The Ringer NFL Show - Trust or Bust: The Most Important Fantasy Players on New Teams

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

LIVE SHOW in Los Angeles on July 30: Click below for tickets! The guys walk through the most important players who switched teams, discuss their updated fantasy implications, and identify who should be trusted and who should be busted (4:32). Later, Craig gives an impassioned eulogy for Klay Thompson’s time with the Warriors (61:00) Tickets: https://www.theelrey.com/events/detail/564772 Kirk Cousins, Falcons QB (4:55) Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, Steelers QBs (11:12) Derrick Henry, Ravens RB (16:27) Saquon Barkley, Eagles RB (20:17) Austin Ekeler, Commanders RB (25:19) Josh Jacobs, Packers RB (27:52) Joe Mixon, Texans RB, and Stefon Diggs, Texans WR (31:32) The Chicago Bears offense (37:48) Honorable Mentions (42:45) Check out our 2024 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 Social: Kiera Givens and Jack Sanders Producer: Kai Grady 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 on the hot seat. Disney, 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. Football show, my name is Danny Heifitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Horlebeck, and we are going through the all-important exercise here as we get back to the NFL season, which is the part of the season where you check in and you're like, wait, Joe Mixing is on the Houston Texans now? When did that happen? There's a lot of those this year. It's the only way you can really start. It's training camp is somehow two weeks away, basically.

And we're going to be getting into just all those guys and reminded you who plays for what team now. And did they move teams because they're good? Or do those guys switch teams because they're bad? Because that really is kind of how it goes. Anyway, before we get to that, we've an important, important announcement. This is big. This is huge.

We have, we have, we've done a live show in my stomping grounds here in Washington, D.C. And we are going to be doing a live show in Craig's Los Angeles. It's Craig's Los Angeles in just a few weeks. The Ringer.com slash event. but it only felt right. DK, we're coming, baby. We're going and doing a rear-fancy football

live show in Seattle, baby. Seatown. Is that what it's called? I mean, some people call it that. It's called Seattle. It'd be funny if you were wrong about that. You know, now you have to be like second-guessing myself. Seatown.

Pretty sure people will call it C-Town. All right. I'm glad you're 40. Whatever. I'm going to Google it. Wednesday, August 21st, come Wednesday, August 21st, going to be talking fantasy drafts.

We'll be talking about whatever all the nicknames are for Seattle and pre-funk and all that stuff. I'll mispronounce words. DeKill get Canadian geography wrong. We'll also be talking about football, drafts, all that jazz. Your questions, it is at the crocodile in Seattle on Wednesday, August 21st.

Is that a famous place, D.K.? It's very famous. It's an institution in Seattle. It's pretty sick that we're going there. Yeah, I mean, we haven't even had our show in L.A. yet, and we're already planning another one. You know when they like a show is announced and they greenlight the second season before the first even airs? Yeah, yeah.

They're really, you know, enlisting their trust in us. So two shows in the next month and a half. It played well with focus groups, Craig. Yeah. Tested well. It's a four quadrant show. What does that mean? It means it hits all demographics, young and old women, young and old men.

Oh, just like our show. Okay. That's right. So old women can't get enough of this show. We ever told you a story about Jack and I, the old one? I'll do this later. Okay. Funny story later.

Okay. Tickets go on sale Thursday, this Thursday, which is July 11th, 10 a.m. Pacific, which I guess you guys, yeah, 1 p.m. Eastern, but the show is in Pacific. So I guess what matters is 10 a.m. Pacific. Thecrockadile.com, baby. The crocodile.com live from Seattle, August 21st, Thursday, July 11th, 10 a.m. Pacific, get your tickets. We're excited to see you guys there. And thank you. We had a lot of people ask us to do a show in Seattle.

So boom, there you go. I'm seeing that it's also called the Emerald City, but that's more official. I'm going to see a Seatown. Cool. Why is it called that? Seatown. No, the Emerald City. We know what it's called Seatown.

I assume because it's green. I don't know. It's green. It's green. Just the city is the foliage. Lush, lush with vegetation. Okay. Now I'm going to go down another.

Google, you know, we know more about football than we do cities. So we should talk about football probably. DK's Googling what color is my city? Wait, did you guys to get Googled? What age am I? No, I googled how old am I? Quote, unquote, how old am I? What color is my city?

Okay, anyway, let's get to football. We're going to go through all the players to switch teams. And we're, well, not all. That's a lie. Not all them. There's too many. But we're going through all the important ones for fantasy football. And we're going by the order of impact.

Fantasy, real life, just. how much this kind of changes things. And again, it's kind of like a little off-season recap because a lot of stuff happens. So right off the bat, I want to just remind people, the big earthquake of the summer, spring, whatever, was Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, signed with the Atlanta Falcons for a contract guaranteeing him

like $100 million. And then six weeks later, the Falcons used the eighth pick on the draft to take another quarterback Michael FedEx Jr. out of Washington, which is still the most crazy draft thing I've ever seen in my entire life, D.K. how do you feel what before we can get to the fantasy i want a quick check in now that you've had like three months to digest this what is your take on the kirk cousins michael pennix falcons thing

i think it's pretty much the same as it was during the draft um i'll never forget like just the mouth mouth's agape we're like what the hell why are the falcons doing this um but i think that's kind of still my take on this it's obviously like obviously they just gave Kirk Cousins a massive, massive amount of money. And I don't know if I really know exactly who wanted this. Like, is it that was this the head coach decision? Was this the ownership decision? I think I heard it's the owner was really pushing for it.

For Kirk Cousins. Yeah. No, for to draft Michael Pennix. You think the owner wanted Penix? Yeah. I don't think that's the case. This is the case? Well, I don't know.

There's that funny photo of Terry Fontno talking to Arthur Blank after the draft. And it looks like he's really trying to explain himself. It looks like you got sent to the principal. I haven't seen any really like official report on it. But regardless, it's confusing. It's confusing. Look, you can never be too careful. You can't have too many quarterbacks, right?

Look what happened in San Francisco just a couple years ago. You know, you need as many quarterbacks as you can have to win the secret. Right. I mean, ideally pick him eighth overall, too. Yeah. Under contract for several more years. Bottom line, it was weird, I think is the point. And I think it's weird still.

I'm in on it. You're going to see. Kirk Cousins, 36 years old, Achilles tear. He's going to go down week four. Penix is going to step in, and they're going to finish the season 11 and 6, and everyone's going to be like, Fontna's a genius.

I'm actually with Craig in that. I like the Pennix pick is fine to me. I just think Kirk Cousins is like the worst contract. I just think it's so funny that they signed a Kirk Cousins, and they're like, I kind of already, yeah, what about this other guy? 36 is the new 26. He'll be fine.

36 with an Achilles tear. is the new 36, I think. It's fine. How do we feel about this Atlanta offense? I think what's weird about this Falcons team is this is the most invested in offense in the entire NFL. Because the Falcons have a first round picket quarterback on the bench, 100 billion guaranteed quarterback and Kirk Cousins. They have a first round picket running back in Bichon Robinson, first round receiver and Drake London at receiver, a first rounder, a first rounder on tight end and Kyle Pitts, three first rounders on their offensive line. The other two offensive linemen were the second rounders. And then even Darnell Mooney, the other receiver, was like a $13 million a year guy.

and then they have Rondale Moore, who they traded last year's quarterback for. That's a crazy 11 people. That's all first and second rounders and people make you own this money. It's a crazy amount of money to just spend to just win the NFC South. But I do think Kirk Cousins raises,

and I think it's important to start with him, because all these guys who are so talented have been frustrating. Bejan Robinson is probably a first round in fantasy. You know, you got Kyle Pitts is going to be the siren song. And Drake London can be a second rounder, D.K. Bijon's an easy one. Do you buy Kirk Cousin?

making Drake London and more importantly, Kyle Pitts, like, viable options. There's a lot of Drake London heat. I would say he is one of the most hyped players of the offseason right now is Drake London. Right. I think, and the reason is because it's going to be a much better situation for any receiver to be in. And I think people buy that that Drake London has a ton of talent. I think we all kind of agree he's good. Like the eye test has shown that over the first couple years of his career.

But he's also been in a situation that's awful. The Falcons over the last, well, especially last. year. Very, very run heavy offense with a very poor, accurate quarterback. Your favorite coach quarterback combo, Desmond Ritter, and Arthur Smith. Yeah, it can't be overstated how bad Desmond Ritter was.

