Fantasy Football - Unsolved Mysteries + Camp Injury Updates - Podcast for 7/30

8:21Mike Wright:talking. They should be a little delusion. No, the two general managers should be talking to each other. I believe that's called collusion.

8:29Jason Moore:I was thinking B. John and Gibbs should be talking. Yes, they should. Whatever, just go get the same contract. They're both going to get so much money. But it is interesting, the game of chicken, of whoever goes second gets more.

8:40Andy Holloway:Yes.

8:41Jason Moore:Because they'll be like, even if it's the quintessential, I want a dollar more. Yeah. Whoever signs first, the smarter franchise, is whoever signs the first one to a contract.

8:52Mike Wright:bjohn robinson is 24.4 years old jameer gibbs is 24.3 years old same draft same uh spot in terms of like the leverage is gone for both teams yeah i mean like algier's gone and montgomery's gone they're in such identical situations they're the number one and two picks in most fantasy drafts there's there's plenty of times and they both get paid and right now they

9:15Jason Moore:can't get hurt when they're waiting yeah where a veteran player is holding out for a contract and You're not sure if they're going to get it or not. There's no one unsure here. This is a situation where it's like, just figure it out.

9:27Mike Wright:Jonathan Taylor. Let's try that again. Who is that? Jonathan Taylor.

9:35Mike Wright:He is at practice. He wants an extension as well. He says, quote, I have faith. There have been some good conversations, but I have faith between my agent and the front office. So he is not a hold in.

9:46Jason Moore:That's one where if he was holding out, that would scare me a little bit more.

9:50Mike Wright:He already did. Like he did that years ago and then got the money. So maybe they have a better relationship now. Chris Solave has no restrictions in his quote, full go.

9:59Andy Holloway:We love it.

10:00Mike Wright:Jordan Tyson participated fully in 11 on 11.

10:03Andy Holloway:Love it.

10:05Mike Wright:You're not going to love this one. The 49ers news is always 49ers news. We already last show Christian Kirk not practicing. Right. No one wants to hear this. Ricky Pearsall, not practicing because of swellness. Swellness. You're thriving.

10:25Jason Moore:You're really crushing it today, Andy.

10:28Mike Wright:My knee is swell. Swellness? I mean, I had French toast for lunch. All right. That'll do it. Someone told me to get the - Do you feel swelling? Okay, so I've got - Somebody told me to get French toast because they said it would be good. And then I did. Here's what's really funny about that. And now I'm not so swell-ness.

10:49Jason Moore:At lunch, you're doing just fineness. At lunch, at the end, Andy offers, if anyone wants some eggs, because we ordered from a breakfast place, and it was just some healthy eggs. It's like scrambled eggs. And I literally thought to myself, wow, good for you, Andy. You went healthy. Oh, like I didn't eat enough. Like you didn't eat enough, but all you got was some eggs.

11:13Mike Wright:Did you just find out I got croissant French toast? Yeah, I did. You should try it. It's so good.

11:18Andy Holloway:Kyle is letting us know that swellness is a rare archaic word, meaning the quality of being swell.

11:25Mike Wright:Well, Ricky Pearsall's knee is not swell. No. But it is swollen. Yeah. And the team says all options are being explored. There are concerns. He missed like six weeks last year with a PCL strain and then missed more time later with knee and ankle, and it's the same knee. It's the same PCL.

11:45Andy Holloway:In all options, they are the S word being used.

11:49Jason Moore:Yeah, no, that's the fact that it is the same knee that he had an entire offseason for, and it is.

11:58Mike Wright:You all right? Yeah. Did you have some French toast?

12:01Jason Moore:No. I saw a funny Slack message from you, Andy. You got me. Look, the issue here is it's already swollen up, and it's the same knee that he struggled with last year. Yeah. They are probably going to have to rest didn't fix it. I'm not a doctor, but I mean, the options are rest more and pray more. And then hopefully it's fine. But what would lead you to think, oh, this time it'll work. That's a scary, scary proposition.

12:32Mike Wright:I mean, the implications here, you know, Kirk, Pierce, all Mike Evans. Kirk is banged up. Mike Evans is tied with Devontae Adams as the two oldest players being drafted in the top 72 in fantasy, the first six rounds. Those are the two most vulnerable to, you know, I looked at this. I looked at the old players that we've taken, the top five that we've taken over the last three years in the top 72 and how things worked out. And the basic conclusion is this, that if you have age baked in as a discount, they kind of can work out. If you're paying up for them, there's been some years where it can be injury.

13:12Mike Wright:I mean, look at Mike Evans last year. He was a loss last year. He was one of the oldest, again, last year, and it was a loss because of all the injuries. but standing in the way of this is all to say standing in the way of rookie um Deshaun's dribbling dribbling yeah is a 33 year old Mike Evans right now because Pierce saw and Kittle's hurt and Pierce's hurt and Kirk and Kirk is hurt yeah and Juwan Jennings is gone so uh and and all the news has been so positive around dribbling so yeah dribbling is

13:46Jason Moore:he's definitely a beneficiary here. But also I do think, I mean, Mike Evans, I stand a little bit more on an island. I mean, he is the clear one right now for this team, is currently healthy. And I do think that there is, I don't know what your study was as far as injury dip based on whether where that player has historically gone or just what rounds of the draft. But obviously Mike Evans is not being drafted where he used to be drafted.

