Darn Old Man

Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.

Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now, here's your host, Paul Chargion.

Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly.

I am Paul charging My co host is Matt Harrison Shock Fantasy.

Hi Matt, Hello, how are you doing.

Nice to have you back this week.

Yes, all right, back to back, Matt Harrison's.

I mean that's what the people want, that's what the people get.

Yeah, well, I'd like to literally see your back on the front and back, which would look weird. Oh, but that Yeah, we can do back to back to back.

Yeah, my back is looking a little better than my front.

I I got to try to get the belly, had to drop a few LB's. The problem is your proximity to Big Boar Barbecue.

That is true.

It's about a mile mile and a half from my house, and you need to move.

You're too close to Big Boar. You know, I'm twenty minutes away, So it's a concerted effort for me.

Yeah, maybe I should like only walk or bike there.

From now. Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah, I like it.

Of course in Minnesota that's half of the year. That's a tricky proposition.

Well, it's not that far of a walk. I can do that walk.

You gonna bike it in February.

No, and not when it's slippery. I'll put on the snow shoes and walk it over there.

The people who do the biking in the winter with the big fat tires, like that's dedication right there.

Yeah, I don't like it that much, if you know, I don't like biking that much in order in order to like, you know, really commit to it in the winter time.

No, I'm with you. Although I did e bikes for the first time. Oh yeah, a couple of months ago when I was when I was in Utah, and that's ion they're so fun.

E bikes are a blast.

Yeah, it's they're not fully motorized, but they take everything that you pedal.

You get like five x the return one.

So you know, you can go up these really big.

Hills no problem. Okay.

And you know I was, you know, go uphill twenty miles an hour by pedaling, you know, a quarter as hard as you would have had to work on a regular bike.

I did. I did not.

I did not expect it to be fun. They're blast e bikes are super fun.

Are you're gonna get one? No?

Okay, because at the end of the day, like you, at the end of the day, do I really want to I don't.

I don't think I want a bike anywhere at the end of the day.

Well, you could get get a couple and you could keep them with the camper.

Oh that's true. Now, that would be the use case.

Would be in the camp Yeah for sure, not in it, but yeah, yeah, brought with it. Yeah, exactly that space inside the camper.

Well, if nobody's in the camper at the time, you could throw the bikes in there.

Yeah, I could do that. But that's the the ideally is you are in like national parks, state parks, and you know, seeing all kinds of cool stuff. Then yeah, I think it'd be absolutely that's great. Why don't you buy me.

That?

With that big Fantasy Football Week, I love it all right. This is the fourth of our four shows breaking down all the teams in the NFL, highlighting key changes from last year, and out broad outlooks for each of these teams. We've done everything but the North teams. So now we go to the AFC North Matt. Let's start with the Baltimore Ravens.

Yeah, I mean.

The biggest addition to the backfield literally is Derrick Henry, who comes over from the Titans. We'll talk more about him in a minute. They did lose their other running backs, Gus Edwards and JK. Dobbins both find themselves on the West Coast.

With the Chargers.

They also lost three starting offensive linemen and Kevin Zeitler, John Simpson, and Morgan Moses. Second round rookie Roger Rosengarten is expected to take over at right tackle, while Ben Cleveland and Andrew Vorhees are slated to take over at guard. But anytime you placed three offensive line necks, a little bit of a red flag for an offense areed. Last year, the Ravens went eight to no in games where Lamar Jackson was sacked two or fewer times. Wow, okay, all right,

Well you know, they're banging the drum for Bateman again. Yeah, they ah, this is going to be the breakout. Yeah, trying.

But I want people to keep an eye on rookie devontees Walker maybe popping up and stealing some targets later in the season. They're talking about him as a guy who just has just like raw athletic ability, and that kind of seems interesting to me. In that offense, Mark Andrews should finally be fully healthy at the starting training camp. He's still a top five tight end, so will get better or worse for the passing game. I struggled with

That's that's a lot.

Forty second in NFL history. He just passed Roger Craig, who played for eleven years. Yeah, Gerald Riggs who played for ten years, and herschel Walker who played for eleven seas.

And Henry's at eight and those first few years he was lightly used. Yeah, you know, he was in a timeshare backfield, most dominating writers.

Right, But just for fun, if he gets another two hundred carries this year, he's gonna pass these guys in charch. I want you to give me a one sentence blurb on each of these guys. Okay, they're from your fantasy passage, Okay, all right.

Aman Green, he was shockingly good for the Packers, was an all purpose back. But I never would have guessed that he was at this level of I didn't remember having this kind of longevity in his career over.

