PodcastFrom Establish The Run
News and Ranking Changes: Fallout From Josh Jacobs Mess, NFL Roster Cuts, and Silva's Top-150 Changes (Episode 1016 with Evan Silva and Adam Levitan)
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
52 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 31, 2026
Published
Mon, August 31, 2026
27
Player insights
26
Players mentioned
Topics
Kenneth Walker IIIAlec PierceBucky IrvingChris BellChris BrooksEmeka EgbukaFernando MendozaJames ConnerJared GoffJavonte WilliamsJeremiyah LoveJosh JacobsKeaton MitchellKeenan Allen
Player analysis
Player insights
Alec Pierce
PositiveRole15:35
Alec Pierce has returned to practice after being on the PUP list. Evan Silva expects Pierce and Josh Downs to open the season in two-receiver sets. ETR currently ranks Pierce 100th overall.
Insight pageBucky Irving
PositiveRole37:08
Bucky Irving has received a slight boost in ETR rankings to 44th overall. There is potential for him to reclaim goal-line work if he is fully recovered from the shoulder injury that limited him last season.
Insight pageChris Bell
PositiveSleeper72:16
Coming off an ACL tear, Bell is a priority stash for best ball drafters in rounds 17-20. Silva notes his recovery trajectory is 'screaming upward' and suggests he could emerge as the team's clear target share leader by November or December.
Insight pageChris Brooks
NegativeRole8:47
Evan Silva describes Chris Brooks as a 'one-trick pony' pass protector. While the Packers are unlikely to give him significant rushing volume, Silva expects him to see some usage in a role similar to Samaje Perine, particularly because the team is expected to throw the ball frequently.
Insight pageEmeka Egbuka
NegativeInjury30:19
Emeka Egbuka is dealing with a toe injury that has caused his ranking to drop to 45th overall in ETR ranks. While there is high upside for him to emerge as a key target in the Buccaneers' offense, the health uncertainty makes him a risk compared to other receivers in his draft range.
Insight pageFernando Mendoza
NegativeProjection27:16
While Evan Silva remains high on Fernando Mendoza's long-term outlook, he acknowledges that Mendoza's shaky preseason performance—characterized by holding the ball too long and taking sacks—suggests he is not ready for immediate NFL action. Silva expects Kirk Cousins to start initially, with Mendoza likely taking over once the Raiders' losses accumulate.
Insight pageJames Conner
NegativeInjury22:23
James Conner was placed on IR-return and is not yet ready to play due to a serious ankle injury, debunking rumors of him moving to other teams.
Insight pageJared Goff
PositiveProjection29:20
Jared Goff is positioned for a potential MVP-caliber season, with expectations that he will have increased control over the Lions' offense. Projections suggest he could reach 5,000 yards and 45 touchdowns.
Insight pageJavonte Williams
PositiveRole39:53
Javonte Williams has been boosted to 25th overall in ETR rankings. The Cowboys' failure to secure a reliable backup running back and their continued trust in Williams in all situations signals a heavy workload for him.
Insight pageJeremiyah Love
NegativeInjury22:31
Jeremiah Love is dealing with a high ankle sprain and did not look 100% in workout videos, though he is expected to have a chance to play in Week 1. The Cardinals kept only three running backs on the roster, and Silva maintains a cautious outlook while waiting for him to recover.
Insight pageJosh Jacobs
NegativeRole2:21
Josh Jacobs has been placed on the commissioner's exempt list, meaning he cannot practice or play. Evan Silva believes it is a coin flip whether Jacobs ever plays football again, noting that if the alleged domestic violence video surfaces, it will be difficult for the Packers to justify his presence on the team. Silva has removed him from his top 150 and advises against drafting him even in late rounds.
Insight pageKeaton Mitchell
NegativeInjury30:09
Keaton Mitchell is dealing with an undisclosed, likely soft-tissue, lower-body injury. His availability for Week 1 is uncertain, and his history of injuries makes him a risky bench stash in shallower leagues.
Insight pageKeenan Allen
NegativeRole15:22
Despite a recent DUI arrest, Evan Silva does not anticipate a suspension for Keenan Allen this season, noting that the NFL typically allows legal cases to play out. ETR has assigned a one-game risk deduction in their rankings. Silva expects Allen to serve as a possession receiver in three-receiver sets to open the season.
Insight pageKenneth Walker III
PositiveRole42:21
Kenneth Walker is expected to be the full workhorse for the Chiefs this season, with an opportunity to handle a massive workload.
Insight pagePositiveUsage70:53
Walker is set to receive a massive workload opportunity this year that he has not previously handled in his career.
Insight pageKyle Pitts
PositiveUsage23:56
Adam Levitan highlights that the Falcons' offensive scheme under Kevin Stefanski favors tight ends who can catch quick, accurate passes, which suits Kyle Pitts' skill set. Silva ranks Pitts 74th overall, ahead of Sam LaPorta and Tucker Kraft, noting that Pitts is a primary read for the quarterback.
Insight pageLamar Jackson
PositiveUsage25:14
Lamar Jackson is expected to return to his previous rushing volume (8-11 attempts per game) after a 2023 season hampered by multiple injuries. Evan Silva believes Jackson will play with a chip on his shoulder, and the coaching change to Declan Doyle is viewed as a significant upgrade for his creative usage.
Insight pageLuther Burden
PositiveBreakout20:11
Luther Burden has recovered from a groin injury and is practicing in full. Evan Silva is extremely high on him, ranking him 33rd overall, and advises drafters not to wait too long to select him.
Insight pageMalachi Fields
NegativeDepth Chart78:30
Reports suggest Fields is likely the Giants' wide receiver two, though the team is expected to utilize a rotation at the position.
Insight pageMarShawn Lloyd
PositiveBreakout5:01
Evan Silva is highly optimistic about Marshawn Lloyd, ranking him 65th overall and noting he is his highest-drafted running back. Lloyd is a 4.46-speed back at 220 pounds with impressive college efficiency (7.1 YPC). While Adam Levitan notes concerns regarding Lloyd's limited career touch volume and health, Silva projects the Packers to be a throw-first team, which benefits Lloyd's role as the primary back in the absence of Jacobs.
Insight pageMike Evans
PositiveValue80:36
Silva considers Evans an 'auto-click' in the sixth round of drafts, noting that his current ADP is far too low, especially on platforms like ESPN where he is buried in default rankings.
Insight pageMike Washington Jr.
PositiveUsage32:17
Mike Washington has impressed in the preseason with his explosive athleticism (4.33 speed, 39-inch vertical) and schematic fit for the Raiders' run-blocking scheme. Evan Silva believes Washington has earned a significant role, potentially splitting time with Ashton Gentry.
Insight pageOdell Beckham
PositiveRole78:34
Beckham made the Giants' roster and is expected to serve in a situational deep-threat role, as he still demonstrates the ability to get open.
Insight pageSam LaPorta
PositiveInjury27:43
Sam LaPorta is back from a hip bruise and is expected to be ready for Week 1. Silva ranks him in a tight tier with Kyle Pitts, Tucker Kraft, and Harold Fain, noting that LaPorta benefits from the Lions' soft schedule and high-scoring offense.
