Wow.
Wow, Hey everybody, It's Wednesday, July seventeenth, twenty twenty four. Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. We're letting Laquon Hacket to the introscript and the rams for the best in the what. Okay, it's me your Maniam G. Marcus Grand joined by Michael F. Florio and LaQuan Jones. That's the last time I leave the Google doc on lock. We're all in studio today.
Yes, that's good man, we're all together in one place.
Uh, it's been multiple months since this has happened.
Yeah, it really has got the band back together.
Yeah, we're all back together for various reasons. Floria and I were doing some VOD stuff a little bit later.
NFL Plus if you want to watch.
It, Yes, it'll be out there at some point, hopefully very soon. And uh, LaQuan, you're just here.
Because you're researching and doing research.
You are, Uh, you are tap. You're gonna be on the reboot or the relaunching. I don't know what we're calling this of Good Morning Football.
Yeah, I'm really excited for that opportunity. Man, But you know, be a night owl.
Now you are you are, We'll be able.
To like I'll be playing NCAA, You'll you'll be waking up, We'll be able to text.
We will cross paths like Flora and I'll be showing up to work. You'll be heading to bed. You know that sort of thing. But no, it should be fun. I know it restarts on July twenty ninth. A new old face, old new face is gonna be the ak Bar Bajaul be Amila who. If you have been following us and been watching Fantasy Live long enough, you remember
Achbar is being a part of NFL Fantasy Live. Then he went on to superstardom as one of the co hosts of American Ninja Warrior, and now he's back on NFL network.
First person ever bring me out on Fantasy Live, because I don't know if you remember I was Akbar stat guy. I would just run out and hand him like no, that's right exactly.
Yeah. So Akbar is great. It's good. It's good to have him back. I'm sure he will tell you about the time in college that he sacked Tony Romo. I think he still has the screenshot on his phone potentially, but should be a lot of fun.
So July twenty ninth, I cannot wait to meet him.
Good, seriously, really honestly, legitimately one of the nicest people you are going to meet. Black Bars a great dude, a whole lot of fun and it should be a really good addition with Jamie Rdahl and Peter Schrager and Kyle Brandt and shree Burst who's also got to be joining the show as well, so be sure to check that out. So ta us. Since we're talking to the programming schedule, that's not how I meant to start the show,
but it's sort of happened. I do know. The rumors are NFL Fantasy Live will be back for some preseason shows beginning August twelfth, so we're little less than a month from that, so you can see me and Florio and Adam Rank and Patrick Claybond and presumably Cynthia Friedland on your television coming up really really soon, so market calendar. August twelfth will start our preseason shows. We are still
doing our division previews. On Monday, we did the AFC West, so here on Wednesday we will do the NFC West, so we'll go through the four teams in the division there, but we'll also have starting off with some news and rumors since we were talking the NFC West, the big news coming out of the division, mostly out of San Francisco, Santa Clara, whatever you want to say. Brandon Ayuk has requested a trade. Dun, dun. Yes, So obviously you see
how the quan feels about it. As the resident Rams fans slash forty nine or hater, he is hoping, he is praying on the forty nine ers downfall for sure. My first comment on this because obviously I have a text chain with friends who are forty nine fans, and we were texting about it, and I was actually driving when the news first broke and I get a text message and when I stop, I look at it. And my response was, and I will say it here. My
child often requests cupcakes. That doesn't mean he always gets cupcakes. Brandon Yuke has requested a trade. He is obviously unhappy with what's happening in his trade negotiat or his contract negotiations with the San Francisco forty nine ers. He has requested a trade. That does not mean the forty nine ers are obligated to trade him. Deebo Samuel in the past has had requested trades. He is still a forty nine er. We have seen other teams and other players
request trades and teams not trade him. So I guess the first question is, Florio, do you believe the forty nine ers would actually trade Brandon Ayuk?
Nope, I think he would be traded by now. We talked about it a couple weeks ago on the show, like if something like this was gonna happen, I think pre free agency, pre draft especially it would have occurred because like, yeah, like there's teams out there like the Bills. I keep hearing people throw out, and I'm like, the Bills don't have the assets to go out and get him right now, not at this point in the offseason. So I continue to think this is Brandon Ayuk being like, listen,
do you want me here for one year? Pay me and give me a raise, pay me as much as I can get, and yeah, like there's smoke coming from Washington and stuff like that. But I don't know. I continue to think that Brandon Nyuk is going to be a member.
Of the forty nine erston Is there smoke coming from Washington or is it because Brandon Nyuk is out here? You know, facetiming with his old college teammate who just happens to be Washington's new starting quarterback.
Yeah, and he's posting like stories that he's watching their film and stuff like that.
Yo, that's crazy, that's hampering.
If I'm Washington, I am heated about that right now. Then really he's like he's watching video of our offense right now, Like, yeah, yeah, I'd be a little bit heated about that part.
It's pretty nasty work.
But I don't think he finds a better opportunity out there right now, to be honest, in the system that kind of know how to utilize him, and you have a decent connection with your quarterback right now. I mean, there's not really much situations that he could fall into and actually glow up, I should say, you know, going out there getting paid for another team.
That's sort of the thing is that he really has. He's not only fits well in Kyle Shanahan's offense, he has become a featured part and he's been their wide receiver one for the last couple of seasons. As far as I'm concerned, you know, he is talented and there's no doubt about that. I just can't imagine he walks into another situation where he could get the same level
of production that he can in San Francisco. But let's just say, for whatever reason between now and you know, late August, things go completely off the rails, They go completely sideways. The situation is untenable. I mean Washington, I guess has been thrown out there because he's talked about Jaden Daniels. I've heard, I've heard, you know, New England as a spot that could be really aggressive and going
to get him. I mean, Florio, is there a good Is there a good landing spot outside of San Francisco you could imagine for Brandon.
