Fantasy Football - AFC North Breakdown + Don’t Be Surprised! - Podcast for 7/7

[Music] Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. [Music] Oh, welcome in. Tuesday, July 7th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast that's F-O-O-T, footballers. Not to be confused. No, not be a football. No, football. Bro, we're done. We're done with that. We've been having a lot of fun with the Fantasy Footballers. We've been having a lot of fun with the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. And this was my first time playing soccer or a football. So my bad, my bad America. Yeah, that was an eye-to-eye in our country since goodbye. The soccer for another four years, but that is not what this show is about. We're happy to be back with you. It is a Tuesday episode. We begin our divisional breakdown episodes. It's go time, baby. Yeah, I, something happens over the summer when you hit a certain point and then the highlights that you're watching of players start to get it tingly. Like you're just ready for the season to begin and for things to actually matter and for, you know, to draft you mere Gibbs at number one in our league of record. Any of those things that'll be fun for you on the way. But today we're talking AFC North, the divisional breakdown shows begin as do three shows a week. We are into that time of the year. Five shows a week starting in August. We've got our big live event at the end of August. We've got the kickoff to the season shortly after that. The draft kid is flowing. The updates are going. The nice. Yeah, I got you nice. Drum and bars. That's the first thing that. Yeah, that was great. You guys are rhyming. We're back. We're so glad. But now the draft, we didn't get to say it because like we we pre recorded last week shows. We were all on separate family trips, getting some vacation time in before the season begins. Ironically, Jason was in he was on a cruise. He went to the Caribbean. Yes. I went to the heat. Mike and I were both in Alaska, not together. Correct. You were in Anchorage. Yes. Were you there the whole time? Did you guys run into each other? No, I didn't go to anchor. I was in Anchorage for most of the time. But then I was in Gerdwood for a few days. That sounds made up. Gerdwood? Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to the 20 people. Do they were having like this huge event and I was like, what people living? Oh, the Gerdwood Fest. Oh, man. Yeah. You don't even know. I thought about going. But now we we cruise to Alaska. I had never been on a cruise before. That was fun. And it was much colder than wherever you were. Yeah. You were so wise. Yes. But we're excited to be back. We didn't get a chance to talk about July 1st is when the draft analyzer release so the UDK and his full form, I guess, is available now. So you can basically, you know, sync with your league, analyze your draft, see a breakdown of basically your strengths and weaknesses, how you align with each of us. Different tips and tricks based on your roster. It's a great tool. You'll be using a lot over the next couple of months into your regular drafts. We also have a big, big upgrade coming to the UDK very, very soon. It's very exciting. It's going to work with the draft analyzer very well to help you guys prepare for drafts. It's probably the biggest feature being added since we've ever launched the UDK. And it's not at an extra cost or anything. You just get a huge upgrade to the UDK. It should be, I mean, I think next week or two. Whoa, you might see it up here. Just log in. You know, go to my UDK.com and look from time to time. So say where would download the app? Where would someone? I think the app is getting ready. The app will be the place where where that finds its way. First, ultimate draft get dot com. Yeah, yeah. So, but lots, lots to talk about there. We've got news to catch you up on. Let's get into it right now. News and notes from around the league. If possible, Brandon, I you could become crazier since we left. Oh, yeah, it's possible. It is possible because he's proven. Every video he posts gets crazier and crazier. And I remember the Antonio Brown hit that changed. I don't remember the Brandon, I you, one. I thought he was not playing football while he went crazy, but something happened. If you, if you are unaware, he just is basically posting videos of himself on the red just going crazy. Just talking nonsense. He has been very vocal of that he would like to be released by the 49ers and then and then go sign with the Washington commanders to play with Jane Daniels, his best friend, who now he is in a fight with online. In social media and then some people are saying it's fake. Let's listen. He's exactly how the NFL weird. It works this way for psychiatric problems. It works this way for legal problems. If you can still run 22 miles an hour on the field, he will find a way to play football. A team will endure anything. And if you listen to George Kiddell talk about Brandon, I you despite saying, hey, if you want him, you get a deal with all of that. He's still said, I mean, he's running faster than he ever ran before the injury. I think he will find his way into a football. Is he's on a football team? That's his problem. I was released. If he was a free agent, he would absolutely find a buyer. But the San Francisco 49ers have the option to just say he was put on to what the left never heard of that team. The left team list. If I'm not look, if he wasn't good at football, we would never talk about him again. That's all I'm saying. And I think we'll talk about him again. I don't know if it'll be this year. I don't know when it'll be. I don't know. But if you can run 22 miles an hour and play wide receiver and get that contract in, you're still got it, then you'll find a team. The problem is the 40. All the power is with the 49ers. Oh, I get it. And with this new list, give him a smack. Well, I'm saying with the list, we, we, which we are just hearing about this left team list. Yeah. That seems like you just like see you later until Brandon, I you want to actually talk to us and play ball. And I'll happen in some from a couple of hours ago, Brandon, I you says he won't be filing for reinstatement because he doesn't want to do business with the team under the scenario of the 49ers can leave him on the left squad list. You would remain on the team, but not count against the roster or receive pay. So that's nice. He's received a lot of pay. Well, yes, in the past. Patrick, my home is reported by Albert Breer that he's training towards being cleared for 11 and 11 work at the start of training camp. Okay, we'll take it. Kirk cousins took all the first team reps in the offseason practices. Yep. That makes sense. Well, you know, it's because Mendoza was. Oh, yeah. He was cruising was on a cruise. How do you know he was on a cruise and because my son took a picture with him. That was a random thing to find on an elastic and cruise. Yeah. This is that's where we got all the information that cousins is taking all the first team reps. Here's what happened. I was on we're on the cruise and as one does you get tax from your kids rather than seeing them. So I was getting a tax from my son on the cruise that said, Fernando Mendoza is on board. And I said, no, he's not. He said, oh, T.A. I'm not getting reps with the team that doesn't make any sense. And