Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show. Now, here's your host, Paul Charge.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. Our slog through each of the off season divisions continues shows.
You know what the show that you and Fish had last week, it was it was super fun. I enjoyed listening to your greasy belly flop.
Creamy belly flop, and it was fantastic.
You guys did a great job. Thank And if you're not listening to that show, I encourage you to go yeah about that podcast episode, to go back to that good stuff.
It was. Uh, nobody ever breaks down belly flops anymore, so we're here for.
That fantasy belly flops. Yeah, absolutely exactly.
So the premise as we as we go through this month long tour of all not a slog, it's now a tour. I've upgraded from slog to tour. Uh, look at every NFL team, highlight the key differences from last year. Do we think these offenses are better? Do we think they're worse, you know, just get up to speed on all these different teams. Sure, we now turn our attention to the AFC West and the NFC West, Matt, and this is your first crack at it. We'll start with Kansas City. They get to go first.
You do want to start with the Super Bowl.
When you win the Super Bowl, you get to go first on Fantasy Football Week.
Yeah. Well, for additions and subtractions, Marquise Brown signed a one year deal there. The speedy Xavier Worthy was the Chief's first round pick. He should slot in a lot of wide receiver packages immediately. Uh, they did add Carson Wentz very quietly as the backup there.
I like that move.
I kind of like that move as well. Irv Smith now backing up Travis Kelcey. And addition by subtraction, maybe Marquez Veldez Scandling he's gone, Mikole Hardman, he's gone. A possible subtraction of Rashie Rice, who keeps getting an off season trouble. But we'll have to pay attention to that as we get closer to the season. Starting in the passing game, you still got Mahomes, Kelsey and Rice as your core. That just won you the Super Bowl. I'm
feeling pretty good as a starting point right there. And you've added a steady veteran in Hollywood Brown, who gets some streaks of eye popping numbers in the past. He's been pretty good along the lines.
And obviously with the best passer he's ever worked with. Absolutely, and if Xavier Worthy's not able to contribute early, you know Marquise Brown is going to be an intriguing guy to pick your spots to play.
Well, especially if Rashie Rice is facing any kind of suspension or disciplinary action from the league. But I do think if Xavier Worthy flashes in camp in the preseason, I think they involve him right away. I think I think it'll be quicker than you think. The Chiefs did have eight different wide receivers average at least one target per game.
That's a lot.
How do you do that? It's impossible. Justin Watson and Sky Moore are currently the depth pieces on the roster. Kadarius Tony still under contract as well, but he hasn't played a snap since Week fifteen of last year. Tony likely only makes the roster if there's an injury or a right I think he gets cut for better or worse on the on the passing game, I think Brown and Worthy are additions that have to make their passing game look a little bit better than last year.
Especially from a big play standpoint.
You know we've seen we think of classic Mahomes and Tyreek Hill Was there are just these long, deep bombs that would connect in the big plays. Just year after year that is slowly decreased, Shorter passes, fewer big plays. Now with Brown and Worthy, you feel like the Chiefs and Mahomes are ready to strike downfield again.
Yeah, I think I think that that's a fair assumption on the running side of the game. Maybe I'm wrong, but Isaiah Pacheco looks primed to be an absolute bel cow this year. In games where Pacheco touched the ball fewer than fifteen times, the Chiefs had a record of one in three. In games that the Chiefs won, Pacheco averaged twenty point three touches. Wow. He played eighteen games last year, including the playoffs. He scored a touchdown in eleven of them. Now, he's not gonna put up like
Christian McCaffrey numbers or anything like that. But in this running back landscape, which it's harder to find guys who get huge shares of touches. I think Isaiah Pacheco sitting on a pretty good opportunity here. There were only fourteen running backs who had averaged seventeen touches per game last season, and he was one of them. Devon a Chain, for instance, he averaged eleven point eight touches per game. He's going a full two rounds ahead of Pacheco's ADP of forty
or the mid fourth round. Yea. The backups are Clyde Edwards E Laire and Keyante ingram Over for Arizona non factor, non factors at all. I'm clearing of them at all. So better or worse is you can probably tell. I'm pretty bullish on Isaiah Pacheco, you know, maybe popping off and being a top five back at the end of the year that you can get in the fourth round.
Yeah, if, if, if he's my first running back taken, he's.
Right.
I never I've never taken running backs in the first three rounds, but he's.
A perfect fourth round guy to start your running back.
Absolutely, yea, I love it. Do you think the running game gets better this year?
I think it does. I think I think with all the opportunities that the passing game has, I think Pacheco is sitting on a good year. Here, let's go to the Raiders.
Raiders brought back interim head coach Antonio Peers in the offseason, and then he inexplicably hired former Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getzi why, I don't know whatever, overhauled their offensive line in Las Vegas, in including putting second and third round picks into their offensive line, which should help what it was last year basically a middle of the pack to slightly below average unit passing game. Here is the big story is the addition of rookie tight end Brock Bauers.
