The Ringer NFL Show - Where to Draft the Rookies in Your Fantasy Draft | The Dantasy Football Podcast

Episode Date: April 29, 2020

Now that NFL teams are done with their draft, it’s time to prepare for yours. We run through the top rookie running backs and wide receivers like CeeDee Lamb, Henry Ruggs III, Jonathan Taylor, J.K. Dobbins, and more, and give you our predictions on how they will perform in their rookie season, where you should draft them, and how they will fit into their teams' offense. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Tennessee Football Podcast on the Ringer NFL show, on the Ringer podcast Network. My name is Danny Hyfitson. I am joined, as always, by my co-host and my co-danny, the hero we need and the analyst we deserve the Dark Dight himself. Danny Kelly! How are you doing, D.K.?

Oh, man, it's been way too long since we've had that intro. I've been wearing to go. I'm doing really well, man. We made it. We did it. We got through the draft. How you feeling? I'm feeling, man.

A lot of feels. How was your draft? This is your time of the year, man. It was flourishing. It was so much fun. It surprisingly kind of went off without a hitch. The draft felt like relatively normal, minus all the Zoom meetings and stuff. but some really, really, really exciting landing spots on the fantasy landscapes,

especially with the running back position, just like exciting, exciting stuff. So, yeah, I'm really glad it's over, though. Craig, how are you doing? How was your draft? My draft was good. I'm happy that all this BS is over. Now we can really get to the meat and potatoes of football, which is like, how many points are these guys going to score on my team?

Well, I was going to say the opposite. I feel like this was low-key, the corneous sports story. of all time. Because every coach and executive on all 32 teams basically said I rediscovered that spending time with my family is important. And they all found like the inner love and peace

that is actually the point of like every sports movie. I'm feeling the opposite. I just want to spend time with you guys, not my family. I'm going to start scheduling these shows at like 7 a.m. just to see if you'll still yell with your family asleep, the next number. I know he's in

On the East Coast, Craig, that means we're going to have to get up at four. Well, then we'll go, I'll push it late. We'll go like 9 p.m. Pacific. There we go. That's what I'm talking about. If you think that I have a sleep cycle that is, please, my sleep cycle is... What are you going to bed now? I'm saying my guess is like 1.45.

Time is not a fixed construct. Times is a societal invention to keep the herd on the same page. But never, everyone, that's the West World bleeding into football. Anyway, today we're going to look at the draft with fantasy lens. We're going to focus on big ticket, running back picks that could drastically alter the fantasy football landscape. I imagine we're also going to argue about whether any of the rookie receivers matter, but that's for later. I wanted to just, before we dive in, I wanted to just pull one quote from Andy Reid that he said,

obviously the Chiefs used the last pick of the first round to take the first pick, the first running back of the whole draft with Clyde Edwards-Hillair. And I love one thing he mentioned. He said, you can't do it with just one guy in today's football. So we've got a whole lot of these guys now. And I thought that that was just, it was nice to, obviously we know that running backs have gone from guys getting three, 400 carries a year to splitting the backfield. But I love to hear him just so succinctly say it. Like it can't be done.

And he's the reigning Super Bowl champion coach. So, D.K., how has rookie running backs kind of change for you? How is it now versus how it used to be with just analyzing these guys, not just for their skill sets, but now we have to look at their roles and projecting rookies for roles into the season. Yeah. There's very few true belcow backs, I think, in the NFL. days. Now, I think, you know, guys like Clyde Edwards-Layer, Jonathan Taylor, like, they're going to be clearly the workhorse backs, I think, in their teams. But it's just different from the old days, you know, that, you know, you're still splitting reps with guys. You're potentially coming off

the field on passing downs for some of these guys. So it's somewhat similar to the receiver position where there's just more guys to choose from. But at the same time, it's harder to parse, I think, like, exactly how these guys are going to be used and how effective they'll be weekend and week out. We had a couple running backs chosen this weekend like Zach Moss who's going to eat into what we thought were established running backs kind of like roles last year with Devin Singletary. And so yeah, it just kind of clouds everything and it makes it a little bit more difficult to kind of figure out who's going to be featured each week. Well, we do nothing on this podcast if not parse. So we're going to get some parsing. I think we're going to go into some skill sets

and then just how these guys fit. So first up, starting with the man himself. Clyde Edwards-Alair, the first thing we've decided is, you know, what are we calling him? Because I can't say Edwards a layer every time. So I vote Clyde. Apparently, that's what Patrick Mahomes just texted. Clydege, the GM of the Chiefs. Brett Veach was like, hey, Pat, who do you want? He just texted Clyde.

I vote we call him Clyde for the rest of time. There's no other Clyde Edwards. I'm okay with Clyde Edwards. Clyde's a one-name thing. But anyway, we'll figure that over time. Yeah. D.K. Everyone in the world, they're saying Clyde, great fit in the Chiefs.

Why is that? well first of all he's very very good in the passing game which i think is the reason the chief decided making a first round pick um or at least among the reasons that they did he he's one of the best route runners in this class if not the best route runner at the running back position he like legitimately breaks people off as a route runner he gets separation you don't see that a ton as a as a running back i mean guys that can legitimately separate so um he's very very very reliable as a pass catcher he's very very elusive in the open field um just brings a ton of upside in that area

of the field. I think he's also good as like a runner. He could be a foundational running back in the NFL. He's a little bit on the small side at 207 pounds, but he's really compact, really elusive. Compact's a great. I love compact. He's just a compact dude. I think he's

like 5-8-207 or 57-207. So he's short. You can't see him behind the line. It makes him a little bit more elusive, I think. So anyways, it's just a perfect fit in terms of style. With the Chiefs offense that spreads people out, get their backs involved in the passing game. Andy Reid has always been big on that. Going back throughout his history, he's always got his guys involved

in the screen game, you know, even lining up outside. He, in fact, I was just reading over at FantasyPoints.com, Graham Barfield had him with, he lined up outside, 35% of the time. Graham Barfield or Clyde Edwards-Alaire? Clyde Edwards O'Lear So Clyde Lined up outside So I meant to mention He played at LSU

Obviously LSU had the record-breaking best offense in like college football history Yeah so he said So per bar field Only six running backs Have been split out as a receiver

So like out in the slot Or outside On more than 20% of their routes Over the last five years And those are Marlon Mac Clyde McCaffrey Josh Jacobs

C.J. Pro Seis and Alvin Camara So he's in like a select group of guys that can really like line up and run routes as receivers. That's that's really important because obviously Kareem Hunt in 2017, he ended up being the Russian champion, but also ended up being a top three, top five running back. I forget. But one of the reasons was that he was so good running those routes. Yep.

As a slot receiver just running from the backfield, he would run those seams up the middle of the field like he was a true like fourth receiver on the field. So do you see similarities between what LSU is doing and just in terms of spacing and what he just fits in with what the chiefs do in terms of spacing? because obviously my homes thought he was a good fit. Yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, with LSU, they had Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson. They had guys down the field that really kind of stretched the defense then.

