Before we start today's show, I have a very special invitation for all of you out there. We want to see you live in Los Angeles at the Palace Theater on August 24th for our 10th anniversary, Megalas Show. This is going to be your chance to come be a part of a live podcast episode presented by our friends at Sleeper, and it is going to be, dare I say, a great time.

It's going to be fantastic, friends, fun, and we're also working with A partnership with Pristine Auction and fantasy Cares. There's going to be some giveaways at the show. We're going to be throwing out some signed jerseys, and there will be a grand prize giveaway live at the Megalas show. Must be present to win a Cooper Cup signed helmet and a signed jersey.

And you can get tickets right now at ballerslive. Com. They will sell out. This is coming up very, very, very soon, and we genuinely thank you. We want to see you. We want to give you that fist pump, answer your questions, and have a crazy time. Ballerslive. Com. Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in.

The fantasy footballer is back with you.

Jason More, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway.

It's Friday.

I was- You were holding it back? No, I was actually typing to Al, see if he could throw that Friday drop on my board.

Do we still have that drop?

Of course, we do.

Welcome in.

A very extensive library. Nothing falls through the Cribs.

Yeah, we are back to five shows a week, which is why we're here on this fine Friday morning, August second. Fantasy football is, well, it's here. We're reaching the preseason, and you hold your breath for the injury reports this time of year. You want everything to go well. And look, I don't know how to tell you this, Jay, but I'm going to another championship this year.

Oh, that's awesome. I assume that's some home league you're in.

I'm not in? It's actually a legal record, and it's not about you so much. It's just you'll be one of 11 other people to not win it. So you'll have a bunch of people to commiserate with.

Well, that is what happens in every league. It is. Most people don't win, and one does.

There we go.

I knew it was there somewhere.

Al dug it out the archives. Thank you, Al.

Put it back in the box.

Al is not going to be at the live show, right? We're not.

Oh, he'll be there. The whole crew's coming.

Everybody's going to be there, so that'll be fun. What else do we got going on today? We have a pretty entertaining quick question, I think, talking about fraudulent offenses and making our predictions on the offenses that people are counting on. They might go south. And then it's a mid-round Madness episode. So we'll be mentioning a couple names, each of us, a couple of names that we think are values in the middle rounds. And if you hit on one, if you really hit on one of those middle round players, that can make such a difference for your team.

Absolutely.

The Ultimate Draft Kit available right now at ultimatedraftkit. Com. If you want to go jump in, it is August, so don't be a fool and fall behind when you get ready for your draft. Ultimatedraftkit. Com. For that, you can follow us on X at the FF Ballers. And we are updating our timeline with lots of articles and information and news and breaking news and videos and things like that over on X. I think that about covers it. You guys want to jump into the quick question? Yes, sir. Well, Danny Walsh. Good old Danny.

Old Dan Walsh.

We call him Dan Walsh. He goes by Danny on IG.

Mom calls him Daniel.

Yeah, he was born. Who is your fraudulent offense of the year? It's a scary prediction. It is.

It's a scary prediction to make. This is spicy.

Because it happens every year.

Yeah, it does.

There's teams that let you down. I remember the Cleveland Browns with O'Bj, and Jarvis Landry, and Baker coming off his rookie season, and all the hype going into the year, and Najoku, and they let people down.

They sure did.

And teams like the Patriots this year can't really let you down. When you're talking about a fraudulent offense, it's one that has to look good right now, has to have pieces that are important for fantasy that are maybe overdrafted, and it's not going to work out as well as maybe we hope.

Yeah. Look, I can go first because you brought up the Cleveland Browns. That was a team led by Baker Mayfield, and the team that I want to highlight, they are led by Baker Mayfield. It is the Tampa Bay Bucaneers. I think that they're It is a true regression coming for this team. They've had some turnover. It feels at this moment like Dave Canales is a magic man, as we have seen him two years in a row, resurrect the careers for two separate quarterbacks and some offenses. He is now gone from Tampa Bay. It's not that I think that Tampa Bay is going to completely fall on its face. I just think that Baker really overproduced last year. He struggled immensely against man. In fact, he averaged 33 passing yards per game versus man. And now the league has a whole year of tape to study the tendencies of what was going on down there. Where did Baker struggle? I think that will absolutely factor in. The inefficiencies of Rashaud White, they kept getting away with those things last year. I think there's too much against Baker, and this is not I'm not drafting Mike Evans, or I'm not willing to take a chance on Chris Goblin.

I just think that they will... I don't think you're going to get Mike Evans that you saw last year, where it was, what was he, 13? Thirteen receiving touch downs up from six the year before. I think that Evans can still be a 8-10 range, but where he was the top five guy, and Baker was this streaming darling in certain situations. I think that that is going to be harder this year.

Very logical, Mike, unfortunately. Very logical, probably very true. That team is... I think they did more for fantasy than they did make their mark as a top-tier offense. Evans was great in part because of how late you had to draft him, too. Now you're going to have to pay up and bank on it. Jason, what's the offense you want to throw out there?

Yeah, the offense that... When we're looking at these for me, and I'm trying to predict how could it go wrong, it's usually like what Mike just did. It's looking at a quarterback that maybe isn't as great as touted. For me, that's the Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm still not convinced that Trevor Lawrence is worth the money he just received. He is a Fine NFL quarterback. He's not a bad NFL quarterback, but I don't believe he's a superstar. Losing Calvin Ridley and replacing him with Brian Thomas, a rookie, Gabe Davis, who has in his own right, not been- He's very Very fit, very good at cardio and running routes. Super good at running routes. This is a team that struggled down the stretch last year. If you remember, they started out. They were on pace for the number one seed, and and get that playoff by week, and then they completely collapsed down the stretch, lost, what was it, six of their last seven games. I feel like their offense got a little bit figured out. Their run game became inefficient. If things If things start to go poorly, if they were figured out at the end of last year and it continues into this season, I don't see this off as taking a step forward.

