Full Transcript for NFC North preview

with those guys. He's got deep threats, he's got everything. But figuring out, at least without some game tape and some you know, numbers to analyze what the weekly distribution is gonna be. Like, I feel's gonna be a nightmare right now. It's gonna be worth throwing a dart at all of those guys. But you just don't want to reach too early because it is now off the table, off the table, I mean, is he gonna see I just don't think he's gonna see enough targets given to Laney Walker, given Eric Decker, given Richard Matthews the fifth overall pick, but he's a rookie. Decker has had some injury concerns. Delaney Walker has as well, So I think that it's still how old two years old, like thirty two. He's getting up there. He's been around there for a while. But I think that what this does is really push Marcus Mariotta is Alex alluded to higher up because everybody good point, all the all the hype train enthusiasts were, we're pumping this guy pretty hard. I think him and Jamis Winston where the two most talked about guys. I think this moves Mariot ahead now as far as ADP think he'll probably go off the board now because he has all these weapons, which to me just just his health concern is the only thing I was actually thinking about that this morning too, is that because he hasn't he couldn't cut, he couldn't run and stuff yet on his leg. But if by training camp he appears back to full go, I definitely jump him over those guys, I think. But if you saw him at the Predators games, he looked good. Looks good not drinking beer next to his lineman a little. That's a little disappointing. Tyler Lawan's out there busting his finger open, throwing down some tall boys, and he's just that one. He's just kind of like he looks like the designated driver, which is great. You need that person. Save that money on lift or anything for those why not for those aig deal about joining us on Facebook Live, Hello and welcome again Alex Gilhard, James co, Adam Rank, and Marcus Grant. For those of you who are first joining in for the very first time, we'll answer your Facebook life questions as well. We got Pete Simmons would be I'm gonna be terrible because I'm gonna start getting distracted every time. Oh man, I retweeted it so I could probably find it this way. Besides Green Bay wide receivers, who in the north, out of the Lions, Bears and Vikings are at most value? That is a question from Pete Simmons. We're doing this part now, well, we'll do a little bit. Think you want to What you want to do is always acknowledge those young men and women who are absolutely let them know that we see them. So outside of those Green Bay Whiteouts. Who in that a f C North do you like as as a good NFC North Rather uh In terms of a fantasy value at the wide receiver position, I think the well, the whole passing game of the Vikings is a little underrated right now, especially in non sharp drafts. With all of us. Stefan Diggs is going to go highly with with a good bunch of guys like us, but I think in more casual leagues he's gonna be hanging around a lot later. He's the guy i'd rather have. Adam Feelan is gonna be hanging around later still probably produced, especially because you'll get him at a double digit round price. And Kyle Rudolph is a great guy to target. If you miss out on those top tier tight ends, you don't want to end up sinking a second or third round pick in Gronk or Travis Kelsey. You can wait for Kyle Rudolph. I think as I was looking at this for that piece, I think he had the most the highest percentage of air yards from his quarterback among all tight ends in the league. He's getting targeted downfield. He's a monster in the red zone. He's gonna be a great guy to get that. Always have that weekly touchdown upside for you with tight end being so volatible, Like the worst case, you're hoping he gets in there for one yard touchdown, like still six points, but he's he's a great guy there. That whole passing attack. I think it's a little undervalue. Again, we welcome in those folks joining us on Facebook Live. But my my buddy Bob de Castro from Fox eleven l A has joined in, Bob Harris has joined in, and Walker schen Her joining in as well. Um, well, it's a great segue into you know, the topic to jour, which is, of course the NFC North. Will start with the Packers. They led to the division at ten and six. Aaron Rodgers last year und yards, forty touchdowns, seven interceptions, three sixty nine yards on the ground, four additional touchdowns there as well, So forty four total touchdowns for Aaron Rodgers. He was the QB one again. Is that good? That's pretty good? Pretty good? Uh, Aaron rod You will start with you Alex gilhard projections for him and what do you see? What's a good I guess what's a good round to take? Aaron Rodgers? I mean he's projection. He should be the QB one. I mean like he has a realistically he has a floor of like QB two or three. You know, we talked about this recently too. The only two years where he's played all played as a starter has he not finishes the QB one or QB two one was the sky is falling the others when he broke his collarbone and missed like seven or eight games a realistic round in in a in a more casual draft, I think he's just too too early. If you want to go for it, I mean, I think you're you're losing out on the value of a lot of better positions. Uh there, So I would I mean, like, as we've been doing drafts, we've been talking about it lots of times. You get into round three occasionally in this draft, and there's already a lot of guys you're feeling questioned about, like truth, do I trust DeAndre Hopkins coming back? Like is Carlos Hide gonna lose his job? What the hell is going to happen to Todd Gurley in the Rams this year? So if you'd rather take the sure thing with Aaron Rodgers, I think that's the point, but I would not certainly would not pass him up, even in a much more casual league, ahead of the guys that I feel are much more sure things are safe. That I'm gonna I'm

gonna give you a take that sounds a little hot take ish, but here's the thing. I really believe Aaron Rodgers has the opportunity to go for five thousand yards and fifty total touchdowns this year. And I know, on its surface, you say that, and I know because I'm in the right room. No, no, I know I'm in the I'm in the right room. But I'll tell you what. You throw that out online on Twitter or whatever it might be. People, you know, they balk at that a little bit. Aaron Rodgers, five thousand yards, fifty touchdowns, I think it's in the books, especially since they added a guy in Martellis Bennet. If everybody stays healthy, my god, this offense looks locked and loaded. I mean, if you go back to his MVP year, he had forty hundred plus yards and forty five touchdowns and he didn't play the last game, and that was the game where Matt staff or Matt Flynn torched the Lions for six touchdowns and like several hundred yards, but he's never gotten to five thousand yards five thousand now and he's never gotten to fifty touchdown. So have all been in there. Pretty good. It's pretty good. But so I defense probably isn't gonna be as good, right, and that would lend itself to more offense as well. So there you go. Jordy Nelson last year twelve fifty seven through the year, fourteen total touchdowns. He led the league in touchdown receptions. There he was your wide receiver to Despite me throwing dirt on the Jordy Nelson, after what three weeks or whatever it was, he came back with the strong ventions here. But projections for Jordy Nelson, Adam rec I think with those guys, when you bring in Martel has Been and all those people, it actually helps him out. I know a lot of people get scared about it and they're worried about the target