Preseason Week #3 - Draft Days

talking football. It's that we're really in the heart of draft season now right, it gets game on. You know, this is probably the drafts will be next two weekends. You know this weekend, next weekend will be the vast majority of drafts. So we're right in the thick of everything. And over the course of this show, we're gonna help you figure out which teammates are the right ones to draft. A lot of times there are two teammates at the

same position that you could draft. For example, would you rather Mike Evans in the second round or Chris Godwin in the fourth round? Will help you decide which guy to draft in a shared uh in a shared situation like that. Also, you're about to execute your first draft of the year. We've executed dozens of drafts already, and there are always these guys that you look back and go, well, I never ended up with him, never ended up with him. Did twelve drafts? Haven't ended up with that guy a

lot of time. It's not even that it's that you don't it's not even that you hate that guy, but you don't end up with them. Will tell you which players we've blacklisted from existence, jettison into a black hole of fantasy disinterest. Then we'll talk about the highlights from the preseason action from this week. We'll answer some tough questions.

You get to play. Along with those tough questions, we'll reveal our latest round of sleepers, and we'll talk about the freaky upside that comes with rushing quarterbacks and who you could potentially target in your draft if you want to take on the risk that comes with them. It's a little early for his freaky sound effects. It's not Halloween time quite yet now would have worked well for the freaky. The freaky I have any I don't have any freaky sound effects here. Yeah, I've got uh, yeah,

I've got a vulture. I've got a sad drombone. How's it going. I've got I got a happy trombone. Do you have the air horn? No? No, don't horn. I don't know where the air horn. We had an air horn at one point, you got you got Drew Peacock in there, though, don't you We know? No Drew Peacock. But man, do we miss Drew Peacock at least come back to the NFL Drew Peacock. Let's begin with this potential impending signing of Ezekiel Elliott. Maybe even depending on

when you're listening to this, he has already signed. If you believe the media reports. It looks like a signing maybe immanent. So let's start here, assuming he has signed, when people go to their draft, where does he slot in as a signed player for the Cowboys? I mean, I think he's just he's right back where he would have been, which is within the top three or four picks in the entire draft. More specific, where do you want him in the top four night? I think I

think most people would. I would take him third. I would take se Kwan and McCaffrey ahead of him, But but I would have before all along. Okay, if nothing has changed for me about about Elliott. I was CMC in Kamara top two. That was Zeke three before all this madness. But I gotta keep him at the tail. And now the four, I take Barkley over Zeke. But and I was taking David Johnson before Zeke. I'm still on the fence a little bit. But no, I guess if he signed today or tomorrow or very soon, I

would put him at number four. All right, So what about people that are in limball. Let's say he hasn't Zeke hasn't signed yet, but they're working on the same information we are right now as we record this, which it appears that they're you know, he's close to us signing. Let's just say all these reports are coming from like very biased cowboy accounts and I won't name name, but they bleed they bleed silver and blue or whatever the colors they call in Dallas. I mean, well, this is

what they want to say. They're not connected to the cowboys, and they would know. I don't know. It's it's wishful thinking that we all right, So are you saying then that you wouldn't believe it? And I think it's a coin flip. Now for whatever, it's okay, So where would you take him right now based on the knowledge I don't. I don't take him at all. No, there's no scenario eight round is available. You're taking no realistic scenario. He's going late first now I'm seeing him fall too. But

where give me the round where you're taking? Where you're taking Zeke? If he's on sign and we all you have to go on his media reports of optimism, which you obviously don't don't care about. Third, third round. I would go second, I think early second. I don't. I don't think I would. I would use my late first rounder if I don't know that he's going to be there, but by the second round you know the risk is worth it. What is it? What is this do about

Tony Pollard? Pollard's look good? Has Pollard shown enough that he's worked his way into a rotation the likes of which we've never seen with Ezekiel Ellid? He's never shared meaningful carries, but he's also never had a competent backup either. Do you think Tony Pollard has looked good enough that he will eat into a significant number of carries and touches? I mean fifty fifty, but more like seventy, which he's never had to put up with in the past. Hill

factor on third down when Zeke's back. Whenever Zeke comes back, he's a better receiver. Thanks great. Tony. Pollard excels receiving the football, I mean catching the football, and uh, he's shown that he can run as well. I see touches going to Pollard with Zeke and full tip. So that's my pa. I think that's fair too. I think Pollard has has shown enough this preseason to warrant being being in the lineup more so Pollard, even even if Zeke

is drafted, is Pollard more than just a handcuff. So let's say Ryan draft Zeke, Christian, are you are you drafting Polo? Are you drafting Polo? At any point in time? If Zeke is signed and he's on another team and he said, he's not not even your handcuff, No, I don't think he's getting enough. I don't think he'll get enough playing time, enough touches to be considered a standalone valuable fantasy player. So the only the only way that I would take him is if I also have Zeke.

On Thursday night, Cam Newton got knocked out of the game Friday. He's wearing a walking boot. The team, at least as of this recording, is not giving us any firm information about this this either foot or ankle injury. Now, he had surgery on the foot, so this is not the first time that that this foot has been an issue for him. What again, if if the team comes out and gives definitive information, then listeners probably know that already.

But given that we the team may very well be coy about this and we don't know, We've got in Cam what do you do right now? Cam Newton and potentially drafting him? And I'm going to the Cam Newton desk. Christian Peterson no bigger apologist for the fantasy value of Cam Newton than you. What would you do? Yeah? This one hurts. I mean there have been preliminary reports that it's not as serious as maybe it looked last night, and that he could be back, Sorry, he could be

back as soon as week one. We still don't know for sure. But in my mind, the biggest issue is that this is a foot injury. They're talking about a midfoot sprain kind of deal, and as we know, Cam Newton drives a lot of his fantasy value from his ability to run and a sprain, you know, something like that, especially if they're going to rush him back maybe for

week one. I don't like the sound of that. If he's not going to be able to run as much as he usually does, or if this thing just lingers all year long, if it just never gets right, which could be the case. Yeah, so there's I don't think there's any choice but to knock him down a couple of rungs on your on your cheat sheet. I wouldn't go crazy and like put him put him in the black on your blacklist, on your vortex of irrelevancy, Yes, but but I would knock them down a spot or two.

So if if this foot injury really does take the wheels off Cam Newton and all your most you know, for the most part, all you're going to get are his passing numbers. You've got quarterback twenty five on your roster. That's probably about right. You know, You're you're looking at a Sam donald Ish. You know, frankly, Donald's passing might

be better. Although I will say if if if the injury is to that point, I don't think the Panthers would would try him out there if he couldn't do some of the things that make him such a good player, you know what I mean, like go Will Will Greer or you know, Kyle Allen. I think that they'll put the best passer they have on the field, don't you think I do. I think they would Anyway, Well, that'll hopefully still be Cam the shoulders, much better than it's

been the past and direct. I'm very sad. We'll talk more about d J. Moore and critics. Samuel It's it. This is potentially tricky on them, obviously, if if if he's not gonna play with Cams not in his mobility opens up things for them, extends plays, sure, plenty of things. All right, Let's look at some of the preseason games with some notable events, beginning with the Giants and the Bengals.

This is Brian Johnson's previous favorite team and now his current favorite team playing each other in a heated preseason duel, clearly a potential Super Bowl preview as well. Giants Bengals. I got my money on that Vegas. Noah started with the Giant side, Eli didn't fully implode, looked sort of sharp. He will be a Week one starter and beyond and before we mentioned Daniel Jones Eli ran a lead block on a play for Wayne Gallard, ran about thirty two

yards on it. Um not with the ball, of course, that was impressive considering thirty two yards is what he averages rushing over his career every years. Never been much of a helper there, Eli, Hey speaking speaking of which, Um, who is you know for those people that want to handcuff Barkley? Is it Gallman or Park or just neither? Just just just don't do period, don't do it, all right, that's gonna be a case where hopefully doesn't. Anyway, it was Barkley. Yeah, whoever steps in for Barkley is not

It's a waste of fab. Don't even go there if that comes to it. If it comes to that. Um. Daniel Jones O came in after Eli. He looked very good again. Uh nine for eleven forty one yards, took a big hit, got back up, dropped a dime to the one yard line. But he's played against the reserves all preseason long. People are he looks goodseason? You know a week one he well, he he started the game week one, but he was also playing against reserved, So I guess you're right. But he will usurp Eli at

some point. Just a guy to keep your eye in and Dynasty and super Flex for him. That's definitely not one quarterback leagues this year. The only other giant worth mentioning was Evan Ingram, who called his loom target for nine yards. But outside of that, there was no Barkley, no Golden Tate, no Sterling Shepherds. Still he's injured. It should be ready for week one. We shall see. But um he's going off the board practically free. It's he's if you got a spot to burns. He'll be a

factor when he when he's healthy. For since no Joe Mixon, no Tyler Effort, Andy Dalton did look sharp, went seven for ten for a hundred and four yards through a beautiful yard touchdown to my boy the uzy C g C j use Olma, who also had another catch of twenty five plus yards, which was impressive. So if Effort gets hurt, muse Alma is going to be a factor again in the tight end wasteland when I get hurt when and uh, of course no A J. Green Tyler

Boyd only played a couple of series. One guy to keep your eye on his Damien Willis, wide receiver who had three catches for fifty five yards in the touchdown. Because John Ross is not good, who currently is slated

as the other starting wide receiver. This Damien Willis could become a factor, and so could rookie running back Rodney Anderson from U c l A, who was the first round that's the first blew out his knee in the first game for U c l A. Dropped to late third day in the draft, but he looked really good. And people always say Geo Bernard would be the backup if something happened to mixing, but Bernardo's kindding that Darryl Henderson threw down role. To me, Rodney Anderson is the handcuff.