then I got a picture. Yeah. Indeed he was. But yeah, I think, you know, the process here for the Raiders is pretty simple. You're going to let Kirk cousins play some games. You're going to probably lose them. Eventually the ground swell will be strong enough to get your rookie in there and. It's not like there's a laundry list of wide receivers that were like, oh boy, we really need one of these quarterbacks to give us value. Are they the weirdest team the Raiders when they are a receiver depth chart you've ever seen. Yeah, I mean, they're up there with, you know, the dolphins and some other teams are it's like, I don't know. But the truth is they have two stars. Yes. And it's just a weird combination where it's your, I guess it's like the Cardinals, right? You've got a superstar tight end and running back. And that's where you expect most of the work to go. I mean, Jaylen, ale are definitely picked the right team to sign with to look real nice. Chris Rodriguez, there was a report from the athletics saying don't be surprised if he carves out an important role. There was also a report. The quotes. Don't be surprised. I know if he could do something we got to do more of those. Oh, I know we've got a break news to do those kind of posts. It is listen, don't be surprised if insert name here. Place football for them. And I said with all due respect. It didn't happen. Oh, I said, don't be surprised. I didn't say was going to happen. Were you surprised when it didn't happen? Listen, look when Alan was making headlines last week as well. as well. I told this to Jason yesterday not to buy into hype train too much because we've got it from all three now. LaQuin Allen should be third down back for Jacksonville. They like him. They want to use them there. Chris Rodriguez is a thumper. He was the, you know, he was that Kentucky with Liam Cohen and he 1200 yards and, you know, maybe he's the goal line back and then Bay Shaltoot and the younger, you know, player with more upside. There's a chance Jacksonville is a really great offense with two frustrating situations at wide receiver and in the backfield because, you know, on one hand, I won't be surprised. Yeah. Don't be surprised. No, whatever you say, I won't be surprised. You will not be surprised. Both Liam Cohen has shown a willingness to be unexpected. Unexpected everyone spread the ball around. So there's one player that benefits from success on offense no matter what happens in the backfield or in the wide receiver room and that's Trevor Lawrence. But Britain's strange. That's the contract. Parker Washington. Have you seen the numbers for slot wide receivers with Liam Cohen in his career? Pretty good. They're unbelievable. Everybody he's ever had. And that's Parker Washington. And then all the officers used to hide Brian Thomas Jr. The chemistry is really there this year. Oh, yeah. You got Travis Hunter still. Oh, you got Jacobi Myers. I mean, that's a lot of mouths to feed. And then, oh, we're going to pass to some of these running backs. And then the quaint Alan's going to catch the ball like Bay Shaltoot and can catch it. Yes, he can. So I don't know. I feel like it is a little bit messy. Yeah. I mean, it's a reason to go in on horseboy. If you want, man, I forgot about that. We forgot about that. Oh, there he is. Horseboy. There's Trevor Lawrence, young stallion. Well, he'll be valuable for fantasy. I don't think there's a world where he gets as much rushing touchdowns as he had last year. So the passing numbers will have to come up. But it could happen. I mean, losing Travis H. And junior being in a second year in the system, I think it, uh, I like. What is our rule here? What are we doing with the A Chan thing? You know, the first announcer says ETN were good, right? It isn't like. That's why we say Travis, Travis H. and junior. Exactly. You have to say the whole thing. Travis. Travis. Don't do this. I made a mistake. Don't be surprised if I say Travis now. Having said all that, I am still very, very in on to. What are the time being? Don't be surprised if I change my opinion. Are you, I mean, is he and he's my guy? He were pretty close, man. I am very excited about the player, the opportunity in the offense. It all makes. I don't know, man. Another report comes out. Don't be surprised of Chris Rodriguez cars out in a part of the world, but he's not even playing football right now. You expect him to be full goal for training? That's the last report. But no, he's not playing football. I mean, clearly not a lot of people are playing football. They're taking cruises right now up till this point. Nothing, nothing super matters because the training camp can change everything. Basel Tune for me is the running back 27 in my UDK rankings. I don't know where he is for you guys. Let me find out real quick. I'm not a subscriber. So I would not. I have a match 24 currently. Okay. 24 as well. I have C. Rod Crod as we call him. Crod. 49 so we're somewhere. Okay. Al said Brandon, I need to take a cruise and not buy the Wi-Fi package. You are not wrong. The gap between being crazy and letting people know you're crazy. Yeah, it's an important move. You need a bigger gap than that. And you know what is usually the protective layer? The agent who he fired. Hey, I get an agent and they will be like, I am on beyond your phone right now. Our guy needs some friends. He needs to be grounded. He needs some friends right now. He filmed himself in a closet taking 50s out of a backpack and throwing them on the ground. He filmed himself just getting closer and closer to the camera. Just circling back and then be like, look, I'm closer. Look, I'm closer. Look, I'm closer. You guys see that one? Yeah. It's a great green shot for different reactions. Yeah, don't buy the Wi-Fi. He was so good. Somebody go one here. Somebody go disconnect his router and he'll never know. He'll just be talking into his phone and no one will see it. You, someone help him please. Yuck. Okay. We'll take a quick break because I want to jump into the AFC North Division of Breakdown. Let's get divisional. All right. It is that time of year. This does feel like the series of shows where we turn the corner on the season, getting ready to start and training camp. Was that a new graphic up there? No, sir. Okay. It was new last year. Well, I just watched it for the first time. It's pretty nice. I like it. All right. A reminder of what these shows are all about. We're starting with the AFC North. They are a general overview of the offseason changes. It might be about different players that were added, subtracted, rookies, head coaching changes. Yep. How the offense might function this year are takes on win totals who could win the division. We looked back at the stats and it was pretty close last year. I think in terms of getting, you know, I might have won by one pick or something like that. We were all pretty close on getting some of the teams. I think it was 10, 9, 9 on getting teams right in terms of division picks. Here we are. The AFC North. If you remember this one, just like everyone expected it was decided in week 18. If you remember Pittsburgh last second touchdown, Calvin Austin, yes, the Steelers won the division. 