Two thousand carries.

All Right, Willis mcgahey, against all odds. He had the horrifying injuries. Yeah, and everybody just assumed that, you know, he would like never play again, and the fact that he went on to a long, productive career was shocking.

Yeah.

Ernest Biner, Oh, Ernestiner, So he was.

It was the Kevin Mack Ernest Biner duo, frustrating fantasy owners in the nineties for the Cleveland Browns.

Yes, Terry Allen.

Terry Allen was a longtime Minnesota Viking who was the the first player to come back from acls on each knee.

Yeah.

Chris Johnson, Chris Johnson, I because nickname. Maybe you've ever given the tap dancing Nancy Chris Johnson.

I had forgot about that. He was a tap dancing Nancy. That's what he was.

I hated that guy, and part because two thousand yards of I hated that guy exact. He had a couple of just great seasons and everybody was like, always better than Adrian Peterson, It's not even close. And Peterson went on too obviously far out clips him.

Okay, I got a couple more.

Earl Campbell, Yeah, before my time too. But obviously Earl Campbell one of the great power running backs of all time. We've all seen the classic highlight of him literally shredding the jersey if a player, No, they shred his jersey. It just keeping just yeah and him just mowing down.

Guys fanatics built jerseys back then.

Sean Alexander, Yeah, I'll always first remember his six touchdown game against my Vikings.

Yeah, yep.

And then finally Tiki Barber.

Yeah, he went on to he had a long, good career.

He did. He was part of the Thunder and Lightning.

Crew with Brandon Jacobs brand. Yeah, it's nicely done. It was, that was exactly what was Brandon Jacobs. Jacobs should have had a longer, better career, but it didn't. It all, It all kind of fizzled out. Tiaki had a long career.

There, but those guys.

Dereck Henry's going to pass all year with two two hundred carries seems very likely.

Yeah, And by the way, all the goal line work, all the goal line work.

He's had double digit touchdowns in six straight seasons. In those six seasons, he's averaged twenty carries per game. If the Ravens are planning on giving him twenty carries per game. That's three hundred and forty carries. He might not make it, but I do think he's gonna be an inside the five beast though another ten plus scores probably a lock if he stays healthy.

Yeah.

Backups are Keaton Mitchell, who probably won't return till mid season.

Yeah that's too bad, because man, he looked promising, you know, and a lot of what I loved about him requires a two healthy knees.

Yeah, let's see Justice Hill is still there. I mean, Justice Hill could be relevant if Henry starts suddenly.

Is hurt?

Ravens backs last year finished fifth in the league in PPR Fantasy points. Most of that was due to twenty running back rushing touchdowns last year.

How about that?

I didn't know that they combined for twenty running back rushing touchdown Gus.

Edwards led the NFL and carries inside the five.

Yeah? Is it better or worse this year? I do like Henry better than what they had last year, so I'll say it's slightly better. But I don't know if they can score at that twenty running back no rushing probably not.

But if I told you Derrick Henry is going to lead the NFL and rushing touchdowns.

You'd be like, yeah, sure, absolutely could see that feasible. Yeah, it's not a peacock off thing right there, It really isn't.

That's it to go to the Cleveland Browns. Start with the passing game. It is a make or break year for Deshaun Watson. As it stands today early June, the Deshaun Watson trade and its connected contract is the worst deal in NFL history. Herschel Walker points and mocks the Deshaun Watson trade.

It's basically built the current Houston tex.

It has into a Super Bowl continued you have going to the Super Bowl.

That's right.

Through two injury Leyden seasons in Cleveland, Watson has been awful. He's the NFL's highest paid quarterback. He ranked twenty sixth as a passer by Pro Football Focus in between backup Now, backup Justin Fields and unrostered Ryan Tannehill. In each of the past two seasons, Deshaun Watson has played about one third of the year and accumulated seven passing touchdowns and seven passing touchdowns.

You can't even hit nine times on that, No, I can't, which is ridiculous.

Consider he's the highest paid player in the NFL and he's given you seven and seven passing touchdowns and the granted injuries factored into that.

That even if you were most.

Charitable and you were to pro rate his seven passing touchdowns across a whole season, like if you played all seventeen games, you'd have twenty passing touchdowns a year. That is terrible. That is appropriate for a middle and rookie prospect. He completed. Watson completed just sixty one percent of his passes. That ranked him thirty sixth, and his adjusted completion percentage

That's it.

