The Ringer NFL Show - Todd Gurley to Atlanta, Melvin Gordon to Denver, and a Fantasy Mailbag! | The Dantasy Football Podcast

Episode Date: March 25, 2020

We break down the recent happenings in free agency, including Todd Gurley to the Falcons, Melvin Gordon to the Broncos, Emmanuel Sanders to the Saints, and more (1:10). Then we open the first fantasy mailbag of the 2020 season (31:45). Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. We hope The Ringer can provide you entertainment and companionship during this time. So as always, feel free to check out The Ringer.com, where we're still covering the latest in sports, pop culture, tech, and media. And the Ringer's YouTube channel can provide endless amounts of entertainment. You can find that at YouTube.com slash The Ringer. Hey, this is Danny Hifitz. Before we get to the podcast, we want to let everyone know that we made a lot of fun of the Jets Receiving Corps in this episode. But while we were recording, the New York Jets signed Prasad Perriman to a one-year deal for $8 million.

Obviously, that changes everything about the Jets receiving core. So while you're listening to this episode, please keep in mind that we did not know this critical information while we were laughing about the Jets. Please enjoy the show. Welcome to the Tennessee football podcast on the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. My name is Danny Hyphinson. 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, DeKine? I'm doing pretty well, man. How are you doing? I'm doing, you know, I'm making the best of the circumstances, man. Yeah. That's what I feel like I'm doing. Craig, how are you doing?

I am also making the best of the circumstances, as it seems like Todd Gurley is too. How about that, huh? Going back home to Georgia for Todd. Good landing spot for him. Craig wants my spot is the Segway guy Craig wants to Yeah, he's pissed He's like, I'm a little mad

I felt like I felt like I was just I got tabletopped right there I'm lurking in the wake The wake of what? Of your lack of segways recently Wow, shots fired Okay, well it's on We're gonna recap free agency

But I think we hit kind of You know, the splashy ones You know Tom Brady DeAndre Hopkins Like the guys you got push notifications for But there's been a whole wave of free agent moves since then. So we're going to go through skill guys,

the Todd Gurley's, the Melvin Gordon's, the fantasy implications, all that, the wake, if you will. It's not my best, we'll figure it out. And now we got a mailbag after that. We are going to do a mail. It's not really, we need an update. It's more like an inbox, isn't it?

No one has mailbags anymore. It's an inbox. Okay, maybe I'll change that. Sure. There go. The inbox. I think, all right, yeah. All right, anyway, free agency moves again.

Craig, you mentioned Todd Gurley. Yeah, Rams cut Gurley. Falcon signed Gurley. D.K., what are the fantasy implications from that? Well, I think obviously it makes Gurley still a factor in fantasy, and we kind of figured that would be the case that he would end up somewhere. But in this case, he's kind of the guy there. I mean, I guess you could factor in Edos Smith or any of the kind of backup players there,

but it looks like Gurley is still going to be the leadback going forward. And I think, you know, he was already on a steep decline from his, I guess, his reign as the king of fantasy football. And I think he will continue to kind of go down. I think just because last year he definitely benefited from getting a ton of first goal line carries for the Rams and just being the guy for them still, despite all the kind of rumors that he was going to slowly fade into the background. But I think, yeah, so his overall value continues to drop a little bit,

but at the very least, he's definitely worth still drafting in redraft leagues. Wait, so you think Gurley's left. valuable in the Falcons than he was on the rims. I do. Yeah. I think he's just going to, I feel like he's going to have fewer goal line opportunities in that offense, probably. There's more miles to feed potentially in that offense. It's just a different offense for him. I just don't think, I don't see him all of a sudden having like a second wind and getting faster and more explosive than he was last year. I think we can continue to expect him to like sort of just be a lesser version of Todd Gurley going forward. I mean, that's not that crazy, right, Hyphids?

I mean, you think Todd Gurley's going to be better on the Falcons than he wasn't. the Rams, even last year's season? I agree that, I mean, the red zone carriers are probably going to drop because he had, or not goal line carries, because I think he had the third most goal line carries in the league last year. But I don't know about more mouths defeated in Atlanta because, I mean, they have a, you know, a bunch of young running backs, but every team does. You know, they've got Edo Smith and was a quadrioleson, but the Rams are more invested

in Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson than I think the Falcons are in their young guys. So I'm not convinced that the Falcons are going to be more about rotating in than Gurley was. I mean, I guess it makes sense, though. I mean, Gurley touched the ball 17 times a game last year and had the third most red zone carries. I'd be kind of surprised if he matched those numbers in that line. I also, yeah, and I also just kind of look at the Rams,

you know, for as much as we make about their passing offense, McVeigh is very, very much dedicated to being a running team. And he, you know, he's made that clear that that's like the foundation of his offense, the running game. And Todd Gurley was like a perfect fit

for so long in that offense last year. they kind of fell off the map, but I don't know if the Falcons are necessarily that dedicated to the run. They've got Julio, they got Calvin Ridley, you know, they've got some really, Matt Ryan, who's a great passer. And so I just feel like they're not going to be as quite as dedicated to the run as the Rams are. Yeah, and let's not forget, Todd Gurley, and we're going to discuss, we're not going to discuss if it's 10 team league or 12 team league of standard. But Todd Gurley was an RB1 last year. He was the RB12 in 14 games, and he also had 14 touchdowns. I want to ban the term RB1 from this pod because it's too confusing between the number one RB and a team's RB1.

