Wow, Hey everybody, It's Wednesday, August twenty first, twenty twenty four.
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, where we should probably take stock of how many leads we're in. It's me and your man, MG Marcus Grand joined by Michael F. Floyo and Lakwan Jones. We are one step closer to actual, real life football. How are we feeling?
Well?
First off, we're all back together again too.
Yeah, we're in the same room.
We're here, we can we can touch.
Out and touch each other, right, But yeah, we're getting closer to football. We are one last week of the preseason, a week where not a lot of folks play. But then we'll try to dive into some things maybe we want to see in this. Uh well, the talk about some news and rumors as well, play a little hype trainer smoke screen. But more importantly, we have a special guest
on today's show. Uh oh, you are hight QAUI because you sort of made this happen, so I figured I should I should maybe leave this to.
You to introduce ourself. Yeah, Man t tales with us today. Man Like this is going to be a great podcast with great energy. Man and what's going on?
My god, there he is fam Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm glad to like have these conversations and then also to get a little more information on certain guys that I'm targeting into this fantasy twenty twenty four season.
Yeah, and you know, nobody better than than the crew over there at NFL Fantasy.
So I'm really excited about this.
We are appreciative of you kind of hanging out with us, that you were tapped into the fantasy community. Obviously, you guys know Man Tying a guy who had a great career at the University of Notre Dame, played in the NFL for the Chargers and the Saints as well. But tell us a little bit about you and namely, like when did you start playing fantasy football and what was it that attracted you to the game.
You know, I first played two years ago.
That was my first ever fantasy football league that I ever joined. You know, I was one of those those players that while I was playing out to get the messages from fans.
Like, man, you lost me the game, and I was.
It's not that serious, you know, And as of two years ago, I'm like, yeah, it's serious.
You know, I'm one.
Of those fantasy football guys.
Now that I'm doing research, I'm listening to interviews, I'm seeing what the head coach is saying about certain players. I'm saying, who's who's in training camp. So I'm one of those guys. And I will say when I first started, I had no idea what I was doing. I went off of who I felt was the best fit at that time. I drafted Tom Brady in my first NFL fantasy draft. And for those that play NFL fantasy, you know, I understand why everybody else was laughing at my picks.
As I started to get the.
Gist of NFL fantasy football, I eventually won the league. I'm one of those guys, I said on Good Morning Football. I'm you see, I'm very very active on my fantasy football league. I'm always on the waiver wire. I'm always trading. I said that become the general manager that I hated while I played. You're you're out. Yeah, So I'm that guy. It's been a blast. My wife hates it because she knows I'm about to turn in my two week notice on Thursday.
We're all fifteen fifteen days.
Yeah, So that's that's my that's my history so far.
And look, look defensive players.
So your whole life has been spent trying to stop offensive players. But now for fantasy you're you're rooting for those. Does it is there like an internal conflict or something. Does it go against your nature to root for the offensive player?
Now, No, there's no internal conflict.
For me.
It's I'm trying to win, you know what I mean exactly give me the best advantage of winning these games.
That that's who I'm trying to go for.
You know, I think for me defensively, because we in our league we have one defense, it's simple for me. I think I know who the top five defenses are as far as point producing and fantasy football year in and year out.
And you know, guys really don't pay attention to that.
But if you're really paying attention to like the Cleveland Browns defense to the Baltimore Ravens defense two years ago, I believe it, or last year, there's a point where the Seattle Seahawks they're putting up like twenty plus points a game, and so I look.
For those little defensive advantages.
But for the most part, I don't care if it's a tight end, if it's a kicker. I'm going to draft you so that you could help me with and so yeah, I don't discriminate when it comes to positions.
No, that's great, man, I mean have you drafted already? Is there a draft coming up?
Like?
What's going on?
So this is this is this is the thing. I have a draft on Sunday.
And I told my guys I actually fly back to LA to get back on a good morning football show next week. But I told him, I say, man, I'm traveling on Sunday. Can we kick it back? And you know, preseason technically isn't over yet. You know things could happen. And one of my boys hit me back with, well, if you're trying to draft somebody that potentially could be traded or could be cut, I think you're looking in the wrong place.
So they caught me a little bit on that book there.
Yeah, and then I have two more that's on the following Sunday. So it's gonna be a good a good time.
I think you need to put your two week ind notice in a little bit earlier your clock.
Then Now, if I put it in too early, bro, I'm gonna be single wife.
And we had them nights on the counch man.
I got that. I timed it up perfectly.
You know, well, I gotta say, because you were saying before the show that you know, you have some guys and you're trying to not necessarily let out too much information about who you sort of like, I will, I will tell you this from somebody on our side, you know,
having done this for a while. The first time I ever did a league with people who listened to the podcast, I was sort of in that same boat where I was shocked when everybody kept scooping up all the guys that I liked, the Sleepers, because it was reminded of like, oh, yeah, people actually listen to this show things we do. So I totally understand where you're coming from in that in that regard, Yeah, it's it's it's.
Gonna be tricky. We're gonna have a great show. I'm gonna tell everybody what I think about certain people. There are a few individuals that I like to keep them, you know, I like to keep them tucked away. They're my little jewels, and you know, you think about it.
I have my list.
