← Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry
Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry
Sleepers + Deep Sleepers: Ricky Pearsall, Chris Olave, Emeka Egbuka highlight the list
00:51:52
August 13: Matthew (@MatthewBerryTMR), Jay (@croucherJD), and Connor (@ConnorJRogers) continue their breakdown of targets they’re circling later in drafts as value picks relative to their current ADP. Players discussed include Chris Olave, Tyler Warren, Tony Pollard, Brenton Strange, and Jacory Crosky-Merritt. They also analyze more twists in Matthew Stafford’s back injury timeline and a new ailment for Jordan Love before wrapping up the show with who they’re betting to lead to regular season in receptions.
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Seeloes.com rebates for details.
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B
Shakur is banged up. I still think a big year is coming for Dalton Kincaid. I'm not worried about that.
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A
What'd you call him? Shakir.
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B
Yeah. Shakir. Khalil. Shakir.
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A
Shakira. Shakir.
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B
Shakir. What did I say? Did I mispronounce it?
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A
I think you kind of went with like.
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C
He is one.
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A
He went Shakur Sanders type of. Yeah.
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C
No, he's trying to get in your head before the Tonight.
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B
Shakir. He is trying to screw.
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A
Just don't bring up Khalil.
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C
Shakira.
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A
Jimmy Fallon, Hot Talk, Bill's Offense Fantasy.
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B
Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry.
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C
Welcome to the Fantasy Football Happy Hour. Connor Rogers, Matthew Barry, Jay Croucher, Khalil Shakir.
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A
Slot receptions don't lie, Matthew.
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B
No, they don't.
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C
I like Tupac Shakur.
- [02:19]
B
Slot receptions and hips. Neither of them lie. You lie. However, he was trying to get in my head for the Tonight Show. It's what he does. Yeah.
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C
See the evil facial hair?
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B
Oh my God. It's the mental warfare I have to suffer through on this show. You have no idea but makes you struggle. Luckily, I crushed the Tonight show. Like. Like a Grape like a grape. Crushed it like a grape.
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C
Back to that already.
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A
Yeah, slap him like a grape.
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B
We've never. We've never gone away from it. We've. We've never gone away from it.
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C
Sleepers day, by the way.
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B
It's always a favorite day around the coffee. I'm around the office.
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C
It really. We did break out. Sleepy start sleeper right here.
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B
Matthew Barry. I used all my good stuff on the Tonight show, which is available on YouTube. You should check it out. Starring Jill.
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A
But also watch this show.
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C
You're gonna have to get through an hour of this somehow, so we'll get you started here.
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B
All right.
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C
Our first sleeper is Ricky Pearsall. Hey, now, what a road it's been for Ricky Pearsall. We got to hear from Kyle Shanahan on the differences from him going year one now into his second NFL season.
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A
Ricky's such a good football player and.
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C
He works so the right way.
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A
And he's got such natural hands, such natural route running ability and the not too big for him. So Ricky's biggest thing is just being out there and trying to stack days. You know, he got off to a.
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C
Late start because of his hamstring, but he's been able to stack days here.
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A
Over these last couple weeks. And when he does that, he just gets better and better and really helps us out on offense.
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B
Yeah. And you know, Ricky Pearsall, in addition to stacking days, he also drinks for free here at the happy hour. Give me a couple reasons why. Think about Ricky Pearsall. Last year at this. Basically this time last year, he was somebody. He was recovering from a gunshot wound. This is a kid that we realized, like, is this guy going to. Is he going to live? Right. You know, I mean, like, there was concerns about that, and then just like, well, is he going to play football again? And now we're talking about him as a sleeper. That's right. He leads my sleeper list. You know, the. You think about The San Francisco 49ers wide receiver group, and we don't think Brandon Aiuk starts until probably the middle of the season. Kyle Shanahan said as part of that same press conference, I believe he said we're looking at week six, of course, week 12. Yeah. Kyle Shannon, of course, always well known for his very accurate predictions of when his players will be back. So, right. If Kyle Shanahan says IUK's back in week six, it probably means 20, 27. And so whatever we know, Iuk is banged up. Juwan Jennings is either truly banged up and also holding out for a contract or not really banged up, but still holding out for a contract. And just. It's among the reasons why we're so high on George kittle and Chris McCaffrey as part of this passing attack. But also by Ricky Pearsall, who last year had five games where he had at least a 15% target share, which isn't that much. Averaged over 16 fantasy points per game, averaged almost 70 yards per game. And so it's a really nice schedule for the 49ers this year as well. And as you heard Kyle, he's just, you know, the important thing is he's just got to stack days, which I don't know what that means. I mean, I guess it just means he needs to show up to work and just keep right. And you're stacking days. I'm definitely stacking days. I'm a day stacker. Everyone knows that. He's very good.
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A
At the end of last season, Ricky Pearsall, particularly those last two games where he went 8 for 141 in the touchdown against the Lions. Then week 18, not with Brock Purdy, but still 6 for 69 and a touchdown. I think the thing Connor with the Niners is at least until Ayuk gets back. Like we've been so used to this team being just so loaded with this fantasy buffet of weapons of Pete Debo Samuel alongside George kittle, of Christian McCaffrey, IUK and now it's looking a little thin.
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C
Until I come back, you're hoping Christian McCaffrey has a healthy season. Sure. We know how good George Kittle is. Then it's Ricky Pearsall. That's where the targets are funneled right now because iuk's health with Juwan Jennings we've talked about as well. And Pearsall was a first round pick. Like the expectations should be high here.
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B
It should be. And look, no one loves Brock Purdy more than Jay Croucher who feels he's parentally underrated. But you know, Pierce hall is somebody who's going to get a ton of targets for him. A quarterback that we all like here as well. I have him currently at number 82 overall according to the FantasyLife.com consensus ADP, which looks at the ADP of every site out there. He's going outside the top 100, just outside the top 100. So I'm like about two rounds ahead of consensus right now. So Ricky Pearsall is my sleeper.
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C
Yeah, for our sleepers for this tier, we're going to try to stick between rounds. 8 to 12 and then we'll have some deeper sleepers later on in the show, guys that could even be undrafted right now. Jay, what wide receiver are you going with?
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A
Look at Chris Olave, who on when he's been healthy, he's been an elite wide receiver. Some of his underlying stats are the best in the NFL in terms of yards per route run. He's been top 12 in the NFL since coming into the league. Hasn't had great quarterback play. Probably not going to have great quarterback play this year. But I think that with a lot of the time with health and injury risk, just because we've seen a guy injured, you just mentally think that he is going to get injured again and that's not a given. Chris Olave could well stay healthy this year and yeah, it's not going to be a great Saints offense, but I do think that there is strangely some upside in this offense at least to get Chris Olave the ball. Because the offensive line, Connor might actually be good because they've got a resource into it. They got four first round picks on the offensive line to go with Eric McCoy at center who might be the best of the group. They have Rashid Shahid spacing the field for Chris Olave and the quarterback options aren't great, but they got a few of them so they can roll the dice and see what sticks there.
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C
Yeah, and you mentioned it. Lave is really talented. He can win down the field. It's just the concussion history is what scares you there and that's why you're getting him at this cost. Matthew. I mean this is somebody that right now is the 83rd player typically taken in drafts.