But yes, R. I don't think it's that confusing. Yeah, D.K. and I are on the same wavelength with that. It's an RB1 or the RB1. That's so much to ask of me. It's so much to ask of the listener. I just, I could not morally or practically disagree more. But flip side, the Rams, it's left, Gurley leaves behind Malcolm Brown, who is been in the

backfield for longer. Then they have Daryl Henderson, who is the guy. they drafted last year out of Memphis. Didn't really touch the ball last year, but it's considered to have higher upside DK. Which of these guys do you like more to get the job in 2020? And do you think they add a third guy? Or do you want one of these guys?

And if so, how good are they going to be? Darrell Henderson is like the post-hype sleeper of the of the year because he had a ton of hype going into last season. People had really, really high hopes. And then he ended up basically doing nothing, as you alluded to. They put him in there here and there towards the end of the season. And he did flash at times, but there was kind of these ideas that he was having trouble kind of picking up their offense, picking up their blocking scheme. You didn't look very good in the preseason.

And then they just basically leaned on Gurley most of the season. So I do think that Malcolm Brown is going to have a pretty big role. I see that as right now you can tentatively sort of describe it as what's going to be a committee approach, I think, with those two guys. I think Darrell Henderson has way more upside. And I'd be way more excited about taking Henderson. But I think practically speaking, Malcolm Brown is going to be a factor. He's going to be a fantasy factor. And I wouldn't be surprised as they got another back, but I'd see those two guys as kind of the top two options.

They have so many other needs. They have so few picks and so little cap space that I don't know if I could see them going with another running back after trading up to get Henderson last season. So I don't know if it just makes any sense for them to invest much. They took up with a 70th pick. That was kind of the main T-Leaf for Todd Gurley being gone soon. Can you remind everyone what Daryl Henderson's profile coming out of Memphis was like? He's got some wild numbers. Yeah, he's,

he was like a very, very exciting prospect. You know, he averaged off the top of my head. It was like eight something yards per carry at Memphis last season. He was just ridiculously, yeah, ridiculously explosive.

You know, he's not the type of guy that will make you miss behind the line of scrimmage. He's kind of straight lineish, but he's very much a slasher who can pick up chunk plays, you know, hit like, you know, the home run.

you know, very, very exciting player. He has good balance, all that stuff. I really liked him as a prospect. I was very excited when he went to the Rams just because prior to last season, the Rams were a juggernaut type offense. And so I thought, oh, that's an awesome fit. It didn't really materialize in year one,

but I still have high hopes for Henderson, and I think that he can be a good player. I don't know if he's a Belcal like Gurley, though. He's maybe not that type of every down guy for them. So that's why I kind of see that. How much stock do you guys put in the fact that McVeigh drafted Henderson and didn't, I mean, I know Malcolm Brown was undrafted, but how much stock do you put in the fact that he was a coach's pick and Malcolm Brown was not? I don't know. A pretty decent amount.

I mean, there are different kinds of players, but in general, I think that's always a really wise thing because, I mean, forget fantasy for a second. Just in general, coaches like to bring in their own guys. I mean, in general, people like to work with people they worked with in the past. Like, I mean, you look at just the Panthers or the bills this week. Sean McDermott was the defense quarter for the Panthers. Brandon Bean was the gym for the Panthers. And they brought in like four Panthers this week. None of them were in offense,

but Josh Norman, Mario Addison, AJ Klein and I'm forgetting a fourth, but they brought, I mean, almost a half dozen former guys in the year of 2020 from Carolina to Buffalo. You see that.

I mean, how many former titans, how many former Patriots have gone to Detroit or the Titans? Like, it really happens a lot. So I think any time there's familiarity, it's more than 50, like,

that always gives a guy more of a leg up than I think we think. And I think that especially applies with McVeigh and wanting to have his guy with Daryl Henderson. But I'm concerned that he got like 10 carries in November and December combined. So that's, yeah, that's legit. So that's the problem.

I mean, you know how much I love blocking. And I always wonder with this one, is it the Rams offensive line was such a disaster that he needed to master's blocking assignment so Jared Gough didn't get killed. And that's where the one part of me is wondering about with Gurley because the Falcons have way more talent on the offensive line.

And I mean, Falcons actually have 10 first rounders on their offense out of 11 starters, which I believe has never happened before in NFL history. It's the most first rounders ever on his starting offense. So I am curious about Gurley behind

a better line than the Rams in 2019. But at the same time, if Henderson's the starter for the Rams, it's a huge deal. Yeah. I mean, if Henderson is the starter for the Rams and he's what they envision as the Belkow,

then, I mean, he's a pretty high, and redraft leagues. And when he was picked, Henderson, I remember McVeigh, I think multiple times, compared him to Lance Dunbar, of all people,

kind of like a change of pace. Well, that doesn't make me feel good. Right. What if I was like, D.K., you're the Lance Dunbar of podcasting. That's,

like, how would you take that? Yeah, that is, that's, it's not great. But Todd Gurley was not the only running back who left an LA team and signed somewhere else this week.

Melvin Gordon, solid segue. There we go. Thanks. Can you start grading me at a 10 and then we're going to average me out? We're going to do fantasy segue podcasters and have a whole league. That'll be great.

We'll have a fantasy league. That'd be good actually. Melvin Gordon leaves the Chargers, signs to the division rival Broncos. We will leave the whole discussion of his contract and everything. Completely to the side and just get to fantasy. Biggest winner out of this, Austin Echler, right? So far, yeah.

So yeah, Austin Echler is left alone with the Chargers. and then him and Justin Jackson, and then there's the Broncos with Lindsay, Royce Freeman. It's a whole mess. But yeah, sticking with the Chargers, is Austin Eccler like, tell me why he's not a top five guy, D.K.

