Myles to Go: Discussing the Garrett and Brown Trades

23:33Field Yates:Yeah. And football's unpredictable, Mina. When the Browns traded down from two to five in the 2025 NFL draft, I thought, my God, the Browns may have just gone from two to five. And in the process, picked up an extra top 10 pick the following year. I did not forecast the Jaguars to be a 13 and four football team. And there they were. Now, I don't think the Rams are going to go 4-13, but something happens to Matthew Stafford or who knows, right? Like that pick that we're all currently forecasting is, hey, no lower than 28. You just never know. So in a draft that, and I know that sometimes fans get bothered when people say, oh, next year's draft is the one that's going to be loaded.

24:13Field Yates:I would just tell you, and this has been reflected by the way NFL teams have moved picks, is that NFL teams held their powder so much more in the 2026 NFL draft. We didn't see any team when the Chiefs moved up from nine to six in a different year. The cost to go from nine to six might literally be a first round pick, right? I mean, the Dolphins made the Jalen Waddle trade that involved an extra first round pick. I think that was 11 to six. But still, we see teams who go up four or five spots in the first round and pay an extra one. The 2027 NFL draft is viewed by NFL teams. And I will tell you my early studies of 40 or so, some guys you are sitting there saying to yourself, my goodness, it is going to be a draft cycle that could be as big as any draft cycle that we have seen in quite some time.

25:01Field Yates:So the Browns and the jets are now incredibly well positioned. The jets having three first round picks Brown's having two first round picks and the Browns being in a clear full blown rebuild because miles Garrett did not lead them to many wins over the past couple of seasons, but having Miles around was enough to stop you shy of saying, we're blowing this thing up. We're tearing it down to the studs. And that brings me to my final thought on this, which is not saying Miles Garrett is losing him is going to get you pick one, one necessarily, but I could imagine a scenario where it's Jen, you know, December and the Cardinals and the Jets and the brand, everybody's competing.

25:40you know, starting to be taking this year. Okay. There's just going to. And all, and you can just, Miles Garrett has single handedly won games for this team. It's five sacks in the game. The reverse is good, but I'm just saying it won't, it's not going to hurt their cause to not have Miles Garrett around. Might actually help it a little bit.

26:00Field Yates:So mark my words on that tanking point, by the way, Mina, like I'm just June 2nd, whatever it is, like it's coming. Jeremiah Smith, the team that I want to be this upcoming year, Carmina is the team that's got a good young quarterback. Cardinals are going to be hard to beat. Yeah, but, but, but they need a quarterback, right? They need one, but I'm saying, I want to be the team this year. That's got a good young quarterback already that ends up with a high enough draft pick to take Jeremiah Smith. That's the team that I want to be this year because this kid is the closest thing to Julio Jones since Julio Jones.

26:33Field Yates:I think it was Greg McElroy's podcast. I was listening to always college football, fellow Omaha pod show. and he was saying that something like Jeremiah Smith is some ridiculously small number of yards away from becoming Ohio State's all-time leading receiver he's a true sophomore he's going to be a true junior this year you think about like Ohio State is along with LSU wide receiver you and it's like I'm just making this number of 89 yards away you're like there's no way you go back and check it and you're like holy crap he is in one game going to get to Ohio State's top of the leaderboard there.

27:07Field Yates:So I want to be the team. It's got a good young quarterback, but finishes like fourth or fifth in the draft order this upcoming year, because the tankers are going to be out in close to full force from Thanksgiving on. It's going to be a fascinating final month of the season. That's all I'll say. Okay. Speaking of trades and teams not wanting to give up 2027 picks, let's take a quick break, come back and talk about what was supposed to be the blockbuster trade of the day. And that's the AJ Brown trade. All right, we are back. AJ Brown, after this has been rumored forever, is now a new win. It's funny because there was some rumors that the Rams were pushing for Brown, which kind of served as a smokescreen a little bit about the Rams ending up going for Miles Garrett.

27:51But this was no secret. It's been talked about for a while. And ultimately, we knew it was all going to be a post-June 1st trade because of AJ Brown's cap implications for Philadelphia. So the trade compensation is a 2028 first rounder. And then, freaking Howie, a 2027 fifth because sure. Yeah.

28:12Field Yates:The deal would have fallen apart otherwise. I guess you just see him at the last second being like, give me something. A little more. A little more. A little more. Please, please. Okay. So I find this fascinating on both sides. I think the football ramifications for both teams are fascinating. Honestly, especially for Philadelphia, I think schematically everything there, what the offense is going to look like, this is all breadcrumbs leading us to the 2026 season. But let's start with the Patriots. Patriots field have been hunting for that receiver one for how long? A long time. I mean, AJ Brown is the most talented Patriots receiver since who?

28:56Randy?

28:57Field Yates:It's got to be that that's the territory I think we're talking about, Mina. They've obviously had unbelievable pass catchers, you know, perhaps the most dominant tight end ever in Rob Gronkowski. And Julian Edelman was Mr. Clutch for this team. It's not like they stopped winning because it didn't have, you know, peak Randy Moss. But this is a franchise who probably as much as any team in the past 25 years has done it with more of strength numbers amongst the pass catchers. And now they have their wide receiver one. And there are some concerns. We can dive into those for sure with A.J. Brown, getting up there in age, concerns about this knee injury.