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B
He was somebody that at full health is going as basically a top 12 wide receiver in fantasy football. And so I get the quarterback concerns, I get the health concerns, but that's baked into the ADP significantly. You know, I'm at 64 overall. He's currently going like 83 overall. So same thing. I'm two rounds higher. I agree with you. At that stage of the draft, like the upside is so massive because again, assuming health, he's going to earn a massive target share on a team that should be throwing with not very much target competition.
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C
I'll go pretty far down the board here guys, and go with rookie Tyler Warren, right. Who is not typically drafted as a top 10 tight end right now. And I get the concerns. People are looking around, they go, I don't really want much to do with an offense with either Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones. I think he's a rookie Tight end that is kind of quarterback proof because of the style he plays. Yes, he can win down the field, but he can also win with the ball in his hands after the catch. We got to hear from Tyler Warren on that and his physicality.
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B
I think for, for tight ends especially, being able, being bigger bodies, being able to break tackles is kind of, you know, expected when, when you do get the ball. I think that's, you know, we take pride in that in our room. And I think that's kind of the.
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C
Position in general is kind of what's.
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B
Expected when you do, you know, get.
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A
The ball in open space.
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B
You smile when you say that.
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A
Your coaches kind of say you like to smoke. I mean, like, you don't mind contact fair.
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B
No, I mean, I, I think a lot of people don't mind contact out.
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C
Here if you're playing, you know, professional football now.
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B
But, but it is part of it. So probably I think it's important to embrace it or else your deal with consequences.
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C
Very Jeremy Shocky very much.
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B
Yeah, yeah. He wants the smoke.
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C
As he said in the first preseason game. He lowered his shoulder, wants to run through people. He had a lot of targets. I'm in. Like, I'm in. And I mean, they invest this, I'm high end pick into this.
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A
I want to buy low on Shane Steichen as well because I think we forget that it wasn't that long ago that Shane Steichen was, was Tyler Goodson's fingertips away from winning the AFC south with Gardner Minshew as his starting quarter.
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B
That's correct.
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A
Gardner Minshew just enjoyed a shocking year for Las Vegas. So we see what Shane Stocking was able to get out of him. And so I think that between Anthony Richardson and his upside, or if he flames out Daniel Jones and his floor, which is a little bit more raised, I do think there is going to be a competent offense that Stock can get a good offensive line. You've got good weapons. Tyler Warren might be the best weapon of all in the past.
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B
There has to be a competent offense. To your point, I think Lawrence Jackson made this point last week when we were talking about Jonathan Taylor as well. But like either Anthony Richardson takes a step forward this year and is a competent quarterback and they feel good about it, or if he's not, they do have Daniel Jones who's probably more of a floor quarterback than a high end quarterback, but Daniel Jones is. Daniel Jones is not terrible. Daniel Jones is a. Is fine. He's a professional quarterback. Like he's better than Gardner Minshew. He's better than the guys that the Giants had last year. Right. He is somebody that will be able to get the ball to Tyler Warren, to Pittman, to Josh Downs. And so the only way that Daniel Jones doesn't start, if Anthony Richardson shows enough growth that he can in fact, do that. And so I love the call here with Warren. I'll be honest with you. When we were putting together our lists for this show, producer Damian just sent in because I was busy on tonight's show. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I was. I was in New York City. I was in the green room with 30 Rock, talking with Jimmy Fallon, you know, preparing for my appearance on the legendary Tonight Show. So I probably haven't mentioned that. No big deal. Nbd. But so what Damian did, what producer Damian did is he went to my rankings and just sort of picked out. You know, this is probably who Matthew's going to pick based on my rankings. And so by the time I got around to the text, basically, like, who do I want to pick? You'd already chosen Tyler Warren.
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C
So I was not on the Tonight Show.
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B
No. No, you weren't.
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C
I was working. I was grinding.
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B
Grinding, exactly.
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A
Conor was actually supposed to go on last week, but then got subbed out for Todd Zealand.
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C
This keeps happening. By the way, I hate to report I am up for the Emmy again this year. Very nervous. I could lose to Todd again.
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B
Is Todd also nominated?
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C
I think so. I don't know the full list, but.
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A
God, I'm gonna be cheering for Zeal.
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C
I actually almost didn't tell you guys. I've known this for, like, three weeks, and I think I've just told my family, but there you go. So we'll have fun with that when I lose again.
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B
I wonder. I wonder, Jay, how can we. How can we fix it? How can we. How can we bring the voters to so that Todd Zeal wins? Yep. It's only gonna.
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C
You might not have to do that.
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B
Right. But I don't know who else is nominated because the truth is, is that it's only funny if Todd Zeal wins.
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C
It is like, if Bart beats me, like my teammate Bart Scott, I think he's nominated as well.
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B
I love Bart Scott.
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C
Right. But it's like, okay, but it's not funny if Todd beats me a second time. It's very funny for you guys.
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B
It is very funny to sign someone who's.
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A
Someone who loses awards all the time. Was Scorsese was the guy. But then he won one.
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B
Right? Then he won One who's the. It was the. Where's the soap actress? You know, the. There was a soap opera actress who was constantly.
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C
We're gone.
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B
But she was famous for losing all the time. She constantly lost. You guys who know I'm talking about.
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A
Whatever guys.
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C
It took DiCaprio a while to win the battle.
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B
Yeah, exactly. Took Art Monk way too long to get into the hall of fame. Anyway, it'll come to me on the. On. It's right there on the tip of my tongue, this show.
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A
The soap actress who loses.
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B
All right.
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A
Back very well known.
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B
Yeah. Anyway, I point is, is I was jealous of the Tyler Warren pick because I could not agree more. Again, they will be able to get him the ball. And I always go back to this again. We passed on Brock Bowers last year because we're like target competition with Devonte Adams, Jacoby Myers, bad quarterback play. We know he's got insane talent, but. And I'm not saying Tyler Warren is Brock Bowers, but I'm also. He's not like that far off either.
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C
Right.
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B
I agree. So. And I would argue that that Gardner Minshew, Aiden o' Connell last year for Brock Bowers isn't any worse than Anthony Richardson.
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A
Daniel Jones, last thing on Daniel Jones as well. I think it's a good indicator for him and the Colts that Kevin o' Connell had Daniel Jones in the building and it seemed like they went really hard trying to keep him. And it's just the Colts outbid them and paid a lot for, you know, ostensibly a backup quarterback. So at least another indicator, at least that someone smart wanted Daniel Jones to stick around.
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B
I'm Googling this. Well, you go ahead. You talk about your sleeper.
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C
We're gonna have you go next.
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B
Oh, is it my turn?
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A
Yeah.
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C
Jay went with one Saints wide receiver, but I think you're looking at the other one.
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B
Yeah. How about Rasheed Shahid? I have a need for Shaheed.
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A
You're able to spit that name out, Josh.
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B
Barely. Barely. We almost had a Shakur situation.
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A
Shishkur.
