Speaker 1and now we turn to the world of sports the football season is upon us and that means it's time to get ready for your fantasy football drafts the ultimate draft kit from the fantasy footballers is the cat's pajamas and only tool you need the best rankings in the business sleepers breakouts values it's even got a free companion app don't be a pigeon-livered foosler the ultimate draft kit will keep you on the up and up and keep all the hornswogglers at bay don't even think about entering a fantasy football draft without it don't be a square head to ultimate draft kit.com today
Speaker 2welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your hosts andy holloway jason moore and mike wright
Speaker 3oh welcome in so tuesday august 18th the fantasy footballers rated pg
Speaker 4for today's episode pretty good yeah they we have to release a rating now great news we did not get removed from the internet from what did he say
Speaker 3well that yesterday had some moments in it um that was that was you gotta go watch that show that's a hot show uh yeah just you know
Speaker 5what did he say
Speaker 3it was wild um it's another day it's another day of injuries we'll get into it on the news we always have to talk about injuries it is annoying um but we have let's hold off on that as long as we can yeah we have a segment at the top here performance climbers we've also got sleepers on today's show sleeper picks on the show today so that's very exciting these we got some ambient sleepers for you today we have some like deep sleepers as we're going after it yeah calling some shots the rim a lot of rim um rem rem yeah i was one rim sleep like a lot of
Speaker 6rims got there and wouldn't they call it rim yeah that's what i was that was the issue rim
Speaker 4well now you said rim goodness eyes and ease
Speaker 3you were saying rim a lot pronunciation has become a bigger issue on this show than ever before and i don't know why that is i was
Speaker 4dude i'm like basketball rim double rim it's hard to shoot in the park and i have no idea i don't know where andy's going with this one uh but it was rem rim sleep yeah not to be confused
Speaker 3with the band rem yeah yeah it does seem like the end of the world right now we're falling apart the udk for life giveaway is going on you still have a chance to get in there we're going to do a live stream next monday and give away a udk for life and a signed jamar chase jersey and probably some other swag and fun stuff like that ultimate draft kit.com uh this has been requested
Speaker 4i'm not sure why this gets requested
Speaker 3so uh if that doesn't persuade you funny but i don't i don't see the appeal but people love it um there you go so uh we have a lot to cover today we had a big signing in the world of the nfl and it will have implications they did it in the
Speaker 4the cover of darkness too you know what was that about what's funny is we never like we
Speaker 3have a slack channel for all the breaking news and anybody in the company that finds it can put it in there nobody ever linked an actual article in the channel last night and i'm not sure if it's it was jason breaking the news and he except not even breaking news he just said he in all caps he
Speaker 6was just like oh come on yeah yeah this is this is a sleeper episode and my sleeper today that i was all prepared for was josh downs who i still i still like i'm still willing to draft but
Speaker 3not looking as good today as he was i don't know this time yesterday yeah so we'll we'll get into the signing of a veteran wide receiver there in just a minute so we'll get into the signing of a just a moment but first
Speaker 2performance climbers presented by gmc
Speaker 3every week we've been looking at players that are moving up in their adp their average draft position week over week in performance climbers three names each and every week this week jonathan brooks terrence ferguson marshawn lloyd are the names we're going to discuss jonathan
Speaker 6brooks has been flying up draft way like to a point where i think it is getting inappropriate he's a rocket man i saw someone who said they play in a it's a legit league that takes it very serious they just had their draft and jonathan brooks went in the sixth round holy shnikes yeah and so that's that bad i mean that's just the question i i do think that's early bad i i mean yes i mean i i think it's earlier than is appropriate for a player who has yet to do anything is still i believe the backup and isn't on a team that projects like let's say he wins the job obviously if tuba goes down and he's there by himself great but that's not what is being you're not drafting for that no um otherwise you'd be taking blake quorum you know that he would be the better option if that's what you're trying to do you're drafting this guy because you think hey he's younger he's more explosive good offensive line they want to run the ball um and he only has to overtake tuba he should he could but in that world where he does tuba's not going away and it's not like you're on a great offense so what is his like what do you see as both players are healthy this year jonathan brooks is the better player maybe even early in the season they make that transition what's his
