it. It was funny.

But there's also a lot of people thinking that, like, all of Ben Johnson's comments and the post-draft pressers were directly pointed to DJ Moore for, like, bad body language and blah, blah, blah. And, like, I just feel like people are kind of assuming, not assuming, but, like, leaning that DJ Moore is going to eventually just get replaced and Luther Burden's the new guy there. Or maybe it's Colston Love, whoever, but like, what if DJ Moore just gets the Amman Rae St. Brown sort of role?

He, I was, I looked this up. I didn't realize this. Over the last four years, DJ Moore is third in target share. So he has 28% target share in that stretch. The only two people that are higher than him, Malik Navers, who only played one year and he had 31%. And then Devante Adams, 29%, or basically 30%. So it's Devon. Those are the only two target earners stronger than DJ Moore over the last four seasons.

He had that big year with Justin Fields where all he did was like throw to DJ. But he's going to get a lot of screens. He's going to get a lot of run and catch. or catch and run opportunities. My thing with DJ Moore, for the last week or two, I've started to get very into him. And I think it's mainly just because

he's the only player on the bears we know is good. And yes, that's good. That's really smart. And again, the reason this matters and this conversation matters is this is a whole thing in best ball is like stacking and basically the idea that betting on one team to be good

is basically the easiest way to do it. And there's a whole best ball world I don't want to get to do right now. But in fantasy, it's a little harder to say, hey, you have an office league or a league or your friends you care about. Have like five players from one offense.

It's a little scary. However, if you were able to identify the team, which takes a little huts, but if you could have gotten the dolphins two years ago when Tyree Kiel almost got 2,000 yards. Yeah, you could, yeah, you couldn't got, like, if you're able to pick the team, and in the NFC, it is very achievable to get Chicago. So if you're a big believer in Caleb Williams,

you're a Bears fan and you're a huge believer, and you're like, of course this is, like, go for it. And the AFC version of that to me is the Jaguars. To Craig's point, the other team where you have an offensive coordinator, who's very respected in Tampa Bay, and Liam Cohen takes over. And he's worked for Sean McVeigh, but not like the typical way.

Like, Sean McVeigh was kind of going to him for college advice. And then Sean McVeigh was so impressed that he hired him. It's not like the other guys who just were around Sean McVeigh for 10 minutes and got a job. Liam Cohen, I think, individually has an incredible career.

But going to Jacksonville, I'm like, Jacksonville's the other team where I'm all in because it is so easy. If you get at Brian Thomas in the second round... What can go wrong? No, I'm just... I know, yeah. Well, here's what could go wrong.

I'm sorry, you blew your second... you lose your second round pick Brian Thomas. Maybe he sucks. If you want Travis Hunter, he's like massive variance in where he could go. It's very easy to draft Travis Hunter. It's like seven picks after, it's like seven rounds after Brian Thomas. Travis E.TN's like a pariah. He's like going 100th.

And then Trevor Lawrence is going later than that. So you can get both receivers, Trevor Lawrence, and the running back in Jacksonville. And then if you think it's tank Biggsby or Baycial Tud, like, for Liam Cohen, who just revived Tampa Bay with Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, I'm like, if that works, you can, that could be, to me, is the rocket ship in the AFC. And so I like that one a lot, Jackson. I think that's very interesting. The more I've been reading about Cohen, I didn't realize,

he seems to be extremely respected. Like, the players seem to love him. Baker loved him. McVeigh, loved him. He's the one who prep Baker when he got signed on Tuesday night and played Thursday. On the Rams. Baker Mayfield spent 48 hours of Liam Cohen, and then he won that Thursday in football game.

You know what's funny is Shane Waldron is the reason why the Rams hired Liam Cohen, which is just kind of funny that you basically like bring in your replacement. The Shane Waldron, like, effect on the NFL over the last, like, three or four years. He should just be an executive because it shouldn't be in place. The outside, the outside effect on everything that's happened in the NFL. All the big things that have happened in the NFL, it's like, Shane Waldron's always right in the middle of it.

But, like, Cohen talking about his philosophy, and he's very similar to McVeigh, and he learned so much from McVey. And God, dude, the more, every time I read something about McVeigh, I'm like, this guy's just the fucking best. McVey is just the perfect blend of, like, leadership. guru everything. All you need to do is have your grandfather be the architect of the 80s 49ers.

So, you know, just be born in it. Yeah, Liam Cohen was basically like Sean McVeigh taught me that it was okay to say, like, good job and be friends with your staff. Dude, honestly, all the millennial coaches, they're just realizing it's okay to show affection. It's like all the boomer coaches before just like did not show any kind of emotions

because they all learned from World War II vets and everything. I do quibble with one thing. Have you read that Liam Cohen's very big on like high-fiving? And like, and like touching. Yes, I have, I have, I, yes, I think I know where you're going. Physical touch. Yeah.

You know when like somebody's like into holistic medicine, they tell you one thing? You're like, okay. Yeah, like drink raw milk. Who could that be? And they get into like three other things. You're like, do you ever have one of your friends get into ceremonial grade matcha? Okay, that's not holistic at all. That's scientifically proven.

That's just fucking green tea. I mean, leave me alone. No, Cohen is like, he's using this Berkeley study from like 15 years ago about, The Lakers in 2009, and all the NBA teams that I guess had successful seasons on average, touched one another the most. Like high fives, pat on the back, like whatever, hugs. And Liam Cohen, he calls it the power of touch. And he wants to, like, introduce that to his own teams.

I have seen that. I was like, if I was on Shark Tank, I kind of might have been like, I might be out. I have a massive problem with that. Craig. Also, that's just like the dumbest thing I've heard, I think. Did you hear what Terry Bradshaw said last week? What? By the way.

So I thought this is like very applicable. This matches up very well because on to the point home service podcast, of course. Terry Bradshaw said, I did not like my head coach at all Chuck Noel. He was not a nice person. And he was mean to me. In all my 14 years of playing for him, he never shook my hand one time. Nice job.

Nice job, Terry. I was walking out, going on the field to play the. Cleveland Browns and he stopped me and said, you mess up out there, I'll bench your ass in the first half. This is like such a like a classic example of like the different generations over the years. All the most successful men in America did not have fathers that said, I love you. You never say thank you. That's what the body is for. You think you think Belichick told Tom Brady, good job, Tom? Even in the book, he just was like Tom did his job. I was very proud of him. If anything, he was just like fucking going off on Tom in the in the meetings and

making him look bad. Yeah. Anyway, the entire generation a different world. I will say the other thing that bought the... Learn your learners.

Email us at Ring and Fantasy Football at Gmail.com if you have any anecdotes about that. Power of touch. Well, here's my issue with the power of touch. One, just the phrase,

aren't we like Archer? We're not doing phrasing anymore. You know what I mean? But number two, it's... That study really gets me because it is a real study they did. I forget, I don't know where they did it,

but they're like, yeah, did you know that like the more teams touched each other like hands, daps, handshakes, whatever. I'm like, well, you know when you touch each other, when you score. I know, it's like, you know those old charts?

They used to think ice cream caused polio. Because ice cream spiked when the polio and, like, ever think it's maybe it's just summer? I ever think that actually winning leads to each other touching your hands more? For some reason, like Prime Kobe and Shaq touched them. They dapped each other up all the time. They dabbed to have the most when they won the finals. It's so weird.