But Sam Laporta was one of those guys last year. I don't know if anybody remembers. But Sam Laporta was like one of those reserved guys in I think he was ranked like one hundred or two hundred and something last year. But I kept following the Detroit Lions training camp and I caught an excerpt on an article that said when they got into the red zone, it was a Laporter show.
So right when I saw that, I was like, oh, hold up. So I started.
Following this training camp for about about seven eight more days and then the same thing. I was like, Okay, cool, I'm not going to draft a tight end in the first six rounds whatever. I'm gonna draft Sam Laporta in the last round, and everybody's gonna be like, oh, what do you know?
And those off.
So I like to keep those guys tucked away that I'm kind of targeting. But you know, everybody, for the most part, knows the main guys there. There's certain you know, I have certain opinions about certain guys, and you know, certain guys that I like that other guys may not like. And you know, me and me and we actually had a great conversation about a certain person that they all felt was number one overall. And you know, about this whole thing. If you know, how is this whole thing
gonna happen? What you guys thinking, This is my thoughts, and it kind of solidifies and gets me ready for my draft.
So this is gonna be a win win for me.
Sam import a great example.
Some takes are hot takes in August, they will not be hot takes come January.
Yeah, for example, So you talk about, you know, watching and listening what happened last year the preseason with Sam Laporte. It kind of gets me to a headline I saw recently Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator now for the Pittsburgh Steelers, sort of warning everybody about overreacting to what they see in the preseason, because, let's be honest, the Steelers offense has not been very good in the first couple of
preseason games. Russell Wilson struggling, justin Field, struggling. Arthur Smith says, the preseason could distort reality. Now for you, you've been through training camps, you've been through preseason battles. How much do how much of what we see in the preseason does sort of carry over and how much is just team sort of trying to work out the bugs in that respect.
Well, I think there's a big difference between preseason games and the preseason. So when I'm scouting from a fantasy football standpoint, I care more about what happens during training camp, preseason practices versus the game. The game is it's more vanilla, it's more basic, you know, just get out there, do their thing, and a lot of bad guys when they get out there and they have practices against the other teams, the practices against another team is a lot more competitive
than the actual game. It's it's it's that's just the way it is in NFL. So that's why from from from a fantasy football standpoint, I'm watching the practices. I'm watching what the reporters are saying about certain practices. Who stood out in those practices, Who is to go through targets in those practices, you know, versus watching the games, and you know, basing my opinions off of the game.
Because majority of those guys, who who are you going to You're gonna see in the fall, they're not going to play during the preseason, especially now with there are only being three pieces in games, they're not playing. So I don't really watch the games and hold a lot of weight over those, but the practices I'm definitely including to those.
I mean, I gotta ask you, guys, I mean Florida, when obviously we spend a lot of time reading preseason reports, how much do you sort of buy in and how much do you just sort of say, okay, let's kind of pump the brakes on some of these things.
Yeah, once to man tized, I think the practice goes a long way. And like Russell Wilson was not out there for a lot of practices this summer, so it's partially why the Steelers offense looked as bad as it did. To me, it's always about opportunity, Like if you're out there with the ones and maybe you're not doing a whole bunch, but like you're getting the snaps, you got
some targets. That's what I ultimately care about. But when you look as bad as Pittsburgh did, I think you need to take somewhat notice, Like like they came out of that and we're like, oh, yeah, there is a quarterback camp battle, where up until this point we were like, oh, it's Russell Wilson's job. So yeah, not only did I have concern like the quarterback play if George Pickens gets that second foot down, I think we're talking about it
a little differently. The offensive line was frocious, and that is somewhat concerning to me.
I mean, Lakwan, when you look at this, does this make you worried about, say, hey, George Pickens or somebody in that offense.
Absolutely, because you're looking at this offense and you're hoping that Russell Wilson gets a little bit more looser in that pocket, get more comfort. But how can you with that old line basically crashing down on him, Like we're not seeing the as mobile quarterback we've seen when he was with the Seahawks and a little bit with Denver.
But it's like this offense as a whole in preseason just looked bad ultimately, So it's like one of those things that you do take notion, you do jot down, you take it a mental note, and hopefully he can elevate, you know, going into the regular season. But I do want to note that we did see Justin Fields play, and when we did see him play, it brung a little bit more out of this offense with his ability with his legs. But we still get the Justin Fields
that we kind of know from Chicago. I mean, he had three fumbles in the two games of the preseason in three sacks that were kind of one of those sacks where he held onto the ball a little too long. So you're hoping that these guys can get these things together before going into the regular season. But I am a little bit concerned of what we did see from this preseason game.
Yeah, I was in on George Pickens. Worried about George Pickens. Now right now, he's the only real wide receiver they got Pat Fryarmu, there's no wide receiver too. I just wonder if defenses are going to try and take him away.
Would you guys be as worried if he got that second foot down on what would have been like a fifty yard catch.
Uh?
Yeah, okay, that's fair, that's fair.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I would be.
Yeah, go ahead, can I jump in guys? You know what makes me more anxious.