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B
Shishkur. Shakira. Anyway, last year Rashid Shahid was wide receiver, 29 points regard points per game prior to the injury. Right. He had a 24% target share, which was. Which is a team high since he's entered the NFL. He leads all players in yards per target. And that was one of the reasons why, like for a while he was a part time player. We kept saying free Rasheed Shahid, but they wanted him on special teams. They just wouldn't commit to him in a full time role last year they finally did. But then he gets hurt. So the fact is, again, it's the same thing with a lobby to an extent where he needs to be. He needs to be healthy, but there's a very narrow target tree on a team that should be throwing a lot. And again, he is so fast playing indoor into the Superdome. Like all he needs is one to make your day. He's currently going as 111. I'm sorry, he's going at 137 overall. Like according to fantasy life ADP. He's going basically 138. 137. Somewhere in there. I'm at 111. So again, once again, two rounds, at least two rounds higher than consensus. I just think Shahid, there's too much upside, especially when you're at that part of the draft. Like why would you not take a chance on him assuming health, which at the moment it appears he's healthy. Yep.
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A
Absolute advanced stat. Darling Rashid as well, Very much so.
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B
All the underlying stats for sure.
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A
The Alex Caruso of the NFL. Kind of low, relatively low usage, but high impact player who just gets separation yards per out run. Elite, hyper, efficient.
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C
Feels like he's a pro bowler with Mahomes.
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A
Yeah, like this.
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C
Like if he went to the Chiefs. If he went to the Chiefs.
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B
Where do we rank?
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C
He's not 137.
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B
No, he's like Tyree Kill.
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C
Right, right, right.
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B
Yeah, yeah.
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C
20, 21.
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B
Yeah, exactly.
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C
How about another sleeper from you, Jay?
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A
How about friend of the show Tony Pollard, whose job now is seemingly the path to more snaps, more playing time has gotten easier with Ty J. Spears dealing with this high ankle sprain that's going to keep him out the rest of the preseason. And with Pollard, couple things. One, offensive line in Tennessee, much improved quarterback situation just kind of has to be improved based on what they got last year versus Cam Ward coming in this year. And then I think in a way the most important thing is that the underlying stats on Tony Pollard, they got a lot better last year. Another year removed from the broken leg. He came on our show and talked about how that previous year in Dallas, he didn't feel like it was until like middle of the season, week nine, week 10, where he got his exclusion explosion back. Last year he seemed to get his explosion back fully where he was 3.4 yards after contact per attempt. That was top 10among running backs for the 100 plus rushes. And you know, he's going in the range of guys like Deandre Swift, David Montgomery, Caleb Johnson, Like, I like, I like Tony Pollard more than all those guys.
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C
All right. This is a team with a rookie quarterback. Like, you want to run the ball.
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A
You want to protect one receiver, right?
- [17:02]
C
Yeah.
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A
You know, not Calvin Ridley's, not Justin Jefferson either. He's good, but he's not. Yeah, they're going to need to run the ball. This is a team and a coaching staff whose identity is the offensive line. Like, I think they're going to want to run the ball.
- [17:14]
B
There's no question about that. And again, like you mentioned the Spears injury as well. Just talking about underlying numbers here in terms of snap rate and touches per game. Last season he was top 10among running backs. Like, you know, he is. He is somebody that has been elite. Got injured, elite again. So I'm with you on Tony Pollard. I'm at running back 23. His consensus is running back 28. So I'm higher on him than others coming into 2023.
- [17:44]
A
After Zeke left Dallas and was going to be Tony Pollard's backfield, we were talking about this guy as like potentially an RB one. Yes. And that. And then he had a tough year in Dallas. Even though the offense was good, just didn't seem like he had the same explosion or confidence. Like there are worlds where he could absolutely be a top 12 running back this year.
- [18:00]
C
Another sleeper from me guys. And once again, these are guys in rounds eight to 12 based on ADP. How about the disparity in this? Matthew Meka Abuka is being drafted around right now. You have him 76th overall. He's being drafted as wide receiver 47. He's wide receiver 38 in your rankings. I love it. He's one of those rookies that he's ready to go. He is a pro ready player out of the Ohio State program. Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense is going to throw a ton. And with Chris Godwin being ramped up a lot slower than we once expected, Emeka Buka is going to have a good target share at least the first month of the season. I think he's going to be really high end player right out of the gate.
- [18:35]
B
First two years with Tampa Bay biker Mayfield third in pass attempts in the NFL and it's the same offensive system. So your point, there's lots to go around. Yes, you've got Mike Evans there, but with no Chris Godwin, it's really him competing with Jaylen McMillan. And I think there's an argument, even though McMillan was nice towards the end of last year, that Amica Buuka is just better like he's just a better player. And you're seeing it play out in camp. Like all the buzz from the beat and you've seen some of the videos out there with training camp is just. He's amazing. He's been. He's been as advertised. Yep. So I'm totally on board with that. Yeah.
- [19:10]
A
You certainly still expect Mike Evans to be the number one guy in Tampa Bay, but wouldn't be terribly shocking if that becomes Egbuka by the end of the season. This offense was incredibly explosive last year, and even with Liam Cohen Gorn, you mentioned they're keeping the same offensive system. They just generate a lot of easy touches for their guys. It's a lot of screen passes. It's a lot of low adot stuff. And then Baker can unleash the deeper stuff, too. So I think this is. I think this is going to be one of the five best offenses in football if Tristan Wurfs comes back and is healthy and himself and Igbuka can profit from that.
- [19:42]
B
I mean, I have it 76 overall. He's currently going 114. So, yeah. Huge gap in terms of my belief in Ameca Ebuka. By the way, the answer to the question that I posed that no one had the answer for is Susan Lucci. Oh, Susan Lucci. 19 times. She was nominated for an Emmy 19 times and lost 19 straight years until she finally won. When do you stop All My Children?
- [20:06]
C
I think after the third stop attempt. You just say if I win, text me.
- [20:10]
B
Okay, so what Emmy nomination will this be for you?
- [20:13]
C
This is my second.
- [20:14]
B
This is only your second. Okay.
- [20:15]
C
I've done jetspring post game three years. This is the second. I got nominated the first year, and now I got nominated for the third year. Okay, I did go the first year.
- [20:23]
B
Right. And you'll go this year?
- [20:24]
C
I don't know.
- [20:25]
B
Oh, wow.
- [20:25]
A
Oh, wow.
- [20:26]
B
Well, because we just said three years, you gotta give it three years.
- [20:29]
C
Yeah, but that's. Yeah, I guess. I guess I'll have to go.
- [20:32]
B
Yeah. What happened year two, by the way?
- [20:34]
C
I don't know. I'd love to know.
- [20:35]
B
Not even nominated. Yeah, exactly.
- [20:38]
C
Down year committee has mixed feelings about me, clearly. I mean, what's going on here?
- [20:43]
A
Listen, if you get snubbed this time, be the worst snub since Edward Norton lost for American History X to Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful. An absolute disgrace of the.
- [20:51]
C
That is actually pretty charming.
- [20:52]
A
How does Edward Norton not win America anyway?
- [20:55]
B
Yeah, it's a very fair comparison. An apt one as well. Who won the The. So the year you were nominated, Todd Ziel won, who won this?
- [21:03]
C
I don't know. I'll have to go back and look. There's got to be a database.
- [21:06]
B
I'm sure there is.