29:32Field Yates:Wouldn't surprise me if he's on the veteran plan from day one of training camp on. But I also think there's a chance that we have perhaps been sort of robbed of what the best of A.J. Brown looks like because last year was an absolutely dismal fit between player and scheme and probably player and team as well. Like A.J. Brown being unhappy was one of the least kept secrets or one of the worst kept secrets in the league, right? And say whatever you want. Jalen Hurts is a more accomplished player than Drake May, period, end of story. Super Bowl champion, the best player in a Super Bowl, a second occurrence.

30:13Field Yates:Drake May is a better passer than Jalen Hurts. That's just inarguable, right? Drake May should make life better for A.J. Brown. Drake May is on the short list for best deep ball throwers in the NFL. Well, AJ Brown is, I think, along with a couple others, amongst the best deep ball threats in the league. Still, yes, still over the past four years, AJ Brown, 18 receiving touchdowns on 20 plus air yards throws. Number one in the NFL in that stretch, right? Like this guy down the field is as potent as basically any player in the league. So on paper, it's pretty simple to see why this deal essentially agreed two months ago.

30:52Field Yates:We just had to wait for June 1st to come around because of the cap implications that you mentioned. You laid this out very well. It's a great marriage of quarterback and player. I think that's worth stressing because Babe was good at Jay Spisley everything last season. But he really loves and is really good at those tight window throws. So good at throwing guys open. And who's the best tight window receiver in the NFL if you just look at the numbers? over the last three years on tight window throws. AJ Brown, first in yards per route run, first in catches, first in first downs. Wow. Drake May was the best quarterback on tight window throws last year in precision pass rate, QBR, completion percentage over expected, everything.

31:40It just works. The thing I do think, though, that's interesting or notable about New England, too, is I actually thought the receivers last year really outperformed my expectations.

31:53Field Yates:Like, Stefano Dix was quite good during the regular season, especially against man coverage, you know. And Keishan Booty, who we can talk about in a second, really emerged. But I will say, in the postseason, I think you saw the receiving group get exposed. Now, the whole offense got exposed. The offensive line was by far the bigger culprit. May himself didn't play his best ball. But something that caught my eye, I was pulling up some stats from the postseason. Versus press coverage in the postseason, Drake Bay was four for 17. And again, some of that's on him. I'm not absolving altogether. But there were a lot of instances of guys not getting open.

32:39And I do, I can't, you know, I think they've been, I'm Brown for a while, but I can't help but wonder if the New England front office felt like strongly after the playoffs. Okay, we really got to level up here.

32:51Field Yates:Yeah, for sure. You have to imagine that was part of it. I mean, I would say physicality across the board, like just being bigger across the board was something the Patriots needed to do. They got smacked around in the Super Bowl especially, but they got smacked around by the Texans defense in that divisional game. I wouldn't say it was quite as egregious in the Broncos AFC championship game, but the Patriots met their match offensively during the playoffs last year. They had to become a more physical team on both sides of the ball. But A.J. Brown certainly helps in the wide receiver room. And I would take it, I would zoom out a little bit here too, Mina, which I think cannot be overlooked.

33:30Field Yates:Two things can be true. Once the Patriots had an unbelievably remarkable season last year. Drake May is the freaking truth. If we're starting a draft for a player to lead your franchise for the next 10 years, he's at least in the conversation for the first overall pick. At least, in my opinion, right? No question. And the Patriots' biggest improvement this year might just be that Drake May just gets that much better going into year three. At the same time, Patriots also had a schedule that we agreed during the regular season was very favorable. And it did feel like so far this offseason, and we still have, what, two months before training camps really get going, other teams have caught up more than New England sort of outpaced the field, right?

34:10Field Yates:Their big moves up to this point were notable, but like Draymond Jones comes in, Caleb on chase on amongst the guys that go out, right? I mean, they did some shuffling on both sides of the ball, but I don't think that you're even their first round pick Caleb Lomu. Like there's a pathway to Caleb Lomu being their sixth offensive lineman this year, which is totally fine, by the way. He's a really good player, but I didn't feel like the Patriots, you know, Romeo Dobbs in for Stefan Diggs going out. I didn't feel prior to this move like the Patriots offense was decidedly scarier. Whereas around the AFC, you've got what we believe will be a healthier Chiefs team, a healthy Lamar Jackson and a new look Ravens team, Joe Burrow and the Bengals loading up on defense, the Bills trading for DJ Moore.

34:54Field Yates:There's a lot of examples of AFC teams who push their chips further into the middle of the table. And until the A.J. Brown trade was complete, for me the Patriots team didn't feel decidedly different than the one that walked off the field last season. I think it's a really good point. I also think we're going to see what happens when you get a true number one, which is everybody benefits from his presence on the field. Suddenly the receiver room just really works, right? Romeo Dobbs is a phenomenal number two. And then you have some combination of Douglas, Collins, Kyle Williams. We'll see what happens with Keyshawn Booty, who feels a little bit redundant with Brown.

35:30It was honestly excellent last year. might be potential trade bait. And then the run game. The Patriots did not run the ball well last season, but part of that was, there's a little linear reasons, but some of it was despite the fact that they had an incredibly explosive and efficient passing attack, they still faced light boxes at a below average rate. That's going to change, I think. So, you know, you're going to face less man coverage because teams don't want to play man against AJ. There's just going to be a trickle-down effect of having that true number one X receiver that is going to help not just Drake May, but the entire group in New England.