14:09Mike Wright:No, no, he's priced where there's an age discount right now. Him and Adams are. So that's good. I mean, that's a good thing. You're not paying. You know, somebody like Henry, like we're not pricing him factoring in age anymore. Like people just keep taking him at the top because he's ageless, or so it seems.

14:28Andy Holloway:All right. There was also running back Jordan James who seemed like he should be the favorite for the running back two position for the San Francisco 49ers. He suffered a rib fracture. So he will be out sometime, which opens that door back up. and it's basically Kalen Black, their third round selection.

14:47Mike Wright:Till he is hurt.

14:49Andy Holloway:Yes, but Garendo is also hurt.

14:52Jason Moore:You know that the electrical substation is already doing some work. Got one. Two.

14:58Mike Wright:Got two. We have Falcons quarterback news to a tongue of Iloa suffered a flare-up. He will be out at training camp. Oh, that's not good. But don't worry, Michael Penix is not cleared for 11 on 11 and it might be four more weeks yeah so they are um hold the phone they're throwing they

15:19Jason Moore:signed cooper rush oh the jack strand yeah the tua injury right now they're saying gibbs more than bisham yeah yeah right now they're saying that it's a minor thing it's you know days not weeks for tua and in the meantime penix isn't out there tank dell was not placed on the pup to start

15:39Mike Wright:camp all right but he will be held out of team drills to open camp man please get back tank the world is better with you in it wasn't he a my guy the year he got hurt yeah yeah yeah by one of us i don't even remember what it was that was yours yeah um all right chris brazell also pretty significant injury for the carolina rookie they're talking like eight weeks yeah he was he was carted

16:04Jason Moore:off third round pick too early to tell however it could be pretty serious all right we've got

16:11Mike Wright:a main segment coming up unsolved mysteries diving into a number of questions and situations and we'll find out what we think in just a minute

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17:53Mike Wright:I'm just too old to be eating a cake for lunch, I think. probably but it's just hard for me to resist because it tastes good i think that if i didn't have i wasn't like born with the genetics i have in my family i could be one of the heaviest people

18:12Jason Moore:on earth you definitely eat worse than i do a lot of times and you are in much better shape than i am but you also work out more so you know tomato tomato i will say when we went to the ff expo So you also got a mountain of pancakes. Chocolate chip.

18:29Mike Wright:I'll admit that that was a mistake.

18:31Jason Moore:Yeah.

18:32Mike Wright:It was. It was. We got there and I was trying to tell you that pancakes are quite variable on the style in which they come. They could be like big, giant pancakes. Do you get a bunch of them? Do you get like a short stack? You got a bunch of big ones. This was the equivalent. This is the funny thing we do as people is we say cake for breakfast is ridiculous. Yeah. But then we say chocolate chip pancakes are acceptable, which is, I mean, what I got was the equivalent of a full birthday cake worth of thickness.

19:02Jason Moore:Yeah, a six-inch deep, like, you know, eight-by-nine slice of cake covered that in syrup.

19:10Mike Wright:I felt ashamed of myself.

19:12Andy Holloway:So perhaps as a youth, I wasn't paying as much attention. You know, we had the chocolate chip pancakes, you know, the smiley face stuff. I feel like the way they do it now though You think they're stepping it up? Well they have That's more recent in history In terms of In terms of pancakes The history of pancakes And I like that they're like hey American appetites Mike I don't know if you know this They have increased Cake for breakfast? No what if I said I made it in a pan You're like oh whoa whoa That's part of a balanced breakfast Oh yeah it's in the name

19:50Mike Wright:It is right there Yeah, it's just a cake in a pan that you cover with rich maple syrup. Instead of frosting. And maybe sometimes have chocolate chips in it. Instead of sprinkles. Yeah.

20:04Andy Holloway:That you have in your oven cake. Right, right, right.

20:07Mike Wright:Yeah. I would never have an oven cake for breakfast. But you put it in a pan, I'm in. We're a weird species. Yeah, we are. Here we go.

20:23Jason Moore:unsolved mysteries

20:30Mike Wright:all right our unsolved mystery number one that we're going to start with is should you buy the injury dip this year there are four big names among others obviously i mean you could argue Jonathan Brooks and other players too, but neighbors, Kittle, Tucker Kraft, Patrick Mahomes, Jason, we've had conversations around buying the injury dip. We looked up some information, 140 players from 2021 to 2025 who were either coming off of surgery, so they were limited in camp, or they were picked up a training camp injury during camp. And so a pretty big sample size, 140 players. Just giving you the data before you answer the question.

21:20Mike Wright:26 % or 37 players exceeded their ADP. 57 % failed to meet their ADP. That was 80 players in that sample. And then 23 players, 16%, they met ADP but did not exceed. So you look at that and you say.

21:37Andy Holloway:So like 42%, 43 % of them still worked out as a pick. Yeah.

21:43Mike Wright:That's one way to look at it, yeah.

21:44Andy Holloway:I mean, because if you meet your ADP expectation, then it's...

21:48Jason Moore:Well, but keep in mind, you're buying a dip. So your expectation was lower. Is for them to surpass.

21:54Andy Holloway:Of course. But I'm saying if they... But you still drafted them. Like, they gave you the points that they were drafted. You're hoping for more.

22:01Mike Wright:No, I don't agree with that. Really? Yeah, because I think buying the injury dip implies an expectation that surpasses the ADP. 100%. If I'm taking a player on a multi-round discount and they perform to that round, I'm not happy with that pick.

