The Ringer NFL Show - Buy Osell Beckham? l The Dantasy Football Podcast

Episode Date: October 1, 2019

Danny Kelly, Danny Heifetz, and Craig Horlbeck debate who they’d trade for Odell Beckham Jr., explore who to add after injuries to Marlon Mack and Davante Adams, and discuss how Craig’s middle school nemesis is the no. 2 fantasy tight end through Week 4. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends. Welcome to the trailer for The Road Taken with CT and Bayo. I'm Bayo, aka Chris Bayo. I've watched Chris bring his sunny positivity and shredding baselines to stages all around the world for the past 13 years in the band Vampire Weekend. And I'm C.T. Which is short for Chris Thompson. For the past 13 years, you've been my sneakily dark rhythm section partner. We've embarked on a massive world tour and are excited to experience all the thrills and boredom that entails.

To help us process our own experiences along the way, we'll be having conversations with peers, idols, and maybe a rando or two. The Road Taken with CT&Bow, part of the Ringer Podcast Network, coming soon on all podcast platforms. Welcome to the Dynasty Football Podcast on the Ringer NFL show. On the Ringer Podcast Network, my name is Danny Hyfitts, and I am joined as always by my co-host and my co-danny, the hero we need and the analyst we deserve,

the Dark Knight himself. Danny Kelly. How are you doing, D.K.? I'm doing swimmingly, Danny. How are you doing, man? Swimmingly? Where are you swimming? Swimmingly, I think, is... I'm not swimmingly. Oh, swimmingly. Yes. I never really know what that meant, to be honest.

Craig, how are you doing? Are you swimming, Craig? I'm swimming in all of my bets that Leonard Fournet was going to be good. I'm swimming in the tiers of Ringer editor Donnie Kwok, who desperately wanted to bet that Washington would beat the Giants this week, and they did not. Eat the boot down. Johnny. The other DK. Yeah. The other DK of the ringer, the lesser DK, in my opinion.

This was the best week of football of 2019. Do you guys, I mean, not including the playoffs. Do you guys agree? Yes. Why do you say that, Danny? I just was blown away. I mean, we can just get into the what's of the week, the things that made us go what this week. There were just like eight things.

Yeah, it was bizarre. In no particular order. The first thing I wanted to bring up that the Rams' Bucks game was insane. I've never quite felt, I mean, with the exception of the Rams Chiefs game last year, which was, I mean, exceptional. This was like a Pac-12 after dark game. The Bucks jumped to a 21-0 lead on the Rams. Then they were up 45 to 27. And then they won 55 to 40.

James Winston threw a pick six in the fourth quarter and it wasn't even the biggest mistake by a quarterback in the fourth quarter. Yeah. Chris Godwin, 12 catches, 172 yards, two scores. Mike Evans. four catches, 89 yards in a touchdown, and he, like, danced in sideways. And then the thing that really made me go, what? The real what was Jared Duff at 68 pass attempts.

You noted this in your column this week, Dan, is the third most in NFL history. That's pretty, that's hard to believe, actually. So there was the full line, which it's kind of like, you're racking your brain, like you think it's a mistake. 68 passes, 45 completions, 517 yards, which sounds great, but it's only 7.6 yards per attempt, which is fairly middle range.

Two touchdowns, three picks and the sack funnel to end the game. This is one of those games where sometimes there's really fun shootouts like you were talking about, but this game didn't feel the same. It just felt sloppy for the most.

It was kind of a sad shootout. I kind of just felt bad. I was like, man, Goff's really not playing too hot. And I was like, is James really going to beat the Rams? It's just kind of sad the whole time. Well, speaking of set,

so Riley McAtee, who is D.K.'s, your editor, used to be my editor and he mentioned this is a real one of the week stat for me this is really why I wanted to mention this game Jared Goff has fumbled in every game

he's played since the Chiefs game including the Chiefs for Rams Monday night in week 11 last year he's fumbled in every game except the Super Bowl he has 14 fumbles in his last 13 games and Riley half jokingly half seriously was like he has tiny hands because that was the thing pre-draft

for him going number one he had like one of the smallest pairs of hands for any who's ever gone first in the draft I think the other thing is, and I saw Justice Mosquita, I think was the one who was talking about this on Twitter. And he was saying, like, part of the reason for, it's obviously the small hands thing I think is something. But it's also, he's got kind of like a long windup and he brings the ball back when he's about to throw. And that really put like that makes the ball like really vulnerable. And so that's been like a reason.

We saw that on that last fumble that basically sees. sealed the game. Like he, he came back, he like cocked his arm back and that's when the ball came out. So, yeah, it's, it's a problem. I mean, he's just, he hasn't looked good in a while now. And it's kind of interesting because their run game is not working. They're trying to put basically the whole offense on his shoulders. And I mean, on one hand, 517 yards is impressive. But on the other hand, like five turnovers or four turnovers or whatever it was, four turnovers was. 68 passes.

The 500 yards isn't even impressive. Yeah. He just through a lot of passes. It's just devastating to an offense. And so, yeah. I had to know, ESPN's Tristan Cocker's note of, sorry, Tristan Cockroft noted that Goff's 20.6 fantasy points are the lowest ever for any quarterback who had 500 plus yards. Yeah.

And the, another thing that made me go, what this week that I wanted to mention? Did you guys see the Travis Kelsey catch that he immediately pitched to LaShawn? McCoy, midair? Yeah. And then someone, actually, the ringer official account tweeted us that, do we know the fan he's scoring? I was like, I actually don't. I have no idea what that count says.