Insight pageSean Tucker
NegativeDepth Chart36:08
Sean Tucker took a pay cut to remain on the Buccaneers' active roster. His role in short-yardage situations remains a question mark, and he is not considered draftable in most formats.
Insight pageTyrone Tracy
NegativeDepth Chart75:03
Despite rumors of being cut or traded, Tracy made the Giants' active roster, which will carry four running backs into the season.
Insight pageXavier Hutchinson
NegativeRole83:27
Hutchinson is not a deep threat and is expected to be used primarily for blocking and dirty work in the Texans' run game, which may limit his fantasy utility.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Hello and welcome to Episode 1016 of the official EstablishTheRun.com podcast.
0:04My name is Adam Levitan. I am one of the co-founders here at ETR, as always joined by fellow co-founder Evan Silva
0:11and we are just nine short days away from week one.
0:14Truly makes you feel happy to be alive. Evan, how's it going today?
0:18Yeah, it's going well. All the preseason games are behind us.
0:22Final cuts are behind us. Fifty three-man rosters are largely set.
0:25So yeah, it's time to start writing the matchups article.
0:28Indeed it is. And we are getting set for our week one content as we get going here.
0:34Part of the in-season product, all the fantasy projections and everything that goes along with that for week one.
0:40Certainly exciting times. On today's show, we will be discussing what has happened at training camps and in preseason games over the
0:47last seven days and how we should be adjusting our fantasy rankings for that.
0:52We will also go over how all that has affected Silva's Top 150.
0:56If I had a draft coming up, here's what I would do.
1:00First, I wouldn't drink for at least 72 hours before my draft.
1:03I wouldn't smoke for at least 48 hours before my draft.
1:07I would buy the ETR draft kit for just $54.99.
1:10I would consume as many articles as I could.
1:13If I had a live draft, I would print out the ranks like a man and scratch the tiered names off with a pen.
1:21If I had an online draft, I'd use the ETR extension to get our ranks into the applets.
1:26Then during the season, I'd use Storm in his ranks, Daigle's waiver wire, and then I'd come back in January at the
1:33full 3.9 inches to collect my winnings. Very easy game.
1:37Again, that is the draft kit on establishtherun.com. All right, let's get into it here.
1:41Story number one comes from Green Bay. Josh Jacobs placed on the commissioner's exempt list.
1:46In other words, Jacobs will keep getting paid, but he is not eligible to practice or play while he is on this list.
1:53I think the thought here is that the NFL has conducted its own investigation, has possibly seen the video of the alleged
2:00domestic violence incident, and the rumor is that the video is so bad that the NFL is effectively taking justice into their own hands.
2:08In other words, Jacobs has only been charged with two misdemeanors, but the NFL knows it will look awful if the video
2:15comes out while Jacobs is playing for the Packers.
2:18So, Evan, I know you were already mega low Jacobs, mega high Lloyd, which is very, very, very good.
2:24What are your latest thoughts now that Jacobs is on the commissioner's exempt list?
2:29Yeah, and before this, I had already pulled out Josh Jacobs out of the top 150.
2:34I thought that he was not draftable, and now I don't think he's really, he's not a player that I'm trying to
2:41draft, even if people are like, oh, we could get him in the eighth or the ninth round.
2:46Like, I don't think so. Also, if the video comes out, it's going to be very hard for the Packers to justify having him on their team.
2:55You know, I think it's probably a coin flip at this point whether Josh Jacobs ever plays football again.
3:01And Marshawn Lloyd is a player that we have been high on throughout the process.
3:06I think he's my highest drafted running back in fantasy.
3:09I've been taking him since we started doing, you know, analysis for the 2026 fantasy football season.
3:14I think he's good. You know, he was a guy who ran 4-4-6 at 220 pounds coming out of USC.
3:21He averaged 7.1 yards per carry. His final season in college, 17.8 yards per reception.
3:26Actually, I was watching a clip of Daniel Jeremiah doing the draft analysis when the Packers picked Marshawn Lloyd, and Daniel Jeremiah compared him to DeAndre Swift.
3:34I'm really, really excited about Marshawn Lloyd. I have him up at 65 overall.
3:39So, if you're using the 150 and you haven't done your draft yet and you want to use those rankings, good chance you're going to get Marshawn Lloyd.
3:48I think that he settled in from a consensus standpoint, just from reading other rankers.
3:52I think that he's probably around like maybe pick 75 or 80.
3:56I'm up at 65. Yeah. So, I'll touch more on Jacobs in a second.
4:01I do want to go back to what Silva said about Marshawn Lloyd.
4:05So, Marshawn Lloyd has played in one game in his NFL career.
4:09Even in college, he had never had more than 129 touches in a season.
4:13The price that you have to pay for Marshawn Lloyd now, I think is going to be somewhere in the 70s or 80s.
4:20In the ETR ranks, we went to 72 overall on Marshawn Lloyd.
4:24The question I have with taking him that high, and believe me, you know, I like Marshawn Lloyd a ton.
4:31It felt amazing to get him in the 150s and 160s and 200s earlier.
4:35Now that it's peak redraft season, do we want to take him in the 70s or 80s, knowing his history and knowing that they traded for Caleb Johnson?
4:44I don't think this is a big deal, but this is the holes that people are going to poke in Marshawn Lloyd.
4:51By the way, on Caleb Johnson, Packers gave up a round six for him.
4:55The Steelers used a round three pick on Caleb Johnson.
4:59The Mike Tomlin, Arthur Smith regime hated Caleb Johnson, didn't play him.
5:02It was like a joke. Then a new regime comes in.
5:06It's like, oh, maybe the new regime will like Caleb Johnson.
5:09Mike McCarthy regime comes in. Caleb Johnson is behind some other undrafted free agents and other dust balls.
5:15They give him up to the Packers for a round six pick.
5:19So there's people out there that are going to say, Silva, Marshawn Lloyd cannot stay healthy.
5:24He's only ever had 129 touches in his season.
5:27Do you have any interest in Caleb Johnson or Chris Brooks, who I think is more of their pass protection back?
5:34Yeah, I think that Chris Brooks is like a one-trick pony pass protector.
5:38I don't think that the Packers are going to be trying to give him the ball very much.
5:44They are going to use him a decent amount, though.
5:47I mean, think of like a Samaj P. Ryan kind of role because I think that the Packers are going to end
5:54up throwing the ball a lot this season. We already had theorized that, and now that's accentuated by the fact that now
6:01the Packers are without their big-time grinding rusher and, as you mentioned, are going to have to turn to Marshawn Lloyd, a
6:08player with very, very limited rushing volume on his resume, even going back to college.
6:13So I think they're going to be a throw-first team.
6:16I think that the construct of the team at this point points – everything is pointing to the Packers throwing the ball 600-plus times this season.
6:24Also, the way their defense is constructed. I mean, I'm very excited about all the Packers wide receivers and Marshawn Lloyd.
6:31And I know that you've been on Jordan Love as well.
6:34Like, I'm really excited about those guys this season in fantasy.
6:38Yeah, and by the way, just quickly, Savion Williams did start on IR return.
6:42I mean, their top three receivers are locked, and they're going to throw more.
6:47We've been talking about that all offseason. I don't want to go back to that point.
6:52Just lastly on Marshawn Lloyd. The other risk besides Marshawn Lloyd that you get on health, and I think he's going to
6:59play well, the risks are health, and the other risk is standard suspension on domestic violence issues for the NFL is six games.