Speaker 3bull case i mean i think it's pretty high when you saw what rico did last year for this very team even in a world where people were starting rico when tuba was back and they are the 10th highest run percentage team in the nfl so to your point about the offensive line i i think it's about the first round talent and it's about the upside of a team that wants to run the football a ton i feel like rico took over the league for a while last year he did for a couple games like a three game stretch where he does has a higher like potential than than rico does not that he will i mean like last year rico you know everything about jonathan brooks is he could be a boat like he was where where's jcm because you brought up jacory krosky right yesterday we if you could start a team today are you taking jcm 10 out of 10 times over jonathan brooks because jcm is a seventh eighth round pick
Speaker 6right jcm right now but right now is a ninth round oh are you saying in fantasy yeah you were like he
Speaker 4was drafted in the nfl like the seventh or eighth round no i said i miss misunderstanding fantasy
Speaker 3in the same round as jcm i just feel like it's a similar i would take you away i would you rather
Speaker 4have i would be taking bill every single time because i feel quite confident that bill is the starter right now like it's it's certainly not for sure and rashad why it may be far more uh time share than i think it's going to be but it's like brooks has done nothing except for for get hurt i'm okay with the bull case because i think if jonathan brooks hits he's a top 24 running back like rico had his time he took over it got kind of messy there if if y'all remember like it was oh rico took the job and then he's and then coach is being coy about oh who's the starter and we all know it's supposed to be rico then chuba comes back and they're trying to say they don't want chuba to lose his job to injury but it was so clear that rico was better on the ground and then rico became the starter again then it was just a matter of time before he was able to get to the top so i think it's just a matter of time before he was able to get to the top so i think it's just a matter of time before he was able but the fact that he was running back 58 in early june on sleeper and he is now the running back 35 like this is this this man's in a in a different stratosphere well i don't think we knew
Speaker 3anything about his health and whether they were confident with him in the beginning of the summer i rico it was 51 of the carries last year and 10 of the targets and i think people are just looking for if you get higher upside value later on i think it's going to be a lot of work and i think later i guess i find myself slightly more on the brooks side of things where i am too it's just six
Speaker 6would you would you be intense i would take over jc over jc what about what about dobbins jk dobbins
Speaker 3i would probably take brooks wow yeah mostly because i love jonah coleman who could have easily been a sleeper name on today's show and i don't like rj harvey and i don't trust dobbins to stay healthy nor be kind of like he was a late signing a late re-signing by denver so like i think part of the plan in the draft to see what happens but is the future jk dobbins i don't think so so i don't know long
Speaker 4Sure, but I think this year it's definitely dominant.
Speaker 3Yeah, so, I mean, Jason, you didn't answer. Are you JCM or Jonathan Brooks?
Speaker 6I would be JCM. I loved Jonathan Brooks' film, but it's really tough coming into year three on a team that I still don't think is a great offense. And I believe that while he is going to be the more explosive back, I don't believe it will be a situation where now he is the only back in town. Chuba is a solid veteran there that, you know, hasn't looked bad. And so he'll be involved. So if this just becomes a timeshare, I worry about that. I think it's easier for JCM to beat Rashad White than it is for Jonathan Brooks to beat Chuba. I think that's my argument.
Speaker 4I think Brooks is taking the job. It's just the at what point and when he does, is it actually valuable enough to start everything?
Speaker 6I will say, if he gets... If he gets the job entirely, if he just wins and they're like, hey, this is the future of our team, we're going to unleash him. Two years ago, Chuba for the Panthers, he was the running back 13. So maybe the bull case for Brooks is that. And I think that's when people are drafting him. They truly think he will be a top 15 running back if he wins that job. That's the part I'm a little bit more skeptical of.
Speaker 3The second name, Terrence Ferguson. If you don't know him, tight end, second year guy for the Los Angeles Rams. Somebody that I think we hoped would have success in a bigger way for fantasy last year. This is a tight end room. I know there's excitement around Ferguson, but it does have Colby Parkinson, who is the starter on the depth chart. Tyler Higbee is still there. Davis Allen, who is flash, is still there. I believe Max Clare was the draft pick, right?
Speaker 6Yeah, it's a very, very busy...
Speaker 3I don't know what 12 personnel is. If you start four tight ends at the same time, I don't know what that becomes number-wise. But yeah. Let's talk about Terrence Ferguson, because he's up about a round. I think some people are excited. Puka's dealing with the groin. I guess I feel a little bit like Sean McVay has fooled me a few times. He certainly has. I mean, even going back to like...
Speaker 4Gerald Everett. Gerald Everett.
Speaker 3I feel like they are almost willing to just throw the ball to any tight end that's open ever.
Speaker 4They're willing to throw everybody off the scent. Yeah. We will draft this player in the second just to trick you.
