Sophomore Slumpbusters

Great to talk to you. We tease this subject at the end of the show last week, and that is sophomores that we think are going to improve potentially dramatically over last year. So these are these are not There is not justin Jefferson, although I think he's going to improve as well. But these are the guys who under kind of underperformed last year and we think can have a much better second year. Super Softmares, if you will.

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to be a rookie. Brian no o t a s. No rookie camps, no mini camps, no training camp, no preseason games, I mean, all those things working against that rookie class. Last year. They have the Zoom meetings in place of in person meetings. I mean just every almost everything outside of like injury that could be folly class of rookies happened and for some guys it didn't matter. Justin Jefferson was great last year. He's you know, he was Justin Herbert was great, and there were guys that

didn't matter. But for many, there's every reason to think they'll make a big jump in year two with the benefit of a season under their belt and a full off season program. And now some of these guys will talk about didn't necessarily struggle, But when you just look at their full season, you know, the landscape of their production from last season, it doesn't tell the whole story of how big a jump they could make this year. I like it. Um Almost every highly drafted second year

player has got room for improvement. Most players do get better in the second year. The one I'll say, the one thing they had going for them last year. He had all all the detractors, We still had the fans in the stands to tell them how much they were stud they were, they were getting food by their own home fans. Depends how south of them Dixon line you were.

But yeah, um, so most of them. I don't think there's any need to say for any of these guys, Brian, you know there's room for him to get better in your two. There's room for all these guys get better in your two. But we're gonna give Billed a case for about like fifteen guys here that we think all have the have the potential to take a big step up in year two. Okay, I'll go first with a rookie that I think has got a lot of room for improvement and can can get better in year two.

That is Gabriel Davis, Buffalo wide receiver. His current ADP is around twelve wide receiver sixty, so you know you're you're gonna get him at a at a real value, and I like to he took a big jump over Buffalo's by week in Week eleven coming out of the by his snaps per game jumped by twenty one and that helped with injuries to John Brown who's gone and gold Beasley who's somewhat healthy. Yeah, but basically slot guy, and I don't think that will affect him a lout here.

After the bye week, his targets for Gabriel Davis jumped from three per game to five per game. His yards doubled from twenty eight per game to fifty four per game. His touchdowns per game doubled from point three to point seven. Point seven touchdowns per game is a ton touchdown year. That's a double digit touchdown season that Gabriel Davis was posting.

From week week twelve forward, he was the starter in every Buffalo game after the bye, and his average line for Gabriel Davis again after the bye three catches, fifty four yards and at the point seven touchdowns. I mentioned that was good enough for He was wide receiver thirty after the bye as a rookie. The attack Buffalo Bill for the Buffalo Bills, a team that passes all the time. Um, there are really no blockers to starting time. I mean there's Steffandiggs is gonna be a starter and it's gonna

be h Emmanuel Sanders at all. Sanders will be uh, you know, Sanders will be in the in the mix. But no way, no way. They've given him that an aging journey and veterans Davis decomposing corpse territory. I think he's gonna be a guy when you need eleven yards and you need somebody just catch the ball that you throw to him, that's gonna be. That is gonna be Emmanuel Sanders, Gabriel Davis. So he's my first guy. Who is your your second year sophomore that you think can

do can do better next year? Well, I got no quarterbacks. It might have been Jordan's love, but Aaron Rodgers still in town. So a nothing to mention at the quarterback position. And sadly, I'm not gonna mention Jalen Reagor and the Eagles might want me to, but I don't see a jump from Reager. It could be a decline, as sad as that may be. So the first guy I want to talk about is Brandon You of the forty Niners, who is already getting drafted as a top twenty five

wide receiver. He's going right in the Kenny Golladay Cooper Cup, Jamaar Chase, who was a rookie range but which is justified. But if he can replicate his epic six games stretch he had last year starting in like Week six or seven, where he totaled or sorry, averaged eleven tar gets, seven and a half catches, nine four yards per game, four touchdowns during that span with Jimmy Garoppolo and alrighty the

cast of Castle character C J. Beth. Yes, so people are expecting the leap he's getting drafted as a wide receiver. Who but have that there's competition, of course, Deebo Samuels, their George Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo rookie Tray Lance at quarterback. But still he's gonna make that leap. But he could go beyond bottom tier wide receiver two to top tier wide receiver two, lower tiered wide receiver one territory pretty easily.

I think he has got that. If you watch them play, he's a freak of nature, like Across and very different from Deebo Samuel. Deebo Samuel is yard after catch guy you throw to. You throw a bubble screen to him. He's so strong he'll break the tackle and get you some yards. I Yuk is your big play, splashy down field receiver, and Trey Lance has a cannon. I love the potential of that connection for years to come. I hope we see Trey Lance sooner than later. That's all.