Like, yeah, even when they were throwing, like the throws, the actual throws were so fucking bad. And so, like, I was looking at some of the other quote unquote, you know, McVeigh offenses, the Ram style offenses, because that's where the new offense

coordinator, Zach Robinson, comes from. Last year, he was the past game coordinator, the quarterback's coach. And their head coach is Rahim Morris, the former defensive coordinator. So they're just the Rams now. So they're Rams East Coast. And if you look at what the Texans did last year, like obviously no one was talking about the Texans at this time last year as being a super fantasy exciting team. Like everyone's like, oh, it's going to be a run heavy team with a rookie quarterback. And, you know, you got the huge breakout from Nico Collins.

You got Tank Dell. You know, you have that whole thing with Stroud. the Texans average 35 pass attempts per game. That was 12. The Rams last year, even though they were pretty balanced, average 34 pass attempts per game. The Falcons were 25th in the league and 29th in completions last year. So this is just in terms of volume, just in terms of opportunities, Drake London and Kyle Pitts and everybody else in this offense is going to have so many more just opportunities to catch the football.

Last year, the Vikings, who are also in that family tree of offenses, were second in completions per game, 25 completions per game compared to 19 for the Falcons. Now, that doesn't sound like a lot per game, but over a season, that adds up. And I think that doesn't even talk about scoring. You know,

that doesn't even talk about what Kirk Cousins can do for getting them in the actual end zone. I'm just talking about volume. So I think from a volume and just overall efficiency point of view, this is going to be completely different Falcons offense. Drake London going as to wide receiver 10 right now. I mean, that feels rich. That feels like a projection,

but I still am excited. That feels a little bit like his ceiling that he's going at right now. Yeah. Yeah, you can't make me do that. I like Bichon though. I love Bichon. I feel like Bichon.

I feel like Bichon. I'll be the number one running back this year. I like Bichon a lot. Rank him number one then. You coward? All right, fine, I'll do it. Good. Fuck you.

You think you better than me? This is how we make our rankings, by the way. We'll peek behind the curtain. Fine. Fuck you. I'll do it. Don't think I won't do it. Make him top five then.

Okay. We just goat each other into making wild things. Why don't you marry him? All right. Next time. So speaking of marrying him, Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, along with Justin Fields traded in the Steelers.

There you go, Craig. You're married Russell Wilson. That's a feel. Yeah, you know, our saviors, saving us from the Kenny Pickett, Mason-Rudolph nightmare, is Russell Wilson and Justin Fields who are the only two quarterbacks

with more than 100 interceptions and sacks taken over the last two seasons. I love it when you put it that way. You got both. There's two guys and you got both? The only two with combined 100 picks and facts. Do you think they like accidentally sorted the column the wrong way? And they're like, oh yeah, these guys are the best?

Yeah. Let's sign them. Tomlin's not great with Excel. So, yeah. And now Arthur Smith has left Atlanta. He's now the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. Deonti Johnson, the former number one wide receiver for Pittsburgh, is now in Carolina. And they replaced him with kind of no one.

They drafted a wide receiver out of Michigan, Roman Wilson. You signed Corderole Patterson. Cordell Patterson. Right. We signed 43-year-old kick returner. Oh, he's more than that, baby. So, yeah, you know, we have soon to be 36-year-old Russ, who's getting into boxing again. I will say this. I'll say one thing.

Doesn't it feel like everyone knows the thing with the Steelers? Tomlin never goes under 500. Last year, they were 9 and 8. They were 9, 7, and one year before that in the two picket years. It's kind of funny that, like, I still, like, I do think this is a pretty significant upgrade at quarterback, and yet I still think they're just going to go 9 and 8. It's going to be just ugly football,

ugly defensive football. Yeah, I mean, look, I actually think the Arthur Smith identity as an offensive coordinator with Tomlin actually makes sense in Pittsburgh. They're going to run the hell out of the ball. The offensive line's a lot better. I actually think this roster is pretty good. And I think it's one of the better Pittsburgh rosters,

maybe of the last like five years. And the question is like, who's better for the team? Is it Russ or Fields? What's the split going to be like? If you actually look at Russ last year, I'm already doing this. I'm already like going back. I'm like, this is so sad.

Is this what I sound like with Daniel Jones? You know what, though? Okay. I know that like Russ and Sean Payton were mortal enemies and Sean Payton despised everything about Russ Wilson. Russell had 26 touchdowns. picks last year. He was the QB 13 on the season. You know, was the QB 12 Patrick Mahomes? Russell Wilson scored 0.3 less points per game than Patrick Mahomes last year. The third highest

completion over expected last year, he wasn't a catastrophe. And I think Russ will be fine in Pittsburgh. That doesn't mean he's the right fit. I actually think Justin Fields is way more interesting with Arthur Smith. I think he'll let he would have way more fun doing that. So I think I ultimately want Justin Fields to be the guy in Pittsburgh this year. But I don't think Russ is completely washed. I want to say that right now. I'm willing to say that and write that down in ink right now. Yeah, this is what I wrote an article about this like early last season. I was like, I feel like Russ, obviously he's not like the player that he was in his prime. Like that was a very good player. And the things he was doing on the ground obviously made him much more dynamic,

much more difficult to game plan for. But like pure passer, I feel like he hasn't really fallen off that much, like relative to what we were seeing early in his career. And I feel like maybe it's just the marketing. Maybe it's just people are kind of sick of the style, the sacks and everything. But the 100 Saxon picks over the last two years. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, honestly, early in, even early in Russell Wilson's career

during the height of the Pete Carroll era, Seahawk fans were fucking frustrated all the time with their offense. It was like so frustrating to watch. Like, so many terrible third down decisions, sacks. It was like, God, can we please just like throw the ball a little bit more? They were constantly running. It was always like a close game. There was a ton of frustration around Russell Wilson.

Even in those days, and obviously he made up for it with some of the magic that he does late in games and some of the running and things like that that, that he doesn't necessarily do anymore. So obviously, I think his margin for error is much smaller now. And that's obviously why the Broncos moved on from him and all that. But just in terms of like his ability to throw down the field, his ability to, you know, make those magic plays, I think is still there a little bit. He just doesn't have the escapeability that he used to have. Maybe this offseason of boxing is going to bring that back. We'll see. And look, never underestimate the motivational qualities of potentially being replaced.

You know, Justin Fields breathing down his neck. I actually think it's going to help Russ. I think it's going to add a little extra juice to motivate him. You know, it's like when you have an old dog and you get. a puppy. I can still do this. Yeah. I still got it.

All right. So trust her, Craig, it sounds like you trust the Russell Wilson Fields combo. I actually think the Steelers'

offensive unit is slightly undervalued right now in fantasy. Yeah, I'm on that boat. Yeah, I trust Russ and Fields.

I like, and especially if Fields gets the job, I think it's really good in fantasy and I trust them actually to make the playoffs weirdly. Next up here, Titans running back Derek Henry. signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

I don't know if you remember, he gave that emotional goodbye speech at the end of the Titans. Remember they gave him a mic at the end of a game? Never seen that before. Yeah, no.

So the Ravens signed him. I genuinely think the Ravens signed Derek Henry because he had like 300 yards against them in two games in 2020. And he knocked them out of the playoffs. And I think the Harbaughs like never forget when they lose.

This happens all the time. Yeah, it's kind of like how Jim Harbaugh literally signed J.K. Dobbins to the Chargers because J.K. Dobbins on Ohio. State had like four touchdowns against Michigan when Jim Harbo's coaching and now

five years later Jake Dubs plays for Jim Harba. Like the Harbaugh is just they just they're like, that guy beat me. And then dude GMs and coaches are more similar to just fantasy idiots like us than like I think Let us run a team. We can do it man.

It's like oh fucking Camara scored five touchdowns knocked me out of the playoffs like fuck him forever. Yeah, remember that guy? That guy scored seven touchdowns and ruined my Christmas. That happened to me. Oh, my God. So I actually think Derek Henry is going to be really good on the Ravens.