But anyway, I think I agree with you. I think I'm a little bit more hesitant about Jacksonville and Liam Cohen. I don't know. He didn't bring any coaches with him. the offensive line's not good. The running backs, I don't know. I know that Liam Cohen basically overnight made the Bucs a good rushing offense

because people forget Dave Canales with the Bucks, he was really the one who kind of like revitalized Baker. Baker was good in 2023. They just kind of got better in 2024 and then could really run the ball. They were dead last in rushing success rate in 23 and they went to ninth in one year under Liam Cohn. So I think him turning around the rushing game

and it's why I'm interested in somebody like Tank Bigsby, but um counter remember when uh will levis was drafted high and we were talking about will levis maybe as a first run pick and they're like well he sucked the last year but the year before that he was great the year before that was leum cohen i know i know i know i made will levis a fucking nfl quarterback for for a couple seasons yeah so i i guess in a nutshell i'm not it's it's easier to say than actually do like yeah just stack a whole team on your fantasy your only team that you like on the case that they're great uh it's easier to just say i have 17 percent over overweight on them in my best ball portfolio.

Like, that's just a little easier. But I do think basically, it's more like, well, if you have Brian Thomas, you're like, damn, he's a Travis Hunter later and like just bet on E, you know what I mean? Just bet on ETA. Trevor Lawrence can be your backup quarterback. Like, I think it's more, it's not like people are betting. Betting on the Jags is not baked in. I think people are out, people are out on Jacksonville.

People are on Trevor Lawrence. I'm in. Is it bad? I'm also kind of okay with the bucks this year. I know they lost Liam Cohen. Basically, everything else is the same. They're returning all 11 starters. Worf's being hurt is a big deal

because he's like one of the best tackles in the league. That is a problem. But outside of that, I'm like, all right, the O.C, the guy calling plays Josh Grizzard was their third downplay color. Josh Grizzard from Lizard Lick, North Carolina. Josh Grizzard out of Lizard. Grizzard from Lizard lick. He's 35 years old, went to Yale.

He was with the dolphins before. He was with Mike McDaniel. He's kind of like a little mini McDaniel. Also, he had a 4.75 GP in high school. I don't even know you could go to that. Can I tell you something? Does that even work? That's a ridiculous number.

I always thought it was still four, and then some places go to five. I thought four point O is as high as you could get. I don't understand. My generation. So is it when you take an AP class or some like fancy class that goes up? You get an extra point. If you take a high class of shit.

If you get a 100 in AP calque and you don't go to, I don't know, some other class you don't give a shit about. How does that, like I don't understand. Maybe this reflects poorly on my ability as a fantasy for playlist, but I don't like get a GBA's word. an A in a normal class is worth five points, but an A and an AP class is worth six points, I think. I'm a little dubious about any 35-year-old

that I'm hearing about the GPA. Why am I hearing about this? I was more just reading about him. I was more just reading about him, and it was like, he was a McDaniel guy. He also went to Yale, and then he also went to Duke. He was a valedictorian. I'm like, all right, this guy's a small.

You know who else I heard of a real good-getter? You know who else I heard a shit ton about their education was Matt Patricia. Just throwing it out there. What was your guys' GPA in high school? I don't know. What? You remember that? Damn.

When you're above four, you never forget. I don't know. I just couldn't believe if you're with children, earmuffs. I just couldn't believe in a college graduation. They're printing cum on the fucking register, like the, like the, like, I did. I did graduate the goddamn card. I graduated come loudly. I just can't believe that they just come written in lab.

Like, oh my God, this is unbelievable. And I'm the weirdo? My overarching take is a. than the cum thing, Hafeitz. I am aware of that. I just think it should be phased out. That's all.

It's like, are we doing Latin or are we not? Just say, thank you. Are we doing Latin? Or are we not? It's like the numerals. It's like,

have you ever looked up Super Bowl 38? It's insane. Super Bowl, the, yeah, it's X, X, X, X, X, oh, no, that's the easy one. Sorry,

that's the one you guys who makes fun of me for. X, X, X, X, X, X, V, I, I, I, that's 38, right? One of the, all right, how, did you? you guys enjoy Super Bowl XX X1X? Did you like that? Was that one of your favorites?

Is that 39? Yes. Should, like, we have a whole system. I know, I'm, I hate Latin. I can't believe that you write anyway. I don't know how we got it. We should get back to whatever. Latin. No, I hate it too. I hate it out of here. Get it out of here. It's fine. Like, read it in a museum. It's fine to know how words are connected. But like I shouldn't, anyway, you know what? Now I'm the sound like I'm the, I'm the weirdo that I didn't want come next to my name on my college graduate. You know what I mean? That doesn't make me weird. That's, that's why you were a bad student.

You didn't want to have, you didn't want to be cum laude. Just, I don't know. Just let's, how am I the weird? How do you even say it? Cum laude. That's ridiculous. That's a practical joke. Summa cum laude.

Summa cum laude. That's some shit you would make up. And if I don't know, magna cum laude. Some shit you would make up for your friends. And be like, yeah, that's how you say it. Yeah, yeah. He was magna come. Anyway.

Anyway, I kind of think the box are still going to be pretty good. I. I agree. As a problem. As a team. I was like, I think statistically in fantasy, like I think I'm comfortable drafting all these guys, I think. As a team with a couple assumptions, and I think the big assumption of the bucks, the question, whatever you want to call it, is if Josh Grizzard, they'll see, to your point, can keep the train rolling. Because, again, the last two guys are really talented, Canales and Cohen.

And it gets almost like, you're almost sleepwalking, assume it'll be the same. Having said that, for fantasy, Evans, Mike Evans is Mike Evans. And he's like, for me, is Derek Henry. I'm going to assume he's going to keep doing that until he stops. And I'm no longer going to try to guess what the new age curve is. I think everyone after that is mispriced. But short version, I don't believe in Chris Godwin this year. I am a little skeptical post-injury.

And I know they resigned him, but I actually think the most mispriced person on that offense is Ibuk. I think all the rookies are mispriced. Like, D.K., you talk about this all the time with the rookies. I think all the rookie receivers are underpriced. I think Matthew, for different reasons. Golden on the Packers, Ibuk on the Bucks, Luther Burden on the Bears. I think all the rookies are mispriced. Yeah, I mean, I think the hard part with the rookies is rookies help you every year,

but not every rookie. You have to pick the right rookie. And I think a lot of times it's not exactly if you're going to stick. You got to pick the right players. You know, that's why people come to this show. I don't know. It's not always obvious.

Who's going to absolutely go off. No, it's not. No, it's not. Remember that time last year, Marvin Harrison Jr. sucked and every other receiver was awesome. Great example. Yeah.

Bucky Irving. Who saw that one coming? You know? No, that was crazy. Coming loudly. But I don't know. So do we want to talk about rookies right now? because that was one of my.

Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Like, which of the rookies are going to be, like, the win your league type players last year, obviously. I mean, just look at the list last year. Jane Daniels, Brock Bowers, Malik Navors, Brian Thomas Jr., Ladd-McConkie, Bucky Irving, and Bo Nix. All were like integral parts of fantasy.