I don't get anxious around the preseason struggles and training camp struggles. Really, what really gets me anxious is a elite neighbors situation. That gets me anxious because he as far as from what I've read and far as far as what I've seen, he has been the star in training camp as far as the draft picks are concerned. However, we go out there the first preseason game and he gets zero targets. So that type of situation for me, gives me more anxiety as a fantasy in football GM,
whatever you want to call it. Then somebody like the Steeler situation. You know, you know that they have a first year, they have a new system going in, They have two quarterbacks that are trying to get used to the system. You know, they're they're they're they're kind of switching them in and out. So the relationships between receivers
and running backs it's always constantly changing. But for me, I look at that type of situation and I'm like, Okay, eventually they're going to choose a starter and when they do, that relationship and that report is going to build with you know, pick Ins and you know and company, whoever it is that's going to be behind at the center.
And so you know, when I see those type of situations that you guys just pointed out, it doesn't really get me worried per se more than somebody who's having a great training camp.
And then I know that.
Okay, well it's still the Giants, Daniel Jones, you know, like I just don't.
Know like that.
That's that's the situation that gets me more more anxious than than the one with the Steelers, and they're not doing too well in the preseason.
So for you, man, TI, is it about looking at, say the scheme and the whole the makeup of the offense, because I mean, we look a lot at talent, but I mean, you know this, everybody out there is talented, right, Everybody out there has excelled, whether it's in high school, college, what have you. So for you, is it really about sort of the coaching, the scheme and just sort of the the whole shape of the program when you look at this sort of thing.
That's exactly what it is. For me, That's how I view it. It's where does this player fit in this scheme? How are they using him? I felt that, you know when Jamar Chase. I Jamar Chase was one of the first guys that I drafted my first year and I'm so grateful for it. But still back then two years ago,
they were still using him as a Z receiver. There's still using him as a number one receiver that's far out wide, and if you think about it, just mathematically, it's and geometrically it's hard to throw that ball all the way out there on the sideline every single time. Well, last year they brought Jamar Chase and started moving him around a lot more.
They started putting him in the slot. Keenan Allen is when.
He was with the Chargers, he was unguardable wide because he's he's a slot receiver. When you're a slot receiver, you have so many different options. It's an easier pass for the quarterback to make. So when I see those types of guys in certain situations, I try to see how is he getting along with the quarterback? How is he used in this system? If he's an outside receiver but they're starting to move him around, that says a lot about how the team sees this player and how
they could use them and put them in different situations. Uh, that's what I really look at, and I weigh heavily more than their skill set, because you could have a player back there that is extremely talented, but if they don't use them the right way, like case in point. Last year, I had Swift and I felt like Swift was a dynamic running back for the Eagles, but yeah, Jalen Hurns and they had the touch push.
And taking six points. You go to you know what I mean?
So I look, I definitely look at the fit and how guys fitting in schemes.
You and me, We were the same with de Andre Swift last year. We were in the exact same boat with that last year. I was just getting started here. Happen to have man t tail on whether it's gonna take a break, come back, play a little bit of hype train or smoke screen. Got some headlines here, We'll try to figure out whether or not this is coach speak or if there's something behind it.
That and a look toward preseason Week three.
Stick around for more of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
It's time to see who will Deliver? Presented by Uber Eats.
Always like to play a little hype train or smoke screen because we are in the point of the season where you know, we hear quotes, we read stories, and sometimes it's coaches and players trying to talk themselves up. Sometimes it's you know, maybe it is a little bit of the truth. But we'll kind of dive into that we happy to have man Ti say out whether you can see him on Good Morning Football on NFL Network all throughout the season. Also a recent addition to our
fantasy family here. Finally he's a fantasy nerd just like us, so we're happy to have.
Him on gener Degenerate. So Man Time. I mean, it's pretty simple here.
I read a headline, maybe kind of set it up a little bit, and then you can help decide whether or not it's hype train, whether you really on board and you're buying into what they're saying, or if this is a smoke screen designed to sort of make us all feel better about the situation.
So first one here, I'll start.
Jonathan Gannon, the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, talking about Kyler Murray, says he's leaps and bounds ahead of where he was last year, that he looks the quote is he looks damn good out there. We know obviously Kyler is talented, he's coming off of an injury, sort of trying to get himself back ready to go. So when you hear this, you're Jonathan Gannon say that are you buying it? Is it hype trained? Or is this him just sort of trying to talk his guy up
a little bit. How do you feel about that?
To all the guys who's in my fantasy football league, stop this segment right now.
Because Kyler is one of those guys. For me, guy, I am bought into that hype train. I am totally bought it into Kyler Murray and his ability to produce year and in year out. He has Marvin Harrison Junior now who's become his go to his on a safety blanket.
He also has Trey McBride, who's I think his named Trey McBride.
Yep, that's it.
One of the most reliable guys that he's found as of blate. And you know, you start, you start trickling in Michael Wilson and all of those guys.
I really like.
His hit, Kyler's Kyler's position, and I would love him to be my quarterback.
And so I'm definitely wanting to that.
All right.
You mentioned Michael Wilson, he mentioned I'm looking at you. I'm looking at you, Lakwan, because I know if there was a name, he didn't mention that. I know you want to get in there. So hype trader smoke screen and then you can talk about your dude too.
I'm gonna say hype trained. Okay, Like, what are we talking about here? There could be a case where Kinda Murray finishes in the top three quarterback this season. And here's why. Because of the weapons that he has on a perimeter and Trey McBride. And there's one guy, Manton. You did not mention I'm going to get you tickets to dortch Land because Greg dorg is a guy you have to remember.
Here's my Jewela Kwan. I didn't mention the reason.
All right, tickets.