7:06Right? So let's say after six games, they say he served his time, he's off the exempt list.
7:12Then Josh Jacobs could come back. So, you know, I don't think that's likely.
7:16And I think the video – I mean, I assume TMZ or someone's going to get the video at some point.
7:23Maybe I'll be wrong. I don't know. But if the video doesn't come out and Jacobs served six games, I could see him coming back.
7:31So it's kind of like – I like Marshawn Lloyd where we have him.
7:35I think it's right, but it's definitely a wide range of outcomes.
7:39Like I would take Marshawn Lloyd over Jonathan Brooks now, and I think that's kind of the distinction where people have, and
7:46I do think Lloyd over Brooks makes sense. I didn't say anything about Caleb Johnson.
7:51Yes, go ahead. Caleb Johnson was a prolific rusher at the University of Iowa.
7:55Prolific. I mean, crazy statistics. Had 21 rushing touchdowns his final season there.
8:00Very limited receiving track record. Everybody's got a very limited receiving track record when they come out of Iowa.
8:06Ran 4.57 at 224 pounds. But as you mentioned, just has not been able to endear himself to coaching staffs, and I
8:13think that he's the clear number three in Green Bay right now because although, again, the Packers are not going to want
8:20to give Chris Brooks the football, he's definitely going to be ahead of Caleb Johnson.
8:24So I don't really even think that Caleb Johnson is a better stat, like a great stash at the end of your bench.
8:32I think that there are better stashes throughout the league.
8:35Guys that actually got affected a little bit by final cuts with Caleb Johnson.
8:39I think he's made, you know, if I were to extend my rankings, I think that he would be like maybe like
8:46in the 200s, maybe like the 210s or something.
8:49But, yeah, he's not even close to the 150.
8:52Agreed. You know, I wouldn't be drafting Caleb Johnson or Chris Brooks in most formats here.
8:57Maybe in some of the FFPC main event type stuff where you get 10 bench spots, maybe I could see it, but
9:04it'd still be a bit thin there for me.
9:07But, yeah, I'm excited about the Packers stuff that I have.
9:11You know, obviously really high on Christian Watson, Jaden Reed, Matthew Golden, Jordan Love, and, you know, the health signs on Tucker Craft have been good.
9:19So, yeah, feel really good about that. All right.
9:22Story two, more legal stuff. You know, I'm so tired of this legal stuff, but Keenan Allen was arrested on a DUI type situation.
9:29Actually, I'm not sure it was DUI because he was actually parked when he got arrested, but whatever.
9:35At the same time, Alec Pierce came off the PUP list, returned to practice.
9:40First on Keenan Allen. So, the NFL will suspend players three games for a DUI.
9:44However, in these cases, the NFL almost always lets the case play out.
9:49In other words, Keenan Allen has not pled guilty to anything.
9:52He has a court date in a couple months that I'm sure his lawyers can get pushed back.
9:58So, it seems like the consensus out there right now is that this issue will not affect Keenan Allen for this year.
10:05He can plead to whatever he wants in the offseason and then maybe retire.
10:09We did put a one-game doc on Keenan Allen in the ETR ranks just for some risk while we kind of sort through this.
10:17But I kind of think he's going to be fine.
10:20Kevin Silva, any moves for you on the Keenan Allen DUI situation?
10:24No moves. Not anticipating any moves from the team.
10:27Not anticipating any suspension this year. Okay. At the same time, I mentioned the Alec Pierce thing.
10:32So, it was good to see Alec Pierce actually come off PUP and get back into practice.
10:38At least proof of life that he's out there running routes even if he's not in team drills yet.
10:44He was asked if he'll be ready for week one.
10:47He said that's the goal. Hopefully. You know, we're considering him 50-50 right now for week one.
10:52I really don't know. Now that we've seen Alec Pierce, Evan, any moves for you on that one?
10:58No moves there either. I think signs are pointing toward Alec Pierce and Josh Downs opening the season in two receiver sets.
11:05Josh Downs being given every opportunity to earn that role and to keep it.
11:10And then Keenan Allen coming in as a possession receiver in three receiver sets, at least to open the season.
11:16Yeah. One more note. And by the way, we're at 100 overall on Alec Pierce now in the ranks.
11:22Somewhat close to Josh Downs. I think our gap in the ETR ranks is a bit tighter.
11:27They're downs 92. Pierce 100 versus Silva's gap between those two guys.
11:31Last note on the Colts, there was some speculation that Seth McGowan and DJ Giddens were competing for one spot.
11:38Turns out both of them made the team. And I could see that making sense if something were to happen to Jonathan Taylor.
11:45And by the way, I think Jonathan Taylor is going to be like a pure three down back, play a ton of snaps.
11:52But in the event Jonathan Taylor got hurt, I think we'd see both these guys play.
11:57McGowan more of a base back. Giddens more of a passing back.
12:01But yeah, any final thoughts on Colts' backfield as we head to this season here, Silva?
12:06That's exactly how I would analyze it. Okay. Let's get to some good news.
12:11I'm tired of this legal nonsense bad news stuff.
12:14Good news. Luther Burden, according to Ben Johnson, looks 100% as he is back from his groin injury.
12:19Now Burden appears to be practicing in full. Ben Johnson made that comment.
12:23It was a full two weeks before the Bears open at Carolina in week one.
12:28So this is exciting, I would say. That one injury that I thought may have really been bad turns out it was
12:35the two to three week groin injury. He's totally fine.
12:38Evan, any final thoughts on Bears wide receiver here as we head to this season?
12:43Just super, super high on Luther Burden. He's up to 33rd overall for me.
12:48So if you're using the top 150, like you're probably going to get Luther Burden.
12:52Oh my God. 33rd overall. I didn't even realize Silva got that high.
12:57Yes. You will not have to take Luther Burden at 33rd overall in order to get him.
13:02But don't wait too long. Don't wait too long.
13:05Don't wait. Don't wait too long. Yes, indeed. All right.
13:08Let's go to story four. Falcons declined to name Tua Tugavailoa their starter after the preseason.
13:13Rapsheet said it's Tua's play that has made it quote unquote impossible for them to name Tua the starter.
13:19And then today, Monday, Schefter said that the Falcons still haven't made a decision on their week one quarterback.
13:25I mean, they have a game in like, I don't know, 13 days or something like that.
13:31And they still haven't named their week one quarterback.
13:34I'm not sure I've ever seen this before, Evan.
13:36But I guess it's possible that Tua was so bad.
13:40He lost a one man competition. This wasn't even a competition.
13:43Pennix didn't even play. It was a one man competition.
13:46And Tua still may have lost it. I don't know.
13:50What do you think about what the Falcons will and should do at quarterback year?
13:54Yeah, I mean, I guess assuming that Tua starts week one, it's just going to be a matter of time.
14:01I mean, it's just going to come down to health.
14:04How healthy is Michael Pennix? Because at the point at which the Falcons team doctors deem Michael Pennix healthy enough to start
14:11an NFL game, he's going to be under center.
14:14I mean, I think that that much has been clear.
14:17Also, Jack Strand is on the 53 for now.