Is he not like, what's the problem here? I don't know if he's the top five guy going into the season. If Tyrod Taylor is the quarterback in, I wanted to say San Diego in Los Angeles, then it does kind of complicate things a little bit because generally speaking, mobile quarterbacks are a little bit more hesitant to just check it down

in terms of, they like to, you know, run instead. That's kind of, there's a correlation between mobile quarterbacks and a negative correlation between mobile quarterbacks. You say Philip Rivers is not mobile? Yeah, I think that that's the kicker for all of this, right? Is that we don't know what the charges offense is going to look like without Philip Rivers. I mean, everything may change. We don't know.

I mean, Philip Rivers is kind of the checkdown king, and that's why Austin Echler could flourish. So that is the only thing. Maybe he becomes like a, I actually kind of see Austin Echler first. I think it, honestly, I still stick by this. I think it's because he's really small. I think he would be like a early, early second round pick. And Echler caught like 90 plus catches.

He caught 90 catches. He caught 90 plus passes last season. And I don't know if that's going to happen in this offense going forward. You know, we really, it's again, we don't really know exactly how that offense is going to look. We don't even know who the quarterback's going to be throughout the whole season. So those are huge, huge factors when you're trying to project how many points these guys are going to score. So that would be my only hesitation. I love Echler.

He's explosive. looks right now like he's the lead back with the chargers, but we just really don't know. There's a lot of uncertainty with that, so that makes me a little bit hesitant to call him a lock solid first round pick. DK., who's the hidden winner? So kind of along the same lines of, you know, with the Ronald Jones thing,

is I see a hidden winner here as Devon Singletary in Buffalo because there was a lot of people connecting Gordon to Buffalo. And, in fact, there was a rumor that, you know, Gordon's agent reached out to Buffalo and then they ended up not offering him a deal. So number one, it's good that he didn't sign in Buffalo

because Singletary would have been relegated probably to like a committee back at the very least, possibly a backup there. And so Singletary remains the starter, at least for now, depending on what happens in the draft, we don't know. But I think it's a good sign that, number one, he's still there, he's still the lead guy. Number two, according to Adam Schaefter,

they did not offer Gordon contract. So that, to me, points to their confidence in Singletary being the guy for them this season. So I think he's a hidden winner at least for now. Again, we have to wait until the draft to kind of figure everything out. But he's kind of hanging on to that starting job still. What about the flip side? So Gordon ends up in Denver. They already have Philip Lindsay and they have Royce Freeman.

They spent a second rounder on Royce Freeman. They got Philip Lindsay's an undrafted free agent. I think he was a third. But yeah. A third rounder? Whatever. 70th pick. End a second.

beginning of the third. Waited just well actually me right there. But they have Phil Lentzy became like a quick. Yeah, but they had a Philip Lindsay became like a like a hometown hero because, you know, he's from the area, went to school in the area. So two, I mean, really popular. And now Melvin Gordon's coming in. So do you think that he's taking snaps away from Philip Lindsay or Royce Freeman and

what does this do to their value? Like we're, I mean, are excited about Melvin Gordon in Denver? No. Well, okay. Yeah. I think Gordon is a good fantasy value. in Denver.

I thought you were going to ask me about Philip Lindsay. I'm not excited about Philip Lindsay anymore. And I just think, you know, for whatever reason, the Broncos, I think, seemed to get frustrated with Lindsay last season. Royce Freeman now is completely off the fantasy map. But why were they frustrated with Philip Lindsay? Well, I just, well, I think the moves that they've made, the rumors start the offseason is what I'm kind of referring to.

Like, they talked about bringing in someone to not only, like, maybe push him or split cares with him. Now they sign a guy like Gordon who could potentially be the starter and Lindsay could be relegated to backup. That's not pushing him. That's pushing him to the bitch. Right. And,

you know, with Schumer in Denver now, he's traditionally kind of gone with a bell cow back in his offenses. So I really don't even know what, I don't know if Lindsay is just going to be a straight backup now. Like it's very, very interesting. I've always thought he was a very talented guy,

very explosive, tough. He's obviously under 200 pounds, so he doesn't pack a lot of punch, but he's like the most tenacious runner. I always thought he was really, really good. So I guess my confusion was why they don't love him more and why they felt the need to bring in Gordon. Maybe they just don't know if he can last throughout a whole season

at that weight. And that's part of the reason that they platooned him and Royce Freeman last season for most of the season. Obviously, that's a different coaching staff last year, or a different offensive coordinator last year. I don't know. It's just going to be, I have no confidence. Yeah, I'm not going to be picking a lot of Philip Lindsay at this point.

I think Gordon looks to me like the clear lead guy there. And like he said, the money would point to that too. And so, yeah, it's a huge, huge factor there. And I think Royce Freeman at least, hopefully he catches on somewhere else because he's, you know, the type of guy that I think could be in a committee back field somewhere. He was always a little bit, like he's just kind of like a solid player last year. You know, can catch some passes, can, you know, do a little damage on the ground. not super exciting or anything like that,

but a solid running back. So hopefully he gets traded or cut and catches on somewhere else. Melvin Gordon, I was so shocked when I saw this. Melvin Gordon has broken 1,000 yards one time in his career. He's finished the season with 3.9 yards per carry more than one in a season once. And he has started more than 13 games of his season once.

