Daniel Jones vs. Drew Lock, Panic Over Chargers’ WR Room, and The Scott Fish Bowl Preview

Hey everybody, it's Wednesday, Jude twenty six, twenty twenty four. Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football POCAP. But we're reminded it's crazy to be a sports fan. It's me and your man, MG, Marcus Grandjoy, My, Michael f Florio, and Lakwan Jones. I was gonna mention this on yesterday show completely kind of slipped my mind, but you know, like being sports being a sports fan is sort of a crazy,

I mean he has.

He has texted us a couple of times since Monday nights, so we appear, it appears, at least on the surface, that all is well, unless unless somehow his son is just ghost texting for him. But it was just a reminder that being a sports fan is just stupid.

Yeah, maybe we shouldn't do it. It's also hilarious, like the fat at Canada. Look, look, I'm not gonna talk about the soccer thing. I'm not a hockey guy at all, but the fact that Canada as a country hasn't won a Stanley Cup in.

Over thirty years thirty is hilarious to me.

I was trying to think of, like, could you imagine if like eighty percent of the NFL moved to like Canada and then like all of those teams kept winning super Like if you know, if somehow we were like holding on to the Jaguars and like the Falcons is our last chance to win Super Bowls? Like oh gosh, I feel bad for Canada man, like this is their national sport and like it's it's basically been.

Taking and we dominate them minute.

Yeah, we dominate, right, even though most of them are Canadian.

The funniest part is, though I've talked to some Canadians, like mostly Canadians on the West Coast, like British Columbia or whatever, who were sort of like, yeah, man, if it's not the Canucks, then I don't care.

I think you know. It was like sort of like, yeah, like whatever, cheer for whatever. It's not the Canucks, Like that's my team, I don't really care.

So whatever, We're gonna dive into some off season storylines that maybe are overblown, maybe deserve more attention. The inspiration for this was an article that our own Eric ed Holm wrote on NFL dot com.

You can go check it out.

Plus, we're gonna die into a preview of the scott Fish Bowl because we're just a few weeks away, a couple of weeks away actually from the sf BE draft kicking off. It's just only a fun day on Twitter when people are posting their first picks. So yeah, we'll dive into that in just a little bit. But first let's get to Eric ed Holmes article. It is at NFL dot com. It is titled five NFL offseason storylines

No, I don't think so. I disagree with ed with at home on this one, because if it was like Bryce Young's rookie year or Trevor Lawrence's rookie year, then yeah, then it's like, Okay, what did you expect these guys to do in year one?

But I would make the yard that at.

Least in recent history, a number one quarterback has never gone into a better situation like he's throwing to DJ Moore, who is a proven wide receiver, one Keenan Allen, who is potentially a future Hall of Famer and still at the peak of his game.

And then you add in Roma Dunsa.

And all the weapons they're like, this has been a build up, and kudos to Ryan Poles. He saw the vision well before a lot of other people. But the Bears have been building up for this season for three years now and all the pieces are in place. So like, I think the Bears could make the playoffs this year. I think Caleb could throw for four thousand yards. I think that's all on the table. I'm not saying if those things don't happen, it's a failure.

But if Caleb goes out.

There and looks lost and really struggles and has like a very down year one, I think we're gonna the narrative around the Bears is going to be very very different a year from now.

Yeah, I mean, I guess you agree though that that's overblown or are you the only read that it's overblown?

Lakwan, Yeah, it's not overblown. Like this is a real factor.

You have this caliber of a quarterback coming in with a very strong wide receiver corps, with a great running back room as well. Like, the expectations are going to be high. This is the best team Bears fans I've probably seen in the last twenty years. To be honest, Like, I feel as though, like you have Caleb Williams the quarterback that he is, Like, you're going to enjoy the ride regardless of what it is, because we know they're going to go out there and win some games with

Bowl Offensively, the Bears have been great defensively all the time.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah, let me clean that up.

I guess I sort of agree with him that it's sort of overblown because I've been the ones saying that I don't think he's gonna hit four thousand yards in his rookie year.