I increasingly think it's actually being underrated, how incredible this is going to be. I talked about this a couple weeks ago, but Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry, aesthetically, one, it is going to be iconic. Like, they are the two coolest people to watch run with the football, or Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson, and they're going to be next to each other in all these plays. I honestly, it's just going to work. I think that Derek Henry's declined, obviously, don't care. The Titans have the worst offensive line in the NFL, or at least one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL the last couple years. And I actually think Derek Henry has more juice than it seems because I think a lot of

his numbers declined because the Titans offense was so bad. And it actually is super similar to me with Sequin of the Giants where same situation like Daniel Jones, Will Levis, like these, those are the two worst offensive lines the last two years to be, the Giants and the Titans. And they both have these running backs who are older, but not that old. Derek Henry's 36. It's like, not that old. And I just look at both these teams, these guys leaving.

and I'm like, dude, I think Derek Henry's going to be fantastic in Baltimore. I really do. I think Derek Henry, it might be my favorite selection in fantasy right now. I have him way higher in my personal rankings. I have him as a going, I think you should take him at the end of the first round. I really do. There are so many things going for him in Baltimore. Dude, first of all, Raven running backs in general averaged a league high 4.8 yards per carry

last year on the Ravens. They're also number one in yards before contact, as in how many yards you get before somebody touches you, the Ravens were first. Derek Henry on the Titans last year, 30th in yards before contact. And he needs a little runway too, right? Like, that's the key with him. Yeah, once he gets going, he's hard to stop. I also saw a stat that Derek Henry last year,

Max ball carrier speed, essentially like how fast you are when you actually have the ball in your hands. Last, he was the third fastest ball running back last year behind Devon A-Chane, Chase Brown. Still got it. He's such a unique player in the history of the NFL, I swear. Like, there's, I mean, obviously in the old days when running back, were bigger. I mean, like,

Hyphitz, I was asking you about Brandon Jacobs the other day. I was like, how big was Brandon Jacobs? He was like, what was he?

6, 3, 250 something. Yeah, 7.5. Benita Fish big? Was Brandon Jacobs big? He's like 6'4s, 260. Dude, I feel like Derek Henry is just one of the most

unique players in the NFL history. And it's so cool that he gets to play in this offense now after languishing with the Titans last year. Yeah, I mean, health is the only thing. Obviously, he's 30 years old. But, like, dude, Gus Edwards had 13 touchdowns last year on the Ravens.

We were also talking about Derek Henry's, like, volume, like, a decade ago. You know, like, at this point, he's an outlier. He's, there's only one tractor Cito. Yeah. I look at, God, the Giants losing Sequent of the Eagle. I still will never get over the Giants giving Sequins money to John Runyon's fucking kid. Fuck, oh, whatever. But this still hurts.

Wait, can you outline that again quickly? Oh, okay. Okay. The Eagles had the Who's the dirty? Oh no, sorry. He plays your team. The dirtiest player in the NBA stream

I'm green. Sorry, Craig. It's like, but however, sorry, Craig. Sorry, but the dirtiest player I've ever watched as a kid

was this guard named John Runyon for the Eagles. And he's actually in charge of player discipline now for the NFL, which would tell you something. The NFL was like, of all the players ever, who knows a dirty play, John Runyon,

he gets the litigate mission now. That's how dirty he was. Yeah. What is it takes one to know one or whatever? Takes one to know one. The NFL was like, He gets to decide what a dirty player. His fucking son is John Runyon Jr.

He played for the Green Bay. He plays for the Green Bay Packers. And he's a free agent this year. The Giants declined giving Sequin Barclay 13 million a year. And instead gave like $13 million a year to John Runyon Jr. Which again is like if the Baltimore Ravens let like, you know, someone go and paid Heinz Ward Jr. To the Baltimore Ravens. It's actually horrific.

So tough scene for Hyphids. It is. And here's the thing. There's two questions in Sequin. Like, will he get, will they, her eagles do the push? DeAndre Swift got robbed of like a thousand touchdowns last year. He kept getting tackled at the one and Jalen Hertz would push it in. Here's the thing, though. I feel like with both Sequin and Derek Henry, it's being underrated how much they'll get the ball.

Like, because the Eagles and Ravens, it's like, oh, well, they rotate backfields, right? They rotate running backs. Like, that's the whole thing, right? Are they going to give these guys the ball all the time? And I'm like, yeah, they are going to give them the ball all the time. It's the Billy Bean scene, Moneyball, when they're, They're like, oh, Jason Giambi, we can't get another zombie, but we can recreate him in the aggregate. We got a guy to bat lefty, 300, a guy to get bat righty, 300, 20% of the cost.

We'll get 80, 90% of the production. But then the running, and they do that with running back. These two of three men backfields and the running back go cheaper, cheaper, cheaper. And then two of the smartest teams in the NFL, Eagles and Ravens were like, I can get Seekwon Barkley for less money now than Gabe Davis. And they're like, fuck recreating him in the aggregate. Give me Jason Giambi. And that's what the Eagles did.

Like the Eagles have Seekwon on two-year deal. I think they're going to feed the shit out of Seekwon. And I think Sequin and Derek Henry together, to Craig's point, are like two of the best values in drafts this year. You could at the, if you have the 12-team league, you could get Seq-1 and Derek Henry at the end of the first in the beginning of the second round. And I don't think it would be shocking if both those guys were top five running backs.

I mean, you can get them way later than that. Like, Seqon in typical drafts right now is going like in the early 20s. Yeah, there's a world where you could get them like, way late. Like they could be your second and third round. Derek Henry's going sometimes in the 30s. I mean, you could get this guy, you get them at the two, three turn. So I think that's sick is what I'm saying.

And I think it's just because they're old and people are underrating. I think that they're going to get a level of volume much in line with what they've got in the past. The Hertz thing's a little bit worrisome. You know, Hertz is like first and carries from the one yard line over the last three years. He's like 22 touchdowns. Stop getting tackle at the one yard line then. That's the thing. Yeah. Deontja Swift gets arm tackled.

It's like one. Hopefully. I do trust Sequin over bust. But maybe, I don't know. Yeah, we busts. Are we busting for Seqon? We trust. You know what, let's not think about it.

I both trust and bust for Sequin. Okay. Oh, that's the line? Okay. I was trying to think, while you were talking, I was trying to think of, like, a way that I could imagine, like, high fits, like, rage busting. Excuse me?

Sakewan scoring a touchdown. What the fuck? You thought I crossed the line and you just said rage busting. You ever heard the term grudge fuck? What? Honestly, no. Oh, you haven't? Oh, okay.

Well, maybe that's a generational thing. Anyway, Hyphitz is going to be having orgasms, but he's going to be like really mad about it. So let me get this straight. Sequon's going to score for the Giants Arch Nemesis and I'm going to come. Is that what you're saying? Right. How does that work? I don't know.

I was trying to put it together while you were talking. That's all. If Sequin success on the Eagles makes you feel good, we'll have to discuss that. Why would it make me, all right, you know what? Because you're happy for him, maybe a little bit. Who said that? Are you going to be happy if Sequin has a good season or do you want him to have a bad season? I would like him to be healthy.

Okay. And terrible? I would like the Eagles to be terrible. That's not what I asked. The problem is, if Seekwon. Siquon's running a lot and he's scoring a lot of touchdowns and generally just being very good. Like the Eagles are 100% going to be really good. So I'm weird now.

I'm the weird one because I want Siquan to be good. No one said you're weird. We are not kink shaming at all. If you're into that, that's totally fine. You're getting cucked by Sakewan. By the Eagles. By the Eagles, I guess you. We got there.

We landed it. Anyway, Austin Ecclors on the Washington commanders now. I feel like this one's weird. So we have him. 67th overall. That could be way too high. We're well above the consensus rankings I saw on fantasy pros the other day. We have him as an RB-25.

Just going to say right now, we should probably move him down a little bit, guys. I think that might be a little bit generous for what he's doing. Last year, he was the RB 23 and a half ppr points per game. He only scored six touchdowns, and he's now older. He's on an offense with a rookie quarterback who, generally speaking, I don't expect to be checking it down. a lot. Like he's the type of quarterback and Jane Daniels that likes to just take off and scramble rather than, you know, go through his reads and check down. He's also on a team with Brian Robinson, who is a big, tough physical inside runner who I think is probably going to get the majority

of the goal line looks. So the question is, where is Echler going to score his points? Like, how is he going to get there for us in fantasy? I think that's a question. Also add in the mark what I'm coining as the Mark Andrews moment, trademarking that, Mark Andrews moment. was him, was Echler last year running slower than any NFL player I've ever seen run? Like truly, maybe the slowest run of any running back all time. It's like he had ankle weights on. We should have to someone analyze that. Like is this the slowest running back run ever?

Maybe. Like the Mike Tomlin, you think Washington just sorted the filter wrong for the top speed? They were trying to get the top. Yeah, they thought it was A-Chad. There was a play where Echler got behind the defense. He was like wide open. There was no one around him. And he was running down the sideline.

and he got caught immediately. You know what Madden when they added a sprint button, some people would forget to sprint because they thought they were running full speed? It looked like they're just going to walk him. It's an all-time ick. He did have a high-angle sprain that he came back a little bit too soon from. But he's in a contract here and he was trying to get paid. He's trying to play through it and he should not have played through it.

