# The Show: Bills Drama, Way-Too-Early Running Back Rankings, and More

An episode of [The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1224965828), 22 Jan 2026, 59 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/0a233618-d694-4c81-a139-b34e00f98fb1/9428a52f-75ce-4e25-a0b5-b3d9011512d0/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=5747cc82-33a9-497c-8353-b34e00f98fbe

JJ and Kitchen chat about the upcoming conference championship games, some news items, and way-too-early running back rankings for next year's fantasy draft class. Make sure to check out LateRound.com to subscribe to the free newsletter. Want to get dynasty rankings while accessing the amazing Late-Round community on Discord? Become a Late-Round member today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: You're about to listen to the Late Round Fantasy Football show,
[0:03] Speaker 1: which originally aired on YouTube. If you'd like to catch
[0:05] Speaker 1: the show live this offseason, you can head to the
[0:07] Speaker 1: Late Round Fantasy Football YouTube channel YouTube dot com. Slash
[0:11] Speaker 1: at Late Round FF will be live each Wednesday at
[0:15] Speaker 1: noon Eastern without further ado. Here's this week's episode.
[0:32] Speaker 2: Welcome In, Welcome In, David Kitchen COO of Late Round
[0:36] Speaker 2: with JJ Zacharyesin c oh of Late Round, JJ, I
[0:42] Speaker 2: noticed you're not wearing a hat.
[0:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, no hat today. I you know, last year bullied
[0:48] Speaker 1: last week, I was bullied into not wearing hat because
[0:51] Speaker 1: I still haven't got my haircut. But given the way,
[0:54] Speaker 1: So what I'm trying to do is, since we're going
[0:56] Speaker 1: out to San Francisco, I want to time the haircut properly.
[1:00] Speaker 1: I don't want to get a haircut every two weeks
[1:02] Speaker 1: up until that point, and so I haven't gotten a haircut,
[1:06] Speaker 1: like it's been like a week over basically.
[1:09] Speaker 3: But now we have this winter storm about to.
[1:12] Speaker 1: Hit you and then me, you being in Nashville, me
[1:15] Speaker 1: being in Charlotte, and it's getting icier and icier out there.
[1:19] Speaker 3: For our forecast for you and me, so I am.
[1:24] Speaker 3: I'm gonna let it be known. I'm gonna try.
[1:25] Speaker 1: To get cause I got Friday's episode that I gotta
[1:28] Speaker 1: do on the things that I missed. I haven't finished
[1:31] Speaker 1: that one up yet. And then I got to try
[1:33] Speaker 1: to finish the Tuesday episode before the weekend hits, so
[1:37] Speaker 1: that you guys have at least that content out there,
[1:39] Speaker 1: because I don't know what this power situation is going
[1:42] Speaker 1: to look like in Charlotte next week.
[1:44] Speaker 2: The same in Nashville. These weather models keep on going
[1:49] Speaker 2: up and down, up and down, and I knew is
[1:52] Speaker 2: like just a clickbait. What happens in the South is
[1:56] Speaker 2: that you get these reports of snow and and I'm
[2:00] Speaker 2: talking about everybody. Everybody goes to the grocery store and
[2:05] Speaker 2: gets milk and bread and eggs. Yesterday I saw like, Okay,
[2:09] Speaker 2: this is actually gonna happen. So I'm thinking I'm gonna
[2:11] Speaker 2: get ahead of it, and I'm gonna go to I'm
[2:14] Speaker 2: gonna go to Loew's and get a propane heater. And
[2:18] Speaker 2: then Holly, my wife, was like, can you get a
[2:21] Speaker 2: can of sweetened condensed milk? And for those that live
[2:26] Speaker 2: up north, they think I'm weird. And my mom was
[2:28] Speaker 2: born upstate, New York. She was a New Yorker, so
[2:30] Speaker 2: I get it. But snow cream is a thing done
[2:33] Speaker 2: here in the South where you put condensed milk and
[2:36] Speaker 2: cream and make snow cream. People think, some people think
[2:38] Speaker 2: it's gross. It's just what we do.
[2:41] Speaker 1: Back in the day because I you know, growing up
[2:42] Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh, you just get crushed.
[2:44] Speaker 3: Like we had blizzards. We had tons of.
[2:46] Speaker 1: Stuff growing up, and back in the day, we would
[2:49] Speaker 1: put pop sorry soda to all the all the non
[2:52] Speaker 1: yeah you know that section of the United States people,
[2:55] Speaker 1: we would we would just pour that into the snow
[2:57] Speaker 1: and just eat that. It's a lot easier than than
[3:00] Speaker 1: what you you know, you guys put like vanilla extract
[3:02] Speaker 1: in there and stuff. Yes, it's crazy guy.
[3:05] Speaker 3: You guys, it's like a kitchen outside sprinkles.
[3:09] Speaker 2: I just have to make sure the balls clean. But
[3:12] Speaker 2: I will say this, my two dollars can of sweet
[3:16] Speaker 2: and canns milk, I saw all these, you know, middle
[3:18] Speaker 2: of the afternoon, I see all these blue hairs at
[3:21] Speaker 2: the grocery store and they're getting stuff and I'm like,
[3:23] Speaker 2: it's packed. It is packed. I'm like, I'm not gonna
[3:26] Speaker 2: let them beat me. I got my stuff. So two
[3:29] Speaker 2: dollars condens milk turned into two hundred dollars worth of groceries.
[3:33] Speaker 2: And that's how it goes sometimes.
[3:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean look these like you said, these
[3:38] Speaker 1: models are the crazy thing right now, is that the
[3:41] Speaker 1: models have been trending up and so yeah, like the
[3:43] Speaker 1: Charlotte forecast, for instance, it's like way less snow and
[3:46] Speaker 1: everyone's like, see the meteorologists were wrong, but they don't
[3:49] Speaker 1: realize that there's a ton of ice that's now coming
[3:51] Speaker 1: and that's way worse than snow.
[3:53] Speaker 3: It's way worse. Guys like you do not this is
[3:56] Speaker 3: when we get power out.
[3:57] Speaker 1: Like I might not even be able to watch the
[3:58] Speaker 1: championship games this week. That has crossed my mind more
[4:03] Speaker 1: than you would even, like.
[4:06] Speaker 2: I have not even thought about that angle, but you're right, that's.
[4:09] Speaker 1: One of the things. I'm thinking about that more than
[4:11] Speaker 1: the amount of jackets my kids had, you know, Like.
[4:14] Speaker 3: I'm worried about watching these games.
[4:18] Speaker 2: All right, We've got eighteen days until Super Bowl.
[4:21] Speaker 1: Lex.
[4:22] Speaker 2: I love that I can say super Bowl in here
[4:25] Speaker 2: because of our partnership with the NFL, Like I don't
[4:28] Speaker 2: have to worry about like.
[4:28] Speaker 1: The big game, big game.
[4:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's super Bowl ninety two days until the NFL
[4:33] Speaker 2: Draft in Pittsburgh, JJ, and then I already started a
[4:37] Speaker 2: counter for the NFL season two hundred thirty two days.
[4:39] Speaker 1: We don't need to there's so much stuff we have
[4:41] Speaker 1: to get done before that. We don't need to think
[4:42] Speaker 1: about that.
[4:43] Speaker 2: Hey, two or thirty two days, that's a long time.
[4:45] Speaker 2: But again, this is a this is an interactive show.
[4:49] Speaker 2: And JJ mentioned last week with the caveat it's a
[4:52] Speaker 2: playground for the off season. Here's what I would say.
[4:56] Speaker 2: We're going to the super Bowl in two weeks. Let
[5:00] Speaker 2: us know, like what kind of content you you might
[5:02] Speaker 2: want out of us, you know, because really this is
[5:06] Speaker 2: the playground. Where JJ says, don't take this too serious
[5:12] Speaker 2: right now, just the good takes.
[5:15] Speaker 1: Things can correct.
[5:18] Speaker 2: It's like the Bill's uh situation, where you know, we
[5:22] Speaker 2: when we look back on it, we we better be.
[5:26] Speaker 2: We better know that there are receipts that are out
[5:29] Speaker 2: there and uh so so interact with us during the
[5:33] Speaker 2: show after the show, leave comments. We would definitely appreciate it.
[5:37] Speaker 2: With that, JJ, let's go ahead to get into today's news,
[5:41] Speaker 2: today's fantasy news. All right, we've already talked a little
[5:47] Speaker 2: bit about, uh, the went through weather and will we survive.
[5:55] Speaker 2: Here's my question, JJ, just for you, what is your
[6:01] Speaker 2: opinion on like weather games in the NFL? Like last
[6:05] Speaker 2: week this weekend kind of sucked with all the snow
[6:08] Speaker 2: and everything. I wanted a dome.
[6:10] Speaker 1: But but here's the thing. I think that teams that
[6:14] Speaker 1: are in those environments because obviously, if you're playing in
[6:17] Speaker 1: those environments, that means that you have home field advantage,
[6:20] Speaker 1: right uh. And teams that then are like have that
[6:24] Speaker 1: home field can create their and make their roster, you know,
[6:28] Speaker 1: surround it with that in mind and create it with
[6:31] Speaker 1: that in mind. And so like, you know, the to me,
[6:34] Speaker 1: in my opinion, like the obviously, you know, defense was
[6:38] Speaker 1: huge in that New England and in Houston game with
[6:41] Speaker 1: all the turnovers and stuff. But like to me, you know,
[6:44] Speaker 1: the Texans not having a very good and established run
[6:47] Speaker 1: game was actually a pretty big deal in that in
[6:49] Speaker 1: that game, and so like, you know, might not have
[6:51] Speaker 1: been a bigger deal if the you know, circumstances from
[6:54] Speaker 1: a weather perspective were a little bit different.
[6:56] Speaker 3: Same thing with Chicago.
[6:57] Speaker 1: It's like, to me, the weather stuff is an advantage
[7:02] Speaker 1: to the home team just kind of inherently. You can
[7:04] Speaker 1: say that both teams are kind of dealing with it,
[7:06] Speaker 1: but one team is a little bit more used to
[7:07] Speaker 1: it just in general, just naturally. And then not only that,
[7:10] Speaker 1: they have the crowd and the you know, the home
[7:12] Speaker 1: field advantage naturally embedded to that too. So I don't
[7:15] Speaker 1: know people who are all calling for domes and whatnot, like, yes,
[7:19] Speaker 1: could it be like more entertaining football from like the
[7:21] Speaker 1: standpoint of like the best team is definitely winning, sure,
[7:25] Speaker 1: but you look at what happened over the weekend, can
[7:28] Speaker 1: you say that the better team didn't prevail in those
[7:31] Speaker 1: contests and in those games?
[7:32] Speaker 3: Like I thought that, you know, I think that the
[7:34] Speaker 3: more complete.
[7:34] Speaker 1: If you're looking for the most complete team to win
[7:37] Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, which number one, football might not be
[7:39] Speaker 1: the sport for you, just because there's gonna be some variants,
[7:42] Speaker 1: there's gonna be some wacky things going on.
[7:44] Speaker 3: Really sports in general. Go go watch the NBA.
