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Bounceback Candidates! Justin Jefferson, Bucky Irving, Terry McLaurin and More (01/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)
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- [00:01]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
NFL fans spend an average of 690 minutes a week thinking about football.
- [00:05]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
That's over 11 hours. You're checking matchups, tweaking your fantasy roster, reliving big plays, arguing calls.
- [00:12]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
Football lives rent free in your head all week long. And when the game's on, every decision matters.
- [00:18]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
A winning play or the right timeout. Just 60 seconds can flip the entire outcome.
- [00:23]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
But here's the thing. Off the field, we forget to plan.
- [00:25]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
We get so caught up in the pregame hype, the food, the drinks, the vibe, and forget the most important part of the day, how you're getting home.
- [00:33]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
So we're making it easier for you to plan ahead with Uber Code make a plan 26 take a minute to order an Uber and get 25% off your next ride on a game day by using the promo code. Make a plan 26 now through February 9th. That's M A K E A P L A N 26 whether you're hosting.
- [00:51]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
Headed to a local bar, or going to the game, make it part of your ritual. Take a minute, make a plan, Never drive impaired.
- [00:59]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
This message brought to you by Diageo, MAD and the NFL. Please drink responsibly.
- [01:04]
Host - Adam
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Co-host - Dan
This is Fantasy Football TODAY from CBS Sports.
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Co-host - Jamie
What a play. Can you believe this?
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Advertiser/Promoter
No, I can't.
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Co-host - Dan
It's time to dominate your fantasy league.
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Host - Adam
Off to the races and he stays on his feet.
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Co-host - Jamie
This is gonna go the distance.
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Co-host - Dan
Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.
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Host - Adam
Good morning, everybody. And welcome to the show. It's Fantasy Football today presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. We still have some time left before the super bowl, so we'll talk about some bounce back candidates. Won't do much game previewing this week. That'll be for next week. But bounce back candidates and coaching news, offensive coordinators, maybe some head coaching momentum, stuff like that. Actually, oh, no, we did get a head coaching hire. We got Joe Brady being promoted to the Bills head coach. And what does that mean for Brian Dable? Will he end up in Tennessee or Las Vegas? Adam, Jamie, and Heath here. We'll go through your news and notes. Then we'll get to some bounce back candidates, including a couple of quarterbacks who were top five in ADP last year and kind of stunk for your fantasy team. Sorry about that. Good morning, Jamie.
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Co-host - Jamie
Why are you apologizing?
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Host - Adam
I just feel bad for the people who drafted Lamar Jackson and Jaden Daniels, you know?
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Co-host - Jamie
Okay, that's fair. You're empathizing.
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Host - Adam
Empathizing, right, Exactly. Is there a better word for to express empathy than I'm sorry, I feel for you.
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Co-host - Jamie
I feel for you.
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Host - Adam
Okay, we'll do that.
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Co-host - Dan
Yeah, I'm sorry does imply you were in some way responsible.
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Co-host - Jamie
Right. Like, because the jobs that we have, like, the way it comes across is like, I made you draft that guy.
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Host - Adam
Well, you did.
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Co-host - Jamie
I thought.
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Co-host - Dan
Is Brian Dable not for sure with the Titans?
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Host - Adam
No, he's still up for the.
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Co-host - Jamie
I think it's like the Mike McDaniel thing. Like he's agreed to be the Titans offense coordinator unless he gets the head coaching job for the Raiders.
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Host - Adam
Yeah. Which is. I think he's had at least two interviews for. So one.
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Co-host - Dan
One of my favorite moments on FFT Dynasty happened this week. I had Jeff Bell from Football Guys on and we were talking about playoff risers and fallers. He is a. A Bills fan. And we had somebody in the chat that broke the news of Joe Brady getting promoted to be the head coach for the Bills. So I got to break that news to him and get his instant reaction. And it was similar to what I've seen from other Bills fans.
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Host - Adam
Which is what?
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Co-host - Jamie
Oh.
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Host - Adam
I don't really. You know, I. I kind of. I get the sentiment. Both sides of it. Right. You know, because it seems like kind of a little boring, I guess. But they're scoring a lot of points with him. I mean, they have a great offense. Seems like it's a lot of Josh Allen, but I mean, the. The result. Let me see here.
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Co-host - Dan
So I think the problem from, from Bill's fans perspective, it's like, okay, so you guys think everything we're doing is working except for Sean McDermott, like, that was the problem.
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Co-host - Jamie
I, I mean, it, it seems, it's. It's very similar to, I think with Harbaugh and Tomlin, you know, that they feel like they've reached a point where they can't get to the next level with the same guy in charge. I don't think it's necessarily fair to McDermott. Not that I think it's a problem that was a problem for Tomlin or Harbaugh, per se, but I think in the case of McDermott, like, you get the. The interception doesn't get called that way. The penalties don't get called that way. If they win that game, they're potentially in the Super Bowl. If things work out well for them, he's obviously not getting fired even if they lose the super bowl, you know, so those series of events lead to him getting fired as opposed to if they win that game and maybe win the next game. You know, here. Here we are. He's. He's still the coach. So I don't know how much of this was Josh Allen wanting a change because the first person they interviewed was Brian D. Who was his former offensive coordinator. They end up hiring his current offensive coordinator, who he, you know, seemingly has a good relationship with. I think the biggest thing for, for Josh Allen and the Bills is how much of the offense that we saw, which I don't think was necessarily great. I think you're right, Adam. A lot of it was just Josh Allen being great. How much of the offense will change because of what Brady was doing to adhere to what Sean McDermott wanted, because a lot of it was. Was somewhat conservative. Now, granted, personnel very factors into that. You know, they don't have exactly the greatest receiving core, as we're well aware. All of the sentiments. I don't know if we touched on it here, but all the sentiments about Keon Coleman, for example, after the, the firing were pretty awful.
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Host - Adam
We didn't touch upon it. We should. Jamie. So let's give a little summary. Give a little summary of what's going on there with Keon Coleman, who was, you know, their top pick a couple of years ago, and it's. It hasn't worked out. And then there's. I guess no one seems to agree on whose pick it was.
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Co-host - Jamie
So being their general manager was kind of answering a question in regards to Keon Coleman and the owner, Palooga Terry Paloga, jumped in and basically Said that it was the coaching staff's recommendation to draft him and they didn't want to draft him. He was, I don't know, the whole thing was just right.
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Host - Adam
But then there's all this video of Brandon Bean being so excited to draft Keon Coleman. It really seems like it was Brandon Beans pick.
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Co-host - Jamie
Yeah. And, and again, like if, if you're blaming the coaching staff and then hiring from within, especially the offensive coordinator who had to have some say in this.
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Host - Adam
Yeah.
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Co-host - Jamie
It just doesn't all come together. So, you know, I, I hope that, you know, for Keon Coleman's sake, either A, he gets a fresh start, maybe they trade him, or B, he gets an opportunity with a new head coach to, to get some, you know, clearly playing time, but you know, opportunities to perform at a high level. They need to add receivers. We know that, you know, Adam's already attached AJ Brown to the Bills. It makes a lot of sense. You know, I think Alec Pierce was to me, one of the top free agents. I don't know the entire class, but George Pickens clearly. But he's getting free. But you know, you get the point, like one of the top free agents hopefully ends up there. They just need to give more weapons. But I'm always curious when things like this happen, especially when you have a defensive minded head coach, does the new coach, new coordinator, former coordinator, it's a sort of open things up and be a little bit more aggressive. And if that's the case and we're not seeing run bubble screen or run bubble screen, go make a play job Allen, as Pete Priscill likes to say, then I, I hope there's an opportunity here for this offense to be a little bit more fluid and maybe give Josh Allen some more chance to throw the ball downfield and develop weapons.
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Co-host - Dan
Also, I think like some of the pushback the Bill's leadership is getting is, that's just like, that's terrible. If Keon Coleman was no longer on the team. Yeah, that's just terrible leadership. To talk about a 22 or 23 year old guy that's still on your team. Yeah, that way. It's awful.