Matt unexpectedly slid to pick thirteen in the NFL Draft, and I think at that point the Raiders like, we just got to take the best guy off the board, even though they had taken the first tight end off the board the previous year as well. You know, I think in a different year, when six quarterbacks weren't drafted in the top twelve picks, Bowers would have been like a top five guy besides on talent, besides all the way to number number thirteen. He brings the most college
production and fantasy optimism as a rookie since TJ. Hockinson, Vernon Davis, Jeremy Shockey, from Old Guys, Kyle Pitts, Yep, Yep Raiders took. I mentioned Michael Mayer was the draft pick last year.
His dynasty value.
Just got destroyed. Did Yeah, that's it's he is officially dead at this point.
That unfortunately, it is.
It's It was a quick it was a quick life, the life and times of Michael Mayer. It's over unless Aiden O'Connell gets a lot better. Gardner, Minshew's going to take over a quarterback, Matt.
I think it's Minshew's job. I think that they signed him to a pretty decent contract. Yeah, to say that h's his job.
He was non awful last year, is in he's starting quarterback? I think we'd say, said Gardner, Minshew is just non awful.
That's just what he is.
That's right. He had a handful of good games, And so I was looking back at Minshew's stats as somebody most was didn't start most weeks. He'd have these spike games, Matt, where if you did start him, you got paid. But here was the catch. They were totally unguessable. It came against a great Cleveland secondary, a great New Orleans secondary, Pittsburgh, you know, these great defense You never would have started Gardner Minshew in those games, and that was what he went up.
You know, you know what Gardner Minshew is going to become. He's going to be come Stu Beard. Yeah.
Maybe, so he's going to be like that, Like that guy.
Pass around to eighteen different teams, start for all of them, put up a couple of crazy six touchdown games when you're like, what, I should have had him in my lineup? Yeah?
Maybe maybe Minshew caps the upside for all the Raiders receivers. His top receiver last year was Michael Pittman. He only scored four times. Minshew finished twenty seventh in a dot. I don't love that. The deep deep ball completion percentage was just thirty nine percent. That was that nestled him between Josh Dobbs and Will Levis in deep ball pass That's not good. That's not good. Thirty third in completion percentage at all depths. So it's just it's you know,
this offense is just capped by the quarterback position. Unfortunately, Devanta Adams managed an okase season despite the quarterbacking of Adian O'Connell and Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer. You remember those starts? Ah, Yes, Yeah, Adams finished his wide receiver four teen. He was fifth in targets, which proves that just volume alone can't propel DeVante Adams to greatness. I mean, he needs better quarterbacking. He's not gonna have it here.
Devanta Adams ADP very high. I think he's wide receiver nine. He finished his fourteen last year. He's on the second half of his career.
Arc.
I don't that feels a little bit high. You can get Jacoby Myers with what a nice season? Yeah, wide receiver fifty four.
And I don't think that you're getting much of a drop off there.
No, the drop offs not that severe.
Yeah, so, but that's only if you really want to have a Raiders wide receiver on your team.
Yes, and if I do, I'm paying. If I'm paying for one at their ADP Jacoby Myers pick one hundred and twenty two, not DeVante Adams pick fifteen.
I'm kind of shocked that DeVante Adams has not demanded a trade.
Yeah, I am too, to be honest, I mean, this isn't what he signed up for. No, right, you know?
So, yeah, you're probably right, and maybe that ends up happening that maybe maybe let's move over to the Denver Broncos.
Yeah, I mean Russell Wilson is gone. That's the biggest change there.
Wait, hold on, I forgot the whole running game for the Raiders. Oh gosh, give me a second.
Well, Russell Wilson ran against the Raiders. Thank you. Nice try.
Yeah, massive change here as Josh Jacobs was allowed to leave in free agency. Zamir Whites your presumed starter, Matt, and you'll remember he got some reps as the starter in the last month of the season last year, and he got some long looks. He had a seventeen attempt game, a twenty two attempt game, a twenty attempt game, a twenty five attempt game.
And we love volume.
You alluded to this with Checko hard to find volume backs, but Antonio Pierce like seems to like his workhorse backs. I thought White looked pretty good some explosive runs. In Zamir White's four starts, he had seven runs of more than ten yards. His backup is now Alexander Madison. He had explosive run rates of double that.
Of Alexander Madison, which is in sane a lot.
White only scored one touchdown in those four starts, but Alexander Madison's no threat to steal touchdowns. Dude never scores. So White's ADP is really interesting. It's our running back twenty three seventy seventh overall, despite being a high volume workhorseback with no competition for goal line work.
I think he's a due the opposite magnet in the seventh round.
Absolutely.
Yeah. Maybe the offensive line gets better as well. With the improvements that they made, they reshuffling this offensive line, I think this running back running game for Las Vegas gets a little bit better, all right. Now, the aforementioned Russell Wilson in Denver.
He's gone.
He's gone.