He could be your first two down guy if something did happen to mix it up. So something. If you're gett handcuff mixing, it's not Geo, it is Anderson. That's it for this game. Let's go to Baltimore in Philadelphia. That's Brian, Sorry I'm wrong, Washington and sorry, Washington in Atlanta, thank you. Really not a lot to talk about in this game. On the Washington side, the debut debut of

Darius Guys so that's exciting. First time on the on the field and game action since he blew out his A c L last preseason, and he was very involved. He got four touches on the very first drive, eleven touches overall, and did okay with it four yards, So really just nice to see him back on the field. He looked like an explosive player, just like we thought we were getting last year before the injury. Of course, his fantasy situation is still pretty clouded with Adrian Peterson

there and Chris Thompson there. But again, good to see guys back on the field. Not so good news for Jordan Reid. Removed from the game in the concussion protocol. This is I believe, his seventh concussion of his career, and that's on top of all sorts of other injuries. You know, everybody, you know, beat writers, people were liking what they saw of Jordan Reid in the preseason and in training camp and he was looking like maybe one of their only legitimate receivers and now probably not so much.

So bad news for Jordan Reid. Case Keenum was bad, Dwayne Haskins was maybe even worse. This is this is bad. They have they have no wide receivers. Their top receivers didn't even play in this one. Josh Dockson might be traded or cut. It's a their passing game as a total disaster. On the Atlanta side, not really a lot to talk about here. Matt Ryan did start and played a little bit, but Julio Jones didn't play. Davonta Freeman just played one series. He did give way to Edo Smith,

who has now established himself as the backup that you want. There. I played seventeen snaps, had five carries and a touchdown. That is all that is worth talking about in this game. Okay, Carolina took on New England. We already talked about the only really sailing part of Carolina the Cam Newton injury here. Uh. If he can't go, Kyle Allen expected replacement. Uh, and let's hope it doesn't come to that in Week one or beyond. On the New England side, there were a

variety of things to talk about. Sony Michelle looking fast and elusive, much more so than last year. Remember last year came off of injury, was injured throughout that season, and looked like he didn't look anything like the guy we saw Georgia, he looked plotting and slow. Not so much here. I thought he looked really good. The box score won't show some of his best plays that came back in penalty as well, So don't just look at the box score, and Sony Michelle, trust me that he

looked good. It's still a very convoluted in deep backfield, but he looks like the best player in it. Ben Watson got some first team reps and he's got a little sneaker, sneaky tight end to him. Philip Dorsett got a long look, including starting the game, but with Josh Gordon's return coming, I don't think he's going to hold that job as a starter. And I'll note that Julian Edelman still not playing. Don't forget Ben Watson suspended though

for his four games. Great point, yeah, thank you, thank you, But after that's certainly gonna be viable this season, Darling. Jacoby Myers had another big game Patriots as well, although he did he got some looks from Tom Brady and was oh for three on the targets from Brady, and Brady was seen sort of be rating him on the sidelines a little bit. So uh, Myers has been a guy maybe worth looking at in Dynasty format, but probably

too far down the depth chart for others. The much anticipated Baltimore Philadelphia game, now let's get to that one. This one will be much quicker. Wentz did not play for Philly, has an all preseason, but he should be ready to go a week one, he will be ready to go, or so they say. Zacker has caught a past for thirteen yards, but this game was all about j j Arthega Whiteside baby Jaws Risen call him Jaws here.

It's way easier. Eight catches a hundred and four yards, including a nice grab in the corner of the end zone. Looks a little Andre Johnson ish easily a fair Compton, Mike Williams in l A. He's uh, he looks fantastic. He looks really Dynasty Sky's the limit redraft. It's a lot of there's a lot of targets to be shared in Philip. So that's the thing we're actually we're gonna

talk about it later in the show. But you know, that's one of the things I like about Carson Wentz is you don't have to guess which which is now suddenly plethora of quality target options is going to be the guy in any given week. That's it for Philly Baltimore. Not a lot here. Lamar Jackson did not play. Kind of a bummer. Not a lot of players didn't play in these week preseason Week three used to be the bonanza of all the starters. It's not. It's not not anymore.

Mark Ingham didn't play either. In rising rookie Justin Hill did not wow in this one. Only sixteen combo yards on nine touches. The only thing really worth mentioning is um Miles Boykin did make his first appearance at the preseason. He was a first round pick, second round, second second round pick. Uh. He did what he was drafted to do. Had one catch for forty four yards on two targets. So he's gonna be a deep threat for l Jacks this year. The third round pick, Miles Boykin. All right,

let's go to Green Bay and Oakland. What a disaster. This game was just a total disaster. On they're playing an eight yard feet so they played. They played in Canada, and in Canada on Canadian Football League fields, the uprights are in the middle of the end zones, so they tried to remove those, but then the field was just a mess in the end zone, so they had to shorten it and the ten yard line became the end zone. And when that happened, green Bay said, well, we're gonna

bench our thirty three best players. What a disaster, and a couple of the players that they did decide to play, including Equanimius st. Brown, you know, potentially fantasy. When I saw that injury, I'm like, the season over career enders saw off his foot right now, it looks bad. The interesting part was when you first looked at the hit, what you saw was the vicious head to head, you know, helmet to helmet action. And then it turns out he also blew up his ankle, blew up his leg in

some way, carted off the field out. They're saying it's only a severe high ankle sprain. I know, I was like, that's it's over. Uh fortunately, not not quite as bad as that anything else from no. I mean, Oakland didn't even bring the twenty four of their players to the game, and then because of the field they be so literally nothing that's talking about. Let's let's move on to our last preseason game that we're going to talk about, Jacksonville

taking out Miami. There are actually a number of things. This sounds like an absolute dog game, but there was There was actually some good things to come out of it. From a fantasy standpoint. For Jacksonville, Leonard for Nett got some work. Look pretty good. Heavily involved in the passing game, which has been a recurring theme of the preseason. In the training camp for him. D D. Westbrook looks great and they targeted him constantly. Scored a touchdown. He remains

highly underdrafted and that's um. I think he's somebody that's that needs to move up cheat sheets. He's going to be a target high here Miami. The offensive line was one of the big stories here. It's brutal. Poor ste Beard was on the run. Cons and Lee look shaky, got pressured, got hit. Uh, but it wasn't Stu Bird's fault. Of course. No, of course that he looks you give him. He's a leasive machine. Um. The offensive line is bad. They made rookie Josh Allen for for Jacksonville look like

a potential defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. And by the way, he might be a potential defense over the Year candidate Rookie of the year. Let's go to it while we're down. The passing game still here a little bit electrifying. Rookie Preston Williams ran with the first team in the first series. I think they might just be ready to see you know, they know where they're rebuilding. Why not give Preston Williams a bunch of reps. He is, in my mind, the only receiver I'm interested in drafting

out of that whole group. I'm done with the Kenny Stills of the world and DeVante Parker's the world. I think Preston Williams is the guy. And find out if you got lightning in a bottle. Albert Wilson is intriguing, though in PPR you can have him. Caitlin Balage had nowhere to run offensive line again, terrible, no ability, and he's not good, no ability to make his own yards. So you give him no. You can't give him a giant hole to run through. He gives you nothing. Draft

Kenyan Drake instead. Drake has dropped two full rounds of a DP over the last three weeks as he's been nursing a foot injury, and Calin Bellage is beginning all this work. I'm telling you blage stinks to add real quick right quill Armstead, I hope I pronounce the first. He looked good against the Miami starting defense. He's the true handcuff behind it. I think it is too and there are there are people that are on the blue thing. Don't don't get screwed by blue absolutely uh everything. Charge

that's me available at famble dot com. By going to fambile dot com slash chart, you get instant access to my free cheat sheet, my free five thousand dollar week one contest, all our podcast. It's your portal to guillotine leagues again famble dot com slash Charge Coming up next. Let's look at teams with two viable fantasy starters at the same position. Which one is the right one, particularly when you factor in their raft position. You're listening to

Fantasy Football Weekly Fantasy Football Weekly Returns. I am Paul Archie and my co hosts are Brian Johnson Christian Peterson. Guys, let's look at the teammates who are competing for a spot on your roster and kind of against each other. These are teammates who play the same position. They're both draftable guys, But which one do you take? Especially when you factor in average draft position. I want to begin here, Christian Philip Lindsay, who's going in round five, or Royce Freeman,

who's going in around eight. What do you think? Yeah, So Lindsay last year was the number thirteen fantasy running back depending on your scoring system, but in a PPR system he was. He was about twelve in fantasy points last year. And Freeman was was there and Freeman was taking some of the goal line looks last year, and all throughout training camp people were saying Freeman was the guy. And then it turned out Philip Lindsay was just a

dramatically better player during the year. And now this offseason they had changed the coaching staff a little bit, and the new coaching staff came in and they said they want to get Royce Freeman more involved. They went out and they picked up Theo Riddick in the preseason, maybe to take some pass catching away from Philip Lindsay. But now Riddick is injured. He fractured his shoulder in his first game, so he's out sort of indefinitely right now.