share going around, but Jordy Nelson is so great it's stretching the field. They really wanted to attack people down the field, and we saw that a bunch. I know because I had him on the team the year before he had his catastrophic knee injury, and it seemed like every game they would open with a bomb to him and he would catch it and he'd be like, oh, I'm gonna get twenty seven points from Jordy today, and that would be all you would hear from him ever. Attain you can be like I I literally think he just left, like I got my touchdown. I see you guys later, Like some dude who just goes into the gym and just does thirty minutes of CARDI You're like, I'm good, and then he bounces out. So I see that similar, especially with so many good players in the mix now with bart with with Bennett there, you gotta be um cognizant of people at the line of scrimmage. Uh, Time Montgomery, whether he's lined up directly behind, it doesn't matter. I'm gonna be commanding a lot of attention. So I think that only helps a guy like that. And I think when you're trying to figure out ways to stop the Packers, it's it's difficult to pick one guy. Tie Montgomery last year started just six games. Lacy, remember Eddie Lacy, remember, was the starter to start the year, and then Time Montgomery kind of was, you know, in and out of lineup, not really all that healthy because of that sickle cell trait that they discovered. So hopefully he gets that all sorted out. But four dred and fifty seven rushing yards. I mean, you look at the yards per cary five point nine yards per carry, eye popping, certainly, eight receiving yards, fifty six targets, forty four receptions there three touchdowns, all of them on the ground. Time Montgomery a giant question mark going into Marcus Grant. But what do you think will happen with Time on I mean, I think he's going to see obviously the bulk of the work in the backfield there, and I guess we can tie this into the Walker. Shaner asked if we think Time Montgomery will be an RB one this year. Um, I don't think he'll be a fantasy RB one this year. Uh you know, I just I do have questions about whether or not over the course of sixteen games he can stand up to the workload that will be asked of him, especially when they've got a guy like Jamal Williams there, who you know, may not be the RB one right away, but certainly can be that more of the between the tackles kind of power runner. Um. So you know, I think in a world where we are inundated with running back platoons and committees and that sort of thing, you can look at time Montgomery is maybe being an RB two, a guy who will get a lot of the work there. But I just I don't know that he's a guy you're gonna see get two hundred carries or two hundred and fifty touches over the course of the season. I love this question from Bob Harris, who asked, are we getting too far in front of the whole Jamal Williams thing? Thoughts on Aaron Jones, Uh, alex galhar you know, obviously you're very tapped in uh to you know, all the beat writers and stuff that that. Right about the Packers, what are they saying about that backfield? I mean everything right now is about time. Montgomery is the leader in the clubhouse, and the team is doing everything they can to to set him up to be that leader. He's been working with former Packer Brandon Jackson on his plat pass blocking, which was a weakness of his game last year, and if he irons that out, it's gonna be hard for him to come off the field on those third downs. He's a converted wide receiver. He's a great pass catcher. The guy is built like we've seen him. He's he's muscular. He's built more like a running back than a wide receiver, honestly, and he was he was good between the tackles last year. I really honestly think he can handle the full time workload. I think they'd rather have him. I think Aaron Jones is gonna be a great compliment. It reminds me of what they did years ago, and other people have made this comparison when they got Eddie Lacey and Jonathan Franklin, and we're mixing them both in that's kind of what they got with Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones. I would love them to love to see them use Aaron Jones and more pass pass catching options in different packages because they've

honestly never had a back like that that has sustained on the team. A good scat, you know, crazy good back in the open space. But that's gonna be hard. It's gonna be hard to rely on him in a fantasy sense. I think Time Montgomery is the back to own unless something happens here, and I think he's he's got a really high ceiling. Does the specter of Jamal Williams scare you off at all? I'm not super concerned. Um. I mean I think you know, even in even in Eddie Lacey's heyday when he was still crushing it for them, they were given James Starks to ball plenty of times in those years. And so even if you know Jamal Williams approaches a hundred carries and the line share go to Time Montgomery. This is a high scoring offense. They ran the ball thirty eight times last year, two backs in the red zone alone in Time Montgomery only had twelve of those. So if you say, you know, if suddenly he's getting twenty four of those instead of Lacey getting ten before he had injured and stuff, all of a sudden, we're looking at We're gonna at back with a high scoring potential. It's gonna catch a lot of passes in a high powered offense. It's a great situation. The Lions at nine and seven last year, Marvin Jones came out the gates on fire, finished the year with nine hundred and thirty yards on a hundred and three targets just fifty five receptions, so not a great catch rate. But how about this four hundred and eighty two yards in his first four games. Okay, four eight two in his first four he had four eight the remaining twelve games. That's a great Bob. Well, that's what happened. Everybody identified him as their number one receiver and that's where the coverage rolled and he was taken out of the game, which is why um Golden Tate was able to establish himself as a somewhat uh fantasy option down the stretch there. But that's the one thing about Marvin Jones is he's a good receiver, but when you when you try to make him a number one, he just does it. He's just not that guy. He's not Antonio Brown or Mike Evans or somebody like that. So when you are now drawing the coverage that was usually pulled away when you were playing opposite A. J. A. J. Green, like, it's not gonna work out for you. So that was too bad, and I would expect more of the same unless they find somebody else who's gonna be there. Wide rest, I think teams will attack him the same way and be like let's stake out of Marvin Jones, because he'll kill us if we don't. And then he seemed like kind of a monotone weapon as well, right like he he was constantly going deep down field. Uh. And and again you look at that catch rate, fifty five receptions on a hundred and three targets. I think that would lend itself to that. Yeah, they were trying to stretch the ball to him a lot. They were, They're at least going after him, but he was covered a lot, especially at the end of the year. He was covered a lot, and it was just Stafford trying to get him involved, which was admirable because I still had him on a couple of