22:15Jason Moore:I would agree. Generally speaking, you would not be happy with that. Obviously, not a bust. It didn't ruin your chance. But the opportunity cost of what else you gave up in that round.

22:27Mike Wright:And more than 50 % of them, 57%, didn't even meet that ADP.

22:31Andy Holloway:But the opportunity cost is the same because they're meeting the price.

22:36Jason Moore:so looking at this this is 140 players from 2021 to 2025 this was a redo of a study that in 2018 on the things to remember episode it was don't buy the injury dip and at that time we had kind of um looked at the data and it was really bad it was like you know you more often than not those dips don't pay off now this data you can argue whether you know you're happy or sad with not meeting the or with just meeting but not exceeding the adp dip obviously you can't argue that the majority 57 correct failed to even get to the dip 26 clearly happy with so when i look at it the way that I interpret that data is way more often than not buying the injury dip doesn't pay

23:34Mike Wright:off yeah I would say that the idea of them paying off it for me I interpreted that as outperforming the status quo at that spot and because you're trying to get a discount on them so for me 75

23:47Jason Moore:percent of the time it doesn't work so let's look at the specific players and how it applies this year because this year there's a handful of guys that we absolutely love um you know a couple of tight ends and george kittle and tucker craft that were dominating in fantasy last year other than their injuries and then obviously malik neighbors who looked like he was going to start on the pup didn't even start on the training camp pup and his running routes today and looking very good

24:12Mike Wright:let's just put it this way neighbors kittle craft where do they go if there is no injury

24:18Andy Holloway:Malik Nabors goes in the first round yeah for sure if he was never injured absolutely he would be up there with he was in the first round last year at 112 that was with a you're not sure we have a good quarterback

24:31Mike Wright:and George Kittle you're talking about him fifth round so he goes behind McBride and Bowers but much higher than ninth round

24:41Jason Moore:and then Tucker Craft probably goes ahead of Kittle yeah I would agree with that maybe even ahead of

24:46Andy Holloway:the he'd be there with second year guys Loveland yeah so that that's kind of where like if you

24:52Mike Wright:apply that data the way that I'm thinking about it with where they belong versus the discount you're getting like you know if you drop Malik neighbors at 402 and you get the performance of 402 would you have been happy with Malik neighbors because I think you're going to appropriate these guys into spots that maybe isn't the same thing as what you would get there I don't know no yeah

25:13Jason Moore:Yeah, I don't think you would be happy with that. I mean, you're talking about wide receiver selection that you're trying to swing for the fences as opposed to right next to being drafted at the same spots, T. Higgins. I would imagine that that would be a better pick than someone that is drafted and just barely performing at this level of a draft pick.

25:38Mike Wright:So it seems like the ADP for neighbors is likely to rise significantly. That video looked like it. Yeah, there's a video of him. He's running, cutting, running routes.

25:48Andy Holloway:And seeing the video, he is 100 % doing all those things. That doesn't mean he's ready to play football. No. But it's better than not seeing him do it. It is, except it's not better for ADP.

26:00Jason Moore:No, but it's also way better than the video where he was at the celebrity baseball game and he looked like he couldn't round first.

26:09Mike Wright:No, he looked like he had a stilt on or something like that. So when you look at neighbors, Kittle, Kraft, Patrick Mahomes, is the reward there in the draft to outweigh the risk of taking these players? Obviously, if you take Kittle and he doesn't start week one, you're now rostering two tight ends, right? You've traded the selection for Kittle and another pick to fill in for Kittle for a time. um what is your what is your outlook based on that data for those four guys so i think everyone is

26:45Andy Holloway:priced honestly i think appropriately like malik in the fourth is that's an expensive pick there's great players going around there but the upside is by the end of the year you have a wide receiver who's returning first round value kittle because he's because of the age and when the actual injury he was it was in the wild card round and it was an achilles where we just don't have tons and tons of data on on guys tearing their achilles like betts did talk about the fact it's a mid-tendon

27:19Mike Wright:injury he said it's closer to where the tendon meets the muscle of the calf and that is generally good news for achilles recovery outcomes are more favorable but like you said he does have age working against him.

27:31Andy Holloway:He does, but he's going in the ninth as about the tight end 10.

27:36Mike Wright:I don't feel like the three of us have taken him in any mocks there. No, not usually. When he's been on the board.

27:42Jason Moore:I haven't. The only one of these guys that I've been drafting is Malik Nabors. I think at the fourth round value, that dip is big enough to where when he gets back to health, and I am aware that it's going to start slow, I'm willing to take that on. When he ends up rising from this I'm probably also out on Malik neighbors because I think he'll end up if he is if he is on track to play week one and the videos look good keep in mind he will usually these players will have a period of time where they're not back to peak performance even when they're on the field I imagine he's going to be drafted around like AJ Brown uh you know Nico Collins So that would be like early second round right now.

28:29Jason Moore:And that would be too expensive for me. The other guys I'm pretty much out on.

28:33Mike Wright:Well, the one thing I was going to bring up was Patrick Mahomes, just in the fact that his ADP has dropped every year for the last three years. But now, so our expectations for him are very low. They were going to be low if he was 100 % healthy ending last year with the run that he had in fantasy. But ninth round Mahomes, he was fifth round Mahomes in 2025, third round Mahomes in 2024. Now he's ninth round Mahomes. He's basically like, I mean, he's a really late round quarterback. He had the torn ACL and LCL, not placed on the pup, not going to see the rushing production from last year.