I don't. I think it happens.

I think he will hit that mark in his career, maybe year two, year three. I don't see it happening in year one. I wouldn't looked. There have been six rookie or five rookie quarterbacks, only five rookie quarterbacks to throw for four thousand yards in a season, right Obviously CJ. Stroud the most recent to do it. Andrew Luck did it in twenty twelve. Justin Herbert did it in twenty twenty, Cam Newton in twenty eleven.

Jamis Winston. Let's go Winston.

So I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think if he goes out and throws for thirty seven thirty eight hundred yards, I think that's a really good season.

It's not four thousand, it's a win.

I know Bears fans are hoping that Caleb is the guy that leads him to the Promised Land, that he takes him to the super Bowl. I will just say to you, are we thinking that Patrick Mahomes is going to retire soon? I mean, like, right, I guess if you're gonna make a Super Bowl right now, the NFC is probably the place to do it.

Yeah, because in the AFC, you've.

Got Mahomes, You've still got Lamar Jackson, You've got Josh Allen. You know, it looks like you've got CJ. Stroud to deal with now, Joe Joe Burrow. You've got so many good quarterbacks to deal with on the AFC side. There isn't that depth of quarterback on the NFC side, So maybe that's a better spot. I know we've been hearing about Caleb for a couple of years. I know he's supposed to be the next generational thing. It just feels like this idea that he walks in in year one

What what would in your opinion, then, Marcus, what would be a disappointing year for Caleb?

I mean, look, I think if he struggles, if he if he's just around three thousand yards, I think if you're looking at a touchdown interception ratio that is somewhere close to one to one, I think I think that's going to be disappointing. Also, you know, factor in the division that he's in, right, the Lions were in the NFC championship game. Uh, the the Packers made the playoffs, and they look like they are continuing to improve, you know. I mean the Vikings, I think are still sort of

Especially in year one for Caleb Williams. There's a reason we keep.

Saying that Jayden Daniels is the fantasy quarterback we want from the rookie class, right, Like, if that's the guy we want in fantasy in year one, how are we expecting Caleb Williams to just come out and just be gangbusters this year?

It just I don't know, man.

I will say, as much as I love Jade and Daniels and and I think I do agree, he's the one I want more in fantasy.

If any rookie has a CJ. Strout type rookie year, it's going to be Caleb Williams.

Yeah, No, I could buy that the tools.

I will also say they did win seven games last year.

True.

I will push back though, Lakwan, I'm a little nervous about about Keenan Allen this year.

I don't like saying it.

I love Keenan Allen, I love him, but older guy, he's been banged up the last couple of years.

Uh, you know, I don't know.

I know people have done the research on this, but veteran wide receivers moving to a new offense that first year, but.

He's in the slot, he's not gonna be doing much.

He also has more target competition than maybe he's ever had in his career too. Never never had this, never had this much depth in a wide.

Name with Dj Moore too. That's kind of my case to not really go so heavy on Dj Moore that he's never had this target competition his entire career.

He's always been the only guy I've pushed.

I'm a I'm like, yeah, we're doing We're drafted it.

I guess.

Ironically, the Bears wide receiver almost likely to draft is probably Roman Doonsday because he's far the cheapest.

All right, So we got it all covered between the three. It's great. Uh.

Speaking of wide receivers, one thing that Eric at Holmes says is overblown is the panic over the Chargers wide receivers that we've been sitting here saying that, well, they got Jim Harball and Greg Roman, then they drafted an offensive lineman and they bring in Gus Edwards and JK.

Dobbins. Then you reminds you, like, look, they're.

Still going to throw the football, yeah, because they've got Justin Herbert. They do draft, they did draft Lad McConkie. They're trying to rebuild Quinton Johnston and more of the image that he was at TCU. So, lakwan, have we gone too far freaking out over the Chargers passing game?

I think at this point, Yeah, just how high the overblown has gone of, like just completely counting out Justin Herbert. He's still a great quarterback man and you have some pieces there that you're hopeful for lat mcconfie comes in as a.