He's my bad bro.
But we got to jump on this hype train just based on Kyler Murray where he could produce this for that offense, his rushing ability and extend to play. I mean, this is going to be a Marvin Harrison show, This is going to be a Greg Dorge show. This is going to be a Trade McBride show. And what I mean by that, they're gonna be able to distribute this ball and have this offense to be able to convert
on third down. Have guys that are reliable, because we have to remember with DeAndre Hopkins, with Marquise Brown, these guys were always banged up and around the time where Kyler Murray needed them the most. Greg Dortch was the guy to step up and be able to produce some points. So I definitely like how this offense is looking this season. And then I didn't even mention the backfield yet. I mean, James Connor has been nothing but a producer, and then
they go out there and get Trey Bnson. This guy is always in the trenches, moving defeat, breaking the tackles, and he has the ability to take home. I am all in on Kyler Murray in twenty twenty four. How you feel about Kyler Murray this year.
I'm gonna not only every reason that these guys said that I love Kyler Murray, but I think situationally, there's so many reasons to love him. Like he is back from the ACL injury now. He himself said last year he had difficulty like fully trusting his knee and maybe that's something that MATTSI could speak on even more. But that's something we hear players talk about a lot, like when you first come back from an injury. A lot of it is just like regaining trust and all of that.
So I expect Kyler Murray to run more but even more than that. Last year, he didn't play until Week ten. It was his first time with a new coordinator in the NFL, like he had Cliff Kingsbury every year up until that, So he was learning a new offense or at least executing a new offense for the first time. Plus, like Michael Wilson was routinely hurt late in the year, Marquise Brown was in and out of the lineup, and when he played, he was playing more of a decoy role.
He was really going out there with Drey McBride and like Greg Dortch, And that's kind of it. Now he's got some more pieces. He's got the big piece in Arvin Harrison junior. Yeah, I think, And and the Cardinals defense was awful last year. They gave him a ton of points, which would mean even more throwing and even more dropbacks because more dropbacks for Kyler means more scrambling.
Yeah.
I mean, I want to ask you about that, man Tip, because you obviously you had a couple of injuries in your career. You had an achilles injury, you had some other like ankle and foot injuries. How much of it, Obviously there's a physical part of that into rehabbing. But how much of coming back is just sort of mental and being able to trust your body again.
Yeah, I mean that's that's the second half of the battle, right, Like it's one to repair the physical what the physical injury, but then there's a mental aspect of man, I don't know if I can trust this. You know, you start to go to some PTSD. Man, the last time I stepped like this, this is what happened. And that's what happened when I tore my achilles. I told my achilles in twenty sixteen. I played a twenty seventeen season, had a great season, but I still wasn't moving the way
I was that I wanted to move. There's always that thought and back of your head, like, man, what if this thing happened again. But then when I came in the second year, the confidence was there. I was slighter, I was stronger. I had a whole off season to prepare. I was with the new team for the second year. So it's a lot like Kyler, if you know, he's had a whole year to kind of fiel it out to train. He's been under the same system for a
second year, so you know, it's I'm really excited. And obviously I brought to the hype trained with Kyler and all the tools, and you know, thanks to Lakwana of exposing my.
Reason why.
Yeah, the reason why I.
Really liked dors was because I really liked Rondell Moore, and Rondell Moore great, Dorsch plays that position that he played, that's that slot position. And I feel like when you have a guy like Marvin Harrison Junior who's going to attract so much attention, you can need a guy in the slot that when those hot routes comes and that he needs to hit him. He had he's able to do that, and Rondell Moore was able to do to
do that for the Cardinals the past two years. And now Greg Dortch is in there and I've heard nothing about.
Anything, but I've heard all positive.
News about him, and now that he's number four, I hope everybody kind of forgets about him and I can pick him up late in the round.
But because of la kwand earlier.
Well, well, we'll.
Work on trying to either get this part cut out or we'll make it like subscription. We'll make a subscription subscription only. Yeah, that folks, after I pay. Yeah, it's an exclusive. We have to pay for it to get these to get these tips. But while we're on the subject of guys coming back from injury, Tim Patrick with the Denver Broncos. Uh looked like he was really ready about to take off. And then a couple of years ago, Uh, he had a a an achilles injury or acl injury.
Then he followed up with an achilles injury. So it's been two years of sort of bouncing back. Uh, he's on his way back. He's played well in the preseason, and he says, quote, you guys haven't seen anything yet. So Manti, when you talk about, you know, the Broncos offense, Uh, Tim Patrick specifically maybe the Broncos offense, are you buying in? Is this a hype train on on what you think the Broncos can be? Which side notes to that they
officially named Bo Knicks as their starting quarterback. I don't know that's a big surprise. But where are you on this Broncos offense this year?
I'm definitely bought in.
Why because Sean Payton was my head coach for three years with the Saints and and the question with with Patrick is who's going to fill that Michael Thomas role. That's always the when you understand how Sean Payton structures his offense, he literally has an idea of how he wants his offense to be run, and then he just grabs body types and puts them in situations. And so you're always gonna need a Michael Thomas kind of kind of kind of guy. And then you think, Okay, who's
the who's the Alvin Camorrow guy? Okay, I know who that is with McLaughlin, you know. So I really am bought into the Denver Broncos and that hype train. You watch how bow Knicks played last week, Man, let me tell you, like it was hard to come off to Drake me like hype train when he played last week. But then bo Nix goes out there and does what he does. You know, So there's a lot of great options for fantasy football owners. I'm late in the draft.