So at best, it's going to be neutral, and I can see a world where this offense just struggles. Trevor Lawrence is a first read type of thrower. Only two had a faster time to throw in a higher first read target percentage rate. This is like a scripted, Here's what you're going to do. And if the defense figures it out, obviously, it works for Tua pretty well.

If Tyree kill were on my team, I would have a lot of first read targets. Yeah.

Where is he? Go to him. I just see how it could go poorly if some of these wide receivers that they're banking on don't step up, then I think it could be in store for a disappointed office.

So you said Jacksonville. Fraud might be too strong a word for my pick for this quick question.

Yours is sizzling.

I think let down.

Like a fresh plate of fajitas.

I think let down is the right word for it. It's Buffalo. Thank you, Mike. Very good sound effect. Look, a lot has been made of whether Stefan Diggs has lost it, but the conversation The conversation with Buffalo has nothing to do with what stage of Stefan Diggs career he is in. The conversation with Buffalo is, can you take Jefferson off of Minnesota and have the same production from Cousins? Can you take Amun Ra away from golf and have the same production? There's only one quarterback. Can you take Chase away from Burrow and expect the same production on offense? No. No. And what made Buffalo prolific was the fact they had an alpha in the offense. You talk about wide receivers with Jacksonville. Right now, we're sitting here with Keion Coleman Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shaqir. Those are not foundational pieces of a wide receiver room. Those are wide receiver two-threes that Patrick Mahomes could figure out how to make sure it works. He's the one we've seen lose, Tyreek Hill, and still figure it out. But we're expecting Dalton Kincaid to take a step up, whereas when he lost Tyreek, Kelsey was already the goat.

Buffalo, their identity changed over the back half of the year. Yes, they won some games, But yes, there were some flaws, and Joe braided offenses get figured out over time. They went from third and turnover rate to 15th under braided. The more pressure you put on Josh Allen, which is going to be a natural byproduct of taking away an alpha from this roster. There's not always a guaranteed great outcome. And so weeks 11 through 18 with braided, they were 31st in pass rate. Teams adjust, and then they get adjusted, too. And then you have to adjust again. This is what's happened time and time again for New England when they had braided and for Kansas City with Mahomes. The question will be, can Josh Allen adjust well enough under the pressure when they start locking down James Cook a little bit out of the backfield? There's a big difference between a midseason transition that works out and prolific fantasy numbers. So I think the Buffalo offense as a whole might not have as many players to deliver for you. I've started hesitating a little bit with even how high I have Dalton Kincaid ranked because the team has come out and once again put their emotional backing behind Dawson Knox, and it just puts a little fear in you.

There is not a Dawson Knox competing for Travis, Kelsey, and Sam Laporta, and Mark Andrews, and George Kittle's targets or opportunities on the field. I have some hesitation with Buffalo. It's why I went out and I put my money where my mouth was. I traded Josh Allen away in a dynasty League where he has been dominant. I could totally pay the price for that.

I hope you do.

It was the time to cash in and get a player like Kyler in a first-round pick. I just have question marks around Buffalo. You get to the end of this year, and we don't know which one of these wide receiver is going to make the biggest mark. Not knowing it now means that Josh Allen is going to have to figure it out, too. Yeah.

Obviously, with the change in their offensive philosophy at the end of the year, which is not usually good for fantasy, and the loss of their clear-cut wide receiver one for this team, there are definitely yellow flags to overcome. I think most people, and I'm with most people, believe Josh Allen can figure it out and will figure it out. So that's really what it comes down to, is how good is Josh Allen? That's it. And I think he's pretty darn good.

I think it's okay to carve him out a little bit because we know he can get the production Even if the team isn't a top five offense, Josh Allen can still be the number one quarterback. We know that to be true. But if the offense struggles a little bit, maybe you don't get as much ceiling, maybe you get a down game here or there, and maybe you can't predict who else to start in the offense. Although I know James Cook should have every opportunity to really have a breakout campaign, he's still got to get it done. Their identity from the end of last year, it has to work going into this year and not be adjusted to.

I am very excited to watch Buffalo It's like, wow, we heaped the praise. Oh, Patrick Mahomes figures it out. And yeah, football-wise, they figured it out. But fantasy-wise, the second half of the year, they did did not figure it out.

Nor was Mahomes good for fantasy in that stress.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, the team, the Kansas City Chiefs, but we're not playing NFL football. We're playing fantasy football. Those doubts have started to just creep into the back of my head of is... Like, Josh Allen is still my number one quarterback for redraft, but there's that instead of it being a full 100% conviction, of course, we're going to go with this. It's if there's really no number one, if no one makes the jump to be their go-to guy, which we're going to talk Dawkins K here in a second, if no one makes that jump, does Josh Allen figure it out? We talked about him a little bit at length, Josh Allen, in this week's dynasty podcast of if a pretty easy comp for Josh Allen's career is Cam Newton. They're both big, strong, Superman-type players, and this is when Cam Newton disappeared. Now, I don't think Josh Allen is going to disappear the way that Cam Newton has because of injuries. Cam Newton got way more hurt than Josh Allen has been thus far in his career, so maybe that took the toll. But I just saw Josh Allen talking to K Adams about running the ball, and it was hinted out of, Maybe I need to do that a little bit less.