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Host - Adam
Yeah, it is. I, I, I mean, look, he's obviously had a rough tenure so far, but I felt bad for him. They were publicly just calling, basically calling him a terrible draft pick without saying the words. One thing to know. So, so a couple things to know. Joe Brady, offensive coordinator, now promoted to head coach of the Bills. They've been in his two years as offensive corner, he's been two and a Half. But the last two seasons where he's been the offensive coordinator, they've been third, third in points per game. Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I don't have what they were last year, but. Or 20, 24, 20, 25. They were third in points per game, but they've been a very slow paced team. 26th in pace in 20, 25, 28th in pace. The year before that, 28th and 31st in pass rate. So they, they haven't been throwing the ball much. But then you also look at their personnel. They haven't really been designed to do that. They just, they've whiffed at wide receiver basically. So will they play a little bit faster? Will they. They have to address wide receiver. I mean, they absolutely have to. It's a good rookie class. So they could do it through the draft. Obviously A.J. brown is going to get traded there. I guarantee it. But if that doesn't somehow happen, you know, they've got to figure out a way to address that. A few other news items here. So Drake May has a. Maybe, maybe a little shoulder injury. They're being a little coy about it right now, but hopefully he can be 100% healthy for the game. Bill Belichick will reportedly not be a first ballot hall of Famer. That's kind of big news right now. I don't know. Anybody want to share any hot takes or should we move on?
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Co-host - Dan
Well, I think you should.
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Host - Adam
I think it's good he's cheated.
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Co-host - Dan
That's exactly what I was expecting. You don't think Barry Bond should be in the hall of Fame, so you certainly should agree with this, this move.
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Host - Adam
Yeah, I kind of do. Yep.
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Co-host - Jamie
Yeah.
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Co-host - Dan
Okay.
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Host - Adam
Okay. Let's see what I got.
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Co-host - Jamie
The.
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Host - Adam
The Titans. So looks like right, we said Brian Dable will be their offensive coordinator unless he gets the Raiders head coaching job. And I, I guess we can talk about it when it becomes official, but. Heath, would you like that?
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Co-host - Dan
I think it's probably better than what Cam Ward dealt with last year. Now it's the old X's and O's and Jimmy's and Josts thing. Like they gotta go. You talk about the Bills needing some guys. They got to go get some guys. It won't matter if they don't. But yeah, I think I, I'm slightly optimistic about it.
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Host - Adam
Yeah. I read an article I believe on ESPN talking about Dable. A lot of RPOs with the Giants and that was something that Cam Ward did a lot of at Miami. It was very successful for him. So we Might see that.
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Co-host - Jamie
I mean, Ward looked good down the stretch, you know, and again, you know, clearly one of the most under hyped number one overall picks we've ever had. You know, just not discussed after the draft. Not discussed a lot during the season. Not in consideration for Rookie of the year. There's a lot of things that he just kind of went under the radar, including again, the way that he finished. I think it was, I don't know, I don't remember week 18, but I believe going into week 17 he had like three or four games in a row with two touchdowns, you know, two passing touchdowns. So he finished the season playing well. He obviously did not have Calvin Ridley for the second half of the year. The, the rookie receivers that he had weren't exactly the, the most talented duo going into the draft. You know, his tight end started to play well down the stretch. I think that's a position of strength. Even if Chigo Conko leaves, I think Gunner Helm's got a chance to be a nice player, you know, so there's, there's pieces here. There's just needs to be, I think, an alpha at the top of the receiving core and probably figure out what the run game is going to look like.
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Host - Adam
Cam Ward, through seven touchdowns in his first 12 games. And then he threw eight touchdowns in his last four games, not including two.
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Co-host - Jamie
Each in his last four.
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Host - Adam
Yeah, not including week 18 where he actually did run for a touchdown on his only possession. Scored 9.2 fantasy. Then he hurt his shoulder and missed the rest of the game.
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Co-host - Jamie
And, and for those of you that are so concerned, he would have been the Pro bowl quarterback instead of Shitter Sanders if he was healthy.
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Host - Adam
Is that right?
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Co-host - Jamie
Yes.
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Host - Adam
He, Cam Ward also had a stretch of six straight games with an interception from Weeks 3 through 8. And then he only threw one more rest of season and he only ended up with seven picks for the year. All right, we've got Jamie. What do you think about Atlanta and what we can expect from their offense with Tommy Reese calling plays and not Kevin Stefanski?
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Co-host - Jamie
I mean, look, I. Stefanski, it's, it's, it's so hard to sort of, I think for a lot of people to wrap their heads around him as the coach for the Browns? Because when he first got there, when he had Baker, he obviously had success. Whether that was because of Baker, whether because of him. Clearly it's, you know, as we're seeing, with the stupid Belichick not making the hall of Fame, people saying, well now Brady is the reason why they were so Successful, you know, they clearly went hand in hand. Savantsky's a good coach. I think he's a good offensive coach. I think he showed in his time in Minnesota as a play caller or, you know, being part of the offensive staff there. I don't remember exactly the call plays I think he did, but he, he can run an offense, you know, so Tommy Reese running the offense, I think doesn't necessarily mean anything about Stefanski. I think he's going to do great things in Atlanta. If they figure out the quarterback and there's just unbelievable talent there that can get better. You know, it was good. We've seen some good seasons from Drake London. We saw finally a great season from Bijan Robinson. We saw great seasons from Kyle Pitts last year. We saw a great season for Pitts as a rookie year, you know, so I hope, and we've talked about this, if Pitts does not stay, that they find an Isaiah likely type of player, you know, a free agent that's out there or draft somebody that's going to be a good player because tight end production for Kevin Stefanski's tenure in Cleveland, you want to call it Tommy Reese's, you know, reason why, but I mean David Najoku had some really solid seasons. You know, we used to joke, I forget who was it? Harrison, Bryant, you know, the combination of, of Najoku and Bryant was always very successful in the beginning part of that. And then what we saw last year from Harold Fannin. So I think the tight end production will be awesome if, if the right players there again the right quarterback. So I, I think it's a good hire. I actually like Stefanski in Atlanta.
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Co-host - Dan
I don't remember a big shift last year when Reese took over the play calling from Kevin Stefanski, which I think was after the first. It was basically right at the midway point in the season. I, I would expect it to look like a Kevin Stepanski offense and you know, maybe like I'm, I'm hoping like Jamie said, for pits are likely, but maybe they just run a year of David Najoku. He's a free agent.
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Host - Adam
Yeah, okay. Maybe they trade for Fanon.
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Co-host - Dan
Yeah, I don't, I can't imagine why Cleveland would trade their best player offensive player.
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Co-host - Jamie
Sorry.
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Co-host - Dan
Quite. As far as him being better than Miles Garrett.
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Host - Adam
We, we had talked. Yeah, that's probably the jump of the gun. We had Talked about Mike McDaniel maybe not ending up with the Chargers and getting a head coaching job. It's, it's official.
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Co-host - Jamie
Right.
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Host - Adam
I mean he is, he is the Chargers offensive coordinator. Right.
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Co-host - Jamie
I believe the, the press conference yesterday solidified it. Yeah. And okay, you'll, you'll, you know, you could skip ahead to. That's why a couple of Chargers are on my bounce back list.
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Host - Adam
Right. Exactly. And the jets fired their offensive coordinator, Tanner Engstrand, who came over from Detroit with Aaron Glenn. The Broncos fired the potential replacement is right. I saw Frank Reich's name.
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Co-host - Jamie
Yeah.
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Host - Adam
Yeah. Denver fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, who wasn't calling plays, but a guy who's been with Sean Payton for a long time. And Peyton also said that after, you know, when they did the surgery on Bo Nix and they explored the ankle, apparently he had a pre existing ankle condition that made a, a fracture inevitable. And it happened really at such a bad time. But Peyton also said he has no concerns about Bo Nix's ankle going forward. T. Higgins said that Chase Brown got better each and every single week. And you know, that's, we always kind of love Chase Brown's opportunity. If he really is getting better as a rusher, then, you know, look out. He averaged 4.4 yards per carry for the season, 5.1 yards per carry in his last 12 games. And finally, Michael Durocco of ESPN thinks that the early indications are that Travis Hunter will primarily play cornerback. Boy, he could end up being one of the worst dynasty picks.
