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Week 4 Matchup Previews with Devin Knotts || Fantasy Football 2025
01:04:59
In Episode 21 of The Launch Pad, Dave Kluge sits down with Devin Knotts to discuss some of the most intriguing Week 4 matchups. Become a Footballguys ELITE Subscriber: Follow Dave Kluge on Twitter: Footballguys Instagram: Footballguys...
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- [00:01]
A
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- [00:30]
B
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Launch Pad. I'm your host, Dave Kluge and today I am joined by Football Guys staffer Devin Knotts. Devin is our DFS lead over here at Football Guys, so one of the best guys to talk about in regards to upcoming matchups. You can find all of his articles over here as well as the show that he hosts, the DFS Power Grid. I picked the six most intriguing matchups of week four to discuss today and we've got plenty of actionable advice for you to take advantage of. As always, thank you so much for taking the time to listen. The show would not be possible without you taking that time. Now let's dive in. Devin Knotts, welcome to the show. How you doing today?
- [01:10]
C
Thanks. Glad to be here. Doing well.
- [01:12]
B
How are you doing? Good, man, this is a fun time of year. You know, Jeff Bell and I, we were just talking a couple of days ago and we said it's like after week three, it feels like you start to get kind of a clear picture. Like week one we just kind of throw, throw all that away. Week two, it's like, okay, we're noticing some trends and then if something happens three times in a row, we're like, all right now, now we gotta start paying attention. So I think week four is kind of a turning point for a lot of people out here. As we do on the show, I'm gonna pick out a handful of matchups that I think are particularly interesting and we can discuss those. The first one being Minnesota Vikings playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are the home team, but they're going to be playing in Ireland. And the first guy I want to talk about here, Devin tried Jordan Addison. Wondering where you've got him ranked or where you've got him rostered. What are you doing? Are you trying to take a wait and see approach or do you think that you're just firing him up week one back out there?
- [01:57]
C
I mean, like anything, it depends on what your options are, right? So it's like, am I being a little cautious compared to what I normally would be? I, I think so. I mean, it's an international game which like alone. I, I don't really like playing players from. But I think if you're behind, I like, I like to look at everything as, as if it's almost as like I, as, you know, I'm a big DFS guy. So it's like I play my season long leagues very similarly. I, I do an assessment of each of my leagues and essentially say like, am I behind? Do I think I need a big game from certain players or do I need a high floor of certain, you know, a player to achieve that certain floor when it comes to a result? And Addison for me would be in that like, hey, if I'm behind and I need a big game, he's probably the type of player that would win out on a matchup as your last receiver or a flex position compared to a, you know, a low end running back or a, a low end wide receiver who may have a higher floor than him. But in terms of getting that 100 yard game, it wouldn't surprise me if he came out and had a big game. But I'm not really expecting it.
- [03:15]
B
Yeah, I think that's a good point. Like, and, and you can see the projections, you know, where you're at. I mean, unfortunately this isn't like a Sunday night or a Monday night matchup where you know exactly what you need. So you kind of do have to look at the projections here with this being just the second game of the week. But yeah, I mean I, I'm looking at Addison. We know who he is. He's a guy who can rip off big chunk plays. I don't know if there's going to be a ton of volume in this game. So I actually have a little parlay that I cooked up that I like with Jordan Addison, which is under three and a half receptions over, over 49 and a half yards that's been out plus 900 because I think that's the type of player he is. Like he can only have three catches, but on those three catches he can go for 80 yards and a touchdown just because that's who he is. Another guy I want to talk about in this one. We saw some signs of life last week from TJ Hawkinson after a very quiet week one and a very quiet week two. Are you just thinking this is kind of what we should expect now? Again, you think that it is just Carson Wentz raising everything in this Vikings offense. Are you pumping the brakes a little bit on DJ Hawkins and stuff?
- [04:08]
C
I mean, certainly he's in a better position than he would have been if J.J. mcCarthy was his starter. Just from a total volume perspective, unleashing and I think I hear you laughing. As far as my disdain for J.J. mcCarthy, for those that don't know, I'm a proud Ohio State alum and a JJ McCarthy hater. I'm also a CJ Stroud hater. So that'll that may come into play later. But you look at, or you look at Carson Wentz in his history with Zach Ertz, you look at it with the other type like Dallas Goddard. I don't know, he might not have played with Dallas Goddard, but anyway history with Carson Wentz with tight ends has been positive and certainly they've shown that they're going to throw the ball more than the 20 or 20 or 21 times a game that they were throwing with McCarthy. So I think Hawkinson has more upside. He would. He's probably like a low end tight end one for me just because I think that this is sustainable. Six targets. If he can catch, you know, four or five of those every single week, he's probably going to get there most weeks just with how bad the tight end position is almost every single week.
- [05:22]
B
Yeah, that's where I'm at. I've got him as my tight end seven and like just kind of lumped in with Hunter Henry and Sam Laporta and Zach Ertz and these, these other guys that like you're hoping they fall into the end zone. They aren't great efficiency plays. Like we haven't seen TJ Hawkinson since his rookie season really ripping off big chunk plays. He's just kind of that sitting in the flat catching six to eight balls a game and very much so a PPR play rather than like the, the Brock Bowers game breaking type of tight end. So that's where I'm at as well. And you're just expecting more volume as a whole with Carson Wentz and yeah, just in case, you know, I wanted to fact check you there. Dallas Goddard and Carson Wentz did play together and that's actually when Dallas Goddard had his career year with him. Okay, I want to talk about in the Pittsburgh Steelers, Calvin Austin. The usage has been great. You know, he's pulled over 50 of the air yards for the Pittsburgh Steelers so far but the production hasn't been there. So this is kind of a a theory question here more than anything else but how long are you willing to chase usage when the production isn't there in regards to a guy like Calvin Austin?
- [06:22]
C
I'm not an air yards guy and I know that that's like apropos when it comes to fantasy, but I've been, I don't know, I've been in this for, this is year 11 for me with football guys and maybe yeah, year 11 it just celebrated and I don't know. I, I don't chase the, There have been so many just like air yard darlings over the years that pop on paper but will only catch two or three passes per game. He's a deep shot guy. Like is he going to have a 100 yard gain at some point because he catches a 50 or 60 yard touchdown? Probably. Am I willing to chase that? Not particularly, especially in a season long league. I, I, I think unless you're really chasing that. Again, going back to my, my theory of hey, I'm, I'm facing the number one team in the league, a roster that's stacked and it's starting a, a low, a low ceiling guy versus a Calvin Austin. Maybe I would look at Austin there but I'm not, I'm not really enamored by chasing the air yards, especially when DK Metcalf's on the team like it is Austin's area sustainable on over the long term? Maybe, maybe not. But he's 5, 9, 1 6. Like it doesn't really translate historically to a huge air yards deep threat type player.