He's still going to run, but it's just If he's thinking about that more and more, and no one is taking the leap out there, is he the locked-in number one guy?

It's just a weird math equation to figure out when Josh Allen has had four straight years of 4,500, 4,400, 4,200, 4,300 yards passing. Yes, exactly. Even if you just take a big 1,100-yard basket and throw it to Dalton Kincae, and then you say, Well, where's the other 3,000 yards going? Where's the other 3,300 yards going? Then Hilariously, not by much, he's throwing a ton of touch downs, but they have gone down for a straight years. It's just in the back of my head saying, Hey, Khalil secure. Does he profile as a one? Is Coleman going to do it as a rookie? We've seen enough Curtis Samuel to know that he will be helpful, probably not fundamental.

Yeah, I think that's fair. We might disagree on this, but here in a little while, we're going to talk about Dalton Cacato, who I think will emerge as the clear number one receiver for the state.

They might need him for all 4,300 yards, so that's a good point.

News and notes from Around the League, presented by USAA Insurance.

All right, we're jumping We're getting to the news, and we do have the Deucers here over there in Deucers Alley. Putting the Deuce in Deucers Alley over there, Falcon. But we got everybody in the building today.

The Falcon Dump.

Did we enjoy the Hall of Fame game, everybody? Can I get some nods over there? What? It's a big...

What? Oh, that's a big Yon from Josh. Oh, Josh Yon. Josh, the axor. What is happening back there?

That was pretty good.

Getting your SAG card? What's going on?

We didn't get a football time yesterday for good reason.

We couldn't.

You're reserving it. But we are underway in the preseason, and we got some preseason news yesterday. Justin Herbert, week to week with a plantar fascia injury. Uh-oh. I've been about year to year on on that same injury. Doctors have recommended two weeks in a boot, followed by a graduated return to playing with the expectation he'll be ready for the start of the season.

Is he getting a diploma when it comes time to play? Yeah, you like that? Bust it.

Yeah. I told that joke in my head.

I don't know if I even- He graduated, returned.

Yeah. No. I'm sorry. Even I held that one back. Jason, so swish.

The Lad McConkey Hype train has been building steam, picking up steam. But Herbert missed time last year. Here's Herbert with another injury. Is this just like a pause and wait and see and hope and pray?

Yeah, it's certainly not good news. It raises the risk rating of Justin Herbert and Lad McConkey and the whole offense. That being said, the expectation is he should be ready for the regular season. So it's better now than if If it was three weeks from now, then it would be a real problem. When I'm looking at my draughts, we're going to talk about Lad here in a little bit, I'm still in on Lad until if we hear that there's a setback or something happening that will cause actual on the field problems. I will, however, adjust Justin Herbert a little bit.

To account for risk?

Yeah, he's in a range right now, late in drafts, where sometimes I've snagged him in hopes that he has a monstrous season. But if he's dealing with a nagging plantar fascia injury, I'm worried about his-Facasha.Facasha.Oh, delicious. That sounds so good.

One of the reasons we have-olive oil on that. Is that the remedy?

Yeah, I think you just rub some olive oil in it, you'll be fine. Justin, get back out there.

I have not tried that. But we have risk ratings in the UDK for a reason, and I've adjusted mine a little bit just because... If I told you Herbert was going to miss two games, he's off the board. There's other quarterbacks to make a decision on.

My hope for Herbert, look, he's an awesome player, but my hope with this Greg Roman Harbaugh offense is that they are going to unleash his wheels a little bit more. He is mobile. He is very able-Put that facasha to use.put that facasha on the field, show you how delicious it is. But if that hampers the running game for him, the mobility-It's a good point.it It makes me a little sad.

Josh Jacobs didn't practice. He's dealt with a couple of offseason soft tissue issues. Fat Thor with the groin injury now and missed the first week of OTAs with a ham string injury.

Is he? Wait. Is the website updated?

Groinindex. Com.

I'm checking it right now.

One of the more illustrious websites.

The first. Okay. The first edition to groinindex. Com.

In 2024? Yeah.

The groin.

There'll be more. That is the quote from Josh Jacobs. I do have a question. He's an arg. I got a question for our resident packer fan over there, because not only did Josh Jacobs miss practice, but they announced some white alternative helmets for the packers. Did you see those? No, I'm going to go look right now. I sent them to you, Al.

I think they look good.

I wanted to get your official out of 10 rating for that alternate uniform. Have you found them?

Not yet.

Okay.

Well, keep looking.

I guess I I should have tagged you in those. But Mike, you saw them? I did.

They're fire.

I thought they looked. Did you like them? I did like them.

I don't like the helmet. Those are clean. I feel like it looks- The helmet was the whole thing. Yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying.

I don't like it. When they announced the helmet, you're like, It's the helmet I don't like.

It makes their logo look like they're Georgia, the college. That's all I see. I'm going to go six and a half or seven.

Out of 10? Yeah. Okay. It's hard when you change an iconic uniform. Like the packers They're probably the number one most iconic uniform. Packers, Cowboys, Bears. What other teams am I forgetting? Stealers. There's a few that when you change them a little bit, for instance, if you make the stealers into a Bumblebee or something, It's a little disruptive. I know you love the Bumblebee.

I do love it. I do, too. That was also a throwback.

Yeah, I know. So it's an O-G. All right, Joe Mixon, also recovering from a minor quadricep injury. Deontae Foreman, we got news that he was released from the hospital after he went to the hospital with a neck injury. That would be Brown's running back, part of the committee mix over there in Cleveland. I don't think I have any other news. I think that's all I got. So catching you up.