I recognize that. I recognize that. It's an ick you can't get out of your head. No, my Mark Andrews moment is purely an ick. Like it's something, it's an image you can't get out of your mind. It's ruined forever. Busd freckler. I'm out.

Well, we're all, we're all too high on him is the thing. So, yes, we need to adjust. It was out of respect. It was just like we're going to have, he was top five pick last year. We're going to have outside the top 70. It was respect. I'm like, yep, we thought about it. Yes, he's going to be outside our top 70, 80.

It was a grudge ranking. It was a grudge ranking. You guys don't understand the slang. Yeah, no, we don't. We were super clear about not understanding. We're working on it. We're getting out. Oh, God.

All right. Josh Jacobs. the running back is now on the Packers. Aaron Jones is now on the Vikings. He bequeaths A.J. Dillon and Marshawn Lloyd to Josh Jacobs. Top tier word that sounds dirty that's not is bequeath. Bequeaths. Bequeaths just sounds.

Yeah, we know what it sounds like. Yeah. Everyone listening knows what it sounds like. A lot of parents having to talk to their children right now. Anyway, Josh Jacobs in Green Bay signed a four-year deal, $48 million. It's actually only, he's only $12 million a dollar guarantee. which is less than DeAndre Swift in Chicago and Joe Mixing in Houston. I got to say, I'm happy for Josh Jacobs.

I like Josh Jacobs, complicated character for this show. Why is that? Well, Hyvitz decided to hop off to Josh Jacobs train the year he led the league in rushing. Forget about that. Which was a great moment for Danny Kelly and I, not for Hyphids. I don't recall. Last year was kind of a mess. The Raiders are terrible.

The Raiders have pretty much been bad every year that Josh Jacobs has been on the team. He's played in one playoff game. So one, I'm just happy that he's going to be on a good team with a great play caller, with a great quarterback. I don't know how I feel about Josh Jacobs and fantasy. I actually think I'm more excited for him to be on the Packers in Real Football than I am fantasy, just because A.J. Dillon's corpse is still there. Marshaun Lloyd is a rookie third rounder who, I know D.K., you liked in the draft process.

Josh Jacobs is still young. He's 26 years old. But, you know, LaFleur has never been like a, like McVeigh likes to just play. a running back the entire game, right? Like, Kyron Williams is getting 98% of the snaps. That's, like, the opposite of what LaFleur does. LaFleur has never given a running back more than 61% of the snaps. So although I think Josh Jacobs will be good in Green Bay and help the team overall,

I don't exactly know where I land on him in fantasy. Yeah, I think so the Marchand Lloyd element of this is obviously it makes it more complicated because what we've heard about Lloyd and like his skill set, what he did in college is like they're envisioning him, I think, as kind of like an Aaron Jones type of player. That being said, I still think I'm pretty bullish on Jacobs because I think he's just going to have way, way more opportunities to carry the ball around the goal line. I want to say he only had like eight carries last year inside the five-go-line. This is a bad. The Raiders' offense was just not good for him in terms of giving him a situation where he can thrive.

I think they're so efficient. The way that they utilize play action is going to give him, you know, more opportunities, just keeping defenses on their heels kind of deal is he's going to open up a lot of things for Josh Jacobs to really thrive. And so I'm pretty bullish on him, even though I do agree, Craig, it's going to be a pretty heavy workload split between Jacobs and probably Lloyd and throw in a little bit of AJ Dillon there. But I'm still pretty bullish on Jacobs. I think he's going to bounce back pretty hard here. I think he's going to have a good season. Where are you at, Hyphitz? I agree with D.K.

Josh Jacobs is 20 pounds every than Aaron Jones. I think that he's going to have a lot. And also he's the veteran. A.J. Dillon's like 40 pounds heavier than Aaron Jones. I think that they got Josh Jacobs, though, to stop relying on A.J. Dillan. Like, there's no way they watched A.J. Dillan last year. And we're like, yeah, we're going to roll that back. Like, either A.G. Dillon's really hurt.

But I think it's more just they want to phase A.G. Dillon out. I don't think A.J. Dillan's going to be a factor this year. I think it's going to be Jacobs and Lloyd. You can't overstate, like, the difference in vibes now for Jacobs. Like, I think he's just thrilled to be on this team. And, I mean, he showed up overweight last year. He was holding out in Vegas. It was just like, vibes were just all-time bad.

And now I think he's going to be incredibly motivated to, you know, bounce back. All right, next up here. The Houston Texans, in some ways the inspiration for this exercise, not only signed Joe Mixon, traded for Stefan Diggs. Yeah, they gave Mixon. So Mixon signed a three-year, $25 million deal, $16 million guaranteed. So more than Josh Jacobs, not bad, more than Derek Henry. Behind him on the team, Damien Pierce, who needs a Netflix doc to figure out what the fuck happened to him. That dude was like my favorite rookie running back two years ago. What happened to Damien Pierce? I'm telling myself, Craig, that it's a scheme. That's what I'm telling myself.

Sure. Scheme-related. Yeah. Yeah. The zone running scheme, I guess doesn't work for him. I don't know. But Mixon is an interesting fantasy player because I would say he's one of the least discussed players every year. And yet he is one of the more underrated players every year.

He's been extremely consistent, maybe boring, you could say, over the past four years. But he delivers every single year. He's kind of like just good enough at everything to kind of like stay on the field. And he gets a lot of volume and it pays off. Last year he was the RB 13, even though Burrow missed half the year. Year before that, he was the RB8. Year before that he was the RB4. Year before that he was the RB 11 and Burrow missed half the season.

So it's like, I mean, this guy is pretty much like a top 10 running back every single year. And now he's once again on a very good offense in Houston. He's still only 28 years old when the season starts. He's got a lot of touches under his belt. Basically, it's Derek Henry and then him in terms of running backs in the league with the most touches. But I don't know. I think he's going to kind of once again be an underrated

performer in fantasy this year. I like Joe Mixon. I think Joe Mixon could have the best year of his career. That wouldn't really shock me because... He's an R.B4 and 21. You think he could beat that? All right, fine. Probably not better than that. Fine, fair.

Okay, fine, Craig. Fine. Fuck you. Well, don't you marry him. Here we are again. But no, I think that the Texans, just because C.J. Stroud's emergence, I think it's underrated how much the Texans run the ball in her under center. And I think so much of what Joe Mixon wasn't looking great recently as Joe Burrow for the Bengals just has to play in shotgun. And the Texans play a lot from under center. And I just think that's going to be really good for Joe Mixon to get more of a downhill running game.

And like for all the play action he used to runs, like they're going to run the ball. I think Joe Mixon is really well suited for this offense. And that's why Texans gave him kind of a lot of money. Yeah. Yeah. The Texans' offensive line on paper is really good, too. Like if they can stay healthy and get these guys kind of out on the field together for a good chunk of the season, they have a pretty good offensive line. At least, like I said, at least on paper.

And so things could really come together for their office for their. Not just on paper. Laramie Tunso, the left tackle for the Texans is like the best left tackle in the NFL. He like went one on one with Miles Garrett in the playoffs. Yeah, he's just dominated Miles Garrett. Like it's a really good line. And they've invested a lot into their offensive line over the last few years. And like I said, if they can get those guys all healthy, then this.

could be like a really good offense line. And then the Stefan Diggs of it, you know, you know, Stefan Diggs, Tank Dell, and then Nico Collins now in Houston. Isn't it kind of annoying that they trade it for Stefan Diggs? It is. Like, do we need this? I'm sure it's dope if you're a Houston Texans fan.

It's kind of annoying if you're a fantasy person and trying to figure out who I take. Yeah, because it's like all these guys are like top 25 at their position right now, an average draft position. They're all going quite high. Nico Collins is the first one off the board. He's like going as like the 12th or 13th,

receiver. And then Diggs and Dell are kind of similar in the early 20s close to each other. And it's like, I don't, this doesn't happen much where a team has three guys in the top 20 at their position of fantasy. I mean, you can look at like the, the Manning Broncos with Demaris Thomas, Eric Decker and Welker, the Cardinal season where Steve Breston and Fitzgeralded at a thousand yards each. Steve Breston. Remember that? What a name. A thousand yards that one year. To be honest, though, I still think Diggs like has it.

I think what's the Mark Twain quote? Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. I do think Diggs is 30, 31 years old. I don't think he's going to decline or the last six weeks of the Joe Brady era last year on the bills. It's like a sign that Diggs is not the guy anymore. I think this is going to be a much more even distribution in Houston. And it actually makes me less interested in all of these guys. Right, right.