- [07:54]
B
Yeah, and I think the other thing when I look at this matchup, you know Aaron Rodgers, almost 41 years old now, like he doesn't have that mobility. He's not going to be able to extend plays when they're throwing these complex blitz packages at him from Minnesota. So I think that what we're going to see is a lot of just playing out of the shotgun. We've already seen this Arthur Smith offense very much so once you get the running backs and the tight ends involved, they've made up for over 50% of the targets already in this offense. So I don't think this is a matchup where we're even going to be able to see Aaron Rodgers able to do that like wait for these long developing plays. I think it's going to be a lot of just throwing over blitzers, getting the ball to Jalen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell and Pat Friarmuth and John New Smith. So I know there's a lot of excitement about Calvin Austin because of the metrics. I'm in the same boat as you. I think there are games where you could look at him as kind of a flex play, but I don't think this is the week and then last question I've got about this matchup. You kind of touched on it briefly earlier, but how much do you factor in an international game? Because it feels like these are always letdowns. You know, we wake up early in the morning to watch a 6:3 slugfest. It feels like every single year. Is that kind of what you're expecting here? Do you think that maybe that narrative should start to change a little bit?
- [09:01]
C
I mean, it depends how you want me to answer this question. And the reason I say that is like as a fantasy analyst packing everything up, going to the UK or Ireland or Germany or wherever they've played these games before, we know the history that like most of the time they're lower scoring. The flip side of that is I, when I'm playing fantasy football, I want to have fun. And having a guy, I get up early in the morning anyway, so if it's a tiebreaker, like, I'm not, I'm not demoting a guy that far. If it's a tiebreaker, I'll probably go with a guy that I is not playing in these slates. But something about having a cup of coffee, maybe getting, having, having a donut and just watching, watching, watching your players play football is special. You don't get to do it very often and like doing it while the kids are still sleeping, it's just like, it's the best. And I, I love, I love the European games. I know you're on the mountain time, so it's pretty early for you guys.
- [10:06]
B
But, oh, it's even better. I'm an early bird, so like 7:30 kickoff is awesome for me. I absolutely love it.
- [10:13]
C
Yeah. But I don't know, part of it is if a guy's on, if, if a guy's on a island slate and I'm watching that game. This is really bad fantasy advice. But as a fan, we're like, we're in it to have fun. And that's, that's sort of how I approach it.
- [10:30]
B
Yeah, I'm with you there. I mean, I try to get at least one player in. And I think the one like for anybody playing fantasy football who has players in this game, just wake up early, set an alarm, don't put your commissioner in a bad spot like we had to deal with a couple years ago when Alvin Camaro was a last minute inactive and all these people woke up late on a Sunday complaining about changing lineups. Just, you know, be an adult, set an alarm, wake up and make sure your lineups are set. All right. Want to Talk about another game here, Devin, and I think he knew we would be talking about this one. Cleveland Browns @ Detroit Lions how high should fantasy managers be valuing Quintean Judkins over the rest of the season? I've got a strong take here, but I want to hear yours first.
- [11:11]
C
It's a good question. As a Browns fan slash hater at the same time and as an Ohio State guy, I don't know if I'm too high on Judkins, but there's no reason for me not to be as high as I am. So far I have him as a low running back one the rest of the way and I think if I was looking at all of the all of the rookie running backs, whether that's Ashton Genti or Mario Hampton or you know, pick your pick your poison, none of those guys have really flashed. And in two, I would say difficult matchups Baltimore my brain is a little like scrambled eggs just because Baltimore run defense performance last week against Detroit. But Even in Judkins's first game he had 62 yards on 10 carries and looked explosive hitting the holes. The game speed seems fine for him. Where Genty and Omarion Hampton, there are times where these rookies the game just seems to be moving a little too fast. It doesn't seem that way. And as the season progresses, the Browns are going to want to have one player that they can point to that just like this is the guy that we can build around. This is our next Nick Chubb. We net, we let Nick Chubb go, who is a fan favorite. And Jerome Ford hopefully has seen his last carry in Cleveland, but the guy is just like incapable of playing running back. So that's where I'm at. But would love to hear a dissenting opinion.
- [12:54]
B
No, I, I'm right there with you. I mean it was hard for me to get him inside my top 12. And I know you say like low end RB1, I'm kind of right there with you. Technically I've got him at RB17 but like really when I look at this kind of slew of Ashton, Ginty, Bucky Irving, Chase Brown, Alvin Camaro, DeAndre Swift, Quinchon Judkins, you can kind of shuffle those guys any which way and that's kind of like my you know, low end RB1 to high end RB2 rest season. But I've been saying that like you should go out and trade your your Ken Walker for him if you can. Your Javante Williams, Breeze Hall, Travis etn, Trey Benson. Like I would prefer Quinjon Judkins ahead of all of these and, you know, like, what I saw last week. But for me, it was just week two was enough for me to like completely take the bait. Like you said, like, he just looked so much better than everybody else there. And that was after logging two practices with the team missing all of the preseason. Like, you thought that there'd be some sort of ramp up and in his first taste of NFL action, like, it did not seem like the moment was too big for him. So, yeah, you talk about the disappointment from Hampton and Jinty and some of these other guys. I still do prefer Hampton a little bit just because I like that offensive environment overall better. But, yeah, Quinjon Judkins would not surprise me one bit if from here on out he ends up being the more valuable player than Ashton Jinty. I want to continue talking about the Browns because there's another very interesting rookie there, Harold Fannin. His targets have dipped in each of the last three weeks, unfortunately. But I'm wondering what you're doing with him. Are you just holding? Are you trying to buy right now? Are you saying, hey, if anybody's still holding on to that week one hope, trying to sell and cash out where you can.
- [14:22]
C
I mean, price obviously matters. And I, I think the Browns, like, they lucked into a win against Green Bay. It's a game that they shouldn't have won. Their next two games are at Detroit and then in London against Minnesota and then at Pittsburgh. So it's very possible they're one in five. At which point I think they would take a very hard look at trading David and Joku. And if that's the case, Fannin is a buy for me. You know, he, he's. For those that don't watch college football. He's as. He was as dynamic as Tyler Warren last year. He went to Bowling Green, so he didn't get quite the love that Warren got at Penn State. Are there going to be ups and downs? Of course. But, you know, facing Green Bay, getting four targets, they kept their tight ends to block a little bit more because of the Micah Parsons factor. I'm not ready to just like abandon ship on him, but I'm not as high on him as I was, you know, say, a week or two ago. I think there's going to be a rookie curve like there is for most players, but would it surprise me by the end of the year if he had, call it 700, 750 yards? No, I, I think that that's completely reasonable, Willie. The question is, will he get Enough red zone looks maybe, maybe not. But it's all about the price for me. So he's probably just below like a Hawkinson in that tight end two top of the tight end two range for me. But with upside if, if they were to fall the next couple of games that the team would be looking to move David and Joku.