I you, yeah, like the Bills being won, the Chargers being one, and I do think the Commanders would be a good one as well. The thing is, I think it would come the production would come up a lot differently. Like Brandon Ayuk is in San fran is one of the most efficient wide receivers every year because like last year, thirteen hundred almost thirteen fifty yards on one hundred and
five targets. Like if he goes somewhere else, that number could be one hundred and thirty, one hundred and forty, maybe even more than that, and he could still have similar production, it just would come in a very different way. And that's the thing I'm also curious about with Ayuk. Like he is awesome, I have him ranked as a wide receiver one. I have him ranked ahead of Devonte Adams.
Like I am high on Brandon Ayuk in San fran but I do wonder if you pull him from there and he now goes to an offense where there isn't Christian McCaffrey, Deebo, Samuel George Kittle, and you have to focus on everything rather than hone in on one player, would he be the same player on a different offense.
And I think it's a fair question. And I think you go back to the Super Bowl when at some point the Chiefs decided we're going to take away Brandon Ayuk and the Niner offense didn't really have an answer for that. And so I think the similar situation. You know, if you go somewhere where you are the focal point. You know, you go to New England where they don't have a whole lot of receiving options and the defense
tries to take you away. Not to say that he falls off a cliff, but certainly he doesn't give you we say one hundred and five targets and thirteen hundred, which is the anti it. We talked about v Ingram on Monday, who had like one hundred and seventy million catches and like nine hundred and fifty yards or whatever. It was like, it's the.
Fantasy streets think we're bullying Evan Ingram. It's just that we kind of realized in live time we're probably going to be fading him.
Sometimes you just sometimes you just think things out loud. Yeah, know, like sometimes you just got to talk it out and get yourself to a conclusion. It's not bullying. We're just, you know, we're just working things. We're working things out. This is like our own little therapy session, Mary. We're just trying to work him stuff out. But you know, speaking of I maybe not being there and ADPs and all that sort of stuff, it's time to drive your
draft presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camry. Look, this is obviously we are into redraft season. I should check and make sure I am not I made a pick this morning against Scott Fish. Uh so I am not on the clock right now. So they're good there I'm in like the eleventh or twelfth round. Like we're moving along pretty well progress. But you know, obviously Uk is the big story, and you know, real football, fantasy football, everybody's sort of focusing on what's happening with him and
the forty nine ers right now. I mean, for you, Lakwan, as these rumors continue and as there's you know, chatter whether or not there's any you know, fire to this smoke, does this impact how you are drafting Brandon?
Are you?
No?
Because you still believe in the talent, And like you said, just because he's requesting it doesn't mean that it happens. And I think if he kind of sits and settles with San Francisco, we still I'll get that same production that we got out of Brandon Nayuk. Nothing really changes for me, Like I don't think there's going to be a difference of me going to the draft board and taking Brandon Anyuk off the board because I know I'm getting a talented wide receiver. So the situation is still
going to be the same for me. And like it's early early, like basically I mean July, but like if this was the back end of August, I would be a little bit worried, but I still draft him because I know the talent is there.
Yeah, I mean I think that's sort of how it goes because I know Floria. We seem to do this every year with guys, right, there's always somebody who seems unhappy when we get these stories about players who are talking about holding out, or maybe they do hold out the first week or somebody training camp. How do you approach guys like that?
Every player I think is different. But Brandon Nyuk is someone that I have not shied away from drafting, like I have taken him in. I did three Scott Fishball I have him in, and then I did two Best Ball drafts this week and I took him in all three. Because he's sliding a little bit it and people are are being like, oh, what if he gets traded and stuff into me. I'm like, all right, I'll just keep gobbling up the value because I think he's going to be with San fran and if not, I still think
he'll put up numbers. But like, if Brandon Nyuk is a star, so if we get a little bit of a discount on him, I'm willing to roll the dice. If it was more of like a middling player or something like that. I don't think the risk is worth a reward then, So every one of these, like last year I was, I was still taking Jonathan Taylor, I
was still taking Cooper Cup. That maybe didn't work out in some cases, But like my thinking is always, I care about the end of the season so much more than I do the first month of the season, because that's when you win championships.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a big part of it. The other part that I would just caution people, it is July seventeenth.
Yes, yes, yes it is.
It is July seventeenth. We've still got what about six weeks to go approximately until we're starting week one, you know, I know the Niners rookies have reported to camp, the veterans have not yet reported to camp. For for the forty nine ers, we still have a long ways to go, you know. And I think think he shows up. I think he shows up at some point. And look if we get look, if we're in you know, third week of the preseason and this is still happening, then yeah,
he's gonna see his ADP fall, right. But I still think until we get definitive proof that he's willing to sit out of here because he's still under contract. Minds, Yeah, you know, he still has a gun rolled out.
He's gone to play.
He he doesn't really have a ton of leverage. So if we get to a point where he's like really threatening and viably threatening to miss games, then maybe you start to be concerned.
He for now, it's here's the other thing. I just pulled up his contract stuff real quick. He is set to make more money this year than he has in his entire NFL career. Yeah, so he's not gonna he's not gonna throw It's.
Hard to think he's gonna just toss that aside. So uh, at the moment, it's it's interesting chatter. I guess we can all wish cast him to our favorite teams or what have you by the day.
This is the last year though, I don't know if you agree or not. Marcus has the forty nin understand, but I think this is the last year that we are seeing this core together.
I think so, I I think, I mean, I think in the end, I think Deebo is probably gonna be the odd man out of this group, which from a like from from a fan standpoint makes me sad. From a business standpoint and a team standpoint, I totally understand why he would be. But I'm with you. I think I think if they want to make a run with this core group, it's got to be this year.
You think, like that's the other thing you think is gonna look at this and be like, you know what, I'd rather sit out and not make any money rather than try to win a super Bowl.
With these guys, Like we've been in the NFC Championship, Like how many of you know how many of the last few years? Uh do I go to? Yeah, sure I can go play with my friend in Washington, But they're a lot They're a lot further away from a championship.
You are like one or two plays away from being the champions right now, one or two plays away from being a two time champion. Like that, that's how close to forty nine ers have been.
Like we'd seen this play out anyway with Leon.
Bell, Jimmy Garoppolo hit Emanuel Sanders.
Oh, is that the play that hurts you? Like, not like the CMC fumble from this year or.