29:09Jason Moore:That's the issue. Because last year so much of his fantasy production came from the running game. He couldn't find someone to throw the ball to, and he scrambled like he had never done in his career, had a ton of rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, really had that dog in him. He was, you know, willing them on drives with his legs. That will vanish this year for two reasons. One is the injury, and two, they should have a running game with Kenneth Walker there. So if you take that away, I don't love the upside.

29:37Mike Wright:He was quite a few fantasy points per game higher than his previous two years last year.

29:40Andy Holloway:Yeah, because the past few years have been horrifically bad. His passing numbers, averaging 256 yards and 1.6 passing touchdowns per game. like you take away a good chunk of that rushing and those are those numbers are not going to be getting he was on pace for over 500 rushing yards last year so his um his points per game would have

30:06Mike Wright:you know looking at last year still not been good enough to be i mean that's sort of put him

30:12Andy Holloway:outside the top 12 i i don't think they've done enough to convince me to be in on patrick mahomes where George Kittle to me at that spot, because Jason, I'm with you, if you don't get an elite tight end, just wait, just wait. Because they don't make a difference anymore. They're all the same. George Kittle could be a difference. It comes with a huge amount of risk, but the risk of those other players is none, but the upside is none.

30:42Mike Wright:Does that mean Tucker Krause off your board in the sixth round? No, not at all. I'm open to it.

30:47Jason Moore:I think that I am less open to it, but that one I feel like I'm holding my breath on. I know, Mike, you've talked about you're pretty in on Tucker Craft. What he was doing last year was an impact difference maker at the position.

31:04Mike Wright:But you've got to spend a higher pick on a player that might not be their weak one.

31:07Jason Moore:That's why I'm out.

31:08Andy Holloway:Younger player, and his injury was in November.

31:12Mike Wright:What was the latest?

31:14Andy Holloway:So the latest we've seen, so he's on the PUP. If you didn't hear that, Tucker Craft is on the training camp pup to start. And he said, quote, I'll probably come off the pup here very soon. That was him? It's quoted as I. It was not sourced to Tucker Craft. But I'm just going to do some analysis here.

31:35Mike Wright:Unsolved mystery number two. Can the streaming quarterback strategy still work in single quarterback leagues? This was something we talked about. but I feel like ad nauseum from probably the first year we started the show through maybe like five or six years.

31:50Andy Holloway:Because it was an elite strategy.

31:52Mike Wright:So some data as you kind of craft your answer to the question, but some data that's interesting about the streaming quarterback strategy and what we've seen evolve in the NFL. If you look, and Dwayne McFarlane tweeted this out, so this is where the data comes from, but the number of quarterbacks to throw for 250 yards a game. we were at 17 quarterbacks in 2016 19 quarterbacks in 2018 16 16 yeah then in 2022 2023 it was 10

32:21Andy Holloway:and then 10 so i guess when the uh the two shell started hitting started becoming becoming very

32:28Mike Wright:popular now in 2024 there were eight of them last year there were seven so i mean that's a we had a year in 2018 of 19 quarterbacks with 250 yards a game again that's an average that's the average or 250 yards a game. Now it's seven. We used to shoot for 250 and two when you're streaming a quarterback, and we're not seeing that as a very common average.

32:49Jason Moore:Yeah, not an average across the season, but that's the point of streaming, right, is you can find a matchup in a game where a guy who you would not usually expect averaging 250 and two should go out there and throw for 250 and two, if not more.

33:02Mike Wright:Now, we have also seen the fewest total pass attempts last year in the last 15 years.

33:08Jason Moore:yeah but scramble rates have risen and that's where when we're talking about late round quarterbacks streaming quarterbacks um you're looking for those guys that can scramble they can they can um that's today's nfl is using the legs more that's better for fantasy football so that's jackson

33:27Mike Wright:dart we're more aware of that and so those players are getting pulled up in drafts exactly

33:32Andy Holloway:that's what happened that's why the strategy you know if you're saying oh it hasn't worked as well lately yep because the average fantasy football player is is wising up there this year though you still have a handful of guys who are are are interesting because they fit the bill you know 10th round or later at least from the 80 p.m scene right now bo nicks like what's his rushing floor 300 yeah that's the floor he should hit 300 yards tyler shuck i love him he should hit 300 rushing yards. The next guy. Malik Willis. He could hit 500 rushing yards. Malik Willis. He could hit 800. Malik Willis is...

34:14Andy Holloway:Along, though, with the rushing, because the rushing is just the floor. You need the passing to take you over the top to become a weak-winning type of a quarterback. That's the question for, in my opinion, I'll just do Chuck versus Willis. I'm so much more confident in the offensive passing attack of the Saints and Tyler Shuck. Certainly. But you're only getting, you know, I'm not getting Malik Willis rushing yards. But if Willis and that team, if they can figure out a way, that's a large butt of trying to figure out how, like, when your wide receiver one's probably Malik Washington. And we're talking about, like, Greg Dulcich as a sleeper.