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Co-host - Jamie
Right?
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Host - Adam
Man, what a shame. We got a mailbag on Friday, so get excited for that. Get your questions in. Haven't seen a lot of questions, so if you have any questions. And it doesn't have to be a football question, it's his off season mailbag. Me, Jamie and Dan on Friday. I think 10am Eastern. I think we're locked into that time right now, but yeah. Please send your questions to Fantasy footballbs icon. That's the letter I fantasy football.com. we'll be right back with our bounce back candidates after this.
- [17:29]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
NFL fans spend an average of 690 minutes a week thinking about football.
- [17:34]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
That's over 11 hours.
- [17:35]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
You're checking matchups, tweaking your fantasy roster, reliving big plays, arguing calls. Football lives rent free in your head all week long.
- [17:44]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
And when the game's on, every decision matters. A winning play or the right timeout. Just 60 seconds can flip the entire outcome.
- [17:50]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
But here's the thing. Off the field, we forget to plan.
- [17:54]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
We get so caught up in the pregame hype. The food, the drinks, the vibe. And forget the most important part of the day, how you're getting home.
- [18:00]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
So we're making it easier for you to Plan Ahead with Uber Code make a plan 26 order an Uber and get 25% off your next ride on game day by using the promo code. Make a plan 26 now through February 9th.
- [18:15]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
That's make a plan 26. Whether you're hosting, headed to a local.
- [18:18]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
Bar, or going to the game, make it part of your ritual.
- [18:22]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
Take a minute. Make a Plan. Never drive impaired. This message was brought to you by Diageo MAD and the NFL. Please drink responsibly. Diageo New York Guys, by now you've.
- [18:33]
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- [19:27]
Host - Adam
All right, bounce back Candidates Heath is Lamar Jackson, Justin Jefferson and Terry McLaurin. Oh Lamar Jackson. What a tremendous start to the season for him. 33 or more fantasy points in each of his first three games went downhill from there. Heath what is Lamar Jackson bounce back to and does the lack of an offensive coordinator right now? Do you think anything can change based on who they hire?
- [19:50]
Co-host - Dan
I mean, something could change based on who they hire, but I think just in a vacuum we saw Lamar. This is the Lamar Jackson experience. It's, it's kind of been this way throughout his career. There are stretches where he's the best quarterback in fantasy football. There are stretches where he leaves games early and it crushes his fantasy average. What we saw that was new this year is he came back, I think, and tried to play through some stuff and the rushing just kind of fell off of a cliff, especially when he, when he came back towards the end of the season. Three his last three games he had a total of eight rush attempts and for the season, his rush attempts were down about 40%. Now you hope this is not a case of he's 29 years old and he's just not going to run quite as much. I don't think that's the case at all. He still had a very good passing touchdown rate. The rush, the passing efficiency, 8.4 yards per attempt. I, I don't think Lamar Jackson lost any skill last year. It's more of a bet on hopefully he doesn't leave a couple of games early next year. Hopefully he doesn't get an injury that causes him to run less. But I think that there's probably more upside with a head coaching change and hoping that maybe, maybe we get just a few more Lamar Jackson pass attempts. Maybe we get a little faster paced offense than what the Ravens have been.
- [21:11]
Co-host - Jamie
The last couple of years to Heat's point. You know, we kind of go through these scenarios where we have gone through these scenarios with him a couple of times and then it depresses his draft value and you get such an incredible player at a lesser price. Now he's not going to fall very far. I think if I recall from the six of us who did the rankings, he was still top five in all of our, all of our lists. But we were discussing him as the number one quarterback last year and he was going in round two. So if you get this guy in round three or maybe round four, depending on how quarterbacks go in your league, he may not be the same player because he's clearly going to slow down at some point and maybe run less. And maybe that's what we saw last year. But as Adam and I talked about this Heath on, on FFT Express on, on Monday, like what's the number of rushing yards where he's still in contention to be the best quarterback? Like is it 600 yards, is it 700 yards? You know, I don't know if he's going to have a thousand yard rushing season again. That's a lot to ask. But if he's north of 500 because he's never going to be a high rushing touchdown guy unless just things change, he's not going to be a touch push guy. He's not going to be, you know, a guy that when they get inside the, the five is going to steal a lot of rushing touchdowns again unless just the new coordinator changes some things or his game changes. But I think you can't necessarily rely on him strictly as a passer to be a top three fantasy quarterback. You need to have that rushing production to get him there. And at what point does it become, oh, he's just not running enough, you know, to me, 600 feels like a good number. 600 rushing yards, you know, in his.
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Host - Adam
First three games, like I said, he scored 33 points or more in all of them. And he was on pace for 669 rushing yards. I think the question he's obviously this was the most obvious guy of just being affected by an injury. Just he kept getting hurt in practice. He kept getting hurt. He, you know, he comes back from his first injury and he scores over 30 points against the Dolphins with a four touchdown game, 33.6 points there. And then injury after injury, just playing hurt, not running and really finished poorly. So the question is like, does he bounce back to what he. To his 20, 24 form or is the number one quarterback in fantasy had a 50 touchdown rate in the red zone, which was the highest since at least 2000, or does Lamar Jackson bounce back to, you know, top, top, you know, like QB 4 ish, 24 ish 5 points per game instead of closer to 30?
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Co-host - Dan
We don't ever expect anyone to do going into a season, whether it's Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson or anybody else. We don't ever expect for anyone to do what Lamar Jackson did in his best two seasons.
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Host - Adam
He was doing it again, you know. Well, I mean, he could, yeah, but.
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Co-host - Dan
That'S, that's an outlier performance and he was doing it again. I think you could go through those three names I just said and find four weak samples where they do that all the time.
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Host - Adam
First three was, it was right in a row, like right out of the gate. He just picked up right where he left off.
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Co-host - Dan
That doesn't make it any more likely for him to keep doing it than if he did it weeks five through eight. Like, it's just, that's. So is he gonna do that for a full season? I doubt it.
- [24:20]
Co-host - Jamie
Right.
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Host - Adam
He's not gonna.
- [24:22]
Co-host - Jamie
Right.
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Co-host - Dan
But I think at the very least we get to bounce back to 25 points per game.
- [24:26]
Host - Adam
All right, football fans, you can bounce back. If you're, if you're first to score a touchdown, bet doesn't go right. So picture this. You bet on your favorite player to score the first touchdown of the game, but his teammate scores instead. Well, if this happens, bet MGM wants to give you another chance at the end zone with BetMGM second chance promotion. You'll get your stake back if your first touchdown scorer scores second instead. That's right. Bet on any Pro football player to score the first touchdown of the game. And if you're right, you win. And if your player scores second, you get your stake back in cash. With BetMGM Second Chance offer, you have a chance to keep the fun going after the first player crosses the goal line. Try a first touchdown score with confidence. Score a wager. Sorry. Try a first touchdown scorer wager with confidence today. Bet mgm. Make it legendary. We got a couple wide receivers on Heath's list here. Justin Jefferson and Terry McLaurin. All right, what do you have to say about these fellows?
- [25:24]
Co-host - Dan
Well, I think that McLaurin is kind of like the Lamar thing in that he just like. And Jamie talked about this going into the season and he was right about it. The holdout and not being necessarily in good enough shape to play football or, or ready for the season and he got hurt after week three and then he dealt with backup quarterback play for most of the time that he was back. But still, if you look at what he did from even week three on when he only played 60 of the snaps, he was still on pace for almost 1100 yards and 66 catches and had six touchdowns. So that there's a bounce back there no matter what. But if I expect Jaden Daniels to bounce back as well, I almost put both of them on the list, but I didn't want to put two players from the same team. I think that helps McLaren. I think going into the season with his contract situation settled, helps McLaren and I would just expect he's probably not going to bounce back. Listen, we, we went into last year even before we had the holdout concerns saying there's touchdown regression coming. So I wouldn't expect him to bounce back to 13 touchdowns. But the five prior seasons he'd been between 77 catches and 82. 87 catches and between a thousand yards and 1200 yards. I think that's probably what you're getting from McLaurin. And he probably scores eight touchdowns and he's probably a number two wide receiver.
