32 Preseason Takeaways + Key Questions - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/18

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast

Episode Summary: "32 Preseason Takeaways + Key Questions" – August 18, 2025

Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike “The Fantasy Hitman” Wright
Theme: Comprehensive breakdown of key preseason takeaways for all 32 NFL teams, critical positional battles, rookie and injury updates, and their fantasy implications as the regular season approaches.

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Episode Overview

The Footballers confront the delicate balance of not overreacting or underreacting to preseason performances (“don’t overreact, but don’t underreact either”), sprinting through rapid-fire takeaways for every NFL team. They offer sharp insight into depth charts, rookie progress, and injury fallout, translating everything into actionable fantasy questions and ranking swings. The episode’s second half opens up to audience questions about bench/IR setups, sleeper QBs, and general keeper-league strategy. The trio also reacts live to news breaking on the show.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Table: Preseason Analysis Philosophy

• Andy: “We said don’t overreact to the preseason, but you don’t want to under underreact either. So you’ve got to find that, that balance and we’re going to try to do that today.” (03:13)
• The Footballers aim for level-headed evaluation while sifting through preseason data, applying practical fantasy context.

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2. News & Notes: Injury & Suspension Updates

• Cleveland RB Room Chaos:
  • Quinshon Judkins will not face charges, but remains unsigned—NFL suspension possible, onboarding & trust issues for fantasy early on. If signed, “he’s the best running back on the roster” (25:37–25:42).
• Commanders RB Shuffle: Rumors Washington is shopping Brian Robinson Jr. Seventh-rounder “Lil Bill” Jacory Kroski-Merritt is trending up but is a long shot due to minimal college production.
• Rashee Rice Suspension: Likely to settle before a drawn-out hearing (“I think they’ll get to a settlement. I think we’ll hear something”—Andy, 12:46)
• A.J. Brown Injury: Not practicing, risk profile rising.
• Devon Achane (Miami) Update: Injury phrase “days and weeks” likely means not hamstring, but still concerning for an undersized back.
• Joe Mixon: NFI list, not a safe pick (“He’s not a safe draft pick”—Andy, 15:51).

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3. Preseason Takeaways: Team by Team Insights

AFC East

• Buffalo: Ray Davis as 3rd RB slightly boosts security for James Cook. Ty Johnson no threat.
• Miami: Jalen Wright played ahead but underwhelmed, rookie Ollie Gordon looks better (“I just don’t think Jalen Wright is good enough”—Jason, 21:45).
• New England: Trevion Henderson handled all 3rd downs, Antonio Gibson started but seen as procedural.
• Jets: Braylon Allen soaking up 3rd downs, but looming timeshare; Justin Fields worries abound (“Justin Fields is not a good passer”—Andy, 24:18; “He’s not”—Jason, 24:20).

AFC North

• Baltimore/Cincinnati: No takeaways—all starters rested or not yet played.
• Cleveland: Sampson & Ford rested, still a wait-and-see for rookie Judkins.
• Pittsburgh: Kenny Gainwell playing ahead of hyped rookie Caleb Johnson; patience needed.

AFC South

• Houston: Nick Chubb played most snaps with Stroud—deep 0RB play while Mixon is out.
• Colts: Tight end Tyler Warren is everywhere with starters (“He looks awesome”—Andy, 28:49).
• Jacksonville: Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne roles swapped week-to-week; Cohen’s scheme resurrects hope in Lawrence.
• Tennessee: Rookie WR Alec Iomanor (“Epic Iomanor”) flashed; Ridley and Lockett didn’t play.

AFC West

• Denver: Sutton, Mims, Vail rested. Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant impressed but WR room feels “hodgepodge.”
• KC: Pacheco, Hunt, and Elijah Mitchell as the RB order.
• Raiders: Jacoby Myers locked in slot, Deonte Thornton and Trey Tucker getting significant run with starters.
• Chargers: Quentin Johnston injured, but Keandre Lambert-Smith and Trey Harris shine as depth.

NFC East

• Dallas: Javonte rested with starters; RB room murky.
• Giants: Russell Wilson highlighted for deep ball; Jackson Dart’s quick passing.
• Eagles: Will Shipley is clearly RB2, making him ideal for late handcuff.
• Commanders: Awaiting additional info.

NFC North

• Bears: Caleb Williams’s offense looks good, but TE splitting (Kmet/Loveland) may limit Loveland.
• Lions: Isaac Tesla flashed, but not running with starters yet. Tesla a deep watch-list candidate.
• Packers: Marshawn Lloyd hurt; Emmanuel Wilson now clear Jacobs backup.
• Vikings: Nothing meaningful—everyone rested.

NFC South

• Atlanta: Starters all rested.
• Carolina: Chuba Hubbard still early-down guy; Dowdle enters on 3rd downs—RB roles clarified.
• Saints: QB battle “which bad quarterback starts”—Rattler slight favorite, little fantasy optimism. Rashid Shaheed’s slot usage is an intriguing wrinkle.
• Tampa Bay: Emeka Egbuka’s strong showing coincides with receiver injuries; Bucky Irving flashed as a receiver—potential sleeper.

NFC West

• Cards/Rams: Rested nearly everyone. Corum now clear backup to Kyren.
• 49ers: Pearsall keeps rising after strong camp. DeMarcus Robinson quietly gaining steam.
• Seahawks: Charbonnet looks great while Walker rests; “the plan” could mean expanded timeshare. Cooper Kupp in the slot more. A.J. Barner as a sneaky TE to monitor.

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4. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Preseason Overreaction:
  “You’ve got to find that, that balance and we’re going to try to do that today.” – Andy (03:13)

• Jets QB Concern:
  “Justin Fields is not a good passer” – Andy (24:18) “He’s not. ... Garrett Wilson is going to be hurt by Justin Fields.” – Jason (24:20)

• Rookies Flashing:
  “Epic Iomanor ... he was epic in this game. He looked great.” – Andy on Titans’ WR Iomanor (32:53)

• On Running Back Carnage in SF:
  “Is this the only way to keep CMC healthy? Is he like siphoning their health?” – Jason (17:31)

• Sleeper of the Week Award:
  “If there was no Brock Bowers, I would say there's an outside role. That's an opportunity on the outside. But I think you're dead on.” – Andy, on Raiders WR Deonte Thornton (36:29)

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5. Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Preseason Overreaction Reminder (03:13)
• Cleveland RB News & Judkins Discussion (05:12–07:16; again at 25:37)
• Commanders RB Room Shakeup (07:16–08:51)
• Rashee Rice Suspension Update (11:16–12:46)
• Joe Mixon Injury & Draft Caution (15:51)
• Preseason Takeaways Begin (19:48)
• Jets’ Justin Fields Woes (24:08)
• Raiders WR Depth Chart Explained (34:31–36:08)
• Packers RB Backup Update (44:50)
• Saints QB & WR Slot Update (45:43–46:29)
• 49ers WR Pearsall Value (49:12)
• Seahawks RB & Passing Game Plan (50:18–52:41)

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6. Mailbag & Fantasy Strategy

Bench vs. IR Roster Spots

• IR is not identical to a bench spot—removing IR and adding a bench spot affects waiver wire depth and overall strategy.
  “Having an IR spot is so good. It's more fun, it's better strategy.” – Jason (56:03)

Sleeper QBs

• Bryce Young:
  As a flyer, possible top-15 finish if his 400+ rushing pace holds. Not a primary target; “there are so many guys late where you're like, no, that guy's a flyer.” – Mike (56:45)

C.J. Stroud’s Outlook

• Lacks rushing; O-line and run game declining. Consistency an issue. Not much discussed because upside is capped (58:01–58:47).

Calvin Ridley’s Floor with Rookie QB

• 1,000-yard WRs rarely produced by rookie QBs unless overwhelming target share (>26%). Ridley could reach that, but risk is real. (59:30–59:56)

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Live News Reaction:
Joe Flacco named Browns’ Week 1 starter, boosting confidence in David Njoku and Jerry Jeudy as streaming plays for Week 1 (60:00–61:15).
“David Njoku. Draft David Njoku, Jerry Jeudy ...” – Mike

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Final Takeaways

• RB rooms are volatile—rookie progress and depth chart movement is essential to monitor.
• Injuries are reshaping depth charts and should be incorporated into late-draft strategy.
• Rookie WRs and TEs are flashing upside but often need a few weeks before becoming dependable.
• Don’t overcommit to preseason breakouts, but don’t ignore them—the Footballers advocate targeting high-upside players after examining context and opportunity, especially in ambiguous position battles.
• Stay fluid with rankings and tiers as news breaks—their recommendations and UDK will keep updating with new camp and injury info.