[7:46] Speaker 1: You know, that's that's my If you want predictability, just
[7:50] Speaker 1: go watch the NBA. But regardless, like to me, the
[7:54] Speaker 1: Rams are the more complete team than the Bears right now,
[7:57] Speaker 1: as much as like the Bears story is great, and
[7:59] Speaker 1: I was I love, you know, low key, just love
[8:03] Speaker 1: how angry people get at the Bears and how angry
[8:06] Speaker 1: Packers fans are at the Bears for Ben Johnson saying
[8:09] Speaker 1: what he did in the locker room last weekend, and
[8:11] Speaker 1: you know, people hating on Kayleb Williams because he paints
[8:14] Speaker 1: his nails and such, and it's like, like, come on, guys,
[8:17] Speaker 1: just just like watch the dude play football. Watch these
[8:19] Speaker 1: guys play football. It's a great story and it's really
[8:21] Speaker 1: entertaining to watch, and that's what we should be caring about.
[8:24] Speaker 1: And so you know, Kayleb Williams has that clutch gene
[8:27] Speaker 1: and it's just really fun to see how this Bears
[8:29] Speaker 1: team is gonna come back and you know, get a
[8:32] Speaker 1: w and so like they're entertaining to watch. But I
[8:35] Speaker 1: do think that they were still kind of like a
[8:37] Speaker 1: year away and this wasn't necessarily gonna be their season
[8:40] Speaker 1: to really go the distance. The Rams team is incredibly complete,
[8:43] Speaker 1: Like if you look across the board, they probably have
[8:46] Speaker 1: the most complete team. I don't know if they're the
[8:48] Speaker 1: best team remaining because I think Seattle's really really strong,
[8:50] Speaker 1: but you know, in Seattle obviously playing in San Francisco.
[8:54] Speaker 1: I sent you and Godula message about that, where I'm like, like,
[8:58] Speaker 1: how number one, how bad are the Eagles that they
[9:00] Speaker 1: weren't able to beat the forty nine ers, But number two,
[9:03] Speaker 1: that's more or less what I expected to happen to
[9:05] Speaker 1: the forty nine er, not to you know, to to
[9:08] Speaker 1: down like like Kyle Shanahan did a masterful job this
[9:11] Speaker 1: year given all the injuries they suffered. But they had
[9:13] Speaker 1: so many injuries that you knew it was going to
[9:15] Speaker 1: catch up to them at some point. And Seattle's just
[9:17] Speaker 1: a really really good team, so you know, nothing obviously
[9:21] Speaker 1: there wasn't that much weather and stuff happening there. But
[9:22] Speaker 1: then the New England game, like, New England's probably a
[9:25] Speaker 1: better team than Houston because see, because quarterback is a
[9:28] Speaker 1: difference maker there is between the two.
[9:31] Speaker 3: But Drake May didn't play like a great game. He
[9:33] Speaker 3: just made the throws when he needed to.
[9:34] Speaker 1: Make the throws, right like he he obviously had turnover
[9:37] Speaker 1: issues and all that kind of stuff.
[9:38] Speaker 3: So like, to me, I'm not trying to.
[9:41] Speaker 1: Make whether be like this massive differentiator of like why
[9:45] Speaker 1: this team advanced and why this team you know.
[9:47] Speaker 3: Didn't advance to me.
[9:48] Speaker 1: It's it's all part of it, like the beauty of
[9:50] Speaker 1: this game and all part of like why we love
[9:53] Speaker 1: playoff football and why we love December football because you
[9:56] Speaker 1: have these environments that you really don't get in other sports,
[10:00] Speaker 1: Like this is the one sport where you do get
[10:02] Speaker 1: to experience that. Yeah.
[10:03] Speaker 2: I don't know if you saw, but the Dolphins GM
[10:07] Speaker 2: was talking about how he wants the team to be
[10:10] Speaker 2: better in the cold, like they want to build his
[10:12] Speaker 2: team to be better in the cold because they've got Buffalo,
[10:16] Speaker 2: New England and the Jets.
[10:18] Speaker 1: These teams are inevitably at some point going to have
[10:21] Speaker 1: to play a game in that kind of environment, even
[10:24] Speaker 1: if it's deep in the regular season or obvious obviously
[10:27] Speaker 1: if it's in the playoffs. But you know, I think
[10:30] Speaker 1: you have to like keep that kind of stuff in mind. Now,
[10:33] Speaker 1: Do I think that there are narratives that are way
[10:35] Speaker 1: overblown about weather, like this quarterback can't do X y Z,
[10:38] Speaker 1: Like Yes, do I think CJ. Stroud might suck in
[10:41] Speaker 1: bad weather? Yes?
[10:41] Speaker 2: Also yes I don't.
[10:45] Speaker 1: That was a pretty pretty rough performance.
[10:47] Speaker 2: His throwing motion, it just it began, it began to
[10:52] Speaker 2: anger me. How he just threw the ball behind every
[10:55] Speaker 2: single receiver that he targeted.
[10:57] Speaker 1: I want to give him, I want to give him
[10:59] Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt from the standpoint of, like,
[11:00] Speaker 1: the offensive line's been bad all year. As we know,
[11:02] Speaker 1: Nico Collins was out, Dalton Schultz got hurt early in
[11:05] Speaker 1: that game. He's thrown to a bun, you know, to
[11:06] Speaker 1: a couple of rookies and Christian Kirk who you know,
[11:09] Speaker 1: Kirk what isn't isn't some stud But man, I'm a
[11:13] Speaker 1: little concerned about Stroud long term at this Yeah, you know.
[11:17] Speaker 2: So are the Texans. He's entering his year five seasons.
[11:19] Speaker 3: Yeah, bigger, bigger picture stuff.
[11:23] Speaker 1: You know. Do I think that they're definitely impurgatory quarterback purgatory.
[11:28] Speaker 1: I think that there's at least some possibility that's the case.
[11:31] Speaker 1: But you know, it's too early for me to like
[11:33] Speaker 1: really like I haven't looked at this stuff enough to
[11:36] Speaker 1: have like a really strong take, But I do think that,
[11:39] Speaker 1: you know, C J. Stroud might not be the answer.
[11:41] Speaker 1: Like that's at least part of this discussion right.
[11:43] Speaker 2: Now, and part of the range of outcomes the fall
[11:45] Speaker 2: from grace that he had since his rookie season. So
[11:50] Speaker 2: I mean, this will be his fourth year, and after
[11:52] Speaker 2: this year they have to decide if they're gonna let
[11:55] Speaker 2: him go or you know, extend him that fifth year.
[11:58] Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, and I'm believe from like a
[12:00] Speaker 1: team building standpoint, to not force the issue if you
[12:03] Speaker 1: don't have to force the issue, because you can, you know,
[12:06] Speaker 1: you can try a sam Donold type approach.
[12:08] Speaker 3: You know, you can try some of those other approaches.
[12:11] Speaker 1: Of just kind of getting uh, you know, a decent
[12:14] Speaker 1: enough replacement level player with a shorter contract and not
[12:17] Speaker 1: have to lock that player in because that can be
[12:19] Speaker 1: devastating to a frendship. I think that the Panthers are
[12:21] Speaker 1: in a very similar situation with with Bryce Young right now,
[12:24] Speaker 1: where it's like, what do you do? You know, you're
[12:26] Speaker 1: it's you would almost rather the quarterback be horrible so
[12:29] Speaker 1: that you know that you can just completely move on.
[12:32] Speaker 2: I didn't know that we're going to go down this path,
[12:34] Speaker 2: but it won't be because of a lack of weapons.
[12:37] Speaker 2: For Houston too, they got so a name that I
[12:39] Speaker 2: had just really forgotten about recently. Tank Dell is going
[12:42] Speaker 2: to be back for next season, and they've got these
[12:45] Speaker 2: other receivers. So they've got decent weapons. It's not like
[12:48] Speaker 2: it's the line's the biggest problem there.
[12:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, and like I like, you can't you know, look,
[12:54] Speaker 1: I touted Woody Marks a lot in Fantasy this past year,
[12:57] Speaker 1: both from like the Draft Guide standpoint and in seasons
[13:00] Speaker 1: standpoint in adding him and buying him at certain points.
[13:03] Speaker 1: But but at the same time, that was very much
[13:05] Speaker 1: a volume based, you know, competition based decision.
[13:09] Speaker 3: Woody Marx is not a bell cow back.
[13:12] Speaker 1: Like he's I think he's pretty good, even though his
[13:15] Speaker 1: metrics don't show that.
[13:16] Speaker 3: Like, I think that he could be a really good
[13:17] Speaker 3: change of pace in receiving back.
[13:19] Speaker 1: Which is how I mean. Go read his prospect profile
[13:22] Speaker 1: on the Prospect Guide from last year, like does that
[13:24] Speaker 1: model liked him? You know, he's a little bit older,
[13:26] Speaker 1: but he had really good receiving numbers. You know. The
[13:28] Speaker 1: Mike Leach stuff definitely played a little bit of a
[13:30] Speaker 1: role there because of him playing under him and that,
[13:33] Speaker 1: you know, his system really favoring running backs and such.
[13:35] Speaker 1: But regardless, like Woody Marx is just not a player
[13:38] Speaker 1: that you like, they need a bigger bodied running back
[13:41] Speaker 1: to compliment him. Yeah, he was in the blue medical
[13:43] Speaker 1: tent every game essentially, Uh, the receivers are there, they
[13:47] Speaker 1: got to boost up that offensive line. And yeah, if
[13:49] Speaker 1: you surround CJ. Stroud with a really good environment, I
[13:52] Speaker 1: think he could be okay enough, but it's easier said
[13:54] Speaker 1: than done.
[13:56] Speaker 2: Yeah, the I mean, the Texans are also obviously fine
[13:59] Speaker 2: on d That's why you would think in the draft
[14:01] Speaker 2: they're going to address offense again with whatever they need
[14:05] Speaker 2: to do. All right, let's get on to the rest.
[14:09] Speaker 2: Do you have anything else about the just the divisional
[14:12] Speaker 2: games before we move on?
[14:13] Speaker 1: No, I mean I thought that they were good, and
[14:15] Speaker 1: like I said, I think that the I wish the
[14:17] Speaker 1: Bills would have won from like an entertainment standpoint because
[14:20] Speaker 1: of having another divisional game in the you know, without
[14:23] Speaker 1: Jared Stidham would have been I still don't. I still
[14:25] Speaker 1: think that people are brushing off the Broncos too quickly
[14:29] Speaker 1: and too much. Same but regardless, like I do think
[14:32] Speaker 1: the New England should be favored and I'm expecting New
[14:34] Speaker 1: England to win, but I think that people are just like, oh,
[14:36] Speaker 1: they're gonna walk all over them, and it's like I'm
[14:39] Speaker 1: not like quite there, just given bow Nix being what
[14:42] Speaker 1: bo Nicks is and you know, he's not necessarily the
[14:45] Speaker 1: most established yet. But yeah, I mean, like I think
[14:48] Speaker 1: that the world outside of Denver and New England, probably
[14:53] Speaker 1: I guess, and Seattle in LA because no one would
[14:56] Speaker 1: want Josh Allen to still be in the playoffs, but
[14:58] Speaker 1: people would probably rather have Buffalo in the championship.
[15:01] Speaker 2: I was wanting Bears and Bills just because I thought
[15:03] Speaker 2: those fan bases would be fun in the in the
[15:05] Speaker 2: super Bowl. All right, but you said the Bills would
[15:08] Speaker 2: be entertained. From an entertainment standpoint, I don't know if
[15:11] Speaker 2: you could have any more entertainment than what we have
[15:13] Speaker 2: had over the past forty eight hours there in Buffalo.