And honestly, I don't see what's changed this year versus last year. And Lindsay right now is the running back off the board. So to me, all of these factors about Freeman maybe already being uh taking taking some of the looks, it's already factored into his ADP. And I think the upside is still there for him to finish within the top fifteen. So I'm not buying Freeman just like just like I had last year. And I think Lindsay is the guy, so I would I would rather

have him in round five than Freeman even three rounds earlier. Um, you know, Royce Freeman had this in the second preseason game. He had this untouched fifty yard run in which he was caught from behind easily. And I'm looking at that going, Philip Lindsay's gone gone. You give Philip Lindsay that whole touchdown, that's like an eight yard touchdown. I just I don't

think it was really good. They're fantasy experts who absolutely love Freeman, yeah, and believe that Royce Freeman is gonna, you know, catch and surpass Lindsay, And I just I never see it with my own two eyes. They can't get past the draft. They can't get That's exactly Rice. It's the right, it's the it's the Penny situation all

over again. Just like Seattle, people can't get past where where Penny was drafted as a first rounder, despite the fact that Chris Carson is so much better, and they're convincing everybody that Philip Lindsay is a fifth rounder when in fact he's should be a probably a third rounder. Lindsay, that's right. We're already getting the discount on Lindsay. Brian Julio Jones late first round or Calvin Ridley in the

fifth round. Which team made you have taken? I want both, to be honest with you, but if you got to pick one, let's break it down, starting with Julio. His seven thousand receiving yards the most by any player in any five year span in his in history of the NFL. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Injuries used to be a knock for Julio if you recall in the pastor but he's missed three starts during that same five year span. The last started he missed was in twenty sixteen, so he's been fully healthy the

last two years. Red zone targets used to be an issue for Julio Jones. He had just three in the first eight games last year, and they all came in the opener. Yeah. After that though, Atlanta got their their s together. I saw fourteen red zone targets over the final nine games. Only Travis Kelsey saw more. He had fifteen, so and we all saw it happened. Touchdowns came for Julio wide receiver one Sarkisian anyway, right, and Dirk Cutter by the way, coming back. Very familiar with Julio and

Matt Ryan, which is an offensive when it comes to fantasy. Anyway, over to Calvin Ridley, a lot to love to. Here's the list of rookies with ten plus receiving touchdowns over the past twenty five years. Randy Moss, Odell Beckham, Mike Evans, Gronk, Mike Williams, the Tampa Bay one from the mid Austin, and Calvin Ridley. That's that's good company, right, that's good company. Aside from Mike Williams, I'm sorry he flamed out. I

loved him and Madden too. By anyway, Calvin Ridley, half of those ten touchdowns came into two game span though from weeks three to four. Yeah, and starting in Week five, he only saw red zone targets in two games for the remainder of the season, Julio, will you take them? Why can't they throw to both of them? Though? That's what I wann't know. But anyway, three of those targets went for to total touchdowns. Long story short, Ridley is gonna make strides and be a bona fide wide receiver two.

But Julio is going around wide receiver five six. He could be wide receiver one. I gotta I gotta pull the triggered on Julio over Ridley. But I love them both understandable, and I think there is a great case this is This could be the rare situation where you could take two wide receivers from the same team and start them and then draft Matt Ryan and go all in. I said that training camp last week. It's one of the few teams that would do this with because you

can get both. You get the quarterback after both wide receivers, and it's a good sign. That is a good sign. Let's go to the Rams running back situation. Todd Gurley still going in the second round of fantasy drafts, or rookie Darryl Henderson who's going in the seventh round. Yeah, I mean I think I think people know what the

situation is here, right. We thought at the end of last year when Gurley sort of mysteriously towards the end of the year started getting sat down and then C. J. Anderson stepped in and went berserk, and the Rams didn't really admit that anything was wrong, but what we saw on the field made it obvious that there was especially with again with Anderson going bonkers and and Gurly doing nothing for a team that had that had Super Bowl aspirations, clearly,

and it's continued into the off season. He missed the offseason workouts, he isn't practice sing every day in training camp, He's not going to play in the preseason, so this is kind of interesting. I went back and looked at his ADP. Before mid June, he was at about eleventh overall, so people had kind of priced in some of this uncertainty,

but he was still being a first rounder. Then on June eight, they came out and finally admitted that he has this arthritic condition and his arthritic and since then, so as ADP now drops to eighth overall, so really only only seven spots. But he's now to the point where you're getting him clearly in the second round into the middle of the second round. But I just can't get over this uncertainty. I just think there's no way that you can afford to completely whip on your second

round draft pick. And during the off season the Rams actions speak a lot louder than their words. They matched the three point to five million dollar offer sheet to back up Malcolm Brown, and then they went out and got Henderson, who, by all accounts everybody loves and is an explosive player. I would you know, there's risk in Henderson as well, but I'd rather with on my seventh rounder than on my second rounder. So I'm taking Henderson

in Round seven. Couldn't agree more with everything you said. I think about this, Listeners, It's a Wednesday injury report drops Todd Gurley knee every week, every damn week. It's gonna read just like that, and you're gonna have no way of knowing what's coming. Is it gonna be two touches, Is it gonna be twelve touches, Is it gonna be twenty two touches? God only knows. You're not going to

all year long. You're gonna be doing that chronically arthritic knee I don't like to chronically do things I enjoy. I don't want to chronically have sex. You know, chronic arthritic k me forget it. I'm totally out on that. No interest in investing in a chronically arthritic knee. Last set of teammates that we want to break apart before we take our our next, our, next pause. Mike Evans going in the second round or Chris Godwin going in the fourth. Brian, this is kind of another King Solomon

situation in here. I gotta love both of these guys, especially with DeShawn Jackson and um Adam Humphries leaving that VAK its thirty eight percent of Tampa based target shares and the only wide receiver they bring is Brashad perrim and Bright. He does not count. He does not count as a football player. So let's start with Evans. Actually is a quad injury right now, probably gonna miss the rest of preseason, sort of questionable for Week one. That's not good, but let's assume he's good to go. He

should be. We know what we get with Evans. He's a bona fide wide receiver one has overall wide receiver one potential since Evans has more yards and Beckham Jr. More touchdowns, and Davante Adams and more catches and t Y Hilton. He's just he's in the top tier of wide receivers or the one beat here at least, but Chris Godwin could get there coming at a couple rounds later in drafts. Only saw ninety five targets last year.

That's how many targets Willie Sneed saw. Very much easy, still pretty good, It's not bad, but there's twenty five to thirty more targets on the horizon for god When, who finished with eighty two yards and seven touchdowns last year. He did see the fourth most targets from inside the ten yard line last year with the Levin for comparisons sake, Evans only saw six and uh Bruce Arians indicated Godwin can be a hundred catch guy running primarily out of

the slot, by the way, is what he'll do. And guys like Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne, uh Larry Fitzgerald obviously in Arizona. Yeah, these are a hundred catch guys under Arians offense. So I'm going god When with the value over Evans, even though I love them both. Again, Yeah, it's um Godwin's got freaky upside, freaky upside. You know Evans does too, but you're you're paying that. You know you're paying a two round differential. I think that I think that can make some sense. Godwin easily one of

the most hyped players of this summer. We've had so much fun with this debate between players. Let's keep it rolling. We'll keep slicing up teammates and telling you which one to target in your draft or your auction. And you've heard us talking about the Guillotine League, the hottest new format and fantasy sports. Seventeen teams. In each week, the low scoring team gets cut from the league and their entire roster goes to the waiver wire. It makes for

insane waiver why are runs? You can learn more and even join a Guillotine League by going to guillote leagues dot com powered by fanball dot Com. Coming up next, we will get back to teammates. Who should you take, especially when you factor in the average draft position. It is Fantasy Football Weekly. You are listening to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchy In. My co hosts are Brian Johnson and Christian Peterson. You can follow us on Twitter if you'd like, I am at Paul Charchy and you'll

have to figure out how to spelled at him. I even tell you how to spell it right now. Nobody's gonna remember all the letters Paul Charchy and Brian is easier at b t x J. I don't know how you can misspill Church, and I think most people will come to spell it out. You shouldn't hear the telemarketers. God butchery chart chain is all the time. Church Ian. It's easy. Well, of course, I think it's easy Christian