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For more actionable insight, check out the Ultimate Draft Kit at UltimateDraftKit.com and catch the Footballers’ livestream for late-breaking news!

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This summary captures all the relevant fantasy news, discussion, and actionable advice, organized for maximum utility as you make those critical draft decisions.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

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[Jason Moore]

The Fantasy Footballer studio is sponsored by Walmart. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and M. Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in Monday, August 18th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Back with you. Week two of the preseason almost in the. In the books. In the rearview mirror, it's. We got one more game, get some Bengals commanders tonight, but we'll talk preseason week two takeaways. I jotted down something for every team that we can blitz through and then I'm going to. I'm going to translate the takeaways into a fantasy question for you gentlemen and then you guys can tell me how things are going by way of rankings.

[Mike]

And adjustments and give you a yes or a no.

[Jason Moore]

Nice. Oh, to declare. That's the kind of analysis.

[Andy Holloway]

Also, I have to ask it a yes or no.

[Mike]

No. You can ask whatever question you want.

[Andy Holloway]

That's just.

[Jason Moore]

But you're getting a yes or a no.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You guys.

[Mike]

How many yards? And I'll be like, yes.

[Andy Holloway]

You guys had a long weekend.

[Jason Moore]

We did.

[Mike]

Yeah, we did.

[Jason Moore]

We did.

[Mike]

We were at a wedding.

[Andy Holloway]

You were.

[Jason Moore]

You were out in middle of August.

[Mike]

And now I'm very sleepy. But we're here and you were.

[Andy Holloway]

It wasn't like a normal destination. It was just like you were kind of. You traveled away.

[Jason Moore]

It was a destination. It was certainly not close and.

[Andy Holloway]

But you're back and we've got a lot of news to cover. We've got Mailbag on the show as well. If we have some time. We got a big announcement. If you're.

[Mike]

If you're. I told you, man, things, things are going to be wacky today.

[Andy Holloway]

Today is going to be wild. But we've got great stuff for you.

[Mike]

But the filters are off.

[Andy Holloway]

Y. I picked up on that one. You just went, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Welcome in, everybody. Look, we did have a tips and tricks show last week and we said don't overreact to the preseason, but you don't want to under underreact either. So you've got to find that, that balance and we're going to try to do that today. Like I said, we've got some takeaways. But the big announcement. If you're listening to this show, there's a few hours left to enter for your chance to win a UDK for Life. It's our UDK for Life giveaway. We're also going to give away a signed Jamar Chase jersey. He's pretty good at football.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And you need to enter by purchasing the udk, the UDK plus, or an Ultimate Foot Clan membership before our livestream this afternoon. So we've got a live stream this afternoon. You can go over to YouTube.com the fantasy footballer. Subscribe, click the bell. We'll notify you when we're live or answering questions. And we're doing those giveaways live on the show this afternoon. Ultimate Draft Kit.com if you already purchased the UDK, you're entered to win in the giveaway this afternoon already. And if you are going to draft soon and don't have the udk, it is the number one tool to help you win your draft. So you can check that out. Ultimate Draft Kit.com I want to jump right in because we've got news to cover and then we've got all these preseason takeaways and there's just a lot to get through. So we'll jump. We'll jump in right now.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league, presented by Progressive Insurance.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks, you would like me to remind you there's another very big announcement tomorrow.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, just tease. It's just a tease.

[Mike]

It's just. It's a monster. There's just a little monster tease.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm sleepy. Wake me up tomorrow.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Well, we didn't get to cover this because we had just recorded before we got this news, but the Cleveland Browns. Yeah, there are always updates around the Browns Quinn Sean Judkins, who is at one point this off season other than Ashton Genti, was, was some of our favorite.

[Jason Moore]

Like when I, when I finished adding the udk, he was the second highest. I mean, obviously Genti being like a first round pick was super high, but he came out highest in my expected projections for 2025. So it's been quite a roller coaster because he's gone from, he's gone from, you know, probably the second best pick potentially at running back to I don't know if he plays football this year or signs with the Browns to now.

[Andy Holloway]

The news, which is that in a statement Thursday, an NFL spokesperson said the league had been, quote, following developments in the matter, he won't face formal misdemeanor battery charges over an alleged domestic incident in South Florida last month. He is still unsigned. He does not have a contract with the Browns right now. If you watch the preseason game, Jerome Ford, Dylan Sampson, both didn't play because they rested with the starters. So those are the two players that are lined up to play running back. You know, obviously Nick Chubb departed this off season. Jerome Ford came back. Quinch on Judkins was supposed to be.

[Jason Moore]

The future number 36 pick, very talented running back. That was going to be the new Nick Chubb. So now we know he's not facing charges. The NFL can still suspend him.

[Mike]

They, I'm going to project they still will Right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Jimmy Haslam said he's cautiously optimistic that he'll play for the team in 2025. That's all. We have no contract yet.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he said that back in July. So this, this was, this is new news that because it looked like he was definitely, you know, going to have charges brought against him. I mean, he was arrested. So now there is a chance, there is a chance that he doesn't get suspended and is available for the entire.

[Andy Holloway]

Season, which he has not practiced and played with the team yet. And so that'll be something to, you know, from an onboarding perspective, how much do they trust him? When do they trust him, all of that. But we'll follow that news and get it along to you as we get it. There was news, I believe yesterday that the Commanders had been shopping Brian Robinson Jr. To teams around the NFL. If you remember, Brian Robinson Jr. And I believe Austin Eckler are both on the final years of their contracts with the Commanders. Jakori Krosky. Merritt has gotten a lot of off season hype and buzz. He was a seventh round pick. He had very little production in college. He had One year at. I think it's New Mexico or New Mexico State. And then he transferred and played one game in Arizona. That's it. That's all he had. He had a very productive one year. The nastiest of nasty boys. Mike, if you want to hit that drop. But we're at the point. Do you have a giant drop board now?

[Mike]

I've had this forever.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, really?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You got the big boy over there.

[Mike]

Well, it's. I got, I got these fun knobs and things too.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't have all the buttons, but.

[Mike]

I can swipe between.

[Andy Holloway]

It just caught my eye. I didn't know if you were gonna be firing off some sound effects through the. Got any horns?

[Mike]

No, the producers have wisely not given me very many options.

[Andy Holloway]

Just knobs that do nothing so you.

[Jason Moore]

Can feel like you're doing something.

[Andy Holloway]

That's great.

[Mike]

I look like I'm real busy over here guys.

[Andy Holloway]

But let's talk about this Brian Robinson and maybe the team feels comfortable enough with cross key Merritt working in with. With Eckler that they were willing to shop Brian Robinson. We don't know a lot more than that one report.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's such a weird thing to come out and be.

[Andy Holloway]

They are going to play football soon.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean as of right now, Brian Robinson is the presumed 1A of the backfield for a good offense. He's been a target. Both him and Austin Eckler have been targets because you're talking double digit, you know, ten plus round in your draft where they, they're going to score fantasy points. So if he left that would be very interesting for Lil Bill as Jacori goes by.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And. Or Austin Eckler.

[Mike]

The. And just to add Andy more context, he like he really only had one year of true production. I mean he played a lot of years of college. Like he played at Alabama State and then he went to a big program in New Mexico and then transferred to U of A where he got, you know, 13 carries. So I struggle very much with this situation of this. He's 24 years old. He was a seventh round pick. And I know yes, late round guys come out of nowhere sometimes. Like Isaiah Pacheco.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I'll just bring up who everyone wants to bring up. Alfred Morris because he was a. He was that for the literal team and they, they want to project that onto Kraski Mary.

[Mike]

But the, you know, for forever Isaiah Pacheco, it did work out eventually. You know, like I believe his rookie year, it wasn't spectacular for fantasy football, but he did take the job, but it's just reminder. Remember Kamani Vidal Sassoon?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike]

Last year. That dude's going to take over the chart. Like, it's very difficult for day three guys to truly take over, but this is. You got to at least pay attention.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We can name them because they're so few. Steve Slayton and Philip Lindsay and, you know, a handful of guys over the years. But if Brian Robinson was traded, that just makes him relevant immediately.