- [16:08]
B
Yeah, and I almost wonder like you know I, I think if David Nijoku is traded, you know the, the hype would be through the roof. But this is a team that's been running a lot of 12 personnel. One of the highest rates in the league. 44. So you know we see Nijoku playing that inline role and Harold Fannin is kind of like the, the Isaiah likely in this offense. Like they're not asking him to do tight end things, they're just kind of saying hey like you're our de facto slot receiver when you're out there. So I could see like the excitement build for Najoku but I still think there's a path for him here even if Nijoku sticks around through the trade deadline. I want to talk about the Giant, the, the Lions on the other side of the ball here though and Jameson Williams. There's been much ado made about his volatility. I don't know who people thought they were drafting when they drafted Jameson Williams, but that's the type of player he is. So interested to hear your take on this one Start sit. What are you doing with Jameson Williams if you got him on a fantasy team?
- [17:00]
C
I just want to know who we bet on this week.
- [17:04]
B
Hopefully nobody.
- [17:05]
C
Hopefully, as long as it's not in the facility, he can bet on non football games. I want to know his baseball picks. If I look at Jameson Williams, I think you nailed it. It's like he is who he is, right. He's a guy who even dating back to college has been a boomer bust type player. And you know it's, you kind of never really know when those weeks are going to come but if you took him in a season long format you just have to keep playing him. I think you're largely committed to him because the second that you bench him, which I don't know that you would but like the volatility, you're not going to be able to pick which games he goes off and has that 50, 60 yard game now the, the Bears game may have been a little bit more predictable. Sorry Dave, but your secondary is pretty abysmal. Whereas you know, facing who's Kyle Hamilton and then who's In Green Bay, Xavier McKinney, like those guys over the top at safeties, are two of the best in the league. So it doesn't surprise me he had bad games against those teams. If a team has poor safety play, then yeah, he's likely going to have a better chance at an outcome. The Browns are probably somewhere in the middle when it comes to safety play. Grant Delpit is, you know, a good player. More of a, a run stopper than he is a elite coverage guy, but he's more than capable from a coverage perspective. And Denzel Ward, who would have been Jameson Williams teammate in college before Williams move to Alabama, they, they have something, familiarity there. So I think he's a fine play. I, I think he's a fine play every week. You just have to know what you're getting when it comes to his volatility.
- [19:04]
B
You know, you're a sharp guy who's been playing fantasy football for a long time. Consistency makes us feel warm and fuzzy and you know, we love those guys that get us 8, 10 points every single week, but the reality is that doesn't matter. And Jordan McNamara, you know, football guy, staffer, he did a big study on this that like consistency feels good, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. Like you take the highs with the lows and there's enough players on your team that you should hopefully be able to offset those bad weeks. And then when he has the big weeks, he's, he's single handedly winning you your week. So this is just who he is. And it can be frustrating at times, but I think you just got to keep starting him on a week in and week out basis. This guy was a top 20 wide receiver last year and it looks like he's going to do it again this year. So another question I have for you. The Lions, you know, we got really scared after week one when they played against a very good pass rush in Green Bay. Every, all the talk was about like losing Tanner Angstrom, losing Ben Johnson. This team was going to fall apart. Well, they have since bounced back, but now this is the first time they've had to go against another really good pass rush in Cleveland. Do you have some concerns that maybe they could regress a little bit and look more like that Lions team that we saw in week one?
- [20:08]
C
Not really. You know, Penny, Penny Sewell is still one of the best in, he might be the best tackle in the league. Taylor Decker is one of the best left tackles. So I, I think that the struggles that they've had they, they rebuilt this offensive line. They have two new guards, Tate Ratlich at right guard and then Mahogany Christian Mahogany at left guard. Both of those are very young players with Mahogany being a second year, sixth round guy in, Ratledge being a second round rookie. So I think it took him a little bit of time to get to, you know, get this thing going. It's more of a trust the front of the jersey type of thing where I don't know, the last several years under Dan Campbell they've had arguably the best offensive line. And I think there's no reason to think that by the end of the season they won't be back there. I think Matt Batoni, who's football guys offensive line expert has them in the top five again this year. So I think that overall they'll be fine. It's just a matter of it took them a week to, to get there. And you know, Cleveland's defense is good, don't get me wrong, but I don't think that they have much of a chance in this game.
- [21:29]
B
Let's talk about another game here. The Carolina Panthers at the New England Patriots. And I can ask you and if you've got some names that you want to throw out there, I'd be happy to hear them. If not, we can do a game of like would you rather this player? This player. But I want to talk a little bit about Teteroa McMillan because the usage has been great, the film has been great, but the fantasy production so far hasn't been. So I see Tedo McMillan as a potential buy low player. I don't know if you would agree with me or not here, but who are some players that you would think about maybe offering up in a fantasy league to try to acquire Teto McMillan?
- [22:03]
C
We may need to play that. Would you rather game. But.
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B
All right, how. Here, let me start from the top rope.
- [22:10]
C
Throw those out there.
- [22:11]
B
I'll start from the top rope here. Brian Thomas Jr. Drafted much higher but has been very disappointing so far. Would you prefer Tedro McMillan or Brian Thomas Jr. For the rest of the year? It's a tough one. Tougher than you thought it would be, huh?
- [22:27]
C
Yeah, I think that's a tough one. I think it's where goes back to where your team is at. If you need. If you're 3 0, I'm taking Brian Thomas. If you're 0 and 3 or 1 and 2, I'm taking Tedaro and McMillan. I think it's going to take another week or two for Thomas to get it figured out. But I think by the end of the season, if I'm thinking about players who can win a championship for me, I have more confidence in the upside of Brian Thomas than I do Tedro McMillan. I think on a week to week basis, McMillan will be more consistent, at least for now. So long story short, it just depends.
- [23:07]
B
Let me throw another name out there, another highly drafted, disappointing player. Tetterow McMillan or A.J. brown. We saw it last week, second half of last week, AJ Brown reminded us of, you know, how good he is.
- [23:22]
C
I'm taking A.J.
- [23:23]
B
Brown, all right, and then let me throw another one out there. And this guy has been red hot to start the season. Roma dun or Tetoa McMillan Roma Dun. I think I'm with you on that one as well. It seems like he has finally kind of established himself as that wide receiver one for Chicago.
- [23:39]
C
People forget that he was a first. He was a top 10 pick too. So just because he's lost his luster a little bit, not every, not every receiver that's going to be great in this league is going to be a great as a rookie. Some of these guys take a year, especially coming from a Washington offense where it's run a spread offense. We had three, they had three elite receivers on that team for, from a college perspective. So. And with Ben Johnson, I, I have a little bit more faith than I do Carolina on a week to week basis.
- [24:13]
B
And it's funny how so many people said, you know, last year one of the, the major narratives around Roma dunes a was like, you know, Keenan Allen is out targeting him like Roma dunes. They must be absolutely terrible. Well, look at what Keenan Allen's doing right now in Los Angeles and, and how Lad Bikanki has. So maybe we were a little bit too harsh on, on Roma dunes a last year, but sticking with this one. I don't think there's a ton to talk about with the Panthers, but there is a lot to talk about with the Patriots. Is this the week that Travion Henderson takes over the backfield? We saw two fumbles from Audrey Stevenson. We saw a fumble from Antonio Gibson and I know it takes time for these rookies, but like week four, it's here. It seems like the, the, the, the. The stage is set. Are we going to see Treveon Henderson do it this week?