- [21:06]
C
I just. I just opted out entirely once it was nominated.
- [21:09]
B
Screw that.
- [21:10]
C
Yeah, exactly. But now I need to be in their good graces again.
- [21:13]
B
Yeah. It's interesting. It's a tough one because. Right. You don't want to go there and lose again. But, like, if you. But if you do wind up winning. You don't want.
- [21:20]
C
Then I don't get to speak.
- [21:21]
B
Right.
- [21:22]
C
Somebody has to take the award for me and say, you know, you know.
- [21:25]
B
What you should do is send Lawrence Jackson there to do that.
- [21:28]
C
We always win when Lawrence is there.
- [21:30]
B
We won a podcast award, and the only person that was there to accept in Las Vegas, this is like three years ago when we first joined was Lawrence. And at that point, Lawrence was on the show like once a month.
- [21:42]
C
Yeah, maybe.
- [21:44]
B
But like, not even like, I think he had been like, you know, guesting. Like, he'd been on it like, maybe like probably less than five times that first year. And. But yeah, that's the picture of just him holding the award.
- [21:54]
C
It's a great picture.
- [21:55]
B
I got fantasy for happy hour with Lawrence Jackson.
- [21:57]
C
That was a great speech.
- [21:58]
B
I'm sure we didn't get to see.
- [21:59]
A
Irony was you would left. You might have left Vegas, but I was still in Vegas, but I was around the corner at a sports book, betting on the Ravens to win the super bowl while Lawrence was accepting. Yeah. 15:1, then they lost the two.
- [22:11]
B
I had to fly for something with my daughters. Yeah, that's right. So I left that early anyway. Alas.
- [22:17]
C
All right, so now what you really waited for, the super deep sleepers. These are players that are being taken after round 12 by consensus ADP, which you could use fantasy life for all your consensus adp, depending on what, you know, server, of course you use. Some of these guys aren't even drafted.
- [22:31]
B
Yeah.
- [22:32]
C
By the way, Matthew, who do you like to start with here?
- [22:34]
B
Yeah. In terms of the deep sleepers. And so we're. We're. We're. Yeah, we're. As to your point, these are people that are not even being drafted. Or if they are, it's very, very late round. And so I'm going to go. I'm high on Jacksonville as a. We talked about Travis Hunter on the other show. Obviously talked about Trevor Lawrence before. How about Brenton Strange, their tight end? At least nine fantasy points in seven of his nine Career games with double digit target share. You think about the Jaguars last year with Trevor Lawrence 8th in tight end target share. So they like to throw to the tight end. I get it. It's a different offense than what they were running last year under Doug Peterson. But Liam Cohen comes in, he made Kate Otten the thing last year. Brendan Strange is somebody that I believe on a team that is going to be throwing a ton and outside of the two big guys, there's not a lot of competition in the middle of the field. Again, Evan Ingram is now in Denver. We got Parker Washington, nice little slot player, but whatever. But I do think as a tight end too. I'm at tight end 16. His current ADP is tight end 21. I like Breton Strange this year. You see my rankings there on the screen.
- [23:36]
C
Brent Strange right behind Dalton Kincaid and right in front of waiver wire darling Hunter Henry for sure.
- [23:42]
A
He's gonna put up his eight touchdowns as always. Hunter Henry, my first deep sleeper and there will be a running theme across my two deep sleepers, but my first one is Hollywood Brown who's going 154th overall as wide receiver 60 and the angle here is that there's just a lot of uncertainty around Rasheed Rice and how long he is going to be out, what the Chiefs offense is going to look like. We all expect that Xavier Worthy will step up and be the guy, but there are worlds where Hollywood Brown is in given games the number one option for Patrick Mahomes. And he had a 19% target share when he was out there with Mahomes last season. Hollywood Brown, who feels like he's been around forever. He just turned 28. He's four years younger than Devonte Adams. It's not like this guy is completely done or anything.
- [24:25]
B
For sure. Sure.
- [24:26]
A
We didn't see him much with Mahomes at all last year. So I just think that, you know, when you're talking about deep sleepers, like I'm not looking for guys who can just, you know, maybe get onto the end of my bench and be like six points like I want upside, right? And Hollywood Brown I do think has some upside still.
- [24:41]
B
He.
- [24:41]
A
We thought that he would come in and potentially be a wide receiver one for Mahomes last year alongside Rasheed Rice. We just didn't see him out in the field much.
- [24:49]
B
He's been an elite fantasy talent before. So, you know, it's, it's funny. Friend of mine, guy named Ron Chandler, who's a legend in the fantasy baseball space always used to say when it comes to fantasy baseball analysis that once you display a skill, you own it. That a player would. And so to the point is like we have seen Hollywood Brown produce at a high level in fantasy football. It has not happened recently because of injuries and there's certainly target competition in Kansas City. But Rasheed Rice is. You just, you never know, right. In terms of how injuries play out, how the suspension ultimately is going to pass. So Hollywood Brown, given the potential talent, the potential of staying healthy and 15 at quarterback, is certainly a worthy bet to take. You know, I'm at 157 overall and that's about where he's going. I mean, he's not even going inside the top 60 wide receivers.
- [25:38]
C
I'm taking your almost your exact playbook. The Bills version in Josh Palmer.
- [25:43]
B
Sure.
- [25:43]
C
Josh Palmer right now, who they gave a lot of money to, by the way, got a three year contract worth over $30 million. Josh Palmer right now by ADP 184th. That's wide receiver 70. He's a total afterthought. There's a world, especially with Khalil Shakir banged up right now, that Josh Palmer is Josh Allen's number two wide receiver.
- [26:01]
B
Yeah.
- [26:01]
C
Josh Allen's number two wide receiver cannot be wide receiver 70.
- [26:04]
B
He can't. Yeah.
- [26:06]
C
And he wins down the field.
- [26:07]
B
He wins down the field. Right. Again, we think Keon Coleman is going to be good, but we haven't seen it yet.
- [26:12]
C
Consistently.
- [26:13]
B
We haven't seen. We've seen flashes, but we have not seen it. Consistency. You got Curtis Samuel and Elijah Moore. Right. Again, like in terms of deep threats, it's really Palmer versus Coleman.
- [26:23]
C
Right.
- [26:23]
B
And you know, Allen's got the kind of arm and this is the kind of offense that potentially you could see both guys. So I don't mind the call at all. Remember Josh Allen Last year, top 41 quarterbacks in terms of deep pass attempts. Stat. That tells you what you already know.
- [26:37]
A
Likes to chuck it deep on that. Last year, Bill's receivers on targeted deep shots, they had the least separation in the NFL. So the guys just weren't getting open on the shots. And Allen was just, you know, he's chucking down there because he's Josh Allen. But if he's got a guy who can actually separate and get deep, he will get targeted.
- [26:53]
B
Three for 30 million. That goes that no one's really been talking about it. Right.
- [26:57]
C
Big deal. It was like I think about 12 million per year. It was a big contract for a number three wide receiver for a guy that I like him more than everyone Else.
- [27:04]
B
Yeah.
- [27:04]
C
So it's.
- [27:06]
B
I like that call. I like the call a lot. I'm in.