[Mike]

If Robinson is traded, it's a huge deal because he will be. Krusky Merritt would take that role.

[Andy Holloway]

Terry McLaurin activated off the pup, but he doesn't have the contract.

[Mike]

He wants to activate that money. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

He's not activated off of the business. Yeah. Like the business, Pop. Yeah. The one that. Hey, I worked for.

[Andy Holloway]

James financially unable to perform.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

The Foppy. I don't like that. Hey, Tom Pellissero, your favorite guy, Mike.

[Mike]

Oh, who's. Who's we hyping up now?

[Andy Holloway]

Just saying it's still a possibility that Rashi Rice and the NFLPA and everybody come to an agreement on a settlement for a suspension that would allow him to be suspended at the beginning of the year. Instead of waiting.

[Mike]

We did have an update. So the last report was, you know, that they're waiting four weeks or so into the season before he even has his true meeting here with his. With his judge, which we got some more context on. That was what I saw from the rumor mill that the league was coming after like 10 games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike]

And the Rasheed Rice gave was like, oh, no, we are not going to take that. So we're going to move forward as far as possible into, you know, having an independent person look at it. So there is a judge who was not able schedule wise to fit this to look at this case. And for the four weeks that was the reason for the delay. But.

[Andy Holloway]

But they could.

[Jason Moore]

As of right now. As of right now, between weeks four and five, he's going to have his moment to speak with. Is a judge.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I believe it is a disciplinary hearing with the same judge that covered the desean Watson suspension situation. It could take her time from the end of the hearing to her decision in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 weeks.

[Jason Moore]

It came quick. It came quick with Deshaun Watson, I.

[Andy Holloway]

Believe just took some time.

[Mike]

It's up in the air of this is still extremely messy. And you're going to have to make your own personal decision of how much Rasheed Rice, I think the risk.

[Andy Holloway]

I think they'll get to A settlement. I think we'll hear something. But AJ Brown still not practicing, which is not great.

[Mike]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

We're getting closer to the season. That's a heads up for you. I had to increase the risk rating and lower a little bit of my projection for AJ Brown just out of hedging. The Eagles then went and traded for John Mechi from the Texans in exchange for Harrison Bryant and a day three pick swap. John Mechi was. He was a player that there was a lot of excitement for. He underwent cancer treatment.

[Mike]

Yeah. He lost his rookie year to treating his cancer. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And then we had. He just hasn't been able to kind of work himself into the rotation enough. So new chance with Philadelphia and they do this, they find a way to just grab some guys that haven't had the opportunities that they think maybe they deserve.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. They went and got Dotson.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

After, you know, it's like these. These were. They've got wide receivers who were supposed to be better than they, you know, performed on the NFL field. But John Metchie is reunited with devonte Smith. They were both at Alabama together.

[Andy Holloway]

That's fun. Yep. We've got more injury updates. Malik Neighbors is dealing with a back injury. So back, shoulder, toe.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's just normal back tightness.

[Andy Holloway]

That is the quote.

[Jason Moore]

That was the quote. It's just normal back tightness.

[Mike]

This is great news for me because that's how I wake up every day. And it's.

[Jason Moore]

That's you.

[Andy Holloway]

And we're league neighbors.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

The exact same.

[Mike]

Yeah. Pretty similar athletic profile, but also normal back tightness.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Mike McDaniel says he's currently not concerned about some big news. Devon Achan, who's dealing with a lower body soft tissue issue. And you know, I saw some medical experts talk about this basically saying, look, if this was hamstring, because the quote from McDaniel was days and weeks, if it was hamstring, it would be weeks automatically. So he's kind of ruling out hamstring. He's kind of leaning towards this is either groin adductor, something like that.

[Jason Moore]

Well, there's one way to find out.

[Andy Holloway]

Days.

[Mike]

Is he on the index?

[Jason Moore]

I'm checking.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he might. The reason he might not be telling us what's hurting is because he doesn't want to end up on groinindex.com yeah.

[Jason Moore]

They do that now.

[Mike]

They don't have to fully report it.

[Andy Holloway]

So this is not great though, because HN is. He's an undersized back. He is. Has an injury history, although last year he made it through, but previously to that he had an injury history. And then we're going to talk more in the preseason takeaways about the backup options there. But Achan right now, not concerned about his Week one availability. But I don't like any preseason injuries at this point. Speaking of which, Joe Mixon is still, quote, not considered a lock to be ready for the Week 1 game against the Rams. There was a picture, viral picture spreading from a podiatrist this weekend with a. He was featured with Joe Mixon and it was like, hey, I'm so happy to be part of Joe Mixon's recovery team. And this was like a podiatrist, a foot guy talking about this. So there's something going on with the foot. He's still on the nfi and I've seen a couple of unsubstantiated reports of people pulling him off their board completely. But again, it's like, could this dude just show up in Week one? You got to hedge a little bit. He's not a safe draft pick.

[Jason Moore]

No, there are a few guys we're getting to the time of year now where these are. It's so hard to remember that this isn't just some piece of paper Week one game. Like there's a human being who either is able to play football or isn't. Hasn't been able to this whole off season. We're 17 days away from NFL games being played. You have to, you know, you have to get out there right now mixing Stafford. These guys who have just spent the entire off season unable to play football scare the tarnation out of me. Like, I certainly am not drafting any of them at adp. In Stafford's situation, he affects everybody. That's hurting all Rams.

[Andy Holloway]

And we'll talk about the backup options there in our preseason takeaways as well. Quentin Johnston or sorry, yeah, Quentin Johnston went down. Yeah, he got parted off concussion symptoms. This is in the preseason game. Same with Jaleel. Sorry. Jalen McMillan, who. That. That looked very painful as well. He folded up and got hurt. And we'll talk about the wide receivers for the Buccaneers, but the most recent report is that he, quote, avoided anything major, which is good news. Keaton Mitchell, hamstring injury, running back for the Ravens, depth piece behind Derek Henry, the 49ers.

[Jason Moore]

What Mercy. You can add that's they're just all yelling, mercy, mercy. Have mercy on us.

[Andy Holloway]

You can add Patrick Taylor and Corey Kiner, both running backs.

[Jason Moore]

I don't even know who Corey Kiner has. Never heard that name in My life.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Well, he was taking like significant snaps because Garendo Jordan James, Amir Abdullah, all out now. Patrick Taylor, dislocated shoulder kiner, high ankle sprain. Right now.

[Jason Moore]

Is this the only way to keep CMC healthy? Is he like siphoning their health?

[Mike]

He is, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Keyshawn Vaughn and Jeff Wilson are healthy. They have both of those players.

[Jason Moore]

Keyshawn Vaughn and Jeff Wilson.

[Mike]

We're back, man.

[Jason Moore]

Get on your knees because y' all about to, y' all about to go down.

[Andy Holloway]

This is like what's the most recent, that movie that just came out again?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, final destination.

[Andy Holloway]

49Ers running back room. You know, Pat, Marshawn Lloyd, he played in the preseason game. He hurt himself in the preseason game. Marshawn Lloyd had a great reception. Looked, you know, explosive people in camp, very explosive hamstring. Now injured.

[Mike]

He's, he's too explosive.

[Andy Holloway]

So he is for his muscles. I mean, basically he's going to start the season hurt again and it's not going to be him as the backup for Josh Jacobs. And it's, it's awful because you're never going to see him play football.

[Jason Moore]

Last year, it feels like last year he had a hip injury, a hamstring strain, an ankle sprain and appendicitis.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, mixing that in.

[Jason Moore]

And then he's starting this year off with the groin strain earlier. Finally gets back and now hamstring again.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that was news and notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third party insurers not available in all states or situations. Coverage subject to policy terms, limits and conditions. All right, we will take a break and let's jump into some preseason. What's up, VO Clan? You can't count on much these days, but you can always count on Sundays with the NFL on CBS and Paramount. Plus. That's right, football fans. Watch your local NFL game live every Sunday on CBS and Paramount. Plus all season long. This year's schedule is absolutely stacked with rivalries and revenge games, including the next chapter of the epic Bills Chiefs saga. So stay connected to it all on any device at home or on the go. Visit paramountplus.com NFL to get started today and count on Sundays for another must see season of the NFL on CBS and Paramount plus. All right, we had a second week of preseason football. Only one week left of preseason to kind of figure out some things about these players and see them on the field. Time to talk takeaways.