- [24:55]
C
I don't think so. Not until he can start consistently pass blocking.
- [25:01]
B
Right.
- [25:02]
C
He has a 6.6 PFF grade on in terms of pass blocking, which is. I've never seen a stat as low as a 6.6 from any player and.
- [25:12]
B
For anyone unaware, that is on a 100 point scale just, just so you know.
- [25:17]
C
And he had a 0.0 going into last week which is like Animal House level hilarious as far as what someone's grade point average was for those that I'm dating myself now. But that's okay. Mike Rabel made some really interesting comments. I think he said like we need, we need him. We abs, we've got to get him back. We need him. We absolutely need him. And he was talking about Ramandre Stevenson after his two fumbles. I don't think Henderson is ready. I think that they would have made that change earlier just based on his explosiveness. Could be wrong. But the matchup certainly is intriguing going up against Carolina who have had one of the worst run defenses the last couple years.
- [26:03]
B
And I think we like the fantasy managers who get so excited about rookies, say hey, this is a smash spot for Carolina or for Travion Henderson. But I think the coaches might be looking at this saying, hey, this is a get right game for Madre Stevenson and that's not the way that we want to see it. But you know, this is what we have seen from Josh McDaniels and Mike Frable. They have that Belichickian way of distributing touches in the backfield. And anyone thinking that Trivia Henderson is going to just run away with the job, I don't think that's going to happen. Like you might be able to see kind of a, a supercharged James White role type of year here, but I don't think we're going to see him just pull away as the clear lead back. But I do want to stick with New England because I think there's a lot to discuss here. Kayshawn Booty after Week one looked fantastic. Demario Douglas, the volume has been there, but he hasn't done much with it at all. Stefan Diggs, for lack of a better word, just looks completely washed. So I'm wondering is there any wide receiver even worth rostering on this Patriots team?
- [26:59]
C
Rostering? It depends how deep your rosters are, right?
- [27:04]
B
I think we're in leagues where anybody's.
- [27:06]
C
Rostered 19, 20, 21 leagues where it's like if you're a third running back, you might be rostered.
- [27:17]
B
Say 12 teams, six benches, like just your, your normal fantasy football league. I'm starting to feel like all these guys are just dead weight. Like I don't know if we can predict any of them to step up. We haven't seen any semblance of consistency from Any of them. I'm thinking Hunter Henry might be the wide receiver one on this team.
- [27:32]
C
He very well could be. I. If I had to take one. I don't know that I'm cutting Stefan Diggs after three weeks. Like I'm going to give him one more week before I completely cut bait. The targets have been abysmal. It's really. Vrabel came in and is running the exact same offense that they had last year. Keisha Booty. I'm going to try not to put my college football love in. In putting my rose colored glasses on for him. Like he was a player that the year before he was drafted, he was up there as a first round guy but has really fallen off. Okay. There were, there was talks of Keisha Booty or Marvin Harrison Jr. As the best wide receiver in college football for a few years.
- [28:20]
B
There was an ankle injury. There's some other.
- [28:22]
C
So yeah.
- [28:24]
B
Let'S just talk. It was an ankle injury. Gotta fall off that last year he's.
- [28:29]
C
Got any of those guys and I'm.
- [28:30]
B
Probably cutting that and some other stuff.
- [28:34]
C
What was that?
- [28:35]
B
I said the ankle injury and a few other things that we probably can't talk about on this podcast. Anyone that wants to can probably Google it for themselves.
- [28:41]
C
Yeah. Yeah. My favorite. I don't know what kind of podcast this is, so I'll be careful on what I say.
- [28:49]
B
It's a football guys, Sorry, Joe podcast.
- [28:52]
C
Okay. So I can say what I'm gonna say. I. My favorite Stefan Diggs video is back when he was with Minnesota and it's like they asked all the teammates who they would want their sister to date and all of them were like Adam Thielen. And it's like, who would you not want your sister to date? And unanimously, every single one of them said Stefan Diggs.
- [29:13]
B
Yeah, like no hesitation. Like everyone like, oh, thanks. That dude is crazy. Like, great video. I know exactly which one you're talking about. Yep. So let's. I, I think. Yeah. I mean looking at that wide receiver room, I don't really know what to do with it. I had hoped that Demario Douglas would run away as a slot receiver, but it just didn't happen. So I, I'm kind of at the point where I'm okay just moving on from those guys. I like Hunter Henry as a, as a tight end play, but I don't know if any of these wide receivers are going to step up and emerge from the bunch. Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Another good game worth discussing here. Who are the real Eagles? Devin the Eagles that we saw in the first two and a half weeks or the team that we saw over the second half last week, what do you expect to see in this one?
- [29:56]
C
I'm so confused by this team.
- [29:58]
B
I know.
- [30:01]
C
Saquon Barkley's averaging 3.1 yards per carry. He has five broken tackles all year. Last year he had 80 broken tackles. He does. He has one run longer than I think 15 yards and that was a 16 yard run. I, I don't like A.J. brown's struggling. Devonte Smith is struck. I don't know who the Eagles are, but they keep winning and it tells me that they're potentially going to be frustrating all year, especially as their schedule has been pretty brutal the to start the year. I think that this is a passing like if the passing game doesn't get right here on the road against Tampa Bay, I have serious concerns long term for both Smith and Brown. Tampa Bay is one of the best run defenses in football. They're. I'm looking at our rushing matchups that I do each week, but they are our third best run opposing run defense this this year, allowing 52 yards per game. They, they shut down Bean Robinson, Bryce Bree hall and Nick Chub. No running back has run over 50 yards against them. So I think it's a passing game for Philadelphia and I would expect them to come out and throw the ball. Especially as you know, Vita Vee is up the middle there and did you see that they signed the 450 pound Florida Gator defense?
- [31:36]
B
I forget his name. They said he's not going to be active. Did you hear why they brought him back? They said that he is the scout team Jordan Davis for them.
- [31:44]
C
Well, that's disappointing. That's really disappointing.
- [31:46]
B
I know I was hoping he'd be like the, the plug in the, the tush bush, but it sounds like they're just using him on the scout team to. Because you know, nobody can simulate Jordan Davis, but I guess you just put 400 pounds of, of meat in the middle of the, the defensive line and that's the closest you can get.
- [32:01]
C
Yeah, I think Florida used gave him a handoff at one point which was hilarious.
- [32:07]
B
William Perry style. Love it.
- [32:09]
C
Yeah. So I, I think for the Eagles, like, I mean I'm in on their passing game this week. Long term, I think Saquon Barkley will be fine. He's been propped up because of touchdowns this week, the first three games, which is good to see but hopefully they keep, they keep rolling because I know a lot of people have invested heavily in the in that team and you.