[15:18] Speaker 2: So let's get to some of the Bills. Mafia drama.
[15:20] Speaker 2: McDermott fired. They they keep Billy Bean and give him
[15:25] Speaker 2: like another title, like president of Operations. And then today
[15:31] Speaker 2: they had a press conference where effectively they put Kele
[15:36] Speaker 2: the Keon Coleman pick on the coaching staff and not
[15:40] Speaker 2: On Bean. Keon Coleman is still on this team JJ,
[15:44] Speaker 2: and they're basically like, that wasn't me.
[15:47] Speaker 1: Yeah, the Brandon Bean stuff is wild to me because
[15:51] Speaker 1: he to me, I like, I sent a tweet out
[15:54] Speaker 1: about this, like I think that you could make the
[15:55] Speaker 1: argument that McDermott should have been fired, but I probably
[15:58] Speaker 1: would have given him another year because I don't think
[15:59] Speaker 1: the roster is that strong now. People often like go
[16:04] Speaker 1: to the extremes and go very black and white when
[16:07] Speaker 1: it comes to team building and roster building and not
[16:09] Speaker 1: blaming the coach. You know. I talked about this a
[16:10] Speaker 1: little bit with like Tomlin last week, where it's not
[16:13] Speaker 1: like he has zero input on who they're drafting and
[16:15] Speaker 1: what that roster makeup is.
[16:17] Speaker 3: So McDermott obviously is playing a.
[16:19] Speaker 1: Role there, but to me, Bean, like Brandon Bean, has
[16:22] Speaker 1: not put together that strong of a I mean, I
[16:25] Speaker 1: think I saw the tweet out there about the number
[16:30] Speaker 1: of Pro Bowls since Josh Allen of drafted players since
[16:32] Speaker 1: Josh Allen was there, and everyone's like, well, the Pro
[16:34] Speaker 1: Bowl isn't the way that you should judge how good
[16:37] Speaker 1: or bad a player is. But it's like, okay, but
[16:39] Speaker 1: it gets you, it gets you directionally in the right place,
[16:41] Speaker 1: you know, in terms of like how good or bad
[16:43] Speaker 1: he's had like two Pro Bowlers over the last or
[16:45] Speaker 1: since twenty eighteen, since that draft that he's drafted, which
[16:49] Speaker 1: is horrendous. I mean, it's just it's very bizarre to me.
[16:52] Speaker 1: And there's a lot of finger pointing. You know, I've
[16:55] Speaker 1: seen Bean talking to local radio there, and there's a
[16:59] Speaker 1: clip that went around my last year with we're on
[17:01] Speaker 1: the draft, Yeah yeah, about the wide receivers and stuff
[17:04] Speaker 1: and how they were questioned, which they were you know,
[17:06] Speaker 1: Jeremy over there up in Buffalo, who's asking a very
[17:09] Speaker 1: reasonable question about the wide receiver play and he and
[17:11] Speaker 1: and Bean's response is essentially getting angry and saying that
[17:16] Speaker 1: it's ridiculous that all these fans and people keep asking
[17:19] Speaker 1: about why this is back in April, mind you asking
[17:21] Speaker 1: about the wide receivers when they were averaging over thirty
[17:24] Speaker 1: points per game last year, et cetera, et cetera. Without
[17:27] Speaker 1: the idea in the back of his head. It's like, oh,
[17:29] Speaker 1: maybe this could be better. Maybe maybe thirty. Yes we
[17:32] Speaker 1: were averaging thirty points per game, but maybe this could
[17:34] Speaker 1: be a little bit better, and maybe we're asking Josh
[17:36] Speaker 1: Allen to do some unsustainable things. And in my opinion,
[17:39] Speaker 1: kitchen that game in Denver, I sent a tweet about
[17:43] Speaker 1: this after the game, making a joke that next year
[17:45] Speaker 1: they're going to get Alan Lazard and Khalif Raymonds or
[17:47] Speaker 1: something like that, and people are getting really upset because
[17:50] Speaker 1: Josh Allen obviously turned the ball over a lot in
[17:53] Speaker 1: that game. But in my opinion, when a quarterback doesn't
[17:57] Speaker 1: have literally any I mean, Khalil Shakiir is good, but
[18:00] Speaker 1: he's limited.
[18:00] Speaker 3: He's a slot dude.
[18:01] Speaker 1: Like we know that when a quarterback doesn't have those
[18:05] Speaker 1: kinds of receiving weapons, he's going to end up trying
[18:08] Speaker 1: to do too much, especially when he's of the caliber
[18:11] Speaker 1: of Josh Allen who can do so much outside of
[18:13] Speaker 1: the pocket. And so I think that played a role
[18:16] Speaker 1: like it had a trickle down. Now, Josh Allen's not blameless.
[18:18] Speaker 1: He didn't play that amazing of a game, and obviously
[18:20] Speaker 1: there were some controversial calls and all that kind of stuff,
[18:22] Speaker 1: But the dude is throwing to Mikle Hartman and Brandon
[18:25] Speaker 1: Cooks okay how and you're like, oh, but they were
[18:28] Speaker 1: banged up, Okay, Josh Palmer is any better? Like we
[18:31] Speaker 1: got to be realistic here. They have not built that offense.
[18:34] Speaker 1: You know, the line's good and James Cook is great,
[18:37] Speaker 1: and the tight ends are fine, but even the Dalton
[18:39] Speaker 1: Kin k pick was an overdraft, you know, and so
[18:42] Speaker 1: at some point you got to realize that maybe people
[18:45] Speaker 1: bring up the wide receiver thing over and over again,
[18:48] Speaker 1: is for a reason, Brandon, like, maybe there's a reason
[18:51] Speaker 1: that they're doing this, and so hopefully they address it.
[18:54] Speaker 1: The key On Coleman stuff today was wild to me. Yes,
[18:58] Speaker 1: with him still being on the team, like talk about
[19:01] Speaker 1: it horrible for team morale in general, you know, like
[19:04] Speaker 1: like that them just straight up talking about Coleman being
[19:07] Speaker 1: a bust, like out loud, the owner interrupting the conversation
[19:11] Speaker 1: and saying, well, that wasn't Bean's pick, that was the
[19:14] Speaker 1: coach that was more in the coaching staff. Meanwhile, there's
[19:17] Speaker 1: a video of Brandon Bean last year at the Combine
[19:21] Speaker 1: talking about, well, this is like in the in the
[19:23] Speaker 1: like a back room with like the front office, and
[19:26] Speaker 1: he's talking about how key On Coleman, how he was
[19:29] Speaker 1: happy that Keon Coleman ran a slow forty because that
[19:33] Speaker 1: allowed him to get him. If you didn't care to
[19:36] Speaker 1: get him, you would not be saying that about Keon Coleman, right.
[19:40] Speaker 1: And then the other funny part was that he comped
[19:42] Speaker 1: that slowness to Gabe Davis being slow yes, which which
[19:47] Speaker 1: just goes to show that he has no idea how
[19:49] Speaker 1: to evaluate wide receivers. On top of that, the Bills,
[19:54] Speaker 1: notoriously over the last handful of years have just continuously
[19:58] Speaker 1: brought in the slot guys. Wow, also extending Khalil Shakir
[20:03] Speaker 1: on that team, which he is. Khalil Shakir is a
[20:06] Speaker 1: great slot player, right, but again he's limited. He's not
[20:08] Speaker 1: gonna play inside out, like that's just not his game.
[20:11] Speaker 3: And so when you like a guy like Keon Coleman.
[20:14] Speaker 1: There were a lot of people, Matt Harmon being one
[20:16] Speaker 1: of them, who said key On Coleman is a big
[20:18] Speaker 1: slot that's where he should play, and that's probably where
[20:20] Speaker 1: he should play after seeing him play on the outside
[20:23] Speaker 1: over the last two years, and it seems like everyone
[20:26] Speaker 1: outside of Buffalo in that front office realizes that. So
[20:30] Speaker 1: I think McDermott should land on his feet. Like, I
[20:32] Speaker 1: still think he's a pretty good head coach. He really
[20:34] Speaker 1: turned that franchise around too, Like the like props to
[20:38] Speaker 1: him on like a really good tenure there.
[20:39] Speaker 3: But yeah, the like retaining Bean and keeping Bean.
[20:43] Speaker 1: Is just wild to me.
[20:44] Speaker 2: The uh I went back and looked at that draft
[20:48] Speaker 2: because Ken Coleman was the first pick of the second round.
[20:50] Speaker 3: Yea, even right before Lad mcconky.
[20:53] Speaker 2: Right, So if it was not Lad McConkie, the list
[20:56] Speaker 2: of receivers in that second round, Uh, Jalynn Polk was
[21:00] Speaker 2: one eighty eighty. Mitchell Corley was the next one. Yeah,
[21:06] Speaker 2: Jermaine Burton.
[21:07] Speaker 1: Remember the back they traded out of the first round
[21:10] Speaker 1: though in that draft. Yeah, and that's when that's when
[21:12] Speaker 1: the Chiefs went up and got Xavier Worthy, which you know,
[21:16] Speaker 1: you can question whether he's like it or not, but
[21:18] Speaker 1: I think any team would rather have Xavier Worthy at
[21:20] Speaker 1: this point than ke On Coleman.
[21:21] Speaker 2: Yeah, pure soul. All Right, the Patriots path continues. You
[21:27] Speaker 2: talked about the the bo Nicks injury. Uh, I mean
[21:32] Speaker 2: Broncos fans had maybe a few hours to celebrate before
[21:36] Speaker 2: the world came just.
[21:37] Speaker 3: Chris, more like minutes it came out like right after.
[21:42] Speaker 1: Yeah. I do want to say one thing about the
[21:44] Speaker 1: Patriots is that there's a lot of people that are
[21:47] Speaker 1: still like on them about the the the teams that
[21:50] Speaker 1: they faced this year, right, and like how they've had
[21:52] Speaker 1: such an easy path. In my opinion, the only way
[21:54] Speaker 1: that that narrative wouldn't exist right now, is if the
[21:57] Speaker 1: Bills had won and they would have to play.
[21:59] Speaker 3: Josh Allen because the AFC was was more or less terrible.
[22:02] Speaker 1: Maybe Jacksonville, you could argue if they had to play
[22:04] Speaker 1: jack Like if Jacksonville would have won and then New
[22:06] Speaker 1: England played Jacksonville in round two in the divisional round
[22:09] Speaker 1: and that was a more complete team, whatever the case
[22:11] Speaker 1: may be. I mean, they're beating who they have to beat. Like,
[22:14] Speaker 1: I still think the Patriots are pretty good team. And
[22:17] Speaker 1: you know, like this isn't this. We knew this going
[22:20] Speaker 1: into the playoffs. It was a weak overall pool of
[22:22] Speaker 1: teams and any team could do it, So why can't
[22:25] Speaker 1: the Patriots do it? I mean, I think the pay
[22:27] Speaker 1: we should expect the Patriots to win. I don't know
[22:29] Speaker 1: if they beat the spread, but I think that they
[22:31] Speaker 1: should be expected to win. And I think that the
[22:34] Speaker 1: NFC team is going to be the favorite in the
[22:35] Speaker 1: Super Bowl. But any given Sunday, Man, I mean, it
[22:38] Speaker 1: could it could still happen, and it would be a crazy,
[22:40] Speaker 1: crazy story with your boy Mike Rabel getting that w
[22:44] Speaker 1: if it.