I'd rather just have C.J. Stroud, I guess. everyone's so in on the Houston passing game that I'm just gonna be like, yeah, I'll take Joe Bixom. You're out on generational talent. I find it so difficult to parse this that I think I'm on the same boat as you guys. Like, I'm just gonna probably avoid all these guys. Like, I really want to be in on on Tank Dell because there's like a world in which Tank Dell just emerges as the guy over, like, as much as I love Nico Collins,

as much as much as I respect Diggs in terms of like what he's done in his career. Like what Tank Dell did last year was like pretty, pretty. shocking and crazy and awesome. And especially like with the way that they run their offense. Like he was incredible at these outbreaking routes. I get incredible chemistry with Stroud. Like Stroud loves him. He can't shut up about him.

Like I think there's a world in which tank Dell is by far the best value of this group and, you know, kind of emerges as the number one guy in this offense just from that chemistry and his route running. But I just probably are going to skip over all these guys because, you know, I think Diggs is going to mess up the target share for each of these guys. plus tank dealt coming off of a pretty major leg injury. Try and learn my lesson that we had with Tony Pollard last year. The guy's coming off a broken leg.

Let's just like. Yeah, when 160 pound guys break their leg. They also got shot two months ago. Oh, right. Yeah, and that too. But I mean, I think that is to me just why I'm probably avoiding all these guys, even though I think they're all very good. I will say, though, I do want to say with tank down the leg injury,

the difference with Paul is Tony Pollard broke his leg in like the divisional round of the playoffs. which the extra three months with a broken leg and returning to maximum performance, huge difference. That was kind of the problem with Tony Pollard is that he was like, yeah, I'm back and he lied, but he was actually back into seven.

I'm actually faster. I'm actually faster. That's a Hall of Fame off-season quote. I'm actually faster now. Well, he also famously was not faster after breaking his hip, Bo Jackson. Eagles running back, DeAndre Swift, because Sequin goes to the Eagles.

Now, DeAndre Swift goes to the Bears and the Bears also traded for Keenan Allen, in addition to obviously taking Caleb Williams with the number one pick. Yeah. D.K. Yeah. Swift to me is an enigma.

Does anyone know if he's any good? Like, does anyone have a strong opinion on if he's good or not? I think he had a really good season for the Eagles and he just got tackled within the two yard line like nine times. Right. So he got a pretty good volume last year. He's 16th among running backs in touches per game, almost 17 touches per game.

However, he underperformed off that 24th and points per game, mostly because Jalen, Hertz just went in and stole all his touchdowns every single time. And also, Swift was not a huge part of the passing game. Hertz is more of a scrambling type of quarterback. So I think, you know, in theory, we could be underrating what Swift is going to do this season because I could see Caleb Williams being a little more apt to like check it down and find his running back out of the backfield, definitely not steal quite as many goal line touches

for Swift. I think this could be an offense that is a little more efficient than, you know, people expecting just because he's a rookie quarterback. Caleb Williams is a rookie quarterback. I still think this could be a pretty good offense. And, you know, last year, Shane Waldron gave Kenneth Walker a pretty good workload in terms of like the amount of carries,

like the percentage of carries that he got. And so we could see Swift emerge as like the clear cut lead guy, even though I think there's some people are questioning whether like Khalil Herbert is going to be a big, play a big role in this. You know, Rochon Johnson's a guy they drafted last year. If you remember last year with the Seahawks and Shane Waldron, like, Zach Charbonnet was an afterthought. And so I think there's a world in which Swift is just the guy for the bears this year.

And the other guys kind of rotate in here and there, but aren't really fantasy relevant. And so if Swift can get more involved in the past game, score a few more touchdowns, I think he could pretty easily outplay where he's being drafted right now, which is, you know, right around RV24, like low-end RV2. We always talk about how you need to find, you know, the 2023 Texans. That's like the goal of fantasy football, right?

Is to find the ascending offense that nobody's really thinking about that's super undervalued. That could certainly be Chicago this year with Caleb Williams. The thing that worries me about D'Andre Swift is if he's so good, why did teams keep getting rid of them? I know. Like, what's the track record for running backs on their third team before they're 26? Yeah, the Lions got rid of them and then we're like stoked to pick a running back in the top of 15, you know? It's also so weird that, again, going back to teams just. play guys who played well against.

Like the lions were like, we'll take David Montgomery. And now the bears have DeAndre Swift. And it's like, if they need logs. The Bryant. They need logs. Like a phone call could have saved him a lot of trouble.

Yeah. The lions got rid of DeAndre Swift and immediately drafted Jimere Gibbs. And then like the Eagles, a good year with DeAndre Swift and then immediately replaced him with Sequin Barkley. And I'm just like, so if he's good everywhere he goes, why are they

replacing him with better players? It truly is the logs thing. My reaction to this whole thing is just like, it's just because running backs are fungible. And teams don't care enough about keeping these guys because they can just replace them with someone cheaper and younger or whatever. But Sequin and Jemir Gibbs are not cheaper.

Right. But at the same time, some other team is paying them. So I don't know, like, you know, I don't know what the answer is. I think that is a good question, Craig? It's like,

is Swift just going into like Mike Davis zone where it's like, oh yeah, this is going to be, you know, a veteran guy coming into his third team and we're expecting way, way too much from him.

Based on the fact that he is, like, the de facto number one, like maybe Rochon Johnson's just better than him. Or maybe Khalil Herbert's honestly just a better runner. DeAndre Swift got a three-year, $24 million deal. He has $15 million guaranteed. He's eighth in average value per season among running backs, eighth in total guarantees. How did you get $15 million guarantee? It's also so funny to talk about these NFL contracts now in the context of all the NBA deals.

It is, it is really. There are NBA players making $60 million that I've never heard of. I know. We're like Josh Jacobs is one year removed from leading the league in rushing. And we're like $12 million guaranteed. They can cut him after next year. Bradley Beale is signed for like the same amount of money as like Joe Burrow. Yeah.

Bradley Beale is going to make $50 million this year. Anyway, I think Swift is pretty good. I think I'm going to land on Swift is good. And he's going to get the volume because of the contract. But I think there's enough uncertainty around all of that. And that's why his ADP is probably about right. So I'm buying him, but not like aggressively, if that makes sense. Scotty Barnes makes like $80 million more than Justin Jefferson.

Who's Scotty Barnes? Exactly. Toronto. Wait, Craig, you mentioned like trying to find a team that's going to be way better than expected. And you mentioned the Texans. I think the other team you want to find is like the dolphins where you could have had tired kill waddle, that backfield. last year we were like, oh, like an uncertain backfield.

Rahim Mostert, you know, Devon A. Chan, Jeff Wilson, who's going to get it? It turned out Jeff Wilson is bad, but Rahim Moster and H.M. We're both pretty incredible. I think the version of that this year is the Chargers, where you have three guys that are not, none of them individually are expensive. You don't know who's going to emerge, but the Chargers have Gus Edwards, who came over from Baltimore and now the Chargers are just the Ravens West, where, like, Jim Harbaugh is John Harbaugh's brother, and then he signed Greg Robo,

and he used to work for his brother, and they just hired all these guys who they played well against them or played for your brother. And so you have Gus Edwards, he's 29 and somehow as many touchdowns last year as he did in his entire career before. They signed JK Dobbins again, who's played nine games in three years. But he had a great game against Jim Harbaugh in Michigan in 2019. So you have Gus Edwards, Jake Dobbins, and Kamani Vidal, who is what, like a six-round pick, who is kind of like a Blake Corum-esque running back.

Like he's also a rookie, but he's kind of like the Kirkland brand Blake Corum. And he's on this Chargers team playing for Jim. Jim Harbaugh, and I'm like, I kind of think one of those guys could be incredible. The Chargers are going to want to run the ball. I don't know who it's going to be. I don't know if JK Dobbins can stay healthy the whole season. I don't know what's going to happen with Gus Edwards. But I think one of those three guys will absolutely be really useful in fantasy.

And none of them are like top hundred players. They're all like outside. They're like way later in drafts. And it's very similar to me to Miami last year. Yeah. And also they have a quarterback who can actually make the offense work. You know what I mean? Like it's not going to be like, oh, this is a team that wants to run the ball because they

can't throw. it's a team that wants to run the ball and they can throw and they're probably going to be really efficient and all these running backs are probably going to lead the NFL in yards per carry they're probably going to get a ton of opportunities in the goal line area yeah I like this a lot I think it makes a ton of sense who are you going I think I'm out on Dobbins

at this point just because of the injury history like it's just so unlikely that he's going to come back from that what is the history of running backs who've played nine games in three years being fantasy assets so he tore his ACL and his Achilles correct he tore his ACL and like a Yeah, he had the Clay Thompson, but like it was worse because his knee injury was really, his knee injury was like all the ligaments.