So taking someone like Philip Lindsay, even if he's been struggling and giving Gordon like $8 million. I was just surprised, even though the Broncos have a better offensive loss. So I don't like any part of this And I don't really know if I want any of these players This is Lindsey Freeman or Gordon This falls into the bucket

Where you're like just avoiding all these players And drafts? Where do you guys see Melvin Gordon from a talent standpoint? I think the water's kind of muddied on him I feel like he used to be considered like a top seven back talent wise Like if I just picked a like Who do you think is more talented? Miles Sanders or Melvin Gordon?

Like right now versus Melvin Gordon right now? Yeah. Sanders, I won't say. Sanders, easily. Yeah. Chris Carson? Carson. They're sort of similar, but yeah, I would say Carson. Is he in like the Mark Ingram, Marlin, Mac, Devin, Singletary category, or is he even lower?

I would probably put Ingram a little bit higher, to be honest, in pure talent. He's older, obviously, but I would probably put him in the- We'll see. We'll see with Gordon, because his whole thing was, like, you know, he needed to get in a flow, and now he's got a chance to get in a flow. but I think he's gotten a lot of stuff out of volume in one excellent season in 2017. But as unexcited as I am about the Gordon of the Broncos, something that actually does titillate me. Emmanuel Sanders signed with the Saints.

I think this is awesome. The Saints have not had a real number two receiver since Brandon Cooks was traded in March of like 2017 or April 2017. So they've just let Michael Thomas be the number one. and then basically the number two receiver on the Saints, in terms, not the position, but the production, has basically just been Alvin Kamara. Camara. I get the wrong. Tamara. It's the offseason.

Camara. And then they're tight end. It's basically been the two, three. How dare you say that about Ted Ginn? Come on. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Look, man, I know you love Ted Ginn, but I got Ted Ginn. You know what this move is? This move is sending Ted Ginn to a farm upstate.

You know, you know why this Ted Ginn thing started? Do you even remember? Like, every time Ted Ginn would be a sleeper and then Kevin and Mays laughed you off the pod. And then you were right. You know what happened? Yeah. Something like something like that. So every time Ted Ginn does anything, people, I get so many ads about Ted Ginn.

So I'm like the Ted Ginn Truther, even though I didn't set out to be a Ted Ginn truther. But here we are. All right. Well, Ted Ginn Truther. How much, what does Manuel Sanders look like in the Saints offense? Because hopefully he's not Ted Gann. He's more than Ted Ginn, right? Like, what is it going to be doing in this offense and then how good do you think is going to be?

I mean, I think it's an awesome fit. I think it's going to be, you know, really good for the same. Sanders is a wily veteran, very good route runner, very crafty receiver overall. He's obviously on the older side, but I think in an offense where Drew Breeze isn't necessarily chucking it down the field a ton. You know, his arm isn't what it used to be. I think Sanders makes a lot of sense just because he can get open. He's, you know, like I said, he's crafty. He's got great hands.

He can make circus catches when he needs to. but it gives Breeze another guy besides Thomas that he can really rely on. And, you know, assuming he can say healthy Sanders, I think he does, he is a good threat down the field too. You know,

he has that like top, take the top of a defense type talent, but he's, I think he's more just going to be effective as, you know, like a possession receiver because that's really what the offense, that offense is nowadays. And so it just,

it takes the pressure off of Thomas to be the guy on every single third. on every key play. And, you know, Sanders is a very, very good player. He's still underrated. He was hurt a lot of last season, so we kind of just forgot about him a little bit. But, I mean, he's a really good player.

And so I think it's a good fit for him. I don't know if he's going to necessarily be a huge fantasy factor. And, you know, kind of conversely, like this might take Thomas's upside down a little bit. I mean, I still think he's probably going to go into the season as the clear-cut Y-Receiver 1, but maybe it lowers his ceiling just because Sanders is going to be stealing some targets going forward.

Craig, what do you think? I think this is a better football move than a fantasy move for Emmanuel Sanders. I would have actually probably preferred he stayed in San Francisco if I could have chosen. I just don't think there's a ton of room without Michael Thomas or with Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara in the mix. I mean, I was reading, everybody should check out Matthew Barry's love hate. His newest love hate came out recently and it's really good. And he was talking about Emmanuel Sanders and just about how the Saints just, they don't really

have a lot of room to operate with this, with the number two rider's C-Rever. I mean, last year, 5.8 targets were given to people not named Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara, all of them, everyone else per game. Wow. And it was only 3.5 receptions per game for everybody else. And it's like, even if all of those went to Emmanuel Sanders,

that doesn't really put him too high in the fantasy radar. So, yeah, I just think this is a really great move. And in the playoffs for the Saints, this is an awesome acquisition, but in fantasy, I'm not too excited. Yeah. So on that note, I have a name game. I have a guessing game for you guys.

player A, 66 catches, 870 yards, five touchdowns. Player B, 56 catches, 690 yards, seven touchdowns. This is a very Matthew Berry thing of you to do. I know. It's a good, it's a very good segue. Well, it's not segue. We're staying on the topic. Player A.

So basically, player A had 10 more catches. They had 180 more yards and two fewer touchdowns. Player A is Emmanuel Sanders in 2019. player B is every wide receiver on the Saints except Michael Thomas combined in 2019. So I mean, he literally outproduced them by a lot last year alone. So I mean, with that mind,

but he had 869 yards in that offense last season. Well, he was traded from the Broncos mid-season. He got 17 games because he didn't have a five week. Yeah, so I mean, that's the caveat. But still,

he can take a 17th off that. He still outproduced all the Saints wide receivers. But my question for you guys is, is that a cause or an effect of their roster? Is that, are the Saints targeting the receivers, or sorry, are the Saints not targeting the receivers because their receivers are bad because Ted Guinness is their number two and he would probably be a three or four on literally every other team in the league? Or are they not going and getting receivers because Sean Payton doesn't need a second receiver? Oh, that's a tough question to answer.