The chiefs absolutely have that. And they're defined by their speed. They're defined by their ability to scheme up guys in space, get, you know, guys open in space and picking up yards of a catch. So I have a ton of faith that Andy Reid is going to be able to scheme up really fun stuff for Clyde and get him to be a very productive back. Now, he's probably going to end up having to play a little bit of a committee with Damien Williams. I think Damien Williams is a good back as well. And early on in the season, especially as a rookie, it could take him a little while, I guess, to get up to Steam.

We saw that last year with some of the rookie backs, like Miles Sanders, you know, didn't really get a full-time job until, like, halfway through the season. Well, now we might have a potentially limited training camp. Like, we don't really exactly know how this is all going to go. it's like I was wondering what position suffers the most and suffers the least from the lack of training camp. I would say receivers in their connection with their quarterback probably suffer the most and running

backs might be able to get away with it a little bit. Yeah, that's absolutely what I would say. It's just so much more complex with receivers and when you think about it and it's not quite as drastic these days with the way the offenses are designed but receivers have to be in the right spot at the right time.

The timing precision required as a receiver is a lot more, I guess, just complex than what running backs have to do. So, yeah, I think he has a good chance to be, like, a contributor from day one. Yeah. I think he'll have more of a chance to be, like, an elite running back down the stretch than maybe he does, like, right away early in the season. It kind of sucks because I feel like most of the running backs drafted in this draft

are just immediately a part of a committee now. And maybe Clyde is, like, the guy who's going to get the most touches because behind him is only Damien Williams and Darwin Thompson. Yeah. You know, this is kind of a tough break for Damien Williams. I mean, he wasn't bad last year. He was injured a little bit. But when he played, he was relatively productive.

I think he was the only running back ever, or maybe player ever, in the Super Bowl to have 100 yards rushing and a receiving and rushing touchdown. Damien Williams scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes of the goddamn Super Bowl and his brother was tweeting that he should have been the MVP. I don't know what else the guy has to fucking. Yeah, I think. But, I mean, before the, before last season, Craig, you were the one kind of beating the drum that Damien Williams has never really had a huge workload.

He kind of did have a decent workload. Yeah, 13 carries. He'd never had more in a game. But, I mean, he's still productive. So I'm saying, do you keep him under 13 carries still and give him like eight or nine and give Clyde 15? And that's how the chiefs run their offense. Probably makes sense. So practically speaking, what happens with the chief's backfield reading the tea leaves here is I think it's now a two-man group mostly with Williams and at Clyde.

And then behind him, it's, I mean, LaShaul McCoy's already gone from the team. I think he's gone from the NFL. You've got Derell Williams probably gets cut or Darwin-Ty. Thompson gets cut. The other one just becomes the fourth back. They've got D'Andre Washington, but it's really just going to be those two dudes. And I think we've seen so much about how the Chiefs running back is like an unbelievable fantasy position to have, but it's been a couple years since we've had a steady person there. So do you guys think that he is the most, like, just forget Dynasty for a second, like just for the next season? Is this the first rookie you

want to draft? Like, is this the guy that you would take in the second, maybe third round? And you're like, I'm willing to bet that he becomes a starter. He's going to start for my team like every week. Probably. Yeah. Easily for me by kind of like a landslide. And it's partly because of the draft capital. You know, they picked him in the first round.

That tells you something. It's partly because he's tethered to Patrick Mahomes, who is almost guaranteed to be a very good offense. You're going to be scoring a lot of touchdowns. You're going to be putting up a lot of yards. That's just good fantasy. And then thirdly, like, just with the history of Andy Reed's office, offenses, the way he uses his running backs. I saw this stat per Scott Barrett. Reed's running back

one has finished top eight in fantasy points per game in 12 of the last 16 season. That's 75%. So he gets his backs involved, especially in PPR leagues. So yeah, he eased to me the easy number one running back after all this. As the dust is settled, he's the clear number one running back at the rookie class. He's probably going to end up being like a late third round pick, right, in 12 team drafts. Maybe even earlier. I think that's about, I think that's about right. Yeah. I think some people will probably reach for him a little bit. You could see him going late second, but I would say the sweet spot.

If he's still there in the third, I would be comfortable doing it there. I think that's about right. I also just enjoy that he went from 15 and 0 champion LSU to the defending Super Bowl champion. I know. Not bad. Blessed existence.

What a life. What a year for Clyde. He's the only one having a good 2020. Okay. Let's get to the next one. All right. J.K. Dobbins went to the Baltimore Ravens. This was such a freaking grown man.

Like, Mallory Rubin, our beloved editor-in-chief was just, I don't want to be like annoying. I think I might get fired, but she was just like, JK Dobbins, I want JK Dobbins. And then the Ravens got JK Dobbins.

And it's just like, God damn it, man. So I, like, I don't know if you guys heard, Ravens are good at running the ball. Literally had the most rushing yards

in NFL history last year. Also, low-key had the most yards per carry since the Super, in the Super Bowl era. Wow. So, but they have Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards.

So, one, D.K., how good is J.K. I think he's really good to start out with. Are you, you wanted me to talk about kind of his fit in the offense or just who he is as a player? Start with who he is as a player. Yeah.

So number one, he's kind of a downhill guy, between the tackles is like a slasher. He's very, very fast, very quick. He has that home run hitting speed. He didn't test at the combine,

but we know he can run fast. Like he ran a 4-4-something and coming out of high school. So it's not like he's slow. I just think he's a big play waiting to happen. and he is elusive enough in the short area to make people miss. Yeah, he's just, he's just a very solid. Again, he's like a compact little guy. Like he,

you can't see him behind the line. All of a sudden, he's through there and he's out in the open field kind of deal. And then moving to his actual fit. Like, this is to me the best fit of a running back and a offense in the drive play. Why? Are you talking about football-wise or fantasy-wise?

Football-wise. Yeah, because there's, So let's start with football for a second. Like there's a, the offense fit. Mark Ingram is just turned 30. Happy birthday to him. And then Gus Edwards, Gus the bus is a free agent at the end of next year.

Now the Ravens, I think were the second team in NFL history with three dudes to 700 rushing yards. So I get like not long term, medium term that JK Dobbins might be great to take over this backfield in 2021 or whatever. But like, do you see him getting enough carries to be starting for fantasy teams this season?

No, that's not what I really meant. So like I think he. he'll be a factor as a rookie. I think he'll be, like you said, a part of that rotation. I'm guessing they'll probably use Ingram

quite a bit still early on, kind of work him in. What I meant was like schematically, his skill set in that offense is like perfect. The way that he runs, the style of run he brings, he's a shotgun back. He did this at Ohio State.

They create a lot of space with their blocking scheme and just their ability to kind of like hold defensive players on the outside. So he like a lot of his big runs you see in college were just like kind of through these big holes. And so there was some concern coming into the league that he's a downhill runner, but he doesn't have a ton of size to be like between the tackles grinder. So like he would have landed on a team like say, you know, the Jaguars where you're running him into the back of his offensive line 30 times a game. Like that's just not conducive to his shot out Lenny Fornes.