It was like his knee injury was like ACL PCL. Yeah, he had the end of quad. I think he ripped his quad muscle. It was like really bad. It was extremely complicated. And then he tore his Achilles. Like, has anybody heard from Nick Chubb, by the way? Dude, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. The Browns have barely added anyone. They're kind of say, it seems like they're going to play them. And I don't know what's, it's, it's really strange. I feel like this has been underreported. Like, what's going on? Nick Chubb right now.

There was some video of him exercising that came out recently. People are kind of getting, I think, a little bit the idea that he could be back sooner than people think. That injury, watching that live was so gruesome. Like, I'll never draft him again. I just can't get that out of my head. You know what I mean? It's just one of those things where I'm just like, I don't care how fast he seems now.

Can't do it. He seems. Speaking of the Browns, though, the guy that I was going to mention High Fitz when you said, are there anybody, is there anybody that's ever come back from that type of injury? It's like, Deontay Foreman maybe? Where he was never. He didn't have, I don't, it was not to that level, but he came back from Achilles. It took him forever.

He also had never played in the NFL and also hasn't been that good ever. Well, yeah, but he has over short stint's been pretty fantasy. He had like a hot month where you had like a couple 200-yard games, didn't he? Yeah, and he looked awesome. Like, he looked pretty good too. And so I think that would be the guy I point to if you're like, hopeful about Shaky Dobbins. I know that's like a really low bar, but...

Maybe he could be Deonté for me. Well, it's better than retiring. Yeah, that's true. I don't know. But I like, I like, point being, I like Gus. I like Gus Edwards. And I think Kamani Vidal is 100% worth like just a flyer at the end of drafts. Just to see how it all goes.

He's an elusive guy. He runs low the ground, a ton of volume in college and broke a ton of tackle. So why not? Speaking of old washed up, I kind of trusted charges backfield. And speaking of old washed up ones, Zeeke Elliott, who had a one year sojourned to the Patriots, is back in Dallas now. And all I'll say is I don't think Zeeke Eliot's very good, but the Cowboys backfield is Rico Doudal, Deuce Vaughn, who's 5'6, and...

160 pounds. Yeah. And then you also have Royce Freeman, who I think has been on five teams in four years. So I think Zic Elliott is going to just be the starting running back for the Cowboys. Again, and that's kind of funny. I think there's a ton of value here, high if it's with the Cowboys. You know, it's probably going to be a time share between the two of them, but like what offense isn't at this point, especially for the price that you're getting these guys.

I like Daudel, too. I think Daudill has some juice. As a runner, he breaks a lot of tackles, but he's just been hurt all the time. So I think, you know, that's, is that going to change? We'll see. I think Elliott is definitely a great value. Just based on the fact that I think Duttle's probably going to be nursing injuries throughout the season.

Duce Fawn, I don't think is a serious, is in serious contention to be like a high-volume guy. And so it's Elliot. Royce Freeman is just, he's like the prototypical RB3 on any team. And if you're this late in a draft and you're looking to get a running back and you can get a guy who might be on the best team in a division,

getting running backs on good teams. The chemistry he has with DAC, you know, they played together forever like in the passing game. They're good friends. Elliot could be like really useful in the passing game too. What about the Dallas Cowboy exile,

Tony Pollard? I feel like obviously we made the mistake of going all in on Pollard last year and he let us down a little bit there. So, you know, maybe just a bit. But here me out. We were kind of right about the volume that he was going to get.

I like this thing. We were kind of right. We were right about one thing, which is he was going to get a lot of volume. We were wrong about his efficiency, which was awful. But he did average 18 touches a game. He was 12th.

That was like 12th among all running backs, which again, this is a guy that throughout his career prior to that had been extremely explosive to break a ton of tackles, huge plays, tons of touchdowns. He just basically could not get in the fucking end zone. And this is a,

another Mark Andrews moment for me with Tony Pollard. If you guys remember, I can't remember if it was like a screen pass or just an outside run. Oh, yeah. There's a famous screenshot. He was all alone. There was like one guy within 15 yards of him and he was on the one fucking yard line and he didn't get into the end zone. I will never forgive him for that.

That alone is like a reason I'm not drafting him this year. However, you can't ignore the fact that he got a lot of money from the Titans, three years, 21 million, 10 million guaranteed. That's 12. I can't ignore it if I want. Well, you can't ignore it for sure. But I think he's going to get volume. And it's going to be a time share with Tajay Spears.

You know, there's too many question marks for me to decide about Pollard this year, obviously, with what is this offense going to look like? Are they going to be way more pass heavy with this new offensive coordinator, new coach? What are we going to expect for Will Levis? Like, are they getting a score of many points? I don't think I'm going to be in on Pollard. But, you know, we're right in line kind of with the consensus on him, low-end RB2, high-end RB3 flex-type player. But I think at the end of the day, I'm just out on him based on the fact that I got

to Mark Andrews moment in my head and I can't get it out of it. Yeah, I've given up on Pollard. I can't go back. You can't go back when you've been burned that bad. I mean, is he even a guy like when he's sitting there, you know, wherever in the draft and he's there and you're like, oh, maybe. like maybe this is a good value or are you just like I will never draft him again.

I think that if we're having this conversation, it's a little bit of argument that he's a sleeper because everyone's like fuck that guy and that's what people are good. Well, I think you could absolutely make the argument he's a post type sleeper. I just don't know if I'm going to be in on it. He had 252 rushes last year. And look, he's coming off a broken leg.

Yeah, maybe it's because he broke his leg. And by the way, he was way, way more efficient in the second half of the season than the first half of the season. So yes, like high fits. Fuck it. I'm in on Pollard. Fuck it. It's because he broke his leg.

It's because he broke his leg. his leg. This is insane as we're talking about. Occam's Razor. It's just like maybe it's because he broke his fucking leg. Maybe the Titans are the Texans this year. Yeah. Honestly, yeah. I don't think Will Levis is as good as CJ Stroud. Well,

you never know. What if the Giants sign Devon Singletary? What if the Giants were Texans this year? Levis had four touchdowns in his first game. Stroud didn't do that. That's true. That's true. When you put it that way with such unassailable logic, it's hard to come back to it. I think we glossed over a little bit the fact that Haifis just is getting back in on Daniel Jones again.

No one thinks the Giants of the Texans of Devon Sincletary and... Tell us about the Giants, Hyphins. Devin Sincletors and the Giants, you should not draft him. That's kind of the beginning and end of it. Don't take Devin Sincletary. Don't trust? Bust? Bust, yeah. Bust with Devin Sincletary.

I don't know that is... We have to change this title next year. I don't know what... I don't know how to say the bust part. Well, it doesn't have to rhyme with trust. Like, we just don't, we just shouldn't use bust. Yeah, we should really stop using it. It's horrifying. It's not horrifying.

It's just trust or don't trust. Yeah, trust or don't trust. Distrust or mistrust? Is distrust a word? I believe both. I believe both are words. I distrust the Devin Singletary of the Judd's. I just can't imagine a less fun fantasy pick ever than Devin.

Evan Singletary of the near Jones. It feels like that's the reason he's going to be good. The one thing you want in fantasy football is to be on a team that scores touchdowns. And the Giants don't do that. I actually think Devon Singletary is kind of okay as a player. They don't score touchdowns yet. I think this, I think I think I'm going to be it on Singletary purely because Hyphist has written him off.

Get out of here. I like that we're just supporting players out of spite. We have no real takes. I think Hyphitz is, confidence. I'm in on Sequin. Highfinis, Highfitz is confidence that Singletary is the worst pick in fantasy is why I'm like,

I can think I'm going to pick him. I think I'm in it on it. There's no way you're going to watch on your TV on Sundays and you're going to look and you're going to be like happy you drafted Devon's exactly. That's correct. You're going to be watching the Giants offense and you're going to just, there's no way you're going to be

proud of yourself for me for like rooting for him. Did you guys see that there was an argument? Brian Dayball this was on the hard. Oh, you can run a 740 or dash? Hard knocks. behind the scenes, Brian Dayball was arguing with, I guess, like his coaches and personnel people

whether he could run a seven flat 40. They were like, we've seen you run. Seven flat. Craig and I are arguing over five flat. They're arguing over seven flat. I love that so much. So are we more confident than them?