[22:44] Speaker 2: Happens, Man. I mentioned it on the Swell Cast yesterday,
[22:48] Speaker 2: but me tapping up Rabel at the Super Bowl a
[22:51] Speaker 2: radio Row.
[22:52] Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's well, that's you assuming that they well,
[22:55] Speaker 1: I mean he wouldn't he probably wouldn't be around Radio Row.
[22:57] Speaker 2: I'll go find him. It's like a Tiger Wood big dog.
[23:00] Speaker 2: Mean yeah, you know, like, Hey, I'm proud of I'm
[23:03] Speaker 2: proud of you, Harol Landry, I'm proud of you. Bro
[23:05] Speaker 2: all right, Sharboney, torn acl what this late in the season.
[23:11] Speaker 2: What does this mean for Kenneth Walker going into next season?
[23:14] Speaker 1: Well, it's weird because Walker is a free agent, and
[23:17] Speaker 1: so now we have a really big question of what
[23:20] Speaker 1: Seattle is going to do.
[23:22] Speaker 3: You know, with Walker, you could you could spin this
[23:25] Speaker 3: a lot of different ways.
[23:26] Speaker 1: You could spin this as a good thing for Walker
[23:28] Speaker 1: because now you know they have a higher chance of
[23:31] Speaker 1: resigning him. And if they resign him, Zach Sharboney is
[23:33] Speaker 1: not going to be ready probably until mid season at
[23:36] Speaker 1: the earliest, and ready as in like being a legit
[23:40] Speaker 1: contributor to that offense. And so we could get Bell
[23:42] Speaker 1: cow Sharboney or sorry Bell cal Walker in a hypothetically
[23:47] Speaker 1: good offense. I think Clint Kubiak is gonna be gone.
[23:48] Speaker 1: We would assume he's gonna get a head coaching gig,
[23:50] Speaker 1: but in a hypothetically decent offense environment. And we know
[23:55] Speaker 1: that Walker in a bell call role can be really
[23:57] Speaker 1: valuable from a fantasy perspective.
[23:58] Speaker 3: Now the downside, if.
[24:00] Speaker 1: You want to look at this negatively, maybe we don't
[24:02] Speaker 1: want Seattle to resign him. And now there's a higher
[24:05] Speaker 1: chance that they resigned him because they try to keep
[24:07] Speaker 1: him because of the Sharboney injury. Because realistically, wouldn't we
[24:11] Speaker 1: want Kenneth Walker to go somewhere where he could, you know,
[24:14] Speaker 1: definitely be a bellcou like, definitely be that player.
[24:17] Speaker 3: So I think that this could go in a lot
[24:19] Speaker 3: of different directions.
[24:20] Speaker 1: From like a value standpoint, I'd probably lean like it's
[24:23] Speaker 1: just better for Walker from a fantasy perspective in general,
[24:27] Speaker 1: because there's one less player to kind of worry about
[24:29] Speaker 1: and deal with. And then sharbon Ay, I've always been
[24:31] Speaker 1: a sharbon A guy, Like I think that he's a
[24:33] Speaker 1: really solid back. You know, he's not like elite, but
[24:35] Speaker 1: he's always been like a James Connor type where he
[24:37] Speaker 1: can just do everything and just get it done.
[24:40] Speaker 2: He's had a good season as far as like just
[24:42] Speaker 2: touchdowns and everything. Else.
[24:43] Speaker 1: I think a lot of people just get frustrated, Like
[24:45] Speaker 1: whenever there's a player digging, it's kind of like Tyler
[24:47] Speaker 1: Algier with everyone hates Tyler Algier, but it's like, okay,
[24:51] Speaker 1: but he's still a pretty good running back overall, even
[24:52] Speaker 1: though it's frustrating. So and look like Kenneth Walker's not
[24:56] Speaker 1: Bejon Robinson either, you know, so, uh, there's there's a
[25:00] Speaker 1: lest some reason to be using sharks, maybe not as
[25:02] Speaker 1: much as they did in that twenty twenty five season,
[25:04] Speaker 1: but yeah, it's it's a sad injury. And you know,
[25:07] Speaker 1: the one thing that I'm very much looking forward to
[25:09] Speaker 1: is to seeing if Bayless Jones gets any touches this
[25:12] Speaker 1: weekend because after the Bears lost Daylas, Jones tweeted a
[25:16] Speaker 1: laughing crying emoji, which is crazy because the dude was
[25:21] Speaker 1: absolutely horrific in Chicago, like not.
[25:24] Speaker 2: Only like age four, I mean yeah, Day two bust.
[25:28] Speaker 1: And then just someone made a low lights high like
[25:31] Speaker 1: you know, put it together and quote tweeted it and stuff,
[25:34] Speaker 1: and uh like no, like no shade to Vayless Jones
[25:38] Speaker 1: for having a really bad time in Chicago, Like he's
[25:41] Speaker 1: better than me at football, but don't like rock the
[25:45] Speaker 1: boat like that whenever you were clearly a detriment to
[25:48] Speaker 1: that team, Like, what are you doing? Man? So I
[25:50] Speaker 1: kind of want to see him get some touches and
[25:52] Speaker 1: see what maybe happens if Karma comes back and bites
[25:55] Speaker 1: him a little bit.
[25:56] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they got him, they got Shaheed obviously. Uh,
[25:59] Speaker 2: you know, Hulani's on IR and Kenneth Walker, he's just
[26:05] Speaker 2: you know, watching him out there. It's just like a
[26:07] Speaker 2: proud day, Like, Hey, I wasn't wrong. I was just
[26:11] Speaker 2: early on him this season, Like I me drafting him
[26:14] Speaker 2: in the fourth or fifth round this year. That's why.
[26:17] Speaker 2: That's why, you know, So.
[26:20] Speaker 1: I feel like I've I've never been right on Kenneth Walker.
[26:25] Speaker 1: I was right from a dynasty perspective the first couple
[26:28] Speaker 1: of years, and then I was wrong last year, and
[26:30] Speaker 1: then I was wrong this year because I thought that
[26:32] Speaker 1: he should be drafted where he was being drafted. But yeah,
[26:36] Speaker 1: just the way it goes in Fantasy.
[26:38] Speaker 2: Make Mike twenty four says, this is why you don't
[26:41] Speaker 2: This is why you don't draft until week twenty Yeah
[26:43] Speaker 2: and go yeah real late in the season. Okay, JJ.
[26:47] Speaker 2: Last week I had the question of man, how many
[26:52] Speaker 2: head coaches and offensive coordinators are teams going to have?
[26:56] Speaker 2: And I couldn't really find a list, so I just
[26:57] Speaker 2: decided to put it together myself. So what we have
[27:02] Speaker 2: is a list right here for our audio listeners of teams,
[27:07] Speaker 2: and then the head coaches and then the offensive coordinators.
[27:10] Speaker 2: Next to him, let's talk about some fantasy relevant stuff
[27:13] Speaker 2: because really a lot of that stuff is with the
[27:15] Speaker 2: offensive coordinators. Mike McDaniel going to the Chargers amazing.
[27:20] Speaker 1: Yes, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Like, the
[27:22] Speaker 1: one thing that's gonna be interesting is this shift from
[27:25] Speaker 1: because them from a run game perspective, the Chargers with
[27:29] Speaker 1: Greg Roman would run a lot of power, a lot
[27:32] Speaker 1: of those like Man's Man Man's schemes. And then this
[27:35] Speaker 1: is gonna be more of a zone scheme with Mike
[27:37] Speaker 1: McDaniel coming from that Shanahan Kubiak tree, right, And so
[27:41] Speaker 1: what's that gonna look like? You know, I have some
[27:43] Speaker 1: numbers that I'll share in a little bit in the
[27:45] Speaker 1: main event about about that, but I think that's gonna
[27:48] Speaker 1: be a little interesting. And then the one thing that's
[27:50] Speaker 1: like a McDaniel staple is the motion that he uses
[27:55] Speaker 1: to get and free up wide receivers.
[27:57] Speaker 3: And he's been doing that obviously in Miami. Like last year,
[28:00] Speaker 3: I think they.
[28:00] Speaker 1: Were first in the league in motion, and like two
[28:02] Speaker 1: years ago they were second in the league. So use
[28:04] Speaker 1: a ton of motion, and you do it in Miami
[28:07] Speaker 1: when you have Jalen Wattle and Tyreek Hill. You could argue, though,
[28:10] Speaker 1: this is like a much more robust situation right now
[28:13] Speaker 1: in LA with QJ Lad and Trey Harris. You know
[28:18] Speaker 1: who's who's gonna be a second year guy who I
[28:20] Speaker 1: think is kind of an interesting name to keep in mind.
[28:22] Speaker 1: And then you know Ronde Gatsten doing what he did
[28:24] Speaker 1: as a receiving tight end. And then you have this backfield,
[28:27] Speaker 1: and then you have these offensive linemen that are gonna
[28:29] Speaker 1: be coming back and Slater in all and you're just like,
[28:32] Speaker 1: I mean, he's.
[28:33] Speaker 3: A good smart mind in the league.
[28:34] Speaker 1: And even if the even if you're sitting there and
[28:37] Speaker 1: you're like, you know, I don't know if his scheme
[28:39] Speaker 1: will naturally like he's gonna make it work. I just
[28:42] Speaker 1: feel confident in that because I think he's a good coach.
[28:44] Speaker 1: So I think McDaniel to the Chargers is gonna just
[28:48] Speaker 1: I mean, look at the splits with with Tua and
[28:51] Speaker 1: how his yards per attempt went up Josh or Justin
[28:54] Speaker 1: Herbert already has a really nice floor with yards per temp. Like,
[29:00] Speaker 1: if that increases at all, that Chargers offense could look really,
[29:03] Speaker 1: really good. I'm very excited. I couldn't figure out and
[29:06] Speaker 1: craft the right tweet for this, but I was like
[29:08] Speaker 1: something along the lines of, like me betting the Chargers
[29:10] Speaker 1: and win the Super Bowl for the eleventh straight year,
[29:12] Speaker 1: you know, like they're always like that, But I do
[29:15] Speaker 1: feel like this is a really really complete team that
[29:17] Speaker 1: could be on the field next year.
[29:19] Speaker 2: Yeah, and just from entertaining, you know they're gonna get
[29:22] Speaker 2: They're gonna get all the primetime games because just that
[29:25] Speaker 2: team with those weapons. And then and McDaniel.
[29:29] Speaker 1: Yeah, the dynamic between McDaniel and Harball is awesome. I
[29:32] Speaker 1: can't wait to watch that.
[29:33] Speaker 2: Yes, all right, I got Petsing Zoo in Detroit. Drew Petsing,
[29:39] Speaker 2: the Lions offensive coordinator. Yeah.
[29:41] Speaker 1: My immediate reaction was like, this is dumb, But then
[29:43] Speaker 1: you know, digging into it a little bit more.
[29:45] Speaker 3: I'll have some data on this later as well.