Yeah, because this this year it wasn't one play that hurt it just was a it was like a slow drip. Okay, this is a slow drip. This year the the Emanuel Sanders overthrow and like on replay they show like Jimmy g and his eyes are closed and I'm like, I'm trying to use the force. Do it? Like what's happening? You can't go to battle with your eyes closed anyway. Uh? Anyway, that was Drive Your Draft presented about the all new hybrid Toyota camera. Whatever your vibe, it's a Camra vibe.
Learn more at Toyota dot com slash Camray. Take a quick break, catch our breath, see if I can regroup my mentals, and we'll dive into the NFC West preview, starting with the Arizona Cardinals that's coming up on the NFL Fantasy Football pot Cast NFC WES. That is the division we are looking at on today's show, And as always, I will start with the caveat that these are in alphabetical order. There's no other ulterior motive to how I organize these four teams in this division, so just leave
it at that. We will start with the Arizona Cardinals. Last year, their top fantasy scorer at quarterback was Kyler Murray, despite you know, having to start some other guys to kind of fill in the gaps. While he was returning one hundred and forty six point three points, he was QB twenty eight. James Connor was the RB eighteen overall, just over two hundred points for him. Marque's Hollywood Brown
the top receiver in Arizona. It was bleak for Cardinals pass catchers, at least for Cardinals wide receivers Hollywood one hundred and thirty four point seven Fantasy points wide receiver fifty two and Trey McBride the top titand in Arizona tight end seven across Fantasy one hundred and eighty one
and a half Fantasy points. Some of the big losses this offseason, Marquise Brown Rondale Moore are both out trade key additions, I should say, they drafted Trey Benson, they added Desmond Ritter in a trade, and they signed the free agents Zay Jones. Right now, first Cardinal off the board, not much of a surprise. Marvin Harrison Junior, who I think a lot of people have pegged to be the offensive rookie of the year right now, about thirteen and a half is the average pick where he is going
off the board. So question number one, and I will start with you, Lakwan Jones, Marvin Harrison should be drafted in round blank.
You can get him on the back end in the first round. I'm not mad at that, but he's going in the early second round. So in those two areas is where you should be looking to target him because honestly, he's gonna be the engine that makes this offense go downfield. I mean alpha wide receiver here that we're talking about, where he's gonna see a ton of targets and the production is gonna be great because you have Kyler Murray back health to go.
So you're saying you should take him ahead of Greg Dortch. Yes, I'm glad you got me to say that, but yes, I mean, I know you are, like, you know, the the chief spokesperson of Dorschland, like this year you are, you are, like you know, leading the Dorschland Chamber of Commerce and everything. So I just wanted to make sure we got that on record that Marvin here, I mean second round pick, does he live up to that ADP. I know we've seen wide receivers. Flory'll go out and
have really good years as rookies. This feels like the earliest in a while that we've drafted. I'm trying to think of another rookie receiver we've drafted this early, because even like you know, like prime Odell Beckham, maybe Jamar Chase had that issue where we thought he was blind in one eye and had skillets for hands or something like that, because he had like a couple of bad preseason games.
Watkins got hyped a lot, but that's a decade ago, and he wasn't going this early. Yeah, I don't.
I mean even justin je I mean there was like, oh, he's just a slot receiver, like there were there were there were reasons these other guys got knocked down early. This feels like the earliest we've gone for a rookie receiver in a while.
And I think he's a Round one pick. I think there's nine true wide receiver ones this year, in my opinion at least, and he is one of them. I look back at what Kyler Murray was able to do with DeAndre Hopkins and consistently make him a top five wide receiver while he was healthy, and I think Marvin Harrison maybe not in year one could be even better than that. Like he is a field stretcher, so we could put up points in chunks. He's going to be there. Go.
I love Train McBride. He is not great in the red zone. That's like the one weakness in his game. So I think Marvin Harrison Junior could easily get double digit, maybe even twelve plus touchdowns in year one. I know it all sounds very bullish, but like we've seen repeatedly year after year now, rookie wide receivers come in and be more ready than ever to make a year one impact. And I love the fact that like Marvin Harrison isn't he doesn't care about the combine and running the.
Forty and all that.
It's like, I want to be ready week one to be the very best football player I can be. And I'm bullish on this whole Cardinals offense as a home.
I love that Marvin Harrison basically was just Kenny Powers. He's like, I play real sports, not trying to be the best at evercise. He's like, I'm not doing this combine madness. I'm not. He's like, I'm ready to play football him right, come on? And it is one of those situations that we all dream about where it's talent meeting opportunity, right, and you're talking about the guy who was rated as the top wide receiver prospect in this draft going to a situation where they don't have any
alpha wide receivers. It is everything that we would want in fantasy and that is exactly why he is coming off the board late first, early second round. I mean, I give you a little bit of a hard time about Greg Dortch, Lakwan. I mean, you're not, I mean losing realistically, you are not the only person who is talking up Greg Dortch. But let's I mean, let's be he just frank about this. What are your expectations for him?
I mean, ceiling wide receiver three, I mean, what are you looking at for Dertsch this year?
So, Deorge, I'm just looking for him to play the between twelve to fifteen fantasy points per game, just based on what we've seen when he's giving the opportunity in the games that he played seventy percent of the snaps in the last two seasons with Kyler Murray, he averaged fourteen and a half fantasy points per game. So we're looking at a guy that has always been there and be able to be a guy to step up when his name is called and put up Fantasy points when
he's given the opportunity. So you're looking at Kyler Murray co signing him, which is a great co sign saying his ability and understanding of coverage and how the separate is at an elite level. So therefore you're looking at when Kyler Murray returned back from injury. That second game where he came back, Greg Dortsch led that team in targets. This is with Marquise Brown, Trade McBride and James Connor, etcetera, etcetera. But from Week ten and on, he led that wide
receiver cord in target. So obviously there's a reason why Kyler Murray is going to be on him so heavily to bail him out on third down and et cetera, et cetera. Greg Dortch is a dynamic player, so even in fantasy when you get in the double dipping opportunities on return yards that I've been talking about for a while. But you're looking at his stats last year, he had the second most mistackles in return last year.
So he's elusive.