Jerry Judy gone as well, was traded to Cleveland, and starting center Lloyd cushion Berry, the third signed to the biggest center contract in the history of the league with Tennessee. So he's gone as well.
Lloyd cushion Berry Thugh, Yeah.
That's a pretty good name. The coaching staff under Sean Payton and coordinators stayed exactly the same. The biggest addition is new quarterback Bo Nix, who the Broncos took with the twelve pick. They also added wide receiver Troy Franklin in the fourth and audrich Estime in the fifth. Passing game. It all flows through bow Knix, who is the presumed opening day starter. Nicks known for his highly accurate short
passing game. He completed seventy four point nine percent of his passes at Oregon over the last two years.
Which in itself is impressive, but you know, his a dot was like five yards.
He also had seventy four touchdown passes to only ten interceptions in that spans, so the numbers were good. Obviously, it's a step up and level of play. And he's not known for the long ball, but when Peyton was coaching in Drew Brees or Drew Brees in New Orleans, Breese wasn't really known as a bomber either. And if you remember correctly, Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram caught a ton of balls out of the backfield. Yeah, and I mentioned this in the First Round Aftermath podcast that we
did a couple of weeks ago. The last year the Broncos running backs were targeted one hundred and fifty times, and they led the league with one hundred and thirty one receptions.
Impressive.
Uh. Some may be excited about Courtland Sutton's role maybe increasing with the loss of Jerry Judy, but his a dot last year was a very deep fourteen point four deep, and of wide receivers who had at least eighty targets last year, only four players had a longer a dot than Sutton. That was Mike Evans, DeAndre Hopkins, Brandon Ayuk and DK Metcalf.
Well, that, well, that's what I want.
I want.
I want receivers who get thrown too deep and can catch it.
Yeah, but ken Bow nicks through.
Well, Okay, that's a fair question. That's that's that That's a fair question.
That's the question. Yeah. So with that said, I don't think the quality of targets goes up for Sutton, and I think you're completely reliant on him duplicating his ten touchdowns they had last season. I'm I'm a little shaky on that one at best. If you're excited about Josh Reynolds, Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, Tim Patrick, Lil Jordan Humphrey fighting over the number two and number three scraps in this offense. Yes, you can be that. Nobody's going to be Does it
get better or worse this year? I think it's worse. From a touchdown perspective. The Broncos quarterbacks combined for twenty nine touchdown passes. That was the fifth most in the league last year. That's strange.
That is weird.
Wow that they had the fifth most.
I'm shocked.
So Nix is not sitting on twenty nine touchdown passes this year, not even close.
I bet he's if he've plays the whole season, I'd put Nix on twenty yeah.
So I was thinking half of that maybe, so fifteen to twenty yeah. I think it gets worse for the Broncos on the passing side. On the running game. What's exciting about the running game is that it what's not exciting, I should say, is that it could be a fourth right, a foe headed lizard. I wanted to say monster, but it's definitely not a monster. It's just a little lizard.
Are you in hydra territory? How many heads do you have to have to become a I mean he's like two enough could be a hydra.
You cut one head off and another two grow, right.
Oh, so it's it's like a starfish.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay, the Denver starfish backfield, not the Rusty starfish. That's totally different.
Okay is that an urban dictionary? So I believe it is Javante Williams, samaj p Ryan, Jaleel McLoughlin, and newly drafted Audric Estimate all in the running back room. Worth noting that Javante did hold the biggest piece of the pie. He was on the field for forty eight percent of the snaps last year, he had fifty four percent of the rushing attempts, and maybe most notably, he took forty seven percent of the rushing attempts inside the five yard line.
But as we mentioned above, this offense could flow through the running backs via the passing game more and that's where the other names come into play. Williams averaged three point four targets per game, not bad. P Ryan had three point one. McLoughlin had two point one. So wrap those eight and a half target it's per game into one back. I'm really excited, right, But you're probably not looking at that. You're probably looking at three and maybe four.
So but McLoughlin is the guy That fascinates me because he showed some special traits and we didn't get long looks at him. We didn't, but I he was the guy who seemed to pop off the off off the screen.
To me, if if Samaj pe Rin wasn't in Denver, I would totally be all in on McLoughlin as like a sleeper guy this year. I just feel like they signed Samaj p Ran and told him he was gonna play last year. That was like Sean Payton's personal like promise to him. So it's like it's like he could be cut. You never know, he could be traded. But Javonte's going off the board at pick eighty four, that's
the last pick of the seventh round. McLoughlin is at one seventy four, that's middle of the fifteenth and RB fifty six. Pe Urine's going basically on drafted at two five. I'm not I'm out at him, But with Javante getting as much of the running piece of the pie that he's getting, I actually kind of like Javante where he's going.
I think he's a boring, sneaky upside play the tail end of the seventh round or early eighth yep, does it get better or we're slightly better because of the ppr angle for the backs.