I think the obvious answer this year, Ash and Gentie, probably going to get a ton of volume. If you're going to make a tier one of rookies that I would be targeting and these are the obvious ones. You just back up for a second and explain, I mean, last year was an unprecedented offensive class, like 14 straight picks. But even before that, can you explain the history of rookies having an impact in fantasy as the season goes on? Yeah, I mean, going back over the last five, six, seven years, whatever, you look at the receivers that have made massive impacts in year one.

And a lot of time, it's like you said earlier, if it's, it's not necessarily weeks one and two and three. It takes them sometimes a month to get going in the offense. But like, if you look at the splits, there's been at least one or two rookie receivers every year going last like five years that have been, quote, unquote, league winning. type players. So they are definitely players that you want to target later in your draft. Keep them on your bench for a month.

See how it goes because sometimes they start slow. But these are some of the most valuable players in fantasy every single year. But again, like I said earlier, you got to find the right ones because it's not every rookie receiver does this. But yeah, just going back over the years, I'm just doing off the top of my head,

but like Chris Olave, Garry Wilson, Waddle, all these guys as rookie. I think the best, Rishiris did nothing before Thanksgiving. And then after Thanksgiving was like the top six receiver or whatever. And that happens over and over. I think the power of it is in the aggregate in that having a little humility and saying, we don't know which of these rookie receivers will be good. So having an open mind and being like, this isn't the one I'd necessarily pick,

but I want to go for it because it's just knowing that it really is like a taught. And you need to apply context because last year, all right, there were a ton of rookie receivers, but it was incredible class. This year's rookie class is not as incredible. Maybe there's only going to be one or two rookie impact guys. But that is why on the whole, the net net, when a Macabooka is going 130th, and Luther Burden's going like 130th.

And Matthew Golden, I think, is going outside the top 100. I'm like, down the list. I'm like, Matthew Golden could be the number two receiver in Greed Bay. And like, he could play more snaps than Jaden Reed. I'm like, he's the first round pick. I could go into, I want to talk more about Matthew Goldman's the season goes. But I think to your point, DK, this absolutely huge year. Like, I think the rookies this year people don't really know what to do it.

Yeah. Gentie's easy in the first or second round, but he's the only one that you feel comfortable with. Yeah. Gentie is like the clear cut number one guy. But then there's Ted McMillan for the Panthers who looks like he could, you know, immediately kind of be a major part of that offense. Travis Hunter, like Hifitz mentioned earlier, my guy, I think he's fallen because people don't know how much he's going to play on offense,

which is obvious. That's, you know, we don't know exactly what it's going to be. But like, I think if you end up looking at Travis Hunter's rookie season, he might play like 60 or 70 percent of snaps. but like 90% of their passing snaps. So you know what I mean? Like a lot of these guys will play 90% of snaps and like they're out there on run plays where it doesn't make a fucking difference.

You know what I mean? So maybe that's something how that's like how they'll work him in is like, we know he's going to be in when we're passing. Maybe that's too much of a tell. But I think a lot of teams do that anyway. But I was like, I circled a Mecca as a really good value right now. I think Colson Loveland for the Bears is a really interesting one

because I think he's going to have a huge role. right away. I'm sorry, can I stop you and Travis Hunter at the risk of self-parody? Do it.

So the Jaguars traded up as if Travis Hunter was like two players basically. They traded up so much to move up in the draft

and say Travis Hunter. If Travis Hunter did not play cornerback, just played receiver, and as talented as Travis Hunter was in college,

and as much as as high as the Jaguars took him, where were Travis Hunter be drafted in fantasy? Third round? No. Like really high.

Not third round. You don't think like higher or lower. Marvin Harrison was third round last year. Yeah. Marvin Harrison is the number one wide receiver on his team. Yeah. But neighbors was like four.

My point is. Travis Hunter's not the number. Travis Hunter is somewhere between 60 and like 90. Depending on the platform and what people think. And I'm just saying to me, I think Hunter is underpriced because they took him as a receiver,

not a cornerback. Like they're like he's going to be on offense in Moonlight D, which is not the consensus coming to the draft. But that's what the Jagger's took him for. And I think Hunter's going to be awesome. He's also the type of guy that they're just going to spam targets at him with.

You know, screenplays, quick routes, quick, like throws, things like that, just to get the ball out and then run around. Okay. Any of the rookies, see Hunter McMillan, Colston Loveland, talks about Golden, Nabucca. Yeah, golden. The other, like, deep cuts, if we're talking about, Jaden Blue, or the Cowboys,

since they just don't have anybody kind of in their backfield right now. that you trust. Kyle Williams for the Patriots, Dylan Sampson for the Browns, because of something that just happened recently, which I think we should probably just talk about right now, right? Yeah, let me just, here, let me pull it. So I'm just going to quote from TNC Sports.

So yeah, so Quinn Sean Judkins, so I'm just going to quote from this so we don't get sued. More detail, this is quoting Team Z Sports. More details surrounding Quinn Sean Judkins, arrested, and revealed the Cleveland Brown's second round pick is accused of punching a woman in the mouth during an argument inside a car. Basically, they were never rented Lamborghini at the Fort Lauderdale Airport

and continuing quoting. The woman claimed he struck her in the mouth, her chin area with a closed fist resulting in bruising. Woman said she ultimately decided to go to the cops after speaking with friends and family. As previously reported, Judkins to the woman who lived together between May 24 and December 2024 and then got back together in June 2025.

Remain in Fort Lauderdale for several days before she filed a delayed battery report and then officers made contact that Judkins placed him into custody and charged him with Mr. Meeter battery. So, end quote. So we don't know what's going to happen with that. No clue. Generally speaking, not a lawyer.

NFL lets legal, like the criminal, like there's civil and criminal, and the NFL has decided to let criminal prosecutions play out, and then they'll get involved, which is how Rishi Rice was involved in a car accident, like at this point years ago, and probably won't be, it won't even decide whether to suspend Rishi Rice this year or not. So it, what, we don't have all the facts there. And then even when we do, it will be probably, probably. We'll see. But another random thing going on is, he's not signed. Quinshan Judkins is not. not signed with the Cleveland Browns, which is a different. This is a bizarre story, Hyves.

So, yeah. I know we're running along. I'll try to keep this short. But basically 30 second round picks are not signed, which is unprecedented. Like, there is a crazy thing going on. Camps are starting. So the Chargers are going to go to training camp. And Trey Harris, the second round pick for the charges, is not going to be there.

And the reason you don't hear about this anymore. You never hear about this, right? Rookie's not reporting to camp because of a contract dispute. You never hear about this. There were shades of it. The Bengals actually just had one with Shemar Stewart. but that's not related. But basically, it's funny because it's a negotiation,

but there's no thing to negotiate with money. None of the money's up for grabs. There's a chart you can pull up with how much the first pick to the 257th pick gets paid. It's like basically non-negotiable. It's all about the guaranteed money is what they negotiate over. So it's like how much of it's guaranteed or how to unguarantee the money. So sometimes if you get arrested for something like felony assault or a DUI,

the team is like, oh, you're actually, you're like at will basically now. your contract's not guaranteed. Or even some cases, if you get three personal fouls, 15-yard penalties, and are fined for it, you will unguarantee your money. You're like an at-will employee. So all the haggling happens over guarantees. It's a four-years guaranteed. Three, two of the four years are guaranteed.