teams and I really do appreciate it. Appreciate though, don't do it on my account. I could be mistaken here, but if I remember it if I don't know my computer so I can't look up the NNGS stuff. But um, I'm pretty sure his downturn also coincided with a little bit of an offensive shift because he was so great in those first a couple of weeks. Because they were chucking the ball deep to him more regularly, and those those targets dried up as they shifted more towards that quick passing, shorter game, and that's where so much he wasn't able to be quite as useful or as dynamic. He was greater. You know, anything about that game against the Packers where he had two hundred yards, he was getting targeted downfield left and right. But instead if you're trading those in for five yard passes instead, that's not Marvin Jones game as much. So that's that's my big concern with any of the Lions receivers is that they are relying very heavily on yards after the catch. It's something that that Golden tap does pretty well. Marvin Jones maybe not so great at that, but it is. It's a situation where you know, you have guys who are going to catch the ball three to five yards away from the line of scrimmage, and then in order for you to get big yards totals, you need them to break a couple of tackles or just have mis tackles or what have you. And that's a tough way to live. I feel like they The Lions offensive approach, anyways, was similar to what the Dallas Cowboys were trying to do. They were using that short passing game and being very you know, dink and duck to kind of try to protect their defense too, because or defense wasn't all that great, so to kind of keep them off the field. The offense was just grinding yards and grinding clock and running game with Nondula injured, Dwyn Washington injured, Theo Riddic not great going between the tackles and then not giving the ball to zac cent or enough, not giving hey when they when they fed him the ball down the stretch, he performed. Well, that's all right, All well, stop trying. I'm not saying he's an back I'm just saying like they had an option there and they weren't using Hi as much they could. Alright, let's stay with you, wiz, and let's stay in that backfield. A mirab Dula played just two games last year. Theoretick played in just ten games, three fifty seven rush yards, three seventy one through the air. So obviously a great dual threat and Theoretic, as we know, break down the backfield for me in Detroit. This is a tough one to peg because obviously a big fan of Abdullah and would love to see him he's not gonna get the like a featured back workload because theoretic is there and it's gonna steal some of the passing game work. So you kind of fall into this area where I was actually talking about this with the Great rich Rebar on Twitter yesterday about how he was saying how it's on a baffling right now that a mere Dula's ADP is around RB twenty, Tevin Coleman's is there, and um, I forget who the other one was, balal Powell. Maybe because you can get backs that could have a similar slice of their offensive pie, like balal Powell or like Kenneth Dixon or Paul Perkins. Rounds later and I can see that. I think. I think the reason people might be comfortable chasing I do a little higher is because his talent is so tantalizing. But sometimes we have to uh distance ourselves from just pure talent evaluation and fantasy. It's certainly a factor, but so is opportunity. And I think he'll be a good value if you can get him in the right round. But I what is the right round? I don't know, five, six, maybe you know seven. Even if you can slide him back that far, I'd feel comfortable with him in seven. Yeah, this is a it's a good it's a good offense. It's a good offense. There's going to be scoring opportunities. You know, Um, he should be fully healthy. They wanted to treat him like more of a prominent have give him a prominent role in the offense last year. Didn't come to fruition when he felt when he got injured, So that the potential is certainly there, but it could also be frustrating split backfield with theoretic getting so many catches, although rumor as he could move more into just almost like a slot receiver this year. So with Ann Kwan Bolding gone, especially, Matt Stafford was a top ten quarterback last year for yards approximately twenty four touchdowns, ten interceptions. Marcus, your thoughts on Matt Maddie Stafford going. I think he remains to be kind of a lower tier QB one this year. Man match up based guy. Yeah, kind of mats basically, But I mean I think that the way the offense shakes out, and you know, Alex alluded to it, the way they went to kind of a shorter passing game, more accurate, high percentage throws that benefited Stafford. I mean he looked good doing that. And and you know, it's not the same offense we saw a couple of years ago, where you know, Stafford's gonna throw the ball, you know, six hundred, seven hundred times a year and you'll get a clothe and and get around five thousand yards. But because he's going to be more efficient, the interceptions I think will come down. The touchdowns will still be you know, they may not be spectacular, but it'll be nice. Uh. And like I said, he's gonna be that guy. He is that guy that Tony Romo was for so many years in the sense that you can wait until you know round nine, ten eleven, he's gonna be there. He's gonna give you solid, maybe not great, but solid week to week production. At the end of the year, said he'll he'll end up with somewhere around the QB eight nine or ten say something. Stafford, Um, he's one of my favorite quarterbacks. Really, I love him. I I thought during his rookie season, is it because he goes with the backward flat bram is that one I don't learn mine? Backward? Uh? He's the best. He's one of the best miked up quarterbacks. He's always good. But he had that miked up situation against the Browns where his shoulder was falling off and he's like, no, I could throw it and

he went in and almost died in whatever. Um So I really I'm a huge fan football wise of Matt Stafford, but he sucks as a fan of absolutely sucks up. He had five He had five touchdown passes the last five weeks of the season, and that came in three games. You know he had. He had one big game against the Rams. He had four sounds against the Rams. The week before he had three against the Eagles. He had another three touchdown game against the Packers. He had a three touchdown game against the Colts, which means there's too much variance. It's way up in with that guy. He will murder your fantasy team because of that. And it's like, it's not because he's a bad quarterback. And I know at the end of the season when you look at it, you're like, hey, he was the number season long. He was number ten, and I listen, I enjoy him. I'm not knocking him as a quarterback, but as a fantasy option, I can never draft me he reminds me. And I was gonna say, it's two and Marcus that you can get him there. I was like, I don't feel good about having him. There's a lot of guys in that area that I'd rather take if I waited on a quarterback, because like he said, he's a goo quarterback. Reminds me even Mark Brunell, like back in the day with the Jaguars, like great quarterback, but at the end of the year, at the end of the year, he'd be around like QB twelve or fourteen and fantasy and you look and you'd be like you had thirty yards and like twenty four touchdowns and like two games with twenty plus points. Like I'd honestly probably rather stream the position and play the matchups then then ride try and ride Matt Stafford every single week where I'd take him for high scoring games and then stream other weeks. I didn't get to Week fifteen because of him, But bitter against the Giants, two hundred seventy three yards, no touchdowns, an interception, all right, So there you go, so much fun, so happy the Vikings and even eight and mate. Last year, Dalvin Cook was drafted by the Vikings it was an end of an era. Really, Adrian Peterson uh now off that team and it's Latavius Murray who they signed in the off season then drafted Dalvin Cook. Sorry, Buchet, look, Latavius Lottavias ran for seven eight rushing yards, had two sixty four through the air, twelve touchdowns. Twelve touchdowns for Latavius Murray behind that massive offensive line in Oakland four point oh yards per carry. The the offensive line in Minnesota, I don't know. I mean, they're grade. Last year was obviously not great, but a lot of injuries befell that offensive line. What do we make of the backfield there? Adam ranked Dalvin Cook, Latavius Murray. Dalvin Cook is gonna be your number one guy, and uh he's gonna be a stud I'm I I'm amazed that so many people are are not regarding him. Were highly I think that because the offensive line will be a little bit better, and I know he had some off the field issues. You know, he got beat up during the combine too. In terms of his metrics and all those things. I don't care