And he designed runs where they hit and not many, but well, yes, that is something like that. Not even he they don't use him that way, So ken Deshaun Watson get better. Well, okay, sure, I mean he was way better in Houston. He's only twenty nine years old. But what I don't know is is he just mentally broken? I mean, is you know, after what he did to himself, how he sabotaged his own career entirely at his own fault, is is he now mentally broken? And that's you know,

Do you feel like the aforementioned Ryan Tannehill, who's still a free atory at this moment, wouldn't that be kind of nice if he was there?

I know that.

I think they signed Tyler Huntley as the backup.

Yeah, Tyler Huntley is there.

I'm a little nervous about that, but it seems like Tannerhill could come in and do a Flaco maybe if Watson's not working out.

Your new face among the receivers is Jerry Judy. In Denver, he ran over half his routes from the slot. But the problem is that's where Elijah Mitchell and Cedric Tillman often play Okay slot as well, so that doesn't give him really anywhere to go there. The Browns don't pass enough in my mind to feed Amari Cooper, David and Joku. We'll talk about a little bit more in a second. And well, frankly anybody else, including Jerry Judy. So I'm out on Judy, not interested, and I think he's just

Yeah, be a take a chance, maybe a take a chance on me cap player.

That's the kind of player I think Jerry duty is going to devolve into here and already was at the end of last year. Let's talk David Joku though in many scoring systems, second half of last year, many of it, much of it powered by Joe Flacco tight end one whoa.

I did not see that come.

From Week eight forward in Joku scored or topped fifty eight yards in every game but one. Wow, really impressive those blow and he had some blow up games almost entirely with Joe Flacco. His average game under Watson just thirty five yards and zero point two touchdowns per game. Oh man, he was basically like, you know, double or triple the fantasy points scorer under Joe Flacco. And that's your danger within JOKU is what happens with Watson under quarterback?

Now?

Yeah, So does the passing game get better or worse? I think it's worse. I mean just Watson is a downgrade from Joe Flacco.

I unless I was.

Out of the know at the beginning of last year, and now that DeShawn Watson's a downgrade from him, it's come to this. The running game, uh, considering that Nick Chubb tore his a CL, MCL and meniscus way back in Week two, to me, it's a little bit troubling that he was not able to do any running on it until April. I'd like to have seen that timetable a little bit earlier. Not a not a disaster warning sign, but I think that is a bit of a warning sign.

JK.

Dobbins suffered a brutal, brutal knee injury, just like Chubb did. Never the same player, never the same and Dobbins looked amazing pre injury. So right now, ADP Chubb's going off the board is running back thirty two in the seventh round. I can get starters there. To me, that's too early for somebody that may not start a game until mid season. I mean, we don't know right now right now, based only in June.

If you're if you're drafting in June, yes, maybe not the best time.

To roll the dice on that.

But if it looks like he's slated to start and and and all systems are go. I think Chubb's ADP rockets up quite a bit from RB thirty two.

Yeah probably. I mean, you know, if he's ready to roll day one of training camp. Yeah, this you'll you'll have gone back and gone seventh round. Oh my god, I go to steal. So you know understand the risk Jerome Ford returns. They added don to Foreman. Ford was never built to be a work horse. They had to use him as a workhorse for a lot of last

And if Chubb is healthy, how does that backfield?

Right?

Because Chub's not gonna go from zero to twenty carries like the old days, and Foreman's not a terrible he's non terrible. Yeah yeah, I agreed. So does this get better worse than last year? Probably better eventually because Chubble returned at some point to something resembling full strength and so and last year again, you know, Ford was okay, but he's just he was never meant to be a workhorse back sure, all right, Let's go to our next team, which is the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Yeah, it's a whole new ballgame in Pittsburgh. Russell Wilson in as the starting quarterback, Justin Fields is the backup. They replace Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph. They're all gone. Deontay Johnson gone too, leaving George Pickens as the unquestioned number one wide receiver there. And Arthur Smith is the new offensive coordinator.

You may remember.

Our Smith as the coach of the Falcons the last few years, and before that, the offensive coordinator in Tennessee where he just ran the heck out of Derrick Henry. And now they're talking about how excited Pittsburgh is for this new run first philosophy.

So let's go to the passing game. Okay, how can Arthur Smith f this up? Well?

I mean, you had Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, both guys not known for their downfield pass plays, and Jettison Deontay Johnson. It kind of sounds like you're gonna run the ball. Russell Wilson has to be seen as an upgrade from Kenny Pickett. Yep, So that's good. I guess, but beyond that, it's kind of looking scary. Calvin Austin is currently set as wide receiver too, and I bet most NFL fans don't know who Calvin Austin is. He was a fourth round pick for the Steelers last year.