What has happened is the first-round picks get the four years fully guaranteed. And then after that, it's kind of like there's precedent. Nothing's written down, but it's just precedent. What happened was the Texans signed Jaden Higgins. The Texans drafted Jaden Higgins out of Iowa State 34th overall, which is the second pick of the second round. They gave him basically a first round contract. They gave him four years fully guaranteed.

With the amount, so the money's set at the 34th pick, but they're like, we're going to give you the whole thing. Nick Serio was just busy watching the wave. Yeah, the energy vampires. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, give it to him. They're like, what did you say? Yeah, yeah, sure. It's like, why did he do this?

I'm so confused about this. It's so weird. The guy, fuck it. No, it's genius. It's genius because he's now has his guy and everybody else doesn't have theirs. Yeah. So the exact. It's playing the short game, if you will.

So then the Browns who had Carson Schwessinger, I can't pronounce, UCLA linebacker had the first pick of the second round. We're like, fuck. So they gave Carson Schwessinger the first round pick contract two. The next 30 picks at the second round are all like, all like,

all right, cool, we're going to get. Give me one of them big ones. Give me one of them big ones. I don't care. You can put it out of big pig. I'll put it in my car. So literally, they're all waiting like Domino's because they don't want to screw it up. So they're waiting for the third pick of the second round of sign,

then the fourth and the fifth, no one wants to screw it up. It's just like staring contest. And all that's happening, the backdrop of something, unless people hit us up or interested, we can get into, but it's against the backdrop of this. Pablo Tori did an episode with Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk that basically there's a whole drama happening based with the NFL Players Association where basically NFL owners seem to have what, gluted, or just had a business strategy, whatever, about not guaranteeing NFL

contracts, which we can get into. And the way the NFLPA handled that quietly, it's a whole thing we could talk about, but there is a big brouhaha right now about guaranteed contracts. And so none of these agents, no one wants to be seen backing down on guaranteed contracts right now. The teams don't, it's a whole thing. So players are going to, they're not, it's not a moment that the NFLPA wants to be seen is not fighting for guaranteed money.

So it is, it very much, like this is a big deal right now with these picks coming in. So we'll see what happens. But anyway. I have a question. We got to see these guys show up to train again. So these guys, if they're not signed. And they can't, so they can not come to practice, I assume, or whatever. And then do they, can they get fined if they're not signed?

No, we can't get fined or you're under contract. Right. That's a loophole. What they do with OTAs is there's some waiver. I won't pretend to be a lawyer and understand, but basically they sire it. I think it's called a player participation. Basically, they sign something that's like, if I get hurt running on air and tear my ACL, like you will basically honor my, what I would have signed at the slot.

And they basically signed something. I don't know if maybe it's insurance, I don't know, but they signed some paperwork that's not a contract. But they don't do that for training camp. Like, you are supposed to be signed for training camp. So I don't think they're going to sign some way. Like, these guys are not going to be in the field. If they'll go to meetings and stuff, maybe, but like, probably not. Like, they're probably not going to show up.

And I want to point out to just like from a football point of view, missing these practices is a big deal. Massive. Craig, I was thinking about this the other day. I was listening to a pod and they were talking about Roman Wilson from the steel. who like got hurt immediately missed a few practices and then somebody said like the train left without it like essentially like the season left and he just missed that train they were like we're not going to even think about you until next year because we're we got a job to do we're doing our thing if you miss practice we've seen it a hundred times if you miss early oTAs or if you miss training

camp because of injury it sets you back for your rookie season so badly and it's really really disruptive you don't learn the playbook as well you cannot get out there and get good shape. I mean, it's like any number of things that happen. It's like a really terrible deal. It's kind of like how Tiger Woods or Novak Djokovic, even when they're like, or what they say about the live golf guys, it doesn't matter how good you are. You have to be doing something every day to be elite at it. Like if you're going to be better than the other best. The margins are so small in the NFL. Yeah. Tiger Woods, even putting. Like when Tiger Woods comes back, it's not just he can't his drives anymore. Like Tiger Woods isn't as good potting the ball when he's not competing every day. Like

It doesn't matter who you are. You have to be doing this every day. So never mind when you're learning the ropes in the beginning. You lose your touch when you're playing when you don't play basketball for like a week. Yeah. So maybe we take out all those second round receivers. We just fade them. I know.

That's worrisome. Okay. What's your next question? Probably should have got to this earlier in the show. But honestly, I think there's just, you might as well start at the beginning. I keep wondering if we should take Sequin Barclay first overall or not. The workload thing? Say again?

Yeah, it's this simple. I mean, we could talk forever and ever about it, but it's this simple. We could argue there's never been an easier number one pick because Sequin just had the best season I've ever seen from a running back start to finish. Ridiculously awesome running back behind one of the best offensive lines, if not the best offense line. Ninety-ninth percentile athlete with 99th percentile production and with 99th percentile character who just won the Super Bowl.

And so on one hand, what the fuck are we talking about? But the flip side is he had the second most touches of the 21st century. And there's a middle ground between running backs don't matter was stupid. And I should ignore that he had the second most touches. with the 21st century. He had almost 500 touches. He's on the cover of Madden. And if Sequin got hurt in week six, I'd feel stupid.

And that's it, honestly. And so I could go through the whole history with you guys. I don't care if you care or not. But that's really it. Is how much should I... Basically, I think where I'm at is I think I give people permission to not take Sequin first if you have the first or second pick

and you're like, I'm a little scared of that. That's fine. But to be clear, every week's Saquan is healthy. He will be a top two running back. Like, he's going to be a top two. It's hard to know what to do with him. It also, I feel like as we're splitting hairs a little bit, it's like, don't take him first.

But like, how are you feeling if you spent $55 on him in an auction draft or whatever? How does that make you feel? I think I just need to not think about it. Like, I think if I don't think about it, I would just take Sequin and not ever think it. But the more I listen to morons like us talk about it, I'm like, well, that...

DeMarco Murray in 2014 never bounced back. And I'm like, well, you know, maybe Seaquin's different or also, I don't know, a lot of those old numbers about like Arian Foster and Larry Johnson in 2005 or whatever. It's like, first of all, I don't know, I'm sure the way athletes take care of their bodies 20 years ago is very different.

The way athletes practice is very different. The way Sequin is practicing this off-season, he's like taking it easy, more easy than he usually does. You know, he's aware of it. I don't know if people were as conscious about it back then. Arian Foster, I believe, did not have a hyper-bear chamber he could take with him to his hotel back in 2011. And so I agree.

Players, they're not getting hit. I mean, still getting hit, but not as hard as 2004. with Larry Johnson. And basically, I think there's a 50-50 chance. Who are you taking over him, High Fitz? I think Jamar Chase won the Triple Crown, and you could just take Jim Mar Chase,

and that's fine. There's no shame in that. Jamar Chase is incredible. He's 25 years old. He's the best receiver. He's my favorite player. That's not a giant. I'm obsessed that you can take Jamar Chase.