I don't even think Yahoo knows. I think no one actually knows what to do in that scenario. DK., you figured this out, right? We have an answer. For those who don't know, Patrick Holmes threw a patch to Travis Kelsey, caught it midair, and then basically noticed that LaShawn McCoy was running right past him, caught the ball, tossed it backward McCoy, McCoy, just ran down field for like 25, 30 more yards. Yeah, the cool thing about that play was.

he, and saying that he caught it is almost an exaggeration because he barely touched it. It's like he almost like set it up like a volleyball for McCoy. It was crazy. Yeah, it was like a set. Yeah. Yahoo's Scott Pineowski actually tweeted at that ringer tweet and said that Mahomes gets a pass completion for the full yardage. So for both guys, Kelsey gets a catch and the yardage to the flip and McCoy gets the rest of the receiving yards but not a reception.

So pretty interesting little fantasy tidbit there. That was amazing. The last one we just want to note the what's of the week was just like, Craig, as you mentioned, all the breakout hype guys who had not broken out yet, kind of all breaking out are our guy. Leonard Fornett, Lenny Fornes, career high rushing, Fornett with 29 carries for 225 yards, two catches, 20 yards, no touchdowns amazingly because he just veers into cornerbacks if you see the first run he broke off. He just could have kept going.

He just was like, no, I want to stiff arm someone. I love it. I was amazing. You know what I realized when I was watching this game? And this is not even an insult to Fournette,

but he looks exactly like a bumper car when he runs. Just like his movement. Like you know how bumper cars kind of like, they're very like the bad ones where if you just hit and then you stop? They're like cicada when they're movement. So it's like really, really fast stop. Really, really fast stop.

And then they like, when they're backing up, it's like really. awkward. For some reason, it just reminds me exactly of how he runs. And, like, part of the thing is, like, he bounces off guys, and he is a bumper car. Like, he was very good at, you know, he was elusive. He was bowling over guys and everything. But at the same time, like he said, he just kind of loves running into contact. Yeah, that bumper car is seven yards behind the league leader in rushing, baby. That's, yeah. Craig, Craig's just living it up right now.

More guys who broke out that we had been waiting for, Nick Chubb had 20 carries, 165. yards, three touchdowns. And then kind of the opposite, his best play of the day was basically just took a run straight plus yards. He didn't get touched, which was amazing. Did you see that? Did you see that Baker Mayfield had had, I think, 18 or 19 miles an hour on that play, just running downfield to celebrate with his team? Like the next gen stats player tracking? Yeah. Like Chubb hit, I think Chubb hit 21 or something miles an hour. And Baker Mayfield just trailing the play, like probably dancing the whole way down, hit 18 or 19. I'm starting to become skeptical of these next-gen speed tracking stats.

I don't know. I don't know about Baker hitting 19. He's going to come for me for that. Other guys who broke up this week, Stefan Diggs of the Vikings, who we mentioned on Friday, was the seven catches, 108 yards. The Vikings were awful in this game, but he was fine, but he fumbled. So the real-life things are kind of mad at him. You can't trust that still, though, right?

No, no. I mean, Adam Thieland said at some point we have to pass the ball. And if Adam Thieland's not confident the Vikings passing game, I wouldn't be either. One last person we'd be waiting for to break out. Carry on Johnson and the Lions, who we loved on Friday, 26 carries 125 yards. So he really was the feature back in this game. Unfortunately, the Lions fumbled twice inside the goal line or the five yard line. How do you do that?

So he could have had a much bigger day. I mean, imagine if he'd gotten both those touchdowns. So tough. This was, I believe there were four or five fumbles in one quarter. in that game. It was like, it was a sloppy affair. There were certain games where teams will go pick,

pick, pick, pick and just keep giving it back. I've never seen fumble, fumble, fumble, fumble like that. Yeah, that was weird. But not everything about Sunday was happy. So let's get in a next man up. Injury news,

fill in alert. This is the last person who really broke out this week that had really everyone had been waiting to happen. But then he got hurt. This is Devante Adams, receiver for the Packers, who, as Craig had mentioned, And last year, if you had taken his lowest score in a given week and then just made that a score every week all year in 2018, he would have been a top 10 receiver.

And then this year really had not been doing well. But Thursday nights lost against Philadelphia completely broke out. He had 10 catches, 180 yards, no touchdowns. But he suffered a toe injury late in the game. And if you don't think a toe injury is a big deal, try running without your toe. We don't know if he's going to play this week. The Packers play the Cowboys on Sunday in the afternoon. And so if he does not play, obviously,

Marquez Valdez Scantling and Geronimo Allison are huge spots in that game. But the real issue here is, you know, even if he does play, we don't know how healthy it will be. And Geronimo Allison is only owned in 24% of league, so go get him now. I would highly recommend Toronto Allison, and I also recommend playing Valdez Scantling, almost regardless of how the game goes. Other, the two bigger injuries of the day,

the first one probably, Mitchell Trubisky, quarterback for the Bears. He had a shoulder, yeah. Yeah, so it's his non-throwing shoulder, so it's his left shoulder. It happened three minutes into the game, less than that, actually. It was Chicago's sixth play. He finished, I mean, two or three for nine yards. You know, he was the first drive.

It doesn't matter. Chase Daniels entered, finished the Bears' first drive for a touchdown, Terrike Cohen. Daniels finished 22 to 30 for 195 yards in a touchdown. The Bears won 16 to 6, but, I mean, Chase Daniels is not worth picking up in anything but like two quarterback leagues. There's no timetable yet for Trubiscuits. he's probably not going to play against the Raiders in London. The Bears run by after that, so we'll see about after the buy. But it doesn't seem to really affect Chicago too much, right, D.K.?