That's the age old question. I don't know. I kind of tend to lean towards the latter. They don't need to and it's not really in their plans. I mean, it's not like they rushed out to replace Brandon Cooks and I mean when he left anyway. Yeah, they traded away, they traded away Jimmy Graham and Brandon Cooks. Yeah, basically when I see a stat like Matthew Barry's stat of like, oh, well, they never target other receivers. I think that that's changing because they did this. I think that Sean Peyton, because he has as much influence in signings as anyone except like Bill O'Brien and Bill Belichick at this point, Sean Peyton's basically saying, all right, Emmanuel Sanders is going to have a bigger part of our offense than

Ted Ginn and Treyquins Smith have been having. So I think that this one, I like this one, a lot and I think that he actually might be underrated for those reasons. Are you going to make a bold prediction that he goes over a thousand yards or anything like that? I feel like now I have to because it's not. I'm just like, let's this. Yeah, you don't. Pencil it in.

Yeah, pencil it in. I've got a bigger race. Manuel Sanders, over 1,000 yards in 2020. There you go. All right. Happening. All right. Another one, this one much much more under the radar? I hate that phrase. Someone you didn't get a push notification about.

be Anderson signing with the Carolina Panthers, aside from just Jets fans being absolutely desolate because they have the worst receiving group in the league. Actually, that's kind of fun. Can we stick on that for a second? Are any of, what do the Jets receivers have to do for you to draft them in fantasy football? What the hell

do you do? I mean, I would draft Crowder at this point, because he's going to get like a thousand targets. Because who else do they have in that offense? I mean, I could read the names, but you would people will think some of them are fake. Crowder's going to be like the first receiver to have like a 110 catches and under 900 yards or something. I mean, they've got James and Crowder.

Quincy and Nunwa actually weirdly has some chemistry with. Yeah, but he's probably not going to play. Noon was like trying to come back from a very serious neck back injury and I don't think he's going to play. Exactly. So they got Crowder and Nunwa. Josh Bellamy, who has been floating around. Josh Doxon, who's a bus from Washington. Oh, wow.

And then Braxton Barrios. Uh-huh. And then do some guys who I, I have never. Do you guys, okay. Do you guys remember last year? I believe it was, I think, I mean, I know it was week one. I think Crowder had like 19 or 20 targets in their first game or one of their first game. Yeah, he's 14 catches, I think.

This is what I'm on it. Is he honestly going to do that like every game now? So the Jets are going to be bad. What does this do to you for the Panthers? Because so the Panthers already have DJ Moore, who is one of the probably sleeper, trendiest picks going to this year. They have Curtis Samuel. So D.G. Moore, I believe, runs a 4-4-2-40-yard dash, or ran one. Rob Enerson ran a 4-4-1, and then Curtis Samuel ran like a 4-3.

So is the Panthers have the, and then Christian McCaffrey in the backfield. Do the Panthers have the fastest offense in football? Yeah, but it's like they have like an 80-year-old man driving a Ferrari with Teddy Bridgewater back there. Well, that's what I'm wondering. That's what I'm getting at is because they're, they're, I mean, I think they're the fastest team other than Kansas City. But Teddy Bridgewater is the quarterback. But they have Joe Brady, who is the LSU. a passing game coordinator,

offensive coordinator, whatever, but I mean, Joe Brady, who just built this crazy LSU offense that broke every record in college football,

now has the second fastest group of players in football. So, but Teddy Bridgewater's the quarterback. So, D.K., what do you make of that

going into fantasy this year? Honestly, I have no idea. And... I love your honesty. I mean, it's March. I could make a bold prediction

about it. My first reaction was that this signing doesn't really make sense. I mean, I think Robbie Anderson is, a good player in the sense that he can stretch the defense, he can go deep.

You know, he did show flashes where he was a really talented pass catcher with the Jets. They just never really got the most out of them. I don't know if going and playing with Teddy Bridgewater is going to get the most out of them either, though. The caveat that I'll say and the variable that we don't really know yet is what Joe Brady brings to this offense. Like, is Joe Brady going to turn Teddy Bridgewater into this high-flying, deep passing guy? like he did, or at least like he was partly responsible for doing with Joe Burrow last year, because Burrow, as you remember, towards the second half of 2018, was just kind of like way, way under the radar, Danny, as you would hate to hear.

He was under the radar as a college prospect, and then all of a sudden, in this spread offense that they designed in LSU, he was a college football god. Like, he was unstoppable. And so I'm not saying that Teddy Bridgewater is going to do that with the Panthers, but I'm very, very curious to see if they can kind of like unlock that deep ball part of Bridgewater's game. And it seems like that's what they're going to try to do because Robbie Anderson, that's his biggest, I think, talent is getting deep and being that field stretcher. Curtis Samuel, as we've talked about many times, had the most unrealized air yards in the NFL last year, very good deep passer.

They just couldn't get on the same page, Kyle Allen at all. So you've got two very good deep receivers, good speedy receivers to get down the field. and it seems like a waste if you're not going to be targeting those guys. So I'm very, very confused and very, very curious how this is all going to work out. I still think DJ Moore and Chris McCaffrey are by far the one and two in this offense in terms of the passing game. But yeah, it's going to be very, very interesting. I don't know how it's going to go. The other thing to keep in mind is Matt Ruhle actually coached Robbie Anderson in college.