10 and 7 and you know what? Just saying it like that. I'm going to get so much hate. Let's be honest. Like what? They was that team. They won seven in their one score games. They went seven and three. We've seen this so many time after time after time when the ball bounces your way and all the close scoring games, it's not sticky. Well, I mean, it might be for them because they just never seem to lose, but the huge change, you know, the Mike Tom and air is over during 19 seasons as a head coach, Mike Tom and never finished with a losing record. Sounds like someone who just lost his job. No, he walked away. He walked away. Yeah. The win total last year was eight and a half Vegas's preseason win total. They were seven and three and one score games this year. There are preseason win total eight and a half. And Warren Sharp has their strength to schedule at 18. A first place schedule means they'll be playing in New England, in Pittsburgh, or sorry, in Philly. Also they'll play in Pittsburgh. Denver, they'll play this year. They were not the reason that we say that. And it's not look on one hand, incredible job by Mike Tom and this team. They always find a way to be resilient to win close games. I would not just attribute that to luck. I would attribute it to yes, veteran quarterback mixed with good coaching. But this was the 26th ranked offense in yards per game. So it wasn't an offense in fantasy that we enjoyed. I mean, when Kenny Gainwell leads the way for your team in terms of receiving after you paid DK Metcalf, none of the hyper excitement around the tight ends paid off. I was looking at they have the most vacated targets in the NFL. Yes. And I was like, how they didn't lose anyone. They lost like Calvin Austin and John who Smith. Oh, Kenny Gainwell. And when that is, by the way, those were probably. I mean, DK Metcalf was bad. Yeah. So those were your targets. Johnny Smith was a big target. Well, they've, this is going to be a crazy change because you have, you have both. You have a big change in the players. And at the same time, a big change in the philosophy of the team. Like Tomlin was a known commodity. And while obviously you've got Mike McCarthy who we've got plenty of years with him. This is a new experience, new team, new players. Whereas Mike, Tomlin, I just felt like you kind of knew exactly what you were going to get. Hopefully you have much more passing this year. I think we've seen that from Mike McCarthy. The fact that they went out and got Michael Pittman, you know, traded for him, paid him. They drafted Jeremy Bernard with one of their high draft capital picks. Yes. So I can run pick. I mean, this looks like a team that wants to pass the ball more than what Mike, Tomlin did. Well, I mean, even if they don't, the fact you have the most vacated targets, Johnny Smith, Kenny Game, O'Kalbinoffs and leaving Pittman should get a ton of targets. They brought in Rico Doudel, Jeremy Bernard will have an opportunity to crack into the, into the rotation. But I also think he's competing with Roman Wilson right now for, okay. So I'll win that. He probably should. Yes. I will say this like with the vacated targets, you won't be surprised. You won't be surprised. Thank you Mike. You are really going in on that line. I think Pat Friar and Muth is the biggest sleeper on the team really in terms of you. I think he's the biggest sleeper on the team. Yeah. I think it's so tight. I'm going to get Lutheran. John, you're saying because of the Kenny Game, well type of targets that are paying. And John who Smith being gone. I mean, both of those situations and you know, Michael Pittman will get his. I just think if you wanted to tell me like pick a tight end that just out of nowhere as 10 touchdowns this year, I think Pat Friar and Muth is my answer to that question. It doesn't mean that. Arthur were there. I think I would agree. Yeah, I mean, that's another big change. Brian Angelico is taking over Arthur Smith has gone last year. They were tied for the lowest percentage of targets to the wide receiver position at 45%, which is. Yeah, but what percentage of your own targets, if you're a quarterback, would you throw a DK Mecca? Me? Yeah, you personally. Like you're dropping back to past me. I don't even like it, but I still would hyper target him. Yeah. He's gigantic. Yeah, it would have been like 30% last year. So look, the offense is going to be something we're paying close attention to in terms of what does Aaron Rodgers have left? Can, you know, it's one thing to say they want to pass it more. It's another thing to say like the depth of target. The, you know, it fits pit minute, fits firemute. It fits backfield targets for for Jalen Warren. It doesn't fit. Heading right. Yeah, go. So the seventh round picks. Seventh round. Yeah, yeah, hopefully miss army. Let me just know. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's a heavy. Yeah, thank you. I'm just a baby. Yeah, thank you. You don't get to talk about. I know. Any Pittsburgh depth at running back for one year. I agree. You get one. I'll take my, you get one year off. I agree. He's also going to be on the practice squad. Hopefully that may be. Um, so, so let's talk fantasy. Let's talk how we're actually viewing. I think the big names, Metcalf, Pitman, Jalen Warren and maybe the Rico Dattle, what that looks like in the, in the equation. Yeah, for, for me, when I went back and I watched the tape of Aaron Rogers, um, he looked like he had to check everything down. When I watched his, uh, clean pocket, 20, you know, plus area, throw's, it was really bad. It was, I mean, he, I don't know that he really has that in his arsenal, um, anymore. And I don't think it was a weapon problem. I mean, Calvin Austin can get open deep. DK Metcalf is, you know, good enough to receive those targets. They were, they were very bad. This is why personally I have Michael Pitman leading in targets because I think my, they might not be as valuable as deep down the field, but I think the possession type of receiver is something they really, really need. Um, so for fantasy purposes, I don't think there's going to be a lot to love here, but I do have personally Pitman, uh, in the lead at target. Mike, if you, if you look at your rankings, do you have Pitman or DK Metcalf leading in fantasy points and like a half point? I have, uh, I have Metcalf higher with, you know, just some more touchdown opportunity, but neither of them are ranked out of control. Like the, the, they don't look like primary targets. Right. I have, I have Metcalf ahead of Pitman in fantasy points. Total targets were more ahead in Pitman and both outside the top 30. The number one Pittsburgh player off the board in fantasy right now. Do you want to guess the round? I mean, yeah, it's like, no, no, it's metcalfed up into the eight. I'll go seven. The first Pittsburgh player off the board in fantasy right now is Jalen Warren in the six room. Okay. Jalen Warren, uh, one thing to pay attention to there, like the workload has increased year over year, uh, average 16 opportunities of game last year. But if you look at his five zone carries the opportunity he had to get into the end zone. He converted four of 14. So 29% whereas you look at Rico Dowdell, he converted six of his eight opportunities last year in Carolina. Yeah. I'm, I, the backfield I do think is, is interesting. Not sure which of them is going to end up being the leader, but it's a reminder Rico Dowdell played with Mike McCarthy when, when Rico had his breakout year in Dallas. What's that? I said, he really wanted