Wow, what's up everybody?
Welcome to another edition of The Fantasy Chee Chet. I'm Marcus Grant with Michael F. Florio Lakwan Jones. Is I believe in an airport. He might be sitting at LAX right now, if I'm not mistaken, He's on his way to Tampa. We're gonna talk a lot of stuff here. Let's let's let's kind of dive into to some of these things here. First off, George Kittle, I don't know if you saw this, says that he lost almost thirty
pounds after off season core surgery. He didn't have a chance to lift, he couldn't really work out because he was still sort of recovering.
He says he's working to try and gain that weight back.
I always like to jokingly text or a tweet about your hashtag BSh B s Ohl best shape of his life. Losing thirty pounds does not feel like best shape of his life, though, Like that seems sort of concerning, right, He's in the.
Worst shape of his life. That's what it sounds like to me. Oh, I mean, gaining weight is very especially like muscle and stuff like. Look, he's a world class athlete with world class trainers, so he'll be okay in the long run, but like to put on thirty pounds by September while doing training camp and all the cardio
that they're gonna be doing in the blazing heat. It's remarkable to me that like football players can keep their physique because like one thing that stood out for me when I watched the last Dance was like they were like, yeah, Michael Jordan does so much cardio, he can't put on muscle, and it's like, because they must be eating and lifting like absolute madmen. But I am concerned about this because George.
What makes George Kittles so great is his physicality, that he's hard to tackle, that he's he the yak he puts up in everything. So if he's not himself in that regard that Plus, he's also coming off his best year in the last four years, so I wouldn't be surprised if he naturally regressed a little bit. I don't know about you, Marcus, Like I know he goes in that middle tight end tier with like Dalton Kincaid, Kyle Pitts. I don't find myself really drafting George Kittle much at all.
I have drafted him a couple of times. I don't know if this is going to back me off of that a little bit. And I feel like he is sort of he sort of straddles that borderline of the back end of like the if you want to call him elite or certainly the higher tier tight ends, right Like, he's kind of at that cutoff in part mostly because of what the forty nine ers ask him to do.
It's not about I think his skill set.
I think if you line up his skill set with all the other top level tight ends, he is still on par with those guys. But and I say, this is somebody who watches the forty nine ers a lot that sometimes they just will use it as the facto sixth linemen, right, Like, he's such a big part of the run game that you know, sometimes they will just keep him in to block a lot, so he may not run as many routes as we want in Fantasy.
Right.
So it just, uh, it's it's a little bit for not frustrating, but it's it's concerning. I think is the best the best way to sort of sort of describe it. Yeah, no, Maggie, he said, he's he's lost almost thirty pounds. I think he's gonna try. I don't think he's gonna gain all thirty back. I don't, I don't. I don't know if it's healthy to try to get thirty like that quickly, you know, but he's definitely gonna try and put some of that back on, you know, try to gain that
strength back. I think most importantly for him is just trying to get the uh the strength back a little bit for for him.
Uh yeah.
I think mister Scamps makes a good point. I think it's interesting when when NFL players retire. I think the the offensive linemen tend to slim down and like the guys who are smaller, like your skill position guys tend to like kind of bulka. I'm not bolka, but like you know, like they don't have to work out as much. So it's like, yeah, man, you're just gonna put on some pounds.
Say different.
If I had to be in the best shape of my life for ten years and be super disciplined, the moment I retired, I'd be like, I'm eating whatever I want and I do not care.
Yeah, no, one hundred percent, Like I'm just gonna like let it go. Or speaking of tight ends a little bit here, This one from Jimbo. What's brock Bauer's ceiling? Your thoughts on brock Bauers this year.
I think his ceiling is something like a low end tight end one. Like right now I'm looking at my rankings, I have him at thirteen, just behind Hockinson, Dallas Goddard, Ferguson, in Djoku, Evan Ingram. If he outscored some of it, like if he outscored Dallas Goddard, I wouldn't be surprised at all if but I don't foresee him coming in and doing anything like what Sam Laporta did last year.
Or maybe he could have like a Dalton kin K type rookie year where he has a stretch where it's he's really useful for fantasy, but overall more of like a low end tight end one.
I like his talent a lot.
I know you do as well, Marcus. I just I don't love the quarterback play necessarily, and I think the Raiders are going to try to be like a ground and pound team like that. That's what they want their identity to be if it's up to them. So plus, Davante Adams is going to get a thirty percent target share, Jacoby Myers is going to get twenty percent right there, that's half the target's accounting for.
Yeah.