[29:47] Speaker 1: But he has put together decent run games and obviously
[29:51] Speaker 1: that's a staple in Detroit and what Dan Campbell wants
[29:54] Speaker 1: to do. And I think that's part of the reason
[29:56] Speaker 1: why McDaniel they didn't see him as a fit is
[29:58] Speaker 1: because they just have different kind of run schemes and
[30:01] Speaker 1: ways that they would want to to to run that offense.
[30:05] Speaker 1: So I'll have more on pet saying, I don't think
[30:07] Speaker 1: it's like a slam dunk hire like McDaniel, but I
[30:10] Speaker 1: think it's it's fine.
[30:11] Speaker 2: Yeah, And then the Chiefs, they just they love to
[30:14] Speaker 2: recycle their coordinators. They hired Eric Binemy as their new
[30:19] Speaker 2: offensive coordinator.
[30:20] Speaker 1: He was at least better than Matt Naggie. I mean,
[30:22] Speaker 1: Matt Naggie came in and literally just torpedoed that offensive efficiency.
[30:27] Speaker 1: And for your perspective, you got to be very happy
[30:29] Speaker 1: that man Titans hired Robert Salah instead of going after
[30:33] Speaker 1: Naggie because that would have been that would have been rough.
[30:35] Speaker 1: I just don't understand why he's a head coaching Candidate's
[30:38] Speaker 1: crazy to me.
[30:39] Speaker 2: Yeah, they said, like he learned some things, and I
[30:42] Speaker 2: think it really is his relationship with some guys that
[30:45] Speaker 2: were in that Chiefs front office that are now with
[30:48] Speaker 2: the Titans. But yeah, as far as the head coach,
[30:51] Speaker 2: the Giants gets a horriball we already knew that Falcons
[30:55] Speaker 2: get Stefanski. And the fun thing with some of these
[30:58] Speaker 2: coaching hire is you look at some of the dry
[31:00] Speaker 2: if you look at it through like a pro wrestling lens,
[31:03] Speaker 2: which I'm not like I used to watch pro wrestling
[31:05] Speaker 2: when I was like a.
[31:05] Speaker 1: Team Generation X and stuff.
[31:08] Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not gonna do the emotions, but yeah, so,
[31:12] Speaker 2: but you tell us what to do.
[31:14] Speaker 1: I think you can tell us what to wear.
[31:17] Speaker 2: Sorry, keep going, but I mean, this is what it is,
[31:21] Speaker 2: was Stefanski and the Baker Mayfield drama.
[31:24] Speaker 1: Because yes, everyone's like, oh, it's so unprofessional for Ben
[31:30] Speaker 1: Johnson to say f the Packers in the locker room,
[31:32] Speaker 1: and it's like, guys, this is sports. They're competitive people.
[31:36] Speaker 1: Let Baker Mayfield have this chip on his shoulder about
[31:39] Speaker 1: Kevin Stefanski and the breakup that he had in Cleveland,
[31:42] Speaker 1: because it's gonna make for better drama and television, which
[31:45] Speaker 1: is why we watch sports. That's exactly why did we
[31:48] Speaker 1: all love watching Indiana just win the national championship.
[31:51] Speaker 3: Because of the story and had everything to do with
[31:53] Speaker 3: the story.
[31:53] Speaker 1: That's it. It wasn't the fact that we fell in
[31:56] Speaker 1: love with that individual school.
[31:57] Speaker 2: It's a story and how the however.
[32:00] Speaker 1: Came together and the players and the team and the
[32:02] Speaker 1: coaching on that team. It's no different in the NFL.
[32:04] Speaker 1: Like you you want drama, even if you don't think
[32:07] Speaker 1: you want the drama, you want it.
[32:08] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Baker said, yesterday failed is quite the reach
[32:12] Speaker 2: because someone said that his failed experiencing Cleveland with Deshaun Watson,
[32:17] Speaker 2: Baker Mayfield, and Baker quotes, we do it failed is
[32:19] Speaker 2: quite the reach. Pal still waiting on a text call
[32:22] Speaker 2: from him after I got shipped off like a piece
[32:23] Speaker 2: of garbage. Can't wait to see you twice a year, coach, Yes, yes,
[32:29] Speaker 2: give me. It's all that drama.
[32:31] Speaker 1: And then especially because like now, no matter what happens,
[32:34] Speaker 1: like there's gonna be something that comes from and it's
[32:36] Speaker 1: gonna be hilarious. Like that's right, Like either Baker destroys
[32:39] Speaker 1: them and Kevin Stefanski looks like a moron, or Baker
[32:42] Speaker 1: gets destroyed and he looks like a moron. And that's
[32:44] Speaker 1: why we're watching this because we want to see We
[32:47] Speaker 1: were watching sports to watch people conquer something that we
[32:50] Speaker 1: don't think is possible, and and to just to beat
[32:55] Speaker 1: up on one another in a in a contained environment
[32:58] Speaker 1: where no one's really hurt, you know, it's just fun
[33:00] Speaker 1: to watch, Like we want that drama.
[33:03] Speaker 2: And then the other one is Robert Sala now playing
[33:06] Speaker 2: Liam Cohen twice a year because they had the handshake
[33:09] Speaker 2: drama with Jacksonville and San fran when Liam said keep
[33:15] Speaker 2: my name out of your mouth, and I think it's
[33:18] Speaker 2: like threatened to kill going.
[33:20] Speaker 3: It's fantastic. It's fantastic.
[33:22] Speaker 1: Needs worked. Like, I don't watch the NBA that much,
[33:25] Speaker 1: but I know that people love the NBA because there
[33:28] Speaker 1: it hasn't happened as much recently, but there's a lot
[33:30] Speaker 1: of like just stories and stuff off the court.
[33:32] Speaker 3: And yes, this is the NFL needs stuff like this.
[33:36] Speaker 1: It's great for the game.
[33:38] Speaker 2: One hundred percent. As far as these other coaching jobs, Bill's, Ravens, Steelers, Raiders, Cardinals, Browns,
[33:47] Speaker 2: what are we hoping for? It is just like offensive
[33:50] Speaker 2: coordinators for these guys like Bills and Ravens, they've got
[33:53] Speaker 2: franchise qbs.
[33:55] Speaker 1: I think the Ravens are gonna get I think they're
[33:57] Speaker 1: gonna be the ones who get mentor Yeah. And then
[34:00] Speaker 1: I think the Bills get Kubiak, and I think the
[34:04] Speaker 1: Steelers get Shula, and then the Raiders are probably next
[34:11] Speaker 1: to get and then like the Cardinals and Browns, who
[34:13] Speaker 1: know like they they're they're whatever, Like like the Cardinals
[34:16] Speaker 1: can get Matt Naggie or something, or like Arthur Smith
[34:18] Speaker 1: or something like that, and no one will.
[34:20] Speaker 2: Yeah, seeing the Ballers melt down after Naggie or Smith
[34:26] Speaker 2: is their head coach.
[34:29] Speaker 3: If Arthur Smith goes there, I mean it'd be.
[34:31] Speaker 2: It'd be worth the yes. All right. With that being said,
[34:35] Speaker 2: let's get on to today's data.
[34:38] Speaker 1: Today's data. So I meant to do this last week
[34:44] Speaker 1: with the quarterback stuff, but this is showing you which
[34:47] Speaker 1: players outperformed ADP expectation most and least this season. I'm
[34:52] Speaker 1: only looking at relevant games. I'm gonna start doing this
[34:55] Speaker 1: more often. This is partially something that I just think
[34:58] Speaker 1: is smarter to do, but also I've gotten the quest
[35:00] Speaker 1: from a lot of people to just remove the final
[35:02] Speaker 1: game of the season because it's so weird with you know,
[35:05] Speaker 1: some teams playing for thanking, yeah, some players not playing whatever,
[35:09] Speaker 1: And so the players that outperform ADP expectation most are
[35:13] Speaker 1: at the top so Christian McCaffrey leads the list. Camp
[35:15] Speaker 1: Scataboo I did have a minimum eight games played. He
[35:17] Speaker 1: played eight games. Jonathan Taylor, Kenneth Gainwell, Rico Dowdell, Travis Etn,
[35:22] Speaker 1: Javonte Williams, James Cook, Quin, Shawn Judkins, b Jean Robinson.
[35:26] Speaker 1: Those are the guys who were the league winners, if
[35:28] Speaker 1: you will, at running back this year, which I think
[35:29] Speaker 1: you look at that list and you're like, yeah, that
[35:30] Speaker 1: makes sense, right, Like those are the guys who outperform
[35:33] Speaker 1: their ADP most and then the guys in the opposite side,
[35:37] Speaker 1: Alvin Kamara, Isaiah Pacheco, and then there's a lot of
[35:40] Speaker 1: like late rounders who just didn't do anything, which is
[35:42] Speaker 1: why they're on this list. So like Ray Davis, Trevor
[35:45] Speaker 1: ETN had some ADP. DJ Giddens as like a backup
[35:48] Speaker 1: to Jonathan Taylor, will Shipley, TODJ Brooks. So all that
[35:51] Speaker 1: those rookies who just didn't do anythingcause they never got
[35:53] Speaker 1: an opportunity. Ted Bigsby who got traded, so obviously that's
[35:56] Speaker 1: why you know his name's on there.
[35:59] Speaker 3: Isaaco again backup, it just didn't do anything. And then
[36:02] Speaker 3: Cayleb Johnson.
[36:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, but he still didn't wouldn't have done anyth because
[36:06] Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey. Yeah, and then Caleb Johnson was the worst
[36:09] Speaker 1: draft pick at running back by far this past year.
[36:12] Speaker 1: And I can at least say I can at least
[36:13] Speaker 1: walk away from redraft this past year and say that
[36:16] Speaker 1: I did have Jalen Warren over Caleb Johnson, and I
[36:19] Speaker 1: had Jalen Warren as the guy to target in that backfield.
[36:22] Speaker 1: So at least, I, you know, I got some stuff wrong,
[36:24] Speaker 1: even on this list, I got some stuff wrong, but
[36:26] Speaker 1: at least that part, uh, I did get right.
[36:30] Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, if we would have known that Christian
[36:32] Speaker 2: McCaffrey would be the last man standing there in San Francisco.
[36:36] Speaker 1: One thing I am mad about and this is a
[36:39] Speaker 1: this is one of those like sure JJA. It was
[36:41] Speaker 1: then when I first did the draft guide, I had
[36:43] Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey as a player to target, and I removed
[36:47] Speaker 1: it right before we launched the guide. I had the
[36:50] Speaker 1: blur britten and everything, because it was kind of hard
[36:53] Speaker 1: to just be like, guys, if he plays, he's great,
[36:55] Speaker 1: and you should, so I just kept them in the
[36:57] Speaker 1: same tier one as all the other guys, so at
[36:59] Speaker 1: least I had him there.
[37:00] Speaker 3: But I do wish I was more aggressive with CMC
[37:02] Speaker 3: from like.
[37:02] Speaker 1: A you know, letting them be let it let it
[37:05] Speaker 1: be known that you should be drafting them.
[37:07] Speaker 2: This is my second row, second year in a row
[37:09] Speaker 2: not drafting Alvin Kamara. It went terribly two years ago.
[37:14] Speaker 2: This year it was much better. So yeah, that was
[37:19] Speaker 2: you know, that was one of the things. And then
[37:20] Speaker 2: you look at these guys. They just didn't get a chance.
[37:23] Speaker 2: They didn't get a chance, these rookies.