They're all on the current depth chart. Yikes.

After scoring seven times in his rookie year, Pat Fryarmuth has only managed four total touchdowns in the following two years.

I'm stunned at his de evolution from that. So that rookie year was so promising for him. And by the way, there's talk that the backup Washington could end up pressing friar Mouth for time this year.

We'll see.

Washington is gigantic, specimen, physical freak.

It could.

Mouth had a big game late in the season where I think he tallied like one hundred and nineteen yards in a game, so there was a little glimmer of hope there. He'll be on the field a ton. I think it's arrow up on Friar move.

Good Byelow. Who else is there to throw.

To Curry point? That's a very fair point, is it?

Now?

Russell Wilson has like zero track record of throwing to his tas true. But Arthur Smith, if you were to combine like Pitts and John new Smith together, Arthur Smith, as frustrated as we were about his usage on Pitts, I think he can get the ball to a tight end.

Yeah.

Absolutely. Is the passing game better or worse? I think it's better, but not by much at all. I think the upgrade at quarterback is not very significant, and the running game stands to benefit more under Arthur Smith. So let's talk about the running game. Naji Harris has played three years in the league. He's had at least twelve hundred total yards and eight touchdowns in every season. Last year he touched the ball two hundred and eighty four times.

Yeah, that was so promising.

Yeah, everyone will point to Naji Harris had four point one yards per carry and Jalen Warren had five point three yards per carry, and they're all gonna say this preseason. Yeah, well, Nause, he's gonna get get, get take the back seat to Warren here. I don't think that's the case.

I don't.

It's gonna be a split backfield. And here's why Nase's gonna keep this job. He's six foot two, two hundred thirty pounds Warren.

Is Is he really six foot two? Yeah, geez, that's.

Tall for a running back.

He's six inches taller than Warren five foot eight two point fifteen.

I think he was six two.

In most cases, the bigger players in the NFL tend to be more durable, and if Nagy has to plot his way through the line to tire out the defense to allow Warren to get those.

And Arthur Smith loves his plotters, yeah, absolutely.

The Steelers also brought in Corderyl Patterson as a change of pace back. He was in Atlanta with Arthur Smith. Soh in Atlanta in a similar spot last year. Bijeon, Robinson, Tyler, Algier, and Patterson all had some run. Algier had two hundred four touches last year. Bijon had two hundred seventy two. It's almost the same as what we just talked about. Naji's gonna be Beijon, Warren's gonna be Lgier. Patterson just gets to be himself. Which is nice, better or worse.

Let's go to the Cincinnati Bengals. Everything looks like Joe Burrow's going to return in time for training camp. I have no real concerns about Joe Burrow for this year, and obviously he's great. So's Jamar Chase awesome. I don't think we have anything to even spend time on with those guys.

And Joe Burrow's got the long hair now, so rocking it.

Yeah, all the cool guys grown their hair out.

You are growing your hair out.

Coincides you and Joe Burrow must have a lot more than people know. T Higgins, though, has not signed his franchise tag offer, and we could be heading into a stalemate in training camp. So that is something Betty, to keep it a track of. Yeah, if if you want to roll the dice on Higgins getting traded or maybe there's a tracted holdout, you could throw a dart. And I like this as one of my favorite sleepers, andre

Is He better than anything they've had at tight end the last few years, though it feels.

Like slightly it's better nerves Smith, that's for sure. But they also spent a fourth round pick on Eric All from Iowa and previously Michigan, and that is a thort nice from favorite.

Yeah, he likes Eric a lot.

So Yeah, so if Kazeki isn't great, I could see them getting doing a little eric All, getting eric All involved in this, but his timetable could be down the road as well. So does the passing game get better worse this year?

Better?

Because Joe Burrow's not gonna miss half the season, So you know this is this is clearly uptick here and again, Andre, Yo.

I don't know if we're pronouncing that, No, I am.

I looked it up to make sure I didn't screw it up. Yo.

See bosh Okay got it.

Running game.

Joe Mixon sent packing to Houston Cincinnati should have sold last year. I think they got out a year late, but I think they ultimately made the right call here. So it looks like it's gonna be a two headed attack with Chase Brown and Zach Moss. But I like Moss better. You know, after years of misuse in Buffalo. Of course, you know, Zach Boss goes to Indy. He had those early starts where Jonathan Taylor wasn't right yet,

That's pretty good. That's pretty good.