[Jason Moore]

Preseason power up.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, gentlemen, I am going to.

[Mike]

Oh the papers are out.

[Andy Holloway]

I got the papers out.

[Mike]

The papers.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to blitz these and I don't want people out there to think that I'm going to be exhaustive about every single one of these games, teams or players. That is not what this is going to be. This is going to be just some kind of headline, takeaways for each and every team, or there were a couple of teams that literally just didn't play like first and second stringers at all, and those teams don't have takeaways. But I'm just going to ask some questions about fantasy based on what we're seeing. For Buffalo, they really played no starters. The one thing that was significant to me, Ray Davis played and Ty Johnson, James Cook, they didn't play. So from a depth chart perspective, I think that's a little bit interesting because I don't look at Ty Johnson at this juncture of his career to be anybody that's a threat to James Cook at all. He is a very complimentary player. Where Ray Davis, young sophomore player, explosive. Him playing in the third spot really feels like it's another boost to James Cook, who just signed the contract, like, just being secure.

[Mike]

I feel like it's a statement that, you know, Cook is the starter and Ty Johnson just. He has his role and Ray Davis is James Cook's backup.

[Andy Holloway]

I think that's fair. Jason, with Miami and HN getting hurt, we did have Jalen Wright play ahead of Ali Gordon in this game. Yeah, but Ollie Gordon was great again, Jalen Wright. And Jalen Wright was like point 8 a carry.

[Mike]

Is he just not.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Before this game. Yeah. No, I think that's the issue. I think Jalen Wright is not good.

[Andy Holloway]

It's not being good at the game.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, his vision. His vision is terrible. He's a great athlete.

[Mike]

The rookie year was left a lot wanting and we're already in a place of like, hey, look at. In Ollie Gordon. I was a day three guy. Yeah, he already looked.

[Jason Moore]

He was round six.

[Andy Holloway]

I think that's a headline. Ollie Gordon, from a depth perspective, a.

[Jason Moore]

Chance right now, like, prior to this week of preseason football, I personally chose to give Ollie Gordon higher stats than Jalen Wright, which is very against the grain, but it. I just don't think Jalen Wright is good enough If. If he proves me wrong. The opportunity there in that backfield is great.

[Mike]

Jalen Wright among 89 rookie running backs with 70 or more touches since 2017, Wright ranked dead last in yards per touch. So it is to put a number to how kind of stinky it was.

[Andy Holloway]

He can sprint.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. His 40 yard dash. Excellent.

[Andy Holloway]

But the vision thing like they wanted. They're talking about making him the goal line back. That's what the opportunity they gave him in the first week of the preseason. They were stuffed again. They're the worst short yardage team in football. Maybe Ollie Gordon's part of that solution.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know if Derek Henry could be a successful goal line back there.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean it's just he definitely hasn't been able.

[Mike]

It's not be hyperbolic. Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

He'd be fine.

[Jason Moore]

He'd be better for sure. But I'm just saying they've got a really bad offensive line.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. By the way, AFC east is where I'm starting here. New England first sentence. Travion seems inevitable. Thoughts, Mike?

[Jason Moore]

I believe we know Mike's yes or no answer to that question.

[Andy Holloway]

So he took all the third downs with the starters in this game.

[Mike]

You didn't take any. Anything from Antonio Gibson being the actual starter.

[Andy Holloway]

I was going to say Antonio Gibson was the.

[Mike]

We got to make the rookie earn it.

[Andy Holloway]

Was the procedural starter. Is that old man coach?

[Mike]

Yes, it is.

[Andy Holloway]

Can we be like rookie. Very similar to.

[Mike]

Unleash him, Richard. Unleash him unless you don't want to win.

[Andy Holloway]

He'll be unleashed. So the question is how unleashed will he be in ADP and do you overspend on him because he's so sexy?

[Mike]

Yeah. And there will be a timeshare. I just think that Henderson is so good. He will be the leader of that speaking.

[Andy Holloway]

And Fton Chisholm shout out to you.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

That was like another amazing performance. The New York Jets. Speaking of timeshares, Braylon Allen took all.

[Mike]

Man, listen.

[Andy Holloway]

He took all third downs.

[Jason Moore]

That was so weird.

[Andy Holloway]

And he was 7 for 34. I think Breeze was like 6 for 36 or something like that. They were. It's going to be a timeshare in New York. But the past catching has been the like saving grace caveat. And I know third down is not everything. Right?

[Mike]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

You watch this game and there's two takeaways. One, the committee situation. And two, I know Mike doesn't want to hear it. So I'm going to tell you, Jason, just me and you.

[Jason Moore]

I'm willing to hear it because I know what you're going to say.

[Andy Holloway]

Justin Fields is not a good passer.

[Jason Moore]

He's not. He's not going to. Garrett Wilson is going to be hurt by Justin Fields.

[Mike]

He. It's not good vibes.

[Andy Holloway]

Right now, no, I mean, we have. There's no receiver that has shown us that opportunity mixed with bad quarterback play does not equal fantasy success more than Garrett Wilson. He's had the targets, what, the most ever in three years or something like that? Yeah. So it is depressing to see.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he had 168 targets and finished as the wide receiver 32 that same year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And Justin Fields, like, these were bunnies in this game that he missed. He was one for five passing, I believe. But they were. You're talking about like Breeze hall for a dump off. You know what I mean? Like over his head, like little. It's only five passes. It's not the whole season. You don't overreact to it. But you also, like, understand that Justin Fields has played for three teams now, like if he was the super answer for a team, the worst team in football doesn't easily sign you. So that's the concern there. AFC North, I literally have nothing for Baltimore. All the. All the starters rested. Cincinnati, they haven't played. So no takeaways. Future takeaways. They play tonight. Cleveland, I mentioned it. Sampson and Ford, those guys rested with the starters. We're waiting on Quinch on Judkins. Do you have any gauge of, like, if Judkins signs tomorrow, is it just. That's the guy you take the shot on late in drafts. You don't worry about the other guys.

[Jason Moore]

I would take him ahead of the other guys. He's the. He's the best running back on the roster. They drafted him to be their main start.

[Mike]

It will take time, though. You're going to have to hold for a few weeks. A rookie who has no training camp whatsoever. I mean, I guess if he signed tomorrow, he gets a couple weeks, but they're already making plans, so.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I would agree. When I talked about the fact that I had him ranked highest right. When the UDK was released of the Non Ash and Genti rookies, that was because of the presupposition that he would be the week one starter.

[Mike]

Yeah, he is.

[Jason Moore]

That's not in the cards anymore. He's not coming out week one and getting the bulk of the work.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, they still. That's a good translation into this guy. This is another player I think maybe we have to wait on a little bit more. That's a storyline on a few of these is maybe we have to wait a little longer than we want. But with Pittsburgh, Kenny Gainwell started up above Caleb Johnson again. Johnson, I really like this. That's the coach making him earn it. Johnson had, like, he got stuffed a bunch. He had some good runs. It was a mixed bag to me. But Gainwell over Caleb Johnson. Right now, it's Warren sitting with the starters. No Rogers. No. No Warren. Now Gainwell's playing ahead of Caleb. We may have to wait a little bit longer on Mr. Caleb Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

Just make sure if you're out there, don't draft Caleb Johnson. Just. Just don't do it. Let him fall to me really late. I will scoop him up everywhere.

[Andy Holloway]

So you're not dissuaded by this?

[Jason Moore]

No. I mean, it's funny because whenever you see. You watch the video and, you know, you see the film, you see someone tweet out, oh, look how great he looks, or look how terrible he looks. And it could be the exact same video. You see what you want to see. I want to see him look great. He looks fine to me. Like, genuinely, when I watch, I'm like, this is. Other than the egregious drop last week, his. His film was good. He broke some tackles, had some explosive plays. He had a ton of great cutbacks this last week. So I think he looks great.

[Andy Holloway]

AFC South, Houston. Chubb played 11 of 14 snaps with C.J. stroud. Now, Damian Pierce couldn't work himself in. He's still recovering from the quad injury, But Chubb played 11 of 14 with the starters. It seems like if there's no mix in Nick Chubb is like, where does he belong in drafts late?