Yeah, and if anything, it almost makes me a little bit more confident in some of these guys. I mean, he just, Chase Stadium just looked a little bit more comfortable in the offense. He had a little bit better rhythm in the passing game. I mean, yeah, it's definitely a little disconcerting for the Bears in general when you come in, when you have, you know, such a guy that you sunk so many big resources into and the backup, like a career backup comes in and there's not a huge discernible difference in the offense. So, yeah, I don't know. That's honestly, the same thing basically happened to Josh Allen with the bills.

Yeah. I mean, different injuries, but same result, which is Josh Allen left at their hard hit to the helmet from Pat's cornerback Jonathan Jones, which there was a lot of controversy over whether there should have been a hit or not. The fact is Josh Allen, unlike Kyler Murray and Lamar, has not learned a slide. He takes a lot of contact when he's running. He left the field. He suffered a head injury. He had 13 completions and 20 passes for 153 yards. Matt Barkley replaced him, completed 127 yards worth of passing. The pass one 16 to 10 because the bills turned over five times. But similar thing, I mean, Matt Barkley comes in and it's not even a huge difference

than Josh Allen, but probably more of a difference. So any effect at all on the bills pass pass catchers, DK or not really? Yeah, I think, so obviously Alan's got a big arm, he's very aggressive throwing the ball down the field, and that was a huge problem for the bills in this game. I mean, he had three just atrocious picks

downfield, I mean, he was throwing, he would run to his right and you know, just launch an ill-advised pass downfield. And that happened a couple times. That was the difference in the game. I mean, the bills could have potentially won that game if it wasn't for those ill-advised

throws. So on one hand, you kind of like, not fantasy football related, but you kind of like the idea, like maybe they can calm down their offense, a little stop turning it over. He had been playing all right, but playing against a good defense like the Patsy just turned it over too many times. Fantasy-wise, I think it probably downgrades John Brown a little bit just because he's their primary deep threat. And then it boosts Cole Beasley a little bit just because they're going to likely rely on quick game underneath options a little bit more with Barclay, not ask him to do too much, basically come in and be a game manager. So I think that is the main takeaway.

It's not a huge, huge difference. I don't think Barclay is probably worth picking up at this point, especially in one-corrback leagues. He doesn't have the rushing upside that Alan has at all. Please, for the love of God, do not pick up Matt Barclay in a one-quarterback group. Please, save yourself. Go outside. Get some sunlight.

Someone you should pick up, we're going to have to get into is if anyone replacing Marlon Mack, if Marlon Mack cannot play this week. Marlon Mack running back for the Colts, he left the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. He had 11 rushes for 39 rushing yards. I think it was the first week of the season that he didn't have 18 touches. Mack told reporters he's fine. The Raiders beat the Colts 31 to 24. We'll see if Mac plays, but the Colts are playing the Chiefs this week.

So that is a huge matchup for running backs. I mean, we just saw Carry on Johnson of a big week against the Chiefs. Last week, the Chiefs run defense is, I think, fair to say the worst in football. And, well, Nahim Hines, who is Max, I don't even want to say backup, but probably Indy's primary pass catching back. Like 45% of Indianapolis snaps on Sunday. I mean, obviously, the Colts will probably be passing a good bit to catch up. And then also, I like that they're just running ability. So, D.K., would you prefer Heinz or Jordan Wilkins in the case that Mac can't go?

Or even if Mac is hobbled but playing. Yeah, I prefer Heinz in this case. I think Mac is going to play. He told reporters after the game that it was a coach's decision to hold him out. I believe he only had two carries in the second half. He seemed to think he could have gone in. Now, obviously, adrenaline is always, you know, flowing in games and injuries tend to, like, feel different after the game.

But my guess is he probably won't miss significant time. In this case, just because of what he said after the game. All right. Now, we've got three receivers in a row that honestly are all kind of the same. We don't really have an update on any of these three people as of a recording time on Monday afternoon, but we're going to run through them because they're all noteworthy.

Jarvis Landry receiver for the Browns had a career high 167 receiving yards, including a 65-yard catch-and-run where he almost scored a touchdown, but Chubb vultured him. And then he left the game with a concussion. The Browns won 40 to 25, but if he is unable to go this week,

they're playing the 49ers. Cleveland's third-string receiver is Damien Ratley because Richard Higgins has been out for weeks, and then Antonio Calloway has been suspended until actually he's back now. but I don't think he's taken over that number three job or number two actually if Landry's out.

So, D.K., do you like Rattley if Landry's out? No, not particularly. I'm more interested if Higgins can get back this week. It sounds like he's been getting closer to coming back. And I think the reason the team liked Higgins a lot in the preseason is he can play in multiple positions in that offense. They cross-trained him to play outside, inside, whatever. Calloway last year was essentially an outside receiver.

I don't know if he They might be able to play him inside now But that was generally where he was lining up last year So I don't know if he's necessarily a one-to-one Fit for replacing Landry If he can't go So I kind of like Higgins Keep an eye on Higgins this week in his injury situation

Because I think if Landry's out He could be a guy that Potentially benefits fantasy-wise If anything, it could help Ricky Seals Jones's value Who actually had a pretty big week this week Who we all kind of thought was a sleeper A couple years ago on the Cardinals Yeah and Seals Jones basically left Arizona

because Kingsbury, who ironically recruited him to Texas Tech, didn't need him as a tight end because it's really used tight ends. But weird how that all works. Actually pivoting to the Cardinals, where Ricky Seals Jones came from, similar thing with Christian Kirk to Jarvis Landry. Christian Kirk went down late in the fourth quarter. Yeah, like one of the last plays at game. And it seemed he had an ankle injury.

If he is forced to, we don't really have an update on this right now, but if he is forced to miss significant time, Tyler's probably leaning on Larry Fitz but who is D.K. That's your guy this year. But do you like any of the Cardinals receivers after him? There's Keishon Johnson. No relation.