[37:25] Speaker 1: I don't think it's any I don't think there's any
[37:26] Speaker 1: problem in throwing darts at DJ Giddens or Will Shipley,
[37:30] Speaker 1: whoever the case.
[37:30] Speaker 2: You know, rooks even like, yeah, it's not a.
[37:33] Speaker 1: Bad idea to throw those darts. It's just that the
[37:35] Speaker 1: guys in front of them didn't get hurt. And that's
[37:36] Speaker 1: just the way it goes. But I will say that historically,
[37:39] Speaker 1: when you look at league winners from the later rounds,
[37:41] Speaker 1: they're not just pure handcuffs. It's just not Usually those
[37:44] Speaker 1: are the guys like you can get them in best Ball.
[37:46] Speaker 1: It's a little bit different. But in a regular redraft league,
[37:48] Speaker 1: when you can pick guys off off the waiver wire.
[37:50] Speaker 1: Throw those darts more at players who might get opportunity
[37:53] Speaker 1: right away, because you're just gonna be stashing those handcuffs.
[37:56] Speaker 1: You're gonna drop them first. And then that injury happens
[37:59] Speaker 1: week nine and you're.
[37:59] Speaker 3: Like, well, I drafted Todd.
[38:00] Speaker 1: Brooks, but you know it's it's uh, it's it's kind
[38:04] Speaker 1: of a waste of a roster spot because those injuries
[38:05] Speaker 1: aren't aren't guaranteed to happen in the first couple of
[38:08] Speaker 1: weeks of the season.
[38:10] Speaker 2: All right, J J. Let's get on to what people want,
[38:13] Speaker 2: and that is your hard fast, never changing too early.
[38:18] Speaker 2: Running back rankings.
[38:20] Speaker 1: The late round main event.
[38:24] Speaker 2: Let's start with number one, the guy that probably won
[38:27] Speaker 2: you some championships. He won me my home league last year.
[38:30] Speaker 2: B Jon Robinson at number one.
[38:32] Speaker 1: Yeah, I figured I'd go one to ten because I
[38:34] Speaker 1: think it's more dramatic that way, like I did. I
[38:36] Speaker 1: did ten to one last week. But everyone knew who
[38:38] Speaker 1: number one was going to be. You know, it's just
[38:40] Speaker 1: not as not as fun. Uh, So we'll go be
[38:43] Speaker 1: Jon Robinson at number one. He's been the RB three,
[38:45] Speaker 1: RB two in the last two seasons. My my untrained eye.
[38:49] Speaker 1: Maybe it's trained, I don't know. I think Bjhon Robinson
[38:52] Speaker 1: is one of the best running backs I've ever watched
[38:54] Speaker 1: in my life period. Like I've said this for years
[38:57] Speaker 1: in the discord and on, you know, in the in
[38:59] Speaker 1: the live streams and stuff for patrons, But I'm just
[39:02] Speaker 1: a massive Bjon Robinson fan. As a player, his contact
[39:06] Speaker 1: balance is unreal on like, just I can't even comprehend it.
[39:11] Speaker 1: He's been RB three and RB two over the last
[39:13] Speaker 1: two years. That's in relevant weeks, you know, last two seasons,
[39:15] Speaker 1: sixty seven percent sixty five percent running back rushers. He
[39:18] Speaker 1: had a nineteen point eight percent target share last year,
[39:21] Speaker 1: which is awesome. The receiving numbers are something that you
[39:25] Speaker 1: should really focus on for running backs year over year
[39:27] Speaker 1: because they're stickier than a lot of the rushing numbers are.
[39:30] Speaker 3: And then the other thing that's kind of a wild card.
[39:32] Speaker 1: Obviously you get a new coaching staff, so we don't
[39:34] Speaker 1: know exactly how this backfiel is going to look and
[39:36] Speaker 1: be split. But Tyler Algier is a free agent, so
[39:38] Speaker 1: if he doesn't re sign, chances are whoever, whatever running
[39:43] Speaker 1: back is the RB two, there is an inferior player
[39:45] Speaker 1: to Tyler Algiers. So I think b Jon Robinson is
[39:48] Speaker 1: the easy one oh one in all formats next year,
[39:51] Speaker 1: well maybe not super flex, but in in you know,
[39:53] Speaker 1: half BPR PPR, whatever the case may be. I'd be
[39:56] Speaker 1: taking him over any wide receiver next season.
[39:59] Speaker 2: They also high Bill Callahan, who is like one of
[40:01] Speaker 2: the best offensive line coaches.
[40:03] Speaker 3: At some point, like when does that like not be
[40:05] Speaker 3: the case anybody?
[40:07] Speaker 2: Zachy left with his son, the offensive line actually got better.
[40:10] Speaker 2: But you know who knows who that is? All right?
[40:13] Speaker 2: Number two Jamiir Gibbs, he's in the Petsing zoo.
[40:15] Speaker 1: I think that that Gibbs is probably the the one
[40:18] Speaker 1: O two in.
[40:19] Speaker 3: Redraft next year.
[40:21] Speaker 1: You know, these two guys are just so locked in,
[40:23] Speaker 1: in my opinion, as like such solid cornerstones for your
[40:28] Speaker 1: redraft teams, and they're so safe that it's hard to
[40:32] Speaker 1: kind of go against them and go away from them.
[40:34] Speaker 1: So Drew Petsing His teams in Arizona have been eighth, ninth,
[40:39] Speaker 1: and fifteenth and rushing success rate over his three seasons there,
[40:42] Speaker 1: which is pretty strong. This season was a little bit
[40:44] Speaker 1: of an outlier. There were first in the NFL and
[40:46] Speaker 1: dropbacks over expected. They're usually a lot. They were usually
[40:49] Speaker 1: a lot more run heavy, which is again plays into
[40:51] Speaker 1: why I think Detroit and Dan Campbell really liked him,
[40:53] Speaker 1: because that's kind of his style. He's a he's a
[40:55] Speaker 1: run game guy, and he likes to lean on the run.
[40:58] Speaker 1: Gibbs is obviously a talented player. Seventeen percent target share
[41:01] Speaker 1: this past year sixty percent running back rusher both were
[41:04] Speaker 1: career highs. The Lions can cut David Montgomery this offseason
[41:07] Speaker 1: and save money against the cap, and that's huge because
[41:11] Speaker 1: Montgomery's been taking looks at the goal line and again,
[41:14] Speaker 1: it's hard to imagine a scenario where the running back
[41:17] Speaker 1: that would come in for Montgomery would be significantly better
[41:20] Speaker 1: or even as good as Montgomery is. So Gibbs is
[41:24] Speaker 1: more than likely going to have more inferior competition in
[41:27] Speaker 1: his backfield and that would lead to a lot more
[41:30] Speaker 1: goal line looks. Like last year he had ten goal
[41:32] Speaker 1: line rushes, Montgomery at sixteen. Imagine if, even imagine if
[41:36] Speaker 1: Gibbs doubles his his goal line work. I mean, that's
[41:39] Speaker 1: crazy to think about in terms of what his ceiling
[41:41] Speaker 1: could be. So to me, the one oh one, one
[41:43] Speaker 1: oh two, they're in a tier like it's it's you know,
[41:47] Speaker 1: this could obviously change, but to me, it's very obvious
[41:49] Speaker 1: that these two guys are the guys that you're gonna
[41:51] Speaker 1: want in Fantasy next year.
[41:53] Speaker 2: All Right, I guess you're not worried about the electromagnetic
[41:57] Speaker 2: fields in San Francisco because you've got CC at number
[42:01] Speaker 2: three Christian McCaffrey.
[42:02] Speaker 1: Well, I mean, to be fair, my first words in
[42:04] Speaker 1: the notes are unbelievably worried. So I am. I am
[42:09] Speaker 1: worried about about Christian McCaffrey. He had three hundred eleven
[42:11] Speaker 1: rush attepts and one hundred and twenty nine targets this
[42:13] Speaker 1: past year. That's that doesn't even count the playoffs. Like,
[42:16] Speaker 1: that's obscene, it's crazy. That's definitely not repeatable. You know,
[42:21] Speaker 1: I wrote I don't know if you remember this kitchen,
[42:23] Speaker 1: but I did that article and that sort of like
[42:25] Speaker 1: mini study on Saquon Barkley this offseason, in this summer,
[42:28] Speaker 1: where I talked about how people were thinking about regression
[42:31] Speaker 1: the wrong way with these guys who see a lot
[42:34] Speaker 1: of work the previous year. They shouldn't think of it
[42:36] Speaker 1: in terms of injury, right, which people will naturally do
[42:40] Speaker 1: with Christian McCaffrey, and I will too, Like if there's
[42:42] Speaker 1: there's there's there's fear of injury in any running back,
[42:45] Speaker 1: especially one who's older and has somewhat of a history.
[42:49] Speaker 1: But the bigger deal is that when you just when
[42:51] Speaker 1: a running back just sees a lot of volume, they're
[42:54] Speaker 1: almost definitely gonna not see a lot of volume the
[42:56] Speaker 1: next year because that just naturally regresses, just like if
[42:59] Speaker 1: a wide receiver, you know, Brandon Marshall one year in
[43:01] Speaker 1: Chicago had like one hundred and I had like a
[43:03] Speaker 1: forty percent target share in that offense, which is the
[43:06] Speaker 1: highest that we've seen since twenty eleven.
[43:08] Speaker 3: We don't sit there and say.
[43:10] Speaker 1: Oh, b marsh is just gonna walk into the next
[43:12] Speaker 1: season and see just as much volume. We say, no,
[43:15] Speaker 1: that was something that that offense just needed in that moment, and.
[43:17] Speaker 3: It's probably gonna regress.
[43:19] Speaker 1: That's exactly how I feel about Christian McCaffrey, where he's
[43:22] Speaker 1: still gonna see a lot of volume, though you know,
[43:24] Speaker 1: like regression doesn't mean a relevancy, and the offense itself
[43:28] Speaker 1: is really good and you can't deny the results Christian
[43:32] Speaker 1: McCaffrey in relevant games from a from a finished points
[43:35] Speaker 1: per game ranking standpoint and seasons where he's been healthy
[43:39] Speaker 1: RB one, RB one, RB one, RB two, RB two
[43:42] Speaker 1: and RB twelve, and that RB twelve is his rookie season.
[43:45] Speaker 3: That is insane. It's insane, like to me fantasy football.
[43:50] Speaker 1: Yes, you can lose it in the free you know,
[43:52] Speaker 1: if you lose your first round pick if he gets hurt,
[43:54] Speaker 1: that's bad. But instead of thinking about it from with CMC,
[43:57] Speaker 1: from his perspective of like Christian McCaffrey, he could get
[44:00] Speaker 1: hurt and therefore he's a bad pick, think about the
[44:04] Speaker 1: delta between Christian McCaffrey getting hurt and in those chances
[44:07] Speaker 1: to another alternative in that round, and then you realize
[44:10] Speaker 1: that delta it shrinks. It's not nearly as catastrophic as
[44:13] Speaker 1: you think that it is. And that's why I have
[44:14] Speaker 1: him at RB three. But I will say right now
[44:17] Speaker 1: I would have him in a separate tier compared to
[44:19] Speaker 1: Bijon Robinson and Ejameer Gibbs.
[44:22] Speaker 2: Can't wait for the Jordan James of next season. He
[44:27] Speaker 2: looks great in garbage time. Looked great in garbage time.