My thing mistake one is there's a $50, it's a coin flip. It gets hurt. You'll feel dumb if you take the mad and cover athlete and he gets hurt. Like all the history of these guys with this workload. Edron James, Larry Johnson, Aaron Foster, Marco Maria Levy on Belderick Henry,

Christian McCaffrey, when they've had these workloads got hurt the next season. Also, just do it anyway, man, it's fucking Sequin. To Craig's point, I'm not going to sit here and tell people not to take him. You should take Sequan. I don't care if you take Choir's chase over him, like, because they're equally good, but I'm still going to rank Sequin that high because the flip side is to take Bejan Robinson. I'm like, okay, but one, what, Michael Pennix isn't going to get hurt with his four season ending years in college,

who's played three starts. We're assuming that'll be a good offense. So I think still takes Seekuan, but I give you permission to not. But just do it. is my take like week one he's gonna have like 111 yards at half time sake one

he's gonna rip off a 70 yarder in the first half dude I saw I should have done that fuck shout to Josh Norris and Hayden Winks who had an amazing stat

on Seekwin this week and obviously I mean Seekwin had the most yards in a single season ever if you include the playoffs which is cooler than if he had gotten 2005 and could have gotten

the regular season record but Josh Norris and Hayden Wink said the stat I couldn't believe which was Seekone scored more touchdowns from Alton's the 20 than inside the 20 yard line. Yeah.

Which is like some tiring kill shit. That's crazy. Give him an inch. It'll take a mile. So, yeah. Just take Syquimilar. But the flip side is, I know it's crazy, but just last year, another running back had offensive player of the year, like 2,000 yards from scrimmage, made the Super Bowl, played

all those extra games, led the league in touches, and then barely play the next year. So the flip side is, what do we do with Christian McAfrey? Yeah. That was my other big question of the season outside of the offensive coordinator switchups. Man, I don't know. because I actually think the value is already going away. Like, he's already creeping into the first round. People are talking themselves into him already.

He's like the seventh or eighth overall picking drafts now. And at that point, you're like, all right, that's probably quality value. Because then there's like only three running backs going ahead of them. And it's like Sequin Barclay, Bejanjohn Jemier Gibbs, and then McCaffrey, which might be right. I, to be honest, this is a real wait and see for me. I know we're not supposed to trust like what we hear out of San Francisco because of what happened last year. but like, I don't know what else to do. Like, if everything's...

I think we can trust it a little bit if he's just practicing all the time. Well, you know he was hurt. We just didn't think that... We didn't know how hurt. We didn't know he was saying I could play tomorrow and then he didn't play three weeks after he said that.

That was hard to see gum. We didn't know he had bilateral Achilles tendinitis. Because they lied. And then Jordan Mason admitted they lied by accident. Bilateral. Bilateral. I don't know what that means. There's medical words are funny

when they're like, both legs. Bilateral. As opposed to unilateral Achilles tendonitis. When McCaffrey was going in the second round, I was like 100% absolutely you have to take him. If it's like fifth overall, I don't know, man. Do whatever you want. There is one number.

I don't know what to do. Thanks for the advice. Yeah, thanks, Craig. Should we put that in McAfree when we update the draft guy? Just put fuck if I know. I don't know. I don't know. My thing with Caffrey is very simple.

I mean, if he plays the whole season, you could argue he'd go ahead to take one. Honestly, you can take McCaffrey first, and I'm not going to like Yel. It's this simple to me. There's one number with McCaffrey. Not trying to get seventh in the league. Yeah, no, that's the answer. Go for it. Fuck it.

The only number that matters to me, the number that rises above all the other analysis for me is 91%. That is the percentage of snaps McAfee played in the first two games back. 91%. Shanahan has no, like, self-control. McCaffrey doesn't either. McCaffrey gets mad when he gets subbed out. There's a reason he played 97% of snaps in 2019 at the Panthers. He's a psycho-backer who's a limit.

He's like a psycho in the off-season. He works out like crazy. And he's even trying to be like, I'm trying to take it easy on myself. So here's the thing. Every week that McAfree plays between 85% and 95% of snaps, where are we going to rank them? Yeah.

In the top four with Sequin, Bijon and Gibbs every single week. He's going to be a top four running back. To me, since he missed the last year, I don't think there's necessarily more injury risk with Maca. than there is a Sequin. And so if he's going to be playing that much when he comes back. I don't know.

As a doctor, I would say bilateral anytime I hear Achilles is like one square on the bingo card. And then tendinitis is, you know, famously that doesn't go away,

right? Isn't that the whole thing is fucking bad. Is that how it works? Tenditis is like chronic, correct? Can you have tendinitis go away or is it just kind of like

you handle it? I think it goes away if you rest for a very long time. Let me ask Google Gemini. I don't know, man. By the way, this is probably the scariest injury that doesn't make you missed time. Hold on. You want the AI overview from Google Gemini? Yes, most cases of tendonitis will eventually go away. Okay. But it can take time, ranging from a few weeks to

several months. How do you feel now, Craig? By Christian McCaffrey. Okay, maybe I feel a little better. Thanks, Google Jeff. He is a new father, by the way. McCaffrey? Oh, dude. If you're just fucking drafted players who just had kids, you'd probably win your league. Or guys who just had sex, like Tyler Lockett. Well, no, you fade guys who lost their virginity. But what if it was never the same? What if it was to have a kid, though?

Oh, that's it. Well, the nine months between having sex and the birth, you'd lose all his powers, but then you get the dad strength when it comes back. The dad strength offsets the virgin lack of strength. I genuinely do think if Muhammad Ali wouldn't, you know, if boxers and UFC fighters won't like, you know, have sex or come, you know, the summa cum laude before the fight, there's something to it. Tyler Lockett was never good after he lost his virginity.

That's just a fact. part of that was because he lost his virginia was like 30 years old but yeah what was the todd girly knee injury was that not tendonitis what did he no well he he had a he had um no that's that's different it was um arthritis arthritis arthritis arthritis arthritis arthritis the the inflammation of the arse the arth the arthurine with the fist but it's just like we're we're fucking idiots let's yeah we're pretty stupid we don't know it's gonna have You don't have to take anything to say. Neither to you.

No one knows. If they tell you they know, it's kind of crazy that I feel like Sequin had easily the most famous running back season of the decade, right? Because the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl really put it over the top. The 2000 yard thing, I think just like the nature of the touchdowns themselves,

him switching teams, the whole thing, yeah, the Super Bowl. However, McAvary's 2020, he had over a point per game more than Sequot. If they had won, Maccafries would have been just as good, if not better. The thing was the Sequon thing had the literal reality show to start it off. and it ended with the Super Bowl in a way that you won't get with the nether player probably anytime soon.

To the point, if we just zoom all this out just to button it up, the thing that usually works in fantasy that we look back on and we wish we did more was just be bold when everyone else is afraid and afraid of everyone else is bold, which is the Warren Buffett thing. Everyone's afraid of McAfri. Everyone's bold on Seiquan. And I'm like, honestly, I kind of just going to take McCaffrey where he's at because we will probably look back and be like, why were we so afraid of the Achilles? Just like when Tua plays 17 games, we're not afraid of the concussions. then it gets concussed and we're all afraid of the concussions. It's like just betting against what everyone's afraid of or bowled on is usually, frankly, fading the emotions is probably smart. Will you feel dumber drafting Sequin or McCaffrey and then they get hurt?