14:20The Falcons actually are carrying four quarterbacks. Cooper Rush, Jack Strand behind Pennix and Tua for now.
14:25One thing I was thinking about, maybe we didn't hit it on enough.
14:29I believe we hit on it during the coaching change show, which I think everybody should go back and watch.
14:36But Kevin Stefanski, the way he uses tight ends kind of fits with the way Tua wants to play.
14:42In other words, Tua, the best thing he is good at is getting the ball out quickly and accurately.
14:48You know, just like quick dump offs that are accurate and let guys run after the catch.
14:53Stefanski did that with tight ends in Cleveland. I mean, David Njoku averaged 5.4 catches per game under Stefanski 2023 and 2024.
15:00Last year, he held Fannin four and a half catches per game.
15:04And I tweeted a clip from the preseason game that they had.
15:08It was just Tua immediately get the ball out in the flat to Kyle Pitts.
15:13And he ran for like 30 yards. I could see that working for Kyle Pitts if Tua is in there, just like a PPR scam type of setup.
15:22So yeah, I just wanted to harp on it.
15:24I just want to note that Stefanski tight end thing because we haven't talked about it enough probably.
15:30I know Silva's on Kyle Pitts. What about Pitts versus Fannin straight up, Silva?
15:35How do you have that? I have Pitts for sure.
15:38Oh, yeah. Yeah, Silva is at 74 overall Pitts, 79 overall Fannin, but also has Pitts ahead of Kraft and Laporta there in the ranks.
15:46We'll talk more about Laporta here in a minute.
15:49Yeah, and I, you know, theoretically, you could build a case that Tua is better for Pitts for sure.
15:55It's just like a guy that, as you mentioned, like Kyle Pitts is the first read.
16:00Tua gets it out of his hands. That's something that we've seen.
16:04Those are throws that we've seen Tua make, throws that Tua can make.
16:08I don't think that Kyle Pitts is dead if it's Michael Penix.
16:12Michael Penix can throw the ball downfield more and Kyle Pitts can run downfield routes as well.
16:17Yep, agreed. Okay, story five, Kirk Cousins officially named the Las Vegas Raiders starter for week one.
16:22Not a surprise. I mean, Raiders have been saying Cousins would be the week one starter since before the NFL draft.
16:29I don't think this really changes anything. Still think Mendoza is a really good bet to start a lot of games.
16:36There are just so many paths. Like, Kirk Cousins is shown to be injury prone.
16:41He's 38 years old. Maybe he just sucks. I mean, he was 29th in yards per attempt last year and they just bench him.
16:48Also, the Raiders could lose a lot. In weeks four through seven, they have to play Kansas City, New England, Buffalo, and the Rams in four straight weeks.
16:57Like, you lose those four games in a row, which I would say is likely.
17:02Then how do you not go to Mendoza? Now, I don't know if you saw, Evan, but Mendoza has been shaky in the preseason.
17:10I know you're really high on him as a player.
17:13Are you thrown at all by how shaky Mendoza has been this preseason?
17:17Not for his long-term outlook. But, yeah, like, just standing in the pocket and not getting the ball out, that is an issue for his, like, near-term readiness.
17:26I think that he's way too smart a kid and too hard of a worker to not be able to get over that hump.
17:34But, yeah, just holding the ball in the pocket, you're going to end up taking a bunch of sacks, getting hit a bunch.
17:41And that is a sign that, yeah, we're going with Kirk Cousins.
17:45They're paying Kirk Cousins like $25 million anyways. I mean, they're going to get some starts out of him.
17:51And then, as you mentioned, when the losses start racking up, that's when I think that we will see Fernando Mendoza.
17:57Yeah, I mean, I've been taking a lot of Mendoza late just because I'm so confident he's going to be starting late.
18:04But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit put off by 55% completion rate in the preseason, 59.5%
18:11past the rating because he took four sacks, got picked off twice.
18:15Like, it was not a good performance in the preseason for Mendoza.
18:19I mean, you're going to probably end up taking six or seven zeros from Fernando Mendoza.
18:24But you're prepared for that. I'm prepared for that.
18:27I'm not prepared for him to be like, come back and be Cam Ward level, you know, 2025 Cam Ward when he gets back.
18:35I was hoping that I would get more out of him upon his return.
18:39And maybe we will. You know, it's only the preseason.
18:42But yeah, I thought it was just a little shaky.
18:46Speaking of the Raiders, so Ashton Gentry off the ankle sprain has not been ruled out for week one.
18:52I think he's something around 50-50 to play, maybe a little bit better than that.
18:56I just want to note this because Clint Kubiak has changed his tune a little bit on workload since the Gentry ankle plus Mike Washington playing so well.
19:05I want to read two quotes to you, Silva.
19:08The first quote is from a couple months ago.
19:11This was Clint Kubiak. He said, we want to put a lot of pressure on Ashton.
19:16I don't know the play snap percentage, but you look at Christian McCaffrey, his play snap percentage is high.
19:22So those great backs, they don't want to come off the field.
19:26And that's when everybody's like, oh my God, Gentry is going to be Kubiak's, you know, play 90% of the snaps as his CMC role.
19:34Then a couple days ago, in the midst of the Mike Washington mania and Ashton Gentry ankle, Kubiak said, I think that
19:41they're both going to prepare to play a lot of football.
19:45As these games unfold, you react to the game.
19:47I think we've got two guys we're really excited about.
19:51So I don't want to go nuts about this coach speak stuff.
19:54You know, I don't think it matters too much, but are you worried at all, Evan, that Mike Washington has done enough
20:01to eat into Ashton Gentry's workload this year? I do.
20:05I do. You know, Clint Kubiak wasn't there when they used the number six overall pick on Ashton Gentry.
20:11So I think that although that matters for the way that we are going to project out Ashton Gentry, the fact that
20:18he was the number six pick in the draft, it doesn't matter probably as much to Clint Kubiak.
20:23And then, you know, Clint Kubiak was there when they drafted Mike Washington.
20:28And Mike Washington, it sounds like, has done everything right.
20:31He's 233 pounds or 223 pounds. And he ran a 4-3-3 with a 39-inch vertical and a 10-8 broad jump.
20:37I mean, he is explosive. And the way that he looks, he has looked in the preseason in terms of being a
20:44schematic fit for what the Raiders want to do with their run blocking and getting back Colton Miller and, you know, signing Tyler Linderbaum.
20:52Like, I think that they, the Raiders probably want to make the foundation of their offense their running game.
20:58So, yes, I do think that they will use both backs.
21:01I would project, assuming that Ashton Gentry plays, maybe like a 55-45 split in week one as Ashton Gentry continues to ramp up.
21:09They get the Dolphins in week one, by the way.
21:12People should be drafting the Raiders defense to use in week one.
21:16But this is a game where, you know, and it's at home.
21:19I mean, that place is going to be roaring.
21:22That's a game that the Raiders could, like, win and put up some points.
21:27So, we're already talking about week one start-sit dilemmas.
21:30Yeah. Well, they should win. I mean, the Dolphins have maybe the worst roster I've ever seen.
21:35I mean, it is so bad for the Dolphins.
21:38Yeah, and Silva's down to 34 overall on Gentry.
21:41He's been going, you know, 25, 24. I've seen some 20th overall lately on Gentry.