34:56Andy Holloway:but if malik willis can find his way to 200 like 200 to 215 and he's and you're getting you know one and a half to two passing touchdowns then goodness gracious so well not all that being said

35:10Mike Wright:for i guess do you believe the late round quarterback strategy yes with including streaming not just finding a nugget but like actually having to play week-to-week streaming can still work yeah i still believe it i do too yeah i mean there are names we like i mean i think no matter what we say on the show even if every show was dedicated to jared goff and matthew stafford those players adps are not moving no so there are there are going to be players like that like baker daniel jones coming back that are going to be out there for free on waivers every week unless you're in a super flex league so um yeah it makes sense all right unsolved mystery number three number three what will the chargers offense look like with new offensive coordinator mike

35:55Jason Moore:mcdaniel it'll look sexy you think oh i do i i think the offense is going to be great it will look very different um it is a team that ran justin herbert into the ground not just because of a bad offensive line but also they didn't bring tight ends in line very much um they utilized 12 personnel on just 6 % of their offensive plays. That's the lowest rate in the NFL. McDaniel, you know, he is a guy that's going to come in and they, you look at the transactions, they brought a fullback in, they brought in two tight ends. One is a blocking specialist, David Njoku and Charlie Kohler. The offensive line, um, just got so much help to all pro tackles that weren't there last year.

36:42Jason Moore:So I think this, I think it's going to change a lot.

36:44Mike Wright:to your point about Kohler and Njoku Mike McDaniel was one of the at least in Miami maybe it was personnel related as well but he only had three or more wide receivers on 41 % of plays he likes the two tight end sets

37:01Andy Holloway:he likes two running backs

37:07Andy Holloway:Mike McDaniel is willing to ebb and flow with trends or personnel I know that having two running backs out there, the amount of time he did, from 23 on, he had A-chan. And it's like, well, A-chan's a running back, but he's a real versatile player. We need to get him involved in the passing game. So what will it look like? I think you will have more 12. The idea of them running out Hampton and Keaton Mitchell is pretty interesting as well.

37:42Mike Wright:They also brought in Ingold to play fullback in front of Hampton. Yeah, you can count him too. In those personnel. It's hard because the Chargers feel like a team where you go in to the doctor and the diagnosis seems like it's so simple. And he's just going to write you the most basic script and you're going to go home and get well. And now we're on like year five of like, you know what? Maybe you have a different disease than we thought. And we keep trying a different shot and a different medicine and a different vitamin and we are always left with an illness i think the personnel matters and

38:20Jason Moore:and last year i was very excited for them yeah i was gonna say we were we got to be honest about

38:25Mike Wright:like last offseason with the greg roman combo right but we were in that boat but it's the

38:30Jason Moore:the the thing that happened the biggest change to me i mean we've talked about it a bunch but they lost their two superstar tackles so they went i mean look at it this way herbert had led the league in percentage of dropbacks pressured that's the first quarterback since 2018 who led the league in that stat and made the playoffs he was they just didn't have an offensive line then they went out and got one of the best centers yeah and now you get two all pro tackles like you're gonna go from one of the worst to one of the best lines and why didn't they give

39:03Mike Wright:Greg Roman a pass and keep him.

39:05Jason Moore:Someone's got to take the fall, man.

39:06Mike Wright:Well, but I mean, why can't they just say, yeah, we're our offensive line was all beat up. I mean, I feel like it was, I think it's oversimplistic to blame the offensive line by itself.

39:14Jason Moore:So here's a question about the Chargers offense for fantasy. We just talked about it and it's great for fantasy. A lot of times people think you want more wide receivers on the field. You don't. The consolidation of only having two means that the targets go to the players that are on the field. However, there will be far more of that for the Chargers than what we're used to seeing. So the question comes down to Ladd, who is their best wide receiver. He's their best wide receiver. But he's been, you know, his slot rate the last two years, 71%, 64%.

39:45Mike Wright:I just have no worries about Ladd getting on the field. Because I don't think Mike McDaniel's an idiot.

39:51Jason Moore:Fair.

39:51Mike Wright:If I thought he was an idiot, then I would like if this was Nathaniel Hackett, not to, but you know, like a true idiot. You are

39:59Andy Holloway:saying Greg Roman's an idiot.

40:02Mike Wright:no he didn't i mean no i'm not yeah he didn't he didn't take lad mcconkey off the field a bunch yeah he was no he just put him in the slot that's the idiot part the idiot part is not playing lad mcconkey okay it's not where you play mcconkey it's not playing him at all so the fear with the breakdown of too wide is that mcconkey will not be a part of it yeah i mean i have no fear of that

40:22Jason Moore:yeah he should 100 be on the field for that last year trey harris technically led the wide receivers and snaps when they were in the two wide receiver set. I'm just saying. Well, I'm not laughing at you.

40:34Mike Wright:I'm getting made fun of for Sam Malkonke. I had French toast. He's swelling again. I had French toast. You know what? I'm happy I did. It was delicious.

40:44Jason Moore:Malkonke calling.

40:45Mike Wright:But if you look at it, what's funny is, I don't remember who tweeted it, variation of where wide receivers line up. one of the players that never moves the most was Quinton Johnston. Like he just doesn't do anything else. From college on. And the versatility is going to help in this offense for Ladd McConkie.

41:06Andy Holloway:This is a really big one for training camp to let us know. When McDaniel came in, he had a lot of very nice things to say about Kuge. so it's like well then we okay we expect him for sure to be one of the guys then is it going to be lad on the outside and now you get some trey harris talk coming up who is like he is a a a good wide receiver in his own right he just hasn't had a lot of opportunity in the nfl so it's

41:40Mike Wright:pay attention here to me a lot of what happens with los angeles is that and maybe why it's frustrating is the off they're just made for conversation i feel like every off season we have tons of conversation around the chargers since herbert became their quarterback and there's so much and there's a lot of positivity around all their players every off season but i'm at the point now where i want to see it proven out on the football field and i don't feel like we ever allow for the middle in the middle outcome that you're just kind of you're kind of okay is

42:14Jason Moore:Is that what you think? What do you think this offense, regardless, throw the years in the past in the garbage or whatever, this offense, do you think they will be a middle offense, a top offense, or a poor offense?