I hope we see him when the time is right. And that's an offensive that's an offensive system that I think they'll get that right. The next sophomore I want to talk about is Buffalo running back Zach Moss. Current ADP is round nine running back forty two, and you get the lead back for an NFL team. Last year he was a bust and that hurt me. Grievously because I had championed his cause and I was mostly wrong.

Nearly as big a bobo as you are. For Zack Moss, Um, the reasons he was a bus last year were opportunity and losing rushing touchdowns to his quarterback. The team barely ran it all last year, and Zack Moss only averaged eight rushes per game through of the time. At minimum, it wasn't quite that, but they were. They were. Ye hold on, you know go, I might have it in my notes here. Um. He never had more than four a team touches in any game, Zach Moss, so opportunity

really hurt him. Buffalo didn't draft a running back, which suggests that they are confident in his improvement. And remember he said every meaningful Utah rushing records. Zack Moss did built to score touchdowns at two thirty pounds, but Josh Allen ran the ball eleven times from inside the five eleven. Only Cam Newton among quarterbacks had more rushing attempts inside the five than Josh Allen did. But eventually almost all

quarterbacks stop running the ball. It's part of the progression of keeping your your quarterback up right and maybe that will happen this year with Allen and maybe they'll start dialing back some of that running. And then there's Devin Singletary who just isn't a very good runner, and they could face him out of the running game in particular,

almost entirely. So if you believe Mosque gets better, you think that Josh Allen is not gonna run the ball eleven times inside the five, if you think Devin Singletary is not that good, there's your window for Zack Moss to improve on his current ADP. Right, And I'm right there with you, And I was a little high. It's about I'm gonna guess it's about sixty eight percent for it was sixty two on the season, but the last five games it was, which is incredibly high for any team,

especially Buffalo over the past ten years. Right, correct, Okay, Brian,

or who is your next sophomore? I'm going with the wide receiver of the Los Angeles Rams Van Jefferson, who they sunk a lot of draft capital into the seventh overall pick overall past and the jettison Josh Reynolds, which is fairly significant here, and they signed to Shan Jackson, which um I'm assuming he's in a walking boot already, So I'm gonna call Jefferson the wide receiver three right now basically, and and an injury to the big two Robert Woods or Cooper Cup opens up a huge door

of opportunity for Jefferson on an offense that is upgraded significantly with Matthew Stafford now the quarterback over Jared goff Now Jefferson who has good sized by the way six to two d plus pounds. So at least five targets in a four games last year. One was in the Divisional round against Green Bay, but he had at least four catches in each game, and he caught six, including a touchdown in that playoff game against the Packers. So he's proven to be an able receiver if given the volume.

So and again, he was a rookie last year. Not all wide receiver rookies pop off. He's got the pedigree and right now and best best ball redraft, he's going wide receiver eight three with Marquez Valdez Scantling and Tyrell Williams and Marie Rogers and that's the Packers cast offs. I love the upside for Van Jefferson at the bignet him at I'm with you on that Stafford is going to I think the Rams are a sneaky super Bowl team and a Stafford's gonna make that offense much better.

And Jefferson is a guy you might find in your dynasty rookie drafts who just got cast off after last year. Somebody's gonna drop their teams are gonna drop him off and how deep. But definitely the next sophomore I want to talk about is Jets wide receiver Denzel Mims. His current ADP is the fourteenth round wide receiver seventy nine, so he's in that same Van Jefferson range. Brian, You'll

remember that Mims had a triple whammy last year. Like all rookies, he missed the whole preseason, then he suffered a hamstring injury that costs him the first six weeks of the season, and then of course the third whammy Adam Gaze. When Mims did play, he started, but he

wasn't terribly effective. He did not score a touchdown last year. Remember, he was the first pick of the second round of the deepest wide receiver draft in a generation, and he would have been the first wide receiver taken in some years drafts in all probability, tall and range, you with a massive catch radius, very fast. He'll be catching passes from Zach Wilson, who appears to be pretty NFL ready, and Wilson throws a great deep ball, and that was

much of Mims's success at Baylor. Um. It's a crowded wide receiver field right now, Corey Davis and Keelan Cole and Jamison Crowder um. But Mims has got a pedigree that none of those guys really have, and so he's got He's got a ton of room to improve here. I I don't love Denzel Mims, and I think he'll I think this conversation might be better in one but this uh he almost by default we'll get better this year.