36:08Field Yates:This applies to every time a star player, and A.J. Brown is a star player, gets traded. And I'd be curious if you think it matters, doesn't matter in this case, matters a lot, however you deem it worthy. A.J. Brown, I think, is pissed off about how he's perceived right now. I think he was pissed off with how the offense was last year, but I think A.J. Brown probably feels like he's got something to prove. Does that matter? Do you think that matters? Are we going to get the best version of A.J. Brown? Stefan Diggs is sort of the famous example of a guy who gets traded from Minnesota to Buffalo.

36:40Field Yates:He was a great player. Went for a package of picks, including a first rounder. And then immediately was so motivated to prove everybody wrong, or prove everybody, I guess the bill's right, that for the next four seasons, he had 444 catches and took off. Diggs was much younger than A.J. Brown is right now. But I do think A.J. Brown is probably motivated to prove some skeptics maybe in Philadelphia wrong. 28's not that. Actually, it's funny because people were comparing it to the Waddle trade and how much Denver gave up. And I was like, yeah, but he's a lot younger than A.J. Brown. Then I looked it up and I was like, wait, you're younger than A.J.

37:13Brown. Yeah, 27 versus 28.

37:15Field Yates:I would have guessed like three years for whatever reason. Same. I guess he must have been older when he was drafted and I just forgot. You know, that said, the knee, definitely something to monitor. and if this blows up or backfires that would probably be why and we'll see like I you know like all these trades like we talk about injuries are always going to be the thing you can't predict clearly they felt comfortable enough with it to trade it I guess let me ask you that before we can as we kind of transition to the New England part do you think this was enough for the Philadelphia Eagles in terms of compensation I think it was because it was about as good as I think they were going to get I think for the Patriots, and I always laugh, it's not often, but when we hear of a conditional trade, I'm just going to make up a fake Adam Schefter tweet here for a second.

38:05Field Yates:Whatever. The Vikings are trading a conditional third that can become a second to the Saints if insert X wide receiver plays in at least 15 games and over 50 % of the snaps. And then when the Vikings, who are trading away the third that could become the second, they announce it as a third. The Saints, the acquiring team, who could get a second, announce it as a second, right? So it's like, I'm sure if you're asking the Patriots, I think from their perspective, yes, it's of course it's a first round pick. Like there's nothing, there's no gray area there. But a first round pick two years from now carries different value from a first round pick in the present year or even a year from now, right?

38:47Field Yates:The player the Eagles are going to acquire with that pick cannot influence their roster until the fall of 2028. That's an eternity in football terms. So the Patriots are probably comfortable with it being almost like a premium second as opposed to a first-round pick. Meanwhile, if you're Philly, it's a first-round pick that can be repurposed elsewhere because they could trade that first-round pick as part of a deal to acquire somebody prior to the 2028 NFL draft. On top of that, if you're Philly, one thing they have been as good as literally anybody in the league since Howie Roseman took over as their GM is being a step ahead to replace players before they're actually gone.

39:27Field Yates:And now you're up a first round pick over the next two drafts, which will enable you to draft a player that probably plays a position that you don't need in that year. But you know what? That's where they have struck gold so often. Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter and back to back drafts and guys who played a position where they already had players like Milton Williams, not that Milton was ever an every down guy for them, but like they had talent and they just said, we're going to keep pouring more and more talent into that spot because it's going to become a need soon. So I think it was enough for Philadelphia, especially in the context similar to Cleveland and Miles Garrett of a player being ready to move on.

40:05Field Yates:I just can't imagine or I couldn't imagine a world in which AJ Brown went back to Philadelphia happy for the 2026 season. if the offense in Philadelphia was going to be the same this year as it was last year, not even, I'm not even like, if obviously they kept Petula, but like if they, if the scheme was the same as it's been, not even just last year, but basically with AJ Brown, specifically predicated on ISO ball receivers, winning their one-on-ones quarterback in the gun, I would feel pretty bad about leaving. Yeah. Um, but the, you gotta take a step back and look at this thing in its totality, which is AJ Brown being traded is part of what I think we all agree is going to be a pretty significant transformation for this offense.

40:53A transformation, um, signaled by the hiring of an offensive play caller from the backer Shanahan, LeFleur, the tree, the tree backers, which I want to get to in a second. by everything we've been hearing, by the way, out of OTA, that they are very much going to be more of an under-center team by the players that they've chosen, drafting Makai Lemon, not even just drafting a receiver like, duh, they're going to replace AJ, but obviously he's a very different receiver from AJ, but the style of receiver that he is,

41:28Field Yates:this office is going to look really different field. And so I guess that's what I want to talk about next. How do you feel about the Eagles going in a different direction offensively? Because I think it's one of the more interesting storylines in football. I would say it actually has less to do with the trading of A.J. Brown and more to do with just what does Jalen Hurts look like in this offense? I know the offense was much maligned the past couple of years, and Jalen has famously had instability amongst play callers during his college and pro career. felt to me though like they as much as they could tried to make jail uncomfortable in philadelphia last year right and this was not you know i think some of the concepts that we're talking about in these in these the tree offense as you described it mean it is like on rhythm on time passing games like we're going to see more west coast principles it felt like at times with jalen he is a quarterback who at times can be a drop back, drop back, see it, throw it type of quarterback, as opposed to hard play action, hit your back foot, bam, drive a football to a receiver that maybe hasn't even made his break to the middle of the field, but you're just trusting he's going to hit that landmark.