21:46Silva has Gentry behind Travis Etienne, behind Bruce Hall, behind Javante Williams there at the running back position.
21:51Story seven, Jeremiah Love. Update on his ankle injury.
21:54No great update on Jeremiah Love. Still think he has a chance to play week one.
21:59We had the video of him carrying the pizza onto the plane.
22:03He looked good. There was later a video of him working out over the weekend before the Cardinals preseason finale.
22:10Definitely did not look anywhere near 100% to me in that video.
22:13But still, we're two weeks away from week one.
22:16Definitely live. I would note, Evan, that the Cardinals only kept three running backs on their 53-man roster as of now.
22:23Jeremiah Love, Tyler Algier, and Bam Knight. James Conner was placed on IR return.
22:27Still is not ready off of the ankle injury.
22:30So I know a lot of people thought, oh, James Conner is going to Dallas.
22:35James Conner is going to Green Bay. James Conner is old and coming off a very, very, very serious injury that he
22:42is not ready to return from yet. But anyway, Silva, thoughts on Cardinals backfield as we head to the season here again.
22:49Love, Algier, and Bam Knight are the three that made it.
22:53No updated thoughts on Jeremiah Love, really. We're just kind of waiting for him to get over the hump in regard to his high ankle sprain.
23:01And I'm with you. I thought he didn't quite look 100% running on the sideline.
23:06I'm no doctor, though. So what I think there does not matter.
23:09I do think that, well, the Cardinals play the Chargers in week one.
23:14And I don't know. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself too much here.
23:18But, I mean, Tyler Algier, if it's no Jeremiah Love, Tyler Algier is a guy that he's going to be at very
23:25least a decent bet to score a touchdown. Because we know that any time that they get in, like he's built to
23:32punch the ball into the end zone. And I think he can handle a big workload.
23:37Now that, you know, from like a, I mean, the Chargers are probably favored by like eight points or something like that.
23:44But, so, you know, from that standpoint, it could be a little dicey.
23:48But I think if no Jeremiah Love, Tyler Algier is at least in play as like a flex starter.
23:54We have the entire, we have access to the entire league in week one.
23:59There's no teams on by. Everyone is, you know, about as healthy as they're going to be all season.
24:05So, but I mean, you could draft Tyler Algier.
24:07And, I mean, he's in play as a flex starter week one.
24:11Yeah, so he was at 35 overall on Jeremiah Love here.
24:15I think he's going to go around there a little bit earlier for people that haven't drafted yet.
24:21You know, I think he's going to get over this injury and be okay.
24:25I wouldn't dock him too, too much. Him or Gentry too, too much.
24:29Like, I don't want to be week one brained.
24:32Like, the season is so long. We're not trying to win week one in season long.
24:37We're trying to win week 14, 15, 16. So, I still think Gentry and Love in the 30s there, if they get that far, are good.
24:45I'm just not sure that they're going to get that far.
24:49The other part of these guys being hurt that has changed drafting dynamic is it has pushed Brees Hall, Kyron Williams, Javante
24:56Williams up a lot in drafts to the point where people are taking them now early round three, late round two type
25:03stuff because they don't have, they don't want to take Gentry and Love.
25:07So, yeah, you know, draft stuff is certainly changing a lot here.
25:11Be aware of that as you get into the mix.
25:14Story eight. I thought it was an interesting quote from Lamar.
25:18You know, reporters asked Lamar Jackson about not running as much last year.
25:22Why didn't you run as much last year? And he just said, I was hurt.
25:26They were asked, will you run more this year?
25:29He said, I'll do whatever it takes to win.
25:32And that's kind of like the answer that I wanted to hear because this was my thesis the whole time.
25:39He was so banged up last year. Hamstring, back, knee, ankle, toe.
25:42He only averaged 5.1 rush attempts per game. He had never been under 8.2 rush attempts per game.
25:48His peak was around 11 rush attempts per game.
25:51If he can get back to that like eight, eight and a half rush attempts per game, it's pretty strong.
25:57So do you buy this, Evan, that Lamar is going to run at his previous levels now?
26:03He is inching towards age 30. He might actually be 30 already.
26:07Oh yeah, I'm buying it. I'm buying that Lamar Jackson is going to be like, he's a player that will operate with a chip on his shoulder.
26:15You know, and after having the worst season of his career and having stuff come out in the Baltimore media about him, negative stuff.
26:23I don't know if you remember that. Mike Preston wrote an article, yeah, he's going to have a chip on his shoulder.
26:30And also Declan Doyle, this is a really exciting story.
26:33I think, you know, from the Ben Johnson and the Sean Payton.
26:37I mean, if Lamar Jackson bounces back, all Declan Doyle needs is for Lamar Jackson to bounce back to his previous level
26:44of play to become the youngest head coach in NFL history.
26:47I mean, Declan Doyle will be 31 next offseason and he will be an NFL head coach if Lamar Jackson has a big year.
26:55And I think that signs are pointing toward that.
26:58I mean, it's crazy. Lamar is 29. Declan Doyle is 30.
27:01They're like the same age. Yeah. You know, I know I've been maybe too hard on the Harbaugh guys, but I think it's a huge upgrade.
27:10The more I've thought about it, it's just a huge upgrade for the Ravens to get rid of Harbaugh and Roman and
27:17these guys, you know, just Declan Doyle is going to do more creative things with Lamar.
27:22And if he's healthy and running, yeah, so is at 51 overall on Lamar here.
27:27I think that's roughly right. In 10 team leagues, I would take Lamar even higher than that, where everybody's going to have
27:34really good running back and wide receiver, but there's not that many quarterbacks and tight ends where you can really separate.
27:40So yeah, story nine, Sam Laporta off the hip injury is back.
27:44Good for week one. I want to mention this because I was a little worried about Sam Laporta because it was a
27:51hip issue, which can be related to your back.
27:54And of course, Laporta herniated a disc last November, had surgery on his back.
27:58Seems like the hip issue that he had this camp was just a bruise.
28:03So I am playing it as if Laporta is ready to go.
28:07Silva again does have Laporta behind Kyle Pitts in his rank.
28:10Silva, any final thoughts here on Mr. Laporta heading to the season?
28:14Yeah, I have and I like this tier of tight ends.
28:18I have Kyle Pitts, Tucker Craft, Sam Laporta and Harold Fain and all jammed together in the same tier.
28:24It's just, you know, whatever flavor of ice cream you like the best.
28:28I like all those guys to an extent, to different extents.
28:31I mean, the case for Laporta is tight end scoring often comes through touchdowns, right?
28:36They're not going to get huge yardage numbers, typically not going to get huge catch.
28:41Numbers, you need touchdowns. That's good for Sam Laporta because the Lions have the softest schedule in the NFL.
28:47They're implied for 26.2 points per game. Only the Rams and Bills are implied for more points.
28:52So if Laporta is 100% off the back and the hip, I really like him.
28:57And the other thing you get with Laporta is anytime one of the other guys goes out, Gibbs, Amon Ra, Jameson Williams.
29:04You know, Laporta is going to have a huge spike in our projection.
29:08I mean, huge spike. My confidence level in the Lions having the best offense in the NFL this year has only grown as training camp has progressed.
29:17And Sam Laporta is a really big part of that.