- [32:34]
B
Know, something I feel like hasn't been discussed much because he got knocked out so early in that Week one game. Will Shipley was pretty heavily involved in the game planning before he was knocked out and it's just been all Saquon Barkley since then. But now I wonder with Will Shipley tracking to play again, if maybe we do see them lessen Saquon Barkley's workload a little bit, try to keep him as fresh as possible for what it will inevitably another be another deep playoff run. So interested to see how that workload is split up when Shipley is back in the fold, but also want to talk about the Bucks here. A lot of people drafted Chris Godwin. It sounds like he is trending towards playing this week. And you know, we're, we're recording this on Friday evening so things can change. If you're listening to this. I'm sorry, we're recording on Thursday evening. So if you're listening on Friday afternoon, we could have different news. But for the sake of this discussion, let's just say that Chris Godwin is going to be active. Would you start him in any leagues, Devin, or do you think that you should just kind of take a wait and see approach here?
- [33:26]
C
No, I would start him.
- [33:28]
B
Oh, all right.
- [33:29]
C
Yeah, I, I think that, I mean he's dealt, he's dealt with enough injuries over the last several seasons that I don't have any major concerns with him coming back. And look, he's been in the league for eight. This is his ninth year, which is crazy. But he's a player that. Who else are they going to throw to? It's they have Ameca Buka and not a lot else. Like Sterling Shepard. Fine. I'm sure he's a fine player, but like he's not a guy that you can get overly excited about. They're at home taking on a the super bowl champs game of the week. I think it's a game where they're going to want to throw to Chris Godwin.
- [34:20]
B
And also like Godwin's been practicing for a while now. Like it's not like this is just him like returning to practice and trying to get up to speed. He was practicing all of last week as well. So I, I've definitely, you know, I'm a little bit trepidatious. I've got him to my wide receiver 50 on the week but you know, right in the Same bunch is 50. Yeah. I'm a little bit concerned that he's, you know, limited in this game. So I've got him in the same, I mean there's no bye week. So wide receiver 50 is still in play for a lot of people. But like Darnell Mooney, Trey Tucker, Stefan Diggs, Keon Coleman, Wondell Robinson, that's kind of where I've got Chris Godwin. I'm pumping the brakes a little bit just because I'm worried that maybe he is, you know, ramped up over the next few weeks. But that kind of brings me to my, my next question. We're expecting Mike Evans to miss a handful and this isn't necessarily about the matchup. This is more of like a rest of season type of conversation. But Mike Evans is supposed to miss a handful of weeks. We assume that by the time Evans returns, Chris Godwin will be 100% healthy and fully back up to speed. So how do you expect this wide receiver trio to look like who's going to fit where, who's going to be the most valuable between Godwin, Evans and Auga.
- [35:27]
C
Yeah, it's gonna be a mess. I think Evans is probably going to be fine just because if I think about Godwin and Kabuka, they play pretty similar roles. I think it depends on how Godwin, how healthy Godwin is and how Igbuka can, can ramp up. If I'm taking one, I'm probably, I'm going to lean towards the preseason thought that I had which was Igbuka is a long term play for, for this team. As we get closer to the end of the season. As long as they stay healthy between Evans and Godwin, I think that those two players are going to be the most trustworthy of the two or of the three. But Igbuka like was probably the most pro ready wide receiver like he was. He's been dominant for several seasons at Ohio State and my long theory is I only trust rookie wide receivers out of Ohio State and lsu.
- [36:35]
B
It's not a bad, not a bad rule to have at all.
- [36:38]
C
All the other, all the other ones don't seem to have like that immediate impact. But I, I still go back to like it's still an Evans and Godwin team as they think about it with a heck of a third option in Igbuka. I think there's cannibalization between all of them in the sense of, you know, all of their numbers will dip compared to last season. But I think, I think it's the two veterans with Igbuka still, still contributing but just not being that high upside player.
- [37:12]
B
Yeah. And I do think like the cat is out of the bag to some extent. Like he's going to be involved. But I think what we've seen through these first few weeks, there will be some cold water thrown on it once Godwin is fully back. But you talk about being pro ready. I remember watching abuka back in 2022 when he was a sophomore and saying, like, this guy is already ready to play in the NFL. And then he stuck around at Ohio State for a couple more years. So in complete agreement with you on that. Got two more games here that I want to discuss and I think I'm just going to do this every week because it's fun for me. I don't know if it's fun for the guests or not. Always going to work the Chicago Bears game into this show. Chicago Bears at Las Vegas Raiders. Luther Burden coming off a huge week. Talk about cats out of the bag. A lot of people dropped a lot of fab on Luther Burden. So I guess my, my simple question for you, Devin, is, is he starter worthy? I think a lot of people are really anxious to put him in their flex spot, you know, hope that he can build off of what he did last week. Do you think that that's what we're going to witness or do you think people should pump the brakes a little bit on Luther Burton?
- [38:11]
C
I would pump the brakes mostly because I love Roma Dunes.
- [38:16]
B
Yeah.
- [38:17]
C
And I think he's in line for a huge year. Burden. I mean, he had three targets, right? And he caught all three of them. He was largely propped up because of a 65 yard touchdown. He's a rookie who didn't go to Ohio State or lsu.
- [38:35]
B
That's the end of the discussion right there. Huh?
- [38:37]
C
And like the first two weeks, he did absolutely nothing. So if you're starting him, you have to. He's basically Jameson, Jameson Williams on steroids in terms of like, he has six targets in three games.
- [38:51]
B
Except Jameson Williams is on the field all the time. Do you know how many routes Luther Burton ran last week? I'm not, I don't mean to put you on the spot here. Not a lot of people.
- [38:58]
C
I would guess eight, nine.
- [39:00]
B
He ran nine routes last week. And that, that's, that's really what I want to get to here. Like, I know there's a lot of excitement about Luther Burton and I just kind of wanted to have this, this conversation more for the audience than anything else. But, like, that was a film room touchdown. That was not Luther Burden, like just being so good that he was making things happen. That was them saying, hey, we know that Luther Burton isn't going to be covered. We know that they're going to bite on this flea flicker. We know that their safeties don't have the speed to keep up with Burden and that's what that play was. And like he had another nice deep post that, sure, we can get excited about that. But at the end of the day, he ran nine snaps and Roma Dun is there and DJ Moore is there and Cole Comet's there and DeAndre Swift and you know, there's, there's Lamidiz Aus is still running five times as many routes as him. So I understand the long term excitement, but like there is no way I'm putting Luther Burton in a fantasy lineup this week.
- [39:47]
C
Agreed.
- [39:49]
B
So let's stick talking about this team though. And where there's excitement about Luther Burden, there's a lot of panic about DJ Moore. People drafted him assuming he would be the Bears wide receiver one and Roma Dunze has just been taking his lunch every single week. So what are fantasy managers supposed to do with DJ Moore? Do you keep starting him? Do you bench him? Do you try to trade him away? Do you just pray that he gets traded to the Buffalo Bills? What is the what, what, what. What should fantasy managers do right now with DJ Moore?