Reliable target for him.

You still have Joshua Palmer who's shown the flashes in the past. He hasn't been consistent, but neither has his opportunities. Like if you look at the games that he played last season that he had sixty five percent of the snaps, he had two one hundred yard games in there, and he averaged seventy five receiving yards per game. Very small sample,

FLOORYA, are you still willing to give Quinton Johnston another shot? I mean last year was bad, but.

Yeah, last year was bad.

Uh It.

He's not someone that I'm gonna like want on every one of my teams. But I haven't, in like my early best ball drafts, taken a shot or two on him because I was saying a lot of what the Chargers came out like. I just never felt like he was used in a way that fits his skill set. I think everyone see and Marcus. When we saw him in person at training camp last year, we were like, oh my goddess, like imagine him. But then you watch the tape and you're like, he doesn't play that way.

He's a yat guy.

But I believe in Lad McConkie as well. Like I comp him to Tyler Lockett. He's an excellent separator. I think he can be like long term, be there one and Quentin Johnson could be there too, even though when you look at them you probably think it would be the other way around. But yeah, I expect a lot of running from this team, so I'm not I agree.

But now you see he's going outside the top fifteen quarterbacks in some drafts.

And I'm taking a shot on him then, because I keep thinking what if, And this is what I wanted to ask you guys, like what if they let him run more? Because you look at at the coaching staffs and their history with running quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick, Tara Taylor, Lamar Jackson for Greg Roman, They've always had a quarterback that runs Herbert Ken run.

He just wasn't asked to do so a whole bunch with the previous regime.

Maybe a little bit more, I don't.

I guess they have some designed runs for him, right, Like he's never gonna be the guy I think that just takes off and breaks out, right, We're not gonna think of him as Lamar or you know, Jaden Daniels or Anthony Richardson. Maybe they design a few more runs for him.

I don't know, really, I don't know. Do you think they use him near the goal line more importantly, I guess.

Oh god, no, no, I keep him away from the goal line, it's going to get banged up again. I mean the ribs man that that would be my biggest fear if they start getting him to run more. I just think him as a pocket passer, as a as a quarterback that has the great decision making and makes the right choices, and if you have this offense of what it is, I think getting him outside the top fifteen is kind of a steal because he's still part of that five thousand yard club. He's still a guy

Way, yeah, no, I mean at that price, absolutely, that's a sweet price.

I definitely overblown with the running thing.

Yeah, I'm I'm hoping for like four to five hundred rushing yards because he's always been over two and a.

Three touchdown guy pretty much every year in his career. So we get that up to like.

Four hundred yards and five rushing touchdowns, and I think he makes up for all the passing loss.

Yeah, that would be interesting. We'll take a week break, come back. We'll dive into more of these offseason storylines in just a bit. Here on the NFL Fantasy Football podcast, Eric at Home on NFL dot Com has a story about five offseason storylines that are overblown, five that deserve more attention. We talked about a couple that were overblown. Let's talk about a couple that he thinks deserve more attention. One he talked about with the quarterback situation for the Giants.

I think so, although I don't think there's a ton of competition for who starts Week one, Like I am a firm believer that I think the Giants, because of how invested they are into him and because of what they got out of him two seasons ago, are going to give Daniel Jones at least another opportunity, and his

I mean, so I'll ask you, Lakwa. I mean, right, we're not really drafting Daniel Jones. But if you are drafting, say Melik Neighbors, or if you decide you want to maybe take a swing at one Dale Robinson, do you have a preference of who you'd like to see a quarterback.

Man, it probably would be Daniel Jones. But honestly, it's like it's very close because his leash is very short. He could be pulled week two, week three if he's still struggling, because I think you bring in a guy like Drew Locke because he has put on tape. He could step in for that game for Gino Smith. He can go out there and put some points on the board. So I feel as though, like it's a nasty situation if you're looking to invest in any Giants.

Wide receivers because the quarterback play, it's.