42:26Mike Wright:Not every offense has the opportunity to reach a top five offense, and this one does with the personnel and the coaching. But no, I think the most realistic outcome is that they're a 8 to 15 offense on the positive side. I think that's the most realistic outcome for the offense.

42:44Jason Moore:Yeah, I usually like splitting the league when I think of offenses in thirds to really think like the top third offense are good offenses and the bottom third offenses are ones I want to avoid. I think they'll be in the top third, which I think you think that too based on the 8 to 15 is more in the top third, right?

43:05Mike Wright:No, no, it'd be more in the middle because a third means there's three groups. Yeah, but it goes past eight. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15?

43:15Jason Moore:Yeah, 11. I mean, you can't evenly split 32 and 3. So it's 11.

43:21Mike Wright:The more numbers are in the middle.

43:23Jason Moore:Well, but do you count 11 as the top third? Because you can't...

43:28Mike Wright:Oh, because there's 32 teams. I did break it up 10-10-10 in my head. We shouldn't have really been...

43:34Andy Holloway:You can take two teams and just be like, Cleveland, we don't count you. We will get our calculators out. I will say with the Chargers, if you're going to draft them, I think their schedule matters a ton. They open against Arizona where they're nearly 12-point favorites. Then they play the Raiders where they are 8.5-point favorites. This is incredible. It's just a reminder. Last year, Justin Herbert in week one scored 28 fantasy points and became so locked into everyone's roster that you're like, we did it, it's happening for Justin Herbert, then it fell apart. I bring that up because week three is at Buffalo, week four is at Seattle, then it's Denver, and then it's on the road against Kansas City.

44:24Andy Holloway:So while I think they're going to have a great first two weeks. You're saying sell. I'm not saying sell. I'm just saying be honest with yourself about what just happened. They're going to beat the crap out of two of the Arizona and Vegas bottom four teams.

44:42Mike Wright:I think they will be a top one offense for two weeks. Let's take a break. I'll be right back.

44:52Jason Moore:See you Sunday on Paramount+. Your streaming home for the NFL on CBS all season long. That's right, football fans. Stream your live local CBS games every NFL Sunday all the way through the AFC Championship game. Follow the league's biggest stars, the can't-miss matchups, the season's biggest storylines, and catch additional coverage with NFL Today, NFL Today Plus, CBS Sports HQ, Fantasy Football Today, and more. So sign up and sign in to Paramount Plus today, and we'll see you Sunday for another thrilling season of NFL on CBS, streaming live on Paramount Plus.

45:33Mike Wright:All right, Foot Clan, whether you are on the go or at home, T-Mobile, well, they're built to keep you connected wherever you're scouting your fantasy team. And that on-the-go part, that is important. With America's Best Network, you'll be connected to the latest news and player projections, so when you're on the clock, you can draft a winning team. I can think of so many situations where that element of being connected while you're on the go is fundamental to fantasy football success. I'm in the midst of multiple leagues right now where I am responding to trade offers. We are massaging the trade offer.

46:03Mike Wright:We want to make sure that I'm the one that gets the player, not another player manager in our league. So trade offers when you're on the go, all the news that's breaking so you don't make a mistake. And my favorite thing, maybe I'll mention it. Look, you're sitting and you have a quiet moment somewhere out and about. you want to jump in the UDK. We've got the player profiles. You can watch all of those in there with T-Mobile. You can jump in on the player projections and our stat projections and all the 130 ,000 words of content. Again, T-Mobile making that easy to do. Every bit of news, things are changing all the time.

46:36Mike Wright:New player contracts, all that good stuff. So from off season to game day, every play is better with T-Mobile. What you got to do is visit T-Mobile.com slash network. Fastest is based on analysis by ukla of speed test intelligence data of national speed score results for the second half of 2025 the best mobile network in the u.s is based on analysis by ukla of speed test intelligence data second half of 2025 all right we have we have two more unsolved mysteries in time for one more oh so you guys get to decide oh we either talk about the unsolved mystery of lamar jackson bouncing back to elite form for fantasy football okay or we discuss the backfield for the jacksonville jaguars and how it will be split oh well that one's not a mystery

47:26Jason Moore:for my i think it's right now not a mystery for mike or i yeah i'm i'm yeah i'm a little gassy yeah baby welcome oh yeah come on board let's go

47:38Mike Wright:let's go this is the day today is the day that chris rodriguez just got yes active to go make plays at camp to go train on the side yeah yeah but he can do it now i i simply look tootin should i mean he's a high upside all the all the offseason hold on let me let me find it um where's our offseason you know best player in camp so far but we haven't seen anybody else the same so are we discussing that one?