Right. But with the Baltimore Ravens, this is the perfect scheme for him. It's shotgun-based. They create a ton of really big lanes. This is why they led the NFL in Yars Per Carey, is because what Lamar Jack can do in terms of the read-option mesh point, how he holds defenders on the backside of run plays, it naturally creates these cutback lanes in these big gaps in the offensive line,

just because offenses have to, or defenses have to respect what Lamar can do as a runner. So long story short, is he's going to get a lot of really nice openings in the offensive line. and he, like, that slashing style is perfect. I think he's going to have just a lot of really big runs. But Lamar's vulturing touchdowns, you've got Mark Ingram playing, maybe Gus the Bus, Craig's beloved Gus the Bus. Craig, nickname Gus the Bus, actually. No, I hate Gus the Bus, because Jerome Bennett's is the bus.

Oh, I could have swore you nicknamed him. Wait, so this is basically what I'm hearing. J.K. Dobbins is just fresh new Mark Ingram. And it's just the Mark Ingram for the rest of Lamar Jackson's career because Mark Ingram is 30, although it feels like he's not slowing down. He's like the Gray's Anatomy of running backs. He's just doing the same thing every goddamn year. But Gray's Anatomy has evolved over time.

They're not doing the same thing every year. How many years of Grey's Anatomy we're going to do? Just turn it into a soap opera. You write 16 seasons or something. Just turn into a soap opera, daytime soap. Anyway. I have zero takes on Gray's anatomy. My point is, my question to you, D.K., is I get that he's good fit.

But for this season, is he like a top 100 pick to you? Because, like, I'm curious about, like, that's my concern. Is he anything more than, an end of a bench flyer. I mean, I think he's closer to a bench flyer than maybe like a top 24 pick. But I would say he's certainly going to be involved. I don't think they took him where they took him and they're not going to get him involved as a rookie.

But I think his upside is capped a little bit. Yeah, but Eli Manning was involved with the giant season last year. You know what I mean? Okay, so like I would say maybe he gets like, what, like 10 to 12 carries a game? Like you can get fantasy. That's a lot. Okay. That is a lot because, I mean, how are you going to parse that out?

Mark Ingram gets 15. Gus gets like five. I mean, that's already 30 carries. I wouldn't say, I wouldn't, I probably wouldn't pencil in Gus for a ton of carries. Okay. You know who's a big loser here is Justice Hill. I think a lot of the losers in this, in this draft on this pod, when we talk about it, are all these second year running backs who everyone thought was going to be good,

whose teams then drafted another running back? Like Justice Hill, we were kind of all like, ooh, what could Justice Hill be? We'll get to this later, but Darrell Henderson's another guy. where we thought he was the next Alvin Kamakar. And then they draft Cam Acres. Like there's a lot of these second round RBs who just kind of fell by the wayside. It's a good reminder. The only constant has changed in life, but football especially.

Ultimately, ultimately with Dobbins, I am willing to take him in a redraft league. I'm not going super early on him just because everything we talked about with the situation. Dynasty speaking, like he's a home run. That landing spot is a home run. Craig, like what you mentioned. Once Ingram retires or they, move on from him. He's going to be a big, big factor in that offense. And I think he has, just because of the scheme, the ability to go ham there. So, I feel like a home run is actually

a landing spot, not to mix of your analogy. Technically, right? What? Well, you said landing spot to home run. I think a home run is a landing spot, but that's neither here nor there. Yes. Moving on. Indianapolis Colts took Jonathan Taylor. The old butterfingers. Wisconsin, I just, real quick, butter. Yeah, Butterfingers McGee. No, Jonathan Taylor, I just want to put some respect on his name real quick. Jonathan Taylor broke Adrian Peterson's freshman rushing yards record for the entirety of Division I college football. He is, and one of the more impressive statue here. He is one of seven running backs in FBS history with more than 6,000 rushing yards, only due to do it in three seasons

instead of four. So shout out Jonathan Taylor. The flip side of that. The guy who has the most rushing yards in NFL, in college football history, it's Ron Dane. I've also, went to Wisconsin, did not have a good NFL career. Person with the second most rushing touchdowns in the FPS history, Monte Ball. Monty Ball. Also went to Wisconsin, had a worse NFL career than Rondane. So my question, you D.Ks, what is the difference between

Jonathan Taylor and every other record setting Wisconsin back and why is he going to be good in football? Well, for starters, they're different people. They're different humans with different DNA and different skills. They just wore the same helmet. Yeah. So there's like this scouting cliche. running backs from these offensive line factories in the big 10.

No, I get that. Was Alan Gordon went to Wisconsin, didn't he? Yeah, that's my point. I mean, he's pretty good. Dude, Melvin Gordon's been a really good fantasy asset in his career. What are you talking about? So, Danny, to answer your question, that's a legitimate concern, I think, that a lot of people have, like, that offensive line is a factor.

However, like, he's just a different cat. He's very, very fast. He's not Ron Dayneen. He's a 4-3-9 guy. He is a track. Like, he's, like, got track speed legitimately. at 228 pounds. He is, he's, he's got enough elusiveness in, like, the short area.

Like, he has very quick feet to make guys miss. I wouldn't say he's like, you know, he's not like a jump cut kind of guy like Adrian Peterson, but he has the feet to elude tacklers and make guys miss. And, yeah, he's just a very talented runner. Like, his running style is a good fit in the NFL. Like, he's not just, like, you know, a big, beefy guy that had the benefit of having. a good offensive line in college. So where does he rank out of the rookie RBS this year just for next year from a fantasy

standpoint? Just for 2020. I think he's he would be the easy RB2 behind Clyde Edwards-Layer. I just think especially in the landing spot, you know, you can't count on the Colts necessarily to keep producing a top tier offensive line indefinitely. So maybe that's like a little bit of a downgrade in terms of, you know, his dynasty value. But I mean, landing spot in 2020 is dope. Like he's going to be running behind that really good offensive line.

They were one of the best offense lines in the NFL last year. I think they're going to protect Philip Rivers by having a very balanced offense, having a lot of running and using him in a checkdown area. So the big question mark with him again is his ability to catch out of the backfield. He didn't do it a lot. Yeah. At Wisconsin, he had some drops. He just didn't look natural at it.

But that doesn't mean he can't do it. And that doesn't mean he can't just be like a dump off guy. It's not that he can't do it. I think the issues that you've got in that back, you've got Marlon Mack. So, I mean, just to be clear, I mean, I think that Frank Reich, the head coach of the Colts, said that we envision them as a one-two punch.

Now, they can say stuff whatever they want, whether they keep Marlon Mac or not. I mean, Bill Barnwell had Marlon Mac as a trade candidate, and I think that's about right. So obviously, Taylor is way higher if they end up trading Marlon Mac. But I think the issue is that Nahim Hines has kind of locked down that past catching role on third down. And I think that's really the question to me is like,

is Taylor, does he have enough of the dropsies? And he also, like, does he have enough of the dropsies that it's a concern? And also there's fumbling concerns. So he, in theory, has a really good chance to be the Josh Jacobs of this year, so to speak. I mean, it's not going to be quite Josh Jacobs. Nick Chob. Nick Chubb. That's probably a better one.