42:44Field Yates:So it's a, I don't know about wholesale, but it's close to it. This is a gigantic test for this Philadelphia offense. And I think Jalen Hurts specifically. And by the way, if he is uncomfortable with this, it doesn't sound like he is by any stretch. I was going to tell you, all the language coming out of Philadelphia is like, he seems over the moon. He does seem over the moon by it. But if the results for this are a little bit shaky coming out of the gates for Philly, like if you're Jalen Hurts, you are by all means emboldened to say, I'm a Super Bowl MVP. Like I'm the most valuable piece here.

43:16Field Yates:Like let's get back to some of what I'm more comfortable with. So it's a gigantic task for Philly. I think they're going to be awesome this year. Like I'm not at all down on Philadelphia, but I am comparably curious about how this offense looks as you are. I think Hertz is really going into the season with, you know, like the desire to prove everyone wrong in terms of saying, yeah, he doesn't draw over the middle of the field. He never will. Oh, he has, he wants to run things his way style of offense at the cost of, I think like every, again, this is just interpreting every, all the language coming out of Philly right now, when he talks about the new scheme and playing under center and the coordinator, it's very positive.

43:56And like, if, if he buys in and if he X, and, and, you know, by the way, I do want to say one other thing, like in the McVay Chan hand tree or whatever, there's different branches, right? Like the Packers offense comes from that. And, you know, like Jordan love was under center way more than, you know, Jalen hurts for sure. And there's more play action. and whatever, and more condensed formations and things like that. But it's different from San Francisco. You do see Love throws deep outside the numbers a bit more, which is something that Hertz is very good at. So there's definitely some room for flexibility.

44:33The Packers also had a pretty good play-action game out of the gun. And with some of the stuff they would do, the spinner play-action, you remember? That was a Packers thing. So I do think for Mannion, it's going to be like, okay, let me take this concept and then let me see what within this concept, within this scheme, where does my quarterback want to live? But hypothetically, it should make Hertz's life a lot easier. Just watching Philadelphia last year, the level of difficulty always felt like it was turned up to 100 for both the quarterback and the receivers. It's like, go in, go in, go in.

45:09And one thing I want to highlight, I was just looking this up, Philadelphia's offense was below average in a lot of things. But one thing where there's a huge discrepancy between them and Green Bay is on short passes, 0 to 10 yards. The Packers were third league wide in EPA per play, 0.19, which is very high for short passes. The Eagles were 22nd, 0.02. I really think those little easy buttons, and then by the way, they added Josh Grisard, who comes from Tampa, very good screen offense. It just feels like field, if Hertz is bought in, you think about the players they have, Barkley catching passes, Makai Lemon yards after the catch, it could be a lot easier for everybody.

45:49Field Yates:That's the idea here, Mina. And so I don't think their success, by the way, is dependent upon AJ Brown's presence or lack thereof. So like if the Eagles offense sputters and has a tough year this year and they don't sort of realize some of the potential that we are discussing, I'm not going to go, well, they shouldn't have traded AJ Brown. Like it was time with Miles Garrett. It was time with AJ Brown. It was exhausting. I was exhausted by like sitting there watching the Eagles games going is he really reading like you know whatever the second edition of whatever that book that he famously read in the sidelines was at a different inner excellence their inner excellence yes is he reading inner uh transcendence now like whatever um you know like i it's it's not because of aj brown being there or not it is just it's just a big scheme shift and i don't know about rare but we we just don't see stuff like this that often a lot of times it's you know you if you have a quarterback at the caliber of A.J.

46:41Field Yates:Brown. It's what do we do to kind of match that player's skill set? Philadelphia is like we're pouring the scheme out in a way that we feel is best for football, not necessarily our quarterback in the way he has played for the last six or seven years for us. It's a great football story to monitor. All right. So there's enough time left. I've decided for me to do my fantasy lightning round with you. Let's go. For those who don't, I mean, people know. How often do you guys podcast or what's your schedule? So we get back going in earnest, July 20th, I think late July with, I was going to say a specific date, but I realized I'm just assuming that date.

47:23Field Yates:Late July for Fantasy Focus, we're five days a week all the way through the NFL regular season. And then hopefully you'll see more of us during the off season in future years. But as you know, fantasy, the lack of interest from the casuals is certainly not there from January until late July. So, but we get rolling. I think it's like 110 shows in 22 weeks or something like that. If you don't already, obviously listen to Fantasy Focus. Excellent podcast. All right. So I got quick questions for you. Number one. Okay. This comes off of our last conversation. So there's this feeling that the Packers offense is going to turn into, or not Packers, geez Louise, the Eagles is going to turn into more of an everybody eats style offense, a la the Packers.

48:05Although I will say, you know, Devontae, we kind of elided this, and I talked about it earlier. I think Devontae is so capable of taking on more, and I think the Eagles think that, which is part of the calculus here. That said, do you feel comfortable drafting or prioritizing any of these Eagles skill players after what we saw last year?