Gonna matter a ton, But like we should kind of just look at Daniel Jones for what he is. He does, still had the rushing upside. Two seasons ago, he was top ten. I just feel as though it's not really going to be like a large leash that he'll have. So honestly, I'm not really looking into either one of these guys for fantasy or the wide receivers.

I mean, like I've drafted the Leak neighbors a few times.

I will say that I've taken some end of draft I mean like round seventeen eighteen dart throws at Jalen Hyatt's Yeah, and but I'm not doing it based on who I think the quarterback is gonna be. I'm doing it based on because I think these guys are talented or their level of talent and the fact that they can potentially earn targets in certain situations.

That's kind of it.

That's I will say. I think Drew Locke is purely.

Running on vibes.

Like I know, it was a small sample size last year, but you look at his numbers and he's the same quarterback he's always been. But when he's out there, it looks fun and and he's got all this confidence and stuff, but at the end of the day, he's still.

Kind of Drew lock.

Yeah.

I think that's that's probably lock it up last one here? Uh That that Eric ed Holme thinks deserves more attention Anthony Richardson's shoulder, and he brings it up because Richardson talked about having a little bit of shoulder soreness. Now he says it's not a big deal, but he said it set off some alarm bells for him that you talk about quarterbacks and shoulder soreness. That is something that's a little bit of a red flag, especially for a

If we're hearing about it in July and August, when when training camp in preseason and stuff is going on, Yeah, if we hear about it impacting his ability to make certain throws, or or it hurts on the long anything like that, I will one hundred percent take notice too. A player working their way back from injury, first time, really ramping up in June dealing with some soreness, to me,

Deal, are you. I'm sure you are drafting him, lakwan. I mean, how high are you willing to draft him? And you're drafting him as a top five, top six quarterback and will this change anything?

I'm drafting them as like a top seven quarterback. I feel as though, like it's good to hear it now, Like there's some soreness in the shoulder which he's recovering from rehab, I mean gained the way he's just been sitting on the couch, you know, like reading plays and reading the playbook and stuff like that. But hopefully that's just him shedding some rust off. But we're hearing about it now, like it would be in the back of

I would say, you know, it does give me a little bit of pause, But I think the the thing that doesn't concern me so much is that generally we're not drafting him for the passing ability. We hope it comes together. We hope, I mean, we hope that becomes a thing, right, We hope he improves there because that's gonna certainly, you know, raise his ceiling. It's gonna you know,

So you know, I get it.

I understand reason to sort of you know, look at that a second time, but it's not stopping me from drafting him where I have been, especially in Best Ball.

One thing on Richardson real quick, we don't hear about it a lot.

But like Shane Styken was part of the brain trust that invented the.

Toush push and Anthony Richardson is every bit as capable of completing that as Jayleen.

Don't don't say that out loud, because anybody who's drafting Jonathan Taylor does not need.

You don't.

You don't need Jonathan Tailor getting down to the one and then they just decide to toush push. Anthony richards called the Brotherly Shove in Indianapolis, like, I don't know what they would call it.

Oh man, now I gotta think of that. It's kind of bother me.

I don't know. I'm gonna I'm gonna try to come up with some things. But what's like a break first, and I can come up with some things. Maybe during the break we'll come back.

We'll talk about the Scott FISHBOWLT coming up very soon. We'll talk about some draft strategies for that one. That's next on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, It is time to Drive your Draft, presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camery figured this week, the way to talk about driving your draft is to focus on a specific draft, that being the Scott Fish Bowl, the fourteenth edition of

I'm like, oh, crap.

So it's a super plex league's a night end premium, so they get one and a half points per reception, but it is lower for quarterbacks and running backs, just a half.

Point ppr for those players.

I guess it doesn't really matter so much for quarterbacks because they're generally not catching the football.

But you never know. I you take some hills of the world out.

There, Oh, that's why it's there.