- [26:46]
Host - Adam
Justin Jefferson, you know, do you think he should be a first round pick?
- [26:50]
Co-host - Dan
20, 26 second round pick. But last year he was WORTH what, a fifth round pick?
- [26:57]
Host - Adam
He was wide and 30 per game.
- [26:59]
Co-host - Dan
Yeah, that's maybe, maybe sixth. And I didn't, I felt like when watching his struggles with JJ McCarthy, sometimes it was just McCarthy not playing well, sometimes it was just there. The connection wasn't right between those two and whether McCarthy's the, the starting quarterback week one or not. If he is, I think that he and Jefferson will have Some things figured out, he's not getting back to 1800 yards, kind of like what we said with, with Lamar. But I do think he's probably getting back to being a top 12 wide receiver.
- [27:30]
Co-host - Jamie
I think the hope would be is and it may not be McCarthy. You look at his numbers with Carson Wentz and that's the production I think you should be expecting from consistent Jefferson. I don't want to say elite Jefferson because Elite Jefferson I still think can get back to 1800 yards with the right quarterback. But is that guy going to be in Minnesota? You know, so whether it's McCarthy and you know, a proven guy and Aaron Rodgers, I don't think Jacoby Brissette gets free of Arizona. But you know, that type of guy, you know, veteran, proven option that can be consistent in case McCarthy gets hurt, magically gets hurt, slash benched, gets benched out. Right. You know, one of those scenarios because what he did with Carson Wentz, I forget the number of games, but he was averaging over 16 PPR points per game with, with Wentz, which I think is clearly second round value and a good enough, you know, fantasy wide receiver that could even get better, you know, with, with, with the right type of production. So they had offensive line issues throughout the course of the season last year. Jordan Addison wasn't out of the lineup last year. TJ Hawkinson wasn't necessarily, I think the, the type of player that we were hoping he was going to be. You know, still a year removed from the ACL tear. Like there's just a lot of moving parts with Minnesota. And I still believe in Kevin o', Connell, obviously still believe in Justin Jefferson. I think everybody does. It's just a matter of can you believe in the quarterback, wide receiver, receive repairing and when you're going to be willing to take that risk.
- [28:54]
Host - Adam
Yeah, well, here with, with Carson Wentz, you said he averaged over 16 points per game, but he did not even score a touchdown in those five games. With Carson Wentz, that's true. And you know, he was on pace for 116 catches, 1622 yards, zero touchdowns on 170 targets. And you know the targets he only.
- [29:15]
Co-host - Jamie
Had a part of that was without Addison though. Right. If I'm not mistaken, it was weeks three through eight.
- [29:19]
Host - Adam
So I want to say.
- [29:20]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah, so Addison was out through week four. Right.
- [29:22]
Host - Adam
Let's see. Jordan Addison, he, he missed only one of those games. And the other one other thing about those games with Carson Wentz is he played Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Philadelphia and the Chargers. Four of those five teams are Were top eight against wide receivers. So actually like a tough stretch for Justin Jefferson. And he was still on pace for over. He averaged over 100 yards per. Oh, no, not quite. Sorry. Like 90 yards per game or something like that.
- [29:52]
Co-host - Jamie
But who knew that was the sell high window?
- [29:55]
Host - Adam
Yeah, who knew, right? But, you know, I think just for like, if you think he's just going to go back to being potentially the number one wide receiver, he certainly could. He's talented enough. But just seeing a trend. I just want to point out we're seeing a trend with Minnesota. The last two years. They've had a really, really good defense, and they don't throw the ball as much as they used to, especially with McCarthy. You know, Wentz was like 33 pass attempts per game.
- [30:19]
Co-host - Dan
I mean, if he gets just back just to 20, 24 when they. They didn't throw quite as much, it's 100 catches for 1500 yards and 10 touchdowns, I think. Yeah, we'd all be pretty good with that.
- [30:27]
Host - Adam
Oh, we'd be great with it. He's not at this point. Jefferson's not going to be debated with Jamar Chase and CD Lamb and all that, I don't think.
- [30:36]
Co-host - Dan
No.
- [30:36]
Host - Adam
But. Yeah, Well, I.
- [30:38]
Co-host - Jamie
Again, unless there's a huge change at quarterback.
- [30:40]
Host - Adam
Yeah, that's true.
- [30:41]
Co-host - Dan
Right, Right.
- [30:42]
Host - Adam
They.
- [30:42]
Co-host - Jamie
Right.
- [30:42]
Host - Adam
They hit a home run there. Okay, so you. You had Terry McLaurin, maybe keep Sam.
- [30:47]
Co-host - Jamie
Darnold, get him back.
- [30:48]
Host - Adam
What's that?
- [30:49]
Co-host - Jamie
Maybe get Sam Darnold back.
- [30:50]
Host - Adam
Yeah. You had Terry McLaurin and Jamie and Jaden Daniels. We'll get to Jamie's list in a moment here. I didn't have so much a list as I had three offenses that I'm hopeful for. Bounce packs. I have questions about all of them. I'll rank them in. In the order of most confident of them bouncing back. And all of them are represented in the list of Jamie's breakouts. But the three offenses that I had here were the Chargers. That's in order of most confidence. I have them bouncing back. Chargers, I'm going to say Eagles, then Bucks. And Jamie's got Herbert on here. He's got A.J. brown on here. He's got McConkey on here. He's got Bucky Irving on here. So these are offenses that for the Chargers, it's just we always talk about Joe All Joel. They were really, really good when he was healthy. But also they got McDaniel now and Rashawn Slater, their other tackle, he missed the entire season, too. So there's so many reasons to like The Chargers offense right now, the Eagles offense, I mean this is their points per game in their last four seasons since they acquired A.J. brown. 2nd, 7th, 6th, 21st. If they trade A.J. brown, that's a problem. If they keep them, I still think they have problems there. They have, they have like an, you know, is Lane Johnson gonna play? They've been so much better when he's been in the lineup. I don't know who the most, I think the most obvious bounce back candidate for them personally, Jamie, is Barkley. You put A.J. brown on there. I mean just. You didn't have Barkley on there, but that doesn't mean you don't consider him one. But like his, his metrics were just too bad in my opinion. I don't think he could do this poorly again. He was RB16 per game, Saquon Barkley, 17 per game. But yeah, the Eagles, that, I do have some concerns about them, but seems like they should bounce back. And then the Bucks, there's another team. There's like it was never really healthy, like everyone at the same time. You took maybe the last four games of the year when Evans came back, but Bucky Irving was always battling something. Tristan Worf was in and out of the lineup. So those are the three offenses I had. Eagle, Chargers, Eagles, Bucks. You have all of them represented. How would you rank them in terms of, let's say, who's gonna points per game, Chargers, Eagles, Bucks next year. How would you rank them?
- [33:05]
Co-host - Jamie
Chargers, Bucks. Incomplete right now because we don't know the offense coordinator for Philadelphia and that could change everything. And it's funny, like you, you know, see a lot of the Eagles beat writers and they do such a great job. You know, there's a lot of them, obviously it's a big market. How's. Nobody wants this job? You know, they can't find anybody to take this offense coordinator job. Now maybe they're holding out for somebody that's. I don't think Kubiak makes a lateral move, for example, but you know, maybe there's somebody on Seahawks staff or the Patriot staff that they're waiting for. Maybe they're waiting, you know, getting pushed back by somebody who's hoping to get an offensive coordinator job someplace else or even head coaching job someplace else. Like, I can't pronounce his name, but the passing game coordinator for the Rams, Nate, whatever his last name is. Yeah. So, you know, there's, there's a number of different ways this could end up, but clearly there's, there's some disconnect. There I think just in the case of the Chargers, you know, you've added a very bright offensive mind. Forget about what Mike McDaniel did as a head coach in his tenure in Miami. He had a season with Tua Tongue of Iloa as the leading passer in the NFL and now he has a much better passer. He had a season where his running back led the NFL in rushing touchdowns and now he has a first round pick that was a 30 year old Raheem Mostert. We know what he did with the Money Chan. We know what he did with Tyree Kill. We know what he's done with Jalen Waddle. We know what he's done with John who Smith. Like there's just been different parts of this offense that is now getting what could be, you know, just a significant talent upgrade in a lot of different spots. And so there's just a lot to like about this. And you know, you mentioned Joe Alt and just even the numbers last year when Justin Herbert had Joalt and that was without Rashawn Slater, like the numbers were good. So Herbert to me is so much, I don't know, bounce back re breakout however you want to classify this. Like he's, he's somebody that I think you should be excited to draft. Lad McConkey's value is on the rise. You know, we'll see. I'd be surprised they bring back Keenan Allen, but who knows, you know, one more year of Quinn Johnston, I think a Ronde Gadsden is going to get a boost. Obviously Amari Hampton's going to be fun to draft because of what this offense does with its running backs. You know, we'll see what, you know, they do to enhance it. You know, who else they bring in. But still, like there's just a lot to love about the Chargers and I think we would be somewhat excited about the Chargers. Maybe everybody except Heath in, in just knowing that the offensive line being healthy and now you add McDaniel to it. Like to me it's got, you know, rocket ships attached to it.