48:25Field Yates:Would you include Saquon Barkley in that conversation? I would include Saquon Barkley. But I'm a Saquon dynasty holder, and it wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't pretty last year. I mean, one of the biggest mistakes that we make, though, in fantasy is when an elite player has a pedestrian year, assuming that like the pedestrian days are now upon us. And that would be the case with Saquon Barkley. Like the idea of Saquon Barkley being the best player in fantasy football next season, it's not that crazy, right? I mean, he's what, at worst, the fourth best running back in the league, probably in terms of talent.

48:55Field Yates:You know, Spijon, Gibbs, CMC, Saquon, that's whatever. Maybe you want to argue he's fifth or sixth. but we've definitely seen crazier things since Saquon Barkley being the top scorer and running back in all of fantasy football. Him and Devontae Smith are the two for sure. Everybody else will just be kind of a value play. Like Dontavian Wicks is like our favorite film watchers, favorite wide receiver, right? And Hollywood Brown will probably have a couple moments. And Makai Lemon is a rookie. It brings a kind of sizzle and excitement. And he might have 72 catches this year, PPR beast. But Devontae and Saquon are the two guys that based off current cost are worth sort of the premium that are being paid on them right now.

49:34Field Yates:Saquon top probably seven or ten running back in terms of where you're seeing him ranked right now in fantasy, and Devontae probably creeping into that top 20 with A.J. Brown gone. One would hope for Saquon, too. This could have been part of the Eagles conversation. A big part of the tree scheme, and perhaps the most important part, is knitting the run and the pass together and making everything look the same. It felt like last year they were so obvious running the ball I was constantly be contacted in the backfield. So one would hope that this scheme change, in addition to, you know, how he runs under center and all that, would help him just because it won't be as predictable when he's getting the rock.

50:12Field Yates:Totally agree. Okay, second question, number two. So you talked about people, casuals not having interest this time of year, but as I alluded to, I am in a very intense dynasty league. I've been in it for years. Before we started taping, I was bragging about the fact that last year I got Harold Fannin Jr. I feel like that was my big coup because it was like in the third founders. It's a very deep league. So of the rookies, and you mentioned Lemon, but not necessarily your answer here, who are two that you love? It doesn't have to be the top. It can be the top. Just two rookies that you really like for fantasy purposes.

50:51Field Yates:Okay, so we should just address Jeremiah Love because everybody knows him. and the question isn't how like is he going to go high it's how high he's going to go i've looked across espn's rankings and it seems like i'm a little lower on jeremiah love in terms of overall rank compared to some of our colleagues i had him the 21st ranked player overall we do this project in may june july where we just do a series of mock drafts and it kind of creates like this date this set of data points about where guys are going on average players that we tend to have an affinity for players that we are avoiding consciously or subconsciously.

51:26Field Yates:What I've noted so far is that Jeremiah Love is going way earlier than that. You mentioned the Cardinals as a strong contender for the number one pick in the draft this upcoming year, Mina. Tyler Algier, James Conner, for now, still there, right? I have Tyler Algier on my dynasty team, and please trade him, Arizona. Please trade Green Bay, perhaps Green Bay. I think he deserves more run. He's like, say whatever you want from a fan. I was as bothered by him being utilized as the goal line as anybody over the past few years. But if you're going to have Tyler Algier as part of your pack rotation, he is deserving of some of the short yardage and goal line work.

52:07Field Yates:I'm concerned about a little bit of seeding work to Tyler Algier at the goal line, and then a little bit of just, like we saw this with Ashton Gentry, I don't care how dynamic you are as a runner. If you're getting blown up a yard behind the line of scrimmage, it's going to be hard to have a bunch of protecting games. And a gente wasn't this like catastrophic disappointment last year, Mina, but it was an example of shiny object syndrome taking over. It was in hell. He was in hell, but we could have, you could have easily taken a Derek Henry or a Christian McCaffrey where we were taking Ashton gente last year and, and, and just been fine.

52:45Field Yates:Um, they, they had the each, you know, McCaffrey was the best player in fantasy football last year. Henry was a bit more of a roller coaster, but the peaks were so, so good. Jeremiah Love, and I'll just say this. I understand he was the next fantasy skill player taken in the draft, but I do think, I'll just mention him, because I do think that I'm going to wind up being higher on Carnell Tate as I get through my updates of my rankings this offseason compared to most. Because I think, and I'm guilty of this too, I allowed the idea of Carnell Tate being like a really good number two wide receiver as opposed to a legitimate number one wide receiver invade my brain too much during the pre-draft process.

53:22Field Yates:Now, when I'm watching Jeremiah Smith, his teammate, that is exactly what a wide receiver one looks like. But there are also players right now in the NFL, we've talked about some on the show, but think about guys like Puka or Amunra, or maybe even Jackson Smith and Jigba, who don't necessarily, and I'm using air quotes here, look like a number one wide receiver and have become absurdly productive. So I think that Cardinal Tate is due for just a monster year because he is as pro ready as any prospect in this entire draft class. I felt that way about him throughout the process and he went forth overall, perhaps richer than some thought, but I think Cardinal Tate's going to be a heck of a player this year.

54:02A lot of good buzz about Cardinal Tate coming out of Tennessee. The spring buzz is, you know, I'm always wearing that, but you know, people like it. Okay. Well, who is the next question is who are you a little apprehensive of in a way that perhaps we should have been more apprehensive of the situation that genti was walking into and this is a lot about situation

54:24Field Yates:more than the players yeah well in some ways so like i i was as you and i discussed on the day of the draft prior to going down me jordan tyson a guy that i thought was really talented on the one hand you're like he's going to an offense that absolutely hummed down the stretch right it really played well down the stretch. He's going into a good situation. It also might be that that good situation already has enough established parties that they don't necessarily need somebody else to come in and feast at this significant target share. I'm going to Travis A. Chan. I got myself. I didn't screw it up there.