That's exactly why it's there. And then kickers get involved here in an interesting way. Three point three points for every extra point, and then decimal bonus is for field goal. So for instance, a thirty seven yard field goal is three point seven points. A twenty four yarder is two point four points. So if you have a kicker that kicks a lot of long field goals forty and fifty yarders, then potentially that is an advantage for you there. So

I have to do more drafts, but I did a mock just the other day and like, I want to get on these mobile quarterbacks like asap, because they were flying off the board and it's like, you want your Josh Allens, you want your Jalen Hurts, and you want your Colin Murrays and et cetera.

Et cetera.

Because you're only getting one point for fifty yards in the passing yards of the Scorge system, so you kind of want a quarterback that can double dip because man, you're you're gonna be getting the extra little bonus points from the running as well for each yard. So I think, you know, I want to lock up the mobile quarterbacks early and then hit on the tight ends because that premium is going to be awesome because they get a

You talk about the Travis Kelces the Sam Report. Is there also another feature? There is points per first down too. You do get a point per first down. I mean, Florida, could we see maybe a couple of tight ends sneak into the first rounds in these drafts?

I definitely think you could. I'll never be the one doing it in the super Flex. My strategy in super Flex is almost always the same. I'm going to grab a quarterback in first in the first round, and then I'll probably take another quarterback or two, four or five rounds later something like that. I'm not the typically every draft is different, but I'm typically not the double dippering

Typically I'll punch on running back in scott Fishbelt.

But wide receiver is still, in my opinion, my most important emphasis in the early rounds.

So because you do get that bonus for tight end catches, and because it's still a full point for wide receiver catches, obviously it changes sort of the way guys go off the board.

Lukwan, could we.

See Christian McCaffrey fall out of the first round in some of these drafts, not in the.

Mack I did yesterday. He actually went in the first five or six picks.

Because you're you're getting the dude that's obviously still be the alpha of his team where he's the best player on that roster. You had twenty one touchdowns, Like, he's going to find the end zone a ton, So it's like, no way, I'm gonna bounce off of that bonus as well, where you're getting the running backs. I think it's zero point two five per rushing attempt. He's getting all the carries, so I want all all those little extra points in the guy that we know it's a solid one on one.

Uh. The other thing that I think is interesting here and Florya, you talk about these six flex spots. Now, if you're playing on sleeper, there are different platforms you can play on. If you are playing on sleeper, you are forced to draft a kicker because you cannot flex a kicker.

It is one of the spots there.

But I'll say this, I mean, in general, is it worth drafting a kicker if you're getting to the later rounds?

Right? And sure, you can start up to seven wide receivers.

But I think I can make an argument that I would rather have, say, and Evan McPherson over a Jalen Hyatt or something like that. I mean, at some point, does it make sense to go draft a kicker later.

In these you heard Kelly groening because she hates kickers. Oh, I think it gets to a point where yes, like like that's a good like, yeah, the kicker is going to outscore the wide receiver at that point. But I never drafted kicker because scott Fishbowl is so deep, and we joke about it all the time, Marcus, Like, the waiver wire is almost non existent in that league. You're not typically going to find breakout wide receivers or running

The waiver wire kickers.

So because of that, I'm using all of my draft spots on upside receivers, running backs, tight ends, quarterbacks, whatever it might be. And then in season, I'm okay, if whichever one doesn't hit, I'm okay.

Dropping for now.

I'm not gonna have one of the top kickers, but I'll still have a useful kicker that'll get me some points and there's always a couple of kickers that end up coming out of nowhere or whatever the case may be, so I think it's worth rostering them. I just don't love using a valuable draft spot because once the draft is over, it's so much harder her in this league that's so deep to find talent.

On the waiver wire.

I might be remembering this wrong. Didn't Kate Maju draft like Justin Tucker first last year? I feel like I know Kate did something a little bit, and like, krudos to her, because yeah, and Scott Fish made the point. They're like, it's really hard to win this tournament, right, yes, so why not do something fun that's gonna be memorable. I want to say it was a kicker, but I know she did something with her first pick with the one dot oh one last year that was just like what yo.

And then when you gotta.

Sat it, you said you sat back, You're like, Okay, this is just fun, right, It's just just somebody having fun with the situation.

The draft is the.