about any of that because when you look at his metrics in pads and it's not sports science. But it's one of those not spark, but one of those other ones where like when you measure him doing football moves and pads, he's off the charts. He's he's as fast as John Ross in pads as he is. So yeah, sorry. So if I was drafting a team based on how well you'll do in a Superstars competition where you're running around an under armour and that, like you know what, I might not want him not drafting there. That's a straight up football player. It reminds me so much of Randy Moss, Like nobody wanted Randy Moss, like, oh, he's got off field concerns whatever, and then he came out and he destroyed everybody, including the Cowboys UM in that first uh that first season. So I think that I think Dalvin cook Man he should be outside of Christian McCaffrey, he might be the number one rookie running back that I'm going out interesting. Okay, there you go, ahead of Leonard four Nett from Adam Rank there. All right, we welcome in Daniel Stevenson and our very own Katherine Chance Smith on Facebook Live. She's like a zar of social media. You should watch out. I want to be a czar of something that's such a cool title. You're the tsar of mark Ingram hayter Ry. I hate the NFC South, Yes, I'm sorry. Do you mean on pace? What a what a jerk to ruin that joke to actually get to a thousand yards? He did, He broke the curse. He's no longer on but but he passed down the on pace moniker to Carlos Hide. Carlos Hide is then paced the NUAN pace. All right, we'll go there. Stefon Diggs. Adam feeling the wide receivers there from Minnesota kind a touchdown them already, Yeah, a little bit. So I'll just give you the stats and will move on. But Stefon Diggs nine hundred and three yards, three touchdowns, he was your wide receiver forty three. So overall, a pretty disappointing season for Stefon Diggs, also considering the brilliance that he flashed against Green Bay. He suffered a groin injury in Week four, which is the thing to remember, and he said this soft season, and he was never the same after that. And I think you can kind of tell and even perhaps like they switched coordinators when norv Turner resigned I think after Week eight and Diggs went from doing a lot more downfield to having a lot more shorter routes. But that also could have been because of his injury and like not being able to get up to full speed as much down there to win those routes deep. Something something to think about, but fully healthy. I mean thirteen games last year, he was just shy of a thousand yards and just had kind of bad touchdown. You know, he's a positive he's a positive regression chance. So if he you know, if he crosses a century mark and hits six or seven touchdowns instead, he's gonna be a tremendous value in there. And I just want to throw out this kind of hot take. It could have saved it to the end for a Storylands for forgetting Sam Bradford stream was streaming Quarterback Week Place just place the Saints. There's some tough matchups with other quarterbacks playing the Saints there in Minnesota, so he's at home. Should be a positive game script to score a much touch on Mattre. Sam Bradford could push for top twelve quarterbacks, go get it. And the Oways has that reputation for being a quarterback who's heard all the time. He started twenty nine games over the last two years. Okay's and last year murdered each failed to make double digit starts in the season once. And it's like the Red Witch from Game of Thrones went over there and resurrected Sam Bradford. I think three times during the season. I love Sam Bradford as a as a stream Bowl Week one though place the Saints, he's at home words I was not expecting to hear today. I love Sam sam Bradford. Teams, your quarterbacks had a crap matchup in Week one, consider Sam Bradford. Adam Feeling was one of the favorite targets of Sam Bradford nine and sixty seven receiving yards, five touchdowns. He was your wide receiver twenty nine. But we warned you always to not look at the season long totals, you know, generally speaking, because why Adam Faland had two hundred and two yards and two touchdowns in Green Bay in Week sixteen. That's a huge, a huge chunk of his production coming in one week when generally most folks weren't playing against a Green Bay defense that had just been absolutely destroyed by injuries. In lackluster play. So but he started just ten of those games, so it wasn't like he was a full time starter. And maybe it was because Diggs was hurt. But like watching the Vikings, you're like, yeah, Theland's better just by watching them. The chemistry between him and him and Sam Bradford, That's what I said. It could be with Diggs was hurt. It could be that he was hurt or whatever. But they're both good though. I mean, the bottom line is you're getting Adam Feeland in I mean late late in your draft, so you know the risk is minimal to say the least regarding Adam Cleland. And again, if if Sam Bradford's your guy going throughout the season, they have a you know, a chemistry going. So why not I like it. The Chicago Bears three and thirteen. It's the hometown team of our very own Adam Rank. Jordan Howard was a rookie last year and despite that rookie status, thirteen on the ground so again, thirteen hundred yards rushing, nearly three hundred yards receiving five point one yards per carry, seven total touchdowns. He is universally regarded as a top twelve pick in this upcoming Fantasy Drafted seventeen. But I will throw the question out to you, Adam Rank, Is he worried because you like Jordan? Why are you gonna Why are you trying to trigger me? You just come out with your hot takes. Just do your Todd Gurley, come on, Jordan Hebster's dictionary defined as Jordan Howard. Just say it, oh, Hodd Gurley. I'm just saying because there was one other rookie who who failed to live up to expectation. Okay, tell me why, because when you look at it, look at the numbers, numbers, there's not a