Let's go over the Chargers, the last team of the AFC West that we'll talk about. Massive overhaul to the entire offensive coaching staff Jim Harbaugh and now offensive coordinator Greg Roman and offensive line added tackled Joe Alt with a fifth overall pick, which makes it the third straight year the Chargers have invested a first round pick into their offensive line. M It's there were Sea Slater's. Yep, you know this is so classic Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman and God love him.
Because it's gonna pay off.
It's gonna work. Yep. It might be two or three years, but it's gonna work.
So Mike Williams, let's start with the passing game for the Chargers. Mike Williams released Keenan Allen traded to the Bears last year's first round or Quinton Johnson moves into like the number one, you know, go to receiver role after a dismal rookie season and despite all those injuries of the Chargers wideouts last year, Johnson was still very lightly used. He only was running twenty eight routes. Per game and getting targeted three and a half times per
game and he only cut two passes per game. It was a bad year for Quinton Johnson. He's going to see in sizeable uptick in usage now because.
He has to.
Yeah, and maybe his pedigree here kicks in and you know, he becomes worthy of the first round pick that he had a couple of weeks ago. The Chargers GM Joe Hortitz said that Johnson is going to launch. That was his word, launch this season. So hopefully that's the case. You can get him almost for free wide receiver sixty five off the board pick one fifty three.
Yeah, that's nothing, that is nothing.
The team also drafted Lad McConkey in the second round, and I think he's going to start over Josh Palmer.
He ran you say, Colin mccochney, Colin.
Mc coy I like it related.
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they both come from the same British.
Yeah, he's slippery, he gets a lot of separation. We've we've broken him down a couple of times with Thor in previous shows. I like Lad mcconckie. I think he's gonna be better than Quentin Johnson. All probability. But you know, Johnson might get a lot better than your two. Like I said, so maybe maybe we're not wrong.
There's room for two widers.
Well it's a good point, and it's not like the tight end position is soaking up a bunch, so they could both be, you know, better than expected. If you were wondering where DJ Chark landed, it was here exactly. Get this where Justin Herbert has plummeted down to quarterback sixteen.
Wow. Yeah, that's cheap.
That is cheap on him. Now.
Part of it, of course, is that we know they're going to run a lot, and so everybody's expecting the v volume to go way way down in the passing game, and I do two. I think the passing game overall gets worse. I'm gonna see a ton of running. I'm
gonna explain some of this in just a minute. And then you take off Keenan Allen and Michael Mike Williams and replace him with two a first year player and a second year receiver, and the passing game likely suffers here, I could Yeah, all right, let's go the running game, where it's a lot more interesting for the Chargers. If history is any indication Harbaugh and Roman are going to have the most run heavy offense in the entire league,
even though they've got Justin Herbert and he's great. Greg Rowman at Baltimore as offensive coordinator, his run play percentage ranks or most runs, the most runs, the eleventh most runs, and the third most runs. So obviously, you know, Lamar Jackson skews those rankings a little bit because he was doing some of the running. But even without Jackson, the Ravens runners alone, we're averaging twenty one carries per game. We are going to see a ton of running here.
Harbaugh did not pick Greg Roman by accident. You know that is because Greg Roman is fit what he wants to do.
Brother might have said, hey, Greg Roman's right, pretty good, you might want to go there.
Austin Eckler, of course, is gone. He's in Washington now. And Roman brought over familiar faces from Baltimore JK Dobmins Gus Edwards. But both of those guys never the same since they're acls.
Yeah, that happened in consecutive weeks.
Tell me about it.
God, those murdering I remember those murdering my fantasy teams, those radio shows and podcasts.
Yes, it was like no near suicidal. Many of many people are intrigued by six round rookie kamani Vidal. So his bed is, he's five foot seven, two thirteen pounds. He's a bowling ball. Very productive at Troy. I know you're breaking down a lot of Troy all twenty two. Yeah, becoming the all time leading rusher, including two thousand and seven hundred rushing yards the last two seasons. Wow, that is a lot of productivity for kimani Vidal. But the
problem is Gus Edwards and JK. Dobbins are powerbacks two and this looks like a frustrating time share for me. I I much like what Roman had when he was in.
Baltimore coaching Dobbins.
Dobbins and Edwards, you know where he would use both of them. Yeah, and so this could be a three way time share. I'm even though the volumes gonna be really high. I'm nervous about guessing week to week. Is this a gust game? Is this a Dobbins game? Does Thedal get worked in?
Sure? It's you know, you know how you play this Chargers backfield. You don't draft any of them. You wait till like week two, and somebody will one of them is gonna emerge and look like the better back, and then you can trade for them for peanuts because everybody's gonna be like sell high on Yes Edwards. That's how you want to play it. Yeah, like you you don't. You don't after Chargers back.
So does the running game get better worse? I think better overall productivity because the run heavy approach that's coming. And then you add in Joe Alt at tackle. You know there's gonna be some big, big running lanes for this offensive line, but it might be more frustrating for fantasy use because of the probable and unpredictable shared backfield in LA.