If If Santa Foreman wasn't there, let's say this was long term or whatever, does that change your view on Ford? Because I know we've had some debate, Mike and I think Jerome Ford will be very involved to start the year, a good late round value pick.

It doesn't change. I agree with you on the pick. I think the pick is fine with Jerome Ford. I think it doesn't change my view of his ceiling. Jerome Ford had every opportunity, every game, most of last year, and he's okay. That's my view. Sure. It's not like when Kareem Hunt wasn't there before they brought him back, that Jerome Ford was top 5, top 10 back or something. I just think he's got a cap, that's all.

Yeah, he does. He's not an elite superstar athlete.

By the way, you see Tarek Cohen? Shout out to... Yeah. That's not in the news. The dinosaur hunter. The dinosaur hunter is retired, and he tried to come back. He's only 29. But the major major- But he's 209, and that was the problem.

That was literally the problem. He was up at 207, 208, 209. We're talking to Lbs. He was playing at 188 when he was this- Quote, I let myself get fat.

That's a quote.

It happens to the best of us, bro.

That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at usaa. Com/insurance. We'll take a break, come back with some mid-round This is my goodness.

This is blasphemy. This is madness.

All right. Value picks in the middle rounds. I've got two names I'm going to throw out. I want to get your guys's feedback. I want you to press me on these guys, and we'll do some ADP this or that with these names, because right now, the word out of Dallas has got me. I was already pretty firmly on the Ezequiel Elliott side of the backfield rotation, and then now with talk of Royce Freeman the number 2, Enrico Doudal battling it out with Malik Davis, and all the other names seem firmly behind him. Zeke is the first name. Zeke is a 10th-round draft pick right now, and this is a top five offense. So Zeke is one name. The other one is an eighth-round pick. Also had some camp buzz to be the exclamation point on the end of last season when he was a league winner for my team and many others. And that would be the tight in 10 off the board right now in the eighth round, David Najoku of the Cleveland Browns. Those two names, I think, are players that I will be targeting. We've got a League of Record team, or I do, where it traded a lot of early picks away.

So I'm looking for diamonds in the rough. There are situations like that out there where you're really needing to not take a big chance, but get some more guaranteed production. I think both of these guys are values at their ADP.

I'll jump in here. I I'm in on the Zeke pick as well. It is super nasty.

This is a stinky, stinky pick.

It doesn't feel good. But this is- It doesn't feel good. When we're looking at runningbacks in the double digits, if you can attach that to a team that projects to be a really good offense, that should be an edge that you're looking for. And the Cowboys would project to be at least a top 10 offense. And to me, they're a top 10 offense if things go wrong. So I'm in on Zeke. The situation behind him is... It's so murky. We went literally... One day, the report was, Royce Freeman, who recently... He's Brand new to the team just a couple of months ago. Royce Freeman sounds like he could be positioned to be the backup, the number two on this team, while Dautil and Davis battle it out for the next. And then the very next day, you had a Cowboys Beat reporter come out and say, It's not a question. Riko Dautil, once the pads went on, Riko Dautil is the best running back on the team right now. He also followed up with, I don't think that they turned him into the Rb1. He's just giving his observation of the guy's point.

The talent, 26-year-old.

Yeah. What I'm looking at right now, Dautl is the best. So it is a mess. Hopefully, we get the backup situation figured out. But in the meantime, Zeke will be the number one guy. He is nothing remotely close to the elite fantasy football Zeke that we all loved and drafted years over years. However, with opportunity in front of him, he's shown he can still take that. Like last year from weeks 13 on, he was getting 21 opportunities a game. He was the Rb9 in that stretch because volume is the king at the running back position. And that was the... The ability was availability of, I can handle this. And I think that Zeke can still handle it. It's just how well will he actually produce with that at a 10th-round draft price? To me, it doesn't matter. He can easily pop up into being a top 24 running back. Yeah.

It is gross, but he shouldn't be as low as he is in ADP, not with the offense he's attached to. And the opportunities he's going to get at the end of the year, when they got down into the red zone, the Cowboys threw the ball. They threw it and threw it and threw it when they got down near the end zone. And they did that at the end of the year because they failed at the beginning of the year. Tony Pollard was given so many opportunities. Well, if Zeke can still do that one thing and score those touch downs down near that, that's what they're going to start the season trying to do. They're going to try to run it in. That's the better thing to do when you get into the red zone to the five zone. That's where offices usually work a little bit better. This offensive line should be better this year than last year. And if you look at the depth chart around him, Rico Doudal might be a better running back than him, but he's not going to usurp the veteran best friend, the quintessential cowboy, because it's not like he's twice as good as Zeke, and there's just no way to keep Rico Doudal off the field.

He'll spell him. And if you look at who he's going near in ADP, the four runningbacks, there's a lot in common. These are the four back to back to back. Austin Echler, nick Chubb, Ezequiel Elliott, and Gus Edwards. And all of them are... They're older, they have big problems, but it's like, Okay, what about the offenses? The commander's offense isn't going to be good. We don't expect nick Chubb is coming off a devastating knee injury and won't be ready to go. Zeke is literally on a top five offense.

Yeah, and they were number one in red zone plays per game last year. So you talk about opportunity. I think the Gus Edwards v. Zeke question is a really good one. Sure. Both of them are past their prime as runningbacks go. Both of them are grinders. Both of them position themselves as huge red zone threats. I think that'll be a really tough decision for people to make, especially if things sift out depth charge-wise for both teams. In practice, Gus and Dobbins, their first one, together, they split first-team reps.