29:20You know, in previous years, people had kind of thrown around Jared Goff as an MVP bad, you know, like 20, 30 to one.
29:28Why not Jared Goff? And I was always like, no, I think this could maybe be the year that Jared Goff.
29:34And we have the story out that, you know, that Jared Goff is going to be essentially implementing and running the offense even more so than Drew Petsing.
29:43I mean, this is Jared Goff's year. Yeah, there was some 40.
29:47We're just living in it. There was some 40 to one out there on Jared Goff, which, you know, if he throws
29:54for 5,000 yards and 45 touchdowns, that's enough to do it.
29:58And I do think he can do that. Like, that is in the bag for sure.
30:03Yeah. Okay. A couple injury guys I want to talk about because these are guys that we are unclear on.
30:09I mentioned Pierce as one we are unclear on.
30:12As of now, we're recording this Monday afternoon. The other two spots we're unclear on are Keaton Mitchell and Emeka Egbuka.
30:19I'll go to Keaton Mitchell first. This is an undisclosed injury.
30:22Mike McDaniel mentioned last week that Keaton Mitchell had a quote-unquote little setback.
30:26Somehow, no one asked him or he didn't say a setback from what.
30:30I don't think the public knows what the injury is.
30:34I suspect it is a soft tissue injury, lower body, not too serious.
30:38Maybe they don't know if he can go week one.
30:41Obviously, they think that Keaton Mitchell can play before week four as he did not go on IR return.
30:47But it's not great, Evan. I mean, Keaton Mitchell has only played 26 games our last three seasons due to injuries.
30:54The knock on him has been he's like this small guy who's always banged up and now he's banged up going to the season.
31:01So has this changed you, your outlook at all on Keaton Mitchell here, Evan?
31:06Because it's so vague, and this is the same case with Emeka Egbuka too.
31:10Like we don't have anything definitive on either of these guys.
31:14I just, I haven't messed with them in the ranks at all.
31:18Yeah. Also, the Keaton Mitchell thing, I feel like it surfaced not long ago at all.
31:23And he did not, although there was some speculation he might start the season on the IR, he did not.
31:29So I have not had any impetus to move Keaton Mitchell in my rankings.
31:34And the Egbuka thing is like frustrating. Yeah. I don't know.
31:37What are your thoughts on the Egbuka thing? Yeah.
31:40Well, let me just say real quick before we get to Egbuka on Keaton Mitchell.
31:45I think it's going to be kind of tough to pinpoint when to start Keaton Mitchell in like redraft leagues.
31:51Obviously in deep leagues where you're like, oh yeah, seven touches, eight touches from Keaton Mitchell.
31:56That's good enough for me. If you're in like a 10 team league or like a softer 12 team league, I could
32:03see how it could be harder to be like, how many is he going to get?
32:08He's just a bench player in those. Right. Exactly.
32:11And so like, I want to get a look at Keaton Mitchell's role on my bench.
32:16So I guess my point is I wasn't trying to get Keaton Mitchell into my starting lineup right away anyways.
32:23So this injury doesn't bother me as much anyways, because he wasn't going to be in my starting lineup early season regardless.
32:30So I still want to get a look at Keaton Mitchell on my bench.
32:34On, on a booka. So the quote from Todd Bowles was Bowles expects Jalen McMillan and hopefully a Mecca booka to be ready for week one.
32:42I mean, we've seen turf toe and it hasn't been the word turf toe.
32:47I have not seen used just toe injury. I assume it's something turf toe related though.
32:52We've seen that hinder guys for really, really long periods.
32:55So it's scary. We have docked a booka down in the ETR ranks, which pains me because I thought he was a
33:02really good pick in like late round three, early round four.
33:06We've gone to 45 overall on egg booka. Um, in the ranks, we were closer to like 36, 37.
33:12There's just so many wide receivers there that I like that if it's close and this dude has a toe injury, it's kind of easy to pass.
33:20So I don't know, man, like it's definitely not good heading to the season with a toe injury, but Todd Bowles is the worst on injuries.
33:29I don't know. Evan, what do you think? I don't even know what to think.
33:33We don't, we don't have any information, man. You know?
33:37Well, and then my point is that like, when you get to this part of the draft, you can take Devonta Smith,
33:44Zay Flowers, Jalen Waddle, Lad McConkie, Garrett Wilson, T Higgins.
33:47I think those are all really good picks. Really, you know, really close to egg booka.
33:52And if he's going to have this toe thing that we don't know about, it pains me, but maybe we should just
33:59say, Hey, belongs behind all those guys. Yeah, exactly.
34:02And that's kind of what we've done. The sheer uncertainty of the situation.
34:06Right. And that's the way we were handling in the ranks.
34:09So yeah. God, I love the situation so much, you know, aside from the injury, I think that Emeka egg booka could
34:16be like what happened with JSN in JSN second year when he went, went off for a hundred catches and was a massive, massive steal.
34:24And then was still a steal again last off season.
34:28I mean, I think that egg booka can be that kind of player, but you're right.
34:33The health uncertainty sucks. Right. And everything is like, I don't trust Chris Godwin to stay healthy for the entire season.
34:39You know, and that would be a good thing for egg booka also.
34:44So yeah. McMillan has been heard. Yeah. Ted Hurst is a third round small school rookie.
34:49Kate Otten has never commanded targets. I mean, you can really build it.
34:53I think Baker can have a big season. You know, who would that, who would that funnel through that would funnel through a Mecca egg booka for sure.
35:02And like the, I hate these injuries. Like you remember the Matthew Stafford thing last year.
35:07If anybody doesn't remember, people were so scared on Matthew Stafford.
35:10He was in like a hyperbolic chamber, getting his back worked on.
35:14They were like, he might never play football again.
35:17Then he comes out and wins MVP. We've also had cases where guys come into the year with an injury and they're
35:24just messed up for the whole year. You know, guys, um, Duncan Cade is an example, you know, like, oh, he has this knee thing.
35:32He's going to be okay. No, he's not okay.
35:35You know? And like, so it can go either way.
35:38I want to gamble on, on a book. It just, it'd be tough for me if I was in like one league,
35:45that was most important thing to me. And all these guys were on the board ahead of him.
35:51So that's why we've kind of moved egg booka back.
35:54But God, I agree with Evan, you know, if healthy, and he certainly could be still a transfer massive, massive season for egg booka.
36:02Speaking of the bucks, uh, story 12, Sean Tucker took a $1 million pay cut to stay with the bucks.
36:08So Sean Tucker was set to make 3.5 million.
36:11Now he'll make 2.5 million instead. He stays on the active roster bucks wave Josh Williams, but they did resign Josh Williams to the practice squad today.
36:19I don't think Sean Tucker is really draftable in most formats, Evan, but has this changed your thoughts on Bucky Irving or Kenny gain well at all?
36:28Um, no, I think it was the right decision by the Buccaneers.
36:32They could probably stop stash Josh Williams on their practice squad.
36:35He's back already. Yep. Oh, he is already back.
36:38Okay. Yeah. So no, I mean, I, I, this is just the depth chart that we anticipated happening for the, you know, the duration of the off season.
36:47Now the question is going to be, will the bucks go back to using Sean Tucker inside the five yard line?
36:54We're not going to even find that out until the games are played.
36:58You know, the bucks do have a new OC and Zach Robinson too.