You know, there's there's talks about, man, I can just I can just push the quarterback off till later in the draft, you know, because there's so many people there. But I'm definitely in on the Denver Broncos and you know, Tim Patrick and doing his thing yeah.
I mean, Flora, Look, I'm with Manta. I watched bow Knicks last week and I thought, Man, I'm really encouraged by what I saw. I'm really excited about this Broncos offense. I mean, Tim Patrick seemed like he was ready to make the leap, then had back to back years where he missed the season because of injuries. I mean, I guess, specifically, are you back in on Tim Patrick generally?
Though? Are you? Are you higher now on the Broncos than you were earlier.
I'm definitely higher on the Broncos offense than I was earlier. I'm not fully I'll say this is a hype train, but I'm like kind of reluctant to buy tickets to it makes sense.
I like Tim Patrick, but.
Like he's riding stand by on the pipe train, I.
Gotta see it.
Like what I loved is that not only did Bo Nix look amazing, Tim Patrick was his top target. He threw him four different times, but Nicks was spreading the ball out a lot. That is something that we see sometimes out of Sean Payton's offense. Patrick before the injuries was always like a seven hundred yard, six to seven touchdown guy. If he can get to that again, he will be very fantasy relevant. I just have questions will he be able to take a bigger step than that,
because there's still guys like Court and Sutton there. The running back is gonna be heavily involved. Greg Doltrich is becoming a tight end sleeper now, so I think he's more one of those names that will be really useful as like a bye week injury replacement. You could grab him off the waiverard. What he has done, though, is he's made me firmly stop drafting taking late round darthros On, Marvin Mims, and Troy Franklin.
I thought those guys might be the two. It is clearly Tim pat.
He was gonna ask Lakwan who is the number two target in Denver?
Now?
Is it Patrick? Is that somebody else?
I mean it could be Patrick, And I want to say that I'm on the hype train. I have never left the Tim Patrick hype train. And I mean, if we go back to twenty twenty.
And twenty, it was in the shop for two years.
Yeah, I mean, look, I was at the last stop Wight. I'm gonna be at the last stop again because if we look back to twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. If I told you he led the Devon Broncinson touchdowns back to back seasons, you wouldn't believe me because it's like one of those things that flew under the radar. He's a seven hundred guy. But I feel like with this offense with bow Knicks and how he's able to
create these scoring drives. You look at twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, he had twenty one red zone targets. He's a huge threat. This is a big target for bow Knicks where he can make these situations, and Tim Patrick could be a guy that can find the end zone more times than not. I mean, look, he's a
best ball guy. But I'm actually like, if you're in a deeper league, man, stashing Tim Patrick could be a nice play here because the guy is going to end up being such a huge red zone threat for bow Knicks if he's going to be able to go down to go down and create these scoring drives.
Yeah.
Toto Manti's point too, is Sean Payton's offense. I know they were last year. They struggled last year. I have a hard time believing that that offense is going to be as bad a second year in a row. Now that he's able to kind of work some of his uh his schemes in there, get some of his guys in there, I think it's going to.
Be a better offense last one.
Robert Salad, the head coach of the New York Jets, talking about their rookie running back Braylan Allen, says he is quote and all around good back. Now, MAN'SI obviously Breece Hall is there and looked great last year. He is the lead running back in that offense. Are you buying that Braylan Allen can have a role or is this just a coach sort of like praising a rookie early on in his career.
Yeah, it's smoke screen to me. You know, you don't.
It's it's it's encouragement for his player, you know, it's it's it's showing his support. But remember, like we're looking at looking at it from a fantasy football perspective. You know, it's like, yeah, well he probably get in there. Yeah, he probably getting there, you know to to spell spell priest help. But than that, it's the briest Hall, the
priests Hall show. Like there's there's no way with his production, especially you know him him coming off of injury last year and you know, started a little tight, and then towards the second half of the season, a guy just broke out and I didn't have him. Matter of fact, I was a victim of brines Hall just going off against the Washington Commanders, and I'm.
Like, oh my god, I'm throwing him at all.
Please, I'm throwing him these checkdowns describing me nuts and so it's all smoke to me. You know, briest Haw's back, there, got Aaron Rodgers back. You know, you have Wilson on the outside. Yeah, it's it's just encouragement for his young his young player, and you know, we'll leave it at that.
But it's a briefs fall.
Show for me.
Yeah, lakwan is, is Briylan Allen anything more than a handcuff? Does he have standalone value at this point?
I don't even know if we can call him a handcuff. He's like a watchless guy. I mean, you're watching and monitoring, and obviously he will be a guy that you won't want to pick up if bries Hall suffered injury. But I don't see anything fantasy relevant on a week to week basis for him to get into starting lineups. I mean, it's unfortunate because he's a great talent. I mean, I like everything that I'm seeing from in preseason, But like Manti said, it's the Breese Hall show until it isn't.
I mean, so last year Floria was looking Dalvin Cook got about four to five carries a game as the backup there with the Jets. Is that about what you expect for Braylan Allen? Could he possibly carve out more than that?
