The Reach-A-Round

been the first weekend with preseason games. We don't have that. It's okay. I was hated doing those preseason recaps anyway, especially after the first game when you know, nothing happens. The starters played one this this third string running back really popped off in this game. Yeah, but that's not to say there's no news, and we'll be getting to

a variety of news items from around the league very shortly. Also, we will over the course of the show, we will identify the true bell cow running backs, the guys you can count on to get a lot of touches. Who are they? And not just rehashing last year's bell cows because you already know that looking forward to this year's crop of running backs, we'll talk about the stink hole and beyond. What's the stinkhole? You might ask. The stinkhole is that spot in the first round where the obvious

choices are gone and now you're up. What do you do with that spot? Where is the stinkhole this year? And what are you doing in that vicinity? We'll give you three tough questions and perhaps everybody's favorite segment all preseason over the course of this show, the reach around, We got a stinkhole, and reach around. We got a stinkhole and reach around. In the reach around will tell you the guys you should reach one round early, go get that's what you meant. That's the reach around. We'll

talk about vacated targets. Scott Fish will help us identify the teams that have lost the most receiving targets and who could step into those spots. And then, at the end of the show, as we do every week, our sleepers three sleepers, one from each of us. These are guys that will significantly outperform their draft position. Al right, guys,

let's go to the news. We begin with the Carolina Panthers Matt Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported last weekend that left tackle Russell Okung is contemplating retirement due to COVID. Pro Football Talk says he's keeping his options open right now, so he could just quit. Oku is a fascinating guy. He's extremely smart, He's negotiated his own contracts. He's um, He's got a lot of interests outside of football. Wouldn't surprise me. Not That wouldn't be good for Christian McCaffrey

or nor would it be good for Teddy Bridgewater. We think needs all the help he can get. So we'll be watching the status of the starting left tackle for the Carolina Panthers, Scott Let's go to Las Vegas with the Raiders. Yeah so? Uh? Josh Josh Jacob says he's going to catch at least sixty passes this year, and John Gruden is reportedly wants to get him more involved. It was upset they didn't good Rookie of the Year. All the b reporters are saying they want him on

the field of ton. John Garden's gonna try to win him Rookie of the Year this year. But there's something to be aware of. They want to get him really involved in the passing game. He is, Jacobs has top three or four. We'll talk about him and later. All right, we'll be talking more about him later. Okay, let's go to the Texans. Why receiver Kenny still still hasn't passed his physical and looks like a cut candidate in Parks. He's gonna make seven million dollars guaranteed if he's on

the rosters. Good chance he's gonna go and will help cement playing time for Will Fuller and Brandon Cooks and Reggie Cobb. Let's go to the Randall. Randall, not Reggie. Brangie cop played for Tampa a long times ago, showing my age. Let's go to the Washington football team. As of about twenty minutes after we recorded last week's show, Darius Geiss was released, opening up the running back competition to Adrian Peterson, Peyton Barber, Antonio Gibson, Bryce Love and

j D mckissic. J D mcsuck it. No, No, that's a terrible nickname. It's it's not even that clever. It's well earned, if you ask me, Scott. Let's go to the Jets. Uh Levian Bella has reportedly slimmed down like fifteen pounds, and he's the lightest he's ben since high school. I know you hate when running backs, especially speedy ones like that, gain weight. What do you think of Levan Bell dropping weight? He's always been an agility guy. Yeah, I think that might be okay. I don't know, that

might be all right. I'm willing to you know more, Oftentimes these guys end up gaining weight over the course of the season. So if he's starting a little light, well he took that one year off, that's where he gained the way. It's probably true. It's taken a year to to work that part off. The Colts Frank Reich says that Marlon Mack is his starting running back. Jonathan Taylor will be in the mix, though I'm intrigued by

a strategy of drafting both and starting both. Did you see his His line in that same thing, in that same interview was he'll play the hot hand and then they'll stay in the field. I hate that. That's that's why you have to do both. I either what both are neither hand. It's going to be Jonathan Taylor. Come on, he wouldn't you think so? All that said, um, it's Marlon Max's job to lose. By the you know, maybe the best offensive line in football. Somebody's going to be

successful there. It's a nice bast ball strategy. I think, taking both guys, you know, have to guess which one is gonna be when Jonathan Taylor hits the field, that's the problem. Probably let's go to the Let's go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ronald Jones is receiving pass catching tips from noted asked thrower Tom Brady, and Keyshawn Vaughn was officially activated off the COVID list to put some pressure on Road Joe Um. He's a Ronald Jones, a terrible pass bat blocking back, and that is how he

can lose this job. That's how he will lose this And that's the that is the concern, and it's one of the reasons I'm I'm I'm not playing. I'm not gambling on either of those guys because I don't feel like I can trust him that way. Scott, the Denver Broncos have news. Yeah, so beer reporters are expecting Melvin Gordon to be the Week one starter, which is really no surprise after paying him sixteen million dollars. But what they are saying, they're expecting like a sixty thirty five

or even seventy thirty split, which I found was surprising. Yeah, that is I I think Philip people. People are assuming Philip Lindsay is dead, and I am not ready. I am not ready to be that guy. The death of Philip Lindsay has been greatly exaggerated. Really has Travis Kelsey signed an extension that will keep him with the Chiefs through twy d twenty five. Great news for his dynasty owners because now you have the security of knowing it's

got Patrick Mahomes throwing to him. Great news for Patrick mahomes dynasty and Empire owners as well. He gets to throw to Travis Kelsey. So winners all all around if you're invested in Travis Kelsey and your dynasty or Empire league. Matt, the Seattle Seahawks have news. Just Chris Carson. He's not in Seahawks camp right now as he deals with a personal matter. And that's according to NFL Network. Um, it

is not a toward love affair with me. No Dolphins, Although I like him, I like him on my fantasy team, let's hope. So Yeah, but I don't love him. Let's go to uh let's go to the Dolphins. Preston Williams is awesome. That's all. That's all. No, there's more. He's running fine and making one handed catches in the corner of the end zone. Jordan Howard. They're expecting to be the lead back, with Breda taking on almost all the passing down work and which the amount of targets available.

That's interesting. You'll get well. I think there'll be more on that later in this show, won't there. It's possible. Viking social media shows justin Jefferson making a variety of amazing catches, not in pads and not while he's covered by defenders for the most part, but nevertheless, good to see him making those catches. Let's go to the Philadelphia Eagles. Matt greg Ward remember him? I do? He was a starting wide receiver for this team. Well, according to Doug Peterson,

he's in the starting mix again. Right now, get greg Ward with the three pick off the board in your league and get a starting wide receiver for the Eagles. I don't remember. It looks like all Sean Jeffrey's not going to start to start the season healthy, So you know it's it's Jalen reagor de Sean Jackson. Yeah, probably for a while. Yeah, and Greg Ward, let's go to the Patriots. Scott the Patriots son Lamar Miller this year

this week to a one we one year deal. It's gonna be a one week deal, and immediately placed him on the on the publist because he's got a torn a c L. He lands there with Sonny Michelle, who is dealing with not being good at football. Yeah, and you know, as a reminder, the torn a c L was. It makes it sound like it just happened to this time last year when he walked into the offices in Foxboro signed the contract. Um a baffling move for the for the Patriots. You know you knew he was hurt?

Did you check the physical? Did you did you know that he was going to start the season on the publis? Hey, did you wait till he was healthy? Bill Belichick's playing three D chess here? Who are we? Who are we'd argue? Alvin Camaris confirmed that he played last year with a tear in his knee, and he's also been reported to have dealing with Hianchael sprain and back issues last year rolls into this season fully healthy and it has a

current ADP of four. So obviously a lot of people are willing to look past last year's trouble, but he has. He did confirm that he played with the tear in his knee this past week. Uh, he played with it last year. Confirmation was this week. Yes. Dallas Cowboys, Matt Uh. They signed Everson Griffin to help bolster their defensive line. Insert the Deck Prescott gift where he's doing some sort of well, well, I guess I'm not getting any money this year. I think he's gonna go Okay. He's making

the average of the top five paid quarterbacks. Yeah. Uh, Scott Titans, Uh, Titans. This week, coaches hyping, heaping a lot of praise on one John wu Smith. Well, you don't say John Smith. They were hyping and heaping John Smith, both of those things. Wanting to find creative ways to give him the ball because he can do so many things. He might be Derrick Henry's backup, by the way, he might be Derek Starter. Yeah, the way he can. He's great with the ball in the hands. He's had great runs,

I mean, fifty seven yard rob last year. Yeah, and now, I don't even think that was his best Church put your pants back on a run outside the lines last year that broke a bunch of tackles and then went out of bounds. But yeah, he's had a couple of them telling you, Johnny Smith, he's already been a member of my sleeper segment. I think that was we our first show of this season was john Nu Smith identified as my my probably he's probably he's one of my

two favorite sleepers for this year. M let's see what's next. Steelers of media reports say that Jalen Samuel's could be cut. There are simultaneous reports that Benny Snell looks vastly improved. Snow was a bitter disappointment last year with many opportunities to to take get more reps but never look good. They're saying physically he looks like a different back right now, and coaches have been uh and Mike Tomlin has said that he's mentally in a better spot in year two.