[Mike]

You know, like, if you're going with a more 0 RB approach, he is probably someone who's just gross, that you can roll out there the first couple of weeks. You know, he will get opportunities. The Texans should be a good offense, so, like, you have a chance of a touchdown every single week, you know, while he is the starter.

[Andy Holloway]

Also with the Texans right now, it seems very solidified that it's Nico Collins and Christian Kirk.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And then the more interesting thing is Xavier Hutchinson's been playing ahead of Jaden Higgins. Jaden Higgins seems like another guy. You may have to wait a little longer before you get the benefits of. I don't think it'll be very long of that upside. Okay, the Colts. My one thing I wrote down, Warren is awesome.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

97% of all snaps with starters through two preseason games.

[Jason Moore]

Deep downfield targets.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, he looks. He looks awesome.

[Jason Moore]

That is rookie tight end Tyler Warren.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. In this game, Richardson was 6 for 11 for 73 yards. Jones was 7 for 11 for one on one. Neither of them really separated.

[Jason Moore]

Both. Both had their good moments. Who do you think is going to be the starter week one?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I, I think, I think that's an interesting question because I think it should be Daniel Jones if you. I think he's the better player. It's really hilarious that he looks like the stabilizing player for a quarterback room because he is the least stabilizing quarterback historically. But I think from a, like, position standpoint as a team, like, what's the easier thing to do? It's easier to me to give Richardson the start. Yeah, let him. Let him. If he collapses again, you've got Daniel Jones waiting. The other, the other thing in reverse seems a lot harder because you can't go away from Richardson. If you bring him in after Jones, it's harder to pull the.

[Mike]

You know, you just look like a circus emergency court.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, it's, it's.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, we know exactly what Daniel Jones is. We've. We've seen years and years of him as a starting NFL quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he's the better quarterback, though. I think he's definitely the better quarterback.

[Mike]

I think he is right now.

[Jason Moore]

But it's just.

[Mike]

But he could be your future and your ceiling.

[Andy Holloway]

The season starts Miami at home. They're favored.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Then they're at home against Denver. That's a tough defense. Then they go on the road against Tennessee, not favored. Then they're on the road against the Rams. I don't know if that plays into your decision making, who you think they're going to start.

[Jason Moore]

I think they'll start with Anthony Richardson, but tbd, they, you know, they'll announce it next week.

[Andy Holloway]

I. As somebody who wants to see Tyler Warren succeed early in the year, I want it to be Daniel Jones. Me personally. But I think that unless Richardson collapses in the third preseason game, I would give him the shot first to find the Colts. Because you're, like you said, you're looking for one last shot at, you know, the Bryce Young redemption story. The. Let's give the guy a shot to be successful.

[Jason Moore]

If Daniel Jones is better, it's still irrelevant. Like, what Daniel Jones is, is not the future of a franchise that is a successful NFL team.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably true. Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence through two games with Liam Cohen. You ready for this? 14 of 17 for 119 and a touchdown. Okay, so Trevor Lawrence, you know, the redemption story of Baker with Liam Cohen, among others. But I mean, Lawrence, 14 for 17. It's been good so far. Tank Bigsby played every first and second down. Trevor E. Travis ETN played on both their depth.

[Jason Moore]

That's some swapped weeks There.

[Mike]

That's the most interesting thing of everything we were hearing out of camp before games started, preseason game started was that Tank Bigsby is the primary guy. Like, he's the starter and ETN has his role. Then preseason week one happens, and that was completely upside down and like, oh, threw everything for a loop. Now we're back to Tank on first and second down.

[Andy Holloway]

It could parallel Tampa where he just came from. You've got Big Bigsby could be the Bucky, it could the Rashad White could be the etn and then the Sean Tucker could be the Tutin, which I.

[Mike]

You know, I wavered in my faith after preseason week one of which guy I want. Not that like we're not clamoring to get the Jacksonville running backs in particular, but I'm. I'm still drafting Tank Bigsby ahead of Travis Etien.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, if the starters play next week, that will be what to watch for. Like, who gets first and second down between those two guys.

[Andy Holloway]

I think it's fun to talk about Tennessee because Cam Ward seems like he is going to be the real deal at some point. Now, as a rookie, your production, you don't hit certain marks. It just doesn't happen in the passing game very often. But my takeaway from this was, I mean, you saw the rookie wide receivers getting a lot of snaps. Now, Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett, they didn't play, but I am Manor dk. They played a bunch of snapshots. I have a nickname for. It's Alec IO Manor. Right. But when I type his name into anything, it autocorrects it to epic. So he is now Epic IO Manor.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, let's hope he lives up to that.

[Andy Holloway]

As far as I'm concerned.

[Mike]

Easy so.

[Andy Holloway]

But he was epic in this game. He looked great. He had a big connection with Cam Ward.

[Jason Moore]

He's playing right next to Van Jefferson, so it's easy to look good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, dk. I just think you look at this team like Lockett stage of his career. We like. I like Ridley a lot. I think Ridley is a super great steal. I just haven't said it a lot because he was a my guy last year and didn't quite end up there.

[Mike]

But yeah, I think he is a steal at his adp. It will not be smooth sailing, but.

[Andy Holloway]

I think I o. Manor could easily be the wide receiver too easily. I mean, you're talking about competing with Tyler Lockett who really hasn't been a two in a couple of years. I mean, it was nice to see so finishing up the afc. We're in the West Denver, you saw Sutton, Mims and Vale all rested with the starters. Franklin and Pat Bryant both played and looked good. It almost makes it more confusing. Yeah, you can do it now. You can do it.

[Jason Moore]

This is his time.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, look, I think Troy Franklin. Here's the real truth about Denver's wide receiver room. Sutton stable, good. Draft him playing, I think then it's just going to be a hodgepodge every single week. I mean like if Mims is sitting with the starters and Vale is sitting with the starters and then Franklin and Pat Bryant get reps and they both look good. Like Franklin's going to catch what, three or four long touchdowns. I mean probably Bryant could get involved and he's the one that has the kind of like invisible upside. We don't know how good he could be.

[Jason Moore]

And Evan Ingram will be there to take plenty of targets as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's true. I had almost nothing on the Chiefs. Nothing too impactful. Elijah Mitchell still seems to be the RB3. Pacheco played a couple of snaps. Hunt rested, but he's also banged up.

[Mike]

Yeah, he had the quad contusion and old and older.

[Andy Holloway]

So I look, it's Pacheco, Hunt, then Elijah Mitchell. All right, help me with this one. And I'm going to give the shout out to Dwayne McFarland for breaking down the wide receiver room for the Raiders. So Jacoby Myers played 100%. Talking about the Las Vegas Raiders wide receivers. Jacoby Myers played 100% of snaps with the starters. Yeah, full time slot. He played slot the entire time. Then you've got Deontay Thornton Jr. Okay, 25% target share with the starters. Average depth of target of 28.5 yards.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's a nine guy.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Seems to have a firm grip on the wide receiver. 3 role late round deep sleeper. But Trey Tucker was also on the field for 100% of all passing plays in the offense. Jack Bash did not play until he got out there with the second Union unit. So Myers, Thornton, Tucker, that does seem.

[Mike]

To be the starters. It'll be. It's interesting of like is Thornton. I mean he's a later round pick than Jack Best. Jack Best was the second round pick. So that's. It's disappointing to see him not be able to get on the field. Meanwhile a guy drafted after him is. But does Thornton have like real upside or is he just a, you know, the way that they viewed Trey Tucker like just a real gadgety player who is big and fast. That can help you do Other things on your offense, but he can't really become a focal point.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, none of it's. It's the time of year where you got to talk about those guys. We love Jack Besh's film. There's two rookies here competing, so we want to know what's what. It's all irrelevant. The wide receiver, three for this team. And that's what this is. Because even though it's the wide receiver too, Brock Bowers is there and then it's Jacoby Myers. The leftovers are split between a couple of players. I mean, if we're being realistic, these guys aren't going to be week in, week out, fantasy starters without an injury ahead of them.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And I would disagree if there was no Brock Bowers. I would say there's an outside role. That's. It's an opportunity on the outside. But I think you're dead on. Chargers wise. We talked about Quentin Johnson getting hurt. The stars of this game there was the two rookies. So Keandre, Lambert, Smith, Trey Harris both made plays. Right now it seems like it goes McConkey, Keenan, KLS.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. And obviously Quentin Johnston up there as well. Trey Harris was with the Twos. He did not do his work. But listening to Harbaugh, Harbaugh was glowing on both of those guys. Harris had a great game. Just he was behind. He's, he's behind on the depth chart right now.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so we'll take a break and we'll talk. I'll run through the NFC teams and we'll do some mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

What's up, Vo Clan? You can't count on much these days, but you can always count on Sundays with the NFL on CBS and Paramount plus. That's right, Football fans, watch your local NFL game live every Sunday on CBS and Paramount plus all season long. This year's schedule is absolutely stacked with rivalries and revenge games, including the next chapter of the epic Bill's Chiefs saga. So stay connected to it all on any device at home or on the go. Visit paramountplus.com NFL to get started today and count on Sundays for another must see season of the NFL on CBS and Paramount. All right, let's start in the NFC east. The Dallas takeaway Javante rested with the starters.