I think he'll get more than that because the Jets offense will be better, so they'll just have longer drives where maybe, but I think Braylan Allen there's one area where he could be a huge thorn in the side. He could be the goal on runner potentially because he's built like Derrick Henry. But look, Briest all had one goal on carry last year. Now granted that was half of the Jets goal on carries, but still they.
Had to But I'm just like, hey, maybe they chose.
They decide we want to keep Breeze Hall fresh and we don't want him taking those hits. But yeah, I think he's nothing more than a handcuff. But I did like him as a player coming out during the draft process. Yeah, I liked him too. I liked him in college. But I'm kind of with you, guys. I don't know that there's enough opportunity there to make it sort of sort of worthwhile.
That was Who Will Deliver, presented by Uber Eats, where you can get almost almost anything for game day, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL Order. Now, we still have another week of preseason games. We're gonna take a quick break dive into preseason week three, and I don't know, we'll see if Manti has any more gyms he wants to unearth. Otherwise we'll try to ask him some other fantasy related questions. Manti tale sitting in
with us here on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. It's time to drive your Draft, presented by the all new hybrid Toyota camer One more week of preseason football, and I guess this is where I should be a company guy and tell you that you can watch all these games on NFL Network starting on Thursday night, the Bears
and the Chiefs. In fact, there is a quadruple header on Saturday, and then then things wrap up on the network on Sunday e or Sunday morning, I should say Sunday morning, I guess Pacific time, Sunday afternoon Eastern time with the Titans and the Saints. But of course, over the course of the week, you can see every single preseason game on NFL networks.
Will be sure to check that out.
Man t Tao hanging out with us here as we dive into the third week of the preseason. And so, Matt, I want to ask you, because the last week of the preseason, we live in a world now where starters are playing fewer and fewer snaps. Anyway, certainly last week of the preseason, teams are starting to just make sure that all their guys are rested and protected, put them in a bubble as much as they possibly can. What should we be looking for in a week like this?
I mean, I know there are a lot of guys still trying to kind of fight for their football lives and make rosters. What sort of things are you paying attention to in the final week of the preseason.
Well, I think it's a team by team basis. You know, there's some teams or some coaches that like they like to have their players play a little bit of that last game, so there's a momentum going into the season. There's other teams that they don't want to play their guys. They want to make sure that the guys arrested, they're fresh. They they'll probably really really hammer them during the week in practice, but say, hey, listen, we're doing this so
when the game comes, you're not playing. So it's a team by team basis. For me, at the end of the day, understanding what training camp is all about from a team standpoint is their ability to critique their talent and get those rosters down. So, you know, keeping that in mind, I like to look at, okay, what teams you know, before the game starts, what teams are planning on playing their starters, and even if the starters play,
you won't really see them playing a whole lot. It's it's really the last chance for guys who are on that that that cusp to make make the team or not. So you know, as as as we get further and further into the preseason, it starts to get more I don't really watch from that's right, like the guys that are playing, but that the starters do play for a number of series. I'll kind of watch and tune into that because you can kind of get a good taste of what that team's going to look like.
And then you you you.
Make your picks, and then when the season season starts, you roll. But the a's a team by team basis.
Yeah, I mean, look, guys, I know that you know, we've already heard from a lot of teams that they're not going to play their starters. You know, I know Chiefs Bears is on our network. I would be very surprised if we see Caleb Williams or Romo Dunes anybody like that. I don't expect we're going to see Patrick Mahomes throwing behind the back passes this week.
It's three.
So I want to ask you, man, I want to ask you about this, right, because here you are. If you are, say a linebacker, you're trying to make your roster, right, and all of a sudden, the two time MVP is throwing behind the back passes, right, you're just trying to read your keys. How frustrating is that if you're a defender trying to trying to deal with something like that.
Yeah, it's almost it's a big disc you know, honestly, you know, it's just like the game is.
So easy to you that you're gonna do that, you know. And if I'm if I'm a veteran on.
The other side, like I'm just like talking to my young cats and like, bro, you better go hit the guy, like I don't know.
What, Like, don't do guy's living counting on it.
He threw up behind the back pass in the middle of the game, and then in his in the side of my interview, you know, kind of looked at it as if it was a mistake and it kind of happened like Patrick clips of you during practice that whole week practicing behind the back pass.
So it was planned to a certain degree.
But at the same time, if I'm a linebacker on the other side, I'm gonna get my revenge some way, Shap Pat.
Trick or whoever the next quarterback is.
You know, it's it's it has to happen at when he's just trying you at that point.
You know, that was my.
Thing too, Like I get you can't be like, all right, this is what I'm gonna throw the behind the back. It's gonna kind of be like, oh, but it wasn't done out of spite like he was doing it.
He knew what he was doing the highlight, he knew it was good.
They've been practicing this for years apparently, just own it like yo, I'm better than you.
That's it basically what it is.
It was just like you can't you can barely throw the pass forward and I'm going behind my back.
I left, and then during.
The Super Bowl I literally threw a parallel to the ground like I'm doing.
Everything that you can't that you know what I mean.
And so it's just one of those Patrick Mahomes things, Like, you know, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever played, definitely the greatest quarterback in this generation. You know, he's just doing stuff that's just unheard of. I've never seen somebody throw the ball in a game behind his back.
It's just unheard of.
What's next?
It's crazy.