You want to do the NFC North.
No, we're gonna do the NFC West, But we got to take first Church.
Yes, you're gonna take a break, thank you, not the NFC Dord.
We can do that in next week's show.
Let's do that next week. Let's take a break. In the meantime, we'll be back and we'll talk about the San Francisco forty nine ers hang out. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charchi and Matt Harrison. I don't think it properly introduced you at the beginning, because you did.
You start talking over like, blah blah blah blah blah blah.
We've been to get fantasy. People know they all, they all know you met Shock Fantasy, and you've got a promo code for Fantasy Football Weekly Listeners.
Gosh, I do, but I don't have it written. I think it's I think it's f F probably if I'll make it FFW by the end of the show.
It's like, if I remember correctly, it's twenty percent off something like that.
I don't know, probably half off.
Oh you know, are you up in the stakes right now?
I'll up it. Let's let's let's say this. It'll be FFW and it'll be fifty percent off until the end of June.
Okay, all right, binding oral contract. There we go, right there. Yeah, all right.
Let's go to the NFC West and the San Francisco forty nine ers.
Not a ton of changes on the offensive side of the ball. The most notable change is Josh Dobbs goes from Minnesota to San Francisco and Sam Darnold goes from San Francisco to Minnesota. Yeah, Ricky Pearsall was added as a wide receiver with a late first round pick, but he's squarely fourth on the depth chart right now the
passing game. I'm just gonna read off the names you brock Perty, Brandon Ayuk, Tebo Samuel, George Kittle, Juwan Jennings, then Ricky pearsall and the best receiving running back in the NFL, and Christian McCaffrey.
That doesn't bode well.
Oh, piersoll and also one of the best offensive play callers in the league. And Kyle Shanahan.
So and by the way, I love Juwan Jennings. I'm a huge Jean Jennings guy.
Good point.
He got a new deal a couple of days ago. He is a he is a solid wide receiver. And because he's such a good blocker, one of the best blocking receivers. He's on the field a lot that is going to block, It's gonna see block. Ricky Pearsol Yeah, I'm getting on the field.
Wow. Brandon Ayuk has been the squeaky wheel all off season. He wants an extension or maybe even a trade. The Niners have supposedly been working on him. With that, the price keeps getting higher and higher, though Amon Ross Saint Brown, Nico Collins, and Jalen Wattle just recently had contract extensions. The only way this goes south for this passing offense is if they can't figure it out, trade Ayuk, and even then I think they still be okay.
They got plenty of talent here.
I mean, if you're super high on Piersaw, he's totally blocked. Deebo and Eye Yuk are on the field almost every snap, Kittle CMC and Kyle Yuschek, who's on the field fifty five percent of the time. The Niners extended Jennings through the twenty twenty five season. I don't see a downturn, But I don't see a way that Pearsol's getting on the field for more than like fifteen twenty snaps a game. Maybe no agreed, and maybe he's just a special teams guy.
The running game, you have Christian McCaffrey. He's going off at one one. The only thing that can derail McCaffrey as injury, which we have seen from him in the past when he was in Carolina.
It feels like a million years ago.
It's funny Weir I was talking about Christian McCaffrey with somebody a couple of days ago, and it was just, you know, a casual fantasy player, just regular fantasy player, not somebody in the industry. And he was like, yeah, you know, I got Christian McCaffrey on my dynasty's team.
I just I love that he plays every game.
And I'm like, it wasn't that long ago when he was with the Panthers and he was like the biggest risk there was. It's funny how short our memory has gotten on those Panther days when he was a constant soft tissue injury.
Yeah, it was twenty twenty and twenty twenty one when he missed those games. He's been an iron man in his two years in San Francisco. Worth noting, though he turns twenty eight in June, the mileage is very high for that body, and with that in mind, the Niners could pull back from his workload just a little bit to try to preserve his body for another deep playoff run. They didn't really do that last year, not at all.
Many of us thought they would and they never did.
Yeah, and Elijah Mitchell, I think everybody agrees he's a pretty capable backup. He had twenty twenty three total yards in twenty twenty three and had twenty one total touchdowns. That was his best season as a pro. It was on three hundred and thirty nine touches. It's a lot, and he had three hundred and twenty nine touches the year before? So will it be better or worse than mccaffreys To be worse, it has to be worse. He can't outperform one one, so you're drafting him at one one.
I agree with the pick, but you can't expect him to duplicate last year's numbers or increase on it.
Somebody out there has done the math or will do the math on other players who have had the nearly seven hundred touches the McCaffrey has had the last two years.
And what happens the next year?
Because I bet the I bet in.
Carolinia, it may have.
It may have. Yeh, yeah, all right, let's go to Let's go to the La Rams after San Francisco. No meaningful changes in the passing game at all. Jettison jettisoning Ben Scronic does not really count as.
A meaningful all.