[Mike]

Oh man.

[Andy Holloway]

Miles Sanders played okay.

[Mike]

So that that whole it's going to be tough. That's why the answer is CD Lamb and George.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly. Because they're not going to be able to run the ball honestly. Blue is like yeah. Jaden Blue is the only running back I would take a shot on and it would be like if he makes it to the last round in my.

[Andy Holloway]

Draft, I'm not Javante feels like a 0rb situation. Right?

[Jason Moore]

He does. Except I go back to I mean the Broncos were a good offense last year. The Broncos had a better offensive line.

[Andy Holloway]

How often could you have started Javante Williams last year?

[Jason Moore]

Not very. He was a D in like if.

[Andy Holloway]

You, if you guessed right, you would have been able to start him three times.

[Mike]

He had a started for a lot of teams but he was 209 carries.

[Andy Holloway]

And you end up at.

[Jason Moore]

If you, if you're a running back with 70 targets for a good offense, how are you not a top 15 running back? A top 24. He was the running back 31.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're in a league that gives like 100 point bonuses, if your running.

[Mike]

Back goes 14 for 40 then Javante's your guy.

[Jason Moore]

Second rounder.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. So Javante is the best of the worst. The Giants. Russ can still throw the ball really, really far. Yeah, I watched every Jackson dart snap twice because it was super impressive. He completed 13 straight passes in this game. It was all hurry up. It was all short area targets mostly. I mean there were a couple of good plays. It's still.

[Mike]

You want to be accurate.

[Andy Holloway]

It's exciting.

[Mike]

Just the Fields would love to complete 13 straight passes.

[Andy Holloway]

Goodness in his dreams with the Eagles. It's the Shipley story to me. I mean Saquon versus Dylan. Those guys rested that Shipley looks locked as the RB2. So if you're looking to ensure Saquon or take a shot late on somebody that could emerge in an injury, whatever. There's your guy, I think. Right.

[Jason Moore]

That's certainly how I lean. And I think Shipley's a good back with that offensive line. Something happens to SAQUON after the massive 417 carry workload last year, then. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Still be in ship shape.

[Jason Moore]

Nice.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, commanders, they haven't played the play tonight. So NFC north, winners of every off season. Champions of the every off season, Chicago Bears. Caleb looked good. 97 yard touchdown drive. 5 for 6 for 97 yards to Zacchaeus, Right? Yeah, yeah, of course. Right, because you got what, like Colston, you've got Burden, you've got a Dunze, you've got DJ Moore.

[Mike]

Had a couple catches.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and it was wee little man.

[Mike]

They. Yeah, very nice. They. The Bears are going to be tough of like, are they going to play a lot of 12 personnel where. I like Luther Burden a lot. But is this. Is there a scenario where he's just not on the field? Because they got. They got commit and Loveland out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Commit made a big play. Loveland made a big play. They both split snaps in terms of like being on the field. So that's the problem. They paid Comet two years ago or a year ago. Really? And he's a good player.

[Mike]

Yeah, he is.

[Andy Holloway]

So it's like, you know, this is a guy that's going to occasionally just steal targets from Colston Loveland and he should. I mean, that's. That's how it should work for the team to do. Well, not for your fantasy team, but for the team.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It's wonderful for Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson to have so many legitimately good options. It. It should.

[Mike]

It should work.

[Jason Moore]

Should work. Especially with the offensive line improvements. It should work. Please do.

[Andy Holloway]

Detroit, they arrested the starters. But Mike, if you need to go to the pants store again. No.

[Jason Moore]

What? No, he avoids that place. Now.

[Andy Holloway]

Can you delete a location off of your Google maps?

[Mike]

The pants store.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, if he searches pants, nothing comes up.

[Andy Holloway]

Make a choice.

[Mike]

Mean, do not buy stock.

[Andy Holloway]

We're talking about Isaac tesla.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Who five targets, four catches, 41 yards and a beast of a touchdown in their preseason game.

[Jason Moore]

He also looks gigantic. Like, he looks like. I mean, he is. He's a very large. But I mean, there's plenty of wide receivers out there that are 6, 2, 63 or whatever.

[Mike]

He's 6, 4, 2, 15.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he looks like he's 6, 8. I mean, I feel like he's just. Maybe he's playing with more backups and they're tiny but that's where I will.

[Mike]

As excited as I am long term for Isaac Tesla he was he's not running with the starters right now this but he will be interesting to keep an eye on waiver wise like injuries as well. They're my belief in the looking at the depth chart and the talent it's like Amon RA and JMO are they're locked in Tesla like a month in he could be the wide receiver 3.

[Jason Moore]

Well remember there were there were weeks where that over the last couple of years whether it was Josh Reynolds was having a stretch. Tim Patrick, you know that that third wide receiver has moments so if he shows enough flashes and they they paid a lot to get him.

[Mike]

They did three third rounders essentially.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah yeah. Because they had to trade two to use a third. That's a lot of capital to give up for someone who going into this draft season the NFL draft I don't think enough people didn't know his name.

[Mike]

Because he had no production.

[Jason Moore]

He was overdrafted from expectation.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

But he has had the drumbeat all off season and then preseason he looks good. You got to start paying attention to Tesla.

[Andy Holloway]

They're a team that goes and gets the guy that they think is going to make the biggest impact.

[Mike]

Yes they do.

[Andy Holloway]

They're very convicted about their players in the draft of late Green Bay mostly all the starters rested. I talked about Marshawn Lloyd getting hurt again. I mean you have to say it. Emmanuel Wilson is right now. Josh Jacobs backup.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's always kind of made the most of his opportunities. Minnesota, everyone rested. That mattered nothing there. Falcons same story. First and second string rested everybody. But let's talk about Carolina. Chuba Hubbard played 67% of the snaps with the starters. He was you know he gave way to Rico Dowdle on third downs. So that's kind of how I mean Chuba Hubbard was always the catch it and fall down guy last year with the targets. But Dowdle seems like he'll have a shot to be a third down back every week.

[Jason Moore]

I think he should. We got two years in a row of Chuba being extraordinarily inefficient in the receiving game, great running back between the tackles. But passing to him has been like a negative.

[Andy Holloway]

Can either of you find a way to say good things about the Saints? It does seem like an actual battle for which bad quarterback is going to start.

[Mike]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Seems like Spencer Rattler is going to be the guy to me from what I see on film Olave had a drop in the game Rattler was okay, but like Spencer Rattler as your, as your quarterback, do you have a snake man? I think he's looking for a snake man. What is your thoughts on the.

[Jason Moore]

The one bright spot is Shahid was moved around a little bit more in the slot a little bit more. So that'd be good if they involve him on some easy stuff because I feel like with Shahid, it's always been, you go deep, I'm going to throw you a bomb and you have big plays but very low consistency. It would be nice because he's not a bad player.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he's a very good player.

[Jason Moore]

So if he could, if he could get more involvement there, that, that could be good.

[Andy Holloway]

You'll be excited about the one handed Emeka Egbuca grab. Oh, I was grab but for Tampa, I mean he impressed and then McMillan and then McMillan got hurt and Guy Godwin's on the pup. It's like Igbuka could be like, the path is clear. Like, it's like week one, you're the starter with Mike Evans.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it certainly seems that way.