He's explosive, and you're getting this guy in the slot where he makes a lot of mismatches.
I'm very curious to sort of watch training camp preseason because obviously NHJ is the wide receiver one. They did invest a little bit draft wise in Michael Wilson the year before. I feel like that's gonna be the battle for wide receiver two. Yeah, it's a Greg Dorsch Michael Wilson battle. And that's when I want to keep an eye on to kind of get a sense of who it's gonna be. You know, I saw the photos of you know, Kyler Murray hanging out with Greg Dortch looking
at Post. I saw the post workout. Those dude's hanging out or whatever, like he's a beast man waiting the feast. I'm just waiting, just waiting to see. We get reports of you know, Greg dort showing up with with Krispy Kreme at the go let's get it, him and Kyler having a big muffins. I should they would probably be playing like they'd be playing NCAA football together. Yeah. If they're like twitch streaming together, then you know it's real.
At that point, Florio does Trey Benson have standalone value or will it take James Connor getting hurt for him to get on the field.
I think it's gonna take James Connor getting hurt. I think Trey Benson will have a role while James Connor is healthy. I just don't know if it is a large enough role to trust starting in fantasy, and I think he could be one of those players where like one week he gets like twelve touches and we're like,
all right, you can trust this guy. Now he's getting enough work behind James Connor, and then the next week he'll get like six because the Cardinals were kind of like that last year with their RB two with change based on the matchup and stuff like that. But while James Connor is healthy, I think he'll play sixty plus percent of the snaps and have a very strong stranglehold on the touches on the ground, especially near the goal line.
So I think he's one of the top handcuffs. I'm just not sure he's gonna have a role unless kind of gets hurt.
I have kind of come around to that. I think early on I thought maybe he would carve out a role in this offense. I think it's I'm with you. I think it's gonna be sort of minimal. Everything that you're hearing out of Arizona suggests this is this is James Connor's it's still his job, and that you know, they will sort of sprinkle in Trey Benson. But I think it's going to be when Connor gets hurt that
that you see mostly Benton. That being said, I still would take a late shot on Trey Benson in draft, depending on depending on how deep your redraft league. It's certainly in best Ball. I'm definitely taking the shot, depending on how deep your your redraft league is. In the situation, it might be worth it because he could be one of those guys that later in the year does have an impact on this team.
You hear a lot like, oh, it's don't take your own handcuffs, it takes other people's handcuffs, and I genuinely agree with that, But like a situation like this, if I have James Connor, I want.
To cover I want to cover my basis because Connor has never He's only played fifteen games in a season once, right, So like that feels like that really is buying an insurance policy after this is getting trained.
You're buying a good insurance policy because you know Trade Benson can play. This is one of the top running back prospects this year.
Exact reason, exactly, so for sure, I make sure to do that. Moving over to the Los Angeles Rams their top scores this past year, Matthew Stafford was their top QB No surprise there, two hundred and sixty five point seven points QB fifteen. Kyrien Williams had a phenomenal season last year. RB seven two hundred and fifty five points for him. Phuka Aakua who just blew everyone away a wide receiver for just shy of three hundred fantasy points
for him. Tight End not so great. Tyler higives a tight end twenty three, one hundred and eight and a half points for him. He losses. You have to lose Aaron Donald. That doesn't really affect our fantasy drafting. I said text, I see you're sad. Yeah, I see the sad face you put here in the show sheets. Uh
I got Aaron Donald being, you know, retiring. Which side note, I've been fortun to pick up a little side hustle doing some some radio here in Los Angeles, and one of the hosts at the station I do some work at. He has no proof, he has no facts or anything to back it up, but he believes in his heart that Aaron Donald's gonna come back and play football.
Man, don't tell me that.
Don't tell me. Yeah, he's like, he's like, I don't have any information, no inside information. He's like, I just think that he's not done, that he still has some good football left, and that maybe after a year or so out, he'll he'll decide that he wants to come back.
In a year or so out.
I mean, yeah, don't do that, don't get I'm sure. I'm sure he'll know. He's like a year to be like I'm gonna be retired and like and jah, you know, and just like relax or whatever. And then maybe after a year he's like, wait a minute, I still miss it again. There's no facts behind it. It's just it's all vibes. It's all I.
Was gonna say, Man, he's getting up there, he's thirty three, and then I realized we are two months apart in age.
I won't say that, honestly. That's why I kept cheering for Tom Brady to stick around, because like he's you know, he was like, he's three months younger than me. I'm like, dude, keep doing your thing, dog like doing, keep going, Doug. Some of the additions they do add a guard to help on the offensive line, Johan Jackson, and they add Jimmy Garoppolo, who I just lamented about overthrowing Emmanuel Sanders.
So good luck with that first off the board. No surprise, they're pooking Akua after his phenomenal rookie season right around pick ten or so. All right, so I'm going to ask you this, Lakwana, as the resident Rams fan here, the future of Kiraene Williams, right, because he was amazing last year. I don't think anybody expected him to do what he did, the fact that that they loved him so much they shifted cam Akers off to Minnesota, but they also went out and drafted Blake Korum this year.
What does the future look like for Kien Williams for those who maybe are holding him or maybe considering adding him in Dynasty.
Well, we know how great the talent is. We know he can ball.
We saw last year, we saw the numbers, which is great. He's a free agent in twenty twenty five. They drafted Blake Korm and you're looking at the injury history starting to pile love and from a business side, can you honestly think the Rams are going to invest as high as they invested into a Todd Gurley at or etc. I really don't see it happening because Blake Korm is a talented running back as a backup that can probably leap him at any point if Kyra Williams is off
the field with injury. So you're looking at some of the qualities that Blake Korn brings. You know, he's great in the red zone, the lateral speed, he's quick, shifty. This dude is the guy that you want to have in open space. You can get a little bit more pop out of him. Also in screen passes as well. But I feel like Kyri Williams has to prove that he can sustain a full workload as a RB one.
So in Dynasty right now, I hate to say it is as a RAMS fan, but I'm looking to sell as quick as possible, being that this year might be the year, the only year you can get this high price in return for him.