Speaker 6I think that part of the reason that we feel fooled by McVay with different players, whether it's Allen Robinson or Gerald Everett, it's actually in part because Sean McVay has gotten so much fantasy value out of so many different people. Yes. Cooper Cup was a sensational superstar. You're chasing a best-case scenario. Puka, a fifth-rounder, all of a sudden is literally maybe the best wide receiver in football. And so you're saying if you have talent and you put him on this offense, maybe something... Something truly special could happen. And that's the argument for Ferguson is you look at how many... You know, Colby Parkinson was a touchdown machine. Now, he's in front of him right now on the depth chart. But at the same time, this is a player in Ferguson that is very different than the others. And what's happened to this offseason and in preseason shows that a utilization of Ferguson as a much more full-time player, the way that McVay has been talking about him as completely overstating every part of the system now. He's on the field, you know, in preseason for the starters, he was on the field in all formations. In camp, he's been making play after play after play. And they really need a third option. And, you know, as Devontae Adams is, you know, your number two option behind Devontae, you have no idea of any kind of solid piece that can really step up. And then, obviously, at that age, if Devontae Adams falls off, drops off, deals with an injury and can't get back, there's an opportunity for someone to be a really talented pass catcher. He dealt with injuries his rookie year. He didn't get on the field that much. Towards the end of the season, he started to finally get on the field. He was, like, up to 70% snaps. Then he got injured. In the playoffs, he was back up to some higher snap percentages. So we really haven't seen him. But on the limited snaps he had, he was over 20 yards of reception. This is a really, like, good pass-catching weapon. This is a really, like, good pass-catching weapon. This is a really, like, good pass-catching weapon. This is a really, like, good pass-catching weapon. This is a really, like, good pass-catching weapon. This is a really, like, good pass-catching weapon. I think the argument for Ferguson is, should he actually get 80% of the snaps, which I think is reasonable because of how many tight ends they use, he has the opportunity to do something for fantasy that's special. That's my argument for him.
Speaker 3Yeah, 11 receptions last year. Like you said, 231 yards on those receptions. You know, you didn't get to see a lot. What you saw was explosive. And, like, you know, we were kind of saying they must believe in Devontae Adams because they didn't add more. They didn't add more pass catchers. Maybe they do have more confidence in the tight end room. Marshawn Lloyd is the last name here in performance climbers. And he's appropriately gone up a round and a half in draft in ADP because we can actually talk about him this time of year because he's actually healthy right now. I mean, Marshawn Lloyd is a very talented player. The nice thing in preseason was that he was very clearly the backup to Josh Jacobs. There was a news report today that Jacobs is returning to practice. He was dealing with an accident.
Speaker 6Yeah, they all are. Butterfly, my friends. Butterfly. But, yeah, I mean, Marshawn Lloyd is very similar to Jonathan Brooks. Very, yes. He's a very talented, explosive running back who was young and, like, could be something special. And just, we haven't seen him. They've been injured their entire short, young careers.
Speaker 3Feels like one more injury in Marshawn Lloyd is the Kendra Miller route of, like,
Speaker 6see you later, we're never going to see you again. Kendra Miller is the ultimate comp for Marshawn Lloyd. Talented back that, you know, it's like when they're on the pitch, practice field usually, it's like, whoa, explosive play. You hear some news and then too explosive, exploded some part of his leg. He's too explosive. I think there's more forgiveness for Jonathan Brooks because Jonathan Brooks tore his ACL twice. You know, and it's like, okay, it's a big injury. Marshawn Lloyd's broke. Stubbed his toe. Everything. He's now on his. Remember when he hit his thumb with the nail? Oh, that was just bad aim. It was bad aim. You've got to use a wooden mallet if you're Marshawn Lloyd. This is a player who's on a 72nd injury. So you don't expect him to actually be out there. But if he is.
Speaker 3There's a world where Lloyd and LG are just week one starters. Because Josh Jacobs, either he could re-injure the groin. He has missed some time or he could be suspended. We do not have conclusive, like, Jacobs Nakua suspension news yet. So it's like there is a world where, like, the draft pick. If you're drafting this week and you get Marshawn Lloyd with your last pick, which you can. Like, Ferguson and Lloyd are last pick or free agency. And if you get Lloyd, there's a chance he's literally starting for the Green Bay Packers in week one. Yep. Yeah, that is true.
Speaker 6And when you look around the league at the players who are really, really good insurance options, until Marshawn Lloyd is injured, he is a great insurance. Like, Blake Corum, Marshawn Lloyd, Tank Bigsby, these are the players to me that are the best. Best of the best. And I don't really include Jonathan Brooks in that because I think he will actually be playing, not just an insurance back.
Speaker 3All right. That was Performance Climbers brought to you by GMC. We are professional grade. We'll take a break and come back with some news. All right. Let's do it.
Speaker 2News and notes from around the league.
Speaker 3All right. Jason broke the news to us last night. The Colts signed wide receiver Keenan Allen to a one-year $8.32 million contract. Oh, boy. Keenan is 32 years young, entering year 14, played seven seasons with Shane Steichen, by the way. That was seven seasons with him in Los Angeles. You remember Steichen brought back Phillip Rivers last year. The wildest thing to me is that Keenan Allen was the leader of the team. He had the most receptions for the Chargers last year.