- [27:08]
C
He's free. 100% wide receiver, 70s for free.
- [27:11]
B
Yeah. Not being drafted at all. My next guy is. This is going to surprise you, but I'm going back to the commanders, showing the commanders.
- [27:20]
C
I haven't had a lot of commanders talking.
- [27:21]
B
I haven't had a lot of commanders actually, to be honest with you.
- [27:23]
A
Shane Daniels deep sleep.
- [27:24]
B
Yeah, exactly. I really like this kid. Number five, Jaquory Crosky Merritt. JCM Bill. Some people call him Bill, but JCM Hive rise up. The opportunity is there in terms of this offense. Washington top 12 in running back fantasy points last season as look, he's already a fan favorite. You see a tweet from our friend JP Finley, all the kids yelling for Bill. He's become a fan favorite because they've seen him at practice in terms of the size, the speed, like there's an explosiveness to Bill, to Jakory, Crosky, Merritt here. Each of the last three seasons, Brian Robinson has missed times. Austin Eckler missed five games last year. He's on the wrong side of 30. We love Austin Eckler, proud fantasy life investor. But the fact of the matter is there is a not there is. There are scenarios where you could easily see whether it's due to injury or poor play or just because they're going to be run at such a high pace of play that you could see Jecory, Crosby, Merritt get in and be a factor this year. I really like him a lot. Again, they used both when both Echler and Robinson last year were fantasy relevant when they were both on the field. Both have had injury history throughout their career. So you could see JCM being in there. And I think a lot of people are wondering like why was this guy a 7th round pick? Why have I never heard of this guy? Connor, you can talk about the eligibility.
- [28:42]
C
Thing which is so weird, bizarre, strange story that was not his fault but the ncaa he had a weird eligibility issue based on another player wearing the number. It's very long and confusing and a classic NCAA mistake where he couldn't play college football last year for Arizona and at New Mexico the table.
- [28:59]
B
He basically like loaned his jersey to another kid his freshman year when he's red shirt so they thought he played his freshman year when he actually didn't.
- [29:06]
C
It wasn't him, it wasn't him and.
- [29:08]
B
Somebody wearing his number couldn't clean it up and it's right.
- [29:10]
C
And he's supposed to have A big season after transferring up from New Mexico to Arizona and then he can't play and that kills his draft stock. Goes to the Shrine bowl, has a good Shrine week. And I mean for context, and this might sound crazy, it was definitely one of my hotter draft takes. I had him ranked over RJ Harvey last year. I had him RB12, I had Harvey 13th. And I like both players and I both had a fourth round grade on them, but fourth round grade compared to a guy that went in the seventh round. If he was able to play college football last year, he would have been a top, at least 100, 125 kind of pick. But he's completely overlooked because he couldn't play because of an eligibility issue. Now he's in commander's camp and it seems like everybody's like, wait a second, what did we find here?
- [29:45]
B
Yeah, very talented runner Adam Peters finding another late, late round. Good track record, you know, Good track record when you think about the Elijah Mitchells and the Jordan Masons of the world. Yeah.
- [29:56]
A
I think another thing too is that like when in doubt, just go with the offense that you feel really good about and that your confidence is going to put up a lot of points. And I think there's some skepticism around the commanders because last year they played a lot of bad quarterbacks and they like had an incredible success on third and fourth down, which might be a little bit unsustainable. I kind of go the other way where I look at it and it's like Jayden Daniels is a rookie, right. Didn't have a good offensive line, had basically one receiver. Now he has a better offensive line, he has a legit left tackle. He's going to his second year, he's going to gained experience. He'll be able to apply Debo Samuel I think will be rejuvenated. I just think this offense is just going to succeed at an extremely high level. And if Jaden Daniels is healthy, I think he just, you just walk into a top five offense, I think with how good he is. And so I think that there's going to be a lot of touchdowns, there's going to be a lot of fantasy points to be had.
- [30:42]
C
About another deep sleeper for you.
- [30:44]
A
Yeah. So my next guy in similar vein to Hollywood Brown is Rashad Bateman. I think everyone's penciling in. Zay Flowers is the number one wide receiver for the Ravens, which I think is correct. But Rashad Bateman, another advanced stats, underlying stats darling where he was incredibly efficient in terms of his production when targeted. Let Me Forget Rashad Bateman's 25 years old. He was a first round draft pick. Like they spent significant capital on him. He's dealt with injury issues. And last year was the first year where he really put it all together. 16.8 yards per reception was third highest among qualified wide receivers. His stat line overall was very solid. You had 45 receptions for 756 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. I think he can be better than that. I think he has another gear that he can get to. I think he is one of the most diverse weapons in this passing attack. I think that the Ravens, I think they're going to have to throw a little bit more than they did last year because just think about, we talk on one hand about how Derrick Henry ripping off these 70 yard touchdown runs a little bit unsustainable. Okay. If that regresses, what does that mean? It means that the yards have to go somewhere else. I think that Lamar might have to throw a little bit more. I think that Rashad Bateman, I would not be shocked if he is the most productive wide receiver on the Ravens this year. McFlow is the favorite, but I think Bateman has that possibility.
- [32:01]
B
Again, we saw him be a wide receiver one down the stretch with Zay Flowers out. And the other thing is again, as we talked about with Palmer, like follow the money. Rashad Bateman, they did not need to pay him this offseason. They could have like in terms of the way the contract was because of the also there was also some other NFLPA stuff there. But ultimately like they did the right thing and they paid Rashad Bateman, they gave him an extension this offseason. They took care of one of their own, which I think speaks to how they think about him and what they saw down the stretch last year. And so it's never been a question of talent. It's been a question of health. And we saw him help last year among wide receivers with at least 50 targets. Last year he was third among wide receivers in fantasy points per target. So if he can earn targets, which we think he can in this offense with Lamar Jackson, you know, I think there's some real potential for fantasy opportunity here. I'm at 131 overall. He's going like outside 155 on the fantasy life consensus. So again, I'm like two or three rounds ahead of ADP.
- [32:57]
A
Yep.
- [32:58]
C
My last deep sleeper here, guys, the rookie. Seventh round rookie, Kyle Menongai at Chicago. Right? It's Kyle menong guy time. Seventh round rookie running back. You think DeAndre Swift has a lot of volume there. Ben Johnson loves two running backs and the running back that he loved in the first preseason game against the Miami Dolphins was Kyle Menungi. That's correct right now. So if you're looking for Ben Johnson to find his new David Montgomery kind of player, it's Manunguy where we're one DeAndre Swift injury potentially away from Manungai at some point this season being the starting running back for the Bears and.
- [33:27]
B
He'S free right now 100%. I have mangai and jcm cross key merritt on every single Dynasty team and I will tons of credit. It's because Connor turned me on to both these guys and once I started doing the deep dive I was just like oh yeah, I'm in seventh round draft pick out of Rutgers. The easy comparison, isaiah Pacheco, another seventh round running back out of Rutgers. But manangay over 1200 yards in the big ten each of the last two years. Doesn't fumble.
- [33:56]
C
Never fumble.
- [33:57]
B
Right. He is somebody that is like again he's not going to blow you away with his speed.
- [34:01]
C
No, he's not fast.