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Let's return to our discussion about draftable teammates. These are two guys who played the same position on the same team, but based on their average draft position, who would you rather choose Christian. We begin with you and Melvin Gordon verse and going in by the way, we should mention going in roughly the early third round, late second round, Austin Ekeler in the sixth round, or Justin Jackson buried way down in like round eleven. Which guy should we

focus on? Yeah, Gordon's ADP is going the wrong way here. He's the middle of round three, maybe even getting worse here as there is unlike the Ezekiel Elliott situation, where there's a ray of hope, there appears no end in

sight for Melvin Gordon. The Chargers have dug in on this one in part because they do have such a capable backup in Ekeler, who has averaged over five point two yards per carry in his first two NFL seasons, and last year, even with Gordon handling the vast majority of the load, Ekeler had nine and sixty combined rushing and receiving yards and six touchdowns and a five yard per carry average. Charger five. Chargers seem to have the leverage here, but you know so, Ekeler in round six

seems like a good value. But Gordon still could return. He has to come back by halfway through the year. Yeah, week ten, in order to crew another year towards free agency, which he absolutely would want to do. So Gordon's coming back at some point. So are you investing around six pick in Eckler or both a round three and around six just to lock up that backfield? That seems like a lot so scenario. I'm actually going with Justin Jackson here. I'm going with the dart throw. He was actually pretty

good late last year. He had over three combined rushing and receiving yards and two touchdowns in a five game stretch to close out the year last year. And Ekeler actually had a couple of games late last year where he was the starter and supposedly the bell cow. He did not perform very well in those two games. So if and when Gordon misses a few games earlier in

the year, Justin Jackson is going to be involved. So I'm more intrigued by him as a as a lotto ticket in the round in round eleven than either of these other guys in round three or round so. Right, So you can just flush that pick and it doesn't doesn't materially hurt your team. If you got to just cut him out right. What resonates with me is the first preseason game Eckler fumbled from the two yard line and then later Jackson had a violent touchdown. I think

the goal line duty. You know, if if Gordon is not their goal line duty is going to Justin Jackson. But I'll mention being a goal line duty. Melvin Gordon has the second most touchdowns from inside the five since he entered the league. So that's amazing because he didn't score a touchdowns rookie year. Whenever that he got blank is crazy. Let's go to uh, let's go to the situation in Carolina between DJ Moore currently going in the fifth round and Curtis Samuel was a seventh round average

draft position. Which teammate do you like better? Another win win situation really outside of this Cam Newton news, but we won't we won't touch on that. Let's just pretend

Cam's gonna be okay or let's hope. So starting with DJ Moore as a rookie last year, he led all players with at least fifty catches and yards after the catch on a per reception basis, and became just one of seventeen receivers to post six receiving yards at twenty one years old, he joined a list that includes Randy Moss, Amari Coope, Mike Evans, Keenan, Allen Juju, DeAndre Hopkins, and Josh Gordon to be nice company to and UH now over to Samuel's side and his second pro season last year.

He didn't become a regular starter until Week eight and he missed the last games due to injury, but he looked really good when given the opportunity UH, including rushing the ball. He had two rushing touchdowns in addition to what he did catching the ball. UH. He's no gimmick player, though he has the making of number one as well, and to see that you just look at his red zone usage. In his limited UH game action, he had more touchdowns in the red zone than George Kittle, Jarvis Langy,

Corey Davis, Allen Robinson, and Jimmy Graham. Three of his four red zone receptions went for touchdowns, which is very efficient. And while four red zone receptions doesn't seem like a lot, if you extracts it's not a lot. It's not. But only fifteen wide receivers at double digit red zone receptions last year, and most of them are under fifteen on that list, So I'm sorry Samuel very much in that company over a full season's work. This is a tough one.

This is really tough one for me because I know, I know you love d J. Moore. I do, and I love Curtis Samuel, and really they're almost the same player. And in that case, I just got to take the cheaper one here and go Curtis Samuel. But man, this is an instance. If I knew Cam was fully healthy, I'd be comfortable owning both of these guys and Cam on one team. I think Samuel is stronger, and I think he's more elusive. I think he's I think he's

the I think he's more dangerous. If you asked me somebody's gonna score one of these who's gonna score from you know, sixty yards and breaking two tackles to get there? I think it's I think it's Curtis sam Don't don't slouch on more after the catch, though, he's he's tough to bring down. We'll find out, and I'm with you. I think you got I think you identified the right guy. Al right. Next, let's go back to Christian Odell Beckham going in the late first round or Jarvis Landry going

in the sixth round for Cleveland. Which receiver do you prefer at his average draft position? Yeah, so Beckham, like you mentioned, he has a late first round or the fourth wide receiver off the board right now, behind DeAndre Hopkins, Davante Adams, Michael Thomas. We know his upside is as the number one overall fantasy wide receiver. We've seen what he can do. Charge I believe you have him listed

as you're had move down. I'm moving down to five just because he's already hurt, and you know, just the freaky upside for Odell beck And he could easily be the top scoring He's never had a quarterback as good as Baker Mayfield's going to be this year ever in his whole career. Yeah, there's no the upside is unquestioned. But I mean you're buying him at his upside in the first round. You can't buy him any any earlier

than you are. Right Well, the only I'm buying is I'm getting late first round instead of mid instead of first wide receiver off the board at at five or six. So contrast that, however, to Landry, who has had the following career Fantasy finishes in PPR formats wide receiver nineteen last year, that was his worst year. Wide receiver, four, wide receiver thirteen, Wide receiver eleven. He's never had fewer

than a hundred and twelve targets in a season. He's always been playing in significantly worse offenses than what he's playing in now. And despite all of that, despite all those elite level finishes from Landry, right now, he's the wide receiver off the board. I don't understand it. I mean, Baker Mayfield is fantastic. They have all of these weapons around them. Their new offensive coordinator, Todd Mounkan got seventies,

six catches and five touchdowns out of Adam Humphries. Landry plays out of the slot and he's significantly better than Adam Humphries. So, as you can probably tell, I would prefer to have Javis Landry way down in the sixth round then Beckham in round one. I was all I was.

I was totally in on Beckham before you gave that Ratchean now or Jarvis Landry, and now I'm I'm I'm you flipped my you flipped my opinion on all right, you changed my mind too, because the road is Landry burned people last year and I was one of them. And yeah, Beckham, You're just like, it's not gonna get any better. But it might. It might get better. It might get better because Odell Beckham's away from him and he's you know, there's a lot of reasons where I

could get better for Jarvis Landry this year. Back to Brian, let's go to Let's go to San Francisco and one of the murky ist wide receiver situations. Do you like Dante Pettis in the eighth round or Deebo Samuel rookie receiver in the fourteen Alright, let's start with Dante at a quote unquote peak Pettis last year. You know, he's six game stretch towards the end of the year where he totally went off. He never saw more than se seven targets or had more, and he just had five

catches twice during that span. So there wasn't a ton of volume for Pettis there. He did have success in the red zone on paper, but he didn't see just one target from inside the ten yard line. He's not a big end zone end zone threat. That's really George Kittle's territory territory. But uh, I don't see a bumping targets coming for Pettis when you consider Kittle. Of course, they want Trent Taylor to factor out of the slot. He should be ready by week one. Mark He's Goodwin

is back. Jalen heard this rookie is turning in. And then there's Deebo Samuel who they drafted in the second round, who's looked great this preseason. And really, Deebo is a very similar player to Um Pettison. He's he's about an inch in height. They both round four equally as fast. Yeah, but Deebo's got like twenty pounds of muscle on Pettis, and I think that makes him more of a factor after the catch, more of a factor in the red zone. He can muscle defenders much more easily than Pettis, who

doesn't have the height to separate as well. So I'm taking Deebo at a discount. I know you're gonna hate it, charge because you're a big Pettis guy like Pettis, but I gotta go value here and I'm gonna go Deebo. You know there. Uh, Pettis has managed to get his head coach Kyle Shanahan to call him out publicly about you know, he's got a step up and stuff, blah blah blah. I think that's, you know, I just think

that's a motivational talk. I think that's him trying to light a fire under a kid that maybe got a little too full of himself with the success he had from last year. He listens to the show Pettis does, and he heard me talking about how great he is uh in previous versions of Fantasy Football Weekly. I think that went to his head a little bit. Um. All that said, Deebo Samuel's practically free in the fourteenth round, and I feel as good about him getting playing time

as I do anybody in this offense. So as much as I as much as optimistic as I am about Dante Pettis, I'm kind of with you on Deebo Samuel's the right pick here, factoring in the average draft position. Let's go to another thorny one and one that's it's it's shifting sands constantly Kansas City's backfield. Damian Williams, you gotta pay a end of second round price for or Darwin Thompson in round twelve, yeah, I mean, I mean, there was a point before training camp opened when Damian

Williams was approaching like first round. Yes he was. That's how excited people were about this guy after the last year. What we saw at the end of last year. You can't blame him. Eight touchdowns games in the final five games of last year. It was running back four after Cream Hunt left the team. Four. Clearly, that's very compelling. But he also in his previous four seasons average three and a half yards per carry, never received more than forty six carries or twenty two receptions in a season.