Oh, that's a great question. McAfree. Immediately McCaffrey. Yeah, definitely. Again, bilateral Achilles tendonitis. Dude, it's like dead dove, do not eat. And I like, you hit the door and like, I'm just like, I'm so scared of like,

Every time an NBA player has a calf, Achilles injury that's like fine and then goes away and then they come back, the worst happens. Well, it's in the water, too. We just saw Jason Tatum and Tyler Yus Alberton where that was our fault. And Damien Lillard. It's like it's... And Lillard, yeah. I don't know. What is going on with these Achilles injuries?

I don't know. It's always dangerous to like, it's kind of like climate. It's hard and dangerous to look at any injury and try to be like that's part of a trend. But I almost think in a way the... of some people from Achilles injuries almost like emboldened people to play through it in a way. You know what I mean?

I don't know if that makes sense, but like the idea that Kobe came back and then Durant came back and certain guys coming back, it almost, I think frankly has emboldened people to play through potentially. Oh,

really? I don't know. I don't know what to make. Like the calf injuries? I think the truth is probably just fucking random. And I think it was in the playoffs. I mean, fucking Halliburton's in the finals.

Yeah. That's what I feel bad at. If it was December, that he would have sat out a month. 100%. I respect him so much. That's what sucks. I respect Talbotten so much.

Of course. I didn't like the whole discourse around like he should have sat. Who said that? A lot of people thought he should have sat. Like, where did they say that before after he got hurt? After. Of course. My two cents.

That's absurd to me. You've waited your entire. He will obviously, his whole career will be changed by the injury. But I think if you're that competitive, if you're that close. you can't if the Pacers lose that game by two points if you lose the series by like a matter of points you literally won't be able to how do you sleep the rest of your life being like i wonder if i'd play it if i could have made it like you know what i mean that's the whole reason you're gonna j cutler

they're gonna j cutler you yeah exactly he's soft he's walking around on the sideline why can't he go back in he was tired dude uh okay any other questions here i know that ended up taking i love that we talk about saiquina maccalfrey like an hour into the show but yeah i think take Sequin and McAfreys that we're at? That's what people listen to our analysis. Take the players who are the best players ever in the position. Maybe.

I don't know, whatever. But when? Context matters. I think he's in, yes, you're right. I think he's top, to me, we're going to update our ranking soon. I'm actually at the point where to me, McAfre's, I'm going to have him top seven. And I think you need arbitrage it a little with like your ranking. So if you're using a site that has them 14th, like you could be a little strategic, but or whatever,

but realistically, my, I think Seaquin and Chase are top. two, and then you can, if you want, take Jamir Gibbs or Bijon Robinson right there with them. And my top three, I had a top three in a top three at each position. I had Sequin, Gibbs, and Bijon at running back, and I had Chase, C.D. Lamb and Justin Jefferson, and to me was the top six. And I'm like, you know what? I'm lying to myself. McCaffrey's in there. It's a top seven with Christian McCaffrey.

And the truth is, I don't actually care what order you put those seven people in. You could convince me McCaffrey should be seventh. You could make the case to me. And McCaffrey, you could take them first if you want, because you're like, I believe he'll be the number one guy, and they won't get him in the second round, so I don't really care. But to me, there's a top of seven guys,

and then there's, like, a big group of guys after that. But I think McCaffrey's part of that top tier and, like, the injury thing, just get up. Like, he's going to play 90% of the snaps with 49ers, and every week he's going to be Christian McAfrey. He's going to be the focal point of the offense. He also injured his posterior cruciate ligament

in Miss five games last year, also known as the PCL. Unilateral. And he's 29. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know, Jim. I don't know, Jim.

All right. Let's get to, you want to do a couple of emails and get out of here? Yeah. Okay, so we mentioned the fantasy league. Reminder,

emails for your fantasy football gym. com for punishments. Punishments. Again, we need punishments that like, creative, realistic, do.

Appropriate, but funny. Craig, do you have any, actually, not Craig, DK, do you have any guidelines

because just get out of you, I think you're the limitation on like what we would do sometimes. Something that, like, if you have a child, that's key. Like,

these people have children. DeK, well, you actually eliminate, what are punishments you've heard or we have thrown, Craig and I, Childless morons have thrown out

that you're like, no. You have to take a 500 miles across the country or whatever. Like, you have to take a 24-hour bus ride.

Like, we're not doing that shit. We have kids. Or like, you have to go get your yellow belt and karate. It's like, all right.

That's kind of good, actually. It actually takes a really long time. I want to learn to fight. I would do that. You have to go to, like, a lot of classes to do that.

Right. Probably, Probably not going to agree to that. So not on that, but also maybe a little more creative than like Bill has to change his profile photo to Kobe Bryant. You're like,

all right, maybe not that. Like something in between. Yeah. That would be funny, though, if Bill changed his profile photo to Kobe Bryant. If he had a Laker and his profile photo,

you know what's going to happen. One of us is going to come and last. Yeah, that's the best for content. That's why we're couching this so well. And then I'll just play my... So one of them won't do it. Yeah.

I'll just claim like tags for content. Yeah, it's because I picked Christian McCaffrey. So other email, Thank you for Cooper Flag. Other emails. Okay. We asked for emails about dumb arguments you had with your friend

that led to nearly physical confrontation. Very excited for these. This is fun. This one's from Ryan. Ry guy. Ryan, Arbon. My senior year of college, my roommate of four years, and I got into a fight of words when making breakfast.

Ryan, my friend critiqued how I crack eggs. Interesting. I stood by ground. I used the side of the pan and lightly but physically crack the egg open with my hands. And my friend said, you should crack the whole egg on the side of the pan, and there should be no need to open it up with your hands. And then he said, I'm fingering the eggs.

Okay. Words were exchanged. Names were called. Eventually, he got so upset, he refused to go lunch with me and my other roommate. And then we've actually never talked about this ever again because it was too heated. So one guy was cracking the egg a little bit and then prying it open. He's like you're fingering my eggs. Why was he so upset about that?

I don't know. And the other guy was like, you need to fucking smash that egg against the fans. I'm fondling my eggs. I'm not going to lie. I think I figure the eggs too. I think that's, I do. I don't have that technique down where I can just want, I can't one hand. I can't one hand crack either.

I've done it. Like, I'm capable of it, but not consistently. I usually fuck it up. You want to know how to crack an egg. That's really nice is you crack an egg with another egg. What? Only one of them breaks. get the fuck out.

It's unbelievable and it makes a really nice, perfect little circle that you can just like pry open really easily. But you finger the eggs. Yeah, but like it's just like, you know, a light fingering. But you're supposed to. Yeah, you're not blasting it. No. Yeah. It's more play.

Gentle. Okay. Yeah, it's polite. I'm confused why he was so offended. It's like my eggs. He's like taking over. my eggs is funny. I'm just imagining. Like you don't go into another man's house and finger his eggs.