There's other Keishon Johnson. There's Adie Zabel. Who do you like of cards receivers after Christian Kirk? Or would you just trade for Larry Fitz? I think Larry Fitz is the biggest beneficiary potentially just because he's their primary slot guy opposite. Kirk and him are basically the two slot receivers on that team. Because they're playing four receivers

every game. Yeah, they play four receivers sets a lot. And then Kishan has played outside a lot. Demir Burt has played outside a lot. It'll be really interesting to me, and I hope this is what happens that Andy Isabella gets a little more action. He's been, from what I understand, sort of working in the slot for the Cardinals.

He played outside a lot in college, but they're trying to work him in on the inside. He played eight snaps against the Seahawks. I don't think he got a target, but he looked really fast, looked quick on a couple of plays. I'd be really interested. to see if Isabella gets any time. If Kirk is going to miss time,

there are some people that were speculating. It could be an MCL injury or a high ankle sprain, which is like four to six weeks typically. That could be significant. That could be a real opportunity for Andy Isabella. So he's a guy that I probably have sort of just in the back of my mind. See how this thing goes. And, I mean, he's a second rounder for them.

He's a guy that they really, really liked. And he's taking a little bit of time to work up in that offense, but if he's in a slot, that's a really, really good opportunity for him because, you know, in that offense, slot receivers are really important. Yeah, and just a note, you know, obviously there's so much talk about Cliff Kingsbury and the Air raid, Arizona. What does that actually mean in English, please? Through three weeks, there had been 233 NFL plays that feature 10 personnel, which is four receivers and a running back. Of those 233, 128 were them of them with the Cardinals, so more than half. And they're running more than every other team of the league.

So they're using all these receivers, which is cool. for Kyler Murray, not so cool for if you're trying to pick which one will do it. Another receiver that, again, left the game with a hamstring injury. Kenny Stills, receiver on the Texans, traded from Miami to Houston earlier this year, has had a pretty good rapport to Sean Watson almost immediately downfield. But he left with a hamstring injury. We also do not have a great timetable on his injury, whether he'll be back. Monitor the practice reports for Kenny Stills, Christian Kirk, and Jarvis Landry to see if they play. But what does this mean for you for DeAndre Hopkins for Will Fuller and third string receiver Kiki Kiki Kootie DK.K.

Yeah, well, hopefully it means that Will Fuller is about to go off because he's been kind of quiet. He's, he's been racking up a lot of air yards. I'm talking about Fuller, but hasn't really produced the way that he has in the past in terms of touchdowns and deep balls and all that stuff. I think it's coming, and this could sort of be a little bit of a boost for him with if Stillsman's timing. And honestly, hamstring injuries are terrible for fast guys, don't you think? I think it's going to be potentially something that lingers a bit. It is also, I think, a small boost for QT, QT, who had been rotating in in the slot for them with Kenny Stills,

and now he could get a bigger chance to have, like, a major role in that offense. Last year, he was a target machine in that role. He's had a really tough time seeing healthy, and he was a guy that had a pretty bad hamstring injury that lingered for a long time, too. But if he can stay healthy, he has a really tough time. a chance to be closer to what people thought he would be in the preseason. Because he had a lot of hype less. He had a lot of hype over the off season.

Okay. Let's just run through a handful of guys who have just been out of the fold for a little bit that are going to be returning within a week or two. So we've got Tyree Kale, receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs. He could return in two weeks from his shoulder injury, according to ESPN's Adam Schaefter. This isn't really definitive as much as to keep in mind, whether you have Mikul Hardbin, DeMarcus Robinson, or if you have Hill, start preparing. that Hill could return, you know, we don't know the severity of that shoulder injury,

but it's not a lower leg injury, which is better for someone who depends on speed. Golden Tate, receiver for the Giants, he is about to return from his four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances. He is, I always think of him as the rebound for O'Dell Beckham. It's just someone who's also cool off to the yards after the catch, but it's kind of a short-term hookup thing. It's really to get over it. We've got tight-end Chris Herndon for the Jets.

he was also suspended for four games for violating the league's program on policy on substances abuse uh herndon is reported to have one of the better reports with darnold after jameson crowder but was suspended he probably would have been a really popular sleeper he's back ben what's not back he actually

herndon can't come back till after week five yes apologies because the jets were on by but you have to get him i would say get him earlier rather than later and just basically beat the rush because he's a good he's a good tight end and He had, he, 502 yards as a rookie with four touchdowns is a really solid number at tight end.

And he could be a real sleeper for the like second half of the year. Yeah, we should just call guys like him beat the traffic. Like, you know, get him a week early so he could beat the traffic on Chris. Exactly. Oh, I like that. Beat the traffic, Craig. Wow. Should we make that a new segment?

Let's do it. Yes. Yes. Beat the traffic. Well, speaking to beat the traffic. Well, it's probably too late for this one. Another tight end, Ben Watson on the Patriots. He's also returning from suspension. A lot of suspension returns.

He figures to be the starter at tight end. I don't want to pretend to know what that means. I think that anyone who pretends to know how Bill Belichick will use any of the Patriots in a given week is hubris or a member of the Patriots. And then of those of those four, D.K., Golden Tate, Chris Herndon, Watson, who would you most be excited about getting? Golden Tate. I think Golden Tate is going to be sort of the one B in that offense along with Sterling Shepard. And obviously with the way that Danny Dimes has come on and. turned around that offense.

He fell to Earth a little bit last week. Had a couple turnovers, but I think just Tate has the, he's such a good run after the catch receiver. He's one of the most dynamic slot run after the catch players in the NFL. He's getting older and he's not quite as dynamic as it used to be, but I still think he has potential to be a monster and PPR going forward, especially with Daniel Jones at quarterback.