Speaker 6Yeah, nobody remembers that. You say that and you're like, that's not true. That's true.
Speaker 4Yeah, it's... Also, Kyle is the ultimate Keenan Allen truther, which, I mean, to have a player of his caliber and be a truther for him, that works out. Right now, Keenan Allen has... 10th most receptions of all time. Kyle, are we 100% sure? Because that is... Come on, Mike. Come on. Hey, hey. Come on. I am just protecting myself from giving an incorrect stat. So, he's currently at 10th. Well, if he has... 48 catches. Yeah. Will take him... To three. Into the third most receptions of all time.
Speaker 3He would pass T.O. and Tim Brown and Chris Carter and Marvin Harrison. How is that possible?
Speaker 6Volume machine, man.
Speaker 3So, it's really an interesting... Interesting signing.
Speaker 6Seems like a pretty necessary signing for the Colts.
Speaker 3We literally made an Ashton Doolin joke yesterday about...
Speaker 6And they heard us. And they were like, yeah, okay. I don't like the sound of that. We'll bring him on board. The interesting question to me is how is he going to be utilized? I will say this. There was a part of me that wanted to pivot from Josh Downs on my sleeper pick today to Keenan Allen today. Because, obviously, in drafts, he's going to go... His ADP will never catch up. He's going to be super good. Duper, duper late.
Speaker 3He's so old, he's getting to the lawn.
Speaker 6sleep yeah yeah so he's way past rem he's like the the real deep that's rim yeah he's way past rem but he's he's getting towards rip it's been a long he's getting towards he's getting towards rip sleep and um this is this is a guy who's going to come out if you remember last year the first four weeks of the season he was like the best wide receiver in fantasy he's so good the first four weeks it was like oh man he's eating lad mcconkey's lunch and to start the year you've got alec pierce working back from an ankle injury if he's even ready for week one the question has been about josh downs whether he could play outside he's always been their slot guy and now this year with the absence of michael pitman it was like he's gonna get the opportunity to play outside he's had that in camp that's part of why i was really excited to to to bring him in because the opportunities for him are the colts were too you enormous and then you know it's like now with keenan there i don't know who plays where but keenan is not signing this deal to be on the bench and they need him he will be involved so i think a you know if you're drafting a guy maybe like a malik neighbors who you know maybe there's a chance he still does you know he's not there week one or something you just need a late round guy you can start for the first month i think keenan gets off to a road he was at his career he's at
Speaker 3his career lowest yards per catch last year in los angeles so that's something worth noting it was at nine point six inside outside you know where he'll be
Speaker 4on the field which is inside that first 15 yards oh kyle snuck in a all-time among wide receivers uh among wide receivers for the total reception okay i'll tell you what i'll tell you who's catching 50 passes minimum this year is keenan allen yeah he so you're gonna have to drag him
Speaker 3off the field so michael pitman is not there alec pierce the recovery is i think it's fair to say it's slower than the team expected he's been out on the practice field walking around stretching blah blah blah pierce will come back and make an impact but what is the difference between michael
Speaker 6pitman and this version of keenan allen that's probably nothing like this version of keenan allen and last year's version of michael pitman they're pretty pretty close yeah they're probably
Speaker 3not that different in terms of what this team needs now you know is it different for keenan in los angeles last year where like maybe not maybe not maybe not maybe not maybe not maybe not maybe you know lad was a is a slot receiver and tyler warren is going to be in the intermediate short area targets to compete with keenan but it's a pretty significant signing in terms of like the volume equation especially for josh downs i think josh downs they paid all the money to alec pierce tyler warren's getting all the targets and when you fade back to pass you're going to throw it
Speaker 4to keenan over downs do you have more interest in keenan allen or stefan diggs diggs yeah i think
Speaker 6diggs has more long-term value for the season yeah i think diggs has more long-term value for the
Speaker 3season so there you go uh a new lay of the land are updated rankings for keenan allen and the colts are in the udk at ultimate draft kit.com but he keeps going and he will help them and he knows the system so jordan tyson all right here here i'm going to try to give you some good news with the bad the bad news he's going to miss two months that's pretty bad yeah the good news i've got was injured that's what that's what i was told that was a different hamster good i mean it's just systematically weakening his entire body what i
Speaker 6kyle said that that is the case okay all right well i mean yeah i guess i guess okay maybe it's better regardless his capacity to injure both this does mean that he's not there at the beginning of the season uh he makes him a brutal pick a two-month timeline says i would not be able to be surprised if they just put him on the pup guaranteeing that he misses the first four weeks of the season that's what i probably the smart thing to do you've got to protect himself from