So there was that coaching connection. So I don't know. We'll see. Love the coaching. connections. And if this were Westworld, I would be arguing that Joe Burrow was Ted Bridie, where Teddy Bridgewater was Joe Burrow the whole time. Just so you know. Amazing. I'm excited for that plot twist. Uh, all right. Before we get to the mailbag, let's just run through a couple others. Nelson Agler and Jason Winton went to the Raiders. I mean,

the Raiders are probably the only team that might give the Jets a run for their money with how bad their receivers are. But they've got Tyrell Williams, Agalor now, Hunter Renfrosay Jones. So they're still better than the Jets. Darren Waller and Witten at tight end. I think Wittons, this is a culture move, right? This is Witten. I guess. He's like the assistant coach who's corralling all these 21-year-olds who are going to live in Las Vegas

and be like, all right, come on, chill guys. Like, I feel like that's really what this is. It's like a dad. Foster Monroe looked pretty good last year

is the number two tight end. So I don't know. This doesn't make any sense to me. But yeah, we'll be doing like press at a casino. I think he's the highest paid babysitter in America. Yeah. That's what this is.

Eric Ebron to the Steelers. I think this is a tight end move that actually is interesting. Mm-hmm. Ebron, I mean, obviously had the 13 touchdowns in 2018. He had him like 66 catches or something, some absurd rate. Last year ended with ankle surgery on both ankles.

I think he's going to make Steelers fans feel immense joy and immense pain in the same game often this year. Save for fantasy owners. That's my take. Standard, yes. And then Jack Doyle and the Colts, now that Ebron is off the Colts, Jack Doyle, maybe for the third year in a row, will be a great tight end sleeper. This is the year for Jack Doyle and Ebron. How about that? There we go.

Honestly, this is kind of the year of the quiet tight end. There's a lot of sneaky tight ends. Yeah. It's kind of up to the last year. Last year was the year of the quiet tight end. Maybe this is the year of the, this is the year of like the, yeah, where you don't actually feel like it's an empty pit. Now there's some things down there. Yeah, the tight end resurgence.

And then just some housekeeping. Look, Dionne Lewis signed with the Giants. You know, I think that's just a patriot guy coming back to be with Joe Judge now that he's running the Giants, you know, handcuff for Sequin, Barclay, whatever. Philip Dorset signing to Seahawks. I mean, I don't think this means anything. He's still behind Tyler. Lock at D.K. Matt Calf, I mean, I don't think that. I'd be surprised.

He's a role player. And then the Niners added Travis Benjamin. I mean, they lost Emmanuel Sanders, but I mean, is this anything to you, D.K., Travis Benjamin on the Niners? Not really. I still think Debo and Kittle are still the clear-cut guys there. And then Washington, I mean, they signed running backs Peyton Barber and J.D. McKissick.

I see nothing here either because they've got Adrian Peterson and Darius guys still. so. If anything, I'm staying away from the Redskins backfield overall. Always a good move. Stay away from Washington. Mailbag! No, sorry. Inbox!

Okay, wait, can I just start with these first two here because they're hilarious. Yes, please. Okay, so once, when the ringer tweeted out, oh, we're doing a mailbag. So, like, one of the first comments, it was like 9.56 a.m. This person named Blames Dolan, great name, said, can I if it's tone it down a bit? in the intro of each episode. And literally like at 10.4 a.m. like eight minutes later,

Matt Deegan said, actually can hyphen it up a bit in the intro of each episode. So I just want you to know that everyone notices, we're all in on it. Thank you, Matt Deegan. I will be toned up.

Be acutely aware of how you do the intros going forward. I will be acutely aware. Thank you to Matt Deegan. Wow. Whose side are you on, everybody? America. Are you on Blames Dolan's side or Matt Deegan's side? Get out of your Blames Dolan side.

not welcome here anymore. DK, whose side are you on? Oh, I absolutely want him to keep doing it. I mean... You wanted to tone it, but if you had to tone it up or tone it down, what's your pick? If anything, he's got to tone it up, man. Oh, damn it. I mean, are you really going to try and rely on me to bring the energy?

Let's be honest. I'm going to have to contact Spotify. I see if we can get some extra strength microphones to send out of his house. Danny's the energy of the podcast. I'm a little like even... I'm a little too even keeled, probably. And I'm the wild. card. Yeah, yeah. I'm just tossing wrenches.

Craig is the wild card. Yeah. All right. Stay on the inbox. Stay on track here, people. Damon, Denglin asked, what is, who is a player you think will be going in the first round in drafts this year that is not going to finish as a first round player? As a top 12 player. A top, yes, this is on, I do not have the, speaking of energy, I don't have the energy to have this argument right now. We have a long-running argument whether 10 or 12 is actually standard in leagues. I just don't have time. The top 12 players on fantasy pros rankings right now are Christian McCaffrey, Seyquan, Zekyll Elliott, Michael Thomas, Dalvin Cook, Alvin Camara. Come on. Damn it.

Derek Henry, Joe Mixon, DeAndre Hopkins, Devante Adams, Aaron Jones, Tyree Kill. Who of those 12 do you guys think will not finish as a top 12 pick? Worthy of a top 12 pick. This is so tough because, I mean, these guys are first round picks for a reason. They're, you know, projected to be very, very good. I feel like I lean Aaron Jones and not because I don't like Aaron Jones. I really do like Aaron Jones a lot. But just the touchdown thing is going to be very difficult for him to reproduce and be that elite player.

Now, is that going to push him out of the top 12 at running backs? I don't know. Honestly, it might not. Even if he does regress in the touchdowns department, he still might end up being an RB1. But I just think, you know, he had 19 touchdowns last season, I believe. and that is going to be very, very difficult to reproduce going forward, even if he's the same player. It's hard to do.