Is that what we're saying? We should run the team. I think Dayball could run a seven flat, easy. I'm on dayball. I can't really pick up. sure like what seven flat even is like what that looks like walking shuffling

do you think I could run seven flat backwards maybe no I don't know maybe because it's like you're running like 21 22 miles an hour so do you think you could get to like well yeah no they are to run a 4-2

but like seven means You know. Seven flat is fucking slow. It's like insidly slow. I think we could do it. So wait. I didn't actually see the clip where,

were his personal people saying he couldn't run a seven flat? All of them felt he could not run a seven. That's insane to me. That's a tough beat. He also lost a lot of weight, Dabal this year. I feel like he could know. Brutal because it's their job to know the 40-yard dash time.

So either they're wrong or bright slow. It's weird new look. What's this weird new look? What is this? Dable has got a weird new look. You can see his chin now, his chin liner, his jaw line is good. I want to mention one more running back that is on a new team. Zach Moss is on the Bengals.

Oh, yeah. This is a good one. As we said, Joe Mixon's gone. He bequeaths Chase Brown and Trayvion Williams. They're like you say it bequeath a lot. To Zach Moss. I like that word, bequeathed. Stop saying that word, yeah. Zach Moss was so good last year that it nearly ruined Jonathan Taylor's contract negotiations.

I know. It was like weird that the cults he held out. Zach Moss did awesome. And then the Colts were like, you know what? Here's $20 million or whatever it was. They gave him. Zach Moss was like the starting running back for the first six weeks of the year last year. And he was the fourth best running back in fantasy. Yeah. He averaged 19 fantasy points a game in the first six weeks of the season, Zach Moss. And it like, it wasn't just like all touchdowns either. He was legitimately very good. And the one thing that Zach Moss is really good at,

that Joe Mixon was not good at is running out of the shotgun, which is what Cincinnati does a lot. So I don't necessarily think Chase Brown is like a huge threat. I know that people like Chase Brown. He's kind of like a boom-buss type guy, but Zach Moss is going super late in drafts,

and he might be the starting running. He's probably going to be the starting running back on what I think is going to be a really good Bengals team, improved offensive line. They drafted himarius Mims. His name is, if his name was Zakeas Moss, which is his real name, he'd be going 20 spots higher in drafts.

right now. Zach Moss is one of my favorite, like, outside the top 75 picks in drafts. Zakaeus Moss is, yeah. I love Zach Moss. Zach Moss is like the Brock Purdy. So in my dynasty leagues, in my dynasty world,

I have Zach Moss on like, you guys know I have a million teams. I have Zach Moss on like 85% of my teams. And so I love Zach Moss because he's that one guy who you're like, yeah, it could happen. This guy could be like worthwhile. So you pick him up on every league and then he turns into

a player, but like 95% of the time that player never turns out to anything. My point being, it feels a little bit like Zach Moss is too good to be true for me. Oh. You know what about Secaus Moss? You know, he's the cousin of Santana Moss? Oh, is he? That's that song where it's like,

Santana Moss, Santana, you know the song? I don't know. It just feels to me like Moss has already delivered his surprising, shocking fantasy production and then like anything anything else out of here? Like, I just feel like he's, like, going to go back into obscurity. I don't know.

I'm just a little worried about Zach Moss, even though I like him. And he was, he's done nothing but good things for my fantasy teams over last year. I'm just a little worried. I don't know. I just got like a weird feeling about Zach Moss. That's all. Interesting. To me, he checks so many boxes.

Good team, good offense. Good offensive line. Somewhat secure role. No proven backups. I'm just like, this is everything you want to running back. And you get him in 93rd right now. that's fair i don't know just get the it's got the doubt in the back of my mind i don't know it's too good to be true uh are there any others uh mike williams is on the jets

yep mike williams coming off an acel terry's 30 years old you know i think it's going to be the garret wilson show i i don't have a lot of faith in mike williams at 30 coming off at acl the other you know there's alan lazart Xavier gibson they have a rookie malachi corley um i think there's a chance that mike williams could have like eight touchdowns in 500 yards this year because they just use him as a red zone guy. But I'm not going to be jumping out of my seat to draft Mike Williams, I don't think.

The other guy to mention here is Marquis Brown, receiver for the Chiefs. Let's do this again. Let's run it back. Why not? The downside, Marquise Brown, always hurt, 165 pounds. Frail, maybe a little too small, after all.

The Chiefs really like to do rotation at their receiver core, at least they did last year. There was no guy on that team, no receiver on that team, that got more than 60% of the snaps last year. That's not a recipe for fantasy success. However,

he is a veteran receiver on a Patrick Mahomes offense that could be much pass heavier than they were last year. I feel like they were really, like relatively balanced compared to like previous seasons last year just because they had no reliable receivers

for like 75% of the season. I think at their core, their identity, who they are is like, let Mahomes cook. And I think Marquise Brown could be like a big beneficiary of that. I am worried about all the things I just said that I just said. But I think Brown is one of those post-type sleepers that I'm just going to be like, you know, grabbing latent traps. Mahomes? Yeah. I'm in.

Yeah. I think a lot of people are going to be on Marquise, unfortunately. He's not going to go as cheap as you want him to. Xavier worthy. The Santana Moss line. It was like there's a killer mic song that was in. in 2004, but apparently the sentenamos line out. I don't know where I got the

Santillamost thing. Okay. Interesting. Also, one last one, Keenan Allen, also on the Bears. We talked about this. Yeah. I guess we just talked about DeAndre's V forever, but... Are you in or out? One word. In or out. I'm out. I'm out. Okay. We also didn't really talk about Aaron Jones and the Vikings,

but he is there. You know, Sam Darnold and J.G. McCarthy. Aaron Jones is going to be 30 years old this year, but still kind of has juice. For being 30, you know, he has less touches than Josh Jacobs and Saquin Barclay in his career.

So still think he's juice, good pass catcher. They're going to check down a little bit more, I think. They're going to run more. They threw a ton with Kirk. Yeah.

So I kind of don't hate Aaron Jones. Once again, as like a late round guy this year. He's going to 80s right now in drafts. Craig, I think you said on our running backs episode earlier this year that every game Aaron Jones plays,

he'll be ranked higher, but it's just so hard to rely on him to play a full season. season because of his hamstrings. He's just always, and he's small. He's always missing time. But when he plays, he's lovely. Yeah.

He's lovely. I love Aaron Jones. Good guy, yeah. I love Aaron Jones. You don't like Aaron Jones? Oh, he's the best. He's got the big glasses. He seems like one of the most charismatic dudes in the league.

I would like to give Craig the floor because while we're talking about players in new teams, I would like to give Craig the floor. Craig is a massive Golden State Warriors fan. It's the only thing he tweets about. Since we, the only thing he tweets about is. That's not true. That's not true. Craig is

famously the rewatchables producer fantasy football guy and Craig only tweets about the Warriors Craig's Craig's brother got married

during a Warriors the finals game and his bit wasn't your bit during the speech that you kept updating the score during the speech

yeah yeah I was like basically informed they were like hey this is a wedding no warriors talk all right and I was like

yeah yeah of course and then I stood up the first thing I said I was like Warriors are up six two minutes left in a second. Everybody loved it. I thought you were going to like,

I thought you were going to say you put it in like code. You're like, I met them six years ago. Like, add it like do the score somehow into the speech. I'm like my brother's favorite meal, Curry. Yeah,

the Warriors dealt Clay Thompson away and I feel like that's traumatic for you. It's the end of an error. Can you explain to D.K. how important Clay Thompson is in your life. It honestly is genuinely traumatic. It is. Oh, wow.

It's the most saddening, like trade, signing, whatever. Like, it's the most saddening exit a player has made for me as a sports fan on any of my teams. Steph, Clay, and Dre are like my entire childhood. I mean, I was basically, you know, a middle schooler when they came in. And from then until two years ago, 13 years, I think these guys played together. They completely, like, reshaped basketball in the Bay Area. I mean, they turned the warriors into like one of the most important franchises in sports. They were like, Steph and Clay revolutionized shooting.

They're the reason why like I would go to the gym and shoot threes when I was 12 years old. Also, Clay's personality as just like this like goofy aloof with his dog Rocco. He's a boat guy. He loved the bay. One of the coolest things about those three is that like they really embrace the city. And Clay has been super professional as has Dre and stuff like in Clay's exit. it, you know, talking about how important they are to one another and how they change the city and how much they love the city and they love one another and their coaches and everything.