It's pretty easy for me because Gus does not usually catch passes. And Zeke Elliott will- So you're very Ezequo on that? I'm easily Zeke on that. So Zeke. I'm not bullish about Zeke. I do think that there is a limit to his ceiling. He won't be on a lot of my rosters. But if I'm... This is another one of those zero-RB type of guys. If you're going seven, eight rounds without getting a running back, and then all of a sudden in the 10th round, you can get a starting fine running back. That's a strong total fantasy points at the end of a week build that you can do. If I've got a bunch of running backs ahead of them, I would rather I'd rather be taking a Jonathan Brooks type that could surprise and have some unknown ceiling because he's really young, talented, explosive player.

I think Gus Edwards versus Zeke comes down to, do you think that Gus Edwards will have so many more touch downs than Ezekiel Elliott? Which, I guess, that's not impossible that there's going to be so much volume for the chargers, and when they get in close, they're going to try and run it in. Well, can his touch downs outpace the production of Zeke catching the ball? That's the question you have to ask yourself when debating the two.

I do want to mention for Najoku, I just think that the opportunity for him to continue the breakout is there. I want to put that out there. It should. Because not only did he have one of the most prolific endings of the season where that matters. It matters to show what you can put on film, but also a lot has been made of his splits are worse with Deshaun Watson. Now, Watson wasn't there during that stretch. That's true. But his watch and splits were like, you're still over 600 yards, you're still at five touch downs. And without him, you were a lot better. But if that's your floor, is that you're a plus 600-yard, five-touch-down player with the upside that we saw at the end of the year to take over the league. I just think tight in 10 is floor for Najoku. Where are you guys with him when you look at Bowers going ahead of him or the Godards in that range? I don't feel like Najoku is getting vaulted to this place where it's just everybody is riding four weeks of last year.

There's a player who's going right around David Najoku that I'm going to talk about later that I would take over him. The hardest part for me with David Najoku is he is a player where it should work. I don't have the conviction of a full season of evidence, or at least just even some glimpses of when he was playing with Watson of, Oh, yeah, Deshawn Watson, a. K. A. Baltimore, will utilize David Najoku like Joe Flack would did at the end of the season. Because of his age, when the breakout is coming of... He's entering year eight, and that was really the first time where you've seen David Najoku dominant for a stretch of time. You've seen plays and games and things like that. Because the dude is, he checks so many boxes pieces of what you want for a breakout tight-end. But because he is in this position of, It should work, and I have one more tight-end that I'm a little more confident in, I'm probably passing on to Joe.

His target pace was 156 targets.

Not the final four weeks, the final 11 weeks, his pace was 156 targets.

So you talk about an intentionality or listening to the head coach say, I'm going to get him the football.

Well, the thing about that quote with the, I'm going to get him the football, which is great to hear from You want manufactured touches for tight ends. You want a designed game plan where you're saying, We are trying to get the ball in the hands. But as he did talk, he talked about how the quarterbacks have different tendency. As the play goes on, you've just got to go where you go. And that This is a big difference between what we saw with Flacko versus what we saw with Deshaun Watson. You can give that longer stretch, but the truth is, when Deshaun Watson left from week 11 is when he was injured and gone. So 11 through 17, which is seven games. I mean, he was on pace for 167 targets. That's elite wide receiver. He was on pace for 104 receptions. I mean, this was unbelievable usage from Flacko just constantly. If there's pressure, boom. Outlet, outlet, outlet, outlet. I don't know.

That was probably two other guys, too, in that strategy. Sure. Because Flacko was only a part of it.

But you also... It Not taking away what Nujoku did, but there was also a... You could look at that time of the schedule of seeing which teams were struggling against the tight-end position. It was something like, Andy, you identified Look at David Najoku's schedule. Yes.

No, you're right.

This should happen.

Tied-ins, it's a place you can do that with. Because that was a part of it as well?

I mean, it should work.

It really should work. It's really hard for me because I know the name you're going to... Is it part of today's show? Yes. All right, so we'll pivot.

It's funny. Today's almost the-We have three tight ends. It's a tight-in show because we're talking about who's the value in the middle rounds, and you have to pick your tight-in poison in the middle rounds often.

Yeah, and ours are later than yours, Jason. But Jake Ferguson is the name. We can go on to Mike's two picks, but that is such a dichotomy of ability. Ferguson was red zone, touch-down efficiency. Najoku is athleticism targets. Even with Watson, he's at 100 target pace. You're talking about two totally different types of tight ends going in the exact same spot. Yes. So talk about your two names.

So I would 100 % agree with that, that if it works for Dave and Najoku, if Watson was on the sideline and went, Oh, I didn't realize that guy could do that. I'm going to feature him. Najoku is someone who can make a gigantic leap and legit finish as a top four tight end. I don't know that Jake Ferguson can make that type of a jump, but he was Dak Prescott's second favorite target last year, 102 targets. It was the second most on the team. That's a good number. He finishes the tight end number 8, over 760 yards. And it comes down to just how they utilize him up the seam. He gets moved around a lot. He gets used in the slot a good amount. And then there's just a fact of where N'Joke is going into season eight. This is season Season 3 for Ferguson. Essentially, it's his second year as a starter. His first year, it was Dalton Schultz, and Ferguson was barely on the field. So for game action, that was the first time that Ferguson has ever been the focal point, almost similar to a rookie. And looking at, can he get better over that time?

I guess you do have, technically, you have Luke Schoonmaker, who was a second-round pick, tight-end, who was just hurt all of last year, Maybe he somehow gets worked in more. But Jake Ferguson, he led all tight ends in red zone targets. He is an absolute go-to player.

Number three in the NFL of all receivers in red zone targets.