He has the potential to I think be the best wide receiver in this draft class in a few years. He's not would I know, there's justin Jefferys, I know, I know right he's ceedee Lamb. He was not in good spot last year and it's not still spot. But I think if Zach Wilson is his requisite of the number two pick overall, then Denzel Mims can grow with him. Let me say one of the best. All right, that might be a small potential and more sane. Right, let's

take a break. When we come back, we've got more sophomores we thinking have a significant growth spurt this year. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. We're talking about sophomores that we think are in a position to have a far better season next year. I think if you're redraft or dynasty, this is a very salient conversation. I thought of the title of the show just now during the break, Sophomore slump Busters. I kind of like it. Sophomore. Let me

write that down slump busters. Okay, so done, that'll be the title of the show. I did it. All right, we've done it. Jaguars wide receiver Laviska Channel. It's Chanel. I found out we've been calling him Channel. I'm yeah, you're yeah, You're this moment old, I'm learning at Laska che Uh. Current ADP is the ninth round wide receiver forty.

He gets a massive quarterback improvement going from the combination of Mike Lennon, Gardner Minshew and Jake Luton remember him to Trevor Lawrence, the first player taken in the draft. He's luten free Now, I love it. Uh, you may have forgotten. Laviska Chanel scored four times in the final five weeks of last year. From week twelve forward. Lavishka Chano was wide receiver twenty two. Last year he was

a stopper. Oh that's pretty good too, that's excellent. It's heating up in Minnesota, Keen Keelan Cole, as I mentioned earlier, now with the Jets stole a lot of his work from the slot last year. Calls gone gone, he leaves behind five hundred thirty four snaps. Keiling Cole does so. No, it's gonna be on the field constantly. Remember he was a second round pick last year. He's a jack of all trades type. They run him a bit. There's a lot to like about Laviska sho number two. He's very

much a Curtis Samuel in the making for sure. I think you're right, all right, who's your next sophomore slump buster? Now, a couple of months ago, this guy was gonna bust all the slumps because he was gonna be the starting running back for the Packers. And that's j Dillon. Because we all assumed Green Bay was going to let Aaron Jones walk after failing to let him run year after a year, but they resigned Jones, so a little bit of a pullback on a J. Dillon. I'm one of

those dynasty owners that was counting on that. But regardless, he's he's an absolute monster and it's not a one trick pony and this is gonna run you over. He does have some wiggle, he can catch the ball. He's got a lot of potential, and he figures the factor at the goal line this year at the very least

you'd hope so, and his size demands it. He didn't have a ton of opportunities last year, but if you really look into his two carries inside, he had nine yards, so he basically took every yard that was given to him and opportunities no one, and he scored on one of them. All right, four carries for sixteen yards inside the tent. So he's a force inside, in the in the in the gold zone, the infrared zone, whatever we call it. But Aaron Jones clearly a blocker. I still

think Dylan takes a significant leap from last year. They're still gonna want to spell Jones at times, especially now that they paid him, right, and and they will they always do. Jones is never a workhorse. And you know with Jamal Williams gone, all that extra works gonna go to Dylan. Yeah, I'm with you. And right now Dylan's lumped in. He's like RB thirty three ish right with Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones, Raheem Moster, David Johnson, Kenyan Drake.

Give me Dylan over those guys all day long. It's based on like, of course, one injury to Aaron Jones and yeah, that's it. It's to the moon for Dylan. So expect we're not gonna get the production we were hoping for right most like starters production, but he will see a significant increase in touches, one would hope. I think he's a j. Dylon shaping up as a flex level running back this year. The player who has turned the most heads in Broncos O t a s. Jerry Judy.

It's not you, it's it's Jerry Jude Beauty. I like it. Current ADP is the eighth round, He's wide receiver, thirty seven, his solid rookie season. I think it's been overlooked by many. Brian, you had fifty two catches eight hundred fifty yards and three touchdowns. Despite really inconsistent quarterbacking in Denver, he was held back by drops. He had twelve drops last year I saw. I don't have the exact stat but a lot of his drops or in completions were accounted to

the court to Drew Lock. Essentially they weren't really his. Yeah, I would I would not be surprised by um. I think there's a sixty chance Teddy Bridgewaters the starter. You know, Teddy has many deficiencies which long time listeners know how I feel about it. But he does catch a very he throws a very catchable short pass and so there's there's that for Judy. Hopefully it'll be it'll be more

accurate here. Um. He'll also be helped I think by the return of Courtland Sutton, which will mean he will not need to carry so much of the burden of the receiver's group and he will not he will not receive as much coverage because Courtland Sutton is on the field. Also, there's a chance Aaron Rodgers is throwing balls to Jerry Judy that is that is possible here um. Remember he was a first round pick. He has got fantastick folk work a great yard after catch at Alabama. So yeah,

Jerry Judy is my next sophomore slump buster. Who is your next sophomore slumpbuster. We're going to the tight end position. It's a cold commit of the Chicago Bears, who was the overall pick last year in the second und got a draft capital there, and uh, the Bears were one of seven teams last year they got double digit touchdowns from their tight ends. Yes, Jimmy Graham accounted for seven or eight of those, but and he's still on roster.