He's twenties seven years old. He's a journeyman. Nobody wanted him, like, there's there's no precedent for this, for a guy coming in and spending the first four years on the bench and then turning into a fantasy superstar. But anyways, preseason starts, training camp starts all of a sudden. The sixth row on rookie Darwin Thompson looks incredible, really explosive. He played at a small college, but he has a lot of very good physical traits. He's fast, he's strong, he's elusive,

and he's shown it in the preseason. So I'm not a believer in Damian Williams. I think there's too much risk, certainly in the second round and even in the third round. I'd rather take the dark throw on Darwin Thompson in the twelfth. Coming up next, let's answer three tough questions. You can play along. Answer the tough questions, see if you can go a perfect three and oh on Fantasy Football Weekly. You you don't, you don't. Don't you don't don't don't you don't don't, don't don't you don't if

you don't, don't don't you don't know. You don't don't you don't don't. You don't know. You don't if you don't, don't don't you don't know, No, no, no, don't. You don't know. You don't know. You don't know what you don't know. Don't know. You don't know. If you don't don't you don't, don't, don't don't. It is Fantasy Football Weekly. I'm pul Charchi and Koner fanball dot Com. My cohorts. My co hosts are Brian Johnson and Christian Peterson. Guys,

it's time to get into the grinder with three tough questions. Listeners, you can play along, see if you can go three and oh it's a themed version this week we don't normally have. Normally they're just sort of scattershot random three tough questions. This is a theme. We begin with tough question number one. Who is this year's biggest risk reward quarterbacks? So this is the quarterback that will provide the highest upside and downside among all the available quarterbacks. Who do

you got, Brian? I'm gonna go with Deshaun Watson, who right now is going as a late fifth round pick. Really quarterback to in most most drafts. I've seen the good with the Shawn. He's got DeAndre Hopkins into arguably wide receiver one in all of the world. Uh, hop um Sorry. Watson also very mobile, third among quarterbacks and rushing yards and touchdowns last season. Has a new o

C offensive coordinator, Tim Miller, who is highly regarded. Uh. He plays great with Will Fuller Watson that is levin touchdowns and eleven games when they're on the field together. Fuller coming off in a c L reports are somewhat encouraging, but uh, that leads me to the bad um. Without the proven durability of his secondary receivers will will Fuller, who has missed fifteen games over the last two years, and Kiki Qtie who missed eleven games last year already

injured his ankle this preseason. It's all that's been all Hopkins and the rushing behind an awful offensive line that was forced to sign Matt Khalil of all people who might be their left tackle. They didn't forced to sign, they just chose to sign. I don't know who does that, but yeah, front office does it. I guess No. GM eighty one sacks in twenty three games for Watson. I'm just afraid history is gonna repeat itself because last year he was going to off his quarterback to three, finished

his quarterback twelve. That's too much of a gap for me, and nothing has really changed. I don't trust will Fuller stay healthy coming off the A c L. The old line is still very wobbly. So he's way too high risk high reward for me. All right, who is this year's biggest risk reward quarterback? Christian My initial thought when I when I got this assignment was Kyler Murray because of the massive upside. But you're really not risking much with him. A tenth rounder, So instead I went with

Baker Mayfield. He's currently the QB four right now by a DP somewhere in round seven, round eight ish. The upside is obvious. We've already talked a little bit about it. But based on his performance from last year, especially in the eight games after Freddie Kitchens took over last year, Mayfield, through nineteen touchdowns, completed over sixty percent of his passes. Really thrived when he started throwing the ball deep down field.

And then in the off season they go out in the add Odell Beckham clearly one of the best deep threats in the game. They've got emerging young players all over the place here. We talked about Jarvis Landry, David tight end, David Najoku, running back, Nick Chubb, maybe later in the year, Kareem hot So everything is set up for success here. But yeah, we don't really know. It's all it's all conjecture. It's all based on what we saw in half a season of work. We don't really

know about Beckham. He could, you know, mess things up in the locker room. We've seen him be a divisive force. So you're having to take Baker Mayfield is the fourth quarterback off the board ahead of Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, a lot of much more established players. So that's why I think there's their significant risk here as well. You gets touched on the two finalists that I chose,

although it did not ultimately select Kyler. Murray was in that conversation until I saw exactly what you did the tenth round ADP. I'm not risking enough to Shaun Watson. We'll talk more about him later. I think there is a lot of risk there. But what about the correct answer. Aaron Rodgers going off the board as quarterback three in fan among all fantasy players, and to get him you gotta go around six. That's not a trivial that's not

a trivial draft pick. Everything could go right for Aaron Rodgers. Maybe it really was all Mike McCarthy's fault. And maybe now he's set up with a coach who has been a great quarterback advisor, at least was with the Rams. Didn't get anything of Marcus Mariota um and that now with Davante Adams, you've got young receivers who look like they're going to be a lot better in your number two and in Doronto Allison and Marquees Valdez Scantling. Maybe it all comes together, or maybe Matt Lafleur is in

way over his head. He wasn't ready to coach yet, he wasn't able to get Marcus Mariota there. Maybe Aaron Rodgers is going to steamroll this guy and try to run the team like he did at the end of last year after they fired McCarthy, and this thing's gonna tank badly. Remember last season, Aaron Rodgers the most scoring systems, but somewhere between quarterback twelve and eighteen, he was bad, bad, And that's that's a chance that you still have with

Aaron Rodgers. Let's move on to tough question number two. Who is the biggest risk reward running back this year? Christian you get to have the honors to go first. Yeah. I went back to Cleveland on this one with Nick Chubb in part because I've seen him in drafts recently being taken as high as number four or number five. Overall,

people love Nick Chubb right now. It's partially because as soon as the Browns traded Duke Johnson away, it became clear that they were probably gonna pass a little bit more to Chubb, and that was maybe the one part of his game that he was missing or that we didn't see last year. But we saw how good Chub could be last year at the same time Baker Mayfield exploded, so did Chub. So I get what I get the

upside here, and it's tantalizing. What I hate is the fact that Kareem Hunt could be back, that could be back, will be, We'll be back by week nine. And Kareem Hunt was one of you know, the top two or three, four or five or whatever top fantasy running back uh in in every every season that we've seen, So you might be cruising along with the overall number one running back all season long for the first eight weeks. But

what happens when Hunt comes back. I mean maybe in the first couple of weeks they just kind of work him in a little bit here and there. But Hunt is just so talented that I think he's gonna have a significant role after he comes back. And that's a risk that I'm not willing to take. All Right, Brian, who is the biggest risk reward running back on the

board for fantasy drafters. I'm gonna stay close to home here in Minneapolis and say Dalvin Cook, who right now is going in mid second in most drafts, I've seen him go in the first and some and that's because of this guy is the limit in a bell cow role that he should take on this year coming off the a c L suffered in Week four last year, had the shoulder injuries in college, but makes some little injury prone. That's really the only concern for Cook himself

is the injuries. If he stays healthy, he has RB one potential with the Vikings. But what makes him risk here outside of the injuries is he's a guy you probably want a handcuff. But who are you going to handcuff him too? Is it Mike Boone or is it Alexander Madison? You know, everybody, everybody close to this team says it's Madison. I think that's been the draft capital. Again, it's the same, it's the draft capital bit. You gotta They picked him in the third round. But Boone has looked,

you're closer to the team than I am. Charching. Uh, I see, I'm I I kind of like Boone. But everybody close to the team tells me that it's it's Madison. Well, it's not the run with the first team offense in every preseason game. I'd like to have at least a clear cut handcuff if I'm forced to handcuff of stud running back, and that's it's not quite evident there, So Dalvin Cook and when you're when you your league this year, But he could lose it if he does get injured.

But I'm crossing my fingers. I'm all in on him, though, So let's go. This year's biggest risk reward running back is Leonard four Nett. At this time a year ago, four Nette was coming off the board at the end of the first round because he was coming off a season in which he was RB eight in Fantasy points, the eighth highest scoring fantasy player. But last year, as you all know, disaster because of the soft tissue injuries and a horrible offensive line that was riddled with injuries.

His running was tentative. He just wasn't himself all year. And maybe all that repeats himself. Maybe it's he set up for another year of soft tissue injuries. Maybe, but the offensive line got improved in the off season. It's healthy now and he's got the upside four net does of a top five player. He's the rare workhorse in a league that has very few workhorses. There's no competition for carries here at all. He'll get all of those.

He's enjoying the best quarterbacking of his career, of his career with Nick Foles, and you figure offensive line improved and better, and then all the pass catching they've they've thrown him in the preseason training camp O t a s it looks like he's sitting on a much improved PPR production as well, which has when one of the few things that seld him back. Leonard four Nette could be a top five fantasy player, or we could miss

the whole season with ongoing growing injuries. So who's to say Letard four net the biggest risk reward running back. Let's move on to tough question number three. Who is the year's biggest risk reward wide receiver? Back? To Brian, who you got? I couldn't help myself. It's Antonio Brown going uh ninth pick in the second round. Since in reverse order, among players who qualify with the most receiving touchdowns,

it goes like this. Davante Adams thirty nine, Mike Evans forty, Odell Beckham forty four, DeAndre Hopkins forty five, Antonio Brown nine. We know the upside, uh, but he's on a whole new team. We all know that as well. And Derek Carr is not Ben Roethlisberger. And I'm gonna go to my boy Graham Barfield with the stat on a deep ball accuracy attempt by season, and these are passes of twenty five plus yards. Uh. Roethlisberger in sixteen he was

the most accurate, seen, the most accurate. Last year, the ninth most accurate. Derek Carr the second lowest. Banner year eighteen, last year fourth lowest. So, outside of the cerebral issues that may exist with Antonio Brown, the quarterbacking and just the team in general makes him incredibly volatile, but there is certainly a high ceiling if all the cards fall the right way with him. All Right, Christian, I too went with Antonio Brown the number one, two or three

fantasy wide receiver five years in a row. I'll pile on a little bit about the difference between Pittsburgh and Oakland. Last year, Oakland eighty fewer passing yards per game, a hundred and thirty fewer pass attempts throughout the season, uh. In terms of points scored per game, Pittsburgh scored the fifth most points in the league. Oakland scored most points in the league. That's eight and a half points per

game less. And yeah, I mean, we know what the upside is, but how's it gonna go for Antonio Brown when the Raiders start inevitably start losing this year? This guy is a diva. You have no idea what's going to happen. So I agree Antonio Brown. Yeah, uh, this one was a layup. It is Antonio Brown highest ri

screw ward. He could be the you know, maybe he ends up his wide receiver one again because he's done it before, or maybe Oakland's crappy offensive line doesn't give Derek Carr even the time to set up on those deep passes that Antonio Brown is how so many times when he was with Pittsburgh. And then I think you raised one of the great points that nobody's talking about. He's used to winning at a high level for his whole career. Last year was the first time he wasn't

on a particularly successful playoff bound Steelers team. And what happened, you know, he he had to leave the team. They got rid of him, what happens when the Raiders start one and six? Oh god, I can't tell you for sure that at some point the team doesn't ask him to leave this year. That's a real possibility that Mayock and Gruden just tell him to leave. That's you know, this thing could end in a grievance somewhere, you know, sitting in a you know, sitting in court. Who knows.