So he's the guy that I'd absolutely be targeting. Real quick, some other news, on the league that's a little fantasy adjacent. We have Cowboys left tackle, Tyrone Smith hurt his ankle, but it looked bad on Sunday to football. Not as bad. He's probably not going to play this week against the Packers, but he'll be back week six against the Jets, only bringing that up because Dak Prescott's

numbers with and without Tyrone Smith in his career are amazingly bad. I mean, it's often cited as without Zeke, but it's really without Smith, but he won't be out too long, apparently. Titans left tackle. Yeah, that's a good note. It's astonishing, honestly. Titans left tackle Taylor Luan, who is one of the better left tackles in football. Returns to Tennessee.

He had a four-game suspension testing positive for banned substance. He's back now. Can I just say, I really hope the Titans can turn their offense around? I mean, just for fantasy purposes, getting A.J. Brown, Corey Davis involved in fantasy,

like we saw last week, man. It just would be so much more fun. It's like when Daniel Jones emerged for the Giants' offense. It's adding a whole new team to the fantasy landscape. I really hope they can keep it up. That's a good point. I mean, Corey Davis was the number five pick in the NFL draft

and basically was like drop. football left with it. Before this week, he was sixth on the Titans and targets. He's talented, man. I still believe in him. I think he's been a little bit of a product of just a really bad offense. I think A.J. Brown is also really, really good, potentially even better than Corey Davis. And I mean, that one-two punch could be really deadly if they ever get, like, their passing game figured out. Mariotta looked better last week. I just think, I really hope that they can figure it out. Would you rather pick up Davis or A.J. Brown after their weeks. Brown had two touchdowns this week.

That's a good question. I think I lean Davis still just because he's been playing way more snaps. But I mean, I wouldn't blame me at all if you'd rather go Brown. That guy looks like a monster. He had a really, really good route on a second touchdown. He's been producing yards after the catch. I just think both of those guys as the offense is built right now are extremely boom or bust. Indeed.

Another thing is boom or bust was the Broncos pass rush. They were the first team since Sacks became a staff. to not have a sack or a takeaway through three games. They had some sacks against Jacksonville, but they lost Bradley Chubb, defensive end. He's out for the season with the torn ACL. Bad news for Denver's defense that was just getting bad news after bad news. Yeah, that sucks.

So that's tough. I would not, I would cut the Broncos defense. I'd cut bait if you haven't already. Yeah. All right, D.K., we're going to get in some categories, some fun.

But first, let's talk about Pepsi. Pepsi takes all NFL celebrations to the next level. You know what the next level is actually. called, there's a name for it. It's called Daniel Jones. Because whether it's a Hail Mary touchdown, a defensive stop on the goal line, or a Super Bowl win, when it's time to celebrate, it's time to crack open a Pepsi.

When Giants had coach Pat Shermer said Eli Manning may not start in week three against Tampa Bay, I stocked up on Pepsi in sheer anticipation. And when Daniel Jones ran that first touchdown in against the Buccaneers, I ran out of the ringer office and happiness. And then returned, winded, and cracked open a Pepsi. And when Daniel Jones out duels, Dwayne Haskins this week in New York, proving Giants' GM

Dave Gettelman was a genius for taking Jones over Haskins in this year's draft. I drink the tears of Washington fans, especially Donnie Kwok. And then I drink a Pepsi to watch them down. When the New York football Giants beat the New England Patriots two weeks from now and the Eli Manning, Tom Brady cycle

begins a new like a Phoenix with Eli Manning, Daniel Jones, and Tom Brady, I'm going to celebrate with a Pepsi. And then I'm going to stock up fridge for the Super Bowl when Daniel Jones will inevitably lift the Lombardi trophy in one hand and the Super Bowl MVP trophy in his other. While Tom Brady sits sadly on the sideline and as confetti pours down, I will be pouring Pepsi down into my gullet. Tasting the impossible flavor of my own completion.

And I'll be doing that in perpetuity because the celebration never ends. Pepsi, the official sponsor of the NFL, remind you to always be celebrating. All right, DK, want to celebrate some categories? Yes, let's do it. First up, we got deceiving yards. They're like, you know, receiving yards, but fake. You guys get it.

Fools gold. Craig, this one's very personal for you. High school nemesis, go into this, Craig. Middle school nemesis. One day I just want him to, you know, in the little intro when you say where you went to school, I'd love him to be like Austin Hooper, Pine Valley Middle School.

I'd love that. Go on, what does your middle school nemesis do now for, you know, people get jealous of, like, other people's jobs, but what does your middle school nemesis now do to her, Greg. Unfortunately, my middle school nemesis is now a really good tight end, who almost had a Super Bowl ring. Thank God he didn't. He's currently the overall tight end two right now, which I don't think many people expected, even though quietly last year he finishes the Titan 6, which I don't think a lot of people remember. Why don't people remember the Atlanta Falcons in general? Correct. Last week, he had a big week, nine catches on 11 targets for 130 yards. He's PFF's 11th ranked tight end right now. You know, I don't think he's going to be the tight end too. There's a lot of mouth defeat in Atlanta. I think he's going to settle into the tight end. five to eight range of season, but I don't think these are necessarily deceiving yards.

Also, tight-ins been pretty weak this year. A lot of people are disappointed in Kettle and Ertz, and yeah, I mean, obviously keep firing him up as your Titan 1, but I wouldn't expect tied-in-2 production. I wish I had more Hooper shares, to be honest with you. I kind of just ignored him in the whole pre-season time. I just didn't really think about him as a potential ad. Now, there's too many mouths to feed in Atlanta. I loved Hooper, because I loved Hooper before the season for basically the reason that Falcons hired Dirk Cutter as the office. You did call that. You did call that.