- [34:02]
B
He's not fast at all. He's just a wrecking ball that is impossible to bring down. And you think about Chicago and playing in that cold weather and playing in that division. What does Ben Johnson want to do to take pressure off Caleb Williams? He needs to be able to effectively run the ball and it appears like literally from the first preseason game that he's passed Roshan Johnson on the step chart. So it's going to be him and DeAndre Swift and like there's a non zero chance that he passes DeAndre Swift at some point like it does. Of all the kind of late round running backs you can see the clearest path to potential playing time for Kyle Menonge who is completely free. Yeah, I put on some sleeper lists as well. Love, love the call again. Tyler. Warren Monongay.
- [34:43]
C
I'm like ah, it pays to not be on the Tonight Show.
- [34:46]
B
Yeah, it worked out for you. Yeah.
- [34:49]
A
Don't see the same envy for Hollywood Brown.
- [34:51]
B
Strangely he wasn't. I'd try to sell it for you.
- [34:55]
A
Yeah, it's Rashad Bateman. You like?
- [34:57]
B
I do like Rashad Bateman. I do. I definitely like Rashad Bateman.
- [35:00]
C
NBC Sports now is our free 24. 7 streaming channel. You can get NFL news and all the biggest stories in Sports Starting at 7am with PFT Live, the Dan Patrick show, the Dan Levatard show with Stu Gotts, Fantasy football happy hour with Matthew Berry and Chris Simms unbuttoned. Just go to NBCSports.com now. We're taking our first break. Still ahead, Matthew Stafford's back injury gets a little bit more worrisome by the day. We're going to hear from Sean McVeigh right after this.
- [35:32]
A
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- [36:02]
B
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- [36:32]
A
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- [36:44]
B
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A
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A
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- [37:03]
B
I'm sure the first question you guys will have is about Matthew.
- [37:06]
C
And, you know, like we've said, we're going to be flexible and fluid. I think more than anything, I feel for Matthew because of how much he wants to be out there and feel good. Ultimately, what ended up happening had a great workout, felt good, but then, you know, come in today and it doesn't feel great. And so didn't think that was the right decision to be able to push him. We've kind of always talked about flexibility.
- [37:27]
B
Being fluid with some of the plans.
- [37:29]
C
And I think more than anything, you know, I feel for a guy that.
- [37:32]
B
You know, I really care about that.
- [37:34]
C
Wants to be out there more than anything else. We're going to be smart, you know.
- [37:38]
B
But he didn't feel good enough and.
- [37:39]
C
We didn't think it was the right thing to do based on, you know.
- [37:41]
B
How he woke up feeling today.
- [37:48]
C
That was Rams head coach Sean McVay on the status of Matthew Stafford. As you could see here from Adam Grossbaard, he is the Rams beat writer for the LA Daily. Matthew Stafford walked into this immortal chamber, a mortal advertisement advertises itself as a wellness device that aims to optimize human performance and promote holistic health through a combination of non invasive technologies. He has not been practicing today. By the way, there's a follow up to this tweet. Sean McVay said this is a red light therapy chamber that the Rams brought in for the team as a whole, not exclusive to Stafford.
- [38:22]
B
I know a lot about this, specifically the immortal therapy as well. I don't want to sound any alarms but I did that for two years. I'm 30 years old. Just so you guys know. I mean it. I don't know that it works the way you might think it does. I'm literally 30 years old. But when I went through the immortal.
- [38:44]
A
Spit out facing the fountain of youth.
- [38:45]
B
Yes. And it just went wrong.
- [38:47]
A
As it does for so many.
- [38:48]
B
Went wrong. Yes.
- [38:49]
A
Just as it did for Gollum chasing the ring.
- [38:53]
B
I am. I am the fantasy golem. Oh God.
- [38:56]
C
All cuz the immortal chamber.
- [38:57]
B
Yes. Yes.
- [38:58]
C
Immortal came out of the immortal chamber.
- [39:00]
B
Obviously. It's ridiculous. I. You know who knows with any of this weird stuff. I beats me. I couldn't tell you one thing about it. It's all, it's all mumbo jumbo.
- [39:10]
A
Red light therapy, red flag.
- [39:11]
C
It's not what you want. Let's just be honest for right.
- [39:14]
B
I mean I'm glad like I guess the positives are. Is that it's. It's in the parking lot and not like in Germany. She's like no one got going to Germany for secret surgeries that like whatever.
- [39:23]
C
I prefer that at this point.
- [39:24]
B
You know I McCaffrey went to Germany for like some sort of weird.
- [39:28]
C
Somebody had a picture of him waiting for his flight. Like Christian McCaffrey is flying to Germany that everybody knew.
- [39:33]
A
I mean that Germany's not in the NFC going there for Oktoberfest. Yeah. So my concern was staff and we just don't know what is going to happen here. My concern is like what happens when he gets sacked by Jaylen Carter? Like how is the body going to respond to the rigors of a 17 game season? And so look, I think that you just have to introduce when you're talking from a fantasy perspective, these have to introduce more variance and uncertainty into drafting Puka Nakua and drafting Devonte Adams and Kyren Williams. Because yeah, Jimmy Garoppolo is probably certainly by name brand, one of the better backups in the NFL if he does have to see time. But the last time we saw Jimmy Garoppolo was on like, was it Monday Night Football? He's facing the lions and overthrowing Devonte Adams for like 50 yards.
- [40:15]
B
How excited is Devontae saying how to get out of here? Wait a minute. Just remember, just look at your paycheck, Devonte. Just remember, just look at your paycheck.
- [40:23]
C
It is funny how the NFL works that we could be back to a devontae Adams Jimmy G. World, right?
- [40:28]
B
Exactly.
- [40:28]
C
Actually dangerously close.
- [40:29]
B
Dangerously close. I'm maybe taking a contrarian take here. I'm actually not that worried about it from this one perspective when it comes to devonte Adams, because I feel like Devonte Adams is quarterback proof. I really do. I just, I know whatever it was, but I think there was a frustration there because of not necessarily him and Jimmy Garoppolo, but also just the entire situation with the Raiders that had gone away. He'd gone to the Raiders to be with his college buddy Derek Carr, and Carr had been like there was. There's a lot of bad vibes around the Raiders. When that situation sort of blew up on Monday Night Football that I don't think was just devontae Adams doesn't like Jim Garoppolo. Right. And so especially given, you know, the struggles last year, he gets out, he goes to New York. That season didn't go the way he wanted to the Jets. So now he's in Los Angeles where it's son and it's, you know, it's all the movie stars and the pretty people and it's Sean McVeigh who is as good a players coach as there is in the NFL. He's really good at talking to people. And so whatever it is that makes Devontae Adams tick, I believe Sean McVay will get in his head. And so I'm more concerned about Puka Nakua because what you have to do to me, Adams is still like Adams. You drop him a little bit, I suppose. But like I'm literally in an 18 team. On guillotineleagues.com, we're doing an 18 team guillotine league draft, slow draft with me and all the fantasy life guys. And I have like pick four. And so the fourth pick of the third round, Devontae Adams was still there. It's an 18 team league, so it's basically pick 40. And I was just like, what are we doing? You know, immediately clicked. Couldn't have clicked submit quicker. I do think Nakua, who's going in the first round and who has had injury concerns himself, like because now you've got double concerns. You've got. We know how good Puka is when healthy, but Puka's got to be healthy and Garoppolo's got to be healthy. And maybe I'm crazy, but I just, I have more nervousness about Nakua and Garoppolo's connection than I do Devonte Adams and Garoppolo. Even though.