I mean, that's my big concern is that there's so many places to go with the football, right, You've got to feed Devonte Adams, You've got to get Jacoby Myers involved. Can Gardner Minshew support this many pass catchers in the offense? Look, I liked Michael Mayer coming out of Notre Dame. I thought he was going to be a big part of the Raider offense. I thought it was starting to happen
later on in the season. Now all of a sudden, he's got to compete for snaps and targets with a guy who is was a monster in terms of his offensive potential, his offensive production at the University of Georgia.
I just think that puts a cap on his ceiling.
And I think to your point, though, I think I think he could be a low into one. But I think that's more about the fact that after a certain point, being a low and tight end one is sort of it's a roll of the dice, right, Like you just there are any number of guys who can sort of slot in there. I mean, I think we were all sort of disappointed by the landing spot for Bowers because we were hoping that he would go to a place
where he could, uh, you know, thrive. I mean, Sam Laporta was the best of everything, right, a talented player who also landed in a spot where there was no real competition for opportunity.
That's not the case at all, uh for the Raiders.
For me, the earliest I think I would take him is tight End eleven because I wanted to see if you I think we all agree like Kincaid, Pitt's Kittle, they're all firmly ahead of him. But would you take him over any of Evan, Ingram, David and Joku Jake Ferguson.
I don't know that I would.
Ingram's the one I might think about, just because I think I think what we saw from Ingram last year was sort of a product of circumstances. You had a lot of guys who were hurt, but the A dot was really really low for him, And so if people stay healthy and he has that similar AID dot, like, I think the production goes way down. I'm still sort of in on in Djoku, and I'm still sort of believing in Ferguson.
But yeah, I don't know. I just maybe I'm still in my feelings a little bit.
No, because for me, I would take all of those guys over Bowers. And that's why eleven would be the early because like, yeah, Ferguson, I'm like, Okay, he's playing with dak Is potentially his number two target. Like that's a way better situation. Bowers is the better talent. I'm not denying that, but quarterback play matters so much.
Yeah, No, you're You're absolutely right. A rat say Minshew kept Pittman fantasy relevant. I have a feeling he can keep Myers and Adam Adams relevant too.
I think you can keep one, maybe two of those guys relevant.
But asking him, but now, if you have to go down the ladder to you know, a Bowers, a Myers or a Michael Meyer whoever may or who.
I don't, I don't. I don't really know about that necessarily at all.
Uh.
Another one from ailiar Rod, Jermaine Burton or Roman Wilson. I think I know who you like in this one, but I'm gonna ask you anyway.
I do think Roman Wilson is a little bit of a sleeper because I tend to trust Mike Tomlin and the Steelers when they invest in a wide receiver, and he could be the number two wide receiver probably number three target. But yeah, give me Jermaine Burton because I think the upside. I think he's the better prospect. I think the upside is far higher. I think Joe Burrow is a much better quarterback. And Tee Higgins miss five games last year, Jamar chasemss five games the year before that.
If something like that was to happen, I think Burton is gonna greatly exceed his ADP regardless. But if one of those guys misses time, we're talking about him being a wide receiver three with more upside.
Yeah, I mean, I think I'm definitely more on the Burton side of things, mostly because, uh the camp reports. Not that not that anything bad has been said about Wilson, but more like when I hear things like the Steelers are still looking for a number two receiver, that the Steelers are still looking for wide receiver, that that you know, when Brandon Ayuk's name, you know, shows up in trade rumors, like the Steelers are like the first ones in line
potentially to make a deal for him. That to me sort of says that maybe they're not all in on on Roman Wilson just yet.
That's that's my only real concern about Wilson. Uh. You know right now, have you seen the Ravens new alternate helmet? Uh?
Only because you posted it in in this uh in the cheat sheet doc. But I I don't know how to feel about it. It It looks really cool to me, but I'm like, it looks also like a Pokemon card.
My first thought was like, I mean, for me watching like college football, like East Carolina, like, it just felt like the East Carolina Pirates or something like.
I don't know.
I felt like when I saw it posted that the reaction was sort of mixed.
Some people are like, this is fire. I love it.
Some people are like, hmm, pass, And I think I'm closer to pass than fire.
It gives me like X Like if if one of the teams in like like the XFL was wearing this, I'd be like, yeah, that makes sense.
Right right, That's yeah, I'm not I don't know if I'm totally in on this this new Raven's helmet.
If you guys haven't seen it, it's all purple like they. I don't know.
There's a kind of an alternate logo and alternate Ravens logo on it.
It just I don't know. I'm not really feeling it right now. I'm I don't know. Go look it up.
You know, you guys can put in the chat if you've seen it, let me know what you guys think. I'm not really I'm not really big on it. This one from I am him. Have you ever played in a sixteen man league and what advice would you give in drafting a team PPR redraft. Ah, My first thing is one, make sure you get a I think I think you got to get a running back early, just because I feel like that. No, never freeze that. I think you get a wide receiver early. I think they're
gonna go quick in a sixteen person league. Make sure you get yourself an elite wide receiver in the first two rounds because people go wide receiver heavy and I think I think they're gonna go away.