to play for Mike McCarty. Well, he did. No, when he broke out and had a thousand rushing yards when he had to take the job away from Ezekiel Elliott and Rico's, like Rico's not a nothing in the past in game. You don't think of him that way, but he's actually solid. Like he, his hands are fine and, and you can get it going. I'm not saying he's better than Jalen Warren, but I'm saying in terms of him just being on the field. Like he can operate in, in that part of the offense as well. So I lean. You lean on the recose. Based off of 80 p and everything. I lean on the Rico side. Yeah. It's, it's an argument to be made that you get the discount to take the second guy going lay. I assume he's at least around later, but sometimes in, in mocks, I've seen him go like back to back. I'm just saying he's around and a half later. I, I would take the bet on Jalen Warren simply because Aaron Rogers, Mike McCarty, they've played together before and Rogers going to check the ball down, but Aaron Rogers wants, like he's got the, the, the quick step drop where he is timing and rhythm and he wants this guy in the exact right spot. I think doubtal is a better athlete, more, more explosive, but Warren, the way that Rogers talked about him last year, I know he got injured and, and then Kenny Game will kind of step in. But the way he talked about Warren was like that veteran who he can rely on. And so I do think that's who Rogers is going to want on the field. He could, that, it, that's a huge part of it that we don't know. Yeah. But just like Rico, you know, and the, his two year, we'll go the, the past three years, he was, his catch rate is great. It's 77% or higher. You know, yards per catch eight and a half down to six point four and then seven point six this past year with Carolina. Just he, he has it is what I'm saying. So if I'm making the, the bet in the draft, the more, while Warren, it probably profiles as the, the past catch. Or there's a chance that Rico's the first and second down guy, which you'll still get plenty of targets playing for Rogers. If that's his role, plus goal line, has, and that has me lead lean doubtal in the draft. By the way, the last three teams and seasons that Rogers displayed 14 fantasy points, 15 fantasy points, 14 fantasy points per game. We are, we are many years removed from, yeah. Now split that up amongst all the targets. Yeah, that, that is a huge problem. I will, I will say only 54 targets for, for our me last year in this offense. He's had seasons of 98 and, and 70s, multiple times. Just keep it in the very deep recesses of your mind and probably don't worry about it too much. All right. Baltimore. The Baltimore Ravens, I mean, what a, they have seen North is full of a lot of transition from, you know, long 10 years of the head coaching position. Last year, they projected wind total 10 and a half. They were two and five in one score game. So you talk about the inverse of, of what the, you know, the sealers did. That's something that you could see, especially with Lamar Jackson being healthy. Two and five is pretty extreme. They went eight and nine. Their wind total this year is up to 11 and a half. I think there's a lot of excitement about Baltimore. They were 10th and points per game last year on the offensive side, 15th and yards per game. But a brand new head coach, Jesse Menter, Declan Doyle, year one, offensive coordinator. So before we get into the names and the players, just your reaction to the change, Harbond Tomlin had been the rivalry for years and years and years. Now you've got a young defensive minute head coach and Jesse Menter. How do you feel about the transition? For the transition, I'm fine. You know, I mean, overall, we are, we side on, you'd rather have your, your, your offensive mastermind being your head coach because you like Declan Doyle's coming in. He's the, he is a protégé of the Ben Johnson system, which that's super exciting. You know, like we had the McVey guys leave out and scatter amongst the NFL and it really, those are the teams that we go after for fantasy football. Ben Johnson, I think, is going to have the same type of tree. Like his offense, he's just, Ben Johnson is smarter than you are. Like that's just how I feel about him. So Declan Doyle coming down is exciting for this year. I just, you would be, or if I'm Baltimore, I'd be concerned that you, if you're good, you're going to lose Declan Doyle. But that's longer term. Yes, that's the zoomed out long term version. But for this year, I think it's a lot of pretty exciting. Yeah. And I think that the win total says a lot about what's expected. Jason, do you have thoughts on that transition? Yeah. I mean, I, I don't, I don't see it as an up arrow because Todd Monkin was someone we loved. It's not like you're going from a bad offensive mind. You know, Todd Monkin in year two, two years ago with Lamar was unbelievable. You know, Lamar put up, you know, fantasy breaking stats again. And so I do like Declan Doyle. I think he might be good, but good to me is sideways. The, the win percentage, I think is fantastic. The fact that they're projected for 11 and a half with a sixth, easiest schedule coming up, that gives me excitement more for really Derek Henry, the, the running game. I think that obviously at some point, the immortal one will have to shed his, you know, his Yeti fur, but until it happens, I'm going to assume that, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to take the age is a deduction. Yeah. And I'll be drafting Derek Henry. You just want that guy that's built same size as like a J and then brought. He's got the pounds on him. But same way. Yes. That's a funny. We're just laughing at like whenever you compare NBA players height to the biggest guys in the NFL, how comical it is, but like J and the Brunson's the same height as Derek Henry were on an NBA court. You'd be like, who's that little guy? Crazy. Crazy. The King Yeti eight straight season of double digit rushing touchdowns for Derek Henry. 27. inside the five. So he is an outlier. I'm with you. I would buy into another year of Derek Henry. I mean, what are your options for if you're Baltimore? Yeah. I mean, you have gone in. It's justice. Hill, Roshina Ali. I know they just his hills always around. Yes, he is. They drafted a guy that we like in the draft process and Adam Randall because he's a converted wide receiver to running back. And also when they say they drafted the owner drafted and hand picked him. Just to tell how's it had a key to the building in five years, but he just waste for somebody open the front door and he slips in. And yet he remains the insurance back. He is. And you know, we've had a lot of conversations. I think about the wide receiver position and what to expect. Eklund oil, like you said, there's excitement. The schedule. It's good. Say flowers has been there, dude, in the wide receiver room. It's been an offense where we've seen it filter through the tight end position. We've had Mark Andrews have elite years. We've had Isaiah likely involved in the offense. Zay flowers is their guy. This target share has gone up each of the three seasons. I am, I am more. I think I'm softening a negative stance on flowers for a couple of reasons. Yes. I don't think that, you know, I'm not going to look at like acquisitions of Jacobi Lane, Elijah Sirot as, you know, target challenges to Zay