So I think that could push him down a little bit. Will it make him not an RB1? I don't know, but he would be the guy that definitely stands out to me. Greg, what about you? I think it's Deontre Hopkins. DeAndre Hopkins does two things really well. He catches deep balls and he's great when the quarterback is out of the pocket. And last year, Kyler Murray didn't throw a ton of deep balls, and he was one of the worst passes in the league went out of the pocket.

And I'm not saying that that's why it's going to fail. But that's not great. And you pair that with just the fact that these two have never played together. And he's a sophomore now in the league. And I don't know, you know, I think it could take some time for the relationship to kind of work out. It's kind of like those video, you know, when you see the videos of the cat and he just put, they put like boots on the cat. And he, like, doesn't know how to walk at first. And it's, like, really awkward.

Kit Minnons. That's a Charlie... He's a wild card for his son. He's your fellow wildcubes. You're tired of cats making all that noise. So I don't know. So you're saying that Kyler Murray's

going to put Kit Minnons on DeAndre Hopkins. Am I following you? Or DeAndre, I think the other way around. I think, because Kyler Murray's the one throw on the ball, so he's the cat.

And Deandre Hopkins is the mittens on Kyler Murray's feet. And I think it could take a little while for the cat to start walking normally. Okay. Wow. That is... I don't, I'm not following.

First of all, do you throw balls? I don't have a cat. I've never been a cat guy. I just admitted this. Mallory Rubin now is going to just disown me. I'm just saying this new gadget on the car knows. Do you throw balls in cats or the cats throw the ball? I've never owned a cat in my life.

All I'm saying is I've watched a lot of TikTok. It's super evident at this moment of time. I've watched a lot of TikToks of people putting boots on their dogs and cats, and it's very difficult for them to watch. It's also hysterical. All I'm saying is that there could be some growing pains for DeAndre Hapkins and Kyler Murray because their skill sets are kind of different right now. So halfway through the season, if he's like a bottom,

if he's like the wide receiver 28, he's going to have to have a huge second half of the season to make up for it to finish in the top 12 in his position. I actually agree that Hopkins is the guy that will fall out because he's ranked as like the third receiver. But I don't agree that actually it's because of the differing skill sets because I think that Murray, I mean, I believe, I mean, Dika, you were the one who pulled a stat out a couple weeks ago

that Murray was one of, was shockingly accurate on the few deep passes he threw last year for a rookie. he was stunningly accurate on deep passes. And also if you just watch him, like, kind of just whips a pass out each game. Well, and you pair that with just the way

they spread the offense around. It's like, is he going to get the targets? Yeah, the larger issue is DeAndre Hopkins getting 170 targets, 150 targets with the Cardinals. I think that's the larger problem.

Yeah. And the Cardinals being surprisingly run heavy with Kenyon and Drake. But I also agree that Aaron Jones is the running back. 19 touchdowns is hard to do, man. You can get 12 touchdowns instead of a good season. But like, that's still math is hard.

That's still 42 points. less. You know, that's still, you know, that's still four points less per matchup, basically. That's a lot. And that's enough to drop you from number one running back to a number two. Okay. The flip side of that trade,

someone asked, how high is too high to draft David Johnson? On Fantasy Pro's website, David Johnson, is currently ranked as the RB 28. He's 72 overall, but that's before the trade. I don't think they've updated this since. So 72 overall, 28th among running backs. Where would you

Put him now, D.K. Oh, my God. It's March. It's March. But first round or second rounder, 11th rounder. Where do you want them? Definitely. I would not take him in the first or second round.

I do think his situation improved. And the reason, you know, if they went out and did this and they clearly think a lot of them, since they're trading a great player for him and paying him a lot of money, that it seems as though they're going to give him a big role in that offense. So the volume is what you're chasing. So I could see him being, you know, worth a pick. Yeah, I think he's definitely a third rounder. and he might be a second rounder.

And I mean, I can see someone taking him. I wouldn't be shocked if someone in your league takes him with the 10th pick. That wouldn't blow my mind. In the first round? Yeah. I mean, I think he was the first rounder last year. I know.

Shockingly young. Like, you know, it's like people treat him like he's like 31. It's like he's not. I don't know, but he's shockingly young. He's like 28.

I mean, that's 20, yeah, he turns 29 in December. Yeah, but he's 28 years old. So it's not like he's, he's not an old geezer.

And I think people seeing 28. Hopkins is gone. you're on that offense. I wouldn't be stunned if someone thought he was worthy of the 10th pick. I don't think he's, but I think that he might end up being on that 12 border, or at the very least probably middle teens, somewhere after Nick Chubb and people go off the board.

I think that he'll look really tempting right before you get to like the 20th pick. I think that's what I'm... Don't get me wrong. I mean, I'm already going to be strongly hooked to David Johnson this year. I'm already seeing that now. Wow.

Really? Give us the pitch. Yeah. I don't know what. I'm just, it's just alluring. There's just something. I've always liked David Johnson. You always want to chase that, what are the 20 touchdown year? Is it more than that?

You chase the horizon. I think he's so talented and it's just one of those things where you know it can happen again. It's like you're hoping. It's like he's singing a song and I can't get out of my head. It's like the sirens from the Odyssey. You know what I mean? It's like a crush. Yeah.