I just keep holding on to the fact that traditionally, you know in the post Todd Gurley era, Sean McVay has been reluctant to just consistently lean on one guy. And the fact that when it comes to draft capital, they have slightly more invested in Blake Korum yea than they do in Kyron Williams. Now, I don't think that that means they're just gonna send me punt Kyron away this year, like after what he did last year. He's still going to be the RB one and he's still
going to get a lot of work. But I wouldn't be surprised if you see Korum chop into that a little bit. And I guess I'll Florida'll ask you the same question I asked you about Trey Benson. I mean, does Blake Coorm potentially have a standalone value in this offense or is he strictly the understudy to Kien Williams.
I think he'll have a role. I think I feel kind of similar to Trey Benson, though I'm not sure if it'll be large enough where you could start Blake Korum in fantasy if Kien Williams is healthy. I know we keep saying it like they has since Gurley has not had one running back that he trusts. I'm not sure though, if that is McVeigh changing or if that's more about cam Akers and the fact that he just flat out couldn't trust one running back for the last
couple of years. He did, They really did, and there were stretches where McVeigh was like, all right, you're getting twenty five touches this game and we're not using another running back. He used Darryl Henderson like that for a bit last year. So I think they probably want to use Korum enough to keep Kyen fresh and keep him on the field. But I don't think that this is gonna be anywhere close to a fifty to fifty split. Like I do believe Kien Williams is still the guy.
I agree with lq's point though, like if you could sell him now and get a boatload in Dynasty, do it. But for redraft that where he's going in the third round, I find myself a lot more likely to draft him than I thought I would be when I expected him to be a borderline first or second round pick.
Yeah, I don't know what to think. Again, He's another one that in Best Ball I'm definitely taking shots at. I'm not sure what I do in re draft leagues. And I said this before, like I want to wait for preseason, but we know that, you know, Chemmy Vay doesn't play his dudes playing them, So like we're gonna we're gonna learn absolutely nothing.
Week one is when you learn everything anything.
From the preseason about what the Rams are gonna do uh with their offense at all? I mean, Florida. Ill'll stick with you here though, Like Pooka Naku obviously was a phenomenon last year for everybody who drafted him late, you know, but there are a lot of people who liked him, not enough to like plant a super flag, but like, you know, like enough to draft him late. Right, Like I took him late in a couple of drafts.
I was like, hey, man, let's see what happens if this kid, maybe you know, gets on the field a little bit. Yeah, turned out he was a top five fantasy right. So now we're drafting him late first round? Are we drafting him at his ceiling? And I guess the corresponding question to that is does this mean we're underdrafting or forgetting about Cooper Cup I.
Think yes to both of those. But just because we're potentially drafting Pook around his ceiling doesn't mean he's a bad pick. Like if you could get him there late first and you know I'm gonna get I don't know. I'm not banking on the fifteen hundred yards we got last year. I would take him expecting twelve to thirteen, and if he gave me that, I'm satisfied. But I do look at what he did after Cooper Cup return last year. Throw out the first month where he was
getting fifteen and twenty targets. The first two games of the season, he was on pace for just under thirteen hundred yards and eighty six catches, which is twenty less catches and two hundred less yards, and he ended up actually finishing with But that also, I think what gets overlooked when you compare these two numbers A lot people often throw out the first month, but then they leave the part of the season in where Cooper Cup sustained a high ankle spring played twenty seven percent of the
snaps one game. The next two weeks he played, but he came out and flat out said like I was not healthy, Like he played the decoy role. So I throw those three games out as well, and then when you look at the game for Pooka, there was a lot of huge games where he'd put up like one hundred and fifty plus yards, but then there's a lot of games where he's sitting in the like twenty seven, fifty, forty one, thirty two. So, like, I think his range of outcomes week to week is very wide.
I think, yeah, I think we are drafting him at his ceiling. I think the counterpoints that is his ceiling apparently is very high. Yeah, so that's that's sort of the good news with that part. I think with Cooper cup, I think we're starting to just bake in our concerns about a guy who, while he has been very good, first off, it's wild to think. You look, he's only had two thousand yard seasons in his career, which is sort of mind. He's only had two seasons with double digits,
only had two seasons with more than six touchdowns. It just feels like he's put it out the string of phenomenal years which he's been very good. Like, I'm not gonna take that away from he's had a lot of very good years, but he's also, you know, kind of been beat up the last couple of years exactly, you know, and I think I think, at you guy who just turned thirty one, who's had a growing list of injuries.
I think that's sort of where you're seeing the ADP kind of come down on him a little bit, and correspondingly, that means, well, if if the ball is not going to be going to Cooper Cup, it's got to be going somewhere, and that is why we're seeing Pooka and Nakua get drafted where he is. Yeah, I agree.
I mean I feel like my roster builds and redraft this year, Pooka is not a bad pick in the first round. I don't want to get out of the habit saying it's a bad pick, but I feel like we're drafting him and his ADP is banking on Cooper Cup getting hurt because when Cooper Cup was banged up, he still was able to be Cooper Cup at times, Like if you look at last year, he still has the ability to get behind the defenders. I mean three point three separation target rate last year when targeted at
twenty plus yards. So he still has the big playability in him and he's a guy that he's going to be Matthew Stafford's number one target when it comes to crunch time. That's where I'm banking on this year. He's healthy, so I think we're overlooking him to where I feel like my roster builds when I go wide receiver or wherever I do in the first couple of rounds, and then I can get Cooper Cup as my wide receiver
two or three. My team just feels a lot more better just having a guy that I know is the guy went healthy.
And to the injury point, I'm someone I think the injury prone gets way over hyped and everything, like if he had a severe injury where he needed surgery or something like that, sure, or if it was the same injury over and over again. Two years ago he suffered a high ankle sprain and the RAMS were awful and they were like, listen, we're just shutting him down. And then last year I think the hamstring string in preseason derailed his entire season. So I do think there's a
there's a chance to be like where Cooper Cup. Maybe not what he was like the greatest receiver year ever, but I do think he could be a lot better than what we've seen last year. Because remember two years ago, he was on pace to match what.
He did in that.