Really really quickly. I don't know if you have any any other advice there for you.
Yeah, I have played in sixteen person league. I will say they're not that much fun.
People.
People are always like it takes more skill in a really deep league, and I counter that with the team that has the least amount of injuries almost always wins because you can't replace guys when they get hurt because the waiver wires still thin. But because of that, my advice is to take less chances. Like I know, I'm the guy that's always like grab an upside guy and
that is how I played twelve team leagues. But in sixteen team leagues sometimes guys who are just more consistent and played to the back of their card are a better option than taking a gamble early because again, the waiver wire is going to be in It's not like you can replace people easily.
Yeah, no, I think that. I think that's fair. Do we like Naje or Warren Moore say, which you one about Arthur Smith? Arthur Smith, which he was sort of evil last year Arthur's but he made running a highlight in Atlanta? Are you are you team Nase or team Jalen Warren.
I'm team Jalen Warren because I know I just said, oh, don't take as much risk, but yeah, I'm gonna go with the upside there and Jalen Warren I believe is the better pass catcher. He's more explosive. He definitely has more bursts and make more big playability. Naji Harris is more of the steady floor guy, like he's gonna get a consistent workload every week. He'll probably get the goal on work most weeks, but those those big weeks that could kind of change things that Jalen Warren is that guy.
Although I wouldn't be surprised at all of Marcus and you could tell me if you think I'm wrong, but if this backfield operates pretty similarly to.
How it did last season, I think it kind of will.
I am definitely more Jalen Warren than naj Harris because I think he's more I'm also not one of those people who's like, hey man, he was really great. He should get more touches. Like I think he really works in the role that he had last year. Now, if something happens to Najee Harris, then he gets more opportunity, and I think that's a good thing. But I think his value is staying in that same role but remaining
as explosive and productive as he did last year. I don't I don't want this to be a Tony Pollard situation right where he was like, yeah, he was really great, and then he gets a whole lot more touches and then it's just not cool.
It's not great at all for him. Let's see that's what.
Oh the chief super Bowl ring they had a typo on it, so here it is. It's first off, it's their third ring in five years, so nobody's really feeling bad about the Kansas City Chiefs. But it lists all the teams they beat in the playoffs, and it has the Dolphins listed as a seventh seed when they were really a.
Sixth seed in the playoffs.
Travis Kelsey says the ring error makes it more exclusive, which at first done. At first, I was kind of like, yeah, he's sort of right, and then I'm like, wait a minute, it's already an exclusive Super Bowl ring.
They're not just like handing these out on the street. What are you doing?
My thing is like, okay, you got their seed wrong, but it was round one, so you guys know what seeds you are? Like you knew, I know. They're they're so used to being a top two seed every year and getting the number one seed every year. Blah blah blah. You guys were with a three seed.
Like, come on, that's not like some Bill's frustration right there, like just a little but it didn't like when I read the thing about it makes it more exclusive. Are you old enough to remember the infamous Billy Ripkin baseball card that became a collector's item?
No so so.
Bill Ripkin the brother of Cal Ripkin and an okay major league career, definitely not as good as his brother's, but he had a baseball card where it's him holding a bat and on the bottom of the bat was written, uh, an explosive F face you know, F dot dot dot face was written on the handle of the path.
I'm looking at it right now.
And like a few of those like slipped through and made it out into circulation. It got caught they you know, I think they made a new one where they just blurted out and you couldn't see it. But if you have one of the original ones, it's worth a little bit extra because it's somehow slipped through all the through all the editors a little bit and made it made
it out into the world. That's kind of what I thought, Like that is a collector's item, Like that is something that's exclusive because like you know, it was a major mistake that somehow got through.
I love like when the little the car companies will like print like a name wrong or something like that. You would think and everyone would be like, why would I want this? It's wrong, But in actuality it just everyone wants it, and its value goes through the roof.
Oh yeah, no, it definitely.
It blows up the value of it because it is you realize that it's a mistake and like you know, hey, man, like this is this is poticially some that could be be worthwhile here. That will do it for another edition of the Fantasy cheat Sheet of thanks a Susie has always for putting this together. And uh LaQuan be safe man, I hopefully hope Florida. Did you give him some spots to eat in Tampa? I know that's where he's going to be for the next couple.
I realized that he's probably too far from the places that I know because my parents live like a little bit outside of Tampa. So if you're in the city, you probably don't want to drive thirty minutes for food.
So that's fair. Yeah, that's absolutely fair. That'll do it for this edition of the fantasy cheat Sheet. Appreciate you hanging out with us of course as always, like and subscribing.
To be back with you again real soon.
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