So Cooper Cup returns healthy, which is nice, but he's now each thirty and appears to be really the second option in the passing game behind Pooka Nkua. Man his targets Cooper Cup's targets dropped from eleven per game two years ago last year down to eight. That's a big change, and his downfield target rate fell badly as well. Now working four Cup, he enters the season healthy and last year he never really seemed like himself. Rolled into the season with a hamstring and it just it just never
seemed to get right for him. And working against Cup. You know I mentioned he's gonna he's age age thirty. Now he's gonna turn thirty one into the season. You know, a lot of good receivers start showing their age right in here.
Yep. And you know.
Time all is the ultimate winner. There's no beating time, and maybe this is going to be his time. Poka and Akua obviously exploding on the scene.
Looks fantastic.
Nicula right now going off the board wide receiver six ninth pick Wow, all, yes, Cup going off the board wide receiver twenty one, round three.
And which one do you would you rather have?
This is a harder one. I mean that that Pooka spot is high, but Sean mcva but we've seen Sean McVay power receivers to gigantic years.
I think i'd take Nikola.
Yeah, in these scenarios we are are Fantasy Football Weekly co host. As you know, we almost all go the second guy, the lower guy.
I think i'd rather of Nikola.
I'm gonna go with the first guy for all of them, just.
To be different. I wouldn't blame you.
He's better.
So I'm gonna say the passing game here is basically the same. I don't think this is really a situation where it gets a lot better or worse because almost nothing has changed. Okay, the running game, this is a lot more complex. Kieron Williams outlook changed a lot when they drafted Blake.
Korum in round three.
So Williams fit had a tremendous season. Kudos to Brian Johnson one last time we talked about him many times last year he was he was begging people to in the offseason to draft Kirian Williams. He finished his running back three last year. That was a huge hit for Brian and a huge hit for the Rams. But here's
the thing. You everybody knows Blake Korum was awesome. Last year for Jim harborught Michigan, Korm had a ton of highlight plays using his low center of gravity to break a tackle and then bounce outside and just take off. He's got he doesn't have like track star speed, but he's got footballs and he had these massive lanes to run through at Michigan, and some do worry about how that's going to translate in the NFL. He's got to
make more of his own yards. But here's the thing that a lot of people don't realize and I did not realize this. The Rams offensive line as run blockers finished fifth by Pro Football Focus.
That helps open something.
Yeah, that does. Remember when the offensive line was a disaster two years ago. Credit the Rams for getting it back up to this level at least as run blockers. And as McVeigh proved with Pukinakua mat he'll play rookies and immediately, I mean pookau Is Game one was breakout game. So you know, Blake Corn figures to factor in here. Last year when Willie when Williams was really the only game in town for the Rams, he averaged twenty carries
per game. One of the few workhorse guys so will Sean McVay use a timeshare in the three season since Todd Gurley was dominant for the Rams? Really, McVeigh used almost all split backfields, Sony Michelle, Darryl Henderson, Malcolm Brown, cam Akers. My god, remember these guys. This isn't even a long time ago, right, This is the running back position in a nutshell, It's like two years ago, right,
like all those guys. Yes, So you know, I just think last year Williams got the workhorse role because everybody else sucked.
There was nobody there, No, it was Royce Freeman was the next best runner. Sorry, Royce dropped the piano. Freeman, Well done your ADPs right now? Kyron Williams running back seven in round two, Okay, nope, yeah, I'm paying it. I'd rather have Isaiah Pachico in.
Round four, round four, Blake Korum running back thirty nine, round.
Eleven in sign me up? Yep?
Does it get better or worse this year for the running game for the Rams? I think it gets worse for fantasy because carm and Williams are going to share more than fantasy managers want to believe. All right, let's go to our next team that is the Seattle Seahawks.
Well, let's start with what happened there in the offseason. Pete Carroll and his staff are out after what like forty years there. Yeah, former Ravens DC Mike McDonald is the new head coach, and Ryan Grubb became the offensive coordinator and he didn't even have to change area codes. He held the same position at the University of Washington. Not too many huge on field personnel changes in the offense.
It is notable that it's a new staff and they traded for Sam Howell, which gets me right into the passing game, where Gino Smith currently listed as the starter, and the coaching staff has stated publicly that that's going to continue. There's reports out there that McDonald said that Sam Howell knows he's the backup but believes he has a bright future.
So I do, honestly, I do too.
I see Howell as a great candidate as a reclamation project after he absorbed one point eight million sacks last year.
Yeah, pretty much.
And got was in a bad offense with the coaching staff that got fired, and I could see Sam Howell being rebuilt over time into a functional NFL starter.
Well to that point, Gino is under contract this year and for twenty twenty five, but the cap hit to get out from his contract next year is only thirteen million, So feasibly, if Smith falters this year and Howell gets a shot and is successful, the path is pretty clear for Howell to take over. Yeah, and Gino Smith to be cut for now. We move on with Gino though, and he's got one of the better trios of wide receivers in the game with DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and
sophomore Jackson Smith and Jigba. JSN was a bit of an afterthought in the Shane Waldron offense last year. May sure, maybe it's because they just didn't focus on the slot. Maybe there were too many mouths to feed. But JSN finished with a average of like four catches and thirty seven yards per game, and that sucks.