lot of number one running backs out there. Somebody who's gonna get three hundred touches in an offense with the head coach who loves to run the football, who wants to keep games close, who's on a team with its strength is in its front seven, which means you don't want Mike Glennon going out there and throwing it three times. You don't get away, you don't. I mean I don't think that he will all the time, but I still think that you're going to try to establish the run. And one of the big differences between him and Todd Gurley, is that his offense functions in two thousand seventeen. Uh, and you look at some of the some of the I can't say that it's going to function. Yeah, Mike Glennan's the starting quarterback. I'm sorry we lost. We lost the Hall of Famer Matt He had Brian Hire from several games last year to cutting like two games, like he's can color. Yeah, so exactly, it's the it's the same. But you look at it the the offensive line, though, even with the injuries to their strength too long and too John sitting, they were still the eighth ranked rushing offensive line according to Football Outsiders. Our friend Brad Evans was able to dig up some of these points. Some of these see these metrics. He was third in breakaway runs, tenth in yards after contact, seventh in yards after contact per game, in yards per touch, and tackles have aided, he was sixth overall. He's an actual running back. It's not a verted wide receiver or anything like that. So I I feel very I there wasn't a shot at anybody. I'm just saying that he's a running back and that's his position, and it's been his position for a long as time, and so I know it's well, you're heated again. I asked you, I'm with Adam Rank, though I'm a hundred percent with Adam Rank on this one. I know, I know, James, you had Jordan Howard's top of year like players to avoid or this year, which I am. I actually was considering writing a counterpoint. I like your article, which may happen, so keep you know what, I should just do a point counter articles together because he wanted to do with I have a much longer piece ready to rock and roll. You should just usually should just back, chop it up and go at each other. But I think this is the anti Jodan Howard side of the table. Then apparently I think he's being overvalued right now. I think we need to learn from the lessons the Todd Garlan thing. Our friend Man Harmon wrote a great article focusing on you know, the three things for UM at least top five backs UM were quarterback performance, scoring, offense, and targets. Howard really only checks one of those boxes coming into this next year, and that's targets. He's a great he's a good pass catcher. I think he got attributed with seven drops last year. I went back and watched all of his targets. They were not all on him. Brother, he's not a good receiver. He's he's a good receiver. He caught with his hands, He's he's pretty fluid. I went back and literally watched every past target of hit. Yeah, he had a

couple of tough here's something to note to be concerned about that. I dug up on next Gen stats for an article that will publish on NFL dot com later about running backs and bad offenses. But first it's gonna appear in a magazine tit shelves later. But per next Gian Stats, Jordan Howard had one of the best yards per carry when facing seven or fewer men in the box. It's six point six point one yards per carry, drops to three yards per carry when there's eight plus men in the box. So if teams start not respecting that passing game with Mike Glennon and Cameron Meredith and Kevin White, like Kevin White over three yards per carry, which means on at that's that you did run that four times. That's the first time. So my point is, like that was that was the argument for Melvin Gordon, which that was my argument, Like I'm not. And I'm not arguing here with Jordan Howard. Let me let me let me just finish this this statement here with you. We look at things. So Howard was great last year largely because he was so efficient with his touches, and he did create a lot of yards for himself. He had his five point three yard per carry. I Whige was actually looking at some other stuff in nection stats haven't digested at all, but he had one of the biggest differences between yardage he ran before a defender was within one yard of him, and then yardage ran after a defender was with him. So he was creating for himself. But the trouble is if boxes are getting stacked against him. He only scored six touchdowns last year, three of which came in one game, and it was that snowpocalypse against the forty niners where nobody wanted to throw the damn ball. So if the scoring opportunities stay the same or slide back a little bit, he's less efficient simply because the offense is and his great and there aren't they They're not scoring, like all you're gonna have to bank on are his passing targets, And it's just that's a dicey proposition for me to sick a top ten pick in. I think he's still around a you know, top ten to top twenty back for sure, but I don't want to take him in the first or second round. This is all well and good, and this is all analysis that resides in the world where running backs are actually a living thing. You don't live in that world. Running backs to dead. They're dead now, they're dead now. And and I just think that regardless of how good or bad the offense is. And Alex, I mean you wrote about not being scared of guys in a bad offense, this is the guy who's going to get three hundred touches are close to this year. And that's something you just can't find anywhere anymore. I mean, literally three quarters of the league is running a committee system. And so now Jordan Howard is a guy with with UH with an opportunity, with nobody really behind him. Because you know, we all know that that Jeremy Langford was laid the fantasy rest last year. Um, poor Mike Clay, Mike clay Man. Mike Clay wrote the eulogy on him last year, and so you know, and so it's a situation where I mean we we I mean we signed here. We sat here the last couple of weeks and talked about how much blal pal And or Matt Forte can be valuable on a Jets team that's going to be abysmal. So the Bears, who should be in theory a little bit better. Why wouldn't you feel better about their one and only running back, their one and only offensive option. Really, for me, it's it's about relative. Yeah, it's cost this this one and only option is going in the top fourteen picks, Power met four, Tarrant going to the double rounds, even bill a Power if he gets crazy drafted in the sixth round, Like I would jump out of my seat draft Jordan Howard and slap everyone in the face. If he was in the sixth round. Is about sixteen and he's the RB eight, Yeah that's I think. I haven't ranked as my RB seven. But I like Jordan Howard. I think he's a great player. I just don't want him at that cost. Yeah, I mean I think for me just to to button up the Jordan Howard conversation, we talked about him being h I mean, I I appreciate and I love the fact that you saw every single one of his targets. But the numbers man fifty targets last year, twenty nine receptions. It's a fifty eight percent catch rate. It's literally he couldn't even catch if he was eight feet tall. I understand what you're saying, but it's literally the worst catch rate of any qualified uh running back. Seven he was so effective, And now it's gonna go up because it's and his seven and his seven drops too, I mean, by far the most drops, but he was a rookie. He will be working part of us. The only way you get seven drops is if they trust you enough to throw you the ball that many times. Here's the and then and if you look into his past too, it's like, look, it's crazy. When you look at the scouting report on Jordan Howard, one of the major concerns was, well, this guy doesn't really know how to catch the ball. He didn't didn't get a lot of targets out of the backfield at Indiana and also the school he transferred from, which is alluding me right now. Ye there you go, uh, And I think that was one of his major concerns coming into the league. And we saw it play out in the numbers in as well. I I have serious reservations as to whether or not this guy's actually can actually catch the ball out of the back of I just don't I don't buy it. That's a skill you can learn, though, I mean it's it's it's a learnable, teachable skill catching the football at the teachable skill. Get on the jugs machine, kids, all right? So there you go. So the Bears at three and thirteen, al Sean Jeffrey gone. Now Cameron Meredith steps in to be there. I guess their top target. Eight receptions, four touchdowns in fourteen games for Cameron Mary. Big boom er bus guy, though, double digits in in terms of fantasy scoring seven of his fourteen games, but less than three fantasy points in five games. So big time boom er bus guy, Adam Brink. Where do you take a guy like Cameron Meredith in? Uh? I prepared for Jordan Howard. I