Yeah. And are you going to be disappointed if you get Nick Chow? Yeah. I mean, I think, like, yeah, maybe third, fourth rounder because I do think, They don't trade up, you don't trade up into the second round on a win now team because they're going all in to win this year and the next year kind of deal with Philip Rivers. They think they have the roster for it. So I personally just don't think you do that to not have him heavily, heavily featured in your offense.

And in addition to that, I think he's a massive upgrade and talent over everything they have in that backfield. you know there's there's been a few outliers I would say where you have these situations where you trade up for a guy early in the early in the early rounds and then he doesn't become like a big part of the offense like Daryl Henderson last year I guess would be or um what's his name the guy on the Seahawks yeah we're shot at penny yeah that's the one I don't think it's I don't think this is going to be that kind of situation um so I think that those are more outliers than than like what you'd expect and I think Taylor has the talent and he's

He's a good fit in that scheme. He's a good fit in that offense. I think he has pretty good upside in year one. Beautiful. Okay. Let's take a quick break and then let's go through the rest of these running backs and get to some receivers. As the novel coronavirus pandemic escalates in the U.S.,

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and if appropriate, Rowe will connect you with a medical provider for a free consultation. The assessment was designed by doctors and infectious disease experts, and is based on guidelines from the CDC and the World Health. organization. Visit row.co slash coronavirus on your phone or laptop to complete a free online assessment or just to learn more. If you're worried that you may be experiencing symptoms, go to row.co slash coronavirus to start your free assessment today. That's row.com slash coronavirus. At home fitness is more popular than ever now. People are trying all kinds of new activities like online fitness classes, running outside, and more. But more importantly, how are you monitoring your

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that's W-H-O-O-P.com. W-H-O-O-P.com and enter NFL show at checkout to say 15%. Sleep better, recover faster, and train smarter. Optimize your performance with whoop. Okay, back to running backs from the draft and how they fit with their teams. D-K. We've got Georgia's D'Andre Swift

drafted by the Lions in the second round. It's the second year in a row, or sorry, it's the second time in three years the Lions have taken a running back in the second round after they traded up with for Kerry on Johnson in 2017. Who's 22 years old, by the way? He's 22. So, Deacon, how does, tell us a little bit, but the Andrewsworth game, and then how do you think he's going to fit in with this lines team for fantasy? Swift is a very balanced runner.

Like, he's got the size and, I guess, like, surprising a power to break tackles and things like that as a runner in between the tackles. But he's also very good in the passing game. if he's not the best past catching back in this draft, it's between him and Edwards Allaire. Just very, very solid pass catcher. I think that's going to be a big part of his game in the pros. So I'm sure that's why they liked him a lot, his ability to do kind of both things.

However, he comes into a situation, kind of like Dobbins, where you just really don't know how the rotation is going to work out. They have Kerry on Johnson, as you're saying. They've got Beau Scarborough, who they apparently still kind of like, is like a goal line type back, maybe a short yardage type back.

So indications at least right now are that it's going to be a bit of a committee. And so I saw this per the athletics, Chris Burke. Bob Quinn was quick to mention that the Lions view Swift has a different kind of back than Carrion Johnson. And they complement each other very well. They both should be on the field a lot, although Swift's ability in the passing game might tip the scales in his direction. Don't sleep on Scarborough either.

So what Burke is saying is it doesn't look at least right now like it's going to be Swift's like backfield 100% It's going to be like a like a 1B Or 1A 1B type thing maybe with him and carry on But you never know just because carry on's got injury issues I don't think Scarbo is a guy that necessarily is going to Eat into a lot of that workload For 2020 I probably would rank Swift above Dobbins

Just because he's likely to get more carries But it's really close and I don't know it's just one of those things where he was kind of the RB1 or at least the 1B behind Taylor coming into the to the draft and I think he drops down quite a bit just because of the landing spot. Carrion's played 18 games in two years and

both the seasons been ended with a knee injury and so if he were to get hurt well first of if he stays healthy then DeAndre Swift could catch passes but if he gets hurt the issue is he might not even be the future back because he never had Evan Silva pointed out Swift's never had more than average of 15.1 touches per game in college so you can spin that as a positive or negative that, oh, he's got tread on the tires,

but in reality, it's like, okay, well, can you handle more touches at the NFL level? So I don't think, I think he's an exciting player, and this is not an exciting landing spot, and I'm super not happy about this, and I'm kind of out on the line's backfield. It feels a little bit like he may get overdrafted by people, based on his talent.

Craig, you're furring your brow. Do you agree or disagree? I actually think Carri-on is, like, extremely talented, so this, I'm kind of worried that DeAndre Swift is just going to become, like, more of the, like, four catches a game for 40 yards and gets, like, four carries if Carillon stays healthy, which is going to be fine.

But I also think DeAndre Swift is like one of the most exciting running backs in the draft. So I don't know. It's like maybe the lions really utilize this and turn it into a Melvin Gordon-Austin-Eclare situation. Like, you know? I think the issue is Johnson's not great in the passing game, even though you would hope that he could fix that

and that it's not a tip of the hand, but I think that ultimately versatility is important. I think Matt Patricia values it. They also took Jason Huntley in the fifth round, who is a pass-catching running back, like really, really fast, past catching running back. it's muddled to me. I don't know.

You know, fifth round pick is not necessarily going to move the needle for a guy like Swift, but. I mean, look, this is a past first offense.

They're taking deep shots. When I'm going to go shopping in Detroit, I want Kenny Galladay and things. I don't think I'm, I'm not a fan of this backfield. And we'll see if that changes over the summer. But yeah, another one that is really interesting.

The Rams took Florida States cam acres. Yeah. My God. Cam Acres. First of, DK, fast dude. Am I right? Yeah. I love Acres, really twitched up athlete, really, really good running back.

This is a great fit in theory. I have questions about the fact that they chose him with their first pick of the draft. I think that's a little bit weird considering all their other needs, but. Yeah, first of the, it was shocking because the Rams have gotten up, I think they took Jared Goff with the first pick in 2016. I don't think they have another first rounder, literally from the Goff pick to 2022 because of the Jalen Ramsey trade and Brandon Cooks and all these things. So it's wild that they took a running back a year after they took. Darrell Henderson in the third round. They obviously cut Todd Gurley.

The next Alvin Kamara. Yeah. So if it's like if chaos is a ladder, then there's chaos in this backfield. And if there's one, I swear to God, if there's an advantage KMakers has to me, it's one he played with a shitty offensive line

in Florida State. No offense to Florida State. A little offense. And the Rams offensive line was bad last year though it got a little better as it were on. And I also think he can block. I'm sorry. It's my favorite thing about rookie running backs.

You can't get on the field, only you can block. Jared Goff is a statue. They need guys to block in the backfield. I think straight up, we met, Craig, you asked before about, like, what is the parts of, like, missing these OTAs and things that will keep players off the field or running backs?