flowers. And also it's the draft cost. I mean, if I can get Zay flowers in the fifth round. Hey, welcome aboard. That's, that's just too good of an opportunity. It's too good. I mean, Lamar Jackson had nine percent of his attempts as in zone attempts. So it's the highest rate in the entire NFL. He likes Zay flowers. And I don't think that we should, if you told me he's getting drafted at where he finished last year, I'm out. Yeah. He was, you know, the worst wide receiver seven of all time, but he was still the wide receiver seven, but you're not drafting him like that. You're drafting him as a, as a, you know, mid wide receiver two wide receiver three. Absolutely. In the fifth round. That's, that's fine. And I'm fine drafting a guy there that you know is going to be the leader. You know, Zay flowers as the leader of a good offense. That's all you know. Now, I also feel like we can reliably say we know he's not getting double digit touchdowns. He's, I don't think that's, I don't think at the end of his career, you're going to be like, Oh, that was his outlier with 10 touchdowns. I think it'll be like, Oh, he had no, five, five, four, five, you're not going to get that heat those in zone targets that you're talking about those go to mandrages. Yeah, those don't go to, there's not a lot of those going to, um, to Zay flowers, but it is, let me see how many targets he had inside the red zone. He had 11 total targets in the red zone, one five zone target, five 10 zone targets had one touchdown in the red zone last year. But this, what I like about Zay is the talent of the player. I think Zay flowers is a top tier wide receiver. He was not the archetype of, you know, the, the big number one guy's out there. No, he's 5 9 180, but he, but how shift he is and his ability to, to get open or what's exciting about Zay flowers, he, the proof is already there. Target share going up three straight years at 28% target share last year. That's a, that's an elite target share. And the, I think that I view the change of offense here as a positive. A lot of the times you're like, oh, I would like things to stay the same. But the fact that it's changing and Zay flowers will clearly be the number one option in the passing game. Like it could get better. And like you said, you're, you're trying to project like a almond Ross St Brown situation for him with the tree, the binge on sentry. I mean, it's, it's the, like that's, that's the easy logical comparison, you know, of saying a smaller guy, which almond Ross smaller, but Zay flowers is smaller than almond Ross. So it's not a one to one. It makes sense for that, for that type of a thing to happen where it's like right now, the wide receiver to on the Baltimore Ravens is is and remains reshowed bateman for the next four years. He's under contract. Who just keeps getting contract extensions with the Baltimore Ravens despite never coming through with anything. And then that, you know, with Lane and Srirap being drafted this year, they're fighting to overtake bateman. They aren't fighting to take over for Zay flowers. So by the way, bateman through his nine healthy games last year on pace for 60 targets and 30 catches. So a player or more years, a player going where Zay flowers is going, knowing I'm getting, I'm getting 25% at least of the targets. He's really interesting. Are either of you taking a shot on one of the rookies? No, I'm not in redraft. Yeah. I'm probably just going to make the fact that you had to put it that way is part of the problem. The fact that it reminds me of when we had a handful of green Bay Packers rookies that you could have taken a shot on years ago. And it was like, was was Jacobi in the third? Jacobi Lane was drafted ahead of Elijah. I don't know. Yeah. But now by a lot. I mean, it was like a third or fourth round. And yeah, here's my problem with it is I feel like you have to win. You got to win the lottery twice. You got to have the rookie have the first year impact in the third or fourth round of the draft on a team that hasn't had anybody outside of flowers making the impact. Then you got to get the right one. Yeah. So that is something. Look, if you if you want watch training camp and you're right and one emergency is like, oh my gosh, this guy's amazing. Then maybe there's room. But I'm rooting for you, Elijah. I really like. So, so, so, a lot. I would say there's two more major conversations on this team. One is Lamar Jackson. Just like do you get the bounce back fantasy season from Lamar? I am fully in on Lamar. I don't last year. I just I'm deleting it. He was injured four different, you know, tough hours. Week nine. And he's Lamar. There are 11 and a half win total. I I'm totally fine drafting Lamar. Just for context, he was the number one quarterback in 2024 with 25 points of game. He dropped to 16 a game last year. That's his lowest since his rookie year. He had 349 rushing yards last year. And I know he was hurt, but that is. Yeah. I want to get a large per attempt for a day down way down and you might get a value on it. And then the last one is just the conversation around Mark Andrews. The statistical output for Andrews has declined year over year. Not the same player. Certainly a red zone threat at all times. And about 11 fantasy points per game to nine to six only 70 targets the last two years. He's a touchdown machine. Yeah. He could he could easily have easily have 10 touchdowns this year. And you'll be fine for where you draft them in fantasy. If he doesn't get a touchdown in the game, he's no longer the possession guy. He's not going to be up there at a thousand yards last year without in games where he didn't have a receiving touchdown averaged 4.2 fantasy points per game. However, he's free. I don't I don't even know if he's drafted in every day. Isaiah likely. And so yeah, Isaiah likely being gone. They brought in smith. So don't worry about it. And they they paid Andrews. So he's still going to be very involved on a good team. I'm fine. Like you know, my strategy. I want one of those top tier tight ends. And if not, I will grab whoever is leftover. Mark Andrews is Laporta at all costs based on on the order. At a cost. Oh, okay. I mean, if he falls to a right. Sure. But I am fine with scrap leftovers when there's guys like Mark Andrews who could go out. Be undrafted and score 10 top. You're mocked draft ended up so good for you. I like getting Josh Allen in the fifth round and then getting Laporta as a ladies. You did like the ninth. You're one Z's were the biggest discounted players. It was great. We'll take a break. We'll talk about the Bengals. All right. Two teams. We've talked about two more to go the six and eleven Cincinnati Bengals. Oh man. They had eight and a half win total last year going into the season. They had a tough schedule. Ten other games were against teams with a winning record, which is the most in the NFL. And a lot of those. A lot of those came down to the wire and they didn't win a lot of those ones that came down to the wire. There were three and five and one scored games. We know burrow. The story with burrow is when he plays football and has a healthy chase in Higgins. He's awesome. It's pretty magma. And we also got to enjoy one of the worst defenses ever. That was very very enjoyable. We'll talk about that momentarily. But you know, they they lost back to that games last year where they