you know what, I know that we took him in. Trying to remember where I Adam in our draft. I'm just basing it on where guys are. I mean, he falls to the double digit rounds because for the same reasons that everybody looks at that Bears offense and thinks that they're straight dukes, and nobody wants a part of it, and everybody would rather make aerial poof jokes about Mike Glennon and said, although there's a better comparison in our world, I'm not gonna get a OK, thank you, we appreciate it. No, I don't want to do Wait now I'm debating. I don't want to do it. But no, he's falling into the double digit rounds. I mean, that's the thing that's always incredible to me is like, even though you might believe that that offense is dog feces, he is still a wide receiver one of an NFL team. You took him in round seven of our twelve team most recent mock, he was your fourth winde receiver. I feel that's about a great spot wide receiver for seventh round. Yeah. I dig that the opportunities will present themselves, but I thought I saw as adpo somewhere else. But I also will start reaching dudes that I liked because I'll see you and do you like Cameron Merrith? I do. Yeah. Again, he's a wide receiver one, and I'm if he's gonna be my wide receiver four and the number one option for the Bears. Who I think that? And unfortunately Glennon does not getting a good rap for whatever reason, he got beat out by Jamis Winston, who's a good quarter The only person who really didn't like Jamis or who didn't like Mike Lennon was Lovey Smith, the same guy who thought it was a good idea to start Rex Grossman in the Super Bowl against the Colts. So actually, if if Lovey Smith doesn't like him, I love him, that's a good Alright, that's good. Like I love Smith looked at you and didn't think you were a good quarterback. Sold I'm old I'm old up to remember when Mike Glennon pushed Russell Wilson out of a college job, chased him Wisconsin. I forgot about that. And the Cameron Mereth going in the tenth round of Calculator Drafts twelve teams as well, that seems about right. I I reached for him because we're all, well, we're also doing that too. We're not using our own ratings, we're using the ratings of one other person, and his are just so you know, Chalckey there is a printer in the office. You could print out your own rankings and you could cross guy's office. They go, you know, old school like we used to do with magazines, and you gather for the live draft I would do before the internet. L ten and you're a millennial. What are you talking about? I'm immersed and letting people are helping people decide which NFL team they want to h want to, want to be a fan of. Storyline I am missing in the NFC North Quickly around the horn, Alex skellhar, you didn't talk about your boy that you just wrote a love that mas Sennett James tell us why should we be excited? The bottom line is Martel's Bennett is a top ten fantasy quarterback. That's his quarterback. Sorry sorry, he's that good. He's

that good. That's his that's his floor. That is his floor. Right now, we're seeing this guy go in the ninth or tenth round of of a lot of drafts. Right maybe later. I think Michael Fabiano had him listened like like one fourteen or something outside of his top hunter, which is that's just crazy talk. Martella's bene to me is a top ten locked in loaded fantasy tight end that you're getting a little bit later in your draft. I actually have him ranked as my tight end four, which I get is incredibly aggressive. I have him ranked ahead of Greg Olson, who I'm a little bit worried about his usage in seventeen, and I have him rand It ahead of Tyler Eiffort in seventeen as well, mostly because of injury concerns. But look, Marty beat in that offense. Man, Oh my goodness. I really honestly feel like eight hundred yards and eight touchdowns is a is a fair conservative estimate for him. But if there's injury sejority, if if Davonte Adams falls off, if Randall Cobb gets injured, if Time Montgomery gets injured, all of those targets to me at least, I think Marty b would be the beneficiary there. I really feel like he could get to a hundred targets in seventeen. I think he can. I honestly think he can get to seventy receptions and a thousand yards if things break right for him, and he's got double digit upside in terms of in terms of touchdowns as well. So man, I'll tell you what, man, I I am just through the Moon. I'm so excited to see what Morty B does. I love him there, I'm not quite as hyper on him as you, which is because Jordy is the like the dominant red zone target there. I mean, he led the league in targets inside the twenty and inside the ten last year, as well as touchdowns in both spaces. Granted, that's not to say that some of those can slide to the six ft six Martella s Bennett, but when it's crunch time, Rogers goes to who he trusts the most and has the brain meld with. But still, I think your yardage, you know, Marker's right, and we've seen in the past tight ends when they get utilized as Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers want them to, can put up great numbers. Like you alluded back to the Jawmichael Finley years. He I don't think you, like even really played a full sixteen games there, but he had like his best year was like what seven eight hundred yards and eight touchdowns. But I mean, even if Marty B doesn't get that touchdowns, even he gets five, like last year, eight hundred yards and five touchdowns is like the tight end six that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying, and I think that's you can I mean, you could put that in pen permanent marker, that dude is going to be a top seven or eight tight end. And I think just in my opinion, I just you know, breaking down those numbers and again you can find that on NFL dot com, slash co uh My Marty b love letter. But I just think the upside is there for him to be a top three, a top two tight end. I mean, obviously, if Gronk stays healthy, forget about it. But if he doesn't stay healthy, all I

mean now I feel like top two or top three is then you're really saying something. Because Mark Tel's Benett was the tight end seven last year. You know, I had these year, seven hundred yards, the seven touchdowns certainly helped a lot, But being the you know, the top seven, top eight fantasy tight end isn't necessarily saying a lot. Yeah, I just but I look at where he's getting herat drafted. He's getting drafted as you know, I think I have him as my tight end seven. That's silly, No, not the Titan seven. Yeah, that's silly. Don't think like I'd take him over Hunter Henry in a heartbeat. I'd take him over only only because only because Antonio Gates is still hanging around. He's got some punch, He's got some punches left to throw, He's got a record left to break. Once he break, they'll break that in the first week. What does he need? Three? Who do they? Who do the Chargers playing week? Marcus, give me a storyline in the NFC North I'm missing. I mean, I guess I'd stay with Green Bay and uh, you know, will the real Davante Adams stand up? You know, is it gonna be from last year who bawled out of the guy from a couple of years ago where you know he had drop issues and they weren't sure if they had faith in the guy. Um? You know, I know that we had our mock draft about a week or so ago. Jake Seely took him really wide, receiver twelve him crazy. Um. So yeah, I'm just I'm really curious to see which Davanta Adams shows up. You know, I'm gonna split the difference. I feel like he's going to be somewhere in between what we've seen Adam rank NFC storyline I'm missing now. We talked about it earlier, Say