Blocking, you have to know your assignments. KMakers was a good blocker at Florida State. He looked like, and I think that actually matters a lot to early playing time. And I think that he's only competing with Daryl Henderson and Malcolm Brown really here. I mean, John Kelly to an extent. So I think that KMakers could,

I would not be surprised if he was, an early contributor and the combination of speed and blocking. Can he catch passes? Yeah. I think he's relatively natural in the past game. Is he, I feel like he's sleeper for best RB first year in fantasy. I was going to say like the more I'm thinking about this,

the more I'm looking at it, I'm more willing to, I feel like I'd be more willing to grab acres in the same range that Swift is probably going to go. Yeah. I'd probably rather lean acres. Because like, look, on one hand, the offensive line for the Rams,

last year took a massive step back from where they were the year before. The run game suffered clearly. But on the other hand, I mean, you're still getting a ton of, you're still getting a ton of goal line like runs. That's why Gurley finished as the RB 14 last season in PPR. I will say, like, the much lesser version of Todd Gurley that we're used to. So getting a guy with fresh legs like acres in there, like really explosive player. Yeah, I think he's a good fit.

You're the one who pointed out to me that, I mean, for all to talk about 40-yard dashes. And Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, didn't he like beat Jonathan Taylor in some metric? Yeah, he had a 40-yard dash time is the fastest at the position. But Cam Acres' 10-yard split was

faster than Jonathan Taylor, right, D.K.? Yeah, that's according to the athletics draft guide by Dane Bruegler. I'm in. I'm all in on Cam Acres. It was like 1.49, which is like absurd and unheard of. Obviously, the 0 to 10 yards is more important

than the 10 to 40. So it's kind of amazing. It's not the 10-yard dash to begin with. But I'm kind of, I'm kind of into, I'm on the acre. I think this year, a lot more than I would be maybe like Swift or Dobbins. How many people are going to name their teams movers and acres in 2020? Just you.

Just me? Okay. All right. Well, I'm moving. Well, I'm moving along. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They drafted Kishon Vaughn out of Vanderbilt. Yep.

So this one's interesting. Wait, no. Can we just dwell for one second on after everything that's happened in this year? Can you imagine just being some dude who is the running back at Vanderbilt and then you're getting a phone call like, hey. Tom Brady is going to hand you the football. What a fucking out-of-body experience that must have for this guy. This guy's having a good 2020 also.

This one's very interesting to me because I've been kind of just monitoring and watching the post-draft hype of all these running backs. And Vaughn's hype is legitimately out of control. Some people have him like as the RV2 in this class for 2020. I'm not quite willing to go there. I do think he'll have a role. His upside in that offense is certainly good because if he gets the three-down roll, you got Tom Brady throwing him passes. You got, you know, there's so many good weapons in that offense that it could open up, like,

run lanes for him just because defense are going to be stretched thin in the passing game. That said, to me, like, he was more on the JAG spectrum when it comes to, like, explosion and Wiggle and Pure Talent as a runner. And JAG is just another guy? Wiggle. Tom Brady, TB12 loves wiggle. You know, Brady's going to love anyone who has wiggle, you know, the pliability.

But that's the thing. I don't think he has that much wiggle. Like, he's just, he's a downhill workman-like guy. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Damien Lewis from the, from the, for the Patriots last year, just like a pickup truck back. That's kind of like my, my go-to cliche. He's just Ronald Jones? And that's the thing is like, everyone hates Ronald Jones, but Ronald Jones is still there, you know? and in theory they're still going to be sharing

does he do his job he does his job he certainly does his job like I'm not saying he's a bad runner or he's like a bad player the thing about the bucks is obviously they have such a chasm at running back they're like the only team that before the draft which is like who the fuck is going to play that I'm cursing so much now my Emma's going to be really mad at me but you know you got Ronald Jones who had a disastrous rookie year and was fine last year I mean Peyton barber I think he's in Washington now so that was the only really backfield situation like what's going to go on

and then obviously Tom Brady, not that he needs to play with a certain type of running back, but he has played with a certain type of running back for a while, which is one kind of version of Legerat-Blunt and then one version of, I was going to say Austin Eckler, who's never played James White. And yeah, James White. And I don't know if Juan's either.

So I think it's just interesting because we don't know how this is going to work in this offense where really Brady's going to need a checkdown. And we also just don't know what they're going to do with this high-flying offense that's where James Winston's, slinging the ball downfield and Bruce Ariens has always had someone slinging downfield and we're like, all right, well, Brady's arm is, how old's Brady now? 75? So I think there's a lot of

questions here, but I mean, I think the main one is do you see him being a PPR guy? Like, could he be James White in practice even if we don't see him that going into the draft? Yes, it's, that's on the spectrum of like possibilities and that's, I think, why so many people are so excited about it. The the landing spot is really what's exciting for him. He had a productive year. He was a good analytical running back in terms of just like his production and all that stuff. But to me, like, I just, I don't know.

I didn't see it with him. I don't like, I'm not excited about him as a player. But he's one of those guys in fantasy. Sometimes you have to take players. Sometimes it pays off to take players that you don't think are like really good players, but they just are in the right system where they're going to get volume. that's where I put Vaughn. So I'm not saying don't take him.

But to me, I'm probably just not going to have a ton of, I'm just probably not going to have a ton of shares of him because I think people are going to be so excited about him. He's going to go a little earlier than I feel comfortable. But it is a very good landing spot for him in terms of just that offense is probably going to be good. He doesn't have an elite back in front of him. Ronald Jones could end up being the backup.

So he could end up being the starter in year one. So a little bit of good, a little bit of bad. I'm kind of in the middle. I'm kind of agnostic on Vaughn. I'm just probably not going to have a ton of shares on it. Okay, D.K., let's go into a lightning round right now. I'm going to give you a player and a team in one sentence. I want you to tell me about the guy and then I'm going to ask you about where you're going to take them.

So, all right, Buffalo Bills, they drafted Zach Moss out of Utah. Tell me about Zach Moss. One sentence. Goal line bruiser, he's Frank Gore. Okay. I'm out. Will you be drafting? All right, one sentence.

Will you be drafting him in 2020 and why? No, because I think he's going to be in a. committee. Fantastic. All right, Tennessee Titans, they took Darrington Evans at Appalachian State. One sentence. Why is Darren and Evans fit in Titans? Or does he? He's awesome at the wide zone run scheme. He's a slasher. He's an explosive element. I'm not taking him in drafts, at least in 2020, because of Derek Henry. I'm in on this. Good answer. Washington. They drafted Antonio Gibson at Memphis. One sentence on Antonio Gibson. Super exciting dynasty value. He's going to be a gadget player near one.

But I think he's very exciting long term. Chris Thompson? They're going to, so they label him a running back. This is more than one sentence. They label him a running back, but they've said that they're going to use him

kind of all over the field. He can be like a slot receiver type guy. There's all these exciting things. He's an elite athlete, but I think he's got a little bit of runway before he's going to be like a good, good pro. I will say Ron Rivera comped him to CMC. So I'm done with comps.