A little pat on my back. Give myself a little pat on the back. But what intrigued me was that everywhere Cutter has gone, basically since the beginning of his coaching career, the tight ends have done well. Like I'm talking mid-90s. He's running offenses at Arizona State, Boise State, Boston College, always got his tight ends involved. Like 2010, the Jaguars, Mercedes was a pro bowler and caught 10 touchdowns.

And then he goes to Atlanta, runs their offense in 2012 and 2013, revives Tony Gonzalez's career with the Falcons. 2015, Austin Safarian Jenkins led the team before touchdowns in seven games. Then he goes to Tampa Bay. That's when O.J. Howard became amazing. It's when Cameron Brayette became the best red zone weapon in football along with like, you know, Gronkowski and like Jimmy Graham and like Cameron Brate. And then it goes to Atlanta. And then this is what the Falcons targets are through for four games. Julio was 37 targets.

Austin Hooper is 33. Muhammadson, who is 32, Calvin Ridley is 23, and Devante Freeman is 21, no one else is more than 10. Hooper is the most catches on the team. This is the Atlanta Falcons. Austin Hooper is the most catches on the team, and he's 10 yards behind Julio Jones for the leading the team of receiving yards. So I think it's actually real. Yeah. I think this is very real real. I think we're a consensus on this one. Yeah, well, he sucks at Intermural Baseball, so. Wait, can you just tell the story real quick because we just spent like three minutes on Austin Hooper? remind us.

You know, he was just, he wasn't the most pleasant guy to deal with in middle school Intermereal lunch softball, which is an extremely important time in seventh grade boys' lives. Trying to navigate a world of masculinity at a vulnerable age. So what, did this lead to a boiling point moment? No, we were fine. We also played Little League baseball together, and sometimes I would spell him when he would have a tough time on the mound because he couldn't handle it emotionally. But that's like crying on the mound?

I don't need to say that on Mike, but maybe, you know. I would do anything to bring Austin Hooper on this podcast. I would do anything in the world. You know why? Because Austin Hooper is the guy you're not supposed to worry about. It's like that's what Craig was getting at. But let's get into the guys you're not supposed to worry about, which it's like an internet joke. It's like the guy you are supposed to worry about.

But like get it. I know the meme. It's fine. But let's get into this. What is Jordan Howard's deal? What are we supposed to do with Jordan Howard? Is this the best game he's had? It's one of the best fantasy games he's ever had in his life.

I'm not 100% sure. Definitely in the last few years. And he, I mean, I just did not see this coming. So 15 carries, 87 yards, two rushing touchdowns. And then he caught a receiving touchdown. He three catches for 28 yards on the score. Never catches anything. He's got rocks for hands.

And then ends up with three touchdowns. Was benched in 94% of ESPN leaks. Yeah, that was a staff for Matthew Berry. I believe that's the case. 94% benched, rough. Not great, Bob. Okay, so a lot of people banked on Miles Sanders to be Philadelphia's back. Also, important to note that he got this with 87 rushing yards.

The Eagles have the longest streak in the NFL without a 100-yard rusher that used to belong to the Lions. Now it's the Eagles. It's 32 consecutive games, which is two full seasons in essence. Just because they always have a committee, yeah. So a lot of people were banking on rookie Miles Sanders to get this job at some point. Not happening so far. So do you still believe in that happening, DK? Eventually, I'm still bullish on it,

but this last game, obviously, was very, very discouraging for Sanders' owners. Howard played 33 snaps, which is 53% of the snaps. Sanders played 22, which is 35%. He got four targets in the passing game. Sanders got zero. Howard had seven red zone looks, which are rush attempts and targets,

and Sanders only had one. On the year, it's becoming very clear that they're basically a split down the middle. Howard has played 93 snaps. Sanders 119 snaps. Howard has 13 red zone looks. Sanders has eight red zone looks. Howard has 40 rushes.

Sanders has 45 rushes. Howard has nine targets, six catches in the passing game. Sanders has 10 target six catches. So this is essentially a nightmare scenario for Sanders fantasy owners. And so it's just, I mean, and it also just begs the question,

Like, are we starting Jordan Howard now going forward? Yeah, exactly. I think you've got to flex them. But it's also, you know, you won't be surprised if you burned you. But yeah, it's certainly flex-worthy. Another person that's probably flex-worthy right now. Ronald Jones on the Bucks. Running back for Tampa Bay, I mean, I think that, I mean, we mentioned him in the same

spot a couple weeks ago, but it's worth mention again because this was the first time that he out snapped Peyton Barber since he was drafted last year. And he famously had a horrible rookie season. He's looked really good right now, right, DK? Yeah, he had an atrocious rookie season, did not do anything well, couldn't catch the ball, was not effective on the ground. He looks like a brand new man. And it's actually very interesting because he put on weight over the off season, which is typically not a good thing for running back. I mean, we've seen it time and time again.

Runners put on weight to be, I guess, more durable or something like that. That's the idea behind it, but it ends up just sapping their explosiveness and they don't look as good. this is very generally and typically. But for Jones, he looks just like a new player. He looks really physical, dynamic, elusive. You know, he's just, he's broken a lot of tackles. He just looks, I guess, explosive on the field. And it's really, it's nice to see because I was pretty high on him before the draft last year.

He was a second rounder, really high draft big. And it's good to see him kind of breaking out for that team. I think before too long here, he's going to be the real lead guy in that offense and, you know, an actual fantasy. going forward. So you said he was explosive and all I could think about was in Tampa Bay when they scored touchdown. They shoot cannons out of the pirate ship. Yeah.