[44:30] Speaker 2: So there you go. Okay. Jonathan Taylor comes in at
[44:34] Speaker 2: number four.
[44:35] Speaker 1: Yeah again I actually think that running back like it's
[44:38] Speaker 1: really really flat after you get out of the top two.
[44:41] Speaker 1: Maybe you throw CMC in there, but like I say
[44:44] Speaker 1: flat as in, like there's just a lot of running
[44:46] Speaker 1: backs we can choose from, which plays into what I
[44:48] Speaker 1: talked about on Tuesday's episode this week on the increase
[44:51] Speaker 1: in twelve personnel, And you know, running backs are getting
[44:53] Speaker 1: more work on the ground. It's been a more run
[44:55] Speaker 1: heavy approach across the league and that's definitely allowing more
[44:59] Speaker 1: running backs to be elevant at a higher level than before.
[45:03] Speaker 1: And so Jonathan Taylor, you know, this isn't the archetype
[45:06] Speaker 1: of running back that I am in love with because
[45:08] Speaker 1: he's max out in the eleven percent target share throughout
[45:10] Speaker 1: his career, which isn't you know, it's fine, but it's
[45:13] Speaker 1: not elite.
[45:14] Speaker 3: But we know that he is an elite runner.
[45:16] Speaker 1: You know, he's got that like Nick Chubb and him,
[45:18] Speaker 1: where he can consistently kind of break the mold of
[45:20] Speaker 1: being an overly efficient running back year over year. But
[45:24] Speaker 1: you know, you look at the Colts, like there's quarterback
[45:25] Speaker 1: question marks because of the Achilles with Daniel Jones. But
[45:29] Speaker 1: at the same time, Jonathan Taylor being on the roster.
[45:32] Speaker 1: We know he's you know, being healthy and active. He's
[45:35] Speaker 1: gonna see a lot of work. He's He's been at
[45:36] Speaker 1: almost an eighty percent running back rush chair per season
[45:40] Speaker 1: over his last five years, which.
[45:41] Speaker 3: Is crazy, So you know, the volume should be there.
[45:45] Speaker 1: I do think that we should be a little bit
[45:46] Speaker 1: worried about some regression from like an offensive standpoint, just
[45:49] Speaker 1: because we don't know what's going on at quarterback. That
[45:52] Speaker 1: scares me a little bit, especially the goal line. He
[45:53] Speaker 1: had twenty three goal line rushes last year, which was
[45:56] Speaker 1: the second most of his career. Or sorry, that was
[45:58] Speaker 1: the most of his career. I said, twenty three goal
[46:02] Speaker 1: line attemts last year, we're a season high. That's really
[46:04] Speaker 1: terrible note taking that doesn't make any sense. I think
[46:07] Speaker 1: it was the second most goal line attempts that he's
[46:09] Speaker 1: had throughout his career. It just you need that offense
[46:13] Speaker 1: to be good enough for him to be sustainable in fantasy.
[46:15] Speaker 1: And we saw that down the stretch, right Like the
[46:17] Speaker 1: offense became a lot shakier and then Jonathan Taylor's fantasy
[46:21] Speaker 1: output became a lot shakier. That's what happens when you
[46:23] Speaker 1: don't have a receiving back in the backfield in like
[46:25] Speaker 1: a half or full PPR format.
[46:27] Speaker 3: So I think he's good.
[46:28] Speaker 1: I think he's solid, but I'm not gonna take him
[46:31] Speaker 1: in like the top six of fantasy drafts next year
[46:34] Speaker 1: at this point, like right now here in January.
[46:36] Speaker 2: All right, So at number five you got mister a Chan.
[46:40] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like, look, you you could put a
[46:43] Speaker 1: Chan at three realistically, like if you're bullish about what
[46:46] Speaker 1: could happen in that offense. But there is some concern.
[46:49] Speaker 1: You know, there's a new coaching staff. We don't know
[46:51] Speaker 1: how a Chan's gonna be deployed. He has had fifteen
[46:55] Speaker 1: to nineteen percent target chairs over his last two so
[46:57] Speaker 1: that PPR floor hypothetically should be there, but only five
[47:01] Speaker 1: rushes at the goal line last year. Like that's that's
[47:03] Speaker 1: a problem, because what happens if a coach comes in
[47:07] Speaker 1: and says, we don't want to use you, know, we
[47:09] Speaker 1: want to have you in a tandem because you're a
[47:11] Speaker 1: smaller running back. One of the amazing parts of Mike
[47:14] Speaker 1: McDaniel was that he said devon Ah Chang can be
[47:17] Speaker 1: sub one ninety at the combine and maybe sub one
[47:20] Speaker 1: ninety five in the NFL and sub two hundred, and
[47:23] Speaker 1: I'll still use him as a as a borderline belcal
[47:25] Speaker 1: back because I think he's really good.
[47:27] Speaker 3: Not all coaches have that mentality, and.
[47:29] Speaker 1: That's what's scary in my opinion for Devon h Chan
[47:32] Speaker 1: with a new coaching staff.
[47:33] Speaker 3: But he look unbelievably explosive.
[47:35] Speaker 1: He had the most ten plus yards in the NFL
[47:37] Speaker 1: this past ten plus yard runs in the NFL this
[47:39] Speaker 1: past year. One of thirteen running backs in is twenty
[47:41] Speaker 1: eleven with two hundred more carries and a sixteen percent
[47:44] Speaker 1: ten plus yard run rate, which is awesome.
[47:47] Speaker 3: But but also like, we don't know who's playing quarterback
[47:50] Speaker 3: for Miami. That's another problem there for the Dolphins.
[47:54] Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, like I think a chance, fine,
[47:57] Speaker 1: but there are a lot of question marks.
[48:00] Speaker 2: Okay, Amy's definitely got the talent.
[48:02] Speaker 3: It's just yeah, I love I mean, I I love Yeah.
[48:04] Speaker 2: He's he going to be in when they're down by
[48:06] Speaker 2: three touchdowns? Maybe not, you know with this new coach.
[48:08] Speaker 2: All right, James Cook comes in at number six, and
[48:11] Speaker 2: again they don't have bad coach either.
[48:13] Speaker 1: I actually think that the coaching could be okay for Cook,
[48:18] Speaker 1: mostly because we need to we need to see him
[48:21] Speaker 1: be used more as a receiver. He still has yet
[48:23] Speaker 1: he's maxed out in a nine point nine percent target
[48:25] Speaker 1: year in a given season. When he entered the NFL
[48:28] Speaker 1: as sort of like a receiving specialist, like that's what
[48:30] Speaker 1: we thought he was gonna do. This past year, though,
[48:32] Speaker 1: he saw a lot of work on the ground, and
[48:35] Speaker 1: that's kind of the way that the Buffalo Bills ran
[48:37] Speaker 1: their offense with Joe Brady a lot of runs. You know,
[48:39] Speaker 1: sub fifty percent pass rate last year is fifty two
[48:42] Speaker 1: percent the year prior. So my thing is, like, what
[48:45] Speaker 1: if a coach comes in and they want to feature
[48:46] Speaker 1: James Cook Moore as a receiver, like that could be
[48:48] Speaker 1: really good from a fantasy perspective, and for a second
[48:51] Speaker 1: straight year, all of his peripherals look great. Like I
[48:53] Speaker 1: think James Cook is an elite running back in this league,
[48:56] Speaker 1: very very good, and hopefully the next coaching staff sees
[48:58] Speaker 1: that too.
[48:59] Speaker 3: Like I think realistically, if.
[49:01] Speaker 1: The right match occurs for Buffalo and James Cook, he
[49:04] Speaker 1: could just be bumped ahead of some of the guys
[49:06] Speaker 1: ahead of him right now.
[49:08] Speaker 2: Okay, this is one I'm excited about. Number seven. Marian Hampton, Yeah,
[49:16] Speaker 2: I think that he's gonna get steamed up. Man, he
[49:19] Speaker 2: is gonna, like everyone's gonna be in more than like Hampton.
[49:22] Speaker 1: But you look at you look at the remaining running
[49:24] Speaker 1: backs and you're like, you know, you could throw an
[49:26] Speaker 1: established guy in here, like a Josh Jacobs or like
[49:28] Speaker 1: a Saquon or something like that. But to me, you
[49:32] Speaker 1: get Slater and Alt hopefully back in twenty twenty six.
[49:34] Speaker 1: There's no more Greg Roman. And for the record, I
[49:37] Speaker 1: wrote about this all off season last year. Greg Roman
[49:40] Speaker 1: is not good for fantasy running backs generally speaking. He
[49:43] Speaker 1: still has not had a single season in his career
[49:46] Speaker 1: as a coordinator where his running backs ranked in the
[49:49] Speaker 1: top ten as a team and PPR points. Now, part
[49:52] Speaker 1: of that is the target share stuff I discussed et cetera.
[49:55] Speaker 3: Hampton to me was a pretty decent, well rounded back.
[49:59] Speaker 1: There's red flags who was receiving profile that I saw,
[50:02] Speaker 1: Like his yards perole run was was solid enough. This
[50:05] Speaker 1: past year was over one yard. You know, he had
[50:07] Speaker 1: a twelve percent target year when he did play. Uh
[50:10] Speaker 1: and then you know I I did write all that too,
[50:13] Speaker 1: and and UH looked at all that data before they
[50:16] Speaker 1: had gotten Mike McDaniel which I don't think is even
[50:18] Speaker 1: official official yet, but we're just assuming it is. Yeah,
[50:21] Speaker 1: I don't know exactly how Hampton's gonna fit his own
[50:24] Speaker 1: run scheme the way that Mike McDaniel runs things. Uh.
[50:28] Speaker 1: And if you look at Fantasy Points data, he was
[50:30] Speaker 1: a lot better and more man on more man runs
[50:33] Speaker 1: than than zone runs last year Marion Hampton was. But
[50:38] Speaker 1: you know, he's really good. And I think that La
[50:41] Speaker 1: is going to use a lot more motion and it's
[50:43] Speaker 1: going to help the offensive line even more. You know,
[50:46] Speaker 1: the Chargers with Greg Roman were below average last year
[50:49] Speaker 1: and their in their use of motion, which is kind
[50:51] Speaker 1: of crazy given the kinds of wide receivers they had
[50:53] Speaker 1: on that team that could go inside out and they
[50:55] Speaker 1: didn't really you know, take advantage of that. So I'm
[50:58] Speaker 1: excited for Marion and hand in this offense, especially because
[51:02] Speaker 1: Nage Harris, Like, I don't even know what's gonna like
[51:04] Speaker 1: if he's gonna be a thing next year for them. Uh,
[51:07] Speaker 1: you know, I know his deal was short anyway, but
[51:09] Speaker 1: I'm saying, like, what kind of competition are they gonna Like,
[51:11] Speaker 1: They're probably gonna be fine with Hampton and Vitel and
[51:14] Speaker 1: if that's the case, I don't think that's terrible competition
[51:17] Speaker 1: for Mario and Hampton. To get volume.
[51:20] Speaker 2: Number eight, you get Ashton Jentti. Who's gonna we are
[51:24] Speaker 2: pretty sure we know who his quarterback is. We don't
[51:26] Speaker 2: know who his head coach offense coordinator is gonna be.
[51:28] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean maybe. I mean I don't know exactly
[51:30] Speaker 1: what's going on a quarterback for them. We'll see if they.