Yeah, so highly utilized, where exactly in the green area or the red zone, and then turns into the green zone. And he actually underperformed in terms of how many touch downs he should have scored. He should have scored over seven. Meanwhile, all five of his touch downs came into the red zone. Where are you guys with Jake Ferguson before I bring him by their name?

He is one of the later guys. I'm fine pulling the trigger on either one of those players.

Pick one, Najoku or Ferguson.

They're going in the same spot. Same spot.

805.

Number 5, I think I would take Najoku over Ferguson simply because of the extreme athleticism and the hope that he does become a hyper targeted number two in the offense. I like both.

Both over Bowers?

Definitely.

Bowers is going ahead of him.

Yeah, in some... Yeah, some league. It's not for me. You know me. I don't do the rookie tight-end. I just don't do it. Obviously, I'll take an L on Sam Laporta last year. And then I will take no other Ls in my life so far. I'm 99 and one. You've been doing this a long time. I'm fine with either of those guys. I think they both have avenues. I had Ferguson a lot last year. I watched that when they... I mean, he is a very, very vital piece of how they work in the red zone. He should have had so many more touch downs, and so maybe that's a talent issue, and he's just not good enough to come down with those- Could be. Balls. But also, he's going into third year, getting better, more acclimated. Those things just bounce the wrong way some years and bounce the right way other years. He will have opportunity to score touch downs. It's ironic because if Zee Zeke does really, really well, if Zeke is a good value, Ferguson won't be because both of those guys, to me, are coming on the backs of a couple of touch downs.

It's pretty interesting to see them tied together like that.

Right. So it's like, do you think their running game is going to work in the red zone, or do you think they're going to have to rely on the pass of the game in the red zone again?

The other name I want to talk about, and he keeps getting talked about on this show for good reason, and yet his ADP still holds pretty strong in the sixth round at the Rb-19. It is James Connor of the Arizona Cardinal. Where's he Our 602 on Sleeper, Running Back 19. Yes, James Connor has a lot of red flags that we like to avoid of how old he is. He's going into year eight. Being 29 and going into year eight, that's the age cliff, that's season cliff. But it hasn't mattered yet for James Connor.

I think we were scared when he was 27 going into year six.

We've been scared every year of James Connor's career. And I want to start the conversation of talking about what is going on with the backups for the Arizona Cardinals. Trey Benson, exciting rookie. He was my number one rookie running back. I liked him more than Brooks. And they took him in the third round, and yet we still haven't heard... It's still a jumbal. They have Michael Carter there. They have Trey Benson there. Amari DiMarcato The FAB dumpster that is D. Marcado. Oh, my gosh.

The FAB dumpster?

Guys, he took all my money last year.

He burned all your FAB last year.

He took all of my FAB, and I needed him, and he did nothing.

Om, nom, nom, nom, nom, further to, James Connor for this year is solidified.

He is the guy. This was his first season of over a thousand rushing yards, which is pretty wild because he just keeps getting close. And over the final five games of the season, he was averaging over 22 fantasy points, nearly 24 opportunities, 100 rushing yards, and one and a half touch downs in that stretch. This is an absolute dominant player over that time. The last two years, really, we've seen James Connor add on top of that The Cardinals offense is going to be one of those that takes the biggest steps that we've seen from the previous year of a full season of healthy Kyler, an addition of a true number one alpha in Marvin Harrison Jr. James Connor to me where he's going in round six is just... It's a free top 20 running back to me. With room to be even higher.

Those five-game stretch, he would have had 353 attempts. They just He's going to miss a couple of games.

I understand that.

He was great when Kyler came back. Was awesome last year. This team relies on him. He is a leader of the team. When we first were putting together our mid-round madness and who we like in those middle rounds, he really stood out. I just didn't want to pick him as your homer, your card, or whatever. He is a good pick. He's going to score. He's going to be involved. He is an exceptional running back for his age right now.

So Connor or David Montgomery?

I would rather have Connor. I think we've talked about this in the past. If I'm relying on this player as a starter, and probably in the sixth round, it's going to be an important, at least a flex, then I would rather have Connor. If for some reason I'm loaded at running back, then I still love the upside of an injured Gibbs down the line that would vault David Montgomery to a lead winner.

Connor or Aaron Jones in the middle rounds?

That's James Connor by a lot for me.

That's Connor for me as well.

Swift? Oh, really? Deandre Swift?

It's Connor. So, yeah, I mean, where he's going, it seems like a good value. So my two Midround Madness guys are Dalton Kincaid and Lad McConkey. So this is a little bit of a tight-end show because that's where you've got to mine the Earth and find the right tight ends to get. I find myself ending a lot of mock draughts with Dalton Kincaid. I've said it many times for the offseason, I one of those top five guys, and I don't want to be the one to pull the trigger first. I don't want to spend the most on Sam Laporta. I'm fine with where Kelsey is going. I love where McBride is going. But when you're in those rounds, you don't always get to dictate who falls to you. But it seems like Dalton Cade continues to fall. Dawson Knox, you brought him up earlier. He's getting pub, he's getting some juice, the GM loves him. The GM is going to love everyone on the roster because they drafted him. You don't see the GMs talking too much smack against players that they drafted. Usually, it's the coach. But the wide receiver depth chart that besmirched Buffalo earlier this episode is the reason why Dalton Kickead was an awesome prospect.

I know I was out on him last year because he was a rookie, but he had an awesome for a rookie tight-end season, like one of the top 10 best. It wasn't great for fantasy because it almost never is. But what he showed on the field was he's got it. He is what they drafted him to be, which is a sensational pass catching tight in, and now they need him, and he's tied to Josh Allen. Not as like most of these guys are the number two target. Trey McBride, it's great to be the number two target. You hope David Najoku is the number two target ahead of Jerry Judy because that would be really good. There's only a handful of guys that are the number one. The Kelsey, even Laporta is not the number one. There's Kelsey, there's Andrews, and there's Dalton Cucade, who has a legitimate shot of being the primary target. In the fifth round, as the final tight end of the guys who I could see take that leap forward to becoming a league winner status, I like him there.