I'm taking the year off from comp. after all the Harold Henderson is Alvin Kamara I'm all the 2020 is not a Comps are out I'm out on Combs Haskins was Tom Brady two years ago We got all our comps out before the draft But post draft no more comps

Okay Green Bay Packers they took AJ Dylan Out of Boston College one sentence on AJ Dylan This sucks for Aaron Jones Aaron Jones 19 touchdowns last year Aaron Jones ain't getting the goal on carries this year is he That would be the indication Is they want him to be the bulldozer or the bruiser of their offense and the long-term replacement for both of these guys,

Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams, who are, I think, both going into their contract years. Tough. All right. Chargers to Joshua Kelly at a UCLA. Tell us about Josh Kelly. He's absolutely worth a flyer to me, just based on volume. He's a 4-4 guy, like, in the mid-to-late fours, I think he ran, so he's, like, got some speed.

He's going to compete with Justin Jackson for that committee-type role with Austin Echler. I think Echler is going to be the clear lead guy in that group. but you could have legitimate like, I don't know how, I'm not going to guess how many carry he's going to get, but he could be a big part of that offense. Is Josh Kelly the only guy in that team over 200 pounds? Running back, that team, running back.

How big is Justin Jackson? I actually don't know off the top of my head. God, do you even do this for a living? I don't think he's like small. Let's see. Justin Jackson, wait. 198. Sorry, Justin. I was wrong. I was wrong. He is small. Seahawks. DJ Dallas out of Miami.

Yeah. So the only reason. The only reason I included him here is because Chris Carson and Rashad Penny are still not cleared. They're still going through Carson had a hip injury. Penny had an ACL injury. Dallas, to me, goes into the season very early on, at least, as the starter. I think he has more of like a two-down roll, an early-down roll more than Travis Homer, who is probably going to get third-down rolls. This is all if Carson is going to start over Chris Carson to start the year. No, I'm saying if they're not healthy.

If Chris Carson and Penny are out. We don't have any guarantee that either of those guys are going to be healthy by the first game. Because both of these guys are, at least based on the projections, going to start whatever the training cap is going to be still rehabbing their injuries. So that's the reason I include him here. Beautiful. Okay. You can only have one of these guys on your team and it's not Clyde. You have to pick one rookie for your team in 2020.

Who is it? Josh Kelly, I think. of the lightning round guys. He has a path towards carries. Beautiful. DK. Sinct. Perfect.

All right. Let's take another quick break and then go through receivers. If you thought there were no live sports this weekend, then you'd be wrong. The Arkansas Derby is running at Oakland Park with horses competing for a million dollars in purse money and points to qualify for this year's Kentucky Derby.

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that expires 30 days after receipt. Always wage. your responsible. See full terms and conditions at www.tvg.com slash ringer. Let's run through or pass through. The receivers taken in this draft, I believe NFL record amount of receivers taken. There were more receivers taken in the top 25 than any time in the Super Bowl era. Just passing era has turned into a receiving era. We have enough quarterbacks, but teams can't find enough receivers. Fantasy football is increasingly becoming more about receivers and this draft was unbelievable for it.

So the, but this is crashing into a debate we've been long having on this podcast about whether rookie receivers can even contribute. I was proven wrong last year when a bunch of guys did make an impact as a rookie last year. But this year in particular is so different because there's not going to be OTAs. There's not going to be mini camps for because of the coronavirus, obviously. So the first time these rookies are really going to meet their teammates and be showing up

to practice. is August. And obviously so much of the passing game is about timing. And you only get the timing from repetition and practice. So, D.K., are you a little more down on rookie receivers this year than you usually would be? Yeah, in a word, yeah. I think, you know, there's a few guys in this class that, I think, have really easy paths to, like, a lot of volume.

But overall, I'm probably going to end up fading a lot of these guys in redraft leagues, just because I think the ramp up time could be a little bit longer than normal, like based on everything you're just saying, like just getting on the same page of quarterbacks and learning the playbook. Like you've got to learn the playbook. So, yeah, I think it's just, you know, they're not going to get the reps. They're not going to get the chemistry building opportunities with the quarterback. And that could definitely hurt things going forward.

So it'll probably be like the strategy. It would just be like let other people take the rookies. I'll just take, you know, establish veterans. Now, there's some guys that you can't. ignore Justin Jefferson goes into a situation where he's going to get a ton of targets, all that stuff. But yeah, generally speaking, I think it lowers the ceiling for a lot of these guys that this, because of the coronavirus, kind of affecting everything. You mentioned Jefferson. I just want to stick with him for a second. What do you think of him? Because he, I mean, he played

mostly out of the slot at LSU, right? He played mostly at the slot last season. He did play on the outside of the season before that. So he has experience on the outside. That, is something that we'll have to see how he he transitions to the pros, like if he can run on the outside and it'd be effective, but yeah. How do you feel about him? Because, you know, obviously they used the pick that they traded digs for to get him. So what do you see there?

Because Adam Thielen played not that much in the slot last year. I think only a third of snaps in the slot. But, I mean, he had a terrible year. He was injury riddled. But when Adam Thieland was great in 17 and 18, he played more than half of snaps out of the slot. Yeah. Do you see Thielen going more to the outside?

or do you see him staying in the slot where he's been successful and Jefferson has to say in the outside? I'm less in on Jefferson if he has to be in the outside and learn to the playing the outside at the NFL level. I'd be more interested in him if he was a slot. So what do you think he's going to be doing? It's going to be, this is a cop out a little bit,

but I think they'll alternate. I do think it's going to be interesting year one to see how this all goes because the Vikings are a very heavy two tight-end set team. That means you're going to have two receivers on the field at some time. So does that mean he's going to, have to play primarily on the outside as a rookie, that could be the issue. But to me, like, the volume is what's interesting about this, like, not necessarily his ability to adapt

schematically to the offense. I just think he has a direct path to getting, like, a ton of volume in that offense. And, yeah, I'm a little bit worried about sort of the schematic things about it, but ultimately, volume ends up, like, kind of winning out for me in this particular player. Who do you see as another high volume guy from the rookie class? I think Jerry Judy, is going to get a lot of volume. You know, with the Broncos, obviously he's going to be lining up in an offense with Cortland Sutton, but I think they want to be an aggressive passing team

based on everything they'd done over the off season. They add a ton of speed. They got KJ. Hamler, I believe, in the second after they took Judy in the first, Judy was, per reports, their number one rated guy overall. So they love this guy. He's going to be, I believe what he'll do is run in like the Z spot where you're kind of moving and around. He can play on the outside.

He can play in motion. He can line up all over the formation. They're going to have Cortland Sutton be their big X receiver, their downfield, big, like, threat. And then Judy kind of all over the middle of the field, you know, kind of doing his thing. So I think he's going to get a lot of volume. They're going to try and get him heavily involved early on. He is probably the most pro-ready player in terms of the receiver position in this class just because he's such a precise route runner.