Well, so here's the thing we also, though, have We now have a generation of quarterbacks who's gonna grow up watching Patrick Mahomes is gonna start working on these things and like so like I I sort of wait with anticipation and with a little bit of dread to like my kid gets old enough.
So I can be like, you.
Didn't you should have seen Patrick Mahomes doing that, and he's gonna be like, all right, dad man, that's enough, right, Like you know, like like we're gonna have quarterbacks doing this kind of stuff all the time. I'll talk about how Patrick Mahomes was special and and my kid is gonna be like, yeah, you're dad, ever go away, right.
Holmes and Steph Curry, those are two that are like, you have to come, you have.
To be there.
Tho, it's the natural evolution of things, without a doubt. So A Manti talked about kind of what he was looking for in the fact that there's not quite as much obviously to watch from a fantasy perspective in the rest of the preseason. But for you guys, I mean Florida, I'll start with you. Is there anybody in particular, any team in particular you'd like to see?
It was a little bit more from before the season starts.
The Patriots.
I really like what the Patriots have been doing in the sense of, like when it's Jacobe persseat out there, we're gonna give you kJ Osborne and Damario Douglass and these veteran guys.
But when it's Drake May.
You're going out there with Jalen Polk and Javon Baker the future at this position here, and I want to see more. Look, I'm a Javon Baker stan. I want to see him show out. But I really think what they're doing is they're being like you three going to learn together and develop together, and uh Brissett and the veterans will hold it down early on. But when we make this switch, I don't think it's just a quarterback switch. I think we're gonna get the wide receivers the young
guys playing with Drake May as well. So I kind of like that, like let them get all of those reps in preseason and in practice together, knowing that at some point this year there's going to be a youth takeover in New England.
Anybody any other team that you want to keep an eye on the corn.
Well, there's a couple players, and I would like to see more of the tight ports. No all, you need to seen enough.
We've seen enough.
We're not.
Right now, but I would love to see more of the tight ends Pauls, but I would like to see Kate Stover, Ben Sennen, John new Smith like I want to see more of these guys get more involved, and Ben Sennen's one that I really want to focus in on. I'm going to see him get more reps because he is truly a threat in the middle of the field and he brings some attitude after to catch as well.
And I know zach Ertz is there, but I really think he's there more so is a mentor to install the offense because he's very familiar with Cliff Kingsbury's offense. So I think guys like Ben Senna I just want to see get a little bit more involved before we get into the season, just so I can have that confidence in drafting him in some of these leagues.
Yeah, there's a couple of you know, kind of number three receivers I want to keep an eye on, Like I don't know how much we'll see Jermaine Burton necessarily with the Bengals, but I kind of want to see how they're using him. I want to see Jayleen McMillan with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well. We know Mike Evans, we know Chris Godwin. McMillan sort of has a role I think potentially in the future, and I kind of want to keep an eye on sort of what he does.
I don't know how much or if at all, will see these guys, but it's just sort.
Of my own little personal wish list. And I good.
I think that's what week three is four right of the preseason.
It's not for guys that you're gonna be drafting and starting week one.
It's for like week ten.
When all these injuries are had I and you're like, oh, I remember Tommy DeVito that yeah.
All right.
So man, TI, I know you you've mentioned a couple of guys that you like.
I don't want you to reveal your whole hand here for anybody who might be watching or listening to the show, So I will ask you this, Are there guys that maybe you're a little bit concerned about, that maybe you're staying away from. And look, you can, obviously, if you want to use this time to throw out a few red herrings to maybe scare off some of your.
League mates, you can certainly do that.
But it just any guys that maybe like the offense or the situation makes you a little bit nervous this year.
Well, I told LaQuan about this, and I actually asked him about it. I had the first pick in one of my leagues, and I hate the first pick.
I don't.
I hate the first pick.
And so that that that goes to tell you, I am very, very afraid of Christian McCaffrey going into this year understanding the workload that he got last year. Understanding you know that they might they may or may not have Brendan Nyoku, who is kind of like that, that reliever. I know they have Deebo, but Diebo is kind of like Christian, so they kind of do the same thing.
You know, they have Kitto there. Rock Party didn't.
Really have a good showing last game against the Saints, and just the injuries I think besides the Niners, the Dolphins were also the other team that had a lot of injuries going into this year. Christian has a calf thing that he's dealing with. I had a calf thing before I had and I don't even want to say my injury because I don't even want to send that energy his way.
I wanted him to have a healthy.
Year, but that that pick scared me as the number one pick, and so I actually traded out of that pick to go to the twelfth pick.
So I got. I got the.
Pick that I wanted, but it had it mainly was because I was really concerned about Christian McCaffrey being there. And when you guys, know, when you have the first overall pick, it's like the NFL Draft. If you don't get it right, you're pick to pick twenty five. So it's like you better get this thing right. And I just was. I was too concerned about that number on an overall pick, and so I traded back and now
I'm in a lot better position. But Christian McCaffrey different definitely is somebody that you know I'm watching and I was concerned about.
I was gonna ask you because you mentioned Brandon Ayuk, right, I mean, he's still working out his contract situation. We got Cde Lamb holding out, Jamar Chase holding out. At what point should we be worried about these guys who are holding out? I mean, we are about two weeks away from the season starting. When does it become an issue for you?
What? I think it depends?