scored 37 plus points in both of them. They lost to the Jets 39 38. They lost to the the Bears 47 42. They gave up 39 points to the Jets. Yeah. I do not remember the man that deep. That's probably because you're too busy watching the fantasy points pile up on the offensive side. But the projected win total just jumped one game to nine and a half. They have the third easiest strength to schedule. At least right now that looks pretty good. Favorite in 15 of 17 games. And they have a wild amount of games with huge like. Yeah. Huge lines like, you know, 50.4 as the total for a Dallas game. So crazy. But let's talk about the big picture here for the fantasy production of this team. Let's start with that defense that was so atrocious that meant he had to score a ton of points. They did spend a lot of time this off season. They made the huge trade for Dexter Lawrence. Jonathan Allen is there. That's huge. I mean, they brought in a safety. They brought in a defensive end. Their draft was focused there rightly so. I think it will be an improved defense. But normally, they're not going to Normally you see those transitions take a couple years to get to the point where, you know, I think Dallas will be better than they were last year. I think since now to be better than they were last year. But when you're 31st, you got a long way to go. Oh, yeah. Get a little better, but just stay bottom. Just stay bottom third. You know, they coming off of last year where they could not rely on a defense. I think that even if the defense isn't improved, this is going to be an offense with the pedal to the floor to avoid their defense giving up late. You know, I don't think this is going to be a team that's trying to, you know, halfway through the third quarter, run the ball out, slow it down. This is Joe Burrow's team. Yeah. Well, that's, I mean, but even if they've got a lead and they think that they could do that, I think they're going to keep putting the ball in Burrow's hands, throw it a lot, score a ton of points. This is an offense that I think everyone wants. Yes. I'm not going to get a discount on chase. Burrow right now, you know, isn't being overdrafted. Are you both over burrow in your rankings or do you have burrow higher? I think that's an interesting one for people because like Lamar right now, 80 P wise is the cheapest he's been over the last five years in the fourth round. I'm guessing burrows in a lot of leagues going ahead of him. Yeah. Right now I've got Lamar in both six point and four point ahead of burrow. Burrow's ahead for me in six point here. Here's what I think it matters for these ones. I don't feel like since the 90s a difficult projection of a team. You know, like what's wild is like Zach Taylor is going into his eighth year. Every other head coach in this entire division is a first year head coach. He's like the longest 10 year guy by a long stretch and we just know what to expect. We know that he's not going to do anything to like slow burrow down or stop burrow from throwing the ball as many times as he did last year. This final six weeks of the year, he was on a 17 game pace. Burrow was a 4500 passing yards and 43 passing touchdowns. There was a desperation to that team, trying to find a way to, you know, get close enough to where they could get help to get into the playoffs and all of that. You know, burrow is always going to be a little bit of an injury risk, I think. I think we'd all he will be even when you drop back like take the injury history aside, when you drop back and throw the ball them anytime. It's a risk. We have what we have six years of Joe burrow and three of them. He's had catastrophic injury. But the three where he's playing, you know, the full season, he's throwing for over 4500 yards and 30 plus touchdowns. Yeah, I mean, for fantasies is really easy. All four guys are good. Burrow, chase Brown. Yeah, even the guy in Chase Marais. Yep, those four where they're going in drafts, I am thrilled to have them on my team. I think they can be actual difference makers. I want pieces of this team and the best part of getting pieces of this team is it's consolidated. No one else is really going to take away from those four players. So I think they are tied in to give you. You know what I mean? You would be you do if he against Mrs. Time. Mike Gisickey. Yeah, it like sticky. Gisickey. The I don't like that nickname. But it rhymes. It's been a while since we brought it up. And I now I'm like the bangles of Garrett. They're just great. They're they're just so fantastic for fantasy. They're very similar to Dallas legitimately. They're very similar situation. They really are because if George or CD Mrs. Time, I'm very interested in Jake Ferguson. But otherwise, otherwise I'm not. No, and you love pickings. You love see you. You love that. No, I mean, Chase Brown. To me, yet again, is one of, I think the best picks at ADP. One thing I didn't mention that I think at least for these last two teams as we're mentioning is the the start you're going to get in fantasy from these players. The first six matchups for Baltimore, they're favored by three and a half, seven and a half, two and a half, eight and a half, four and a half, six and a half. They're playing now four road games, but they're favored in all of them. And for Cincinnati, they're favored in five, but they have an early buy in week six. So I mean, that's just worth worth noting, but they're favored in four of five. Sorry, four of the five. Houston, they are not in week two, which we could use a stronger start from. Yes. It seems impossible for them to start week one burrow is always bad. They're at home against Tampa. He should be good, but it's always scary. Come on, you could do it this year, burrow. We didn't talk about him extensively, but Chase Brown, how safe do you view him as a fantasy pick today? Super duper safe. He's like so perfect because he's not a thumper. So like you said, when they're not going to have, they're not going to have these big leads where they give the ball to a darecandry that wears the game out, but he's always going to be out there on the field. He can catch the football. He was the fifth most receptions at the, the running back position. Yeah, when, when they throw it to you and they give you touchdown opportunities and you're on a great offense, that's all I need. Who's the rumored free agent for Cincinnati? There was somebody that they were talking about could go there running back. I know another happen because Chase Brown's reached like new ones. Yeah. Oh, come out. There was a passing Alvin Camaro, which is like when you located the source of it, it's it's absolutely nothing. Okay. Well, also he could go there and I wouldn't care. By the way, the funny thing, speaking of the Camaro news, I saw somebody break down the the metrics between Travis H. Anginier last year and Camaro's numbers in terms of like all the efficiency metrics and they were the same. Really? Yeah, they were just the same. But talking about running the football. Yeah. And that seems impossible. Yeah, it was an NFL rumors thing about the Bengals being linked to Alvin Camaro. I'm not worried about it. That's the last thing I want to do if I'm Alvin Camaro is leave. Yeah. I don't mind all year of just like just just be a legend in that city. But until it's like fits in Arizona, he wasn't going to go. If anything, or if