And it reminds me my favorite NFL moment ever, which was Josh Norman, was penalized for his fake bow and arrow celebration. And he just looks at the ref and he says, they shoot cannons. So I just, yeah. Ronald Jones, very explosive there in Tampa Bay. Last one for me, the Pats D. Honestly, this is probably more of a deceiving yards thing. I didn't know where to put this, but I wanted to note this.

The Patsy is the most fantasy points by any defense and special teams unit through the first four games of the year in fantasy numbers since the Packers in 1996. Since the NFL went to a 16 game schedule in 1978, the Patsy is the best or the fifth best fantasy start through four games. And I think that's amazing. And part of it's while they've played really bad teams, right? But I kind of looked at their schedule. And what's amazing is how many young quarterbacks they play through their bison. 10. And until then, they get, going forward, they get Washington with rookie Dwayne Haskins, they get the Giants with rookie Daniel Jones, the Jets with either second year returning from mono

spleen, Sam Darnold, or Luke Falk. And then they get the Browns who are better, but still second year Baker Mayfield, and then the Ravens who are better, but second year Lamar Jackson. And they, so they get rookie or second year quarterbacks until they're by. And then even after the buy, it's much better. It's Eagles, Cowboys, Texans, Chiefs, Bengals, Bills, Dolphins. All of those teams except the Bengals have a quarterback who's year four or earlier. So the whole year, the Pats, with Bill Belichick, maybe the smartest defensive coordinator history of football. The only vets he's facing that have played more than four years in the league are Ryan Fitzpatrick,

Ben Rathesburg, and Andy Dalton. Those are the three guys who are older than like 26th they're playing this year. So that kind of blew my mind. Yeah. And you're assuming Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to even play. Oh, yeah. I meant they already week one. Oh, I got you.

Yeah, I got you. Another second year guy. I'm just kind of blown away by all this. And they get the bill. again in the fantasy championship week in week 16. So love the Pat's Day. Don't think it's C-C either. So sorry if that was the wrong category.

No, I like that. That's interesting, for sure. Next category. What's on streaming? All you cord cutters, you know, I got Jacoby Brissette with the Colts. He's rostered in basically a third of ESPN in Yahoo Leaks. 16 fantasy points every week so far.

265 yards and three touchdowns against Oakland last week. They're playing the Chiefs. Really simple. I think they're going to have to pass a lot. Matt Stafford had 23 points last week. And that does not include because they fumbled twice in the the five-yard line. So he could have had like 30 pretty easily, actually.

So yeah, love for a set for the week. Even though Ty Hilton might not play, I mean, you know, three touchdowns last week without Tybalt. So love it. Craig, what are you streaming? I'm streaming Cole, mother-effing Beasley. Playing the Titans this week, receiver on the bills. He's ninth in the NFL of Monkswad receivers in targets,

which is pretty surprising. What? I know. And I believe he's 10. That's shocking to me. Cole Beasley? He's top 10 in targets? Cole Beasley, Matt Barkley and J.

Josh Allen's very own. I'm not worried about Matt Barclay. D.K. and I were talking before the pod. We actually might even like Matt Barkley more with Cole Beasley. I'll be honest. I didn't know that. That's incredible. He's on pace for 96 catches, which is the most of his career if he were to keep up this pace. And he's playing Tennessee who last week led up almost 400 yards passing to Atlanta. So, Cole Beasley, who knew? 12% owned. I like that. I like that a lot. So many people in Buffalo right now are screaming, we knew.

Yeah, don't get on Bill's Mafia as bad. side. No, they'll send you sleeping with the fishes. Speaking of fishes. Nice. This is gone fishing. You know, a couple trade targets. You know, maybe guys like coasting a long, not playing so well, you just drop a line. See if anything bites. D.K., who's, who you're dropping a line on this week? So if there was ever a time for you to buy low on Odell Beckham Jr., I think now is that time. The trade, the buy low window with Beckham is going to slam shut any day now, any week now. The Browns finally exploded our offense this week, dropping a 40-burger on the Ravens. Unfortunately, Beckham wasn't really that involved. He only had two catches for 20 yards.

Jarvis Landry went off. The Ravens tilted their defense towards Beckham a lot, so that opened up opportunities for the other guys on the team. However, he was still, he still led the team in air yards. you had seven targets, you had 120 air yards, almost doubled out of Landry at 60. 61. And just to remind everyone, air yards are basically if every bat ball thrown at a receiver was caught, and then they immediately fell down with the theory being that if the amount of total yardage thrown at a receiver is a better predictor week to week of future performance rather than just receiving yards themselves. It's a more accurate metric of opportunity, in other words.

And Odell's air yards higher, and their forefeworthiness. for his opportunity is still the most on the Browns. Yeah, so more valuable. So I liked what the Browns did on offense. I think they got a little bit more creative, which was really important. The first, like, three games, they were very just vanilla bland, didn't do things that they were doing last year. Odell was actually used on a double reverse where he threw the ball downfield to Damien

Ratley, and it went through his hands. Real pocket presence on that play because he was getting, he was about to get sandwiched. He stepped up and lonely. launched the ball. Yeah, it was a really good throw. He, you know, he had the largest, the farthest throw of the giant season last year was, he basically did an ESPN interview with Justina Anderson where he said, Eli Manning has no arm strength. And then that same day, he threw the farthest pass of the giant season. Yeah. Do you guys, want to play a quick name game with O'Dell Beckham? Yeah. Why not? All right, Chris Godwin. I would not. I mean,

that's the ultimate sell high, sell low thing, right? Godwin is 39 or 40 points or whatever, and then you trade in for O'Dell. That's the real so high. So going forward, who would you rather have? I still would rather have God one more. I'd take Odell. I don't want to overthink that. I like the bucks a lot, but I'm still wrong with Odell from now forward. So we're split. Next, Cooper Cup. That's tough. Cup is... Cup, I think I've been convinced he's a top 10 receiver. Yeah, he's like the number one in that offense now. I think he's the all, yeah. I've actually, I would still really have to think about it, but I think I'm a believer now that Cup is just a top 10 receiver. Okay. He'd be drafted as such next. Next, Mike Evans. That's close.