Speaker 4himself i think on pup though he actually if if you're going to get that news that's probably the best case scenario for if you're talking for your draft if you have an ir spot like people are going to be itching you know i kyle what's his adp like sixth round or so so he'll probably that's mid to late october return i'm around like probably around the eighth or the ninth round i guess i'm gonna guess people will start getting a little sweaty and be like jordan tyson just put him on my ir and i get him when he comes back so it's it really really sucks it it takes the the ceiling case that i've been making for for tyler shuck it really damages that i still believe in shuck as a fantasy quarterback he was on pace for over 4200 yards without jordan tyson when he took over as the sleeper it uh the conversation of you know we were talking george kittle and saying you know jake if kittle doesn't play the first couple weeks ton just is a is a great backup juan johnson overtakes that now of someone who just another name to add to the late tight end list and and you really should be paying attention like juan johnson um i might not
Speaker 3draft any early tight ends i'm starting to fall in love with all the many late i mean you can bring kincaid goddard likely juan johnson i mean and there's there's
Speaker 4more there's a gerson there's a lot i will remind you there is almost when we hit this point in the year there almost is always a ton of guys we're like they're kind of interesting they're pretty interesting and then we get into week two and we're like they all stink yeah i mean it's true but the process does work but juan johnson has um the he has been making tons of plays in training like the you know the the the drum beat for tyson was extremely loud it has been loud for juan johnson but it felt like okay if we have a lobby and if you have two top 10 wide receivers on the field how does how was there enough for juan johnson but now there definitely is uh barry and
Speaker 3brown as well who's been they do but i mean deep sleep i would imagine valet will be the one who
Speaker 4comes in and is the starter opposite and and i mean if you're talking bryce lance was a fourth
Speaker 3as well yeah you you're familiar with the i'm familiar with the lance boys and their work or lack of work uh breeze hall groin injury out two to three weeks according to aaron come on man matt lafleur said josh jacobs with his uh started doing butterfly stretching and will return to practice
Speaker 6today yes thank you jason been trying to tell you guys i had to dm uh josh about this how far do you get in your butterfly i i don't get as far as i as i want i'm not knees on the ground no no yeah but
Speaker 3he doesn't have a groin injury right now jason moore that's right i don't uh rams head coach sean mcveigh said puka is still dealing with soreness in his groin i'll dm him and by the way i want to apologize to everybody groinindex.com has not been oh it's what we've made it's not our fault these have not been officially reported groin injuries these are just on the on the low
Speaker 4down yeah like i don't know these are unofficially official when the groin index is tied into the
Speaker 3ports on the injury report unfortunately yeah a week before we don't have the groin rumor index
Speaker 6right yeah we we should we should look into that i will say it's very good news because should these have been official i can't imagine groin index could have handled this amount of work it probably would have it's just like i had too much data would have broken the site yeah our hard drive
Speaker 4is not large enough uh the giants are signing can we just put a picture like of how to on there for
Speaker 3the for the time being yeah we can try yeah let's get that let's get that done i want a instructional diagram for butterfly stretching the giants are signing former steelers and chargers running back to a one-year contract i so courteous of them calling him a former chargers running back isn't
Speaker 6it i that's really how it's being reported for i mean it's true but former chargers so some depth
Speaker 4here i think there might be more to it um this is what say you of not she's a great pass protector and tyrone tracy did his very best to get jackson dart murdered murdered in a preseason game i think they're they might be also concerned about like is scataboo ready 100 to go i i think there is there could be something
Speaker 6to this when i look at this running back core i thought one of the best in the league like without without not you're talking about a young yeah stud in scataboo uh you know uh tracy a case tracy is very capable and devin singletary yeah he's still he's still fine as a veteran as a as your third back i looked at this group like wow what a good core the fact that they went out and signed naji said they don't think they they feel that they have a need and so that yes that makes me concerned with scataboo a little kicking
Speaker 3the tires i mean naji's coming off an achilles injury at an older age yes i feel like
Speaker 4maybe it was i don't know if it will work for the giants i'm just saying like this this is a signal to me that they're concerned about some things and on like it's jiro man yeah jiro apparently
Speaker 3loves naji harris familiar with his work or lack thereof and he's like if he had been healthy my
Speaker 4whole season would have been better it makes you real thought it makes me a little more hesitant
Speaker 6on the scataboo ad you'd be surprised if scataboo was dominating and doing everything it's just like he's he's just taking over practice that they would go out and sign him now i will
Speaker 3say this i don't feel like he's i think the name is bigger than the maybe the real sign could be If Nick Chubb got signed right now, that's how I'd look at it, maybe. Does he make the team? Well, that's what I was just about to say. I don't know if he makes the team. That's what I was about to say. It's a one-year deal.
Speaker 6Exactly right, Andy. If he makes the final roster, then I'm a little bit concerned with Scataboo's ADP right now.