37:02Exactly. You know, and Bucky Irving is healthy, healthier, you know, than he was last year, which maybe they were holding him
37:09out of the short yardage situation and goal line situations because he wasn't as healthy then.
37:14Like we're not going to figure it. We're not going to know that.
37:18It's just, we're guessing until the games start getting played.
37:22Um, yeah, there's two reasons why Bucky might get the goal line job back.
37:26Number one, what Silva said, new OC. And number two, the shoulder thing, he said like the short yardage stuff was mentally,
37:33it scares me a little that like the shoulder thing was so bad.
37:37He couldn't or didn't want to do goal line short yardage stuff last season.
37:42They use Sean Tucker there exclusively. If he actually feels a hundred percent on that shoulder, I could see Bucky getting some goal line stuff back.
37:50And we do have a little bit of a bump on, on Bucky here lately.
37:55We're up to 44 overall on Bucky Irving in the ETR ranks.
37:59Did you see, um, Baker Mayfield talking up Gainwell though?
38:02He talks about everyone. I mean, he's just like a good dude, you know?
38:06Yeah. Okay. But yeah, I think Gainwell is going to play a lot.
38:10I mean, yeah, I don't, I don't for sure.
38:13Okay. Yeah. So do I. All the passing situations for sure.
38:17Um, let's go to story 13. Jaden blue got waved by the Cowboys on Sunday and then not claimed by anyone on Monday.
38:24Subsequently, Cowboys turn around and claim Amari Demercato on waivers.
38:27Demercato was cut by the chiefs. We'll get to that here in a second, but pretty much the worst possible run out
38:34for Jaden blue who had some momentum early in the off season, early in camp and something happened.
38:40I don't know. So there was like something turned on a dime and they went back to hating Jaden blue.
38:46And now they cut him and replace him with Amari Demercato.
38:50So Evan thoughts on what happened here in Cowboys backfield.
38:53They wanted the Cowboys wanted Jaden blue to, to be a thing this year.
38:58I mean, they hyped him up. They try to build up his confidence through the media and everything.
39:03He's a really explosive player. He's obviously like immature or something.
39:07Um, you know, going back to wearing the Louis Vuitton cleats and getting blisters all over his feet.
39:12And then they hype him up to start training camp.
39:16And then it was clear, I would say about maybe like a week and a half or a week or like two
39:23weeks ago that all of a sudden he just fallen out of favor.
39:27Like he did something to piss him off. Winds up getting cut.
39:31Doesn't even get claimed off waivers. I don't know.
39:34He'll probably end up on a practice squad or something like that.
39:37But the Cowboys are going forward with Malik Davis and Amari Demercato.
39:41Phil Mafa also did not make it. Do you think that the Demercato signing, Demercato was a pass pro specialist, kind of a passing down specialist.
39:49Do you think this hurts Javante Williams passing down stuff at all?
39:53No. Javante Williams is going to cook this year.
39:56Yeah. I mean, this like, this situation where they couldn't settle on a backup, they wound up really going with the least
40:03talented option in Malik Davis and then just claiming a guy off waivers in Amari Demercato.
40:08Like Javante Williams is going to be on the field a ton.
40:12The Cowboys love him. They trust him in all situations.
40:15Remember, re-signing him was the second transaction that the Cowboys made this offseason.
40:19That was a huge priority. They went out, didn't draft anybody at running back, didn't sign a single free agent running back,
40:26brought back all these guys, and none of these guys really stood out.
40:31That's all good news for Javante Williams. And what really is a bulletproof offense from the offensive line to Dak Prescott being
40:38a field general to all the points that they're going to score?
40:41Yeah. I mean, and I've seen the Cowboys getting hyped as like maybe like a surprise, you know, maybe like Super Bowl caliber team.
40:49Their defense should definitely be better this year. You know, I know it's the Cowboys and blah, blah, blah.
40:55But like they have a really good roster on paper.
40:58Agreed. And we did put a give a boost to Javante Williams in the ETR ranks.
41:03We're now up to 25 overall in the ETR ranks on Javante Williams.
41:08And basically on what Silva said, we were thinking that one of these guys, whether it's Malik Davis or Jaden Blue or
41:15Phil Moffa, like one of these guys was going to cut into Javante.
41:19Given all of the chaos and like them really not liking Jaden Blue or Phil Moffa or anything like that, it's a
41:26nice vote of confidence for Javante Williams. I do think Malik Davis is worth noting as the clean handcuff here.
41:32In other words, if Javante went down, we would see Malik Davis in that role and Demercato staying in the pass down role there most likely.
41:40Let's go to the other side of this. Demercato, story 14, Amari Demercato cut by the Kansas City Chiefs.
41:46This was a small one, but I thought really notable because I was surprised Demercato got cut by the Chiefs.
41:53You have Patrick Mahomes, you want to protect him.
41:56I would have thought Demercato is your best pass pro back.
41:59You keep him no matter what. I just think Emma Johnson went out and earned it.
42:04And so we've moved up Emma Johnson a decent amount here, moving up in the one injury away article, which anyone who's
42:11trying to like optimize their handcuff stuff, highly recommend that you check out the one injury away article.
42:17But Chiefs only kept three running backs on the roster, Evan.
42:21Kenneth Walker, who's going to be the full workhorse and hopefully go completely berserk.
42:25And then Emma Johnson and then Brashard Smith. So Evan, thoughts on the way the Chiefs played their backfield here going into the season?
42:33Love it for Emma Johnson. And Emma Johnson earned it, man.
42:36I know Jared Smola of DraftSharks had some really good metrics from Emma Johnson just in the preseason.
42:42He's really, really impressive. He caught a bunch of passes in college too.
42:46He nailed down this number two running back job behind Kenneth Walker, who, although we love Kenneth Walker in the NFL, Kenneth
42:53Walker has never handled, you know, a massive, massive workload all to himself.
42:57He's going to be given that opportunity this year.
43:00But Emma Johnson, one of the best RB bench stashes.
43:03He's like up near at the top of the list of RB bench stashes.
43:08He should be owned in every single league and toward the end of drafts is a priority to stash on the end of your bench.
43:16Yep. Agreed. And again, if you want to see those stashes, check out the one injury away list there.
43:22And I think in redraft, you can actually take those kind of handcuff backs higher than you would in best ball.
43:28Obviously, the zeros are on your bench in redraft.
43:31And in best ball, those are counting zeros there for you as part of your roster.
43:36Story 15. Positive injury news, Evan. Chris Bell. Good to see it, man.
43:40I was impressed he was able to make it back from the ACL tear in November at Louisville, play in the preseason.
43:47Now he says he's going to play week one.
43:50Not only did Chris Bell play in the preseason, he played 14 snaps in that game.
43:55He got five targets on those 14 snaps. Caught two balls for 22 yards.
44:00Silva, any thoughts on Chris Bell's NFL debut? I don't have any really big thoughts on Chris Bell, you know, playing.
44:07In this offensive environment, it's going to be really, really tough.
44:10But yeah, I mean, for the best ballers who are drafting, you know, in rounds 18, 19, 20, this is a guy
44:17that, you know, should absolutely be on their radar.
44:20Really probably round 17, 18 at this point because the trajectory on his recovery, just screaming upward.