nothing changes for Chase Brown, his competition will be soon to be 31 year old Samaj P. Ryan and Taj Brooks, a sixth round pick, which Chase Brown was at later pick as well. And Taj Brooks has his supporters, but Brooks could not get a dynasty team. You're a dynasty. You're Taj Brooks. I don't know if I do it. Probably. Honestly, don't mind. My dynasty team's nickname now is Michael is Matthew Golden in the scraps. My team is so bad. So it's just called the scraps. It's just called the scrap. The rebuilding process and dynasty just to give you the play by play. I haven't got to reflect on that yet because I've never done it. How's it going? It's miserable. It's necessary misery. Yeah. And it's multiple years. If just you know, you have to do it. It's like construction, man. Right. While it's going on, you hate everything. I want those lanes open. Yeah, you're like, those guys making a living to construction in your situation. Because my rebuild is going to be five years. Wow, just it's very similar because once it's done, you're like, you forget. Well, you forget about the construction. You're just like, oh, this freeway now has two extra lanes. Yeah. I don't have the supplies necessary to build the house right now. Okay. You know, who's been under construction for about 30 years? The Cleveland Browns. Any day now. They have not won the AFC North since 1989. Okay. 30 was calm. Falcon, when were you born? 96 96. You're going to be late. Cali. So you've never seen Cleveland, you know, atop the AFC North. Nope. Josh has. All right. Cleveland, five and 12 last year. He had a five and a half win total. They delivered the five. This year, it's up at six and a half guys. Fourth easiest strength to schedule on it's at six and a half wins. No more miles, Garrett. So like your reason to watch has gone down. That's great news for the aforementioned Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. Cleveland's favorite in two games this year. I think that gets to Atlanta and Las Vegas. Kyle. Probably both home games. Kyle, the Browns are favorite against your family. That feels that's got to feel better. It has to hurt so much. Obviously that game's got to be in Cleveland. Yeah. Maybe in the winter. Oh, my gosh. The old adage, you know, if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. What if you have none? Quarterbacks. You also have none. Yeah, that's how the math works. 30th and points per game last year or 31st, 30th and yards per game. You just said you love Todd Monkant, but this is a taught task. Year one is a head coach. He's 60 years old. We looked at, we looked this up. There are eight first time head coaches over the last 25 years that were. Or more good cutoff. Yeah. Didn't work out well for them. They average 6.4 wins. Only Bruce Arian's in my exam or last two more than three years. Todd Monkant congrats on getting that job. This was the one you're going to get. Yeah. And to be clear, I don't know that Todd Monkant is a good head coach. There are plenty of great coordinators who are not made to be head coaches at 60. I think that's going to be even harder. It's good offensive mind, which is fun. Some of the things you've been hearing out of camp, which obviously this time of year, the only things you're going to hear are good. Oh, I really like the offensive system and some of the changes. But they went out and they spent in the draft on. Which we liked it. Yes. Concepcion. And it's our Boston. We liked the players that they drafted. We kind of wish they would have gone to a situation they could have more impact for fantasy football earlier. a conception, Denzel Boston as Boston's been making a lot of headlines. Those are two players that we really liked. We liked them as prospects. And they're very. I like that they're different archetypes. And it concepts you. If you're going to do the kind of the surface level, well, Monkin had flowers. Conception is a Z-flowers type of archetype of a player. So can he maximize what KC is good at? This was a team that was tied for the lowest wide receiver target percentage in the NFL last year. Ah, yes, with the Steelers. So, you know, you have a situation where there is opportunity. One of the big questions about Cleveland is, do we care who the quarterback is? Because you can kind of say, well, could it get worse? You know, Watson in 2024 was dead last in EPA per play. Shedur in 2025 was dead last in EPA per play. At the end of the day, I think my answer is still yes. I do care. Like, I want somebody that's going to. I don't care if your EPA per play is, oh, man, I do care. But I just want somebody that's going to give some of, you know, the Harold Fanon, Conception, Boston, opportunities to make plays. You're going to be losing a lot of ball games. You talk about what kept them in it last year. Myles Garrett was a big piece of the puzzle. Their defense was fourth in yards per game. They will be a worse defense. That is good for fantasy. I do care. I do care which guy emerges. And I just want opportunities for these young players. I want Harold Fanon to not be a sophomore flop. This is the guy that hurts me the most in all of fantasy football. Is Harold Fanon because I love him. I think he is. We went into the off season. When we. When last season ended, I had Harold Fanon ahead of Tyler Warner and ahead of Colson Loveland. Then their teams changed. They got rid of DJ Moore. They got rid of Michael Pittman. You know, it seemed like, okay, now there's clarity in those two. I would clearly take them over. But Fanon was so. He's a great player. He's a great player. And in the games where Shadour started, which started a week 12, and if you take out the injury game where he was good in fantasy because it got a touchdown. But, you know, you didn't. He only played 20% of snaps. During that stretch, Wis Shadour and both of their rookie seasons, he was on pace for 142 targets. 31% team target share. Almost a thousand yards. Ten touchdown pace. Like he was dominant. And I want to be in on him. Yeah, I mean, I think that the case you have right there is that you were the terrible team and a terrible offense and a terrible quarterback, Probeller. But that you still had the effectiveness of Fanon. I have zero fear about Boston and concept Sean. How many Fanon had all of that? That is my fear. I don't have any fear of that. I think them as a tandem, even in year one, is better than what was going on last year. It was Judy. Oh, it's better than Judy. Judy, Judy, everybody. That was all the most. But you also had David Nijoku in this offense and the numbers you just read for the numbers. You just read for Fanon were outrageous. I mean, you just need if your offense is going to be more competent with a offensive minded head coach. Nijoku was just phased out. Like, I mean, it started. You know, he was the guy that you like, Monkin or not? Do you think he can do better than what they've done? I think you can do better than what they have done. But quarterback is just it's the most important position in professional sports. Cause if you don't have one and I mean, like we saw it last year, you know, with Jacobi percent, he's at least competent. Can Shedur elevate his game where he's not dead last in EPA and he's actually in a competent quarterback? Cause he was not last year. I mean, he was competent enough to give Fanon some really good numbers. Yeah. Fanon was