Speaker 3We're getting the butterfly stretch up there. All right, let's jump into Sleepers. I want you to get up on this desk and kind of demonstrate what they're— Sleepers! We have a bunch of consensus sleepers in the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com. These are our individual picks, and some of these are kind of deeper sleepers today. We define sleepers as players who are drafted later that— Or maybe not drafted. Or not drafted. Players you might not know about but could have an impact. Three names. I went with a wide receiver, Jason, a running back. Mike, you went with a wide receiver. Why don't you start because I'm sure your energy is very high for this gentleman.
Speaker 4It is, and this is a deeper sleeper where perhaps this is not a draft situation. But, you know, larger leagues, I'll be interested in this player. I'm talking about Pat Bryant, second-year wide receiver of the Denver Broncos. The drumbeat of camp is— Is deafening about Pat Bryant. Every— Like, I've seen so many interviews of just— Of teammates. They're saying, okay, who's the guy? Who's the guy in this year's— Pat Bryant. All of them are saying Pat Bryant. Coach Payton is infatuated with Pat Bryant. He's talking about him all the time. You know, like, how— K Adams, how are you going to keep him off the field? We're not, is the answer from Coach Payton. Even Vance Joseph, the D.C. is— D.C. is— D.C. is— Talking up Pat Bryant. And so just a couple of stats here. It was slow for him, but it's always round three or later wide receivers. They just— They don't make noise at the beginning of the year, historically. You know, like, when you look at the gigantic sample size. But towards the end of the year, he really was starting to do some stuff. From week 11 on, he was averaging six targets, targeted on 22% of his routes. If you remember the playoff games, there was some unfortunate injuries. But you had the game against Buffalo. Pat Bryant took three offensive snaps in that game. Pat Bryant had three receptions for 32 yards on three snaps. He was really becoming a part of the offense. You have— It's a little bit more murky now. You have Jalen Waddell and Cortland Sutton. But just all— There's a lot of reports talking about Pat Bryant being the guy. Maybe he even overtakes Cortland Sutton this year. And it's like, is there enough volume? Well, last year, Bo Nix led the NFL in pass attempts. I don't know if the Denver Broncos are going to lead the NFL in pass attempts again, but it's there. The coaches are willing to go that route if they feel like this is how we have to win games. And this stat in particular is very interesting to me. He is one of five round three wide receivers over the last decade. To average six or more targets from week 11 on. And I'm telling you, round three guys really don't do anything in the first half of the year. But from week 11 on, to average six or more targets, here are the rookies who did it. Terry McLaurin, Deontay Johnson, Cooper Cupp. Here's a clunk. Lynn Bowden Jr., if you remember him. Oh, yeah. But Terry, Deontay, Cooper Cupp, and Pat Bryant. It's— The volume was starting to increase. You saw it in the playoff games. He got knocked out early from both of them. But he looks like he's the real deal. He's a great route runner. You know, you had Coach Payton, when they drafted him, saying, eh, kind of see a little bit of Michael Thomas. Now, maybe that's just hyperbolic coach pumping him up. But the way that it has transformed to this offseason, the Denver Broncos seem like they are all in on Pat Bryant taking a huge step for their offense.
Speaker 3I think the interesting— The interesting thing about Denver in the wide receiver room and the running back room is that there isn't a consolidation that is obvious to us in terms of the utilization of— You've got three running backs that are going to get a bunch of snaps. And then my biggest worry about Bryant is just the existence of the Sutton, Mims, Franklin universe. Can we get consolidation, in your opinion, to the point where— I do. —where Pat Bryant takes over?
Speaker 4I do think that watching Cortland Sutton over the last couple years, he is still a—he's still a starter. He deserves to be out there on the NFL field. But we're towards the end for Cortland Sutton. And if you have a new emerging wide receiver who, if you play him all the time, your offense is better, Payton strikes me as someone who will make that change.
Speaker 6There are few to perhaps none of any players this offseason who I— who I've read more constant positive news about than Pat Bryant. He is really, truly like every time that there's an open practice, there's tons of different reporters. It's not just the guys from Denver. Everyone, everywhere, any kind there's, you know, inter-team scrimmage. It's like he has been the big leap forward guy. And I think it's important to realize those day two, day three picks, they do get off to slow start. It's in their rookie year. That is, you know, when you bring up the second half of the year for Pat Bryant and how good he was, that's pretty much all you are asking. Like, that is— That's what you can look at. That's what you can look at to see success in future years. And so I don't know what you do. I mean, to me, this is more of a dynasty take. Like, I don't know if I'm drafting him in redraft at the end of drafts or not just to hope that he's on the field. You can, and perhaps he, you know, he starts week one and overtakes Cortland Sutton in target order, if not in snaps. But in a dynasty league, he's got a much brighter future than what his rookie year looked like.