He can get off the line of scrimmage. He's got great speed. his hands have been a little bit iffy here and there, but I do think that he's going to be kind of like one of the bigger impact, early impact players in this class. Yeah, pro ready sometimes can be such a nebulous term, but one, it's really clear with Judy. Like he has, he's the only guy in this class that, in my opinion,

has the full route tree. Exactly. It's polished. And that is more important this year than in the past where you're trying to get into an offense. So, and I also just think that, I mean, Cortland Sutton had like 120 targets last year. The only other wide receiver on the,

Broncos that I think had more than 50 was like Deshawn Hamilton. Hamilton might get cut. So I think there's a huge amount of opportunity for Judy in this one. I think you're dead right on that one. Yeah, definitely. Flip side. The guy who went before, sorry, the guy went right after Judy. Cid Lamb landed with the Cowboys. Do you see him getting volume in Dallas? Dallas had the most yards in the NFL last year, but now they're with Mike McCarthy. I do. I think, you know, it's one of those things where it's not like necessarily an ideal landing spot when it comes to fantasy. He's not going to be the number one guy in that offense, but it's good offense.

You're tethered to a really good quarterback. And there's a lot of vacated targets in that passing game with, with Randall Cobb gone, Jason Witten's gone. You know, obviously Amari Cooper is going to be probably the number one guy, assuming for the next couple of years. But I think they'll spread the love around. Like, there's plenty of targets for him to go out there. A lot of defenses are going to be focused in on Amari Cooper and even potentially

Michael Gallup. so that gives cd lamb the ability to potentially line up in the slot and just get fed targets kind of like he did kind of like i believe like randall cop had like 80 something targets or something last year so yeah he's got he's got a direct line he like he's another very pro ready guy in my mind just the way that his skill set um very strong very good after the catch who would you draft first gallop or cd lamb oh that's a really good question um like man i guess i like just off the top of my head, I lean Gallup slightly, but I think they're right in the same range. That's so interesting to me. I believe in Gallup all the way. I think it's not really close. I disagree with you on Lamb. I mean, I love Lamb as a pit. I mean, I hate it. I'm a Giants fan.

I hate that the Cowboys got Seedy Lamb. It pisses me off. I think he's a great real life football player and it's a much better real life for the Cowboys than fantasy. I think that the threat of having him, he's an improvement over Randall Cobb. But Randall Cobb had like 83 catches last year. It was kind of boring. I don't know. I mean, the Cowboys had the most yards in the NFL last year. So you could say that maybe they'll keep up and they'll actually score more points commensurately with that. But they only really have had four fantasy relevant guys.

They had DAC, Zique, Cooper, and Michael Gallup. I'm dubious that they'll be able to lead the league in yards again. And I'm dubious that they'll be able to support five relevant dudes. Yeah. And I'm dubious that C.D. Lamb, like, yeah, he could surpass Michael Gallup as the number two guy in the passing game, number three on the team, so it could go Zeke, Cooper, and then lamb. could be Zeke Cooper, Gallup, Blake Jarwin, C.D. Lamb, and he's still productive in real life,

but he's not fantasy relevant. Even if he's relevant, he's not going to be consistent. So I'm really concerned about Cidlam being like, oh yeah, play him this week. He'll produce. I think that if he produces, it'll be scattershot. You'll have no idea when it's happening. That's my concern for a lot of these. Gallup certainly has the advantage in terms of just his experience. He knows the offense. He knows Dak. Dak knows him. There's definitely, I would say that definitely tips the balance in his favor. if there's one theme that I think we're going to say over and over, at least my, like, we always say volume is king. I think for this year, we might come, continuity is king.

I think that teams are going to prefer stability. We saw it the first round of the draft where teams didn't trade until they got comfortable and they made all the deals on day two. Pete Carroll talks about that on flying coach, Craig produces. And I think that you're going to see that in the NFL season two. I think that when there's so much uncertainty, you're going to go with the stability. And I think that every time I'm asked, my answer here applies to everything the rest of the season.

When I get a choice between someone who knows an offense, or at least knows his players, even if Mike McCarthy adds new concept, and someone who's new, I'm picking the, I'm nine out of ten times, I'm going to go with the guys who has been there. Yeah.

So on that note. Let's talk about Henry Ruggs, the guy who might have slipped into the strongest number one spot out of all of these receivers. And maybe save Denzel Mims, but like, what's up with rugs? Like, do we like rugs? Are we out on rugs?

I think I'm kind of into him now. I think I was out like three days ago. I think I'm back. I was also out and I've talked myself into it. Yeah. Here's the thing. This was the argument we had last year about two rookie receivers contribute.

I feel like what did we learn? Yes, if they're fast. Yeah, right? Like, if they have no connection, right, they're not going to have these training camps to build connections. Well, it's like Derek Carr can still hit Henry Ruggs on a slant and he can take it 70 yards.

Maybe we should be going after the big play guys. Deke, I have a question for you. I don't have a big, I don't have like a big disagreement with that. I mean, we remember last year when Marquis Brown had three touchdowns in week one? Yeah, like that could just be rugs, right?

He had issues with injuries, but I mean, like Ruggs is a kind of player who can really make some hay after the catch. But here's my question for you, DK. So first, Rugs had like 90, eight catches or whatever in college. He took a quarter of them for touchdowns. So do you, like, he's obviously a big play deep threat.

but Derek Carr throws the ball shorter than every quarterback in the NFL except Drew Brise, who literally was born in the 70s. So do you think Derek Carr... Yeah, but wasn't it not a deep threat? Didn't he catch less deep passes than Jerry Judy? Wasn't he more of like a slant take it to the house guy? He's a big play threat more than a vertical threat, honestly. Which works in Derek Carr's favor, right?

But is that good for fantasy? Like when Terry McLaurin was making noise as a rookie, he wasn't necessarily doing that all after the catch. he was catching bombs. Marquise Brown was catching bombs. Like, isn't depending on yards after the catch in an offense that isn't necessarily built around yards after the catch, kind of a problem? Well, you could see, didn't O'Dell do that? Wasn't O'Dell just like Mr. Slant take it to the house in an offense that wasn't really tailored for that? I don't speak of him anymore.

Okay. D.K., would you take, would you have Rugs on, would you, do you think Ruggs is the perfect flyer to sit on the end of your bench high upside lottery ticket? Or do you think he's just like not worth pursuing this year? I mean, I think he's going to get taken. before that, honestly. I think people are going to take him before he's a lot, like a last, last roster spot type guy. Yeah, I mean, people compare him to Tyree Kill and like the Raiders have no receivers. Like, obviously, people are going to be all over him. Yeah. So I don't think he's going to be the type of guy that you can take that late. Like, you have to kind of commit to him. Maybe like in the 10th or 11th round

or 12th round or whatever. You know, it's not going to be like early, early round guy. I do like his upside. I do worry that going into that offense, like, you could potentially even see, like, a guy like Brian Edwards, who was taking in the third round, get more targets than rugs, just because, like, the way that rugs is used. I don't know how they're going to use him yet, but part of his value, like, is that speed and his ability to stretch defenses. So is he going to be kind of like a decoy down the field on a lot of plays? Is he going to be a Deshaun Jackson type player? Those are the kind of things that worry me a little bit. Um, So, yeah, I think I probably, again, I probably won't have a ton of shares of him just because I do worry about that in year one.

And addition to all the, I guess, like, variables that kind of get thrown out the window with the coronavirus. You just don't have as much time to prep on the offense. What about those bottom three guys, Rager, Brandon Ayuk, and Denzel Mims. Who do you like out of those three? I actually think Rager has a very strong chance to get a ton of targets, ton of volume in that offense. And it's kind of, it's similar to rugs, I guess, but I think the fit is just a little bit better in terms of like he's going to be the immediate deep threat in that offense. They really, really miss that last year. Well, they have Deshaun Jackson back, right?