I think only a couple of touchdowns from what I recollecting.
Off the top of my head.
Yeah, Tyler Lockett turns thirty two in that time, the big X factor right there. He had a bit of a downturn last season as well, maybe due to JSN popping in. He averaged four and a half catches in fifty two yards per game, and his touchdown total did a dolly pardon it dropped from nine to five. Yeahicly done. There we go, all those young that is getting our dolly parton references here. Put Lockett and JSN together. That's one good wide receiver, but in last year's offense, neither
is a sure thing to start in fantasy DK. Metcalf went from ninety catches to sixty six catches last year, but he had more receiving yards and more touchdowns, so the efficiency is off the charts right. He averaged almost seventeen yards per catch'ts and scored on one in eight receptions. Wow. If they can get him back closer to ninety catches at that rate, you're looking at fifteen hundred yards and
twelve touchdowns. That's great. Metcalf going off the board at pick thirty eight, that's the beginning of the fourth JSN is in the ninth and Lockett as a tenth round ADP. I don't know who I choose. It probably Metcalf still at the higher ADP, just because I don't know if I can trust either of those guys yep to not cannibalize each other. So that's probably where I'm going Noah Fant by the way as the top tight end, but
he'll go undrafted in most formats. And it is worth noting that Ryan Grubbs Washington Huskies offense ranked first in major college football in passing yards. They averaged three hundred and sixty nine passing yards per game last year.
Yeah, a quarterback and at your quarterback and number one wide receiver both went in the top ten.
Absolutely, so there's some reasons to think the passing game can get better this season. On the running side, Pete Carroll like to have a bellcow running back. Mike McDonald came from Baltimore where they constantly had backs churning due to injury, mostly, but Harbaugh did like to ride the hot hand too. Last year in Washington, Ryan Grubbs offense
had a belcow back as well. Though Dylan Johnson carried the ball two hundred and thirty three times last year, the next closest teammate in rushing attempts was Michael Pennix with thirty five, so almost two hundred more. That bodes well if you're a Kenneth Walker believer, as Zach Charboney had a big chunk of the middle of the season where Walker was banged up and Charboney basically did nothing
in three consecutive fourteen plus carry games. So I imagine Walker is the lead dog in Charbonay, just as the change of pace third down guy. Walker has scored exactly nine times in each of his first two seasons, and if he stays on the field and is healthy, it's his job.
You know.
I'd love to make a case because of Sharboney's draft equity, and he didn't like to make a case for Sharbonay breaking out here with the catches, Walker looks good. Yeah, he's just a good back.
He's good. He's good so you can catch the ball. He's a good runner. There's room for the running game him to approve here. I think it actually will a little bit.
Let's go to the Arizona Cardinals, our final team of this show. You already mentioned earlier in the show, Hollywood Brown gone now in Kansas City. In his place, Marvin Harrison Junior, the fourth pick of the draft.
Yeah yeah, can't buy his jersey though.
Yeah yeah, no yet, they'll work that. Aside from Trey McBride, there's basically no competition for targets for Marvin Harrison in this one. The other receivers are sophomore Michael Wilson, who, by the way preview of coming attractions, he will be one of my biggest sleepers of the year okay, and slack eye Greg Dortsch, along with journeymans like Zay Jones and Zach Pascal who do not count. Harrison will start
on day one. Could have Rookie of the Year season, right I think currently the betting odds only of Caleb Williams ahead of Harrison to win Rookie of the Year. You already know Harrison is an elite prospect. Countless big plays at AU, athletic ability, route, savvy, finishing skills, big plays. Just there's so many things to like about Harrison, and I think you're talking about me right now, very very much. So you in the backyard with the it's a ball, Yes, yeah,
growing out. Yeah, a pookinaool level of rookie usage is possible. Oh yeah for Marvin Harrison here due to his just NFL readiness is so high.
Adp right now.
Wide receiver ten for Marvin Harrison, there's a lot of respectimism. That's a lot of optimism right there.
He's just picking yep.
I can't remember another rookie going at that level of drafts at receiver. I mean it happens a running back all time, Yeah, not receiver. This is kind of uncharted territory. From off the top of my head, I have not actually, yeah, I don't analyze the data looking back, Like, I don't think Jamar Chase or C.
D Lamb or anything like that.
Justin Jefferson, nobody liked that.
I think was going that high.
No. Trey McBride is the other big story. His breakout last year coincided with Kyler Murray's return and helped power a lot of teams to fantasy championships because you got him off the waiver wire mid season. Week eight is when he had his big breakout game. From Week eight forward, he was a top five tight end the rest of the way. He was the most targeted tight end in the NFL from Week eight forward, Tery McBride.