Yeah, I think, Kincaid, just get a little bit of the hesitation with Dawson Knox, because this was a player that if Kincaid had not been surprise drafted by the Bills, Knox would have been receiving the same levels of hype and excitement as Najoku and Ferguson, because he broke the franchise record for touchstones in 2021. They gave him a big bag of money. He had 40, 50 plus receptions in those games. I'm just worried about the occasional disappointment, but Kincaid has He's got the ceiling to be the best tight-end in football if that's the way that the team chooses to funnel the football through him. So I'm very excited at it. It is your choice there is to take the last of the five. His ADP is the last of the five great ones.

That's right. That's why I end up with him often. That makes sense. Because when I'm in the fourth, third, second rounds, there are super, super, duper valuable wide receiver and running backs that I usually can't get Trey McBride who I want. I don't think he's a bad value where he's going, but it's like, Yeah, I just want this running back. I want this wide receiver just so much more. And in the fifth, I go, Well, I don't want to go week to week, streaming the tight-end position this year, and I got a chance.

He's four picks behind where Andrews is going. How big is that gap to you?

Between Between Andrews and Kincaid? To me, if they were- Yeah, that's massive.

To me, if they were- Because there's only four picks in ADP.

Yeah. If they were at the exact same spot, if they were... I'm on the clock. I'm definitely taking Andrews. Andrews is more proven. We know he's the number one. We know he can do it. He's a countdown machine. Obviously, injury risk, but I would take him. The mid-round madness, I pretty much was looking in the fifth round. Andrews is in the fourth. They're close together, and I think they're both good values. But I do end up... I mean, we've seen it. We could go back to the mock drafts. It's just over and over and over and over. When I am on the clock, wherever I am, it's him left. I've never had the chance to go, Oh, should I do Andrews or Kincaid here when I get to that round?

What are you hoping for? Like 1,400 yards and 12 touch downs. But what are you realistically hoping that Dalton Kincaid's improvement is of last Last year, what was he? 589 yards? Was that when he was at?

No, he had to be higher than that.

Last year, 6,73.

6,73, sorry.

My hope is that he is involved around the end zone. That is my hope. That's what's going to move the needle. He will have a ton of targets, a ton of receptions, and plenty of yards in this offense to be a top tight in. I hope he gets 100 receptions. I've got him for 90 receptions. That's how I've got him We both have him that high.

The splits are interesting, though. First, he was a rookie for six weeks with Thawson Knox just under four targets a game. Then he went week seven through 10 without Knox, goes up to eight targets a game. Joe braided took over, right? So we want to project that forward to James Cook, but the targets did go down. The production went down, only six fantasy points per game with braided. So you expect a big step forward, but that's where that slight... I think it's a big four.

The Dawson Nox splits are very, very concerning and legitimate. The tough thing with that is that it was the first six weeks of Dalton Kincaid's career. Sure.

I don't care about those weeks. I care about the last ones.

You care about the Joe braided Week, week 11 through 18? Correct. Yeah, I mean, that's fair.

Those are the ones I care about because Diggs wasn't really part of the offense, and James Cook was majorly part of the offense, and it's the current coordinator, and there was no Dawson-Dawson.

Yeah, you talked about it earlier, but they were, what, 31st or something in pass rate. Sometimes that's going to happen, but you can't always do that. They lost some pieces on defense. They went down the stretch last year and just won a bunch of games.

All right. I want your second name, but not yet after this.

I mentioned- Oh, you did mention him briefly.

I did mention him briefly, Lad McConkey.

I still won it. Oh, yes. Look, I love Lad McConkey. When When you look at the rookie wide receiver, rookie wide receiver are usually over the last five, six, seven years in the new, higher, flying NFL, more pass-happy NFL, rookie wide receiver are usually a good bet. Now, maybe it takes a little bit of time to come on. Yeah, second half. Adp-wise, people have totally caught on to this, right? I mean, Marvin Harrison is a one, two-turn pick. Malik Nabors is the highest any rookie wide receiver has ever been picked by ADP other than Marvin Harrison, who's already ahead of him. Lad McConkey isn't getting that treatment. He was a second-round pick. Keep in mind, this is a team that traded up to get him. They traded up a couple spots. This was the very, very beginning of day two. So they went after- They took him ahead of Coleman, right?

Coleman was on the board for them?

Do not believe me. Kyle, am I remembering? No. I think Coleman was the first pick by- Coleman had it backwards, that the Bills chose Coleman over Mokunke.

Correct.

But you go after day one, and you see this all the time, right? The first day the NFL draft is over, all teams go, and they say, Who are our targets? Who are we trying to get at the very top of that draft? They have time to think about it, and they came in to the next day saying, We have to get them. They traded up. They got Lad McConkey, and all the reports from training camp. You look at a lot of these guys as like, Is Coleman running with the ones? Sometimes, sometimes not. We're not sure if he's going to be a part of this offense to start his career or not. They're going to work him in there. What role is he playing? He's got to work on the playbook. You've got Brian Thomas. Is Brian Thomas going to be a starter week one, another first-round rookie wide receiver? I don't know. Maybe it's Gabe Davis. They paid him a lot of money. They bring him in. Lad McConkey, from day one, from the word go, he's on the field. He is absolutely like... Every reporter has been saying he's the number one target almost every practice.