Best part of it, like the week tweeting out your picks and stuff like that, and then it's like, all right, that was fun. I'll see you guys next year because I know I'm not winning this thing.

Because I'm probably not gonna win this thing. I I don't know about you guys, Like I have the same feeling every year. It's like I draft this team and I feel okay about it, and then when we get to set lineups in like late August or September or whatever, I look back and I'm like, what was I doing? Yeah, what was I thinking about when I drafted this team?

That happens.

That was me last year as well.

Like I can literally tell in the draft where I started drinking and I stopped caring and started won the socialize with everybody because it was that trophy smack HQ for the LA Live Draft.

So it was kind of like I was just having fun man at that point.

Yeah, I know the live drafts were happening around the country as well. I'm not going to be able to participate in the LA one, which isn't this weekend.

It's coming up.

Oh wait soon, it's not this weekend, Okay, it was.

I only joined yesterday. I joined the league and that one was full.

Okay, all right, So anyway, I know the Drive Draft is coming up. I think I'm not available for it, so I won't be there. But Lakwan, I know you were there last year. Uh the good photos photos looked like they were a lot of fun. One thing I do have to ask you about the LQ because you've talked about your DST plus theory in terms of like scoring defenses and like the way the new kickoff rules work. One of the rules in the Scott Fish Bowl is that you get ten points for a sick or a punt return.

Now that belongs to the individual player.

There are no.

DSTs that you're drafting here. But does the methodology does your thought process sort of work similarly here in terms of like the guys and the teams that you're targeting there.

Yes, So like there's guys like Marvin Mems, Damien Pierce or Shishahi. These are double dipping opportunities for you where they were very strong in that department and special teams, and like I love getting guys that are kind of like off to the side for guy, and like of Damien Pierce and a Marvin Mems because man, these guys have shown naked return a touchdown back in the old ages

That is huge.

For a guy like Rashidi sh that's gonna get some offensive opportunity and he's kind of looking like the number two for the Saint. So I love the target guys like that.

Yeah, I would.

I would be interested to see as these drafts go along, how many of these late round picks are guys that have potential to run.

Back if you're Gifton and stuff like that. I think he led in return yards last year and it's like these are very strong players that.

Have the ability to take it to the house.

Yeah, especially in this new world, with this this new kickoff format, how many guys are maybe gonna find some new life on fantasy rosters especially let's go.

I'm excited.

I'm really excited like this, Like I finally put the vote in for my home league, and they're like, all right, fine, because I'm not the commission anymore, so I can't just bully the rules anymore.

But they were like, all right, we'll do it. It sounds fun.

Commission's most thankless job in fans.

Yea, oh, I'm done. I'm no more leagues. I don't commission on it.

Never had any interest in doing it, never want to do it. Shout out to the people who like it, who are willing to take on that risk.

I'm not that person.

There that was drive. Your draft is ined by the all new hybrid Toyota Camra. Whatever your vibe, it's a Camri vibe. Learn more dot com slash Camri. Uh.

You guys know what divisions you're in. I know you said you just signed up Florida.

You know what that division you're in forgetting Sarah Marshall Baby, the most underrated movie out there.

I'm out to Snow.

I quote that movie from London to the point where people don't.

Even know that I'm quoting them.

Snow Yeah, Wow, a movie all three of us know in can quote.

It's funny because like all the snow end getting a spin off and get him to the Greek.

Which is all one of the funniest spin off movies ever.

I would say, when lifehand you with Jeffrey Stroke the Furry Wall.

Uh. Speaking of which, we're gonna be watching back Draft for the the cheat sheet in honor of Donald Donald Sutherland also Donald Sterling in personal.

Show out about him too.

Yeah, I haven't watched yet, anything to go check that. It must be kind of interesting.

But in honor of Donald Sutherland's passing one of the roles that I remember him most in uh in the movie Backdraft, So that'll be part of the cheat cheat plus some other nonsense that I'm sure we'll find across the interwebs.

Uh, that will be involved as well.

But that'll do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. They happy, safe and healthy, do good and live well, and I guess we'll talk to you tomorrow.