[51:34] Speaker 2: Don't get Mendoza. Well, yeah, did you watch that game?
[51:38] Speaker 1: By the way, what the National Championship?
[51:41] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, of course. Okay, so there are some fantasy
[51:44] Speaker 2: analysts that that did not So what.
[51:46] Speaker 1: Would I have not watched that?
[51:48] Speaker 2: This is what I'm saying, that that performance was awesome,
[51:52] Speaker 2: that that he's one of.
[51:54] Speaker 1: Those like that you gotta be a little fearful of,
[51:56] Speaker 1: Like is he does he have the tools, but he's
[51:59] Speaker 1: got the tangibles for sure? Yeah for sure. But yeah,
[52:03] Speaker 1: like it was a it was kind of a problematic
[52:04] Speaker 1: first season for ash and gent He had zero point
[52:07] Speaker 1: six four yards before contact according to PFF data. That
[52:10] Speaker 1: was second worst among two hundred plus attempt rushers. It
[52:13] Speaker 1: was only better than Quinn Shawn Judkins last year. And
[52:17] Speaker 1: so you know he didn't get a lot of help
[52:20] Speaker 1: from the offense itself.
[52:22] Speaker 3: I still thought that he looked good and like when
[52:23] Speaker 3: he did get.
[52:24] Speaker 1: Those opportunities, and he started to be used as a
[52:26] Speaker 1: receiver more towards the end of the season, which was
[52:28] Speaker 1: really helpful from a fantasy perspective, but also an evaluation standpoint.
[52:32] Speaker 3: We know he can be a three down back. He
[52:33] Speaker 3: was an elite prospect.
[52:35] Speaker 1: He looks great in the even the updated zat model
[52:37] Speaker 1: that I've worked on, he looks amazing. He's one of
[52:40] Speaker 1: the best in that model. You know, if you look
[52:44] Speaker 1: at there's a new category. Speaking of that model, there's
[52:46] Speaker 1: a new category that I created called Legendary performer, where
[52:50] Speaker 1: only the best, the best prospects land in that bucket.
[52:53] Speaker 1: Ash and gent landed in that bucket. The other seven
[52:56] Speaker 1: running backs to get to that mark their best season
[52:59] Speaker 1: of their earth their worst season. Sorry, they had a
[53:03] Speaker 1: best season in their first three at worst Okay of
[53:06] Speaker 1: seventeen PPR points.
[53:07] Speaker 2: It's very hard to like that. We say best and
[53:09] Speaker 2: worse in the same since.
[53:11] Speaker 1: Yes, it's hard. Yeah, So if you look at their
[53:12] Speaker 1: first three seasons in the NFL, their best season at
[53:16] Speaker 1: worst among those seven was Trent Richardson, who was a
[53:19] Speaker 1: legendary performer. Yes, it's probably a model l but he
[53:22] Speaker 1: was fine his rookie season.
[53:23] Speaker 3: He scored sixteen point nine to nine PPR points per game.
[53:26] Speaker 3: That's the worst. That's the absolute bottom.
[53:28] Speaker 1: So I'm I'm predicting that we're going to see a
[53:31] Speaker 1: better season from Ash and gent in one of these
[53:34] Speaker 1: next couple of seasons, just based on the app model itself.
[53:37] Speaker 2: All right, number nine, I want to know your thought
[53:40] Speaker 2: process on this guy, Like it was it hard to
[53:44] Speaker 2: do because it's Chase Brown.
[53:47] Speaker 1: Yeah, kinda, But it's one of those things where right
[53:50] Speaker 1: now in January, there's so much that's unchanged in Cincinnati.
[53:54] Speaker 1: You know, the coaching staff looks generally the same. Dan
[53:56] Speaker 1: Pitcher might might be able to get an O C
[53:58] Speaker 1: job because he's not he doesn't call play is in Cincinnati,
[54:00] Speaker 1: and he might get that opportunity somewhere else.
[54:02] Speaker 2: So if he goes, they expect Callahan to come back to.
[54:06] Speaker 1: Him, then that's fine too. Yeah yeah, so so but
[54:09] Speaker 1: with Chase Brown, like I mean, bottom line is, they
[54:13] Speaker 1: have a lot of holes to fill and it might
[54:15] Speaker 1: just be another year where they don't really address the
[54:18] Speaker 1: running back position early on in the draft, and I
[54:20] Speaker 1: thought Brown. It's kind of wild, the narrative around Brown
[54:24] Speaker 1: and fantasy. Yeah, because of the first few weeks of
[54:26] Speaker 1: the season, he was a great fantasy asset, like with
[54:30] Speaker 1: Joe Burrow last year. Now, there's a lot of factors
[54:32] Speaker 1: that play into this. You know, samaj p Ryan being hurt.
[54:34] Speaker 1: There were it wasn't just Flacco and Burrow. You know,
[54:38] Speaker 1: you had Jake Browning as well in there. But regardless
[54:41] Speaker 1: out of the split. So not with Joe Burrow, he
[54:44] Speaker 1: averaged fourteen one point one PPR points per game, which
[54:47] Speaker 1: is not that bad. It's not great, but it's not terrible.
[54:50] Speaker 1: Nineteen point four PPR points per game with Joe Burrow.
[54:54] Speaker 1: So there's a lot of upside with Chase Brown, especially
[54:56] Speaker 1: if they don't do anything in the draft or free
[54:58] Speaker 1: agency and such. And I don't think they need to,
[55:00] Speaker 1: you know, at this point, it's a good environment. Hopefully
[55:03] Speaker 1: they upgrade that offensive line. That's obviously one of their
[55:05] Speaker 1: biggest issues. That's their biggest issue on offense. But yeah,
[55:09] Speaker 1: I have Chase Brown a number nine. I think that
[55:10] Speaker 1: it's a very defensible ranking for him. I could argue
[55:13] Speaker 1: he can go higher yeah, I could argue him at
[55:15] Speaker 1: seven or six.
[55:16] Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mean he was going right there with
[55:18] Speaker 2: a chand before last season bs Persas, I think we've
[55:21] Speaker 2: been saying they should upgrade the aligned for about six
[55:23] Speaker 2: years now. They need to try to protect their assets.
[55:27] Speaker 3: They've tried a little bit. It's just it hasn't come together.
[55:29] Speaker 2: Yet, all right. And then number ten, we've got Josh
[55:33] Speaker 2: Jacobs to round out this list.
[55:35] Speaker 1: I think that this is where you kind of could
[55:36] Speaker 1: throw any of the veteran backs in their Saquan, Derrick, Henry, whoever.
[55:40] Speaker 1: But with Jacobs, he's just of those other guys, He's
[55:43] Speaker 1: in the most secure environment right now.
[55:45] Speaker 3: Say what you want about Matt Lafleur his teams.
[55:49] Speaker 1: In his seven years of coaching that offense and that team,
[55:52] Speaker 1: they've ranked the top half of the league in touchdowns
[55:54] Speaker 1: per game every single year, which is pretty impressive. We
[55:57] Speaker 1: know the offensive environment should be pretty good for Jacob.
[56:00] Speaker 1: He was banged up this past year, he still saw
[56:02] Speaker 1: a seventy three percent running back rush are So I'm
[56:04] Speaker 1: gonna go Jacobs in the ten spot, But I could
[56:06] Speaker 1: argue maybe a Saquon because hopefully there's an offensive upgrade
[56:09] Speaker 1: from a coaching standpoint there, you know, maybe Derrick Henry
[56:12] Speaker 1: because obviously he hasn't slowed down yet and there could
[56:14] Speaker 1: be even an upgrade there.
[56:16] Speaker 3: But I think Jacobs is just the safest bed at
[56:18] Speaker 3: this point.
[56:19] Speaker 2: Yeah, interesting that you leave off the guy who helped
[56:23] Speaker 2: win you twenty thousand dollars on DraftKings.
[56:27] Speaker 1: Well, I'll forever love Derrick Henry.
[56:29] Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just saying he may maybe just put him
[56:31] Speaker 2: as an honorable mention. Geez, all right, good stuff. I
[56:34] Speaker 2: mean that's a solid that's a solid list right there,
[56:36] Speaker 2: and we know that we're not going to hold you.
[56:39] Speaker 1: This one's not. I feel like this one shouldn't be
[56:41] Speaker 1: that controversial the way that the way that I put this,
[56:44] Speaker 1: Like maybe do you think people are gonna be mad
[56:47] Speaker 1: that like Chase Brown's on there?
[56:49] Speaker 2: No again, because I think Chase Brown with Burrow could
[56:52] Speaker 2: go even higher, Like I mean, I agree, Yeah, it
[56:55] Speaker 2: just it just depends on what that on what the
[56:58] Speaker 2: play calling is going to be there. I think it's
[57:00] Speaker 2: I think it's a solid, solid list. People might get
[57:03] Speaker 2: upset with no Saquon.
[57:06] Speaker 3: Yeah, but I don't know.
[57:08] Speaker 1: Sequon burn people so much this year that they're probably
[57:11] Speaker 1: over it.
[57:12] Speaker 2: Yeah, you just needed a rest here, all right? All right,
[57:20] Speaker 2: the reminder to subscribe, like comment on this show if
[57:25] Speaker 2: if you would Late Round newsletter. We had another newsletter today,
[57:31] Speaker 2: Uh come out, so it's it's newsletter seasoning the other
[57:36] Speaker 2: newsletter on Friday. J.
[57:39] Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just gonna say, Godula is doing a
[57:41] Speaker 1: lot of like research and studies on stuff and it's
[57:43] Speaker 1: been great.
[57:44] Speaker 2: Uh.
[57:44] Speaker 1: And today's was awesome about you know, the playoffs and
[57:47] Speaker 1: and basically like, is our our players who play a
[57:51] Speaker 1: lot and go on these long runs in the playoffs,
[57:53] Speaker 1: is that bad for their games played the following season?
[57:55] Speaker 1: Like is there a higher injury risk? And what's it
[57:57] Speaker 1: mean for them from a fantasy perspective? And so just
[57:59] Speaker 1: get used to that awesome kind of research because Goodula
[58:02] Speaker 1: is gonna be sending a lot of newsletters out this offseason.
[58:05] Speaker 2: Speaking of awesome, if you don't do one thing, I
[58:07] Speaker 2: don't know if this got enough love yesterday, but if
[58:10] Speaker 2: you don't do one thing, would just say, uh, if
[58:13] Speaker 2: you only do one thing, listen to yesterday's episode of
[58:17] Speaker 2: the Late Round podcast, the Death of the Wide Receiver too.
[58:21] Speaker 2: That was a good episode.
[58:22] Speaker 1: JJ.
[58:23] Speaker 2: Good job by you, pal.
[58:24] Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. Yeah, all right, final words, JJ, No,
[58:28] Speaker 1: let's let's hope for power to stick around. For me,
[58:31] Speaker 1: is getting as much content next week? Just pay attention
[58:35] Speaker 1: to my twitter feed. I'll let you guys know if
[58:36] Speaker 1: we lost power all that kind of stuff.
[58:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully won't be that bad. Uh JJ appreciate it
[58:42] Speaker 2: and appreciate everyone that chimed in, and without further ado,
[58:46] Speaker 2: we'll see you next time here on the late round
[58:48] Speaker 2: fantasy football show piece.
[58:51] Speaker 1: All right, and where go

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