There's so much weird risk with Antonio Brown. It was an easy answer. You all got it right. Hopefully the listeners went three and oh. Let me ask you this. Let's take my three answers. As for the high risk, high reward guys, how would you feel about coming out of your draft with all three high risk, high reward guys and just taking in saying to yourself, you know what, you know, all these guys come with a certain discount because of the risk. And I want to roll the dice.

I've got your It's it's Leonard four Nett you can get in the late second round, early third round, it's Aaron Rodgers in the sixth round, and it's Antonio Brown, whose ADP I think is where you can say, second third pick, you get four net Brown at the turn second. Okay, there you go. That's fair. Is would you feel comfortable with that draft strategy? Of course not. I mean I generally don't mind the high risk, high rewards sort of

draft strategy. I mean, rather than finishing sixth or seventh place in my league, I'd rather just go for it, right I want. I want to win a championship. Sometimes I'm going to. Sometimes I might just be horrible and finished near dead last. So I like that. I like that. But what I don't like are the players. I mean, four Net and Rogers just don't do anything for me that. I think the risks far away the reward on Brown. So I wouldn't do it with those. I could live

with Fournet, Rodgers. It's Brown that's scared, especially where he's going in a lot of drafts right now. It's to me, I my risk profile, my draft. I want the risk at the bottom of my draft, not the top middle of my draft. So I couldn't. I couldn't stomach having that much risk coming in my rounds three and four, in five and six too early. We've done dozens of drafts, you know, and sometimes you look back at least I do,

and you realize there are guys I never drafted. We will look at the guys that are in the black hole of fantasy. Find out our blacklist, the guys we never draft. Coming up next on Fantasy Football Weekly. It is a pre season addition of Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchy, and you know you're seeing. Your draft is about picking the right players, you know, but it's also about avoiding the wrong players. That's half the battle, right.

We talk all the time about the players we want to take, but we don't always talk about the players that we don't plan to draft. Often it's not always just a matter of just like I don't like that guy, I would never draft him under any circumstances. We're gonna break down three quarterbacks, three running backs, and three wide receivers we never draft. You know, all the mock drafts we've done, the real drafts that we've done, the guillotine

league drafts, all the things. No matter the format, the scoring system, the situation, these are guys we never end up with. Will begin at the quarterback position. Brian Johnson, who you got? I got? Andrew Luck and uh and all. Honestly, I'd look before the injury concerns that have popped up over the last couple of weeks or the last week or so. Um, he was going a quarterback three before the injury news. Now he's more like quarterback six, going

roughly the first pick in the eighth round. Yeah, he's my number seven quarterback. I might cheat, And in general, I'm just a weight on a quarterback guy in one quarterback leagues, which just put some way out of my purview already. But I'm even fading him in two quarterback formats. I'm just not playing this injury game with Luck. We've seen a couple of years ago. Granted it's an ankle now, not not his shoulder, which in cold bodes better for

a quarterback I suppose. But Jacoby Brissette might be the best backup in the NFL, and Indies like shopping him or if someone wants him, they got to give up a means he's not going anywhere, and right now you couldn't you know. They're not moving set at all right now, and they have confidence in him going into the season, so there's no rush to bring Luck back. And when they do, we saw it already last year. He used to run the ball a fair amount and it's four

like full seasons, four full healthy seasons. He was averaging well over sixty rushing rushing attempts for for the year. It has just forty six rushing atemps last year, so that was a significant drop. It's gonna drop further behind a great old line with a strong running game and a good defense that they don't need Luck to be running the ball around, especially Hurt. So I'm just all out on Andrew Luck not touching him. I don't care

if it drops to quarterback ten. I mean, I'm increasingly interested in Luck because he's becoming so cheap that if it's only going to cost me, you know, instead of costing me the fifth rounder that he was three weeks ago, it's now going to cost me an eighth or ninth rounder and I can just go him up with somebody else later. That's starting to get more palatable to me. I'm more interested in him, all right, Christian, who do you have as your blacklist quarterback the guy you never

end up drafting. I've got Patrick mahomes Um, and believe it or not, he is my number one quarterback. That's not the issue. But his ADP right now is twenty three overall, So that's late second round. You know, all you have to do is you can google Patrick Mahomes and regression and you will find all sorts of articles that talk about how he most likely can't possibly repeat

his historically good season from last year. Nobody's ever done it before, nobody, nobody's ever So I'll just you know, I'm not going to list out all of those reasons. Here's the one that I like the best that I found. Since there have been thirteen seasons in which a quarterback

through forty or more touchdowns in a season. This list includes Tom Brady, Peyton Manning several times, Dan Marino, Drew Brees, you know, all time grades in in the following year, those quarterbacks average sixteen and a half fewer touchdown passes. And even if if you factor out things like Tom Brady missed an entire season, if you go to the next season after that, even if you factor an injury, then it's still is thirteen fewer touchdowns the following years.

So I just can't justify spending a second rounder on Patrick Mahomes. You're basically paying for another record setting historical season at that price. The next quarterback off the board right now is the Shaun Watson forty spots later. Yeah, So I just I can't risk a second rounder and when I can just get a perfectly good quarterback a lot later on. But there's this with Mahomes other than

history telling us it's very unlikely. Name a reason. I mean, that's that's the problem, right He looks so good and so incredible and kills back all of this talent there and Andy Reid's offense, and there are a lot of reasons why it couldn't happen. It couldn't buck the trend. Here's the other thing about Patrick Mahomes that makes him to me still enticing Fantasy football is about having fun.

And when he goes back to pass and you see him launching that sixty yard pass behind the back, or that the sixty yard or it's at its apex of its arc, and so are you off the couch. You're spilling the popcorn and the beer all over the place. You were jumping off the couch to see if it's going to be resting in the arms of Tyreek Hill on the other end, and it might be. He's so exciting and so fun to have on your team. Everybody

who didn't have him last year. Wants Patrick Mahomes this year because you were watching those highlights and just going oh, I could have had him in the tenth round last year, and I passed on him, and I dive. That's the thing about Patrick Mahomes. But the regression is probably coming. I've got to Shawn Watson. Bran already broke down a lot of Deshaun Watson. While he's nervous about him, I am too. He is my one of my highest rated quarterbacks.

He's my number three quarterback. So you know, much like you with Patrick Mahomes, I like him a lot. I'm not paying my six round a DP on Deshaun Watson. U there's certainly upside. He can run, his run and pass his way to points, and I love that. But I can find other quarterbacks who can run and pass their way to points for a lot less and not have to pay the six round a DP. I can get Baker Mayfield with some mobility in the eighth round.

I can get Russell Wilson in the tenth round, Lamar Jackson and the eleventh round, Dak Prescott in the twelfth round, and they give me run pass options and I don't have to pay anywhere near that much. And I'll remind you Watson suffered sixty two spine shattering sacks last year, sixty two. The fact that he played every game was a miracle. He's like thirty years old, now, that's right. They they they've sacked him into an early and early grave.

If he if I told you he was going to absorb another sixty two sacks behind Pro Football Focus is thirty first ranked offensive line. Would you tell me he's gonna play sixteen games? It's not. It's not promising. That's why I can't take Deshaun Watson. Let's continue on with our blacklist. These are the guys that we never find ourselves drafting. We begin now with the running back position. Brian who This guy is sure to disappoint all those in the black hole. It's Josh Jacobs. No, thank you, sir,

Josh Jacobs. By the way, the famed backup to Damien Harris at their time at Alabama didn't even start. Only the Raiders would take the backup over the starter. And that's really does it. Uh. I don't trust anything that Oakland does. They're carrying four running backs into the season. By the way. That doesn't bode well for Josh Jacobs and Jalen Richard is going to own the third down work regardless of Jacobs or Doug Martin getting the majority

of the carries. It will be Jacobs to start the season, but again they're running behind a really bad old line ranks twenty six by Pro Football Focus. When you have to go out and sign Richie Incognito for depth, that's not so Jacob's in the early fourth I'm just fully out on this. I don't I don't see him returning even RB two value throughout the season. He's FLEXI play at best in my mind. Okay, Christian your black list

running back. I will go with Todd Gurley and let me tell you a few things about degenerative knee arthritis. A right good at first. You may notice pain in the morning or after you've been inactive for a while. Your knees may hurt when you climb stairs, stand up from a sitting position, or Neil, well, wait, does he ever have to stand up from a sitting position? Todd curling. Never. It may hurt just to go for a walk. You

may also feel pain when you're simply sitting down. Some people with arthritis say that damp weather or other changes in the weather can bring on pain. Well is in l a so you don't have to sweat that that. Some people with arthritis say that when multiple three pound men are constantly attempting to bash, crush, and generally grind your body into a million tiny pieces, that may also bring on pain. Over time, your knee muscles weaken and

the entire joint structure becomes unstable. Overall, weakness in the knee can cause it to give way or buckle. The joint can also stick or lock up so that you can't bend or straighten it out. Eventually. You may feel a grinding sensation in your knees as you move. I'm filling one right now. Just listening to you might even

hear cracking or popping sounds coming from your knees. Arthritis can make it increasingly challenging for your knee joints to glide as they should, making previously simple movements difficult or even impossible. You're most likely to notice a restricted range of motion when you climb stairs or participate in athletic activities like football. May you may have trouble walking without a cane or a walker for all of these reasons.