Speaker 4So the value should be under what, you know— Sure. I am also bringing him up— Like I said, I don't know if this is a draft Pat Bryant, but this is a—in the first few weeks, if, like, the auxiliaries, you know, like, so the amount of routes he's running, maybe the— Maybe the production doesn't match it. He is a player that, if he starts making noise, I will be aggressive on the waiver wire. You know, sometimes you just have to be— We bring these names up so that you are ready when we're like, hey, the number one waiver pickup this week.
Speaker 3If there's smoke, there might, you know, and the fire starts to go, pick him up. You want to go next or you want me to go, Jay? I'll hop in.
Speaker 6I'll hop in since you guys both have wide receivers. I'll go with a running back. My sleeper this year is Jordan Mason. Yeah. I've brought him up. On pretty much every mock draft, he's the guy in the later rounds that I am looking for to fill out— Running back for the Vikings. Yes, running back for the Minnesota Vikings, for Kevin O'Connell, and for the new running game for the Vikings. I don't know if you guys are aware. We're, you know, we're not in Minnesota, but the biggest news outside of the quarterback battle is all about the change of scheme. Kevin O'Connell has talked about it in every single interview. Across the board, their big takeaway lesson from last year is that they need to rely on their defense and run the ball better. So starting the day after their last game last year, they got together and they changed their scheme. They're going to a vertical wide zone scheme. The entire reason is to fit their personnel, they said. That's the San Francisco— That sounds like Jordan Mason to me. That's the San Francisco, you know, design, that's their scheme. They're implementing that because it fits their personnel, and their personnel is really Jordan Mason. Now, Jordan Mason is a guy that's not going to catch a ton of passes. That's not his profile. But I do think he will be a very, very dominant running game player. He'll be the goal line back. This offense should be significantly better without nine running into the ground. Even if you look last year, without that scheme, in the games without nine at quarterback, you had him scoring 10.6 fantasy points per game. That's not like, oh my gosh, you've got to put him in. But that's like quality for a team that was really struggling on offense. And keep in mind, when J.J. McCarthy wasn't there, it wasn't like they had the answer, you know, and they had some other great quarterback playing. It was Carson Wentz and, you know, and issues. Jordan Mason is perfect for this scheme. If you look at him versus Aaron Jones, especially this version of Aaron Jones, and you look at head-to-head outside zone scheme, Jordan Mason has averaged 5.86 yards per carry, one of the best in the entire league, versus Jones 4.3. Missed tackles four, 0.29 versus 0.1. Explosive rush rate 9-3. Like, this scheme is made for Jordan Mason. All the camp reports are saying every day he breaks one long run every day. And he's got that in his bag In fact You know, since coming in the league as an undrafted free agent in 2022, there's Devin Achan and Jameer Gibbs. There's only two players with a higher yards per carry than Jordan Mason.
Speaker 4Yeah, it's hard to even think about Jordan Mason that way. It has not been a ton of opportunity for him. He had the year where, you know, he took over for – because Christian McCaffrey was going to be totally fine until he missed 10 weeks. And it was like Jordan Mason was awesome during that period for San Francisco. And you think back in your head, I'm like, man, I liked Jordan Mason last year. I don't think he was really that good. It didn't work out. He ran for 4.8 yards a carry, like on a terrible team. If you get this offense fixed up, and I think Kevin – I'll still believe in Kevin O'Connell even though I'm not a huge Kyler Murray guy. If he's not catching passes, but he is the primary runner and the goal line running back where he's being drafted, to give you running back two numbers would be just outrageous at that point.
Speaker 6We talk about at the end of drafts, try to target teams that look like they might have a good offense and you're not sure who the running back is. So like Washington and Ja'Cory Cross-Gameret, that's one of those guys where it's like you're targeting him because you think he's the lead guy and you think that Washington could have a good offense. I think that with Kevin O'Connell and Kyler Murray, Minnesota could have a good offense. And then it's just a question of, well, who is it? Because right now, ADP-wise, Aaron Jones, I believe, is still going above him. Double-check that, Kyle. They're pretty close.
Speaker 3There's been some talk about Claiborne too, right?
Speaker 6Yes, I will say he's just a deep sleeper to keep an eye on, a very explosive rookie. He's very small.
Speaker 3He was a rookie last year though, right? No, this year. He's a rookie coming in this year.
Speaker 4Kyle just pulled this up. Mason had more 10-plus yard runs than Travion Henderson. Mason was doing things very quietly because it wasn't frequently turning into this. That's kind of his build.
Speaker 3I like the idea of focusing on the scheme change because I feel like that's what benefited him in San Francisco. I think in certain schemes or situations, he doesn't look that explosive. He doesn't look that special. But if they're moving things to be more forgiving for him.