So we have a top five tight end, we have a top five wide receiver. We got one of your favorite sleepers. You gotta be feeling pretty good about Kyler Murray.
You know Kyler Murray is he is going to be a value pick. I mean people are really down on him. And I've brought this up many times in the offseason, and I don't have the numbers memorized, but a Arizona's offense, which was dismal almost all year, but the final five games of the year, I believe they averaged twenty five and a half points per game. So we saw it starting to come to get other. Yeah, in Arizona at the end of last year, Kyler Murray is gonna be
is gonna be a value for somebody. The ADP on Trey McBride tight end three round four, Wow, that's high. People are very optimistic it's gonna continue.
Do you feel like this year the tight ends, at least that group of like five or six tight ends who are at the top are going to be just vaulted up, because after you get past that first block of tight ends, it's just a disaster. No.
In fact, I think this is the first time in like five years where I feel like tight end is pretty deep. Okay, Yeah, in my estimation, weighting on this is because I'm never that guy like weight on tight end. This is the year I think I'm gonna wait on tight end.
Interesting.
Yeah, let's talk running gain. Oh well, By the way, does the passing game get better? Yes, obviously, yeah, I think clearly better with Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride now entering his third year running game. This is fascinating. I think the best runner on the Cardinals is rookie Trey Benson.
You were pretty high on Benson going into the draft.
I was, but it may take him a while to get onto the field in a meaningful way, and that part worries me. With Benson, you get a fast player with great vision, patience. He breaks tackles, he hits home run plays, he's got great footwork, literally never fumbled in college. He can catch, and he was lately used at Florida State. So you're not getting somebody with the bunch of mileage on him.
I love him.
The problem is James Connor had the best year of his season or career, best year of his career last year on a terrible Arizona team. It's wild where did that come from? He finished his Pro Football Focus's fifth best running back. He averaged five yards per carry, highest mark of his career. He ranked second in yards after
contact James Connor three point nine yards after contact. He finished sixth in rushes of fifteen yards or more, all this despite a run blocking line that ranked twenty sixth by Pro Football Focus.
He's doing it himself. He's doing it himself. He's a DIY runner.
Yep. Now Connor is twenty nine years old. Yeah, so, I mean we're right on the cusp, but we're guys nose dive and I think Connor will not sustain that level of productivity.
He's also got a big injury history too.
He does, yeah, he does. Now, he's been lightly used. Connor's never top two und fifteen carries a season. So maybe the end, maybe it's not going to go on to these drive like Gena Davis off the cliff kind.
Of Dealilman luis, Okay, right.
So maybe, But I think the issue here is how long until Trey Benson takes over. It might be mid season. I think it might be mid season, could be beyond, But I just I can't see James Connor posting that kind of productivity.
Again. Sure, and it's probably closer to a timeshare than maybe Trey Bentson taking over, But this is the most capable backup James Connor has seen in his.
By a million miles.
All Right, So the ADP here Connor's ADP is running back twenty four, Benson's thirty three. Oh, you're gonna have to devil patience on Benson, but you can get him three rounds later.
Thirty three is four rounds. Kind of high for a backup running that's on the high end of the backup that is it is. So you may have to reach around for a guy like Trey Benson. To steal a term from our preseason shows.
Maybe we get both. Yeah, draft them both, you can.
U does the running game get better or worse for Arizona in totality better because they have a better one two punch than they've had in.
I looked it up.
The last time Arizona had a good one two punch at running back Edger and James and Tim high Tower. That's how long it's been.
I forgot for all those guys. I forgot both of those guys cardinals.
And they went to the Super Bowl.
Oh they did?
Yeah?
Yeah. Emmett Smith as a former cardinal.
Adrian Peterson is a formal cardinal. Wow, yeah, we're cardinal Where running backs go to die.
It is like a retirement community.
It's the It's Sun City. It's perfect beautiful.
It only makes sense hit Sedona during the day. Yeah, wonderful.
Hey how about next week, Yeah, let's do the norths.
The North's Yeah, the Black and Blue divisions.
Yeah, respectively. That'll u we'll we'll touch on those next week. We appreciate everybody listening. Please subscribe, leave reviews if when a play, well you can't leave reviews just anywhere. I know, Apple lets you leave reviews.
Yeah, well Spotify does too. I bet iHeart does.
Maybe I don't think so.
But we also have the discord, and people are the discord, and and we're having a lot of fun with with conversations in there. I noticed you started a music channel.
I did.
I started a music channel that I.
Was discussing some random shows of Soul co thing and one of our guys.
Yeah, one of our guys was was like at the same show, right.
Yeah, I was there.
Yeah, that's super cool times. Yeah, I love it.
All the things that keep us together exactly. And coincidentally, I just bought the best of Soul coughing right there.
Let's see, there's the fine right there.
It just out of cheer coincidence, Yeah, no kidding, I should Thanks for listening everybody, We'll be back next week. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.