Bradford, much maligned quarterback, really doing doing this series of why you should root for is what really drew me. Sam bradforcas. Remember last year, people were he was being touted as an m VP candidate for for some time because as well as he played. And really now that they the Vikings look at him as their long term answer at the quarterback like he is he is now their their franchise. I mean, I don't know that. I feel I feel like he's a seventeen rental until Teddy Bridgewater comes back. He could go beyond because the way Teddy Teddy's contract works out. But I don't think they're so assured. If I I really, I think that they have their quarterback now. I think that they're sold on him. I think it's gonna be their number one guy going forward. Again, Still much maligned, Poor Sam Bradford. What can he do? What can he do to help erase one season where he was injured? I mean, even though he gets beaten up a lout, but he makes his starts. He's out there, he's very efficient. He does he does throw a nice ball like there's there's a lot of This is a guy that people went number one overall, that's over all court back, and oh my gosh, Louis couldn't figure out a way to work with him. People won't take Sam Bradford seriously until he shortens up those sleeves. All right, I'm not trusting a quarterback with like mid mid range sleeves that go down. That's what makes him a boss. That's It's totally they went from They went from Teddy two gloves to Sammy sleeves. I mean, like literally so great. I'm want to throw in one more storyline. Eric Ebron is a great underrated tight end if you want to find a guy to draft as the twelve fourteen tight end off the board. Uh. Ebron is a guy He's improved pretty much all of his statistics year over year except for touchdowns. Now An kom Bolden is at a picture. I think he had close to twenty red zone targets last year. A lot of those could have slide towards Ebron, who was a physical specimen, is a great presence of the red zone. He's like six five to six. Uh So look look to Ibron. I mean he's he's been slowly evolving the pick to the fifth year option. They think he's finally, finally might be turning into the player they took instead of Odell Beckham. But that's besides the point. Uh Ibron is a good tight end value. Alright, So there you go. NFL dot com slash Draft Kit to find all of your fantasy drafting needs NFL dot Com slash Draft Kid. All right, let's close out the show with a round of Daily Depths des Depth Depth. All right, Daily DAP time. We shall start with the whiz kid from Wisconsin, Alex gelhar Got going to DAP first and foremost better call Saul wrapped up at season on Monday. It's a phenomenal show. Hasn't been picked up yet. I really hope it is. I encourage everybody to go watch it, go catch up, tweet about it. Are they really thinking about not? Well, they haven't renewed it yet. They probably will, but um, it's one of their highest the ratings aren't amazing, it's one of their highest rated non zombie shows. But but the thing is, it's just phenomenal storytelling. I love to see it continues. So Daily depths to them. Also, Daily Depths to the band Polyphia p O L Y P h I A. I found them via Spotify, Discover Weekly and on the mobile app. I'm trying to find their information. But they are a guitar bending instrumental group from Texas. Uh. Really great stuff to listen to if you're grinding or working and need, you know, need kind of upbeat motivational music. Like I love to listen to that kind of stuff when I'm writing that doesn't have lyrics, because otherwise I'll get distracted lyrics huming along or thinking about whatever. So look him up and Spotify. They're great. They had They had a lot of good songs, really really talented musicians. Um and I think that's all I've got to deapth so well. Oh and last remote real quick. UM got a new game over the weekend to play with some buddies called the Players Unknown Player Unknowns Battlegrounds. It's this first person shooter, well like third person shooter, but how does It takes a hundred people and it drops you onto an island like you just you jump out of a plane over this island, you parachute down. You don't start with any weapons, any arm or any anything, so you run and the map change, the weapons spawns change every time. But you're running through buildings, trying to find guns, trying to find

armor, running into people killing them. But then what's great is the map so you don't just camp and turns into an eight hour campfest. The map shrinks every couple of minutes and if you're outside the zone you slowly die, so it forces you all into the middle at the end, into this big firefight with whoever's left. How long does that gameplay take? It can take anywhere from you know, thirty seconds if you die right to like thirty minutes. Maybe it's amazing. It's it's a super fun idea. It's it's adrenaline pumping when you get down there. It's fun because you're finding different weapons, You're in different parts of the map from depending on where the plane drops you off. It's really cool. It's like thirty bucks on Steam, so I'd go check it out. That's like the video game version of Catching Fire. Yeah, of like Hunger Games or Battle Royale stuff like that. You just put a bunch of people on an island, they go find their weapons and you get it out. It's it's fun. It's very fun. I like it. Adam Rank hit me. I'm gonna daily dap amtrack amtrack. Yeah. Day, I missed the last podcast. As we took the train. There's a train station right in the parking lot of Angel Stadi him took it down to San Diego, went down, watched the Padres in the afternoon playing the Cincinnati Reds. They beat him, uh, and they were so nice. They got they got done with their game early. There was a twelve forty game and it ended it like three, so we had time to walk back for the three forty train. Took it back up to Anaheim, went in, watched the Angels. You did the double dip. We did a double header. MLB doesn't want to give us, uh, the one doesn't want to give us those uh double headers anything. There have actually been a couple of them this year, which is sort of because of the rain like that, And that was pretty cool. So I really appreciated that. And it's something that's underrated, especially for people who live out in California where we don't take any sort of mass trains it ever, it's so nice just to not have to worry about anything, and you just like boop boop, you know, and it's no big deal. We had the baby on the train and she was fine and everything was compacetic, So I really appreciate it. And also, um, there was a nice man who was working one of the sections at Petco Park and uh, he a lot because like they have a cool like standing room only area behind home plate. I mean it's up so you're there's an overhang, so you miss a little bit. Um, but it's a nice shaded area. And of course we can't have the baby out in the sun the whole time because there's four of us. So the wife actually her uncle was sitting there was able to hold in. The guy actually was like it was the last row and normally they're sticklers and won't let anybody sit there. But Greg with two geez, who works the section behind home plate at Petco Petco Park, looked it up. Let my brother in law and my daughter sit in the shade. That's really cool. So she need to get sunburned. One person, that's all