But talk about decomposing corpses, Graham is decomposing more by the day. He's gonna be goal line package guy. Most likely not gonna factor between the twenties, which isn't great for commit. Graham could get cut very Yeah, he's definitely gone and age and everything else. Yeah, they drafted him to be tight into the future for sure, drafting him in the second round last year. And Chicago also top twelve in UH tight end catches last year. So there's

a nice role for commit waiting this year. And there's an upgraded quarterback either way, whether it's justin Fields or any Dalton over Mitch Drubisky or Nick Foles. So Chicago utilizes their tight end, and UH, if I'm investedly heavied

to the invested. If I'm invested heavily at tight end, like drafting Travis Kelsey or Dale and Darren Waller, Uh commits a guy I'm looking at, uh tight end eighteen right now, he's going right after your boy John U, John U. But he's right there with Gronk and Austin Hooper. H cam me commits upside here. I like what we're gonna see out of him in his the year two. My next sophomore slump buster is Raiders wide receiver Henry

Ruggs ADP is Round ten wide receiver fifty one. Remember he was the first wide receiver taken in the draft two years ago. Uh, and a disastrous season unfolded for him. Despite starting twelve games, he never more than three passes in a game and he only scored two times. Do you remember either was two touchdowns? Off the top of your head, the one was total bs to beat the Jets, That's exactly that's right. It was the five seconds left on the clock falls on the forty six yard line.

They have to go forty six yards to pass with a touchdown to score, and Greg Williams dials up a blitz dumbest call history of football maybe, and it ended up ended up being a disaster for the Jets. At the time, it was one of the Henry Ruggs touchdowns. At the time, it was one of the smartest thing, right because they were probably still trying to lose unfeeded at the time, right, not not undefeated, but yeah, then

who did they beat? That doesn't matter? But yet, so Ruggs walks in this year and they they basically they let most half of the receivers go. Tyroll Williams has gone, Nelson Agilar is gone. So he's wide receiver one on this team. Listen to the other receivers on the Raiders, Z Jones, Brian Words who was somehow even worse than Ruggs last year, Hunter Renfro who plays the slot, and John Brown adds it, I mean Rugs in with his pedigree. He is wide receiver one on a team led by

Derek Carr, who was shockingly productive last year. He threw twenty seven touchdowns and four thousand, one hundred yards. Twenty seven touchdowns are they're not all going to Darren Waller next year. So with that, if if you think Derek car is gonna be around that twenty seven touchdown range and you think Waller is gonna account for twelve of them, right, we still fifteen on accounted touchdowns. That gotta go somewhere.

How about his number one wide receiver, Henry Ruggs, It better go to Ruggs again, drafted over Jerry Judy Steedee Lamb, Justin Jefferson. I know we we hated that, we hated that draft pick them when it happened live. We did not like that draft pick. Um. It was a mistake for sure, But Ruggs has got massive room for improvement and and we'll have the opportunity which is which is half of it. Okay, your next guy another tight end, and you know most rookie tight ends don't produce, so

we look at them in a year two. Hopefully Kyle Pitts breaks that mold. We won't go there right now. And it's Adam Troutman of the Saints, who was a high high draft pick by New Orleans last year, the undred and fifth overall pick. That's a third round pick. And uh, Jared Cook, he gone. Troutman. Troutlan is the guy, and right now he's lumped right with committing a DP at tight end twenty, going right after Hooper and uh Gronk and like I said, commet right in that range.

And only six team targets last year, not a ton of tape on Troutman. Only one went incomplete though, and I'm gonna assume it was Taysom Hill's fault on that one, so that I don't know he's the starting tight ends for the Saints, who had historically utilized their tight ends in that offense. There's question marks at quarterback, but I don't know there there's a tight end twelve, tight end fifteen upside with Troutman if he sees the eight hundred

targets requisite requisitive getting you there. So I got my on Adam Troutman in late rounds too. If you're again either gonna just back up an elite tight end or if you're just gonna dumpster dive, and you know, hoard three of these guys in the late teens and early twenties. Troutman is a guy to keep your eye on. But I gotta finish this by saying, keep your eye on Dan Arnold more than who's going way later than both