- [40:14]
C
I mean, the matchup here against Las Vegas is really good. They're, they're allowing the fourth most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers this year. Kaan Booty had 103 yards and they faced a really manageable schedule. I mean, they face New England, the Chargers, and in Washington, like Luke McCaffrey had 56 yards and a touchdown against this team.
- [40:37]
B
Good point.
- [40:38]
C
So I'm holding for a week. I'm starting him this week and if he has a big game, which I'm hoping he does, then I'm trying to move him. I'm trying to. Hopefully he has another 220 yard, three touchdown game or whatever. He had that one one year Thursday.
- [40:58]
B
Night Football against Washington. Is that.
- [41:00]
C
Yeah.
- [41:01]
B
Yep, yep.
- [41:02]
C
I actually had dinner with him like the two days after which was crazy. And he very quiet guy. So he's not going to be a guy who's going to be like ruffling the locker room demanding more snaps or more targets. But he's, he's the number two in this offense and he's never been that like dynamic number one. Could he become a very good number two? Yeah, I think he could. But my worry with the Bears is as we get closer to the end of the season, you have weather coming into play. You have is there enough passing offense in this team to sustain it? And then Luther Burton at some point is going to be ramping up. So if Moore has a good game this week, which I expect him to, I'm probably trying to move him.
- [41:54]
B
I think that's a pretty good way to look at this. And I would expect a big game, you know, 48 and a half point over, under two very bad defenses, two probably better than average offenses. This does feel like a potential shootout here, which is a great segue into the next player. I want to talk about Ashton Jinty. We have seen, you know, the Bears, they've got some good players on defense, but they, the internal defensive line has been awful and we have just seen teams running at will against them. Ashton Ginsey obviously has not looked good so far. Do you think that maybe team should or fantasy managers should go out and try to trade for him now before this Bears game, hoping that this could be a get right game? Or do you just think this Vegas offensive line is so bad that Ginty is just going to continue to do what he's done for the last few weeks, which is be a very, very disappointing player?
- [42:41]
C
Yeah, I think there's a couple things there. I think that certainly the offensive line's been bad and that's run blocking typically is easier than pass blocking for an offensive line to get right, but if you can't run block, then there's pretty big problems on your line.
- [43:01]
B
Real quick, did you see regarding the offensive line, did you see the stat that 101% of his yards this year have come after contact?
- [43:10]
C
I did, I did. Which I would need to go back and watch like a little bit more. Is he, is he hesitating? Is he not hitting the right hole? I, I don't know. That seems like very hard to just like the average running back before yards before contact, for those that don't know is like one and a half, maybe two. And then they're normally like high twos to low threes after contact and he.
- [43:43]
B
Like the top guys are like three and a half, right?
- [43:47]
C
So I don't know. I, I don't know. I, I think that there's a couple things going on. The offensive line is a problem. Is the step up in competition a problem? So like we saw when he was playing in the, against Penn State in the playoff last year, he struggled. So like is, does it take time for him to get acclimated? Coming from Boise State to the NFL, is his top end speed? Like does he have the burst that to break Some big plays. I'm kind of down on him. He was the one player I didn't want the Browns to draft in the top five when they traded down to get Mason Graham. Just because I think he's a player that could be very good. I just think he's going to need. I think he needs an elite offensive line, something like a Jonathan Taylor type player where he has one of the league's best offensive lines and right now it's just not there for him. So I'm concerned. I think if you, if you could get somebody who's paying you 80 cents on the dollar for Genty, like you take that all day, I wouldn't pay more than like a. I think where it gets interesting if we want to play that trade game is like a DeAndre Swift for Genti. Yeah, I would probably move Swift for a Genti but just because the upside if he did get it together, but I would take, I would probably take Amari and Hampton and Quinch on Judkins, both over Gentee at the moment.
- [45:16]
B
Yeah, I mean I moved Genti down pretty far in my rest of season rankings. You know, I think he's a talented back, but offensive line really does make you know that that's what you need to become elite. Like we never see guys give us elite finishes behind offensive lines this bad. So I moved Kyron Williams ahead of him. I moved Omari and Hampton ahead of him, Devon H. And Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, of course. But you know, then we get to this range, we're like, I don't want to overreact to some of these guys, but I've got Ashton Ginty and Chase Brown and Alvin Camara all kind of lumped together as these like disappointing guys. But they're right in the same range as who I mentioned earlier, Quinshon Judkins. Like I, I don't think it's crazy. I, I wouldn't recommend doing it, but I don't think it's crazy right now if somebody wants to trade away their Ashton Ginsey for a Quinchon Judkins.
- [46:04]
C
I think from a rest of season perspective, I think it's not crazy. I think from a price perspective, you're leaving too much on the table. You can get more than Judge probably still a buy. So I would want Judkins and something else if I was going to make that move.
- [46:23]
B
Let's stick talking with the Raiders. There's one other player I want to talk about. Brock bowers, tight end 16 in week two, tight end 14 the in week three. And I know he's hurt right now. He's like the, you know, running with bionic leg out there. Just one of the bulkiest, wildest knee braces I've ever seen from like his hip to his ankle. But are we just at the point, like are you okay telling a fantasy manager hey, if you want to Brock or bench Brock Bowers this week, you'd understand or is he just one of those players that's so good that you say you just need to put him in your lineup. Like don't wait for him to get better, just put him in your lineup and hope that this is the week.
- [47:01]
C
I think as you know the like looking at week to week tight end production is so touchdown dependent. Right. So Jack Stoll and Drew Sample finished and John Fitzpatrick finished ahead of and.
- [47:20]
B
Whoever name I wasn't even familiar with.
- [47:22]
C
Until a ronde Gads Gadsden is for the Chargers. No, I'm, I would, yes, I would blame fantasy managers for benching Rock Bowers. Like that's not even on the table for me. I, I think he's going to be fine. Is it disappointing that he's four for 38? Yeah, it's disappointing. Is he trending in the Kyle Pitts territory? Not yet, but it's heading that way. But even then I would play Kyle Pitts as like a ahead of a lot of other tight ends. No, I, I think you play him until he's working at Goldman Sachs with his receding at the end of, end of his career.
- [48:06]
B
And you know Devin, I knew how you were going to answer that question but sometimes we just have to ask these obvious questions for the audience because I have seen people out there asking me like hey, should I play Juwan Johnson or Brock Bowers this week? Hey, would you play Harold Fannin or Brock Bowers this week? And this is just me saying like the, the opportunities have been there. This is a team that is going to need to throw this week playing up, you know, a bad defense and a good offense. Like I already mentioned, a 48 and a half point over under. I've still got Brock Bowers as a top three tight end this week. And yeah, it's been disappointing the last couple of weeks but you know he, he had a, a touchdown that was in and out of his hands last week. He catches that touchdown and there's no concern in the world about Brock Bowers. So I'm not concerned. You listening? You shouldn't be concerned either. Fire up Brock Bowers last game. I want to talk about here, Cincinnati Bengals at Denver Broncos and you know, I'll just combine these two questions together. T. Higgins and Chase Brown are, are both of them benchable at this point? I mean, it has just been rough sledding for Chase Brown and Then T. Higgins 2 points last week with Jake Browning. Jake Browning looked absolutely terrible. This is another tough matchup against a good defense on the road. Are you okay just saying T. Higgins and Chase Brown, you could bench them both or are you still hoping that maybe they can bounce back?