Time out on Todd Gurley and his chronically arthritic knee. Yes, I've got James Conner currently going off the board is the last pick of the first round, and what a mistake that's going to be. I think for people now in some cases we're saying we love Patrick Mahomes, but I wouldn't take him. I liked to Shaun Watson, but you know, but I wouldn't take him where he's going. I don't want I don't want any to do with

James Conner at this price. Every single person who has commented about the backfield in Pittsburgh that has a reason to know says it's going to be a time share. James Connor called it a time share. Jalen Samuels called it a time share. The coaches called it a time share. In the second half of last season, Connor regressed badly.

His touches per game dropped by a third, his yards per game dropped in half, his touchdowns per game dropped in half, his yards per carry went from almost five down to four, and after missing zero games in the first half of last year, Connor missed three in the second half. Everything trended the wrong way at the end of last year. So then there's Jalen Samuel's. In the second half of last season, when Jalen Samuels started getting work, he averaged two more touches than Connor did. He averaged

thirty two more yards than Connor did. He averaged an additional one point two yards per carry. I told you connors average per carry dropped a lot. Samuel's was better, and as a converted tight end, Samuel's receiving numbers were better than Connors, and Connors were also solid, but Samuels were even better. Connors also got to overcome his own position, coach,

Eddie Faulkner, who coached Samuel's at North Carolina State. While together, Samuels was a workhorse for Eddie Faulkner, setting the school's all time reception record with two two catches and earning All a CEC honors twice. That's his own coach. Now for the Steelers man, that's a lot to overcome for James Conner and a lot of worry for me. All Right, let's go. Let's go to our final position on our blacklist, and that's the wide receiver position, and Brian Johnson. We'll

stay with the same team, and I'm going Juju. I'm not drafting Juju really going the last pick in the first round, very early second. So my receiver three to six depending on those rankings you're looking at, where do you have them charged? They're higher on Juju than O. I love. Juju's my number two receiver. We're gonna hate this one. Well, I'm not drafting Juju. A hundred sixty eight targets vacated by Antonio Brown. Juju is not going to absorb really any of those. He already had a

very prominent role in this offense. Unlikely to change running out the slot. All the vacated targets are gonna be dispersed among DNTE Moncrief, James Washington, Vance McDonald, maybe some Jalen Samuel's even Uh, none of those guys are Antonio Brown. Obviously you put them all together and not not Antonio Brown. I think Juju is gonna draw a lot more attention, uh than last year. That's not too far fetched to think he's clearly the number one threat in the receiving

game now. Uh. The Steelers are consensus bottom twelve in terms of wide receiver strength of schedule. I like him to be a top ten wide receiver. I like him to repeat his performance of last year, but I just don't see him best seeing the likes of Julio Jones and Tyreek Kill guys who are going in that same range, and I honestly would take those two ten out of ten times over Juju. But that is just to me. Yeah, by the way, there are thing parts that I agree

with you. There isn't a lot of room for him to grow, but you do doesn't even have to grow. He was great last year, and even if he just increments up by ten percent, I think he's you know, he could be wide shaver. One. I went with Antonio Brown here and we've kind of we've kind of beat that one to death Therety. I will say just just one additional thing about it is that the fact that he scored so many touchdowns last year kind of masked the fact that his numbers have been decreasing now for

the last four or five years in terms of catch percentage. Uh, last year he caught only sixty of the passes thrown his way. That's a career low since he became a starter. Yeah, just four years earlier that was at and the touchdown. The touchdown receiving from last year is just unsustainable. He scored fourteen on fourteen point four percent of his catches last year. His career average before that was just over eight percent, so almost double. So a lot of reasons

I don't like Antonio Brown this year. My blacklist wide receivers. Kenny Golladay currently going in the fourth round. And it's not that he's not a good player. He he is a good player, and he's, by the way, terrific matchup coming in Week one. It gets the Cardinal and darry missing its top two cornerbacks. He's setting it on potentially great Week one. But the Lions are a running team. It started last year and it's going to expand this year.

This is the quote from Lions offensive coordinator Darryl Bubble. Will always be about running the football. We want to be a tough, hard nosed, physical football team. We want to be able to exert our will on our opponents. And it's true. Matt Patricia grew up in the Patriots system, including acting as the team's defensive coordinator for five years. Six years. During his tenure, the Patriots ran the ball

the six most times. Despite having Tom Brady at quarterback, they ran the ball the six most times, and obviously it worked out for the Patriots multiple championships under Matt Patricia. In the year before Patricia arrived, the Lions ran the second fewest times. Last year, in Patricia's first year, they that went all the way from thirty one to eighteen, right in the middle of the pack. Now this year they bring in Daryl Bebble to run the ball more.

As offensive coordinator for twelve years, Darryl Bevil's teams ran the second most times in the NFL. There's just too much running. Darryl Bevil's averages thirty runs per game thirty. There's just gonna be games, so the targets just aren't there for Kenny Golladay, and I think you're gonna have an inconsistent season beginning in week two after he houses the Cardinals in Week one, Hi after Week one. If you're gonna draft Kenny Golladay, for sure, our final topics

are had. When we look at the upside and the downside of rushing quarterbacks. Can you put your team in the hands of a quarterback who needs to run you to victory? And as always we end the show by revealing our favorite sleepers. You can download my cheat sheet for free by going to famble dot com slash and chart famble dot com slash charg It is Fantasy Football Weekly final segment of Fantasy Football Weekly. I Am All charged in. You can get all things charts related at

fambile dot com slash charts. That's a free five thousand dollar contest for week one and by the way, in that contest, it also gives you a chance to get to our win a ticket, an entry into our week seventeen ten dollar championship game. And all you have to do to do that is beat your lineup, so it is very low beat my my line up in a salary cap format. It is the crush Chart Championship. You can do that for free Family dot com slash charts. Also, my cheat sheet is available there as well. Also for

free Family dot Com slash Chart. We'll break down Fantasy Football's rushing quarterbacks in a few moments, but first, every week we give out one sleeper a piece. Now we've already used Jalen Samuel's, Curtis Samuel, donte Moncrief, c J Anderson, Darren Waller, Latavius Murray, Peyton Barber, Tyler Eifford, Robbie Anderson, and Adam Humphries. Let's see who we're going to add. Those are in previous shows. Let's see you we're gonna add to the list this time, Christian, I'll let you

go first. Yeah, I've got I've got Darwin Thompson, who we we touched on earlier in this show. Just a sixth round draft pick. Guy wasn't even invited to the combine. Usually that's a bad sign. But if we look at his pro day measurements and extrapolate those to the people that did participate in the combine, he would have been third among all running backs in the vertical fifth in the broad jump, second in the bench press. He ran the forty and four point four seven, which isn't not bad,

but it's fast. Pro Football Focus has a measurement that they call Elusive rating where they measure running back. Thompson ranked first among all college backs in that rating. Last year. I thought it was Montgomery was first, all right, That's

what I what I found, right, okay? Um, And so physically part of the problem, part of the reason he fell to the sixth round is because he's all of five short, right, So, but he's comparable to to Tarik Cone, Philip Lindsay, Matt Brada, who have all had a lot of success over the last couple of years. In fact, Lindsay, I think is a great comparison here. That guy was didn't get invited to the Combine either undrafted, came from out of nowhere in the preseason, kind of like Thompson is.

I don't believe in Damian Williams. I think this job is going to be turned over to Darwin Thompson, who's already mixing in with the first team. He's already taking some red zone looks in in training camp. So I think this is a potential league winner. And right now you only have to spend an eleventh or twelfth rounder. All right, Brian, who is your sleeper for this week?

Real quick? Just attack on? I laugh and anyone just spills the notion that Thompson can use Sir Williams because he's a sixth round right, Williams was undrafted, there's no capital in him. But for Williams Williams defense, there are character issues and stuff on talent alone, Williams would have absolutely been drafted and probably like day two, so there

was that. And also Williams languished in Miami with the terrible teams, and you know, Miami's done plenty of had plenty of mistakes, so you know, he was never a big part of what Miami did. But it takes takes some people four years to get to get there at the time. Maybe in some cases that's the case. How come you don't give Lamar Miller the benefit of the doubt for the years he stunk on two teams. That's why that Texans line is not good. We've come all right. Well,

my sleeper is not Lamar Miller. Um, it's a guy who if I were allowed to play in the Crush Charts Championship with the one thousand dollar prize for his place for free, I would target Matt Stafford, whose bottom five and pricing on Fanball in week one. By the way, uh And it really this speaks to maybe the Cam Newton Andrew Luck owners out there who might need a replacement to come week one. Well, you might have a solid replacement for the first four weeks. Now, this is

a little contradictory, contradictory to your blacklist. Kenny Golladay call saying Detroit wants to run the ball a lot, and yes, they've gone out and said that, but Detroit has also wanted to win playoff games or go to the playoffs since they've been in existence. That never really came to fruition, maybe once or twice. But so let's just let's just look at the matchups for Stafford on paper. Starting it at Arizona, who will be without both starting cornerbacks Patrick

Peterson and Robert Alfred will miss this game. Great matchup there, UH. In Week two at home against the Chargers, who just lost Derwin James, all Pro safety easily the lynchpin of that secondary, arguably the whole defense, so that's a huge ding for them. Then at Philly, who allowed the second most passing yards last year, always a pretty good uh matchup for quarterbacks and wide receivers. And then in Week four they have Kansas City at home, always shoot out potential.