How does this guy crack his egg? This guy slams the whole egg against the pan? I feel like you have to kind of like... You got to use a flat surface. You got to lightly tap it and then... Separate it. Pry it open. You're a chef. Please email in. If Dave Chang is rage listening to this, please email in

and bring your fantasy football at gmail.com and tell us that a crack an egg. You're fingering the eggs, Jerry. Sounds like a fucking sign-field bit. Fing. There was no fingering. I saw fingering. I saw fingering Jerry Oh my God This one's from

This one's This is not as funny Kramer then only eats Hard-boiled eggs Because he doesn't have to Then finger them It's like I figure out Jerry hard-boiled

Hard-boiled is a pain in the ass Yeah I hate doing that I used to be able to get the shell Off a hard-boiled egg You're gonna run it underwater Yeah if you run under water While you peel it

Yeah I think that's true I used to be able to get the hard-boiled eggs off I think I was like Accidentally a savant Because I never learned how to do it right and I just became incredible and then I lost it. I don't know how to do it anymore. But like there's some eggs where you can you can just like roll it around so the whole thing is cracked essentially. I'm talking about hard boiled. Yeah, yeah. And then it'll come off in like one thing.

But then if it doesn't, now you're dealing with 1,500 little. This is one of those life hacks you see. And they're like life hacks and it's like cut your pasta with scissors. And like there's always a boiled egg one. And I'm like cool. And I never do it. I know. Every life hack is like combined lemon juice and baking soda and you can clean anything in your house. And I feel like that's real. Mill is LifeHacks that actually were taking the email. Life hacks that, like, I don't have to go buy anything for. Yeah. Life hacks that I could just do in my house easily.

I found this one out the other day, Craig. Just mixing vinegar and water is a great way to wash your windows. Dude, I'm telling you, like, baking soda vinegar and, like, lemon juice, you don't need to buy any chemicals. Those three things fix everything. Do you get, like, the stuff off your lechrist there or whatever, just a pot, anything? Yeah, yeah, even though you're, yeah, you're supposed to lightly wash those. I just baking soda in general is a really baffling substance to me

because you can like brush your teeth with it you bake with it but it also cleans your pants I gotta tell you how is that work? I don't understand baking soda I totally agree I don't understand I still don't understand what it's made of

yeah it's like if you have like a stain on a marble countertop just put baking soda on it for two days it'll come off liquid it's a rising agent and then it's like put it in your cookies dude I know it's like I go to eat a tide pot

and you're like no you're not supposed to eat the tide pot but then baking soda you fucking put in food. I know, yeah. Making soda does it all. What's the stuff that doesn't, that you also put it in your fridge to, like, eat the odor? Yes, that's baking soda. What is the other thing that you put in food? Because I feel like there's something similar to baking powder.

The other thing you put in a baking powder. What's the difference between that? Not sure, but baking powder helps for something to rise. Did I just confuse them? Everyone's going to, all the ghosts are yelling at me. baking powder is for... This is according to AI. Maybe that's why my cakes suck.

Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, requiring an acid and a liquid to activate and create carbon dioxide for rising. Baking powder contains both sodium bicarbonate and an acid, eating only liquid to activate. I still don't know what that means. One helps the bread go up. So the refrigerant is what's in refrigeration. Yeah, how do you make a hockey rink again? No one of my favorite conversations we've ever had. What's a refrigerator?

Yeah. Which is up because someone was talking about like my air conditioning was nine degrees. I don't want to turn it on in a heat wave because of global warming. And I'm like, well, I think you can turn on your ACA. The refrigerator. Like it doesn't create cold. It takes away heat. Yeah.

You know it's funny. It's so like explain this to us and I still don't know. It takes away heat. It doesn't spit out cold. But how does it do that? With the laws of third amount dynamics, like how do you make something cooler? I don't know how much. I don't know either.

Craig is like mad. making soda, I'm like baffled by. The other one, I told you guys my brother, who is 35, didn't know that dandelions, like the little, like they, the yellow dandelions become the dandelions with the little. He thought those were separate things. He thought they were separate flowers. And when I told them that, he thought I was lying to him. Like, he thought I was trying to do a long con. This reminds me of the, the David versus Goli, I think.

I got some very reassuring emails and comments of people who also didn't know that. So, thank you. Based on the feedback, most people did not know that David from the statue. Not most. A lot. Some. I think most. A good chunk.

D.K. doesn't want to make me feel too good. He's like, you're still an idiot, but a lot of people are. This one's from Jared. Jared. Jaybone. Been waiting for that one. D.K.

really lit up there. Idiot. More for you and you. For the past. Good. Good. More for me and you. Good.

Good. Get married? What idiot? Jaybone says For the past 21 years, my friend Derek and I have argued whether or not we went into and saw the movie Hidalgo together. Hidalgo. They don't know if they went or not?

They don't know if they went. That's officially the most random movie you could possibly, like, imagine. I can't imagine a more random movie. Did, Hidalgo, six. Seve biscuit was so overrunner. The dog goes incredible. Is Adelgo the one with Vigo Morgensen?

Out here in the desert. Jared says, he is convinced we saw it in theaters together in 2004. I swear on my daughter's life, I have never seen that movie. This is the best.

I love this kind of stuff. I did not see Derek for over a decade. I randomly ran into him at Walmart. He comes up to me. The first thing he says is, you saw that fucking movie with me. Dude, this reminds me so much of

buddy of mine from growing up elementary school, he and I had this memory of us together going to like this basketball game. And we're sitting near someone that when they like the ref made a bad call, this lady yelled, you are godless. And like, and I have like a vivid memory of it. You are godless.

And then I've been saying it ever since like thinking it's the most funny thing ever. Anytime like a ref makes a bad call, I just think of you are godless. And then I asked him about it. He was like, I don't, what are you talking about? I don't remember that. I have no memory of that. I didn't say that.

It's funny. Because that's you when we talk about anything from the podcast, like more than three weeks earlier. He was like, I wasn't at that game. I was seeing Hidalgo. Hidalgo in the theaters. You are godless. So anyways, if you remember that and you were there with me, please tell me who it was. I love arguments that you can't prove.

Like, there's no way they're going to figure out. The best. Well, the other one, I'm not going to lie. Jared, who swore in his daughter's life, says, I refuse to watch the movie at a spite. Rewatch it. Because he says, I've never seen that thing. And I'm like, so if he rewatches the movie and gets any glimmers of like, maybe I did see this. I'm like, I feel like you swear on your daughter's life, there's no, you don't have any more than that.

Like, that's the top, that's the ultimate mic drop you can go. That's why he's not going to rewatch it because he's afraid. He's afraid he's seen it. I bet, I bet Jared saw the fucking movie. They're probably high as fuck. Yeah. I got another one we want. This one's from Mark.

Marky! This is funny. This one's stupid. This one's dumb. I have friends like this. My friend's got to do a heated argument. My friends, you know who you are. My friends got into a heated argument a couple weekends ago.

We were hanging out on my friend's porch, which is near an outdoor pickleball facility. And you know how everyone hates pickleball now because it's loud? And the noise is so annoying. He says, my other friend says, huh, not hearing any pickleball noises today. And my other friend says, yeah, probably because there's no wind blowing. in this direction today. Oh, no. And there's a pause.