Yeah, that's true. But he's like, you know, I wouldn't say he's necessarily reliable. He's getting older. Alshon Jeffers made a glass and there's really no one else. Yeah. So. Zach hurts. I would put Rager and in rugs in kind of a similar tier, I think, both like, high.

high upside guys that you can get later on in the draft. I like Brandon Ayuk a lot for San Francisco, but, so like number one, great fit, like perfect fit. He's going to get yards after the catch. He's going to, same deal like what we were talking about, he's going to take a slant and he has the ability to hit a home run with it. The volume in that offense is what worries me. The amount that they pass is they don't pass very much.

They run far, far more. Like, that's just kind of their identity. Plus, he's behind Kittle and Debo. I think the Niners might pass more if their defense gets worse. And I think that there could be value there in the passing offense. And I also think because so much of it's about running after the catch and that Shanhan does such a good job of getting guys open. I'm optimistic about him actually being a contributor. Yeah, me too.

I like Ayuk a lot. Tell me about Mims, Craig, because I know you've been dying. Mims. I don't know why I like Mims. I watched all these guys highlight tape. And Mims just was like this. I mean, he's big, but he's not that big. He's like 6'3.

He's not like 6'5. anything crazy. But I don't know, every single highlight is just him battling another dude for a 50-50 ball and he caught all of them. And I was just like, I love this. Here's my question. If every highlight is him battling for a 50-50 ball. No, no, no. It's not because he wasn't open. It's because the throw is bad. Okay, but like I'm just saying, is it also got Sam Darnold, so it's not going to be like. Isn't the idea someone's like, you know, not near you? Isn't that like the goal of being a receiver, like to get far? Like, it's not vertical, like, leaping. It's like being horizontally

far away from the person. You're right, but it's not like those were all on deep balls. It was more like red zone, like eight yard corner of the end zone fades where he would just like dominate people for the ball. And like, I mean, we got Breschad Paraman, Quincy Anunwa, who's like, is his neck all right?

He's not going to play, I don't think. And then Josh Doxon. So it's like, if anyone could lead I mean, out of all these guys, Denzel Mims might lead all them in targets. Yeah, let's not forget about Jameson Crowder. That's true. Jameson Crout on a slot. I'm not optimistic that Adam Gase is going to institute an off-season program to get Denzel Mims up to speed with anybody. Like at some point there's an organizational aspect.

Who are the targets going to on the Jets? Look, what is running a remote organization at this point, if not like being a personality that can kind of, you know, like handle like everyone doing remotely? I don't really trust Adam Gase to run all these like Zoom meetings with the Jets offense. I don't know about you. Sam Donald throws the ball 400 times. Who is he throwing to? Yeah, I mean, he walks into a big... Who is literally, Danny?

Tell me, who is he throwing to? Perryman and Crowder. I think Crowder and Prouder. I think Crowder, Parham. I don't think Mims. I like Mims. I think they got a good value in him because they traded him back. I think in real life football, they did a great job getting him. I'm a little concerned about the jump ball stuff because I just, whenever I hear contested catch, I just think he's not getting open.

It makes me think of Mike Williams, who's like, been actually pretty good. I mean, famously the most frustrating fantasy player in the league the last two years, Mike Williams, that guy? Yeah, but every time you watch him, it's like he gets a 40-yard touchdown every game and he just dominates people. He's just like a rebounder.

Yeah, because you watch him on Red Zone and then you watch the whole game, you're like, oh, like, why isn't he ever open? He never makes the job easy. I like Mike Williams. D.K., can Denzel memes get open? DK. had him in the first round. DK. had him was like his fifth wide receiver.

I had him, I think I had like final, on my mock draft, I maybe had him in the first round. Yeah, I think he was your fifth wide see for maybe six? On my rankings, I believe he's like six or seven. But regardless, I think he's a good player. I think that Danny's concerns are valid though.

And I think that's probably why he fell downboards a little bit. His tape wasn't as good as his post-season like pre-draft Combine and Senior Bowl would indicate. I don't know if a lot of people had him in the first round before he went to the Senior Bowl.

Coming out of the Senior Bowl, he looked awesome. Like he was incredible at the Senior Bowl, literally the number one star at the Senior Bowl. And then he blew up the combine, ran really, really fast. But I think teams are still trying to kind of reconcile his tape, which Craig, it was absolutely littered with awesome catches. But I think he still has to kind of like learn the route tree. He ran like go routes and slants. Like he just, he wasn't running a ton of routes. So I think that both of you guys are right in some sense. I think it's somewhere in the- that he went to the Jets. I admit that. That blows.

I mean, well, the volume is going to be good, but here's, here's what I could, here's like, kind of how I see it. He's, he's taking a very similar track to Terry McLaren in the sense that McLaurin was a big star at the senior bowl, ran really well at the combine, still somehow fell to the third round because he didn't have strong, strong tape. Like, he just wasn't, it wasn't the most outstanding tape. So teams where I think were a little bit reticent. He was also a little older. Denzo Mems was a senior. But isn't McLaren's thing speed? Yeah, so what I was getting at was McLaren was awesome as a rookie because he walked into a situation where he was like the de facto number one guy. I think Mims could legitimately be a sleeper pick to have like a McLaren type rookie year just because he has that speed.

He's got a direct path to volume. And I think he's very good and he's going to be very good in like the Red Zone because he has that talent to be, you know, like that jump ball guy. I don't think he's going to be like he's not like a technician. have route runner who's going to get open on third downs for Sam Donald. There's going to be a ramp up time for him to learn how to be like a pro receiver. But those two things, his deep ball prowess and his red zone prowess, I think, give him a chance to be kind of like a surprising rookie. You compared him to shades of DJ Chark, right?

Yeah. Okay. I just came back from the future. One of these guys, one of these rookie receivers was top 20 in the NFL next season. Which one was it? And fantasy points? In fantasy points. Top 20 among more receivers.

And that was a starter. We're doing half PPR, PPR, PPR, 0.75. What's the rules here? Half PPR. Top 20 receiver. Tell me which one it was. Craig, what do you think? Henry Ruggs?

Oh, wait, are we talking... Who's in this group? Any rookie receiver. Any rookie receiver, I'm going either Judy or Jefferson. You are correct. No, I have no idea. I don't know.

I just made it up. I'm just worried that Judy's got Drew Locke. It's like... Right. I think Jefferson has a sneaky route to being the top scoring rookie receiver in this class Yeah because there's nobody else in the damn Vikings

This year. That's really interesting. Okay. D.K., thank you. You have been the dark night of this draft process. You have saved Gotham. We've all turned you in our time of need. Yeah, Dickey, get some time off, dude.

Why don't you go somewhere? Right. Hop on a plane. There's this little thing happening right now that. Roma here is just beautiful. right. Okay.

Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Craig. Thank you to everyone for listening. Please stay safe and healthy. And we will be back next week. It's fantasy season,

though.