- [35:39]
Co-host - Dan
Yeah, I guess I wonder how much better we think McDaniel is as an offensive coordinator than Greg Roman. Like this was he. The Chargers were 20th in points per game this year. That was his worst mark since he or since he was on the 49ers in 2014.
- [35:58]
Host - Adam
And they were great when they were healthy.
- [36:00]
Co-host - Dan
What?
- [36:01]
Host - Adam
And they were great when they were healthy. I don't know that he did a bad job.
- [36:04]
Co-host - Dan
Right. But it will be interesting to see these guys in a new system and to see which, which guys are the guys he likes to use. I think everybody's going to be extremely excited about OMarion Hampton and Lad McConkey are the two guys and maybe a really good opportunity for value on Quentin Johnston.
- [36:27]
Host - Adam
Don't forget they drafted Trey Harris in the second round this past year. So I want to talk more about McConkey. Let's do that. When we'll take a break here, we'll talk more about McConkey, get into Jaden Daniels. Three running backs on Jamie's list. Sam Laporta is another guy that shows up here on Jamie's bounce back list. We'll be right back after this. On Fantasy Football today. Hey, this is Richard Deitch, the host.
- [36:47]
Advertiser/Promoter
Of the sports media podcast.
- [36:48]
Host - Adam
If you're interested in what's happening with.
- [36:50]
Advertiser/Promoter
All the places where you consume sports.
- [36:52]
Host - Adam
The sports media podcast has you covered.
- [36:54]
Co-host - Jamie
I've been turning down interviews all week. Koda Kopi reached out. Oprah, Georgetown, Stephanopoulos. So I said no. I was booked on the Ditch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility.
- [37:11]
Host - Adam
Listen wherever you get your podcasts. So McConkey 20254 as a rookie, you know, was. Was just phenomenal but kind of did it in this a little bit too good to be true. Super efficient. It wasn't really getting a ton of targets because they were kind of run heavy. And then in 2025, his target per out run rate falls to 18.9%. And that was very surprising. So yes, Keenan Allen I think was a big reason for that. But also the emergence of Quentin Johnston, the emergence of a Ronde Gadston didn't help. Now you've got Trey hair. Let's say Allen's gone and Trey Harris, you know, gets, gets more targets probably I probably won't get as many as kid now and got but I don't know. You know, do you look at this as sort of a crowded receiving core? Jamie and maybe lad McConkey who's just more or less a slot guy. Let me check that slot 61 slot rate. It's not. It's on the high side. But we've seen wide receivers have great seasons with that kind of slot rate. Yeah, I don't know. You get what I'm saying here? Like the situation has changed. They did not have a tight end a year ago that we cared about. They did not have Quentin Johnston as anything significant. The situation has changed a little bit from a Conkey. So and, and they could have one of the best defenses in football. So you know, what's. You have him on the bounce back list, but what are your expectations?
- [38:39]
Co-host - Jamie
I don't think he plays as poorly as he did last year. I don't think he plays as great as he did his rookie season. But I think there's certainly a lot more to offer and a lot more that he will give us with now a better play caller from what I would consider a passing downs perspective. So to his point, I don't think Greg Roman was the reason why the Chargers completely fell apart last year. I think that had a lot to do with health. But I also think, you know, when you don't have protection for your quarterback, the lack of opportunities to throw the ball down the field are certainly not going to be there. So if you tell me that both tackles have the chance to play the majority of the season, Keenan Allen's gone. Mike McDaniel is now calling plays. Justin Herbert gets better, gets back maybe to the type of thrower that we saw earlier in his career, or at least in parts last year when he had protection. I don't know. This is a guy, I think that's an easy player to target. When we talk about the receiving, the receiving options for fantasy managers and how it kind of falls off, like, this is the type of guy I would like to get, you know. So if you go running back round one, depending, you know, early round one, depending what you do with the swing, I still think early round three is a, is a place to start to consider lad McConkey. I don't know if that's where his ADP will settle, but that's where I would start to consider him. You know, once you get past the top 10 or 12 wide receivers, he's in that mix.
- [39:54]
Co-host - Dan
For me, I think it's gonna be really interesting to see what the past run split for the Chargers is this year, just because I think we know what Harbaugh prefers generally. There's probably a reason he chose Roman the first time and three of the five years that McDaniel has been, he probably wasn't calling plays in San Francisco. So if you want to rule that one out. But he was an OC for one year and a head coach for four years. Three of those years they ranked better in rush attempts per game than they did in pass attempts per game, including last year. And when he was with Shanahan, it was like they were top five in rush attempts and towards the bottom and legged pass attempts because that's what Shanahan prefers to do. So I think for McConkey that matters probably more than it does for anybody else. You can have a team that's really good running the ball and if you throw touchdown passes, the quarterback can still be very good. Or if the pass offense is as efficient as it is in San Francisco, the quarterback can still be really good. And that might happen. But McConkey seems like one of those guys who's probably going to need a high volume of receptions to be a real difference maker as a wide receiver.
- [41:07]
Host - Adam
Garrett Wilson or Lab McConkey.
- [41:11]
Co-host - Jamie
Who'S the quarterback for the Jets?
- [41:13]
Narrator/Advertiser 2
Yeah.
- [41:13]
Co-host - Dan
Who's the offensive coordinator for the Jets?
- [41:16]
Host - Adam
Yeah, I mean, I think Garrett Wilson's.
- [41:18]
Co-host - Dan
Better than lad McConkey.
- [41:19]
Host - Adam
I just asked the chat because I think this is where you go, okay, well, Lab McConkey, I think a lot of people are going to expect the Chargers to have a very good offense, but they're going to expect more targets for Garrett Wilson. So it's going to be so far 4 votes in the chat and all of them are for Garrett Wilson. So there's your sample size. All right, Let me ask you Jamie.
- [41:41]
Co-host - Jamie
About when we get to six, what'd you say? Six votes? That might sway it?
- [41:45]
Host - Adam
Six votes? Yeah. Well, I don't know. If you're in the chat and you see the question, go ahead and respond. Just curious to see where take people's temperatures there. Let's talk about Jaden Daniels, Jamie, and you have mezza bounce back and he got off to a decent start, not a great start, but scored about 22 fantasy points in each of his first two games in six point per passing touchdown leagues and then got hurt and then he came back 19 points, 27 points. 19 or about 20 points, you know, and then he just kept getting hurt. So he's a bounce back for you, Jaden Daniels.
- [42:17]
Co-host - Jamie
I mean we saw what he did as a rookie and we were so excited. Top three quarterback for 2025 based on ADP. It's hard to not get excited about that player, especially again at a discounted price. So when you look at the the rank list again for the six of us, for the most part he's either fifth at best or in some cases seventh through eight. You know, so I think anytime you get the opportunity to draft a player with his upside, he could be a thousand, three thousand type of guy, thousand yard rusher, three thousand yard passer. He was not that far off as a rookie. So 700 plus rushing yards, 800 plus rushing yards. You know, Heath talked about it. I, I think it's hard to, you know, not Think the same way that Terry McLaren's going to have a better season just because he's going to be on the field. You know, we'll see what they do again with the rest of this receiving core. But I think just looking at what Daniels did as a rookie, like these are the type of players that win you fantasy leagues. You know, guys coming back from injury that are still young and have the potential to be awesome. You know, he fits that bill.