it takes to do something nice. So if you get an opportuniti but if you live in California, or if you live in New York where there's two stadiums close, I think you could probably pull this off. See, but it's it's cool because in southern California, the Angels and Dodgers are always out of town at different times, so they're they're rarely, if ever home at the same time. Also, who the hell wants to sit in that traffic? Yeah? Who? So? I think I've heard of people pulling it off between Wrigley and Miller Park because I've always wonted ninety minute drive apart if it look I don't. I think there's a decent like bus that can take you up there, or there might be a train, so I know there is a train. We've taken the train. I've always wanted to do that, but my fears I'd go to Wrigley and then, you know, kind of enjoyed too much of the afternoon and i'd be safe to drive a car. That danger could happen at either park. You go to water of a sudden five o'clock it is called Miller Park. Yes, what about what about Derek Carr? No, it doesn't have a huge fantasy impact, but he got his long term cart. I think it that kind of does it does? That is that officials closely tweeted that it is not done but close. I'm sorry, it's trending. It's so I thought it was fair game. Plus the last you know who, that last quarterback to lead the Raiders in passing prior to Derek Carr was the way the last quarter the Raiders and not in the league, but like, who is the Raiders number one? Who is the Raiders quarterback before Derek Carr? Oh? Uh? Their starter court starting court at Jason h Jason Campbell. He's currently a wide receiver in the NFL. Here's their starting quarterback and whatever was two thousand that right? Then Derek Carr took over. Okay, so there you go. I'll give a daily DAP out. I got two of them. One of them is the Ryan O'Callaghan story. For you're a football fan. I'm sure you've probably seen this already. But Ryan Callahan ocallaghan rather a former Cal player. He's an offensive lineman. He played for the Patriots and the Chiefs. Um it's a great story that he wrote. He basically came out um as gay relatively recently here and he wrote about his experience in his journey uh through coming out. But it's an emotional piece, but basically, the the crux of it is. Uh, he used football to kind of hide his sexuality, and he made a pack with himself that once he was done playing football at whatever level that was gonna be, if it was high school, college, NFL, as soon as he was done playing football, he was going to kill himself because he did not want to come out or he thought that coming out would be too painful for his family or whatever. It might be. So um, but he he got some counseling. Um. A really great backstory was Scott Pioli as well. But yeah, definitely go give that a read if you haven't already. It's a great story, which sidebar adapts to the Players Tribune like that was something I think some people scoffed at when it was first coming out, But they've had some really, really tremendous stuff on there, and it's cool getting that unfiltered perspective from the players. Yeah, that's true. But this one came out on Outsports was out Sports Outside it was I forgot. I haven't read it yet. It's bookmarked for yeah yeah yeah, and and you know players tribute me he tweeted it or whatever. Pocket have you used that rank By the way, it's great. Is the yeah, let's stab pocket. I've dapped it back in the past, but I use it literally all the time. I have it sinked on my kin my kindle now, so when I'm at home cooking or reading or whatever I do it, They're got rank in their coworker Andy Fenelon on it as well. So you go, Uh, that's a little bit of a downer, but has does have a good Styes, absolutely, But I will leave you with something else as well. Uh. Go to Twitter and enter in the hashtag logo mania. Um the there's a minor league logo competition, minor league baseball logo competition happening right now. Hashtag you said, yes, hashtag logo mania, and you get and what you get or some I mean just terrific. Ball Caps baseball hats are the best. Oh my god, They're so good. That would be a great hipster collection. These are some great ones. And by the way, special shout out to Matt Franchise, who I think lived around Binghamton. Yes, he always talks about the bubble Ponies. Yeah, the rumble Ponies. So they've got some great names, and I wish some of these names would translate into actual professional sports. But Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. I like, uh, the the the clear Water Threshers, the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Yes, give me some of that. There's the Hillsboro Hops as in beer hops. That's pretty good. That's not mascot. The Carolina mud Cat Mudcat mud Cats have have. That's a classic one. I like it. That's a classic. I like it a lot. But there's Oxy Shuckers. Dude, there's so many good ones, man. Anyways, go check it out. Um and the area fifty ones, the Albuquerque ice Tips as May famous by the Simpsons, which is good. But yeah, no, look, there's some great ones out there. But I'm telling you, man, if you enjoy hats, if you enjoy logos or whatever great sports names, hashtag logo mania. I actually have it on my Twitter. I wish hats fit my head because I was looking for a snap. Oh. By the way, schuck Nation and uh shrimp Nation are coming after clip Nation here, James hashtags. Well, just because they their hashtags, they're getting on your clip nation. We need to put a moratorium on nations. Now there's one that's I'll just say this, Syracuse, the Syracuse Chiefs their logo. I don't know how they did not advance their logo is so sweet. I did look at this whole desperately trying to find a Syracuse Chiefs snap back aren't they they? No, no, they do. But if they're fitted only they have the fitted flat brim. See. I live that snap back flat brim life because you have hair. So that's not fair. I didn't mean to make that rhyme, by the way, but go check that out on Twitter. You could find I've linked to it. Oh my god, this is fascinating. It's good. Contact the team. They'll be able to um the Montgomery Biscuits. Yeah so again. Hashtag logo mania or find me on Twitter at James Deco. Uh and I've tweeted about it. This is I'm sorry, yes, please, I don't want to the Hillsboro Hops. What when you're looking at this logo you have to go to some stupid ass gastro pub and wear this and it just seems so appropriate. Or tap houses. I guess that's what they're called now because I listen I hang out on all the time. I'm buying one. I'm gonna get one of these, thank you, thank you. I do love the Inland Empire sixty sixers, but I don't think they're in this. I might have to get one of the California ones if there's no Wisconsin. I'm telling you, man, some of these are good. I'm I'm I Actually there's joy in my heart right now because I have inspired these two fine gentlemen next to me to buy minor league baseball. Where is Hillsboro? I don't know, I really no, it's Oregon. I don't know. Of course they would happen now total and of course, yes, Okay, I was gonna make it if you go to the team websites, though you can probably bypass. I've tried to do it. All doesn't work. Call Um, you can't find my snap back flat brim. Anyways, MG might got Marcus Grant closest out real quick. Yeah, I wanted to be back on Gilharst said about the better call Saul, which has been fantastic. Um. Also just the daily back two dads, because it was Father's Day the last weekend, so two of the people in this room are father So happy related Father's Days to the two of you. You know, I talked to my paw on Sunday, so happy Father's Day to him as well. So yeah, there you go. Patrick clay Bonne by the way, Uh, friend of the show, friend of the stronghold. So bring his first Father's Day and uh that was not too far along ago for me, so I remember what a special day it was. Congratulations to him as well. All right. So that is your show, the NFL Fanasy Life Podcast. Like subscribe review it today for Alex gil Hard, the wiz kid from Wisconsin. MG Mike Guy Marcus granted the fantasy Maverick Adam, will you stop? That's for the hops and B B Bad all the while