They're saying they're not just using him in the slot, they're using him as the Z receiver. They're moving him around. When you match that with the knee I mean, Quentin Johnston isn't even right now. He might not even be running with the ones.

We're not running with the twos.

It's all bad. They need him bad. He's online. And the film, and I know he didn't have college production. If you're just now coming around, the knock on Lad McConkey is that this dude, he shouldn't have been a second-round pick. He had no production in college. And it is legitimately very rare for people to be unproductive in college and then dominate with production in the NFL. That's just not common. It happens sometimes, but it's an outlier. But the film of Lad McConkey was outstanding. I remember when we first started scouting, we hadn't started the process yet. I didn't know the names of a lot of these rookies because I'm not a huge college guy. As soon as the Super Bowl hits- Just college in general.

Learning.

Get out of it.

You like that cafeteria, though, eh?

It's quite the joke to make to the only guy who has a degree in here, right? Oh, yeah, that is true.

I have a degree.

Oh, Mike's the only one.

I have a college degree. You have a college degree? Do you have a college degree?

I thought you dipped early.

I dipped early and then I went back and got it. This uneducated swine is our host? Yeah. College dropout?

I just jokes about being dumb, guys. Wait, you have a degree? Yes, I do.

Is this in a bit?

No, this is not a bit. I do have a degree, yes.

I now regret bringing all that up.

Yeah, get bodied.

Sorry, go on.

You said when we first- He threw the pie in a boomerang right back into his own face.

It's just one of those things when we first got to the scouting process, Andy just He's like, he just started talking up this, Oh, Lad McConkey, just watch out. He's going to be a star. He's going to be sensational. In the early days, we weren't even talking rookies yet. No one, even the hardest core listener, no one really knew how much Andy loved Lad McConkey because we weren't talking about rookies yet. He just said that wasn't from scouting and watching film, that was from watching the games. That was like you were watching college football or whatever. And the Senior Bowl. And the Senior Bowl You're just like, That dude is awesome. I feel like you've almost forgotten that, your own opinions of him early on. You have forgotten your love. You have forgotten your love. But my point is this. He is a talented rookie wide receiver who's on the field from Snap-1 and will probably be a 75% Snap player for a great quarterback in Justin Herbert. The opportunity is there, and I want to take shots on something like that.

So you're going to plantar your flag on him?

Oh, yeah. Look, I had this name in here before the Justin Herbert news. I'm not going to pivot too drastically on this yet, but I don't love that.

Kyle sitting here saying, Return to your first love, Andrew. I never fell Out of love with Lad McConkey. I wanted to see how... I believe I said this. I want to see how the offseason progressed with Quentin Johnson and Palmer and Tark.

Perfectly for Lad McConkey.

It has. I am returning. I am returning to where I once was. I am with you, Jason. I believe he's just set up to be foundational for the offense. And by the way, Josh Palmer also getting some very positive... I think Greg Roman was talking all about how How good Josh Palmer has been.

You want to know why? Do you want to know why? Because Josh Palmer is an exceptional wide receiver, too. He is not a wide receiver, one. And now they got a wide receiver, one.

I hate to say it because I love McConkey, but I still don't believe that. Yeah.

You don't believe that he's a one? No. You believe he's a Hunter-Rinfro, slot-wide receiver type?

You could throw all the little middle names out there. You can be the Golden Tate. You could be like we just brought up, or Landry, or whatever. Those names are what I think he'll really be in this league, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he'll- Sure.

No, just to- Because he'll have to because no one else there can do anything. Absolutely. Just to remind myself. Golden Tate was the comp for the fire Jaden Reid guy? Yeah. Okay. This guy could be like a Golden Tate, Lad McConkey? Yeah, I mean- You see what I'm doing there?

I see what you're- You see what I did there?

That's a college degree right over there.

It's up here.

You just got psyched.

Enjoy your education.

The fact that we were already getting reports of McConkey is seeing every position in the wide receiver room. That is humongous to me. To hit a ceiling, you have to play in three wide, and you have to play in two wide. So the fact that he's there- He should be really good.

Yes. He should be really good.

It's just touch downs, which I think that's what you're saying with all those Golden Tape types, those wide receiver 2, fantasy wide receiver 2. Even Keenan.

I mean, Keenan's a Hall of Fame level wide receiver, right? Yes. Would we say that Keenan Allen is better than Lad McConkey? Yes. Keenan Allen, in that a role, has lived most of his career piquing around 8 or 9, more of a 12 to 14 finisher.

That's pretty good.

It's great. It definitely is. But what cost him was not necessarily being a guy that could get double-digit touch ends or something.

Right. Keenan is a great reason. Lad is very Keenan-like. He's just a great crisp route runner. Route runner that- Great hands. He's going to be in the right spot every time.

Defensive reader.

Exactly.

College degree. Oh, wait.

That is what Keenan was. And Keenan last year was the wide receiver eight in 13 games. He was like the wide receiver three all year until he got injured with Justin Herb. Obviously, different system. They're going to run the ball more. Rooky, not as good Keenan Allen. But I do love the similarities for the quarterback.

We have five shows next week and throughout the entire NFL season. So it is here five days a week, Monday, a mock draft. We'll get into wide receiver rankings early in the week as well. So please join us. Please click that follow button. Also, final reminder, our friends at Sleeper, they're presenting the 2024 10th anniversary mega show in Los Angeles. Come hang out with us on August 24th, ballerslive. Com for tickets. Don't miss it because Jason is going to be shooting a lot of stuff into the crowd, and you're going to be very happy.

They're Jersey-related.

They're Jersey-related. Goodbye.

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