That's crazy season Player of the Year. So I I still I think the injuries get a little over hyped when it comes to Cooper Cup.
Side note, Is there any other receiver where we say his whole name every time we talk about him? No one, we know, we're just saying Cup. We're always Cooper.
Yes, the Cup?
Yeh?
I mean, just because it rolls off the tongue it sounds fun. Is probably another one.
Talk bad about him? He's right here.
It's not an insult. It's brillly an observation, that's all. Is kind of getting that way too, because we just sort of, I guess we say Pooka. We just say Pooka, but it's like share but Cooper Cup, like we just we say the whole you know, it's like a Tripaul quest, you say the whole thing.
Hey.
By the way, the Top one hundred is back. Find out who the players voted as the best player in the NFL had the NFL Plus starting July twenty second. For exclusive daily drops and to find out who took home the trophy. Go to Plus dot NFL dot com to sign up today. Coming up we're gonna give a quant a chance to hate on the forty nine ers. I we'll talk about the Sea Huts as well. Stick around for more at the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Now's a part of the show where Lakwan Jones gets to
be a hater. We're talking about San Francisco forty nine ers. Last year, brock Perty was the QB seven despite all the haters. The haters will say it was faked, but he had three hundred and fifty six points seven Fantasy points. Was QB seven. No surprise that Christian McCaffrey was the RB one, because that's what Christian McCaffrey does, just goes out and scores a whole lot of fantasy points. And I'm sitting here for the lovererbustings. I didn't put it
in the sheet. Three hundred and ninety one point three points four Christian McCaffrey. Brandon Ayuk, the apparently disgruntled at Brandon Ayuk was your wide receiver fourteen two hundred and forty nine points for him and George Kittle, even in a quote unquote down year, was the tight end five with just over two hundred and three fantasy points. Key losses. Well, at the moment, we're still sort of waiting. We'll see Brandon I is there or not. But for the moment,
everything is pretty much intact with this offense. They did go out and draft Ricky Pearsall. They signed Josh Dobbs in free agency first off the board, no surprise. It is the aforementioned CMC high first round usually pick one point three somewhere in there, depending or I'd rather I should say he's averaging the one point three, so he might be first, he might be second, depends on how your league shakes out. Heyo, Ricky Pearsall. We mentioned he
was drafted. He was put on the non football injury list to start training camp. But there's been a lot of talk that whenever the Niners sort of break up the fellowship of the Ring and whether it's Ayuk or Deebo Samuel or whomever, that that really is gonna be Rickey Pearsoon's time to shine. But you know, with the rumors swirling about Brandon Ayuk wanting out, is it worth throwing a dart at Ricky Pearsol late in a draft just in case? Uh?
Yeah, I think so. Like I've been targeting him in my best ball drafts. If you're doing redraft right now, yeah, I think so, because if look, if we're talking now late August and Ayuk is still on the team, then in redraft, where rosters are a lot shallower, I'll probably go in a different direction. But I do like Pearsall.
I liked him as a prospect. I said he kind of reminded me of Adam Thielen in the sense that he could play in the slot and out wide and good hands, good route runner, just a piece that at that Kyle Shanahan will have an absolute field day with
I think. And that's the thing, like, even if Ayuk and Deebo were there right now, injuries happen, so like in best ball and stuff, I want this guy because I trust Shanahan and the forty nine ers system that even if they have to throw in a backup, they'll get the most out of him.
I think he definitely fits in the offense right he is. He is a Shanahan guy in the sense if he can run routes, he can get open uh, they can find ways to get him the football. I think he probably maybe pushes out Juwan Jennings a little bit because last year, there was a third in Juwan was a real thing for this offense, but it wasn't enough to bank your fantasy hopes on right, Like he was a guy who was really key. He had a lot of big catches for that offense and and helped move the
chains in big situation. We saw it in the playoffs he did that. There's a point in the super Bowl where he looked like he was going to be the MVP, Like early on in the Super Bowls like, well, Juwan Jennings actually be super Bowl Like, no, it's gonna be Patrick Mahomes, but it looked like it was gonna be. I think Ricky Piersall eventually sorts starts to play that role. I think in deep leagues he's worth that dart throw late.
He's definitely worth it in in bestball leagues, Yeah, Redrafty, keep an eye on him, keep an eye on the iu CA news there all right, if we're I was in here playing hypotheticals though, lakwan uh. If there is no Brandon, I does that put a big dent into rock parties potential?
Probably not a big dent, but it will be a noticeable dent. I mean, you're looking at Ayuk as one of his most reliable targets out there when it comes to hands, route running, understanding where to be in the offense. And you look at Ayuk as this alpha and then you remove him, it's kind of like, all right, who's going to step up to be that next reliable target. I think he will be fine for most cases in
real life football, and for fantasy he should. He should take a dip down with Ayuk gone, because I really feel like, you know, Deebo will have to step up. He'd probably get more involved in not saying anything knocking towards him. But this could be a good thing for George Kittle because that was his second best option when targeting him last season when it came to completion percentage.
So I don't think it will be a huge dent to brock perty, but you're just hoping that Ricky Piersoll kind of steps up into that role when he's ready to go to step up as another weapon because we saw the catch radius is insane or pretty ricky. I call him move his rout runner out of the class. I would say, it's just like this dude can really
do anything playing outside playing the slot. You look at his highlights, you're like, man, this is a Kyle Shanahan guy to where he's going to deploy him and get the best out of him.
So I really feel like rock Party is still sitting pretty where he's at.
It's funny because Party is a guy that you know, he gets drafted outside the top probably top twelve quarterbacks in a last situations. I was finding it harder as Best Ball season went on to be able to get Party though, Like I felt like people were I don't know if people were like seeing me try to like quietly put together a stack and you know, people love to just be jerks and like and snipe me and like what did I do to you? Like I don't even know you, you know, Cowboys fan thirty seven, Like
what are you doing? But I didn't know. I think people sort of understand that, you know, no matter how you feel about him, the dude's putting up numbers. He is, and I think that, you know, some of it is some of it is the offense that he is in for sure. It was just that, like the guy makes plays.