- [42:26]
C
Because they think of the cost like you're saying.
- [42:28]
B
Right.
- [42:28]
C
If you're reflecting cost into this, where it scares even more.
- [42:31]
A
I think the other thing too is that it went a little bit under the radar because they won the division and they were, you know, one Jalen Carter sack away from from potentially beating the Eagles, who went on to win the super bowl, which we forget about. But with the Rams, I thought Stafford was noticeably worse last year than he was in 2023. Back into 2023, Matthew Stafford was playing like a borderline MVP level. And then last year it felt like he got a little old or at least got older and it showed up particularly towards the end of the season when he's playing those games out. Jets didn't play that well. The Niners was bad, not accurate. They scored like 13 points against the Cardinals. It just he played poorly against the Dolphins in that random game that they lost at home. So it just felt like he started to, you know, get a little bit further removed from that all pro level that he was playing at. Now if he's dealing with back stuff in the preseason, you just worry a little bit about the ceiling of that passing game. I think for sure staying in the.
- [43:23]
C
Nfc, Eagles star guard Landon Dickerson, one of the better guards in football, underwent a minor procedure on his knee. He could be back for week one. I mean, guys, I think at the end of the day you're not be hitting the panic alarm on the Eagles rushing attack with one minor injury.
- [43:37]
B
You're not. But it's not ideal.
- [43:39]
C
Right?
- [43:39]
B
Not ideal.
- [43:39]
C
You're coming off a long season.
- [43:41]
B
Yeah. Is there such thing as a minor knee injury for the offensive line?
- [43:45]
A
Particularly in Philadelphia sports where Joel Embiid had a minor knee procedure and has.
- [43:50]
B
Never been the last five years.
- [43:53]
A
I think this is just look, it seems like Dixon's it's not going to be a long absence. He may be back for week one. But I do think it's a reminder that the Eagles last year were very healthy on offense and they played a ton of games and a ton of snaps last year and that just has to increase your injury risk. They're just not likely to be as healthy and there are going to be ripple effects off of that where just Saquon Buckley is probably not going to get his the same level of health from his offensive line that he did last year.
- [44:20]
C
Some more news here, guys. This is a little bit more fun news over in the Seattle Seahawks camp. Torrey Horton, the day three wide receiver continuing to make plays with the first team offense ahead of Marques Valdez. Scantling Horton, who was a good deep threat in college. A little bit of injuries last year, but a good player getting some looks ahead of MVS after being a fifth round pick. He's had a really nice summer for this team, man.
- [44:41]
B
Ahead of Jake Bobo.
- [44:43]
C
Right. Who just always seems to be the star of Seattle's camp.
- [44:47]
B
Yeah. I mean do you see a scenario where. How do you. Seattle. Let's talk about Seattle for a second. We talked about this a little bit when the cup deal happened. But like do you think cup plays inside and JSN goes outside? It's so.
- [45:01]
C
Well, I didn't, I didn't love the cup addiction cup addition for our purposes. Right. Because JSN is just. You love him in the slot.
- [45:08]
B
Unbelievable.
- [45:09]
C
He can win on the outside, but he was unbelievable in the slot where.
- [45:12]
B
I think it plays some outside too. But again, that's not the ideal spot for him either.
- [45:16]
C
I think they just kind of split the share there where it means the third wide receiver does matter a lot because you need somebody that can win down the field from the outside.
- [45:24]
B
And you think Horton is one of those?
- [45:26]
C
Yeah, I think Horton was really undervalued. I think the only reason he went in the fifth round was because he had that injured final season. He's somebody. To me that was more of a day two talent at wide receiver. It's just a matter of does the third wide receiver in Seattle's offense, is that a viable player with how much they get the running back, tight ends.
- [45:43]
B
Look at the schedule. Okay. It starts off brutal. Home to the 49ers and at the Steelers. But then starting in Week 3, Saints at Cardinals, home to the Bucks, at the Jaguars, home to the Texans. By at my Commanders, home to the Cardinals, at the Rams, at the Titans. It's not that easy. But it's not scary. Some of those defenses like scary. I mean again, 49ers at home and at the Steelers, you know, whatever, home. But they're home. At least they're home to the Texans. You know, commanders in week nine on.
- [46:09]
A
Sunday Night Football in the Cardinals. Defense is a bit underrated, but yeah, it's not the most. Like you're not playing the Texans every single week on the road or anything. But yeah, I just don't know what to make of this offense at all, Connor, because it's like got Sam Donald behind suspect offensive line with no Kevin o'. Connell. And also like Sam Donald had a great year individually last year. Vikings went 14 and three. They're like the 15th ranked offense by EPA. Like that was a team that succeeded primarily off the strength of its defense. And Donald completely melted the last two games that we saw him. So I just don't know what to expect. Like, why is Cooper cup randomly on the team? Like, what's JSN and his role in the game?
- [46:46]
B
It's weird.
- [46:46]
A
The backfield is strange. Very strange.
- [46:49]
B
It feels like they should have just tore it all down, you know, I mean, they're just like, hey, let's rebuild. And you know, especially when they got rid of Geno Smith and you're like, okay. And Tyler Lockett leaves and you're like, okay, you've got jsn, you know, whatever Walker and Charbonnet, you've got a couple of young pieces there. You've got a couple of nice pieces on the defense as well. Like, let's just tear it all down and start over. Makes sense. But then they signed Sam Darnold of this big contract, suddenly Cooper cup, and you're like, where are you?
- [47:11]
A
The problem is like, I think that this might be. I think this might be an elite defense. Like they really turned the corner second half of last year. They seem to learn Mark McDonald's system. And so it's like, well, we got this elite defense, so we got some weapons on offense. I guess we just got to kind of get the best quarterback that we can.
- [47:25]
B
And it's not a division that scares you, right? I mean, like very open. Like again, you know, Rams, rams, Cardinals and 49ers all are one injury away from being, you know, very vulnerable.
- [47:36]
A
Yeah, I feel like all these teams are kind of clustered together.
- [47:39]
C
I agree.
- [47:39]
A
Yeah.
- [47:40]
C
One more note in the nfc, guys.
- [47:41]
B
I don't know what I mean. I'd be fascinated to see what happens with sort of cup and jsn.
- [47:46]
C
We got some news on Jordan Love here, by the way, who got a little banged up in the preseason opener against the Jets. So, Jordan Love, it's not expected to be serious, but it Seems like he did bang his hand. This is per Ian Rapaport. He will have surgery today. Brian Gudekenst, the Packers GM called it a little procedure. It is a torn ligament in his left thumb. So he should did not miss any regular season time after banging it on a helmet where he was sacked against the Jets.
- [48:17]
B
He just need a left bum. He's a righty. He doesn't matter. Cut off the arm.
- [48:21]
C
He'll be all right.