And my friend looks at him and goes, wind doesn't carry sound. You're thinking of smell. It's like, sounds not a physical thing. It can't be carried by wind. And they had a giant argument about it. And they're like,

what is your, like no thinking, no whatever, no Googling, what is your immediate thought on sound, does wind influence sound? Yes.

I think so. If it's really windy, you can't hear something, I thought. Yeah, yeah, I guess so. But wind having a sound that drowns out a sound is one thing.

But what you're saying is if there's no wind, it would be louder, not quieter. So are you saying wind can kick? You see what I'm saying? No, no, I see what you're saying. There's a difference there. I'm thinking of like, if you're like, you know, it's a really fucking windy. You can't hear anything more than five feet away. But this guy's saying wind carries sound.

I think he's super wrong. That seems off. That's embarrassing. I mean, I thought a cloud weighed zero pounds. So I still do. We've gotten basically I don't fucking understand how clouds weigh anything But we had the cloud scientists saying that

The mass of the cloud The mass of the cloud is a weight But that doesn't But basically mass is mass But then like you can You can get a little hairy on whether weight Has to be equal to mass And so you could argue it's weightless

But also it's a billion pounds Get these nerds out of my clouds Oh no no oh wait we got another one I'm so glad I remembered it Okay okay Wait can we have someone explain to the wind thing if you know what you're talking about. Yeah, I think that one's easy. This one's better.

I forget who sent. I think it was Mark sent this one in. Marky! You guys have to give your answers immediately. Another Mark. Embo! Oh, God. Giant argument on whether fog is just a cloud on a ground or not. Oh, God. I thought fog was just like grout clown. It's ground cloud. Ground cloud. Ground cloud. Ground cloud. I thought it was ground cloud. It's just ground cloud. It's just like, it's just moisture, right?

Yeah, I just thought it was ground cloud. ground cloud, but they had a massive... DK, do you think that? I just thought that's literally the beginning. What else could it be? I think that's... I don't know. But that's one of the huge... It's like a cloud that's just hovering lowly. Is it like technically by definition because of whatever it's made of? It's not a cloud.

But like, it's a... Let me ask Google Gemini. Is fog a cloud? Is mayonnaise an instrument? I'm going to ask Google Gemini. Well, they want my terms and... No, I'm not... Is fog a cloud? Yes. Fog can be considered a type of cloud. Is it a cloud?

cloud. No one says ground cloud, hyphets. Ground cloud. It's too ground cloud. Sorry, it's a stratus cloud with its base out or near the earth's surface. Is that better? Yeah. It's a cloud.

So it's a cloud cloud. It's a ground cloud, technically. So was one guy arguing that it was not a cloud? It's its own classification. Like there is fog and then there is cloud. Is that what he was arguing? I don't know. They're just saying that's not a cloud.

Like it's fog. It's different. Airbud wide retriever. That's tough. All right. These are fun. Email us more. Yeah, these are good.

I think this is a deep well. Email us more dumb arguments you've had with your friends. Why does sound carry on water? Is it because it bounces off the water? Yeah. And there's no obstruction? Carry on water. Yeah, I think it's probably not about the water,

but more the lack of things above water, I would guess. Mm. Right. Maybe. Or it bounces. I like to think of it bouncing. I bet you do. Like a skipping stone.

That was good, Craig. Craig, did you just make a sex joke again? Oh, okay. I did graduate, cum laude. Yeah. All right. Thank you, D.K., thank you, Craig. Thank you, everyone for listening.

I'm sorry to my mom. I should listen to that one. I didn't like that. Thank you, Kri. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, awesome. Thank you, everyone for listening. Let me think your email.

So, ringer fancy football team. com. We want punishments that are bosses in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Some of whom have children. People with kids will do. and we want stories of dumb arguments you have with your friends that almost came to physical violence

or if they did too that's cool too how to crack an egg and then yeah we have mailback and yeah thank you Lord Lord thank you Chitty Bang wow what a poll Chitty bang crushed the college circuit I'm Craig and I host I hosted

I emceed a Chitty Bang concert in college What? Have we talked about this before? I don't know. I don't think so. I hosted a Chitty Bay concert? Yeah. I did.

With my buddy Sam. Was Mark there? We had we co-hamed and see together. It was right after you went to Hidalgo. I met Chitty backstage. He was fine. He was fine. He was uninterested in me.

Okay. Really? That's shocking. You tell me. I made a half-quart shot. Yeah. It was at the open-air theater at San Diego State. He was there for Green Fest,

which was like this like environmental thing we put on every year, and we'd have somebody. come and perform. We had Chitty bang. Chitty bang. Chitty bang. You know, he grinded out a career. Well, he did the song, the kid's song, which is really good.

It's called kids, wasn't it? You have a bunch of good ones. Yeah. And there was a lot of remixes, I think. I went to a Chitty Bang era. Yeah, he was remixing kids. Oats. I, I, uh, I drove Sam Adams one, Sammy Adams around for a night in college.

That was really? God, that's another one. Sam Adams. Just like crank it out. I don't even know who that is. just enough cultural pop that like colleges could afford him and then he just go around

and they just go insanely fucked up I hate college I hate college which is like such a better song I was literally trying to think of wait who's another guy Ashara no he Ashura thought I love college

and Sam Adam said the I hate college but love all the party and it's a six it's a great song and then he had one other water of waterfalls or just drinking down like water I remember all night longer all night longer that's the one

and then he had one more coast to coasts it's just enough songs that like you can now do a 45 minute concert and for like $15,000 and then like just and then just get fucked up on a college campus be like just attacked by mobs of women and then you just go on with your life. Yeah, I can't the 15 minutes of fame that Sammy Adams had was unparalleled for how unfamous he is now. Like I worry for him. The fun that that guy had for like eight months is fucking unmatched. Dude, he, for who he is now. I drove him around. I drove him around. He wanted to go to a bar to watch this Alabama game.

And in the back of my head, I'm like, I don't, that does that. We sat down for like 20 minutes and I'm like, you know, it's Friday, right? And they're like, why did, why were you driving him? Yeah, what? I just ended up, I just ended up being the runner. It's a whole story. But I ended up being, I was like his runner. So I had to drive him around.

And like, he was so fucked up. He didn't realize it was Friday in the Bama game was Saturday. He didn't know what day it was. He said the name of the wrong college. And then, yeah, there's a whole, there's a whole. It was a whole story. Craig, why were you emceeing the Chitty Bang show? Yeah, you're putting this on me.

I'm driving a car. Craig, his new Twitter, like, bio is got to be once emcee to chitty bang show. My buddy Sam and I were, like, involved with, like, Sammy Adams. Like, associated students. And we were, like, on the improv team. And we, like, made a TV show for the school. Like, we were kind of in the film department. And we were doing stuff like that.

Yeah. Natural. Natural MC. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I hate college. It's kind of in my head. It is a good song.

Yeah. Chitty bang. Chitty bang's good. Yeah. Shout out shitty bang. Damn. Anyone has other, like, stories like that of, like, dealist artists coming to your school or whatever,

just like, or anything like that. Please emails. The year after was Donald Glover. I didn't get to do that one. Oh, my God. It's fucking childish can't be. Nope.

Goodbye, everyone.