44:25Yeah. It's just, you know, I don't know. It's the Dolphins.
44:29He's still, you know, a third round pick coming off a massive injury with no NFL track record.
44:35He's intriguing. You know, he's worth bringing up. He would have been around one pick in the NFL draft if not for this injury.
44:42Like, for sure. And it would not shock me if Chris Bell is the clear leader of this team in projected target
44:49share on a week-to-week basis come November, December. So what is that worth?
44:53Probably not that much. But yeah, I do think it's worth putting out there.
44:58All right. Before we get out of here, three more small notes from roster cut day.
45:03First one, Evan Giants keep four running backs on their active roster.
45:07So there were rumors that Tyrone Tracy could be cut or traded.
45:11That did not happen. They go with Cam Scadaboo, Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy, and Devin Singletary all making the team.
45:17This is the boomer stuff, man. This is the Jim, the Harbaugh boomer stuff that worries me when I take, and I
45:24like Jackson Dart a lot, you know, but it worries me that he's just going to boom it up.
45:30So have any thoughts on the Giants keeping all four running backs?
45:34It didn't really change anything for me. I think it does make sense in light of the factors that you pointed to, Al.
45:41You know, this regime did not draft Jackson Dart.
45:44You know, this coaching staff did not pick him.
45:47Um, and I think that they probably, the Giants probably want to try to run the ball, um, to establish some sort of a foundation on offense.
45:56Because Jackson Dart can be a very, while very exciting and very productive in fantasy, can be a herky-jerky dude who, you
46:03know, I don't know that there's going to be a steady rhythm to the Giants passing game.
46:08They'll try to find some offensive rhythm from their running game and use, they might end up using all these running backs.
46:15I mean, all these guys are playable, at least.
46:18I don't think that there's a star among the group.
46:21Some people might think that Cam Skadaboo's a star.
46:24I don't know that the Giants view him that way.
46:27And again, I think that he's very interchangeable from a skill set standpoint with Najee Harris, who's been getting first team reps.
46:34I think that three backs will see touches in week one.
46:38Three Giants backs will get touches in week one.
46:41Yeah, and I've gotten much lower Skadaboo. You know, Silva's convinced me over the last few weeks I have not really taken Skadaboo at all.
46:49We're down, sorry, Silva is down to 64 overall in his ranks on Cam Skadaboo.
46:53He's going in the 40s in most redraft setups is Skadaboo.
46:57You know, and his ADP hasn't really moved since the Najee Harris signing.
47:01And I'm not sure that's right. Like, I think it should have moved off of the Najee Harris signing.
47:07And it really hasn't. Oh, also, small note on the Giants.
47:10Ronan reporting that Malachi Fields is a likely wide receiver, too.
47:14I would also note that Odell Beckham did make the team, which, you know, good for him.
47:19But yeah, I think they have a rotation at wide receiver, too.
47:23Like Slayton, Odell, Fields. I'm not trying to get too excited about Fields here.
47:28When Ronan has talked about it, like Odell Beckham is still, he can still get open.
47:33Yeah. So I think that he'll have a little bit of a role, maybe like a situational deep threat.
47:39Story 17, Christian Kirk lands on IR return for the 49ers.
47:42Just continues to stack up really well for Dijon, Stribbling, Ricky Pearsall out for the season.
47:47Now Kirk on IR return. I know some people have been worried, like, Demarcus Robinson's going to play a lot.
47:54I just think it's going to be a lot of Mike Evans and Stribbling and then Debo in the gadget role.
48:01So it's run out so well for Stribbling. The problem is he goes so high.
48:05It's like really hard to even get Stribbling. Even in redraft setups, I've seen him go round six, round seven.
48:12Silva's at 85 overall. You're probably going to have to take him around there or maybe even higher to get him.
48:18So at this point, it's not a question to me if Stribbling is, like, going to play well.
48:24I think he will. He'll be productive. It's just a question of how high you're willing to go to get him.
48:31Silva, any final thoughts on 49ers wide receiver room as we head to the season?
48:36I'll just kind of reiterate that with Mike Evans now consistently being available in, like, the six rounds of drafts, I mean, I think that that's crazy.
48:44And I think that I would love – I actually did get him in, like, a home league 14-teamer in the sixth round on Saturday.
48:52And I think that people will be able to do that.
48:56I think that that's an auto-click in the sixth round.
48:59You see Mike Evans there, just take him, please.
49:02Agreed. And I've seen him go even later than that.
49:05I mean, in the ESPN default ranks, and you guys – I updated that article because they updated their defaults.
49:11So, anyone drafting on ESPN, like, Mike Evans is totally buried.
49:15And, yeah, people are taking Mike Evans in, like, round seven and stripling in round eight.
49:20Like, it's just that's way too tight. And I love stripling.
49:23I'm like a stripling guy. You know, I think he's going to have an awesome year.
49:28It's just getting very, very expensive. All right, last one here.
49:32Tank Dell lands on IR return. This was a great story.
49:35You know, things looked good in OTAs and mini camps, but Tank Dell just could not sustain practices.
49:41If Tank Dell ends up playing this season, I think the Texans should see it as a bonus of sorts.
49:48So, Nico Collins, Kishon Booty, Xavier Hutchinson, and Jalen Knoll will be the top four wide receivers for the Texans.
49:54Sylvan, any thoughts on this room here at the Texans?
49:57No, but I did see in the YouTube comments the other day – I can't remember which show it was below –
50:04somebody was, like, criticizing our analysis, which is fine.
50:07But then they went on to say that Xavier Hutchinson is going to be the Texans' deep threat this year.
50:13And I was just like, I mean, if you're going to criticize our analysis, at least come correct with yours.
50:20Because Xavier Hutchinson is about as far from a deep threat as you could possibly come up with.
50:26So, get it together, YouTube commenters. And, you know, I have – I'm like a Jalen Knoll guy.
50:31I think Jalen Knoll is actually good. I'm still worried that they're going to play Xavier Hutchinson ahead of him because they just want him to block.
50:40Just get out there, do some dirty work, be reliable, and block in the run game.
50:45And then play really good defense with their defense and try to win games that way.
50:50So, we'll see how it plays out. I think most likely, Booty – Booty eventually once gets up to speed, and Nico
50:57Collins will be the guys that you want to click there, if at all.
51:02But hopefully, Knoll can have, like, a real slot role.
51:05But we'll see. We'll see. All right. Yeah, Booty is going to be the Texans' deep threat, not Xavier Hutchinson.
51:11Yes. All right. That is going to do it for what may be the final news and rankings show of this NFL lead-up.
51:18Hope you guys got value out of this. If you did, there's plenty more in our draft kit.
51:24Be sure you check that out. Establishtherun.com. Wanted to note, if you have draft kit and you want to upgrade to bundle,
51:31shoot a note to support at Establishtherun.com, and we will take care of you there at the bundle price.
51:37So, again, if you have draft kit and you want to get bundle, i.e.
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51:46Coming up later this week on YouTube, Silva and my worst picks.
51:49I know a lot of people liked our favorite pick in each round.
51:53We're going to do a show about our least favorite pick in each round, so be sure you stay tuned for that.
52:00Four, Silva, Priester Ryan, Priester Luke, I'm Adam. Good luck, everybody.