sir. We're getting warmer. He, if you, when you say juju-smiths Schuster is when I'm going to say, do the trade. Okay. And what about when I say Amari Cooper? Odell, because I think Cooper's planter fasciitis will become more of a problem as the season goes. Okay. So we kind of see what about Devante? What about Devante Adams? Would you do that have Devante? For sure. Well, I guess the toe injury actually really does mess that up. But it's still, honestly, still probably Devante, unless he like doesn't practice at all this week. But if Devante Adams practices this week, I'd rather What about Michael Thomas? That's a really good one.

All of these are worth thinking about. I'll say that. Thomas is the hardest person in this whole exercise because Bridgewater's... I mean, St. Vincent scored a touchdown on Sunday night football. Just didn't score. Thomas still gets a lot of targets, but it's not as valuable. And the issue, too, is when Breeze comes back, we don't know what Drew Breeze is going to be doing. You know, I all respect to the NFL's leading passer, but he could not grip a football.

Your thumb is the reason a football can be spot. Like if you ever learn to throw football, it's actually all about your thumb direction. That's kind of the central aspect to the motion of what makes a football spirals. And I don't know. I'm not going to just assume that Drew Brees will be fine when he comes back from this. You know what I mean? So I think I take Odell over Michael Thomas. So it kind of seems like Odell's falling in like the wider receiver 10 to 12 range right now.

But here's the thing. I still believe it happens, but I have no problem with someone selling on O'Dell, even if they feel like they could get more. they're out. I'm in. And that's, I think, an important thing. It's like, sell high, sell. You got to figure out what you believe. And then you got to act on that. I still believe at him. So I'm, I'm going to go fishing this week with Odell. I believe, I believe in the talent and I believe that the Browns are going to hit their stride in the second half of the season. I wholeheartedly concur. So that's something everyone has to decide, you know, and no one can see

the future. But I'm buying that talent. I'm buying, I'm buying Baker Mayfield figuring it out. And they've got some tough defenses on the slate, and so you have to keep that in mind. But down the stretch in like the fantasy playoffs, week 11, the Steelers who have been bad on defense, week 12, the Dolphins who have been atrocious, week 13 the Steelers, week 14, the Bengals, week 15, the Arizona Cardinals, and then week 16, the Ravens who are a big name, but, I mean, we saw what they did, you know, last week against the round. I mean, the Ravens D, they don't have. of a pass rush and their calling card was

depthed in the secondary, but now they actually are really injured there and they don't have depth there anymore. So they're really not great on defense right now. Yeah, and so if your playoffs go all the way to the end of the season, week 17, then they get the Bengals again. So the schedule sets up well for the Browns down the stretch.

I mean, over the next few weeks, it's tough. They've got the Broncos, pats, the 49ers next week. That's going to be a tough one, the Seahawks who are not that great. So yeah, but once you get into like the late season. That's when they could really hit their stride. You know, you know who else is going to hit stride late season? Who's that? Danny Jones, D.K.

Yeah. Let's send us out hot take of the week. Let's hear it. Giants are going to win the Super Bowl. I want to, so I know that you're, I know that you're doing this sort of tongue and cheek. What did you think of him really this last week? Or did you feel still encouraged? My real thoughts on him are he's, he doesn't do dumb stuff. I'm trying to curse less because my grandmother listens to this. But he's really not doing dumb stuff. The mistakes he makes are kind of a rookie quarterback learning the speed of NFL defenses and what windows closing faster looks like in practice. But he's pretty well aware of the ball. He knows when to go down. He knows when to escape the pocket. He knows when to stay in, which to Gettleman's credit was really what he said, was that he's a

good pocket passer, everything else is gravy. He knows when to escape pressure. He knows when not to, knows when to run out of bounds. He's generally aware of the clock, late game situations. Like, I've been impressed with his poise. And, like, that's a really silly thing to say. I mean, I'm still, I would like to see more downfield passing. But he just looks relatively mature. You look at Mitchell Tribusky and Josh Allen and he just doesn't do dumb stuff.

You know what I mean? Yeah. So that's really encouraging. And the reason I bring this up in 2000, like, in the history of the NFL, since they went to a 16 game schedule. There have been like 168 teams or so that have, sorry, in the last 20 years, 168 teams or so that went 0 and 2.

Two of them have won the Super Bowl. One was the 2007 New York Football Giants, who started 0 and 2, and then turned around their season in week three in a win against Washington. This year. Time in the flat circle. Two and two, Washington,

one game behind the Cowboys now. And what else? It's an AFC East year, because you play other divisions every four years, 07 played the Pats in the regular season. 2011, played the Pats in the regular season, won the Super Bowl that year, 2015, didn't work out so well,

and then here we are in 2019. Danny Jones, playing the Pats two weeks from now. It's going to happen. Our colleague, Kevin Clark, had a really funny tweet about that yesterday. He said, Daniel Jones is going to mirror Eli by winning a bunch of weird games,

playing an entire series in which he looks like he's never seen a football before and beating Patrick Mahomes in two Super Bowls. You were quick to respond. It's actually Tom Brady. He's going to be Tom Brady twice. That's the thing. He will retire.

Tom Brady will actually get to six and six in the Super Bowl career because of Danny Jones. But anyway, we're going to get to talk about that a lot going forward. So let's leave a little on the table. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Jim, our little ball of sunshine. And thank you to everyone listening. We'll be back this week.

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