55:04Field Yates:Travis A. Chan, which I'm still getting used to there. in the backfield. Juwan Johnson will have a role. Devon Vele will have a little bit of a role. So Tyson just, I feel like that offense has enough pieces already around it and has a good enough, like Chris Olave. I mean, that was remarkable last season. Whereas in Tennessee, the competition for Carnell Tate, I think Wanda Robinson's a solid player, but not at the level of Chris Olave. So Tyson, I'm a little more happy. I hope you're right, because Olave, I know no one cares about his entertainment, but he's on my team. no no we care about and i love the pick for football reasons but there there is that as a dynasty manager so when the picks come in you're like like like i said algier i was like come on arizona and yeah okay so who's the other one browns receivers would be easy candidates for this category as well casey concepcion and also denzel boston quarterback merry-go-round could be in place this team again they might just be trying to be bad down the stretch mina i'm not trying to be, I know that the NBA just is about to enact this dramatic reform, this 3-2-1 lottery system that frankly, I'm still kind of confused by.

56:09Field Yates:That being said, the NFL might be having conversation at the end of the season about whether they need to do some things differently. It's much harder to tank in the NFL because the sample size is really small. You might be 2-10 while you're trying and just not try as much and go 2-15. But there are going to be some teams at the end of the season that are making business decisions. Go back and look at some of the notable things over the past few years, teams that could have had players if they had just lost that one inconsequential game in mid to late December. I think teams are going to be doing that this year as well.

56:40I would be very wary of the Browns receivers this season. In Dynasty, though, if Boston, I mean, I love Concepcion, I'm talking about it, but if Boston is a dropper for people just apprehensive about the team, that's a guy I'd like to have a piece of for the future because I do think he could be a touchdown machine when they get quarterback, but you got to have the long view there, right? For sure. Yeah. All right. We talked about him.

57:09Field Yates:This is a question I think that's going to be on a lot of people's minds. So Ashton Gentry, very tough season last year. Marion Hampton flashed a bit more, but battled injury, of course. And also, you know, the offensive line was hell. Between the two of those backs, those first round backs from last year, who is more likely to make the fantasy leap this season? I think it's Ashton Gentry for a couple of reasons. First of all, we saw the Houston Texans game by Ashton Gentry was one of the single most remarkable performances of last season by any player in the NFL. Against the Avengers defense, Ashton Gentry smoked them.

57:48Field Yates:Like all-time ridiculousness. That was crazy. Like I still can't believe that took place. And I think it was right in the fantasy playoffs too where it was like, all right, Ashton Janty is the obvious fade this week. He's so talented. And he is a pass catcher, not a Jeremiah Love level pass catcher, but enough of a pass catcher. And then with, I tell you one thing that's been kind of gnawing at me this off season is Keaton Mitchell got two years and$10 million to go to the Chargers. I also have him. He's like kind of good. Everything about that signing screams Mike McDaniel told us to do this, right?

58:24Field Yates:Like this is the guy he wanted. Now he also played behind a freight train in Baltimore and hardly played behind Derrick Henry. And Amarin Hampton is a good player as well. No doubt. I'm just like, when we're talking about how do you call one player RB nine and one player RB 12, these are the kind of slivers that make the difference. So the presence of, of Keaton Mitchell, he's one of my favorite late round targets. If you play basketball out there, He was one of my favorite sort of late-round best ball targets as well. There's going to be a few weeks where it's like, he just had six catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.

59:01Field Yates:What? It's always the week I don't start in fields. But, yeah, I hear you. I also will say about Gentry, we know Clint Kubiak likes to pound that rock. Yes, he does. So he's going to get opportunities, I think, and obviously the Linderbaum acquisition helps a lot there. The question is kind of the rest of the offensive line. Okay, question five. I wrote, is Malik Willis a sneaky good fantasy pickup? So the Miami offense, not great. Nope. Pass catchers, pretty bad. This is a team that's going to run a lot. You got a dual threat quarterback who's an unbelievable runner, who was a good passer last season too.

59:39My skepticism is not about him. It's more about his circumstances. But we have seen this prototype have success before. Do you think despite the group of pass catchers, he might be worth keeping an eye on?

59:50Field Yates:He's, well, I'll say this, Mina, two things. He's the first mid-20s individual that has moved to Miami to make$20-plus million per year that I've ever felt bad for in human history.

1:00:06Field Yates:I don't know if he signed up for what he's now dealing with. I mean, signed up for, to the extent that you sign up for these things, right? But it is a very, very thin wide receiver room there. It's going to be tough for Malik Willis to have big-time numbers. That being said, in fantasy, you don't need big-time numbers in the conventional sense. You don't have to be able to run the football. And he can do that, and he's free, Mina. He is free right now in drafts. You are not, on average, getting Malik Willis in the first 16 rounds of a 10-team ESPN league. Something that I've seen a lot of in recent years is the growth of two quarterbacks per team.