This is the Zach Moss I was stumping for when he was in Buffalo. We finally got a long look at him with Indianapolis and he looked good.

And Devin Singletary got out of Buffalo and side, yeah.

Look good too. I know it's right. So James Cook looks all right. He does.

They don't use him enough. Chase Brown look promising in the small sample size that we had last year. He can catch. That's Moss is not a natural pas catcher. Brown had just forty four carries all last year, but he had four explosive plays of fifteen or more yards on those forty four carries. That's a great ratio, and Brown finished fifteenth in Pro Football focuses elusiveness rating. Brown's got room to get better in your two. But Moss should be the presumed starter here. He's proven he can

And see that happening.

Yep, that feels about right to me. Zach Moss going off the board at running back twenty eighth, sixth round. Perfect do the opposite draft spot for Zach Moss? Yeah, I like him. There pass saying we.

Do pat Now that's it.

Does he get better or worse for for Cleveland's running game? I think it's better because I do not believe. I didn't believe in Joe Mixon going into last year. He wasn't any good last year. Yeah, we're gonna We're gonna move.

On, all right.

I think that's all of our AFC North teams. Let's take a break and go to the MC North sound good, yep. Fantasy Football Weekly returns Paul Jarchie and Matt Harrison with you. We turn our attention to the NFC North. First team up is the Green Bay Packers, Matt where we got not a lot of change the passing side, but we've got some new faces in the running game.

By the way, this NFC North, it's it's gonna be a monster. These are some good teams additions and subtractions in Green Bay. Josh Jacobs replaces Aaron Jones in the backfield. That's the headliner. The Packers also lost guard John Runyon, tackle Yosh Nyman, and spent a first round pick on Jordan Morgan on the offensive line. But they're pretty deep across the offensive line, so I don't think that they're gonna miss a beat there.

And organizationally, man, do they churn out good lineman holy cow.

To get good offensive line play the passing game. The band is back together again. Jordan Love looks to build off a promising first year as a starter, and the Packers may have more B B plus wide receivers on their roster, not like letter grades in Fantasy Football Week exactly, but than any team ever because Jaden Reid, Romeo Dobbs, Christian Watson, Dontavian Wicks. They'll probably all get drafted in your fantasy league, Oh yeah, for sure. And then there's

Targets in a game.

Really yeah, wow, Romeo Dobbs in Week four Jacob Reid in Week fourteen.

Wow.

There were only two instances last season where a Packers wide receiver had one hundred yards two that's it. Neither counted for you because it was Bow Melton in Week seventeen and Red in Week eighteen.

Wow. Not in your fantasy playoffs, right.

So, as far as touchdowns go, Read and Dobbs both had eight scores, Watson had five, Wicks had four, and then there was a slew of others who had two or one receiving touchdowns last season, including tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Craft. The point is, in this passing game, I think you want Jordan Love.

I want Jordan Love, So don't have to guess everyone.

To deal with any of the wide receivers unless you're a best ball.

Well, well that's true best ball. That's a lot I like it. It's a lot more compelling for best ball. We're gonna have to try to guess week in and week out, who's gonna be good. The smart people say the smart people quote say, you know, Wicks has got freaky upside that perhaps others don't sure read to me looked like Deebo Samuel Light. And I'm really intrigued by Reed.

And you love Dobbs, and I like do I love Dobbs. I like Dobbs.

Yeah, but I think you're right that I'm just gonna lay off the whole group and not try to figure that thing that thing out and try to guess right. So, I think there's just gonna be too many games where too many dud games when your guy, your packer receiver just it's just not his day.

Yeah, exactly. Offense up or down. I think the arrow is trending up for the offense as they continue moving forward in love second year in the Running Game in twenty twenty two.

Hey, before we move on, Yeah, we should mention Tucker Kraft had a torn bicept working out, and he looks like he's going to miss like all of training camp and might be reckep ready for the beginning of might be ready for the beginning of the season, but might not. And that might be the big difference that keeps him safely below Luke Musgrave for a while.

Okay, got it, got it in so the running game. In twenty twenty two, Josh Jacobs had three hundred and ninety three touches three hundred and ninety three touches that led, and he led the league in rushing yards head over two thousand total yards score twelve times. Last year in Vegas, we saw his yards per carry fall from four point nine to three point five, his touchdowns cut in half.

Raiders knew what they were doing. They were just gonna grind him up and then kick him to free agents.

They did that.