- [43:21]
Host - Adam
Is there any reason not to like him?
- [43:24]
Co-host - Jamie
You think he's injury prone and, you know, doesn't have the ability to take a step forward? You know, somebody just suggests in the chat CJ Shroud. You know, I mean, clearly that could be the unfortunate path that he follows. Great rookie season that never gets back to that level of production. It's possible. You know, they've, they've made changes to the offensive staff already. You're talking about an older Terry McLaurin, an older Debo Samuel. It's not like he has an infusion of youth right now. You know, we'll see what they do the rest of this off season.
- [43:50]
Host - Adam
Debo's a free agent, right?
- [43:52]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah, Debo, I'm not sure, but maybe.
- [43:56]
Host - Adam
Yeah, he's. Yeah, he's a free agent.
- [44:00]
Co-host - Jamie
So again, you know, where, where do they go to, you know, build out this receiving core? A lot of still moving parts.
- [44:06]
Host - Adam
Yeah, their personnel sucks. I mean, right now it's. They, they. Their personnel stinks. Yeah, it sucks. I'm gonna stick with that, I think.
- [44:15]
Co-host - Jamie
Right. But he's, he's not the type of quarterback similar to Lamar Jackson that needs great personnel to still be a great fantasy option. It would defin. Make him better. He'd be more excited about it. But the things that he does on his own. Yeah.
- [44:29]
Host - Adam
All right.
- [44:30]
Co-host - Jamie
Three running backs on is probably done. You know, so there's, there's a lot of, you know, new, new openings to fill.
- [44:39]
Host - Adam
Three running backs on Jamie's bounce back list. Bucky Irving, Ken Walker and Bree Hall. Bucky Irving, Ken Walker and free agent to Bree Hall.
- [44:48]
Co-host - Jamie
I mean, Walker's obvious we don't need to spend much time on that one if, you know, he comes back to Seattle. Zach sharpened is not ready for the start of the season. I think I said it a few times now. I'd be interested in him in round two, you know, depending on what the prognosis is on. On Charbonnet with his rehab and you know, following surgery, which I don't even know if he's had yet in the case of. And if he goes to another team, you know, he could easily be a, a still a great fantasy option. You know, we'll, we'll have some frustration about how he gets it done. But you see now two games in 2025, one in the playoffs, one in the regular season, Week 3 without Zach Sarbonet. He was 18 PPR points or more in both of those. And if you factor in the 49ers game in the division round when he left, it was 31 plus points, you know, in that game. So, you know, huge, huge opportunity for him. Bruce hall is, is still, I think, a tricky one because again, you know, does he stay with the Jets? What do the jets look like? I had my concerns about Breeze hall last year, you know, and sometimes it looked like I was right, sometimes it looked like I was, you know, wrong because he still has, you know, still had some great games. And you know, I think he mentioned this the other day. I forget what it was, but his yards per carry wasn't bad. You know, over the course of the season, he's just got so much talent and upside. Like he's an easy guy to, you know, fall back in love with. If everything is right again, especially if he leaves or is allowed to leave the jets because I think they'll franchise tag him. But if he goes someplace else and gets, you know, with a great offense, like he could be top five caliber running back. Bucky Irving is, you know, we'll see. You know, they revamped their entire offensive staff. You know, Zach Robinson clearly still used two running backs last year. They have what I would guess is going to be two. I'm going to guess Rashad White leaves. He's a free agent. You know, he's already talked about wanting to reunite with Jane Daniels. So maybe he goes to Washington and upgrades their, their crappy personnel. But, you know, if it's, if it's Bucky and just one other guy, and maybe we get this, especially with Sean Tucker, then we get to see Bucky every in the passing game. Because I don't think that's just Sean Tucker's role. We saw what he was as a rookie. We saw at times last year, certainly before he got hurt, that he could still be an elite fantasy option. So I think in the case of at least two of these guys, because, you know, Walker will, will definitely have a high ADP if he's the guy in Seattle with Charbonne not coming back, if it's still Breeze hall with the jets with, you know, shady quarterback situation, you know, not, not Exactly. A guy that we love. And Bucky Irving's still in a committee. You know, you may get these guys at just great prices and, and the town is still there for both those guys to be special.
- [47:17]
Host - Adam
Heath, any thoughts on Bucky Irving? Breeze Hall. You, you said Breeze Hall. You talked about him. Was it last episode?
- [47:23]
Co-host - Jamie
I don't know.
- [47:24]
Host - Adam
But you think he is?
- [47:24]
Co-host - Dan
Yeah, I think Cole's probably the most dependent on where he is and like he. Considering the offensive environment. He still had a very good year last year. Like 1400 yards from scrimmage. He just scored five touchdowns. You would hope he scores more touchdowns, but the jets are going to have to make some improvements if they franchise tag him and he's stuck there. I, I think Walker, another guy who finally played 17 games last year, I, I wonder, and I've seen a lot of people say on social media, if Zach Charbonnet is not there and they just make Ken Walker a feature back, there's no way he makes it 17 games. And that's kind of the sentiment. And so what we'll find out this off season is do the Seahawks think the same thing? Because I can't imagine anybody's expecting Charbonnet to help the team the first month of the season, at least. So whether they bring him back and whether he's the only running back they give a contract to, this off season will. Will make a big difference there. Bucky's probably the one I'm most scared about and I wonder the thing that would save him. Like, if you just think about what the Falcons did last year. If Bucky's in that bichon role and he's seeing that type of target volume, then it won't. His rushing efficiency isn't really going to matter that much now. He may not score that many touchdowns because one of the complaints we had throughout the time that Tyler Algier has been in Atlanta is that the short yardage carries. And last year the problem for Bucky was they didn't want to give him the ball inside the five yard line, especially in the second half. So it might be hard for him to score a lot of touchdowns, but if he catches 60 passes, that doesn't really matter. I, I'd really hate it if Tyler Algier follows Robinson to Tampa.
- [49:02]
Host - Adam
Yeah, that would not be good. All right. And then we'll finish up.
- [49:05]
Co-host - Jamie
Unless they move on from both Rashad White and Sean Tucker, then I think it'd be okay.
- [49:09]
Co-host - Dan
Well, I just, I think there's a possibility that Robinson goes through camp and watches Algier and Bucky run the football and just decides, you know what? Bucky should be our second back still catching a bunch of passes. But Algier is just a better rusher than he is.
- [49:24]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah.
- [49:24]
Host - Adam
Or the goal line back, like you said.
- [49:26]
Co-host - Dan
You know how well I think he will be. I don't think, but, I mean, maybe not, but I. I don't expect Bucky to be the goal lineback.
- [49:33]
Host - Adam
I. I think he was in 2024. I mean, I think he had every role.
- [49:37]
Co-host - Jamie
Right.
- [49:37]
Host - Adam
And Sean Tucker was there down the stretch, downstream. Yeah.
- [49:40]
Co-host - Dan
Once he became for six weeks. Yeah.
- [49:44]
Host - Adam
I bet you he was at the beginning of the year also in 2025. I don't think he was coming off the field. Let me see. I mean, I can try to look that up. All right, while I look that up, a couple things. Jamie. It's pronounced Shieldhouse. I knew that. I don't know why I didn't say it. Shield House Rams passing game coordinator. And your wide receivers are. CD Lamb, AJ Brown and Lad McConkey. We talked about McConkey. So CD Lamb and AJ Brown are bounce backs.