- [49:19]
C
I'm benching them both. Regarding Higgins, again, I'm dating myself. But Marvin Hagler said it's hard to run five miles in the morning in silk pajamas. And after Higgins got paid, it's like two targets, eight targets, but only caught three passes in four targets. I need more from a guy who like he. There just needs to be more production there. Higgins at one point was one of my favorite receivers because he continued to be underpriced several years ago in dfs. But right now, I mean, how many injuries has this guy had? It's. He no longer looks like the same player. You have the Jake Browning factor which like you're going to get the ups and downs. Going to Denver is always one of the most scary places to play. You have to deal with altitude. Patrick Surtan, like, yeah, they haven't, they've given up big games the last two weeks, but that was on the road and at Denver's a little bit different story. As, as you know, Chase Brown, I don't know what's going on with him. Like that's a whole nother. Like I think part of it's the offensive line just being horrendous. Right. And we saw like they have a couple guys who just shouldn't be playing football right now. Amarius Mims, the first round pick from last year. Ted cares.
- [50:52]
B
The whole left side of the line. I watched the other day, I watched every Chase Brown touch from this year and it is unbelievable. Like these guys are just turnstiles on the left side. You just see unabated rushers coming in on every single play. Like it is maybe the worst offensive line I've ever watched in my life.
- [51:12]
C
Yeah, it's really bad. And I, I think that it's what happens when, you know, people like to say the salary cap's fake, but when you build a team like a Madden team with a 30 million dollar receiver, a 20 million, 25 million dollar receiver and a 50 million dollar quarterback, it's not a lot of money to go around for the rest of your Guys.
- [51:30]
B
Don'T forget the 10 million they gave Micasicki this year too.
- [51:33]
C
That was a good investment.
- [51:35]
B
A non blocking. That's exactly what this team needed. A non blocking, pass catching tight end. And he wasn't enough. So they went on, they got another one. And Noah Fant, too.
- [51:42]
C
Just 10 million. 10 million can get you a really good guard. Yeah, I just don't, I don't see enough. Like, even when Browning had his, his big game, it was all Jamar Chase and Chase Brown. What did he have 3 yards on 10 carries last week. At some point they're just gonna abandon the run and just put Samaj P. Ryan in there as the pass catcher and just throw the ball 50 times a game, which maybe that bails Higgins out, but not ready to, not ready to start Higgins this week either.
- [52:19]
B
And you know, I'll say with Chase Brown, I think that, like, he has been in the perfect situation over the last couple of years. Like on a great offense where the offensive line didn't matter so much because defenses were forced to honor the pass because of Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and T. Higgins and everything else that they have there. And it just opened up these huge lanes for Brown, who is a great athlete and he could just play, explode through these wide open lanes and rip off chunk plays. But I look at Taj Brooks in this backfield, you know, seventh round rookie, and one of the things that I like so much watching his tape out of Texas Tech is that he's really good at, you know, mitigating losses in the backfield. Like, he was consistently playing behind a very bad offensive line at Texas Tech and still churning out production. And last week we saw him come in, you know, it wasn't great by any means. I think it was five carries for 17 yards. But when you compare that to Chase Brown's 10 for three, it looks much, much better. So I wonder now if you know Taj Brooks, a guy who's a little bit more physical, a little bit heavier, if maybe they start to give him some touches now to see how he does behind this offensive line, because Chase Brown just has not looked good. Like, I haven't seen him break a single tackle this year either. Like, he's just getting hit in the backfield and immediately going down. It's been tough to watch.
- [53:30]
C
Yeah, it's been pretty bad.
- [53:32]
B
All right, one more. I've got about here. Jamar Chase. You know, I. I don't think that we're benching Jamar Chase because he is Jamar Chase, but again, Jake Browning going to the altitude in Denver. Pat Certain is likely going to be shadowing him. I don't think many people are in a position where they would bench him, but like, from a DFS standpoint, is this just a guy that you're completely staying away from this week? I mean, I've got him outside of my top 10 in wide receiver rankings, which feels absolutely crazy. But I've got Garrett Wilson, Roma, Dunes, A Devonte Adams, Malik, Neighbors, all out of him.
- [54:08]
C
Yeah, you would have him a little bit lower than me. I think I have him at 7 or 8. But agree with the point that like there's concern just because of everything else that's going on. Not to mention Denver led the NFL and sacks last year, which good luck to Jake Browning. I don't know who their third string is, but stay ready, kid. So I, yeah, there's concerns for sure. I. I don't know that I'm ready to put Garrett Wilson ahead of him.
- [54:42]
B
Yeah, I mean that might be getting a little bit too cute with it, but you know, assuming Justin Fields is going to start Justin Fields, he's pretty good at forcing the ball to his first read even when he shouldn't. And it might result in turnovers, but it also can result in a lot of passing production for that wide receiver. One looked it up, it would be Brett Rippian would be the next man up for the Bengals if they have to continue going down. But I almost wonder like if we see another. I mean last week was bad. Bad, like gave up. They had more points on turnovers to the defense than they scored as an offense. Like it was just very bad last week. If they go out and look like that again, you got to wonder if they start calling up Kirk Cousins, Jameis Winston, like just trying to get something else there. Because even without Joe Burrow, I think this is a team that still does have some sort of playoff aspirations. But the last question I have about this game here, and this one's going to be about the Denver Broncos, RJ Harvey, do you think he's going to find a path to fantasy relevance this year or did people that drafted him hoping that he'd kind of take over and have this pass catching role in the Sean Payton offense? Do you think they're just going to be left disappointed?
- [55:50]
C
It's sort of now or never. Because he's like 37 years old.
- [55:56]
B
I believe he's younger or older than Breeze hall. Right? I. I think I've got that right.
- [56:01]
C
Yeah, he's in his age 24 season. So he's not that old, but he's one of these covet kids who got like five or six years in college. Must have been awesome. As like a side tangent to be a superstar college football player, spending six years like that has to be the dream. Making as much as they did. Long story short, I'm. I'm sort of filibustering here, but I don't know that there's a lot to get all that excited about. Like, he had two carries, he had three receptions last week in a competitive game against the Chargers. So I don't know. I. I think It's. I mean, J.K. dobbins had 11 carries for 83 yards. So they're not, they're certainly not going to look to Harvey if Dobbins continues to improve or produce and more importantly, continues to stay healthy. So, you know, if I look at Dobbins, he's 26, so he's only. He's only a year and a half older than RJ Harvey, which is crazy, but I think it's Dobbins. He's the guy that I would want to have in that backfield coming off 100. Yeah, I. I don't have any interest at the moment for Harvey. Yeah.