Outside of twenty twenty two, he's missed a few games every year, and when you look back at his five years a workload, you have to be surprised that he hasn't missed more over a seventy three game career. He's kind of like Derrick Henry. He's averaging twenty and a half touches per game for ninety six total yards.

Now.

He turned twenty six in February, so the age isn't a concern, but the mileage has to be. And the Packers did draft Marshawn Lloyd in the third round, who's very very interesting. They brought back AJ Dillon as well, not I don't know why. Yeah, Lloyd was able to be a top twenty college back in basically every metric,

Yeah, my tis My worry is.

We know the way the Packers offense, and Lafleur likes to work that offense is no matter what he.

Splits, he splits carries.

It doesn't even matter how bad the number two running back is. Now ineffective. AJ Dillon is, Yeah, I.

Say to him, kram At Lafleur. As a Vikings fan, I was not pleased that Marshon Lloyd was drafted to Green Bay.

As a group, I think, well, it's a fantasy player. I'm not happy that that was his landing spot.

Yeah, exactly, But I think that by the end of the season, I think we're looking at Marshaw Lloyd.

Maybe as maybe the next next big thing there, and certainly in Dynasty.

I'm a lot more interested in Lloyd than I am in in any in anybody else there. Yeah.

As a group, the pass running backs finished twenty seventh in PPR Fantasy points last season, so I definitely feel like things are trending up in the run game for Green Bay.

Let's go to the Minnesota Vikings.

Let's a lot of changes in the passing game.

Obviously with Kirk Cousins gone. Sam Donald, well, that's really the big change, Sam Donald, you're expected starter unless JJ McCarthy just looks unworldly in the preseason. Yeah, the plan is for McCarthy to have a long runway. Do not be surprised if you get zero starts out of JJ McCarthy this year.

I would be very surprised if he gets zero starts, because Donald would really have to have that win loss record in a great spot for the Vikings before the fan base is just grumbling. And their early season schedule.

It's brutal, it's brutal. It's really hard.

They might be so they play like it's a week five in London. Then they have to bye week, and then they come back with a home game against Detroit. If the Vikings are one and four after that London game, you know they're gonna come back with Mike.

I don't know that.

I think they will.

I don't agree. I think they've I think they've got a really really long runway on this kid and.

The people.

My understanding here MINNISODEA. I'm not gonna put names on things. It's that the he is gonna have take. They're gonna take as long as they need with him. Now, the other side of it is Donald finds himself in the best spot of his career by a mile shore justin Jefferson. You got Jordan Addison, You'll eventually get TJ. Hockinson back from his ACL. You have bookend tackles to protect him. They have Pro Football focuses, third ranked pass blocking offensive line.

Donald. Donald also gets the advantage.

Of a pass first offense and a quarterback friendly head coach and Kevin O'Connell. And with all that surrounding talent and the Vikings very realit give up a bunch of points. I think Donald is gonna have some splash fantasy games. Okay, you know, like Nick Mullins at the end of last year kept throwing for four hundred yards and right well he wasn't through, was mostly on the ground. But yes, So your adp on Donald right now is quarterback thirty five.

That's prettyure.

There's only thirty two teams. Yeah, it's the twentieth round. Totally in on Donald here. Now you're gonna hear more from Brian Johnson later. Who's who thinks Sam Donald is gonna be like a top ten quarterback. Yeah, I'm not ready to go there.

Oh he thinks that the Vikings wasted a pick from Dorothy.

That's right. So Thor and Brian are gonna come to blows this year.

Yeah, it could be ugly, could be ugly. I love Donald as your second quarterback, and let's see how this thing plays out. Because the surrounding town's just so good and I do and the path he's could just buy your volume. Unless Donald is completely broken, he's gonna have some splash games for you to pick a pick and choose from. Okay, the thing to mention about Justin Jefferson is his lack of contract extension, which could become an

So it's Tyreek Hill, right.

Cee Lamb, Ceedee labert Kill and Jamar Chase and then Jefferson. Now that sounds a by right because of the quarterback differential. Okay, yeah, Addison has room to get better if his quarterbacking doesn't fail him. Addison could take a jump in his sophomore

Do you think the Packers downgraded at running back? They paid jos a lot more, you.

Know what I think.

Yeah, they did what I think happened, and everybody loved Aaron Jones. And by the way, I mean elite human being. I think they got frustrated with the questionable tag after his name every week. I think they were just, you know, we need somebody we can count on.

It was just it was durability. Yeah.

Now, I had a chance to do the Vikings draft party in US Bank Stadium and they they Aaron Jones came on, you know, came in with us, and I had a chance to chat with him a little bit and stand right next to him. The dude is slight of build.