of these guys. Still, I don't get it. But someday the world will catch him, all right, done his own teams don't seem to don't seem to share that thought. As he's a high third team in three years, I will have my day, all right. I've got two guys that I think are very obvious, So I've left him to the end here. Uh And I don't think you have any left. I think you're done right, Yes, okay, Chief's running back Clyde Edwards Alaire. I think most people

think like I do. By the way, a DP is the third round running back seventeen, It's almost impossible for a Chief's running back to be as a mimic of a fantasy producer as Clyde Edwards a Laire was last year. He only scored four games and during the regular season he only topped one hundred total yards twice, and that was Week one and Week three, when we still thought he was going to be a top ten running back. Weirdly underutilized in the passing game despite being a very

good pass catching running back. He caught zero, one or two passes in half of his games that was disappointing, and then he battled injury and end up missing a month of time at the end of the year as people remembered into the playoffs. So here's Kansas City. They were number one and offensive touchdowns two years ago, they were number eight last year. They're averaging three point two offensive touchdowns per game, last year three point two. And

as great as Patrick Mahomes is. If if your offense is averaging three point two touchdowns per game, shouldn't one of those three go to your lead running back? In a typical offense, one would think I would think I was an English major not great with math, but I think that math has doesn't it feel about right? I mean, I know Mahomes is, you know, like three passing touchdowns a game, but even then some of those should go

to should go to the running back too. So I think his diminutive side, probably dominut diminutive size, caps his upside for Clyde Edwards a layer, but it's still feels like he's got room to approve on his ADP of RB seventeen. And the last Gale mention is another one that's obvious that I think most people already think it's going to be much better than year two. And that's Baltimore running back j K. Dobbins, because he was so good at the end of last year. Current ADPs round

three running back fifteen UM. Dobbin's owner is frustrated with that split time between Ingram and Gus Edwards. But Ingram's gone and they didn't replace him with anybody who's gonna steal carries. It's gonna be Gus Edwards and j K Dobbins. Gus Edwards, by the way, going really far too low to UM. Last year's three headed monsters down to a two headed monster. That's you know, we can manage that

a little bit. Dobbins surged down the stretch of his rookie years, scoring in seven straight games, including the playoffs, to finish things up, and that's why he's being pressed up to the third round right now. When UM, when he was given at least thirteen carries last year, his average game ninety three rushing yards, one touchdown per game, and six point six yards per carry. Again, those are

in games in which he at least thirteen carries. When you give j K. Dobbins just the thirteen carries, which isn't even close to like the twenty elite back would get. He still produces gigantic numbers, so you know the Ravens are always gonna be run heavy. Um and Lamar Jackson opens up a lot of things for his running backs, So J K. Dobbins and I know a lot of people already on Hilaire and Dobbinson. They barely warrant to

mention here, but I still wanted to get them in. Yeah, and guys that people are on and names you probably didn't hear or you didn't hear this podcast, like Jalen Hurts, Seedee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Antonio Gibson, everybody get better, could get better already could their household names already, so we didn't touch on them. Totally agree. And Tyler Johnson. I was hoping to mention Tyler Johnson wide receiver for the Bucks, but they just resigned Antonio Brown recently, so it makes

it top might have to wait another year for Tyler Johnson. UM. I thought about Damien Harris, but that were more Uh, Stevenson is a real blocker for him. I thought about Donovan people showns the Cleveland wide receiver and mentioning him because he did. He did show some signs of life at the end of the year. But it's I don't know that he's I don't think he does. Just doesn't gonna get starters reps. I don't think I got one more three named wide receiver Antonio Gandy Golden. It's that's deep.

He's He's got bumped down that depth chart pretty well. He did in the one season. We'll see that. Bryan Fitzpatrick's gonna help that whole offense. I'm excited, and I don't like rooting for the Washington team, but that offense is gonna be exciting. You just don't. I mean, it's one thing to say you don't want the good things to happen to their owner. You know that fan base has been through the Ringer Man. They deserve they deserve good things. You know, they've had to live with Dan

Snyder for twenty years as their owner. They deserved good things to happen. I used to live out there and I interact with a lot of that fan base, so I beg to differ. There are some good there's some good ones in there. Yet, uh, we encourage you to check out Guillotine leagues dot com where we are now forming Guillotine Leagues, and our associated podcast is called Chop. We will be into regular chop rotation for podcasting beginning next week and we're looking forward to that um and

so we encourage you to join both of those. Thank you for subscribing to this podcast, listening along every week spreading the message of Fantasy Football Weekly, and we'll talk to you next week. Everybody, Bye bye. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of i heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.