Yeah, we said that about golf too, Like they're kind of similar, you know, like they're just guys that go out there and do their job and execute.
I mean, you can't really knock that.
I just I said this last year on the show, like it felt like the biggest knock on brock Purty was like, well he doesn't do what Patrick Mahomes does, and they're like, well.
Yeah, cross wires, because they're always like, well, he's like the eighth most important player on that offense. And I don't disagree with that, Like I think the weapons and Kyle Shanahan are all more important than brock Purty is. But for fantasy, I don't care. I get all of those points the same from brock Purty.
So can he execute?
That's all I care. He's you know, he's the guy who, like you know, he plays within the structure of the offense, and every once in a while he will actually go out and do something. They're like, that's all you need, that's all you need.
I do think losing Nyuk would be a huge dent to his value because last year was about fifty percent of all the production that came touchdowns, catches, yards and came on deep balls. We're all to Brandon Nayuk. So I think that you lose that aspect of the offense. Now you can't load it like maybe you could load up more near closer to the line of scrimmage and make life a little tougher.
Deebo Samuel a guy that does a lot of great things for the forty nine ers. He's one that I feel like is more valuable in real football than he is in fantasy football. And I'm looking here at what his ADP is right now, being drafted as the wide receiver sixteen, just after Jalen Waddle, just ahead of Mike Evans. Is he being overdrafted Lukwan, I.
Don't think so, man.
I honestly think with his IUQ news, people are going to be thankful to get Debo because they're hoping for him to return back to form of being the guy that can get the rushing attend screen, a little bit more explosive, a little bit more reckless with his body, because that's really when he was, like at his peak.
Of just performance, but when he was deboing people.
Yeah, when he was people.
But he got the bag, so now he's good.
But I feel like.
Debo he's still one of those assets you got to be thankful to have on your rosters. Really, no matter where you get him. I mean we're not getting him in the first two rounds, but that third round, Like if you're looking for a wide receiver two or three, if you're being as wide receiver heavy as I am in most of my building redraft, I think you're still in a great spot sitting pretty I.
Just think the week to week variants can be wide it can be with him.
Yeah, I would.
Argue year to year as well, because he was two Three years ago he was a top three wide receiver and total points in points per game. Then two years ago he was wide receiver twenty eight points per game, and then last year was wide receiver twelve. It's touchdown, but like he was the only player in the NFL last year with five receiving and five rushing touchdowns. If he loses a couple of those touchdowns, I feel like he's probably a little bit closer to being top twenty, maybe even a little.
Bit outside of that. Yeah, I just I mean, he's a really good play and he does a lot of really good things for the forty nine ers. I just feel like I feel like, one maybe we're still holding onto that season from two years ago, when like that's his career year he did. He did everything, but that was also out of necessity because they had so many injuries that he was he he caught the ball, he ran the ball. I think he even threw a touchdown, you know, somewhere late in the season.
With Wolverine that year, they basically would have to pull him off the turf and we'd be like, all right, de Bo's done for the days later.
He's back out there doing amazing. What happens when you back chasing, So.
There you go, hey man, whatever works. I just, you know, I feel like he's a guy that we are. We looked at what he does in totality, but it doesn't necessarily always translate to fantasy. And I feel like, you know, I've been drafting Ayuk over Debo for the most part.
Yeah, I have you should I have them decent. I have Ayuk I think at ten or eleven in my rankings, and Deebo is closer to twenty.
See at least right now where he's going, Like, they're not that far apart, right I think right now, i Uk is wide receiver fourteen, Deebo's wide receiver sixteen. I feel like there's a bigger gap.
That gap should be.
I feel like there's a bigger gap there between the two of them. Sure. Our last team in the NFC West is the Seattle Seahawks. Gino Smith was their top quarterback QB nineteen couldn't quite follow up his career season from the year before, two hundred and twenty nine point three points for him. Kenneth Walker the RB nineteen, just shy of two hundred fantasy points there. DK Metcalf the wide receiver twenty one, two hundred and twenty five point
four points. No offense, their top tight end tight end thirty one seventy three point four points, no real notable losses in the offseason. In the they did add Sam Howell through free agency. They also added an offensive lineman, center Nick Harris, from the Cleveland Browns. Dk Metcalf first Sea Hawks being drafted right now, twenty six point nine fantasy points for him. Change it. Offensive coordinate Ryan Grubb comes in. Mike McDonald is the new head coach after
Pete Carroll steps down. Ryan Grubb led the offense at the University of Washington. I mean, look, Florio. People were excited about Michael PENNOCKX. They were excited about Romo Doonzay. They had pieces there, the Huskies could score points. Will this be more of a vertical offense? Now? With those guys running the show, that's the hope.
Like Grubb was able to do a really good job. Oh Junez was the star of the show. But they had three viable wide receivers in Washington and Penix put up huge numbers. They were last year eighth highest pass percentage of Power five schools, but the Seahawks last season already threw at the seventh highest rate in the league. That was a little bit more of a necessity trailing a lot having to throw. But front of the show
a little bit like Scott Engel. You guys know, I do a radio show with him on the side, and we talk a lot about Seattle. Trust me, when with Scott you're calling Seattle. He is a Patriots fan, Seattle. He's like, that's the whole gig, right, Yeah, pretty much.
But yeah, Like I have a tough time buying into this Seahawks offense becoming one of the better passing attacks because it's still a defensive minded head coach who came from Baltimore's system, which has always been ground and pound and stuff like that, and then yes, I understand you have this new young oc real lot of sus sex in college, but he's never done it at the NFL level.
And then your quarterback is still Geno Smith. Like, no disrespect to Gino, but he had one good year in his NFL career and it was largely propped up by a high touchdown rate. So I think, like I still view DK as kind of like like a wide receiver too, who can have some big weeks but will also just be kind of up and down all year. And I don't know, do you guys disagree. Am I too low on this offense or I don't know.