48:13Andy Holloway:let's go there

48:14Mike Wright:no I don't want to how will the Jacksonville Jaguars backfield be split Travis H.A. Jr. is vacating 312 opportunities 260 carries 52 targets 6 receiving touchdowns

48:32Mike Wright:we have a lot of red zone attempts that he had in that offense that are, you know, going to be up for grabs. I think that's part of the discussion, right? Yep. 53 rushing attempts inside the red zone. That was the fourth most in the NFL. And those are gone. So you got, that says it's a great offense. That's what that says. You've got a great offense that was in the red zone at the time. And the guy that got the ball the most there, I mean, that's right behind McCaffrey, John the Taylor, Derek Henry, James Cook, and blank space for Jacksonville. so Chris Rodriguez was one of the offseason signings had played at Kentucky with Liam Cohen not placed on pup starting to do individual drills at camp he's coming off foot surgery he did not participate in minicamp Bashal Tootin sophomore I we brought it up on the show when Liam Cohen talked about him he said in year one did a lot of great things but also had to learn a complicated offense, pass protections, you know, figuring out what to do.

49:33Mike Wright:And a lot of it was not reacting. A lot of it was thinking. A lot of it was processing. And we all saw, you know, to me, what I saw the most out of Tootin as a rookie was explosive plays that ended up just happening more in the passing game on a play here or there than it was, you know, chunk plays in the backfield over and over again. But he has that capability. He's a fast runner. He's 4-3-2.

49:56Andy Holloway:Yeah. At 2-0-9. like this is he is his build oh boy well i'm sorry you you just seeing the glass eater yeah

50:05Mike Wright:yeah i'm just we got another oh that's a good quote now we've had a hold on we've had a crayon eater before and we know who that is and his favorite color crayon is blue yes did we ever hey social guy did we ever share that yeah we did okay yeah cam scataboo said his favorite crayon he's a crayon eater right we got another category mike liam cohen came out on wednesday and said This is troubling. About Crod. About Chris Rodriguez. He doesn't say a ton, but he's tough. He's one of those glass eaters. He is. He's going to run through a wall for his teammates, for his coaches, and for their organization.

50:38Mike Wright:So we're eating glass now. Okay. Which is more dangerous than crayons? Oh, yeah. Children can eat crayons. Are crayons completely non-toxic?

50:51Andy Holloway:I think they probably have to be. There probably was a time where they were very toxic. be a fun poop. Eating a toxic... Not a toxic poop.

51:02Jason Moore:A non-toxic crayon poop would be a colorful adventure.

51:05Mike Wright:The glass one would be a painful...

51:06Jason Moore:Wait, what is... I don't think it would be a colorful... I think it would still be brown.

51:11Mike Wright:There's only one way to find out.

51:12Jason Moore:Oh, man, there is only one way to find out. Google!

51:16Mike Wright:The Falcon just throws in the Slack channel, $2 ,000 and I'll eat a box. Falcon, we know that Josh will do it for way less. Josh would eat a box of crayons for way less money. Let me take lowest bids from the newsroom.

51:28Andy Holloway:Okay, now we're already down to$1 ,200. Keep the bids coming in. $1 ,000. Wait, wait, wait.

51:33Jason Moore:Are we talking like 64 counts? No, no, no, no. Standard. $16 ,000. Children's, whatever that is. $1 ,216. The normal pack. We all know what that is. $1 ,000.

51:42Andy Holloway:$900. $800. $400.

51:47Jason Moore:Whoa.

51:47Mike Wright:There we go.

51:48Jason Moore:There we go. Let me tell you this.

51:50Mike Wright:Okay, now we're into a price we might do it. We're out of range. Someone might be eating crayons.

51:54Jason Moore:We're at a range where I chip in 100, you guys chip in 100. We just needed one more. We got to get it to 300. First one to say it. Jeremy's good for this. First$300 for a box of crayons. First$300. I'll chip in.

52:05Andy Holloway:That's what I mean. Oh, yeah. I'll take care of that. Matt, you're on the hook now. I got a new butter I want to buy.

52:10Jason Moore:Are you eating a box of crayons for 400? I have good news for you. This might change. Yes, eating a box of crayons can make your poop colorful. So there is actually not just money in this, but an exciting time.

52:27Mike Wright:Crayola has tested their products to ensure they pose no poisoning risk, though eating them is still not recommended due to the crayon. Oh, man. A box of 24 is the crayon standard. Okay, so we'll get back to this.

52:41Jason Moore:300 and you got a deal. 400. I'm setting the line at three. Four. All right, you chime in if you change your mind by the end of the show.

52:49Mike Wright:You said you have a new putter to buy, but you must not want it that bad. But listen, this does matter. Like, Crodd is a glass eater.

52:59Andy Holloway:Yes.

53:00Mike Wright:And Crodd is a good player. And there are 53 red zone opportunities available. Chris Rodriguez, there's a fatigue and kind of like dismissal of him because of the years of injury and not getting opportunities. He was 4-5 a carry last year on a decent, I mean. I think it's more than. Six touchdowns last year.

53:18Jason Moore:No, he was actually – some of the advanced metrics for Chris Rodriguez were very good. We've always liked him. As a show, Crod, we've always said when he gets his opportunities, he's been pretty good. But it does really seem like he's the backup, for one. Simply, he's coming in. He's got to learn this new offense that Liam Cohen said it took – it was very hard to learn.

53:42Mike Wright:He knows it from Kentucky, but go on. I doubt they're running Kentucky's offense still. But then you have the biggest question to me in this backfield is who's going to catch passes.