Speaker 6Speaking of the build, here's a quote from Kevin O'Connell from this month. He was talking to the press. He says, you guys could probably even tell just the way he looks. He says, you guys could probably even tell just the way he looks. He says, you guys could probably even tell just the way he looks. He says, you guys could probably even tell just the way he looks. He says, you guys could probably even tell just the way he looks. He says, you guys could probably even tell just the way he looks. He's in unbelievable shape right now. I think the things that he thrives at, we're emphasizing in some aspects of our different run game schemes. And he's reportedly down about 15 pounds, which we've talked about.
Speaker 4I was just going to say, and he's like a big boy. He's like Jordan Mason. We have him listed at 230. So if he's down to 215. Get that explosive speed up.
Speaker 3All right, we'll take a break and come back. I'm going to share my final sleeper with you.
Speaker 4We'll be right back.
Speaker 3We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.
Speaker 6We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. because I think he's just been exclusively running
Speaker 3Don't get hurt before we get to C. That is the message, Cyrus. You've already linked off once or twice in practice. Don't get hurt. Don't get hurt before we get to find out if we're wrong. Please? Pretty please? Injuries every day? By the way, we have 10 tips and tricks coming up tomorrow and a huge announcement on tomorrow's show. Yes, we do. By the way, Tyreek Hill, fifth-round pick. So, I mean, it's pretty much set. Puka Nakua, fifth-round pick. Fifth-round pick.
Speaker 4Tyreek Hill, 5'10", 191. Cyrus Hill, 5'11", 180. Cyrus Hill? Sorry.
Speaker 6Cyrus Hill? Is that his nickname? Cyrus Hill. We got Fred Durst and Cyrus Hill. This rookie class is going to get the band together. Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 3I can do them, too. Yeah, we got 10 tips and tricks, a huge announcement on tomorrow's show. You don't want to miss it. Trust me. It's something you've been asking for for a while. On Thursday, we'll get into the bust and value picks. On Friday, we'll do Mock Draft Mayhem as well. I do have one thing I wanted to touch on. Yesterday's show was absolutely crazy.
Speaker 5What did he say? Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3Yesterday's show was nuts. But at the end of the show, Jason and I were talking about, like, Ramondre, and we were going back with Ramondre and Travion, and it got, like, thick.
Speaker 4I don't even want to tell you what happened after the show.
Speaker 3People ask us all the time. Fisty cuffs. Yeah, we fought. We fought in the street.
Speaker 6We didn't, or you'd see. I'd be dead.
Speaker 4It was body shots only. Right, that's, yeah, no.
Speaker 6For the show, we can't go face.
Speaker 4It's a Hollywood gentleman's agreement.
Speaker 3We both butterfly stretched before we fought, by the way. Of course. And our groins? No, fine. Feeling good. So we had that whole discussion. And by the way, people ask us all the time. It's one of the questions they ask in the Discord. They're like, you know, you guys have been doing this for 12, this is, I think, our 12th, 13th season.
Speaker 6And we've worked together for 20 years now.
Speaker 3Well, yeah, and so they're like, do you fight? Do you guys argue? What's your biggest disagreements? And it's been, it's been, like, a couple of football things before, right? Which is, which is amazing. I looked this up this morning, Jason. Okay. I have known you for 28 years. Disgusting. 28 years. I met Jason as a freshman in high school.
Speaker 6I met Andy as a senior in high school.
Speaker 3Yes, yeah, in the same class. But I want to say something, though. Basically, I think one of the reasons we haven't fought for all those years is because Jason is a tremendously gracious. He's a very generous, forgiving person. And if he wasn't, maybe we would have fought more because I don't think I'm the one that probably stopped us from fighting. So I want to just say that. And I want to say that sometimes when I host the show, I miss the mark a little bit. Yesterday was one of those days. So I just wanted to apologize to Jason for letting disagreement become a little bit disrespectful. Awkward. On behalf of Jason. I know. I know. I don't. I know. I don't accept the apology. Jason can turtle shirt, but I don't want, my job as a host, like, I really want to do a good job of letting people know that I'm a good person. I don't want to let people know that I'm a good person. I don't want to let people know that I'm a good person. I don't want to let people breathe and say something. And as opposed to, like, disrespecting somebody. So I feel like I kind of did that yesterday. So I just wanted to apologize.
Speaker 6Jake just, he's just saying, just make out already. So if you're in, we can wrap this show up. Let me wrap this show up.
Speaker 4I was going to say, that just proves that Jason's very passionate about his Travion Henderson tape. It does. If he's willing to.
Speaker 3Or I like Ramondre that much. Put 10 toes down. All right. See y'all. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.
Speaker 2Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.
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