The biggest year rookies their players always make is year one. Year two it's always the big lead, and for running backs, if they don't make the leap within two years, they're almost always dead. As you either got it within two years or you don't. But Snell is still there's still an opportunity here, and he's going undrafted in the vast

majority of leagues. Let's go to the Giants. Matt Evan Engram back in camp after a very strong and aggressive rehab from frank surgery last year in his left foot. Scott the Bengals. John Ross left camp to take care of his son and wife, who both tested positive for COVID nineteen and uh, that makes him a threat to

sit out. Yeah, And it also makes him a threat being that he was already going to be fighting Tee Higgins and Audentaid for that third role, So there might be issues there, So maybe not, maybe hold off on drafting him late in the late rounds now George Kittle got an extension that will keep him with the team through five and it certainly Booy's the dynasty and empire value of Jimmy Garoppolo a lot. Also, media reports have first round pick Brandon Ayouk starting on the outside, and

I believe that will happen in Week one. I believe he is NFL ready and the team needs him anyway. With Deebo Samuel's very unlikely to be available in Week one. The Falcons Matt Todd Gurley was walking with a limp yesterday man, and then ready it's starting man. Then Twitter spent most of Thursday just freaking out about Atlanta uh starting center Alex mac also limited in camp right now, with an explanation of veteran he's limited day off? Is it?

I don't know he's old? I guess. Raven's offensive coordinator Greg Roman says that training camp will be used to settle his running back depth chart, which currently features three or four quality backs, depending on whether or not you think Justice Hill's a quality back. Mark Ingram is the presumed starter there. When we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, we will tell you who the bell cows are. These are the guys that the running backs in particular, who

are going to get a lot of carries. Nothing more important than opportunity to the success of any fantasy player. Will tell you the guys who are gonna have the football in their hands the most. When we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly on the air. Paul char chi In, Matt Harrison, Scott Fish with you. Thank you for joining us. Your number six show number three. The segment is dedicated to the bell cow backs. These are the runners that are going to

carry the pigskin. Many many times I have challenged Matt Harrison to project into his crystal ball about who the bell cow running backs will be this year. I need to get a crystal ball just just for segments like this so I can have the visual so you can see me looking into it. Yes, Um, so I can have to rub the crystal ball, right, don't you have to, like I think you hover your hands above it. You don't, Actually, you don't want fingerprints on the um. We're gonna divide

these backs into four category. Those categories will be three bells, which are running backs projected for over three touches and little to know competition. All right, those are these are lot You're not you know, necessarily a lot. That's a lot. There's not many runners in that category. Two bells are projected for about two fifty touches with some competition around them. Uh. The one bell backs are projected for over two hunderd touches, but there's a lot of variants and competition for them.

And then there's workhorses. They're kind of in split back fields where I think they're going to get more than half, but it's going to be definitely a split backfield. Uh. And then finally there's questionable backfields. We're not going to talk about New England, Miami, Washington and the Rams. Those backfields are really crazy. So let's start with the three bells Church. They didn't quiver. Alright, there's your three bells right there. Hold on, maybe this is okay, that's maybe better,

So don't play that three slay bells. These are bell cow runners, not slay bell runners. Well, that kind of works. Leave the sligh bells for the work has to be slay bells. They can just be bells. You can, you don't. You could take a slagh bell off a sleigh and put it on. The belling needs have to be attached to a slagh. There's not a ton to discuss about these five backs. I think they're very clearly the bell cow in their backfield. That's Christian McCaffrey, whose only backup

is Reggie Bonafone. Yeah, that's that's a clear case. Sae Kwon Barkley, who's not going to be pushed by Wayne Gallman or Dion Lewis Derrick Henry and Darnton Evans isn't pushing him. Joe Mixon I think is in there as well. I don't think Joe is really going to push him much anymore. Yeah, there was mixing so good out of

the backfield and catching the ball too. So there was a time that that Giovanni Ard looked like he was going to have a lengthy career as a second running back who would siphon off a lot of work from whoever the starter was. It just hasn't come around due to injury and inconsistency unfortunately, So maybe it's better, you know, Joe Mixon is and Hugh Jackson and Freddie Kitchens that too.

And then my final three bell cow uh Ezekiel Elliott, which I left him for last because I know Charge has some feelings about Ezekiel Elliott with Tony Pollard in Toe. We haven't talked about it and in the on air version of Fantasy Football Weekly, but we've hit on it in the the the off air podcast version of Fantasy Football Weekly and months past. I I I worry that Tony Pollard is so good that they just have to

give him more reps. And part of it was I came out of last year feeling like just my eyes told me that Tony Pollard was really really good. And then I went back looked at it some more quantified at as I could looked at Pro Football Focus, the graded every run Tony Pollard in a much smaller sample size was graded out better in virtually everything everything than Ezekiel Elliott. And Ezekiel Elliott's still really good, and Elliott

is really good. Pollard's really good too. And I think there's a sneaky case here where this goes from like eighty twenty Zeke to Pollard to sixty Pollard. That would be that would be a sizeable step down in production for Ezekiel Elliott, who has been like a three touch guy almost every year, right, so this would you know? This would turn Elliott into like more like a two fifty guy, and he's no longer you know, You're it's hard to be a first rounder on that anymore. So

I've got and this is just a hunch. I have no no inside knowledge of this. I'm just looking at it. If I if I ran the Cowboys, and I should, I would I would be protecting my investment in Zeke by giving him us work and making sure that my other extremely talented running back down on the field a lot more. By the way, it's Marvin Lewis for then the same same stage. It's very understandable. We've all done it all right. Okay, let's move to the two bell

backs Church. That's two bells, good job, two shakes right there. Um, So these guys, if everything breaks as expected, they're bell cowse. Dalvin Cook is the first one on that list. His red flags are he's a possible hold out. Still, alex Madison is a very good backup. I don't think there's any real holdout concern here, but go ahead, and Dalvin gets injured every year. That is that is if that's the biggest concern. Yeah, that is a fact. And by

the way, I'll mention this. On Friday, Dalvin Cook was talking up Alexander Madison about how grad he is, so he seems to believe that his backup is pretty good too. Yeah, next guy, Alvin Camara. His red flags are as you alluded to in an earlier segment. He was injured most of last year. He's never had more than two hundred carries in a season. But it is a contract here and I'm going to talk more about Alvin Camara a

little bit later. Alright, uh, next guy, they don't. Latavius Murray's the only, you know, the only quality backup they've got there, and that Murray's just not the next back Clyde Edwards Hilaire laire. I want to move him up to a three bell category so much, but he's a rookie and there are some veteran backups including Patrick mahomes is best buddy from college, DeAndre Washington, plus Darryl Williams and Darwin Thompson there who I think will get some

touches here in some touches. I think you're doing the safe thing with Clyde Edwards Hilaire by having him in this second category. This feels about right, and he is still a rookie. We don't know what the usage is gonna be, but the upside for him is what Kareem Hunt did it, and that could be back to you know, touch territory. By the way, the Chiefs lost ten touches inside the five. Mm hmm, just ten. Well that's that's fine, Okay, Well,

that team passes a lot inside the five. It's true, you know, they don't always run side but those are ten available touchdowns, easy touchdowns that could be going to Clyde Edwards, Hilaire. Let's talk about Josh Jacobs for the Las Vegas Raiders. No big time red flags here, no clear backup between Jalen Rochard and Lynn Bowden. He did average twenty touches over his thirteen games last year, so he's by the way, he did most of that with

a fractured shoulder playing through that. Yeah, he's he's closer to the three bell category. I'm surprised he's not a it's gonna get I like Josh Jacobs for this. I think he will end up closer to three al right. How about Nick Chubb the red flag Kareem Hunt, Yes, that's it, that's it. Otherwise, Chubb's great Chub, really really good back, and they will find time, they will find enough, They'll find enough ways to get him the ball and give it Stefanski. Will Stefanski fed Dalvid Cook like crazy.

But I think I worry about cream Hunt eating into his totals. But he'll probably get to the two fifty range you're talking about. Let's talk Miles Sanders of the Philadelphia Eagles. Uh, the red flag here, is Philly's insistence under Doug Peterson to not use the workhorse back. Boston Scott and Corey Clement are both capable pass catching backs and should take some third down work and maybe more. But Miles Sanders looked really good over the tail end

of last year. Fantastic. I was gonna say, can I play counter counter Devil's Advocate? But like four games at the end of last season with eight plus percent snaps? Okay, but all the rest of the depth except Boston Scott, and there was Boston Scots actually good. Boston Scott is good. I'm sorry, Yeah, I like him. I do too. Uh. And by the way, in in PPR leagues, Boston Scott should be getting drafted. He's going to be that bye week guy that can get you five receptions in fifty yards.

That's he ought to he ought to be bi getting drafted. And mostly every time I hear about Boston Scott, I think about Michael Scott from the office, and that's like a character he does. Hey, I'm Boston Scott like prison Mike. In fairness to the other players being injured then last year they're gone. Now it's sharp, but they have fell a healthy guy no, No, it's Sanders Boston Scott. Oh, I guess there's that. I always think of Boston Market, but that's because I like food. It's Boston Market even

still a thing. They think there's still a few around here and there used all the time. Did you would call me Boston Scott. Kenyan Drake of the Arizona Cardinals. His red flag thirty five percent of his fantasy points last year came in two games. Two. Okay, that's not a usage scenario, right, Well, it's a little bit of

using a little bit of maybe. Um. It's also a past happy offense with DeAndre Hopkins added to the mix, a running quarterback who should take away some of his rushing touches, and Chase Edmonds is actually a very good backup to him. I think he's he's good enough. He's good enough, good enough Bell, let's move on. He's kind of old, but he's getting lighter. The Jets are going to be bad and might be throwing all the time. That's another big red flag, lady on. Bell just might

be out of the game script by halftime in most games. Plus, he's got an even older Frank Gore backing him up, and Frank Gore will steal touches because Frank always gets on the field. You say it every time. Yeah, he's I'm sorry charged. Frank will be on the field. This is the year a team realizes that giving Frank carries at this stage waste Until he's on the couch, Frank care will get touch. We have. This is why Bell is gonna be on the field. I mean, who is it?

Lamercle p Ryan and Frank Gore. That's it behind him. I got five more on the two bells. Chris Carson injury history. Carlos Hyde is the backup, but he's not much of a wherey Rashad Penny's still dealing with his injury from last year. Chris Carson over twenty touches per

game last year. Leonard four net. New offensive coordinator Jake Gruden brought his favorite pass catcher, Chris Thompson with him and a lot of four nets value was wrapped into the pass catching which came out of nowhere last year. And I think it's gonna go away just as quickly. Uh, David Johnson, Bill O'Brien will use him until he gets hurt. And he will get hurt because he was the return and the DeAndre Hopkins trade, and they gotta make it

look like they got something. Todd Gurley will never be healthy again, but there's really no one behind him on the depth chart. UH Falcons were one of the more pass heavy teams in the red zone last year, and that could change with Todd Gurley though. And finally, one of my favorites, Austin Ekeler. I debated where to put him. He averaged twenty touches per game in games without Melvin Gordon last year, but he's never had a bell cow workload,

so I'm a little worried about him. Um, finally I got the one bell, guys, and there's only three now, that was three bells. Let's try it again. There we go. Aaron Jones. This is controversial, right, Aaron Jones. We've outlined it enough on this show. He had a historic success rate inside the five, but they drafted his replacement, who is bigger, stronger, more physical, can leap higher, and a goal line specialist in a J Dillon James Conner. It's

the injuries for Connor that keep killing his seasons. I think he'll get the work if he can stay healthy, but he can't stay healthy and finally David Montgomery answered Brian Johnson getting all angry. He's really the only pure runner on rosters. Treat Cohen's more of a gadgety scattie guy than any thing, so he'll get the one bell category, even though his talent is very much in question. There

are seven workhorse backs. We don't have time for them, but just sip through the list of names that you are calling. When you say workhorse, you mean they're gonna they're gonna get more than half of the carries. But it's gonna be close to half, Okay, So Melvin Gordon over Philip Lindsay, Jonathan Taylor over, Marlon Mack, maybe Devin Singletarry over, Zack Moss, Ronald Jones over Keyshawn Vaughan, mark

Ingram over JK. Dobbins, DeAndre Swift over carry On Johnson, and Raheem Mostert over the rest of the crew in San Franz Alright, great job on the bell cow running backs. When we come back, we will spend a little bit of time in the stinkhole. What is the stinkhole? This is the draft position where the obvious choices are gone, and now you've got to figure out what to do next. If you would like my cheat sheet, you can get it for free by going to Guillotine leagues dot com

giveteen leagues dot com. My cheat sheet is there with all of my playerkings available in for drafts auctions however we'd like it. Guillotine leagues dot com Back in moments with more Fantasy Football Weekly. Ye, welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Well Church and your co hosts are Matt Harrison and Scott Fish. It's time for a segment we call the Stinkhole and beyond sounder. For that that was the sounders. I mean just going down a register. It's

not really a sounder. I don't think. Um, every year there's a spot in the first round where the obvious choices are gone and now you got really a plethora of available options to you. I want to first identify where the stink hole is this year, and then secondarily, let's figure out what we want to do with that spot in the spot immediately spots immediately after it. I got a fun idea, why not the count of three? We all say who we're going to pick first? Overall,

that's can we identify which spot it is first? First? Overall. Well, for who would you pick first overall in the draft? One? Two, three? Oh no, that is all right? So it's Christian john Smith second pick? Is it Sae Kwon Barkley? For everybody? Say, kwan, I've I've I've toyed with having se Kwon number one? Okay, so one too? CMC and Barkley? Are you are you in agreement? Scott? Sure? Yeah, yeah, we all are. I think that's that's the universal consensus. I think ninety two

of drafts. You're going with those two guys like Ezekiel at two out there, we should we try our number three? Well together. The whole point, that point of this now we found it is that yes, um, there's there is not a unanimous number three pick, or even very close to unanimous number three pick. I think now many people are going to Ezekiel Elliott, but there's a lot of available options, and so I want to I want to first let's just let's just start here. Is Christian McCaffrey

the right selection at number one? Yes? Probably? Yeah. Probably. Now I've been like you, I've been, I'm there, but like there's a part of me that says, man Barkley can really make some place, and and that offense could be really because they never had all those players on the field. They have a hideous schedule to open up. By the way, the Giants. Giants are very difficult first month. I'm I've been so close on this, but I've got

McCaffrey number one. Now, if Russell kun does end up not playing left tackle, that might be enough to flip it for me where I would I would go with sake Kwon Barkley. The other side of it is there's a chance this Teddy Bridgewater led offense is bad, just bad that he can't stretch fields nearly enough. Well, that's the maybe maybe, I mean, I don't know. I'm a little bit nervous about that part of it. See the scenes offense was still good, but Teddy's numbers were terrible

in those games last year. He threw a lot of short, catchable passes. Michael, Michael, Tom, It's that's right. Yes, Um, we'll find out if that's gonna be the case or not? All right? Is say Kwon Barkley number two? Is that correct? Sacon Barkley is abou running back. If he's not number one, he's number two for you guys, right, all right. If se Kwon Barkley were on a different team, he'd be

the number one back. He's you know, this is just unfortunately the Giants have been terrible offensive line, and you know I got hurt. Last year he was the number one player. He was the consensus number one player last year. Now he's the number two player. So we all agree that those are the correct number one and number two's all right. Now let's figure out what we're gonna do at pick number three. I want to begin with Scott. Who do you believe is the correct player to go

into the stink hole at number three? Where you have to rely and now your own good judgment with your ass on the line. Because the obvious picks are over, You've now got everybody to draft to pick from except for two players. Who's the right guy in your mind? I'm probably leaning either Elliott or Derrick Henry. I hate to say it, but he's like seventh or eighth and ADP. But I really do consider him there. He's gotten his

I think I'm gonna go with Henry. He's got his entire offensive line coming back, which I love when that happens for a running back. Just signed a new contract. Well, Jack Conklin's gone the Oh yeah, he went to Cleveland's right. I forgot that. I was thinking of Staffold and Lawan and and Jones, of his life coming back. Uh. My only concern is the four nine touches last year. But if there's anybody built to handle four hun nine touches

and that come back, it's probably him. The lack of passing game work is is an issue, but he really doesn't have any competitions for any touches. I think he's gonna be a touch of game guy, and uh, I think he's a safe pick there. All right, Matt, what would you do in the the stink hoole at pick number three? I'm so sad because Scott stole my thunder Because everybody's saying Zeke that, Zeke that at three. I'm sick of it. The best pound for pound running back

in the league is Derrick Henry. He had about the same amount of carries as Zeke last year. He finished with two hundred more yards. Well, Henry wasn't used a ton in the passing game. He averaged eleven point four yards per catch, while Zekeo was only at seven point seven. Henry's backup is not scary. Who was the second rated running back in Fantasy points last year? It was Derrick Henry. Why is it going off seventh or eighth right now?

And if you go back to the tail end of don't forget that he went from eight to ten touches per game at the beginning of Thanks Matt Lafleur, to twenty carries per game. Over the last five games of that season, he scored eight times, an average a hundred and twenty five rushing yards per game in those five games. So in his last twenty three games as a pro, including the playoffs, he's averaging twenty one carries, a hundred and thirteen yards per game, and a score point one

per game. He only had one game in which he didn't clear at least seventy yards or score. He's just a lock. Uh. I can't take Derrick Kenn you pick number three if I'm in a PPR league. It just doesn't catch enough. And what those receptions do is they mitigate the bad rushing day that all runners have, even the great ones Barry Sanders, they all had bad rushing days.

Henry gets one years had bad games too. They the reception when you have that forty yard rushing day, you know you're that means probably the game script on upside down on your defense, and if you can catch, you're they're still gonna throw you the ball. So that's why I can't go Derrick Henry this high. And I wouldn't take down to Derrick Henry actually for me in the first six picks, because I'm in I'm in PPR leagues. Now, if you're you know, if you're not, you're in a

half point PBR. You're in a standard scoring the great take Derrick Henry. I'm in a six point per touchdown league, and that's why I'm taking Derrick Henry. Alvin Kamara is my choice. I do believe this is where he was going last year. Right here had a season with three different May Jr. Injuries that he gallantly played through and lied on the injury report about, and I believe he bounces right back to form here. I like we all want a part of the Saints offense is a very

good offense. It's gonna go through him. He's gonna catch a ton of balls. We're gonna see the same game breaking skill that he showed two years ago but couldn't display last season. I am going with somebody closer to the consensus here with Alvin Kamara. By the way, with Kamara, he was averaging like a hundred and seventeen yards of game and five catches a game before the injury. That's that's in PPR. That's like seventeen points a game without

any touchdowns. Yeah, great point. Yeah, and and the touchdowns were a big problem for people. He scored in two games last year. Now it's got to come back to the normalcy. Yeah. Before that, he had scored thirty one touchdowns in his first two years. Yeah, great point. Yeah, you know there, so he was on over a touchdown a game pace. Yea. And through his first two years, remember his Alvin commerce rookie year, he didn't even start doing anything until like game six. Wasn't even involved in

the offense. All right, let's move on now. This segment is called the stinkhole and beyond. We've identified what we do in the stinkhole. What would you do with the two picks after that, Scott, What's what would you do with pick number four and pick number five? Well, we've kind of talked about it now because I picked four, I'm taking Kamara yes, Uh that I I like you. It's I mentioned the stats on what he's done in

the first two years with touchdowns. He was hindered last year. Uh. A big point is I think the Stains are going to score a ton of points and I just want one of the if I'm not if I'm going running back heavy, if I'm going robust running back is my strategy, which I do every year. I know that you've hated that year's past with your do the opposite, but not this year. Anything goes and this year I came up with a name for the three five to what's the three five to the one we talked about last back

the opposite a week ago. Oh, it's called the Gainesville. Now the Gainesville what's that? Gainesville, Florida's area code is three five too. Hey, that's asking a lot the listener to keep track that, I'll be honest. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, what are you doing to pick four and five? Scott? I'm taking Kamara four and I am still taking Ezekiel Elliott at five. It's just it feels like value there. He's a guy that gets that's averaged nearly two thousand

yards or the year that he missed six games. He would have gotten about that every year, three plus touches every year. He's had a hundred plus catches of the last two years, which I do think comes down with the addition of Ceedee Lamb and and Tony Pollard coming on. But he'll still catch thirty or forty, you know. So I'm still taking Zeke at that. I think he's never missed a game from injury, not one in his career yet. No,

that means a work horse. You know. Again from last people who may have missed it last segment, I'm speculating that Tony Pollard has a much bigger role, and I'm nervous about Zeke. But I'm on the outside of this, and I openly acknowledge. I'm I'm the only one who's not willing to just replay the last year and assume this year is going to be just like it. By the A in a in a draft just weeks ago, I took c h ahead of both And we'll talk more about him in just a minute. Uh, Matt, we've

done the stinkhole pick three in the first round. Now it's picks four and five. Who are you taking in those? I wish we would have traded info beforehand, Scott, because we have the exact same order and the exact same guys. I have Camara at four and Zeke at five. Um. Camara has never had a three hundred touch season, never if he and he may not if he gets there. He's a great candidate for fifteen plus touchdowns because he had eighteen in his rookie year and thirteen uh the

year before the year after that. So he's a great candidate for huge numbers if he can just get to the three d touch mark. Not three hundred carries three hundred touches and and that's it's a barrier. He's got like two EIGHTIESO, so it's not a huge barrier for him to overcome. And then Zeke, as Scott said, he's just super consistent. Uh, he will likely finish in the top eight. He's durable. Uh. The offense is good. Uh, he's gonna put up yards and ten touchdowns easy on

the ground. All right, Well, I will now go with my pick four and my pick five, stinkholes. Pick three. We've given our guys for that. Um. Who wants to have the starting running back for the Chiefs? I do. I'd like to have the starting running back for the Chiefs. I want to have it. I want to have the starting running back for an offense that's going to score, that has last year scored ten more points than the average offense. I would like to have a part of that.

I want the guy that's going to get the ball at the three yard line. I would like Clyde Edwards Hilaire with my pick number four, if you don't mind. And by the way, he's really good. I mean it's not just about the fact that he's the Chiefs starting running back. He's also a really good running back. And when you put a really good running back on a team that is almost indefensible in the passing game, man, the yards are gonna come easy to Clyde Edwards Hilaire.

Can I speak to someone on as well. A lot of people talk about his pass pro that it's not great, etcetera. The Chiefs asked they're running backs to pass protect twelve percent of the time last year. That's fifth lowest in the league. They're not going to ask him to do that a bunch. He doesn't need to be that. No, and you know he's he's very He's obviously diminutive, in at least in height, although he's strong for his size. Marie Jones Drew has always been my comparative player to him,

and Jones Drew has built much the same way. Um all right, now pick number five. Matt tell listeners about Austin Ekeler for anybody who missed the show last week. Um, welly average is about seven yards per touch. Yes, every time he touches the ball seven yards. Yes. The problem is that he only got two undertouches last year, but now Melvin Gordon's gone. Those are not vacated targets but vacated touches, and he should jump into close to the three touch category. If he does that, he's well ahead

of Christian McCaffrey's numbers from last year. Yes, and that's uh. I think the upside is there. He's strong enough to run inside to him to pitch your side. He's uh. He is quietly one of the most talented running backs in the NFL, so I'm a big fan. Now, last thing I want to talk about is we examine this first round the stink hole and beyond where in your mind Scott is the sweet spot in round one? If

you could pick a draft spot in round one. Do you want to be at the beginning for one of the first two guys we talked about, or do you want to be in the middle or do you want to be in the end? First off, the middle sucks seven and eight or terrible eight. Eight is my least favorite spot this year out of all the draft. Eight is just terrible. Uh. This is a question versus data

versus my heart. Like data will tell you the one on one is the best because twenty five in a deep lee eep here like this, you're getting McCaffrey and you're getting two really good players. You're the first team to three players. But I'm I'm I am a self proclaimed forever back, a hoolic. I need my running backs, so I want to be at the tail end. And I just I just did a draft with mad that I got, Like, who who did I get? I got Ekela and Josh Jacobs at the back corner. I'm like,

give me that all day long. I will start my team with that. So I'm going back corner. I don't blame him. Matt. Where in the first round do you think is the sweet spot? Why do you keep going to Scott first? Better? Because he just says all the stuff that I want to say. Um. I just recently did a Best Ball draft where I was picked number eleven, and to pick number eleven, I got Derrick Henry and then on the turn I got Austin Ekeler and I felt absolutely thrilled about it. I I have theact same

stuff in my notes. I I hate being in the middle. I want to be at the back end where I get a combination of Derrick Henry, Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Clyde Edwards, Hilaire, Austin Alert, Josh Jacob. Joe Mixon is in there a lot too. I'm not a mixing your left Joe mixing. You're gonna get two great players that you cannot you can't execute from the middle or front part of of the first round. When we come back,

our number two begins with three tough questions. We will challenge the brain power of my co host when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Do welcome back to Fantasy Football Weekly and pult charge from Guillotine Leagues dot com. Scott Fish with me as well and Matt Harrison. Scott and then Matt Harrison at come on, we were now Glancy Football Weekly, starring Paul Charching and Scott Fish, also with Matt Harrison. Thank you. This is a segment we

called three Tough Questions. We encourage you to play along. I will ask three difficult questions my co host. They will try to find the right answers. See if you can go three and oh, tough question number one. Last year, Michael Gallup took a big jump forward and then the Cowboys drafted Ceedee Lamb. How worried should a Marie Cooper owners be not at all concerned, somewhat concerned, or bowl looseningly concerned. Let's begin with Scott Fish. I thought I

was gonna go first. Scott gets to go first. He's got all the good data. Nice, alright, I'm assuming so alright. So, So, Michael Gallup was already kind of better than than Amary Cop. He was down the stretch posting better fantasy numbers in six of the final eight games. Land was my wide receiver one coming out. There's been reports of him making some unreal, unreal catches. Already they have a hundred vacated targets. Granted that's a lot of Witten. Yeah, So Jarwin is

gonna get some. Lamb will get some. I'm not sure Cooper or Gallup take much of a target hit at all. I think Jackson for a prime year. But I'm gonna say somewhat concerned because he's a MARII Cooper and he's gonna get a bunch of big games and a bunch of nothing games. So you always have to be somewhat concerned for a Mari Cooper. All right, well done, Scott. I knew you could handle it. Matt. I think I'm gonna get the wrong answer here. Uh, not at all.

I'm not concerned about a Mark Cooper at all, because Jerry don't pay a hundred million dollars to a Mary Cooper if Jerry ain't gonna mandate that Amari Cooper gets the ball. He just turned twenty six, He's entering his sixth year in the league. But the thing I love about Cooper is he gets the job done efficiently. He only had a hundred and nineteen targets last year, that was the most in the league. Still, he logged yards

and had eight touchdowns. And to put that into perspective, he finished as the seventh best fantasy receiver with the eighteenth most targets. He's efficient, and while Lamb and Gallup and Jarwin are gonna get targets, I don't see a big drop from one nineteen because that's not a huge obscle overcome. He can get seven half targets per game fairly easily, so I'm not really worried. Plus, what's good for the offense is good for the offense, and that's

Seedee Lamb, that's good for the offense. Um, well quoted, and you're right about that. Things that help any player, and if anything, it helps the offense, helps everybody on the offense. Oh what is it? Rising tides raise all ships? Right, Um, that is true, and that is why you do not have to have any bowel loosening levels of concern over a Marii Cooper. But you should have. I'm concerned, and of course I got it's for the reasons that Scott

artfully demonstrate. At moments ago. People do not realize how close Gallop was the Cooper last year. By the way, you talked about the second half of the season when Gallup was statistically better, but even on the full season, get how close these do were. They were separated by six targets. Thirteen catches, only eighty two yards and two scores. Gallup and Cooper were practically the same guy last year, and I'm gonna Gallop gave you the consistency that Cooper didn't.

I was gonna say half of Cooper's points came in four games. That is actually pretty close to right. You know, with Cooper you get the huge variance of output. His nine best games were great and his other seven games. In Cooper's bad seven games, he averaged two catches, thirty two yards and did not score. So he's like a healthy will Fuller. He has a healthy will Fuller. It's a disaster level will put for him. So roll all those things together, you should be somewhat concerned. All right,

Now we go to question number two. Last year, Washington receiver Terry McLaurin got robbed of the Rookie of the Year award. This year, he'll try to improve despite massive question marks at quarterback. Will he a be about the same as last year? Be make a modest gain? Or see will Terry McLaren make a big jump? Scott, Wait a minute, wait, wait, you never go to the same guy. This is right to go again, because he got the first how it goes now, I guess I guess Matt's

gonna be talking second all season. Then alright, uh, Terry McLaren um, So he as you mentioned, he was robbed at the Rookie of the Year or yes he was? He just yeah, he was. He was really really good last year. There's there's a ton of targets missing from that that passing game. A lot of them do tend to be running back targets, but there's still a bunch of targets that that are possible. My only problem and nobody came in Antonio Gandy Golden, uh is the only

guy that came came in. So you think he could make a huge jump because he only had ninety three targets. But I think that offense is not going to be good. They're gonna be behind. So that's gonna help a little. But but I think Gibson and Gandy Golden are going to take up what was lost. I think he's gonna make a jump, but I don't think it's gonna be huge.

That's said like, he's one of those guys that if everything hits right, he could be a wide receiver one at the end of the season, I love his game of play. But I'm going with I'm going to I think the safe play is just a modest improvement. Maybe twenty extra targets, twenty fifteen extra catches, whatever, I don't know if you can improve on that, Matt, it's gonna be a huge jump. This is gonna be a huge tell. Um. He had of the target share last year and then

everybody left. There's no good players around. He might get of the target share. They're they're all gone. Are you afraid of Steven Sims or Antonio Gandy golden stealing targets for Terry McClaren, Of course you do. Are you afraid of Logan Thomas as the top tight end? No, you're not. Plus Scott Turner is the offensive coordinator. There, Scott Turner's offenses as his as an offensive coordinator, throw sixty percent of the time, and they're going to be behind a

lot Terry mccon Terry McLaren, it's gonna make a huge jump. Yeah, that's not gonna work. Um, he's too good to level out already, so we'll just take that off the board. He's not gonna level Matt, You're wrong. Modest improvement even with the dubious prospects of Dwayne Haskins. McLaren's just too talented to think that he doesn't get better. He will get better. And Haskins had those two really good games at the end of the year, and I you know, it's it's way too small a sample size to really

dwell on. But I'll note that McLaren went off in those two games. There are great games from the window Ohio standing together, and the five catches hundred thirty yards in one touchdown in one game, seven catches eighty six yards in the other game. Even if Haskins doesn't pan out, this might be the deepest set of quarterbacks in the NFL. If if Alex Smith, If Alex Smith is able to rebound, because Kyle Allen was serviceable last year as as a backup,

he'd be good. And then you may as well have Alex Smith at some point over the course of the season. He might be He might be a plausible starter. Terry McLaren will end up making a modest improvement. Tough question number three. Deshaun Watson's average draft position is Round four as the fifth quarterback off the board, but his starting receivers rank as why and by rank I mean average draft position wide receiver thirty four, wide receiver thirty seven,

and his top tight end is tight end forty. There're only thirty two teams in the league. I'll remind listeners that makes his receiving group among the lowest ranked in the league by average draft position. Now, finally to the question after this long preamble, which is more accurate Watson's lofty average draft position or his receivers lower draft position. We begin with Scott Fishing. I'm going over here, and I thought you I thought you were gonna flip at

that time, not until I got one. Okay, I'm going with Watson's ADP. We've seen qbs have solid seasons in the past, ridding the ball around and not having like guys be just extreme studs, elite level talents. I think a big reason of the lower ADPs in the wide receivers is injury history. They can very easily if they just stay healthy, very easily. I would do those a DPS. And you mentioned the tight end there, tight top tight end, his tight end forty. Well, there are two tight ends.

Again spreading it out because you're a good quarterback, there are two tight ends combined for nearly eight hundred yards and nine touchdowns last year nine times tight end six. That would have been tight ends six nine times. So even even though they have a tight end forty as their top ranking tight end, he spread it around to his tight ends and made you know, had the numbers there. It's I I think Watson's ADP is fine, and I

think the other's ADP is more injury based. And because he spreads it around a little, all right, is Watson's average draft position correct his lofty average traft position or his receiver's diminished a average draft position more correct? Let's try this here. I want to say exactly what Scott said. How about that? All right? Um, I'll add on you to uh, you want to just stay fuller Fuller, Cooks, Randall Cobb, Kenny Stills. That's about as deep as four

wide receivers as anybody has in the league. There he goes still place, sure, but even with Kiki Cutie in and his wide receiver four, that's a really deep wide receiver depth chart right there. And when you don't know who's going to be the best wide receiver, you take the quarterback, and I think the quarterback is going to do well. Nobody even mentioned the fact that he runs. He does, He's a running quarterback, and much of his fantasy relevance he is tied to his running and we

don't even care his receivers are at that point. Okay, So I mean there's there's that as well. And the correct answer is Scott's answer Watson's average draft position? Did I did I get it right? To then? What did you say? Again? I said whatever Scott said? Oh? Then then no, Scott got it right. Our draft position is correct, and frankly, I think we're probably underdrafting his receivers a little bit as well. They should probably go higher. You

can make a good case for which one. I mean, it would be a good argument who should be higher? Will Fuller with the upside and everything else or Brandon Cooks with more of the consistency but maybe not the same ceiling that Will Fullers. Fuller has scored fourteen touchdowns in his twenty one games with Watson, which is crazy. Yes, and he's that double digit fantasy points in two thirds of the games too. Well, if he's scored that much of now you're just showing off, do you guys believe

is a sub topic. Do you believe there's such a thing as injury prone or is it just that bad luck happens to strike, you know, but by by just odds are somebody's gonna hit bad luck repeatedly. I don't really believe an injury prone too much, but when you have soft tissue injuries, you tend to get them more and more frequently. Soft tissues a problem. Like ask Leonard soft tissue for net as. I like to call him as a guy who severely sprained his ankle playing basketball

in high school. Very relevant and and it never has fully healed all the way I turn it all the time, and it's still bad. Yeah, injury history is a thing. The turned ankle stings. It's smarts for sure. When we come back, you've been waiting for it all preseason. It's time for the reach around. Don't be a slave to average draft position. We're going to tell you the players that you will want to reach a round early on. Scott will tell you, will give you the right answer

on boa feature around. When we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, and I'll mention if you want to try the freshest new format in fantasy sports, it's guillotine Leagues s. Guillotine leagues dot com will explain how it works, give you opportunities to play with friends or play with strangers for cash your choice at Guillotine leagues dot com. Fantasy Fball Weekly returns Bult Georgie in, Scott Fish and Matt Harrison with you. This is, in the years of many

the most popular preseason segment of Fantasy Football Weekly. We do it every year. It's called to reach around the premise. Here, we're going to identify a player in each of the first eleven rounds that you should take one round earlier than when they normally go. So the example would be which of the second rounders should be taken in the first round. We'll go through each of our designated people that doesn't. You choose whever you want well, and we'll see who we agree on who we don't, and you

can play along as well. And I want to say broadly to start this off, many fantasy owners, especially polished ones that are doing a lot of pre drafts and they really know their average draft position, tend to be a slave of average draft position and then tend to feel like, Oh, I really like this guy, but I'm just gonna wait and you know at him later because average draft position says, this guy's gonna go next round. Man, just go get your guys at the moment kickoff happens

in week one. Nobody cares about the average draft position where you got guys. All the matters is whether or not you've got the guys you want. Go get the guys you want. Don't worry about somebody going you could add them next round. Just go get your guys, all right. Beginning now, let's go with round one. Who would you take from? Who would you take in round one that would normally go? In round two? We begin with it's got what. I was certain you'd go to Matt that time,

Absolutely certain. Since I know what Matt is gonna say, I should go No, but I'm not going to I'm gonna go with Josh Jacobs. I I absolutely love Josh Jacobs this year. I think if he if he has any injuries that are less than a fractured shoulder, he's probably gonna play sixteen games. Uh. There's been lots of word about him getting heavily involved in the passing game. I just think he's going to be one of those

guys that gets you three plus touches. All right, Matt, Who should people take in round one that would normally go in around two? I got Austin Ekeler. And if you want to hear more about Austin Ekeler, go to I Heart Radio or your favorite podcast app. Go to last week's episode of Fantasy Football Weekly and find the peacock off and I will outline it for you in great detail. Or just listen to two segments ago when I was talking about how I take Austin Ekeler in

the middle of the first round. Yeah, but mine was at her It was better, honestly last year. A reminder. Last year in those games, though Melvin Gordon, Austin Ekeler was the highest scoring running back in football in PPR, I have reason to believe he won't be there this year either, Melvin Gordon. That is, I have reason to believe you are correct. All right, let's go to the next round. Who would you take in round two that

normally goes in round three? Fish? Do you have to ask if you look at that list, do you even have to ask? I'm asking Kenny Golladay. Kenny Golladay, It's always gonna be Nook of the North there, baby tron Kenny Golladay. You know what bugs me about Kenny Golladay. He has like just like a junior nickname off of everybody else, Like give him his own nickname. Come on, right, can't you have his own name? This is a good point. This isn't really all work on it, all right, Kenny

g How about that? That's kind of taken And honestly, Kenny Golladay is the opposite of droning soft fusion jazz. I don't know. He's he's very smooth when he plays, and there's a lot of improvisation, one of the one of the best in the league of deep ball catches, one of the best in the league at contested catches. And if matthe Matthew Stafford gets back and his excuse me, if his back is healthy and he plays a full season,

he gets back to that thirty touchdown form. Kenny Golladay could very, very easily crack into that top five or six wide receivers as here all right, Matt who are you taking in round two? That would normally go in round three. I don't know why he's going in round three, but it's Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Bucks over a thousand yards in every year of his career, eight or more touchdowns and three of his last four seasons.

Three top ten finishes amongst wide receivers in the last four years, and he's never been worse than twenty four in his career in a PPR league. So Mike Evans is a pretty nice wide receiver town your roster. My reach around in round two is Chris Carson, Seattle running back. He was running back nine last year in PPR, scoring nine and he has almost no competition for the job. Carlos Hyde is on his fourth team in three years. And remember over the last three years, Seattle has had

the most handoffs two running backs. There's no downside to Chris Carson. He belongs in the second round. Let's go to round three. Scott, which round four player will you take? In round three? This is really this was a really, really tough one for me because Calvin Ridley there's a lot of targets available and he has primed for a breakout. But I'm going to do something that I usually do.

I take tight ends early in leagues. I do. I load up on running backs in tight end and I'm the guy that grabs the tight end early because I want to stud tight end and Mark Andrews with Hayden Hurst leaving. Mark Andrews is in that clear top three for me now, and I'm I'm taking him there. I I think he's he's primed to move into that upper echelon for years to come. All right. I've got a J. Brown um fourth in the league last year with five

yard outing. He tied for ninth with eight receiving touchdowns, had the most long ball touchdowns of forty plus yards in the league with four, just over twenty yards perception. And he did all of that, not only eighty four targets and fifty two catches. In year two. You have to think he cracks at least a hundred targets, but probably a lot more. Probably a J. Brown is a

guy that'll get whatever. John. I've done a ton of draps and I've not seen a J. Brown get to the fourth So this never, this is a good call. He really should be a third rounder. I've got Cooper cup ranked as my wide receiver. I think it is wide receiver six seven. He is my wide receiver seven, and I'm getting him in the third round. He finished his wide receiver three last year Cooper Cup did, yet

nobody wants him. Brandon Cooks is gone, so you know the volume isn't gonna go down any any farther than that. He was the second most wide receiver targeted in the red zone last year, and the year before he was white up the there. And it's a second year off a c L. There are a lot of players who have that that year after the first year back from a c L are better and more explosive. He scored in nine different games last year. He only had two bad clunker games all of last season. Two. That's it,

Cooper Cup is my round three reach around? That Round four is really good. It's loaded. Last last I said, trade out trader picks from first and second round. Just keep trading down in stockpile third and fourth rounders because of this very reason. All right, let's go to round at number four. Which fifth rounder would you take in the reach around? Scott Scott Again, we've talked about him in bunch and I think he takes the jump forward to be like a top eighteen or so wide receiver.

It's it's Terry mclaarin going in the fifth. There are a couple of guys in this round d J chart as well that I think can make that jump in top eighteen, top twenty four wide receivers, and you're getting them as your wide receiver. To um, I think that's I think that's a good spot for him. Okay, Matt t even what are and off discussed already twice in this episode, we can move on. I'm taking Kareem Hunt

as my reach around in round four. Remember last year when he came back from suspension, he was running back fifteen. Right now he's going off the board as running back. Why everybody believes Cleveland's gonna be better this year than they were last year. So if you are of the same mindset I am. Kareem Hunt makes a ton of sense as a quick reset to what we're doing. This is the reach around we're talking about players we would take one round earlier than their their typical draft position

charge now round five. By the way, I will share our a DP that we're using so people can follow along on Twitter. That explosive output, so people will be able to see who we're picking out of these rounds. To Matt, is that explosive output? I am at Paul Charchi and Scott fishes at Scott Fish twenty four. Nick Chubb, All that works, all right, that's a good move. Let's go to round five. Which sixth rounder would you take in round five? Matt Harrison? Oh my god, it's a

pity start for Matt. I wasn't even ready a J. Green. He's going in the sixth round, yes, but I'll take him in the fifth. He missed all of last season with an injury, but really read into that he got hurt and he didn't really want to play for the Bengals anymore. But they put him on the franchise tag this year, so he's got one more year there. He's missed time in two of the previous three, but in seasons where he's been healthy, he's been basically a slightly

better version of Julio Jones. And Julio Jones you're picking in round two, you can get a J. Green, and you can pick him up easily in round five. Alright, Scott, I am going with J. K. Dobbins. It's possible he's the best back on that team, but it's definitely probable that he's better than Gus Edwards and Justice Hill, who

had two six total touches last year. Only three running backs on that entire team had more than your touches last year, and those those two, I think all those carries go to Dobbins, and Dobbins is a guy that can be your league winner if he does supplant mark Ingram or if marketing they rest mark Ingram more for the playoffs? Are they? Or you know, he just beats him out. I've got t Y Hilton is my reach around player now healthy with Philip Rivers at the helm.

Most most people, including me, expect a nice rebound for t Y Hilton back to his eighteen fantasy production two years ago, but always drafting him that way. He was wide receiver fourteen two seasons ago, and now he's got competent quarterbacking. I think he gets right back into that wide receiver fourteen fifteen level, and he's being drafted his wide receiver twenty eight off the board. Let's go to round six. Which seventh rounder would you take in round six?

Scott See, I love me and just some Deonte Johnson, but this is easily Michael Gallup for me. He's I think he's a lock for a hundred plus targets We've talked about him enough already. All Right, I got James White. I highlighted White is my sleeper of the week last week. I'll available on the podcast. Uh. It's a combination of a bad and injured sony Michelle Slash Lamar Miller and a quarterback who has thrown shorter and shorter every year.

In fact, Cam's average depth of target went from ten point six sixteen to eight point four to seven point three eighteen. He's getting shorter and shorter with his passes, but they're becoming more accurate. He's gonna at James White a lot um. That's interesting. I also have James White here, and I think, are we just bored of James White?

Is that what's happening? I think so. I don't understand why James White, who just every year finishes like running back fifteen in PPR and get nobody seems to ever want to draft James White for some reason. Let's go to running Let's go to round number seven. Which eighth rounder would you take here? Matt Oh, I'm gonna take Tom Brady And he's another guy I highlighted last week. Um, I just I think he has the opportunity to finish as a top five quarterback for sure, but a top

three quarterback is where he predicted him last week. H um weapons coaching philosophy, his uncanny ability to steal for throw for over six hundred times in a season well into his forties. Best wide receivers he's ever had, Tom Brady Scott as much as I love Christen Kirk in this spot, it's got to be Alexander Mandison because I'm that guy in your draft that is stealing Madison. I'm stealing Zach Moss, I'm stealing J. K. Dobbins, I'm stealing

Tony Pollard. I'm going after all these guys to hopefully if something has happen. I'm getting a stud running back. I'm going with a stud tight end because they're still out there at this stage. It's it's my round seven player. That round eight player I'm taking around seven is Hayden Hurst. Hayden Hurst drops into the Austin Hooper role in Atlanta, where Hooper was very successful. Hooper average six catches, sixty

one yards and half a touchdown per game. Here comes hayden Hurst was a former first rounder with probably much more talent than Austin Hooper has ever had, so I think he walks into at least the Hooper numbers and I can get him in round seven. Let's go to round eight, Scott, Which round nine player are you willing to take in round eight? Well? Uh, the guy I want to take you're gonna talk about so while you remove your pants, Matt can uh you can? You can

wait a minute. It's as Zack Moss Bonanza, go chart. Okay, we all got Zack Moss. Sorry for the broken record. And Zack Moss We've talked about him a lot in this show. Utah's all time leading rusher. He inherits Frank Gore's eleven carries inside the five and his eighteen carries inside the ten. He's got double digit upside, and I've already predicted he will score more Fantasy points than Devin Singletarry. I will continue to work that. All right, we continue

with our reach around. We're gonna do one final round here. Which round ten player are you willing to take? In round nine? Scott? I'm taking Tony Pollard here for the same reasons I said with Madison. I think Tony Pollard, if anything happens, is zeke. He's a top five running back. I got Mike Gasicki, one of two tight ends in the league with over fifty targets last year and zero drops. Really fifty targets, not one drop. The other tight end,

George Kittle. He's pretty good. He's pretty good. So is Mikesicki. Uh And it was shown at the end of last year where he had seven or more targets in five of his last six games and had five touchdowns in those final six games. He was top ten in a lot of categories. He's good. I'm taking Manuel Sanders, a guy just completely overlooked by by fantasy owners. He probably finishes as Drew Brees second most targeted player behind Michael Thomas.

Only Michael Thomas and Brice hasn't had the luxury of a competent second receiver since Brandon Cooks in twenties sixteen, the last he was the last competent number two receiver Drew Brees had you know what Cooks did that year twelve hundred yards and eight touchdowns. Lander seems good. A competent number two to Drew Brees, maybe most of yards and eight touchdowns, that would be fantastic. Emmanuel Sanders is the final reach around for us if you have not

yet tried a Guillotine League. It's a fascinating, fresh new format in which seventeen teams start the season and every week the low scoring team of that week gets cut and their entire roster goes the waiver wire and become free agents where everybody else can bid on them. It is the most fascinating new format and fantasy sports and you can play it at Guillotine leagues dot com. Paul Charchi, Matt Harrison, Scott Fish with you for more Fantasy Football Weekly.

Final segment coming up next final segment of Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Chiarchi in, Scott Fish, Matt Harrison, thank you for joining us. If you any part of the show, we encourage you to check out the podcast version if you are listening to it over the air, where you can go back and hear the entire show. And I think it's safe to say that we were brilliant early in the show, so you ought to do that. Well, you and Scott were, that's for sure. That's a good point.

I think Scott Scott I really carried the show. If you were just going to be frank about it in this segment. We're going to look at the vacated targets, by which we mean when teams go through their off season, a lot of a lot of the past is thrown. Are the players that are gone now? So where those paths is gonna go this year? One of the great ways to identify players who are about to emerge with bigger seasons is to look at the vacated targets from

the teams they are on. Scott, I have challenged you to come up with the list, and perhaps this is by do we want to go by the most vacated target. Let's go by the most vacated He actually challenged me, but then pulled it back and said, no, Scott will do a better job. You know what, you know, take it back. Can you hand me your computer please? Well, let's let's start off with the Atlanta Falcons who lost

a ridiculous uh basically over sixteen targets per game. I'll do it per game instead of act I think that is better. Yeah, let's go see. Targets per game is a lot. You know, most quarterbacks might throw thirty two a game. You know, like half your targets are gone. Yep, exactly so, so half of the Falcons targets per game left, and in came Todd Gurley, who's had ninety receptions over the last two years. He not catch the ball, but

he's and basically what Freeman left, he's gonna probably pick off. Uh. And then a whole bunch from Austin Hooper, which is basically going to go to hayden Hurst unless we think Treadwell is gonna I don't think that's gonna happen. No, So you're predicting a big year out of hers, do you think? Yes? As I as I mentioned last last segment, I love hayden Hurst. He's my number four tight end.

By the way, we joke about the preseason games, but I called well, we all called us last year the first preseason last game last year where Atlanta kept throwing to their tight ends, we called it out on the show, and then Austin Hooper happened. From time to time, we do get things right on this show. It's we all want to brag about all the things that we get right. But we got that one right. But by the way, eighteen targets inside the ten gone from the Atlanta Falcons.

Julio Jones get to double digit touchdowns. He's gotten better recently over on his touchdown only one season and double digits though, He's do all right. So if Atlanta has the most vacated targets, two second Dallas Cowboys with about twelve and most of that is twelve per game, which most of it is Witten. And if you think, if you think Jarwin's gonna slide right into that role, uh, you know he was. He was about tight end twelve last year Witten. Jarwin's got that upside, I guess if

he can take it on. But remember they got see Lamb too catches and yep, yep. So that's the tricky part on on jar when I think he feels like to me, a matchup based starter, Yeah, a matchup based tight end two is what with with with some decent upside just because it is that opportunity is there and that offense could be really good with all those weapons,

you know, possibly raising that target number. Uh. Washington Redskins eleven points seven targets per game opened up with a loss of guys like Paul Richardson and Jordan Read guys that they got a G. G. Gandy Golden came in. Uh, they got a couple of running backs that catch the ball J J. H. Mckissic, J. D. Mckissic and uh Antonio Gibson. I think they're gonna use it gives in

a decent amount catching the ball um. But yeah, that I can see those those eleven twelve targets per game going mostly there and maybe a little bit extra to McLaren um. Next down the list, about the same amount lost the New York Jets. They only they lost Robbie Anderson, a bunch of low level players brought in Mims and Perriman. Mims already dealing with a hamstring injury. We we see we see Pairman probably jumping right into the Robbie roll. I think it's almost a one for one change right there.

I I would I would project Pairman right in line with what Robbie did, which was just okay. Now, what about Chris Herndon's who's getting a lot of love for people as a sleeper tight end and he's flashed some ability before, but super inconsistent injuries and a lot of other risk with him. Yep, he could play into that. It's uh, it's it's not an offense. I really want to invest in the problem, right, Who wants to invest

in Adam gay slid offense? Yeah? Not me. Yeah, he's been he's been day near the league low in place per game offensive place per games since even the Miami years. Yeah, it's really tough to score points when you just don't have the ball for enough place. Who is your fifth most what's the team with the fifth most vacated targets? Right? About the same as the Redskins and Jets. Excuse me, the Washington team and the Jets. The Miami Dolphins with eleven targets per game gone. A lot of them were

running back targets, believe it or not, layered ballage. Yeah, Walton Draking Gaskin combined for a hundred twenty targets. Man is Matt Brita a sneaky super sleeper. That's exactly where I'm going with this, is that Matt Brita, that hundred twenty targets. I know some of those players are still kind of there, but let's be honest, they're lost. Those players are not getting those targets. They're not this year. Those hundred twenty targets. Jargean Howard doesn't catch if you

tell me Brita gets seventy catches this year. I'm not shocked at the end of the year. Man, you know, I didn't realize that they had lost that many passes to running back. That's just running back targets. A hundred darn Brita sneaky last pick off your draft, all right? I like that angle, all right? So that's our top five vacated targets. Yes, I will say on the Miami Dolphins, they lost Albert Wilson and Alan Hearn's who who had more targets than I thought they would. So I think

that only really ample eyes Preston Williams. It always comes back to Preston Williams. Yeah. I know there's some Isaiah Ford slot love out there. That's Brian's sleeper from last week, But it's Preston Williams. Brian's more wrong than I am. There's a pecking order here, I think very firmly established that do you want to go any deeper than the

top five? Well, I could. I could say the Arizona Cardinals lost a hundred fifty six targets and Hopkins had a hundred and fifty last year, So did they get absorbed by Hopkins? I made this joke earlier. It's like a fantasy league where you lose a bunch of like you trade a bunch of bottom level players and you just get one stud back. That's that's basically what they did. Add that up. That always works. Yeah, so that's about it. I could go more if you want me to, but

we got sleepers to talk. We do have sleepers to talk about. Every week of the season, we unveil a different sleeper that we are backing. Matprit just could just be mine not I mean, I don't tempt me. Um that we that we think is going vastly under drafted, we think, well, I'll perform his draft position. So it could be a guy who's going in round ten, do you think will perform like a sixth rounder, or could even be a fourth rounder. You think it's gonna be

like a first rounder. So anybody who's going to significantly outperform his draft position. We begin with WHOA I'm feeling I'm feeling some remorse right now. I don't think I have treated you fairly over the course of the show, Matt. I want you to leave with your head on up high. Well, I'll leave with my head held high. If somebody comes to Shock Fantasy and subscribes using the promo code f f W for Fantasy Football Weekly, you get the first year for twenty bucks a Shock Fantasy nice and easy.

Um my sleeper And I did mention this in the Bell cowse segment. There were four backfields that are awful and brutal to try to predict. Last week I trick to James White out of the New England backfield. That's one of them. This week, I'm going Malcolm Brown out of the l a Rams back, very unpopular, pick the popular. He's the third and a DP among the Rams backs right now. Last year, the Rams were third in the league in red zone carries and second in touchdowns in

the red zone. In fact, in three years under Sean McVeigh, the Rams have never finished worse then third in the league in carries inside the twenty while Todd Gurley took fifteen carries from inside the five last year and converted eight touchdowns, which is a really good right there. Malcolm Brown had eight carries, which is just over half, and he had five touchdowns. That's a sixty two percent success rate. So together Gurley and Brown made up of the runs

inside the five. So I'm not worried about Darrell Henderson here. Cam Akers is the other guy. He could end up being the between mean the twenties runner. But I think the success that Malcolm Brown showed last year makes him the goal line guy on one of the most prolific goal line running offenses in the league. So get that guy on your roster with the very last pick in your draft. Malcolm Brown, I like it. You made a compelling case. That's I'm You've kind of convinced me. You're

always surprised when I kind of convinced you too. It's it's pretty funny, Scott, who is your sleeper this week? I'm gonna go with Joshua Kelly, the guy I'm grabbing late in a lot of leagues. Uh. Matt has gone over all that the Chargers lost with Melvin Gordon and mentioned maybe Austin Clark takes a lot of work. Austin Ekeler had two touches this year the last year. Even if he gets up to seventy five, there's about two

hundred more touches to go around. The Chargers lost fourteen touches inside the five um with the loss of Melvin which is a lot. Yeah, which touches for one player inside the five is a lot of carries. Yeah, and Kelly is easily the biggest of them, although it looks fine, even though Kelly's bigger, Austin Uler looks pretty big. But that's a hundred carries, sixty three sixty three receptions all that Josh Kelly could get. And another thing people aren't

talking about quite enough. This offense is going to be different. They threw the ball in five ninety seven times last year. Tyrad Teller has never thrown the ball over. They might run a ton more, I think this year, so there might be even more carries available for Josh Kelly. And we don't even know that that. We don't even know what the starting quarterback is going to be. You know, probably be tailor in week one, but at some point they may he may hand the reins off to Herbert

and then run that much more. We know as they work in a rookie quarterback. My sleeper is Baker Mayfield. Last year, he was quarterback six in drafts at this time last year. Now he's quarterback sixteen. Despite the fact that he is a year older, wiser, more exp rienst and has so many more things going for him now, like competent coaching and Kevin Stefanski, who unlocked the best

season of Kirk Cousin's career last year. He's got the He's got five receiving options around him, including new edition Austin Hooper plus Odell Beckham Jarvis Landry, both of his starting running backs are excellent receivers out of the backfield. He's got all of those. Reminder that Baker Mayfield finished last year pretty well. He was RB sorry Qbirt in the second half of last year. I've despite a disastrous

start when he was like QB. The team addressed that offensive line, and I love this part for him signing Jack Conklin in free agency and then putting that first round draft pick on Jedrick Wills. The two tackle upgrades, and their interior line was actually really really good as far as grades with Pro Football focus, and their tackles were brutal. Yeah, and it's expressed it all the things that are going right in Cleveland, and yet Baker Mayfield

going off the board in the eleventh round. Right, many people got burned by Baker last thing. So hey, speaking of the of the Chargers, let's talk Keenan Allen for just a moment um. Currently going off the board roughly wide receiver twenty five. Is there something wrong with Keenan Allen besides this quarterback? Do you guys feel like this is the right spot for I think I think he's

being underdrafted by a fair margin. I'm gobbling him up in like the fifth round and like just about every draft I'm in, and I didn't mention him and reach around though us did. He's just always there. I think he's boring. He's been around for a long time. He hasn't scored a lot of touchdowns in the last few years, but he's very consistent from receptions and yard standpoints. So it's a great guy to have. Is your wide receiver two or maybe wide receiver three on a really good team.

You know, one of the things we've talked about in past seasons, not this year, is a boring draft in which you just you draft a lot of players that people are just bored up for no good reason. I think t Y Hilton fits the bill, James White fits

that bill. Keenan Allen fits that bill. As just players that are really good players, maybe not explosive players, but really good players who were just like man, I've been drafting a guy for years and he just doesn't excite me as much as some of the other players do. And I think Keenan Allen falls into that a little bit. How much, if any does Tyrod Taylor hurt Keenan Allen. I don't think it hurts. Tyrod's a professional quarterback. I mean he's been a he's been a backup for years.

But if if that team is throwing the ball hunter in fifty less times, I mean it's gonna it's gonna hurt a little would hurt. Yeah, I think maybe Keenan Allen's his issue is probably just like we've talked about, that fourth and fifth round for the fourth round is just loaded with high high up the Ridley's, the A. J. Brown's, the Metcalfs, the Cooper Cops, the Kenny Golladays. Like you want the sky high potential of all of those instead of the safe I'm going to be wide receiver nine

to fifteen Keenan Allen. Keenan Allen is a Guillotine League receiver. You want to get him in a gill team safe easy numbers. Every week, I'll give you another guy, Julian Edelman. Sure, older veteran receiver, always good. Nobody wants him. Is he going wide receiver? But people are doing with this with zach Ertz this year too. Yeah, there's probably a little bit of that for zach Ertz. Yeah. I don't like, I don't get it. But there are opportunities out there

for savvy fantasy players. If you are a savvy fantasy player, you'll want to listen to the beginning of this show. We encourage you to go back and podcast Fantasy Football Weekly all the way to the beginning of the show when we were still fresh, not worn down and boring like we are now. I think you'll enjoy it a lot more than this segment. I'm out a mountain dew absolutely, Scott Matt, great job. Thank you very much, Brianna producer. Thanks for all your help. We'll talk to you next week,

everybody for more Fantasy Football Weekly. 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.