- [48:21]
A
It seems like he's going to be back at practice in a week. So. Yeah, it's not like they're doing quite a few injuries to packers, more than you would like, but it's not ideal. But probably not too material. But they need him back for week one in a full go because that game could decide the division in week one.
- [48:35]
B
But seriously, I mean, Reed's banged up. I mean, like Savion Williams is banged up. I think Dobbs is banged like it's. It's obviously Watson's already banged up. It's starting to get ugly.
- [48:44]
A
It's time to cross the clock.
- [48:46]
B
Yeah.
- [48:46]
A
Yeah. Rev up the engines. That's gonna be the number one option for Jaden Love.
- [48:50]
B
Yeah.
- [48:50]
C
Jayden Reed could miss that game. By the way. You know, Matt LaFleur said that he might not be ready week one for the Lions. That foot injury. He's been in a walking boot. He was in a walking boot at the top of the week. The packers are dealing with it right now.
- [49:02]
A
This is the benefit of having 10 different six and a half out of 10 wide receivers just plug the next guy in.
- [49:07]
B
But listen, their first game is the Lions. It'll be fine.
- [49:09]
A
Yeah, no stakes there. Packers two and a half point favorites, by the way, against the Lions. Not a lot of respect for Detroit.
- [49:15]
B
That's. I know the game's in Green Bay, but that's shocking.
- [49:19]
A
Yeah.
- [49:20]
B
Golf. I feel like golf got rid of the outdoor thing last year.
- [49:22]
A
Yeah, I think the packers defense is going to be pretty good. Better than people expect. I think guys like Edron Cooper is going to make a big leap. Also, the Pack is the youngest team in the league. Like, they're just aging curve. They should all get better.
- [49:31]
C
They need their young pats, rushers though.
- [49:33]
A
To take a risk. That's the key.
- [49:35]
B
But in essence, they're basically saying they think the packers are a point better than the slightly better. You've always said. Yeah, you've always said that. Home field in the NFL is basically one one and a half points.
- [49:46]
A
Yeah. It's less than it's ever been before one and a half point range. And so yeah, market is saying it's early so the market could still move a bit. But at worst these teams are about the same level, which I think would be surprising to most given surprising to me.
- [49:59]
C
I'm not sure I'm buying all the dip on the line. I love everybody overreacting with the Lions losing their coordinators and thinking they're gonna magically stink. That team is loaded and healthy.
- [50:08]
A
I'm with you though. Yeah, I like the Lions.
- [50:10]
C
Get personalized fantasy football insights based on your league settings with Fantasy Life Plus. Matthew, your league is unique. Your advice should be to head to FantasyLife.com and use Roto 20 for 20% off. A lot of great tools on Fantasy Life right now.
- [50:24]
B
They're ridiculous. All the tools we've spent the off season built in. When I say we, not me, smart.
- [50:28]
C
People, not the engineer of the website. That's shocking.
- [50:32]
B
Look. So what you see here, you're seeing like our utilization report, like way too many tools for me to be able to give it all justice. But go. A lot of them are free, so go check them out. And if you want to buy Fantasy Life plus, which is well worth the money, I promise you, you can use the promo code ROTO20 and get 20% off. But you know, whether it's tools to help you sync your league to, to get trade advice, waiver advice, all state of the art tools you see right here are ADP tools. So you see right here, this is the, this is the packers wide receivers. So you can sort of see it's up to the minute. Do I, do I play on RT Sports? Do I play on espn? Do I play on Sleeper? And then what you can also do is you see that the, the click there you say draft board so you can see where you can sort by team. So what I've said, like I want to know just wide receivers on the packers and where they're going on Sleeper or espn, right? You can just sort, you can dial down. Then you can also see like trending reports. There's a button that you can hit that's not shown right here that allows you to see like, hey, this is how much Matthew Golden's moved up in the last week. This is how much Jaden Reed has dropped. And so they'll let you know like the, you know, over the, over a short period of time who's going up and down. An incredibly valuable tool as you head into your draft, depending on where you play and what you're targeting and There's a million tools like that.
- [51:52]
C
I've been using the ADP grid every show we've done this summer, every single show, because you can sort it by what league you play in. You could sort it by position, by team, you could just do a search scoring system. Really, really helpful tool. So obviously again, once again FantasyLife.com the code for 20% off is ROTO20. We're gonna take our last break. Last call is nice.
- [52:13]
B
Your advice should be too find out.
- [52:14]
C
Who we're betting to lead the league in receptions right after this.
- [52:23]
B
Are your.
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C
Time for last call. Taking a look at the odds board at DraftKings for most regular season receptions here, Jay. A lot of fun long shots to play on this board.
- [54:38]
B
Indeed.
- [54:39]
A
Jamal Chase, 7 to 1 is I think the rifle favorite coming off a couple crouch, but it's still further down the board. I'm going to take Detective Drake. London Scotland Yard London Yard 171 he was third in the NFL in targets last year and 14 of those games were with Kirk Cousins. When Michael Pennings came in, Michael Penix only looked at one player on his offense. Straight London hovering around a 40% target share. So I think Drake London is very live to lead the league in receptions.
- [55:05]
C
I like that. Yeah, Michael Penix is going to look as well, especially Darnell Mooney, a little banged up. I like that call. I'm kind of thinking the same thought process here with Malik Nabors. Just a guy that hogs all the targets. Matthew Malik Nabors quarterback proof but it's nice that they got some upgrades in Russell Wilson maybe eventually Jackson Dart. If Jameis gets out there, this should be plus 500 instead but right now you get it at 12 to 1 like that call.
- [55:27]
B
Both those calls are great. I'm going a little bit more obvious but the same sort of thought process here with CD Lamb, right? So I call him Eights but CD Lam, he's 9 to 1. Basically he is going to be the focal point of that offense. Yes, they've added George Pickens and Jake Ferguson, but neither of those guys are heavy target earners. You're going to take a couple of shots to Pickens. You'll move the chains a little bit with Ferguson, but it should be all CD Lamb. On an offense that is going to have to throw. I don't expect them to be able to run the ball effectively and I don't think their defense is going to be as good, especially as Michael Parsons continues to hold out. So give me CD Lamb. I call him 8 at 9 to 1 for this.
- [56:00]
A
He can't get knocked out by referees if he's got, you know, his outfit on and on the field as opposed to the sidelines which is apparently the most dangerous place for City Lamp.
- [56:10]
B
Yes, factually correct. All right, so this is we are back tomorrow live at noon on YouTube. Appreciate you putting up with the the taped episode today at unavoidable thing as well, but it is closing time. You do not have to go home, but you can't stay here. We will see you tomorrow at noon, live on YouTube, available on demand wherever you get podcasts and of course on Peacock. For Jay and Connor, I'm Matthew Berry. We'll see you tomorrow. Peace out. We're all modern. We have the best of modern furniture and decor all in one place so you can update your space for fall with ease. Every design is hand vetted for quality by our team of experts. Plus our fast and free shipping lets you upgrade your home in days, not weeks. So whether you're looking to simplify your living room or get your dining room host ready, you can find every style of modern furniture and decor all made for real life. That's modern made simple. Shop now@allmodern.com For 140 years, MultiCare has.
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