- [50:13]
Co-host - Jamie
Lamb, again, is. Is somewhat obvious. You know, the lack of touchdowns was really the most alarming thing. And clearly, if George Pickens leaves the Cowboys, CD Lamb, you can argue, is the number one receiver in fantasy. He was that good in 2023. And so there's just a lot to love about what Lamb can do. But clearly, when you see 14 PPR points per game, that's not the type of player I think CD Lamb is. So did not have the greatest 2025 season, was overshadowed by Pickens for a lot of the year, but still with Dak Prescott, same offense. Obviously, the connections there. I think still, CD Lamb's still one of the best receivers in fantasy. You know, it's funny when you said, are we talking about Justin Jefferson with Jamar Chase and CD Lamb, you know, you don't mention Pugnacu and jsn. That just shows you, I think, the respect that a lot of people have for CD Lamb, that he's still in that caliber of. Of conversation, knowing that he wasn't as productive as a couple of those other guys. So everybody, for the most part, has CD Lamb as a. A top five wide receiver. I think just writing the stock watch from the playoffs and looking at our top 24s Dan has, and I don't know he'll stick with this. This was done week 18. Dan has CD Lamb ahead of JSN, you know, so that's, I think, how Much. He's still hoping that CD Lamb could be CD Lamb again. So he's. He's fairly obvious as somebody who can rebound and rebound at a high level. I still think the same thing for A.J. brown. You know, you look at the stretch of games that AJ Brown had and I don't have it in front of me. I'm sorry, but it was like we 11 through 16, 17 in that range. I think it was 6, maybe 15. He was averaging over 19 PPR points per game. Like he was still dominant. He just didn't do it in the early part of the year when everything was sort of in flux and complaining and all these things. You know, it's just a matter of will he still stay in Philly? Will they get the right coordinator in place? If he leaves Philly, does he go to a team that has an elite quarterback? You know, some people when we were talking about, I don't know who it was in the chat, somebody posted AJ Brown back to Tennessee. You know, that's not going to make him, I think, an elite fantasy option. It'll still make him a good fantasy option, but I don't think you want to see him with Cam Ward. No, no, no disrespect there, but he's just not at that level of, of quarterback yet. And I could be wrong, but if he goes to Buffalo, if he goes to New England, if he goes to a team that has an established quarterback and passing game and all those things, then I think you feel really good about A.J. brown. But I think just you take the sample size of when he was at his best, he could still get there. He's still young enough. I still have a lot of faith in A.J. brown, and we already talked about McConkey, so I think all three of these receivers to me are top three round picks. A.J.
- [52:48]
Host - Adam
Brown, did he average 19.8 points per game from weeks 12 through 17?
- [52:53]
Co-host - Jamie
Sorry, that was stretchy.
- [52:54]
Host - Adam
Yeah, that's fine. And that was good enough to be wide receiver 4 overall. Not sure about per game. Probably right up there. See, those games were at Dallas.
- [53:06]
Co-host - Jamie
If you take everybody's best stretch of games.
- [53:12]
Host - Adam
Yeah, at Dallas, Chicago. Great matchups there. He took advantage of them. Then he had 100 yards at the Chargers. Only had two targets. Caught a touchdown against the Raiders. They destroyed the Raiders in that game. Barely threw. Then he was at Washington. Great matchups. He did very favorable matchups down the stretch. Then he kind of struggled. That Buffalo, which I think it has, was a bad weather game.
- [53:32]
Co-host - Dan
I, I did think Dan made a Good point. Mark, the tape about like the way the Eagles are talking about AJ Brown and not trading him. And it may not be lip service because the way they structure salaries, it is an enormous hit to them. If they trade AJ Brown because they have so much money that they've already guaranteed it'd be great for the new team, but it's going. If they trade him according to over the cap, if they trade him before June 1st, they have 43 million in dead money.
- [54:09]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah. I think the one thing about this is like for most people outside looking in, he's unhappy. He's, you know, the, the, the live stream where he said, you know, whatever about the offense seemingly wanted to be out of there. Then you ask him and you ask everybody there and there's no issues. Right. You know, and so there's always the gray area of what's the truth, you know, does he really want out? Does the team want to get rid of him? Do they want to move on? Like, it doesn't seem like Sirianni is upset with AJ Brown ever. It never seems like Jalen hurts outwardly, is upset.
- [54:44]
Host - Adam
Remember the playoff game?
- [54:47]
Co-host - Dan
Well, but Annie Reed and Travis Kelsey do that twice a year.
- [54:50]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah. And, you know, I mean, look, there's going to be moments, you know, I think we all get along. We've had moments where we yell at each other too, in a while.
- [55:01]
Host - Adam
I thought about that somewhat recently. We haven't really yelled at each other in a while.
- [55:04]
Co-host - Dan
I'll work on that. I'll see if I can get you fired up.
- [55:07]
Narrator/Advertiser 1
You can.
- [55:08]
Co-host - Dan
I think there's a very decent, good commissioner that the big problem that AJ Brown with head of in Philadelphia is no longer there. Like the offensive coordinator may have just kind of resolved it. And going back to what you said about Dan and CD Lamb over jsn, do we all agree with that? If Kubiak and George Pickens are both on different teams.
- [55:34]
Host - Adam
Yeah, I would take Lamb over jsn.
- [55:36]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah, it's a fair, fair argument. You know, and as I, as I wrote in the, the story, I think you might be the only one right now Heath, that has JSN over Chase. And again, this is going back to week 18. So you may have changed already, but now you see JSN and what he just did. Right. He destroyed the Rams, had an awesome game. 10 catches, 145 yards and a touchdown. Whatever it was like the, the, the production over the course of season. Number two receiver was fantastic. 21 point. Whatever it was, points per game. Like CD Lamb was over 23. You know, so he can do that. Chase in. In the six, eight games that Joe Burrow started last year was 20.1 PPR points per game. Like, these guys are. Are so good. It's like if you really want a wide receiver, because I'm gonna guess the. The two running backs get mixed in there, unless maybe a third creeps up. But the two running backs of Bijan and Gibbs, like, if you want one of the top four, and if you want to say Lamb right now is four, like, you just want to pick six in the first round.
- [56:51]
Host - Adam
Will you just shut up already, Heath? You know, just.
- [56:57]
Co-host - Jamie
That was.
- [56:58]
Co-host - Dan
That was bad effort. Like when you. When it happens, you lose control of the things you say.
- [57:03]
Host - Adam
The shoulders. We know the shoulders.
- [57:05]
Co-host - Jamie
A lot of it, though is like, usually like we're playing pranking each other in some cases too, because like the idiot thing was, you know, we were messing with you.
- [57:12]
Host - Adam
With me.
- [57:12]
Co-host - Dan
That was when I dropped. That was when I dropped Carson Wentz, wasn't it?
- [57:15]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah, right when I told you. I'm like, drop Carson Wentz, we'll just add him back.
- [57:20]
Host - Adam
I don't even.
- [57:21]
Co-host - Jamie
I remember.
- [57:21]
Host - Adam
Okay.
- [57:22]
Co-host - Jamie
It was.
- [57:22]
Host - Adam
You dropped Carson Wentz from the team that we shared without asking me for some scrub receiver on the Jets. And.
- [57:30]
Co-host - Dan
And that was back when you thought Carson Wentz was an elite quarterback.
- [57:33]
Host - Adam
Well, he was an elite quarterback. I thought it. He was. He was great. Yeah. Those are big fight.
- [57:41]
Co-host - Jamie
Gamer Eric says the last big blow up we had was was you going off on me for not dropping the players. I don't remember. You dropped Devin Neal, who's now going to be the starting running back for the Saints. And I hate you.
- [57:55]
Host - Adam
CD Lamb, by the way, is on pace for 156 targets from week seven through 17. And George Pickens was on pace for 146 targets from week seven through 17. Pickens, though, on pace. Oh, they both were on pace for five touchdowns. Pickens, a few more catches. All right. And then tight end Sam Laporta was a tight end you have on here. He's got the back injury hopefully ready for training camp. You have him as a bounce back. And be kind of interesting to sort of. There wasn't a lot of overlap of Sam Laporta being healthy and Jameis and Williams being good. I think maybe one or two games. And then JMO kind of took off after Laporta. Week 10 was his last game. So anyway, you have him as a bounce back. He's frustrating because he's so up and down with a Lot of bad games on this game. Log here for laporta. But anywho, discuss.