53:54Jason Moore:Because Travis Etienne, that's where his fantasy points came, was really in the receiving game. That is an important part of this offense. Now, neither one of these guys have a huge production profile in the NFL. But Crod, year one as a rookie, had two targets. The number went down to one in year two. played and then last year in 13 games he got his new career high with four targets on the season so it's like that really maybe he does steal the goal line and that could be a problem that's a problem um it is also possible we should keep the door open the undrafted free agent running back laquan allen could be involved in the in the receiving game he is a good pass protector and so but it does seem like if you're if you're taking your shot on someone who's going to be one explosive and two involved in the passing and where most of the fantasy points are going to come from it is it you know I'm gassed up for Tootin the also in the range of outcomes

54:56Andy Holloway:is that Bayshall Tootin is a total workhorse you know it's like when Cohen was in Tampa Bay when healthy Bucky Irving was he was the running back position and truly HN Jr. was the running back position last year for the Jags. So we don't have a full gigantic sample here to go off of. But Cohen might just be one of these guys who's like, no, I don't want to tip. I don't want to tip the play. Because if you have Krod back there, my defense that I'm calling in is I'm calling in a run stop.

55:32Mike Wright:So I guess a good way to put it would be, if Tootin doesn't get gassed up ADP-wise, which he will. but let's just say Tootin is drafted at the top of the fourth round because I think he probably will be

55:46Andy Holloway:top of fourth round would be a substantial ADP jump for where he's going right now

55:50Mike Wright:yeah he's not going to go a 506 though if the current okay make it 501 okay make it 501 is there any chance you're going to be disappointed with that pick because of the discount you think so?

56:02Andy Holloway:yes there is Tootin's profile to me is a very risky pick but the upside is a three-down running back for a top-five offense in the NFL, which will be very, very substantial league-winning capability.

56:20Jason Moore:Travis Etienne is a good, well-rounded player, but I don't think he's the best of the best. And he was the running back 10 in fantasy football last year for this offense.

56:30Mike Wright:You can tell Jason has made a significant shift in his tootin' mentality. I am worried about the liability of a box of crayons. So here's where I'm at. Oh. I mean, everything I'm seeing, non-toxic. Safety. They're more disgusting than dangerous. But what's our lowest bid for one crayon?

56:53Andy Holloway:One crayon?

56:53Mike Wright:We don't need 24 crayons. I just want to know. 50. Okay.

56:58Jason Moore:40.

56:59Mike Wright:$40 for a crayon? Now I'm feeling bad about, like, do we not pay them enough? I'm out.

57:07Jason Moore:Okay, 40.

57:08Mike Wright:$40 for a crayon? Now let me ask you.

57:10Jason Moore:Is the box of crayons for$400? No, it's$300. That's what it always was. You can have the box for$300 or one crayon.

57:16Mike Wright:Jason's pick of color for a$40. Thank you.

57:20Andy Holloway:Yeah, that's fine. I'd like to go higher if that's an option, like more crayons. You'd like to eat more crayons? I thought he meant more money. You can go all the way to the box for$300.

57:29Jason Moore:$300 for a box,$40 for a crayon. You decide. It's your choice. This is all off the record now.

57:36Mike Wright:I just feel like our liability goes up with the more crayons we make him eat.

57:40Andy Holloway:Yeah, no, we're going to take this outside the office. Yeah, TBD. This is a personal, non-company base. No, nothing to do with the company at all.

57:48Jason Moore:This is just friends goofing around, but social content. You know, I mean, they would want to see our friends just documenting history. You guys can pay me, and I'll pay Matt. There we go. To launder that a little bit. I would actually never ask, but would you like to ask me? You know what? I am out. I will not be doing this anymore. You guys shouldn't. Matt, you should have taken the deal. You didn't take it. We're done.

58:13Mike Wright:But Jeremy has a question for you.

58:15Jason Moore:Yeah. 40 bucks for one crayon or 300 for a box of crayons?

58:20Andy Holloway:Would you like to offer me 400? I would not.

58:23Mike Wright:I mean, you could be the last 100 of that 400 if you want the box, but I'm worried about impaction. He's got bowel problems already. I go 35. Oh, what is this? I'm back in. I'm back in. One crayon? Did you do more research?

58:37Jason Moore:It's one crann. I'll do it for 30. Oh, my gosh. Okay. $30. This is great. Oh, my gosh.

58:45Mike Wright:You could be doing it for the lint in my pocket.

58:47Jason Moore:That sounds like you wanted more. I mean, yeah. How about 10? And then capitalism showed up. Yeah. Yeah. What a delight. All right. Sold to Matt for$30.

58:59Mike Wright:That's between you and him. I don't know what you're talking about. No idea what you're talking about. but we oh it looks like the if you do it looks like somebody bought a couple boxes they're on the way hopefully through your personal account um all right that is gonna do it for today's episode of the fantasy footballers podcast five days a week coming up in august on monday we have the ice and fire episode oh baby that's our next episode right correct because uh it's saturday is august 1st which we go to uh five shows which monday through friday in august Amazing.

59:34Andy Holloway:This Saturday, there won't be an episode of the Fantasy Footballers. However, on the YouTube, our miniseries is back. It is. People have been hoping that we brought it back. If you want a short-form version of the Fantasy Footballers, just the highlights, just the tips. Just the tips by the Fantasy Footballers. YouTube.com slash the Fantasy Footballers.

1:00:01Mike Wright:We just recorded those. getting ready to release them. August is here. We're getting ready for the season. Ice and fire, ranking shows, mock drafts, my guys, MVPs. It's all coming this August. Goodbye.

1:00:15Jason Moore:Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.

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