You wouldn't think it.

You would not think it the way he the way he looks on the field, because he runs angry and tough, and he he does. He plays way bigger than he than he actually is in real life. So I guess I'm in that regard to I'm not not surprised that he's been He's broken down a few times. Kevin O'Connell's an almost even distributor of the ball near the stripe. He passes and runs at a roughly equal rate. There

That's still fait fantasy relevant.

It is enough to be fantasy relevant. He's currently running back eighteen round five sounds about right. Sounds about right running back. Overall, the running game for the Vikings gets much better with Aaron Jones than Alexander Madison. You know, we got plenty of things wrong last year Damian Pierce, tank Bigsby, but last year we warned you off of Alexander Madison all off season. I'm in on Aaron Jones.

Yeah, let's go to Our next team is Chicago Bears.

Lots of changes in the Windy City this year. New offensive coordinator Shane Waldron comes over for the Seahawks. He had a hand in the emergence of Geno Smith after the past few years. Rookie quarterback and pick one oh one is Caleb Williams, who replaces Justin Fields Keenan Allen acquired via trade. Yeah, DeAndre Swift acquired in free agency. Gerald Everett joined the tight end room with Cole kmet Romo Doonesa was drafted with the ninth overall pick.

Yeah, they look think of think of all the all the assets they threw himTo that Bears offense.

And Darnell Mooney and Deonta Foreman left via free agency, so.

They won't miss him.

No, I don't think they will at all. Passing game, I think everyone is expecting a huge uptick in this department for the Bears. Fields was really known more as a running quarterback, and Williams is quite the opposite. Keenan Allen takes the slot duties with DJ Moore and Romeo Odunze on the outside. Moore's going off the board at pick thirty, that's in the third round. Alan at forty seven and a Dounza at eighty six. To me, I like my knee jerk reaction was Allen was going to

I think he might be the best receiver.

He's not gonna he won't be the flashiest on him, right, but he's gonna be the guy where at the end of the day, he's got eight catches for eighty yards and.

As Scott Fish calls him, just the woobie, the woobie, Yeah, exactly. Cole Comet, in my mind, is an above average tight end, but he's going off the board at tight end fifteen right now and an eleventh round pick.

You might disagree.

I think Gerald Everett's a pretty decent depth piece there, and I think he cuts into it. But with all the additions, if this passing game doesn't get better, I'd be completely shocked and coaches.

Will be fight. Yeah, that could be.

That could be.

On the running game side. DeAndre Swift came over from Philly and it was a weird season for him there. He tallied twelve hundred and sixty three total yards, he had six touchdowns, he had a respectable four point six yards per attempt, and he was seventeenth in the league and explosive run rate, but he ranked fortieth in yards after contact and thirtieth amongst qualifying runners enforced misstackles, which that's not great. So a lot of his success you

Right to steal those.

So Swift might actually see some carries inside the five.

And foreman's gone who could have been a goal line threat.

He may have to split those inside the five carries with a few capable backups and Khalil ground Bear and Roshan Johnson.

I don't think we have ground bear.

We have? Why do I have a duck on here? What did we need that for? We didn't we label these at one time. I've only got a couple of them labeled.

Not that you have to buttons. I gotta change that. I gotta get I don't have the bear on here you have? Seriously, what is wrong with you? I gotta update the sounds on the button bar. It's time on our podcast.

So Khalil Herbert and Roshawn Johnson. Last year was an almost even split between Herbert Johnson and Foreman from Inside Australia. But maybe Waldron uses Swift as a bell cow similarly to how he used Kenneth Walker in Seattle. Or was that maybe a Pete Carroll philosophy.

I don't know.

Yeah, And the other thing that worries me is Swift was the bell cow in Philly for the most part. I mean, you got overwhelming number of carries in. It just didn't materialize outside of house in the Vikings. Literally it was the tush push that did him in Well that that certainly hurt.

It hurts him a lot. So I think the running game gets better in Chicago. I'm not sure it's going to go all to Swift, but and it might be more of a split than we like, but I think that things overall get better for the Bears on the running side.

All right, let's go to the Detroit Allions, our last, our last team here. This is the league's most unchanged offense. You've got you have one new full time starter guard, Kevin Zeitler. We referenced early Baltimore. Baltimore. Yeah, Jared Goff got a contract extension. They did lose committee receiver Josh Reynolds now in Denver passing game, he already know. I'm on Ross. Saint Brown is great. Current ADP is seven overall and it is totally deserved. No problem with that

That's the hope here. So let's talk it through a little bit.