[Andy Holloway]

Also. I was personally like, I'm a Bucky Irving fan, but I also acknowledge, like you've got a committee situation. There were some camp highlights of Bucky making downfield catches and it's like, okay, cool. That's camp. He did it again in this game. He caught like a deep touchdown on a wheel and made a competitive catch. If he gets involved more in the passing game because, you know, when he's out there, it's better that the defense has that in the, you know, in their minds that you have a running back that's not just between the tackles guy. They can get him involved in the passing game. It changes his ceiling.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, for sure. I mean, that would be, that would be what takes his current average draft cost and actually makes it pay off. Because right now it feels like he's being drafted near his ceiling because he didn't have that.

[Mike]

So I'm looking, you know, I'm in the UDK right now, looking at it on sleeper in half. He is behind Jonathan Taylor. Now.

[Jason Moore]

Is he falling? No, that. He was definitely ahead of Jonathan Taylor.

[Mike]

I thought so too. So Josh Jacobs is at 8, Taylor's at 9, Bucky's at 10. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's, that's fine. I think when we started this process, he was early, he was seven, he was running back seven where it was like, gosh, that's like when he had his breakout, he was basically about running Mag 7 and we were wondering.

[Andy Holloway]

And if you don't have targets, people are hurt in the wide receiver room. It can benefit the running back room. Two teams in the NFC west pretty much rested everybody and didn't do much. Cardinals, they arrested everybody. Brissette's their backup to Kyler. He looked okay. And then the Rams, same story. It was Stetson. Bennett. Coram ran ahead of Hunter. That was the only note I had to mention. Backups for Kyron.

[Mike]

We did get a photo of Matthew Stafford. Sorry, this is the video. Matthew Stafford at practice, at least walking out there. Yep.

[Jason Moore]

That's a red jersey on.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

All right, stay safe, stay safe, Be healthy. We need you.

[Andy Holloway]

49Ers. Pierce all looked great. He's going to. I mean, he was a starter. He might be. He might be one of the most undervalued players in fantasy because I think he's going like, wide receiver 45 or something stupid. And no Iuk, no Jennings. Jennings is dealing with contract and injury. I would also say, like, Nobody talks about DeMarcus Robinson, but DeMarcus Robinson has been a fantasy contributor before.

[Mike]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

And is currently, like, I know he's probably going to get a suspension.

[Mike]

That's what we're waiting on.

[Andy Holloway]

But regardless, like, him being. I'm telling the way he's playing with the starters, like, okay, if he gets a game or two, like, is IUK back in a game or two?

[Mike]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, like, Jennings still hurt. Like, they have to run wide receivers out there. So Peirsol seems like a highly undervalued player.

[Jason Moore]

Saul's early camp injury was really great for the ADP because he was, you know, he missed camp last year with the injuries, had, you know, the unfortunate shot. And then this year, he was starting to get drafted pretty high. You know, a lot of hype because of the depth chart. And then when he missed time to start camp, people just forgot about him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So I agree with you, Andy. I think his value, where he's going in drafts is you can see his upside, and you can't always see the players around him with a path to greatness.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. And the final team, and I have a few notes on them. Seattle, first of all, the offense was humming. It looked great.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Charbonnet looked awesome. Yeah, he's healthy right now. Ken Walker's on his quote. He's on a plan.

[Mike]

I don't like the way you talk about the plan, Andy.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm sorry. The plan.

[Mike]

Have you ever had a plan? You follow it.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, the plan for the Seahawks might be Charbonnet being more involved than you think. What do you think of that plan?

[Mike]

I didn't read that in the plan so I don't know where you're picking that up. He definitely could be.

[Andy Holloway]

It could be more more like that's if I had a plan for Ken Walker that involved him practicing every once in a while it might involve other players playing running back too.

[Mike]

It definitely could be the plan that it's more timeshare the way I just look at the Seattle situation 1 like yeah Charbonne, you know last year came in on a couple of games because Ken Walker misses time. He has to rest.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And in your Charbonnet looked better last year.

[Andy Holloway]

He has to rest.

[Mike]

He did it. He burns real bright.

[Andy Holloway]

He has to rest.

[Mike]

I'm more excited about just the this was the hope the scheme that even though the offensive line is not talent.

[Andy Holloway]

Wise what we want it might be.

[Mike]

Better than we think that Kubi yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe the line might be better than.

[Mike]

We think and also the Kubiak run system is just such a good run system and while Charbonnet is a good player and maybe he gets more involved than we want Ken Walker is when healthy is a much better player than Charbonnet is in my opinion a much much better more exposure.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he's better at a lot of things, not everything but it is possible that Sam Darnold could legit be the quarterback to the unexpectedly better offenses back to back seasons.

[Mike]

I'm so excited to be doubting Sam Darnold and then have him prove us all wrong like that's that'll be fun.

[Andy Holloway]

Like but I'm going to Devin o' Connell and then Kubiak. Those are good minds. Speaking of the wide receivers in the past catchers Cooper cup lined up inside of JSN on most all of their reps. So you were talking about two guys that are slot dominant players. Cooper cup in the slot more. It's also worth noting that the athletically gifted you know they let go of Noah Fant. Elijah Arroyo right now played as the tight end three played into the fourth quarter. A.J. barner seems A.J. barner he played eight.

[Mike]

He's a veteran. I like him.

[Andy Holloway]

Look A.J. barn is a second year guy and he played eight of ten snaps of Sam Darnold. So for Seattle that was the story and that was week two of the preseason in terms of a quick takeaway for every team all of the UDK rankings I did a huge rankings update yesterday. We'll keep tweaking them this week and get you Ready for your drafts? We're going to. Yeah. Brooks would like you guys to know A.J. barner had one less touchdown than D.K. metcalf did in the offense last year.

[Mike]

Okay, so A.J.

[Andy Holloway]

Barner fan, Brooks, Carmen. All right, let's. Let's do some mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag.

[Andy Holloway]

Why is Richard Nixon coaching these teams?

[Mike]

I'm not a crook.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike is. You guys got a lot of sleep last night?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man, I didn't sleep at all. This weekend was.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that's fun.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Oh, it is.

[Mike]

That's a good time.

[Jason Moore]

It's a good time. No, I had a solid eight hours of sleep combined. Yeah. Over the last four days.

[Andy Holloway]

So that's. That's an old school coach.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, that's the. That's the college coach that's up in the face of all the players screaming and yelling.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's start the mailbag. By the way, if you have a question, you can go to the website the Fantasy footballers dot com. That's where all of our rankings and resources are. You can click that submit a question button or you can dial the voicemail hotline for to get on the show. 302464, TFFB. We'll go ahead and start with the voicemail.

[Mike]

Hey, baller. See you fan of the show. Quick question. Our league manager took away the IR spot and made it into a regular bench spot. Is this a good idea or is it the same as if you were.

[Jason Moore]

Just to have or better if you were to have an open spot.

[Mike]

Thanks.

[Jason Moore]

Certainly not the same. Yeah, those are different. Those are different things.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

First of all, we don't know how many benchmarks spots you have. So he's wondering, is it better to replace an IR with just a full regular bench spot? I would say that if you usually have four bench spots. Yeah, sure. Because I think you probably don't have enough bench. Add another bench. The downside with adding too many bench spots is it makes the waiver wire not as fun. The fewer people out there to bid over and compete over every single week. So how many bench spots do you guys usually prefer to have?

[Mike]

Five. Yeah. Five.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's where I land.

[Mike]

Six. Like, I think it's okay to have a deeper bench as long as you have the people in the league are for that. Of knowing that it's going to be a shallow league and you're going to be deeper.

[Jason Moore]

Benches are fun. If you have deeper starting roster spots. Like if you've got a double flex, that's great because what it does is it still makes the waiver wire interesting because you're going to be needing to play some garbage. DeMarcus Robinson is like important then.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So it does impact, obviously the amount of talent that'll be out on the waiver wire if you convert and add one more bench spot. Because everybody's going to. Not everybody's got somebody on IR, but everybody will have a bench player, a six bench player. So it'll take 12 names off the waiver wire right there. Good or bad decision. That's league specific. I think I like there being an IR spot in general though. I don't really love there not being an IR spot. It just handcuffs teams in too big of a way.

[Jason Moore]

I think if you're in a league right now that's getting ready to go for next year and you don't have ir, you should bring that up for a vote. Having an IR spot is so good. It's more fun, it's better strategy. It feels like it really sucks when you have an injury and you don't have a guy to drop and you're forced to drop someone injured. Like NFL has ir. Add IR to your league.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Kyle from Instagram writes in. Are people sleeping on Bryce Young as a fantasy football flyer? They are starting the year at Jacksonville, at Arizona, underdogs in those, then at home against Atlanta and then on the road against New England. Mike, you've spoken very highly of Bryce Young in terms of making that offense move.