Right, So, it seems like Cde's situation is about to figure itself out, and I think we all can agree that if the Cowboys don't figure it out, soon they're going to have to figure it out the hard way because without CD Lamb they really have nobody else. So that's going to figure itself out. Now, Brandon ni Yok situations is a little different. They keep going back and forth.
You know, first it was that the the Niners are trying to trade him to the Browns, the Patriots, or the Steelers, and then the Steelers were out, and then you know, so it keeps going back and forth. I think what's happening as we get later into this preseason and getting into the season, the likelihood of him staying in San Francisco seems to be the case because at this point, you're not going to go to a new
place this late in the in the preseason. You know, then you have to go there, you have to learn a whole new system. You're going to be handcuffed because the restrictions with your your familiarity with the with the play calling, the teammates and all of that stuff. So I'm putting my chips on the fact that Brendan Nyuk is going to remain San Francisco forty nine er. But again,
it's all based on the situations. So for all the fantasy football owners, you really got to pay attention to the narrative that's being played out, not only by the media, but also what's being said by the athlete. You know, the LOL period by CD Lamb a few weeks ago was a little alarming. Now lower Jerry Jones is that in his tone about how he addresses the whole CD Lamb situation. It seems like they're in a very good
situation position now. But again, just stay very very close to those narratives and I think.
You'll be okay.
All right, Yeah, I know a lot of folks are worried about about that. Go ahead.
I was going back to CMC real quick. I know you're worried about him for the calf and stuff like that. But one thing I don't think gets a lot of talking points, at least this summer is, if you include the playoffs, CMC's coming off of career high touches and the season went until February. So, as a former player, is do either of those things like do they are they real? Like you had so many touches next year you might feel the effect of it and your season ended six weeks.
Later than most of the players did. Does that have an effect on you the next year.
Yeah, No, that definitely has an effect, especially his position.
You know, being the running back and the running back for Kyle Shanahan's offense, you're getting the ball all the time. And the thing about being the running back is you're going to get hit every single play. And I know that early in Christian's career, he you know, he was dealing with a lot of injuries and you know, they just keep adding up. And it's not like the NFC West plays soft brand of football. You know, you got the Seattle Seahawks in there, you got the La Brands there,
you got you know, the Arizona Cardinals in there. They all play really good defense. And I think, you know, the Cardinals defense is going to get better. But when you're Christian McCaffrey and you're you're the focal point of that offense, man, there's only so many punches that you can take till your body is like, okay.
I'm done. You know, I'm so uh.
Yeah that the injury part of that of Christian McCaffrey, you know, besides his his past, it's just the amount of work that he gets in that system. It's you know, whether he gets injured or whether they have to really take it off on the amount of targets that he gets. It's not in the best such the situation for me as a fantasy football owner. So that's why I'm kind of hesitating about that.
That was a great point that you brought up about leading the league in touches, because that's kind of how he exited Carolina twenty nineteen. He led it with four hundred and three and then those final and two seasons he only played ten games and then he was off to San Francisco. So we might be sitting in that exact situation now, not the point where he's going to get shipped outside of San Francisco, but where that wear and tearror is going to start catching up and we're
seeing in in this offseason. I mean, the guy just had a wedding too. He's not really like in football.
He's a family man.
Yeah, I'm just saying it's like we all know, like.
Eight bro, he's a fan.
I'm a Rams fan.
I me and Marcus go back each and every week.
Man, I do know.
I mean, I know you've been a big Jordan Mason guy too. And on the table, there's definitely there's definitely a I think a path where we see more Jordan Mason just because the forty nine ers look, we want Christian McCaffrey get all the touches for our fantasy team. But Kyle Shanahan knows he needs to keep McCaffrey healthy for January and February, so they might sort of maybe ease off a little bit.
I think I think many.
I think you're not alone in your line of thinking about about Christian McCaffrey at all. That was Drive your Draft, presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camra. Whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe. Learn more at Toyota dot com slash camera nanty. This has been great, man. We appreciate you hanging out with us. When can we see I know you're gonna be on on Good Morning Football. When the next time we can maybe see you out here?
Yeah, So I fly out on Sunday.
I'll be there for a majority of the week, but you know, I'm always in the building when I'm there. Lacwan knows like I kind of just hang out and then I head back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. But I'll be there I think after our last Good Morning Football segment that I was on, it went very very well.
So the network is trying to get me out there a lot more. And I'm excited about that because now.
I can get involved in a whole bunch of different things, you know, especially in NFL fantasy, and.
So I would love to be on the show while I'm there in LA.
You know, let me know what we can do and we'll I definitely love having these conversations because it helps me identify some people and then hopefully, you know, doesn't just keep spilling the.
I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry. I promised I won't.
To be there. Bro.
I would say this from our side.
The door is always open, man, whenever you want to come by, we would. We would love to have you. It's been great having you on the show. Best of luck this season, man. You know you gep Us posted how those teams?
Yeah for sure.
Well you guys will know because if I come to work one morning and I'm not talking to nobody.
Exactly some time, fantastic, uh there, you know many I appreciate him stopping by as well. Be sure to check him out on Good Morning Football in the meantime.
For us.
That'll do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, The Happy, Safe and Healthy, do good, and live well. Enjoy the final week of the preseason. Everybody, Week one is around the corner, but stay good and we'll talk to you all next week.
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