The Chiefs allowed the fifth most passing touchdowns in the most passing yards last year. So Matt's Stafford, who really getting undrafted maybe in one quarterback leagues, could be a viable plug in play for first four weeks. So I likes you know, combo there with Stafford and Galada. Yeah, that could be What about this idea? So we talked earlier Andrew Luck is now going at a discount because so everybody's worried about him, you know, but nobody thinks

he's not gonna be available like October. So if he's gonna miss a handful of games, you could make Matth Stafford, matth Stafford the last pick of your draft and handcuffed the you know, put those two together and then you know, go to war. You could there's gonna be soone enticing in the eighth round. Though, that's going back to my Luck blacklist call. That's why it depends. It all depends. But yeah, that's certainly a viable strategy without a doubt.

My sleeper this week is another quarterback, Carson Wentz. A DP is the tenth round for Carson Wentz. We alluded to this earlier. Look at the plethora of targets available to him. Not only does he have the returning guys all Sean Jeffrey's very good, Zach Ertz very good, a number of receivers, receiving running backs who can all catch passes. We have Dallas Goddard, who has shined in the preseason and as a former first rounder or second rounder for Dallas.

Goddard don't quite recall they add in the off season to Sean Jackson for a deep ball threat that Carson Wentz has never had even with the big arm. And then rookie j j Arthega Whiteside, who looks awesome so far. By the way, by the way, true story. You know when you're you're teaching your kid all the animals, sounds like every parent does, right. You know, Kyle goes right. You know all that shark goes. I did that. I taught her shark right. She doesn't have any idea, but

I go shark goes dat dot dot dot. She didn't know what she's doing, but I had a ton of fun with it. The Eagles have Pro Football focuses number one offensive line, so you know Wentz is going to be well protected. Remember the last time he was fully healthy seen he was charging to the NFL MVP Award and at the time of his his a c L injury, was the second highest scoring fantasy quarterback, second highest scoring

fantasy quarterback as a sophomore in the NFL. Now another you're removed from that a c L injury, it's a it's an incredibly promising situation for Carson Wentz, who I think has the potential to be the NFL m v P again because I think the Eagles are going to be a fantastic team. ADP tenth round for Carson Wentz. Are you worried at all about the back the back injury that knocked him out last year? And and and I find it a little worrisome that they're not playing

them at all in the preseason like this. This is a young guy in the prime of his career and they're already having him. Are they so worried starters? The Raiders aren't playing their starters for Pete's sake. I don't think that says anything about his health or ability. To be honest, and you touched on it earlier, CP. You're trying to guess week in and week out, week out, who's going to be the hot Philly receiver. Who's going to succeed with all of those targets just draft I

don't have to. I don't care who's catching the ball. All I know all I got is the trigger man. Now, um, we've heard Brian Johnson in previous weeks make the same the same argument for Jared Goff. I don't have to guess if it's gonna be Woods or Cook or or Cup. What got Jared Goff? You don't have to worry about it. That's part of why I love Carson Wentz. Let's talk about So there's your three sleepers for this week. Let's talk about rushing quarterbacks. I've done a lot of a

lot of analysis on the Russia. It's the deepest year ever for rushing quarterbacks. There are so many right now, and they're so game changing. I've identified eight returning quarterbacks who I qualify as a rushing quarterback. Here's kind of my criteria. The average at least twenty four rushing yards per game, half a touchdown most leagues point wise. Yeah,

that's right. Um. Or you're Dak Prescott who got nineteen rushing yards per game but also ran in six touchdowns, So I'm lumping him in there too, um, and I'm throwing out Blake Bortles. That gives me my eight guys who are now Dak Prescott. Do I mentioned Russell Wilson, Marcus Mariota, Mitch Rubisky, Deshaun Watson, Cam Newton, Josh Allen, and then by a huge margin, Lamar Jackson, who's get off the charts on the rush. I'm a little surprised Mariota made that list. I didn't either, but he was.

He was in the he was in the ballpark for this um. And then the rookie class adds another guy for sure, Kyler Murray absolutely in right, potentially on a Lamar Jackson like level. Correct, yes, he's on a Vic Jackson like potential for his rushing ability. So that gives us nine. And I got nine rushing quarterbacks in here, and and you know, let's throw out Barrio because not even want him. I think he's the first quarterback to get bench. Let's go back and eight eight rushing quarterbacks

in your draft. Why does rushing matter? Those eight players? Last year, none of them ranked lower than fourteenth, and fantasy points per game, none of the eight ranked lower than fourteen. Yet an average draft position today, five of them are more than fourteen, and as a group, their average rank in Fantasy points last year was eight. As a group, those eight guys, they averaged QB eight This year on average, they're going at QB fourteen in drafts

right now. There's so much value in these rushing quarterbacks and people aren't recognizing it. And we're here to talk about that delta that people are missing between the the production we had last year and where they're being drafted now. Well, I thank you obviously, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. Allen pump up those numbers for the rushing quarterbacks. Those guys didn't see significant playing time until the second half of

the season. To so imagine that season would be absolutely from some examples of great value coming for these players. Lamar Jackson right now is QB fifteen, Dak Prescott is QB eight, team, Mitch Trubisky's QB twenty, and Josh Allen is QB twenty three off the board right now. An average draft position, you know, pure passing quarterbacks need to have super human performances to equal what a top rushing a quarterback will give you when they run just reasonably

well that's it. You know, mahomes can give you those superhuman efforts, but most guys can't. Let's take a look at it, and here's why. Let's say your quarterback runs for forty rushing yards, it's a reasonable amount and wouldn't shock anybody, right. In most leagues, that's the equivalent of one hundred twenty passing yards a multiple of three passing yards. That means those forty rushing yards would turn a two hundred twenty yard passing day into a three forty yard

passing day with the rushing numbers as an example. So your rushing quarterback, you know, pick a guy Dak Prescott. If he runs for forty and he throws for two twenty, that's the equivalent of three or forty passing yards, and that's a great day by any measure. A rushing touchdowns worth one and a half passing touchdowns in most scoring systems roughly, So that means you're forgettable. One passing touchdown game turns into a nearly three or one passing or

one rushing touch you're forgettable. One passing touchdown game turns into a nearly three passing touchdown game if you also have a rushing touchdown, a one passing games, a one watching game. So you roll that together and you just got freaky upside, freaking upside. Now, the downside with the rushing quarterbacks, if they don't run, they don't rush for

the forty inconsistent. Now you're in trouble. Right. So if you get the two yard passing game and the one touchdown pass and they don't run in and anything meaningful, now you've got that. Part of the problem is it's very hard to predict that. So I say this as a longtime owner of Cam Newton over many many years, like,

you can't. You can't get into a situation where you're trying to predict it and you're benching them or starting them based on matchups because you never know when they're going to go off for two rushing touchdowns, and so you have to you have to be willing to just kind of stick them in your lineup and take take the good with the bad. That's right. We visited, revisited the freakiest upside of a rushing quarterback in Michael Vick in the game when he's with the Eagles, and I'll

never forget that game. Three thirty and four through the air and like eight yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Unbelievable. The best, the best fantasy performance by I think any player ever history of fantasy was that way. It's up there. Now here's one of the strategies I love. In two quarterback leagues or QB flex leagues, you draft two rushing quarterbacks. We talked about how you can get Lamar Jackson late and Mitch Drabinsky and Dak Prescott and Josh Allen late.

You put two of them in knowing that the likelihood that they both flop in the same week is very low, and what they both give you the freaky upside. So what do you think of that? What do you think of that strategy? And QB flex do you take two of the rushing quarterbacks. You don't have to spend it.

You're mitigating your risk a little bit there, and so you're you're more likely to go into a season where you have you have multiple of these sort of up and down risky Russian quarterbacks because you can just play them both all the time. You can play them both and that's the that's the beauty of it. You don't have to guess if this is going to be the game where Josh Allen, you know, ends up scrambling out

of a pocket and running down field. And by the way, to your earlier point about Mahomes, it's kind of fun to have Lamar Jackson and you know that you might break a fifty yard touchdown run at at any moment in time. That's a great point, a great point um. If you love this show, go to famible dot com slash charts for my free cheet chet, my free five thousand dollar week one contest, ski team leads podcasts, and more.

And thank you for listening to Fantasy Football Weekly. We are here every weekend, both on the air and via podcast. We especially recommend that you listened by the I Part app. It's number one for podcasts for a very good reason, and many thanks to everyone who takes the time to rank and review the show on your podcasting platform of choice. Thank you for listening to Fantasy Football Weekly. To pluck you next week, Everybody,