[Mike]

I think that, that I think he's a fine flyer. You know, after the bye week he was on pace for 430 rushing yards. So like that's the thing is Bryce has to give us at least something like that for him to make his way into the top 12. He will be a streaming option. I'm excited for the Carolina Panthers offense to see if he really takes that step moving forward. So as a flyer, sure, but they're the quarterback position has so many guys late where you're like, no, that guy's a flyer or a sleeper. So Bryce isn't super high.

[Jason Moore]

He's not one of your targets, but you could certainly see how it works. Addy Tettero McMillan.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

I think Jotavian Sanders is a pretty darn good young tight end. He's got enough weapons to throw the ball to. If he keeps running. If he's going to finish the year with 450 rushing yards, he'll he could very easily be a top, you know, 15 quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

Mikey from Instagram, how should I view C.J. stroud this year, it feels like he was a player we talked about incessantly all last off season and almost not at all this off season. You know, you just, you just brought up Bryce Young. Is he a potential flyer like CJ Stroud is a level above that, but never discussed at all.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know that he is a level above that. Just in the sense that you're not going to be rushing the ball.

[Mike]

No.

[Jason Moore]

You know, last year, what did he have?

[Mike]

233 rushing yards.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So he's a pocket passer. The offensive line has gotten worse. The run game seems banged up and older. You got Nico, that's great. But you've, you've got to have other players here step up. And if you look at his consistency versus Bryce Young's, like C.J. stroud's an F in our consistency score this last year because without running the ball, you've got to throw 4,030 touchdowns as a pocket passer. And that's. I feel like it's an uphill battle to do that with his current weapons.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, YouTube question. What is Calvin Ridley's floor with rookie quarterback Cam Ward? Last year he was a my guy. He was up over 1000 yards receiving in spite of what the Will Levis, Mason Rudolph, Disgusto fest. But you know, with rookie quarterbacks, we have data over the last 14 years, only seven receivers got up over 1,000 yards with a rookie quarterback. So 28%. Only one rookie quarterback supplied 10 plus receiving touchdowns for a wide receiver. It was Jaden Daniels last year with McLaurin. Before that happened, we had the data, we brought it up on the show. It didn't happen ever. Like you just couldn't do it.

[Mike]

Yeah. The thing for the situation, if you have a rookie quarterback, you, your target share has to be extremely high. Like it has to be a 26, 27% type of target share. Calvin Ridley could do that. You know, the excitement is for the rookies and he's really the established main guy there. So as if he's getting that, then you'll end up being excited.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, breaking news.

[Mike]

What you got?

[Andy Holloway]

The Cleveland Browns have named Joe Flacco as their official week one starting quarterback against the Cincinnati Bengals.

[Mike]

Oh, baby. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

David Najoku.

[Mike]

Draft. David Najoku, Jerry Judy.

[Jason Moore]

Week one.

[Mike]

Jerry Judy. We'll see.

[Jason Moore]

Week one, baby.

[Mike]

Najoku is the huge benefactor. The we'll see on the wide receivers.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, Jerry Judy will be great. Week one again, this is against the Bengals.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

They're going to have to score a ton and it's not a very difficult defense. So after that, trade them week one and trade them.

[Andy Holloway]

How many games does Joe Flacco start for the Browns out of 17?

[Mike]

Okay, well, let's. Let's run.

[Jason Moore]

Let's run through the schedule is not good for them.

[Mike]

Cincinnati. It could happen.

[Jason Moore]

I think. Let's say they win that game because Cincinnati gets off to slow starts.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Let's just give it to him for.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, whatever.

[Mike]

Come on. Come on. Just to be crazy at Baltimore.

[Jason Moore]

Nah.

[Mike]

Green Bay.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to give it to the Packers.

[Mike]

Okay. At Detroit.

[Jason Moore]

Detroit.

[Mike]

Minnesota.

[Jason Moore]

Winnable at home in Cleveland.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So the Browns. He's going to play like 12 games or more.

[Mike]

He's going to play enough that I'm. I'm all in.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, who are they going to play?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Dylan Gabriel. No.

[Jason Moore]

Shador.

[Mike]

No.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like this means Pickett doesn't make the roster.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, maybe, like if I.

[Jason Moore]

If I was the Browns general manager. The only right path has always been. You either name Flaco the starter or Kenny Pickett the starter, and then you keep the two rookies and you move forward.

[Mike]

I.

[Jason Moore]

You know, maybe they keep four quarterbacks.

[Mike]

No, no, I think. I think that's the move is you got to try and trade Kenny Pickett.

[Andy Holloway]

It's tough because Pickett's the best of those.

[Jason Moore]

You have to pick up a six.

[Andy Holloway]

Pickett's the best of those guys. By far. By far. Yeah. So Joe Flacco is the starter. It's good for fantasy and hopefully that will last a little bit. But, man, they're underdogs in their first eight weeks. Oh, no. They. They're. Sorry, let me correct that. They are favored by one and a half in week seven against Miami, but otherwise, they're underdogs seven of the first eight. Oh, no. They are dogs there. Never mind. They're underdogs in all of them. They're underdogs.

[Mike]

They're just. It's not as bad.

[Andy Holloway]

It is the dog pound. So they are dogs.

[Jason Moore]

The dog in them.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Wow. All right, Jason Instagram, question from jb. Who will have a better season as a rookie, RJ Harvey or Caleb Johnson?

[Mike]

RJ Harvey.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm Harvey.

[Jason Moore]

I'm not going to answer this question. Stupid Arthur Smith.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Nothing. I'm not going to. I'm not going to lecture you on players whose name begins with K and ends with Johnson. Thank you, rookie season.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's grab.

[Jason Moore]

No further questions at this time.

[Andy Holloway]

Another voicemail.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, ballers, what is some input and.

[Andy Holloway]

Advice that you would give to those.

[Jason Moore]

Of us that are in keeper leagues.

[Andy Holloway]

Thanks guys. So, general keeper league advice. One of the things people tend to do is hyper emphasize their keepers. And the truth is is if you're in a keeper league, unless it's some exhaustive huge amount which you know borders on dynasty, you're keeping a couple guys, maybe it's 1, 2, 3 players. Sometimes it's at a draft cost, sometimes it's just a no cost at all. But you see people kind of building their roster around this ideal that they're going to have. You know, you get this name on your team and he's going to be your keeper for five years in a row and they're locked and loaded on your team. And it's just very, very rare in the lifespan of players to live under that in that world. Like, and I see people lock themselves in, they don't want to trade players because of that. You're not, your keepers are going to turn over all the time.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The biggest mistake people make in keeper leagues is overemphasizing age. Age matters a lot in dynasty. You know, if you, if you're 26 deep and you've got that roster forever. But when you've got three guys, James Conner can be a keeper no problem. No problem. And he's an elder statement like you don't need statesman, you don't need.

[Andy Holloway]

His statement is old man.

[Jason Moore]

He makes old statements to overemphasize the youth. And so I would basically treat it almost exactly like a redraft.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean perfect example would be like if somebody's excited about RJ Harvey and they're like, man, I'm not going to trade him for sake 1. Because you know what I mean? Like that in a keeper league it's like, oh man, he's going to be good in a few years. It's like go win the league. Because the other, that's the mistake the other league mates are going to make, at least some of them. And so then you have an advantage over them for sure. So we've got breakout sleepers, values bus episodes coming out. We've got our fantasy MVP episode, mock drafts coming out.

[Jason Moore]

It's a hot week.

[Andy Holloway]

We've got the Time Machine episode in the near future. So a lot of big time shows and a big announcement tomorrow.

[Jason Moore]

Sleeping right now.

[Andy Holloway]

And then the this is your last chance to get the UDK for Life giveaway situation. So get the UDK to be entered to win the UDK for Life. And our live stream begins at 6 Eastern this afternoon. Ultimate DraftKit.com for more info on that. That is it for today's show, but we'll be back tomorrow, everybody, so thank you for joining us. Shout out to the producers back there. I think we're recording the show. We're recording. Yeah.

[Mike]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter the Ffballers.