to tighten five with a missed game and an injury in his second to last game. They grabbed Spencer Fano, number nine, in the draft at offensive tackle. He'd been ahead of adding conception and Boston. I hate these little mountain. I love fan it so much. And you're convulsing a little bit. Yeah. It's really difficult anytime you have just kind of a cloud of misery hanging over a team. I think there's opportunity in fantasy. It's going to depress values in ADP. The cardinals are going to be depressed. I'm depressed because I'm a cardinal fan, but the values are going to be depressed. We saw a horrific cardinals team put up great offensive numbers where it's multiple number one options in McBride and Wilson, but they had one of the worst defenses in the league in that stretch, whereas the Browns have, I know they lost miles, Garrett, but they've still got a very good defense. They're going to lose almost all their games. This all that matters to me is that the cardinals are going to win maybe a game this year. The Browns are going to win maybe two. And they're going to be trailing. They're going to throw the football fan and was prolific. So that turns the conversation then into Quinshon Judkins who, you know, he'll get it all great prospects. Also was great as a rookie. You look at no, you look at the numbers and you're like, oh, he didn't rush for a lot per carry. He, the offensive line was trash. You watch the games. He was, he is, he looked the part on the NFL field. It was not his fault that they were always down and I'm much more adjacent side on this. I don't, I don't care about the yards per carry number for him at all. Well, it, it, okay, not even yards per carry. 67% of his runs were three or fewer yards. I mean, that's, that's the charge per carry. But, but that's just, that's effectiveness. That's efficiency. I mean, like at some, I agree, you know, maybe the offensive line is not the best, but that's the worst rate in the NFL. No, I'm, I'm for that. For a player getting that amount of volume to not even be able to hit three yards on 67% of your carries. That's a big deal. I mean, that's bad. The numbers were bad for Gentian as yards per carry. I mean, you, you are up against it when you have no quarterback play and you don't have the opportunity for the defense to focus on anything else. I, and Monkins is a better strategist. They have a better offensive line and I'll take a 22 year old running back who passed the eye test to me. I will too, but I don't like using teams. I don't think I'm going to do it this year. I, I want to give Judkins his props and just say he's a really good running back. But like you said, they're going to be losing games. I'd rather say I'm going to be losing games and they're not going to score a ton of touchdowns. This isn't the situation. They don't have a good offensive light, even though they added Spencer Fano that I think I would much rather go in on the passing than the running. Let's have the conversation around this division. Then Jaylen Warren or Coincine Judkins, because Warren is behind him in ADP Warren. So I'll take Judkins. I'll take the workload. David Montgomery or Coincine Judkins Montgomery's two spots behind him. I ain't going to take Montgomery. Jadarian price is just behind him. Price will go up though. Remondre Stevenson or Coincine Judkins. That one's going to make you say something that you don't like. I will take Judkins there. Mike, you're going to answer. It's probably Remondre. DeAndre Swift. Oh, that's easy. That's easy. Those are the guys going. It's like toot and swift Judkins in drafts. Most of those guys I would take over Judkins simply because of the Browns situation. I love the player. I just don't know what the ceiling cap is. Could he be a top 15 back if things went right? That's kind of the part of that discussion that is the targets. I'm not saying Judkins can't do that. We have some evidence in college that he can. What we saw with Monkin, what Derek Henry, when it was time to pass the ball, Derek Henry's off the field. You're saying this is a Dylan Samson? And Dylan Samson, last year, he saw 40 targets. Samson, as a rookie. It's all I think of those. It's so stupid. That's a question that we need training camp to hopefully answer for us is how does Monkin view the offense? Does Judkins to him going to be on the field when they're, when GameScript is great? Or will he just be a three down guy? I don't think we have the answer to that. Start making your notes on your division order. Okay. Right. Because we got to predict this division as we wrap it up. I don't know if there are any other big questions around Cleveland other than whether you'd take a shot on either the rookie White receivers. I think both are fine to take a shot on because they'll be very cheap. For the Browns? Yeah. I mean, I was like, Denzel Boston. He's a perfect last round pick in fantasy because you will not have to spend anything higher than that. He's made a lot of headlines. He's a lot like the lottery ticket. You were just talking about with the Ravens where you've got to then get the road. Yeah, but he's at least a second rounder. And they're the one. I mean, you got the chance to be the one in the team like Zayf Lauer's, you're battling to be the three or the two. Just a reminder. I mean, we said it, Jerry Judy still on this team and Isaiah Bond has been getting a lot of offseason hype around him. So the death chart for the Browns is actually pretty murky right now. Would you draft Jerry Judy in a Jerry Judy only league? No, I would pass. I would quit the league. My division winner is Baltimore followed by Cincinnati. Then Pittsburgh and Cleveland. I have Cincinnati winning the division. I figured you would. Baltimore will go second and then Steelers and Cleveland. Jason. I've got Baltimore winning the division. I've got Pittsburgh second with the defense. Since he third in Cleveland is the free bingo square on Thursday. On Thursday, we will talk AFC South. And as a reminder, again, three shows a week. So we'll have a Saturday episode of the podcast. Oh, man, your lawn doesn't stand a chance. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. It does not. And we will make sense of mock draft episodes in between divisional breakdowns as well. As we close things out, the ultimate draft kit, go to ultimate draft kit.com, the draft analyzer is live right now. And you know, getting down to the final reminders here, there are only a handful of tickets left. But the fantasy footballers live Megalus show in Phoenix here presented by series XM and sponsored by GMC and PetSmart. Friday, August 28th at the van Buren in Phoenix, ballerslive.com is where you get tickets. There are a few mezzanine tickets left. There are a few kind of other floor tickets scattered around if you want to pick one up. They're there, but they're going fast. It's going to be amazing. We want to see the foot clan there. You guys are awesome. It is never lost on us on how amazing our listenership is and your loyalty to the show and the fantasy football and all of the shenanigans on this podcast. We love you guys. So that'll do it for today's episode for any Mike and Jason. We got the doosters back there. Al Borland, Papa Josh and the Falcon born in 1996. Yeah. We'll see you later. Goodbye. Thank you for watching TheFoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers.