38th ANNUAL FANTASY EXTRAVAGANZA

of Third Champion, Thank you, Matt Money Sniff. And that is defending League of Record champion than hand zeus. It is well we all have our own Leagues of Record And yes, the Fantasy Extravaganza is here, Greg and uh and the theme of this year's episode is perfect. How do you be perfect on draft Day? How do you have the perfect fantasy season? That's what we're here to deliver. And Greg, you did, indeed, as you tell us all the time, help build road a world into a giant

in the fantasy. I didn't say anything, and I know you're not involved with fantasy as much anymore or at all I should say. But I know this episode holds a special place in your heart. It does. I mean, um, I don't like it when Silva makes little comments on Twitter established the run and you know I've done his pot a couple of times where he's like, oh, you're an old man, You're out of the game. He doesn't

even respect my opinions anymore. I get, you know. I think Rhodo Pat probably feels the same another you know, former co worker of mine. I hope Liz Losa respects me. I know we respect her. I mean, she got a lot more pop than Marcus on the intro. And uh, you know, we've done the show for eight plus years. I didn't think you could surprise me anymore with how it opens, but that that was incredible. What a talent Matt money Smith is as a as a host. But

I have a feeling you wrote those words. I did not write the Liz Losa that was improv Yeah, that one took me by surprise. It's a little if you're a fan of Family Guy, a rather famous Robert Loggia a bit from that show. But yes, this is um and Liz does not respect you. By the way, just to answer the question. No, probably, I get it. I get it. You gotta be in there, either in or you're out. But here's what I'm I would say to

defend myself. When you're out, I think you get a different perspective that when all those fantasy guys in the bunker and maybe Marcus will come on soon, we'll talk about that. There's a little bit of a high of mine. And even though they try to get out of it, it's like, oh, this guy is average a DP fifty three, but I have him thirty nine, And it's like, oh, that's a strong take. Well how about like, you know,

I have him fifteen, like, because that's what reality could be. Like, reality is gonna be way bigger in terms of surprises and anomalies than any of these rankings are ever gonna be. So get some stones, fantasy analysts. That's what Wow. I like that Greg hitting out against biting the hand that once fed him and built his career. Really, I mean, he built his career off the back of fantasy sports. But that's that's just Greg. That's just great. But do

you think I would have done it? I would have done it forever if um I didn't get some other opportunity that felt like, oh, let's do something different, let's not be in seventeen leagues and be totally stressed out. Me. Me and West we both had that experience where we got a little burnt out that fantasy didn't feel as fun anymore. Um just you know when it when it's your job, when football is fun, but fantasy became a little bit of a job. Now you love you love ball,

and you closely follow every team. Do you really think you know, I know you're not active in fantasy leagues anymore, but do you think you would the Greg of two thousand and ten or whatever it was, would kick the Greg of two thousand twenty ones asked, I mean, is it really that different in terms of football knowledge versus fantasy football knowledge? No, I don't think so. I mean luck is easily the most important factor in a fantasy league,

and everyone that comes on today, I'll admit it. And plus so you know, I still got those like I still got the the the experience. If I jumped back in, I jumped in back all the way and that would be the wins of money. Luck is very important, and as I said, I did win my League of record last year. Even though I had Carson Wentz and Ben Roethlisberger is my UH two quarterbacks because you know what else?

I had Alvin Kamara the greatest championship performance of all time in Week sixteen, those six touchdowns against the Vikings. I still smile when I think back to that. I believe it's Christmas Day. Oh yeah, unbelievable. Anyway, enough of that, but did you hear that, Craig? What is that? I think we got something on the line. I think, Oh, I think it's a big one. That's the big fish, the big Fish. Evan Silva is our first guest. I'm the Fantasy Extravaganz and how fitting Evan when I'm established

the run dot com? Dude, how are you? Thank you for joining us again? This is officially a tradition on the podcast. Yeah, I think we've done this almost five years at this point and keeping the tradition alive. It's the season is inching closer. I spent my entire morning adjusting rankings for the trade and things are things are starting to get real, So I'm excited. A tough month August this sneaky, the worst month for UH fantasy guru like Evan Silva because of just the constant draft kit

updates and all that stuff. But he is he is literally the biggest of fish. As as I've probably said on this show before. When I first met him after already being his boss for three years and found out he's actually six seven and three d and twenty five pounds, I had to start changing my tone on instant. Message had to start changing, um Evan. It's seriously like draft or a fantasy season doesn't start until we have to reconsider where Darryl Henderson fits in in the pro football landscape.

But you know we're gonna get into sleepers and bus and again established the run. Um Evan and Adam Levintond run that together. And Silva has a column up this week's Sleepers and Undervalued, and I highly recommend you check that out and check that website out ahead of your big drafts. And I guess before we get into some sleepers and bus, for one, I had like an overarching question for you, because I don't think there are many people in this sphere that are more respected than the

big fish. How much to you when it comes to succeeding and the whole theme of today's episode, How do you having the perfect fantasy draft. How much um goes back to preparation and how much goes to reacting in the moment on draft day. As Mike Tyson once said, you know, everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth. His preparation overrated or do you need that component? How does it break down to you? Well, I think that from an overall UH fantasy success standpoint,

I think that the draft itself is actually overrated. Now it's the most fun part of the entire process. Okay, you know, except for maybe winning in your championship game. But and but so much leads up into it that it feels like it's a lot more important than it is. I would say it's about thirty of the battle. And I think that the waiver wire, working the waiver wire and getting guys off of them, being diligent every single week. You know, most waiver wire runs occur on Tuesday or

Wednesday night. Um. Making sure that you are on top of that waiver wire every single week, I think is the true key to success, because you know, you can actually build a team going wide receiver heavy and then and then making critical running back pickups during the year and building like a super team. This is how these these notions of zero running back and um you know

anchor running back. Uh, these new strategies have come about because people have figured out that, especially you know, with so many leagues moving toward full PR and stressing more flex spots and starting more receivers. You know, traditionally U leagues would just start like two running backs too, wide receivers, one tight end you know, ship it, you know, a

kicker and a defense. Now teams are are our leagues are are using three wide receivers to flexes full PPR, you know, So building around wide wide receiver early builds and then using the waiver wire to pick up running backs during the season, that's the way to really build a super team. So, in other words, a good draft strategy is focus on building super positional groups and then then you could really focus in your waiver wire, um quest on the position group that you maybe didn't overlook

but you purposely went away from undrafted. Yes, but it's also and you also have to consider that it's really hard to find like a wide receiver one off the waiver wire. You know that that really doesn't happen. I mean, generally speaking, like big time wide receivers. We know who they all are starting year. That was the last time it happened. I mean, it's it's really really rare, and and and teams are also running more three and four receiver sets, so they're just getting a bunch of more

wide receivers out there on the field. It's much easier to find a productive running back all the waiver wire than it is wide receiver. And I think that connects to the sleepers and bus we're gonna get to now, because to me, the value is is never is not a running back at all. Like so all the sleepers and the value to me feels like they're at the receivers and some at the quarterback position. But I'm gonna answer your question to Dan because I thought it was

such a good one. I think the preparation is important, but it's like it's like Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes is preparation. No one prepares more than them. But then once they get to the game, it's like you gotta just do it by feel, and you've got to do it by like all that study and like that, you know, it still has like a little in other words, improvisational magic that you need. You need that subscription to establish a run dot com obviously, but that's not the whole

battle Sleepers and bus Evan Silva, who's the guy? Like, who's the guy? And I even, you know, I in my league of record, I have people that listen to this show and I actually don't like that, and I don't think it's fair, but I feel like, as the host of the show, and I need to kind of give myself that competitive disadvantage for the listeners because I would love to know Evan Silva's favorite sleepers this year, the guys that I should be targeting later this month,

Like who are the guys that really jump out to you? Right? Well, I'm gonna go like with with some deeper sleepers here, and I'm gonna start off with the guy who's you know, has been near and dear to your heart, dan Um, Maybe no longer, but he's a guy by the name of Sam Donald. Yes, so we we know that the post.

Well that's what most people are gonna say. He doesn't even get drafted in most drafts, and I think that he's going to be a quarterback that people may may pick up off the waiver wire early in the season because I think he's gonna start fast, because first of all, he's got a really soft schedule coming out of the gate. Okay, Week one against the Jets, who have one of the worst cornerback units in the league, just lost Carl Lawson,

their best pass rusher. We two against the Saints. You know Dennis Allen's defense on a on a regular basis starts off slow, winds up becoming the strength of the team. But if that happens again, I think that's gonna be a favorable matchup for Sam Donald in Week two at Houston. In Week three playing indoors in all likelihood against one of the worst defense in in the league at Dallas, we know that that is another potential game indoors where

Dallas is not an imposing defense whatsoever. And then against Philadelphia in Week five. We know that the post Adam Gaze effect has had a tangible impact on several players over the Over the past couple of seasons, just getting away from Adam Gaze has had a positive impact on their production. I believe in Joe Brady last year with less talent than Joe Brady will be working with this year.

The Panthers finished top ten in yards per drive, Christian McCaffrey's back, d J. Moore is a budding superstar, Terroris Marshall looks like he should have been a top ten pick, and Robby Anderson, who just got the big contract, reunited with Sam Donald. So I think that if you are in a position where you want to take like let's say Justin Fields or Trey Lance, and you think that they're eventually you know, once they get in there, they're

going to be top five, top ten fantasy quarterbacks. But you need somebody to sort of build a bridge to those guys that you can get for cheap and we'll be productive early in the season. I think that Sam Donald is a is a very cost affection effect like that. But but like Dan's lead, you start two quarterbacks, so that's a great great sleeper And okay, actually your league structure changes. But are you really gonna start if you're in a one quarterback we're really gonna start Sam Donald

in the sports four weeks? Probably not? I mean, what what good does it do for you? I'd rather because I don't see him, and I think you disagree. So, as a guy who could potentially be in the top five. You know, that's who I want to take as a

sleeper or potentially top eight. And you mentioned the rookies, and at this point it seems like people are drafting Lands and Fields high enough where it you know there it costs a lot, like you're gonna have to take them as your legit QB two, I don't care, like I kind of hope Trey Lance doesn't win the starting job and that, you know, pushes his value even lower and you take him and that's fine, and you just stash him because he could be a top five guy.

Fields could be a top five guy, and the other one that've got circled a little bit that isn't who eyes Matt Ryan. I think he could be a top five guy because that defense is so bad and I think the offensive coaching is going to be so good that defense. Uh in the NFC South, those secondaries for

other than Tampa are terrible. And you could just see Matt Ryan putting up five thousand yards in like a seven and ten season that the Falcons aren't particularly good, but you can see him finishing QB five, QB six. Usually you don't have a former m v P in this type of conversation, But I I get that Matt Ryan is a little bit under the radar. UM right now, a little breaking news that just went down as a recording this Evan Teddy Bridgewater named the starting quarterback of

the Broncos. Good for him here and um, do you think because all right, listen, Teddy replaced by Sam Donald? Do you think Teddy is a potential sleeper in that offense? There are a lot of good pieces in Denver. Is he a guy that you can go get very deep in the draft and end up getting nice return on Well, I think that one of the reasons that the Broncos named Teddy Bridgewater their starting quarterback. And it's something that I anticipated happening because, first of all, George Patton, you

know the new GM brought him over. He knows Pat Shermer from Minnesota. But I think that one of the reasons they believe that he is a better option to manage games than is Drew Lock. And Drew Lock is you know, a turnover machine. I mean, this guy led the NFL in interceptions. Didn't even you know when you started like the games last year? He's been fumble prone. Um, and I think the Teddy Dgewater is just a better

option and not give the ball the other team. The Broncos are gonna have a great defense or getting back bon Miller, Bradley Chudd's healthy, They've got four stop starting caliber cornerbacks, They've got an excellent safety duo. You know, that's how they're gonna play there. He's gonna be a game manager, whereas I think that Sam Donald is gonna

be more aggressive in Caroline. I prefer Sam Donald. I also think that Sam Donald is gonna have the job all year, Whereas if Bridgewater starts to flounder a little bit, like they'll be, they'll be quick on the trigger to go to Drew Lock. I think he could help though kJ Hamler and Javonte Williams, who would be too in

my sleep. Well, I think he's a really good fit with Jerry Judy because I think that um Cheddy Bridgewater will pull the trigger like whereas I think that Drew Lock he's kind of He's a lot more of a chucker and he would have been more positive for Courtland Sutton with Teddy Bridgewater when he sees it come open and Jerry Judy can get open like Bridgewater is gonna go to that when he sees the guy come open.

I think Jerry Judy can have a hundred catches. People should pay attention to the East pretty seasoned report because that's where you find out that land Sutton is not all the way back from his corn a c L. And you see kJ Hamler, who I think could end up having, you know, in uh Silva's you know, established the run type terms, Spike Weeks, you know a best ball guy that has you know, maybe he's not the best guy at all season, but he'll rip off three

hundred and thirty yard games where he has like a seventy yard touchdown. I could see that. And I love the Dante Williams runs. And you mentioned Judy. I don't know if he fits on Sleepers and bus but like that's where you look at the running back versus receiver value and oh my god, I love Jerry Judy and the fact that he's in the sixth round. I mean, everyone knows Jerry Judy, but I'd rather have him than the running backs taken in the third or the fourth round.

So I along with you, just stack up those receivers. I love me some. The late Chris Westling was big on that too. Don't go get the wide receiver. I don't know's I'll throw out a Jameson crowder or um most anew a couple of years ago kind of a wide receiver three type. I go for a Jerry Judy type that has more of a ceiling. Now, evan Um, let's talk about some bus okay, because let's start in on the higher end of things, like the guys that

are projected to go in the top twenty. Is anybody in that group to you that stands out of someone with some big red flags right now? Yeah? And you know over the over the past couple of years that established a run we estati. We've established a lot of things, and one of them was the Ten Commandments, the ten Commandments of fantasy. And for a while there, uh, the number one commandment was that thou shalt not fade the big dog. Okay, and the big dog is Derrick Henry Um.

But things have things change year to year, and now the big Dog is entering his sixth season. He's led the league in carries in back to back years, a ton of wear and tear on his tires. He's entering a transitioning offense that added Julio Jones and swapped out Arthur Smith, who I thought was brilliant for Todd Downing who ran the Raiders in seventeen the Raiders ranked thirty in the NFL and rushing attempts, and now he's incentivized to call more pass plays because he's got Julio Jones

and A J. Brown. The defense is terrible. That's a team that's gonna be trailing a lot more often than last year, when they out kicked the Thagorean win expectation by almost three games. The Big not as good as their final record. Never thought I'd see it the Big and and over the course of his career, Derrick Henry has averaged a hundred six total one yard, a hundred and six total yards and over one touchdown per game in wins, only fifty yards and zero point three t

d s in losses. You're not gonna get he He hasn't had a twenty catch season in college or the pros. That's almost a decade worth of sample size. So I think that this is gonna be the year that we see the Big Dog fall. Mm anybody else in that kind of group of stars, how about Aaron Aaron Jones is a top ten pick with the talent that he

has behind him. I'd be a little and a little bit of offensive line questions, but it's really more about, Yeah, you're counting on touchdowns and then you're also counting on A J. Dillon not to be a factor. A J. Dillon looks good. Colin Hill is a great is a great looking third running back. Why not to save Aaron Jones as much as you can? If you're the Packers for the playoffs, which is basically what they do, You're counting on a lot of touchdowns, a lot of explosive

players out of him. Like that's that's another spot where so many of these running backs towards the top. I'd rather have a receiver there. Zeke Zeke and sa Kuan would be another two. I mean, you you make a fair argument. I think that Aaron Jones at the end of the day, like he's gonna be really really good, uh, in a really good offense. He's excellent in the passing game. A J. Dillon doesn't do what Jamal Williams did in the passing game. So I think we're a better player,

though you can just maybe he's a better player. He could be. Well, we'll see. Uh. One bust I have towards the middle rounds is Kenny Golladay. And you know the history of wide receivers changing teams in the in the off season has not been great. Now, it went really well for DeAndre Hopkins and Stefan dis last year, so it's not you know, it's not a a fool proof uh process to just completely right off wide receivers

that are changing. We're I and I was a fish you know last year, so um, but this year not not going to be a fish. And Kenny Golladay is uh, I mean not not only is he changing team, but he hasn't gotten any practice time in with his new quarterback who took a step back last year. It's a Jason Garrett offense. You know, we haven't seen Kenny Golladay

play football really in a long time. He played in four games like a bust of a contract or ever heard a guy less like in terms of fantasy value or the from the Giants like getting out I didn't do anything for you last year anyway? Yeah, exactly. And the downgrade I think from Matthew Stafford to Daniel Jones is going to be significant so I think that Golladay might have Mikey, he might mix in a few spiked weeks,

but you're he's You're really gonna struggle for inconsistency. The guy that no one wants to draft in the Giants pass catcher corps and I think still has a stable role is Sterling Shepherd. I think that he ends up. I mean, he he goes undrafted quite a bit, and I think he's gonna end up with eighty five catches. Man, I've been wrong on Sterling Shepherd every year, and I'm

gonna just keep being wrong until I'm finally right. It's going to be right one of these years, all right, And before we say goodbye to the big Fish, is there any other players, um you could throw out a sleeper or bust category that you've got some rapid fire. Throw out a lot of names that either way, all right.

I mean I was on marquess Kylloway before you know he started burning up the preseason, and I think that he is an excellent sleeper, and he's a guy that in home leagues where maybe some of your competitors have not been paying as much attention to the preseason, he might end up going late. Now, if you look at in the high stakes leagues, he started to go like in the ninth round, but you might you probably can get him a little bit later in your league's at home.

I think the Davante Parker his ADP is wide receiver fifty five. I have him as the wide receiver forty. He's a good value, whole commit. I think it's an excellent number two tight end. I think he's rarely going to come off the field this season. If you want to go a little bit deeper for a sleeper tight end. Donald Parham, who the Beat writers say is cutting into Jared Cook's role already. Jared Cook is old, falling off

the cliff cliff, thirty four years old. Donald Parham only caught ten balls last year, but three of them worked for touchdowns. This guy six ft nine, he was the best player in the XFL. Dan, I'm sure you caught a bunch of those XFL games that I know how you love the a F as a a guy personally. But I but but in this offense, if Donald Parham can can carve out a role where he's playing like six of the snaps, which I think that he can do, um, I mean the Chargers offense has won to bet on

this year. I'm amazed no offense tight end nine or ten. I know he's had I guess a little banged up camp, but keep take guys that can be the number one player at the position. There's a there's a scenario where no Ah Fan is tight end one or tight end three or whatever it is. So just just take him because that's gonna be eleven, twelfth round. Last thing for me, um is thank you Evan Silva for joining us. It is the first day of school for so many parents

across the country, including Evan and myself. And you have a wonderful daughter to go pick up, So thank you for making the time, buddy, and best of luck and everybody go to establish the run dot com. Thanks for having me a rank you there he goes Greggy the big fish, the largest of all fish. And by the way, if you want to take this moment here to do your little victory celebration about your boy Teddy Bridgewater, a little ted talk for Greg Rosenthal because he's got a

shot here to lead a very promising Broncos team. I I had to admit that was bad podcasting by me during that segment because I'm scrambling with trying to get Evan silv out on time. I'm looking for sleepers and bust and I don't think the enormity of Teddy Bridgewater taking that job quite hit me yet. Let's just celebrate it right now. Let's go like I'm a Patriots fan. If the Patriots and the Broncots are playing, I'm gonna root for the Patriots. But this year I'm a Broncos fan.

Already was getting there, and now with this news, I don't need anymore. They were once the team of West tl Um, but now I don't need to wait till the season starts. See how they look. They are the team of th h A L. Rosenthal. I'm all in on the Broncos. They're going to the playoffs. I think they'll win a playoff game. This everything I wanted from Teddy last year in Caroline. That's gonna happen with this great roster in Denver. Love it. You know you you

often mocked me for going third person, but this. You know, if I went to a patent office right now and I find out that team of th H A L is already registered, I'll know that you're Machabeliott. I think I broke it out once now, but now yeah, it's it's sticking. I don't know if I can. I mean, I just was trying to make a rhyme with West t L or a t L. There's really no way, but I believe it. I mean, I do. I have fun with Teddy. I think it's okay to root for players.

Not everyone that you root for has to be the best player in the league. But I really do think this roster is super Bowl ready if they had Aaron Rodgers and Playoff ready with a little Teddy and and don't get it twisted. And I know we we've been at crossover Teddy Bridgewater, but I I've never had anything against Teddy. In fact, he's a great story and a great comeback story and by all accounts are really good dude.

So I'm really torn because I'd like to see your analysis go up in flames and him struggle, and that would bring me a lot of joy personally. But also if Teddy thrives, that's a nice thing too, because he's a good dude who deserves it. I appreciate the honesty. I think after eight years, we're just now more honest with other Speaking of good dudes, our next guest is a mainstay on NFL Network, NFL dot com, The Fantasy Podcast.

You see him all over the dial this time of year, and now we welcome him back to the Round the NFL Pod Cast. He is the great Marcus Grant. Happens to me, man, stuff like that never happens to anybody except from Marcus. Yeah, how about Marcus gram in a Boomerang reboot? You in the Eddie Roll? How about that?

That was? That was sort of my life in like junior high in high school after that movie came out, because especially because his name was Marcus Graham really close to my name, So you don't know how many people would just walk up to me in like high school and just go mar That was that was my life as a teenager. Well you could have you could have worse role models, for sure. And I know this reference is too old for Erica, but I love Boomerang so much that it was like my favorite uh movie to

watch when it was on HBO. There's just so many great lines in it and a great cast, and I just want I want Marcus in the Marcus Graham role. And I don't think that's asking too much. Let's do it all right, Marcus, welcome back. Uh, you're as rock sold as it gets in the industry. Well, there's only but even though Evan Silva is the big fish, we only have big fish on this show, and you're a big one indeed. And I just want to say, Marcus, we are breaking it down kind of by tears here

or I'm not saying to you, Marcus, but the audience. So, Evan, we focused on the sleepers and bus and some overall fantasy philosophy. Uh, with Mr Grant wide receivers and tight ends. What do you feel about this positional group? Um? Overarching thoughts as we get into the conversation, Well, you can't pick two more different positional groups in terms of depth. Wide receiver is by far the deepest and tight end is easily the thinnest. So it's sort of I've taken

two different approaches with it. Where I tend to go very early on tight ends. I've drafted Travis Kelsey in the first round in counters drafts this offseason. Um, you know, if I don't get him that, I'm fine with a Darren Waller and works Kiell somewhere in the first couple three rounds tight or wide receiver. Rather, you can sort

of wait on because there is such a depth. A lot of times I might not go until the fourth round before I get my first wide receiver, just because there's still plenty of quality players there and I can feel okay about it. I want four. I want four or five wide receivers though, like I mean that are good, like top forty wide receivers. I want four or five because injuries are gonna happen. Hopefully you've gotta flex spot, especially if you've got a flex and three receiver starters.

I I was really surprised out as a Fantasy outsider Marcus to see when I checked in on the ADP. Wow, Travis Kelsey is going twelve because to me, it's like, I don't know, He's always been Travis Kelsey. He's never gotten twelve before. So I don't want him the year that he is going twelve because to me, nothing's different about him. He's still the same guy. He's great. You're locking in a tough position. I get it. But you know,

I mentioned Noah Fan. There's other guys, Mark Andrews, There's plenty of breakout type guys that I feel like you could get later when can just stack up those like superstar receivers at the top if you can get them. Yeah, I don't. I don't think anything has changed with Travis Kelsey. I think things have changed with us. It's that every year we kept trying to tell ourselves that, you know what, tight end is gonna be deeper this year, It's gonna

be deeper this year, and it never was. We we would always come into August thinking that, hey, you know what, there's gonna be these mid round tight ends and at least a couple of them are going to pop. And then we get to October and we're like, this is a morass and this is awful and why did we

think this? So I think instead of just going all that like that, yeah, Instead, instead we decided to forego that and we're like, you know what, there are three guys that we know we can count on at this point. Just make the leap and reach for them. So it's not that it's not that I think Travis Kelsey has

gotten better or Darren Waller, George Kittle, they're all really good. Uh, It's just that I think a lot of us are sick of sort of you know, throwing darts at the might Sicki's of the world and hoping that something great comes to that. It's a strong argument because if you think about it, it's kind of mirrors the Marcus Grant career actory. Nothing's changed with Marcus Grant, Like he's always been a fantasy fantasy analyst one, but it just took a while for the NFL to realize it and start

pushing him up that draft board. Put the top of the jet Charry, put him on TV more. I'm seeing you in the prese. It's it's great. So you you are, Mr Kelsey, Marcus and I are grinders in the NFL media sphere. We we just rose up um just through pure effort. Hey speaking of tight ends. So yeah, we all know the big three. And I'm looking at um an a DP site to trust to fantasy football calculator, and I see Kyle Pitts and I see him going

according to their rankings average reposition top fifty. That is a fourth round pick. Yeah, Kyle pits Now where does he? Where? Do where? For you? Is that a guy that you want to invest a Still that's a premium draft pick. Was first five picks in a rookie, now a rookie that people say can transform the position. But are you willing to get in on the ground floor with Kyle Pitts that early in the draft. I'm not. I I look, I completely understand the arguments of people who do. I'm

just not one of them. I've got him kind of is my sixth tight end, Right, You've got your big three and then whatever order you want to put Mark Andrews and t J. Hawkinson, that's fine with me. And then I've got Kyle Pitts there. Everybody. You know, we we a lot of times, you know, set these expectations for players. Last year, you know, Clyde Edward de Laier, I think was a victim of our expectations, where people overdrafted him because of what we thought he could be.

And I sort of worry that about Kyle Pitts because, um, we have set his his standard arbitrarily somewhere just south of like saturn um and and for him to kind of hit that if you're drafting him as the fourth tight end off the board, you were expecting him to hit his absolute ceiling. And history just kind of shows us that that doesn't happen with tight ends, and because we have set that ceiling so high, it just feels

really difficult for him to get there. I think even if he is very good, which I expect, I just don't think it's gonna be where people are anticipating him being. I think next year, I think we can talk about that. But I think this year I would have him as my sixth tight end, maybe draft him somewhere a few rounds later, which basically boils down to I'm not gonna draft him because he's gonna be gone before that opportunity comes. Yeah,

that's that's fascinating. I I you're saying that Hockinson was in the next three. That's it's another one as a fantasy outside him, Like what that he's in that three? Because I just do think about, like which what you guys, who do you want on your real team? I do think people get a little caught up in the situations more. No, a fan is a better football player than Tej Hockinson. It's not even close in terms of fantasy skills, in terms of a receiver. So it's like, why so is

Mark Andrews. I don't even think they're in the same ballpark. Maybe Hockinson changes, he develops, and he's in a great situation. But I don't get that. I'm gonna throw a question by you, Marcus, because I want to get this take out there. It's my number one fantasy take of the of the year. So it's not really a question, it's just a pleasure. It's fall. The question is like the guy that you can't draft at wide receiver too early,

that there is no too early for this guy. That if Marcus has twenty teams, you're happy that he's on seventeen of them, you know, But but usually a pretty good guy for me, without any doubt, it's Terry McLaurin. I don't think you can take Terry McLaurin too high. I think if he's you're at the top of the second round, I don't care. That's not too early for him. You want to take him in the first round. I

don't even care. Like I would put I would put Davante Adams ahead of him, maybe Stefon Diggs, and that's it. And and sometimes I think you get caught up in like let's beat the I a DP by four or five spots or whatever. I personally just think he is going to have a monstrous season with with Fitzpatrick, I think yards is like absolutely within reach. And so to me, I couldn't take him too early. If I was drafting, I'm just gonna take him in every draft. That's the

guy I'm staking my claim to. Do you have a guy like that at wide receiver? I do well. First of all, I you know, I don't think you're crazy with the mclaua and take there. He You know, when when the football team went out and got Ryan Fitzpatrick, everybody who's already high on Terry McLaurin just went to the moon about him, just because we know what Ryan Fitzpatrick can be and what That's what I thought. And then I looked and he's still like the eighth or

ninth receiver in the end of the third round. That surprised me because to me, the moon is like wide receiver one. I think that's possible. It's like a football team tax here that just because I I'm I'm guilty of this. Like when I think about it and I look at the top five or six receivers that are going Adams, Hill, Digs, Hopkins, Ridley, Metical, Jefferson, scary Terry is not there? Is it because he's got a bad nickname?

Is it because Washington's offense has just been so uninspiring for decades now that is turning off basics Like me? I think I think it's some of that. I also just think it's you know a lot of times it's muscle memory, right when you see that, you know, Davontae Adams, Stefon Diggs, Tyreek Hills, those guys. Uh, It's just we have become accustomed to drafting those guys as the first handful of players off the board, and it's hard to do that. It's hard to sort of break away from that.

So maybe that has something to do with it. But I mean, to answer your question for me, it's seedee lamb. I mean's you know, same division on a team that I think is gonna throw the football a ton, on a team that has become certainly more dack centered over the years, uh, and on a team that defensively I don't expect them to be, you know, a ton better

than they were last year. So I think that the Cowboys are gonna be in a lot of track meats, which means, uh, you're going to have Dack throwing the ball a lot, and this talk that they want to move Lamb all over the formation. You get him just outside of just being in the slot and get him outside a little bit um. You know, I also think he's definitely getting a hard knocks bump um, you know, with with some of those highlights and stuff we're seeing there.

But but Ceedee Lamb is a guy that I have been trying to draft in a mini places and it's been you know, a lot of virtual fist fights because everybody's kind of feeling this way about Ceedee La hear me out on that Devil's advocate on this um, because this is out there as a thought as well, Amari Cooper. I mean, he's gonna get his targets he's got to eat. You have Michael Gallup also in that mix, you have

z Elliott. He's getting to me a hard knocks bump as well, where it looks like he's it's gonna be a good Zeke season potentially, and you know that's gonna lead to a lot of touches for him. Is there not enough footballs to go around to make Ceedee Lamb the breakout player that many people think he will be this year, myself included. I mean, I think there's a concern about that, but I I think we're sort of brushing that off just based on what he did in those but four or five games that he had with

back last year before the injury. I mean, it looked like he was going to really take off. And I go back to last year and you look at that rookie wide receiver class and my take at the time, and I still believe this is that last year, Justin Jefferson was the guy you wanted as a rookie. But if you're talking a longer CEI link for those folks who play dynasty football, I thought Ceedee Lamb was the guy with the higher ceiling. So I still believe there's

an opportunity for him. You mentioned Michael Gallup. I keep thinking that he is. He's kind of the Jan Brady of of that Dallas Cowboys offense. Right. It's like he's

a good player in a situation where he can get opportunity. Yeah, he's probably not gonna get the same kind of targets as Cooper or Lamb, but I think, you know, for folks who were drafting and you're looking for a wide receiver late Michael Gallup's a really nice option because I think if you're looking for kind of a depth ad at the wide receiver spot, I think he's gonna get plenty of opportunities. I'm amazed by the talent of the receivers. You said you might wait at receiver a little bit.

That's not my game. Um, But there are such good guys available in the six fifth, sixth round. I'm kind of stunned. I would I would start taking them a little early. But of these guys who I all love and think like, wow, why it's crazy how talented the receivers are getting taking in the sixth round or so, give me an order, who you like, who you don't Auke and again, I love all these picks Auke, Judy, Deonte Johnson, and oh b J. To me, those are

all like potentially fantastic values to to get that late. Um, I would probably go au first. I'm just I'm on the hashtag team au all day, so I go ayou. I would go say Johnson, Uh, Judy, and and putting O b J four. And that's a hard call for me. The only reason I'm doing that is because I feel like there's such a wide range of outcomes with him. I think I think the guy that we saw for

the Giants all those years, that player is still in there. Um. But I don't know that that the Browns offense is going to feature him the same way that the Giants did once upon a time. They've got two very good running backs, They've got a defense that is going to keep them in every game, so they're not necessarily going to have to sling the ball around a lot. Um. I do think that, you know, another year with Mayfield and and Kevin Stefanski and that offense is going to help.

But I just feel like there are going to be weeks. They're gonna be weeks when when Odell looks like the Beckham of old and and he has those spike weeks and he helps you win. Uh. There will also be weeks where they just don't need him and he's just not gonna get a large target share. So it could

be sort of a roller coaster year for him. He's the flip side of Kelsey though to me, where it's like there's a chance he's the you know, wide receiver four, like when a guy used to get taken in the first and second round and he's getting taken in the sixth round and he's healthy. It's like I would I

like taking that guy. That's how you do things. I'm a little wary of O. B. J being more name than game at this point, as Chris Westling was known to say, last thing, real quick, Marcus, which rookie will be this year's Justin Jefferson and wide receiver? And why is it Elijah More? You know what? I I do love Elijah More. I do, and especially for where he's going in draft, he seems like a really great value.

But for me, the answer is gonna be Davante Smith. Um. From the moment he was drafted, he was the best wide receiver on the Eagles roster. And maybe this is their He's going kind of like seventh, eighth round in a lot of spots Um. You know, maybe this is the Eagles way to sort of make up for whiffing on Jefferson last year. But I think he's the best receiver on that roster. You know. The one word that keeps coming up when you talk about his route running

is just he's a technician. And I do think the Eagles are gonna throw the football a lot more than people are anticipating. It's also why I kind of like Jalen hurts Uh, if I'm waiting on a quarterback, I think there's something. I think there's something there with this passing game in Philadelphia. Any deep sleepers, I know, he said last question, but just like sprinkle a couple and they're not deep sleepers. But maybe at the bottom of so my favorite deep sleeper at wide receiver is I'm

on Ross st. Brown. Um, people are calling me the USC homer, and that's fine. I'll take that. That's that's whatever. But because when whenever you talk about him he might be on, it sounds like but people also keep saying People also keep saying that he's sort of going to be the Detroit version of Cooper Cup for Jared Goff. And if that's the case, that's that's not bad, a great one, not bad at all. Marcus Grant follow him on Twitter, watch The Fantasy Show on NFL Network, and

of course the Fantasy NFL Fantasy Podcast. Thank you my man, and um, listen, I'm I'm with Martin Laurens. I asked the same question, happens to stuff like that never happens to anybody. So from Marcus. Very good. The reboot it's coming. We were on the schedule. One of the good guys. You know, we've been here for what you've been here longer than eight years or nine years, like I've been here four thousand years. Was one of the one of the glue guys inside the company. So it's great to

see him. Yes, we love Marcus. And no, you got in that extra question. You kind of try to usurp my power as the host. It's because we're on a schedule, and we got to stay on schedule. Now we're three minutes behind schedule. We just got like twelve thousand people to draft them on st Brown in the fourteenth th round, and I think that was an amazing deep sleeper pick. So it's gonna help. We'll see how that plays out and we'll circle back to that next year with Marcus.

But coming up next on the show, the train keeps rolling. Unfortunately, do not have a boomerang ref for our next guest, but we're very excited to have him. Ah. He is one of the great fantasy writers out there. I have to thank this man for taking me to my league title last year because I just studied his writings and acted accordingly and it all worked out in the end. Rhodo Pat Pat already welcome back or welcome to Is this second time? First time? I think it's too I

think yeah. Well anyway, I welcome to the Round the NFL podcast from Rhodo World. What's up, buddy? Uh? Not much said, I'm one of the greats, but I was heard the end of Marcus is talking to me. Marcus sounds way more prepared than me. Marcus sounds really smart and in the zone. Well, there is a reason you've only been on once over the years, Um, Pat like an amazing person, writer, h fantasy analysts, and um we talked about Brick by Brick. You know a lot Dan

does on the show. Yeah yeah, our listeners might not know. You know, goal line stand that that's the rankings column over at Rhodo World. Matthew Polly started it way back in the day, and then he gave it to me. I gave it to West, and then West gave it to Rhoto Pat. Here that's the that's the lineage and he he he crushes those rankings with a lot of mirth, not even a little bit of mirth, a lot of mirth. We go we go all in on the mirth and uh yeah, no pressure following in that group. And I'm

glad you shouted out Mr Polott. Where you could probably give people like a hundred guesses who began the football rankings at Rhoda World now NBC Sports Edge and our baseball group. Matthew Polliott probably wouldn't be one of them, but yeah, Polliott is. He's like Crely the brick Layer. There's nothing that he did the entire site by himself for five years. So yeah, he's like, he's pretty I was gonna say he's one of the most unhralded, like

a secret weapons and he's pretty heralded. Actually, like he is heralded, decently heralded. He needs to be even more heralded than he is. Matthew Polliott. He is a true fantasy sports legend. We are going to talk quarterbacks now with Rhoto Pat. But on the subject of branding, and

we've talked about this on the show as well. To change in the name of that website, do you have to rebrand and pivot to NBC Sports Edge, Pat, Yeah, the Edge path Like at least Edge Pat, it's as many characters, So I have such a love hate relationship with the name Rhodo Pat. Like I like the fact that it's memorable and that it's stuck. Yeah kind of like I'm like, yeah, it's vintage. Now you know, everyone wants vintage, you know the stuff. I was nostalgic before

it was like even a thing. But you've got the children. Now you're kind You're like a grown man, and so can you. I like the fact that it's like my name are or whatever, Like I'm a one namer, but I still would have preferred at Patrick Doharty on Twitter. It's just my Irish name. Way too many characters and so you know, back in the day too, you wanted few. They counted like characters against the Uh like your name

characters counting. It's your character counts. So if people want to you can't have wasting like so many characters in the super long name. And that's how that's how Rhodo Pat was born. Well, we love it. I love the I love it as a hook for your career. But now we need to change our focus and talk quarterbacks and uh, let's start here. Let's start here. Let's talk about some m v p s pasted in present and

maybe future. Okay At Mahomes obviously the number one quarterback here, the only question becomes one, is it too early to take a Pat Mahomes? I think that factors in how your league is structured. Josh Allen, I imagine we still feel very good about Josh Allen. Uh coming off last year's incredible season. How about Lamar Jackson the two thousand nineteen? Why why not just start there? How do you feel about his prospects as a fantasy gold mine? Uh? This season,

I think he's still clear top five. And you know, like what I think Sam the only two thousand I think the three thousand yard rushing seasons in NFL history, he has two of them. Michael Vick has the third. Uh, as you probably know by now, like the way just like bank points and like the dual thread quarterbacks are such a life back and no one banks those like Lamar. But you know, he was like a little volatile and

inconsistent last year. We're like, like it was nice to have he had like that stratospheric upside with the rushing, but like the floor was like a little lower than probably should have been. Was like the passing inconsistency, Like what we really wanted for like the next level for Lamar to be like kind of like somebody you could almost like safely project is like the QB two QB one. It was like that next level in the passing game.

And was so excited to see Rashad Bateman in this offense, like someone who had success like both inside and outside in college. Really felt like, you know, like the missing no offense to Willie Sneed, but like I'm excited to see this guy in the offense. So will h shouts to Willie Willy, You've had an amazing career. You know, no expectations, you know, don't bury him. He's gonna be the number one receiver probably for the Raiders Greg and like this was so excited to see, you know, another

first round receiver. Maybe someoney would take pressure off Marquis Hollywood Brown And like it's like the Ravens really needed this, like maybe even as just someone they targeted like over the middle of the field again, even if they never got the outside cooking. And you're like Lamar's trouble getting cooking on the outside. Like another guy who can do like major damage over the middle of the field down if that's the way they want to use them, and

that's the fact that he's hurt. I was like, kind of like haywired the whole thing to me, You Lamar missing time with COVID. I guess I'm not actually worried about that, but I wanted I I felt like it was the narrative made sense at least, like there's an easy next step for Lamar to take this year, He's got like another first round weapon, and now it's just like it's how do you project like that next passing

game you're drafting? Are you taking a quarterback like a lot whether it's early or late early in late I've got my homes is the clear cut number one. But you know, I'm still who's ending up on your team's You've done a million drafts, so that is and that is the ultimate test of the fantasy analysts. I know some people it's like they put these rankings out there and it's like, who's on your team? That's what really matters. If I actually go for like an early quarterback, I've

been ending up with Russell Wilson a lot. Like I feel like, you know, one of the most maybe the most sensible m v P bet there is to me amongst people that's like not getting like a ton of m v P hype. Have not that he doesn't get m vp I. Russell always gets m PPI, but a lot of Russell Wilson, a lot of Matthew Stafford's still like going barely in the top twelve. I'm surprised by that. I thought the hype would be crazy, and I see

he's going after Herbert, who I love. But there's you know, a lot of questions there in Tannehill that that doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, there's so much narrative hype with Matthew Stafford, and I'm shocked he hasn't like crashed the top ten with McVeigh and the best weapons he's had in several years, obviously the best coaching he's had, but he's still kind of stubbornly like QB twelve, QB thirteen.

But an interesting point my us in Herbert by the way, where you know very good that he set six rookie records, but doesn't he kind of feel like an obvious statistical regression candidate. Maybe not like a real life play, but like they didn't really do anything to changing systems. They didn't really do anything that the supporting cast like it's a fine supporting cast, like as long as like Mike Williams isn't like better line, but like, yeah, they didn't

like Goose the skills supporting cast at all. That kind of feels like some obvious statistical regression to me there, I was getting a load of Jalen Hurts early in the summer. But I have allowed the Eagles they have successfully spooked me just with the way they talked about where they talk about him like he's just some guy who happens to be on the roster. They talk about like he's the someone guy who like stumbled in, Like the team is still like I guess we'll get this

guy a chance. I mean, I don't know. I have stunned looking at the ADP that that Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence are like the twelve and thirteen quarterbacks. What in what world would you want Joe Burrow coming off a torn a c L after everything, Like I wasn't that excited about him last year relatively for fantasy or Trevor Lawrence with that surrounding and that coaching staff compared to like a Matt Ryan or Baker Mayfield. I think sometimes people get a little too cute like a bake,

like Matt Ryan's gonna put up numbers. You just know he is. And so if you want to be right, and if you want if you want some upside, take Tray Lance, like I take Trey Lance, or take Justin Fields and don't even worry about your backup quarterback spot in the first month. You can totally wait like the everyone like draft for week one when they should be

drafting for the whole season. And Lance especially seems like he has, you know, top five type upside if if everything went right, I will say with Burrow, the people are getting finally spooked with Joe Burrow, like do you like I like philosophical quotes from my quarterback if they're like over the age of thirty five, like Joe Burrow, I thought, was like talking like way to philosophically like the summer like a guy who's like twenty four, What

do you mean? What what quotes? He was like maybe the one he said about like I don't know, maybe I won't trust my legs again. I mean he was saying basically that he will get there. Yeah, he was just kind of like I'm getting like us, like maybe this is who I am now. It's kind of what he was saying, Like he was like, maybe he wouldn't have like not that he's a dual threat. Some doubt

is creeping in. Maybe that seemed to have creeped in, understandably so coming off the touring a c L. But yeah, Greg the jail or not the Trey Lance movement that I think people were like, this might have been like Trey Lance week if he had just like exploded over the weekend he didn't like dud, which you know, it's all the better, all the better. I like that he struggled in the preseason because that's gonna get people off him.

But Shanahan's not off him. He's gonna be playing him in a jugger, not of an offense, potentially sooner than later, whether it's Week one or week six, Like that's so many times quarterback, more than other positions, you get guys that carry you that don't necessarily matter that much. In September, I will I will say with Trey Lance, I actually would respect the decision to not start him to begin,

which I almost never say about a rookie quarterback. But like I have gotten like a little too fixated, probably on the fact that he's an FCS prospect who's played one game in two years and it was an exhibition I believe against Central Arkansas. It's like you don't just give the young man sometime, let him like sponge stuff up from Kylie Shannon's give the young man a little time, like so I throw him out there like week six

or seven. I have actually feel like I don't have a read you know what they're gonna do with trailing I kind of actually, I really do believe it probably will be Jimmy Garoppolo week one, but like I kind of believe the rookie is gonna start until I see it. Like I just don't pay attention to any coach or whether have Zach Wilson, then Trevor Lawrence and and Borrow and and some of those guys up there too well Trevor.

I feel like people were like over have been over projecting the legs for Trevor Lawrence, like he is like a big physical guy and he had the rushing touchdowns. I'm like, I don't know, man, if the Jacksonville Jaguars are really gonna be like letting Trevor Lawrence like run in like near the goal line? Are they really on

the exposing him? It's like these huge linebacker hits. And I think that's the Trevor Lawrence like fantasy narrative has come from people like pull up a sports reference, Oh yeah, eight rushing touchdowns every year. This guy was gonna like the sneaky dual threat. But I'm having trouble that. You wonder if the Travis Etienne injury now out for the year, with that dredded Harlot Liz Frank strikes again, if maybe that will make people think, oh, maybe we'll have more

of a goal line threat. We shall see. You know, you really captured my imagination there. Rohdo Pat or NBC Sports Edge Pat with uh the the idea of the Life Hack QBS. I like that. I like that, and to me is the ultimate the guy lying in the weeds as an m v P and as the best Life Hack quarterback? Is it to you the man in Arizona, the man in the desert Kyler Murray another former number one overall pick or are there enough red flags whether it's the personnel around him or his head coach in

the scheme? Uh and even his own issues with staying healthy and all that ulysses. And where do you come down on Kyler Murder You think he's a guy that can deliver you a superstar take me into the Promised Land season, I do, I'm not sure about. I was the media including I guess I'm including us in the media. We all love Kyler Murray. So I could definitely see like an m v P narrative developing there in terms

of like winning fantasy leagues. To me, So Gregg asked me who I was drafting, and I didn't somehow didn't mention Kyler murraycause they kind of always just draft Kyler Murray no matter what year it is, no matter if it's dynasty or redraft, and or he is like the perfect modern fantasy quarterback because the only guy who has

more explosive dynamic legs is probably Lamar Jackson. And then amongst like the dual threat types, he's like, I think kind of by far the best pastor Like he's a pure passer even though he even though he's a running quarterback, to like, he just pure in terms of like the way he like he likes to pass, like his mechanics. Uh, just I love his ball placement, even though he's been

like he's still progressing as a pastor. Like amongst the guys who really like to run, I feel like he's the best past a lot of attempts to a lot of volume. Yeah, so much volume. And I just feel like he's like at that perfect crossroads of like the passing and the running where he he is beyond Pat Mahomes, who is the best American athlete on the planet. I I do Tyler Murray, I just get over and over again and fantasy and like, I feel like he is like the embodiment of what you want in a modern

fantasy court. Have you seen Yanke's first base with Anthony Rizzo? I thought you were, say, Luke voight, and I traded away trying to think currently, if you're right, you're right. I think you're right right now, not like historically, but I'm just saying that this at this moment, Kevin Durant's having a pretty strong, strong year. But yeah, I don't I don't get the difference between Mahomes and like Aaron

Rodgers being one round and fifth round. Aaron Rodgers feels like if you feel like going safe at quarterback, there's no scenario that I foresee that Aaron Rodgers doesn't absolutely deliver you great numbers this year. And and it's the flip side to like, yeah, take the justin fields that has a top five upside, but it also isn't bad to just hit doubles. And there's no way Aaron Rodgers is missing this year. There's just no there's nothing. I don't see a huge difference between him and and the

top guys at all. I think with Rogers it's as simple ast people open up his Pro Football Reference, they see his nine point one touchdown percentage from last year bolded because it led the league, and people are like, well, there's no way like his touchdown percentage will be that high again, instead of I mean it'll be fine, it'll be great, it'll be fine. Well, Greg Old, quarterbacks don't

ever have success. And what about Dak do you have any concerns with him coming off the ankle, coming off this training camp that's been marred by the shoulder issue that's led to the reps and all that stuff. Do you are you full speed ahead when it comes to Dak Prescott or you have some reservations and you're like, well, if I could choose between Deck and say, Aaron Rodgers, let me just go with the guaranteed double or the home run, or do you say I'll ride with Deck

he's ready to roll. I think I have allowed myself to become hashtag concerned, where it's kind of like a weird situation where like, well, I wish I could just worry about the catastrophic ankle injuries come back. I wish I could just focus on that, and like, you can't even just focus your injury, like anxiety from Deck on his ankle anymore. Like the shoulder. I'm sure it's fine, but yeah, it went from the classic. It's probably gonna practice,

you know, like tomorrow or Thursday too. Well, we're calling the Texas Rangers just to see what's going on with the shoulder. I like when they were like, it's nothing. What we're calling the rangers because they have no idea what this is. So that definitely raised my eyebrob. Why they were literally called the Texas Rangers to consult about his injury. They've gotta covered, They've got to cover there.

I hope, Um, you don't hold it against me, by the way, that like we call Silver the big Fish because you know, you you know, it's it's sharp elbows in the fantasy industry. We're we're friends, you know obviously, Pat you know we worked together long time. Um, but I know there's like a lot of a lot of resentment potentially. I just I call him the big dog, not the big fish. It's the only disagreement there where Evans the leader of the industry. No one an NBC

would ever say a bad worried about Evan. He's the god. Um, he's having so much success out on his own. He's like the leader of a movement. Basically, Evan. I worship at the altar of Evan still. See, it's almost like he's Evan is gain this position of power within the industry that you have to watch what you say because he's got sparrows around him, and if you say something to Evan, he might physically come down upon to just stand over you menacingly. Yeah, he'll he Evan's a rather

rather large man. Yeah, he'll just menace me and make me take like eight gold Walker shots. Uh, which is something that happened one time. By the way. He's he's he's a he's a tough one to drink with. Uh. So it's hard to keep up. And finally, my last, my last question for you wrote a Pat, which rookie will be this year is justin Herbert and why is it Zach Wilson? So I know that the Zach Wilson train has left the station. I've noticed this theme has

this week. It really did. People aren't taking him in fantasy drafts. He's probably going undrafted sometimes in in one Q leagues. Now I'm not taking him for the uh, the very scientific reason of like when I watched Zach Wilson's cost so I'm a miszoo alum. When I watched Zack Wilson, uh, he reminded me so much of Drew Lock minus the interceptions thrown to linebackers constantly. It's like

Drew Lock without the turnovers. Something that's good. The way his like physical college physical resemblance reminded me so much of Drew Lock that, like my mus pre seasons wiped that away for me. Lock at no point was as like I'm glad though that Rolepat has has mentioned this because I did need someone to bring things down a little bit for me after the second preseason game and they Drew Lock in parison I'm a little bit closer now out of to the ground. Thank you. Yeah, this

is when I watched his film. Uh yeah, I'm a big film watcher. I'm a noted film Yeah, noted tape dosh And like I said, it was good. It was like Drew Lock without the interceptions to linebackers. So I mean that could be really good as a player profile just well, well, I'm just taking a day of my day was actual, So I would say I am in entree lance. Just when Cash and I was gonna say,

whaten Kyle Shanahan hand picks someone? He has said not He's got a mixed track record lately with hand picking people. I'll say maybe beginning with like Tevin coleman Um, but when he hand picks the quarterback, was was a home runs, but I thought home run. I'm like they traded up for Dante Pettis. I'm gonna draft him in every dynasty league in existence, and then that didn't work out. Are you gonna sorry? Last last question, Um, whether it's a two QB league or you're just looking for a backup,

you going near a Patriot quarterback in this draft? I mean the only one I would go near is yet uh Mr Mr Cameron Newton, although he's missing some pretty critical uh days of camp. I think that job felt close to locked up to me for Cam, and things are just set up so beautifully for that power of rushing attack and like can't there's some crazy fantasy stat I wish I could remember. I think maybe the Lord Rich Rebard tweeted it well. I think he had like

his many Top eight Fantasy weeks last year. He had like more Top eight Fantasy weeks than like only four or five quarterbacks, you know, the other weeks he was like, you know then like below thirty. Uh, but that's the rushing is just so important in fantasy and they're set up so well to run. But yeah, now he's he's giving Mac Jones a runway to take the job where uh you know, Mac has really Cam had a six cecil preseason parents as maca the really successful appearance. He's

looking good in practice. Tom Current, NBC Sports Boston thinks he could back door the job. And now Cam, despite being perfectly healthy because of his coronavirus goof uh you know, not knowing the protocol. It's not practicing for like the most critical week of practice of training camp, and I'm afraid he may have has maybe left the door Ajar for Mr mac all right, excellent work. Follow him at Rhodo pat uh NBC Sports still an amazing site to go to go to, even though Greg left, even though

Levin Silver left and West left. When you have guys like Rhoto Pat anchoring the operation, they're almost like, I don't know why I am using a baseball reference the Tampa Bay Race, Like you think, oh, they can't survive this, they can't survive that guy. Le No, they keep thriving and building a championship contender. So check out that site, and of course read Rhoto Pat, and I sincerely do thank you. I I read you every during the season, and it makes me a smarter fantasy head. So thank you,

good sir. It's truly my pleasure. And you just made me sound like I think I'm the most important NBC employees since. And you've got a podcast to which I joined like a month ago, and I was honking hard about Marcus Callaway and all the little fantasy experts on the show. We're like whenever now now it's now, it's come around where everyone's in on Callaway, I would say, I have a hundred percent Marcus Calloway exposure, as we say in the industry. Now he's gonna be a lot

more expensive after what happened Monday night. But you were right, you were You've been beating that. That wasn't a necessary Colm. I don't know why. I only remembered it because his buddy Danny reminded me on he's been fired. He's been he'd be fired, he's been. Let go. All right, There he goes Rhodo Pat, Pat Dharty, thank you, buddy. There he goes Rhodo Pat. Is it just me Gregor? It is Pat to already have like a connor or vibe that just matches well with this show. Absolutely. He He

is legitimately one of the funniest people I know. And West would always talk about that too, like a lot of people, a lot of sportswriters think they're funny, you know, Pats pets legit funny. But someone on Twitter pointed out something that blew my mind speaking of Connor, and I'm wondering for your take on it. You might have to listen to the tapes. Someone noticed that a Reef Hasan actually was my friend, my friend Adam who has a

Great Saints Twitter podcast guest on Monday Show. Yeah, that a Reef Asan and connor Or sound a lot alike. Their voices are very similar. And then I thought about it. I was like, okay, I see that, is it possible that we are all connor Or in some ways? Just like the tone of it and the way they talk. I can I can feel it. What if this is all just a simulation and Connor's running it like Algae Rhythm from Space GM two. I'm in trouble then I don't feel confident of about what's gonna happen to me.

Like don Cheedle, you don't have to say yes to everything. If a script lands in your lap and I said, hey, Space Jam sequel, Lebron's involved, that's pretty cool. You're gonna be the bad guy. Um, just a heads up. The character's name is Algae Rhythm, and you're a bad guy inside computer hard drive or something, and you're gonna be speaking for sent of the movie. I would say Algae Rhythm.

It's like all Algae Rhythm, that's his movie. Maybe pass There are some red flags sometimes just simply through a name. I'm with you. I'm just delighted that we're having a breakout algae rhythm conversation on both of my podcast because we spent the solid fifteen minutes on the Jessel Nick and Rosa Tom talking about algae rhythm. Then this this development when your kids start to get old enough to go to the movies and stuff and you start seeing some of this stuff, It's like, WHOA, what is going

on over there in Holly Weird? Am I right? Speaking of Holly Weird? Our next guest I just learned was on one of my favorite TV shows as like Head Nurse Number seven. Um, um the show and now really yeah, this is true story. I just this is research and this one pays off, just like in fantasy, research pays off. She is now really the boss over at Yahoo Fantasy. Liz Losa, Welcome back to the Round the NFL podcast.

What was it like working with the great Key for Southern That is a whole evening we'll have to discuss. But actually, um, I only was supposed to have like three lines in the episode. But I am very good and this will shock you in no way. Given uh my now profession, I'm very good at managing men with short tempers and um, key for Sutherland in fact, fired another actor and gave me another episode and a promotion because he had a temper tantrum. And you know, thank

you to my mother's dating history. I'm really good at um managing Brown toddlers for you. How about that? That's amazing I have and I have a great before we get into running Backstock with Liz, a really quick great Keefer story. Um a friend. This is back when I was living in New York. Keefer likes to go out and get loose and have fun. And he's my buddy's coming out of the bar. And who's kind of stumbling

out of the bar, but it's Keefer Sutherland himself. And this at the height of twenty four theme and the guy my buddy, he was feeling no pain himself. He went up to Keep you and says, Keefer, you're my hero man. And then Keeper looks at him dead in the eyes and goes, I'm no hero, I'm a disaster. I would say that's pretty um, pretty on point for

what I experienced. But he went again. He was very very kind to me, and I got myself another episode, which as a whole I still get residuals from that show, so please keep watching. Wow, that's great itself gets um self awareness by him at least, and a sign of self confidence by you two that you're you've got a small part on this show and that you had um the confidence in who Liz Losa is to to be able to talk to the superstar and calm the situation

down and just realize he's another person. He's a disaster. Let's get into it. I don't know how we will running backs. Oh well, the running back landscape is also a disaster. Why is the running back landscape a disaster in the year, Well, we have a lot of this is no surprise in the year, but a lot of shared back field. We had a bunch of injuries just

over the last couple of days. We have a bunch of like electric rookies with that's that have durability concerns, and so like this running back dead zone, it's fantasy fans like to call it is a complete cadre of question marks. If you will like running back fifty five. I tweeted my rankings and just wrote, blessed this mess because it could go either way. I think you could even extend that after you know, the top five or six that there was this I feel like awareness among

fantasy heads. It's like running backs very volatile, it's very risky. You know. Wide receivers have as much upside sometimes and are such sure bets. And yet when I look at the average draft position, I'm the fantasy outsider. Now it feels like it's swung all the way back around because I'm looking at all these picks and it's back to

so running back heavy early. You know, guys I mentioned Aaron Jones and Barkley getting you know, first round, but mixing and Edwards, Hilaire and Jacobs and Carson and Montgomery and like they're all going in round two or three against the best wide receivers in the league. And just as a philosophy, I don't I don't think I'm not I'm not doing it. I'm not touching any of those

guys because to me, the receivers are all better bets almostly. Well, you're making a good point because in this like running back dead zone, in this glut of like you know, running back, like I said, running back fifteen to thirty maybe, um, that is where last year we found Stefon Diggs for example, right, Like that's where you're going to find some of those receivers. But it is just really hard to look at your roster and not but also that's where you found David

Montgomery last year. So it is hard to look at your roster and not think about all of the facts and the construction and the balance that you're trying to achieve. And also, I mean, I'm not one who likes to say like I am zero RB or zero wide receiver. I think and this is something our our friend Chris Westling would say all the time, like just take the best player. Can get so frustrated, like I don't know, what are you trying to do? Just take the guy

who's the best at the spot. That's what NFL teams do. Um. So I think there's a lot of h like a lot of credence to that, and it makes a lot of sense. But I also think when you're actually in a draft, like I don't know if Chris Chris, if Chris Carson is the RB fifteen and he's available, I am not going to talk myself out of that talent because I know he won't stay on the field for now seventeen weeks in a season, right, But that is

something that other people will do. So we mentioned Clyde Edwards Hlaire and I was one of those people who got sucked in last year. I think I took him in the top fifteen and it all made on paper and everyone was telling me how specially was going to be and coming out of LSU he was such a stud. Um. We're hearing now the hype machine around him is building up again that he's more comfortable in the offense, that he's been more involved in the passing game at training camp.

Are you buying in on that breakout season that never happened last year happening in year two or is that somebody to stay away from for you? Well, I'm not staying away from him. He's my RB fourteen in my ranking, so just above that zone that I was talking about, he's in the on the bubble heading into the dead zone. Um, but I think you've got the draft pedigree, you have what look to be a special talented else. You also have a lit offense and um, the approval slash enjoyment

from Patrick Mahomes. All of these things line up. I would say that he is not the workhorse and is probably not going to be the workhorse we anticipated, but that offense lifts enough that if he can start getting the passing down reps that you're mentioning, then I don't understand why he can't be a low end RB one, high end RB two. Yeah, And I like the way that their running game looks. In terms of their offensive line,

they're starting three rookies. Orlando Browns have better run blocker like they they really got the tape heads excited during training. Came because, I mean during the priests, because they're showing a lot more like a lot more power running and like different schemes Andy Reid's using the preseason I think to tell people that, like, we are going to run

the ball more. I though, like I'm with you, you should always just take every draft as it comes, and West would say I always said, like, always be flexible, just don't don't have set rules. But just kind of looking overall, I have a feeling I'm going to think those receivers are better and that you're gonna have to take some running backs late and work the waiver wire. I'm gonna give you a handful of names I would love it running back. You tell me which ones I'm

wrong or wrong about Mike Davis. Wow, I can't believe he's as late as he is for the Falcons. I could see him being a top five to ten running back uh in that situation. Javanti Williams love him. Damian Harris just love the talent, trace sermon. I'll even throw in a j Dillon like any one of those guys. If you're not taking running backs early, I feel like you get one later. Who who's your favorite or least

favorite out of that group? Al Right? So my so, first of all, I agree with you on Mike Davis. I am guilty of I think Mike Davis suffers from the Tim Patrick syndrome because his name is Mike Davis, right, Like, You're just not expecting this baller, and all of the attention, frankly is on Kyle Pitts and Arthur Smith, the former tight ends coach working in this like wide receiver and actuality. So I think he is getting buried a little bit. But of the names you picked, I love Damien Harris.

I've always I loved Damian Harris since he came out. People like to forget that Damian Harris was the RB one at Alabama ahead of Josh Jacobs. Even though Jacobs had all these like flash plays, the knock against him was that he couldn't be a workhorse. And oh what are we seeing? Like efficiency issues probably linked to durability issues. And so the Raiders bringing Kenyan Drake to kind of solve that problem. We'll see if they can. Regardless, Damian Harris is like a jack of all trades but a

master of none. But he is reliable. We're seeing Sony. I mean this Sony Michelle News now going to Los Angeles. We had the clues the team didn't pick up his option. Bill Belichick gushed as much as Belichick will gush about Harris um, and I just think this is a guy who can do everything. They have a rookie who's flashed in some places, who early on was combed by the RBS coach fears Um to be similar to la Garrett Blunt.

So now I feel like Damian Harris is just forgotten because there is a narrative and we all get stuck in this recency bias nonsense. The narrative surrounding the Patriots is that you never trust the Patriots running back. Well, things change. We saw that in fact, particularly with the Patriots last year, Dan, that's a nod to you. And now you have Damien Harris as the RB one. I have him as my RB twenty. You said some big time Patriots running back years over the years, they pop.

It doesn't usually go one year after another. But Corey Dillan certainly I love that with Harris. Their their offensive line should on paper is a top three run boxing offensive line, and especially if Cam starts, they're going to be just running the ball time. Who would you rather have, Liz Jonathan Taylor, who really obviously busted out down the shirts for the Colts last season, or se Kwan Barkley. I have him back to back. It's interesting to say

that I have them back six and seven in my rankings. Um, I think when you look so the conundrum about Barkley to me is not coming back from the knee injury. That's one thing. I think he's going to be explosive. I think he's a lee enough of an athlete to

regain what he was before. The question is he going to get the volume that he had the before and when you noticed the fact that he was the high draft capital, the second overall pick, and like the urgency on behalf of Gettleman in the front office to protect this investment. He's just not going to see the number of touches and particularly not the number of targets through the air, especially with all of these new path catchers added to the offense. So I think the issue with

Barkley is like he's not He'll have the talent. He's just not gonna get the volume that we're used to. Taylor, to me, is a lesser proved talent. There's no Quentin Nelson. I'm not sure about Carson Wentz. I think we probably overreacted to the injury, but I'm still not feeling great about that offense. And rich loves n he minds and Marlon Mack is healthy, so I don't think we're gonna

get volume there either. So overall, when I judge those two situations, I'm going in the direction of Barkley because talent always breaks tiebreakers. I I worry about Partance. I would I would um. I don't know, just he wasn't that consistent runner before he got hurt. A lot of show you know, a lot of like losses. Jason Garrett's the you know, a lot of you know, tackles for lost.

Jason Garrett's the play caller. You you mentioned West earlier that that reminds me and and our listener should know Liz is um on this show because you know she's such a We got to know Liz through through West. Great great friend, longtime friend of West. He he. I remember when he called Jonathan Taylor one of the top five or six running backs in the league around like week fourteen last year. I was like, whoa like? And and I think it was right just in terms of

pure talent. You're right about the situation is not perfect there for him. But if if I'm betting on just talent, I actually would go on Jonathan Taylor's talent at this point over Barkley coming off an injury just because the injury has It's just there's too much even if there's like a fifteen percent chance that Barkley is like her and never the same like, I'm just gonna take a guy that's not her right now and Johnathan, I think

that it depends on the evaluation then, right. My my issue with not saying that Taylor is as health or as talented right now is that the benefit of running behind Wisconsin's offensive line in college, right, So that's helpful. One has never had a good offensive line. That still remains the case, and now without Plentin wealth Nelson, I'm worried that, like one or two more injuries, what does Taylor's efficiency actually look like? We we don't know what

it looks like behind a thin offensive line. UM, and my last question for you, Mslissa, which is listen. Mark Sessler is recovering right now. He's gonna be back, hopefully at either end of this week or next week. So I'm on his behalf. As I did on Monday, I must bring up Jake Funk, the number two, thirty third overall pick in the NFL draft. What is the Sony

Michelle acquisition mean for Jake Folk? Can? I'm not I didn't know that Mark was sick, though, please give him my best eyed doorm and I'm bummed he's not here to join. Um. I you, oh, you work in fantasy when you have nugs on all of these players. And I am drafting an all rookie squad article that's gonna run next week and Jake Funk was prior to this morning's news. UM. On that list are Charles Robinson, who's our NFL insider at Yahoo Sports went to training camp

and the staff was super high on Funk. They were like, Nope, we're not going to bring in a vet. It's Funk. It's Funk. And then like Xavier Rhods I believe his name is, was like running in the preseason and I was like, well, I said, but then Funk had a really good week two preseason game. I do think when you see Sony Michelle coming in, though, all the like man to like a fifth and sixth round conditional twenty

two pick is like not a lot of anything. But I do think we have to then imagine that Sony Michelle is the backup to Darryl Henderson. But I also don't think that they did anything about that until Henderson hurt his thumb. I think that everybody was like, uh, they think Henderson's the guy. They're worried about his durability. Now his thumbs an issue. You see the trade for Sony Michelle, but Sony Michelle has not been the picture of hell. I think that Funk is gonna get like,

here's my bold prediction for Mark Sessler. I think Funk is going to have two top twenty fantasy outings in twenty two. That would be a big win at this point. Yeah. I mean that's a guy, you know, when he's drafted hoping that he makes the team. So that's that's a big time numbers out of the realm of possibility, right.

I like it they can both get. Do you have any other guys sort of late in the draft that you like, maybe not that late, but you know, mid mid to late when whenever that that is on a lot of loads of teams that you well, I am drafting, Well, first of all, I'm drafting Robby Anderson. He's not late, but he's too late everywhere. I think he needs to get some respect put on his name. The amount of the like complete rebrand that he was able to handle

last year is very impressive, but super late. My guy is Gerald Everett, tight end, former Ram now reuniting with his former position coach they Shane Waldron in Seattle, and I think even if like Russ doesn't cook like even at a simmer, Gerald Everett has a chance to be number three in targets in that offense. And for a tight end who's going in the like sixteenth rounds of twelve team exercises, I think he's a great dart throw. He is there. You're right, he's their third receiver. They

don't have a third receiver. And Russ sneaky likes feeding tight ends. He just never has a good one. Ever. It's always hurt too. They always have like seven of them. But if you add up all their numbers, it always adds up pretty good. You're right that Everett could could be a little Well, there's no Greg Olsen, there's no Hollister, and there's no David Moore. So that's like a hundred

and fifty vacated books. She keeps. She keeps poorly behaved men in line and just delivers fantasy knowledge, uh, like a faucet running on high. And also she gets residuals what do they call that in the industry, They call that mailbox money. You get that mailbox money, uh, from the Fox Corporation every month or so. So everything's cooking for Lizlow. So I guess that's what I'm saying. I guess everything everything is cooking. Yeah, and we've got f

one but I can't. You guys, you guys have got to have started to watch Survived, to drive right, to survive, I have watched I have watched a couple episodes and I meant to finish finish it off. I've watched some F one in my time a little bit. It was recommended to me highly that program I have not dove in, and it is and I would love actually a Mark Sessler driven pod about F one on the inspiration, on

the inspirational heels of having watched drive the survey. He doesn't enjoy driving cars, you know, he's kind of anti food and anti cars in general. But that would be that would make it, I think it even more. There's the hook. That's the whole hook of it. Liz, I will I will give Mark that, I'll give me your regards and I'll give him that little career tip. But thank you for joining us and best of luck this season and hope to see you at a league tent

pole event in the not so distant future. Thanks so much, guys, have to see you soon. You know. Liz was awesome, all the guests awesome. This was a really good, strong edition of the Fantasy Extravaganza. As we we we seek to give you the listener the perfect fantasy draft and

have the perfect season. And it is perfect to me that even after last year's struggles and how he bungled and you'll never convince me otherwise the end of the Tom Brady era that I could still see a headline like I'm reading right now from CBS Sports dot Com. Sony Michelle trade grades Colan Bill Belichick works as magic

again while Rams gained viable running back. You mean the same Bill Belichick that took Sony Michelle thirty one overall in Tell me how these draft picks that he's gained in this trade is a indication of his magic, Please, stupid. I mean, here's the thing. It's not a bad trade for either side either, but you don't need to make it into something and into it's not. It's too late round conditional picks, which might turn into very little at most. It's like one, you know, at least, it's like one

late round pick. It's it's nothing. It's just getting to pick an undrafted player essentially in front of anything. It's just as a sign they have a bunch of running backs on their roster that they like and that's fine, um a bunch of yes. But still in the media carrying his water right, I agree with you. This is not an example to make any take one way or another. It's fine. It's fine for both sides. Um and Sony Michelle was taken over Lamar Jackson. All reports indicate that

they were thinking hard about taking Lamar Jackson. I'll never forget it. And by the way, he was also taken over another Georgia running back, taking very soon in that same draft after them, named Nick Chubb. So yes, I I saw your tweets. People who are like Sony Michell won them as super Bowl It's like, yeah, I'll never forget that playoff run by Sony Michelle. They did get one more super Bowl, and he played very well in

that stretch. But you don't think they could have filled in that production with someone else, with Antoine Smith or La Garrett Blunt or whoever it is that they found to you know, hand the ball off. It's like they would have found someone. It was a fan and it was a bad It does pop out every once in a while, good stuff, really good stuff. I feel more prepared for my draft. Do you have a draft? Greg? Are you completely out there? Do you have a league?

You have to admit him out? Yeah? That's fun. You know, you don't have to admit it. It's fun. I think it's a way for you to like sometimes you'll like you'll do that thing like I'm different, Like I'm not going to get a peloton, I'm gonna get a Nordic track because I'm off the beaten path. I'm not going to do a fantasy league because that's what you do as a basic I think that's kind of what the angle you're playing here. But that's I respect you for

what I mean. That says more about you that that's how you interpreted it. Because of course I did keep Fantasy League going one or two for a while after leaving Rhoda World, but I I found I got nothing out of it that I really got. I got a little bit of stress and no enjoyment. It's funny we even have this one and last thing to worry about. We have this stupid fun league that we do just like Connie Gonzo, mark Erica, myself, just like a fun

little like an NFL media hive group. And you didn't even do that with us, And it was just everybody was just like, you know, we're on this private text change. It's like burying you. Like we're all just like, what's wrong with Greg? Why can't he just have fun with us. But he needs to make this stance about how he's above fantasy life. It's it's it's um and the immortal words of Don Draper like fantasy football to me, like

that's what the money's for. Like that's not really the context it's for at all, But it's like like I got into it. I loved playing in those high I love the high stakes league. I loved like playing for my rent or like you know, paying for a trip to I loved playing for the money. I didn't I wasn't playing for like the the to the scratching that

certain you're not allowed. You're not allowed to at the NFL play for uh for money and um or over Like it's a very small amount of league, and it's like what's the point, Like I have enough distractions and all right, fair enough. But for the millions of other listeners, UM and fans of our league, this is a big next couple of weeks. So best of luck to all

of you with your drafts. And remember my bit of advice I give every year, Uh friends do let friends drink and draft, but just make sure it's not you. Just hold back on the drinking until you get out of that, you know, ninety minute window of your draft, then cut loose with your buddies. That's all I got for you. Do you have any advice for the fans of the sport fantasy sport Greg before we take well, it's it's kind of duck dailing off. Yeah, that West advice,

which I really believe. And don't worry about the rank. You know, draft the team you want, draft and drafted better players, like who's better at football matters a lot more than um the situation, Like, don't don't worry about being bold, like I would much rather have Terry McLaurin than Sae Kwan Barkeley, Like I don't care that it's third, you know, the adp than versus six or seven. Just

take who you want. You know, if you're in love, if you're in love with the Chiefs and watching Patrick Mahomes and you have a chance to take Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey, it's mostly luck anyways. Old you know, old Clyde in the corner making fun of you for your pick. He doesn't know anything either, is it Clyde Edwards Hilair? I do I do remember some

very making fun of you for picking Clyde Edward. I do remember some very aggressive NFL analysts bragging about taking Clyde Edwards Hilaire like first overall and like people are people are to see? All right, never again, all right, good stuff, we'll be back. Well, we'll do a bunker cast on Friday, just get you or Thursday getting you caught up on the news that's transpired since the last Monday episode. UM So keep an eye off for that. But until then, UM, enjoy this podcast, maybe bookmark it,

listen to it again. Right before your draft. We guarantee you we'll win you some guap. All right, the perfect draft, that's what you're going for. Till Thursday. He ca