I think we're kind of too low on it, And just expectations wise of Grub I think him coming in and turning that program around rather quickly wash it and it is pretty impressive. I mean, what we honestly could expect from this offense honestly is like a lot of quick passes, a lot of deep shots. Because Pennix led to the FBS last year with the most passes of a twenty plus yard so I'm thinking those big shots could really benefit DK. If we're thinking about those big,
big weeks, I think it'll be more frequent. And even looking at Gino as a passer downfield, he's third in completion percentage in these last two seasons on passes of twenty plus yards. So I think if you're going to open this offense up as a more vertical offense to be more aggressive going downfield, Jasn's one of those benefactors there too as well.
That was gonna be my question to you, right, because you know Jackson Smith and Jigba last year it was a disappointing season, But I think when you step back and look at it, it was less about the player and more about the scheme and the system. Right. They used him as a short option, you know, Like I know, he was kind of banged up at the start of the year. A lot of the routes he was running were pretty much close to the line of scrimmage. It wasn't a big average depth of target. Does this mean
we can expect more downfield throws for JSN? And as much as it hurts my heart to say this, because I am a bona fide Tyler Lockett, Stan does does Jackson Smith and jig but push Tyler Lockett aside as the wide receiver too.
I think it could happen.
And I say this only because Tyler Locke that has been close to my heart too, is one of those guys that we've been drafting is undervalue guys. But I think this is the year, you know, where JSN breaks out, being utilized more to where his skill set is. Those couple of deep shots last year, a couple of touchdowns he had where he's lined up about wide and he's taking a deep shot and he's taken it to the house.
He has home run and building and I think some of those plays, you know, with him close to the scrimmage doesn't get taken away completely because the dude has yaking him. So if you're going to have this vertical offense, I think we might see JSN more utilized downfield, where I think he could really excel. So I'm banking that
this is going to be the breakout season. I mean, even if Jason finishes outside the top thirty, to me, that's a breakout season and that's a huge win in my book, especially where he's going and drafts.
He's the one that I want most.
Of this receiving call. Yeah, Yeah, He's the guy that I'm I'm really optimistic about him this year.
I think Lockett, it look it pains me to say we you as well, La Calon, but we've been talking him up for years as like a guy we like a lot, and I think he's just last year was the beginning of the end, like he look at every metric of his and it was career worse or worse in the next stats era pretty much. And then I think the plan from day one was Jaysen, You're gonna learn year one under these two guys, and then year
two is when you're going to take over. And I think we get that maybe the first month of the season. It's a little bit slow, as there's an adjustment period, but I think Jaysn is gonna firmly be this team's.
Wide receiver team. Yeah. No, I mean I think that is sort of what's coming. I would not be surprised at all. And I do think this is gonna be more of an attacking downfield offense. So we'll say, but I'm kind of with you, guys. I think this is sort of the last hurrah for Tyler Lockett. It's even as slightly viable.
He's like the number one in the Seattle area I believe. So he's doing all right? Is he really? He is a real estate agent on the side, and I think he like sells houses to his teammates.
That's awesome.
Oh wow, Like it is a legit. Like DK was like he's at practice world studying the playbook. This dude's reading up about housing and stuff like that.
That's kind of dope. Actually yeah, I actually I love that. I respect the hell out of that. That's pretty dope. Not gonna lie last thing here. Uh the backfield situation. Kenneth Walker is the RB one, but Zach Sharbonay is still hanging around there. Uh. I mean, lakwan, how do you expect this thing to shake out in the backfield?
Man?
I was trying to do my rankings the other week, man, and like, I don't know where to put Kenneth Walker, Like, are we expecting just like another like mid tierish RB two season from him? I mean, Zach Sharbony is going to be involved. I mean, that's honestly what we can expect. Last season, this dude was getting on the field more
times than we actually wanted to see. Zach Charbonay and I know coming out of college he was like six point six yards per carry, like efficient runner, and like you kind of don't want that behind Kenneth Walker.
I'm really not too sure what to expect.
Out of him.
So how I treat things, I just avoid the headache if I don't know it, and I can't really break down in my head a decision like I honestly don't want any parts of this backfield same flora.
I'm a little bit more likely to especially Sharboney, where he's going is so late in drafts that I'm like, all right, I'll when I'm looking for backup running backs, I'm fine throwing a shot on him. But one thing you hear a lot is like, well, in the second half of the year, Charboney really ate into Kendieth Walker's workload.
And it's like in snaps only from week eight on when they both played, it was fifty one to forty nine percent snaps, but one hundred and six carries for Walker to thirty seven for sharbon Ay and twenty targets to nineteen. And the Charbonnay people might hold your hat on that he was supposed to be the pass catching back. So the fact that Walker had more targets to me is a little concerning, and Walker is still so explosive that I don't love him at costs, but I'm always tempted to take him.
I just I did like sharbon A coming out of college, and then I would watch him in the NFL and he just he looked slow. Yeah, he looked like a plotter. And I'm like, I don't remember. I don't remember this version of him at UCLA. But yeah, you're right. I mean, the snaps went up significantly over the back half of the season, but if it doesn't equate the touches, then
you know, what are we doing here? Yeah? Headache, it is It's just it's it's no good for anybody, right, It's it's it's frustrating for the Kenneth Walker people because your guy isn't on the field as much. It's frustrating for the sharbon A people because he's just set decoration out there. So I don't know, I don't know what
we're doing, so we'll figure it out. Though I can say that I really haven't drafted a ton of them either way, because I'm sort of like you, Lukwan that I don't really know what's happening here, and the line is terrible too on top of that, so I generally have not drafted a ton of either guy just because of the confusion at this point. All right, there, you know, there's a look at the NFC West. Uh. Next week we will dive into the North divisions A f C and NFC North, so that should be a whole lot
of fun there. The AFC North is going to be an absolute rock fight all year long with those four teams, so look forward to diving into those as well. And we're back with you tomorrow Thursday for the cheat sheet. Gladiata is a film on task to watch it, Yeah, watch it man Decimus Maximus Maximus, Decimus Meridius and his adventures in Ancient Rome should be a whole lot of fun.
So we will jump on with the cheat sheet. Will be with you live streaming on YouTube as always, but in meantime, that will do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Stay happy, safe and healthy, do good and live well. We see you on the interwebs on Thursday. We'll talk to you on the pod next week. I'll count Pilt, I'll tell Pilt.
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