Butterflies in your stomach. I'm going to be in. Just like I loved Leonard Ford net last year, I can see that I'm going to love David Johnson. They're going to need to get in the damn ball for what they did. I mean, if anybody has a good chance to Tim. You're saying DJs the Lenny Forns of 2020? Tendidly, I'll pencil that in. There's no ink.

But we'll see. Until David Johnson makes his Twitter background, God and the Sistine Chapel, creating David Johnson, I will not believe it. I don't think I'm, I'm not taking him that high just for the record. Yeah, first round. You guys might benefit from that. I just don't, I don't see it. I can, I'm already excited to have a lot of David Johnson's stock this year.

All right. Last one. Nick Lewis. Lamar asked, so Lamar's the first quarterback, Mahom's the second quarterback, who's the third quarterback off the board? He says, Deshawn Watson, Kyler Murray, or who? So I went directly to Dak Prescott. Quietly was really, really good last season.

And he gets Amari Cooper back. He gets, you know, he's got Gallup in there. They're going to probably feature Blake Jarron a little bit more. I just think this offense could take a step forward again. But then again, you have a coaching change. I don't know how that's going to go. I don't know. There's multiple guys that you could really pencil in there as the number two guy.

I mean, I think it's worth noting James Winston finishes the fifth quarterback in fantasy last year and is just not, might just not have a job. I don't know the year. I think that's worth noting. And then, I was going to say,

like, Dak Prescott did finish third last year. The broader point to me here is that don't take, like, I don't want anyone at the third quarterback. Like, I get if you're going to want Lamar. I think Lamar will challenge,

like, Look, on this podcast, we're all about waiting to take a quarterback. Lamar will fundamentally challenge that this year because what he brings is so different than what anyone else is brought to the NFL. And then Mahomes is Mahomes. I think that those guys might buck the trend. But I think I'm going to go ahead and take a wild gander that the three of us are still probably going to recommend waiting on quarterbacks. And I think that there is nowhere more true of that than if Lamar and Mahomes are already off the board. Because DAC being the quarterback three doesn't mean go get DAC.

Right. It means that DAC was like the 12th guy off the board last year. go go look at like 10 through 20 this year. And if you look at just, I mean, you just list the names. It's kind of stunning the guys that you'll be able to get at the quarterback position, right? Because Lamar and Mahomes are going to be the first two guys off. And then you've got Russell Wilson, Deshawn, who just lost DeAndre. Kyler Murray, Dak, Josh Allen, like Rogers, those are the next guys.

But you started like the ninth quarterback. Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz, Matt Stafford, Tannerhill. Stafford is a great thing here. Baker, Rothusberger. Jared Gough, Tom Brady. Like those are the guy, you can get picked two of those four. So I'd rather have Tom Brady, or any two of Aaron Rogers, Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Baker. Hello, Baker, talk about post-type sleeper.

Give me two or three of those guys. I'm not taking Russell Wilson as the third quarterback off the board. Yeah, but I mean, his question is who is the QB3? I mean, I know we're going to not recommend you draft one, but if I had to pick who the QB3 is, I think it's Russell Wilson. Why? He's the most consistent. He's been like a top seven quarterback.

I think for like maybe every year he's been in the league. And he's added two weapons in Greg Olson and Philip Dorset this year. They were a slow team last year. He's expressed interest in speeding it up this year. They're going to hopefully have a healthy Carson and Penny back. I mean, he was the RB5 last year. It seems like that's around his floor over the last three years. So I think that's why he would be the QB3.

I thought you were to say Philip Dorset is going to unlock Russell Wilson. No, that'll come in April after the draft and we're really struggling for content. Oh, well, well, until then. Although, nice segue, Craig. We will be covering the crap out of the draft for each of the next four weeks. Looking at, DK. How much tape have you been grinding? Oh, my gosh.

This has been my life right now. Do you have any tape left to grind? I feel like it's all ground. There's always more tape to grind, Danny. There's always tape. There's never, you can never get to the end of the tape. Yeah, we got a big update coming up with the NFL draft guide at the ringer.com on. People can find that at NFLDraft.

the ringer.com? Yeah. So I think it's going live on Thursday. We're going to have the top 75 overall players on my big board. Full scouting reports, player comps. You can scroll through it. You can deep dive, peruse. And it looks great on your phone. NFL draft dot the ringer.com. Look it up on your, the mobile is a beautiful, a beautiful creation that D.K has. Thank you. Yeah, I've been winded through. I've been, as Danny and Craig can can attend. I've been very stressed lately because I've been grinding the tape hard to try and get this out. It's your second child. Really very proud of it. And I think it's very cool format, which I don't actually have anything to do with. But I'm going to go ahead and take credit for anyway. The format is amazing, the UI or whatever.

So please check it out. Would you say it's your second child? Yes, I would. At this point, it is in my life. All right. Who do you love more? Are the draft guide or Calvin? Yeah.

I'm going to have to go with Calvin on this one by hair. You are you in the bed, I bet. Speaking of, have you seen Calvin's hair? It's amazing. I tweeted out a picture of it the other day. Calvin has literally majestic hair. This is my nine-month-old son. Everyone please go to Danny B. Kelly on Twitter and look at this flowing lock photo.

It's magnificent. I just am so jealous of it. It makes me mad. Calvin Kelly, baby Tron for Calvin Johnson. It's beautiful. Your favorite son. Our favorite of your sons. All right.

Check out the photo. Check out the photo of his other son. Check out NFLdraft. at the ringer.com. Thank you to everyone for listening. Check out this podcast next week where we will be back with draft content. Thank you to Craig for editing this far away. Yeah, you're welcome. And thank you to everyone for listening. Everyone stay healthy and stay safe. And we'll see you back next week.