It's honestly devastating. I'm super sad. I wanted Clay to stay, even if it meant the warriors would be worse. I wanted the three of them to retire together and do and, you know, their whole careers be on one team. I thought that would be incredible. I get why he had to leave. I read all the pieces. I understand it. There was weirdness with the contract stuff. They didn't want to pay him. You know, it actually ended up not even really being about the money because they were actually going to pay him more money or the same money that he's getting paid in. Dallas. But it was when they paid him that insulted him. They basically wanted to wait to see what they could do with other guys before they paid Clay. And, you know, he's coming off two

devastating injuries. And I think he's in a weird spot right now's career. So I understand why he's leaving. Clay's always been kind of like a lone wolf. So I wish him the best in Dallas. It's going to be fucking weird seeing him in a different jersey. I hope he comes back to the Warriors to retire, which I think he will. But yeah, it's honestly, it's really, really sad. It was a huge bummer. It sucks when you lose a player like that. It's really, like it sucks. But the flip side is to your set, it really is so rare. There are so few athletes that have stayed that long with the team anymore that it's cool that you even got that for that long. Yeah. And so I hope Stefan Dre never leave. I think it's so unique. I mean, like, Dirk Nowitzki is, I think,

is he one of the last guys to begin and end his career in the same team? Yeah, it's very unique nowadays. I was just thinking about the time that some news organization interviewed Clay Thompson for like on the street scaffolding about the scaffolding yeah. Dude, Clay's the best. It's incredible. He's had no idea who he was. A lot of scaffolding, right? He is like the worst interview in the best way. Like he puts on the headphones after a game and like Bob Fitzgerald, the local guys like asking him questions and he's he has no answers prepared. He has no idea what he's saying he's the best. I love Claytheism. Former Washington State guy. I feel like Washington also kind of claims Clay. Even though he's from, he's from Oregon, but yeah. Well, I know,

but just like his college days. Yeah. It's also like Clay like, it feels like he should be in California, you know? He was born in L.A., it says. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Went to high school, Santa Margarita Catholic. He's the most West Coast guy I've ever seen. So West Coast. Cause himself Captain Clay. What? Because he's, he takes his boat to practice in games. He takes his boat to practice?

Yeah, across the bay. Wait, what? That's tight. What? You haven't seen other videos? Clay's on his boat all the time. Get out. He takes a boat to practice?

Yeah. Has he ever run a jet ski to practice? Probably, but I think he loves his boat. I did a jet ski. I did a jet ski on vacation last week to the first time. I lost my jet ski virginity. You went on a jet ski?

Nice. Was it like a C-Doo or like the real ski? No, it was like a Kenny Powers. Yeah, yeah. Was it, was it, were you as euphoric as Kenny Powers was on that jet ski? No, because Jackie was on with me and she was fucking miserable. Oh. Why?

Just like uncomfortable in the backseat? She did not like my driving, but neither wanted to drive neither. So it was kind of like, it was just unhappy. Yeah. But then we slowed down with a bunch of dolphins. I've never ridden on a jet ski. Is it easier than it seems or harder? easier. There's like very few rules.

You push a little button and it goes. It works remarkably easy. And the faster you go, the easier it is to ride. But is it like, is it controllable or is it a little bit kind of wild? No, it's, it's, it's pretty responsive. It's pretty easy. It doesn't have brakes. Oh, yeah. It doesn't have brakes. It doesn't stop. You got to like turn, right? Well, or just give it enough time to slow down. You need to stop like 50 yards ahead of what you want to stop because it drifts at a jet ski.

Yeah, yeah. So that's a big. They're literally like you have to stay a football field away from all the other jet skis. Especially you. I'm trying to picture of how how high fits was driving that Jackie was like, give me off of here. I imagine you making one turn and Jackie goes flying 20 feet off of jet ski. You know.

Did you knock her off to jet ski? No. Okay. Well, she wish I did. But then we saw a bunch of dolphins. It's nice. Oh, nice. Really strong pronunciation right there of dolphins.

Dolphins. As I said it, I was like, oh, am I saying it right? No, that was good. Oh, okay. I can't even hear myself anymore. I kind of heard the hard L. Dolphins. Dolphins.

This isn't at the end of the show. We should have the show. All right. Thank you, D.K., thank you, Craig. Thank you. Everyone for listening. Thank you, Kai, for producing this episode. Email, serenian, fancy football, gmail.com.

We'll be back this week. We are now doing two episodes a week, up until training camp, and then we'll start three episodes a week. So Tuesdays and Thursdays, we'll be coming at you for the month of July. Come to our show in L.A. Come to our show in Seattle. Come to hang out. The crocodile.com.

Yeah. You're coming to both. The crocodile. dot com. 10 a.m. Pacific time going on sale on July 11th. The live show is going to be July 21st. But tickets will go on sale on July 11th. The live show is August 21st, not July.

What did I say? You said July. Shit. I got a long. It's August. 21st. Yeah. Thanks.

Thank you, Lauren. Lauren. Thank you, Fifth Harmony. Tell me how you landed there. I don't even know. Do you know who that is? Yeah, vaguely. They have the song, Work.

Yeah. Work. Work. Work. Where they just say the word work a lot in a room. Yeah, and it's like five hot chicks on a construction site in the music video. It's actually a pretty good song. I'm not going to lie.

And like, you had tie dollar signs in it for some reason? He's in everything. He's like the Kevin Bacon of music. I love when rappers just like take cash grabs to just like do a verse in a shitty pop song. It's the best. I've always wondered how much they charge to do a verse. Like I've always wondered like how what the economics are. Just people hop on a song like all right.

We'll do that. Probably probably a depressing amount. Because like, oh God. Kendrick Lamar, I believe is in bad blood, Taylor Swift's song, right? Yeah. Which is like the most not Kendrick Lamar thing he could have done. Like, Kendrick Lamar, I feel like, is so, like, authentic and smart with his choices. And I'm like, and then he's just like, took a huge check to be into Taylor Swift song.

I love that. Wasn't Post Malone on not just the Taylor Swift album, but wasn't he also on the Beyonce album? Yeah. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. People like Post Malone. As do I. Weird new look.

That's a weird new look. He lost weight. I will say post Malone. He kind of became an endearing figure. Oh, I love Post Malone. There was a horrifying Washington Post review of Post Malone that was like incredibly written also kind of mean. Like it was so, it was, it was on the money,

but it also was like, it skewered him. Skewered. For like, for his music? For him existing. Okay. Like it was like, it was like, it literally was kind of like hated Post Malone on like a visceral level. Wow.

And I was out. on Post Malone. And now I'm in, it's, was it? Oh, yeah, Jeff Weiss wrote this for the Washington Post. The most popular young artist is the most unpopular young, in the most unpopular young nation is a rhinestone cowboy who looks like he crawled out of a preemortial swamp of nacho cheese. Preamortial. Post Malone is that, fuck. That's fine.

It's not a video. That one's not that bad. Post Malone's a Halloween rental, a removable platinum grill, a cubic circoneum proposal on the jumbo screen of a last place to him. My God, freezing cold takes. This man, post-pilon is, like, very talented, very likable, unique. Couldn't disagree more with. What's this guy's name? Jeff.

Yeah, he became friends with Travis, Kelsey and Mahomes, because they were backstage before he went out, and he wouldn't go out and play until he beat them at Beer Pong, and they'd beat him 10 straight times, and he had to go do the concert. He's also just like an underrated singer. He, like, shows up in country bars and we'll sing, like, country songs on it, like, with a guitar, and he's talented. I was going to ask you guys where Post. Malone comes from and then I see

that his stage name was derived from inputting his birth name into a rap name generator that's the best he literally was like all right that's good what is my rap name isn't that what Childus Gambino

did it was like a Wu-Tang name generator oh man I think he did the same thing that's great his last name is Post well that I'll do it Austin Post from LA he's not from Dallas no he's from he sings about it he was born on or he grew up on Pico Boulevard, which is like right in the middle of L.A.

Why does this say in Wikipedia's hometown's grapevine, Texas? He's also born in Syracuse, New York. He must have moved around. What is going on? Yeah. Okay. I feel like you can be from. You can claim you're from somewhere even if you weren't born there. If you grew up most of your life.

Okay. Oh, interesting. He sings, he sings, he says like, take you where I'm from, take you to Pico. It says, after leaving college, he moved to L.A. Maybe he just lied in his song. Maybe Jeff was right. There's no fact checkers. All right. Goodbye, everyone.

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