- [57:23]
B
And I think it's sometimes just as simple as that. Like, you look at these two guys, you look what RJ Harvey does, you look what JK Dobbins does. You know, we get so enamored. And when I say we, I mean like the royal. We fantasy football players with speed scores and 40 times and all, all that sort of stuff. But what we don't care about as much is just like playing the sport of football, which is what coaches do care about. And J.K. dobbins is darn good at doing that. Like, he's going to accelerate through a defender. He's going to catch passes, he's going to pick up blitzers. He's going to do all the things that RJ Harvey can't do. And I know, like, people are holding on to that, like one big run from week one and saying, look at what RJ Harvey can do. But I think JK Dobbins is just a flat out better running back at this point. And sometimes it really is that simple. So, you know, maybe the tides can change as the season progresses, but I've heard a lot of people saying, like, you know, sell your JK Dobbins before RJ Harvey takes over. And, And I don't think that's the case at all. Like, I think if you drafted J.K. dobbins. Congratulations. You, you stumbled into an RB2 very late in your fantasy draft and if you didn't draft it, J.K. dobbins and somebody's trying to sell on him right now thinking that the, the floor is going to fall out from under him. I'll gladly buy J.K. dobbins because I don't think he's going to lose this role unless he gets hurt.
- [58:31]
C
Yeah, I think far too often people become enamored by the rookies and we've been spoiled the last several years of these rookies that come in and just are like every first and second round rookie hits or at just an unsustainable historical rate that hasn't really been achievable over the last. If you look at the last 10 or 15 years and we're seeing that claw back a little bit this year where you take rookies for their upside and some of them are going to hit, some of them are not. But if anyone has any interest in RJ Harvey at this point, like sell him because there's no indication other than he was a second round pick that he has the ability to take over this backfield anytime soon.
- [59:21]
B
Yeah, and I think, you know, people hang on to the draft capital stuff so much and like even that they say he's a second round pick. The reality is like 50 of second round picks that's, you know, I'm pulling that number out of thin air. I know Jason Wood has actually done work on this, but it's somewhere around like 50 of second round picks just end up being bus. And that's just the sad reality of the NFL. You know, Caleb Johnson drafted in round three. I pulled up the list of round three running backs, like guys that have been drafted over the last 10 years. In round three you've got Devon HN and then a dozen nobodies. I mean like we, we get so excited about like day two draft capital, but that really doesn't mean much. And, and, and I'm, I'm glad we're talking about this. You know, I think RJ Harvey is a fun player, like long term. I, I'm hoping for the best for him, but he's just getting outplayed by J.K. dobbins right now and I don't see how he carves out a fantasy relevant role. Devin, I have the same question. Yeah, go ahead.
- [60:10]
C
I call it the Pukinakua effect where it's like 2023. Everyone wants to find that next guy and they don't come around very often.
- [60:21]
B
There's never been a Puka Nukua like what Puka Nukua did in the first three weeks. No rookie wide receiver has ever done, let alone a day three wide receiver. Like anybody trying to do that, you're trying to capture lightning in a bottle.
- [60:33]
C
Odell Beckham's the only one that like has come close where if he didn't have him, you just didn't win. His rookie season was pretty special and.
- [60:39]
B
That'S a first round LSU wide receiver like that is, you know, we had expectations for him like, exactly right. Puka Duku, a day three guy out of byu. I don't think we'll ever see that again in our lifetime. But Devin, same question that I ask everybody else to wrap up the show. You can answer this however you want, football related or otherwise. What is a hill you are willing to die on?
- [61:06]
C
It's a Sorry Joe podcast. I'm not going to go there.
- [61:12]
B
I could always edit something out in post if you really want to know.
- [61:16]
C
Kevin Stefanski is not a good coach.
- [61:18]
B
Oh, off the top rope.
- [61:21]
C
I think he should be fired. The way that he handled Baker, the way that he handled the Baker Mayfield situation was not a professional way to handle it and it's backfired. That's his like most impactful thing that he's done in Cleveland and he was a part of the room that like got desean Watson. He's a brilliant play caller. He's not a good leader of the team.
- [61:55]
B
You know, I'm not gonna, I think when you bring up the Baker thing, I've always kind of pushed that on Andrew Barry more than I have on, on, on Kevin Stefanski. But you know, you being the Browns fan, do you have any more insight you want to share there? Because I always thought that was just like a dumb front office decision. I didn't know that Stefanski had anything to do with that because if I recall like from, from my perception is just an NFL fan who isn't like, you know, more tied to the, the Browns beat than any other team. I thought it was crazy that they trotted him out there with an injured shoulder, made him play through the injury and then it seemed like he just got ran out of town. Like the whole thing was head scratching at, at the time. Is there any other insight you have as a Browns fan that I might not know?
- [62:33]
C
So Baker wanted to play and went to the coach and the coaches like weren't able to just like push back and say, no, you're, you're resting, you're our franchise guy like most organizations would. And then there was some turmoil as far as I, I think adapting your style as a coach when you have one of these elite. I don't want to call Baker elite because he's not but like franchise, well above average, right? If you have arguably what could have been the best Browns quarterback since Otto Graham, accommodating play calling, accommodating offenses to that player and working with that player, it was very much them trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and have Baker accommodate to their system rather than creating a mutual fit. And then just from like an overall discipline standpoint, the Browns have led the NFL continuously in turnovers, special teams mistakes, penalties, like just very sloppy football. And that to me is just all on a disciplined culture, which he's very. He's very much of the new age head coach that is the opposite of like the Dan Campbell's of the world. We'll just put it that way.
- [64:05]
B
I think that's a good way to wrap that one up. Devin, before we sign off here, you do a ton of work over at Football Guys. The DFF show articles that you write let everyone know where they can find all your content, social media, all that good stuff.
- [64:15]
C
Yeah, football guys.com I lead our DFS team. I think my Twitter X handle is Devin Knots fpg, something like that. And do our rushing and passing matchups, which get emailed out. Do a DFS show on a weekly basis. So I'm sure if, if you're following Football Guys, you're aware of me and probably sick of me at this point. But thanks for having me on. Really appreciate it.
- [64:41]
B
Of course. And this show does come out Friday morning, so if you're already listening to this one and you want to see a little bit more, you can check out Thursday night. They do the DFS show live. You can find that on our YouTube channel. Who's gonna be on this week, Devin? It's you, Phil, Jeff, and John.
- [64:55]
C
Just the three of us. And it comes out like 2pm on Fridays. We don't do it live.
- [65:00]
B
Oh, all right. Well, even better then. So you listen to this show in the morning and then you get to listen to Devin Friday afternoon. Want to thank everybody so much for taking the time to tune in. I'll be back again next week to go over some Week 5 matchups with another Football Guy staffer. As always, thank you so much for taking the time to tune in and I will see you next week.
- [65:28]
A
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