- [58:45]
Co-host - Jamie
Well, you have a coach now as an offense coordinator, assuming he's going to be a play caller because Dan Campbell could be the play caller. But Rob Petzing's history is from Cleveland to Arizona. You saw what that combo was.
- [58:59]
Host - Adam
Drew Petzig.
- [59:02]
Co-host - Jamie
I don't know why. I think I must have Rob Pelinka's name in my head for some reason. The general manager, Lakers. Anyway, Drew Petzing from Cleveland was part of that staff when we were fascinated by their tight end production. Goes to Arizona gets arguably maybe the best tight end in, in football right now in, in Trey McBride certainly in the conversation to be that guy. And the production is, is elite. And so there's a lot of mouse to feed in Detroit still. That's not going to change. But Jared Goff has shown the ability to use Sam laporter certainly as a red zone threat. Laporter's rookie season was fantastic. He hasn't gotten back to that level. I think we discussed this either Monday or last week. Like there's a pretty clear cut, probably six tight ends. I think that a lot of people are going to draft in some order. You know, likely if he goes somewhere, may change that. Kyle Pitts, if he goes somewhere else, may change that. But the, the two top tier guys of McBride and Bowers, the four young tight ends of Loveland, Fannin, Warren. Am I forgetting somebody? Maybe it's three. Mitchell says five guys. I'm sorry, Tucker Craft being the sixth. Tucker Craft being the sixth guy LaPorta could and maybe should be right after him. You know, just knowing what he's capable of doing and now getting an offensive mind like Steve Petzick who can, you know, feature him to, to a high level.
- [60:31]
Host - Adam
Detroit, I just want to look at one thing here. Detroit was 12th in points per game in weeks one through seven. And Jared Goff averaged 29 pass attempts per game in their last 10 games. Golf averaged 37.5 pass attempts per game. And let me, that was weeks nine through 18. So I'll tell you where they ranked because this is the second straight year this has happened two straight years where their defense fell apart. They had a lot of injuries. So they go from 12th in points per game in the first half of the season basically for seven games to 25th. And it's just something for everyone to keep in mind that they, they actually could have a good defense if they could just stay healthy. They have a lot of talent on their defense. Last you know, two years ago or 20, 24, it was Hutchinson getting hurt and all of their secondary getting hurt. This year it was basically all of their second area. Again, Ali McNeil missed time, some linebackers missed time. Was crazy. So they are not, maybe not going to throw as much as we hope if, if they're healthy on defense.
- [61:31]
Co-host - Dan
But Laporta basically played when the defense was good, right?
- [61:34]
Co-host - Jamie
Yeah.
- [61:34]
Host - Adam
And Jamo was. Jamo was invisible.
- [61:37]
Co-host - Dan
And he have. Like last year, he averaged a career high in yards per game, catch rate. Yards per catch, yards per target and success rate. Laporta did like. He just scored three touchdowns in nine games. But I'm, I'm very. I may have a hard time when I actually get the projections done keeping Laporte out of the top five. I'm very optimistic about him.
- [61:59]
Host - Adam
But. But in this stretch, he was on pace for 93 targets. But Rob Petzig.
- [62:10]
Co-host - Jamie
Chris. Chris Betsick.
- [62:13]
Co-host - Dan
Yeah.
- [62:14]
Host - Adam
All right, well, there you go. Sam Laporta, bounce back candidate. And that's it for today's show, folks.
- [62:20]
Co-host - Jamie
You and Dan fight a lot. You and Dan fight a lot.
- [62:22]
Host - Adam
Not real fights, though. It was only one thing, Dan, that I actually got mad at.
- [62:28]
Co-host - Dan
You've never screamed I hate you at an octave, three levels higher voice at Dan.
- [62:34]
Host - Adam
Probably many times, I guess.
- [62:37]
Co-host - Dan
By the way, I'm continuing along with the Wire and man, it's so fantastic. You're so wrong about the Wire. I might be 100% right.
- [62:45]
Host - Adam
Willing. I'm willing to be wrong. I'm willing to admit I hope I'm wrong. I'd like to start watching it.
- [62:50]
Co-host - Jamie
Where are you on Sopranos?
- [62:52]
Host - Adam
I'm not.
- [62:52]
Co-host - Jamie
I'm.
- [62:52]
Host - Adam
I'm done with the Sopranos.
- [62:53]
Co-host - Dan
But I remembered I. I realized why you don't like it.
- [62:57]
Host - Adam
Why?
- [62:58]
Co-host - Dan
Because the picture that is shown and the character that's in the first season that you just have never really liked.
- [63:06]
Host - Adam
I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't really remember. I just remember being bored.
- [63:10]
Co-host - Dan
It's on the Twitter list.
- [63:14]
Host - Adam
No, I never said that about Michael Jordan. Right. Michael B. Jordan.
- [63:22]
Co-host - Jamie
Keith, what do you make of the. I forget who it was from the chief saying that they expect Kelsey back.
- [63:29]
Co-host - Dan
I'm not really surprised. I'm not really surprised by. By that. He. I don't think he wants to go out like that.
- [63:36]
Co-host - Jamie
It's.
- [63:36]
Co-host - Dan
It's going to be really interesting if they bring in another wide receiver trying to figure this out. But if not, just kind of expect that it's going to be a little bit better than it's been with Nagy. There's.
- [63:48]
Host - Adam
Gamer. Eric says, I've been watching Mayor of Kingstown about halfway into season one. Great stuff.
- [63:53]
Co-host - Dan
Fantastic show.
- [63:54]
Host - Adam
I don't, I just don't understand why the reviews are not good for Mayor of Kingstown. It's not like a critically acclaimed show.
- [64:00]
Co-host - Dan
I'm not sure I've ever looked at the critics reviews of any show that I've ever watched and I don't know why I would care.
- [64:05]
Host - Adam
No, I haven't either. But I, I just wanted to read some reviews after season four ended. And I guess season four was the most favorably reviewed season. And I don't necessarily think it was the best.
- [64:17]
Co-host - Dan
It was, it was your least favorite season, wasn't it?
- [64:19]
Host - Adam
I, No, I wouldn't say that.
- [64:21]
Co-host - Dan
I thought you said nothing happened. No.
- [64:24]
Co-host - Jamie
What.
- [64:25]
Co-host - Dan
Okay. I thought that's what you said.
- [64:26]
Host - Adam
I don't think I said that because I don't think that.
- [64:29]
Co-host - Dan
Okay.
- [64:30]
Host - Adam
Stranger Things last season was my least favorite Stranger Things season. I'd have to say.
- [64:34]
Co-host - Dan
Oh, I thought it was fantastic.
- [64:35]
Host - Adam
You liked it too much.
- [64:37]
Co-host - Dan
I think we ever talked about this.
- [64:38]
Host - Adam
You liked it way too much.
- [64:39]
Co-host - Dan
That's a big, big problem of mine.
- [64:41]
Host - Adam
Well, you're not, you're not critical enough. I can't take recommendations seriously if you're not going to dislike any shows.
- [64:48]
Co-host - Dan
Well, I just, I, I, I didn't like Game of Thrones.
- [64:51]
Host - Adam
Oh, then I definitely can't take you seriously. The one show you should like.
- [64:57]
Co-host - Dan
I don't watch shows like a critic. I just like what I like to watch and watch that.
- [65:03]
Host - Adam
I don't watch shows like a critic.
- [65:05]
Co-host - Jamie
Either, but it sounds like you do.
- [65:08]
Host - Adam
I disagree with the critics about Mayor of Kings. I don't know anyone who has not liked Mayor of Kings. My dad. My dad doesn't like Bear of Kings pink stuff.
- [65:14]
Co-host - Jamie
Your dad doesn't like anything.
- [65:16]
Host - Adam
He likes a lot of shows like he watches his tv, but he doesn't.
- [65:20]
Co-host - Jamie
Like wearing pink stuff or people or.
- [65:23]
Host - Adam
Yeah, he likes some people. All right, we're out of here, folks. We'll talk to you on Friday with a mailbag. Submit your questions. Fantasy Football cbsi.com. PARAMOUNT Podcast Tires matter.
- [65:43]
Advertiser/Promoter
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