1:00:43Field Yates:All the hardcore analyst leagues for a long time, Mina, where you just take one quarterback, And if you draft a Josh Allen or a Jalen Hurts, you're just burning a roster spot by adding a backup because they're going to start one game for you when Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts goes on a bye. Or if you're waiting until round 10 and you're getting a Dak Prescott, you can just grab somebody off of waivers and stream them if Dak doesn't work out, whatever it is. We're starting to see more of a movement towards two quarterbacks for those that wait. One of the more popular parries that I've seen so far this offseason in mock drafts is Trevor Lawrence and Brock Purdy.

1:01:17Field Yates:guys who Trevor Lawrence was especially great for the last eight games of the season. Purdy was unbelievable for the last four or five games, except for when they played Seattle. So I believe that Malik Willis is one of those perfect, like you're waiting on quarterback and you're going to take two and Malik Willis, who's going for zero, can be added as the final pick in your draft. I would do it. I have where I'm at. Mine is two quarterbacks and my quarterbacks are Jared Goff and Jackson Dart, which I feel pretty good about. could not be more diametrically opposed. But yeah, I wish I had well as someone else in my league already has him.

1:01:53Field Yates:Did you see that Jeremiah Love clip of him and Jared Goff? No. Oh my God, it's so fun. He was on the St. Brown podcast and they were doing like, who is this player? Just like looking at Jared Goff. Not only did he not know him, he was like, who is this guy? Dom Monro St. Brown. He was like, he's my quarterback. He's like, oh, really? He's like, yeah, my quarterback. It was amazing. I'm sure there are people, I'm sure there's, you know, like actors you could put in front of me that I would have literally, it's like, Oh, that's Tom Hanks. Oh, wow. Didn't know that. I'd be good at like survivor characters and football players.

1:02:28I don't know how much NFL players also don't pay attention to other NFL teams. Not at all. Especially outside their own division. It's pretty funny.

1:02:37Field Yates:Yeah. Okay. Question six. We're doing 10. Chase running backs, not been great. Yeah. Are we buying Kenneth Walker or do we think he's going to be overpriced? Who, who's impeding Kenneth Walker from having like 280 touches this year. And that's a conservative number, 280 carries plus like maybe 50 touches. I don't even know who, who's the number two there. They took Emmett Johnson. They did like that pick. Yeah. Like that, but I'm just not like totally sold that Johnson's going to come in and like meaningfully impact the role of Kenneth Walker, the third, he was so clearly the guy that But it feels like they wanted Kenneth Walker III as much as basically any team wanted a single player in free agency this offseason.

1:03:21Field Yates:All their woes could be cured by Walker, who, of course, was awesome when it mattered most for your Seahawks Super Bowl MVP. There were times in which the Seahawks, it struck me as the Seahawks coaching staff, not always fully trusting him. He's one of those guys that it seemed like sometimes they wanted him, like sometimes four yards was good enough for them on a given run. And he'd have the occasional pension for like, hey, this two-yard run could become a 10-yard run if I bounce it outside, and instead it becomes a negative two-yard run. But anyways, he's going to have an absolutely monster year.

1:03:57Field Yates:Yeah, he's inside. I want to say he's like RB12 for me overall right now. Big year coming. Yeah, geez, offense. Even with its limitations last year, faced tons of light boxes, still Patrick Mahomes. We'll see when he, his availability. but he's going to be the right. Like you're not, I mean, he's, it sounds like it, but I think your point about just like who's competing and also just like, that was all they did. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Another player on the move. Can Kyler revive Justin Jefferson? Who was, you know, one of the fantasy letdowns, obviously last season relative to expectations around it.

1:04:34Field Yates:Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. One of the issues with applying logic to players for like a prolonged period of time is that the year that it doesn't work out, you have to wonder whether you were misaligned with your logic for the years prior. But every year, it's, hey, the thing about Justin Jefferson is he's quarterback agnostic, right? He can get the job done with guys like Jaron Hall and Nick Mullins, JJ McCarthy. He's going to be good. He's 10th overall pick in the draft. And then it was, they had so little chemistry and it was such a tough watch last year. It sometimes looked like they had never met.

1:05:05It was.

1:05:07Field Yates:Now, I'm sure Justin Jefferson and NFL players either don't like to hear this kind of analysis or just don't care for it at all. Don't even acknowledge it. He was the single least enjoyable player to watch in fantasy football last season. It has nothing to do with Justin Jefferson. And like, I think I could go to court and pretty credibly argue he's the best wide receiver in the NFL. And yet this poor guy last year, it was like his quarterbacks were trying to. Yeah. Remember how LeBron had that 10 point streak going for whatever it was like 20 years. It was like Justin was riding some streak that his quarterbacks were trying to see end.

1:05:43Field Yates:Like, hey, you know, Justin's had at least a thousand yards, whatever it is, five straight seasons. They're like, yeah, you want to tempt me on that? I'll tell you what it looks like to have 824 yards this year. Oh, my God. It was tough. And honestly, to his credit, handled it all pretty well. Justin seems like he is that dude. For as talented as he is, he's got an emotional intelligence that is incredibly high. I think my one concern or fear or question is whether or not Tyler, Kyler, who is undeniably an upgrade, and I've said this a million times, can get his deep ball back because it's really fallen off.

1:06:15Because that would be the only thing I'm with Jefferson who really should benefit from that if he can get it back, but I'd like to see it. But like you said, it's Justin Jefferson. And Kyler has had great chemistry in the past before Marvin Harrison Jr. with wide receiver ones.