Have been able to start either of the last two seasons. Noh yeah, random stuff exactly.

So he had the rookie a cl and then his sophomore year he had the Gable League suspension.

So will this be.

The year three breakout for Jamison Williams.

Do they do year three breakouts on wide receivers anymore?

I feel like we're still publishing.

The magazine Nico Collins. Nco Collins just had their year three breakout. To this point for Williams, the problems opportunity. He's not on the field enough. He's only averaging three targets per game now. Fortunately Reynolds leaves behind four and a half targets per game. Maybe he gets half of those, So maybe he gets up to like Williams gets up to like five targets a game, And now you're starting to get into quasi fantasy viability.

He had the deep a dot.

As people know, he's all about the long ball over sixteen yards per target.

That's huge. That's huge.

We love that from our fantasy players. It gives you the opportunity for the big gains, you know, and Saint Brown and Sam laport are gonna soak up a ton of catches, but not enough that there can't be a third meaningful fantasy player from this passing offense.

Well in, Saint Brown and Laporta are both kind of short a dots.

They are.

That's a good point.

That's a good point. I gotta have somebody deep.

And that's that's where Jamison Williams figures in. Probably now the other problem he's got to get over. He has the fourth worst drop ball ratio in football, a staggering fourteen percent drop rate for Jamison Williams on a small sample.

Suze yep.

Right now, Williams go off the board wide receiver forty nine, round ten. What do you think of that?

It sounds about right.

I actually thought it might have been a little bit lower. I did too, since his he didn't have the production in the past. But obviously people are baking in the opportunity here for sure.

I don't think we have to spend a lot of time on Sam Laporta going after the board is tight end one end of the second round in the lead talent that in an offense that that catered to him and used Laporta copiously, no problem where he's getting drafted into the second round.

He's awesome.

Does he get better or worse this year for the passing game, It's hard to imagine it's going to get better because it was already really good last year. I'm on Ross Saint Brown was fantastic, Laporta was fantastic. But maybe Laporta gets even better. Is in a sophomore year, so maybe there's a little increment up in his passing game. So maybe slightly better. But I can't see it getting a lot better because it was already great. Let's go to the running game, no changes, Jami or Gibbs, David

You don't hear a lot of this.

It seems like just like a Dan Campbell guy. All this guy is just a he's a football player.

I think that's some of it.

He was a finalist for the Paul Horning Award, given to college football's most versatile player. Two way player makes sense, right, slated to be a special teamer, so probably no big change there. I thought, this is fascinating, though. Where do you think Gibbs and Montgomery finished in Fantasy points last year? Off the top of your head. Off the top, and I'm not trying to trap you, no, And it's a little unfair to ask.

I think they're both right around top fourteen ish.

Nice job. Gibbs was nine, Monty was ten.

Okay, so I was gonna I was gonna say ten.

Twelve, like right there, Yeah, you did, absolutely, you were right in the window.

And Montgomery mostly due to all the touchdowns he scored.

Hold on, I think you're gonna be surprised, so our listeners. So Gibbs going out the board, RB four. Yep, right, Montgomery going off the board RB twenty two. So you attempted, you know, you know, these guys finished nine and ten. Why is Gibbs going four in Montgomery going twenty two? And the the natural inclination might be to say, well, Montgomery got a bunch of touchdowns that Gibbs didn't get. They were within one of each other on touchdowns. Montgomery

This is just new player bias, which is huge.

Andsanactly what it is, and highlight bias because Gibbs is a highlight machine and we remember the flashy plays. Montgomery wasn't flashy guy.

And it's way more fun to say Jamir.

Gibbs than David montgomer.

There is something to that. I swear to God that people like names.

That are cool.

David Montgomery is about the most boring name for a running back of all time.

I you know what, I never considered that, but you're a hundred Jamiir Gibbs is a way cooler sounding. Yeah, exactly, without a doubt, without a doubt. All right, that wraps up this episode. Thank you, Matt. Yeah, this has been add It has been a ton of fun. I'm drafting Montgomery picked running back twenty two. I think so seven. That's my DT. Oh, this is my duty.

Opposite guy.

We We've covered so many over the last two episodes, so many.

Do the opposite guys.

Yes, we got Pacheco, we got we got some of the Chargers running backs. Late got it's got Montgomery. There there's a you can build a really good backfield I know between the fourth.

Yeah, absolutely absolutely. Thanks for listening everybody. We'll be back with more next week with more Fantasy Football Weekly. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.