1:06:31Field Yates:Which brings me to Arizona. Question A, does the Arizona quarterback scare you off everyone in Arizona outside of Jeremiah Love? I saw a hilarious tweet. Johnny Venerable, who does a great job. Did you see this tweet? He covers the Cardinals. He's been so – you should follow him. I really like his show. He's been – they've been – Cardinals bloggers and fans have been so funny about the Cardinals. Very self-aware. He was like – I'm paraphrasing. The Rams are trading for Myles Garrett, and Jacoby Brissett is holding out. One NFC West team is trading for Myles Garrett. Another NFC West team, his quarterback is holding out.

1:07:10Field Yates:Like, whatever, the 27th best starting quarterback is holding out, you know. All right, answer the question. I don't think it matters for the fantasy value of these guys much when we're the other. We used to call it Blake Bortling, his way to success, because Bortles for a few years there was like this fantasy rock star. But if you turn the game on in the second quarter, you're like, how on earth does Blake Bortles have 42 passing yards and interception and negative 0.8 fantasy points? Then you'd come back two hours later and you're like, holy crap, Blake Bortles just scored 21 points. Let's go, baby.

1:07:43Field Yates:That was Jacoby Brissett last year who just kept on going. he had this unbelievable streak of top 12 finishes. I don't think it matters that much. I think that a lot of their offensive production could come in garbage time. I have McBride, who is one of my all-time picks. I think when I got him after the first year, I texted you a picture of myself as Belichick. Not a great comp for a GM. But my point is, I think I gave myself laser eyes. I'm desperately hoping that McBride can still thrive despite whatever I do also like the memes from Cardo's fans of Carson Beck being like in a picture with like JSN Miles Garrett and Chris McCaffrey all right second question or last ninth question not second question if George Pickens is a Dallas Cowboy this year and is playing and there's no holdout and whatever.

1:08:42We'll know by the time, you know, would you rather have CD lamb or George Pickens?

1:08:47Field Yates:CD lamb for a couple of reasons. So I do think that like talent wise, they're in the same zip code. I don't think we need to sit here and like, yeah, he's definitely better. No, like these guys are both ridiculously talented. One of them was an all pro last year. It wasn't CD lamb. The talent isn't the question. It just George, if he does play, he's not going to have a long-term deal with the Cowboys. As they have said, that creates the very popular dynamic that comes into play when a guy's on a contract year. And if it's week seven, your hamstring just feels a touch tight. I'm not pointing to those things that feels 100%.

1:09:20Field Yates:I've got too much to lose and not enough to gain. So it's that risk. It's George Pickens. Part of the reason why last year was so special was that George kept his head on straight for the most part, right? There's a reason why he was also available after three years in Pittsburgh. It was that you'd go three games with him being awesome and productive, and then you'd have a meltdown. So I just think CD is a more reliable player overall. Both incredibly talented. They should throw the football. Once again, they're a walking top five offense with Dak. No surprise there. Both guys inside my top 10 for wide receivers right now, one of them comes with just more risk, that being Pickens.

1:10:00Final question. Jane Daniels, one of the most popular quarterback picks. Can he bounce back?

1:10:08Field Yates:Yes, yes. It all comes down to this, is running, and I know we talk about this every year, rushing for quarterbacks is such a ridiculous cheat code for fantasy football purposes. It just is. It feels like it was a pedestrian year for Patrick Mahomes last year in a lot of ways, and you go back and you look at the number of times he finished as a top-eight scorer, and you're like, really? It just kept happening eight times out of the 14 games he played because Patrick Mahomes was running for his life last year. Jaden Daniels could be running for his life, but he'll definitely just be running a lot in general.

1:10:44Field Yates:Regardless of the motivation behind the runs, as long as your quarterback is running, you will be good. Jaden Daniels, I feel like a down year for him is like 400 rushing yards probably, kind of like where Kyler was for a while in Arizona, that even if it wasn't clicking as much as a passer, he still had more of a floor than your typical quarterback. I think Jaden's, to me, a more talented passer than Kyler Murray at this juncture of their careers. So there's way more upside. But he is quarterback three for me right now, Josh being one, Lamar Jackson being two, Jaden Daniels being three. And I want to say it's one of the two quarterbacks that either previously or will soon be throwing passes to A.J.

1:11:27Field Yates:Brown. It's either Jalen Hurts or Drake May or Drake May and Jalen Hurts four or five. Malik Wells is going to get so many carries this season. I just, they're going to run the damn wishbone. Like I, yeah. Um, okay. Well, that's good news about Daniels. Uh, all right. So let me know, by the way, uh, listeners, I haven't done fantasy stuff that much on this show before, other than though I very much so love clearly and spent too much time thinking about my dynasty team. So, uh, let me know if you want me to do more of it. Uh, but also if you're interested in fancy coverage, obviously go check out fancy focus, Go to Follow Field across all platforms.

1:12:02Field, my buddy, thank you so much for joining me today. This was a ton of fun. You can check us out on YouTube if you're listening, youtube.com slash Amina Khimes, where you can also check out my television pod with David Dennis Jr. as we pivot to our coverage of that other great American sport, Love Island. Thank you, as always, to the folks at Omaha Productions who make this show, Kirsten Sebecki, Owen Saylor, Jack Foster, Tucker Tashin, and I will see you guys next week We'll be back with the NFC X-Factors.